Flexible Survival - User contributions [en]

Category:Crystala Events

2013-04-17T04:54:51Z

Crystala: Replaced content with "{{del}}"

User:REDACTED

2013-04-17T04:53:51Z

Crystala: Replaced content with "{{del}}"

Midnight Shadow

2013-04-17T04:49:25Z

Crystala: Replaced content with "{{del}}"

Midnight Shadow: Ferox

2013-04-17T04:45:57Z

Crystala: Replaced content with "{{del}}"

Coyote: The Packmind/Interlude

2013-04-17T04:45:30Z

Crystala: Replaced content with "{{del}}"

Coyote: The Packmind/Chapter 1

2013-04-17T04:45:02Z

Crystala: Replaced content with "{{del}}"

Coyote: The Packmind

2013-04-17T04:43:17Z

Crystala: Replaced content with "{{del}}"

Coyote: The Packmind/Prologue

2013-04-17T04:42:33Z

Crystala: Replaced content with "{{del}}"

A Wolf In Hand

2013-04-17T04:41:49Z

Crystala: Replaced content with "{{del}}"

A Guide to Reading REDACTED's Events

2013-04-17T03:52:54Z

Crystala: Replaced content with "Note: Crystala has retired from the game and wishes her logs to be removed."

Note:

Crystala has retired from the game and wishes her logs to be removed.

Infection Model: Packmind

2012-10-21T16:38:25Z

Crystala:

Location: [[Oregon]]

Original Creator: Crystala

Nanite Type: Packmind (Distributed AI)

Infection Vector: Bodily Fluids

Basic Infection Shapes:
Have been shown to be able to model typical Apex predators, such as wolves, foxes, bears, cougars, as well as novel apex predators that did not exist in nature. There have been newly born packminds of prey species, notably deer, and players can become infected with packmind nanites and ''not'' succumb to the mental death by mastering the [[Oregonian (dedication)|Oregonian]] dedication.

Infection Method:
Slow process of the Packmind Nanites converting existing nanites in a creature over to more packmind. The process is painful and gradual, until enough of the nanites have overtaken the host to be able to strip it down into organic matter and return it to the wellspring. The infected may or may not exhibit outward infection signs before they are converted.

Description:
Packminds originated in Oregon, native to the state when Promethean Day happened. Much of the state of Oregon, including Portland, have been overrun by various packs. Their range depends on the infection type, and can range from a meager 2 mile range, to as much as 50 miles in the case of the largest packs. This limitation is due to the radio transmitter and receiver embedded into each cluster of nanites, the signal of which can only extend so far. If an individual 'finger' (body), of a pack is cut off from the wellspring's signal or damaged beyond repair, it is dissolved into base organic matter (usually looks like red goo or blood), and seeps into the ground water, returning to the packmind in the fastest method possible. This function is a life support function of packmind nanites and will activate even if the nanites are otherwise disabled.

Wellsprings are a unique convention of Packmind Nanites. Due to their distributed AI nature, each individual nanite appears to contain coordinates and a homing instinct for where to deliver its associated biomass upon loss of signal. A wellspring can take many forms depending on the species; thus far a 'mobile' wellspring has been encountered with the wolf infection, in the form of a large alpha wolf, and the more common 'stationary' wellspring has been encountered with coyote and other packs, which in the case of coyote took the form of a bubbling meat soup inside a natural hot spring. Wellsprings contain biological and inorganic matter in dense storage, and are the location the packs create new 'fingers'.

Creatures digested by a packmind are stripped slowly of their mind and devoured by the AI inside the wellspring. Fragments of their memories may be constructed from a Packmind, but any creature lost inside a packmind for too long will be unrecoverable, without divine intervention. A sentient Packmind has been created out of the remnants of the coyote pack slain by Coyote as detailed in the event [[Coyote: The Packmind]], and has taken the name of Elaine. She has slowly been creating an area of less dangerous territory around Crater Lake, and also assisted in creating a new form of Prey packminds, in order to help combat them.

These nanites are particularly weak to Electricity, EMP and other forms of radio disruption. The material can be stopped from returning to the wellspring by trapping or sealing it in something that is impermeable to nanites. Such matter has been studied by Zephyr and RSX.

Interactions:

Standard Infection:
Packmind nanites slowly convert and replace existing nanites in a host. The process is painful, and any attempt to cure usually induces full conversion. Early exploratory attempts involved losing many Zephyr and RSX researchers, whom even the innoculation they were given did not hault the process. Attempts to access nanites through Nanite Adept methods have induced immediate conversion and dissolution.

More recently, there have been packmind survivors whom have had their packmind infected nanites severed from the original collective, and they remain dormant in the body without an AI instructing them. Some survivors may dedicate to the process of learning to control these new nanites, which will continue to remove and replace the rest of their standard nanite infection if given new directives.

Cordyceps Fungus:
Currently Unknown

[[Devourer]] Nanites:
There was a single encounter between a Devourer infected and an Oregonian, in which the devourer nanites consumed information from the Oregonian finger and separated the body from the collective. There is theorized to be permanent effects to the Devourer, while the finger was completely separated from the pack. The packmind had not completely taken apart and absorbed the personality controlling the finger, so it is theorized that an early infected might be cured of packmind nanites by a devourer infected.

[[Fenris]]:
Currently Unknown

Gemini Nanites:
Currently Unknown

[[Nekomata]]:
Currently Unknown

[[Once Cursed]]:
Currently Unknown

Packmind Nanites:
Packmind interactions are as per typical, the strength of the control signal and number of nanites of a particular infection control the outcome. A finger far from its wellspring even if the particular finger is strong will lose to a finger close to its wellspring. Larger packs may devourer smaller ones entirely.

Ultimate Infection Resistant:
Zephy recievee reports of a poor fellow whom ender up in pack territory. The pack ate their body, but did not in fact infect them. It is currently unknown if UIR provides total resistance or just slowed the progress down significantly.

Yosemite Virus:
Currently Unknown.

See Also: the [[Mephitic Gryphon]] infection and [[Oregonian (dedication)|Oregonian]] dedication.

[[Category:Theme]]

Infection Model: Packmind

2012-10-21T16:35:35Z

Crystala:

Location: [[Oregon]]

Original Creator: Crystala

Nanite Type: Packmind (Distributed AI)

Infection Vector: Bodily Fluids

Basic Infection Shapes:
Have been shown to be able to model typical Apex predators, such as wolves, foxes, bears, cougars, as well as novel apex predators that did not exist in nature. There have been newly born packminds of prey species, notably deer, and players can become infected with packmind nanites and ''not'' succumb to the mental death by mastering the [[Oregonian (dedication)|Oregonian]] dedication.

Infection Method:
Slow process of the Packmind Nanites converting existing nanites in a creature over to more packmind. The process is painful and gradual, until enough of the nanites have overtaken the host to be able to strip it down into organic matter and return it to the wellspring. The infected may or may not exhibit outward infection signs before they are converted.

Description:
Packminds originated in Oregon, native to the state when Promethean Day happened. Much of the state of Oregon, including Portland, have been overrun by various packs. Their range depends on the infection type, and can range from a meager 2 mile range, to as much as 50 miles in the case of the largest packs. This limitation is due to the radio transmitter and receiver embedded into each cluster of nanites, the signal of which can only extend so far. If an individual 'finger' (body), of a pack is cut off from the wellspring's signal or damaged beyond repair, it is dissolved into base organic matter (usually looks like red goo or blood), and seeps into the ground water, returning to the packmind in the fastest method possible. This function is a life support function of packmind nanites and will activate even if the nanites are otherwise disabled.

Wellsprings are a unique convention of Packmind Nanites. Due to their distributed AI nature, each individual nanite appears to contain coordinates and a homing instinct for where to deliver its associated biomass upon loss of signal. A wellspring can take many forms depending on the species; thus far a 'mobile' wellspring has been encountered with the wolf infection, in the form of a large alpha wolf, and the more common 'stationary' wellspring has been encountered with coyote and other packs, which in the case of coyote took the form of a bubbling meat soup inside a natural hot spring. Wellsprings contain biological and inorganic matter in dense storage, and are the location the packs create new 'fingers'.

Creatures digested by a packmind are stripped slowly of their mind and devoured by the AI inside the wellspring. Fragments of their memories may be constructed from a Packmind, but any creature lost inside a packmind for too long will be unrecoverable, without divine intervention. A sentient Packmind has been created out of the remnants of the coyote pack slain by Coyote as detailed in the event [[Coyote: The Packmind]], and has taken the name of Elaine. She has slowly been creating an area of less dangerous territory around Crater Lake, and also assisted in creating a new form of Prey packminds, in order to help combat them.

These nanites are particularly weak to Electricity, EMP and other forms of radio disruption. The material can be stopped from returning to the wellspring by trapping or sealing it in something that is impermeable to nanites. Such matter has been studied by Zephyr and RSX.

Interactions:

Standard Infection:
Packmind nanites slowly convert and replace existing nanites in a host. The process is painful, and any attempt to cure usually induces full conversion. Early exploratory attempts involved losing many Zephyr and RSX researchers, whom even the innoculation they were given did not hault the process. Attempts to access nanites through Nanite Adept methods have induced immediate conversion and dissolution.

More recently, there have been packmind survivors whom have had their packmind infected nanites severed from the original collective, and they remain dormant in the body without an AI instructing them. Some survivors may dedicate to the process of learning to control these new nanites, which will continue to remove and replace the rest of their standard nanite infection if given new directives.

Cordyceps Fungus:
Currently Unknown

Devourer Nanites:
There was a single encounter between a Devourer infected and an Oregonian, in which the devourer nanites consumed information from the Oregonian finger and separated the body from the collective. There is theorized to be permanent effects to the Devourer, while the finger was completely separated from the pack. The packmind had not completely taken apart and absorbed the personality controlling the finger, so it is theorized that an early infected might be cured of packmind nanites by a devourer infected.

Fenris:
Currently Unknown

Gemini Nanites:
Currently Unknown

Nekomata:
Currently Unknown

Once Cursed:
Currently Unknown

Packmind Nanites:
Packmind interactions are as per typical, the strength of the control signal and number of nanites of a particular infection control the outcome. A finger far from its wellspring even if the particular finger is strong will lose to a finger close to its wellspring. Larger packs may devourer smaller ones entirely.

Ultimate Infection Resistant:
Zephy recievee reports of a poor fellow whom ender up in pack territory. The pack ate their body, but did not in fact infect them. It is currently unknown if UIR provides total resistance or just slowed the progress down significantly.

Yosemite Virus:
Currently Unknown.

See Also: the [[Mephitic Gryphon]] infection and [[Oregonian (dedication)|Oregonian]] dedication.

[[Category:Theme]]

Infection Model: Packmind

2012-10-21T16:15:40Z

Crystala:

Infection Model: Packmind

2012-10-15T00:51:34Z

Crystala: Created page with "Location: Oregon Nanite Type: Packmind (Distributed AI) Infection Vector: Bodily Fluids Basic Infection Shapes: Have been shown to be able to model typical Apex predator..."

Location: Oregon

Nanite Type: Packmind (Distributed AI)

Infection Vector: Bodily Fluids

Basic Infection Shapes:
Have been shown to be able to model typical Apex predators, such as wolves, foxes, bears, cougars, as well as unnatural apex predators that do not exist in nature. There have been newly born packminds of prey species, notably Deer, and players can become infected with packmind nanites and /not/ succumb to the mental death in the form of the dedication Oregonian.

Infection Method:
Slow process of the Packmind Nanites converting existing nanites in a creature over to more packmind. The process is painful, and gradual, until enough of the nanites have overtaken the host to be able to strip it down into organic matter and return it to the wellspring. The infected may, or may not exhibit outward infection signs before they are converted.

Description:
Packminds originated in Oregon, native to the state when Promethean Day happened. Much of the state of Oregon, including Portland have been overrun by various packs. Their range depends on the infection type, and can range from a meager 2 mile range, to as much as 50 miles in the case of the largest packs. This limitation is due to the radio embedded into each nanite, which can only extend so far. If an individual 'finger' (body), of a pack is cut off from the signal, or damaged beyond repair, it is dissolved into base organic matter (usually looks like red goo, or blood), and seeps into the ground water, returning to the packmind is the fastest method possible. This function is a baseline programmed thing, and will function even if the nanites are otherwise disabled.

Wellsprings are a unique convention of Packmind Nanites. Due to their distributed AI nature, an innate emergency mechanic, each nanite in a pack is programmed with the coordinates to deliver matter upon loss of signal. A wellspring can take many forms depending on the species, thus far a 'mobile' wellspring has been encountered with the wolf infection, in the form of a large alpha wolf, and the more common 'stationary' wellspring has been encountered with Coyote and other packs, which in the case of Coyote took the form of a bubbling meat soup inside a natural hot spring. Wellsprings contain excessive matter, and are the location the packs create new 'fingers'.

Creatures digested by a packmind, are stripped slowly of their mind, and devoured by the group mind. Fragments of their memories may be constructed from a Packmind, but any creature lost inside a packmind for too long will be unrecoverable, without divine intervention. A sentient Packmind has been created out of the remnants of the coyote pack slain by Coyote as detailed in the event Coyote: The Packmind, and has taken the name of Elaine. She has slowly been creating an area of less dangerous territory around Crater Lake, and also assisted in creating a new form of Prey packminds, in order to help combat them.

These nanites are particularly weak to Electricity, EMP and other forms of radio disruption. The material can be stopped from returning to the wellspring by trapping or sealing it in something that is impermiable. Such matter has been studied by Zephyr and RSX.

Related Entries: See the Mephitic Gryphon and Oregonian dedication.

Tail Divider/Extra Notes

2012-08-03T01:22:16Z

Crystala: Created page with "The syntax for using the tail divider is as following: [if stat Misc/Tail Divider of [player] = 1]New manytail description[otherwise]original tail description[end if]"

The syntax for using the tail divider is as following:

[if stat Misc/Tail Divider of [player] = 1]New manytail description[otherwise]original tail description[end if]

Deus Ex Machina/Chapter 2

2012-05-28T00:12:01Z

Crystala:

Caeli has spent a bit of time since she saw the Jackal lord, and the confusing cat-lady, taking time to process, and try to find a protective home for her leaf. Next up on her list in a logical order is Fenris, the wolf goddess Balina had marked out. The path to his cave takes her to an area permanently frozen. It's not hard to tell the god's presence, considering the blasting wind, and ice. Blizzard conditions when the rest of the city is in the seventies.

The chill is so intense that even the resistant Caeli finds it uncomfortable, though she seems even more bothered by the ice, which is stubbornly slippery and utterly alien to her; her first steps onto it result in a swift and decisive buttplant, as do many subsequent ones along the lonely trek to the god's den, walking on ice turning out to be rather tricky when high winds are involved. When she finally does reach her destination she hurries inside, eager to find refuge from the terrible blizzard.

Caeli having made it unmolested into the cave is...unusual, but her nature isn't a common occurrence. The inside of the cave is no less chilly, the wind howling through the mouth of the cave creating a large echo. The snow is still blinding, and ice sticks to everything. Entering the cave finally causes some acknowledgement, a group of howls rising up in the echoing cave, and as if summoned by them, shadowy figures fan out around her.

Caeli finds her attempt to escape refrigeration thwarted by both the nature of the ice-cold cave and the appearance of the unusual greeting party; she freezes (metaphorically) in place, and stops sliding forward a moment later, assuming her default nonthreatening stance as she peers at the figures. "Greetings," she offers pleasantly. "I am Caeli. Who are you?"

The response is a growl, the hackles raised on a big wolf that moves into focus. The thing is quite... large, teeth bares, and bears a striking resemblance to Balinawolf, right now to the bloody stump-paw. The rest narrow in, teeth bared.

Seeing that her inquiry has had little success, Caeli stares directly at what is presumably the lead wolf, huge thing that it is. Her wings, previously held tight against her back to ward off the cold, spread slightly in subtle preparation... and she growls, in a way that utterly fails to be intimidating. "Grr. Grrrrr!"

The response seems to startle all the wolves, not...used to this kind of behavior. The big one moves closer though, and sniffs deep at Caeli. Another moves closer as well, the thing having a deep bloody scar around its neck, frozen blood stuck to its blue-tinged fur. The thing is even braver and pushes against Caeli with its nose, right on her back.

Caeli allows the sniffing, and then blinks with surprise as she feels pressure from behind! The robogirl looks over her shoulder, lifting a wing out of the way to get a better view of her 'attacker'; upon seeing the icy blood she tilts her head and turns, reaching a tenative hand out toward the wolf. "Are you hurt?" she asks curiously, awaiting the creature's response to her advances before outright trying to touch it.

The thing huffs at her, finding nothing of interest. No tasty flesh. The other wolves approach again, and the big wolf moves around, and the group begin herding Caeli deeper into the cave. She spots quite a number of wolves, near two dozen of different sizes. One almost looks like it fell in a lake, ice crystals all over its fur, and they seem to be flowing downward to the ground below. It’s a strange bunch of very unnatural looking wolves for certain.

Caeli abandons her attempts at conversing with the animals with some reluctance, but continuing her progress is at least as important, if not more! So onward she presses, taking even greater care not to slip and fall now that she has an audience. The full woofsicle is just too darn shiny and unusual, though - the mecha-girl approaches, surreptitiously reaching out to touch its icy fur in passing.

The one wolf as its touches growls at Caeli, the others keep pushing her forward as the chamber widens. The place reeks of rotting flesh, and the reason is obvious. A mountainous wolf is curled up in the snow, bleeding from a gaping pit in its stomach. It's head is resting on its paws, and its eyes, large black pits stare at Caeli.

Caeli replies to the growler in kind, though her technique hasn't really improved at all since the first attempt. She appears unbothered by the scent, though the apparently wounded wolf's condition seems to leave her concerned; unfortunately, all her attempts to communicate thus far have ended in failure, so rather than speak to the latest and largest in the line of wolves she merely stares right back and gives another cute little growl.

The great injured creature looks at the little robot girl. He snorts in response to the growl. He speaks with a death rattle, his breath coming out in rasps. "You are an odd creature, and your growl can use a lot of work."

Caeli headtilts, surprised at finally being addressed. "No, I am Caeli," she corrects after a brief pause for thought. "And I will promise to work on my growl if you will tell me where I can find Fenris." Her eyes are drawn again to the injury, and she adds, "Your wound appears fatal. May I attempt to heal it?"

His teeth bare and he growls. He clearly does not like being told something like that. He's up on his paws, towering over Caeli. "It will heal!" he announces, as he snaps his jaws. "I have already tasted Odin's flesh in exchange for the wound, and it was worth it."

Caeli fails to flinch, tilting her head back to look up at the great wolf; her lack of apparent fear does not, however, spare her from embarrassment at upsetting the creature. "I am sorry, I did not mean to offend you," she says sincerely with the ghost of a frown on her lips. "You must be very strong to sustain such an injury and recover." A factual observation, nothing more.

The growl changes to a small grin, the creature settling a little from the compliment. "Of course, I am a god eater. I will be the last one alive, as I have survived the Ragnarok, I will survival all these other godlings." And his eyes narrow, "What are you here for, doll?"

Caeli mimics the squint, entirely for the purpose of trying something new rather than with any intent behind it. "I am here to find Fenris," she states resolutely. "Do you think he would want to take my soul? It is very important that I find out."

The ears on the ersatz Balinawolf flick back and forth briefly, and she appears to take a much keener interest in the discussion, as if just realizing that there is talking going on.

The wolves beside Balina look uncomfortable at the change, each looking at her in turn. The big wolf however shakes his head. "You cannot recognize a god looking upon one?" a quick response, and then he leans in and sniffs in deep at Caeli. He draws his breath in. "Your soul isn't much to offer, but why would I say no to add another to my collection?"

Caeli shakes her head innocently, sending her ponytail swaying. "I cannot. It is unlikely that this scenario fell within my original design parameters, so my creators did not see fit to give me the relevant data." She gets a good view up the godbeing's nose during the sniff, but remains stubbornly unexpressive despite the sight, or the words that follow. "You may have any number of reasons to decline," she offers, failing to spot the rhetorical in that question. "However, as long as the reason is not a lack of a soul in the first place, that is not a relevant concern. Thank you for your assistance in this matter; please take care of yourself." She gives a slight bow, her business here apparently concluded.

The large Balinesque wolf's ears flick again, coming to rest against the side of her head. The outright refusal on the strange mechanical thing's seems to help, but there is a definite air of tension. The wolf's body is tensed, ready for... something.

The god growls again, "You offered me your soul. I'm not going to let you just walk away after offering a bargain. Stay!" and at that the wolf pack leaps into action, moving close in to prevent her from leaving.

Fuck pretense. Balinawolf dives in between Caeli and Fenris, snapping at anything dumb enough to come close. "It is not yours to take!"

That frown returns to the android's face, slightly more noticeable this time. "I am sorry, but you are mistaken," she tells the god, glancing down to Balina at her arrival. "Hello again," she greets Balina, extending her wings and giving them a flap, sending pinkish feathers scattering everywhere as she spins, looking for a quick escape route.

The wolf pack turns on Balina. The ice-covered one turning first, followed closely by the one with the bloody neck. The former going for Balina's side, while the viscious one for her neck. Fenris glowers at the insult. "You, you are my pawn. I own you. Stop this now!"

Dropping to her side, Balinawolf attempts to roll away from her attackers, or at least buy a few seconds to appraise the situation. "You are nothing!" she bellows, "An old, dead wolf, too weak to hunt, too stubborn to die. I've bested both of these whelps before, and I'll gladly do it again. The girl leaves intact!"

Caeli is hardly about to leave her lovely assistant out in the cold; an inhumanly rapid mumbling tumbles from the robogirl's lips, and the dozen or so feathers around her react instantly, nanite-warped into the decidedly less cute shape of tiny missiles that hurtle directly toward the bloody-necked wolf, judged to be the bigger threat. In light of the confined space the android opts to leave out the explosives, at least on this salvo.

Balina manages to dodge the one going for her neck, which backs out of the way as a series of missile blasts hit over her. The other though strikes home at Balina's gut, tearing a piece of flesh from her belly. The thing has a gleeful and vicious look as it devours belly flesh. Fenris tries to move forward but appears bound, his strike at the wolf below a large miss as he's halted.

Balina yelps in surprise and pain, stumbling to regain her balance after the assault. All but forgetting her real goal as she dives back into the fray, seeking to take a neck for the insult this vicious, viscous upstart that thinks it has the right to challenge her.

Fenris snaps and growls, like he's stuck on a leash. He's digging into the ground to get at Balina. "You upstart. You think to take from me? You have no right! I own you!"

Undaunted by her spectacular failure, Caeli rushes forward, aiming a tackle at the same wolf her missiles managed to avoid - time to get physical! Mid-lunge she mutters again, and another feather falling from her wing is missilized; this latest munitions rockets in Fenrir's direction, but the understandably distracted robot aims far too high and the (mildly explosive) dart strikes the roof of the cave above the great wolf instead.

The wound around the wolf's neck seems to be dripping more actively. It whines as its clocked fully by the robot, and a stray missile singes its fur, but it manages to avoid the headlock. The thing strikes back going for the belly of the strange automaton, nipping at her flesh, but the lack of blood seems to dishearten the thing, it rears up. A pair of the other wolves leap at Caeli to protect their pack. The rest attempt to swarm the injured Balina.

Balina snaps at the neck of the frozen creature, and she tears a chunk of flesh out of it. The creature instead of bleeding blood, has more water flowing from the open wound, some of it freeing into icicles on the flesh.

Balina swallows almost without chewing, tasting only the faintest of deja vu as she devours her revenge meat. Looking around quickly, she becomes once again aware that, yes, Caeli is still here rather than running, and there are about to be far too many wolves around for her to just break free on her own. With no sane options left, she puts her front paws atop the leaking wolf, and howls. It's a deep, mournful noise, tinged with malice, promises, and warning.

The wolves all stop in their tracks at the angry and mournful howl. They seem unsure what to do, their alpha very clearly establishing dominance but isn't acting like their alpha. One decides to echo the howl, and then another, until all but the injured ones are mirroring Balina. This causes Fenris to go even more wild, he's straining at his bonds thrashing about in a truly insane way, and his rotting wound has begun to bleed heavily, dripping blood onto the ice below him.

Balina has found her center again. The pain of her injury is still there, but barely registers as she steps off of her fallen, frozen footrest, leaning down to whisper something into her ear with a snarl. The other one, this all-too-familiar, mute mutt is regarded with an air of almost complete disregard. Almost. "Down." Fenris, on the other hand is successfully disregarded. If the cowwolf is aware of him at all, she does an excellent job of not showing it.

Caeli absolutely takes every bit of advantage she can get from the distraction, not even pausing to mourn the fresh tear across the belly of her jumpsuit; an inhumanly quick hand plucks a feather from her wing, which twists into a small and very much fully armed missile on its way directly toward the bloody-necked wolf's maw. After a quick attempt to jam it down the thing's throat she hastily scrambles for the exit, igniting the missile and trying not to slip at such an inopportune moment.

The look of surprise on the wolf's face as something is shoved in her mouth. She attempts to try to get whatever it is out, choking, when the thing goes off. The wound around its neck is soon accompanied with a gush of blood, as the tiny missile explodes in her throat, opening her throat to the ground below. It’s all too much and she falls to the ground, bleeding from a real-wound instead of a symbolic one.

Balina's stand causes much confusion among the pack. The creatures seeming to pay their respects to their alpha, but Balina's disregard, and the escaping soul offerance causes him to open into his own mournful, and powerful howl. It dwarfs the shape and shear power of Balina's, and its intent is clear.

With Caeli on her way out, Balinawolf turns her attention back to Fenris' last, desperate gasp. No words, no witty quips. She simply charges her noisy patron, leaping with the intent of making that gaping wound on Fenris' underside worse.

Caeli screens her escape with - what else - more missiles, but is hardly
averse to throwing a punch at any other pack members that get in her way.

Caeli flees unmolested, the few wolves that aren't too stunned are too slow to stop what happens. Fenris is ready for the wolf.

Balina manages to narrowly miss her neck being torn off completely, but Fenris grabs her by the tail, severing it as she continues towards his sensitive gut. She leaps at his wound, tearing flesh from it, causing him to shake and howl in pain, knocking her prone. Before she can recover his jaws come down on her belly, and tear her apart.

Balina startles awake, she feels blood in her jaw. Things coming into focus, she's got blood and flesh in her mouth that seem very, very real. And scents hit her, of family, home. She's startled by the pain of being shoved back. She's nowhere near where she was sleeping, she's down in the training area, below her... a headless corpse. She recognizes parts of it... Ilsa. Around her, the room is covered in blood and half eaten corpses.

Balina stops, a large chunk of meat falling from her jaws. Her nose begins running over the body in front of her, desperately looking for clues that tell her that her eyes are wrong. She needn't have bothered; with this much blood, the smell of her and hers is assaulting her so hard that the icewolf is having trouble standing. Bodies are checked, and a mental tally is taken, before Balina darts out of the room and away from the dealership, too terrified to look back.

[[Category:RPLogs]][[Category:Crystala Events]]

Deus Ex Machina/Chapter 2

2012-05-28T00:10:45Z

Crystala: Created page with "Caeli has spent a bit of time since she saw the Jackal lord, and the confusing cat-lady, taking time to process, and try to find a protective home for her leaf. Next up on he..."

Deux Ex Machina/Chapter 1

2012-04-24T03:29:03Z

Crystala:

Background: During a discussion with Balina, Eithne, Loki, and Rihko on mortality and the soul Caeli becomes curious as to whether or not androids can have souls. Balina suggests a pilgrimage to the various dedication sites around Fairhaven, and even provides a map for Caeli to follow - surely if she has a soul, one of these creatures will try to take it! With that cynical theory in mind and virtually no information on the beings she is going to meet, her journey begins.

*****

Caeli sets off almost immediately from New Ireland, taking the most logical path to the closest spot of supernatural activity, a shrine not far north home to Inari, the god/goddess of various creatures filling up the city as of late, from the diminutive Nekos, to the hefty Racoon-Dogs, to the manytailed trickster Kitsune. The shrine itself being shaped to mimic a traditional Shinto shrine, although much smaller in scale than those that adorn the god's homeland.

The large wooden frame at the entrance faces Caeli's inquisition, standing strong against the robot's poking. There's a statue of a miniature raccoon-dog with gigantic balls resting below it, looking quite chummy up at her, beaming a wide smile. The place smells of cherry blossoms and incense, suspended in the air over the place. Much of the trailway is stone and sand, with willows and other great trees helping to give the place a completely different feel from the rest of the city. The wood however has the same feel as... wood.

Caeli forces a few other randomly-chosen spots on the frame to endure her pokes, but soon abandons this approach as unworkable; instead she turns her attention to the rather odd statue, squatting down to peer closely at it and extending that finger to land a poke right in the middle of its tummy.

Caeli receives gently tap before her finger reaches the tummy. A soft voice from a furred woman, who then bows respectfully. "The mistress of the harvest would appreciate if you stop... touching her things."

Caeli blinks and straightens up quickly, spinning around as she casts her gaze about to seek the source of the intrusion, rather alarmed at having been unable to detect the source before it made itself known. "I am sorry," she says reflexively, the words leaving her lips before she's even had a proper look.

The kitsune in front of her looks young, and her ears droop as she realizes she's startled the woman. She bows again, fanning her tails out. "Welcome to Inari's paradise. How may I serve you today? Have you come to offer your respects?"

Caeli cants her head again, nibbling at her lip in confusion. "Serve me...?" She asks, eyes following the movements of the many fluffy tails revealed by the other woman. "Respects...? I am sorry, but I have come to this place seeking answers..." Her stare shifts back to the kitsune's eyes and she resolutely asks, "What will you give me for my soul?"

The initial response creates confusion, the kitsune's hazel eyes staring at the strange response, and then the last question hits her, and her mouth opens. Then it closes shortly afterward, her tails flickering in equal confusion. A light breeze blowing hair over her eyes helping to give her a brief moment of disconnection. She shakes her head and says, "You sound as if you are in need of direction. I will show you how to make an offering and perhaps the great Inari will help you find what you seek." she offers out a hand.

Caeli seems to have largely forgotten the original object of her curiosity, leaving the statue to its smiling as she regards the many-tailed woman. She listens curiously, then nods and reaches out to take the fox's hand, turning it into a handshake out of habit. "Very well. My designation is Caeli," she informs the kitsune. "What is yours?"

The woman's response is, "Designation? Do you mean name then? Yuki is my given name. A pleasure to serve you." she says, using the phrasing again and begins to lead the woman behind her toward Inari's shrine. The wind blows again, flower petals dancing in the air overhead and blanketing the stones below. Navigating along the path the two arrive at the entrance to the inner shrine. She bows and says, "Most these days don't wear shoes so we hardly have to ask, but if you would be so kind to remove your footwear and place them over there?" she points a claw at a stone carved specifically to hold rows of shoes, a lone pair of sandals laying there in the large and clearly overbuilt rack.

Caeli stares down at her feet, lifting and lowering her toes within the confines of her sneakers before giving the other woman a nod. She's quick about removing them yet avoids simply stepping on the heels, choosing instead to kneel and untie them properly before placing them on the indicated stone shelving. She wiggles her toes again once again, now hidden only by a pair of light pink socks decorated with darker pink hearts. She then rejoins her guide, choosing to remain silent for now.

The kitsune nods and says, "Follow, and remain respectful at all times. You are in the home of the spirit of the harvest." and she seems to be trying to help Caeli up the steps, offering both support as well as guidance. Perhaps she thinks Caeli is drunk.

Rather than refuse the support Caeli goes along with it, doing nothing to discourage the kitsune as she stares wide-eyed around the shrine, saying, "Do not fear. I will not be disrespectful... Will this spirit of harvests attempt to take my soul?" Even as she admires her surroundings her mind stays firmly focused upon her goal.

The Kitsune tries to hide another look of complete shock, not wanting to disrespect the woman, but not really sure how to cope with such a horrifying request. Silence follows guiding her to a rack with wooden tokens hanging from little red ribbons. She takes one down, and hands it to Caeli, and then dips a brush into black watered down ink. The brush is placed in Caeli's hand, and the kitsune instructs. "Write on here what you need, what blessing you'd like to recieve from our mistress, and then place that and an offering of some kind in the box over there." pointing at a big wooden offering box in front of the main part of her shrine. Two reflecting pools on either side, stretching out, fed with water pouring from a terracotta clay half-pipe.

Caeli doesn't quite miss the kitsune's expression but is at a loss for how to interpret it; the silence seems to suit her well enough, though, and given her supplies and instructions she nods in understanding and holds the token up to begin her work. The brush traces out just two quick vertical lines and a curve below, forming a basic smiley face; her request thus completed she begins making her way toward the box to deliver her 'prayer', reaching back to pluck one of her own supersoft pink feathers to serve as an offering.

The kitsune appears to stare at the offering given, a piece of one's own body. That's an unusual. Only one offering of blood or flesh has ever graced the shrine before. She looks genuinely curious to see how the god answers this strange woman. She kneels down by a reflecting pool, and bends over, bringing water over her head in ritual cleansing.

Caeli stands nearby and observes her new kitsune friend's ritual, and assumes it must be the next step; she kneels next to the fox-woman (carefully avoiding those tempting tails!) and performs a passable mimicry of the motions, splashing water over herself in a similar fashion. She even holds her long ponytail over the pool's edge and splashes little cupped handfuls of water over it, deciding that wet hair is the important thing to take away from this practice.

A brief smile from the kitsune. "The important thing dear, is to relax. You are in no rush or hurry and neither is Inari. She will respond to you in..." and is interrupted as a leaf blows right smack into her face. She shakes her head, and the thing continues floating, settling on the water below, ripples floating outward.

Caeli stares at the floating foliage as she tells her guide, "Do not worry, I am calm. I am in a hurry, however. I am very likely to die in ten days, seven hours, fourty-six minutes and three seconds, and I would like to do many things before then." She says all this in the same pleasant, matter-of-fact tone, one finger hovering and wiggling a little as she resists the urge to poke the leaf, remembering the instruction from before - stop touching her things!

There's a whisper in the wind, a soft, masculine voice that's hard to make out at first, but it rises from the susurrus into something formed. A gentle prod, "One who does not live cannot die." is says, with some firmness.

And it's clear the kitsune hears it, because she's backing away from Caeli, looking quite alarmed.

Caeli peers around the shrine curiously, seeing no immediately apparent source for the voice; after a few moments her emerald gaze finally lands on her kitsune guide as the most logical possibility. "I am sorry, I misspoke," she says sincerely. "I am likely to be vaporized at the indicated time due to a catastrophic failure of my reactor. Do not worry, I intend to relocate to an isolated area before that happens."

The kitsune looks about to speak, and is interrupted again by the voice on the wind. It blows the leaf along the water, closer to the edge where Caeli sits. "Your question shall be answered, if you ask it properly. The only one that can answer it is you." again, gentle but firm, sounding almost like a grandfatherly figure. "Harvest comes for all, young and old. Birth and death are both acts of creation." the wind seems to collect, clear words spoken from no observable body. The kitsune is curled up in her own tails, having never heard Inari actually speak.

Caeli headtilts at the trembling fox with some concern, but her attention is now divided, captured by the leaf that tempted her before. "But I am not yet ready to die," she says, not complaining, not pleading, just stating a simple fact. "But Rihko says mortals have souls, and I want to be a mortal, so I need a soul. Do you want to take one from me?" she asks innocently. "They said that is the best way to find out if I had one, though I am forbidden from accepting any trades." Still she eyes the fox, eventually adding, "Miss Yuki, are you injured?"

The breeze almost laughs, the warmth lilting and brushing against Caeli's cheek. The leaf curls up with a water droplet suspended in the middle, and the wind pushes it more insistently. "All creators put a part of themselves into what they make." is all the voice has to offer, "Now go, I will not take something from you, it is not your time." And Yuki is sitting there blinking at the whole interaction. She manages to stammer out a "N... no..."

Caeli blinks rapidly as she feels the laughter, the sensation far from unpleasant; after listening to Inari's words she bows her head a little, replying with a simple, "Thank you, Master Inari." She stares longing at the drifting leaf, biting her tongue behind her lips with indecision; eventually she points down to it and asks Yuki, "Is it okay for me to touch this? I really want to touch it."

Yuki manages, "A... a gift. It would be unwise to not accept it." she is still curled up in her tails, not really sure what to make of the creature in front of her, so clearly not what she thought at all. "You must be mortal... Inari only respects life."

Caeli's eyes light up with excitement as Yuki gives her permission to retrieve the leaf, which she reverently lifts from the pool, carefully preserving the droplet of water upon its surface. "I hope you and Inari are correct," she says, fixated upon the gift. "Thank you for helping me learn. I hope to see you again, Miss Yuki. And you, Master Inari," she says, addressing the room at large for the last. "Take care of yourselves." She offers another small bow, then retrieves her shoes and makes her way out of the shrine.

---------------------------------

Caeli's still holding her leaf like a fragile precious thing as she makes her way to her next target. Her brain defaulting at this point to the alphabet, and heads towards the old museum that houses a sarcophagus connected to the ancient god of the Egyptians, known as the gatekeeper. He also makes logical sense to be one to understand souls. The path is fairly easy, and the museum easy to navigate. It remains without electricity, but largely untouched by looters, as most things have little relevant value to survival.

The singleminded focus commonly expected of machines seems to have skipped a generation, as Caeli can't help but stop and stare at the various ancient treasures threatening to sway her from her path. Fortunately, the leaf remains a constant reminder of the purpose that brought her here, and she manages to stay on course and keep the dallying to a minimum.

The place would smell of death, if Caeli were capable of noticing such a thing. It’s dank and musty, dim light filtering in through the second story slit windows. The ancient Egypt exhibit is past the Greek pots and vases area, something every museum seems to have but nobody seems to give a damn about.

Caeli most certainly can notice, and notice she does, though the scent fails to inspire the oft-expected revulsion experienced by many; it's just another unfamiliar smell to her, thoroughly unpleasant but easily disregarded by disabling her olfactory sensors. She seems to give all the damns other people have withheld over the years, trying so very hard not to become distracted but failing miserably. She's just about to poke one of the old pots when a glint of reflected light from the more relevant exhibit catches her eye and draws her away, the mecha-girl choosing to tread lightly as she enters, still somewhat wary after the warnings she received in the pub.

The exhibit is actually surprisingly small, a single sarcophagus, as well as a series of canopic jars on display, and some ancient jewelry, no one having dared to touch a single one of the god's collection. The place does however seem more at peace than the rest, the room entirely silent, sort of like entering a dampening field of sound. There room isn't terribly large, leaving Caeli only to focus on the artifacts brought here. There's an old signage still intact explaining that it’s a travelling exhibit, P-day having dropped before it could be packed up and moved again.

Caeli's curious emerald eyes are drawn to the glorified coffin, which she engages in a staring contest for a short time... while edging closer to the jewelry that caught her eye from the hall. She inspects it closely, then glances back to the sarcophagus, then back and forth again before suddenly asking, "If it I am permitted to take these things, please do not say anything." She then waits, tongue caught between her teeth for an anxious nibble.

Silence of course is the reply, the air still, soundless. The only thing in the room is the light filter of light, and the strong smell.

Caeli caaaaarefully extends a finger and prods the shiniest piece she can find, and then captures it between thumb and forefinger to pinch and feel, head atilt as she does her looking with her fingers.

There's a strange sound, like air ripping. The archway over the connecting room to another part of the museum seems to almost peel back into pure black. There's no howl, no anger, just this strange door opening.

Caeli bristles at the sudden intrusion of what appears to be nothing, fixing it with an intent stare and resolutely keeping her hold on the shiny thing she has claimed; the leaf, meanwhile, is held protectively behind her back, ostensibly hidden from the void. She remains rooted firmly in place, neither gaining nor giving ground, perhaps hoping to have a visitor. "Are you here for my soul?" she asks the silence inquisitively.

No response, just the hanging door open and waiting. It would be inviting if it wasn't pitch black.

Caeli soon tires of waiting and allows her curiosity to get the better of her, approaching the darkness at a steady walk and stopping just a foot or so short of entering. She glances down at the hand holding the ancient jewelry, then over her shoulder at the one occupied by the leaf; not wanting to risk either, she quickly pops her shiny hostage into her mouth and sticks the now-freed hand into the void, then quickly withdraws it for inspection.

The hand remains completely normal, though very slightly cold. No biting, nothing wrong, just, normal. The thing more like an opaque window.

Caeli continues her thoroughly scientific investigation of the anomaly by taking a careful step forward, seeking to pass into the odd, unseen space behind the 'window'; the hand holding the leaf only follows if all appears safe-ish beyond.

The moment she touches through to the other side, she finds herself in a large stone room, hieroglyphs covering the walls, and the central area a large bed. A jackalwoman has just finished putting her robes on and is standing up, a look of curiosity at the sudden appearance of a very human looking woman. Caeli can't help but notice the door seems to have closed around, just a black void surrounding her arm still jutting through to... elsewhere.

Caeli's eyes very suddenly want to be everywhere at once, but she suppresses the impulse to peer around the room and instead focuses on the apparent resident of the curious place. She retrieves the nondescript piece of jewelry from her mouth and says, "Greetings. I was told I could touch this." The stolen item is indicated. "Are you Anubis?"

Selina approaches Caeli, resting her hand on a small stone table, tilting her head a bit at the newcomer... "Where did you come from?"

Selina gurgles, "You shouldn't be dead... this is not the path you would have taken.."

Selina looks at the jewelry object, extending her hand.. "That has been where you found it for several years.. and I know the place. Who exactly told you to keep it?"

Caeli shakes her head, setting her lengthy ponytail swaying behind her. "I will not die for another ten days, five hours, ten minutes and twelve seconds," She informs Selina. "I came from the museum. No one told me to not keep it when I asked, so it is mine now."

Selina shakes her head, "It's not yours to keep, ma'am."

Caeli bites her tongue and peers closely at Selina, perhaps suspecting trickery. "Does it belong to you?" she asks, more curious than challenging.

Selina reverently says, "Stealing something unattended is stealing nonetheless. Will you return it where you found it?""

Selina reverently says, "It belongs to someone important to me."

Selina reverently says, "You came asking for Anubis. What is it that you seek from him? *she looks the automaton over*"

Anubis pads slowly back into the room from elsewhere in the temple. He remains quiet, ears straight up, gazing at Selina.

Caeli holds that impassive stare for several seconds longer, and then quietly says, "I am sorry. If it is important to you, I will put it back." The arrival of the other being steals her attention away, leaving her a bit uncertain of how to proceed - she clearly fails to recognize the god for what he is, and settles on a pleasant, "I am Caeli, and I wish to see if Anubis will offer a trade for my soul. Who are you?" The last is addressed to both jackals, her monochromatic gaze shifting from one to the other as she speaks.

Selina looks behind her, seeing Anubis. She waits to see if he takes the lead in the conversation now that he's returned. Seeing he hasn't stepped forward yet, she addresses Caeli again. "I appreciate that. My name is Selina."

The Jackal, not known for speaking often does the unusual and speaks, "It is not your time to pass the gate. Nor is it yours to give." his long muzzle impassive. He continues moving back toward Selina, for anyone that knows of Anubis this is extremely rare that he would answer so bluntly.

Caeli is blissfully unaware of the habits of godbeings, leaving her ill-equipped to exhibit proper surprise at being directly addressed. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Selina," she says first to the servant before turning to the master. "I am sorry, but I do not understand. If I have a soul, but it is not mine to give, then who does it belong to?" Her question is delivered in the same neutral tone as before.

Selina politely allows Anubis to speak.

Anubis bends over and licks Selina's ear and whispers something softly before turning back to Caeli. His eyes search the creature and his sniffs, "Your creator gave it to you, and it was an act of creation, a seed planted within you that has yet to bloom."

Selina nods to Anubis, turning to Caeli, "If you will excuse me." walking past the bed and stepping out of the room, disappearing into the dark corridor.

Caeli headtilts at the revelation, any surprise she feels hidden by her characteristic lack of expression. "But you believe I have one, as the others did..." She considers for a moment, before replying with another query; "Will this seed bloom within the next ten days and five hours?"

The jackal's gaze holds strong, "It will bloom when the time comes, and when it has lived in fullness I will collect it, judge it and send it into the proper afterlife as with all things."

Caeli unintentionally engages in the same sort of contest with Anubis that she had with the sarcophagus outside, little flickers of green light playing across her eyes as she considers those words. "I do not think ten days will be long enough to live in fullness," she finally says. "There is far too much to experience... but if I have a soul I must be mortal, and Rihko says mortals can change things. So I will change my fate, and then I can experience everything I want to." Half thinking aloud, half offering an unasked-for explanation to her new acquaintance, and all logical in her mind. "Thank you for speaking with me. Are you Anubis?" she asks, curiosity diverting her train of thought once more.

Selina steps back inside, offering Anubis his implements. She steps up onto a short pedestal behind him, fitting his head dress in place, then an amulet wrapped around his neck. Finally offering him his staff as she steps up beside him, looking to Caeli. "Yes, this is Anubis. And you are correct.. You speak of yourself having less than 11 days to live. I presume that was some sort of a diagnosis... but you should welcome the knowledge that we have no such plan for your death."

Selina gurgles, "Anubis will know when your time has come, but he does not set that time."
Selina reverently says, "I hope that this comforts you."

Anubis's gaze falls back upon the smaller jackal, and he says, "Selina, please retrieve the necklace from her, and give her my dagger." he still has yet to break a smile or show his teeth, rather his eyes travel back to the girl. "I cannot change your fate. That is in your hands, but should another creature try to take your soul before its time has come, that will be useful." He smiles finally, and points to the Jackal. "She was the first to ever do so, a remarkable thing. I welcome others to learn from her wise actions."

Selina nods to Anubis as she approaches Caeli, withdrawing the dagger she has kept for so long and offering the handle to Caeli--holding the blade carefully between her fingers, not pressing the sharp end against her skin

Caeli silently watches the one-sided exchange and Selina's subsequent approach and offering. "Thank you both," she says, reaching up to slip the necklace over the blade's hilt so that it falls to hang around the jackal's wrist, leaving that hand free to accept the dagger. "I hope its use is not required."

The jackalian god nods approvingly at his... apprentice. His face moving back impassive. "You are wise to seek outside your normal path for assistance. It will bring you the wisdom you need." to Caeli, before signaling Selina to return to his side. While he's moving, another gate opens into the room, this one blindingly white, and the scents of lust and sex waft into the room. Anubis' ears and nose flicker in its direction, and his posture hardens.

Caeli squints as she stares toward the new gate, the necessity of such an act unclear for one with such unusual eyes. She glances back toward the arm devoted to her special leaf's safekeeping, wondering at the strange case of portalitis the world seems to have developed. "Why was the first black and the second white?" she asks inquisitively.

The Jackal sucks in his teeth and he growls under his breath, "Because it's /hers/" and almost to answer, a slinking thin and entirely sexual leg moves first through the portal, twin mounds arriving shortly afterward. A feline that embodies sex slinking her way through with a wide grin. Her ears flicker, and eyes move immediately away from the jackal god toward Caeli. "Oh my, oh my. This one's as cold as the grave, denying such a beautifully offered servant?" and she's somehow closer, the portal closing behind her as she's only a few yards away from Caeli.

Caeli's head is atilt once more, regarding the newcomer with the same largely indeterminate expression she's worn this whole time. "Greetings. My name is Caeli. Who are you?" she asks, ever the polite one, even in the presence of gods.

Ears flatten, used to being recognized immediately, the cat slinks again closer, a hand approaching Caeli's shoulder, she attempts to continue her bravado before she's interrupted. "I am life, my dear. You ask about souls from the one who only claims, but I make them." sharp teeth fill the feline's mouth, her slitted eyes attempting to hide just how much a lie it is.

Selina stands at Anubis' side and watches for the moment.

Selina finds herself speaking up, finally.. "Anubis guards that which is most sacred... you were the one who sought to claim me."

Caeli watches the hand with a somewhat wary expression, but does not immediately move from her present position, perhaps reluctant to bring her poor innocent leaf into the mix and certainly lacking in places to flee to, or immediately apparent reasons to flee in the first place. "It is nice to meet you, Life. I was not told to seek you out. Have you come to find me instead?"

A purr, a mortal challenging her, "Oh godling, you are mistaken. You were the one who couldn't resist me." now on the other side of Caeli her tail wrapping around a waist. "I am after all, irresistible." which gets a snort from Anubis.

Selina reverently says, "It seems I resisted... "

Selina reverently says, "We deal more in facts here."

"Facts?" she carefully places an arm on the girl, as her slowly encroaching limbs swirling about Caeli. "I deal in the now. You and your owner, godling are but lost in the past. Life has changed, we're no longer trapped in history, useless forgotten appendages."

Selina tilts her head, "As it so happens I'm quite aware that Japan and Egypt are not geographical neighbors in the hearts and the minds of the people."

Selina reverently says, "If you wish to seek a broader view of the world than I congratulate you. But it is hardly a unique attribute."

The jackal seems to approve of his apprentice's standing up to the goddess, a hand grasping her around the shoulder in warm support, his eyes focused harshly on the feline.

Caeli looks down at the tail, failing to resist... or show any real interest in anything other than conversation, for that matter. "Is my presence still required here?" she asks innocently. "I have several other places I must visit, and am still bound by the time limit imposed by the destabilization of my reactor."

Selina reverently says, "And as for your reactor.."

Selina reverently says, "Again, we do not have your time set in stone."

And Bast seems instantly deflated at the total rejection, her sexuality not even remotely touching Caeli. She unwraps, looking over, and sniffing at the girl again. "You said she had a soul. This is a construct Jackal." her slitted eyes glaring directly at Anubis.

Selina reverently says, "Are you the expert on souls now, as well? Life, death... what other domains will you claim?"

Caeli blinks in complete confusion at the exchange. "I do not have a soul? But... that conflicts with the other data I have gathered. What has led you to this conclusion?" She peers at Bast, chewing on her lip in a way that at least appears nervous.

"Constructs don't have souls. You're just a thing!" she is backing away now. Her hackles are up and her fangs and claws bared, as if Caeli is a threat to her.

Selina reverently says, "Life has changed. We're no longer trapped in history."

Selina reverently says, "Is your house so lonely that you must come to torture her with lies?"

Caeli shakes her head resolutely at Bast, sending ripples down her ponytail. "That is a possibility. However, I choose not to believe it. I will consider your theory alongside the others, however. It was a pleasure meeting..." The gate closes before she can finish. "...you."

Selina reverently says, "I would say I made an enemy today, if I thought that she were ever a friend."

Selina looks to Caeli, "I am happy that she does not make you doubt yourself.."

Anubis seems to almost relax at her leaving, "She was already your enemy, the moment you foiled her original plot. You just... embarrassed her further. But you are under my protection and she can do nothing to you. Besides she is one of many sex gods wandering around, while I am the only master of the domain of death remaining. Do not worry." he strokes Selina's muzzle, trying to comfort the girl.

Selina leans in a bit, looking over to Caeli a bit

Selina reverently says, "Her name is Bast... Spreading doubt is her way of attracting her followers."

Selina reverently says, "Make a person doubt themselves, doubt their own strength, until they beg her to save them."

Caeli nods quietly at the god and his servant. "I see. She was on my list after all, then..." She glances thoughtfully at the empty space into which the goddess vanished, then continues, "I am glad to have met you both. I will continue with my assignment now. Please take care of yourselves." She gives a little bow, then turns around to face the problem of leaving the strange temple.

Selina nods to Caeli, "I am happy if we could help you. I.. do venture out from here. I'm often in New Ireland."

Anubis nudges Selina, and then says, "That dagger should help you leave as well."

Selina reverently says, "If you see me, please feel free to speak to me. I do not tend to talk about my.. position in public.""

Selina reverently says, "It isn't my wish to trouble those unnerved by the thought of death."

Selina nods "You can use that to open the gateway back to the museum. Keep it safe."

Caeli glances down at the dagger in her hand, then fully extends her arm and waves it up and down a bit in front of her, in the space formerly occupied by the intangible doorway that granted her access to this place.

Waving it does nothing at first, until she actually slices with it during the movement, which appears to cut the air, and the space peels back into a black doorway.

Caeli casts a glance over her shoulder to give her hosts a final nod of farewell, then steps back through to the museum, on the way to the next step in her journey.

[[Category:RPLogs]][[Category:Crystala Events]]

Deux Ex Machina/Chapter 1

2012-04-24T03:27:43Z

Crystala: Created page with "Background: During a discussion with Balina, Eithne, Loki, and Rihko on mortality and the soul Caeli becomes curious as to whether or not androids can have souls. Balina sugge..."

Background: During a discussion with Balina, Eithne, Loki, and Rihko on mortality and the soul Caeli becomes curious as to whether or not androids can have souls. Balina suggests a pilgrimage to the various dedication sites around Fairhaven, and even provides a map for Caeli to follow - surely if she has a soul, one of these creatures will try to take it! With that cynical theory in mind and virtually no information on the beings she is going to meet, her journey begins.

*****

Caeli sets off almost immediately from New Ireland, taking the most logical path to the closest spot of supernatural activity, a shrine not far north home to Inari, the god/goddess of various creatures filling up the city as of late, from the diminutive Nekos, to the hefty Racoon-Dogs, to the manytailed trickster Kitsune. The shrine itself being shaped to mimic a traditional Shinto shrine, although much smaller in scale than those that adorn the god's homeland.

The large wooden frame at the entrance faces Caeli's inquisition, standing strong against the robot's poking. There's a statue of a miniature raccoon-dog with gigantic balls resting below it, looking quite chummy up at her, beaming a wide smile. The place smells of cherry blossoms and incense, suspended in the air over the place. Much of the trailway is stone and sand, with willows and other great trees helping to give the place a completely different feel from the rest of the city. The wood however has the same feel as... wood.

Caeli forces a few other randomly-chosen spots on the frame to endure her pokes, but soon abandons this approach as unworkable; instead she turns her attention to the rather odd statue, squatting down to peer closely at it and extending that finger to land a poke right in the middle of its tummy.

Caeli receives gently tap before her finger reaches the tummy. A soft voice from a furred woman, who then bows respectfully. "The mistress of the harvest would appreciate if you stop... touching her things."

Caeli blinks and straightens up quickly, spinning around as she casts her gaze about to seek the source of the intrusion, rather alarmed at having been unable to detect the source before it made itself known. "I am sorry," she says reflexively, the words leaving her lips before she's even had a proper look.

The kitsune in front of her looks young, and her ears droop as she realizes she's startled the woman. She bows again, fanning her tails out. "Welcome to Inari's paradise. How may I serve you today? Have you come to offer your respects?"

Caeli cants her head again, nibbling at her lip in confusion. "Serve me...?" She asks, eyes following the movements of the many fluffy tails revealed by the other woman. "Respects...? I am sorry, but I have come to this place seeking answers..." Her stare shifts back to the kitsune's eyes and she resolutely asks, "What will you give me for my soul?"

The initial response creates confusion, the kitsune's hazel eyes staring at the strange response, and then the last question hits her, and her mouth opens. Then it closes shortly afterward, her tails flickering in equal confusion. A light breeze blowing hair over her eyes helping to give her a brief moment of disconnection. She shakes her head and says, "You sound as if you are in need of direction. I will show you how to make an offering and perhaps the great Inari will help you find what you seek." she offers out a hand.

Caeli seems to have largely forgotten the original object of her curiosity, leaving the statue to its smiling as she regards the many-tailed woman. She listens curiously, then nods and reaches out to take the fox's hand, turning it into a handshake out of habit. "Very well. My designation is Caeli," she informs the kitsune. "What is yours?"

The woman's response is, "Designation? Do you mean name then? Yuki is my given name. A pleasure to serve you." she says, using the phrasing again and begins to lead the woman behind her toward Inari's shrine. The wind blows again, flower petals dancing in the air overhead and blanketing the stones below. Navigating along the path the two arrive at the entrance to the inner shrine. She bows and says, "Most these days don't wear shoes so we hardly have to ask, but if you would be so kind to remove your footwear and place them over there?" she points a claw at a stone carved specifically to hold rows of shoes, a lone pair of sandals laying there in the large and clearly overbuilt rack.

Caeli stares down at her feet, lifting and lowering her toes within the confines of her sneakers before giving the other woman a nod. She's quick about removing them yet avoids simply stepping on the heels, choosing instead to kneel and untie them properly before placing them on the indicated stone shelving. She wiggles her toes again once again, now hidden only by a pair of light pink socks decorated with darker pink hearts. She then rejoins her guide, choosing to remain silent for now.

The kitsune nods and says, "Follow, and remain respectful at all times. You are in the home of the spirit of the harvest." and she seems to be trying to help Caeli up the steps, offering both support as well as guidance. Perhaps she thinks Caeli is drunk.

Rather than refuse the support Caeli goes along with it, doing nothing to discourage the kitsune as she stares wide-eyed around the shrine, saying, "Do not fear. I will not be disrespectful... Will this spirit of harvests attempt to take my soul?" Even as she admires her surroundings her mind stays firmly focused upon her goal.

The Kitsune tries to hide another look of complete shock, not wanting to disrespect the woman, but not really sure how to cope with such a horrifying request. Silence follows guiding her to a rack with wooden tokens hanging from little red ribbons. She takes one down, and hands it to Caeli, and then dips a brush into black watered down ink. The brush is placed in Caeli's hand, and the kitsune instructs. "Write on here what you need, what blessing you'd like to recieve from our mistress, and then place that and an offering of some kind in the box over there." pointing at a big wooden offering box in front of the main part of her shrine. Two reflecting pools on either side, stretching out, fed with water pouring from a terracotta clay half-pipe.

Caeli doesn't quite miss the kitsune's expression but is at a loss for how to interpret it; the silence seems to suit her well enough, though, and given her supplies and instructions she nods in understanding and holds the token up to begin her work. The brush traces out just two quick vertical lines and a curve below, forming a basic smiley face; her request thus completed she begins making her way toward the box to deliver her 'prayer', reaching back to pluck one of her own supersoft pink feathers to serve as an offering.

The kitsune appears to stare at the offering given, a piece of one's own body. That's an unusual. Only one offering of blood or flesh has ever graced the shrine before. She looks genuinely curious to see how the god answers this strange woman. She kneels down by a reflecting pool, and bends over, bringing water over her head in ritual cleansing.

Caeli stands nearby and observes her new kitsune friend's ritual, and assumes it must be the next step; she kneels next to the fox-woman (carefully avoiding those tempting tails!) and performs a passable mimicry of the motions, splashing water over herself in a similar fashion. She even holds her long ponytail over the pool's edge and splashes little cupped handfuls of water over it, deciding that wet hair is the important thing to take away from this practice.

A brief smile from the kitsune. "The important thing dear, is to relax. You are in no rush or hurry and neither is Inari. She will respond to you in..." and is interrupted as a leaf blows right smack into her face. She shakes her head, and the thing continues floating, settling on the water below, ripples floating outward.

Caeli stares at the floating foliage as she tells her guide, "Do not worry, I am calm. I am in a hurry, however. I am very likely to die in ten days, seven hours, fourty-six minutes and three seconds, and I would like to do many things before then." She says all this in the same pleasant, matter-of-fact tone, one finger hovering and wiggling a little as she resists the urge to poke the leaf, remembering the instruction from before - stop touching her things!

There's a whisper in the wind, a soft, masculine voice that's hard to make out at first, but it rises from the susurrus into something formed. A gentle prod, "One who does not live cannot die." is says, with some firmness.

And it's clear the kitsune hears it, because she's backing away from Caeli, looking quite alarmed.

Caeli peers around the shrine curiously, seeing no immediately apparent source for the voice; after a few moments her emerald gaze finally lands on her kitsune guide as the most logical possibility. "I am sorry, I misspoke," she says sincerely. "I am likely to be vaporized at the indicated time due to a catastrophic failure of my reactor. Do not worry, I intend to relocate to an isolated area before that happens."

The kitsune looks about to speak, and is interrupted again by the voice on the wind. It blows the leaf along the water, closer to the edge where Caeli sits. "Your question shall be answered, if you ask it properly. The only one that can answer it is you." again, gentle but firm, sounding almost like a grandfatherly figure. "Harvest comes for all, young and old. Birth and death are both acts of creation." the wind seems to collect, clear words spoken from no observable body. The kitsune is curled up in her own tails, having never heard Inari actually speak.

Caeli headtilts at the trembling fox with some concern, but her attention is now divided, captured by the leaf that tempted her before. "But I am not yet ready to die," she says, not complaining, not pleading, just stating a simple fact. "But Rihko says mortals have souls, and I want to be a mortal, so I need a soul. Do you want to take one from me?" she asks innocently. "They said that is the best way to find out if I had one, though I am forbidden from accepting any trades." Still she eyes the fox, eventually adding, "Miss Yuki, are you injured?"

The breeze almost laughs, the warmth lilting and brushing against Caeli's cheek. The leaf curls up with a water droplet suspended in the middle, and the wind pushes it more insistently. "All creators put a part of themselves into what they make." is all the voice has to offer, "Now go, I will not take something from you, it is not your time." And Yuki is sitting there blinking at the whole interaction. She manages to stammer out a "N... no..."

Caeli blinks rapidly as she feels the laughter, the sensation far from unpleasant; after listening to Inari's words she bows her head a little, replying with a simple, "Thank you, Master Inari." She stares longing at the drifting leaf, biting her tongue behind her lips with indecision; eventually she points down to it and asks Yuki, "Is it okay for me to touch this? I really want to touch it."

Yuki manages, "A... a gift. It would be unwise to not accept it." she is still curled up in her tails, not really sure what to make of the creature in front of her, so clearly not what she thought at all. "You must be mortal... Inari only respects life."

Caeli's eyes light up with excitement as Yuki gives her permission to retrieve the leaf, which she reverently lifts from the pool, carefully preserving the droplet of water upon its surface. "I hope you and Inari are correct," she says, fixated upon the gift. "Thank you for helping me learn. I hope to see you again, Miss Yuki. And you, Master Inari," she says, addressing the room at large for the last. "Take care of yourselves." She offers another small bow, then retrieves her shoes and makes her way out of the shrine.
Caeli's still holding her leaf like a fragile precious thing as she makes her way to her next target. Her brain defaulting at this point to the alphabet, and heads towards the old museum that houses a sarcophagus connected to the ancient god of the Egyptians, known as the gatekeeper. He also makes logical sense to be one to understand souls. The path is fairly easy, and the museum easy to navigate. It remains without electricity, but largely untouched by looters, as most things have little relevant value to survival.

The singleminded focus commonly expected of machines seems to have skipped a generation, as Caeli can't help but stop and stare at the various ancient treasures threatening to sway her from her path. Fortunately, the leaf remains a constant reminder of the purpose that brought her here, and she manages to stay on course and keep the dallying to a minimum.

The place would smell of death, if Caeli were capable of noticing such a thing. It’s dank and musty, dim light filtering in through the second story slit windows. The ancient Egypt exhibit is past the Greek pots and vases area, something every museum seems to have but nobody seems to give a damn about.

Caeli most certainly can notice, and notice she does, though the scent fails to inspire the oft-expected revulsion experienced by many; it's just another unfamiliar smell to her, thoroughly unpleasant but easily disregarded by disabling her olfactory sensors. She seems to give all the damns other people have withheld over the years, trying so very hard not to become distracted but failing miserably. She's just about to poke one of the old pots when a glint of reflected light from the more relevant exhibit catches her eye and draws her away, the mecha-girl choosing to tread lightly as she enters, still somewhat wary after the warnings she received in the pub.

The exhibit is actually surprisingly small, a single sarcophagus, as well as a series of canopic jars on display, and some ancient jewelry, no one having dared to touch a single one of the god's collection. The place does however seem more at peace than the rest, the room entirely silent, sort of like entering a dampening field of sound. There room isn't terribly large, leaving Caeli only to focus on the artifacts brought here. There's an old signage still intact explaining that it’s a travelling exhibit, P-day having dropped before it could be packed up and moved again.

Caeli's curious emerald eyes are drawn to the glorified coffin, which she engages in a staring contest for a short time... while edging closer to the jewelry that caught her eye from the hall. She inspects it closely, then glances back to the sarcophagus, then back and forth again before suddenly asking, "If it I am permitted to take these things, please do not say anything." She then waits, tongue caught between her teeth for an anxious nibble.

Silence of course is the reply, the air still, soundless. The only thing in the room is the light filter of light, and the strong smell.

Caeli caaaaarefully extends a finger and prods the shiniest piece she can find, and then captures it between thumb and forefinger to pinch and feel, head atilt as she does her looking with her fingers.

There's a strange sound, like air ripping. The archway over the connecting room to another part of the museum seems to almost peel back into pure black. There's no howl, no anger, just this strange door opening.

Caeli bristles at the sudden intrusion of what appears to be nothing, fixing it with an intent stare and resolutely keeping her hold on the shiny thing she has claimed; the leaf, meanwhile, is held protectively behind her back, ostensibly hidden from the void. She remains rooted firmly in place, neither gaining nor giving ground, perhaps hoping to have a visitor. "Are you here for my soul?" she asks the silence inquisitively.

No response, just the hanging door open and waiting. It would be inviting if it wasn't pitch black.

Caeli soon tires of waiting and allows her curiosity to get the better of her, approaching the darkness at a steady walk and stopping just a foot or so short of entering. She glances down at the hand holding the ancient jewelry, then over her shoulder at the one occupied by the leaf; not wanting to risk either, she quickly pops her shiny hostage into her mouth and sticks the now-freed hand into the void, then quickly withdraws it for inspection.

The hand remains completely normal, though very slightly cold. No biting, nothing wrong, just, normal. The thing more like an opaque window.

Caeli continues her thoroughly scientific investigation of the anomaly by taking a careful step forward, seeking to pass into the odd, unseen space behind the 'window'; the hand holding the leaf only follows if all appears safe-ish beyond.

The moment she touches through to the other side, she finds herself in a large stone room, hieroglyphs covering the walls, and the central area a large bed. A jackalwoman has just finished putting her robes on and is standing up, a look of curiosity at the sudden appearance of a very human looking woman. Caeli can't help but notice the door seems to have closed around, just a black void surrounding her arm still jutting through to... elsewhere.

Caeli's eyes very suddenly want to be everywhere at once, but she suppresses the impulse to peer around the room and instead focuses on the apparent resident of the curious place. She retrieves the nondescript piece of jewelry from her mouth and says, "Greetings. I was told I could touch this." The stolen item is indicated. "Are you Anubis?"

Selina approaches Caeli, resting her hand on a small stone table, tilting her head a bit at the newcomer... "Where did you come from?"

Selina gurgles, "You shouldn't be dead... this is not the path you would have taken.."

Selina looks at the jewelry object, extending her hand.. "That has been where you found it for several years.. and I know the place. Who exactly told you to keep it?"

Caeli shakes her head, setting her lengthy ponytail swaying behind her. "I will not die for another ten days, five hours, ten minutes and twelve seconds," She informs Selina. "I came from the museum. No one told me to not keep it when I asked, so it is mine now."

Selina shakes her head, "It's not yours to keep, ma'am."

Caeli bites her tongue and peers closely at Selina, perhaps suspecting trickery. "Does it belong to you?" she asks, more curious than challenging.

Selina reverently says, "Stealing something unattended is stealing nonetheless. Will you return it where you found it?""

Selina reverently says, "It belongs to someone important to me."

Selina reverently says, "You came asking for Anubis. What is it that you seek from him? *she looks the automaton over*"

Anubis pads slowly back into the room from elsewhere in the temple. He remains quiet, ears straight up, gazing at Selina.

Caeli holds that impassive stare for several seconds longer, and then quietly says, "I am sorry. If it is important to you, I will put it back." The arrival of the other being steals her attention away, leaving her a bit uncertain of how to proceed - she clearly fails to recognize the god for what he is, and settles on a pleasant, "I am Caeli, and I wish to see if Anubis will offer a trade for my soul. Who are you?" The last is addressed to both jackals, her monochromatic gaze shifting from one to the other as she speaks.

Selina looks behind her, seeing Anubis. She waits to see if he takes the lead in the conversation now that he's returned. Seeing he hasn't stepped forward yet, she addresses Caeli again. "I appreciate that. My name is Selina."

The Jackal, not known for speaking often does the unusual and speaks, "It is not your time to pass the gate. Nor is it yours to give." his long muzzle impassive. He continues moving back toward Selina, for anyone that knows of Anubis this is extremely rare that he would answer so bluntly.

Caeli is blissfully unaware of the habits of godbeings, leaving her ill-equipped to exhibit proper surprise at being directly addressed. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Selina," she says first to the servant before turning to the master. "I am sorry, but I do not understand. If I have a soul, but it is not mine to give, then who does it belong to?" Her question is delivered in the same neutral tone as before.

Selina politely allows Anubis to speak.

Anubis bends over and licks Selina's ear and whispers something softly before turning back to Caeli. His eyes search the creature and his sniffs, "Your creator gave it to you, and it was an act of creation, a seed planted within you that has yet to bloom."

Selina nods to Anubis, turning to Caeli, "If you will excuse me." walking past the bed and stepping out of the room, disappearing into the dark corridor.

Caeli headtilts at the revelation, any surprise she feels hidden by her characteristic lack of expression. "But you believe I have one, as the others did..." She considers for a moment, before replying with another query; "Will this seed bloom within the next ten days and five hours?"

The jackal's gaze holds strong, "It will bloom when the time comes, and when it has lived in fullness I will collect it, judge it and send it into the proper afterlife as with all things."

Caeli unintentionally engages in the same sort of contest with Anubis that she had with the sarcophagus outside, little flickers of green light playing across her eyes as she considers those words. "I do not think ten days will be long enough to live in fullness," she finally says. "There is far too much to experience... but if I have a soul I must be mortal, and Rihko says mortals can change things. So I will change my fate, and then I can experience everything I want to." Half thinking aloud, half offering an unasked-for explanation to her new acquaintance, and all logical in her mind. "Thank you for speaking with me. Are you Anubis?" she asks, curiosity diverting her train of thought once more.

Selina steps back inside, offering Anubis his implements. She steps up onto a short pedestal behind him, fitting his head dress in place, then an amulet wrapped around his neck. Finally offering him his staff as she steps up beside him, looking to Caeli. "Yes, this is Anubis. And you are correct.. You speak of yourself having less than 11 days to live. I presume that was some sort of a diagnosis... but you should welcome the knowledge that we have no such plan for your death."

Selina gurgles, "Anubis will know when your time has come, but he does not set that time."
Selina reverently says, "I hope that this comforts you."

Anubis's gaze falls back upon the smaller jackal, and he says, "Selina, please retrieve the necklace from her, and give her my dagger." he still has yet to break a smile or show his teeth, rather his eyes travel back to the girl. "I cannot change your fate. That is in your hands, but should another creature try to take your soul before its time has come, that will be useful." He smiles finally, and points to the Jackal. "She was the first to ever do so, a remarkable thing. I welcome others to learn from her wise actions."

Selina nods to Anubis as she approaches Caeli, withdrawing the dagger she has kept for so long and offering the handle to Caeli--holding the blade carefully between her fingers, not pressing the sharp end against her skin

Caeli silently watches the one-sided exchange and Selina's subsequent approach and offering. "Thank you both," she says, reaching up to slip the necklace over the blade's hilt so that it falls to hang around the jackal's wrist, leaving that hand free to accept the dagger. "I hope its use is not required."

The jackalian god nods approvingly at his... apprentice. His face moving back impassive. "You are wise to seek outside your normal path for assistance. It will bring you the wisdom you need." to Caeli, before signaling Selina to return to his side. While he's moving, another gate opens into the room, this one blindingly white, and the scents of lust and sex waft into the room. Anubis' ears and nose flicker in its direction, and his posture hardens.

Caeli squints as she stares toward the new gate, the necessity of such an act unclear for one with such unusual eyes. She glances back toward the arm devoted to her special leaf's safekeeping, wondering at the strange case of portalitis the world seems to have developed. "Why was the first black and the second white?" she asks inquisitively.

The Jackal sucks in his teeth and he growls under his breath, "Because it's /hers/" and almost to answer, a slinking thin and entirely sexual leg moves first through the portal, twin mounds arriving shortly afterward. A feline that embodies sex slinking her way through with a wide grin. Her ears flicker, and eyes move immediately away from the jackal god toward Caeli. "Oh my, oh my. This one's as cold as the grave, denying such a beautifully offered servant?" and she's somehow closer, the portal closing behind her as she's only a few yards away from Caeli.

Caeli's head is atilt once more, regarding the newcomer with the same largely indeterminate expression she's worn this whole time. "Greetings. My name is Caeli. Who are you?" she asks, ever the polite one, even in the presence of gods.

Ears flatten, used to being recognized immediately, the cat slinks again closer, a hand approaching Caeli's shoulder, she attempts to continue her bravado before she's interrupted. "I am life, my dear. You ask about souls from the one who only claims, but I make them." sharp teeth fill the feline's mouth, her slitted eyes attempting to hide just how much a lie it is.

Selina stands at Anubis' side and watches for the moment.

Selina finds herself speaking up, finally.. "Anubis guards that which is most sacred... you were the one who sought to claim me."

Caeli watches the hand with a somewhat wary expression, but does not immediately move from her present position, perhaps reluctant to bring her poor innocent leaf into the mix and certainly lacking in places to flee to, or immediately apparent reasons to flee in the first place. "It is nice to meet you, Life. I was not told to seek you out. Have you come to find me instead?"

A purr, a mortal challenging her, "Oh godling, you are mistaken. You were the one who couldn't resist me." now on the other side of Caeli her tail wrapping around a waist. "I am after all, irresistible." which gets a snort from Anubis.

Selina reverently says, "It seems I resisted... "

Selina reverently says, "We deal more in facts here."

"Facts?" she carefully places an arm on the girl, as her slowly encroaching limbs swirling about Caeli. "I deal in the now. You and your owner, godling are but lost in the past. Life has changed, we're no longer trapped in history, useless forgotten appendages."

Selina tilts her head, "As it so happens I'm quite aware that Japan and Egypt are not geographical neighbors in the hearts and the minds of the people."

Selina reverently says, "If you wish to seek a broader view of the world than I congratulate you. But it is hardly a unique attribute."

The jackal seems to approve of his apprentice's standing up to the goddess, a hand grasping her around the shoulder in warm support, his eyes focused harshly on the feline.

Caeli looks down at the tail, failing to resist... or show any real interest in anything other than conversation, for that matter. "Is my presence still required here?" she asks innocently. "I have several other places I must visit, and am still bound by the time limit imposed by the destabilization of my reactor."

Selina reverently says, "And as for your reactor.."

Selina reverently says, "Again, we do not have your time set in stone."

And Bast seems instantly deflated at the total rejection, her sexuality not even remotely touching Caeli. She unwraps, looking over, and sniffing at the girl again. "You said she had a soul. This is a construct Jackal." her slitted eyes glaring directly at Anubis.

Selina reverently says, "Are you the expert on souls now, as well? Life, death... what other domains will you claim?"

Caeli blinks in complete confusion at the exchange. "I do not have a soul? But... that conflicts with the other data I have gathered. What has led you to this conclusion?" She peers at Bast, chewing on her lip in a way that at least appears nervous.

"Constructs don't have souls. You're just a thing!" she is backing away now. Her hackles are up and her fangs and claws bared, as if Caeli is a threat to her.

Selina reverently says, "Life has changed. We're no longer trapped in history."

Selina reverently says, "Is your house so lonely that you must come to torture her with lies?"

Caeli shakes her head resolutely at Bast, sending ripples down her ponytail. "That is a possibility. However, I choose not to believe it. I will consider your theory alongside the others, however. It was a pleasure meeting..." The gate closes before she can finish. "...you."

Selina reverently says, "I would say I made an enemy today, if I thought that she were ever a friend."

Selina looks to Caeli, "I am happy that she does not make you doubt yourself.."

Anubis seems to almost relax at her leaving, "She was already your enemy, the moment you foiled her original plot. You just... embarrassed her further. But you are under my protection and she can do nothing to you. Besides she is one of many sex gods wandering around, while I am the only master of the domain of death remaining. Do not worry." he strokes Selina's muzzle, trying to comfort the girl.

Selina leans in a bit, looking over to Caeli a bit

Selina reverently says, "Her name is Bast... Spreading doubt is her way of attracting her followers."

Selina reverently says, "Make a person doubt themselves, doubt their own strength, until they beg her to save them."

Caeli nods quietly at the god and his servant. "I see. She was on my list after all, then..." She glances thoughtfully at the empty space into which the goddess vanished, then continues, "I am glad to have met you both. I will continue with my assignment now. Please take care of yourselves." She gives a little bow, then turns around to face the problem of leaving the strange temple.

Selina nods to Caeli, "I am happy if we could help you. I.. do venture out from here. I'm often in New Ireland."

Anubis nudges Selina, and then says, "That dagger should help you leave as well."

Selina reverently says, "If you see me, please feel free to speak to me. I do not tend to talk about my.. position in public.""

Selina reverently says, "It isn't my wish to trouble those unnerved by the thought of death."

Selina nods "You can use that to open the gateway back to the museum. Keep it safe."

Caeli glances down at the dagger in her hand, then fully extends her arm and waves it up and down a bit in front of her, in the space formerly occupied by the intangible doorway that granted her access to this place.

Waving it does nothing at first, until she actually slices with it during the movement, which appears to cut the air, and the space peels back into a black doorway.

Caeli casts a glance over her shoulder to give her hosts a final nod of farewell, then steps back through to the museum, on the way to the next step in her journey.

[[Category:RPLogs]][[Category:Crystala Events]]

Heart of Inari

2012-04-07T03:26:41Z

Crystala: Created page with "After finishing off the last of her meal, Cilan takes the plates into the kitchen where she disappears for a minute or two. Coming back out, she fishes into her pants pocket f..."

After finishing off the last of her meal, Cilan takes the plates into the kitchen where she disappears for a minute or two. Coming back out, she fishes into her pants pocket for a moment and pulls out a key, "Well, I'll be out riding, see if I can find any usable salvage, maybe see if I can’t take care of a few ferals on the way. Take care of yourself, Cyg, alright?"

Cygnus rubs her belly softly and smiles, shrugging gently and giving a nod. "Sure thing, you too Cil."

A human female makes her way down the stairs into the pub, dressed in a yukata with two swords, one hanging from either side of her, taking up a stool at the bar table. "Something strong please." She waves to the bartender, one of her hands absentmindedly touching her breast. "Guess I'm a woman now, huh?" She sips slowly from her drink when it comes, sighing deeply.

Cilan nods, and with a soft chuckle replies with, "No promises." later musing to herself, "Huh.. wonder how the penthouse is looking.." as she walks, though her ascent up the stairs is quickly halted as she looks to the new arrival. Returning the key Cilan asks, "Huh? Ah, sure." as she heads back to the bar she had left only moments ago. Once there, she pours a small shot of whiskey and slides it over to the woman, "Another guy turned into a female, huh? Heh, if I had a nickel for every time I heard that one!" she says with a soft chuckle.

Rihko wanders out of the kitchen, holding a steaming styrofoam cup that would appear to be full of instant ramen, and a fork. She's looking down at her food as she wanders up behind the bar. She looks around, settling down onto a stool, and then freezes as she stares at the human woman. She leans forward, and sniffs at the air, tails flicking.

The woman smiles. "You are...Cilan, right? I...she watched you get better." She finishes her glass of alcohol, getting a second drink from the Tagling before waving at Rihko. "And you...you made her feel comfortable in the pub. I must thank you."

"Hello, Rihko!" Cilan says exuberantly as she notices the kitsune walk next to her, "Huh? Yeah, I'm Cilan, Cilan Averith...uh...have we met?" she asks skeptically, staring awkwardly at the woman as if trying to recognize the face.

Cygnus blinks and sniffs at the newcomer, tilting her head.

Rihko leans forward a little, giving the girl a nod. "Yes, I am Rihko Kirijo. I am afraid I am at a disadvantage, though..." she offers, slowly stirring her noodles. "I do not believe I learned your name." She smiles, and then looks over at Cilan. "This would be the person who had been carrying Foxheart." She pauses, and looks back. "Until recently, I am guessing."

Cilan blinks, "O-oh... right, so... the thing happened, did it? I'm..sorry that Foxheart had to leave, a shame that her life ended like that." she says with a soft sigh, "Anyways, it’s a pleasure to meet you. Heh, though I have to admit, I am happy that I made her last moments comfortable." she says softly, wistfully.

Rihko's ear flicks. She shakes her head a little, then gives the woman a small smile, still slowly stirring her noodles and waiting to hear from the woman herself.

Cygnus furrows her brow and sighs, turning back to her food, "She did it then..."

The woman nods, sipping slowly from her second drink. "My name is unimportant. Just call me Foxheart, and that is correct Rihko...although...I am not used to being a woman. Looks like some of the fox spirit's influence stayed over even after she started to fade away." She looks at her comm unit which beeps as she finds the time, a sad smile forming on her face. "2 hours until the day ends. Plenty of time for me to enjoy my drink." The woman smiles at Cilan. "Foxheart isn't gone yet, though she's about to." She finishes her second drink with a heavy pant.

Cilan breathes a sigh and asks, "Why though? Why does she have to kill herself? Can you at least answer that for me?"

Rihko watches, still smiling. "Well, once your body gets adjusted a certain way, it tends to stay like that until it is actively changed again," she says. She gets a fork full of noodles and gently blows on it. "And I hope you aren't going to drink yourself into oblivion...I don't think I would be able to condone you getting drunk in my pub tonight." She smiles at the woman, and shifts her weight on her stool. "But I'd be willing to listen if you had something on your mind, if you wanted to talk." She takes her bite of noodles then, ready to listen.

Cygnus closes her eyes softly and lulls her head back, breathing a heavy sigh.

Foxheart waves a third drink, the smell of alcohol already ridiculously powerful on her breath as she starts sipping from it, nibbling on the glass thoughtfully as she does. "Not to worry, I have an incredible tolerance and an unslakable thirst for alcohol. I think I left some of the influence on the poor girl...though her drunken antics are funny." She looks at Rihko thoughtfully. "She trusted you a lot, you know? Maybe it's a kitsune thing, but she always felt comfortable around you. I know she said I wasn't supposed to feel anything, and I wasn't supposed to, but she didn't know that I was sapping off her memories the same way she sapped off mine."

Sorien wanders into the den, looking disheveled as if she either just got up or she hadn't slept much. She gets tea, then, seeing Rihko at the bar she goes over to hug the kitsune. She blinks, sniffing and asks, "Was Foxheart here?"

Cygnus points to the new girl sitting at the bar and sighs "Was.

Cilan nods, "Mm…I guess it is nice to spend your last few moments doing what you like, but sti--.." her sentence is quickly cut off as she notices Sorien, the woman promptly offers a wave and motions with her head over to Foxheart, "She's Foxheart.. or at least the host she was living in. Both go by the same name, I suppose."

Sorien blinks, looking shocked as she sees the human woman apparently for the first time. She sits rather heavily on a stool. "... She's gone?"

Narg pads down into the pub yawning and rubbing her eyes giving a wave "YAWN...... ello people" she makes her way to the bar and taps on it to order some whiskey up before settling in to listen.

Rihko finishes chewing her noodles and swallows, then wipes at her muzzle with the back of her paw. She smiles at Foxheart, ears twitching. "Ah, thank you. It could be that, it could be that, well, I've always been a good listener, and I like helping people with problems." Her tails flick back and forth, and she nods her head at Sorien. Then she looks back at Foxheart. "Happy birthday, by the way." The kitsune pauses again, ear flicking. "I have to say, I am a little surprised to see you. She wanted to live. She wanted to live, very badly... she must love you, still, after all this time."

Cilan just shakes her head, "Not yet. I've been told that she's fading. Got until what…the end of the day?"

Sorien says, "Isn't there something to do to save both?”

Foxheart shakes her head at Sorien. "No, but she's barely alive right now. Not strong enough to take over the body or even shift my form." She looks at Rihko. "I can feel her struggling to get out, her time slowly fading. It is a painful experience for both of us, and I'd let her out
if I could but..." She orders yet another drink from the Tagling, who shoots her a wary stare. "I felt her distress just yesterday as well...she tried to think of a solution before giving up and putting a bold front for you all."

Sorien might be crying if she had the right tear glands. "How can you just... Accept this?"

Cilan says, "How about another host? Could one be offered so she could live in that one before she finally fades?"

Narg keeps her mouth closed, it being bound to get her in trouble anyway.

Cygnus keeps her eyes closed, hiding the tears welling up "I'd offer up a spot. At least until we could get her a body of her own..."

Sorien says, "I think many of us would. Maybe... We could petition Inari for mercy or something?"

Rihko shifts her weight on her stool, leaning forward as she listens, quietly eating more of her noodles. The kitsune's ears swivel, and flick, and her tails slowly curl and twist around themselves. "Y'know, Fox, if you don't mind I'd like to hear your side of all of this..."

Foxheart frowns. “Don’t I get a break from bring possessed?" She laughs at her own joke, trying to lighten the atmosphere. "Two years of just watching things happen is a very long time. Although she's been through four hundred over years of this torture so I really can't complain." She sips from her glass. "No use petitioning the god. I know you've already tried." She turns to Rihko, one of her hands reaching out to grab one of her tails as she smiles. "My side? It is very depressing."

Rihko's tails are waving and twitching, and her seat is behind the bar, out of reach of the human; she doesn't seem overly concerned, though, and just smiles and nods her head. "Or your thoughts on the matter. What you will do with your life, now that you have it back," she offers. She smiles, and then goes back to eating her noodles, watching Foxheart.

Sorien hugs herself, looking a little lost. "This isn't right. How can you be so calm?"

Narg speaks "When you accept fate as being fate and there ain't anythin you can do about it, it puts a new perspective on things... in my opinion at least"

Cygnus sighs and looks at Sorien before glancing around the room "Sorien and I can't be the only ones here who think we need to save Fox..."

Foxheart laughs, nearly falling off her stool as she lunges out in another attempt to grab one of Rihko's tails. "She left me a lot, a lot of freecred, for having worked two years. I could probably drink myself to insanity every day and still have enough to rent a room for the rest of my life. But...since you asked so nicely." She asks the Tagling to pour her another drink, shoving him a wad of freecred. "My life...that is an interesting question. With a very interesting answer."

Cilan asks softly, "So, what happens when she finally fades anyways? Is that it? No more foxheart? If so, I agree with Sorien and wonder how you can be so calm about that future? It's a terrible fate to look at!"

"This isn't right..." Mini says softly, wrapping her wings around herself.

Rihko continues calmly eating her noodles, tails dancing just out of reach. She finishes her current mouthful, licks her fork clean, and then points it at Cygnus. "You are biased. You are another possessing entity." Then she turns the Fork of Truth on Sorien. "And Sorien, I am
calm because I am a calm person, and being calm and thinking things through is what I do." Her tails flick, and she goes back to stirring her noodle cup and smiling at Foxheart. "Does she just... go away? Or will she still be there, but with you in control?" she asks. "And... if it is an interesting question, with an interesting answer, then...please, I am quite interested in hearing it."

Narg grumbles a bit and then takes a drink of her whiskey.

Foxheart grins, sipping from her new drink. "Well, now, no need to worry your pretty little heads. She isn't dead yet, so there's that...although her time certainly is running out. Then she'll be gone, forever. Or...well...to be precise, nine hundred years before she recovers her
strength and gets her first tail back." She smiles as Rihko mentions her interest, though the worried looks she's getting from the others don't seem to bother her. "It's simple actually. I believe she's told you the answer before."

Rihko thinks on that, and then shakes her head. "If she told me, then I don't recall," she offers. She shrugs her shoulders, and shifts her weight again on her stool.

Cygnus cocks an eyebrow and blinks "Rihko... You forget I’m the host. And honestly, Cyg taking over is purely consensual at this point."

Foxheart grins, finishing her drink in a large gulp. "Fair enough, I'll show you then." She smiles as she draws her wakizashi from her sheath. "I know I'm not supposed to draw arms in the pub, but still. This is a likely exception." She eyes the blade briefly before stabbing it into her belly, letting out a gasp of pain as her blood splashes onto the bar table. "T-this is my....answer..." She says between heavy breaths, wincing, one of her hands asking the shocked Tagling to pour her another drink.

Sorien jumps! Immediately without thinking she reaches out, concentrating her ability with nanites to heal, trying to help the self-evicerating human!

Cilan blinks and quickly rushes around the bar to press her softly ebbing hands against Foxheart, healing the self-inflicted wound.

Narg nearly drops her drink "FUCK! You japs and yer damn suicide rituals!" she is immediately out of her chair and next to Foxheart. "There are no exceptions idiot!"

<Sorien><Mastered Nanoheal> Foxheart is healed for 0 damage!
<Power> Foxheart gains the effect of Regen.

<Cilan> light of the guardian affects Foxheart!
<Narg> reconstruct affects Foxheart!

Cygnus jumps back a bit and starts to move to help, cut off by Cilan and Sorien, the white bunny just standing there with her maw gaping before pulling a few vials from her belt and uncorking them, dumping a couple into the humans mouth.

<Rihko> Unnerving Growl affects Rihko!

<Cygnus> Mastered royal delight affects Foxheart!

Rihko is up and on her feet, quickly, her arm and hand flashing out to the side to wave off the Tag-spawn. She slaps her other hand down on the counter, palm flat, and growls... a low, menacing noise. Her tails flick, agitated, and her nose twitches at the sudden, strong, alluring
scent of blood in the air. The kitsune's hackles are up, and she gives Foxheart a hard stare. "I see. Not in here."

Foxheart smiles at the attempts to heal her, her trembling hand still pushing her shortsword inside her body. "You can't heal wounds around a blade, people, though I must thank you, you've bought me some time." She winces in pain. "To walk outside and finish it..." She sticks her tongue out at Rihko, a stunning resemblance occurring for just a moment. "The thing that the kitsune forgets is that...I came to the shrine of my own...accord." She stands up, finishing her last drink as she heads slowly towards the stairs. "I had no idea it wou-would be this painful. The movies always make it look like such an easy thing to do."

Sorien takes the moment to pin Fox's hand to the bar, holding it there with a LOT more strength than you'd expect, her other hand making sure Fox doesn't just ram herself forward onto it.

<*Official*> Sorien proves that they possess a stat named muscle mass
with a value of 3. [Found in: Special]

<*Official*> Foxheart proves that they possess a stat named muscle mass
with a value of 3. [Found in: Special]

<*Official*> Cilan proves that they possess a stat named heroic strength with a value of Adrenaline rush! This perk allows you to spend a hero point in a scene to perform an act of outstanding strength, like ripping a metal door apart or throwing a car. While it doesn't have any effect in combat, it's a lot of fun to Hulk out in roleplay!. [Found in: Jnote]

<Hero> Sorien spends a Hero point!

Balina steps down into the pub, stopping short. On second thought, she's not as thirsty as she expected. Sitting down on the bottom steps, she props her elbows on her knees, watching.

Narg gahs and steps away "Yeah... well I gotta say there is NO honor in that kind of suicide, serves no purpose and has no goal other than your own release... cowardly is what it is... my opinion, but you know, that’s just me." She moves to stand next to Balina by the door leading up and stares on cautiously.

Cygnus shoots a glance at the huskey and growls "Narg, shut the fuck up."

Balina raises her paw, waving gently. "While I am generally in favor of yelling at Narg, I'd like to ask for a recap of the last ten minutes, if you don't mind."

Rihko eyes Foxheart and Sorien, nose still twitching, her tails shaking a little. She brings her other hand down to rest on the bar. "It is extremely insulting for you to spill blood in here," she says, quietly, "even if it is your own. Take the damned sword out of your fucking stomach. -Then- take this outside." She raises her head and, for just a moment, her withering glare is focused on Balina; then she realizes who it is, and looks back at Foxheart. "This is Foxheart's host. He wants to kill himself. He decided to do it, while sitting across from me at the bar."

Narg lifts a finger up at Cygnus and smiles a harmless smile "Don't mind me and my big mouth, go find something else to do with yer pretty head"

"Not now, Bal!" Cilan says over her shoulder as she tries to force Foxheart and pull the wakizashi out of her stomach, halting the suicide permanantly. "There /has/ to be another way!" she says vainly to the woman that seems intent on ending her life.

Foxheart manages to grin through the pain, looking at Sorien's arms pinning her own down. "If you stop me, then the kitsune and I both die. I live the rest of my life with h-half a soul and she lives trapped in my body forever. C-can you do that to us, Sorien?" She struggles against
Sorien's arm, though not managing to dislodge it. "The wound has closed around the sword. It's not bleeding. Let me walk outside and finish it while I can still hold my head high." She turns to Rihko with a frown. "She'll clean that up later and cover the cost." Her arms start to tremble as she nods in Cilan's direction. "There always is another way. Unfortunately, neither of us could find it."

Sorien says, "I don't want EITHER of you to die, goddamn it! There HAS to be a way!"

Cilan says, "So, you'd just rather give up then?! How many people have you asked for help in this before saying, 'there was no way'?"

Foxheart sticks her tongue out, her face turning white. "Given that I-I'm perfectly rational, I would have found out more. If there weren't 20 minutes left until she dies. Inari was very specific with the time...very well played on her end."

Rihko sighs. Heavily. Her eye twitches a moment as she watches the three. "The longer you sit here jabbering, the longer you are making him suffer," she points out, quietly. "Do not be cruel. Let him end this on the terms he chooses."

Sorien says, "Then we go to the Temple NOW. We face her NOW. See if she wants to see that."

Balina gets up, crossing the pub to stand in front of Foxheart and guests. Her nostrils flare at the blood, and she gives a humorless grin. "I can think of much, much worse ways to go. Think you can sum this up in 15 minutes or less, before any of us do something rash?"

Sorien says, "Will you let me carry you there, Fox? I can get you there in minutes. All of you who want, follow as you can."

Balina glances to Sorien, nodding. "Fine. Think you can sum it up in midair?"

Cilan says, "I'll be right behind you, Sori!"

Cygnus nods and spreads her wings, shaking them gently and folding them back "I'm ready. I'll be right behind you."

Foxheart sighs. "Y-you're not going to let me have it easy, are you? Fine. Have your last desperate attempt. At 3 minutes from the time I...I finish the slash. No argument."

Sori scoops Fox up, carefully. "Take the blade out. You'll have to restart anyway, and you'll need to hang on."

Narg pants, "I go with ya as well..."

Foxheart smiles. "Later, Sorien. I'd rather not get any blood on the floor. And I'm nowhere near dying...not with all the attention that's currently on me."

Cilan says, "I tell you what, Fox. If this does not work, I will do the suicide for you. Just please, give us this chance to save both lives."

Balina leans in, whispering something to Foxheart, giving that same grin a little wider than before, then stepping away to head out. "I'll meet people there."

Rihko's body language is full of nothing but "I do not approve", but her tone is controlled, polite, despite the stiff, puffy tails, the raised hackles, the faint snarl on her lips and the fire in
her eyes. "Balina. I do not know how much you know of Foxheart already. Long story short, today is the day that her host," she gestures at the sword-stuck woman, "was freed to make his own choices. The choices being, kill himself and let Foxheart have the body, cast Foxheart into the darkness for another millenium, or stagger through the rest of his life sharing his body with her spirit. He wanted to take option one. Sorien and the rest violently disagree."

Skylar comes downstairs, whistling a tune as most of the time, she seizes as she spots the comotion, Balina making her way to the stairs and a human dressed as Foxheart with a blade on herself. "Uh...I won't even ask...need help?"

Rihko tenses a moment. Then she reaches down below the bar, picks up her jacket, and slips it on before she hops over the bar. "Let us end this charade. I'll try and make sure nothing silly happens."

Balina grabs Skylar on the way past, dragging her by the hand in silence.

Skylar stays true to her word and doesn't ask anything, just staring at Balina as she's dragged away.

"You-all are gonna have to haul. I'm going wyvern." The wound is again healed and Sori runs upstairs with her burden. When outside, She shifts, becoming MUCH larger, black-and-white leathern wings replacing arms, body rapidly reconfiguring. She makes sure Fox isn't going anywhere with her tail.

<Sorien> Mastered Nanoheal affects Foxheart!
<Power> Foxheart gains the effect of Regen.

<[0%]Foxheart><Mastered bloodletting> Foxheart takes 1268 damage!

Cygnus races out of the pub, bolting on all fours in a manner rarely seen of the rabbit, her massive wingspan unfurling as she leaves the doors and she’s quickly airborne.

Narg dashes up and out into the lot, shifting into an eagle girl on the way before launching into the sky towards the temple and the general showdown area.

Rihko pauses long enough to put a paw on Foxheart's shoulder and murmur, "My apologies, you had horrible judgment," before she too grows a set of wings and takes off, eager to not let Sorien lose her.

<Outside> With that shout, Sori-wyvern launches into the air, somewhat clumsily due to her burden; rapidly she rises then dives to the temple, landing just outside. She shifts again on landing, staggering as she pushes her abilities again, carrying the human within.

Cilan heads outside, her large white wings spreading to full mast and she quickly flaps off to the temple, following behind Sorien.

<Cilan> light of the guardian affects Foxheart!

<Outside> Balina tears through the streets like a wolf on a mission, Skylar keeping pace in the air.

Foxheart removes the sword lodged inside her, her body arcing painfully as she does. "Somehow I...have faith...in you. Though I'm not sure what good faith is in this situation."

Narg hits the ground not long after Sori hits it and shifts back to her normal self, taking a breath or two to recover before following after the pair.

Cilan lands back on solid ground, and folds her wings back behind her, the woman promptly heads into the temple and looks around for an offering place, something to assist in summoning Inari.

Cygnus circles overhead for a second before diving after Sorien, taking a spot as a wingman on the wyvern before landing at the temple, the rabbit folding her wings and landing with a roll.

Sorien carries the bleeding woman into the temple, the people within parting like the sea at the sight. They remember the visit from the evening before, and are no more interested in violence than they were then. She reaches the pool, and gently sets Foxheart down on the ground. She strokes the human's head, saying, "I can't believe that Inari is truly unjust, nor do I believe Inari to be without mercy. I'll appeal to her... I have to try." And she shimmers again into another form.

<Dedication> Sorien becomes a coyote!

Balina arrives shortly behind the fliers. Balinawolf is fast, but she can't travel as Sorien flies. She pads in, glaring about, daring anyone to stop her as she comes to rest next to Foxheart. "Both of those sound right from here, but go ahead and try."

Narg finds a place to sit crosslegged and watch, not much she can do at the moment other than be there.

Skylar divebombs, stopping the drop and flapping like a maniac on the verge of a crash, she lands a bit hard but manages to roll and pretend nothing happened, she quickly goes in the 'vacuum' Sorien and Balina created and stops by the wolfcow. "Who did this to-I mean...nevermind, not asking anything for now, anything you need me to do?"

