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Post by seraaches on Jan 25, 2008 18:09:52 GMT -5
The stallion simply nodded his head in reply, catching Leland's anxiety to be gone, and, really, he felt it as well. Especially since he didn't yet want to be left alone with Mnem. Wot he had seen the night before disturbed him even as it explained so much, but that didn't change the fact that both of the women had violently violated him, though that sounded oddly like he'd been raped. Well, in a way, he had been, but that's not the part that disturbed him. How could he find out wot the injections had done? The only answer he could think of would to apply to the women to see wot they could find out, but the idea of willingly putting himself into their hands creeped him out far too much.
Rai kept his cloak pulled tightly around him as he followed after the canine silently. He didn't yet have anything to add to the quiet of the morning and was instead working to put the experiments from his mind so he could focus on the present.
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Post by Kiki on Jan 25, 2008 19:02:21 GMT -5
Jenn, Bee, and Sera receive 2 tokens each, to be redeemed in Ashwin's Shoppe.
This will automatically be added to your recorded totals in the shoppe.
Congratulations, and keep up the good RP!
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Post by Bee on Jan 26, 2008 3:15:31 GMT -5
Well, she was glad they wouldn't need to worry about food, anyway. An hour along the shore...she was quite eager to find the creature. And she was sure that, no matter its people-eating tendencies and apparent malice, it really couldn't be worse than the host of bizarre phenomena that she and Minh had encountered on their long, draining journey to the Josiggy Marsh. It seemed like ages ago: Crazy witch-badgers. Witch-burning villagers. Hidden swamps. Psychedelic mushrooms. And, most fearsome of all, irritating teenagers.
Suddenly Leland was out the door, with Shinrai close at his heels (silent, steady, probably brooding--again, some more, and she wondered faintly if he were plotting the best way to discreetly get her to the bottom of the lake and keep her there, or else feed her to the monster), and Mnem took her leave as well, following them into the cold.
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Post by The Jenn on Jan 29, 2008 10:29:57 GMT -5
The walk was cold but not necessarily unpleasant, the weather continuing to cooperate as they went. At one point, the canine changed to his animal form to better sniff around and make sure that he had the 'trail' of his companions, that they hadn't gone another way, then changed back to continue on. The shore of the lakeside was very rocky, no sand in this area, but he stayed far enough away from the rocks and on the grass that it didn't cause a problem for their trek.
Finally a spot of green could be seen and he raised his hand, which was answered by a raised green wing-arm. With a faint grin, he walked up and patted her arm in a semi-possessive gesture. "Have the others shown up yet?"
Jada nodded, smiling to see him. "Yes, but they went out again for a few minutes. They mentioned something by the lake shore of interest before we actually go near the thing's lair. They said you might want to go and check it out before we continue."
He nodded his head and looked towards the lake. "Alright then. For all that they're dim, sometimes their noses can be valuable. I'll return shortly, no more than twenty minutes. Watch over our... guests." With that, he changed to animal form to better navigate the rocks near the shore and loped off.
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Post by seraaches on Feb 13, 2008 23:04:57 GMT -5
It wasn't entirely a conscious decision, but the stallion threw the two women a sudden smile, shifting abruptly and heading after the other man.
"Stay safe, ladies; if Leland is correct, we shan't be gone long." He called this back over his shoulder, blue cloak flapping back in the breeze.
For someone who was now an active member of the Court, Rai's level of stamina and strength might be rather surprising. He did find the slippery rocks of the lake's edge a bit of a hassle, but he'd grown up learning to make it through quicksand, marshland, swamps, and hills. He could handle some wet rocks.
As soon as his face was no longer easily seen by the two women left behind, his expression hardened and he concentrated on keeping Leland's hindquarters easily in sight. He didn't trust the other man, likely not much more than that man trusted him. But Shinrai wasn't willing to become monster fodder just yet; he'd grown up in too hard of a life to succumb to something as silly as that.
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Post by The Jenn on Feb 14, 2008 20:39:37 GMT -5
Leland's ears flicked back when he heard the other man following him but he made no comment other than a slight inclination of his head. He was more focused on keeping the landscape in plain sight, making sure he didn't crack his head on an icy rock or a patch of moss he didn't notice until it was too late. Wouldn't that just be an ironic twist of fate?
