Fin felt more pain from the back end of his body, crying out slightly as he felt more toxin fill his body. Groaning in pain, he remembered a long time ago when he felt as much pain as this. A LONG long time ago...
*Flashback* Fin was walking down a path in his village, hurrying back home before night fell. In his hands was a basket of apples he had picked from orchard not far away, hopeful that his mother wouldn't punish him for being out so late- *CHOMP* "Gah!" Fin fell to his knees and saw attached to his leg a snake! The venom was quickly spreading, pain filling his body. The apples he had were scattered everywhere, his efforts all ruined. He feebly tried to reach for the snake to pull it off, but before he could, he fell to his side, the last noise he heard being that of running footsteps coming towards him... *End Flashback*
With that memory in mind, Fin fell off into a deep sleep...
((we're gonna have to continue without Jay's Arin, because it looks like he is preoccupied with stuff. I will go ahead and include him in this once he posts again.
And here's a description of the little men so you know what they look like during this post: They are very fuzzy and their fur is typically green in color with brown stripes. They have two legs, two arms and hands with apposable thumbs and pointy little nails on each of their four fingers. They are skinny, but their fur makes em look tubby, and they stand about two foot in height. They have little stubby round ears, a black button nose, little yellow beady eyes and a wide mouth filled with thousands of tiny sharp teeth like needles. They also have a very long thin blue tongue for lapping stuff up.))
Fin wakes up in a room hang'n upside down by his feet from the ceiling with his hands tied behind his back, and his fingers are all bound as well to prevent him from reaching into any posckets to grab stuff. He's feeling a little bit groggy and it takes a little bit for his eyes to focus on whats going on. Apparently he's been dragged into some cobblestone basement. The room is all lit up by a bunch of little fires scattered around on the floor, and all around the outside area of the basement there are crates and boxes and stuff all broken open with the their contents all sprawled out on the floor as well. Any food, even the rotten stuff that was found in the crates had been devoured already, which can obviously be seen by all the left overs and crumbs on the floor as well. The place is stinky and smells a lot like rotting meat and vegetable mixed with a really gosh darn pungent odor of what is probably pee. Fin can also see one of his billiard balls laying on the floor as well.
Anyway! Beside one of the fires in front of him, Fin can see one of the little fuzzy men just staring at him as if he is waiting for something. It is really obviously as day that he knows Fin is now awake, but he still looks like he is expecting something from Fin, and the way his beady little eyes are gaping at him, the matter on his mind must have been very important! But when he doesn't get an immediate response from his unspoken inquiry, he shakes his angry fist at Fin and starts yell'n at him, saying something like 'Eskecoombelaka!' and jumps up and down on the spot a few times, like some spoiled little brat who didn't get his own way or something.
The next thing is, since Fin's head is dangling about eye level with the little fella, it makes it very easy for the little man to walk on up and give Fin's cheek a few good pokes with his stubby little finger. And that's exactly what he does! But he keeps on poking Fins cheeks quite hard while at the same time repeating a word over and over again. The word the little fella is now saying, even tough Fin doesn't understand the language, sounds a whole like it might be a question, and you can be sure it's a question he is gosh darn intent on getting an answer to!
A Colossal creature swoops down from the heavens with intent to snatch one dark figure, while Maras approaches another with sword drawn, and Ezmond launches his own attack upon yet a third. This combined attack, however, happens to coincide with the climax of the rapid succession of sharp sound given off by the dark figures –
All at once, the ten dark figures release a charge of energy, depicting that of many currents of electricity that connects all ten figures, while simultaneously discharging across the ground and into the air like an explosion of purple lightning. This immense explosion of energy strikes everything within ten meters of each figure, be that merely an instant before the colossal beast makes contact, but also the instant directly after Ezmond made contact with his own attack.
As a result, the creature from the heavens, Maras and Ezmond, are all blanketed in the power of this powerful charge of energy. All three of them, for an instant in time, are rendered inert. In the following instant the burst of energy has ended. The colossal creature is repulsed and sent spiraling up towards the heavens. Maras is propelled backward at an alarming rate and impacts the wall of a stone building some twenty meters away. Ezmond is also sent back, crashing through the door he had once been blocking and into the mansion, where he proceeds to tumble onward for quite some distance.
There is then a second void of any activity, but that one second of calm is shattered when every floor within the mansion bursts into flames and hundreds of black raven materialize, flocking down the corridors and into each room in search of Annie. These ravens’ eyes are ablaze with red fire, as too are their beaks and talons, ready to attack any individual that manages to stand in their way.
Nevertheless, while the floors of the mansion are burning wildly and the Ravens go about their hunt, the one Dark Figure that Ezmond managed to strike before receiving his own fate, also succumbs to flames. Their person is engulfed in fire for several second while they release a tortured scream like that of dog being wounded. The flames, however, do not last, soon they are doused by an intense wind that encircles the figure like a tornado, but the garments of the figure have already been turned to ash, leaving exposed the figures true form. Unwilling or possibly unable to be seen for what it truly is, the figure flees from the mansion, departing with haste to conceal themselves in the darker shadows of night.
Lyudmila sighs, and takes another sip of the wine.
"I don't think we'll have a lot of time to finish our dinner in peace."
Upstairs, in the Attic, Ei is staring out into the distance when the figures release the charge of energy, and she grins.
"They're here. I hope you're all ready and hungry, for it is time to feast."
Maras quickly recovers from his impact, but takes the time to smash a hole in the wall next to him before he charges towards another of the figures and throws a trident at it. The creature too turns around, and dives straight down, it's shape constantly changing, making it near impossible to fire an accurate attack at it. And as the figure flees towards the shadows, something emerges from the shadows and lands on him, pinning him to the ground. A large creature, taller than a human, vaguely resembling a hybrid between a fish, a frog and a man, it has a long tail and webbed, flipper-like feet and sharp claws. More of these creatures emerge from the shadows surrounding the mansion, and proceed to charge towards the figures, some running only on their hind legs, while others move about on all fours, agile enough to dodge incoming attacks while they close the distance between them and the figures to get within range to rip them apart with their claws and sharp teeth.
Inside the mansion halls, the ravens have trouble navigating, as the twisted hallways ensure the stairs are hard to find. To make matters worse, they're not alone. Out of the walls and ceiling emerge shadowy claws that reach out to grab the ravens and smash them against walls, ceilings and floors, while water pours out of the holes in the walls, soon dousing the flames and filling the corridors with enough water to reach up to one's knees. Strangely enough, the upper floors have this too, creating waterfalls down the staircases. Out of the water emerge more of the strange creatures, who chase after the ravens to try and devour them, jumping from walls to increase their momentum as they chase down any ravens they find.
Back in the attic, Ei curiously watches the change the substance covering Annie is undergoing as several other Eis, each with green skin, finish barricading every possible entrance with far more furniture than was originally found in the attic, having somehow taken furniture from other places in the mansion. Once the entrances have been barricaded, they give Ei a thumbs up, and melt into puddles of water.
Gosh damn it all to heck - that had to hurt!!
When Ezmond stops tumbling all across the floor and all that fire starts lap'n all around, followed up by all that water, he get on up to his feet and realizes one thing: These dark hoodie guys are stronger than he first thought. But that didn't matter a hoodeling gosh darn heck at all to Ezmond, because up until now he'd kinda been holding back anyway! In any case, as the water flow starts rushing on out of the open door and into the streets of Waise, Ezmond hold up both hands like some gosh darn traffic cop making a double stop signal. When he does that, all the doors and all the windows in the whole gosh darn mansion are sealed by pig pink force field to keep them nasty hoodies out! But it also stops all that water from flowing out on the street, which is purely a circumstantial thing and doesn't matter a great deal to anything!
On top of all that and to help them arms with the job of grabbing all them nasty ravens out a the air, Ezmond casts another spell that causes hundreds of Amazon Goliath Birdeater spiders to appear. These EXTRA big Goliath Birdeater's are hairy and about three foot in length. They also have wings like bats and start flying all through the mansion and attacking all the ravens they can find!
Just then Ezmond also takes note of all the animal noises coming from somewhere in the mansion. He's not happy about the way that sounds at all - No sire, not one little bit! So he goes on ahead and starts wading through the water in search of where his darling little Betty is!
Ezmond’s assault on the dark figure is somewhat successful, be it only momentarily. With both strikes of the dart, their person is instantaneously frozen, only to immediately resume its former state. At the close of Ezmond’s assault, the figure appears to shift its head, lilting it ever so slightly to one side… but that is all. It was at that moment that Ezmond somehow finds himself entrapped. Unable to move. He is enclosed within a rustic colored aura.
With said method of prevention set in place, the dark figure proceeds to join the other nine figures in their ongoing efforts; the rapid succession of short, sharp sounds begin once more to emit from their person.
Ezmond isn't a darn bit happy about being captive in all that unhealthy sounding rusty light. But that ain't no real big issue, because just as the dark figure dude starts his weird-butt noises again, the rusty ol light surrounding Ezmond goes away. But it doesn't just go away either! The aura breaks away like it's been turned into actual rusty metal and shatters into tiny pieces all over the gosh darn place. When all these shards of rusty metal hit the ground, Ezmond gives a good swing of his arm at the dark guy, and this causes all them thousands of really sharp shards to lift up off the ground and fly like bullets at the dark figure, hitting him all over his body! And you better believe that that's not all of it, because each and every one of these thousands of little shards are hot enough to cause a Sperm Whale to combust!
As Ei's giggling dies down, the interior of the mansion starts getting twisted. Hallways seemingly extend for impossible lengths compared to the size of the building, making several aileron rolls along the way while the furniture and everything else inside seemingly defies gravity, sticking to the floors and walls without falling. The walls of every room start pulsing as if the rooms were beating hearts, and cracks appear in walls, through which hundreds of unblinking eyes peek into the room for a few moments to stare at things inside (they seem especially keen on staring at creatures) before closing again, this progress repeating continuously, cracks opening, eyes peeking, cracks closing. And throughout the building, the sound of creaking floorboards can be heard, as if something is wandering through the halls searching for something. Meanwhile, all the doors and windows slam shut, sometimes locking shut while others just become difficult to open. The doors that do manage to be opened lead to places they shouldn't. Sometimes leading to completely different rooms, sometimes leading to the same room as the door is in, and some lead to... nothing, just an empty void.
