Luke smiked at the banter between the cop and the big guy.
As Rhic moved, so too did Luke ... following Rhic's lead into the undergrowth.

 She giggled nervously at the idea of Rhic screaming like a girl with a spider, though to be honest, she rather liked spiders...the nonvenomous ones anyway. Some venomous ones were ok if it was just a very mild venom, but death bringing or mutilating ones were just not her thing. They could stay in their own place and leave her be, thank you very much!
"Be careful!"
 She peeked around then closed her eyes concentrating on hearing what she couldn't see. Sometimes the eyes fooled one, and sound was a better sense when that happened.

   Alex watched in alarm as Luke left him to follow Rhic.  The IT guy was completely out of his depth in this situation, and he felt very alone just now.  Taking a chance, he crawled through the thick undergrowth, to where Moon Child was hiding.  Malcolm is certain the shot was off to the north-east, but decides to remain with the rest, in case there's trouble.  Moon Child closes her eyes to try and discern anything more from the sounds around her, and instead notices how quiet it has become.  Opening her eyes, she sees Alex in front of her, but no sign of the red haired teenager, Dirk.  His companion Scruff is also missing from his place beside Malcolm.



   Although Rhic is not positive about the exact direction of the shot, he makes an educated guess and heads off into the trees, followed closely by Luke.  The land is rugged here, and slopes uphill, making for a rough climb, but less than fifteen minutes after they head out Rhic and Luke come across an thicket of slender ash trees, where the ground levels out some.  Beyond they can see a clearing where many old fallen trees have created an open space.
   In the early morning sunlight, Rhic and Luke can see five men and one woman, dressed in yellow and orange safety vests, grubby jeans, hard hats, and work boots.  One man, who looks to be of Latin descent perhaps, has what Rhic quickly assesses as a nine millimeter high power pistol in his left hand.  (Browning actually).
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:42, Wed 18 Apr 2012.

Luke settled into a hidden position, ready to watch for a short while to figure out what the group was doing.
Maybe they were a minimum security prison detachment doing public service ... or an Indi Jones style Nazi excavation team preparing to dig up the Noah's Ark right here in the good ol' US of A ... wouldn't that be a kick in the guts to the whole god-fearing sect?!?
This message was last edited by the player at 19:51, Wed 18 Apr 2012.

Back where he was holding down the fort... with the hairs on the back of his neck standing up, Malcolm watched the possum chase after his compatriots and said, not actually looking at the boys, "You guys wanna tell me what's really going on? I don't like games... especially games I don't understand. Maybe this is funny to you, but human beings tend to react pretty darn poorly to things they don't get and jokes that go past 'em."

 Rhic sized up the group, they looked like any work crew he'd ever seen. But He didn't like the gun being out and fired. Slinging his rifle he stepped out looking as if he were just out for a stroll, as best he could.
  " High folks, you guys like to scared the bejeezus out of me." He waved, doing his best to sound friendly" You guys see a snake or something?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:30, Thu 19 Apr 2012.

   Rhic's sudden appearance startles the group, and they swiftly turn towards him.  Seeing its a single man, the woman puts a hand on the shoulder of the man holding the pistol. "Its okay, Ernesto, you can put that away.  I'm sure its long gone by now," she says in a calm, but pleading tone, the gun clearly making her nervous.  "Besides, you're going to get us all in trouble for bringing that thing here, dammit!"
   "Ee's around here, somplace, an' chwen I find that PINCHE RATON, ees gonna pay!" he replies angrily, but he reluctantly clicks the safety, and replaces the gun under his vest.  As he does so, Rhic notes his right hand is bleeding.
   The woman waves to Rhic.  "Its okay, sorry we scared you. Ernesto here, just got bitten by a rabbit and he's a little pissed...okay more than a little." Quickly changing the subject when she sees the angry glare from Ernesto, the woman asks Rhic.  "Are you lost or something?  Or just out for a morning walk?"

   As Luke watches from the bushes, there is slight rustling in the undergrowth behind him, and a sleek red fox and pudgy grey opossum emerge and stop, seeing Luke.  As he watches, the fox grows and changes before his eyes, until he once more bear the shape of Dirk!  Dirk shakes his head as the opossum looks at him with an almost human expression of dismay.  "Its okay Scruff, he already knows," whispers the red headed youth. "Don't you Luke?" he asks, now looking up to him.

----------------------------------------------

   Malcolm does not receive any reply, and glancing around, sees no sign of the two boys; just himself, Moon Child, and Alex left in the area.  His question hangs in the air, until the silence is broken by an off white fawn that steps timidly into the small tree circled glade.  Malcolm is quite certain its the same one he saw earlier and, as he and the others watch, she begins to glow with a golden light, and shifts into a slender girl, perhaps seventeen or eighteen years of age.  Her shoulder length wavy hair is so blonde its almost silver, and her almond shaped eyes are a luminous blue.  Tall deer-like ears spring from the side of her head, and her face is covered by a fine white fur.  Except for a pair of black hiking boots, she is dressed completely in shades of grey.
  "A fair question," she answers Malcolm quietly, her voice calm as tranquil moonlit mere.  "You are not like the other mortals who come here.  And you can see through Fae Glamour.  Who are you?"

