The Beyond Breaks Free! (Roleplay thread)

[Luggs]

(@Sabeku If I recall correctly, all earth portals lead to the beyond portal our characters are currently around.)

[gloryKAT]

Onyx slowly began to awaken, her ears twitching. Celeste was already up, pacing in circles and waiting. Onyx barked at her quietly as she got up, stretching out her paws. Celeste started walking down the alleyway, with her loyal companion close behind her. The Hound looked up at her as they strolled through the dusty and dark alleyway. Clouds of dirt rose up behind them, falling away into the shadowy air.Peering out from the alley, Celeste spotted a lush forest. It was one of the old forests she used to visit, and now the abandoned buildings near it were covered in moss and creeping vines. She sighed, walking over to it. She looked up at the canopy of the tall pines and spruces. One or two birds flew between trees, making no sound except for the beating of their wings.

[Sabeku]

(I guess I misread that or assumed something else. Thanks for the heads up Luggs; The post should be edited accordingly.)

 

After running North for what seemed like 10 minutes, Aaron was already out of breath. As he approached the outcrop where the monster resided, he heard people speaking. "I guess we find him later..." a pigman spoke and Aaron crouched behind a bush and a tree. More than one monster, just great, he thought. Aaron watched as a treegaurd approached the portal, talking to someone in the distance, then he saw Wilson.

The hero of the games, Wilson, once his favorite character and leader, now a horrendous mess of a king with a throne behind him that resembled Maxwells. He saw the darkness in his eyes and nearly gasped. So Wilson was controlling this land? With the portal behind him, he could only assume as much.

"I only need to kill that hound." Aaron caught the last bit of what the treeguard spoke next. A hound? Perhaps it was best not to charge in on the collection of creatures, especially with no armor or weapons to fight with. With a parting glance, Aaron looked to see where the human had gone, but with no sight of him, Aaron tried to sneak off. Carefully, he maneuvered past a few shrubs before he looked back once more, just to make sure he was in the clear. What a mistake it was to look back. There he quickly locked eyes with a shadow, eyes as white as the hallucinations and just as vague, shifting slightly from left to right. He could have sworn he saw the emotion of delight that a predator has before the hunt. He stared at this eerie shadow for a brief second before realizing he was in serious danger, as this creature had no distinguishable body. If this is the monster he thought it was, even running wouldn't save him.

Before he could even hear another word from the group of them, Aaron ran South, retracing his steps in a maze-like way that would hopefully confuse any pursuers. As he ran, he saw dusk starting to settle over the land. Of course the playing field would bend in her favor.

[Luggs]

Charlie extinguished her pipe as it turned to dusk. "Well. It has been fun. But there's places to be, people to kill. Like that little morsel who just escaped." Charlie's presence vanished from the shadow she had been hiding in only to be sensed in Wilson's shadow. "Oh. It's quite a shame your little pet rabbit couldn't join us. I was so looking forward to tearing him limb from limb." Her presence vanished again.She warped into the shade of a tree by Aaron. She planned out her tactics carefully. Her eyes would be seen out the corner of his eyes only to vanish when he looked. A menacing growl or three. Knock down a few trees, leave a few animal corpses on the ground. And the piece de resistańce. An old skeleton, positioned next to an old mossy firepit. In its hands, a piece of papyrus with the words, "No escape." Written on it. She always loved theatrics.

[Sabeku]

Aaron ran fast, and faster still. He could see her eyes, even when they weren't there, sneaking in his peripheral vision then vanishing when he turned to see. Not only that, but the farther he got, the louder the harsh growls around him became. The growling certainly wasn't any animal he knew, and it sounded more like a cross of a hound and some otherworldly beast. Left, right, then behind him the noises approached him rapidly. Aaron was sure he was a monster's next meal. The boy's frantic running had him misjudging his steps and he tripped on something... something that crunched when he fell on it. A small corpse lay beneath him, some blood getting on his green sweater. After a horrified stare with what he had just done, he yelped and scrambled to his feet, now lost in a forest to the south. The trees here were thick, and the night was edging nearer with every step he took.

