03.2023 | WELCOME BACK! Hello friends old and new! I'm so excited to welcome you all back to SITW! I've made some changes to the plot and added the ability to play supernatural charcaters! So come and check it out! I can't wait to jump back into this little town with all of you!
A strange history surrounds the town, it is a place where mysterious and supernatural things have been known to happen. The reputation of the town reguarly draws in visitors and newcomers alike. While some residents avidly believe in the supernatural, others are far more skeptical. What do you believe?
Post by Ferris Felwinter on Oct 27, 2023 4:25:16 GMT
Not that intimidating? Ferris glanced over at Darcy out of the corner of his eye. Sure, 'intimidating' wasn't the first word that came to mind to describe her, but he'd only spoken to her candidly all of...fifteen minutes? She was thoughtful, quick witted, and very dedicated to her home. He hadn't asked, but he got the feeling she had grown up in Sweetwarter. A lot of the locals oozed the same sort of determination. Like Michael. the man refused to leave him alone despite all the less than subtle hints.
Darcy had something else about her too though, buried under that humor. It was that confidence again. Except here she was saying she felt it was just because she had a badge and a gun. Maybe because she was a woman? But it didn't line up with how she spoke about her encounters with people or the wildfire investigation of how she presented herself to him. Ferris shook his head. "Considering the lack of fires started by improperly attended campfires, I'd say you're doing just fine being intimidating. In or out of uniform." Strange way to put it but they were her words, in a way. Still, in the scheme of things, it was just a few grains of sand.
"Not much of a hat guy," he confessed, shaking his head and unconsciously running a hand through his hair. So maybe fishing was a no-go. He even knew she was joking with him and it was hard to tell without looking at her cheeky grin. He snorted softly. Tambourine was a good one. "Not far off, actually. I play guitar." Not in public, at least not around here, but the firefighter was rather surprisingly a musical sort. Or perhaps not considering the emotional bullshit he had been through up until now. Music was a good coping mechanism.
Thankful he didn’t seem to find her phrasing odd enough to point out, Darcy have a nod and a smile. Her pack had spent such a decent amount of time traveling, it wasn’t odd at all to see how fiercely they were willing to become to protect Sweetwater. Though she made sure they stayed true to whatever limits or request the other Wolf Pack requested. Try as they might to play nice, she had a sinking feeling that her pack might be asked (or forced) to leave town eventually. But until then, she would do whatever she needed to help keep the peace. “Well, thank-you.” Her tone was softer and there was a slight pink flush to her cheeks.
A deep inhale told her that the bear was a bit closer, which now had her slightly concerned that the bear was following their scent. Which didn’t make a whole lot of sense, it wasn’t like they were carrying open food containers or anything similar to that. Perhaps she was just worrying over nothing. Most likely the bear would deviate in it’s path when it stumbled upon a better meal. She had felt a lot more paranoid as of late, because she was letting it run a bit wild and unchecked. Her attention shifted back to Ferris at the sound of his voice and she couldn’t help but raise a brow as she looked him over.
“Well, then you can’t be a fisherman, they all love their hats.” She insisted with a smile and then could t help but actually laugh fully at his admission of playing a guitar. Not because she found his musical talent laughable, but simply she couldn’t believe she’d guessed something that would lead to an actual skill he possessed! “That’s amazing, my mom played the guitar… she was so musically talented, sadly I didn’t inherit that.” Darcy gently shrugged, but a soft smile still pulled at the edges of her lips at the mention of her mother.
Post by Ferris Felwinter on Oct 27, 2023 5:08:01 GMT
If he had been paying better attention, he might have noticed Darcy's embarrassment. But, perhaps fortunate for her, he was entirely unaware.
He was also just as unaware of the bear now as he had been a few minutes ago. He kept a keen eye on the trail and woods around them, still concerned about the recent fires and attacks underneath the veneer of their conversation. Unless the large animal made a noise or moved into sight, he wasn't going to see anything. But he did catch sight of some squirrels and a flighty hare. Considering the noise he and Darcy were making, that wasn't surprising.
The fire chief most definitely thought she was laughing at him. Even as she explained her mother had played guitar, he still felt... awkward for having said as much. He didn't know Darcy or her family well enough to say anything on the topic, but he picked up on the past tense easily enough. Plus, he didn't care to talk about his own family with anyone, so in general, he avoided the topic with everyone. "Have you ever tried picking up the tambourine?" Ferris shot back.
