Re: In The Slums - RPG Location

[Larr]

Fossil was not getting tired. She was just getting started, this guy was getting on her nerves. Temporarily, however, some of the fight left her when her foot came in contact with Shay. It was like a wave of revulsion and disgust with herself, a cold dash of water on her soul. The tension in her body left her a moment, so that he found a loosened grip on the knife hand. Her body shifted and the chair holding her daemon hostage released his tail, freeing Gavidian. He had felt through her the touch to Shay, and though it was not flesh to flesh, he still felt a violent wave of anger and jealousy, as well as disgust.
He darted around the chair at the watching sand cat, leaping straight for one of her forelegs, claws at the ready. And finally, for the first time out loud in front of someone else, he snarled, “She’s MINE! Not yours, MINE!”<br> Meanwhile, the pressure on Fossil’s hand was becoming more than she could take in a weakened state, fighting off nausea and the realization that she’d actually struck his daemon. For just a moment, fear shined through her eyes, and perhaps even a glimmer of tears as she stared up at his face, so close. She felt the wood biting into her back, unyielding. A leg in particular was jabbed into the small of her back, forcing her to arch her body to avoid its angry rebuke. Gavidian’s sudden outburst of anger hit her like an electric shock, because she felt the sense of betrayal he had for her, even despite the touch’s unintentional beginning. Instinctively she dropped the knife, giving in to Julian’s powerful grasp and to the need to comfort her daemon, but all she could do was look away from her own attacker, sucking in a breath as the squirrel daemon lunged and crying out, "DON'T!"

[Cat]

"Shay!" Julian yelped instinctively when he heard the squirrel dæmon shout. Shay squared her paws, but that was all she had time to do because Gavidian tore into her right foreleg. Both Shay and Julian felt the attack, but Shay was the only one who could react to it. She swung around, trying to dislodge the squirrel's hooked claws, plunging and twisting to release his grasp. As she fought, she bit at him desperately.

Julian's instinct told him to let go of Fossil and help his dæmon, but there was nothing he could do. He locked eyes with Fossil - she actually seemed scared - and then the knife dropped and she looked away. Julian released her hand at once and, with a powerful push against the chairs, he shoved away from her and dropped to the floor, searching. Where'd it land? he wondered desperately. His thoughts weren't straight. He could still feel the revulsion in Fossil's kicking Shay, and the pain his dæmon was feeling was clouded up his senses and the ability to think. Where?

And there - under a chair, its blade glittering with the firelight. Julian pounced, almost cutting himself and only just managing not to seize it by the blade. He straightened up, breathing harder now, a victorious glint in his eyes. 'I have it, Shay.'

'Then do something!' she cried into his mind.

He wouldn't attack Gavidian. That was low. Julian and Shay were strict abiders of the greatest taboo. If he could put Fossil in enough pain, the dæmon would have to surrender. Something about that plan made him feel a little sick and he glanced up at Lindy and her caracal dæmon for second. Then he shrugged it aside. He'd do it. Gripping the knife tightly, so as not to lose it after all that trouble, he rounded on Fossil. He was confident now. The second she made a move towards him he'd attack.

[cock of teh walk]

Rabbitboy had wandered quite far away now, the sounds of an ambulance were fading . She wasn't familar with this part of town,but it looked rather dirty and broken down. Fy wrinkled his nose snobbishly. 'Lets get back to the hotel'
Rabbitboy grinned. her daemon had no right to be snobby, they werent rich, they were actually quite poor but it was ok. she thought it was kindof cute. A loud noise distracted them.
Rabbitboy ducked into an alley and peeked towards where the noise as. She watched two older guys rob a young girl of her purse. Rabbit did nothing to stop them. The girl collapsed crying, and Rabbitboy walked away .
" I want to get back too, but I think I'm lost' she told Fyodor.
he nodded slowly and they kept walking.

(OCC: what time is it?? Is it dark or light out? )

[Cat]

OOC: Depends. I'd say it's daytime. But it's just been raining, so probably the sky is a little dark with clouds. Still, I think it's fairly light. Craven little Julian probably wouldn't dare go down to the Slums in the night. XD Bad boy 'crat's afraid of the baddest part o' town.

