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 Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2011 11:20 am
Riyo appeared... Less than happy to leave their little oasis.
The whole time they'd been there, it felt like she'd found exactly what she'd wanted for so long. A place to call home, and kind-hearted people to surround herself with.
As she watched the city start to fade from the back of the wagon, her look became forlorn. There goes paradise, she thought to herself, glance shifting to the front of the wagon momentarily. What would they do now?
... Was everybody going home?
... Where would that leave her?
If only those bastards hadn't shown up. Deacon appeared to be a nuisance anyways, so why travel with him? It didn't make a lick of sense... But Riyo had never understood family ties to begin with.
Atticus was more than happy to be out of the place, but the adoption of two more felines into their little group made him uneasy. While the others seemed accepting of Atticus's snide remarks, he often kept them directed away from the bigger of the two. Something about him screamed "I'll tear you apart if you say one word."
At least the desert didn't seem as harsh this time... And in the blink of an eye, they were at it's end. "Well, that wasn't so bad." He commented, even though Poke had been sickened by the trip. "Water will help." The raven added after Blade, noticing Riyo staring out the back of the wagon from the corner of his eye.
What could she be thinking? To have such a miserable look on her face. Did she even realize they'd found the forest?
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Posted: Tue May 10, 2011 12:20 am
It was unfortunate, that they had to leave the city. Hitsu was saddened to leave the new friends they'd made, and while Yuki still claimed to have nightmares of being throttled and stripped by the two young women at the bath house, he'd looked rather displeased when they'd started off as well.
It had been all Deacon's ******** fault, at least so Yuki had determined. Nothing was really awkward until he was there.
Caleb, as it turned out, was a slave. As though it hadn't been assumed by the way he held himself and addressed Deacon, the fact had been confirmed not long after the little reunion. The older feline had purchased the boy, for a few spare silver, from a newly wealthy gentleman that couldn't stand to look at the pitiful creature any longer.
The boy had been surprisingly endearing when he spoke of Deacon, whether or not within his presence. As might be expected, he really did have a twisted view on what kindness truly was. Yuki was appalled by the situation, although confrontation in the city had been impossible, unless he wanted to speed up in them being cast out. Any argument with Deacon rarely ended without some form of physical violence.
Not so surprisingly, Hitsu seemed naive of the tabby's malice. He always seemed to conduct himself differently while in her presence, though even then he wasn't the most tolerable person. Rude, vulgar words never seemed to be beyond him, nor less brutal strikes as far as Caleb was concerned. Deacon had told them all that he was merely training the scrawny beast how to defend himself, even though he didn't, so that once they were to safety he could 'release him into the wild' like he was some sort of stray feral animal.
Throughout most of the journey, Yuki had sat up front. As much as Neko had been irking him recently, he found him the lesser of two evils. He never had discovered that little note that Blade had tried to slip into his pocket, however... At some point along the line, it had been lost. Had Yuki read it, it was doubtless that Deacon might just be lower on his b*****d scale in comparison.
It really hadn't seemed a terribly long journey, thanks to the supplies they had been given, along with knowing that they were being directed on a safe route. The lack of thirst, hunger and worry certainly made the trip more tolerable. Well, for the most.
Once the wagon had come to a halt, the rocking of the contraption roused Hitsu from a light slumber. She was eager to get outside, although slow about it, curious as to where they were now. She was pleasantly greeted with vegetation and shade, rather than glaring sunlight and sand.
"Oh, finally..." She sighed, dropping down onto her knees to sit in the grass, stroking over it lightly with her hands as though in greeting.
Yuki was stretching the stiffness from his muscles, mentally thankful to have a break from sitting. Solid wood was not comfortable. He nodded in response to Neko. "Sounds good. I'll go gather some firewood."
As Neko was approaching the wagon, Deacon was shoving Caleb out. Apparently, the boy had been asleep, even though he hadn't been told to sleep, which had already gotten Deacon started on harassing him. Tumbling out, the wind was knocked from Caleb's lungs as he hit the ground. Despite that, he managed to pull himself swiftly to his feet as he gasped for air, narrowly dodging an empty jar that had been thrown at his retreating form.
