T - Varde, Spidey, Kitty, Yuiven

[Kari Muffin]

Othello's ears went straight up at the sound of someone else's voice. People! Or person. Another person at the very least. It didn't sound like anyone familiar. The mix realm's tail tucked itself in between his legs as he glanced over his shoulder.

When the person appeared he wasn't quite sure what to do. He really was seeing things properly. The voice matched the person, and he could hear things clear as day. He noticed the man's shirt. Some sort of stain was on it. It vaguely reminded him of the things he had seen in the oh so violent Court of Hearts. His ears pinned themselves to his skull for a brief moment.

"Hello. I jussst got here." He said after a few moments, giving a wave of his mechanical hand. "I haven't theen anyone." And he could bet that the man hadn't seen any of his family at all. Considering he was surprised to see a group of people.... though it couldn't hurt to ask. But the man was offering to help them get to some place safe. Ah well... that might work out better.

"I'll go to the fountain... but do you know what'th going on tonight though? Where did everyone go?"

[Varde]

The vibration emanating from the jar snapped Fenzik out of his state of triumph. "Wait," he stammered in surprise. "No, no, no no no," he told the ink, as though trying to calm it down, while the sense of general worry wedged its way deeper into his mind. He jumped when the first crack appeared in the glass -- and then another. For a moment, he just stood, frozen in panic, watching the jar with a helpless, pleading look as the cracks began to spread. This was not at all what he had planned. "I guess this... uh... wasn't such a great idea," he lamented. Zik hesitated, then lowered the jar and gingerly laid it on the ground on its side, allowing the ink to escape -- assuming that's what it wanted. The glass rattled noisily against the stone, and the rat moved several paces away from the vessel, although he never took his eyes off it. He wasn't concerned about experiments anymore; he just didn't want anybody to get hurt by flying shards of glass. After a few seconds the vibrations seemed to subside, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

Another voice came from nearby. This didn't surprise Fenzik anymore. He wondered if something was actually drawing people -- including himself -- to this location. More paranoia took hold. When he finally managed to tear his gaze away from the jar, he saw the large bird standing beside him with a hand extended. Out of politeness, he shook it, but he didn't return the bird's smile. "Fenzik," he said succinctly. He glanced distractedly back at the jar, but with all the shadows, he couldn't tell if the ink was still inside it. He listened to Farrago's story, looking anxiously around himself as he did. His eyes rested briefly on the smashed crates, the cracked jar, the dim figures of Cards of varying shapes and sizes... one of whom spoke up, seeming to accept the bird's offer of assistance.

But the Corvie wasn't so sure. "And how do we know we can trust you?" he added, addressing Farrago with an unusual tone of skepticism. He looked the bird up and down, noting the oddities of his appearance. "How do we know you're not the one responsible for all this... weirdness?" It was a ridiculous accusation -- even Fenzik knew that, but he wasn't exactly thinking clearly at present. Fen flicked back and forth with pent-up energy. It didn't trust the newcomer either. Then again, generally speaking, Fen didn't trust anyone.

[Yuiven]

((I'm sorry for the length of this post, but I needed to catch up and let all of you know what Amaterasu was doing. ^_^;))

Something that looked out of place in the young cat's anatomy caught Amaterasu's eye, and her intuitive observation was confirmed when she set him back down on the smooth paving stones. He winced and gasped, lifting up his left hind paw. She blinked and then she blinked again, narrowing her eyes to get a better look. It was in that moment Amaterasu realized with abrupt and paralyzing clarity exactly what it was she was looking at: a sharp, thin sliver of wood protruded grotesquely from his metacarpal pad, the wound frothing scarlet red. Slowly sucking in a deep breath, the wolf's mouth hung open in a small 'o' as she recoiled from the sight. Guilt began to claw at her. Oh no, it's all my fault! Maybe if I'd seen just a second sooner what was going to happen, if I'd moved a little faster or tried going down another way, the little guy wouldn‘t have gotten hurt, she thought sadly to herself.

Being overly preoccupied with her melancholy thoughts, Amaterasu was startled as the kitten nodded an affirmative to her question, hobbled over on three paws, and nuzzled her chest while burying his face into the soft snow-white fur. The distress she'd felt upon realizing that he had been injured gradually softened and faded. Grateful purring vibrated throughout her body and, hearing him utter the words, "thank you," completely assuaged all lingering traces of doubt that she had intervened at just the right time. She smiled down at the sweet-faced victim. "You are most welcome."

