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 Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 7:14 am
Jabir eyed the scene with mild interest. The scraps he just ate were a poor meal and he was still feeling rather hungry. But he had to attend to the others first
He opened 2 portals directly to the HQ. He motinoned Rabid, Liam, Ethan and Lenore to go through the first one
He then turned to Crow and Julian "I think it's better if you go and see Maggie. I'll be meeting you soon. Got some... cleaning-up to do first"
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Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 7:22 am
Unable to look at the others, Crow and Julian went through the portal without a word. As it closed behind them, Julian sank to the floor, looking sick. Crow sat next to him silently, head bowed.
"Did you see how they looked at me?"
Crow glanced over at Julian.
"Yes."
He wrung his hands halfheartedly, trying to wipe the blood away.
"I'm horrible. She'll never speak to me again. I scare her." He said, his voice pained. Crow laughed, a hoarse, creaking sound.
"We both scare them. We're both horrible. And it's my fault."
Julian turned on her, furious.
"I know that! We need to fix this! The guys that did you Marque, how did you find them?"
Crow shook her head slowly, running a hand over her longer, matted hair.
"She found me. I was lucky. I don't know if we can find her again."
Julian moaned and buried his face in his bloody hands, gasping and sobbing. Crow turned away, unable to look.
"I'm sorry."
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Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 7:38 am
Liam walked down the hall, chewing on his lower lip. Rabid was beginning to scare him. Really, truly scare him. He kept a good grip on Len, not wanting her to run off and see something she wasn't supposed to.
Rabid tramped down the hall, quite literally dragging her feet. Her head was bowed so that her hair fell over her face, obscuring it from view. Her hands we clasped above her heart, and she was shaking violently. Her tears had long since been spent, and so her sobs were dry.
To her, Crow was Crow was Crow. She was the first friend she'd found after leaving Mei-Vaar. No matter what she did...no matter what she looked like...Crow was Crow.
...but then there was...him...
She shuddered and reached for the doorknob to her room.
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Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 8:01 am
Maggie soon came to the infirmary where Jabir's portal had taken Crow and Julian
She didn't react to their appearence "Jabir just told me, I'm so sorry"
She went to the cupboard and picked a bottle with an odd blue paste in it
"I don't have anything to use as a seal, like the Marque, but this should help a bit. I specially recomend you to use it Julian, it will stop most of the bleeding"
"And you two should stay in my room until this situation is taken care of. I have an extra one back at the shop so it won't be a bother at all. Here's the key"
She handed it over to Crow and patted her on the cheek
"I must go attend the others now. And don't worry about Len, I won't tell her"
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Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 8:55 am
The Marquist
"Crow? You awake?"
"Yes."
Julian was sitting on the floor, watching his wounds bleed with morbid interest.
"Why is this happening to us?"
Crow got up off the bed and crawled over to him unsteadily, her eyes glowing faintly in the dark. Collapsing next to him, she looked up wryly and shrugged.
"I know I deserve it. You... you're just kinda caught in the middle of things."
Julian snorted, smiling bitterly.
"I think I deserve it just as much as you. What I did to those people..." He sighed. "I have to doubt they'll ever talk to us again. Not after this....well, sis, looks like it's you an' me against the world again, isn't it?"
Crow sat up and stretched, bones cracking with staccato pops and healing over again as she moved.
"Looks like. Can't sleep, huh?"
Julian shook his head, knuckling an eye where the blood was itching it.
"Not tired. Not hungry, for a change, either." He looked over at her, brushing the matted hair away from her face. It was a bit unnerving, seeing only a skull where there should have been flesh.
"You've looked better."
Crow rolled her eyes, slapping his hand away.
"Cram it, Corpse Face."
"Noseless."
Crow stuck her tongue out, clicking her teeth.
"Try to go to sleep. We've got a long day tomorrow."
Julian quirked an eyebrow, grunting in annoyance at the dribble of blood that resulted.
"What d'you mean?"
"We can't stay here. We... we need to leave. Find someplace to lay low until I can figure out how to fix this."
Julian did nothing but nod, getting up and wrapping himself up in the bloodstained towel that served as his blanket.
"You're the boss. 'Night, Crow."
---
CRACK!
"OWWW!"
Crow fell off the bed, cradling her head in her hands and hissing angrily. Something hard had hit her, and it felt like it had split her head open.
