T - Harps, Lucca

[Harpsdesire]

In response to Faust's apology, Dania merely smiled at him gently, an attempt to be reassuring even though she didn't trust her voice to be steady. It was a little strange how he kept touching her, but his hands felt nice, somehow. He wasn't rough, nor was the gesture condescending, it was clear he only wanted to give comfort and get it in return. ”Moving back sounds like a good idea...” Dania allowed herself to be led to a safer distance, gesturing to the others that they might want to do the same.

Given how he grasped the axe, it seemed he was really expecting some sort of battle... With nothing else immediately obvious to use as a weapon, Dania just readied her spells in her mind. It seemed just a few heartbeats later that Faust grabbed for Horatio as the door splintered. His sound of pain hit her like a wound to her own stomach, and she slid after him onto the floor, whimpering with concern. ”Oh, nono... Oh dear, Faust... Just... just stay with me.” She could see fresh blood coloring the bandages. What if he tore out the stitches doing that maneuver? What if he was dying?!?

Where was Joel? She looked around the room, her eyes wild with too much of the white showing. The only saving grace was that the wolf who had just appeared seemed disinclined to fight; in fact he looked rather ill. That was an outcome far less distressing that what she had been expecting from the mysterious little door.

Having found nothing further, Joel entered the hall just in time to see Zacharias explode forth from a door that should have been a little to small for him to even fit though. "What the... what?!?" He exclaimed in confusion. Zacharias, Faust and Dania were on the floor, all wearing pained expressions, if not all with visible wounds, the floor was covered with splinters and a thrashing Calloo king, and Colin and Heike seemed to be wielding bits of the hallway décor as weapons. As he watched, Colin puffed up like a feathery cushion and whipped a candle holder at the already prone and gasping wolf. Of course, the corpse-queen was being creepy and unhelpful.

He'd barely been gone five minutes when... this. His expression was bemused as much as anything else, and he stared at the scene for a moment before Dania called to him a little snappishly in her panic, ”Joel! Little help, here?”

”Er... yeah.” He rushed to Faust's side, blanching a little under his fur at how much blood there was. That was... well, it wasn't good. The boy hoped it wasn't his fault for doing an amateurish job to begin with. On the other hand, Faust should never have gotten out of bed...

”Um, hang on, Faust, I'll, ah, I'll see what I can do...” It was obvious that what the man needed was a real doctor, but with Dania's imploring eyes on him, Joel felt he had no choice but to try and patch up the half-Torquehelm again.

[Kari Muffin]

Horatio had not expected the door to explode. Apparently thats what the horrible sound was, he was also completely unprepared to be grabbed considering he had expected himself to be far enough away from getting hurt.

So he ended up on his back, thanks to Faust's grab, and gave an undignified squawk of utter confusion. Then there was screaming and horrible things going on. He turned to look at Faust, seeing a few stars as he noticed the man was on the ground.

Oh shoot he was bleeding.

The penguin pulled himself. "Suits, Thank you Faust--" he started only to edge out of the way when Joel reappeared. He turned back to look at the person who had come out of the door.

The Hell?

---

The rabbit pulled his sister out of the way (18) and placed her firmly behind him. And then everything exploded. The door, quite literally exploded, making the rabbit screech.

The cat appeared, giving them a rather awkward... smile.

He frowned.

And then Colin spoke, and promptly lashed out with all of his rage.

Spectacular.

Heike reached out and patted the cat on top of her head. "Thank you," he said quietly as he watched Colin's fury. He backed up, waiting for the man to do what he wanted to do. This person, whoever they were, seemed to be in horrible shape.

And was that a Mome with them?

He backed up a bit more, making sure his sister was safe. He glanced over to Faust and the rest of the company. "If the boy needs to be sewn up, if you have the supplies I can do it properly. Clearly His Majesty is having a gentlemen's duel and I'd rather not interfere."

[Nathalia]

((The dead Queen nudged the Jack's hand affectionately and gave another unnerving smile to the Wolf writhing on the floor.
"Reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee..."

Faust gasped, one hand propping himself up, the other clutching his side, his eyes on the figures of the screaming Queen and Wolf.
Suits...what had he brought here?
"Dania...Dania, I'm sorry..." He whimpered, his breathing hitched by the agony of his side.
When Dania moved to his side to help hold him up, he leaned heavily against her, feeling incredibly dizzy.
The hallway spun and he barely registered Horatio speaking, even though the Penguins bumping against the wall, at least his binding, had knocked something loose from the tapestry on the wall!))

Cool Shades: Wow! What a cool pair of shades! Makes you want to whip them on and off and spew crappy one-liners, doesn't it? They tingle a little when touched and give the owner the impression they could do more if they're put on...

