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(( Cruz - Outdoor Picnic Area / Amity, Ronan, Justin, Ian ))

While Ronan took it upon himself to initiate proper greetings and handshakes to the other men, Cruz was thoroughly encapsulated by the friendly frei before him.

"Am-i-ty" he repeated softly, assessing, "Nice to meet you, too! Been waiting." Cruz offered her a genuine smile, no teeth on display, then dipped his head thoughtfully. "I'm Cruz. Is Ami okay? Or do you want your whole name?" Better yet, did she have any other nicknames she preferred? It wasn't a very long name but Cruz was ever fond of shortening to the most easily projectible syllables.

It was a hesitant gesture on his part, at least more hesitant than usual; Cruz started to reach his hand out, pulled it back for barely a second, then moved closer to present his palm to Amity if she were inclined to take it.

((Eden - Picnic Area -> Vesna, Yves & Yuri, LuLu, Aadhira ))

Eden happily hung near her friend and toyed with the rusalka's dark hair a bit. "You look so cute today!" She giggled and squeezed her arm gently before turning to the approaching duo that had stolen Vesna's attention. Not that she minded much, as she didn't have much more to say at the moment. While Vesna greeted the newcomer, Eden offered another bright smile to the rabbit raevan, whose name she'd just overheard when she approached intially: LuLu. "Oh, thank you. Sometimes I don't even realize I'm doing it."

As the wolf raevan, Yuri, made his way over with who she assumed to be his guardian, Eden's lip stretched into a smile. He was adorable! Despite his extremely tall, somewhat intimidating stature, Yuri seemed to be a shy little pup with a quiet bark. Adorable.

But her attention was quickly swept away by another newcomer, the dark raevan with wings like she hadn't seen before. Sure Cesc had somewhat feathery wings, but these were completely different. Pink brows lifted and she floated a bit closer to him while Vesna was preoccupied. "Oh, hello... I don't think I caught your name?" She looked him over quickly, toying with the pendant on her necklace. "I love your hair, it's such a gorgeous color."






(( Ian - Picnic Area -> Justin, Cruz, Ronan & Amity ))

Soon after he'd joined the group, another duo had approached: a man and a raevan, with dark skin and silver hair and -- most notably -- a pair of little dark ears and large wings. She was adorable, really, all happiness and energy. Thankfully Cruz introduced them all to make it easier, and Ian offered a slightly nervous chuckle as he shook Ronan's hand. "Nice to meet you. And you, Amity," he added as the girl introduced herself. He smiled as Cruz attempted to give her a nickname, glad to see them getting along already. He glanced over toward his own raevan, ever the social butterfly with one of the bigger groups at the party. He was pleased to see it was mostly raevans; she needed more friends. Lately she'd been itching to go out and meet new people, which he was simultaneously relieved and hesitant about. But he'd learned quickly that denying Eden's wishes was very difficult.

((LuLu --> Picnic Area // Yves, Yuri, Adahira, Eden, and Vesna ))

LuLu looked between her new acquaintances and said, "Would anyone like... to..." The rabbit's sentence suddenly fell silent. Both her ears swiveled in unison to one direction.

LuLu heard the havoc heading their way just moments before the swarm actually fell upon them. The high pitched hum that formed from the bird's condensed cries caused the sigel's wings flared to their full span. Her bright colors displayed a warning not to come closer. However, her threat went unheeded as the sound grew louder and louder. It practically drowned out the conversation around her.

They were here.

The first bird that attacked narrowly avoided her head. LuLu quickly shooed the frei around her to cover, "GO! Move!"

