This is Not a Theme Park [Lucca]

[Kari Muffin]

Castiel had been told, like every other child in the world, that the Tulgey Wood was no place to go. Even if you had a guide you should never set foot in the horrible place. It was evil. Dangerous. And if you got lost there was no hope of ever coming out.

So of course she wanted to go there. With a sword strapped to her side, and her well trained bander she could make it in a decent amount, and use a compass and a variety of other things to find her way out. And if she had people with her it would be all the better.

She had approached Conall and Arkady a few weeks before. Conall had called her crazy, and Arkday had advised against it. But she didn't stop trying to convince them that it would be a life experience to test their merit. And she turned on her diamond charm in excess.

Conall found himself with a bag on his shoulder walking behind the human girl. He would have taken the lead if he wasn't always worried about stabbing anyone who was behind him. At least he had a decent defense against anything that tried to eat him while he took the rear.

This was a stupid and dangerous idea. And he had wanted to take someone who at least knew the terrain better. Linnea had refused, even though her mother was a Tulgey and she had visited the house once or twice. Which left them without a guide. His brain continued to call everything stupid as they reached the edge of the Wood.

Castiel beamed. The only reason she was so confident was the fact that her parents had thought she was going somewhere safe. "Is everyone ready?"

Conall simply stared at the girl. How could she not feel the weird radiating off of the trees?

[Lucca]

It had been a horrible idea. A horrible, unsafe idea. But Castiel had kept asking, and she meant more to Arkady than the pup could put into words, since she was one of his few friends. And she reminded him of his sister in that once she got an idea into her head, she was going to see it through, with or without his help. When it came right down to it, Ark would rather be there to help protect her if something went horribly wrong.

After all, he -was- a King. He also had a very useful ability if he needed to run away from a situation, though he would never run and leave friends behind. That just wasn't right. And Castiel had a point...he needed to test himself against real danger if he had any hope of ever confronting such a thing when it came after him and his loved ones.

All that lead him here, outside the wood, a half step behind Castiel and a few steps in front of Conall. He, too, had a small bag on his back. His ears were alert and all his senses were on edge. He was getting such a strange feeling just from being here, but he glanced at the girl ahead of him (who was even now very cheerful) and knew he needed to be strong.

He was ready. He nodded, looking deep into the blackness of the Wood.

[Kari Muffin]

Castiel noticed the "odd feeling" but she had taken to ignoring it. She wasn't going to back down. Despite being a bright girl she had moments of pure stupidity that rivaled the worst of people. This was one of those times.

She smiled back at the pair and took the first step into the Woods. Step after step she made her way through the trees, making sure to stick close to her companions. If they got separated things would get messy. She made sure to check her compass to make sure there was no interference or some crazy nonsense. And hopefully Akane would be useful sniffing anything dangerous out. The bander was close to her side sniffing the air as they walked.

Conall would have hesitated if he wasn't afraid of getting left behind. He followed into the Woods, his bird fluttering frantically. What were they trying to achieve going in here? There was the faint sound of a few birds chirping, but beyond that it was strangely silent. Though he had no idea if that was normal or not.

"How far are we going?" he found himself half whispering.

"I want to see if we can potentially find the village that Linnea talked about. We wouldn't get too close, since I imagine the natives would try to kill us, but... I want to see it. I brought binoculars and everything. It'll be a bit before we get there." She spoke in her normal tone of voice without turning around. She was terribly focused at the task at hand.

[Lucca]

Arkady forced himself not to shiver as he took his first step into the infamous Tulgey Woods. The feeling was even worse once they were under those dark trees, like a sort of eternal creepiness pressing in from all sides, or maybe a better analogy was slithering. Like a little worm sliming its way up his spine. Ugh, okay, now that WAS creepy. He shivered, almost able to feel it, and tried to focus on the bright, cheerful colors of Cas's hair instead. After a little while, it just became normal, almost...one paw in front of the other, over and over. The world became nothing but darkness, weirdness, and the one spot of brightness that was Cas.

Arkady didn't realize he was almost trancing until Conall suddenly spoke from behind him, and the little pup had to choke back a little yelp. He listened closely, though, to their leader's answer. "I won't let anything hurt you," he promised, the words tumbling out of his maw before he could think them through. He meant it, though. As a Coyote of few words, there was little Ark said that he did not mean.

[Kari Muffin]

Castiel blushed slightly at Arkady's comment. He was so sweet. He always knew the right thing to say. "Hopefully no one will get hurt," She said as they continued to through the under brush.

This was exciting, though she was a little dismayed by all of the trees. She wanted to see one of the natives in the actual Wood. Outside of it, she was positive, that everyone acted in a completely different manner. Even if she could only watch from afar she wanted to see them.

Conall found himself getting more and more worried as they progressed through the Wood. He still couldn't understand how Castiel had managed to convince him this was an idea to follow through on.

His bird fluffed up and his head snapped upwards. Was that movement. "Guys... I think something is watching us," he said after a few moments. They weren't even that deep in the Woods were they? He really hoped it was his imagination, but the little bird extension that sat on his shoulder was never wrong. He had definitely caught sight of something.



Lythero had been sulking about lately. Nothing was going as he planned. Not even his research into different forms of magic. No one would respect him, and no one truly respected the region anymore. He had decided to take a bit of a walk, and ultimately ended up scaling a tree so he could look down on the world.

He had been watching the wild life when something bright had caught his eye. The pink was a shade he had never seen naturally in the Wood.

An Outsider.

A small growl escaped him. He shifted on the branch to get a better look.

