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 Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2010 3:02 am
After the man shook his head the rabbit turned her face so that she could look at the front door. Whatever she saw, whatever she heard, she did so with senses outside of his range. And yet he assumed that if, whatever it was, was a zombie or two...hundred, she would know before it arrived and they would have time to react. He expected fear, but she turned back around to him with a smile on her face. A mischievous thing bubbling at the prospect of some most assuredly unsafe action. And then...
“I’m going to check it out!” Max really couldn’t argue with her as her hand was still placed tightly against his face. But neither did he really want to. Madison could handle herself, or at the very least, he could handle anything that came for both of them.
Max followed Madison, but at a walk, with his gun propped up over his shoulder. The bunny ran one direction, and Maximos walked a few steps in the opposite direction attempting to gain his bearings. He read street signs and tried to imagine the town during the day. At least that was what he did until...
“You poor thing...” At which point he turned slowly around. Madison was down and huddled over something. There could not be anything left in this city alive. And Max did not question why she sounded so sympathetic to whatever it was. Instead he found himself asking exactly how long said creature would be sympathetic to her. Surely she remembered the horde that nearly took her life a few hours ago, she wouldnt get all emotional over that would she? Max approached steadily from behind.
And then he saw it. And he understood. And all he could say was. "Oh fleeb."
An animal woman, and a dying animal? It would steal her heart. He did not need his magic eye to see it was dying, or to know what its death meant. How long before its teeth were trying to steal her face? He should have just shot it right then and there, but the emotional damage from such a thing would be more than any life leaf could fix. He couldnt just tell her to leave, he wasnt her father. And if she asked why, could he lie? No. But its wounds were too great. Even without infection it likely would not have survived.
It whimpered, and yet all Maximos could hear were Madison' dying words earlier. He knew which one moved him more, and which one he wanted to avoid. “...What is it?”
Maximos' brow softened, his lips curved into a soft frown. Madison looked almost confused. Max knelt beside her. In a tone befitting a kindergarten teacher he said. "Its called a dog. Its a pet."
"A pet is an animal kept by humans for their enjoyment, usually loved and treated as family until it eventually passes." His left hand never left his gun, one finger stayed within an inch of the trigger. Sympathy painted his voice as prevalent as darkness painted the sky. "...And this one is near passing..." He paused, then clarified. "...near dying."
He paused, just enough for that to sink, but not enough Madison to finish deciding on a reaction before he said. "...Its infected. Just like the people from inside...I'll..."
And then he stopped, shaking his head and laying a hand softly on her shoulder and looking back behind them. "...back that way is forty second street, if you make a right we'll be headed toward the police station...why dont you go on ahead Madison, I'll be along in just second."
Before she even said it, he waited a few seconds and then very softly, and yet with a mote of steely determination, just enough to move it from simple request to a somewhat strong suggestion, Maximos added. "Please, Madison. Go on ahead."
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Posted: Thu Jan 28, 2010 11:12 pm
Max was very serious with her for a moment. This was a life and death situation, which only meant that this was serious business when you were a reaper. Slowly he moved down beside her and continued to and began to explain what was going on, because judging by her face, it really didn’t seem to be clear what was going on. Maximos Maximos' brow softened, his lips curved into a soft frown. Madison looked almost confused. Max knelt beside her. In a tone befitting a kindergarten teacher he said. " Its called a dog. Its a pet." " A pet is an animal kept by humans for their enjoyment, usually loved and treated as family until it eventually passes." His left hand never left his gun, one finger stayed within an inch of the trigger. Sympathy painted his voice as prevalent as darkness painted the sky. " ...And this one is near passing..." He paused, then clarified. " ...near dying.” Her heart sank. She did not like what she was hearing. Lightly, her hand stroked it’s fur as she stared at it. She may have not liked it, but she didn’t argue it. She knew that nature worked in mysterious ways like that. Maximos . " ...Its infected. Just like the people from inside...I'll..." And then he stopped, shaking his head and laying a hand softly on her shoulder and looking back behind them. His hand lightly fell on her shoulder and she turned softly to look at him. It seemed that the man had something on his mind now. Maximos " ...back that way is forty second street, if you make a right we'll be headed toward the police station...why dont you go on ahead Madison, I'll be along in just second." Before she even said it, he waited a few seconds and then very softly, and yet with a mote of steely determination, just enough to move it from simple request to a somewhat strong suggestion, Maximos added. " Please, Madison. Go on ahead." His tone of voice didn’t quite match his face. He was being an adult as he made his point clear. She wasn’t entirely sure what he was going to do, for all she knew he was going to heal him. Perhaps, it was a good idea to take his suggestion. Pushing herself off of the ground, she looked down at him curiously and then to the dog. Whatever Max was gonna do, she knew it was going to be in it’s best interest. “...Try to not make it hurt for him.” The rabbit seemed to know that for whatever reason, Max didn’t want to see what he was going to do next. With her bat in hand, the rabbit quickly scampered away. She didn’t want to delay whatever the man was intending to do. Her boots loudly thumped against the broken cement till finally she reached what appeared to be a two way street. Stopping, the woman looked at the sign and cocked her eyebrow. Maximos may have given the average individual good directions, however Madison was ANYTHING but average. Stopping, the woman looked at both of the ways ever so closely to only realize one misfortune... Both ways looked the same. With a deep breath in, the woman decided to take one of the directions. It seemed that deep down; she really didn’t seem to know where exactly she was going especially considering that she really didn’t know the difference between left or right. Walking down the street, the woman pursed her lips slightly and began to let out a small whistle. It was slightly nervous sounding as she had learned her lesson from last time she had wondered alone through the relics. The sound only echoed as she soon passed what appeared to be an alleyway. Everything was going okay, until finally she heard what appeared to be an unpleasant sound. She couldn’t quite explain it... But it sounded as though someone was growling almost. In fact, she was positive that’s exactly what it was! Her pace slightly quickened as the sound grew louder and louder, which only made her grip tighten around the bat. Peering over her shoulder the rabbit quickly only saw one thing...well more like five things. It was what Max had called “A dog”. However, they did not look as cute and as fluffy as the one she had witnessed earlier. They were growling and bearing their teeth followed by what appeared to be the loud sounds of barking. Large scabs covered their entire body where what appeared fur had once sat as well as glowing eyes which only seemed to be starving for some flesh. And lucky for the rabbit, she was looking rather tasty that evening. With the bat in hand the woman finally stopped and turned to face them. She knew that this bat was nothing more than her friend, and it was still as blood thirsty as before. Their barks echoed just as loudly as her whistle had before; they seemed to be holding their ground for some reason. The five of them versus the one of her. Before she could even to think about what would be her first move, one of them lunged at her.
