This is Not a Theme Park [Lucca]

[Kari Muffin]

She bit her lip. Suits. She really wished she was a Heart. like her siblings or Conall. It would have been nice to be able to ignore the pain that was building up as she walked. "They were," she said after a moment. "Thanks Arkady."

"It's not too far of a walk to Torquehelm," Conall reassured her. He was doing his best not to speed up the pace. His bird was still nervously fluttering. He could see faint movements in the trees. That Queen was probably still following them, and if he could make tree branches fall and disappear into thin air there were plenty of other things he could potentially do.

It was a burden to follow the three children, thanks to the Solandrian. Lythero's head was hanging heavily with each leap and bound. And it was making him slip every now and again. He would have cursed if he was capable of something other than drooling and cringing. He would follow them until the end of the Wood. And when they reached the very edge he would give them a little surprise in the form of a tree cascading to the ground mere inches behind them.

Jack's Ability: He can break objects made of wood or porcelain by shattering and splintering the material in sharp cracks up to three times per day.

[Lucca]

Arkady flashed a very small smile up to Cas, but it vanished soon after. Though the girl was being very brave about it, the Coyote could tell she was in a whole lot of pain, and it made the impotent anger claw at his heart again. If only he'd actually been able to attack the one who had done this beyond just using his King's ability! Of course, having never actually tested the ability before now, Ark had no idea just how uncomfortable it was for the victim beyond a theoretical notion based on what he knew the effects of the spell were. He shook his head, making his still-wet mane flop around a bit. It wasn't like him to be so bloodthirsty. Revenge never solved anything. Better to be glad the man was gone.

The only problem with that being, could they really be sure the Tulgey was gone? His ears flicked around, thinking he might have heard a crash from above them...but it was hard to be positive. And when he looked up, even when he activated his Spade ability while looking into the branches, he still couldn't see anything beyond a tangle of leaves and branches. If someone was there, he was well hidden.

As they made slow, but constant, progress on the path, Ark began to relax by degrees, and when they could finally see the dim grey light of Torquehelm just ahead, he sighed quietly in relief. Of course, then there was another cracking sound, louder and faster this time, and Ark reacted without thinking, nosing Cas forward, out of the way as an entire TREE crashed down right behind them, sending up a storm of leaves.

He whirled, hackles raised and teeth bared.

[Kari Muffin]

At the first sound of cracking Conall's bird flapped its wings and chirped in alarm. Conall yanked Castiel forward, and combined with the soft nosing from Arkady it was actually enough to throw the delicate yarrow off balance.

It didn't help that she hadn't inherited any of her father's cat like grace to begin with. She flopped forward, a twig scraping her cheek as she hit the ground. A rather large unlady like curse escaped her lips when the tree hit the ground.

Conall had spun around, prepared for the worst. When the tree hit the ground his fur stood up and awkward angles, though the fact that he was still wet just added to his disheveled appearance.

The Tulgey was standing in the shadows, beyond their line of sight. He would have spoken a word of warning if he was able. Instead he touched another tree, activating the spell one last time.

Castiel hastily got to her feet. "Let's GO NOW!" she practically yelped as she urged the boys onward. She didn't want the tree to fall on top of them or anything. And the Queen who they had run into was obviously still here.

Conall gave very little protest when the girl grabbed him by one of the arms that were sticking out of his back.

[Lucca]

Arkady's ears pressed back against his head. Suits. He hadn't meant to throw Cas off balance like that! Of course, if he had been feeling uncharitable he could have blamed Conall for it, as he had just yanked Cas forward like a doll. But at the moment, the girl's safety was of the highest importance. He heard another crack and, by squinting into the shadows of the forest and briefly activating his ability to see in the dark, he could actually SEE their attacker, just barely.

His hackled raised and he growled, but...as Cas grabbed a fistful of his mane he decided that it would be better to get out of the Wood. Once again, he forced thoughts of revenge out of his mind with an effort, though his blood was pounding in his ears as he turned to leave the forest at a lope. When they were finally out of the shadows of the trees, Ark would try and urge them forward a little further as well, just to make extra sure the Tulgey couldn't follow them out and sneak up on them again.

Then he would turn to Cas, ears back. "Are you all right?" he whimpered, feeling guilt rush up as he registered her bloody, bedraggled appearance.

Moderate Magical Ability: When activated, he can see black-and-white clearly in the dark. This can be activated and deactivated at will. Should he look at a moderate to bright light with this ability activated, however, he will experience intense pain and be left with a splitting headache for up to one day.

[Kari Muffin]

Lythero slipped back into the Woods. They had gotten the message, and now he was going to lick his wounds, and learn a bit more magic. This body was grossly unprepared for battle, and he could hardly strike fear into Outsiders with it.

Castiel looked like hell, and that was putting it lightly. When they were far enough away and Arkady asked her the question she turned to him with a unreadable expression. She wasn't particularly sure how to respond to him. "Yes and no?" she said after a moment. "My back is killing me and... I must look awful?" she reached up to brush the hair out of her face. She picked up a bit of blood as well. Aww suits, why was she always the one who got hurt?

