Frightened, Chimera? [Remake] (O / A)

[LovetoCauseMayhem]

((bumpskies))  

[SilentShadowDreamer]

((OOC: *nudgepokefullagreement*))  

[The Amazing Flying Circus]

((Even my avatar is dead.))

 

[SilentShadowDreamer]

((OOC: So, wait, who are we waiting for again?))  

[AninOnin]

((I was just going to wait for Hiccadu to arrive, since the Chimerae are taking their time at Panther's grave.))

John saw the white blur in Apsalar's hand and her words made him sob even harder. Compassion wasn't something he had come by often in the slaughterhouse. He waited for a moment for the sobs to grow a bit more gentle before he could speak again. He was going to say something to commemorate Panther's life as best as an illiterate experimental hybrid could. He wanted to thank Apsalar for the sweet-smelling white flowers, tell her they were the perfect thing for such a sweet little girl. Tell the rest of the Chimerae thanks for helping him cope with her death. Tell them they won't get caught again--Panther wouldn't have wanted that. If he had known about a Heaven, he would have told them she would want them to carry on, that she would protect them from her lofty guardpost in Death.

What came out instead was "We should go. They'll be here any moment." There was no need to explain who "they" was. His voice was thick, but surprisingly steady.

- - - - - - - - - -

Smoke leaned against the jeep at first, but had long since climbed back into it. The night air, saturated with wild, brisk winds, were leeching the warmth from his body. One cigarette went by, and he waited for the Chimerae, eyes on the treeline. Another cigarette. And another.

He was getting worried, wondering if they were running away on their own. Even if they weren't, Yani and Jared would be here with their pet, silenced guns blazing in this between-town middle-of-nowhere. He considered putting music on, starting the car, going to look for the Chimerae, anything but sit there and wait. Impatient and inactive, he instead lit another cigarette and waited for them to make a reappearance.  

[Wire_Colossus]

Back at the slaughter house, in his kennel, Pup had managed to do something he'd have thought unthinkable. He'd slipped out of his collar by removing it. He exited his kennel, and stalked along the ceiling toward the gaping hole in the front door. He climbed down through it and ran after the chimera; following their scents.


((Anin, I'll happily edit this if you think it's not good enough, but my brain isn't exactly working right now. Dead tired.))  

[SilentShadowDreamer]

Apsalar nodded once, quietly, at John's words. "Yes," she agreed with no apparent concern in the reply. She knelt beside the child's grave. Gently, she laid the white flowers on it.

And because she felt like they should say something, she hesitated a second for the words. Then she looked up at John, around at the others, back to the grave. "Ours, Panther. Always ours."

Alive or dead, she was theirs. And they would not forget.

The blonde's eyes went frosty. Particularly would they not forget when Yani or Jared or both finally caught up with them. They would - Apsalar was sure about that. But she didn't care. After this, after Panther's death, it might not have been enough for her just to run, anyway.

She wanted a fight. Wanted somewhere to put the rage and the grief and the bloodlust. Since she could not turn it on the other Chimerae or on Smoke any more than she could turn on herself, she would wait for the fight she was sure would come.

"Go," she said simply, agreeing with John's earlier words once again. Then she got up and, not waiting to see if she would be followed, began to make her way through the trees, back towards the miraculous metal thing Smoke had called a 'jeep'.  

[AninOnin]

"Ours."

The whisper left his throat hoarse.

His gaze dropped to the forest floor, retreating from the disturbed soil that marked Panther's grave, and began to follow Apsalar to the jeep from the clearing. Looking up, John expected to see, to feel the heavy darkness that indicated rain clouds were overhead, pressing down on the Chimerae below. Blotting out the stars were clouds, shapes undetectable with the lack of light, but they didn't seem to warrant the torrential downpour you could dependably predict in dramatic movies.

He turned and looked at the white flowers Apsalar had laid on Panther's grave. She was truly the sweetest thing John had known.

