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Genevieve Delacroix


Genevieve was not happy, not by along shot, in fact she was downright pissed off. The marks on her and the slight discoloration of her skin was absolutely impossible to hide! She just kept itching, and scratching, though and it was leaving marks all over her and her hair, her long dark hair, was missing in some areas. She had, the first day or two, tried to hide it but looked ridiculous. She had then taken to just locking herself up in her room and shouting at anyone who tried to get into her room. It was a mess - all of it.

Now that stupid card, which she was sure she had thrown at, decided to start glowing and lead her here - to the store. The store she hadn't gone to or wanted to, she had decided she was not interested in it. The walk here took forever, with people in her way and staring at her, she'd snapped at more than a few on the way here - they deserved it.

It would seem that just as she was arriving things were happening - a lot of things. "Just my ******** luck." Rolling her eyes, even as she felt the anger seeping out of her, Genevieve sighed. "Always with this city..." It was never safe - never! Why was it never safe?

Already a distance from the creature, what on earth was it? Genevieve headed for the shelves where it looked like there were bottles. Grabbing a few she started to throw them at the beast...hoping to at least distract it and maybe stick it with some busted glass.

Someone nearby jumped and Jessie's already frazzled and frayed mind decided she could be defensive of the poor soul, even if it wasn't Owen or a sibling by blood -- and then the smoke coalesced. It fused into something resembling a giiant mutant beast of a griffin, undead and to most horrible.

Of course the grump to the point of homicide was less sharp...

But Jessie ewasn't usually cheerful on her best days. Except when she was about to work on Big Bear, or get into fights in her bars....

Or in general, like now, and her eyes suddenly lit up with the spark of delight reserved for her family, Owen, or tyhe activity of destroying and fighting. Magic or not, here was sometyhing she could [fight, and she couldn't help claspping momentarily as others panicked.

"Oh, boy oh boy oh boy!" She crooned, tone the type a schoolkid might use at a fair, and she glanced around, a bright, wide grin on her face, eyes twinkling, her body suddenmly lively and delighted.

"This is gonnas be so fun!"

And then she laughed and it was the sort of laugh one would attribute to a horror film -- she fully intended to fight this thing, and her eyes danced over it. Oh, of course the beasty had claws -- it was a hunter! -- but she owned Puu, her giant, fat old cat with sharp claws and she played with him all the time.

So she was more than willing to endure a little fun pain to beat it, and she scvanned the room rapidly, prancing to fetcvh a nice metal bar, and began to examine it before finding one of a weight she liked before turning to face the beast with a smile, and prepared to attack.

"Alright Fluffy Wuggums of the Seventh Hell, let's playu."

Rhona hadn't remembered where she had put the card that came with the jack-o-lantern, or at least she hadn't thought that she had. Until that was, the time came when she felt and irresistible pull towards it and her hand somehow knew the way to its exact location. Oh of course. Of <******** course. Rhona watched with growing irritation as the card seemed to come to life in her hands, drawing her a map to where she needed to go. Of course this would happen because this <******** city was filled with so much <******** bullshit that it was hard to believe anything could carry on normally at any time.

Anger roped itself around Rhona's neck as she realized that she was once again getting thrown into some -- probably negaverse -- bullshit. She raked her nails across and irritated patch if skin, wondering how many more scars this ******** city was going to give her.

"When I get back, we're packing Lavender up and moving to Scotland."

Alois didn't move as Rhona spoke to him. Not even when she slammed the door behind her.

The map was easy enough to follow, and soon Rhona found herself outside of the store that was so <******** extra that it had a hovering ******** sign

"We get it, DC," Rhona spat, shoving people out of her way as she moved inside the store. "We see you. You're so ******** spooky." Oh god, even the basement floor was on try-hard mode. That was the worst part... until the card in Rhona's hand caught fire, causing her to drop it onto said try-hard floor where it kicked try-hard mode into gear 11. Rhona was unable to stop the cry of disgust mingled with rage as she watched the chain reaction of oh so ******** spooky runes lighting up along the floor. Nor could she stop the violent slamming of her booted foot against the smoldering ashes of her card. The impact sent tremors up her leg and shook her femur in its socket but she didn't care. All she cared about was tearing this building down. Brick. By <********>. Brick.

A curling in the smoke caught Rhona's eyes, and she followed the trajectory of the smoke, aware somewhere in her raging mind that smoke could not move with intention. It wasn't until she first saw the terrible red eyes that she knew something was wrong. Very wrong. And when the thing roared, Rhoan shot into action, grabbing the first weapon-like thing she could and running at the creature with every last bit of rage she had in every cell of her body.

Search the room for a weapon and try to attack up front? - Searching the room, you locate a few bits of stray debris, most notably a two and a half foot long metal bar. It is a bit heavy, but not more so than a sturdy baseball bat. A few of these are scattered around the room and are great to deal physical damage, but the downside is that you're probably going to have to get real close to whack this thing... and do you really want to deal with those talons?

