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 Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 10:52 pm
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((OOC: Sorry. Posting, but it'll be kinda short - bad day.))
Apsalar was indeed fighting desperately to close her wings, apparently under the impression that if she could close them, she might not get all the way to the water. Having the wings had prevented her from learning to swim; she simply did not have the aerodynamics or the ability to float that would be required. But the wind had gotten its hooks well into her, and it was all she could do to keep them open rather than having them blow straight back and possibly break.
John might not have noticed the growing sense of storm, but Apsalar did. She hated storms - their few months of freedom had not been enough to accustom her to the ferocity of the lightning and the thunder. She invariably got edgy and sought comfort in her packmates. Though she thought she'd hidden it fairly well, the truth was probably that they all knew and were simply too kind to tell her.
Her struggle to move her wings properly so that she could keep from ending up in the water got more desperate, if that were possible - she was flailing by the time John finally began to close the gap. He called to her, but she couldn't understand the words; even if she had been able to hear them, it would probably have been beyond the capabilities of her terrified, panicking mind to comprehend them. The storm and the oncoming water and the inability to stop herself from moving towards both of them was making her frantic.
But she knew what a reaching hand meant - at least when it came from a member of her pack. Desperately, she reached out and tried to catch his hand.
She was fighting the wind with everything she had. She was terrified.
And she missed.
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Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2011 1:20 pm
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John's sense of fun evaporated with Apsalar's apparent terror. He lunged for her hand as she reached, but missed it by a hair's breadth, and now she was much too far out of his reach. Wind whipped at his hair, stinging his cheeks unpleasantly, and the sky had grown too oppressive for simple nighttime.
"Apsalar!" he yelled, and heard an answering howl, but not from her. It sounded full of rage and pain. Betrayal. He thought he knew that voice. What was Hound doing back so early though?
The thoughts registered somewhere at the back of his mind, but now his conscious thoughts were on Apsalar. The water was raging, waves roiling with a ferocity he hadn't known before. Lightning illuminated the scene for a single instant--Apsalar's pale, terror-stricken face, her wings held still, suspended against the dark backdrop, the white foam of water--and then the crack of thunder so close it deafened John for a moment. Rain poured in the night, obscuring what little vision he'd had, and he angled his wings to tumble down to the sand, grains sticking to his sodden feathers.
He raced back to the edge of the sea, back to Apsalar, and found her, wings frozen in a different position with the next lightning strike. There was no way he'd be able to help her. He knew his best bet was to go back to the house, call on the help of his packmates, but he was too terrified to leave Apsalar alone, afraid that he wouldn't be able to find her when he got back. It was already his fault that she was this panicked, endangered.
Neither John nor Apsalar could swim, both hindered by feathers and a lack of practice (though no swimmer could have survived in such furious waves). But still he fought through sand, rain, and and waves that pulled at his feet in order to get closer to her, hoping for any opportunity to grab her and flatten her wings.
((I'm sorry Shadow. Hopefully it'll get better =)
And... poor Apsalar. She'll probably never try flying again D= ))
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Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2011 3:38 pm
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Just as all hope seemed lost, a streak of darkness ripped past John, and a shadowy form leaped from rock to rock - those that were half-submerged in the raging water and not yet swallowed by the rising tide - with amazing agility and accuracy, moving closer out to sea to grab Apsalar. Continuing to move, the form traveled behind the panicking woman, still scratching and tearing at the slick stones beneath.
Then, the form leaped into the air, its massive wings opening and catching the shrieking wind, making it sail backwards towards Apsalar.
With great, mighty paws, the form snatched Apsalar out of the air, the poor girl's wings folding harmlessly against a powerful chest.
"Stay calm," a soft voice breathed to her, audible and true even in the horrors of the storm as rain poured down harmlessly through scaly wings, the feathers woven into the strands completely weather-resistant.
