T - Lucca, Callypso, Xenon, Kari - Complete

[Kari Muffin]

Rosewood silently followed the pair. He really just wanted to get inside. Or leave. Or something. But his curiosity about the damn figure that kept showing up prevented him from slipping away.

When he rounded the corner he was slightly alarmed to see the figure of something that almost looked like a griffin. He let out a surprised honk as he watched a boy suddenly tumble out of a sack.

Tonight had gone from strange to outlandishly bizarre in only a few moments. The swan fluffed up slightly as he looked at the scene in front of him. Conall? Wasn't that the name of the boy who the Queen of Hearts had adopted and that bastard King was related to by blood? The child's face that only a mother could love, and distressed his adopted mother?

Without a doubt that seemed to be him. Wonderful. The swan brushed his feathers out and slowly drew closer. The strange newcomer looked to be mostly Corvie. Good. Maybe she was a doctor.

"Don't crowd the poor boy," he commented quietly. Suits only knew what trauma he had gone through.

--

Conall ran his fingers through his mane, jumping at the sudden shouting. He squinted at all of the cards that were in front of him. Not a single one he recognized, and he was a little alarmed when the Solandrian suddenly shouted as if he knew him.

Conall? That sounded like the proper name. Strong wolf? Sounded right. The bird on his shoulder gave a loud chirp. Right. People were standing in front of him and talking to him. Ah.

"I... don't know. And who... who are you? Why do you know my name?"

[carcinoGeneticist]

As soon as the boy was out of the sack, Zenon's attention focused instead on the people who had appeared and moved in on what was supposed to be her prize. Her red eyes narrowed and she fluffed her wings up slightly, but made no movement other than that. Perhaps there was still a chance that she could spirit this one away... Normally this wasn't her ideal situation, but when a body was dumped into an alleyway... well. It was fair game, at least in Corvistowne.

But it was not to be. One of the others - the highest Ranked, blast - seemed to recognize the boy, and with some degree of familiarity. She would have to cope.

"Move aside, please,[/b]" she said softly, stepping forward to get a better look at the boy. Clearly disoriented, and it seemed possible he had some memory loss as well - at least, assuming he knew the Coyote as well as the Coyote seemed to know him. "I'm assuming he should know who you are?[/b]" She asked the boy, glancing back over his shoulder.

At the appropriate response, she grimaced. "He needs treatment,[/b]" she finally said. In her lab, she would be able to give the ugly little thing the help he needed... and maybe manage to run some covert tests, depending. "If we can get him to my lab, I can provide it. Several officers live nearby as well, they might be able to provide some assistance.[/b]"

[Callypso]

Farran’s eyebrows shot up as soon as Arkady had barked his surprise at the very odd Card that was sitting in a daze in the alleyway. What was going on here? That was two Cards that Arkady had happened to know while they were out. Was there something amiss at the Court of Hearts? Was this boy another Court kid?

Arkady, is he from the Court of Hearts, too?

The strange boy didn’t look very dangerous (beside the huge knife-wings, that is), but even so, the feline found himself staying back a little further than the others. Rosewood had said to give the boy some air, not that he was inclined to obey the swan, it was just that the last Court member they had met had brutally murdered an innocent man and attacked him and the Solandrian. This night was just too unpredictable to not be cautious, and Farran was beginning to think he’d had enough. Still, if the boy was a friend of Arkady’s, he supposed he should help him. Besides, if they ever found Arkady’s folks they could probably take this Connall kid back with them.

The Villa eyed the newcomer with an equal amount of wariness. Corvies. Just great. Where had she come from, anyway? It seemed odd that she had just been skulking around at just the right time they were, but then again, since when had this evening gone as expected? Nothing made sense and he felt like the city kept throwing him curveballs. Now this stranger wanted to cart them off to some creepy mad scientist’s lab? He didn’t much like the sound of that, though they might not have much of a choice. With the luck they’d been having there would be no other medical help easily available to them.

So you're a doctor, then? You'll be able to fix him, right?

Farran found himself looking to Rosewood for the go ahead. Despite their conflict of personalities, he found himself inclined to defer to the swan’s opinion on these matters. He wasn’t sure if he trusted the newcomer – who could blame him? – and he didn’t really want to be responsible for this kind of decision making. Not when it meant putting someone else’s health on the line, and especially not when it involved Corvies.

[Lucca]

Arkady wanted to respond, but when Conall looked at him with only wariness and confusion in his eyes, the words died in his throat. The Coyote stood stupidly blinking. How in the world did Conall not recognize him? He'd seen him just a few days before, and things had been normal! A month ago they'd gone to Tulgey! What -was- this? His mouth worked a few times, but nothing came out...which he knew wouldn't help the poor boy any.