Meanwhile, outside, the mansion looks just as peaceful as ever, as if nothing is going on.
While all this is happening, A whole bunch of animal noise can now be heard coming from somewhere in the mansion! Elephants and cows and chickens and rhinoceros', and even ducks can be heard hollering out!
Fin fell back from the force of the blow, lying splayed out on the roof, while the billiard flew into the air and landed back in his satchel. *Groan* I think I'll just lie here for a bit... Fin hated it when that happened...
Soon, the pain from pulling out the needle ends, and Fin starts feeling sleepy again, since removing the needle didn't remove the toxin from his veins, right when he prepares to throw the billiard ball. Fin still throws the ball, hitting Arin in the back of the head. The billiard ball bounces back and hits Fin on the head.
((@Darthrafae: Thanks for throwing out that hint there, but apparently it wasn't gosh darn SUBTLE ENOUGH! HAHAHA!))
Aaaaanyway! Just to make sure the job is actually done right this time round, three more needles shoot Fin in the butt! So let's just make a note of the super obvious fact that all that toxin in his body isn't really going anywhere at this very moment in time. So while Fin is lying all splayed out on the roof and whatnot, maybe he can find time in his busy schedule to pass out already! UNLESS HE HAS SOMETHING BETTER TO DO AT THE MOMENT!
Oh yeah! While Fin is getting another a dose of these needles, Arin gets a few more needles shot at him from behind as well, just to make everyone gosh darn clear and brightly certain about what's meant to actually happen next!
Please feel free to pass out in the best way that you see fit! XD Good times!
Arin is about to state that he doesn't know much about the town either, but the pitter-patter of the feet grabs his attention. "Yeah, I don't know much about this place, but I'm sorry to cut this short." He sends a bolt of light towards the roof of the furry man. Lighting up the area while he prepares to make the jump to that roof. "Curiosity is calling!" with that he leaps to the next roof.
Fin jumped up just a little bit after the guy next to him did, dropping the Billiard he was pulling out in the process, though it bounced right back to his waiting hand. "Hey, wait up!" Fin ran after him and jumped to the next roof, rolling to break the impact, before rising to his feet again and hurrying after his new acquaintence. No way am I letting the first actual person I've met here to get away without answering more questions. Even if he is a mage...
Had Arin actually not paused to answer Fin before shooting his light bolt, he may have at the very gosh darn least got close to hitting the little furry fella. But since he did take the time to be polite about the situation, the bolt of light missed by a country mile, and the little fury fella had already pitter-patters his way far enough away not have its exact location disclosed when Arin lit up that area.
In fact, by time Arin jumped over to the other roof in chase of the little furry fella with Fin running after him, they can both then hear the pitter-patter of its tiny feet on the next roof over from there. Gosh O my, that furry little fella really must move a mile a minute! Or maybe that's not case at all because, just as they heard that pitter-patter on the other roof, they heard another set of tiny footsteps on the roof they just left, then another on the roof to their right and to their left, making it gosh darn clear that they have now been surrounded tiny furry men! Unfortunately, it's kinda hard to tell just how many of these little furry fella's there actually are, since Arin and Fin can only really catch small glimpses of them darting from shadow to shadow here and there. But one thing is downright certain, there's more than just a few!
Just then, as Arin and Fin realize they've been surround, Arin feels something stab him. When he looks down, he can make out what looks like a needle sticking out of his leg. One of the little fella's must have shot him from a distance. The part of the needle that's visible is a light color and about an inch in length, but judging by the pain Arin is feeling, the rest of the needle must be lodged in his flesh pretty deep. But just a word of warning there, buddy, if Arin tries to remove the needle, he will discover that it's covered in barbs, so pulling it out might be a little difficult to do. But he better do something fast because he is now starting to feel like he might faint at any moment from an obvious toxin that is filling his veins!
What makes matters a whole sight worse, is just as he see's what has happened to Arin, Fin gets shot by a needle as well, only his stabs him right in the butt! Doesn't take long for Fin to feel the toxin coursing though his veins as well.
Maybe the toxin will kill them both, or maybe it will just make them sleep, but its only gonna take a few second before they find themselves unconscious either way!
The dark figure looms near the large rock for some time, possibly in study, before it removes a single hand from its sleeve. Its greyish skin has a matted gloss like the surface of wax in the dim night glow. It extends one thin finger to point at the rock.
The tip of their finger began to pulsate with a faint violet light, and from each pulsation came forth a very small bead of violet light. These beads of light gathered in the air above the stone, creating a circular formation. Once the circle was complete it began to spin slowly. As it did so a larger glow of violet radiance began to grow within the circle, and in so doing began an elongated expansion downward toward the stone. Eventually this light made contact with the stone, enveloping it overall, while the dark figure stood back, placing their hand back into their sleeve to observe that to come next.
Under the influence of the violet light, the stone starts to radiate an orange hue as its molecules are stimulated, accelerated. It is heating up quickly….
While this is happening, the other nine dark figures, still evenly spaced around the face of the Mansion, recommence their rapid succession of short, sharp sounds.
"Hot diggity damn!" Ezomond yells and turns himself from that rock and into a man again, and the orange heat of his body disappears in a flash! He then starts waging his finger at the dark figure like he was being a naughty boy. "Now just hold on one gosh darn minute there, Mr. Man! You ain't gonna get away with casting no hot stuff at me!" And just as Ezmond was saying them exact words, two darts of glowing blue ice came out from his own finger tips, shooting the dark guy in his chest and the dark opening of his hood! Each one of these two darts was powerful enough to flash freeze an elephant into a block of ice!
All of a sudden, and what could have been for any darn number reasons, everyone in the whole gosh darn mansion can hear hear Betty yelling out from some room somewhere. The first thing everyone hears her saying is, "Well, are you going to show me or what?? Gosh darn it all to hell!" A little while later, them words of hers are followed up by, "O, my sweet cookie!". A little longer after that, everyone can hear Ariel yelling out as well, but no one can understand what hell he's saying because he's talking in some foreign language, and so it's really just kinda hard to tell if he's angry or just plain happy. Then, maybe about minute after Ariel stops his hollering, Betty can be heard again, sounding a whole lot louder than any of the yelling that came before;
Ariel wasn't used to this, he had absolutely no experience in these things whatsoever. Sure he had seen a lot humans court each other over his time as an angel, but experiencing the emotions first hand was something he hadn't planned on. He just stood there staring at Betty through all this. In the end, when she finally broke the silence, he just kind of jumped out of the state he was in then said; 'Uh, yeah sure', and starting walking off in no particular direction.
They ended up finding a hallway with bedrooms down either side. The first door Ariel came to he opened up and saw two single beds inside. He quickly slammed the door shut again, and shook his head,
"Nah, it smells like something rolled up and died in there."
Moving on, he skipped a few rooms and opened a door at the end of a hall, which, fortunately, didn't smell at all. And, just by pure coincidence, it even had a double size bed.
"Ah, this one smells better," He tells her, and heads inside.
Betty recognized the cow bell sound and knew it was Ezmond, that was gosh darn obvious! But the purple light kinda freaked her out a lot. She also just kinda follows along behind Ariel without saying much, too busy telling herself she might be making a mistake. One part of her mind is telling her to start playing dumb and just pretend she isn't even aware of what was going on right now, while the other part of her mind is laughing at that idea. It's just that everything was happening so fast, like the world had suddenly spiraled into madness over the last twenty four hours. That's how long Betty had been in Waise, and in that time she'd fought with monsters and met a dragon and hung out with a witch and encountered some mysterious dark freaks, and gosh dammit all anyway, now she was running off to elope with some fallen angel she'd only known for like five minutes. But then again, he was very cute, so that helped a lot!
But all of that overwhelming second thoughts stuff really didn't mattered in the end because, for some gosh darn forsaken reason that Betty would probably never understand, as soon as she followed Ariel into the room, she reached out and gave his butt a good smack!
The Attic is now quiet to all others within the mansion, and although the present events taking place there will remain unknown, it is enough to say that, for the first time in her life, Annie learns what it is to feel loved.
The spell which Ezmond casts is effective. The sound emitting from the ten dark figures is disrupted and becomes quiet. As the dull bell sound reigns out through the night, the figures waver, shifting ever so slightly as a purple light radiates from their beings. The purple radiance is like a pulse that moves over the land in the form of a wave for several hundred meters in every direction, silently passing through the mansion and every buildings of Waise, as though the walls of any structure were immaterial.
Once the wave had abated, a single dark figures begins to move yet again, slowly and smoothly in direction of the large rock by the door of the mansion.
Ezmond keeps his big rock form and doesn't budge a bit. He just waits to see what the dark guy does next, but at the same time, he is getting a few more spells ready to use.
As Fin reaches to shake Arin his wrist was grabbed stopping his approach. "Can't leave a man in peace." Arin sits up and stares at Fin. "Is there a reason you woke me, or was it so you could get thrown off this roof?"
A little startled, Fin just gave the honest truth. "Uh, right, I'm sorry, I'm new in town, and I was wondering if you could let me know about some of the strange stuff that happens here. For example, while you were sleeping, an energy field of magic passed through us after a loud noise that sounded a little like a bell." Fin started to pry his hand out of the mans grip, while reaching into his satchel with the other. "Do you know why that happened by chance?"
Just then while Fin was asking the question, both he and Arin heard the pitter-patter of little feet running across the roof behind them. They also heard the sound of what seemed like the high pitched cackling voice of a deranged maniac. If Arin and Fin looked back in time, they might even see what was making that noise before it disappears into the darker shadows again. It would have been kinda hard to make out in the night, but in what little light was actually available, it would have looked something like a tiny furry man, maybe abut two feet tall.
Lyudmila gives Ariel a nod in return, but not much else as she is interigued by the sounds the floorboards make. When Betty suggests finding rooms to stay, Lyudmila nods.
