2020-01-17 - Sticks and Stones

Walking in the snow isn't an unusual sensation for Alexander; he walks everywhere, after all. But this is not a path he knows, which usually means..."Oh, no." He's already bruised and one of his hands is bandaged. He mutters, "You bastards. You could give me a break. Just for a bit." He takes a deep, cold breath, blows it out in a billow of cold steam. Then starts walking again, shoulders hunched and expression watchful for whatever's going to jump out and try to murder him.

Lilith was in her office with a box of broken and worn jewelry of worth and note from the safe to restore and put out into gradual stock, seated at her desk with the back door cracked and held closed by the chain. The old man Barney keeps the store hot with his old man metabolism and she was wearing a cashmere coral sweater that was making her hot, sleeves pushed up. Is it coincidence she happens to be using glimmer for work at the moment everything changes? Maybe. Maybe not. One moment, she's watching the tiny flurries blow in and considering which piece to pull out and restore next for stock, the next moment, she's in the cold walking.

And when she finds herself in the cold walking, she tugs down her sweater sleeves and can't quite remember for a moment what she's even doing out here. But when she sees the shadowy figure of Alexander somewhat nearby, she picks up pace and jogs a few steps with breath hitting the air visibly in puff of greeting, orienting some with a look around, "... Alexander? That's you-you, isn't it?" Suddenly she's wary, looking at him, then around and upward with a tilt of her head.

Byron Thorne had spent the evening at the cabaret entertaining a couple of clients. Men who owed him a few favors for helping get their 'dreams' off the ground and bringing in quite a bit of money in the process. So at this late hour, he's driving them back to the Apartments now that they've all had a few drinks in them and he was promised their cooperation in this new, incredibly expensive, endeavor that he'd set out to do. He remembers the quiet of the windshield wiper scraping what little flakes actually touch down upon the Wraith with the boisterous conversation happening around him. His lips were upturned into a smile, having responded to something said, but if you asked him, he would have little memory of the whole thing.

For the next thing he knows is that he's no longer driving at all. Perhaps he'd parked somewhere or... Even that seems to be a distant memory for now. Currently, he was in the middle of nowhere, staring up into the darkened sky, mimicking an action that he was doing at the time he was still in his vehicle. He was dressed warmly with a heavy coat thrown over a more business casual attire. The voices from a distance don't sound like his two business companions, even if they do sound familiar now that he thinks about it. Rather than uttering a word, his eyes narrow into the darkness before heading in the direction of the others that he finds himself with. Ever cautious, there's that part of him that wants to get the lay of the land, the gist of his situation before calling any attention to himself.

Alexander turns at the sound of his name, instinctively wary. But it clears a little when he sees Lilith approaching. He's dressed in sweats - Oregon State University - which means he was probably at home when...whatever happened happened. "Miss--Lilith. Hi." A faint flicker of amusement. "I think it's me. I'm pretty sure. I try not to think about it too much, because that's a philosophical hole that I'm not quite ready to tackle." He lifts his hands, unarmed. "But I mean you no harm, I promise. Does anything look familiar to you?"

He's focused on Lilith, and hasn't noticed Byron's quiet approach just yet.

"Nuh-uh." Lilith says to Alexander with a tiny shake of her head after studying him for a moment, and when he turns to look at her, she tilts her head a little at his familiarity, yet... not? Dreams are strange like that. Even stranger, maybe, is how little Lilith is in comparison to his frame. While generally not overly tall, she's middling height, leggy, and fond of heels a lot as an adult. But right now? Even though her little coral pink-orange sweater is the same, it's cheaper weaving, like wool, worn with a secondhand overcoat in black with jeans that have been cuffed up for length over snowboots. She hasn't hit the pre-teen growth spurts yet and is still a slight, tiny thing, all big eyes of blue and lots of hair in tousle with the wind, like a little doll bundled up, probably around nine or ten.

After she hears her voice and she looks down at herself, she breathes out a tiny hum and then starts to sing along with the unwittingness of a child, cluing in that yes, she might be hearing something too and just thinks she's thinking of the song at the moment, "Over the river and through... wait. I don't have a grandma's house to go to." She gets suspicious and looks around another moment before getting visibly spooked with turn around, thinking she sees something (possibly Byron unknowingly, or a tree), asking in her little girl voice, "Do you hear singing? I hear singing. Maybe we should run away. But where?"

Alexander is older and she hasn't seen Byron's familiar form yet, so clearly, he's in charge now.

If anything, it's Lilith's voice that Byron recognizes most of all and it doesn't even seem odd to hear just how young she sounds. Perhaps, because he finds himself at that age as well now. No longer is he wearing that sports jacket and tie with the heavy cloak and Italian leather gloves with his hair so perfectly gelled and slicked back. Instead, he's wearing a heavy knit black sweater with that black and yellow Batman logo emblazoned across his chest and a pair of jeans. Probably layered. A thick gray winter jacket helps to protect against the wintry weather, as does the wool hat that helps to hide the fact that his hair was growing out, which his mother (and probably his father) would order to be trimmed very soon and these matching gray mittens. He was growing up pretty quickly and at around nine or possibly ten, he still had that baby fat on him, having yet to grow up into the tall, lanky kid that he later became.

