The Rendezvous
Aug. 11th, 2014 11:45 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
renferretEvening is just settling in when the call comes, as promised, on the cheap burner phone that was left for Nick. It's the same number as before, and the same calm, male voice on the other end when he answers. "It's good to hear your voice, Nick," the man says. And then he gives the address, so to speak: an abandoned field only a few minutes walk from the old Escrowe Farm. "You have one hour." Click.
Meanwhile, it's the end of a fair day near the meeting place. Cool breeze, clear skies, and the faint, just the faintest stench of something foul on the air. The birds are quiet.
As he heads through the fields at a brisk pace, Justin appears to be out for a jog. He is carrying a backpack over his shoulders, filled with many nick knacks. He is breathing in a steady manner, sweat pouring down his face and causing his haphazard brown hair to stick to his brow.
Nicodemus makes a call immediately to Salem. When it becomes clear that Riley and Slug are otherwise occupied, contingencies are set in motion. Nick sends Kargamis, his chimerling familiar, off to tell Silvertip that there's an emergency and her presence is requested immediately. Meanwhile, Salem....
With Riley and Slug unavailable, Salem calls up Emma via their packlink, letting Nick take care of getting hold of Ciuraq. The old Walker is less than thrilled with the addition of the Ukten but accepts Nick's recommendation. He suggests the Garou meet at the site of the old farm and go on foot from there; Nick, of course, can station himself whereever he needs to be.
Somewhere nearby, Justin catches the sharp sound of an animal in pain; a dog's yelp, but it sounds weak. There's a rustle in the grasses, also nearby, and the low sound of a voice, though he can't make out actual words.
Emma wastes little time once she gets the message from her alpha. No questions asked, she's dropped what she was doing and made her way to the prescribed rendezvous point, settling herself in a place that allows a good view of the more common approach routes.
Ears twitching, Justin slows down to a stop and tilts his head over to the sound of the animal's noise. Sliding the backpack to one shoulder, he reaches up to yank the hoodie over his head as he shifts up to Glabro and starts over in the direction.
Ciuraq arrives via the tree-branch express, the short Uktena silently running among the crown of the trees at super-human speeds, like someone in Crouching-Tiger, Hidden-Dragon. Around her neck is some over-the-top necklace of laced wolverine claws, otter paws, and deer hooves. Silently, she drops out of the trees at the appointed site.
Justin doesn't have far to go. Just over a slight hill he immediately spies three figures; a man in ratty, dirty clothing that's crouched over what must be the dog--he can see its legs kick feebly as he reaches down to peel off a strip of hide with a short, sharp knife and his fingernails. Standing nearby is a man who seems to be his opposite; he wears a neat white polo and slacks, with his arms crossed over his chest, keeping more of an eye on their surroundings than the dying dog. He's wearing something on a string around his neck. The third figure is hulking, easily taller than the two others by at least a foot, and wearing a ski mask and goggles, though the ski mask itself has no opening for the mouth. There's a sound from him too, something like a nasty sort of giggle.
Salem arrives shortly after Ciuraq does, Emma with him. He's not smoking /currently/, but the odor clings to his person like an old friend. He greets the Uktena with a nod, his expression grim.
Dropping the backpack to the ground, Justin crouches down a bit in the tall grass of the field, then slinks his way down into the hispo form. Skulking forward and low to the ground, he takes in a deep breath to try and gather their scents.
From afar, Nicodemus scans the area for the four baddies.
You paged Nicodemus with 'They're where they said they'd be. ...Three of them. Oh, look, Justin.'.
Emma and Silvertip get The Short Version(tm) as to what's up. As they're being caught up, Nick spends some time in silence, scanning the area from afar. As he heads for his Suburban, he offers, "They're where they said they'd be. Except for the Native American woman. She's missing. And... Justin? Justin, the new Gnawer cliath, appears to be stalking up on them. I'm bugging out to a different location," Nick says as he clambers into his vehicle to leave the area. "Yell if you need an extraction."
Justin smells sweat, grease, blood, and cigarette smoke. He smells the dog too, and urine. Ugh. The big hulking ski mask guy giggles again, and the one crouched over the dog gives a small, thin smile as he reaches down to start cutting another strip of hide. The man standing watch looks in Justin's direction, but nothing changes in his expression, and his gaze sweeps over the field to the left. Apparently, he didn't see the Gnawer.
"Wh... where you want me?" The Uktena asks. Ciuraq looks first to Nicodemus, and then, eventually, to Salem. It's the latter her expectant expression lingers on. Folding her arms, "An... what, eh, what to do?"
Emma stands easy at Salem's side, looking like a rather elegant form of 'muscle' compared to the man beside her. It's at Nick's mention of Justin that she lets out a tsk of concerned annoyance.
As he continues to skulk forward, slowly but surely, Dances-In-The-Dark keeps his ears trained and nose sniffing as he looks to make a wide round towards them. He continues to listen, hoping to pick something out.
More yelps. More giggles. And then suddenly a woman's voice, so close he can actually feel her breath on his cheek. "Hello, dear. Lost?"
Dances-In-The-Dark: From the left or right?
Sheogorath: Left.
Salem shakes his head in regards to the Justin question. "If he fucks this up..." The statement goes unfinished. To Ciuraq, he says, "Just... let me do the talking. We don't attack unless they do it first. If it does come to violence, try to capture the one in the suit alive. The one wearing Mouse's ear around his neck."
Nicodemus drives a couple miles away, closer towards the farmhouse regularly populated by the garou but not actually to it. He can call for more backup if need be. Pulling the Suburban off the road, into the driveway of an abandoned, foreclosed home's driveway, he keeps the engine running, lights off, and re-extends his senses to where the meet-up location is at.
You paged Nicodemus with 'Welp, there's the native american woman. She is /right/ next to hispo!Justin.'.
Ciuraq's eyebrows go straight up, and then, Salem gets a bob of the brow, and an, "Ii-i." She jumps back up into the branches like a kung-fu extra, following along from a more loft, slightly less exposed perch.
Dances-In-The-Dark slicks his ears back and whips his head to the left, stumbling off to the right. He stares up at the woman and tilts his head to one side in a dopey expression. Rrrrwl? See, nothing but a big dumb G-Shep here. His tail tucks down between his legs and he tip toes backwards slowly through the grass.
The woman straightens up, grinning. She looks vaguely Native American in skin tone and facial features, and is dressed in a simple t-shirt and ripped jeans. "Ah ah ah." A finger wags. The dog has stopped yelping, and there are sudden, swift-moving footsteps from just ahead, where the other three were.
Silvertip finds cover for only so long, unfortunately. The field itself is open and devoid of trees. They likely picked it partly for that reason.
Emma looks toward Salem, "Am I sticking with you then? Or you approaching solo?"
Continuing to back peddle, Dances-In-The-Dark whips himself around and starts to bolt in the direction he came from, cutting through the grass with wide amber eyes. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuckityfuckfuckfuckfuck.
"They said three, so we're three," Salem says, unaware of the deep shit that Justin has gotten himself in.
Behind him, the field explodes with both movement and raucous, mocking laughter. The noise sounds both human and oddly inhuman, but it's certainly not pleasant. "Run, puppy!" the woman shouts after him, while the man in ragged clothes throws a stone after him that clips an ear. The hulking ski mask figure chases him for a few feet longer than the others, and it's from him that the loudest, most howling laughter is coming from. "Run little baby!" shouts the ragged man. "Run to mommy! The big bad wolf's going to eat you!" Only the man in the polo is quiet, though he's only a step behind the others before they stop. His mouth sets into a thin line as he checks a watch on his right wrist.
Sheogorath: Audible enough to you guys too.
Zig zagging through the grass, Dances-In-The-Dark feels the stone swipe his ear and he lets out a loud grunt under his breath. As he passes his backpack, he whips his head to the side and snags it with his teeth on the fly, throwing it over to let it hook around his neck and shoulder.
Ciuraq's lips peel back as she hears the words echo through the forest. However, where she is now, she's just following Salem in the trees, apparently ready to let the walker take the lead.
Salem grumbles something irritable under his breath in Serbian and continues to the meeting-place, long legs eating up the ground, his expression stony.
Nicodemus maintains his focus and concentration from afar, slowly gathering up energies and fine-tuning his scrying magicks.
Emma's jawline tenses visibly at the sounds reaching their ears, but she holds her composure well in check and keeps her pace at Salem's side. Only a sidelong glance is given him as she focuses on their destination.
"Dxun," the ragged man says to Ski Mask, as his laughter abruptly dies down and he fingers the bloodied knife he was using on the dog. The name sounds like a cough. "Bring him back." The man in the polo, wearing a crinos ear with a very distinctive pattern like a pendant, lowers his be-watched wrist and looks at the ragged man. "We don't have time," he says, in a voice that's quite calm in comparison to the others. It's the same voice that was on the phone call. "They'll be here at any moment." Ragged man turns on the calm voiced man with half a snarl. "Shut the fuck up. I've had enough with all this bullshit waiting around. He'll do for us. Dxun!" Ski Mask turns his head from the fleeing Justin to the Ragged Man, and then back, before he starts to lumber in the direction of the Gnawer. He gets only a few more feet before he stops, apparently staring in the direction of Salem and Emma as they come into view.