"Get off your lazy a** and help him!" Deacon called.
Yuki glared at him. Deacon deliberately grinned in response.
"You realize you don't have to deal with that, anymore..." Yuki could be heard, murmuring to Caleb as he caught up and fell in step with him, the two moving into the treeline together.
Hitsu had only spared a glance back toward them, biting her lower lip. There had been arguments ever since Deacon had found them, as much as she had tried to quell it. Though, in the back of her mind, she could only picture his family back in their village, and how devastated they were when he'd gone missing.
"A-are you okay, Poke?" Hitsu asked needlessly, stepping up behind her and gently putting a hand to her shoulder. "Atticus is right, you should go cool off for a bit. It would do you good."
"If those two don't find anything, we can always burn the pigeon's violin." Deacon said, loudly enough to ensure that he'd be heard by Atticus, striving to get a rise from the typically emotionless creature. "I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd want to see it."
After urging Poke to cool off, Hitsu had returned to the wagon. "I think everyone's alright. For the most part, anyway." She said softly to Blade, her brow furrowed lightly in clear frustration. As Blade tended to one horse, Hitsu absently stroked over the nose of the other, trying to distract herself apparently.
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Posted: Fri May 13, 2011 7:13 pm
'Yeah...in a sec..." Poke replied to blade as she urged the world to stand still long enough for her to move. She also had to wonder about atticus comment, not sure if he was trying to be helpful or just stating the obvious.
She was starting to feel better when she heard someone hitting the ground, and looked up to see Caleb getting up as a jar was thrown at him. " What the-" she could hear Deacons voice in the background. "Why don't you get off your a** you stupid-" She quickly pressed her head against the tree again as hitsu approached and asked if she was alright. "Y-yeah, I'm alright...don't worry...I'll go get some water now.."
Pushing herself off the tree she began to walk towards the stream, pausing to listen to another one of Deacons jibes, this time aimed at atticus violin. This one...she wasn't about to let it go, especially since it was aimed at someone else.
"Deacon you lay one hand on Atticus violin and so help me I will kick your bloody a** into next week!" She shouted into the caravan, before another wave of dizziness overwhelmed her and she quickly stumbled over to the stream.
"stupid mangy ******** trying to boss around everyone.." she keeled at the streams edge to drink and wash her face continuously mumbling insults under her breath
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Posted: Tue May 17, 2011 6:54 am
Neko watched Deacon all but toss the smaller feline from the caravan, seemingly unimpressed with this action. It seemed that if Deacon could get Caleb to do it the bigger feline wouldn't do anything at all. Though it had come to no real surprise that Caleb had been purchased as a slave.
"Why don't you make yourself useful and help set up tents," Neko said bluntly tossing a large bundle of fabric, rope, and rods at Deacon. "If you can manage it anyway. I know setting a tent can seem complicated to some. Small children, those afflicted with mental disease." He would let Deacon figure out which category he fell under in Neko's mind.
Turning back to the other bundles of tents Neko moved a few to find Mitsu sleeping in behind them. It was amazing that she was still out through all the noise. "Hey..." Neko poked her gently but got to real response. She was out like a light.
With a shrug he decided to leave her there for the time being. She wasn't really in the way and it seemed like she wanted to sleep. So gathering up a few more of the tents Neko exited the caravan to start setting them up.
"Hey Blade, ya wanna help out once your done with the horses?" He figured the thief would let the horses get some water and then set them up somewhere that they would be out of the sun and weather. A nice break from the desert heat.
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Posted: Tue May 17, 2011 11:38 pm
Seeing how the others were alright for the most part, Blade continued to tend to the horses, leading them to water and whatnot. He heard what the others were saying, but seeing how Deacon was a part of that, he didn't pay attention too much. The thief had learned to kind of just tune out that particular feline if possible, especially whenever he was trying to make some sort of jab at humans.
"Yeah sure thing," he said to Neko, acknowledging him in the least. Once by the water, he went on and drank a few handfuls himself. That was rather refreshing. And before too long, the horses had drank their fill. So then he brought them over to a nice shady tree to tie them up.
"Take it easy you too," he said as he patted them on the neck.
