[FINITO] Meet the Reaper [Jenn]

[Vyn]

Vren's word was law in the house. That was their agreement to working their and neither Imre nor Poe had any thoughts of disagreeing with him and, in turn, risking the hope of future freedom. So Poe quietly managed to soothe down her feathers and nodded obediently. If Vren didn't think the stranger was that much of a threat, then Poe really shouldn't be worried....should she?


Imre listened attentively, eyes bright behind his mask. He would have to admit a sort of morbid interest for their 'guest'... Though, at some point, he would also have to admit that he was quite unnerved by the thought of the stranger waking again. Weak and unconscious things were far easier to deal with than active, awake ones.

"Yes sir."

Glancing briefly back at his siblings, Imre flitted out of the room and hurried upstairs to fetch the blankets that had been requested of him. The avian was just as quick to return, carefully toting the pile of blankets so as to spill none before laying the pile at the stranger's side.

[Kiki]

Jenn and Vyn receive 1 token 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!

[The Jenn]

Once Imre returned with the blankets, Vren grabbed them and laid them out over a back portion of the kitchen behind the wire mesh he sometimes kept banders in before he was ready to use them. The birds were used to occasional snarls and sneezes from that corner already. Needless to say, it was both a physical and magical barrier to several different means of escape. He half-dragged the cat and his strange, interesting, creepy cloak onto the blankets. He spent about fifteen minutes fiddling about to give Lior some fluids, during which time he was completely unconscious. The servants were ignored for that period.

Parzifal went back over to his sister and preened her neck a little bit more, then went over to put on the hot water. Even if their master wouldn't normally have tea at this hour, he would probably be wanting a cup from all the activity and it would be easier to have it ready than to deal with a slightly tetchy mage in need of caffeine.

[Vyn]

Well accustomed to being ignored while Vren was working, both Poe and Imre were happy to stay out of the way. With her shuffling gate and lack of mobility, Poe had no intention of getting up under her master's feet... Not to mention that she still wasn't entirely sure about how close she wanted to get to the sleeping feline.

Until he was awake and Vren had deemed him safe, Poe would keep more than a mere wing's span of distance between them.


Imre, on the other wing, hadn't lost a bit of curiosity for the stranger but he also knew better than to get in the way of Vren at work. Grumpy mages were no fun. So the two-toned male turned his attention upon his siblings; first checking on Poe before moving on to help Parzifal with what Imre assumed was tea. Might as well attempt to be useful.

Tilting his head so that he could focus clearly on his brother through the slits of his mask, Imre smiled. "Anything I can do to help, Parzi?"

[The Jenn]

Parzifal looked over at his brother and smiled gratefully. "If you could hold the pot's handle while I pour with the kettle, that would make this a lot less messy." He hopped up on the counter to reach the stove without burning himself and grasped the padded handle of the metal kettle with one foot, balancing carefully on his other with his wings extended, then slowly pivoted until he could pour it without flinging boiling water. Their master always liked strong, bitter teas no matter what time of day it was. He personally preferred the lighter herb blends that were sometimes served to guests.

When Vren finished fiddling with fluids and turned to see his young servants halfway through making tea, he looked pleased. "I'll be on the third floor," he informed them, closing and locking the cage. "Bring the tea up when it's ready. I'm putting the key to the cage back on its ring, but come and get me before you try to open it for any reason. We don't know how harmless or dangerous this individual might be yet." So saying, he turned to ascend the stairs.

Lior wouldn't be awake for another ten hours, in the early-mid morning.

[Vyn]

Imre nodded quietly, helping his brother with the preparations and nodding obediently to Vren when he announced his departure.

Beyond that, however, the night passed as it usually did. Poe shuffled to bed at some point and Imre sat up at the cage's edge, curious about the stranger. There had been something utterly disturbing about him within those first few moments that wasn't quite as strong now. Was it because he was asleep?

Imre was tempted to ask him once he was awake but that might be rude. Or just plain strange.

At some point, however, he must've dozed off because the next thing he remembered was the gentle but urgent shaking of Poe try to wake him. "Wake up, Imre," she hissed in his ear "He's waking up!"

