aterat | Story Event - Beast of Hackney Marshes

Entry tags:

Story Event - Beast of Hackney Marshes

Who; Waver and anyone! Open to all!
What; A Network Story and a Log for the event!
Where; All around Aterat!
When; Sometime in August
Warnings; None to start aside from the description of the beast, if anything happens I will add it!
Note; So I’m thinking the network could be a fun chat story time, the log for after-story experience if you want to run into him or handwave asking him to check a place out. We could mix it up and people could reach out to Waver about sightings or talk if they’re experiencing an encounter via the network, if you aren’t feeling the log! And if you'd rather just do your own thing with the beast, that's cool too. Also, if you want something personal written up, or to do something different, I’m open to anything! My plotting post is over here

Network Video - OTA

[ The feed opens up to reveal a rather severe frown and narrowed eyes. Waver’s pissed, honestly (when isn’t he at least a little, though?). He may not be a great magus, but he sure as hell knows about protecting the mind and there’s something pulling at his thoughts rather insistently.

His mouth is set firmly in an attempt to resist, but finally he huffs and finds himself acquiescing to the entity’s desire instead, despite the attempt. ]

Back when I was a boy, in… [ The wrinkle between his brows deepens slightly as he recalls the date. ] 1891, just after Christmas, I think. We were still on break, anyway. I remember one of the neighbourhood kids sharing this story they heard from someone else.

I guess there was a group playing in the snow in Hackney Marshes. Games ended pretty quickly when they got approached by something they claimed was a great beast of some kind. Guess it was big, hairy, and it started growling at them after rising up to its full height on its hind legs. They took off before it got any closer though, scared the hell out of them, understandably.

[ Glancing sideways as something flits by his peripheral vision, he frowned again before continuing. ]

Authorities investigated but didn’t really come up with anything, not that I’m surprised. Story made the rounds on the news a few times before it all seemed to get dropped. Near the end of it, theories moved away from an actual monster and to the more mundane. Theories suddenly ranged from a large dog to a bear… Or a guy in a suit pranking the kids, according to at least one report that I remember. Either way, eventually, no one believed the kids saw anything truly unnatural that day.

Of course, knowing what I do now… I would add the potential of a mage having set up a workshop in the area and their familiar getting territorial when the kids got too close to the list of theories.

But who knows? Never really thought about since, at least until today.

[ A deep, long sigh mixed with both relief and frustration escaped the mage as the tugging at his mind finally eased. ]

Dammit! I don’t know what the hell thinks it’s acceptable to muck around in people’s heads, but I guess it was too much to hope that it’d skip me. Excuse me while I try to figure out how the devil it got by my defences.

[ With a grumble and a mutter, the feed cuts off. ]

Log - OTA

Waver had known better than to hope that this would all be done with a forced story time, so he wasn’t surprised to find himself picking his way through the forested marshes after a few reports came his way over the tell-phone about encounters. Sure, this wasn’t exactly his fault... But it was his story the beast had sprung from, pulled from his own mind. As tempting as it might be, the mage wasn’t about to ignore it or let someone else clean up his mess without at least trying himself.

His shoes were not made for this soggy, uneven terrain, though... They better not get ruined by this! He’d had them for so many years now, and he’d had to replace enough clothing since arriving in this stupid place. “Why the hell couldn’t I have told a story about something nice? Like a goddamned brownie?” He muttered under his breath, wincing as he slipped on a damp rock, barely catching himself before he wiped out completely. Stupid entity with her stupid sneaky ability!

Okay, he might be more than a little salty at this point... He’d been out here for a while, though, and hadn’t seen the creature yet. One would think a large beast wouldn’t be so hard to track down! He just... Needed to see it for himself, to get an idea of how it moved and if it might have a weakness so he could figure out how to keep it from hurting anyone else. Stepping carefully towards more stable footing, Waver stopped short as he felt an unsettling chill run up his spine and the sound of something heavy trampling upon a branch behind him... It was probably a deer, or maybe a wayward chocobo. Nothing more.

