Difference between revisions of "Trail of Tears: The Quest Chapter 4"

Latest revision as of 04:09, 22 January 2014

Inside the small house Inola lived in alone, in the back corner the spare bedroom bares an almost corpse-like woman, her black sclera and golden irises hidden as her eyes close again. Four women around her, Balina's teeth once at snapping at her throat have pulled back while Grantok has begun to prepare a spell from the coins, a finding spell cast on Inola, to hopefully find the path to saving her friend. [REDACTED]' just taken her hands off the sheriff’s mouth, letting her free for Grantok to work. The coin chosen, blood given, Inola's got her eyes closed and has begun to think deeply, her feelings for Aiyanna hard to hide at this point, desperate and horrified by what's become of her.

Back at the sheriff’s office, just outside, Sparhawk has begun the process of binding the injured rifleman whose yet to speak with silk. The chords wrap around his wrists, and ankles and he's soon hefted on top of the taur. Eithne's got the foul mouthed one, his nastiness apparent in his words, his judgments, only the threat of being unwillingly changed seemed to shut him up. Sorien and Makena have just arrived after pausing to help the injured Ash. The two have clearly given themselves as working for the one who razed the town, their purpose though seems little more than distraction to slow them down, clearly their value being little beyond that.

[Bus] Sorien brushes her hands off, forcing her ears back up. "So should we wait for the others or call them or what?" Her gaze goes back to the bus, and her ears go back down for a moment.

[Inolaville, USA]The Balinawolf shifts about restlessly, eventually forcing herself to sit. As much as she wants, more than anything, to simply take a meaty bite out of the cursed morsel in front of her, it sounds like she is, once again, in the minority. Tearing her eyes from the Aiyanathing for the first time in what feels like weeks, she glances back to watch Grantok and the sheriff as close as her distracted mind will allow.

Makena smiles and sits in front of the bleeding one, "Hey! You're hurt pretty bad haha. You need to get to a hospital I think. You got any bombs strapped to your chest?" laughs "Wouldn't wanna blow something up the maternity ward tryin' to get you all patched up!"

[Bus] "Makena, don't taunt the morons," Sori says.

Makena laughs, "I'm not taunting anybody! He's got a hole in his stomach haha"

[Bus]Sori just sort of stares for a moment. "Um... Yeah."

Makena looks at the guy, "You *really* aren't looking good! And you aren't gonna want us wierdos using wierdo abilities to fix it, right??"

[Ai] "Now you're going to feel a little dab on your forehead, but stay focused on your question and just relax." Grantok speaks softly as she reaches up and lightly traces the symbol of the coin just above Inola's brow with a little bit of the blood. Afterwards she backs away a few paces to give the sheriff room, not entirely certain of what results may take place.

[Bus] Sparhawk collects the bound and injured one, having at least stemmed the bleeding enough to move him. Eithne withdraws her teeth, and slinks off of him, allowing him to be equally bound. The man still has some fury in his eyes, but has remained quiet, until the arguing finally causes him to utter, "I'd rather you just shot me, instead of listening to all this prattling."

[Ai] Inola keeps her eyes closed, the air seeming to hang, like she's stopped breathing, and a single tear drips out from under an eyelid. The marked rune on her forehead begins to glow. She collapses forward, landing on her knees in front of Balina, a hand going out to her scruff. She opens her eyes and they seem distant, elsewhere, and then she shoves her hand deep into Balina's mouth. Her entire arm disappears into the wolf's gullet. The air grows increasing cold around the wolf, the sweat on Inola's hair freezing, she breaths out, a puff of mist in the air. And then she pulls.

[Bus] Sori casually says, "That could be arranged, jackass. But you're not worth my time- the people living here though? I suspect they might have some creativity in dealing with you."

[Bus] "Oh no, not that! They're just going to put us in jail. Not like I haven't experienced that in my life. There's no way these pussies would do anything more than that." The brown haired man says, "At least I won't get eaten like you all are gonna."

