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naavispider · 2 years ago

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This just popped into my mind: one night while they were camping in the forest, one of the Recoms tells a scary campfire story. Something like: “here’s the true story of the monster that eats you if you think about it”, you know the type. The marines all know it’s for fun and play along, but Spider grew up in a culture where stories are a primary way of sharing history and information, and he thinks it’s FOR REAL. A few hours later in the middle of the night, Quaritch finds spider wide awake and scared out of his mind…

"Now, listen close. What I'm about to tell you is real, it happened, and it can happen to you, too. We’ve all heard the story of a spirit or a monster that hides in the dark and eats you if you've done wrong, but this is no story. It's not folklore, it’s not myth, and it sure as shit isn’t make believe."

Spider shifted closer to Wainfleet's low voice around the fire. He rolled his eyes at the corporal's drama, but a shiver ran down the back of his spine all the same. Z-dog was to his left, and Fike was to his right, both a few feet away with shadows flickering across their faces from the campfire, both grinning expectantly.

"Like all good close encounters, this one started when I was very young - probably about 5 or 6, when I used to stay at my Nana's house while my folks were off working. These were the days when every meal was rationed, and every breath of the dying Earth polluted your lungs. Nana was old, she was dying, but I liked her company. The only thing I didn't like was the strange scraping noise that used to come from her basement. I'd tell her constantly, but her hearing must have been completely busted because she never heard it. One evening, while she was upstairs, I decided to check it out. The steps down to the basement are steep, wooden, and creaky. I made it halfway down towards the heavy door when I heard the noise again. A slow, drawn out scrape, that sounded like fingernails on floorboards. I stopped. I didn't know if I could do it. My heart was pounding like nothing."

Spider suddenly felt his own heartbeat increase. He shuffled closer to Z-dog, suddenly not wanting his exposed back to face the darkness of the forest.

"Then... I heard another noise. This time, it was a quiet, agonising moan. I strained to listen closer - not sure if my ears were screwed on right. But then the volume increased. It sounded like it was coming towards the door at the bottom of the stairs. I froze. I couldn't move - paralysed with fear." Wainfleet paused for dramatic effect, eyeing everyone in the cicle. "The sound was like a dying animal, or perhaps a dying person. It sounded like the moans and cries of an old woman who'd lost her mind. It was getting closer... it was right behind the door... It was coming for me... I bolted. I'm not ashamed to say that I turned tail and ran straight back up the stairs. My legs couldn't carry me fast enough. Just as I reached the top, I turned back to look at the door... only to see... it was ajar."

Spider looked around at the other recoms, horrified at the way Wainfleet was telling this story. But wait, he'd said it wasn't a story. This really happened. No wonder the man became a marine - he had balls of steel.

Quaritch was staring into the trees, always aware of their surroundings. Mansk and Prager were leaning against each other, having paused their card game to listen in to Wainfleet's tale. Spider could see he was not the only one hooked. Nobody interrupted Lyle, so he carried on.

"That was my first encounter with the being, but it was far from my last. The week after that, my Nana died from heart failure. I never went back to her house. But the creature... or whatever it was... followed me throughout my life, wherever I went. When I was 12, and we moved to Chicago, when I was 19, training at base camp Nevada, when I was 23 in Vietnam... it followed me... always. The... thing... it chooses you, and once it does, there's no way you can shake it. Hell..." Wainfleet's grim eyes locked across the circle with Spider's scared ones. "Even here."

No one said anything, but Spider wasn't looking at anybody else. "You mean... on Pandora?"

Wainfleet held his stare for a moment, the firelight dancing in his large, yellow eyes, before chuckling darkly. "You bet your ass. This thing isn't confined in the physical realm. It doesn't need air to breath, food to eat, water to drink. I don't know if it hitched a ride with us on the ISV from Earth, or if it can just materialise anywhere, but one thing's for sure... it's here, and it's not let me go."

Spider suddenly felt bare - exposed. The air chilled his skin despite being a warm summer's evening. He crawled even closer to Z-dog, part of him wishing he could move right into her lap. He restrained himself, however.