[Lucca]

Arkady nodded, and moved a couple of paces closer to Castiel. Despite his bravado, the Coyote knew there were very dangerous things here, and some of them he wouldn't necessarily be able to do much against. But he'd try, for the sake of his friends and for the sake of his family. They were all going to get out of here alive. He was focused more on not being afraid than he was on looking out for potential danger, however, since this was such a new experience for him.

But as soon as Conall said that, he froze. He looked around, but saw nothing other than endless amounts of trees. He sniffed the air experimentally, but all the smells were so unfamiliar he couldn't pin down anything helpful. He glanced at Cas for help, then back at the boy. "You sure?" After all, Conall had been the most nervous of any of them about this trip. He could just be imagining things...or trying to get them to turn back. Then he...thought he heard something? He looked up, but saw nothing but more leaves. Arkady shook his head. It was just the creepiness getting to him. The should keep going. He nosed Cas's hand.

[Kari Muffin]

"I'm positive," Conall said as he slowly scanned the trees. There were too many leaves for him to see properly, but he had definitely seen movement. The bog could feel a twinge of panic as he looked to Castiel.

Castiel felt the soft touch of Arkady's nose on her hand. It was oddly reassuring despite Conall's scare. She brushed her fingers briefly across the Solandrian boy's mane before responding to anything. "We should just keep going," she said brightly. Her cheer would not be hindered quite yet. They still weren't that far in the Wood. "The village isn't too far away, so we should be fine. It's just going to be a quick trip, so don't panic."

Conall gave Castiel a a surprised look. He shouldn't have. Her mind was set so they were going to go through with this nightmare. "I'll... keep a look out I guess." Conall said after a moment.

Castiel, still filled with cheer, picked up the pace again.


Lythero watched the children pause to discuss something. His ears twitched as he strained to hear them. He caught a few words here and there, mostly from the girl. His osprey claws dug into the tree branch. He could jump them now, or he could stalk them for a bit longer. One of them kept looking up. Thankfully his white was obscured by the leaves.

He wasn't that much of a squirrel anymore, but when he had been he had gotten the hang of going from tree to to tree. It was a care process now, however, considering the amount of noise he made periodically. He hoped they would just chalk it up to the few forest critters that were roaming around.

Came to a stop when they had reached the spot on the map. She pulled out the binoculars, peering through them. She let out an ecstatic gasp. "Do you want to see?" she offered the binoculars to Arkady.

There wasn't much to the village, just a few houses and no one actually seemed to be out.

[Lucca]

Arkady let out a breath and resolved to keep a watch as well, though he had the feeling Conall's eyes might be a bit more suited to the gloom of the forest than his were. His nose could be useful, but he had no idea what he was even trying to smell for. Was it one of the famous bad things that lived in the Wood? But they only came out at night, right? Or could it be a Card? The thought sent shivers down his spine. He'd never actually seen a Tulgey before...but he heard they were rather ruthless to Outsiders, as they called them.

He nodded at Cas. Moving sounded like a good idea. At least that meant whatever was watching them would have to move too. Or something. His ears twitched, thinking he heard rustling in the trees...he glanced up, but, nothing. Perhaps it was just his imagination playing tricks on him. Oh, he hoped so.

When they stopped again, Arkady found he was trembling slightly, and he forced himself to be still. He nodded again and reached out for the binoculars, taking them gingerly in his paws. He peered through them at the little village. Was that a flash of white in one of the windows of the houses, or were his eyes also playing tricks on him? After a long minute he handed the binoculars to Conall. "Hard to believe there are Cards living in a place like this," he said in a near-whisper. He knew he wouldn't want to live somewhere this creepy. It was actually kind of cool to be visiting, though.

[Kari Muffin]

Conall accepted the binoculars to briefly peer through them. He wasn't particularly impressed by the village. Though it was amazing to think that people made their home in the Wood. With all of the ridiculous critters that were supposedly around how could they make it through the night?

"It is," Castiel whispered as she edged a little closer to the two boys. She really hoped that none of the residents were anywhere nearby. She didn't want to get in a scuffle even though she had brought her sword just in case.

Lythero was perched above the three children, slowly edging closer. A Yarrow, a Solandrian, and a region he couldn't quite place. They were almost pale enough to be a Tulgey, but those things that were sticking out of its back and the fact that it lacked wings were clear signs that it was an Outsider.

This body didn't have that many decent spells, so he would start with something small to surprise the little children. He activated his water ability. That would at least give them a ice cold surprise.

Strong Magical Ability: When activated, he can create up to one gallon of drinking water up to twice times per day.

[Lucca]

Arkady nodded, still feeling rather hushed. He subconsciously moved a bit closer to Castiel, feeling a little chill go down his spine as he looked out at the village. Were they going to...leave the Wood now? Much as he knew that was the smartest thing to do and would advocate it if asked, it did seem a little...anticlimactic. Like tension had just been building up this whole time, and it was just going to fizzle out into nothing.

Of course, the Coyote should never bother with such thoughts, because, well, something would inevitably happen if you thought stupid things like that. And it did. When the icy cold water suddenly hit his back, drenching him completely, the Coyote yelped loudly and whirled around, looking all over for their attacker and shaking his head to try and get the water out of his mane so it wouldn't drip into his eyes.

He began growling low under his breath, moving a bit in front of Cas. He still couldn't -see- anything. But obviously, there was someone there. A Card. A Spade, to have a water spell like that. Ark's eyes narrowed as his hackles rose and he continued to growl.