Rihko lands outside the small, peaceful shrine. She brushes her hands off and her wings snap before folding up behind her, and she gives a small bow to the fox statues that stand guard at the entrance, then stands at the threshold. She claps her hands three times, holding them together on the third, then bows her head and steps into the shrine itself. She crosses the floor, walking up to the shrine proper, then turns and stares at Sorien, crossing her arms.

Sorien looks at the still water and the room in general. Looking at Rihko, she says, "I am not a dedicant, nor am I worthy; but lead me- tell me how I may proceed."

Cygnus smooths her black fur, the rabbit having shifted in mid-flight, taking a spot quietly next to Balinawolf.

Cilan looks over her shoulder to the display Rihko had made, "Entry requirement or something, Rihko?" she shrugs and looks to the pool and kneels infront of it, waiting for further instruction from someone who knows what she's doing.

Balina sits down, grumbling, "Wait and listen, Sky. You're about to learn a little more of my worldview, I think."

Skylar nods quickly and sits beside Balina, diligently staying quiet and still.

"I don't know what you expect, Sorien," Rihiko replies, waving a paw. "I'm just here to make sure nobody vandalizes anything in a fit of rage, and that you don't murder Foxheart through your refusal to let her host take action," she says. Her ear flicks, and she glances over at Cilan. "It is a gesture of respect," she explains. "You clap to announce your presence, and bow your head in greeting." She motions at the small shrine next to her, with its bell and incense. "Ring the bell, make a prayer, burn some incense. Leave an offering if you wish. All pretty standard stuff." She pauses, and her tails wave. "But I know all of you, and I know you are not keen on respect, or tradition. So feel free to stamp around and shout as well. Inari is listening, but this is a matter he has already passed judgement on."

Narg rubs her nose, she ain't saying anything here without reason

In an attempt to prove Rihko wrong on the matter, Cilan rings the bell mentioned, and pulls a zippo from her pants pocket, later using it to burn some incense. After which she calls to no one, "Inari, I know you've already made your judgment, but please. Reconsider, the punishment you had casted upon Foxheart is too grievous for one so merciful as you are. Allow her a second chance to prove herself worthy again."

Sorien nods to Rihko. Shi goes to where Rihko indicated, doing exactly as Rihko indicated. She claps as did the kitsune, then gently rings the bell. She lights incense, then prays, her offering whispered to the goddess.

"Or a first chance, perhaps," mumbles a Balina, lying down and abstaining from hands. With her head closer to the Sky, she mutters as brief a summary as she can.

Foxheart grins. "You need proof. Have your proof. You will know that I chose this out of necessity."

Cygnus does the same as the others, paying her respects in an effort to bring the deity forth.

Skylar's only motion is to shake her head and lean towards Balina to whisper something back.

Sori almost whispers: "I have no standing in this place, and I and my mate created havoc last night. I am truly sorry for any harm that was done, and I will make compensation as the priests direct. I am here with a petition to save the lives of two who are beholden to you, Foxheart and her human host; the host lies wounded by her own hand, and we are why she is not dead in Foxheart's place. I would ask your indulgence- either for understanding why this must happen, or to save both, despite the transgressions committed."

<Hero> Sorien spends a Hero point!
<Hero> Sorien spends a Hero point!
<Hero> Sorien spends a Hero point!

Balina gives a snorting laugh at Skylar's words, watching Sorien and
mumbling something in return.

With her prayer said, Sorien kneels and waits.

<Hero> Cilan spends a Hero point!
<Hero> Cilan spends a Hero point!
<Hero> Cilan spends a Hero point!

Cilan remains kneeled in front of the pool, her eyes closed as she waits for judgment by the goddess.

<Hero> Cygnus spends a Hero point!
<Hero> Cygnus spends a Hero point!
<Hero> Cygnus spends a Hero point!

<Hero> Foxheart spends a Hero point!
<Hero> Foxheart spends a Hero point!
<Hero> Foxheart spends a Hero point!

Balina is lying down. She's not quite sure what else is expected of her, but Inari better not hold it against her for not doing rituals she's not even capable of performing.

Narg watches everyone pray as she picks on a tooth with a toothpick she pulled out of her pocket, before she stands up and walks around to admire the architecture.

Cygnus kneels next to Sorien and Cilan, keeping her head low.

Foxheart smiles weakly, sheathing her sword. "I suppose...since everyone is already praying for me...I should offer my own prayer." Her comm unit beeps loudly. "Fifteen minutes left."

Skylar shakes her head and smirks at Balina's words, taking a more relaxed stance as she watches the others pray, she feels awkward at this sight, but remains by Balina's side, fearing crazy retribution for a badly done ritual, she having watched her shared of horror movies.

Rihko watches, surprised enough to let herself smile, faintly. Her myriad tails swing back and forth, and her wings snap once and shake then fold back up. She keeps a quiet sigh to herself, and checks the time on her com before she walks over to Foxheart. "So. I'm not going to stand in your way, Fox, tell you that you are wrong, any of that. Just curious, though, you are sure that sharing a body would be that horrible?" she asks. She waves her paw. "You said crippled with half a soul; souls aren't one of those finite resource things, y'know," she says, quietly filling the time with conversation.

Sorien remains waiting, still and quiet for what is to come.

Foxheart looks at Rihko, a look of sadness in her eyes. "That is...not correct. Soul damage can be irreparable...and in this case, it is. It's like those who've never fully recovered from a tragic incident. That part of their lives will never be whole."

Skylar speaks up from her spot at Foxheart. "You can't deny that there's ways to make life better for those people, and sometimes even bring their back to their previous state...a lot of people here are praying for a god they aren't even linked to...you could have some hope for their effort..." She then quiets again.

A warm breeze fills the shrine, a single leaf blowing in the air as settles right on top of the kneeling Coyote's head. A single green bladed leaf.

Rihko gives Foxheart a quiet, little snort. She slips her paws into her pockets, and rubs her shoulders. "Ehn. I'm sure my own soul is plenty scarred. I've done plenty of horrible things. Lived through plenty of horrible things. Dirty and stained and all that," she says, tone light. "But what of it? Is it something you can see, you can feel? Something that other people stare at and whisper about when you walk into a room?" She eyes the woman. "So you spent a couple of years with another person reading your memories, calling the shots. Crys has been through worse, and she has a beautiful soul. But, yea, like I said. Not going to try to stop you, just wanted to see if I could figure out what's going on in there." Her tails sway and she sniffs at the air, then looks over at Sorien for a moment before returning to Foxheart.

Sorien's eyes open with the leaf settling upon hir head. She glances up, not moving quickly as to not dislodge it, and gives a questioning look to Rihko.

Balina quite visibly tenses, snorting loudly. She makes no further moves, however.

Cilan remains silent, her head bowed, oblivious to the leaf that had landed on Sorien's head.

Foxheart is stung by Rihko's accusation. "Crystala was not primed to explode in a few minutes, you know." frowns as she sees the leaf on Sorien's head, propping herself up against one of the circular pillars. "W-whatever you do...don't drop the leaf."

Cygnus is the same as Cilan, keeping her head bowed and oblivious to the leaf herself.

The wind changes direction, swiping the leaf off of the coyote's head, and into the water pool nearby. It comes to rest on the surface with a small pattern rippling outward. The breeze stops, the entire shrine is silent, beyond the breath of those standing within.

Sorien blinks as the leaf blows into the water, ears perking straight at the pool in total attention.

Rihko pulls her paws out of her pockets and spreads her fingers as she sees Foxheart's reaction. "It was no accusation, my apologies," she murmurs quietly. Then she turns to watch Sorien, quietly, tails slowly waving back and forth.

Balina stands, padding over to the edge of the pool before sitting back down, watching expectantly.

Narg turns from her examinations to the pool of water, watching on quietly before moving to sit crosslegged at the edge of the pool, staring at the leaf.

Skylar mimics Balina's actions, also sitting down and fiddling with her claws as she also looks at the pool, not understanding if the leaf is something important.

Cilan looks up at the mention of leaf and looks around, staring around before noticing the leaf floating in the pool, "Hmm? Is…that bad?" she asks, finally breaking her long silence.

There's a rustle again, chimes gently humming, a tone almost beyond hearing. As if a breath and a whisper. The blood on Foxheart's yukata bubbles outward into the air, and then bursts, turning into a fine mist. The chimes hum again, ever so faintly, the sound of "No" can be heard.

Narg rubs her nose and whispers quietly "Awfully generic of an answer..."

Sorien gasps in stunned reaction. "... No?"

Cygnus blinks and furrows her brow, otherwise staying silent.

Balina wrinkles her face into a sneer. "She means he will not reconsider hir decision," she snarls. "They must make a decision, because that's what Inari decided."

Foxheart remains fixated on the leaf. "Byo, Kobo, yoku Inari." She whispers softly, hearing Inari's reply with a resigned frown on her face. "For sickness, pray to Kobo. For every desire, pray to Inari. What reason did she have to agree?"

Rihko's ear twitches. She concentrates for a moment and her wings shrink, pulling back into her body. The color drains out of her fur, returning to the ghostly white it was a month ago. She gives Foxheart a short nod, and diplomatically refrains from telling anyone that she told them so.

<Hero> Balina spends a Hero point!

Balina puts her muzzle closer to the pool, blowing. Directing the chill of Fenris to its surface, then deeper.

A single silk strand of a spider sways, the tiny shape crawling downward over the leaf. Closer and closer toward it, the tiny creature climbs.

Sorien sighs. "I... Don't want this. I don't want anyone to die. But...I said that I would abide. Much as I hate it. Gods, I'm sorry Foxheart... And you, her other self, I would have liked to have known you. I'll remain until this is done." Shi doesn't see what Bal is doing, nor does she see the spider.

A ripple of ice begins to cover the surface of the water, freezing outward from where Balina breathed. Slick and hungry, they reach out for the leaf just as the spider touches down. A flash of white as it crystalizes around the tiny creature, spiking up with sudden fury.

<Rihko> Unnerving Growl affects Rihko!

Cygnus glares at Balina.

<[0%]Foxheart><Mastered bloodletting> Foxheart takes 1268 damage!

Skylar stares at Balina breathing on the pool and quickly puts a hand on her shoulder or shoulder analogue, not applying any force into pushing her back. "What are you doing?!" She says, suddenly scared by the flash, going backwards a few paces.

Cilan watches the spider intently, blinking with the sudden reaction, wondering what's going to happen next Cilan rises to her feet and steps away from the pool, remaining deathly silent the entire time.

Narg frowns "Maybe this is a test Fox... dunno what kind, but perhaps if you let yourself go you wil.... Balina!!!" her eyes glare "Have you no respect for holy ground?"

Rihko stalks across the shrine towards Balina. She reaches down and, unless stopped, she picks up the much larger wolf by the scruff and turns her away from the pool. "Balina..." she says, voice thick with warning.

<*Official*> Rihko proves that they possess a stat named Muscle Mass
with a value of 4. [Found in: Special]

Sorien looks at the shout, seeing the spider freeze! She reaches out to heal the creature, to protect it from the cold as best she can!

<Hero> Sorien spends a Hero point!
<Sorien><Mastered Nanoheal> (On the spider)

Foxheart frowns at Balina, though she's too weak to move very much. "Balina...be careful. If Inari turns her nearest dedicants...Rihko and I on you...I don't know what she'd do." She looks nervously over to Rihko, who is clearly very angry.

The ice cracks, and creaks as something from within it changes, growing outward into the shape of a snake, cracking around it as its body lengthens. Its head opens as it hisses, cottonmouth. The thing than strikes outward in defense at the closest target.

[RP/Official] Crystala rolls 1d3+0 and gets 2 for a result of 2.

Narg scootches away from the pool and stands up to stare at the goings on

Balina sits up, but unless Rihko's arms are much longer than they appear, reach is not on her side. "I felt it important to make my contribution," she says, through something that may be a grin on that long muzzle. "I feel it complements the chilly reception we received."

Rihko is about to say something back to Balina when the snake strikes out; she raises her arm between her and the viper, ready to catch the strike on the armored, reinforced sleeve of her leather jacket.

The creature strikes at Rihko's outstretched arm, its teeth crashing against the kitsune with a loud crash. The creature changes again, growing larger, clawed arms and legs bursting from the
warping creature. It's shape turning desconic, as its nostrils flare. The jaws let go as it grows, no damage done. And it glowers, eyes focused particularly on Rihko and Foxheart. It, however, does not speak, simply staring down at the group.

Cilan reaches into her jacket and pulls a handgun, quickly aiming it towards the viper-turned other creature, though she does not fire, she only waits, and watches.

Sorien watches, then very carefully says, "Please. Enough tragedy rides this day. No more."

Cygnus stays at a knee, one of her paws bleeding off a stream of heat.

Foxheart trembles a little at the snake's intent gaze. "They came of their own accord. Your servant wanted to end it quick, but they would not let me." She looks nervously at the group. "Stand down, guys... She has not struck...so she must be waiting for something."

Skylar gets up and tactically retreats quickly behind most of the group, no knowledge of the...thing on her front scaring her and making her feel of not much use, she musters enough courage to address Balina. "Balina! Why did you do that?!"

Balina snorts once again. "Your aim is terrible," she growls, standing back up and turning her back on the creature as she moves to a more favorable distance. Turning around, she sits back down, staring expectantly. "I was merely filing a complaint. If that was seriously enough to give whatever this thing is pause, then I should come sooner."

Narg looks at the dragon and flicks at her own nose as she waits for the thing to speak its piece and probably berate Balina.

Rihko lowers her arm and shifts her weight, attention focused on the dragon. She stays between the dragon and most of the others, and she slowly bows her head. "Welcome to Inari's shrine," she offers, politely.

Skylar shakes her head at Balina, even though she can't see it and approaches her again. "Guess that's one way to attract it's attention...by goddamn FREEZING a place where it...resides? Manifests? I don't know..." She sighs and plops down on the ground...more behind the wolfcow than by Balina's side.

Sorien remains quiet, waiting. Shi does move to near Foxheart, kneeling to place a hand on her head.

Even with Fox's mention to stand down, Cilan does not return the handgun she had pulled, though even still she does not hold it in aggression, just wariness, "Are you a friend, or a foe?" Cilan asks the dragon, as she asks her form shifts from human to the humanoid ddraig goch.

A reptilian voice erupts as the creature opens its mouth. "I know who I am, and the skin my messengers wear. What I ask is why you let mongrels into my presence." eyes shifting to Balina,
and Sorien each, then back to Rihko and Foxheart. "You, you're supposed to be dead. Why are you still here?" focusing on the injured kitsune.

Cilan avariciously roars, "We stopped her, Lady Inari, we stopped her from killing herself, albeit temporarily, though that may yet still happen regarding your answer…we came here to beg you for forgiveness for this one, we came to appeal to your sense of honour."

The slit eyes focus on Cilan, almost... foxlike in shape. Narrowing. "You would injure this one's already diminished honor by preventing her from restoring it?" almost baffled.

Balinawolf is instantly on her feet, hackles raised, a deep growl coming from her vicinity. Ice is beginning to form under her paws as quakes with barely-contained fury at this... THING'S words. "You. Have. No. Right."

Foxheart winces as she hears the voice, kneeling with her head to the ground. "I meant no disrespect...I would have let your servant live." She slides her bloodstained sword across the ground in the pool's direction. "They would not let me die in honor." She is trembling in the presence of the physical manifestation of Inari.

Sorien looks up, adding her own words to the moment. "We knew Foxheart but a short time. In that time she found friends, and we loved her. It was MY act that harmed her honor, no one else's. Disaster has come to the world; she could regain her honor in the healing of this Earth, however small a part she might have in it."

<Hero> Sorien spends a Hero point!

Skylar stands up and takes a good amount of steps back as Balina seems about to throw down with a god, she doesn't seem troubled by her actions though, just giving her space in case things take a turn for the worse.

Narg frowns as she takes a seat.

Cilan drops to a knee, and lowers her head to the dragon, "I…I did not enjoy the aspect that it brought, to no longer exist for 900 years, for something so simple as loving someone. We came to know her as family, and it always hurts when family is lost." looking back to the dragon she
states, "Though…I had made an offer to Foxheart, that if you do not offer forgiveness, I will be the one who shall administer her suicide, so she does not have to do it herself."

Rihko sighs. She gives the dragon a bow. "I apologize for not recognizing this aspect, lord," she offers. Then she straightens up. "I did not stop anyone because all are welcome," she starts, then looks at Balina, "although perhaps there are some who shouldn't be any more." She remains silent on the other issues, moving to stand in front of Balina, eyes narrowed in response to the wolf's open hostility.

If the serpent is angered by the wolf's reaction it doesn't show it, completely ignoring the display. Eyes focused on Rihko, as it moves in, breathing in her scent. "You, you are young. Why do you wear so many tails you did not earn?" and then pulls his neck back to look at the Coyote. "If they truly desired their honor restored, then they would have done so, regardless of your interference. What I sense is regret holding them back. Their lack of respect is blatant, and why I took her life the first time."

<Hero> Balina spends a Hero point!

"No RIGHT!" Balina repeats. The air around her continues its descent, errant flakes of snow appearing and drifting about. If the icewolf is even aware there's a Rihko in front of her, she doesn't show it. "Hundreds of years of service, then at the first sign of /free will/, you brand her a traitor to her kind! You leave her to be murdered, then hold her for hundreds more years, relenting only when an excuse for something WORSE rears its head! She continues to show her loyalty, to the point of suicide, but even then you still insist it's not enough to sate your idiotic, childish desires? YOU HAVE NO RIGHT."

<Rihko> Call Flames affects Rihko!

Narg looks in between the bickering Balina and the aloof Inari, still managing to keep her mouth shut and quiet

Foxheart manages to struggle to her feet, drawing her katana with a swift motion. "Don't...don't hurt your servant's friends...or I will have to stand against you." She looks at her comm unit, which doesn't beep despite the time that has passed. "Still...fifteen minutes?" Her eyes open wide at Inari's show of mercy.

Cygnus stands but otherwise stays as silent as she has the whole time, both her paws angled off from her hips as if she were waiting and ready for something.

Skylar clenches her fists as Balina delivers her speech, she doesn't move from her spot but starts looking around the place to check if she can make her way behind said god's avatar or at least flank it. "Balina...you are right...but are you sure of what you're doing?"

Sorien kisses Fox's head and walks near the dragon, looking it in the eyes. "Why? This is your place of power, honored one... Why have you allowed this so long? I humbly ask this." She then lowers her eyes.

Rihko holds her ground between Balina and the dragon, eyes narrowed. As the temperature plummets, Rihko's fur shimmers a moment, and her flickering fires spring into being, slowly circling around the kitsune. The air around her shimmers with her own warmth, but when she speaks, her tone is calm, polite, and respectful. "I wear only the tails I have been given, lord."

The dragon's head raises up in the air. "You bring a petulant child wearing the skin of a sick, dying god into it, and you ask why I've let a sick with power, and spoiled messenger try to redeem herself?" is her response to Sorien. Backing away from Balina isn't done out of fear, rather it allows her to coil her long body in like a snake ready to strike. The whiskers on its face flickering in the breeze, she turns to Foxheart. "If you truly want to redeem your honor, you must find respect for life. You brought death upon an innocent soul, once, long ago because of your pettiness. I gave you a chance to atone for it. So show me how you've learned after four centuries of watching."

Foxheart trembles, drawing her other sword with a shaking hand. "I cannot speak for the kitsune, but I'll stand for her." She walks towards the dragon, limping a little bit from the pain of her wound. "She would have wanted both of us to survive if any way possible.
I'll...she'll.../We'll/ bank everything on this last chance." She is definitely not confident though, and it shows in her terrified look as she continues to step forward. "T-thank you friends...for giving me the strength to stand for what I feel is right." She nods at Balina in particular.

Balina passes onto the plateau of rage. "Don't you dare compare me to that punctured, rotting fleabag. I wear his skin by circumstances, not be choice, and certainly not by tribute." Her stance and the Fimbulwinter surrounding her remain unchanged, but the growling and the screaming stop. "And don't you dare speak of respect, honor, or even pettiness. Thousands of years, and you know less than a child." The growl returns as Foxheart's host makes their way towards idiocy. "You will not make this one throw their life away just for your amusement. I can't stop you, yet, but do you know what happens if I get my jaws on your servant, myself? I'd love to show you."

Sorien turns to Bal. "Stop it. You're threatening RIHKO, Bal. She's your FRIEND!"

<Dedication> Foxheart becomes a Kitsune!

"Balina," Rihko says, very quietly, holding her ground firm. "Stop posturing, and pay attention to what is going on around you." Her tails snap back and forth, then shake a moment, and she continues giving her best friend one of the nastiest glares the kitsune has ever come up with.

Narg can only watch as all the diety dedicated and deities bicker and fight, out of the hands of mortals and into that of gods.

Skylar aproaches Sorien, circling around the cold aura around Balina, fearing to end up flash freezed by it. "I believe she meant Foxheart, Sorien...don't think Balina would never threaten Rihko...and, Rihko's not the one about to die...but...anyway..." She turns towards Balina. "I fully agree with you, Balina...this is no way to treat a servant in a time of need..."

Cygnus stands perfectly still, her ears following the movement around her, the rabbit not having said a word since she left the pub.

Sorien looks back to Foxheart.

The voice booms once again, "I will let her prove herself, and leave you to the outcome. I care not at this point if you do redeem yourself, as I have other things to attend to." and the breeze increases, and the dragon explodes into a shower of rice, and leaves.

Sorien says, "Are you... Which are you, Fox, or are you both?"

Cilan breathes a soft sigh and rises to her feet and out of the kneeling position she had remained in, "So…does that mean Foxheart will no longer fade?" she asks looking expectantly to the woman the kitsune had inhabited.

Foxheart drops her swords and falls to her knees, her body trembling as she slowly changes back into a kitsune form. She looks at her body and sighs. "It's me...guys. I-I don't know...what happened then." She looks at her comm unit that beeps the start of a new day. "Is...everything over?"

Cilan avariciously roars, "No, I'd love to say it was, but the true test only begins now. Lady Inari had asked that you prove yourself to her, to show you harbor the true meaning of life, and that is how you will atone."

Sorien goes, kneels and hugs Fox. "A new day, sweetie." She stands and faces Bal and Rihko. "Now... Can the anger be released?"

Cygnus untenses and lulls her head back, letting out a long deep breath that she may have been holding the entire time.

Skylar looks confused at the rice explosion. "Rice...?" She then stares at Foxheart while approaching her. "Oh! You're okay! I thought you were done for!" She blurts out honestly, her beak open in an indication of happiness before looking back at the opposing temperature people, still looking happy.

Balina skids to a stop, landing sideways in a heap next to Foxheart. Panting, she picks herself back up, and gives Foxheart a long lick, then paces away. "You got lucky," she says, over her shoulder. "I ate before I came, anyway."

A finger twitches, a curl of flame dancing along the outside of Rihko's hand and down to the tip of her claw. It drips from the kitsune's paw, and winks out. Rihko's tails flick, and she glances
over at Foxheart, then back to Balina. "You will have to tell us, Foxheart," she says. She certainly doesn't sound angry, but the still-raised hackles and ears pinned back may have something else to say.

Sorien sighs, then goes to hug Rihko, then Bal... Unless they stop her.

Narg stands up "I suppose that went well 'nuff on the grand scale of things... glad yer better Foxy, see ya back at the pub, maybe. And Balina and Rihko, try not to fight in here, it would be a desecration." with that she leaves the area sprouting her feathers and what not as her form shifts to that of a eagles girl and leaves towards the direction of New Ireland.

Foxheart shivers as she sheathes both her swords, adjusting her yukata as she turns to look at Rihko. "I think I understand what Inari is telling me...this was a test for me to see if I would take another life...to save my own." She bows her head down sadly. "Another test that I've failed." She turns to Balina, a small smile on her face. "I'll explore your insides another day...I hope. Thank you everyone...shall we go back to New Ireland again?"

Rihko doesn't do anything to stop Sorien, holding perfectly still and rigid for the skunkette. Or, almost anyway, since the kitsune's tails are squirming back and forth. "That sounds pleasant..."

Balina resists nothing. She does, however spend a moment shaking loose chunks of ice out. "Is that a promise?" she asks, a little more hopeful than she realizes. "I'd love to hear what really happened in your head over the last apparently-20-minutes."

Sorien says, "Lets walk home. I think there's more than enough tension that needs to be shaken out."

Cygnus glances around and smirks "And this whole time I was expecting to end up punching someone in the face!"

Foxheart nods, smiling at Balina. "I promise." She turns to Sorien, patting her with a tail. "I think that would be a better idea...especially without a twenty minute timer biting us. And there is much to say."

Skylar sighs as if letting out tension. "That was...ugh...tense, to say the least...I'll head back to the pub, not really comfortable in this place to be honest..."

Sorien nods. "I'll wait til I'm outside to go back to normal; I've caused enough havoc with this place in the past two days." She lets everyone go out, then gives a large donation plus a quiet apology to the priests.

Cilan reaches out and pats Foxheart's shoulder lightly, her final pat ends with her hand remaining on Foxheart's shoulder, ebbing again with that light, and healing any pain the earlier injury may have caused, "It's good to see you back, Foxheart."

Foxheart grins. "It's good to be back. If you'll excuse me...I think I'll enjoy the rest of my day first. We can talk about things later."

Cygnus pads over to Foxheart and waits for Cilan to finish, drawing the kitsune into a hug.

Balina would be whistling to herself, but hands aren't the only thing Balinawolf lacks. She follows into step beside Foxheart, listening and at least humming to herself.

==============

Balina returns, much like the rest of the party, though she excuses herself into the back to put herself back on. And downs an entire gallon of water before refilling it and taking a seat near the rest of the gathering.

Skylar enters the bar while stretching her wings and back, she then groans a bit and settles down near Balina. "I guess...I did see your point of view in a way...and, that went well. But...did Foxheart say something about taking another life? I...didn't follow that." She says looking concerned about what just happened.

Cygnus pads down the stairs and heads straight for the bar, getting a pint glass and filling it full of water, then moving over to Bal and pressing the glass to the wolfcow, chilling her drink before chugging it down.

"That's what I'm hoping Foxheart'll explain," says Balina, idly sipping at her mug, then batting towards Cygnus. "Hey, ask next time, will ya?"

Rihko arrives back at the pub much later than everyone else returning from that last fiasco. She doesn't say anything to anyone, simply moving behind the bar, stowing her jacket again, then sitting down on her stool. She fidgets a moment, then pulls up her legs, crossing them, and lets her paws rest in her lap. Her tails swing back and forth a few times, balancing her weight, and then once she's settled they go limp.

Cygnus shrugs and blinks "You'd do the same to me if you needed to warm a soup."

Skylar stares disapprovingly at Cygnus before looking at Balina again. "Still...I agree completely with everything you said to it...even if it is giving Foxheart a second chance or whatever..." She sighs. "So...is that the reason you ended up...being a...uh..." She has trouble finding the word. "something, to Fenrir?" Her stare goes to Cygnus again. "Bet she'd ask first..."

Cygnus shrugs and looks to Skylar "I never said I wasn't an asshole either." The dark bunny simply takes a seat at a nearby table and yawns, her fangs glinting in the light.

Balina chuffs, "I damned well would not! There's a fire /right there/, Cygnus. Besides, I have nothing against cold food. It's probably ice by the time it gets to my stomach, anyway." Shaking her head, she adjusts her position in her seat, then turns back to Skylar. "The answer is probably 'no', but what reason did you mean? I yelled a lot of things back there."

Skylar scratches the back of her head. "...Gods being jerks with people, making they kill or do stuff for them with not much of a payback or even respect...I mean, compared to Inari, Dirt is a gentleman, then again...you did freeze her pool."

Skylar shakes her head. "I mean HIS...or...it...I dunno."

Selina stretches and heads to the bar to mix a nice coffee-based drink, working out something with rum, whiskey, coffee, and irish cream

Rihko flicks an ear, looking over at Skylar. She scowls, faintly, then lets her gaze drop down to the bar counter.

Balina smiles, stifling a chuckle. "I think I just randomly picked pronouns, myself. Inari is one of those things where people try to assign all genders, instead of none. Confuses the hell out of me, too. I don't even get why Shadow is apparently male, and call it an 'it' most of the time." She sighs, her expression shifting more towards the annoyed. "And Fenris is just another in a string of bad luck with me. I already told you about Tanuki, and you heard what I said about Fenris earlier. There was one in the middle I'm not proud of, either. I ended up with Fenris because I thought it was the only way to get his help against Shadow. The method wasn't quite what I expected, but it worked."

Selina looks around the bar, is everyone all sitting in one group? Or are there several small pairings? She leans on the edges of the bar as she sits, looking around at the others, perhaps trying to see who might want to chat.

Skylar looks over at Rihko, her expression blank, she does arch her brow as the kitsune scowls tough. "Huh..." She then shakes her head slowly and looks at Balina. "If Fenris is doing as bad as you said...this is probably the best way, make you a super powered god eater or something,
instead of going himself against Shadow and probably end up possessed.
Aaaanyway." She stretches her back. "Yeah, can't say that today helped my outlook at gods...and...if you and Inari started attacking each other, would I be able to do something other than run away?"

Cygnus pulls the rifle from her hip and lays it on the table, messing with it till a piece comes off, and once successful, starts disassembling the rifle with it.

Selina reverently says, "That's an impressive weapon. Did you craft that yourself?"

Rihko is sitting on a stool behind the bar, her legs crossed in a half-lotus and her paws in her lap. She turns her head and blinks at Selina, as calm and placid as a lake on a still day, but she doesn't seem interested in conversation.

Selina sighs, relaxing herself again and enjoying her drink

Cygnus shrugs "Yes, and no. It’s an old M-14 that I’ve fixed up over the years...." She says, her tongue sticking out of her mouth for a sec as she works a stubborn part lose, and the spring behind it shoots across the pub.

Cilan trudges down the stairs and moves to a completely unoccupied table where she sets her multiple weapons, both the trench knives, twin handguns, and rifle. Reaching into her pack she then pulls a cleaning kit and begins repairing, and cleaning them all. The woman starts by pulling a whetstone, and applying an oil to it, later running the whetstone to the edge in simple pulls.

Selina nods a bit. "I don't have them myself but I've designed a few weapons."

This time, Balina does laugh. "I appreciate the vote of confidence, but would you listen to yourself?" Flicking a frozen tear, she sets her mug down and taps her nose. "I was after his nose. Sniff out Shadow-Hare. The 'eating gods' thing was something I didn't know about until recently. I tried to make it clear to Inari at the time, but I had no intention of going directly for their throat. I can't stand up to that kind of power, Sky. I was going to go after Foxheart's host. Fulfill their obligation, and strike at Inari that way. Wouldn't have killed her, but it would have *hurt*. And shown him that I had my ways."

Selina steps over, "May I get a closer look? I don't mean to pry."

Rihko looks back over at Balina and Skylar. Her faint scowl returns, and she bites at her lip a moment, then looks over at Selina and Cygnus, then Cilan.

Cygnus nods "Sure thing! Just let me find that pesky spring..." The dark bunny pulls herself from the chair and pads across the bar, spotting what little bit of glint the spring gives off from the corner of her eye and locating it easily.

<Hero> Cygnus spends a Hero point!

Balina adds, leaning over to pat Skylar's shoulder, "And I told you that you were going to see a little of how my mind works. Inari did more in twenty minutes than I could have taught you in an evening."

Selina notes "You have good eyes."

Crys slips into the pub, the leopard quiet, still reserved from the emotional beating from the other day. She moves for tea, slumping her shoulders as she sighs. She fills a teacup and moves to sit down at the bar next to the jackal, her ears are flickering, but she doesn't appear to be listening to the conversation.

Skylar rests her head on the table, looking at some random point in the pub. "I said that it was the best Fenrir came with, I mean, by making you able to eat gods...but...I don't get what you meant by strike at Inari like that...I thought that by 'eating' Foxheart you'd end up eating
everything...uh...actually, I don't even know what everything means but...augh, sorry, I'm bad at this whole gods thing." She says covering her face with both hands while her head still stays on the table. "I really don't know what I could've done to help anyone in there, and I really hope that there IS something I can do against these sort of powers while not having any of them myself."

Cilan looks up from her weapons maintenance to spot Crystala as the leopardess walks past. "Hello, mom!" she says softly before looking back down to the knife, and whetstone in her possession, going back to her careful pulls until the blade is sharpened to its original razor's edge.

Rihko listens as well, ears twitching. She gives Crystala an impassive look and a polite nod of recognition, but otherwise remains quiet, separated from the rest of the Den by the symbolic moat of the bar counter.

Cygnus smiles "Why thank you Sel." She says, sitting back down next to Selina, continuing the ritual of dismantaling and cleaning her rifle.

Selina nods, looking towards the leopard beside her, noticing the bit of droop to her ears, "Long day?"

Selina sips at her doctored coffee a bit.

Balina gets up from her chair, muttering something in Skylar's ear, muttering something else to Crystala, and settling at what she knows isn't a safe distance from Rihko, but she feels like pretending is. She doesn't say anything quite yet, but at least makes herself less scarce.

Cygnus yawn-rubs her belly softly, turning her gaze down to her expanding bulge "Yup... I’m swelling."

Selina tilts her head, looking over Cygnus "Have you had many children?"

After setting the knife, and whetstone down, Cilan opens her arms and stretches them wide, grunting the entire while, after which she looks over her shoulder to the bar and asks one of the
Taglings, "Can I get a pint over here? Honey Lager this time…thanks!" she says warmly before looking to the second blade in her possession. After re-oiling the whetstone she soon begins the slow task of tending to this latest weapon.

Crys' somewhere else. It takes her some time to recognize the jackal was talking to her. She nods slowly, "Long week..." and then Balina's whisper comes, and her ears perk.

Selina smiles "Well, welcome back."

Sorien comes out of the restroom, face looking somewhat damp; she's running a brush through the fur on her head, and spots Crys. She immediately brightens and goes to kiss her love.

Rihko absently takes note of Balina, then lets her attention wander back over to Cilan, watching her work on her weapons.

Crys turns to Selina, and says, "I've seen you here before... I'm not sure I caught your name?" and then her mate comes to her, distracting her a moment, giving her a kiss and patting one of the stools nearby.

Skylar looks puzzled, not knowing what to say of the info Balina just gave her. "Uh..." She shuffles uncomfortably as Balina gets closer to Rihko, not sure what's her objective is.

Sorien takes the seat, leaning into Crys. "I'm gathering you're being filled in?"

Selina reverently says, "I'm Selina."

Selina smiles as that probably didn't get heard, but just as well, she relaxes a bit and lets the couple chat.

Cilan looks up as the Tagling offers her, her ordered drink, the dragoness soon grins and nods her thanks before handing the man the credits in return, during the exchange she spies Rihko's gaze out of the corner of her eye and grins at the kitsune in return, "Something up, Rihko?" she asks in a warm voice.

Cygnus nods "I made some money on the side as a surrogate mother before I got to Fairhaven. Ive had... 21 kids since P-day?... yeah, that’s about right... I’m no stranger to litters, but this one is just one as far as I know."

Selina reverently says, "21 children? Do they all live with you?"

Balina gives an absent-minded, "Child's play," to a side-conversation she has no place in, then continues to watch Rihko, still trying to piece words together.

Cilan spits out her beer in surprise and blinks at Cygnus, "21 kids, Cyg? Damn, seems almost all the guys that had been turned into females are in to creating huge families!"

"No." Rihko's answer is immediate, her tone as flat and placid as her expression. "I am just watching. I will stop if it bothers you."

Cygnus nods and sighs "Sadly, they weren’t for me. I was just chosen to bear them for others who couldn’t."

Crys shakes her head, "Balina mentioned something about Foxheart, love, but not much." She presses a hand against Soriens and turns back to Selina. "My name is Crystala. And Selina, this is my mate Sorien if you haven't met her yet."

Selina reverently says, "Yes that's one thing I don't understand... there seems to be such a huge female population and yet pregnancies are so frequent."

Selina looks to Crystala, then to Sorien, "It's a pleasure to meet you Crystala, Sorien."

Selina reverently says, "I see, Cygnus."

Sorien nuzzles Crys. "Foxheart lives, matters are settled, but there were... Conflicts." She glances at Bal and Rihko, and sighs. To Selina she says, "Glad to meet you; I think I've seen you about."

Selina nods "I've been coming for the last few months... since Halloween I think. But it's been rather busy here. And I've had to travel as well. It's still a good place to relax however."

Skylar nods at Sorien's comment and looks at Crystala as she lifts her head from the table. "Bal...kind of threatened Inari..."

Cilan quickly glances to Rihko, at least for a moment of silent contemplation before she just shakes her head and says, "Nah, if you'd like to watch, you're free to do so." she then returns her vision back to the weapons and finishes the final knife, quickly returning them to the sheathes, behind her hip, hidden by the long trenchcoat covering her now.

Crys' is listening to Sel, and then Skylar's comment comes from out of left field. Her head tilts to the side in a rather comic effect. She barely manages a word, approaching mwah territory as she stares at Skylar.

Selina reverently says, "Inari…Isn't that the kitsune deity?"

Cygnus removes the guard around the rifles barel, revealing a long tube of wires wrapped around the barel, the dark bunny sliding that off as well.

Sorien sighs. "Nice one, Skylar."

Selina reverently says, "I've seen a few kitsune in and out of here. I may have met this "Bal" person... did they live?"

Rihko continues quietly watching Cilan and Cygnus playing with their assorted weaponry.

Balina closes her eyes and takes a few deep breaths. She refuses to move from this spot, but this is not going to get much easier. "I made demands of her, and his behavior towards Foxheart. I threatened to eat Foxheart, or at least the host they were inhabiting. As far as I can tell, it worked. Also, as far as I can tell, I'm okay, at least physically."

Selina reverently says, "I suppose I don't understand your relationship with your deity."

Sorien curls tighter into Crys' side.

Skylar looks at Crystala and doesn't know what to say then she looks at Sorien and REALLY doesn't know what to say. "I...what did I do?!" She asks exasperated. "Ugh..." She starts rubbing her temples and sets her head on the table again. "Sorry if I said what I wasn't supposed to say..."

Balina snarls, "Inari is not my patron. Fenris claims me as his, but even that is tenuous. NO god controls Balina."

Selina looks at Balina again, a long look... "Ohhh... I *remember* you. You're the one who wishes to destroy all of the deities save your own, correct? Well then it's no wonder you challenged Inari, now it makes sense to me."

Balina gives her old toothy grin. "Who said I want to protect the fen-dweller?"

Selina shakes her head, "Apologies, everyone looks different when I see them this time or that. I can't keep up."

Crys finally pieces a little of what Balina is saying, still seeming confused. She shakes her head and sighs. She then turns to Skylar, "Oh, oh sorry, I was just confused by your statement." and then she goes back to watching the conversation ongoing between the jackal and the cowwolf.

Selina reverently says, "I'm glad that you didn't die, however."

Rihko looks back at Selina, then, and snorts. She starts to talk, but Balina corrects Selina for her, so she remains silent. Her gaze, though, wanders over to Balina and she stares at her. Passively.

Selina reverently says, "Fen-dweller... you want to destroy your own god?"

Crys adds, "She wants that most of all." in response.

Selina nods "I see."

Selina reverently says, "Well, as I say, I'm glad you're in one piece. But really you've set yourself a lofty goal. I'm not sure you'll live to see it through."

Sorien looks again at Bal, then Rihko. She starts to sigh again, but stops it. "Hey... Could you two... Please talk? I hate that there's something this ugly between you. You're both my friends."

Balina is entirely too happy to be talking of the future like this, tail flapping about behind her. "I have help for all but the last part, after all. All of Fenris' pack is after the rest of the gods. I'm just not as picky." Sorien's words stop any further conversation in their tracks, and that poor tail stops as if shot, going limp against the stool.

Selina looks toward Sorien and then behind her to Rihko.

Skylar stops covering her face and stands upright, lookin at Bal and Rihko. "Sorien's right, either you two talk it out or you'll both stay bitter for who knows how long..." She then looks at Crys. "It's fine...really...it's just that everytime that I talk about this stuff I'm...not exactly right..." She manages to express a little smirk. "It's kinda worrying not knowing how to deal with these forces."

Rihko turns her bland, neutral look over to Sorien. Her ears twitch, but the rest of her posture remains loose, relaxed, and unchanging. She contemplates the skunkette for a moment, then looks back over at Balina. "Balina." Her tone is equally lacking in inflection.

Selina reverently says, "The fact that you lived through your threat to Inari says that one of you is weak compared to the other. Which I can't say"

Cilan continues to 'play' with her assorted weapons, and now with her knives sharpened and returned, she grabs one of the handguns she had placed on the table, a small mallet, and rod, and soon taps all of the pins holding the handgun in place, with all removed she leisurely takes
the weapon apart and later grabs a long steel wire, and attaches a soft cloth to one end. After feeding the wire through the firing chamber Cilan pulls the wire and cleans the inside of the weapon, repeating, each time with a new cloth until finally the chamber is cleaned.

Balina stares at Rihko, less impassive but slightly more talkative. "I know what you want me to say, but you know why I can't."

Rihko turns her gaze from Balina to Skylar. She calmly ponders the gryphon, then gives her shoulders a very slight shrug. "I do not care what you think," she states, apathetic. She looks over at Selina, then, and repeats her shrug. "Clearly I know nothing." Her ear perks, then, and she looks back at Balina. Her eyebrows raise, and her "Oh?" is tinged with the first hint of emotion to touch her voice; faint curiosity. Then it is gone. "You presume you know what I want you to say," she corrects, staring back at the moowolf.

Cygnus rolls her eyes and pfffs softly, holding the barrel up the the light and looking down it "So much hostility..."

Sorien nods to Oiving, but is paying attention to the tension-laden conversation between Rihko and Bal.

Narg pads into the pub from upstairs and waves around, before making her way to the bar slipping by Oiving and getting a whiskey before heading to sit in a lounger, crossing her legs and giveing a relaxed sigh.

Oiving finds an empty chair and listens to the conversations as he goes thru his gear and sewing up tears in his clothes.

<Hero> Balina spends a Hero point!

A snowball is absentmindedly shot Cygnus' way. This is not the time for distractions. "I walked into your patron's home, indirectly assaulted them once, then spent the remainder of the visit screaming at them and making overt threats over what I'd do Foxheart's host. This is not a particularly complicated thing to figure out."

<Hero> Cygnus spends a Hero point!

Cilan looks up from her maintenance of her weaponry to nod a friendly, albeit silent greeting to Oiving as the man enters the pub. She then takes another swig of beer and continues her careful, and slow repair. Cygnus catches the snowball in her ears and tosses it back without a second thought

Rihko purses her lips a moment, then nods. "Yes. You did do that," she agrees, still impassive. "I still do not have anything I want you to say."

Skylar groans as her ears droop at Rihko's comment. She then watches Cygnus throw\catch\take the currently in a quantum state snowball. Her expression goes blank as she makes her way to the bunny and pokes the side of her head gently. "Stop it. Don't make more of a fool of yourself than you already do usually Cygnus. Please." She then turns her back to Cygnus and makes her way near the fireplace to warm herself.

Narg waves at Sky from her seat in a lounger "Ello Sky... fine day to be alive ain't it?"

Selina looks to Rihko, after the comment about her clearly knowing nothing. She sighs. "I didn't come here to fight with anyone."

Selina reverently says, "The first day that I came here, the first person I met was Bal, here."

Cygnus looks up "She threw a snowball at me. Proper etiquette is to return fire." Before returning to her rifle.

Selina reverently says, "And Bal told me without any conflict about her plans to kill every deity including my own."

Crys turns to Selina, "Dear, this is between two good friends. You aren't at fault." she gently places a hand on Selina's shoulder. And then quickly takes it away, surprised by the give when she squeezes.

Narg pipes in "Cept for the ones she can't reach."

Rihko nods her head again, in silent agreement with Selina.

Oiving watches the conversation, takes his things and moves to table out of way to watch from there. A table close to the exit even.

Skylar shrugs at Narg and ignores Cygnus comment. "Like usual, not really keen on the 'being dead' thing." She then makes her way near Narg and sits down. "What about you? Doing fine?"

Selina reverently says, "I continue coming here because it was assured to me that I had nothing to worry about. But despite that, it's rather nerve-wracking. I may not know everything, I don't claim to know everything, but saying I know nothing is an overstatement.""

Rihko blinks, and looks over at Selina. "Then you misheard me. I stated that I. Rihko. Do not know anything."

Selina reverently says, "I see. I did mishear you, I apologize."

Allowing the slush to simply splat against her fur unnoticed, Balina sighs and continues to stare. "Then I'm obviously still the undisputed champion of being wrong. What is on your mind, Rihko?"

Selina reverently says, "For my defensiveness."

Narg shrugs and takes a sip of whiskey "Other than being a pest, smart ass, and big mouth not much really Sky. Took me alot of effort to keep my mouth shut at the shrine let me tell you"

Skylar tilts her head at Narg. "Hrm, and what would you've said...? Also...how do you manage to drink hard liquor like that?" She finished pointing at the cup Narg just took a sip of.

Cygnus yawns and pads over towards the stairs "Narg probably had an alcoholic in the family like I did... I have an extremely high alcohol tolerance." The dark bunny says, padding up the stairs "If you’ll excuse me, i left something at home. I’ll be right back."

Narg chuckles and shrugs "Dunno, I just can, and I don't like the taste of beer, coffee, or tea and ther ain't any soda readily available" she taps the glass and swirls it around before taking another sip "As for what I may of said at the shrine, I forget what I woulda said and it
doesn't matter anymore... mighta went somewhere along the line of they are all acting like squabling children or somewhat."

Rihko returns to staring at Balina. She contemplates, and ponders, and then gives a small shrug. "I expected trouble from Sorien. Or Cilan. Even, yes, some from you. You are uncouth, reckless, barbaric. All things that I loved you for, but rather jarring to be on the receiving
end of that," she explains, uncaring. "I feel as though... something...has been grievously injured tonight, and I have no idea what the wergild for it would be." She pauses, and then shrugs. "I do suggest that you do not ask any favors of me, though."

Selina reverently says, "Mph..."

Skylar shakes her head at Narg in a neutral way. "Not really sure the situation could be any worse...and...that sounds like a good reason to drink...I think..." She shifts on her seat and stares at Rihko and Balina. Wondering what the situation is.

Narg nods "Yeah, and not to mention I need ten glasses of Tag's strongest stuff ta get drunk.... but like Cyg said I also had an alcoholic grand-da, I didn't get to really meet him though. He died when I was 2 or some... DAMN I need to get back to missouri one'a these days and get tha double barrel I inherited from him."

Skylar sighs at Narg. "Wouldn't that actually make you more propense to getting hooked onto alcohol instead of being stronger to it? I mean, alcoholism is not a super power, your liver gets weaker if you overdo that sort of thing and you get drunker faster..." She notices she's lecturing Narg and drops it. "Ugh, anyway, I dunno how cities are doing out there, apart from New York I guess. Anyway, that sounds like a lot of trouble for a shotgun...is it that good?"

Selina laughs "Alcoholism isn't a superpower, but the right blend in moderation certainly makes me feel stronger

Rihko flicks an ear, turning her attention to Narg and Skylar. She frowns a moment, then dismisses the inane talk and looks back at Balina. Cygnus pads back in and sighs "It was in my pocket... I'd go with you Narg. Hell... maybe one day when this is all over. When we've won... I’ll go back home."

Balina is, for the moment, more confused than worried. "Now I know I'm lost. You know full well that every word I said was for Inari, not you. You have been nothing but a rare beacon of sanity, barring... a few occasions. I would never, and probably could never actually do anything to hurt you. You know that."

Narg chuckles at Skylar "I take it slow with my drinks Skylar, pretty much only one a day... occasionally two, but its a lot of trouble to get just a shotgun, nah I gotta another reason for it... ta find my family, cause that’s where the gun would be, with them"

Oiving smiles as his order arrives and pays for it with a tip. He then quietly cuts into the steak and savors the first bite.

Selina refills her glass a bit.

Skylar snickers at Selina. "That's not alcoholism, that's 'too much for tonight'." She then eyes Balina and Rihko for a moment before Narg talks about parents. "Oh? Uhm. Guess that's a noble motive for an expedition. Still, very dangerous, specially with the bubble thing going on...do you rely on your 'mutant side' much?"

Rihko takes in a breath and sighs, closing her eyes as she tries to find the right words. Finally, she settles on what she can only hope is the proper vernacular, and she once more opens her eyes to stare at Balina. "Right. Iff'n I went an' took a shit in yer lab, an' told you to not take it pers'n'lly, would ya? Pissed all over yer workshop b'cause I was angry at th' nanites?" She gives her shoulders a little shrug, then.

Skylar arches one of her brows and looks at the bar in a 'what the hell' way, not knowing if Rihko is kidding or if she has some hidden Taggart mode when she gets too angry.

Crys blinks at Rihko. Her jaw partly open.

Narg shrugs "I don't have anything amazing in my repertoire. No fire, no electrics nothin like that, what I got is my pistol and my accuracy with it as well as my knife... and then I also got my fist claws" she lifts her hand and balls it into a fist, then three long shrap claws slide out "See? I like 'em they cause nasty scratches, they do." Narg adds to Rihko "Nice accent Rihko."

Rihko gives Narg a small nod. "It's probably what he would say if he were here. He's a crude man, would know how to communicate with another crude wolf." Her shoulders shrug again.

Narg chuckles "Yea, that 'e is."

Cygnus looks at her paws "I think the only reason i would get an implant is for some kind of electric abilities... Just little contacts in my paws."

Skylar looks at Narg again and smiles. "Ah! Just like me, except the gun part. I feel like we're a bit of a minority around here." She then shakes her head disaprovingly at Rihko. "It's like highschool again..."

A small smirk briefly breaks free on the edges of Balina's mouth, but it is quickly put back in its place. "Bad comparison. If you'd said 'virus', I would have simply asked you to move over so I could shit on the spot you missed. Unless you're saying things about Inari I'm not about to voice, the nanites are too dumb to know any better. I understand, but I can't agree."

Oiving settles back, dinner finished and relaxes some.

Rihko looks up from Balina to look at Skylar, just long enough to make sure the gryphon knows that she has been heard, and observed. Then she lets her attention wander, eventually settling it on Crys. "Hm?"

Narg nods "Yeah, we are a minority, that we are... and I prefer it that way, makes me feel like an elite"

Catalina wanders down the steps to the pub, before she stops at the Bar, "Hey, can I get a bone? Thanks!" she asks of the tagling, before curling up on the stool to watch the others. "Minority?" she looks to Narg, blinking a bit, "What have I been missing?"

Crys says, "You sounded just like your mate..." looking at the kitsune with a new light.

Catalina says, completely deadpan, "Well, Crys, let's just hope the brain damage levels off a bit, we don't want her to up and forget collage, now would we?" She, goes back to waiting to wait for a reaction.

Narg looks over at Cat "You missed nothing Cat."

Rihko thinks on that a moment, and then she smiles. The kitsune giggles a little, thinking of Taggart. "He gets me. I get him. We're perfect for each other." She rolls her shoulders, and then shifts her weight a bit on the stool. "How are you doing, by the way, Crys?"

Oiving hrmss and gets up and sets his empty plate on the counter to be taken away, the steak bone left on it.

Crys frowns, "Still a bit bothered from my reaction the other day. I have things inside that I can never quite shake. Things that bring me down when they shouldn't, and make me vulnerable. The last thing I need to do is give another path in for the shadow to be able to hurt my family." She nuzzles Sorien, and then says. "I think I need to take a walk."

Skylar stares at Rihko as the kitsune 'notes' her. She then replies to Narg. "Eeeeh...maybe, I guess? Outside of the bubble, sure, being trained with stuff that works outside should be useful, but in here I feel completely outclassed, I probably would be out of the bubble too since I've not been doing this mutant thing for long..." Her attention returns to Rihko and Bal, sighing again as she does so.

Narg chuckles "Trust me Sky, I can take what is here in the bubble and out, no worries."

Rihko thinks for a moment, then shifts her weight and lets her feet drop. She slides off of her stool and stretches, then gives Crystala a little nod. "Would you like some company?" she asks.

Selina looks to Skylar, "You know, if you'd like someone to travel with, I certainly don't think I'm out of anyone's league in terms of skill. I'm good... but I don't think I'm any sort of a bar to measure against.

Crys nods at Rihko, "You look like you could use someone to talk with, so by all means." and she heads upstairs with the kitsune.

Selina reverently says, "I have some skill, but I need a lot of practice myself."

Rihko snags her jacket from behind the bar, pulling it on as she follows after Crystala and slipping her paws into her pockets.

Narg finishes off her whiskey and stands up "I think I'll call it a night, haave a good night everyone" she then makes her way upstairs along with Rihko, although for a different reason.

Selina looks to Balina... she's not sure what to say, though…perhaps best to keep quiet as usual, taking another drink as she sits back.

Balina raises her paw as Rihko leaves, then slowly, carefully, puts her face to the surface of the bar. She remains there for several minutes.

"It's alright...I don't have any plans to go out of the bubble, not for now anyway. Uh, in any case, I can hold my own, I just know there's tougher and badder stuff than me." Skylar then waves
to Narg as she leaves. "See you around..." Noticing Balina with her head on the bar, Skylar jumps off her couch and aproaches the wolfcow. "Hey..."

Catalina ears twist to listen to the conversation, not really saying much as her bone arrives and Rihko leaves with Crys. She turns to look at Skylar, "Things are easier to kill out in the bubble, I'd stay out there with a rifle if I could find a place..." she admits, smiling a little bit. The Vixen then finds a place in the loungers, curling up. Selina relaxes herself, tail swaying behind her lightly, thinking some heavy thoughts.

Balina mumbles something incoherent into the counter, but makes no other moves.

Cygnus sighs, curling up a little in her chair, staring at her freshly cleaned and reassembled rifle, closing her eyes and wrapping her wings around herself, "I wish I could go home..." The dark rabbit says, seemly lost in herself.

Skylar scritches on Balina's neck continuously, not caring much for the icecold'ness, at least not until it starts hurting. "It'll be alright...Rihko likes you." She then looks at Cat. "You'd need constant ammo for that and the same would apply to you, a bullet to the torso and you'd have to crawl back to a bubble or receive medical attention from someone skilled enough."

Selina looks to Cygnus, "What is your name? I'm Selina."

Cygnus blinks and looks up at Selina "My name is Cygnus. It’s nice to meet you Selina."

Catalina she looks to Skylar, "I can make my own bullets, and frankly, if I get shot and the gut and dont come back, I'm totally at peace with it... Not going out to get myself killed, but I'd not go crawling back to the bubble like a noob just because I got shot." she says, nodding a bit to Selena, whom she's seen around a lot.

Skylar points at Catalina while still scritching Balina. "AHA! We discovered your pre-P-day identity! You were one of those kids that scream a lot while playing video games! Seriously tough, Cat, you're sounding a bit like Russell with all this 'I'm okay with being shot and
killed while secluded.' Although I'm not sure if Russell is the sort that would value his pride over his life..."

Balina picks herself up. Barely. She props herself up on her crossed arms, at least. "I'm sure she'll forgive eventually. I'm just suffering severe mood whiplash, that's all."

Cygnus nods "I live here... just... I’m not from around here. I’m a bit too far from home... Even if this is my home now..."

"Ah..." Says Skylar keeping the scritches going. "...Is that something from you being pregnant or just something from your personality? And uh...I think you were right on the shrine...as I said before..." She says before leaning on the wolfcow quickly in a weird sort of half hug before backing off and giving her a smile. "We should talk about something else...not sure what else we have to talk tough...

Catalina says, "Russell went into an assignment with a 36-hour life expectancy for vengeance, You decide." She looks at Skylar, saying, "I've never made it personal, like he did. I've got no reason to give a crap, really." She then turns to watch Balina with some confusion, "You okay over there, Balina?" Oddly, her bone is untouched.

Sneakysneakysneakysneak. There's a blurred shadow moving from cover to cover while it thinks no one is looking. There are pauses and gleaming emerald eyes from the shadows, and then more skulking. And then she slides over the bar, when her last visible position was behind a couch, to sit beside Balina, hugging her with arms and tails. "I missed something that went wrong, then?" She glances around the room, looking for confirmation.

Skylar suddenly stops the scritching for a moment before continuing. "He...did what now? Why would he do that for? And you're telling me YOU don't give a crap about him. Are you still sick Cat-Uh. Hi there Eithne, how's it going?"

Balina sits up, staring down at herself. "I'm *always* pregnant," she protests, "but I'm not usually moody. Damn it, this was the best night of the last six months until I got back here!"

Selina nods to Cygnus. "Well, I think, you know... most everyone around here is from someplace else."

Selina reverently says, "But I stay around here because of the people. You ought to travel with me sometime. I could even craft you a sidearm at some point, if you would like. Or perhaps armor."

“I'm from elsewhere." Eithne tosses that out there, but she's focused on her sad friend. She lightly rubs her head against the moowolf's shoulder, purring reassuringly. "Tell me about what happened, then...?"

Cygnus nods and glances around "I know... My heart just aches for my home... As corny as that sounds. I could take you on a shipping run with me if you don’t mind going outside the bubble. The traveling soothes me."

Selina shakes her head, "I don't mind."

Catalina glances at Skylar, "They didn't expect him to survive the walk here, it's a rough place out there... And I meant I don't give a crap about /dying/... I like Russ as much as I like anyone, but I'm not sure I'd go out of my way." She then turns to look at Cygnus, "I'd ask Agata if it where OK, if I where you." she then curls up, and proceeds to enjoy her bone, keeping one ear on Balina and Eithne, "Hi Eithne."

Balina reaches up to scritch at Eithnehead. "You know the situation with Foxheart, her lover, and ritual suicide? I think I saved her life today."

Selina reverently says, "That would be nice to do. I'd actually enjoy seeing your rifle in action. "

Skylar stops the scritching completely and slaps her own forehead with a now cold clawed hand. "Oh, right, my bad..." She puts her hands on the bar and speaks while looking at it. "Uh, which part exactly? The one where we ran to a shrine to save a bleeding nekomata or the one where suddenly their god tried to bite Rihko?" She says while letting out a sigh. "At least Foxheart got us more time...for...whatever we need to do..." She then looks at Cat. "Oh...well...I still think you'd jump on a bullet for him."

Eithne's purring changes, with the scritchings, and she leans into the paw/hand doing it. "Oh? What'd you think of, afterrr, to deal with the issue? Or... What happened, rrreally, in morrre detail? I know she had a choice..."

Cygnus nods to Selina and smiles, looking over to Cat "Agata knows what I do. Shes fine with it."

"Well, it seems that Foxheart committed suicide, which put her host back in control, but unless he killed himself in turn, she... wouldn't..." Balina trails, then screams in frustration. "DAMN it! I didn't accomplish ANYTHING tonight!"

Catalina shakes her head, "Not if he had it comin... I've promised to /put a few in myself/ over some of the stunts he's been pulling recently... Acctually did, on one occasio-Wait, did Fox acctually go through with it. What happend?" she drops her line of though, and her bone, staring at Balina.

Eithne crawls into Balina's lap, hugging her a bit tighter and tucking her against the woofcow's neck. "Shhh, shhh. Calm down. Just tell me what happened, and we can try and deal with the fallout. We're friends, yeah? And friends help friends patch up their mistakes..."

Selina reverently says, "Suicide...I had met the kitsune you're speaking of."

Skylar tilts her head at Balina. "Have you gone insane? Foxheart was with a goddamn sword stuck on her stomach, already halfway through to tails paradise and you managed to scare a GOD into giving her more time." She sighs. "I wonder if they have chocolate in here, hear that's good for mood swings..."

Selina reverently says, "I have some chocolate" She offers Skylar some. “It's something that's rather difficult to find, and she's offering you a bar with a wrapper. Mostly faded but it still says He sh”

Skylar hesitantly makes her way to Selina and grabs the bar with a meek grip. "Oh...wow. Are you sure about this...? Oh...I don't think I've introduced myself. I'm Skylar...nice to meet you."

Balina pounds the bar with her good hand. "If we had not gotten involved, and Foxheart's host had committed suicide in turn, we'd have seen Foxheart again. Instead, we went to the shrine, went through all of that, and... walked out with Foxheart. What, exactly, did any of that
change?" Selina nods "It's fine. I think I'm possibly the biggest chocolate lover you'll ever meet." *smiles*

Selina reverently says, "I'm always keeping an eye out for it. I'm Selina, it's nice to meet you."

Catalina says, "Well, she's got a brass set of them /somewhere/, I'll give 'er that..." She says, then says, "WAit, Balina scared Inari, like-woah... Remind me to stay on wolfcow's good side, that's impressive... Though... What if Foxheart's host decided to screw her over? You can't guarantee what the bloke woulda done." she points out.

Balina snarls, "He had the knife in her chest before anyone here could react. He was quite ready to kill herself."

Cygnus blinks and shakes her head, surely she must be hallucinating. The chocolate bar is still in Sel's hand, guess not. The dark bunny yawns and sighs "We saved the host from dying... sadly, being trapped like that probably isn't much better..."

Selina looks away "I hope it helps." handing it to Skylar

Eithne rubs Bal's back, trying to calm the woofcow down. "What was the exact wording used after you made your threats to Inari, then?" The feline is... not reacting at all to the idea that Bal made a god back off, for good or ill. She is, however, rather intently watching the woman's face.

Skylar grabs the bar with both hands and does a half bow to Selina. "Thanks Selina..." She smiles and makes her way back to the grumpy wolfcow, opening carefully the wrapper and handing it over to Balina with an even bigger smile. "Here. And, you really think Foxheart would be alright with that? 'Oh hey, I'm back and my host killed himself over me, how sweet, oh well, back to being me~', she would be in a baaaad state...really."

"Did she say he was back? I don't remember anything like that." Balina's dancing between hating herself, and hating the world around her. Either way, lot of hating going on here. "She ran off on our way back to the pub, so I never heard any damned details. For all I know now, Inari just mixed the two into one soul, and called it a day."

Selina reverently says, "I could try to find out for you. If you do want to know. If it would give you some peace of mind. I could try to find out if your friend is really dead. I wont presume success, but I can try."

Skylar sighs as she notices she doesn't have certainty of what happened there. She still keeps offering the chocolate tough. "...well, then no reason to beat yourself over it." She then looks over at Selina. "It's...not really a matter of alive or dead...I think, it's complicated."

Selina reverently says, "No, I mean. I understand I think what happened. At least based on what I've heard. I could get some... verification as to whether or not either soul was lost. At least try to discover that. If it would help. I don't know what would help."

Balina snarls, "Different afterlife. Besides, she'll be here tomorrow, and I can ask then. For now, it just has to keep gnawing at me."

Selina reverently says, "Very well."

Catalina looks to Selina, and then asks, "What, does Anubis have some sort of terminal that you can use to find out who's checked in?" she flicks her ears a little, and turns to listen to Balina, saying, "Yeah, the whole afterlife thing is a mess."

Selina shakes her head to Catalina. “I've never actually tried to find out if someone is alive or dead before.I only thought I might be able to try. Normally... Well, personally, such things never bother me enough to need to check. But I do understand. At least, I try to understand."

Eithne stares up at Bal's face for a long moment, just listening to and watching the woman angst. She leans back against the bar a moment, still keeping herself mostly in the moowolf's lap. She's looking very contemplative, rolling an idea around in her head, before she nods to
herself and shakes a paw out. For a moment, it seems almost like she's going to try and slap some sense into the very dangerous being she's sitting on... but the hand snaps for her collar, instead, and tries to pull her down into a kiss. It isn't a very deep one, and more affectionate than passionate, but the neko hopes it'll shock the woofcow out of her angst mode.

Skylar sighs and neatly folds the wrapper back and hands it over to Selina with both hands, half-bowing again. "Uh, thanks, Selina..." She then makes her way back to the bar and tip-taps her claws on the bar as Eithne kisses Balina.

Selina nods a bit and slips it away, sighing. "Sorry I'm not much help."Catalina blinks, that has happend to Balina more then once, in her sight, the vulpine makes a msall face at the scene, but turns to Selina instead, "Hey, at least you're trying!" she offers, smirking a touch."

Balina is surprised, Eithne must be credited for that. At least recognizing that, yes, there is a nekomata dressed up in her lap, Balina makes a few false starts, then manages, "Almost everything I said was that Inari had no right to act as they had been. That showing signs of individuality and free will was no reason to discard hundreds of years of service for hundreds of years of torture. I demanded that both be released, or I'd eat Foxheart's host."

Cygnus sighs and stands up, grabbing her jacket from behind the bar "Sadly, Bal... If you'd eaten him, I’ve shot you." The dark bunny gives a nod to everyone and heads out of the pub without another word.

Balina gives a single, sharp laugh.

Catalina blinks a little at what Balina says, and asks, "Wait, why didn't you just threaten to Eat Inari? What's with eating her host, I dunno what that woulda done, then again, the whole relationship confuses me." She admits with a sigh, turning to watch the others for a moment. "She calls after Cygnus, "And she'da eaten you, your gun aunt big enough."

"You are a good person." Eithne begins, now that she's sure she has the woofcow's attention. There's also a poke to her stomach for emphasis. "And you meant well, whatever the outcome is. Yes, it may not be what you intended. Yes, we're not sure on the state of Foxheart and host. But /you tried your best/, whatever the outcome is and will be, and /that is what matters/." She's living up to her name, it seems, and there's an almost audible crackle of flame as she gives Balina an intent look, and emphasis her next sentence with a poke at each word. "Everything. Will. Work. Out. Despite the naysayers. I'm sure there are people who weren't happy with your threat, but I understand it and your position." She turns around and flops back against the cowwolf. "Now stop beating yourself up over it and scritch me. Or so help me flame, I'll kiss you again and use tongue!" As if to emphasis that, she sticks the little pink muscle out at the canid bovine cross.

Skylar turns suddenly to the dark bunny. "What the hell-you know what? I won't even bother..." She then turns again to Balina and Eithne, beak nuzzling Bal's cheek for a second before jumping off her stool. "Eithne is pretty good at this cheering up stuff...I'll retire myself for the night...and...again, you were the right one today, stop saying 'wah wah I was wrong' and all that stuff..." She then stars making her way to the stairs.

Catalina waves a bit to Skylar, saying, "Sleep well!" before closing her eyes to relax and chew her bone.

Balina sighs, but at least brings her paw up to do its duty as she looks to Skylar. "I stand by everything I did in there. Every growl, every word, every threat. That's not what was bugging me. Speaking of threats," over to Catalina, "I don't stand a chance against Inari. But we learned recently that getting my teeth into a dedicant means putting Fenris' teeth to the god. Probably wouldn't have killed Inari, but they would have felt it. Like chewing their spleen from the inside." To nobody at all, "Given how that piece of shit needed two hours of cleaning, I'm not going to trust it would have fired, let alone stopped a Balinawolf." And finally, to Eithne, "The part I was upset about before realizing I may have just wasted everyone's time was that Rihko watched me do all of that. I'm sure you can connect the dots."

Eithne flicks Balina's nose with her tail, lightly, giving a light scoff. "And Rihko is an understanding soul and, while she may be annoyed at you in the short term, will eventually forrgive you. Especially if you make entrreaties to herrr and continue trrreating herrr as the
frrriend she is thrrroughout." Then she snuggles more into the wolfcow's lap, relaxing. "If you don't regret your actions, stop regretting the consequences and buck up. Face them, keep your chin up, and continue treating people as if everything was right as rain."

Catalina listens, and says, "OH-oh... That makes sense, attack via proxy... That makes the threat make more sense..." She considers that, "And I dunno, Rihko seems dedicated, though I'm willing to bet she woulda backed yourr decision, Rihko isn't Sorien." She says, noddiiing,
and then going back into the bone, "And yeah, I don't think it'a killed
ya... And if guns woulda been coming out, you've got one trigger happy vixen that'a made a paperweight outta that rabbit.";

Balina relents, eventually. Sulking is hard work, anyway. "I still want to know that I wasn't completely wasting my time. My poor ego has taken enough for today. So, how was your day, o vanquisher of moderate angst?"

"My day was alrrright. A bit of ferrral mop-up forrr crrredit with Zephyrrr. Worrrking on a new prrrototype forrr an idea. Lots of napping." Eithne closes her eyes, curling up in Bal's lap. "I
think Dirrrt's trrrying to give my narrrcolepsy so he can toy with my drrreams morrre. Lessons, he says, on rrrecognizing when I'm drrreaming."

Despite where the poor cat's intentions may have been, this does nothing for the wolfcow's mood. Wrapping arms underneath Eithne, Balina sets her down on a lounger, then prepares to leave.

Eithne watches Bal as the woman prepares to leave, remaining where she was put for the moment. "Bad topic. Noted. If you want to talk about anything, Bal, or just want someone else to be there, you know how to reach me."

"Plenty of things I /want/ to talk about, nothing that I /should/." Balina gives a distracted wave over her shoulder as she climbs the stairs. "I need to clear my head. And probably get a very long night's sleep. Try me tomorrow." With that, the Balina has left the building.

Eithne murrs a little, watching Bal head out, and then curls up for the moment with a muttered "And why shouldn't you...?"

[[Category:RPLogs]][[Category:Crystala Events]]

Old as Dirt:Disbelief/Chapter 2

2012-04-02T05:37:18Z

Crystala: moved Old as Dirt:Disbelief/Chapter 2 to Old as Dirt: Disbelief/Chapter 2: improper spacing.

#REDIRECT [[Old as Dirt: Disbelief/Chapter 2]]

Old as Dirt: Disbelief/Chapter 2

2012-04-02T05:37:18Z

Crystala: moved Old as Dirt:Disbelief/Chapter 2 to Old as Dirt: Disbelief/Chapter 2: improper spacing.

( Dark is falling, and falling, it feels like forever. Spinning in nothingness, until he falls into water, the cold splash hitting his fur with almost a shock. As he crawls his way out, he seems to pull himself slowly from the water's surface, a new image. His body made up of marks hovering in the air much like the Coyote that was mocking him. His hands, now paws, are little more than the ends of matchsticks, but still seem to move in a fluid form and allow for locomotion. He's in a wide and empty endless pit of nothingness, except for an ankh, in the distance, giant and growing up into the skyless space above. )

You page, "you appear yourself, alone with him, somewhere else. Space is hard to tell, in fact, it's getting harder to make any sense out of space now. He gives you a look that you catch the meaning of rather fast, thumping his black spot of a nose against you." to Eithne.

Darkwyrm turns around in circles on his four limbs, triyng to get a good look at himself. "The fuck?", he thinks to himself. "Great, now I'm poisoned and hallucinating." He paws at his face, trying to get at an invisible itch until he realizes the itch is more like a compulsion.. a compulsion to look up.. and walk towards the sign in the sky.
In a page-pose to you, Eithne can think of a couple looks he could be giving Eithne. Elaboration?

You page, "he wants something out of you. You don't /have/ to give it, but the answer is clearly sex. He's not had anyone in his shape or realm in ages to take advantage of like this." to Eithne.

In a page-pose to you, Eithne thought so, on the meaning of the look. And she understands on the RP bit.)) After several moments of consideration, Eithne licks his snout and gives in. She can understand loneliness, after all.

The wind blows across his inky flesh, blowing pieces of water off of the image that is darkwyrm. It feels amazingly real right now, more than any hallicination could ever hope to be. He however is not confronted, rather he's given a clear path, and clear image that he heads toward. The shape pressing into the back of his mind, bringing out memories of the time below the earth, where he first gained the shape of the Jackal.

You page, "That occupies quite a period of time, the feelings are like the real thing, you can feel every aspect of it, and when he floods you, you feel glorious warmth. Images flooding into your mind of the dreamscapes he's painted, the dreams he's shown to people who have shaped the world. You see flashes of things that haven't happened yet, so much information it's nearly overwhelming and all happens right at the climax." to Eithne.

In a page-pose to you, Eithne tries to hold on to some of those images - she doesn't particularly care what, just... something poignant. Something hopeful. And, afterwards, she'd nuzzle at him, pay him some affection and closeness.
The thoughts drift through his head.. the images of countless assassination targets in his past life, his familiarity with death, it's inner workings, the fine lines that divide the planes of life and afterlife. He remembers the innermurable times he's felt the warm lifeblood of a victim running down the dagger planted in their heart and over his hands. Then he remembers when he put all of the pieces together. He solved death's mystery.. mastered it's essence, felt it's power coursing through him, and he believed it to be all his doing..

The ankh is closer, making progress across the baren land. The memories of the lifeblood seeping from his victims intensifies, overwhelming and causing his head to spin once more. The image of the ankh showing a jackal shaped figure, anubis himself, stabbing Dark himself in the chest, his shape when he was once human, as he struggles. The knife finding his still beating heart, and spurts of blood bursting around the ceremonial dagger. The jackal man carves a circle in the man's chest who's still struggling, and then he reaches in and pulls out the heart and brings it up to his muzzle.

You page, "You cling to a shape, a pattern of something that you've never seen before, ever, but you instantly know what it does. The coyote shaped godling returns the affections, seemingly happy to find both respect, adoration, and willingneess from the new figure. He eventually speaks saying, "I can't keep you like this for long, or you will cease to be, the lovely creature you are. We must make the most of this time, and see if we can find that clueless twat of a friend of yours before he also fades into the ether. Follow me, and I will teach you many things before our time is done."" to Eithne.

Darkwyrm wheezes for air, almost as if he actually feels the pain. His thoughts are overwhelmed with the image of his human face, the scarred, near-emotionless mask draining of its color as his essence pours out of his chest cavity. He drop to his knees, mouthing silent words, stunned into disbelief. His ink coyote form colapses onto its side, weak and weary from the overwhelming feelings. However, he musters the strength to carry on, dragging himself to his feet and inching forward.

In a page-pose to you, Eithne glees. GLEES. (Both IC and OOC) Ears perked right up, tail wagging happily she nods and bounds around. "He's not a friend of mine, actually, but I know some at the pub are fond of him, and I'd rather not see a soul vanish into the void. So yes, let's go get him. I'm open to any lessons you wish to bestow upon me, Teacher."

He can't help but feel like death is catching up behind him. He does not look back, for if he does, he fears he will be overwhelmed. Dragging, and hefting himself forward despite the pain and agony at seeing his own heart torn out. He continues towards the ankh, the spring of life renewed. And then to his side he sees that coyote loping that mocked him before, a smaller one following just behind. It gives a look of encouragement but doesn't seem to be coming any closer.

Darkwyrm snaps at the other two coyotes, as their presence distracts him from his path. The emanant force guides him like a lighthouse in the hazy blackness. He isn't sure what it is, but he knows he needs to get to it.. to touch it.. to bask in its glow. The itch in his head grows stronger, and it battles with his feelings of dread, the void that follows close behind him.

Eithne ambles along beside Coyote, examining the scene before them as she glances between the Anhk and Dark, and the void behind him. She glances over to the larger 'yote, and then back again, questioningly, even as she sets herself on a (slow) path to follow the Jackal closely, wardingly.

The larger, marked coyote doesn't seem to respond to Dark's threat, rather he nudges Eithne in the direction of the void behind. Its an overwhelming sea of nothingness rushing upon them. In front of Dark the Jackal on the screen bites into the heart, eating it whole, gulping down his essence, and he feels a pain in his chest, the strength in his muscles fleeing.

Darkwyrm's hind legs give out, the muscles suddenly refusing to respond as the pain becomes unbearable. He keeps trying though, dragging his body forward with his forelegs. In his mind, he futilly reaches out in an attempt to stop the jackal from devouring his heart. His eyes go bloodshot and shift from steel-blue to crimson. He coughs, and a spatter of blood hits the ground in front of him.

The void is catching up quickly, a wisp of something reaching out and grasping around Dark's leg. It strikes right into the muscle, filling it with the chill of death itself.

Eithne glances between Coyote, Darkwyrm, and the encroaching Nothingness. "Yes, teacher? What do you wish me to do with it...? Stand fast as a beacon of Light and Creation, or help him flee it towards the Anhk and all it stands for?" But she follows his nudging, moving into the path between the Void and Dark, steps sure and full of purpose... though she really has no idea what her purpose /is/ in the movements, yet, even as she subconsciously tries to reach for the Fire Within.

( Dark's leg seems to shrivel, the marks composing his designish leg turning dull and gray, as if the color had been sucked out of it. He whines like a dog in pain and pants heavily, struggling to keep pulling himself forward. His perseverence wins out over his pain though, and he waveringly drags himself onward. )

The marked Coyote leaps toward the tendril, severing it in his jaws, letting Dark continue. He nudges eithne towards the wound, while he standa tall against the void, his hackles raising as the flooding void approaches. His message is clear, help.

Eithne nods to the larger coyote, and moves over to Dark. She pauses at the shriveled leg, and then leans down to lap at it gently... with a tongue of fire that paints more color into it, helping work it to what it was before the tendril grasped the jackal. Then she moves up his body and squirms under one of his arms, helping support him and drag him forwards, towards the Anhk. She doesn't look back, but sends a few silent prayers to her 'Teacher' all the same. "C'mon. We need to get you moving."

Darkwyrm feels a measure of invigoration reenter his body. The colors return to his leg and he's able to stand again. He stands tall and proud (at least as tall as a quadruped can) and with renewed determination starts striding forward again, aided by the other coyote. In his mind-image, his body collapses forward, faceplanting into the dry sands. Moments pass, his corpse still and silent. However, he moves again. Life comes back to him. He grasps the sand and wrings it between his fingers. His eyes glow with a pure golden light and he uneasily pulls himself back to his feet, his body refusing to give into death so easily.

The Ankh grows nearer to the two, and the image Dark sees of the Anubis figure offers a hand to support him.
Behind there's a silent yelp as the void crashes over the image of the coyote, the one known as dirt blowing into the ether as it continues to encroach.

Eithne flinches as the yelp washes over them, but... plows on. There's nothing she can do to help, that she knows of, beyond making sure everything keeps moving forwards. So she keeps at Dark's side as they continue towards the Ankh, exuding a comforting warmth all the while.

Darkwyrm's image reaches out to grasp the jackal's hand. His own hand turn's black as fur grows over it, reaching down his arm and quickly envoloping his body. He gets up fully, now a complete jackal once more. The inks composing CoyoteDark's eyes change hues from blue to green to yellow and twinkle brightly as he nears the ankh. His tail shift back and forth subtlely and the curvy lines of his arms and legs pulse with newfound power.

As they bask in the glow of the ankh, Anubis himself reaches down and swipes up both Eithne, and the changing Darkwyrm into his palm, and then swallows them both. Darkwyrm gasps awake, downstairs in the training room below the pub, having fallen through the floor. Eithne, still in the shape of a two dimensional drawing, is also laying /above/ the floor, no longer stuck in the wall, although Dark doesn't notice her til she moves.

Eithne spins and twirls in the air above the floor, trying to catch a glimpse of the mind-boggling way her form works in 3D. She does spend a moment afterwards to examine Dark's form, and make sure he's alright and intact, sitting back on her haunches as she looks over. "Are you alright, then? Everythings where it should be, sense of power over death all intact and strong? He didn't replace anything with a cartoon or leave a message scrawled in uncomfortable places...?"

Darkwyrm lays on his back, still and silent, but then his eyes shoot open and he stares at the ceiling for several moments, not sure if he's awake or dreaming. Of course the swirling image of a coyote over him doesn't help much, but he grunts and slowly pushes himself off the ground, cringing as he feels the bruises from his fall. "That.. was some crazy shit."

"Dreamquests usually are, Jackal. Do you believe in those powers generally beyond mortal ken now?" Eithne sounds amused, as she begins pacing back and forth, squirming from side to side to maximize her reality-bending animation. "It isn't often something like Dirt, since he consented to the name, deigns to give a lesson like that. Though I do wonder why he used me to help you with it. I'm sure he has his reasons, though."

Darkwyrm lowers his head and pants a few times before rolling onto his knees and sitting up. "Mortality.. is relative.", he says. "It always has been. My fault was that I thought myself to be my own beneficiary in unlocking the secrets to pulling those of the mortail coil closer towards their afterlife." He shakes his head, scowling. "Foolish. Killing people for a living and respecting the dead don't bring you closer to enlightenment.. but pleasing a god.. that, despite the unlikelyhood of it, is an explanation for power."

Eithne grins widely, showing off a multitood of cave-cartoonish teeth. "Good! You're learning. Though I meant more minds born into mortality - it takes a bit more than merely transcending death with the aid of another to move outside that bracket. I'm a phoenix most of the time. I know. But you /believe/, now, that the supernatural and Divine exist. Which, I think, means lesson learned. Don't you feel good about yourself?" She sproings around the jackal with cartoon physics, giving some braying, barking laughter as she indulges in the form. "I think you can head upstairs again, now, though I'm not exactly sure until Teacher makes his appearance."

"No, I can't say that I feel good at all.", Dark grunts. "My head is pounding, my ass is bruised, and my leg throbs. Oh, there's that whole 'I'm not in charge of my own destiny' thing too. Or whatever. I think I liked it better when I believed we as hmmm 'humans' were the great beings of the mortal plane." He gets to his feet wearily and starts walking towards the steps.

Eithne gives that barking laugh again, and grins to Dark's back. "Why do you think they need worship?" It's her only response to things, before she 'curls up' to wait in the center of the training room, tail swinging around and ears perked. She has someone to wait for, after all, as far as she's aware.

Eithne waits for a long, long time, nothing but silence, no company. Eventually she sneaks out of the bar, returning to her home. She walks right through the door into her bedroom, to find a pile of dead fish all over the ground, and Dirt, laying on her bed with a grin.

Eithne rolls her eyes, taking a moment to glance around, before she pounces the grinning Dirt with a whistling cry! "So this is where those fish swam off to. Quite the mess you've left me to clean up, oh teacher. And here I thought you'd appreciate the 'bigger fish' metaphor I was going for." She tries to playfully tussle with her 'Teacher', grinning back at him.

He licks Eithne, awkward and dizzying considering the shapes between the two, and then says, "I appreciated a lot of things you did, which is why I gave you this chance to see what it is to make dream, rather than be a victim of it. I see you haven't changed back into your old skin like the other, does that mean you still want time for lessons?" grinning widely, almost comically so.

Eithne licks back, nodding and settling in beside the coyote. "I do. I have many thoughts and ideas and curiosities, any anything learned will help me solve them, in the end. And the dreams you've painted..." She shakes her head, unable to cut the awe from her tone. "I could learn so much from you."

The coyote leans in and whispers softly into Eithne's ear, so low and so inaudible, which is odd considering there's no one there. He says, "You can join me instead of dreaming each night if you'd like. I can show you how I walk the dreamscape." then he licks Eithne's ear, and lecherously says, "And all you have to do is submit to me when I want."

Eithne giggles, the ear twitching 'away' from the tongue, and 'leans' against the other coyote for a moment while she considers her response. "That would be something. Something amazing and breathtaking..." She nuzzles her head against his neck, eyeing him. "And I'm... actually inclined to agree. For reasons beyond the knowledge. I... I know what it's like to be alone, to walk a seperate path by yourself - and even if you interact with people, if they're not on a similar level it's hard to consider them breaking up the loneliness. Is it... like that for you?" She 'inclines' her head, watching Dirt's response.

He glares for a moment at the woman, making assumptions about him. It clashes with his ego. However, the words ring true, truer than he would like to admit, and his head comes down onto his paws. "I admit, that's why I enjoy making appearances. I'm tired of dreamwalking alone. And the dreams of late have grown hopeless and bleak. It's hard for me to find the energy to keep creating for a people than wants to die."

Eithne nods. Assumptions make an ass out of me and you, but she's a scientist and trained to observe. She 'snuggles' in beside him, and licks at his muzzle. "My answer, then, is yes. I will walk with you in my dreams, talk with you and larn from you, and consent to lay with you there. But you've got to promise me that it won't be mostly the last, hm?" The last sentence is teasing, for all that she means it. "I would scarce wish lasting loneliness on my enemies, let alone friends. And maybe some of my fire can kindle hope in your heart, hm?"

He nods, "I promise it will not come to this always, but my heart and loins are both lonely, and I would like to look upon you in your prefered shape, let me see you give yourself to me completely when you aren't at my mercy." and as he speaks, Eithne's already becoming three dimensional, and her form shifting back to her prefered shape.

Eithne slowly shifts into a waifish young woman, thin and pale. But, ultimately, human looking as she lays below the coyote. She strokes her red hair in a nervous gesture, matching nail polish from the transformation gleaming in the light, and then reaches up to feel at his 'fur' with her 3D, normal hands, to test the feeling. "I... don't actually assume it much. There are so many other forms in my stable that I toy with and experiment with. But, in privacy... This is what I really relax like. When I relax."

His eyes are full of fire, the heat radiating off of him, and touching him feels like touching a normal coyote, his fur soft and lush, even though eithe's hand is still tracing the extremities of the image. It's actually quite facinating how it works, but there's little time before the crude illustration makes it known what its after. He does, however admit, "You're beautiful in all your shapes, and your dreams, your vision of making things better fills me with both lust and joy. With you, maybe we can help humanity find its spark again." and then he presses his nose to Eithne's neck and snuffs and licks. Eventually he loses his ability to speak, the smells, and scents and instincts overriding.

Eithne gasps as he lets that lust be known, and whispers into his ear; "I am Phoenix. I am Fire. But more importantly... I am Hope. Of Life, of Rebirth. That something beautiful can come from the end. That from the ashes, a wonder can rise. Before and after her blessing... that was so." And she wraps her arms around him throughout the act, burying her face in his fur and taking in the heat and scent, the passion and the joy.

[[Category:RPLogs]][[Category:Crystala Events]]

Old as Dirt: Disbelief/Chapter 2

2012-04-02T01:18:04Z

Crystala: Created page with "( Dark is falling, and falling, it feels like forever. Spinning in nothingness, until he falls into water, the cold splash hitting his fur with almost a shock. As he crawls ..."

Old as Dirt: Disbelief/Chapter 1

2012-04-02T01:16:48Z

Crystala: Created page with "Grantok wanders downstairs and swiftly makes a bee-line for the bar, not even halfway there and onto a stool before attempting to flag down a Tagling to place her order. Micke..."

Grantok wanders downstairs and swiftly makes a bee-line for the bar, not even halfway there and onto a stool before attempting to flag down a Tagling to place her order.
Mickey has left.

Crys nods in Grantok's direction. "Can you please tell your friend not to paint pictures in Foxheart's head. It was really impolite."

Catalina keeps a little distance from the three for now, moving to a corner to watch instead, "Yeah, Bal's pretty smart." she says, grinning a bit, and curling up tightly into her ball.
"Hopefully I'll get a little more useful as I learn more. Oh, Hiya Gran."

Narg shifts her paw a bit in the fire before brining it out and setting the firehot paw on her muzzle

"Y'know, I wouldn't mind meeting this 'Dirt' - what does he call himself, anyway? - properly and having an honest conversation with him. Have any of you treated him politely...?" Of course mentions of Coyote, veiled or not, bring Eithne out of her introspective world of equations and ideas. She has far more based on him, after all.

Grantok frowns slightly in Crys's direction. "I'd be happy if I could get him to stop painting pictures in /my/ head, let alone anyone else. Hell, didn't even know that the upstart was doing anything." Her ears flatten a little. "Seems someone is just full of surprises."

Foxheart shivers a little as Grantok enters. "It's...it's okay. I just won't use my clairvoyance around her..." She waves at Grantok.

As always, Balina provides very little resistance to Aidantails. "The real question was why he was painting things not even regular Coyote was around for," she mentions, then mutters something to Aidan as she comes within range.

Grantok returns the pleasantries dispensed her way in kind. "You mean like how can he know the fine details of how he was created if he wasn't even in existance in the first place? I'd just chalk it up to one of those supernatural mysteries in life. Or just the fact that he can get inside heads. Take your pick."

Crys reaches out and scritches Balina, "I'm not really sure if it was him at all, but why she was assaulted by my private thoughts makes no sense otherwise..." and then her head tilts, "Clairvoyance?" looking at Fox.

Aidan shakes her head as she hears Balina's whisper. She hugs tighter Balina and Crys, keeping them close and warm nuzzling harder against the wolfcow's neck.

Catalina blinks at Clairvoyance, you don't wanna see into my mind, trust me." the fox says, and then returns to her curled up quiet self for now. Dirt having been a recurring converstaion bordering on old news, it's clear the fox is quickly out of it.

Foxheart nods slowly at Crystala. "What I do to read minds. Though I don't really get a clear picture unless the person trusts me fully." She shudders, taking a sip from her cup to calm herself. "My powers are quite severely weakened when I...I..." She pauses for a moment, eying Crystala warily. "Uhh. Posession." She finally decides to say.

Crys sighs, "Fox, I don't blame you anymore. If I had the chance to cut your goddess' throat for what she did to you, I would, but not you. Nobody deserves that kind of hell. Nobody."
In the deep of night, it is not safe for man or beast in the world gone mad.

"I don't know. I'd kinda wish it on Shadow, y'know?" Eithne comments idly, already turning back towards metanl exercises. "Hrm. I wonder... Hey, Aidan, can I have a blood sample please? I promise I won't do any mad SCIENCE! to it." She looks up and tries to meet the foxy lady's eyes in the mess of tales and fur and cuddles. "Though, that also reminds me of something else. What's the running list of people Shadow has possessed?"

Balina intones, "The origin story is wrong. It's just a story, and goes against what we already have. No conflict." An arm is wrapped around Aidan, the moowoof spending a few moments with her face buried in fur before continuing, "It's when he starts showing us things that are actually true that I worry."

Foxheart smiles weakly. "Thank you. But the feelings that I had that day were so strong...at least until Grantok left." Her gaze is more or less centered on Balina, who clearly made the most impact on the kitsune.

Crys looks at Eithne, "For certain? Myself, the originator, Ferox, and now Hare. He had his tendrils inside Sorien and Cilan at points. Taggart, for certain, had an aspect of him. And if the tales are true, Coyote. Oh and Elaine...

Grantok's tails twitch at the mention of possession. It's clear she has an opinion on the subject, even if she doesn't actually voice what it is. Instead she turns about and begins eating the kabobs that the Tagling just delivered. She does glance over her shoulder in the kitsune's direction. "Sorry if the upstart gave you a shake up."

Catalina sits up, leaning against the wall from her spot on the floor, pulling out a cigar, "Wonder if russ'll miss this." she smirks, lighting it, "Yeah, Staying well clear of that Shadow stuff, I'd be a bloody puppet if I got anywhere near him, most likely." she says, staying quiet.

Eithne hrms, and scribbles that down on a new page. "... Hrm. Who on that list /hasn't/ also been blessed or tainted by another supernatural source, and that I can reasonably take a blood sample from?"

Aidan nods at Eithne. "Yes.. it's not an issue. I already gave a lot of samples to the zephyr's scientists." the fox murrs, clearly thinking to something that is making her smile, but she keeps that for herself. "Still, I'm not sure that you'll find much... those nanites seems to not be able to... well, 'live' outside their host.". She turns to Balina, nuzzling her back and holding her closer, an arm around the wolfcow's waist.

Crys looks at Eithne. "Do you know Sparhawk's daughter, the former coyote packmind that has grown conciousness and became her own person? You could ask her."

Foxheart smiles at Eithne. "I could give you a sample of my host's blood if you wish. Maybe check his health. I have no way of telling anything apart from hunger, thirst or pain."

"I'm getting deja vu," Balina mutters. "Didn't we go through this earlier today, when Solixis asked the same thing? You want 'clean' samples, go find the new people as they come into the lobby. Offer them some waders when you do."

Eithne makes a so-so motion. "I don't understand the packmind nanites, and that would probably interfere with my results. It is an idea, however, and I will ask her about things Crys." She glances over to Foxheart, and looks the kitsune up and down a moment. "Thank you. I can do a checkup, though I'm more 'forensic examiner' than 'doctor' when it comes to living beings. I'm a savant for experimentation, not, well... fixing people. You're better to ask Snowblind about that. My methods are... rather painful." And then a pause, and she swats Bal on the nose. "And I'm looking for people who have been host to Shadow, and Shadow alone, so I can test them against previous results from my research into Crystala's blood."

Foxheart lets out a soft 'ahh'. "Interesting. My host won't die as long as I'm around, but I want to spare him any pain he might be feeling." She looks into her empty cup and sighs.

Catalina listens to talk of hosts and packminds, and then she looks to Foxheart, "Wait, you're host can see though your eyes and all, right, can he speak to you in your head or somthing?"

Grantok removes the last piece of meat from a skewer and pops it into her mouth. "Cooperative and caring, hmm. Little refreshing to hear that. I'd begun to think that all the divine were simply jerks." She glances upwards towards the rafters and speaks sarcastically to no one in particular. "Maybe there's a lesson in there for someone."

Foxheart shakes her head. "Complete control. It's my punishment." She doesn't say anything more.

Balina winces at swatting, retreating further into her tail fort. "What about things in Shadow's thrall? There are an awful lot more of those than there are people who survived Shadow possession."

Mickey slips into the pub with a few loose feathers trailing behind in her wake. Thankfully there's no parrot about, but she does have that boombox of her's playing out a light little caribbean steelpan song that's oddly tropical for an end-of-the-year season. Least she has the mind to have it set pretty low, for now.

"I was under the impression they maintained their haunts to certain areas none of you want to visit or bring up every again." Eithne pouts at Bal, and then curls up on the lounger. "Though that is a good suggestion. Hrm. Where did you say it had made a good foothold, again? May try luring something to the boundaries and then ambushing them for a sample..." She taps her eraser on her chin, thoughtful.

Grantok flattens her ears against her head. "Not reassuring in the least to hear that bit." She glances back to the ceiling. "And don't get any funny ideas. I'm not about to go giving up any more than I absolutely have to."

Aidan nuzzles against Balina's hair, giving her quite a comfortable fort of tails. She seems to growing tired yet, the fox more a source of just warmth and purring right now.

Catalina's ear turns to the music, "Heya Mickey!" she prrs, then looking to Crys, "Ya'll figure out somthing, I'm sure of it... We'd be more helpful, but Russ and I aren't really experts in devine stuffs."

Balina shakes yet more deja vu out of her head. "Probably the oldest problem I remember hearing about in here. Sacramento was on everyone's lips back in February, and I don't think any ideas have come up since." A wave is issued from the pile that hypothetically contains one wolfcow, but it's rather difficult to determine attempted body language beyond that.

Foxheart raises a hand. "I suppose I can help you out a little...I have quite a bit of experience with gods. But I don't know anything about the one you're chasing." She looks at the pile of tails and sniggers.

Mickey raises a hand to touch her hat fingers-to-brim in a mimed greeting to Cat, giving a smile and slotting into an empty seat as unobtrusively as possible. As much as one can do with steelpan music anyway. She's much more content to listen in and evesdrop as she enjoys her break.

"Ideas have come up. Just that not many of them have panned out like we've wanted to." Grantok points at her own toothy grin before continuing. "Case and point. Better question to be asked is are we any closer to a solution?"

Grantok sighs and shakes her head. "Point me to a place that has a translation of Old Language of the Gods to modern English and I'll gladly finish them. Only the seven as of right now. Even knowing what's written on them doesn't mean that I know how to use them beyond the one ritual."

Balina makes more vague body language from within her prison. "Thought I'd ask. It seems like one of our few leads right now. Admitted, the problem is from before my time, so there's a lot I simply don't know about it."

Eithne blinks at Grantok, and then sighs and shakes her head. She flips to a clean page, and very carefully sketches out an image from memory. "Coyote, could I speak to you?" She tries adressing 'Dirt', glancing about the room and putting the comment towards no one present, the image of the time she saw him held firmly in her mind, just as it is put cleanly on her paper. As Above, So Below. She hopes.

Cilan trudges back downstairs, holding what looks to be an old dish rag against her stomach, on close inspection there seems to be a bit of crimson staining the middle of it, though judging by the smirk pulled across Cilan's lips she doesnt seem to care about it, or the other still-healing wounds covering her form. At the bottom of the stairs Cilan glances around the room and offers a friendly wave to those familiar to her before making her way to the back hallway.

Foxheart watches the mass of tails, following their conversation. "I don't know the details of your problem, but I'll help if you need me to." She walks over to the samovar to grab a fresh cup of tea.

Catalina smiles a bit at Mickey after a moment, "I've not seen you in here much, how are ya doin?" she asks, turning from the group's conversation to the mall rat for a moment.

Mickey's ears clink softly as she turns her head to look back to the stairs. The sight of Cilan moving by warrents a look of concern from the rodent, but since she appars to be smiling and otherwise untroubled Mickey allows Cat to district her. "Mm? Oh, fine, fine," she smiles. "Catching up on work, getting back in touch. Yourself?"

From out of the back hall, and over the sound of something sizzling Cilan calls out, "I overheard you were looking for a book on old languages, Gran. You ever try one of those linguistics classes in one of the Universities? Y'never know, you might find a tome, or just some notes that havent been destroyed yet."

"Evening, Cilan!" calls Aidan's tails, rustling. "Tests looked okay this morning. Still feeling yourself?" The wolfcow currently has most of her senses tied up, and is completely unaware of anything save for voices.

Catalina says, "Same, not seen much of Russell lately, and just chillin out here like a bum, should go out and do some work." she chuckels, before waving to Cilan as she passes, before calling after her, "Heya Cil!" The vulpine finds a spot to curl up again, listening quietly.

Aidan giggles and strokes softly between the two wolfcow's ears peeking out from her tails.
At first there's nothing at all, until movement on the drawing catches Eithne's eye. The image winks at her, and drawn words, laughter appear on the page, silent. It only seems to animate for Eithne thought.

Eithne curls up on her lounger, all by her lonesome, and begins a written discussion. [Hello! We haven't met. I go by Eithne. I understand you're Coyote?]

"Yeah, still me in here, Bal!" Cilan says as she escapes the back hallway carrying a plate holding both a burger and fries. "As I said, if anything awry goes on, you'll be the first I tell." sitting on one of the barstools next she glances to Grantok and waves, "How'd you sleep, old friend"

Mickey chuckles. "Nothing's wrong with chilling through it all," Mickey nods as her gaze wanders. Pile of tails, more tails..science; "So what's been going on? It seems the city as a whole has been a lot more active since the last time I flew into town.."

Grantok smiles in Cilan's direction. "Hi Cil. I've been over Sori's private collection of books from the libraries. Good as anything that can be found in the universities now. Most of my little sabbatical was trying to find answers to those questions." She shrugs. "Again. No better, no worse. I hate to think that I'm actually getting used to the damn things every night."

An exposed, bovine ear flicks. "Still too soon for me to stop being giddy and/or worrying about it. I promise I'll stop asking within a week." Hopping conversations without hopping locations, "And getting used to the damned things sounds like 'better', if a very careful definition of it."