((Faust dropped the axe, which skidded across the floor near Colin, lying about three feet from him.
"Hi...Joel...?" Was all Faust could manage as he glimpsed bright green wavering in and out of his vision. "Dania...'m sorry..."

The candelabra smashed over Zacharias's head and his throat contracted as he tried to howl in agony, writhing at the pain as the Mome clinging to him suddenly flew off, hissing and spitting, looking for anything to attack.
Colin's Jack's attack seems to have no effect on Zacharias...how odd, one might wonder wh-
The Wolf's eyes had widened when his legs seemed to turn to water, no longer under his control.
With a lurch of his upper body, he stretched and changed.

Though still in keeping with the same coloration, a writhing Serpent was now before them, no mark upon its chest as the change broke Wulfram's spell and a scream of rage and pain echoed off the rafters, the long, whip-like tail slamming down awkwardly at Colin, the tip still feeling like water (8).
A loud crescendo of music suddenly seems to swirl out from the creature. A discord of cellos and violins, screeching with cymbals crashing as his agonized theme music played out and incredibly angry and dark-sounding melody to his screams.

"Traitorous wretch!" He screeched, not even quite sure where he was as music blazed his senses down and the lower half of his body disobeyed him, fire raging under his skin.
Screaming again, he changed forms; flick, flick, flick! A Human woman with black hair, a Biped Canine mix all teeth and noise, some sort of feathered serpent, covered in spikes.
Suddenly he was a Wolf again, gasping as he regained a semblance of self-control, some of the fire in him ebbing.
Colin wavered into his line of sight.
"Your Majesty? Ah...let's...let's talk!" So saying, eyes still rolling with pain and fear, he cast a spell directly at him.))


Joker's Ability: Once a day, he is able to cause another person of any rank to be forced to change into a Snake for a full thirty seconds. Never having been one before, most people find this sudden removal of their limbs to be quite horrifying and lose most ability to control their actions due to a lack of understanding of how this new body works, though they remain the same Realms.
Any damage inflicted on the victim in this form, does not affect their actual body.



~Nathalia

[Lucca]

Colin had not expected That his spell wound't work...so he blinked in surprise. He hadn't expected everyone else to decide he had some sort of personal vendetta against the Wolf and stay out of the fight, either...that further incensed him, and he was about to launch a kick at the prone man when...when the man suddenly -changed-, form shifting and melting like water as...Colin cursed, going white under his feathers, took a few steps back, managing to avoid the flailing tail (19).

"You're a...you're a--!" The Cardinal was shaking his head, trying to deny what he was seeing, and managed to trip over the axe Faust had dropped at his feet, cutting open the sole of his foot and jumping into the air. At least there was music now, though it was horribly jarring and set Colin's beak on edge. He wasn't even sure if that was from his ability or something else entirely The whole world had gone mad. He flapped his wings and hovered in the air above Zacharias, staring openly...until the Wolf opened his mouth again.

Colin snarled. "TALK? You want me to TALK after--" He let out a hiss of concern as suddenly his -own- form shifted, changing into what might have been a lovely purple Snake...except that it terrified Colin, and he went crashing to the ground as he lost his wings, landing well enough, considering the circumstances(14). "WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?" he hissed in fury, and tried to slither towards the man, a little awkwardly because he wasn't used to the new body, but he managed with minimal damage (15). Once close enough, he reared back to try and strike out and BITE Zach. Suits but he hoped he had venom.

Of course, given that he wasn't at all used to this form, he shouldn't have tried something so advanced (1. crap.). He not only failed to hit Zack with his teeth, but he overshot the motion and sent his ling, limbless body wiggling through the air, and hit the ground, hard, teeth burying themselves into the carpet by a few inches. He struggled to get free.

Arpeggio followed Joel into the room...and trilled in complete confusion. What was going on? There was his master...and then, as he was watching, Colin -changed-. Arpeggio made a loud, worried noise, and -flung- the incense-smelling box he'd been holding right at the Wolf.

[Kari Muffin]

Horatio jumped when he heard something clatter on the floor. When he peered over his shoulder. Sunglasses? Where had those come from? He edged closer, poking one up in a wing.

They tingled. How odd. He glanced at the various parties in the room before slipping them on. No one would notice him anyway, and it wasn't like his stubby arms could sew up Faust and he was already in the way. Nadja seemed to be fine, and he couldn't help the Queen....

And things got weird. Really weird. His beak opened in awe.

---

The rabbit's ears twitched in frustration at that sound. He gave the cat another pat in hopes she would stop.

Heike let out a gasp of surprise when the wolf shifted into something else. And the process repeated. And then Colin turned into a snake.

His eyes caught sight of the axe. He darted for it (17) grasping it firmly in his hands as his heart tried to escape his chest. This could have easily been the monster that killed Fleur. He watched as Colin missed his attack, struggling to get free.