CRACK!Instinctively the woman swung the bat only causing blood to fly. It seemed that she had managed to break it’s jaw off as it lunged to her with the addition to toss it to the side like yesterday’s laundry. But it seemed as soon as that one made his move, another one followed, and then another. Till finally, she had four of them on her case! As she wiggled to break free, she could feel teeth marks digging into her flesh all over again. Flailing practically, the woman swung her arms and legs about. As the movement of her right leg went, one of the dogs who seemed to have a tasty nibble was forced to let go. With a quick growl the creature attempted to jump back yet again to her and that was something this rabbit couldn’t have. With the creature reaching close enough, she swung her leg causing it to fall back to the ground. But she wasn’t done yet, instead of letting in try again, the woman stomped her foot down into it’s skull. With a loud gooshy sound, a faint whimper let it’s mouth before becoming victim to what was known as her boot. With two of them down, she knew that she only had three more to go! RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIP~One of the dogs who was digging into her shoulder pulled itself off of the woman and fell back to the ground with a piece of fabric and blood in its mouth. With the sight of the Red fabric in its mouth Madison quickly narrowed her eyes. That was her new coat that was in its mouth! And she was not going to have that! Turning to the creature that was digging into her arm in attempts to get what appeared to be a rabbit limb, she released her hand on the bat and swung aiming for the rib cage. With the loud feeling of impact, the dog pulled off and went flying to the side. Whimpering, the final dog clutching onto her leg again fell back with the others and ran to the alleyway. Triumphant for a moment, the rabbit stood over top of what were the remains of two dog corpses. She had done that all by herself! However, the pride quickly faded as she grabbed a hold of her shoulder in pain. That stupid thing managed to take a good chunk out...now she was going have to figure out how she was going to explain this to Max...even worse the mysterious Walter! Grrrrrrr...There was that sound again. Wide eyed, the rabbit looked up and almost fell into a pit of horror. There, in front of her wasn’t the three that had abandoned her for that time being. But rather it was a pack of roughly fifteen of them; however who was really counting in a situation like this? With a nervous laugh Madison did the one thing she knew best. Run!Pushing through the pack the woman ran the direction that she came from. Perhaps, this was merely the wrong street. And naturally, the horde of undead hounds was on her tail. With a loud scream, the woman passed the road she originally stopped at and continued to run. Frantically, the woman began to bang on the doors to the buildings that she was passing. These seemed quite a bit safer than the alternative of being left to their mercy. Bang!
Bang!
Bang!It seemed that each of the doors had been either locked or bolted down, and honestly the rabbit really didn’t have time to try and break them down. And then she found her alternative, higher up in one of the buildings appeared to be what looked as though to be a window, it would have been in the second level of the building, but it was high enough that she knew that the hounds wouldn’t manage to get through as easily. Taking a running start, the woman pushed herself off of the ground and jumped towards it and thanks to her genetics, this looked far cooler than it really should have been.. However, instead of going for the window, it seemed that her aim was off, and she was going flying towards what appeared to be the siding of the building. SHATTER!Well this wasn’t cool! It seemed that the upper level of the building wasn’t like every other building. But rather it was made of glass... Tumbling on the floor, the woman rolled on the floor where the glass had fallen too. The only thing that managed to stop her fall was a table. Once her body hit it, more crashes seemed to follow as brown pots fell to the ground. As she rested on the floor practically panting, the woman could hear the barking from outside. At least... It seemed that she found safety. Hopefully... Max was going to be able to figure out where exactly she had ended up. She only hoped that this wasn’t the wrong spot.
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Posted: Fri Jan 29, 2010 1:51 am
“...Try to not make it hurt for him.” She was leaving, that was good. Max nodded but his eyes never left the fallen canine. His right hand slipped off of his gun and laid gently on its shoulder.
Madison did not need to see this. As far as she need know this was an innocent creature dying an innocent death. She had killed creatures earlier today, but those were infected and "evil". As it stood, the bunny was having her sanity challenged, but it need not be thrown entirely out of whack by having the cruel and unfair reality of the world shoved in her face. Or...by the care in her tone, impaled through her heart.
She counted the footfalls and measured her strides until he could not hear her anymore and assumed she was out of range. Even for her ears. Maximos' face was solid, if she looked back she would note that his posture had not changed even the slightest bit. But the cold air sent shivers down his right arm where black blood had begun to seep from bandaged burn scars. He could taste the primal, instinct-driven frenzy blustering the beast, tearing apart what little mind it had and ravaging its flesh all the same.
Its eyes were beginning to glow unnaturally, flickering glimmers in its black depths. It was trying to growl and bark, if not for the hand crushing down on its side and sucking away what little life force it had left, it might have made a sound. But it didnt. It hadnt the strength. Maximos let his gun go, his left hand moved to the crown of the dogs head and softly stroked it. Very softly he spoke.
"By the sweat of your brow you will eat..." Its mouth opened and shut. The very last glimmers of light faded from its corpse. Like a beast pouncing prey he felt the infection take hold. Against its better instincts the dogs mouth began to open and shot, not breathing but gnashing its enlarged fangs. Maximos hand pressed down harder, keeping it pinned. From where his hand touched it came blackness. Where the infection made its lifeless body blistered and cut, Maximos' touch made it blackened and tainted. "...until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken."
The black spread like cancer. The veins which once carried life blood now carried infectious pitch material. Where the black magic born plague that infested Barton was trying to take hold, something darker and vile overcame it. "For dust you are..."
In moments the dog appeared to be cracking apart. Fissures of black laced across its form, its shoulder, then leg, then midsection and hips and now finally its head was turning jet black. It no longer moved, instead it was frozen. Its flesh appearing to now be made of some sort of ashy obsidian. Its head whipped wildly, its neck bent to try and snap at Maximos' hand but in futility. The Shadow kept his grip, and with his other hand continued to stroke its head. The darkness reached its ears...its jaw...its eyes. Maximos' arm began to buck and spasm of its own accord. "...and to dust you will return."
All at once the dog dissolved into a pile of black ashy dust in the outline of a canine form. Where once Maximos' arm was simply bleeding, now that blood seemed alive, it peeled off of his arm, and soaked through his sleeve and soon what was a simple limb was now a mass of thrashing tiny black hands reaching hungrily out at the air with new life.
He looked down at the ash somberly, his left hand sloshing through the pile where a head once was.
"Fear not..." He said with a devious smirk. Two glowing eyes stared up at him from the dust. "...it is only your body that dies."
--
In all honesty, the chances of finding Madison as she wandered near aimlessly through Barton Town was impossible. Even with his eye there was just too much space and too much matter in the way for Maximos to even know where to begin. He found blood in one alley. Torn fabric in another. He had no way of knowing which alley was visited first or if her attackers had simply lost the fabric in the chase. On top of all of this, Madison was likely running for her life and was several times faster than he was. He would never be able to keep up, even with jets.
For all intents and purposes the situation was mostly hopeless.
The only real hope they had of finding Madison, was if somehow someone had managed to make an extreme amount of racket, the sort of which would wake most of the city. Like a dozen dogs howling away at a rabbit on the second floor.
And that was exactly what Madison would hear in the darkness, barking, and growling and more barking and then...
WOOF!
One bark. It echoed down the street like thunder and in its wake not a single other bark followed. And then there was a voice, speaking some sort of gibberish. Madison was alone in her second story perch...and then she wasnt.
The shape moved so quietly even her ears could not detect it. It simply morphed in from no where. But there it was. The outline of a dog was unmistakable, but this dog was twice the size of the dogs below. It stood in the shadow a nearby overturned table and it peered directly at her with deep violet eyes that looked less like eyes and more like two burning lights. And then it growled baring porcelain white teeth against its jet black fur.
It was too big to run around, and crouched as if ready to pounce at a moments notice with the same sort of stealth and speed that allowed it up here without her knowing.
It advanced...slowly...but surely.
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Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2010 11:26 am
She’s so dizzy...
