singillatim | (no subject)

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(no subject)

Who: Levi and anyone!
What: Bow training, snek hunting, static voices, whatever else. Catch-all for the month.
When: Through out December
Where: Around town, in the woods, wherever they end up

Content Warnings: Levi carries the probable warnings for child soldiers, child abuse and mental illness (PTSD/Depression).

I

He'd found a bow pretty easily in the weapon/hunting supply store (or whatever it was), as well as some arrows and a bunch of papers with targets drawn on them. He doesn't want to go into the woods yet, so he's found a still-abandoned house near the edge of town and set up. A target has been pinned to a wall and he's pulled out a table to rest his arrows on. In retrospect, he should have gotten a quiver but whatever.

Levi is an excellent shot with a gun, but he's yet to figure out how much he needs to pull back on the bow to get the arrow to go the correct distance. So there are some arrows between him and the house, and a few stuck way too deep into the wall. He'll figure it out, but perhaps someone would like to help him?

II

Levi had noticed the rot and dead things almost immediately once they started showing up. They all seemed to be following a path or paths, and that combined with the strange tunnel-like trails in the snow led him to believe that something was causing it. Some sort of animal or monster or person or whatever, it didn't matter so much what it was, just that it was a threat.

The dead animals seemed obvious enough (even if he wasn't sure how they died), but the damage to the plant life perplexed him. He's never seen bushes and even trees just...wilt within a day or two. He'd come this way just yesterday and now a patch of trees leading further into the forest was dead. Not just dead, rotting. Like it'd been like that for...however long it took trees to rot normally.

II.b - for Rorschach

He'd seen enough of the trails by now to know they had something to do with whatever was killing things. That much seemed obvious, but what made them was not. The only real option he saw was following them into the woods. Even armed, it probably wasn't a good idea to do that alone.

So he gathers his rifle, his back up handgun and ammo for both. Hopefully too much ammo, but he tended towards paranoid rather than optimistic. A large group doesn't seem to be a good idea, but just two could cover more ground and remain quieter. He could put up a note asking for a partner, but that might waste time. Instead, he seeks out someone else he's seen doing patrols for assistance.

III

The stores were largely picked clean by now, but Levi found going through them could still be useful. He'd found smaller animals hiding in them, so that was basically a free meal when that happened. Mostly they were empty, which is what he thought this one was. But he's not so sure anymore. It was an electronics store of some sort, or at least that's what was left, so the static everything was putting out was annoying. He tried his best to ignore it.

Until he heard his name. He had to be imagining things, right? It was just static...but then it happened again. Thankfully he wasn't alone on this patrol, so after the third time he heard his name in the static he turns to his companion.

"Did you, um, did you hear anything? Somebody saying something?"

IV?

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"Yeah..." He expected whatever it was would be just as deadly to them as to the animals and plants it'd been past. It had to be the snake, or whatever, that had caused all the death and decay but how? Was it attacking each thing, or was it some sort of passive field or...whatever around it? And how far from the thing did it reach?

He'd probably be fine with his rifle, but if it was an aura of death Rorschach would be in trouble. But he wouldn't say back and just put the other man in danger. If they couldn't sneak up on this thing, they'd both need to get in close to take it down.

As they follow the trail they begin coming across corpses of small animals. Its impossible to tell how long they've been dead because of the odd decay. But Levi takes it to mean they're getting close and slows down a bit.
He normally moved carefully in the forest, not wanting to alert the wolves or bears or whatever else was in there too his presence. But now he starts being more deliberately stealthy.

The vigilante followed Levi, hardly speaking the entire time. His entire focus was on finding this creature and ending the potential danger it represented. He was thankful it was hard to smell anything through his mask. Rorschach doubted the corpses of the dead animals smelled pleasant at all.

They ended up quite far into the woods. After a certain point, he held up a hand as he thought he heard something close by, pausing for a moment to see if he could pinpoint the sound. Despite the fabric layers around his head, he could still hear quite well. He listened hard, head turning this way and that before he pointed to the left. "Can hear something coming from over there."

He stops shortly after Rorschach does and looks back towards the other man and then the way he was pointing. He narrows his eyes and speaks in a whisper. "I...I'm not sure. Lets check it out."