"Yea, that sounds like a good plan. I won't be going to sleep just yet though, I expect a friend to show up here soon, so I'll probably see you guys tomorrow."
Lyudmila starts to head off to another place in the mansion, when she hears Ariel's suggestion, in response to which she giggles.
"Is the ex-angel scared of the dark, or just lonely? Don't worry, I'm sure Betty will keep you company if you ask her nicely. She seems to like you at least, and by the look on your face you like her too." Lyudmila says as she pushes Betty a little closer to Ariel before turning to Chisille.
"What say you you and I look for a kitchen, Chisille? I'm sure you wouldn't mind eating something, would you?"
Chisille continued to sit where she was in pain until she had heard the small squeaks of the floorboards she had recently walked upon. That meant someone was coming. She braced herself for their appearance, very much ready to attack or run somewhere else if they were another unknown person. She wasn't one to let pain get in the way of a serious encounter.
Thankfully it was Betty and Lyudmila who revealed themselves. They had finally caught up with her, reassuring her that everything was alright and that she was safe. For now at least it seemed as she was, but she knew that with all the things she had seen here that was not the reality of it, especially not with Annie making all that noise upstairs.
Now that all of that business with Ariel was over, all the activity during the day was starting to weigh on her. She stifled a yawn as the others discussed finding a room for the night and if she was feeling better, she would've verbally agreed with them. For now she tried to not act so tired in front of the others, and got up to walk over to Betty and Lyudmila.
Honestly after the whole situation she didn't really feel like eating when Lyudmila suggested it, but a chance to find something she liked couldn't just be ignored. Sure Ariel had hand-delivered some sweets for her, but the brief sniff she had of them told her she wasn't one for super concentrated sugar. Maybe later when she felt like it. "Coming..." she said to Lyudmila, oblivious to the hint she was giving about leaving Ariel and Betty alone together.
Ariel was feeling slightly better seeing as Chisille was coming around, but the reality of his situation was still clearly keeping him down, at least, until Betty showed up. When she first walked in he didn't really respond, somehow it took a few moments to react and drag himself back up from his depressed state. Only after she finished her speech did he get from his chair, still unconsciously sustaining from any sudden moves on account of the dragon, and gave Betty and Lyudmila a nod of recognition.
"Good to see ya both again. And yeah, Betty, I really am an angel, but you're probably right, I sure haven't been acting like one since I arrived. Maybe I'm just feeling a little rebellious after the whole getting kicked out heaven thing."
He tries his hardest to smile, and truth be told, he was feeling kind of glad to see Betty again. She was an attractive girl, well, besides the overalls, not the most attractive female attire. But she was otherwise a stunner and had a lot fire in her heart. She meant well too, despite having the appeal of a klutz, but she didn't give a damn what anyone else thought of her, or so it seemed, and Ariel respected that.
"In any case, I'm good with that idea." He agrees, and takes a second to give Chisille a smile that suggested he was thankful for her starting to trust him, or at least considering the option. "So lets go find a room. Uh... I would prefer not to have a room to myself though - not that I'm scared or anything, maybe a little, but I think I'd be more at ease sharing with someone tonight." He can't help but look at Betty while saying that.
Nothing at all suspicious going on here at all!
When Ariel looks at her like that, Betty blushes, then when Lyudmila says all that stuff the blushing gets even worse. Everything feels just about as subtle a bull in a china shop.
When Chissy and Lyudmila leave, there’s just gotta be an awkward silence. Betty loosely swings her arms by her sides and kinda looks around the room, a little too uncomfortable to look directly at Ariel.
Gosh darn it all anyway, she thinks, why'd you have to go and say that stuff about his very fine butt? Now he's gonna reckon you're as easy as a bow-legged alley cat.
Eventually though, she manages to a get control of herself and forces a look at Ariel, but it ends up being more of a sideways eyeballing. Just then, the noise up in the attic starts up again. It sounds pretty bad, but in a way it made Betty feel more comfortable, kinda like an excuse to kill the gosh darn oversized elephant in the room.
“Aaaaaaaaaaanyway, how’s bout you lead the way with all that angel intuition then?”
At long last the close encounter draws to an end, peace once again reigns throughout the house and yet, outside, the three dark figures are joined by seven more. The now ten strong dark figures surround the exposed face of the mansion, standing perfectly still, while the increasing, rapid succession of sharp sounds they emit become akin to that of a rattlesnake about strike....
Back outside, Ezmond, who still just keeps look’n like a rock, is getting a little antsy from all that rattlesnake noise them freakazoid darkies are making, making him decide to do a little something to shut them up. He has a strong feeling all that rattle-noise is building up to something bad, maybe some sort of spell against all them guys inside the house, including his darling daughter, so he whips up a spell of his own. It’s a spell designed to act like a ward against audio based spells (if that’s even a thing at all). At the same time, Ezmond doesn’t want to give his position away to the dark freakazoids, so he’s careful not to make the spell look like it’s coming from the very inconspicuous rock blocking the door.
When he casts the audiometric spell, a loud dull chiming noise wails out from all over the place. It sounds a heck of a lot like a cow bell, and causes the rattlesnake sound from the darkies to get interrupted. All other noises in a two block radius go quiet, or uhhhh… maybe they just can’t be heard over the cowbell sound.
((I’ll try and get on Discord soon, for you know what! …Gosh darn it all anyway, again I’m about as subtle as a bull in a china shop))
Outside. The three figures continue watching the Mansion. The rapid, sharp sound they emanate is increasing in volume and speed. The ground begins to vibrate softly, not so much that anyone inside the mansion can feel it.
"Oh, for crying out loud." Ariel sighs, feeling that all his efforts were in vain; "Chisille, don't even worry about that noise up there, I'm not gonna let anyone hurt you. It's probably just Annie making a nuisance of herself again. She's up there in the attic with that other weirdo, Ei, or whatever her name is. You've met Annie, right? You know, that little girl that seems bent on causing trouble for everyone in town. And believe me, I understand what you're feeling right now; I know exactly what it's like to be constantly looking over your shoulder because something might be after you. That's all I've been doing since I arrived in this town, thanks to Annie. She's been out to get me ever since I arrived. I mean,"
Ariel leans forward, allowing his wings to be fully visible as he opens them up to show Chisille. Phasing them back out of view again, he continues;
"I'm not even human, I'm an angel, and I'm guessing that's the reason why she keeps picking on me. She doesn't like angels or something. So yeah, I know what its like to feel different and scared.
Ariel sighs again and takes a sweet from the table, popping it in his mouth and chewing thoughtfully for a moment.
"And you know what else, for countless years as an angel I went around making life better for people, but since I arrived in this town not one thing has gone right for me. But that's karma for ya, right? No good deed goes unpunished. I mean everything - everything has gone wrong for me since I landed in this place, and all I want now is to have just one friggen thing go right for me.... But no... I can't even make a scared little dragon feel better. I'm useless...."
Ariel's voice trails off in a depressed kinda tone, as he looks up at the noise coming from the attic and shakes his head. "So do what you want, Chisille." He looks at her, a tear welling in his eye. "I'm just trying to help you, but I guess I'm just wasting my time in this town. I might as well have kept drinking, at least that felt good for a while."
As Ariel started talking again, Chisille's attention was once again drawn to him. This time the sound of his voice was more... frustrated or irritated as well as calm and caring. Even though she was just about ready to leave the room from how incredibly uncomfortable she felt right now, she stayed a bit longer just to hear him. After all, they seemed to be doing nothing but talking and all that and she wanted to straighten as much things out as she could.
Annie. That name rung a bell, though she didn't quite understand it until Ariel explained about a... little girl. Images rushed through her mind, similar to the time when she was forced to see all the things the strange hunter had shown her. "Annie..." Chisille whispered under her breath. 'She's the only one I can think of... the only one who I've seen... Must be her... the so called deceiver.' she thought. From the sounds of what Ariel was telling her, she seemed like a real troublemaker. Right here in the house making the noise.
As Ariel talked, he could see that Chisille's constant panicked stance was slowly loosening and relaxing. Seems as though the talking, the stressed sickness or just simply being tired was making her lower her guard once more. Perhaps it was a combination, but it was nonetheless effective right up to the point where he brought forth his wings.
The wings caused her to jump with surprise, but it was less fear and more just being startled by them. Upon both being told and realizing that he wasn't really human even though he looked like one... a large amount of her fear drained away. The way he was talking now was driving her to feel somewhat empathetic for him. She certainly knew all about what he was telling her about particularly with constantly checking over your shoulder. She remembered when she first got free... every twig snap at night felt like she was about to be found... brought back... locked away again... more nastier things...
In the end, Ariel's constant depressed way of talking, among all the other things aided by her young naive mind had made Chisille drop most of her aggression and fear, exactly as he had planned all along. She sat down and groaned in a dragonlike way, now feeling the full effects of her stress with nothing else to distract her. Her eyelids drooped a bit and her claws tensed up at each ache. "Owww..." she whimpered quietly.
Betty keeps herself quiet and listening to Ariel talking from behind the corner at the other end of the passage. At first he sounded kinda way too nice, like someone trying to be nicer than people really should be, which sounded gosh darn odd coming from him, But then when the noise started on upstairs, he started to sound kinda deflated sorta thing. What he said sounded sad and Betty couldn't help but feel sorry for him somehow. After he finished blabbering, and she heard the quiet moan of her little dragon friend, Betty stepped out into the passage. The floor made a creek sound and alerted the other two to her presence.
"It's just me! Don't worry little bub, you're safe."
Betty walks down the passage and into the Lounge room. She gives a big smile to Chissy. When she saw Ariel sitting all dashed and vulnerable, it made him look a lot more, uh, what's that word... 'Attractive' than the guy she had met before. But you know, Betty always was a sucker for a guy who wasn't afraid of expressing his emotions. In a way it kinda made a guy look stronger, not all hung up on the insecurities of trying to look all macho all the gosh darn time. Something like that anyway.