The image swirls around eating the words as they're drawn almost pacman like, the mass absorbing into his bloated tummy, and he swirls around, falling on his back, laughing. Entirely irritating since he makes no means to respond or even if he actually understood what the words were that he ate.

Eithne scribbles a deer on the page, watching the reaction.

Rihko slips down the stairs, paws in her pockets. She is smiling, and quietly whistling to herself as she enters the Den and gives the room a little nod and a wave. "Hey, people. Evenin'. How's it going?"

Catalina says, "Nothing much, it's calm here, got a text from the boss telling me the state of the lobby and wondering if I'd enjoy camping out front with a 12 pack and a few boxes of hundred grain..." She snrks, "Can't say either of us are into that much anymore, but considering, it sounded like a pleasent afternoon at the range." She waves at Rihko, "Heya Rihko."

And there's a deer in the room, it wasn't there a moment ago, standing, blankly staring in a very confused manner. It bleats at the sight of all the predators in the room.

Cilan reaches a clawed hand behind Grantok's ear and idly scritches the lynx, "Mm.. I see, and y'never know, it might just be the bodies natural coping mechanism. Either that or it's just not scary enough to wake you anymore. S'kinda like watching a horror movie over and over again, all of the parts that make you jump seem more, and more boring after a while." she just shrugs and offers the plate, "Fry?" she asks, "But that's just my idea.. I dunno."

"Becoming comfortable with the image of your friend being tortured and bled to death." Grantok shakes her head. "I'm more inclined to think 'no' in that instance."

More ear-twitching, and soon a Balina head is visible, nose twitching in the not-tail air as she begins to stare. "The hell do I keep missing?"

Eithne blinks at the deer in the corner. "Hey, Bal! Lunch." She points at it. And then uses the distance references to draw a school of fish above where she believes in the tailpile. Why? /Just because/.

Mickey lifts up her hat with a more formal greeting when she spies Rihko. Still, 'The Best of Caribbean Steelpan" mingles out from the speakers tucked under her chair, and the rodent sways lightly from side to side as she listens. "Oh?" she appears bemused by the comment, but shrugs it away and is about to change the topic when.. "..Th fuck?" She looks about again. There's a deer. Does everyone else see the deer? Or is she finally tripping out for good?

Rihko freezes and tilts her head to the side as she stares at the deer. "OK. Who brought that in here?" she asks.

Cilan blinks at the deer and scratches at the back of her head, "Uh.. someone's spirit animal, I'm guessing? Or is that just a case of one of the Taglings forgetting to hunt the animal before actually bringing it here."

The little image changes, the swirling school of fish swimming offpage, somewhere /else/.

The rat looks visibly relaxed once Rihko also points out the absurdity of a random cervine in the room. "Whew. Alright. I mean, don't look at me." Deer weren't cool to smuggle indoors.

Solixis meeps, surprised at the new object in the pub. She hugs Crystala. "What is that?"

Grantok's ears twitch as she turns about to face the sound. "The devil is going on here? That's not a spirit animal as far as I can tell. Looks too solid for that."

Crys turns to look at the thing, it looks back at the predator, staring directly at her, and then bolts for the door, bowling paste Rihko.

Eithne pouts at her notebook, and sketches a sadkitty in the corner of the page. And tries to appease Drawing-Coyote with a Drawing-Cake.

Solixis gets nervous. "Can someone please explain what is going on?" She holds Crystala's arm tighter.

Catalina looks at Rihko, "Wait, what are you-The FUCK?" she turns as she speaks, and stares at the deer... "Okay, right... Headingoutforthedaydontfeellikeseeingstrangeshitseeya." she says, making a quick job for the stairs.

The image seems to get bored and yawns. The second Coyote looks up at the original, eats the cake, and then looks up at eithne. It leaps out of the page at her, and she shifts.

Balina grumbles something about "Going to regret this", then casts off her tail bondage and goes after the deer. Her gait changes within a few steps, and by the time she reaches the middle of the pub, there is a bounding Balinawolf.

Mickey's relief turns into mild worry once again. "Erm. Someone should take care of it.." Really. It's staring. And creepy. Those things can really ruin a room, if the rat recalls.

Cilan blinks, "Uh.. I am so very confused right now." though she quickly shakes it off and blames it on the fact that it's not as strange as the usual stuff that happens in New Ireland.

Aidan sgrunts a bit at the sudden dash of Balina, the fox stirring up and looking confused at the scene.

Crys admits to Solixis, "I... I have no idea whats going on, but I think I'm..." she's interrupted by Eithne.

"Don't kill it in here!" Rihko calls out, wincing. "I don't want the blood stink. Chase it out." She sighs, then and warily makes her way up towards the bar. "Just HAD to say it was quiet, didn't you?" she mutters.

Eithne blinkblinks, staring at the page and rather new paws she's wearing. And then realizes something else rather poignant. She drops the notebook and reaches down to snatch up her quilt, wrapping it around herself. Her clothing was shifted from a mutation, after all. "Erm. Does anyone have some pants? And a shirt? Or something I could borrow for the moment? I... don't exactly want to shift out of this form at the moment actually." Coyote!Eithne inspects her paws.

( Eithne's journal has no sign of the image, beyond big scribbled Ha Ha with a little heart at the end. )

And with that, Balina has raised several notches in Mickey's little notebook of cool. Cervinicide would of been nice, but it's like watching a bizzaro-world episode of the Nature channel; totally entrancing. Mickey nearly misses the fact that someone else in the room changed as well until Eithne speaks up. "Well this is.." She struggles to find the word, then fails to. Rat's got nothing, sorry.

Solixis rummages in her backpack for a couple seconds. "I don't have any clothes in here, but I can make a makeshift Bandeau and skirt if you like." She has two pieces of cloth in her hands. "I've always had a couple spares, since this top does have a tendency to break."

[Outside] The deer manages the stairs... somehow. Bleating as it bolts away from Balina. But Balina is after and soon is upon the creature. She can smell its fear strong.

Catalina gets to the stairs, and says to Rihko, "Damn, even this place ain't safe anymore!" she says, dashing up the stairs.

Foxheart eyes the two canids running after the deer and frowns. "That was weird."

Rihko sighs and rubs a paw at her face, then shakes her head. "I've got some spare clothes in my room if you want to wait a bit." She heads for the back hallway, then.

Mickey would of been waving a big foam finger for Balina if she could. "Pfft, forget that, it's great!" Mickey counters with a glance over to Rihko. "Weird in a world of strange.."

Glancing to Catalina Cilan mumbles, "Rarely is, given our ties to Coyote, and Shadow, and all of that." she shrugs and looks to Eithne, "Huh.. might be something for Sorien to fix when she gets back.." looking over to Crystala she later calls out, "Speaking of which, mom, where is Sori? Out in the garage working Im guessing?"

Crys shakes her head, "Shes with the new ones. They're getting older now, and she's having to teach them important survival skills, so their urges don't get them hurt." she frowns a bit, letting the conversation distract her from the weirdness.

Foxheart shrugs. "Fair enough. I can't exactly call myself the run-of-the-mill vixen either."

And the little lynx pieces the bits together at the sight of Eithne. "Oh this isn't happening... Damnit all!" Grantok hops down from her stool and begins walking towards Eithne. "Since when do you just decide to get up pull pranks when I'm awake? I'll be you think this is quite the little joke."

A hissing whisper in Grantok's ear, says, "Yesssss."

[Outside] Balinawolf pounces, overtaking the poor deer slamming it to the ground not far from where Cilan was prone the night before. Looking her catch over, she feels its reassuring, struggling form under her paws, and drinks its panic like a fine wine. Once she's convinced that, yes, she's caught a real deer, she gives a sharp laugh, and bites down on, and through, its neck, giving a howl of triumph afterward.

[Outside] Catalina leaves the Deer to Balinawolf, choosing instead to entirely leave that section of town. The sound of Russell's helicopter his heard less then a minute later, followed by the sound of Catalina's tacitcal cowardice when the vehicle lifts off.

Eithne pokes her head out from under the blanket. "Erm, thanks for the offers, but I seem to have developed the wrong skeletal structure and musculature for wearing clothes after all. Hrm. This /is/ a rather interesting and new sensation, though... I don't think I have quite enough data to ensure my nanites can mimic the structure."

[Outside] The deer dies, as a deer should, no strangeness there. However, Balina does feel some itching in her tail.
<Mutation> Balina's ass becomes infected with Coyote!

Darkwyrm pads down into the pub, looking a little winded. He scratches his head and looks like he is gonna say something but pauses mid-word. "I ahh--" He rubs his forehead then points outside. "So that cow-wolf lady just ripped up a deer out there. Normal?", he asks.

Cilan nods understandingly, "I see, and I guess that's definately understandable.. you got any jobs lined up for them in the future? I'm guessing they'll probably help the Taglings in the fields or something? Unless they take after Sori, that is.. and we might just have a crack team of mechanics on our ha--.." her sentence though is cut off as she watches Grantok stand up and yell.

Solixis pulls the feral coyote Eithne onto her lap and wraps her in the quilt after grabbing the quilt and the notebook from the former nekomata's lap. "I hope you don't mind."

Mickey sets her elbows down on the table to prop a hand under her chin. She's watching the action as if it was a spanish soap that the telly had accidently turned to; may have a very limited gasp of context to work on, but still fascinating with what she overhears. "Man, remind me to get her a medal," she quips to Darkwyrm.

"Isn't enough playing head games with me, had to branch out and pester everyone else here too?" Grantok looks absolutely livid, her hackles raised. "Boredom? Or have you some sort of convoluted lesson to pass on about all of this? Cause you certainly have done 'Oh so well!' in that regard thus far. Hmm?"

"Alright then.. Second question, what the hell is a deer doing here?", Dark asks. "I hope it wasn't anyone important." He shakes his head, rolling his eyes in a vexed manner and moving to pour himself some tea.

Eithne squirms onto Sol's lap, snuggling in for the moment. "Hrm. I think I still break the pub rules, but that depends on Rihko at this point. I am covered. Could you tuck the notebook into that harness by the lounger's feet, Sol? Thanks."

Grantok snaps an answer in Dark's direction unintentionally. "Someone's idea of a joke. Even if it is a lame one."

Balina re-enters, not too long after she left. Her mouth has been reddened, and she's still Balinawolf-shaped, with her tail wagging furiously. Oh, and she's cackling. "That was great!" she howls, "I was just telling Spar and Elaine how much I wanted to hunt some real game, and here it is. Dirt, you get a free pass next time. This made my night." Still giggling, in the way only thousand pounds or so of wolf can, she pads to some empty floor space, curling up and continuing her tailborne assault against the floor. Her night has been made.

Rihko returns from the back hallway, carying some of her spare clothes; she crosses over to Eithne and smiles at her, offering her a plain white t-shirt and a pair of Taggart's pants. "Here." She nods, then looks over at Dark. "It was running loose. She caught it." She points at Balina, then. "Balina. Shape, please," she offers.

Mickey scratches at her chin. Didn't think about that. "It kinda just..popped in." The rodent watches Grantok. A better question, she feels, was just who was she talking to. When Balina reenters Mickey florishes her hat to her. "That was quite a display. Nice'job."

Eithne looks up from Sol's lap, and pulls her ears flat. "Erm, right, Thanks Rihko but... wrong shape afterall. Finished transitioning from Anthro to full-Feral, though I can still talk. And not shift, for the moment. But... I'm covered in a quilt?"

Solixis indeed tucks the notebook into the harness indicated, hugging her new lapcoyote. "You look so cute like this." She scritches behind the coyote's ears. "Rihko, I think clothes aren't going to help her righ- She beat me to the explanation."

Cygnus has been sleeping in the lounger nearest the fire for a few hours, the dark rabbit having occationally rolled over and eventually gotten in a possition for gravity to attack her and smash her face to the floor, which is exactly what happens. The dark rabbit slips off the chair onto her face and flops onto the floor, sitting up in a slight daze "...Bwah??"

Rihko blinks, and peers at Eithne. "Oh. I didn't see that." She sighs, and takes a seat next to Eithne and Solixis. "You're fine for now, then. No worries. What happened there?"
Darkwyrm preps his tea and inches away from Balina, finding a booth for himself away from the traffic. "Deer don't jus' appear in th' middle of tha city randomly.", he murmurs.

Foxheart shrugs. "Wear something really loose. Like my yukata...fits me through any mutation."

Grantok's words suddenly stop. Her voice no longer working, muted completely. Not even the sound of her jaws clamping together.

Balina sighs at Rihko, then picks herself back up. First off of the floor, then off the floor again as she stands upright.

Muttering to herself, Balina heads back over to her former seat near Aidan, washing her muzzle. Her tail is still moving, but not nearly as hard as before. It's a bit more obviously not hers.

Eithne explains to Rihko in a single word. "Dirt." Then she looks over at the sudden, complete stillness in Grantok's form, muscles tensing as she picks up that that is not a good sign for anything, from anyone.

Skylar enters the pub and tilts her head at Rihko pointing her finger at hugeBalina. "Uh...what happened here?" She says getting closer to the huge wolf. She looks at Eithne as she says 'Dirt' and lets out an 'Oh.' before she makes her way to the bar and sits on a stool.

Foxheart moves beside Rihko, waving a tail. "What is this Dirt I hear you all talking about?" She asks.

Solixis headtilts. "I've heard of this Dirt before... what is it?" She looks on in confusion, still holding coyote-Eithne.

"If everyone's so concerned about dirt, go get a broom, for crying out loud!", Dark growls, a little annoyed at the repeated complaints about a slightly messy floor. He sips his tea and glowers.

"'Dirt' is the name they've assigned to an... I'm going to call it Aspect of Coyote that seems to be haunting Grantok, showing up here in the inn as a drawn coyote-image that appears on the walls." Eithne explains. While her hind leg twitches and thumps inside of her quilt at the ear scritches.

Cilan glances to Solixis and Foxheart, answering simply, "Dirt is some annoying Native American spirit that thinks it's Coyote, it relishes in tormenting those around it, and causing complete and utter chaos, thinking it's all in good fun. In reality though, its nothing more than a completely useless creature that has no place here whatsoever."

Grantok continues ranting and taunting for several seconds before she even realizes that she's not making any sounds at all. She clutches her throat for a moment, slack jawed, only to build a tick in her left eye. She stomps over to the bar, or would except even that is void of sound, and pounds her paws on the bartop, plates and mugs shaking a little but again, silent.

Rihko thinks a moment. Then she sighs, and stands back up, moving up to the bar. She talks quietly with the tagling behind the bar, then turns back to the others as Tag's spawn takes care of her order. "I do not care for that name, unless that is truly what he wanted to be called. He's a coyote. Capital C coyote." She turns back to the bar and collects her things then - some bread, a glass of beer, and a bowl with some water. She sets them all out on the table, then smiles and claps her hands once before bowing her head. "Coyote. You are welcome here, if you chose to show yourself. Could we have a truce, and perhaps speak peaceably? I would be grateful."

A little image of a coyote face can be seen in Dark's tea. It grins up at him, and suddenly the tea /explodes/ from the cup, splashing the angry Jackal with hot tea right in his face.

Skylar snickers at Dark's skeptcism. "Geez, it's alright to not believe in the crazy stuff but...that's kinda too far...so, uh, what was the show tonight? Did Bal eat anyone I knew?" She stops as she sees the lack of sound on Gran's actions and moves close to her, patting her shoulder. "Calm down Gran...you're going to hurt yourself."

Darkwyrm leaps up from his chair, face dripping with hot liquid. "Th'fuck?", he snarls, baring his teeth. He starts wiping tea off his face with his paws, gimmacing from the minor burns. "Someone rig th' tea with explosives?"

Foxheart grins. "Dirt hasn't pestered me at least. Don't think he will."

Cilan says, "Nor has he pestered me, but even still, he's causing only mischief for those I care about, and thats not something I can stand."

Solixis manages a small chuckle at the leg thumping before watching the explosion of tea and grantok's silent storm worriedly. "Every bit the prankster as his progenitor."

Mickey's ears chime softly again as they perk at the bit of news. File that under the already-formed bundle of other Coyote stories she's heard. "Reminds me of a roommate I used to have back in college," Mickey comments softly. Most of the rat's attention is on watching Rihko, and finally she clicks off the music. For some reason, steelpans just didn't quite fit the mood..

Cygnus furrows her brow as the tea explodes in Dark's face, the bunny shaking her head and heading towards the bar, ordering a couple shots of everclear

Grantok spins about to face Skylar, the tic in her eye growing steadily more prevalent. She flails her arms about and attempts to scream out how pissed off she is, too angry to actively remember that she'd been rendered speechless. If anyone could read lips they could catch a good number of choice four-lettered words being used.

Foxheart looks at Cilan, a deeply contemplative look on her face. "Better mischief than...than..." She shakes her head slowly. "Than whatever I saw."

Darkwyrm slams his cup down on the table and marches over to eh bar to acquire a towel to dry off his wet fur. "I am not amused.", he says sharply, leaning over the bar patting his face down.

A voice echoes from above, almost cackling as it speaks in the rafters. "Not until that little shit shows me a little respect. She acts like I'm not doing her a favor painting her dreams. I've already saved her life but I get no thanks. No thanks at all." he leaps down from the rafters, a strange collection of two dimensional of paints, black and red that illustrate the coyote as he moves. Its jarring and headache inducing, the cave-painted coyote landing on the ground and shaking, ink droplets flinging about as he shakes water off his back, and then he looks up expectantly at the one who's continually treated him with respect, tilting his head at Rihko.

Skylar grabs Grantok's flailing arms firmly. "Calm DOWN." She says in a commanding tone. "You're with friends and we'll help you, alright? Just stop flailing around and relax. Can I get you a tea or something?" She then stares at Dark and grimaces. "Yeah...that's the problem with Coyo-...te?" She finishes as the figure descends from the rafters. For a moment she looks very surprised but soon recovers her pose and looks at Gran, making sure she stands still.

Glancing to Coyote, Cilan asks in an annoyed voice, "How the hell can you ask for thanks, or even respect when you show Grantok visions of her friend's dying painfully each night? Are you seriously that insane that you'd believe nightmares are a source of happiness?! Get a clue, Dirt, you're tormenting those around you!"

Balina tilts her chair back, looking to the pub's newest guest. "Send the occasional deer my way like that," she calls, grinning, "and I might have to do some soul-searching about this whole god-killing affair." She begins cackling to herself again, clearly still riding high from before.

Eithne waves a forepaw at Coyote, but remains in Solixislap for now. She doesn't seem to really mind being coyote-shape, after all. Not at all.

Mickey gives a slow glance around to check that everyone else is staring at the same thing she is, then nudges her hat slowly higher up along her face. She's gone mostly speechless at this point as she just, well; stares. This was pretty low on her 'shit she thought possible' list, but hell. She's sober, and there it is right there. The ink-creature gets a polite little gesture with her sodacan, then she drinks. It's to say, 'well done'; she's blown a weird fuse.

Cygnus blinks and tilts her head at Grantok, spinning and staring at the 2D terror, shaking her head and rolling her eyes "Here we go again..."

Darkwyrm turns around and narrows his gaze at the image. "Pretty good projection.", he says, scrutinizing the coyote as if believing it's just a hologram or other such nonsense. He finishes patting his face down with the towel and rolls it up into a ball then tosses it towards the coyote image.

Solixis gasps in awe. "This is Coyote? Wow... looks a lot like that paintings and the stories about him..." She mentally traces the image in her head, marveling for a bit at the apparent spirit-made-flesh.

Foxheart is trembling violently as she sees the painting, remembering the visions she had. "I...I shouldn't be here..." She nearly screams as she runs up the stairs, tails flailing behind her.

Mickey finds her eyes quickly watering, and abruptly her stares turn into little periotic glances. It got way too hard to quickly to focus on, let alone rationalize.

Grantok folds her arms across her chest and simply stares at 'Dirt', her eye twitching about as furiously as her tails. She screams a silent barrage of words in his direction, clearly trying to make a point, not that it does any good.
//"Me? ME show respect for you? Shit. You trounce around causing mayhem for me at all hours of my sleep, Act like a nuisance around my friends, and don't even bother to give a damned helpful answer when asked! And to top it all off, pulling shit like this! And you expect respect? I defend the damn things you show me against all their damned accusations of it being lies. Now that I know how, I give you the chance to take over and run around, though it seems you don't even need that! So excuse me if I don't fucking agree with what you have to say!"//

Rihko slaps the towel out of the air and gives Darkwyrm the Eye. Then she looks back to the Coyote image and smiles, gesturing towards the food and beer. "Please, accept my apologies. Not everyone can appreciate your gifts in the manner they are intended." She bows her head again. "I am Rihko, and this is my home; you are welcome here for the evening. By what name do you prefer to be called?"

The image just grins at Darkwyrm and says, "I think it's very funny that someone who wears the death god's shape would try to deny the existance of gods." blatantly grinning before turning back to Grantok. "Oh, excuse me, let me fix that." and the towell that Rihko caught hits Grantok on the head, with a thud. Literally, painted in the air. He finally answers Rihko, "I'm too old for names, nor do I like you silly mortals acting like I can be summoned when you call a name. Dirt suits me for I am as old as dirt, but I also walk dreams and have since I was born of Coyote."

Balina finally gets herself under control well enough to start paying attention. Her chair is pushed back, and leans on the bar, not far from Rihko. "So, not that I'm complaining, but why this, now? I admit, I've been a little distracted tonight, so I'm probably missing something obvious."

Darkwyrm rolls his eyes at Rihko. "Well, you certainly are serious about crazy projection-slash-halucinations.", he says, crossing his arms and giving her a skeptical look. He frowns at the illusion and replies, "Ugh. This whole thing about the gods again? I'm a damned jackal, not some image of an Egyptian god."

Skylar tilts her head at the 'THUD' and goes for Grantok again, holding her in case she freaks out. She then looks to Balina and nod, not being able to stare too much at Dirt. "Yeah...I don't get your objectives either..."

Solixis continues remembering the legends and the new stories she picked up from the Namidian camp, remembering her totem. "What bring you here, offspring of Coyote?"

Mickey sets down her can and locks her fingers together. "It's not that big of a leap from crazy nanites to actual gods," Mickey comments to Dark as she struggles to connect lines herself. Being able to listen to the exchange between 'Dirt' and Rihko would, she hoped, do that. A kid at a campfire; Mick is engrossed in the story coming to light.

The image begins to laugh, rolling over on his back and rolling around at Darkwyrm's inability to see what's in front of him. His ears do flicker in the air, the little triangles breaking apart and his eyes focus on Grantok. "You think those are nightmares? I give you truth, and you tell me they are fanciful stories to scare little children in the night? You, little girl did not deserve to carry me, a great warrior should be using my help to paint a new path for humanity, but instead you sit around here and mope, and bore me with your dull friends who don't believe in gods."

Cygnus just stares at the inky coyote, looking half asleep, her ears unusually limp... well, unusual for this kind of situation.

"Then welcome, old one," Rihko replies. "And yes, Dark, I am quite serious. And since Taggart isn't here I am calling the shots, and I expect my guest to be respected, even if you do not belive him." The kitsune smiles, and slips into a chair at the table. "So. A new path for humanity?" she asks, tone polite and conversational.

Eithne leans up to lock Sol's cheek, and then slides from her lap, and the quilt, to meander over and... prostrate herself in front of the image. Well, as much as one can in a feral, quadripedal form. She doesn't say anything yet, however.

Skylar stares at Dirt long enough to say. "So...it wasn't you who chose her...? And you're also not in power to let her go?" She asks quickly before shaking her head and blinking a few times. "Ugh..."

"Funny," Balina muses, "When I tried to take you, you ran off. Apparently you saw SOMETHING in Grantok. Was it her breath?"

Grantok pulls the towel from her face, gritting her teeth. She mouths a few more responses back in the direction of her towely assailant, clearly not showing any signs of calming down.
//"Friends who clearly believe in the gods as many of them have dealt with them. What they don't believe is that you are one. And acting like the prick that you have been thus far, it's no fucking surprise that they haven't. And, seeing as this is one of the few clear times to get a word in back to you, if I'd have fucking known that you were going to be this much of a pain in the ass I'd have left you in that damn museum!"//

Solixis merely sits reverently, idly folding Eithne's blanket, watching the scene. She doubts Coyote would speak to her, since she's not exactly known him like the others.

Cilan frowns at the towel hitting Grantok and scritches idly at the lynx's fur. "Quit being friendly with Gran's tormentor, Rihko.. What're you trying to acomplish?" she calls out to the kitsune. The woman later turns her attention to Dirt and says, "I believe plenty in gods, but you on the other hand, arent one, you're just some annoying little runoff from the real Coyote; something he discarded long ago, and that's all you'll ever be."

"Gods schmods. A carefully placed mini-explosive ain't gonna convince me of gods, and neither is a talking hallucination.", Dark growls. He shakes his head and walks back over to make himself a new cup of tea.

Mickey glances at the group, although the rodent speaks up in defense of Rihko. "She's thinking it's her home and she's got someone obviously very powerful in it," Mickey points out lightly.

One of Rihko's ears twitches, then goes flat. It takes her a little effort to will it back into place, and she turns to smile at Cilan. "I would be perfectly happy to discuss things with you later, Cilan. At the moment, though, you are being terribly rude to a guest." She smiles at Cilan a moment longer, then turns back to Dirt. "My apologies."

"First, I did not choose to return to this little runt." he glares at Balina, comically, little spikes of fur illustrating on his back, and his eyes literally turn cross. Before turning to Cilan and saying, very carefully, "He did not discard me, he bore me to bring humanity a new future with the Shadow gone, something to bring you from the dark ages of shitting in caves and painting horribly, to building skyscrapers. He did not bring you fire, I did!" he growls out, before finally calming enough to talk to Rihko. "You however, like the little coyotechild over there" a big arrow in the air pointing at Solixis' lap. "have been nothing but respectful to me, so I will grant you a boon. What is it you wish of me?" And while he's talking, Dark can't seem to get the samovar to work. First, it puts out water thats ice cold, so cold it freezes.

Mickey brings her tail around to her lap, then quickly claps her hands over the bangles to prevent it from clattering too loud. Her ears are tuned in like little radar dishes as she listens in on the exchange, and a little smile sneaks out at the sudden 'Boon' offered.

Darkwyrm shakes the cup, seeing that the liquid inside is, in fact, frozen solid. "I think the tea is agains' me tonight.", he says, tossong out the frozen cup and trying to pour another. "I'll get my drink, damnit, and some self-important floting paint that thinks it's someone'

Eithne ponders a moment, rising in a sitting position slowly. "I'm a collector or rar- Well, all forms that I can." She slowly admits, leeping her head bowed. Boons must be asked for carefully. "I would be grateful for the ability to shift into this form, or a bipedal equivalent, as I would any other form in my stable."

"I'll get my drink, damnit, and some self-important floting paint that thinks it's someone's imaginary friend ain't gonna stop me." <Dark says.>

Solixis headtilts. "Me? Surely you mean the little coyote prostrating herself on the floor..." She blushes, confused.

"Last I checked, it was human ingenuity that did all of that, people using their brains and figuring this shit out that got fires, and skyscrapers built.. can't remember hearing any mention of coyote, and dirt in the history books stating how these things were made." Cilan mumbles before shrugging, "But to each their own, I suppose."

Skylar can't help but roll her eyes as Dirt goes into a powertrip on Cilan, she sighs and stops holding onto Gran, jumps off her stool and moves over nearby wolfBalina. "You do know growling at people like that achieves nothing, right?" She says repeating the routine of 'not looking too much at the headache inducing image'. Examining Balina's form she sighs and looks at Dark. "You sure you didn't drop from a summer horror movie, Dark...?"

Balina gives a few amused noises, tail punishing the poor stools on either side. She decides to simply wait for Rihko to come to a decision, however, before trying to chime in.

The boon asked of him is set, before Rihko can answer he turns, hopping into the air. "Oh, so you want to dream of new shapes then, and you like my image?" he grins wide, comically so. Then he blows, Eithne dissolving into fragments as ink drops from her, onto the closest wall. Slowly taking form along the wall, the same shaped coyote, looking much like the one standing on the table, though without the level of detail.

Rihko blinks at that, somewhat taken aback by the offer of the boon. "You honor me. Thank you." She thinks. And she thinks some more while Eithne speaks. And she thinks more, ignoring the yips and grumbles around her. Then she shrugs, and smiles. "My mate does not care much for chaos in his home, and I would ask that you respect his wishes while in our home. But," she shrugs, and waves a paw. "one wouldn't ask the stream to flow uphill. So instead I would like you to tell me a story. I'm not sure which one, yet. I will have to think on it."

Solixis watches, scared. "What did you just do to my friend?" She asks, horrified.

His mission done, he turns back to Rihko and says, "I normally would only grant one, but that I can as well, although it will come as a pair, one you want, and one you don't want." before finally turning back to Grantok. "You can speak now, but if you don't stop this, and stop being boring, I'm simply not going to help you anymore. Your friends are far more entertaining."

Skylar holds one of the stools Balina 'punishes'. "What is up with your tail...?" She asks arching a brow before looking at the paint Eithne and then Solixis. "Don't worry...she'll be fine, Dirt was pleased by her." She then resumes paying attention to the exchange between Dirt and Rihko.

Solixis looks over to Eithne. "Talk to me, are you okay?" She paws at her friend, trying to at least make contact.

"Of course," Rihko says, smiling. "The problem with getting what you want, is that you get what you want. And not everyone enjoys the truth, either..."

Eithne squirms about... as an image on the wall, looking herself over and blinking, quite stunned. She twists this way and that, looking quite animated. She opens her mouth at Sol, and... nothing happens. She blinks, and then continues twisting about as she tries to figure out how to talk.

Mickey's eyes widen in surprise when she watches the transformation take place. The table she's leaning against shakes as if she wants to get up and inspect closer, but the rat remains glued in her seat. Yeah, now she can see why the god claim had weight behind it now. "Cool.." she mutters under her breath before straightening her hat.

Skylar looks again at Eithne. "You're a scribble, try writing?"

Balina stops laughing, watching what she is going to assume for now is Eithne. Waving a hand to Skylar with a, "I'm just in a good mood. One second," she proceeds to pull a pencil from her belt, and walks over to the Eithne board, sketching a word bubble. Grinning again, she draws a pair of antlers on Skylar, /just because/.

Solixis turns to the coyote in the center of the room. "You didn't hurt her, did you?" She's confused and, honestly, scared out of her mind. "Please tell me she can come back to normal..."

The image called Dirt, not waiting for everyone else, says, "And I have one more thing to take care of. Walking along the bar, dripping ink to the ground that just dissapears when it hits, he confronts Darkwyrm high above. "You insult me by not acknowledging my existance. Far more than the runt over there, you insult all of us. The question I pose to myself is, how to make you believe in a way that won't just be written off by denial. And then he bites Darkwyrm on the leg, sealing it teeth against it, the image laying into him, drawing blood that drops out from his jaws.

Skylar looks at Balina, feigning being angry before laughing. "What are these for-" She seizes up as Dirt bites Dark. "You...!" She takes a few steps towards the image before the headache sets in again and she thinks twice. "Really? You had to bite him to prove yourself...?!" She says returning to Balina's side and looking at Solixis. "Calm down...She'll be fine...listen to me, please."

Darkwyrm's eyes go wide and lets out a very caninelike yelp, jerking his leg and trying to shake off his incorporeal attacker. "Git this damn thing off me!", he shouts, shaking his leg as blood drips onto the ground from his lacerated leg. He finally leans against the bar and pulls his unwounded leg back and whipping it forward towards the illusion's head in an attempt to dislodge it.

Cygnus watches the ink-yote walk across the bar and leans her head on a fist, watching Eithne get turned into an image and giving a slight 'hmm' before turning back to watching the drippy coyote, a million questions running through her head to ask, but none seeming to transition to speach. She furrows her brow as it bites Dark and the bunny bites her lip.

Dark is able to kick the image off freely, which goes flying into the wall, landing inside it. However, he grins and winks at Darkwyrm.

Eithne steals the speech bubble Bal's made. [Hi! I'm fine. This is new. And interesting. It feels... well, it doesn't really /feel/, being 2D. Interesting, though.] She spends a moment chasing her own tail, observing in her own movements the way her image twists and bends and animates. [Quite nifty, in fact.]

Grantok glares at 'Dirt', still angry as hell, but instead just keeps her mouth shut. Even as he leaves his little 'gift' on Darkwyrm, she simply watches. Her hands are balled in fists at her side, her claws stabbing into her own palms so hard that they bleed. She finally turns her head aside and returns to her seat.

Rihko watches the coyote and Darkwyrm, interested, although when he delivers his bite she growls and rises to her feet. The kitsune points a finger at the sign with the rules, her gaze reproachful. "I am sorry, but we do not allow violence against the other patrons. Please do not do that again."

Darkwyrm braces himself against the wood of the bar and clutches his wounded leg with his arm. He massages the surrounding tissue a few times to accelerate the rate of clot and then.. he falls through the bar. What was a solid surface that he was leaning on is suddenly as like air, and he falls through it, with little more than a surprised, "Guh?" from him before he disappears form sight.

Mickey, just to be on the safe side, rubs her eyes once Dirt has vanished back into the wall and blinks just to make sure everyone was still about. Didn't just nod off, so it sure wasn't a dream. When she peers around at everyone else, she looks quite confused as to all the angry glares about. "Well that was..pretty cool," she squeaks up, then rubs her temple again. "If not officially the strangest thing eve-" Suddenly Dark vanishes. "Nevermind. Where'd he just go?"

Balina glances at the noises coming from Dark, finding this complementary to her spirits. Looking back and reading, she gives a thumbs-up gesture, then points at Dirt lodged into a different wall. When she looks again, Dark has gone. This is also perfectly acceptable, and the wolfcow retakes a seat near Rihko.

The image on the wall bows, and says, "My apologies. I will be certain that no violence happens in my presence in the future." and then he walks along the wall, catching up with Eithne, and nuzzling her, before the two swirld like the wind is blowing them, fading from sight.

Solixis looks on, still scared. "Eithne. Tell me you are okay. I'm nervous. And scared. I don't want to lose you. I would miss you forever if that happened." Tears well up in her eyes. "Promise me you'll be okay."

Solixis rests her hand on the wall, openly crying. "She's gone..." She's shocked, not sure what to do; being unable to follow and scared shitless.

Skylar looks at Rihko, very worried. "Please tell me there's something under the pub...something that isn't 'solid dirt and rock'..." She then watches Dirt disappearing with Eithe and quickly moves towars Solixis, putting one hand on her arm and the other on her oposite shoulder. "Please...calm down...she'll be fine, I bet my life on it."

As Dirt and Eithne fade away Cilan looks to Rihko silently.

[I'll be fine, Sol! I'm sure that if I as-] And then she's swept up in Dirt's nuzzling embrace, vanishing.

Cygnus sighs and forrows her brow, drinking down one of the shots she so nicely neglected to drink, not having anything to add to the drama but moves over to comfort Solixis quietly, glancing at Rihko and Cilan as she rubs Sol's back

Rihko stares at the spot where Dirt and Eithne vanished, then sighs and rubs a paw at her muzzle. She slowly settles back into her seat and then sighs. "Well. I would say that went better than I had expected," she states, calmly. She eyes the unclaimed beer-offering, then reaches across the table to reclaim it. The kitsune settles back into her seat and takes a drink, then glances over at Balina. "Is that your usual tail, Balina? And how was the deer?"

Solixis stays near the wall, watching, not wanting to leave that spot. She wants to be there for when Eithne returns, and is still scared. "What should I do? I wanted to keep her safe..."

[[Category:RPLogs]][[Category:Crystala Events]]

Old as Dirt: Swallowing Darkness

2012-04-02T01:14:33Z

Crystala:

Crys blinks up at Sorien, and then smiles, seeing her mate well taken care of. She waits patiently for her order. Eventually she rocks herself back up onto her feet and picks up a tray with a bowl of stew and tea, moving over to sit with her mate. She first leans in and hugs Cilan, and then kisses Sorien, before finding herself a place to sit and eat nearby, not wanting to interrupt.

Rophe things a moment before answering, "Lets see, the scrap, the charming people, and a drink that I've been dying for fer a long time." He says lifting his bottle. "Or at least something similear." he adds with a smile.

Sorien mmmms. "I'm being brushed, I have my Crys, I look like I swallowed a boulder. Life, is for the most part, good." (giggle)
Balina heads down, down, into the pit of impending babies. A communal wave is offered, water is acquired in quantity, and a table is claimed at the minimum safe distance in case one of the breeder reactors reaches critical mass.

Narg nods "Yeah the drinks are good here, that they are. I myself happen to enjoy the whiskey and the food here... you gotta eat it ta believe I suppose"

Rophe nods and sips his drink.

Cilan smiles broadly as Crystala hugs her, the dragoness soon wrapping her own arm around the leopardess and holding her there until Crystala releases it, "Mm.. s'good to see you, mom.. how're you feeling?" she asks warmly, "Ah, mind showing me a few tails, I think I could do a double brushing.. maybe.." she states as her free hand pulls a second brush.

Sorien shifts to hug into Crys tight. "God, I love you."

Narg nods and takes a seat near Rophe just not really close (Sori.. that taken off the cusp by a guttermind as soon as they enter could take that all wrong >_>)

Rophe smiles at Narg, happy for the unexpected company at his corner table.

Minimum safe distance is about three feet, give or take splash damage. Nodding to Cilan from the next table over, Balina says, "About eighty-eight percent of the samples I was hopeful about last time I was in are still going strong. I was hoping to have this fixed before we all drowned in babies, but I think I can build a raft, instead."

Crys quickly piles down food, and then lets her mate and Cil have their way with her tails, just laying back and relaxing, trying to let her weariness work its way off. "I need to get more sleep, but the babies keeping me up." Eventually she says, "I hope, the wedding gift wasn't in any way a dissapointment, by the way. It took so long I was worried expectations would be through the roof."

Cygnus gives a wave to Bal and blinks, immediately diving into her bag and pulling out a large jar of peanut butter and waving it in the air "BAL!!! I GOT THIS FER YA!!"

Narg lifts her whiskey up "You just looked lonely figured I would sit down"

Rophe meows, "I'm not complaining, I'm happy either way."

Cilan nuzzles Crystala gently, her draconic muzzle rubbing happily against her leopardess mother before she pulls back and adds, "You dont have to worry, mom, it was great! Both Selene and I loved it.. now we just have to figure out a place to hang it!" she says in a giggle which soon ends in Cilan running the brush through one of Crystala's many tails, and another through Sorien's, over her shoulder she calls to Balina and says, "Great, cant wait to hear back on the status of those.. would be good to see the city without Sorien, or the Tagling's supervision again!"

Rophe smiles warmly.

Narg nods "Good attitude ta have" she calls a Tagling over and gives him some creds after ordering a medium rare steak with a lick of her chops

Balina's ears flick slightly at her name being called, then scoots herself back to go stop by Cygnus and accept the jar with some confusion before finally breaking a grin. "Longer memory than myself, I guess. I think I got my hands on an MRE with those crackers and peanut butter not long after I mentioned it last time. Thanks, though. I will treasure this for... it might last a week!"

Cilan avariciously roars, "Mm.. wonder how long it was since I last had an Ooorah bar.. they were pretty good I have to admit.. specially the chocolate versions."

Cygnus nods "I remember the 'important' things!" She says with a grin "This was the largest jar I found too, figured you'd like it."

Crys relaxes and murrs as she's brushed, and then idly listens, her ears flicking to the conversations. "So no luck on a cure for Cilan yet?" she asks, not sure if she heard right.

Balina nods, shaking that last bit of confusion out of her head to stow away the jar. "That's why I said week, not evening," she comments. "Thanks, though." Back near the power plants, she looks to Crys and gives a helpless shrug. "I've got fifteen cultures still going through testing. Any one of them may be right, but I'm not going to put any of them into Cilan until I'm certain."

Sorien softly churr, "I know you'll figure it out, Bal."

Cilan just nods and says, "Well, I can wait.. here's hoping it's this batch that'll do it.." she states before shaking her head, dispelling the thought and going back brushing her mothers, humming a soft song to herself as she goes about doing so.

Narg receives her steak and begins to chow down cutting big pieces of meat and placeing them in her muzzle to chew on.

Rophe sizes up Narg's steak a moment as she starts on it. He leans back and sips his drink contently.

[Narg(#13030)]: It's a nice sized steak, good too cept she is already halfway through it, it's a fault of hers that she eats foods she likes to eat quickly.

Cygnus sniffs and smiles as a tagling walks up to her with a bowl of chili. The bunny takes a deep breath and smiles, gripping the spoon in her paw and digging in.

Sorien is curled against Crys, somehow having found a comfortable position. She makes little circles with a finger on the dome of Crys' belly, smiling. "So wonderful."

Cilan giggles as she watches Sorien, ending her soft humming to say, "I felt the exact same way with Selene.."

Crys says softly, "You just like that I can't run. I'm stuck here while you do all sorts of terrible things to me!" her tone is not at all serious.

Sorien softly churrs, "You forget that I can barely stand up! (giggle!)"

Balina snarls, "You're both huge targets. If you got too close, physics says we'd be unable to pry you apart with anything smaller than a nuclear reactor."

Cygnus nods in agreement with Bal "Yep, any larger then you might start orbiting eachother and that can get messy!"

Sorien softly churrs, "I have a death star in mah belleh! (laugh!)"

Narg finishes up her steak and licks the plate clean then rolls her eyes at the general bad jokes all around.

Rophe sips his drink, eyeing the near-empty bottle sadly.

Crys curls around her stomach, leaning sideways and laying on her mate's stomach, listening to the new life inside.

Sorien alters her position as Crys shifts. "(giggle) Cheater, you're swiping my position!"

Cilan giggles at her mothers, and stops brushing as the two shift in their seat, making the tails unreachable, moving next to her original lounger, Cilan grabs the plate she had left there and brings it into the kitchen for a moment or two, washing it, and any dishes she had used in its creation.

Grantok quietly decends the stairs, her tails drooped a little bit, a pensive look crossing her face. She takes a moment to exchange the usual pleasantries with everyone she recognizes. "How's everything treating everyone?"

Sorien waves at Gran, in no wise able to seriously move other than that.

Rophe gives a nod to Gran polightly.

Crys waves from a horizontal position, seemingly curled around the mount of her mate's belly.

Narg waves at Grantok "Ello Gran! Been treatin people fairly"

Cilan pads quietly out of the back hallway, this time using a clean looking bar towel to wipe off her wet hands, as soon as they're dry however she tosses it to Breandan who deftly catches it, Cilan on the other hand waves a clawed hand at Grantok in a pleasant greeting and says, "Hello, Gran.. I'm doing a little well, I have to admit.. how 'bout yourself? Can I get you anything? Got a beer with your name on it, cost's on me too!"

Cygnus gives a wave to Gran and yawns, eyeing the lynx and giving a shrug, a chill running down her back.

Balina has begun tempting fate, balancing herself on the back legs of her chair. A lazy wave is offered from her paw, her comm taking up her good hand. "Waiting, watching. Slow, but in a good way, I hope. Waiting to hear back on a bunch of things."

"Good to hear Narg." Grantok waves to the returning Cilan. "Actually I had something else in mind besides a drink Cil. You wouldn't happen to have any more of that Dize-whatever that sleeping pill was from before, would you?"

Narg grins and just waves

Sorien indulges in a little tickling of her mate.

Rophe rests his chin on the table, staring at his bottle. "I can't decide wheather or not to finish this..."

Sorien blinks. Diazepam? Valium, Gran?

Narg peers at the drink "Well what did ya grab?"

Balina gives a confused glance towards Cilan. "I thought you told me that stuff would be more likely to keep her up," she asks, as subtle as she is observant.

Crys squirms as she's tickled, giggling. And then she looks up as it stops. "Hrmmm? I have sleeping pills on me from last night. Why?"

Cilan scratches at the back of her neck, "Huh.. y'mean the diazepam? Yeah, I think I've got a few tablets left.." reaching into her pack and pulling a small box she looks up and asks, "Wait.. aren't you worried this'll awaken whatever's inside of you agai--.. actually, I suppose its probably better than what you're facing now, huh? Poor woman.." she states before breathing a soft sigh, finally nodding, "Alright then, aint the best substitute. But, should cut back REM sleep, and with that, you should get a dreamless night. I hope."

Rophe squints still staring at the bottle. "Its a drink that tastes veeeery close to coka-cola, and its something that I've been dying for for months."

Rophe stays there with his chin on the table, staring at the bottle for another moment before taking the bottle and closing it tightly.

After finishing, Cilan passes the box to Grantok in a nice underhand lob and says, "Here's wishing you luck with whatever's happening.."

Grantok nods to Sorien. "Diazepam. That was the stuff. And to be honest, I'm hoping it yields the same results as last time, seeing as I can't talk to him, I'm hoping you can ask him a few questions for me. Especially after this last vision. Must've felt it was important sending me a glimpse while still awake.

Sorien softly churrs, "What was the latest?"

Cilan avariciously roars, "Hmm? Another dream? Of what?"

"Not so much nightmarish as the warnings... Just confusing." Grantok flattens her ears. "And I'd prefer someone ask him about it or if he will show the rest of you. I don't think I could quite describe what is happening, let alone understand it all on my own."

After talking, Cilan passes the box to Grantok via a light underhanded lob, "S'got a few pills left, make 'em last, alright? Dont know if I can find anymore out in the ruins.. specially not in my condition!" she states before giving Grantok a friendly grin.

Sorien softly churrs, "Okay, sweetie. Come sit with us, and relax with friends at least for a while."

Narg just twitches her ears as she listens quietly

Rophe tucks the bottle away in his satchel and yawns, still resting his chin on the table.

Crys straightens up, her ears perked and she leans forward. "Was this a prophecy again? A warning of things to come?" she headtilts, "Or do you have no idea and thats why you want us to look?"
Narg justr twitches her ears as she listens quietly

Cygnus finishes her bowl of chili and shivers, padding over to Narg and whispering to the huskey

Balina continues to rock back and forth. If one is to tempt fate, it is best to do it with the more trivial things. Nodding to Grantok, she asks, "Do you have any tips on actually dealing with it when it does show up? I think I managed to annoy it, but that just means I was in the room."

Cilan avariciously roars, "Or better yet, what do you want us to ask him when he arrives? Then again, are you even sure he'll answer us? Last time we asked him a simple question he yawned and called us boring."

Grantok's ear tilts in the direction of Balina, hoping the wolfcow is listening. "I don't suppose our resident needle happy bloodhound would be able to make more or reverse engineer the stuff at all?" She turns to Crys. "More that I don't know what to make of it. It has something to do with how "Dirt" came about, I think. Just not sure whether it's metaphorical, fact, or some level in between."

Crys blinks, "That means... it wasn't like the others then." she nods to herself. "Are you just going to take them now and pass out in the bar or something?"

Lasair invades NI with the army of plush Lasairs, which is really more like one, one-foot tall Lasair plush that appears at the end of the bar, and just lays there.

Sorien struggles, then flails a bit, getting her bulk seated upright so she can pay attention. She still leans against her love, however, never leafing contact with her. "Be careful, Gran; I don't think it's a threat, but I wouldn't trust it either.

Cygnus sits back at the bar and picks Lasair up, putting hir on her head.

Grantok alluringly purrs, "Not sure what else to suggest on that end Bal. My only guess would be to get him talking?" Grantok turns back to Crys and Sori. "Then maybe it would be better if I did just take them here and rest. At least that way I could guarantee that he'll be down here to ask. It's not the best of plans, but I can't think of much else that wouldn't seem 'hostile' in one form or fashion.""

Crys nods, "So, what did you want us to ask him? After all, you seem to have questions. It's unfortunate he won't answer them to you directly."

Balina scoffs, failing to not fall for the bait. "I only stab because I care!" she complains. "But making more of a known drug sounds like absolute cake compared to what I've been doing, and what I'm about to do." Glancing to Cilan, "I mean, is there any reason why you don't have more on hand?"

Lasair lays on Cygi head, and remains plush!

Cilan glances to Balina and shrugs, "Not really, I just find what I can scavenge from clinic's and drug stores, and usually that consists of a single box discarded under the shelving..."

Cygnus pokes Lasair and blinks "You can move around you know. At least keep from falling off." She says, another shiver running down her spine as she watches Gran.

"Who exactly is he? Is all that what happened the truth? And what happened to the knife? Also, is there a way that I could talk to him without having to resort to these roundabout methods." Grantok head tilts slightly. "At least that way I could let loose and not look like I'm going crazy talking to myself without knowing whether he can hear me or not."

Narg pulls her KA-Bar out of it's sheathe as well as the sharpening oil and whetstone from the little pouch in its sheath before getting to working her blade sharp.

Lasair clings onto Cygi head for dear plushy life!

Rophe stands with a stretch. "well, I think I'm a bit to tired to get into... whatever it is this is." He turns to Narg. "Again, nice to meet you"

Narg nods from her knife sharpening "Pleasure is mine, Rophe."

Rophe smiles and waves to the bar's patrons as he makes his way to the stairs.

Cilan raises her hands and says, "Probably a stupid question here, Gran.. hopefully you dont mind, but did you ever talk to Sparhawk about this? See if shi could put you in one of those dream-worlds shi usually makes?"

"Would you want to feel even more so like you were in a nightmare that you've seen over and over again for months Cil?" Grantok earflats a second before popping one of the pills.

Balina mutters something about 'crazy dream logic' while tapping buttons on her comm. It's rude to text in public, you know.

Cilan leads Grantok to one of the loungers and dashes into the back hall to grab one of the quilts, holding it out to the lynx, "Here.. sleep tight, huh?"

Grantok smiles a little at Cilan, taking the quilt from her and wrapping herself up in it and sitting down in a chair. "Thanks, but it doesn't work that fast. At least I'd like to think the last time I took it, I fell asleep that quickly from being tired in the first place."

Cygnus slips over to a table and pulls her rifle from her hip, placing it in front of her and unscrewwing something, starting to take her rifle apart.

Cilan grins and nods, "I know, I've been there before.. had night terrors myself for a while.. Either way, we'll be here if you need anything.

Balina puts her comm back on her belt, smiling as she does so. "Yeah, shouldn't be any problem to get more. I'll need to pick up a few things I don't have lying around, but you could make this stuff in a high school chemistry lab. Sleep well, sleep often. You staying down here for it so we can keep an eye on you?"

Narg switches sharpening sides with a sigh of contentment of the hiss of her blade rubbing against the whetstone.

Grantok nods in Balina's direction. "Yeah. Easier than hoping he'd decide to peek in for amusement." The lynx curls up further in the quilt so only the tufts of her ears and bright red eyes are clearly visible. "Comfy..."

As she waits for the eventual return of 'Dirt' Cilan heads back to one of the loungers and falls into it with a light 'fwoomp' her eyes focused on the lounger Grantok had curled up on. All the while the tip of her tail sways back and forth in a slow, but steady manner.

Balina gets up to refill water. A poorly-developed sense of comedy prompts her to brew up some tea while she does so. Make that lots of tea. Beyond her own, a pair of cups are delivered to the expecting; mint for Crys and assam for Sorien. The wolfcow sticks to the old standby of 'whatever I grab

Sorien nuzzles Bal when she brings the tea over. "Thank you, sweetie. I'm nearly immobile tonight."

After a little while Grantok's eyes become less apparent and the hood of the quilt stretches up a little as a yawn escapes the opening. Even the tips of her ear retreat into the quilt as she settles in to slumber.

Meanwhile at another table, Mini lifts up the barrel now freed from the grasp of its restraints. The bunny looks down it and holds it up to the light, looking for debris and such before giving a shrug and blowing a small flame down the barrel.

Narg yawns and inspects her blades edge doing the split a hair test and then returning the sharp blade and sharpening equipment to their respective places.

As Grantok slumbers, a smile creeps over her face, and eventually, she starts giggling. The sound seems out of place for someone who just drugged themselves, and of course, it's soon echoed by a far more present and familiar cackling. No physical presence though besides her, yet.

Sorien softly churrs, "Oh dear..."

Balina decides that while we're all fixating on deadly weapons, she might as well do the same. That detestable grill scraper is procured, and Balina begins idly brushing her arms. She tries, and fails, to not sigh as it becomes clear that, yep, here we go again.

Cygnus looks straight ahead when she hears the giggles and sighs, rolling her eyes and muttering to herself "Here we go again!"

Crystala pages, "you notice on Grantok's fur, her patterns seem to be... moving." to you.

Narg slips her pistol from it's holster and places it on the table

Sorien blinks. "Uh... Her fur is moving."

Attention drawn to it, her fur patterns seem to be swirling, almost like the ocean, taking shape for a moment, and then dispersing. It continues for some time, the occasional echoing of his voice as he returns to the living, and then there are eyes looking out right on her, they seem to move and look around the room.

Snapping out of her daze at the new sound Cilan perks up and looks to Grantok, only when she had fully risen from the lounger does she ask, "Is that you, Coyote? Or is Grantok still in control?"

Cilan avariciously roars, "I.. uh.. guess that answers my question."

Narg watches on the proceedings carefully not having seen any of this yet.

Cygnus blinks and sighs "Well two can play at that game", before falling back, her fur quickly shifting black and her eyes glowing orange.

The voice echos from above, yet the eyes remain fixed. "This an interesting place to wakeup. But, it probably won't be for long.: The marks are grinning. "Especially if such boring people continue to try to be me." He leaps out of Grantok, her markings going with, leaving a white furred lynx sleeping, spotless. He's hard to see, any angle you look at him, he looks like markings on the wall, and judging his distance is difficult, but not his gaze. He first looks to Balina, snorts, and then turns to Cygnus who's trying to put on a show. He begins to laugh, falling onto his back and his paws on his stomach, chortling.

Cilan stares at Dirt intently, watching, or at least trying to watch the markings move around the room, her eyes constantly seeming to try to focus on the odd creature.

Narg looks at the spots and nods, yup definitely coyote or an aspect... the personality alone proves it at least to her, she turns around and begins to clean her gun with ears twisted to listen to the laughing thing.

Balina puts the brush away, kicking her chair back again and toasting the apparition before her before taking an experimental sip. "Good to know you come when you're called, at least. Do you get to listen in when Grantok's awake, or only when her mouth is open?"

The laughing thing, stops, suddenly. "I do not come when called. I am /not/ a pet. And his markings ajust, showing a big angry face rather than a coyote. He shifts again, and says, "My little companion there seems to be wanting something, why else would she give me time to run free when she so greedily hangs onto waking like a lifeline." and he stops and stares, "So, what is it, why do you bore me when you should be answering me already?" the pictures now a giant question mark hanging in the air.

Balina waves her paw, more in hopes of clearing the air in front of her than to actually appear dismissive. "I'm not going to pretend that what goes on in Grantok's head makes sense. After all, you're hiding there, too. She said something about a migraine last night, and wanting to sleep it off."

Cilan folds her arms across her chest and states simply, "She wanted us to ask you a few questions.. now, I dunno if you're going to piss us off again and call us boring again, but apparently she had trace amounts of faith that this'd work.." after a moment she finishes, "So.. you gonna be a good, annoying deity and answer a simple question or are you going to leave like some coward again?"

Narg returns her cleaned weapon to her holster and spins around to watch the floatiness.

The eyes fill with avarice, "Oh hoh! So she liked that tale. I showed her it because I wanted to prove to her I was real. I am Coyote, and your little calling me something old was right. I am as old as the dirt of the earth. I am he who invented death, and cheated the shadow out of living." the animation seems to calm down, and the coyote licks at himself, which is awkward to watch in two dimensions, almost headache inducing. He finishes up and says, "So you really do want to listen, or would you prefer to dream?" his voice grows positive at that last question.

Narg rubs at her eyes as she watches a 2-d object lick itself and perks her ear attentively.

Cilan avariciously roars, "While I cannot speak for everyone here, I want you to show me the dream; I want to see what Grantok had seen with my own eyes.. no offense, but I'm not exactly the most trusting in regards to a tricksters words."

Narg frowns "A tricksters dreams can be just as dangerous Cilan.... I'd like ta see it though"

Sorien stays quiet, listening, but nods to what Cil said.

Balina grins. Which grin she's using today is left as an exercise for the viewer. "Do you have *any* idea how hard it's been to get Gran to tell us anything? Any idea at all?" Her chair clicks back to the ground safely, anything on the table is pushed away, and Balina leans forward, elbows on the table. "If you want to do something so monumentally stupid as let me get near, the least I can do is be monumentally stupid enough to ask for the whole story."

"Well then, the dream it is, but it is whole and you do not get to ask questions. So we shall." and the picture moves almost hypnotically, causing a drowsiness around the entire room. Cackling starts, and one by one, people inside the pub begin to pass out, heads lolling to the side.
Cilan falls back into the lounger she had gotten out of, having passed out rather abruptly.

Cygnus falls out of her chair, curling up tightly.

Narg avoids falling forward, her head rather rolls backwards and her tongue lolls out.

Balina manages a single curse before her head hits the table.

The area is dark, pitch black in fact, almost like the void of nothingness. And then there's a noise, flint on stone, the crack of one against the other almost as startling as the spark that flares to life. And then there's a man, ancient in features, his brow heavy and his features Amerind, with high cheeks and darker skin. He has a torch besides him, giving off a faint light that wasn't there just a moment before, and he concentrates, feeding oxygen to the small fire. The light barely eminates outside it, showing he's underground, deep underground. The light sounds of running water in the distance the only noise besides the man's breathing and the newly budding fire.

He's dressed in what could barely be considered clothing, a few furs on topof his shoulders, and a single necklace made of teeth around his neck stitched together with a small leather strap. He clings to the life of the fire like its his, something he's proud of, his eyes displaying a quickness, and intelligence to go with his belabored movements. His expression moves pensive, as he pulls a skinned leather pouch onto his lap, and opens up the string keeping it bound, dumping the contents onto his lap. A bunch of what look like wooden coins falling (they look strikingly similar if not exactly the same as the ones Grantok had), along with a small knife made of sharpened obsidian. He carefully flips through the them, selecting about half of the marked little objects."

He begins to chant, or perhaps even sing, in a language so ancient it speaks only in terms of emotion, you can tell the man's joy, and pain, and sorrow as he sings, and he takes the obsidian knife to his hand, cutting a deep gash in it, and turns his hand over the fire, letting is lifeblood drip into the fire below, all while continuing his song. He places the knife down, and then one, at a time tosses the coins he had selected into the fire, creating a thick smoke in the air as the fire sputters from the blood, twisting its embers around the lacquered coins, but not igniting them.

As he completes his first song, he draws the moon down, her radiant beauty seen through the cave ceiling above as she grows closer to the fire and the man. As she draws closer, so do the shadows around the fire, growing thicker, and the man's crimson blood turns black, dripping from his wound like ink. The viscous shadows bite at the embers, snapping their jaws like prey as the black blood feeds it. He opens his eyes upon the great moon, just as she kisses the ceiling of the cave itself, his eyes having turned into shadowy pits, his golden irises flaring to life as he stares upon her beauty, his song changing in tone and direction. It grows darker along with the shadows around. The moon greets the fire with love, the fire wrapping around her, clinging to her for life. It flares with life.

And all at once, the shadows are drawn into the fire, almost like fuel and the man begins to convulse, his song fading as his blood spurts harder into the fire, and then he falls, the sickening crack of his head hitting a stone accompanies the bounce of a small tooth knocked from the man's mouth. It skitters across the ground, and grows as it does until it comes to rest, a large daggerlike sabretooth, menacing in size.

The man blinks open, his eyes still dark, and he reaches for the tooth, his hand grasping it, without much delay thrusting it into his own heart, digging around inside and then pulling it out again. It is covered with dripping black, emptiness. He swings it around, and calls out to the cave, and pulls the emptiness around around into it, and as he does the fire grows brighter. He then thrusts the tooth into it, causing an explosion of whiteness blinding everything for quite some time. Eventually the blinding fades, and there's the man again, resting on a cloth bed and an image of what has been named Dirt, grins at the audience, and circles the man below like a hyena searching for prey. It barks and laughs at the man, and then at you, and then wake comes like a brick.

When people awaken, the white lynx is back to her old look, still sleeping soundly, dirt nowhere to be seen.

Narg wakes with a groan and looks around "Augh what a dream...."

Cygnus jolts up and bashes her head into the table, gripping at her temples "GAHHHH!!!! Bright lights... table... owwwwww...."

Balina apparently got bored halfway through, and her part for this evening shall be played by Balinawolf. She is currently sprawled, her forepaws and head resting on one of the amazingly-sturdy tables, the rest of her awkwardly atop a couple of fallen chairs. Grumbling, she returns to wakefulness, grumbling harder as she extricates herself from furniture. "Nnngh. Note to self, start remembering that dreams are serious business," she growls.

Narg grumbles and looks at Balina "Ya don't say Balina? I did say that to Cilan did I not?"

Crys and Sori collapsed into sleep on eachother, and both groggily awaken, a little stiff due to their shape limitations.

Cilan blinks her eyes slowly, her back arching into a hunched possition as she reawakens. A little while in she rubs her eyes and looks to Narg, "Sorry.. but even still, I dont think I know of a single question, or even multiple questions for that matter that would give that much info into what we're going up against here.. now.. anyone know what the hell happened aside from some cave-man looking guy doing a sort of ceremony?"

Balina is busy trying to nose chairs back upright, in no hurry to complete her task. "The dream was fine. I'm just annoyed I didn't get on the floor first, that's all."

Narg grumbles "I dunno..... that black blood disturbed me a bit"

Cygnus groans and growls loudly, looking at the table above her, her eyes clentched tight, not at all enjoying the bright lights she's discovered

Grantok sleeps peacefully amid all of the stirrings and wakings. The medicine is likely to blame and it's unlikely that she'll be getting up any time soon.

Crys' eyes snap open, and she moves through her hip pouch pulling out a journal. She flips through until she finds something specific. She reads it, thrice over, dumbstruck and says, "It was definitely not a lie. Its the same story as this." she holds up the book and points to the entry she recorded from that old native american tale, the original one they discovered that named Midnight Shadow what he is today.

Cilan avariciously roars, "Izzat right.. so, what you're saying is we're either being visited by Coyote, some other native american spirit, or some sorta spirit that knows the stories?"

Balina gets bored, simply setting the chairs back in her huge jaws, then pads over to look at the book. "Guess I don't get brownie points for interpretations, then? Still doesn't prove much, though. Of course he's going to remember his own origin story."

Narg looks over between Cilan and Crystala

Narg then stands up and drags her seat to sit next to the gathering

As Crys passes the book around to anyone that wants, it reads in careful penmanship. The following:

Cygnus crawls out from under the table and over to the rest of the group.

In a time when the tribe was one people, they faced a great danger. Midnight Shadow whispered into brother's ear, and he stole and killed from the people. Each night Midnight Shadow would whisper into another ear and turn another from the people. The people knew that Midnight Shadow needed to be stopped, and asked Quiet Whisper, the strongest of them to put an end to it. Quiet Whisper knew of no man who could stop Midnight Shadow, and instead sought out Coyote. He asked Coyote how to end the whispers, and Coyote did not know, so he told Quiet Whisper to seek the Great Mother Moon. Coyote followed Quiet Whisper and listened on.

Great Mother Moon told Quiet Whisper to trick Midnight Shadow into sleeping, for once sleeping they will never wake again, this she promised him. Coyote heard this, and his stomach panged with hunger. Coyote confronted Midnight Shadow, and challenged him. Coyote first challenged Midnight Shadow to wrestle, hoping to hold him til he fell to sleep, but Midnight Shadow was far too strong and laughed at Coyote. Next Coyote tried to give Midnight Shadow a gift of a mushroom that would put him to sleep. Midnight Shadow ate it in one bite and laughed heartily. Coyote then decided to tell a story to Midnight Shadow, incredibly long it went on for many moons, and yet sleep did not come for Midnight Shadow. Coyote fell asleep, and Midnight Shadow laughed.

Quiet Whisper looked on and saw the pride of the beast and decided to feed it with pleasant words and flattery. In it's place of power, Midnight Shadow could not fear such a little enemy, and listened to Quiet Whisper, letting him live to speak more. Growing pleased, Midnight Shadow boasted of his power, that one whisper he could make anyone do his bidding. Quiet Whisper suggested that if he were truly mighty, that he would be able to get them to do his bidding while sleeping. This angered Midnight Shadow, and he decided to prove Quiet Whisper wrong. That evening Midnight Shadow went to sleep instead of whispering, and in the morning he did not wake.

Coyote was not pleased, for he was still hungry, and ate Midnight Shadow in one gulp. Coyote's stomach grew sick, for he had taken something that was not his to take. He sought Great Mother Moon and asked what he should do. She told Coyote that he had done wrong, and now Midnight Shadow would wake again. She told him to hide Midnight Shadow and bury him where the sun would not touch. (an addition not transcribed but part of the original tale.) Shadow without sun, she tells Coyote cannot exist, and as long as he remains untouched by it's glow the beast shall slumber. Great Mother Moon also tells Coyote that he must give up a part of himself in exchange. Coyote did as he was told and buried the Midnight Shadow deep in the Throne, along with a coin, some of his blood, and a tooth he claimed his own. Coyote smiled and his grin was flawless.

Narg grins "Sallways nice that the all powerful can be vain..." she yawns "I'm gonna need ta sleep, that sleep put me in a tired move

Balina hmphs. "That's not quite the same thing," she mutters, finding an empty spot in front of Crys and Sorien's seats, curling up on the floor. "The point got across, but it looks like someone gets to volunteer to lock Shadow up in themselves, down in some dark hole for all eternity."

Maxine comes down the stairs, sniffing at the air.

Narg frowns "You afraid we can't find anyway ta kill it Bal?"

Balinawolf looks up briefly at Narg, then lies back down. "I'm saying the only method presented to us so far is stupid, that's all."

Cilan avariciously roars, "Heh.. sounds like a fun end.. dunno if Selene'd let me go down that path, though.. and frankly I'd hate to end up losing any of you for all eternity."

Crys scratches Bal and says bluntly, "That man was Coyote, not a man. It was him, he ate Shadow, then purged him. That was the Shadow coming /out/ of him." She's quite sure of this. She then moves to get up, and helps Sorien up. "However, we must be getting to Kay. We'll talk more on this tomorrow."

Narg shrugs at Balina and stand "Gotta sleep.... night all" she sticks her hands into her duster pocket and moves on up and out of the bar

Maxine tugs at the device around her neck as she makes her way to an empty chair.

Balina yawns. "If it was, then something else was wrong. But this is not a night to talk about it. Take care, everyone."

Zane walks into the pub and takes a look around spoting a few chairs on the floor and Grantok sleeping. He notices a group huddled together and makes his way over to them curiously."What happened here?"

Cilan rises out of her seat once more, and pads over to Maxine's side, once she's there she rests a clawed hand on the vixens shoulder and says, "Hello, Captain, how're you feeling? Any better than the last time I seen you?" as she asks, a warm smile gradually forms on her lips.

Cygnus stares at the fire and sighs, furrowing her brow in thought
Maxine lustily murrs, "I'm good, but this thing." She tugs again at the device. "Don't like this thing."

The dark bunny finally lowers her head and looks around, scratching her 'eyebrow' gently

Cilan pats Maxine's shoulder and nods understandingly, "I dont blame you, I hate collars myself.. too restricting.. ah well, until you're all there in the head again, I'm afraid thats going to be the best thing for you at the moment.." she offers a simple shrug and shakes her head, "But anyways, can I interest you in anything? A drink maybe?"

Maxine nods. "Drinks good, and I'm talking more, yes?"

Cilan avariciously roars, "Much better, yes. So, what can I get for you? Water, or maybe a juice? Or do you want to go ahead and get a beer or shot?"

Cygnus pads over to the bar and sighs, waving a tagling over and ordering a few shots of everclear, still looking worried as she thinks

Balina gets herself up, padding over to the bar and requesting a water dish. Nodding to Maxine on the way back, "Personal pronouns. Good work. Sooner you're back up to normal, sooner you can be a depressed mess again."
Maxine shakes her head at Cilan, pointing at her arm. "Got shot before! I'm want drink, not shot." She mimes a pucker-faced wince, pointing at her face. "This."

Cilan chuckles and nods, "Yeah, shots are a giant pain in the ass, huh.. sometimes quite literally, but I meant the drink version.. small bit of alcohol, in a glass cup. Heh, guess you'll learn it soon enough. If I know that face, you're either talking about the wince after the feeling of a smooth burning alcohol, or.. just tangy lemonade, and frankly I think I can guess which one you were talking about.. be back soon, alright?" she says before heading behind the bar, where she soon mixes up two drinks, one for Maxine, the other for her. Both whiskey. Bringing the shot over to Maxine she sets the drink in front of Captain while lifting her own in a silent 'cheers' slamming it back in a single gulp shortly afterward.

Maxine sniffs at her drink experimentally before downing it in a single gulp, making a face. "Yeah this... but burning now." She licks her wrist several times. "This word?"

After a few soft coughs Cilan shakes the feeling from her and looks up to Maxine, "Huh? Ah, the drink name? Its whiskey, also goes by the name rye, but the first is more common. If you want, I think I've got a bit of the pre p-day stuff stored away, tastes a little better if you're not into something so potent yet. S'called Canadian Club."

Cygnus knocks a shot back and shivers, mouthing the word 'wow' before staring at the ceiling "Maybe by the end of this, if im REALLY really lucky, I'll learn how that thing knew my name... i still haven't forgotten that little detail."

Maxine stares into her glass, nodding. "Before... I'm drinking this, and I'm bad, yes?"

"Got any dog tags? Anyone mention your name around then?" Balina calls from the floor. "People are so goddamned friendly around here, I don't get how that's secret information."

Cygnus blinks "Or I could be being a complete idiot and that's exactly whats happened... sadly, im leaning towards your version of the story Bal."

Cilan avariciously roars, "Were you bad? I don't think so, before you went all feral and lost your damn mind, I thought you were a good friend.. kinda sad that you didn't take your damn shot until it was too late, but what can you do, huh? At least you didn't end up losing yourself and going off into the ruins, never being seen again. Woulda pissed a lot of people off if that happened, Max, a lotta people indeed."

Balina gets up to nose Maxine gently. "You were very sad. Maxine had a lot of problems, and she let them get to her. You're better now, but you still need more words. Always more words."

Maxine nods at Balina. "Yeah, sad! Before I'm sad and drinking. And now I'm not sad and I'm good and I'm vixen. But I'm need more words. And drink?"

Cygnus blinks and stares at the shots in front of her, taking one and knocking it back "I still need to talk to Spar about that dream session... Never finalized a dated for that."

Balina snarls, "Things come up. They always do." Taking her emptied bowl back up to the bar (with a minimum of chewing), she glances around to make sure she didn't leave anything important behind. "I guess I should get out of here before Tag sees me and asks what the hell I think I'm doing."

[[Category:RPLogs]][[Category:Crystala Events]]

Old as Dirt: Swallowing Darkness

2012-04-02T01:12:51Z

Crystala: Created page with "Crys blinks up at Sorien, and then smiles, seeing her mate well taken care of. She waits patiently for her order. Eventually she rocks herself back up onto her feet and pick..."

Old as Dirt: Trails and Tears

2012-04-02T01:04:43Z

Crystala: Created page with "( Grantok's actually been managing to get some sleep since the incident. No vivid dreams, it seems as if Dirt has been occupied as of late. Innocuous comfortable dreams that..."

( Grantok's actually been managing to get some sleep since the incident. No vivid dreams, it seems as if Dirt has been occupied as of late. Innocuous comfortable dreams that are in no way prophetic, and easily forgotten, helping the port cat catch up on months of sleepless evenings. )

Tonight, the innocuous dream is just a bit more... vivid than normal. A bright desert landscape, the area Grantok hit before returning home on her long journey with only the tooth to accompiany her. Only a few weeks before, Grantok's narrow brush with death, at the hands of beasts in the skin of men still lingers, and sends shivers of memory. Its hot, everpresent sun high above blinding anything that look up into its gaze. There's hardly any life out here, beyond small shrubs and weedlike growth in the crags, and dust, thick dust in the air. Her thick fur more than a nuissance in this kind of weather, and her water supply dwindling after time out here alone.

There's a breeze today, which despite the heat, feels more like it's ripping meat from the bone with the dirt in the air. The light reflecting off the dust in the wind begins to take coherent shape. A familiar one now to Grantok, a coyote's grin, and then a second one. A smaller one this time. A cackling laugh echos in the quiet air. "Lonely little kitty cat. Even in your dreams you punish yourself." he smirks, tail bobbing with the dust. The other image is very quiet, just peering, unsure.

Grantok remembers actively, her thoughts vocalized. "Yes. I was in a bit of a rush around then to get back... and away from Fresno. Would have otherwise travelled at night in the cooler air. Wasn't thinking straight then either." The obvious change in the memory sparks a more vocal reaction. She squints. "How do you mean? I had reasons, even if they were hastily planned out. And plenty of questions then."

The smaller coyote just peers about for a long moment, before hesitantly striding forth from the side of the larger one. Her reddish pelt catches the light, and she slowly approaches Grantok, head casting this way and that as she takes in as much of the scene as possible, ears flicking this way and that to take in sounds and show emotion. Her gaze flicks between the other two beings in the dream, but she tries to offering a reassuring presence for the 'poor kitty cat', nosing at the woman's side.

The coyote chuckles, "You ask dumb questions. Dumb, dumb, dumb. I give you the truth, and point you in the right direction, and yet you still sit around pretending its not real." the dirt in the air swirls now, the coyote taking form directly next to grantok, and nudges her. "However. You did do one thing right." he noses in the air, almost like an arrow himself. "You wanted to ask me where the knife was, didn't you? Your friends however were too ignorant to ask, and choose to see instead."

Grantok appears a little confused about the situation, the second coyote that nudges her throwing off her preconceptions of what is going on. "I only did so when I was not certain who you were or rather who you were in league with. You gave no clear indication then as to who you were. And even after I did hear for certain from the others, I still don't want to believe that all that you show me is true. Not if it can be stopped, or changed." She folds her arms across her chest. "But yes, that is one of the more pressing questions that I have now. I suppose you know where it is or at least where to start looking for it, otherwise why go to all this trouble."

Redfur sits herself down beside Grantok, looking between the cat and the coyote. She remains silent for the moment, however, merely observing things with a questioning look, left ear canted at nearly 90 degrees, and right pointing straight up with her head angled just a little to the side. After a moment, she gives a canine shrug and merely leans lightly against Gran, continuing to try and be a reassuring presence for the moment.

A bark, and a laugh. "Open your eyes." he says, laughing, and chuckling. The sun really has made it hard to look around, but the details seem to sharpen a bit, a large stretch of water in the desert, almost a lake if it had depth to it, chalky white on the bottom isn't more than three hundred yards in the distance, though the sun reflecting off makes it impossible to look at for long. Then finally, he says, "Do you really think I do anything without a reason?" he's now rolling on the desert ground like a tumbleweed. "Anything at all?"

Grantok shields the tops of her eyes from the sun, the little good it does, and looks off towards the vision in the distance. "No. It's hard to think that anyone does such, even the ones that claim none often simply mask their own amusement. I'm just not sure what your line of reasoning is at any given point."

The coyote, now an illustrated tumbleweed, continues to roll in the breeze, carefree. "Why must you know? You must learn. Learn to make your future, rather than your future make you." And the sun shifts, the place turning to night in a matter of moments. The black sky is almost starless, a few sparkling lights and no moon to accompiany them the only source of light. It's chilling, and lonely, and the lake ahead now shimmers with the limited starlight, small points creating an odd image. "And the same place, changes depending on the audience." he practically trills.

Eithne tries to take Grantok's hand in her mouth, and gives it a light, careful tug toward the sharpened lake in the distance. Then she begins moseying on in that direction on her own, paying more intention to where she's going then how she gets there, head cast toward the heavsn on occasion to watch the stars, tail swishing this way and that and a playful strut in her step. She glances back after a few feet, and yips at the cat before continuing onwards.

Eithne tries to take Grantok's hand in her mouth, and gives it a light, careful tug toward the sharpened lake in the distance. Then she begins moseying on in that direction on her own, paying more intention to where she's going then how she gets there, head cast toward the heavsn on occasion to watch the stars, tail swishing this way and that and a playful strut in her step. She glances back after a few feet, and yips at the cat before continuing onwards.

Grantok, after a hefty amount of nudging and obvious hints, plods forward in the direction of the lake. Looking about for details of where exactly they are or where they are all headed, she keeps the vision of the lake clearly in her mind as the only dicernable location. "Then if I am to do as you suggest, would not the best course of action be to leave you behind? For clearly the future is what you provide me with, as you say that you don't lie. You don't make any sense." She pauses in her steps to await an answer.

Eithne scoffs, pausing in her tracks to glance back at Grantok. Then she speaks for the first time in the dream, her voice easily recognized; "The future is written but mutable. What will be, will be, unless changed. He's giving you the chance to change it. And don't you know how dreams work? The more you pay attention, the less mutable and flowing dream-time and -distance are. Enjoy the stars and enjoy the view ahead, but don't pay too much attention to where your feet tread." And then she romps forward again, raising her voice in an undulating howl of a tune, meandering lakeward.

"That- that's not what I meant. I don't mean for you to die. What you said just confused me." Grantok tilts her head at the redfur almost looking slightly offended, "I hadn't realized that there were laws guiding these at all, no. All of what I have experienced have been little like this and more what he has shown. This is /different/." She hurries a little more in an attempt to catch up.

The little footprints show rippling across the water, as the now invisible coyote treads on it, the rippling motion causing the lights to shift and shape, like thousands of years of moving earth passing. The lights take image and shape. A large warm light in the center area, and a few spots across the map, each glowing in their own shape. And then there are also areas of clear darkness, almost sharply cutting and just as bold. The coyote shakes as he becomes white again. "Can you see the shape of things my dear? Are you able to see what is real?" he grins very wide now.

Eithne focuses as Dirt speaks, glancing at the image in the water, even as she sends her voice floating back to her companion; "Everything has rules, Grantok. Everything. Even if they're obtuse and unintuitive, they're there somewhere. Reality, Dreams, Magic... They've all got some underlying pattern to them." She doesn't study it, or try to force sense out of it. She merely looks and takes it in for the moment. The shape ins't as important as the meaning, and that is what she tries to see in the greater whole of it all. Absently, she steps off the shore, paws heading softly down towards the water's surface as she tries to get closer to better see the contrasts between light and dark.

Grantok's eyes dart back and forth, trying to discern exactly what is going on, the look of confusion and mild frustration on her face easily shows her state of mind. "Real? I don't get... This is another dream though, isn't it? Errgh. No. I don't know. This is unlike what I am accustomed to and disorienting. I gather that this is important, I just don't see exactly how." She sighs as she leans down at the water's edge. "The lights trace out something, much like a view from high above. But I can't tell where."

The coyote yips, and presses his nose directly against the water, causing it to shimmer and bubble. Almost beating like a heart, black veins at its core and bright gold specs flickering out. "The great mother, heart of the earth." and his white eyes are filled with sadness somehow. "Her womb birthed him. He is of her, something that should never have come to be." He looks at Grantok, "You saw that night, the night he became a part of her, I made you see, and live, and feel it. The knife cutting his flesh, and it being drawn to her warmth. The knife like a razors edge, some even call it, the shadow's blood." He looks at the other Coyote approvingly.

Eithne ambles across the surface of the lake, until she's standing right beside that image, staring down at it as she traces the curves and contrasts, the pulse of black veins and flow of golden flecks. "Grantok." Her voice is low, now, but carrying. "Have you ever been taught meditation?" She sits on the water's surface, giving a quiet hum. "It doesn't help all that much with dreams, but it does have its uses for things like this. You're thinking too much. Observing too much."

Grantok ruffles her own fur with her claws, clearly only becoming more frustrated as she fails to understand all of what she is being told. "I recall the vision. The ritual. But I still don't follow your line of meaning? Is Shadow himself his own undoing in all of this then? Or-" Her voice trails off as Eithne speaks. "It goes against all that I have done thus far to just throw away the details. I been working harder and harder to be able to spot what I can of the other visions. I don't see how emptying my mind right now would do any good."

The coyote bows low in front of it. And then slaps a paw down on the water, letting it ripple out, the shadows spreading out to the other light on the map, each being engulfed in darkness as it spreads. Below his paw is stuck to it. He looks flustered as he pulls it a few times to get it unstuck. Below the once majestic heart is black to the core.

Eithne looks upwards for a moment to study the stars, thoughtful. "The Heart of the Mother, Gaia." Her words are musing, as if to taste them and the ideas they contain as much as communicate them. "It's a bastion of power, central and strong. If Shadow corrupts it, twists it to his own ends, then he spreads quickly, taking over the other bastions of the light in the darkness - other centers of supernatural strength?" She looks down again, a paw hovering just above the water as she traces the spread with it. "Or is thisshowing what was and will be, if we don't check Shadow somehow, of him starting at his point of release and slowly moving out in a tide of despair, capturing and consuming other dieties like he is doing to Hare and plans for Raven?" Her thought process with Grantok on meditation is completely lost with this display.

Grantok is slow to rise from what was/is the water's edge. She frowns, the confusion in her eyes fading only to be replaced with one of sadness, for what exactly is unclear. "So then, the question would be then how can he be stopped. Or better yet, where do we find Raven then?"

"You will dream of the path to take. You will build while I paint your evenings like the skies above." And then he turns to the redfur, "And you will help, as you already are. Can you show her yet where what she seeks is located?"

Eithne turns her snout skyward, eyes closed as she considers for long moments... Before she opens her eyes, and turns her emeralds to match Dirt's white. "... Sacremento?" It's a question, as she voices the thoughts swirling in her head. "... Grantok, though, could you come here please and join us?"

The creature known as dirt shakes his head, "No, that was where I was hoarded for so long, but it is not where the blade is found." He casually lets his tail point out a spot below in the map that is not reflected in the sky above. "The heart of the people, they took it and cared for it when Coyote returned to them. They carried it with them on the trail of tears, in their hearts and minds he helped see them through."

Grantok's expression shifts to one of perplexment once more as she haphazardly attempts to walk on the lake's surface, easily sending a few splashes and ripples of her own throughout it. "Do you mean the Aassahke then? Or am I still nowhere near what you mean?"

Grantok's expression shifts to one of perplexment once more as she haphazardly attempts to walk on the lake's surface, easily sending a few splashes and ripples of her own throughout it. "Do you mean the Aassahke then? Or am I still nowhere near what you mean?"

He sighs, and collapses into the water below, his lines spreading out like ripples in the water, drawing a map across it, showing the borders of rivers. The great mississippi running down the center of all the sparks, and not far to the west, a the flickering star he pointed to before. The very center of the united states, heartland. "Now is it time for both of us to leave you." he says, and the smaller illustration collapses apart into the water as well.

Eithne takes a long moment to examine the revealed map, the rivers and the sparks. She tries to burn the image into her mind, tries to hold it tight in her soul so that she can remember it when she awakes. When it vanishes into the water once more she moves to sit beside Dirt, raising a paw to wave it at Grantok in farewell. "Sweet dreams, Gran. May they be bright and hopeful." And, briefly, she tries to leave an echo of that wish in the dreamscape.

The area seems to flood with warm light, and the sunlight is just peaking over the horizon to greet Grantok.

Grantok looks on as both Dirt and Eithne fade off in the sunlight, slowly raising her gaze towards the sun as it rises. She shuts her eyes for but a moment, rubbing them with the back of her paw, then turns back to the newly risen sun, a basket of mixed feelings in her heart. She smiles despite it all and hopes that she will remember all that happened tonight.

[[Category:RPLogs]][[Category:Crystala Events]]

Category:Loki Events

2012-03-12T04:41:12Z

Crystala: Created page with "Logs of events run by User:Loki. Add <nowiki>Category:Loki Events</nowiki> to a file to add it to this list! Category:RPLogs"

Logs of events run by [[User:Loki]]. Add <nowiki>[[Category:Loki Events]]</nowiki> to a file to add it to this list!

[[Category:RPLogs]]

Washed in from Out of Town

2012-03-12T04:39:58Z

Crystala:

A call was sent out to those in the employ of Zephyr with co-ordinates to the location. Upon arriving there it can be seen that the area is fairly unremarkable, the crossroads of a city street. A dusty intersection that is strangely barren as if the ferals fear to tread into the fading light. Nothing out of the ordinary is seen aside from the wear and tear the city has endured- crumbling concrete and twisted wrecks of cars and other debris from the battles fought in the streets.

----

Redd approaches slowly on foot, his body gleaming from the sun's setting rays. He looks around, as if waiting for something, or someone, to approach.

Liana hops from roof to roof, her wings buzzing to aid the occasional longer distance, able to move quicker and avoid most ferals in this way. Reaching the meeting place, she crouches at the corner of the roof she's on, before gently gliding to the street, her arm-blades unfolded, but not up threateningly. "Evening, Redd...Glad more than just me answered the call..."

Shuffling slowly in, Kushivi's head whips in every direction and paranoia gleams in his eyes. He clutches his laser pistol in a two-handed grip and jumps slightly when he notices the others nearby. A bead of nervous sweat forming on his brow, "Uh, yeah, I responded to the call. Either of you have any clue what's going on?"

Skylar comes walking normally into the intersection, hopping over debris and broken cars as if they were simple hurdles in a race, checking her map from time to time to see if this is the right place, she soon spots Liana, Kushivi and Redd, not sure how to greet them, doing a polite nod to both as she approaches them. "So...this is the place?" She anxiously asks.

Alane walks carefully in, trying not to attract much attention of ferals in the area, till she finally spots some persons who seem to be the others who got called. "So this is the meeting point?" the blonde says, mustering everyone of the group.

Liana flicks her tail side to side, frowning slightly at Kushivi's tight grip on his weapon. "Relax...there’s plenty of us here...no need to break the poor pistol. Just come join us here, rather than standing near those ominous alleyways..." She looks to the other two newcomers, giving a soft smile and nod of her head to each, slowly keeping an eye out around the area...

Kushivi's grip on his pistol relaxes slightly, though the edge of slightly overwhelmed paranoia lingers in his eyes. "Uh, yeah, sure." Grimacing and shaking his head to clear it he wanders over to the others.

Skylar looks around for any animal tracks or signs, like smell or any stain, thinking that the 'barren' look of this place is clearly unusual.

The wind picks up a little, the scent of something stale and musty being picked up for those with noses accustomed to such. Not an uncommon thing, but the scent is strange for the city. Something from beyond the usual scents, its smell foreign.

Liana doesn’t seem to react in the slightest to the odd scent, her reptilian snout rather lacking in detection. "So anyone know just what it is we're after here...?"

Alane doesnt notice the smell either and shakes her head at Liana. "At least I have not the slightest clue... just noticed the call and curiosity has driven me here. I actually hoped to get some kind of full briefing here..." she says with an little sigh.

Kushivi shakes his head in denial, his nose crinkling up as he smells something odd on the air. "Anyone smell that?"

Alane blinks at Kushivi. "It wasn’t me!"

Liana quirks her head. "No...what's it smell like to you? Any idea if the source is close?"

Skylar crouches, looking curiously at the ground. "Hey...look at this..." She points to some thin marks on the ground, like the mark of the
strike of a thin blade. She gets closer to smell the marks and quickly notes. "It smells just like whatever is in the wind...and...acid?"

Alane goes closer to the marks which Skylar noticed and looks at them. "So you mean someone or something had an fight here and is still close?" she asks, eyeing Skylar curious.

The wind kicks up, a gentle howl soon carrying the smell of sulfur and a furious roar. A roar quickly interrupted by the sound of something sharp, silencing it before its culmination. The day is cloudy, and as a result the dusk is darker, a brief purple light can be seen in the distance, the phantom fading almost as quickly as it arrived.

Kushivi's fingers tighten around his pistol again, any progress at relaxing totally shot, "Eheh... eheh... acid claws? You gotta be fuckin' kiddin' me... aww hell, roaring is even worse..." Kushivi moves further toward the back of the group.

Liana's blades snap fully upright, a little arc of electricity darting from the fin of her tail from one side to the other as she whirls to face the direction the light came from. "There! Let's go before it gets away!"
A tiny shudder goes through the body of Alane as she hears the whole... which suddenly stops and spots the light in the far. "I... I so serious hope, that the acid claw mutant was the one which got silenced right now... " she gulps and takes some steps back. "After you, pleaaaasse!" she says to the group with an sweet smile.

Skylar looks at Alane, clearly anxious. "I...uh, I don't think it really matters now...anyone knows how to defend against acid...? Also, what was that purple light?"

Liana chuckles softly. "Try not and get hit...as for acid and claws...it may have been one of those mutated hydras...no clue what the light could mean though." She starts to head toward the direction the light came from, looking back after a few steps to see if anyone else is coming...

Skylar follows behind Liana in a sprint. "Wait wait, you sure you want to separate yourself from the group and rush after it?" She says looking slightly desperate at Liana. "We could try setting traps or something...wait until it comes back..."

Kushivi quickly hurries after Skylar, desperate not to be left last in the formation. "Don't leave me here, for the love of God, slow down!"
Kushivi huffs and puffs as he tries to catch up, wheezing heavily. "Goddamnit people, I just spent two years bunkered in my folks's basement with nothing but... oh hell." His eyes widen as he catches sight of the creature ahead of them.

Alane says low and mroe to herself "holy sh..." she eyes the sillhouette closely. Frightened she stays still, still.

Skylar seizes up as she sees the weird creature. "What...the...listen...we don't know what the hell that is, nor what those purple things aroun it are...we...need to retreat and see what it does...let's try finding an entrance to a building or something..." She says already looking around for possible escape routes.

Liana speaks slowly, not moving. "You forget the place and times we live in...for all we know, this being isn't hostile....So let's give it a chance..."

Alane raises an brow, with an sarcastic voice she says to Liana "Do you want to head over, introduce yourself and invite that.... thing... to a cup of tea?" Slowly she takes a few steps back.

Kushivi stares flatly at Liana. "Ever since coming out of my hole in the ground, everything other than Zephyr company employees or allies has tried to either hurt me or rape me, so forgive me if I'm not to eager to lose my life or my virginity at the moment."

Skylar nods...feeling a bit of an ass for not thinking such possibility. "She's right...it might be docile, hang on you guys." She steps in front of the group and tries starting a conversation with the creature.

Alane gulps slightly and says to Kushivi "Well in horror movies it was the virgin who always survived... wasnt it?"
The being stands still, and as the group approaches closer, its armour seems to be of eastern origin, the being resembling a samurai of old, though something is off. The spheres hover beside its head, two orbs above and behind each shoulder, seeming to be gently flickering torches. A face plate seems to be covering whatever face it may have. Standing as still as stone, it seems patient, if mocking of their hesitancy despite no words being present. As Skylar approaches, it turns its attention to her expectantly, a hand swiftly going to the blade strapped to its side, gripping the katana. Still, it makes no move aside from this.

Kushivi mumbles to Skylar, "Can it even speak? Seems to be one of the better dividing lines for whether or not it's nutso-crazy, or possibly willing to not eat me, from my limited experiences."

Skylar squawks, "Excuse me...sorry if we're bothering you. We received a report about some weird happenings around here, we were wondering if you knew about something?"

Alane her hand moves to her Laser pistol as she sees the Samurai putting the hand on the grip of his sword. Quickly her head moves around, searching for a car wreck or some debris which she might use as cover.

Liana nods slowly, slowly, smoothly moving to stand an arms reach from Skyler, ready to interfere if she's attacked. "He...she? seems to be sentient, and understand that we are talking...perhaps it's a language barrier...?" she murmers softly to the group...

Kushivi raises his laser pistol, his arms shaking like a leaf. "Come on buddy, let go of the big sharp thing. Don't make this an issue." He grits his teeth and mutters to himself under his breath. "Like a cop movie, man, like a cop movie. Don't freak out, you can shoot it if it attacks... just keep confident man."

Skylar turns to Kushivi seeing him pull up his laser pistol. "What the hell are you doing?!"

The lanturns seem to flare for a brief moment, illuminating the creature. Despite the definate make of its armour, it seems to be made of natural things. Shell, Wood, leather, cloth, bamboo. "Thou stands before me. Thou has a moment to ready oneself. We speak with blade, and through blade may we mark our words." it says, the deadly glint of silver as it draws its weapon and points it at Skylar, the blade then pointing to Kushivi. "If thoust interfears with a bout, it is with my sincerest apologies that thou shalst be slain where they stand." it warns. Its voice seems to come from the weapon rather than the being itself.

Liana grimaces, looking over to Skylar. "Would you like me to take your place in this challange, or are you comfy with this...?"

Kushivi grimaces, "Yeah, nice talking there. Hence the pistol."

Alane mumbles low, "I never was a fan of eastern cultural stuff..." as she eyes the speaking sword. "Could it be that the armor is just there and the actual .... thing... is the lights or the sword?" she asks the group.

Kushivi mutters out of the side of his mouth at Alane, "If the old greenback meant a damn thing anymore, I'd bet you five bucks that we'd be best off just shooting the damn thing until it stops moving."

Skylar stalls for a moment, trying to see if there's any weak point where it would be easier to separate the sword from the main body. She then talks in a low voice, trying to only be heard by her colleagues. "Ok, so clearly that sword is the 'source' of this thing's power...maybe the light as Alane said, I'm short and I had training in gymnastics at college so here's the plan...I keep it busy by evading it, if you guys notice a weak point or anything, go for it, I hope that those balls are just for show and can't actually attack us...also, does anyone have a glass plate or something made of glass I can use to protect myself?"

Skylar squawks, "Oh and if it comes after you guys, separate yourselves, if it only has melee capabilities we can 'kite' it around."

Skylar squawks, "Otherwise...take cover?"

Kushivi turns to stare at Skylar in disbelief, "You're actually gonna mix it up in close with... Shit!" His trembling finger tightens a hair too much around the trigger of his pistol and it goes off.

Alane says, "Doesnt horrormovies also aways start with the... lets seperate and run alone from the scarry big monster, so it can take one by one easily out?"

Liana shakes her head softly, before looking up. "Good sir...What are the terms of this battle? First blood, until submission, or to the death?"

The being is mostly natural, though on closer inspection the sword seems fused to the hand that grasps it. It seems to be patient, and upon the laser firing, the blade flashes in the air, the burst of light deflected as the creature flicks its wrist, and the blade finds its way back within the sheath. Then it's gone. No trace of the creature for a few moments until the familiar sharp sound is heard as the car that

Kushivi had taken cover behind is cleft clean in two with a brief flash of silver, the familiar pang of the hilt meeting sheath again resounding through the streets.

Liana leaps foreward, running near Kush. "That was a warning! I don't think it's going to kill you, but it just most definatly showed it was capable...I've never seen something move that fast, even with mind tricks like that. She looks at the care carefully, examining the metal where it was cut...

Alane says low "Is.. is it gone?" as the creature suddenly disappears, but as she suddenly hears the sharp sound she shrieks loudly for a moment. The blonde only can see how the car got split in half. Gulping she withdraws her hand from the holster of her gun. "What the hell!" she exclaims loudly as she stares with disbelief at the car. "Ok... I think... but only think... that we better not piss that guy off anymore... or attack it at all..."

Skylar keeps her eyes wide open, locked on the samurai thing. "What do you mean with mind tricks, how do we stop it from slicing us in half before we see it? And do you guys agree with my plan?"

Kushivi's head slowly swivels to look at the cleanly sheared vehicle behind him and he goes white as a sheet. He stumbles backwards and
falls to the ground before trying to scramble away from his prior position. "Oh God! It was an accident! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Don't kill me!"

The car is split, and one can smell the faint acidic smell. "Thou has initiated combat. Talk of many fighting one. Your honour is lacking." it says, its voice perhaps a little high and garbled as one gets a better sounding, and would perhaps smell a little like fish and snails of some sort. A few more gleaming flashes as the being once again draws its sword, carving smooth lines into the pavement, just barely missing Kushivi's feet before it swings aroung in a wide arc, aiming for Liana. "Fight! The time for words is gone! We speak and sing with blade!"

Liana yelps at the sudden change in direction, ducking under the swing, skittering close then back out as she aims to hamstring the large figure with an arm-blade!

Skylar tries scavenging around for papers, a bat or something similar, something to keep all this toghether and maybe something that can start a fire, maybe she can use someone's laser pistol for that? "Keep evading it Liana, we'll try to find a way to stop it!"

Kushivi screams in panic, a suspicious wet spot appearing on the front of his trousers. He lifts his pistol, no apparent target save for the creature's general direction, as his eyes go wide enough to see their whites. He begins firing from his backward prone position. Like a high pitched litany he keeps chanting over and over, "NOT GONNA DIE, NOT GONNA DIE, OH GODS, NOT GONNA DIE!"

Alane mutters a low "crap crap crap!" as the samurai attacks Liana. Swiftly she pulls her laser pistol from her holster and aims with deadly accuracy at the purble light orbs. Losing her confidence she exclaims loudly "KILL IT KILL IT KILLIT!" to the group as she starts to shoot, in her voice lingers fear.

Balina comes bounding along on all four legs, the icewolf arriving just in time to... see a beach samurai challenge a few agents she doesn't recognize. She stops a safe distance away, head cocked and watching.

Liana manages to duck under the swing, though its footwork is deft, the creature hopping over her own swipe as it dances around to her flank, going between the mantis and the trigger happy laser boy, spiralling in place as it advances towards Alane with a determined march, the bullets whizzing by the orbs. Eventually one is struck, and a choking purple smoke quickly engulfes the place as the cloud billows outwards, concealing the creature as the mist rapidly spreads, the could glowing faintly as if lit by ethereal flame.
Skylar sprints towards Kushivi, pointing at his laser gun and at the bat full of papers smooshed toghether on its tip. "Either give me that gun or shoot point blank in the tip of this bat to light it up, try not to shoot me if you can." She angrily says as she presents the bat's tip to Kushivi.

Liana scowls at the sudden billowing cloud, her right arm pointing out, before a thin nozzle on a deceptivly small arm device lets loose a startlingly large and fierce torrent of toxic and highly acidic chemicals, aiming directly for the heart of the incoming cloud!
Besides some of her shots, an "EEEEEEPPPP!!" is the only thing which comes from Alane. Screaming in fear she just tries to spray her gun at the orbs till she eventually has hit one. She seems to calm down abit as she noticed that something happened... till she noticed that her enemie now just disappears in a huge cloud of yellow dust. Freaking out again she starts to shoot into that cloud while she slowly walks backwards.

Kushivi blinks suddenly, Skylar's voice snapping him out of his freakout. He shakes his head before sniffing the air and blinking. A quick frown creases his brow before his face lights up. "Actually, move that bat a bit..." He grabs the bat and shifts it in place with the laser pistol pressed against the ball of papers at the tip, angled at where the gasoline is pooling under the car. A slightly crazed gleam lights his eyes and he grins toothily. "Everything's better with explosions." He says as he pulls the trigger.
You see, this is why Balinawolves stay back for a moment. There are now so many chemicals in the air, nobody even knows who or what anything anywhere is! Someone's going to end up on medic duty in a few minutes, and Balina volunteers by virtue of staying back. She's still about 20 yards away from the mess, and hopefully not downwind.