Even as a child, Byron was pretty cautious. First of all, they were out here /at night/. His father would kill him if he found out. This is what makes him remain silent, merely listening to the voices in the distance as well as that odd song that he could hear coming from... Those sharp eyes of his scan the area to try and pinpoint exactly where it is coming from. However, rather than call out to the others, he quickens his pace to close the distance between them. Lilith, he knew for sure. But Alexander? Oh he knows all about That Damned Kid.

His voice comes out as quiet, though in a quiet conversational tone and not a whisper, even if his eyes continue to flicker and survey the woods around them, "Lily, why are you out here?" He asks this even as he cranes his neck up to finally stare suspiciously at Crazy Clayton.

Whatever Alexander WAS wearing, now he's wearing a long-sleeved black shirt under an oversized plaid shirt. His jeans are old and worn, and his black boots are less brutally pragmatic than his adult versions. The plaid shirt has a few pins stuck haphazardly to it - they're band pins, with Pantera, Metallica, NIN, and Violent Femmes, among others. He's a surprisingly handsome young man, despite his shaggy hair - but the intensity of his gaze can be more than a bit offputting, and his body language is restless and almost painfully energetic. (OOC: https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/8Im75u6azznbPfGxrcW9Fg--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTY0MDtoPTQyOC41MDU3NDcxMjY0MzY4/https://media.zenfs.com/en-US/homerun/instyle_846/00acfe87cb36329813b56678ab9b5028)

He's staring openly at Lilith now, his hands patting down his shirt. There's a twitch in his thinking, his brain sliding sideways into something more appropriate for the body he finds himself in. "Jeez, kid. What're you doing out here at this time of night? And in this fuc--" he clears his throat, "freaking cold, too?" Then there's Byron, and he blinks twice in recognition. "You're the Thorne kid! You got big. When'd you...get big?" He frowns, something nagging at him.

But a cold blast of air makes it something that can be thought about later. "Hey, kids. What the hell--heck are you two doing out here. Let's get you back to you your parents." He turns around in a slow circle, and mutters, in a voice not meant to carry, "Wherever the fuck they are."

When Byron comes along and he's not a scary monster emerging in the night, but her best friend in the whole world, little Lily Winslow lights up for a heartbeat or two, despite where they are. Familiar in the middle of a whole lot of unfamiliar, especially in his form is safety, isn't it? For her little girl mind it mostly is, anyway. She skip steps with a little bit of a run to grab Byron's arm as he gets close, then points back at Alexander, "I don't know. I don't think he stole me, though, 'cause he's going to help us find where to go. You're not 'sposed to be out at night, though, unless it's a slumber party and even THEN it's a secret if we sneak out, so why..." Her little girl brain is suddenly kind of as scared of Byron's parents finding them as she is a monster because they're REAL adults with rules and... stuff.

Then helpfully, for Alexander, she says, "My dad is drunk somewhere, I haven't seen him in a long time, don't find him. He's loud, and I don't want to be loud because..." She hushes her voice suddenly to look around, then at Byron, then at Alexander again, concluding in a whisper, "I think cereal-box killers sing sometimes before they pull someone's guts out, I seen it on a movie." She pauses, "I don't like it." The last part is a small complaint of almost-fear at Byron, but Lilith is being brave, see. She has the face on, but her big eyes give it away.

There's so much going through Byron's mind at the moment. For one, there's this feeling of sheer panic at not knowing how they found themselves here and why. In fact, once he's stopped giving the much taller Clayton kid these wary looks, he lifts a hand to stare down at his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle watch just to get a better idea of what time it was exactly and he hopes to God that he'd gotten permission to be out here at this hour.

As usual, he tries to hide his fear from the others, even if the most perceptive of people might notice those fleeting gazes that continuously take in the woods around them. Everything that Byron had heard about Alexander came from his father and then that one meeting which felt so long ago. Leaning in close to whisper into Lilith's ear, he murmurs, "Do you even know who that is?" That's the doubt in his voice that the older kid will be able to help them find their way home, though he does admittedly say, his voice still quiet, "Don't think my dad'll be happy to see him." Whether it's in the presence of Stephen Thorne's son or just in general! "But..." The light and smoke in the distance suddenly catches his eyes. His mind is working quickly on just what he needs to do in order to... well, not get in trouble. "We need to get to a phone so I can call my parents. Hopefully that place has one." He even points it out in case the others hadn't seen.

That seems to be young Byron's goal at the moment. Get to the house, call his parents and try to make up a good reason why he's not at home.

"Serial killers," Alexander says, with a quick grin at Lilith. "Not cereal box killers. Totally different thing. Promise. I'm not a serial killer, and I don't want your guts." He reaches out his hands, one to Byron and one to Lilith, especially as the boy starts to look at the houses. "Okay, kids. Gimme. We go together. And--" a pause as he contemplates the singing - "we go the long way around. Not across the field." He waits, expectantly, for them to take his hands, and with no sign of his adult touch-shyness.

James was a weird kid, even among the usual weird of Gray Harbor. He was quiet, skittish, shy- he hung out with kids younger than him. Younger, but not particularly smaller. Even as a kid James was slight, and he was often mistaken for a 9 year old, not the strong, mature 13 he was now. Maybe that's why he was out here alone. In the woods. The supremely creepy woods. In the snow. To prove how mature and grown up he is. Why, look at him. He's hardly shivering in fear at all!

