Eternal Rains (IC) [M] - Closed

[Sunblink]

 ...Axiyne:

Staring apprehensively at the wolf Incubus for a good, pregnant moment, the somewhat nervous and fidgety Gryphon sighed, then reached up and adjusted his goggles methodically. The absurdly large lenses bobbed and jostled atop his head until he finally shifted them into a position and angle that could be considered, at best, satisfactory, even with his unkempt and uncharacteristically rugged countenance. With his appearance somewhat more organized, Axiyne addressed Cross as politely as he could, even when he was unnerved by his earlier demonstration. It was only right, after all - and only smart to be nice to a man with a gun.

"W-We do ha... have an autopilot," Axiyne explained, pointing to an illuminated green lever among the collection of buttons and switches on the dashboard. Sure enough, the aforementioned lever was labeled with a sign that read Autopilot, and it was flipped into an upright position. "I a-activated it befo... before P-Pandora left.

"That autopilot should work fine, but we need an actual pilot in the event of an aerial attack." Axiyne's speech seemed to have cleared up considerably, at least because he was focused on a subject with which he was comfortable. "All an autopilot can do is guide us to the actual direction. It can't alter that path in any way."

Cross observed the rather prominent silence, which Axiyne, in his excited chatter, hadn't realized until then. The Gryphon's ears swerved and pointed upright and he glanced to the doorway Pandora and Fal'taq had departed through, looking deeply concerned. Now that he dwelled on the transpired time, he realized that he hadn't heard any gunfire... which was bad. Either the issue had been resolved before Pandora and the mole had arrived at the scene, or she was...

Fuck. Axiyne probably looked more horrified than he wanted to reflect in his features as his mind quite graphically ruminated over the possibilities. A talon clasped over his beak, suppressing any startled squawks, and he looked shakily to the door.

---

...Pandora:

"'old it! 'OLD IT!"

Speak of the Devil. Not long after her name was uttered by Witt, Pandora came charging into the room at an absurdly fast pace, her avian appearance drained away and replaced with her humanoid characteristics. The rifle Pandora retrieved before was hefted into an upright position and prepared, while the two flintlocks strapped to her waist bounced against her hips from where they hung on her loosely-secured, pink belt. Driving her feet into the floor, Pandora skidded to a halt and jerked herself into a battle position, glaring around the room like the wrath of God had suddenly possessed her. Because, by God, someone had fucked with her ship, her precious baby, and the asshole who did that was going to get a face full of bullet.

One look at Cogidubnus, bleeding from the head, draped over Witt, and the greatly tarnished tiles splattered and marred with webbing, and Pandora cursed uproariously. "Son o' a BITCH!" she exclaimed, aghast. Gingerly, she sidestepped a sizable groove splintering the tile to her right, waltzing with equal gracelessness over another enormous dent in the floor. Gradually, Pandora allowed her furre characteristics to leak back into her appearance, restoring her to her original form. "Wha' th' 'ell 'appen -"

And now it was time for another person to make their appearance. Charging at full speed into the hall was none other than Keaton, Catastrophe hefted and her eyes wild. Staggering and swaying midstep, she barreled in with all the madness of a bull, wordless yet unspeakably angry, only to double over and buckle against the nearest wall. Catastrophe nearly clattered to the floor; Keaton clamped her hand over her muzzle and emitted a sickly muffled gagging noise. Pandora glanced at her in a befuddled manner – batshit crazy girl was probably airsick. Not long after she recollected her composure, Keaton swaggered back to an erect position and looked nauseously at Cog, clarity suddenly snapping into her features as she noticed the blood streaming from his nose and his incapacitated state. He was slumped like a ragdoll over Witt.

"SHIT! Cog!" Keaton exclaimed, all thoughts of mauling the Were gone from her mind. Momentary rage was an astounding and hypocritical emotion, or at least it was when it came to Keaton. She dashed over to Cog's body, feet thumping against the floor, and practically catapulted herself over a particularly large smattering of webbing. Tripping over her feet in the mad dash to get to Cog, Keaton finally stopped beside Witt, heaving, and walked over to the two.

Pandora supposed that was enough to keep Cog occupied for right now. Right now she had more pressing issues on her mind – actually, she couldn't help but be selfishly centered on that topic, to the point she was obsessing. Gripping her rifle a little, Pandora spun around toward Witt, the one nearest and the one charged with carting Cog's body, and tried to keep her eye from twitching. She sincerely wished she had one of her cigars or a cigarette lighter, but she hadn't brought them with her. Too risky around weapons loaded with highly flammable substance.

"Wha'..." Pandora forced through gritted teeth, "In th' blue blazes 'appened 'ere?"

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Witt shrugged, eloquently.

