Difference between revisions of "Shadow Rising/Chapter 6"

Latest revision as of 05:47, 22 May 2013

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Ferox lets out a small catgrowl as most of the offense seems to die from the group. The laser aimed for her pistol goes low, as she raises that hand up and crosses her body to let a bullet loose through the air, sending it flying toward Narg to slam into her thigh. And damn, does it hurt. After such, she starts to dance with the wolf, lashing kicks out at the feral creature to keep her at bay before she spins and ends up at the edge, facing the group. Her hair is raised and her twin tails are flitting and dancing about behind her, angrily. "Fucking worthless! All of you!" A flinch, then, and a pistol drops, her hand raising to her temple to clutch her head in pain.

Hare struggles still as Sori attempts to heal him, it seems to help his leg wound like it would any mortal, but he doesn't seem to listen to her, his struggling continues to cause him to stick further, his panicked cries are no longer verbal, just whimpering at this point.

Sorien and Snowblind are on the far side of hare, near the fallen obelisk, recently having attempted to heal the apparent now mortal god. On the opposite side, Ferox is close by, and has shot Narg. The rest of the group are trying to confront Ferox.

Grantok has a coin in her palm and took cover in the earlier smokescreen, trying to use it to get nearer to Hare, Sori, and Snow.

The wolf darts forward, attempting to grab the fallen pistol and take it away while Ferox is distracted.

Narg spat at the ground towards Ferox in frustration when the bullet slammed into her thigh, she immediately put a paw to the wound to staunch blood loss and lowered her weapon seeing that she was clearly outmatched, it is however ready to be fired again should the need arise.

Sorien leans closer to Hare. "You can't claim it this way. Let it go, and prove yourself better than Coyote by being smarter than him!"

Sparhawk stands fearlessly on the top of the plateau. Apparently fearless, anyway. "Hey! Ferox! Lyria! This is so much more rational than fighting some Ragnarok thing atop a hotel of madness, backed up by a robot clone army, don't you think? Much smaller army." The bird is noisy, and opens negotiations with the only happy memory of Ferox shi can drag up on short notice.

REDACTED says, "Fer, I've been here. Let him go. You don't need him."

Loki gently sets any trinkets he has on the ground. "Are we so worthless in a sense that we choose not to fight you on the shadow's terms? That we would rather speak with you instead of fighting? The shadow is your enemy, not us!" he implores, trying his best to stand as tall as he can.

Cilan rushes to Ferox's side as the woman starts to clench her forehead, though it can be seen that she doesn’t go for the dropped weapon, but rather to assist the lady, wordlessly placing her hand on Ferox's other shoulder acting much like Sparhawk and REDACTED in their attempt to reason with the real Ferox.

Grantok takes a cue from the Distract-a-Hawk and finally slips out of cover, next to Sorien. She extends a paw out in an attempt to pull the struggling rabbit free. "Come on now. You look like you could use a little help here."

Another growl of frustration and her hand drops, head tilting up as the group tries to close on Ferox. Her wings unfurl in a flash, wide and catching everyone offguard. "Get away from me! I don't need you! I don't need anyone!" Her legs coil and then spring, launching her upwards into the air with a large gust of dusty wind from flapping wings. Aloft, she raises to a spot center of the mesa, a good twenty feet in the air, scowling and furious at the attempts to console and belittle her.

Sorien gives Gran an obvious 'not now!!' look.

Hare is still struggling, the frightened now-mortal god is still panicking and struggling against the tide of tar-like ink covering his paws and chest. His ears flicker at Sorien's voice, he says, "I don't want it any more, I'm just trying to get free, but I'm stuck, I am present and it hurts. It hurts so much." The once proud deity sounds like a whining child at this point, pitiable.

Sparhawk is unperturbed by rushing wings, being well outside fluttering range. "Sure, you may not /need/ anyone, but wanting is different. The robot army was simultaneously useless and amazing! We followed you, as we followed you here, because you are amazing as well as strong...and self-reliant. Who's telling you to do things right now, Ferox?"

Sori tries healing Hare again, saying as she does, "Let go, let it go. It’s not a physical hold; you have to let go with your heart. Let go with your mind, push free of it and come to me. You're Hare. Smart, strong and wise. You CAN do this!"

The wolf managed to grab the pistol, but only carries it away a few feet before dropping it again, looking confused as she looks at the weapon. Why did she do that? She moves over towards Hare and the skunk-man thing by the big rock, and whines, nosing and licking Hare, trying to get him to get up.

Snowblind purrs out further encouragement, "You are stronger than even the mighty Phoenix, you can resurrect yourself better than coyote ever could." The comforting flames surrounding her pulse, as she channels her god.