Really, most of the shivering is from the cold. Maybe jeans and a hoodie weren't the best for the snow, but, you gotta hand it to James, the kid had his Brand (tm) even back then.

"Hey, were you guys singing?", comes the voice of a James on the cusp of puberty, squeaking and cracking. He stumbles out from between some trees not far from the glowing light. "'Cause that was really creepy if you were."

"Ummm. Maybe?" Lilith feels like she knows Alexander even if the kid version of herself probably is in no age range to be remembering much of anyone around town, but she does know the name Crazy Clayton, so maybe that's what's clicking somewhere in there. Or it's just the dream oddity of familiarity but not. Either way, Lilith isn't going to fess up to Byron she was about to go blindly with a stranger in the name of 'less scary' because he's a much more cautious kid than she is. After looking at Alexander's hand, she looks at her little boy company and says with a rub at one of her ears, "... I just want to go, let's go with him and if he tries to take our guts..." Lily casts a look at Alexander overall like she's fairly convinced he's not a gut ripper, "We'll run."

After turning one way, she blinks a few quick times while catching sight of the blue light, then James coming up out of the woods to sync up with the trio scares the holy hell out of her because she's SURE it's not only a cereal-box killer or serial killer, but the ghost kind now too! Everyone knows parts of the woods are haunted and she's not even sure what part of the woods they're in, so that means the haunted part, clearly. Either way, she screams briefly and shortly, then pout-glares at James for scaring her, "... did you bring a laser pointer to the woods, James? I see lights. Are you pranking us?" Clearly, it's his fault because he's the last to show to the party.

Instead of taking little girl agitation and fear out on James' arm with a punch, though, as per par, she's hopped to Alexander's hand on reflex after the scream because he's big, her other hand on Byron. Then she kind of goes nice and relieved when it sinks in there's no ghosts, just James, right? "The singing... is creepy."

The Byron that Alexander may have remembered encountering before might have taken his hand, somewhat shyly, because he was six. As a nine year old with no adult in sight... unless Alexander is an adult, because at that age, it's hard to tell, the younger Thorne is more hesitant to just take the hand of a stranger. Especially one that he's been told was crazy. He does continue to hold on to Lilith's hand and there's a tentative squeeze given to it, partially out of fear and partially out of this pretend brave face that he puts on now.

Though once James stumbles into them, figuratively, out of the blue the way he does, if anything Lilith might feel a tighter squeeze at her hand now as Byron attempts to steel himself despite the older kid giving them a bit of fright. Taking in a deeeeeep breath, his dark brow furrowed, he turns to Hecker. They were pretty young now, so rather than referring to him as his last name, he uses the guy's first, "Now why are you out here, James?" Despite the slightly cautious and annoyed question, he was definitely glad to see the older kid around now. "Were we supposed to be meet with you here too? Is Kevin coming?" Was this a tabletop RPG thing??

Byron could only hope that it was. Maybe, just maybe, he got the permission to stay out this late. But then, they would've lied somewhere... they weren't at Kevin's or Tobin's place to play. They were out here in the dark scary woods. "Tell me that," He starts, his eyes catching sight of the flickering light, "That we promised that we were gonna all meet here to play games and stuff." His voice still comes out quiet in the case that someone can hear them.

He doesn't fight Alexander for dominance here, though if the guy is tugging them along (as in tugging Lilith along), Byron is pulled just as easily now even if his heart was beginning to race.

When the other kid steps out into the group, Alexander quickly pulls Lilith's hand so that the girl (and hopefully Byron, holding onto her) is pulled behind him, and his expression flashes hostile for just a moment.

But it's just another kid. "...did you guys have a scout trip or something and get completely lost?" And then Byron is talking and he frowns. "Games? Out here? In the snow? Jeez, and they call me crazy. Okay," he eyes James, "you're with us, kid. James? I'm Alexander. Take Byron's hand. We're going to get out of here, but everyone has to stay together. Don't let go and if you get separated, don't panic." He reaches into his back pocket and pulls something out. It's a little folding pocket knife. He doesn't open it, immediately, but holds it in his other hand. "Let's go. Don't start singing. Unless you know 'Sanitarium'. I like that song."

He gives the kids a stern look, his bangs flopping over his eyes. "Any questions?" If not, he starts marching them around the field, towards the blue light, although his approach is cautious.

James winces as Lilith gives him that pout-glare. He knows what comes after it, and steels himself for the punch that... doesn't come? He blinks from behind his arms as he cowers. "... what?", he asks, looking to Lilith and then Byron as they ask about laser pointers and D&D. "... no, I didn't... I mean, I think I was just walking, because I walk sometimes, y'know?" And then he turns to see that weird light when Byron points it out, and he jumps. "ALIENS!", he squeaks, just as Alexander is telling him to take Byron's hand. He bolts around the three of them so he can put the biggest one between himself and the Aliens from Planet Butt-Probe. He pants a little, but as he is not immediately abducted, and his butt remains unmolested by strange visitors from another world, he finally catches up on what he was told to do.

"... h-hey. I don't need to hold anyone's hand. I'm not a little kid.", the child protests, childishly. "I'm 13. So I'm officially a teenager.", the tiny, innocent baby babbles.

A pause. "Anyway I'll bring up the rear and make sure nothing comes up from behind, ok? Yeah? Good? Good."