---

Imagi was the first one to notice the strangeness of the card. She picked it up off her nightstand almost absently and for one insomnia-dazed moment wasn't sure what she was seeing. And then she did. A map... well... maps were meant to be followed, right? She slipped out of her bed, glad if only for the cool feeling of the wood floors beneath her feet.

She crept silently down the hallway, past her sister's room who was no doubt as painfully awake as she. Carefully, so as not to make a sound, she passed the door, sliding down the steps like a shadow. She would have made gt out as well, had Aura not crept just as silent out of her own room just as Imagi slipped past her door. Immediately overcome with concern, aura followed Imagi, hoping Imagi was only going downstairs for water but knowing that it wasn't the case. Not if the card in her own had was anything to go by. It wasn't until Imagi got to the door that she heard the voice behind her.

"Where are you going, Imagi?"

Imagi halted at the door, swallowing the sudden knot of irritation in her throat. Aura watched, knowing what the tension in her sister's shoulders meant.

"Out," was her only curt reply. She didn't wait to Aura to answer her with a rebuttal. She had to get out of the house. She had to follow this map. It was inexplicable. She had to. So she left Aura at the top of the steps, heaving a heavy sigh as she realized, with no small measure of her own anger, that she would, once again, be forced to watch over her sister. Great.

"Imagi, wait," came Aura's call. Was that irritation in Aura's voice? What right did she have to be angry? Imagi had to still her temper again. This time Imagi didn't slow down, but this only prompted Aura to speed up to meet her, her own temper riding with each step.

"Imagi, you can't go out on your own."

Since when did Aura care what happened to her? It wasn't the first time the question had come to her mind, nor would it be the last, she supposed. Still, Aura persisted, hurrying to fall into stride next to her sister, her expression screwed up with her foul mood.

"Please, wait for me," Aura hissed, barely panting from her short sprint.

Imagi had done enough waiting for Aura. Only to be let down. And somewhere in her heart of hearts, Aura knew why Imagi refused to wait for her. Which only served to fan the flames of her own anger. How long would Imagi <******** punish her?

"Imagi -- "

Finally, Imagi whirled on her sister and hissed, "you aren't my keeper, Amaryllis. You forfeit that title."

It stung and Aura didn't keep it from her face. And if Imagi cared that it hurt she didn't show it. For all Aura knew that had been her goal. In reality, Imagi didn't really know why she said what she said, but she did. And with Aura shocked she pressed on, following the map. And once she recovered from her shock, Aura followed Imagi.

And so the girls walked across town, towards the strange building with others who seemed as sick as they were. Down into the basement where they were met with strangers and...

"Alphonse?"

Imagi looked at her sister and then followed her line of sight. Great. Now she had two keepers to look after her. Perfect. But Aura seemed happy to see him, and with her now focused on him, Imagi could notice the way the smoke around her ankles curled with life that was not usually apparent in smoke.

As Aura made her way over to Alphonse, Imagi watched the path of the smoke, watching with wrapped interest as it took form. She was so interested that she forgot to be afraid when it howled at them.

"Imagi, move!"

The voice and hands hardly registered as Aura shoved Imagi towards their brother. It took a moment for Imagi to realize that a wire had been placed in her hands. So now Aura was making her choices for her? No. Imagi shoved the wire back into her sister's hands and turned instead towards the various bottles.

"Well fine then, Aurora, be a b***h. See if I care," Aura finally spat, fed up with her sister punishing her for something that she had been repenting for.

"I'm not the idiot trying to pull down the whole building," Imagi countered, lobbing potions as hard as she could.

Imagi:
Search the room and locate the shelves of strange, bottled liquids that can be thrown from a distance? - A wall of glass bottles, of all shapes and designs, lines the whole back wall. The liquid inside these bottles comes in all colors, and some bottles are more full than others. You can throw these from a distance, but you have no idea what these liquids are...or what they can do. Maybe they'll hurt the monster--or, maybe they'll help it. It's a risk, but at least you can take solace in the fact that it might get some glass shards stuck in it in the process.

Aura:
Search the room and locate the loose, dangling wires that hang from the ceiling? - The room is dark, but you can clearly make out a few wires , easily an inch thick in some places, and up to three inches thick in others, that dangle haphazardly from the ceiling. It looks as though they might have been electrical, but the ends have been severed and there is no charge. If you tug on these, the ceiling seems to break away a bit. Pulling on enough of these might collapse the roof on top of the creature and make an opening to escape through--but you also risk collapsing it on yourself, as well. Is it worth the risk?

Seren stared up the beast, her eyes horrified at the site before her. What was this monster? She shuddered and stared, then looked around, trying to find a way to get to the beast. They had to do something. They had to get out of here. She did not know what it was, or why, or how. She just knew that she was NOT putting up with this sh*t. This had been way the hell too much, all of this lead up and emotional stress.

