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Post by The Jenn on Feb 21, 2011 19:56:48 GMT -5
Morgan did as it was told almost immediately - it shut the hell up and moved. The wolf entering the room looked threatening enough in his own right, though nothing to top the twelve-foot-tall monstrosity that had changed its form and disappeared beneath the bed. Where everyone seemed to want to be.
Why why why why why...
The thing had gone under the bed. The wolf was focusing on the bed. It seemed the bed was the last place it wanted to be near. With a nervous little twitch, it edged back against the wall near the nightstand. In its fumbling, it knocked into the table again, jostling two slips of paper off and onto the floor. Was that what his tongue had felt sliding out of the picture frame? Did it matter now?! Probably not.
Except that Argo had been twitchy about the frame. Hadn't it? That fact suddenly came further into focus and Morgan twisted its head awkwardly to try and see whatever had just fallen on the floor. Maybe that would be enough for the wolf to leave, its mind tried to convince itself unsuccessfully.
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Post by Vyn on Feb 21, 2011 20:04:15 GMT -5
Malachior shrugged as Davy refused to his help, allowing him to stumble awkwardly on his own. "You don't need to tell me that, I was thanking you for your sacrifice." He offered him another shrug and stood up again, his bones complaining at the action. Why was he here again? Right. Conall. He tried not to groan as he turned away from Davy and followed the Lucius and the Bog child up the stairs. Lucius had frozen at the top, staring at the mess and... him. The Serpent's red eyes narrowed into slits but his tone was his usual snide clip mixed with a hint of something, surprise? "Zacharias! Not the man I expected to find, but certainly a pleasant surprise." A strange grin spread over the Tulgey's features but before he could do or say anything, Malachior had strode up the stairs and past him. Why was Zacharias here!? Blindly walking into strange circumstances were not his usual fare but he had a very important question to ask his old acquaintance. There was just too many bizarre circumstances. "What are you doing here, of all places!?" He looked around belatedly realizing that they were certainly not in the Court of Hearts any longer. This looked to be someone's... home!? The old buck removed his glasses, cleaned them, and placed them back on without any change. What was going on here? Wulfram was the last up the stairs, hanging close to Devi and allowing the others to proceed into the strangeness above ahead of them. When they arrived in the strange room in the not!attic, he arched a brow and stayed very quiet. He recognized this man by name and description alone as one of Malachior's correspondents but something seemed off. Until his eyes fell upon a familiar bird. "Vell, vell. Goot to see you again, Ez." He almost had to wonder if anyone else in the group was stumbling upon old friends. It certainly was the day for odd coincidences and, at this point, Wulfram was rather done being concerned by it. For the time being nothing was assaulting them and he'd be grateful for that if nothing else. |
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Post by Kari Muffin on Feb 21, 2011 20:30:05 GMT -5
(( OOC: *FOAMS* posting to mostly introduce Devi and Conall to the thread. Ez and Gigi have done very little )) There were suddenly voices behind him. The sparrow jumped, his feathers puffing outward as someone spoke. Apparently recognizing the large Wolf who was man handling the children. He turned to look, finding that the people almost looked normal. The Tulgey snake was a little terrifying, but with what he was seeing today that was a drop in the bucket. Apparently the man's name was Zacharias. That was good to know. And then a familiar voice spoke to him. The sparrow blinked a few extra times as he looked at the crow. That... was not what he was expecting. "Ah... Hello Your Majesty, Wulfram." He gave a small wave. Where the hell were they? What the hell was going on? --- Gigi was trying to stay focused on the big scary wolf and Mirriam under the bed. There were suddenly people everywhere. She tried to rub her eyes when she saw something small and fluffy pass by. She should be good and stand by Ez, right? He seemed distracted though. She'd stay sitting down. That seemed like the best option. She wasn't exactly in the way or anything. A frown crossed her muzzle. Argo probably wasn't going to come back was he? --- Conall shuffled out of the way for everyone, eying the things in the attic. Was this the actual attic to the Court of Hearts? He frowned as he eyed the strange things that looked like hat racks. They adults were very intently talking about things that didn't concern him. The Corvie was clearly busy, and things seemed to be a bit more safe than they had been. He briefly glanced at the back of Malachior's head before he decided to actually peak under one of the sheets. It couldn't hurt to look. Why would someone cover up broken hat racks? He quietly made his way over to one of the odd shapes and quickly peaked under the sheets. Hopefully no one would notice him. --- Devi followed Wulfram. A small sigh escaped her when she finally made it to the top of the stairs. It was hard work doing anything with her binding. Maybe Wulfram could teach her how to fly like a proper bird when everything was said and done? She peered around the man to see who he was speaking to. There were quite a few strange people around. Though the sparrow wearing the corset seemed rather normal? And there was a big scary wolf, a strange long necked creature, a dog with antlers and... this was a lot of people crammed in a small space. She remained silent, staring at everyone. |
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Post by Lucca on Feb 22, 2011 10:25:14 GMT -5
((oh holy crap. XD Sorry guys for not posting last night on this! Had no idea more characters would be coming in.))