The finch had come to help with breakfast only to find an unconsciousness Imre leaning against a cupboard and the cloaked feline stirring. Not what she'd wanted to encounter first thing.

[The Jenn]

As Lior slowly woke back up, his aura of dread picked back up to full strength. It would feel as though impending death was hanging just above their heads, as if they could die at any moment and the possibility was more than likely. Truly, it was an unnerving sensation. Golden eyes opened and he groaned quietly, stretching limbs that ached from his unconscious trek through various regions. Where was he? Why did he hurt so badly? What was going on?

Parzifal had woken up in their room at about the same time as his sister and had gone up to see if their master needed anything before flying back down the spiraling stairs of the tower. He arrived a few minutes later and nearly fell from midair as the sense of death assaulted his mind. As it was, his flight wobbled as the muscles holding his wings weakened in fear and he landed, unconsciously shivering and edging closer to his siblings. What was wrong with this person?!

The feline ran his tongue around the edges of his mouth and it rasped, so very parched. "...w-water?" he croaked in a dry whisper.

[Vyn]

Unaware of what was going on, Imre's dreams were suddenly infiltrated by a wave of dread that startled him so badly that he was jolted awake and, in doing so, promptly fell over onto his beak. The crow let out a miserable gasp of fear before adrenaline hit his veins and he found himself moving. There was commotion and Poe's anxious voice peeking through the haze of sleep and fear.

He spun around, masked eyes meeting the gaze of the reaper within his cage. His feather's fluffed up around him and he drew back toward his sister. "'Tis alright, Poe... I'm here."


Poe couldn't stop staring. Her eyes were as wide as saucers and she was beginning to shake something awful. The lingering feeling of death breathing down the back of her neck was terrifying. Her thoughts raced back toward her mother and the horrible death the finch had faced at the pale stranger's hands. Tears welled up quite suddenly as she fell away from Imre and against Parzifal.


Imre, meanwhile, was pushing forward and approaching the stranger in his cage. Water? Yes... He was quite dehydrated. That's what Vren had said, wasn't it? "Just a moment, sir. I'll get you some water." Or, rather, he'd fly upstairs and get Vren.

[The Jenn]

Dark gold eyes met Imre's, what little of them he could glimpse. At least the child clearly recognized him as alive. What creepy-looking bird children. Tulgeys. He shivered unconsciously, tucking himself closer and trying not to make noise. He really was in the Wood, wasn't he? Was the one child having a miniature fit? She certainly looked like it, shaking and tearing up like that.

Parzifal reached out a wing and half-embraced his sister, eyes still locked on the terrifying stranger. Looking at him made something crawl up and down the bird's spine that he did not like, a feeling of impending dread. They needed to get this person out of there as quickly as they could. At least his brother was thinking clearly. Was it because of his rank? The young bird couldn't really tell. Usually if there was magic afoot, though, he was hit the hardest because of the mark on his chest.

Vren came down when Imre went to get him, yawning and mildly grumpy just because of the morning but more interested in their strange visitor than not. He stared curiously at Lior, feeling the sensation. "Well, aren't you a strange one. Do you feel as bad as you look right now?"

The feline stared at him, confused, and slowly nodded.

[Vyn]

Poe calmed considerably once Parzifal was close to her, her forehead pressing lightly against chest. If she just took a few deep breaths then the feeling of panic would subside, but she was finding that near impossible. All she could think about was that night, the blood...and how she looked more and more like her mother as she grew up.

She just didn't want to grow up to be her, to die like her.

The finch made a miserable little noise, but silenced herself entirely when Vren arrived. She would have to be composed now. He'd protect them all from that sickening feeling of death that saturated the air.


As soon as Imre returned to the room he felt that crawling along his spine again and shuddered heavily. It wasn't so bad now that he was more awake... Something about waking up to that sensation had just set him off kilter. Ugh! He blinked slightly, shaking his head a little to push the rest of the feeling back and then went about doing what he could to smooth things over for everyone

He'd make some tea -- enough for everyone since nerves were frayed everywhere -- and draw some cold water for the dehydrated feline.