Her head is spinning. After lying on the rickety dirt covered floor boards for a few minutes the rabbit sat up and looked around at her new found surroundings. From every angle she could see nothing but what appeared to be green. Beneath the rows and rows of green seemed to sit various tanks holding some sort of liquid to keep whatever green she could see. With every breath that she took, the smell of earth filled her lungs. It was a warm cozy feeling. She grinned happily for that moment as her focus continued till finally she met with a pair of rather unpleasant eyes.  ... Good feelings gone. Madison jumped slightly on the spot she was sitting in and attempted to crawl away from it. However, thanks to the spot she was sitting at there was a table leg in the way. She didn’t want to make any subtle movements as it may spark something within the beast, however she didn’t want to leave herself completely defenceless. And sadly she was now considering that she really seemed to be having an issue with holding onto things in this city. First her own baggage full of stuff and now she was lacking her bat which she probably managed to drop as she fled away from the beasts from earlier. She had nothing to really say to it either; she had never had a dog thus finding a way to comfort the beast was difficult. Instead, as slow as the large mammoth of a canine was moving, she dug into her coat with her right hand. She was fiddling with the pockets attempting to unbutton one of the pockets on the inside. She was only hoping that she still had some of her old surprises from her other coat. And then she looked less frightened than before, she had found what she was looking for. SCHWING! With a sharp movement of her arm she extended what appeared to be her other alternative of weaponary. However, this was definitely not viewed to be a conventional item. Yes, it was a spoon. In fact it was exactly one of the same ones that was sitting upstairs of the apartment building where they stopped to feast. Either way, Madison was acting as though it was nothing more than a sword that belonged to a brave warrior. Her arm was firm as well as her face. Yes, there was fear in her eyes, in fact that was possibly the only thing that anyone else could see. And yet, her hand was still unsteady... She wasn’t going to go out without a fight.
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Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2010 12:35 am
What most people do not know is that a knife is not the sharpest item at the dinner table. Its the spoon, it curved blade can attack and scoop out flesh in a far more brutal manner. And this one was no different, the dog leaped through the air at Madison and...
ARF!
It crumpled to the floor beside her whining and pawing at its face where a spoon was now projecting out of its eye. The dog rolled and thrashed and gave Madison a rather good look at it. It had a thick leather collar around its neck, and silky black fur. As it wriggled the fur moved and Madison would be able to see lines like tattooes under its fur running across most of its body. The whining rolled into growls that echoed menacingly across the room and soon the dog was rolling to its feet. Madison might have had the idea that it was time to go for the kill. Before that, a voice rang out from the window behind her. It said.
"Wocky down!" And the dog stopped dead in its track and looked at the man behind Madison. His name was Maximos, and he was slipping a fresh black leather glove over his hand, his other glove appeared to be missing a large strip of material. "Sorry he gets excited."
Max stepped forward, he knelt beside the dog and adjusted its collar, ruffled its face and...found a spoon. In its eye. He let out a dejected sigh. "Come now Madison, is this how you treat all of your toys?"
He removed the spoon promptly, there was no blood. "I mean, its wonderful to see you alive, but I could never have found you if Jabberwocky here hadnt caught your scent. And scared off the other hounds. I believe you owe him an apology." And glove hands moved to ruffle the dogs neck, it let out a happy sound and licked Maximos' face. But it still only had one glowing violet eye. Dogs run on instinct, a set of pre programmed codes and laws that define every action. While using these codes some animals develop individuality but the core of a canine's soul is instinct. When the body dies, that instinct may be preserved, but never replicated. The eyes are the windows to the soul...Madison had taken out a window, and well...it just could not be replaced. Maximos was smirking however.
"Really though, did you have to run half way across the town?" He chuckled and offered her back the spoon. "Clearly, I cant leave you alone for two minutes so...I made you a pet."
And from his pocket Maximos produced a small whistle with a J engraved on it. It was a dog whistle. "Just blow, and he'll come to you."
Dogs require alot of maintenance. They need love, cleaning, feeding, medical attention. Thankfully however, this was not a real dog. The instinct and soul of a dog in a nice neat dog shaped construct. Like a high-tech dog doll, only magic. Woof. Woof. "He's a good puppy."
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Posted: Thu Feb 04, 2010 10:46 pm
THUNK!
ARF!Madison totally didn’t expect the spoon to actually fly out of her hand, than again she was pretty accident prone. As soon as the spoon made contact the beast hit the floor and began to whine and fall to the floor which only caused her to wince. This did only provide her one option though, a chance to escape! Slowly, she stood to her feet and was about to make her leave before she heard a rather unpleasant sound. It was a growl. Which to most people it probably would have sounded as though the dog was becoming defensive. But to Madison, this was nothing but a bloodcurdling life sentence. With a gulp she was ready to bolt, down the stairs and around the corner and then to find the Shadow man. That was definitely the development of an ingenious plan! Her legs were placed in the bolting position till something fell into her ear like a needle being dropped on the floor. Maximos " Wocky down!" And the dog stopped dead in its track and looked at the man behind Madison. His name was Maximos, and he was slipping a fresh black leather glove over his hand, his other glove appeared to be missing a large strip of material. " Sorry he gets excited."
Blink. It was almost like Max knew exactly where this beast had come from. This was really surprising because she never did really see the origin of this poor pooch; he just kinda appeared like most things in this place. The rabbit seemed almost uneasy, especially when the man noticed the additional dinner utensil that she had added to it’s face. Maximos " Come now Madison, is this how you treat all of your toys?" Toy? Last she checked this thing wasn’t a toy, it was more of a large ball of fluff that could have possibly swallowed her in a few bites. But the man was very careful with the dog’s wounds as he removed her weaponry, and yet there was no blood. Only more darkness for where the silver had sat. Maximos " I mean, its wonderful to see you alive, but I could never have found you if Jabberwocky here hadnt caught your scent. And scared off the other hounds. I believe you owe him an apology." Really though, did you have to run half way across the town?" He chuckled and offered her back the spoon. " Clearly, I cant leave you alone for two minutes so...I made you a pet." “Well you see...I turned the way you said. Or at least I think I did...but anyways. There were these dogs and they were growling and nipping and so I fought them off. But there were like five. And they all pounced at once. And they were biting and scratching like this! And Look what one did! He wrecked my coat!” Her arms flew around as she spoke with quite a bit of enthusiasm. With every word she spoke the woman made actions with her hands. Even when she mentioned the clawing and scratching she made the motions with her hands and face as though she was biting into something, thus showing off her lovely bucked teeth. And than finally, both of her white hands fell onto the shoulder of her coat where it was clear that a dog managed to take both a chunk of fabric and flesh out of her. “It was terribly rude of them.” She sounded almost rather offended as her hand reached over for the spoon. Pulling the utensil closer, she than looked back up at Max with almost a saddened expression on her face. She felt bad for the new things she had gotten, both for her coat that the infamous Walter had made and now for poking out her new found creature’s eye. “I’m sorry I damaged the coat...and I’m sorry that I hurt you Wocky.” Madison moved slightly closer towards the dog offering a form of apology. However, the black furred dog let out a loud growl. Apparently he wasn’t quite over the fact that she did poke his eye out and the reaction only caused her to pull away rather quickly. But she couldn’t really blame him, it was her fault that he had shut a different outlook on life. As she returned to her position, she noticed that Max had pulled out what appeared to be a small silver cylinder. Examining it slowly, she did see the figure and stared at it before looking over. It was quite clear that the lovely marking for Jabberwocky’s name was unknown to her like many things that she seemed to face through their adventure together. Maximos " Just blow, and he'll come to you." “He...won’t bite me or anything...will he?”Despite all of the creatures that this girl had ever faced, all of the monsters and demons that lurked in her mind, it seemed that this dog was one of the things that made her knees shake. She could just tell by the look in its one eye that he could eat her in two chomps if he wanted too. Despite her fesars there was still comfort within this situation. Maximos seemed to be rather comfortable with it as he was constantly providing Jabberwocky pets and praise. Maybe... He wasn’t so bad after all... Shyly she placed the metal whistle against her lips and let it rip. Instead of hearing a loud blare like a hockey whistle would often release. Instead, there was... well nothing! To normal human ears, there may have been the deafening sound of a small high pitch. However, human and rabbit ears were very different. But to Madison she heard nothing. After pulling the whistle out of her lips, she looked at it in a shocked fashion. Looking down the barrel she shrugged and smacked it a few times thinking it was clogged. All the while, she paid no attention to Maximos or Jabberwocky and their reactions. Quickly, she attempted to make a sound. And... Nothing. “Huh... I think I broke it." And she just got it too!
