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bakerstreet2021-08-28 12:35 pm
toastysocks) wrote in bakerstreet2021-08-28 12:35 pm
The Hunters Meme
You wake up in the middle of an unfamiliar place. You don't know where you are, or how you got there, but there's an unfamiliar sun in the sky and all signs suggest that you're not in Kansas any more. You need to survive; figure out what's going on; and maybe, just maybe, find a way to go home. There's just one problem.
Something is hunting you.
Prompts
1. Consciousness to sarcasm in five seconds. Rise and shine, you've just woken up in the middle of nowhere with no idea how you got there. On the bright side, you're not alone. Get to know your fellow
2. The road to nowhere. Have fun trudging through the woods, empty fields, or an eerie, abandoned town. How long 'til someone notices that it's been daylight for about 48 hours now, or that there's the wrong number of moons in the sky? Maybe you're just in a brand new hemisphere. Fuck. Kiss your worldview goodbye.
3. Cry havoc! The hunters have set their dogs on you. Possibly deformed, alien monstrosity dogs, terrifying, demon hounds, or just plain Jane, tear-your-face-off hunting dogs. Do you run or fight? Work together or leave the others to their fate?
4. On a scale of one to "fucked"-- One of you is injured. Maybe it's fixable, or maybe it's fatal. Does the other choose to stay and help, to leave you for dead, or to put you out of your misery...?
5. Let's hope they last the night. Night has finally fallen. Time to find somewhere to hole up, grab some shuteye, and hope nothing sneaks up on you in the darkness. Sweet dreams.
6. The great escape. Here's your chance - whether by skill or luck, you've found where the hunters have set up camp. Think you've got what it takes to fly an alien ship, to break the curse that's had you running in circles, or maybe just drive this Hills Have Eyes-level crazed killer's stick shift-only beater outta Dodge? Of course that's assuming you live long enough to get there. Maybe you should come up with a plan b, just in case...
7. But you've always been here. Congratulations, you're not dead yet. You've evaded the hunters for long enough that they've apparently assumed you starved, or fell into a swamp, or maybe they've just plain lost interest. And now there's fresh meat on the field - a new batch of game for the hunters. You could help. The question is, will you?
8. Wildcard. Ship with your companion, decide you just gotta bang the hunter to survive? The world is your oyster.
modified from the Predators meme!
james buchanan barnes | mcu
Edward Elric | FMA | OTA
athelyna de maris ( original )
loki | mcu
@wrests
The Odinson brothers are called in, then, to deal with a matter that sounds suspiciously like some sort of revenant activity. That is how they wind up in their current predicament: being chased on horseback under the full moon by a small army of malodorous draugr on equally undead steeds, brandishing rusted weapons and armor as they seek to protect the riches of their long-fallen lord. It wouldn't be such a terrible ordeal if it weren't for how much of an absolute pain in the ass it is to permanently kill them.
Plus, they hadn't counted on there being so many of them. ]
What's our plan? [ shouts Loki, loud enough (he hopes) to carry over the cacopheny of clattering metal and bones, and multiple hooves thudding against the earth to his brother, riding several feet away. His own steed is black, natch. He also has his own plan, double natch, but he likes to ask, sometimes. To see if Thor actually has one.
There's a river nearby, a grove of trees further out, but otherwise the land is relatively flat, used mainly for agriculture. The next structure they're likely to run into would be a barn. ]
no subject
"do not go", she begs him as her hold on his hands tighten.
thor smiles at his mother, something akin to condescension shining in his blue eyes and in his deep voice, as he begins to recite bromides to her. her sons are young, strong, and smart; she and odin had taught them well; there is no reason to worry, etc.
that was two days prior in the warmth and safety of the odinson estate. now it's the dark of night and thor and his brother are fleeing on horseback from an army of the undead hot on their heels. even with the full moon hanging high above them, the grasslands stretching out before them seem darker and wider than it did just a few hours before. he was alone. his body would never be found in these ancient grasses and his mother would never recover and —
loki calls out to him, asking what their plan is. thor reaches out and takes comfort in his brother's presence. he is not alone. their mother would see them again. the sun will shine on them again.
(great, now he's reciting bromides to himself.)
with the thundering of hooves and metal and the roaring winds in his ears, he tries to think of something. one plan flashes through his mind: get to a barn. temporary safety and a better plan will be found within a wooden structure and a hefty iron bolt. the horizon is clear; no barn in sight. yet. thor's grip on the reins tighten and, despite his heart lodged in his throat, he's able to shout back, ) We get to a barn. And we'll — ( he turns to look at his brother. his blond hair whips against his face, wild with desperation. run run run. ) We'll hold up there.
( "until what exactly?" he already hears the response before loki actually does reply.
"you foolish, arrogant boy", his father cuts in, his severe voice ringing in his ears.
thor's mouth presses into a thin line as he tries to shake his father from his head. with a swift kick, he urges his horse to move faster. run run run. )
no subject
Can't imagine wooden walls holding well enough, [ he continues, still shouting, although a barn had been his first thought as well. Shelter, if only for the briefest of moments, to gather their wits and formulate an asinine plan that works out sometimes. For the others, well... brute force and/or luck usually finished the job. What they needed was numbers, but that wasn't going to happen soon enough. Fire, then, and a means to interrupt the flow of their assailants so that they could fight them in manageable groups. Loki hadn't brought enough water from Urðarbrunnr to deal with all of them, so they'd need to take a less sophisticated approach.
Beyond, the tell-tale weathered red and white paint of a barn comes into view. Loki yells his brother's name, as if Thor himself wouldn't have already noticed it, and urges his horse to sprint faster. The only obstacle between the Odinsons and the barn is a thin, twisting river bordered by clusters of trees, quickly approaching them. There must be a crossing somewhere, he thinks desperately, even as another corner of his mind considers how they might use the river in their favor.
