T - Kitty, Xenon, Nako, Bee

[Nathalia]

((The man was going to be bloody impossible to reason with.
The realization hit Viast like an arrow...if she let him do what he wished...those poor children were going to die.
Her heart rate picking up at what she had to do, she steeled herself.))

"All right sir. Whatever you want. Just come with me and we'll get through to my friend. He's a few streets over and he's got an incredible ability. I'm sure he can get you where you need to go, but please, let's go.
Here. I'll help carry the kids."

She passed Mirai and gave her a sad look.
"Can you walk, sweetie?" She asked, worried, poor thing looked so sick.
"If you can't, I'm sure I can pick you up, see?"
She pulled back the edge of her shirt, showing herself to be a Jack of Clubs.
"So, don't feel bad about saying yes if you need it. I've got you covered."

[Nako]

It seemed the situation had diffused. If only a little. This person seemed -nice-, and Charlie found himself not so afraid of the rotting bovine. Carefully, he stepped into the room, head bobbing alertly as he scuttled closer to the squirming infants. At hearing the closeness of another, the rotted babe gave off a few cries, abandoning its persistent gnawing of his dead sibling's flank to stumble blindly toward the ace. The gore on its face was sticky and dripping with lymph, hanging oddly off of his face in such a way the child carried his head slightly to the side as if the wound caused him some discomfort. Well, that wasn't much of a surprise.

But what -was- surprising was how the infant attempted to lunge at the ace, not aggressively but rather wanting the closeness of someone. Charlie gave a startled cluck and took a step back, unsure of what to make of the tiny, emaciated thing. The infant, finding its quest somewhat tiring and fruitless, crawled back toward the warm gore that was the writing pile of siblings and the remnants of dead sibling and mother.

[Kitty]

So just how far away from the city can this friend of yours go?

If she thought he was dumb enough to try and hide them in the capitol it's self, she was sorely mistaken. He hadn't mentioned that it was safe and he trusted this location just because he thought he was exclusively right. Besides, didn't it make sense that while they were in the city that the Lowlands themselves wouldn't be as 'safe' as normal? Seemed pretty logical to attack when these 'agents' were elsewhere, right?

When she asked is Mirai wanted to be carried, he had a good idea that she didn't want to come back down the stairs and touched Viast on the shoulder, trying to get her to understand the reasoning for his shaking his head like he was. She'd thrown up once, apologized for it and had seemed quite terrified of the 'scenery' down there.

you can answer that when we come back up if you like. If you want to stay up here instead, keep an eye on the outside and give us a cal if you see anything strange.

He then turned and followed the bovine down the stairs, that sick feeling edging at his stomach again. He'd seen some pretty gory things in his lifetime, this wasn't exactly the best neighborhood in town, but nothing quite like this.

Watch your step at the bottom.

Figured he'd throw in a little warning so she wouldn't step in the contents of the avington's stomach at the base of the stairs, something that he sidestepped without really looking at, but nearly tripped over Charlie in the process and sighed ever so slightly. Maybe he should send the chicken back this 'friend' as well, if he deemed that person as any bit trustworthy, Xolani would love to see the feather brain again, he was certain.

[Nathalia]

Viast nodded, anything to get this strange Queen to acquiesce...those poor kids needed to get out of here, regardless of their parents' pride issues.
"Cale? His ability can transport across Realms. So...anywhere, I guess. I don't know him too well, he's a King, head of the Squad and on the Realm board of directors...I'm just part of the team."
She noted the Human's little head-shake and patted Mirai gently on the shoulder. "Just stay up here, all right, sweetie? We're gonna go get the babies and then come right back up here for you, ok? As soon as I get you back to my place, we'll get you to a doctor and then maybe some ice cream, for being so brave, ok?"

