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 Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2011 10:49 pm
"You're going to knock things over if you're not careful enough," said Ren mildly, pulling the short haired creature away from anything that its tail might collide with. He wasn't entirely certain whether this was a boil or ghoul, since it seemed rather...both, somehow, but either way, it was rapidly becoming a hazard.
He turned back to the others, flashing them a bright smile.
"Bells, darling, I was wondering if you and Van here - as well as you - " and here Ren gave the newcomer an encouraging nod. " - could assist me in a most important undertaking."
He did not even really know Van, nor did he know the name of the other creature, but Ren was not one to be wary around strangers - at least, not anymore. Perhaps once he had been, back when he was weak and uncertain of himself, but right now he felt...good. He felt better than he had in weeks.
And he was going to get something for LW to thank her, considering that it was the shewolf's doing.
"My name is Ren, by the way," he said, by way of introduction to the short haired creature. He stuck out his hand and smiled encouragingly.
"And you are?"
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Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2011 10:57 am
The witch looked up just as Ren began to explain why they had pulled away. Belladonna hadn't minded and instead smiled when he addressed her. "A most important undertaking? Why of course! Any other undertaking, pish. Tosh! Wouldn't have a thing to do with it. But a most important one... Well, I'll help!" The witch giggle-cackled to herself and turned with Ren to the newcomer. "And I'm Belladonna. Lovely to meet you." After introductions were made, the witch whirled back around to her friend and tapped him lightly on the shoulder. "Now. Who, exactly, are you searching for? Is it... Oh, Miss LW?" The witch smiled a little devilishly. "You are rather fond of girls with red hair and furry ears." The witch winked at him and turned back to Van. "Didn't you say you were shopping for someone as well? Your very close boil-friend?" Finally the witch turned to the final member of their party. "And are you looking for something as well?" Since the creature had seemed rather nervous around people, Belladonna lowered her voice to a softer tone and adapted a gentle smile. She couldn't have anyone running off on her account!
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Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2011 5:34 pm
"It is, ah... Awkward at times. Especially when it is so hard to see..." The creature blinked almost nearsightedly at Ren with it's pale eyes, unbothered by the bangs across it's face. It also blinked at the other two, and then back to see if it's crocodile friend had perchance given chase, but his particularly noticeable heat signature was out of sight. When it turned back to Ren's question it nodded slowly, although it was unsure how much help it could have been. But it's toothy smile came back hesitantly when asked about it's own goals. "Ahhh... I was going to get something for my family. A souvenir. From where it is so warm. But, ah... " The creature rubbed at it's nose for a second, and it's loud breathing became less noticeable. "But I can't see much here." That much was already obvious. While it spoke that large paddle-tail had almost knocked over another chair, and nearly tripped someone who had been walking by. Finally it got to introductions, and squinted for a second toward Ren's hand before accepting it in a weak, unpractised handshake. "Abbie," it replied, giving the group another shy, toothy smile. Maybe things would be okay here, even in spite of not being able to see things very well, these other people were being rather nice.
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Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2011 11:11 pm
Van was rolling back and forth on his feet, his claws clicking against the floor through the holes in his shoes. He blushed and tried to wiggle them back into the leather shoes, but they seemed quite stuck. At least no one would notice, right? Not with the strange nearly-blind thing smacking everything around, anyway. Van's smile slipped on again, his canines popping out over his lip for what must have been the hundredth time that day. "Yeah, of course, yeah!" Van didn't know much about important errands, but he could certainly do his best. Especially to part the crowd. Van was good at that. Well, more like bowling them over with an enthusiastic sprint.
He laughed when Belladonna asked him who he was shopping for. "Well, yeah-- the best friend I've got," he replied. He shoved his clawed thumb at his chest in a jabbing motion, nearly stabbing himself as he did so, despite his thick and plentiful sweaters. He leaned in conspiratorially, and whispered, "In other words, me." He winked at Belladonna and then turned to Abbie.
"Abbie! Friend, companion, traveling... uh... well, I don't really know what you are, but hey, hi! Nice to meet you," Van's tail was whipping back and forth at an unusual speed, the little chains slicing at the air.