"First of all..." Lilith starts after doing a double take where the light is that made James suspect aliens, keeping one hand latched on Alexander's as he leads afterwards, the other tight and fast and squeezing on Byron's, "My dad said that Area 51 is a bar in Hoquiam 'cause I asked him about if aliens were real. He told me that people are too stupid for aliens to want. That's why they like cows. Also cows have four stomachs."

Lilith likes to pretend she knows what's what when she's scared and if she thinks that light is aliens, she's ignoring that in favor of what comes out of her next.

"SECOND of all, I don't see crop circles. So it's probably ghosts." Then she looks a little sorry she said anything at all because while walking, she keeps checking to make sure aliens or ghosts didn't get James behind them and looking toward the area where the light is like it's going to eat them, "Maybe it's blue lights of policemans looking for us." Not much better given the dread look she casts at Byron with his dad being a policeman and them sometimes knocking at her door to try and put her in foster care with 'checkups' based on a call.

While Byron might be at that bratty kid age, moreso than when he was six, he doesn't protest the way James does when Alexander directs Hecker to take his hand. "Not out here!" The kid Thorne's voice whines and complains when Alexander gets the whole story wrong. "I was just wonderin' if we were supposed to meet up or something and that's why..." His voice both quiets and slows when he finishes his statement as they are already on the move, "we all decided to meet up." Out in the scary woods. He then goes on to say in that same quiet tone, "When I call my house," It's not an 'IF' he calls, but a 'When' because things will be a lot worse if he didn't make the call to let his parents know where he was, "Cra-- Alexander," He knew that! He knew that was the big kid's name. He'd had it spelled out for him once even if he wasn't completely paying attention, "needs to pretend that he's someone's father." He'll just assume that Alexander Clayton's seventeen year old voice can pass for an adult.

"They are just lightning bugs." Byron has to add to this talk of aliens in regards to those blue lights. Though his heart nearly stops when Lilith brings up that they could be police lights. They couldn't be police car lights he has to now tell himself over and over. But something Alexander says has him asking, "What's Sanitation?"

"You're thirteen?" Alexander gives James an up and down, and looks deeply skeptical. "Okay. Well. That makes you second in command. I guess." He's not exactly brimming with confidence in the kid, but he does stop the procession long enough to say, "You'll guard the rear. Here." He offers the kid his folding knife. "Take this, and remember: eyes, throat, belly. Anything comes from behind, stab in one of those three places. Eyes. Throat. Belly." Because giving a kid a knife and permission to stab things is totally responsible.

Otherwise, he seems amused at the chatter, although his eyes keep sweeping the snowy woods, focusing on that blue light, but also checking out the shadows. "It depends on the type of aliens. Grays are the ones who want to probe people. And mutilate cattle. But the reptilians you won't see coming at all - they capture people and hollow them out and wear them like skin suits. Anyone can be a reptilian, and if you ever get close to their true identity, then you're next in the line to be replaced. There's only way to protect yourself from reptilians." He doesn't say what that way is, but he does say, "I've seen a lot of stuff, but never a ghost. But if you pray hard enough, ghosts won't bother you."

There's a nod to Byron. "Yeah, sure, Byron. Although we better hope it's your mom - your dad'll recognize my voice," he mutters, half to himself. A frown. "Actually. We'll call my parents, and then they can distribute back to wherever you all need to go. Everyone likes my parents." The way they don't particularly like Alexander, he doesn't say. He just adds, "It's a song. By Metallica. They're bitchin--uh. They're really good. You all didn't hear me say bitching."

James looks skeptically at the knife offered to him, hesitating before taking it- and immediately folding it and putting it into his pocket. His dad always told him that violence is never the answer. He nods to himself as he starts to follow the others, occasionally glancing back the way they came, head on a swivel. "Ghosts or aliens, either way, trouble.", he murmurs, before jumping slightly as he hears those odd sounds coming from the field. He takes a step to the side, just a smidge closer to the field so he can see what the hell is making that sound out there- and then he goes pale(r than usual).

"Sticks and stones. Sticks and stones.", he says, voice a little panicky. "You know what that stuff does to bones, right?" He takes a step away from the field, and looks at the others. "I, uhm, I don't think we should go into the field, guys."

Alexander's alien wisdom both visibly rattles and fascinates the little brunette girl while they're walking, and while she may not realize exactly what she's seeing and hearing outside of that, she clearly is spooked and knows something is wrong. Her little hands bear down with tighter hold between Byron and Alexander's hand in finger curl and she keeps looking over her shoulder to make sure James is still there and not snatched from behind him. In fact, Lilith seems to be more distracted by the words and things around her, at least, too much so to panic when she notices James' pallor and the vague shapes coming with movement at a distance in the field. Which, given how she shrieked briefly just a while before, it might be a good thing-- she's dead silent with eyes widened.

She also looks a little jealous of the knife being passed, but she's like nine or ten so you know. Probably a good thing there's only one weapon to go around. That said, though, she starts to look at the trees in brief before saying, "... I wish I had a really big stick." Not like she can really cause huge damage with one, small as she is, but it's at least a fiesty sentiment in the middle of fear, "... those are real things moving? Or are my eyeballs being funny?"