She flicked her ears back at the behest and grimaced, avoiding the puddle of sick at the bottom of the stairs and heading over to the mewling babies as she went.
"Oh, you poor little honey." She murmured, hefting up the boy with the rotted face. "I can relate, that's not a fun one at all." She tapped the bone jutting out of her own face and gave him a sympathetic smile. "We've got some pretty good cures for that back at home though, maybe I can ship some to your Dad here and he can help you out. Some people think I'm part Hisstor, it's so clean."
She wiggled the child's' feet gently and then looked toward the Father himself, trying to avoid glancing at the corpse...that face unnerved her. She would take whichever other he did not grab.
"We do, you know." She said a little louder. "Mine used to look about that bad, but Cale and some of the others have worked out some really amazing "home remedies" as it were to clean them up, I could send them to you if you leave you address when you go."


~Nathalia

[Kitty]

He was quite relieved that the Jack had understood his gesture and didn't argue with him about leaving Mirai upstairs, poor dear probably would have had a hard time with the stairs anyhow.... she looked a lot worse then when he'd first run into her on the street. What on earth could she have? The only person he'd ever seen go from fine to ill in that short amount of time was his mother, but that was a rather normal occurrence for him, or so he said. Hopefully it wasn't contagious.

His lip curled a bit as he reached down and hoisted one of the children away from their meal, the highlander with the nibbled foot. The boy wiggled around with the happiest expression he'd ever seen on a child and he almost laughed, and would have if the smell didn't keep him from finding too much humor in anything down here. He also picked up the bipedal rat, which would probably be easier to carry with his extremely wiggly brother. Suits they needed a bath.... maybe seven.

Hisstor eh? Well if that's the case he'd definitely fit in at home. Half the family is at least partially Hisstor.

Once she had the other live child scooped up he started up the stairs. He'd definitely be back later to give the fifth child a proper sending off, and do something with the remains of his pet.... possibly do something similar for him. After that it would be time to move again for sure. Perhaps they could all take up residence in the Wastes for awhile... hadn't his parents talked about wanting to move out there anyhow?

He felt comfortable sharing a bit more with Viast, she didn't seem like the bad sort.... and he could generally pick them out fairly well.

That's where I'm sending them... the Wastes. Just in case you were worried they'd be staying in the city.

[Nako]

Though certainly the infant couldn't understand what the Lowander was saying to him, it wouldn't keep him from giving a delighted noise at being held, paws gripping at her fingers reflexively when she toyed with them. Despite his left eye being half lidded and blinking weakly from the crust of pus and lymph that had collected there, he seemed downright jovial. Though.. not to the extent of his manically bright sibling.

Charlie knew those sounds. Happy babies. Chest puffing out, the ace strutted around the bovine's feet with obvious approval, his chirps and clucks coming out in rapid-fire succession as he weaved between feet. So happy he was to be found! And even more happy that there were babies, and that these babies were making happy sounds!

He was keenly aware of Mo's ambivalence toward him, but the ace was quite content that the man didn't see it fit to kick him out of the way. He'd make a meek noise and do a better job to stay out of the way of the man's feet, especially with him and this new lady holding precious cargo.

[carcinoGeneticist]

The woman was... A sweetheart. As much as it pained a part of Mirai's soul to admit it, this Lowlander was much kinder than almost anyone she'd ever met, even with half her face not being there. Her tail wagged feebly against the ground and she managed a small smile in the woman's direction.

How could she have been so wrong? Everyone she'd ever known had always been so adamant about Lowlanders, but here she was, feeling the first inklings of genuine like for one welling up inside of her.
I should be alright to walk," she said quietly, staring down at her paws. After all, the babies needed to be carried, and she really didn't want to get in the way any more than she already had. She felt a small surge of relief when a consensus seemed to be reached... She didn't want to stay here.

At all.