The caustic torrent of acid vanishes into the cloud of purple smoke and something bad seems to happen, the air suddently flaring with warmth as it turns orange and practically explodes outwards, a thick heavy mist spreading along the ground. Relatively harmless, though it does manage to conceal the firing long enough as bullets from Alane's gun whizz past Liana, one of them catching her side, and other her arm. The Samurai is also not unharmed as a loud spack rings out through the air as it penetrates shell, a soft goey splat soon after. The bat that Skylar wields is now aflame as the burst of light ignites the makeshift torch and the remianing fuel. It is sprinting, every so often flickering out of existance and back in again before another sharp sound rings through the air, and a spattering of crimson lingers in the air as the blade bites through Kushivi, a wide gash across his torso.

Kushivi screams, dropping his gun and clutching at his wound while curling into a ball, cursing loudly. He scrambles in a panic for his medkit and attempts to use it to treat his injury.

Skylar tries hitting the samurai in the legs with the burning bat after it strikes Kushivi.

Liana cries out in surprise and pain as Alana's bullets strike her, eyes shutting a brief moment, her nanites mending her just enough to move her joints correctly, before lunging at the seamurai, leaping in front of the flashing blades. Wincing, knowing this has a good chance of hurting if aimed wrong, she swings her left arm-scythe to intercept one of the Seamurai's vicious swings from the side. As the blades touch, a bright flash of electricity arcs along her tail, through her body, and down her arm, pouring into the half parried blade with enough power to kill the average horse on the spot, and cause her own arm blade to lightly glow with heat where they blades contact. This, being part of her body, and not an external weapon, is -quite- painful. Weather the blade is conductive or not though, or how effective this is, remains to be seen, and the flying lunge will leave her fully open to a counterattack.

Balina finally, *finally* sees something she can do. Darting down from her perch, she rushes to Kushivi's side. Sitting down nearby, bringing her bag to something approaching the mostly-human's level, she mutters something about 'pouches in the front; take one and call me in the morning', then lets off a loud, piercing howl towards their assailant.
Alane stops filling the air with lead and calms down again as she noticed that the samurai prefers an less triggerhappy target. A little relived sigh escapes her lips... till she notices that she has hit Liana. "Oh damn SORRY!" she screams out to her. Afraid to hit her or anyone again in the fight, she only aims her gun at the samurai but doesnt pull the trigger.... just waiting for a good moment, a moment which makes sure that she doesnt hit anyone but the samurai.

The creature is assailed on multiple fronts, its blade quickly moving to block the bat with the rear of the blade, only to be parried by
Liana, the surge of elecriticity and dull thud of bat meeting leg, the being almost immediately catching fire, electricity not seeming to have much effect, though the smell of cooking fish can perhaps be detected so it may have had some impact, the being quivering in place. It laughs. A laugh of pure amusement, something that only seems to grow more hearty as Balina nears and howls. "I did not expect such valour! Well played warriors! My travels have not been in vain!" it exclaims, the being once again flickering in place, the group of people battered by a torrent of cuts lashing out on everybody save for Alane, and soon after the metal clinking of sheathing blade signalling the new location of the beast. Off to the side, facing the rest. The flames seem to have died down, but there is goo leaking from the earlier bullet wound, and it seems to favour one leg over the other.

Liana lands with a thud from the self destructive parry, grunting as she's then hit with several shallow, but painful, cuts, her right arm blade charred at the middle, and left arm weak from the bullet wound. Standing, she pants for breath lightly, her wounds very slowly mending themselves. Still, she offers an almost arrogant smirk to the likewise injured blade user. "I don't suppose you'd be willing to call this a draw, and talk this out over some riceballs...?"

Skylar ignores the pain of the wound, runs into a straight line at the Seamurai, doing a soccer (not american football!) tackle on his good leg, she tries to hit him in his burned leg with her burning bat again, using the speed of the tackle to get distance from the Seamurai after she passes through it if her attack is not blocked.

Kushivi's eyes dilate as he sees the onrushing Seamurai, and with a shriek he flings his medkit at it in hopes of blocking it's line of sight for an instant. He rolls to his side, grasping for his pistol as his eyes clench closed. He continues his roll, further opening his wounds. His eyes fly open at the surge of pain and his hand snaps up in a motion memorized from years of first person shooters, aimed at the hand holding the Seamurai's sword. "Ain't no fucking respawns here! Pull the trigger and pray for a natch 20, baby." He grits his teeth and fires.

Balina fails to feel a hand on her back. Instead, the idiot starts spouting gamer cliches! Muttering something under her breath about newbies, the icewolf decides to be a bit more active, and begins circling to the sword side of this mysterious, anachronistic mutant, reading for a pounce as soon as the path is clear.

After the Seamurai disappeared, Alane kept looking at the other ones to make sure that no one is mortally wounded from the cuts. After that she turns around to the sound of the weaponsheat and she again spots the samurai. Carefully she levers her gun and aims for the head of it. The doubts in her still linger in her head as she aims at the Seamurai, so she takes extra long for an precise shot... till the right moment was there. Balina is close and Sky distracts him aswell... 'he shouldnt be able to ward of all attacks at once!' she thinks and pulls the trigger of the gun once again.

The creature seems to regard Liana for a moment, and seems just about to speak before the others begin surging towards him. It reacts quickly, but not fast enough, the creature leaping into the air as its katana carves through the bat, though not before sustaning a solid hit to the foot. While airborn it twists towards the medkit, slicing the thing in half before it raises its other arm to protect itself from the laser blast, and a spray and crack of cooked shell, leather, and fabric rains down from the ruins of its left arm, the wisps of light finally moving from its shoulders as one streaks towards Kishivi and explodes, a nasty burn searing his flesh. Still twisting. Still spinning. A flash of light followed by a sickening crack. It had just split Alane's bullet in two, however such efforts yielded a wound to each shoulder as the remains pierce shell. Still better than being shot in the face. It lands more or less on the ground, struggling for a moment before falling to its knees, balancing upon its blade. Despite the samurai look it seems to be more like a slug underneath its armour. A hearty laugh. "I tell that the battle ends only when one is unable to stand! Alas, the battle ends! Glorious it was, and thus I concede. You have fought well warriors!" it says, a hacking cough escaping the seamurai soon after.

Balina tsks in disappointment. So much for riding to the rescue. Ducking behind some standard-issue street rubble, she emerges much closer to person-shaped, backpack unslung and held in her good hand.
Balina moos, "Okay, who the hell is still dumb enough to keep fighting while wounded out here?"

Liana allows the pain to catch up now, lowering herself to one knee as she focuses on having her nanites repair her wounds, the bullets popping out onto the ground, and the cuts starting to mend..." Well fought, warrior...though I do have to ask, what the hell was all that about?"

Kushivi grins sheepishly while holding a hand to his bloody chest. He sets his pistol down nearby and nervously raises his hand. "That'd be me. That was stupid enough to keep fighting. While wounded. Ouch." He winces as his adrenaline rush and general shock begins wearing off, and the pain starts flooding back in.
Skylar grunts as she gets up from the ground, taking the dust off the back off her pants and fluttering her wings to also clean them slightly. She finally feels her wound and curves herself a bit while letting out a tiny grunt. "...Yeah...why go around challenging people in the middle of the street like this...? Even if you didn't kill them they could still get mauled by ferals on their way back..." She sighs and looks worried at Kushivi, noticing his set of mutations. "Hey, newbie! Are you still alive?"
Alane walks faster towards to Liana. "Are you alright?... And sorry for the shots... didnt meant too..." she says with an worried voice, biting lightly on her lips. In case Liana is fine she checks out the other members and checks if they are alright... while still listening to the answers of the Seamurai.

Kushivi grits his teeth and nods silently at Skylar.
For his suicidal tendencies, and slightly for stupid jokes in the heat of battle, Kushivi gets hit full in the chest as Balina tosses a high velocity milk packet at him.

The being offers a small laugh and a shrug. "Because I travel to fight those who are strong. By testing strength through conflict one grows! Though I prefer singular combat. T'was my intent." it explains. "The ones who passed through earlier. All weak and unworthy. Disarmed they were! Unaware of their surroundings they were!"

Skylar sighs. "So...how can they become strong if you disarm them and throw em' at the beasts? It's not honorable to fight people who don't want to get into fights, you're just a bully..."

Liana shakes her head softly. "Most those you found are mindless beasts, only guided by instinct...and those that are not are fighting to
survive in a hostile area. But your strong...I'm sure we could find someone that could emply your strength against dangerous, ill-intentioned foes...."

Balina regards the downed seamurai slug with a level of feigned disinterest. "What the hell *did* I walk in on, anyway?"

Another laugh. "Well, I can assure they were guarded. The streets are clean yes?" it says, gesturing around. It seems to be recovering at a steady rate, even its armour mending. Though the same cannot be said for the other bits that comprise its form, most of it appearing to be scavanged material. "I challanged thee individuals to singular combat, though they attacked en masse. An amusing diversion, and well played! There is strength to be found in many." it says to Balina, clearly quite amused. It looks to Liana and shakes its head. "Alas I must refute the offer, for I still have a ways to go. Perfect my art and travel on, thou I shalst return or linger longer mayhaps."

Skylar holds the closing wound with one of her clawed hands. "Zephyr told us to como investigate this place...something ~fishy~ was happening here, we came, saw marks on the ground like an acid blade had cut it, then this guy appears and challenged us-well me...to combat...then we all piled on on him..." She says not very proud of the last part. She then turns to the Seamurai. "Ugh...fighting isn't an art, we do it because we need to to survive...try letting people accept the duel before at-" She then remembers that they started the whole thing by accident. "Uh...do you just go dueling anyone or do you stop if they deny it?"

Liana crosses her arms, mostly healed herself, save for the bullet hole in her vest, and rips along it from the sword. "A shame...Though if you wish to fight the truly strong, while not appearing to be a villain, make your challange an option...there is no honor in defeating one that has no fighting skills. Should you ever need a place to rest or settle, look into Zephyr...Just try not to kill -too- many of the employees..."

That gets a snigger out of the wolfcow. "Now I just regret showing up alone. Or at least on time. There is nothing one can do that three can't do better."

The being shakes its head. "Alas I have not killed any but the beasts. Too little to waste. They live, they grow strong, they fight again." it says, then hilting its katana as it rises to its feet. "War is art, as is the fight. The song of the blade as potent as others. Art how your soul speaks!" it practically sings. "Some paint. Some build. Some use the graceful flow of steel."
Skylar actually feels a little inspired by the Seamurai and thinks of getting a sword when she returns to Zephyr. "Uh...I see...that teleporting thing you did before cutting the car wasn't bad..." She smirks. "So people...mission complete I guess...?"

Balina coughs. "What were the *precise* orders from Zephyr, again? Came in late, remember?"

Alane says, "Well... seems so... but I seriously never would have expected that..." she says, while her eyes give only a tiny hint what she means with 'that'

Kushivi shifts uncomfortably and glances at Balina, "Between the alternating bouts of pain and mind numbing terror, I can't really remember." He grimaces slightly and sighs.

Liana shakes her head softly. "simple as "hey, go look here, somethins making a path of destructiong and heading that way". No backup, no info, thats it.

Kushivi mutters under his breath, "This shit was so much cooler in the movies than living it. Go investigate my ass."

Skylar nods at Liana. "Yeah, basically that...can you walk...newbie?" She asks Kushivi and then notices she didn't introduce herself after all. "Uhm, I'm Skylar by the way."

The being tilts its head as it observes the people and then offers a wave. "Well friends, I shalt possibly see you all again at some other point. Mayhaps I linger here to test warriors. Mayhaps I make a tournament. Shall see i will. Check this Zephyr and see." it babbles, the being vanishing out of sight much as it had before.

Kushivi slowly rises to his feet and gathers his dropped supplies. "So is this investigation wrapped up yet?" His furrowed brow and brooding expression betray his dawning comprehension of the realities of his new life. He blinks for a moment then glances at Skylar and manages a shaky smile. "Uh, cool meeting you. Kushivi. Me, that is."

Balina moos, "We are not getting paid for this."

Alane smiles at Skylar and Kushivi, "Alane the name, nice to know now the names of the ones who were about to die with me." she says with an tiny smirk.

Liana nods to Kushivi, moving to help him gather his supplies. "yeah...we succeded...thats pretty much how things happen in this twisted world. You alright...? You got gashed pretty bad."

Balina tips a hat that doesn't actually exist. "Balina, by the way. Usually better in groups, but such is life."

Skylar groans at Balina as the Seamurai disappears. "Yeah...I know...can't win them all...sooo...who was the one that started opening fire when the mist blinded us?" She says trying to seem calm, but her face clearly a bit pissed off.

Kushivi shakes his head and sighs, "I'm not alright, but the gash isn't that bad. Had experience doing triage as an RN before all this shit happened, I can patch myself up. God this world is fucked up though. It's hard to believe everything's gone insane like this. I guess... I just need some time to figure things out." He reaches up with one hand and scrubs it across his face. "See you guys in the future hopefully?" He offers a pensive smile.

Balina seems to already be juggling a pouch in her spare hand, waiting for anyone else who dares claim to be injured.

Liana turns to Skylar, nodding as she fingers the hole in her vest from the bullet.

Alane raises her hand sheepishly. "I think that would be me... at least I fired at one of his light bubbles... and clouded the area with it..." she says, pouting shyly. "I'm actually still suprised that I got out without an scratch...."

Skylar waves Kushivi off. "Take care, newbie..." She then looks at the holes in Liana and at Alane, putting her hand over her eyes for a second. "Zephyr really needs to invest in training..." She chuckles as she notices Balina just gave a bottle of milk to Kushivi. "You know...it's kind of evil to not tell him what that was Balina...he's going to freak out when he does..."

Alane exclaims pouting, "Hey! I still have hit that slug thingy and wounded it!"

Liana grumbles, but nods lightly. "True...just...try to think before shooting...had it been, say, anyone without healing nanites you hit, things could have been very bad..."

Balina shrugs, grinning. "The first one to the chest should have been a good hint. I'd be more interested to see how he reacts when it's still cold eight hours from now. 'Sides, it's got my name on the side. Hard to really cover it up." As she talks, yet another one is dug out; someone is overly prepared tonight. "I've got dozens of these things, if you'll believe it. Nobody else got hurt? Really?"

Alane says meekly, "Things would probatly went worse if I wouldnt have hit his chest once..." to defend herself.

Skylar sighs...putting her hands on her hips. "Just...don't fire blindly into places where your allies might be." She then turns to Balina. "I'm alright, just a scratch on the arm."

Liana chuckles at the sight of milk-maid Balina, before giving a salute to the group. "I'm going to go get cleaned up...I can heal fast, but regeneration wont stop an infection from filth or burns. Take care, and try not to die in the meantime." With that, she leaps up to the roof with a buzzing of wings, then hops roof to roof northward.

Balina stops tossing the pouch momentarily, considering her next move. With a shrug, she puts it away, and slings the bag back onto her back.

Skylar squawks, "Well...guess I'll head over to Zephyr and report what happened..."

[[Category:RPLogs]][[Category:Loki Events]]

Category:Darkwyrm Events

2012-03-12T04:35:52Z

Crystala: Created page with "Logs of events run by User:Darkwyrm. Add <nowiki>Category:Darkwyrm Events</nowiki> to a file to add it to this list! Category:RPLogs"

Logs of events run by [[User:Darkwyrm]]. Add <nowiki>[[Category:Darkwyrm Events]]</nowiki> to a file to add it to this list!

[[Category:RPLogs]]

The Boat

2012-03-12T04:33:38Z

Crystala:

==Participants==
* [[Unnatural]]
* [[Ahri]]
* [[Fleur]]
* [[Redd]]
* [[Balina]]
* [[Darkwyrm]] (cameo)
==Director==
* [[Darkwyrm]]
==Log==

[RP] The mercenary group known as Giza Security has seeded some information through the networks. Apparently they are in need of some volunteers to fill in for their current lack of active field agents on a simple contract. From what you can make out in the rumors being circulated, this particular contract involves investigating some sort of boat that was seen off the coast hours ago.

[Location]: Giza Security - Corporate Offices Meeting Room
A meeting room with dark green painted walls. The room is dimly lit by a light that hands over a long conference table. Papers are scattered across the table in a sort of haphazard manner as if no one had a chance to do any real organization prior to this meeting. Some funny (de)motivational posters hang in random places on the wall, as well as some group photos depicting some of the Giza staff in various situations. A prominant poster stops an action shot of several people with the caption: GIZA SECURITY: For all of your professional needs.

After making your way to the Giza headquarters, one way or another, you are led to the second floor by the secretary and shown to the first door on the left. The door is politely shut after everyone is inside. Sitting on the opposite side of the table is a jackal in a tidy black and gold uniform. He silently watches everyone file in and then gestures for everyone to have a seat once the door is shut. "Welcome to Giza.", he says, "I am Darkwyrm, head of the Department of Operations.." He pauses for a moment and forces a smile. "I take it you didn't have too much trouble locating us here?"

Ahri saunters over and takes a seat at the conference table. Hana pads up alongside her and leans in against her. Ahri looks over to Darkwyrm and shakes her head. "No, no problems at all. Thank you for calling us in for this contract. Do you mind if I inquire about any further details you may have?"

Balina takes her seat, the wolfcow obviously more at ease than her young bovine escort. "Much easier than the last random call, sure," she says, wiggling herself into a more comfortable position, "Didn't read the posting as well as I should have, but desperate times, and all that. Mercs putting out an open call says this is either incredibly dull or incredibly dangerous, though. What did I sign up for?"

Unnatural joins the others in the room, silently slipping into her seat. the bulky feeling sitting with her forearms resting on the table, her paws pressed together and digits meshed as she looks to the jackle, studying him closly while her ears swiveled forward to face him as he spoke

A scrawny, male alley cat named Fleur fidgets in his seat. He's dressed in a slightly dirty dress shirt that looks like he threw it on at the last minute. He's wearing some sort of thin protective suit underneath that that looks like it was cobbled together in a workshop. He carries a heavily-worn courier bag around his shoulder with a faded patch of some pre-apocalyptic cartoon character on it. He doesn't speak, just keeps his ears perked at attention.

"I'll stand, but no, no trouble finding a street address," Redd glances around the room several times, noting a few faces.

Darkwyrm nods at Ahri and reaches under the table for five thin folders. He places them on top of the table before sliding one to each of the volunteers. "Well, I'm not completely sure what you'll be up against, to be honest. We got this contract wired to us from one of our clients, but we just don't have any available agents to take care of it today, so here you are. Those folders there are of a few satellite photos of what appears to be a boat of some kind driftin' towards the coast. We were unable to get any clear pictures, so we don't know if there are any pasengers. It will have reached the shore by now. Also included in your folder are the projected coordinates."

Darkwyrm clears his throat then adds, "Your objective is simple. Investigate."

Fleur bites his lip and looks at the pictures curiously. "So, uh... nobody's seen this thing from land? No information on if it has, y'know, markings or such?"

Ahri raises her eyebrow and tilts her head to the side, absently chewing on her tongue ring for a moment before speaking. "So just information gathering? What information specifically? Cargo, living crew?"

Redd blinks, and coughs, "When did satellite imagery become available again? I was told none of them could be reached..."

Balina leafs through the surprisingly light briefing, before sliding it to her daughter. "Awful vague, there," she mutters, suspiciously. Looking over to Darkwyrm, "So how afraid are you to break client confidentiality? You've got an unknown vessel and word from someone we don't know who wants us to look at it. What part of that doesn't say 'this is going to blow up in our faces'?"

Unnatural parts her hands and reaches out to take the offered folder, pulling it across the table to rest in front of herself before flipping it open. her head bows, her eyes moving over the contents, the big cat studying the contents as she listened to the others before adding hew own question asked 'You have a means of getting us to the vestle or do we make our own way?'

Darkwyrm crosses his arms and gives Redd a skeptical look. "I'm not at liberty to reveal any information regarding our client." He opens another folder in front of him and scans a page. "There will be a vehicle provded for you, if there are members here that do not have a means of flight, but we do not have any choppers, so you'll get to pack into a van. How fun." He closes the folder and grins. "Regarding the mission itself, that's all the information I have for you. If you still wish to participate, I will need you to sign these waivers indicating Giza holds no responsibility for anything that might happen as a result of undertaking.." He slides five sheets to each person, of about 3 pages each of legal text.

Unnatural takes the contract and begins leafing through it, running her eyes across the lines of text quickly, scanning for anything that looked out of the ordinary without getting too bogged down in the exact wording of the document

Fleur looks up as the papers are slided to him, then looks up at the contract giver. His gaze lingers on the Giza man, and then he looks down at the papers and begins to flip through the papers with a clueless expression on his face. He tugs at his collar and takes slow, steady breaths.
ooc Oh, and it's not written in a way that a lawyer would do write. It looks like it was all typed in in an hour or two.

Finally, the scrawny alley cat pulls out a pen and scribbles his name - a woman's name? - on the signature line. With a sheepish smile, he pushes the paper back.
Unnatural sighs, shaking her head as she says 'I am guessing we arent going to be covered by employee health insurance?'

Balina flips through, recognizing half the verbiage as being similar to her own mercenary contracts, and quite extremely close to what she read last time Zephyr updated their TOS on the comms. Sniggering, she signs off. "You are damned lucky that I'm in such dire straits, you know," she says, passing the form off to her daughter for the little sub-signature before sliding it back over. "Feeling lazy enough for a van ride, but I call shotgun unless people want their seat frozen over."

Unnatural finding nothing particularly worrying in the contract the big cat draws a pen from her coat pocket and begins to scribble her signature across the consenting line

Ahri lifts her eyebrow and a tiny smirk dances across her face. "Well, I see the contract, but what exactly am I getting out of it? You want your information, but we all got needs, honey." She closes the dossier and sits it down tapping it with a fingernail and quirking an eyebrow. "With a contract this shady, show me the money, so to speak."

"That would be a no. As you aren't actually active members of our organization, if we even had health insurance benefits, you wouldn't be included.", Dark says with some amusement to Unattural. He presses his fingers together and rests his hands on the table as he turns to Ahri. "Rest assured, you will be paid the full sum that any Giza employee would receive for this type of contract. You may view that amount on page 2, section C of your contract."

Unnatural slips her pen back into her pocket before sitting back in the seat, taking a moment to adjust her coat and shirt collar, popping upper the upper button to loosen it about her neck and finally taking the time to check just what her companions were
Unnatural roars, "unless there is any further pressing information we need to know, shall we get under way?"

Ahri nods and sighs, before flipping it open, reading it quickly and then sighing and scribbling her signature on it. "Fine, I reserve the right to drop the contract at any point however and get the hell out of dodge without further liability to myself."

Fleur is a common-as-dirt alley cat, apparently. He's dressed in a slightly dirty dress shirt with a non-matching pair of dress pants, has hair that covers one of his eyes in erratic clumps, and big, expressive eyes. He seems to be wearing some sort of basic, amateurishly-crafted armor under his business clothes. He keeps taking discreet glances at the jackal across the table.

Darkwyrm accepts the signed contracts and folds them up neatly into then folder in front of him. "Alrighty. Now that we got that crap outta the way.." He stands and straightens his collar before giving a slight bow to each person. "If you'll follow me, I'll lead you to your vehicle." He leads you down the stairs and back into the bar before opening the back door and ushering everyone through to the parking garage behind the building. Several battered cars are still in there, but the most noticeable vehicle here is a van painted completely in black that looks like it's been cleaned recently. "There you are, please bring it back in one piece." He throws the keys to the nearest person, which happens to be Redd and stands by. "Directions are in each of your folders, the section of coast is remote, but not hard to reach by road, and a bit of hiking."

Ahri glances around at the others. "Would you like me to fly over-watch for now and descend if I see anything of note approaching as we travel?"

Unnatural rubs her chin thoughtfully as she looked over the van, then back at the gathered participants then back tot he van saying 'This is going to be a close and intimate experience' before moving toward the back doors of the parked vehicle

Balina does in fact help herself to the shotgun position, while her daughter piles in shortly thereafter, passing the folder back up so the wolfcow can navigate. "Can't drive vans to save my life, anyhow. You going to be okay, Shiny?"

Fleur flicks his tail, looking through the folder one last time... he bites his lip and casts another wayward glance in Dark's direction. Finally, he tucks the folder under an arm and makes for the van. "... who's driving?"

Unnatural polls the back doors of the van open and climbs inside, the added weight of both larger than average persons Balina and herself raising questions over how good the vans suspenshoun is

Redd glances at the keys in his hands, then tosses them to Fleur, "You are, I haven't been behind the wheel of any vehicle for more than two years."

Fleur laughs awkwardly. "Well, I... had a driver's license, I guess..." ... he takes a moment to register who his other companions are, then nods finally. "... guess I'm it then." He twirls the keys in one hand and makes for the driver's seat.

Darkwyrm gives a nod and a smile to Fleur as he notices the lingering glace and gives a short, official sort of wave. He then crosses his arms again and straightens his back with a few pops of his spine as he watches the group make preparations for departure.

Ahri closes her eyes, muttering under her breath and dark shadows flicker across her eyes. A feral smirk crosses her lips and her hackles rise. Some sort of force, whether arcane or nanite induced, causes the air to whip about herself and Hana for a brief moment before going still, and the pair slowly float into the air. "Alright, ready to go."

Unnatural makes herself comfortable in the back of the van, waiting on everyone else to get their act together and get the mission under way

You find that the tank of the van is full of gas, and there's even a gas can full of emergency fuel in the trunk.

Balina is seated, and ready to begin barking directions. That is, she is in her natural element. "Steady as she goes," she says, to nobody in particular.

Fleur reviews the road plan, nods to himself, and then pulls it out of the garage. He begins on his way to the coast, passengers in tow.

Assuming you follow the directons to the tee, without any major pit stops, the trip goes pretty smooth. Aside from the occasional feral running across the street, the drive is boring. After about an hour and a half, you reach the coast, and another half hour after that before you reach the point at which you need to hoof it. You arrive at a coastal resort parking lot and start making your way across the deserted area towards the sandy beach.

Unnatural draws a deep breath of cool, salty ocean air before bursting into a fit of coughing, pulling a handy tissue out of her pocket and cupping it over her mouth until the fit passes. Clearing her throat and straightening up the big cat looks about with a wary grin thankful for being furry enough not to show off a blush 'I guess the city air agrees with me more'

Redd sees that the van has stopped, and goes into a steep dive, landing a bit too fast, and leaving marks in the asphalt about 20 feet away.

Ahri frowns at the vague shape of the boat, about nine football fields in the distance, before descending close enough to shout down, "I'm going to approach at a distance from the air, and see if I can get us any advanced information, then report back. Does that work for you?"

Fleur stares up at Ahri. The flying skunk seems to make his brain misfire. "Uh..." He glances to the others. "If you think it's safe. I mean, your risk."

Balina shrugs, and starts trudging along towards the vague shape. "Long enough walk that you can get there and back before we're within minimum safe distance. Let us know how it goes."

Unnatural peers out toward the horison while folding her arms across her belly, leaning back slightly as her toes curl, digging into the soft sand beneath them 'Maybe we should send a swimmer out to see too. check it out at and below the water line'

Other than a large amount of debris and litter scattered around the parking lot and most of the beach, the area is pretty pristine. The soft sound of the crashing waves against the shore is almost calming. There are a number of vendor kiosks lining the edge of the sands, and plenty of leftover umbrellas, towels, and tattered bathing suits around.

Redd glances around the resort area, before speaking up, "Think we should make some fortifications or the like while we wait for her to return? After all, there has to be someone, or something here..."

Unnatural quirks a brow as she looks over a shoulder at Redd 'Fortifications? I wasn't planning on being here long. I don't see a need to dig in. If we meet resistance we fall back, reevaluate and call for aid or scrub the mission.'

Fleur looks to Unnatural. "I think he just wants to move to a more defensable position, uh..." ... it occurs to him that he doesn't know his teammates' names. "... ma'am."

Ahri approaches the parking lot again, returning from her over-flight. Her feet touch lightly on the hood of the van and she drops down into a sitting position. "Alright, it looks like what we spotted earlier is just a private motorboat with nobody there. There were a bunch of empty gas cans on its deck though, and lots of empty food and drink wrappers."

Fleur chuckles awkwardly. "Name's Fleur, by the way. Or at least, it has been since the world changed."
Fleur meows, "Sounds like a dead end, then ... thanks for checking it out."

Balina and her daughter come jogging back, once it becomes clear nobody else was going. "So," she pants, "do we have any idea if there was anything more important? For that matter, was the engine warm? Could have been it."

Unnatural humms softly to herself, head bowing down 'Could be whoever was there joined the fishes... is it a big boat? is there any way someone could be on board?'

Ahri frowns slightly, "It wasn't just a couple of gas cans on the deck, it was enough of them that it looked unnatural. Something about that's bugging me."

Fleur squints and digs out the satellite photos to examine them again. Could that be a private motorboat?

Ahri softly churrs, "I did also see some foot prints in the sand too."

Balina grabs the top of her muzzle. Some gestures are hard these days. "See, that sounds more important than anything else. Footprints going which way?"

Ahri lifts an eyebrow. "We were hired to look for the boat, not people who walked away from it. But they were headed toward one of the kiosks nearby, since you were wondering."

Fleur wets his lips. "I think 'investigate' is pretty liberal, really. If there were people in it, they probably want to know."

Unnatural turns her back on the water, looking to her companions 'We should send at least one person to check out the boat at close range. For all we know it used to be a person. stranger things have happened. The rest of us should see about this person. Even if he isnt from the boat he may know something'

"Footprints in sand never last very long," Balina observes, glancing back towards the distant shape that may or may not be akin to a boat. "Mirta and I'll go take a closer look, see if I can at least pick up the smell of whoever we're apparently going to start tracking. Anyone want to skip ahead and start at the kiosk?"

Fleur looks content with, and packs the satellite photos back into his courier bag. "... you think Mr. Handsome back there was leading us into a trap?" he asks, tail flicking. Then, to Belinda, he adds, "I can skip ahead if you like."

Unnatural shakes her head, gesturing toward Redd with a thumb 'He has a kind of point. we should check otut he ship quickly, giving it the once over, then head to check for survivors'

Ahri glances around the group. "Want me to stay on watch and rapid response overhead?"

Fleur fishes about for something in his bag. He pulls out a small bundle of processed snacks and puts one in his mouth. Snap. "... do mercenary teams always work like this? This isn't quite how I imagined these things."

Unnatural takes another, long, deep, though slightly more reserved breath. Stepping back and raising her arms she begins to pop open the buttons first on her suit coat then on her shirt, turning her back on the assembled group as she begins to pull her clothing off 'Pardon me, but I think We'll be needing wings for this'

Balina is already loosening straps and buckles while doffing her backpack; tracking is easier with the right equipment, and within a few moments there is a large wolf where a Balina used to be. Her daughter pulls a large blanket of the discarded pack, draping it over Balina while she dons the backpack herself and mounts up. The Fenrir turns her head back to the group, nodding at Fleur.

"We'll be fine like this, thanks. I'll be along to the kiosk, assuming that's where the trail goes. Anything else before I get moving?"

Fleur nervously munches one of his snacks, eyes wide. "... very well. I'll just, uh..." ... he hesitates. "Watch the area."

Ahri smirks at Fleur as she stands up, before stepping off the roof of the van and beginning to rise once more. "You're guarding the van? Cool. I'll be sure to let anyone know if the others need help."

Unnatural strips down into her rather peculiar underwear (it isnt often you see someone wearing an armoured bra) folding her suit up carefully before beginning the process of adapting her form for flight, broad feathery wings surrounding from her shoulders. Making sure she is no more exposed than is necessary, she turns back to her companions, with a grin as she stretches out her new wings 'So, plan of action?'

Redd pulls a small rifle from his bag, and shakes his head, "You folks check out the boat, or kiosks or wherever, I'll stay here and guard the van." He climbs to the roof of the van, and glances around. "If I found somebody they'd not live long anyway, with my nerves."

Unnatural shrugs her shoulders again, which turns out to be a rather surprisingly difficult task with her new found appendages 'Right. I will go check out the boat, see if there are any clews on board as to what happened. Any company is welcome though I don't foresee problems'

Fleur looks up at Redd. "Ah, if you're covering the van, then..." the cat looks uncertain, flicking his tail. Everyone else can fly. He's not really prone to swimming that entire way. "... I'm on the kiosk," he says finally, looking over to Balina.

Balina finds herself missing her ability to shrug when she's like this most of all. "Fine, then. I'll see folks in a bit. Anyone who wants to help can tag along at their own pace." With that, the wolf turns around and starts charging into the distance, slightly less smooth than usual thanks to the terrain.

The cat adjusts the seating of his courier bag on his body before making his nimble way across the terrain. The processed snacks are stowed.

Unnatural breaths a long soft sigh, her shoulders falling as her body slumps forward and her head bows down with eyes half closed 'so we are splitting into three groups... OK. This could work... but I reserve the right to be the one that pulls the mask off the villain at the end before they say 'and I would have got away with it too if it hadn't bee for you needling... whatever'

Unnatural turning back toward the water suddenly and kicking up a small cloud of sand as she brakes into a run, the wing feline picks up speed before launching herself into the air with broad stokes of her wings, rising up only a short distance before heading out toward the distant vestal

The beach is devoid of life other than yourselves; there aren't even any birds flying about. Those who are running need to dodge discarded coolers, benches, toys and other leftover things from the families that are no more. After several minutes of running, those who went to investigate may reach either the boat or kiosk. The boat is firmly run aground int the sand and looks like it's been there for at least an hour, but it looks like some other force other than the waves was responsible for pushing it this far. The boat smells of moldy rations, gasoline and unwashed human, and off of these things are present except the human. The gas meter on the boat reads empty, and further investigation of the cans reveals the same.

The nearest kiosk is a bit bigger than the other ones nearby. It looks like a mini-bar/restaurant long deserted. You can barely make out footprints in the sand, and the shape of them indicates whatever made them was running. The trail of sand leads up to a back door with a hinge that was busted off.

Balina finds no reason to deviate from the plan. Presuming neither she nor Mirta find anything (investigation is easier with hands), the wolf begins following the trail, paying less attention to her eyes than to her nose. Given the circumstances, it's fairly easy.

Unnatural drops down onto the boat with with all the persision of someone that has never flown before in their life but does manage to avoid landing in the water. casting a quick glace back toward land to be sure no plumes of smoke were rising and no open warfare had broken out before setting about the task of going over the entire boat carefully, moving the empties cans about, shaking them to be sure nothing was stashed inside and even checking the wrappers to see what sort of food had been consumed and try to judge just how old it was

Fleur presses up near the door and listens for sounds on the other side of it. He makes no attempt to open it, just yet.

Fleur hesitates at the threshold, sniffing the air. After a moment's consideration, he looks out to the beach, and, assuming he can spot Balina incoming, makes his way towards her.

Unnatural carries on rooting through the objects on the boat, checking presses and shelves and any scraps of paper she could find for notes, logs or anything that would give a clue as to the origin of the ship or the nature of whoever had been on board it

Balina meets up with Fleur, barely giving a nod as she keeps going. "No surprises," she mumbles as she paces along. Reaching the door, she looks up and casts a questioning eye to the cat. "Anyone down there yet?" she asks, before quickly checking the area to make sure that, yes, the obvious

"There's somebody in there," says Fleur. "Moving stuff around. Possibly furniture. ... Or bodies. You know, that would be creepy. Thought I'd wait until you arrived to crack open the place, though."

When Balina and Fleur start talking, they can hear some sudden and excited movements from inside the kiosk. Perhaps even frightened movements.

Mirta slips off of her mother's back, stashing the blanket and standing ready at the door, ready to slam (or kick) it open and get out of the way at a moment's notice. Balina, grinning to her feline compatriot, gives a questioning tilt of her head towards the door. She seems a little too eager to hear that someone is afraid of her.

Fleur's eyes widen as he sees the look on her face. "Woah, woah," he says, "w-we want this to be a peaceful confrontoation, right, Balinda?" ... wait, how does he know her name? "... right?"

Unnatural continues a fairly exhaustive search, even taking the time to look over the edge of the boat and check the condition of the engine, though at this point she didn’t expect to learn anything more than she already knew

Balina snarls, "My penmanship is atrocious. It's Balina, by the way. But fine, we'll do it your way." Turning to the door she yells, "Anyone in there? We got a distress call, figured we'd pop by. Everyone okay? Need food, medicine, maybe some gas? I'm sure those hot dogs are pretty rank by now!"

Ahri hears Belinda's shout and flies off to alert Unnatural of the developments as quickly as she can.

Fleur meows, "... they had hot dogs?"

Some heavy breathing comes from behind the door and a little slat opens and shuts almost immiediately afterwards. "Fora com você, demônios vil! Vou vê-lo morto antes de ceder a sua corrupção!" comes an agitated voice from the other side.

Redd shifts his position on top of the van, noting his claws had punched holes in the flat paneled roof. Damn flimsy aluminum body panels... "Anything yet from the searchers?" Redd's voice came in over the comm. "No signs of motion from my position at the parking lot."

Balina turns to Fleur. Her expression doesn't say "I told you so" so much as it says, "Que porra?" Her voice, however, says, "So. Wanna call to see if anyone knows any moonspeak, or should we just go back to plan A?"

Fleur fishes into his pack and gets the snacks again. He raises the stale snack to his lips and snaps it between his teeth. "Now now. Let's not overdo it. That wasn't a -happy- voice."

Unnatural had just about covered the entire boat in her search when she heard Ahri's call and dropping the few papers she had been examining she steps up to the side of the boat and with a glance down at the shifting waves and a another look skyward she rather hesitantly behind flapping her wings, shaking unsteadily as the boat rocks beneath her before finally plucking up the courage to leap into the air, flapping furiously to prevent herself falling back toward the waves as she struggled to get height and speed without a running start.

"Fora! Ou eu vou acabar com você!", comes another shout from the same voice from the other side of the door. "Eu estou armado!"

Ahri quickly approaches the parking lot and descends next to Redd, with Hana landing lightly beside her. "Kiosk group encountered people. Unnatural is en route. Shall we?"

Balina gestures with her head to bring Mirta over, then mutters something into the cow's ear. Her daughter nods, then quite carefully works her way back, standing off to the side of the door. Balina herself carefully pads over to the other side, hunkering down and gesturing to Fleur to join her.

Unnatural is managed to make good time considering she is an extremely large cat with wings, barley keeping herself airborne over a massive body of water

Fleur nods to Balina and takes a position on the side of the door. He holds up a finger to wait and looks off in the distance.

"Found someone? Which kiosk?" Redd jumps off the top of the truck before getting airborne himself. Once airborne he glides towards the kiosks, hoping to spot at least one of the searchers.

Ahri quickly takes Hana by the hand and takes to the air once more, leading the way. When she spots Unnatural coming she grins before shouting over to Redd and pointing at Balina and Fleur's last location. "We're converging on them there. Hopefully it's time to break out the white flag, and see if they're gonna play nice."

Unnatural drops down to all fours on the soft, yet reassuringly non-liquid sand as soon as she is clear of the water. The sigh of relief from the large feline audible at some distance as she catches her breath, wings folding up against her back before she rises up on her feet. Pausing to regain her nerve and questioning herself on what she was thinking as she brushed a hand across her arms and legs sweeping some clinging sand loose before beginning to make her way in the same rough direction as Redd

Fleur nods to Unnatural. "Angry foreigners. Probably gonna shoot on sight. We're gonna knock on the door. Very hard. Questions?"

Redd lands a few feet from the kiosk with the stranger inside, "Ok, I'm told you found someone, anyidea who?" He glances at the door, before moving out of view should it suddenly open.

Unnatural moves at a slow pace, her eagerness for the job rather blunted at this point as she looked to Fleur, only giving a nod in reply to their words following by a long groaning grunt as she closed on the assembled group of her fellows. Looking about the scene and wondering just what had gone on she raised a hand to her mouth before clearing her throat loudly in an effort to get everyone’s attention before saying in a clear and deep voice 'Maybe we shouldn’t surround the cornered human with large scary monsters? We need to keep this person in one peace. They could have valuable information about other parts of the country'

Balina keeps her eyes on the door, but answers, "Smelly. Unwashed. Probably uninfected. Oh, and doesn't speak English. Just a second, let me GET HIM TO SAY SOMETHING AGAIN!" her volume rising, nearing a shout by the end.

"I not care what you speak!", that same voice yells back. "I not let demons corrupt me, will shoot!"

Unnatural looking to read unnatural answers his question with 'the boat cant have come from too far away. It had a lot of fuel canisters but it isn't of the sort that could get across a whole ocean and it is more a fishing boat than an escape vehicle so it likely didn't come from a bigger ship. In short it has to be fairly local but it looks like someone set themselves up for a long trip. They are out of food and fule'

Ahri lands on the sand a distance behind Fleur and Balina, slightly behind Redd. She puts a steadying hand out for Hana who lands beside her. She glances at Balina and her features ripple back to human.

Fleur clucks his tongue. "... he was cuter when he yelled in a foreign language. Anyway, we want to keep this one alive, right? I mean... you know. In theory."

Fleur pauses and stares blankly in Ahri's direction. This is apparently the first time he's seen someone go back to human. His jaw drops. He blinks.

Balina snorts, then pads away from the door, turning around and lying down a safe distance away. "No demon here. Just a big tracking dog. Not going back to human, and Mirta can't. We'll just be inconspicuous." Mirta, for her part, steps away from the door, but remains plastered to the wall of the kiosk.

"Doesn't speak English, eh?" Redd glances at Unnatural, then the boat in the distance, "Sounds to me like either a fisherman or somebody who took a lifeboat from a larger ship." He glances at the door, "wonder what sort of gun he's got, if it's a pistol it won't hurt too much..."

Unnatural hangs her head breathing yet another sigh 'If they speak english we can get the information we need from them and let them go on their way. We can even help them gather supplies if need be'

Ahri sighs and grabs her corset and a pair of pants from her pack, donning it to conceal her multiple breasts, and other features in an attempt to pass as normal at least for a short time. She approaches the door. "We're just here investigating the origin and nature of the ship, as it was spotted by our client. We just want our information, then we'll leave."

"Demon trickery!", the man growls from inside.

Ahri lifts her head and glares at the door before speaking, "Pater noster, qui es in caelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum. Adveniat regnum tuum. Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo et in terra. Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie, et dimitte nobis debita nostra sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris. Et ne nos inducas in tentationem, sed libera nos a malo. Amen. There, Lord's prayer for you. Not a demon. Can we cut the bullshit and talk business now?"

"What? You speak jibberish!" The reverberating sound of a heavy object hitting the door is heard. "I won't listen to your chants! I won't be bewitched!"

Balina remains where she is. Just an ordinary, gigantic friendly dog, tail idly thumping in the sand.

Unnatural leans against a wall arms folded across her chest. Her gaze was cast low tot he floor though her ears remained perked and attentive to the conversations ongoing as she considered the options available to her for a few moments before asking 'Is there perhaps a back door or window... or maybe we can just ask him where he's from, what he has encountered, and what conditions are like in the areas he has seen'

Redd leans on the door a bit, seeing how much give it has, "Alright, may want to move to the side, I'm going to try to force the door open," He waits a moment, for the immediate area to clear.
Fleur remains pressed against the wall of the kiosk, apparently wrapped up in fantasies that he's James Bond, if James Bond were a dirty mutant cat. He just gives a nod to Redd, waiting for blood to start flying.

Balina snarls, "I don't enjoy being shot. You can have fun, though."

Ahri sighs and steps back, her attempt at negotiation foiled, moving over to stand behind Fleur, up against the wall. She motions for Hana to move even further back, and she does.

Unnatural lets out a soft growl as she steps away from the wall, arms cast back as she says 'Why? Why torment the man? We can just let him go. We fulfilled our contract, endangering the life of a human and ourselves isn't necessary. Just offer him help, if he says no, we leave him be. We aren't thugs'

"Alright, on the count of 5, I'm going to knock this door down, I'd advise you be clear from behind it, and don't try to shoot, it'll just ricochet to lord knows where," Redd shouts the best he can through the door, before waiting a minute, for the man to process this.

Balina idly starts circling the stand, looking for an amusing thing to burst through when Redd makes his move.
.
There is no reply from within, despite the warning Redd gave.

"At this rate, he's just going to end up as another feral in a few days anyway," says Fleur, flicking his tail. "The least we can do is knock him senseless and drag him to a safer place where someone BETTER at these personal things than us can talk some sense in to him." He frowns. "I mean, I wasn't counting on this being a rescue mission, but hey."

Ahri's lip curls in frustration and a low growl emerges from her throat. "If you don't drop your shit, and get your ass out the kiosk and on the ground, then you're gonna be dealing with a group of much larger, much more durable and deadly, demons, who by merely fighting you will likely become like. So if you don't wanna end up all fucked up and mutated, or assuming we're in a really bad mood, dead as a doornail? Drop your weapons, get your ass out here, and lay face down on the ground. Last chance."

Redd passes a small object to Unnatural, "See if you can get that inside before I knock down the door, should blind him, or at least ruin his aim."

Unnatural takes the small offered object rather curiously looking it over in her hand 'cant we just set it off here then bash the door in?'

Balina finishes circling. "You haven't gone in yet? C'mon, getting bored out here. Icewolves don't like bright sunny days."

Unnatural raises her free hand to par Reed on a flank before slipping past him toward the door. standing to one side to avoid any bullets comming through the door she raises a hand to knock lightly on the obstacle before calling out 'escuse me Sir? are you still in there?'

"Go Away! I shoot!"

Unnatural speaking as softly as she can mange the big cat leans toward the door 'You are trapped in a small room with the exit guarded. If we were here to hurt you we would have done it all ready, we just want to find out where you came from and what conditions are like there. If you can supply us with the needed information we can help you get gas and fresh rations. I also must warn you this will be the last offer before my colleague comes through the door one way or another'

Redd pulls a second out, and ignites it, letting the fuse go down, "Ok, One, Two, Three!" At three, Redd smashes a hole in the top of the door, and tosses the smokebomb in, "Lets see how long it takes for him to open it from the inside. He'll have to open it if he doesn't want to worry about smoke inhalation."

Balina sits herself down, about ten feet from the door. Easy pouncing distance, but she's more concerned with watching the chaos that's about to unfold. You can tell by the small dust cloud forming behind her.

Fits of coughing start from inside, and then wheezing. Soon afterwards, the hum of something being turned on and then smoke being blown out one of the other sides of the building as a fan starts to filter out the smoke.

Balina mutters, then calls Mirta over. The cowgirl nods, going around back and stuffing the blanket from earlier into the vent.
Balina sniggers to herself.

Unnatural gives in to the less planned and more direct plan, offering the second smoke bomb up to red 'Want to double down?'
Fleur watches the smoke spilling out of the building and sighs. "... and that's why we're temps," he says. "Is someone going to kick the door down already, or do I need to myself?"

Redd takes the first smoke bomb, lights it as well, and pushes it inside the building just as the burning fuse was going into the casing.

Ahri takes a step back and glances aside at Redd. "If this doesn't work I'm just gonna burn this thing down."

Balina snarls, "Wait for it. Trust me on this, it'll be great."

A wail of despair echoes from inside as the occupant realises the smoke isn't being blown out anymore. The sudden crash of something heavy is heard before the door swings open and a wiry man leaps out, coughing and wheezing for breath. He has in his hands a broken paddle and a flare gun. He has tan skin, dark brown hair and mustache, is clothed in a white collared shirt and jeans, both horribly stained with sweat and grime. He weakly holds up the flare gun, weakly trying to aim it at whoever he can see while feebly protecting his head with the paddle.

Balina snarls, "Starved, exhausted," She sniffs, "Filthy, probably has scurvy." The wolf simply walks up to the prone man, stomping at the gun with one large, frigid paw. "Would you cut that out already? Gonna hurt yourself."

It's about this time that Fleur makes a leap at the man, too! He attempts to either disarm or immobilize him before he does try to shoot something - preferrably without infecting him.

Unnatural continues to stay clear of the door, content to not be the one to clobber a malnourished human who may have managed to last this long without being infected. Remaining silent with her back against the wall, her attention of the man still standing with his back to a doorway into a room filled with black, blinding smoke with no other exit save that great big open door

Redd frowns somewhat, "And here I thought you had an actual firearm, well, least the lifeboat theory is confirmed."

The man drops his paddle immiediately after he is disarmed and drops to his knees, covering his head with his hands. "Ahhh!", he screams, "Don't kill me!"

Ahri stares down at the panicky survivor and lifts an eyebrow. "You cognizant enough to tell us where your boat is from and how you got there? We can get you to food and safety, but we need to know the story behind how you got here and what's with the boat."

Balina snarls, "More worried about the crystal dragon than the hungry-looking wolf. This is silly. Mirta!" The cowgirl returns, clutching the blanket. At a gesture, she drapes it around the half-prone lunatic, then fishes a pouch of milk out of the backpack, which is offered with a bright smile."

Fleur picks up the flare gun and pockets it, glancing left and right. He decides to serve as a watch and body-guard for the survivor.

The man looks up and eyes the milk with a paniced gaze before shrugging away with it like it was poison. "My boat.. rode from Columbia.. you can take, if do not eat me!"

Unnatural drops into a crouch, remaining against the wall though shifting her weight and turning on her toes to face toward the man and after waiting for a break if the activity of the others as the human finally started to cooperate she spoke in a soft hushed tone saying 'Calm down. It was never our intention to hurt you. We just want to talk. We're from Woodfield city. There are other survivors there. Even a few humans left'

Ahri glances at Unnatural and grimaces, "I don't think he even knows about the nanites and the infection. It's damn impressive he survived out there on that boat this long."

"Survivor.. yes. Only one I know from my town.. Columbia.. plague.. demons everywhere..", the man rambles, "Followed shore for weeks.. lost track of time.." He starts sobbing. "You follow me.. to finish."

Fleur meows, "I assure you, we didn't do that."

Fleur coughs. "That is, not me. Personally. Look, there's shelters for people like you, we... should probably get out of the open air, though."

Balina is tired of this. Stepping away from the group, she begins packing herself together, returning to a proper Balina again.

Returning, she asks, "Anyone here have any better ways to calm him down? He's surrounded by mutants, and still crazy."

Unnatural gives a nod to ahri before looking back tot he human 'The least we can do is made sure he has a good meal.' leaning a little closer and extending her arm, hand upturned toward the male 'Come on sir. We have no interest in hurting you but the infection didn't just hit one town, it hit almost everywhere. We're all survives of the disaster trying to rebuild civilisation'

Ahri blinks. "So wait, until a few weeks ago the infection hadn't reached your town?"

Redd snickers a moment, "I don't eat anything that's still alive, and you most certainly are still alive, and we intend to keep you that way." He fishes something out of a pocket, a form fixitive, "This should prevent any reactions to the plague, as you called it, at least for the next few days."

The catboy frowns. "Surprised that there's still towns out there that weren't hit years ago... anyway, look. We're not crazy. Some of us want normal lives." His eyes dart up to the form fixative, and he wets his lips and nods. "We studied the infection to find a cure. Some people just live with it. Some lose their minds, some remain themselves." ... the cat pauses for a suspicious length of time, tail twitching. "... we have ways to fight the infection now, or to live with it."

The man snatches the pill from Redd and pops it in his mouth, swallowing quickly. "You are.. not from Columbia?", he asks with a rough accent and wide eyes. "Then why do you look like demons?"

It was probably silly of her to bother getting so close. Walking back towards the van, Balina gets about twenty paces before turning around and running full-tilt towards the delirious sailor, she gives a solid punch to his temple with as much practiced care as she can manage. With any luck, this is the most convincing Taggart impression anyone's seen today.
<Hero> Balina spends a Hero point!

The man lets out a surprised gasp and crumples to the sands, unconscious.

Fleur catches him before he hits the ground. He stares at Balina with a wide-eyed expression.

Redd gleams, "... Well, at least he got the fixitive down first..."

"... well, good. You know what? Wonderful! We got him. Let's grab a bunch of crap from the boat and haul his arse back to civilization." Fleur throws his hand up in apathy, then slings the man over his shoulder. He's stronger than he looks...

Ahri snickers at Balina before shrugging and glancing at Fleur. "Let's get him in the van and take him back. We can let Giza sort the rest of this out."

Balina is almost stunned that worked. Desperately trying to regain composure before anyone sees her own expression, she straightens an imaginary tie. "Boring conversation anyway. Giza'll be happy for this. We're not paid to do therapy."

Ahri soothingly hisses, "Amen"

Unnatural quirks a brow, looking to Balina then to the unconscious man and without a word the big cat pushed away from the wall, rising back up to her feed before declaring 'Well grab him and get him back to the van. We can deliver him to the hospital in Fairhaven. Perhaps humans will have better luck with him than we did'

Fleur carries the man back towards the van. He checks for any ferals that might have stowed away in the van, and, assuming he finds none, places the survivor in the back. "... welcome to hell," he mutters.

The van is exactly as you left it in the parking lot, and the rest of the beach and resort is as deserted as ever.

Unnatural scoffs shaking her head 'the survivalist camp will be a hell of a lot better than being on that boat for weeks. Speaking of, maybe we should beach it'

Ahri rolls her eyes. "God, so much hate for the gifts we're given. Kinda sad. Anyway. We'll take him to Giza and let them sort him out. He's part of the job, and probably the biggest source of information we can get."

Balina tries not to give a self-satisfied giggle as she takes her backpack from her daughter, packing things up and generally making ready to leave. "Think we'll get a bonus for taking him in alive?"

Fleur turns to Unnatural, tilting his head. "Was anything in the boat that we could bring back? I wouldn't want them to accuse us of... yanno, not doing a good enough job."

Ahri grins to Balina, "Hope so."

Unnatural shrugs before shaking her head 'maps, charts, it's a fishing boat. not a cruis liner or a military warship. nothing on it seemed all that special'

Fleur pauses, pulling out his keys and twirling them. "... it got a motor?"

Ahri glances at Unnatural. "Did you get the maps and charts?

Unnatural roars, "I left them on the deck. I was more concerned with the survivor"

Ahri soothingly hisses, "probably should pick those up so Giza can backtrack his point of origin, since it's somewhere the plague didn't touch until only a couple weeks ago. This kinda information is priceless."

Ahri heads back to the boat to get the maps and charts, and hopefully memorize any marks he may have made that could reveal his point of origin, before turning them over.

Fleur waits for anyone visiting the boat to come back with materials before he heads anywhere.

Balina and Mirta are already in the van. Where is everyone else?

Ahri comes back and nods to Fleur. "I think that's it. Ready to go?"

Unnatural leaves handling the survivor to everyone else, moving ahead tot he van and pulling the rear doors open to allow the valuable cargo to be loaded

Fleur gets in the driver's seat and revs the engine. "Desination, ladies and gentleman?"

Balina moos, "Giza paid for the guy, let's get this turned in. No *clue* how long he's going to be out."

Fleur meows, "Okay, let me put it this way. Anyone here know enough about medicine to check if this guy's got a cracked skull or something? If he's living, I think we can stop at Giza first."

Ahri nods at Balina. "Screw the freaks at the hospital. Let's just take him to Giza, and if he really needs treatment, well, we all know a few people who have excellent healing mutations."

Fleur meows, "Sounds good to me!"

Unnatural roars, "If we get him to Giza we have done our job. if we make sure he gets propper medical care we are good people"

Redd nods, "Hopefully we can get there before he comes to. Although, I'd avoid Chandler, as well. Ought to get him used to the new world, instead of isolated from it."

Fleur waits for the others to get on board, then makes his way directly to Giza - do not pass go, do not collect $200. Hopefully Dark will be happy with him...!

Ahri nods to Redd. "No need to give the paranoid flatscans another idiot to buy their bullshit."

Your trip back is, unfortunately, not much unlike your trip there. Boring, simple drive, no working radio. When you arrive back at Giza, Darkwyrm is waiting for you in the parking garage. "Alright, whatta you got for me?", he asks, tapping his foot.

Balina bounds out of the van, in a repeat of her previous performance. "Depends!" she says, excitedly, in the middle of some calf stretches. "You want to tell us anything more about the boat, now that we're back?"

Ahri slips out of the van and takes up a spot leaning against one of the garage's supports, and listens.

"A lot more information than we expected, might we enquire who the client was?" Redd looks at the van, "Also, we found a live passenger. I think he's still out cold, though."

The cat climbs out of the driver's seat and stretches. He flips the keys in his hand and hands them over to the handsome jackal, his gaze lingering on his eyes a little longer than necessary. He looks like he was about to say, but when Balina reacts with questions, he doesn't do anything to interrupt the flow. He just smiles politely and steps back.

Ahri smirks at Redd, "The term is sedated. He's still sedated... with a fist."

Unnatural waits for the other's to dismount the van before making her own exit, still trying to have as little to do witht he handling of the survivor as she could

Darkwyrm crosses his arms and sighs. "What I've told you is what I know. If my client knows more than that, then they haven't felt the need to reveal it. What I want to know is what you have found out." His ears twitch slightly as his head turns to Ahri. "Shall I take that as an affirmative that you located the passenger of that vessel?", he asks.

Unnatural looking to Dark the big lion flashes him a grin before reporting in a quick list 'the ship was a simple fishing vessel, looks like it was heavily stocked with food and fuel both of which were exhausted which forced the occupant which we believe was this man to beach the ship and go in search of supplies

Ahri smirks lightly, "Would you believe it if I told you there were places left in the world the infection still hasn't hit?"

Redd shakes his head, "The not hit part isn't surprising, but hit within the last month or two is..."
Ahri reaches into her pack and pulls out the maps and charts. "We got the survivor, and we got his boat's charts. Pretty sure you can isolate his point of origin."

Balina moos, "The guy's in the back. Get some proper folks out here to handle him, and he's all yours. We, uh, sedated him before he really had time to freak out. He might have a form fixative in him already, though."

"Hmm? Of course there are places the infection hasn't hit. You thought it was a worldwide thing? Ha! Wait.." his expression grows more serious. "Where did you say this man is from?", he asks, before turning and whistling through the door behind him. A female husky appears in the doorway. "There's a man in the van, unconscious. Please see to it that he's placed in the commons on a cot, and that he can't run away."

Redd coughs, "Columbia, as in the country in South America"

Fleur nods emphatically. "Columbia. Also, his grasp of English is..." he pauses, then wiggles his fingers back and forth. "... we can get by, but he's obviously not native. We brought some documents and resources from the boat, the passenger, and all the information we could get out of him."

Unnatural sits back down in the doorway of the van resting her arms in her lap 'Seems odd. I mean why were we needed to go check out a vestle. Seems like it was an innefficiant use of credits'

Darkwyrm's expression grows dark. "Hrmm.. then this would mean that the infection has spread to South America. This is worrisome, but not entirely unexpected. Very well, if you'll please leave all information that you gathered on the conference table upstairs, including your written reports, I can count your contracts as fulfilled. He takes a step back, first letting his husky agent step through, dragging the man with some strain and then stepping through the door and holding it open for everyone else.

Fleur flicks his tail. He glances backwards at Unnatural. "Hey, it... could have been anything. Foreign military ... armed people. Crazy scientists. I've seen some weird stuff." ... with a sudden snap in his mood, he turns to Darkwyrm and smiles. "It's been a pleasure to work under y- uh, for you, sir. I... hope this information has been of use." ... "If you need anyone to drive, yanno, I can never have too many credits..."

Unnatural slips off the van, groaning softly as she stretched out with a crack of joins before allowing her arms to fall back to her sides with a clap 'true. We got some valuable information but nothing that couldn't really have been obtained using satellite imaging. I just hope the human has more detailed answers to offer'

Balina was hoping that little line in the contract was just boilerplate. Oh well. "Fine, then. Short report, but we'll take care of it. Point the way, and tell us where the pencil sharpener is," she says, heading towards the elevator, daughter in tow.

Darkwyrm nods to Fleur. "I thank you for the offer, and your enthusiasm is duely noted." His tail swishes back and forth once behind him. "We'll see to it that your friend is treated well. We'll hold him here until he's conscious and sane, then figure out where he wants to go from there.. after getting all the informtation he can out of him first, of course." He points Balina towards the staircase that they used earlier to reach the second floor. "First door on the left.", he murmurs.

Unnatural reaches back to scratch the back of her neck, running her fingers through the thick crown of hair before beginning to follow Dark's gesture making her way toward the stairs 'It was a fairly interesting mission all things considered. No rape. Few ferals. No gun fights... I honestly wonder if we were in the right place at all'

Fleur gives an awkward smile, then glances back at the door. "... it's been a pleasure," he adds again, nodding to the jackal. He makes his way for the indicated door, rounds the corner ... and presses himself against the walls, covering his eyes. His face flushes. "You tactless, stupid kitten," he murmurs to himself. Oh well... there's papers to file.

Darkwyrm gives a sly grin to the shy Fleur as he passes. "Thanks for the help.", he says, "I do hope that we see each other again.", before walking past the staircase and into the bar area to get a drink.

[[Category:RPLogs]][[Category:Darkwyrm Events]]

San Leandro

2012-03-12T04:32:38Z

Crystala:

==Participants==
* [[Loki]]
* [[Redd]]
* [[Caeli]]
* [[Solixis]]
==Director==
* [[Darkwyrm]]
==Log==

The RSX briefing room is cleaned, sanitized and smells faintly of citrus. A skinny human woman sits at the head in a white labcoat and a stern look on her face. The volunteers are shuffled into the room and asked to take a seat. "Welcome to Rsx Solutions, and thank you for responding to our call.", she says, greeting those present.

Solixis sits at the table, flyer in hand as she leans towards the woman, anxious and excited to be on a mission. She hasn't been getting many interesting ones since she lost her rank at Zephyr for non-compliance during a year-long sabbatical.
time

Caeli sits as instructed, her ponytail hanging over the back of the chair and her wings folded tightly against her back to avoid too much discomfort. Despite the potential for danger she is apparently unarmed, with only a handheld radio clipped to the waist of her jumpsuit for equipment.
ooc RP guidelines: Don't wait for me to pose, but wait a respectable time (about 5 mins) for other participants to make their poses before proceeding with another one of yours.

Redd grumbles as he sits, seeming somewhat upset that briefing had to begin right at the start of his customary lunch break. "Afternoon, couldn't have scheduled this to be an hour earlier or later?"

Loki shuffles in place, the giant armoured dragon seated beside Caeli, apparantly deep in some sort of tangential thought, his tail coiled around the legs of his chair. He looks up when the lady speaks and offers a nod. "Not a problem. Was in the area and decided to help. Though I probably would have volunteered if it was of the way too."

Solixis stretches, her twin tails finding difficulty being comfortable as she looks at her comrades gathered. "Only person I don't know here is the winged girl in the jumpsuit." She smiles at Redd and Loki.

As soon as everyone is seated, the woman stands up. "Thank you again for coming. My name is Dr. Jess, and I will be briefing you." She shoots a small frown at Redd before replying. "You weren't required to attend this meeting, and this mission is important and time-sensitive, so honestly, one or two people skipping lunch wasn't really our concern." She walks over to the door and shuts it, before dimming the lights. The projector clicks on and brings a white glare before it shifts to show a photo depicting the ruins of a city. "This is San Leandro.. or at least what's left of it. I'm going to keep this nice and direct. We need you to go there and recover the Point Zero."

Solixis raises a hand, confused. "Recover? Isn't a point zero just the location of a first outbreak? Correct me if I'm wrong on the first. What exactly are we looking for?"

Loki casts a wave to Solixis, offering a smile in turn. "Hey Sol! Been some time since I have seen you around!" he says, then turning his attention as the woman in front speaks. "Recover point zero?" he inquires, tongue flitting out of his mouth. "What happens when we remove it?... and as Sol said. What does it look like?"

"'Recover' the Point Zero? How does one recover a point in space? Isn't point zero the term for where the center of an explosion is?" Redd's face shows a mix of concern and confusion. "At least, that's what oint zero is considered in the case of atomic attack..."

( Jess clicks a button on a remote in her hand and the projection switches to show the front of a building. It looks to be a Pre-P-Day as it looks in pristine condition. A four-pointed logo running across the top reads, 'Tetra Laboratories'. "This is a research and development firm located in the heart of the city. This is believed to be the location of Point Zero.. but what we're after is something more specific. We want the hardware located within that was the sole cause for that city's destruction." )

Loki looks to Redd for a moment. "Point Zero is typically the point of origin for something, and such a point in space could be an object, and thus, can be moved." he says, then looking to Jess, the dragon much more interested than he was a while ago. "Destruction? How was the city cast into ruin? Mutations like other bubbles?" he inquires, leaning forward in his seat. "And hardware you say?"

Solixis nods. "Hardware. Well, at least it is a tangible object that we should be able to find. I hope. Can you give us more details of what caused the destruction? I'm curious to know what dangers we face."

Redd's jaw drops, quite understandably, "Does this mean there was a 3rd party involved in the development of the nanites? And is this hardware you want us to find still active? Is it what sustains the nanite cloud? If it is, I can't imagine a very safe way to suddenly shut it down..."

Loki leans back in his seat, looking to redd for a moment. "Mutations can still function outside the cloud. Typically. Usually. Some have difficulty, and the clouds also help prevent death." he states.

( Jess clicks her remote again, and the projector displays a something entirely different. It appears to be a reconnaissance photo of some creature.. from what you can make out in the fuzzy photo, it looks like a horribly mutated being with barbs sticking out all over its body and its (face?) is covered in greenish slime and blood. It walks on two scythe-tipped arms and crawls on a snake-like body. Jess taps the wall and frowns. "There are many of these and other things running around the city. I hope that answers your question as to what caused the destruction. And yes, Hardware. A supercomputer, specifically, along with a module for housing nanites." )

Caeli remains mostly quiet, staring intently at the projection as she listens to the other volunteers' questions. Her silence is finally broken by one of her own: "The outbreak ocurred some time ago. Has something changed to make recovery of this hardware time-sensitive?"

Loki looks to the screen, the dragon quite curious, a small grin on his face as he views the mutation. He then seems to snap out as Caeli speaks, then looking to the girl. "Ah.. I would have never thought of that. Still, much to study." he murrs, tail flicking behind him as he rises out of his seat and stretches himself out. "What is the data on these mutations?"

Solixis snerks a bit as she sees the creature. "Reminds me of my favorite card game
and the creatures within." She puts the flyer away, increasing her level of interest.
"Winged girl has a point."

"What do we know about these things? Hah! Well, we know they're aggressive, and don't like YOU.", Jess says, a bit smart-assed. "They'll eat you if you give them the opportunity, so don't. Engage from a range if possible or not at all. They're fast despite how they look. Now, WHY this mission is time-sensitive is mostly none of your concern. RSX doesn't want to dabble much longer on it because of the dangerout nature of that region, so we want this done soon."

Loki shifts his stance a little more and offers a nod. "Indeed. Though I would hazard a guess it would be to make sure there are less of these things if they are as dangerous as you say they are." he murrs, thinking some more. "What if I was to bring one back here for testing? Or at least aquire a fluid sample?" he asks.

Redd shifts uncomfortably in his seat, "And how are we going to get the device out of there, if we have to deal with these creatures meanwhile... And only reason I can think RSX would be asking for outside help is if the first team they sent in... didn't return with all it's members." He glances around, wondering if the image was taken by one of the survivors of a previous retrieval team.

Solixis nods. "Don't get killed, grab the computer, get back here. Straightforward. seems like a good mission. I'm ready unless you have anything else to add."

( Jess frowns. "No. Absolutely not. Do not attempt to aquire a sample of those things. We don't want any chance of spreading.. whatever they are.. to here. In fact, each one of you will undergo deep-sanitation upon your return to ensure no chance of cross-contamination. When we're good and ready, we'll do further research on them. Which brings us back to the point of this mission in the first place, to aquire the Point Zero which itself will reveal a lot about the creatures in that hellhole."

Caeli nods once. "Understood. Will we be given transport to the area? Will it be possible to enter the building from the roof? An aerial insertion may avoid unecessary conflict with the local inhabitants." She seems fully engaged now, as though this type of assignment comes naturally to her.

Redd takes another glance at the creature, "Anything you'd suggest that is effective is removing them? Fire? Ice? Blunt physical trauma?"

Loki frowns a little at the mentions of cross contamination, spreading, and the like. He huffs a little and shakes his head. "If I gathered a sample it would be quite contained." he counters, then seems to relent. "All right. Well, if you say so, I will not press the matter." he says, then looking to Caeli and nods. "Though it might also alert them of our presence. Though it would also likely made for the safest and quickest mission."

"Transport will be provided via a helicoptor. It will drop you off-NOT LAND- on a nearby building rooftop, but the closest we can get you is several city blocks away. You'll have to get to the location from there on your own." Jess says as she walks back over to the switch and turns on the lights. "You'll have to find your own way into the building as well, if the front door isn't to your liking. As far as those.. things.. we don't know of anything that's particularily useful against them.. try whatever you normally would? I'm no combat expert."

Redd grins a bit, "Getting us out wouldn't be too hard, any equipment is another matter entirely, How big is the machine you want us to bring back anyhow?"

"We aren't entirely sure on the size.", Jess says, turning to Redd. "Though we believe it shouldn't be anything too much for you four to carry, if carefully dismantled."

Caeli tilts her head slightly to one side, inqusitively asking, "Tetra Laboratories does not appear in any of my records. Do you have further information on their projects? Are we likely to encounter hazards from such projects within their facility?"

"No and Yes.", Jess curtly replies to Caeli, frowning slightly.

Loki nods to Caeli, the dragon then looking expectantly at Jess, tongue once again flitting from his mouth. "The more information you give us, the more we can guarantee a successful operation and the safe return of the equipment we need to procure."

Solixis nods. "Loki's got the right idea. I, however, am itching to go. I'd rather not make this a night mission. If they are as blind as they seem, they will function far better in the dark than we can."
spoof Jess says, "We have no more information about the firm. It wasn't all that well known before P-Day, and we've only recently discovered it and tracked the source of the infection there. None of our agents are willing to venture anywhere close to the city to dig up records."

( Jess says, "We have no more information about the firm. It wasn't all that well known before P-Day, and we've only recently discovered it and tracked the source of the infection there. None of our agents are willing to venture anywhere close to the city to dig up records." )

"If you have no more questions..", Jess says, starting to sound impatient, "That concludes the briefing. Jonathan in the hallway can lead you to our helipad for immiediate departure.",

Loki shifts a little more in place and then nods. "Well, what if we could recover some more records about the company? Would that be appreciated?" he inquires. "And if so, where do you think we could find them?"

Solixis gets up and head out of the room, looking for this "Jonathan."
spoof Jess sighs. "If you feel you must, then look in their storage room, assuming they have one. If not, then the information that this mission requires is located on the hardware you'll bring back." She makes a shooing gesture with one of her hands then waits for everyone to file out.

( Jess sighs. "If you feel you must, then look in their storage room, assuming they have one. If not, then the information that this mission requires is located on the hardware you'll bring back." She makes a shooing gesture with one of her hands then waits for everyone to file out. )

Caeli rises to her feet. "Understood," she says again, seemingly eager to begin. However, she doesn't move away from Loki, apparently waiting for him before continuing.

Redd slowly stands, and follows Solixis out towards the Helicopter landing pad.

Loki nods to Jess, the dragon a little surprised that Caeli waits for him, though he then does begin moving out of the room and towards the helicopter pad, the dragon making sure she is following along before he really starts walking.

You are led to the rooftop of RSX where a large chopper is already prepped and waiting for departure. There's room enough for all of you, despite size variations. There is room for a human-sized person in the front with the pilot, and everyone else will need to file into the cabin.

Caeli stares between the cabin and cockpit as though weighing the options, then nods to Solixis. "Very well," she says, choosing a place in the cabin close to the exit.

Loki hopes into the Cabin, the dragon taking a seat beside Caeli as he plunks down, awaiting transport to the zone.

Redd hesitates a moment before climbing in. After all, if it were dangerous for him to be onboard, they'd stop him, Right?

Solixis climbs into the co-pilot's seat, keeping her tails away from the door and trying to keep the from getting smooshed.

"Hello hello!", the pilot says into the radio over the hum of the blades. You can't see most of his face, as it's obscured by his helmet and shaded visor, but he does have a beard, and is wearing a blue jumpsuit. "My names's Chuck and I'll be your pilot today. We're expecting a smooth transit, so make yourselves comfortable, and we'll be there in about two hours!" Redd finds himself pointed to a spot specifically for him, away from everyone else, where a fine mist of water is constantly being jetted from a little spout at him.

Solixis giggles. "Redd, you knew they'd consider you a fire hazard..."

Loki offers a small nod to the pilot, the dragon yawning a little as he then looks to Caeli. "So, how have you been recently? I hope you are enjoying yourself. Find anything interesting at the tower?" he asks.

Redd frowns at the comment, before curling up around his bag of gear, in an attempt to keep it all dry. He doesn't complain though.

Caeli fixes Loki with her crystal-green stare as she answers, "I am still unable to connect to external devices, but I am otherwise well. The tower itself is very interesting, but I have been instructed to avoid it while on assignment to prevent distraction."

Loki offers a smile to Caeli, tongue flitting out of his mouth again. "Really? Well, I suppose I should take that as a compliment." he grins, then shifting a little more in place. "What is your favorite thing at the tower? And what is your favorite section?" he asks.

Redd raises his head upon hearing a comment about connecting, "Another inorganic? Or am I mistaken in that? I heard something about connecting to devices, and I know not of one organic agent who can do that."

The chopper takes off and starts heading northeast towards the destination. After a boring flight, where Chuck incessantly talks about current events and how annoying his wife is, you finally come into view of San Leandros. The silhouette of the city is monolithic and somehow ominous. No vehcles are moving about, no real signs of life are visible. Many of the buildings are damaged, windows shattered, or even large chunks blown out of the walls. As you get even closer, you can even see numerous year-old human remains--picked clean and gnawed skeletons hanging out of car windows or littering the streets. Chuck hovers the Chopper over a wide rooftop about 5 feet up and signals for everyone to get out. "Tha's as close as I'll get.", he said. "Radio when you're ready for pickup and I'll swing by to pick you up."

Loki raises his hand to Redd. "I can connect as well. Though it is largely because of the armour I wear and recent advancements in other things. I wonder if I may be able to replicate some sort of connection organically. It should prove interesting." he murrs, the dragon peering out the window as he views the age old carnage, a small frown on his face. He quickly hops out when instructed, the quick snap of his wings making his landing much lighter than it would have been. He shifts in place and surveys the city, casting a small wave in response to Chuck's mention of radio for pickup.

Caeli answers Loki first, hesitating for a moment before deciding, "The laboratory is the most interesting section, and the one I was unable to explore thoroughly before leaving." To Redd she simply nods. As the closest to the door she's also the first out of the helicopter, dropping to land in a crouch before rising up to scan her immediate surroundings for threats.

Solixis hops out as well, her own three-point landing allowing her to spring into action if need be. "First order of business, how far are we from the lab, and what's the status of the nanite bubble?"

Redd stands from his seat on the floor of the cabin, the floor underneath heavily covered in scorchmarks, but still mostly intact, he proceeds to follow Loki and Caeli out the door, carrying his bag over a shoulder,

A quick surveying shows that you're on top of a four-story office building, and there's a convenience hatch leading down into the top floor of building in you want to head down that way.

Solixis takes the map, scanning the marked landing zone and the destination.

Loki looks to the one with the map, the dragon stretching his wings. "I say we fly to the building.

Redd snickers at the mention of flight, "I call not being transit!" At this he leaps off the side of the building, and lets his wings catch a thermal, bringing him above the level of the building.

Solixis begins to lead towards the building at a steady run, sticking to rooftops where possible.

Caeli stares down over the side of the building, focused on the streets below. "I agree. Be prepared for flying threats." Her wings expand greatly, her wingspan quickly growing long enough to look functional for one of her size. She also murmurs a series of rpaid, unintelligible words, her lips moving impossibly fast. Moments later the air around her begins to crackle with electricity. Fully prepared, she launches herself from the buildingtop and takes flight.

Loki watches Solixis run towards the building. He would have offered to carry her in flight. He watches Caeli with interest as she takes off, the dragon seemingly amused by this development, the dragon shrugging as he spreads his wings and takes to the air after the others, the dragon keeping an eye for both groundbound and airbound threats, monitoring both Caeli and Solixis.

The city is a grim sight, indeed. Most don't notice any signs of life, but Caeli spots a humanoid figure standing in the middle of one of the side-streets as she passes.

Caeli says, "Possible survivor detected," and deviates from her flight path, displaying impressive maneuverobility as she swoops lower to get a better look at the strange figure.

The man is facing away from you, and slowly shambling down the street. He's wearing what appears to be a roughed-up RSX uniform, at leats that's what you think from the logo on the back.

Loki spirals in the air as Caeli deviates, the dragon circling around above, trying to spot what she has, the dragon flying ahead of the girl, trying to get a better look at the man from the front.

Solixis hears Caeli over the comunitcation device. "Loki or Redd, stay with her. Whoever doesn't go, wait here. We can't be splitting off."

Redd goes into a dive towards Solixis, and lands a few feet away, "Waiting,"

The man has short, although disheveled brown hair. His eyes are closed, and his head is tilted down at the street. He walks as though he has no purpose or destination.
The man has short, although disheveled brown hair. His eyes are closed, and his head is tilted down at the street. He walks as though he has no purpose or destination.

Caeli shows little concern for her own safety, flying ahead of the figure and spinning about as she lands, killing her momentum with uncanny ease to land before him. "Survivor exhibits strange behavior. Attempting contact." A bit louder she says, "Greetings. Are you in need of aid?"

Redd asks over the communicators, "Can you see any mutations or oddities about him?"

Loki lands upon the nearest roof to the group, the dragon's tongue flitting out of his mouth as he tastes the air, a sniff following shortly after. He peers at the two, the dragon watching like a hawk for any signs of something amiss. His vision seems to scan a wide area, and he does have a few other modes than just plain sight, the dragon switching between them on occasion- Mainly thermal.

The figure stops when Caeli speaks. He stands completely still for several awkward moments before he raises his head. And then he opens his eyes. And reveals dead, empty sockets. His neck cracks and then he opens his mouth wide.. too wide. Wider than a human should be able. His jaw unhinges, and .. something wriggles out. A brown tentacle of some sort, oozing with greenish slime. Suddenly his chest bursts apart and writhing scythe-tipped tentacles energe from his innards. The man emits an ear-pierinc screech and lunges at his would-be savior.

Caeli's protective shield of nanites simultaneously electrocutes and attempts to tear apart the attacker as it comes into range, even as she throws herself backward, a powerful sweep of her wings attemping to push her into the air and out of range of the beast.

Redd hears the screech from his position and pushes back up into the air, torn between staying still and trying to help.

Loki watches Caeli take to the air, the dragon swooping down from the building as he delivers a powerful dual legged kick to the beast in an attempt to knock it away from Caeli, the dragon literally springing off the beast upon impact as he uses the force once again to regain altitude, his wings adding momentum as he climbs higher in the air. His tongue flits once again through the air as he seems to still, listening for anything that may respond to the screech. Sighs. Smells. Sounds. Movements.

Solixis makes a mental note of the location. "Snafu, got a rogue xeno attacking one of the team, disguised as a human survivor, going in for backup." She nods to Redd, giving him the okay to assist and joining the other two herself, the glow on her tails becoming actual fire.

The dessicated man seems to shrugs off the electricity, but the field manages to rip apart several of the tentacles. The tentacle writing in its mouth manages to lob a blog of what you would assume is acid in Caeli's direction before it's knocked to the pavement by Loki's crushing kick. It's shoulder and arm are crushed, but it uses it's still-good arm to start righting itself.

Caeli spins in the air, avoiding part of the acidic assault. What manages to hit her burns through the shoulder of her jumpsuit, but has a tougher time with her flesh, which seems to not only resist the effects but repair itself as well. In retaliation she utters another stream of indechipherable words, and several pinkish feathers falling from her wings are rapidly nanite-converted into tiny missiles which lance out to impact all around the creature in a series of small explosions.

The pinpoint explosions tear away at the former man's flesh and then at muscle. The tentacles quickly regenerate themselves, but all that's left of the host is a gorey torso with blood anf flesh piled around. The tentacles thrash at any movement, but are otherwise immobile.
The pinpoint explosions tear away at the former man's flesh and then at muscle. The tentacles quickly regenerate themselves, but all that's left of the host is a gorey torso with blood anf flesh piled around. The tentacles thrash at any movement, but are otherwise immobile.

Loki lunges forward at the assault of Caeli's, the dragon waiting until the beast has weathered the storm, and upon seeing the state of the tentacles, the dragon slicing a hand sized piece off of one, then backing away with the tiny bit of flesh, the dragon turning it over in his hands- a strange glow escaping the slice as it seems to be broken down.

The bit of flesh that Loki attempts to recover, upon being separated from the rest of it's being, immiediately decomposes into green slime. Loki's analysis comes back as 'Organic, no nanite pattern detected'

Finally having spotted the fight, Redd enters a steep dive, claws and teeth bared, on impact, he bites down hard, and begins to shred at the body's remains with his claws. As soon as he tastes the tentacles, he spits the chunk of flesh in his mouth back out. No point trying to make a meal from these things, they taste worse than zombies.

Loki growls at the analysis. "The nanties self destruct and the creature breaks down when seperated. This is quite an odd predicament. Makes analysis and extratction of nanite strains impossible."

Solixis catches up to the others, leaping off the building, following Redd's lead. She turns a little lees than one full flip, her tails striking the creature as the nanite simultaneously increase the density of those limbs temporarily greater than osmium, while also cushioning the impact on her bones and joints.

The tentacles thrash and writhe at Redd as he bites into the remains of their host, using his close proximity to try and slice him up something good. They are quickly silenced, however, when Solixis more or less obliterates the remains of the torso with her tails, splattering the body and the tentacles all over the pavement and her fur.

Caeli remains hovering nearby, scanning bother her comrades below and the surrounding area for additional threats that might be on the move. "We should leave quickly. We may have attracted additional threats."

Redd pulls a water canteen from his bag, and proceeds to try to wash the bad taste from his mouth. "Bleh, biting these is not a good idea."

Solixis grabs a branch from a nearby bush or tree to scrape the slime off her tail. "I did not expect that to explode like that." Her skin loses it's hardened appearance as she collects herself. "We need to keep moving."
ooc back, and posing.

Ominous skitterings from indistinguisable directions alert everyone to the necessecity to move on.

The buildings rising on either side of the party seem to echo these noises back and forth. You can't make heads or tails of whether they're coming from an adjacent street, from inside a door or from the dark, broken windows.

Satisfied the taste in his mouth is now gone, Redd puts the canteen away, and takes off again, this time staying closer to the middle of the group.

Loki as the howling starts, the dragon immediately takes to the air, the dragon rapidly gaining altitude, then hoising Solixis from the tree despite what she may protest. "Which way? Time is of the essence. The faster we are in and out the better. I do not wish to fight a whole cities worth of things."

Caeli appears to be waiting for the others to move on before she leaves the scene, but upon hearing the sounds of approach she swiftly launches another barrage of micro missiles, the little weapons arcing off in all directions to create a cacophany of explosions, many within the buildings themselves via the open windows. She then takes off at full speed, following Loki.
Solixis speaks into the comm unit, keeping a mission record. "Xeno destroyed, got ourselves several boogies. Heading direct-ACK!" She squirms in Loki's grasp. "Loki! I can fly myself..." She dutifully points in the direction of the compound, though.

You fly the rest of the several blocks to where the map mark indicates your destination to be. What you find is the remains of a two-to-three story building. A shattered neon sign detatched from the roof and laying crooked against the wall. It reads, "T TRA La atories.", and is accompanied by a diamond-shaped symbol.

The first floor seems to be intact enough to enter, but the upper floors are completely caved in.

Loki immediately sets Solixis on the rooftop despite her protest. "If you could fly you should have done so over running." he murmurs, then hastily looking for a way in from above, eyes scanning the rooftop before he gets another idea and then clings to the walls over the edge, peering inside any windows he can to get a better look inside. If there are any windows.

Redd swiftly lands infront of the building, and tests the doors, with a small package of high explosive ready just in case.

Solixis walks along the edge of the rooftop, heading inward at every standing wall. She looks for a safe passage into the building and down.

Caeli makes a graceful landing at street level just before what appears to be the main entrance, still peering about her surroundings alertly as Redd checks the doors.

Loki the dragon seems to quickly take note of something on the first floor, and with a careful act, the dragon slowly carves a hole in the window using one of his claws. "We enter this way. Quietly as we can." he says to the others, the dragon dissapearing inside. Should he have trouble entering, or his frame be too large, the dragon shifts his size to something more managable.

Solixis clears the entrance to the stairwell above. "Loki, I'm going in from above. Stairwell is intact, but there's no light. Lucky I can make my own, but I'm painting a huge target on myself."

The interior is completely dark save for a small amount of light filtering in from the dirtied windows and the large hole Loki just made. You've broken into a hallway. To your right, you see some more light and what might be the front lobby, to your left the hallway fades into darkness. Three doors line this hallway, two of which are likely to be restroom facilities.

Caeli sweeps her gaze across the street one last time before hastily following Loki and beginning to investigate her new surroundings. Her eyes glow faintly green in the low light.

Loki quickly crawls along, as quiet as he can be. Which is surprisingly so for a giant metallic dragon skittering rapidly down the halls on all fours, quickly moving towards the light, the dragon also taking note of the walls, seeming to be looking for something. "There is still power here. The wires are hot. They lead to something." he murmurs.

You enter the lobby and reception area of the building.. or what's left of it. A curved security desk is at the back of the room, and is decked with a menagerie of smashed electronics and screens. The front door is collapsed, and the surrounding windows are caked with years of dirt and dust.

Solixis heads into the stairwell, her tails lighting the passage and possible drawing attention to herself. She pads slowly, keeping an eye out for danger and the computer.

Circling the building several times, after giving up on entering via the window, Redd looks for a back entrance, or someway used to get large equipment in and out of the building.

( Solixis walks into pure black as soon as she rounds a few corners, but with help from her glowing tails, she's able to navigate the murky passage. The exits to the second and third floors are obviously inaccessible, nothing remaining of them but a pile of rubble, but she's able to clamber over those and make her way down to the first floor exit where she hears voices coming from the other side of the door. Redd finds a single truck loading dock and a normal-sized metal door accompanying it, likely used for deliveries of research materials. )

Loki peers at the wall opposite of them, the dragon skittering across the lobby- over rubble, dirt, grit, and smashed refuse until he meets the opposite side, the dragon then peering at the walls. He presses his hand to the place, running his claw along the surface as if searching for something. "More power is here. A higher concentration of power is here." he murrs, trying to search for where it leads.

Solixis gently opens the door, hoping to not make a sound. She tenses, readying a defensive position.

Caeli follows closely behind Loki, alternating between staring around at their surroundings and mimicking his actions, touching the wall as he does, though the act doesn't seem to be of any particular significance.

( Solixis opens the door and see the trailing tail of Loki as he passes past on his way to the other side of the lobby. Loki's thermal vision leads him to the thick metal doors of an elevator. Through the walls, he can see the power conduits run up where they end abrutly. Strangely, they also go down. )

Solixis whispers into her comm unit. "Loki, I'm right behind you." She takes up position, hoping her light doesn't throw him off.

Redd starts to claw at the shipping port's door, intent on either destroying the lock or making a hole large enough to enter. There is a fair amount of noise created by this action, although, opening the door would have been fairly loud as well.

Loki grins as he finds the location, the dragon prying open the elevator doors. "Well, now we go down." he says, the dragon staring down into the elevator shaft, tongue flicking out, and shortly after he sniffs the air as he tests for smells, also tilting his head as he listens intently, seeing what else he may pick up.

The screeching and rending of metal caused by Redd continues for a good two minutes before he's able to create a hole wide enough in the door for himself to fit though.

Loki nods as Solixis speaks. "All right. Glad to hear it." he replies, though he does frown as Redd tears his way in. "Well, now we are going to hope that nothing heard that."
spoof When loki peers down the elevator shaft, he sees a distance far greater than what he would expect for a basement. No, it's deep enough that you can't even see the bottom as the shaft disappears into blackness far before the bottom is visible.

When loki peers down the elevator shaft, he sees a distance far greater than what he would expect for a basement. No, it's deep enough that you can't even see the bottom as the shaft disappears into blackness far before the bottom is visible.

Caeli waits passively as the others gather, nodding her agreement to Loki's suggestion. "I will go first," she offers, her wings expanding once more as she slips past Loki's larger frame and follows his gaze down the shaft. Without further ado she steps over the edge, wings spread as wide as the shaft allows and personal nanites working overtime to help slow her fall. Small jolts of electricity arc off her shield as she drops, providing a bit of light on the way down.

Loki looks adown the shaft, a small whistle escaping him. "Well, it seems to be a long way down." he murrs, blinking as Caeli passes him and drops down. The dragon then hops inside the shaft and braces himself against the walls with his limbs and begins to slide down as best he can, using claws to slow his fall when needed.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Caeli hears something very disturbing coming from below her as she descends. Then it grows faster.. and closer. Taptaptaptaptaptap! Something is climbing up the wall towards her! Two red eyes peer up from far below, growing closer. Then it opens two more eyes. And two more. A hideous face of six eyes accompanied by its growing heat pattern surges up the wall using two bladed arms to grasp at the coils and wires.

The dragon sighs a little, growling at the creature. "Hostile?" he asks, then frowns again, remembering intel and what was said. "Ceali! To the side!" He calls out, still far above the girl, poised and ready, the dragon braced inside the elevator shaft, waiting for her response.

Solixis puts on a pair of heavy leather goves and begins descending the elevator cables. "I really wish I knew where the elevator was..."

Caeli decides against using her missiles within the confined space, instead angling herself directly toward the incoming creature and folding her wings, straightening out her body with her feet pointed toward the eyes. A sudden burst of acceleration launches her downward even quicker just before she reaches it, surrounded as always by her swarms of electrified and disassembler nanites.

Loki blinks, quite surprised at Caeli's maneuver, the dragon perhaps a little stunned. he looks up to solixis. "No top floor anymore. Likey at the bottom Sol!" he calls out above him, the dragon then following Caeli down in a similar manner, though he keeps to the side of the shaft- either to smash the creature in a different area, or simply pass it and pull the creature down from below.

( Redd has burst into a storage room with plenty of piles of knocked over boxes and shelves. Navigating through here will be a little difficult, but he can see a door on the opposite end of the room labeled with 'ENTRANCE' in paint. )

The creature, in a startling act of dexterity, uses it's tail to push itself off from the wall and leap to the opposite side to avoid Caeli's lunge. It effortlessly clings to the beams before whipping its barbed tail at her.

Redd sees the door at the far end of the room, and scrambles over all of the debris, once at the door, he pauses, and tries to punch a view hole in the door with a claw, in hopes of seeing what was beyond it.

Having already committed fully to the attack Caeli doesn't have much room to dodge, though she does manage to see the attack coming a split-second before impact. She braces herself and takes the hit, slamming hard into the side of the shaft.

( Caeli's nanites attack the thing in an attempt to tear it apart, but are somehow unable to cohesively form their attack routines, as their programming is being scrambled by something. The creature is likewise resistant to electrical influence, its hide seems to resist the currents like rubber. It leaps off the wall again, attempting to grasp her and tear into her neck with its mouth full of vicious teeth. )

The dragon, who much like Caeli before him continues to rocket down into the darkness finally manages to catch up with the creature as it begins to grasp Caeli, the dragon landing upon the beast, the full force of his weight hitting the creature as he jams his claws within its hide, attempting to pry it away from the winged girl.

Solixis winces as she jumps the remaining distance. "Loki, give me an opening! I'm falling fast!"

Certain that the door wasn't a dead end, Redd smashes the door with his full body weight, rather than using the handle.

The thing is knocked away, though not without giving her some deep cuts from its bladed claws as it's torn away from her.. It starts falling, but wraps its tail around Loki's ankle and pulls him down with it. IT lets out deathly hisses of frustration as it claws at the walls, seeking a grabhold, pulling Loki with it. The three in the elevator shaft can hear a sudden and loud crash from above them.

As Caeli tumbles down the shaft a half-dozen free feathers from her wings harden and shift, becoming another missile barrage that lances toward the creature's open mouth. Interestingly, she seems to have left out the explosives this time around, making them more akin to steel bolts than missiles. Blood - or something that looks very much like it - pours from her wounds, but her resilient body begins repairing itself almost as soon as the gashes appear.

Loki begins to grapple the creature, even as it thrashes with him. Tail around his ankle? He is also clinging to the beast, and they seem to have a mutual goal of dragging eachother down. Though the beast seems more worried than the dragon at this point, and he continues to keep the creature occupied as best he can- trying to keep it struggling to cling to the walls. He never relents the clawing or smashing- then he gets an idea. He attempts to jam his claw beneath the creatures hide and lets loose a torrent of electricity. Zap it from the inside!
Solixis continues her impromptu base-jumping, hurtling past the other two as she falls. She crashes to the bottom, landing forcefully in a perfect three-point landing, her body absorbing the impact.

When Loki grasps it with his claws, he feels a peculiar fluid thicker than blood leaking through the punctures. This creature feels unnatural.. like it was fused together with a hideous amalgamation of flesh, bodyparts and vile purpose. Parts of its body are covered with chitinic plates, while other parts are rippled muscle and dense bone. The ridges alond its tail are razor sharp and tear into Loki's ankle as it squeezes. The attempted electrical surge finds no conductive materials within the beast.

( Solixis lands on the remains of the elevator cabin.. or rather IN it. The carrier is badly smashed, likely from the impact with the bottom of the elevator's shaft. She can see a metal door firmly closed on the wall about five feet above her. )
ooc The cabin is basically a twisted pile of metal, and you managed to not land on any sharp bits somehow.

Solixis shakes off the impact, and jumps towards the closed door, hoping to break through. "Loki, I've got a door down here, I'm going to try to see if I can get through. Hopefully I'll find the computer on this floor."

Loki continues to grapple the beast, and when the electricity proves inneffective he seems to growl. Irritating, and though the beast is unnatural, he quickly takes a sample of the fluids for further analysis- a collection device built into the forarm of his power armour, the nanites in the air around him also doing some minor scans. After having a sample, he then quickly does something- The dragon forcing in a stream of nanties and chemical components. The small devices then attempt to deconstruct the beast from within- or at least begin reconfiguring the materials into chains of harmful chemicals and toxins.

Caeli twists her body around in mid-air, righting herself and flaring her wings to slow her descent. Seeing Loki's plight she directs the majority of her healing efforts toward him, ignoring her own slowly closing injuries.

The creature hisses as it whips one of his scythe-arms at Loki, stabbing and jabbing with surprising force for anywhere to impale him. Its other arm finally latches onto something, but is subsequently torn off as Loki's nanites cause it to destabilize. The thing screams in fury as it tries to drag Loki down with it into the twisted pile of debris.

( Solixis bounces off the reinforced steel elevator doors, not accomplishing much more than bruising her shoulder. )

Solixis winces as the nanites begins cleaning up the wound. "direct force won't work. How about pulling them apart? The pneumatics SHOULD be shot." She wedges her fingers into the seam and attempts to pull the door open.

Loki growls as the creature flaying him, the dragon taking some damage as some of the scythe jabs make it through is armour as others glance off. As they twist about in the air, only then does Loki realize just how far they have fallen, the ground hurtling towards him. He roars, not noticing the pain, nor the healing, and he reaches out to slow the descent, a claw grabbing for the wall if he can reach it, the dragon trying to keep the creature below him should he fail to grasp the edge and slow the descent.

Redd staggers a moment after passing through the door, and sees the room is now empty, although the elevator doors are open. He rushes towards them and falls in before he can come to a stop, not accounting for the tiled(?) floor of the lobby being smooth.

( Solixis gets her claws in between the cracks and tries to tug with all her might, but isn't able to budge the doors with her strength alone. Loki's claws grind against cement and metal, dulling the tips of his nails and cracking some off. The beast writhes under him, still trying its best to destroy the dragon it's attached to until the moment of-- CRUNCH! Loki and the creature slam into the twisted debris with a sickening splatter. The monster twitches a few times, impaled by several long metal shapes, then grows still. )

Loki seems a little dazed, the dragon in the midst of rubble, dust, grit, and splattered mutant abomination. He rises to his feet, and gives his head a shake, the dragon wobbling in place as he looks around. He seems to be doing a kind of check to see how much damage he has endured. Some of his wounds are already healing, and he seems to mentally wince when he looks at his damaged claws even as they reknit. Would hurt like hell if he could feel it. He seems satisfied, and goes to take a step, but only manages such with one leg, his other impaled clean through with a jadded metal pole. He growls as he looks back at the leg, the dragon grabbing ahold of the metal and then springs in place, tearing it free so he can better tend to his wound.

( Solixis' efforts yield dents in the door, but it's firmly built and isn't even the slightest bit phased by those attacks. Redd can likely see the others below him by now, gathering themselves from their arrival on the ground, or in Caeli's case, still falling. )

Caeli touches down on the clearest patch of solid surface she can spot, absorbing the impact of her greatly slowed fall with a crouch as her wings retract again. Even with the damage she's sustained she doesn't stay down for more than a second, pushing herself up and approaching the stubborn door with an unshakable calm. "Redd is coming," she states matter-of-factly, wedging her own fingers between the doors and pulling with all her might.

Solixis sighs. "Damn it. I was hoping I could do something here..." She backs off, giving the winged woman room to manuever.

The shrill screech of grinding metal and gears echoes up the shaft as Caeli pulls and pulls, and eventually the badly damaged give and the doors slide open.

Loki nods to Caeli, the dragon then looking to Solixis and frowns. "Well, I am sure your time will come. You do provide some light after all." he smiles. "Better directiontional sense and a map." he offers, then hobbling through the door as best he can, the dragon wrenching the piece of metal bar free, then focusing intently as he works about reknitting his wounds.

Solixis scrambles into the door, getting the hall lit as bright as she can.

Redd slams into the pile of metal, his body relatively unscathed, but the rifle he had out has been crushed and punctured by several pieces of metal.

Beyond the elevator is a hallway, but this sub basement appears remarkably preserved. This area is dimly lit by flickering emergency lighting. The walls are painted white with a blue stripe, and in several places the familiar diamond-shaped logo is visible. To either side, you can see several doors, but the room on the right has windows looking into it, and you can see that it's a testing lab of some sort.