(( Claire -> Indoor Cafeteria with Henry, Nell, Dr. Kyou, Fisher ))

Claire raised a hand in greeting to both Nell and Dr. Kyou as they entered, all sunshiny smiles. She remembered the personal trainer quite fondly from their brief meeting at the New Years Eve gathering but she had not met the doctor outside of knowing him by sight from the Anniversary Tea party. "Good to see you again, Nell," she called as she and Henry had approached, and she giggled at Dr. Kyou's glowing endorsement of the food laid out. Truthfully, everything looked delicious and she was rather hungry; there had not been much time to grab a quick bite while she was getting ready so she was fairly hungry. "I don't think we can say no to that, don't you agree, Henry?" She beamed up at the taller man she still held onto, hands disengaging to sample, and she caught sight of another unfamiliar face at the table and offered a sheepish wave before she dug in.

The birdsong that had been playing a moment before as background music to the party and its many conversation grew louder, and Claire squinted as she reached for a sampling of mochi, eyes widening at last as the birds descended on the party outside and one of the Freis in the group shouted at the others to move.

A large portion of the flock broke away and swept over their party inside. Chaos was everywhere in loud, shrill calls, there were so many birds and they were so thick inside of the Lab. She shrieked and covered her head with raised arms, swatting the attacking birds away as best as she could but the barrage did not let up.

She called out the two names she knew in turn, trying to find them amidst the brood - "Henry! Nell!" - but it was lost in all the noise.

She could not see for all the birds and ducked down instead, hand over her head. Which way to go? She had to help, she had to find cover, but where could they go? It was impossible to make out any of those options among all that was happening in the room.

((Cesc--> Iorek, Lorenzo, Claire))

Cesc, like Lulu, had heard the squall before it arrived, his ears swiveling on his head toward a noise that made the hair on his neck and arms stand. He frowned as Iorek was speaking and looked up at the sky. Was that a cloud, or...?

Suddenly, it was upon them, faster than he could have anticipated. Rhedefre's mouth hung half-open as he heard the snapping crash of the windows in the Lab, and had barely a moment to ready himself as the birds smashed and swerved through into the courtyard as well.

"Holy s**t!" he spat, and he flared his wings open wide, allowing the sunlight to feed them and help them grow and harden. He snapped off a sunbeam near him, hardening it into a sword--a sword? Was he really going to need that?!-- and started to move. Take cover, Lorenzo had said. Where, exactly? And what the blistering, everloving ******** was going the ******** on?!

"Reks, the Frei!" Cesc yelled, trying to make his way toward them. They, at least, had Lulu's protection, and Iorek, Cesc knew, could certainly handle himself. But as he darted through the cloud of birds, he was swept into their directions, into the Lab. It was hard to see through the movement and chaos as to where individuals were in the building, whether human or Frei. Everything was sputtering black feathers and noise.

The sword he made quickly morphed into a shield, and Cesc battered his way through the birds with force, making way for the closest person he saw--Claire.

"Claire!" he bellowed, moving closer to her. With one arm up, Cesc extended his shielded wing over Claire, looking desperately around himself for a place where they could get away from the birds. He frowned, trying to concentrate: we need some guidance, give me an escape route, give me the safest place, come on--but already a bird or three had crashed into his wings and he ducked wildly to keep one from crashing into his antlers.

(( Aadhira--> Outdoor Area | LuLu, Eden, Vesna, Yuri ))

He had been rather bemusedly listening to everyone as they spoke, but behind his genial expression, he had been sorting them into neat little categories. Aashira preferred things neatly sorted, even people. The comment on his hair had him turning a charming smile onto Eden, and as he looked her over, he almost missed Vesna's words. Had she...? No, that was too conceited even for him. Many words began with "ahd". Just like that, he put the thought aside and looked again at Eden. She was a pretty thing, pink and perfect for such a flowery day. He opened his mouth to speak and a squeaking KA-KAW came out. Aadhira paused. Well, that wasn't right.

Just then, the birds descended.