[Bus]Sori stops dead, then turns to face the human. "That's been tried. He fucked it up then, and he won't win this time either. You idiots though... Its kinda funny that you don't realize that he's ALREADY eating you."

[Ai] Well, that is one way to get Balina involved in the proceedings. Luckily, the icewolf has very little experience with things that *want* to be in her mouth, else instincts to clamp down might have overridden common courtesy. She does manage a few gagging motions, however, and attempts to shake the idiot woman free, eyes blazing with indignation, surprise, and subtle hints of good old-fashioned rage.

[Ai] [REDACTED] blinks at Inola's strange actions, her hand going to her blade and her eyes questioning at Grantok. "Is that supposed to happen?"

[Ai]Grantok goes wide-eyed at the sight. The vacant expression was in the realm of expected possibility. Going diving into moowoof maw wasn't. But she's not about to go second guessing things at this critical juncture. "Y-yes? Bal please put up with it. There's a madness to this method that's bound to make sense soon enough."

[Bus] Sparhawk murmurs, "Many things have eaten us. Must not be very delicious, keep getting puked out or cutting our way back to sunlight." Hexataur gait is a slow swaying side to side, not interfering with people having conversations on hir back and alongside.

[Ai] Balina gives the entirely-expected response of, "Mmfffmnnffpt!" as she tries to deny her own gag reflex. Or her swallow-in-big-bloody-chunks reflex.

[Bus] Makena sits in front of the quiet guy with the stomach wound waiting for some response, smiling all reassuringly!

[Ai] Inola's grasp on something deep inside, Balina can feel her fingers wrapping around something, a connection somehow. And with her, she withdraws the arm, covered in frost holding a small heartlike object frozen completely. She stares at it, the forehead mark dimming. "What..." is all she says staring at the thing.

[Bus]Sori sighs, then takes another deep breath. She lets it out and tries to let go of the emotions; some random little prick is not what she should allow to upset her.

[Bus] The blonde one, who's fully tied up looks back and forth from the hyena with the disturbing grin, to the strangely shaped Sparhawk. Finally he says, "I don't want to die. I really don't. Please, please keep that thing away from me!" The other one grows furious, and attempts to break out of Eithne's grasp.

[Bus] The brown haired man's eyes grow black as he screams out and jumps at the other one, trying to strangle him.

[Bus] Makena laughs, "Don't worry! I'm pretty tough haha. I wanna get you patched up, are you adverse to me doing that with some wierdo stuff as long as that's *all* I do is fix your wound? I don't know if I can move you to get to the hosptial! You're just about inside-out haha!

[Bus] Makena laughs, "Piledriver!!" and goes after the vigilante!

Sori blinks at the sudden action, then charges forward, aiming to spin-kick the maniac away from his helpless victim!

[Bus] Sparhawk sighs. "Okay, fiiiine. What actually is going to happen? Erm--" Passenger assaulted! Dropping to ground level and letting the madcap hyena tag in, Spar worries momentarily about the fate of fighting arenas.

With Makena in the way, Sori waits for a moment, then decides to scoot in, grab the other man and get him clear of his obviously out of control companion!

[Ai] Balina decides to just wait for this one, returning to staring-at-probably-corpse duty so she doesn't get any funny ideas about delicious frozen hearts.

[bus] Makena lifts the guy up at the waist, standing up tall with him upside-down, dropping down on her rear with the guy's head between her thighs, slamming his head on the ground with a bit of help from gravity! She uses her legs to wrap around his waist in an attempt to pin him, paws resting on the back of his shoulders. "Hehe, well see now I know *you* don't have a bomb strapped to your chest! If you were do *that* you'd have done it by now! haha"

[Ai]"Is that what I think it might be?" Grantok looks from Inola to the crystalline heart she is holding. Before even getting an answer, she begins digging through her pockets for the other coins. "Transfusion. Life. Umm... Hope would be life, at least the kind I think we want. Or is it just transference back into her body?"