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Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2011 8:32 pm
The smell of peppermint is the only warning anyone gets before the sounds of destruction and screams of violence fill the maul. The giant Christmas tree thrashes and lunges at shoppers, vicious toys and decorations drop from its branches to launch their own attacks. All exits and windows are blocked, trapping the holiday shoppers within the maul, forcing them to face the JOYful wrath of Christmas.
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Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2011 11:03 pm
[ YOU GUYS KNOW YOU'RE QUOTING MY OLD ACCOUNT NAME, RAIT ]
"Yes," said Ren to Belladonna, very seriously. "A most important undertaking. And it might just have something to do with a certain shewolf, yes," he went on, with as much dignity as he could muster, though he couldn't quite conceal the smile that was tugging at the corners of his lips whenever he talked of his ghoulfriend.
He turned back to the one called Abbie, flashing it a wide smile. "Don't worry, we can help you find a souvenir for your family too. We'll look for something nice."
His tail shot out, catching the chair Abbie knocked over just before it hit the ground, and pushed it back up into position without missing a bit. "Abbie here's our new friend," said Ren to Van and the rest, slinging an arm around the other, mostly out of friendliness, but partially out of an effort to try and keep the creature from knocking anything else over. "So why don't we..."
Ren trailed off, a faint frown crossing his face. A lightly, oddly familiar scent was wafting throughout the building, and his brows drew together in confusion and suspicion.
"What - " he started to say, but that was as far as he got before there was an enormous explosion, and the sound of screams, crashes, and horribly tinny music began to fill the crowded maul.
Things were beginning to fall around them, ornaments smashing to the ground and shattering. It seemed as though most of the ruckus was coming from the center of the maul, something green and enormous thrashing about violently. Quickly, Ren grabbed Belladonna's arm, motioning to the other two as he started to run towards it.
"Come on," he shouted behind him. "We've gotta get to - "
Except once again Ren's sentence was interrupted, this time by the fact that he'd just run smack dab into someone. With a muffled shout of surprise, he tumbled down, dragging Belladonna with him and probably tripping Van and Abbie in the process.
"Oof. I'm sor - "
There was a familiar flash of red hair. Ren shot up, his eyes wide, mouth agape.
"LW?!"
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Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2011 11:30 pm
((I hope you guys don't mind me joining in with you all <3 ))
Funny how things worked sometimes. LW had come to the maul today unintentionally. Would it surprise her to see familiar faces about the maul today? Nope, not at all. Had she thought about going with some of her friends...or even her boilfriend? That would be...another no. In fact, LW had not even been at school that morning, though some might have thought she was. It wasn't like she'd planned on making a trip home that night. Or being dragged out to the maul today.
For a bunch of boils that loved to rough-house, her brothers had a weakness for the maul. Which was why she ended up in the first place. And why she hadn't told anyone she was coming. She'd been dognapped!
...okay not really, but her brothers had totally stolen her for the day. And the she-wolf had trailed along with them from shop to shop, window shopping all along the way. A few things had caught her attention and made her think of her boilfriend. Which led to the usual, 'Oh Little-Wolfe, kiss me~' followed by the kissy faces that ended with a stepped on tail, choke-hold (an amusing sight to see as LW was much smaller than her siblings), or a few instances of a Tamaroc faceplanting.
After about an hour of this plus making a stop in to get a bite to eat, LW finally had told her brothers she was running back to a store to buy something she'd seen while they looked around. It had made her think of Ren and she'd been thinking on it for some time, finally deciding she wanted to get it as a gift. So with a quick goodbye and promise to meet them at another shop, LW had darted back towards the shop just in time to catch a strange yet familiar scent.
Was that...no it couldn't be. There was no Jacking way that was-
Screams and a suddenly not so nice tree causing destruction later and LW was glowering. Oh Jackdamnit, really?! And then moving to try and avoid flying objects - both breakable and destructible - only to have someone crash right into her. The she-wolf went down with a yelp, twisting around and expecting something to attack her....only for her nose and ears to catch up with the rest of her.