Byron only pays slight attention to this chatter about aliens that goes on around him. He's good at filtering out unnecessary (in his mind) conversation, even if sometimes he's actually still listening to what's being said. "There's no such thing as aliens." That's what his father told him, probably with more than a little annoyance in his tone, so he says this now... with a similar annoyance. Whether Stephen Thorne believed in ghosts or not, Byron doesn't touch on that subject matter.

Unlike Lilith, Byron's focusing on the woods and fields around them than the individuals in his party. James was an older kid, he could take care of himself! So once he notices those shapes in the distance, he gives Lilith's hand a tight squeeze when he pauses in his tracks. However, at Lilith's request, despite his own heart pounding rapidly in his little chest, the young Thorne looks around them for a moment, before piping up, "I'll find one for us." He obviously believes that they should have weapons too. It's at that moment, that he releases the young girl's hand but he doesn't travel far.

He's been thinking on Alexander's words in regards to whose parents they should call first, but here he adds in, "But then your mom and dad will need to pretend that they are James' parents. Or Kevin's parents." Because if his father heard that it was Alexander Clayton's parents, well, there would be suspicions raised and not very good ones. At this early age, Byron already knows this.

Alexander sighs as James puts the knife in his pocket, but he doesn't try to take it back. He doesn't miss those hunched shapes, and his expression goes blank. "Okay, kids," he says, voice hushed. He uses his hand in Lilith's to guide the younger children to his non-field side. "Crouch down a little, and we'll be careful and quiet." A reassuring smile towards Lilith. "I might need my hand back in a bit, but you stick with Byron and James, and keep being quiet and quick, and don't look back." Then he winks at her. "And there's nothing wrong with a big stick," he adds, in a whisper. A quick flash of a smile towards Byron at the skepticism about aliens. "Detective Thorne doesn't know everything in the world, you know. There could be aliens whether he believes in them or not."

It's all the playfulness he has time for, now, though, and his mind is far from the question of who will impersonate who's parents, because he's turning back towards the field, and reaching out with his mind to see what he can learn from peeking into the emotions and intentions of the shapes.

James crouches down low as well, his slight frame useful for that, at least. He hasn't taken his eyes off of the weird evil scarecrow things shambling over in their direction, but once everyone else seems to be at least on the same page re: scary shit incoming, he does look away, towards where the lights are- err... were. He looks around quickly, and spots where they've moved off to, retreating away from the approaching nasties. "... hey guys? The lights are moving. Away.", he says, and then looks back at the others. "I think the lights are smarter than us and we should probably run away too."

Alexander might make light of the moment (or try to) by making light of his father's gruff and rather adult-minded beliefs, but just that sort of talk makes Byron freeze in place. There's no defensive retort thrown the teenager's way. In fact, just this conversation alone has him concerned that his father may have heard them speaking about him. Perhaps he was lurking somewhere nearby.

This uncertainty, has him going into self-preservation mode as he tries to clear his mind from his own thoughts and to dampen down his fear. However, as he crouches down, reaching out for a fairly large enough stick to use as a weapon, the figures in the distance do little to help with this latter part. It's the fear and panic that would often make his own abilities go wild no matter how he tried to steel himself.

With one stick in his grasp, he's down on his knees in a slight crawl in search of another, but now it's James who is panicking, drawing his attention to those lights. Hell, the scarecrow-faced things in the distance were looking less than friendly now. "Maybe James is right." He starts, standing to semi-rise into a low crouch.

Lily nods one solid time to Byron and gradually releases his hand so he can go stick hunting as she's guided off with the instructions by Alexander. Obediently, she crouches, and while down in a crouch, she starts to gather up a trio of jagged forest rocks in lieu of a stick, just in case she needs to ping or distract or... something else to do with rocks against... scary things. Actually really scary things, now that she's seeing the hunched forms getting closer, but then she remembers the don't-look-back part. And just in case, she holds her breath to be extra little girl quiet, but eventually she has to exhale hard and gasp in another one.

After looking with James idea all around, she waits quiet to see what Alexander thinks of that, because bigger people clearly know what to do about monsters. Also he had a knife, which James now has. After checking to make sure Byron's near with his stick, she decides to remind the ginger pre-teen of that, like he can pass it over if he wannnnnts, "... you have the knife so don't run too far!"

Alexander huffs out, clearly not joyful about any of this. He frowns, and doesn't get a stick of his own, just yet. Instead, he nods towards James. "James. Switch up with me. You lead," and he points towards the lights. "Carefully. I'll take up the rear." Where he can be the first to meet those scythe-bearing things. "Don't get too close to the lights, either." He keeps an eye on Byron and Lilith, with a frown. "Stay close to James," he tells them, a bit sternly. A gesture to James - start going.

For his part, he takes up the rear, watching the shapes carefully for if they're following, and how quickly. His hands twitch towards his pocket, but he's given the knife away. So, when they pass another decent sized branch of hard wood, he scoops it up as quietly as possible.

"... right, right, the knife.", James mumbles distractedly at Lilith as he keeps looking between the lights and the approaching scarecrows, the light glinting off of the metal of whatever weapons they're carrying making him shiver in growing fear. But then Alexander's giving orders, and he remembers he's a teenager, which is basically a grown-up, right? "Y-yeah, I got this." A pause. "I got this." He takes a deep breath, and turns around, still hunched down low. Quick glances to Byron and Lilith, offering Lilith his hand after a moment's hesitation if she wants it. Either way, he then starts moving towards the light. "... quiet but quick. Quiet but quick.", he whispers a couple of times, his sneakers shuffling over the ground softly.