"I came in half way, with a giant wolf tearing the place to pieces. Eventually, after he beat most of us off, I threw that at him. When he bit it, it blew up in his mouth, and he turned back into Cog." He nudged an almost unrecognisably bent lump of iron on the floor, amongst the rubble, with a toe, and shrugged again. "Little more I can say. Didn't know it was him when we started; I thought we had a large stowaway. A very large stowaway. We were going to find a place for him to sleep it off. You want to recommend somewhere?"

He hefted the wolf's unconscious form, now, although he didn't realise it, glued to his shoulder. "Good fight, though."

[e_voyager]

"they hedgehog is right. i don't think i was that scared even when the mer attacked." epyon sighed. "you people will be the death of me, well that or make me rich. i just don't know which it is yet."

[Tapewolf]

What... what is likely to attack us from the air? Cross wondered, with a sinking feeling.  But there was no-one to ask.

[Cogidubnus]

The hallway was simply a mess. Several of the walls were badly damaged, with entire sections torn or bent out of place, revealing a distressingly thin outer coating that protected them from depressurization. Cold could be felt billowing out from the hole, and it was a good thing that the damage was relatively minor – about a five-foot by five-foot section of wall and another of flooring was damaged, but the ship was otherwise intact. In addition to the damage, however, the spider's webbing was still there, and a giant mass of sticky now sat unmoving at the intersection. Pieces of metal and bits of hair and fur stuck to it like flies to flypaper, and it was quite apparent that was not something you wanted get in your hair, let alone get stuck in.

Witt, however, having picked the unconscious wolf up, found that strands of the stuff were still stuck to Cog's body. As Keaton and Pandora, both somewhat hysterical for somewhat different reasons, confronted the group, he realized that he didn't really need to hold on to Cog to keep him over one shoulder.
  Both Ty and Witt noticed multiple doorways, about three or four, all set along the inside wall of the hallway, continuing down until the corridor ended in a strangely-open trap door. A ladder could be seen going down into the depths of the ship

Aisha maneuvered neatly around the detritus of the fight, managing not to get snagged on any sharp metal or sticky webbing, and found herself ascending up towards the area of the cockpit. Paige, with ice-inducing magic sword still in hand, seemed to be standing in the hallway as well, still staring at the outcome of the suddenly-started and ended conflict – and past her, sitting with Axiyne, she saw Mr. Peterson taking a look around the nearly entirely glass room. The incubus seemed to have a pained expression, staring straight at something in the ocean far beneath them.

Salticia had passed Penny without a word and entered into the galley quite by herself. It was just about the same as when she'd left it – a fridge took up one corner of the room, while pots and pans and various cooking implements swayed just slightly as the aircraft rocked subtly in the air. Pandora's collection of booze was placed neatly away, while someone had left the fridge ajar – the somewhat distressing mix of birdseed and meat sat in the drab interior of the appliance.

[Tapewolf]

"Paige?"  Cross said.  "You're alive!  What happened to Cog?  Did you kill him?"

[Sunblink]

...Axiyne:

One look at Paige and Axiyne buckled excitedly, snapped from his grotesquely contemplative stupor as the latest of his vivid imaginings about Pandora's potential fate dissipated midthought. Again his goggles bobbed animatedly, one of the cockeyed lenses swinging on the leather harness securely strapped to his forehead. "You!" he exclaimed at the voluptuous Succubus - he knew it was impolite to address one in such a way, as Pandora had routinely explained to him during his English lessons (take a minute to soak up the irony), but at the moment excitement overcame prudence. His stutter was back. "I-Is everyone okay? Is an-anyone hurt?"

---

...Keaton and Pandora:

At Witt's explanation, Keaton lifted her head somewhat shakily from assessing Cog's unconscious body, staring with wide-eyed interest. Her hands were resting on either side of Cog's head, trying to keep it upright. Pandora was in a similar state of shock; her thumb was pinched over her elongated index, which was curled inward, as though she was cradling an invisible cigar in her hand, to her lips. At the moment, she really needed something to smoke, and she did love cigars, but goddamn did they cost a lot compared to the cheap cigarettes she could purchase from the nearest establishment.

After a rather indecisive moment which almost appeared like Pandora would rebuff Witt's explanation entirely, Pandora wearily stared at the desecrated interior of the hall and let out a horrified, prolonged choking sound. She was going to get that fucking spider-lady to scrub her shit from the walls. What was that anyway? She wasn't an expert on arachnids. Oh well. Almost with an air of defeat to her, Pandora unfolded her hand and slapped it to her thigh.

"God DAMMIT Cog, if ya could'a waited one more night t' get in trouble with th' mob..." Pandora groaned.

Keaton's expression fell somewhat abruptly, until Pandora started looking around at the remaining people in the group, her eyes half-lidded. "Guess y' all wan' an explanation..." Pandora grumbled, and walked past Keaton. "After I get a bloomin' drink..."

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[SpottedKitty]

Fal'taq's eyes narrowed as he came down the stairs behind Pandora, and the wrecked length of hallway come into view. He was surprised to find Cogidubnus was still alive, after that idiot Pettersohn had quite clearly said the monster had killed him. When Witt told the bird-Were that Cogidubnus was the monster, he blinked and looked carefully at the unconscious wolf.