LW stared up at the gryphon from the not so safe location of sitting on the floor. "R-Ren?!"
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Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2011 11:54 am
((The more the merrier! Welcome to the group Kyrie!!)) " JACK-DAMMIT!!!!" The witch roared the moment she realized that JOY filled tree was evil, which was only a few moments into the screaming and shouting so it really sounded as though she were merely adding to the cacophony of the situation. "I knew that thing was trouble! I knew it! Oh, look at me! I'm a Christmas tree! I'm not gonna hurt anybody! HA!!!" The witch did a small, impressionistic dance of the Christmas tree that was now rampaging the maul. Ugh!! It really made Belladonna angry to know that they had invited that stupid tree in and it had turned on them. Granted, her anger was tempered by the knowledge that last year the entirety of Amityville had sieged Christmastown in hopes of taking it over or something... That was so long ago, the witch couldn't remember exactly how it had happened. NOT the point. The point was-- "Oh! Hey its your--" A few things happened quite quickly. 1) Belladonna couldn't get out her point because 2) LW had showed up! Hey LW! 3) Ren had previously grabbed her arm while she was raging about the Christmastree in attempts to move the group to a safer location 4) LW ran into Ren 5) Ren pulled them all down. "Oooouuuuuuuccchhhhh~" The witch hissed quietly to herself in attempts to display her pain, but not make Ren feel bad about being the one to make her fall. "Good Hecate, Ren. You gotta stop being the magnet everyone runs into." The witch remained on her back and looked up at the ceiling as a few stars danced in her vision. "OK. New rule for Ren. No one else can run into you unless its my boilfriend." The witch managed to hoist herself up into a near sitting position. "And since I don't have one of those, no on else can run into you." For a moment, the witch paused to find her statement slightly funny. The whole maul was crashing down around them, people running, screaming in every direction and here she was, cracking jokes. Ah, indeed. "Anyways. Someone, uh... Wanna help me up?" The witch smiled as if to help her cause, but the problem was evident. Belladonna could not see her legs. They were covered by multitudes of skirt and petticoats. Last year, she had donned a hoop-skirt, but this year... Oh no, this year it had to bigger. The hoop-skirt went into the closet and the multi-layers of skirt and petticoat came out. Plus... Belladonna was pretty sure if she stood up on her own, she'd catch part of her skirt under her shoe and rip it. That's be very, very BAD. " Cervantes?" The witch asked with a look that was part seductress and part damsel-in-distress. She blinked her pink eyes at him a moment and smiled. It would do her no good to ask Ren for help, who was already in the arms of his beloved, so that wasn't an option. (Honestly, she would have asked Abbie, but she was pretty sure the girl would have knocked over the rest of the group in the process. It was better that more of them stay standing in case of an attack.)
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Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2011 1:45 pm
"Gigginox," Abbie interjected, waggling it's fingers in greeting to the friendly monster. Van, his name was? It snuffled heavily and wiped it's nose again, glancing over rather uselessly in Ren's direction. And that's when it noticed something odd, a peculiar shifting in heat patterns behind the gryphon. And then... Bodies were flailing? It could hear crashing and banging arise, some screaming, and smaller sounds of things falling nearby, but Abbie couldn't figure out what was going on! A... Christmas tree? What was that? It stared, wide-eyed as Ren began to move, with the others close behind, and that pause was the only thing that kept the creature from going down with the rest of them. It wore a blank, confused expression as the group ended up on the ground, and tried to look around the area for some clue as to what might be going on. "Ahhh... Ren? Van? Oh, I'll help!" It finally said in response to Belladonna's plea for help. It reached a pale hand down, the skin nearly translucent with it's lack of pigment, and surprisingly failed to knock anything over with it's large, wide tail. "Just, ahh, grab my hand, I wont', ahhhh, fall over!" It grinned, teeth showing sharply as it waited for a warm body to accept it's offer.
