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He hadn't realized it at first, but the struggling of the were finally reveals her face to him and Chris almost freezes in horror as he realizes who it is. It's Masha, she had wanted to be a teacher too. They wanted to do almost opposite types so they hadn't chatted much, but he shared some development classes with her for the elementary kids and had even helped her in class once.

Something hits him as she lashes out and he realizes it's Thorne's blood, but between recognizing her and trying to help pin her down there isn't much he can do. He swallows down his agony for now, just focuses on pushing her back. He can mourn for her later.

chris watts || 16/20
were hp: 20/60

There was a flash of red, too fast for Thorne to follow, like all those years back in the war - and then pain. He was aware, briefly, of the sound from his throat, like an animal in pain, before he lashed out to strike away another set of claws coming at Chris - or Shiloh - the blood made it hard to see -

And then something warm and hot hit his abdomen like a sledgehammer, like knives being thrust in and in and in, and Thorne realized he hadn't been clawed this time - he'd been ******** gouged.

"Jeremiah," he snarled, wetly, because he knew the detective was there somewhere, out of sight, past the red and the pain - sweltering up and down his entire torso, his neck, his right eye. "Help - "

He wanted to say, put the ******** handcuffs on - but that was suddenly too much effort. A blur of motion flared in the corner of his unbloodied eye, but movement was getting hard and painful and - s**t that hurt! That really... really hurt. Thorne fumbled away, but not quick enough, and then his feet lost traction, and he slammed into the far wall. Sliding, sliding, black filtering in behind the red.

Sorry, Thorne thought, but the sound of it felt far away. Sorry.

HP: -3 THORNE PLS SOMEONE DRAG HIM DOWNSTAIRS

"I dunno," says the girl. "Hey Ed, is Jason still ******** dead?"

"Cody, this isn't helping anyone," says Edward. He gets up now that Jamie's gone and puts a hand on her arm, another on her shoulder. "You gotta chill, look, they're gone and you don't gotta be scared anymore."

"I'm not! Scared," Cody insists. "I'm not ******** scared!"

She is ******** scared.

The struggle lessened enough for America to try and take stock of the others. Seeing Thorne slide down against the nearby wall, she called out, "Man down!" Was he breathing? She knew cpr but that was as far as her first aid skills went.

She kept her grip on the were's arm, but tried not to hurt her further.

At the sound of her voice, the bluejay's feathers ruffle. After one last judgemental stare at Algie, it flies down to inspect Hotlips.

HP: 18


America votes mercy.

Lily had been holding the woman's head, but it meant her claws were free to tear and maim anything within arms reach. The others had tried to hold her down, but the rogue were was caught in the chaotic spasms of a supernaturally-induced seizure, and it was only a matter of time before she broke free, only to hit against something with a dull squelch. Lily couldn't tell who it was, but she felt the spray across her torso, smelled the iron of the blood, and then she saw Thorne falling away, his entire midsection a smear of raw red.

The girl froze, time standing still as the other man slumped to the floor. Her eyes couldn't leave the blood, there was so much blood, that couldn't all be his, her heartbeat pounding in her ears. Somewhere, there are people shouting, but not here, here there is only blood and that dazed, stunned expression on Thorne's face as he fell, further and further away from her. She wanted to reach for him, but her hands were full, and she couldn't even remember why. All she could see was red.

And this thing had hurt the pack of her pack.

It wasn't the call of her own name that brought her back to reality, but Jamie's, which made her snap up to look around, to make sure that at least one of them was okay. Sighting the mop of curls gave her enough focus to breathe, to look at Jeremiah with a dazed blink until the world stopped turning like the twists in her gut. "Mercer, I--" she whimpered, her voice breathy and wavering, but her brain caught up with her a moment later and with clumsy hands she threaded the handcuffs out from his belt. Two clicks later and the woman's mangled hands were bound behind her, but Lily couldn't do so without getting blood on her own hands, her own claws that seemed to mimic the very were they'd just put in cuffs.

Staring at her own claws was too much, and her normally placid face began to contort in an expression of ugly grief as she fought down a choked sob. "Someone get him downstairs, God, please--oh God, what do we tell Lucas--?"

This was all their fault. This was all her fault.