Those great, broad wings flapped powerfully, staying stable even though the wind was fierce and bloodthirsty. Lightning struck the water behind them, lighting up the depths beneath. Spilling the air from those wings, the beast bee-lined for the shore, high enough in the air to aim straight for the sands.
Before Apsalar's savior could strike the sand, the creature released Apsalar, allowing her to tumble harmlessly onto the beach, rain pelting down. Then it sailed back into the air, seeking to turn around and safely land itself now that the Chimera was out of harm's way.
Lightning flashed again, but this time it had a target. It struck the creature out of the air, and with a heart-wrenching screech, the form spiraled down to the shores, crashing into the wet sands of the tide, half-in and half-out of the water.
Hiccadu lay there in her mighty Chimeric form, smoking and smoldering even in the pouring rain. Weakly, she lifted a claw, pulling at the moist sands as water crashed around her. For a few moments she couldn't breathe, and then the water receded, and she had air again.
Rain not might've affected her, but the pounding waves were drenching her entire body, and while some droplets were not an issue, gallons upon gallons of the stuff coming down all at once were a problem.
Managing to raise her long neck to keep her nostrils above the water, she struggled to move as her wings sank into the sand. Opening her massive jaw, she let out an answering bellow across the wind and rain - something that would be audible even miles out.
Then, catching her breath, she gasped.
"Oh ********> she breathed, realizing what was happening with the sand as she struggled, the lightning strike having sucked all the strength she had. "Oh <********, forced to her knees by her twin, growled and snarled beneath him, clawing at the grass as purple steam escaped from her lips with each exhalation. Powerful though she was, Sam was made to match her, and she couldn't break free.
So, like an angry, unsatisfied child, she squirmed and writhed beneath him, feeling the pressure of her shoulder joints as they were extended but completely uncaring. She had broken her own bones and dislocated her own limbs before in fits like these.
Sam's blue hair fluttered down into her vision though, and as she bucked and snarled, her eyes caught the color and instinctively held it, the black eyes with green, slitted pupils widening.
Immediately, she stilled. Tense, but unmoving.
The blue strands swayed in front of her and, fascinated, she watched. Blue. Sam's smell filled her nostrils, and suddenly she - as a person, not an animal - realized what was happening.
Slowly then, the thickness of the purple smog she exhaled grew less and less, and her canines shrank back as her claws retracted back into regular nails. She blinked a few times, the eyelids fluttering, and beneath those lids, normal, wide human eyes returned. The muscles fighting against Sam's became less pronounced, more relaxed.
Lifting her head, she nuzzled Sam's chin, neck and chest using the back of her head with a very dog-like whine, and then, the episode completely passed, she collapsed harmlessly beneath him.
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Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2011 9:44 pm
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((OOC: Ah, I'm sure she'll get over it. Eventually. Maybe. ninja ))
Apsalar had been struggling even before the rain had begun to pour, and the lightning and thunder sent her into a wild panic. She didn't know what to do, and even if she had, the storm would have been keeping her from doing any of it. When she heard John call out to her, she screamed in response - but it had more of the sound of a trapped animal's dying defiance than any kind of human plea for help.
Suddenly, she was snatched out of the air.
Her instincts were to fight - she hadn't been able to fight the wind and the storm, but a predator she could and would battle in order to save her own life. Her vicious struggles to free herself began to quiet when a quiet voice murmured in her ear.
Stay calm.
She knew those sounds, knew that they connected to form...words. Words had meaning. Words meant...
Stay calm.
After a second or two, she began to realize that she was no longer being dragged out towards the ocean. Whatever had caught her was taking her back towards the shore, back to--
Back to safety.
She let her body relax against the form behind her; she'd exhausted herself in the struggle to keep as close to the shore as she'd managed to do. Much longer, and she would almost certainly have been dragged to her watery death by the wind.
Once she was dropped on the sand, she lay there on her side for a long moment, taking soft, shallow breaths that spoke of her ebbing adrenaline. She was weak and shaking in every limb, but the screech from the air made her lift her head all the same.