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Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2011 4:54 pm
[OTL I didn't realize, actually OTL I just assumed it was right as I was quoting whoever was before me xD;;;... WOOPS OTL
HI KYRI, HAPPY TO HAVE YOU ; u; <3]
Van remembered LW, though it was unclear as to whether or not he put the two and two together once she showed up and Ren made it obvious that this was both LW and his ghoulfriend. Van's smile spread across his whole face. He flicked his tail back and forth as he watched LW's fluffy tail. "I remember you!" he said, with an excited roll on the soles of his feet.
He looked perplexed momentarily, as Ren introduced him as their new friend. "Of course Abbie is," Van added, although he didn't let himself remain in a confused state for long. It was just that Van assumed he was their friend right away. They'd adopted Van easily enough, why not Abbie, too? "Gigginox... no idea, friend, not a one." Van smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.
At first, Van didn't notice the peppermint, because he was too busy being excited. However, once they started to run, he realized: it was the smell of peppermint, very strongly. He covered his mouth with one baggy sleeve and tried to contain his gag reflex. The closer they got to the center of the maul, the stronger his revulsion, until he had to hide behind a large potted plant to be sick, grabbing some liquid or another from a fountain to rinse his mouth out, before following them.
By this point, he looked a lot less cheerful, and far more nauseated. He still covered his mouth and nose with his sleeves, but now he appeared to be chewing on something as well, probably to take the edge off the smell. He wanted to help Belladonna as soon as she'd fallen, but for a moment he was dispelling another wave of nausea. Still, sucking in a breath through his mouth, he reached down and pulled Belladonna up, with abbie's help, apparently. "Gotcha, Belladonna! Count on me," he said, smiling until he realized he was sick again. He made sure she was standing up before he skittered over to someone's empty cup, hid behind a wall with it, then dumped the contents in the trash before cleaning up again.
This was going to get old, fast. He was already hungry, too!
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Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2011 1:52 pm
Both offered hands were taken and with a small "hup!" the witch sprung to her feet. "Whew!" She sighed as she dusted off the dirt her skirt had managed to catch. "Thank you both, kindly. Its unfortunately rather difficult to stand on one's own when one is weighed down by many layers of petticoats. But, that's the price of the fashion!" Belladonna let out a tiny cackle of delight, but quickly straightened her shoulders for battle. But before she could do that, she watched as Van excused himself to be sick. For a moment she couldn't understand what was making him so nauseous, but a deep breath brought with her the heavy stench of peppermint. And since he was the Devil's Dandy Dog (what a delightful thing to be called!) he probably had very perceptive scent senses. Well that just wouldn't do! "Puppy not feeling well?" Belladonna cooed as she rummaged around in the little belt around her waist. "Never fear, Miss Belladonna, Witch Extraordinaire, has you covered! Now where is that..." For a few more minutes the witch fumbled with her belt before she finally produced a very small vial in which rested some white flowers admist very green leaves. "Ah, yes! Black cohosh! Just chew these little babies up and your stomach will be as right as fright night." She offered the flower and its accompanying leaves to Van with a smile. "I would be a very bad witch if I did not have the remedy to common ailments." She couldn't help but add an additional wink too. "Now. With that settled, we should probably try to make our way through this awful place. I'm assuming that tree needs to be thoroughly obliterated, so if we could go fight it, that would be most charming." Belladonna paused to hide her shopping bags behind a rather large fern in a horrendous pot. She'd come back for those later. It was unfortunate that they couldn't finish up the shopping she and Ren and Abbie needed to accomplish. But, for Ren the shopping would have to wait until LW could be thoroughly distracted. And well, Christmastown's awful JOY not attacking too... "Also! If anyone knows any healing, that would be stupendous." From the casual onlooker, one might think Belladonna was actually enjoying the thought of destroying the Christmas tree...
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Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 7:17 pm
[ I'M SO SORRY ABOUT THE DELAY, GUYS finals + cleaning + packing + moving + flying home = OTL ]
The last person Ren had ever expected to see at the maul when he was:
a) attempting to buy a gift for her,
and
b) running away (or was it towards?) something that looked and smelled very suspiciously familiar was his ghoulfriend LW.
This was not exactly the most ideal situation for a reunion. Not that Ren wasn't pleased to see her, since he was always pleased to see her, but considering the situation they were in and the fact that he had accidentally just yanked everyone into what was apparently a giant pile of tangled arms and legs didn't make for a nice hello, really.