"Shut it, you!"
CRACK!
"QUIT IT! WHAT THE HELL!"
Scrabbling across the floor, Crow snarled viciously, looking around for her assailant.
"Crow? Crow, what's- OWW! DAMMIT!"
Julian had been hit as well, and he fell to the floor, arms wrapped around his stomach.
"What was that for?"
"THAT was for being a weak-minded homicidal little prig, you idiot! Do you even know how many people you killed? Gain a sense of self-control, you over-emotional MORON!"
CRAAAACK!
"That's enough! Show yourself, you son of a b***h!" Crow roared, scuttling forward on all fours and snarling. A light clicked on, and Crow yelped and scrabbled back.
"You?"
A stout woman, heavily scarred and looking murderous, waved at Crow sarcastically.
"Well spotted, well spotted. Not as idiotic as I pegged you for, are you, girl? Spread your disease to a helpless victim too, I see. Lovely, lovely, more misery for me." The woman snapped, jumping off the foot of the bed and hitting Julian upside the head again.
"HEY! What'd I do?" He yelped, falling back and scooting away from the woman. She snorted loudly, rolling her eyes.
"What did YOU do? Ah, you bags of meat are all alike. Feel sorry for yourself and the evil you do, then deny it all when someone calls you on it. What did YOU do? Stupid boy. Oughtta cut your tongue out for saying something so idiotic."
Crow and Julian exchanged looks, then looked at the woman.
"So....you are?" Julian asked slowly, wary of being hit again. Crow nudged him, whispering into his ear. A look of comprehension dawned on Julian's face.
"Oh... okay. You never said she was this much of a b***h, though."
CRACK!
"AGH! I take it back, I take it back!"
The woman snorted again, grabbing Crow by the hair and Julian by his shirt collar and dragging them off with her.
"Oww! Lemme go, lemme go!"
The woman glared at Crow.
"You shut up. It's only out of the goodness of my heart that I'm bothering to take you back, and it's charity alone that's making me fix up your hellspawn brother. Bad enough he's got what you got - he's a god-blessed pyromaniac as well. THAT should make limning loads of fun." She snapped, dragging the two out into the hall and towards the door.
"Well, if you can't stand it this much - ouch! - why're you helping us?"
This earned Julian a whack upside the head.
"Because I'm a good person! Now quit your jawin' and stop struggling!"
Crow let herself be dragged, looking totally resigned.
"Well, at least she isn't trying to kill us."
Julian, being partially choked to death, gave his sister a dirty look.
"Oh, shut up."
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Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 9:13 am
~Midnight Visitor~
*BAM*
"Ow! Euuuurgh..." he crawled on his hands and knees in the pitch blackness, "Owowowowow..."
Why tonight, of all nights, had all the bloody lights decided to go off and stay off? He pressed his ear to the door he'd reached.
Nope.
He crawled a few more feet, favoring the knee he'd whacked on the corner of the hallway. He pressed his ear to another door.
Yep.
He removed a piece of paper from his pocket and slipped it under the door, along with a simple note.
There was the sound of a small explosion of air, and he was gone.Art by Birvan
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Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 11:11 am
Family Reunion
Lenore had never felt more miserable in her life. Her family was gone. They'd come for her, sure, but then...
"They must really hate me."
Sitting on the floor in Rabid's room, off in a corner, she hugged Sadako to her chest and sniffled. They'd disappeared. No one knew where they'd gone.
"I don't care if they're evil," she said to the doll. "Why do they think I'd care?"
Getting up and pacing around, swinging Sadako by her hair, Len started to get angry.
"I wouldn't care at all! They left me! They left me!"
In a fit of rage, she threw Sadako across the room. The doll skidded across the floor, and scuttled under the couch with a scandalized squeak. Lenore gave a groan and hung her head, feeling even worse.
" 'Dako, I didn't mean- ah, nevermind. Everyone else left me, why not you, too."
Completely fed up with life, Len felt her temper rising awfully.
"I'M LEAVING! AN' I DOUBT ANYBODY CARES!"
And with that, she ran out the door, making her way towards her own room. She wanted to sulk somewhere she was comfortable, at least.