The flask containing Urðarbrunnr's water wouldn't be enough to purge them, but slow them down, perhaps... ]
no subject
up ahead, near the remains of an old trailer, a small, narrow strip of a footbridge connects one side to the other. in order to get to the other side though, they all will have to turn sharply to get onto the bridge and slow down to cross, lest they fall into the inky blackness and be pulled under the icy waters. but perhaps that would be preferable to what lays ahead of the odinson brothers...
thor points towards the trailer. his shout is hoarse and rough, ) Loki! A bridge!
( heat radiates from his horse caused by the overexertion. she'll collapse soon if she continues to run at this intense speed, but thor has no choice but to grit his teeth and urge the horse faster. the draugr behind them roar, rattling from their bodies like air through a massive organ that hasn't been played in years. despite that, laughter bubbles out from thor. a renewed aplomb and vigor seizes him. it's evident in the grin that cuts into his cheeks as he turns to look at his brother.
(they might just make it after all. their mother's prophecy be damned.)
a miasma of decay rolls over the meadow as they race towards the bridge. the undead are hot on them. a bow hangs from his horse but the arrows were depleted over ten miles ago. any chance of slowing them down will come from the narrow width of the bridge. )
no subject
[ They'll undoubtedly lose several of the undead beasts to the narrow crossing, then find temporary solace in the barn. There, Loki will brief Thor on his haphazard plan to bless the river with the waters of Urðarbrunnr and lead the draugr straight through it, thereby slowing them down enough to kill them in smaller clusters. Once they've crumpled, the brothers can set fire to this whole mess and call it a night.
Oh yeah, it's all coming together.
He urges his horse on likewise, the situation necessitating such ruthlessness. The expulsion of breath through its flared nares whips around him like smoke in the cold air cutting past as the trailer and bridge rapidly grow larger in the decreasing distance. By the time Thor's steed will be practically leaping off the end of the bridge, Loki's will be leaping atop of it, and there is no fear of being left behind. This is the natural way of things; Loki, often following his golden brother into and out of trouble.
As Thor reaches the turning point for the bridge, their misplaced sense of triumph is rudely interrupted by the flight of a rusted javelin thrown from behind, its trajectory in line with Thor's current path. Loki doesn't catch sight of it until it's already beyond himself, and a spike of icy fear tears through his veins. It's as if watching in slow-motion, his own inability to free his hands lest he lose control of the reins feeling like a damnation of its own. ]
Thor, cut now! [ he shouts, and maybe it's a little premature, but he'll have an easier time readjusting the path of his steed without a spear lodged between his shoulder blades. ]
no subject
it was a meaning that was lost on thor that chilly night in the dark forest a couple hundred kilometers away from home. "our version of icarus and flying too close to the sun", loki explained in the morning as they hiked towards an ancient, abandoned den of a huldra. "it's a metaphor", he further elaborated when thor appeared to still not get it. figurative language with their hidden and multiple meanings was an area of expertise that loki excelled in while thor took everything for their literal meaning. but, it's a tale that would ultimately stick and rattle around his mind like a pebble in a shoe. why shouldn't he continue to strive to fly closer to the sun? to bring light and calm those waves? is that not what the purpose of the constant and intense training that molded boys into weapons? to quote that movie thor watched while recovering from a hangover years ago, aren't they supposed to bump back at the things that go bump in the night? and if that involves taking greater and greater chances, shouldn't they?
it's an axiom that thor would shape his life around. cocky as the king of spades, sif would say, when he fished in increasingly darker and wilder waves. he just kept rowing the boat further and further out from land. "the greater the risk the greater the reward" and all that.
but despite his laughter that still rings in the air, mingling with the thundering of hooves and the vapor of death, and despite the cocky smile he shoots behind to his brother as they race through the dark, wild grassy waves, closer to the bridge and, hopefully, to salvation, the inevitable is imminent. the boat is too far out. here are waves too dark and wild for even the infamous odinsons.
two paces down.
seven to go.
cutting through his thoughts like the sun's rays on a cloudy day, his brother shouts something to him. with years of training and conditioning under his belt, thor's immediate reaction is to move. he jerks the horse to the side. a javelin still covered in dust and cobwebs whizzes by his ear, almost shaving off a strip of his beard. it lodges into the soft grass as they rush pass. )
Fuck ( , thor hisses under his breath, blue eyes wide. but he's careful to disguise the fear and panic pounding through him with aplomb when he yells back at the draugr, ) Missed me!
no subject
Stop allowing him to outshine you.
But Loki is enchanted by the very light to which he claims immunity all the same.
When Thor shouts back at the draugr, Loki laughs again, but it is breathy and frayed. The rush of relief is not as strong the second time around, but it flares stubbornly despite the tautness of his gut as Thor crosses the bridge intact, even as another spear dives off a few feet to his side. Loki races behind as more spears fall around him like one of the shittiest interpretations of shooting stars, some blades biting dully into the wood while others fall into the river with a splash drowned out by thudding hooves and the cacophony of bones rattling against each other.
Some of the draugr spill into the river, but most clatter across the bridge after them. As soon his horse's forelimbs lift to touch upon grass again, Loki releases the reins with his left hand to fan an arc of gold and emerald flames where the bridge meets land. The time gained by causing such a distraction won't be enough to fully cease the pursuit of the undead, but it will forgive them if they ease off on their horses into a slightly less frantic gallop. His magick is nothing like a proper sorcerer's, but it comes in handy anyway. ]
Haylie Collins (Spitfire) | MCU (OC) | OTA
will graham » hannibal
jack √ tales from the gas station
Severus Snape | HP