Kitty, Harps, Lucca, Lauryn

[Lauryn de Vampyre]

Bristol tried to open the box in his hands but found that it was irritatingly locked. Frowning, he tried to see if the lock could be easily broken but just then Sergei had been swallowed whole by the blob-like monster that had been stuck to the floor.

"Sergei!" he shouted, dropping the box in the water and running towards the creature. Before he could think of anything but getting himself eaten and somehow saving the boy from the inside, Sergei was just as quickly vomited back up. The Lizard-Cat was happ his mouth hadn't been opened when that happened, but his fur did get splashed with a gross amount of sick, inky smelling blob bits and drenched in water. The water helped to wash some of the nastiness off, but not all of it.

He was about to grab the boy and haul him up out of the water when he made his way back to him and Zhenya on his own. He couldn't make it out, but it looked as though he held something close to him. That didn't look like a bone, did it?

Grabbing up the locked box once more, Bristol followed the horror-struck child up the stairs and out of the basement into the fresh air once more. He took a deep breath, pausing to digest just what had happened. After a moment he followed Sergei back to the others and noticed Lariel and Nova were also covered with an inky black sludge like substance. Had they run in with another blob monster up here? How many were there?!

Seeing the child collapse on the ground in a black puddle, Bristol ran over to him. He saw Eldy a little way away, looking worridly at the boy. He knelt down in the black substance and put a gentle claw on Sergei's shoulder and shook.

"Sergei, are you okay?" he asked loudly, hoping to rouse the boy. He tried, but Bristol couldn't move his forelegs into the right possition to try and hoist the boy up over his back.

-----------------

Lariel watched as Nova poked the puddle of what had just been a monster that had eaten them both.

"Nova, maybe you shouldn't..," she said nervously, warring between the desire to pull him away and to let him be his own man. But when she saw the child come up the basement stairs, covered in the same stuff they were and clutching a skeleton, while they cluchted other body parts, the Bobcat almost whined. How many more Card-eating monsters were there?!

She felt Nova's hand grab her arm and let him pull her away, mimicing her earlier thoughts. She allowed her hands to close around his and held it tight. She was a hard, sarcastic personality with a tough backbone, but even she could only take so much.

"The uh, odd children's sister is missing somewhere-" Lariel started to say, but then heard a familiar voice not too far off from them. Turning around and scanning the shops, she saw Cat, the missing child, moving around in the Meat Shoppe. How'd she get back in there without anyone noticing her? Oh, right, being eaten by monsters.

Lariel squeezed Nova's hand, reluctantly let go, and ran over to the Meat Shoppe.

"Cat?" she asked, looking around. "Everyone is outside now. Why don't you come find your brothers?" She asked, motioning with a hand towards outside of the shop. "I think I saw everyone heading to another shop just down the street."

[Lucca]

Success! The children were distracted...sort of. It seemed they felt the same strange 'off' feeling she did, to some extent. The fur at the back of her neck prickled, and she looked around again. She'd already looked through the cabinets, and there wasn't much there to explain either the weird feeling or who Suvius and Tamis were, other than that they liked fish and were apparently a Selkie and a Benyan.

Huh...didn't Selkies and Benyans supposedly hate each other? Maybe they were united by their love for weirdly flavored water. Psh. She shrugged and went to the left-most of the two doors in the back, positioning herself carefully to try and open it. No more broken teeth for her, today! Once was enough. Hopefully, the door would be unlocked, if not...well, she still had the little silver key. It was a long shot but hey, weirder things had definitely happened that day. She pulled at the knob to try and open the door.

[Kitty]

Nova was a little surprised when Lariel took and held his hand, but he understood it to be a gesture of comfort and squeezed back lightly. She was the strong type and the small gesture was probably all the glimpse at her inner workings that the group was bound to receive .... unless things got a hell of a lot worse of course.

She moved over to speak to Cat and try and direct her, and Bristol moved to try and help Sergei. That left one more kid unaccounted for. He couldn't remember that kids name, just remembered it started with a 'Z' and he moved carefully toward the entrance to the basement. The cement was rather hot still, but he didn't notice any burning through his boots.

Hey uh.... Z, you need any help? Are you ok?

He was rather torn actually, he wanted to be with the rest of the group to help protect them if something else happened, but he couldn't leave anyone behind. He'd look over these three, and let Lariel and Eldy handle the other 3 for the moment. He just hoped everyone was going to be alright.

[Callypso]

Mmmmm… Prickles... the boy nodded in agreement while swiveling his head back and forth to see if anything had crept out to make that Bad Feeling. He was glad he and Cal weren’t fighting any more; being nuzzled by his brother was very comforting when there were prickly sensations all over his skin.

Fi did not have the moral conundrums that plagued his brother. Fi had yet to be caught by anyone of import while feasting on delicious flesh, and therefore had never been told that it was wrong. He had noticed that most other Cards didn’t go around slaughtering each other to eat them, but it had not yet occurred to him that this was because it was wrong. Most Cards ate meat, as far as he understood, but maybe they just killed things in the privacy of their own homes. Because they actually had nice homes and not a cardboard box at the edge of the town. Still, it did puzzle him that Cards bought foods from eating houses, and that the last shop they had been had been full of frozen meat.

