T - Kitty, Xenon, Nako, Bee

[Kitty]

Damn this woman and her ability to disappear! It was cowardly and, to be honest, something he'd definitely do if he had the opportunity.... but that was the point. He was doing it, she was, and that's what made it that much more frustrating. He'd just rolled and was midway through getting up when she appeared again. He had enough time to look up at her before he felt the metal blade slice through his neck.

When he woke in the real world he coughed and hacked for a moment, hands going to the part of his neck where the crazy bitch had stabbed him. Short lived relief washed over him as he rolled over onto his hands and knees and got to his feet once more. That ability was a little draining, he was definitely more tired then before, but he could continue... had to continue. And, damn it all.... she was gone again!

He touched his cheek where she'd cut him as well, just to double check.

You cowardly bitch!

He consoled Maraisa, assuring her she'd get to play in just a moment before making the shift back to his human form and making a run to where his weapon had been left on the ground, partially covered in dirt now from all the activity.

He made a dive for it, hoping to catch the woman's attention again. If she liked that trick, she'd love the one using it unlocked!

__________

Alohilani trotted to Orin's side, keeping up with him fairly well despite the grimace that had settled it's self on her muzzle. She shot Karrock a dirty look though, before looking at the bundle of dirty children.

You know, some people are prettier on the inside then the outside.

Had his new look really gone to his head that fast or had he always been that way? Hmph. They made a great pair to annoy her then, thinking of such little things like realm at a time like this. The one base factor in all this were that these were little babies that had most definitely not even reached their first year, hell, they didn't' even look a few months old actually. They were so very tiny... how could the two of them be so selfish?

One more comment like that and she didn't care, she was going to bite one of them.... and she wasn't going to make it pleasant.

We should see if Mr. Todd left his door open, a thick door like that might just hide their crying enough to be overlooked with everything else going on.

[Vyn]

Trix snarled with rage as she kicked at the stones that crushed her, pinching her here and there and squeezing hard enough to make breathing in this heightened state a little painful.

Suddenly the rocks were loosening and Trix was able to jerk herself free. Blood was gushing from Evan's eye -- her doing? WONDERFUL -- and Gaurin had got a good kick in but he didn't look good. She glanced back once to be sure Cale was free of the stones and then barreled toward Evan.

She was only a few feet from the pair when Resta appeared and nearly severed Gaurin's arm. That wasn't going to be pretty when this was all over. Trix howled, hoping to drag some of the attention away from her wounded comrade before throwing herself full force into the Josiggy wolf's blind side in hopes of driving him further from Gaurin. (14)

With bone claws and snapping teeth, she tore into any flesh she could get a hold of (17) before stumbling back and tripping over an upturned piece of cobblestone (1). She rolled sharply, popping up behind Evan to slash out at the back of his legs with her bone claws. (11)

[Callypso]

Let them think whatever they wanted to think. Yes, he was a friendly protector Ace –whatever- as long as they followed him to relative safety. The older kids were quicker to recover, understanding that the “miracle” of the talking Ace was a little less exciting when everyone’s lives were on the line. That Jossigy woman was absolutely bonkers – he didn’t think she would need much of a reason to murder a slew of innocent children. All she would see was fur color.

When they reached the shop front, Emery balked for a moment when he realized they had company. Okay. A Torque feline with a charge of his own. Fine. Fine. As long as no one pulled out a weapon or lunged at the Lowlanders, it was fine.

Yeah, I know where the key is hidden. Give me a sec... He fished it out from its hiding place, unlocked the door as fast as he could and ushered everyone inside. He kept his eyes on the battle down the road and didn’t go indoors until he was certain no one had followed them.

Once he had shut the door one of the older girls immediately rounded on him, demanding what his role was in this whole affair. So much for gratitude. He met her snarling face with a level, determined gaze.

I want you to stay safe - all of you. I haven’t picked sides – no, listen to me. I don’t know why this War is happening, beyond the general conflict everyone knows about. He made a jerky, flustered motion with his head, cracking his neck to ease his nerves. I just want information – so I can stop this madness. But if you have to have a more definitive answer than that, he grimaced, not wanting to make a declaration of any sort, An old friend of mine, a Lowlander, was murdered along with several others. I want to know why she was kil-

Emery stopped dead, as the doorknob turned.