[Ai] Inola's shivering now, looking cold, and half frozen, still breathing mist. "What, what is this? What did you do?" blinking away frost stuck to her eyelashes. She's clutching to the crystalline heart like it's a treasure though. Behind her, the corpselike Aiyana opens her eyes again, snapping quickly up like a threat's been detected.

[Bus] Makena successfully lifts and pins the raging one, though he's struggling, thrashing about, practically frothing at the mouth. Blood dripping from his nose, though he didn't seem to be hit in the struggle. Sorien manages to remove the blonde one, pulling him away as he gasps at air looking frantic now. "Get me away from him!" he pleas when his breath returns.

[Bus]"Makena- Get rid of him! He's possessed!" Sori keeps moving her living burden clear of the area. "Spar, get ready to take him down!"

[Ai]Grantok continues babbling to herself as she thumbs through her coins and removes two from the bunch, returning the remainder to her pockets as she answers the sheriff. "Hm? Oh. I don't know if I can explain the exact bits of it all. Let's just say it's the answer we needed, when we needed it." Her eyes turn to the now moving Aiyana. "I think a little restraint might be in order for this next bit."

[Ai] Balina springs from her post, sending herself flying towards the Ai-thing with a snarl. She lands across the bed heavily, bringing her considerable Fenrir weight against its occupant in an attempt to pin and flatten her against the mattress.

[Bus] Sparhawk free of burdens, standing up between Rabid Wrestlemania and Escaping Hero. "Somebody needs t'be lit on fire, hmm?" Darkness pops into being again and Spar wades into the melee!

[bus] Makena laughs, she'll keep after the guy. Just call her Ms. Persistant! She'll keep up her hold long as she can--choking, whatever she's gotta do! "Haha! I got him for now! Somebody help the other guy before he bleeds out, though!"

[Bus] The enraged man seems to stretch almost, and grow, making it harder to hold him in place.  His muscles bulge obscenely, blood pouring from his nose, dripping onto the ground. He then attempts to throw the Hyena off, and fails, but in his flailing strikes at both Eithne and Sparhawk, missing the nible cat, but newly formed claws that weren't there a moment ago jab at Sparhawk and barely misses.

Sori sees the wound in the man she's moving, and realizes just what that means; whereas before he was immobile and medical care would have helped, now... She has to do something. She calls up her power and attempts to heal the wound.

[Bus] Makena laughs, "Haha, he's a bit bleedy atm! Hope whatever he's got isn't catching! I dunno where he's beeen!! haha"

[Ai] Inola blinks, the movement of the great wolf jumping over her head throwing her onto her back in surprise, almost dropping the thing in her arms. [REDACTED] is also moving toward the arrising Aiyana but her movements fall well behind the wolf now perched on Aiyanna, who is thrashing about but clearly pinned. "Don't you dare eat her, Bal." she shouts.

[Bus] Makena keeps the guy pinned down, "I think 'kill it with fire' applies here, haha!"

[Ai] "Then hurry up and cram the stupid thing down her throat!" calls a slightly breathless Balina, mumbling something about "can't even reach" under her breath. The Shadow-Ai is treated to a toothy grin as Balina wriggles about atop the bed, making herself comfortable and ensuring those hands don't try to reach for anything sharp.

[Ai]"I apologize in advance if this turns into a pea soup slinging fest." Grantok makes a careful incision across the pad of her palm with her free fang, dabbing both Hope and Water in the blood. Taking a deep breath, she approaches the pinned Aiyana from the side, smearing both symbols on her forehead and, with a little nudging of Balina, onto the center of her chest. With the tougher part finished, she approaches Inola. "Close but not quite Bal. That won't do anything about what's in her now. But I think this should solve the issue." And with that said she gestures to the crystalized heart that Inola is holding.

