The Dead Forest (Increased Orc activity due to skirmish)

[Eternal Dirge]

While that hadn't been what he was about to say...whatever. He wasn't a leader of men, and was easily cowed socially, so there really wasn't a point to anything he had to say right." We're not together....we're just going in the same direction." He muttered under his breath, moving towards the copter after Rae, sitting down wherever he could find a seat, close to a window.

Much as could be expected, the earth elemental sank in to himself, trying to peice together what he knew while listening for anything that might be worth commenting on.  

[The Proclaimer]

He cocked a smile and lifted himself into the copter. As he took his seat, he shot the vampires' leg.

"No. No name. If you happen to hear my name from someone else, fine."  

[Ayerie Valdis]

As the bullet approached Anuksu, all the vampire appeared to do was sit there. Having been shot many times, such a feeling would not be alien to him, but he thought it much too early to show his greatest talent and would not give this bottom feeder the satisfaction of having wounded him. After all, a door criminal should not be bested so easily. Instead of just taking it, he formed one of his two psychic barriers near that point on his leg, but knowing that the bullet was probably too large and had been fired at too close a range to be absorbed by the shield, he shifted it upward as well, knocking it slightly off of its intended target, and towards another close by.

The redirected bullet was now careening towards Maximos's legs that were promptly placed so close to Anuksu. Though instead of having Quinn shoot a friend of his, which in ealier days Anuksu would have done without a second thought and laughed about it, the bullet simply grazed Maximos's leg before it connected with the hull of the chopper.

Anuksu looked over at Quinn with a most concerned look on his face and spoke in his usual quiet sweet voice though he placed a false ring of worry and utmost shock to his words.

"Oh, you should really be more careful discharging a firearm in such an enclosed space...

His face shifted after saying this, from a sweet almost shocked face to an icy cold glare paired with an evil fanged grin. The tone in his voice shifted as well. Though it was still soft and quiet, it took on a slightly darker tone.

...someone might get hurt."

As he leaned his head back, and shut his eyes once more, he reached his power out towards Rae's mind in an attempt to leave a slight message. Though it would be fairly easy to resist, due to Anuksu putting very little effort into it.

 

[The Proclaimer]

"Save it. When this is done the first thing I'm doing is coming for you. I don't care if it's needlessly aggressive."

Sitting across from the vampire, he leaned forward and narrowed his eyes. Quinn was a stubborn old man, and was not about to stop watching this son of a b***h because he was too much a coward to just take one in the leg. He had purposefully fired at his leg because he was a vampire, and no doubt would be A, hardly phased by it, and B, would heal up far faster than a normal person. And if he thought he was making a point of some kind, that perhaps he was strong or not easy to beat by a simple gun, then this vampire was an idiot.

Resting forward, he let his left arm hang loosely, right hand still grasping his weapon. Tapping his the fingers of his prosthetic hand against the hull of the craft, it buzzed and whirred with high tech energy, blue haze swirling around it. It wasn't the same hand as before, when he fought that kid. He didn't go into these kinds of arrangements without the one he had now.

Tightening it into a fist, he switched his gun to his left hand and brought his right up to his chin to rub his beard in thought.  

[Uberwulf X]

And Laz was there, letting the people go through their happy meeting, letting Noire run the gauntlet of personalities. When Twitch said to get on the chopper, he was on it quickly-- perhaps even quicker than Noire-- and he took a seat, eyes closing and arms folding.

Really, there was no reason for his player to write for him, other than to answer the odd question or move or reinforce the fact that the honey buns, while frosted and sweet and fattening and good, wouldn't do him much compared to one of his meat caches. But he'd relax... they were going to the Firebrand, a place he'd been to once before and he knew he could eat there. And Seung was there for questions, meaning that Lazenca could sleep.

He also didn't have to worry about anyone doing anything stupid. Two people could always check one person going out of line. This is why Lazenca didn't bother saying anything to Quinn about his drawing the gun. It was just better to walk wide around it, avoiding the situation altogether. No, there was no way that they'd let him fire that gun at the vamp, after they were on the plane.

But then Quinn pulled the trigger, creating a familiar bang that forced Lazenca's eyes open, all while shifting Feral and immediately diving under his seat. It'd only take a second to realize that the threat was not to him, time spent trying to regulate his heart rate, and recognize the sound of his own intense snarling. Stalking forward from under the seat, he kept his body low as he moved not to the one everyone was suspicious of, but the one who'd taken it upon himself to fire that damned gun.

Since Lazenca was making it very clear that he was serious, and since the nearby Noir had never heard him speak, it should be noted that Lazenca's voice was actually three voices speaking in different emotional tones, leaning heavy on the one emotion he was actually feeling. There was a fourth voice that spoke backwards. It was one of those effects that were ignorable when one realized that Laz was about as casual and relaxed as a legally insane person could get, but when riled up, the voices echoed and commanded presence.

