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Post by The Jenn on Oct 26, 2009 22:00:35 GMT -5
The sound that came out of her husband's mouth made Femi's mouth go dry and her pupils go near-invisible. She would have squeaked if the sound could have escaped her mouth. As it was, she jumped back and stared, first at her Kazifel's foot and then at the swan-dog backing away and then back at the blood through the boot. She didn't register bite versus beak, just the damage and the fact that this thing had... had hurt her King.
She was poorly equipped when it came to magic, but she raised her hand and shot a stream of water straight into Honker's face from two feet away, about a gallon's worth. Then she dropped and skittered behind her husband. Then she started to cry, small and panicked tears.
There was something wrong with strangers, of course, there was always something wrong with strangers, except her Kaizfel because she'd fixed his wrong! She wanted to go home! She just couldn't force anything besides panicked little panting gasps out of her mouth as she clung to her husband.
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Post by Kari Muffin on Oct 26, 2009 22:11:43 GMT -5
Honker yelped as he was suddenly slammed with water. It was like being hit with a baseball bat. A choked honk escaped him as he was knocked backwards, hitting the ground with a horrible thud.
Kazifel was still staring at his foot as his wife clung desperately to him. That really was quite a bit of blood. He winced at his attempt to move. Honestly this day was getting better and better wasn't it? He took several deep breaths as he shifted to take Femi's hands off of him. "I'm fine, I'm fine. Just let me stand up."
It was a shaky process but he ended up on his two feet. This was one of the moments where he wished he was a Heart. "What the hell was that?" he growled as he looked over at the boy on the ground.
Honker was motionless. The man raised an eyebrow and grabbed a nearby stick, and poked the creature. Nothing happened.
What the hell had bit him then? He leaned on the stick and winced when he went to move. Wonderful.
"An outsider in the wood, what a shame. I thought a Queen would want to do away with all those nasty things."
Kazifel froze. That wasn't the same voice as before.
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Post by The Jenn on Oct 26, 2009 22:19:01 GMT -5
If he had still been made of wood, Femi would have fixed her beloved Kazifel in a heartbeat. As it was, she could do nothing to help him and it terrified her. Granted, they were only minutes from home... but an open, bloody wound in the Wood was asking for more trouble than she cared to think about. Something might find them during the short time between here and home. Something might follow the trail of blood and try to get into their house. This could be very bad.
And still, her throat didn't want to open enough for her to talk. If it had, she probably would have started babbling in worry. As it was, she just stared mutely at Kazifel and tried to help him up. Then she realized that she wasn't helping at all and let him get up on his own.
Poking the stranger with a stick did nothing. She had just moved to carefully cling to her husband again when a voice made her grip tighten convulsively. Her husband's arms were mapped by past proof of her startled squeezes.
That was directed at her. And him? He was the only Outsider here. She couldn't muster anger because she didn't understand what was going on. And then she wondered... did it matter? They had just insulted her King. Injured her King. She gripped his arm with less claw and more force and glared. Not that it looked terribly intimidating with her clinging to the human like that. "Don't tempt me, nasty thing."
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Post by Kari Muffin on Oct 26, 2009 22:29:07 GMT -5
Kazifel jumped when Femi's nails dug into him. Really? Of course the overwhelming pain of his foot covered it up fairly quickly. To his surprise, though, her grip changed.
"Oh that's cute." Said the voice. "I must have been mistaken. It seems like he's yours. You must be very talented to bend an outsider to your will. But wouldn't you like to see the rest of them gone, herm?"
Kazifel couldn't process what the hell was going on. His eyes finally fell on the swan-dog hybrid. And a sound of disgust escaped him. There was something coming out of its stomach. A mouth. With sharp pointy teeth. His eyes widened and his hand found it's way to Femi's. He could feel terror bubbling up.
"Wouldn't you like to teach them all a lesson? Even this pitiful excuse for a Tulgey? I can help you, you know. They'd leave you and your.... King alone forever if you let me help you."
"Femi," Kazifel whimpered. He really hoped he was just hallucinating.
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Post by The Jenn on Oct 27, 2009 7:30:23 GMT -5
Femi's glare melted into a muted stare, wide eyed and with a slackening jaw. What... what was that thing? Coming out of the other body's stomach? It was using that body as a puppet.
Maybe that body was a puppet. A doll. For the mouth. Something the mouth made to move in. Stories of horrors her father had told her when she was younger started to bubble up in the back of her brain. None of them matched this, but some were equally horrible and impossible to imagine.
The words washed over her mind like water, leaving no impression. She wasn't paying attention to what it was saying now, just the fact that it was talking. It terrified her. She wanted to step out of herself right then and there and run away until she reached her house, or her neighbor's house, or... or... anywhere but here!
Kazifel's hand on hers was like an anchor, though. She would never leave her King behind. She may as well have not even possessed a Queen's ability, for all the good it would do her with her husband unable to follow. And now he had an injured foot and couldn't run, didn't even possess Spade speed. And she didn't have any sort of offensive magic beyond what she had already used. Nothing to protect anyone besides herself.