Well it was improper, but he didn't care at the moment.

He lunged for the Wolf, making to grab the fur on his head and press the blade against his neck. (20?! Holy what Heike?!)

"I know this is improper, Sir, but I'm tired of the bullshit I've had to deal with today. Could be so kind as to talk fast and explain exactly why you've decided to ruin everyone's life before I decided to cut your head clean off? You might be able to change forms, but this close it might not be a good idea."

[Harpsdesire]

"N-no, don't apologize." Dania clung to Faust in an attempt to keep him somewhat upright, and her eyes swam with tears that didn't quite fall. ”You're going to be okay...” Dania didn't sound as convinced as she would have liked to, and her voice cracked a little. This was just horrible.

As much as Faust needed him, and Dania's eyes were achingly plaintive, Joel wasn't able to bring himself to stand by patching up some random guy for the second time that day when the very Queen of his court was about to get pummeled. He dug through his satchel for a few seconds before retrieving the butcher's knife which he had stowed earlier, and spun to the angry sounds of strings just in time to see Zacharias return to himself, and then Colin change into a snake. ”What?” He questioned in exasperation, for what felt like the hundredth time that day.

He waited for Colin to strike, and when The Queen failed, the boy wrapped his paw more tightly about the cleaver and started toward Zacharias. He was either using some serious spells, or the guy was a frikken joker. Joel wasn't sure which was a scarier prospect, but he did know he wasn't about to let the court of Spades lose what was quite possibly it's last remaining noble. ”Have some respect for The Queen!” He snarled.

With a growl low in his throat, Joel moved to stand near Heike, adding his bulk and a surprisingly intimidating scowl to the forces leveled against Zacharias. He brandished the cleaver, but didn't get close enough to set it to the Calloo's skin, mainly because he didn't want to be stitching Zacharias up later in the unlikely-but-still-possible event that this was some kind of crazy misunderstanding. He'd also had quite a bit of fighting for one day, and it was a relief that the larger, scarier Jack was handing this, not that he'd admit as much.

Dania whimpered again and pressed her paw to Faust's injured side as firmly as she dared. A tear or two escaped-- she knew the pain her touch must be causing him, but she just had to stop the flow of blood that was welling up warmly around her paw. ”Hang in there, it will be okay... I'm here.”

[Vyn]

In a heartbeat everything went from awkwardly still to downright terrible.

Nadja let out a terrified Rabbit's squeal and was jerked back by Heike. There was shouting, something horrible and flailing on the floor, the bird-dog was bleeding, and amongst it all Nadja was frozen in painful terror. She couldn't move, couldn't think, just buried her head into Heike's leg and tried to block it all out.

She vaguely heard the corpse muttering something but didn't manage to come out of her little stupor until she heard the faint keening appear again.

Ohhh, dear, why? What was going on?

She opened her eyes slowly, just in time to witness the most horrifying series of transformations in her life. A tiny ball of green doom came flying away from the Wolf's head with a chunk of ear in his jaws, spitting it onto the floor at her feet before shooting flailing around the room in an obvious panic. Nadja backed away, nearly stumbling into the keening feline as Heike shot by to grab the man who was a wolf once again and began making threats.

Nadja wanted to cry, but she stumbled back toward Faust and the others instead. Joel shot by. By the White Rabbit, what was happening?! When she turned, she saw Faust covered in blood. Oh nonono.

"I can help. Please hang in there, Mr. Faust!" She murmured before she quickly reached into her bag. She'd found medical thread and needles when she'd had to patch the Queen's arm back on and it was thankfully at the ready now. She located one of the small rags as well and held it out to Dania. "It's going to hurt, he might need something to bite on." She had no anesthetic, she was going to have to do this in cold blood.

If given the chance to do so, Nadja would wipe away the blood and sterilize it with what little medical supplies she had in her kit, before stitching the wound and bandaging it. It was agonizing work, especially when trying to ignore the fighting behind her, but she managed to work through it. If she had enough time before the fighting got worse, she'd try to carefully bandage Faust's head to at least get pressure on the bleeding wound.

"I sincerely hope that is enough to help. H-He should see a proper doctor, though. As soon as..." She glanced at the fighting with a nervous whimper, unable to finish her sentence.

Meanwhile, the Mome seemed to have finally snapped out of its feral shock and suddenly launched itself at the nearest person: Colin. Thankfully, the misery and confusion of being separated from his owner seems to have curbed some of the creature's rabid enthusiasm and his scratches seem more born of frustration than malice. (4)

[Nathalia]

((Horatio will feel a strange tingle when he places the shades on his face and- Oh! In a flurry of seconds, he seems to have grown a short, sandy-red mane with a nice part! He can also feel an ability bubbling inside of him to go with these glasses!
When wearing these shades, he will be able to, once a week, know exactly where a person he's looking for was last and the name of one person they were with. Automatically, no questions.