[Ai] The moment Grantok touches the pinned Aiyanna, the runes on her, and the crystalline heart begin to glow. Aiyanna screams now, an ear splitting screech as her black eyes' golden hue begins to shrink until they are pure black. She thrashes though the weight of the enormous wolf is more than her frame could possibly handle. Inola curls up her arms around her knees, still shivering. And then the crystalline heart begins to melt, heating up until it reveals a beating live heart. Black blood beginning to course through it. Aiyanna's thrashing only grows worse, until the heart changes completely, and then movement stops. Her eyes close and her body slumps. The heart itself throbbing in Grantok's hands.

[Bus] Sorien's powers invade the man, repairing his belly slowly, but cream colored fur breaks the surface the flesh knits.  She man whimpers as he sees whats happening, but is tightly bound, and more concerned by the large towering person that used to be his companion.  The monstrously-changed man's bleeding continues, now coming from his eyes as his body continues to expand rapidly. He swings again at Sparhawk and Eithne, trying to latch onto one of them, failing once, his changing body throwing him off.  The hyena continues to ride him, avoiding blood as she struggles to try to gain control of the rapidly growing creature.

[Ai] Balina thrashes back at her prisoner, teeth gnashing and a howl escaping at the scream. Craning her head back around once things have calmed down, she gives a questioning nod towards the now-probably-the-rest-of-the-way-a-corpse. "Did whatever you're doing work, or did something break? Can I climb off now?"

Sori continues to backpedal the hell away from the psycho as she heals... And apparently changes... her charge!

[Ai]Grantok sits down right where she stands, visibly sweating and shaking. She drops the heart at her side, letting it roll a small distance away. "I... I believe so." Shaking a bit of the blackened blood that dripped onto her claws off, she looks to [REDACTED] in a mild daze. "Check her pulse. Her breathing."

[Bus] Makena laughs as the guy just keeps growing comically large. Seeing as he's starting to get a bit more mobile--lashing out at her friends while they tend to the blonde guy, she plants her feet while grappling the huge abomination about the waist. Tugging him around, she *lifts* the critter up in a tight grip, and powerslams him onto the ground--going for some back-breaking, if the guy still has a spine in there! Avoiding striking the bleeding face of the thing, she tries to bludgeon him into submission until someone with flamethrower breath can deal with him.

[Ai] [REDACTED] moves forward, taking the woman's limp wrist into her palm, and places the other pad on it, looking thoughtfully. "She's cold, really cold... but appears to have a pulse." She looks quickly at Inola, "Do you have anything warm? We need to get her warm."

[Ai] Knowing when she's not wanted, Balina shuffles off of the bed. It takes a few moments, but she's at least not adding to the freezing problem. Instead, she contributes to the sniffing problem, probing at the heart and any messes it might have left behind with her nose.

[Bus] In a rather shocking movement, the much smaller hyena lifts up the mutating creature and slams his head onto the ground, there's a rather large crunch as his head breaks upon hitting the ground, but the creature's body is still trashing, claws grasping and slashing, now focused on the hyena. The imact jarring it, both swipes missing her, one by a fraction. The body is still struggling but the head area seems to have been abandoned entirely, Another pair of arms burst from his chest, long dangling claws looking menacing.

[Ai]"It worked... Good." The lynx looks a little wobbly as she stands back up. "Warm water and a cloth or two." She looks to Inola with a mild smile. "That plus some rest and she should be perfectly fine."

Reaching the bus, Sori lets go of the healing/changing prisoner and snatches her rifle back up, waiting for a clear shot. "Makena, get the fuck away from that thing!"

[Bus] Makena laughs, "Haha this guy's lost his mind! haha"

[Ai] Inola's still shivering herself, barely able to answer coherently. She lifts a hand toward the bathroom, and quickly [REDACTED] rushes off to find something. The sound of running water in the bathroom, soon follows by a damp cloth thrown at Grantok, while she preps more things.

[Ai] Balina noses the heart, rolling it about on the floor. "So," she ventures, with the careful air of a child who thinks themselves clever, "How figurative is this thing, again? I mean, it's not in her chest, but she's got a pulse. Is this leftovers?"