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Posted: Fri Feb 05, 2010 1:45 am
“Well you see...I turned the way you said. Or at least I think I did...but anyways. There were these dogs and they were growling and nipping and so I fought them off. But there were like five. And they all pounced at once. And they were biting and scratching like this! And Look what one did! He wrecked my coat!” Working on Wocky was all Max could do to keep from breaking out in a chorus of uncontrolled laughter. Never had a near death experience been made to sound so absolutely adorable. Max caught glimpses of Madison's most lively performance, taking special note of the hilarious way she described being pounced, and the bucked tooth gnawing that was her biting and scratching experience. Part of him felt he should have been shocked and perhaps a bit more protective over her injuries, but the woman had proved nothing if not that she could take a beating and just keep going, and going, and going and goi--anyway.
“It was terribly rude of them.” Maximos nodded firmly. He was busy doing something to Jabberwocky's face. The dog turned its head sideways and Maximos was touching his eye, and cheek, and neck, and where his fingers touched the runes painted on the dog's skin seeped violet light through his fur. "Yes, yes it was."
“I’m sorry I damaged the coat...and I’m sorry that I hurt you Wocky.” Madison moved slightly closer towards the dog offering a form of apology. However, the black furred dog let out a loud growl. Madison had absolutely no way of knowing that right now Wocky was having his senses toyed with in a way he absolutely did not enjoy and that that growl was for his creator and not for her. Not yet anyway.
Before Madison could pull completely away, the Shadow reached out and poked the sleeve of her jacket. There was a crackle and a pop like static and a small violet charge bounced from Maximos' finger to the red material. Like tiny snakes threads began to slither from either side of the vicious chomp and intertwine with each other, slowly, but surely reconstructing the ruined fabric.
"When you live like we do, clothing gets damaged rather easily. So I've improvised some improvements, if it happens again just leave it in a dark place for a while and it will be all better, I promise." And with a poke he simply proved there was no need for any apology. And then Max pulled away from the canine construct and offered Madison the whistle."Just blow, and he'll come to you."
“He...won’t bite me or anything...will he?” Max quickly shook his head and then flipped his pack around his shoulder and began rifling through it. There was something he wanted, something he was looking for that he absolutely could not find and until he did it seemed to be stealing his main focus away.
Madison blew the whistle once, and while Maximos seemed unfazed, Wocky immediately jumped to his feet and barked. Moonlight shimmered over the wet spot where his eye should have been and greatly detracted from his attempt at an epic doggy pose. Another blow, well...now he was confused. Why was she calling him if he was already here? Wocky ran around in a circle and then stopped in the same pose and barked again.
“Huh... I think I broke it." Ruffle, ruffle, ruffle. The pack moved, items being pulled out and put back in and turned over and opened.
"Aha! Found it!" Max proclaimed and quickly held something black up, and then immediately moved to the Shadow Dog's face. His back and shoulders momentarily blocked the view to what he was working on, but his hands moved with a certain methodical swiftness and then he stepped back and said. "Now that is stylish!"
And gestured excitedly to Jabberwocky. If Coolness had a rating, the dog's just went up by a hundred thousand percent. He was cooler than cool. Cooler than ice cold. He was so cool he was hot, and so hot he was arctic. There was just no measure for him. Because right now, he was up looking at Madison with one rather snazzy glowing violet eye...and one even snazzier black eye patch over the other. Max smirked and in a very low voice said to himself. "I'm sure Dizzy wont mind..."
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Posted: Fri Feb 05, 2010 10:18 pm
The rabbit’s attention bounced over to the howling that was coming from Jabberwocky. It seemed that Maximos lied to her! He didn’t exactly run over to her, but rather simply run in circles as he wasn’t entirely sure what the rabbit wanted. Placing the whistle back in her pocket, the rabbit took notice of the dog as he waited her command. Slowly, her hand moved closer towards it as though to try and make first contact. She had made her apology, so this was probably going to be a lot easier than what she attempted to do before hand. “That’s a good boy...” She smiled and continued forwards. Finally, after reaching a little bit, the dog moved from is pose and began to sniff what appeared to be her own paw. He was curious, cause let’s face it. Madison didn’t exactly smell like what most humans should have, she smelt more of fur that belonged to a small animal as well as having the smell scent of what appeared to be caffeine oddly enough. It was strange, and yet the beast seemed to be greatly intrigued! He was getting closer. Closer... Closer... With these words, Maximos quickly shoved her hand away and began to do what appeared to be the work of a mad scientist. The only thing she could hear was the sound of a whine and than some ruffling. The rabbit practically frowned; they were so close on bonding! Ah well, she was absolutely certain that the man had something up his sleeve. And goodness! Was she ever right! Maximos " Now that is stylish!" And gestured excitedly to Jabberwocky. If Coolness had a rating, the dog's just went up by a hundred thousand percent. He was cooler than cool. Cooler than ice cold. He was so cool he was hot, and so hot he was arctic. There was just no measure for him. Because right now, he was up looking at Madison with one rather snazzy glowing violet eye...and one even snazzier black eye patch over the other. Max smirked and in a very low voice said to himself. " I'm sure Dizzy wont mind..." The rabbit’s jaw dropped as she looked at her new found dog. She had almost forgotten about that patch, and now he was looking rather snazzy. Madison laughed and clapped with joy! Clearly, he had her approval. “He’s like a pirate!” It was funny to think that Madison knew more about zombies and pirates than she did about simple things like household pets and what certain food groups were. Nevertheless, she seemed to have that knowledge as she slowly started making small pirate noises sounding very close to the letter r and various slang words that most ladies of her calibre probably shouldn’t know. “"Avast! Yon wench has the breath of a heated dead whale!"´ Despite how inappropriate she was being, it really didn’t seem that she knew what she was saying except for the fact that it sounded rather goofy as she soon started giggling. With her hand she made a small hook like shape and began to swing it around as though she were in fact a pirate. Excitedly, it seemed that Jabberwocky was in on this pirate business. As she moved swinging her arm the dog barked rather loudly and hopped around both Max and herself. With a swift swing upwards, she swung her arm up and held up to his face as though she was threatening him. “Arrr matey, shouldn’t we be moving to find the lost bloody treasure of me past?” Yes, perhaps it was a good suggestion. Afterall, the two of them had waster so much time playing games with the undead creatures that they almost forgot why they came there for! Roses and a file. And currently. ... Neither of them had either.
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Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 2:11 am
Good, good. Everything appeared to be in order.
Jabberwocky had stylish head gear and his new master. Madison had become a pirate. Everyone was in high spirits and it was an absolutely lovely night to sit and take in the breeze as it poured through shattered glass in the rot filled nightmare town that was Barton.
Right...some of these things were not like the others. Beside, the dread pirate Madison was right, and following her colorful statement Maximos smiled and nodded to the affirmative. Moving would be a great idea. And he told her so! "Excellent plan Ms. Madison!"
