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Post by elizar on Oct 1, 2009 4:29:41 GMT -5
"Yeah, funny story." Ash said. "I happened to get in a pickle and had to be unpickled, I -" He paused as he looked over to Sandra who had just growled low.
Sandra's blades were put in defensive mode towards the female human who had just approached. But the problem was that she didn't smell like human. Nor did she have the same sort of 'signature' Liriel had, but the problem is that she couldn't be exactly what the signature was as she hadn't been close to her at all.
"What are you?" She asked the newcomer. Not who, but 'what'."
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Post by Evangeline on Oct 1, 2009 18:33:03 GMT -5
Dmitri glanced over to Sandra, eyes widened. Bree waved a blade in a SETTLE-DOWN gesture. "Annalise!?"
"Mom told me you were coming over at some point." Annalise replied, "And I had a free week coming up, so I decided to ride in."
"That ranch is what - forty miles from here?" Bree said. "That's a long way to go on horseback."
"It'd be a bit awkward for me to fly in." Annalise countered. "I just don't want that kind of attention."
"OK," Rihanna looked between the two. "Would you mind telling us just what is going on here?" She noted Sandra's defensive posture.
Bree was already twigged to the scents and attitudes being given off. "It's OK. Annalise is one of our family friends. She's Zoe Gordon-Crawford's daughter, her youngest."
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Post by elizar on Oct 1, 2009 20:22:18 GMT -5
"I've heard of Zoe." Sandra said in almost defeated tone. She withdrew a bit, though her blades kept twitching a bit as she was giving an effort to restrain her defensive posture. Given everything that was going on, she had already prepared her mind to be vary of shapeshifters, of those pretending to be something they weren't.
"I knew that they were users, but the only shapeshifter I ever heard about was the female Verant line." She admitted.
Ash looked between all three of them as words were exchanged. He looked over to Rihanna in slight confusion and apprehension.
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Post by Evangeline on Oct 1, 2009 21:41:39 GMT -5
Dmitri leaned in a little towards Sandra, as much as he dared, trying to give her some comfort.
Rihanna looked to Ash, eyes wide. "This is a complete surprise to me too." Lukas was just standing there with a big HUH? look.
Annalise looked around in confusion. "OK, I get it, I came at a really bad time, but just what is going on?"
Bree took a big breath. "It's a long, sad story."
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Post by elizar on Oct 2, 2009 6:28:58 GMT -5
Sandra thought about to snap at Dmitri for the invasion of privacy, but she knew better. He was being afraid of her. She took a deep breath and finally her blades seemed to settle alongside her back to her tail rotor. Despite her first instinct, she hadn't showed any hostile signs towards Dmitri. I need him more than complete integrity. She admitted to herself. It was awfully selfish of her, but she wanted Dmitri or any other helicopter to follow her and Rihanna as they would spread the message.
"There's a user which makes even the helljumpers nervous." Sandra said. "And he got himself a base with cult included in Old Orly, and couple of his recruiters are here." This was the first time she had actually told the location of Eden to captain Beauchamps, but she just hoped that she wouldn't take a personal leave off to take care of some 'business'.
Ash decided not to add onto the topic, as he had just met Rihanna yesterday.
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Post by Evangeline on Oct 2, 2009 15:46:29 GMT -5
Capt. Beauchamps, who had been trying to have a quiet morning with her daughter, raised her head and snorted. "How has this joker been able to set up business right under everybody's noses?"
Annalise looked incredulous. "Who?!"
"He calls himself Ceasarion." Rihanna explained. "Built himself a "Magic Kingdom", and I guess it could be a Disneyland of sorts, for those who have nothing to lose but their souls. What he promises in return is the body of your dreams and a 24-hour party."
Annalise might have had no knowledge of this before, but her intuition told her this was bad, bad, bad. "I've only been here a few weeks and most of that on the ranch, so I had no idea this was going on. Who are these "recruiters" anyway?"