"Well tickle me pink and spank me silly! That's gotta be one of the saddest stories I've heard when I really think about it" Betty says to him. "So you really are an angel? Gosh dammit, and I thought you were just some stupid hot headed retard who didn't care about nothing except his fine looking butt...
Betty clears her throat. "I mean... yeah... never mind what I just said. Moving on then!"
She looks back over her shoulder at Lyd, who she was glad had followed her until now. She then looks at the rest of them. "Well, call me skittish, but I think it might be a good idea if we all find rooms for the night and keep hidden until morning, especially with that freaky-freak kid upstairs. And don't worry about anything getting into the house either, my dad is here now and he's out front watching over the place. He's one gosh darn powerful wizard, so I think everything is gonna be all fine and dandy!"
Back outside, Ezmond is still a big ol rock blocking the door, but when he notices one of the three dark figures standing kinda close, as well as the ground starting shake in their presents, not to mention all that weird sounds coming out of them, he gets a few spells ready just in case.
As Chisille wanders through the mansion, the floor making noises beneath her feet is unsettling, so she moves position to try to find a spot that is quieter. Nope, that just made even more noise. Disgruntled, she considered gliding over the floor instead, but the loud thumps that would occur every time she lands or hits something would make even more noise then walking. The constantly creaking floorboards would just have to... continue to do so.
As she was just about to take a step into some place that looked like some sort of living room, she freezes. Her snout twitches as a tiny bit of a certain smell flows into her nose. The unmistakable smell of other humans. She didn't exactly feel like continuing further without the others now. Judging from the smells, there seemed to be at least 2 others, maybe another 2 further away.
She shut her trap, snuffing out the fiery orange light and plunging where she was into darkness again. It probably was not enough, so she did something extra. Cursing the few extra squeaks from the floor, she pressed herself right up against the wall of the place and focused. Her grey and yellow scales began to take on the hue of the wall itself until she was completely camouflaged... or would be as long as no one turns on a light and sees the bulge she's creating... or bumps into her.
Ariel follows towards the creaking bird-like noise, eventually arriving at a Lounge style room. The place is not well lit, but there is just enough lighting to make out the main format of furniture. Oddly enough, still standing in the Lounge beside an entrance to the next walk, he feels like he is being watched. The sensation causes a shiver to run up his spine and his arm hairs to stand on end.
"Somebody there?" He thinks for a moment, considering the possibility that whoever was there, so long as it wasn't his imagination, may be hiding out of fear. After all, the town wasn't exactly a safe haven, and the mansion would be a good place for survivors of the town to hide out in. Then again, it could have been a monster watching him. "I won't hurt you." He assures them in a gentle tone. "I'm just here with my friends for shelter from the night. You don't have to be afraid."
Taking a quiet deep breath, Ariel hopes that his words don't summon the appearance of a beast.
Ezmond tells the others he is going to stay outside for a while and watch over the entrances. Betty doesn't mind the sound of that all and goes inside after Chissy. I'm guessing Ly goes in as well.
Betty decides not to follow Chissy, not directly anyway. After all the gosh darn horrible things that happened the little dragon probably needed some space, but Betty still wanted to keep an eye on her to make sure she stayed safe. The best way to accomplish both these things was to try and follow Chissy from a distance, and hopefully not lose her along the way.
Betty asked Ly if she wanted to come along as well, and I'm supposing she said yes. Unfortunately the creaking floorboards made their stalking pretty hard, so they had to stay back a good distance and that only resulted in actually losing track of Chissy after the first few minutes. Feeling a little panicked, Betty starts moving faster, searching all the passages, until she came to a quick stop when she heard the voice of Ariel talking. She kept hidden behind a corner at the other end of a passage that led straight to where Ariel was in another room. From there she listened to what he was saying, but didn't move an inch at all, in case the floor boards gave her position away. By what he was saying, Ariel must have been trying to coax out an unseen person.... Maybe that person was Chissy.
Back outside and guarding the mansion in his own way, Ezmond can't be seen because he's taken on the form of a large rock that is just sitting there blocking the door. Very discrete.
During the whole storytelling thing with Betty recalling everything that had happened to her since she apparently came from another time, another concept unfamiliar to Chisille, she decided it was a pretty good time to groom herself. She occasionally stopped to check around in case there were others coming along, but when there were none she resumed cleaning her teeth, stretching her wings, nipping at itchy spots and all that sort of stuff that you would do when waiting.
Soon enough, she stopped when she realized they were focusing on her again. Ezmond was looking her in the eye... just staring at her. She responded in kind, just looking back into the man's eyes, trying to figure out what he was doing. Just like Betty though, it was making her feel rather uncomfortable to the point where her tail was twitching. The spike on the end of it almost willing to strike on it's own accord it seems.
The little staring contest they had had ended, during the time Ezmond walked away to think about things Chisille thought about what that was all about. She had no idea. 'Maybe they are suspicious of me... they don't like me because of what I can do or something.' she thought, still trying to straighten the confusion about humans in general and defaulting to the 'they hate me' way of thinking.
That was when she started to get another headache. The constant blur of words and sounds from BOTH Betty and Ezmond began piercing into her brain. It hurt, even though she didn't want it to. Chisille didn't want to upset anyone, but she couldn't help it. Both of her front paws pressed down hard over her ears to cut out the noise as much as she could.
Lyudmila nods.
"Yeah, staying out at night is never smart, especially not here. Shall I lead the way?"
"Indeed!" Ezmond agrees. "That would be a splendid idea!"
Betty really hated it when her dad talked like that, but she smiles at Chissy anyway. "Everything is gonna be fine now, Bub. We'll find a nice place to stay for the night. Heck, we might even be down right lucky enough to stumble on a house with others we've met before inside, just by some gosh darn lucky random convergence of events or something like that, right?"
Once she was done with her session of intense thinking, Chisille had looked up to the others, finding Betty looking a little disturbed at something. Betty suggested that the thing that had happened to her was something called mind control. It was another thing that she had not heard of in the world, or even thought about. There was a lot of stuff that she had to learn.
"But I didn't... maybe. Mind control can do this stuff? Make you happy when you don't want to be?" she asked them. Though a sort of urge of privacy came over her and she didn't really feel like discussing that topic anymore. She didn't want to talk about how she was so easily manipulated. The story about the human having many eyeballs was up next, though she didn't feel nearly as weirded out as she should be. To her it meant that they weren't a nasty aggressive human. They were simply something else that was quite powerful though. She was already scared of that before Betty had told them this.
Betty squatted down in front of her, getting eye to eye and gave her a kind smile. She told her that she didn't have to go and help the stranger if she didn't want to, but the thing is the stranger hadn't actually given her any instructions to do. "But they didn't tell me to do anything. Just had to be their eyes and ears. I heard them say that inside me."
The sudden sound of a male voice drew her attention. What she was was another farmer type, sort of looking like Betty with the clothes and all. Betty seemed to know them, getting up and rushing over to them so fast that Chisille backed off to avoid the risk of getting her face smacked by a shoe or an arm. She shut her trap while they talked. Seems as though Betty was more related to the man then just clothes.
While Ezmond scolded his daughter, Chisille tried to remember what it was like to have something like that. She couldn't.
Ezmond approached Lyudmila. Chisille found herself backing off the same amount of distance that Ezmond closed on his way to Lyudmila. They might be related to Betty, but that was no reason to immediately trust the man.
Once the introductions were finished between Lyudmila and Ezmond, he turned his attention to Chisille, kneeling down similarly to what Betty had done and gave her a good stare. Ezmond could see all that Chisille was. Grey and scaly. Hardly scarred or injured in any way, except for a few damaged scales near the shoulder blade of her wings that seemed to have healed, but not completely fused back together again. Her softer yellow underbelly looked much smoother, even rubable if he ever got the chance. Leathery wings of a similar but slightly lighter grey to the rest of her body looked a little small on her, not yet grown enough to support her during flight, and the sharp white spike that attached itself to the end of her tail that would be able to do some serious damage if he let her.
Probably the strangest part about her seemed to be her magical aura, should he be able to detect it. It seemed to have various highs and lows, as if it wasn't all the same thing. Certainly strange.
With Ezmond here, Chisille's voice silenced itself much like what he had done to all the animals inside the house. Her shyness around strangers once again hitting it's peak as she kept her mouth firmly shut.
Lyudmila introduces herself and decides to answer Ezmond's question
"Well, various things really, we're not quite sure. This town is quarantined, and strange events have been happening here, and we're trying to get to the bottom of things. We were attacked by some cultist-looking people but we saw them off! Well, kinda."
Betty also wags her tongue for the longest time telling her dad everything that had happen since she arrived in Waise, and Ezmond listened to both of them look'n very intrigued with his finger on his chin, every now and then rolling up on his toes at a point of interest. After they were finally done jidderbagging, he crouches down all friendly like in front of Chissy again and gives the little dragon a good long look in her eyes. In fact, he was staring into the dragons eyes so long it started making Betty feel a little uncomfortable. After doing whatever the heck he was doing, he stands tall and takes a short walk away from them to think for a bit, and then once he had finished doing that he turns back around with gosh darn clue about what might be happening.
He tells them: "Well, wouldn't ya know it, maybe the rumors are true! Now I don't know exactly what's going on with those rune covered monsters in town, but it does just seem like some witches are having fun playing games with ya'll. As for the hunters in black, well, that's a different gosh darn story altogether, but I've been a wizard a mighty fine long time and over them years I've heard a lot of rumors, most of which are nothing more than speculation about a certain kinda folk that have some hopped up vendetta towards God or something crazy like that. Now I gotta admit, I never really paid no mind to them rumors in the past, mainly because I figured they were probably just mixed with all sorts of lies, conjecture and a whole lot a idle gossip - yet after hear'n what I've heard here today, I gotta gosh darn tell ya that maybe all them rumors have some truth behind them. And if that be the case, then boy O boy O boy and color me pink on Sunday, there's gonna be a whole lot of trouble just wait'n around the corner."
He then looks at Betty and does the whole thumb over the shoulder routine. "I guess that means you're coming on home with me right this instant, young lady, Because I ain't letting you stay round here to be all bettered and beaten by some gosh darn group of fanatical freaks to the likes of them. So come along now, we're going on home in a jiffy!"