"You can always tell it's near by the slow, grinding scratching it likes to make on surfaces... I've even heard it scratching the trees out here, just out of sight." Wainfleet's voice dropped even lower, and Spider had to lean in to hear what he said next. "It doesn't like when we talk about it."

A shudder tore its way through Spider's body, and he sucked in a deep breath as a gentle wind blew through the camp. Suddenly, the warmth from the fire seemed to be blown away in the breeze.

"That's enough Lyle, you'll fill his head with all kinds of bull," Quaritch interjected.

Spider bristled. He didn't need Quaritch stepping in, he wasn't five. Nevertheless, Spider felt unsettled as the talk turned to tomorrow's plans and later, one by one the recoms drifted off to sleep. Usually, Spider slept a little away from the others, preferring to find spot next to a rock or tree stump, even if the privacy it offered was only in his head. Tonight however, Spider didn't really fancy that. Try as he might, he couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched. Whatever Wainfleet had been talking about - that... thing - it seemed to be here. It could be watching them right now for all he knew. Spider liked to believe that Eywa wouldn't allow such an abomination on her world, but perhaps this creature was beyond her control. Wainfleet had said he'd heard it. Out here, in the forest.

He got up and walked quickly over to Quaritch's pack, grabbing the man's discarded jacket. He knew by now that he wouldn't get in trouble for using it whenever he liked. He threw it over his shoulders to warn off both the chill and the feeling of being watched by unknown eyes. He cast his eyes around for Quaritch - but the man was on watch duty, stationed a little further out of the camp, gripping his AR. He'd probably be there for another hour or so before swapping out.

Repressing his shiver, he found a comfortable spot nestled up next to the colonel's pack.

It took him a long time to get to sleep. Every time he closed his eyes, he felt the unseen presence of Wainfleet's stalking monster, pressing in on him from the darkness that surrounded the camp. Who knew where it was now. He simply couldn't get comfortable, imagining it lurking out in the forest, waiting for the moment to strike... scratching its claws on each tree it clung to.

Every noise echoed in the quiet. Every snap of a twig from a roaming Pale, every buzz of a Shimmyfly as it floated uncaringly over the camp, Fike's gentle rumbling snores - it all seemed as loud as an engine roaring as Spider lay thinking about Wainfleet's story. Eventually, it got too much. Spider was never getting to sleep like this.

He groaned a frustrated sigh, sitting up against the pack and looking to see if anybody else was awake who might lend him a tablet. He needed something to take his mind off everything, but no one was up. He considered nudging Z-dog awake, but he knew she'd kill him. He wrapped his arms around his legs and brought his knees up to his chin, pulling Quaritch's jacket around him tighter.

"Kid?"

Quaritch's voice made him jump. He twisted around to see the colonel coming towards him.

"Why are you still up?" the recom asked, concern layering his voice.

Spider shrugged, turning back to stare at the dying fire.

"Hmm," Quaritch murmured. "Wainfleet's tall tales aren't getting to you, are they?"

Spider frowned at the embers. How could they not? "That shit's horrible..." he grumbled, unwilling to admit how horrific it sounded to be stalked by a sadistic, fiendish being.

"Spider..." Quaritch began, sitting down heavily next to Spider on the moss. "You... you know that story wasn't... real, right?"

Spider flinched as if burned. What did Quaritch mean? He tried to arrange his features into an uncaring, cool outer exterior, desperately hoping he wasn't betraying the confusion he was currently experiencing. "Sure," he said evenly.

Quaritch eyed him knowingly. "That's just a scary story... something folks tell each other back home to pass the time."

"Pass the time?"

"Sure. It's entertaining. The aim is to scare the crap out of whoever's listening. The person that tells the scariest story wins."

"Are you serious?" Spider glanced up at Quaritch now, almost too embarrassed to seek eye contact, but needing the reassurance that there was no creepy monster waiting to grab him more.

Quaritch stared amusedly at him, clearly fighting some urge. "Deadly."

Spider couldn't help the sigh that escaped him when Quaritch's certainty became clear. "You got a tablet?" he asked to change the subject.