Narg continues to stanch her blood flow and watches on quietly; she has nothing to say to Ferox about the past, having not been on any expeditions with the group until now.

Grantok frowns slightly, giving Sorien a sideways glance. "It's either lend a hand here, or risk going head on at Fer again. Given the 'circumstances'," She flashes the object in her paw towards Sorien, "I figured that he could use a little 'help'."

Loki continues to stand where he is. He keeps his eye on Ferox as she takes to the air. "Ferox! Although I have not known you, and although you may not need others..." he trails off, wincing in pain as he clutches his wounded shoulder. He redoubles his efforts to speak again. "There are those who value you, and you have once valued... They came here to free you, and to help you. And some have even paid a grave price..." he cracks, grimacing again, but not seemingly because of his shoulder. He looks down, perhaps a tad defeated, not really knowing what to say.

Sorien stays focussed on Hare, not daring to shift her attention.

Cilan jumps back as Ferox's wings unfurl, "Not saying you do, Ferox.. you may not need us, but frankly its hard for friends to just, back off, now are you just going to continue being angry at yourself, and those that still care for you, or are you going to fight the shadow like the strong woman I know you are?"

REDACTED begins to speak of an old tale she remembers, quickly as many Hindi tales are to the point, "A wise woman is one who realizes when they need others. The fool is the one who thinks they are alone. The wise woman meets the fool on the road and offers to share her fire and food. The fool declines and freezes to death." she breathes and says, "Are you the fool Ferox?"

Ferox's crimson gaze turns to Sparhawk, anger and frustration still evident as she shouts reply, "No one! I'm in control! -I- want this!" It is obvious, by how much rage she puts in the words, that she may not entirely believe her own words. The pistol still in her right hand, she raises both paws to her head and lets out a shout of frustration, eyes squeezing tightly shut. "WHY DON'T ANY OF YOU GET IT!?" At this, her red eyes flicker open and all emotion seems to fade, she becomes passive, the Angel of Death that she used to be. Black wings flapping slowly, her pistol comes down and starts to take a bead on Narg, focused, cool, calm and pulls the trigger. Pain explodes in Narg's other leg, the wound matching the first and perfecting the symmetry of blood flow from her body.

Narg spits a curse at Ferox and holsters her pistol in order to put her paws on both body parts in an attempt to staunch her dual blood flows flowing from her thighs dying her fur blood red.

Hare begins to choke, and shiver, he's scared, silent for once in his life. He's stopped struggling and it's not getting worse, but he's not getting any more free either. His blood red eyes show nothing but fear.

Cilan says, "Because we see your pain, how you fight with yourself, if you wanted this, would you still be musing on what you wanted to do if things were different? Would you hate yourself for killing so many people, for killing Taggart?"

"Let go with your heart. You're the cleverest, the bravest, the fastest. No stupid black rock can beat you, can it? Come to me, let it go, live and show them all just how great Hare truly is!" Sori continues her cajoling and cheerleadering for Hare, not giving up- never giving up.

Snowblind reacts almost immediately at the gunfire, running on her four paws, leaving Hare to Sorien. She's got a lot of determination on her face, and her medkit it out already as she arrives, her comforting supernatural warmth following her.

Narg looks quite calm as it is, she has had to deal with such wounds before just not in both legs.

The wolf gives Hare an encouraging bark, and continues to lick and nuzzle the wounded creature.

Sparhawk grins fiercely at Cilan and shouts, "Probably not! So what can one not get by the barrel of a gun..." Laying a hand on top of the bridle wrapped around hir arm still, shi asks loudly of the floating devil, "What is your mother's name, Ferox?"

A shiver runs down Grantok's spine as a feeling she had known well, though never on the recieving end until recently. She slips the coin back into her pocket and breathes deeply to steel her resolve, turning about to face Ferox. "Can't really reason with her like that now. Going to need to bring her back to her senses in another manner first." She doesn't make any aggressive moves yet, however she does look ready to react at the right moment.

REDACTED sighs, having given up with her early tactic, and does something insane, jumping nearly straight up in the air, the leap is inhuman, and catches Ferox off guard as she grabs onto Ferox’s feet, her momentum pulling at them. She looks calm as she does so, her intent to interrupt Ferox's rage rather than cause harm.

Loki looks up to Ferox, staring at the winged feline. "To us, it hardly looks like you are in control. Or at least to me." he shouts, shifting in place a little. "What would your so called choices lead to? What would they accomplish?" he roars. "If you are as strong as they all say, then you should not be a mere lackey of the shadow and cave to its whims!"