"Oof," said Ren, pushing himself up into a sitting position and rubbing his nose. He glanced to his left side, where LW sat, and then to his right side, where Belladonna lay splayed and apparently like a minipet stuck on its back, since her voluminous skirts made it a tad difficult for her to get up.
While Abbie (what was a gigginox, anyway?) and Cevantes helped haul the little witch to her feet, Ren staggered up to his own, reaching down to pull LW up as well, automatically reaching to dust off her arms and legs, patting down her hair and checking to see if he'd hurt her in any way. He didn't think he had - the shewolf was tougher than she let on, after all - but he wanted to make sure anyway.
"LW," said Ren finally, once he was certain the shewolf was unharmed. "What are you doing here?"
There was a loud crashing sound as something ornamental flew past them, and Ren's wings automatically folded protectively around the shewolf, his arms wrapped around his ghoulfriend as he looked over at the rest of their motley little crew
"Er, LW, you already know Bells and I think you might remember Van from the Scario Kart Booth," he said. "This one - " He gestured at Abbie. " - is Abbie; er, a new friend."
Another loud crash made him wince, Ren turning automatically towards the source of the noise.
"Whatever it is, I don't think we're getting any shopping done anytime soon," he said grimly. "Anyone have any ideas?"
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Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 8:46 pm
Okay, this had so not been on her list of 'things being done today'. Not that she was upset by running into (literally) her boilfriend. But all the Christmas-y cheer on top of that? LW internally beat her head against a wall. Her violet gaze flashed warningly for a moment as something zipped right by her face, leaning back slightly to avoid it. And then she took in the others that had gone down in the collision. One she knew (ohay, 'sup Belladonna!). Two she di- ....no wait. She knew that one too. Oh skulls, what was his name again?
She would discover this later. First things first though. The she-wolf was pulled to her feet and brushed off her hands and butt (Ren had everything else covered), tail swishing agitatedly behind her.
"Me?" LW gave her boilfriend a look. "What? Am I not allowed to go to the ma-" A loud crash plus another flying ornament and a yelp kept her from finishing that sentence. Probably a good thing. She was in a snippy mood from the combination of: OhJackChristmasAGAIN?!, she'd spent most of her time here getting teased by her brothers, and did she mention Joyful shiny Christmas yet? At least there is no snow...
The she-wolf ducked into Ren to avoid getting hit by anything before she attempted to continue. "Since you asked....my brothers thought it would be fun to come to the maul on the busiest day ever. You know how they are." She sighed and gave Ren a quirky grin before leaning up to place a quick yet sweet kiss on his cheek then turning towards the others.
"Belladonna!" LW called to the witch cheerfully, a big grin on her face despite the dangerous flying objects soaring around. "I'm glad to see you! Y'know, despite all of...that." She gestured at the chaos around them. Looking over at boil she did know, Ren thankfully provided his name so she could greet him. And the one she didn't know. "I remember you. Hey Van! And nice to meet you, Abbie. I'm LW." Right, introductions out of the way, they were all good now, right?
In response to Ren's question, the she-wolf snorted and glanced around the floor. "Find something bigger to throw back." She muttered, mostly kidding. Though if she did happen to find something bigger....
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Posted: Thu Dec 29, 2011 4:38 pm
((My turn to apologize for the delay. XD)) Find... something bigger? Abbie looked around in a blind, helpless manner, until it's large paddle-tail took out another chair. At first it looked startled, and dismayed, and then that wide, razor-toothed grin slowly stretched across it's face. "This is bigger!" The creature felt around until it was able to pick up the chair, and push it along the ground in LW's direction. It would be so much easier if it wasn't being held in this form... Anyone who was familiar with a gigginox would know it could have sucked down whatever it was making all that fuss in no time flat. And probably not even gotten indigestion for it's trouble. It made a loud snuffling noise, and wiped it's nose on the back of it's hand. "Ah, if I may ask... What is, ah, causing all the trouble? It's hard to see here..."
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