#plot bit

———

Apo and Martyn found a man having a panic attack in the middle of the woods, frostbitten fingers clutching at his throat and body curled up in on itself as if a bear is about to maul him. Apo tries to get his attention, but a mere glimpse of her got the guy crawling away, chanting something about getting out of his head.

The military architect, as the faster of the two town members, went back to get help, while Martyn stayed behind to make sure the stranger doesn't do something stupid. The person Apo met first was Abolish, who went to help the newcomer, while the architect run on to inform the doctor.

Abolish, either from experience or some form of training his organisation offers, knows how to deal with panic attacks, so he manages to calm the frostbitten man enough to get him to town.

—

[Once in Oakhurst, Abolish offered his own house for the stranger to rest in and recover. The man, shaking under a blanket with his hands in a bowl of lukewarm water, introduced himself as Legundo. Funny, how it's the doctor's paternal surname too.]

[Doc came in soon after, directed inside by Martyn. The newcomer's hands were examined – surface frostbite, but thankfully no permanent damage – and then left to thaw some more until the blueish-white tint receded. The whole time, Traveller was silent, his shoulders tense as he observed doctor's hands at work. He avoided eye contact, Abolish noted, averting his gaze whenever he accidentally caught the hunter's or the doctor's.]

Doc: *wraps Traveller's hands after smearing a thin layer of smth numbing* Avoid using your hands as much as possible for a day or two, so as to not irritate the damaged skin. Any other injuries I should know of?

[The stranger rubs his throat, staring at the bandaged fingers. After a moment of awkwardness, he seems to realise that Dr. Legundo expects an answer, and shakes his head.]

Abolish: *carries in a cup of hot chocolate, which is no longer hot* Here. The world's best drink to get comfortable.

[The newcomer takes the cup with a nod, and takes a sip. The drink is a bit too bitter for his taste, but Traveller stays quiet, instead studying the edge of the blanket Abolish lent him.]

Abolish: *Sigh* Say, how did you get frostbite in the middle of September?

Traveller: ...Side effect. Just- Died. A few times too many. It's- it's nothing.

Doc: *takes a moment to process* ...I'm sorry what.

[Traveller rolled up his right sleeve, uncovering a strange leather brace with a huge rectangle of thin orange glass on top. The glass lit up on touch, small white letters and numbers appearing on it, changing as the man dragged a finger over a strip on the edge.]

Traveller: I- I mean. I've been... decapitated about an-... *Stops scrolling* An hour? Two hours ago?

Abolish: *frowns. It has barely been an hour since Apo and Martyn found this man* ...Then what you are doing in Oakhurst, very much alive?

Traveller: *glances into the middle distance, before raising his gaze in thought* Oakhurst...? Oakhurst... *mumbles* I- Drift mentioned it...? *a bit louder* I'm not- I don't think I know what you - what are you talking about?

Abolish: *blinks* This town, in the middle of nowhere. You are in Oakhurst right now. You know Drift?

Traveller: *bites the inside of his cheek, glancing at Doc before averting his gaze to the floor, shoulders raised.* Well- A Drift? Like- I'm a Legundo. *Mumbles* Honestly, weird that this happened only now.

Doc: I- sorry, but I'm- not quite following?

Traveller: *takes another sip of hot chocolate* ... It's- just, world hopping, not- nothing much. *Puts the cup on the stool Abolish his by his bed, goes to get up.* You don't- I'll be gone, outta your hair, in- a few months? A bit over three. I- *tries to step around the two, but Abolish steps in his way* sorry, just- don't kill me, I- I leave on my own, I- I can leave on my own-!

Abolish: *gently directs Traveller back on the bed* Hey. Hey, it's alright – You're safe here. *Takes his hands off, feeling the other tense up under the touch.* Breath with me, c'mon. In.

Traveller: *wide mismatched eyes stare at the hunter's arms, freshly bandaged hands clutching at the blanket now under him* N-no, no, I- I'm fine, it's- I-! *He is hyperventilating.*

Abolish: One, two, three. Out. Four, five, six. It's okay, you're safe. In-

[After a minute, Traveller starts to repeat the hunter's breathing pattern, even if each inhale and exhale shakes twice as badly as he does. Doc observes the whole thing, conserned for his patient, yet marveling at Abolish coaching the other Legundo through calming down. The newcomer tugs the blanket up, and curls up under it, as if trying to hide.]

Abolish: ...Are you calmer now? *Answers Traveller's nod with his own.* Okay.

Doc: ...I think it's best that we leave our questions for later – You need rest.

Abolish: *After a moment of thought, nods in agreement* Yes. You can stay here, for now. Maybe you have questions yourself?

The forest is quiet. Not a single bird sung its melody to the sun, not a single rodent scurried through the dried pine needles on the forest floor. The only thing moving about was a sheep – an odd sheep, sluggish and subborn in reaching its unknown goal. The thing paid no attention to the shrubbery and debris getting stuck in it's matted pink wool.

A bush to the side of the sheep's path shivered, but the animals paid it no mind. It didn't stop walking, dragging its feet forward, even as a wolf jumped at it from the bush and tore its teeth into the throat of its prey.

