Lauryn de Vampyre
Six of Spades
Muse of the Dead
We all go a little MAD sometimes...
Posts: 1,204
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Post by Lauryn de Vampyre on Dec 14, 2010 4:09:11 GMT -5
Brighid finally loosed her grip on her daughter as they made their way into the Warren. The front had been absolutely visible as though someone or something had dug its way to the entrance. But that wasn't possible! Warrens were made and designed so that they couldn't be found this way!
Her head turned left and right, taking in all the damage, as they made their way further inside. Even though the entrance had been decimated, the actual door was still intact. What did that mean? Did that mean that whoever created the outside destruction was let in at the door.... and then caused all this damage? Had Cards found the Warren and taken all the Rabbits away? Were they at this very moment being studied and dissected?
The panic began to crawl it's way over Brighid's entire body as the group looked around at the ransacked Warren. "They were taken, I know they were!" she shouted, her voice echoing down the different burrows.
Faintly she heard her daughters voice complaining about not feeling well. She had been thinking this was not the time to start complaining, but it reminded her that her own midsection was amiss as well. Still, if this could happen at this Warren...
"What if it was the Cards!" she nearly shouted again. "What if they know about us now! What's to stop them from going to my Warren and hurting my Jack!" Brighid hopped forward, noticing most of them were looking towards the burrow leading to the Does' quarters.
"Maybe the attackers left something behind. We have to find out who did this before they can do this to my Warren!" It was all she could think about. Her small, structure and pampered life. Hopping ahead of the others, Brighid went down the burrow, scattering smashed and torn items in her wake. Something shiny caught her eye from the meager lighting in the hall and she bent down to get a closer look.
It was a gold earring. The kind of jewelry a Jack would give to a very special Doe. The light had been shining off a precious stone in the gold setting. Such a prise would never have been left behind! The Torque hopped quickly to the end of the hallway and looked around at three different doors, all open and leading into different living quarters.
As she neared the rooms, she began to notice the smell that had been so feint in the Warren's entryway. It was so strong here. Brighid raised a paw to cover her nose. She wanted to go into the rooms but going into another Doe's room without permission was just.... just.... well, it wasn't done! She hesitated before the doors, waiting for the others to catch up with her.
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Post by Lucca on Dec 14, 2010 10:20:55 GMT -5
Shelby looked around as the group seemed to be deciding which of the three burrows to explore further. Everywhere he turned there was more destruction, and it made him very uneasy. Not to mention, he had the oddest feeling that he was being watched. But, upon spinning slowly around, he saw no one that hadn't come with their little group. He frowned, hopping a bit cautiously toward the area that looked like it had used to be Doe's rooms. "M-maybe," he muttered uncertainly to Alicia. But it smelled even worse down there...part of Shelby very much doubted that there would be anything at all living there.
As the Doe with their group blew by him, screeching something about Cards, Shelby's ears pressed flat against his head. Why couldn't they have been stuck with a more rational Doe? This one seemed downright insane. He backed a bit away. "B-but we don't ALL need to look for the Does...and h-how do we know no one is hiding in the drawing room?" He looked towards the other room, which didn't have quite as heavy a smell emanating from it, and didn't make him want to run and hide under a blanket as much. He looked pleadingly around at the faces of the other Leverets, eventually resting on Maeve's. "Please come with me?" He definitely wasn't going to go anywhere alone, not with how creepy this all was.
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Post by Nathalia on Dec 14, 2010 18:56:19 GMT -5
((The Doe's rooms appear to be empty...though there is an odd door in the back... Looks perfectly circular...and as though it used to be behind something large, like a cupboard, judging by the large square bright patch on the paint. The door is metal and jammed shut into the wall, but Doe's rooms are full of things...maybe there's something in here you could use to open it?
The study seems fairly normal, and upon stepping in, it actually smells of tea and cinnamon buns once over the threshold. Weird...seriously weird. It also appears less of a "mess" than the Doe's room.