Mirriam's ears twitched as her sibling was screaming. Why? He'd seemed scared of Argo, but the man hadn't done anything to hurt them. Sure, he'd -looked- really weird, but then, it was probably just a mutation. Still, the scream tugged at her heart strings...but the door! She'd gotten the knob to melt right off when the wood around it turned to liquid. Just what she'd been hoping for. Excitedly she pushed on it, staring at the dark corridor beyond, and wiggling her leaf nose. It smelled musty and furry...and there was -more- screaming. Wow, everyone needed to just calm down...
She felt something grab at her ankle, but wiggled a bit more under the bed and managed to evade the hand (12). She poked her head into the passage to see if she could see anything...just as the sound of more voices came into the room. A lot more voices. Including the angry one that was yelling at Ez. She hesitated. Should she get involved? She didn't want to leave Morgan out there alone, or Gigi...who she just noticed was no longer under there with her. Reluctantly, she turned away from the door and wiggled back out from under the bed, standing and shaking some of the dust bunnies off her fur. "Hi!" she said, blinking at everyone.
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Post by Nathalia on Feb 22, 2011 17:41:48 GMT -5
(("Just children? That girl, maybe, but this is practically a man." He grunted, gesturing to the one who had screamed. "Surely he ought know better, if not any of these?" He asked, wanting to dig back under the bed for the green child, but letting her go for the moment...she couldn't open the door...unless Argo had been foolish enough not to lock it...
Zacharias froze, mid-snarl.
A voice had just hailed him by name.
Slowly turning, trying to regain composure, he watched, as impassively as possible, as two of the people he least wanted to see right now strutted toward him.
Damn it.
"Ah...Lucius...Malachoir. Good to see you, I'm sure." He rumbled, tails twitching lightly in displeasure.
He gave the pair a half-bow, sweeping his cape before him...almost as though to hide something...
He nodded to the others as they entered the attic, giving the freakish little "Conall" a thinly veiled sneer, and only just bothering to acknowledge Wulfram. Moving aside so that the Sparrow would be more assessable to this new Spades Bird, he nodded. "I wasn't aware you two knew each other. Far be it from me, to hold up your...reunion. I-" It was only then that he noticed Devi.
His eyes roved her head, face, and...ears. His nose went pale.
"What an interesting girl...tell me...where do you come from?" He asked, eyebrows raised.
He had a hunch, and if he was right...he might have to kill all of them.
"What am I doing here? I could ask you the same question, couldn't I? You asked me to work with the Courts for you. I show up to find them like this." His gesture seemed to include the whole Court. "The King attempted to murder me, and as such, I've been hiding up here until I thought it safe to go back down. Has he always been mad, do you think?" He asked the last question with his own sneer, directed back at Lucius.