Everyone quiet. He gestured for the group to retreat to the back of the deli. His shoulders tensed as a mixed realm walked in with a Jossigy. The Ace hated himself for assuming this man was part of the War, but one couldn’t be too careful this close to the fighting. He shifted his makeshift shield to hide his ranking from the pair then stepped forward.

Yes, we’re hiding here. I’ll protect your friend to the best of my ability. Sir, sir. I’m sorry, but I can’t just let you leave. Would you please tell us what’s going on? Please.

Suits, he prayed he didn’t sound aggressive. He just needed to know what the Hearts had started all this – why this was happening. And he needed to make sure that this man wouldn’t return with unwelcome guests. If the man tried to pull anything, he still had some tricks up his sleeve, though from the way the man was limping, he was severely injured and probably wouldn't be up for much of a fight.

[/|/afamere]

This ace was rather intelligent to say the least as he saw the marsh accented one round the corner and ask them to help his charge as well, he only briefly gave the man a nod as he carried his own charge inside after the Ace had unlocked the door for them to enter. He gave the room a quick glance and decided that behind the counter would be the safest place to hide the girl, so he took her and dragged her behind there and placed her slightly underneath the counter out of sight and out of mind.

He gave the counter a look over to find anything that he could use as a weapon, anything that he could bite down on and use, just in the case of someone coming inside to attack those that they were attempting to protect. He looked up at the Ace before speaking giving him a quick look over and noted the damages and able'ness that he seemed to have if in the case that a brawl broke out in here.

"You wouldn't happen to know what is happening would you?" he asked as he gazed back at the new born adult female, "All I know is that children are blowing up and then new ones are being born from the mess... seriously something is quite wrong here." he said as he hunkered down so that he could watch the door and the windows just in case someone broke in.

[carcinoGeneticist]

All around him, battle roared into life. The newly born man watched it through remarkably calm eyes, contented by the sight of his ability's affect on the human woman. But things were still not going well.

He knew immediately who to ally himself with, knew what the looks of the Lowlanders meant. He also knew that they seemed to be the most in need of help, as more and more Josiggies seemed to appear by the instant. He turned his head to watch the woman who's lap he had been born into come up to him again. She looked unhealthy, and not just from the rot on her face. There was pain and grief in her eyes, and blood covering her. Some of it was from his birth, of course, but some was her own, still flowing freely from beneath a messily bandaged wound.

He grimaced. "You are injured.[/b]" He noted, gently. The woman had been with his mother, which lead him to believe that she now felt some sort of... need to care for him. It was a sweet notion, but not one which held much water for the man. "Care for yourself, she would have valued your life more than my own.[/b]"

He offered her a small smile. With any luck, he was accurate with his assumptions. But the Heifer did not need to die. A cry from near him caught his attention and he swung his great head around in time to see a flash of a blade as one of the Lowlander's arms was removed in a single neat stroke, the human woman vanishing again. The other Josiggy called for help, and the Crocodog bared his sharp teeth.

