The edge of the woods.... [Final Results Up!]

[artemis,]

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ooooh, spooky!
username: artemis,
link to roll call post: adelaide
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[Unleashed Squiid]

Ooooh, spooky!
Username: Unleashed Squid
Link to roll call post: x
Link to previous form: x
Prompt response:
It was the kind of grog felt after a long and bountiful sleep. Elaina’s head was spinning, her bones stiff, but mind very much awake. She turned in bed, the dream that had encapsulated her still ringing in her brain. The kalon wondered if perhaps she would be able to slip back into that pleasant world; it had been interesting and she definitely wanted to watch the events play out again. Her dream journal could use another completed idea. She closed her eyes and imagined that strange thunder-like rumble she had heard. It was low and deep, hitting the bass-parts of her eardrums and was so realistic that she could almost feel the ground and her bed quaking from the frequency.

But then...it was real. And her body suddenly was shaking. This time, her eyes flashed open. She lay for a few moments, feeling a cold pulse of adrenaline pump through her veins. Elaina put her blanket over her head, wondering if she would be able to sleep again after such a fright. Yet curiosity was also beginning to bubble within her. What was that terrible grumble?

With about the amount of bravery as a toad, she stepped down from her bunk and put on her slippers. The floor radiated a chilled sensation and all at once, her body began to shiver. Elaina debated on what to bring. A flashlight? Definitely. Pocket knife (a banned object from kamp, but who cares). Sure. Soon enough, she was packed and ready to embark.

“I’m not scared” she whispered to herself, but this was a lie. Everything was always more frightening at night. She looked out into the forest, eyes large, heart pounding. “Alrighty, well...here we go.”

The kalon puffed her chest and posed in as straight and brave a posture as she could. She took one step out of her cabin. Two. The evening chill slapped her face. Three. She noticed the dark trees in the forest begin to sway, and suddenly her feet froze like they were stuck in blocks of ice. The rumble repeated itself and...Nope, not today. She bolted back inside, heart speeding madly, and dove into her bed.

Perhaps she would be brave another night.

[carotid]

Ooooh, spooky!
username: carotid
link to roll call post: here!
link to previous form: yea boye
prompt response:
drip.

muriel lay in her bunk, eyes wide, completely awake. she'd gone to bed early that night, opting out of the camp activities in lieu of rest. a migraine had terrorized her all throughout the day, but after several naps, she was left wide awake in the pitch-black cabin, the only sound being what sounded like water running outside. this wasn't too strange, as there was a hand pump outside that produced plenty of water, but the only kals that used it were parched fellas during the daily activities. the water in it was kind of gross, so it was a last resort for anyone.

creaaaaak.

it definitely sounded like someone was pumping it at this point. the splashing of water hitting the wet soil was recognizable, even through the thick cabin wall. at a time in the evening where counselors and kampers alike were probably all tucked in, sleeping soundly to prepare for the following day's festivities, this was a little suspicious. muriel rubbed at the bags under her eyes, weary. what remained from her migraine made her head throb at the idea of climbing down from her bunk and embarking into the night to investigate who or what was messing with the god forsaken water pump.

creak creak creak creak creak creak

jesus, someone was really going at it out there. the counselors would be so pissed if they woke up to a flooded walkway. muriel didn't really want to get up and intervene, though; the throbbing of her temples and the slight bit of fear lingering in the back of her mind discouraged her. while she wasn't usually a "let someone else deal with it" kinda gal, she chose this time to be selfish. it didn't last her long, though.

crecrecrecrecrecrecrecreaaaaak

now this was just absurd. annoyed, exhausted, and in pain, a muriel that resembled a hobo with her hair in the messiest bun and her sweats about two or three sizes too big- she had to roll the waistband twice so they'd stay put on her scrawny hips- climbed down the ladder of the bunk in record time, hands clenched into fists at her side. she exited the cabin swiftly, not wanting her frustration to wake her bunkmates, as much as the mystery water pumper was pushing her to the edge. all the while, the creaking was still blasting away. how someone else didn't wake up and scold the mystery kal was beyond her.

she rounded the corner and instantly her eyes were met with a raccoon who had somehow figured out how to operate the pump. the raccoon whipped around as it heard a branch crack under muriel's bare toes but did not stop its pumping. muriel took a few steps forward, and the raccoon seemed to be just as pissed that she was here to bust its water party, as its tiny, grubby hands fell away from the pump, and its feet started towards her in a tiny raccoon gallop. just as it lunged for her...

muriel woke up.

the creaking persisted, as did her migraine, as she sat up, drool causing hair to stick to half of her face. "wha..." she muttered, eyes barely cracked, as the light of the early evening streamed into the cabin. dressed in the same sweats, her baggy t-shirt draped to her knees, she descended slowly and clumsily from her bunk, rubbing her tired eyes and her soggy cheek.

after exiting the cabin and rounding the corner, as she had done in her dream, this time her eyes were greeted with two of her cabinmates- bermuda and arturo. arturo was chanting "flood! flood! flood!" while bermuda was cranking the pump with everything she had.

so much for a spooky story.