Sheogorath: The ear calm voiced dude is wearing is very recognizably a crinos ear, and recognizably Mouse's for...I don't think Justin ever saw Mouse, but the rest of you.
You paged Dances-In-The-Dark with 'Justin can probably see those two as well.'.
Nicodemus | Nick . o O (I want the rest of my Epic Mount, you bastard!)
Sheogorath dies.
As he slides to a stop in front of Salem and Emma, Dark-Dancer's eyes bug out of his skull. His expression is full of !!!! and O.o;;; His entire posture goes rigid and he lets out a throaty, ~What the fuck is going on? I was out for a jog and these four shits are cutting a dog into pieces! I am -so- glad you two are here.~ He breathes deep, wiggling out of his backpack. ~I think I shit myself.~
Salem is obviously in no kind mood; he bares his teeth canine-fashion at Justin. His tone is brusque. "Get out, pup. Fast. Now."
Ciuraq gives a soft snort, before she proceeds, in homid, more slowly forward. Her eyes narrow as she starts to see the clearing before her.
Salem: Level 20 wanders into Level 90 Heroic.
Emma gives the Gnawer a look as well, her eyes directing him to a place behind the more experienced garou. She nods in agreement with the Walker, "No questions. Obey."
~Cliath now, sir, but, yes, sir.. shutting up.. sir.. Hi Emma. Please don't hit me later.~ Dark-Dancer says as he slips around behind her, looking a mix of embarrassed, scared, and false confidence. ~.. I'll .. uh.. be back up. Like.. back-back-up.. shutting up for real now..~ He says as he slinks down lower, clamping his jaws shut.
Ski Mask's voice is low and growly. "They're here already." Ragged Man stares at Calm Voice for a moment longer, then spits at his shoes and turns around. The knife he sends deep into the dry earth with a sharp flick of his wrist before he starts moving toward the Gaian Garou. The others let him take a very slight lead, but then follow, fanning out behind. "Little point now," Calm Voice says as they get within speaking distance. "Four," the woman sneers. "Naughty." The ragged man says nothing further yet, but he clearly sweeps his gaze up and down the three, openly studying them.
Ciuraq pages: Stip looked at?
You paged Ciuraq with 'Yeah.'.
You paged Ciuraq with 'Justin's kind've being semi-ignored now.'.
From afar, Nicodemus does that whole scanning for traps sort of thing. Even though I think these guys want to just talk. Which is a shame because if they didn't and were doing aggressive shit, Nick might drop a rock on their head from low orbit.
You paged Nicodemus with 'What sort of traps is he thinking? Mundane ground stuff?'.
"A hanger-on," Salem says, turning back to the strangers. "A hanger-on who is going to get the /shit/ beaten out of him if he doesn't /get the fuck out/ like I just told him to do." He doesn't look at Justin as he says this; his eyes are mainly on Calm Voice.
Ciuraq's eyes narrow again as she's looked at. So much for sticking to the branches. She doesn't leave her lofty perch, though, resting a hand on the nearest trunk to steady herself.
Calm Voice shakes his head. "Little point," he repeats. "He's here now." "Hmph," the Ragged Man snorts. "Yeah, let the puppy stay. He might wet himself again." His attention shifts from the general sort of scan to focusing on Salem specifically. "Guess you dickshits are the local bleeding hearts. Children of Gaia? I used to know some've them."
Nicodemus pages: That (especially bomb-related) and looking for Spirit foo.
Curling his lip upwards, Dark-Dancer continues to back up and put distance between the others, then gives another glance to Emma. With that, he starts off as he drags his bag behind him, shifting back up into the Glabro form.
You paged Nicodemus with 'He can't find anything bomb related. No pitfall traps. No hidden nooses in the grass. Probably not surprisingly, there's some spirit foo going on with Ski Mask and Ragged Man, but it's pretty faint. Calm Voice though? He's got spirit foo going on pretty hard. Part of it's concentrated in the ear for whatever reason. Another part is in the gun he's got at his side, and that Nick will recognize because it's the gun fetish Mouse had. But he's got some sort of active...something besides. A gift probably.'.
Emma gives just the briefest of glances to the Gnawer before settling her attention on the group they've come to meet. That subtle, but tell-tale twitch of her jaw the only hint at the simmering fires beneath the skin.
Salem's gaze shifts from Calm Voice to Ragged Man, weighing the pair of them. "Does it matter? We heard you had a message for us. That you wanted to talk."
Ciuraq, again, remains where she is, up in the trees.
Ragged Man's lips part into a faint chuckle that's more air than noise. "Yeah. Talk. Okay, here's what I've got to say. One've you comes with us. You can even pick the baby if you want." "I would," the woman says, watching Justin's retreat with keen interest. "The rest of you," Ragged Man continues, "You get to walk away. A bunch of human fucks don't get blown to bits and never know how nice you were to save them. Otherwise, we take all of you, and somewhere in St. Claire a whole big building full of people goes boom." Calm Voice seems to be taking a back seat at the moment (almost literally, as he's certainly standing a little back from the others), but he seems alert, even tense. His attention seems to be fixed on Salem.
From afar, Nicodemus tries skimming Ragged Man's head when he talks about the bomb blowing up, so as to hopefully get a location.
You paged Nicodemus with 'Ragged Man is feeling very smug right now...but he doesn't know. Calm Voice and the woman hid it. And built it? No, Calm Voice built it alone.'.
"That's a lot of effort just to get your hands on one of us," Salem says blandly. His face is stone, his anger well under heel; he doesn't seem terribly surprised by the terms given. "One might think you'd be planning to blow the building up regardless, though I think that would be pretty unimaginative."
From afar, Nicodemus heads over to Calm Voice's head, then. After the others have had a bit of time to talk.
Ciuraq's free hand starts to twitch, like itching for action this full moon. It doesn't yet start to draw symbols in the air, but that ring finger is definitely looking to do something. For those paying attention to her ring finger.
Emma clenches her teeth together as she stands by and waits; the heaviness of the moon and the presence of the enemy stoking at that control of hers. A quick glance is given over her shoulder, just with the smallest turn of her head, to see where the young Gnawer has gotten himself off to.
"You have a reputation," Calm Voice says. Ragged Man shoots him a faint sneer, but looks back to Salem. "So does he," he says, jerking a thumb in Calm Voice's direction. "Talked us into trying something unusual this time. We get one of you clean. Sends a message, doesn't it? Or we fight," he doesn't seem at all opposed to this option, "and we get /all/ of you, and that sends a message too. You think we give a shit about some building full of apes? But it blowing sure as fuck doesn't hurt us."
You paged Nicodemus with 'Calm Voice's head isn't...calm. He seems to be repeating extremely complex patterns of numbers in his surface thoughts. Mathematical formulae, pretty advanced stuff. Some of it's even over Nick's head, and that's saying something. Beneath it Nick can sense tension, but also uncertainty. He's debating something.'.
Nicodemus pages: Moving on to the woman, then. As Ragged Man seemed to be thinking she'd helped to plant it.
"I have a counter-proposal," Salem says, unruffled, confident. "He," -- he points at Calm Voice -- "comes with us, and the rest of you go back, defuse that bomb, and walk away with your lives. Or we fight, and you die, and he /still/ comes with us."
You paged Nicodemus with 'She's thinking about...things that don't bear repeating, for the most part. Ragged Man isn't the only one who was enjoying torturing that dog, apparently. But there it is. They put it under the Temple. Right under. Details will take a little longer to work out.'.
Twitch twitch twitch. Oh yeah, Ciuraq's ring finger /really/ wants to do something. Well, again, if you're paying attention to that sort of thing. Aside from that, the Uktena stays put, the small ahroun loitering among the branches of the threes.
From afar, Nicodemus nodders. Just let me know when.
Ragged Man bursts out laughing, but the woman's derisive sneer seems to have faded, and she looks uncertain at best, her eyes moving rapidly between Salem and Ragged Man. Ski Mask's mostly unreadable, but he too is turning his head, and there's more tension than there was before. "What the fuck do you want with him?" Ragged Man asks, still chuckling. "Do you know how fucking annoying this asshole is, just because he got lucky?" Calm Voice doesn't look afraid, but then, his expression has been pretty rigid this entire time. In fact, he briefly meets Salem's eyes, and the look doesn't seem to be challenging so much as...something else.
You paged Nicodemus with 'Basement room? No, utility closet. It's positioned well, just under the dance floor. She's pretty happy about that placement, and she's pretty happy about what an explosion there will do. What she's not happy about is that Salem is a scary motherfucker, and that ultimatum was not what she was expecting.'.
Though she remains nearly stock-still, muscles tighten as Emma focuses her attention on the three Dancers before them. There's little hope of her hiding her desire for fighting, even in the form best suited for it.