"I'm going to make this clear. If you draw and/or fire your gun again on this plane, I'm going to remove your arms, beat you to death with them, and feed your remains to my children. Respect the craft and your fellow passengers. There is but one warning."

It was a rather simple and direct message, but humans typically cowered instantly at his voice/s, backing the hell off. He was used to non-humans less visibly affected, but damn if they didn't think twice about pissing him off. The fact that he was physically braced to move (low body, pinned ears) would center the fact that if Quinn got smart and pointed it at him, they would be less one passenger.

This was a lot less about the fact that he was the Blazestar VP1 for X number of years, that he was still emotionally attached to the company, that he still owned Blazestar stock (though his options were limited), that one of his best friends was now President and nice enough to fly them around, because you really shouldn't go firing on relative strangers just because they have a demigod complex, or because someone willing to shoot without warning may turn the gun on him for the sake of seeing what his reaction was.

Lazenca just really hated guns.  

[Pocket Gal]

Katie had just gone to take a seat inside the chopper when she heard the gun shot. In such a confined area it left her ears ringing, not to mention left her highly agitated. She hadn't expected Quinn to use it, not yet, anyway.

She turned towards the old man, a hard expression on her face. When she spoke she really was yelling, but it was because what she considered raising her voice was actually a lot louder since she bloody couldn't hear anything except the ringing in her ears.

"OLD MAN, what the bloody hell did you go and do that for?!"

The bullet could have easily ricocheted off something and fatally wounded someone. Her hands came to her hips, fingers sprayed. It was her signature move when she was agitated.

For a moment she let her eyes leave the old man. She glanced over to Rae then Maximos.

"He got hit. You could have injured him, and so could have you!"

She turned back on the vampire, pointing a finger. She wasn't stupid. She knew what the vampire was most likely capable of. Something told her he blocked that bullet just perfectly so the bullet would go towards Maximos.

Her eyes fell back on Quinn. She lifted her chin, mouth tightly closed as she tried to keep her emotions in check.

"Next time make sure you don't miss."

That was all she said to Quinn before going to take a seat next to Rae.

GRAAAH.

She took a moment to listen to what Laz had to say before she glanced towards the healer.

"How's he doing?"  

[The Proclaimer]

Quinn looked towards the dog. He wasn't frightened of the voices, he had seen and heard stranger. But while five, ten years ago he would have shrugged it off and kept the gun out, risking being eaten, he was older. While he was older, and wiser, he had grown horribly angry and cynical which betrayed some of that wisdom to chaos. He felt horrible about Maximos' leg would, although it was gone now. Sighing, he knew that his gun would have no use in the upcoming fight anyway, especially if whatever they were going to fight was stronger than this vampire.

"I like you and you," he said, pointing to Rae and Katie.

"I don't know you, but I like your spunk," he said to the wolf-thing.

"And out of respect for the mistake I made, and the respect I have for Maximos, and admittedly out of my own guilt at the incident I caused..."

He looked outside, as they hadn't moved yet. Looking at the gun, he would miss it dearly. After a second, he tossed it out.

"I'll discard the gun. But don't for an instant goad yourself into believing I regret shooting this son of a b***h, and you-" he motioned to the vampire, "-I will kill you with my bare hands if I have to. That way there's no risk of you being a coward and letting someone else take the hit for you."

Not needing the gun holster, he undid it and tossed it under his seat. Settling back down, he resumed glaring at the son of a b***h across from him.  

[Ayerie Valdis]

Anuksu reopened his eyes and looked right back at Quinn with one of those "I can't believe you said that" looks on his face. Having lost that evil tone to his voice, he resumed the sweet soft honeyed voice from before.

"What are you talking about? You missed. And go ahead and tell yourself whatever you need to about killing me in the future, but I bear you no ill will, and whenever this is over I won't be looking for anyone. I'd kind of like to go home for a while. I have a castle to tend to."

Though he did appreciate everyone's intervention in the matter, he did wonder how they were all going to survive this war. He was glad he had been expecting something from Quinn, for had he been shot, he would have revealed just how much of his vampiric power he had been forced to sacrifice.

He took the time to listen closely to what Rae had to say, for charging into battle not knowing your foe was rather suicidal. It seemed the situation was dire indeed, for to deal with both ancient magical beasts and the undead would truly overwhem most of this world. Hopefully it was not too late for them to make a difference. He shivered slightly at the though of the enemy winning and him being forced back into nothingness... without posibility of escaping again.

... wow, we really have a problem here. Perhaps I should have gotten involved much sooner...

When Rae was done speaking, Anuksu reached out to her mind once more. Though instead of the normal air of elitism carried in his words, this time they echoed in her mind with utmost sincerity and care.