The Heron that followed up was given a sour look and then promptly ignored unless it spoke.
The Wolf suddenly jerked his head at the sound of a small "Hi." From behind him. Whipping around, he stared down at the Bat...then at the bed.
His nose crinkled slightly and his eyes widened further.
"And...what are you doing under there...?" He asked. Until an idea began to dawn on him. "If you want to help Argo...you might just shout to him that his room has been compromised and not to come home." He muttered, turning his gaze away from the Bat and back to the Serpent and Buck.
Conall's lifting of the sheets did indeed reveal...a broken coat rack. The top arm are all dented and banged up, a little twisted and foul with wood rot. Ew.
The next one seems to...twitch, though...how odd.
Morgan was able to see two pieces of paper lying on the floor. One was a picture of the Wolf standing before him, cross-legged, annoyed looking, and sipping a cup of tea. Next to it was a piece of paper, upside down, on the back was written "What I want". The picture with this written on the back looks a bit...torn, as though it has been taped together many times. The picture of Zacharias looks cleaner though, if turned over, it reads "my brother" on the back.))
~Nathalia
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Post by Kari Muffin on Feb 22, 2011 20:31:49 GMT -5
"He's a little dim, I'm afraid," Ez said in response to the Wolf pointing at Morgan. He didn't feel particularly inclined to explain what actually happened. Now that there were suddenly people everywhere, and he still didn't know where he was exactly.
But these strangers seemed to know the man, and Wulfram was with them. They were obviously high class people then. And suits he didn't trust the Wolf. This was all too damn shady. He made a motion to Gigi to get up and over here, but she seemed to be ignoring him. Of course.
He glanced at Wulfram, listening to the Wolf's conversation. So they were in another Court? Why the hell was it connected to the Court of Diamonds? No, he didn't like any of this at all. His feathers fluffed up a bit. "Your Majesty, I'm sorry I'm having trouble thinking straight. Before you arrived I was having a talk with this gentlemen who is apparently named Zacharias." He turned to eye the wolf and then he turned back to Wulfram, lowering his voice and edging a bit closer.
He couldn't just sit back and watch. He needed to talk to this strange man. He had a duty to his Court and his family. He turned on his diamond charm again.
"I hate to interrupt. But strange things have been going on in the Court of Diamonds. Perhaps they're connected to the troubles in this one? Mr. Zacharias are you potentially working with another gentlemen? His name started with a "Y" I think."
He paused. There was still a bit of guilt nagging him despite everything. He was his parent's child. "And is Argo going to be all right? Should we get out of the poor boy's room?"
---
Gigi squeaked slightly when Mirriam suddenly popped up from under the bed. It was a good thing she got away from the angry wolf. Who was talking to just about everyone. And then Mirriam again.
Her ears pressed against her skull. Apparently Argo wasn't coming back. So they had frightened him away. Oh dear.
She jumped when she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. A cat. She had almost forgotten about those fuzzy things. With a frown she looked at all of the adults and then back to Mirriam.
What should she do? Everyone seemed to be ignoring her.
---
The puffin was more than a little surprised at being addressed. Her eyes widened briefly as she stared up at the wolf. How could she answer that question? What did he mean by that anyway?
"Um..." she said as she edged closer to the Tulgey Queen. "Torquehelm." That was all she could think to say. Her ears drooped a bit. At least the man wasn't solely focused on her. She did her best not to bury her face in the Crow's feathers. Did the man know about her horrible start to life? Did he know about her mother? That was impossible wasn't it?
---
Conall missed the sneer. The bird on his shoulder puffed its feathers out sightly as he went over to investigate the sheets.
A hat rack indeed. A nasty rotting hat rack. Why would someone bother to keep something like this covered? His nose wrinkled at the smell. Guh, that was disgusting. He dropped the sheet.
But something moved. He jumped, his fur bristling in various odd places. Oh he really hoped that was a rat. Then again he had been stuffed in a bag earlier so it could... be someone right? And there had been voices in the attic. What if it was the source of the voices?
