Welcome to Gaia! ::

As soon as Christof had returned her stare with a shake of the head, Tsetsiliya twisted her hem in both hands, wincing slightly. Her eye wandered as others were making themselves known around the room. She spotted Carthusia a short distance off and got to her feet, meaning to go over towards her friend. Perhaps they could figure out some way to get out of here if they put their heads together.

But something else had gotten her attention.. was that the jingle of keys? Her head swiveled back towards the bars, where she could see a witchling, perhaps smaller than she was, fiddling with the lock. The relief and calling out that some of the students did upon her arrival registered that she was also a student. She, too, felt relief as the reaper struggled to find the right key, before her eyes widened at the sight of the small line of blood from the ghoul's mouth. The sword protruded from her chest, and the ghoul crumpled and vanished. And standing behind her was one of them, laughing about what he had just done. Her wide eyes were glued to where the witch ghoul, a student, a friend to some, had just died.

Gone in the blink of an eye, after trying to help them. Just like that.

Tsetsiliya felt rooted to the padded floor. And just as easily, they, too, could have the same fate. Her body felt like lead; she was frightened and exhausted. The others around her were crying out, some attacking, but as her arms shook, she couldn't do anything.. she felt so small and helpless in this situation. Voices were heard from the other side; she heard Ren's sharp cry of pain and her fingers clenched as she was brought back into the moment. He shouldn't be fighting, he was in absolutely no shape to be doing so! Gabrian and Belladonna she heard as well, among others.. they were all here, she was sure. If only they could be somewhere safe, away from this.

She stared at where the ghoul had vanished, and her hand gave a sharp throb. How could she have been so selfish, thinking her tiny injury was something comparable to others? Poor Ren had cried out in such agony that she could hear him from her station clear in the back of the cell. And the small witch ghoul.. she was no larger than Tsetsiliya was, and she was struck down so easily. But the barrage the students had been giving was interrupted when she heard Barth sharply accuse Carthusia of being one of those abominable cloaked monsters. Her head was whipping around trying to follow everything that was happening, but the accusation stopped her cold. If there were any time they needed to stick together, it would be now.

"W-we cannot --" she started to say (at a rather low volume), but Carthusia had replied to Barth's accusation not only with a level head but with a dignity that made the poludnica's heart ache. Whatever did Carry feel about this accusation that she wasn't saying?

But the ghoul's words had done something else for Tsetsiliya: they had given her the encouragement she needed to attack. The pride demoness was one of them, as was the small reaper who had vanished in a blink before their eyes. They were all in this together, and none would go down without a fight; the counterattacks from the students had shown her that. Again, as she had done earlier in the cornfields, she raised her mace in both hands. Spurts of pain shot through her bandaged hand but she did not loosen her grip on the weapon. One of theirs was gone because of this thing, and she did not want to watch another die. None of her friends, nor anyone else in this room.

She charged, letting her hit fly with a resounding crack. The landing was less than graceful as her ankles landed awkwardly and she fell backwards, but she was quick to get back on her feet and out of the way. The ghoul braced for the counterattack, and she resisted the urge to squeeze her eyes shut and hope that this was little more than a horribly vivid nightmare. The fear of what would happen next would not leave her be.

Tset's HP: 23
Damage: 10 - 6 = 4

(( HP: 22 ))

Carthusia was already frustrated beyond belief - everyone she met on the island that wasn't a student was calling her traitor, but she had no idea why. Now all the talk of her turning coat was making other students doubt her. The demoness wished she had all the answers right now so she could at least start to sort out this mess they'd all gotten into. Carry stood up to the barred door, hanging one arm out to accost the reaper-esque man who was hellbent on insulting her, calling her an abomination. The nerve! "The only coat turning here is yours - and it'll be inside-out when I get my hands on you." Pride was seething, her nails likening to claws if she could will them hard enough. If she was Subject 413, whatever that meant, this creep clearly had the information she desperately wanted. If only he would come closer to the bars. If only she could choke him with that stupid hood of his.

Pride hissed at him. "I bet you're afraid of me." she taunted, nodding at her own growing confidence. "Everyone saw what I did upstairs. Who's to say I can't do the same thing now? And to you, after what you did to Emily. How long has she been here? Were you planning to do to her what you did to me? And think you could get away with it?" Tapping her nails against the front of the door, Carry kept up her taunting to see if it would have any effect. Perhaps they could pry more information from this cloak before... was that a radio? Was it help for them? She hoped to Jack that it was so - she was worried about the teachers. They hadn't been seen since the students landed on the island.

Gabrian's gaze met Alessa's, her message clear, and despite the fact he didn't particularly like the idea of having to hide behind her (or anyone else, for that matter), he took hold of Ren's wrist with his free hand and tugged slightly, "Snap out of it! I need some help," he moved towards the cell where Carry had been held, slipping the key in, "Help me open the doors, Ren, hurry. Before the guy changes his mind," that said, he moved from cell to cell, clicking the place open before moving onto the next, expecting the gryphon and the students held within the cells to open the doors themselves upon finding them unlocked.

Barth's accusation did not go unnoticed, and he turned his head towards him before slowly looking over towards the Pride demoness. He personally liked to believe in her innocence, and as such, walked back towards the first cell he'd unlocked, "This is no time to fight. Reserve the anger for him," he motioned towards the Reaper whom had 'consented' he unlock the cells, "He's the one that stabbed the ghoul. Not Carry."

