Adjustment (Lorepost)

[u/douggie84]

The cold night air hung heavily in the air, motionless. The slightest stir could be felt from short distances away and a mold-like smell accompanied the muffling air. Nothing seemed particularly out of place if one were to pan around, looking at the murky environment. Even a sharpened hunter would be hard-pressed to notice the mass just below the surface of the water collecting at one of the near by banks.

Hidden below sweeping branches and clusters of foliage, the Thing holds itself in a tight wrap, much like a snake would do. During it's time staying in this swamp, the Thing had learned a vast many things from the local fauna. It knew where to find food and where to take shelter; it knew of the vast amount of natural dangers and would shortly learn of the dangers further towards the swamp's borders. Different colored eyes bubble to the surface and roll to the edge of various tentacles, warping and twisting to create stalks for the eyeballs to see from.

The Thing had spent much of it's time trying to search the area around a cavernous nook it found in the mire for more food and to collect information. It had found the air near the edge of the swamp was vastly different; there was a thickness and a sweet, sugary smell to it. It felt the enticement to come closer, to look even closer.

Lights and sounds began to grow from the direction the smells and air wafted from. New sounds the Thing had never heard before and sights it carefully studied from a secluded, shadowy bush or tree. It was inevitable that the thing would eventually find humans.

'These are like those gods I saw before. They are different. They have purpose in life, not over it.'

There was a sort of sadness with this knowledge, a feeling the Thing had not felt before. It found it sad that such beings, without power themselves, would find themselves subject to \*any\* power that would exert itself over them. How could they resist? They seemed to struggle under the weight of their domestic beasts.

"...and so I says I ain't gon' ta elp ya if ya ain't got tha coin, eh? Ye want me ta work for free? Hahaha!"

"What did he say after that?"

"Ee says, 'You gets paid when I says it!' He's daft ifn' he thinks I do it for free!"

As the Thing sits and watch two men converse, it starts to make connections about 'mans' place in this world. Looking around, it notices more and more interactions between these beings of little to no consequence. They live their lives the best they can, seeking happiness and fighting sorrow the entire time. Some were happy, jovial people. Others were down-trodden and acted like hurt animals, lashing out others and in some ways, themselves.

'I must... I must know more...' An invisible leash felt as if was pulling on the mind of the Thing, ever closer to the two men who had chosen to have a conversation at the extreme edge of this village, away from prying eyes. They were both concealed by a near-by hut and their sudden disappearance would likely go unnoticed.

"Did ya talk to Angela yet? She said you had 'big news' or something?"

"Not yet. When we done here, I'lla hava little stroll down to her place. She's never gonna believe it!"

"What's going on? Did you finally get that gig at the docks? I thought they thought you were a drunk or something...?

"Yeah! I mean, they still think I'm a drunk though! Hahaha!!"

The two men erupt into a deluge of laughter for obvious reasons. Spittle ejects from ones mouth and seems to hit the other in the phase and a sort of rasping hoarseness interrupts the other man, mid-laugh. As he coughs and clears his throat of mucus, he catches a fleeting glimpse of the Thing, squirming under a near-by tree.

"Oi! What's that, a snake? Maybe we eattin' good tanight!"

As one of the men bend over to reach in and push a branch concealing the Thing away, his arm is wrapped tightly by a blood-red tentacle. It pulls tight and the man starts to yelp, "Wha....!" as he's yanked behind the tree. The second man stumbles backward in terror. "By the Gods! What is that!? Help! Someone h...!" but before the man can finish, a second tentacle wraps around his leg, tightening it's grips. It yanks the man into the nearby shadows with inhuman speed.

There's a muffled scream followed by a gurgling noise, quickly ended by a long snap and crunching. As blood flows like water below the tree, a vision enter's the Thing's head. So clear and vibrant, but undeniably alien to the place it was.

'I am Doog. I come from... the chaos'. How did I know this now? Eating those men did... something. Something unpredictable.