T - Vyn, Lucca, Callypso - Complete

[Vyn]

Mephitisia inclined her head in gratitude to the Villa. "Thank you... What was your name, Sir?" She waited until he'd introduced himself, returned the casual formalities, and then turned to begin leading them back the way she'd come.

The dead tree on her back would be visible in full as she turned, stretched taunt and faded gray like death, and the Doe's pleasant smile dropped into a emotionless mask the moment her back was to the pair. The weapon hissed with impatience, hating how close that disgusting Spade was, but Mephit pointedly ignored her. She would duck down an alley, motioning for both boys to follow her.

She smiled over her shoulder. "What brings you two together on such an odd night?" Her gaze drifted to Farran momentarily. "I'd figure you'd be in the bars with the rest of the young men?" Mindless chatter, really, but it filled the silence as they walked -- and did a wonderful job at ensuring that they were properly lost in the maze of back allies she was leading them through.

[Lucca]

Arkady blinked at the dead, grey tree as Mephit turned. Oh, so she was part Avington, too? But their trees were usually blue. Why was it all...grey? How very strange. The boy frowned, not sure what to make of it. He had heard that if an Avington was forced to tell someone their secret, their tree would turn black...but he'd never heard of anything that would cause it to turn grey like that...

They were going down an alley? That seemed a little odd to Ark, but maybe it was just a short cut. The Deer certainly seemed to know her way around far better than he or Farran did. So he didn't worry about it too much. "We just met up by chance," the Coyote answered, shrugging. "He was the only other Card I saw on the street." At least, he was pretty sure that's what she meant by the question. After all, he'd already explained why he was in the city in the first place.

[Callypso]

As the titled King turned away from them both, Farran shivered as the grey tree across her back had been thrown into sharp relief in what little light there was along the road. He shook his head and blinked, wondering if his eyes were playing tricks on him in the dark, but no. The tree was definitely grey. He frowned, recalling his tutelage in World Studies and a lesson on Avington Secret-Keeping. As far as he could remember, trees turned black if their secrets had been forced from them, not grey. He shivered lightly. Something horrible had probably happened to the woman guiding them.

He padded alongside Arkady, wondering what had happened to Mephit and why exactly she was leading them down a dark alleyway. The Villa was relatively certain they were heading westward instead of the direction she had originally come from, but he assumed that she’d probably been to the Capital many times on assignment from Court. He’d just moved here, after all, and didn’t really know his way around yet.

Farran nodded in agreement with Arkady’s story. We just recently met. He was visiting the Capital with his family and happened to be downtown when we ran into each other. And, well, he looked a bit sheepish admitting how young he was, I’m not quite of age yet, my lady. I was looking for a family friend, but it appears everyone is occupied in the drinking houses this evening.[/color]

His brows furrowed, thinking it strange that she was asking them essentially questions that they’d already answered. That was weird. The grey tree along her back was illuminated by a solitary lantern as they padded down the dim alleyway, and a nervous fluttering began in his stomach. The feline was sure that it was just because it was so dark down here, and no one else was in sight… right?

[Vyn]

"I see," she murmured as she made her way down the alley, no longer turning to look back at the pair she was leading. She could hear their thoughts as she walked, their prying concerns about her tree and its death. Mephit continued on with the conversation as if her thoughts had not gone to an extremely dark place, and her voice hinted at nothing. "You seem quite mature for your slight years, Farran. You must get that mistake a lot?" With that little beard she could have easily believed him to be well over drinking age.

Suddenly the deer's ear twitched. The tautness of the skin there caused her body to spasm slightly with pain, her fists clenching briefly at her sides. It was getting harder and harder to ignore the boiling rage in the back of her mind as well as the hissing of her weapon. The blade wanted to taste Spade flesh, but Mephit held it back by a tentative thread. And then a cough sounded from nearby, drawing her attention down a nearby alley. They weren't alone after all. In fact, it would seem there was a bar rather nearby and one of the patrons had stumbled drunkenly out into the alley behind it. The overweight bipedal Torque badger coughed and hiccuped as he stumbled out of the alley and into the one where their small group currently stood. He paused, turning to stare at the group as he took a long, deep swig of his alcohol.