Then, with a terrifying and feral-sounding roar, he threw himself at Evan. Two spells backed his charge, and he lowered his head, preparing to smash into the other man with his elaborate antlers (18). This was his battle now, he thought, moments before the rage pulled him under.

~~~

Basic Magical Ability: He can run up to 30mph in sprints and 20mph for up to an hour in extended runs.

King's Ability: Once per week, he can sacrifice some of his sapience for super-powered physical abilities. Becoming the mental equivalent of a standard pet canine, he is suddenly able to utilize super-strength, move in short spurts of of fifty miles per hour, and leap up to twenty feet from a stand-still. This ability will last for a full minute and he cannot stop it until it's through. He's still aware of friendships, enmities, and loyalties held by his sapient self during this time.

[Nathalia]

((Resta reappeared with a suddenness that had her stumbling across the ground and taking a slice at Morpheus while he was on the ground after his dive (8), before vanishing again.
Her laugh, cut off and dead, lingered on the air after she'd gone.
She reappears again, near Evan, laughing insanely, just as the Lowland Canine leapt for him.
Her sword met the bitch in the air, right across the chest (17), and she sliced with wild abandon, before vanishing again.
Evan let out a sound that was almost like a mangled sob. "Resta? Resta! Hell, woman! We-"
Evan didn't even see Trix coming and gave a loud screech as he felt her teeth dig into his side and rip out a sizable chunk of flesh. (2), staggering, he swiped downward at her with his dagger (12) and let out an yell maddened by pain as her claws and teeth tore through the ligaments in his already badly wounded leg, snapping the elastic muscle so that it rolled up inside the flesh.
Evan gasped in shock and fell backward, readying his dagger as best he could to fend off any other coming attacks. (18)
Gaurin rolled and stabbed downward as the Wolf fell, managing to sever part of his tail and panting as he tried to tie his shirt around the mostly severed stump of his arm.
"Shit, shit, feckin' bunch of Vultures. What in all blazes did you think-"
His head snapped up and he yelled out as the air rippled.
"Trix! Left, now!" He cried, scrabbling to move as Resta reappeared, hammering her blade down at the pair. (17)
Gaurin's arm was truly severed now, in addition to the shallow gash in his side (8), as he fought to avoid further injury.
Cale finally managed to break free of the stone and raced over to the group, raising his sword, he brought it down artfully over Resta's shoulder as she turned toward the sound (19).
Blood poured from the wound and she stared at him blankly, before lunging at the other Human with a ferocity borne of a long-time grudge.
"Die! You stupid bastard! I've told you so many times! Take-"
"Not them! You won't have any more, Resta!"
Swords clashing as both staggered and fought each other wildly enough that anyone getting close to them would be badly hurt (20...for both. Be careful going near them), they strove desperately against one another, eyes only for their opponent.

Mr. Todd's shoppe is indeed still open, among the dead. The Selkie Feline can easily get herself and her little crew back inside if they wish.
The inside was exactly as they left it...nothing had changed.

Meanwhile, inside the deli, the Feline girl slowly let her snarl die as it turned into a slight huff. She couldn't have been more than 15.
"Damn Aces ordering me around. Wait'll Pa gets here. He'll show you..." She grumbled, but loped back into the group to hide among her fellows, while the others all stared at him, seeming ready enough to obey his orders.
Dan, the Labrador Biped winced at the Ace's overt actions.
He was afraid of the thing.
"If you en't choosing sides, then 'ow're we supposed to trust you either. Mister?" He asked, voice barely above a whisper, as he clutched his sister to him, eyes burning a courage he did not wholly feel.
The door banged open and the whole group cowered and wailed quietly as a Josiggy limped in.
He stopped for a second, hand on the door when the creature spoke behind him.
He gave the man a pained smile hair spikes flopping over, caked in blood and something awful.
"Gotta go, don't I? If there's any hope of stoppin' any of this, it's now. Name's Rigsy, mate. I wish you luck in this madness."
He said with a small shrug, before bidding the Boar woman goodbye and staggering outside as fast as he could.
The children all turned back to the Ace.
Staring.
Dan spoke again. "You don't know why they're killin' us?" He asked, finally letting his sister go as she backed away against the small Crow.
"That's fine, Mister, neither do we."
The other children nodded solemnly behind him.

Viast watched as the man before her stood, spread his paws, and cast spells.
"I promised her..." Was all she could whisper, as Death himself stood before and spoke kind words...just as he was supposed to, before leading them all to Hel.
"No!" She cried, as the man charged out with heedless abandon, into the fray.
Staggering to stand, she let out a cry of shock as a Josiggy emerged from the building near her. Tears streamed down her face as she turned away from him, running, limping, as fast as she could away, needing to get to her charge. To stop him for Mirai. Ignoring his cries and staggering forward, she had eyes only for the Avington mix's back. (1)
The horrible gale force that was the pair of Humans locked in combat spun too closely.
Neither could see the Cow and at that moment, neither would have cared either.