[Ai]The lynx catches the cloth and moves to place it over the resting Aiyana's forehead. She eyes Balina with a side glance. "It should be whatever was left from Shadow's little trap." Shaking her head slightly, she looks more directly at Balina. "I don't know all of what Fenrir's limitations are, but wouldn't it be nice for the science bunch to get their hands on some samples of that before you decide to have a snack?"

[Bus] Sparhawk begins to move closer, trying to avoid the thrashing claws, both hands begining to glow, flaming, and then shi rests her hands on a portion of the body, igniting the flesh which sizzles. The creature jerks, and two more arms burst out, making for a six-armed headless monstrousity, now lit on fire. It throws Makena off it, and each limb flails at the thing setting it on fire. Two connect with Sparhawk, one hits Eithne as the creature flails about, the blunt trauma throwing all three away from the thing.

When there is a clear shot, Sori adds to the assault on the 'thing', opening up full-auto with the assault rifle, walking her fire up its body, crotch to neck!

[Ai] [REDACTED] emerges with a bowl of hot steaming water, towels and thick blankets. She places the bowl down, and hands the towels and one blanket over, before moving to Inola and wrapping it around the shivering Sherriff.

[Ai] Balina's head droops. "It stinks like carrion, and it's not fighting back," she mumbles. "Could you at least pretend I'm better than that? Stuff the stupid thing in a doggy bag, and we'll sort it out with the other frosted Shadow bits we've been collecting today."

[Bus] Makena laughs as she falls on her bottom, sitting herself up, the hyena walking towards the bigger and bigger shadowy thing, "Haha, c'mon! You can't be serious! You *know* the bad-guys are gonna lose, right? Everybody knows the badguys have big nasty shadow claws for hands haha. Just give up and let the good guys do their thing!"

[Bus] Not that anyone notices, but the once-bleeding blonde one, is struggling with his bindings, as fur spreads over his body rapidly, form changing slowly and there's a crack in his hips as they adjust to a new position. He yelps, and continues trying to get free to get away from the creature.

[Bus] Sparhawk watches the Ball Of Arms Man bemusedly. "Clearly, it's got limb envy. If it starts levitating I may be forced to file copyright suit." With some reluctance shi unclips a pouch and draws out the Laser Pistol of Somewhat Reduced Doom, taking careful aim and lighting some non-flaming portion of monster on fire.

[Ai] Inola now wrapped in a blanket turns up to Grantok. "Is... Is she okay? Is it her?" her voice soft. [REDACTED] moves in and picks the woman up to place her sitting on the bed next to her friend. "I am sure she will be okay. She's probably sleeping. She went through some pretty horrible things, remember?"

[Ai] Grantok nods slowly to Balina, scooping up the heart in a bag. "Just know that you've been itching to make a meal out of Shadow for a while now. But yes, you have been restraining yourself quite well." The lynx adds to that last bit by sticking her tongue out half-heartedly at the moowoof. She turns to and answers Inola with a smile. "Like I said before, she just needs rest at this point. And yes, she should be herself in no time."

[Bus] Bullets spray the creature, bursting holes in the growing carapace, it's skin having started to harden into plates, but are easily pierced. The flames continue to boil the flesh and dig deep into the creature, preventing the change wherever it touches. A laser pulse hits one of the new arms, and as Makena moves closer, her voice begins to take on a melodic tone, a song from deep inside unsung, and the sun in the sky above seems to shimmer, light focusing on the creature below, focusing the fires on it, until there's a noise like a fwoompf, and the creature is entirely on fire, like a moving burning bush. It's flailing now, hopeless as its flesh is consumed.

with a click, Sori's rifle ends its spray, empty. She watches the burning horror for a moment, then looks at the former-human near her. Seeing his struggles, she says, "Stop it. You're safe. If you fight, if you fear, it might take you too. Calm the hell down."