Like something out of a Hitchcock film they swooped, pecking with sharp, glinting beaks. The girl with bunny ears shouted something, a warning perhaps, but Aadi was too busy swallowing his own shout of surprise to hear. A magpie flew in his face, pecking at the silver ornaments into his hair and he batted it away, receiving a vicious peck in response. Without much other thought, he grabbed someone's hand, and began to sprint (as much as a floating raevan could sprint) towards a table. Even in this confusion, he knew the heroic thing would be to pull someone to safety. It was not as easy as he'd previously dreamed heroic scenarios to be. The birds were everywhere and Aadhira snatched up a picnic blanket as he went, tossing it awkwardly across both of their shoulders. Any raevan who had as lovely hair as he did needed to be preserved.

After what seemed like an eon, they reached one of the tables. "Get under it!" Aadi said, and promptly dove under it. It was a graceless move, but grace was reserved for things that did not not make him bleed. Aadhira turned glowing eyes onto his companion in this bird war.

"Are you alright?"

((Nell - Indoor Cafeteria - Kyou, Fisher, Claire, Henry))

"Good to see you too! What have you been up to lately?" She had gradually moved her way back over to the food table, and had picked up a plate for herself so she could grab a few of the things she had her eye on while readying a plate for Dr. Kyou.

That, of course, didn't last too long. Her hand had been hovering over a plate of something that looked vaguely cake-like when she finally noticed that something was slightly off about the situation. The gradual buzz of conversation in the background had changed slightly, with panic infusing some of the more distant voices, and the softer noises of nature had been completely swallowed by....something. By the time she had put a name to the growing din of bird calls it was a bit too late to avoid them.

The plate clattered to the floor as she dropped it to cover her head with one arm, the other one reaching out blindly in the direction she remembered someone standing in. After what seemed like an eternity her hand closed around someone's arm, and she risked a quick glance from underneath her arm to look around. Birds, of course, were what she mostly saw, but she got a glimpse of Henry, whom she had grabbed, and the man who had waved at them, who she had not. So she grabbed blindly for Fisher as she ducked under the table, trying to pull the two men with her to relative safety.

(( Laz - Xiu & Anya ))

The image of the both of them together under this cherry blossom tree was just perfect for Lazarus. Too perfect in fact, that it wouldn't last long.

The Valsaros didn't realize until it was too late. Red eyes were wide as the birds hit the group furthest from the Lab. Screams ensued, shouts were heard but was swiftly drowned out by the unnatural sound that the swarm of birds created. The first thing that came to his mind was...

"XIU!!!" He grabbed Xiu's wrist and immediately jumped over the waist height fence near them, helping the Sigel over and quickly ducking under a table. He could hear a few sick pelting sounds behind him as some of the birds hit the fence behind them. "Are you alright?" Worried, he checked Xiu to see if he was injured.

And then he heard something else. Something that is not the sound of the birds.

"HELP!"

Turning around under the cramped table, Lazarus peeked out in between the wooden boards of the fence. And among the swarming feathers he saw an approaching Frei.

"ANYA!!!!" Jumping out from his shelter, he hopped over the fence to try and grab Anya. It was getting hectic now that the swarm was upon them, so he had to use his arms to shield his face, wincing as sharp beaks and claws scratched his skin. However, he managed to make his way to the Frei and grabbed her into his arms, turning around and shielding her from the attacking flock. He didn't waste time though as he quickly rushed back to where he came from, with Anya still in his arms he went over the fence and duck under the table next to the one he and Xiu were seeking shelter under earlier.

Since his attention was caught elsewhere, Kyou didn't realize what was happening until the birds had swarmed through the open window next to him. His dessert fork dropped to the plate with a clang that was flooded out by the overwhelming sound of chirping and thousands of wings flapping. He could only duck his head and shield himself with his arms, which he had thankfully slipped out of his crutches earlier.

It didn't take him long to slip himself from the chair and under the table in one swift move. A few strays flew under the tables, but it was much much better than what was happening above. He could only watch helplessly as Nell grabbed Henry and Fisher, ducking under another table nearby.

What in the world was happening?? He has a bad feeling as he watched the birds disappeared beyond the corridor.