Caeli shrugs off the left sleeve of her jumpsuit, which between the acid and claw attacks is no longer actually attached to the rest of the outfit anymore. As it falls to the floor she begins moving down the hall, saying, "Switching to low-light vision." She turns to stare into the windows as she draws close.

Loki looks around the room, the dragon listening intently. He walks through the halls, looking from place to place. Many doors. Many things. "Electronics. Everywhere." he says. "I think we found it." he says, wandering the halls. He slowly begins opening doors, ignoring the ones that would lead to the one with the window within, perhaps saving that for last or not at all.

Redd frowns as he examines his ruined weapon, he'll have to make another, but not now, although he's left without a weapon for a while. He sees the open door and climbs up, pulling himself inside.

Solixis continues looking for the computer, ready to disable any locks.

( Loki finds first a meeting room with torn-up and toppled-over chairs, as well as a large circular table with a deep gash in it. The second door he opens is a storage room with metal shelves holding all manner of utilities, chemicals and miscellaneous supplies, many of which have been broken or spilled. The laboratory to the right looks to be in a state of disarray, with lots of things cluttering the floor as well as what is probably a pool of dried blood. The testing benches are filled with bits of shattered test tubes and tools. )

Caeli switches between thermal and nightvision as she scans the lab and hall one last time before trying the door leading into the windowed room, concluding that anything with indoor windows must be important.

Solixis grumbles. "How are we going to know when we've found it?"

Redd trails down the hallways, watching for anything with a monitor or a powerbutton at all.

The lab feels eerie.. like something horrible happened here. An unsettling silence fills this room, as does a thick layer of dust. Upon closer inspection, there are some cabinets, but most of them are missing their doors, which are laying on the floor. Inside are replacement bits for some of the equipment; cables, tubes.

Loki quickly moves inside the lab, the dragon sifting through the various assorted tubes and cables, searching for whatever it is they connect to.

Caeli stands passively near the doorway, watching the dragon closely as he investigates.

As the rest of the party draws nearer to the end of the hallway, the elecric presence grows stronger, a faint humming becoming a whirring, more wires seen through the walls leading into here. A single door is at the end of the hall, half knocked off it's hinges. A sign on the front reads, "CONTAMINATION HAZARD".

The cables are just that. Wires and cables likely used in the case where the ones for computers and equipment were damaged or lost.

Redd stops when he sees the sign, and turns towards the others, "I'll go in first, I'm least likely to be mutated by whatever may be beyond there..." He sighs and begins to approach the door.

Solixis nods. "I'll stick close behind. Suppressive fire is one of my specialties."

Caeli leaves the lab behind, curious to investigate whatever Redd was talking about. "I am immune to nanite contamination," she offers from further down the hall, in no particular hurry but moving to enter with Redd.

The door creaks open and reveals a decontamination room, complete with power sprays and hazmat suits (most of which are destroyed) and a shattered glass wall beyond that. It appears to be another testing lab, this one much smaller than the other, but this one has a single table in the middle with a dome-shaped device, attatched to it all manner of cables leading to various sides of the room and plugged into tall servers or running through to the walls. The skeletal remains of one person lay on the floor next to the table, and the hum of machinery and electronics pervades.

Loki growls a little in the room he is in and shifts uncomfortably, the dragon rising to his feet and quickly leaving as he closes the door behind him. He looks to the others and quickly follows after them, stepping into the room and looking around, seeing what he can discern.

Upon seeing the clean room beyond the door, Redd freezes in places, and turns to look for some sort of label out next to the door. "I hope we didn't just stumble into a virology or epidemiology lab's clean room. otherwise this could get ugly real fast..."

Solixis winces. "Not good." She takes a hankerchief out of her pack a wraps it over her mouth, trying to protect herself from airborne infection.

Caeli seems unconcerned by the potential hazards of the room, moving past Loki to the table and dome-shaped device to get a closer look. She breathes deeply as she does, green lights flickering over the black bands on her metal 'ears' as she attempts to detect any conventional airborne hazards.

The dome object looks, upon close inspection, like a high-tech petri dish. It doesn't look particularily heavy, but it's surely quite delicate, in fact the glass dome has a hairline crack in it.

Loki approaches the dome, the dragon circling the device as he examines it, trying to commit much of it to memory, and also trying to see how the wires connect and if there may be any ports. He also looks to the various machines hooked up to the device and seems to think again.

The device seems inactive, but a pretty good guess would be that this was the 'module' that Jess was referring to, one of the objects that RSX requested be brought back. The wires look like they can be removed with not too much difficulty. As for the other hardware.. there are several computers around the room, and at least two large servers.

Finding no indication of what was supposed to stay isolated in the room, Redd cautiously reenters, stepping over the shattered glass and doors. He spots the device on the table, and goes to search the far side of the room, those servers couldn't have been brought in through the clean room's regular entrance...

Blinking LEDs and the barely-functioning emergency lighting is all that brings light to this room. With some ingenuity, Redd can ascertain that the large server blocks aren't necessary, but perhaps the harddrives contained within.

Blinking LEDs and the barely-functioning emergency lighting is all that brings light to this room. With some ingenuity, anyone with good computer skills can ascertain that the large server blocks aren't necessary, but perhaps the hard drives contained within.

Solixis looks around in the room. "If you can find anything small that I can fit in my bag, I'll carry it, Redd."
Loki immediately turns his attention to the server drives, the dragon quickly plodding over to the monolithic data storage units and quickly takes a wire from his armour, the dragon quickly plugging it in and attempting to access its systems.

Redd nods, and hunts for the power cable to the servers, "I'm going to unplug them, no way I'm disassembling them while their connected. Hopefully the bubble won't fade quite for at least a little while."

( Loki is rewarded with the humming of drives uploading data into his storage. )

Loki seems satisfied once the download finishes, the dragon len looking to Redd. "It is probably for the best." he murmurs, then peering around the room some more, the dragon then striding over to the dish, examining it. "Wonder if we should dissassemble it before leaving. Or we could simply carry it out."

The servers have an inch-thick wire running from each of them directly into the wall.

"I don't know about you," Redd speaks inbetween cables being sheared, "But I'm taking the processors and drives. If RSX doesn't need it all, I'm planning to keep as much as possible..." Satified the servers were powered down, he pulls a tool kit from his bag, and starts to open the machines.

Loki looks over to Redd as he prowls about the room, the dragon striding over to the other server. "If they don't need it, I claim half the components if you do not mind." he murmurs as he begins to assist the flaming crystal dragon.

The server comes apart pretty easily. The components aren't particularily unique or anything, but they're at least top-of-the-line server components circa 3 years ago.

Loki systematically dismantles the computer along with redd, the dragon dividing the loot evenly among those who wish claim, offering some to Solixis as well, the dragon gathering his share and starting towards the dish. He thinks for a moment and takes out a silvery gob of nanites and stretches it across the crack, sealing the dome once again. He then sets about freeing the wires and other things keeping it in place so that it may be transported out, the dragon also radioing RSX telling them that they have completed the mission and are on their way out.

Caeli helps Loki to rapidly unplug each of the cables connected to the device at the heart of the room, and once it's unattached from everything she picks it up, handling it with care.

Solixis ends up with most of the hard drives and several heat sinks, the boards ending up in other

Redd pulls out ram chips, processors and drives and carefully places each in a static-proof baggy, generously borrowed from the neighboring rooms. "Think there's anything else worth taking?"

Caeli begins moving toward the exit with purpose. "We should leave before any other creatures arrive. Our entrance will have drawn attention." When she reaches the shaft she elects to use the ladder, climbing up one-handed with impressive agility and speed.

Solixis follows Caeli, moving quickly. "Long way to go..."

Redd follows out, and starts climbing directly on the wall, his claws punching holes in the sides of the shaft for grip

Loki shakes his head, helping the others haul the goods out. "No. Do not think so. Let's hope this all goes without further incident." he murmurs, assisting Caeli with the devices.

The party makes their way up the broken shaft, carefully climbing for a good ten minutes before they reach ground level. From there, they beat tracke from the building before their presence can attract more mutated horrors.

Redd climbs one of the buildings in an attempt to improve reception for his communicator, and to try to spot the helicopter as soon as it appears over the horizon.

Sure enough about five minutes after the signal is given, Chuck's coptor comes into view and hovers over the same building as last time. The party helps each other back into the trasport just as a flock of flying, multi-eyed bat creatures emerges from an adjacent building's windows. Chuck lurches the coptor frward and flies the opposite direction as fast as he can. Several hours later, after turning in the proper equipment and data. The party is personally commended by Doctor Jess and rewarded for their accomplished mission.

[[Category:RPLogs]][[Category:Darkwyrm Events]]

Rave Snax

2012-03-12T04:32:18Z

Crystala:

==Participants==
* [[Smokie]]
* [[Nicky]]
* [[Kain]]
==Director==
* [[Darkwyrm]]
==Log==

[RP] Rumor has it that everyone's favorite mall rats have set up a little stand and are giving out free samples of something to passersby. Whatever it is that they're peddling, it's bound to be 101% awesome.

A small stand has been set up aside from the other stores in the mall. Behind it stands a mall rat in a black leather jacket, wearing mirrored shades and displaying every ounce of cool that he can.

Nicky wobbles down from a far off street, her arms flapping about in excitement, "Food food food food!" She crashes down over a curb as she nears the stand, "This a food stand right? Awww....bawwa...so hungry..." She mounts the curb before ploping down on her rear, clucking quietly while she rests.

With an air of coolness to perhaps even rival the mallrats, (without dissing, of course,) the quadruped hyena lopes along, perusing the wares with her keen eyes. Shiny biker leathers, a matching jacket and pants, reinforced with silver rivets, slim her form down and add a feminine air to her, despite her wide, hunched shoulders and her toned, muscular frame.

Kain looks around, window shopping at the moment as shi sees the hen make a somewhat noisy enterence. Curiosity peaked, shi wanders over to the stall that the hen managed to make her way to and investigates the stall. "What exactly ARE you selling here?"

The mall rat behind the stand gives a big double thumbs up to Nicky and Kain and grins. "That's right! The name's Chad! I'm handing out free samples of our new snack food, which is bound to be totally killer when we're done perfecting the recipe!", the rat says, rather enthusiastically. "We grew the main ingredient ourself, if you'll believe that. First homegrown mall rat snacks, woo hoo! Wanna try some of this stuff?"

Nicky perks her head up dumbly at the rat, "Uhh...of course! Wai...wait...a minute...this...I've seen this before...that stuff isn't gonna...do weird stuff to me or something...I mean...it would be obvious if it did...too...obvious." She pulls herself back onto her two talons and struts over to get a better view of the stand and it's so called Mall Rat Snacks, "Baaawww....lets see..."

Smokie swivels her ears around at the echoing sound of 'free samples' and 'snacks'. She licks her lips, and trots toward the stall, whhere folks were already starting to gather. Yes, she beat most of the crowd, too! Yesss! "I heard free, and snacks. Sounds like this is the place to be!"

Chad pulls out a small plastic bag from behind the stand in which appears to be some edibles that look like cookies. He opens the bag and pours a few of them onto a plate. "Here you are! They're made from sugar, flour, some other cool stuff, and our special awesome ingredient." He claps his hands when he sees Smokie approaching. "Ahh, excellent! Another interested patron! Please, take one!"

Nicky goes to peck slightly at the surface of the cookie, "Ya...ya...but whats the special awesome ingredient...bawwwkaaa....don't tell me its secret also...you...possible trickster mall rat guy!" She adopts a pose of distaste, turning her fleathery flank to him, "But....I am hungry..."

Smokie presses her forepaws up onto the stand, and sniffs at the cookies. She gets a sly grin on her face, and winks at Chad. "Special, home-grown ingredient? Might I happen to be familiar with it? I mean, they call me Smokie for a reason..."

Kain looks at the cookies for a moment before picking one up. Looking over it shi doesn't really notice anything out of the ordinary. "Huh, well it can't be any worse than the shit they feed us at Zephyr" shi mutters before tossing it into her mouth and devouring it

"Hey man, it's cool.", Chad replies, not phased at all by the skepticism. "We're not ready to reveal our awesome ingredient yet, but rest assured it's 100% natural, 100% nontoxic, and of course 100% cool. We rats strive for the best!" He nods approvingly when Kain takes a bite and waits a moment before asking, "Well, you like it?", he asks.

Nicky paces restlessly from Kain to the stand, giving each of them equal attention. At seeing Kain eat one of the snacks, she clucks out in suprise, eyes dead set on watching for the reaction, "Oh dear..."

Smokie wags her tail, "Hey, bro, if'n ya'll trust it, I do too." She ever-so-carefully takes a cookie in her teeth, without touching any of the others, and tastes it a bit before tossing it into the air and chomping it in one bite.

Kain munches on the cookie some more before swallowing it and turns to Nicky with a surprised expression on hir face. "You need to try this, it's one of the best things I've ever eaten."
tell smokie It's probably the best cookie you've ever tasted. It's chewy but also lightly crispy, sweet and flavorful. There's something that you can't place though.. something.. awesome about it.

"Good, good! Glad you like them!", Chad says, looking quite pleased. With your input, I think we'll be ready to start selling them so--" He pauses for a moment then looks at Kain. "Did your mouth always glow neon blue like that?", he asks. "Rock on!"

Nicky stares to each of them in complete shock, "You two are nuts....baaacawwwwk....nuts! Uhh...uhh..." She eyes her immedient area hesitantly, "Do...need...food though..." He glances back to the plate longingly, just a ounce of resistance holding her back.

The hyena's legs shake as she eats the cookie, then, with eyes halfclosed, she lets her tongue lol out. "Oh dog... I think I just came... Mmm, awesome.." She rests her head a moment, happy, before her eyes dart open and she looks at the Kain beside her. "Woah, glowy? Cool!"

Kain holds a paw up to her mouth and notices the glow Chad mentioned. Attempting to keep it cool, shi looks up at Chad. "That's uh, normal... right?"

The rat whips out a notepad and starts furiously scribbling notes into it. "We haven't seen this reaction before, but then again, you're the first person to test it out besides us rats!" He keeps his eyes locked on Kain for a few moments, gauging her reaction. "And hyenas give a pink glow? Duuuuuuude!", he says, far too enthusiastically when he eyes Smokie.

Nicky pulls her beak back away from the plate in a near instant, propelled by a quick little hop, "See...bawkkk...see! It did do something...umm...weird..."

The hyena's ears sink a little. "Pink? Aww, is it like, at least a rad pink? I mean, not that it's bad. Rrou..."

Kain looks at Nicky and shakes hir head. "Relax, it doesn't hurt or anything. You should totally try it, I wanna see what color your mouth turns." shi says before turning to Smokie and giggling. "You know, this would be pretty fun at something like a rave"

"Dude, that's a killer idea. We could, like, call them rave snacks or something.." He coughs, realizing how uncool that name was then shrugs. "Alright, well I'm not the best at marketing, but we'll work off that idea." He looks up at Micky and smirks. "You gonna try one, kiddo?", he asks.

Nicky's body rumbles physically as her insides turn, the pain in her face evidence for her growing hunger pains, "Damn this straving body.." And without further pestering, she pecks at the cookies until they are throughly crumbled. Taking one last moment to consider the possible outcomes, she takes it in her beak and moistens it until she swollows, "Whoa...baawka...thats...umm..." She remains in stunned silence.

Smokie does her best to cross her eyes to see her pink luminescent tongue hanging out of her mouth, but fails. She's still wagging her tail, though, as she turns her attention back to Nicky. "See? It's... beautiful! Oh man. I just feel so... Dunno, that was a great pickmeup!" She yips happily, a little hyena laugh, "We should totally, like, have a rave..."

Kain nods at Smokie excitedly, hir tail wagging at the idea. "Hey, Chad, got any more of those cookies? I could really go for a bag or two of em"

"Hey man, gotta save some for the other awesome people bound to come 'round!", Chad chuckles to Kain. "But I can spot you all each one more, for sure." He pulls out another bag and dumps three more cookies onto the plate. "Enjoy! And please, tell your chums about me, we wanna get everyone interested!" Almost as an afterthought he adds, "Hey, green for the lovely chicken. Killer."

Nicky clucks quite vocally, and soon finds herself snatching up more of the crumbled cookie bits, "So good! Oh...oh...why did I ever doubt you mystical cookie maker ratman?!" She churrls happily, practically not even hearing the Mall Rat continue.

Smokie yips loudly and jumps at her cookie, snagging it off the plate without hesitation. "Mmf! Fffankff, dude!" She holds the coveted artifact in her maw for a few moments, cutely smiling and wagging her short, bushy tail.

Kain quickly picks up the cookie and throws it into hir mouth, chewing it noisily and smiling at Chad as shi smiles a bright blue smile as she swallows. "Bro, if you sell these you're gonna be stinking rich."

Chad shrugs and gives Nicky another thumbs up. "Hey, doesn't bother me. We might be some awesome dudes, but peeps still gotta have their caution, y'know? How else would we survive, eh?" He claps his hands together and rubs them excitedly. "Duuude. I hadn't any idea you all liked them THAT much. If we can turn a good profit on these, It'll certainly make my research look way rad."

Nicky tilts her head up in confusion, "Research...cluck...cluck...cluck..."She takes a moment to down a few peices of Mall Rat Snack, "Like...mmm...what kind? Flavor research? I think you can write a doctor's writ...or whatever...if these cookies are any evidence."

Smokie thoroughly enjoys her cookie, as she holds it in her paws and lovingly licks it. It's actually kind of suggestive-looking, but the hyena is blissfully unaware of her cookie-fellatio.

Kain licks hir lips and sniffs the plate in an effort to gather any remnants of the cookies before looking back up at Chad and tilting hir head. "Research? What kind of research?"

"Research involving our awesome super ingredient of course!", Chad chuckles. "We didn't just grow it out of nowhere, after all. Took a bit of fandangling. But you'll hear all about that once we release the product officially." He grins at Smokie and adds, "Looks like she realllly likes those cookies."

Nicky nods a few times, and having found her full with the cookies, aimlessly wonders around the area, having muttered something about it being, "Soon." She scratches at a patch of dirt in peace, quite contently too, by her cheerful clucking.

Smokie finally finishes off her cookie, before she finally picks her head up from her now cookie-flavored paw. Her pink glow looks even stronger now, if possible. "Rrou.. Thanks, bro!" She reaches out a paw to Chad, to bropaw.

Chad gives Smokie some broknucks and nods. "Rock on!", he says then gives her a big thumbs up before starting to tidy up his stand.

[[Category:RPLogs]][[Category:Darkwyrm Events]]

Something Borrowed: Greed

2012-03-12T03:59:32Z

Crystala: Created page with "This uses a faction of RSX, and a viral infection that may, or may not fall within Nuku's canon. Be aware when reading not to cite this in an argument of appropriate canon. ..."

This uses a faction of RSX, and a viral infection that may, or may not fall within Nuku's canon. Be aware when reading not to cite this in an argument of appropriate canon.

{|width="40%" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1" border="1" class="wikitable"
|-
|[[Something Borrowed: Greed/Chapter 1|Chapter 1]]
|-
|[[Something Borrowed: Greed/Chapter 2|Chapter 2]]
|-
|[[Something Borrowed: Greed/Chapter 3|Chapter 3]]
|-
|[[Something Borrowed: Greed/Chapter 4|Chapter 4]]
|-
|[[Something Borrowed: Greed/Chapter 5|Chapter 5]]
|}

[[Category:RPLogs]][[Category:Crystala Events]]

Nightwhispers: Silence

2012-03-12T03:53:11Z

Crystala: Created page with "This plot takes place in a dreamworld, entirely within the minds of the characters and references real world movies and television which may or may not be familiar to the read..."

This plot takes place in a dreamworld, entirely within the minds of the characters and references real world movies and television which may or may not be familiar to the reader.

{|width="40%" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1" border="1" class="wikitable"
|-
|[[Nightwhispers: Prologue/Aidan|Aidan]]
|-
|[[Nightwhispers: Prologue/Cilan|Cilan]]
|-
|[[Nightwhispers: Prologue/Narg|Narg]]
|-
|[[Nightwhispers: Prologue/Rihko|Rihko]]
|-
|[[Nightwhispers: Prologue/Snowblind|Snowblind]]
|-
|[[Nightwhispers: Prologue/Sorien|Sorien]]
|-
|[[Nightwhispers: Silence/Chapter 1|Chapter 1]]
|-
|[[Nightwhispers: Silence/Chapter 2|Chapter 2]]
|-
|[[Nightwhispers: Silence/Chapter 3|Chapter 3]]
|}

[[Category:RPLogs]][[Category:Crystala Events]]

Something Borrowed: Greed/Chapter 2

2012-03-12T03:42:09Z

Crystala: Created page with "The old restauraunt's sign can be seen far away from it, high in the sky advertizing the somewhat cheesy theme to the world around. It's sign is like most these days, unkempt..."

The old restauraunt's sign can be seen far away from it, high in the sky advertizing the somewhat cheesy theme to the world around. It's sign is like most these days, unkempt and taken some weathered beatings since P-day struck. This area of the city is just on the edge of the bubble, sparse of ferals, nature not having reclaimed much of it yet.

Along the entire drive to her destination, Cilan is eerily silent, probably dissapointed by the mess she had caused in the pub. Her hidden eyes just stare unblinkingly outwards towards the road, avoiding any possible hazards on her way to the current destination, a Hard Rock Cafe where she will meet Sienna, and hopefully help her old friend out of the current situation she's got herself into.

Selene has been manning the turret the entire trip, scanning for threats unceasingly. When the bus pulls up at the dilapidated restaurant, she peers about, checking the surroundings for threats one last time before ducking down into the bus. "This the place then, love?" she calls up to Cil.

Long ago finished with her meditation and brief prayer, Rihko has been standing just back of Cilan's seat, quietly watching the road. The kitsune fidgets from time to time, her ears twitching and tails twisting, but she picks up on Cilan's mood and doesn't want to wake Balina from her nap. Instead, she keeps her running internal monologue to herself, at least until they pull up at the cafee. "Huh. Nice. We'll get the full briefing here?" she asks, on top of Selene's question.

Balina dozed, fitfully. It was rest, but not very good. Once or twice she'd grumble and turn off her comm's alarm, pat herself down, and go back to trying to doze. Once she's aware that things have stopped, she pulls herself up and blearily looks around. "You mentioned stims earlier, right? Could I bother you for one of those while you tell us what exactly we're doing tonight?"

The bus pulls up into the parking lot, and a voice yells out, "A god damned bus? Are you kidding me?" as a blue gryphon, with masculine features emerges with a pistol in her hands, holding it up. "I would have expected more tact from you Cilan." she shouts, the voice carrying through a cracked window.

"Y-yeah.. uh.. apparently, but.. just to be careful, we better go silent.. most of the time when I seen Sienna she looked like she was watching out for someo--.." Cilan calls out to Selene, but her statement is quickly sidetracked with a breath of relief, "Sorry, Sienna.. I was pretty much broad-sided with this offer.. frankly I was more interested in motorcycles.. ah well, this is heavilly armoured, it'll take an army to bring it down."

Selene giggles at the disbelief the gryphon displays. "Yeah, Sori doesn't seem to get "inconspicuous" very well, does she? Easier to take it than argue with her, though." she says to Cil and Rihko. "So, Cil, who's this then? The friend of yours we're helping? Is she gonna give us the full briefing?"

Rihko snorts, and steps back, giving Cilan room to get up and out of the bus. She pauses and rummages a moment in her bag, then pulls out her coffee thermos and passes it over to Balina, along with a small nanite hypo. "Here. This is the good coffee, and I laced it with some extra stuff... and the hypos are mostly medical nanites, but it'll give you a kick in the ass if you need to get moving," she says quietly. Then she smiles, and then looks back towards Cilan, and the gryphon, waiting for introductions.

Cilan opens the bus door before glancing to Selene, "Yeah, Sienna Miller, Private Sienna Miller.. we had met on the plane back home.. before P-day.. fought a few skirmishes in San Fran before we parted ways after a little.. missunderstanding.."

Balina takes a few minutes to down some coffee and idly consider the nanites. On second thought, she passes the hypos back while listening to Cilan's eventual explanation.

The gryphon holds the gun for a while, aiming it at unfamiliar faces, a scowl only hidden by the beak on her face, her posture doing the rest of the work. "It'd be nice if you could hide that thing, as it's quite visible to flyovers, but I think trying to hide that monstrosity would be more conspicuous." She finally lets it drop only seeing four emerge. "At least you only asked a few." she sighs, and her harshness crumbles. "Come on dear, inside. We'll just hope we get lucky." pointing inside.

Selene tightens a couple of straps on her armour before hopping off the bus, heading into the restaurant.

Cilan leaves the bus, and following Sienna's request she heads into the dilapedated restaurant, her eyes shifting to the sides, and she occasionally looks behind her, seeing if anyone or anything had followed her to her destination.

Balina follows behind, stretching as she leaves the bus for more open, if temporary, space.

Rihko follows Cilan off the bus; she cocks her head to the side and stares back, studying the gryphon, but doesn't say anything. She rolls her shoulders, slips her paws into her jacket, and then follows into the building as well. She tries to keep her demeanor calm and poised, but her ears twitch and swivel and every sound.

The inside of the place looks largely untouched, surprisingly, only a few signs at all that the world had collapsed, the paraphenalia all over the walls still in perfect condition. Sienna pauses inside, "You know that where we're going, the bus isn't going to get to, it's deep forest. How do you expect your friends to follow? On foot?" getting right to the point.

"How far, and how dangerous?" Balina asks, glancing back at the horse they rode in on. "Expecting it to be mined or something?"
Selene grins. "You'd be surprised how fast we can move when we need to." She looks around teh restaurant for a moment. "Oh, and nice job keeping thsi place... not-wrecked."

Cilan nods slowly, affirmatively, "Yeah.. use the foliage as cover, avoid any patrols, and hopefully stay out of RSX's eye long enough to reach the lab in one piece.. Now.. a question for you.. who exactly is it that is hunting you? One of the businesses? Some sort of p-day mafia?"

Rihko glances back and forth at the assembled crew... winged soldier... winged wolf... winged gryphon... kitsune and wolfcow. She looks back to Sienna, and her muzzle quickly moves up then back down in a little nod. "We can fly if we need to." She has another question, but she holds it back as Cilan asks hers.

Sienna sighs, "This place is... not inhabited by military, nor will we be facing RSX soldiers, the company wrote it off. No, no, who we're dealing with is a... private collector who's got no public image to maintain."

Selene headtilts. "What exactly did you do to piss this guy off?"

"What are we hitting?" Rihko asks. "A bunker? Warehouse? Home? High-tech underground lab?" Her tails swish back and forth, but she keeps her tone even and business-like. "What kind of guards? Automated defenses? Alarm systems?"

Balina perks. This suddenly sounds like a milk run. "So why is this going to take more than two people, again?" she asks, suspicion at war with potential greed. "Are we talking--" she stops as Rihko proves herself better-prepared.

Cilan folds her arms across her chest and asks, "So.. the guy's we'll probably be going up against are expendable?" a soft grin pulls at one side of her lips before she says, "Guess that'll make our job a little easier. If we need to kill we wont be hunted by the rest of RSX.." a moment passes before she corrects herself, ".. only if we need to though! And by stealthy means if possible, dont want to have the rest of the forest on us after the first gun shot." tuning to Selene she says, "She.. owes money.. lots of money, and to pay it off she got an option. Find this object in a secret lab that the RSX had abandoned."

Cilan says, "Only thing is, the object allows whoever holds it to control the nanites and do god knows what with them."

Balina moos, "Again with the vague doomsday. Can we just skip to the proper exposition?"

Sienna shakes her head, "No, we don't know /what/ is there, as I sold you, dear, nobody has come back, nobody. And considering RSX knew what was being worked on, if they aren't going near it..." she sighs, "I asked your friend here to come alone, but she chose to bring more. I can't promise any of you that you'll come back alive. Are you sure you want to do this?"

Selene sighs. "Ah. Debt. Lovely." She blinks at the description of the item, still not quite believing what it can do. "We're, uh, gonna destroy that, right? Cause nobody should have that kinda power. Also, when it comes to stealth..." she raises her right arm, complete with crossbow "...I do have a crossbow. They tend to be rather silent."

Selene looks at Sienna and grins. "Died twice already. It's old hat now."

Cilan folds her arms across her chest and nods, "I had faced dark gods, and their puppets.. hopefully with the skill we have, we can be in and out before anyone knows we're there, or at the very least.. we leave unharmed."
Balina gives Selene one of those looks, then shrugs and gives a weak smile. "I still need my dying merit badge, anyway. Besides, if there's one doomsday toy, there might be more. I'd hate to miss out."

Selene gets a strange look from Sienna, her eyes narrowing, as if she's being played with.

Rihko lets her tails twist and curl as she studies Sienna for a bit longer, then shrugs her shoulders. "Cilan said she wanted my help. I'm here for her, regardless of what that entails."

Selene just grins brightly at Sienna.

She pulls out a folded up map, and moves to one of the tables, laying it out. "I can show you at least where we're going here if you'd like."

Cilan moves over to the table and peers at the map.

Rihko nods her head and moves over to the table to get a look at the map as well.

Balina does her part in helping crowd the table.

Selene moves over with the others to view the map.

As she looks at the map Cilan says to her old friend, "Trust me, remember when you said you heard about some crazy stuff going on in New Ireland, and its patrons? Yeah.. Selene, and my dying is just a tidbit of it.."

Sienna shows a map of eastern california, and pulls out a sharpie circling a wide area in the northern part of the Yosemite national park, an area in the deep woodland, far off from the touristy areas. "This was government granted to them. I'm not even 100% sure the exact location beyond coordinates, although they aren't as useful these days without GPS." She then says, "The reason I want to use this chopper is it allows us to scour the area looking for the signs, for what we're looking for. At least these days we shouldn't get shot down."

Selene headtilts. "You've got wings. Why do you need a chopper fo aerial surveillance?"

"Do you plan on flying for miles and miles alone in the skies over dangerous land?" she's not confrontational, but seems... curious, like she hadn't even thought someone would want to.

Selene shrugs. "I've done it before. But I'm asking why you've not already done it." She's also not confrontational, just curious. She can't figure out why someone would want to make a big, noisy target of themselves if they don't need to. Or why they wouldn't do teh scouting needed when tehy had a chance, rather than waiting around for others to arrive.

Rihko shrugs. "There are five of us. It would be quieter than the chopper. But I don't usually do this sort of thing, I'm just here to help." She looks over at Cilan and smiles, waiting for her input.

Sienna looks away, "To be honest, I'm afraid. I don't want to die." she says bluntly.

"No offense, Sienna, but right now Im leaning with the others, we fly over.. chances are if that private collecter has patrols in the forest, they'll know we're here and only increase their defences, if not try to shoot the helicopter down."

Balina stares at the map, and its worryingly large circle. "Just to confirm... vague area, vague facility, vague defenses, vague treasure," she asks it. After a few moments of hesitation, she stands back up, almost beaming. "If there's a tribe of pygmies with blowguns, this might be a dream come true. Pity my bullwhip's in another time zone. I'll stay on the ground, in case it's not obvious from the air, though."

Rihko thinks a moment, and then looks up at Sienna. She studies the gryphon a moment, then nods. "None of us do. We'll play it safe. So that's all the intel we have?" she asks. "I guess we better start looking then..."

"I think you and Rihko should probably be the ground team, maybe with Sienna if she's not up for flying, and cil and I can handle the aerial surveillance. We've all got comms, so we can easily stay in touch." Selene says.

Sienna shrugs, "I spent a lot of time working on the helicopter, but if you really think this is the better approach I trust you." shi says, directly looking at Cilan.

Cilan looks to Selene and nods, "Gotcha.." she states before looking to Sienna next, "That a good plan for you, Sienna? If you're curious, I trust Selene with my life.."

Cilan says, "When we all make it out, we can probably use the helicopter for other things, Sienna.. no sense getting it shot down in a scan that may or may not work."

Sienna nods slowly, "I..." she looks down for a bit, and then says, "Lets just go, we should get there as quickly as possible, and get this over with." She makes one look toward the back of the restaurant and says, "I'll come back for it... I won't end here..." as if she's trying to convince herself.

Rihko tilts her head to the side, considering Selene's plan, then shrugs her shoulders. "There's a lot of territory to cover, but if you and Cilan want to do it all you can." She looks over at Sienna, flashes hir a grin, then nods her head to the door. "Let's hit it." With that, the kitsune turns for the door and starts moving.

Selene claps her hands together and says "Right then! Rihko and Bal, you've got the ground route. Cil and I are airborne. Sienna, you wanna fly or walk?" she asks, looking directly at the gryphon.

Balina, her fatigue forgotten and her spirits riding high, is nearly bouncing as she steps outside, hand idly playing with a buckle as she goes.

Cilan offers Sienna a few comforting pats on her shoulder, "You dont have to worry about dying here, Sienna.. it'll just be like the good ol' days! If memory serves, Im pretty sure there were a few tight spots in San Fran too. Not to mention your little close call in our first treck to Zephyr!" looking next to Selene she asks, "So.. how do you want to divide our search? Start at two different spots of the forest and work our way in?"

Selene nods. "We split up, but stay within radio contact and eyeseight if possible, and sweep the area for this facility."

Sienna follows behind as they return to the rather... scary bus. She seems a bit trepedacious on entering, perhaps a bit of claustrophobia? She finds a place to sit, and gets out her comm unit, fiddling with it, not really offering much interaction.

Cilan returns to the bus and hops in, reseating herself in the drivers seat where she waits for everyone else to return.

Rihko quietly snickers and follows up onto the bus, taking one of the seats. She gives Balina a nod, and a grin. "Really looking forward to this, huh?" she asks.

Selene hops into the bus and makes her way back into the turret once more.

Balina nods happily, grin threatening to bisect her head. "And you're not? C'mon, this is Adventure at its purest." Hopping aboard, she takes her previous seat. She's entirely too worked up to want to sleep now, but she can at least recline and pretend to relax.

With everyone on board again, Cilan closes the door and backs out of the parking lot, heading now to Yosemite.
ooc No other mounts, but there are assault rifles aboard, and ammo.

Rihko gives Balina a wider grin and nods her head. "True enough!" Then she settles back into her seat and pulls out her com as well, messing with it on the ride.

Sienna helps navigating, not that their destination is hard to find, there are many signs pointing to the main attraction of Yosemite. There's plenty of time to sleep during this evening trip, as the bus has to glow slow on the choked arteries of the capital area. Eventually they find their way out into the much less clogged freeway.

Selene comes down from the turret for a while to sleep, letting someone else take watch while she does, as she sprawls out on a seat.

Cilan Cilan on the other hand remains awake most of the trip, occasionally passing the time by chatting with Sienna on what shi had been doing the past two years when the gryphon is closeby, and is not trying to navigate.

Sienna stiffens a bit when Cil sits by her, it's minor but noticable. Eventually she cracks, "I'm so... so sorry what I did to you." and rests her head in her hands, she's not bawling, but seems to be carrying an awful lot of guilt nonetheless

Rihko gladly offers to take her turns on lookout, or driving, as needed; she fills the rest of her time with a short nap, working in her notebook, and listening attentively to the others. She does seem to pick up on Balina's enthusiasm as they get closer, getting more and more worked up the closer they get to the park.

Balina does eventually drift off a few times. Propriety and a desire to not freak out Sienna led her to keep the routine going, and she does wake up during the exchange. In a rare 2x propriety combo, she decides to at least give the impression she's still dozing.

If her hands were not on the wheel Cilan would pat her embarrased friend but right now she concentrates mainly on the road infront of her, "Dont worry about it.. we've all had.. uh.. instances of feral activity.. god, you shouldve seen me in my lizard girl days.. I kept the birth control pill companites in business quite a bit because of it.." she chuckles lightly before saying, "Anyways.. when this is done, we've got a whole life ahead of us to make up for lost time."

The gryphon seems to be surprised by how well Cilan takes things. She says, "You've... changed, a lot. You weren't anywhere near this nice when we met."

Cilan says, "Yeah, well I've gone through quite a bit of changes these last few months.. met friends that turned to family.. and one of which even accepted my request for her to become my wife.. ah! Speaking of which, I expect to see you in attendance when she and I go down the aisle, missy!" again she chuckles before continuing, "Anyways, yeah.. I also have two twin daughters waiting for me at home.. you should see them!"

The gryphon places a hand on Cilan's and leans forward to whisper, "Congradulations, I'm sure they'll be proud of both you and your wife." and then leans back, going back to navigating. The bus ride continues into the dawnlight, the thick trees on both sides of the highway are different than those of oregon, or the redwoods up by Fairhaven.

Cilan grins up at Sienna before turning her attention back to the road infront of her, "Thanks, Sienna.." she responds softly before going into silence, just listening to the gryphon's navigating.

Sienna points to an turnoff into the forest, maintenance trail. "We'll take that as far as the bus will fit, then we can start scouting." It's a narrow dirt trail, not having been used in the last few years and is starting to get grown over.

Cilan nods affirmatively before heading down the path Sienna had pointed to, calling over her shoulder, "Careful, love.. might end up straying close to a few branches here.. so.. sorry if any hit you on our way in."

Rihko gets out of her seat and moves up towards the front, glancing around. She nods her head. "We don't want them to spot us coming... I'm anxious to get on the ground and get searching, though."

Selene giggles as she calls back "Don't worry love, I'll survive!"

The road has stopped being a smooth ride, and Balina has joined the rest of the group rather than lie there, watching their progress, but not really in a position to input, and not quite in the mood to kibitz.

The bus pulls through the forest, the trees sweeping by in a hypnotic fashion. The path swerves and curves and a fallen tree simply gets driven right over, the thing haven mostly rotten away. The tree cover gets thicker and thicker, harder to see the sky above, only for brief moments between the branches. They cross a stream, a few miles into the forest. And about six miles in, they hit a river.

As the river is reached, Cilan eases on the brakes saying, "Alright.. I think this is the end of the road, chances are, Sori'd kill me if I took my chances in the busses ability to ford past rivers!" and with that, Cilan cuts the engine, opens the door, and rises from her seat, stretching out languidly before stepping outside.

Rihko quietly snickers and follows Cilan out the door. Her ears perk and she sniffs the air, head turning from side to side as she scans the forest. "This'll do, I suppose." She looks back over at Cilan. "We're using our encrypted com channel?"

Cilan says, "Yeah, dont want anyone listening in."

Selene clambers out of the turret and hops off teh roof of the bus, not bothering to climb back down to get out through it. She walks up to the others and grins. "Let the hunt begin, then."

Balina steps out, taking a deep breath of the unfamiliar air. "Was hoping to stay dry a little longer, but Rihko and I can keep following the road for now."

Sienna follows closely behind, "And says, "You're looking for a white granite and limestone cliff, which will have moss stains on it. It will look pretty natural, but there's a pattern to it we're looking for. She pulls out an image on her comm, a strange organic looking symbol.

Selene moves forward, studying the symbol carefully. "Right. Interesting symbol. White granite and limestone cliff, funky looking symbol in the moss stains. Let the games begin!"

Rihko stares at the image a little, then gives Sienna a suspicious look. After a bit though, she shrugs, and moves closer to the river. "Need me to carry you across, Balina?" she asks, jokingly. "I don't want you to melt."
Cilan moves over to Sienna and looks at the picture on her comm-unit, "Huh.. I think I got it.." stretching out she states, "Alright.. love, I guess we'll fan out and conduct our search.. while the ground team.. stick together, dont want anyone getting lost without reason.. radio in on the hour, or at the first signs of danger, got it?"

Rihko gives Cilan a thumbs up. After a bit she looks around again, sniffing at the air, her tails flicking.

Balina is too busy looking at the river to actually notice the image, and almost too busy to hear Rihko. "What? Nah, I can get across. Just gonna smell like river the rest of the trip, that's all." Nodding to Cilan, she pulls out her own comm, tapping a few settings, then digging a waterproof bag out of her pack.

"Got it, love. This'll be fun." Selene says, as she stretches out her wings. She looks up at the tree coverage, and sighs. "Gonna have to climb a tree before I can take to the air, though..." she says, as she folds her wings again and jumps up into a tree, gracefully climbing up to the highest branches she can, before taking to the air.

Cilan follows close behind Selene, using the branches she had held onto only moments before on her treck up the tall tree and into the skies above.

It's a beautiful day, short above noontime, the sky bright blue and sunny as usual in california. The vast ocean of trees, and mountains and crisscrossing rivers is like an ocean in front. Down below, the river itself is pushing pretty hard, having just started to cut it's path in the place. Sienna stays on the ground, her wings pulled tight against her back, not seeming like much of a flier.

Selene signals to Cil, pointing in one direction, then points to herself and points in another, signifying where they should head in their search.

Cilan nods in understanding towards Selene, later giving her a thumbs-up and playful grin in response. After dropping her arm back to her side, Cilan spreads her wings out wide and begins to flap heavilly, trying her hardest to get airborne. After finally succeeding she says something into her comm and flies off in her search.

Balina begins to wade into the river, stopping only a few paces in. "On second thought?" she ventures, current lapping at her paws, "This may not be the best idea."

Balina catches an odd scent, smoke, fire, but not a forest fire, it smells of sulfur. In fact it reeks of such. Her brain immediately fires with the tingling sense of hunger of something... wrong. Body moving to wolf and moving on it's own accord.

Rihko pauses at the river bank, head tilted to the side. "Oh yea?" she asks. "What's your other idea?" She pauses though as Balina starts to wolf out, then hoists her bag over her head and wades into the river to grab the wolf's things. "Balina?"

Sienna squawks at Balina's sudden changes, her hand reaching to her side for a gun, and is further mystified when she just... takes off. Then Rihko leaves, and she finds herself alone. She waits only a moment before taking off into the sky to follow.

Sienna's voice breaks over the channel, quiet, "Your friend seems to have gone feral.""

Selene's voice replies, with a giggle. "Nah, she's still in there. Just got a better nose now. Try to keep up!""

Cilan responds, "Nah.. thats just Fenrir's little.. uh.. gift to us, trust me, if anything our job's just got a little easier!""

Sienna ducks back below the trees, landing not far behind Rihko. Balina's pounding forward on hot pursuit of... something. Her nose flickering at the air as she searches. She stops at one point, and changes direction bounding off on a new trail.

After lowing the comm again, Cilan continues her flight, stopping occasionally to hover in one spot to survey everything around her, and below, her eyes staring off into the distance, both her training, and the abilities gained, both physical and spiritual working for her in her search for that object Sienna had shown.

Cilan notices a faint hint of smoke in the distance, about three miles south of where she is. She also spots Rihko through the treecover below, heading in that direction.

Selene scans the ground and horizon carefull as she flies. "Cliff, cliff... big white cliff... jeez, this should be so much easier to spot." she mutters to herself. Then she blinks. "Ah, crap... shoulda thought of this sooner... Wind? Can you give me a hand?" Wind leaps into existence, trailed by a litter of puppies. "Wind! Your puppies! So cute!" Selene giggles, before quickly sending the spirit wingywolves off to help in the search.

Cilan says in a confused sounding voice, "Hey, guy's.. I see a wisp of smoke to the south of my position, 'bout three miles, Im gonna go check it out, see if I can find anything useful.. meet you there, Rihko!""

Rihko is too busy following Balina to pay much attention to the sky; the agile kitsune trails the fenrir wolf through the trees, slipping around obstructions and dodging branches, smiling happily with the thrill of the hunt.

Being a woman of her word, Cilan continues soaring again towards the smoke, stopping only a mile away from it to land safely on the ground once more, and hopefully sneak up on whatever had caused the fire in the first place.

[[Category:RPLogs]][[Category:Crystala Events]]

Something Borrowed: Greed/Chapter 5

2012-03-12T03:18:32Z

Crystala: Created page with "Inside the box of vials is a complex set of retroviruses. The discs are storage discs with warning labels reading encrypted data. Selene gives a low whistle as she examines ..."

Inside the box of vials is a complex set of retroviruses. The discs are storage discs with warning labels reading encrypted data.

Selene gives a low whistle as she examines the contents of the box. "Say what you will about the discs... pretty sure we should destroy the box o' retrovirus."

Having slowly gotten over her moment of mourning Cilan asks grimly in her booming voice, "So.. what's in the case that was so worth biting off my old friends head than just restraining her?" she asks it to noone in particular.

Rihko slips the disks into Balina's water-proof bag, then slings the bag over her shoulder. She waves Balina and Selene over, giving Sienna's corpse another angry glare as she rubs at the scales along her chest, still experiencing some lingering phantom pain after Selene's healing. "You two are better with this nanostuff than I am. And how are we going to get Cilan out of that shape? She's not going to fit on the bus like that."

Balina looks over the contents of the box, occasionally grabbing a vial, shaking it, and holding it to her ear. "The discs are probably what we came for, but somehow I doubt they're for some master nanite control program," she says, sniffing a different sample. "These things... not sure yet. Give me a bit; not sure I've seen any of these before, assuming they're even nanite-based."

Cilan glances at Rihko, "Who said I cant shift?" she asks before setting the headless corpse aside and closing her eyes, while her limbs begin to shrink, they quickly turn back to her original shape, much to the surprise of Cilan.

Balina looks up from her work at Cilan's attempts. "Okay, fine. I admit that the virus approach has its own unique terrors. All the more reason to figure out what's up with these things, I guess."

Selene headtilts as Cil proves unable to shift out of giganto-dragon form. "That... could be problematic."

A soft groan escapes Cilan's throat as she clenches at her stomach as she shifts back, "Ugh.. remind me not to do that again.." she asks, "Now.." she glances over to Balina this time, ".. again, what was in the case that was so worth biting off my friends head? You know?"

Rihko leaves the vials in Balina's care, and looks over at Selene, then up to Cilan. "Maybe if you got back into a bubble, the nanites could work it out..." she offers. Then she points at the ex-friend, stepping between Cilan and Balina. "Your friend stuck a knife in me, Cilan. She cut me open, and if it wouldn't have caught on a rib I'd be dead. If your wife hadn't used some Namidian magic on me I might have bled out. I would have torn her throat out myself if Balina hadn't beaten me to it."

Selene looks up at Cilan. "Love, I know she was and old friend... but she betrayed us repeatedly. Her entire reason for bringing us here was clearly not what she claimed. And then she tried to murder Rihko."

Balina growls, "We only restrained her for the case," before Rihko steps in. Holding one more vial up to a light source, she concentrates on it intently, though that may simply be an attempt to keep herself quiet for a bit. "These... aren't infection vials," she says, eventually. "At least, not like I was hoping. I need to get them somewhere I can study better, but I think it's closer to the canvas that was used to paint Dragon-Cil."

Cilan's head tilts slightly as Rihko explains what had happened, a soft shuddering sigh escapes her throat before she looks to Sienna, "Little sis.." she says, ".. wrong target." with that she waves it off and says, "Anyways.. even with the constant betrayals, she still deserves to be buried.." after a while she muses to herself, "Would you have still turned out like that if I hadnt abandoned you?"

Balina adds, "Now that I think about it, if they're just viruses... maybe we can practice a little eighteenth century medicine. Take a sample, kill what's inside, instant vaccine."

Rihko sighs, and looks around. "Alright. You bring her with, Cilan. We'll do a quick once over of the nest, see if I missed anything important, then let's get the hell out of here. As cozy as the cave is, I think we're better set up to figure out what happened to Cilan back in Fairhaven." She moves to check the slag-pile in the nest, giving the cave a quick look over, bagging any finds, then heading back towards the water. "I want to get home. And cuddle up with Tag."

Selene joins Rihko poking through the remains of the nest, looking for any more infection vials of the same nature as Balina has. The last thing needed is for that crap to get out into the world too.

Amoung the pile of junk, honestly it's not junk. Each and every part is something valuable from inside the lab. Amoung them includes lots more data, vials, information on the virus in printed form. And even enough equipment to build what is needed for a vaccine amoung it all.

Selene picks up a few of the notes and gives them a cursory readthrough. And then pauses. "Hey, huys? I'm not one hundred percent on this.... but I think we could use some of this equipment to make a vaccine. I mean, we've got a ton of samples, notes on how they created it, and all the equipment of several top-of-the-line bio research labs. Worth a shot, I think."

It's not a big bed of gold, but these days random lab equipment might as well be encrusted with gemstones. Balina begins standing back up toppled machines, checking others, then turns to Rihko. "You got the door powered earlier; think you can hotwire some of these?" At the mention of notes, the wolfcow makes her way over to begin reading over Selene's shoulder. "How incredibly convenient. Glad our host didn't feel the need to destroy the paperwork."

Selene shrugs. "Guess he considered it of value as well. Must've been one of the researchers before he got all draconic. Kept enough of that to view all this research and equipment as valuable enough to make into his hoard."

Rihko blinks a couple of times, and whistles. "Sure. Might even be able to use the hummer, if it has any fuel left; if it doesn't have an adapter in it, we might have to make one but it should be doable." She whistles. "Lucky for us." She nods and gets to work helping as well.

Over her shoulder Cilan says, "Fine, while you go do.. whatever it is you're doing I'll move some of the larger stuff." glancing at Rihko and listening to her comment before saying, "Hummer included.. Sori might need it, and it could be a fitting apology for leaving her in charge of Sai, and Anala.."

Selene giggles at that. "I think it's gonna take more than a hummer for her to forgive us for sticking her with the nibblers, love!"

Balina whistles. "Think we can fit Cilan into the toy factory when we get back? We'd get a pretty amazing plush dragon out of it."

Cilan glances to the hole in the ceiling and utters, "Wont be large enough for me, /or/ the car.. out the old fashioned way then.." she utters before opening the humvee door's, sticking Sienna inside the gas-guzzling beast, closing it and diving into the water, vehicle included.

Selene blinks as Cil vanishes with the hummer. "Uhm... I thought we were gonna just do it here, rather than try and ship all this stuff elsewhere?"

"Right, right. Sorry, bad time for jokes, I guess." Balina begins idly flipping through notes, trying to get more of a handle on what the group is going to attempt. "While it's on my mind, let me know if you find anything talking about capsules, or-- oh! Rihko, bring my bag back over here a second."

"OK. That is what I had thought too. Oh, well." Rihko shakes her head, and starts packing things up. "Let's just get home, then. And try to keep her from breaking anyone, or anything." She does bring the bag over, and nods to Balina. "Yea?"

Selene moves about over the pile of stuff, grabbing all the notes she can find. And a few choice pieces of equipment, as well as a vial or three.

Balina draws out a small pouch, itself containing what looks like a few tablets of cold medicine, and a PDA. "Found these in the wreckage of the vault. Didn't want to let Sienna knew I found 'em, but that's not a concern now. No clue what the capsules are, but hook up a fresh battery, and we can see if there's anything useful on the computer."

Selene deposits her pile of potentially useful things near Balina, and then goes rooting about for power sources. "I'm sure there's a generator or something like that down here somewhere. Just gotta root it out." she pauses for a moment, and tosses something to Bal. "Try taking the battery out of this one!" she calls, as the PDA flies towards the wolfcow.

"Fantastic," Rihko says. She digs through the hoard a bit more, searching for the bits and pieces she needs, and continues getting it all set up then. She starts whistling to herself as she works, her wisps providing light as she assembles and tinkers.

On the PDA, is an enormous amount of critical information. It shows the plans of what RSX was trying to accomplish, and complex data on how the virus works, and was going to be applied. One might wonder why such valuable, critical information would be on a PDA... it appears the person who owned it was working for... Zephyr?

Balina goes between awe, anger, disappointment, and back again to awe as she pages through the data. "Anyone want to pretend to be shocked that Z's hand was in this mess, too?" she calls. "I think I found a pretty handy little guide in here, but we're waist-deep in the sort of information that's going to get us killed now."

Selene shrugs. "They worked together on one project that wrecked the world, why stop at that?" She grins darkly then. "I'm sure if they try to kill us, they'll find it's an extraordinarily difficult task."

Rihko thinks about that for a moment, her tails twitching. "Fix Cilan. Burn the evidence. Plead ignorance," she says. "The dragon destroyed it all. Right?" she offers. She smiles. "I think that'd work."

"I vote for keeping the PDA. Never know when it might be handy." Selene says.

With a torrent of water Cilan emerges from the pool and climbs out, this time without the hummer close by, "Fix me?" she asks Rihko with an incredulous tone of voice, "I do not need fixing, Rihko.. if anything, I am perfect. The feeling I have, the power I contain.. imagine.. imagine what I could do to shadow, let alone /anything/ that tries to stand up against any of you?"

Balina sighs. Heavily. "I was really hoping to not blow this place up, but we're going to need plausible deniability later." Looking to Selene, she regains her more chipper, stolen-research-fueled demeanor. "After, of course, we figure out how much we can pull back with us, yeah. This little thing probably just saved us a lot of trouble." Flicking back through displays, she starts making a checklist of what's going to be needed for a vaccine/treatment for-- aw, crap.

Balina mutters, "Kaiju stage one: delusions of godhood," to herself, head slumped under her arms on a counter.

Rihko gives her head a little shake. "Into the fires of Mount Doom. Do you want to risk someone finding out? Trying to kill you over it? Kidnapping your children and holding them hostage?" She crosses her arms, and her ears twitch a moment. Then she looks back over her shoulder at Cilan. "Cilan. Think of your children. Would they be terrified if they saw you, as you are right now? I think they would want their mother," she says, quietly.

Selene looks at Cil with more than a little concern. "Love. You're enormous. We can't bring you back to Fairhaven without causing a huge panic and/or a concerted attack against you. You're far, far to big to fit in the Lot, let alone the Pub. And how will you interact with our babies? How will you hold them, cuddle them, play with them, when they're so tiny compared to you? Please, love, let us try to fix this!"

Cilan's head tilts slightly, "Panic? I do not think they'd panic, afterall.. look at the other giant forms running around? Kaiju, That giant robot thing.. and.. uh.. well, I guess thats it, but.. they'd not panic, frankly they'd probably think I was just another addition to the giant's protecting the city!" though she stops and thinks on the concept of holding Sai, and Anala, "My.. children.." she muses to herself.

Rihko looks over at Balina. "Alright, what else do we need to do to get things running here?" she asks the infections expert.

Selene nods, noting the hesitation. "Yes Cil. Our children. Our tiny, adorable little babies. Ours. And if you stay like this. If you stay as an enormous dragon. You'll terrify them. And you won't be able to interact with them at all. Do you really, truly want that, my love?"

A hopeful look crosses Cilan's features as she looks to Selene, "Then.. then become like me! There is enough here to bring perfection to all of us! Not to mention we could make more!" she asks, though does not force the fact on her fiancee.

Balina pulls herself together. Right. One idiotic crisis at a time. "Most of it practically does itself, we just have to get it started. There should be a stimins' autoclave around here somewhere; find that and we can get the first step done, at least."

Rihko nods her head. "Gotcha." She sorts through the pile, looking for the autoclave, then gets it hooked up and ready. She glances over at Cilan and Selene as they talk, hoping Selene can handle this.

"Been there! Got the t-shirt! Regretted it afterward!" Balina calls, unasked. "It stops being fun the moment your conscience kicks in!"

Selene tries to hide the horror Cil's suggestion brings. "You would want me to be kept from our children as well, Cil? Or, you would inflict this on them? When they're so young, so innocent, you would forcibly change them? What's wrong with you, Cil? The Cilan I love, the Cilan I want to marry... she would never suggest such things!"
Balina begins to work through the list, aiming towards making as much vaccine as the equipment will allow, staggering batches if need be. It's going to take a rather unholy amount to get through Cilan, after all.

The time spent working on the vaccine is tiring, but surprisingly fast considering all the data and equipment. Maybe 6 hours worth of work before they have a workable vaccine. It won't kill the virus completely, it'll still be in her, but it will stop it from overriding changes.

Cilan staggers back as Selene speaks, "N-no.. I.. I just want whats best.. best for all of us! But.." she says after a moment of thought, ".. but.. Im.. sorry, my love.. so, so, sorry." a soft, mournful groan escapes her throat, not unlike the one upon realization that Sienna was killed, ".. do what you think is best."

Selene smiles softly and nods. "Thank you, my love. Lie down and make yourself comfortable, and we'll have you back to the woman I love in no time flat."

Balina takes a large sample of the finished vaccine, holding it up to the light with some matter of satisfaction, then setting it down and scavenging for a delivery method. "By any chance, did anyone spot any comically-huge hypos around here? I don't know if we want to wait for it to get through Cilan's digestive system."

As per Selene's request, Cilan lies down, while waiting, a small plume of sulphur-smelling smoke escapes her nose on occasion, while on others she nudges her lunerin mate with her muzzle playfully, grinning at her love shortly after.

Rihko pieces through the lab, then comes back to Balina and shrugs. "Probably just need to set up an IV." She goes over to Cilan and pats her shoulder, then gives the big dragon as much of a hug as she can. "I'm sorry, Cilan." Then she smiles, and leans against her. "And we're agreed, when we are done here, we destroy the evidence? Nothing to hang over us later?"

Selene giggles and shakes her head at Cil. "There you are, love." She pats Cil's muzzle gently, and nuzzles. "You sit tight, and we'll have you back to normal in no time flat."

Cilan avariciously roars, "Suppose so.. s'what we came here for, afterall. Destroy the data."

"I still thik we should keep the PDA. Easily hidden, easily destroyed if we have to, but an absolute walth of information. We don't have to do anything with it... but it could make a good bargaining chip somewhere down the line." Selene says to Rihko.

"Destroying research wastes all the time and effort that went into it," Balina says, loading the vaccine into a fistful of syringes and bringing them over to Cildor. "And without it, we'll never know if there was anything else we could have done. At the very least, maybe we could figure out a large-scale deployment of the stuff. Sneak it into Fairhaven and Woodfield's water supplies. Insurance through sewers."

Selene grins at Balina. "I wouldn't really be able to condone actually deploying the stuff. Or even letting RSX or Zephyr know we have it unless it's absolutely necessary. But neither can I countenance outright destroying it." she says, her gaze shifting to Rihko for the last sentence.

Rihko thinks for a long while, then sighs. "Fine. But someone sensible should be the one holding onto the stuff." She eyes Balina for a moment. "You want it, or should I keep it somewhere?"

The easiest way to inject Cilan is inside her mouth, her tongue specifically. Either that... or somewhere that isn't mentioned.

"Deploy the stuff that protects you from the rest of the stuff! Big difference," Balina nods, grabbing one of the finished syringes and eyeing her options. "But yeah, I'll hang onto it for now. I've got a few machines I keep off the grid for a reason. Open wide, Cilinator."

Cilan nods slowly to Balina and opens her mouth wide, showing off the teeth that are easily the size of a small human.

Injecting Cilan causes... no reaction at first, and then suddenly there's a violent reaction, she begins to struggle, and roars out in both pain and anguish. Thrashing about, as if the creature that Cil has become is trying to resist. And eventually Cilan begins to change back to her old shape.

Balina watches from the convenient safety of the lab equipment on the other end of the cave. "Aww. Just like getting infected the first time!"

Selene darts over to Cilan, and enfolds her in a loving, comforting hug. She nuzzles into her neck and whispers "Thank you, love. Welcome back to the tiny side." before giving her a brief kiss on the lips.

Rihko watches, letting Selene be the one to comfort Cilan. When all's done, she goes over and offers Cilan her coat. "Come on, everyone. Let's get home."

Balina is, as always, happy to not be in the presence of giant monsters, and decides to spend a little more time rummaging while the happy couple finishes being reunited. "Dibs on any idols," she muses.

Cilan roars out in intense pain as the vaccine runs through her system, though soon after all of her thrashing, her voice softens, no longer the booming voice from before but her regular feminine self, she looks around after her moment of transformation though is quickly cut off as Selene kisses her, "Th-thanks love.." she says, "Uh.. have you seen my clothes anywhere?" she later whispers to the lunerin.

Selene giggles and hands Cil Rihko's coat. "I'm afraid you kinda... exploded them, love. They couldn't handle you suddenly being skyscraper sized. We'll get you some new ones back home." she says, as she picks her up in a bridal carry. "Everyone got everything they need?"

The group return to the bus, and the bus returns to Fairhaven, bypassing the place they stopped before heading directly back to the Lot.

Emerging from the bus, the four have exited when there's suddenly an explosion of blood. First Balina, then Rihko, go down, Cilan next. Apo manages to realize what's happening when she is also struck, in the heart rather than the head. A woman walks out from behind a nearby building, wearing pure white. She strolls casually up to the four corpses, and looks through the contents of their belongings, looking for... something. She finds the PDA, boots it up, and grins. "Thank you all for saving me the trouble of dealing with that... thing." speaking to the corpses with a pleasant tone in her voice.

Cilan's body begins to twitch on the ground, and her eyes snap open, slitted.

Cilan avoids death by becoming the titanic dragon, and quickly rises to her feet, once more. Scales soon form on her features and her body undergoes a sudden growth spurt. Cilan roars angrily towards her would-be assassin and charges towards her, grabbing the woman she lifts her face, so the woman can look into the eyes of the person who will kill her. With that she begins to squeeze her hands, crushing both the woman, and PDA.

There's shouts from inside the pub and around fairhaven as the noise reaches inside.

Sori comes out, following the noise; She sees the carnage and screams down into the Den: "WE'VE GOT TROUBLE!" She then heads for the wounded, hoping to get people help before it's too late!

Blue fire ripples over Selene's body, concentrated around the hole in her chest, as her magic tries to repair the damage before it's too late.

Sori sees the glow around Apo, and goes to the next victim; Rihko. She hesitates as she sees the injury, then concentrates.

Ex-Rihko lays in the street where she fell, fur soaking up the kitsune's blood.

Cilan glances next to Balina, the only one who's not being healed and quickly remedies that, first discarding the pulped assassin, and channeling her life force into the wolf-cow before its too late.

Wind and her puppies materialise around Selene, soon followed by the rest of the ethereal pack. As one, they raise their heads and howl, as the glow around Selene intensifies. And then it's gone, and the wolves are gone, and Selene is sitting up groggily.

Three being worked on by magic, wounds begin to knit, even in dragon shape Cilan's still able to channel her magic, appearing as a strange golden aura around her.

Sori looks at the bloodied dragon, but dismisses it as a threat due to it aiding Bal. She starts looking for any other threats, and goes into the bus; there is a whirr of servos, and the turret spins as she watches for targets.

Balina slowly comes to, working her way up onto all fours, then with some confusion eventually parsing that she's more or less people-shaped. "That's... new," she manages, groggily. Eventually standing, she begins taking inventory, feeling tender regrown skin and whistling at her own addition to the bus' paint job before realizing her pack isn't balanced like it normally is.

Cilan barely even seems to notice the golden aura around her as she reknits Balina's skull and grey-matter back together.

Selene shakes her head, and stands up a little unsteadily. "Ugh. That's three times now. Getting kinad old, I think."

Cilan's voice booms out, "I wonder if death is just gonna give up on you one of these days, knowing full well he cant take you.."

Sori stays in the turret, watching for any further trouble. She flips on the loudspeaker and says, "Are you all okay? Where's Cil, and who's the dragon?"

Balina groans as she goes through her pack, both at the realization that the PDA is gone, and that, yes, she was really, really out of it a moment ago. "Man, that's what dying is like? One moment, you're stepping off a bus, next moment you're wondering why you fell asleep in the lot? Also, anyone see where that little computer landed?"

Selene calls up to Sori "Cil -is- the dragon! Long story!" She looks over to Balina. "At a guess, it's gone with the person, or people, who shot us."

Rihko remains laying in her own blood puddle, staring up at the sky.

Balina rushes to the goo that was probably a person wearing what used to be a very nice white dress, crying out in despair as she pulls out a few fragments of electronics. "It's gone. All of it," she wails, digging through to find any single piece of *anything* larger than a quarter.

Cilan's wings flare open as she takes to the sky, going on a mission to find her would-be assassins and end their collective lives.

The loudspeaker sounds again. "Cil, come back!"

<Player Judge> Crystala Gives Experience Points to the room as a reward, including: Sorien.

The dragon is able to find a few fleeing humans below, and dives down and eats them without much of a thought.

Selene launches herself after Cil quickly. "Cil! No! Stop this! Stop letting the dragon take control! Please!"

Cilan as the last human is eatten she breathes a sigh and continues back to the pub, along the way saying to herself, "Rest in peace, Sienna. Rest in peace.." as she reaches the lot again, her body undergoes its shift and she returns to the familiar, and once again, naked self she was before leaving.

"Ahhh... Shit." Comes over the loudspeaker, then the turret locks and powers down. Sori comes back out, and goes to Rihko, knowing that she should be okay, but she's not moved. "Rihko? Hey..." She gently puts a hand on her friend's head.

[RP/Official] Balina rolls 2d20+0 and gets 16 16 for a result of 32.

As soon as her body shifts, she attempts to cover herself with the white feathery wings, and inch herself towards the bus, and a fresh change of sweatpants and a hoodie.

Rihko lays there quietly, staring up at the sky. Eventually, though, she makes a soft, quiet noise. It builds, growing into a quiet growl, and the air around Rihko suddenly jumps ten degrees hotter.
"
Selene sighs as the lands with a soft thud behind Cil, and makes her way into the bus, returning with some clothes for her. "Here, love. Put These on for now" she says with a little smile.

"Ack, Hey. Hey! Rihko!" Sori backs off as the heat rises, but still tries to get her friend's focus back to the here-and-now. "Sweetie, you're safe. You're SAFE!"

Cilan grins and complies, putting the clothing on and moving to Rihko's side as its finished, "Hey, Rihko.. you alright? You had us worried for a minute there.." she says in a soft voice, apparently the sudden change in head not bothering her.

Balina throws down the gibs in disgust. Nothing worth finding, no identifying anything, and there's not even much to smell here. Sighing, she picks herself up, makes the universal, pointless gesture of dusting herself off (doing little more than spreading gore over herself), then suddenly notices a glint a good five yards from the body. Upon closer examination, it appears to be a portion of circuit board, which appears to still contain an intact chip! Tucking it away *very* carefully into one of her salvage pockets, she does a fist-pump, then turns around and immediately loses her groove. Cupping her hand around her mouth, she calls, "Rihko! Chill before you hurt someone!" from a safe distance.

Selene pads over and kneels beside Rihko, hugging her tight. "Rihko, it's alright. Calm down. It's over, you're safe and sound."

Rihko keeps herself under control, slowly sitting up. "Right." She gets up to her feet and looks around, particularly eyeing the pool of blood at her feet. "Safe." She looks around, then growls and stalks off down the street, waiting until she is a safe distance from everyone before she cuts the flames lose and incinerates everything she walks past.

Selene sighs sadly as she watches Rihko go. "First time is never fun." she mutters.

"... Rihko?" Sori watches as she walks away, burning. Sori turns to Apo and asks, "Dare I ask what happened to you all?"

Cilan says, "Long story, mom.. I'll tell you over a beer, and when tempers are low.."

Balina watches Rihko go, wincing slightly. "We get all this way, and then the actually bad part happens when we're safe at home," she sighs, before working her way back over to the group. "The short answer is that we were ambushed here. Long answer is going to require us to get some drinks."
Selene looks at Sori. "We got shot when we got off the bus. Three neat little headshots, then they got me in the heart after I avoided teh headshot. If you mean on the trip in general... that is a tale for another time."

"Gods. Well, come on inside. The twins are at my place, being watched by Mara tonight. Did you get what you were after at least?" Sori asks.

"Sort of. Not really. Part of the long story. I want my babies." Selene says quietly.

Sori nods. "Okay. I'll go get them, sweetie. Is Rihko gonna be okay?"

Balina grins, patting her backpack. "Not what we were after, but we have some stories, at least. Ancient temples, forbidden gods, dire conspiracies... who do we sell movie rights to these days?"

As she trudges into the pub, Cilan adds, "S'what we were killed for.. destroyed now, dragon made sure of it.." she says simply, apparently oblivious to Balina's discovery.

Cilan trudges down the stairs, and moves to the bar, along the way she can be seen as heavily worn out, and annoyed about something, a few murmured thoughts being said before she looks to, and asks the current Tagling bartender, "A beer, please.. dark lager."

Sorien comes down a while later, bearing the twins for Cil and Apo; she'd been in the den and quiet until sound from outside drew her out. MORE noise, a yell, then silence followed, and now, a short time later those who participated are entering.

Catalina is still sitting there, raising a hand in greeting to both Sorien and Cilan, "Whatup?" she offers, not adding another word to what she said.

Sorien softly churrs, "Hey Cil... Look who's here!"

Cilan looks over her shoulder to the twins and smiles at the girls, setting her drink aside so she can rise from her seat and collect them from their grandmother, "Hey, and how're my two princesses doing?" she says in a warm voice, looking to Sorien she asks, "I hope they didnt give you too much trouble? If so, there's a helicopter out by an old Hard Rock Cafe that could serve as an adequate apology.. treat her with respect, huh? An.. an old friend who's no longer with us built it.."

Balina steps down, running clawed fingers through frosty fur. Taking her mug from a Tagling with a smile, she settles down as near to Sorien as seating allows.

Sorien nods. "They weren't too bad. I had my friend stitch up some leather stuffed critters for them, and that slowed their deadly teeth."

Cilan nods slowly, "Ah.. good, good.." she says, though it seems that her mind is elsewhere, only to be brought back out of it by Anala's constant grabbing, again her hair is the victim, "Ack! Hey.. thats not yours!" she says in a playful tone before looking to Sorien, "Well.. helicopter's still yours, I'd hate for it to just be abandoned.."

Balina is trying not to interfere too much, or at least not too quickly. Still, obvious questions, and all that. "What about Sienna's place? That's not going to remain abandoned for long."

Sorien softly churrs, "... Huh. I've never worked on a chopper before. But then, before here I'd not woeked on buses or hummers before either! I bet I can handle it."

Cilan says, "S'already fixed, and flight ready. Unless you meant taking it apart?" looking to Balina next she adds, "I'll head there when I'm able, take care of her stuff.. might even find info on that company she was running from.. unless that was part of the lie as well?""

Sorien hands over a pair of obviously chewed-on leather stuffed critters- a triceratops for Anala, and an anklyosaur for Sai.

Catalina's ears flick as she listens to the others talk. She turns at the mention of a whirlybird, but dosn't say much at first, "Good to have somthing that can go /over/ trouble, And you've got plenty of room to land here, well, after you pratice hov'ring and such." She says, adding, "Depending on what kind it is, parts should eb easy, too..." She goes back to her tea, sipping lightly.

Sai and Anala take the toys for Cilan, seeing as her arms are currently full by the previously named babies, and while Sai just holds onto it as she constantly looks around with her large blue eyes, Anala gets back to quickly biting at the stuffed animal in her grasp.

More obvious questions. Balina leans forward, reaching for Cilan's shoulder. "Also, I'm sorry about Sienna. That wasn't my call to make."

Cilan breathes a soft sigh and nods, "Whats done is done.." she responds before turning her attention to the babies, taking them both to one of the loungers close to the fire and settling herself down.

Balina watches Cilan, deciding that if she's going to say anything more on the matter, it'll wait for later. Turning instead to Sorien, she puts on a braver face. "You wanted to know how it went, other than us dying in the lot, right? How long a version do you want?"

Sorien softly churrs, "Uh... I think basics would be good. Details I can get from the people it affects."

Balina nods, leaning back to collect herself. "It's only been a couple of days, but feels like a week. Do you remember what we went out to go find?"
ooc Now I get to waddle and look ridiculous!

Sorien softly churrs, "No, I wasn't told, sweetie. Cil just grabbed the lot of you and I gave you the bus-keys."

Balina appreciates the presence of eyebrows, and quirks in celebration. "See? That's why I ask. Supposedly, we were going to go look in an old RSX lab for evidence of a program that would let anyone control all the nanites, everywhere. A master control program for the entire global swarm. Hence Cilan being so hush-hush and taking a small strike force."

Sorien blinks. "Holy crap. Did you find it?"

Sorien puts a hand on her belly, then curls up in the lounger to listen to Bal's tale.

Catalina's tea leaves her nostrils at high velocity, "Wait, did someone say 'dieing in the lot'!? Knowing this lot of people my master and I keep... I'm inclined to take that literally..." She turns to look at Balina with a bewildered expression that would've made Russ laugh.

Balina shakes her head, then leans forward again to rest her elbows on the table. "Not even close. The lab didn't even study nanites, near as I can tell. It was all, get this, viruses. They mutate, but no control, and no bubble required. Nasty business." A finger is raised to Catalina; "All in good time! Dying comes really late in the story, and I hate to spoil the ending!"

Sorien softly churrs, "It... Was dealt with, Cat. I'm sure Bal will get there."

Selene pads down the stairs, fur and hair damp, having showered and changed out of her armour. She makes a beeline for Cil, nuzzling her, before giving both babies a kiss on the forehead and relieving her mate of Anala. She whispers to Cil "We need to get some more vaccine made, somehow, love. There's no knowing how infectious you are, and I don't want any of us to suddenly find ourselves giant raging dragons."

Balina moos, "For now, keep all your fluids to yourself. We'll have more info tomorrow, promise."

Cilan blinks at Selene's statement, "I.. never thought about that, and yeah.. definately.. but how, PDA was destroyed.. right?"

Balina moos, "Narrative! I will get there, promise!"

Selene shrugs. "I'm sure Bal remembers enough of the process to bodge some more together."

Sorien softly churrs, "Let her finish, sillies!"

Selene tickles anala under the chin, making the baby giggle happily and grab at her finger, nuzzling against it. Selene beams down at the little baby adoringly, rocking her gently. "I missed you, my little angel."

Cat's ears perk as Balina discribes the weapon, her face showing more intrest now, "Mutation without a bubble, innnntresting..." she considers.

Cilan nods slowly to Apostasy and turns to Sorien, adding, "Sorry, Sori." resting her head on her mates shoulder shortly after, though her attention is currently on Sai, who's now, both held close, and is cradled in both her arms. "My little princesses.." she muses softly to the two children.

Balina picks up on the general impatience, and skips a few steps. "So we dig through the lab, outside the bubble, I should add, find some vague things, and eventually break into this big vault. Only to find out that something BIG had broken in a different way. And broken through the majority of the floors in the same fashion."

Sparhawk meanders in round then. "Hey," shi says to anyone who glances hir way, ambling through the cloud of narrative. Not any funny shapes today, just regular old twelve-foot-long bird.

You softly churr, "Hey! Hi sweetie! You evaded the chaos!"

Anala giggles happily and swings her arms about, her legs kicking as well. The leather triceratops, held by the tail, becomes a small flail that beats against her mother, who giggles happily and says "Hey, hey, calm down you! I'm not going anywhere!"

Catalina listens to the story, saying, "Huh, so somthing they where holding in a pen, or somthing that got in there in the first place?" she asks, tilting her head this way and that.

Sparhawk has a half-grin. "Good, a pile o' stuff to keep from exploding. Anybody here in need of some peppercorns? I found some in a sealed bottle still."

Sorien softly churrs, "ooh. Me!"

Balina waves, having gotten herself entirely too tied up in retelling adventure. "Ancient temples! Dragons! Hoards of treasure! Conspiracies! Betrayal! Twist endings!" she calls. "I'm still looking for someone to ghost-write the script for later, if you're up for it!"

Sorien softly churrs, "Wait, betrayal?"

The door to the Den opens, and a gust of hot air wafts in and down the stairs, as though it were midsummer out and not mid-November. Rihko slowly pushes the door shut behind her, and then wanders down the stairs. Her fur is matted with caked blood, and she reeks of blood, death, and what can only be the stench of charred flesh. Her ears flick as she looks around, then gives Balina a little nod before she continues up to the bar.

Sparhawk raises an eyebrow. "I sense at least one person in need of a battered fedora by the end of this. What happened?"

Cilan breathes a sigh and nods, "Yes.. apparently so, lets just drop it.. alright? Wait until the movie is published and then we can watch what happens.." she later murmurs, "Hopefully they cast someone good to play as me.."

Sorien glances at Bal as if to say, 'wait a bit' and gets up, going over to Rihko. "... Can I do anything, sweetie?"

Balina settles back down, at least relatively speaking. "I'll have you know, my fedora and bullwhip were left in my dorm room. The whole apocalypse just happened to catch me off-guard, okay? As for what happened, one sec while I rewind..."

Anala giggles some more as she finally quiets down, having managed to firmly grasp Selene's finger with her free hand. She doesn't put it in her mouth, amazingly, seemingly content to just have a hold of it. Selene murrs happily and wiggles the finger a little, much to Anala's delight.

The dragon known as Loki had not moved from the spot he was at when the group left, having elected to coil about a chair and wait till they return. He seems a little relieved when Cilan and Balina enter, the dragon seeming to loose a sigh of relief, though his attention goes back to the stairs as if waiting, and its hard to tell if he is listening to the conversation. As soon as Rihko enters, he seems to uncoil, though he winces at seeing her state, a small frown crossing his face. He uncoils from around his chair and seems to shamble over to the kitsune, his head tilted to the side, refraining from asking a verbal question.

Balina does give a nod to Rihko as she goes by. She knows the mood too well to pass judgement.

Cat's attention from Balina is broken by the sight (and scent) of the entering Kitsune, "Geeze... You Okay, Rihko?" she asks, very quietly, and then issues another cautious glance around the pub.

Sparhawk fishes out a spice bottle, rattles it around a little, the leaves it on the bar. "Could be a little underdone, but a little pepper improves a flame-broiled kitsune every time."

Having refreshed the new addition to the group, Balina plows on. "So we do the obvious, and start following the trail of destruction back out. We emerge about a quarter-mile from where we started, only slightly wiser and with me ahead on loot. That's when *bam*! Dragon out of goddamned nowhere!" The last part is accentuated with a solid paw against the table.

Sorien starts a bit at the sudden sound, ears flicking, but she retains focus on Rihko.

Cilan leans forward to playfully nibble at Sai's ears and tiny nose, much to her enjoyment, later nuzzling the tiny Lunerin for a little while before her nose is grabbed by one of her tiny hands. Which she releases as she is startled by the sudden bang on the table.

Rihko flags down the tagling and, with the utmost level of curtesy and politeness, asks for a bottle of whatever is strongest. Then she turns to Sorien. It takes her a little bit to remember the intricate muscle movements and posture cues involved, but eventually she gives Sorien a smile. The kitsune brings her hands together in front of her, bows her head to the skunk, and then turns to accept her bottle from the tagling. "Yes, I am perfectly fine, Sorien. And thank you, by the way. Thank you very much." She waves a paw to Selene as well. "And thank you as well, Selene." She turns back to Sorien. "I apologize for my abrupt departure earlier." She finally turns to Loki, and nods. "Hello, Loki. All is well?"

Sorien puts a hand on Rihko's shoulder, and unless stopped pulls her gently into a quiet hug.

Rihko does absolutely nothing to stop the hug, and even reflexively returns the gesture, smearing Sorien's skunk stripe with soot.

Loki seems to loose a breath of air as Rihko begins speaking, though he frowns at the way she speaks, his tail flicking behind him, his frown increasing as she goes on. He doesn't speak either, and seems a little concerned when Rihko returns the hug. He instead remains quiet and elects to stare at Rihko instead, head still tilted as if she was being absolutely absurd.

Balina looks around, only now realizing that, yes, her audience is lost. Nodding again to Rihko, she manages, after choking down some light embarrassment, "You going to be okay? Need anything?"

Catalina's ear turns at the loud sound, but then her ears point back to Rihko. She drops them next, not adding another spoken word, though her mouth moves slightly.

"You hang in there, okay? We're here for you." Sori holds the hug for a bit more, then lets Rihko loose. She looks at Rihko, nods and returns to her seat... But not before hugging Spar as well. This hug is more spontaneous, and briefer, and then she takes her seat once again.

Balina is suddenly reminded, pulling up her comm and making a quick call. It's either a request for one of her daughters to check the plumbing in the bathrooms, or a badly-encrypted code phrase to up the guard duty an order of magnitude.

Rihko gives Sorien a pat on the shoulder as she leaves. "Yes. You hang in there too, Sorien," she offers. Her smile fades to a blank expression for a moment, but then she grins at Balina. "Oh, I will be fine. Perfectly fine. I'm going to wash the stench out of my fur. Probably have to burn these clothes. Then relax in bed with my bottle of whiskey." She nods, and then starts staring back at Loki. The look isn't challenging, or inquisitive, or, really anything... just staring back at him. "And you, Balina?" she asks, her attention not shifting from the dragon. "Are you OK? Do you need anything?"

Loki frowns once again at the reaction Rihko presents, the dragon loosing a small sigh as he shifts more in place. He speaks low, finally breaking his silence, tail lashing around behind him this time.

Balina sighs to herself as she puts her comm away. "Yes," she answers, "I'll be fine, too. I don't think I took it as seriously as you did, but I've been down THAT path often enough I cover it in half the time. I want to talk after you've calmed down, okay?"

Selene sighs softly at Rihko, and shakes her head. Not much she can do about it. She's distracted from her impending melancholy by a sharp little bite to her finger. Anala had decided that the time was right to strike, and had taken a good nip at the digit, smiling happily around it. Selene giggles and says "You little monster!" before nuzzling the baby gently.

Eithne meanders down the stairs, humming a rather jaunty little tune... and then stops as she takes in the atmosphere and Rihko's appearance. She blinks for several long moments, before shaking herself into motion once more. She gives Rihko a brief pat on the shoulder, and a soft smile, as she moves past to get a mug of coffee. "I won't ask. I'm around, though, if you want anything." And then she glances around, eyes skipping from person to person. "So, I take it something happened? I always seem to miss these things."

Sparhawk looks around at people being generally sober and recently-on-fire. "Be nice to have a comedian in here. Maybe a jester to go with the decor."
The sun rises, dispelling the chill and fog of the night in favor of a new day.

Sorien softly churrs, "Hey, Eithne... Yeah, weird shit once again has visited us. "

Catalina blinks, and Sparhawk get's an expression of confusiong, "Good sir, I'd be honored to run my smart mouth for the amusement of all, but I'm so confused that humor is a little short in supply..." She blinks, "So... I'm guessing I was right... From before, folks got to see the hearafter for a spell, apperantly... Ya'll need to put vacation homes in hell, at this rate..."

Rihko stands there and considers things a moment. Then she shrugs. "Balina, I assure you, I am calmer now than I have been at an-... almost any point in the last three weeks. If you would like to talk, I am perfectly willing to talk a bit." She nods her head towards the balcony. "Shall we take it somewhere where we won't disturb the patrons?"

Caeli tries to scramble up on Rihko, but slips and falls off.
Balina points! "You are NOT calm. You've gone through angry and into the other side. If you want to go calm down, then please do so. I know that tone."

Loki shifts a little, the dragon nodding to the girl. He looks to the balcony and shifts a little more, the dragon pondering something as he looks back to Rihko, his frown replaced with something neutral, his tail even stopping.

Catalina covers her head, half expecting to hear yelling and the like.

Sparhawk remains disappointingly unresponsive to most stimulus, not keeping Sorien in place for an allohug. Shi slips the bottle of whole peppers back in its bag murmuring something about somebody nicking it.

Eithne nods as she settles at the bar. "I really do need to swing around more often. I keep missing things. I'm also good for free hugs, if anyone needs one, or a shoulder to cry on. Or babysitting."

Sorien tries to catch Spar's eye, indicating that shi should come sit by her.

Rihko gives Balina a grin, her ears perking forward. "A calm is a calm," she points out. She turns to Sparhawk, eyes hir for a moment, then gives hir a short bow. "My apologies." Then she crosses back to the stairs, and heads up, to wait for Balina and Loki.

Sparhawk dutifully pads next to Sorien and sits a couple times. "Some calms are before storms, some are after. And some are right in the middle." More murmuring follows, "First time someone's apologized to me for moodkilling..."

Selene extricates her finger from tiny baby mouth, and replaces it with leather triceratops. "So, how far did Balina get... oh, right. Dragon. So, should I coninue?"

Loki quickly follows after Rihko, the dragon not far from her heels.

Sorien kisses Spar when shi arrives, and leans against hir. "You okay there? You seem off-put."

Balina watches Rihko go, then looks about to the assemblage. This doesn't really require deep contemplation. Getting up, she bows to Selene, muttering "Thank you," before darting up the stairs.

Sparhawk looks down at the non-structural skunk. "Your ability to read my moods hasn't changed, I see?" An ear points toward Apostasy and-or Selene in preparation.

Sorien softly churrs, "I'm wrong again? Bah. "

Sorien softly churrs, "I don't know why I have such a hard time; I get everyone else pretty well."

Selene gathers her thoughts, idly tickling Anala. "Right, so. Dragon. We all run for cover, except Sienna, who panics and gets spotted. Naturally, I ran out to try to help her. Turns out building-sized dragons are somewhat tricky to take out. He captured me, and was gonna eat me. Until I got all fiery. Then he decided to take me to his hoard.

"I've no idea what the others were up to at that point, but he dives into this lake, and we come up in a cave where he's made a nest out of lab equipment and shit. Starts saying how he's gonna turn me into a dragon like him. I stalled for a while, and then Cil and the others showed up. Cil turned into a massive dragon somehow - I'm guessing Sienna had something to do with that. Dragon threw me into a hummer - that really hurt - and fought Cil. Cil tore his throat out after a while." Selene continues, and then pauses for questions.

Catalina watches the others leave, shifting around like she was considering the option of leaving. The vulpine turns to listen instead to selene, her ears pointed forward to take in the information. The vulpine finally gets up, moving a little closer to the others, and finds a chair to curl up in a ball in.

"Sounds comfy," comments the science-headed bird. "Although possibly more pointy than the traditional pile o' gold."

Sorien softly churrs, "... Geez. We never seem to get 'normal' adventures, do we."

Eithne sips her coffee, nodding along. "I see. Hrm. I've missed alot - I'll get it later, no need to repeat it again now - but how was he going to turn you into a Dragon...? And is the method intact? It sounds like something fascinating to study, since I caught an echo of it not involving a nanite bubble."

Sorien scritches Spar, partly curled against hir and the chair.
Selene looks to Eithne. "Retrovirus. No samples left, we torched them all."

Sorien softly churrs, "It sounds to me that it may be wise to go back and burn the place out top-to-bottom."

Crys slips quietly into the den, having gone for a long walk, needing the fresh air in her blood stream. She seems less nauseous than she was earlier, but moves for tea once again. She blinks when she notices strange scents, and her eyes focus on her daughter. "You're back!" she manages to say, dropping the cup and moving over to embrace Selene and Cilan.

"Anyway. Cil killed the dragon. But while she was fighting it, Sienna apparently stole some stuff form teh hoard and tried to pull a runner. Rihko and Balina stopped her, and then she stabbed Rihko in the gut. Balina, uh, ate her head as payback. And then I fixed Rihko. But now we had the problem of giant dragon Cil. Thankfully, the dragon had used all the research notes and equipment for his nest, so with the aid of a fortuitously located PDA with all the relevant data on it, we were able to make a vaccine. After I talked Cil into -wanting- the vaccine, that is. We made up lots, injected her, and poof, normal Cil again. Job done, we torched all the other stuff, headed for the bus, and came back here. Though we took that PDA, since it had all the research on it. And then we got off the bus, and bang bang bang, Balina, Rihko and Cil went down from headshots. I dodged the headshot and got hit in the hearts instead. No idea what happened then, for obvious reasons, but it seems Cil dragon'd out and smooshed someone. And then ate more someones. And then we were here." selene says, finishing the tale.

Selene embraces Crys, careful to avoid squishing Anala. Who instead grabs hold of Crys' robes, as is discovered when Crys trys to move away. "Heya maata."

Catalina darts her head up, "WAit, a virus that can be used to shift folks... And you torched it?" She blinks... "Damnit all, immunity for the masses, and down the drain it goes..." she flops back on the couch, muttering, "At least is shows the method works, though... I'll have to tell Russ to get that to his people over in biotech, if he dosn't mess with it, himself." She sighs.

Sorien softly churrs, "Hi Love; you missed storytime. I'll fill you in later."

Cilan says, "A virus RSX had been working on.. and yeah, Sienna had injected me with it when she had found me in the cave.. burned like hell when it went through my veins though, like my blood was boili-.." her sentence though is cut off as Crystala hugs her, the woman promptly wrapping her own arms around Crystala and saying, ".. yeah.. we're back, sorry we took so long, mom!"

Sparhawk's thoughts drift a bit, thinking about creating soap bubbles on command. At the end of a storychunk shi says, "More headshooting? I know Zephyr sells basic combat helmets. I might need to administer some with superglue."

Eithne blinks, nodding along dazedly at that part. "Bang, bang, bang? Did you find out who was behind the shooting, or just deal with the shooter...?" And then she shakes her head, sighing. "... Can I see the PDA?"

Sorien gently pokes Spar. "You're not wearing one, silly."

Crys squeaks in surprise as the little grabby hands find her nipple. "No dear, not your mother." she blushes under her fur. She then bends over and kisses Anala on the forehead once she disentangles, and moves over to her mate to kiss her, "Sorry for interrupting" she says.

"PDA's busted.. the dragon made sure of that!" Cilan calls over her shoulder.

Selene looks coldly at Catalina. "No, it didn't provide immunity to nanites. It turned you into a big dragon. Don't be an idiot." She looks voer to Eithne. "Sorry, but apparently the person Cil smooshed had already stolen the PDA, so it got crushed as well." She burst into a fit of giggles at Crys predicament, and licks her cheek. "Sorry maata!"

Sori kisses back. "You're never interrupting, love." She gently pulls Crys down, so that Sori is sandwiched between Crys and Spar. The result seems to make her quite happy.

Sparhawk shrugs to Sorien and says at the standard quiet-but-loud-enough-everyone-with-big-ears-hears-it level, "My head is ablative and replaceable. And...Mickey's still out of town, wearing something would only disappoint her when she returns."

Eithne frowns, and nods slowly. "... Hm. There /might/ be something recoverable, depending on how smushed. Or is it smushed into itty fragments smushed? I hate that kind of smushed."

Selene giggles. "Itty bitty fragments."

Sorien softly churr, "Liquified, Eithne. It was nasty."

Sorien softly churrs, "So you want me and Crys wearing a helmet whenever outside?"

Cilan breathes a soft sigh and nods, at mention of her handiwork, "Yeah.. dragon made sure nothing existed afterwards.. even the runners didnt get a chance..."

Eithne snaps her fingers, sighing. "Darn it. I /hate/ that kind of smushed. I can't work with it. All that useful research, lost. Sure, it could be horrifically misused, but there were potential beneficial applications to that kind of thing. Imagine if we could get it to work with Zephyr's mental buffer nanites...?" A long look skyward, and then a sigh as she turns back to her coffee.

The vixen whines, "I got that part, but Immunity's a genetic thing... splice that virus with the gene for immunity instead of a... Big... Dragon... Thing..." She flails her hands about, "I've not had time to learn anything about the bio-techy stuff... Maybe I'm wrong... But all I've seen so far as far as viuri go, is a horridly slow and miserable death... Form shifting virus denotes other possibilites, yes?" She asks, "Or... Do I just sound like Loki, now?"

Selene rolls her eyes at Cat. "Loki."

Catalina sighes, and says, "Awwwww.... Okay...." She just looks down, feeling midly defeated.

Sparhawk nods in agreement. "Loki. Mouth running on before the brain gets there, and you backtrack and say you are unsure of everything ever."

Crys' face shows a completely blank expression, shes' lost, as often is in these kinds of discussions, and missing most of the tale doesn't help. She settles down with Sorien, nuzzling her, and looks over at her kids, and grand kids. "They were quite well behaved when I had them while you were gone. Two little darlings."

Selene grins. "I bet the leather stuffed toys helped with that!" At the mention of the toys, Anala decides to start flailing her mother with teh triceratops again, giggling happily.
"... Other than eating their stuffed critters. And my tail. And several of Crys' tails, and Mara's...

Sorien softly churrs, "... Other than eating their stuffed critters. And my tail. And several of Crys' tails, and Mara's..."

Selene grins bashfully. "They'll grow out of it! I hope."

Cilan looks to Crystala and grins, the frown that had pulled its way across her lips at the mention of the dragon's handiwork quickly fading, "Im glad to hear that, mom!" she later giggles at mention of Sai and Anala's nibble-fest and quickly nuzzles the daughter held carefully in her arms.

Sorien puts a hand on her belly. "I should get used to it; we've at least two coming."

Sparhawk looks over at the newest tiny-size babies in the room, staring carefully a bit. "So noted, no nibbling on Sparhawks is allowed. I'll be outside tinyarmsreach whenever possible."

Eithne nods at Selene. "I hear they often do, Apo. It generally takes some time, however." Her expression is, briefly, bitter-sweet as she observes mother and child playing so, before a soft sigh and a more normal sigh speads across her face.

Selene giggles as she's flailed, and gently restrains Anala. "Little devil, aren't you?" she says playfully, kissing the babies nose. And getting a tiny hand entangled in her hair for her troubles. "Sweetie, let mommy's hair go.... please..." she says gently, fighting giggles.

Russell stays silent, ears back as she listens to the others talk about the twins again. The vulpine looks at the floor for a moment, before standing and moving close enough to look at the children more closely, almost curious in her expression, "They are cute." she says, finally.

Anala lets her mother's hair go as Cat comes closer, reaching out little grabby paws at the new person.

Sparhawk arranges a bit into a better taur-backstop of skunk and snowvulpine. "Children chew holes in narratives too!"

Selene grins at Spar. "I finished the narrative!"

"Children are the narrative of the world. They are what make it work, and be worth working at all." Crys adds to Spar's comment.

Sorien softly churrs, "Narratives, toys, furniture, people... (giggle)"
Sparhawk nods to Crystala but keeps attention on the winged wolf set. "Bus ride was uneventful? Didn't fire the uncivil cannon at anyone?"

"Utterly uneventful" Selene says, nodding.

"Good," concludes Sparhawk. "Not much of note happened back here, just your ordinary nanite hiccups and such."

Selene nods. "That's good, now?"

Cilan says, "Nope.. I was quiet the entire bus-ride home.. bus-ride there was full of navigating and chatting with Sienna about the old days.. talk on how she owed me a beer.. but nothing special."

Sorien starts scritching Crys as well as Spar. "I'm getting fat, that's the only thing." (giggle)

Eithne shakes her head, quietly. "Sienna sounds familiar, but I can't for the life of me recall where from. Might I have a refresher, please?"

Anala and Sai both start getting fussy, and Selene fetches the modesty blanket to start feeding them. She gets Anala set up first, before collecting Sai from Cil. A little wince as they both bite a little too hard, before she settles back with a contented look as the babies feed.

Sparhawk beeps Sorien's nose lightly. "I diagnose too many onion rings! Don't make me weld your jaw shut too!"

Cilan turns to Eithne, "She was a person I fought alongside in Afghanistan.. when we came back home and got conscripted, we fought again in San Fransisco, trying to hold a failing quarantine.. you can see how that turned out though.." leaning back she continues, "Fought alongside her a little bit more, but after a while.. we had a falling out, never seen hide, nor hair of her for two long years.."

Sorien eeps!

Catalina chuckles as grabbyhands are made, keeping just out of reach before Selene starts feeding them. "Getting fussy, are they?" she asks, flicking her ears a little, and chuckling. Her head moves to glance around the pub at the others, her form more relaxed now that her loki/russ brained moment was over. "Hrmmmmmm"

Eithne nods. "I was..." A blink, and a frown. "Nevermind. Let's turn the subject to happier places." She points at the babies feeding from Selene. "I haven't been introduced to the young ones, I don't think."

Selene looks up at Eithne. "Hmmm? Oh! The white furred black winged nibbler is Sai, and the black furred white winged nibbler is Anala."

Sorien softly churrs, "Together known as the Terror Twins. (giggle)"

Selene sticks her tongue out at Sori. "Nyah!"

Cilan nods, "Yeah.. better things, right.. like how we're gonna have Sori take you to the tailor, love! Definately time to get our dresses designed and sewn up!" she says with a grin followed by licking Selene's nose playfully.

Sori grins.
nop

Selene squeaks as her nose is licked, and quickly cleans it off. "Ack! Careful, love. Still potentially infectious!" She nuzzles back affectionately, though.

Cilan blinks, "Eep! S-sorry love.. forgot!" she says in a fearful tone, one giant dragon is enough, without adding another to the mix!

Sorien softly churrs, "Ooh. That reminds me... Spar? Have you had time?"
"
Sparhawk is distracted from thoughts of adding more rules to Tag's sign by Sorien's question. "Sorry, what? I have had both time and space in irrevocable quantity."

Sorien softly churrs, "The dresses, silly. The saris."

Eithne settles back, nodding, and gets a refill for her coffee. That bittersweet smile resurges as she watches the new family.

"Oh, right. The dresses for the nebulously-designed wedding." Spar grins, once. "Had some success with colors, harder to practice fitting things."

Sorien softly churrs, "This is true. And we're BOTH getting bellies. (giggle)"

Sparhawk sighs melodramatically. "At this rate, standard pub wedding gear will involve overalls and shotguns!"

Sorien softly churrs, "Yeehaw. (grin)"

Catalina smiles a little at the pair and their mothers, looking to Cilan with a concered expression. "You... You don't think that you're contaigious over the air, right?" she asks, looking to Sorien for an explination. Sparhawk gets a blink, and then the vixen falls over, "Oh my, the mental image reminded me of Russell's family reunion, hehehehe."

Cilan answers with a shake of the head, "No.. has to be bloodstream, I had a vial of the contagion break next to me, and nothing happened, so we're all safe.."

Selene says "We know bloodstream, but we've not experimented with the effects of Cil's various bodily fluids on other people via mucus membranes and ingestion and such, so we'd rather not find out the hard way."

Sparhawk offers, "I know someone who makes handy EMP things. Might not be directly transferrable, otherwise I'd hand one over right now."

Selene looks to Spar. "Not so sure EMP would impede a retrovirus, Spar."

Sorien softly churrs, "I'm fairly sure if something was gonna happen, it would have by now, Cat. Just don't go biting Cil and you'll be fine."

Cilan adds to Selene's statement with a nod, "Yeah, and frankly Id rather limit the only person to suffer with.. well, /this/ is me.. meaning, no blood samples, no studying me, no chance of this infection branching out.."

Sparhawk shrugs, therefore. "Musta missed that part. I'll refrain from further advice on more things that are difficult to test non-catastrophically."

Sorien lllicks Spar's cheek.

Sparhawk carefully disentangles from grandparents to pad toward Cilan, murmuring "Yes, like that," to Sorien. "I kinda know how that goes, Cil. If you need someone to commiserate, we can share stories about being terrified to bleed on people later," offering a hand to shake.

The feral says, "Well, I don't see myself trying to take a bite outta 'er, unless brushing or water without my prior consent is involved..." She sticks out her tounge, before saying, "There's ways of getting those samples safely, I'd wager, at least see if there's a cure." she says, then turning to smile at Selene and the twins."