Then there was a low growl and Waver cast a tense glance over his shoulder. Yup. That was the beast, partly obscured by some long grass and cat-tails waving in the breeze. It sure was big... Bigger than he expected, actually. From what could be seen, it was covered in matted, dark fur and had a snout full of decidedly sharp teeth. Definitely not a bear or a dog, but Waver supposed he could see why they were the theorized answers. If Waver had to guess, it was some kind of hybrid... Or maybe just looked like that because it was pulled out of the recesses of his mind when the story was shared earlier, created from a mental image born of his imagination as a child. Great, another reason to not like his younger self.

No time to really dwell on that though, as it reared up on its hind legs to get a better look at him with another growl and then fell back to all fours to start stalking forward slowly. “Well, damn...” escaped under his breath as he turned slightly. The mage braced his wrist and fired a warning magic shot at the creature’s feet to try to slow its rather confident approach. Once it faltered, taking a moment re-evaluate it’s current prey, the mage started moving quickly to get some space. Waver had wanted to observe it from a safe distance first, not walk up to it and say hello without a plan!

And that was how the professor ended up being stalked by the very thing he was trying to track, attempting to come up with a plan on the fly.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Waver raised a brow at the promise of ‘checking in,’ he doesn’t need a minder (yes, he does)! “Oh, well, that’s probably not necessary but…” He ended a bit clumsily, looking like he didn’t know what to do with that, a grumpier look on his face. Like a kid who knew it would be harder to get away with something if someone decided to check in on him. Which meant that chances were good that he’d still remain cooped up out of habit… Ah, well, Aerith had her work cut out for her on that one.

At the mention of people falling over her flowers more than enough, he raised a brow. “Does this happen often?” It sounded like she could use a good bounded field or something to keep trespassers out, or at least that’s what he would do if that were the case. Though he shook his head quickly, adding on a promise. “I assure you I won’t. Now that I know it’s here, I’ll keep its location in mind and avoid leading anything this way.” Waver would like to think he wouldn’t be out here much, but somehow this world liked to keep throwing him into ‘situations’ and he couldn’t be sure that he wouldn’t end up in the forest trying to deal with something else in the future. It was just better to know what was out here and what directions he should avoid, if possible.

“I’ve met him a few times, and he mentioned you.” He commented with a slight tilt of his head. He decided against asking for clarification on that, though, because she made it sound complicated and he really wasn’t good at dealing with his own complicated relationships and feelings, let alone other people’s. The mage had his work cut out for him trying to keep encourage and guide Reines and his students properly… “He seems to think quite a lot of you.” Okay, so that slipped out, but it was just an observation than anything.

Humming a little, he slipped the vial back in his coat pocket and offered a slight nod. “A little like that, yes. There are plants and a few other elements blended. I have a few different things I’ve developed depending on what I need. It’s just a cheap trick, though, compared to proper methods most mages would use.” So don’t be impressed with him, Aerith. It’s not impressive at all, at least in his opinion.

Waver was still a little unsure of getting Aerith involved further. He definitely didn’t want to put her in danger if she was important to Zack… He already owed the guy for saving his life once. But she was a grown woman who could make her own decisions, and he did desperately need the assistance here. “Then I’d be glad for the help. You have my word. I’ll ensure that you’re not targeted by it directly.” He ended, his tone rather firm on that. It was something he’d told Gray before, he would welcome her help but if anyone was going to be a target it would be him… Not the person who was being kind enough to help.

Looking at the tracks and wondering if the creature was at least following a path that would take it near there or if he’d have to do some leading after setting things up. “Can you show me where it is specifically? I’ll set up a bounded field that will contain it once it enters, and work on leading it back while you prepare your attack.”

She shook her head at his response and left it at that. There was no reason for her to argue with him at this point, she was certain he understood that he was being checked in on. That was how it was now.