Blood poured to the ground from the fresh wound, and the sheep stopped, before turning and walking around oi a half circle. The wolf, flesh in his mouth dripping red, mirrored it's prey, glazed over eyes staring at the ground. The two animals met anew, and turned around to walk side by side in a straight line across the figure they have drawn.

They collapsed, as soon as the eye was finished. A twig snapped – or was it a bone? Boots hit the bloody forest floor. A breath, a beat of heart, and golden eyes with horizontal pupils opened to stare at the sacrifice.

The forest is quiet. Why is it quiet? It shouldn't be quiet.

Knees hit the bloody ground, and there is a child shaking on the forest floor, tears of tears dripping, falling, and mending themselves.

"No, no- Guard? Please, say something – Watcher. Archivist, Trader, please-!" It is quiet. "Judge? Sage, Magician? Scholar? Please, answer, why can't I hear you, it's not funny, please-"

Hands go up, and legs straighten, and boots step forward – but there is a wall, a barrier of golden fog. Fists hit, fists beat, but the fog is more solid than the fists, and poison pink is dripping down the golden wall. But fists don't stop, because the forest shouldn't be so quiet-!

———

"Fuck's sake..." Martyn grumbled, hobbling alongside Legundo – the one missing an eye who wasn't a doctor – in search of something. "You sure you felt something around here??"

The other man sighed, nudging his glasses up. "I- yeah. It's- my instincts have yet-"

"Yeah, yeah, your gut never failed you," waved off the blond with a groan.

Legundo glanced at his struggling companion. "You didn't- I could've gone alone."

Martyn let out a quiet curse when his bad leg twinged. "And let you be eaten by those wolves Owen mentioned? No thanks – Avid is insufferable enough without any actual deaths. Besides, it's not like I have anything better to do."

"I can-"

"Tell me that after you sleep."

And so, the two fell into silence again, only broken by occasional profanity from the blond.

The forest was silent – like the pale woods, only the trees around were all healthy pines. Everything felt a little to the left from fine, but Martyn held his tongue – that's exactly how Legundo beside him felt, if you looked at him too long. Maybe that uncanny feeling also appears if you spend a long time around him.

Suddenly, there was an arm in front of the blond, and Legundo went as still as the trees surrounding them. Martyn opened his mouth, but was shushed before a single sound left his lips.

The young man glanced at the other, frowning in confusion. Legundo was staring into the middle distance, either lost in thought or doing that "looking in third person" thing of his, and his head was tilted as if to-

There was a sound from their right. The world hopper grabbed Martyn by the elbow, and without a word dragged him in the sound's direction. It was what stopped the man, the blond realised, as a similar sound wormed it's way through the dead quiet.

———

It took wading through some thick shrubbery, but finally, Martyn and Legundo stepped out into a clearing. The more they took the scene in, the more the latter's shoulders tightened.

A big eye was drawn on the ground, two animal corpses lying in one of its corners – a pink sheep with a torn out throat, and a shaggy wolf with a bloody maw.

A bit further away, a person was sitting, slumped against where Martyn assumed the barrier to be – invisible to him, but a wall of golden fog to Scott, Ren, and all the Legundos. The person had curly pink hair – kinda like the wool of the sheep corpse nearby – and wore a short purple cape with a collar of dark pink fur over a faded white sweater.

They stared at Martyn and Legundo, some black thing running in rivulets from their wide yellow eyes and disappearing a few inches off their face. Bright pink stains hung in the air – they were on the barrier, probably – and the same bright pink pooled in the grass around the stranger's hands.

"...Ar-...tist...?" the person mumbled, their voice broken and stammering. Legundo blinked at the stranger, a bit of tension bleeding out of his shoulders.

"...Sorry? I'm- You've... Got the wrong guy, I think..?" the man said, stumbling over the words like a newborn fawn. He thinks...? Ah, right, amnesia.

The stranger struggled to catch their breath, stumbling to their feet as they continued to stare. Legundo fidgeted under their gaze, and averted his eyes, all of a sudden finding interest in the nearby animal corpses.

Between one blink and the next, he tumbled to the ground with an armful of sobbing pink and purple. Martyn didn't even have time to flinch – how fast was this... For the love of all things holy, are they a child?!

The kid – sweet heaven, they're so small in Legundo's arms – clutched at the world hopper's sweater, poison pink staining the worn fabric. The man looked at a loss of what to do, hands hovering over the little stranger's back – it's as if never in his memory did he have to comfort someone. Which is probably true, Martyn thought absently, kneeling beside the other two.

[The little stranger sobbed something about the quiet – they didn't like the silence, it seems. So Martyn started talking, putting Legundo's hands around the kid in a hug and adding some head pats of his own. He rambled about Oakhurst, about its people, and how he and Legs can take the child there, where there's noise and warmth and no bloody drawings on the ground.]

[Legundo was quick to get the memo, and stood up, child in arms. Martyn hobbled to his feet, the twinge in his bad foot making him regret volunteering to go all this way, and the two went back to town, the world hopper adding his own rambling to Martyn's – something about building projects.]

[After a while, wind reappeared, and birds sang, and all felt right in the world again. Well, all except Legundo, but that's a him problem – he likely needs some alone time. The kid grew quiet by then, though they still clutched at the world hopper's sweater and refused to open their eyes.]