Raistlin Majere of the Red Robes (hourglass_mage) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-03-01 06:33:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, raistlin majere, tasslehoff burrfoot |
Who: Raistlin and Tasslehoff
What: Fighting a monster, what else?
When: Near the end of the Silent Hill Plot
Where: Orange County somewhere, they don't really know
Rating/Warnings Some mild violence and maybe some language?
Status: Complete!
Tas wasn’t sure how the Orange County could get any greater. If it kept up, maybe Tas would even turn California into his forever home. He wasn’t sure if travelling to places that didn’t have magic and weird descending isolating fogs filled with monsters would really hold his interest anymore.
Well, they probably would. But he definitely liked this better. It had been a couple of days since the last time he’d seen Raistlin which was a little disappointing. Once he’d realized something was strange on that first day, he’d run off to find adventure and had hoped that Raistlin would be coming with him, but then he’d discovered that somehow, Raistlin had wandered off on his own and gotten lost. Which was really just irresponsible of Tas’ surly friend.
Which meant when he ran into Raistlin again, he was really quite excited. “Raistlin! Hi!” Tas yelled shrilly as he ran, full tilt, toward his friend.
Tas’s shrill voice made Raistlin jump practically out of his skin. He did not like this fog. He did not like that it hid things a little too well. He did not like that he couldn’t use his magic while out in it. And he did not like that he kept seeing things out of the corner of his eye. There was no static on his phone, though, so for now he was safe.
“Where the hell have you been?!” He demanded when Tas ran up to him. “Do you know that I’ve been out here looking for you? Do you have any idea what has happened out here?” Of course he didn’t, how could he possibly have known? Raistlin decided to fill him in. “I had to stab a monster in the neck! In the neck, Tas! With the kitchen knife! So now we need to get a new knife! Why the hell did you run out in this? Are you trying to give me a heartattack?”
Tas had been planning on giving Raistlin a big hug, but he thought better of it when Raistlin started yelling at him. “Really?” Tas asked, his eyes wide with wonder. “Did it bleed lots? Why didn’t you just blow it up. No offense, Raist, but I think you’re better at magicking things away than stabbing them. Not that you probably didn’t do a good job at stabbing the monster! I bet it went down just like that. Was it very big? What did it look like?” Though he had to give Raistlin a bit of a stern frown at his next questions. “I thought you were right behind me, Raistlin! It’s not my fault you decided to wander off all on your own.”
In his head, Raistlin had exploded at Tas, verbally let him have it right between the eyes with everything he had. He did not do this, however. He stood there glowering at Tas, blue eyes narrowed sharply. The other man’s constant upbeat outlook was infuriating, especially since Raistlin had actually been worried about him out here on his own.
“I didn’t wander off on my own,” he said in a low voice that belied his anger. He took a breath and tried to calm himself down. Perhaps it wasn’t necessarily all Tas’s fault. Raistlin had lost Jonathan in the split second it had taken him to look away and back. It also wasn’t as though Tas had intended to ditch him. Raistlin relaxed his shoulders. “Don’t wander off again.” He told him sternly. “The monster I saw was terrible. It tried to eat a man right in front of me. We were only lucky that he was stronger than it. And…” he trailed off unsure if he wanted to tell Tas about the thing he’d been seeing just out of his line of sight. “There are other things out there. I think it's best that we went home.”
“Did it really?” Tas asked, full of awe. “I don’t think I’ve seen any monsters big enough to eat someone yet. That must have been so exciting.” Though, Raistlin didn’t seem to think it was as great as Tas did. He deflated a little when Raistlin said that it was time to go home. He wanted to stay out some more to see if he could see any terrible monsters that would try to eat him, but Raistlin seemed pretty angry as it was so he thought it was probably best to keep his mouth shut. “I guess we could go home. I think I have some really good brandy in the cupboard that we could drink!”
Raistlin was a little surprised Tas wasn’t going to try and argue and persuade him to stay out there with him wandering around town and hunting monstrosities. Surprised and relieved, actually. His body significantly relaxed now that they could go home. Back to their wet-animal fur smelling apartment, where it was safe and nothing would be lurking around the corners except the occasional rat.