The sword could have been either of them, it wouldn't have mattered.
It sank directly into the woman's heart and she slowly keeled over backward as the Humans trampled her and moved on.
She stared up at the sky, listening to Death rage at the Josiggies.
"Mi...rai...should be some...thing there to find...shoppe with some ic- cream...right?" She asked, as darkness closed in around her and her head lolled to the side, half-propped up by her horns and staring sightlessly out across the blood-stained ground.

Evan screamed in terror as the monster charged him, trying to roll out of the way as the Crocodile mix...the monster barreled down at him. (14) The antlers caught him in the left arm and dragged him along with it, as he raked claws down its tree and scrabbled for purchase on anything.
A voice only just reached his ears.
"Evan? Evan! Stop, Resta! Stop, now!"
Evan flailed desperately, managing to clock the mix over the head with his fist (19) and breaking free enough to drag himself.
"Rigsy?! Rigsy, mate! Help me!" Frantic, he dragged himself toward the other Josiggy, who also moved to him.
"Damn it Evan. Come on." Rigsy, tried to sling the Wolf's arm around his shoulder, but Gaurin's pikestaff found his leg, he went down hard and tried to block with the bracers on his forearms against attack. "Please! Just tryin' t'get him out. We'll leave! It's done! Please! Surrender, forfeit! Whatever you want!"
Evan struggled to get his good arm free, ready to brace should anything else attack.

Rigsy watched the pitiless face of the Bird mix over him draw back in a sneer.
Time seemed to slow down.
This was why he'd ditched the group earlier.
He could understand why the Lowlanders would fight back and give no quarter.
He wouldn't kill kids and people who couldn't help themselves.
And that didn't matter to anyone.
Nor did he.))




~Nathalia

[Kitty]

He tried to twist out of her way (7) but managed to misjudge her angle, but not enough to have anything but a grazed cut across his lower back once she'd sliced through two layers of clothing. The way she had moved made him believe that she was running out of steam, just had to get her at the perfect time really, then he'd wreck that bitch. That was the plan at least.

He picked up his weapon with his good arm, it was awkward but he was able to balance it [14] and move toward the clashing pair of humans. He took a swing at Evan's ribcage [9] on his way by, but didn't pay the wolf much mind, didn't even glance back to see if he'd gotten him or not. Viast approaching out of the corner of his vision had him pausing for a moment as he watched her with mildly curiosity. What was her plan here? Seemed a little... stupid. And, yes.... yes it was. She stumbled and fell, muttering to herself with a wound to the chest that he certainly didn't envy. He hadn't been particularly attached to the woman, although she was more tolerable to be around then most, but her wound made him narrow his eyes and lock in on Resta. with a weapon like his, he didn't need to get that close.
Awkwardly he balanced the weapon again with his left hand and took a low swing at her ankles [6], but failed miserably in that attempt so he moved away from them again [11] to avoid any deflected blade swings. That was it, he'd never get a better opportunity. He focused on Resta's sword arm, and released his darling Maraisa.

The shadow demon erupted with a scream of broken ecstasy intermingled with all of her pent up rage, and Mo hoped this, and the appearance of her sucking in all the light around her, would distract the fighting pair [10] as she wasted no time attacking the woman's arm [19] with a ferocity that would shock most people. The tall, slender shadow demon would work her way from the shoulder down, her end goal was to grasp the woman's weapon and tear it away from her [18, if it's a summoned weapon, total miss if it isn't. <3]

Mo backed away, not noticing the corpse of the cow [4 for grace] and tripping over her still warm form to fall square on his rear and have his own weapon come down on his already wounded right arm [6 for avoidance >.>]. He hissed and flipped the blade, his pride a bit more hurt then anything else.

______________

Her little tail twitched happily when everything seemed just like it was before, having been able to block out the scene on the street [15], she'd expected it to be there really, and think more about getting the little charges to safety. She slipped in before the other two and went straight for the thick, metal door that lead into Todd's section of the shop, the one he'd initially been hiding himself in.

She went directly to a box, or chest of some sort and started to fiddle with it, eventually getting the top off [12] with a bit of difficulty. She rummaged through the chest, finding it mostly full of linens that the man probably used to protect the clothing of his patrons, at the very bottom she found a pretty little necklace and lifted it out.... not wanting any of the little ones to swallow it.

She turned to Orin and Karrock with a grin and gestured them toward the now baby safe container.

Go ahead and put them in here, they should be comfortable, and contained.

