Fucking Loops

You know, if I had known beforehand that I was going to go through all of this drama, I wouldn't have followed Shadow out of that first Loop. Sure, it was dark and quiet, but at least I didn't have to deal with that ass, Weaver. Who the hell is he anyway? I never read anything about this guy before he went and threw me and Brett into that stupid Loop of his. Speaking of Brett, I don't think he's been properly introduced. Brett is, or was, Shadow's apprentice, and is possibly the only one that is familiar with Shadow's kind of magic. I say was because, as you have no doubt noticed, there's been no sign of Shadow for about seven months. Brett and I went looking for him, and that's when Weaver showed up, going on and on about his story not being ready, and then he trapped us. Can someone give me a summary of what's happened since we went dark? I've tried to skim through the posts between then and now, but there's way to many for me to finish any time soon.

That said, what little information we have found gives us a few clues as to where to look next. But that's not all. Before we went looking for Shadow, we had a talk with Mira, Noah, and the Grigori. We know what happened to Kenny and the Masks.

♪Melody

The End of a Long Absence

My my my, just look at this place. As silent as the grave, though not nearly as interesting to look at. Then again, I don't know what I expected when I blocked that ex proxy and her cowardly tag along from seeing the blogs, or throwing them into a Loop. A daring escape? Some form of development or shocking revelation of the few things they had found? Well, I must say I am rather disappointed, because all I got was a series of rants followed by nearly six months of rather dull daily routines. I would have let them out sooner, mind you, but they were so uninteresting that I completely forgot about them. I suppose I've kept them off the trail long enough that I can let them out now. I do hope this proves to be as entertaining as I envision it. Oh, but where are my manners? I ramble on but nearly forgot to introduce myself.

You may call me Weaver.

Settling In

Since Shadow left to find Kiba, I've started my training to join the Resistance, and thank God I finally got the smell of puke out of my mask. According to Marcus, who apparently served in the Marine Corps, the training you get here is a stripped down version of what Marine recruits go through at Paris Island. He says I'll be going through this for about a month and a half, and if I make it to the end, I'm in the Resistance. And if you're wondering about the puke comment, I will leave it at this: Big breakfast and a three mile run do not mix well. Anyway, I brought up what Noah and Mira found to Marcus, he's going to try and get in touch with Shadow as soon as he can. I'll fill you all in when that happens.

♪Melody

Investigation

Now that I've gotten things squared away here, it's time I find out what exactly happened to put me in that loop. Which means, I'm heading back to Kansas, and going to work with the Resistance members there to find Kiba. Seeing as she was the only one with me when my memory cuts out, she's the best lead. As I see it, there's three possibilities:

1) Kiba was a traitor, and had something to do with me being placed in the loop.
2) She wasn't a traitor, and is being held somewhere.
3) She was killed after my memory black out.

Each of these has their own complications. If the first, she has a full grasp of the layout of the Georgia safehouse, as well as how we run things there. This could easily be used to sneak in and cause a variety of problems for us. If it's the second, she could possibly be suffering under torture, and still poses a security risk, and requires rescue. And if the third, I'd at least like to know, so I can arrange for a funeral service. As for Kiba's family, I'm having a close eye kept on them, just in case. While I'm doing this, I'll be keeping quiet unless something comes up, so I'm leaving the blog to Melody in the mean time. And for those of you worried about Melody's trustworthiness, Marcus is in charge of training her, and is keeping tabs on her most of the day. So with that, farewell, I'll update if I find anything useful.

~Shadow

Final Decisions

I've finished recovering from the fight on the Path, though my vision has yet to improve. In any case, it is reassuring to see that things at the estate have not changed in my absence, and everyone seems thrilled by my return. However, I had several guests coming to me with concerns about the "potential threat" I was allowing to walk the grounds unattended. I've done my best to assure them that Melody is not a threat to them, though I kept their concerns in mind when she approached me today, asking if we could talk in private.

"So, I've been thinking about things since we got out."

"What kind of things?"

She started walking around the room. "I don't want to go back to being a proxy. After all, I never wanted to be one in the first place, and Tall Dark and Faceless made it clear that I wasn't exactly welcome. On top of that, I owe you for saving me back on the Path."

"You owe me nothing, Melody. I told you I would help you out of there, and I did."

"You said you'd help me out of the loop. You could have ditched me the minute the denizens showed up. Instead, you got yourself cut up protecting me." She came to stop by the wall, leaning against it and folding her arms. "At the very least, I owe you an eye."

I knew that debating with her on this would get us nowhere, so I moved back to the topic at hand. "You were talking of your plans?"

She nodded, walking over and sitting across from me. "I want to stay here, be part of your Resistance thing."

"Very well. I'd be more than happy to let you stay."

"I also want you to teach me this magic stuff you do."

I shook my head. "I've already taken Brett on as an apprentice."

"So? It can't be that hard to train someone, why not take on a second one? I won't be a hindrance, I swear."

I thought for a moment. Magic is tricky to grasp, and teaching it to someone isn't easy, unless you have someone that is a natural at it. Still, I could tell she was determined to learn, and if I told her no now, she'd only continue pushing me on it until I finished training Brett, or said yes. In the end I sighed, and agreed to teach her.