"Twice actually! Both times a guy fell down through the roof onto my flower bed. Then someone else showed up and walked over them! Terrible, right?" Oddly enough though she didn't sound annoyed with the recounting of that tale. There was even a tiny smile on her face to accompany it. "Maybe I should make a public service announcement about it being here..." She was actually completely serious about that thought...."Though you're definitely welcome to come anytime you might like. Especially if you think you might make use of some of my flowers or herbs for something!" It was always nice to feel useful and to have people appreciate her plants.

"Oh? Has he?" She put her hand on her chin and tapped it thoughtfully then tilted her head. "What's he mentioned about me?" Her smile widened ever so slightly about the comment about him thinking a lot about her. "Funny, I happen to think quite a lot of him. He'd probably know exactly what to do about your beast, he's a first class soldier. They're the best of the best." There was a hint of pride in her voice there but also a tiny bit of sadness hidden in her eyes. She smiled quickly. "That sounds more interesting than just a cheap trick!" At east she thought so. Too many people seemed too quick to put themselves down here!

"Great! And you don't have to worry about me. I'm sure fighting it won't be any worse than the house. Or the whispers." Or Sephiroth. Nothing would be quite as bad as that. "Sure, follow me!" She brushed her hands off some and then started in the direction she knew the clearing was in.

“That seems like quite a lot of bad luck.” He responded; brow raised. What were the chances of the exact same thing happening twice…? And for it to seem to become a pattern too, either with that or something walking all over them like that and the beast (and him) now. “It might help to avoid this happening again if other things end up happening in the area.” He added his agreement, some kind of announcement or more obvious sign that there was a garden out here…

Waver couldn’t help but wonder if her offer of visiting the garden again and making use of the flowers or herbs he might need was a ploy to get him out more… Because it kind of feels that way, but at the same time he can’t deny it would be a pretty big help. He could use a supplier since it wasn’t easy to get things sometimes, and if he couldn’t find something in the market or growing wild, then it saved him a lot of time and trouble. “That would actually be helpful, thank you. I’d pay you for them, of course.” The mage agreed, and his tone a bit firm on the subject of payment. As it was, he already kind of owed her for the damages done. So some form of payment would have to be offered in return. He’d worked out a deal with Ren for collecting materials, so he’d do the same with Aerith.

“Ah… Well, it was only briefly at the ball, and his attention span is a bit…?” Short, in Waver’s opinion, as he offered a meaningful shrug to end the statement. The guy had just run off after Waver had offered him an idea of where to look for her… Or whatever they were. “Something about you being the most beautiful woman there that night.” The mage responded to the question a bit bluntly. He hadn’t been paying attention to most of the guests aside from the people he knew, because he wasn’t particularly social, so he couldn’t say how true that was.

As she tried to make his trick sound more impressive than it was, his expression turned a bit awkward. Waver didn’t see it as putting himself down, so much as being honest and accepting the truth of it. What he could do was hardly impressive by the standards of where he was from, and most mages could do a hell of a lot more than he could. That was just the way things were, but it seemed like magic in different worlds was different… So not knowing, that was probably reasonable.

“I’ll let you lead the way, then, and I’ll keep an eye out for our hairy friend.” He responded, letting her lead the way to the clearing as he kept track of where the prints were versus where they were going… Along with sorting through his pockets for things he’d need to set up the bounded field for containment.

"You know, you'd think. But it turned out to be the best thing that could have happened to me." If it hadn't been for that she'd have never met Zack and she'd have never met Cloud. It might have been less than ideal for her garden initially, but in the end it was how it was meant to be. Funny how it happened twice though, particularly with...well, with everything that came after.

"I'm sure we can come up with a fair price then!" She, of course, initially wanted to just offer them for free, but she was trying to be a better business woman of late. Besides, something told her he'd just argue with her about it.
She laughed as he trailed off and shook her head. She wasn't entirely surprised that someone might gotten that impression from Zack. Her laughter was cut distinctly short by his next statement though and she blushed a bit. "He's known for exaggerating!" Yet she couldn't help but feel a bit honored that he'd say something like that about her. "You know, I was told I was kinda plain by some other people." Boy would she like to give the a word or two now!