The level of alert Darcy felt at the potential bear encounter was insane. She was definitely a good person to have on your side when it all came down to it, but she wasn’t about to voice this concern, not unless it became unavoidable. After all, she was still holding out for the hope that the bear was merely passing and not actively following them.
Darcy couldn’t help but chuckle at his question, glad he didn’t appear to be the prying type. “Hm, I can’t say that I have. But ya know; I bet I’d be a natural.” She teased with a very self assured tone and determined look as she continued on the path with Ferris. “Maybe I ought to buy one the next time I’m around a music store.” She mused aloud with a twinkle in her eyes at the jest.
“So what’re you feeling food wise?” Darcy asked, turning her face back to him as they walked along the trail.
Post by Ferris Felwinter on Oct 27, 2023 6:05:40 GMT
The incline was starting to get to him a little. Stairs were on thing. Added weight of protective gear and tanks another. But slightly high altitude was a different beast itself. Ferris paused to take a drink and focus on his breathing. Growing up (relatively) close to this area helped but as he had told Darcy initially, hiking wasn't his thing.
"How much further is this trail?" He asked. They had been walking for a while. He had a map in his pack if he needed it but the ranger seemed just as informative.
Something snapped a branch on the hill above and behind then and he graded over, searching g for a dear or maybe a wolf, he hasn't really sure. Ferris didn't see or hear anything else but he didn't like it. Largely based on the ranger's level of distraction, Darcy withdrawing more and more from the conversation.
"Very likely, he agreed with a nod. But in all honestly, maybe some type of instrument would be good.
"Good question," he said thoughtfully. "Always the diner?" He suggested lamely.
Darcy froze before the sound of the snapping twig, every sense on high alert as the wind shifted and she could smell it. The bear was there. The damn wind shifting didn’t help her pinpoint exactly where, but she suddenly regretted not having more than her bowie knife on hand. Trying not to look as alarmed as she felt, Darcy whipped out her phone to send an ‘SOS’ and her location to a few members of her pack, followed by one simple text: ”Bear is near, but I’m not alone”. She pressed SEND and put her phone back into her pack as she found herself moving closer to Ferris.
“The trail takes a sharp right in about fifteen yards and then is a near straight shot to the parking lot, about a hundred yards after the curve.” She told him, pointing up the path and looking toward where the sound came from. This would be much easier if she could wolf out, but she couldn’t risk revealing herself as a werewolf to Ferris, not unless his life depended on it. “The diner sounds perfect, I love dipping my fries into their house made ranch.” Even she couldn’t fight off her smile at her silly admission. Despite the panic she was beginning to feel, she still found a reason to smile. But as she scanned the path she muttered a four letter curse under her breath.
“I don’t want to alarm you Ferris, but I believe we’re about to cross paths with something large… see that pile off to the left,” She paused to point at an animal dropping that still had steam rising from it, indicating it was a recent ejection. “Judging by the size, I’d say we’re looking at a bear… if we get the chance, we’re going to have to either get it distracted, or wounded so we can make it to the parking lot.” Darcy whipped her head up as the wind gave little help in locating the animal. She didn’t like this, she wasn’t used to feeling like helpless prey, she was a predator herself dammit! Thankfully she also heard the wolf howls in the distance, a few members of her pack on their way.
last edited Oct 27, 2023 14:13:23 GMT by Darcy Vance
Post by Ferris Felwinter on Oct 28, 2023 0:13:49 GMT
Darcy being so on edge had him feeling similarly. Sure, he didn't know her very well, but he highly doubted she was the flighty sort. She was out here all the time, and strange fires or no, her mannerisms communicated some other fear. Only he wasn't sure what. Maybe he was just imagining things. Hearing they were nearing the parking lot again sort of aligned with his general sense of direction. But he had hoped for something a bit longer. Probably he had missed a marker while they were talking. He was tired enough that turning in early for a nap wasn't a bad idea, but he knew he would just find himself back at the fire station, like usual.
He made a face at the notion of fries in ranch. He was much more of a cheese fries sort of guy. Ranch dressing just wasn't on his flavor palette. Darcy seemed embarrassed herself to admit to it. He was about to (sort of) teasingly tell her that sounded disgusting when she dropped her voice.