The words cause a small flinching in that deathly resolve the Lynx-woman is showing for just a moment, winces at the corners of her crimson, formerly-emotionless eyes. When REDACTED bounds up and latches about her feet, however, physical threat puts the mask back into place and her gun and sight trains down upon the target beneath her. The extra weight only throws her off for just a moment, hanging a few feet lower, as REDACTED no longer weighs two tons. The Mateba revolver focuses obviously at the new human's forehead, hammer pulling back... and then a lone wolf howl resounds from miles away. Not only alone, but alone. Lonely. Mournful. And it sends a shiver up Ferox's spine, shaking that resolve again. Tears form in her eyes, but they aren't normal tears... it appears to be a black, oily substance, causing her aim to waver as her free hand raises to dab at her cheeks. "What?" She seems confused.

Hare's eyes flicker to what is happening above and he gasps, beginning to try to pull away again, to get away from it. He has the panicked look of a fleeing rodent from a predator. He squeaks like the animal of his namesake. Three tendrils strike out from the inky substance surrounding him, two towards Sorien and one towards Grantok.

Cilan flinches slightly at the wolf howl, her eyes darting to where it had come from, though she turns back to Ferox, asking softly, "You miss him, don’t you? As I said earlier, it’s not too late.. in my experience we've had many deaths here and there, and yet we came back somehow.. usually spiritual assistance being involved, either way I’m included in that 'people dying' list."

Narg lets Snowblind begin tending to the wounds on her legs "Thank you ma’am" then she withdraws her pistol once again just so it can be ready for any fighting that's to be done, she still really has nothing to say unfortunately.

Sorien, seeing the tendrils takes hold of Hare and PULLS, using her healing energies to hopefully ward off the dark as she gets him (hopefully) free! "Fight! Come on, FIGHT!"

Sparhawk can sense a distraction when it's offered, and has no better answer than Ferox, so shi skitters on over to Hare and the black rock thingy. Without the thingy's natural defences paying attention to the sudden arrival, Hare gets a big bunny-eared kiss right on the nose!

The wolfs barks and snarls at the inky tendrils, snapping at them. She doesn't know what they are, just that they are -wrong-.

Loki twitches at the howl, and momentarily peers around, mulling something silently over. He then looks to Cilan, and nods, then looking to REDACTED. "Cilan is right! Many of us have come back from death, or what it could be interpreted as!" he says. "Do not cave to what the shadow wants. It wants you to fight us! It wants you to cause harm and spread misery and death!"

REDACTED holds on tight to Fer and screams out, "Let him go. You don't need Midnight Shadow. You -need- Taggart!" She realizes how futile though her human weight and body is, especially against someone like Fer. After having her say she lets herself go, dropping back to the ground.

Snowblind is quickly trying to stem Narg's blood flow, the bullets having gone clearly straight through into the ground below, leaving an open wound on each side. She purrs as she works, trying to ignore the pain around.

Grantok is so focused on Ferox, knowing the damage that she can do in that frame of mind, that she pays no attention to the tendrils whipping out behind her. Her gaze focuses on Ferox, trying to stall and perhaps provide an opening for an attack.

Ferox flutters gently, slowly as her fingers pull the inky substance from her cheeks, confused. The weight drops from her feet and everyone continues to call out to her, but she seems unable to hear them. It's then that everyone can see the same substance starting to drip from her nose, trailing down from her perked cat ears, even dribbling down from the corners of her mouth. Unhealthy, black, sickness... evil... shadow. Her wings go lax, almost frozen in place as she stares in shock at her paw. Transfixed. Her body slowly drifts to the ground, knees buckling, as her muscles go lax, the black goo coming out faster, even starting to dampen the crotch of her pants to form a pool beneath her as it starts to coalesce.

Loki stares at the result of their efforts, and frowns slightly. He takes a few steps towards the slowly falling Ferox. "Ferox! Fight the shadow! Break its hold!" he says, still peering with a mixture of curiosity and caution, hand still clutching his earlier shot shoulder. He does not really seem too sure of what is going on, but continues doing what he was earlier because it seems effective.

Narg watches on quietly trying to determine what just happened after her brief blackout.

The shadow expands, like a yawning stretch, flowing across the naked ground like a puddle. More and more of the stuff flowing out of Ferox and then the shadow, smiles and a rumbling laugh, the voice coming from everywhere and nowhere. "The mighty Hare thinks he can repeat Coyote's trick?" he then lifts, his profile growing taller and like two arms, the tendrils wrap around Sorien and Grantok's necks and lift them up into the air by their throat. The third reaches into Sorien's throat, choking her in multiple ways. The hare has stopped running, and now just stands as still as a deer.

