2021-09-22 - Water Under the Bridge

Since that little slip of time, Caed has been spending a good deal of time at St. Mary's in silent contemplation among the pews. After crossing himself with Holy Water at the font, he slipped his phone out of his pocket to text Ellery that he was on the way back to their shared little ramshackle rental and started the walk.

By the time he looks up from his thoughts, his feet are crunching on dead leaves and refuse of the forest floor, and a wild twist around is given to try and get his bearings. Did he wander off the road? And if so, how long had he been on his wayward path?

A, "Jesus, Mary and Joseph," slips off his lips, but not just because he's found himself in the middle of the woods. But he's not alone. It's one thing to believe in leprechauns. It's quite another to think you suddenly see them with your own eyes.

Ellery is actually a few paces ahead of Caed, standing with phone in hand and eyes wide. He seems to have been on the verge of a panic attack, but has managed to pull himself back to reality. He's still sort of staring at the bridge and the creatures, head canted. He hasn't noticed Caed approaching, nor has he heard that bit of sacrelige.

At first Caed was so fixated on the little creatures that he didn't register his taller counterpart a few steps off, with an almost timid approach, he steps up behind the other man, "You're really here, and you're really seeing this too, aye?" A hand goes to Ellery's shoulder to confirm he's corporeal, still standing behind him a pace as if to use his friend as a human shield. "Saints preserve us." The motion of making the cross goes all the way from chin to navel as they're addressed by the little creatures, but he makes no move forward.

Since the storm (and so much time) passed, Ashley has been prodding. There are Thin Points. Well, there's more thin points. And he's jabbing at them in a way maybe he shouldn't. That's why the poor fool haplessly trips through into the forest. He's wearing a sweater instead of flannel today: jeans, an oversized sweater that looks like one of those homemade deals that's likely impossibly comfortable rather than scratchy. Hands in pockets and- voices? Withdrawing one hand to push up his glasses, the radio DJ starts ambling in the direction of the argument.

"What...what ARE you?" says Ellery as he shoots a look at Caed and nods once to confirm he's real. But then he's looking back at the creature, his expression turning from shock to wonder. He lifts up his phone and tries to get it to the camera app, but everything keeps crashing. He curses under his breath. "Is your phone working?" And then he spots Ashley, "Is yours? Please tell me someone has a working camera!"

"What am I? Skaiyi what does he mean what am I? What are you?" Koreli counters, hands on her hips. Skaiyi leans over and whispers something to her, she huffs, rolls her eyes and nods. Before the trio's eyes the two seem to...get bigger! Not much bigger, perhaps growing to the size of a human toddler. "I'm a Bridge Troll and this water weight here is a Boardwalk Troll." She prods Skaiyi in the shoulder.

"Hey! Ow!" Skaiyi grumbled, rubbing his shoulder. "With the bad storm, some of us from the Boardwalk moved inland and have been staying here. The Boardwalk is a mess though. My home is buried."

"But he's being a nuisance! I can't handle it anymore." Koreli whined. "I am Koreli, this is Skaiyi. You two look strong." She hasn't quite noticed Ashley yet and if Skaiyi has? He hasn't said anything about it. "Help him get back to his home and out of my hair!"

"The photographer without a working camera." Caed points out the bit of irony as his friend, the Cryptid hunter, is face to face with one and no way to gather proof. Still using Ellery's back as a shield to hide behind, he slips his phone out of his pocket and gives it a whirl. "Mine's bolloxed too, mate." He's muttering something underneath his breath in Latin that might be prayer for protection.

"So you'll be wanting our help, then? That's all? Not going to consume our souls or sommat?" The Irishman asks the creatures, before flicking a glance to to Ashley in a glance of solidarity against these apparent trolls.

And as Ashley approaches, he's briefly too flummoxed to notice Ellery and Caed. Because there's trolls. The very same ones he'd been pursuing and talking about. He knew it, "I fucking knew it!" If they didn't notice him before, they will now. He's fumbling his own phone out of his pocket, jabbing at it, but to no avail. "Damn this place," he hisses, but he does surge forward. "Yes, yes, of course we'll help." Simply, you know, assuming the other two are along for the ride. He even thrusts his hand out towards Skaiyi and Koreli both in turn. "Name's Ash. So happy to meet you. Would you-" this to Skaiyi, "be willing to answer some questions? I have listeners who would love to know more about your people and how you fared during the storm."

Ellery is, well, he's staring. Slack-jawed staring, even. "You're both...really really seeing this, right?" he glances back at Caed. "Shit..." he tries again but then the battery dies entirely. He very nearly hurls it, but grips the phone at the last minute and slips it into his pocket. "Yeah. What he said. Questions. About what you are. In exchange for...for help." Eyebrows arch up. "Fair bargain, right?"

While Ellery and Ashley are rather enthusiastic about this prospect, Caed still seems hesitant about making a deal with one of these creatures. "I don't know if I'm comfortable with this." He says quietly, even through the 'reassurance' that these things aren't after their souls. Apparently this is a stretch of his faith if there ever is one.

Oh gosh. Oh golly. Oh gosh. He's shaking a troll's hand. Ashley looks positively chuffed. His glasses nearly slip off his nose until he withdraws and pushes them back into place. "I talk about things. News. Happenings." Someone put air quotes around this guy. "And people listen. Listeners. Do you hear the radio down at the boardwalk?" Unfortunately, he doesn't seem aware of Caed's uncertainty. Like Ellery, he is All In for helping this troll.