From afar, Justin has backtracked, but still made a bit of a wide circle at least to keep eyes on them from afar in Lupus, hidden in the grass. Just in case shit goes down.
Nicodemus pages: Remote disarm! Go! (Fortunately Nick used to frequent The Temple a lot in his younger goth days, so it should be easier to render the bomb a dud--especially if they used the same basic setup as the last one.)
You paged Nicodemus with 'He finds it! And yes, it's the same design. Awesome. And...and you know what? It's the same design right down to the fact that the wire is twisted away from the detonation device. This is a bomb that is never going to explode, barring actual physical violence.'.
Salem's good eye turns to study Calm Voice for a moment, and then his attention turns back to Ragged Man. He shrugs. "If he's annoying, then it's an easy decision for you, isn't it? Do you really want to die for him?"
From afar, Nicodemus rings up Salem's phone now or stall a bit?
You paged Nicodemus with 'Go for it.'.
Ciuraq draws an arcane symbol with her ring finger, like preparing for something unpleasant. Her weight starts to sag on the branch, like she's no longer concentrating on flying.
After Salem finishes, his cell phone alerts him that he just received a text message. And then again. And then again. One right after the other, as if demanding his attention.
This time, Ragged Man spits at Salem's shoes. "I'd kill him for you," he claims. "But one way or another, we're getting at least one of you. Dxun! I'm fucking tired of this mouthy bullshit. Either hand over--" And then Salem's phone goes off. Ragged Man's expression is incredulous, as if he can't believe that just happened. "Christ, shut that thing up." Calm Voice steps backward with his right arm going behind him at almost the same time that Ski Mask takes a step forward, and the woman braces for a lunge. Neither actually attack, as thrown off by the interruption as Ragged Man.
Emma moves when the others do, though her only shift is one of a position slightly more at Salem's side as the distraction causes a pulse of energy through the gathered. Fists clench up at her side in that moment, and only ease back into loose-fingered twitching by years of dedicated work at such control.
Salem keeps an eye on the group as he gets out his cellphone and gives the screen a very quick glance. His expression doesn't change one iota as he puts the phone away. Calmly, he says, "Spare the one in the suit." Meaning Calm Voice. "Kill the rest." And, just like that, he snaps into Crinos and lunges, quick as a snake, at Ragged Man.
Ciuraq's free hand springs to action, finishing drawing the symbol she'd started, before her hand forms a fist. She jerks the clenched fist upward, as she brings out the 'air-bending' moves. The arcane fist of air clenches around the man wearing mouse's ear. The direction she uses the telekinetic burst to send him is up. Very, very up. 20 miles per hour up.
Her alpha's command snaps Emma into action like a K-9 Unit loosed by its handler. In the blink of an eye she's taken to her warform and sent herself leaping straight into the midst of the enemy. Announcing her charge is a bellowing scream that erupts into a shockwave of sound targetting her foes.
Everything happens in less than an instant, almost faster than the supernatural eye can follow. Ragged Man only has time to hit crinos himself before Salem is on top of him, ripping viciously into his face and neck with Rage-blurred claws. Then Emma is there, and all four of the Dancers are knocked flat on their backs before Silvertip's gift suddenly whisks Calm Voice straight up into the air. He only just barely keeps hold of the gun he was reaching for, but that's all he manages beyond an uncharacteristically startled yelp.
Ski Mask, Dxun, is the first up, and he's in crinos without any delay whatsoever. His eyes are where they should be, but his entire muzzle looks as though it were simply attached sideways, so that his jaws gape left and right, and his tongue hangs free as he starts to snarl and foam, his eyes rolling like a maddened, rabid dog. Ragged Man is too stunned to return Salem's attack, but the woman produces a pistol of her own and fires nearly point blank up at Emma. The bullet hits, tears a little skin at Emma's hip...and does nothing else. The woman gapes. "What the /fuck/?"
You paged Heart-of-Fire with '1 Lethal. Oooo scary.'.
Ciuraq continues to maintain her pose, sending the well dressed man further and further into the air. He's a Rocket Man, and it's lonely outer-space. She's giving giving him as much 'up' as her powers allow, so it's a long long time before he starts to arc on his parabolic trajectory down.
From afar, Ciuraq continues on her gift, sending him more 'up.'
Scar ruthlessly presses his attack on Ragged Man, his fangs seeking throat and his claws aiming for soft and vulnerable innards.
Sheogorath eyes Salem's dice tonight. He mad.
Heart-of-Fire turns her claws first on the woman who just fired on her, reaching out to rake two furious swipes at her throat while glaring at her with the heat of hatred.
Ciuraq: U mad bro?
Scar very mad.
Nicodemus depresses the gas pedal for the Suburban's big, gas-sucking engine. It revs, then the RPMs drop suddenly, as if the vehicle were straining to go up a hill. He manipulates the Forces drawn off from the engine, redirects them through space, and aims to bend or flatten the barrel of the pistol held by Calm Voice.
Ragged Man's snarling turns to gurgles as Scar practically shreds him, tearing apart face and neck and torso in violent bloody rips of his claws. He can feel the Dancer's bones shatter as he pulls the ribcage apart, and Ragged Man's last movement is a small shudder, his eyes still wide open. In return, he rendered a few desperate gashes across Salem's already scarred chest, but while nasty looking and bloody, they don't seem to have slowed the Glass Walker down at all.
The woman's eyes bulge as Emma turns on her, and she almost makes it all the way to lupus, and part of the way to her feet, before her throat is torn clean from her neck. Almost.
Meanwhile, Silvertip sends Calm Voice ever higher, while the man can do little but flail. It's unclear what happens to the pistol, because the man himself is becoming a speck. Unfortunately, this doesn't last. Dxun falls on the Uktena with horrible vengeance, tearing open his shoulder and side straight to the bone before his foaming, sideways jaws close on Silvertip's neck, biting deep.
You paged Scar with 'Three agg. Ragged Man is very very dead and in pieces.'.
You paged Heart-of-Fire with 'She's so dead.'.
Scar straightens up from the corpse of Ragged Man, taking a moment to call on his will to ignore the pain of his wounds and scan the battle. A moment later, he's dropped to all fours and is heading for Dxun from behind, bloodied fangs bared.
Ciuraq, in homid, doesn't deal very well with getting bit by a crinos that's yanked her to the ground. As the meat gets seperated from her rib-cage in what's very narrowly not a mortal wound, the Uktena flies back with all due speed, back into the air and 'away.' Oh so very-much in the direction that's not towards him. Her gift is broken, and the man in the suit's direction will eventually become ruled by gravity again, now in a ballistic arc.
Heart-of-Fire takes only a moment to discern her target is no longer a threat, then turns to watch Scar charge toward the oddly-faced crinos. She holds her position, knowing that a third body in that mix is unnecessary at this point, and turns her eyes skyward to see if she can spot that white collared, balloon-less, 'balloon boy'.
Slobbering, foaming, utterly mad even if he isn't frenzying (and that's not at all clear), Dxun turns bloodied, sideways jaws toward the oncoming Scar, howling wordless threats and utter hatred. Up in the air, Calm Voice stops going up, and starts going down very very quickly. Nick will know that his attempt to crush the barrel failed from the sharp, if distant report of a bullet being fired.
Half a second later, Dxun's head explodes.
You paged Scar with 'Salem loses two Rage and two Willpower, because Dxun is literally a bastard.'.
Ciuraq is bleeding, and has half her chest and shoulder bleeding, but as soon as she's on the top of a yellow cedar, her still-working hand draws arcane symbols as fast as she draws an arcane symbol, pulling an air-elemental out of the umbra. *Cushion his landing cushion his landing CUSHION HIS LANDING!* She commands.
Nicodemus repurposes the energy from the Suburban's engine to bringing the floating Spiral back towards the garou. He attempts to alter the flight path from a plummet towards the earth into a redirection back towards the garou, his body spinning and yawing so as to keep the Dancer disoriented, hopefully making any attacks he might attempt extremely unlikely to connect with anyone or anything.
Scar twitches back at Dxun's roar, grimacing, and then -- when the ugly mule's head explodes -- flinches. Growling, he drops down into hispo and turns his muzzle toward Emma. ~Where's the calm one?~
Between Nick and Silvertip's efforts, the potentially lethal plunge is instead turned into a nauseating roll and tumble that brings Calm Voice to rest only about five feet from the dead Dancers and Chimera pack duo. He's shaking, clinging to his pistol for dear life, and laughing in a quiet but utterly hysterical manner, gulping and gasping in equal measure. At the moment, he doesn't seem entirely capable of stopping.
Heart-of-Fire lets out a snort as the gun is fired, and her first response is take a count of those she came here with. Scar's question brings the first bit of relief, and she hurries a quick reply to him. ~In the air.~ Then she's hurrying toward the bloodied Uktena, if nothing else, to stand guard against potential surprises while she weaves her signs.
