Bazaar Annoyances.

[Thalron]

The agitated pine marten nearly rolled his eyes at that comedic exchange, it was amusing but he hated having his thoughts on kids reaffirmed with every word they spoke. When they finally decided it was not cheese, peas, or bees... but indeed keys, that they were looking for he nodded and was about to suggest going in any direction other than his to look for a locksmith when the object of retrieval was suddenly switched to.... Him?

That was not good.

He nearly reached his bag, planning to smack the horse of the head with it or something, but fell just short as he was grabbed... had he been expecting this sort of thing it would have been much different, but he figured they were more or less harmless gawkers... Rather than insane cannibals as was much more clear to him now. He wasn't getting taken without a fight though, and as he was swung away, he continued to swing a little bit further to smack his elbow pointedly, and purposefully against the horses temple.

He also, was not above calling for help... Which he proceeded to do so, in this somewhat crowded street... in broad daylight.

[seraaches]

Ira didn't exactly flinch, but he didn't really care for the blow. He gave a gentle shake of his head which, sadly for Mach, was greatly expanded to the creature still held carefully between his teeth.

Sid was super pleased to be useful and happily nabbed the bag and eventually got it up and high enough up off the ground that his spindly legs could walk. Levi hovered around, but not so close that he would burn anything. Yet, at least.

They were an odd parade, truly, but the paths were mostly opening up rather than hindering them in any way. Ira might not be the most well-known Card in existence, but the common man seemed to decide it was wise to not impede a King of Hearts along with a younger King of Hearts and a 10 of Hearts that was on fire and dripping glass every which way. Strangely, they didn't seem to have any real trouble as they began to make their quick way through the streets.

[Thalron]

Oh god his elbow hurt now.. He should've known the horse had a thick skull, atleast he hadn't ripped open one of those tubes in the process... That would've been messy, and he doubted he'd be able to fix it while swinging like a pup from this rather pointy-toothed horse. How did he get into this situation? This was definitely no way to request his services, and if they were looking for someone to eat he probably didn't taste very good. not to mention he had a fair amount of extra chewy bits inserted in his flesh at places...

None of these thoughts kept him from calling for help, although these cries soon changed to vehemet curses... Many of which were very long, and creative, and not something that young and impressionable creatures should hear. Needless to say, this probably didn't help his case as people began to move even further from the group... and probably assumed he was being dragged off because he was causing trouble... He didn't seem to care about any possible damage to his reputation though, as he already despised everyone within the capital.. Now with renewed furor.

[seraaches]

As Mach grew more and more agitated, Ira finally took some pity on him. The poor man was obviously in too much awe and shock to deal with the wonderful circumstances currently bestowed upon him. Ira's head cocked briefly upwards, then he gave a sort of sneezing snort which quite conveniently sent some very pretty vapours out and directly into the face of his unhappy passenger.

Sid continued to wag his tail happily, nearly tripping a time or two more which caused his long fangs to lightly score the edge of the bag. Sure hope it wasn't in too good of condition before the child got ahold of it.

Levi began to whistle under his breath as they all trotted merrily along. He even waved happily at a nice police officer who took one look at them and quickly turned the corner as thought he had seen nothing at all. They would make it back to the Palace in another fifteen minutes or so.

[Thalron]

He was nearly out of insults by the time he felt that jerk, and steeled himself against what he thought would the inevitable blow to the head to make him quiet down. Needless to say he wasn't expecting a gaseous attack, although he barely got a whiff of it as he had his teeth clenched tight, and eyes closed expecting some other sort of retaliation.

The effects were likely... Not what was expecting. When he reopened his eyes he continued to curse and mutter (although not as loudly) more or less as he had before that dose of supposed happiness. Had one known this doctor, they might have found the reasoning being that he operated almost solely on his intellectual feelings, rather than emotional. And despite feeling happy was obligated to hide that fact and act nearly as bitter as before... Luckily he soon grew tired of mouthing off and simply hung there with his arms crossed. A look of severe agitation across his face that suggested he was contemplating some rather painful operations on the creatures around him, probably without tools.