She gave him a nod and marched off in the direction of the clearing that she figured they could use. Luckily for them both it wasn't too far through the trees before they came out to an open area with a few bricks about that seemed to have once been the foundation of a building of some kind. She'd always imagined it was a house of some kind, though there really wasn't much of a way for her to tell. "Here we are. Think this will work?"

“That so…?” He can’t imagine how that would turn out to be a good thing, unless the clumsy arrivals of the people who’d done the falling and walking all over her garden before turned out to be rather important people to her. Which… Admittedly he could understand that, people causing you trouble turning out to be important to you, that is.

“I guess then it’s just the one bad experience compared to the others then.” He doubted this was going to turn out well for them, having to fight a stupid beast and whatever was going to need to be done to fix the damages… Waver was still surprised she offered him some of the flowers and plants that might be useful for his work. “I’m sure that we will, at least once this is all sorted.” He’d make sure it was fair, either by coming up with a payment plan or some favours exchanged for the plants. He provided Ren with things for protection and sometimes taught him things if the teen came forward. Waver didn’t doubt he could think of something for Aerith as well.

The laughter gets a small jolt of surprise, though he was a little glad she wasn’t offended by his observation. Zack seemed nice as people went, just very easily distracted…! “Somehow, that doesn’t surprise me.” He added as she commented on the guy exaggerating at times. At first he didn’t even notice the blush, focused on getting things sorted in his head for the field he wanted to put together…

Then blinking as she followed up. “Someone’s concept of beauty is often dictated by personal tastes and biases when they offer their comments on another’s appearance …” He mused, “Of course, beauty is also something that’s been sought and studied on improving for ages.” He’d had to give a small lecture on the history of it once, because a certain mage family had made it their family’s goal with their magecraft. The mess that followed was exhausting… Glancing properly at Aerith for a moment, he shrugged. “I wouldn’t consider myself a judge of beauty, either.” He doesn’t think about his tastes often, but he knows they run a little differently. “But from what I can see, you have excellent bone structure that would classify as beautiful by most definitions rather than biases and personal tastes.” It was an odd way of saying it, but basically, he figured those people who called her plain were just pushing their personal preferences on her and shouldn’t be granted much thought.

As they came upon the clearing Aerith had been leading them to, he looked around carefully. Walking across the length of it and tilting his head slightly. Hmm… Finally, a rare grin crossed his face. “It’s perfect. The scatted remains of the foundation from whatever was here before will make this a little easier to work with.” Easier to place that won’t be easily destroyed unless he interfered on purpose. The mage worked quickly (but carefully) to set up the groundwork for the bounded field of containment. He’d be able to activate it once he led the creature in… “Alright, I’m going to retrieve the beast… It shouldn’t be too far from here already, if its tracks were anything to go by. Watch the horizon for a flash of green light that looks a little like a flair, that means I’m near and to get your attack ready, okay?” He commented, dusting his hands off once he was done.

"Yup! I wouldn't have met Zack or Cloud without it happening. So, I'd say that makes it worth it overall. Even if my flowers suffered." In the end, it worked out for the best. She gave him a sharp nod and a bright smile. "I'm sure we will!" She liked to think positively about just about everything here, including the fact that everyone here could figure things out fairly eventually. The heart of the matter was that she believed that anything was possible if everyone worked together. Regardless of how cheesy that sounded.

"He's a good guy though, one of the absolute best actually." And that totally wasn't a biased opinion okay. She laughed again, this time at his explanation. "Huh, that explanation somehow managed to be both from the heart and all science-y at the same time. That's pretty impressive." The first part, about it being personal taste, almost seemed like it'd be something from the heart, a kind sentiment, and then it devolved into something much more scientific sounding. Not that she didn't get his point, it was just kind of a funny way to get there. It also didn't mean she wouldn't tease him just a tiny bit about how he'd phrased it. "Excellent bone structure, huh?" She tapped her chin and giggled again. This one was an interesting fellow.