Sorien struggles, trying to pull loose of the hideous blackness; a hand gropes in her bag, coming up with the metal fragments she'd found in the drawer, and she throws them at the darkness, not knowing what else to do!

The wolf shrinks back from the shadow form, still snarling and growling at it. She throws her head back and howls, calling out to her lost pack in desperation.

Another lone wolf howl echoes in response to the wolf on the mesa, closer than before.

Sparhawk pulls away from Hare's barely-quivering lips, whispering something to him. Then shi dips a hand into a saddlebag, pulling out a silk-wrapped cylinder, and plunging a Spar-length sphere into darkness. Which neatly envelops the obsidian spire, both the broken base and the fragment Hare pushed over.

Sparhawk whispers to Hare, "There are no shadows where there is no sun."

Narg perks her ears at the sound of wolves howling and has a sudden pull to howl as well but ignores the urge and continues to watch still a bit dizzy from loss of blood.

Snowblind finishes the more recent wound, and begins to take care of Narg's other wound, she looks concerned at what's going on so hurries quickly to finish.

Grantok lets out a gasp as she is hoisted up on high, thrashing a number of kicks back at the assailing appendages. Instinctively, she reaches for the tooth she had tucked away, gripping tightly in her claws. Her teeth are bared and she looks as though she's trying to say something, but the way she is held she lacks the ability to do so.

Loki's eyes grow wide as the shadow's tendrils envelope both Sorien and Grantok. He seems rather surprised, especially when the shadow speaks. "You were defeated once, and you can be defeated again!" he says, wincing, but then removes his hand from his shoulder and slinks back towards the bits of technology he had earlier dropped, which are not really all too far by any means.

Cilan turns her attention towards Sorien as she is entangled in the tentacles, and instinctively dashes off towards her, along the way she pulls one of the trench knives from its sheath, and takes a large swipe at the one forcing its way into Sorien’s mouth once she reaches it.

REDACTED sees her mate being attacked and screams out at the Shadow, "Leave her alone. It's me you want, it's me you've always wanted. You can't have me, but I won’t let you have her either!" and she pulls out both blades, as if she could fight the shadow with mortal steel.

The wolf howls seem to shake Ferox from her daze, and then she notices the pool has pulled away from her entirely. "No! Don't leave me, too!" She cries out, a clawed hand extending to where the Shadow has resumed form. She looks tired, now, afraid, shivering, almost as if from withdrawal. Real tears start to stream down her cheeks, her head whipping left and right at everyone around her while a hand, trembling, finds her pistol and brings it up to bear. She doesn't appear to be trying, though, as if it's simply a warning, some sort of protection that she no longer has. Her other hand starts to fumble for something along her bandolier of grenades as she scrambles backwards, trying to put as much room between everyone and herself.

Shadow's laugh is stopped as the light is stolen from him, there is a quake in the ground as his laughter turns to rage. Sorien and Cilan fall to the ground, Cilan's blade slicing through nothing and almost impacting with Sori. Hare hasn't moved from the darkness, sitting quivering inside the bubble of no-light. He grows in confidence however, and a small but boisterous voice emits from inside. "You think I'm so weak now? I brought them here, and they will destroy you, evil one." he puffs himself up in pride as his ego returns.

Sori rubs her throat with the sudden absence of the strangling tendril, and spits; standing, she says quietly, "This is a holy place. A place revered by the first who lived here, and by those who stood in wonder at its natural beauty. They of Hiawatha, we of the modern world deny you. The very world will stand against you!"

The wolf barks fiercely after Sori speaks, as if in agreement.

Sparhawk shouts "Science!" from inside the bubble, helpfully. It is much harder to keep track of what's happening outside the bubble without sight, though. Spar is momentarily distracted by enthusiastic thoughts of radio-operated floating drone things.

Cilan stops her slash just as quickly as the tentacle fades, quickly returning the short blade back to its sheath and she adds to Sorien’s comment with, "Agreed.. I will face you, and what you stand for until I breathe my last, Shadow.. nothing will make me do, or think otherwise."

REDACTED uses the moment of distraction to strike at the shadow, running forward her blade's shining in the light and she swipes at the shadow, the blades moving through him like air. Her actions are futile yet she strikes again, and again.

Grantok coughs as she lands, bringing her empty paw to her neck to rub it. Ferox is in her field of view as she stands, eyes no longer fiercely staring at her, instead showing a hint of sadness and pity. She wheels about on the spot and faces the bubble-trapped shadow, armed with the tooth and reaching for the coins.