At first, her words were cryptic. Something large? Like a -? Bear. Ferris frowned, looking from where she pointed to where she kept looking over her shoulder. They weren't close enough for him to smell it and he was rather glad for it. He'd seen a black bear from maybe a hundred yards out, but had no desire to be much closer. Still, he wasn't the flighty sort either. "So we just keep walking and hope it's not a problem," he said calmly and quite far from alarmed, keeping up the same easy pace they had before. Partly to help remind Darcy to relax. He'd never dealt with a scared or angry bear, but what he had dealt with was scared people. And he needed her to take a breath. "How exactly do you propose we wound it?" He'd brought his handgun with him in his concealed shoulder holster. But he wasn't tempted to use it. Things would have to be life or death for it to come to that.
Her eyes tried to follow what she could see of the tracks leading away from the droppings. She felt a bit of relief over only seeing one set of tracks. At least there weren’t little ones present with the larger bear, they might luck out and not have an aggressive one on hand. At least she’d hope that. She looked back to Ferris and spoke softly. “We keep walking, and try not to draw too much attention to ourselves. Thankfully it looks like there’s just one set of tracks-” Rustling and more snapping of twigs caused Darcy to pause, slowly turning her gaze to follow the sound. It was looking like they’d have to try and slip off the trail, the bear apparently looped up and was rustling around in the brush close to the next turn… roughly 20 yards from their current position.
“If we can avoid being noticed, we might get lucky and not need to wound it… I’d hate to hurt it.” she responded in a low soft tone again, though slowly moving to get a hand on the knife at her ankle. The action didn’t hardly make a whisper of a sound as she pulled it from the sheath and got a good grip on it. Had she been alone, Darcy wouldn’t have even been concerned, but with Ferris there, she had to make sure he didn’t get hurt. Not that he seemed helpless or reliant on her for protection, it was merely a habit that came with her line of work, as well as her position with her pack.
“Oh shit.” Darcy cursed lightly under her breath as she heard the closer wolf howl, and so did the bear. The bear stood on it’s hind legs and looked around, smelling and making some little grunting noises as it seemed to catch a scent it didn’t like. Most likely Darcy, despite being in her human form, any animal could smell her wolf scent. It was at this moment that the bear appeared to notice them. It just looked at them curiously, not looking bothered by their presence, but becoming bothered by the scent. Apparently smelling like a wolf would be the thing to unsettle the bear, likely because wolves are pack animals and the bear was alone.
“When we start to run, I need you to promise you won’t stop… even if I fall behind.” She said softly, afraid to move while the beast watched her, giving warning grunts in their direction and swatting the air after sniffing in their direction.
Post by Ferris Felwinter on Oct 28, 2023 1:45:44 GMT
Ferris nodded, picking up on Darcy's soft tones to keep quiet himself. Though he had a feeling the bear already noticed them, maybe even before they noticed it. Whether it would do anything about it though... He'd thought scaring the bear away might be a better idea than hurting it, but Darcy was the outdoor expert. If she suggested trying to sneak away from it, then he wasn't going to argue. Even seeing her reach for her knife, he questioned this whole idea about hurting the bear. She'd have to get well within range of the bear's claws to do anything with that. No question the idea was brave of her, but it was also brash and stupid and dangerous. What was she thinking?
Although Ferris was a lot of things, a tracker and survivalist wasn't either of them. He knew how to pick up on the big picture details though, like the tracks in the mud, the approaching howls he could hear now too, and Darcy's anxiousness. Ferris was one of those people who, in the moment, handled exterior stressors rather well. Later, he might finally feel some of that tension and fear and awe as a bear stood upright not twenty yards away to get a good look at them. Later, he might wonder why the hell such a thing would bother them (and probably just be confused). Later, he might consider himself some amount of idiot. But in the moment, he stared back. The beast wasn't as big as he was expecting, but it was taller than either of them and clearly not wanting for food.
He broke his silence to express how stupid he thought her idea really was. "If it chases us, we're not outrunning it," he pointed out loudly. Because if it knew they were here, he'd rather scare it. And then just as tactlessly but much more expressive of his humane side, "I'm not leaving you to start a knife fight with teddy." He reached over to brush his fingers against the side of her shirt, intending to tug her gently back with him down the trail. They could just keep walking. "Look, you're probably faster than me anyway. Either give me the knife or we scare it off together." Of course, he wasn't so aware just how threatened Darcy made the bear feel, that scaring it away might not be an option.