---
It was about damn time that the group had arrived. For weeks upon weeks they hadn't been turning up, but finally he had managed to pick up that they were on their way. And now, here they were, right where Suto had predicted. Crouching up high in one of the trees, Shun drew out a syringe to take a small sample of his own blood. He then spurted some into a few separate, easily breakable capsules.
Now was the time to act.
The assassin threw the capsules towards the group and immediately triggered his darkness spell once they had hit the ground to splatter his blood onto it. The collective bubbles of darkness managed to cover a decent amount of area including the caravan. And then he disappeared from the treetops.
---
Blade's eyes widened as the area around him suddenly went dark, causing him to look around to try and find any sort of sign of what was going on. He had even tried to create some fire to produce light, but that didn't work at all. The flames were there, but the darkness completely consumed the glow they would have emitted.
"Guys? What's go--"
His words were cut off as he heard a faint rustle of something moving quickly near him. While he was in the process of moving as well, his words were replaced with a sort hybridized grunt and cry as he felt something cold and sharp plunge into his chest. In the next moment, the dagger that had been stabbed into him was pulled out. Staggering back a few paces, he placed his hands over the wound and feeling his blood quickly seeping out through his fingers.
"What..." he started, before dropping to his knees, stunned.
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Posted: Tue May 31, 2011 6:43 pm
Choosing to follow Blade wordlessly as he led the horses to water, it went without saying that the female feline had witnessed the unfriendly exchanges between the others of her tribe.
To Poke's grumbling about Deacon, Hitsu had only frowned softly. She did look over her shoulder when Yuki and Caleb had vanished beyond the treeline, before looking back to see the Fin alongside the water.
Moving up beside her, Hitsu knelt down and dipping up some water to wash her face as well. While the journey hadn't been as long or hard as the first time through, it didn't change the fact that it had been hot and leaving her desperately craving a cool bath. Or, a bath of any sort, really.
Surprisingly, Deacon hadn't offered retort to Neko's comments. He did chortle to himself, however, apparently having quite the amusing comeback that went unspoken for whatever reason as he actually went about setting up the tent that he'd literally had thrown at him.
Then, in an instant, he was blind.
No sooner could he stand upright, a curse ready to roll off of his tongue, Deacon heard Blade. He heard the confusion in the boy's voice, and smelled the blood even before he himself had realized that he was bleeding.
Hitsu had cried out in the sudden pitch blackness, disoriented and confused. Just as suddenly, she felt a firm hand upon her upper arm that wrenched her to her feet. Deacon pulled her back against his chest. She could feel his heart pounding in panic, not unlike her own.
'Feeling' his way around through the sensations of vibrations that he felt against the ground, with her he broke into a dead run into what he assumed was going to be more darkness. Only it wasn't. In several long strides, they plunged back into the world of light. The shock of the change took Deacon off guard, but it was the collision with another body that sent him to the ground, both he and the girl he still clung to giving shouts of surprise.
Deacon sat up wide-eyed, looking up just to see Yuki dashing in the direction he had just come from. Into the blackness that had so suddenly ended and still hung in the air like some sentient blob. Apparently, the idiot had a death wish. Looking from the direction in which Yuki came to see Caleb, frozen in clear terror. Not of him, but of what he was witnessing. He held a bundle of sticks in his arms, as though dropping them as Yuki had would doom him to go running blindly into danger as well.
"What the <********> just happened?!"
It wasn't until Deacon had shouted that Caleb passed out. Likely, Deacon figured, to have an excuse to not leap into action and do... Something.
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Posted: Tue May 31, 2011 7:37 pm
"Yes, well. The next time you're mortally wounded, I'm sure my medical bag will conveniently disappear as well." Atticus finally managed to say back, though there was still no rise in his voice. Honestly, he'd like to see the old fart try.
Riyo had been about to climb out of the wagon, one leg hanging out the back, when a sudden darkness overtook them.
Letting out a surprised squeak as she ended up falling the rest of the way (as graceful as a cat that she was), her eyes immediately started darting around. Blood. She smelled blood.
"Blade?!" She called out frantically, the fact that he hadn't finished his sentence making her extremely nervous.
She would've asked what the hell was happening, but it was a little obvious nobody knew.
