Welcome to Gaia! ::

The sense of peace Lenore had felt when they had entered the graveyard was quickly shattered. Coming from the depths of the cemetary, at the center where the oldest graves where, was the awful sound of a shovel screeching against wood and rock as it delved into the earth, digging up something never again meant to see the light of night. With a hissing cry for Crow and Deimos to silence themselves, she leaned towards the source of the sound, listening hard.

"Would ya hurry up and just crack the damned thing open already?"

"Aw, shut up, ya git. If you'd the guts to dirty your hands a bit, we'd be out of this bleedin' bone yard and off selling this wretched locket already."

Loathing filled Lenore up like poison. These were not innocent visitors to her precious cemetary, they were -

"Grave robbers," Crow hissed, grabbing hold of Deimos and holding him close. Cursing her horrible luck, she tried to drag the stroller into the long shadow of a nearby masoleum.

Lenore felt the sudden shift in the stroller as Crow tried to drag it to safety. Sawing at the thick blanket with her arm blades, nearly free, she turned to face Crow in a rage.

"NO!"

Crow felt a thrill of horror as she heard the scratching sounds of digging cease, and the first raspy voice echo across the graveyard.

"What the hell was that?"

Crow felt her grasp on Deimos weakening as the boy struggled to get away from her.

"Deimos, no!" She cried in a whisper, terrified to be overheard. Trying to hide in the shadow the mausoleum cast while keeping hold of Deimos and wheeling the stroller with her, Crow gave a squeak as she heard heavy footsteps echo muffled across the grass.

"Whats this that's come to interrupt us?" a hoarse voice asked in an oily sweet tone to the gravestones.

With a final great swipe from an particularly sharp feather, Lenore cut herself free from the blanket and cumbersome straps of the stroller. She didn't care that she was only an infant, that she could hardly be seen as a threat - this was her cemetary, and damned be him that harmed it. Leaning forward and waving her arms awkwardly, she fell to the ground lightly and pulled herself up into a sitting position on the edge of the path, only her eyes and shining metal wings illuminated by the silver moonlight.

Crow bit back a cry of horror as she saw Lenore tumble out of the stroller, trying to reach out to her but unable to keep a good grip on the struggling Deimos at the same time. Try as she might, she couldn't reach...

The footsteps grew sharper as the man stepped onto the paved path, the heels of his boots clicking omniously on the stone. He shone a light about, briefly illuminating the mausoleum. He turned to keep searching, but then turned back and aimed his flashlight beam at the front of the temple-like structure again. A tiny form sat omniously still in front of it, bizzare silver things protruding from its small arms and a vial of blood tied to it's neck with a string.

"Huh?"

"Wos this then?" the man asked Lenore, shining the light into her eyes. "Some lil' brat that's lost her mummy?"

Lenore ignored Deimos as he stood by her side, ready to protect her. She bore the man's insult and the painful light in silence. She looked the man over, unimpressed. He was lean to the point of emaciation, and bore the dirtied look of a person who had lived in squalor for a lifetime, and had a personality to match his physical filth.

"Hmph."

The grunt of indifference seemed to anger the man. Setting his flashlight down and striding forward, he seized Lenore and held her aloft.

"Lil' runt. Where's your mummy at? Or did she just leave ya here to fend fer yourself?" He examined her obviously inhuman features, the metal wings, the tail of feathers.

"Ugly lil' critter, aren't you?" He asked, examing her spindly fingers. Taking an uninterested look at the vial of blood around her neck, he set her down again and spit on her, bending down to retrieve his flashlight.

It was then that he noticed Deimos and Crow.

"What in the- " he began, startled.

Lenore felt the stinking spittle slide down the side of her face, and anger that no infant should have been able to even know how to feel bubbled up in her. Letting instinct take over, she felt pulled herself up to a crouch, wings outstretched as though ready to take flight. The man had turned from her, his guard was down -

Crow bolted out from the shadow of the mausoleum, making a beeline for the man. No one treated Lenore like that, not if she could have a say in it -

Lenore felt her body become more and more tense, every muscle, every cell charged with energy she hadn't had seconds before. She knew something was happening, something bad, but she made no effort to stop it. She felt stronger, better -

Crow plowed into the man, kicking and swinging at the air. Despite his skeletal build, he threw her off easily, pushing her into the marble columns of the mausoleum. She gave a gasp and clutched at the back of her head, feeling as though it had split open -

As Lenore watched Crow fall to the ground in pain, her world suddenly shifted. She was high, high in the air, speeding towards the man, razor-feathers outstretched and ready to cut him apart. She didn't know how she had gotten airborne; she looked down at her arms and found they were wings - nothing even vaguely resembling a human remained of her form.

"Skreeeeeya!"

The man jumped and looked upwards, straining to see what had made such an unearthly sound.

The man gave a shout of pain and looked down to see what had hit him. Another child, looking almost demonic, assailed him relentlessly. With a quick move he siezed the boy and made as though to toss him, but paused as he got a good look at him.

"What in the name o' God are you, boy?" he asked in a strangled whisper.

"Skreeeeeya!"

The shrieking sound came again, and the man dropped Deimos in a panic. Something like a shadow, something huge, had just narrowly missed his head. Stumbling and turning to run, he heard a distinct whoosh of wings and a dull ringing sound, almost like bells. Looking around, he only saw Deimos and Crow, who was still cradling her head as she staggered after him.

Whoosh.

"AGH!"

The man clutched his shoulder, where a deep cut had suddenly split his flesh. So quick and so cleanly had the injury been caused, it didn't even bleed. Turning to run and stumbling over his own feet, the man landed heavily on the pavement and began to crawl away.

Jabir whistled softly to himself, making his way down the hall of the Mishaps building once again. "Ah, another quest. The fourth?" He asked to himself, nodding after a few moments of contemplation.

After a few moments, the tall Mishap came to stand in front of Crow and Lenore's room. I think I'll try something new... He thought to himself, taking a small note out of his pocket. Instead of knocking, and possibly disturbing the Guardian and Mishap inside, or entering unwelcomed, he pressed the note to the door. A few moments of rummaging in the tall Mishap's pockets produced a small thumb tack, which he used to secure the note to the door.

Jabir stood back, surveying his work. "Ahh, nice." He smiled, turning to walk away from Crow and Lenore's room.

Deimos hissed at the backs of the running men, placing his finger under his eye and sticking his finger out at them. His tail swished in triumph and his cloak returned to its normal limp form. He began to walk over to Crow, when his eyebrow wings lifted. He smelt blood. His eyes began to scan the park for the blood, his eyes finally resting upon Crow's hair. His face fell, he couldn't take blood from Crow, both Len AND Mother would be mad at him if he did.. He simply strode over to Crow, following her gaze to where Lenore was.

"WHy Len on the roof!?"

He cried out. They had to get her down.

Deimos wasn't wasn't paying much attetnion, his eyes focused on Crow's wound, but he soon snapped back to reality and nodded. "k.. we go home.." He said reluctantly moving over to the sniffling Len's side. "Len no cry. Len strong. Len help Dei get the bad men away.. Len no cry.." He said to her firmly.