--

Sparing the were

Lily's HP: 19/20

It was almost funny for a minute, the home alone style traps, people screaming about 'furries... right up until it wasn't. AGAIN.

He was trying to figure out a way to maybe talk them down without getting nailed by a paint can or a stapler or whatever else the (reasonably) frightened young women had thought up, and then someone had shouted about a Rogue on the stairwell and things had gone to s**t.

Lupin might be dying, her dog was dead, and there was a flash of claws that was entirely too close and suddenly it was the guy with the tattoos down and Thorne, and his epic tattoos, were down, and there was a lot of blood, and one of the other teachers had gotten clawed -in the ******** face-, and... and well s**t.

"I-'ll help! Just... tell me what to do!"

They had to get the girls downstairs, they had to save Thorne, goddamnit he had to be good for -something-.

Sparing the Were

There were two things Jamie hadn't expected when he ran out here to quell his own feelings of inadequacy. One was feeling good about it, and well, he'd been right to know that wasn't going to happen. The second was that anyone would be hurt enough to fall, especially after how quickly they'd subdued the rouge last time. Sure, Thorne had been injured and Jamie had been endlessly guilty about it, but he'd gotten back up and he'd kept going because that's what they all had to do.

This time, it didn't look like that would be the case.

In the scuffle, the rouge had been cuffed and that was a relief (if a bittersweet one), but Jamie had found himself back on his a**, blood splattered through his hair and dripping down his forehead, while he tried to process exactly what was happening. It definitely wasn't his blood, he didn't feel any pain.

Shiloh was screaming and everyone else was trying to reach Thorne and it sounded like static in his ears. "T-Thorne...?" he muttered, watching from where he sat as they tried to stem the bleeding and keep him awake. As much as he wanted to try and comfort Shiloh, Jamie had no idea what to do, and fear and anxiety temporarily froze him in place.

It felt so selfish now, worrying about being a monster when people were out here almost dying. That just made him feel more like a monster than before. Defending his kin, including the ones out of their right mind, felt like something he needed to do, but... Was it wrong to defend someone who'd murdered? Even if they couldn't control themselves, they'd still have to face the consequences, wouldn't they?

Jamie was conflicted and confused and unbelievably guilty over worrying about his own problems at a time like this. He hadn't been injured, not even a little, he had no right...

"I-It'll be okay..." he tried to reassure, crawling towards Shiloh. His friend needed him, didn't he? "I-It..." It was hard to force back the urge to cry again.

--

sparing the were obv

Jamie Delacroix
HP: 20/20

"We have three hostiles engaging us on the third floor. We are falling back."

The words came in right as they got the woman to the floor. Jeremiah's eyes widened considerably. Three?. His side stung but it was nothing. Nothing compared to Thorne who was already helped downstairs and-

The detective lieutenant could not spare time to think about Thorne, he could not. Not now, not at all.

"Alg!" he called out loudly, his voice raised and yelling for once. "Get those kids downstairs now." There was an edge to his voice that his lover would know. Jeremiah was looking to the others, every single one of them.

"You heard the radio, we've got three plus the group and they're likely to be coming down the right stairs. We need to be ready. This may get horrible fast." Blue-green eyes are searching faces. "... but we have got to do this and I have an idea. It may not even work." Jeremiah looked to Jamie and Lily. "You both came here from other ashdown, right? There may be access here still. I'm going to look for it because if we can either lure or get those that are trying to transform into it, I'm sure it'll help them. It may be our only option at this point with that many at once."

This place was not magical. It was hurting them. They just wanted help and they were having to fight them down. His eyes glanced between the two they had already taken down. Both women. One a teacher, the other a student.

It was terrible.

"So get yourself ready and head towards the stairs to back them up." He took a breath. "... because this is going to get worse before it gets better and we've got to do everything we can to protect the downstairs."

Jeremiah finally plucked the radio off of his side and radioed back. "Roger, Sergeant. We just subdued another attacker. We're down one but we also have a plan in mind that may help. We can back you up." The radio was clipped back onto his belt and then Jeremiah was heading towards the balcony, trying to spot something familiar. It certainly helped that the space was open and he could see across and up (and down but please not down). Their side would be looked over first, then the other.

A way to other ashdown.

Bloody hell.

(His back hurt and body felt like it was getting colder, like the mansion all over again. This was not good.)