|
|
Post by Vyn on Feb 20, 2011 9:31:09 GMT -5
Nadja frowned a little. So they were leaving? She hesitated slightly, glancing toward Horatio, and waved a polite goodbye before turning to follow her brother... Except now there was the distinct sound of a door opening and... hooves? She paused only for a moment, glancing over her shoulder toward the stairs. She couldn't see anything from here but she could certainly here it.
Voices. Multiple voices. Horatio addressed someone and another answered and there was... an awful keening sound slowly seeping into the basement that made all her fur stand on end.
One of the figures revealed himself, a Villa bird with an authoritative personality that made Nadja quite nervous. What if he was in charge? They were going to be in trouble, weren't they? She looked to her brother and made a soft noise of fear when she noticed he was also rooted to the floor with panic. (6 for being quiet)
They'd been found. Should they run? Should she talk to it? Nadja wavered in quiet terror, her little body all atremble. From where she stood, her winged back to the group and with her long tail quivering and her ears flattened down, they wouldn't immediately know what she was... but Heike. Suits, there was no way to deny what he was.
|
|
|
|
Post by Harpsdesire on Feb 20, 2011 23:12:03 GMT -5
"Oh, hullo." Joel looked startled to come upon a rather ordinary looking Torquehelm card, and tried to replace the large knife in his bag inconspicuously, offering a smile that was a little crooked from nerves. He wasn't expecting anything as harmless looking as the flightless bird, and it was almost as disorienting as when he first saw the taxidermied queens. Beyond the penguin were a couple of Avintons and a Selkie, some strange mix of breeds, maybe donkey and some sort of rodent? They looked rather the same except for realm and form, like siblings, maybe. Both the quadrupeds were quite dainty-looking, and the tall biped towered over them. He was an odd-looking fellow, certainly. Joel squinted at him, doing a double take as he noticed how straight his long ears stuck up. Not much like a burro's actually....
Tagging along behind Colin, Dania felt a wave of relief as she heard The Queen start talking quite calmly to whoever he discovered down there. Perhaps it was a few of the servants or other inhabitants of the court, come back? She hoped so. She waved politely to the penguin, some sense of solidarity with a fellow Torquehelm rising to the surface. Just beyond him was a small creature of a breed she couldn't identify. Was was clear, however, was that the girl (at least she assumed it was a girl) was very frightened. She was visibly trembling, and Dania called out to her gently, "Don't be afraid. We don't mean to hurt you. Do you not belong in the palace?" Maybe she was a maid who expected to be punished, or perhaps she had been given a fright by the Sorgaire queen? Neither she nor the Torquehelm really looked like the type to rip the poor undead creature to shreds, but it was quite possible that if startled enough they could have struck out with claws, not even pausing long enough to find that the disturbing-looking construct was tame...
It was about this time that the rat's purple gaze wandered over to Heike. She gasped softly, then stared, her paw reaching suddenly to wrap around Faust's hand and grip it tightly. "Wh-what... is... that?" She stuttered in a frightened undertone.
|
|
|
|
Post by Nathalia on Feb 20, 2011 23:34:33 GMT -5
((Faust's eyes widened in absolute horror as they fell upon Heike.
His mouth went dry and his hand gripped Dania's back as they froze, causing the dead Queen to bump into them.
He let out a whine, almost preferring the Queen to that.
Rabbit!" He blurted out. Staring bug-eyed at the thing and completely unable to acknowledge the other two people. "From stories, it's not...not real? Just-" He turned to the dead Queen behind him, looking pathetically near to hysterics. "Just like you." He whimpered, as the sightless sockets bored into him and he shrank against Dania.
"I've seen drawing...pictures that people in Torquehelm drew long ago...there used to be Rabbits in the Tulgey, they said..." His voice trailed off with fear. "I never believed them..."
He gazed back at the monster, shivering a little.
Then, scooted subtly aside so the dead thing could pass.
It did.
Clattering down until it was behind Colin, the corpse clumsily shuddered to a halt behind him.
"It's not the surprise. I've never seen it before.." It whispered, before waving its remaining arm lazily at the Leveret.))
~Nathalia
|
|
|
|
Post by Kari Muffin on Feb 21, 2011 0:01:38 GMT -5
Horatio had hoped that the Rabbits had slipped away. He had also hoped that he would be dealing with a servant or something. Did the nobility normally make trips to the basement. He opened his beak to speak, but the company on the stairs apparently wasn't finished.
And he couldn't even pretend the people behind him weren't rabbits.
He let out a gasp when he heard the sound of shuffling. The cat monster. It was with them. It was there's? Suits!
"I'm so sorry, Y-your Majesty. I-I'm Horatio and I don't know how I actually got here. I was in a bar, I think, and then I woke up on the s-stairs." He had to try and help Nadja. She had been so nice. What could he do? "Mr. Heike and Ms. Nadja were looking for their niece I... I-I'm sorry is that monster yours?"