Instead, his logic held that eating other Cards quietly was to not attract other Cards from stealing their meals. And they didn’t get many, so it seemed like a good idea.

The Jossigy/Highlander continued to roam around the bar, taking in all the sparklies and lights. There was a tiered step ladder next to the bar counter, up which he clambered laboriously. For a while he was distracted by pulling the taps to watch it pool on the ledge before draining away toward one end of the counter where a hole waited to gobble up the strange liquid. Fi even tried to taste some of the brown water by dipping his head under the tap while pulling down the lever. It had taken him a couple tries, and he was sadly rewarded for his efforts.

Blah. Not for eatings!, he declared. The fizzy brown stuff tasted yucky. He decided that although the brown water gave a bad feeling on his tongue, it was not the same as the Bad Feeling.

Fi scampered down the step ladder and found himself at the back of the bar where two doors awaited. Arbitrarily choosing the right, the cannibal stared up at the much-too-high doorknob and cocked his head to think. Finally, Smudge squeaked and schlupped up the side of the door and wrapped itself around to try and open it.

Oh, smart Smudge! He called, grinning to his industrious pet.

[Harpsdesire]

Cal couldn't help but giggle at the face his brother made when he tasted the brown drink. Usually things that looked like water, but brown, smelled icky and tasted worse, and it seemed this was no exception. "Not smell like foods." He agreed, taking another sniff at the stuff. It had a sharp, interesting odor that didn't at all make him want to try it himself.

"What in that door?" It looked like Smudge was going to help get it open. "Smudge is gooodd." He agreed with a coo that made his own blobling grumble jealously. He patted Trouble gently, reassuring the familiar of his affection absently. Then Cal went to stand a little behind his brother. He was curious about the room that was currently hidden from view.

"Fi, you think feel-bad-smell in there?" He sniffed under the door a little while Smudge wrapped around the knob. It was hard to tell if the smell was in there or not. He's just have to wait a see. The cannibal craned his neck to look over Fiasco's shoulder as his brother's blob oozed around trying to open the door.

[carcinoGeneticist]

Even though he was unharmed physically, Sergei needed a moment to recover. Today had been a day of horrors, and if he went on to block all of it out of his head later on he would not be surprised. He lay limply in the pool of ooze, staring at the bones that had come out with him and wishing himself away.

He wanted to go home. He wanted his mother.

Of course, he also knew well enough that he wasn't going to get those things by laying in the remains of a dead monster in the middle of the Capital, and he pushed himself up. "I'm okay," he said softly, shaking his head. "Yeah. Just fine." He glanced up at Bristol, offering the boy a thin smile and then stood slowly. The bones he left in the puddle of goo. They wouldn't go anywhere. As soon as he'd determined where the others went he followed after, limping slightly, soggy meat still strapped to his feet.

A small voice sounded out from behind him. "Why meat-shoes?" Cat asked, staring up at him with her blank eyes. Sergei fought back a wave of nausea looking at her, the fresh coat of blood staining her muzzle and chest impossible to miss. In response to her question, he gave her a small shrug, then stepped into the shop. The words of the creature echoed in his head. Broken...

Cat herself had gladly followed Lariel's lead, perking almost immediately after hearing mention of her siblings. She was still irritated, but. Not nearly as badly, now, and she wanted to see them! She also had the vague idea that she should apologize to Cal for hitting him, because being mean in response to meanness still wasn't right.

Inside the funny shop, however, she felt odd. It didn't seem safe, here, somehow, and fur bristling, she started to investigate. It was a flashy bright place, that normally might have made her feel happy, but now... She shivered. It wasn't a nice place, not nice at all. Her wandering brought her back to the door where her siblings chattered, and she let out a soft little gasp of happiness.

"Cat finds!!" she announced, trotting forward a few steps - then freezing where she stood. She looked Cal over, ears and head drooping, the corners of her mouth falling. "Cat... Cat is sorry, Cal. Sorry from here." She touched her chest, near her heart. "Is bad Cat."

[Nathalia]

((The inside of the shoppe smells a bit off near the back...almost as though something has been stuffed there.
To Eldy's surprise, the door opened easily!
Inside...inside looked like an entire Corvie's lab, stuffed into a closet.
Containers full of odd-smelling, and in some cases rotten black and brownish goo; all sitting in jars in various states of disarray or decay.
Some of them look like they're...moving...

Fi's industrious little Blob was successful in opening the door!
Whoever left this place must have left in a hurry, nothing seems to be locked up; maybe what drove everyone off is the cause?
Inside is a bedroom, the walls plain white and the bed made neatly.
On the nightstand is a picture of an older-looking Selkie man, some kind of Cat mix, with his arm jovially around a Benyan Marten girl who looks half his age. She appears to be laughing and play-fighting as he tugs at one of her barbels.