Shamed, Ark backed up a few paces, and turned to blink uncertainly st the Corvie. "Y-yeah...we've been friends for years!" he whimpered, looking around at Rosewood and Farran as if they could somehow confirm this. "We've both grown up in the Court of Hearts..." What was going ON today? Why was everyone acting so weird? Arkady shook his head. He didn't care where they went or what they did. He just wanted this nightmare to be over and things to go back to normal.

[Kari Muffin]

Rosewood kept a close eye on the Corvie. He got a sinking feeling that if anything happened to the boy the King would blame him. He raised an eyebrow at the revelation that the boy didn't seem to remember someone he had known for years. And the Corvie had a way of explaining nothing.

It was impossible to miss the look that Farran was giving him. So he was unsure of the Corvie too? Well, at least the boy had a good deal of sense in some situations. A few things needed to be established before the waltzed off to this stranger's lab.

The swan moved past everyone to take a look at Conall. He rattled off a list of questions for the boy to answer, to asses his mental facilities. To his utter surprise he seemed to be suffering from amnesia of sorts? It was perfectly possible it was induced by trauma, but that was exceedingly rare and... wouldn't he have forgotten things other than people?

Conall was entirely unamused by the entire affair. Being poked and prodded, and being asked nine million questions wasn't something her particularly wanted to do. He didn't know these people and they were acting like they were chummy and ordering him around. This was not how things were supposed to go.

"Who says I'm going anywhere with a group of strangers?" he said, crossing his arms and looking down right furious.

The swan couldn't blame the boy for being upset. He didn't want to be a part of this either. He turned to the Corvie, "Madam, My name is Dr. Rosewood and I would be interested to know a bit about what you think is causing this unusual condition while we fetch the police. I've never seen a case quite like this, and I find it worrisome that members of the Court of Hearts are running around." He looked to the Farran and Arkady. Hopefully all of them going to the lab together would prevent anything bad from happening. He gave them a small reassuring smile before turning to the Bog child. He sent his hands on the boy's shoulders, wincing at the feeling of oiliness, and looked him in the eye. "You're going to be coming with us because we're a little worried about your health."

The boy's nose wrinkled as soon as the man touched him, and he would have smacked him away if he hadn't looked him in the eyes. For some reason he...could trust the swan even though he was a Club. "Okay... fine," he said after a moment, brushing the swan off. He looked to Arkady. "We've been friends for years? How? And who are all of you?"


Rosewood's Tulgey Weird: It's odd but when you make direct eye contact with him, he's nigh on impossible to distrust...

[carcinoGeneticist]

So many damn people, and the other Diamond kept giving her a look that both pissed off and worried the woman. She clacked her beak lightly, continuing her visual examination of the boy. If he really did have amnesia, that was fairly serious.

"Dr. Zenon,[/b]" she replied curtly, giving the Swan a small nod of her head. "Board-Certified in both Corvistowne, for all the good that does, and in Esterberry. If anyone can help him, I don't see any reason why I shouldn't be able to.[/b]" She activated her Diamond Charm with a shuffling of her feathers, turning her attention back to the boy with a small smile. Suits alive, what a hideous little creature he was.

"I promise, no harm will come to you under my care.[/b]" Especially not with all of these meddlers around. "My lab is only a few blocks away, we can get you checked out and if nothing else, help you with your injuries. I'm concerned that you've been drugged, so I can also give you something to help flush that out of your system.[/b]"

[Callypso]

Arkady’s distress was obvious, and Farran was starting to feel overwhelmed by all the confusion, worry and covert glances exchanged by him and his companions. His ears flattened against his head as the canine looked to him for reassurance, sadness and despair reflected in his eyes. The feline gave the boy a little nudge for reassurance, even though he couldn’t imagine how the situation could get better.

He found himself looking down at the odd little Heart with a mixture of wariness and concern. The two doctors were discussing the boy’s condition, though Farran didn’t catch much other than blips about memory loss.

Memory loss, so what, like amnesia? That couldn’t be good… Was it even curable?

Rosewood caught his eye and Farran felt a little bit better seeing that the swan’s eyes held the same alertness that he had. He could by no means relax, but at least the two of them were on the same page about the Corvie. The last thing he wanted was to walk into some psycho’s lab and end up as an experiment. The way the strange doctor was clacking her beak in irritation didn’t do much to alleviate the nervous tension in his stomach, either.

Still, Dr. Zenon was right, she could at least tend to their injuries even if she couldn’t help. It wouldn’t do for them to be wandering around bleeding and carting around a muddled Court kid. But, but she was a Corvie. Dammit. He felt conflicted, his bias against Corvies clashing with his desire to help Arkady’s friend and get the hell off the streets. What had Rosewood said? Fetch the police while they discussed his injuries? But what if something happened to Conall while they were waiting for the authorities?

Didn’t you say that some officers lived nearby your lab? Maybe we can knock on their doors while on our way?