Suddenly, behind him four trees consecutively fell down, one after the other, gradually getting very close to Aaron. In his panic, he bolted more, nearly gasping and out of breath. Soon, his tired body demanded a rest, and with the moon starting to rise in the sky, he knew he needed to find somewhere safe - and warm - fast. Luckily, he saw some rocks in a circle in the distance, possibly an abandoned fire pit.

With a sigh of relief, he headed towards it, his exhausted body dragging with each step now. Finally, with a heave, he sat by the fire pit, putting twigs inside and setting them ablaze with enough effort. The warmth of the fire heated up his core, and a smile finally came to his weary face. The moment was fleeting though, as the light of the fire revealed a rather unpleasant guest laying across from him. A skeleton lay with its body charred on one side and something rolled up in its decrepit hand.

For a moment, Aaron tried to ignore its presence, telling himself over and over it was nothing and to leave it alone and just wait out this horrible night. But curiosity got the best of the boy, and he walked around the fire pit to the skeleton's remains. He noticed the trees around them were hard to make out in the darkness, and threw some more twigs and grass on the fire, hoping it would be enough to last him through the night. Then, with shaking hands, he lifted the note. He was a bit relieved after he held it, somehow expecting the dead body to reanimate, and was happy when it didn't. His short relief was disbanded when he looked down at the dead man's note.

"No escape."

He heard the night whisper the words back at him and felt eyes and shadows manipulate around him - teasing his mind into believing all its wicked fears and terrors. He felt a bone-chilling wind wisp across the camp sight and swears he heard a wicked laughter in the distance. Aaron threw all of his sticks on the fire, making it roar with fuel and light of the barks of nearby trees. He huddled beside the crackling fire pit and held his knees to his chest, burying his face in it so just his eyes peered out at the fire. The wilderness was scary enough as it is. The monsters of this magically cursed land made surviving it a nothing short of a miracle.

Knowing it was too late and dark to leave this campsite, he was forced to share his fire with the skeleton across from him, fearing his fate might soon be the same. For comfort, Aaron thought about what to do the next day to ensure survival. Make an axe. Get some wood. Gather food. Food... his stomach rumbled at the thought. How lovely some cooked meat would be right now. For the rest of the night he thought of different foods and how they tasted, trying to remember how each was made. It wasn't long before his body fell over and he was soon asleep.

[Luggs]

A creepy music box plays as the night hands moved towards Aaron's fire. "No sleep, little one." Charlie chuckled evilly. She extinguished the fire. It would be so easy. One slash and it was over. But that was too easy. She decided to leave a warning. Charlie cuts his shirt, leaving it in tatters. She walked off. 

[Tesability]

(The portal in the Beyond is nowhere near the Nightmare Throne, Sabeku. Also, when you emerged, you would have actually rolled right INTO Wilson, considering how close he was to the portal. However, I have a way to deal with the discrepencies...one that actually works with the premise of this RP. >:3 One more thing, DAMN, that's some posting. o.o Where else do you RP, because I want to join now.)Wilson's mind was going a million miles an hour. He had felt another, much-smaller portal open up nearby and he did not recall at all opening it up as well. Folding his wings tightly into his back, a growl emerged from his throat as a thought crossed his mind. His world was being messed with once again.

 

"Will they ever stop..." His voice was low, almost an unhearable whisper, but it held a gutteral tone to it. His right hand closed into a tight fist as it grew into a shape more similar to claws, accidentally piercing his own skin with them. Not that he cared, however. The pain didn't even come.

 

"Find the intruder," Wilson suddenly spoke in a strangely-deep voice, almost impossibly deep for his vocal cords to manage, as he turned his back toward the portal and faced the monsters still nearby. "Find the other human and bring them here. NOW."