It was just too awful, the smell still lingering in her nose. It would be good to leave. Obediently, she waited at the top of the stairs for the others to return. Hopefully they'd be able to get to the bottom of her own condition. It was a wistful thought, and as she looked over herself something small and in the very back of her mind spoke up. Her eyes widened, heart caught in her throat. It had happened before, the small warning when she looked at a pregnant mother. Something wasn't right with the pregnancy, things weren't going as they should.

But for that to happen, it meant...

Oh.

((Mirai's secret, ladies and gentlemen. <<))

[Nathalia]

((Viast nodded to Mirai's claim, secretly glad the girl could walk.
While she could easily handle the weight of the babies and the teenager...balancing all three would have been a different matter altogether.
Mo's words seemed to relax her a little, and she smiled at him...warily, but still, he deserved a smile for actually trying to get them all out.

"The Wastes? That's...that's a good place to go from what I've heard. Always wanted to go there...thought I might fit in a little, you know?"
She made a little clucking noise at the Ace as it stalked around them. "You're cute, aren't you? Whose Ace is this, yours?"
She asked, motioning the little group to follow her out the door and away.

"I'm really sorry about your home...and your family." She said quietly. "We'll send you back as soon as we can tell that the problem's been quelled so that you can...attend to, um...everything."

She kept her gait a little slower so that the Avington girl could follow them at a reasonable rate, she looked so sick, poor thing, like she'd swallowed a spell gone wrong.
"You all right, Mirai?" She asked, shifting the kiddoes in her arms at a strange look on the girls' face.

Something was wrong.
All headed on off to the edges of the Bazaar...toward that terrible smell...))


~Nathalia

[Kitty]

My whole family is Lowlands or Hisstor, except for my children of course.

Who added in Torquehelm and Highlands, because their maternal great grandfather's family didn't count of course.

Charlie would be my sister's pet. We left in a manner that required we leave the pets behind.

The highlander, now dead as a doornail in his basement and drawing nothing but hungry insects now, had been considered a pet for so many years that even with the little wiggly children, Khizr was still a pet. He was just a deceased pet now.

He didn't put up any resistance to leaving the house, and simply shrugged when the lowlander gave him her sympathies.

We needed a good reason to move anyway. Not quite the reason you'd expect or hope for, but effective nonetheless.

But the city was still creepily empty, and silent .... and silence in this part of town was never a good thing. And once they were out of scent range of the horrible scene in his basement he noticed that one bad smell had been replaced with another. What the hell were they walking into now? Was she leading them to a trap?

Well, they seemed to have their eyes on the road ahead so he took the initiative and kept scanning any alleys or 'hiding spots' that popped up along the way.

[Nathalia]

((Viast nodded, giving the Human a little smile.
"My whole family's Lowlands, little bit of Villa on my Dad's side, but it was from a while back in the line, he said."
She gave a little smile, the remains of her lips on the back of her face twitching upwards.
"Charlie's a good name, I'm sure she'll be glad to see him."
Even as the man's demeanor made her question his ability to be sympathetic, she chalked his inability to show sadness to his pride in his rank and hoped he could break down somewhere nice and quiet when they were through.

The smell began to worsen as they pressed on and Viast gave the group a guilty look.
"I hate to drag you through this mess, but there's no help for it, it's fastest. Mirai, honey, stick close to me and try not to look too hard, ok?"
As they round the corner and come out of an alley, the reason for her warning becomes clear.
The drone of buzzing flies became more than just a background mass of white noise as the alley opened into a broad street, familiar to many who frequent the Outer bazaar.



Viast winces a bit and gestures for the group to follow around the outside the mass of carnage, obviously trying not to look as she passes the pie-shoppe woman's head on a pole.
"Not too much further, just down the next street, over there, see? You can see the edges of Cale's portal over the rooftops."
Trying to distract them from the sight of the disemboweled Lowlanders and mixes around them, she points to a faint, orange and yellow glow over the roofs to the left, down another alley.
Though it seems like flame at first, it is static and unwavering...an odd, sickly glow against the dead and horrible landscape.))


~Nathalia