He then leaned his head back again and shut his eyes once more. Hopefully he would be allowed a little time with his thoughts before they landed. For he would truly have to be ready when the threats started showing up.  

[Eternal Dirge]

Damion didn't react to the gunshot, his eyes glazed over as he got lost in his own mind. It happened to frequently for comfort really, but there was no helping it. When Rae started talking about Eden though, Damion struggled back to the world of reality, head swiveling around to focus the eyes on her. While he didn't know WHAT Eden was to begin with, he could only figured it was important.

One she was done however....back in he would go, leaning back and closing his eyes, making it look like for all intensive purposes he was asleep, hands resting on his knees.  

[Maximos]

Maximos was out cold.

Even the bullet grazing his legs didnt cause him to twitch beyond the force of the bullet itself.

Rae's gentle hands began to undo the bandages covering his arm, and as they did the arm twitched, though of its own accord. She would find the bandages were burnt, cut, and in certain places wet with a sort of inky black substance, too dark to be blood, as the grazing shot revealed Maximos' blood was indeed crimson. Covering the arm was a tribal-esque runic marking which at first glance easily confused with a tattoo, though with further examination revealed itself to infact be burned into his flesh leaving a searing hot, yet dark indigo scar in the shape of the intended marking. But the wound was old and closed, and while the arm accepted energy Raven would find it did so hungrily as opposed to appreciatively. Which is to say it would eat said energy instead of using it, though was unable to eat energy placed elsewhere in the body. Fully unveiled the arm no longer twitched, rather his hand jerked once, and his fingers could be seen very slowly moving inwards, then back outwards...as if his hand was breathing.

A faint blue glow gently ignited just beneath Maximos' shirt as the lapis lazuli pendant her twin had gifted the Shadow began to perform. Raven proved her talent for healing yet again, cracking the proverbial shell covering the Arian in her embrace.

Silence purveyed the Shadow's unguarded, though admittedly maze-like mind. No thoughts, no dreams, just a peaceful nothingness, countless voices resting. It was like a vast field, with million sleeping faces. She would find that it was not the violence, the twitching, or even her own magic that poked parts of the Shadow's mind, making eyes open here and there, and then fall back to sleep....

....it was the voices, and fragments of his mind would jump to respond. Katie made one laugh, not mockingly though. Damion's call for attention made another spring up, only to disappointedly fall. Quin made one nod respectfully. Lazenca made another twitch and draw back. The faces had no understanding it was a simple reaction when the individual spoke, not to the words themselves. But Anuksu....

At the very sound of that honeyed faux tone, a dozen out of thousands would rise up in outrage. Others returned in mocking laughter. Still others screamed for him to shut up! The wave of reactions cascading one on another threatening to force his mind awake. Until they came to a single calming voice of reason.

It said, that if the Vampire was so old....and so powerful...and so elite...Then why did he have to prove himself to a rag-tag group of random people? Had he been the but of Nocturne's jokes so long that once freed he needed to gain supremacy...against humans? Instead of it all being beneath him, he felt the need to waste lies on individuals who should be meaningless. The simple triumphant voices realization calmed the herd. And the fragments Maximos' mind calmed, as they simply agreed on the rationale that Max would wake up cross with the vampire, and tighten his leash.

Calm though he was, his arm twitched several more times as fresh bandages were return, seemingly wanting, but lacking the strength to fight the wrappings, until it was done.

And then he was still. Mind, body, and soul.  

[Pocket Gal]

Katie glanced towards Quinn, listening to what he had to say. Her eyes went wide as he tossed his gun outside. She didn't know him all that well, but she did remember he had a machete at the Firebrand when she first met him. She hoped he had that on him as backup.

"I've grown fond of you too, old man, but you didn't have to toss your gun. You'll probably need it eventually."

Looking back at Rae, she listened to what the woman had to say. Her words were true. They really had a lot to think about before they got to the Firebrand.

The island. She saw it for only a few moments above the stadium. Things had happened so quickly that she didn't get a real good look at it.

"Like any disease you have to kill the bacteria, so that's what we'll do. We'll have to get the source of the problem, and do our best at keeping it from spreading."

She glanced to the other men in the chopper with her then leaned forward, resting her forearms against her knees as she spoke to them.

"So, what do you all think? We should start considering what our next move will be."  

[The Proclaimer]

"I have another at home.

Speaking of.

Some of you might find them...distasteful, but conventional modern weaponry is something I'm well acquainted with. If we want to stop by my home, I have a few things we may be able to use. Anything to give us an advantage. I also have facilities we may use, and the bulk of my home is underground if we need a place to gather ourselves. It's also nice and natural. Lots of gardens and trees, because my brother is a bit of a gardening nut. Who can blame him?"

Chuckling, he looked towards Rae and Maximos, taking note of Maximos occassional twitching.

"Old boy could use some scotch," he joked in a more than likely poor attempt to cut the tension.