Carefully, she crawled along the ground like a soldier in NAM, trying to find her other comrades (what a terrible metaphor). Something was very wrong. Very, very wrong.
Atticus, however, stayed where he was. There was no point in trying to move when you were as blind as a bat. "Riyo, you really s-" too late. Oh well. They'd been through slave traders and town guards. How much worse could it really get?
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Posted: Tue May 31, 2011 7:57 pm
By now poke was starting to feel a little better. the cool water felt glorious against her face, and she couldn't have tasted anything better at this point and so she continued to gulp down as much of the liquid as possible.
She could hear hitsu near to her, and had sat up in order to ask how she was when...everything went black.
Crap, was she sicker then she thought?
no, that wasn't it. She could still move around and hear, but she just couldn't see anything. She heard hitsu beside her cry out, as well as blade saying something.
"What the ********/>
She stood up in alarm, fists raised and looking wilding about for any signs of her friends. "Hello?!" she called out, taking a step backwards. "anyone?"
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Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2011 11:02 am
Neko had laid the tents out in the spots he wanted them and had started to unravel the first when everything went black. "What the-?" He could still hear the others moving and shuffling about, Blade had spoken up but had been cut off. If his nose had been a little better he would have smelled the blood but as it was he had no idea anyone was injured. What the hell was happening?
Standing to his feet the feline let his aura engulf him trying to draw the shadows that surrounded them to him but it wasn't much use. He could feel the black energy gathering around him as he pulled the shadows closer but they were only being replaced leaving them in darkness. This was some sort of spell and it made the hair on the back of Neko's neck stand on end and the newly acquired symbol on his back burn. Who the hell was here?
"Poke, stay by the water," Neko instructed the girl he couldn't see. If anything she would have a quick escape that way. It sounded like Hitsu was with Deacon so hopefully he would be useful and keep her safe and Yuki and Caleb had been off in the woods. That left Blade, Riyo, and Atticus to worry about.
"Who the hell is here? Show yourself!" Neko demanded, his stance ready for an attack, his ears trying to pick up the subtlest of movements. He just hoped if he lashed out he didn't hit one of the others.
In the caravan Mitsu began to stir at the sound of yelling and the smell of blood. Why was it so dark? Had she honestly slept so long that it was night time again? Eyes glowing against the darkness Mitsu could hear the yelling and shuffling just outside.
Holding tightly to scales, her plush dragon, Mitsu made her way to the edge of the caravan, the noises making her cower back a little. What was happening? Were they being attacked? It was still fairly dark that she could only vaguely make out the figures, why was it so unnaturally dark? "B-Blade? P-Poke?" Her voice was meek as she looked out, spotting someone she didn't know. Immediately after her vision settled on Blade who looked to be injured. "B..Blade?!"
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Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2011 3:24 pm
Having taken care of Blade and seeing him drop, Shun glanced around in the darkness. Many of the targets were disoriented and confused as he could expect. At least one of them had begun to flee as well. But what got his attention the most was the girl that had fallen out of the caravan.
While he could see well in the darkness, colors weren't the same with his 'nightvision'. He saw a girl with pale hair, and what seemed to be red eyes. Suto never gave him much of a description of what Mitsu looked outside of this like so he thought this might be her, making her the prime target to take back. Little did he know, this was actually Riyo.
As much as he'd like to bring back everyone, it was impossible due to not having anything like a wagon. Still, people would likely begin to fight back as they start realizing what was going on. Bringing out some darts supplied by the scientist, he flung one out at Riyo and Neko as they were the closest ones in his domain, seeking to sedate them. He'd figure out who to bring with aside from the girl soon enough.
---
Blade could hear the others calling out for him as well as try to figure out what was going on. Falling over completely now, he could still feel his blood seeping out into the ground.
"G-guys... run..." he tried to tell them.
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Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2011 8:45 pm
It took a moment for Hitsu to realize what had happened, what with being sandwiched between the sudden collision of Deacon and her brother, let alone the fact that in her terror her sight was clouded with panicked tears.
"What's happened!?" She shrieked. "Where are the others!? Where is my brother!?"