She began to look around, her eyes darting from object to object around the room. She saw metal bars and other debris, she saw potions, she saw the wires... She did not like any of these options, she really did not, but they were what she had.

She decided to pass on the wires, because there was too much of a chance of pulling the ceiling in on everyone, in her estimation. She looked between the bottles and debris... And stalked over, grabbing the Large metal bar from out of the pile. She'd been doing arm training, lately.. . It was time to see how much of a swing she had, now.

Izobel Beckett (( handwaving event prompts leading to ORP ))

Izzy was a mess. Still she clutched the glowing card that had been amongst the debris in her room tightly in one fist. Her room; that had been the tipping point tonight as she had stormed out of her home with nary a word to her parents. They had commented on the disarray witnessed from her doorway but Izobel had snapped at them and proceeded out the door. She could swear that something wasn't right but couldn't place her finger on what the underlying cause had been. All Izobel knew was that she was irritable to the extreme and was severely sleep deprived. And what was with these gods-cursed itching sores. Scratching didn't relieve the sensation that was present with the appearance of the sores.

With all that combined it was no wonder that she had snapped at her parents this evening. It had been the glowing card in her possession that finally drew her attention and the red-head stared at the storefront that she now stood in front of. Taking no time at all to think of the many things that might have been wrong with the picture the teen entered the store and followed down the stairs after others that were seemingly clutching glowing cards of their own.

Izobel had barely enough time to take in the room that she had found herself in when the card in her hand caught fire. Dropping it in shock the teen winced as she prodded at her injured hand before almost coughing in surprise at the smoke that curled up from the runes that had been inscribed on the floor. What the heck was going on here?

As the smoke thickened and took on what was becoming a tangible, solid, form Izobel thought she caught sight of two familiar faces amongst the crowd but that thought of going to them was shelved when the smoke-creature suddenly was not smoke at all, but a solid, apparently, living beast. Red eyes glared as a spiked tail twitched in irritation. Even without owning an animal Izobel knew what those signs meant. When the creature lowered itself closer the floor and let loose with its massive roar, Izobel's mind blanked. It took precious moments for her to scan the room and with knowing that she was not a fighter she ran towards the shelves and plucked two bottles for use. She glanced at the glass bottle that contained a large amount of aquamarine liquid inside before lobbing it at the creature. The other bottle, half-filled with liquid of a reddish hue she clutched to her chest.

As she fought to control her panic Izobel once again noted the familiar face from before.

The first thing that the creature made him think of was, of course, a Youma. What else was a sort of skull gryphon going to be? Except, if someone was going to unleash this on the world he liked to think that first off, someone would have told him, and second of all why would they have given him a stupid magical card that led him of all people here in the first place.

Unless they were trying to drop another damned building on him. He couldn’t entirely rule that out as a possibility, and he had no desire to spend another several years missing from duty.

There were too many people around to power up too, so even trying that was out of the question.

He searched the room quickly for things he could use to defend himself, the options weren’t plentiful persay, but they weren’t lacking either.

He could lob mystery jars at the thing, and hope if they produced a gas it wasn’t toxic to the humans in the room.

He could pick up a weapon and start trying to beat it to death, though the long claws made that unappealing as well.

OR, he could try and grab the strange cords and cables that hung from the ceiling. Those looked like electrical work which meant either he’d electrocute himself, and maybe the creature. Or he’d pull the roof down, which didn’t appeal to him in the least. He scratched that idea, and left it to hoping no one else succeeded in doing just that.

He joined the others in grabbing a bottle to throw and lobbing it at the creature.

While it was a nice thought, the idea of having a hand held weapon to defend himself, since he doubted this would be over soon, or easily. He knew very well that his strength in combat lay primarily in -chucking- things. Even if these didn’t smoke he could hope for accuracy.

Erich Jäger

Erich groaned. Of course it was some sort of stupid monster attack. Of course it was. And along with being a monster, it seemed that he wouldn't have the chance to punch it in the face either, as he could just imagine trying to punch a skill would result in his hand being broken.

And of course the room was in absolute chaos. There was hardly any room before, and with the monster and everyone simultaneously throwing things at it, trying to rip the wiring out, like that would be helpful, or trying to hit it with things, there was even LESS room now.

That didn't matter though, since he knew they had to defeat it somehow. Of course he didn't know if there was any plan of action since there was screeching and screaming and the sound of bottles breaking, which meant that Erich was just about free to do whatever he wanted, except for escaping. That was blocked. Of course.

But he was pissed, and the situation was getting worse, and if he had to die then he wouldn't do it by standing there like a coward. He grabbed one of the "handy" crowbars that seemed to have been left around. He didn't ponder whether or not they had been left on purpose, and swung at the creature as hard as he could, while also trying to dodge all of the bottles being thrown.

Only one of those two things worked.