The deeper they go into the woods, and the darker and more spooky those woods get, the more nervous James becomes. Understandably so, under the circumstances. His breathing is shallow, and he's silent for several long moments, watching those lights, and looking back to make sure Byron and Lilith and Alexander are still with him.

Except for the one time he looks back and notices how damn close those fiery-eyed scarecrows have gotten. "... more quick than quiet, more quick than quiet!", he whisper-shouts, and doesn't quite break out into a run, but his pace certainly gets quicker.

"Do those people," Things, monsters, "live in those houses anyway?" Byron just has to ask because he still had this need to use someone's phone. This fear of getting into trouble with his parents is as much a fear factor for him than... whatever darkness they are walking towards now, despite the uneasy glow of the dancing lights. With this decently sized stick in hand, with several thin branches spreading out from it, he creeps behind James as they are now directed to do, before dark eyes turn to peer over at Lilith. Look, he found one stick and he's debating whether he wants to give it up to her before he finds another one. In his mind, he is the stronger of the two so should be brandishing the pokey weapon.

"If those things start chasing after us, run." He offers sage advice to the young woman, his own pace slowed as he takes a glancing look over his shoulder to view the much taller Alexander behind them. Then behind him, those lumbering beings who are no longer hunched over but are pulling themselves up to full height. "I mean it." There's definite regret in his tones that he dared look behind them. James is their eyes heading forward, so despite not taking up the rear, Byron keeps constant watch in that direction. Hey, if something scary pops up in front of them, James will let them know! What is he watching out for is... if those scarecrow people start to pick up speed now that they are no longer dragging themselves along.

Little Lily pockets those rocks and starts to look back on instinct before remembering that Alexander is behind her now since she's in front and slipping her hand into James to keep up and moving. She's especially tempted to cheat and look, though, with the instructions to run and keep moving at hand, and her other hand keeps smashed in her coat pocket with the rocks, but she sticks to the plan and focuses on Quick and Quiet, Quick and Quiet. She does keep eyeing sidelong to make sure Byron is right nearby, though, and then after a few moments, she can't help herself. She breaks the quiet part of the plan with questions since she's not looking during monster pursuit, eyeing the lights ahead somewhat warily.

She does, at least, keep it to a series of whispers spaced out, though, breathing quick and fast with fear and the exertion of pumping those little legs in quick walk-run.

"What are they? What kinds of monsters?"

"What if the lights are leading us to a spooky ghost trap?"

"Do you want me to throw a rock and break a monster's leg?"

Alexander's expression is getting grimmer as they get away from the houses and deeper in the woods. The teenager is tense and worried - he's rarely been in a dream with anyone else (that he remembers right now), and never with kids. What if he gets them hurt? What if he gets them killed? "I don't know," he admits to Byron. "But just stay with your friends, okay? Let me handle this."

After all, if he can handle the scythe monsters, then they can go back to the brighter part of the woods. So he turns and starts stalking one of the scythe-beasts in turn, trying to sneak up on it from the flank and then smack it as hard as he can with his weapon.

"They're scarecrows. But like, scary scarecrows. Sticks, y'see? It's why I said sticks before.", James mumbles back at Lilith because that's what he do when he's nervous. His steps slow a little, his brow furrowing as he keeps looking at those lights, then at the trees around. "... y'know, I think maybe I was wrong about the lights. I... I think the lights are trying to trick us. There's like nothing out he-", he says, when he suddenly hears Alexander take off and the botched attack. He turns around just in time to watch Lilith and Byron get snagged by the things. "Lilith! Byron! We gotta run back! Come on!", he shouts, rushing to grab each of their hands and try to pull them free so they can bolt back the way they came from.

With the three 'kids' creeping along forward and Byron's attention shifting from making sure he's not about to stumble on anything in front of him while ensuring that the freaky scarecrows don't start picking up speed behind them, once more he's only partially listening to the conversation going on around him. Even if most of it is Lilith's near rapid fire child-like inquiries on just about everything. Byron doesn't seem to mind overly much, hearing her voice, even if he has no answers for her, helps to keep him somewhat calm. For the time being.

However, what he hadn't expected to happen happens. Rather than wait for the spindly scarecrows to come to them, he watches Alexander try to get the jump one of them. Taking a deep swallow, not certain as to what the outcome of this would be, he half-turns to Lilith to whisper at her, "Just keep moving." He tells her to goad her own even if his own steps come to a near stop, hands clutching tightly at the stick held within his grasp. If Alexander was able to distract or harm the thing, the young Thorne kid looked like he was ready to jump into the fray himself, despite the instructions given.

Unfortunately, things don't go according to planned and once Byron realizes this, he quickly turns, his voice growing louder, "James, take Lilith and run!" Assuming that Lilith had listened to him and continued on forwards. In truth, however, everything happened so quickly that if she were simply following James, she still wouldn't have gotten very far.

Maybe Byron should've waited for the thing to come to him so that he could try and take a swing at it, but instead, at this very moment, he'd chosen flight instead of fight if only to keep the distance between himself and those things behind them. Those quickened steps don't stop once he feels the long thorny fingers wrapping around his wrist and for a moment, he tries to struggle to get away. Before the scarecrow-like creature is able to tangle the entirety of his arm, he passes the heavy stick over to his free hand, to take a frantic swing at his pursuer while still calling out, most likely to James, "Grab Lilith!"