She stopped as they came to the spot. "Great! I'm glad it'll work." She put her hands around her long polearm that she'd brought with her and nodded. "I'll be ready, don't worry."

Waver doesn’t know Cloud, but he had to admit it sounded about right that she’d have met Zack that way. Or at least it wasn’t particularly difficult to imagine the scenario, not that he could talk considering how he’d just met Aerith himself. The idea that this was a regular occurrence still made the mage think about how strange the fates could be at times with how things played out in life.

“I admit he seems reliable enough once he’s properly focused.” He tilted his head slightly at her comment, oddly it reminded him of how Zack spoke of her. “But I see you both share a very high opinion of one another.” He mused to himself as he worked on the bounded field. Glancing over his shoulder occasionally as they spoke. Then absolutely keeping his head turned to focus on the foundation in front of him at the comment about his explanation. It would be hard to tell he felt awkward about it, at least until one noticed his ears tended to get a bit red. Mages aren’t supposed to speak from the heart and be all emotional! But he is. “Ah… Yeah. Well, it seemed something to note based on what you said.” He ended briefly at the giggle from Aerith and finished the last sigil with a piece of chalk drawn on the foundation’s cornerstone.

Awkward mage professor guy was awkward.

And, while he wasn’t keen to run into the beast again, he was taking his escape from the awkwardness in the form of taking his current role seriously! “Good, I’ll be back soon.” He responded quickly before leaving the clearing with a quick gait and disappeared from sight.

At least it didn’t take long to find the beast, nor did it take much effort to get its attention, considering it had been trying to locate its prey for a little while now. That prey being him, after all he’d done to anger it. He fired off a couple of cursed shots from his hand for good measure, though, and then took off at a run as it snarled and gave chase. Waver found himself absently trying not to think ‘Sure hope I don’t trip and fall and get eaten by a stupid story from my childhood’ as he went, because he really didn’t need to invite that today.

Once he was close enough to give Aerith the time needed to set up her spell, he murmured a few soft words and called up a ball of mage light that shone clear with a cool green light that drifted up above the tree line for her to see I the dimming light as afternoon had given way to evening.

"Mmm," she nodded. "He's reliable and cute, a great combination, right?" And the one time that he hadn't precisely been reliable it hadn't been his fault at all. Not that she'd really known the full story until she'd gotten here, which was pretty ...complicated to think of. "Something to note, of course," she said while continuing to grin. His hint of awkwardness only served to remind her more of Cloud.

She gave a salute, still smiling. "Yes, sir." She watched him disappear and then waited as patiently as she could for the signal. While she waited she placed a sigil down on the ground and then began to channel her ray of judgement. Once she could see the beast she began to lift off the ground and aimed her staff at the creature. A beam of intense energy came out and pierced right through the creature. The fact that she had to prepare it and then channel the entire thing probably made it obvious why she needed someone else to keep it distracted while she threw out the attack. Once the channel was done and a hole was ripped through the thing she began to cast a fire spell. The sigil she'd cast down allowed her to throw two off at it.

"It's getting hot in here, huh?" Look, she couldn't help but send off a cheesy line.

Waver arched a brow at that uncertainly. The term cute was an odd one, but not lost on him entirely. But he certainly was not about to entertain the cuteness factor of either Zack or her or anyone else. Thank you very much. Not after the awkward end to the conversation on the subject of beauty. That just felt like setting himself up for another comment. Clearing his throat, he started walking off without acknowledging the follow up grin and obvious amusement.

Yes, Waver and Cloud probably would operate on a similar wavelength to an extent when it came to some things.

