[HH] Stuff I Already Know

[seraaches]

It wasn't just the Court reeling, though Zeus certainly didn't lament the loss of Rai or the loss of Fino. Well, not in the mourning sense anyway. He was annoyed, frustrated, and agitated, however. He'd caught one glimpse of the new Queen of Hearts and knew there was no bloody way he'd be able to take on that particular loony spring chicken at his current level. Though the entirety of the Court might thank him for it even as they reviled him if he managed it.

That was a funny thought.

And it would serve the frakkin' mess of them right if he did clean up their little mess. He cursed as he thought about his group, though. For all that they could run maneuvers into Infidel Country and that they could take down a group through sheer ineptitude, it didn't change the fact that they were all horribly weak. This was a problem.

Shin trailed silently behind the angry Queen and said nothing. He wasn't entirely certain what was going on now, but he did know he was horribly depressed. Rai. . . It wasn't fair.

[Vyn]

Well, that trip had turned out... not the way she expected.

The Infidel Queen of Hearts had been felled, yes, but not by their own means and the replacement was... Trix forcefully suppressed a shudder. Hideous, monstrosity of nature and the spawn of an infidel no less. The canine snorted to herself, making her way along behind Zeus.

What the hell was wrong with the Court of Hearts anyway? All of its inhabitants were just... freakishly unusual. Even their precursor visit to the Court had managed to just go... all wrong, as Trot's persisting sickness at the fangs of that mutant hamster was evidence. Had she more interest in the politics of it all, she might have hoped her Court was different.

On top of everything, however, was Zeus's barely contained frustration. Something was weighing on the doberman's mind and Trix really didn't feel like being the one to prod at it first. Someone would surly collapse to poking their nose into the lion's den, so to speak, and they could get swiped while Trix found a better angle to approach. It worked well for most things, really.

(Guh, I apologize if this is crap -_- But I wanted to get something up. [wibbles and prods Trix])

[Kasatsu]

It was not fair! Zeus had said that they were going to go on an adventure of glory and booty, that much fun and games were to be hand. But he was most definitely not having any fun. And if he had had the ability to make this known to others he would have most definitely done so till he was sure that the knew.

As his body convulsed on another seizure, they seemed to be coming in waves leaving the canine with not much time in between, he let out a pitiful sound that had been his attempt at a whimper.

He felt nasty, gross, and pain radiated throughout his body. It was decidedly worse then when he had been hit with that time he had contracted Mome Mites when they had stumbled across that Spade and its pet.

[Trebias]

Obadiah was in a foul temper. He probably felt a little better than a lot of the lower cards he had battered and beaten to get to this particular point, but it didn't make him feel any better.

Those stuck up. . .everybodies. "I'm sorry, we don't cater to your kind here."

"Oh, you'll have to forgive us, we're all booked up, and don't accept walk-ins." He was pretty sure that one was going to add "from you" but he'd already thrown them into the wall.

"Sir, sir, please stop breaking things, we said that we'd help - " *whooshcrunch*

"Hello, what can I do - " *whooscrunch*

It followed that if they could speak, none of the walls would be very happy, either.

Where was Obadiah going to find a doctor to take care of Trot? Well, a better name for him right now might be "Lay on the floor, drool, and have seizures." Obadiah had decided early on not to change the Card's name. Obadiah swore by his whatever he might or might not care about at the minute that the next card he saw would take care of Trot.

[Bee]

Mirek had the generally down feeling he got when things failed to go according to plan, no matter how mad that plan happened to be. He liked plans. Plans were pretty, plans had lines, plans had points of destination. But the Plan had gotten shot all to hell, and now it was back to the drawing board for everyone.

On the bright side, he was pretty sure that the new Heart Court was going to collapse in on itself with that winged monstrosity in charge, so the Plan had been carried out, sort of, in a roundabout kind of way. It was at least the bastard child of Plan, or an idiot cousin.

He eyed the currently-convulsing Trot and offered a sympathetic word. Hopefully they would get hold of the doc soon and fix him.

Physically, at least. There was little they could do for the brain.

[Yuiven]

Biting cold winds howled through what used to be the lush, rolling meadows of the Highlands. It ripped off the remaining leaves from the bare branches of the few trees and carelessly scattered them into the air. Overhead, clouds had gathered, enshrouding the sky in a dull, uniform steel grey that made whites whiter and darks darker. Bent and frozen stalks of grass and wilted wildflowers that had once blossomed abundantly in all their bright, colourful glory of yellows, reds, blues, pinks, violets and whites were iced over by a light dusting of snow.