"Oh- no I aint!" Betty puts her hands on her hips all straight up like; "I ain't leav'n my friends all here on their own to die. Why you always gotta go and ruin my fun anyhow?"
"Now, don't you go arguing with daddy, little miss, You're coming home with me if I have take you over my gosh darn skinny shoulder!"
"Well ain't that just like you?" Betty argues the matter; "Always think'n you can hide from your past behind a bunch of cows and chicken on that big ol silly farm of yours. But I ain't taken no part in that, Mr. It's just about gosh darn time that you let me find my own way in the world! I ain't no little baby anymore and I ain't going back until this mess is over. That's all there is gosh darn to it!"
Ezmond is just a little bit offended, but he chooses to mull over the situation and chews thoughtfully on his straw for a while. "Well, hot diggity damn, fine then! But don't you go think'n I'm leav'n ya behind here all by yourself with these weirdos. If you're stay'n then I'll be stay'n too! Just how do ya like the taste of them apples?"
"Well if that's how it's gonna be then so be it!" Betty crosses her arms just frowning. "But don't you go around embarrassing me none too much like you always do!"
After the argument was over, a long quiet moment passes, then Ezmond suggest that maybe they all find some shelter for the night.
When Betty pounces upon the dark figures back, they do nothing. They seem unaffected by this physical abuse. Their sheer unwillingness to respond in any way could possibly be taken as a sign that they are more than willing to endure it and welcome such treatment to take it's course. Once the physical assault has ended, and Betty begins her onslaught of animal attacks, the dark figure does nothing but turn to her in a mechanically smooth rotisserie fashion. They do not however falter from the heavy barrage of animals. Betty can see the darkness within their hood light up, be it only for a moment, before their entire person is blanketed by the covering of animals. The face she glimpses is... different, consisting of many eyes, yellow in color, round and small, yet they are moving as though they are floating on the surface of turbulent oil.
Chisille is seated gracefully on the wet clomp of grass outside the house nearby Lyudmila. There is however another presence with them, unbeknownst to Lyudmila, but very present for Chisille. But Chisille cannot see them, she can but feel their presence beside her. Their presence is calming, in a way that feels as though it may be assisting to retain the calm benevolence within her. She then hears a voice. It too is calm, and unmistakably related to the presence that stands beside her, yet the voice is not heard by Lyundmila, and Chisille does not hear the voice with her ears, but rather by some other method she is unable to place origin on.
Your consent has allowed us entry. We thank you. You will be our ears. You will be our eyes. You will be rewarded.
When the voice is done transferring the message, the presence beside Chisille fades away and the serine feeling within is replaced by her own nature once more.
As Chisille was sitting down, minding her own business and just feeling... so relaxed about everything, she couldn't help but feel as though something else had appeared next to her, or come up to her when she wasn't checking. It didn't really matter either way, because she wasn't afraid of the sudden appearance. The spell made sure of that, only made stronger by the presence. She relaxed even further and looked to where she thought the presence was, but saw nothing. She didn't mind though... It was just all so peaceful.
The presence spoke to her somehow, from within herself. She wasn't entirely sure. She hadn't heard it or anything, but the message was clear in her mind. Chisille considered that it must've been something like those images that she was shown before, but her curiosity rose as she realized she wanted some answers to all of... this.
"My... consent allowed entry? What does that mean? You will use me or something?" she asked, and to Lyudmila and Betty, who had just rushed out of the building, it seemed like she was talking to nothing. She didn't get the answers she was seeking as the vice had faded away, and the pleasant feelings along with it. Confusion and nervousness instantly filled the void where her emotions were as she hastily looked around the place, getting her bearings on reality once more. She looked quite uncomfortable.
"Wha...? What happened to me? What did I agree to?! Why didn't I feel... anything but happy?" she shouted at the others, hoping that they could tell her some answers even though they didn't really see or feel what she did.
Lyudmila listens to what Chisille has to say, not really knowing how to respond. In the end, she just looks at Betty to see what her response is to all this.
Looking back on it, all those yellow eyes in the hood of the dark guy was one of the reasons Betty left the house in a hurry. That was just some freaky stuff going on right there. Outside she slammed the door behind her. You know, because all the town needs right now is a bunch of wild animals running loose on top of everything else that was happening.
After listening to what her little dragon baby had to say, which you gotta admit sounded really weird, she didn't really know what to make of it. Betty kinda suspected mind control of some sort, but she didn't know enough about that sort of thing to actually comment on it. Lyudmila (which is a name I find difficult to type, so I'm just gonna say Lyu from now on) and Chissy were no doubt aware of the really strange look on Betty's face as well.
"I don't really know what to tell ya," she said to Chissy and Lyu, "Maybe some sort of mind control, but what I do know for gosh darn certain is that whatever that thing was in there, it sure as damn heck wasn't human. I had a look at its face for a second, if that's what ya wanna call it, and it sure wasn't anything I'd wanna share a bus ride to school with, let's make that perfectly clear right now! More like something you'd come across down the dark alley of some distant alien planet - I didn't even have time to count how many gosh darn eyes it had."
She squats down in from of her little dragon and gives her a nice comforting smile. "And don't you go doing nothing you don't wanna, okay there, sweet pea? For all we know it was lying anyhow, and the reward it's offering is probably a fast death instead of a slow one - "
Just then Lyu, Chissy and Betty heard a mans voice speak up from a little ways away, saying something like, "Sure does sound like some aweful conundrum you got brewing there". Now, that voice wouldn't have been recognized by Lyu and Chissy, but it sure as everything sweet was familiar to good old Betty.
"Daddy??" Betty jumped to her feet and swung around so gosh darn fast you could have started a tornado with it. "What in the heck are doing here???"
Ezmond was a lean built tall man in farmer overalls (Kinda like the ones Betty's was wearing, except more manly looking), with his pant legs tucked into his old knee length black boots, a big old tattered straw hat on his head, and holding a well polished doctors leather handbag in his hand. He was even chew'n casually on a length of straw.
"Well now, how many times I gotts go tell'n ya not to go wondering off like this, little lady?" That's what he tell's her, being gosh darn straight about it too. "You know how me and your Mah get all worried sick every time you just get on up and disappear like that."
Betty replied: "Gosh Dang it all anyway, daddy, why you always go and embarrass me like that? Can't ya see I'm trying to do some serious business with these here friends of mine?"
Ezmond just kinda lets out a good ol farmers chuckle, before setting the record straight first thing. "Listen right here one gosh darn minute now. I've told ya plenty of times not to go swirling around with them spells you aint got no business stickn your nose in. Gosh O my you could have ended up worse than just lost in time - heck you coulda ended up all dead. So don't you go arguing with your daddy. I know what's best for my darling little girl now."
Lyu and Chissy would heard Betty get her nose all out of joint, grumbling and cussing things under her breath, but she knew darn well her daddy had a point, she sure did get into more trouble any kid could shake a stick at. While Betty was grumbling, Ezmond casually walks on over to Lyu and introduces himself.
"You can go ahead and call me Ezmond, if you like." Then stooping down low with his hands on his knees he looked little Chissy over like he was reminiscing about the good ol day. "Now what in darnations have we got here? I ain't seen one of your kind around for hundreds years, and it sure is my mighty fine pleasure to see ya now. But let me tell ya something right now," he says to them all as he straightens back up; "I sure did hear some interesting things while standing over yonder listening to ya'll."
Ezmond then walked on over to the door of the house and gives it a little knock. "Hush now, you hear?" He was calling out to all them animals making a big old noise inside, and just like that all the animal noise inside just went deadly quite. After that, he just turned at Lyu, Chisille and Betty again, never ain't more casual in all his life.
"Now how about you three fine ladies go ahead and tell me exactly what's been going on in this here town."
Holy nut cracker on a stick, Betty is really mad! I'm say'n really, really really dammmm mad! But I'll get back that in a second.
Outside of the wall of the barrier, when I'm just assuming the dark guys have gone away, the balls of fire like things that were hovering in the air drop. When that happens the fire is gone and then the balls crack open against the ground like eggs. From inside each one of them a bunch of little creatures crawl out. You can pretty much picture them as little gremlin type beings from some other world or dimension, but they aren't gremlins at all really. They are very fuzzy and their fur is typically green in color with brown stripes. They have two legs, two arms and hands with apposable thumbs. They are skinny, but their fur makes em look tubby, and they stand about two foot in height. They have little stubby round ears, a black button nose, little yellow beady eyes and a wide mouth filled with thousands of tiny sharp teeth like needles. They also have a very long thin blue tongue for lapping stuff up. Anyway! Once they break free from these shells, they look around at each other, say some words in their own language, giggle a lot like depraved lunatics, the set off together in no particular direction. This all happens after Chissy ran away, so no one really knows they exist yet. Wow, that was a lot of explaining.... Moving on!
So where was Betty. Oh yeah, that's right, she is really, really angry. After seeing Chissy run off and then seeing that other dragon get killed she just about loses her mind. She takes Lyudmila by the shoulder shaking the poor witch uncontrollable while asking her 'why' over and over again. Once she stops shaking the hell out of the witch she settles a bit but suggests that they should bury the poor dragon baby, but not until after they catch up to poor Chissy. Now, I just realized that it might have been hard for Betty to tell which Dragon actually died. Well, I'm here to tell ya that it was simple. Betty had half an eye on Chissy the whole gosh darn time so she was easy enough to keep track of. Done.
After suggesting they go find Chissy, Betty tells Lyudmila to lower the damn barrier so they can start their search. I'm assuming that Lyudmila will just say yes to this, so Betty then starts running out into town screaming Chissy's name at the top of her voice, and I'm hoping that Lyudmila just kinda follows along at this point. Now, you might think this is just dumb luck, but it just so happens that after Betty loses her voice but keeps on looking, she spots Chissy's paw prints in the mud caused by the rain and melted snow next to some building.
