Hunting Slenderman

[dont_turn_around]

In the mist and fog and silence, there is a cave. There is darkness within darkness there and nothing more and the faint whiff of something ... not right.

But there's a drawing stuck to the rocks that frame the opening, a childish grouping of trees and a tall, thin man, with the words TAMAN SHUD.

Here is the end.

"I think we should go here," says Jack.

Comments

[jack_inthegreen]

Jack has no weapon to draw nor even a flashlight to shine. Oddly, he doesn't really need either.

"Yes. I'll go first."

He steps into the cave.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

Steve wants to tell him to be careful, but does a god really need to be careful?

Ordinary humans do. Which is why Steve follows close on Jack's heels, his shield at the ready.

[dont_turn_around]

A voice, low and growling, sing-songs,

John Smith got his forest burned down. 
That's why he planted new trees. 
A lot, a whole lot, and a lot more... 
A lot, a whole lot, and a lot more... 
A lot, a whole lot, and a lot more...

[ambriel]

"I must admit," Ambriel says, ducking to clear the cave entrance, "I did not expect singing."

The ground seems solid enough underfoot, though covered in shifting loam. The walls are cold and damp. Ambriel trails a hand along them carefully. The last thing they need is a cave-in.

[mix_it_up]

"I understand it," she mutters, "but I don't know what it's supposed to mean."

And while it brings with it a now familiar stab of fear, Asami stays steady, even resisting the urge to flicker the flashlight around to try to find the source of the singing. Moving into the cave, she shifts the light mostly along the walls, as it's unhelpful and a little unsettling to shine it straight into the darkness.

[jack_inthegreen]

"It's meant to frighten us, that's all," says Jack as he walks along, fingers of one hand trailing along the cave wall. "This creature feeds on fear, it would seem."

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"Can we starve it?" Steve says. "Sing something else to counteract his song?"

Without waiting for an answer, he starts humming. With a smile and a song, life is more than a bright sunny day, your cares fade away, and your heart is young...

[dont_turn_around]

The growling voice fade away.




Then,

HUNGRY

loud as thunder into their heads, even Jack's.

[ambriel]

A long spear, with a cherry wood shaft topped with a gleaming bronze blade, appears in Ambriel's hand.

"There is no sustenance for you here."

The angel turns slowly in place, continuing to scan their surroundings.

[mix_it_up]

Asami puts a hand to her forehead, but otherwise doesn't move.

"Maybe it didn't like that?" she suggests, raising her voice above above the song. She's determined to think only of solutions, and nothing else.

[nerves_of_ice]

Held immobile deep in a darkness blacker than any night, his eyes move rapidly back and forth behind closed eyelids, as though dreaming.

(I give you STRENGTH. I give you PROTECTION. I give you BENEDICTION.)

Bucky Barnes makes no sound at all, and the expression on his face is one of quiet repose.

[jack_inthegreen]

Jack pauses and rubs his forehead.

I know you are, but you can't have our people.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"What the hell?" Steve says at the voice in his head.

He moves closer to Jack, trying to see what he's seeing, hear what he's hearing.

Underneath it all beats a simple tattoo, Bucky Bucky be okay Bucky...

[nerves_of_ice]

Silence.

[dont_turn_around]

in the dark



he waits

[mix_it_up]

Asami flickers the light to the ground just ahead of them for a moment, moving her free hand to her ear, and taking Steve's idea of humming something to herself against the sound.

(It might be "Secret Tunnel." A sense of humor probably isn't the worst thing if she's trying not to be afraid.)

Then, she tries shining the light straight into the darkness.

[ambriel]

"There is nothing here," Ambriel says. "We must go further.

"Does this...being gain strength from the darkness as well?" That would be odd, but not unheard of. "I can give us more light."

[jack_inthegreen]

Jack draws in a breath, feeling a tug in his being, and says quietly, "More light never hurts. Please do, Ambriel."

[ambriel]

Ambriel nods, and around the four of them, there is suddenly a circle of ambient light. Not like sunlight, but like a sky full of stars, or a pale moon. There is no one source of light, just a lessening of the dark.

It does not extend far into the shadows, but they can see each other clearly.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

Steve inhales, and whispers softly, "That's beautiful."

He always appreciates a lessening of the dark.

[mix_it_up]

Asami nods, though she doesn't put her own light out.

"It definitely feels better," she agrees.

[dont_turn_around]

If he has anything to say about it, that won't last.


Again comes the growly voice, low and inhuman.

This little light of mine,
I'm gonna eat its shine,
This little light of mine,
I'm gonna eat its shine
Eat its shine, eat its shine, eat its shine.

[jack_inthegreen]

Stop this, Jack thinks, and then says it out loud. "Stop this.

"You thrive on fear, but what does it really do? Your worshipers are gone--they have forgotten you, they have moved on, if any of their descendants still live. And now you only have followers who cower before you.

"We will not cower. We are not afraid."

[ambriel]

"Keep going. If it is trying to drive us away, there is something here it does not want us to find."

Ambriel doubts it is afraid of them.

Not yet, anyway.

[mix_it_up]

The song, and the play on words, mean nothing to her. And now, that knowledge weighs heavier than any fear it might be trying to force into her mind.

So she doesn't hesitate in stepping ahead, still shining the flashlight straight into the darkness.

Whether it's afraid of them or not: "I want to know what that is."