While her focus was mostly on the bear, she was very aware of the nearing wolves and Ferris who appeared to find her ideas rather stupid, and she didn’t blame him. But she couldn’t just wolf out in front of him. Try as she might, Darcy almost laughed despite the tense situation. Did he truly believe she meant to use her knife against the bear? “Ferris Felwinter, this knife is to help me cut through brush and aid in any potential climbing, I’m not aiming to go toe-to-toe with this bear armed with only a toothpick.” It took all her self control to breathe through what would be laughter if she wasn’t trying to remain quiet.
Even if only to give him peace of mind, Darcy turned the knife in her hand, passing it to Ferris handle first. “And I know we can’t outrun it, but call me crazy; I’m hoping that those approaching wolves can scare it off.” She noticed the bear seemed to be growing increasingly disturbed by her scent. Was it because she was an Alpha? She didn’t know, but she also didn’t want to find out. The way the bear refused to look away from where they were made her a bit afraid of trying to move. Would the bear perceive her movement as a form of aggression? Honestly, she hadn’t been unfortunate enough to cross paths with a bear until now.
“This may sound crazy, but I’m afraid any attempt to frighten it might result in it seeing us as a threat. But if you think it’ll work, we can try.” While not taking steps directly toward them, the bear was making warning sounds and seemed to be getting more agitated. The next set of wolf howls made the bear toss its head back and let out a louder growl. Less than a mile away, I have to get him away before anyone ends up hurt. Darcy bit her bottom lip, he had a gun and she didn’t know if he was the trigger happy type or not.
Post by Ferris Felwinter on Oct 28, 2023 3:32:13 GMT
Darcy used his full name like he was some idiot elementary school kid. He broke his gaze away from the bear to stare at her, the ghost of a smile on his face. Well, at least she proved to not be that stupid. Considering it wasn't a combat knife, he had hoped so. "It's a nice toothpick," he said, a soft counterpoint to the snap in her voice and the tension in the air.
He took the handle with sure fingers, twisting the knife in his wrist to get comfortable with the weight. No way he was going to fight the bear with this thing, but getting it away from his nervous companion was the plan. "Alright. You're crazy," he said, perhaps a bit too enthusiastically. But really, the wolves? He'd heard just as many stories of wolves and bears working together as fighting each other. If anything, the howls seemed to piss the bear off at them. "We just keep moving, okay?" He said, tugging her along with him if he could. But if she was just going to stand there, he wasn't going to leave her. As much as he hated the idea, he embraced and then channeled that fear into nerve. "Come on, Vance. We keep moving, nice and slow."
He grunted in acknowledgement. Of all the crazy shit she had said, this was the least out there. The bear certainly seemed to be focused on them. Or her? "I just want us to move away, okay?" He would have wondered how she knew he had a firearm. Might even deny he was armed if she said as much. But at the moment, he still hadn't even thought of the gun.
Darcy couldn’t help but grin at his response, gently shaking her head and instantly regretting the movement as her curls shook the bear seemed to huff at her. She definitely needed to choose her movements carefully, not wanting to do anything rash. Darcy took slow, practiced steps in an attempt to follow Ferris, being extra careful not to step directly on any twigs or anything with a sharp snap to it.
Try as she might to follow his lead, as soon as her movement became apparent to the bear, it lowered back to all four and let a low grumble out in their direction as it began to sniff the air again. Even Darcy could smell how heavily the air wreaked of wolf now, due to the approaching pack members. Darcy looked to Ferris only for a moment, afraid to completely turn her eyes off the bear. “I’m trying, but every time I do the bear seems more unhinged.” Almost as if on cue, the bear took a few steps in their direction. And despite her hopes that the approaching wolves would remain silent until they arrived; three distinct howls echoed out about half a mile away.
That was the final straw for the bear, it let out a rather deep and threatening roar as it began to charge toward them. Darcy’s mind didn’t give her much help in her attempt to think of something, anything to help. “I’m sorry.” Darcy managed out before she did the only thing she could think of at that moment; her regularly lovely brown eyes flashed gold as she tapped into her wolf strength and shoved Ferris as far away from her as she could muster on such short notice, especially with a charging bear almost upon them, or rather; her.
Darcy barely managed to dive out from under the jumping bear herself, eyes still gold as she muttered under her breath and willed herself to shift into her wolf form before the bear recovered and corrected it’s path toward her. Not even caring at the moment if the foliage she landed in offered coverage or not, their lives were at stake, she could worry about supernatural politics later.