Loki forces a grin, and wobbles slightly, taking his equipment in hand. He nods in response to Sorien, then laughs as Sparhawk speaks. "Spar! You beat me to that!" he says, perhaps continuing on through a different tangent than what may have been meant. "Every living thing has a will to survive, live, and endure hard coded in to its core! It is something that will not give up, and will continue on! It came in to existence beyond innumerable odds, and continues to persist, adapt, and evolve! Life has limitless potential! Pain and death only mere setbacks!" He stamps a foot to the ground. "I will never yield, and continue to adapt, live, grow, and evolve!"

Snowblind finishes wrapping up Narg and gives him a quick lick before turning to see what else she can help with, but shivers, her fur noticeably shifting when she finally looks upon the great Shadow she's heard about.

Ferox is trembling and shivering still, fumbling for an oddly shaped grenade to tug free. However, soft rock scrapping behind her causes the lynx to turn her gaze over her shoulder, crimson eyes going wide as a large, clawed hand reaches over the lip of the mesa, Taggart-shaped wolf following after. He pulls himself up and crouches down, cool, almost aloof emerald gaze flickering around the commotion on top of the mesa. He is, at this point, unnoticed by the adventuring companions. His eyes flit across Ferox, regarding her quietly for just a moment, animal intelligence working before he blinks and then stands upright, returning to his usual near eight feet in height and impossible weight, golden-red fur whispering gently in the wind. Ferox just stares as he slowly starts to step toward the shadow.

The Shadow's quaking rage quells, and he begins to laugh again. Suddenly light returns, and the edge of the cylindrical rod disappears into the obelisk below. "You think humans stealing my power will fare any better than that fool Coyote?" the featureless shadow somehow grins again, and moves to envelope the now exposed little rabbit. Hare is mid saying, "They will def..." when the light returns, and the little rabbit has but a moment to blink before shadow crashes down over him.

Sorien charges forward, sprinting faster than can be believed to scoop Hare to safety!

Sparhawk regards the disappearing unique device with dismay, bowing politely to the obelisk then zooming over to Ferox. "I don't suppose /you/ have any smoke grenades?" Once the shambling Taggart figure is exposed enough, Spar comments, "Who's letting the Shadow trade up now, hmm? Separating yourself from love is."

REDACTED chases after the shadow and watches her mate move to try to help hare, but REDACTED won't let him have her. She flings herself over him and tackles Sorien away.

Grantok runs over the few runes on the coins that she managed to figure out in her head. Not having much else to go on, she mutters under her breath. "Happy thoughts." With that she lunges at the shadowy form with the tooth, humming "Favourite Things" all the while.

The wolf looks around in confusion at the sudden explosion of movement around her, utterly confused by what's happening. She throws her head back and howls again.

Loki shakes his head, wincing as he transfers a device from one hand to another, gritting his teeth for a moment. "Shadow, if you think I am interested in your power, I will say that I am not, and I reject it! Light will always shine out through the darkness, even long after it has faded!" he says again, then decides on an impromptu test, turning a flashlight over in his hands for a moment, and flicks a switch.

Narg is drawn back out of her daze by the howling of the wolves.

Noticing hare's dangerous situation, Cilan charges alongside Sorien, leaping after the rabbit in the attempt at rescuing the rodent as well, the soldier seeming to care little for her own saftey, and more for the small god's.

Ferox is very suddenly assaulted by Sparface, and blinks rapidly, trying to process hir. She continues to stare as the fumbling hand adjusts up her grenade belt to the requested item, tugging it free and offering it up to Sparhawk. The comment of love is either unheard or unacknowledged by either her or Taggart, the woman in a near-stupor, shell-shocked. The wolf's eyes go slightly wide as various companions throw themselves to try to save the egotistical and ultimately selfish God, suddenly bounding forward and lashing his clawed hand out to snatch up the back of Cilan's jacket to keep her from throwing herself under the wave of Shadow. It is obvious that if he hadn't done so, she would have been claimed as well.

The shadow crashes down, consuming obelisk and everything around it, and then it begins to flow, the shadow seeping into something, until the shape of Hare's body is revealed, and the red eyes open in the darkness then in a very harelike way, suddenly the shadow isn't there anymore. Just gone.

Sori stares at what was once Hare, knowing exactly what has happened. "This isn't the end, Hare. Remember yourself and fee your heart..." She says this quietly, with certainty in her voice along with sadness.

Sparhawk is halfway through some elaborate statement about heroism while refusing Ferox's grenade, which gets mangled when Shadow devours Hare. "Uh. I believe there is a statement that goes here: what the fuck."

The wolf headtilts at the sudden vanishing of Hare and the shadowy wrongness, and dashes to the site, sniffing at it, before looking about in confusion.