Being real cautious as to not alarm the poor baby any more than she must have already been, Betty sneaks inside and lone behold! There she was! Now the place was a bit of a mess like someone had recently trashed the place, but Betty didn't pay the mess much mind because she also saw that tall dark figure standing right there in front of the little dragon. Chissy doesn't notice Betty at first, but just after she hears Chissy say the words, "I... want to feel... sad, but I don't. Yes. I will help find her." and payn no mind at all to what that might just mean, Betty loses all control. For a moment she forgets about the magic and runs at the dark guy, jumping on his back piggyback style and beating his head with her fist while screaming at him to leave her dragon along. At the same time she was yelling at Chissy to go wait outside and that she wouldn't take no for an answer. After about, well, I don't know how long, Betty remembers herself and jumps off his back, and that's when she gets out her magic and lashing at the dark guy with all the words she could think of!
Gosh dammit all anyway, before long there were bats and snakes and buffalo and crocodiles and chickens and manner of animals, some of which weren't even recognizable, converging in a frenzied attack on the dark figure guy. Pretty soon tho, the house was kinda too full of animals to stick around in, so Betty had to leave. She left real fast and hopefully found her dragon waiting outside.
And that will just about do that for now.
Back on the Farm! Betty's dad, Ezmond, finally found where his darling daughter was, but had no freaking idea how in all of hell she could have wound up there. "That gosh darn mouth of hers." he said with a shake of his head, then packing a bag with a light lunch and few small items he decides he better go on after her.
Betty is outraged by the rude interruption. Or it's possible what happened was just the metaphorical straw that broke the camels back after everything that had happens over the last day.
Whatever the case, she was just starting to enjoy noshing into a rabbits haunch when the dark figure fellow appeared with those other invisible folk. Now that was just gosh darn creepy! And I don't even need to mention how upsetting it was to see her little Chissy start to panic. So without showing any real restraint or giving any real foresight into the matter at all, she just jumped to her feet and started ranting some spell in words she'd couldn't even remember using before. A second after casting her hand in the general direction of the dark figure while yelling out those words, a legion of very angry Leopard Seals appeared, barking and making some strange garbling grumble as they charged rather awkwardly towards the dark guy.
"Gosh dammit it all on a perfectly fine Sunday morning!"
Seeing that really isn't what she was hoping for, Betty tries ranting off another spell to counteract the first, waving both arms wildly at what she thought was the direction of the seals. When she did that, somehow or another, four flaming balls (maybe some variety of small meteorite), came blazing down out of the sky at lightening speed, heading not only at the dark figure, but also at the three other points that the voices of the invisible hunters had spoken from.
With hardly even a gosh darn second to react, Betty calls out for everyone to hit the deck, as she too jumped down onto Chissy to shield her from the impact of any blast that might harm her.
Back on the farm! Ezmond can't find his darling daughter anywhere in the known universe, so he expands his search through various timelines to see if that will help at all.
1
((we're gonna have to continue without Jay's Arin, because it looks like he is preoccupied with stuff. I will go ahead and include him in this once he posts again.
And here's a description of the little men so you know what they look like during this post: They are very fuzzy and their fur is typically green in color with brown stripes. They have two legs, two arms and hands with apposable thumbs and pointy little nails on each of their four fingers. They are skinny, but their fur makes em look tubby, and they stand about two foot in height. They have little stubby round ears, a black button nose, little yellow beady eyes and a wide mouth filled with thousands of tiny sharp teeth like needles. They also have a very long thin blue tongue for lapping stuff up.))
Fin wakes up in a room hang'n upside down by his feet from the ceiling with his hands tied behind his back, and his fingers are all bound as well to prevent him from reaching into any posckets to grab stuff. He's feeling a little bit groggy and it takes a little bit for his eyes to focus on whats going on. Apparently he's been dragged into some cobblestone basement. The room is all lit up by a bunch of little fires scattered around on the floor, and all around the outside area of the basement there are crates and boxes and stuff all broken open with the their contents all sprawled out on the floor as well. Any food, even the rotten stuff that was found in the crates had been devoured already, which can obviously be seen by all the left overs and crumbs on the floor as well. The place is stinky and smells a lot like rotting meat and vegetable mixed with a really gosh darn pungent odor of what is probably pee. Fin can also see one of his billiard balls laying on the floor as well.
Anyway! Beside one of the fires in front of him, Fin can see one of the little fuzzy men just staring at him as if he is waiting for something. It is really obviously as day that he knows Fin is now awake, but he still looks like he is expecting something from Fin, and the way his beady little eyes are gaping at him, the matter on his mind must have been very important! But when he doesn't get an immediate response from his unspoken inquiry, he shakes his angry fist at Fin and starts yell'n at him, saying something like 'Eskecoombelaka!' and jumps up and down on the spot a few times, like some spoiled little brat who didn't get his own way or something.
The next thing is, since Fin's head is dangling about eye level with the little fella, it makes it very easy for the little man to walk on up and give Fin's cheek a few good pokes with his stubby little finger. And that's exactly what he does! But he keeps on poking Fins cheeks quite hard while at the same time repeating a word over and over again. The word the little fella is now saying, even tough Fin doesn't understand the language, sounds a whole like it might be a question, and you can be sure it's a question he is gosh darn intent on getting an answer to!
"Abadaka? Abadaka? Abadaka? Abadakaaa? Abadakaaaaaa?!! ABADAKAAA???!!!"
Gosh damn it all to heck - that had to hurt!!
When Ezmond stops tumbling all across the floor and all that fire starts lap'n all around, followed up by all that water, he get on up to his feet and realizes one thing: These dark hoodie guys are stronger than he first thought. But that didn't matter a hoodeling gosh darn heck at all to Ezmond, because up until now he'd kinda been holding back anyway! In any case, as the water flow starts rushing on out of the open door and into the streets of Waise, Ezmond hold up both hands like some gosh darn traffic cop making a double stop signal. When he does that, all the doors and all the windows in the whole gosh darn mansion are sealed by pig pink force field to keep them nasty hoodies out! But it also stops all that water from flowing out on the street, which is purely a circumstantial thing and doesn't matter a great deal to anything!
On top of all that and to help them arms with the job of grabbing all them nasty ravens out a the air, Ezmond casts another spell that causes hundreds of Amazon Goliath Birdeater spiders to appear. These EXTRA big Goliath Birdeater's are hairy and about three foot in length. They also have wings like bats and start flying all through the mansion and attacking all the ravens they can find!
Just then Ezmond also takes note of all the animal noises coming from somewhere in the mansion. He's not happy about the way that sounds at all - No sire, not one little bit! So he goes on ahead and starts wading through the water in search of where his darling little Betty is!
1
Ezmond isn't a darn bit happy about being captive in all that unhealthy sounding rusty light. But that ain't no real big issue, because just as the dark figure dude starts his weird-butt noises again, the rusty ol light surrounding Ezmond goes away. But it doesn't just go away either! The aura breaks away like it's been turned into actual rusty metal and shatters into tiny pieces all over the gosh darn place. When all these shards of rusty metal hit the ground, Ezmond gives a good swing of his arm at the dark guy, and this causes all them thousands of really sharp shards to lift up off the ground and fly like bullets at the dark figure, hitting him all over his body! And you better believe that that's not all of it, because each and every one of these thousands of little shards are hot enough to cause a Sperm Whale to combust!
While all this is happening, A whole bunch of animal noise can now be heard coming from somewhere in the mansion! Elephants and cows and chickens and rhinoceros', and even ducks can be heard hollering out!
((@Darthrafae: Thanks for throwing out that hint there, but apparently it wasn't gosh darn SUBTLE ENOUGH! HAHAHA!))
Aaaaanyway! Just to make sure the job is actually done right this time round, three more needles shoot Fin in the butt! So let's just make a note of the super obvious fact that all that toxin in his body isn't really going anywhere at this very moment in time. So while Fin is lying all splayed out on the roof and whatnot, maybe he can find time in his busy schedule to pass out already! UNLESS HE HAS SOMETHING BETTER TO DO AT THE MOMENT!
Oh yeah! While Fin is getting another a dose of these needles, Arin gets a few more needles shot at him from behind as well, just to make everyone gosh darn clear and brightly certain about what's meant to actually happen next!
Please feel free to pass out in the best way that you see fit! XD Good times!
1
Had Arin actually not paused to answer Fin before shooting his light bolt, he may have at the very gosh darn least got close to hitting the little furry fella. But since he did take the time to be polite about the situation, the bolt of light missed by a country mile, and the little fury fella had already pitter-patters his way far enough away not have its exact location disclosed when Arin lit up that area.
In fact, by time Arin jumped over to the other roof in chase of the little furry fella with Fin running after him, they can both then hear the pitter-patter of its tiny feet on the next roof over from there. Gosh O my, that furry little fella really must move a mile a minute! Or maybe that's not case at all because, just as they heard that pitter-patter on the other roof, they heard another set of tiny footsteps on the roof they just left, then another on the roof to their right and to their left, making it gosh darn clear that they have now been surrounded tiny furry men! Unfortunately, it's kinda hard to tell just how many of these little furry fella's there actually are, since Arin and Fin can only really catch small glimpses of them darting from shadow to shadow here and there. But one thing is downright certain, there's more than just a few!
Just then, as Arin and Fin realize they've been surround, Arin feels something stab him. When he looks down, he can make out what looks like a needle sticking out of his leg. One of the little fella's must have shot him from a distance. The part of the needle that's visible is a light color and about an inch in length, but judging by the pain Arin is feeling, the rest of the needle must be lodged in his flesh pretty deep. But just a word of warning there, buddy, if Arin tries to remove the needle, he will discover that it's covered in barbs, so pulling it out might be a little difficult to do. But he better do something fast because he is now starting to feel like he might faint at any moment from an obvious toxin that is filling his veins!
What makes matters a whole sight worse, is just as he see's what has happened to Arin, Fin gets shot by a needle as well, only his stabs him right in the butt! Doesn't take long for Fin to feel the toxin coursing though his veins as well.
Maybe the toxin will kill them both, or maybe it will just make them sleep, but its only gonna take a few second before they find themselves unconscious either way!