Zacharias gave a loud screech of frustration, echoed by the ghastly music following him on Colin's orders.
He had expected the Queen to handle himself more poorly, the fact that he was doing so well simply driving him mad.
They wanted to see him fight?! Very well!
He gave a dark, ominous chuckle as the man cried out in horror at what had happened to him, and shifted into the form of a Bipedal Moose with huge pointed antlers. The colors remained the same.
"You don't want to talk? Fine!" He roared, charging the other Serpent, head down and muscled arms out, hoping to catch him up and bash him into the wall beyond. (13)
The fire beneath his skin was finally dying down, though still a horrible agony as he charged and something hit him int the head (4) squarely on the nose; bursting and spilling its contents all over his face.
Suddenly feeling quite dizzy, he snorted, unable to halt his charge and Colin in his grasp or not, he hit the wall hard. Hooves flying out behind him and a dazed gasp all that could be heard as the antlers snapped and broke and blood spurted from the man's head.
As he tried to stand, he suddenly found himself being partially yanked to the side, something sharp being pressed into his neck.
"What-?" He managed, before the Rabbit began to speak.
"You damn fool!" He screamed, writhing in the Rabbit's hand, not noticing Joel until he managed to forcibly cut himself on both blades in his attempts to escape.
Gagging a little at how deeply the Feline mix's knife had sunk into his gut, he tore out of the Rabbit's grasp (18), leaving a good hunk of bloody fur and flesh in his hand, before changing into a Bat, horribly tall and with a mutilated face, he let out a scream that was loud enough to deafen those within 5 feet of him for a full 10 seconds.
He then took off, reaching up for the light fixture overhead, hopping to drop it down on his foes, bleeding heavily and snarling to himself as the wound in his gut caused him to gag again. His breath wheezing in a horrifying way from the cut that had been made at the base of his throat by the Rabbit's blade.

Faust shivered, his extremities feeling cold as his vision blurred in and out of focus.
"Okay..." He mumbled, gingerly squeezing Dania's hand as he felt himself lean over against her without any real means of support. "Bad idea...I just thought...should be ready...I suppose... You're very pretty you know..."
His thoughts were getting fuzzy and he couldn't concentrate very well. He wasn't even frightened when one of the Rabbits popped back up.
Just a little surprised.
"'Lo..." He mumbled, wincing as pain, a little distant now, singed his head and side as Dania tried to apply pressure.
"Dania...?"
He gave a pathetic choked sob when the needle began to dive in and out of flesh, but he felt...oddly disconnected. Almost as though he should sleep.
"Dania...'m sorry." He slumped over, and passed out.))



~Nathalia

[Kari Muffin]

Whatever this man was, he apparently wasn't going to stay down. Thankfully the cat had decided to come over and assist otherwise things wouldn't gave gone as well. The Card was determined to get away, and Heike's firm grip managed to pull out a decent chunk of fur and flesh.

He dropped it and went to attack, the man had already shifted and suddenly shrieked. The rabbit immediately dropped his weapon and clutched his ears in horror (4), giving a surprised yelp.

He had to move though, that thing wasn't going to stop because he was surprised. He scrambled for the weapon again (14), aiming to throw it with all his might at the monster's wing (15).

He was hanging on a light fixture though. The rabbit made a very undignified squeak as he went to back up (12), praying that he hadn't done something completely idiotic.

---

Horatio tiwtched when he felt a tingle, and suddenly he had hair. A mane? He reached up to pull a lock in front of his eyes. Red. huh. And he had an ability to go with all of this. Good to know,

He eyed the fight eyes wide with terror as he turned to look at the others.

Nadja was doing her best to sew the poor bird up. Hadn't the Massive Rabbit said something about being able to sew Faust up? He watched as the mixed breed slumped over and passed out.

And there was nothing he could do. Nothing. He had no medical knowledge, he had no useful abilities, and he was just plain useless. He stared at the curtain for a moment before tearing it off of the rod as best he could (17). He waddled over to the small group, dropping the curtian from his beak so he could speak. "Yes, so we need to move Faust now before their fight spills over or something explodes. I figure we can put him on this and just drag him out quickly so we don't aggravate his wounds."

[Nathalia]

((For when Lucca posts: Or if Kari wishes to continue:

The axe tore straight through Zacharias's newly formed wing. (2)
Directly through the membrane and into the bone severing muscle and tendon and causing him to fall back to the ground with enough force to send him briefly into blackness (5 seconds where he will not move).
Before he would regain consciousness with a roar and become a Wolf again, ready to maul!))


~Nathalia