(the only thing spooky about it was muriel walking up to them looking like a zombie, resting a hand on the pump as calmly and gently as could be, and telling them to kindly shut the hell up.)

[ruse]

Sign-up Time!
Username: amative
Link to roll call post: mm
Prompt response: 398 words

the boy slumps against the frame of the bed with a careful sigh. so. he did not predict kamp would be so ... busy. he studies the bandages decorating his hands and fists them, feeling them tug across his skin and breathe. he got those from rock-climbing (he recalls his arms shaking at first and the voices that told him he was doing great, keep going). bug bites litter eden's arms like constellations and he remembers how the stars yawned in the sky the first night he arrived. maybe, he's unused to the changes of being outside constantly, but it's nothing unwelcome; he finds he rather enjoys the new mementos pressed in his skin. physical reminders of a summer swelling with sweet memories.

eden begins to slip an earbud in, eyes shuttering close and the 1975 murmuring in his left ear when he hears something unexpected. god. what the hell was that? it's a small sound, one he'd probably let out of his radar if he already had his music set for sleep. eden replays it in his head and his curiosity stirs, gentle but motivated. he visits the idea of cryptids, his memory filling in gaps in his thoughts, suggesting that the other kids (and a few of the counselors too), who were talking animatedly about weird monsters hiding in the sleeves of the night, were onto something. their eyes had really sparkled then (he envied that). what could hurt from a little exploration? no one was awake now anyways. no one's gonna miss a shadow while the moon's out.
so the boy leaves the cabin with a practiced silence. his legs brush against the grass and he makes use of the bulky buildings to disguise his form. and there it is again, that sound. is that a grunt?
there's faulkes. climbing the roof of the mess hall, and his eyes - there's a concentrated glow about them. it's eerily beautiful and eden is almost captivated. he might as well been a cryptid. was he really faulkes? do counselors - are they supposed to put themselves in compromising positions after midnight?
actually. it doesn't matter much. eden sighs. oh. oh alright. this is good enough. he treks back to his cabin without a sound, aside from a tired, tired sigh.

god, he needs a break.

[monstera]

Ooooh, spooky!
Username: dragon.
Link to roll call post: x
Link to previous form: x
Prompt response:


It wasn’t out of the ordinary that Jay was having a bit of trouble sleeping that night. Being in a new place along with the excitement of the next day left her restless, tossing and turning, unable to get a decent night’s sleep. She flipped over once again, feeling sleep beginning to grasp at her once again when she was startled back awake by an odd sound coming from outside. Sitting up, Jay rubbed her eyes, squinting out the window into the dark forest. The only thing that greeted her were the trees, lightly shifting in the breeze rolling through the camp. Was she hearing things? Her gaze shifted to the rest of the kampers. Each were peacefully sleeping, one or two were even lightly snoring. “I guess it was nothing...” she mumbled, pulling the sheets over as she prepared another attempt to fall asleep.
However, a few minutes later, she heard the sound again. “Okay... maybe it is something,” Jay thought as she peered out the window again. She felt her heart pick up its pace at the sight of a shadow quickly moving past the window. “It’s okay, it’s probably just a bird...” she comforted herself, keeping her eyes locked on the window. Once again, there was nothing.
Climbing down from bed, Jay figured she should go investigate. There’s no way it could be anything dangerous, right? Grabbing a small flashlight from her backpack, she slowly crept towards the door, slowly pushing it open to prevent any other kampers from waking up. She first stuck her head out once the crack was large enough, glancing around, searching for any sign of something out of the ordinary. Though she saw nothing, she couldn’t help the weariness coming over her. The scene of the forest at night was a bit unsettling, but she shook her head. She had to investigate. She really wanted to get some sleep, and Jay needed some closure about what was out there.
Clicking on her flashlight, she slowly made her way into the grass in front of the cabin, making her way around the back, and closer to the forest. She felt her heart begin to race again as she got closer and closer with every step. A crow in the distance began to caw, elevating her heart rate even more. Why was she getting scared? She had been camping plenty of times in the past, on adventures more spooky than this. She shook her head, pushing even further. She was about to turn the corner, when she heard footsteps behind her. Spinning around, heart pounding in her head, she shone her flashlight on the suspect.
“Jay? What’re you doing out here?”
It was another kamper. One from her cabin, to be exact. Jay let out a sigh of relief, clicking the flashlight off as she walked over to the other kalon.
“Oh, I thought I heard something,” she replied, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly.
“It was probably just a bird or something, I mean there’s so many of them around here!” The kalon replied, patting Jay on the shoulder. “Let’s head back in, before you end up spooking someone.”