"Hot diggity damn!" Ezomond yells and turns himself from that rock and into a man again, and the orange heat of his body disappears in a flash! He then starts waging his finger at the dark figure like he was being a naughty boy. "Now just hold on one gosh darn minute there, Mr. Man! You ain't gonna get away with casting no hot stuff at me!" And just as Ezmond was saying them exact words, two darts of glowing blue ice came out from his own finger tips, shooting the dark guy in his chest and the dark opening of his hood! Each one of these two darts was powerful enough to flash freeze an elephant into a block of ice!
1
All of a sudden, and what could have been for any darn number reasons, everyone in the whole gosh darn mansion can hear hear Betty yelling out from some room somewhere. The first thing everyone hears her saying is, "Well, are you going to show me or what?? Gosh darn it all to hell!" A little while later, them words of hers are followed up by, "O, my sweet cookie!". A little longer after that, everyone can hear Ariel yelling out as well, but no one can understand what hell he's saying because he's talking in some foreign language, and so it's really just kinda hard to tell if he's angry or just plain happy. Then, maybe about minute after Ariel stops his hollering, Betty can be heard again, sounding a whole lot louder than any of the yelling that came before;
"I LOVE ANGELS!!!"
0
Betty recognized the cow bell sound and knew it was Ezmond, that was gosh darn obvious! But the purple light kinda freaked her out a lot. She also just kinda follows along behind Ariel without saying much, too busy telling herself she might be making a mistake. One part of her mind is telling her to start playing dumb and just pretend she isn't even aware of what was going on right now, while the other part of her mind is laughing at that idea. It's just that everything was happening so fast, like the world had suddenly spiraled into madness over the last twenty four hours. That's how long Betty had been in Waise, and in that time she'd fought with monsters and met a dragon and hung out with a witch and encountered some mysterious dark freaks, and gosh dammit all anyway, now she was running off to elope with some fallen angel she'd only known for like five minutes. But then again, he was very cute, so that helped a lot!
But all of that overwhelming second thoughts stuff really didn't mattered in the end because, for some gosh darn forsaken reason that Betty would probably never understand, as soon as she followed Ariel into the room, she reached out and gave his butt a good smack!
Ezmond keeps his big rock form and doesn't budge a bit. He just waits to see what the dark guy does next, but at the same time, he is getting a few more spells ready to use.
Just then while Fin was asking the question, both he and Arin heard the pitter-patter of little feet running across the roof behind them. They also heard the sound of what seemed like the high pitched cackling voice of a deranged maniac. If Arin and Fin looked back in time, they might even see what was making that noise before it disappears into the darker shadows again. It would have been kinda hard to make out in the night, but in what little light was actually available, it would have looked something like a tiny furry man, maybe abut two feet tall.
0
Nothing at all suspicious going on here at all!
When Ariel looks at her like that, Betty blushes, then when Lyudmila says all that stuff the blushing gets even worse. Everything feels just about as subtle a bull in a china shop.
When Chissy and Lyudmila leave, there’s just gotta be an awkward silence. Betty loosely swings her arms by her sides and kinda looks around the room, a little too uncomfortable to look directly at Ariel.
Gosh darn it all anyway, she thinks, why'd you have to go and say that stuff about his very fine butt? Now he's gonna reckon you're as easy as a bow-legged alley cat.
Eventually though, she manages to a get control of herself and forces a look at Ariel, but it ends up being more of a sideways eyeballing. Just then, the noise up in the attic starts up again. It sounds pretty bad, but in a way it made Betty feel more comfortable, kinda like an excuse to kill the gosh darn oversized elephant in the room.
“Aaaaaaaaaaanyway, how’s bout you lead the way with all that angel intuition then?”
Back outside, Ezmond, who still just keeps look’n like a rock, is getting a little antsy from all that rattlesnake noise them freakazoid darkies are making, making him decide to do a little something to shut them up. He has a strong feeling all that rattle-noise is building up to something bad, maybe some sort of spell against all them guys inside the house, including his darling daughter, so he whips up a spell of his own. It’s a spell designed to act like a ward against audio based spells (if that’s even a thing at all). At the same time, Ezmond doesn’t want to give his position away to the dark freakazoids, so he’s careful not to make the spell look like it’s coming from the very inconspicuous rock blocking the door.
When he casts the audiometric spell, a loud dull chiming noise wails out from all over the place. It sounds a heck of a lot like a cow bell, and causes the rattlesnake sound from the darkies to get interrupted. All other noises in a two block radius go quiet, or uhhhh… maybe they just can’t be heard over the cowbell sound.
((I’ll try and get on Discord soon, for you know what! …Gosh darn it all anyway, again I’m about as subtle as a bull in a china shop))
1
Betty keeps herself quiet and listening to Ariel talking from behind the corner at the other end of the passage. At first he sounded kinda way too nice, like someone trying to be nicer than people really should be, which sounded gosh darn odd coming from him, But then when the noise started on upstairs, he started to sound kinda deflated sorta thing. What he said sounded sad and Betty couldn't help but feel sorry for him somehow. After he finished blabbering, and she heard the quiet moan of her little dragon friend, Betty stepped out into the passage. The floor made a creek sound and alerted the other two to her presence.
"It's just me! Don't worry little bub, you're safe."
Betty walks down the passage and into the Lounge room. She gives a big smile to Chissy. When she saw Ariel sitting all dashed and vulnerable, it made him look a lot more, uh, what's that word... 'Attractive' than the guy she had met before. But you know, Betty always was a sucker for a guy who wasn't afraid of expressing his emotions. In a way it kinda made a guy look stronger, not all hung up on the insecurities of trying to look all macho all the gosh darn time. Something like that anyway.
"Well tickle me pink and spank me silly! That's gotta be one of the saddest stories I've heard when I really think about it" Betty says to him. "So you really are an angel? Gosh dammit, and I thought you were just some stupid hot headed retard who didn't care about nothing except his fine looking butt...
Betty clears her throat. "I mean... yeah... never mind what I just said. Moving on then!"
She looks back over her shoulder at Lyd, who she was glad had followed her until now. She then looks at the rest of them. "Well, call me skittish, but I think it might be a good idea if we all find rooms for the night and keep hidden until morning, especially with that freaky-freak kid upstairs. And don't worry about anything getting into the house either, my dad is here now and he's out front watching over the place. He's one gosh darn powerful wizard, so I think everything is gonna be all fine and dandy!"
......................................................................................................................................................................
Back outside, Ezmond is still a big ol rock blocking the door, but when he notices one of the three dark figures standing kinda close, as well as the ground starting shake in their presents, not to mention all that weird sounds coming out of them, he gets a few spells ready just in case.
But he still looks like a rock!
0
Ezmond tells the others he is going to stay outside for a while and watch over the entrances. Betty doesn't mind the sound of that all and goes inside after Chissy. I'm guessing Ly goes in as well.
Betty decides not to follow Chissy, not directly anyway. After all the gosh darn horrible things that happened the little dragon probably needed some space, but Betty still wanted to keep an eye on her to make sure she stayed safe. The best way to accomplish both these things was to try and follow Chissy from a distance, and hopefully not lose her along the way.
Betty asked Ly if she wanted to come along as well, and I'm supposing she said yes. Unfortunately the creaking floorboards made their stalking pretty hard, so they had to stay back a good distance and that only resulted in actually losing track of Chissy after the first few minutes. Feeling a little panicked, Betty starts moving faster, searching all the passages, until she came to a quick stop when she heard the voice of Ariel talking. She kept hidden behind a corner at the other end of a passage that led straight to where Ariel was in another room. From there she listened to what he was saying, but didn't move an inch at all, in case the floor boards gave her position away. By what he was saying, Ariel must have been trying to coax out an unseen person.... Maybe that person was Chissy.
Back outside and guarding the mansion in his own way, Ezmond can't be seen because he's taken on the form of a large rock that is just sitting there blocking the door. Very discrete.
0
"Indeed!" Ezmond agrees. "That would be a splendid idea!"
Betty really hated it when her dad talked like that, but she smiles at Chissy anyway. "Everything is gonna be fine now, Bub. We'll find a nice place to stay for the night. Heck, we might even be down right lucky enough to stumble on a house with others we've met before inside, just by some gosh darn lucky random convergence of events or something like that, right?"
Don't go look'n at me like that!
0
Betty also wags her tongue for the longest time telling her dad everything that had happen since she arrived in Waise, and Ezmond listened to both of them look'n very intrigued with his finger on his chin, every now and then rolling up on his toes at a point of interest. After they were finally done jidderbagging, he crouches down all friendly like in front of Chissy again and gives the little dragon a good long look in her eyes. In fact, he was staring into the dragons eyes so long it started making Betty feel a little uncomfortable. After doing whatever the heck he was doing, he stands tall and takes a short walk away from them to think for a bit, and then once he had finished doing that he turns back around with gosh darn clue about what might be happening.
He tells them: "Well, wouldn't ya know it, maybe the rumors are true! Now I don't know exactly what's going on with those rune covered monsters in town, but it does just seem like some witches are having fun playing games with ya'll. As for the hunters in black, well, that's a different gosh darn story altogether, but I've been a wizard a mighty fine long time and over them years I've heard a lot of rumors, most of which are nothing more than speculation about a certain kinda folk that have some hopped up vendetta towards God or something crazy like that. Now I gotta admit, I never really paid no mind to them rumors in the past, mainly because I figured they were probably just mixed with all sorts of lies, conjecture and a whole lot a idle gossip - yet after hear'n what I've heard here today, I gotta gosh darn tell ya that maybe all them rumors have some truth behind them. And if that be the case, then boy O boy O boy and color me pink on Sunday, there's gonna be a whole lot of trouble just wait'n around the corner."
He then looks at Betty and does the whole thumb over the shoulder routine. "I guess that means you're coming on home with me right this instant, young lady, Because I ain't letting you stay round here to be all bettered and beaten by some gosh darn group of fanatical freaks to the likes of them. So come along now, we're going on home in a jiffy!"
"Oh- no I aint!" Betty puts her hands on her hips all straight up like; "I ain't leav'n my friends all here on their own to die. Why you always gotta go and ruin my fun anyhow?"