There's some things that Hank Winslow taught Lilith, though she'd never quite admit it did her any good and a lot of the motivations for the teaching were off. Right now, though, when she's snared in the middle of looking at Byron with an indecisive dubiousness about his instructions with a knowing he seems about to use that stick to help Alexander... she lets out the shortest of screams in panic. Then everything shifts. Lily HATES being grabbed and scared, and if these are scarecrows walking, welp, they may not have balls, but they have knees, or something like that made out of sticks, don't they? Then she sees Byron snagged too and turns red with her own brand of protective fury kicking in.

The noise she makes turns into a screech of little girl fight instinct fueled by fear and rage while James tries to tug her and Byron free from the scarecrow monsters. Then instead of wiggling and flailing and leaning with her weight to try and get away with the help, she starts to try and aim at where a knee would be on the thing's leg with an angry wailing of foot in three successive kicks of attempted disabling, trying to use excess since she lacks the strength to kick a good snap on the leg. It's hard, though, and she'd much prefer that scarecrows just have straw balls to kick.

That attack didn't go how Alexander hoped, and now the kids were in serious danger. Alexander makes a sound very much like a growl when Byron and Lilith are attacked by spindly scarecrows, and he snarls, "Leave. Them. Alone." He reaches out with his mind for whatever passes as the minds of the scarecrows, and into those minds, he does his best to pour sheer, primal terror. It's an emotion he's well acquainted with, after years of ending up in situations very much like this one, and he puts every bit of that experience into it. You are small, he broadcasts to the monsters, you are weak, you will be broken, you will bleed, you will die alone and screaming.

"Hey!", James shouts as he ducks just under Byron's flailing branch, apparently causing him to miss. Another of the scarecrows makes a grab at him and he yelps, squirrely as ever and skitters out of the way and towards Lilith, who somehow seems to be the only one here actually doing some damage, confirming many of James' ever-growing list of fears about her. He takes a step forward as if to grab her, but stops- he's smart enough to know that sticking your hand near an angry chihuahua is a good way to end up getting bit, so instead, he skitters some more, away from the thing making a grab at him and towards the path they came from, yelling, "Lilith! This way! Come on!"

And then the lights go out, and James, as a teenager, is allowed by law at least one curse. "Shit!"

James' presence catches Byron by surprise as he's wildly swinging the thick branch at the creature that's got possession of his arm. It takes him a while to realize that this was James and he shouldn't be here right now. All of this commotion just sets him up to be grasped at by those viney hands and that doesn't stop him from snapping at the other guy even as Hecker is trying to help him out of, as far as Byron can tell, the mess that /he/, not Byron made, "What are you even doing here! I told you to help Lilith!"

Once he's released and staggering back, his stick holding hand snaps back and away from the creature, but by now the lights in the area have all gone out and the only thing that hey can see are those monsters eyes. When James says a swear, Byron curses too, as if to mimic and perhaps out of his own fright, "Shit! Lily, where are you?!" Unlike James, he had his own monster to fight, so he's not sure whether Lilith was captured by one of them and if so whether she was released. Either way, he's feeling his way through the darkness with one outstretched hand, having shifted the branch back to his dominant hand, while the other reaches out to try and feel his way through, heading back in the direction where he believed the houses to be. It's a good thing that they can see those angry glowing eyes, but he has no doubt in his mind that the scarecrows, despite the darkness and the fact that their own eyes don't glow like that... that those things can see them anyway.

"Byron! Hide!" Lily hisses through the dark and creepy glow of the lights like ember and fire flicker coming from those scarecrow monster eyes once she's taken off with James' hand fast on hers once she hears the snap and gets free. And though she's tempted to try and break another leg just because she happened to luck into it with little girl temper rage, these things are scary and it is suddenly SO DARK and she's scared of running the wrong way or straight into a tree with a panicked James.

So, with an attempted yank on James to try and guide him behind a large tree with her once there's some semblance of distance in the dark, she tries to smash against it and blend in while palming one of the rocks in her cot pocket. Then holding her breath and praying that monsters are dumb, she throws two rocks with commotion blindly away from herself to thunk into things while trying to be otherwise quiet, trying to build a distraction that might seem like the way they went.

"God damn son of a bitch," Alexander mutters as his mind fails to find anything like a mind in the scarecrows. And then, in the next moment, louder, "Language." He can't see a damned thing, and most of his arsenal is his mind. Panic is yammering at the back of his brain - not for himself so much as for the 'children' that he's found himself with. When he gets himself disentangled from the fines, he shifts his grip on his stick, and tries to distract the monsters from the kids by wading in recklessly, swinging to try and knock as many of the monsters as he can, to get their attention even if he can't do damage.

James has played his share of Nintendo RPG's. And in most of those, you've got your little combat menu, with your options, like 'FIGHT' and 'ITEM' and 'MAGIC', and, of course, "RUUUUUN!", James shouts, pulling Lilith along with him down the dark scary path as quickly and nimbly as panic will let him, the moment he spots those two scarecrows coming right for them. "Byron!!", he calls. "Follow us!" He keeps shouting now, stealth no longer an option, so he goes loud to make sure the others can follow them.