" car trouble, ya know it had trouble with moving after the engine wnet poof."" Rhic replied walking up and offering his hand as he gave the grou a freindly nod, and scanned the woods for the offending rabbit." Me and my freinds were sort of ..well lost out her so you did me a favor."

"I think," Malcolm answered haltingly, "that all of us have the Sight. I'm Malcolm. There's Rhic and, I think, Luke is his name. The girl is Moon. I think we're still trying to figure out who we are, Miss, and I apologize for not having a better answer. I can tell you we mean you no harm if you mean us none. We came here through accident and chance, an escape through a portal."

"This is all really new to us."

 She gasped as the girl appeared before them, first as a fawn, then as a girl. She looked at Malcolm with her mouth open, to see if he saw it too. She had an almost terrified expression on her face.
 "Wait! Did you just see a deer turn into a girl? Or was there a girl all along? Or...Is there even a girl there? Please, tell me you see her too! And that you saw a deer first? Oh my goodness! Am I going crazy? Is any of this real? Are YOU even real? Or am I in an insane asylum and just think I'm here at all?"
 She rubbed her eyes frantically to see if things changed afterward, as if she could rub out the hallucinations she'd been having for months now, the hallucinations that had steadily been getting worse as the weeks and months passed by. She was near to tears as the fear and stress of the past few hours was added to by the appearance of the deer girl, added on to the fox boy and possum boy. The fact that Malcolm seemed to be talking to the girl just clinched it for her.

"Don't freak out, Moon," Malcolm said calmly. "It's rude when you're in someone else's home. And shape shifting... Fae Glamour, right? Isn't that what you said, Miss? Fae are much less upsetting to me than alien humanoids who hijack humans' bodies."

Luke smirked, "Yeah.  I didn't know about the shapechangin', but I knew you were as much fox as human". He winked at the opossum and said "You're alright with me, Scruff. Although I had you pegged as a mole.

Say, I don't s'pose that it was one of your mates that did a mischeif to that ornery guy down there?" he asked them.

 "Don't condescend to me either! I'm not stupid! I can be smart and still be loony tunes! Lots of smart people are nutty as fruit cakes. People don't look like foxes and opossums and deer! That has to be the crazy part. I've seen imaginary stuff all my life! I guess it just finally got too strong."
 She tried to ignore the girl, knowing she wasn't really there. Maybe there had been something in the air at that alien faci... drat it, she was thinking that place was real and she knew it really couldn't have been. Could it?

"I'm not being condescending," Malcolm chided. "You're freaking out, it's rude, I told you to stop because it's rude. Why do you have to fight everyone... Is it like a rebellion to authority thing? You're not in Kansas anymore, Dorothy. The world is bigger than you thought. What more do you need?"

 "Fine. You stay and talk to imaginary people. I'll go freak out elsewhere!"
 She promptly got up and stalked away. She didn't need to be beat over the head with a 2 x 4 to know when she wasn't wanted. She called to her horse softly and headed away from Malcolm and his imaginary girlfriend. Besides, she knew exactly where they were. Well, pretty close to where they were anyway. She'd just head downhill until she found the river, or found a trail. Once she did, she'd know where she was, and would head home. The others could do as they please. If there actually was anyone there.

   The silver haired girl watched quietly as Malcolm and Moon Child discussed the situation.  But when Moon Child turned to go, she called out to her in a voice like pure music, stretching her left hand towards her and her right towards Malcolm:
  "Moon, I am as real as you are, Malcolm is telling the truth.  And you, most of all, must stay, you're closer to the Dreaming than any of your friends.  Take my hand, if you don't believe me.  Dare to touch the font of creation with me, and you'll see wonders you know are real.  Dreams are the truth, its the rest of the world that lives in Banality.  Come on Moon, what do you have to lose?  You too, Malcolm, you wanted answers, come and claim them."
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:28, Sun 22 Apr 2012.

   Dirk nods, that familiar grin spreading over his face once more.  "Yeah, that was April.  She took that fat guys keys so he couldn't start his tree killing machine!"  While Dirk is answering, Scruff resumes his shy teenager form and looks reproachfully at his older friend.  "Es..esc..esc...esc..ESCHEAT!"  He finally manages to expel the unusual word from his lips.
   Dirk nods and puts a hand on Scruff's shoulder.  "I know we're not supposed to tell mortals, but we need their help.  Besides, I got a good feeling about old Luke here.  So the we're going to ignore the Escheat this time okay?"
   Scruff looks confused for a moment, then his face turns up to Luke and he grins.  "Oh...k...k..ku..kuku...kay,"  he agrees.  Then peeks nervously through the thicket to see if they were overheard, but it looks like the workers are distracted.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:48, Sun 22 Apr 2012.