The room smells musty...almost as though it hasn't been touched in a while...except for...
Except for that.
In the far corner is a smell the Cannibal children will likely recognize at once.
The only other thing in the room is a closet that appears to be half-open and mostly empty...save for two cardboard boxes, taped shut.
The tops bulging out a little as though they were stuffed hastily full and taped quickly down.))



~Nathalia

[Kitty]

The normally autumn hued canine finally gave in and followed Sergei and the others into the shop. Initially he hadn't noticed the off-feeling in favor of how awesome this place was. Now this was his kind of place, and if it reopened after all this was said and done he was sure to look it up again. It just looked so very, very fun.

But where was everyone? He followed Cat, and, just as he thought, she lead him directly to her brothers. Well, that was good.... they were there. He peered down with a smile on his face as he watched the three, trying quite hard to ignore the blood that was definitely not her's coating the one. He probably didn't want to know anyway, so he just wouldn't ask.

What are you guys up to?

He noticed the odd feeling now, but did his very best to keep on a happy face, which wasn't really all that hard for the overly chipper canine. Something was weird, yes, but he still didn't want to upset a bunch of kids over it.

[Lucca]

Eldy blinked when the door opened with minimal coaxing. Her ears twitched as she heard others entering the shop, and the children were apparently by another door...but none of that mattered because she'd just hit the bloody jackpot! Her purple eyes lit up as she saw the small lab, and she strode in silently, whiskers out as she examined the room. Where to start? Any of this could be a clue. All of it likely was.

She put her paws on the edge of the table and stared. A full-scale chemistry set covered most of the table, some of the tubes oddly blackened and with some sort of burner sitting at the edge of it. She wouldn't know the first thing to do with that. There were a lot of jars with various sorts of goo and muck in them, and it didn't take a friggin' genius to figure out this was connected with the ink monsters. Some of them were even moving, and Eldy gave these a wide berth, wary of collecting an odd little blob like Cal and Fi had.

She pushed aside a jar carefully, one filled with some dark mass she didn't look too closely at, to get to the shelf behind. Books...she ran a paw over the titles, mostly things on typical Corvie subjects she didn't pay much mind to, and one about Selkies. Interesting, but she had no time to search thought them, and wouldn't understand the more complex stuff at any rate.

She moved onto a cabinet, pushing a few melted wax lumps that used to be candles out of the way and opening the doors, looking for something that might have contained lab notes or...or anything...she coughed. It was a bit dusty in there, and she coughed and waved a paw to clear it, hitting against something hard as she did by accident.

[Callypso]

I ‘unno, Fi shrugged noncommittally. Hard tell. Feels like it everywhere. Maybe Bad Feeling want hide, so Fi and Smduge check door. It was pretty sound logic. After all, when he and his siblings wanted to hide, or they had left over food-meats that they wanted to save for later, they always found a dark, closed space. Whatever was making his skin crawl might very well be behind that door. It certainly felt bad enough that it shouldn’t be out in the open. Even the Bad Place was shut up tight behind locked doors.

He grinned broadly as a soft click issued from the doorknob. Though he was very much pleased with his gooey, he felt disdain toward whoever had tried to hide the Bad Feeling. They didn’t do a very good job, if It was in here. Noticing a gentle, wild smell that was Cat, and, the coppery scent of blood, Fi turned his head to see his sister hovering a few feet away. He cocked his head, curious to see that she had somehow found a treat and hadn’t told them, but was distracted by the hesitation she gave their fellow sibling.

Cat not bad. Lots of things today. Maybe grump day. There had been a lot of things to happen since he first followed the trail to his sister. It was kind of exciting, but he still didn’t like the Bad Feeling and how it smelled off outside and everywhere. Cat find food-meats? Cat share? It was really more of a demand, since there was this unspoken agreement between the cannibals that they would always sure. Some of them liked different parts (he himself preferred the tongue), but they still always shared. Fi and Cal look for Bad Feeling. Cat help find?

He chirped as Smudge dribbled off the doorknob and slopped over to resume it’s perch on Fi’s shoulder. The boy trotted as best he could, bandaged claws notwithstanding, and made his way into what looked to be a tidy bedroom. Poking his beak around, he saw some funny pictures and a well-made bed. Nothing too exciting, except… he raised his beak to the air and sniffed, blank eyes growing a little wider in their sockets.

Fur standing slightly on end, Fi headed toward a corner of the room. That smel. Cat. Cal. Smell. There was that coppery hint, much lighter than that which was splashed across their sister’s front, but it was still there, underneath the dusty mustiness of the room. He stuck his beak into the corner and inhaled deeply, seeing if would give any more hints of Bad Feeling. Something had happened here. Something Bad.

Backing a way a bit, Fi made room for his siblings to investigate that particular corner of the room, and found his eyes drawn to a half-open door. Boxes! Fi liked boxes. They lived in one, and sometimes they had to find new ones if it rained and their house became soggy. Was this a good box?

Momentarily distracted from his quest to find the Bad Feeling, he limped over to the box on the left, and scrabbled at it with his beak, trying to get the hooked end of his nose to dig into the poorly secured package. Fi couldn’t test it for its worthiness as a house if it was full of stuff!