The signal set off and Aerith hopefully preparing the attack as discussed, Waver took off back towards the clearing with the beast at his heels. Ignoring the ever-growing burn in his lungs from doing so much damn running today, he broke out of the bushes and stood in the center of the clearing while the beast caught up. Once it was inside, he activated the bounded field to entrap it, a small, satisfied smirk escaping him despite the peril at the moment for a plan to not be derailed as soon as it was put in action.

He still had a job to do, of course, keeping the beast occupied and its attention on him instead of shifting to Aerith while she was busy. Easier said than done as the energy beam pierced the creature’s side, it reared back with a deafening sound that wasn’t a roar nor quite a scream. “Oh no, you walking mop. I’m the one you want, remember?” He hissed as he braced his wrist and shot some magic bullets at the thing’s head, hitting it in the eye and getting it to fall back to all fours and resume charging him.

The fire spells seemed to do the trick at least, fur catching alight and smoking as it staggered about and rolled, trying to put itself out too late. The comment gets a conflicted sound from the mage, an affirmative hum though rather than a groan… Though he is tempted to groan, that was so cheesy! One of his students would have loved it.

The first injury wasn’t helping it, nor was being on fire. It wasn’t long before it succumbed to the injuries born of the element in conflict with its own and stopped moving. Shoulders sagging with relief, he finally glanced at her with the rise of his brow. “Clearly you’re more than a gardener. That was quite impressive.”

Had there not been a monster coming, she'd definitely had added more teasing to the mix, but there was something to be said about combat coming up. She was no soldier, even if she'd seen her fair share of fighting recently. Still, she absolutely couldn't help but throw out the line while fighting. Did she realize how cheesy it was? Of course she did, but that wasn't going to stop her. She happened to like the cheesy puns and lines! Combat was scary, she wasn't afraid to admit that, and anything that helped to lighten the mood was a positive in her own eyes.

"You were impressive yourself! Excellent job as bait and with those bullets! Barret would love that!" Maybe. Or he could have seen them as being a bit too small for his liking. It was sometimes hard to tell with Barret, though she could probably guarantee that he'd have found it exciting at the very least! Sometimes she really missed the friends she'd made back home. They were the first real friends she'd had in a very long time, if not forever, and she'd surprisingly started to get used to it. She sometimes wondered what he'd think of this place, what he'd make of this world itself. It'd be interesting that's for sure.

"I guess you've never seen a gardener with a real green thumb!"

The expression on the mage’s face definitely indicated that he didn’t buy that compliment. There was very little impressive about what he’d done. Being bait wasn’t hard, and his magic bullet (while flashy looking) wasn’t as strong as most mages could pull off. A proper curse shot would have done more damage rather than riling it up and keeping its attention on him. “Ah, magic bullets are pretty basic offensive magecraft. Mine are only good for light damage and keeping it agitated attention on me and off you.” He responded, not knowing who Barret was, of course, but doubting the man would be impressed once he knew better.

“I’m just glad it worked and that it’s done with.” He admitted with a sigh, shoulders sagging slightly as he trudged over to nudge it with his foot and crouched to get a closer look at the remains. Waver wanted to at least make sure it was down for the count before they called it a day, and he was curious about what it looked like up close… once it wasn’t chasing him.

“Certainly not like that.” He added with a lighter tone and an attempt at a smile at her comment. He definitely couldn’t say he knew anyone from the botany department with abilities like that on top of having a ‘green thumb’, as they said. Though the medications they developed certainly went a long way toward helping people like Melvin or himself.

"Aw, come on, don't downplay your part!" She put her hands on her hips and gave him a very overexaggerated pout, as though him downplaying his help personally hurt her somehow. He couldn't personally hurt her, could he? Look at her face! Clearly he had to fold and just accept the compliments, at least that's what her thought process there was. That was always Aerith's thought process though: that she could convince people to go her way with a little pout and a little sadness. To be fair to her, it usually actually worked.