Quaritch's eyebrows raised slightly in surprise, but he pulled out the tablet from his pack and tapped in the passcode. He passed it to Spider knowingly and the boy went straight into the entertainment system, searching for one of his favourite cartoons.

Quaritch's heart warmed at the sight, and a sly smile spread slowly over his face. Raising a hand to ruffle the kid's hair, he murmured a soft comment about waking Mansk to relieve him of watch duty.

When he returned, Spider had laid down comfortable, eyes fixed on the tablet and quite at home in Quaritch's sleeping spot. Assessing the situation, Quaritch decided that the kid probably wouldn't mind if he lay down next to him. It was his spot after all.

He left a few feet between them, but even so, the pair had never slept in such proximity to each other before. He rolled over so he could watch Spider, but the kid was engrossed in his tablet. He seemed happier now Quaritch had enlightened him to Wainfleet's little game.

He smiled at the sight of his boy.

Meanwhile, Spider was immersed in Scooby Doo, more at ease than he had been all night. He knew Quaritch was lying nearby - he could sense the man's breathing, the rise and fall of his chest a few feet away. He could never admit it out loud, but he knew that the man's presence comforted him. Eventually, he felt his eyes start to droop, and the tablet slipped from his hand as sleep finally took him.

#spider socorro #spider miles socorro #miles quaritch #recom quaritch #recom wainfleet #one shot #may or may not be inspired by the fact i'm dreaming about scream VI a lot right now #featuring jack champion ofc #not that i've even seen it yet #anyway i loved this prompt #i didn't do a great job but I'm knackered #as usual LOL

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pocket-ozwynn · 2 years ago

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What other AU ideas do you have? I’d like to hear about them 😁

Blessssssss this is long overdue, sorry Cheesey!

TL;DR I have a LOT of different AU ideas, and they really can be separated into three categories: multi-chapter story AUs, AUs focusing more on one-offs/three to five chapter arcs, and aesthetic-based AUs I would want to draw.

Between time, energy, and mental health I sadly can't engage in all of my AUs to the same degree I have Genesis Day/Kaiju!AU and Offline Valor/Borrower!AU. But if I was to only tell you about two other AUs that I haven't touched on yet, I'd say...

Urban Fantasy!AU: Unlike my University!AU (which absolutely will still be getting its own story, just waiting for the right inspo), the Urban Fantasy!AU takes place in the modern-day but in a fictional city akin to New York City or Chicago. Think something akin to Percy Jackson, where magic dwell just beneath the surface of perception—with mortal heroes fighting the forces of darkness. This would be an ensemble cast featuring Freyja, Alice, Rowan, and Zelly all as Humans (probably) and average jobs in the big city—though Freyja and one of the sides of Rolly (potentially Rowan) would be Shifters.

Sci-Fi!AU: Not much to say about this one yet! I've always loved Space Anything, so this will be me dipping my toes into it. What I can tell you is that the two main characters will be a Humanoid cloned ex-soldier (name TBD) who is brimming up with optimism who is trying to make his way in this ruthless galaxy, along with a Jovian (Giant) named Io who is an outlaw paladin on the run from her people. New couple this time! But chances are Herbeau and Rolly will have one-shots/three-to-five chapter bits off to the side.

Aside from that we have a TON of others bubbling and in the works like my Post-Apocalyptic!AU (brand new as of this morning lol), CyberPunk!AU (ideas for both Herbeau and Rolly), Gulliver but Freyja, Jack and the Beanstalk (Alice & Frey edition), Mad Max-esque Demolition Derby + roller derby with Frey as a reigning champion called “She-Wrecks” (very like, wrestler-esque AU. Just a bunch of Giants being silly and putting on shows), something with Giant!Zelly (but not QUITE sure what yet), Shrinking!Rowan (maybe tied to Doctor!Zelly?), Monster Hunter!Rowan + Werejaguar!Zelly, Gladiator!Frey, something like Sea Beasts + Mer!AU called “Cold Light!AU.”

(And ofc still having stuff like Kaiju!AU, Borrower!AU, University!AU, and the other previously established AUs on the side too<3)

Thank you again Cheesey! I appreciate you asking 💜

#I appreciate y’all #thank you for being here<3

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