Narg looks out in to where the shadow and everything else was and says in a hoarse voice "Did the shadow just eat that obelisk and the Hare?"

Sorien yips, "He took Hare in the place of all of us... The power of a god under his control? Far better than mere mortals."

Taggart drops Cilan onto her feet, a small growl in his throat of some-sort of warning, obviously displeased with the woman before he turns around and regards Ferox. The lynx-woman is still sitting near the edge of the mesa, crimson eyes wide and still streaming the occasional tear. When she notices Taggart staring at her, she shakily raises the pistol, starting to cry a bit more outwardly as the large wolfman starts to step toward her.

Narg watches on the scene between Taggart and Ferox begin to unfold with attentive if tired eyes.

REDACTED extracts herself from Sorien, helping her mate to stand, her hands bleeding from landing on the rocks. She kisses Sorien and says, "Love, if you try to do something like that again, I will strangle you."

Grantok halts in her tracks, confused as to what just happened. After a moment, she glances aside to Sorien. "So who exactly was he baiting out here then? Us? Hare?"

Cilan seems slightly relieved at being rescued, though a frown quickly takes her as she is growled at, the sorrowful soldier saying, "S-sorry.." soon after, looking next to the spot where Hare was, she breathes a low sigh and shakes her head, remaining silent though.

"I'm sorry love... I just, just have to try." She shakes her head. "Hare was unexpected, and Shadow took him. Hare's ego was what lost him to us."

Loki frowns a moment at the entire situation, and then stows the defunct device. He looks around, tilting his head. "Now that was quite inconvenient... and a tad anticlimactic." he murmurs, still staring at the spot. He then lazily glances around. "Well.. if that’s Taggart..." he says, then looking at the other wolf. "Guessing that may be Apostasy... considering a pattern... but it might not be..." he murmurs, wobbling slightly in place, a hand moving to his head, the dragon seemingly dizzy.

Sparhawk zooms on out of the line of fire between Taggart-thing and Ferox-shell, gingerly investigating the former obelisk site. "Shadow's very big. Why would it be just one thing? Sorta like a dealership for people to trade up into. Guess Lasair's gonna be disappointed for a while more..."

"No! You left me!" Ferox screams out, pulling the trigger on her heavy revolver a few times. The explosive shots ring out over the grounds, carrying easily from on top of the mesa. Taggart's fur and flesh yield to the bullets, blood spraying and skin tearing, but his walking does not falter. Another round is fired, catching him in the forehead, oddly the same shot that downed the human before. His head reels back, but he just seems to shake it off and continues to walk forward. His green gaze is full of sorrow... apology... but he doesn't speak.

Sorien yips, "Hare's thing is not being seen. Or being where he wants to be. Think of what that does for the Shadow, who was previously reliant on mortals as a focus. Powerful as he is, it would take all he has to control Hare. He couldn't stay split anymore."

Sori turns to watch the scene between Ferox and Feral-Taggart.

Narg winces as Taggart is shot multiple time and shot in the same exact spot as he was killed and mutters to herself "Don't die again Tag don't do it again"

Cilan seems to perk up at the mention of Apostasy's name, the woman then looking to the wolf next, moving to it, and kneeling in front of the winged wolf she gives it a curious look and asks almost timidly, "S-sis?" all the while, she seems almost oblivious to the gunfire, and Taggart’s being shot at.

Loki wobbles slightly. "So... Shadow taking hare was a good thing?... does this mean this is all over for now?" he asks, a nervous laugh following shortly after.

Sori stays focused on the scene but says to Loki; "God no. It just started."

Grantok's ears perk at the growling and gun shots just out of her field of vision. She turns to note the cornered Ferox and the encroaching Taggart. Her eyes soften slightly, a look of pity crossing her face again. She speaks softly as she watches things unfold. "To think that at one point I envied this, yearned for it..."

The wolf barks at Cil and pounces her, licking her face, in response.

REDACTED stiffens at seeing the wolf. She looks at his eyes, trying to sense which version of Taggart's wolf is in control.

Loki smiles weakly at the display that the Apowolf gives Cilan. "Well... that is good then... everybody is accounted for." he says, flopping down on his rear, legs giving out. "Everybody... safe and accounted for. That is good."

Ferox pulls the trigger again, but all the she gets is the dull click of an empty chamber. And again. And again. Until she lets her hand drop, her shoulders trembling as the anger fades and she just cries, lost and afraid of the towering figure in front of her. Taggart very simply pads forward and crouches down, extending a clawed hand to softly stroke the tears that are streaming down her cheeks. At his touch, she breaks and clutches for his hand with her own, sobbing into it. The wolf extends his other, softly stroking down the hair at the back of her head while she shudders.