Folding her wings into her body as tightly as she possibly could - no way that she was going to allow them to open again until they were safely indoors - she pulled herself to her feet. It was only when she saw Hiccadu, half-in and half-out of the water, that she realized what must have happened.
She would have died.
And Hiccadu had saved her.
But mulling over this fact would have to wait. She had a favour to return.
"John," she breathed. "John, help me. Hurry. We--" She gestured to Hiccadu, and keeping her wings tightly folded against her back, she made her way towards the great beast. They'd have to time it right, but...
She watched the water go in. Slowly recede. Come crashing back. Slowly recede.
And after the next crash, she dashed down the sand, ignoring the trembling in her body. Her adrenalin was draining, but she thought that she might have time...
She gripped one of the huge paws in both her hands. They looked tiny, breakable, as they wrapped around the huge forearm. "Push, Hiccadu," she breathed. "Come on."
Putting all her weight into it, she tried her best to pull Hiccadu free of the clutching sand and the drowning waves. But without John's help, it would probably be hopeless.
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Posted: Sun Dec 11, 2011 3:28 pm
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A second figure joined Aspalar in pulling Hiccadu free, but it wasn't john. This figure was tall, and as he pulled he made low slow ragged breaths, each coming out as a bellow. The figure pulled as hard as he could, Then lifted his face and said, "If I die, at least the female I love...will.. live...." It was Hound, but his breathing was ragged and slowing, He stank of blood, his own. He Would probably die if wasn't treated, and he looked as if he was going to collapse. "Come On my love...Don't you dare let a a shock stop you...." Then he coughed and said, "The Hiccadu I know, stops at nothing..." And then He gave one more mighty but weak pull, and he started to fall...His eyes closing.
Back with Yani.....
Neo could see his mother being attacked, and something in him snapped. He yanked himself free of his father's grip and started moving toward her. His wings extending and flapping strongly, rapidly. He ran toward her, his wings creating gusts of wind that pushed the poison gas away from him, and as he neared her, away from his mother. He knelt beside her, and slowly reached to put his right hand on her shoulder. "Mommy....I'm here....It's me...Neo...."
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Posted: Sun Dec 11, 2011 7:58 pm
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John watched the form soar towards Apsalar and steal her from the water and thought for a moment that it was another packmate, someone who had wings and an impossibly strong frame. Another flash of lightning lit up the features of Hiccadu instead, heading towards shore with her charge and then another, one that caught Hiccadu mid-flight. She crashed into the water, within reach of the waves.
It took him a moment to process the fact that Hiccadu had saved Apsalar's life, Hiccadu, and not another packmate. Apsalar was safe. Now, Hiccadu was in trouble. Somewhere towards the back of his mind he realized that his friend would have died due to his stupidity and the only reason she hadn't was because of a chimera he had never trusted.
Apsalar reached Hiccadu and began pulling her towards shore, moving John to action. Hound was already there, motivating John to help on Apsalar's side. He heard Hound's murmured pleas, though he kept silent. Hound smelled of blood and pain, Apsalar of fear and adrenaline, Hiccadu of singed hair, skin, and something metallic. Together, they managed to maneuver her out of reach of the waves and onto the sand, out of reach of the high-tide mark, whereupon Hound fell, face-down, beside Hiccadu.
John, dry-mouthed, offered to stay with them while Apsalar ran to get the help of the rest of the chimerae in the house. There was no way they'd be able to get both of them to the house without some help, and hopefully Smoke would be back by now, though Hound's current state left a lot of doubt and fear in his mind. Could Jared have...?
No. John shook his head and ignored the feeling of dread forming in his stomach. "Look for Smoke. Get Tobart and Pup, and anyone else who can help." Though he didn't say it, this excluded Lonomia. Millions of hairs laced with an incredibly deadly hemotoxin weren't helpful to their situation.