Only...where?
Maximos had followed a particular shadowy canine here, he had payed attention to almost no street signs as he was focusing on find Madison, hopefully alive and well. He had...no idea where he was. He had to be tactful with this kind of thing, Barton was not a place you want to get lost in. "So...Madison..."
He said, idly adjusting his glasses and looking out of the broken second story window. He paused, waiting very patiently for the moment to build and for the exact proper wording to come to him. And then he said. "We're lost."
And nodded rather stoutly.
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Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 9:56 pm
Such grim words. Madison had stopped her imitation and looked over to Max slowly and straightened her posture to return to her original state. From where she was standing the moonlight only poured in from where she was standing causing her hair to shimmer ever so lightly and gave her skin a lighter glow. She almost looked doll like now as the moon continued to pool it’s rays onto her, simply delicate and fragile. Slowly she placed her cut up hand against her chin and examined the hole that she had managed to make with her body. She had lost her image of delicateness and was something more than that. “You know, I don’t think we’re lost...” Her voice broke the silence that the two of them had for the small moment. She must have been an optimist or something as this was a completely new area of the city that they had not ventured too, and thanks to the rabbit, she had managed to shake things up a little more than before. “We’re both right here!” Surrounding the three of them were tables which were almost lined up as though they were walking within a graveyard. Each table was almost in a bowl shape as they held soil and were each filled with what were once living plants. Marking each type sat a small sign written in green ink. Tilting her head to the side, Madison began to mouth the words cautiously and with care as her eyes fell over each letter. “S-s-s-s-s-sc-c-c-c-c-c-a-a-a-ar-let Car-s-s-s-s-sons” The rabbit’s face slightly contorted as she spoke each of the syllables out. Poking her head up, the rabbit smiled rather widely at Max. It wasn’t exactly reading, but it was quite a bit better than what she had be uttering out beforehand. Leaning against the table top, the woman began to exam what appeared to be a wilted dark red plant. Even in its state, there was still an element of beauty to it as each of its petals was delicately draped towards the ground. “How pretty...” With her hand, Madison slowly attempted to touch the delicate item without breaking it. Once her finger made contact with the fine green stem it did nothing more than crumble into the nothingness and down into the earth below it. Standing to her feet, the rabbit looked over to see if she could find where the Shadow man had disappeared off too. Whether he had decided to take it upon himself to examine the room as well was hard to say. However, Madison did notice that her new found pet had seemed to find comfort with sitting beside her. “Hey Max, I think we are in a house full of gre-“ BANG! The door that had been locking out the undead world outside swung open. Instantly the wolf beside the rabbit began to growl as Madison’s head moved towards the door. But instead of seeing another horde, there was something else. Before even getting to take a good look of whatever had infiltrated the room let out another loud bang which was very similar to what Max was caring on his person. Whatever it was, it was aiming for the both of them as the gunshots were first of all going towards the taller man. If it hit or not was another story. All the rabbit knew was that she was next. Almost frantic, the woman ducked down and hid beneath the table as more shots were beginning to fire. Clearly, they weren’t a very good shot.
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Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2010 2:11 am
Maximos' words did indeed have a sort of grimness to them. In the end, an adventure was a series of dips and highs, and so what was the point of it all if there was no grimness. Oh, sure, he could have just scaled the nearest building and found the station, or flew high above and mapped out the city. But the fun...where was the fun in that? He looked over at Madison. The white light of the moon looked like something so much more than she was when this journey began. She looked older, more serious. A certain level of fragility had been torn from her personage and in its place was something else. Maximos couldnt quite name it, but it made him smile as he turned to look out the broken window at the street below. His eyes scanned corners for street signs. “You know, I don’t think we’re lost...” Her voice broke the silence that the two of them had for the small moment. There was a wealth of optimism in her voice against he grim future Maximos had presented with the notion of being lost. She seemed happy. He wondered if maybe, beneath the bunny exterior if some old memory had surfaced. Had she been here before? Before everything? Did she know this place and perhaps suddenly the way back home? He smiled a curious smile. " Oh no?" He, asked leaning through the opening in the window to take a measure of the street below. “We’re both right here!” At which point Maximos promptly face palmed. He shook his head, laughed heartily and began walking to the opposite corner of the room. He was not trying to avoid the woman, rather if he saw more of the street below he was confident he might be able to find his bearings and set them back on the right course. He did not see where Madison went, but he felt confident walking at least a few feet away with Jabberwocky beside her. “S-s-s-s-s-sc-c-c-c-c-c-a-a-a-ar-let Car-s-s-s-s-sons” Maximos paused. The name meant something to him. He did not turn to face Madison, but spoke anyway continuing to scan the streets below. " Scarlet Carson's. They're a kind of rose. A flower, genetically engineered from the Violet Carson." Max's mouth quirked. Genetically engineered girl. Genetically engineered flower. Fitting. “How pretty...” He could not see what she was doing behind him, but he did nod and add an. " Indeed. Though technically Scarlet Carson's do not exist...Odd that we should...." And then his voice sort of trailed off. A zombie or two shuffled by the street below just as unaware of Maximos' location as he was. He did not honestly even believe he had been to this part of town before. Was it made when the city was destroyed? No. Modern day cities were just confusing to him, as confusing as a modern person might find navigating a forest to be. “Hey Max," Abandoning the window Max began to turn lazily back to Madison. "I think we are in a house full of gre-“ BANG! It all happened so fast. Too fast. There was a loud noise. Automatically Maximos drew his gun. He was clumsy and new with it and so the drawing action lacked any of the grace and fluidity that came with drawing a sword. It took a bit to find the trigger, to aim properly, his finger missed its goal initially slipping past the trigger loop as he raised the weapon and set his sights on the door. And then there was a second bang. Maximos could not dodge bullets. He could, dodge guns. But the trick with dodging guns is that you had to see where it was, and where it was aimed before it was fired. The Shadow was not given that luxury. There was a bang, and then everything smashed into painfully slow motion. He never saw the bullet, but he felt the searing white hot pain as the super heated metal projectile kissed his shoulder. He felt the stabbing jolt as it punctured the meat of the joint. He dropped his gun as if it were suddenly to heavy but its black leather strap held, leaving it to dangle. He felt, as if seconds were hours, as it bored its way through skin, and muscle and meat and then ground to a visceral halt somewhere before exiting his back. Max reacted like he would have reacted to any hit. His body tensed, his teeth grit. Maximos' eyes sharpened on the door, his right eye in particular ignited like a furious torch casting plumes of white along the side of his face. A bullet was not just any hit. Maximos had never been shot with a gun before. It hurt so much more than an arrow. So much more than he was expecting in fact, that the delayed force of the blast made him stagger back a step or two and begin to wobble a moment or two before his knees began to give out. Max, as a man, was ready to fall to the floor and take a defensive position and reassess his enemy and their location. That was the strategic advantage here, to pretend he had been hit and strike unexpectedly. But Max was not alone. And the shots had not stopped. Madison, she was out there. And he had promised to protect her. She did not stand a chance against this sort of pain, and neither did her new pet. It was about halfway through his drop that Maximos realized that he could not afford to fall. He could not feel his left arm either, but that did not matter. He had to move, he had to strike. His teeth gnashed together and his face became the very picture of willful relentless determination. The face of the Shadow of Death. All at once Maximos tossed his body weight forward. One leg fell under him, then the other, and then came the next step and the next and within a couple steps Maximos was up to his famed blur-of-black speed. Bang! Bang! Bang! He couldnt take time to duck and dodge Maximos ran straight forward. His left arm hung limp at his side paralyzed by dull pulses of pain and bleeding profusely. An artery? It had to be. He had no time to Shadowstitch it closed. Max leaped over a chair, leaped on to a broken desk and then off crushing debris under his racing feet. A bullet grazed his leg, another whizzed by his cheek drawing a burned line. He squinted, blurring view of his target. He could not make out what they were, or who, only that their soul was a glowing beacon in the night that he was about to extinguish if that gun was not dropped in two seconds. Promptly he placed his boot on the very table Madison had been investigating, knocking over several flowers in the process. His right arm snapped to backwards under his coat and to the small of his back where Sha'yd lie, and he dove off the table at the doorway. There would be a flash of silver and the 1ft long shortblade that was Sha'yd would be drawn. She sung as she exited the sheath, the moonlight dancing along her glass blade even as it moved to its target's throat. If all went right Maximos would be pressed up against someone or something, shoving them against the nearest wall with his left arm while his right pressed Sha'yd against their wind pipe. He pressed with the flat of the blade so that the pressure lessened their oxygen, but with the blade angled so that at a moments notice they would be cut and drowning in their own blood. With each breath, if the target did indeed breath, Sha'yd's scalpel sharp edge would deliver a small cut to the neck. Enough to scare anyone into realizing it was not time to play around. If not, Maximos' face was a mask of death impending and his eye blazing white as it bore down them unforgiving. All of this force was probably unnecessary. This could have very easily been some scared kid who got off a lucky shot. But Maximos was lethal. Killing was what he did. And he did it well. As he was about to demonstrate. Innocent or not, lives had been threatened. He could not feel the finger's of his left hand and the pain was like nothing he had felt before but that could not matter right now. The wetness gathering in his glove had to be pushed aside as a nuisance. Only now did Maximos pause with cold eyes to take in his attacker. Only now did he emotionlessly speak, looking directly into his attacker's eyes. He, she, it, had seconds. If even. These were the eyes of man who did not give second chances. " Release your weapon or your life is forfeit."