Sparhawk watches the gunshots dispassionately. An unconscious hand strokes the winding of the bridle. "I am back to having no basis for comparison," shi says out loud, then mutters some more things about heroes and threes.

Sori leans against REDACTED. "This... Maybe we shouldn't see this."

Narg continues sitting on the ground keeping quiet and watching, knowing exactly what was to happen between Taggart and Ferox.

Cilan oof's as she's pounced, though it is quickly replaced by giggles, as her face is licked, "Gah, hey, hey, stop!" though by the fact that she does little to stop the wolf's affection, and her giggling, turning into laughter, she might not mean those words, at least for a while when she attempts to lightly push the wolf away.

REDACTED takes Sorien away, sick to her stomach as it is by what has happened, she can't watch the conclusion of things.

Sparhawk struggles with things internally. Shi gets an annoyed scowl for a moment--seldom does shi actually have conflicting desires and needs. In this instance, whatever wins out leads Spar to quietly approach the pair and leave the bridle resting on the ground between them, then retreat with (main) eyes down and walking backward.

The wolf eventually relents in her affections, moving back from Cil and letting the human up again. Her head cocks to one side for a moment, as if there's some sort of internal debate occurring, before she barks and trots over to REDACTED, bumping her nose against her leg.

A half-hearted smile crosses Grantok's lips as she turns and heads over to the edge of the cliff and sits down and looks out to the horizon, her mind racing with a slew of things.

Ferox's crying slows and she swallows and sniffles, head turning slightly to the side to raise crimson, tear-reddened eyes to the large wolf. At the presentation of the bridle, her hand slips down to it and her eyes go slightly wide, staring at Sparhawk as shi retreats. She swallows again, a confused look fading away to sorrow and apology and shame. She looks back to Taggart, "Take me home." Then she leans her head back, baring the front of her neck to him. He pauses for a moment, eyes falling down to the lightly furred neck, contemplating, before not a second later, he lashes out and latches his teeth onto each side, crushing violently with a spray of blood. She doesn't even cry out, though her eyes shoot open. It does, however, cause her body to go limp, and the hint of a smile finds her lips. Where the blood sprays onto Taggart's fur, his body turns to an odd red-black gel, reaching out to places to latch around her body, pulling her mass slowly into his own.

Loki looks up for a moment, watching the display with some amount of curiosity, but does not seem to have the energy to even ask or say anything at the moment, the scientist just sitting there in silence.

Narg shudders as she watches but continues to watch the pair

Sparhawk sits in silence too, staring like everyone else. Shi looks sad for a moment, then opens hir eyes very wide and takes a breath and looks less sad.

After the consuming, the wolf stays crouched for a bit, then leans forward onto all fours and pads to the edge of the mesa, sitting down with his legs hanging from the edge. Emotion is hard to read on his face and in his eyes, but the male seems relaxed, his tail thumping gently on the dusty rock behind him.

Cilan sits up just in time to notice Ferox being absorbed into Taggart, a slow sigh is made before saying, "Rest in peace, Ferox.. rest in peace.." and with that, she rises to her feet and looks around, a hint of saddness taking over the once jubilant mood she was in.

Narg sighs "Glad that bit is over with."

Taggart rumbles gently, small sadness finding his gaze, "Her name was Lyri..." The sadness fades though, replaced by animal simplicity.

Loki seems to zone out, staring off in to space. For once he actually seems tired, a long sigh escaping him. He looks to the wolf, and nods. "Ah... Lyri huh? What was yours originally?"

Narg wishes she could move "Would somebody be so kind as to pick me up? I uh can't move very well with bothlegs still injured."

Snowblind lifts Narg onto her tauric back, happy to assist her patient.

Sparhawk skitters over to Narg and whispers an apology as shi grabs the whiskey bottle from the top of her pack, then off to stand before the giant wolf. "No one can break your pub except you. No one can repair your pub except you." Shi offers the whiskey bottle, a token of commerce as well as what people get up to when unsupervised.

Narg pats Snowblind "Thank you very much" then she looks at Sparhawk "Hey I got that before we left New Ireland in the first place.

REDACTED suddenly feels cold nosed against her leg and she looks down at the white wolf, realizing very quickly who it is. She kneels down and wraps her arms around the wolf's neck, and says, "Don't -ever- do anything that stupid again." and begins to cry. All the tears she felt over Taggart, and Apostasy, come boiling out.

Taggart turns his head to regard Loki for a moment, tilting it slightly to one side as he blinks bright green eyes in response to the question. At Sparhawk's approach, he gets some of the same, blinking before his wolfhead tilts forward and sniffs at the bottle. Clawed hand slips out to accept it, examining the top for a moment before he twists it off and takes a large gulp.