The blonde man is growing rapidly less blonde as brown and black fur covers his head, and his hands crack, as his fingers pull in, claws emerging but useless now as his hands lose all dexterity. He tries to speak but all that comes out now are whimpers as his face changes into a muzzle.

[Bus] Sparhawk weaves hir head slowly to take stock of the not-on-fire world while keeping the main artillery aimed at the remaining monster. Wit fails hir, just padding silently backward to near where a dog is whimpering.

[Bus] Makena, by all accounts, seems to find this hilarious. She walks around it, to stand between it and the blonde guy who's hopefully getting mended. She lifts her arm out straight, and makes her finger and thumb point out like a "hand gun." She giggles, "Hehe... bang!" as she drops the 'hammer', sending a suprisingly big blast of energy from her pointer finger right at the creature. There's a concussive "POW" to match, as she spreads her feet to brace herself from the force of the kick-back.

[Bus] Makena's hair gets a bit tusled from the force, but then it's always a bit of a mess!

The creature's still flaming and flailing is struck a final blow, and it explodes, the fire consuming the creature completely and the blast hitting all surrounding it with intensity.

[Bus] The heat of the blast causes some burnt fur, ignites a small patch of fur on Makena's arm. The intensity is surprising, and it entirely engulfs Sparhawk, though it quickly peters out leaving them untarnished. All thats left of the brown haired man-turned crature is a small smear on the ground.

[Bus] "...gonna have to ask about that later," Sparhawk says to the hotfooted hyena. Shi scans the exploded dirt for any remaining blood puddles, then shifts hir actual gaze down to Blondiedog. "Of course, you can't give any explanation now. That would be insufficiently slapstick when everything explodes later."

[Ai] Balina nods to Grantok, slightly mollified, then simply picks herself and lies off to the side. "You don't pick up and eat bits of fur the prey leaves behind. I was a little worried it was something I needed, given she pulled it right through me, but I don't think I have want anything to do with something that foul."

[Bus] Makena acks! and laughs as she starts to rolling on the ground. ROTFL, indeed!

[Bus]"Jesus Christ." Sori shakes her head, then focuses on the man-turned-dog. "I can get you to be a person again. Don't panic."

[Ai] Inola reaches over to stroke Aiyanna's hair, and then looks around thankful at the three. "Whatever that was... was terrifying. If that's what you are up against, you are quite brave." she then looks back to Aiyana. "And you, sleep, I need to make sure the bastard who did this to you does not harm anyone ever again."

[Ai] A rumble like thunder hits the house, a noise of an explosion, vaguely westward, back near the sheriff’s station. The whole house seems to rock with it.

[Bus] Makena rolls along until the fire's out, giggling Looking her charge over, Sori tries to make sure they're not going to have more John Carpenter-esque special-effect extravaganzas from him. "Be calm. If you behave, you live, and even might get out of this to some extent."

[Bus] Sparhawk shakes hir head amusedly. "I didn't know it was possible to live when all your blood was replaced with nitrous oxide."

[Ai] Balina needs to learn to stop laying down. Ever. Stupid things happen every single time. "Name the last time an explosion was good. [REDACTED], Gran? Can either of you drive? I think Inola and Aiyana need some time to relax and not deal with an explosion. I'm going to start running otherwise."

[Bus] The flames have consumed any trace of the creature, beyond a thin almost tar or paste-like substance. It smells rather nasty. The other one, finishes changing, still whimpering, though his bindings have loosened with his changing shape and body. He tries to get to his feet to flee, but tumbles on unfamiliar limbs.

With little effort (she's a LOT stronger than a natural dog), Sori quickly pins the new-canine. "Do you want to be a person again or not? I'm the only one who can fix you, dummy."

[Ai] Inola frowns, "No, no, I'll be okay. I'll call the eldress to take care of Ai. Lets go find out what in the name of the spirits is happening now." She sheds the blanket, and gets down from the bed, but stumbles. Steadies her, and tries to get her to sit again, but she insists. The four hit the police car, and head in the direction of the noise.