[cock of teh walk]

OOC: gotcha

Rabbitboy sat down outside some houses. She heard yells coming from the house ' she MINE' and 'DON'T!'
Rabbitboy put them out of her mind and she sat down. Her dress was already bloody, a little dirt wouldn't make a difference. Her dress was a little damp too, it seemed to be drizzling in this part of town. She used the hem to clean the knife. Her and D admired it for quite some time. The rest of the world was forgotten in their thoughts about the knife.

[Larr]

Gavidian dug in, trying to climb higher, trying to get to her throat. She couldn't bite him there. Teeth bit and cut him, but he knew she couldn't get a very good grip, as rigid as he was and at the angle he was at. He just wanted to get higher. A little higher.
The chair leg bit into her back as he shoved her back. It hurt, bad, but worse than it should have. Her teeth were close to his back. Too close. Too close! She slid unceremoniously to the floor and reached for her ankle blade, whipping it out so that when Julian turned, he was faced with an even bigger blade, but now she looked genuinely frightened. "We have to stop them!" She looked at the two, because she knew her Gavidian would not stop unless she pulled him away. She gave Julian an angry, pained look. "Can we put our differences aside for now?" She winced in pain. "Please?"

[Cat]

Julian barely even heard Fossil. His eyes were on the blade she'd just pulled out. When her words registered he spun sharply to see the two dæmons, fighting on the floor, Shay spitting like an angry street cat. Every time Gavidian's claws dug past her fur into her flesh, Julian felt it, and he started becoming worried for Shay. She was putting up a good fight, through. But she couldn't get a hold of Gavidian. It was too awkward a move. And as long as she was only nipping sharply, the squirrel dæmon was inching up, to her neck. Her throat. Julian shut his eyes for a moment. When he reopened them, he sighed heavily.

"Shay, stop it. Stop!" The last word was shouted, ringing around the enclosed space.

Shay ignored him. Julian took a step towards them, shifting his grip on the knife, keeping Fossil in the corner of his eye. "Shay! I'm serious, knock it off right now!"

"No!" she yelled. "Not after all this. You're giving up? I can't believe you!"

"Shut up! I'm not giving up!" His eyes were burning intensely with rage. "Just do as I tell you! Stop fighting! Do it!"

Gavidian's claws were hurting them, but Shay more so, and yet she still refused to back down. "We can beat them, Julian! I know it!"

"No!" he shouted furiously. "Neither of us can do a thing right now. You're hurting us, Shay!"

"I - don't - care!" she gritted out through clenched jaws.

A muderous growl rose in Julian's throat. He racked his brain desperately for anything that might seperate the two dæmons, but thought of nothing. With a slow exhale he turned to Fossil. "Well? Have you got a plan? You heard her. She won't back off." Even as he spoke he could feel Gavidian on his dæmon, scoring her flesh with sharp squirrel claws, and it made him flinch. Among his rage he felt desperation and a bit of panic. Would anything split the two combatants apart?

[Larr]

She stared at him. There was a hollow look in her eyes, a very tired and fearful look. Her shoulders twitched each time she felt teeth prick them, her body ached with her daemon's tension. "We have to tear them apart," she whispered, throat working as she swallowed. "Right now there's no time to worry about...I can't make him stop." She turned and aimed, hurling the heavy dagger. It slammed into the mantel where her daemon had originally perched, and quivered where it stuck. "Truce right now. Look, on the count of three, I'll grab him, and you grab her...I don't want to touch her. But it's the only way." It was like being forced to eat a slug, but made ten times worse by the chance of someone touching her daemon, or touching someone else's. She could think of no other solution, and precious seconds were being lost. She knelt, though, hands at the ready, fixing him with a hard stare. "One!"
There was a resolve on her face. The initial fear was gone; Gavidian wasn't safe, but he wasn't in danger of death. This also wasn't the first time, but that was something she didn't want to think about. Her eyes had a look, an echoing hollowness almost ghostly to see. She wouldn't wait for his help. She would tear them apart if she had to, to save his daemon and her own. Whether he wanted her to or not. Then they could talk.

[Tyrannus et Callida]

Metrean still sat in the shadows of one of the buildings, keeping a close eye out for anything. After all, he did know how bad it would be to be backed into a corner here, after all, he had done it to others. There were more shouts, and not too long after, a girl showed up. she took something in her hands, a knife, and even though Metrean only got a slight glimpse of it, he was overcome with a sense of want. Of need. Of desire. His world was overcome with a single thing.

...get the knife...