 

Closing his eyes and placing his unwounded palm over his face, strange thoughts and images began to haunt his mind again. He had been dealing with this problem since being entrapped on the throne. This time, the thought of one of those 'roleplays' floated into his head, with people writing out events they would like to see before they played out. One of the parts of this chain of thoughts mirrored the appearance of the Hound on the other side as well as another llinked to the emergence of this unseen human.

 

Even now...even now, they toy with our world as if it's for their mere entertainment...

[Blewcheese]

Newleaf barely heard the order. No! But I must kill the hound! Newleaf resentfully followed Wilson's command. The nearby grass were yammering on about a new human. He addressed the pig. "The human went this way. Hopefully we can catch up to it." After informing the pig, he sent a message through the nearby grass. "Find the human, and summon a treeguard. It is a command from King Newleaf." The grass quickly relayed the message towards where the new human had ran. Hopefully, that would slow the human down, so that they could catch him. He began to walk.

[Sabeku]

(Doh! Im so sorry, I hadn't realized the placement of the map. Placement of people / places is really hard for me. Thanks for working around the issue. As for RP, I actually just got back into it after a few years of hiatus. I do, however, write in my free time, so I'm glad that’s paid off, hahaha.)

 

A quiet, yet eerie sound filed the air, meshing with his dreams until Aaron woke up with a jump. He heard her voice again and slowly, a dark hand coming from the darkness itself crept towards his dear fire. In an instant his fierce flames died down to smodering ashes, taking with it both the warmth and security Aaron desperately needed. Now he was trembling, fear seizing his whole body and the cool night air circling him, robbing him of his movement and comfort and causing him to shiver terribly. His big green eyes opened wide, staring off in several directions, trying to get some bearing in the pitch black of the night. Suddenly a large claw-like thing slashed at his chest, leaving his already stained hoodie in shreds, and marking his flesh underneath, just enough to bleed, not enough to cripple.

He gripped his chest with both arms, curling up with a quiet whine. It hurt, and he wasn't sure if another attack was coming. His body instinctively prepared to endure it. But the attack never came. There Aaron laid in the dark until his mind gave out and he quietly cried into his knees, hearing spiders hiss in the distance and wolves howl at the moon while his mind played tricks on itself.

All hope wasn't lost though. After the pain stopped crippling the boy, he stood up, whipped his face, and pulled out his torch that he had prepared earlier in the day. Struggling in the darkness, he fumbled until it lit, revealing to him that he was much more bloody than he had originally thought. Luckily, it was just a mess and would probably only leave a scar if he cleaned it. With the remains of his sweater, he wrapped his chest up to prevent any more loss. Before he could take off to find more twigs and branches for another fire - since this torch wasn't going to last him much longer - his stomach let out a loud grumble and suddenly getting any type of food was his top priority. It was the dead of night, his torch half depleted, but Aaron's body demanded nourishment, so when he saw the carrot tops in the distance, he knew he had to have them. After devouring the small vegetable patch, his torch flickered with the small bit of life it had left. In a hurry, he grabbed more grass and twigs to ignite, but to his surprise, the morning sun was peaking in the distance. Instead, he made another torch, ready to start the new day better than the last.

 

(Also, quick question, this new human is Celeste or Aaron? I seemed to have lost track, whoops.)

Edit: Spelling

Edited August 31, 2013 by Sabeku

[Tesability]

(The new human is you. You and Ware...where the hell is he...are the only humans that have come into the Beyond, Celeste and her Hound companion have not entered the realm yet.)

[gloryKAT]

(Celeste isn't going to be entering yet, she's going to soon though, probably. I might have her fight for one specific side. I don't know yet.)

 

Celeste ran through the forest, sprinting to gain full speed. Onyx dashed beside her through the branches and leaves, while Celeste ducked under them and cracked twigs under her shoes. Onyx panted, and Celeste looked over at her. "Not much longer." she growled. She stopped suddenly. Should I go back? she wonders. Onyx growls at her. Her loyal companion turns around and begins to head back where they came.