“Exciting is a word for it,” Raistlin said. It wouldn’t have been the word he’d use. He pulled Tas along with him, keeping a firm grip on his arm. There was no way in hell he’d lose Tas again.
Tas went along cheerfully enough, spinning his hoopak above his head with his free hand so it produced the eerie whine that the hoopaks were known for in his dreams. He really rather enjoyed the sound, even if it made the fog seem even more ominous than normal.
“I met a new friend out there,” Tas said. “His name’s Tony! He was really interesting. Did you make any new friends? Like the one who you killed the giant monster with?” Tas sighed wistfully. Maybe someday he’d get to stab a monster in the neck.
And maybe that day would come sooner than he expected. As the two of them walked toward where Tas assumed there apartment with (no doubt Raistlin would know where they were going, though everything looked so different now that everything was so delightfully twisted up), Tas’ phone began to let out a sound of static that. He was confused for a moment as he stopped suddenly, reaching for his phone, and then his face lit up. “Oh! Oh! I think there must be something close by! My phone has been making this noise every time before I see a monster! Do you think there’s one near by?” Tas peered eagerly into the fog around them.
Tas was the cartographer, Raistlin assumed he knew which way they were going. He hadn’t explored Orange County quite the same way Tas had, and besides, there was nothing around that was really recognizable to indicate where they were. One twisted gutted building lead into another twisted boarded up one and so on along the block.
Raistlin called bullshit on Tas meeting this Tony person. Raistlin had only come across one other person while out in the fog and that had only been because Jonathan had been hunting. Well, kind of hunting.
“I meet a fellow by the name of Jonathan Harker,” he said. “A vampire.” He figured Tas would get a rise out of that little detail. “I was with him when the monster attacked…” he trailed when he heard Tas’s cellphone start to make noise. His cellphone joined in a moment later, as if the mere mention of monster had summoned one.
Raistlin stood frozen to his spot on the sidewalk. There was something...something sinister lurking just at the corner of his eye. He tightened his grip on Tas’s arm. “Yes, Tas,” he said quietly. “There is something nearby.”
“A vampire?” Tas said. “Really? My friend Anna lives with three of them! She says they’re all pretty nice though. Did he try to eat you? Did he try to eat the monster? How cool would that be? I once ran into a vampire! Down in Mexico. He was going to eat me, but I poked him in the eyes and then ran outside and then he turned to dust in the sun.”
Tas yammered on, even as he started to load the sling in his hoopak staff with some particularly pointy rocks he’d managed to pick up over the last couple of days. He tried to pull away from Raistlin’s arm so he could attempt to take aim at whatever it was that was hiding in the shadows. “You’ve got to let go of me, Raistlin,” Tas chided lightly. “We won’t be able to fight very well if you’re holding onto my arm the whole time, now are we? Do you think you’ll stab this one in the neck too? I’d like to see that. Not as much as I’d like to see you blow it up, but I guess you can’t do that, can you?” he asked, a little pouty at the last.
Tas was talking, but Raistlin didn’t hear a word the other man was saying. All he could hear was the crackling hiss of both of their phones. He didn’t dare turn his head for fear that this time whatever was lurking just out of sight wouldn’t vanish and that he’d be confronted with a creature with glowing eyes, gaunt face and dripping fangs.
He’d been lucky the last time. Jonathan had been the target of the last creature that had leapt from the shadows. The event had painfully reminded Raistlin how inept he was when it came to fighting hand-to-hand. Had it not been for the vampire’s sheer strength and fast reflexes, it surely would have killed them both.
Everything had happened so fast with the creature that had attacked Jonathan, Raistlin hadn’t had enough time to really think. He’d acted on instinct and the lessons Kitiara had pounded into him in their backyard. But he’d had plenty of time to think now, and the monster seemed content to let Raistlin think on it some more.
He glanced at Tas, who had casually loaded his hoopak staff and was attempting to take aim at whatever it was lurking in the shadows behind Raistlin. This wasn’t like what they saw in their dreams. Neither one of them were fighters here. Raistlin’s grip tightened on Tas’s arm. They should run. They should get the hell out of here while they could! Raistlin was afraid, but Tas...Tas wasn’t. Slowly, Raistlin let him go.