"There's two of them," Bree explained, "One of them is a transformed bushie, she's been transformed into a living anime catgirl, of all things. The other is an Oka, the son of Gideon Quinlan, whose parents your mother and I know. Gideon, shall we say, got around a bit and young Ian was one of his first woods-colts."
Rihanna looked back at Ash apologetically. "I didn't mean for this to turn into such a mess."
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Post by elizar on Oct 2, 2009 16:07:30 GMT -5
"If you planned for every contingency, you would be a robot." Ash said. "I'm still game if you were afraid of me backing away. Just don't really expect me in New Orly. Your speech made it clear enough."
Sandra looked at Annalise. "Well, you might be able to help us in case Liriel still has some juice left." She said. "I hope you know something more than shapeshifting."
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Post by Evangeline on Oct 2, 2009 16:57:45 GMT -5
"Don't worry about that." Annalise smiled. "Mom taught me all her tricks. I guess I can help you corrall these two, and maybe I can come back to Nola if I can find a place for Lola in the meantime."
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Post by elizar on Oct 2, 2009 17:25:00 GMT -5
"So it won't be just me and Rihanna who'll lure the two to the mall." Ash said relieved.
"The more the merrier." Sandra said. "And safer. Captain, is it possible you got some scent bombs or erasers to spare? Those would come in handy to fool Ian."
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Post by Evangeline on Oct 3, 2009 1:23:50 GMT -5
"I've got some older ones we have to clear out anyway." Beauchamps answered. She figured they could be written off as used in a training exercise. "They'll still work, though."
"I can do the force field thing, like Mom." Annalise chimed in. "If they put up a fight I can pull the "swimming through molesasses" trick."
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Post by elizar on Oct 3, 2009 6:42:35 GMT -5
"Good, then there will be no danger to most of us." Sandra said and looked at Ash. He in turn nodded, he was somewhat aware of the dangers of cornering a small but nimble helicopter. Though he had hoped he would not do any dying today.
"Well, when should we move out?" He asked.
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Post by Evangeline on Oct 5, 2009 17:18:37 GMT -5
"I'm just about done." Bree nodded.
Danae chimed in. "Ready."
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Post by elizar on Oct 5, 2009 17:39:27 GMT -5
Sandra nodded. "I think Danae should go with Rihanna and Ash to go see Ian and Liriel. While the rest of us will wait at the mall. Danae should make good enough lure for Ian so he may be more trusting of the general situation. Okas are what the cult wants, so we give them one."
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Post by Evangeline on Oct 5, 2009 21:02:31 GMT -5
"Hopefully he'll follow me." Danae pulled back from the bar and turned. "Just have to play it coy."
"I'll stay close by." Bree assured Capt. Beauchamps, who shifted nervously like any concerned parent.
Annalise followed Rihanna and Ash out, being careful not to crowd them.
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Post by elizar on Oct 6, 2009 4:54:51 GMT -5
((Had an odd dream. Dreamt I had woken up, seen you updating DA with some three drawings, one of which seeming to be a beginning of a chapter with Noah at the base he was at. And in Artist's comments, you were making a writing contest where Noah and his friends have to deal with a serial murderer. 36 bleached skulls had been found so far, no other traces of victims.))
"Come on Captain." Sandra said to hopefully snap her out of her worrying state. "We need to get those scent erasers and bombs before we go to the mall."
Ash took the lead, as he knew more about the area than Rihanna. It wasn't long until the scenery started to change from the somewhat kept houses to houses that were close to ruin, where people in general thought that there was a hazard from being in them. But it didn't stop the poor and the vagrants from sleeping and living in them. They had no other place to go.
"You don't have to wonder why Liriel's message is so effective." Ash said. "I've had to stay here as well during my down times. It's not much prettier on the inside than it is outside, other than those who are rightfully owned by families and don't take anyone in. Mothers are pretty good about cleaning and upkeeping."
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