There was also a forbidden feel to the strange knife. As if it belonged to someone. He knew instinctively that it was not this girl.

His dæmon broke the tension that had developed. If we return it, maybe there will be a reward?

He only barely heard this, but it was enough to bring him back to himself.

No, he thought to her, there's something not right about that knife. I think it's best if we just leave it for now. Maybe later.

The powerful feeling of desire still lingering in his heart, his mind still clouded by the feeling, he hid deeper in the shadows, sword at the ready.

(OOC: EDIT: 'screams' wasn't the right word.)

[Cat]

Julian started to put the knife aside, then he flicked the blade inside its hilt and put it in his pocket alongside his lighter. He crouched down next to Shay, who shifted her steely-eyed gaze from him to Fossil.

"Don't you dare," she hissed, addressing them both. "This is our fight."

Ignoring her, Julian gripped her fur tightly. She growled, but it grew high-pitched in pain as Gavidian tore into her neck, drawing blood. Julian winced. "Do it fast," he said, now averting his eyes from Fossil's. This was making him feel nauseous. He didn't have much chance of touching Gavidian. But Fossil would be so close to Shay that the mere thought made Julian's heart race. He recalled the feeling of her kicking Shay - not pleasant - and that hadn't even been a real touch. His stomach churned.

"Julian ..." said Shay softly, appealing to him. She didn't like the idea either. She was trying to guilt-trip him, Julian realized.

"No," he replied, shaking his head. "You've left it too late." He looked up at Fossil. "Do it, now."

With that he wrapped his arms around his dæmon, took a deep breath, and pulled.

[Larr]

Fossil darted in and grabbed her squirrel directly around the middle as he reared back for a strike that would do just the right amount of damage he wanted. She felt hot fur for just an instant, a searing heat that nearly made her release him again, but she ripped him free just in time. Her body spasmed with the violent distaste of that instant of pain, and she fell back as if she'd been struck, writhing as strange fire raced up and down her arm like biting fire ants. Her face twisted and Gavidian tried to get free and finish what he'd begun, but she pressed him to her chest and held on. He kicked and scratched, trying to get away, trying to fight, but she rolled over on her stomach to weigh him down and suddenly wretched, vision blurred by tears of pain.

[cock of teh walk]

Rabbitboy felt the stare of a stranger and looked up. A boy , some distance from her. Her eyes narrowed.
her daemon gavve him no thought. 'Forget him He wont bother us. But, hide the knife a little. Its ours. ' His chin tilted upwards, he was already jealous of anyone who even looked the knife. ' Maybe a safer part of town...a park' ' We were just at a park. It was hardly safe' Rabbitboy mumbled. She was too comfortable to want to leave her spot. They sat in silence for a while, and Rabbitboy rested her head on her daemons shoulder and they slept lightly. Her hands clasped the knife tightly and her daemon kept an eye open even while asleep.

Later they would wake up and decide it was time to try the knife out.

[Cat]

She'd touched Shay.

Fossil had touched his dæmon. It was so wrong, so foriegn, so unnatural, that Julian froze. Wrong, this is wrong! he screamed inwardly. The split second Fossil's hand had brushed Shay's fur stretched on an enternity. Endless torture.

Strangely it reminded him of home for a second. Timmins, Ontario, where the winters were brutally cold. Two friends had dared him onto the ice of a large pond, because he had the smallest and lightest dæmon out of the three, and thus, they figured, would be able to stay on the ice for a full five seconds before returning to the bank. Julian had foolishly complied. And partway onto the ice, he'd fallen through. It was like this now. Terrible and endless, numbing his mind. Slowing his thoughts to a standstill. He couldn't think, couldn't see, couldn't move ...

Then Fossil was gone. But the feeling lingered. It was horrible. Falling into the frigid waters of a Timmins pond barely compared to this torment. Shay was staring in horror at Fossil. Then she did the only sensible thing: she fled to her human with a strangled cry. Julian caught her unthinkingly, momentarily forgetting the way they'd fought just seconds ago. He soothed her and stroked her, but he knew he couldn't erase the terrible things they were both feeling. Regret. Disgust. It felt dirty. Like they'd been tainted, and he couldn't rid himself of that uncleanness.

There were tears on Shay's face, he realized, small tears matting her fur and clinging to her whiskers. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm so sorry."