------
As soon as Bucadu had calmed down, Sam relaxed his hold. He felt her muscles soften as her rage subsided, and turned to his next task of protecting Aiyana, who was still at risk from the toxic clouds hovering around the empty courtyard. The rest of the chimerae who had already witnessed Bucadu's rampages and had cleared out several moments ago, to the safety of the pond or the indoor compound.
He gathered Aiyana in his arms, who immediately began squirming, trying to detach herself from him to reach Neo. She neither trusted nor liked Sam, and, because he was taking her further from Neo, didn't care that he had just saved her life. She was being more cautious, however, because she didn't dare strike him with her claws in mistaken fear that his blood was identical to his sister's.
------
Yani watched, tense up until the moment that Sam escorted Aiyana out of the courtyard. He was furious, with both Sam and Bucadu for putting Neo in harm's way. Too much human emotion, that was the problem. He gave the order to put them each into separate isolation chambers (without much hope that it would cure Bucadu), and then made his way to Aiyana and Neo.
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Posted: Sun Dec 11, 2011 8:34 pm
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Posted: Sun Dec 11, 2011 8:49 pm
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Posted: Sun Dec 11, 2011 9:54 pm
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AninOnin ((He did. Colossus is fond of ignoring inconveniences in every post, not just others'. Such as ignoring the fact that Sam and Bucadu were standing on grass, or that Hound previously collapsed miles away. I tend to ignore the inconsistency, for better or worse :/
And don't worry about posting for this one yet, there's no rush.))
((Yes hound did, but I didn't ignore anything. One, I didn't know they in the courtyard, so I didn't know it was grass and not concrete, mainly because I forgot the changes we made to the rp during the month I nearly quit gaia. And Just because hound collapsed once didn't mean he passed out. Though this time when he fell, he's out cold and he is on the verge of death. There was a lot of blood loss. Only way he'll survive this one if either miracle happens, or if the others some him keep him alive long enough for the wound to heal. I have no idea how he's going to survive to be honest.)) |
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Posted: Sun Dec 11, 2011 10:06 pm
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Wire_Colossus AninOnin ((He did. Colossus is fond of ignoring inconveniences in every post, not just others'. Such as ignoring the fact that Sam and Bucadu were standing on grass, or that Hound previously collapsed miles away. I tend to ignore the inconsistency, for better or worse :/
And don't worry about posting for this one yet, there's no rush.)) ((Yes hound did, but I didn't ignore anything. One, I didn't know they in the courtyard, so I didn't know it was grass and not concrete, mainly because I forgot the changes we made to the rp during the month I nearly quit gaia. And Just because hound collapsed once didn't mean he passed out. Though this time when he fell, he's out cold and he is on the verge of death. There was a lot of blood loss. Only way he'll survive this one if either miracle happens, or if the others some him keep him alive long enough for the wound to heal. I have no idea how he's going to survive to be honest.))
((Then I would suggest, before you take liberties with the setting and character placement, you should find out what's going on. Even if you don't want to peruse through old posts, you could just ask.
In any case, why would Hound collapse from weakness only to get up, exacerbate his loss of blood by running several miles to the shore to save Hiccadu [whose cry he wouldn't have been able to hear over the storm, wind, rain, waves, and distance, not to mention with greatly weakened senses due to exhaustion and blood-loss], only to collapse by the beach-house moments later?
My point is that none of this makes sense. I've dealt with it in the past, but when it starts making others frustrated, I feel the need to step in. Again.)) |
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Posted: Sun Dec 11, 2011 10:54 pm
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Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2011 5:51 pm
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Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2011 9:16 pm
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Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2011 9:26 pm
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With heavy lifting and a lot of grunting, Apsalar and Hound (with a little help from Hiccadu herself) managed to get the great Chimera out of the immediate danger zone and onto safer sands.
"Oh, shut up you big twit," Hiccadu snapped irritably at Hound as she heaved herself up with the assistance from Apsalar. "You're not going to die. Don't be retarded."