Naturally, this was the point at which the feel-good moment went to hell. A series of repetitive coughs punctuated the atmosphere. Amaterasu looked up and turned her head in the direction of the source of the noise. She peered through the clouds of dust drifting through the air, settling layer upon layer in a fine film on the jagged hunks of wood from the broken crates. Barely visible was what appeared to be a black and blue rat hunched over with a clenched paw raised to his snout, coughing. The pity engendered in her heart quickly died when he opened his mouth. Every. Single. Word. That madrat said stoked the fire of her contempt. Paper wings crackled and crinkled under the heat. With a snarl, Amaterasu's muscles bunched and twitched, fur standing on end as she crouched protectively over the kitten, her bright eyes smouldering.

An angel? No doubt, if the Highlander had known the rat's thoughts she would have felt flattered. If she'd been in a more charitable frame of mind-- but she wasn't. Someone was about to be visited by all of the fury of this 'angel'; holy fire and brimstone raining without mercy upon his head! I know what you did! She told him with her silence. Indeed, she had seen everything which had transpired in just the last ten minutes through eight round eyes, perched high atop the roof of one of the flanking buildings overlooking this alley; hidden in the shadows and disguised as that Mid-Range Tarantula.

Slowly, the clouds of dust thinned out to reveal the split-tailed rat, and he emitted a little half-cry of (very un-manly) panic after glimpsing Amaterasu's furious expression. She thought he was wise to be afraid. As if to validate this line of thought, the wolf curled her lip briefly, showing her formidable-looking teeth, and let out a low, rolling growl.

All of a sudden, the urge to hurt him that had been boiling in her blood cooled off. A prickly sensation bled and congeal into every fibre of her being. Amaterasu found herself shivering a little. The artist could only relate this strange feeling to whenever ink was spilled all over a drawing she spent hours on. She managed to hold on to her scowl for a few more seconds before it slowly smoothed out. Now that she had calmed down, Amaterasu stood still for a moment, just looking apprehensive. The pale wolf began to sniff here and there; sensitive twitches of her nostrils detecting a pungent aroma wafting in the air. Promptly, she gagged and coughed as the foul odour burnt her nose. UGH! WHAT’S THAT SMELL?!

All the while, her ears swivelled back and forth, listening to the ambient noises: the staccato of footsteps, the childhood chatter between Webster and Othello, the triumphant cackle of the Corvie on his successful capture of the elusive ink blot, the vibrations along with the cracking as it struggled to escape from within its glass confine, and the anxious exclamations. As a hush fell over the alley, Amaterasu noticed for the first time that it was very quiet around here. There was no sound at all when they weren't talking, not even the usual obtrusive sounds she was used to hearing in the Capital. In fact, you could have heard a pin drop right up to the point where a soft hallo hailed their motley group, and approaching footsteps heralded the arrival of a large, wingless Josiggy falcon mix carrying an unstrung bow and a quiver full of arrows.

Surprised, she raised her head, eyes following everyone else's gaze towards the newcomer. Flicking her ears back, Amaterasu remained standing next to Webster, very interested in saying something, but saying nothing, her mind was full of terrible, terrible notions. Looking over the man- Farrago, as he introduced himself -up and down with a critical artist's eye, she took in his shirt spotted all over with mysterious dark stains. Amaterasu pursed her lips as she quietly listened to his story. What he said sounded logical, but was it the truth? Unfortunately, there was no way of knowing for sure without a Diamond present to question him under a lie-detector spell.

The realization that the madrat-- No, Fenzik, she corrected herself, was saying everything that she herself was thinking was rather startling. Of course, the others were free to make their own decisions, but Amaterasu wanted to hear more of what Farrago had to say before deciding whether to accept the bird’s offer of assistance or not.

[Kitty]

He was quite pleased to be around a group of people again, despite the fact that everything smelt, and felt, funny in a not amusing sort of way. The kitten was also quite content to stay near the highlander until another newcomer came along, a ... what did Miss Angora call them again? Oh yes, a biped!