"Now, don't you go arguing with daddy, little miss, You're coming home with me if I have take you over my gosh darn skinny shoulder!"
"Well ain't that just like you?" Betty argues the matter; "Always think'n you can hide from your past behind a bunch of cows and chicken on that big ol silly farm of yours. But I ain't taken no part in that, Mr. It's just about gosh darn time that you let me find my own way in the world! I ain't no little baby anymore and I ain't going back until this mess is over. That's all there is gosh darn to it!"
Ezmond is just a little bit offended, but he chooses to mull over the situation and chews thoughtfully on his straw for a while. "Well, hot diggity damn, fine then! But don't you go think'n I'm leav'n ya behind here all by yourself with these weirdos. If you're stay'n then I'll be stay'n too! Just how do ya like the taste of them apples?"
"Well if that's how it's gonna be then so be it!" Betty crosses her arms just frowning. "But don't you go around embarrassing me none too much like you always do!"
After the argument was over, a long quiet moment passes, then Ezmond suggest that maybe they all find some shelter for the night.
0
Looking back on it, all those yellow eyes in the hood of the dark guy was one of the reasons Betty left the house in a hurry. That was just some freaky stuff going on right there. Outside she slammed the door behind her. You know, because all the town needs right now is a bunch of wild animals running loose on top of everything else that was happening.
After listening to what her little dragon baby had to say, which you gotta admit sounded really weird, she didn't really know what to make of it. Betty kinda suspected mind control of some sort, but she didn't know enough about that sort of thing to actually comment on it. Lyudmila (which is a name I find difficult to type, so I'm just gonna say Lyu from now on) and Chissy were no doubt aware of the really strange look on Betty's face as well.
"I don't really know what to tell ya," she said to Chissy and Lyu, "Maybe some sort of mind control, but what I do know for gosh darn certain is that whatever that thing was in there, it sure as damn heck wasn't human. I had a look at its face for a second, if that's what ya wanna call it, and it sure wasn't anything I'd wanna share a bus ride to school with, let's make that perfectly clear right now! More like something you'd come across down the dark alley of some distant alien planet - I didn't even have time to count how many gosh darn eyes it had."
She squats down in from of her little dragon and gives her a nice comforting smile. "And don't you go doing nothing you don't wanna, okay there, sweet pea? For all we know it was lying anyhow, and the reward it's offering is probably a fast death instead of a slow one - "
Just then Lyu, Chissy and Betty heard a mans voice speak up from a little ways away, saying something like, "Sure does sound like some aweful conundrum you got brewing there". Now, that voice wouldn't have been recognized by Lyu and Chissy, but it sure as everything sweet was familiar to good old Betty.
"Daddy??" Betty jumped to her feet and swung around so gosh darn fast you could have started a tornado with it. "What in the heck are doing here???"
Ezmond was a lean built tall man in farmer overalls (Kinda like the ones Betty's was wearing, except more manly looking), with his pant legs tucked into his old knee length black boots, a big old tattered straw hat on his head, and holding a well polished doctors leather handbag in his hand. He was even chew'n casually on a length of straw.
"Well now, how many times I gotts go tell'n ya not to go wondering off like this, little lady?" That's what he tell's her, being gosh darn straight about it too. "You know how me and your Mah get all worried sick every time you just get on up and disappear like that."
Betty replied: "Gosh Dang it all anyway, daddy, why you always go and embarrass me like that? Can't ya see I'm trying to do some serious business with these here friends of mine?"
Ezmond just kinda lets out a good ol farmers chuckle, before setting the record straight first thing. "Listen right here one gosh darn minute now. I've told ya plenty of times not to go swirling around with them spells you aint got no business stickn your nose in. Gosh O my you could have ended up worse than just lost in time - heck you coulda ended up all dead. So don't you go arguing with your daddy. I know what's best for my darling little girl now."
Lyu and Chissy would heard Betty get her nose all out of joint, grumbling and cussing things under her breath, but she knew darn well her daddy had a point, she sure did get into more trouble any kid could shake a stick at. While Betty was grumbling, Ezmond casually walks on over to Lyu and introduces himself.
"You can go ahead and call me Ezmond, if you like." Then stooping down low with his hands on his knees he looked little Chissy over like he was reminiscing about the good ol day. "Now what in darnations have we got here? I ain't seen one of your kind around for hundreds years, and it sure is my mighty fine pleasure to see ya now. But let me tell ya something right now," he says to them all as he straightens back up; "I sure did hear some interesting things while standing over yonder listening to ya'll."
Ezmond then walked on over to the door of the house and gives it a little knock. "Hush now, you hear?" He was calling out to all them animals making a big old noise inside, and just like that all the animal noise inside just went deadly quite. After that, he just turned at Lyu, Chisille and Betty again, never ain't more casual in all his life.
"Now how about you three fine ladies go ahead and tell me exactly what's been going on in this here town."
((gosh dammit i did it again!))
2
Holy nut cracker on a stick, Betty is really mad! I'm say'n really, really really dammmm mad! But I'll get back that in a second.
Outside of the wall of the barrier, when I'm just assuming the dark guys have gone away, the balls of fire like things that were hovering in the air drop. When that happens the fire is gone and then the balls crack open against the ground like eggs. From inside each one of them a bunch of little creatures crawl out. You can pretty much picture them as little gremlin type beings from some other world or dimension, but they aren't gremlins at all really. They are very fuzzy and their fur is typically green in color with brown stripes. They have two legs, two arms and hands with apposable thumbs. They are skinny, but their fur makes em look tubby, and they stand about two foot in height. They have little stubby round ears, a black button nose, little yellow beady eyes and a wide mouth filled with thousands of tiny sharp teeth like needles. They also have a very long thin blue tongue for lapping stuff up. Anyway! Once they break free from these shells, they look around at each other, say some words in their own language, giggle a lot like depraved lunatics, the set off together in no particular direction. This all happens after Chissy ran away, so no one really knows they exist yet. Wow, that was a lot of explaining.... Moving on!
So where was Betty. Oh yeah, that's right, she is really, really angry. After seeing Chissy run off and then seeing that other dragon get killed she just about loses her mind. She takes Lyudmila by the shoulder shaking the poor witch uncontrollable while asking her 'why' over and over again. Once she stops shaking the hell out of the witch she settles a bit but suggests that they should bury the poor dragon baby, but not until after they catch up to poor Chissy. Now, I just realized that it might have been hard for Betty to tell which Dragon actually died. Well, I'm here to tell ya that it was simple. Betty had half an eye on Chissy the whole gosh darn time so she was easy enough to keep track of. Done.
After suggesting they go find Chissy, Betty tells Lyudmila to lower the damn barrier so they can start their search. I'm assuming that Lyudmila will just say yes to this, so Betty then starts running out into town screaming Chissy's name at the top of her voice, and I'm hoping that Lyudmila just kinda follows along at this point. Now, you might think this is just dumb luck, but it just so happens that after Betty loses her voice but keeps on looking, she spots Chissy's paw prints in the mud caused by the rain and melted snow next to some building.
Being real cautious as to not alarm the poor baby any more than she must have already been, Betty sneaks inside and lone behold! There she was! Now the place was a bit of a mess like someone had recently trashed the place, but Betty didn't pay the mess much mind because she also saw that tall dark figure standing right there in front of the little dragon. Chissy doesn't notice Betty at first, but just after she hears Chissy say the words, "I... want to feel... sad, but I don't. Yes. I will help find her." and payn no mind at all to what that might just mean, Betty loses all control. For a moment she forgets about the magic and runs at the dark guy, jumping on his back piggyback style and beating his head with her fist while screaming at him to leave her dragon along. At the same time she was yelling at Chissy to go wait outside and that she wouldn't take no for an answer. After about, well, I don't know how long, Betty remembers herself and jumps off his back, and that's when she gets out her magic and lashing at the dark guy with all the words she could think of!
Gosh dammit all anyway, before long there were bats and snakes and buffalo and crocodiles and chickens and manner of animals, some of which weren't even recognizable, converging in a frenzied attack on the dark figure guy. Pretty soon tho, the house was kinda too full of animals to stick around in, so Betty had to leave. She left real fast and hopefully found her dragon waiting outside.
And that will just about do that for now.
Back on the Farm! Betty's dad, Ezmond, finally found where his darling daughter was, but had no freaking idea how in all of hell she could have wound up there. "That gosh darn mouth of hers." he said with a shake of his head, then packing a bag with a light lunch and few small items he decides he better go on after her.
((sorry I had a lot to say))
0
I Left my Right hand somewhere, I swear!
Does what hand you use even matter at all?
0
Betty is outraged by the rude interruption. Or it's possible what happened was just the metaphorical straw that broke the camels back after everything that had happens over the last day.
Whatever the case, she was just starting to enjoy noshing into a rabbits haunch when the dark figure fellow appeared with those other invisible folk. Now that was just gosh darn creepy! And I don't even need to mention how upsetting it was to see her little Chissy start to panic. So without showing any real restraint or giving any real foresight into the matter at all, she just jumped to her feet and started ranting some spell in words she'd couldn't even remember using before. A second after casting her hand in the general direction of the dark figure while yelling out those words, a legion of very angry Leopard Seals appeared, barking and making some strange garbling grumble as they charged rather awkwardly towards the dark guy.
"Gosh dammit it all on a perfectly fine Sunday morning!"
Seeing that really isn't what she was hoping for, Betty tries ranting off another spell to counteract the first, waving both arms wildly at what she thought was the direction of the seals. When she did that, somehow or another, four flaming balls (maybe some variety of small meteorite), came blazing down out of the sky at lightening speed, heading not only at the dark figure, but also at the three other points that the voices of the invisible hunters had spoken from.
With hardly even a gosh darn second to react, Betty calls out for everyone to hit the deck, as she too jumped down onto Chissy to shield her from the impact of any blast that might harm her.
Back on the farm! Ezmond can't find his darling daughter anywhere in the known universe, so he expands his search through various timelines to see if that will help at all.
0
Gosh darn it all anyway, I haven't won this thing for ages!