She got out of her char and hugged me. "Thank you. I promise, I'll be the best student you ever have. And if it's okay, I'd prefer to keep my mask." I nodded, seeing no harm in it. We had several ex-servants turned runners staying with us, one of whom also preferred to keep his old mask on. With that, she walked out of the room, and I personally informed everyone of Melody's decision to join at dinner that night.

As of now, there's about twenty seven people at the estate who are part of the Resistance, and another thirty one who are here for protection from the Fears. As for our next move, I'll get to that in the next post.

The Great Escape

After I'd put up the post, we took a moment to get ready before we jumped off the edge of the cliff. It was strange, feeling yourself falling but seeing nothing around you. It felt like ages before suddenly, we were out. One moment there was just a void, and the next, I was rolling across the ground, the crunch of gravel a welcome sound. I was so happy to be out, I almost didn't realize the tall, pale trees with black leaves. Then Shadow pulled me to my feet, with a sword in each hand, offering one to me. I took it, confused, until I noticed the growling behind me. I turned, and barely got the sword up in time to block the claws of one of those fucking denizens. Just my luck, our exit dropped us next to a fucking pack of them. The ugly fuckers started getting closer, and Shadow steps up next to me, raising his sword, and said "I can't open a portal. The effects of the loop must still be wearing off."

I looked back at him, thankful my mask covered my horrified expression. "So what the hell do we do now?"

"There's nowhere to run in this place, we'll just attract more. All we can do is buy time until I can get us out of here."

"Buy time? That's your plan?"

"You have a better one?"

I sighed, looking back at the denizens. "Fuck."

With that, we got ready to stand our ground. Now I will say this now, I don't know how to fight with a sword, never used one before, so it was only a matter of time before I fucked up. Shadow was watching my back, and I was defending myself from one of them, I went to swing my sword, but it was two high, and it grabbed me and threw me to the ground. The sword got knocked from my hand, and I only had time to throw my arm up as it pounced on me. It's claws tore into my arm, and I could feel them raking against bone. I screamed like hell, and I honestly wrote myself off. But just when it reached for my face, a knife buried itself in it's skull, and Shadow kicked the thing off me. I looked around, and those things were surrounding us. I looked down at my arm, it was a bloody mess. I looked at the ground, my voice shaky. "You should get out of here. At this rate, I'll pass out from blood loss. I -"

He cut me off, his voice even. "I'm not leaving you here. We agreed to get out of here together, and I don't go back on my word."

I looked up. He still had the sword in his hand, and he'd drawn a knife in the other. He seemed... calm, and he had a look of resolve to him. I watched as he blocked a denizen from grabbing me, splitting it's belly open and tossing it in the path of another one. He sidestepped another as it attacked from his left, and stabbed it through the eye. I honestly thought he might be able to take them all on, and then one rushed for me at the same time one rushed him. He should have defended himself, but instead he protected me. He ran the one headed for me through, burring his knife in it's temple. He'd only just turned around as the other denizen raked a claw down his face, slashing his eye open. He stumbled back, and the thing grabbed him by the leg, dragging him to the ground. I watched blood spray from his leg before he managed to retrieve his sword and slash it's throat. He staggered to his feet, and took his position in front of me again. Blood was pouring from his leg like a waterfall, it had to have cut several arteries. He was really going to get himself killed defending me. I slowly picked up my sword and got to my feet, looking over at him. A jagged cut ran down his face, and his right eye was closed, but I could see blood streaming down his face and from under his eyelid. I turned to the denizens, doing my best to steel myself, at least take one of them with me. But then, they backed off. At first, I thought they were afraid, but then I saw Shadow looking behind us,  and realized He was standing on the path. I shuddered when I saw it, nearly dropped my sword. Then, to my astonishment, Shadow stepped toward it, doing his best to stand straight, and pointed his sword at it. Despite his injuries, he still managed to maintain an even tone.

"Listen well, you thrice accursed abomination. I will not run from you anymore.  Before my life is over, I will see you destroyed."

My jaw dropped. He'd just lost his eye, and could barely walk, yet here he was making death threats to a something that could easily have ripped him in half at that very moment. Slendy tilted his head, and I expected tentacles to come out any second. Before I got the chance to say anything, Shadow turned towards me, and suddenly there was a golden portal next to us. He grabbed my good arm, and dragged me through with him, the portal closing behind him. Now we were in the front yard of a huge mansion, and I saw people coming towards us. It was at that point Shadow collapsed, and I fell to my knees, dizzy from blood loss. I looked down and saw a little sliver necklace in my hand, and that was the last thing I remember before I blacked out.

~

Turns out the little necklace was one of his "healing charms". I've had the thing with me for most of the day, and my arm's almost back to full strength, though I think I'll have a few scars to show off. While his Resistance friends were hesitant to trust someone in a proxy mask, Shadow insisted I was safe. His injuries are healing pretty quick, but he still hasn't open his injured eye, so I think I was right that he won't see out of it anymore. I'll wait until we're both back to 100% before I talk to him next.

♪Melody

Bloody and Beaten, but Alive

Fucking hell, I can't move my arm without it bleeding everywhere. And magical healer or not, I don't think Shadow will be able to see out of his right eye anymore, let alone keep walking. but at least we fucking made it. I'll update you guys when we've finished patching ourselves up.

♪Melody