CLOSED;

[treasuretooth]

When; After this post
Rating; PG (to be safe)
Characters; Pitch Black and Toothiana
Summary; An unfortunate encounter in the dark and wintry woods.
Log; There was something distinctly unsettling about being the sole Guardian in the City now that Pitch Black had arrived. Prior to his making himself known, Tooth had thought her greatest concern was weathering the curses or the thing called the ticking, but with the Boogeyman in town, all of that was changed. Her greatest threat was the one that he posed, not only to her or the kind people she'd met since arriving, but to any and all of the children in this world.

Of course, knowing what the threat was didn't make it any easier to eliminate. Pitch Black was stronger than any one Guardian by themselves, which was why they'd always done better in the past when they'd worked together to stop the Boogeyman. More than that, though...this strange place, it did much to breed fear on its own, and it did more to fester shadows. The number of places Pitch could hide were too numerous to count.

Tooth was at a loss for where to go, where to look...so she did the only thing she could: she kept vigil.

At first she and her fairies flew about the innermost parts of the city, checking on children tucked away in their beds. If there was no sign of trouble, they moved on to the next window, and then the next after that. Eventually, Tooth's search led her to the City's fringes. She'd run out of bedrooms to visit and windows to peek through, and was now fluttering slowly between burly tree trunks bare with winter, her eyes upon the low-hanging moon in the sky. It was not her moon at all. It was faceless and unfriendly and as cold as the snow that powdered the ground.

From it, Tooth would receive no wise counsel. She had only her own judgment to guide her...and only her fairies' sudden chirping to alert her to another presence in the woods around her.

Feathers raising along her shoulders and neck, she spun in midair, eyes searching the penetrating darkness. "Who's there! Show yourself!" She hated being caught off guard almost more than anything else.

Comments

[treasuretooth]

Toothiana listened attentively to Pitch, minutely surprised he had chosen to be so forthcoming with his response. In a show of appreciation, she decided to tell in turn what she knew, though it wasn't much to offer at this point.

"You've heard of the Anonymous Movement, then?" she prompted. Some said they were trustworthy and some said they were not, but in all recounts, the Movement consisted of individuals who kept busy and, at the very least, appeared to be aiming toward the betterment of the people here, perhaps even the safe return of outsiders to the worlds they came from. So far, however, they'd met with little success.

Not sure what to make of that story herself, Tooth sought Pitch's opinion on the matter. After all, it was a point of common interest between them, and one of the only ones they had to hold onto.

"I've heard very little about them myself, beyond what appears to be common knowledge, but of the curses...I've asked and heard a lot." Her eyes narrowed, not at Pitch but in reflection of something she was told, a very troubling something indeed. "Most of the time, the curses are things that people seem to recover from rather easily, but there are some curses that are dangerous. And no one seems to know if they happen naturally and because of the City, or if there is someone...casting them, like a magic spell."

Ombric and North would have disliked this troublesome magic very much. It was unpredictable and unchecked, harming and inconveniencing at random.

[rideofthefearlings]

A note of them had been included in the information provided from Spock and he'd done a little investigating of his own. "I am less than hopeful the solution lays there," he said dismissively and then elaborated on his thoughts.

"If they were powerful enough to make an impact on a place like this, they are powerful enough to not fear retribution from those trapped here... rendering moot their need to be anonymous. If they are not capable of doing so on their own, which appears more likely, then remaining anonymous prevents anyone from assisting them, which seems as though they don't helping as a genuine motive."

Oddly, he was also thinking of North and Ombric when it came to likening the curses to spells gone awry. He had a rudimentary knowledge of magic -- enough to have been able to test the spells in the books from Ombric's library and know they were fakes when they did not work -- but he was not a magician on the level of either of them.

[treasuretooth]

"The solution?" Toothiana shook her head. "I never expected them to be the solution, but I've heard they sometimes outsource for help." That's what John had said, at least, though he'd also mentioned never having taken it upon himself to work with Anonymous personally.

"In any case, they're not completely anonymous, and they might know something," Tooth said in conclusion. Whether that something was big or little, whether what they planned to do with the knowledge was good or bad, in the right hands it would almost certainly be worth knowing. Or so she hoped. It wasn't very likely that any of them would see home again without help from the inside, after all. Even with some foreigners being present in the City for five years (maybe more?), they couldn't possibly know everything there was to know...

Shoulders relaxing, Tooth glanced in the direction of the town. She'd found work, shelter, and friends...and there were even some leads to follow, though where they would take her she didn't yet know. She thought it probable that she would investigate them with time, though. But what were Pitch's goals for their uncertain future here?

"Have you decided what you'll do now?"

[rideofthefearlings]

"I have not," Pitch said slowly. "Beyond what I am crafted to do, just as you are."

Meaning of course that he would continue to sow fear where he went, just as she had automatically begun protecting children in this City. Yet aside from that, and from having time to properly reassess his strength, he didn't know. Pitch was loathe to make any sort of long-term plan with so little information at his disposal.

[treasuretooth]

That was the answer Tooth had dreaded, but it was also the one she'd expected to hear. What else could either of them do but what they were crafted to, as Pitch had put it?

It would make things difficult for her, especially being unable to warn people about him, but so long as no lines were crossed, so long as things didn't venture out of hand...she would have to learn to live with this compromise.

"There's nothing you're curious about?" she asked, probing a little. Whether he would volunteer the information or not, she wanted some idea of where and with what he might be spending his time in the days to come.

[rideofthefearlings]

"A few things have arisen," he answered with a vague flick of a hand, making it difficult to tell whether he was being purposely unhelpful or not. In fact the truth of it was that even in the short time he'd been here, several things had seemed both familiar and new to him and for someone who had lived as long as he had, that was simultaneously attractive and disconcerting.

[treasuretooth]

Well, that was something at the very least, although Tooth could see there would be no point trying to pry further details out of Pitch; he was being reluctant, and getting anywhere with him would take forever. Besides, the more time Tooth spent here, the less time she was able to spend doing what she did best. If she wanted her answers, she would just need to be both observant and patient. In due time, all would reveal itself.

"Well...alright, then." She exhaled heavily, cocking her head skyward. "I need to be going. Don't...don't cause too much trouble. Please."

[rideofthefearlings]

"I could say the same to you," Pitch retorted slyly, knowing it would get a rise of out her. They really couldn't go very long without baiting each other.