 She stopped and thought about it briefly, then shrugged and figured what the heck? In for a penny, in for a tenner. Might as well jump down the rabbit hole. If she believed strongly enough nothing could hurt her there, it couldn't...right? Well, she hoped anyway. She turned around and went back slowly, then reached out her hand to take the girls hand, holding her breath as she did, because she didn't know what would happen, if anything did.
"Ok, I'll take your hand, see if you're really real, and not part of my insanity. If even that can tell me. Crazy people don't always know they are crazy."

"Potentially, there's a lot to lose," Malcolm said to the silver-haired girl as he reached out to take her hand. "But if we don't find some friends soon, we're in real trouble. And what is the world without a little trust."

   The woman nods, shaking Rhic's hand with only a slightly less hardy handshake than the rest.  "Name's Jessie, this is Jimmy, Ron, Lee, BJ, and Ernesto of course.  You can come back with us.  You should be able to call for help from there.  I know there's really no way to get a signal with all these trees around.  Besides, we need to get back to work..."
   "WORK, how we goin' to geet back to work?  The rabbeet estole my keys!  I cannot drive the dozer without them! Madre de Dios!"
   Jessie holds up her gloved hands. "Oh for the love of...look Ernesto, we'll call and see if they have a spare set okay?  Geeze, just take it easy dude."
   "Fine," he says, obviously not the least bit mollified.  "Theese job is, how you say, cursed.  I'll be glad when ees finito, I don care how much day pay, one more thing goes a wrong, I'm trough!"
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:20, Sun 22 Apr 2012.

   Accepting Moon Child and Malcolm's hands in her own warm ones, she clasps them gently, the F.B.I. man's comment bringing a soft smile to her fair face.  "I agree, and in the spirit of trust, I offer my name, for I trust you both to use it with respect and care.  I am Rowan, and I am of the Kithain."
   She closes her eyes, and breathes in deeply, holding both their hands in her's as if they were precious keepsakes.  Both Malcolm and Moon Child feel the rush of energy flow through their bodies, reinvigorating them, tingling over their skin and exciting them.  Rowan begins to glow softly, a multi hued aura radiates from her and envelops them all.  They can feel their hearts beating faster, like the adrenaline surge a child feels when the roller coaster starts to move...

   Then Rowan opens her eyes, and the World changes!

   Everything around the clearing, every living thing, seems somehow brighter, clearer, and vibrant.  The trees sway and pulse with life, and from every rock, every flower, every animal, bird, and insect comes a glorious melody, as if each sings its own special note that mingles together until it becomes a harmonious symphony of life!  Rowan whistles a single note, and a rainbow of wildflowers spreads out from her, to carpet the glade, their mingled scents drifting up to Malcolm and Moon Child to delight their senses.  She blinks, then whistles again, and the wildflowers leap from their stems, the colourful blossoms transforming into exquisitely beautiful butterflies that swirl and dance around the trio in incredibly complex patterns.
   Rowan's face is glowing with delight, her voice echoing to them, as if she spoke directly to their minds, or perhaps to their hearts.

"Behold the Dreaming: behold the place all Fae belong!
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:32, Thu 26 Apr 2012.

Luke smiled down at his two new friends ... little and furry as they were, even in human form.
He watched the interaction between Rhic and the Flora Vandals ... and wondered what his little furry friends hoped he, Luke, would do.  After all, harm these guys, and the corporation paying them would simply send more people, probably with more weapons with which to protect themselves.

As he watched Rhic's back, he wondered.

 Rhic Nodded or offered his hand to everyone as they were introduced and listened to the back and forth. A rabbit stole your keys, not saying I don't believe ya...but that's some downright odd behavior for your average rabbit."

  "I'll go round up my friends, they aren't far back down the trail.". He listened to the man rant a bit more and gave him a sympathetic nod.


I'm taking it this job has been a pain in the ass, most of these forest jobs are but it's usually people coming in and helping themselves to your gas, or stealing anything that ain't nailed down..."

 She gaped in wonder, but also in bemusement. It was all a bit on the Walt Disney side of overkill... But if it was real, it would take a lot of getting used to. She was afraid to move in case there was a fairy or a gnome or a brownie or some strange magic creature waiting to be trod upon. And really, what good would such a world be to humans anyway? If things came to easy, people would just get bored, or maybe try to cause trouble just because they could.
 "Oh. How...amazing. Fascinating. Truly. Ok, now we're here, what are we supposed to do? I feel like I'm on drugs or stuck in a movie setting."

"This..." Malcolm chuckled as he looked around, "is pretty cool."

He drank in the his surroundings, knowing that if his life were to change, like it certainly seemed to be the case, he needed to get used to, and gain experience with "other" ways of dealing with the world.

He engaged his Sight, hoping that adding the unusual sense would aid his understanding.

"Who's in charge here?"