[527 words]

[Jippy]

Ooooh, spooky!
Username: Dreamlight
Link to roll call post: X
Link to previous form: X
Prompt response: Ly’Leth jolted up, her heartbeat racing as she stared through the darkness of the cabin. A shiver went up her spine as an eerie sound echoed through the room. The bed creaked as she crept out from her bunk. It was normal to hear sounds from the forest but tonight it was quite bizarre. Poking her head out through the chilly night, she noticed some other kampers had gathered outside as well. All had the same issue, the creepy sound coming from the woods. Eventually, they decided to take a look, those who were scared stayed back while Ly’Leth joined the search team.

Through the woods they went, the sound of footsteps crunching on the forest floor, flashlight beams illuminating the world around them. No one spoke, trying to detect anything through the darkness. Ly’Leth listened closely to the strange sound, it was like no other. Trying to rack her brain on what might be causing the forest to act all spooky. Suddenly a flicker caught Ly’Leth’s eye. Scanning the forest under the moonlight, she saw a firefly. Then there was another, and another. She was about to tell the group when she turned and they were already gone, she was alone. Surrounded by who knows what, she shivered. Never before had she felt this frightened, vulnerable to whatever was lurking around. Now only the moonlight was her guide, she followed her only hope, the fireflies. Taking a deep breath she tried her best to shake off the fear. More paranoid then ever she followed the trail and in the distances, a single figure swayed from the trees. It looked like nothing else before. Panicking she froze in front of the figure until a ray of moonlight shone on the monsters face, but it wasn’t a monsters face, it was Faulkes! Deep asleep and snoring! No longer did she hear the strange sound but the loud snores. She started laughing, and all this time she thought the forest was spooky! But little did she know...

[SaltyBirb]

Ooooh, spooky!
Username: SaltyBirb
Link to roll call post: <3
Link to previous form: <33
Prompt response:

"Spoopy sounds at this time?? NOPE!"
She pops out her earphones and starts to play all her calming music "there you go!" she finds a comfortable spot in the bed and continues to sleep...

[deerbroken]

Ooooh, spooky!
Username: neongraveyard
Link to roll call post: boop
Link to previous form: beep
Prompt response:

[sobble]

Ooooh, spooky!
Username: junkratss
Link to roll call post: boo
Link to previous form: over here boss!

Prompt response:

Jack unceremoniously rolled out of bed, hitting the dusty cabin floors with a resounding thud. He began muttering something about the guardsmen and how they’d pay for waking him up, still half asleep the kit pulled himself back into bed, before the noise sounded again. It was haunting, mournful, yet painstakingly, obviously, ghostly.

Jacks mind immediately snapped back to the afternoon’s events, and the two smug counselors who had watched everything, and were in charge of the “Test of Courage”. Was this really their way of waking people up? It wasn’t even scary! You would think for a mysteriously quiet dude and a demon-esque kalon they could come up with something a lot better. Jack sighed, resigning himself to his fate, he was awake now, and it was apparent he wouldn’t be going back to bed because a certain pair of counselors wouldn’t stop wailing outside the cabin window.

Jack threw on a large kamp shirt and made his way over to the cabin door, rubbing his eyes before stepping outside,and turned to face the field.
“If you’re trying to scare us awake, you two, it’s not-“ Jack was cut off as he soon noticed there wasn’t, in fact, two counselors in the field as he had suspected. Rather, there was absolutely no one in the field... or by the campfire... or the lake, the cabins, the archery range, the information booth... you name it, and it was deserted. So where, then, were the culprits? The noises had been much too stereotypical to be a real ghost. The only choice left, then, was to explore the forest... that was where the hike was supposed to take place anyhow, right?

Of course. Follow the haunting noises into the “forbidden” forest, Jack mused, what a perfect idea to test the courage of a bunch of kits. However asinine it seemed, of course, and however tired he may have been, Jack accepted the challenge. Maybe he needed a bit of adventure in his life... maybe he was thinking on three hours of sleep and made the wrong choice. Jack only shrugged it off, if the counselors had lured the kampers into the forest there was no way anything actually dangerous could reside within the forest.