________________

Queen's Ability Boost: Once they exit this mental plane, the hour of recovery is no longer necessary. The opponent will feel weakened as though they have been up for one night straight and not eaten while Mo will feel tired, but relatively fresh. Only after using this ability is he now able to call forth a shadow demon from the mental plane. It will exist in the real world for a full two minutes before disappearing back into nothing. Its shape is barely discernible and it seems to suck light out of the area, though it doesn't really, distorting the vision of both Mo and his opponent/s. The monster is normally about ten feet high at the shoulder and sports large front claws like a Wolverine. Its voice is a high yowl of broken sounding ecstasy as it fights, unnerving anything ranked Jack or lower into either running, or dropping to the ground in the hopes it won't hurt them. The demon refuses to kill, wanting to leave that to its master, but it will go as far as trying to damage at least one limb, often focusing on it. If the opponent is a Snake...it sucks to be them.

[Kari Muffin]

(( OOC: Coming in from the Mirror Shop thread. Permission was granted by Vyn to mention her characters. Othello had a stupid idea.))

Othello frowned as he watched the carnage. They hadn't managed to make it out of the mirror shop properly when Ichigo collapsed. Apparently he had been suffering from his wounds far worse than he anticipated, so they pushed him and the ill Josephine back into the shop.

The boy gave a small whine as he caught sight of the chaos. People were killing each other... why? None of it seemed right at all. It wasn't his fight though. It wasn't his fight. Nethan was clearly worried too.... His mechanical hand started its nervous twitch as he debated on what to do. Could he sit here and just watch people die? Could he go back inside and pretend nothing was happening... no.

Mother was going to be furious with him.

"I'm going... to try thomething thtupid," he said to Nethan in particular before darting out of the shop completely and pausing at the end of the alley. He spotted the familiar form of Evan among the fighting. And another Jossiggy had joined him. They looked like they were trying to escape.

Othello brief note that Nethan was near him, as well as the rather creepy boy Remi. He looked back at them briefly, hoping that they would understand what he was going to do. He ran towards Evan and Rigsy, full tilt (16). He heard the hint of words.

The feline-canine mix jumped between the Lowlander and the Jossiggys (19), binging up his mechanical hand to shield from any blows (9) as he shrieked. "Thop this! They thurrender!"

He hoped that the brown bits on his coat would be enough to surprise the Bird-mix, but he tried to activate his pain ability on him just in case. (10, so his concentration might fizzle.)

Strong Magical Ability: When activated, he can inflict mental pain on another card of any suit, once per day. The degree of pain is akin to that of having your eyes dry out completely. Five minutes into this torture, the victim will lose the ability to see and will not regain it for a full hour.

[/|/afamere]

Menefer just stood by looking about as the children where accusing the Ace for not choosing a side. It was almost funny, but he kept his eyes out for anything that he could spot behind the counter, something had to be back here. It seemed that no one would mind anyways if he decided that it would be of use to protect those in here. He gazed down once more at the young woman and backed away a bit before walking around the shop, ignoring the children and the ace, even the man that had dumped his charge on them as well.

He looked around and noted that this was a proper deli shop, and he was a cook after all, so why not whip something up? Who knows it might just wake up the sleeping adult and get the children off the ace's back for trying to save them.

He found the appropriate meats and bread and started to stack them with professional ease that would be the envy of any three star and below restraint. He took the platter of meats and and breads to a small table near by as he looked for smaller dishes in the back that he could use for plates. Once done did he finally look to the others and smiled.

"Excuse me... I know that its a bit rough outside and that people are killing each other due to their petty arguments, but that doesn't stop a good late night snack." he said as he waved a paw at the table that he had set for the children in hopes that it would get them off the aces back about his business.

[Nako]

He'd been stabbed, thrown in the middle of a fight, betrayed his Jossigy brethren (In his mind), and now… he was playing mommy. He twitched gently in the corner as the Selkie girl put together a box to put the children in. The bull walked obediently forward, letting down the children so that they may extricate them one by one into the box. The coat they were in was… bloodied. Among other things.

Karrock immediately stepped forward and helped put the young things in, but paused when he realized the state of the Ace. It wasn't a baby at all, but a tiny, tiny ace! And its leg… was bent backwards. He whimpered slightly, turning his head so he didn't have to see it. "The ace… oh dear, it's broken to pieces!"

The creature had become largely unresponsive, eyes closed and breathing shallow yet evening. They had to set the leg.

"Actually, instead of a sandwich… I need one of those day old baguettes. We're going to set this poor creature's leg. Whoever owns him is not going to like the state he's in." He'd surely hope anyone else would be so kind as to treat his property well had he misplaced it.

"And cheesecloth. To bind the wound." Orin muttered, gore smeared across his chest, but he seemed to hardly notice it. They perhaps were all a bit shellshocked. He turned again to the Selkie feline. "Yer at an advantage with those paws. Think you can help us… set the leg and get it wrapped up?"