Oh dear. Jala seems to have taken a turn for the worst, her stomach bloating horribly as her back limbs flail pitifully, oh Gods! What's going on!?))
~Nathalia
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Dark
Five of Diamonds
Bladed Hare
You are not prepared.
Posts: 2,105
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Post by Dark on Dec 14, 2010 22:05:44 GMT -5
Maeve nodded in response to Shelby's question, "Of course."
The logic of the others was--unsound. No leveret had answered the door, but that did not mean there weren't leverets about, and looking in on the Doe quarters first was...unwise. Not only where Does useless, especially in situations that required actual thought--a comprehension of tactic would not be ill-placed, either--but what would a Jack think if he caught strange leverets sneaking about the private quarters of his precious Does? If there was a Jack still around, and somehow Maeve doubted it, but--still. In order of usefulness: Jack, leverets, Does; and that was the order Maeve would search in.
(Not to mention the smell emanating from the Does' burrow burned her nose; it smelled awful. She did not want to be the one to discover the source. Also, any time spent away from a certain hysteric Doe...)
Maeve followed Shelby cautiously into the drawing room, and blinked in surprise. The foul order that had permeated the corridor was suspiciously absent--it smelled surprisingly of tea and cinnamon and baked things, and the sharp difference was disorienting--and while the furniture was upturned, and there was a suspicious stain in the once pristine crimson rug, the room was remarkably intact. There was, however, no Jack.
"It would appear he's out," Maeve muttered, circling the room. The smell was distracting, and she soon found the source: a tea caddy, set pretty with kettle, cups, and snack, ready to serve. It was strange the aroma lingered, when the foul odor in the hall was so overpowering.
Despite the scene, the buns made her stomach rumble in discontent--it had been a long time since she had eaten; a day? two? It wouldn't kill her certainly; it was just uncomfortable--but White Rabbit knows if they were safe to nibble. Still, the impulse was hard to combat; she was hungry.
"Afternoon tea," Maeve puzzled to herself aloud, in an attempt to distract herself from hunger, "Or perhaps entertaining guests? He wasn't expecting--whatever happened." Why was the tea caddy still intact while everything else was in shambles?
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Post by Harpsdesire on Dec 14, 2010 22:55:22 GMT -5
The room that Alicia entered was an awful mess, and empty of any hiding does, or to her relief, bodies. It looked like it might have once belonged to a Mid Range Doe, or perhaps just one who liked the elegant lines and saturated colors of the realm's art. There were all manner of fancy paper fans, decorative vases (mostly smashed), card dolls with elaborate raven-colored hair-dos and the silken red strands shed from damaged tassels. The ink paintings that once hung on the walls were now trampled underfoot, damp with the scented oils of broken perfume bottles. This was more than likely the room of a very favored lady, Alicia thought somberly as she surveyed the damaged opulence.
There was also a large, strange metal hatch in the wall. A nearby china cabinet now lay prone and the contents shattered. Before it would have covered the door. Alicia sifted through the fancy debris with her paw, looking idly for anything that might contain a clue of who - or what- had been through here. The leveret cringed as she felt the sharp edge of a broken decorative plate bite into her foot. She picked up the paw to look at it, pouting slightly at the small stinging pain. It wasn't bleeding, at least...
She scrambled over a delicate overturned side chair to reach the portal in the wall. It didn't swing open readily, nor did it yield when she tried digging her claws along the edge to pry it open. Hmm, stuck... Vain as she was, Alicia could be resourceful when it suited her, and at that moment she was terribly curious about the door-- it was like nothing she had seen in a warren before.
Partly in an attempt to get her mind off her foot and the creepiness of the situation, Alicia started searching the room in earnest for anything she could use to pry the door open. Perhaps a metal comb or some other sturdy, flat object would present itself. Although she met with no immediate success, Alicia did find a few small pieces of jewelry, a Doe's adornments. That pointed to the fact that whoever attacked the place was not after it's material wealth... Or were the items just passed over in the confusion?
