Post by Deleted on Sept 24, 2016 16:09:06 GMT -5
-Power level: 4,794-
This sucks.
This really sucks.
That's what was going through Raina's mind as she stood in the middle of Jingle Village, clutching her warmer attire tightly as if her life depended on it. She was sent out her on a potential story, there had been a resurgence of sightings and reports of an "Amarok", a massive wolf that supposedly eats humans alive. The legend is pretty old, and there for a while most people completely discredited the whole legend. Of course...Then came the return of stories. People swearing they saw it between Jingle Village and North City as they drove and traveled between the two places. To be honest, her news group aren't the type to dwell on mere legends... ... Usually. Except there was the reveal of a very blurry photo showing a large white wolf recently. Now everyone in the field is scrambling to get their own shot of this thing. Why?? That was what Raina honestly wanted to ask. There were a lot of better stories, and while she could appreciate getting info on this thing to keep people safe from it, she couldn't appreciate this damn cold!!
Regardless of how she felt, she knew there was work to be done. So it was time to get started! She waited for a while for her contact to show. A local that "ferries" people from the village to the city daily. Supposedly he was the one who snapped that blurry photo, and he knew all about this so called "Amarok". Her superiors were certain that if anyone could find it, it would be this man. It didn't take long before a bus riding on four tank treads rolled up to where she was waiting. The door opened to reveal a middle aged man brandishing an eye=patch, along with his five-o-clock shadow, he looked like a stereotypical "sailing captain". Almost fitting for this endeavor. She blinked as she stared at him. "Well, what are you waiting for? Get on board, we have a white wolf to hunt!" "Uh...Sure." She climbed aboard the bus, opting to stand instead of sit down. She'd be able to cover a better range of vision like this. Within a few seconds, the bus sputtered and hissed as it began moving along across the snow covered streets. It was silent for only a moment before the man spoke up.
"Name's Einhardt. You?" She shrugged, an exchange of names usually wasn't part of her job, but she saw no harm in it. "Raina." "You're not used to the cold North, are you?" He decided to make small talk as the gentle roar of the cold winds battered the bus's exterior. "It's like a thousand needles piercing my skin through steel." He gives a hearty laugh. "That's probably the best description I've heard from an outsider." Raina peers through the almost frosted over windows for a moment, soon turning to look at him. "How the hell are you used to this? It's horrible!" "If you deal with something for long enough, even the worst things can become numb to someone. I guess that's just what makes Northerners different." She thinks it over for a while, the silence cutting through the bus's interior. It had never really occurred to her before just how secluded this area was. There wasn't a lot of life outside those bus windows. "Some people are so content with easy living that I guess even the smallest changes are enough to make 'em think their lives are over." He just kept his eyes on the "road" ahead the entire time.
Raina raises an eyebrow, curious on what exactly he means by that. "Excuse me?" "That Amarok. Everyone's running around trying to find it like it's going to just stroll into their town and eat them. Truth is it's actually bein' stirred up by people. Chances are, you get your "proof" and someone will just come out here and kill it for defending it's territory, just because everyone's afraid of it. Thinkin' it's going to destroy their towns. They haven't seen a real monster before, one that goes around killing people just for fun." "Wait, so the return of sightings is because of...?" "Yep. Someone's probably building in it's territory, doing things that it knows are dangerous. That Amarok isn't stupid despite being an animal." ...Was that true? His speech was a little preachy, but if that was the case, just who in the world was building in this empty quarter? There shouldn't be anything between here and North City. Something just wasn't adding up...She put her hand to her chin, thinking deeply about it. Was there something somebody was hiding here? Maybe that wolf was the least of her worries...Regardless, the bus started slowing down, until it crawled to a halt.
"This is where I took the picture all right. If you're gonna find em, it'll be here." He opens the doors, letting her step off. "Don't go off too far. I had better travel along with you in case you get lost. Someone unprepared loses their way out here, they'd probably die." "...Right. Why don't you come along." Needless to say, she was in no hurry to die from something like this, for good reason. Regardless, once he stepped off the bus as well, they both began to wander off into the frozen lands. ... Though with a very long rope tied to their waists, and tied back onto the bus. "What's with the rope?" "Even if we split up and even if a snowstorm blows in, we'll be able to find our way back by just following the rope. Don't forget it and try not to break it." She gives a reluctant nod and makes her way further out into the blindingly white landscape. Even with the sun hanging heavy in the sky, the temperatures were still well below freezing. If she were a normal unconditioned human, this would probably hurt really badly. Thankfully she didn't have that issue...Even if it was still painful anyway.