Heavily, she slumped against the sands that were good enough distance away from the sea.
"Get the first aid kit," Hiccadu told John and Apsalar. "I'll be fine - the idiot is the one who's hurt. Gauze, pain medication..." Her breathing was heaving, exhausted bursts. "Bandages... Hound needs to get inside." Lifting her head, she let out another, enraged, painful bellow, hoping that somebody inside the beach house would hear it (********, if Hound could hear it, of COURSE they would be able to, the morons). "I won't be any help to you right now."
-----
Bucadu's eyes blearily opened, and she groggily looked around. She could've sworn she had heard Sam say her name.
Picking herself up (Isolation Room, so not surprised), she looked around.
"Sam?" she asked curiously, looking around even though she couldn't see anything.
She could deal with this much better than Sam could. There wasn't nearly as much stimulation to process down here as there was up there, and Bucadu almost enjoyed it. Curiously, she wondered if Yani was actually kind enough to put them right next to each other. Standing up, she looked around the absolute darkness.
"SAM?"
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Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2011 1:44 pm
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((OOC: I said I'd post, and then I died. Sorry. I'm still brain-dead - my Bio exam hates me. I'll put up a little something just for the sake of posting, but then I have to go away again.
I just had a thought, but I can't remember whether Smoke and Hound took the Jeep or not - and if so, whether that's the only vehicle around. Someone want to fill me in?))
Apsalar looked from John to Hiccadu and finally to Hound. She looked small, standing between the two enormous Chimerae as she turned towards the house. "Why have they not answered?" she whispered. "They must hear." She turned to John. "Can you look for Smoke? You," she looked so sad as she brought up the reason they were all out here in the rain in the first place, "can fly, and you can see better. I will get the things we need, and I will find the pack."
She didn't even realize that she was technically giving her pack leader an 'order' - she was busy trying to think through all the ways they could save a member of their pack. Though John was free to ignore what she'd said if he so chose, it did seem to make the most sense. And she didn't seem to question that he would see the sense of it; she was already on her way to the house, in a tireless, loping run that evoked a mental picture of a wolf pack hunting.
Racing up to the house, she went inside. She knew where they kept the first-aid, of course; it was also better-stocked than some small doctor's offices, what with all the accidental injuries that the Chimerae had endured as they tried to learn about human things and the human world. Smoke had quickly learned that they needed to keep plenty of bandages and treatments for burns and cuts and scrapes and poisonings.
But remembering how Hound had looked, she didn't know if what they had would be enough.
She gathered up what there was, and as she turned back towards the door, she hesitated for a bare second. Surely the others had heard Hiccadu's roars? Surely they were already down there.
But they might not be. If so, why not? Surely they must have heard her - the huge Chimera had a voice that was as big as everything else about her in her true form. The storm wasn't that loud.
Were they simply ignoring it...because it was Hiccadu?
If that was the case, then she had to call for them. They wouldn't ignore her. So she tilted her head back and instead of calling everyone by name - she had no time for that - she simply let out a high-pitched, wailing scream that trailed into a sort of howl. The sound echoed throughout the house, and it was loud enough to drift on the air to the ones at the beach, with the shrieking wind providing a strange sort of harmony. It was the cry she'd given whenever one of her packmates had been taken out of the containment rooms for experimentation; it was the sound that should indicate to everyone in the house that someone needed help.
Pairing that with Hiccadu's earlier roars, it would be easy for everyone to figure out where to find the person who needed that help.
She had no time to wait and see if anyone was coming; she trusted her packmates to be intelligent enough to know where to find her. Most of them had strong enough senses that they could follow a scent that they knew well - like hers - out the door, and from there it would be easy to see the group of them collected at the water's edge.
Picking up the box of supplies she'd deemed useful and curling herself over it protectively to keep it as dry as possible, she came running back through the wind and rain, dropping to her knees to try and get a better idea of Hound's injuries - and Hiccadu's, for that matter.
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