"Me too," she turned to look over to the beasts remains. "That's for the flowers!" Did she need to say that to it? No. Did it make her feel kinda better? Yes. So, that was what really mattered. "Hmm, you know, it might have been kinda cute. Before running over the flowers..." and being left in the state it was....

"Then I guess I'm just a unique gardener. With an extra special green thumb." Yup, that was it. Just an ordinary special gardener with a special green thumb.

Waver looks at her face for five seconds and then decides there is no winning and the best way to deal with his inability to be positive about his own abilities is to clear his throat awkwardly and focus on the beast instead. Sorry, Aerith, this one is still rather stupid despite how smart he is.

“I dare say it won’t be a problem for your flowerbeds anymore.” He agreed with a small frown as he looked at the various features. It definitely had been an amalgamation of several animals… The question was, is it the same thing that plagued the marshes when he was a boy or was this just something born of his imagination back then, plucked out of his head by the entity that caused all this. The curiosity in him wanted to know, but given the nature of this world… It seemed unlikely that he’d get a proper answer. “Cute? Maybe if it were less intent on destruction and eating people while it was alive…” Though he sounds a bit divided himself, it’s not like the creature was at fault in the first place. It was made this way and behaved according to that. So… That was a little sad, if he had to be honest.

“I guess you are,” He agreed, if only because he didn’t know her well enough to say she was more than an ordinary ‘special gardener.’ If he knew more about what Aerith could do, he might not buy that as easily.

Deciding he’d need to deal with cleanup, rather than leave the thing lying in the middle of the woods for anyone to poke and prod at, he glanced up at the woman again. “Thank you again, for the assist. Let me know what I owe you for the damages on the garden by phone if you like.”

For those five seconds Aerith just looked right back at him with a big smile on her face, as if she were just waiting for him to try to deny it again. She was going to take it as a win that he didn't try to deny it again at least,

"Nope! We saved them and I bet they'll be really grateful when I tell them." Did she plan on going back to seriously telling her flowers about that? Yes, she most certainly did! They would also be as excited as she was saying they would be. "Welllll, of course, the destructive part was really bad. But, I obviously meant without that." Duh! Obviously she meant without the destruction, particularly the destruction to her poor flowers.

She put her hands behind her back and swayed with a smile, content with the fact that he seemed more than willing to drop the subject about her being a special gardener. Then she nodded. "I'm glad I was able to help! And get revenge for my flowers of course." She tapped her chin and smiled. "I'll be sure to let you know what I'm owed son though!"

“Will they?” Waver had to raise a brow a little as she described how grateful the flowers would be for saving them, he wasn’t a stranger to the idea of talking to plants… But he’d never known someone to have a connection with plants to actually communicate with and understand them. That said, having seen a lot of different kinds of magic and abilities from different worlds, meant he wasn’t about to write off what she said as something as simple as ‘people sometimes talk to their plants.’

So maybe ‘special gardener’ was true to some extent?

But he nodded as she continued, “Good, I’ll be expecting your call then.” And he would, because generally people always did eventually… It just depended on what they decided they were owed and how immediate that might be.

"They definitely will." She gave him a very bright smile and then a little wave as she started to walk away. "I should actually go check on them now," not just because she didn't want to think about cleaning this beast up either! "When I call to get my payment I'll let you know what they had to say!" She waved again and then spun around to be on her way. She'd probably end up forgetting about the calling, but she couldn't be blamed for that right?

He definitely isn’t finished with that line of conversation, not by a long shot; he would bring it up again… Aerith could look forward to it. He at least knows there’s a time and place for inquiry, and he has a beast to dispose of. “You should, and I’ll be waiting for that call.” He added over his shoulder. Even if she forgot for a while… Well, Waver had a hard time imagining someone never calling in a payment owed someday. It just took time, but everyone needed something eventually and things would balance out. For now, he had to set to getting samples from the remains and burying them to ensure they didn’t get messed with.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Story Event - Beast of Hackney Marshes

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject