Hours after radioing and after thoroughly communing with nature, the sun slowly crawled its way into the sky. The mountains to their east left the area thoroughly shaded, but the morning winds curled around the mountain slowly pushing out the dense fog, only to start off the day as something hot and humid. The thoroughly exhausted boar slept through the night, snorting quite loudly in an apparently dreamless sleep. It may have been an hour after dawn that one Sheriff Kamaka in a fresh uniform and pack called through the woods with a resounding 'Aloha'. From a distance, the man had a hunting rifle over his shoulder, and was looking nearly as exhausted as he had the night before as he made his way by map and compass.
Grace, still dressed as she had been the night before when she met Kamaka, wore a pair of olive green pants with a couple of extra pockets, a set of sturdy looking black boots that could have been worn by any small-footed soldier trekking through unhealthy terrain, and a simple, black, ribbed tank top. While they'd started out looking fairly clean and fresh, Grace's clothes now held the patina of real, hard, travel through the forest. She was muddy almost everywhere in dried splotches, including the bare skin that wasn't covered by her tank top. Despite that, though, the woman looked quite thoroughly energized and filled with life. Even her cheeks bore a soft glow, pink and healthy. With a welcoming, warm sort of smile, Grace lifted her hand and called out to Kamaka "Aloha!" So that he knew he was in the right place. She was standing, and had at least wiped her hands clean on something she'd likely found in the backpack that had been brought along into the woods. Nearby, just behind her in fact, was the Giant, Sleeping, Boar.
Bjorn , on the other hand, was wearing different clothes compared to what he was wearing the last time Kamaka saw him. The grey long shirt and newer pair of blue jeans makes him contrast from Grace, because it's far less muddy, though that probably raises questions as to how he's got mud underneath not completely muddied clothes, but... Anyway Bjorn is by Grace and the boar, and waves a hand as well, and an "Aloha" as well to match Grace's. He waits for Tanaka to get closer, though he keeps an eye more on the boar, even though it's sleeping, better safe than sorry.
Following the alohas and nearing them, Kamaka offered a polite nod and a tired smile to the pair. His eyes flicked over the woman, then to Bjorn. "Aloha... You two look worse for tear. That's why I suggested the camps." His gaze moved over to the massive boar, and it took several seconds for him to decide what he was looking at, his fingers curling on the shoulder strap of the rifle when the boars let out a long sputtering snore. The man blinked his eyes hard to clear them as he elected to stare at the boar, circling it slowly to really take in the scale of the animal. Putting away the map and compass, he took his flashlight from his belt, clicking the led light and shining it on the boar. "I'm grateful for the call. Is one of carrying a tranq rifle that launches milk jugs of tranquilizer?"
Grace stepped back a little, though the look she gave Kamaka, a solid once over from head to toe, managed to get the blush in her cheeks to raise up just a few degrees. Forcing her attention to Bjorn, she walked over toward him and snaked her arm around his waist to tuck herself easily in against his side, fingers gripping firmly along his side under his shirt. "I'm glad you were able to find us, Sheriff. We went out what I can agree is a little earlier than we should have, but it seemed so important to start the search. When we came across him, it was... eventful. He was very aggressive and eager to mate. While there might have been some call to put him down, the best idea seemed to be subduing him. Especially after I noticed all the scarification on his hide." Grace motioned with her free hand to the creatures flesh, covered with scars and symbols. "I don't believe this is a normal wild board, Sheriff Kamaka. Not just because of its size, but it seemed... off. I can't claim to be a specialist in any sense, but what I felt and saw didn't scream anything natural to me, but something almost... cursed." Grace's austere, European accent was crisp, so even when she paused and seemed a little hesitant to mention the term 'cursed', it came out clear and completely understandable. Her so-dark eyes watched the lawman as he looked over the sleeping creature, curiosity making them gleam slightly.
As Grace goes and explains, Bjorn adds in only a little bit. "It smells wrong." He doesn't drop the other line of info yet, about it smelling that way at the dorm room. First he waits to see what Kamaka says about the situation. "It's definitely not natural. I have some suspicions but was curious your take on it."
The sheriff's torch highlighted the scars and symbols on the hide of boar, taking in the details in total as Grace explained, and the man gave a nod. "Kamapua'a..." The man paused, his gaze flicking to Grace, "Curse seems possible. Hawaii is never short of akua. I've seen my share of minor curses by Him, pig nose or maybe a pair of tusks." He continued round the boar, his light illuminating the raised scars. "I was grateful for the thorough directions and landmarks to get out here." Seemingly satisfied with the boar, he clicked off his flashlight, setting his rifle against a tree, and taking off his pack to set it down, scanning the area for potential directions it came through. "I have to call in some trackers to follow its trail back... Maybe there are droppings to search through. I mentioned boars because they come out at night, and being rutting season. The larger boars chase off the other males and keep sows." He picked out a handkerchief to dry his brow and face before turning to Bjorn and Grace to regard them. "This boar is plenty big enough to have eaten Roger Best, or..." He frowned at the possibility, and gestured to the boar.