Conall was giving her a concerned look. He wanted to help but he didn't want to run the risk of making things worse. After all he could have a reaction to any of her bodily fluids just because she was a Yarrow. He really hated being a Bog.

"Suits. Why are you always the one to get hurt?" he said as he shook his head at the girl.

She frowned and looked to Arkady. "I think I'll be okay. Let's get to the inn we're staying at so we can all clean up. And uh... t-thanks for doing that back there."

[Lucca]

Arkady didn't really like the look Cas was giving him. It made him feel like he'd just asked a really stupid question, and he shrank back a little bit. "You look fine," he blurted, and then felt his face heat up under his fur. He really should just keep his mouth shut. Besides, in the way Cas had meant it, she really did look a mess. But there was almost a wild sort of...of beauty about it, the Coyote thought. Though really, why did it always have to be her that got hurt?

He frowned in agreement to Conall's statement, and went to see what he could do for her wounds...probably not much until he had access to some water to clean them. After all, who knew what utter nastiness was on that Tulgey's claws? He shuddered at the thought, and nodded. "I'm sorry I couldn't protect you more," he said softly, and gave her his shoulder to lean on again as they made their way back to the inn.

Sadly, that little adventure seemed to be an utter failure.

[Kari Muffin]

Castiel blinked with surprise at Arkady's comment. She blushed slightly not really sure what to say. What had he meant by that? She shifted awkwardly only to wince because of her back. She was grateful when she could lean on the canine again. It was a shame she couldn't lean on Conall more. The blood could always cause a bad reaction if it somehow got on him. She was just grateful that people were with her.

"Don't apologize," she said after a moment. "You did a really good job, both of you... thanks. I'm sorry I was so useless." She felt like it was an understatement. She sighed. So much for that adventure.

Conall felt more than a little awkward as he looked to the two. A small part of him wanted to scream and throw a tantrum over how it wasn't fair. However, he knew that his idiotic dreams of Castiel acknowledging him as something more with literally impossible. His bird sat on his shoulder, chirping rather cheerfully as he carefully helped slipped behind the pair to take up the rear. Who knew if the monster was going to follow them.

At least they had gotten out alive.

(( OOC: Do you want them to fool around in Torquehelm for a bit or do you want to wrap things up? ))

[Lucca]

Arkady tried to ignore the blush that Cas showed at his thoughtless comment (even though it was kind of cute on her), trying to just...forget he said anything. It wasn't really appropriate...not at a time like this, anyway. But he felt his face heat up again and his tail give a small wag as she complimented him--and Conall. He shook his head at her. Why was she being so down on herself? It made him sad in the usually completely unflappable girl. "Cas...it wasn't your fault...you weren't useless. He just got the jump on us."

Ark's fur stood up a bit remembering that. But the further they got from the Wood, the better and safer he felt. Even the grey light of Torquehelm was a relief compared to the shifting shadows of the trees. And the absence of the uneasy feeling that had crawled all over them while in the Wood was like a sudden weight off his shoulders. He hadn't even noticed it after a while, but he noticed the lack of such a feeling now.

Luckily the Inn was close, and once there Ark would insist on helping to clean and bandage Cas's wounds as best as he could with his paws.

((we can continue if you like. <3))

[Kari Muffin]

Castiel gave the boy a cheerful smile. He was sweet, even though she really had been stupid this time he was still so nice.

Cleaning the wounds was painful, and the the bandaging could have gone smoother. But she wasn't going to get an infection, and they probably wouldn't leave scars that were too bad. Of course explaining this to her parents was going to be interesting.

While she was being bandaged up, Conall was in the tavern getting them some food. It took him a while to get the order straight and return to their room. He was carefully carrying the tray and making damn sure he didn't touch anything for everyone's sake.

"I have hot chocolate," he said as he entered the room, still carefully balancing the tray. "And I got some food, hopefully it's all right it looks a little... ha." He couldn't even bring himself to finish his sentence as he looked at the food. Everything was depressing here in Torquehelm, even the food. He set the tray down on the table and took his share.

Castiel cheerfully took her share of hot chocolate and a rather sad looking sandwich. "Thanks Conall, I was starting to get hungry. And I'm sure Arkady's starving,"

[Lucca]

There was a lot of wincing and apologizing from Ark as he cursed his clumsy paws again and again while bandaging Cas. Of course, the little King knew he couldn't even try to get his Biped until he was full grown, or practically so. It was times like this that he envied Sergei and Makenna for being born with hands. Of course, he supposed he could be worse off. He could have been born some sort of Avian, and have no front limbs at all except for wings.

By the time Cas was bandaged and clean as well as he could manage, the Coyote was exhausted, and flopped as gracefully as he could onto the couch, panting a bit, much to his own embarrassment. Luckily, Conall took this time to return with the food...and as sad as it looked, at least it seemed somewhat sanitary. At least, that was what he firmly told himself for his own sanity. "Thanks...I am," he mumbled, and took his share, trying to avoid just wolfing down the sandwich in two seconds.