Narg smiles "Ah well he'll get better use out of it than I will for now"

The wolf lets out a low whine and nuzzles REDACTED' neck before licking her face, clearing away the tears as they fall. Her tail droops at the admonishment.

Sparhawk waves at Narg, trying to keep the commentary about the bottle down. Shi hums something that was on the Pub's audio system loop, sitting before the larger of the two voiceless wolves in attendance.

Narg smiles and get the hint "As you wish Spar."

Seeming to remember something, Cilan reaches into the small satchel at her side, and pulls out the vial of ashes she was given days ago, checking to see if her earlier antics had broken it, noticing the fact that it’s still in once piece though, she breathes a small sigh of relief and returns it to the container that it had come from.

Taggart holds the bottle out to Sparhawk, his gaze slipping back out over the landscape. Then, he sets it down and pulls himself from the ledge, padding on all fours over to where he had consumed Ferox. A clawed hand reaches out to pick up a bit of glittering, tucking it into the palm of a large hand before he moves back and sits back down next to Sparhawk.

"Lyri... Goodbye. You will not be forgotten." Grantok stares off to the horizon, her tail undulating off the edge of the cliff. She reaches for her own flask of absinthe concoction, brings it to her lips, halts, and instead pours a little libation off the edge in reverence of the moment.

REDACTED finally recovers enough to stop crying. She kisses the white wolf, and then gets up, leaving her mate's side she moves swiftly over to Taggart. She stops and stares at him, and then finally she places a tentative hand on him, almost as if trying to test if he's real.

Sparhawk sidesteps crabwise back to Narg to return the bottle, whispering something to her. Shi returns to Tag's side, humming some more as shi sits, giving a whisper to him during a part of the tune shi doesn't recall.

The wolf barks happily at the kiss, and when REDACTED leaves her, moves back over to Cil, where she lies down and just watches what's going on.

Sparhawk whispers to Narg, "It's a symbol. Doesn't matter where it came from. Pay ya later."

Sparhawk murmurs, "You still owe me a second dance someday."

Narg takes the bottle gratefully and unpops the top to take a drink "Thanks and no need to pay for it"

Taggart is simply sitting with Sparhawk when REDACTED approaches and touches him, causing the large wolf to turn his head and regard her rather simply. His head tilts to one side, dog-like, as if he hadn't a care in the world at the moment.

Cilan returns to a seated position next to Apostasy, and she begins to scritch right behind one of her ears, all the while she looks over to the rest of her allies, watching them intently.

REDACTED leaps forward, her arms grasping around the gigantic wolf's neck, failing to make much headway and making her look like little more than a doll clinging to him. She says nothing for a long time.

The wolf murrs happily, pressing her head up into the scritching, one hind leg twitching a little.

Narg sighs and drinks her whiskey once more motioning Snow to go over near Cilan and Apo, when they reach the pair Narg offers Cilan a drink of her whiskey "Would ya like a drink Cilan"

Taggart blinks at the hug, leaning down to sniff at her a few times before his strong arms wrap around the human form. He does this simply, as well, comforting her with his presence.

Cilan turns to Narg and shakes her head no, "I’m fine, but.. thanks for the offer though, Narg.." noticing Apostasy's leg twitch she giggles to herself for a moment before returning to silence once more.

Narg nods and takes another drink of her whiskey before giggling at the leg kicks and saying to Cilan "That's the same exact spot that gets my leg kicking."

Sparhawk sits quietly, the only sound being a tail brushing against the ground rhythmically. On the inside shi is burning with serenity, grabbing the universe with two hands and shouting ALL WILL BE WELL as loudly as shi can. All the family at home tumbles out of bed.

Taggart pulls himself from REDACTED's grasp for long enough to pad over to the wolf and Cilan, large and strong arms snatching each of them up into a hug at the same time.

Narg smiles at Tag's show of affection and takes another swig of her whiskey.

The wolf wriggles in confusion for a moment before relaxing, giving Taggart a single lick on the cheek.

REDACTED sits quietly for a while after Tag moves away, numb from emotion. She eventually moves back to Sorien.

Taggart lets the two go and then makes his way to Grantok, grabbing the runt of a lynx up into another large hug, though taking care with her small body.

Grantok caps off her flask and puts it away, only to be scooped up into a hug. "Oi. Missed you too, big guy."

Loki continues to stare off in to the distance, or lack of such. Stone does not really have any depth to it, still sitting on the ground.

Taggart lets Grantok down and licks her cheek, fondly, before moving over to Loki and roughly pats his head with a clawed hand.