“No,” he admitted softly. “I can’t.”
A strange sort of noise could be heard from the shadows of the alley next to them. Slowly Raistlin looked over his shoulder to see a quivering thing step out. Tall and rail thin, it seemed to lurch instead of walk. It’s head twisted and jerked as if it were some kind of video glitch.
Tas couldn’t help but smile widely when he saw the monster. “I haven’t seen any that looked like that yet,” he said excitedly to Raistlin. “Aren’t we lucky? It doesn’t look very tough either, does it? Really kind of skinny, if you ask me.” Not that that really played in their favour. Tas was both short and skinny, and while Raistlin was taller than Tas, he wasn’t much wider. Still, that fact seemed to have escaped Tas’ notice.
He pulled back the sling, and released the rock, hitting the monster in the centre of his chest. Aiming for its head would have been better, probably, but he wasn’t sure if it’d be able to hit it with the queer way it was jerking it back and forth.
Nope, Raistlin hadn’t quite seen anything like this creature before either. It wasn’t very large or really very threatening if one were to really get a good look at it. It was more disconcerting to look at than anything else. It’s limbs were elongated and bony looking to the point of emaciation. It stood up on it’s toes when it moved, but it’s walk was more of a stagger than an actual stride.
But there was something about it that made Raistlin’s heart pump faster in his throat. Maybe it was the way it’s head glitched and jerked about on it’s thin neck, as if it were at once a part of this world and yet a part of another. Or perhaps it was the way the thing belched when the stone hit it in the chest. It was deep and unnatural sounding ringing of pain and…something else Raistlin couldn’t identify, but made him grimace anyway.
Raistlin watched the creature stagger and attempt to keep it’s balance after being hit with the rock. It stumbled around moaning in an otherworldly fashion that was also incredibly disconcerting. The more he looked at it, the angrier it made him. He pulled the kitchen knife out of his messenger bag again. Blood and gore from his previous monster encounter still caked the blade.
“Go for the throat,” he told Tas. “Let’s take its head off.”
Tas tossed another rock, casually, before he loaded it into his sling. “Got it,” Tas said. “You know, sometimes people keep the heads of the things they kill. And then they have big parades where they walk down the street with all the heads on pikes. It’s really interesting. Not that I think we should keep any heads. That’s kind of nasty, really. And I think it would clash with the rest of our decor.” He closed one of his eyes and stuck out his tongue in concentration as he aimed, and then let the stone fly with all the power he could get out of the hoopak - power enough to shatter bones on a normal human.
If it wasn’t for the weird unsettling feeling the creature gave Raistlin, he might not have minded taking its head. Under different circumstances, studying it and figuring out where it came from could have been interesting. However, once this thing was defeated, Raistlin really didn’t want to have anything more to do with it. If he still had the ability to set it on fire once its heard was removed he’d have gladly done so.
For now, however, he had to rely on Tas’s hoopak and the skills with a knife Isabela had taught him. He wasn’t going to rush the monster this time. His experience with the thing that had attacked Jonathan Harker had taught him the error in that thinking. He would have to be patient and not let the unsettling feeling - fear, perhaps - get the better of him again.
The rock struck the creature square in the throat just below it’s twitching head. It let out another horrendous disgusting sounding belch - how when Tas had it it with enough force to do some serious damage to the windpipe was a mystery - and fell over, still twitching in a manner that was indicative that it could possibly get up again if it could manage to get it’s spindly legs under itself again.
Raistlin wasn’t going to let it have that chance. With it down and the threat of getting hit diminished, he rushed forward with the knife to stab the creature in the same spot Tas had hit it. The blade plunged into flesh, somehow going much deeper than the thin stock supporting the head should have allowed.
As it died, the monster let out another long drawn out hideous sounding belch before it became still. The twitching head became still allowing Raistlin to finally get a look at the creature’s face. HIs eyes widened when he saw not the hideous face of a monster, but his own. Raistlin yelped and jerked backwards, stumbling over his own feet and falling onto his ass.
