Cabin in the Woods

*Nero turns around for about a second.*

N"Why are you all just standing there? We have to catch them! Don't you hear the whispering, it's obviously people!"

E"Well, I did, but--hey!"

*She runs after Nero as he keeps going, clicking on her flashlight to keep him in sight.*
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*The group walks in that direction for a few minutes, before Thiera stops Hector.*

T"Point your light at the base of this tree. Please."

"Sure," Hector said, pointing the light to the base of the tree. Astarte had been making markings on every tree she passed.

"Hurry up guys!" Stefan called over his shoulder as he followed Nero, feeling a little nervous. He didn't know whether he was worried about leaving somebody behind or finding something bad ahead. A bit of both, he guessed.

Taiyo follows after the rest of the group.

*As they run towards the light bobbing ahead of them, it gets slightly bigger, the whispers getting louder.*

N"Hey! Can't you hear me?! Heeeey!"
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*There are dozens of tiny little gashes on the tree bark, most going in a series of vertical lines.*

T"I recognize these from the book. So there are definitely foxes around here."
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*While Azuma & Friends are presumably standing around doing nothing, he notices that the tinge of the forest is becoming less grey-blue & more dark grey, with visibility decreasing dramatically.*

Hector looked expectant for a moment, and then turned back to keep going, "Okay."

Stefan continued running after Nero, trying his hardest to pick out figures around the light ahead.

Azuma: "Shouldn't have ate that spam. Anyone else see what I see? By that I mean what I'm beginning to not see."

Mimiru:"What the hell are you going on about?"

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Taiyo:"This doesn't seem like a good idea."

N"We just have to catch up to them, & then everything will be fine!"

*Up ahead, the light begins to blink. By now, the whispers are so loud that they can almost make out the words.*
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T"We should probably head back to the cabin now. It's getting dark. Hopefully, the others have found something."
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*Still dark outside.*

"I guess," Hector shrugged and turned back. He and Astarte began making their way back by the marks on the trees, with Eduj in tow.

Stefan tried to catch up to Nero or overtake him despite a growing ache in his knees.

Azuma: "So we going to consider looking for what's her name or head back to the cabin? Getting mighty dark out."

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Taiyo opens her mouth to speak, but stops.

Taiyo: Why bother?

OOC: None of my characters are around to answer Azuma, so.

*Euryale finally grabs Nero by the shoulder & turns him around just as the light ahead blinks off & all of the whispering stops. Euryale doubles over, panting.*

E"Taiyo's right...do you even...know where we are?"

*Nero looks around, looking increasingly more confused. By now, it's almost pitch dark, with a visibility of less than 10 feet.*

N"We just follow our way back using the trees...that I haven't been marking...fuck."
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*When they get back to the cabin, they find that the door is open a crack.*

Hector paused, holding up a hand to signal for the others to stop, before pushing the door open without walking in.

Stefan leaned on a tree, his chest heaving and one hand clutching the cross hanging from his neck, "Where are they?! The light's gone!"

Taiyo leans up against a tree, exhaustes and out of breath.

Taiyo: At least Euryale was listening...

N"But it can't just be gone! There were people talking! Even if they turned out the lantern, they should still be making noises!"

*He brushes the ground with his foot, the scraping of the leaves emphasizing his point.*

E"I'd say it was just swamp gas, or something, but...I could almost make out what they were saying. Plus, we aren't in a swamp."
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*Roatha & Thiera follow, one of them turning on the living room light. They see nothing out of the ordinary.*

Astarte stuck close to Hector, her knife still firmly in her hands. Hector turned off his flashlight and furrowed his brow, "It looks like we're the first back, I suppose..."

Stefan lifted the hand that wasn't holding onto his cross and wiped sweat from his brow, "We have to go back..."

Taiyo: "Yeah. The others are probably already at the cabin."

E"But how are we supposed to find the way back?"
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*Roatha & Thiera head to the kitchen, turning the light on. Seeing nothing, they start checking the cabinets.*

R"I definitely closed the door on the way out. So if no one is back yet, then why is it open?"

"Maybe it's a bad lock?" Hector suggested, heading towards the bedrooms. Astarte continued to stick by his side.

"Well... we know the general direction, we might be able to find where he stopped marking..." Stefan said.

Azuma:"Yeah, I'm going back."

The duo head back towards the cabin.

Azuma:"We're all gonna die, this is true. It's true for me and it's true for you. But we could live a little longer if we put our minds to it. The light rail runs fro-"

Mimiru:"Shut up."

Mimiru slugs him in the shoulder.

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Taiyo takes Euryale's hand. Her hand is quite cold.

Taiyo:"Can we go back to the cabin?"

*Euryale lifts Taiyo's hand close to her chest & rubs it with her other hand.*

E"We just have to find our way back first."

*Nero shines his light on the ground, but the leaves are too thick to find footprints.

N"Well...I guess we just keep going that way, then."
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*There, Azuma finds that the door has been left ajar by assholes, & in the windows, can see that said assholes are heading towards the bedrooms for some reason.*
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R"I don't know, it seemed pretty sturdy."

*Roatha & Thiera head into their bedroom, flipping on the light. Seeing nothing, Roatha quickly lifts up the sheet, but the beds have less than an inch of clearance from the floor.*

Taiyo: "We came from that way, right?"

Taiyo shinea her flashlight in the direction they came from. Or might have.

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The two go in and close the door behind them.

Azuma: "Let the heat out why don't you?"

Mimiru: "We're missing some people."

Azuma: "And not just the clods we ditched like the morally sound people we're not."

*Eve and Tirea open the cabin door and enter, then close it behind them*

Eve:<Well that was helpful.>

Tirea:<Maybe we should find the others and go out looking for her.>

Eve:<That seems like a lost cause. She doesn't want to be around anyone.>
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Cameron:<I don't see a better idea.>

*After 10 minutes of retracing their steps, they're still no closer to finding their way back.*

N"We can't keep doing this, we'll drain our batteries."
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*Roatha emerges from the hallway.*

R"Sorry. When we got back, the door was open, even though no one should be back yet. I guess we were just too busy looking around to close the door. Anyway, I'm sure the others will turn up soon."

*Vanessa enters behind everyone.*

R"Case in point."

*Tirea runs up to Vanessa*

Tirea:<You're alright!>
---
*Cameron shuts off his flashlight for a moment*

Cameron:<We could try and make torches or something. Or just something to signal everyone back at the cabin.>

Azuma: "So that solves that mystery. Still missing the others."

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Taiyo shines her flashlight around the trees.

Taiyo: "I'm cold."

*Euryale puts an arm around Taiyo.*

N"I guess we could try that. We'd need some slow-burning material, though."
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V"Duh. This idiot--"

*She points to Azuma.*

V"--was just standing around doing nothing, so I found a clearing by following that bug. But it's over a deep pond."