[Bus] Makena giggles as she dusts her arm, pat-patting it as she sits herself up, looking over towards the ink-spill on the ground. "Hehe, I don't think we want to touch that but *gosh*, what's it gonna do to the flowers! haha"

[Ai] "And see easily over the dashboard? Not likely." Grantok flattens her ears, as though the answer should be obvious. She piles in the car when the stumbling sheriff does make the offer.

[Ai] "I'd steer wif my teef," Balina kibitzs on the way back. "Just can't reach the pedals."

[Bus] Sparhawk deadpans, "I know some bees who can deal with bitey flowers. They'll be fine." Then to Stumbledog, "Alternatively, we could haul you back and dunk you in a tank of Muscle Hulk, but that would take longer. Sorien's the only one in the /local/ area who wants to give your hands back."

Makena will keep a curious eye on the inky stuff from a distance until they're all ready to head out again.

[bus] Makena will keep a curious eye on the inky stuff from a distance until they're all ready to head out again.

[Bus] The dog-man stops struggling, but his tail is between his legs and his ears low, whimpering pathetically. Sorien's able to lift him up, and the group returns to the station. Ash is propped up near the station, face still a bit bloody. The bus itself has bullet holes in a few windows, one pane completely wrecked. There's also a few bullets stuck in the metal of the bus frame. Thankfully none hit a tire.

[Ai] The drive isn't far, the four pulling up to the station just as the other group collects around the damaged bus.

[Bus]"(Sigh) goddamn it, this is gonna be a bitch to fix." She looks at the newly-minted german shepherd. "Sorry. I didn't mean to change you, I just wanted to save your life. Coyote's power is fickle sometimes. I'll try to fix you once we talk to our friends, okay?"

[Bus] "Otherwise known as 'Coyote is a dick even to his friends'," Sparhawk helpfully supplies. "Although with the almost-explanation we were getting that whole time, and the mention of impending doom every sentence, I'd rather you work on it sooner rather than later. Please."

[Eithne(#11733)]: [Bus] "I might've been able to do something. Phoenix." Eithne adds, but then shrugs and peers out the window at the gathering group. They're given a rather cheery wave from the sciencecat, who has mostly been mumbling SCIENCE! to herself for the drive even as short as it was.

[Bus]Sori glances at Spar. "Okay, sweetie. I'll try now." She concentrates, placing a hand on the pseudo-dog and guiding her power to change him anthro.

"We step away for a few and it looks like some sort of tactical strike happened here." The lynx hops from the squad car, looking about curiously. "Everyone alright?"

Balina paws at the door handle ineffectually until let out, bursting out and trotting around the wreck with all due concern before bounding towards Eithne. She opens her mouth, but it appears that Grantok took all the important words out of her mouth. She licks the sciencecat, instead. "This didn't have anything to do with the chunk, did it? I'd prefer it if the dangerous stuff would at least wait for me next time."

Makena laughs, "I'm alright! But this guy here's a bit of a mess hehe." pointing to the inky residue

[REDACTED] slides out of the cab, before moving around to help Inola out. Once secured she moves over to her mate with a concerned look. "Are you okay, my love?" she whispers when closer.

"Yeah... Gimme a sec- I need to fix this..." Sori is concentrating on the german shepherd.

Makena giggles, "I wouldn't touch that stuff though. Guy was full of the stuff and turned into a big shadowy nastyguy! Tried to kill his buddy over there!"

Sparhawk murmurs something about 'kachunk kachunk' while supervising the Coyotery. "We could probably post a biohazard sign over there, if it makes anyone feel better," shi says after a bit.

"... Nothing happened. Dammit. I'm sorry, it isn't gonna happen right now. But I will straighten you out!" Sori says, looking more dejected than may be appropriate directed towards someone who tried to kill her.