Ciuraq drops down to the ground in a soft landing, grabbing at her chest in what must be pure agony from having so much flesh rent from her body in a single, vicious mauling. She takes war form immediately, leaning heavily on her now-appearing spear's shaft. She barely keeps herself upright, nearly totally incapacitated.
Ciuraq contorts and blurs as she is transformed.
Ciuraq shifts into Crinos form.
Scar in Hispo limps heavily over toward Calm Voice, bloodied and bleeding. He lets out a gutteral, commanding snarl. ~Drop the gun.~ His lupine body language expresses wariness, suspicion, and of course a hell of a lot of post-battle nerves.
Calm Voice (who is clearly not nearly so calm), somehow manages to peel his fingers loose from the pistol's grip. He sets it down a little more carefully than might be expected, given the shaking and forced down laughter, but then manages to get control of himself a little more, enough to raise both hands away from the gun and away from his body. "It's a bad day, Jack," he says. His voice is about as shaky as the rest of him.
Scar pages: Sense Balance.
Heart-of-Fire looks to Silvertip, eyes grimacing as she fails to disguise the concern that's crept into them. She positions herself between the gun wielder and the Uktena until the pistol is relinquished. At the mention of Salem's name, a growl escapes her and her ears twitch forward.
Scar pages: On CV. If pings wyrm, specifically on the Mouse ear around his neck.
Little Silvertip limps and drags herself forward, barely at a crawl's pace. Slowly, she moves in towards the well dressed man. ~Get the corax now.~ She hisses to no one in particular, coughing up blood in the process. It's a wonder she's still upright.
You paged Scar with 'Man, he reeks of Wyrm. Ew. The ear? An ear shouldn't be giving off anything, belonging to someone living or not, but this one's...Gaian? Certainly in balance.'.
You paged Salem with 'Oh, I'm dumb. Also, that gun is Mouse's and he'd probably be able to recognize the Roach Clip in it.'.
Nicodemus keeps the Forces wrapped around Calm Voice's body, letting him know that somethng still has him--and something more might happen should he fail to comply.
Scar cocks his head to the side, nostrils working visibly. He looks at the discarded pistol, and suspicion deepens. He rears back, getting onto his hind legs, then continues shifting down into Glabro. Hunkering down on his heels, he reaches out to take the Mouse-ear-necklace and yank it off Calm Voice. ~Your name. Your /real/ name, Gaia's Truth.~
It comes off easily, the string snapping with ease. Calm Voice doesn't try anything, at least, and he keeps his hands well raised, though he does glance with a faint grimace toward Silvertip before looking back to Salem. There's a wan smile that doesn't seem to hold any real humor, just exhaustion. "Matilda Knight. She Who Led the Blood Dance and Called the Three From Ashes. ...Mouse." The man's form shifts--not to crinos, or glabro--but to something decidedly more feminine.
Mouse has arrived.
You paged Salem with 'Needless to say, truth bell was rung.'.
Little Silvertip continues to limp in, behind Emma. The athro clutches at the bleeding gape that is half her upper body, which'll probably cauterize on its own, now that she's in war form. ~Bull shit.~ She hisses.
Little Silvertip pages: Ping ping ping sense magic.
You paged Little Silvertip with 'Magic's definitely present, but it's of the bound spirit variety. Gosh, there's at least three. No...maybe four? The gun he dropped, the ear in Salem's hand, and two things on him or part of him. Her? Hard to pinpoint.'.
Heart-of-Fire is all at once dumb struck. Her eyes widen and ears flatten as if she were faced with a magician's trick she could not possibly figure out. She tilts her head to look closer, ~Is it truth Scar!?~ she asks.
"Jesus fucking Christ on a /crutch/." Salem, still in Glabro, sits back on the grass, looking relieved. He glances over at Silvertip. ~Gaia's Truth,~ he says to the Uktena, then tosses the Mouse-ear necklace at her. ~Check that for magic.~
From afar, Salem does another Sense Balance. Still wyrmy?
You paged Salem with 'Still.'.
Mouse closes her eyes and lays a little flatter on her back. She's recognizable, but only just, with those nasty claw wounds across her entire face, the weird somewhat abstract snake below her hairline near one temple, the lines of pure exhaustion under her eyes, as if she hasn't slept in days. She looks thinner too, or possibly that's just the effect of the clothes she's wearing, which seem to be much too large for her now.
Mouse says, after a moment, without actually opening her eyes again, "Careful, I'm not...I don't think I'm clean. I don't feel clean. But you're not supposed to notice your own taint, are you? I." Breathe. "It's Kakkerlak. The ear. I mean. She's. She's in the ear." Her own ear, the left one, is present, but still clearly healing, as it's smaller, less formed than the right one, and the cut where it was severed is still visible.
~Lots. Including the ear. Bound sp...~ Silvertip coughs up blood. ~Bound spirits galore. Can't say she's hasn't danced the spiral. Every one in the Green is dead or captured.~ Silvertip wheezes, coughing more blood. Copious blood. Once the fit stops, ~I don't fucking trust it.~
Salem wrinkles his nose and nods. ~You're tainted, yes.~ He glances at Emma and Silvertip. ~We hold her until dawn, do a Rite of Cleansing.~ He looks back down at Mouse. ~Until then, you'd better start talking.~ Though he doesn't sound quite as threatening as he did earlier. ~/Did/ you Dance the Spiral?~
Salem: ToG still on of course.
Nicodemus can't stay awake and functioning any longer, but will watch from a ways off. Idling. Can transport STip to a healer of some sort via car later.
Heart-of-Fire seems rather torn in all of this, but in the end, she huffs. ~We should probably not linger here too long, all considered.~ She looks toward the Uktena again, ~And we should get some mending.~
Heart-of-Fire: Night Nick! Thanks for saving my ass.
Nicodemus: would like a log, yes! Sorry I can't stay coherebt anymore!
Little Silvertip | Stip :(s Didn't save /me/. Clearly, I need to offer Nick snu snu.
Heart-of-Fire: haha! It's been forever! There's shit going on.. I mean, what are you referring to?
Salem has never offered Nick snu snu and he's saved me lots of times. <3
"No," Mouse says immediately. "Yes. I. Okay, /I/ didn't. I didn't Dance. He did. Three times. You're going to need to..." She moves one hand, though she's quite obvious and slow about it to avoid alarm, and gestures at the snake tattoo. "Cut it off. Out. Frankly, we weren't entirely sure, but that should...Jack, if you could do that right now, I'd really appreciate it. Get this motherfucker out of my head."
Little Silvertip limps forward, seeking to grab the skinny theurge by the head in her massive paws. She stares into Mouse, like looking into the former elder's soul. ~Speak the /Truth/.~
From afar, Little Silvertip pages Sheo. Secrets! Mind reading, etc. wp if you'll let it. Stip asks what happened to Mouse in the Sept of the Green.
From afar, Little Silvertip narrows it a bit. "Happened when it fell, or something. Sorry, tired."
Salem utters a low, gutteral sound, a rough growl of warning. There's a open pocket knife in his good hand. Not silver. Not even very large. But quite sharp. ~The Gift doesn't know what to do with her words. It's not lies, but it's not truth, either. Except the bit about needing to cut out that tattoo. So. Let me do that, and maybe we can get some straight answers until the Cleansing.~
Mouse doesn't resist, though there's an obvious tensing, the suggestion she's having to fight down the urge to try to get away from Silvertip's grasp. Her eyes widen a little, but she meets the stare. "We didn't all die," she tells the Uktena. "They didn't get us all. He's in me. He's. The real one. Scream-Eater. We bound him, so that I could get out of the city." She looks sharply from Silvertip to Salem, and the knife. "...And right now my brain is really reluctant to let him go, which tells me he needs to get the fuck out right. Now."
Heart-of-Fire tenses once more as Silvertip reaches for the returned Walker. There's a slip of a growl in her throat as well, but she does nothing to interfere. ~Do it Salem. The rest we should sort out elsewhere.~
Little Silvertip falls to the ground, the Uktena no longer able to remain upright any more. Something about missing about a good ten to twenty percent of her mass doesn't seem to sit well with the Uktena. Some people just can't tolerate having most of torso ripped off. She wheezes for a bit. ~Cut it off and cleanse.~ Silvertip says, wheezing. ~Cu... Cut it. Then get the corax.~ Silvertip seems near blood loss levels of passing out.
Mouse grimaces again. "I guess Mother's Touch is out of the question right now."
Salem gets to work removing the snake tattoo. Thank goodness he keeps the knife sharp. ~My phone's back in my truck at Edgewood.~
It's not as easy as it might be. Oh, the tattoo comes off, albeit messily, but Mouse has an abysmal time holding still. At first, it seems like it's just in response to having something cut out of her skin, but then it becomes clear that she might be a little more than 'reluctant' to part with whatever that tattoo holds.
Heart-of-Fire drops back to homid and draws in a breath, "No phone. I could make the run in lupus, but it doesn't sit right leaving you here like this on the chance shit blows up for round two."
Salem grunts, baring overlong canines as he works against the reluctant tattoo. ~You're the fastest and the least injured,~ is all he says. He's kind of concentrating.