"It sounds like a fascinating infection, though." Eithne offers tentatively, but she doesn't push the issue beyond that - in fact, she leans away a bit as she throws the comment out there, wearing an apologetic smile.

Sorien softly churrs, "Aw, heading out for the night, sweetie?"

Devon stretches and yawns, having drifted off for a moment, and rubs his eyes. "Mmmmh."

The babies finish feeding, and Selene passes Sai back to Cil for burping, doing the same for Anala - who thankfully refrains from spitting up. She cradles the baby gently, rocking her slowly as she looks down at her. "You're a little angel when you're not trying to eat everything in sight, you know that?"

Balina comes back downstairs, a little wearier and a little warier, taking a seat again and glancing around. "Did I miss all the good parts?"
Crystala pages, "RP wise, it'll be good for her to have something like that to struggle with :)" to you.

Sorien softly churrs, "Naah, just talks and some understandings. "

Cilan reaches out and takes Sparhawk's hand in her own, giving it a good firm shake before pulling back and saying, "Uh.. I might take you up on that offer, some time.. thanks." she says before grabbing Sai and like her other mother, Cilan drapes a cloth on her shoulder and begins to carefully burp the little girl, unlike her sister though, Sai does spit-up, and is quickly cleaned off by a clean portion of the drop-cloth before cradled once more in Cilan's arms.

Sorien ughs. "That's one thing I'm not lookin' forward to."

Rihko comes back down the stairs from the balcony, still as messy and in need of a shower as before. She pauses a moment, eyes scanning the room, and her ear twitches as her gaze passes over Sparhawk. Then she continues across the room, for the back hallway and her haven.

Devon looks around from person to person, and can't help but chuckle a little bit at the child-rearing antics. "I wonder if I'll ever have kids." he muses.

Sorien watches Rihko go. When she's out of sight, Sori says, "I'm worried..."

Eithne shrugs at Balina. "Apo finished off the tale, yes. I couldn't work out if anyone had figured out who was behind the shootings, though, or about how they even knew about the PDA." She drums fingers on the counter-top, thinking. "Wait, someone mentioned something about Sienna trying to take some of the equipment... You think she was working with an organization and radioed ahead?"

Cilan turns to Sorien and asks, "You're worried.. heh, imagine what Taggart'll do when he finds out Im the one that took her on the mission that made her like that?"

Sorien shakes her head. "Tag won't do a thing. He understands independence. But yes, I'm worried about Rihko.

Sparhawk nods to Cilan but doesn't try to squeeze any more words out of the reticent soldier, going back to supporting Sorien. Shi meets Rihko's gaze with about one pair of eyes along the way.

You page, "Hm... I think yellow is better for the trim-color of a wedding dress. :)" to Crystala.

Catalina looks around to the others, and then waves to Balina and rihko, sighing a touch as she watches them walk in. "Heya guys." she offers, before waving a bit to Devon, "You are male, so I do believe a female you be in order first off..." She looks to Sorien and Cilan, "I hope she'll be okay...."
Devon blinks at Catalina. "Well, yeah." he acknowledges, before shaking his head. "I dunno. Maybe I should go." Yet again, that feeling that he's intruding.
nop

You page, "The dresses are saris, which are sort-of a wrap-type dress. Crys' will have yellow as the trim and the shoulder/collar area, with Sori's being light blue in those areas. Otherwise they're white. :)" to Sparhawk.

Sparhawk pages, "The ones you get will have faint red patterns in the white sections akin to Namidian floaty tattoo things." to you.

Cilan breathes a soft sigh and shakes her head, "I hope she'll be okay as well. But even still, what happened out in the field took a lot out of her.. both the stabbing from Sienna's betrayal, and getting shot in the head.." she then looks to the back hallway Rihko had escaped into and says, ".. it'll definately take some time, thats for sure though.."

Balina waves Rihkoward, even if the kitsune is long gone. "She'll be fine. The anger was less about the act as the location. If it had been a block sooner, we wouldn't be having this conversation."

Sorien softly churrs, "Gods."

Eithne sighs, shaking her head and focusing on her coffee.

Sorien softly churrs, "Yeah... She got hit at HOME. That's horrid."

the vixen blinks, "She was shot... In the HEAD?" Her eyes bug out, "How is she-nevermind, I really don't want to know... But that, wow, I can see that being stressful, if it happened so close to home..." She looks to everyone present, and then says, "If... If somthing like that happens to me... Do me a favor... Don't bring me back, I don't wanna have to go through that, and live to talk, or sulk about it."

Sorien forbears comment on Cat's comment and request.

Cilan shrugs, "S'the strange thing about living in a bubble, death hardly matters anymore.. getting shot was my second time dying.. third time for Selene.."

Balina contemplates the table. "I didn't even know what it was until I woke back up. Just one moment, stepping out of the bus, next moment WHOOPS! Why am I on the ground?"

Eithne reaches out to pat Balina on the shoulder, trying to be reassuring. And then she pauses, and glances to Cilan. "... Selene? Wh-" And then over to Selene herself, and a blink. "... Did you change your name, Apo, and I just missed it?"

Cilan looks towards Selene and grins, "Mm.. yeah, I have to agree.. second would be our sudden and painful shift into.. well, goo! While first is ofcourse your unfortunate self-cremation to resurrect Crystala.."

Selene grins at Eithne. "Yup. Started going by my real name just recently. Decided it was time." She turns and nuzzles Cil. "Yep, you got the order right, love."

Balina reaches up to meta-pat Eithne's hand. "I'm fine. Almost disappointed, really. Gonna move that this doesn't count, anyway; I'm sure I'd have woken up a few hours later even if someone hadn't patched me back up. And yeah, people dropping fake names these days confuses me, too."

Eithne nods slowly, humming. "... That'll take getting used to... Selene." And then another slow nod to Balina. "Quite. I haven't, thankfully, had to go through a proper rebirth-in-fire yet, and I hope to keep it that way for some time. And an Eithne is an Eithne, so I don't think I'll be changing my name anytime soon. Too fitting, these days, besides."

Catalina blinks at the discriptions of death being so casual, "Y-yeah... I'd like to be dead once, not alive and kicking in fifteen minutes like it's some sort of sick nanite COD Frag Match" She shudders at this, curling up tightly, "Though, I'll be honest, I make it a point to avoid death when I can... I'm sure that's everyone here, though." She chuckles.

Sparhawk sighs and starts standing up again. "This is what modern psychology called a 'triggering conversation'. Have fun discussing the many deaths of a hero, I'll be around somewhere sometime."

Sorien softly churrs, "Huh? Hey... (Sigh) Well, See you soon, sweetie? We still have a talk waiting. (hug) "

Cilan nuzzles Selene and says, "Well thats it.. you're cut off from dying, missy.. I think three is the limit!" she says in a joking manner before resting her head on Selene's shoulder.

Selene giggles and nods. "Yes dear. Honestly, take all the fun out of things, why don't you!" she says with a laugh.

Balina gives a wave as Spar slowly begins organizing hirself for transport. She has plenty of time. "See, that's why I was trying to keep it from counting. Death inflation is going to ruin our economy one of these days if we don't stop it now! Minor loss of brain, nothing more. Hardly more pressing than losing parts of any other appendage."

Sparhawk coughs a little. "Yes, Sorien does indeed not understand me at all. This is me leaving before I go on a rant about someone embracing entropy and injure people who don't deserve it."

Sorien softly churrs, "No sweetie, I'm not fighting you leaving, nor trying to predict anything. I just love you and hope we can talk later, as we'd discussed. I just don't like you upset- and you ARE upset here, regardless of reason."

Catalina seems progressively more distressed as Sparhawk gets up to leave. She eyes the group, mainly Sorien, before curling up in a ball.

Eithne shakes her head, but doesn't offer counter-comment to Balina's black humor. She merely gives the moowolf shoulder a squeeze before reclaiming her hand. "Moving swiftly along, then! Besides this recent event, how has everyone been doing?"

Sparhawk points at Catalina in passing. "Anyone who tells you death is inevitable is lying." Then shi shrugs again and says to the stairway, "See what I mean?"

Balina decides that this is a wonderful time to make her own awkward exit, as well. Mug is ferried, and equipment is checked. "I would expect that defeating entropy would have little value if it were banished; the right to choose when or if you die should be the one true choice a person is entitled to."

Rihko makes her way back out of the back hallway, entirely human, in a clean shirt and skirt. Her hair is still damp from her shower, and she's still carrying around the bottle of whiskey. She takes Taggart's stool behind the bar, puts a glass on the counter, and finally opens the bottle, pouring herself a drink. She looks up and over the pub crowd as she slowly raises her glass, sighing a little and smiling as she sniffs at her drink, then takes a sip.

Selene nuzzles Cil. "I'm going to bed, love. Want me to take the babies?"

Sorien gets up and goes over to Spar, and hugs her tight. "See you soon, sweetie."

Cilan nuzzles Selene back and nods, "Please.. but then again, I might join you soon.." though a moment passes her before she says, "Actually.. I might end up just sleeping elsewhere.. dont want to risk it, knowing my infection.."

Eithne takes out her sketchbook, shaking her head. "See you Bal, Spar. Don't be strangers." Click-click goes her mechanical pencil, and she begins roughing out an image in graphite.

Selene sighs softly, and kisses Cil's forehead. "We'll fix it, love. Don't worry." She gathers both babies into her arms, and heads up the stairs, alling out "G'night folks!"

Rihko raises a hand to wave at the departing crowd. "G'night!" she calls back cheerfully. Then she leans on arm against the bar and sips at her drink, people-watching.

Cilan offers one last wave and says, "Good night, my love, sleep tight!"

Catalina looks to Sparhawk, "I sure hope it is, for me, when my rightful time comes." she says, then looking to Cilan, "Be well, Cilan." she then looks to Rihko, "Shower felt good, I bet!" she offers, tail waving and ears perked, trying her best to be cheery.

Sparhawk leans into the hug a bit this time, at least. "Whatever does not kill me makes me stranger!" A whole lot of approach-avoidance conflict keeps hir dragging hir feet, progress far from juggernaut-y.

Sorien pats Spar's back. "Get rest. The next day will be better."

Balina nods to Eithne. "Tired, but ask me again tomorrow," she says, then leans in closer to whisper something else. Smiling, she makes her way out, with one final nod and a "twenty-four hours" to Cilan as she passes.

Cilan glances at Catalina and asks, "Be well? I aint going anywhere for a while.. might end up just having a shot, maybe two.. one for me, another for Sienna. Ah well.. time to start trying to forget about our mission."

You softly churr, "Actually.... Crys? We should rest too. Walk with us, Spar?"

Eithne gives Balina a salute. "Will do. See you around." And then she turns back to her sketching.

Rihko snickers and shakes her head a little, then she looks over at Catalina. She nods. "It did. It felt very good. I won't feel truly clean until tomorrow, but I'm good enough for now. I changed mind mind about drinking in bed, figured I'd come hand out here for a bit."

Crys nods, coming over to Sorien at the stairs. "We should fetch Kay from Mara as well."

Sparhawk continues draped in spots and stripes even in motion. "The next days have been all the same for a while now. It's a strange feeling."

Sorien softly churrs, "Well, we'll see. Night everyone!"

[[Category:RPLogs]][[Category:Crystala Events]]

Something Borrowed: Greed/Chapter 4

2012-03-12T03:03:10Z

Crystala: Created page with " The holes in the concrete grew larger, along with the damage done, as if the creature was raging as it went, further and further lost on its path. The design is lucky it did..."

The holes in the concrete grew larger, along with the damage done, as if the creature was raging as it went, further and further lost on its path. The design is lucky it didn't take down the earth and structure above in the calamity. Avoiding broken glass, and chemicals provides a bit of a challenge but mostly time took care of active biological agents. The claw-carved tunnel leads to a wide area, with wearmarks on the ground, the main area were supply vehicles found their way in and out of the place. One can easily guess whatever made this mess, went away from the supply room, wherever that leads.

Having finished ferrying everyone up through the holes, with Sienna's help, Selene looks around and then turns to the others. "So. Follow the trail of the enormous beclawed thing that carved out those holes, yeah?"

Rihko takes only a moment to give the hallyway a cursory examination, then starts following the hallway away from the room. Her ears perk forward, her jaw clenches, and she growls under her breath. "Should have looked around more... saved ourselves the trip..." she mutters, before she sighs and her tails flick back and forth once. "Ah well, noted for next time. Yes. Follow the trail of the obviously dangerous beast, and see what we can see."

Cilan hops off of Sienna as shi reaches the top of the hole, Cilan just pats the gryphon's shoulder and adds, "Thanks, partner.." looking to Selene next Cilan just nods and adds, "Seems like.. here's hoping we've got enough firepower to put it down when we find it though. Id rather not lose anyone on my first attempt at leading.." a soft chuckle passes her lips before she heads onwards, pulling her twin handguns out of their holsters on her way.

Sienna's avian features don't betray her thoughts, as she mills about, looking at the destruction. She appears to not be looking in Balina's direction, avoiding her gaze after the previous arguements. She pauses at one point to search through one of the rooms that was destroyed.

The gryphon leaves empty handed, shaking her head as she does. She's remained quiet since the confrontation with Balina, and the accidental dropping of that vial.

Balina sniffs the air, shaking her head at Cilan's comments. "I don't know what to think at this point. Smell says it was just here, but I'd expect more... obvious signs." Watching Sienna, she shrugs and checks in on a different room, glancing in to see if there's anything catching her eye before actually committing to a search.

On the way through, Balina catches scent of something... out of place. Something that shouldn't be here. While most of the medical experimenting has been quite mundane in nature, the scent of something divine strikes her as out of place. Around one of the knocked out rooms, she finds vials on display marked, "Unknown". They smell of... something that isn't natural, thats for certain.

Selene looks into the room where Balina finds the vials, and says "Find anything cool, Bal?"

The three story, wide hallway is fairly nondescript, no doorways or exits. Despite the confusing layout, the tunnelway seems to be leading underneath the mountainous crag that landmarked the place.

Balina grabs the vials, removing her pack to carefully pad and place the vials away in some of her collection pockets. "I... don't know," she calls, looking around for any more goodies. "Ask me again when we're not tracking. More of that 'there is more going on here' stuff, at least."

Selene chuckles. "Yay nondescript out of the ordinary things! Back to hunting giant beasts!" she says, as she heads back out to follow Rihko and the others down the tunnel.

Cilan stops in her tracks as she overhears both Selene and Balina, "Huh? Found even more stuff to add to my pants legs?" she asks in a joking tone before continuing down the hallway, not even bothering to wait around for an answer.

Rihko blinks and looks back, tilting her head at Balina. However, as Cilan presses on, she quickly moves to retake her spot in front of the group. She sniffs at the air and glances around, eyeing the hallway and their destination further on. "This is a long tunnel... damn."

Sienna flinches visibly at Cilan's mention of her previous failure. She follows behind, although takes a quick look at what Balina has picked up. She moves up to Cilan and says, "Whatever it is, we need to make sure we destroy those hard drives. I will provide bait for it if needed." squeezing Cil on the shoulder.

Cilan blinks at Sienna and shakes her head, "No.. noone is becoming bait here.. trust me, Im not going to lose any of you to that creature, and I stand by that statement.." a moment of thought passes Cilan's features before she adds, "Only way I can think of is just keep to the shadows, watch for any sort of weakness, and stay out of reach.."

Balina finishes her investigation, then trots out and follows the group. Patting Selene on the shoulder once she catches up, she says, "Probably just found lunch. Grab first, ask questions later."

Selene giggles at Balina's comment. "I do not think it would be a tasty lunch." She speeds up a little, trotting forwards till she catches up with Rihko, taking point alongside the kitsune.

The walking takes some time, almost dizzying blank unmarked hallways, RSX really needs to see an interior decorator. Eventually they hit an unpowered vehicle elevator, and a stairway that hugs the wall, curling around itself as the tunnel heads up three or four stories into the mountain above them.

As she walks, Selene starts humming to herself. Anyone who overhears it might recognise "In the Hall of the Mountain King". She stops at the foot of the stairs, looking upwards. "Onwards and upwards, I think. I suppose our quarry climbed up the elevator shaft.

Cilan groans audiably and mutters, "I am seriously getting sick and tired of these hallways.." though she stops and blinks impressed as she notices the elivator and stairway, "Huh.. finally, something new.. so, hoof it down the stairs, or--.. heh, what Selene said.." she says with a grin before heading into the stairwell, kicking down the door to it if there is one blocking the way.

"I wouldn't be so sure. They smell... divine," Balina grins, reflexively licking her lips. Glancing at the elevator, then the stairs, she mutters, "Power must have been on while that creature was here. Looks like it didn't have any trouble taking the elevator," before heading on up the stairs.

Sienna leaps up and flies to a better vantage point, and pulls a flashlight out of her pocket, shining it upwards. The elevated platform ... is twisted about, part of it torn up, the platform must have been up when the creature came through and it took the most direct path out.

Rihko pauses a moment to look around, quickly scouting the bottom floor; then she hurries up the stairs after the others. "Spirits," she quietly mutters. "What the hell was this thing? A dinosaur? A new kind of behemoth?" She shivers a little. "Not sure if I could cause that kind of destruction..."

Selene grins. "I bet I could, if I wanted to. Hasn't really been neccessary yet!" she says, as she leads the way up the stairs into the unknown. "Anyone else feel like we're playing D'n'D or something? The small group of brave adventurers, exploring the cavernous lair of a giant beasty!"

From over Cilans shoulder she calls to Rihko, "For all we know they could've been creating their own ragnarok beast.. atleast with a dino, or that behemoth thing, it've been killed by the number of RSX soldiers they wouldve had here.." a soft chuckle separates her previous comment from, "Did anyone here roll a paladin?"

Balina has that manic, head-splitting grin on her face as she looks back down the flight to Selene. "Why do you think I've been in such great spirits the whole time? Was thinking more Raiders of the Lost Ark, but old ruins full of treasure are old ruins full of treasure, and I think I'm in the lead tonight."

Rihko pauses at that and tilts her head to the side, her tails twitching as she looks up the stairs at Cilan. Her ears flick back, and then forward, and she giggles quietly. The kitsune shakes her head, and then starts moving again. "I'm close enough, I think, Cilan. Hopefully." After a few more stairs, she snickers. "Maybe he was right. Maybe dieing and coming back did mess with their heads..."

Selene snickers and calls back to Rihko "Balina hasn't died yet, so that theory doesn't work!"

Sienna shakes her head, and follows the steps up, as they loop around whipping up , and then they emerge above the elevated platform, or what's left of the metal. There's more emergency lighting up here, however it's not more looking like a natural cave than a manufactured building.

Cilan chuckles at Rihko's comment, "Heh.. I wouldnt say that.. Im not messed in the head, atleast thats what the voices tell me anyways!" as she reaches the top of the stairs, and to the natural cave she muses, "Huh.. think we're almost out of here. Finally." before continuing down the hallway-turned cave.

The sunlight, and the whipping breeze can be heard, not far out of the caveway.

Selene takes a look at the change in scenery as she walks along. "Huh. I wonder, did RSX dig this, or just dig into it? Ohhh! Sunlight and air!"

Balina stops to confirm that they're still following the right trail, in case it went down instead. "Find a cave, set up shop, decide you need more space later. Seems simple enough."

Rihko stops to eye the platform, then hurries and catches up with Cilan, walking next to the Action Hero. She glances sideways at Cilan and her ears flick, then she shakes her head and just grins. "We'll see. No heroic sacrifices, though..." Her ears point forward and she sniffs at the air, pressing on down the cave.

Emerging ino the sunlight once again, they're at the very bottom of the big white limestone cliffs, about a quarter mile from the cratered area they entered. The place is eerily quiet, no bird songs. A lonely cloud overhead casting a shadow.

Selene pouts a little. "Well that wasn't very exciting at all! Where's the loot?" She looks up at the sky, preparing to take off and scout from the air to see if there's anythign else around.

Before Selene takes to the air, she notices something odd about the cloud, it's growing bigger. And not at all shaped like a cloud.

Rihko slips out of the cave and pauses in the clearing, head turning each way as she looks around. She crouches to look at the ground, and then looks up at Selene, then over at Sienna, before she scans the woods again.

Cilan grins as she looks over her shoulder to Selene, "Dont you remember, you kicked open a door to plenty of loot.. erm.. just most of it was in the shape of diabolical viruse--.."

Balina follows the trail out of the cave a few yards behind everyone else, her posture dropping down to all fours as she emerges into open air. "Information and what we could scavenge," she mutters, absentmindedly. "Told you I was ahead that trip. Why, want to go try again>"

Selene blinks. "Guys? Guys! Run. Cover. NOW!" she yells, as she sprints for the questionable cover of the trees.

Taking Selene's warning to heart Cilan does a quick 180, and sprints back into the cave she had just left.

Balina follows Cilan, already being closer to the cave, herself.

Rihko darts for the trees at Selene's warning, eyes moving up to scan the sky.

Sienna quakes in fear, taking longer than she should to follow for cover, heading toward the trees.

The large presence that is certainly not a cloud snaps it's wings out wide, covering the entire area in darkness, it's wing span blotting out the sky, and the creature lands on the ground. It's features instantly recognizable, the slitted yellow eyes bigger than a person searching the area as it sniffs in air to it's colossal lungs. It opens its maw full of sharp teeth, almost a threat, and then spins its neck looking for prey that was here but a moment ago.

Selene whispers into her comm "Looks like we found what killed everyone else, then... fuck he's a big one. Well, we've seen the dungeon... and now we've seen the dragon."

Inside the cave again, Cilan returns the handguns back to their holsters and quickly removes her rifle, and sets it up, peering through the scope while she waits in the darkened cavern, watching the giant beast for any weakness that might wound, or atleast hinder it.

Balina recognizes the smell, knowing before the beast landed that it's what she's been tracking since the group disembarked at the river. Without even realizing it, she's back in Fenrir shape, poised to leap. Her common sense holds her back, but she has trouble focusing on anything beyond the two of them, a low growl escaping.

Rihko quietly slips her knife from it's sheath, but really has no idea what it would do agaisnt such a foe; she sticks close to Selene, though, putting a paw on the wolf's shoulder as she watches the dragon.

The creature is covered from head to toe in crimson and golden scales, the only areas on it's body even remotely unarmored are it's eyes and gullet, and an enraged dragon taking a bullett to it's eye might not be a reasonable thing.

Sienna made it out of sight, away from everyone else. She's shaking and huddled, alone, terrified of the massive creature. The dragon looks in her direction and she stiffles a scream. It begins to move in her direction.

Selene curses as the dragon moves for Sienna. "Shit! Time to do something stupid." And with that, she runs out, leaping high into the air with the assistance of her wings, to land on the craetures back, near a wing. Into which she plunges her kris, slashing the delicate flight membrane.

Noticing her friend in danger Cilan looks through the scope, leading the beast, aiming for its un-protected gullet, and firing, discharging the spent round and firing again, targeting the same area before sneaking back into the shadows.

Balina was waiting for an excuse, even if doing so might accidentally help Sienna. Charging out, she circles in a wide arc, looking for an excuse or an opportunity to get at that tasty, tasty gullet meat.

Sienna flees, taking to the air, heading up towards the clifface. She's completely lost in panic. The dragon roars as gnats attack it, shaking it's body and tilting it's head around to look at the small creature on it's back. It gets a look on it's face that could melt metal, and it speaks, the voice deep and angry. "A tasty bird?" and then snaps at Apo. The bullets fired at it, if it even feels them it doesn't notice.

Selene grins at the dragon as she springs backwards, quipping "I tend to stick in the craw! Even death spat me out!" as she dodges the snapping teeth, a bolt of flame lashing out from her hand as she does, to strike the dragon full in the face.

With its head distracted (and quite out of reach), all of the creature's obvious weak points are quite out of reach of your average Balinawolf. Uncharacteristically, Balina runs back toward arboreal cover, seeking Rihko and, hopefully, some idea how to do this.

Cilan dashes out of the cavern and towards the trees, back into the foliage, and away from the other's she brings the scope back to her eye and fires the last three rounds into its throat before sneaking to another tree where she discharges the emptied mag and pops in a new one.

The creature grins, and flicksit's tail up at Apo, smashing into her back, while she's concentrating on her magic. The fire hits it in the face, and it sneezes, a puff of smoke coming from deep within. It watches Apo fly through the air, caught off-balance, and reaches out with it's front claws, wrapping it's toes around her, grasping. It then takes to the air, heading away from the group with Apo it its clutches.

"What are you DOING, SELENE?!" Rihko calls out, her voice rising towards the end. "Come on, lose it in the forest!" She starts to fall back, then stops as it grabs Selene. "Shit. Cilan, tell me you have a way to find her!"

Selene cries out as the tail hits her, cartwheeling through the air until she comes to a sudden stop in the dragon's claws. She shakes her head, groggy from the blow, before her sense return to her. "Oh, son of a... " she mutters, before her entire body is engulfed in searing flame, white hot in its intensity. "Let...me...GO!"

"Nimbus's already on him!" Cilan shouts as she shifts to a rarely used form, while its still hardly the size of the dragon they're fighting hopefully the size and new wings'll help in the fight.

Now at least 11 feet tall, Cilan spreads her now draconic wings outwards and upwards towards the dragon, using her spirit hawk to track wherever the dragon had fled to.

The thing feels something warm in its claws glowing white hot. It grins, a snearing large grin as it turns its claw over. "The bird talks does it?" it rumbles, already in the sky with Apo. "And a child of fire at that. You will make an excellent prize for my collection." it sneers.

On her way to the dragon Cilan removes two grenades from her belt, one incendiary while the other white phosphorus, though she does not prime either yet, "Let /her/ GO, YOU ASSHOLE!" she shouts at the top of her lungs towards the red dragon as she trails behind it.

"I'm a wolf, you stupid bastard!" Selene yells. "And if you think I'll sit around in some collection, you've got another thing coming." the flames subside and she struggles in its grasp, arms pinned to her sides, preventing her from using spear, kris or crossbow, for all the good they'd do.

Rihko sighs. A heavy, disappointed sigh. Still, she isn't about to abandon her friends to their apparently desired demise. She steadies and calms herself a moment, shifting to her own winged form before taking off after Cilan. "You're going to get her killed, Cilan. Just follow the fucker! Don't do anything else stupid."

Balina decides to at least do what she knows, in the face of giant monst-- okay, she knows giant monsters, but isn't well-suited to give chase. Watching Cilan and Selene, she trots out into the clearing, looking for any signs of recent or semi-recent movement of supplies, or any obvious cues on where that fool thing would be heading.

It speaks, "Oh sitting is hardly what you'll be doing, fire-child." it grins, heading through the air upon its huge wings. Heading southward away. It turns in the air in a wide arc, and then dives down toward a large lake, pulling Selene tight against it, as it slams into the water, sliding into it like a snake. The water displaced is massive, pushing to the trees surrounding on the far edges.

Selene is about to reply, when the words are torn from her by the sudden plunge into the lake, she struggles more in the vice-like grip of those claws, uninterested in seeing just what she -will- be doing if it gets its way.

Rihko follows to the edge of the lake, landing on a tree and watching for a moment, eyes scanning the water.

As soon as she's overtop the lake that the dragon had dove into, Cilan's wings wrap around her and she spirals into the water, still following the giant beast, or atleast trying to do so.

The dragon disappears under the water, it's massive shadow going with it. Cilan treads trying to follow in it's wake, the flow of the water pushing her back. She has to resurface to catch her breath and returns to following it.

As she resurfaces Cilan reaches into her pack and pulls a rebreather, popping it in her mouth next she dives back into the lake and continues her chase.

Balina finds, to only her mild surprise, no obvious sign of anything. Cursing about lost time, she begins bounding off in the general direction she saw the dragon fly off, hoping to at least make up for a little lost time.

Rihko remains perched in her tree, talons digging into the trunk as she watches Cilan. After a moment the kitsune-turned-dragon focuses and murmurs a prayer, invoking a blessing of her own and calling to her water-kami companion. The small kirin-beast shimmers into existance, and after a brief consultation it dives down into the water as well, searching for a cave and keeping an eye on Cilan while Rihko waits.

Cilan eventually finds the pocket underneath the water the dragon used, and emerges in a limestone cave, cavernous and large. She can see the creature's tail far ahead, as there's some sort of light source in the cave.

With nothing else to do, Cilan just continues swimming after the beast, trying to keep up with the beast, thinking up a plan the entire while to hopefully save Selene, afterall, she's probably gonna rage if the dragon fries her fiancee, and the mother of her children.

Rihko observes Sienna flying past, and the gryphon dives into the water after Cilan. She looks far more determined and less terrified than when she was last seen.

Rihko watches from her perch in the trees, then sighs. She pulls up her com, and radios Balina. "At the lake, Balina. It dived in, and Cilan chased after it. Then Sienna went in, too. It's been a while, so I'm assuming it has an underwater cave it's using. I want to go in after them, but I'd rather not try giving that thing the Single Ninja Rule advantage on top of everything else it has going for it."

Balina is unable to handle her radio, but she has presence of mind enough to make sure it's always somewhere near her head when she's all wolfy. She changes direction, trusting that her own internal sense of navigation and her nose are enough to divine the lake's location.

The dragon gently curls it's tail around to pull Selene closer. It has a grin on it's face and it rumbles. "We'll find something that will make you a true child of fire. Most of your kind prefers being food to embracing beauty." It's claws pull out with extreme delicateness something. "Yes, this is it." it says, holding up a small kit.

Selene yelps as the dragon's tail curls around her, and headtilts at its words. :Just what do you plan to do? What is that?"

Cilan hardly notices the Leviathan swimming close by, rather she continues swimming until finally emerging from the cave, where she squats low and keeps to the shadows, her trained eyes watching the dragon, but more importantly keeping an eye on the kit it had pulled.

The creature questions Selene, "What do you think of me, oh child of fire? Do you not thing I am the most wonderful thing you have ever laid eyes on? I am power incarnate, and I have all the treasures of the world within my great claws." it seems to be looking for conversation. Like it hasn't used words in a long while.

Rihko sticks her com in her satchel, empties her pockets of anything that might be damaged by the water, then carefully hangs her bag up in the tree. She waits for Balina to arrive, and for her spirit companion to return, then waves at the wolf. "Yea. Cave down there. Are you ready to go after them?"

Selene pauses, considering her words carefully. "The most wonderful thing? No. I reserve that for my wife, and my beautiful children. But you do indeed exude raw power. Most impressive. Why do you call me child of fire?"

Balina skids to a stop, panting lightly. "I've been ready since we spotted the thing. I just hope someone has a plan once we get there, that's all," she says. Even with, apparently, a guide, she does need to get all the way through. Exerting her adept powers for the first time tonight, she makes a minor shift, and nods to Rihko. "Here's hoping the nanites don't care about that freshwater/saltwater thing."

The dragon chuckles at the response, it's loud and heavy, "You are confumed by flame, and anger and it is beautiful. You burn like fire, and deserve more than your pitiful body allows. I will fix that, you will be born of flame into something great like me, and together we will rule the skies. That, is why I call you child of fire, and you shall be proud of your brood, little one." Its maw opens in a wide grin. If it notices Cilan, it doesn't let on.

Rihko sighs, and nods. "I guess... see if it has the servers. Trash them. Run like hell, and hope if gives Apo a chance to slip away..." She shrugs, then dives into the water, using her wings and tail to help push her through the water towards the cave.

Behind Cil, Sienna emerges, sputtering with the water. She moves close, and is about to ask what's happening when she notices the presence of the dragon.

"You... you mean to make me... like you?" Selene says hesitantly. "I presume that's not an offer I can survive declining, is it?"

Cilan waves Sienna over to her and whispers, "Hey partner.. got any plans to get my wife out of harms reach? Ones that dont involve either of us becoming bait?"

Balina follows behind Rihko, trusting Rihko just slightly more than her own nose. This isn't a trick she's tried previously, after all.

The big dragon says, "Why would you ever decline such an offer?" using it's tail to pull her closer.

Sienna shakes her head, and then leans in and whispers something to Cilan while while clasping a shoulder.
"Because I like what I am now." Selene says, keeping her voice level as she's pulled closer to the enormous creature.

Cilan jumps away from Sienna and blinks incredulously at the gryphon, a hand gripping the shoulder she had clasped, "Wh-what.. did you inject into me?" she whispers, her voice in sheer disbelief.

Sienna points at the creature and says, "Now save your wife, like the brave hero you've always been." and she pulls herself up and out of the water. As she does, Cilan shows the first symptoms of change.

Rihko pulls herself out of water in the cave, quietly slipping up onto the limestone and taking a moment to appraise the situation. Her wings tuck in tight against her back, and her tail flicks.

Cilan watches as her arms shift to something inhumanly powerful, looking to Sienna she just offers a solemn, but firm nod before turning her attention to the beast, and her wife infront of her, where she then goes charging out of her hiding spot and towards the beast, continuing the mutations along the way.

The creature's nostrils flare. It looks puzzles and cranes it's neck away from its current focus.

Balina bursts out of the water not far behind Rihko, shaking her head and sputtering as Fenrir reasserts itself. Nearly as soon as that finishes, however, she sees a fleeing Cilan, accompanied by what are probably not Cilan's arms. She darts off to follow without a second thought.

Rihko reaches out a clawed hand to grab at Balina's tail, quietly hissing, her eyes scanning the cave and looking for the dragon's treasure hoard. "What are you doing to -do-, Balina, get eaten?"

Cilan's charge is halted as her feet change, falling forward she begins to bulk up.

"Cilan's apparently got something up her-- does she even have sleeves any more?" is hastily thrown behind the departing Balinawolf.

Selene twists to look at what has distracted the dragon, and blinks. "Cil? How? Why?" She looks back at the dragon. "Well now she's pissed off."

As Cilan falls she quickly corrects herself and slams her fist into the floor underneath, cracking the surface before returning to her feet and resuming her charge towards the dragon, her form gradually increasing as she releases a pissed off 'GRROOAAAR!' to her foe.

The dragon moves swiftly to wrap itself around its hoard guarding it and bears its teeth.

Selene yelps as she's wrenched about by the sudden movement of the dragon, still held in its tail.

As Cilan finally reaches the dragon, she lashes out with the razor sharp claws, slashing at the dragon's face, another deafening 'GRROAARR!' soon making way for a sudden blast of flame shooting out of her throat.

Rihko calls her wisps of flame to her again, circling around the edge of the cave and flanking the dragons, alert and ready for her break. She's tense, on edge, and very much unhappy with what is going down.

Balina skids to a halt again. Fighting fire with fire is fine, but icewolves can sit this out. She pads over to an out-of-the-way location to either hide or wait for a proper opening, depending on how charitable the reader is feeling.

Balina moves herself to a better vantage point, which happens to be closer to the exit.

The big dragon strikes at the upstart before it. It hisses, loud, and thrashes about, using it's tail to throw Apo into the hummer. It moves to protect its hoard. "Mine!" it hisses as it bites and slashes back at Cilan.

Cilan takes the slash without even trying to dodge, though it seems like she doesnt even notice, either because the scales had stopped it or her rage deadens any pain, "GIVE HER BACK!" Cilan roars as the searing gout of flame ends and she goes into a full flurry of razor sharp slashes at the beast that would DARE steal her mate from her.

Selene yelps as she's tossed into the hummer, tumbling in and thumping against the opposite door, hitting her head hard. She lies dazed for a few moments, before shifting into an upright seated position, cradling her head. "Owwww.... fuck, that hurt...."

Rihko starts moving faster, hoping Cilan can keep the dragon occupied long enough for her to get her part done. She continues to circle the pair, then motions, directing her wisps forward and into the nest of electronics, where they gleefully add to the pyrotechnics of the dragon-battle, immolating things around them and detonating inside the hard drives.

Rihko notices as she's trying to melt things Sienna slipping off with something in her arms, heading back for the entrance.

Balina winces as electronics are destroyed without even knowing if they're the information the party was after, and begins working, carefully, towards the hoard.

Rihko freezes as she sees the agent making off with something, and growls deep in her throat. She tenses, then sprints across the cave with surprising speed, aiming a shoulder tackle right at the fleeing gryphon.

Balina breaks into a run - she doesn't really understand subtle, anyway - coming at Sienna at a more direct angle. Her jaws are open, and her eyes are glinting with either murderous or joyful intent. One will find out in a moment.

Cilan's attacks push the creature back, the fury of the new beast in front of it overwhelming. It tries going for her neck, but it's scales are stronger. It thrashes and squirms. In the heat of the moment, strangely, the scent of the female dragon in front of it, causes it to go into it's own lust filled frenzy. It begins to push back, and tries to lift itself on top of Cilan, to claim her.

Sienna is trying to sneak off, and does an excellent dodge roll, but Balina's bulk clips her, knocking her off balance, and then rihko tackles her to the ground.

Rihko pins Sienna to the ground and snarls, giving the gryphon a nice face full of sharp, angry shadow dragon. She flexes her claws and, with her body language, makes it imminently clear that one wrong -twitch- from the traitor will lead to inevitable bloody pain, and imminent doom, and then holds Sienna with one clawed hand while she claims whatever it was the gryphon was trying to smuggle out.

As the dragon tries to lift itself ontop of her, Cilan does one thing better. Using her innate strength, with a combination of both rage and adrenaline she uses the dragons awkward stance to do a quick hip toss, throwing the dragon to the ground where she soon darts her opened mouth towards the creatures throat, trying to finish the horny dragon.

Balina circles around after her clumsy attempt at interception, standing over the prone dragon/gryphon pair and nosing Sienna roughly. "That's at least two strikes, I think. You seemed awfully sure where that whatever was."

Cilan's bite manages to finally catch between the dragon's scutes, her long teeth sinking into the creature's throat and crushing it's windpipe, the armored plating providing little against the monstrous teeth. She continues to hold onto it, consumed in bloody rage as she takes it's life, the hot blood of the dragon pooling on the ground below.

Sienna squawks as she's squished, and threatened, clinging to the electronics in her arms like a safety net. She grimaces as Cilan brings down the great beast, it's body splaying out into the room, and blood spraying at the three. She hopes for a moment of distraction.

As the dragons life fades she releases her bite and another deafening, but victorious roar sounds across the cavern. "Selene!" she calls out looking for her mate.

Selene slowly climbs out of the hummer, still rubbing her head. "Errrrgh. ueit voice, please, love. My head is -killing- me here."

Sienna uses the distraction to slip a blade out, and into her captor's stomach. She pulls, and pulls into it sticks into Rihko's rib.

Balina had her attention on Sienna, but failed to anticipate the gryphon sinking so low as to resort to stabbings. Let alone doing something so inhumanly dumb as attacking *Rihko* in front of her. Protective instincts flying into a full rage, Fenric jaws are rapidly introduced to Sienna's throat. Unfortunately, the rest of her head was in the way, but like many problems Balina faces, this rectifies itself remarkably quickly.

Cilan lowers her head to look at the tiny lunerin infront of her a giant claw later reaching out to grab her and pull her close. While her grip is tight, it is not enough to actually cause pain or discomfort, as she is lifted infront of her draconic muzzle Cilan says, "My love.. are you alright?" her voice while still booming does seem like she's atleast trying to lower it to a good volume.

Rihko snarls at the sudden pain and reacts instinctively, her claws clenching on Sienna's shoulder and her jaws flashing down, her teeth snapping for the gryphon's neck. Balina beats her to the punch, though, and she holds back to avoid biting her friend. Her body trembles with her own barely suppressed anger, and she clenches and unclenches her claws, shredding the corpse's shoulder as she slowly and carefully tests her wound before removing the dagger, if medically feasable.

Selene smiles weakly at Cil. "I've been worse. How are you?"

Balina spends a few moments in complete distraction, worrying about the head until it's finally in a state to allow her to swallow. As she comes down, she looks to Rihko, finally remembering the reason for the execution. "Will you be okay?" she asks, entirely too calm for the situation.

Cilan bumps her muzzle against Selene lightly, affectionately before adding, "I'll live.." with that she then looks to the racket at the entrance of the cave and blinks at her headless partner, her mouth opening as though she were to say something though nothing comes out.

Selene wriggles in Cil's grasp. "Could you put me down, love? I've spent entirely too much time being held by giant dragons today."

Rihko's bleeding rather profusely, and removing the dagger only makes it worse.

As per Selene's request Cilan sets her mate aside and thuds over to Sienna, the clawed hand that had originally held Selene now reaches out to pick her lifeless body up an hold it close, a soft mournful groan escapes her throat as the last tie to her previous life has been permanently cut.

Selene trots over to the injured Rihko, and grins as a blue glow emanates from her hand. "Want some help with that, science fox?"

Balina watches Selene take care of the immediate concerns, panic fading almost before it can surface. The other 90% of Sienna being the primary order of business, she attempts to nose Sienna's arms away, to get a better look at what was more important than not being eaten.

Rihko winces and growls as the dagger stuck in her rib comes out, carefully rolling off of Sienna's lifeless husk as Cilan rushes over to coddle it and keeping a hand over her stomach to keep anything vital from falling out. Her nostrils flare and she gives Cilan a very angry glare, then nods her head at Selene. "Yea, if you could," she says. "Otherwise I'd stitch it up, cauterize it, and make one of you carry me back to the bus." She looks at Balina. "I've done worse to myself, but no, I think I'll bleed out pretty quickly unless you kept any of my goop. And it still works out here. Or someone can magic it."

The sad thing is, clutched in her arms were two data disks, specific ones, their label still on them, as well as a small box of vials."

Sienna's life devolved into stupidity, that she wouldn't trust even her oldest friend who gave everything for her, to save the poor bird.

Selene grins, and presses her hand lightly against Rihko's injury. The blue glow intensifies, and Rihko can feel the area growing hotter. When Selene takes her hand away, all that remains of the injury is the blood in the fur. "There you go! Good as new!"

Balina begins the process of reverting to back to something that has a hand. After doing so, she digs around and pulls out the goop from what feels like a week ago, passing it to Rihko almost absent-mindedly before taking a better look at the ill-gotten ill-gotten booty. "Can we not nuke these until we actually know what's on them?"

"What do the labels say?" Selene asks.

Cilan doesnt even notice Rihko's angry glare cast at her, rather she continues holding the body close, "Why did you not trust me, Sienna?" she finally asks the body, "You could've lived.. you.. you couldve gone back to the life you were supposed to lead.. I would've protected you.."

Rihko sighs. A heavy, exasperated sigh. She picks herself up and growls, then gives her body a shake and her wings snap. Then she goes over to Sienna's smuggled loot and begins inspecting it.

Balina gives Cilan a single, impassive look, spares a glance towards her handiwork, then shakes her head. "Shi obviously thought there was something important in here. That reminds; why exactly did you turn into a giant dragon, again?"

Selene nods towards the vials. "I'm guessing she stuck her with one of those. The dragon was gonna do the same thing to me."

Cilan avariciously roars, "She said it was the only way to save Selene.. she was right.. she saved us all."

Balina hungrily says, "Time doesn't work that way. She had the vial *before* she snuck into the horde."

Cilan avariciously roars, "Thats why she fled.. back to the lab so she could grab the vials, and the disks.. in the end, after so many years of fear.. she became the hero.." apparently the giant dragon lost in her own world of mourning, oblivious to the fact that she stabbed Rihko only moments ago, ".. I will take her back.. back to her home, bury her with her family.. its the least she deserves."

Rihko finishes her brief examination, and stuffs the disks and the vials into various pockets of her jacket. Then she thinks a moment, and waves Balina over. "Can I borrow your bag?"

Selene looks at Cilan. "Love, I know she was your friend, but... those discs... those vials... they came from the hoard. She took them while you fought the other dragon. Whatever she injected you with came from before. Something else she was hiding from us."

Balina bristles. Not an answer at all, and certainly not a sign that this will help. "Do what you have to," she manages, picking words very, very carefully. Stepping over to Rihko she unslings her bag and offers it to Rihko. "I don't think I can store the whole hoard, so go easy on it. Sorting the treasure always takes forever."

[[Category:RPLogs]][[Category:Crystala Events]]

Something Borrowed: Greed/Chapter 3

2012-03-12T02:52:28Z

Crystala: Created page with " Cilan's eyes are locked on a specific target, the area in sight is but a wisp at the distance away. Down below two figures are chasing a quadrupedal wolf bolting in a simila..."

Cilan's eyes are locked on a specific target, the area in sight is but a wisp at the distance away. Down below two figures are chasing a quadrupedal wolf bolting in a similar direction. The sky remains silent and beautiful, only the occasional noise of nature, and the distant roar of a waterfall.

Cilan studies the wisp of smoke for a moment before she raises her comm-unit to her mouth and speaks into it. Dropping her arm back to her side she goes back to soaring, this time rather in search of the elusive white cliff, she flaps towards the sight, stopping roughly a mile away so she can land safely and sneak up upon the source without drawing any attention to herself.

Rihko slips through the forest below after Balina, grinning at the thrill of the hunt, the rush of the chase. She slips to a halt for a moment before thumbing her com unit. "Cilan, Apo, Balina has something. We're closing in on it." Then she takes off again, keeping pace with the wolf, her tails trailing behind her as she darts through the woods.

Cilan says over the radio, "Hey, guys.. I see a wisp of smoke.. 'bout 3 miles south of my position, heading there now.. wait up for me, Rihko.. we might need to sneak up.. dont know who might've caused it.. could be hostile."

Upon getting teh radio message, Selene calls Wind and her puppies, back, the spirit wolves vanishing into her as the soars towards the wisp of smoke Cil indicated in her message, flying low across the treetops to stay a bit more difficult to see.

Balina's hot on the tail of the flyer above, her pace is breakneck considering the heavy wooden growth, the gryphon behind her having trouble keeping up. At the sight is a massive crater, charred earth and burnt land surrounding it. Deep gouges in the earth below look carved by some enormous animal scratching and scraping at something. The place smells of death.

Rihko skids to a stop as the crater is revealed, putting a paw on Balina's shoulder as she hugs the treeline. Her nostrils flare and her ears perk, the kitsune scanning the area for any motion. "Is this the place?" she asks, quietly, glancing over at Sienna.
Selene comes to a stop, hovering over the crater, studying the gouges in the ground. "What.... what the hell did this?" she whispers softly.

Cilan reaches the rest of the group, stopping on the edge of the crater, "What.. the hell?" she asks noone in particular before looking around her, surveying the place for any possible sightings, or tracks of whatever had done this.

The face of a large cliff rests set into the earth behind in the direction they came from, the same pattern from earlier, white chalky limestone covered by moss with crags of granite set inside. Deep in the earth, the crater has unnearthed what looks like something made by man, concrete, the portion of a wall.

The gryphon finally catches up, looking rather winded, she bends over, looking rather nauseous, her hands on her knees. It takes her a few minutes to recover to even begint o react to the site.

Over her shoulder Cilan says to Sienna, "You're getting out of shape, partner! Gotta lay off the junk food!" a soft chuckle passes her lips before she makes a wide, and open gesture with her arms, "Well.. we're here.. now, your employer tell you /how/ to get into the lab or did they leave that part out?"

"Something got here first," Rihko says, quietly stating the obvious. She shivers and hunches her shoulders, then creeps closer to the edge of the crater. "Something big. And dangerous." Her ears go back, and she looks over at Cilan. "Think there will be survivors?"

Balina paws at the ground, snorting. She's panting, but grinning as best as a wolf muzzle will allow. "I'd feel a bit more accomplished about this if it wasn't so obvious from above."

Selene comes in to land next to the others. In response to Rihko, she says "I think that really depends on what part of the base, or bunker, that wall is from. Near the top? Probably, if the damage was done up here and directed down. In the middle? Maybe. Down towards the bottom? Unlikely."

Cilan says, "Dunno, Rihko.. Im kinda hoping that there are, and at the same time that there arent.. means less people to deal with, but at the same time, it'd be a shitty way to go; getting killed by whatever did this."

Sienna's breath turns to a gasp when she does see the destruction. She manages to squawk out a short response, "He said look for the cliffs and the entrance, but nothing more." then she points down at the concrete, cracked, a hole that could be slipped into. "I think whatever it was, gave us a direct entrance though."

Cilan answers with an understanding nod and traverses into the crater, heading to the hole where she stops and calls out to the rest, "Wish me luck!" going through it shortly after.

Rihko eyes the hole a moment, then nods her head. "I'm-" she pauses, then darts after Cilan. "Damnit, Cilan, let me go first," she mutters, slipping in after the woman. "Should we leave Nimbus on lookout?"

"Dammit Cil!" Selen shouts, as she sprints after her and jumps down the hole. As she does, Wind and her puppies reappear, and array themselves around the hole, most on the ground, but a couple of puppies in the air, circling.

Sienna makes her way down, in a leap, using her wings sparingly to slow her descent, and then follows in afterward. Her voice trails, "Be careful, we don't know what killed everyone who came last time, it could be a virus or rogue nanites!" she's shouting at Cil hoping she hears.

Balina huffs, then trots down to the hole, peering inside. "In for a penny," she mutters, then leaps through.

On her descent into the lab Cilan calls out, "Or it could've been the creature that left that crater!"

The cracked area enters into a multistory facility, looking like biological and supply storage and vehicles dispersed about. It's surprising, and the fall from above is surprisingly long. Balina leaping finds no purchase below. The only major light are some emergency lights on the ceiling and the sunlight streaming from the hole above.

Sienna attempts to stop the wolf's sudden fall, and fails, Balina spinning in the air and landing awkwardly. There's a rather loud crack as she hits the concrete below, and a loud yelp echoing in the large room.

Rihko winces at Balina's yelp, looking back towards the outside. She mutters under her breath, then focuses a moment as she holds her hands in front of her, palms up. The kitsune's wisps of flame flicker into life to help light the hallway, and then Rihko climbs back out to check on Balina. "Balina? You need the goop?"

Selene flares her wings out before hitting the ground, slowing her enough to land lightly. And wince, as she hears the thug, crack and yelp of Balina. She darts over to the wolf and checks for where, exactly, she's broken herself.

As soon as Cilan's feet touch the ground she looks up to the hole and breathes a shrill, and complex whistle out into the forest above. A few minutes later the familiar ethereal hawk dives in and comes to a flapping halt on Cilan's shoulder. "Hey, Nimbus, gonna need you to channel your healing ability for a minute, alright?" the bird just warbles a few soft chirps and Cilan's hands begin to glow a light ebb. "Hey, Bal.. where'd you hurt yourself?" she asks in a soft voice.

Balina rolls onto her side, cursing physics and drama. "Next time I do something this stupid, remind me that Balinawolves are heavy," she mutters. "I think I just broke a front leg, that's all. I'm afraid I didn't really have time to prepare; what works on broken bones out here?"

With the location of Balina's injury in mind Cilan presses her hands against Balina's front leg and channels both Nimbus' and her own spiritual energy into the wound, hopefully healing it, or at the very least being slightly bearable to walk on.

Sienna moves away from the scene after wincing at the landing, looking at the architecture and the overall scope of the place. She pulls out a comm, and brings a claw up to her beak, and presses something before putting it away. "What we're looking for has to be lower." she says, not turning back.

Rihko's ear flicks. She starts to speak up, although as both angel-types are working their magic she keeps her counsel to herself. She gives Sienna a nod and moves back into the hallway, sniffing around and waiting for the others to catch up.

Selene steps back as Cil heals Balina, and starts prowling about the area they've found themselves in, examining the stuff around them. "This place was.... well equipped. And it looks like whatever attacked only took out surface stuff, so we better be on guard for twitchy survivors."

Feathers shed from Cilan's wings, the lush fluffy coating growing a little ragged as she expends energy in repairing Balina's wound.

Cilan's hands part from Balina's leg and she falls back, and onto her ass as she begins to wear herself out, "God damn.. dont.. think I'll ever.. get used to that!" she says before bringing the ragged wings infront of her, examining the damage, though she ends with a breathed sigh, and getting back up onto her feet, a hand lashing out to anyone or thing to keep her balanced until she gains enough of herself back to steady her legs once more.

There are a few paths out of the area, one wide enough for vehicles, and the other more of a pedestrian hallway, the place is very sparse, RSX logos occasionally grace the supplies.

Selene darts over to support Cil as she rises, supporting her gently until she's collected herself enough t stand on her own. She nuzzles her gently and says "Don't overexert yourself, love. Who knows what yet lies ahead."

Balina watches Cilan work, and tries not to squirm as bone knits back together with a wet squelch. Once it completes, she's unable to offer any sort of support, but rises back to her paws, briefly testing the commando's handiwork and muttering something about "doesn't make it even" to herself before looking over to Cilan and nodding. "Thanks. I'll try not to screw up quite so hard in the future." Glancing around, the wolf gets her first good look, and smell, of the interior of the bunker as she begins to shrink back into a shape better-designed for bunkers.

Sienna begins to walk off, toward the pedestrian hallway, not really saying anything to the group behind. She seems agitated, her feline tail flickering in the air, and her ears searching for signs of life.

Rihko waits patiently, her tails flicking, until the others rejoin her. She smiles and gives Cilan a little nod. "Yea... who knows what else is down here yet..." Her ears twitch and flick, and then she looks around. "Right, I think we shou..." she sighs, and then quickly moves to catch up to Sienna. "Should go this way," she finishes. Her lights follow along, bobbing and weaving through the air, and the kitsune remains alert.

Cilan gives Selene a soft pat followed by peck on her lips, "Thanks love.. and sorry, just didnt want to have Balina suffer for something I shoulda expected.. shouldve brought a rope, or carried her rather than making all of you jump in after me.." looking over to Sienna next the soldier parts from Selene's side and moves to her partners side, "You know where you're going, Sienna?"

Sienna says, "Not really no. But I figured a vehicle path would be the way out from storage here." she shrugs and keeps moving, "Besides, I'm not sure if anyone is alive here, but this place hasn't been touched in a long time. Look at the dust."

Selen pads after the others, taking up a rearguard position, and keeps an eye on the vehicle tunnel until it passes from sight as they enter teh pedestrian route.

Rihko nods her head in agreement. "Right. That'd be the main way in, or lead to loading docks or something. This would be the route for people heading further in," she adds.

Balina finishes adjusting herself, looking up and giving Cilan a sheepish grin. "To be fair, I sort of deserved it. Of course someone with wings would go in without worrying." A brief look of confusion, "...Wait. Carry me? How much can you lift? Never mind, don't need to know. And as much as I'd like to pretend that the dust means we're here alone, I might want to point out the stench that led us here."

Rihko glances back at Balina and nods again, then looks forward down the hallway. "Any idea how fresh that scent was? I haven't done as much scent tracking as you."

Cilan drops to a knee and studies the dust gathered, seeing how it had piled up, and gauging finally, "'bout a year, Id say.. so, yeah.. either this corridor is not touched, or we're alone.."

The gryphon sighs as she tracks new footprints on the ground, saying, "So whatever took out the other people sent, got to them before they got down here... I bet that means the hole was openned up in the last few weeks." she continues across the large room, hitting the corridor, the occasional doors into small rooms, no windows, doors locked. "You think RSX would have at least some aesthetic in their hidden labs."
"Fresh enough that I bounded off without a word," Balina says, hand rubbing the side of her muzzle. "Either whatever caused it isn't gone yet, or," she glances upward, "it was... really... big. Hell, now I don't know, either."

Still checking their backtrail, depite the apparent abandonment of the facility, Selene calls forward "Hey, Sienna! You got any idea where the thing we came to destroy actually is, or do we need to start kicking down locked doors?"

Sienna's response is, "I honestly have no idea. I'd think it'd be somewhere in the mainframe as what we're looking for is simply code, but who's to say."

Selene sighs. "Yeah, thought you'd say that. Whelp, we best hunt down the mainframe then."

Cilan scratches at the back of her head and asks, "Do you think we'd be able to power up one of the terminals if we came across one? We might get some valuable info from it, if possible?"

Rihko eyes a few of the doors as the pass them. "Possibly. Depends on how the emergency power is wired, and what the system does in an emergency. It could be worth a try." She starts trying doors as they pass them. "Want me to start popping doors open to check?"

Balina is quite obviously crestfallen. What kind of evil organization makes a doomsday device that's just a bunch of data? It has better at least be a really cool computer. "At the very least, we could probably try and rip drives out," she sighs. "Pull valuable information off of them when we get back, sort of thing. That's *kind* of like archaeology, right?"

Selene nods to Rihko and Balina. "We might as well knock some doors down, see if we can get a computer or two running.. and if not, yanks some hard drives out for later checking." When she finishes speaking, she checks the nearest door to see if it opens... and if it doesn't, kicks it in.

Sienna shrugs, "We can try, you'd know best my old friend, you know I'm kind of lost in these things. She shrugs and points at one of the doors nearby. There's no writing on it, the door is made out of metal and by the door is a card reader.

The door creaks as it's kicked, and then slides off it's hinges, not designed for the kind of strength brought upon it. Falling to the ground it reveals a dark room, the light from the corridor flickering upon a biological lab of some sort. Sienna from behind says, "I thought they only dealt withprogramming, why would RSX have been working on biotech?"

"Hey Rihko, can we get some light in here?" Selene calls out, as she moves into the lab. She can see well enough, but it's always better to shed a little light on things.

Rihko rubs her muzzle with her paw, then grins and shakes her head. She slips into the room, her wisps following her and fanning out to provide illumination. She paces through the room, careful not to touch anything as she quickly cases it. "Who knows? I'm sure they had all kinds of projects going on."

Cilan says, "Dunno.. probably trying to find that elusive 'cure' RSX keeps on ranting on about.. turn us all back into humans and go back to the way things were.. garbage.." she says before wandering into the darkened room, her eyes focusing for the low light, "Now if I was a terminal.. where would I be.."

Selene pads around the lab, examining the various bits and pieces scattered around it.

Balina steps inside, happy to have at least found some evidence of practical research. Despite the face she wears to the pub, the wolfcow is at least adept at the more practical sides of biological research. While terminals are a top priority, notes or any signs of work that was hastily abandoned are high on the list, as well.

There's a few terminals, powered off, the place finding emergency power only in the battery driven lights in the hallways, the main system off. The lab itself was mid project when things stopped, a beaker broken on a heating pad where it overboiled, while nothing was cleaned up when the room was rushed out of.

Closer inspection, Apostasy is able to make out the basics, various species DNA was being combined, basic genetic splicing, almost vanilla. However deeper in the lab she spots something particularly troubling, work with viruses, and DNA transferance. They were working on a viral method of the same thing the nanites are doing.

Today keeps getting better. "Looks like people left in a bigger hurry than I thought," Balina calls, continuing to root around. "I'm pretty sure we'd find half-eaten lunches if we kept digging, at this rate. Lovely for looting, if you're into that sort of thing."

Rihko remains fairly quiet as the others root through the lab, head cocked to the side. "Yea? We'll have to come back later, then. We've kind of got something important going on at the moment." She nods towards the computers. "So they're dead? We'll have to find the source?"

"Uh, guys? Interesting, and disturbing, find here. You know what the nanites do? these guys were working on a way to do it biologically. Viral infections, retroviruses, that sort of nastiness." Selene says, backing away from the research stations slowly.

Sienna adds, "Or at least find the main power, or backup generators and turn them on."

Balina looks up from her scavenging. "Not too surprising, really. The nanites are almost certainly partially biological. Maybe a method to reverse-engineer them?"

Overhearing Selene, Cilan just gulps and much like her lunerin lover leaves the room slowly, careful not to knock anything over on her way out.

Selene looks over to Balina. "Maybe, but think about it. The nanites essentially reconstruct you more-or-less instantly. Same thing, via viral infection? Long, slow, probably painful process. Much nastier."

Rihko files back out into the hallway. She glances back the way they came, then starts moving along the hallway again, eyeing the doors. "Should be stairs along her somewhere. Usually in a corner, if they're not in the middle. Might have a slightly different looking door. If the designers were at all sane there might even be a sign indicating them, but those sorts don't generally build secret underground virus labs."

Sienna beakily adds, "And also not controlled, I suspect that's why they went with the nanites." and nods at Rihko's assessment, "I suspect we go down."

Balina quits digging, having decided she's not going to find anything nearly as fascinating. "Or it would be so slow the nanites could just outpace it. Or it would be just as fast as they are. Not enough information to make a call. Ooo, working outside a bubble's a nice pe--" she stops, and decides to leave in silence.

Selene stares at Balina, a little worried, and then heads out of the lab behind the others.

The hallway is long and straight, mirroring doors every hundred feet or so, and it seems to go on for a surprisingly long time until a set of doors with stairs and an elevator are found. The staircase doors are locked, and the elevator power is off, clearly.

Rihko leans down to examine the lock for a moment, her tails wagging back and forth behind her.

Selene grins. "Want me to kick the doors down again?"
Cilan comes face to face with the door to the stairway and says, "Well.. here's hoping it works a second time, right?" she asks noone in particular, finishing with a slight shrug, and finally driving her boot into the door, hoping to break it off its hinges like the door to the lab.

"Or Cil coud do it!" Selene says with a giggle

Rihko quickly hops to the side out of the way, and slips her paws into her pockets. She waits for Cilan to deal with the door, then gives the soldier a little nod and continues into the stairwell.

The door is more heavily armored, and a resonding thud puts a dent into it, but the hinges and lock hold, at least for the moment. However another shove manages to push the door off. There is wiring running into the wall that gets pulled off with it, and the staircase goes both up and down. The lack of any kind of sensible signs certainly infuriating.

Rihko tilts her head up, looking up, and then leans over a rail, looking down. She starts to head down, then hesitates, right in the middle of the stairs. She looks back at Sienna. "So the bottom, you think?"

Balina watches as, again, doors are bypassed the hard way. Or the easy way. It's hard to know these days. Shrugging, she takes a look through the door. "No reason not to go straight down, no. It's a bunker full of secret experiments; all the best stuff is going to be down there."

Sienna's response is a shrug, "I'd assume so. That's how the military tends to think."

"Remember, no poking funny things, eating odd things, or drinking mystery liquids." Selene says, half-jokingly, gaze lingering on Balina a little bit.

Rihko tilts her head to the side, then nods and starts off down the stairs, her lights keeping pace.

The steps down are relatively simple, little metal and rubberized bumpers helping the keep the slick concrete from turning into a slip and slide. The stairs wind around a few stories down before the first exit. Another floor deeper down below it. This door seems similar to the one above, a powers off camera facing them.

Selene waits a bit more for a response from Bal, or anyone else, before shrugging and heading down the stairs.

Rihko stops on the landing for a moment and looks up at the camera. Her ear flicks, and then she shrugs her shoulders and keeps heading down. She's keeping her eyes on where she's going, not wanting to run into any nasty surprises while she's in front of the rest of the group.

Cilan moves to the stairway, and begins trudging down the steps, always keeping close to Selene, who's hand she later reaches out for and grabs, lacing her fingers with the lunerin's own. "So.. any plans on how we're going to destroy the code? I suppose.. run a magnet over the drives or something?"

The lowest floor, the door far... beefier, more like a vault door, not something to be trifled with.

Sienna says, "I think permanent destruction is the right idea." huffing and trying to keep up with the fast moving group.

"Nothing smells good down here, anyway," Balina mutters, "even the stuff above smelled like death." Hmphing mostly to herself, she follows behind. Door-opening is best left to the professionals.

Selene squeezes Cil's fingers gently, and nuzzles her briefly. "I could melt them into slag, love." She pauses at the vault door, and whistles. "Now -that- is a door."

Rihko comes to a stop in front of the door, and then whistles, her head tilting to the side. "Niiiice..." She grins. "Big doors mean big things. I think you were right, Sienna." She pauses a moment to see if anyone wants to try kicking this door down as well, grinning. "Want me to take a look at it?"

Selene giggles. "I, uh, don't think I'll be kicking that one down any time soon. Science Kitsune to the rescue!"

Cilan stops as she stands infront of the vault door, "Huh.. guess this might be a job for thermi--.." a giggle passes her lips before she looks to Selene and says, "If you want to, love.. but I was thinking maybe save the heavier fireworks for when we need 'em!"

Selene eyes the door some more. "I think it'd take more thermite than we carry to get through that, love. Even Glaurung would probably only dent it."

Rihko nods. She moves forward and starts examining the vault door in more detail, looking for the control box and the hinges. "I'm sure if we beat on it long enough we could melt it down, but it'd take a lot of effort."

The door features a complex password input, what looks like a retinal scanner as well as keycards. Paranoid much? Clearly whoever designed this was of the philosophy of massive overdesign.

Sienna offers, "Maybe if we get power to this place we can trick the system or something? I'm not sure brute force will get us through."

Selene considers somthing for a moment. "Hey, Rihko, is the power still active for thsi thing, or dead still? If it's dead... well, if the locks were held in place magnetically... maybe the power failure means it'll open. Worth a shot, at least."

Rihko nods her head. "Maybe... you could try pushing, see if that works," Rihko agrees, a little distracted. She pulls her knife out and gently pries at the casing for the lock. "Depending on how they did this, I might be able to bypass all this junk and hotwire it, too. I'll have to see..." she sticks her tongue out a little as she examines it, then digs in her bag for a moment to grab a blocky object and some wires.

Balina says, "If a power failure meant it would open up, it would be the worst lock ever. Probably some nice, heavy bolts in the way for when the magnets, and there are always magnets, are dead." Stepping over, she taps a few random buttons on the password input, and looks at the scanner, but generally lets the science kitsune be all sciency.

Cilan just stands back as she leaves the opening to those that know what they're doing. Occasionally looking over to Sienna to see how the gryphon is holding up.

Selene shrugs. "Yeah, I know, but just as frequently the guys who design this stuff are kinda... narrow minded. They don't put in redundancies."

It takes some prying to get inside, and eventually Rihko manages to pop something off that really shouldn't have been. Inside are a complex set of wires, but Rihko jiggers things a bit and manages to get some power to the locking system, which boots up, the computer system that is the lock turning on.

"Alright..." Rihko mutters to herself, tails swishing. "So that's on. And if this wire goes there... and that one there..." The kitsune quietly pokes around in the box of electronics, thinking. "So if we get it to send a signal, maybe it'll release..." she continues. She really has no idea how to fake an unknown retinal ID, so she is hoping to find a way to bypass all that junk and send a signal directly to the lock; if it involves mechanical bolts, she's fairly sure there's some point where she can get to it.

Rihko spends a while tinkering, manages to successfully bypass the retinal scanner but also triggers an emergency alarm, which rings in the place until she finds a way to disable it. Then a few moments later manages to get the thing to finally accept, and there's a hiss, as the hydraulics unlock, and then the door powers off. It looks like she made it just in time.

Sienna moves forward, offering to test the door, having to push hard on it to get it to budge, it creaks open. She strains and gets it a few feet before she collapses and says, "Can I get some help?"

Selene claps and cheers. "Yay Rihko! Unlocker of giant doors!" She waits till Rihko is clear, and then grabs the handle, hauling the massive door open slowly. As she does, she says "Ready weapons folks, who knows what might lurk behind here, summoned by tha alarm."

Rihko lets out a slow hiss and quietly relaxes. "Uhm... sorry about that. Looks like we're good though," she offers. She gives the others a grin, her ears still flattened from the alarm, then moves up to help shove it open.

Balina winces at the alarm, but reminds herself that, really, if this thing wasn't powered, neither were whatever might have been dispatched. "Impressive, if noisy. Eight out of ten." She moves into place to help open the door, keeping her eyes focused up the stairs, just in case.

Cilan grins and eases her back off the wall, pulling her handguns from their holsters as Selene requests that the weapons be readied, "Got it, love!" upon passing Rihko on her way past the vault door's Cilan says, "Good job, Rihko.. thanks!" a bright smile pulling at her lips moments after finishing.

The door opens into a two story giant basement area, what was once mainframe computers lined up are now splattered and crushes or simply missing. Gouges in the walls, bullets, and even remains of armor and bones strewn about the place.

"Oh, come ON!" Balina wails, running in and going from pile of smashed equipment to pile of smashed marine to a totally different pile. "How the hell did something get in, be violent, and then leave, all while leaving the door intact?"

Selene blinks at the scene of old carnage. "Jeez.... something real nasty went down here. Stay sharp, people... whatever did this might still be around... since the door was still locked up tight."

"Well..." Rihko says, leaning against the door frame and tilting her head to the side. "Shit." After examining the room for a bit she walks in, looking around. "OK, this is... yea... my thoughts exactly. Did we miss the obvious entrance?" she asks quietly.

Sienna points up, "That hole in the ceiling I suspect."
Cilan whispers, "God damn.." to herself as she looks over the old battlefield, her eyes surveying the damage whatever the corpses had been fighting in silent shock.

Selene follows the direction Sienna points, and sighs. "Man, we could've saved ourselves some trouble if we'd scouted around a bit more, eh?" She pads slowly, cautiously out into the ruined mainframe arrays. "We need to check for intact drives... and smash or otherwise destroy any we come across."

The place is littered with remains, and it's fairly obvious many of them were simply eaten. Lots of stuff has been torn up, many things having clearly been taken. Up above a pretty sizeable hole in the concrete is visible, and then a hole above that. Considering the thickness of the concrete the force required is almost unbelievable to puncture it like that.

Balina grabs a random piece of detritus, throwing it at the hole in a fit of sour-grape-fueled rage. Watching as it spins, it looks to be a discarded femur. "No respect for linearity, whatever it is. No wonder I got so worked up at it," she grumbles, then begins joining in the actual salvage operation.

Rihko's eye twitches, and she looks up at the ceiling. She scowls. "Of course. Why deal with the giant door when you can rip the ceiling open." She pauses, and looks around. "But how long ago did this happen?" she asks. "There was still fire smouldering up top... shit."

Sienna is busy looking through the computers, and then she swears, "Whatever it was, it had enough sense to grab the storage. It left all the processing servers and switches but took the main storage arrays." She goes back to scouting around.

Cilan spots Sienna out of the corner of her eye, and watches hir for a moment or two before adopting a curious look. Heading over to the gryphon Cilan asks, "Hey, partner.. found something?" a hopeful expression set upon her face as she asks.

Sienna' ears flick up and she looks at Cilan, "Uh, no, nothing important. Do you think we should follow wherever that thing went?" she says, pointing up and changing the subject.

Selene narrows her eyes as she spots something, and moves over to Sienna. "Hey, Sienna? What're you saying? Can't really hear you. And, uh... what's in the vial? I know you probably wanted to wait until you finished scouting about to show us it, but I'm curious. Can't help myself." she says, in a friendly, conversational tone.

Sienna hesitates, and then pulls a small vial out of her pocket, and says, "Its probably nothing, but I found this here by one of the corpses." she doesn't offer it forward though, her hand clinging to it.

Cilan answers Sienna with a shake of the head, "No.. we'd only get slaughtered if we tried to go up against it as we are no--.." her sentence sidetracked as she look to Selene, "Vial? Some sort of infection or something?" the bottom of her right eye curls up as she asks, ".. you werent going to do anything with it.. were you?"

Balina growls, not for the sixth time since entering, throwing down what she was looking at (what appeared to be a bunch of electronic components turned out to be a large pile of useless electronic components), and heading back over to the main group. A conversation is already in progress, but she is in a foul enough mood to simply stare at Sienna, nose twitching.

The gryphon stammers, "No, no..." she shakes her head, and she walks forward tripping as she does, the thing flinging in the air, and then cracks onto the ground near Cilan's feet.

Selene leans forwards, studying the mystery vial, and then yelps as Sienna drops it, trying to pull Cil away as she leaps back.

Rihko looks over from her study of the room. "Wait, what?" she asks. "Was there actually ever-" she starts, although when the vial breaks her eyes widen. "... What was that?"

Cilan blinks and with assistance from Selene, jumps back as the vial crashes near her, hoping that she had avoided whatever was in it before anything bad could happen to her.

Balina grabs a hypo from her pack, holding her breath and attempting to suction at least some of the mysterious goo up. Her attention bounces between the vial and the clumsy gryphon; no reason to trust either right now.

Sienna manages to get to her feet and looks up as the thing splatters about, some of it spraying into a powdery mist and splashing onto Cilan despite Apo and Cil's best attempts. Balina doesn't find much liquid to collect.

There doesn't appear to be any adverse reactions, and the gryphon moves over to help Apo and Cil to their feet. She looks guilty, "I'm sorry. I'm sure it was nothing."

Selene nods slowly, and accepts Sienna's help. "I... hope it wasn't. The last thing we need is mystery goop doing something funny to Cil. But, uh... please don't pick up any more mysterious shineys."

Cilan grabs Sienna's hand as shi offers to assist the soldier up, "Better hope it was nothing.." she grumbles before looking at where the mist had hit her, doing her best to wipe any of the powder off, "Anyways.. back to the reason why we came here.. servers need to be destroyed.." she says as she begins to walk off.

Balina scowls. "That wasn't an accident, and most vials don't vaporize the second they hit the air," she growls, stepping forward and still brandishing the hypo in her hand. "What was that stuff?"

"Forget it, Bal. It's done. Now we deal with the consequences." Selene says shortly.

Sienna says, "I'm going to go see where that... thing, went with the data." after helping her friends to their feet. "The servers themselves wouldn't be what we need to destroy. What we need to destroy is gone." And then Balina's direct questioning catches her offguard. She turns to the gruff wolf and says, "There wasn't a label, but it came from a dead science lady, judging by the bones and placement." she points to the remains.

Rihko scowls, and moves a few steps closer. Her head tilts to the side for a moment, but lets Balina do the threatening and interrogation. She does whisper something to Balina, though, before she looks over at Selene. "Fine. Let's move on. How do we track them down?"

Sienna headtilts at Rihko's... odd questioning. She points up, emphatically, and gives the most puzzles headtilt.

"Well then.. no sense standing around here.." Cilan says to noone in particular before extending her wings, grimacing at the missing patches of feathers, and general look of raggedness probably rendering them quite flightless at the moment, she then looks to Selene and asks, "Love.. dont think I'll be able to get airborne like this.. could you carry me, please?"

Balina stares at Sienna, not even following her hand as the gryphon tries to offer some flimsy explanation. Snorting at Rihko's comment, she shakes her head, breaking the spell. "I am not looking forward to the I-told-you-sos," she mutters, mostly to herself, before staring upward and making some mental spatial calculations.

Sienna offers a hand, "I'll carry you. I'm really sorry I missed catching you earlier. Can I make it up to you?"

Cilan grabs Sienna's offered hand and nods, "Heh.. yeah, you buy the first round of drinks when we get back home, and we'll see about the other favours you owe me, partner!" she says with a sparkle of amusement evident in her eyes.

Rihko looks up as well, then back to Sienna, her ears flat. "I'd rather not spend my reserves on shifting if I can help it. We could pile a bunch of junk up to reach the hole. Could try going out and up a floor." She shrugs. "Rope would be good. Balina, you bring the rope next time."

Selene takes to the air, flying up to see if she can spot or hear anything before everyone else gets up.

Balina does not, in fact, have rope. "Twenty freecreds says there's rope in the bus, too," she sighs, continuing to watch the hole. "Are we going to just have to let Sienna and Selene ferry the three of us out, then?"

The hole leads to a big power room, and there's a hole in the ceiling, and the primary generator is smashed on the floor to make room. Peering up that hold, this is the lab floor, and a hole leads through a series of labs and out into a corridor large enough for trucks to pass. Each hole seems... progressively larger and the path more destructive. The labs smashed to pieces.

Rihko shrugs a little, her tails twitching. "Depends on where the hole leads... guess we'll see what Selene says..."

Selene comes back down. "I've got good news, and bad news. The good news is, the hole, or series of holes, I guess, go all the way back to the surface. So we can get out that way, with some ferrying. The bad news... is that the holes get bigger, and the trail of destruction more... destructive... the closer to the surface it gets."

Rihko looks at Selene, then to Balina, then back up the hole. After a bit she nods. "Ah, well. That's life. Yea, ferrying, stairs, whichever you guys want."

Balina moos, "Stairs still leave us leg-breakingly far from the exit. Yeah, let's go."

Sienne and Selene help get everyone up top, the group avoiding the smashed labratory equipment, as the biological products may not be dormant and give it wide birth. Eventually they find themselves into the large vehicle corridor that split off from the storage facility.

[[Category:RPLogs]][[Category:Crystala Events]]

Something Borrowed: Greed/Chapter 1

2012-03-08T02:20:38Z

Crystala:

Cilan's had a long day, all morning dealing with both babies, and finally gets a break. She heads into Zephyr to pick up some work and clear her head dealing with mindless work. Life's been a bit more stressful since the twins were born, and new parenting is so exhausting. Entering into the lobby area of Zephyr, Cilan isn't really paying much attention when a clawed hand grabs her by the shoulder. Blue fur, and a vicelike grip.

"Ugh.. another day.. another few cre-- Ugh!" Cilan's sentence is quickly cut off as she is pulled into the grip, because of the surprise of it, the soldier begins quickly trying to writhe and wriggle her way out of it, and come face to face with whoever had grabbed her.

"Whoa, Whoa..." a familiar voice says, and lets go of Cil before either of them end up injured. The face if familiar yet strange, curved beak of a gryphon, somewhat masculine, the features hit Cilan rather hard, Sienna. "Dear, don't look at me like you've seen a ghost." hir voice is now deeper than it was when shi was a girl.

Cilan blinks in surprise, her mouth opened in a state of mild shock, though it closes when her mind finally wraps around who she's infront of, "S-Sienna?.. Is.. is that you?" she asks incredulously, "Where the hell have you been? I havent seen you in ages!" while she does sound slightly friendly to the old sight she still keeps her distance from the gryphon, probably still having yet to trust her after the near rape.

The gryphon nods slowly, and hir eyes search Cilan's reaction hir ears dropping a bit seeing the physical distance, the void still obvious. "I ah... yeah, I've been, lets just say, busy. Would you like to go get a bite to eat and talk about old times?" offering a clawed hand out, perhaps in apology and acknowledgement.

Cilan scratches at the back of her skull and answers with a nod, "Uh.. sure, I am getting kinda hungry. You got any place in particular? If not, I know of a place with some great stew, and beer?" she says hopefully, with that she then extends her arm and grabs the offered claw, shaking it lightly.

Shi hesitates a moment looking around, "If you mean that place you live... I'd rather not, I've heard stories about the owner that make my skin crawl. I also understand if you want to keep it... public, so how about the caffeteria here?"

Cilan shrugs casually in response, "Eh.. if you say so, and sure.. the cafeteria sounds good." and with that Cilan then removes the claw from her grip and heads to the stairway, on her way towards the basement of the building.

Sienna follows behind closely, Cilan noticing she appears on edge, hir eyes searching around as if someone might be following them. Shi sits with Cilan in a corner out of earshot of anyone else. Shi sighs, settling down and lets her wings unfurl behind her. "We'll get food in a moment, but, while we're alone. First, I am terribly, terribly sorry for what I did to you. I wasn't myself and things have changed dramatically since Promethean Day..." hir eyes drift off somewhere, "And, I need your help." shi searches the room for anyone close, and lowers hir voice. "I am... in quite a bit of trouble."

Cilan leans back in her seat, "Its alright.. I know how you feel on that matter, frankly the scientists really fucked up.. you were supposed to go to school, and I was supposed to go ho--.. wait.." her tone soon lowers and she later leans forward to close in on Sienna, "Trouble? What do you mean trouble?" she asks in a silent voice, "Like.. someone's trying to kill you type of trouble? If so, Id gladly help.. you know how I am, right?"

Sienna looks away a moment, "I owe... a lot of money to some not very nice people. They want me to retrieve something for them from way outside the city in an area that no one has come back from... I think they intend to me to die." she turns back and she looks genuinely scared. "I'm not a soldier, you knew how I was even during the war, I clung to you because you knew what you were doing... You always were the strong one."

Cilan nods slowly understandingly, "Mm.. and I suppose paying them back is not an option here? If not, where's this item they wanted you to find?" a soft sigh is soon made before she reaches out and pats Sienna's shoulder in a comforting way, "Yeah, you told me all about it, I even still remember how you were in San Fran. But dont worry, we will get through this.. and if we do succeed, you do know you'll owe me big time.. right?" a soft grin creeps up on her lips as she says that, trying to ease her old friend.

Sienna looks ashamed, "Well, I kinda broke something... irreplaceable, priceless. I'd be dead already if they, weren't worried about risking their own men going in." shi sighs, and says, "I'm a bit of a coward, I admit, and of course I'll owe you, I... already owe you so much after what I did to you." she has tears in her eyes as she's speaking, and then shi says, "It's something they think will unlock the control mechanism for the nanites, something that will allow them to do their bidding. A research lab." shi then says, "You know what it means if people like that, get their hands on something like this. If I don't go, they'll find someone else to force into it."

Cilan leans back again and folds her arms across her chest, "Huh.. I guess I can see how that'd be a problem, they'd have pretty much absolute control in just about every part of the world that holds a bubble. Now then, what do you suggest we do then? If the items broken and you've got no cash, that pretty much leaves me with a single option.. unless you've got something cooking up in that mind of yours?"

The gryphon's ears flicker, and she turns around to look at the entrance, before settling down, and then turns back. "If they know I'm getting help or telling anyone about this, I'd be shot in a heartbeat. So, understand this needs to be kept very quiet." shi leans forward on hir elbows, whispering, "We find it, and we destroy it forever, and then you kill me, so that they, and I, don't hurt anyone ever again."

Cilan breathes a sigh and nods, leaning in again, her voice again lowering to a whisper, "Alright, alright.. Im with you until the whole, 'destroy it' part, but Im /not/ going to kill you, Sienna.." removing her shades next she looks into Sienna's eyes with a fervor, "You /will/ live, we /will/ find these people, and we /will/ put a bullet in each and every one of their skulls so they cant hurt anyone else anymore, alright? Now.. where is this artifact you're supposed to find?"

Shi doesn't protest against Cilan's determined rant, "I just don't want you hurt... again." Sienna then pulls out a little comm unit and pulls up a map on the thing, showing a map of california. She points to Yosemite, "The lab was built underground in the national park, government approved, an RSX subsidiary."

Cilan grabs the comm unit and studies the map shown, after a while she mutters darkly, "RSX.. greeeaaat.. hate those guys, hopefully we dont see any on our way there.." handing the comm back she asks, "So.. when do we leave?" not a hint of fear or trepidation in her voice.

Sienna says, "You have family don't you? Did you want to say goodbye to them, or leave quickly?" hir hand reaching out to grasp Cilan's. "Either way, I want to leave separately, and we can meet up again outside the city. Just south, by the derelict Hard Rock Cafe, I have a chopper I've been piecing together, it will get us there faster than trying to go by wing or car."

Cilan nods understandingly, "Mm.. been doing some spying on me, have you?" she asks with a grin, "Anyways, you make a good point, I'll talk to them.. see if any could help.. if not, well a goodbye will have to do."

Sienna flinches, "Can... can you promise to keep it relatively quiet? Only tell absolutely who you need to tell, and don't make a big scene of it." shi is again on edge looking around the room. "And the chopper can really only hold two, so if anyone else were to come they'd have to find another way to get there."

Cilan nods again, "Got it, keep it quiet.. I think I have a good team in mind right now." she states before answering "And you dont have to worry about transportation, I've got a ride of my own!" a moment of thought crosses Cilan's face before she continues, "Huh.. then there is Mike.. actually, wait.. no.. might not be easy to explain the situation, hell the guy hates flying out of the city as it is.."

Shi stiffens again, "Not anyone from Zephyr, or RSX, both of them would want this just as bad..." Shaking her head, "Right... Just tell your loved ones, just the two'of'us, and we won't put anyone else at risk. It's not like the team of a dozen men they sent in last time that never came back helped and it just put more people in danger."

Sienna's response is quick, "I'm fairly certain I told you my last name dear, not that my family is around anymore to wear it proudly. Miller." shi answers and takes the hand, shaking it, "I was a private, although not a very good one." Shi pockets her comm, and looks at it briefly. "Three hours, south of the city. You go on ahead and I'll leave a few minutes later."

[[Category:RPLogs]][[Category:Crystala Events]]

Something Borrowed: Greed/Chapter 1

2012-03-08T02:07:45Z

Crystala: Created page with "Cilan's had a long day, all morning dealing with both babies, and finally gets a break. She heads into Zephyr to pick up some work and clear her head dealing with mindless wo..."

Nightwhispers: Silence/Chapter 3

2012-02-08T03:20:14Z

Crystala: Created page with "Taggart is sleeping. Sparhawk is last seen walking between visions, piercing the envelope and not constrained by the narrative. Their journey guiding them towards the heart,..."

Taggart is sleeping.

Sparhawk is last seen walking between visions, piercing the envelope and not constrained by the narrative. Their journey guiding them towards the heart, someone's heart. Balina, having hunted an awakened Dream watched as she plucked Taggart and Apostasy from other's dreams. They are clustered around a peaceful lake, as the young girl goes about her most cryptic art.

Having convinced herself that Taggart and Apo are fine, and knowing full well that Dream isn't going to give her a straight answer, Balina listens to the conscious girls, but keeping her eyes, and nose, on the water. She's seen several dreams shattered, but there are still people in the pub left unaccounted for.

"Dream, what are we doing here?" Apo asks the little girl, seeking to make sense of what's going on. "I know this is another attack by Shadow, but what exactly is he doing?"

Taggart yawns large and wolf-like, though he's human once again, tongue rolling as he tilts his head left and right, cracking a few times. He squints and looks about, "Wut're we doin' still asleep? Wait..." The Irishman scowls and looks around a bit more, sitting up as he recognizes the various people about the lake. "Dream... wut're you doin' up, then?"

[Between] Sparhawk travels on in the self-generated perfect darkness, seeking the vanished and/or trapped friends by the sound of their narratives. As before, one hand holds a brass key, and a hole to objective reality is carried in the back of hir mind.

The little girl is playing with the water, and without looking away says simply, "He hunts. He needs..." and then gently stirs the water. Without looking she says, "I am uncertain why I was drawn out, but I am scared." she answers.

[Between] Sparhawk's key turns, and a door cracks open slowly, the shadows pulling backward as light is released into the small musty room. A small girl's room, decorated oddly, and a young girl curled up with her arms around her knees, her tails enwrapping her, and she's sobbing.

Apostasy rests a hand lightly on Dream's shoulder. "Don't worry. He'll have to go through me if he wants you... and he already knows I'm no pushover." She frowns slightly. "Needs what? A new vessel? Hare proving too much for him? Or something else?"

"First to find, last to know," mutters Balina, rolling her head. "Hey everyone, I smell something divine inside of Kaylah! Oh, don't worry, sure it's nothing." Keeping some distance from Dream, she sits, then lies on the grass near the shore. "I'll be more than happy to hunt back if you'll just point me in the right direction."

[Between] Sparhawk is possibly less reassuring than shi wants to be, a curtain of darkness entering the room, but a hummed tune comes from within. Something of a victorian lullaby. Shi moves into the room, just far enough to leave hindmostquarters keeping the door open, and folds down into a sphinx-like seat. "Hey," shi says as a greeting.

[Between] Kaylah reacts startled to the voice. She blinks and makes a small squeek, and looks up at the bubble of darkness her eyes going wide. She shivers again, and wipes some of the wetness around her eyes. The room surrounding them is bright pink, weird twisted images lining the walls, the common theme being alone. There are no exits to the room, except one, which is heavily locked as if to reinforce the prison cell the room very much is.

Dreams voice is calm, and she says, "I think he means to trade. Your friends, for my father." and she points to an image of their friends surrounded by shadow, narrowing around them.

Apostasy lilts, "Well that's no good. We need to be stopping that sort of thing."

[Between] Without the First Sense of sight Spar is only vaguely aware of the color and content of the walls, but the feelings of being walled in and alone are acute. "Hey," shi says again, then continues. "It's impolite to waltz in and start off with hugging, so I invite you to come over to your weird science uncle in your own time."

Balina snarls, "If Coyote was anywhere nearby, I'd know. I've smelled bits and pieces, but nothing... alive. Nothing to say he's been in the city at all. Then again, you said he awakens tonight. What are you planning, Dream?"

[Between] Kaylah overcomes her disbelief, and runs forward into the bubble of darkness and clings immediately to one of Spar's legs. She's shaking and shivering at this point, but largely silent.

Taggart mumbles a bit, standing up and running his hand through his hair. "Dream don't plan... she dreams." The Irishman groans and stretches, and sighs, waving a hand at the young girl, "Come here, luv..."

[Between] Sparhawk grins, in the manner of Kaylah's godfather. "You are not alone," shi says firmly while bundling up the Kaylah that survived contact with the darkness that peels fiction away from truth. "Every moment of every day, someone thinks about you, even if they're not huggin' right then. Bet you'd like to go back home with your moms?"

Dream looks up at Taggart for a moment and then moves toward him, "You were always nice to me." she says to Taggart as she holds out a hand.

[Between] Kaylah nods despite the darkness, not really thinking about it. "I... I miss my mamas, and uncle Taggart, and my sisters." sniffling. She holds tight against Sparhawk, not letting even remotely go, not for a second. Clinging to him like he's a life preserver.

Balina gets up, walking over to the water and idly tapping at it with a paw. She's more or less given up on talking, but has no other leads now that she's found what she thought she was after.

Taggart smiles at the young girl, taking her hand in his while he kneels down, gently leading her into a protective hug. "Well, have ta raturn tha favor, ya know." After a moment of the short embrace, he leans back and holds her at arm’s length. "He dun' kicked ya out fer a bit, then? Nightmares ain't quite yer cup'a'tea, aye?"

[Between] Sparhawk continues hugging, and slips a heavy key into Kaylah's clenched grip. "You don't have to be here. You're only stuck here because someone convinced you y'should be. You may not be able to choose your yesterdays, but Tomorrow is always open to you." With philosophy stated, shi rises to hir feet and bows out of the room, backing through the hole shi made with intent on looking for the probable desperation of Sorien.

Apostasy takes a seat on the beach, watching Tag and Dream curiously.

[Other] Balina finds herself falling, suddenly torn from where she was standing like a riptide. The fast and sudden rush is overwhelming.

Dream sneezes, as she's hugged, and then Balina is gone, like she was never there to begin with. The girl shakes her head, "He tries to hold the nightmares together, but they keep falling apart on him." She doesn't seem to notice Balina missing.

[Between] Sparhawk pierces the dreamfold again with Kaylah striding on hir back. Walking between in the nothingness it becomes easier to see images and thoughts, many of them her own. Like a sea of imagination Spar catches a glimpse of a Koi in the air, appearing to follow hir, swimming along. There are nightmares like thunderclouds storming in the distance, a particular nasty black cloud around the library of hir mind.

[Other] Balina is buffeted by rocks, clinging to them to slow her flush down what appear to be rapids now. There are flashes of trees, and land on either side as she slips, but the most intense smell, is that of Coyote. The smell is intense and getting closer.

Apostasy blinks. "Uh, guys? I know you're having a moment and all, but... Balina just got sucked into the lake.

[Between] Sparhawk frowns a little. "This is less familiar than it probably should be. And if that's Las over there...we're doing funny things with perceived time again, heh." Shi hums along with some other chunks of the Fantasia movie, drawn to the library area.

Taggart frowns gently and leans in, giving Dream a little kiss on her cheek. "Aye, well... we're that sort that mucks things about fer'im, then. We'll fix it, darlin'. Always do." He glances to Apostasy without showing much concern, "Well, she's tha habit ta go pokin'er nose where she shouldn't." The man stands up and looks at Apo, eyebrows raising upward, "Ideas, then?"

Apostasy shrugs. "Unless Dream has other ideas, all I can see is "jump in after her" or "do nothing, assume she'll be fine", to be honest."

[Other] Blinking and gasping, desperately trying to at least avoid drowning and only barely starting to realize where she is, Balina tries to make for shore. You can't fight the rapids, but you can at least swim sideways. The fact that she can't SEE the shore, or know if one exists, is secondary to at least regaining control.

Dream grins widely and says, "Come with me, and I'll let you meet my friend!" offering her hand out.

[Between] The library is expansive, full of ideas that are, will be, and will never be. Books line the shelves with millennia of knowledge foretold, but it is sick with corruption. Thorny vines wrap sections, while Shadow's hunters fill another. There is a faint scent of blood filling the place.

Apostasy looks at Dream. "Sure!" She stands and takes the little girl's hand with a smile.

[Other] The innevitable flow is that, it’s there as if to tell Balina not to fight, why bother, that's how things will simply be. It commands one to let go and follow.

Taggart follows after, as well.

[Between] "They keep the Bad Ideas section locked," Sparhawk confides in Kaylah, "And no one knows what the Good Ideas shelf looks like. S'why there's so many, got to try and find the one important one." Unless something interferes in a spectacular way shi'll keep moving steadily onward in search of Crys and Sori, bearing hir tools and something-like-a-niece.

The little girl takes a hand from each, and walks them both forward, the first step they take the whole place shimmers and warps, and they find themselves inside a cocoon of Trees. The trees spiking high into the heavens above blocking everything out around, their varied barks showing the plethora of shapes the world takes. In the center there's a small fox, it’s bleeding from both its legs and its eyes are closed. Labored breaths struggle to remain at its lips.

[Other] No, there really isn't a shore. There are, however, still plenty of rocks and other obstacles. Briefly considering if this was better or worse than listen to two people swoon over Dream (no matter what she may already owe the girl, herself), the wolf begins swimming downstream directly, eager to at least get to the end on her own terms.

[Other] The entire river comes to a halt, suddenly going motionless, almost paralyzed by the shift. Balina finds it strangely easy to navigate, and shore is not far in the distance, while the stentch of Coyote grows thicker ever yet.

Apostasy drops Dream's hand when she sees the injured fox, running over to it. "I've had absolutely no luck with this so far, but..." she murmurs, as she holds her hands above the injuries and the blue glow of her healing springs forth.

[Other] Balina does what Balina does. Shore is reached, and she begins bounding after the smell, her previously-shackled urge to hunt released with abandon.

The namidian magic shines brightly, and reacts oddly to the fox, causing a sudden bloom and growth around it, as vines burst out of the ground, knitting into the foxes legs. They twist and morph and nourishment flows into the creature, which yips in response.

"Ack!" Apo exclaims, the light of healing blinking out as she scrambles back a bit, before moing forward tentatively to examine what's happened.

[Between] Sparhawk finds the place easy to navigate, the stretching corridors shrinking as shi heads directly for the area she wants. She narrows focus, and despite hearing cries, and screams to distract her, very little penetrates her cover. The shadow's hunters moving right past her without any notice. Spar sees signs leading towards a section of the library about birth.

[Other] The loping feral finds it easier to concentrate; they can taste the scent in their muzzle. Her stomach pangs, and her paw itches. Endlessly it follows, until she finds an unmarked grave. Coyote's grave. Alone, abandoned in the forest, hidden well by all except for his thick stench.

Taggart remains quiet, watching. Thoughts are obviously processing rapidly behind his emerald eyes, however.

Dream moves forward and says, "Uncle, you know better than to let him know you're here! I've brought friends to help." the girl smiles and grins. The fox responds with a quiet stare, it's legs still knitting, but the creature rooted in place.

Apostasy headtilts. "Uncle?" She looks back at the fox, and resumes healing it, accelerating the process she appears to have kick started.

[Between] Sparhawk murmurs, "Never woulda thought it would get this large," as shi approaches the birth books section, annoyingly unresponsive to the ghouls and goblins and bits of undigested cheese.

[Between] The books are dusty, and unused, and the dustiest of them old is an ancient one. It's written in a language so old; it is written in pure emotion. As Spar flips through the pages, she feels that of a mother's love, the joy of creation, the despair of loss. It is so raw, and intense it’s nearly breathtaking, so powerful in fact it can only be the birth of something of enormous magnitude. Kaylah asks, "Why is that book empty?" from on back.

[Other] Under normal circumstances, Balina might have found this anticlimactic. She's known Coyote is dead since her first night in the pub. However, this is the first time her stomach has ever grumbled at something that's supposed to be dead. Scratching that itchy paw against the dirt, her nose always as close to the ground as possible, she starts working her way down.

Dream nods, and the fox yips with some disdain. It turns and begins to gnaw at the vines holding it in place, and slowly rips its paws out from the ground.

Her work done, Apo step back again and waits for some sort of explanation.

[Other] As Balina digs, she finds a loose spleen, and then a fragment of intestine, and a tooth. She keeps digging and uncovers treasure after treasure, fragments of bone, and ash, but the potency of the scent disagrees with the assessment of death.

The fox huffs at Apostasy and holds its head up. A small snort as it looks away it crosses its paws and lays down, giving the three a cold shoulder.

[Other] Pieces are, as they're dug out, separated as best as possible from the dirt. Except the spleen; Balina gnaws that one to keep her jaws busy while she keeps going. If she weren't so focused on her task, she might wonder more about why the gibs are so randomly strewn through the dirt; this isn't how a body is usually buried.

Apostasy giggles at the fox. "Fine, be that way. Must suck to be indebted to me, though."

Taggart puts his head down, frowning and in deep thought. Arms cross over his chest, a hand rising to pinch at the bridge of his nose. Hand falls away and his head raises, but his eyes are still closed, then it tilts to one side and lifts an ear to the sky, as if listening to something. "I think... I wanna move away from whoever this is... gonna try sumthin' daft."

[Between] Sparhawk gives no answer for some time, held compelled by the story told in the language that never translates properly to the speaker's lips. Eventually Kaylah's question catches up with hir and shi says, "I don't know, O smallest of flailytails. Perhaps we can get Elaine, or her half-sister Dream, to teach you later." Shi flips to the end to see what is there, in the manner of the Elephant's Child.
Taggart growls gently, "Don't be pissin' off tha God, Apo."

The fox lifts up on all its paws and turns around to glare at Apostasy. It hops and yips at her madly, fury in its eyes. Dream intercedes and says, "You need to stop acting younger than me, uncle." and points at the tree line. There are only three standing there now as the edge of the tree line has broken open. The forest beyond there's some strange animal noises, and dirt being flung out of a hole in the ground.

[Between] Kaylah hops down from Spar's back to grab her own book, this one a picture book. She looks the thing over, it seems quite modern and new compared to the one Spar is holding, but it’s also told in pictures and short phrases. A story of the first dream. She holds it up to Sparhawk and says, "Would you read this to me?"

Balina's so caught up in digging into Coyote that she doesn't notice the brand new, very strong scents that invade her graveyard looting frenzy.

[Between] Sparhawk runs hir fingers over the new book, placing the ancient and dusty one back on its shelf. "If you think it's important, m'dear. There are other people hangin' around that could use some heroics soon." That said shi turns the first page and begins telling the story, full of the creative interpretations that Spar gives to all the stories shi tells.

Apostasy giggle again at the fox, unable to stop herself. She looks then in the direction that Dream points, and starts. "We should, uh, probably investigate that, huh?"

[Unknown] Taggart was one moment before in the forest, and before his thought and will even processed the wind whipped chill of a street on early winter’s day now greets him. An old ancient movie theatre nearby, and the black covered hare, blinks up at him from down the road. It glowers at him from a safe distance away.