Hopefully he's not about to lead them into quicksand.

Oh good. That's Lilith's voice. "Where are--" Byron's about to yell out before thinking better of it. Except, you know, he's the only one who doesn't really know where she is. The scarecrows probably do. Yet, both Lilith and now James' voice ring out from the darkness. Alexander's as well, but he's way over there where the other scarecrows are.

Lilith told him to hide, but hide where?? He can't see anything! And he's trying his best not to run into a tree, but attempting to feel his way through that stifling dark. His blood felt cold out of fear, but his friends were in trouble. So while he tries to quietly make his way in the direction that James is now calling out from, if any of those things get too close, he's going to have to take a swing at it, with both hands on his not-so-threatening fallen tree branch, his own breath coming out quick and heavy, hands trembling.

Lilith is kind of done being brave once there's a few factors thrown into the mix. For one, it's dark and she can hear Alexander still scuffling with at least one of those things. For two, her distraction only turned those fiery eyes for a few moments before they're turned and leveled right on her as she peeks out. For three, she's separated from Byron and being yanked by James' hand and keen sense of self-preservation. She already can't see, so she just has to kind of trust in James while looking backwards for the other boy, reaching into the darkness while calling out and giving him something to reach for and follow, "Byron, Byron, Byron, this way, c'mon and..." And what? She's not sure. She just feels chased and panic harried now, which is terrifying for anyone once they see the glint of a scythe in a monster's hand, let alone a nine year old.

In fact. her bottom lip is starting to tremble and her eyes are starting to tear up with fear now that she's not lashing out or trying to hide and outwit and fleeing into the dark semi-blindly is the name of the game. That's about the only thing the dark is good for at this point, hiding her tears that are unwittingly forming. And she just catches herself from tripping over a root while running with effort through the collecting snow.

Good, good. There are two of them attacking him now. Yay? Alexander tries to avoid the cloud of moths that is ejected into his face, using his free hand to wave them away as he staggers and flinches. But he doesn't try to stay embroiled in combat with them; more important than killing the ones attacking him is trying to take the heat off the kids. So he tries to hone in on those two pairs of glowing eyes that are closer to James, Byron, and Lilith, and throws himself at them, swinging the branch like a baseball bat at those spindly legs. "C'mon, c'mon, you get your asses over here with someone your own size, you mindless monsters." To the kids, he shouts, "Stay together!" This is more at James than anyone else, but it's barked at all of them.

And run James does, squeezing Lilith's hand- he wants to look back, wants to make sure Byron and Alexander are behind them, but he doesn't dare do it, not since that ominous ditty warned him again. Instead, the moment he spots the beckoning lights of civilization again, he puts on a burst of speed. "Byron! Alexander! Up ahead! Town lights!", he calls back.

Byron'd be quite the asshole for skulking in the darkness where the scarecrows can see him but his friends can't and with them having no freakin' clue where he is! In his mind, it was smart to remain quiet, but as they all seem to be running in, hopefully, the same direction (he's following the sounds of their footsteps and voices while keeping track of the eerie sounds that those monsters make), he finally calls out to them, hearing Lilith say call out his name. This is more so that she's not worried about him, though he's worried about himself! "I'm coming! Just keep going!" He's about to tell her not to wait for him, but that might freak her out even more.

Alexander's voice behind them is a bit reassuring. It just meant someone else was back there, though for all he knew, those things could've got the jump on him and might be eating the older kid or something right now! However, when he hears the hum and the odd lyrics of a song, though he might wonder if it was playing all along, but he was too panicked to notice, it does the opposite of make him feel reassured. What it does do, though, is force him to pick up his pace, all while clutching onto the broken stick in hand. Did James say there's town lights? Oh look! They just had to get to the town.... and use someone's phone! He has no idea what he's gonna tell his father right now.

That said, without even looking back, he calls out to Clayton behind them, because he's not even sure if the older kid is still on their trail, "Don't die!" He doesn't know where he's heard from before, but it strangely came to mind, "Because we're gonna be in trouble if you do!"

Trouble is right now for Lilith and while not relieved by hearing Byron nearby, precisely, the dark feeling like a barrier between them in some sense, she is assured enough to keep moving instead of stopping or doubling back to try and find him to re-latch. Instead, she stays latched to James' hand like a different kind of anchor, and maybe a little speed help to keep her legs moving right along with run. For a moment, she's honestly tempted to reclaim her hand, though, to push both over her ears to shut out the song because she is at a threshold for creep right now and any thing else scary getting in starts to run the risk of overwhelm.

But suddenly she realizes the lights that James is on about, NOT ghost lights this time, and that they probably are on the path, so she listens to the song. She keeps running, she doesn't dare look back, and she sticks to the way that seems clear enough with her eyes partially adjusted now. Not to say things aren't still a total hazard, though, running in woods, even pathed woods is hard, especially in the dark and that guy is still...

"YEAH! No dying allowed! Run!"

"Just keep going!" Alexander snaps at the kids, as he does the best to jab his stick into the legs of the nearest monster, before taking off after them. He doesn't even look back to see if the creatures are following; always safe to assume 'yes' and 'they want to eat you' when you get lost like this. He can only barely see, so he runs with his hands out, bouncing off trees and doing his best to follow the sound of the others crashing through the undergrowth. "I'm not going to die! I'm fine! Keep running!"