Julian tried to force himself to speak, but couldn't. What could he say? How could he forgive her? She could have backed off when he told her to, avoided that contact. Very slowly, he stood up, still in a numb sort of shock, and backed away from Fossil wordlessly. She'd touched his soul. It echoed, hollow in his mind. She'd touched Shay.

The fight in him was gone. He watched Fossil retch and felt like doing the same. She seemed almost as bad a condition as Shay was in. He cleared his throat awkwardly. "I - I didn't mean for you to touch her ... You alright?" he added warily. She didn't seem alright to him. The question was rather rhetorical that way. But he was far too distracted by Shay to think of anything else to say.

[cock of teh walk]

Fyodor narrowed his eyes and took on, what he fondly referred to as, his goddog form. It was a giant dog, with an Egyptian look to it. It had huge muscles, like a stallion and long thin legs. It had large dark liquid eyes, and his coat was a mimic of the swirly cloudy grays in the knife. His face was a pale white gray.
He raised his head high,and spoke in a rumbling rough voice.
' I hav been considering this knife. It seems almost unbelievably sharp. I think it will cut ..anything '
Rabbitboy looked up at her daemon with adoring eyes.
' What are you saying? Whats your idea? '
Fyodor lowered his head to her ear and whispered quickly. Rabbitboy stood on her toes and wrapped her arms around his neck. She said nothing.
They both stood tall and walked out of the alley, looking around for something specifically.

' Over there? '
- too dirty-
' What about her ? '
-.....perfect-

Together they watched a small girl, maybe 5-6, riding her bicycle slowly by. It was pink and old, with training wheels. She was getting closer to the alley opening.

Rabbitboy backed into the alley again and picked up a piece of dirty plank, grasping it tightly. ' wait' whispered Fyo ' wait.......'

'now'

Rabbitboy leaned out and swung hard. She clipped the girl across the head, near the top. The little girl made no noise, by her daemon , a small black lamb, brayed in fear and shock. Fyo dragged him back into the alley and Rabbitboy took the girl. She propped the bike just outside the opening.

She held the tiny girl in her arms and carried her further in. Fyo had the lamb in its mouth, and it was fighting less and less. Finally its noises stopped and it went limp.They had judged by the boy in the park that if someone was unconcious, their daemon would soon follow. They guessed because it was hard to have emotions when you werent concious.

They layed the two down, about two feet from each other.

' Ok. Now which side?' Fyodor stared at the knife.
Rabbitboy-' Im not sure. Which side do you think they used? '
' .....lets just try both'

They froze. The girl was stirring. ' uhnn..hnn..'

Fyodor growled. Rabbitboy kneeled down and sat on the girls legs, not enough to hurt her, but enough to keep her from going any where . ' Its ok sweetheart'
She took the girls hand and smiled kindly. " Sshhh'
The girl opened her wide brown eyes . She was clearly terrified.
Fyo held the lamb daemon in place. Rabbitboy never stopped looking at the girls eyes as she reached between the girl and her daemon with the knife and slowly dragged it down the middle. She held her hand over the girls mouth.
And thats when it took a turn for the worse-for everyone.
Rabbitboy felt all her muscles tense involuntarily and in the seconds before she blacked out, all she remembered was the girls brown eyes getting duller, and it seemed like the whole world was screaming. Those big brown eyes were all she could see.
She dropped the knife mid cut and all four of them collapsed.

....................

Sophox Fyodor Dacha Damme was the first to wake.
His face was tear stained and his was dirty and he looked ten times skinny than any dog should be.
He howled, loud and crystal clear. Stiffly he woke up Rabbitboy. His voice was only a whisper ' get rid of the girl ' Rabbitboy stood up shakily and dragged the girl by her wrist to where her bike was. She placed the girl on the bike and slapped her cheeks until she woke up , both of them bawling fit to wake the dead. Fyo placed the lamb daemon beside her. it was just waking up and the girl picked it up and held it close.

Rabbitboy stared at the girls eyes, still the same brown, but a new dull had entered. She would never be the same girl.

Rabbitboy turned and ran.

[Tyrannus et Callida]

Metrean watched as the strange girl disappeared from sight, and tried to ignore the noise of something striking something else.

He shifted his stance uneasily.

There's just something not right about that knife... he thought to his dæmon.

Yeah... very not right...

The tension in the air was almost unbearable. Nothing had happened for a while. Not a sound could be heard.

Metrean tightened his grip on his sword and continued the wait.