All right. He might as well take a look. Slowly he reached out to lift up the sheet.
Please be a rat.
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Post by /|/afamere on Feb 22, 2011 22:25:50 GMT -5
Sabe still had to hobble as he moved up behind everyone else. His legs did start to feel better as the blood started to flow back through them once again. Having found this out did he smile and walk with a bit more dignity as he came out from behind the deer and the serpent. Suits... he should really learn the names and titles of those in the other courts. It would have helped him out greatly. He seemed to not know anyone in any of the other courts, and less in his own court due to everyone being so reclusive. HE gave a sigh though as he stopped and leaned up on the wall to watch all that was happening around him. He wanted a bit more of a grasp on what was happening, and yet... what the wolf had said about the girl mimiced his own thoughts. He knew he couldn't just outright kill everyone, but he would deny the fact that rabbits did exist and that this girl did have something quite in common with them as well. Though he would wait to see what else he would question about. Though that cot seemed rather suspicious with how he was dragging children out from under it, almost like he was trying to hide something. . . |
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Post by Lucca on Feb 22, 2011 22:52:01 GMT -5
Mirriam's attention span was a lot greater now than when she was a kid. However, in the excitement of having so many other Cards suddenly gathered around the room, the Bat almost completely forgot about the door she'd just opened. Brown eyes wide, she looked around at everyone as apparently some of the adults knew each other? Well, that was good. The Wolf guy didn't seem very happy to see them all here, and Mirriam's ears went back a bit. She wasn't sure if she should apologize or not. Ez had already explained why they were there right? Though...where exactly were they? That was another question.
The room beyond looked rather like an attic. Why would Argo live in the attic of someone else's house? Trying to follow a bit of the conversation...it sounded like they were in the Court still. At least, the Wolf said something about a King. But...maybe it was a different Court? It was making Mirriam's head spin as she tried to work it all out, and she turned to smile at Gigi. "I opened the door," she whispered to the other girl, wing giving the briefest of gestures under the cot. And then the Wolf spoke to her, and she looked up at him, frowning.
"But...why can't he come home? Are you his boss?" the little Bat demanded, frowning. "You shouldn't kick him out of his own house because of some stupid reason like that!" If there was one thing Mirriam had always hated, it was other Cards being treated unfairly because of how they looked or what Suits and Realms they had. Just because Argo looked a little weird and might have been some sort of Joker-thing that was no reason to kick him out of his own house!
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Post by Vyn on Feb 22, 2011 23:32:28 GMT -5
Lucius wore his best courtly smile as he inclined his head to Zacharias. He wanted to bash the man's skull in with his cane and rob him of all the money he had robbed him of but he did his very best to hold back impulses and focus on hearing him out first. There was a very slim possibility that he had a very good explanation for why all of this was going so very wrong.
But of course they had to deal with manners and wait politely while everyone was acknowledged.
The rigid smile he was wearing was all he could to keep from making a scene right then.
Until Zacharias addressed them again. The sneer that capped the man's statement made Lucius's slitted pupils tighten into thin gashes. Zacahrias was a Heart as well, this was as much his Court as it was Lucius's! He should be more concerned, more aware of the Nobles. Something wasn't right.
"I do believe it was you who requested our assistance in funding your project with the Courts." He had to clip his words tightly to keep the thin hiss of dissatisfaction out of his voice.
Before he could say more his attention was drawn to the Sparrow in the pink corset that Wulfram had previously acknowledged. If he wasn't keenly aware of the fact that he had interrupted the man's business with Zacharias he would've told the bird to shut his beak and sit back while he handled his business. Zacharias had taken his money and Lucius was Not Satisfied. He wanted his money back if nothing was being done, regardless of who's fault it was.
Malachior looked faintly perturbed by all of this. A great deal was happening at once and the older gentleman wanted almost desperately to wave everyone out of the room so that he could sit Zacharias down and ask him a few tailored questions before everything got so much further out of hand.