Apsalar walked ahead without looking back, giving John the chance to say something he needed to say in private. He lingered beside a tree, waiting until Apsalar was out of hearing range before he opened his mouth to say something, anything, that would mean the most to Panther. But when Apsalar was going, past the trees, almost out of sight, John still couldn't give a voice to carry his words.

Before he could collapse, he reached out a hand to steady himself against the bark of a strong tree. Whatever happened next, he couldn't stay in this state and be okay. He had to watch over the rest of them. He couldn't fail again.

"I'll watch over the rest of them. I'll protect them. I promise." His found words had dwindled from a soft voice to a whisper on the last word. He looked back towards the path Apsalar had taken, then back at Panther's Clearing. "I'll miss you, Panther."

Before he could turn to follow Apsalar, a yellow-eyed luminous gaze caught his own from just above a low-hanging, thick branch. In the darkness under the clouds, under the foliage of the trees, a black tail flicked, and a dark form sleeked down the trunk, coming to stop at the head of Panther's grave. Not once did it take its eyes off of John, but the large cat invoked something other than fear in the Chimera.

He felt his eyes welling again, moisture laced with a different emotion than grief.

"Thank you."

- - - - - - - - - -

Following Apsalar out of the clearing, not bothering to take to the skies to assess their route (since he trusted Apsalar to remember the way), the Chimerae reached Smoke, as well as the toxic fumes that was spewing from both the jeep and the cigarette in his hand.

He didn't say anything, but he looked at John, who had appeared to be changed from his time in the clearing. There was no longer the insane fury and hate in his eyes, but peace and determination. The embers of revenge were not completely smothered, but Smoke wasn't one to either tend or tear apart that want.

Smoke nodded at Apsalar once. Whatever she had done, it had helped him immensely. He would probably never know what the secret medicine was. This was something that brought the Chimerae closer together, forever, something that Smoke was not privy to.

He stamped out his burning paper and inhaled the fresh air deeply, about to break the perfect oneness that Panther had given her family, when John spoke instead.

"We need to move. They can't be far behind us now."

John had been flying for several hours on end, more than he had ever flown even when he had been free, and so now he was taking up space in the jeep in order to rest his stiffened wings.  

[Wire_Colossus]

Hound held onto the back of the Jeep, since the amount of seats wasn't exactly high and because he needed the stretch his legs. He sniffed the air for a moment and said slowly, "I don't like that...Someone is following us. Someone new. I don't know them, but this one is different from us. Who ever it is, he's gaining on us, and fast."

Hound was right, since Pup was indeed gaining on them. He was slower than them, but he did know how to move at speed.  

[SilentShadowDreamer]

Apsalar, realizing belatedly that John was not behind her, paused after a while and waited. She remained out of earshot, though, knowing he had probably lingered to say something to his lost little sister.

When they came out to the Jeep, she bowed her head slightly at Smoke's nod, acknowledging it. She hadn't done anything that she could think of - she had just been there with him - but she could sense the difference in John. That made it the right thing.

At John's words, too, she glanced over at him. "Yes," she said again. "Go." They had to get moving. While she knew that the scientists would catch up with them eventually, she also knew that it couldn't, couldn't be now. They'd never survive if it happened now.

And they had to survive. They had to avenge Panther.

She slipped into her seat and fumbled with the safety straps for a few minutes. "Go," she repeated more urgently, looking from one to another of them. "Now."  

[SilentShadowDreamer]

((OOC: *nudgebump*))  

[Eternal_PrinceOfFire]

((Devon is still asleep))  

[Wire_Colossus]

((Why is this rp dead? It's the best one I've EVER been in. The very best of the best. It inspires my creativity more than any other ever has.))  

[SilentShadowDreamer]

((OOC: Not dead. Just...waiting. For something. I don't know, don't ask me things. It's too late for me to be thinking. razz ))  

[Wire_Colossus]

((If this is waiting, then there are two things I think it's waiting for. For Anin to have the time to be able to run it again, and for everyone who is still listed as a member to get back into it. In the mean time, I'll be creating character like there's no tomorrow. This rp gives me so many ideas it's unbelievable.))