[Between] Kaylah claps as Spar reads, the story tells of the early man being plagued by nightmares, keeping them focused on the end, that giant monsters will harm them at every turn and why bother to struggle and grow. Every night man would go to bed and the next day would be worse. And then man invented dream, and dreamed, the nightmares had nowhere to go, and the next day was better.

[Unknown] Taggart glances about and tucks the end of a scarf into an old, black peacoat that he's suddenly been wearing the whole time, hands slipping into the fore pockets before he turns to face ShadowHare. A shrill whistle from between his teeth, winking with intimidating grin, "Oi there, Bunny! Think you'n'me should'ave ourselves a chat!" His hollar carries down the windswept street in front of the cinema, slowly starting to walk toward the twin Gods, boots clomping heavily on the concrete.

[Between] Sparhawk concludes, "So you see, Tomorrow is in our hands. And/or heads. We make it brighter and darker by what we do today, and tonight." Shi closes the book with a satisfying thump and offers it to Kaylah. "Can you put this away neatly so everyone else can find it later?"

[Unknown] The hare looks at the man, "My child, what can I do for you?" the words practically hiss out of the rabbit, not an ounce of the native god's voice in that comment. The eyes flashing red as the light surrounding the two dim.

Dream moves to her uncle's side and wraps her arms around the fox's neck in a hug. "You know he'll owe you for this, and even though he will brag that its him, you know you are the reason." and then she lets go, and pushes the fox in the direction of the gravesite as another bone is flung from the hole in the earth.

[Between] Kaylah looks a little disappointed not being able to keep it, but follows instructions ever so precisely. She neatly tucks it in, and climbs back up on Spar's back. The hunters still scouring the library for whatever used to be here, frantically searching for something, the dark hungry globes searching for prey, but still not noticing the two.

Apostasy looks at Dream, then the fox, then shrugs and pads towards the hole in the ground, cautiously.

[Between] Sparhawk taps Kaylah lightly on the forehead. "You know this story and it's inside you now. And as this is a library, you can come back to hear it again...but so can everyone else. No good hoarding it." With that shi deigns to pay attention to the hunters, humming a tune about already having what one needs, and having a rest, leaving that in hir wake as shi travels on.

[Unknown] The Wolf and Man shakes his head slowly, clucking his tongue with disappointment. "Come on, then... I ain't no child'a'yers. Mebbe distant relations, but... got no Shadow in me. You know that fairly well, doncha?" A playful and intimidating wink of an emerald eye, cocky as his hands flip up the collar of his peacoat. "So... why don't ya jus'... move on out... and it don't need ta get ugly."

[Unknown] The creature laughs now, "What, do you think you could possibly do to me? Will you swallow me like Coyote once did, and try to use me? I've heard rabbit tastes good." There's a momentary blink of his eyes, and cock of his head.

Apostasy approaches the hole, and inside is a large wolf, digging and scratching at the ground, her nose seeking out all sorts of things, her eyes completely closed. Something... odd looking is chewed to bits by her paw. She huffs as she finds another bone, and tosses that out, it nearly colliding with Apo. Behind her, the fox approaches the hole, tentatively.

Apostasy yelps as the bone whizzes by her face, ducking away from the hole. "'Ey! Balina! Watch what you're doing! That almost hit me!" she calls into the hole, indignantly.

[Between] The library once had hir friends, but they are no longer there, the hunter’s lost and frantic search making it rather obvious they have fled from the library. Spar returns to the land of dream, and moves from image to image, movies, and dreams of movies that don't exist, and shi travels through them, back into hir childhood. Then shi finds a book, this one very different from those in the library, for this isn't a book of knowledge, rather it’s a living and breathing world contained in paper.

[Unknown] Taggart clears his throat, shaking his head. "No, no... usin' tha power uva God ain't my style, friend. I'm more tha sort ta jus'keep it safe and tucked away. Ya know... you've got yer Magic... I got mine." The man shrugs and sighs, "Eit'er way... it don't really matter'ere. Ain't yer place. Yer treadin' on all sortsa toes there. 'fore long, yer gunna draw a whole bunch'attention that you don't want... and it won't be from us Mortals."

[Between] Sparhawk regards this deeper dream with great interest, one that can happen in the light of day just as well. With another check of hir supplies and rider, shi pushes into this living story.

[Unknown] Shadow-Hare laughs, laughs and laughs. "What makes you think that wasn't why I came?" The hare now behind Taggart, as if he was there the entire time. He's but a meter away.

Balina pauses mid-scratch, with the odd feeling that someone's walked in on her doing something embarrassing. Slowly, she cranes her head back, opening her eyes to see Apostasy peering down. Discreetly covering the remains of the spleen with her back paw as she turns around, she pops her forelegs up out of the hole. Given the size of a Balinawolf, the fact that she's just barely able to do so means she's gotten rather deep, even for a grave. She gives an innocent smile to Apo, but before she finishes opening her mouth to greet the wingly wolf, her nose gets enough Coyote funk out of it to catch scent of the fox. Her back legs begin to scrabble, and her expression hardens, growling the whole way out.

Apostasy darts back a bit as Balina starts growling and scrabbling her way out of the hole. "Hey, hey, what gives? What's got you all riled up all of a sudden?"

The fox bolts forward and snags a bone, and then books it past Dream, heading back for its cubby in the trees. The thing has a panicked look on its face.

"What the...Hey! Get back here with that, you little jerk!" Apo yells after the fleeing fox. She places a - probably futile - restraining hand on Balina's shoulder to stop her charging madly after him until some sort of explanation can be garnered.

[Between] The book cover has an entwined snake upon its front, and as Spar begins to read, he hears the call and plight of the people of its land. The people call out for help, for a hero.

Dream laughs, and laughs, giggling madly at the chase, the fleeing fox.

[Between] Sparhawk inevitably shifts to humming the theme of the movie of the book, seeking out the young hero who has a poor understanding of other people. Because that is where everyone will be assembled, around the main character. Might accidently be a fluffy dragon by the time shi appears, too.

[Unknown] Taggart gives a small shake of his head, "Yanno... I'd be careful'bout that poppin'about ya do. Might end up somewhere ya don't like. 'cause... yer like... everywhere all at tha same time er summat, right? And... if that's true... means yer already in me stomach... and usin' Dream logic... means yer there, since... I kin' make this MY dream whenver I really care ta spare tha effort." A wicked and dominant grin finds his mouth, winking at the Hare again. "Right?"!

Balina snarls and champs her teeth a few times, but Apo's hand, the fox's rapid departure, and parts of Balina screaming that Dream is RIGHT THERE are enough that she doesn't immediately give chase, much as she wants to. The fact that she never got out of the hole is completely unrelated. Looking once more at Apo, then nodding to Dream, she turns back around, snaps up the last of the scraps at her paws, and goes back to digging. "Saving time," she growls at the dirt.

[Unknown] For a brief moment, the rabbit's eyes flicker with fear, and in a flash he's gone, with the shadow still thick where he was. No sight of him, Taggart's alone in the abandoned alley, the theatre still bright.

Apostasy quirks an eyebrow as Balina goes back to digging... and then sets off in pursuit of the fox, following his scent trail - a mix of strong fox smell, and terror. She giggles to herself at that as she runs, loping along on all fours.

[Storybook] And Sparhawk finds hirself on the back of a very furry dragon. The wind blows wildly, and Kaylah clings tight, she's cheering, or screaming, or something that’s a mix of fear and delight.

Apostasy reaches the glade, and enters quickly after the fox. The fox huffs as it sees Apostasy catch up, and drops the bone onto the ground inside the glade. Vines reach up immediately and seep into the bone, the thing twisting and warping and then the sound of laughter, Coyote's laughter reverberates, Balina can smell Coyote like she's inside of him, and then with a noise that sounds almost like a bloop, the various parts of coyote begin to simply fade from existence.

[Storybook] Sparhawk grins widely. "All good dragons have proper handholds!" shi shouts into the wind as shi crawls forward to the part that does less flailing-like-a-kite-tail. Still seeking the people who might not need rescuing after all.

Apostasy blinks as the bone is quickly altered by the vines, and starts at the sound of laughter, almost deafening her. "Augh! What the hell just happened??"

[Unknown] Taggart gives a bit of a smirk, but shakes it away, the cockiness quickly fading as the needed bid for power is gone. His eyes glance up to theater, turning to look at the name of the picture showing.

There is, incidentally, light shining through the keyhole of the theater's door. Especially if the door is open. It will hang in the air without need for actual door support.

[Unknown] The name is faded but reads "What Dreams May Come". There's a light dusting of snow now on the street.

[Grave] As her nose has already been full of Coyote for the last however long she's been digging, Balina fails to notice as the smell permeates the rest of the dream. The 'bloop' coming from her stomach, however, is a pretty good distraction. Working her way out of the hole she's dug herself, the task aided by the more quiet anger of having chosen poorly, she glances off in the direction she remembered the fox running. Looking over at Dream, she tries as best as she can to gesture at her own back with her nose, muttering a low, "Okay, which way did they go?"

Apostasy feels a hand grab hers, the little girl saying, "Papa's awake." and she grins over at the fox, who seems a little irritated, "You think everyone's going to forget you now don't you?" and the fox huffs at that.

Apostasy looks down at Dream in shock, and then smiles. "The old bastard is back again? He better not be expecting a big hug hello from me."

[Unknown] Taggart frowns gently, but heads into the theater, knowing in his Mind's Eye that the door isn't locked.

[Storybook] The dragon now soars directly toward the ground; the friends are like tiny ants from way up high but visible. The sound of Coyote's laughter echoes in Spar's ears. The dragon himself is laughing, and roars loudly.

[Unknown] The rickety theatre hasn't been kept up well, but the door does open, and inside the click of the projector echoes throughout the room. On the screen there's a movie playing, although it's flashes of images of stories rather than the movie from the placard outside. There is one viewer, someone strapped to a chair, their eyes held open as they are forced to watch the film. Their hands are gripped tightly against the chair they are bound to.

[Storybook] Sparhawk laughs too! Because flying is fun, as is success! One more step toward victory, and there's a semitransparent bear giving wet licks to the faces of the comatose pubgoers on the farthest outside.

[Unknown Theatre] Taggart makes his way down the aisle of the theatre, eyes watching the stories flashing on the screen before he turns his attention to the person strapped and watching. His level of concern doesn't seem to raise, and he makes his way to their chair, head tilting to one side as he tries to discern the person's identity.

[Grave?] Balina heads off towards the fox's last known trail, hoping to pick up something, anything over the smell of Coyote everywhere. Her stomach feels cheated, or at least tricked, and something about that has to be done before she's going to be able to rest easy tonight.

Dream nods up at Apostasy, saying "Yup!" happily, and then moves over to comfort the fox. Balian catches up to the two pretty quickly, and when she enters, the smell of the other, finally overcomes the scent of Coyote.

Apostasy gives Balina a small wave. "Done with graverobbing and scavenging carrion for tonight then, Balina?" she asks with a grin.

[Storybook] And Falkor dives, crashing into the ground with a loud roar, thumping Sparhawk and Kaylah up under Falkor's ear. They can hear voices of their friends, and family about, and Kaylah's ears perk.

Balina huffs, then takes a deep careful sniff, the smell of even Fox smelling sweet and clean compared to the last few minutes. "Only for the moment," she grins, padding past the pair as she continues following her nose.

Apostasy chuckles and rolls her eyes before turning her attention back to Dream. "So what exactly have we achieved? Our friends all still seem to be stuck in nightmares."

[Unknown Theatre] Taggart sees an image of Crys on the screen. She appears to be overwhelmed by hordes of creatures, with a hollow image of Kaylah and Sorien behind her; she looks both determined and frightened on the screen, her blades in hand, the question running through her mind of avoiding violence. This image hovers in place, sticking for longer than the others. The person in the seat is nondescript, could be an everyman, generic down to the T, a little bit feminine, a little bit masculine, a little bit young and old, all at the same time. His face is frozen in a picture of abject terror.

[Storybook] "D-mail delivery," Sparhawk's voice sings out, "Things precious and rare!" Shi hops off nimbly after mussing Falcor's hairstyle, keeping hir left hand firmly upon the Kaylah rider. A call especially important because shi is still wrapped in darkness and defended against things of shadow.

The group doesn't seem to notice Spar, and is busy getting up on the dragon, cheering happily, however Sparhawk notices Coyote-Sorien wink at hir, and signal for her to get on too.

[Storybook] Spar grumbles a bit as shi is immediately forced to retread terrain. "Clearly something is going on because no one has hounded me for explanations and explanations of those explanations." Taking advantage of being largely ignored, everyone ends up with a key, tied to a bracelet with a string that goes to be a remember-me string around their finger. Except Sori, who is paying far too much attention for reverse pickpocketing.

Balina sniffs the air, Foxes scent is almost overwhelming to her, the bloodlust she's been driven towards this entire time comes to a peak. He stole Coyote, he's the one that has tormented her!

Dream answers Apostasy, "It's time to wake soon, but it's also time for me to say goodbye." the little girl says, hugging tightly around her uncle's neck, who stiffens as Balina approaches.

Apostasy places a restraining hand on Balina again. "Hey! Control yourself. Stop letting the Fenrir in you call the shots." She smiles warmly at Dream and says "Don't be a stranger, Dream. Come visit sometime."

[Storybook] And Falkor takes off in the wrong direction into the nothingness. Each member of the group finding their own door with a key in the void, and then they wake, choking on things. Taggart, Balina and Apostasy the only three still asleep.

Balina stops, but her eyes remain locked on Fox. Dream, as always, grounds her a little, and as long as Fox keeps the girl hostage like that, she won't pounce. She does everything short of it, however, hunkering down and baring her teeth in a fashion that may or may not be a grin.

Apostasy looks at Dream. "You may want to figure out how to wake her up and get her out of here before she decides eating Fox is more important than you not getting hurt."

Fox yips loudly now at Balina, again, and again. He then nips at Dream, forcing her to let go and charges at Balina.

[Unknown Theatre] Taggart sits down in the seat next to the non-descript person, reaching over to casually remove the devices that are keeping its eyes open. He snaps a few fingers in front of their eyes, glancing over his shoulder at the scene on the screen. "Sleep, friend." A mumble before Taggart stands back up and makes his way up to the screen, preparing to throw his Will into the Dream in front of him.

Balina pounces, teeth and claws prepared to do what they were formed to do.

The man's eyes are still open, almost catatonic at this point, but he does blink for a moment, and with him, the dream fades black around everyone, and then on again. As Taggart reaches the screen and touches it, his hand dips right in.

The little fox goes for the throat of the titanic wolf in front of him. He certainly has balls, being dwarfed by a giant wolf.

Apostasy steps back to give Balina some space, not bothered trying to stop the fight Fox apparently wants so badly.

Taggart gives a bit of a sigh and jumps into the Dream, man becoming manwolf in the process. Appearing next to the group of his friends, he turns and immediately strikes out at Sorien and Kaylah, claws swiping through the air.

Balina has already committed to going teeth-first into the morsel in front of her. There is no plan, there is no strategy. There is only her tormenter, and her mouth.

The fake Sori and Kaylah melt under his claws, and Crys cries out and finally makes a slash at Taggart, just as the dream blinks out again, and this time the void is longer, and then they're back. Crys' blade is on the ground, and she's on her knees in front of Taggart sobbing.

The dream blinking in and out, as Balina bites down on Fox, she tastes him and his blood flowing into her mouth, and then there is nothing, and when reality returns, the fox is limping on the ground, it's ears drooped, glaring. It growls and then sneers, and Balina and Apostasy find themselves falling, and both wake at once to a room full of friends. Bal still having the taste of Fox in her mouth.

Apostasy jolts awake all of a sudden. "Gah!" She looks around, blinking, and sees she's back in the Pub, awake again. "Well. That was fun. Let's not do that again. Also, bad Balina. No treats for you."

Manwolf becomes man again and Taggart kneels down, gripping his dear friend's shoulders to give her a soft shake. "S'a'dream, Crys. Tell yerself ta wake up. You are in control, now..."

Crys blinks, and looks up at the monster that is now her friend. She looks at the prone and dust shapes that she once thought was her family, and she shivers. She pulls Taggart into a hug, clinging to him, and the dream blinks out again, and when it returns, the two are gone.

[[Category:RPLogs]][[Category:Crystala Events]]

Nightwhispers: Silence/Chapter 2

2012-02-06T06:27:01Z

Crystala:

Darkness transitions into light, and there's a small room, a single person is inside a chair, strapped to it and forced to watch a screen. Their eyes held open, while lights flicker on an old fashioned screen. They are screaming, although silently, their hands pressed tight against the chair. On the screen is a library, rather massive in shape, and four figures can be made out. They seem to be playing out parts of a script, a skunk, two foxes, and a husky, oddly realistic in their shapes, the special effects these days are quite good. They appear to be running from something, shadow moving behind the four.

And the camera focuses on the four, reality coming in along with realization that something is out of place. The robotic script comes to a hault as the four have memories flood back in. Sorien, Aidan, Alynna and Narg are huddled around inside an area that the sun shines down, illuminating the four and holding the shadows at bay.

Sori blinks and looks around, trying to get a grip at just what the hell is going on...

Aidan opens her eyes wide, looking around with a really uneasy feeling, like if recovering from something awful. "What.. where am I now?" she asks, clearly confused and... still scared. Aidan. Scared.

Narg blinks and growls putting her hand on where the apparent dream had stabbed her "Well whatever that was could have gone better... Now where am I..." she takes a look around at her surrounding to determine this information.

"I don't recognize this place..." Says Sori, looking more closely at the scene.

Alynna looks straight up, averting her eyes from the sunlight only by a bit, trying to discern where it is coming from. She doesn't know where she is, and oddly enough she doesn't know what she had been doing before either. "Where the heck.." is the only thing that escapes her mouth for the moment. Her appearance at the moment was that of her feral form, and she looks like she had spent a month in some forest.

Corridors go off into the distance, lined high with books, there seems to be no end. A thin haze of bookdust hangs in the air, masking scents beyond the four, but the four do smell. The light above streams through a vaulted glass ceiling, casting sunlight into an otherwise dark tomb of literature.

Narg nods at Sori and stands up to dust herself off. "Well, wherever we are I'm not sure we should really be here... anyone else agree?" She looks at all the books with eyes of admiration, however. "I wonder if any of those books are still readable..."

Are you three okay? I seem to be... I remember a truly screwed up dream." Says Sori.

Aidan focuses a bit on the other, still holding a defensive stance against the others. "What's... happening? Alynna? Sorien? Narg?" she asks, before answering Sorien, "Sorien.. yes, I can definitely remember a screwed up dream. If a dream..."

Sori replies, "I have no clue. But..."

Narg nods "I had me a messed up dream too.. I died, I seem to be fine though..."

Alynna raises her nose up high and starts to sniff about, curious about the scents. Her ears perk to points as she hears other voices, moving slightly forward like she's prepared to track a scent. "If we were not supposed to be here, why bring me here?" She yips, and then when she hears Aidan she moves straightaway over to her mate, rubbing against her leg.

A small finger of shadow probes the light, flickering for a moment against it and then pulling back. The place is utterly silent besides the four friends, but not far away there's a terminal counter, and a map posted on one of the large columns nearby. Besides the scent of the others, and that of dust, there's a very faint background scent, or... lack of scent, almost like an impression of something that was once, and no longer is.

Narg wrinkles her nose at the bugging of a small lack scent for the room "That's... strange. Course I should expect that..." she walks over to get as close to the map as she can without going into the shadow and begins to study it carefully "Someone may wanna check that terminal out..."

Aidan is used to relying on her scent, and the lack of scents is really setting her a bit off. As soon as Alynna is close to her, the fox seems to forget about her fears- for now at least- and wraps her arms around Alynna, holding her tightly. "Yes.. there isn't anything normal since.. a while, at least for me. But from what I hear, it was weird and unpleasant for you as well."

Alynna started to circle around Aidan, almost looking confused as she sniffs around in every direction and wonders why there is such a lack of scents. "I'm sorry I've been away for a bit... What's weird and unpleasant?" Her ears lower significantly. "I seem to be missing a spot of memory."

"I'm loathe to interact at all here. It feels like... Well, I don't think I'm... WE'RE here. Wherever here is. I may be dreaming- I have no idea how I got here, now where I am, and I don't feel like I've been drugged or anything. My brain is saying 'trap' too, but maybe 'safe zone' is better." Sori says.

The map is gigantic, showing quadrants, and miles and miles of corridors. No exit, it seems entirely self contained, but there is a more central area, and their location is in the southeast corner, the mythology section.

Narg whistles at the sheer size of it all, or at least to tries to whistle. She then rubs her hands together. "We seem to be in the mythology section of this place, southwest corner of the complex if I read this right"

Sori says, "What do you all think- trap or safe zone?" She moves forward, staying well within the light and glances at the books.

Aidan holds tightly to Alynna, walking to the map with her at her side. "It seems so. And yes, I had quite... An unpleasant dream. Not that this makes more sense, actually."

Alynna glances over in Sori's direction. "Considering I don't remember what I was doing before now and I don't know what I'm doing here, I'm going to place my chips on 'trap'.. That being said, I'm glad yer all here."

The edge of the shadow creeps again into the light, making the light recoil for a moment as it slides over the surface, and is then pushed back. The border of the light ripples near Sorien, when she looks at the stacks all of the books read Coyote, every single one of them is about him. And amazingly, none of them are duplicates.

"Mine... Was a twisted variation of what happened on P-Day. Reality was that nothing happened to me on P-day. It was days later than everything went truly to hell. ... Huh. They're all Coyote." Sori says.

Narg grumbles "I don't feel comfortable relating mine at the moment... Sori, that shadow is reaching at you I think..." She moves over to the terminal desk as long as it's in the light and checks the terminal for the first thing on the screen. "But my money is on a trap at the moment"

"Mine... was unpleasant. I was... It. And everyone in the pub was staring at me, hating me. There was your daughter, Sorien. She was with me, hugging me even if I was trying to push her back, scared to hurt her. She was telling me that everything was fine... and I bit her. Then I think I woke up here."

A scream erupts from one of the corridors, echoing through it, otherwise eerily silent. It is accompanied by a rippling in the dust in the air. The computer terminal seems locked, and spurts out the word, Coyote. Over and over again.

Sori snorts. "Huh. Playing on fears. Wonder who does that. I think we have our villain." She hugs Aidan. "I trust you, sweetie. You'd not hurt Kay."

Alynna moves over to one of the books, and starts to sniff at them. "Thats not much of a surprise, Coyote gets all the attention." Her ears started to lower a bit as she thought about it.

Narg frowns. "The screen just seems to be spouting Coyote over and over again..." Her ears prick at the sound of the scream before earflattening "Yeah, definitely not a good place to be right now. We either need to get out or investigate that scream... So who has a plan?"

Sori gives a little, sharp laugh. "We've been aware for all of 5 minutes! WHAT plan? I'm still working on what the hell is up, and how this happened. Shadow was OUT of all of us. Somehow the shit got an avenue back in- the real question we have is how." She reaches for one of the fully-lit books. "But we can't just do nothing, so I'm checking this."

"Coyote..." Aidan sighs a bit, before hearing the outburst after the hug. "I think we should calm down and try to relax a bit before starting to think about why we are here and how to get out of here."

The book opens to a small passage that reads, Chapter 1: Cannot Run. The test below it is empty. The next chapter repeats the same, and so forth. And the shimmering shadows again reach out for Sorien before being snapped back from the light.

Narg rubs her eyes at the apparent lack of urgency to the situation; she does notice the snap of shadow at Sorien. "Sori, get away from the shadow NOW!" she isn't yelling, rather emphasizing the point that she should move.

Sori puffs out an already-exasperated breath. "Cripes, knock of the theatrics! We know who and what you are. We know the game. Cheap movie effects ain't gonna do it, Shadow." She steps back, entirely for Narg's benefit, saying, "He preys on fear. That's what the snapping shadows and screaming is about. Getting us scared. Mostly he just ticks me off."

Alynna tries to grab one of the books on the shelves, in her mouth, so she can read it. After retrieving a random one she drops it on the floor in front of her. "I wonder who needs soo much documentation and what it's all for. Maybe someone's looking for a weakness. Is this the shadow thing y'all are always talking about?" she yips softly.

Narg nods "Yeah well if you'd had my dream you would be just a tiny bit more concerned about the fact it's only been trying to grab at you Sori, I'm just trying to look out for you"

Sori smiles at Narg. "Its cool, I do understand. But I won't let this twenty-thousand-odd year-old amateur Wes Craven wannabe get to me."

Now there is crying that can be heard, Kaylah's soft whimpering. She sounds in pain and terrified.

Narg nods "Well get to your reading th.... Kay?" she twitches her ears around in an attempt to hear which corridor the sounds are coming from

The book Alynna has is a story about Coyote's fall, it has a comic image of him rolling down a hill like a rock.

Sori's ears flat. "Cheap bastard..." She takes a breath, then another. "The book said 'Can't run.' I'm not sure if that's a hint or what. But protecting my own... That's what I'm about." She raises her voice, knowing that if it IS Kay, she'll respond. "Kay! If this is you, don't be afraid, no matter what you see or hear. Tell me what your favorite thing is!"

“Fear... Shadow?" Aidan asks, seeming that Sorien knows quite better what's going on. Still, she shivers as she feels Kay's voice.

She clearly can't hear, as no response comes, but the whimpering doesn't stop, and only grows louder with time. And out from one of the corridors stumbles Rihko, mildly dazed and walking in the shadows, confused as to where she is.

Narg nods and tenses as she sees something stumble out of the shadows only to relax and rush over to help Rihko into the sunlight "Rihko you all right?"

Alynna's ears perk up a little bit, leaving the book where it is. She wanders back over to Aidan. "Dollars to donuts that isn't even her. Someone who wanted to rile us up would just try to think it was.."

Sori is doing her best Vulcan imitation, but it's obvious the sobs are getting to her. "If it's getting louder its not her, its Shadow pushing the situation. And I'll kill him for that alone."

Aidan nods at Sorien, still moving closer to her, as well as keeping Alynna close. n"What are we going to do? You seem to have been in more encounters with... Shadow."

Rihko staggers forward a few steps, eyes wide and blank. When someone calls her name she slowly turns her head towards Narg, then takes another couple of unsteady steps towards the husky, slowly entering the light. The kitsune's head tilts to the side, and she slowly blinks, then looks down at her paws. Then she looks back up, and blinks at Narg.

"I wish I had a better answer other than 'I don't know', Aidan. What he'll do is drive fears down our throats til we do something stupid, like walking or running into the shadows- that'll be us giving a willing avenue for him to directly get into us... But its gonna hurt, what he's going to do to get that," Sori says.

Narg tilts her head at Rihko's confusion "If your wondering if it's me then yes, yes it is... And if you had any weird experiences they were not real."

Alynna sighs and shakes her head a bit. "You didn't tell me that this Shadow guy was also pathetic as well." She yips loud into the air and follows it with more commentary. "Come out come out, wherever you are. If you want to kill somebody today you're going to have to be a lot more direct."

"He CAN do that, Alynna. He wants a tool though, and we've thwarted him before." Says Sori.

In response the shadow leaps from the boundary into the light in direct path to Alynna.

Sorien leaps and tries to spin Alynna clear of the strike, while avoiding it herself!

Rihko's ears go flat and her paws drop. She continues staring at Narg with a blank, empty stare. "You're not real either..." she echoes Narg.

"This is..." Aidan says, "And you fought him. I can't really... What's that?". The fox growls, jumping in front of Alynna... but it's too late, since Sorien already did.

Four more Tendrils also leap, the original missing its target, two more going for Sorien and Alynna and falling back from the light, while two come into contact with Aidan. The moment they touch her flesh, it begins to dissolve, eating at the flesh of her legs, stripping it to the bone.

Narg watches as everyone jumps at Alynna before she can react and returns to tending to Rihko "Rihko snap out of it what ever you saw was put into your head to confuse you that's all"

Alynna quickly summons balls of light around the group to attempt to drown out the Shadows, taking a single step back. If she's afraid at this point there's no appearance of it, even if she should be. "Hmm.. No." she raises a paw in the direction of the shadow to direct it to chase the Shadow off, if that is even possible.

The light illuminates the areas that cast a normal shadow, but the stuff attacking them is a thick globe of potent and pure darkness, it slinks away to hide back away from the light and begins to pull in its prey.

Aidan falls on the ground, passing out from the pain of having the flesh of her legs eaten.

Sori snaps, "Narg! Grab Aidan's arms and pull her back!" When she says that, she tries to use her healing ability on Aidan, knowing that it isn't precisely Nanites.

Rihko pats Narg on the shoulder. "Sure, dream-Narg. Sure," she says, her tone rather... empty, still. Her head turns though and she frowns as she sees dream-Aidan being eaten; at dream-Sorien's order, she steps forward to grab Aidan's arm and try to pull her back away from the shadow. "Hey. That's not nice. I like Aidan."

Narg whips her flashlight out of the side of her backpack and moves to grab Aidan to pull her well out of the way; she flips the light on and sweeps it before Aidan's legs as she pulls!

The thing reacts poorly to the light and slips its grip off of Aidan as she's pulled away. Sorien's attempt to heal is little more than a joke, like a bucket in the water. Aidan's well past the point of unconscious, and leaves a slick trail of blood on the ground as she's pulled away. The area fills with a chill breeze and the lit area seems to be shrinking around them as a cloud overhead moves in front of the sun.

Alynna erfs softly. "Ahh, shit." she yips, directing the light to follow in front of hir as shi walks quickly in Aidan's direction. Shi grabs onto one of Aidan's tails in hir mouth and starts to help drag her away as well, rring softly, not speaking as that would cause her to let go. She tries to surround Aidan in the lights she's summoned, and then everyone else as shi tries to bring Aidan over into the group.

Sori strips her shirt off and starts stanching the bloodflow, wrapping the horrid injuries as best she can.

Narg offers a small prayer to God for that cloud to move quickly as she draws her pistol, probably more for comfort than anything else. "Yah had to say somethin' didn't you, Alynna didn't ya..." She sighs and points at any point that seems darkest in the darkness and fires her weapon, sending a bolt of light into the shadows.

Rihko stops dragging when Aidan is in the middle of the circle of light; she crouches there a moment and blinks, then sniffs at the air. She helps Sorien with Aidan's legs, looking to the shadows and back to Aidan a few times as she works. "This..." she says, and pauses, then tries again. "This... You're not just a dream-Sorien, are you?" She asks quietly, her tone livening up with growing realization.

Sori mutters, "Yes and no. Busy here..."

A series of vines burst out of the ground. They snake their way around Aiden, and dig into her flesh. The darkness makes another attempt to leap at the group, and a massive tree bursts from the ground meeting it in the way. The vines snake up and around the group, and then begin to pull Aidan down, into the earth below. One by one, the vines wrap around each of the others, pulling them under; Alynna, the last one to go, is startled when a fox bumps up against her, and presses its cold nose up against her. With some sadness it watches as Alynna sinks as well, as if waving goodbye, its sad eyes staring. Alynna sees the globe of nature shatter just as she slides into the warmth.

Sori grits her teeth and hangs onto Aidan, even as the vines grab her.

Narg curses and holsters her pistol, breathing calmly as she is sucked down into the earth before stopping her breath and offering another small prayer.

Snowblind's ears are ringing as the sounds of artillery and explosions echo, falling marble striking the ground and people in the city flee for cover. It takes time for her brain to focus amongst the confusion, the city walls locked and thudding as a siege outside lays waste to the town defenses. She finally gets her bearing to see the prone form of Aidan in front of her, who's groaning and appears to have taken some kind of wound to her leg, though not severe.

Alynna yips loudly as she is dragged underground by the vines, though she turns quickly to look at the fox that pressed its nose against hir, trying to get a good glimpse of who it was before she is tugged away. Even more so, she tries to figure out where they are all going. Shi mumbles softly, something about not letting the shadow have us.

Snowblind shakes her head and rushes towards Aidan to help her with her wound. She shakes her head some more, trying to clear her vision and her ears. But more importantly she wants to get Aidan and her to the semi safety of cover and shelter.

An old opera house is nearby, and from the noise coming from within is occupied with a performance despite the city being under attack. Aidan's conscious but dazed; she seems confused, but her memories are there though she's not sure how she got from protecting her mate to the city. She does remember the pain.

Narg lets herself be dragged along by the vines in confusion as to where she is being brought

Aidan seems to groan in pain, slowly shaking her head and looking around confused. She touches her legs, like if reassuming that they are still there.

Snowblind clears her head enough to hear Aidan groan and helps her with a calming voice. "Easy Aidan. I think you got hit by something. Just stay with me. I see an opera house still standing; let me get you to it before I help more. Spirits... I..." She stammers at the end but then just gives a gentle but firm tug to help her up and into a position where she can carry if need be.

Aidan seems to appreciate the friendly touch, shaking her head with confusion. A shadow.. ate my legs away. Alynna.. where is she?" she pants in pain.

Alynna takes a look at Aidan's legs, then starts to lick at them a bit, as if she expected the licks to help in some way. Then she moves straightaway over to Snowblind and Aidan. "I think that went better than expected. However, maybe I should apologize. He was just being annoying, that Shadow guy. I thought it'd be better to bring him out on our own terms, rather than fall into his traps." shi looks over to the opera house, then returns to licking at Aidan's legs, trying to heal them the rest of the way. "Speaking of which, I wonder if we're still in one."

There's more ringing as another artillery shell strikes one of the nearby buildings, demolishing its roof and sending chunks of stone to the ground below. The opera house is particularly welcoming to the group in this time of great war. Inside the orchestra is playing a rather cheesy tune, and on the stage are rather obscenely large set pieces, in this case a giant fake water scene, and a ship peeks just over the edge. On the stage are multiple actors on the boat, the captain is a robust man, and behind him his ship is being crewed by familiar faces, Narg, Sorien, Crystala, and Rihko are all there, playing their parts, until realization hits them again, memories of who they are returning.

"Shadow? The Shadow?" Snow asks then blinks and nods to Alynna as it seems that Aidan asking for her brought her here. "She is right here, Aidan. She is helping you as well." She seems more interested in making sure that Aidan is alright than discussing shadow more right now. "Dear, will you help Aidan on my back. The licking is doing well but we should head for cover. I'd rather a roof try to hit us then more artillery." Snow says as she then gets in the building with the rest of the group on stage. "Now... what the?"

Sori blinks, looking around startledly. She looks at the players she doesn't recall, seeing if she knows any of them.

Rihko strikes a dramatic pose, finger raised, then abruptly falters. She freezes, and blinks, and looks around at the others. "I... uh..." her head turns and her ears swivel. "I... where's Aidan?" she asks, turning to peer out over the opera house.

Narg shakes her head as she begins climbing the rigging. She blinks a moment, then a wry grin appears on her face. "Avast me 'earties where in the seven seas we be?!" She snickers and continues climbing the rigging to keep up the act for a bit.

Aidan nods confused at Snow, still hugging Alynna as soon as she's close. "Are you alright, love?" she asks, touching Alynna's body as to reassure that she's real. Then, nodding to Snow, she says, "Shadows... but from the way Sorien was speaking, I think THAT shadow."

Sori looks at the rest of the crew, swallows, then starts laughing!

The captain continues on his monologue, announcing himself as the great Baron, and talks into the sea, where women in mermaid costumes peek above the fake waves, and flaunt themselves at him. The performance is really hackenyed though, and quite terrible.

The audience begins to boo, throwing rotten food at Sorien.

Sori bites down on the giggles and tries to fit in for the moment.

Narg arghs as she reaches the top of the rigging and moves to the crows nest where she hangs off and swings around with her hand above her eyes to look at the scene.

Alynna rubs up against Aidan's paw and nods a little bit. "I was relatively unmolested by the Shadow. I think it went after you just to piss me off. It must know that my nanites suppress fear, kind of like Loki's nanites suppress social skills." She giggles softly. "Well, i'm not really sure how much or if they do so, it just seems to be a hard thing for me to feel."

Rihko moves up and puts a paw on Sorien's shoulder, fighting down a little snicker. "If there's one place we'd be safe, it would be at the side of Baron von Munchausen. And he is always wonderful to the ladies," she says quietly, and smiles.

An old man interrupts the play, shouting, "No, No, No, this is all wrong! All wrong!" The man is quite old and hobbles up onto the stage, but is dressed similarly to the actor on the stage playing the Baron. He shakes a finger and turns to the audience, "This is not right!" and the audience boos at the man interrupting the show.

Rihko's ears perk up and her tails flick. She giggles, and leans against the side of the fake boat. "And who are you then, good sir?" she calls out, her tails waving more energetically as she gets into it. "Why are you interrupting us?"

Sori has the muzzled equivalent of an ear to ear grin, knowing what's going on VERY well. "Bloody right it isn't," she mutters in a bad english accent.

Snowblind sets Aidan down in Alynna's arms as she looks over the damage that is done. Her ears are turned toward the stage and at the multiple outbursts she turns her head ever so slightly. "Ever get the feeling that nothing is making sense?" She murmers to the two before she gives Aidan a pat on the leg. "Alynna did a good job, it will sting a bit I bet but you should be able to walk." She smiles to Aidan then takes a seated position to look a bit more towards the stage. "And why during the shelling are they even putting on..." She shakes her head once more to clear it. "So much not making sense right now."

Narg drops by means of rope from her perch up on the crows nest, winding up standing next to Sorien and Rihko with a thump of floorboards. "An' why are ya disruptin' tha play ye ole sea dog?"

Alynna transforms straight away into the taur version of herself, so that Aidan can be placed on her back and carried, which she proceeds to do. Then she looks up. "Better question. Why is the entire town being shelled in the first place? I'm guessing we're headlong in another illusion."

The elderly man turns to Rihko and says, "But /I/ am the great Baron von Munchaussen! Do you not recognize me?" He appeals to the crowd, attempting to put on a show despite being hilariously old and frail. The boos continue.

Crys moves forward to Sorien and whispers, "Love, what in the bloody hell is going on? Do you know these people?"

ori blinks and HUGS Crys. "We're in a movie. I think... Its a safehaven, of sorts. It certainly isn't the Shadow's doing," she whispers. Louder, she says, "I believe you, Baron."

Narg snerks "Nay my ole sea dog ye are much to old an frail ta be tha great Baron von Munchaussen! If ye must say ye are then prove it!"

Rihko peers down at the Baron for a moment, and her head tilts to the side. "That sounds nasty. Is it contagious?" Her ear flicks, and she grins, then looks over at Sorien and Crys and giggles.

"Nothing is making sense here... beside the pain." Aidan sighs, relaxing a bit on Alynna's tauric back. "And about that, love.. I don't have any answer. Still, thank you for what you did, I thought I'd lost the legs."

The Baron's smile brightens, "My, my, such beautiful ladies..." He begins, and then a thrown object strikes him on the head and distracts him. Small differences in the scene playing out are beginning to add up. He turns to scowl at the crowd, "You are all brutes! You should show these beautiful ladies more respect!"

Alynna's ears lay back a bit. "I.. The vines were not my doing, there was someone else..." she thought a bit about that then turned to the movie characters, gently poking at the ones she knows, staring with Crys. "You all alright?" she yips softly.

A shell strikes the theatre, shaking the building and putting a hole in the ceiling, part of the ceiling tumbling down and crashing into an empty section. The fighting outside seems to be getting worse, perhaps the Turks are winning?

Sori giggles appropriately at the flattery, giving the Baron his due.

Crys is just outright confused now, she does spot Snow, Aidan and Alynna entering the opera house, and her eyes flicker in recognition. She then hops over the edge of the boat and passes up through the jeering crowd to approach her friends, who might be more forthcoming.

Narg grumbles a bit about being called a beautiful lady but bows in thanks, before stumbling to the left a little bit as the theater is hit by a shell. "By davey jone's locker what are they doing out there!?!?"

Rihko giggles happily and claps her hands. "Oh, Baron, you are such a gentleman..." she catches sight of Snow and Aidan and Alynna in the back of the theater, and waves them over, motioning for them to join the rest.

Snowblind just ends up nodding to Alynna and Aidan and watching the tragedy unfold on the scene. "I am half expecting a knight to come charging across the stage. It would make just as much sense." She then turns after jumping at the shelling that has hit but luckily not harmed anyone. "Or that... Alynna, you have Aidan?" She asks before turning back to them and making sure Aidan is set. "If you want something for that pain I should have something here somewhere." She then checks herself once again. "We should grab everyone and leave before the next shell."

Rihko gives Narg a little nudge. "It's a war. We're at war with the Turks."

Narg nods and frowns "Well, why are we in a play then?" a question to herself more than anyone else.

Alynna nods in agreement with the group. "Yeah, I think we ought to get the heck out of here. In particular, perhaps a bomb shelter or something would be nice to seek out.." shi started to have a look around, then yips softly. "I wonder if we're in the right time period. Maybe we ought to just leave the city?"

"Thank you, Snow..." Aidan nods. "And leaving this place before it fall on our heads... sounds quite a good idea."

"We're safe here. Kinda." Sori says to those still near.

The Baron seems to be growing more youthful and spirited, especially from the flattering reactions of Rihko, Narg and Sorien. He grins widely and says, "I shall tell you all about my stories!" and begins to tell a rambling tale, correcting the details, but missing out on key things that explain how he got to that point. He turns back to the three women and bows, "We shall have to fight the turks, and save the city! That will prove I am the Baron will it not?"

Crys moves up close to the three, and says, "I... I've no idea what's going on, but Sorien mentioned something about being in a movie? I've no idea, but this place feels... wrong. Are we dreaming?"

Sori says, "That it will, Baron, that it will. Call Beaucephalus, and ride!"

Rihko giggles, and claps her hands. "Oh, of course, Baron!" She calls out. "You've already beaten the Sultan once before, haven't you?" She bounces a little on her feet, then leans in towards Crys and Sorien. She examines Crys for a moment, then nods. "Mmhm. I'm not sure if you're all real or not, but I like this dream much more than the last couple."

Rihko hops down off of the stage and scampers after Crystala, eager to see if Aidan is alright.

"Yes, or at least I hope that this madness is a dream... a bad dream..." Aidan sighs, resting on Alynna's back.

Alynna starts to tap on her head a little bit. "That's a good question. I wonder if I'm dreaming. Not that I object, but I literally haven't got the foggiest clue what I'm doing here or even what I have been doing before I was here. At the same time, too many questions are being asked for this to be a dream, at least from only one perspective.."

The ever younger Baron shouts out about how he, and his companions will push back the Sultan, and save the city. The crowd continues to jeer. "And onward!" he shouts, and begins to lead his way out of the theater. Another shell strikes, bringing a different part of the stadium down, this time onto one of the loudest parts of the crowd that was jeering.

Crys looks over the wounded Aidan, "What happened to you my friend?" her eyes grow with concern, not really paying attention to the rowdy Baron's scene that's playing out.

Snowblind smiles and gives a last look over the injured. "Crys I think we are, if not then I ended up in the wrong place, the wrong time, but with the right people. Though..." She pauses and listens to Alynna and Aidan before nodding again as Rihko starts to approach. "I would like to ask another question though. Who is dreaming? For here I am with friends but still it looks like... SPIRITS!" Snow exclaims as the roof comes down on a crowd. "Alynna get Aidan and Crys out NOW." She says then to the group on stage, "Forgot the play get out, get out NOW!" She yells and runs towards the collapsed section of the roof to check for anyone who might of survived it falling in.

Narg looks at a loss for what to do before she runs to the edge and hurdles over the lip of the boat. She follows Rihko before stopping and watching the baron run off, then the section of the ceiling falling down. "I think the Baron I shall follow! Onwards and outwards!!!"

Sori hops out of the boat, heading for Crys and the others. "Follow the Baron, my friends! To Victory!" She says loudly! When she reaches Crys she whispers, "Its one of the gods, one with a sense of humor, protecting us. Follow along!"

Rihko waits for Sorien to catch up, then pats her on the shoulder before following in behind. She's grinning, and moving light on her feet, happy and amused at the dream and her.

Alynna looks around confused, trying to figure out what is going on. If this is a movie, she's never seen it before. She leads Aidan on her back over towards the Baron. "Well, I s'pose we ought to follow him about a bit, he seems to be in charge."

Outside the Baron marches, and points to a large hot air balloon that seems to have appeared from out of nowhere. He invites everyone to join him for adventure, looking quite youthful and spirited now. He once again compliments all the beautiful ladies with a giant grin.

Aidan holds tightly on Alynna as she follows the Baron, the whole situation preventing her to reply to Crystala.

Sori follows along, wondering if she's in the part of the young girl or if someone else is in that role.

Narg blushes and waves the compliment off as she boards the airship on her own, without the help that the Baron would be sure to offer if she was to believe Rihko's description of him being good with the ladies.

Rihko gives the Baron a deep curtsey and holds out a hand to be kissed. "I would be delighted, Baron!" she exclaims, then laughs happily and, once the proper formalities have been observed, she scrambles up into the hot air balloon as well.

Crys looks questioningly at her mate, "Should we follow?" seeming to be as lost as the others.

Another artillery shell whistles in the air overhead and hits the opera house again; shaking it to the core and making it painfully obvious that the city itself is not safe, despite the welcoming content of the dream.

"Yes!" Is the succinct answer, Sori still grinning. "The Baron is a Hero. Note the capital letter!"

Crys shakes her head and sighs, and then helps Alynna to get Aidan into the Balloon.

Alynna nods and heads over to the balloon. "I tend to agree with Sori here. The Baron looks like a smart bloody fool to me. In either case, he's our guide," she yips softly, as she gets into it.

Sori boards, then after Aidan is aboard offers her hand to Crys. "Go with it, sweetie," she whispers. "What does the Shadow fear?"

With some help, Aidan manages to get into the Balloon, looking back grateful to those that help her.

Rihko helps pull Aidan into the basket, and holds her steady until Alynna can climb in as well.

After helping Aidan inside, Crys headtilts at Sorien, "The Shadow fears?" she looks genuinely confused, "He never seemed to... fear, as he lives off it."

Alynna hmmphs softly. "Well then, we should operate without fear. Seems simple enough!"

The Baron pulls out a sword, and begins to cut the supports to the Balloon, letting it up into the air. Just as the thing begins to take off Crys does a tally of the occupants. Then her face screws up, "Wait, where's Snow?!"

Narg waits for this show to get rolling then blinks as Snow is forgotten "Oh no! We forgot her!!" She rushes over to the edge and peers down. "Frac it all."

"What?!" Rihko exclaims. She glances around, then rushes to the side and looks over, then turns to the Baron. "Baron? What should we do?"

"I'll get her." She tests to see if she can shift still, then if she can she leaps out to bring Snow back along!

Sorien moves to shift, and is slammed to the ground as her body shifts into a nonanthro coyote. The Baron answers, there's no turning back now! onward and we will find our companions!"

Sori yips in startlement. "Dammit, I should have KNOWN better..."

Snowblind comes with a few of the audience that she managed to bring out of the rubble outside the opera house as the balloon becomes smaller and smaller. Though she does not look up as she is intent at looking right back at the rest of the rubble and finding more in there.

Narg snickers and looks at Sori. "S'okay Sori.. we all make silly mistakes..." she then peers at the scene around them.

Rihko reaches down to pat Sorien on the head, then rises up. She gives everyone in the balloon a quick hug, moving from Crys to Aidan and around in a circle until she finishes with the Baron, then leans against the side of the balloon and scans the horizon.

Sori shakes herself, scritches behind an ear with a hindfoot, then leans against Crys. She sniffs the air as she does.

The Baron doesn't really pay attention to the others, just continues to ramble about stories of adventures, as they rise high up into the sky.

Alynna glances around to have a look at Sorien and can't help but smile a little bit. "How cute! We must totally be in Coyote zone or something. I don't dare try shifting now.." she moves down to scritch Sori behind her ear.

Narg returns the hug to Rihko and scans the horizon along with her.

Crys looks around, "So... what are we going to do? Sorien mentioned us being safe, but where are we, why are we in a dream? What the heck is the Shadow after and how did he do this to us?" she hammers questions, assuming the others know more about whats happening.

Narg shrugs as she stares at the horizon. "I have no idea as to what is going on either and I won't pretend to either."

"... Huh. Wonder why..." Sori mutters, head tilted. "Sweetie, did you have a bad dream?"

Rihko continues to lounge against the side of the balloon, eyes scanning the horizon. "That would make sense," she says quietly. "Balina and Sparhawk... maybe they called it up. And we were just in the..." she waves a paw at the dreamscape below them. "In the nearby area." She pauses, and frowns a moment. "I hope they are okay."

Crys shakes her head, "I always have bad dreams, but no, over time I've managed to stop them from happening to me. I... The last thing I remember was us with Kay in the den. All the others were there too, except Alynna."

"We all apparently had bad dreams before ending up in a weird library, then here. The Library was the Shadow torturing us. This," Sori puts forepaws up to look out at the scenery, "Is someone elses doing. We're being helped. Right, Baron?"

Alynna's ears prick up to points but she doesn't say anything yet, she just looks contemplative for a good number of seconds and then murmurs softly. "Wonder why I'm here then."

The Baron pauses his monologue to say, "Hrmmm? Yes, yes..." And then continues on with his stories. There's a light rain now picking up, and some wind.

Sori grins like a coyote.

Crys frowns, "Aly, where -have- you been?" she puts it together, wondering if perhaps she's the reason all this is happening.

Narg blinks and wipes a bit of rain from her face "Are you sure it's a good idea to continue on into this storm?"

Alynna turns to Crys and yips softly. "I've been, umm.." then her ears lower a little bit. "Fuck if I know actually. Don't remember. Last time I remember I was in the glade, wondering what I should do for my birthday if anything at all. Fell asleep in a tree. Now i'm here. I could be dreaming I s'pose."

Rihko looks up into the rain, her tails swishing, then turns to give Narg a nod. "Of course. It wouldn't be an adventure otherwise, now would it?" she asks the husky, her tone applying that "Should we fly into the storm?" is a question much the same as 'Do I need to wash my hands before I eat?' and 'Should I put on clothes before I go outside?' She does look thoughtful for a bit, though, her ears flicking and twitching and her tails squirming, listening to the Baron telling stories.

Narg snickers "Hey Rihko... I am sure that every adventure has somebody ask that type of question! I don't mind going into it at all... I was really kind of putting it out there," as she stares into the horizon there is a tiny glint in her eyes as if to say, 'adventures are what I joined up with this crew for.'

The wind picks up, shifting into a heavier storm, and the Baron shouts onward!, despite the balloon being whipped about like a toy. More and more the dizzying storm rocks them about, throwing them until the storm consumes them.

Rihko grabs onto the side of the basket with one hand, and one of her friends with the other, doing her best to hold on through the storm.

All that remains of the wreckage is the partially intact basket, a thick and deep swamp surrounding. The first to come awake is Alynna, who's caught among undergrowth. Sorien next, still in the shape of a coyote, her muzzle half under the bogwater. Cilan blinks her eyes open, sprawled in an odd position, the last thing she remembers was the plane. Next Snowblind crawls out of the basket, the last thing she remembers was a piece of marble coming down on her. Narg, and then Rihko are the last to wake up.

Sori sneezes bogwater out of her nose. "Bleah!" She looks about, shortly asking, "What happened to Crys and Aidan?"

Cilan groans painfully before slowly but surely rising to her feet, at the memory finally hitting her Cilan blinks and looks around quickly, frantically for any familiar sights, or better yet what happened to put her there, "What.. the hell?" is asked of herself before she moves to the nearest object, the basket.

Rihko groans a bit and sits up, rubbing at her head. The kitsune pulls her self up to her feet, then looks around, offering a hand up to anyone who needs it. "Oh. Cilan. Hello," she says. "Fancy meeting you out here..." she frowns then, and her ears go flat, looking around again. "What? No Crys? Or Aidan? I hope they are alright... maybe they woke up..."

Snowblind looks around and rubs her head and mews as she looks around. "Ok... what... Now I know I am dreaming as there is a coyote grinning and asking about Crys and Aidan and I know I was not in a basket before now." She turns towards Cilan and padds a few steps before she checks the rest. "Ok... Dream, when looking for what you need it is always in the last place but things have to make some sort of pattern..."

Alynna yips softly and works her way partially out of the underbrush, but not too quickly, she actually finds it kind of comfortable. "I hope camera control calms down a little bit soon." Her ears lower as she starts to look around. "Where's my mate?" She works her way from underneath the brush, and then starts to hunt around. She appears to keep her cool, but she's still looking pretty intensely.

"I suspect that, as we're crashed and lacking supportive figures that we may be on our own again, guys. Welcome, Cil, and welcome back, Snow- I'm Sorien if you couldn't tell"

Cilan says, "Where the hell is here anyways?.. last thing I remember I was.. no.. I had killed my friends, and tried to stabilize a plane that I was on.. and then nothing!"

Narg wakes up with a little groan and a few spits "Bleach....*spit* marsh dirt!" She shakes her tongue around to clear the taste from her mouth and stands up dusting herself of and then looking at their surroundings.

Rihko slowly nods her head. "Another bad dream... there is certainly a theme here..." She looks around and sniffs at the air, then clasps her paws together and bows her head for a moment.

A horse whinnies in the distance, not far from the group. A young man is on horseback. He's struggling, and shouting at the horse. He shouts encouragement and cries out, calling the horse Artax, but the horse seems to be sinking. He leaps off the side, and sets down Aidan, who appears battered again but groaning. He's concentrating on the horse, trying to push it, shouting at it to fight.

"Well, crap. I can't help him, guys- no hands! Rescue the horse!"

Narg shouts "Gotta help... be careful of quick sand though!" She rushes over and keeps an eye out for the telltale signs of the dangerous quicksand or really boggy mud that will suck you in.

Cilan scratches at the back of her head for a moment trying to figure the things out before suddenly being alarmed by the whinny, turning her attention to the horse next Cilan quickly runs off from her allies and towards the struggling man, along the way the soldier remains watchful for any sinkholes.

Sorien trots after, paying more attention to what's around her than the struggles ahead.

Aidan wakes up, shaking her head as she's set down, plus as she hears the shouts from the boy. She sits, looking at the scene, closing her eyes. This time... The winged fox stands, growling and starting to force her form to shift, something big, something that can take the boy and the horse in her claws and taking them out of the swamp.

Rihko blinks, and looks up, tilting her head to the side. She frowns a moment, then motions for everyone to move ahead of her towards the horse. She waits, making sure she takes up the rear, and mutters a couple of times under her breath, "Artax... Artax..."

Alynna runs over this time, seeing Aidan over there. As she runs along she figures out she recognizes where she is, and then stops beside the horse and Aidan, which she offers her back to, once again. "Hmm.." she starts to wonder out loud. "This should be a magical land, I wonder what is possible."

The boy yelps in surprise, and brandishes his blade and a golden medallion rests about his neck. He watches as Aidan shifts into a large snarling beast, growing larger and larger, and before long is a large snarling wolf beast. The boy shouts and whips his blade toward the large beast.

Snowblind is still just a bit stunned but walks with the rest of the group. "Wait... Artax... I... I know that name." Snow says as for some reason she is more then confident that everyone else can get the job done this time. Then she looks towards Sorien as she is also hanging back since she is a Coyote right now. "Have we been in movies?" Then as Aidan shifts she starts forward. "No... He is a friend, Don't attack!"

Narg turns her attention from the horse that she just about reached and moves to tackle the boy from the side "No don't do that!"

Sori keeps jogging along, and calls out, "Hey! Kid! Don't hurt her. She's trying to help, believe it or not!"

"Wait!" Rihko calls out, darting forward to put a hand on the boy's arm. "She is a friend! Let her help!" The kitsune moves quickly, trying to head off the trouble.

:”Yeah, movies, Snow." Sori answers, watching the unfolding potential disaster.

"Hey, hey.. she's a friend! Don't hurt her, please!" Cilan shouts as she waves her arms above her head as though trying to gain the mans attention.

Behind the boy, the horse sinks lower, and he looks back and forth, between the horse, and the beast attacking him.

Aidan growls looking at herself, shifting in a... wolf beast. She looks at the boy, stepping closer to help the horse and says that everything is fine. Instead of saying words of peace, growls of hatred come from the wolf, snarling and circling around the boy, avoiding the blade and the swamp.

Narg shouts "someone save the horse!"

Alynna goes silent except for the fluttering of wings, her paws sinking below the surface of the swamp, as she closes her eyes as well.

Sori gathers herself, and jumps on Aidan's head! She dances there for a moment saying, "Nanny nanny booboo!" Then flees, flicking her tail in not-quite-Aidan's face!

Rihko turns her head to Aidan, ears lowering, and slips between her and the boy. "Aid-" she starts, before Sorien's interruption. She.... stands there... and... blinks... then coughs, and splutters, and snickers, wrapping an arm over her stomach and doing her best not to break out in full laughter.

Forgetting the danger, and using the boy's distraction to her advantage Cilan rushes in front of the horse, and grips the horse as hard as she can, from there, she begins pulling at the beast with every ounce of strength she has, trying to free the two from their potential danger.

Strange vines lift slowly out of the soil, pushing everyone up and out of the muck, rising their level slowly. The horse whinnies loudly as the vines grow up -through it- consuming it as it creates a platform out of the dangerous swamp. The horse becoming the plants which grow out and across the swampland, spreading into the distance. The boy is thrown off his feet. And shouts, still keeping his eyes on the wolf, not noticing whats happening to his horse.

Noticing she was too late to save the horse, Cilan pulls twin trench knives from thier sheathes and quickly slashes at the vines entangling the horse, trying to free it.

Aidan growls at Sorien, trying to follow her. Instead, she turns again to the boy, boring her fangs. It quite clear that the wolf want to just bite to death the boy, slowly - forcing to - move to the fallen boy.

Snowblind blinks and then blinks again at the vines. "Ok..." She says stunned a bit at the fact that she just witnessed the vines and that people's shifting are not working like intended. All this weirdness and she is just stunned. "Ok..." She says again before she gives a shrug of her shoulders. "I don't know what to do anymore."

Narg is now confused as all get out, but turns to face Aidan, gun flying up from it's holster and being pointed at the wolves knee; the report of the shot rings out through the air as she attempts to cripple the wolf's leg.

Sorien feels something calling to her inside. Something wrong that must be fixed, a powerful feeling that builds. And then the power and knowledge hits her, a perfect moment of clarity. She knows whom she is.

Alynna starts to flutter her wings, rising up out of the swamp and slightly overhead, looking down at the situation. "Note to self... and all. Magic so far has proven to do some approximation of what you want it to do. Might simply be unsafe to use period right now," she observes aloud.

Rihko gives her head a little shake, her feet quickly shifting as the ground moves underneath her. She waves her hand a few times, still in between Aidan and the boy. "Hey. Aidan. It's OK, we're fr-" she flinches, her ears dropping as Narg fires. She facepaws, with an audible smack. "Not cool, Narg. NOT cool," she says, glancing over at the husky.

Sorien stops, turns and there is a flicker- Aidan suddenly ripples her form rather quickly returning to her normal form! "Things are all messed up here. How about we sort a few things, shall we?" Her tone has an odd quality to it.

Aidan is hit on the knee, falling on the ground and snarling in hate and pain.

The bullet pierces Aidan distracting her, while Sorien fills with Coyote power, her body warps and alters, changing and /becoming/. Coyote awakens and blinks at the dream world. He frowns and says, "This is early... far too early." his voice is gruff and he moves and cracks his neck.

Narg stares blankly as the Wolf beast she just shot at returns to Aidans normal form, she hoslters her pistol and puts her fingers on her temples "No... why did I go and do that....." she slumps down on the platform and growls to herself quietly "She was gonna hurt the kid... I couldn't let that happen... I couldn't..."

Snowblind gives a rather large sigh "Well, now I know what to do again. Thank you Narg... but what is it about everyone shooting at peoples legs?" She looks towards Sorien as she shifts back and approaches the downed Aidan. "Easy dear... Looks like you need a bit of patching up again." She at least still has her gear and goes about helping where she can. "Narg... it is alright... things will be ok. Right Aidan?" She asks and then gives a smile.

Cilan ends her slashing at the vines as a familiar voice passes her eyes, turning to Coyote she asks, "C-Coyote?.. is that really you?"

Rihko walks up to Narg and gives her a quick smack, assuming that one of the more medically inclined people would be treating Aidan first. "Snap out of it. None of that crap here, Narg, chin up and shoulders back." When she hears the voice, her ears perk, and she quickly twists. "Wait. What. Coyote?" she asks. Her eyes widen, and her tails shake a little, before she gives Coyote a deep bow.

Aidan seems to regain control of herself completely. As Snow gets closer to her, the now cat fox curls against the medical taur, letting her to patch, whispering words of thanking.

Alynna flutters over, preparing to land on the vine net near Snow and Aidan. She glances over to the ones people are calling Coyote, her ears perked up with a great deal of interest. "Mmm.." she says softly, as she watches.

Narg blinks a moment and nods "You're right Rihko... I'll be saving the breaking down for later then.... I am sorry Aidan... And Snow, I didn't want to shoot anywhere else." She dusts her self off and stands up shoulders back and chin up.

Alynna lets out a soft growl, "I don't think a shooting was necessary, especially of my mate.." but for the time being thats all she says about it, because something else seems to be happening that she doesn't want to interfere with...

Snowblind turns only her ears to the rest as she gives nods to Aidan's thanks. "You are most welcome." She says and turns quickly to Alynna "I believe Narg that she was at least not trying to more then stop Aidan but..." She turns to Narg and shows a smile to ease her words. "Guns when reaches for quickly make for a lot of noise and a lot of regret." She then turns back and helps Aidan onto her back. Then she offers the rest of the room to Alynna before she pads a few steps towards Coyote.

Aidan clings on Snow's back, hugging her thankfully and leaning on her tauric back, looking at Alynna and then coyote.

Coyote is Sorien still, her eyes peering out from inside his body, but Coyote walks again. He shifts the new body into a strange shape. "Something isn't right, he's... keeping me distracted from something. Wait, where is she? Where is my daughter?" he asks the others.

Cilan says, "With the Aassahke.. probably still in Oregon I'm guessing?"

“This feels really weird, you old lech." Sori says.

Narg watches on with a confused look although it also has a semblance of understanding, just not much.

Rihko rises up from her bow, and then looks around the swamp before turning back to Coyote. "Which daughter?" she asks.

The boy is in shock, but he now appears to be frantically searching for his horse. A small flower is blooming near where the horse was taken under, and he begins to cry. Sorrow overwhelming.

A deeper voice comes from Sori. "Dream. My daughter."

Rihko moves a few steps closer, then shakes her head. "I don't know," she admits, then nods to Cilan. "She should, though. But... is it wise to linger here?"

Cilan glances over to the crying boy and moves over to him, along the way to her destination Cilan says over her shoulder, "Could still be in Oregon, but she could've also moved with the small group to California. Why do you ask?" at her destination she kneels down beside the boy and places a hand on his shoulder as if to comfort and console the child.

Snowblind gives a sigh and pads a few more steps towards the boy. "Easy dear," Snow says with those on her back able to watch better towards Coyote/Sorien as she talks to the boy. "Your story is not over just yet. You are still alive and well. And for now you may weep but in time you will know that you will survive it and in time you will remember only the good times."

"So who do we have here... "I know you. Cilan and Snowblind, right?" He trails off. "Oh, fine, talk then." His voice feminizes again, and Sorien speaks. "Are you okay now, Aidan?"

Alynna looks a little confused for a few moments, then wanders over to Coyote, or Sori, whoever it might be. "Dream?" she yips softly, then she glances back over at Aidan. She thought she was ok before.

Narg sits down and watches the proceedings with interest and keeps her trap shut.

And the Nothingness is, it storms over the mountains in the distance, tearing and eating at the land. The small flower in front of the boy named Atreyu grows, larger and larger, and then it blooms, the horse swallowed within steps out, its body tinted green and plantlike vines coming from it's mane, but it whickers and recognizes its master.

Cilan offers a short wave with her free hand as Coyote mentions her name, but concentrates on Atreyu.

Aidan looks back at Alynna, even if she just look at the boy for the most, still not feeling to speak for what happened before and just staying tight against Snow's back.

The voice that comes is Coyote once again. "I'm not supposed to be awake. Or am I... Tell me what... Yes, yes, I got what YOU know. Stop that. What do the rest of you know?" Hir ears twitch as if being pestered by a fly.

Coyote sighs. "No. About what is happening here, to you and I... We. Whatever." And he starts sniffing the air.

Narg nods "Got nothing on that either other than the fact we keep drifting from one dream, vision, movie or what have you from one moment to the next."

Rihko flicks one of her ears, and gives Coyote a bit of a disappointed look. "That's a bit vague," she says, and crosses her arms. She ponders, and shrugs. "I know there's something chasing Sorien. And you. I think it wanted to lure you here. I know Sparhawk and Balina probably called it into a dream they were having. And, considering what happened to Aidan, I am fairly certain that we have not left its influence entirely." She sniffs at the air again, and looks around. "We should probably move on before it catches scent of you."

Snowblind settles down and turns her ears looking away from Coyote so that Aidan can look towards everyone else. "As far as I know we are dreaming in past books and movies. Why I do not know, why you are awake, why we are here, why anything." She says and then motions to the boy to mount up and ride off before the page turns. "Currently we are in one of my more favorites from childhood but if not for the fact that we are in the Neverending story I don't know why you are awake or in Sorien."

Cilan rises to her feet, and steps away from the plant like horse, moving closer to Sorien/Coyote along the way she says, "Your guess is as good as mine.. frankly all I know is I was suffering a nightmare, and when I woke up, I was here!"

Atreyu points up into the sky and cries out, he kicks himself onto the horse and begins to charge off. A large white creature is diving down towards them. In the distance behind, the Nothingness continues to advance.

Coyote grins. "She stank of me long before this. My scent won't give any clues. The weird lookin' one and Wh... Ah. Cow turned wolf-servant of Fenrir. What did they stir up, I wonder... But perhaps this is a time to run rather than talk! Come, follow the boy!"

Rihko glances over her shoulder, to Narg and the others, and nods towards Coyote; then she moves after him. Her. Whichever it was, Rihko kept pace with it, agilely moving over the vines.

Narg sets off in pursuit for the heck of it and makes sure to follow the same path that Coyote/Sori go.

Aidan holds tightly on Snow, ready to dollow coyote when Snow will starts to move.

Coyote goes to all-fours in an easy lope, not outdistancing hir followers; much as it tempts to do so. Trouble's afoot, and shi knows its name. Finding the source and a way out of the trap is the game.

The white spot grows larger, and the great thing in the sky becomes visible, a weirdly shaped dragon. It roars out and dives at the group.

Cilan runs away from the dragon as though to dodge out of its way as it crashes to the earth.

Alynna moves closer to Coyote, and starts to sniff at him a little bit, very curiously. Her wings flutter. Then she looks up at the nothingness. "I bet that's not the real Nothingness, which is to say, the fake nothingness..." then she makes her way beside Snow and Aidan, and sighs softly. "We are doing way too much running."

Rihko glances up at the dragon as it starts diving, then back in front of her at the ground she's covering; another glance back up at the dragon, and she shifts her position a little, ready to knock somone out of the way if need be.

"Nonsense!" Coyote says. "Running is often the best solution! Especially if you've stolen a chicken from a pen, or a pie from a windowsill." He pauses. "Then again... What have you been running from?" He stops dead.

Narg stops with her paws digging into the earth as coyote stops dead in their tracks, she immediately looks around with a worried look

Snowblind follows the the group and gives Aidan's hands a light pat as she watches Falkor drive from the sky. "Best to not change the story to much. Just watch." She says from her part in the last dream. "Right now we are not running, and if you be so kind neither should you Coyote. We need to face shadow eventually and now we need to get more help to figure out a way to not just reseal but to defeat."

Coyote gives a silent laughing look at Snow, having already stopped before shi spoke.

The horse spooks, and drops Atreyu off onto the ground, and then bolts into the distance. The dragon shakes its shaggy coat, and pulls the boy up onto his back. He grins widely at the group. His voice is loud, and he speaks, "Would any of you like a ride?"

Rihko skids, then rolls a little at the abrupt stop. She moves back to stand at Coyote's shoulder and brushes herself off. She starts to say something, then shakes her head, her ear flicking.

Cilan says, "Uh.. yeah, please!"

Narg nods "Well a ride would be nice yeah....."

Coyote raises a shared eyebrow-equivalent. "Huh. A talking dragon-dog. One up on me! Certainly. Hop aboard, all!"

Narg does indeed hops up on the dragon. She sits as close to the back as she can but still get support.

Snowblind softly mewls, "Better leaving this way then getting hit with a rock. Would someone help Aidan up before I get on as well? And Coyote, I meant in the figurative sense as well as the real. For some reason I get the feeling you are looking at me weird at the back of my head."

Rihko motions for Coyote to take the lead, giving the dragon a smile. Once shi has scrambled up in place, Rihko climbs up as well, settling herself for the next bit.

Cilan takes the dragon up on its offer grips onto its shaggy side, hopping on, and climbing close to the front of the mythical beast.

Coyote hops on, for a moment looking more like a natural Coyote than a humanoid one- if you blink, you miss it. Shi settles in place. "And on, anon!"

Alynna mms softly, and wanders back over to Coyote, and curtseys. "Well, I don't think I have been running from anything." she looks over at the dragon dog, then flutters her wings and wanders over to Aidan, and grabs her paws and tries to lift her along with her, getting on the dragons back.

And the Dragon-creature does the unthinkable, it takes off up into the air, and flies straight into the Nothingness.

[[Category:RPLogs]][[Category:Crystala Events]]

Nightwhispers: Silence/Chapter 2

2012-02-06T06:26:34Z

Crystala: Created page with "Darkness transitions into light, and there's a small room, a single person is inside a chair, strapped to it and forced to watch a screen. Their eyes held open, while lights ..."

Darkness transitions into light, and there's a small room, a single person is inside a chair, strapped to it and forced to watch a screen. Their eyes held open, while lights flicker on an old fashioned screen. They are screaming, although silently, their hands pressed tight against the chair. On the screen is a library, rather massive in shape, and four figures can be made out. They seem to be playing out parts of a script, a skunk, two foxes, and a husky, oddly realistic in their shapes, the special effects these days are quite good. They appear to be running from something, shadow moving behind the four.

And the camera focuses on the four, reality coming in along with realization that something is out of place. The robotic script comes to a hault as the four have memories flood back in. Sorien, Aidan, Alynna and Narg are huddled around inside an area that the sun shines down, illuminating the four and holding the shadows at bay.

Sori blinks and looks around, trying to get a grip at just what the hell is going on...

Aidan opens her eyes wide, looking around with a really uneasy feeling, like if recovering from something awful. "What.. where am I now?" she asks, clearly confused and... still scared. Aidan. Scared.

Narg blinks and growls putting her hand on where the apparent dream had stabbed her "Well whatever that was could have gone better... Now where am I..." she takes a look around at her surrounding to determine this information.

["I don't recognize this place..." Says Sori, looking more closely at the scene.

Alynna looks straight up, averting her eyes from the sunlight only by a bit, trying to discern where it is coming from. She doesn't know where she is, and oddly enough she doesn't know what she had been doing before either. "Where the heck.." is the only thing that escapes her mouth for the moment. Her appearance at the moment was that of her feral form, and she looks like she had spent a month in some forest.

Corridors go off into the distance, lined high with books, there seems to be no end. A thin haze of bookdust hangs in the air, masking scents beyond the four, but the four do smell. The light above streams through a vaulted glass ceiling, casting sunlight into an otherwise dark tomb of literature.

Narg nods at Sori and stands up to dust herself off. "Well, wherever we are I'm not sure we should really be here... anyone else agree?" She looks at all the books with eyes of admiration, however. "I wonder if any of those books are still readable..."

Are you three okay? I seem to be... I remember a truly screwed up dream." Says Sori.

Aidan focuses a bit on the other, still holding a defensive stance against the others. "What's... happening? Alynna? Sorien? Narg?" she asks, before answering Sorien, "Sorien.. yes, I can definitely remember a screwed up dream. If a dream..."

Sori replies, "I have no clue. But..."

Narg nods "I had me a messed up dream too.. I died, I seem to be fine though..."

Alynna raises her nose up high and starts to sniff about, curious about the scents. Her ears perk to points as she hears other voices, moving slightly forward like she's prepared to track a scent. "If we were not supposed to be here, why bring me here?" She yips, and then when she hears Aidan she moves straightaway over to her mate, rubbing against her leg.

A small finger of shadow probes the light, flickering for a moment against it and then pulling back. The place is utterly silent besides the four friends, but not far away there's a terminal counter, and a map posted on one of the large columns nearby. Besides the scent of the others, and that of dust, there's a very faint background scent, or... lack of scent, almost like an impression of something that was once, and no longer is.

Narg wrinkles her nose at the bugging of a small lack scent for the room "That's... strange. Course I should expect that..." she walks over to get as close to the map as she can without going into the shadow and begins to study it carefully "Someone may wanna check that terminal out..."

Aidan is used to relying on her scent, and the lack of scents is really setting her a bit off. As soon as Alynna is close to her, the fox seems to forget about her fears- for now at least- and wraps her arms around Alynna, holding her tightly. "Yes.. there isn't anything normal since.. a while, at least for me. But from what I hear, it was weird and unpleasant for you as well."

Alynna started to circle around Aidan, almost looking confused as she sniffs around in every direction and wonders why there is such a lack of scents. "I'm sorry I've been away for a bit... What's weird and unpleasant?" Her ears lower significantly. "I seem to be missing a spot of memory."

"I'm loathe to interact at all here. It feels like... Well, I don't think I'm... WE'RE here. Wherever here is. I may be dreaming- I have no idea how I got here, now where I am, and I don't feel like I've been drugged or anything. My brain is saying 'trap' too, but maybe 'safe zone' is better." Sori says.

The map is gigantic, showing quadrants, and miles and miles of corridors. No exit, it seems entirely self contained, but there is a more central area, and their location is in the southeast corner, the mythology section.

Narg whistles at the sheer size of it all, or at least to tries to whistle. She then rubs her hands together. "We seem to be in the mythology section of this place, southwest corner of the complex if I read this right"

Sori says, "What do you all think- trap or safe zone?" She moves forward, staying well within the light and glances at the books.

Aidan holds tightly to Alynna, walking to the map with her at her side. "It seems so. And yes, I had quite... An unpleasant dream. Not that this makes more sense, actually."

Alynna glances over in Sori's direction. "Considering I don't remember what I was doing before now and I don't know what I'm doing here, I'm going to place my chips on 'trap'.. That being said, I'm glad yer all here."

The edge of the shadow creeps again into the light, making the light recoil for a moment as it slides over the surface, and is then pushed back. The border of the light ripples near Sorien, when she looks at the stacks all of the books read Coyote, every single one of them is about him. And amazingly, none of them are duplicates.

"Mine... Was a twisted variation of what happened on P-Day. Reality was that nothing happened to me on P-day. It was days later than everything went truly to hell. ... Huh. They're all Coyote." Sori says.

Narg grumbles "I don't feel comfortable relating mine at the moment... Sori, that shadow is reaching at you I think..." She moves over to the terminal desk as long as it's in the light and checks the terminal for the first thing on the screen. "But my money is on a trap at the moment"

"Mine... was unpleasant. I was... It. And everyone in the pub was staring at me, hating me. There was your daughter, Sorien. She was with me, hugging me even if I was trying to push her back, scared to hurt her. She was telling me that everything was fine... and I bit her. Then I think I woke up here."

A scream erupts from one of the corridors, echoing through it, otherwise eerily silent. It is accompanied by a rippling in the dust in the air. The computer terminal seems locked, and spurts out the word, Coyote. Over and over again.

Sori snorts. "Huh. Playing on fears. Wonder who does that. I think we have our villain." She hugs Aidan. "I trust you, sweetie. You'd not hurt Kay."

Alynna moves over to one of the books, and starts to sniff at them. "Thats not much of a surprise, Coyote gets all the attention." Her ears started to lower a bit as she thought about it.

Narg frowns. "The screen just seems to be spouting Coyote over and over again..." Her ears prick at the sound of the scream before earflattening "Yeah, definitely not a good place to be right now. We either need to get out or investigate that scream... So who has a plan?"

Sori gives a little, sharp laugh. "We've been aware for all of 5 minutes! WHAT plan? I'm still working on what the hell is up, and how this happened. Shadow was OUT of all of us. Somehow the shit got an avenue back in- the real question we have is how." She reaches for one of the fully-lit books. "But we can't just do nothing, so I'm checking this."

"Coyote..." Aidan sighs a bit, before hearing the outburst after the hug. "I think we should calm down and try to relax a bit before starting to think about why we are here and how to get out of here."

The book opens to a small passage that reads, Chapter 1: Cannot Run. The test below it is empty. The next chapter repeats the same, and so forth. And the shimmering shadows again reach out for Sorien before being snapped back from the light.

Narg rubs her eyes at the apparent lack of urgency to the situation; she does notice the snap of shadow at Sorien. "Sori, get away from the shadow NOW!" she isn't yelling, rather emphasizing the point that she should move.

Sori puffs out an already-exasperated breath. "Cripes, knock of the theatrics! We know who and what you are. We know the game. Cheap movie effects ain't gonna do it, Shadow." She steps back, entirely for Narg's benefit, saying, "He preys on fear. That's what the snapping shadows and screaming is about. Getting us scared. Mostly he just ticks me off."

Alynna tries to grab one of the books on the shelves, in her mouth, so she can read it. After retrieving a random one she drops it on the floor in front of her. "I wonder who needs soo much documentation and what it's all for. Maybe someone's looking for a weakness. Is this the shadow thing y'all are always talking about?" she yips softly.

Narg nods "Yeah well if you'd had my dream you would be just a tiny bit more concerned about the fact it's only been trying to grab at you Sori, I'm just trying to look out for you"

Sori smiles at Narg. "Its cool, I do understand. But I won't let this twenty-thousand-odd year-old amateur Wes Craven wannabe get to me."

Now there is crying that can be heard, Kaylah's soft whimpering. She sounds in pain and terrified.

Narg nods "Well get to your reading th.... Kay?" she twitches her ears around in an attempt to hear which corridor the sounds are coming from

The book Alynna has is a story about Coyote's fall, it has a comic image of him rolling down a hill like a rock.

Sori's ears flat. "Cheap bastard..." She takes a breath, then another. "The book said 'Can't run.' I'm not sure if that's a hint or what. But protecting my own... That's what I'm about." She raises her voice, knowing that if it IS Kay, she'll respond. "Kay! If this is you, don't be afraid, no matter what you see or hear. Tell me what your favorite thing is!"

“Fear... Shadow?" Aidan asks, seeming that Sorien knows quite better what's going on. Still, she shivers as she feels Kay's voice.

She clearly can't hear, as no response comes, but the whimpering doesn't stop, and only grows louder with time. And out from one of the corridors stumbles Rihko, mildly dazed and walking in the shadows, confused as to where she is.

Narg nods and tenses as she sees something stumble out of the shadows only to relax and rush over to help Rihko into the sunlight "Rihko you all right?"

Alynna's ears perk up a little bit, leaving the book where it is. She wanders back over to Aidan. "Dollars to donuts that isn't even her. Someone who wanted to rile us up would just try to think it was.."

Sori is doing her best Vulcan imitation, but it's obvious the sobs are getting to her. "If it's getting louder its not her, its Shadow pushing the situation. And I'll kill him for that alone."

Aidan nods at Sorien, still moving closer to her, as well as keeping Alynna close. n"What are we going to do? You seem to have been in more encounters with... Shadow."

Rihko staggers forward a few steps, eyes wide and blank. When someone calls her name she slowly turns her head towards Narg, then takes another couple of unsteady steps towards the husky, slowly entering the light. The kitsune's head tilts to the side, and she slowly blinks, then looks down at her paws. Then she looks back up, and blinks at Narg.

"I wish I had a better answer other than 'I don't know', Aidan. What he'll do is drive fears down our throats til we do something stupid, like walking or running into the shadows- that'll be us giving a willing avenue for him to directly get into us... But its gonna hurt, what he's going to do to get that," Sori says.

Narg tilts her head at Rihko's confusion "If your wondering if it's me then yes, yes it is... And if you had any weird experiences they were not real."

Alynna sighs and shakes her head a bit. "You didn't tell me that this Shadow guy was also pathetic as well." She yips loud into the air and follows it with more commentary. "Come out come out, wherever you are. If you want to kill somebody today you're going to have to be a lot more direct."

"He CAN do that, Alynna. He wants a tool though, and we've thwarted him before." Says Sori.

In response the shadow leaps from the boundary into the light in direct path to Alynna.

Sorien leaps and tries to spin Alynna clear of the strike, while avoiding it herself!

Rihko's ears go flat and her paws drop. She continues staring at Narg with a blank, empty stare. "You're not real either..." she echoes Narg.

"This is..." Aidan says, "And you fought him. I can't really... What's that?". The fox growls, jumping in front of Alynna... but it's too late, since Sorien already did.

Four more Tendrils also leap, the original missing its target, two more going for Sorien and Alynna and falling back from the light, while two come into contact with Aidan. The moment they touch her flesh, it begins to dissolve, eating at the flesh of her legs, stripping it to the bone.

Narg watches as everyone jumps at Alynna before she can react and returns to tending to Rihko "Rihko snap out of it what ever you saw was put into your head to confuse you that's all"

Alynna quickly summons balls of light around the group to attempt to drown out the Shadows, taking a single step back. If she's afraid at this point there's no appearance of it, even if she should be. "Hmm.. No." she raises a paw in the direction of the shadow to direct it to chase the Shadow off, if that is even possible.

The light illuminates the areas that cast a normal shadow, but the stuff attacking them is a thick globe of potent and pure darkness, it slinks away to hide back away from the light and begins to pull in its prey.

Aidan falls on the ground, passing out from the pain of having the flesh of her legs eaten.

Sori snaps, "Narg! Grab Aidan's arms and pull her back!" When she says that, she tries to use her healing ability on Aidan, knowing that it isn't precisely Nanites.

Rihko pats Narg on the shoulder. "Sure, dream-Narg. Sure," she says, her tone rather... empty, still. Her head turns though and she frowns as she sees dream-Aidan being eaten; at dream-Sorien's order, she steps forward to grab Aidan's arm and try to pull her back away from the shadow. "Hey. That's not nice. I like Aidan."

Narg whips her flashlight out of the side of her backpack and moves to grab Aidan to pull her well out of the way; she flips the light on and sweeps it before Aidan's legs as she pulls!

The thing reacts poorly to the light and slips its grip off of Aidan as she's pulled away. Sorien's attempt to heal is little more than a joke, like a bucket in the water. Aidan's well past the point of unconscious, and leaves a slick trail of blood on the ground as she's pulled away. The area fills with a chill breeze and the lit area seems to be shrinking around them as a cloud overhead moves in front of the sun.

Alynna erfs softly. "Ahh, shit." she yips, directing the light to follow in front of hir as shi walks quickly in Aidan's direction. Shi grabs onto one of Aidan's tails in hir mouth and starts to help drag her away as well, rring softly, not speaking as that would cause her to let go. She tries to surround Aidan in the lights she's summoned, and then everyone else as shi tries to bring Aidan over into the group.

Sori strips her shirt off and starts stanching the bloodflow, wrapping the horrid injuries as best she can.

Narg offers a small prayer to God for that cloud to move quickly as she draws her pistol, probably more for comfort than anything else. "Yah had to say somethin' didn't you, Alynna didn't ya..." She sighs and points at any point that seems darkest in the darkness and fires her weapon, sending a bolt of light into the shadows.

Rihko stops dragging when Aidan is in the middle of the circle of light; she crouches there a moment and blinks, then sniffs at the air. She helps Sorien with Aidan's legs, looking to the shadows and back to Aidan a few times as she works. "This..." she says, and pauses, then tries again. "This... You're not just a dream-Sorien, are you?" She asks quietly, her tone livening up with growing realization.

Sori mutters, "Yes and no. Busy here..."

A series of vines burst out of the ground. They snake their way around Aiden, and dig into her flesh. The darkness makes another attempt to leap at the group, and a massive tree bursts from the ground meeting it in the way. The vines snake up and around the group, and then begin to pull Aidan down, into the earth below. One by one, the vines wrap around each of the others, pulling them under; Alynna, the last one to go, is startled when a fox bumps up against her, and presses its cold nose up against her. With some sadness it watches as Alynna sinks as well, as if waving goodbye, its sad eyes staring. Alynna sees the globe of nature shatter just as she slides into the warmth.

Sori grits her teeth and hangs onto Aidan, even as the vines grab her.

Narg curses and holsters her pistol, breathing calmly as she is sucked down into the earth before stopping her breath and offering another small prayer.

Snowblind's ears are ringing as the sounds of artillery and explosions echo, falling marble striking the ground and people in the city flee for cover. It takes time for her brain to focus amongst the confusion, the city walls locked and thudding as a siege outside lays waste to the town defenses. She finally gets her bearing to see the prone form of Aidan in front of her, who's groaning and appears to have taken some kind of wound to her leg, though not severe.

Alynna yips loudly as she is dragged underground by the vines, though she turns quickly to look at the fox that pressed its nose against hir, trying to get a good glimpse of who it was before she is tugged away. Even more so, she tries to figure out where they are all going. Shi mumbles softly, something about not letting the shadow have us.

Snowblind shakes her head and rushes towards Aidan to help her with her wound. She shakes her head some more, trying to clear her vision and her ears. But more importantly she wants to get Aidan and her to the semi safety of cover and shelter.

An old opera house is nearby, and from the noise coming from within is occupied with a performance despite the city being under attack. Aidan's conscious but dazed; she seems confused, but her memories are there though she's not sure how she got from protecting her mate to the city. She does remember the pain.

Narg lets herself be dragged along by the vines in confusion as to where she is being brought

Aidan seems to groan in pain, slowly shaking her head and looking around confused. She touches her legs, like if reassuming that they are still there.

Snowblind clears her head enough to hear Aidan groan and helps her with a calming voice. "Easy Aidan. I think you got hit by something. Just stay with me. I see an opera house still standing; let me get you to it before I help more. Spirits... I..." She stammers at the end but then just gives a gentle but firm tug to help her up and into a position where she can carry if need be.

Aidan seems to appreciate the friendly touch, shaking her head with confusion. A shadow.. ate my legs away. Alynna.. where is she?" she pants in pain.

Alynna takes a look at Aidan's legs, then starts to lick at them a bit, as if she expected the licks to help in some way. Then she moves straightaway over to Snowblind and Aidan. "I think that went better than expected. However, maybe I should apologize. He was just being annoying, that Shadow guy. I thought it'd be better to bring him out on our own terms, rather than fall into his traps." shi looks over to the opera house, then returns to licking at Aidan's legs, trying to heal them the rest of the way. "Speaking of which, I wonder if we're still in one."

There's more ringing as another artillery shell strikes one of the nearby buildings, demolishing its roof and sending chunks of stone to the ground below. The opera house is particularly welcoming to the group in this time of great war. Inside the orchestra is playing a rather cheesy tune, and on the stage are rather obscenely large set pieces, in this case a giant fake water scene, and a ship peeks just over the edge. On the stage are multiple actors on the boat, the captain is a robust man, and behind him his ship is being crewed by familiar faces, Narg, Sorien, Crystala, and Rihko are all there, playing their parts, until realization hits them again, memories of who they are returning.

"Shadow? The Shadow?" Snow asks then blinks and nods to Alynna as it seems that Aidan asking for her brought her here. "She is right here, Aidan. She is helping you as well." She seems more interested in making sure that Aidan is alright than discussing shadow more right now. "Dear, will you help Aidan on my back. The licking is doing well but we should head for cover. I'd rather a roof try to hit us then more artillery." Snow says as she then gets in the building with the rest of the group on stage. "Now... what the?"

Sori blinks, looking around startledly. She looks at the players she doesn't recall, seeing if she knows any of them.

Rihko strikes a dramatic pose, finger raised, then abruptly falters. She freezes, and blinks, and looks around at the others. "I... uh..." her head turns and her ears swivel. "I... where's Aidan?" she asks, turning to peer out over the opera house.

Narg shakes her head as she begins climbing the rigging. She blinks a moment, then a wry grin appears on her face. "Avast me 'earties where in the seven seas we be?!" She snickers and continues climbing the rigging to keep up the act for a bit.

Aidan nods confused at Snow, still hugging Alynna as soon as she's close. "Are you alright, love?" she asks, touching Alynna's body as to reassure that she's real. Then, nodding to Snow, she says, "Shadows... but from the way Sorien was speaking, I think THAT shadow."

Sori looks at the rest of the crew, swallows, then starts laughing!

The captain continues on his monologue, announcing himself as the great Baron, and talks into the sea, where women in mermaid costumes peek above the fake waves, and flaunt themselves at him. The performance is really hackenyed though, and quite terrible.

The audience begins to boo, throwing rotten food at Sorien.

Sori bites down on the giggles and tries to fit in for the moment.

Narg arghs as she reaches the top of the rigging and moves to the crows nest where she hangs off and swings around with her hand above her eyes to look at the scene.

Alynna rubs up against Aidan's paw and nods a little bit. "I was relatively unmolested by the Shadow. I think it went after you just to piss me off. It must know that my nanites suppress fear, kind of like Loki's nanites suppress social skills." She giggles softly. "Well, i'm not really sure how much or if they do so, it just seems to be a hard thing for me to feel."

Rihko moves up and puts a paw on Sorien's shoulder, fighting down a little snicker. "If there's one place we'd be safe, it would be at the side of Baron von Munchausen. And he is always wonderful to the ladies," she says quietly, and smiles.

An old man interrupts the play, shouting, "No, No, No, this is all wrong! All wrong!" The man is quite old and hobbles up onto the stage, but is dressed similarly to the actor on the stage playing the Baron. He shakes a finger and turns to the audience, "This is not right!" and the audience boos at the man interrupting the show.

Rihko's ears perk up and her tails flick. She giggles, and leans against the side of the fake boat. "And who are you then, good sir?" she calls out, her tails waving more energetically as she gets into it. "Why are you interrupting us?"

Sori has the muzzled equivalent of an ear to ear grin, knowing what's going on VERY well. "Bloody right it isn't," she mutters in a bad english accent.

Snowblind sets Aidan down in Alynna's arms as she looks over the damage that is done. Her ears are turned toward the stage and at the multiple outbursts she turns her head ever so slightly. "Ever get the feeling that nothing is making sense?" She murmers to the two before she gives Aidan a pat on the leg. "Alynna did a good job, it will sting a bit I bet but you should be able to walk." She smiles to Aidan then takes a seated position to look a bit more towards the stage. "And why during the shelling are they even putting on..." She shakes her head once more to clear it. "So much not making sense right now."

Narg drops by means of rope from her perch up on the crows nest, winding up standing next to Sorien and Rihko with a thump of floorboards. "An' why are ya disruptin' tha play ye ole sea dog?"

Alynna transforms straight away into the taur version of herself, so that Aidan can be placed on her back and carried, which she proceeds to do. Then she looks up. "Better question. Why is the entire town being shelled in the first place? I'm guessing we're headlong in another illusion."

The elderly man turns to Rihko and says, "But /I/ am the great Baron von Munchaussen! Do you not recognize me?" He appeals to the crowd, attempting to put on a show despite being hilariously old and frail. The boos continue.

Crys moves forward to Sorien and whispers, "Love, what in the bloody hell is going on? Do you know these people?"

ori blinks and HUGS Crys. "We're in a movie. I think... Its a safehaven, of sorts. It certainly isn't the Shadow's doing," she whispers. Louder, she says, "I believe you, Baron."

Narg snerks "Nay my ole sea dog ye are much to old an frail ta be tha great Baron von Munchaussen! If ye must say ye are then prove it!"

Rihko peers down at the Baron for a moment, and her head tilts to the side. "That sounds nasty. Is it contagious?" Her ear flicks, and she grins, then looks over at Sorien and Crys and giggles.

"Nothing is making sense here... beside the pain." Aidan sighs, relaxing a bit on Alynna's tauric back. "And about that, love.. I don't have any answer. Still, thank you for what you did, I thought I'd lost the legs."

The Baron's smile brightens, "My, my, such beautiful ladies..." He begins, and then a thrown object strikes him on the head and distracts him. Small differences in the scene playing out are beginning to add up. He turns to scowl at the crowd, "You are all brutes! You should show these beautiful ladies more respect!"

Alynna's ears lay back a bit. "I.. The vines were not my doing, there was someone else..." she thought a bit about that then turned to the movie characters, gently poking at the ones she knows, staring with Crys. "You all alright?" she yips softly.

A shell strikes the theatre, shaking the building and putting a hole in the ceiling, part of the ceiling tumbling down and crashing into an empty section. The fighting outside seems to be getting worse, perhaps the Turks are winning?

Sori giggles appropriately at the flattery, giving the Baron his due.

Crys is just outright confused now, she does spot Snow, Aidan and Alynna entering the opera house, and her eyes flicker in recognition. She then hops over the edge of the boat and passes up through the jeering crowd to approach her friends, who might be more forthcoming.

Narg grumbles a bit about being called a beautiful lady but bows in thanks, before stumbling to the left a little bit as the theater is hit by a shell. "By davey jone's locker what are they doing out there!?!?"

Rihko giggles happily and claps her hands. "Oh, Baron, you are such a gentleman..." she catches sight of Snow and Aidan and Alynna in the back of the theater, and waves them over, motioning for them to join the rest.

Snowblind just ends up nodding to Alynna and Aidan and watching the tragedy unfold on the scene. "I am half expecting a knight to come charging across the stage. It would make just as much sense." She then turns after jumping at the shelling that has hit but luckily not harmed anyone. "Or that... Alynna, you have Aidan?" She asks before turning back to them and making sure Aidan is set. "If you want something for that pain I should have something here somewhere." She then checks herself once again. "We should grab everyone and leave before the next shell."

Rihko gives Narg a little nudge. "It's a war. We're at war with the Turks."

Narg nods and frowns "Well, why are we in a play then?" a question to herself more than anyone else.

Alynna nods in agreement with the group. "Yeah, I think we ought to get the heck out of here. In particular, perhaps a bomb shelter or something would be nice to seek out.." shi started to have a look around, then yips softly. "I wonder if we're in the right time period. Maybe we ought to just leave the city?"

"Thank you, Snow..." Aidan nods. "And leaving this place before it fall on our heads... sounds quite a good idea."

"We're safe here. Kinda." Sori says to those still near.

The Baron seems to be growing more youthful and spirited, especially from the flattering reactions of Rihko, Narg and Sorien. He grins widely and says, "I shall tell you all about my stories!" and begins to tell a rambling tale, correcting the details, but missing out on key things that explain how he got to that point. He turns back to the three women and bows, "We shall have to fight the turks, and save the city! That will prove I am the Baron will it not?"

Crys moves up close to the three, and says, "I... I've no idea what's going on, but Sorien mentioned something about being in a movie? I've no idea, but this place feels... wrong. Are we dreaming?"

Sori says, "That it will, Baron, that it will. Call Beaucephalus, and ride!"

Rihko giggles, and claps her hands. "Oh, of course, Baron!" She calls out. "You've already beaten the Sultan once before, haven't you?" She bounces a little on her feet, then leans in towards Crys and Sorien. She examines Crys for a moment, then nods. "Mmhm. I'm not sure if you're all real or not, but I like this dream much more than the last couple."

Rihko hops down off of the stage and scampers after Crystala, eager to see if Aidan is alright.

"Yes, or at least I hope that this madness is a dream... a bad dream..." Aidan sighs, resting on Alynna's back.

Alynna starts to tap on her head a little bit. "That's a good question. I wonder if I'm dreaming. Not that I object, but I literally haven't got the foggiest clue what I'm doing here or even what I have been doing before I was here. At the same time, too many questions are being asked for this to be a dream, at least from only one perspective.."

The ever younger Baron shouts out about how he, and his companions will push back the Sultan, and save the city. The crowd continues to jeer. "And onward!" he shouts, and begins to lead his way out of the theater. Another shell strikes, bringing a different part of the stadium down, this time onto one of the loudest parts of the crowd that was jeering.

Crys looks over the wounded Aidan, "What happened to you my friend?" her eyes grow with concern, not really paying attention to the rowdy Baron's scene that's playing out.

Snowblind smiles and gives a last look over the injured. "Crys I think we are, if not then I ended up in the wrong place, the wrong time, but with the right people. Though..." She pauses and listens to Alynna and Aidan before nodding again as Rihko starts to approach. "I would like to ask another question though. Who is dreaming? For here I am with friends but still it looks like... SPIRITS!" Snow exclaims as the roof comes down on a crowd. "Alynna get Aidan and Crys out NOW." She says then to the group on stage, "Forgot the play get out, get out NOW!" She yells and runs towards the collapsed section of the roof to check for anyone who might of survived it falling in.

Narg looks at a loss for what to do before she runs to the edge and hurdles over the lip of the boat. She follows Rihko before stopping and watching the baron run off, then the section of the ceiling falling down. "I think the Baron I shall follow! Onwards and outwards!!!"

Sori hops out of the boat, heading for Crys and the others. "Follow the Baron, my friends! To Victory!" She says loudly! When she reaches Crys she whispers, "Its one of the gods, one with a sense of humor, protecting us. Follow along!"

Rihko waits for Sorien to catch up, then pats her on the shoulder before following in behind. She's grinning, and moving light on her feet, happy and amused at the dream and her.

Alynna looks around confused, trying to figure out what is going on. If this is a movie, she's never seen it before. She leads Aidan on her back over towards the Baron. "Well, I s'pose we ought to follow him about a bit, he seems to be in charge."

Outside the Baron marches, and points to a large hot air balloon that seems to have appeared from out of nowhere. He invites everyone to join him for adventure, looking quite youthful and spirited now. He once again compliments all the beautiful ladies with a giant grin.

Aidan holds tightly on Alynna as she follows the Baron, the whole situation preventing her to reply to Crystala.

Sori follows along, wondering if she's in the part of the young girl or if someone else is in that role.

Narg blushes and waves the compliment off as she boards the airship on her own, without the help that the Baron would be sure to offer if she was to believe Rihko's description of him being good with the ladies.

Rihko gives the Baron a deep curtsey and holds out a hand to be kissed. "I would be delighted, Baron!" she exclaims, then laughs happily and, once the proper formalities have been observed, she scrambles up into the hot air balloon as well.

Crys looks questioningly at her mate, "Should we follow?" seeming to be as lost as the others.

Another artillery shell whistles in the air overhead and hits the opera house again; shaking it to the core and making it painfully obvious that the city itself is not safe, despite the welcoming content of the dream.

"Yes!" Is the succinct answer, Sori still grinning. "The Baron is a Hero. Note the capital letter!"

Crys shakes her head and sighs, and then helps Alynna to get Aidan into the Balloon.