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Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2010 10:15 pm
Madison quickly covered her ears as she heard the gunshots began to fire from beneath the table she was hiding under. She was holding her breath as she than looked forwards to see something that made her heart sank and fill with rage. Maximos had been shot. As he stumbled Madison felt her legs freeze stiff and prevented her moving. The sight before her had begun to change again similar to what had happened on the rooftop. However, things were slightly different than before. Everything had become far darker than before and she was only able to see through a little slit of light. Within the light, there was a room filled with such liveliness and warmth as well as a woman standing within the middle. Slowly, the woman turned to face the door, however Madison could see nothing but her ruby lips. The smell of freshly baked bread and flour filled her nostrils as the lips formed into a large smile. “Sweetheart..I need you to stay here and to be very quiet. Yes. We are playing hide and go seek. I’ll be right back.” Despite how reassuring the idea may have been, it did not sound very convincing. There was fear in her voice, almost as though this may have been the last time she was speaking to her. With a final look of reassurance, the woman wandered off from out of sight. Perhaps, she was going to go count! Instantly, the light had disappeared and fell to the cold dark room. The only thing that filled her ears now was the sounds of a shrilled scream as well as struggling. It almost sounded as though someone was in danger. And then there was silence. With all of the commotion that was going on around her, she could not hear anything. She was waiting, waiting for that woman to come back.
THUNK! CRASH! BANG!
Jabberwocky quickly began to howl as Maximos took his leap off of the table and jump towards their attacker. As the sounds began to happen all around them, the rabbit snapped back into reality. Suddenly she found that the ground she was on had a thick layer of soil now added to it as well as fallen plants and pots. There were more gunshots as then there was the song of the blade moving through the air. What had she missed as she spaced out? Maximos " Release your weapon or your life is forfeit." Maximos meant business at this moment, Madison had never even heard him use this sort of voice but it even caused fear to strike in her heart. Slowly, the rabbit poked her head over the table edge to try and see if she could witness what was going on. There, Max did indeed have someone pinned, however, despite all the demands he didn’t seem so willing to compromise. Simply by looking at his face it was quite clear that he wasn’t anywhere near sane as his smile was almost twisted and deranged. His long blond mullet like hair style almost added to his insanity as he it covered most of the scars on his face. The clothes he wore were torn and he was nowhere near clean as the thick dirt almost could have been considered another piece of clothing. He wasn’t a big man, but he was still of average size. In fact, if he was a bit cleaner cut, he would have blended into the norms of the world around him. “Looks like we’re going to be eating tonight.” He but on another grin, this was filled with another level of sinister as he bore his teeth to show teeth that were specifically altered for one thing...ripping flesh.
BANG.Despite Max’s brave attempt, there was something that he seemed to be forgetting. The man was still very much armed. And so the shadow man had learned the hard way, as he had pushed himself against the man it seemed that the barrel of the shotgun had been placed in between them and into the Shadow’s stomach. As the echo filled the room Madison let out what appeared to be a scream as tears formed in her eyes. Max had been shot at again. And this time... The man had no room to miss.
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Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2010 11:11 pm
Maximos was a killer. Dyed in the wool. Cold. Methodical.
Maximos killed many things in his lifetime. Monster's. Fiend's. Creature's. God's. There were things in this world and another, that could kill you by looking at you. There were things that could slaughter you simply because for a breath or a half a breath you forget that those quills were poisonous, or that the bolt in your armor had come half an inch loose. Or even because you misjudged the length of your sword, by the breadth of a hair. Ancient times forced a man to be precise to the further extent of his capability, or die. It taught a man that nothing, no nothing was a detail that could be forgotten. And when killing, unlike when simply fighting, you did nothing in excess. You did everything, and brought everything required for the job to be performed exactly. No less or more. Killing was an art. And Maximos was an artist.
The modern day had not evolved more efficient killers even as it evolved more efficient deaths. A bullet could kill you but required only that you point and pull, at its finest a gun could never match the beauty and finesse of a blade. That was way Maximos used a blade. That was why, while earlier stated, Maximos could not dodge bullets...he could dodge guns. He could always dodge guns.
Simply put, from his eye, to his knife, to the straight direction of his charge. Maximos forgot nothing. He noticed, everything. His plan was flawless save for one detail. He had offered his target mercy. And killing and mercy do not go hand in hand. And so mercy was delivered in a knife wielding hand, a knife a weapon able to dispatch any enemy with full efficiency and speed at closest range, unlike a sword.
Maximos' right eye was not for show, its activation was a very key element to any assassination. It read emotions, and deceptions, and it read the flow of life through the body. It could tell when someone was lying. It could tell someone's motivations through vague colors. If Madison could see Maximos' face she would see the dull glow of orange that was hunger reflecting off the lenses of his soul-sight-aiding glasses.
"Release your weapon, or your life is forfeit." It was a straight forward and simple command.
“Looks--" Was the only sound the man would get out. Because speaking, even breathing was not releasing your weapon. The man also spoke in the normal Gaian tongue revealing that he understood Maximos and deliberately ignored the terms. Ergo, his life was forfeit. Even the strike was surgical. Maximos did not slit the man's throat, but rather he pressed the blade's tip straight in so that its scalpel-sharp edge cut through the wind pipe and slipped straight through the vertebrae at the base of the skull, just below the ears. And it severed the spine there in a heartbeat of a strike. His eye allowed his aim to be precise.