She reached a paw towards a golden bracelet adorned with delicate dragonflies, sorely tempted to 'borrow' the item, which would probably never be missed in all the confusion, even if the warren's inhabitants somehow returned. It was more the fear that her Jack would question how she got the jewelry than any deep moral concerns about stealing that stayed her paw. She regretfully rejected the idea of plundering the ruined warren's treasures-- it was probably unwise, and certainly not ladylike.
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Post by Nako on Dec 14, 2010 22:55:35 GMT -5
Jala's whole body trembled, seeming to emanate from her belly as it seemed to bloat even larger than before. She made a nearly muted, panicked noise. Her 'mother' would notice her sudden lack of forward movement if she still had a grip on her front end. The girl's back legs suddenly became useless, her feet flipping over on themselves in a way that sounded painful before they drug lifelessly behind her. Very suddenly, she was nothing but dead weight.
"I.. I…" Shock, panic. Jala's head jerked back in a panic, front paws splaying out and scrabbling for nothing at all. She was dying… so sure of it. She'd heard how the mourning Does would always have their back legs fail on them right before they died. Was she dying of a broken heart? Was she dying because she didn't remember who she was?
Was she anyone at all? Did she matter? Was she loved?
Did no one in the wide world love her?
Surely this was happening because no one in the whole wide world gave a single care about her. She was meaningless.
Her body very suddenly convulsed, flopping frantically with what body still had feeling. She began to sob. The only person who seemed to care about her, she didn't even know. The Doe who claimed to be her mother. Maybe she could help her? "Mommy. MOMMY. I'm dying."
((OMG I so feel like crap for putting Jala through this. But she makes for an epic death ;_;))
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Post by Lucca on Dec 15, 2010 1:07:59 GMT -5
Shelby felt nearly shaky with relief as he walked towards the drawing room with Maeve. He had been terrified of what he might have found in the Doe's rooms, he realized, with that horrible smell. And while he certainly would not have agreed with his companion that all Does were useless, his mother being a prime example as she was as tactically minded as any Jack, he did agreed that Brighid was rather useless.
As the Leveret took his first steps into the room, he was surprised to smell...cinnamon. Cinnamon and tea. He blinked, forgetting to be afraid for a moment as he followed Maeve over towards cart. A few of the plates and cups had shifted, and Shelby pushed them right out of habit. He nodded. "Well...I doubt anyone would expect something l-like this," he said, looking around the room. Despite looking mostly untouched, there might still be someone hiding in there. "We should search it," he suggested with a shrug, and hopped towards the first over turned chair. He peeked underneath it, noticing the lack of dust. The Leverets here must have been rather tidy. He attempted to push the chair back into place, but he wasn't strong enough, really.
He looked around for any other places someone might be hiding, and settled on the desk in the corner, untouched and filled with some drawers big enough for a full-grown Leveret to hide in. He pulled open one of the drawers with his teeth and glanced in. Mostly, there were a lot of boring papers. "Any luck so far?" he asked his companion, more because the silence unnerved him.
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Dark
Five of Diamonds
Bladed Hare
You are not prepared.
Posts: 2,105
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Post by Dark on Dec 15, 2010 21:40:42 GMT -5
Maeve resisted commenting when Shelby began straightening things as the leveret moved about the room--a combination of habit and nerves, she supposed, and better not to mention it at all and risk upset.
"Nothing," she replied, "Nothing suspicious, at least." Except the tea caddy.
Maeve shifted restlessly--the juxtaposition of a posh afternoon tea against the destruction and terror was unsettling--and hopped to a pair of beautiful lacquer cabinets, separated by a large, iridescent urn. It was almost too tall to peer into, and had a chip out of the lip. Maeve ran a paw across the smooth, shiny surface as she passed by; a shame about the chip.
She opened the left cabinet: an expensive, if eclectic, assortment of items. Nothing particularly interesting, beyond an aesthetic value. She opened the right cabinet. Books! Undamaged, priceless. There was no way she would be able to carry them, and loading herself down in these circumstances was unwise regardless. Still.
