[PRP] You're walking in the woods. It's dark. (Finn/Jamie)

[Silverah]

[Backdated to March 12th]

The air was cold and crisp, and Finn swung his flashlight across the path in front of them. "Watch out for roots," he called back to Jamie. "This trail's not graded."

It was about half a mile from the trailhead to the campground, and Finn hoped whatever the call was about wasn't urgent. Usually, when the service phone rang on the night shift, it was about raccoons. Sometimes it was about kids on the beach.

Either way, Finn had to check it out.

"It's ******** freezing, huh?" he called over his shoulder. "Who camps with overnight lows in the teens?!"

Saedusk

 

[saedusk]

It wasn't unusual Jamie stayed late at Waite State from time to time. Of everything he dealt with in his mundane, non-magical life—work, school, making the dreaded car insurance payment, for example—this was one he enjoyed the most. Didn't matter that it was often physically demanding and always under-appreciated by park patrons, he had fun regardless. It was a great distraction from things he didn't want to think about, at least.

"It's kinda awful," Jamie agreed, just as disbelieving. Small and without much meat to protect him from the wind, he tried not to shiver. "Hopefully it'll be nothing, after all."

He'd sent a quick text to Shiloh a couple hours ago. The usual, of course: staying late, love you, be home after the full moon. It was the same as it always was, no problems here.

"The other day I saw someone hiking in shorts and short sleeves," he said, making conversation, "So who knows what people think."

Silverah

 

[Silverah]

Finn, who was currently wearing an extremely hideous rainbow-stripped wool scarf in addition to his regulation jacket, pants, and boots, shot Jamie a disgusted look over his shoulder. "It's like they want frostbite," he said.

Some people.

"Why do we even have this campsite," he grumbled, sweeping his flashlight across the path again.

(He knew why.)

Saedusk

 

[saedusk]

The smile Jamie offered was sympathetic, but barely visible behind his own scarf. It was considerably muted compared to Finn's, a solid pastel pink with short white fringes, tucked inside itself and flung over his shoulder. "I dunno," he replied. He knew why, too. "Kinda silly, huh?"

After that he went quiet, listening to the crunch of their boots through the dead underbrush. Out here it was so quiet that even walking sounded like crashes of thunder in his ears. Jamie tried not to get existential about it.

Cautious of the path ahead, he pulled out his phone. It was way too bright. It said 11:55 pm. Jamie's head was suddenly full of too many thoughts. Now he was trying not to panic.

"H-Hey, Finn... do you have the time?" his voice was absolutely shaking.

Silverah

 

[Silverah]

If Jamie sounded nervous, Finn chalked the tremor in his voice up to the cold. He pushed up his sleeve a bit and checked the time on his sports watch. "Couple minutes before midnight," he called back. "You got a hot date or something?"

saedusk

 

[saedusk]

"I wish," said Jamie. It should've been a joke, but it didn't sound like one. Instead it sounded like he was on the edge of keeping it together. The cold it was not, though every inch of his skin flared with goosebumps and his body temperature fell about ten degrees with frightful realization regardless. The time on his phone hadn't been wrong. That was just wishful thinking.

"The Otherworld..." he whispered, "I-I-I've gotta get to Other A-Ashdown!" The panic broke loose then as Jamie tripped over his own feet and fell against a tree. He couldn't snap his fingers and summon Beel, there was no way Ollie and his uncanny doorway powers could get here fast enough, there was nothing he could do.

They were in the middle of the goddamn woods.

Silverah

 

[Silverah]

"Other--" Finn spun around, flashlight casting a jittery beam across the trees before it settled on Jamie. Already, his power-mind was spinning, looking for a hedgerow or a knothole or an arch of branches that would let them cross through to the Otherworld. He wasn't sure what the rush was, but-

The paths were laid out in his mind. They were all very long.

And Jamie was on the ground.

Finn raced over, sliding into a crouch beside him. "Are you okay?" he asked, holding out a hand. "I know the way. You didn't twist your ankle or anything, did you?"

Saedusk

 

[saedusk]

They'd always been so careful, so very, very careful. Shiloh kept a moon cycle app on his phone for god's sake. Just today he'd reminded Jamie at least three times despite knowing full well neither of them would forget. This wasn't supposed to happen.

When Jamie looked up at Finn there were tears caught in his eyelashes. It would've been poetic were it not real life.

"N-No..." he murmured, voice still shaking. It was an answer to both questions at once and Jamie's throat was too dry and too tight to say much else. He fought to a stand against his rebellious legs. Jello, each of them. For a short few seconds he let himself believe Finn might be able to help him to the Otherworld in time. "W-W-We have to..." He took a wobbly step.

And yet, despite there being not a single second to spare for it, he shot off two rapid fire text messages with his near-useless fingers. Both were riddled with typos.

Melancholies

Text to: The Blue Shy Guy

i mnessed uo

i lovw u

It was 11:57 pm.

