Now You Can Panic! [Finished]

[Kari Muffin]

Falkenhayn was partly terrified and partly curious by all the new things around him. Mother really didn't like it for him to be "alone" anywhere. And Vaska had taken the Ace today. After all Aleksey could fly, and Falks very well couldn't.

So Xander had lucked out at being the boys' escort, and he was doing a fantastic job of ignoring them. Benedict was trying his hardest to pretend to be just a piece of decoration on someone's tail, but he didn't particularly like the idea of swaying as his brother walked. Every once in a while he would peer around at all of the people who were giving them odd looks.

Well, they had a good reason, the skull supposed as he gave a small sigh.

The cat-bat came to a sudden stop. He turned around to see if Xander was still following them.

He wasn't.

A squeak of terror escaped him as he darted to the nearest card. "Please help me! IlostmynephewandIdon'tknowhowtogetbacktothehotel!"

Benedict cringed as best as a skull on a tail could. He remained silent though, for once he would let his brother do something on his own. If it got too bad he would say something... and it would probably escalate fairly quickly.

[Harpsdesire]

Dania was enjoying one of her last days in the city, window shopping along a busy street, when a small, purple something ran up to her in a blind panic. Her squeak of surprise mirrored the child's, but she recovered in time to prevent herself from doing anything that might increase the little cat-bat's fear.

"Um... hi." She was never quite sure how to deal with children, least of all strangers' very odd looking, paranoid children. "Well, uh, calm down, there, little guy. I'll help you find him."

Oh no. She had offered to help. This could very well mean spending the rest of the afternoon searching for his parents, or nephew, or hotel. Still, he was from her home region, and Dania couldn't help but sympathize with the terrified little creature. She found the city pretty overwhelming herself. "It'll be okay." She added, more soothingly, timidly reaching out to pet his little head. "I'm sure he hasn't gone too far... What does he look like?"

The street was full of cards, and the young rat could imagine how easy it might be lose a kid in the crowd. Even a kid as... unique as this one.

[Kari Muffin]

Falks had realized belatedly that strangers could be dangerous. His mind went into a cascading panic. What if the woman wasn't going to help him? What if she kidnapped him? What if she was going to eat him or something? His eyes grew wider as his pupils became smaller while he waited for the reaction.

Hi. Okay. She said Hi. She couldn't be that bad but what if--

Benedict twisted around behind his brother's back, and chomped down at the messy and tangled mane. With a sharp yank the boy cat-bat winced, but was brought back to some sort of reality. His paranoia, for the time being, was gone. He blinked at the woman as she asked the question.

She was willing to help him. Good.

"He's yellow and white, a fluffy cat with arms sticking out of his back. Kind of like failed bat wings but not...."

Benedict made a rather frustrated sound, but beyond that stayed quiet. He would be good. He would let his brother do the talking. Even if he was the smarter one, people didn't appreciate a talking skull.

[Harpsdesire]

Dania was relieved when the boy seemed to calm down a bit. Actually, she couldn't blame him for being scared-- bound as he was, the child was defenseless, barring any magic he might posess. His suit and rank were also obscured by the tightly-wrapped cloth, and it struck Dania that she new absolutely nothing about the little guy. She wasn't even really sure what breeds he represented. Some sort of cat/rodent mix, she guessed.

"Alright, a fluffy yellow 'n white cat. Got it." She scanned the crowd, but no one even remotely matching the child's description was in sight. "By the way, I'm Dania. What's your name?"

She hoped that if she kept him talking, at least he wouldn't panic and start crying. Then she really wouldn't know how to deal with him. Since holding his hand was out of the question, Dania put a paw on his shoulder, gentle and protective, to prevent losing him in the steady streams of Cards walking down the street in both directions.

"Where did you last see him? Maybe he went into one of the shops along here..." /color] But there were so many of them. A systematic check of every store along the street could take hours, and in the crowd it would be easy to miss the child's nephew even if they did happen upon the right store. Dania was beginning to get a little nervous herself. What was she getting herself into?

[Kari Muffin]

The boy shifted awkwardly, his toes tapping the cobblestones. Mommy had told him not to tell strangers his name. It was bad if they ended up being evil after all. But she seemed really nice. He made a rather horrified whimper as he debated on what to tell her.

The arm on his shoulder was sort of comforting. It scared him a bit. Touching. A stranger. A stranger that wasn't his age. But she was still talking. When was the last time he had seen Xander? His tail would have swished with agitation if it weren't for his brother.

Name. He needed to answer that question. "I-I'm Falkenhayn and this is my brother Benedict." He motioned towards the skull at the end of his tail.

Benedict was not amused. If he had eyes he probably would have rolled them. Then again if he had eyes he wouldn't be attached to his brother's ass. A frustrated sound escaped the skull as he curled around to peer over his brother's shoulder. "Hello. Nice to meet you, Dania."

He waited for the reaction. Everyone always had a different one.