He starts moving, slower and attempting to be quieter than before. Not that he was being loud before, but a noise if the thing was near would be really bad. At least you weren't likely to snap twigs when the ground was basically snow.

Rorschach moved alongside Levi, his feet soft and quiet. He was thankful any sounds made by them were muffled in the snow. As they reached a clearing, he hung back in the treeline to see what was ahead.

The thing was right ahead. It appeared to be relaxing or possibly asleep, curled up around itself to preserve heat, breathing slow and rhythmically. He turned to Levi. "Think we can take it by surprise," he said quietly.

Levi raises his gun, eyeing the creature with a critical eye. No obvious weak points from here...those scales had to be pretty tough for a creature of this size.

"Yeah," he whispers back to Rorschach. "You'll fight it close up, right? I can stay back and shoot once you've struck." He wouldn't stay at long range the whole fight, not with just two of them there. "Then it depends on the snake."

Or whatever that thing was.

He examined the creature. It looked heavily armored on top but if it was like most animals, there was a good chance it had a soft underbelly. That was where he would have to strike. "Will go for the throat," he told Levi. "Shoot once I'm clear."

With that, Rorschach began to slowly creep forward, noting that the creature didn't seem to notice him. It must have been asleep despite the eyes not being closed. As he came within a few feet, he pulled out the knife he'd brought along. He aimed for the throat, but at the last moment, the creature shifted in sleep. He ended up stabbing it further down along its body, the blade sliding in between the ribs to strike true in flesh and muscle. While painful, this wasn't going to be a fatal blow.

Despite the turn in luck, Rorschach pulled the knife out and immediately tried to move out of the way so Levi could get a clean shot in.

Awoken by the attack, the snake whips its head around towards Rorschach. When it pauses for a moment before going in for a strike Levi fires a shot, hitting the beast in the eye.

That should help his current partner get out of the thing's sight much easier. Levi lines up his next shot but waits to see which was Rorschach is moving before firing.

The beast's attention was on Rorschach when he suddenly heard the Crack! of a gunshot and the snake reared its head back, roaring in pain as the shot fired by Levi struck true.

Rorschach came in close again, ready to stab the creature. He was able to strike again but the action brought him too close. The creature turned and opened its mouth, breathing the toxic fumes out towards the one who was closer to it at the moment: Rorschach.

Fortunately, he was covered up from head-to-toe, which kept his skin from being burned. Unfortunately, there was nothing to keep it from seeping through the white fabric that made up Rorschach's face. The mask filtered out the worst of the toxins but also unfortunately kept the fumes which had may their way in with no easy way for them to get out again. Stuck in the pocket of air there, the only place the fumes could go was into his eyes, nose, and mouth. Immediately, he began coughing as he felt his lungs started to burn.

When the creature opens its mouth Levi fires again, into the open mouth. It doesn't stop the initial breath attack, but it does shift the snake's attention and cause it to rear back, perhaps saving Rorschach from some of the breath.

Levi lines up another shot and fires, but the snake closes its mouth seconds before the bullet hits.

"Rorschach! What's wrong?!"

Rorschach continued to cough, feeling the burning sensation of the poisonous fumes in his lungs. He could hear Levi yelling towards him but he couldn't answer back. He pulled his face up just enough so that he could get a breath of fresh air in and dispense some of the gas that was still lingering in the fabric. It hurt but he felt he'd be alright, especially if they managed to kill this thing dead.

Then his eyesight started to dim and he realized that the noxious miasma had done much worse than simply burn his lungs. His usual collected calm in a fight began to break down. More by luck than skill, he scored a deep slash on the creature's belly as it writhed in pain and came too close to him. Then he made a retreat, trying to get away from the muscular coils of the beast. He wasn't sure they'd done enough damage to kill it and didn't want to get too close again if they hadn't.

If the situation were calmer Levi might marvel at the fact that what he thought was Rorschach's face is actually just a mask covering a human (probably?) face. But that was barely important now, so he just rushes to put himself between the other man and the snake, firing a few shots as he does.

"Stay behind me." He's not sure what's wrong with the other man, but he's determined to keep it from happening again.