Grace nodded slowly in understanding and agreement. "That was my concern as well. Either it could have eaten the young man, or worse it could have started as him. With the boar's behavior, the fact that he didn't care that I was human when he attempted to mount me, it made me think perhaps it wasn't thinking only of other female boars as mates." Grace cleared her throat softly. "Considering I am not a female with any scent of being 'in season' or 'receptive', especially not at the time, it seemed a little... off. It was one of the reasons that his life was spared, so that this could hopefully be taken care of by someone with more expertise than I might have on the subject." Grace didn't move away from Bjorn, though she remained watchful and kept her eyes on the boar and the Sheriff, watching just in case something twitched when it shouldn't.
Bjorn had been watching the boar at least partially the entire time. As they start to discuss the fact the boar might be the young man he finally interjects, "The same smell of the boar is back at the girls' dorm room. So... chances are high that it's, him. I don't have a clue what could've done it to him though if that's the case." Of course he didn't see anything in the room that was a glowing, 'cursing stuff' but he's not up on magic either. An arm slips around Grace in turn, and rubs the small of her back as they converse.
Kamaka put his handkerchief in his pocket, and gave a slow nod as he listened to the two of them. "I've been boar hunting enough to know what a boar looks like, and this one isn't exactly that. It's front hoof has more articulation." The man closed his eyes, taking a slow, calming breath. When they reopened, his dark brown eyes were several shades lighter, each of his pupils becoming paired in each iris. He sniffed the air, frowning. "I think that smell you're picking up on him, and the back in the dorm is likely cursed mana, excess anima that is generally held in the form until its taken. I know a couple that I can call to help me with the boar. There's no chance of getting a truck out here." The man stared at the couple for several seconds, "I need you both to be very truthful with me. I need you both to state if you feel a distracting level of arousal or sexual desire?" His eyes centered on Grace, "The same sort of feeling that would drive a boar towards someone out of season or resistant to advances." He looked to Bjorn, "I know Roger Best and Lisa Chambers were dating. You mentioned you were their professor. Was Rebecca Stein only a roommate to Lisa?"
Grace seemed to get a little bit closer to Bjorn, her eyes fixing onto Kamaka as he spoke, and his visage changed slightly. "I wasn't before I subdued him, Sheriff. Though this is... decidedly a bit of a side effect from it, it's not something that was an issue prior to him being exhausted to the level you see him now." Grace was succinct, explaining the situation as best she could without coming outright and describing what she'd done. "He simply needed to be placed into a stupor enough to make it so that he could be handled by the right people, and I knew that wasn't us when we saw what we were up against."
As Grace explains what was done in regards to the boar, Bjorn after answers the Sheriff's question about the room mates. "Rumors say more, the photos I saw in the room suggest... well some suggest more as well. Though it appears that ended after he came into the picture." He thinks a moment then raises a brow. "Thinking it might have been related to his present condition? Motive perhaps?"
The sheriff listened to Grace, "A side effect of direct contact with a creature cursed by Kamapua'a? Exhaust would be forcing him to exhaust that energy, poisoning that energy, ripping that energy. Which was it? My concern here is the excess mana. The stories of curses I know are to teach lessons, be it a person, or family... House of Usher was generations, it spread through the bloodline. Curses lands spread to people, animals, and plants there. This mana is leaking... Which means its possible that it is spreading." Kamaka frowned as he listened to Bjorn. "I'm trying to put together facts. I can attempt to see the Truth of the boars frown, but after you make the mistake once, you learn not to use it on gods or their direct works. And I don't suspect that either of you would be appreciative of being caught in my line of sight by it. Ms. Lam..." He looked at the woman apologetically, "I am an Emissary of Justice and Balance. I understand how that can sound upsetting, but in this instance, I have no reason that you had reason to curse this boar, nor do I have reason to suspect you put those two women in the hospital. This is my immediate concern."
"I have no reason to believe you cursed this boar"
"Oh I definitely did not have anything to do with the cursing of this child, if that's what this particular boar started out as." Grace nodded her head. "I can assure you that I have never actually met any of the students involved, either. As for the energy, it was taken from him. Not poisoned." She glanced up at Bjorn, her brows raised ever so slightly. "Did you smell anything like this on either of the girls at the hospital? Or can you smell the wrongness on me now, Bjorn?" Just looking up at the big man, and being pressed against his side, had Grace's pulse quicken just enough that it beat for a moment in her neck. Her body shifted and she pressed in against him enough that her breast was nearly flattened against his rib cage.