Little Silvertip remains on the ground, wheezing. She doesn't seem able to do much more at the moment.
"I have a phone," Mouse volunteers. Pants, really. "I called you guys with it. Right pocket."
Emma nods toward her alpha. "You call if something changes and I need to turn around." She's just about to shift forms again when the next option is offered, and she waits until Salem gives a final go or no go on it. For tonight's agenda, it seems the Get has no problem assuming the role of soldier.
Salem: OK, so Emma uses Mouse's phone, Salem keeps cutting out the tattoo, etc etc.
Emma: Tada!
Salem: Rite of Cleansing at dawn as is bestest for that, la la la.
Emma snugs all involved! How exciting.
Little Silvertip george tekia's "Oh maaaai."
Emma: Thanks Sheo!
Mouse: If we're handwaving, then Mouse is decidedly LESS tainted once that tattoo's gone. still tainted to a worrying degree, but not, you know, 'danced the Spiral, time for Erebus'.
Mouse: So it'll be a really nasty cleansing, but it works, hooray. Then everyone sleeps.
Salem: Wooooooooo.
Meanwhile, it's the end of a fair day near the meeting place. Cool breeze, clear skies, and the faint, just the faintest stench of something foul on the air. The birds are quiet.
As he heads through the fields at a brisk pace, Justin appears to be out for a jog. He is carrying a backpack over his shoulders, filled with many nick knacks. He is breathing in a steady manner, sweat pouring down his face and causing his haphazard brown hair to stick to his brow.
Nicodemus makes a call immediately to Salem. When it becomes clear that Riley and Slug are otherwise occupied, contingencies are set in motion. Nick sends Kargamis, his chimerling familiar, off to tell Silvertip that there's an emergency and her presence is requested immediately. Meanwhile, Salem....
With Riley and Slug unavailable, Salem calls up Emma via their packlink, letting Nick take care of getting hold of Ciuraq. The old Walker is less than thrilled with the addition of the Ukten but accepts Nick's recommendation. He suggests the Garou meet at the site of the old farm and go on foot from there; Nick, of course, can station himself whereever he needs to be.
Somewhere nearby, Justin catches the sharp sound of an animal in pain; a dog's yelp, but it sounds weak. There's a rustle in the grasses, also nearby, and the low sound of a voice, though he can't make out actual words.
Emma wastes little time once she gets the message from her alpha. No questions asked, she's dropped what she was doing and made her way to the prescribed rendezvous point, settling herself in a place that allows a good view of the more common approach routes.
Ears twitching, Justin slows down to a stop and tilts his head over to the sound of the animal's noise. Sliding the backpack to one shoulder, he reaches up to yank the hoodie over his head as he shifts up to Glabro and starts over in the direction.
Ciuraq arrives via the tree-branch express, the short Uktena silently running among the crown of the trees at super-human speeds, like someone in Crouching-Tiger, Hidden-Dragon. Around her neck is some over-the-top necklace of laced wolverine claws, otter paws, and deer hooves. Silently, she drops out of the trees at the appointed site.
Justin doesn't have far to go. Just over a slight hill he immediately spies three figures; a man in ratty, dirty clothing that's crouched over what must be the dog--he can see its legs kick feebly as he reaches down to peel off a strip of hide with a short, sharp knife and his fingernails. Standing nearby is a man who seems to be his opposite; he wears a neat white polo and slacks, with his arms crossed over his chest, keeping more of an eye on their surroundings than the dying dog. He's wearing something on a string around his neck. The third figure is hulking, easily taller than the two others by at least a foot, and wearing a ski mask and goggles, though the ski mask itself has no opening for the mouth. There's a sound from him too, something like a nasty sort of giggle.
Salem arrives shortly after Ciuraq does, Emma with him. He's not smoking /currently/, but the odor clings to his person like an old friend. He greets the Uktena with a nod, his expression grim.
Dropping the backpack to the ground, Justin crouches down a bit in the tall grass of the field, then slinks his way down into the hispo form. Skulking forward and low to the ground, he takes in a deep breath to try and gather their scents.
From afar, Nicodemus scans the area for the four baddies.
You paged Nicodemus with 'They're where they said they'd be. ...Three of them. Oh, look, Justin.'.
Emma and Silvertip get The Short Version(tm) as to what's up. As they're being caught up, Nick spends some time in silence, scanning the area from afar. As he heads for his Suburban, he offers, "They're where they said they'd be. Except for the Native American woman. She's missing. And... Justin? Justin, the new Gnawer cliath, appears to be stalking up on them. I'm bugging out to a different location," Nick says as he clambers into his vehicle to leave the area. "Yell if you need an extraction."
Justin smells sweat, grease, blood, and cigarette smoke. He smells the dog too, and urine. Ugh. The big hulking ski mask guy giggles again, and the one crouched over the dog gives a small, thin smile as he reaches down to start cutting another strip of hide. The man standing watch looks in Justin's direction, but nothing changes in his expression, and his gaze sweeps over the field to the left. Apparently, he didn't see the Gnawer.
"Wh... where you want me?" The Uktena asks. Ciuraq looks first to Nicodemus, and then, eventually, to Salem. It's the latter her expectant expression lingers on. Folding her arms, "An... what, eh, what to do?"
Emma stands easy at Salem's side, looking like a rather elegant form of 'muscle' compared to the man beside her. It's at Nick's mention of Justin that she lets out a tsk of concerned annoyance.
As he continues to skulk forward, slowly but surely, Dances-In-The-Dark keeps his ears trained and nose sniffing as he looks to make a wide round towards them. He continues to listen, hoping to pick something out.
More yelps. More giggles. And then suddenly a woman's voice, so close he can actually feel her breath on his cheek. "Hello, dear. Lost?"
Salem shakes his head in regards to the Justin question. "If he fucks this up..." The statement goes unfinished. To Ciuraq, he says, "Just... let me do the talking. We don't attack unless they do it first. If it does come to violence, try to capture the one in the suit alive. The one wearing Mouse's ear around his neck."
Nicodemus drives a couple miles away, closer towards the farmhouse regularly populated by the garou but not actually to it. He can call for more backup if need be. Pulling the Suburban off the road, into the driveway of an abandoned, foreclosed home's driveway, he keeps the engine running, lights off, and re-extends his senses to where the meet-up location is at.
You paged Nicodemus with 'Welp, there's the native american woman. She is /right/ next to hispo!Justin.'.
Ciuraq's eyebrows go straight up, and then, Salem gets a bob of the brow, and an, "Ii-i." She jumps back up into the branches like a kung-fu extra, following along from a more loft, slightly less exposed perch.
Dances-In-The-Dark slicks his ears back and whips his head to the left, stumbling off to the right. He stares up at the woman and tilts his head to one side in a dopey expression. Rrrrwl? See, nothing but a big dumb G-Shep here. His tail tucks down between his legs and he tip toes backwards slowly through the grass.
The woman straightens up, grinning. She looks vaguely Native American in skin tone and facial features, and is dressed in a simple t-shirt and ripped jeans. "Ah ah ah." A finger wags. The dog has stopped yelping, and there are sudden, swift-moving footsteps from just ahead, where the other three were.
Silvertip finds cover for only so long, unfortunately. The field itself is open and devoid of trees. They likely picked it partly for that reason.
Emma looks toward Salem, "Am I sticking with you then? Or you approaching solo?"
Continuing to back peddle, Dances-In-The-Dark whips himself around and starts to bolt in the direction he came from, cutting through the grass with wide amber eyes. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuckityfuckfuckfuckfuck.
"They said three, so we're three," Salem says, unaware of the deep shit that Justin has gotten himself in.
Behind him, the field explodes with both movement and raucous, mocking laughter. The noise sounds both human and oddly inhuman, but it's certainly not pleasant. "Run, puppy!" the woman shouts after him, while the man in ragged clothes throws a stone after him that clips an ear. The hulking ski mask figure chases him for a few feet longer than the others, and it's from him that the loudest, most howling laughter is coming from. "Run little baby!" shouts the ragged man. "Run to mommy! The big bad wolf's going to eat you!" Only the man in the polo is quiet, though he's only a step behind the others before they stop. His mouth sets into a thin line as he checks a watch on his right wrist.
Zig zagging through the grass, Dances-In-The-Dark feels the stone swipe his ear and he lets out a loud grunt under his breath. As he passes his backpack, he whips his head to the side and snags it with his teeth on the fly, throwing it over to let it hook around his neck and shoulder.
Ciuraq's lips peel back as she hears the words echo through the forest. However, where she is now, she's just following Salem in the trees, apparently ready to let the walker take the lead.
Salem grumbles something irritable under his breath in Serbian and continues to the meeting-place, long legs eating up the ground, his expression stony.
Nicodemus maintains his focus and concentration from afar, slowly gathering up energies and fine-tuning his scrying magicks.
Emma's jawline tenses visibly at the sounds reaching their ears, but she holds her composure well in check and keeps her pace at Salem's side. Only a sidelong glance is given him as she focuses on their destination.