Heike stared back at the cards, his eyes wide and unblinking. Of course he had to freeze at a vital time. Of course he had to be faced with something as powerful as a Queen. His ear twitched slightly as he listened to what they were saying.
It was a shame they weren't idiots. He could have pretended to be some freak of nature Card or something. His fur tried to bristle when the cat monster came down the stairs. Though it stopped thankfully.
Might as well try to say something. Staring wasn't going to do them any good, and the bird-dog-thing and already outed him as a rabbit. (14 to recover his composure.)
"Hello, as Horatio said, my name is Heike. I was looking for my daughter but it seems she was brutally murdered in the improper part of your uh... basement I believe it's called." He remained still, he didn't want to make any sudden movements. By the White rabbit, Cards were so amazingly powerful and he didn't have access to trees. And he had no idea if his other spell would work on Cards. "That thing you have with you, Sir, attacked the Selkie that's passed out on the floor. We were just mending her before I could collect my poor daughter's remains and we could depart."
The rabbit's eyes slowly drifted to the arm that was sitting on the boxes. "Would your pet like her arm back, by the way?"
Horatio turned to gawk at the rabbit. At least he was... well spoken?
|
|
|
|
Post by Vyn on Feb 21, 2011 0:20:44 GMT -5
Nadja trembled, looking between Heike and the huge assortment of Cards that had stumbled down the stairs. She shrunk back against her brother a little as the woman spoke to her, offered a most tremmulous smile, and stayed very very quiet.
Until the bird-mix shouted Rabbit.
Her eyes went wide and she let out another little pathetic noise. And... oh heavens, there was the corpse cat and it was... She paused and made a somewhat adorably perplexed face. It had indeed seen them! and mauled Zuli and had a conversation (however weird) with her and... Wait... She wasn't honestly offended that the monster hadn't recognized her, was she?
Well, maybe a little. Considering the circumstances and all.
Before she could sum up anything to say, Heike was talking. She waved a little to the cards as he said Hello but remained shyly silent. Heike had said everything she could think to say and Horatio had already introduced her. It was probably safest just to keep her muzzle shut and continue clinging to Heike's leg like a good leveret.
|
|
|
|
Post by Lucca on Feb 21, 2011 9:27:35 GMT -5
Colin gulped audibly and paled under his purple feathers. What was a Rabbit doing here? Why was it so much BIGGER than the Rabbits he'd seen before? (Well, to be fair, there had only been two. But still!) He shook his head at Dania. "No...NONE of these...creatures...belong here," he muttered, half at a loss for words. He tried to regain his composure as the Tove at his shoulder HISSED at the dead Queen, his fur going up in a ridge along his back. He winced as Faust just...let the Rabbit out of the bag, so to speak. He put his wings up a in a placating gesture.
"Everyone just...let's calm down and talk like civilized people. All right?" He tried not to shudder as the corpse came up behind him, and he frowned at Horatio's words. "No. No, this...thing...is NOT mine. It's the reanimated corpse of a past Queen of the Court...we found it in the attic." Oh, this was a political nightmare, this right here. He nodded to Horatio and the Rabbits in turn. "Oh dear. I...I'm very sorry to hear about your daughter. I have no idea who could have done it..." He trailed off, thinking of the Wolf who had suspiciously appeared while they were upstairs, and a frown forced its way onto his beak.
"Let's just say this isn't at all how the Court would be normally. It's usually a lot better organized and there are guards and servants and everything. And there wouldn't be dead things walking around. And...I'm very sorry...I don't know why it would have attacked your friend..." He finally noticed the thing on the floor and...was it missing a LEG? Suits. Just when he had thought the situation couldn't get any weirder. RABBITS.
|
|
|
|
Post by Harpsdesire on Feb 21, 2011 13:22:02 GMT -5
Dania was startled when Faust said ‘rabbit’, even though she could see for herself that the antlered biped was like no card she had ever seen. ”I’ve seen them, too.” She wrapped an arm around Faust, who seemed just moments away from coming completely unglued, and tried to hold it together, for his sake. ”I thought it would have… more teeth…” She muttered weakly, fear and amazement filling her mind. It did look rather like the drawings she had seen in old books of the legendary rabbits, although it seemed rather a tamer version—most that were pictured in those manuscripts had massive fangs, claws and blazing eyes. This one had… a button-down shirt and jacket. How very… curious.
She felt a little lightheaded.
Joel was gazing at the rabbits, for it seemed that’s indeed what they were, with open curiosity. They didn’t look terribly threatening, although they were poised to do devastating damage to his world-view, if they hadn’t already. Believing in rabbits was generally the purview of the nonscientific, head-in-the-clouds types, and it rather bothered him to think that those sorts were right about this. If rabbits existed, then why not ghosts and cats? Why not think that unicorns were real, too?