The lands went on for miles, it seemed endless as hills and even mountains spread out in the backdrop of the place. Still, she had a mission, even ignoring the potential for a hidden settlement of some kind, she honestly wanted to get this picture taken and leave. This just wasn't something she had enjoyed, and the cold was making it hard to think straight. And even as she stared off into the distance as far as she could all around the area, she still didn't see anything even remotely like a huge white wolf. Only penguins, maybe the occasional snow fox, but nothing like an Amarok. It was almost painfully slow to search for this thing, and she almost wondered if there was a better way. Regardless, she trudged on through the snow and slush, hoping this thing would just show it's face for the intrepid journalist. It was a while before she made any distant, much to her annoyance and surprise. As turning around revealed the bus to still be within view. "OH COME ON! REALLY?" She turned and started pushing her way through the snow as fast as she could!
She was a woman on a mission! She was determined to make it through this damn snow and find this friggin white wolf! No mangey mutt was going to hide from her camera! Not while she had anything to say about it, anyway! She pushed on through, and as the day started carrying on, she knew she had to be close! This time she could feel it. Just then, she saw it. Big white fur over the side of a ridge. That had to be the white wolf, there was no other way she could be wrong about this...But it actually existed?! She hurried close to the ridge, pulling her camera from it's bag and moving in close. She silently moved around the ridge...And there it was! The white wolf, the Amarok! It was impressive, standing at 8 feet while on all fours, there was no telling just how big it would be if it stood on it's hindlegs. It was almost majestic...She lifted the camera and peered through the viewfinder, lining up the shot...And then it turned around. It spotted her almost immediately, unfortunately for her, she...Hadn't invested in camoflauge. Too bad.
Though, much to her luck, instead of attacking, it glared at her, and soon ran off. it's sprint was unbelievably fast. It was like a small airplane, there was no way she could keep up on foot...And with a rope around her waist, chances are that flying would backfire fast. It doesn't need saying that losing her way was something she didn't need to risk. She chased on foot, as fast as she could manage. It hadn't managed to escape just yet! She'd see to it that it didn't get away. It felt like hours ticked away out here in the wastes. Maybe it wasn't, but there was no way to really tell. Still, clouds were starting to form overhead, an overcast made things a bit harder to see, but not terribly so. But beyond her notice, something worse was happening than just an overcast; a storm was brewing. A huge snowstorm, it could very well be blinding - but the focused Raina was unable to really notice it was happening. A costly mistake as the snow had already started falling lightly by this point, and that white wolf had already vanished into the horizon. It seemed all she had managed so far was getting sent on a wild goose chase.
Soon enough the snowstorm turned into a blizzard, and the reporter was now unsure of where she was going. Of where she SHOULD go from here. ... She'd soon not have a choice as her footing became suddenly uneven, and she now found herself sliding down into an icy crevice. She yelled out in surprise, shocked by this turn of events. Eventually she reached the bottom, rolling off of the wall and onto her back. "...ugh...Well, this could be going better." She stared up at the sky. ... or rather, the pure white ceiling, because that blizzard was very heavy, and showed no signs of slowing down. "Well, I'm not going to get out if I just lay here." She gets up onto her feet, scanning the inside of this chasm. It had turned pretty dark, but she could still spy things vaguely - Enough to spot a tunnel going down into the ground. Against her better judgement, she decided to start going down that tunnel, keeping her wits about her as she did. After all, with those crevice walls being pure ice, climbing out that way really wasn't an option she could afford.
She went down the tunnel for a while...Until she saw a light at the end. She quickly ducked behind a rock as she saw a shadow come up from further down. "Relax, no one is ever going to find this place. Especially not that stupid myth. Besides, we're armed enough to deal with a wolf. So let them come!" "Well...If you're sure. But I just don't have a good feeling about this place." Two armed guards conversed and thankfully walked right past the hiding Raina...But why were there armed guards down here?? What the hell was this? She snuck down further before coming to a metal door. She crawled up to it, peaking around beyond it...What met her eyes was a high tech facility, guards, strange scientists, everything. She silently snapped a few photos and decided it may be a good time to leave. She hurried off, against her better judgement untying the rope. She had to fly out and there was little choice but to remove that thing. She looked skyward and took off, being battered by the high winds...But she pressed on! Pushing through and retracing her steps as she hovered low to the ground.
It took time, and she was getting exhausted, but just in the nick of time, she found it. She saw the bus's lights breaking through the fog, and she bolted for it - managing to catch it just as it was driving away. She landed on the roof and climbed in as the driver took note and opened the doors. She dropped to the floor of the bus, panting. "That...Sucked." "Looks like you made it just in time...What kept you? I almost had to leave you behind." "...Got side tracked...Didn't catch the white wolf." "Well...If the white wolf is what you're after..." He motions towards the left side of the bus. She went over and peered out. There it was...The blizzard cleared for only a moment, and it stood a few feet away, watching her through the window. This time it wasn't running or glaring...Maybe her discovery and reaction to it pleased the creature...But with a hurried mindset, she pulled her camera up and got the snapshot she had come out here for! With that done, she flopped down, her job in this cold tundra was done. But there were still a lot of questions that she had only pierced the tip of the iceberg on...
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Wordcount: 2222
Requesting Zeni please!