"Dxun," the ragged man says to Ski Mask, as his laughter abruptly dies down and he fingers the bloodied knife he was using on the dog. The name sounds like a cough. "Bring him back." The man in the polo, wearing a crinos ear with a very distinctive pattern like a pendant, lowers his be-watched wrist and looks at the ragged man. "We don't have time," he says, in a voice that's quite calm in comparison to the others. It's the same voice that was on the phone call. "They'll be here at any moment." Ragged man turns on the calm voiced man with half a snarl. "Shut the fuck up. I've had enough with all this bullshit waiting around. He'll do for us. Dxun!" Ski Mask turns his head from the fleeing Justin to the Ragged Man, and then back, before he starts to lumber in the direction of the Gnawer. He gets only a few more feet before he stops, apparently staring in the direction of Salem and Emma as they come into view.
You paged Dances-In-The-Dark with 'Justin can probably see those two as well.'.
As he slides to a stop in front of Salem and Emma, Dark-Dancer's eyes bug out of his skull. His expression is full of !!!! and O.o;;; His entire posture goes rigid and he lets out a throaty, ~What the fuck is going on? I was out for a jog and these four shits are cutting a dog into pieces! I am -so- glad you two are here.~ He breathes deep, wiggling out of his backpack. ~I think I shit myself.~
Salem is obviously in no kind mood; he bares his teeth canine-fashion at Justin. His tone is brusque. "Get out, pup. Fast. Now."
Ciuraq gives a soft snort, before she proceeds, in homid, more slowly forward. Her eyes narrow as she starts to see the clearing before her.
Emma gives the Gnawer a look as well, her eyes directing him to a place behind the more experienced garou. She nods in agreement with the Walker, "No questions. Obey."
~Cliath now, sir, but, yes, sir.. shutting up.. sir.. Hi Emma. Please don't hit me later.~ Dark-Dancer says as he slips around behind her, looking a mix of embarrassed, scared, and false confidence. ~.. I'll .. uh.. be back up. Like.. back-back-up.. shutting up for real now..~ He says as he slinks down lower, clamping his jaws shut.
Ski Mask's voice is low and growly. "They're here already." Ragged Man stares at Calm Voice for a moment longer, then spits at his shoes and turns around. The knife he sends deep into the dry earth with a sharp flick of his wrist before he starts moving toward the Gaian Garou. The others let him take a very slight lead, but then follow, fanning out behind. "Little point now," Calm Voice says as they get within speaking distance. "Four," the woman sneers. "Naughty." The ragged man says nothing further yet, but he clearly sweeps his gaze up and down the three, openly studying them.
Ciuraq pages: Stip looked at?
You paged Ciuraq with 'Yeah.'.
You paged Ciuraq with 'Justin's kind've being semi-ignored now.'.
From afar, Nicodemus does that whole scanning for traps sort of thing. Even though I think these guys want to just talk. Which is a shame because if they didn't and were doing aggressive shit, Nick might drop a rock on their head from low orbit.
You paged Nicodemus with 'What sort of traps is he thinking? Mundane ground stuff?'.
"A hanger-on," Salem says, turning back to the strangers. "A hanger-on who is going to get the /shit/ beaten out of him if he doesn't /get the fuck out/ like I just told him to do." He doesn't look at Justin as he says this; his eyes are mainly on Calm Voice.
Ciuraq's eyes narrow again as she's looked at. So much for sticking to the branches. She doesn't leave her lofty perch, though, resting a hand on the nearest trunk to steady herself.
Calm Voice shakes his head. "Little point," he repeats. "He's here now." "Hmph," the Ragged Man snorts. "Yeah, let the puppy stay. He might wet himself again." His attention shifts from the general sort of scan to focusing on Salem specifically. "Guess you dickshits are the local bleeding hearts. Children of Gaia? I used to know some've them."
Nicodemus pages: That (especially bomb-related) and looking for Spirit foo.
Curling his lip upwards, Dark-Dancer continues to back up and put distance between the others, then gives another glance to Emma. With that, he starts off as he drags his bag behind him, shifting back up into the Glabro form.
You paged Nicodemus with 'He can't find anything bomb related. No pitfall traps. No hidden nooses in the grass. Probably not surprisingly, there's some spirit foo going on with Ski Mask and Ragged Man, but it's pretty faint. Calm Voice though? He's got spirit foo going on pretty hard. Part of it's concentrated in the ear for whatever reason. Another part is in the gun he's got at his side, and that Nick will recognize because it's the gun fetish Mouse had. But he's got some sort of active...something besides. A gift probably.'.
Emma gives just the briefest of glances to the Gnawer before settling her attention on the group they've come to meet. That subtle, but tell-tale twitch of her jaw the only hint at the simmering fires beneath the skin.
Salem's gaze shifts from Calm Voice to Ragged Man, weighing the pair of them. "Does it matter? We heard you had a message for us. That you wanted to talk."
Ciuraq, again, remains where she is, up in the trees.
Ragged Man's lips part into a faint chuckle that's more air than noise. "Yeah. Talk. Okay, here's what I've got to say. One've you comes with us. You can even pick the baby if you want." "I would," the woman says, watching Justin's retreat with keen interest. "The rest of you," Ragged Man continues, "You get to walk away. A bunch of human fucks don't get blown to bits and never know how nice you were to save them. Otherwise, we take all of you, and somewhere in St. Claire a whole big building full of people goes boom." Calm Voice seems to be taking a back seat at the moment (almost literally, as he's certainly standing a little back from the others), but he seems alert, even tense. His attention seems to be fixed on Salem.
From afar, Nicodemus tries skimming Ragged Man's head when he talks about the bomb blowing up, so as to hopefully get a location.
You paged Nicodemus with 'Ragged Man is feeling very smug right now...but he doesn't know. Calm Voice and the woman hid it. And built it? No, Calm Voice built it alone.'.
"That's a lot of effort just to get your hands on one of us," Salem says blandly. His face is stone, his anger well under heel; he doesn't seem terribly surprised by the terms given. "One might think you'd be planning to blow the building up regardless, though I think that would be pretty unimaginative."
From afar, Nicodemus heads over to Calm Voice's head, then. After the others have had a bit of time to talk.
Ciuraq's free hand starts to twitch, like itching for action this full moon. It doesn't yet start to draw symbols in the air, but that ring finger is definitely looking to do something. For those paying attention to her ring finger.
Emma clenches her teeth together as she stands by and waits; the heaviness of the moon and the presence of the enemy stoking at that control of hers. A quick glance is given over her shoulder, just with the smallest turn of her head, to see where the young Gnawer has gotten himself off to.
"You have a reputation," Calm Voice says. Ragged Man shoots him a faint sneer, but looks back to Salem. "So does he," he says, jerking a thumb in Calm Voice's direction. "Talked us into trying something unusual this time. We get one of you clean. Sends a message, doesn't it? Or we fight," he doesn't seem at all opposed to this option, "and we get /all/ of you, and that sends a message too. You think we give a shit about some building full of apes? But it blowing sure as fuck doesn't hurt us."
You paged Nicodemus with 'Calm Voice's head isn't...calm. He seems to be repeating extremely complex patterns of numbers in his surface thoughts. Mathematical formulae, pretty advanced stuff. Some of it's even over Nick's head, and that's saying something. Beneath it Nick can sense tension, but also uncertainty. He's debating something.'.
Nicodemus pages: Moving on to the woman, then. As Ragged Man seemed to be thinking she'd helped to plant it.
"I have a counter-proposal," Salem says, unruffled, confident. "He," -- he points at Calm Voice -- "comes with us, and the rest of you go back, defuse that bomb, and walk away with your lives. Or we fight, and you die, and he /still/ comes with us."
You paged Nicodemus with 'She's thinking about...things that don't bear repeating, for the most part. Ragged Man isn't the only one who was enjoying torturing that dog, apparently. But there it is. They put it under the Temple. Right under. Details will take a little longer to work out.'.
Twitch twitch twitch. Oh yeah, Ciuraq's ring finger /really/ wants to do something. Well, again, if you're paying attention to that sort of thing. Aside from that, the Uktena stays put, the small ahroun loitering among the branches of the threes.
From afar, Nicodemus nodders. Just let me know when.
Ragged Man bursts out laughing, but the woman's derisive sneer seems to have faded, and she looks uncertain at best, her eyes moving rapidly between Salem and Ragged Man. Ski Mask's mostly unreadable, but he too is turning his head, and there's more tension than there was before. "What the fuck do you want with him?" Ragged Man asks, still chuckling. "Do you know how fucking annoying this asshole is, just because he got lucky?" Calm Voice doesn't look afraid, but then, his expression has been pretty rigid this entire time. In fact, he briefly meets Salem's eyes, and the look doesn't seem to be challenging so much as...something else.
You paged Nicodemus with 'Basement room? No, utility closet. It's positioned well, just under the dance floor. She's pretty happy about that placement, and she's pretty happy about what an explosion there will do. What she's not happy about is that Salem is a scary motherfucker, and that ultimatum was not what she was expecting.'.