Post by Ferris Felwinter on Oct 28, 2023 14:44:59 GMT
He brushed off the bears interest in the ranger right up until the point where Darcy said it out loud. For her it wasn't even a question. And she was right. Ferris side stepped slightly, and the bear's eyes never left the curly haired woman. Peculiar. Although he never claimed to be a wildlife expert, between this bear and the sudden and very loud wolves, Ferris wasn't sure what the hell was going on. It did, however, make some things in their wildfire investigation click in different ways. But that was a thought experiment for later.
Ferris felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up at the howls and he shifted his hold on the knife on instinct in preparation to throw it. The bear roared loudly, a clear precursor to some more violent action. The fire chief wasn't used to the weight of the knife but in general he had a good handle on tools and small weapons. In the split second between him aiming and following through with the throw, however, Darcy dropped a snappy an entirely unexpected apology.
The spinning knife left his fingers towards the bear as he turned to look at the woman, the question on his lips that he never got a chance to ask as her hand slammed into his chest hard enough to bruise and sent him flying backward. It was actually the exact move he had been aiming to pull in another second. Having her beat him to it would have been amusing if not for exactly how impossible hard her shove was, knocking all the air out of him even before he hit the ground. Ferris' shoulders and arm scrapped painfully on rock, his momentum hard stopped by a small tree. If the man had been able to breathe at all, he would have shouted and then sobbed in pain. But his attention was on just getting air again because he wasn't about to leave that idiot woman alone with a bear.
So close to the parking lot, they were on mostly level terrain. Even with the distance he had travelled with Darcy's shove and the foliage in between, he could still somewhat see, and certainly here, the bear bounding and growling as it tussled with...something. He couldn't see Darcy, but something seemed to have the bears focus still, and it wasn't those nearby wolves.
In what seemed like the most slow transition she’d ever experienced, Darcy went from being her female form in the foliage trying to swiftly strip as to not damage her clothes; to an extremely large grey wolf with piercing gold eyes. Ready to engage the bear as it came straight at her, she let out a low growl as she jumped to the side and tried to locate some elevation to get the higher ground.
Darcy let out a sharp howl to let the pack know to be cautious of the human in the area. She felt awful about shoving him the way she did, but it was the only thing she could think to get him far enough from the bear before it reached them. Plus, the bear didn’t seem bothered by Ferris, it was Darcy that made it feel threatened.
She winced, letting out a slight yelp as the bear’s claws clipped her left thigh, she didn’t move quickly enough that time to miss the contact. Resulting in her jump falling a little short and she slammed into a large tree trunk. The rage that coursed through her body was at least helpful in her running, it helped her ignore the pain. But the scent of blood filled her nostrils, it was her own. She didn’t expect to go unscathed, but she didn’t plan on taking that much of a hit already. She was definitely out of her element in this moment, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d actually faced a real challenge. Had she grown lazy and complacent? Darcy pushed her weight off the tree trunk as the bear barreled toward her and swiped the trunk where she’d just been.
Post by Ferris Felwinter on Oct 28, 2023 23:07:16 GMT
Ferris wheezed as he tried to get to his feet. His back didn't agree with him, but the biggest problem in the moment was simply breathing. Even having cut back on smoking, he'd done it for long enough that catching his breath was a chore. He wheezed heavily, dragging himself up with the helf of the tree.
To see a massive wolf darting away from the bear. "What the hell?" He gasped. The beast was easily the size of a small horse. He'd seen some wolves in the area, heard they were large but this...this was crazy.
He didn't see any sign of Darcy either, and that was a more pressing matter than the wolf or his back or the blood running down his arm.
The bear turned to follow the wolf and Ferris saw the knife he had thrown buried in the thing's shoulder. Not that the animal seemed to notice. He stepped toward the fray and raised a hand to his mouth, whistling sharply. The noise cut through the two animals' grunts and growls and roars. The bear looked over at Ferris as of seeing him for the first time, half turning from the tree for a moment to face him.
Being stared down by a 500 pound animal made his blood run cold. But he didn't back down even if part of him knew this was a stupid idea. But he had to get to where he last saw Darcy and the bear was in his way. Either it chased him or he scared it off. "Why don't you fuck off and go hibernate or something!" He shouted. The bear took a step toward him.