Jack shouldered aside the foliage, trekking into the forest. The noise was easy to follow, as soon as he was able to familiarize himself with it, everything else had faded away. He did notice, though, that the forest was even darker than the kamp, a radiating black which was darker than even the pitch black skies overhead... perhaps it was just the foliage, or the drowsiness which threatened the edges of his vision. It had been some time though, and still the only noise which permeated the stagnant air was the echoing cries of the ‘ghost’ he was persuing.

Jack hadn’t noticed it before, but the crickets had stopped chirping, the foliage stopped rustling, even the steady breeze which stirred the trees did not reach here. Upon further inspection, Jack noted there was no foliage here, even the tree’s trunks were scraggly, like sickly sprouts searching for a breath of fresh air... and there were no kampers or counselors to be found. As he reached the clearing, the wailing had begun to envelop him, growing stronger and surging, spiraling around the clearing like young children playing a game of “ring-around-the-rosie”. His hair stood on end as Jack realized he had been lured here not by counselors, but by a force much larger, and he had taken it’s bait. He had been caught in the very middle of it’s territory, completely defenseless and utterly alone. Amazing.
[607 words]

[hiraeth + hound]

Ooooh, spooky!
Username: watchdog.
Link to roll call post: here
Link to previous form: here
Prompt response:

The second he heard the branches snap, Alseides had been dragged by his ear out of his dreaming state and into reality. Rubbing the slightly crusted layer over his closed eyelids away, his strawberry candy eyes scanned the dark room, looking to see if the disturbance awoke any of his cabin mates. Across the room, he could see two of his friends peering into the darkness back at him with wide eyes.

“Kieren, Zia!” he called to them both in a loud whisper, beckoning them to his bedside without waking their other snoring cabin mate, Hadrian. Their little feet pittered across the wooden floor boards with movements so quick, they barely left space for the wooden planks to creak. They both sat with their legs criss crossed on the foot of his bed, and Alseides sat right beside them.

“You guys heard that out there too, right?”
Alsei piqued the question for confirmation, to which they both nodded. “Okay… Here’s what we’re going to do.” He laid out the plan of action before their eyes, hands moving frantically to emphasize his words. First, they were going to gear up for battle against the (presumingly) mighty foe. With their Kamp shirts tied around their foreheads, their helmets of protection and camouflage tactics were in place. Next, Alsei sprayed them both down head to toe with bug spray. He heard spirits and cryptids hated the strong smell of citronella, and it was a natural defense towards them. The little tyke was also told that Counselors Lena and Faulkes didn't kill the mosquitos caught during their bug catching game, and didn’t want to get bitten by any pesky skeeters.

Step two was being armed for the upcoming attack. With flashlights in hand and their slippers on to protect their feet from who knows what outside, Alsei lead the small troop to the door. With a deep breath, he pushed the door open with a soft creak, peering through the opening slit whenever he could first get the chance. He couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary, just the tree line and the other cabins in the distance. Alseides released the breath he had been holding, and pushed the door open enough for the three of them to slip outside. Now, the three soldiers were on the battlefield, preparing themselves for the worst.

With another snap of a twig, Alsei twisted around to the noise with his flashlight beaming in that direction. They were on the front lines, now, inching closer to facing their enemy. Alsei could see a figure rustling in the shallow bushes and underbrush, and his mind raced with possibilities. Was it some forest demon, coming to take revenge on them for a crime done by another long ago? Was it an infamous cryptid, like a werewolf or Bigfoot or even Mothman? Putting on a brave face, Alsei took courageous steps forward in his bunny slippers, charging at whatever monster was in the bushes. As he raised his hand which held a stick, his plan was to strike the enemy and bring it down, and become the hero of the small kingdom.

However, instead, as soon as he had raised his hand, the creature jumped at him from the bushes. It was tall and had long, terrifying fur filled with leaves, and in the darkness he could see one protruding horn which could easily be thrust at him in defense and end him. The silhouette of the monster had him shrieking and running back to the cabin, even dropping his flashlight on the retreat. He huddled with Kieren on the bed, calming Ren down as well as calming his own racing heartbeat. Themselves and a shivering Zia across the room swore to never talk about this night ever again, they made a blood pact right then and there.

---

“Iphis, stop scaring the kids, dude. They won’t even make it to the end of Kamp at this rate.” A tired Beni rubbed his eyes and stepped out of his counselors cabin, picking up the flashlight Alseides had dropped and shining it directly into the bushes, revealing Counselor Iphis.

“Less brats for me to handle.” Iphis shrugged, pulling the leaves out of his hair. “You should have seen that kids face though, priceless.” Iphis smirked, retreating with Beni back to their cabin for the night.

[722 words]

included: Alseides, Kieren, Zia, Iphis, Beni