When he reached the shore of the lake, he slowed and sniffed carefully along the ground, his nose covering the territory quickly before he paused and tilted his head in confusion. "This doesn't make any sense," he growled. "I don't smell either of those mutts in the area, not now and not before. They couldn't have visited here... they always leave some sort of trail, the smelly bastards. But I don't smell them at all. This is confusing. I..."
He trailed off, head slowly rising, to look at the equine with an expression of slowly dawning paranoia. Without another word, he turned and began racing back the way they came, a seven or eight minute journey.
- - - - - - - - - -
Jada stood next to Mnem, watching the men as they left to explore the lakeshore and sighing, stretching out her wings. "They probably won't be too long, unless they find something really unexpected. We may as well take a breather." So saying, she found a larger rock nearby and took up a perch on it.
Maybe five minutes had passed, and then there was the sound of running footsteps. The falcon raised her head curiously, not alarmed and recognizing the sound of the runners, and opened her beak to say something. Then, abruptly, she was shoved from her perch on the rock as a brown body dove at her and a Lowland canine began savaging her neck. Coming round from the other side, another canine jumped on her and grabbed a wing in his mouth.
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Post by Bee on Feb 14, 2008 22:12:42 GMT -5
Mnem had not been terribly excited about being left behind while Shinrai and Lee had fun hunting, but she figured that she would get news swiftly if they found anything interesting. So she sat down to wait with Jada, discontentedly kicking at the floor of the cave.
She had heard the footsteps too, and had begun to get to her feet when the Lowlander came flying at Jada. She jerked back sharply, a couple wet drops of blood hitting her coat, and she remembered the last time she had seen someone die, when that stupid teenage boy had his asthma attack and then his stupid teenage girlfriend threw herself off a cliff. Her brain staged a very brief internal debate about whether she should get into the air and save her own ass, or try to beat the canines off Jada. The avian wasn't a stupid teenager--she didn't deserve a messy death.
She extended her claws, grabbed a rock, and pounced.
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Post by The Jenn on Feb 21, 2008 19:59:00 GMT -5
The Lowlander busy trying to pull the falcon's wing from its socket let loose its hold with a yelp of surprise as a rock smashed into its hindquarters, turning around with a bloody, fanged, open mouth to take a snap at Mnem.
At the same time, the canine busily worrying at her throat acted with renewed fervor at this sudden, unexpected resistance from elsewhere. As Jada's other wing-arm came up to claw and beat at him ineffectively, he had her prone against the stone floor of the cafe and was quickly, and quite efficiently, tearing her throat apart. She was gasping for breath by the time his mouth let up to go after Mnem as well.
"Outta here, bitch," he snarled as he jumped at her, trying to get on her back. "This has nothing to do with you!"
At the same time, Leland was dashing full-tilt back to where they'd left the two women but was still several minutes out while this was going on. There was no way he'd be able to get there with Rai in time to impact this bloody savaging.
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Post by Bee on Feb 25, 2008 19:09:54 GMT -5
The fact that the canines would turn on her was something she had accepted on an intellectual level, but not on a practical one. When the Lowlanders leaped at her, her sense of self-preservation kicked in full-swing, and any benevolent or courageous impluse she might have briefly cherished was quickly squished. Jada was dead; there was nothing left to do for her; and Mnem wanted to avoid a mauling if at all possible.
She kicked off into the air--but the Lowlander affixing itself to her back was a problem. A very painful problem. The Hair, mostly of its own accord, wrapped itself around the canine's head and neck, trying to throw it off, or at least stop the biting. Mnem only hoped it was strong enough to actually have an effect.
And, because she did not believe in screaming unless she could scream something useful, she yelled, "SHINRAI! LELAND! LOWLANDERS ATTACKING! CAVE! HELP NOW!"
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Post by The Jenn on Feb 26, 2008 16:14:40 GMT -5
The Hair succeeded in throwing one canine off of her back and he landed against the other one, quickly getting to his feet and giving the freakishly haired female a speculative look before shaking his head and growling something inaudible to the other canine. Then the two of them took off back the way they'd come, towards the shore of the lake but by a different route than Rai and Lee had gone. They left the Yarrow standing where she was, alone save for Jada, who was still breathing but very shallowly and with much effort. She wouldn't last long.
It would take the Villa and the Josiggy maybe another three minutes to reach the spot they'd left the two women. The canines did not return.
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