Once he comes to a stop, he fires again, into the snake's other eye.

He had just barely enough eyesight left to recognize what Levi was doing. He found a certain poetic satisfaction even in the midst of all his pain at seeing the beast who had just blinded him end up in the same condition.

He coughed once more before he found it in him to speak. "Retreat." It seemed the best course of action given that this serpent had proved to be far more powerful than he'd initially assumed.

Levi nods and waits for Rorschach to move before following. He fires off a few more shots at the snake, but the beast has decided these two are too much trouble for now. It opens his mouth to give them a parting gift, but another shot from Levi causes it to back off before releasing the gas.

Rorschach staggered back through the snow towards the way they'd initially come. He could hear Levi shooting at the beast, but when he turned his head, he could just barely make out the kid. His eyesight was definitely going. There was also a wheezing when he breathed that he didn't like. Damn that reptile! It had been more than a match for him and he'd learned a hard lesson.

The only thing he could hope for is that the effects weren't permanent and he'd eventually get his eyesight back. For that, only time would tell.

Levi watches the snake retreat until he's satisfied it won't return once he turns away. Then he heads over to Rorschach. "Are you okay? What was that? I can, um, look away if you need more air."

Given the guy ALWAYS wore that mask it was a good bet he didn't want to be seen without it.

"Fine like--" But he didn't even get a chance to finish the phrase before he started to cough again. Much as he was (somewhat) fond of Levi, he didn't trust anyone enough to remove his face around them, not even if they promised not to look.

Instead, he pulled up just the edge of his face, enough so that he could breathe properly. He was gonna have to handwash the fabric once he was alone to make sure there were no fumes left within it that would continue causing him to deteriorate. Right now, this was the best he could do.

He frowns but doesn't push it. Getting more air would probably help but he knows better than to think Rorschach might be swayed by any arguments he has. "Alright. What about getting out of here, can you walk?"

He doesn't know wtf happened to the other man so he doesn't know if that's a stupid question or not.

Rorschach nodded. While the fumes may have burned his lungs something fierce, he was still able to move under his own power, at least for the moment. Even if that changed, he wasn't likely to tell Levi that. As usual, Rorschach played things close to the chest. He pulled his face back down and started to walk.

Of course, his eyesight was still progressively getting dimmer as time went on. He kept stumbling and barely missed running into several objects, even something as obvious as a tree in front of him.

Levi follows Rorschach for a bit, but after watching the man stumble a few times he moves to walk in front of him. Hopefully not to close to be annoying, because he's definitely trying to stay close enough to be seen easily so he can steer them away from things.

Whatever that snake did, it must have still been obscuring the masked man's vision but not completely blinded him. Rorschach was almost but not quite running into things, so if Levi was in front of him and avoiding things like trees and rocks or whatever, hopefully he'd be followed.

He was able to catch the movement of Levi far easier than he was the stationary and immobile objects that he kept barely missing. Focusing on the teen as a star to guide him was the best strategy. He had a feeling he wasn't going to have his sight for much longer and wanted to get back to town before that happened.

He walked in silence for a long time. It was only when they got back to Milton proper that he finally made a remark. "That could have gone better."

Levi's also silent on the way back to town. When Rorschach speaks, he sighs. "Yeah...it got away, but at least we did some damage. How're you? What did that gas, o-or whatever, do?"

"Burned my lungs," he said, the rasp in his voice clearer now that they were away from the scene of the battle. "Can't--" He hesitated for a moment. But he trusted Levi more than most people in this town. "--Can't see too well," he admitted as well.

This was going to just hurt him for a while, Rorschach could already tell.

So he was having trouble seeing, that made sense. "Do you want to find a doctor? If that was some kind of gas..." Well, then it might be too late. Or it might wear off on its own. Gas was a strange weapon.

Rorschach thought for a moment but his pragmatic nature won out over the stupid pride that sometimes clouded his judgement. Inhaling the fumes he had was no joke and he needed medical attention. "Know where Dr. Goodsir's place is?"

If Levi could just get him to the door, then Rorschach would be able to take it from there.

"I do. Follow me...um, let me know if you have more trouble seeing." He'll try not to go too fast, just in case.