Alynna nods and heads over to the balloon. "I tend to agree with Sori here. The Baron looks like a smart bloody fool to me. In either case, he's our guide," she yips softly, as she gets into it.

Sori boards, then after Aidan is aboard offers her hand to Crys. "Go with it, sweetie," she whispers. "What does the Shadow fear?"

With some help, Aidan manages to get into the Balloon, looking back grateful to those that help her.

Rihko helps pull Aidan into the basket, and holds her steady until Alynna can climb in as well.

After helping Aidan inside, Crys headtilts at Sorien, "The Shadow fears?" she looks genuinely confused, "He never seemed to... fear, as he lives off it."

Alynna hmmphs softly. "Well then, we should operate without fear. Seems simple enough!"

The Baron pulls out a sword, and begins to cut the supports to the Balloon, letting it up into the air. Just as the thing begins to take off Crys does a tally of the occupants. Then her face screws up, "Wait, where's Snow?!"

Narg waits for this show to get rolling then blinks as Snow is forgotten "Oh no! We forgot her!!" She rushes over to the edge and peers down. "Frac it all."

"What?!" Rihko exclaims. She glances around, then rushes to the side and looks over, then turns to the Baron. "Baron? What should we do?"

"I'll get her." She tests to see if she can shift still, then if she can she leaps out to bring Snow back along!

Sorien moves to shift, and is slammed to the ground as her body shifts into a nonanthro coyote. The Baron answers, there's no turning back now! onward and we will find our companions!"

Sori yips in startlement. "Dammit, I should have KNOWN better..."

Snowblind comes with a few of the audience that she managed to bring out of the rubble outside the opera house as the balloon becomes smaller and smaller. Though she does not look up as she is intent at looking right back at the rest of the rubble and finding more in there.

Narg snickers and looks at Sori. "S'okay Sori.. we all make silly mistakes..." she then peers at the scene around them.

Rihko reaches down to pat Sorien on the head, then rises up. She gives everyone in the balloon a quick hug, moving from Crys to Aidan and around in a circle until she finishes with the Baron, then leans against the side of the balloon and scans the horizon.

Sori shakes herself, scritches behind an ear with a hindfoot, then leans against Crys. She sniffs the air as she does.

The Baron doesn't really pay attention to the others, just continues to ramble about stories of adventures, as they rise high up into the sky.

Alynna glances around to have a look at Sorien and can't help but smile a little bit. "How cute! We must totally be in Coyote zone or something. I don't dare try shifting now.." she moves down to scritch Sori behind her ear.

Narg returns the hug to Rihko and scans the horizon along with her.

Crys looks around, "So... what are we going to do? Sorien mentioned us being safe, but where are we, why are we in a dream? What the heck is the Shadow after and how did he do this to us?" she hammers questions, assuming the others know more about whats happening.

Narg shrugs as she stares at the horizon. "I have no idea as to what is going on either and I won't pretend to either."

"... Huh. Wonder why..." Sori mutters, head tilted. "Sweetie, did you have a bad dream?"

Rihko continues to lounge against the side of the balloon, eyes scanning the horizon. "That would make sense," she says quietly. "Balina and Sparhawk... maybe they called it up. And we were just in the..." she waves a paw at the dreamscape below them. "In the nearby area." She pauses, and frowns a moment. "I hope they are okay."

Crys shakes her head, "I always have bad dreams, but no, over time I've managed to stop them from happening to me. I... The last thing I remember was us with Kay in the den. All the others were there too, except Alynna."

"We all apparently had bad dreams before ending up in a weird library, then here. The Library was the Shadow torturing us. This," Sori puts forepaws up to look out at the scenery, "Is someone elses doing. We're being helped. Right, Baron?"

Alynna's ears prick up to points but she doesn't say anything yet, she just looks contemplative for a good number of seconds and then murmurs softly. "Wonder why I'm here then."

The Baron pauses his monologue to say, "Hrmmm? Yes, yes..." And then continues on with his stories. There's a light rain now picking up, and some wind.

Sori grins like a coyote.

Crys frowns, "Aly, where -have- you been?" she puts it together, wondering if perhaps she's the reason all this is happening.

Narg blinks and wipes a bit of rain from her face "Are you sure it's a good idea to continue on into this storm?"

Alynna turns to Crys and yips softly. "I've been, umm.." then her ears lower a little bit. "Fuck if I know actually. Don't remember. Last time I remember I was in the glade, wondering what I should do for my birthday if anything at all. Fell asleep in a tree. Now i'm here. I could be dreaming I s'pose."

Rihko looks up into the rain, her tails swishing, then turns to give Narg a nod. "Of course. It wouldn't be an adventure otherwise, now would it?" she asks the husky, her tone applying that "Should we fly into the storm?" is a question much the same as 'Do I need to wash my hands before I eat?' and 'Should I put on clothes before I go outside?' She does look thoughtful for a bit, though, her ears flicking and twitching and her tails squirming, listening to the Baron telling stories.

Narg snickers "Hey Rihko... I am sure that every adventure has somebody ask that type of question! I don't mind going into it at all... I was really kind of putting it out there," as she stares into the horizon there is a tiny glint in her eyes as if to say, 'adventures are what I joined up with this crew for.'

The wind picks up, shifting into a heavier storm, and the Baron shouts onward!, despite the balloon being whipped about like a toy. More and more the dizzying storm rocks them about, throwing them until the storm consumes them.

Rihko grabs onto the side of the basket with one hand, and one of her friends with the other, doing her best to hold on through the storm.

All that remains of the wreckage is the partially intact basket, a thick and deep swamp surrounding. The first to come awake is Alynna, who's caught among undergrowth. Sorien next, still in the shape of a coyote, her muzzle half under the bogwater. Cilan blinks her eyes open, sprawled in an odd position, the last thing she remembers was the plane. Next Snowblind crawls out of the basket, the last thing she remembers was a piece of marble coming down on her. Narg, and then Rihko are the last to wake up.

Sori sneezes bogwater out of her nose. "Bleah!" She looks about, shortly asking, "What happened to Crys and Aidan?"

Cilan groans painfully before slowly but surely rising to her feet, at the memory finally hitting her Cilan blinks and looks around quickly, frantically for any familiar sights, or better yet what happened to put her there, "What.. the hell?" is asked of herself before she moves to the nearest object, the basket.

Rihko groans a bit and sits up, rubbing at her head. The kitsune pulls her self up to her feet, then looks around, offering a hand up to anyone who needs it. "Oh. Cilan. Hello," she says. "Fancy meeting you out here..." she frowns then, and her ears go flat, looking around again. "What? No Crys? Or Aidan? I hope they are alright... maybe they woke up..."

Snowblind looks around and rubs her head and mews as she looks around. "Ok... what... Now I know I am dreaming as there is a coyote grinning and asking about Crys and Aidan and I know I was not in a basket before now." She turns towards Cilan and padds a few steps before she checks the rest. "Ok... Dream, when looking for what you need it is always in the last place but things have to make some sort of pattern..."

Alynna yips softly and works her way partially out of the underbrush, but not too quickly, she actually finds it kind of comfortable. "I hope camera control calms down a little bit soon." Her ears lower as she starts to look around. "Where's my mate?" She works her way from underneath the brush, and then starts to hunt around. She appears to keep her cool, but she's still looking pretty intensely.

"I suspect that, as we're crashed and lacking supportive figures that we may be on our own again, guys. Welcome, Cil, and welcome back, Snow- I'm Sorien if you couldn't tell"

Cilan says, "Where the hell is here anyways?.. last thing I remember I was.. no.. I had killed my friends, and tried to stabilize a plane that I was on.. and then nothing!"

Narg wakes up with a little groan and a few spits "Bleach....*spit* marsh dirt!" She shakes her tongue around to clear the taste from her mouth and stands up dusting herself of and then looking at their surroundings.

Rihko slowly nods her head. "Another bad dream... there is certainly a theme here..." She looks around and sniffs at the air, then clasps her paws together and bows her head for a moment.

A horse whinnies in the distance, not far from the group. A young man is on horseback. He's struggling, and shouting at the horse. He shouts encouragement and cries out, calling the horse Artax, but the horse seems to be sinking. He leaps off the side, and sets down Aidan, who appears battered again but groaning. He's concentrating on the horse, trying to push it, shouting at it to fight.

"Well, crap. I can't help him, guys- no hands! Rescue the horse!"

Narg shouts "Gotta help... be careful of quick sand though!" She rushes over and keeps an eye out for the telltale signs of the dangerous quicksand or really boggy mud that will suck you in.

Cilan scratches at the back of her head for a moment trying to figure the things out before suddenly being alarmed by the whinny, turning her attention to the horse next Cilan quickly runs off from her allies and towards the struggling man, along the way the soldier remains watchful for any sinkholes.

Sorien trots after, paying more attention to what's around her than the struggles ahead.

Aidan wakes up, shaking her head as she's set down, plus as she hears the shouts from the boy. She sits, looking at the scene, closing her eyes. This time... The winged fox stands, growling and starting to force her form to shift, something big, something that can take the boy and the horse in her claws and taking them out of the swamp.

Rihko blinks, and looks up, tilting her head to the side. She frowns a moment, then motions for everyone to move ahead of her towards the horse. She waits, making sure she takes up the rear, and mutters a couple of times under her breath, "Artax... Artax..."

Alynna runs over this time, seeing Aidan over there. As she runs along she figures out she recognizes where she is, and then stops beside the horse and Aidan, which she offers her back to, once again. "Hmm.." she starts to wonder out loud. "This should be a magical land, I wonder what is possible."

The boy yelps in surprise, and brandishes his blade and a golden medallion rests about his neck. He watches as Aidan shifts into a large snarling beast, growing larger and larger, and before long is a large snarling wolf beast. The boy shouts and whips his blade toward the large beast.

Snowblind is still just a bit stunned but walks with the rest of the group. "Wait... Artax... I... I know that name." Snow says as for some reason she is more then confident that everyone else can get the job done this time. Then she looks towards Sorien as she is also hanging back since she is a Coyote right now. "Have we been in movies?" Then as Aidan shifts she starts forward. "No... He is a friend, Don't attack!"

Narg turns her attention from the horse that she just about reached and moves to tackle the boy from the side "No don't do that!"

Sori keeps jogging along, and calls out, "Hey! Kid! Don't hurt her. She's trying to help, believe it or not!"

"Wait!" Rihko calls out, darting forward to put a hand on the boy's arm. "She is a friend! Let her help!" The kitsune moves quickly, trying to head off the trouble.

:”Yeah, movies, Snow." Sori answers, watching the unfolding potential disaster.

"Hey, hey.. she's a friend! Don't hurt her, please!" Cilan shouts as she waves her arms above her head as though trying to gain the mans attention.

Behind the boy, the horse sinks lower, and he looks back and forth, between the horse, and the beast attacking him.

Aidan growls looking at herself, shifting in a... wolf beast. She looks at the boy, stepping closer to help the horse and says that everything is fine. Instead of saying words of peace, growls of hatred come from the wolf, snarling and circling around the boy, avoiding the blade and the swamp.

Narg shouts "someone save the horse!"

Alynna goes silent except for the fluttering of wings, her paws sinking below the surface of the swamp, as she closes her eyes as well.

Sori gathers herself, and jumps on Aidan's head! She dances there for a moment saying, "Nanny nanny booboo!" Then flees, flicking her tail in not-quite-Aidan's face!

Rihko turns her head to Aidan, ears lowering, and slips between her and the boy. "Aid-" she starts, before Sorien's interruption. She.... stands there... and... blinks... then coughs, and splutters, and snickers, wrapping an arm over her stomach and doing her best not to break out in full laughter.

Forgetting the danger, and using the boy's distraction to her advantage Cilan rushes in front of the horse, and grips the horse as hard as she can, from there, she begins pulling at the beast with every ounce of strength she has, trying to free the two from their potential danger.

Strange vines lift slowly out of the soil, pushing everyone up and out of the muck, rising their level slowly. The horse whinnies loudly as the vines grow up -through it- consuming it as it creates a platform out of the dangerous swamp. The horse becoming the plants which grow out and across the swampland, spreading into the distance. The boy is thrown off his feet. And shouts, still keeping his eyes on the wolf, not noticing whats happening to his horse.

Noticing she was too late to save the horse, Cilan pulls twin trench knives from thier sheathes and quickly slashes at the vines entangling the horse, trying to free it.

Aidan growls at Sorien, trying to follow her. Instead, she turns again to the boy, boring her fangs. It quite clear that the wolf want to just bite to death the boy, slowly - forcing to - move to the fallen boy.

Snowblind blinks and then blinks again at the vines. "Ok..." She says stunned a bit at the fact that she just witnessed the vines and that people's shifting are not working like intended. All this weirdness and she is just stunned. "Ok..." She says again before she gives a shrug of her shoulders. "I don't know what to do anymore."

Narg is now confused as all get out, but turns to face Aidan, gun flying up from it's holster and being pointed at the wolves knee; the report of the shot rings out through the air as she attempts to cripple the wolf's leg.

Sorien feels something calling to her inside. Something wrong that must be fixed, a powerful feeling that builds. And then the power and knowledge hits her, a perfect moment of clarity. She knows whom she is.

Alynna starts to flutter her wings, rising up out of the swamp and slightly overhead, looking down at the situation. "Note to self... and all. Magic so far has proven to do some approximation of what you want it to do. Might simply be unsafe to use period right now," she observes aloud.

Rihko gives her head a little shake, her feet quickly shifting as the ground moves underneath her. She waves her hand a few times, still in between Aidan and the boy. "Hey. Aidan. It's OK, we're fr-" she flinches, her ears dropping as Narg fires. She facepaws, with an audible smack. "Not cool, Narg. NOT cool," she says, glancing over at the husky.

Sorien stops, turns and there is a flicker- Aidan suddenly ripples her form rather quickly returning to her normal form! "Things are all messed up here. How about we sort a few things, shall we?" Her tone has an odd quality to it.

Aidan is hit on the knee, falling on the ground and snarling in hate and pain.

The bullet pierces Aidan distracting her, while Sorien fills with Coyote power, her body warps and alters, changing and /becoming/. Coyote awakens and blinks at the dream world. He frowns and says, "This is early... far too early." his voice is gruff and he moves and cracks his neck.

Narg stares blankly as the Wolf beast she just shot at returns to Aidans normal form, she hoslters her pistol and puts her fingers on her temples "No... why did I go and do that....." she slumps down on the platform and growls to herself quietly "She was gonna hurt the kid... I couldn't let that happen... I couldn't..."

Snowblind gives a rather large sigh "Well, now I know what to do again. Thank you Narg... but what is it about everyone shooting at peoples legs?" She looks towards Sorien as she shifts back and approaches the downed Aidan. "Easy dear... Looks like you need a bit of patching up again." She at least still has her gear and goes about helping where she can. "Narg... it is alright... things will be ok. Right Aidan?" She asks and then gives a smile.

Cilan ends her slashing at the vines as a familiar voice passes her eyes, turning to Coyote she asks, "C-Coyote?.. is that really you?"

Rihko walks up to Narg and gives her a quick smack, assuming that one of the more medically inclined people would be treating Aidan first. "Snap out of it. None of that crap here, Narg, chin up and shoulders back." When she hears the voice, her ears perk, and she quickly twists. "Wait. What. Coyote?" she asks. Her eyes widen, and her tails shake a little, before she gives Coyote a deep bow.

Aidan seems to regain control of herself completely. As Snow gets closer to her, the now cat fox curls against the medical taur, letting her to patch, whispering words of thanking.

Alynna flutters over, preparing to land on the vine net near Snow and Aidan. She glances over to the ones people are calling Coyote, her ears perked up with a great deal of interest. "Mmm.." she says softly, as she watches.

Narg blinks a moment and nods "You're right Rihko... I'll be saving the breaking down for later then.... I am sorry Aidan... And Snow, I didn't want to shoot anywhere else." She dusts her self off and stands up shoulders back and chin up.

Alynna lets out a soft growl, "I don't think a shooting was necessary, especially of my mate.." but for the time being thats all she says about it, because something else seems to be happening that she doesn't want to interfere with...

Snowblind turns only her ears to the rest as she gives nods to Aidan's thanks. "You are most welcome." She says and turns quickly to Alynna "I believe Narg that she was at least not trying to more then stop Aidan but..." She turns to Narg and shows a smile to ease her words. "Guns when reaches for quickly make for a lot of noise and a lot of regret." She then turns back and helps Aidan onto her back. Then she offers the rest of the room to Alynna before she pads a few steps towards Coyote.

Aidan clings on Snow's back, hugging her thankfully and leaning on her tauric back, looking at Alynna and then coyote.

Coyote is Sorien still, her eyes peering out from inside his body, but Coyote walks again. He shifts the new body into a strange shape. "Something isn't right, he's... keeping me distracted from something. Wait, where is she? Where is my daughter?" he asks the others.

Cilan says, "With the Aassahke.. probably still in Oregon I'm guessing?"

“This feels really weird, you old lech." Sori says.

Narg watches on with a confused look although it also has a semblance of understanding, just not much.

Rihko rises up from her bow, and then looks around the swamp before turning back to Coyote. "Which daughter?" she asks.

The boy is in shock, but he now appears to be frantically searching for his horse. A small flower is blooming near where the horse was taken under, and he begins to cry. Sorrow overwhelming.

A deeper voice comes from Sori. "Dream. My daughter."

Rihko moves a few steps closer, then shakes her head. "I don't know," she admits, then nods to Cilan. "She should, though. But... is it wise to linger here?"

Cilan glances over to the crying boy and moves over to him, along the way to her destination Cilan says over her shoulder, "Could still be in Oregon, but she could've also moved with the small group to California. Why do you ask?" at her destination she kneels down beside the boy and places a hand on his shoulder as if to comfort and console the child.

Snowblind gives a sigh and pads a few more steps towards the boy. "Easy dear," Snow says with those on her back able to watch better towards Coyote/Sorien as she talks to the boy. "Your story is not over just yet. You are still alive and well. And for now you may weep but in time you will know that you will survive it and in time you will remember only the good times."

"So who do we have here... "I know you. Cilan and Snowblind, right?" He trails off. "Oh, fine, talk then." His voice feminizes again, and Sorien speaks. "Are you okay now, Aidan?"

Alynna looks a little confused for a few moments, then wanders over to Coyote, or Sori, whoever it might be. "Dream?" she yips softly, then she glances back over at Aidan. She thought she was ok before.

Narg sits down and watches the proceedings with interest and keeps her trap shut.

And the Nothingness is, it storms over the mountains in the distance, tearing and eating at the land. The small flower in front of the boy named Atreyu grows, larger and larger, and then it blooms, the horse swallowed within steps out, its body tinted green and plantlike vines coming from it's mane, but it whickers and recognizes its master.

Cilan offers a short wave with her free hand as Coyote mentions her name, but concentrates on Atreyu.

Aidan looks back at Alynna, even if she just look at the boy for the most, still not feeling to speak for what happened before and just staying tight against Snow's back.

The voice that comes is Coyote once again. "I'm not supposed to be awake. Or am I... Tell me what... Yes, yes, I got what YOU know. Stop that. What do the rest of you know?" Hir ears twitch as if being pestered by a fly.

Coyote sighs. "No. About what is happening here, to you and I... We. Whatever." And he starts sniffing the air.

Narg nods "Got nothing on that either other than the fact we keep drifting from one dream, vision, movie or what have you from one moment to the next."

Rihko flicks one of her ears, and gives Coyote a bit of a disappointed look. "That's a bit vague," she says, and crosses her arms. She ponders, and shrugs. "I know there's something chasing Sorien. And you. I think it wanted to lure you here. I know Sparhawk and Balina probably called it into a dream they were having. And, considering what happened to Aidan, I am fairly certain that we have not left its influence entirely." She sniffs at the air again, and looks around. "We should probably move on before it catches scent of you."

Snowblind settles down and turns her ears looking away from Coyote so that Aidan can look towards everyone else. "As far as I know we are dreaming in past books and movies. Why I do not know, why you are awake, why we are here, why anything." She says and then motions to the boy to mount up and ride off before the page turns. "Currently we are in one of my more favorites from childhood but if not for the fact that we are in the Neverending story I don't know why you are awake or in Sorien."

Cilan rises to her feet, and steps away from the plant like horse, moving closer to Sorien/Coyote along the way she says, "Your guess is as good as mine.. frankly all I know is I was suffering a nightmare, and when I woke up, I was here!"

Atreyu points up into the sky and cries out, he kicks himself onto the horse and begins to charge off. A large white creature is diving down towards them. In the distance behind, the Nothingness continues to advance.

Coyote grins. "She stank of me long before this. My scent won't give any clues. The weird lookin' one and Wh... Ah. Cow turned wolf-servant of Fenrir. What did they stir up, I wonder... But perhaps this is a time to run rather than talk! Come, follow the boy!"

Rihko glances over her shoulder, to Narg and the others, and nods towards Coyote; then she moves after him. Her. Whichever it was, Rihko kept pace with it, agilely moving over the vines.

Narg sets off in pursuit for the heck of it and makes sure to follow the same path that Coyote/Sori go.

Aidan holds tightly on Snow, ready to dollow coyote when Snow will starts to move.

Coyote goes to all-fours in an easy lope, not outdistancing hir followers; much as it tempts to do so. Trouble's afoot, and shi knows its name. Finding the source and a way out of the trap is the game.

The white spot grows larger, and the great thing in the sky becomes visible, a weirdly shaped dragon. It roars out and dives at the group.

Cilan runs away from the dragon as though to dodge out of its way as it crashes to the earth.

Alynna moves closer to Coyote, and starts to sniff at him a little bit, very curiously. Her wings flutter. Then she looks up at the nothingness. "I bet that's not the real Nothingness, which is to say, the fake nothingness..." then she makes her way beside Snow and Aidan, and sighs softly. "We are doing way too much running."

Rihko glances up at the dragon as it starts diving, then back in front of her at the ground she's covering; another glance back up at the dragon, and she shifts her position a little, ready to knock somone out of the way if need be.

"Nonsense!" Coyote says. "Running is often the best solution! Especially if you've stolen a chicken from a pen, or a pie from a windowsill." He pauses. "Then again... What have you been running from?" He stops dead.

Narg stops with her paws digging into the earth as coyote stops dead in their tracks, she immediately looks around with a worried look

Snowblind follows the the group and gives Aidan's hands a light pat as she watches Falkor drive from the sky. "Best to not change the story to much. Just watch." She says from her part in the last dream. "Right now we are not running, and if you be so kind neither should you Coyote. We need to face shadow eventually and now we need to get more help to figure out a way to not just reseal but to defeat."

Coyote gives a silent laughing look at Snow, having already stopped before shi spoke.

The horse spooks, and drops Atreyu off onto the ground, and then bolts into the distance. The dragon shakes its shaggy coat, and pulls the boy up onto his back. He grins widely at the group. His voice is loud, and he speaks, "Would any of you like a ride?"

Rihko skids, then rolls a little at the abrupt stop. She moves back to stand at Coyote's shoulder and brushes herself off. She starts to say something, then shakes her head, her ear flicking.

Cilan says, "Uh.. yeah, please!"

Narg nods "Well a ride would be nice yeah....."

Coyote raises a shared eyebrow-equivalent. "Huh. A talking dragon-dog. One up on me! Certainly. Hop aboard, all!"

Narg does indeed hops up on the dragon. She sits as close to the back as she can but still get support.

Snowblind softly mewls, "Better leaving this way then getting hit with a rock. Would someone help Aidan up before I get on as well? And Coyote, I meant in the figurative sense as well as the real. For some reason I get the feeling you are looking at me weird at the back of my head."

Rihko motions for Coyote to take the lead, giving the dragon a smile. Once shi has scrambled up in place, Rihko climbs up as well, settling herself for the next bit.

Cilan takes the dragon up on its offer grips onto its shaggy side, hopping on, and climbing close to the front of the mythical beast.

Coyote hops on, for a moment looking more like a natural Coyote than a humanoid one- if you blink, you miss it. Shi settles in place. "And on, anon!"

Alynna mms softly, and wanders back over to Coyote, and curtseys. "Well, I don't think I have been running from anything." she looks over at the dragon dog, then flutters her wings and wanders over to Aidan, and grabs her paws and tries to lift her along with her, getting on the dragons back.

And the Dragon-creature does the unthinkable, it takes off up into the air, and flies straight into the Nothingness.

[[Category:RPLogs]][[Category:Crystala Events]]

Nightwhispers: Silence/Chapter 1

2012-02-05T22:35:59Z

Crystala:

The two are discussing something of concern, and Balina has been pacing back and forth, following her new instincts of concern while Spar reminds her of how not-dangerous this all is. The quarry, a memory of Hare, the great one, which invaded the hivemind in more ways than one and left quite an impression. Spar's trying to calm Balina enough for the possibility of sleep to be entertained.

Sparhawk squawks, "I have some chamomile tea, if that works on you. And a stunningly comfortable couch. I do hope not to have to resort to the cartoonishly large hammer?"

The top floor of King's Department Store is still something of a mess, the cafeteria area not entirely reconstructed and broken-down racks leaning against the wall. A couple kids look out the windows at the cityscape and appear bored out of their skulls.

A collection of copper tubes lead to a tall brass tank in the centre of the floor, electrical wires snaking all over the place like a toy factory in better repair.

Balina continues pacing. "As much my own fault as anything. No, tea's probably a bad idea. Usually sleep on a cold steel floor these days, so comfort's not really a problem. I should have come later, or at least had less to think about. You never really told me what, exactly, you're going to do to me after I finally clock out, by the way."

Sparhawk taps the side of hir head--which is still the giant firebird, sitting cross legged on the mostly-ruined carpet. "I'll find you and pull you into my dream once you're properly doing REM sleep stuff. It's easier to find you when you are physically nearby, hence inviting you here in the first place. After that...it's a dream, innit? What would you like me to say about it?"

Balina stops, giving a theatrical sigh and a helpless shrug. "I was hoping against hope that, eventually, someone would say something about this that made sense. Forgive me for still expecting that, but old habits. Fine, just point me to a chilly corner to curl up in, and I'll have to take your word for it." With that, she shucks her pack and belt, dropping them onto an empty table, while loosening straps on her outfit.

Sparhawk grins. "It's maaaaagic. Verifiably so. We got a walk-in freezer if you want it that cold, but it's kind of August and all we have is shade."

Balina finishes her adjustments, just as the rest of her begins to bulk up and fill the plates back out, soon resulting in a probably-inadequate set of plates stretched over a wolf 6' high. The fact that she's still just normal dog-sized to her host does not go unnoticed, but at least she tries not to show it. "Long as it's got air, that sounds wonderful," she growls, "Might have to ask about getting one set up back at the dealership, now that you mention it."

"It certainly consumes our air conditioning budget from Zephyr's power generators," says Sparhawk. Shi scoots over to the cafeteria area and points at a heavy steel door. "No lights, but it's not air-tight. Anything else you need? Ice cream, pillow, decorative lace icicles?"

Balina looks up at Spar, then shakes her head and starts padding along to the door. "Just get the handle for me, and I think we're set. There aren't any locks on there, are there?"

Sparhawk leans way over and tugs carefully on the handle, letting out a cool breeze that rolls over Balankles. "No, but it's not really radio-tight either. If you don't trust me, you can still phone home from inside the box."

( Balina settles in, and dream comes surprisingly quick, it’s as if Balina is drawn toward something faster than she ever has. Her nose carries her into a hunt, a great chase. Prey! )

Sparhawk waits around for a minute in case there is any urgent knocking from the inside, listening to the heavy wolfpads going in a circle three times. Then shi goes over to a subtle wall-coloured door and opens it, jamming hir arm into the wellspring in the janitor's closet and melting away to nothing. Hir own dreams come as a matter of course, entering the tropical island before moving to the memory of the pub and the sound of strong drumming rain.

A fleeing deer-shaped blur runs ahead of Balina, always out of reach but never out of sight. It moves through unimportant places only known by what obstacles they stick out in futile attempt to catch the hunter, until the deer evaporates and Balina finds herself in an unoccupied edition of Taggart's Pub.

The pub is quite empty, eerily so, but the rules still stand out heavy on the wall, and the new occupant finds herself stark nude, half furred and half skinned, paws firmly on the ground. An odd shape and smell fills the room, one she recognizes but not from where.

Balina sniffs around, confused. The fact that she's gone from forest to pub doesn't register, but what she's doing here completely eludes her. A part of her recognizes it as an empty pub, but the rest of her, especially her nose, insists that she's in the middle of a hunt. A few chairs, not quite scooted into their table, are investigated and knocked aside as she continues looking, eventually putting a couple of paws atop the bar and peering at the racks behind.

Sparhawk is unable to fool a divine nose; everything smells like there is Sparhawk rubbed all over it. And then there is a Sparhawk, standing in the middle of the room. "One of those where everyone's naked, eh?"

Balina starts, more surprised that she didn't find the source than actually-- yep, she's naked. Her clean paw goes over her face, while said face thumps onto the bar for a moment. With a sound surprisingly akin to the clearing of a throat, she says, "I'm not really going to be allowed any dignity tonight, am I?" as she picks herself back up and pads over to the middle of the room, sitting on the floor in front of the apparition.

The elephant in the room, is a rabbit, a hare to be precise, it sits with red eyes blinking at the two as they discuss. Unspeaking, it wriggles its nose at them and watches.

"It could be worse," says Spar, not necessarily the one standing around looking amused. "I may contain the least amount of jerk of any trickster you know." The bird waves a hand and then there has been people in the pub the whole time, chatting away and clinking glasses and paying no attention to the naked pair. "Start here..."

Balina snarls, "And yet, here I am, naked and begging." Glancing around, she fails to register any of the faces as anyone she knows. Small blessings, at least. "We're not here to help me get over a fear of being naked in a designated no-no-pants zone. Whose head are we in now?""

The hare speaks, voice familiar to Spar and distant to Balina, "I'm sure she's here to eat me. Or play a trick on me, or just be gullible like that fool Fenris and let me chain her up."

That explains the smell. And we're here to do the same thing I do--" the wolf-thing is caught off guard, but is on all fours and bristling what fur she has, trying to take in the whole room at once.

--to know the nature of Hare, yes. Hello, thinks-with-dick, you're looking memorable today." Sparhawk's voice remains curiously sourceless, in the manner of inner monologue.

And now Hare is over a prone form of Lasair, in the shape of a part-hare, and he's fucking her. Her sneers at Sparhawk, "I beg to differ, I think you all just like thinking about my dick."

This is precisely the sort of thing Balina's been waiting for. Thankfully, she's prepared enough that she doesn't immediately leap, but growls are issued and nostrils are flaring, and her stance has braced for a pounce, just in case. "This how most of *your* nights go, Spar?" she yells over herself in between growls and the occasional bark, "Show up at Taggart's place, invite in a couple of gods, have a little orgy?"

The pub feels hot, blushing and flushed with arousal. The fiery bird banters back, "Las can have the dick if I can have the balls!" At the same time Spar's voice whispers in Balinears, "No, just /this/ one. Pay attention."

Hare quips, "And you let a wet dog in here? For shame, this place used to be so pretty when it had a statue of me." he trails off, and looks pretty blissful as Lasair looks near orgasm under his mighty care.

[Wake] The bar is pretty active this evening, Cilan and Apo are in a corner, sweetly nuzzling, while Sori and Crys are teaching Kay something from a book. Many occupants mill about, and out of the regulars the only two missing are Balina and Sparhawk. The lack of Balina in particular is quite... noticeable. Taggart himself has yet to step out.

[Dream] Fuck the chatter, fuck the fucking. There is a Hare here, and it doesn't want Balina to be polite. She pounces, her form reclaiming the rest of its fur and leaving just an angry Fenrir wolf behind. No heed is given for the prone Lasair, and any lingering worries about being in a Spardream fall to the wayside. There is predator, there is prey. Nothing else matters.

[Dream] The hare's suddenly resting on top of Balina's back, and he whispers into her ear, "You will have to wait your turn to get a piece of me sweet thing." The grin on the little hare's face is a mile wide, and his red eyes remain as eerie as they always are. Lasair is no longer to be seen, having disappeared with a loud orgasmic cry. Balina is unable to see the hare, though she can smell him, and his shadow stretches across the bar.

[Wake] Taggart makes his way out into the pub, glancing around slightly before he moves to pour himself a beer. He seems rather lax tonight, giving a yawn as he sits down with the stout to sip at.

[Wake] Apo pauses in her nuzzling and cuddling with Cilan to wave over to Taggart. "Heya Taggart! How goes?"

[Wake] The den's comments are suddenly interrupted by a loud bark, Balina's voice twisted in fury, Tag recognizes it instantly. It comes from nowhere and everywhere at once.

[Dream] The Sparhawk shape is also gone, retreating into watching and maintaining the dream in the proper direction. So far shi thinks things are going well, no actual explosions yet.

[Dream] Balina has gone into a blood haze. If it wasn't going to be that easy, what was all of this for? Hare was so gracious as to not actually put any weight on her back, or this work be easy. Instead, she simply thrashes about, desperate to find where the smell is coming from, and certain that it's RIGHT HERE. The fact that it looks like she's chasing her tail is purely coincidence.

[Wake] Taggart glances up to Apostasy with a small smile and a light shrug. "Doin' well, I sappose. N'you?"

[Dream] The Hare takes a moment to sit on the nonexistent Sparhawk, and whispers, "Nice job keeping my other half out. But wise one, did you think he would play all nice-like and let you dangle something like this in front of him? The little bunny is then in front of Balina, but his scent is gone. Perhaps a figment, it does look up at the big wolf and sneers. His shadow casts up the wall, almost menacing. He however is silent.

[Wake] And the bark repeats, and then one by one, the occupants of the bar pass out, falling into awkward positions. Apostasy and Taggart the only ones remaining aware.

[Wake] "I'm do well too", Apo replies. She gently extricates herself from Cil, giving her a kiss as she goes, and pauses as everyone passes out. "I didn't do it!"

[Dream] The pub shifts from blushing to having firm walls and ramrod-straight bottles. "Our time was useful and lovely," comes a mantra-like chanting. Relying on trying to fill every cubic centimetre with love, as shi's been doing for the past months.

[Wake] Even little Kaylah is asleep, Crys' head has fallen onto Sori's shoulder, the two still wrapped around and the little girl snoozing in their lap. No amount of shaking causes any stirring at all.

[Dream] Balina halts, staring at the thing in front of her. A patch of ice has formed beneath her, and frost is wisping off as she bends down and sniffs once, twice. It's not what she's after, but its attitude is setting off little warning sounds, deep in the back of her head. She's still convinced this is a hunt, but the inner wolf is confused and looking to the rest of Balina for guidance. Sadly, Balina is at least as lost as the rest of her.

[Dream] The shadow slowly shrinks along the wall as the room... alters. He speaks from not his body, filling the room with, "And you think he will take the direct approach?" and the hare isn't in front of Balina, perhaps has never been there. The room itself flickers with dim light, and a cry is heard from Sorien. Then another echo, Crys' voice. Then other voices flash, one after another, a cacophony of cries of pain.

[Wake] Taggart makes his way out from behind the bar, doing the same as Apostasy. A hand grips a few friends, trying to shake them awake. "Wut tha bloody'ell?"

[Dream] Sparhawk frowns. "That's not...Sori's not even asleep right now. Explosion status pending." The dream-maker starts building a keyhole at the stairs into the room, one lit from behind.

[Wake] Apo and Tag both feel a pull, like something is tugging at their very soul, trying to rip them from inside. Apo's body reacts with a flash of bright light, while Tag feels the oncoming pain of a shift.

[Dream] There are, thankfully, a few things Balina and Balinawolf can agree on. Her general concern and her bestial loyalty tend to mix well, and she begins bounding around the room, hoping to see or smell or hear any of her friends.

[Wake] Apo yelps in pain and falls to her knees, squeezing her eyes shut as her tattoos flare with bright light. "Agh! What the hell!"

[Wake] Taggart gives a groan, squeezing his eyes shut and growling in his throat and chest. A hand slips up to his temple, rubbing at it as his shoulders twitch. "Wut tha BLOODY'ELL!?"

[Wake] Regaining her feet, Apo looks over at Taggart, and her eyes widen in recognition of the early stages of a change. "Ah, shit. Any chance you won't be trying to brutally murder and or rape everyone here if or when you change? Cause a roomful of sleeping people is not a good battlefield."

[Wake] Black blood drips out of both Apo's black nose, and the changing human's.

[Dream] The voices quiet, but the presences and smells fill the room. Scents of fear, the true scents many friends. They flood the room like a thick mist. Images, faces. Rihko sits crying in a hospital gown, propped up on a bed a human in shape but not in smell or personality. In the middle of the bar still, surrounded by its walls. She doesn't seem aware of either Spar nor Bal.

[Wake] A hand slips to Taggart's nose, dabbing at the black blood dripping from it. He groans again, shaking his head.

[Dream] In proper dream-logic fashion, Balina fails to recognize anything out of place at the situation; there isn't enough rational Balina active right now to do anything other than recognize there's a problem. She puts paws up near Rihko, but, finding the woman unresponsive, whimpers slightly and continues looking.

[Wake] Apo reaches a handup to her nose when she feels it dripping, gasping in shock when she sees the black blood. "Not again!" She hurries over to Tag. "Maaaaybe we should leave the area full of sleeping potential victims while we still can then."

[Dream] Sparhawk works on things, because this is what Sparhawks do: take things and hammer them into shapes. Bearing in mind that explosions don't stop on their own, shi whispers to the glowing keyhole. "This is your name: your name is Tomorrow." Bearing two things in mind, shi begins telling a story to hirself, in the shape of an old-fashioned shiny brass key.

[Wake] Now the voices that Spar and Balina had heard, carry over into the real world. Voices, one by one, of the sleeping people penetrate into the room, but not emerging from a single pair of lips.

[Dream] Spar pushes the shape of the dream, the door opening and pulling Balina with her. The two of them shake themselves awake, separately, together. The real world freezer surrounding Balina, while the comforting home that is Spar's wellspring welcomes hir.

[Wake] Apo looks about, confused, ears flicking this way and that, as she hears the voices of her friends and family coming from... somewhere.

[King's Tower] Balina awakes with a yelp and a start, going through the usual process of waking in record time. Still, waking up in near-total darkness in a room of only some familiarity is disorienting; she bangs against a few walls before finally pushing the exit knob with her nose and stumbling into the cafeteria proper.

[King's Tower] Sparhawk frowns some more, booted out of hir own head. A ghostly bear ambles over toward the freezer while the main Spar assumes the Thinker's pose, which is just as uncomfortable for a shoddily-constructed hexataur as a greek model. The key, less physical with the mind shoved into a body and busy running it, takes more effort to keep the story going.

[Wake] Taggart starts to get upset... even more than he already is. This stuff isn't supposed to be happening in HIS pub. This is the safe place. This is the untouchable. How DARE this shit happen in HIS home. An angered snort sprays a bit of black blood from his nostrils, eyes twitching as the man growls long and constant.

[Wake] Apo shakes Taggart a little. "Hey! Keep it together! Getting all pissed off about... whatever is pissing you off extra, is -really- not helpful right now!"

[Wake] There's a soft voice, Kay's, barely a whisper, but she seems to be the calmest, her voice finally peaks with a, "Don't be sad."

[King's Tower] The real problem is those voices, they must be a figment to taunt them sent by the Shadow, surely they weren't... real.

[Wake] At the sound of Kay's voice, Apo looks about wildly. "Kay? Kay! Can you hear me, little sis?"

[King's Tower] Balina blinks a little in the light; anything's bright after spending an evening in a freezer. Eventually, she notices the bear. "Where's the rest of you?" she yawns, "I think I need to raise complaints with the management." She glances over at the table, reassuring her that her things are safe. She stays what she is for now, though.

[King's Tower] The bear-shaped soul chunk growfs a greeting to the wolf-shaped Balina, sparking a little. Because it can. That is not the part of Sparhawk made of Words though, so it sits there and looks like it expects something. Meanwhile, the primary Sparhawk resides within the wellspring and holds the shape of the key in hir mind, whispering to it. "This is your name: The Nature Of Being Human is Deciding Who You Are. We define ourselves. No one can take this from us."

[Wake] Taggart shrugs Apostasy away, glaring over his shoulder at her as he leans over the bar a bit, bracing himself against the edge. "You yellin' at them ain't doin' much better!" His head spasms to one side, more muscles bunching in his shoulders as the change tries to take him.

[King's Tower] "Not quite what I was hoping for." Balina sits down, yawning once more as she starts looking around. "Please don't make me go trace hir down. I'm trying not to make a scene the first time I'm here."

[Wake] Apo looks at Tag with dibelief. "Seriously? You want to do this -now-, of all times? Real good idea, that."

[Wake] Taggart spins and sticks a finger out at Apostasy, "I never WANT ta do it, Apo! Ya got this bad habit'a'jus' NOT listenin' ta ANY bloody thing I say!" More muscle spasms and his blood crusted nostrils flare and relax, trying to breath in and out at a slower pace.

Radio Static forms on both ends, Sorien's radio humming with a voice, a single word. "Help" unison of many. It is mirrored by the one among Balina's stuff.

[Wake] Apo growls softly. "Well, as much as I'd love to argue and point out you offering no suggestions thusfar for me to actually disagree with or ignore in the first place, I think I'm going to check out Sori's radio instead." With that, she heads over to Sori's radio, and picks it up. "Hello? Can anyone hear me? Where are you?"

[King's Tower] Well, that's one way to wake up a Balina. The distance is covered in a couple of bounds, the comm hastily fumbled out of her belt. Curses ensue, and after a few moments, Balina is struggling to get her straps adjusted to her less-huge frame and hit buttons on her comm at the same time. "Recent calls, recent calls, how the HELL did that come in without ringing?"

No response from the dreamers, but Bal and Apo's voices transfer just fine over the radio.

[King's Tower] The bear listens to the radio with interest, following the wolf with less abandon. It growfs at Apostasy, over long-range radio, carrying vague familiarity.

[King's Tower] Balina eyes her radio as she fails to find a source for the distress call, but she does pick up on Apostasy's own distress while she's at it. "Apo? Yeah, I'm here, and if Spar will quit with this dancing bear nonsense, shi's around somewhere. What's wrong? Bad dreams, too?"

[Wake] "Balina! Was that you just then? Calling for help?" Apo asks, glad to hear that -someone- else is around. "Uh.. dream? No, no dreaming. I think everyone else might be. The pub is all full of sleeping people, and none of them will wake up. It's just me and Taggart here, and he's busy being all... Taggart-ish. And trying not to turn into a murderbeast."

[Dream] Sparhawk, the one who makes Hope into shield and sword, dives back into the collective unconscious that is only a few steps away from the shared pack-mind. Shi doesn't have a godhunter's nose, but shi's been tracking things in the waking world for years now and seeks the other end of the radio call--with a key in one hand, hope in another, and a keyhole held within hir mind.

[Dream] And a door unlocks, inside is a large cinema house, one of those art houses that showed independent films. The projector looks as if its running for an empty audience, the old film clicking and clacking as the reels run loud in the room.

[King's Tower] "Everyone else is passed out? That's... not a coincidence, is it." Balina's comm is on speaker, while she's been busily redressing and adjusting her equipment. "Spar finally took me on that dream vacation shi'd promised, and it ended rather badly and abruptly. In the pub, with a lot of unhappy people. Unless THIS BEAR IS GOING TO GET SOMEONE WHO CAN HELP, I'll be down as fast as four legs can carry me."

[Wake] Even though Balina can't possibly see it, Apo nods. "Right, got it. See you soon."

[King's Tower] The bear regards Balina mildly, then puts a paw on her knee. There is a brief commotion from over by the windows, some mild clanking of iron on glass, then a squawking voice shouts, "Hoy, wolfie! Got a quick ride to the pub if you want it!" A mostly-gryphon wearing a latex collar waves encouragingly.

[Wake] The various prone and sleeping people also begin to bleed, though this is red blood, dripping slowly out their nostrils, or mouths. It's not dramatic or rushed, but it's glaringly an issue.

[King's Tower] It wasn't the help she expected, but Balina begrudgingly admits that there's no way she'd get to the pub faster on feet. Reluctantly, she heads for the window, preparing for boarding.

[Wake] Taggart hears a voice inside his head, familiar, calming.

Ferox, for the first time in ages, instead of simply being a part of Taggart, asserts her personality and jabs at Taggart. "They need you now. He has them. You knew this was coming."

[Wake] Taggart starts, suddenly, his head tilting to one side. The man frowns, eyes darting left and then right, before he suddenly bounds over the bartop and scrambles for something beneath the bartop. "How much you weigh, Apo?" His voice calls from beneath the oak.

[Dream] The dream theatre is playing images of Spar's friends. He's watching right now watching a man that used to be Sorien, driving a car while strange monsters roam the city, an injured friend next to him is barely keeping herself together.

[Wake] Apo blinks at the question. "Uh... I dunno? Not that much? Why?"

[Wake] Taggart stands up, tossing pills into his mouth before a prescription bottle flies through the air toward Apostasy. "I'm goin' under in mebbe..." The man's eyes roll up into his head and then he faceplants onto the oak bartop, heavily, probably breaking his nose. In fact, a splash of blood sprays against the dark wood before he rolls off and slams into the ground behind the bar.

[Dream] Taggart is standing in the road, a car heading in his direction, and it swerves out of the way barely missing him. He's standing alone and a man, and injured woman are in the car, although the look on the man's face is one of pure stubbornness, one quite familiar that tickles at the back of his memory.

On the screen, a big shapeless beast almost causes an accident, although it's acting rather... not monsterous.

[Dream] Sparhawk is very large. Being in more than one place at once...still beyond the reach of even hir dreams. /Listening/ in more than one place, that is what shi has been doing since Lasair dove into hir link. There is a bear and a pile o' kids who never were without Spar in their heads until last month, and have never felt the need to shut hir out. "Hello, uncreative one. This is not you, you cannot tell stories." With full confidence shi turns straight around and walks out the door of the theater, out where the /real/ people will be found.

[King's Tower] Nothing like mind-linked twins to get synchronized acrobatics down, a small mob of kids stretching Balina between the mostly-gryphon twins and carrying her off Pubward!

[Wake] Apo snatches the bottle out of the air, and wince when Tag breaks his nose on the bartop. "Ouch... prooobably should've sat down or something before doing that. Oh well." She finds herself a lounger to lie on, and speaks into Sori's radio, still in her other hand. "Hey, Balina? Me and Taggart are doing the potentially suicidal thing and putting ourselves to sleep. Just so you know when you show up." That said, she pops some pills and passes out.

[Dream] Outside the theatre, Shadow Hare sits, blinking at the Bird. The red eyes glowing and watching, however it doesn't approach. The empty street blows with hollow chilling winds, and the rain is coming down.

[Midair] Balina foolishly left her comm on speaker, so her side is mostly wind noise. She catches about two words of Apo's reply; 'potentially' and 'sleep'. Knowing full well it's not going to be heard, she shouts back, "Dumbest thing I've heard all night, and I was in Spar's head for most of it!" as the twins carry her along.

[Dream] Apo's drawn somewhere, and blinks awake, in a small room. A hospital room with a broken woman lying on the bed. There's another sleeping woman, much younger on a chair nearby. The steady thrum of the monitors humming away.

[Dream] Taggart blinks rapidly as he regains his senses from the near accident. He looks around, quickly, trying to gather where he is. "Well... that's that, then." The man looks down at himself, fingers long and clawed, wolfish, and human at the same time. Emerald eyes blink once more and he throws his will around as if he were shouldering his way through a crowd, grabbing onto dream and claiming it as his own.

[Dream] Sparhawk inclines hir head politely to Shadowhare. "Greetings and defiance," shi quotes, then looks at the door to the theatre. Entrances are exits too. This is a place to remember a keyhole.

[Dream] Apo's wing's flutter a little as she looks around. "Huh. Not what I expected..." She quickly moves to the woman in the bed, trying to figure out if she knows her or not, and what her injuries are.

[Dream] Taggart is himself in shape rather than one of the shapeless beasts he can sense off in the distance. The car isn't far ahead and he smells something very familiar there. Bolting toward it, it begins to drive again, speeding off, the man inside looks back at him. Again, a familiar expression. But the car is not able to outpace and Taggart slowly gains.

[Dream] The hare says before Spar can leave, "Your struggles amuse me, and I enjoy watching your friends suffer. They are delicious I might add. And this is all your fault."

[Dream] The lady looks up at her, her body desiccated from cancer, and barely being kept alive on life support. She is not familiar at all to Apostasy, but her eyes widen and she croaks out around a feeding tube, "Angel!" and her eyes roll up into her head.

[Dream] The Irish wolf bounds down the road after the car, taking vicious bites and claw swipes at any bit of shapeless beast he can get his hands on. He must keep the car safe... and consume any of that darkness that threatens it.

[Dream] Spar grins and says, "I suffer from a crippling lack of self-doubt. Forget Photons." With the command word spoken, a globe of perfect darkness (should) envelop Spar, leaving the Second Sense of placefeel to guide hir to the place in this metaphorical city where hir friends are suffering.

[Dream] Apo smiles gently at the woman, and speaks, even if she can't be seen or heard. "You poor woman... you don't deserve this... let me see if I can help." She places one hand just over the woman's forehead, the other over her heart, and closes her eyes. A soft blue glow begins to emanate as she tries to heal the woman's cancer-riddled body.

[Wake] Balina arrives at the pub not too much later, brought safely to the ground. The entire group lay sleeping in comfortable positions, except Taggart who appears to have shattered some body parts, that are just starting to begin to knit. Blood is all over the place, and -everyone- stinks of a combination of scents Balina recognizes quite well. Shadow, his scent overpowers practically everything in the place. In fact it's hard to not choke on it all.

[Dream] Taggart swipes beast after beast away, keeping the car safe as it speeds for a hospital in the middle of the city. The car arrives and slows to a stop, and the two inside have a rather heated discussion, although the man seems not to notice Taggart watching. He has an expression of frustration, and eventually the woman crawls out of the car and onto her hands and knees. She begins to shift and change into a shapeless creature like all the others. She's crying out in pain as the car begins to edge away from her.

[Dream] Apostasy feels the woman's cancer and pain well up inside, it begins to tear at her and her wings shed feathers. The woman below rasps again, but for a short moment seems to find peace. Apo's overwhelmed by pain and slumps in a corner, just as the sleeping woman in the chair wakes up. She seems lost, and tries to collect herself, as she searches the room and zeros in on the woman in the bed. She cringes, and says, "Mom..." Time seems to stretch, and eventually the woman finds the strength to unplug the machine, and the dream shatters, flinging Apo into the void.

[Wake] There is a bear in the pub as well, watching Balina mildly. The transport kids loiter awkwardly for a moment, then start sidling for the exit. "You know where to reach us, madam..."

[Wake] This is... precisely what Balina was afraid she was going to find. Waving off the kids, she briefly considers doing first aid on Taggart, but rules it out for a number of reasons. Instead, she starts poking around. Sleepers are examined, and a mental checklist is tested. As choking as the Shadow haze may be, Balina drops to all fours and starts looking for Kay's scent. Even if she couldn't find anything in the dream, she can do this.

[Dream] Sparhawk murmurs, "Incorruptible Pure Pureness," sniffing and feeling for the things that the Shadow does not own. Going toward Narg's voice, ignorant of what the husky might be seeing but unafraid.

[Wake] Balina manages to zero in on Kay's scent despite the choking and overpowering presence that fills the room. The hunter inside calls and she pushes through, and she finds herself... somewhere else. Dream perhaps, but it's not a nightmare or anything like she was in before. Rather she's at a clearing around a lake. A small girl is there, not Kaylah, but very much the person inside that she has smelled before.

[Dream] Apo stands again, painfully, as her wings slowly return to their former glory. "That... was painful. But at least I gave her some small measure of comfort." She looks about herself. "Whelp, no point sitting around." Since she can't see anything, she just picks a direction and starts walking.

[Dream] Sparhawk follows towards Narg's voice, and there are words of encouragement to Narg, who seems confused. The woman is carrying her, and grunting but at the same time trying to keep them both quiet. Eventually they emerge from the darkness into the light, and Spar can hear the discussion ahead. That is, until Apo collides with them.

[Dream] Taggart moves to the woman losing her form and wraps his arms around her gently. The manwolf gives her hair a gentle pet as she changes and corrupts before his jaws spread and then snap shut on her face, pulling her body and soul into his own.

[Lake] Balina begins to pick herself back up, before realizing that she's a Fenrir wolf again. Her attempts to do so anyway fall on deaf limbs, as *something* is too insistent that she stay as she is. "Where is Kaylah?" she howls, afraid of what she'll do if she gets close enough to have a normal conversation.

[Dream] Apo yelps in surprise as she runs straight into the pair of women. "Ack! Sorry!"

[Dream] The man in the car spins the car around, and then leaps out, charging at Taggart and then swings something hard at Taggart's head while he's busy consuming. And the dream shatters.

[Dream] The blob of darkness behind Narg and...whoever that is...chuckles quietly. The key in hir right hand hangs heavy, weighed down with the possibilities of tomorrow. "Is this where you want to be?" comes Spar's voice in a whisper.

[Lake] The little human girl looks up at Balina and holds out a hand, saying ever so softly, "Sleeping. She was called to help." the cryptic words remain. She doesn't seem afraid of the massive wolf in the slightest, which is almost unnerving.

[Dream] The noise Apo makes startles the pair, and they begin to bolt, off into the light. Apo emerges not far behind them into the light, and sees a multitailed grown woman carrying a rather old looking husky, who's barely skin and bones, her stomach looking as if it had eaten itself to keep her alive.

You page, "the key speaks, "I am showing you the strength of your friends."" to Sparhawk.

[Dream] Apo calls out to the fleeing pair "Wait! Stop! I can help!"

[Lake] Balina hesitates. On one hand, this thing is obviously divine, and that's not many letters off from 'dinner'. On the other, this thing *smells like Kay*. A few cautious steps are taken, bringing the Balinawolf closer. "I don't like metaphors," she growls, her stance tense and her words slightly forced, "and I don't like anything else going on tonight. I came to help Kaylah. I found you. I can guess why. What's next?"

[Broken Dream] Taggart walks through nothingness, head down and looking at his feet while he's lost in thought. Literally.

[Dream] Apo sighs and takes to the air, chasing after the two. She calls to Spar as she goes. "You coming?"

[Lake] The girl approaches Balina and puts a hand up to her muzzle. "You must help them free themselves. They are keeping themselves asleep, not him. He is using them to hurt each other and themselves." she scritches the fur lightly and then turns back to the Lake. "Father will awake tonight." she says.

[Dream] The dark blob leaps into the air after Apo, weaving around with the joy of catching wind currents and dancing on them. "Of course!" shi shouts, following hir friends around the place. Ideally there will be a clear sign when Apo catches up, because flying blind is still mildly inconvenient.

[Dream] Time stretches again, and it takes time for Apo and Spar to find the pair again, just as they duck under a bridge into shadows and... disappear. There is a distinct smell of smoke, although no fire around.

[Lake] Balina snorts, moving her nose away from the little girl's reach. "More riddles. Fine. Where are they? I'm new at this crazy dream logic."

[Dream] Apo growls softly as the pair vanish just as they catch up with them. "Dammit! Quit doing that!" She drops to the ground and sniffs, trying to track where the smell of smoke is coming from so she can follow it to its source.

[Lake] The girl bends down to the lake water, and scoops her hand into the water. She picks it up into the air and lets it fall to the water below. The ripples in the water coalesce, and Taggart's shape is there. The girl reaches in, and picks him up like a paper doll, then blows. She stretches and falls at Balina's feet. Dream says softly, "He was right."

[Dream] Sparhawk hums a reasonably jaunty showtune as shi draws up next to Apo again. Those well-versed in Shirley Temple might recognize it involving the word Tomorrow. "So that was Narg, and who was the other girl?"

[Dream] Apo shrugs. "No idea. I could've tried to help, if they hadn't run off like that, though." She sniffs more, still trying to track down the source of the smoke.

[Dream] Apo catches scent quickly, it leads to the bridge, which enters a rather thick shadow again. The fire and bodies... the scent of Narg... and Kaylah? Yes, definitely her.

[Dream] "What the... little sis?" Apo mutters, mostly to herself, as she catches the scent of Kay. She moves confidently into the shadows beneath the bridge.

[Lake] Balina leans down and sniffs, confirming that, yes, there's a Taggart there. She nudges him with the side of her muzzle a couple of times, then looks back up. "Right about what?"

[Dream] Spar smirks invisibly. "Heh. Little princess." Shi follows the second sniffin' wolf under the bridge, sending hir mind on a quick scan through the three constructs: key, keyhole, and lightlessness.

[Dream] The bridge is a short path, and then they're in a small village, on fire. Narg's underneath one of the buildings, and the woman, clearly Kaylah in an older age steps out of one of the cabins, carrying a small baby. Her ears are pressed low, and the child is unmoving in her arms.

[Dream] Apo pauses as she sees the... grown up Kay? She moves closer, reaching out an unsteady hand. "...little sis? Is that you?"

[Lake] Dream says, "Destiny." and turns back to the lake water, causing more flickers. The image showing both Spar and Apo emerging from the bridge.

[Dream] If Kaylah hears Apo, she doesn't seem to acknowledge it. And in front of Kaylah, from a shadow steps Sorien, carrying one of Crys' swords. She grins and holds it out toward Kaylah, the shadow flashing in her eyes. And then suddenly a weakened Nark is behind Sorien and attempts to knock her down. Sorien is knocked off balance and lets the sword slip and slide into Narg's chest.

[Dream] "Whoa! What the fuck??!" Apo yells, darting forward and driving a kick into "Sorien"'s back, before turning to Narg. "Hold on... this is gonna hurt!" she says, gripping the hilt of the sword. One hand is positioned close to the wound, and begins to emit the blue healing glow, as she yanks the sword free and focuses all her energy into healing.

[Lake] Balina prods Taggart a few more times, until she finally catches signs that the man is breathing normally. Ignoring the silliness of someone being asleep in a dream, she steps closer to the water, watching intently. "You realize," she mutters, just barely audible, "that if you don't start talking sense, eventually I'm going to start gnawing on you until you do, Kay smell or not."

Apo knocks Sorien into a blade Kaylah has held out. Her eyes are hard, and cold, tired. As Apo tries to pull Narg back to life, the radiant energy enters Narg and the dream shatters.

[Dream] Sparhawk strolls on up to the stricken, starved husky. "Heroic sacrifices are amazing choices that we make," shi says conversationally. "But making sure it is the right cliff to leap off of is important. Is this where you see everything heading, Lady of Russell and Jahrine?" Then the dream is broken, and Spar does not get an answer.

[Dream] "Oh come on! Again?!" Apo says in dismay. "To hell with this, then." She just sits where she is and lets her mind wander.

[Lake] Dream patiently plucks Apo from the water, and puts her down with Taggart and Balina.

[Dream] The shape of Narg's dream flickers around as Apo leaves, and Spar walks confidently on as the dreams and individuals coalesce.

[Lake] A yelp is heard from Apo as she's suddenly plucked from the void out onto a lakeshore. She smiles at the girl, though. "Heya Dream! We gotta stop meeting like this! Though at least I'm wearing clothes this time."

[Dream] Spar mutters something not quite formed, then reaches up to hir ear. "I have a radio," shi announces to the world, "And no one here can shut me up. Apo, respond. I will find the others." In the bird's wake there is a key, though shi has not lost one.

[Lake] Apo lets out a little "meep" as her radio squawks in a Sparlike manner, before replying. "Uh, yeah, ok. Good luck. I'll stay here with Dream, I guess."

[[Category:RPLogs]][[Category:Crystala Events]]

Nightwhispers: Silence/Chapter 1

2012-02-05T22:35:19Z

Crystala: Created page with "The two are discussing something of concern, and Balina has been pacing back and forth, following her new instincts of concern while Spar reminds her of how not-dangerous this..."

Nightwhispers: Prologue/Narg

2012-02-05T22:31:53Z

Crystala: Created page with "The sounds of banging metal, and a painful vibration, bring Narg to the land of the wake. Their eyes spring open, and are greeted by darkness. Another thwack of stone on met..."

The sounds of banging metal, and a painful vibration, bring Narg to the land of the wake. Their eyes spring open, and are greeted by darkness. Another thwack of stone on metal and their wrist shakes. Aching pangs in their wrists, and body as they hand from what seem to be manacles. The only warmth another body nearby. And then another slam comes, and the sound of iron fracturing and one of their wrists is free. Moving to groan of speak, is accompanied by a hand paw covering their muzzle, and a harsh 'shhh' in their ear, which twitches from the hot breath. Total blinding darkness isn't helping. More banging on their other wrist, and soon it's free.

Narg takes the scene in - they can't see in the banging of metal on their manacles, Narg would knock the lights out of this person banging on her wrist manacles but remains composed after being told to keep quiet. She rolls her wrists around to bring some life back to them and then looks or at least tries to look at her rescuer or fellow prisoner, what else would they be?

The voice is soft, and somehow familiar in a way that scratches at the back of the brain. Comforting quiet words and then they prop Narg up on their shoulder and start to walk some direction in the dark. The smells finally hit, the smell of death and dying, and the pang of absolute hunger inside starving any strength. The ever present feeling of true emptiness, and the sympathetic smells make it clear others are in the same state in this strange endless darkness, so thick it could almost be choked on. The words whispered softly one of the only things to bring hope in this.

Narg follows along with her rescuer trying to hold herself up as best she can trying to place the familiar voice but the owners name seems to be just out of reach of her mind, that’s when the smells hit and she wrinkles her muzzle at it, a small spark of anger lights up as she broods on what she would do to those who have captured her and the others in this dungeon, quickly she stops the breathing that she uses as a sort of comforting action and plods along with the speaker asking with no small amount of anger about this situation "Why....."

A breath that quells a gasp of shock, "Have... have you forgotten? The stress really has broken..." the feeling of the woman's shoulder shrugging as she sighs noticeable, and then they're moving again. She whispers, "Not long and we'll be able to get you somewhere safe, but quiet, we can't awaken them..." the travelling is laborious, even with the support legs just don't work properly, arms and limbs have no strength or energy.

Narg scowls imperceptibly as her legs and body seem not to work drained of all energy that they have, she finds no reason to awaken 'them' whoever they are and continues her leaning against, an idea comes to mind and she begins to use the abilities she has from being an adept to reconstruct herself, maybe add a bit more strength to her weakened form.

Attempting to call to something inside only causes internal pain, and Narg collapses after trying, and a sharp hiss from the voice, "What, are you insane?" and then they're lifted, and practically dragged, faster now. The woman must be summoning something from inside as they scoop Narg's body up and start to run, the sounds of her claws on the stone floor echoing.

Narg urks quietly in pain and frustration from helplessness as she falls to the ground, this is not a feeling she likes at all and would normally call a rage out from her..... but there isn't anything to smash and it's not like she could do much smashing in the first place in her current state. Narg has so many questions but has to keep her mouth shut if she wants to avoid waking 'them' up. She tries drawing anything, absolutely anything from memory so she could figure out what happened to her and why she was here as her rescuer runs along with her in their arms.

Faint memories bubble to the surface, flashes of her friends, the death of her mates, utter hopelessness and despair begin to invade as if a leak has sprung. And then from darkness, there's sudden light. A tunnel in a mountainside, pockmarked with holes. The glaring light is blinding, and the sun is low on the horizon, but Narg feels as if their eyes haven’t seen daylight in centuries. The woman continues running, her spotted fur helps to keep the desiccated victim in her arms warm despite a chill breeze coming across the hill. She has a flurry of tails, that can be seen fluttering behind her, but her face is not Crys'. A memory hits like a rising tide, this one a flash of Crys being cut open by one of her own blades, and slumping to the ground, and a familiar face of Sorien twisted into something unholy behind her, blade in hand. Snapping back to reality they've made great distance from the caves and hit wooded cover, although the trees look like new growth, only having sprung up in the last few years.

Narg would blanch at the memories if she wasn't already feeling so pale and weak, her anger and sorrow flares for a moment as she sees her dead mates and Crys being cut down by her very own mate only to bottled up inside. Then as she snaps back into reality she blinks and blinks again as she adjusts to the light... and if Crys was dead there is only one person that this could be who rescued her, only one person she has seen with those tails and fur patterns, and now that they are far away from those cursed caves she manages to ask this question "Kaylah? Kaylah is that you?"

Kaylah's harsh features flash with warmth, "You do remember then?" she breaths in, her nostrils flaring and she finally stops to rest. She helps Narg down onto the ground who can't even stand under her own strength, her skin stretched taught over bone, and fur remains only patchy. Kaylah kneels down and takes a pouch of water and hands it to Narg, "Drink, but slowly. It will hurt but you need it." she holds the pouch out, warmth on her features, but her eyes look very, very tired. She returns to her feet, her head snapping around toward the noise of a fallen branch, her hackles raised. It takes far longer than it should to calm. "We can't stay long, your masters will come hunting for you soon enough." she sighs, her shoulders slumping, "You have no idea how long it took me to find you, but it's look like it paid off."

Narg drinks the contents slowly as ordered but it does sting like hell, which she conveys with a grimace "ouch.... ahem, testing... alright then get yourself a little bit of rest as you answer these questions..." she takes a breath "What masters? Where was I? And why are my mates dead?" she seems to have lost a bit of memories in there or they have been hidden by her own mind "Be quick though if they are hunting we need ta get goin..."
Narg adds "and how long did it take to find me?"

Kaylah's expression changes to sadness. "I... I worried this would happen. The nanites inside you are the only thing keeping you, and everyone else down there alive. You are /his food/ she spits, her eyes flaring with anger and all her fur bristling. "You... you haven't forgotten that much." She continues, "You've been underground a very long time, ever since my..." she chokes a moment, but quickly quells it, "Ever since my mother was turned... it's gone to hell. You, you've been down there since the early days, all of you cattle. It was so long ago, and it's taken the last twenty five years to find where you were taken." she shifts a bit, "But that's enough talk, we need to keep moving before they come for us." and she offers a hand out to take the water back.

Narg hands Kaylah the water and attempts to stand "So I was Shadow's food eh? Bastard if I ever find the strength I'll wring his neck, tear out his gizzards, pluck out his eyeballs and do various other things to his corpse..... righto let's get goin you can fill me in when we get to any... and I mean any safe haven" twenty years it has been? those years must have flashed by like lightning if she's only now noticing the fact that she has been trapped by the shadow all that time.

Kaylah once again offers support, but refrains from carrying Narg. Their pace is hurried, but not an outright run like before. Time is weird, the sun overhead seems to not have moved. Kay's eyes look determined, and she stops every once in a while to try to hide their tracks and progress. She's methodical and practiced. She recounts to Narg small stories of the remaining resistance, of those who have fallen. She talks about the Shadow eating Coyote, and using his power in the body of her mother to strip the land of hope like a blight. Her eyes go dark every time she mentions her mother, in singular, never referencing her other, perhaps intentionally. She admits how good it is to see someone still alive from her childhood, and seems pleased to still see some fight left in Narg despite the years of hopelessness. "I thought I was going to find a broken shell... you must have crawled inside yourself and hidden from reality all those years just to survive." she admits.

Narg nods as she hobbles alongside Kaylah "Me an empty husk? pfft! I may look like one but I'd rather die than become such... or hideaway and play some games or run over thoughts of vengeance in my mind till the opportune moment presents itself, like I did... though I admit there may have never been such a case..." she looks at her surroundings and peers at the sun noticing that it doesn't seem to have moved an inch "Why hasn't the sun moved? it has to be getting quite late"

Kaylah answers swiftly, "He used Coyote's power to steal the moon, and now night never falls, and there is always shadow." she slumps a bit. "We aren't far..." and then the smell of smoke and fear comes across the breeze, and her eyes go wide. She almost drops Narg, but stops herself before she does. She picks up their pace, pushing them both into almost a sprint.

Narg blinks in surprise and attempts to keep the sprint up with Kaylah, she does a pretty good job all things considered but earflats at the tinge of smoke and fear "That can't be good... no that can't be good at all" she continues to smell the air trying to discern any other smells if she can... "You know if one side of the world is always light then the other has to always be dark...." a rather out of the place remark but hey it just kinda popped in her head.

Kaylah's too focused to try to turn Narg's logic against him. She huffs hard, tired not from doing all the lifting and walking, but adrenaline is pushing her. Clearly in a panic at this point they find their way to the edge of a road, and she pulls Narg north along it. She stops when they reach a bridge, and heads underneath, through the underpasses' shadow makes Narg practically sick, and then they reach the other side and there's a town, where one couldn't be seen before. But it's burning, shadows flickering in the moonlight above. Kaylah freezes. )

Narg raises questioning eyes at the moonlight after the many fits of nausea from passing beneath all those shadows.. ugh they won't ever see a shadow the same way again... maybe. Then she looks down on the burning town "What happened here?" is asked rather nonchalantly "And I assume this was the safe house... damn it..." she hugs on Kaylah and tries to comfort her, but she is more of the listening type than the comforting kind and may not be the best at it

Kaylah stiffens, and then hurries over to a place for Narg to stay, she holds her finger up to her muzzle and then bolts off after something, running speedily on all fours like Crys used to do. Narg, now all alone, is surrounded by firelight, shadows and smoke. Loneliness, and memories overtake again, flashes of images from the end times. Of Sorien slaughtering everyone she once loved, using Coyote magic like a tool to unlock horrors for her new master, the black shadows overtaking cities. Stronger survivors being taken away... and then an image hits, the masters, the ones who tied her up. The image burning into her, and she opens her mouth and screams uncontrollably.

Narg watches as Kaylah runs off... then as the vivid memories flash through her eyes she does scream and screams loudly! Her mind races for brief seconds before she can muster enough willpower to crawl closer to the closest ground fire, she puts a paw in to test if she was still fire immune, if it doesn't burn she pulls herself into said fire and curls up shuddering at what the memories showed her trying to contain the sorrow and the anger that wells up deep inside, and if it does burn she gets as far she can from any light and finds a nice dark area, for shadow cannot exist where there is no light right?

Narg finds a place underneath one of the surviving buildings out of the shadows. Her scream must have drawn attention, but so far nothing. And then Kaylah comes out of one of the burning huts, her eyes filled with tears and a small child in her arms. She stiffens, and watches the shadows coalesce in front of her, and out of them walks her mother.

Narg growls immediately and tries to get up unsheathing her claws from their hiding places in her fists, her bottle of rage uncorked giving her strength and energy.. but would it be enough for the desiccated form.. if not then all she can do is sit there and vent at the air.. but if it is enough she walks from the building and makes her way towards mothers backside slowly and quietly, she can't let this woman harm either of the two, and she feels no pity and yet no anger directly towards the creature that is surely no longer the woman she knew, silently uttering what she believes may be her last prayers ever she manages to get directly behind the beast and uses her claws to stab and punch through the vessel of the Shadow shouting at Kay to run for it.

[[Category:RPLogs]][[Category:Crystala Events]]

Nightwhispers: Prologue/Aidan

2012-02-05T22:31:02Z

Crystala: Created page with "Aidan blinks awake, the dim light of the den, lit by the fireplace in the corner gives everything a feeling of movement. Taggart's policy of not sleeping in the bar makes for..."

Aidan blinks awake, the dim light of the den, lit by the fireplace in the corner gives everything a feeling of movement. Taggart's policy of not sleeping in the bar makes for a little nervous tension, as the voices surrounding flicker in and out of hearing. The first voice to focus is little Kaylah's, who's bright burble is almost infectious, giggling as she plays with her parents over across the room. There's a cold shiver as a breeze slips through and it's hard to tell how long it's been and why nobody seems to have noticed the sleeping vixen. A strong pang of hunger deep inside hits.

Aidan stretches out a bit, rubbing her stomach and rubbing her eyes. To be completely honest, she doesn't seem too surprised that no one noticed her sleeping. After all, quite often the policy is to not be spotted by Tag. She giggles a little to herself at this thought, shared with a certain leopard taur. But still.. when she fell asleep? She doesn't seem to recall well... and that is quite strange. Shrugging a little, she stands up and heads for Kaylah and her parents, a warm smile on her muzzle, even if that hunger deep inside her make her a bit nervous. Maybe there is some hamburgers around like the other day.

Crys waves to Aidan, although her motions seem almost weird in the flickering light, hypnotic. It's hard to tell if it's the hunger, or the light, or just sleep so close behind. Little Kaylah turns at Aidan and waves, running up and hugging around her waist. She says something, but the words echo through Aidan's ears like she's underwater, the sound of her own heartbeat overpowering what exactly she said.

Aidan shakes her head slowly, even if two of her tails close around Kaylah instinctively, welcoming the little one. Yes, this is Kaylah, Crys and Sorien's daughter... she hadn't many chances to know her better, but she looks definitely affectionate. Again, she shakes her head and murrs, confused, "Crys.. I'm not feeling too well... It's... weird, maybe it's better if you keep Kaylah away from me...". While she knows that she would never hurt a child, the recent events made her quite caution about this things, especially when something strange is going on with her body.

There's a look of concern on Crys and Sorien's faces, although it's hard to tell if the words even went out properly with the way the two mates are reacting. Taggart himself walks in from out back, and his loud gruff voice breaks through the liquid bubble, although mostly the words 'strange smell' can be heart. Other faces can be seen around the room, all of them focusing on Aidan, although the light makes their faces almost frightening. Even still Kaylah seems to insist on pressing close. She holds up her arms as if she wants to be picked up.

Aidan almost freezes as she sees all those face staring at her. It's uncomfortable, why they are looking at her. She can't help but to feel her heart beating faster now, making the sound almost overwhelming. Yes, something is definitely wrong. Still, she notices how Kaylah is insisting, and even in such state, her maternal side kicks in. A carpet of tails forms around the vixen, as her arms pick up the little one. Well, should she slips off her arms, at least she'll land on her soft tails. "Hungry... I need something.. to eat." she says, as another sharp bite of hunger hits her stomach.

The girl then hugs tight around Aidan's neck, nuzzling up close, closing her eyes as she lets her own tails flicker around happily. However, the faces all continue to stare at Aidan, it's harder and harder to make out who's, as the light keeps changing, shadow's flickering from face to face, but all of them appear to stare accusingly. The thud inside grows louder with the heartbeat, the constant sound of drums in the distance beating harder and harder, blocking out any voices at this point. The warmth of the small girl, the only comforting thing to focus on.

*Someone drugged me? Someone slipped something in my drink?* Thinking becomes hard for the vixen, her arms tightening around Kaylah, right now the only source of comfort for Aidan. "What wrong... why are all staring at me?" she then asks, her eyes trying to focus on the kaleidoscope of faces that are staring at her. *Why they are looking at me like this? I did something wrong? Even Crys and Sorien* more thoughts run in her mind, Aidan biting her lower lip trying to calm down, to regain control of the situation. If it's a drug, her superior body should be able to overcome it soon.

Memories hit, suddenly, of the time in the tree with Sparhawk, Crys, when someone else was piloting her body. The dark conversation creeps to the surface, someone else is inside her waiting to break free, and a monster just under the surface rears its ugly head as the intoxicating smell of Kaylah's strange infection, the sweet little girl doesn't even seem to notice all of this circling in Aidan's head, or the large amount if distress, in fact she only tries to comfort further, clinging.

"Kaylah... go away.. there is something... wrong with me..." Aidan says, starting to get scared, scared to lose control again. She tries to push away the little girl, scared to hurt someone, again. She tries to control her breath, trying to not lose control of herself.

The girl doesn't seem to listen, instead she moves her muzzle up and licks at Aidan's nose, it's as if everything Aidan is saying is simply going unheard. The world spins again, and Aidan finds herself alone in her tree, the room from the memories, carvings on the wall, she feels her fangs poking out, and still smells the sweet scent of Kaylah's infection in the air.

Aidan is getting more and more confused. She feels it, the feeling of Wolf, as she calls him, the one that always save her when she's about to lose herself. But she feels something else, that dark part so rooted in her soul, the one that she just mentioned to Crystala, not mentioning how it generated itself. She feels her heartbeats rising again, as she feels her body changing without any control from her part. She sniffs the air, still feeling the lingering scent of Kaylah... someone deep inside her despising it, an atavic emotion rooted in her being, in every single cell, or nanite, of her body.

As she changes, the room is spinning, back in the pub, faces circling around her, some recognizable others not. The scent of Kaylah fills Aidan's being, her heart torn open and exposed as her body and mind begin to shift. Nothing but judging eyes filter through beyond.

Aidan feels changed, feels the control slipping out of her. "Help..." she murmurs as first. Aidan, the girl before the P-day. The weak, silent girl that preferred to be invisible, to hurt by her past. But she sees only those judging eyes, eyes that she knows too well. "Help..." she repeats, as her body becomes stronger, able to defend her. "... please.." she just murmurs, feeling naked, exposed. Feeling herself hiding away deeper and deeper in her mind, losing control of herself.

Suddenly a single point of focus, it seems almost out of place in the dream. Kaylah's voice is clear, "You will be safe, I will keep him away." but it doesn't seem to be coming from the girl in her changing arms, in fact, it seems to be coming from the dream itself, and there's an otherworldly quality to the voice. It however doesn't stop the change's progression, only giving Aidan comfort as she sinks underneath. The fangs coming out now and bury into the girl in her arms as the monster takes control, showing those judging eyes what they have to fear.

Backseat, again. But this time 'Wolf' is not the driver. He would never.. do that. Her mind, barely there, screams, growls and curses as those fangs bury into the defenceless girl. She hears the voice... but how can she believe it? She's hurting her, unable to let her go, unable to not hurt her. The gaze of those judging eyes is... nothing now, all her focus, all her pain is focused on the little girl, as she's being bite by those fangs.

The shadows from the flickering light grow solid, blocking out the judging eyes, surrounding and enwrapping Aidan the Monster, fangs embedded in the little girl. It drains from her, the lifeblood and joy that she instils draining into nothingness. And then the shadow tide surrounds the lone Aidan inside, first a voice she's never heard before, and then a flash of light, and Kaylah's voice, and then... nothing.

[[Category:RPLogs]][[Category:Crystala Events]]

Nightwhispers: Prologue/Rihko

2012-02-05T22:28:46Z

Crystala: Created page with "Rihko blinks, the soft edge wake flickering into her head as light and awareness filters back in. The plain white plaster on the ceiling overhead spackled with strange flowin..."

Rihko blinks, the soft edge wake flickering into her head as light and awareness filters back in. The plain white plaster on the ceiling overhead spackled with strange flowing patterns that she uses as a focus to pull herself awake. Blinking again awareness finally on the surface the bed surrounding her, medical in shape, and she has an IV needle sticking into her bruised arm. Medical equipment lines the sides of the bed and the room, while big windows look out onto the San Diego bay. The sun is just peaking over the horizon heading down for its nightly sleep. The room is eerily quiet, beyond the gentle hum of medical equipment. No other patients, a single room, after a quick look around.

Rihko groans a little, and brings a hand up to rub at her face, sitting up in the bed. She slowly shakes her head, and then lays back down in the bed and glances out the window. Then she abruptly sits up in the bed again, and looks around once more. She eyes the IV bag, then slips the needle out and starts to get out of bed.

Pain in every joint is nearly overwhelming, breathing difficult, probably cracked ribs. Bruisers line her exposed body. The IV slips out easily though, but the bag still looks relatively full, freshly changed recently.

Rihko gasps, from the effort, sitting there and panting. She looks down at herself, then slowly, carefully, gingerly moves down the bed until she gets to the end. She reaches down, searching for the medical chart.

It's not hard to find, and although a lot of it is chicken scratch notes filled in by a doctor, it mentions something about a vehicle collision, mentions multiple injuries and surgery. There are sutures down near her pelvis to back it up. It also mentions something about a coma. And a date, April 20th, 2011.

Rihko is stunned... she slowly puts the chart back, and tests her feet against the floor. 'What...' she thinks. 'This isn't right... I'm not... no, that didn't happen.'

One of the monitoring equipment breaks into an alarm, filling the room with an annoying squeal. The sun's fiery presence filling the edge of the sky with a beautiful red. The harbor shimmers in the light. Inside, there aren't any lights left on for the coma patient, and the fading light leaves shadows all across the ground, the digital monitors providing the only artificial light.

Rihko winces at the loud, shrieking noise. She pushes herself up onto her feet, holding onto the bed for support, and staggers over to the monitor. "Shut up, shut up! What is it?" she mutters, giving it a quick glance and then jabbing the mute.

The thing protests at the abuse but eventually Rihko's button pressing gets the thing to quiet down. However out in the rest of the hospital there appears to be a commotion, and within a few moments of her steadying herself on her feet a male dressed in nurses scrubs charges into the room. The Hispanic man's eyes bug wide, and he blinks, shaking his head, staring in wonderment at Rihko.

Rihko tries to draw herself up, head raised and shoulders back, and stares right back at the man. She takes a moment to compose herself, to sort through the myriad of questions flashing through her mind, and then finally just asks him, "What?"

He whispers under his breath, something in Spanish (Holy Mary mother of God...), and then he switches to English, "You... you have been in a coma for the last few weeks, they... didn't expect you to reawaken." then he blanches, "You shouldn't be on your feet, you almost died!" he moves quickly forward toward Rihko.

Rihko grits her teeth against the pain, and then shakes her head. She moves to the side, trying to keep some distance between her and the... nurse? Orderly? and her look turns wary. "I got better," she says, quietly. Obviously. If she had really fractured her pelvis she wouldn't be standing. Or she just regenerated already. "Where am I?"

The man stops pressing forward, and holds out a hand, "Really, stop moving. I'll stay away, just don't move..." he pales again, and looks over his shoulder to the doors. "You were brought in after a car accident... the man who was driving died on impact, as did the man who hit you."

Rihko stops moving, and then slightly shakes her head. "Who... who was the man driving?" she asks. She glances away from the man for a moment around the room, then back to him. "Who... who... who are you? Has anyone come for me?"

He says, "I'm not sure, you'd have to ask your doctor." frowning a bit, "Please calm down, you really can't take what you're doing to yourself." He frowns and points down at the chart and says, "You didn't have ID on you when you came in here, hence the Jane Doe."

Rihko slowly sits down on the bed, giving the nurse a blatant 'I don't trust you' stare. "Where are my things?" she asks. "Can you get a hold of the doctor?" She pauses, and her lip trembles a little. "I... I don't know where I am or what happened, and I'm scared."

The man hesitates, moving a little closer, attempting to put his hand on Rihko's to comfort her. "You'll be okay. Just... stay here and I'll go get your doctor." He turns to move out of the room, not having answered more than half her questions.

Rihko gives the nurse the big, sad, scared eyes until he goes away, then drops her act, eyes narrowing and nostrils twitching a little. She gets back up off the bed and begins searching the room, quickly, looking for... well, anything she would recognize as hers. Anything that would clue her in. Or something she could use to defend herself if it came to that. The day was wrong. The chart was wrong. The -people- were wrong... she would have expected a skunk, or a wolf, or something.

There's one of the drawers have some jewellery that Rihko recognizes as hers, and a few other valuables. As for a weapon she finds a sharp medical instrument, and a one of the stools could be used as a heavy blunt object. The sun now dipped over the horizon only leaving the sky a flat red, and the room darker. The orderly had apparently forgotten to turn the light on in his haste.

Rihko slips the implement into her hand, doing her best to hide it, then settles herself back down onto the bed to wait. She wants to run, to bolt, to go down the hallway and out the doors and to hell with anyone who gets in her way... but she doesn't know where to go from there, or what to do, or, really, anything. She needed some information. So, she waits, watching the sunset creeping across the wall.

There's more rustling outside in the hallways, although the wing of the hospital seems rather quiet. The man, Angel, re-enters, and shortly afterward a woman, pert and blonde enters, at first with a face of disbelief, and then shock when she sees Rihko. She bolts forward and says, "What are you doing, you shouldn't be out of bed!" moving for the chart. She turns for a moment and gives the man a look, and he moves toward Rihko.

Rihko leans back as he starts approaching, and shakes her head, eyes widening. "Don't. Don't touch me. What is going on? And who are you?" she asks, glancing at the doctor, then back to the man.

The woman urges him to continue, and then says softly, "I'm your doctor, you were in an accident. What more do you need to know beyond you will kill yourself if you keep moving around. You have a fractured rib that came very close to piercing your heart."

Rihko holds her empty hand in front of her, palm out, warning the man away. "Give me some details. Who was driving? Why am I in San Diego? Why are you all so... normal?"

And at this the woman gives a very odd look, "Are you suffering from memory loss dear? We were hoping /you/ might be able to fill us in on who you were. The man driving burned, and the man who hit you was a truck driver and drunk. You were ejected from the vehicle, which surprisingly enough saved you, because it went up in flames." she sighs, and runs her fingers through her hair. "and what do you mean by... normal?"

Rihko takes in a shallow breath, then slowly lets it out, the noise ragged. "I am Rihko Kirijo. I live in Fairhaven, California. I am checking out. Bring me a phone."

The woman glares at that, "A name is a good place to start, and no, you are not leaving until I am convinced you won't /die/." She sighs, "Look, if we get you a phone and get in contact with your family, was it Fairhaven you say? But if you think you're walking out of here today, I'll have you strapped to the bed. The only reason you weren't restrained was you /were in a coma/!" she snaps.

Rihko narrows her eyes, and glares at the other woman. "I got better. Fine. Phone." She holds out her hand, palm, almost as though expecting someone to hand over a cell phone immediately.

She looks a little incredulous and turns to the orderly, "Would you be a dear and get our patient a phone." She moves closer and holds the clipboard in front of her. "Your insurance was claimed by the driver who struck you, but we still need your patient information. Would you please fill this out?" the pen, one of those metal nice ones.

Rihko leans away from the doctor, nervous, skittish, and on edge. Wrong wrong wrong. She didn't have any family. Phones wouldn't reach them. But... but... her family... she carefully hides her implement behind her, then snatches at the pen, and grabs the clipboard.

The woman attempts a comforting smile, but really she's young and her bedside manner is better compared with a brick. She says, "In any hope, you'll be able to leave in a few weeks, once your injuries heal. However ma’am, do you remember yet where you were going? If you're not from around here, how will you get back home?" genuine interest it seems.

A few moments later the man comes back with a cell, he moves over quickly and offers it out to Rihko.

Rihko stares at the page, blankly, thinking about the question, and then she shakes her head. "No. No I don't remember. I can figure it out though." Her fingers clench around the pen and she takes the phone, dialling a number from memory. One she used to call at least every other day, before PN day. One she never thought she'd call again - her parents, in New York.

The phone rings for a while, and then a familiar voice answers, "Hello?" Rihko's mother's voice. The voice almost stings in its familiarity, like she was hearing it from childhood again.

Rihko is utterly, completely, totally still as she hears the voice on the other side of the phone line, holding her breath. "M... mom," she whispers. "I... love you..." The woman sniffles, then, eyes tearing up, and takes in a ragged breath. "I miss you."

"Who is this?" the voice cuts sharply, that strict sound she's heard so many times. When she hears the words mom, she says, "Yuko?" she guesses, the voice sounding similar to her daughter she speaks to least.

Rihko's body shakes quietly, once, then again, before she lets out a sob. "Noo. Mom, it's Rihko," she pleads, and wipes at the tears on her face. She sniffles, and turns then pen around in her hands, looking up and at the doctor, and the nurse again. "You remember your daughter, Rihko, in California, right?"

Rihko is responded with silence, and then her mother just flat out hangs up, perhaps thinking it's some sort of joke call. Soon nothing but a dial tone is there to comfort Rihko.

Rihko reaches out and sets the phone down, as far away from her on the edge of the bed as she can reach, her hand shaking. She fights back another sob, and wipes at her face, then stands up. "I..." she sniffles, and shakes her head. "I am leaving." With that, she begins heading to the door.

Angel reaches out to grab Rihko, to prevent her from leaving, his hand wrapping around her wrist, quite securely.

Rihko stops, abruptly. She slowly turns her head and stares Angel down her teeth clenched and a little snarl building in her throat. "Let. Go." She gives her hand a twist, pulling at his grip. "I am going."

The man looks to the doctor for support and gets a response that says if you let her go, you let go of your job. So begrudgingly he grabs her shoulder with his other hand. He says, "I'm sorry miss, doctor's orders."

Rihko gives her shoulder a shrug as she brings her hand up, pushing the nurse's hand out of the way with her arm and pressing the hard point of the metal pen against his throat. She snarls, and bares her teeth... apparently beyond using her words at the moment, but someone not in the mood to be fucked with any more.

The man now looks scared, but attempts to fight back and restrain her. The room is still relatively dark, the light having gone down outside and the three are only lit by the machine LEDs. The doctor now makes motion to help, moving around to flank Rihko. The shadows surrounding them are thick with spite and anger, just like Rihko.

Rihko presses with the pen to keep Angel off balance, then delivers a knee straight to his groin. If that fails to break his grip, she uses his grip on her wrist for leverage to either pull him or shove him over, flipping the pen into an underhand grip and swinging it in an arc at the doctor, greeting her challenge with an inarticulate scream of rage.

Rihko hits home right on the doctor's throat, the pen entering rather easily, while the orderly falls to the ground. The rage surrounding Rihko shimmers, and instead of red blood, the woman appears to bleed black, it drips down her as she gurgles and falls to the ground, flooding onto the ground and spreading out. The orderly would be screaming if he was capable of breathing, the wind having been knocked from him from the knee.

Rihko stands there, watching the doctor bleed out for just a moment, growling under her breath. Then she steps over the doctor, collects her stabby tool from the bed, and stalks out into the hallway.

Rihko hits the door and it doesn't open, as if there's nothing to leave through, behind her the blood seeps out and overtakes the orderly, and then floods toward Rihko. When it hits her feet, she suddenly feels ice cold all over. It moves over her feet and up, and feels like it's running up through her veins. And soon there's nothing but a black sea of chill in the void, she can see herself despite the lack of light, and her human skin is pulsing with black veins. Then it hits her head and it all ends.

[[Category:RPLogs]][[Category:Crystala Events]]

Nightwhispers: Prologue/Sorien

2012-02-05T22:27:40Z

Crystala: Created page with "Sorien coughs and wakes violently, choking on something, holding their old hand up. It takes some time for their mind to focus, but it's not the right shape, or, wait, it is...."

Sorien coughs and wakes violently, choking on something, holding their old hand up. It takes some time for their mind to focus, but it's not the right shape, or, wait, it is. That old familiar body that seems like a lifetime ago, but what else would it be, trying to put things together. They remember something about fur, having fur, but it's starting to fade like a dream quickly. They look at the alarm clock nearby, it reading 3:28 am. They have to squint, something forgotten, and then it hits them, glasses, sitting by your bedside.

Sorien rubs her... His eyes and grabs the glasses, barely paying attention when putting them on. He turns on the lamp at the bedside, looking at the cluttered mess that is his room.

The dream fades further, but there's a remaining feeling of something being out of place whispering in the back of his head, more so than the usual gender disassociation, enough to be bothersome. Sorien looks up at the wall, trying to remember what day it is, the chill of the room quite noticeable as there's frost on the windows. The throbbing pang of Luna not mewling in greeting brings them dark again. They search for a date, and then memory strikes, February, Sunday.

Sorien scritches Spaz, who tries to chew on his hand. "Hey now." He gets up, blinking, and goes out into the back room- Anna might be up.

The house is quiet, unusually so for such a large group of people living in a small confined space. Disturbingly quiet. Even the usual sounds of the city outside are unnervingly lacking. Frost again on the window out here, causing the unmoving city lights to filter through opaquely. It smells oddly too, a light scent of smoke filtering into your human nostrils, scratching at the back of his mind and feeling almost vanilla at the lack of their human sense of smell. This is noted as an odd reaction.

Sorien yawns, shaking his head. "Crap. Too much gaming." He goes and starts the teapot, filling it and getting a clean cup from the cabinet. He goes to his chair once the tea is mad, plopping down in the chair and clicking on the TV.

The first channel is blank, not even static, as if it's still broadcasting but there's nothing to broadcast. At first it seems as if the TV is broken, but other channels are just white noise, and there's one that finally has a picture, but it's an empty news station still broadcasting, and there's what appears to be blood, and deep gashes in the wood of the anchor's desk.

Sorien blinks. He goes through all of the channels just to make certain.

It's all the same, no one's broadcasting, and the only channels showing up at all are local.

The radio is mostly static, but eventually she picks up a single station still broadcasting, a repeated recording. A warning, something about avoiding, and before the message finishes there's a crash downstairs in the basement, a loud thud that almost sounds... wet. The phone line itself is quite dead.

"Shit." Sori says, then gets both cats into their carriers, just in case he has to run. He gets the heavy cane from under his bed, bought long ago at a renaissance fair, then heads downstairs carefully.

Up wafts a rancid smell, in fact it's almost rancorous. And then the sound of a voice, Anna's, more of a groan than anything else.

Sorien skips the caution and bolts down the stairs. "Anna?"

In the bathroom, Anna is laying cut open and bruised, a big gash running across her stomach and her nose hangs clearly broken. She's hanging onto consciousness with a thread, murmuring something too low to make out. The scent fills the room, the door remains open, and the chill winter weather is pouring into the house.

Sorien checks, having first aid, and tries to make her comfortable. He applies clean towels to the wound, pressing her hands over it to slow the bleeding. "I'll get help; hang on!" He goes to the garage door and shuts it, the door making its usual moaning rumble as it comes down. She pulls the inner door shut after, then returns to Anna.

The real question that comes to mind is, where are the rest of the people in the apartment, Anna murmurs, what sounds like 'run' under her breath before slumping unconscious. Her major bleeding is barely quelled, looking closely at her stomach there are intestines visible in the gashes, she will need a lot more than bandages to live. And then the thought, what could have done this. They appear to be clawmarks. Big clawmarks.

Sorien glances back, to make sure the horror-movie stereotype isn't taking place, then makes sure that Anna's in the bathroom totally. He shuts the door, looking for where whatever it was went- that could be up the stairs (unlikely) or into Joe or Khir's rooms. Why he heard nothing he doesn't get, but it should be obvious if one or the other door is gone...

Both doors appear open, or absent, but no noise emerges from either room, in fact the place is eerily quiet, just the noise of the wind blowing.

Sorien reaches carefully around the doorframe, and flicks the light on in Joe's room. (It’s literally right by the bathroom door; the other side of the hall is the door to the washroom.)

Inside, there's no one, no sign of death or injury either though, just, nobody. And out in the wind there's a strange noise, from what sounds like a neighbours.

Sori checks Khir's room as well, not wanting to risk going out to check for threats OUTSIDE until the ones INSIDE are accounted for.

Again, empty, although this one seems to have been evacuated in a hurry. Their most important personal belongings aren't there, and the room was torn apart. Odd. Very odd.

Sorien goes back and checks on Anna; it’s not a long distance, maybe 30 feet. Then, he heads upstairs and gets dressed quickly, leaving the sweats on under his pants for the warmth, and goes back to Anna with the cat carriers.

The noise from next door appear closer, managing to get Anna into the car is a feat in itself, she's lost a lot of blood. She goes in the passenger’s side, and the two carriers in the back. The cats both seem unnerved now, but aren't making a peep.

Sorien hits the door control and starts the car at the same time, and pulls out into the alley as soon as the door is open enough. He goes fast, out the alley (one house length away, and out into the streets, heading for the closest hospital- Unity. Its further north than downtown, and is about a 30 minute drive. With no traffic though, it’s gonna be faster as he'll be speeding.

Anna's groaning stopped, and her bleeding appears to have stopped as well, her wounds in fact seem to be healing faster than normal, although in the panic this may not be noticed. She groans in pain however, returning to consciousness.

Sorien says, "Hey.... It's okay. We're headed to Unity."

While distracted something large runs across the road in front.

Sorien acks and swerves, avoiding whatever it is and accelerating away!

The front passenger side of the vehicle clips whatever it is as Sorien tries to swerve, and the car spins out of control, but remains drivable. Sori recovers before whatever she struck though does, and puts it back into gear. Anna groans as she's flung around. She opens an eye finally some discolouring, gold flecks in the iris.

Sorien gets the hell out of Dodge. "I'm sorry... Can you talk? What attacked you?"

Anna's response is simple, "I... I don't know, big... Some kind of monster." not a lot of help. Her voice is strained in pain.

Sorien says, "I'll get you to the hospital as fast as I can. Something's going on... All the TV stations are down, radio too."

She reaches down and removes the few bandages placed around her stomach, the wounds having clearly closed up at this point. Her eyes open wide, "Something is very wrong." pointing out the rapid healing. "I... I was up, making food when I heard a noise outside, then the door shattered. I'm not sure where the others are." she sighs and groans again, stretching her hand out and her fingernails are red, blood pooling underneath them.

Sorien says, "I know. Just hang on!"

Sorien keeps driving, knowing exactly where she's going.

The city is largely empty, nobody walking around, few cars around. The occasional sight of something running on four legs can be seen at the edge of vision. There's a thin dusting of snow and frost on the ground.

There's a snap, and Anna's fingernails begin to pop off one by one, to which she screams. Thick, dark claws emerging from beneath.

"Shit!" Sori yells, "Anna, hang on!" She keeps driving for the moment, having reached Osborne and making the turn- its less than 6 blocks.

A hand presses, her eyes peering, now sparkling gold in the light. She says, "I don't think they'll be able to help. I'm changing, please... don't let me hurt you."

Sori glances... "What do you want me to do?"

She groans in pain, as her hands change, stretching. She catches her breath. "Save your family, yourself. Get out of here."

Sorien brakes, pulling the car over. "The hospital is there. If you can... Go get help. I don't know what to do, Anna... Remember who you are!" She unlocks the door for Anna, and undoes the seatbelt for her.

Anna crawls out onto her hands, and pauses while her feet begin to shift. She cries out, "Go, please."

"Dammit... I don't want to just leave you..." But she does at least shut the door, and watches for as long as she can.

Her feet shift into large paws, and she cries out, but slowly makes her way to the hospital. Then the last minute something large jumps on top of her and she's out of sight.

"NO!" Sori gets out of the car with the cane in hand, looking to break it over whatever attacked her friend!

There are strange noises coming from the creature, from far away it's hard to tell if it's tearing Anna apart, or what exactly it's doing, but then a long thick moan sounds from the pile of fur.

Sorien stops, then grimaces and continues, aiming to brain the attacker... Whatever it is. She knows that Anna can't be in her right mind, and this thing... Is taking advantage of her no matter what.

The thing turns up and looks up cold eyes just before it is struck between them. It falls dead as its head is clearly snapped with a rather surprising force, it slumps down on the woman beneath.

Sorien drags the thing off. "Anna?"

A flash of gold, teeth and claws erupts, white and pure pain. And then Sorien recognizes a voice, Hare's voice. It tickles her fur, oh wait, fur. Memories flood back with the voice.

[[Category:RPLogs]][[Category:Crystala Events]]