Though she remains nearly stock-still, muscles tighten as Emma focuses her attention on the three Dancers before them. There's little hope of her hiding her desire for fighting, even in the form best suited for it.
From afar, Justin has backtracked, but still made a bit of a wide circle at least to keep eyes on them from afar in Lupus, hidden in the grass. Just in case shit goes down.
Nicodemus pages: Remote disarm! Go! (Fortunately Nick used to frequent The Temple a lot in his younger goth days, so it should be easier to render the bomb a dud--especially if they used the same basic setup as the last one.)
You paged Nicodemus with 'He finds it! And yes, it's the same design. Awesome. And...and you know what? It's the same design right down to the fact that the wire is twisted away from the detonation device. This is a bomb that is never going to explode, barring actual physical violence.'.
Salem's good eye turns to study Calm Voice for a moment, and then his attention turns back to Ragged Man. He shrugs. "If he's annoying, then it's an easy decision for you, isn't it? Do you really want to die for him?"
From afar, Nicodemus rings up Salem's phone now or stall a bit?
You paged Nicodemus with 'Go for it.'.
Ciuraq draws an arcane symbol with her ring finger, like preparing for something unpleasant. Her weight starts to sag on the branch, like she's no longer concentrating on flying.
After Salem finishes, his cell phone alerts him that he just received a text message. And then again. And then again. One right after the other, as if demanding his attention.
This time, Ragged Man spits at Salem's shoes. "I'd kill him for you," he claims. "But one way or another, we're getting at least one of you. Dxun! I'm fucking tired of this mouthy bullshit. Either hand over--" And then Salem's phone goes off. Ragged Man's expression is incredulous, as if he can't believe that just happened. "Christ, shut that thing up." Calm Voice steps backward with his right arm going behind him at almost the same time that Ski Mask takes a step forward, and the woman braces for a lunge. Neither actually attack, as thrown off by the interruption as Ragged Man.
Emma moves when the others do, though her only shift is one of a position slightly more at Salem's side as the distraction causes a pulse of energy through the gathered. Fists clench up at her side in that moment, and only ease back into loose-fingered twitching by years of dedicated work at such control.
Salem keeps an eye on the group as he gets out his cellphone and gives the screen a very quick glance. His expression doesn't change one iota as he puts the phone away. Calmly, he says, "Spare the one in the suit." Meaning Calm Voice. "Kill the rest." And, just like that, he snaps into Crinos and lunges, quick as a snake, at Ragged Man.
Ciuraq's free hand springs to action, finishing drawing the symbol she'd started, before her hand forms a fist. She jerks the clenched fist upward, as she brings out the 'air-bending' moves. The arcane fist of air clenches around the man wearing mouse's ear. The direction she uses the telekinetic burst to send him is up. Very, very up. 20 miles per hour up.
Her alpha's command snaps Emma into action like a K-9 Unit loosed by its handler. In the blink of an eye she's taken to her warform and sent herself leaping straight into the midst of the enemy. Announcing her charge is a bellowing scream that erupts into a shockwave of sound targetting her foes.
Everything happens in less than an instant, almost faster than the supernatural eye can follow. Ragged Man only has time to hit crinos himself before Salem is on top of him, ripping viciously into his face and neck with Rage-blurred claws. Then Emma is there, and all four of the Dancers are knocked flat on their backs before Silvertip's gift suddenly whisks Calm Voice straight up into the air. He only just barely keeps hold of the gun he was reaching for, but that's all he manages beyond an uncharacteristically startled yelp.
Ski Mask, Dxun, is the first up, and he's in crinos without any delay whatsoever. His eyes are where they should be, but his entire muzzle looks as though it were simply attached sideways, so that his jaws gape left and right, and his tongue hangs free as he starts to snarl and foam, his eyes rolling like a maddened, rabid dog. Ragged Man is too stunned to return Salem's attack, but the woman produces a pistol of her own and fires nearly point blank up at Emma. The bullet hits, tears a little skin at Emma's hip...and does nothing else. The woman gapes. "What the /fuck/?"
You paged Heart-of-Fire with '1 Lethal. Oooo scary.'.
Ciuraq continues to maintain her pose, sending the well dressed man further and further into the air. He's a Rocket Man, and it's lonely outer-space. She's giving giving him as much 'up' as her powers allow, so it's a long long time before he starts to arc on his parabolic trajectory down.
From afar, Ciuraq continues on her gift, sending him more 'up.'
Scar ruthlessly presses his attack on Ragged Man, his fangs seeking throat and his claws aiming for soft and vulnerable innards.
Heart-of-Fire turns her claws first on the woman who just fired on her, reaching out to rake two furious swipes at her throat while glaring at her with the heat of hatred.
Nicodemus depresses the gas pedal for the Suburban's big, gas-sucking engine. It revs, then the RPMs drop suddenly, as if the vehicle were straining to go up a hill. He manipulates the Forces drawn off from the engine, redirects them through space, and aims to bend or flatten the barrel of the pistol held by Calm Voice.
Ragged Man's snarling turns to gurgles as Scar practically shreds him, tearing apart face and neck and torso in violent bloody rips of his claws. He can feel the Dancer's bones shatter as he pulls the ribcage apart, and Ragged Man's last movement is a small shudder, his eyes still wide open. In return, he rendered a few desperate gashes across Salem's already scarred chest, but while nasty looking and bloody, they don't seem to have slowed the Glass Walker down at all.
The woman's eyes bulge as Emma turns on her, and she almost makes it all the way to lupus, and part of the way to her feet, before her throat is torn clean from her neck. Almost.
Meanwhile, Silvertip sends Calm Voice ever higher, while the man can do little but flail. It's unclear what happens to the pistol, because the man himself is becoming a speck. Unfortunately, this doesn't last. Dxun falls on the Uktena with horrible vengeance, tearing open his shoulder and side straight to the bone before his foaming, sideways jaws close on Silvertip's neck, biting deep.
You paged Scar with 'Three agg. Ragged Man is very very dead and in pieces.'.
You paged Heart-of-Fire with 'She's so dead.'.
Scar straightens up from the corpse of Ragged Man, taking a moment to call on his will to ignore the pain of his wounds and scan the battle. A moment later, he's dropped to all fours and is heading for Dxun from behind, bloodied fangs bared.
Ciuraq, in homid, doesn't deal very well with getting bit by a crinos that's yanked her to the ground. As the meat gets seperated from her rib-cage in what's very narrowly not a mortal wound, the Uktena flies back with all due speed, back into the air and 'away.' Oh so very-much in the direction that's not towards him. Her gift is broken, and the man in the suit's direction will eventually become ruled by gravity again, now in a ballistic arc.
Heart-of-Fire takes only a moment to discern her target is no longer a threat, then turns to watch Scar charge toward the oddly-faced crinos. She holds her position, knowing that a third body in that mix is unnecessary at this point, and turns her eyes skyward to see if she can spot that white collared, balloon-less, 'balloon boy'.
Slobbering, foaming, utterly mad even if he isn't frenzying (and that's not at all clear), Dxun turns bloodied, sideways jaws toward the oncoming Scar, howling wordless threats and utter hatred. Up in the air, Calm Voice stops going up, and starts going down very very quickly. Nick will know that his attempt to crush the barrel failed from the sharp, if distant report of a bullet being fired.
Half a second later, Dxun's head explodes.
You paged Scar with 'Salem loses two Rage and two Willpower, because Dxun is literally a bastard.'.
Ciuraq is bleeding, and has half her chest and shoulder bleeding, but as soon as she's on the top of a yellow cedar, her still-working hand draws arcane symbols as fast as she draws an arcane symbol, pulling an air-elemental out of the umbra. *Cushion his landing cushion his landing CUSHION HIS LANDING!* She commands.
Nicodemus repurposes the energy from the Suburban's engine to bringing the floating Spiral back towards the garou. He attempts to alter the flight path from a plummet towards the earth into a redirection back towards the garou, his body spinning and yawing so as to keep the Dancer disoriented, hopefully making any attacks he might attempt extremely unlikely to connect with anyone or anything.
Scar twitches back at Dxun's roar, grimacing, and then -- when the ugly mule's head explodes -- flinches. Growling, he drops down into hispo and turns his muzzle toward Emma. ~Where's the calm one?~
Between Nick and Silvertip's efforts, the potentially lethal plunge is instead turned into a nauseating roll and tumble that brings Calm Voice to rest only about five feet from the dead Dancers and Chimera pack duo. He's shaking, clinging to his pistol for dear life, and laughing in a quiet but utterly hysterical manner, gulping and gasping in equal measure. At the moment, he doesn't seem entirely capable of stopping.
Heart-of-Fire lets out a snort as the gun is fired, and her first response is take a count of those she came here with. Scar's question brings the first bit of relief, and she hurries a quick reply to him. ~In the air.~ Then she's hurrying toward the bloodied Uktena, if nothing else, to stand guard against potential surprises while she weaves her signs.