For the first time in a long while, Femi wished her husband was made of wood again. She could fix him and they could leave this... thing.
He was her King. She was supposed to take care of him, and she had, sometimes, a long time ago. But he did a much better job taking care of people. And now he needed her. And she didn't know what to do. She had no idea. She couldn't handle it.
So she clung to him and stared. "I want to go home," she whispered shakily. It was an automatic response, the fear of a child. She was slipping.
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Post by Kari Muffin on Oct 27, 2009 9:58:19 GMT -5
Kazifel agreed with Femi's statement, but he found that he couldn't exactly move from the sheer terror. He knew that there were many things that were impossible in the Wood, but this was beyond that. It must have been beyond that. This was unnatural and horrible no matter how he looked at it. His grip tightened as he tried to move towards their house.
He stumbled. His foot protesting the movement. Of course. It was going to be a long and painful walk. He glanced over at the jaw that protruded out of the swan dog's stomach. What if it decided to follow them?
Honker was finally somewhat coherent as his head twisted to look at the jaw protruding from his stomach. "Lythero...." he whimpered. He didn't want to be in trouble. He didn't want to terrify the people. He didn't want to deal with any of this.
"Come now, there's no reason to be so terrified. I apologize for such a horrible form but I've been cursed and I've come back to the Wood to solve my problem. And of course I would be more than happy to solve the problems of other Tulgeys, after all we need to help each other against the outsiders." The voice was trying its best to sound soothing, of course it only seemed to sound like it was in pain.
Kazifel was just about to have a panic attack as soon as he heard that the thing had a name. Oh no. No no no no. They needed to get out of here if he was limping and bleeding or not. The man made an urgent sound as he tugged on his wife.
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Post by The Jenn on Oct 27, 2009 10:09:05 GMT -5
Femi had little to no knowledge of Tulgey history, not having paid much attention at all to her parents' strained attempts at tutoring her. They had eventually given up and let her play with her dolls rather than forcing anything more than literacy and very basic maths on her. She had no idea who Lythero might be.
The words finally made some sort of impact on her brain as sound that wasn't white noise. She heard them, but she didn't understand. Her mind was getting fuzzier the longer she remained terrified, reverting. When Kazifel lurched, she clung to him as if her life depended on it, confused and uncertain and not entirely sure where she was anymore.
"Outsiders are dangerous," she whimpered in a puzzled sort of sound, while hanging off of a Corvistowne mix. It would have been funny if it wasn't so pathetic. She clearly didn't understand. Anything. She was losing more of her adult self and sense of maturity by the second.
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Post by Kari Muffin on Oct 27, 2009 10:26:23 GMT -5
If Kazifel's foot hadn't been so badly hurt, he would have swept of Femi in his arms and carried her away. As it was he was stuck. It was getting harder for him to breath as the panic welled up. He had heard that name before, but he couldn't place it. He just knew that if something like that had a name it was clearly bad news. They needed to get away before anything bad happened.
And it was happening right now. The sound of her voice, the way she was acting. No. No! In all of the panic he couldn't do any thing but cling desperately to his wife. He didn't want to lose her, not right now. It had been such a good day and now... a whimper escaped him.
Lythero took a different approach, he wasn't going to let a Tulgey Queen slip out of his hands. "That's right, Outsiders are dangerous. That's why I need your help.... Femi was it?"
Honker made no sound, he simply stared in confusion at his stomach. What was he trying to do?
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Post by The Jenn on Oct 27, 2009 10:54:55 GMT -5
Femi was breathing in short little panting breaths, trying to figure out where she was and why she was looking at a terrifying talking stomach. Did Kazifel know what was going on? She glanced at his face and was even more scared by the terror there. She started to cry.
"I- I- I don't want to help you! I want to go home!" It came out as a scared, confused wail, the last word punctuated by a squeeze of Kazifel. Why wouldn't he take her home? What was wrong? Who or what was this thing? Person? Mouth?
She tried to stand up and heft the human with her, though that was fighting a losing battle if ever there was one. She had absolutely pathetic muscle mass. "You neeeeed to get up," she moaned anxiously, dancing around with antsy feet as best she could while still holding onto him. It was an odd sight.
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Post by Kari Muffin on Oct 27, 2009 11:09:03 GMT -5
Kazifel wasn't getting up. Not at the moment despite his wife's protest. He was actually struggling not to hyperventilate. His wife was breaking, the thing was still talking, and he wasn't able to stand like he should. His body wasn't working properly. Breathing, he was struggling to breath properly. It shouldn't be that hard to breath, he'd done it for so many years. Another terrified whimper escaped him as his wife pulled on him. She wasn't helping.
Honker decided to stand on his own two feet while Lythero was busy talking and terrifying. He looked over at the Queen and the King and he shivered. Was Lythero planning on hurting that innocent woman? Or....?
"Come now. I'm willing to help you so why won't you help me?" The voice paused as if assessing the situation. "Isn't there something I can do to convince you to help me? What about your King? He looks like he could use a hand getting up."
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