He peered at the jossigy, first noticing his big, curved stick .... what a funny thing for a grown up to carry around! And then he made one brilliant deduction, this stranger had hands! so he got up onto his three not sore paws and hobbled over to the falcon-mix.

You have hands!

his voice sounded almost triumphant. the young kitten then plopped himself down on his butt at the man's feet, lifted up the paw with the splinter in it awkwardly and then looked up at him with the cutest expression he could muster.

Can you get it, please?

He wiggled his paw in the air a bit as best he could, never letting up the cute expression.

Talaith on the other hand, chose to remain in her hiding spot and simply observe. The appearance of the stranger only made her wish to stay hidden all the more. The two smallest ones she was quite certain would believe just about anything she said, but the bigger ones were a whole different ball game. Things may have been weird, creepy and stinky but she still didn't fancy getting taken hostage by a bunch of cards ... she'd heard some pretty awful stories about what people could do to rabbits and she didn't want to tempt the fates.

She'd just have to get a better feel for the group before making any attempts at contact, but she'd be watching the two-legged one carefully. As the littlest one pointed out, he had hands ..... those could be dangerous.

[Kari Muffin]

Othello was used to feeling out of place and being the silent person in the back of a large group of people. His family was huge, after all, and he had to speak up periodically so he wasn't crushed by someone. He tilted his head when the Rat started speaking.

He had a valid point about trust and all, but that did bring up the idea of how could he trust these random strangers he had just found. They were all a little... strange. Then again who was ever normal?

He took several deep breaths to try and stop his heart from exploding out of his chest with anxiety. He couldn't just sit here and hyperventilate as much as he wanted to. He had to grow up sometime.

"If he wanted to kill uss, he probably would have just thnipped us with hiss bow and arrow." Othello said after a moment, his tail was slowly tucking itself between his legs. It was getting to him. The silence. He was used to at least hearing faint whispers of things that didn't exist and the city was always loud. "Thhouldn't we be more worried about the thilence and the unnaturalnesth of everything? The fountain is normally a gathering place for people anyway, that's where I meet my family when I get lost but... I've never been here before."

A worried whine escaped him, his mechanical hand scrapping the cobblestones unpleasantly. He watched in mild disbelief as the cat just waddle over to the stranger and asked him for help. He drooped a bit, feeling a bit invisible.

[Nathalia]

Farrago gave the Rat a startled expression and stepped back a few paces, hands up.
"I'm unarmed, sir. T'would take me a few seconds to string mah bow, 'n by then, I'm sure you'd have rendered me nothin' but rags. I'll admit that in this mess, I might look a bit, ah...outta place. Mah 'pologies. Please."

The ink blob in Fenzik's jar seems to calm for the moment, accepting its cage and shuddering in a pool on the bottom, simmering every now and then and blobbing hopefully at the cracked glass. Farrago gives it an extremely wary look, but otherwise, tries to pretend it isn't there.

"Sorry fer seemin' suspicious, sah." He pulled the edges of his collar back to show his Suit and rank. An 8 of Spades.
"Ahm, not a rank t' really be doin' yeh all any danger, an' I'm not too sure what else I can say t' get you t' trust me. You don't have t'follow me, t'was just an offer."
He jammed the bow into its place behind his quiver.
"Seems safer t'stay all together, though...this place has been off since yesterday...I dun like it one bit."

He spread his hands as a space-filler, not sure of what else to say, when a little Cat approached.
Poor boy had a splinter.
"Oh, ah...sure, kid, 'ang on there." Gingerly, he reached for the Kitten's paw, and if allowed, he would use long talons to tug the splinter out. "Is nice t'have hands, lad. M'sure you'll gain yer own someday."

His attention turned to the other little mix, curious thing, this boy.
"Ain't aimin' t'kill no one here, mate...you're ah...what's your mix, m'lad. Don't think I've ever seen one like you b'fore. Name's Farrago, what's yours?" He eyed the mix up and down, warily.
"You are right, the silence is what's getting me. I was runnin' about wit' my partners, two other Josiggies, like me. Lost 'em after a stint an' I can't seem t'find 'em again, m'hoping the fountain is where they'll think to look."

[Kari Muffin]

It was a little reassuring. Only a tiny bit. It didn't change the fact that something unnatural was going on. He bit the inside of his cheek in anxiety as he glanced over his shoulder for a sign of something.