"I didn't get a good scent of them at the hospital... I could have tried Lisa but her mom was around and with so many hospital smells it was hard to get close." Bjorn leans over and sniffs Grace's hair, and then says, "Faintly it's there. Like you drank too much the night before and are sweating it out." Looking back to the sheriff he adds, "I have some clothing I was going to drop off to Lisa, I could see about getting a better read on her then."
The sheriff listened to the pair go through their process, his odd eyes moving between them. "Ms. Stein is still my able to answer questions, or at least, I have not been notified of possibility. Ms. Stein..." The man sighed, "She didn't want to be in the hospital, but clearly even your nose understands that about most people." His gaze fell to them. "The boar can't stay here. I can state that it isn't my place to directly end a curse laid upon anyone by a god, as it is a quick way to gain their ire. You both trusted me enough to call me out here, do you trust me to do what needs to be done in this situation? I know the Wardens of White Council in this area. Both of them have been here since the 1700s, and understand the forces at play here. I'm going to call them here." He stopped, looking at Grace, "Do you have the ability to quarantine yourself?" He looked to Bjorn, "Do you have enough awareness to know if you are being affected?"
Grace nodded her agreement to the Sheriff. "I trust you to do what needs to be done, that's why I got on the radio to notify you this morning and we didn't try to handle this ourselves. No matter our good intentions, we aren't qualified to actually heal this boy, if this boar is the young man. Even if he isn't, we aren't qualified to help the creature one way or another. The best choice was to call you and hope that there was a way that someone of your stature could find the help that's required here." She took a gentle breath and shook her head. "We should go to the hospital anyway, at some point again. We have the clothes for the girl that you spoke to before. It might be good to see what you can smell there." Grace blinked and looked at Kamaka curiously. "I am able to quarantine myself if necessary, though I'm not cursed myself. I just... took enough of the energy out of his tank to feel some effect from it. If I do start to feel as though it's effecting me longer than it should, or that I'm losing control of myself, though, you can be sure that I'll put myself somewhere very safe immediately. I wouldn't risk exposing others to that."
"I don't think she's... that bad off. I mean if something changes then I suppose that would need re-evaluating, but So far she seems mostly herself. As for myself..." Bjorn smiles slightly and then adds, "I'm not carting Grace off to recreate the Ghost pottery scene, so I think we're good. But I'll keep an eye out for if that changes... more than normal." One would imagine their sex lives were already more than adequate so it was rather hard to judge. As for the other stuff, Grace summed it up nicely, it was above their pay grades.
Kamaka's brow came together, "Ms. Lam, you don't seem like someone that would overstate their own control, but... Mr. Andersen managed to get mud under his new clothes." The man stopped himself, "If that is typical behavior upon taking mana from another, I ask that you keep your distance from both Ms. Chambers and Ms. Stein for the time being, as drinking from a poisoned well is never a good idea. Drinking from other wells that could also be poisoned, is a bad idea." Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a notepad and pen. Flipping to the last page, he walked over to offer it to the pair. "If you could both write down your numbers, just in case I have any questions. Do you both have my card? I went through so many over the last six days."
Grace cleared her throat softly, lifting her chin a little as she seemed to be slightly wounded. "Without giving you too much detail, Sheriff Kamaka, the mud on him, under his clothing, was there before the situation with the Boar was even subsided, at least much of it. The thrill of victory has also long been considered an aphrodisiac, as has the thrill of surviving through something you might have fallen to, such as the advances of our sleeping friend and his desire to claim a new mate." She blinked, then shut her mouth with a clacking of teeth, her cheeks beginning to glow bright pink. "My apologies, perhaps now is not the best time for me to visit the hospital, even if there wouldn't be a chance of me absorbing anything, it would be best not to go somewhere when I'm not feeling entirely myself." Grace swallowed and snuggled into Bjorn a little. "Perhaps a rest would be in order first."
"Yes, perhaps a rest..." Bjorn's hand moved up to lightly run through Grace's hair as she said that. He says after a moment, "I still feel fine, if you like I'll swing by the hospital again myself later, and let you know Sheriff." As for the cards he frowns and searches his pockets to see what made it from his other clothes back to his new ones, then adds, "I think I placed it in my pack, but if you have more maybe I should take another just in case."
Kamaka allowed Grace to come to her own conclusion, and offered the woman a deep bow from the waist. "It should be me that should apologize, Ms. Lam. It is not my intention to cause you embarrassment, just to clarify the facts of the situation. Please forgive me." The man held the bow for several more seconds, before rising and turning his body so the center of his vision was on the boar rather than the couple. Retracting the notepad and pen, he searched his breast pocket and retrieved two business cards, offering them atop the notepad and pen with cupped hands. His eyes staying towards the ground. "You know them better than I do, Mr. Andersen. If you could go there, I would appreciate it while I deal with the immediate situation. I ask that you keep in contact with it.