Deacon had no answer, and he sure as hell wasn't going to go looking for them. Inwardly, he was thankful that the girl broke down into sobs, rather than expecting him to. Getting to his feet, he pulled her up with him and hastily backed away, not daring to take his eyes off the strange mass of darkness. If it began to expand, they would have to run.
"Stay back, Hitsu." The tabby urged, keeping a grip on her to keep her from trying to run in after her stupid brother.
"I can hear them!" She was shouting, struggling in vain against his grasp, which only became impossible when he threw an arm around her middle and dragged her back with him.
---
Yuki found himself lost and disoriented just as soon as he'd been surrounded by darkness.
He focused his energy, using his earth magic to feel for the vibrations of movement around him. The one he soon sensed was Riyo, with the movement being strange to him. Of course, he had no idea who was moving...
Knowing her location, Yuki closed the distance between them quickly. The fact he hadn't said a word was his first mistake, the second being that he hastily reached down to try and pull her up off the ground by whatever he could get a grasp on.
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Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2011 10:42 am
"OW!" Riyo shouted after being stung by something. Was it a bee?
That was a funny feelin' bee sting...
"... I feel weird..." She mumbled to herself, until a yank of her tail caught her off guard. "********!" Immediately she moved to sit up and gank whoever was responsible, but a sudden drowsy feeling caught her off guard.
"Nn..." Instead, she ended up falling forward, grabbing the leg of whom she assumed was attacking her. "I'll... Kill you... When I wake up."
"Riyo?" Atticus called, hearing her shout. What the hell was happening?
Carefully, he reached into one of his coat pockets. These days, you never knew who was going to approach you with ill-intentions, so he always kept a few syringes of poison stashed close. All he needed to do was pop the cap and jam it under their skin. The problem was, he couldn't tell who was an attacker in this dark until they actually tried to attack. He'd... Have to wait...
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Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2011 8:17 am
Poke was becoming increasingly frustrated and worried for her friends welfare, but in the darkness she couldn't see who was who and what was happening, or if they were even alright. She heard neko's instructions and kept them in mind, however she was not about to see the water as a escape route. There was no way in hell she was running away.
She listened to the voices around her, trying to pinpoint everyones locations but only able to take a guess at where they were. "Mitsu?" She thought she heard mitsu call out her name. "Mitsu are you alright?" Instead, she heard Riyo swear out loud, and immediately assumed the worst. "dammit!" She turned to stumble towards where she had heard riyo before, however her stumbling wasn't just because of the darkness. Poke didn't care though, she would keep on going regardless of how bad she felt.
"Guys? say something!!!" She called out again this time reaching out to keep herself steady and perhaps try to locate her friends by touch. She couldn't just start swinging punches, otherwise she wouldn't hear the end of it if she accidely hit someone...
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Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2011 5:12 pm
This was quite the mess. Mitsu could see the others tripping over one another in the darkness. Darting back into the caravan out of sight Mitsu held scales close not sure what to do.
Neko heard Riyo cry out and instantly turned in her direction. "Riyo!?" Despite the darkness he headed in that direction but few a sting at the side of his neck as well. "********!" What the hell had that been?
Neko took another step but quickly realized he was starting to feel funny. Another step and his legs felt like jello. Another and he stumbled, his legs giving up on him and his attempt at walking. They were going to have nothing of it.
Still he tried to move forward, whatever was working through his system making him sluggish and his mind foggy. He was trying to locate Riyo, trying to locate her to see if she was okay, but in the darkness he was blindly searching and grabbing. In the end his hand grabbed hold of Yuki, though what he may have grabbed was up to debate.
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Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2011 7:49 pm
Seeing all the others scramble about in the darkness, Shun watched carefully to see what his next move would be. It seemed that Neko was taking care of one of the targets for him so he didn't do anything about that. He spotted another girl peeking out of the window of the caravan, and oh look there was Poke around as well. Turning his attention to the one in the window, he noticed she had light hair and reddish eyes as well, though as far as he could tell, she had no animal features.
Still, he didn't know what she was capable of so he flung a dart in her direction. Another one was sent at the raven around there as well.
Judging from the amount of voices he heard, the others hadn't fled yet. Why were they still here?
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