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Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 11:15 am
Ike shook his head at Len's tantrum. They were getting less and less frightening, but slowly more bold. He stood slowly and walked after her, leaving the rest of the family in assurance that he'd take care of it.
"Len..." he sighed, "Len, come on. Come back. I'm sure yer Mum'll call when it's time for you to go back."
He didn't understand why they weren't allowed around Miss Crow or Julian , but he knew that his mum never did anything without good reason.
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Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 11:26 am
Lenore was sitting out in the hall outside her door, looking very sad.
"I know she an' Julian kill people. I dunno why she'd think I'd care about it, that's all." She said, feeling more and more stupid by the second.
"I wish Jeremy was here."
Leaning against the door, she scratched at her side, reminiscing. Shaking her head hard, she looked over at Ike and got up.
"I know I didn't say it before, but I'm glad to see you," she said, head hanging low in a look of defeat she'd been wearing for days. She was walking back towards Rabid's room when she heard a loud crashing sound, and muffled shouting.
"What the?"
"-I swear, if it ever breaks again, you can find yourself another-"
"WILL YOU SHUT UP ALREADY, YOU OLD BAG!"
"OW! Hey! She yelled at you, not me!"
"MUMMY?!"
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Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 11:29 am
"I don't think that's the p--MISS CROW?!" Ike shouted. Those voices sounded quite familiar...or the majority of them, anyway. He crouched down on all fours and loped slowly toward the noise.
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Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 11:37 am
"OUT, OUT, OUT!"
The door was kicked open with an incredible amount of force, and a squat woman wielding a bloodied and dented cane was thrown bodily out of the room. She got up with a huff, waving her cane at her assailants angrily.
"The thanks I get for risking my neck for you little brats! Idiotic bags of pus! Troglodytes!"
"Get OUT, you ******** psychopath! You almost took my goddamn eye out with that stupid tapper!"
The woman gave a single finger salute before pushing past Len and Ike, looking indignant. She took a step back and grabbed Len by the ear, dragging her down to the woman's eye level.
"Your mother is a b***h, and her brother's an idiot! I doubt you'll turn out any better!"
With that, she pushed Len away and took off, grumbling and cursing.
Lenore rubbed her injured ear in stunned silence, completely unsure how to react.
"Who the hell was that?"
"A jerk, that's who."
Len froze, and turned slowly, hardly daring to breathe,
"Mum?"
Crow, nursing a cut lip, was leaning against the door frame. Deep black lines of a new Marque were on her face and arms.
"Heya, Len."
She looked over at Ike, waving slightly.
"Hi, Malachi."
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Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 11:39 am
It took Ike naught by a second to reply.
"Miss Crow!" he laughed and launched himself forward, attaching to her as carefully as he could manage.
"You're back! Where'd you go? We've all been worried sick!"
You sound like your mother...
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Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 11:50 am
"Mommy!"
Tackling Crow and hugging her tight, , Len let her go quickly and grabbed hold of Malachi instead.
"She's back! She's alive! She's back and she's not dead and she's OKAY!" She screamed, letting go of Ike and jumping up and down in insane excitement.
Crow grabbed hold of Len and picked her up, hugging her close. Grinning down at Ike, she shrugged slightly.
"I know you guys must've been worried. I'm sorry we put you through so much. As for where we've been..." she touched her healing lip ruefully, sticking her tongue out in the direction the woman had gone. "We've been having the tar beaten out of us. That's about it. Right, Julian?"
There was a miserable groan from inside the room.
"You yell at her, and she hits me. Cripes... I think she gave me a concussion."
There was a sound of someone shuffling around inside, and then Julian staggered outside, holding his head with clawless hands. As he looked over at Crow, the lines of a blood red Marque could be seen on his face.
Lenore's jaw dropped when she saw Julian.
"You ain't creepy looking anymore!"
Julian snorted.
"Thanks, Len. Missed you too."
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Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 11:52 am
Ike blinked and pointed up to Julian.
"I...you...IMMA GO TELL EVERYONE!"
Without a word, he was off and into his room, hopping excitedly from one foot to the other the entire way.
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Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 11:56 am
Crow and Julian looked at each other warily.
"Well, I suppose we better go say hello," Crow said, looking a little nervous.
"Yup." Julian replied, looking ill.
There was a lull for a moment, and then both took off after Ike, Crow still carrying Lenore.
"Hope they missed us."
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