That said, he finally gripped his wooden sword; it felt so useless and pathetic next to the large, flaming sword the reaper had, but he made use of it regardless, slashing at their enemy. He felt the wood connect against the reaper and he drew back, standing near LW and Bella, lowering his gaze towards them, "Are you alright? Both of you?" what a freaking dumb question; of course they weren't. He was feeling less than 'alright' by far. How the hell was anyone supposed to feel after falling down an elevator shaft, only to be attacked by someone? He also noticed Tsetliya, whom he'd previously not seen due to concentrating on fetching the key. She seemed to be doing just fine on her own, but he rather wished he could be by her side too, as useless as that might have been; he was no fighter. Who was he even trying to kid?

Gabrian: 20 HP
Attack: 4

As he stepped back a moment, watching as more and more students inside their small enclosure rushed in to fight as well as they could behind a door, Calder took note of other happenings. Barth rarely said much at all, certainly with less energy, but he seemed rather upset now. Turning about, he watched as the demon shared a moment of disbelief in who exactly Carry was. Calder had only met the pride demon once and didn't have any odd impressions of her aside from being the average ghoul, but if her background was true, well, she certainly wasn't the average sort.

"You're Grimgra?!" Calder has certainly been expecting something more....monstrous, large, and vicious looking - not that most ghouls could get ugly and nasty if you insulted something like their hair or clothes. "But you don't have a baby!" It seemed Calder was stuck on his story a bit too much.

Carry seemed just as unsure and rushed to argue with the reaper, leaving the rest of them to be otherwise unsure who exactly they were sharing a cell with.

Aside from being generally wary, he had other matters and other emotions to deal with. Whatever the reason the reaper wasn't murdering them all or setting their cushion cell ablaze, Calder was back to wanting to kill him. YES! He wanted to tear the man apart just as badly. To bite his teeth into that cloak and rip and pull and tear until he found whatever bone, flesh, or matter he could turn to shreds. Unfortunately, the door was still in the way, and so he made do with rushing in again and hurling the massive novel at the reaper. Too bad his aim was a bit off.

HP: 23
Damage: 1

(( HP: 22
Damage: 3 ))

Carthusia stepped away from the door, allowing Ren and Gabrian to open it and free the others. She cast a sideways glance at Barth before letting everyone else go first. It might have looked fishy, but in actuality, Carry wanted as much room to charge the cloaked fool as she could muster. Once everyone was clear, Carry was off like a rocket, full-on tackling the cloak with her shoulder. The distance now closed, she tried to claw at him, but met little success. With each swipe, she spat out insults back at him. "How does this abomination feel, huh?" Another series of ineffective swipes. "Locking us up, killing the girl! This is what you get!"

She jumped back as soon as the creep lifted his sword, though from the corner of her eye, she saw LW begin to charge him as well. With his sword raised, she may meet the same fate as the witch girl. When the werewolf was close enough, Carry snuck an arm around the girl's waist and pulled back, taking the werewolf with her. "Are you okay, LW?" she asked, letting go of her hold on the monster student. Ren looked worse for the wear and she didn't want anyone else ending up that way either. "I don't want you to break something. If someone's going to be killed in this fight, let me be that person." she admitted quietly. To be honest, she heard Calder and his story about Grimgra, but never once thought she was Subject 413. She still had no memory of this place. Nothing about it jogged anything inside her, and that thought was more terrifying than anything she'd seen on the island thus far.

Everyone was beginning to doubt her, and truth be told, she was beginning to doubt herself. And the cloak provided no answers. She stuck a finger out at him, placing herself between LW and he. "You want to hurt someone? You come at me." What she was really hoping for was some exposition and some answers to this whole mess.

(( Kyrieko gave me permission to snatch LW out of the way. <3 ))

To watch the others fight so valiantly, so ferociously, some for a girl that had never met, made Belladonna swell with pride for her fellow students. With a bit of difficult she stood, her eyes never once leaving the Reaper before them. What had he said about Emily? She cried too much? And then... 5 minutes? 5 minutes until what? A sudden thought hit Belladonna and she couldn't help but take a step back, swiveling her head to look at all the others. There were so many of them... What if that explosion before had been the start? What if in 5 minutes there would be another one? Oh Hecate...

"Alright Mr. So-Ugly-You-Gotta-Wear-A-Really-Stupid-Cloak!" Not her best insult, but it would have to do for now. "You want tears? We'll make you cry." With a swift motion, Belladonna produced the wooden sword that had been tidily waiting in the corset lacing along her back, brandishing it as though it were made of something far more substantial. Both hands grabbed the handle and she took one quick breath before she charged him, jumping at the last minute so that she smacked him across the shoulder. Her result was a nice little "thwack" and she landed on tip toes, not able to stop her little jump of happiness that she had managed to hit him. "You won't last 5 minutes with us!" She told him as she retreated, her sword up and ready for any attack he might retaliate with. It was a good lure too. Maybe he would divulge what would happen in five minutes because the more time passed, the more Belladonna experienced an awful sinking in her stomach.

"All things considered, I am quite alright. Thank you Sir Gabrian." She replied finally, taking her spot by Gabe, LW & Alessa before her gaze drifted to the others. There were just so many! Rain and Calder and Whisper, yay, and Siliya and Barth was looking rather angry... And...
"Oh Ren, that was a wonderful attack!" The witch took a step forward, taking him by the elbow and pulling him back. "Why you're not hurt at all!" It was an awful lie, but sometimes in battle the hurt had to be overlooked for the good. And what good they were all doing! Emily would be proud... It was just impossible that she was dead. She couldn't be... She just couldn't...

((HP: 19
Attack: 12-6= 6