 

"Wait, Onyx!" she yells, as Onyx rushes toward the direction of the portal. Celeste growls under her breath. "Onyx, why don't you listen to me when I need you to." She sprints after Onyx, who is galloping away surprisingly fast.

Edited August 31, 2013 by gloryKAT

[Sabeku]

After what was a few hours, the hot afternoon sun beamed on Aaron's back. With a shiny new axe in hand and a pile of logs nearby, Aaron continued chopping down the large tree. He had a few flowers stuffed in his pockets by now, and even some seeds he managed to steal from some careless birds. So far so good, he told himself as he watched yet another tree fall in his wake. “That's three,” He quietly muttered to himself and picked up the logs to place in the pile. As he placed them, he noticed a bee's hive a few feet away. His thoughts quickly connected the Honey to Honey-Ham and his mouth began to water. How delicious ham sounded right about now, but before he allowed his stomach to protest, Aaron shoved a few seeds in his mouth, crunching them rather angerly to suppress the thoughts of better food. To busy his idle mind further, the boy picked his axe back up and swung at another tree. The axe hit, but the shock from the blow he felt was different this time. The tree he hit began to rise, and a face contorted on the front of the leaves. “A treeguard!” He said in awe before realizing the situation. The treeguard struck down with a mighty arm, making a nearby evergreen crack at the base and fall over, breaking it from the roots. Aaron carefully paced himself as he trotted away from the large boss. He knew treeguards were much slower than he was, and Aaron took advantage of this. Once lured into a clearing, Aaron took out his torch and ran up to the treeguard, lighting fire to its 'feet' which quickly engulfed the rest of the large tree in flames. It made a monstrous noise of agony, but continued its fruitless pursuit. Perplexed, Aaron kept trotting away from it as he collected more seeds and berries. Collect, run, collect, run. It became a routine until the beast fell to its knees, not exactly dead, not exactly healthy. The fire around it diminished and it stood back up, half scorched. Its leaves burnt away in the wind, leaving an ashy trail in the air from where it began the chase. Aaron continued to collect, making sure to pick up some flint this time and he crafted a crude spear, which he then proceeded to stab at the treeguard with. It wasn't long before branches started falling down from the monster's 'limbs'. Then it's strike hit.

With a swift blow due to his own carelessness, Aaron took an agonizing hit from the huge creature right in his stomach. He felt his lungs exhale all it had, increasing the pain on his already bruised ribs. He ran away from it again, stumbling, and tried to collect his breath. That one hit did quite a umber on the small boy. He felt his whole body pulse with pain from the core of his stomach. Perhaps lighting it on fire again will deal safer damage, he thought.

Now with his torch in hand, he cautiously approached the treeguard once more. However, this time there wasn't just one treeguard in his view. Behind the original boss was two other creatures in the distance- a large pig and yet another treeguard. Aaron sighed deeply. “Looks like I'm going to need another torch.”

 

(Another question, since I don't ask enough: Can I include little drawings I do with certain posts? I'm not sure if this will be conisdered a nuisance or a pleasure, but either way I'd thought I'd ask. I'll post them in link form so its not intrusive.)

(Your friendly neighborhood Treeguard!)

Edit: Picture

Edited August 31, 2013 by Sabeku

[Tesability]

(Pictures would be awesome to see and would probably help those who see scenes better in a visual form than in written. However, you are time-jumping ahead a little bit more than I would have liked. Glory, you don't have to do any time jumps in your posts yet, since time hasn't truely synched between the worlds YET...)

 

While he could never fly fast with these wings, he could fly silently with them and that was something he could take a small bit of pride in. Within the darkness outside of range of the torch, Wilson landed without sound near the human he had sent the others to fetch, watching him with a careful eye as the foreign being maneuvered around the treeguard and took it out with flame and spear.

 

This human is having a much faster start in this world than I ever had. He knew he commanded this human to be captured, but with the way thoughts were flowing into his mind, he was beginning to understand why Maxwell had been able to track him down so easily and know his every action. His awareness stretched throughout the realm and made it a rather-simple manner to track this kid down.