Even though he knew the man was going to address him, he still jumped slightly at being addressed. "Ah! Nice to meet you, thir. I'm Othello." He titled his head at the comment concerning his coat. "I'm have a bit of Bog in me, but I'm mosstly Torquehelm." He jingled his bindings to illustrate his heritage. Though a Yarrow could still potentially kill him. He wasn't about to test the theory.

Everyone seemed to be losing everyone else. It was a little distressing. He untucked his tail from between his legs and took a few more deep breaths. At least he could still smell his mint. That was always reassuring. "Tho why were you and your friendth out... with weaponth? I know some Heart nobles like my Mom carry them all the time but ith there thomething theriouss going on? Other than people disappearing."

Hopefully he wasn't saying too much. He never knew when to say he was related to someone who was important. It could easily turn around and bite him in the ass, but with the way he mentioned it it could be easily glossed over.

[Varde]

Fenzik had to admit that Othello had a point. And Farrago's defense seemed logical as well. So why couldn't he shake this looming sense of dread? Othello's statement about the unnaturalness confirmed that the rat wasn't the only one feeling it. Nevertheless, he couldn't let it get the best of him. If there really were strange things afoot tonight, then, rationally, it was probably wisest to stick together in as large a group as possible.

He was a little surprised to see the child among them approach Farrago without showing even a hint of fear. Fenzik watched, holding his breath, as the kitten extended a paw toward the biped. When Farrago seemed to examine it, Fenzik followed his gaze -- and, with a gasp, realized that it was bloodied. "Oh no! You're injured," the Corvie cried at once, completely oblivious of the fact that said injury was his fault in the first place. "We ought to get you to a potion shop -- I know a few good ones here in the Capital," he stammered quickly, the overhanging paranoia seizing the rat's worry for the child and amplifying it. "I'll buy you a healing potion or two if you don't have the money. Oh, I wish I'd brought some from my lab," he lamented. "My home-brewed potions are so much more potent than the watered-down store-bought variety..."

Fenzik trailed off and turned to Farrago. The bird's efforts to help the child had given the scientist a change of heart. "I'm sorry I didn't trust you before. I... I think maybe it's best if you do lead us to the fountain," he said, his head hung a little sheepishly. After all, he had to admit that his long chase had completely addled his sense of direction. "If only so we can help the kid," he added, gesturing to the kitten. "It's... it seems dangerous here," he observed, a little more quietly, turning and eyeing the cracked jar warily as though it were a ticking time bomb.

[Nathalia]

Bog? never heard of it...
Farrago seemed to relax slightly and gave the boy a more chipper smile, the Rat accepting him, however strange he may seem to be, was also a relief. T'wouldn't do for innocents to get caught up in their mess.

"Well, we really ought to be findin' a way out, regardless of where we go. Th' fountain s'where I'll likely find m'crew, n' they can get you out. Evan at least, if no one else."
He shook the boy's odd...hand? "Othello, was it? Well met. Oh." He looked over his shoulder at the bow. "Can't be too careful when the nights are like this can yeh?" He asked, giving a small, uneasy chortle.

He nodded to Fenzik. "Alright mate, we'll get help fer th' kid. Come on, you lot."
He waved them after him and began trotting down a side-street trying to get his bearings and wishing to everything that he could fly.
Odd, the Rat's behavior, not so much the mood swings, but the soppiness over the kid?
Was the Kitten his son?
He glanced back at the pair.
Um...unlikely, but he'd seen stranger match-ups.

The street became darker, and he hurried on.

[Kari Muffin]

Othello gave the man a small bucktoothed smile. Things seemed to be going a bit smoother now. He accepted the bird's hand with his mechanical one and gave it a proper and polite shake. It was a weird thing to look at... no wonder people made comments about him being weird, what did he actually look like when it came down to it?

His nose wrinkled with worry at the comment concerning the bow. Maybe he should have brought is own weapon along today? But things had seemed... fine. Othello's thoughts were derailed when the rat started speaking. He was a little odd. More than a little and he just seemed to catch up with the entire situation. It wasn't like the little cat was going to lose a leg or something.

And then Farrago was moving. Going. All right, they were getting out of this creepy place. His tail twitched in a half wag for a moment before he started trotting after the man. "Thank you for helping uth."