Ellery reaches out and squeezes Caed's shoulder, as he manages to tamp down his 'oh my god cryptids' enthusiasm to recognize the Irishman's nerves. "Don't worry. I don't think these guys come from the Catholic's playbook. More like...Hans Christian Anderson. Or folk tales." He then lowers his voice and says, "From what I understand, the best way to get out of this is to play along."

So the tall photographer nudges the shorter dark-haired man, and glances to Ashley. "Good luck explaining radio. Not sure that's the kind of thing that translates." But off he goes, boardwalk-wards.

Ellery seems to put things in terms that Caed can accept, or at least begrudgingly so. He just rolls his shoulders up and tucks his head, "Far be it for me to deny aid to one of life's creatures." Besides, they are promised two questions each, and the least he can do is help Ellery and Ashley with their curiosity. He trudges behind quietly to the boardwalk, unbuttoning the cuffs of his shirt and rolling them up to his elbows when the boulder is pointed out. "Work smarter, not harder." He offers, looking about for something to use as a lever.

Luckily for Skaiyi (and everyone, really), Ashley is too busy considering his two question reward to go into a lengthy attempt to explain radio to a sea troll. Sorry, Ellery: he'd just HAVE to under normal circumstances. Instead he just follows along, staring wide-eyed at the forest and town. "Ho-" but he stops himself. That's a question, Ash. "The storm hit hard here, too." Statements, use statements! "I imagine there was a lot of lost time. We lost time, too. Months of it, actually." When they arrive at the rock, he considers and ends up stripping off his sweater to reveal... the basic white tee underneath. There's an upnod for Caed's assessment as he, too, turns to look for something to use as a wedge.

"Hold on..." says Ellery as he pauses to survey the boulder. He cants his head, steps forward, looks around, hands to chin, steps back. Then he looks back at the others. "What about the...the...the..." he snaps, then makes vague, wavy hand-gestures. "The magic powers shit. I can sorta move stuff with my brain, I think. It should work extra well here in Fairytale Land, right?" He really has no idea. They're new in town.

Caed's eyes flick over Ashley, something with the man causing the Irishman to form a brief smile that extends to Ellery when he gives the man a nod. "If you can manage just to lift it a tad, Ell, perhaps we can wedge a board or the like beneath it and be able to roll it the rest of the way? Oy, boyo, you think these branches look sturdy enough?"

"Huh. Yeah, you're right." In his excitement, Ashley had forgotten about the quirk. The MIND BULLETS (that's telekinesis, Kyle). He grunts in agreement with Caed's plan, moving to check out the branches. He tosses his sweater over his shoulder and bends to grab up one in particular. "This should do the trick." He'll wait for Ellery to do the nudge before getting in there with Caed to hopefully tip the boulder away!

Ellery has, in truth, not explored his gift much. For a newbie to town, it rightly scares him a bit. But something about being face to face with actual cryptids - and ones that don't seem to want to tear his guts out - is making him throw caution to the wind.

"Kay, so um, fair warning. Never tried to move something this big before. At least, that I can remember. Maybe I've been floating cars these past months or something." He cracks his neck, shoots Caed a wink, then shakes his hands. Then he focuses on the boulder, and uses his hands to direct it. Because, well, that's what people do on TV. And he tries to give the boulder a nudge so that the other two can get their sticks under it to leverage it out of the way.

While Caed might be fit, strength wasn't particularly in demand in his last profession. Wedging a branch along side of Ashley, he puts his shoulder into it and a sweat breaks out on his hairline by the time they get the rock rolled out of the way. He stands off to the side for a moment, hands braced on his knees and giving a soft laugh born of their collective accomplishment but he seems proud of Ellery for his Glimmering contribution. "Fair play to ya, Topper." Oh god, are they going inside?!

Caed looks to the others, resigned that he'll no doubt be outweighed on this too, so he squares up and trudges forward and shrunk before he can even comprehend how they'll all fit in there. Discombobulated by that fact alone, he's too frazzled to think of what would be pertinent to ask, so instead says, "I'd like to give my questions to the other blokes, split between them."

Despite his profession and his heckin' nerdy demeanor, Ashley is actually a pretty athletic kind of guy. Comes of parents making him Do Sports and his keeping up with it. Join the Gray Harbor Men's Basketball League today! Beers after every game. It goes a good ways into getting that rock moving as he heaves into it alongside Caed and Ash steps back, wiping his brow as he catches his breath.

And they're being invited in and you don't have to ask him twice! "If you have questions," see! still using statemts! "please ask us."

It remains to be seen whether Ellery's mental gymnastics were actually more helpful than if he'd used actual gymnastics. The important thing is, this way was cooler. He may actually have giggled a bit when it worked, but in the manliest possible way, of course.

In for a penny, in for a pound, so he follows the others in. And naturally, as they shrink he has to say, "Curiouser and curiouser. Okay..." he rubs his hands together. "...first question. What's the relationship between our world and yours and have others like you ever come to ours? Two, could we get back here on our own? Three...have you ever seen a sasquatch? Ape-like creature, tall..." he motions above his head, "...well, taller than I am normally." A beat, "Shit. I should've saved one for a follow-up." And he's assuming they're going on Genie Rules here.

There's just big wide eyes as they're led in. Ashley is fascinated and also in his own private heaven. He's meeting his trolls! He's seeing how they live! He's like a kid on Christmas. Oh just WAIT until his listeners hear about this!

Wriggling himself onto a sofa, he pulls back on his sweater as he leans forward, elbows propped on knees. His mouth opens and closes a few times like a fish searching for air except in his case... it's searching for questions. He finally takes a deep breath. "How long have your people been here?" It's going to take him time to ask these, it seems. He wants to get it just right.