 

"You're doing rather well for someone that just arrived." If somehow he had fallen within immediate range of the torch's light, he would have been revealed to have his arms crossed in front of him as if he was upset about something.

[Sabeku]

(Ah, sorry about the time jumping. I'm still rusty wen it comes to role playing, so I'm sorry for the kinks. And I'll include little links at the ends of posts with pictures, such as this one and the post before this one. I just hope they're accurate enough.

Quick side note about the treeguard, in one of my games, a treeguard spawned on day 4. It was brutal, but with enough luck, It was defeated. So I hope Aaron defeating one so early isn't an inconvience. Also, since Aaron has bad luck, feel free to control him when needed.)

 

Fighting the treeguard had Aaron exhausted again. Fueled by berries and seeds, this new diet was starting to get at him. Seeing how more monsters were approaching and the large tree was nearly defeated, Aaron took one big leap and cut the guard's face down the center. No luck though, as the treeguard stood back up from the blow and continued to chase him. With a sneer, the boy quickly rounded the monster and lit it up form behind, this time going up the back to light up as much leaves as he could with a single swipe. Again, the tree was set ablaze but this time, it crumbled with the ashes that flew off of it. With a thump, the boss fell to the ground, crumbling into several logs with faces etched onto them. Deciding it best to leave the strange looking logs behind, Aaron headed westward, where he crouched behind a tree waiting for the other two creatures to pass him by, hopefully. Then it hit him; that eerie feeling of being watched. He took out his torch and looked around carefully, but confidently. It was odd for him to be so fearless, but after taking down a treeguard, he felt invincible.

"You're doing rather well for someone that just arrived." A familiar voice spoke to him and all his confidence faded as well as the color on his face. Rather slowly, Aaron pointed his torch upward towards the voice and lit up the man's face. There Wilson stood before him, on a tree branch on top of him with large, black wings tucked behind his back. His arms were folded across his chest and he wore the expression of a parent scolding a child.

Aaron took a nervous step backwards and almost stumbled. Suddenly aware of his spear, he didn't know what to do with it exactly. Was Wilson here to help? Probably not, but why would he want to harm him? More importantly, why did he look so... different. So monstrous.

"What... What happened to you, Wilson?" The smaller boy muttered as he held the up spear defensively. Wilson could see the confused look in his green eyes staring at him. Unsure of how to act, Aaron took another step back to gauge how Wilson would react. "What are you doing here?" He lowered the spear a bit more to seem less threatening.

("Don't touch me, Wilson!")

 

Edit: Spelling, Formatting

Edited August 31, 2013 by Sabeku

[Tesability]

(Short post is short due to being woken up suddenly. I do dare say your posts are putting me to shame...not that I mind in this case, hehe.)

 

"This 'Klei Entertainment' I keep hearing and seeing about in my visions happened," Wilson started before jumping down from his branch, landing on the ground with a silent thud before standing back up straight. "Their accursed game that created this damned world, the sick players that play it with the way they manipulate me and everything in this world for their mere enjoyment, the cruel visions I see during my times on the throne..." As he spoke, he took one slow step after another toward Aaron. "I can continue on with the list, if I so chose." Due to his height and his elongated legs, it did not take many steps at all to wind up in the newcomer's face. His eyes had almost completely returned to their normal brownish-orange...and they seem to show a lot of hidden pain behind them.

 

"Do you realize how heart-wrenching it is to know you can never go home because you don't have a home to go back to? Because you don't truly exist? Even now, I can feel myself being puppeted by invisible hands for your world's sick and twisted pleasure."

[Luggs]

Charlie smiled to herself as she watched. It was really amusing how far Wilson had fallen into madness. She recalled a time when he was so concerned with staying sane. Charlie laughed. Didn't concern him now. His mind was only concerned with this "Klei Entertainment". A puppet does not see its strings. Or. It shouldn't at least. Wilson broke that rule and now payed for breaking that rule. She lit her pipe and watched. Maxwell had often told her what the Nightmare Throne did to him. It was one of the few things keeping him sane. She had figured Wilson wouldn't be able to handle the knowledge the throne provided. Not that she could do anything about it. She was bound to serve him and could not hurt him directly. But....if she were to have a proxy...