A lone greyhound trudged wearily across this desolate wasteland, mindful of his footing; putting one paw at a time in front of the other over the damp, chilled earth. Snow on the ground crunched beneath the canine's feet. Raphael hung his head in silent shame, green eyes having lost their lustre. Unaware of where he was heading, he was guided only by the inner compass of his tormented soul.

Then, a gust of wind littered with leaves rushed by, almost as if it was pushing him forwards. Raphael shivered when the breeze harshly buffeted against his thin layer of decaying skin. He really didn't care though; he was past caring about many things- physical pain being one of them. Instead he took the gesture to heart and continued on his way.

Little did he know recent events that had transpired in the Court of Hearts would soon change the course of his life.

[seraaches]

They needed to find somewhere to hole up, preferably in a town where they could bully their way into getting the care Trot required. Obadiah had gone ahead and the group was following at a slower pace. Now that he'd had a break-- with Obadiah gone ahead-- Zeus leaned over to pick up his packmate again.

"Come on; we're moving on." The seizure had finally settled again, and the Queen jostled the Lowlander as he tried to get a good grip on the lab. He cursed under his breath at the dumb dog who had managed to get himself so horribly poisoned. "Trix, scout ahead." That might be a bad idea, actually; he wasn't certain he trusted Mirek to keep him safe.

Shin floated vaguely over Zeus' head, still not paying attention as he was still lost in a haze of depression.

[Vyn]

Trix paused briefly as Zeus pause to pick up Trot. She almost felt bad for the seizure-afflicted golden... Okay, yeah... maybe a little, Trot was too dumb to actually get his butt seriously fucked up... but no one needed to know that she felt bad.

When Zeus demanded she go on ahead, Trix cast an uncertain look over at the doberman before her gaze traveled to back toward Mirek. Really, left alone with him? Well, he'd ordered her to move and she wasn't about to sit back and blatantly disobey.

"Sure thing," the husky flicked her tail and picked up her pace. She'd make sure she moved quick and got back to Zeus's side as soon as possible.

Pulling ahead of the group, Trix didn't have to run long before she caught sight of another figure on the horizon. Lean as all hell, and... Lowlander? He was coming their way too... Perhaps Obadiah had gotten some help sent their way? Probably not with as scrawny as the canine looked, but it was a possibility.

She was back to Zeus in short order, panting a bit from the run. "Zeus... Not much up ahead, save for an emaciated Lowlander that's heading our way." She looked back over her shoulder from the way she'd come and saw nothing. He was still a way out. "It'll be a while before we cross paths though, less he picks up his pace."

[Yuiven]

"Now is the winter of our discontent..." or some doggerel like that. How tragically fitting one of Shakespeare's most famous quotes applied not only to the bleak weather- which seemed to reflect Raphael's mood perfectly –but to the upheaval in the Court of Hearts. Be that as it may, the Court of Hearts was still quite a ways from his current location, and, as a Diamond, such political affairs weren't any of his concern.

With no memory of how he had arrived in the Highlands, Raphael wasn't sure how long he'd been on this pilgrimage, or in which direction he'd been going: hours, days, weeks, north, south, east, west. All he was sure of was that his entire life had gone up in smoke.

The lone greyhound continued to meander on the bank of a wide, deep-looking brook that sliced through the field. Without warning, a prickly sensation made the hairs on his body stand on end as he felt he was being watched. Pulling up short, he raised his head as if finally coming out of a trance, and squinted, straining to make out a distinct silhouette that appeared out of nowhere on the horizon. The body was moderately compact including erect, triangular ears with rounded tips and a sickle tail; the front claws were fully exposed, long and sharp...it looked canine and vaguely Lowlander, just like him. That gave him pause for thought; green eyes widening a fraction in surprise.

Before Raphael could ponder on it any further, he blinked, and then the silhouette was gone. His frown deepening, he cocked his head and let out a puzzled whine. Were his eyes playing tricks on him?

More than likely the hallucination was a symptom of the onset of hypothermia.

Raphael stared disconsolately at the spot where the silhouette had been for a few more seconds, then sighed heavily and turned his gaze to the brook. He looked down at his reflection on the surface of the brown, almost black bottomed water while he listened to the soft babbling as it flowed its way over the hard, uneven rocks.

It sounded more like laughter.