[Harpsdesire]

"Alright, Falkenhayn. Whadda'ya mean, that's your bro--" Dania let out a squeak of surprise as the skull, which she had taken to be a decorative item, spoke. "Ah! I, uhm..." She shook herself and smiled (or attempted to smile, anyhow) in a most disconcerted way. "N-No offense, Benedict. I didn't... See you there..." Even for a Torque-mix kid, this was undeniably bizarre. The rat shifted uncomfortably. This day had certainly taken a sudden turn for the weirder.

"Well I suppose we should take a look around for your nephew, hm?" She stole a glance up and down the street, but no one fitting the missing Card's description was visible. "Try to stay close, guys. I don't want you getting more lost, ok?" Now that she had recovered from her initial shock, it was surprisingly easy to accept the skull as a separate (and possibly saner) child. Dania couldn't help but feel bad for him-- being stuck to someone's butt was considerably worse than the average binding.

Dania started down the street and peered into each shop as she passed, glancing behind now and then to be sure Falkenhayn was following her. This would be a lot easier with some kind of finding-people spell. Or wings.

[Kari Muffin]

She was taking things fairly well, wasn't she? Benedict would have smiled if he was capable of such a thing. Instead he continued to peer over his brother's shoulder. "Oh, it's not a problem. Most people run away screaming by now."

Falks nodded emphatically at his brother's response. People weren't very thrilled about him. But his brother was his brother and there was no changing that. Falks gave another nod at the Torquehelm's comment. It would be a good idea to stay close to her when trying to find Xander.

He trotted behind as Benedict took to watching the world behind them. There was no sign of the bright yellow cat. Perhaps he was hiding? Or perhaps he had gotten distracted by something shiny? He was a lot like Mom when it came down to it.

"Where is he?" Falks whined rather pitifully as he moved closer the other card.

"Miss Dania, would you mind if I asked you a question?" Benedict said rather abruptly.

[Harpsdesire]

Dania giggled nervously at Benedict's response. She wouldn't deny having an initial inclination to do just that.. His eyeless stare was extraordinarily creepy. "Well, I couldn't just leave you two lost, could I?" She asked, clearly not expecting a response. "All sorts of strange people are about in the city." Oouf, that was certainly not the best thing she could have said to the talking tail-skull.

The object of their search was nowhere to be seen, and Dania started to worry increasingly as poor Falkenhayn made a miserable whimpering sound. "Hey, buddy. S'ok, I won't leave you 'till we find him. Alright?" She stroked his wild mane briefly with a paw, but didn't stop looking around. She had given her word not to leave him... but that didn't mean she wasn't hoping the missing nephew would show up very, very soon.

This was pushing the boundries of her comfort zone something fierce, but she couldn't exactly let a poor lost kid, er, two-ish lost kids, see her collapse in a furry pile of awkward and depression. She pasted her best approximation of a smile back on her muzzle and kept looking.

"Um, yeah, sure." Dania answered the sudden question casually, looking back over her shoulder to see Benedict bobbing along behind his biped brother. "Ask away."

[Kari Muffin]

The skull craned of the shoulder of his brother. Well she could have easily left the pair of them lost. Not everyone was so kind. And frankly they were pretty strange wandering the city themselves.

Falks attempted to purr when she brushed his scraggly mane. The sound that rumbled from his throat sounded more like an asthma attack. Well. It was close enough to a purr for him. Hopefully the Torquehelm would see it that way.

The skull took notice of the woman's discomfort while his brother remained oblivious. It was fairly hard to miss the fake smile that was plastered over her face. He couldn't help but wonder what the question was going to do to the situation. "Well I was just wondering.... your binding is pretty unique. How exactly does something like that work?"

Maybe that was rude, or maybe he could get away with it because Falks was part Torquehelm?

[Harpsdesire]

Dania found Falkenhayn's strange purr both endearing and concerning, but she was pleased that this time he didn't cringe away from her touch in fear. There was an oddness about the child that extended past his startling mask and conjoined brother. Perhaps he had been abused as an infant? In spite of herself, the found that she felt very protective of the little creature that clearly shared her feelings about the city as well as her realm.

"It is different, hm." Dania smiled at the skull, relaxing a bit despite his haunting face. The question was one she heard often, but when Benedict asked she was more than willing to share what she knew. After all, most Torque children were facinated with bindings, their own and others' alike. "It's not tied, exactly, but it just stays that way all on it's own, somehow. I tried to unwrap it once when I was little, before I understood, and it couldn't budge. My parents call it a Binder's Curse. I don't lose the leg entirely because my tail loosens up after dark so blood can flow... my foot does fall asleep, though. I don't have any strength in that leg, either, since the muscles never get any exersize."

Dania found that talking to the boy distracted her a bit, and they had made more progress down the street than she thought. In the distance, she thought she saw a bright yellow-furred figure entering a candy shop, and she stopped in her tracks for a second, squeaking. "I think I see him!" She pointed towards the store, her face relaxing into a more natural smile.