[gloryKAT]

Onyx turned around to face Celeste. She barked. "Where were you going?" Celeste demanded. Onyx stared at her with her white eyes. "Were you going to whatever that thing was?" Onyx whined. She barked a few times at Celeste, as if trying to tell her something. "I don't know what you're trying to tell me because I'm not..." she hesitated. "What are you?" she thought aloud. No time for that. Keep going. What if I'm not making the right decision...Onyx turned away from her, beginning to walk slowly in the direction of the strange portal. Celeste followed. She hoped she wasn't getting herself into too much trouble.

[Sabeku]

(Oh gosh, a proxy? D: Tesability, I'm only writing a lot because its the weekend, hehe. With my plans canceled, I can focus on the RP more, yay! Also no doodles with this post just yet; maybe later tonight I'll add some. This scene is very interesting and I can't wait to draw other characters too!

One more thing, I'd like to extend the notion of anyone from the Beyond being able to control Aaron, to an extent. He has an Unlucky trait that makes bad things happen to him. Feel free to made that badness happen yourself, since things are going quite well for him right now. )

 

Klei Entertainment? Aaron remembered that name and repeated it over in his head. It was so familiar. The creators of Don't Starve, no doubt. Wilson was probably getting those visions from being on top of Maxwell's throne. The magic filled others with knowledge, but it acted more like a curse, a burden to bear that could never be revoked. Who knows what kinds of things a human would see through that thing, the source of the magic, the core of the land. Wilson landed and Aaron never broke eye contact, still nervous about how to act, but perhaps a little less fearful of getting hurt. He stood up straight to listen to his counterpart.

"Their accursed game that created this damned world..." Aaron flinched. It was indeed a game, a game that he owned and treated as such. It never crossed his mind there were real people inside of it. He cycled through the several deaths he made Wilson suffer for his own pleasure and was disgusted in himself.

"... the sick players that play it with the way they manipulate me and everything in this world for their mere enjoyment..." Wilson continued and drew closer, but that statement struck a chord in Aaron. Was he that heartless to toy with other people's lives like that? Was he really such a terrible person? No, he couldn't be if he hadn't known. Surely there was some good in him that told him otherwise.

But, how could he have been sure?

"... the cruel visions I see during my times on the throne..." Did Wilson see Aaron, and for that matter, other players, all enjoying the torment they caused Wilson and the others? No wonder he was in such a rage, holding so much agony and malice. Aaron became lost in his thoughts, as was evident on the twisted expression on his face. He felt like he had just killed someone or something dear to him, and was filled with regret and anguish. How could he even begin to apologize to Wilson for what he – and the other players – had done? There was no way he could speak for all of them, but if he could, what would he say?

"I can continue on with the list, if I so chose." Now Wilson was face-to-face with the smaller boy, eyes locked with his in a way that reflected each other’s own thoughts. They both saw each other's confusion and pain; however Wilson's grimace was darker, his head filled with deep-seeded misery. Aaron could only imagine what the players had put him through time and time again. From Wilson’s perspective, just being a puppet to fall over dead over and over definitely takes its toll on a person, both physically and mentally. His eyes held a hazel tone to them, the scarlet red beginning to fade as he spoke.

"Do you realize how heart-wrenching it is to know you can never go home because you don't have a home to go back to?" Aaron understood, but bitterly so; now he could never go home either, or at least he had not the slightest idea how. But this was Wilson's own doing. He caused this scenario, and Aaron didn’t like that.

"Because you don't truly exist?" If that’s the case, then now neither of them existed in the human realm. Could he even return after this? What had Wilson done? Aaron felt a pang of anger course through him now, making his muscles stiffen.

