(no subject)

[ladyfirestarter]

"It doesn't seem to be related to what happened last winter," Charlie's saying as the two women make their way slowly along the lakeshore, "but I'm wondering if it could be something left over."

The sun's dipping low toward the horizon, but isn't down yet. Charlie is wearing a messenger bag, open at the top, and carrying (but not yet using) her cane.

Comments

[flip_the_lights]

"Why is it showing up now, though?" says Olivia. Her voice sounds a bit gravely from the cough she's been battling; giving in to the persistent chill, she's also dressed in a hat, scarf, and gloves in addition to a thick wool coat. "If it's residual effects from a collapse, I'm surprised it lay dormant this long. No hint, no anything until a couple weeks ago."

[ladyfirestarter]

Charlie's only concession to the cold is a heavy parka, worn open over a gray turtleneck.

"No idea," she admits. "I wasn't thinking so much residual effects, though, as something having come through with the rest of the monsters. And managed to stay here when the tears closed."

[flip_the_lights]

Olivia sighs, shaking her head. "But that raises the same question: why now?"

She untucks a hand from her pocket, gesturing toward the woods for lack of anywhere else to point.

"Has anything significant changed in the past year that you've noticed?"

[ladyfirestarter]

She shakes her head. "Nothing out of the ordinary."

[flip_the_lights]

Olivia pauses for a second to cough into the crook of her elbow. It's deep enough to rattle her whole chest.

Hoarsely, she goes on, "There's always the possibility that it just found its way here by the same path everyone else does. Maybe it's a patron that walked through the front door."

[ladyfirestarter]

"True," she concedes. It's a little absent; she's looking at Olivia with some concern. "You sure you want to be out here?"

[flip_the_lights]

"I do."

Firm, and without hesitation.

[ladyfirestarter]

Another nod; she's not going to press.

"Okay. If it's just a patron who walked in through the front door, the question is whether or not it knows what it's doing."

[flip_the_lights]

"I wondered that, too. But considering the only form of communication it's shown are those marks..."

Another unfelt gesture toward the trees, and another sigh. They're almost to the line dividing grass from forest.

[ladyfirestarter]

"Yes. This is where they've been seen?"

The sun is still at least an hour from setting, but it's already deeply shadowy under the trees.

[flip_the_lights]

"One of the places," she says. "But they seem to be more...frequent..."

Olivia trails off.

Because now that her eyes are adjusting to the gloom, it's clear that they've become more frequent than she realized: scratched deep into the bark of every tree like sightless eyes, some trunks bearing two or even three circled X's.

[dont_turn_around]

[ladyfirestarter]

Charlie's own eyes widen.

Low: "There weren't this many before, were there."

[flip_the_lights]

"No." Just as quiet and flat as Charlie. "Not anywhere near."

She stretches out a hand to the closest one, then thinks better of it and draws back. Something in her head had switched from communication to evidence, like the marks delineate a dead body.

[ladyfirestarter]

Moving slowly, cautiously, as though trying not to frighten something off (or spur something to attack), Charlie dips one hand into her pocket. Lifts out a cellphone, without taking her eyes from the trees.

Her voice doesn't change, doesn't rise. "I'm gonna try to get a picture."

[flip_the_lights]

Olivia nods, silent, and pads back a step to stay out of frame.

"Worth it to take video, too?"

[ladyfirestarter]

"Might be. I'll try stills first."

A pause.

"You feel it, don't you?"

[flip_the_lights]

"Yeah." By now, it's barely a breath, as if they're on the verge of disturbing whatever left the symbols. Olivia checks her sight lines; after another moment's debate, she pulls off her gloves.

It'll be easier to handle her gun without knitwear getting in the way, no matter how cold it might be.

[dont_turn_around]

Curioser and curioser

[ladyfirestarter]

She doesn't have to say what it is they both feel. Something undeniably present; something undeniably inimical.

Something watching.

One still photo. Another.

Charlie spares a quick glance at her phone to see if the pictures are taking.

[flip_the_lights]

The cold wraps around her lungs like tendrils; Olivia's next breath threatens to turn into another cough. She presses her free hand to her mouth like she's trying to stifle something much worse.

Her other hand stays at her hip, every muscle tensed around the gun in preparation.

[ladyfirestarter]

Charlie glances at her swiftly.

Then, with her eyes back on the trees: "Could you use a little warmth?"

[flip_the_lights]

A barely present smile.

"I wouldn't say no, if you're offering."

[ladyfirestarter]

Slowly, carefully -- oh so carefully -- Charlie pushes a little heat Olivia's way.

Not too close. She's very mindful of the fact that Olivia's holding a gun.

[flip_the_lights]

She exhales a long breath, taking care not to let it devolve into a cough. It starts out as a plume of mist; by the time her lungs are empty, it's no longer visible in the warming air.

"Thanks," she murmurs.