He didn’t like the idea of splitting off from the group for even a second, but he liked even less the idea of entering a Corvie’s lab without someone else knowing where they were, nor the fact that Hearts Courts members were popping up in various states all over the city. Something weird was going on, and he doubted they were going to solve it themselves…

[Lucca]

Arkady had never been in this kind of situation, and he didn't know how to deal with it, not at all. But the Swan was asking tons of questions and Conall was asking them and he still didn't remember him and did this mean the boy didn't remember Cas or Xiven or Pale either? Ark shook and whimpered quietly, feeling all the tension just building and building, the voices pounding on his ears and his side burning again, the gash having reopened when he'd darted towards Conall. He felt his breaths coming too fast and shallow, and he felt the horror gnawing at the back of his mind coming to a fever pitch.

Though Ark had no frame of reference to realize it, he was on the brink of a full-blown panic attack. He shut his eyes tight, trying to block it all out, whimpering louder, the murmur of voices just making him feel even more scared make it stop, make it STOP! And he probably would have started running or just broken down into a shivering ball of useless panic if he hadn't slipped backwards and landed on the cold concrete.

He took in a shuddering breath, trying to calm down, forcing the panic back until his mind was somewhat clear again. He was still hyperventilating a bit, and his heart was running at twice its normal speed, but he shakily pulled himself to his feet and shook his head. He turned and blinked at Conall, realizing the boy was looking at him expectantly. "Conall? I'm sorry...did you...say something?" Ark was distressed that...whatever that was had just happened. "Do you remember?" He let a slightly hopeful tone creep into his voice, but even as he said it he could tell the answer by the look in the other boy's eyes. It still had a stranger's distance, and it was still confused and lost.

[Kari Muffin]

The swan shrugged at Farran's comment. "Amnesia is a terribly broad term in a situation like this." He shifted on his feet, brushing his clothing out.

"All of us, let's just get moving," The swan said as he shivered slightly. The smells, the weather, everything was off and he had no intention of standing their and chatting. He motioned to the Corvie mix with a slight hand motion. "Please lead the way, Dr. Zenon. Since you know where the offices live we can pick them up on your way to your lab."

He saw the monster out of the corner of his eye. It took all of his will power not to fluff up at the sight of the thing. Perhaps he could talk to the Doctor about potential magical illusions?

He followed silently, periodically looking back at the children. Suits, this was the worst night of his life.

Conall wrinkled his nose at the woman before giving a small nod. He didn't really seem to have a choice in all of this and he was being dragged along if he liked it or not.

He looked to Arkady with a rather lost expression. Apparently he was supposed to know him? They were about the same age, he would have guessed if he was good at that sort of thing. "No... I really don't. Sorry it upsets you so much." He said after a moment. He shifted awkwardly feeling terribly sore and disgruntled.

"Let's just... stay close to the adults? You don't look too good yourself," he half muttered as he began to follow the group. This was all quite a bit to handle after falling out of a bag. "Where are we anyway? I mean... besides the city." he asked whoever would bother to answer.

[carcinoGeneticist]

The hybrid gave a strange little shrug with her wings. "If you think they can help, you might as well. They almost certainly are already aware of the strange happenings tonight.[/b]" Then she looked at the young Coyote, and frowned.

"...It looks as if I'll be patching you up, as well.[/b]" A hint of irritation crept into her tone, but it was masked by the Charm. Most likely, she was just tired. After all, it had been quite the strange night for all of them, hadn't it? The Cat was a nervous wreck, the Coyote was bleeding and looking like he was about ready to pass out, the ugly little bag-monster was... All sorts of wrong, it seemed, and the Swan kept looking like he was about to jump right out of his skin. Her ears folded back. What a group she'd discovered.

So she turned away. "Stay close,[/b]" she said, starting to walk. She moved quickly, not wanting to waste any time. She led them down twisted streets, one alleyway after another, until they'd reached a part of town that was quiet even on normal days. That was how the Doctor liked it. "The officers live there,[/b]" she commented, pointing out a house and giving Farran a small nod. "Go ahead and alert them, if you'd like. We'll be at my lab. It's the one with my name on the door.[/b]"

She motioned for the rest to follow her, leading them up the stairs to her door. Then, she paused. "...the fuck?[/b]" Her curse was quiet, spoken under her breath. The hairs on the back of her neck started to stand on end, and lightly, she pushed on the door. Without being unlocked, the door swung open on it's own. Her beak opened, snapped shut, and then opened again. Another expletive left her, this one much louder and said with much more force. She leapt across the threshold, every hair and feather on her body standing on-end, a tremendous growl escaping her. "This is... fuck.[/b]" Everything was scattered around, strewn across the floor. Bottles were broken. Every cabinet was opened.

Today just kept getting worse.