"Even now, I can feel myself being puppeted by invisible hands for your world's sick and twisted pleasure." Teeth clenched, Aaron reciprocated.

"So you made everyone as miserable as you instead?" He snapped back, angered that he was forced to be subjected to the same punishment Wilson had endured. "Why not break the cycle rather than continuing it? Don't you see you're just making everything worse? How is making the players the puppets any better than destroying the act all together?" He held tight on his spear and jabbed it in the ground to prove a point.

 As he tried to talk some sense into Wilson, he had that feeling of being watched again, but this time he shrugged it off, too engrossed in his current conversation. Perhaps if they somehow found a way to clean up this mess of a game, or whatever was left of it, maybe then could he and the other humans could find a way back home.

[Tesability]

(This was interesting to write...also, this kind of shows that even if Wilson is considered rather-powerful, he does have one SIGNIFICANT disability in this caused by the throne. Also, anyone that happens to be homosexual, PLEASE don't take offense to future acts that I may have Wilson perform. He IS from a time where such is frowned upon, if it existed afterall...)

 

"My hope is to break the cycle," Wilson growled before grabbing the human by the front of his hoodie, his hand changing slightly into something similar to pointed claws just before he did. "Once they are found and their project destroyed, maybe I'll be able to fade away quietly into the darkness, eventually forgotten about and allowed to be in peace. I don't have anywhere to go once this world disappears, but you can return. You do actually exist."

 

All of a sudden, Wilson's hands started shaking violently, his eyes widening as he dropped the kid, stumbling in his step soon after. "No, not again..." With both hands did he cover his face, falling to his knees as the shaking increased at an increasing rate. If Aaron would dare to believe his ears, he'd swear he heard sobbing. "Why do they..." His voice was almost unheard, shaken and broken. "Why would they depict me like that...like I'm some sort of...I'm not anyone's slave or toy..." He moved one of his hands over the front of his neck, his hand acting as if it was grabbing onto something that wasn't there, maybe an invisible collar.

 

"No man...should do that...do...another..."

[Blewcheese]

Newleaf, who had been watching and listening from a distance, evaluated the situation. Was he a puppet? He certainly didn't feel like one. His thoughts were then interrupted when he saw lord Wilson kneeling down, as if in great pain. What had come across him? He was advancing on the human at first, but suddenly... What had caused this? It doesn't matter what caused it. Kill him now, while he's weak! Now's your chance! Newleaf shook his head in order to clear the crowns thoughts. He would not let it distract him. He stepped into the scene.

[Luggs]

Charlie continued to watch them for awhile. Ugh. So boring. She needed to tend her garden anyways. She flitted across the world til she arrived at a grove. A smoky barrier shielded the area. Maxwell's gift to her. An area always shielded from light yet it wasn't pure darkness. An old Maxwell statue acted as the center piece, surrounded by a field of dark flowers. Marble rubble and broken clockwork littered the area. "Come here, children. Mama's home~." Slowly, movement occurred in the clockwork piles. From the largest one, a violent shaking sent gears and wires flying. This revealed a broken rook. From the others, a broken bishop and knight emerged. Charlie summoned shadow hands and lovingly pet the clockwork machines. "Oh, my children. We must fix you." Taking parts from the other clockwork piles, Charlie began repairing the broken parts.

[Tesability]

Kill him now, while he's weak! The line cut through his mind like a knife, a knife that revealed somthing deep under the mental skin."Maybe it's not smart to always try to take what isn't yours, ya pile of sticks." A strangely-high voice emerged from Wilson's throat, even though he hadn't seemed to move. "Especially when you try to take it from a madman." Standing back up onto his feet, Wilson's head seemed to still be leaning forward as it turned toward the young treeguard. When his head was lifted, it was revealed that the color in his eyes were GONE, neither the red or the brownish-orange were there.