Some part of him wondered why he was feeling so happy, despite the dismal circumstances... But he was often more pleased with his sorroundings than anyone would ever realize, unless they could read his mind.

[seraaches]

The nice pine marten had settled down and Ira, of course, assumed that this was because he was even happier than he had been just a few minutes ago. Machaon, of course, had no reason to be unhappy. He was going on his own field trip.

"Uncle Ira," Levi said as the Palace came into sight. "Are we going to go see Daddy?"

Ira gave a gentle nod of his head, careful to not shake Machaon around now that he was happier.

"Yay!"

Sid gave his own muffled sound of happiness, and tried to pick up his feet a bit faster, especially since Levi was trotting quickly ahead to go find the Queen of Hearts. Ira flicked his tail at the boy and the hoofed mix subsided so he could continue on alongside the stallion.

They entered the Palace after the little Ten of Hearts who kept dripping glass along as he led the way familiarly through the halls.

[Thalron]

Machaon stared at the approaching palace, he momentarily wondered who this 'daddy' person was... But figured he'd find out soon enough. And since apparently these psychotic characters probably lived in the palace it was less likely that he could convince any of the guards to turn them into shishkabob or something of that sort.

He sighed again and shifted about uncomfortably, his neck was starting to hurt a bit as he was no longer of the size to be easily lifted from there. "Isn't it illegal to kidnap people?" He asked with a incredulous glare aimed as close to the horse as he could manage.

Other than that he pretty much just hung there, the happiness that replaced his violent anger kept him from attempting an eye-gouge or anything along those lines, although the logical part of his mind was wondering if he should attempt to find something with which to batter the horse with should they pass a metal candle holder or suit of armor... It was probably a good idea, but it might ruin his good mood.

[seraaches]

If people made way in town, the guards here at the Palace did not even look. . . at least not after they realized that it was Ira trotting up their way with a pine marten between his jaws. No, anything Ira did was pretty well off limits. It just wasn't worth it to even try to find out.

So Levi led the head of their parade, followed by Ira and his strange 'passenger', and the heavily fanged Sid made up their rear.

At this point, even Ira's mouth was starting to hurt from his burden, so he was actually rather pleased as they headed into Shinrai's study. Levi looked around in disappointment, however. "He's not here."

Sid almost fell into the room as he tripped over the bag. He ended up sprawled on the floor as Ira very gently set Machaon down on the far side of the room. He worked his mouth before turning back towards the kids. "Mommy dearest is in the main hall. Run along and fetch him." In a flash, the pair were heading for the door, leaving Ira to stand a pleasant guard over the Corvie.

[Thalron]

Despite his overall pleased feeling, the intense logic of the pine martens brain continued to dictate his actions. And at the moment that particular section of his brain was mulling over several very important facts... Primarily that he was alone in a room with what he guessed was a cannibal, there were no one else around for a long ways... and even the kids had left.

This meant he was likely to get tortured, and or eaten. He didn't know why, and didn't intend to find out. A glance to the window made him note that it had more latches than he would have time to deal with... and it'd be rather painful to crash through, then land on the glass from the second story of the palace.

Without waiting for the stallion to turn around Machaon bolted, dodging over the desk in the room with great agility... he didn't even knock anything off of it as he darted for the door. The only unfortunate thing about this predicament was, that while he might be more agile he wasn't sure he was actually faster... And the horse definitely knew where he was headed.

[seraaches]

Ira was surprised by the other man's sudden and swift dash for the door and because of that he reacted more with his instincts than with his brains. The stallion moved quickly and reached out with his teeth to stop the pine martin from running. His teeth closed on the only thing he could catch but it was definitely not the feel of flesh. In fact that was a great deal like rubber. Not that he often had rubber in his mouth, but it was fairly easy to guess when one was absolutely certain it wasn't muscle or skin as expected.

Of course, what happened next was wonderful. Blood sprayed everywhere! And then it slowed, but hey! There was blood! All over! Mommy dearest was going to freak.

As though on cue, in came the Queen of Hearts, towed along by his two newest kids.

"IRA! Wot are you doing?!?!"