Maeve didn't get the chance to partake in the written word often, and was rather painfully slow at deciphering the marks, but she loved the pastime and it physically pained her to pass the books by to continue her search.
She listlessly opened a jewelry box, and poked at the contents. An earpiece caught her eye--twisted silver, with understated tooling; simple, pretty--and she fished it out. Her cursed ears were always getting in the way, and pulling them back in an earpiece wouldn't be a bad idea--especially if she needed to run at any point. It wasn't the type of thing a leveret should be wearing--it was obviously meant for a Doe--but Maeve found it difficult to care under the circumstances. It was practicality (and only the slightest bit of vanity, which had always been partial to silver). She pulled her ears back, and threaded them through; the earpiece made them lay nicely down her back.
"Anything?" she inquired of Shelby, suspecting the answer to be negative. "Maybe we should check the leverets' burrow."
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Lauryn de Vampyre
Six of Spades
Muse of the Dead
We all go a little MAD sometimes...
Posts: 1,204
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Post by Lauryn de Vampyre on Dec 16, 2010 8:18:35 GMT -5
Brighid had noticed the circular metal door at the back of the room after the Leveret had. Frowning, she hopped slowly towards it. It wasn't shaped like any other door in the entire warren, and it was only just large enough for a Doe to fit through; not a Jack. But... everything in the Warren belonged to the Jack. What could possibly be in a room that he wouldn't be able to fit in?
The Torque inched closer and noticed a very small keyhole fit into the right side of the door. Brighid pushed her nose against it, snuffed and realized the air she could smell inside whatever room or hole behind the door was not foul like the rest of the room. She was in the process of looking around the contents on the floor around the metal door when she heard a small voice shouting.
Turning and lifting her head, she realized it was her daughter calling to her. "I'm dying!"
It took a moment for what the little girl was saying to register her brain, but as soon as she realized her child was hurting, in trouble, a part of her brain kicked in that she hadn't even known had existed. Compassion and worry for another being other than herself.
"Jala!" she shouted, hopping as fast as her legs would carry her to her collapsing daughter. Brighid tripped over a random object in the hallway and skidded a few feet to accidentally bump into Jala's small form. It was then she noticed how bloated and large the Leveret's belly was.
"Oh, honey... honey, what's wrong my baby?" she asked, very gently pulling her girl towards her and cradling the small form in her arms and against her own slightly bloated belly. "Shh, shh. It's going to be alright. I'm here."
Turning her head away from Jala, Brighid shouted down the different burrows, hoping someone would hear her. "Anybody, somebody, please! There is something wrong with my child!"
Turning her head back to her baby, she stroked a paw against her cheek and across her belly.
Was it her imagination, or did she just feel something move inside of her?
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Post by Harpsdesire on Dec 16, 2010 10:06:36 GMT -5
Alicia heard the histrionic shout from the leveret at the same time Brighid did, but just as she was about to follow the doe, she saw something very curious. There was something sticking out from under the lavishly appointed bed. Something shining and silvery. The highlander stopped short, instantly intrigued by the sight. It looked like jewelry, expensive jewelry, so why was it under the bed, rather than near the overturned jewelcase with the other valuables? She gingerly pulled it out and inspected it. A doe-sized metal collar, how strange! It had and odd clasp that she wasn't entirely sure how to open, and it wasn't silver, exactly, it shone with a whiter light. Although the entire things was pretty, simply, elegantly plain with a graceful shape, what most got her attention was the pendant that hung from the center of the collar, made to nestle against a lady's throat.
The top half was fairly abstract in shape, and tastefully contained a single round-cut diamond. The lower half of the the pendant, well, that was shaped very like a tiny, higly polished key. This strange white metal looked oddly similar to...! She almost tripped over a powderpuff and a silver-backed hairbrush in her rush to get to the circular door.
When Alicia tried the pendant in the small keyhole, it seemed to fit easily. With only a little trepidation, she turned in the key and tried to push open the round door. It only occured to her too late that she should have waited for someone else to come into the room with her in case there was a nasty surprise hiding in there...
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