[Blewcheese]

Newleaf gazed into Wilson's eyes. Certainly abnormal, at least that was what he thought. Either way, it was beginning to frighten him. Good! Now he wants to fight you. Put me on, and we can kill him! It was times like this that Newleaf hated the crown. It had gotten him into this mess. He began to back away, slowly. "Lord Wilson... Those thoughts did not belong to me. I would never try to take something from my superior." He tried to get Wilson back to normal, or at least not against him. He hoped it would not come to a fight, one that he would most likely loose.

[Sabeku]

(That homosexual comment had me on edge. "Oh gosh, what is Wilson going to do with Aaron?" But I ended up laughing pretty hard when I read that post. So silly.)

 

When Wilson lifted the boy off the ground, Aaron grabed hold of his arm, trying to looses the hold, but his body froze from the sudden fear he felt. This man before him had changed, and definitely could destroy him when given the chance. Letting his guard down around Wilson was that opportunity. He stared at his transforming hand while he spoke t him, confused on what exactly had changed within Wilson to cause this physical change of claws.

Aaron mustered up the courage to speak back, his voice trembling and horse. "Fading into the darkness, are you sure you'll even survive?" Then the man holding him up started to shake, eyes staring back at Aaron with wild confusion. He fumbled his steps backwards and murmured some sort of protest as he covered his face. Assuming he was having a breakdown, Aaron hesitated to move after landing on his feet, looking down at the fallen king.

Was that some sort of whimpering coming from Wilson, the man who just moments before had the boy's life tightly grasped in his claw-like fingers? Wilson, the leader of this land, the all-consumed magic user assuming Maxwell's place. The next few words he spoke were broken up, barely audible between his quiet sobs and breathing. Wilson grabbed at his own neck, saying something about not being a slave or toy.

"No man...should do that...do...another..." Aaron assumed Wilson was talking about what he had just done, very nearly killed Aaron with his dark powers. Something in his gut told him that wasn't the case, however, which only left the boy more confused.

Before he could console- or rather prod Wilson for information at this point- he heard the heavy footsteps of a treeguard approaching.

"Wilson, snap out of it. Who is this slave? What's going on with your hands?" But before he could wait for an answer, the glimmer of a golden crown shimmered across the small clearing that Wilson laid in. A treeguard with a crown, some sort of evil aura around it, came into view, assessing the situation. Understanding this was a threat, he tried to pull Wilson up. In his head, he figured that Wilson was the only person in the land he recognized, so saving him would be most beneficial. But... he seemed to be extremely unstable and dangerous, from what he had done so far. With reluctance, he dropped his grip on the fallen king and ran for himself, leaving Wilson behind for the treeguard. Its not like Wilson hasn't died before, he reminded himself. He probably has somewhere to re-spawn anyway.

In that moment Aaron's body sank with regret and the motion of his running stopped. He had become one of those horrible players after all. The realization hit him hard enough to pause his retreat and rethink himself. Remorsefully, he attempted to return to the spot Wilson was, but the forest he was in was too thick and unfamiliar to navigate back. The boy simply settled with leaving petals behind him - a trail leading to where ever his new campsite would reside, should the weary king come looking for answers, or to give them.

Aaron entertained the idea of having a powerful overlord by his side, but convincing the monstrous Wilson to join him would be more trouble than it was worth. For a while, Aaron mulled over his thoughts, wondering if his choices were the right decision after all.

 

(After Tesability's recent post)

Several yards in the distance, Aaron heard a high-voice; a familiar one. He tried to convince his mind to go back, to help the scientist that could potentially save him from this predicament. But before he allowed his legs to stand, his mind reminded him that this same scientist trapped him here, overwhelmed himself with magic and knowledge, and would most likely kill him eventually. Still, he could help!

In the end, Aaron did nothing but sit at his campfire fighting with his thoughts once more.

(Now for some doodling. Also, Blewcheese, let me know if I didn't describe Newleaf correctly. I'll go over the notes on him now just to double-check.)

[Blewcheese]

(You got the description pretty well, just note that Newleaf does not wear the crown, he normally holds it or hands it from one of his branches.)