And Callie was a goner

[sticksandbonesmods]

Who: Callan & You
What: The Lake Guardian escapes gay baby jail I mean prison I mean the lake—
When: Forward-dated 7/31
Where: The Grove
Warnings: usual Callan warnings apply, so this log will probably mention eating people & violence, as well as Callan's usual shapeshifting to have too many limbs/eyes/etc.


The fog wall imperceptibly rolls back after everyone arrives back on dry land, back to the safety of Aldric's Grove, where the scary wet creatures cannot get anybody anymore.

Well. All except one scary wet creature, who realises with a start that the fog wall is passing over his head, stopping in its roll-back at the opposite edge of the lake. Which means he's free. He can leave the lake.

Finally.

Thus does this half-corrupted Thing haul himself out of the lake on long, spindly human limbs and scuttle through the woods, making a three-day journey in the record time of about four hours, plowing over trees in his wake. And when he arrives at the Grove, he still doesn't stop moving; a blur of black is all anyone will see, a strange shape in the daylight, as Callan skitters forward and then pitches himself into the well.

...

Anyway, good luck with that, y'all.

Comments

[start_again]

[Siffrin startles, possibly making an embarrassing sound as he jumps back but he'll never admit to it. When he returns to peek back over the edge of the well, it's with a narrowed eye and his dagger in hand out of sight at his side.]

Very funny.

[They do not sound all that amused.]

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I know!! I'm hilarious!!

[And then Callan cackles and shapeshifts more into the form of a man... you know, still with his blue skin and all but he looks more like a person.

A person with tentacles, which are clinging to the insides of the well. Listen, it's fine.]

You smell new. Different! Like sadness and confusion.

[start_again]

[Oddly, the blue skin doesn't really register as innately strange, beyond huh, haven't seen that before. All skin colors he's seen here have been weird. Skin doesn't have a color where he comes from.

The tentacles and shapeshifting are definitely weird, though. Siffrin squints at the thing in the dark of the well.]

I don't know what you're talking about. [Nope, not sad at all!! Fuck off, complete stranger!!!!] What are you?

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You're so new you don't even know me!! [There's a loud, watery-sounding laugh.] Callan, the Lake Guardian, and as far as you're concerned, a deity. I was trapped in that lake for millennia, you know! I'm not leaving this well until I see what everyone gets up to when they're not bothering me to "be nice" and "stop eating people".

[start_again]

[UH.....]

...You eat people?

[Siffrin squints at the creature down in the well, grip tightening on his dagger.]

[sticksandbonesmods]

Formerly! I was told that's "bad".

[start_again]

It definitely is.

[ what even is this interaction he's having.... ]

You don't really sound sorry about it, though.

[sticksandbonesmods]

I'm not!!!

[Absolutely not a single bit of regret here.]

I won't eat you, though. You're too meatless and scrawny, like a reed.

[start_again]

[He's not sure whether to be comforted or insulted.]

So you might eat anyone with more meat on them?

[Siffrin is suddenly glad Isabeau isn't here. That guy is 100% beef.]

[sticksandbonesmods]

Yeah!! Buuuut I've been told I need to ask first. So I won't! But I'll think about it. And I might do it!

[start_again]

You sound pretty evil.

[Do evil things actually care whether or not someone says something is "bad"?]

[sticksandbonesmods]

What do GOOD people do, then?

[This is a trap, Siffrin, do not fall for this. Callan has a laundry list of things humans have done over the millennia he's been alive to counterargument you with, don't fall for the trickster guardian's willes.]

[start_again]

[Unfortunately, he'll bite, albeit very dryly:]

Not eat people? Like, ever.

[sticksandbonesmods]

Sounds boring! But don't worry, squirrelly little thing, I'm reformed. I don't eat people anymore. Unless I want to. I'll ask permission first! In the meantime, you should try taking a bite sometime, it's tasty. It gets rid of people you don't like real fast too!

[start_again]

[They frown, but they can hardly argue with that description.]

Even I couldn't eat a whole person fast enough to make than an efficient strategy. Human jaws don't unhinge, y'know.

[sticksandbonesmods]

I always thought that was a design flaw! Who made you like that?? How do you eat anything at all with your narrow little mouths?

[start_again]

With a knife?? Who made you like that?

[A vague gesture down at the creature in the well.]

[sticksandbonesmods]

I'm honestly not sure how I was born! I think I just happened like some sort of cosmic accident and now I live in the lake~.

[Except for right now, where he's in the well.]

I can shapeshift into something like you and have a tiny mouth if I want to!

[start_again]

[Hm.]

...Could you be something even smaller? Like a mouse? I bet you can't go that small.

[sticksandbonesmods]

I can!!

[He has certain limitations — he could be a bird but he can't fly, he can't exactly shapeshift to a saltwater friendly fish, he can't shapeshift and steal something else's powers... but he sure can be tiny. Siffrin will get to watch this amorphous creature turn into the tiniest version of... an octopus merman? It's kind of hard to tell, because he's about the size of a dollar coin and sitting on the edge of the well triumphantly.

A much tinier voice says:]

Ta-dah!!

[start_again]

Cool.

[Siffrin immediately tries to catch the tiny creature and trap it between his hands.]

[sticksandbonesmods]

[Callan apparently thinks this is a game, because nothing but mad cackles come from inside the hands.

Then a tentacle tries to part his fingers so that he can look out upon the world from his dark enclosure. Wiggle wiggle wiggle! Nice and slimy, like a worm.]

[start_again]

[Damn, can't believe that worked.

Siffrin makes a face at the slimy feeling, even through his gloves, but he turns and sets off towards...the general store? Maybe? This plan is admittedly a bit haphazard, but he's doing what he can. Time for an adventure, Callie! It's a fight the whole way there trying to keep the slippery little thing from squeezing between his fingers.]

[sticksandbonesmods]

[Well, Siffrin will probably make it to the general store okay, while Callan wiggles in his grip and giggles madly... have you ever held a really upset baby snake, because this is basically the feeling x6. The tentacles continue to poke and prod at the gaps between his fingers...

A tiny voice chirps,]

Where are we going!

[start_again]

[The tiny, clueless voice almost makes him feel bad. But Siffrin persists. He will not be swayed by a sympathetic facade again.]

Just looking for something cozy, that's all...

[Still keeping a firm grip on the wriggly little thing, he scans the shelves. Maybe there's, like...a fishtank or something...? He doesn't intend to hurt the little guy just in case it is ultimately harmless, just...y'know. Perhaps find something to keep it in to better keep an eye on it.]