Silverah

 

[Silverah]

Finn, who was not entirely sure what was going on but knew that leaving Jamie to his own devices wasn't an option, stepped forward and took hold of the teenager's arm, trying to steady him.

"It's that way," he said, gesturing off the trail with his flashlight. "A couple hundred meters."

Not the best, when whatever Jamie needed to be there for sounded urgent, but paths to the otherworld never really cooperated how you needed them to.

"I'll help you," he said firmly - Jamie didn't look like he'd make it alone.

Saedusk

 

[saedusk]

A couple hundred meters didn't sound that far and again the spark was back, the hope, the thought that they could make it if they really tried. There was no hesitation as Jamie shoved his phone mechanically back into his pocket and let himself be led. The grip of his boots and Finn's support kept him as steady as expected, but the trail wasn't as forgiving as walking a straight, flat shot would've been.

Time ticked by undaunted as Jamie's hope began to fade in a matter of minutes. He didn't know it except by instinct, but it was 11:59 pm. The dread felt real in his gut.

"W-We're not gonna make it," he said, despite not knowing where this entrance supposedly was. "It's-" his voice cut out into silence as his eyes widened in realization. Blackfriars, the very same event that apparently hadn't even happened in this universe, reared its ugly head from his memories. He almost shrieked.

"F-F-Finn, y-you-" he began to shove at Finn's arm, trying to make him let go, "Y-You have t-to leave. You can't b-be here!"

Silverah

 

[Silverah]

Finn boggled at Jamie, wasting valuable time that could have been spent getting his a** out of dodge. He'd been present at Blackfriars, true - remembered it clearly - but hadn't made a connection between that event and Jamie's current panic.

"What?" he asked. "No. If I left you out here in the woods alone, I'd get ******** fired." Jamie was his subordinate, and that made Finn responsible for him.

"Come on," he said, gesturing. "We're close. Twenty-five meters, maybe."

Saedusk

 

[saedusk]

Jamie had the strength now to push Finn off if he really wanted, but not the wherewithal to make it work, not when fear made his limbs useless and shaky. It was all he could do to stand up straight, to walk. They'd done their best, gotten surprisingly close, and maybe if he hadn't given up on himself they might have made it. They'd never know.

The moon was high in the sky, full and bright and speckling the ground between holes in the canopy. I'm trying, his eyes said, and he took a few more steps like he meant to keep going, but the momentum didn't last.

It was like a wave the way it washed over him, a sudden, familiar yet different feeling. The initial sensation was like pins and needles spreading from his extremities and all the way to his heart. Where in the Otherworld it was vaguely uncomfortable, here it bit into his flesh like fire ants, growing in intensity until the pain was absolutely unmanageable.

Jamie couldn't make any sounds, he couldn't even scream. His cheeks were wet, his eyes bloodshot and harsh, devoid of the sparkle that spelled out who he was. Buried deep inside he was still himself, but instinct had taken over in the worst way and he was beyond saving. Other Ashdown would be no help now.

It was 12:00 am and Finn had about ten seconds before s**t started going even further south.

Silverah

 

[Silverah]

Finn was still trying to make it to the Otherworld, urging Jamie along with a supportive arm looped under his shoulders - but with every step, his companion became more of a dead weight, until Finn was tugging him along with very little progress made for the effort.

"Um," he said, looking down at Jamie.

Jamie was frozen. Jamie looked like he was in agony. Jamie was.

Um.

Transforming?

"What do I do what do I do what do I do," stammered Finn, taking a step away and proceeding to freak the ******** out. "How do I fix this."

Saedusk

 

[saedusk]

Every bone in Jamie's body seemed to pop as he hunched further in on himself, eyes wild, breathing ragged and wheezy. Long, furred ears were pinned so tight to his skull they nearly disappeared beneath the mane of his hair. If body language could speak aloud it would be saying only this: it hurts, it hurts, it hurts.

He looked around, but didn't really see enough to comprehend. He heard Finn speak and it startled him, it made his head throb. The decision to attack, to silence the noise and stop the pain, it was hardly a decision at all, but it happened in an instant.

Oversized hare feet and muscular legs pushed Jamie like a shot as he leapt at Finn, teeth bared, screaming. He went for the neck, the shoulder, anywhere in between. It was instinct.

Silverah

 

[Silverah]

"Um," said Finn, training the flashlight's beam on Jamie. "Um. What the ********."

Jamie stayed put for a moment, hunched over and trembling - and then lunged. Finn flailed with the flashlight at first, chucking it at his frenzied companion in an effort to put some space between the two of them. He stumbled backwards, trying to get away - the events of Blackfriars had suddenly come rushing back in vivid color from wherever he'd filed them away - but he'd gotten too close.

Jamie's teeth sank into his shoulder. <********," swore Finn, struggling to get hold of the flailing werehare - who knew that blunt teeth could be so sharp? It was like his shoulder was on fire.

Like it was spreading.

Saedusk