Mephit's eyes flashed, the warm summer blue turning suddenly icy as she caught sight of the suit and rank upon the man's chest: 4 of Spades. Without warning, the drunken man began to scream. Mephit would appear oddly unfazed by the man's sudden panic and burst into laughter when his hurried attempt to escape resulted in him tripping over his own drunken feet and crashing into the pavement below.


Small Ability: Her eyes are incredibly captivating, staring into them can cause Cards ranked 8 and below to feel very, very afraid.

[Lucca]

So Farran wasn't having any luck getting into the bars either? Arkady glanced at the Feline. Well, so much for hoping the two of them together being able to sneak in somewhere. It was definitely a good thing they'd run into Mephit, then! Though he wondered how much farther it was to the place she might have seen one of her siblings. He didn't want to be out in the creepy streets of the Capital any longer than he had to.

Of course, no sooner had he had that thought than the Coyote suddenly heard a cough, and he turned to see a man stumbling out of one of the bars, looking very drunk. At least, that was Ark's guess. He wasn't sure he'd ever seen anyone in that inebriated of a state before. This was partially because he lived at a Court, where of course sobriety was mostly encouraged so everyone could do their jobs properly, and partially because he mostly lived with Hearts, many of whom had a much higher tolerance for alcohol as their Jack's abilities considered it poison.

Of course, when the drunk ran away in terror...Ark blinked in confusion. What was going on? And...what was suddenly so funny? He tilted his head to look up at the King. "Is everything all right, Your Majesty?"

[Callypso]

Thank you, ma’am, that’s very flattering, the feline muttered.

He was rather proud of his bit of facial hair, but impeccably groomed or not most bouncers didn’t believe for a second he was old enough to enter the premises. Farran liked to think that he was mature for his age, but it seemed that something always gave him away when he talked to others. Unless, of course, he utilized his Diamond charm. But he didn’t like to use it unless he had to, preferring to think he was witty and charming enough without it.

Oh, thank goodness. As the padded down the darkened paths another bar came into view. The lights and muffled noise were a comfort in the quiet, oddly scented evening. The sound of stumbling and a horrible cough drew his attention, and he turned his head to find a Card that appeared to be horribly intoxicated stumbling out of doors. His ears twitched back in agitation. This guy was probably not going to be very helpful to their cause. Still, as long as other Cards were on the scene, even if occasionally, it was enough to make him feel slightly better about being out tonight.

Cruel laughter cut through his ruminations and he looked over to find the drunken man screaming in abject terror, stumbling over rubbish bins and other debris in his haste to make his way from… what? A quick scan of the area confirmed what he’d already suspected: no one was out besides themselves and the man who was scurrying away.

Farran’s ears flattened against his head as he gazed at the back of Mephit’s head – Her Highness was the clear source of the laughter. He gaze was once again drawn toward the grey tree taut against the Deer-Snake’s back. An uncomfortable knot began to form in the pit of his stomach. Arkady had just voiced the Villa’s own thoughts, but he repeated the query, hoping that speaking would somehow drown out the dread that was beginning to creep upon him.

Did we miss the joke, my lady? Perhaps we should see whether he’s all right?

[Vyn]

The drunken badger didn't get more than two steps before his inebriation got the best of him and he wound up face-first on the concrete. Mephit seemed oblivious to the voices behind her, focused solely on the disgusting Spade at her feet. Gross, drunken, pig. He muttered something incoherent in his fear, probably begging to be spared. Too bad.

Just as the man manages to find his feet once more, the doe lurches forward and the man screams and falls once more. This time, however, the pair have a good view what has happened. Blood splatters across the alley as the bone-handled rapier which had suddenly appeared in the Doe's hand slits open the man's inner thigh with a serrated edge of the blade. The man's screaming is louder, reaching a level of terror that most never have the 'pleasure' of experiencing. Mephit's smile is blissful, cast in an odd half-light from the rusted lantern hanging in the alley, as she bears down upon the man, slashing the crippled drunk over and over again before the rapier finally plunges straight through the Spade on his chest.

He falls still at last, and the King of Hearts turns back to face the two. "Hmm, what were you boys saying?" Her front is splattered in blood like the alley walls, the rapier in her hand is soaked in it, and a pool of deep crimson is slowly pouring from the mangled corpse behind her and spreading slowly past her hooves toward the two. Her grin is ominous and there is something terribly wrong in her eyes.


