Runaway [Private]

[Nako]

She knew where she was. Sort of. The plants were terribly familiar and she could name several of them. But she was a little girl. And other than knowing that she was in Avington, she had -no- idea which direction was home. Or back to the Courts, for that matter. The chatterings of angry banders made her hair stand on end, plastering herself to the base of a tree as she waited for the sounds to slowly go away.

But instead, they were coming closer. Panic. Delaney's chest rose and fell in a flutter of panic, light headed as she near hyperventilated. She was going to die. She just knew it. Die alone and in the Avington. How.. ironic? She wasn't really sure if it was or not, but it was honestly not the way she thought she was going to go.

The angry squeals of the bander was almost upon her. But there was another noise. The sound of a woman? Something hit the bander. Hard. And it flew out of the brush with its tail between its legs, snarling its retreat. What.. on earth could have scared a bander?

What came out of the brush, Delaney was sure it was a ghost. White and blue and tall with a wispy tail lashing out behind her. A Selkie. A dead Selkie. She screamed, attempting to bolt away only to land on her face. Her paw was twisted oddly beneath her, snagged between two tree roots. Her pain ability kicked up on reflex, deadening some of the pain of the sprain.

But the ghost was still coming toward her, a huge club of a limb in her hand.

ohsuits ohgod NO. She squinted her eyes, blasting her paint ability toward the creature in a panic. Never mind that technically powers would probably not hurt a ghost.


Basic Magical Ability: She can ignore moderate amounts of pain for up to twenty-five minutes.
Strong Magical Ability: When activated, she can inflict mental pain on another card of any suit, once per day. The degree of pain is equivalent to a red-hot brand applied to the thigh. This works perfectly on Cards of a lesser rank than her and slowly becomes less effective on higher-ranked Cards.

[Nako]

Oh, just -walk- home. It'd save you money! Something you don't -have- much of right now. Right. Great fucking idea. All it got her was lost on a 'shortcut' road and going in circles. Maybe if these damn Avingtons actually updated their signs, they'd get more visitors. Then again, the secretive bastards probably didn't want to be found. And that didn't help her much at all.

A growl emanated from one of the bushes, and Brooke paused, swallowing hard. Oh.. oh no.

The bandersnatch lunged.

Oh, SHIT.

And so is how Brooke came to being chased by a bandersnatch, desperately attempting to climb up a tree only to have the dead limb give way. Luckily, this gave Brooke a weapon against the beast. The first few blows glanced right off its stupid head. It wasn't until she used her Club ability to give her hit an extra wallop that she was able to cause the beast to retreat.

She'd thought that had been the end of it. But then there was screaming A little Avington child, screaming and running from her as if they'd seen a ghost.

"Hey, woah kid take it easy, I-."

A pain jumped up her thigh so suddenly that she'd thought she'd been bitten. Except it was a burn. A painful, horrible burn. She screamed out, crumpling and throwing a hand onto the offending area. She'd expected to smell burned flesh and hair, but there was none. There wasn't even a wound. Just intense pain.

Oh, that little... "Stop it! Stop it you little Heart bastard!" She wailed. If it had been an adult she might have taken her makeshift weapon and clocked them upside the head. That being said, Brooke wanted to maintain some semblance of humanity nowadays. Clubbing kids over the head wasn't conducive to that.

[Nako]

Common sense would have told Delaney to expect the person to feel pain, except that she thought it was a ghost. No… ghosts wouldn't have been affected by her pain ability, would they? But still, to see a living Selkie wasn't exactly expected, either. She'd heard that they'd -all- died. While someone else told her that a few still lived. Very few.

Ohgod. She was torturing a very rare, and very alive Selkie. She was going to be SO pissed. She had half a mind to run but.. no. Her foot was still stuck. Not only was she going to have to let her pain ability down off a pissed Selkie, but then she was going to have to ask that person to help her. Shaking uncontrollably, she let off her pain ability.

"I.. I'm S-sorry… I thought.. you were a ghost." The more she thought about it, the more ridiculous that excuse was sounding. She wasn't sure what was worse at that moment, being there right now, or being back at the castle.

[Nako]

Brooke gasped for air, laying on the ground for a few minutes as her mind attempted to make sense of what just happened. Nobody had ever used a pain ability on her before. It was… jarring. And pissed her off, frankly. A wary hand touched the once offending area, testing just one more time to make sure no permanent damage was done.

"Are.. you serious? Damnit, I'm not dead yet." She snapped, her temper in no way assuaged by this girl's explanation, and the girl's frightened state did little to instill pity. The girl obviously wasn't helpless, why did she have to act so damn scared?

She caught a glimpse of the girl's rank though, and paused. A Ten. While tens weren't exactly rare, seeing one that was young and possibly naturally born so was uncommon. "Who are you? And what are you doing all the way out here?"

[Nako]

Delaney had expected to be killed, not interrogated. Her fur bristled just slightly. This was a stranger! A lower ranked, club stranger that had no right to want such information from her! It wasn't -her- fault the Selkie had scared her out of her wits! In fact, it was the Selkie's fault through and through. All the more reason she should be obligated to help her.

"My mother said I aught not give such information to strangers, miss." Delaney answered with the strongest conviction she'd shown the entire conversation. "Either way, I just want to be off so that I can get home. So if you could kindly help me remove my foot from this root so we can both be on our way." Funny how the only time Delaney got a pair of balls was when it was on account of her pride. Chalk it up to what time she'd spent around the Courts. And her homicidal maniac of a father.

[Nako]

"Oh, I don't think so, girlie. You'd better not think that because you're three steps above me in rank and a Heart that you can just boss me around. I don't play that game." Brooke stated so cooly that she saw the little canine's fur stand on end. "Frankly, you owe me an explanation for what the hell you're doing out here, paranoid and blasting off pain abilities toward people you don't even know. And here, the Neanderthaloid club is the one showing some goddamn civility and not bashing your head in for being a little asshole."

She brushed off a bit of dirt from her fur and stood a little taller. Frankly, now she was just fucking with the girl out of sheer pride and principle. This girl needed an attitude adjustment, bad. "Lets try this again, sweetheart. Who the fuck are you? And what are you doing out here?"

[Nako]

Alright, this filthy club was just batshit insane. Positively batshit. She gave another tug to her trapped leg to see if she could possibly free it. No luck. It was tightly wedged and only breaking the root would let her escape. It seemed she'd have to play this perverse mental game with the black-suit after all.

She grimaced, staring up at the club for a long moment before giving her most grudging response. "My name is Delaney, daughter of the King of Hearts. I am out here because I am returning home to my mother in the capital because I find that my summer stay in the Courts does not suit me. Now will you be so kind as to let me go?" Delaney could hardly keep the bite from her tone. She really found herself taking a dislike to clubs.

[Nako]

The King of Hearts, eh? Brooke probably should have been cowed by that… but frankly, few things scared her any more. Not some snotty Court child. Not even a King of Hearts. With all the scandal coming from that place, it was a wonder the whole infrastructure didn't crumble beneath its drama.

"I'll make pains to remind you that I'm not the one holding you captive; the tree is." Regardless, she was already moving toward the tree, her club ability already activated as she took one side of the root and [ipulled[/i]. It was a huge root, one that she found herself unable to break, but the pressure was enough to make it bow just enough so that the little Avington girl could pull her paw free, dancing away from the Selkie as if she had the Plague. Brooke couldn't help but note how the girl tucked her paw up under her, unable to put weight on it even with what Brooke assumed would be with her own pain ability activated.

"And how are you going to walk a day's carriage ride on a bum foot, hm? You'd be better off walking back to the Courts at this rate."