Military sniper's aim for this spot because once severed the brain cannot send any twitch commands to the body. Slicing a throat requires a man to bleed out. Shooting them in the head, leaves room for them to twitch or for their brain to fire a spasmic command that may or may not result in a last minute trigger pull. This particular strike left no such reaction. The brain's contact to the body was immediately severed. One could not even send signals to the nervous system in order to scream, gasp, or breath. The body dropped, and then in silence it choked on its own inability to draw breath and died. The initial cut did not pierce the jugular meaning it did not bleed profusely or any more than any neck cut might.
As planned, for Madison, Maximos was pressing a man against the wall. And then suddenly the man would go very still and Maximos would lay him down on the ground. Discreetly the shadow would wipe his blade along in the inside of the man's collar while making it appear he was steadying his head. And then he would shut the poor fool's eyes and say. "Rest in peace."
Cannibalism did not come naturally. You had to torture and force the body to make it happen. This gun man was not a testament to man's darkness as much as he was a sign of how dark Barton had become. He was better off in the next life. Madison was better off not knowing.
The Shadow stood, he turned around to face the bunny and sheathed his knife. "Madison, I think we had better..."
Maximos had been shot, once, devastating an artery. The bullet was still inside. You do not run full tilt and attack with a bleeding artery. You do not make your heart pump. You seek immediate medical attention...which he had not. Neither had he taken the time to stitch himself. Maximos was bleeding a varitable fountain from his left shoulder which had mostly soaked his sleeve and was visibly trickling like a faucet down down from his fingertips. He took three steps forward and promptly fell face first onto the ground. Before he hit the ground he was already unconscious from blood loss. And as he sat, a puddle was forming from his wounded shoulder.
He needed a minute.
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Posted: Sat Feb 13, 2010 12:46 am
Madison didn’t walk. She ran. Before Max’s unconscious body could even hit the ground, Madison was already by his side. He had kept her safe, and now it was time for her to return the favour. With her arms around his torso, the rabbit attempted to hold him up. But quite frankly, he was much too heavy in comparison to the skin and bone like body that she had. And yet, she still held onto him and she was never going to let go. Gently, she moved him down to the ground as though she really didn’t want to cause anymore damage to him. Removing her jacket, she quickly provide the man with a head rest as he rested on the ground. It was time to get to work. Despite her time there were a few things that she did manage to learn in GUARDIAN, and that was first aid. And this was a good time for her to be tending to his wounds. There were only a few, on his arm, his cheek, and the largest one which was his shoulder. Sure all of them were equally important, but she knew that there was only one thing she needed to really do. She needed to stop the bleeding. With some grace, Madison slowly began to remove Maximos’s dark jacket. Yes, it almost seemed as though she was undressing him, and that was exactly what she was doing. Clothing always proved to be such a nuisance when it came to tending wounds. With slightly shaky hands, she slowly moved towards his striped vest. She was nervous; after all, his life was her responsibility now. If she wasn’t careful, it was game over for him. Madison had finally managed to pull off what appeared to be his vest she had than arrived towards what appeared to be his rather stained dress shirt. And yet, there was no puncture hole on where the bullet had entered. But there was no time to figure that out right now! Patting her sides, she seemed to be looking for something against her dark colored tank top. She was looking for something...for undoing each of the buttons was taking far too much time. AHA! Still within Max’s hand was the beautiful Sha'yd, and it would do the job perfectly. Pulling out of his hand, the woman moved its edge against the seam where all of the buttons rested peacefully on the fabric of his dress shirt. Once cutting the threads that head them together, she pulled it open to fully expose Maximos’s chest to her. There, she saw witness to what was beneath the gentleman. He didn’t have pale skin similar to his face, but rather it was dark tattoos. Theey were absolutely beautiful as they hid each of his scars ever so delicately. Maximos was truly nothing more than a masterpiece. Bullet injuries were interesting compared to normal wounds. Instead of having just the entry and exit wound, there were burns around each of them. And what was even more interesting was the fact that the entry and exit wounds were in two different areas. After all, they often rattled things around before making it’s exit. Simply by examining the wound it was clear that his shoulder was probably broken or even worse shattered by the bullet. As blood splattered from his shoulder with each of his heartbeats the woman moved to a piece of his coat with the blade close at hand. At the moment, she was sure he really wouldn’t mind that she would use a chunk, this is when she wished that she had that fancy bandaging that Max had used on her hand once before. With the sound of ripping filling the air the rabbit quickly grabbed two rather large pieces of fabric and quickly folded it up in order to make a custom made gauze pad. It wasn’t as nice as actual gauze, but it would do the trick. Placing Sha'yd down, Madison lifted Max’s arm slightly and placed on of the folded pieces down on the ground and one on top. With everything lined up she than began to press rather hard as she returned the wound back down against the ground. The support from the floor and her own weight would provide enough pressure to attempt and stop the bleeding for now. Removing her right hand the rabbit went back down, however instead of grabbing her blade the rabbit was onto what appeared to be... HIS BELT. With a quick undo of his buckle the rabbit pulled straight up causing it to fall out of its loops. Excellent, now she had something to help provide some pressure. She was sure that it was probably gonna cause Max some pain, but no matter what she was going to do, it was going to hurt. Lifting his shoulder back up again, she threaded the belt between him and ground to allow both the buckle and the end to be facing her. Now this was a job for two hands. Madison slowly moved the belt as though she were putting on a pair of pants. Except her waist was now his arm, and the homemade gauze was keeping his arm safe. Despite how much of a good thing this seemed, Max wasn’t as thin as she would have liked at this moment, thus she had a shortage of belt holes. However, this was indeed something that Sha'yd couldn’t fix! With a few pokes of the blade, she had access. For the time being this would have at least provided pressure while her attention was on his other wounds. Again she than repeated the process again on his jacket, since her own was being used to support his head at the moment and was getting blood all over it! This time however, her bandage was much longer and wider than before hand. With the help of her jacket she managed to lift him up slightly so that she could finish the job on the one bullet hole. With the dark fabric, she slowly wrapped the bandage to provide both more bandages for the blood but simple pressure adding, after all, a belt wasn’t exactly the best item for the job. Even though she was almost done that would, her job wasn’t done. Moving to his fingers, she lightly pressed on his finger nails with her own bloodstained hands. Quickly, the nails went from white to red in moments. She had circulation! Without any hesitation, she moved onto his other arm injury which had taken place on the same arm. It wasn’t as major, thus she didn’t tend it as quickly as the first one. Her process was very similar to the first injury, however it required less bandaging. Once having the bandages nicely placed from the dark jacket pieces she made herself what appeared to be a large triangle. With a quick movement, his arm had formed into a sling and was draped across his chest to prevent him from moving. She had finally finished after she had once again checked for his circulation. It wasn’t perfect, nor was it great. But when one did not have the assistance of magic on their side, Madison had helped for the time being. However, what Maximos needed was surgery. And that was something she could not provide herself. Sadly, the rabbit sat down beside the shadow and lightly brushed his face with rather shaky hands. She knew how deadly the shadow looked, but Madison knew otherwise. She knew that he had kindness in his heart. And here, he did not look like a brave warrior or a mass murdering savage...he looked nothing more than an innocent child taking a nap. Tears had finally returned to her face as she looked up the injured man. This was her fault. If she hadn’t ran off in the wrong direction, this wouldn’t have happened. Max had been the best friend that she had never had, he truly was. He didn’t run for her, nor did he leave her alone for hours on end. He was there for her, even when she didn’t deserve it. As she continued to sit in silence more tears began to fall as she attempted to keep it in. “...I’m sorry Max...” She lost it. With a heavy sob she rested her head against his stomach and avoided her wounded arm. Her body shook as the tears fell and caused small puddles against his opened shirt. Pulling herself off, she quickly tried to get a hold of herself. And besides, how silly did she look sobbing on him. Removing her glasses, the rabbit wiped away more of the tears from her face only to hear a whine from beside her. Turning her head, she soon saw that Jabberwocky understood her sadness and clearly was just as scared as she was for his creator. “Oh Wocky!” Her voice cracked slightly as her arms wrapped around the beast’s body and she began to sob even more loudly into the large black fur. Despite her efforts, Madison obviously feared the worst for Max. She only hoped that she was wrong.