The dog whimpers up at Sorien, but has few options. Running will only get it killed and never get his form back. There's also a sort of obedience effect, as he listens with less question to commands directed at him.

Sori hugs [REDACTED] tight. "I'm fine, just... I know what happens if I heal an unmodified human now." She gestures at the canine.

"So then, to sum up: Something Bad is going to happen from Somewhere and we're all intended to die from it. We should probably go to wherever that is and do our usual run-around-until-things-explode practice." Sparhawk picks at a bullet scar on the bus thoughtfully. "Anyone who knows more than that is welcome to step up."

Makena giggles, "Well I don't *know* but I *think* this black stuff's probably bad news. How do we get rid of it? haha"

Inola moves forward and says, "I know where it's going." she looks surprisingly calm. "And I will take you there. But first... was he the one that raped Ai?" pointing at the dog. The dog begins backing up away, shaking it's head and whimpering.

"Things already exploded," obviouses. "By one method or another, we did disarm another bomb that Shadow left, at least." There's a few seconds to allow a beat to pass, before she lowers her head again and tells everyone's shins, "Well, I say 'we'. I think I just kind of stood there and barfed up a heart. Gran and Inola here did the hard part."

"Looks like we weren't the only ones subjected to the Shadow's attempts at a takeover then." Grantok curls up her tails around her waist. "Though I can't say that we had as much of an issue with violence." She turns her head to Inola. "The mounds nearby like we thought earlier?"

Eithne hugs Balina around the neck, nuzzling into her wolf-shaped mate. "Not related to the obsidian, no, though shadow-based. And barfed up a heart?" She leans back and slants her head, looking her love over critically. "Feeling ill, or something else? That's not normal for you. Hrm."

Inola nods. "I don't think what we're looking for will be there, but it is where Wisadejak stayed when he helped us bury our dead during our exodus. It will be where that... thing is going to go."

Sori raises an interposing hand to Inola. "No... I think that was the one that blew up. That one was... Infested with shadow. He had so much hate in him, so much fear, Shadow just ate him up. This one," She gestures at the canine, "Was about to cooperate when his erstwhile companion changed like the critters in 'The Thing'."

Makena snarls, "Makena giggles, "Hehe so I played Battletoads with him for a bit and then they set him on fire. That seems to work!""

Balina leans into Eithne, rumbling slightly while letting most of the conversations slip past. "I can explain the rest later, but I'm pretty sure that the two of them just..." Processing. Processing. "...took Aiyana back from Fenris. Um, love? Could you please remind me to butter up Grantok later? I think I am going to have to ask some astounding favors later. Maybe stage some way for me to save her life a few times."

Eithne reaches up with a hand to flick Bal's nose, and gives her love a pout. "No. Bad wolf. No staging life-saving. It doesn't actually put them in your debt, and it's horrible to lie to friends like that. Just ask reverantly and keep it to that." is said absently, as she rolls the idea around in her head. "... it sounds like it has potential for the family problems, though, yes. Hrm." She glances over to Grantok with a thoughtful look. Then she shakes herself, and looks mound-ward.

Balina poses majestically, in the way only a wolf next to a kitten in a dress can, pointing her nose towards the mound.

Sparhawk files weapons and tools away and folds down into space-saving-hexataur-out-of-the-way shape. "If there's a road, we should be taking bus. Otherwise it's hiking boots for everyone."

The place they are going is quite a distance, and the bus will be needed, and despite the gunfight it's certainly in drivable shape.

Grantok blinks and looks around as though she was being watched. After thoroughly confirming otherwise, she shrugs as though it was nothing. "I do hope bus. I could use a little rest."

"So... Saddle up, pardners, them thar banditos ain't gonna catch themselves!" Sori says in an atrocious Cowboy accent. She heads for the bus doors, leading the shepherd.

"Was that supposed to be Wayne or Eastwood?" Grantok tries to hold back a smirk as she asks Sori.[[Category:[REDACTED] Events]]