As it was he could practically see the tension radiating off of not only Lucius but Wulfram now as well. Apparently the Crow was not fond of the attentions Zach was giving his strange woman friend.
Regardless, that wasn't his concern.
"We came to return a Heart's child to His Highness Apocalypse... Are you saying he's the one that assaulted you? We have yet to locate him, but her Majesty seemed to be unwell in a similar manner. Our search for answers lead us here as well... apparently." He frowned. Considering Xiven's earlier actions it was entirely possible but it didn't seem at all plausible that they were always mad.
Lucius and Wulfram were both well acquainted with the Courts and they'd never mentioned anything... A sudden look of concern flashed through his eyes. Where was Conall? He looked around quickly and found the boy peeking at the odd sheet-covered items in the back of the attic. Strange, but at least he was out of the way of this messy crowd. And apparently his brief silence had given room to other conversation. He frowned and allowed the others to momentarily take over.
The bat's outcry dragged his attention toward the cot and the strange collection of Cards there. ...What was that strange mix and... was that a giraffe?! He frowned deeply before something the Avington girl said clicked with something he'd heard the sparrow mention. There was obviously something strange going on that he and his group had missed by only moments and, though he'd like to focus on the situation at hand, there was a new question that demanded being asked. "Who is Argo and what is his room doing in the attic of The Court of Hearts?" And where was he now that was causing such a fuss?
Wulfram's casual attention toward Ez was almost immediately destroyed as the tension in the room seemed to mount tenfold. Apparently Mr. Zacharias was a very popular man this evening. Wulfram would've been content to ignore him and let him deal with his business had he not turned his attention onto Devi.
His nose went pale as his eyes locked onto her ears. Did he recognize it, then? The bizarre heritage of his little abomination? He felt Devi draw more tightly to him and he slipped his arm around her to show just exactly whom she belonged to.
"I apologize for her shyness." He cut in quickly and allowed a charming smile to slip over his beak. "She's quite sheltered, her parents thought it better to keep her inside away from all those... unfortunate stares." He shook his head and looked to those ears with a forced wrinkle in his brow before returning his gaze to Zacharias. "She's only just come out with the hopes of joining the Courts and she's welcomed with... this madness. You can understand her awkwardness, I'm certain." His tone turned slowly to one that dared to be questioned and his gaze inclined toward Malachior and Lucius who were obviously waiting on his attention in a manner that seemed to say 'you have much more pressing matters to attend to, don't you?'.
Once Zacharias seemed to have a bit less pressure on him and had answered some of the infuriating questions directed at him, Lucius cleared his throat.
"I'm sure your day has been as distressing as our own but I must ask... Does this mean you've been unable to put our funds to good use? It was a good amount, Zacharias. I'd hate for it to be wasted and, if it has been put to work, I'm certainly not satisfied."
His tone was colder by the minute, the hiss harder to keep from his voice as the frustration built. There was a threat gleaming just beneath the surface of his words, one that few in the room would be fully able to overlook.
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Post by The Jenn on Feb 22, 2011 23:42:01 GMT -5
"He's not its boss," Morgan said softly but very audibly in Mirriam's direction. "He's its brother." Scared eyes turned to Ez. "You think they were working with... the other Diamond?"
So many more Cards following after the wolf. Where had they all come from? Did they all know each other? Some of them certainly did.
Slowly, unwillingly, Morgan turned its gaze to Zacharias. "I'm not a man," it said carefully, uncertain if the wolf was even paying attention anymore. Probably not. Maybe that was best? It didn't know. It just... it didn't know anything. Wasn't that the point? "And I'm younger than her. By... a few minutes. Earlier today. I was born. What do you consider a child... sir?"
Once again, it turned its eyes pleadingly towards Mirriam. Begging her. "Please. Please please please please don't call it back here. It... it's a monster. It can't be a Card. Not looking like... that."
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