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Posted: Sat Feb 13, 2010 11:49 pm
" Madison, I think we had better..." He remembered saying the words, and yet as they slipped through his pale lips all he knew was that he was falling. As if his very next step had been off a cliff, the ground was vanishing beneath him and Maximos was slipping forth into the infinite darkness of his own shadow. He did not flail or panic, he had seen the edge of death's precipice far too many times to fall victim to fear simply because of gravities vices. And then, all at once, the falling stopped. Instead of helplessly dropping, he felt almost as if he was being lowered. Floating. Weightless. And slipping into the endless black. His feet flipped evenly over his head and landed with a soft tap on...nothing. " ...get going..." Maximos had the definite feeling he was on a platform of some sort, wind rushed by him at either side but he could see nothing. Nothing save for himself. He was still wearing his jacket, his vest was sitting awkwardly over his chest and his shirt he knew was very wet. He could feel the bullet wound in his shoulder and cuts on his face, and yet he felt no pain. He looked down, at his open hands. One was still clutching Sha'yd, the other was covered in fresh blood and chilled like as if it had been dipped in ice. He looked left, darkness. He looked to the right, black. But when he looked forward again, there was something there. It was white and impossibly bright against the void. It was a round shape with two large ears. It was a bunny. But a sweet and innocent bunny the sort of which a child might scribble. Only this bunny had been etched out of white light and given two black eyes, and a pink nose. Against the pitch behind it, Max could even see the spots where its artist had not finished their coloring job and its white round body had lines and gaps where the white crayon had not finished its job. Maximos of course did the most logical thing in this situation. " Hello?" He talked to it. At his voice the bunny, standing some hundred feet away from him blinked and twitched its ears. " Who are you?" It said nothing, only twitched its nose. Max shrugged. The motion did not hurt but it did remind him that his toes and fingertips felt rather cold. " Where are we?" The bunny responded by bending its ears, straightening them, and then hopping deliberately once, twice, and then beginning to hop away. Its feet nimbly skipping along the emptiness that surrounded it. Max, instinctively followed it. He remembered a story about someone who followed a white rabbit once and felt he simply must. After his first step, Maximos' jacket vanished entirely. He paused to note this, but his rabbiteen host did not and so he quickly rolled to his next step. Precisely timed with his foot fall, Maximos' vest vanished. He didnt really seem to mind, his fist tightened against Sha'yd...but she wasnt there. Pricks and needle sensations rolled up either arm and coiled up his shins. " Where ever your taking me, I hope we get there soon." He stepped forward a third time and suddenly his shirt had vanished as had his belt. Thankfully his pants were tailored and needed no belt. But, he very desperately hoped this dream planned to leave him some decency. But more over that it planned to leave him some warmth. With his bare chest exposed the wind struck him like sheets of ice. Goosebumps crossed his exposed skin. His left arm felt coldest as it was bloodiest and wettest, but he had nothing to wipe it with and very soon he began to shiver. Confronted with the mysterious, Maximos stated the obvious. " I'm freezing." At this, the bunny stopped. It spun on its feet less round body and turned to face Maximos, and then after blinking it looked straight up into the darkness. Maximos, in turn, looked up and was rather shocked to see snowflakes falling from the nothing. They were huge, the sort one makes in kindergarten and they dances on the invisible wind down toward Maximos and the White Rabbit. Struck with a sort of child like curiosity. He reached out one quivering hand and touched a falling flake. And immediately his world went white. Both hands flew to his eyes futilely attempting to shield him from the washout of white, he stumbled back but his feet were too numb to function properly and he fell to the ground with a wet crunch. When his vision returned he found he was now a snow covered field. He was on his back, with the bunny sitting beside his face. It hopped once, flipped its ears again, and then began to hop away. " No..." Maximos said through blue quivering lips. " ...you go ahead. I think I'm going to take a nap here for a bit." Max was not suicidal, he was just feeling rather tired and rather cold. He reached a hand up to his feet, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose...and closed his eyes. Promptly he felt a cold, painful pressure. The bunny was poking his shoulder with its nose! It poked it. It hopped on it and around it, it even hopped across his chest and back. " Please stop doing that, I'm trying to sleep." But it did not stop. It went so far as to bite his fingertips with invisible teeth. It hopped to his feet, and then off and then pointed with its ears ahead. Far ahead, lost in the blizzard was the outline of a small cave. This made Maximos smile. " Oh...I see." And he numbly worked his way to his feet and followed. Over a hill, past a frozen tree, across an icy lake. He nearly fell several times by the time he reached the shore of the lack he could no longer feel his feet at all. His arms were hugged to his chest and he was shivering so hard he could not talk. His lips were nearly the same blue as his hair, and his eyes wanted so badly to close. He was going to stop, screw the cave, screw the rabbit, when he heard her. She was crying. He did not know who she was, or why she was crying but in the end none of that really mattered. She was a lady, and she was crying and it was a gentleman's duty to make it better. That's just the kind of man he was. He shuffled on, step after shaky step until he stood inside the cave. It was a single hollowed out enclosure, and there she sat. A little girl, she had snow white hair and a snow white skin, and a little dress made of pure white. The white rabbit sat beside her, and she was crying rather profusely. " Why are you crying little gi--" Was all he got out before she stood up, her hair falling down to block view of her face and crashed into him. “...I’m sorry Max...” At her height her head only came up to his chest but she nestled it there and sobbed and bawled, and Max could do nothing but stand very still and let her. His moved his arms awkwardly around her and said. " Its okay...its not your fault..." Or at least he tried to, but his arms were too frozen to move and his lips would not respond properly. She was crying, and he could do nothing. Nothing at all. He felt terrible. He wanted to know what she felt she had done, surely someone so young could not have hurt him. Surely this was a misunderstanding. But he couldnt help. Who was she? And then she pulled away, turning and scooping up the white rabbit and she said... "Oh Wocky!" And continued to cry. Max couldnt see her face. But he didnt need to anymore. He knew who she was, and he knew what he had to do. -|- Back on the cold floor, a half naked Max tried his very best to move his left arm. He was not in the habit of using his right arm if he could help it. But the arm did not move, pain flashed through it and where he expected to feel blood he flow he felt warmth. Max heard a voice in his head, it said. “I am sorry. Those are my fault...if I wasn’t so stupid and getting into trouble...you wouldn’t be hurt.”And then another voice said in reply. "Alright, alright, I concede! I see what your doing. I wont blame myself if you dont in turn blame yourself. And from this moment forth we can both be more careful."Madison would see Jabberwocky's fur. She would probably even see the magic markings swirling across his skin. And then, she would feel a hand plop limply on top of her head, and a very kind although very tired sounding voice said. " I thought we agreed, I wont blame myself if you dont in turn blame yourself." And he was smiling, ear to ear, his left arm hanging rather limply in the sling. His face showed no pain, even though his lips were just about blue. He chuckled, wincing slightly. " I suppose we'll both have to work on being careful, wont we?"
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