Tas quickly headed over to the monster to get a good look at it and to make sure that it was actually dead after Raistlin had stabbed it. He gave it a good poke with the metal-encased point at the end of his hoopak staff, and when it didn’t so much as twitch he smiled widely, which then turned into a laugh when he saw Raistlin stumble back and fall over. It was then when he glanced over at the face of the monster, and gave an excited gasp. “Oh wow, Raistlin, look! It looks just like you! Kind of! A little creepier though. But isn’t that interesting! I wonder why it looks like you!” And then he gave an even more excited gasp. “Were you and Caramon triplets?”
“What?!” In his surprise, Raistlin had momentarily forgotten Tas was with him. He jerked his attention up towards his roommate. “No. No Caramon and I aren’t triplets.”
Raistlin didn’t understand what was going on. The monster had been stalking him on and off since he’d left the apartment. Every time it had appeared as a shadow lurking just out of Raistlin’s line of sight, it had given him a wave of unease, of fear, like he was some kind of prey for the creature to stalk. After stabbing the creature that had gone after Jonathan Harker, Raistlin had figured that the creature stalking him would have looked similar - all fangs and claws and strength. He had not expected this.
Ordinarily, the entire idea of monsters of varying appearance and power roaming about the “real world” would have fascinated him. It really should have fascinated him, demanded his attention and research, but the loss of his magic combined with this creature’s face looking almost exactly like his own shook Raistlin to his very core. He wanted absolutely nothing to do with any of it any longer.
“C’mone,” he said shakily as he got to his feet again. “We’re getting out of here. Now.”
Tas took another look at the monster and let out a disappointed sigh as he started to walk away with Raistlin. “If you guys aren’t triplets, why does it look like you? Do you think that someone summoned a demon that just happened to look like you? Or maybe they meant for it to look like you. None of the other monsters I saw looked like people. Except for the ones that jumped out at people from the walls. Those ones looked like people. Did you run into any of those? They hit pretty hard!” Tas asked, more than a little curious about the surprising turn of events. “Oh, I wish I had a monster that looked like me. You get all the fun.” He let out a wistful sigh.
Raistlin resisted the urge to rub at his temples. Tas was asking too many questions Raistlin couldn’t answer - couldn’t even think about answering. He also did not like the idea that someone had summoned a monster that looked like him. Why would anyone do that? Did they know about that Other in his Dreams and this was some kind of twisted way of letting him know they knew? Ugh. Too many questions, not enough answers. It made the hair on the back of Raistlin’s hair prickle.
“No,” he muttered in response to Tas, “I haven’t run into any of those.” And he honestly did not want to. He’d had his fill of monsters for the time being. He was not a fighter and he resented Orange County for forcing him to become one. All he wanted to do now was go home and ride the rest of this out, and now that he’d found Tas and made sure the man was ok, he could do just that.
...that is...if he knew where he was exactly.
Raistlin stopped and looked around. Nothing was familiar and he had no idea where in the county he even was anymore. “Hey, Tas,” he said looking over his shoulder. “Do you know where we….are….?” He trailed. He could have sworn Tas was right behind him. He’d heard him yammering on not two minutes ago!
“Tas?” He called out, looking around a bit more frantically then he would have liked to admit to, but fuck it, he really didn’t want to be out here alone. “Tas!”
But just as it had been with Jonathan Harker a few hours ago, there was no sign of Tas and no yammering response from within the fog. Raistlin’s shoulders slumped.
“Shit.”
Tas wasn’t entirely sure what had just happened. One minute, Raistlin was there, walking away, and then Tas had cast one last look at the Raistlin Monster, and when he looked back, Raistlin was gone. It was like he’d been swallowed by the fog. Tas briefly wondered what it would feel like to be actually swallowed by fog. He imagined it would be kind of cold and clammy, but certainly it would be an experience of some sort.
Or, more likely, Raistlin had wandered off on his own. Tas gave an exasperated sigh, his fists on his hips. “Really,” he said, exasperated. “It’s rude to just wander off in the middle of a conversation.” Tas would definitely be having a long talk with his roommate about manners once he managed to find his way home.