In the space of a heartbeat Joel’s existential crisis had peaked, subsided, and he had begun to wonder how much different it would be to grow an exoskeleton on a rabbit than on a card. Not giving away such thoughts (for he had learned the hard way that non-corvies didn’t appreciate such things, even if he insisted it was purely intellectual curiosity), he merely smiled broadly and commented, ”Rabbits, huh? Way cool.”
Dania wasn’t taking the situation quite as much in stride, and paled rather noticeably under her violet fur when Heike casually offered back the dry, disembodied arm. ”Erm…” Was all she managed at first. That bigger rabbit had just said something about murder, remains, death, rabbits, attacked, rabbits… Oh, there were so many people… well, beings, in here, it was all a little overwhelming, too warm, close.... Her pupils dilated. ”It’s not a pet, I shouldn’t think, but th-thank you?” Her voice came out feeble and a little wispy. She made no move to actually collect the grisly item.
”Dania?”
”I’m okay, Joel.” She clung to Faust and didn’t sound at all convincing.
|
|
|
|
Post by Kari Muffin on Feb 21, 2011 16:31:41 GMT -5
Horatio could feel the color draining out of his own face as the Queen of Spades spoke. Reanimated corpse of a past Queen? That was horrible. How were they so casual about that? Then again he was being casual about rabbits. This entire day was just a horrible mess, and he really hoped that it wouldn't end badly. He eyed the foot that was still tucked under his wing.
Oh man, this just looked bad.
He noticed that the two other Torquehelms seemed utterly terrified and the young woman's voice wavered when she answered Heike. Maybe he should just get the arm while everyone was being so skittish? But he really didn't want to move. Suits only knew if he had offended the Queen of Spades or something. This was not anything he could normally handle. "They really won't bite, you know. Nadja helped me after I fell down the stairs when the Cat-thing pegged me in the back of the head with something."
Heike watched all of the cards, making sure that his sister was close enough that he could protect her if anything went wrong. They seemed to be taking this rather well, all things considered. The cat boy seemed a little strange. The rat--a woman apparently--seemed a little faint, hopefully her bipedal bird-dog companion would take care of her properly. He never would understand Card relationships. They seemed far too complex.
At least his panic was starting to fade. His heart was still pounding though.
"I apologize for being so terrifying, and I mean absolutely no harm," He gave a small half bow directed at Dania. He turned to Colin, who was clearly the man in charge. "Thank you Mr. Colin for not jumping to conclusions and attacking. I imagine the uh... Cat reacted so badly to the Selkie because she's a bit touched in the head and thought it was a good idea to attack the Cat. I'm going to go and get the arm now unless you protest."
He looked down to his sibling. "Are you all right, Nadja?" he asked quietly in Avington.
|
|
|
|
Post by Nathalia on Feb 21, 2011 19:00:33 GMT -5
((Faust gingerly pulled against the Rat, trying not to lose the few marbles he felt he still had a good grip on.
It was just getting to be so difficult!
Monsters were everywhere today!
Rabbits, doubles (Jokers? No...), things that tore open your head, the walking dead...what was next?!?
The corpse weaved its way around Colin, ignoring the Tove;s hiss and nuzzling the Queen's neck before wandering again by Horatio, flicking its dry, rattling tail in his direction before stopping in front of Heike.
"Congratulations, the test is now over...." It mumbled, holding out its hand for its missing arm and gazing sightlessly about three feet to the right of the Jack.
At that point, Colin felt something odd in the back of his mind...as though something wee missing...
With or without her arm, the corpse would weave back to Colin, trying to rub at his wing and muttering. "Maybe this was a complete fabrication?" It whispered, tilting its head alarmingly to the side and letting its sockets bore into him.
Faust watched the taller Rabbit speak, and pressed himself against Dania...as she did against him. He felt himself flush and nudged the top of her head gingerly with his beak.
"Maybe...we should all go upstairs? There is...something wrong, down here... I don't want to know what's out there." He mumbled, gesturing to the dark tunnel the Jack had been making his way toward...))
~Nathalia
|
|
|
|
Post by Vyn on Feb 21, 2011 19:27:42 GMT -5
Nadja looked between all of them, nervous and uncertain. It was a big group, much harder to wrap her head around than one lone card. But Heike was calming down and the group did seem okay...
She nodded to Heike. "I'm alright." She whispered back in Avington as she watched the cat approach them. Heike gave the arm to her when she held out her hand for it and Nadja shuddered a little at the sight of the creature holding its own arm. It just wasn't right, though her words were a little soothing. The test was over?
Everything was strange and the rules seemed to have changed for the time being.... So did that mean that they were now supposed to cooperate with the Cards?
The dead Queen returned to her companions and the trembling bird-dog suggested they go upstairs. Nadja took a deep, shuddering breath and looked to Heike. "Should we go with them? They look like they have a better idea of what's going on. They might even be able to explain why... why everything's happening." Fleur, Somhan... Exploding cards. She glanced back to the group and edged ever so slightly closer to them though she wouldn't move more than an arm's length from Heike.
|
|