"Thank you, Sheriff. I should have been aware before hand, but I am decidedly a bit outside of my usual self. If you need to contact me, I live at the Lions and Lams Defense Academy, upstairs, and you can reach me at that number, it forwards to my private line after hours." Grace bowed slightly to Kamaka in return, accepting his words and watching the cards as he handed them to Bjorn. "I'm sure we will be in contact soon, and if anything more worrisome arises than my current predicament, I'll be quite quick to let you know, just in case it's indicative of something that will need further intervention." Grace stayed close to Bjorn as she released her bow, the blush on her cheeks fading back down to the strong peachy glow it had been when Kamaka arrived. No matter how much she might have been embarrassed, it certainly hadn't caused any of her excess energy to burn away with the emotion. It was still there, almost glowing from her.
Bjorn was able to give Kamaka his contact info in turn to taking more cards from the man, and offered a nod about the girls. "I'll let you know what I find out about them." He looks to Grace while the Sheriff deals with looking at the boar again, and gives her shoulder a gentle yet supportive squeeze. Otherwise he lets the other two talk, getting a bit lost in thought a moment.
Kamaka checked over the notepad as it was handed back, he added a couple more notes under the phone numbers. His brow coming together again as he muttered to himself. "Trackers, Wardens..." Taking a step back, he peered through the trees to verify landmarks that he could pick out easily. The man took a calming breath, "We don't fully understand the transference of mana in this situation, so be careful when you go. If I get more information from the Wardens, I was send it."
Grace nodded thoughtfully, then looked up at Bjorn, lifting her hand to pat him gently on the chest, as if in gratitude for this support. The motion called her attention to her fingers, which she looked at for a long moment, the two nails missing from their beds after the trip down the side of the mountain. Her head cocked to the side and Grace opened her mouth with a curious tone "Bjorn, when we came down, we fell onto that ledge, and you landed in the very large pile of manure. Was it from this creature?" She stepped back out of the comfort of Bjorn's side and looked up the cliff to the outcropping where their rope still hung down. Pointing, she then turned her gaze over to the Sheriff, and Grace spoke a little more loudly "There was a huge, and I do mean huge, pile of fecal matter up there. Bjorn was kind enough to let me fall pretty much outside of it, but if it was the droppings you'd wanted the trackers to find, they're up there." She looked at Bjorn. "Do you remember anything of the scents combined in them?"
There's a shudder at the mention of the pile of feces. Not a happy time about that. At her asking about it though he frowns and thins a moment, trying to think back as he was mostly trying to avoid breaking anything or her breaking anything either. "There was the scent of wrongness to it, like big fella there. Grubs, bug, rodent and vegetation too, but definitely the wrongness." He rubs more of Grace's back as they stand there and then Bjorn adds, "Hopefully that will help them back track where the boar was holding up." It also reminds him he's going to need a shower at some point to get all the nature off of him from their trek, new clothes or not.
Kamaka looked to the rope indicated by Grace and nodded, "I'll call a veterinarian, farmer, or zoo keeper, to establish the think it would take for a boar to digest. If there was only hand eaten, it would have been digested completely. For a whole body, if this creature isn't Roger Best... There would be hair and teeth. It's a long shot to find spore from six days ago with all the rain, but it's still worth try. The Warden's attempted to scry the location, but it never zeroed in." He listened to Bjorn nodded. "Thank you, that's definitely a short." He pointed to the radio on his shoulder, "I'm going to call back into dispatch to try and fix this." He bowed his head deeply to the two of them, taking several steps back to keep eye line on the pig as he keyed in his radio.
Grace nodded to Kamaka, then bowed to him as well, giving her thanks as best she could. "Be safe, Sheriff. He's going to be sleeping for quite a while, but I can't be sure just how long it takes him to regenerate his energy." The last was offered with caution in her voice, before Grace looked up at Bjorn and gave him a slight smile. "Why don't we get out of here and actually find some place that is less covered with mud to get clean, and maybe something real to eat for you instead of trail food?" Grace reached out to take Bjorn's hand, but didn't take the lead, as it would be the large man leading them back to their 'base camp' for sure.
"Thanks for your help Sheriff. I'll be sure to keep in touch." He nods at Grace's suggestion and gives her backside a little pat when the Sheriff is distracted by the boar again. "Base camp it is." With that he gives her hand a squeeze as she takes his, and starts to lead them back to it. While no hot shower there, there was enough for him to get clean enough so he wouldn't smell the residue so badly.
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