Ciuraq drops down to the ground in a soft landing, grabbing at her chest in what must be pure agony from having so much flesh rent from her body in a single, vicious mauling. She takes war form immediately, leaning heavily on her now-appearing spear's shaft. She barely keeps herself upright, nearly totally incapacitated.
Ciuraq contorts and blurs as she is transformed.
Ciuraq shifts into Crinos form.
Scar in Hispo limps heavily over toward Calm Voice, bloodied and bleeding. He lets out a gutteral, commanding snarl. ~Drop the gun.~ His lupine body language expresses wariness, suspicion, and of course a hell of a lot of post-battle nerves.
Calm Voice (who is clearly not nearly so calm), somehow manages to peel his fingers loose from the pistol's grip. He sets it down a little more carefully than might be expected, given the shaking and forced down laughter, but then manages to get control of himself a little more, enough to raise both hands away from the gun and away from his body. "It's a bad day, Jack," he says. His voice is about as shaky as the rest of him.
Scar pages: Sense Balance.
Heart-of-Fire looks to Silvertip, eyes grimacing as she fails to disguise the concern that's crept into them. She positions herself between the gun wielder and the Uktena until the pistol is relinquished. At the mention of Salem's name, a growl escapes her and her ears twitch forward.
Scar pages: On CV. If pings wyrm, specifically on the Mouse ear around his neck.
Little Silvertip limps and drags herself forward, barely at a crawl's pace. Slowly, she moves in towards the well dressed man. ~Get the corax now.~ She hisses to no one in particular, coughing up blood in the process. It's a wonder she's still upright.
You paged Scar with 'Man, he reeks of Wyrm. Ew. The ear? An ear shouldn't be giving off anything, belonging to someone living or not, but this one's...Gaian? Certainly in balance.'.
You paged Salem with 'Oh, I'm dumb. Also, that gun is Mouse's and he'd probably be able to recognize the Roach Clip in it.'.
Nicodemus keeps the Forces wrapped around Calm Voice's body, letting him know that somethng still has him--and something more might happen should he fail to comply.
Scar cocks his head to the side, nostrils working visibly. He looks at the discarded pistol, and suspicion deepens. He rears back, getting onto his hind legs, then continues shifting down into Glabro. Hunkering down on his heels, he reaches out to take the Mouse-ear-necklace and yank it off Calm Voice. ~Your name. Your /real/ name, Gaia's Truth.~
It comes off easily, the string snapping with ease. Calm Voice doesn't try anything, at least, and he keeps his hands well raised, though he does glance with a faint grimace toward Silvertip before looking back to Salem. There's a wan smile that doesn't seem to hold any real humor, just exhaustion. "Matilda Knight. She Who Led the Blood Dance and Called the Three From Ashes. ...Mouse." The man's form shifts--not to crinos, or glabro--but to something decidedly more feminine.
Mouse has arrived.
You paged Salem with 'Needless to say, truth bell was rung.'.
Little Silvertip continues to limp in, behind Emma. The athro clutches at the bleeding gape that is half her upper body, which'll probably cauterize on its own, now that she's in war form. ~Bull shit.~ She hisses.
Little Silvertip pages: Ping ping ping sense magic.
You paged Little Silvertip with 'Magic's definitely present, but it's of the bound spirit variety. Gosh, there's at least three. No...maybe four? The gun he dropped, the ear in Salem's hand, and two things on him or part of him. Her? Hard to pinpoint.'.
Heart-of-Fire is all at once dumb struck. Her eyes widen and ears flatten as if she were faced with a magician's trick she could not possibly figure out. She tilts her head to look closer, ~Is it truth Scar!?~ she asks.
"Jesus fucking Christ on a /crutch/." Salem, still in Glabro, sits back on the grass, looking relieved. He glances over at Silvertip. ~Gaia's Truth,~ he says to the Uktena, then tosses the Mouse-ear necklace at her. ~Check that for magic.~
From afar, Salem does another Sense Balance. Still wyrmy?
You paged Salem with 'Still.'.
Mouse closes her eyes and lays a little flatter on her back. She's recognizable, but only just, with those nasty claw wounds across her entire face, the weird somewhat abstract snake below her hairline near one temple, the lines of pure exhaustion under her eyes, as if she hasn't slept in days. She looks thinner too, or possibly that's just the effect of the clothes she's wearing, which seem to be much too large for her now.
Mouse says, after a moment, without actually opening her eyes again, "Careful, I'm not...I don't think I'm clean. I don't feel clean. But you're not supposed to notice your own taint, are you? I." Breathe. "It's Kakkerlak. The ear. I mean. She's. She's in the ear." Her own ear, the left one, is present, but still clearly healing, as it's smaller, less formed than the right one, and the cut where it was severed is still visible.
~Lots. Including the ear. Bound sp...~ Silvertip coughs up blood. ~Bound spirits galore. Can't say she's hasn't danced the spiral. Every one in the Green is dead or captured.~ Silvertip wheezes, coughing more blood. Copious blood. Once the fit stops, ~I don't fucking trust it.~
Salem wrinkles his nose and nods. ~You're tainted, yes.~ He glances at Emma and Silvertip. ~We hold her until dawn, do a Rite of Cleansing.~ He looks back down at Mouse. ~Until then, you'd better start talking.~ Though he doesn't sound quite as threatening as he did earlier. ~/Did/ you Dance the Spiral?~
Heart-of-Fire seems rather torn in all of this, but in the end, she huffs. ~We should probably not linger here too long, all considered.~ She looks toward the Uktena again, ~And we should get some mending.~
"No," Mouse says immediately. "Yes. I. Okay, /I/ didn't. I didn't Dance. He did. Three times. You're going to need to..." She moves one hand, though she's quite obvious and slow about it to avoid alarm, and gestures at the snake tattoo. "Cut it off. Out. Frankly, we weren't entirely sure, but that should...Jack, if you could do that right now, I'd really appreciate it. Get this motherfucker out of my head."
Little Silvertip limps forward, seeking to grab the skinny theurge by the head in her massive paws. She stares into Mouse, like looking into the former elder's soul. ~Speak the /Truth/.~
From afar, Little Silvertip pages Sheo. Secrets! Mind reading, etc. wp if you'll let it. Stip asks what happened to Mouse in the Sept of the Green.
From afar, Little Silvertip narrows it a bit. "Happened when it fell, or something. Sorry, tired."
Salem utters a low, gutteral sound, a rough growl of warning. There's a open pocket knife in his good hand. Not silver. Not even very large. But quite sharp. ~The Gift doesn't know what to do with her words. It's not lies, but it's not truth, either. Except the bit about needing to cut out that tattoo. So. Let me do that, and maybe we can get some straight answers until the Cleansing.~
Mouse doesn't resist, though there's an obvious tensing, the suggestion she's having to fight down the urge to try to get away from Silvertip's grasp. Her eyes widen a little, but she meets the stare. "We didn't all die," she tells the Uktena. "They didn't get us all. He's in me. He's. The real one. Scream-Eater. We bound him, so that I could get out of the city." She looks sharply from Silvertip to Salem, and the knife. "...And right now my brain is really reluctant to let him go, which tells me he needs to get the fuck out right. Now."
Heart-of-Fire tenses once more as Silvertip reaches for the returned Walker. There's a slip of a growl in her throat as well, but she does nothing to interfere. ~Do it Salem. The rest we should sort out elsewhere.~
Little Silvertip falls to the ground, the Uktena no longer able to remain upright any more. Something about missing about a good ten to twenty percent of her mass doesn't seem to sit well with the Uktena. Some people just can't tolerate having most of torso ripped off. She wheezes for a bit. ~Cut it off and cleanse.~ Silvertip says, wheezing. ~Cu... Cut it. Then get the corax.~ Silvertip seems near blood loss levels of passing out.
Mouse grimaces again. "I guess Mother's Touch is out of the question right now."
Salem gets to work removing the snake tattoo. Thank goodness he keeps the knife sharp. ~My phone's back in my truck at Edgewood.~
It's not as easy as it might be. Oh, the tattoo comes off, albeit messily, but Mouse has an abysmal time holding still. At first, it seems like it's just in response to having something cut out of her skin, but then it becomes clear that she might be a little more than 'reluctant' to part with whatever that tattoo holds.
Heart-of-Fire drops back to homid and draws in a breath, "No phone. I could make the run in lupus, but it doesn't sit right leaving you here like this on the chance shit blows up for round two."
Salem grunts, baring overlong canines as he works against the reluctant tattoo. ~You're the fastest and the least injured,~ is all he says. He's kind of concentrating.
Little Silvertip remains on the ground, wheezing. She doesn't seem able to do much more at the moment.
"I have a phone," Mouse volunteers. Pants, really. "I called you guys with it. Right pocket."
Emma nods toward her alpha. "You call if something changes and I need to turn around." She's just about to shift forms again when the next option is offered, and she waits until Salem gives a final go or no go on it. For tonight's agenda, it seems the Get has no problem assuming the role of soldier.