King's Ability: At will she is now able to summon a thin, bone handled rapier from her heart marking and wield it as though it were a part of her body. The rapier has a few small razor notches at the end of the blade that dig into and pull flesh backwards as it is withdrawn. This blade will automatically unsummon itself against other Hearts, refusing to injure them.

Weapon Sentience: The weapon is now able to direct itself separately from its masters muscle pull. It still needs to be held in order to be used, but it will avoid innocent parties to a fight unless provoked and will never strike a Heart.
The blade likes to aim for thigh muscles and pull at the with its serrated edges to disable an opponent, making it into what one might call a signature move.
For some reason, it appears to loathe Yarrows, Bog dwellers, and Spades, and a Yarrow or a Bog Spade is just the ultimate insult to injury in its presence.
If it espies or senses any of these monstrosities nearby, it very well may leap to its summoners hand and begin attacking unprovoked...

[Lucca]

At first, Arkady thought that Mephit might be bending down to help the drunk...but then, then there was suddenly blood and screaming and Ark heard an odd rushing sound behind his ears as the world seemed to go all weird and dream like. He was unable to look away, as much as he wanted to, as much as there was an inner screaming in his head that this was wrong, wrong, WRONG. Even the voices and the smell of spice were forgotten as the world grew cold and the smell of blood and death filled the air instead.

Eye wide, pupils narrowed to little slits, Arkady looked up at the King, up at her black fur splattered with garish red, up at her eyes that suddenly seemed wrong. All of this was wrong. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, but no sound was forced out. He tried to make his paws move, move, RUN, but he was rooted firmly to the spot. This wasn't something he'd ever expected to find, and his mind flashed back to the time in Tulgey, to the horrible creature that attacked him and his friends there. He tried to call to mind an ability, ANY ability, but his mind had gone blank.

[Callypso]

Time seemed to stretch out into infinity then came to a screeching halt to fix itself on this moment. He couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. It was as if all the air was sucked out of the environment. Even if he could take a breath, he wouldn’t have for fear that it would shatter any remaining semblance of reality still left. He couldn’t have just seen what his brain was currently processing. It was impossible. Things like that just didn’t happen. They just didn’t. Didn’t.

Then her voice broke the spell of silence that shock had cast at the moment directly after the incident and everything came flooding back. The images of the last moment’s event shot through his mind’s eye as though to brief his senses on how to react appropriately. There was no appropriate way to react. The woman before him had just slaughtered a man in cold blood, and the unfortunate Torque’s screams now echoed in his ears though they had long since been silenced.

It was impossible for him to look away from the King: her smile stretched sickeningly over her features and her eyes glinting with nothing but a lurching sense of wrongness. He would have stayed there, ensnared in the cruel gaze if it had not been for the warm stickiness that suddenly pooled around his front paws. A shaky paw was lifted toward eye-level and his worst thoughts were confirmed. Blood. Blood oozing from the lifeless Card in the alley. His throat constricted for a moment and then gave way to a horrified wail as he rapidly backtracked, attempting to escape the mess.

Wh-what have you done?! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE???!!!!

[Vyn]

Mephit stood before the books with a bizarre sort of calm, simply smiling as the boy's struggled with their individual panics. Their thoughts were all directed at her -- always a lovely feeling -- and she basked in the sea of their combined horror. It was a deliciously spellbound moment of perfect, abhorred silence... until the Villa suddenly screamed.

Her expression darkened instantly, though her smile remained, and her ears snapped back in disapproval. It seemed her guests didn't really enjoy their little detour and neither one of them were giving her anything to enjoy. These screams weren't the beautiful cries of agony, they were nasty and defiant.

She would have to make sure they changed their tune. Before Farran has even finished screaming, Mephit lunges at him and aims to smash him across the head with the blunt end of the rapier. At the same time, she activates her pain ability with the hopes of stunning the little King while she focuses on taking out the cat.

(Rolled a 14 for her attack against Farran. Rolled a 6 for the spell on Arkady, so I figure he can definitely withstand it though it'll hurt like hell. XD)


Strong Magical Ability: When activated, she can inflict mental pain on another card of any suit, once per day. The pain feels like a nail slowly being driven through the other's spine near the skull.
Her pain can now knock out another card for one hour, though Queens and some Kings may be able to withstand it.