No ordinary Were has such a dramatic transformation, the mole thought. This may require a change of plans. If — or when — I have to dispose of Cogidubnus and Keaton, it will be somewhat more dangerous than I had anticipated... I may have to "persuade" at least one of the others to assist me. He considered one or two of them, before he came round to Pettersohn. No, probably not. The "monster" attack pounded him flat, and he seems to be the only one badly hurt: perhaps he's a weak or inexperienced 'Cubi.

Keaton's reaction to the injured wolf was intriguing, as well. Fal'taq didn't know what Cogidubnus had done to put the jackal into a near-berserk rage, but she'd switched in an instant into frantic worry for his health. Was the wolf so important for her plans? What were her plans? Did she even know herself? The mole fervently hoped they didn't boil down to "find Sabanethei, then scream and leap"...

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

After realising that Cog was well and truly stuck to his shoulder, Witt attempted to remove his hand from where it was holding Cog in place. Unsuccessfully. "Oh, dear. This will cause some problems..."

At the mention of drinks, Witt stopped attempting to extract his hand, shuffled his feet a little and looked just a little bit sheepish.

"Ah... now that you mention drinks, I kinda went ahead of you there a little, and had a couple. I hope you don't mind." He looked around. "I could give you a hand clearing up, if you want."

After a moment: "Er. Well, if I can get my hand unstuck, that is."

[Sunblink]

...Pandora:

'Oh, dear?' Pandora mentally parroted a fraction of Witt's comment, rather incredulous at how he did not, for once, substitute that relatively eloquent phrase for a more "loquacious" statement. Come to think of it, the stocky little hedgehog-thing was looking unusually gracious, something which befuddled Pandora to no end. He didn't strike her as the polite type, not when he was enunciating his speech near-constantly with such an amount of profanity and insults it'd put her ruddy-faced, drunken, dearly departed grandpa to shame.

Regardless, Pandora didn't complain or vociferate her slight shock, and other than cocking a pink-hued eyebrow, did not betray her speculation. She figured she needed all the help she could get repairing the hall, aside from Sal's potential forced labor, so she'd take him up on that offer. "Well, that'd b' right decent o' yah," Pandora said, then added, "S'fine 'bout th' drinks tho. I brough' a lotta 'em..."

She counted off her fingers idly, trying to estimate the precise amount she had packed. "'Nuff t' last us th' trip, even if ya drank" - after that, she paused thoughtfully, and realized something was amiss. "Hang on, d'ya mean drinks or bottles?"

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[techmaster-glitch]

   All the drama and commotion had gone completely unnoticed by Arcwelder, of course. The more time he spent in the engine room, the deeper he rooted himself into the systems. Several areas were rusting very noticeably, but still functioning fine; the unmistakable mark of his magical tampering.
   Now he had been skirting around one of the main generators. Experimentally, he started putting a little bit of his magic into it-

   The whole ship lurched suddenly, the port turbine suddenly going offline. The ship started listing for a few frightening seconds, then the turbine sputtered, the fan blades struggling to get back into cycle, and finally restarted. A metallic groaning sound echoed through the ship as it stabilized.

   Arcwelder ran around the room, cackling his half-metal head off for no reason whatsoever, before returning to his tinkering.

[Stygian]

Still sizzling, the spider rummaged through the pentry for a while, before retrieving the largest piece of beef she could set her eyes on, and promptly setting to warming it up. With plenty of kitchen appliances to go, and a plastic bag to make sure that it stayed juicy, she found herself with a meal quickly enough, though nowhere near as sustaining or fresh as she had wanted.
   Having paced with impatience until the heated water which she'd laid the blood-red beef in could evenly warm it up, the spider was just about to sit down and sink her fangs into the meat, not minding Penny or whoever might have come in to disturb her, or be disturbed by her rather curious mouthparts, when she felt the ship shake, and slammed her hands into the table before her. This was insane! Her anger raised again, she turned back to the pentry, starting to rummage around.
   A few minutes later the spider emerged, that huge slab of beef in her mouth and some random foods and items in her pockets, walking out into the corridor and untangling her coat. She was getting off this damn ship before they all went down!

[Aisha deCabre]

More conflict, Aisha thought to herself as she walked away from the scene that she helped dispel, her sensitive hearing catching some snatches of conversation and several noises behind.  At one point she thought that the telltale vocabulary of Pandora happened onto the unfortunate scene, probably off on another area if she wouldn't come down past the ebon jaguar.  No doubt they even listened to my suggestion.  Well, I'd rather not pick barbs out of my teeth.  Three cheers to the wolf if he lives.

The demoness didn't stick around much to observe the hallway.  The debris around the floor she easily skirted around, and the webbing offered no hindrance.  She wondered how in the world that would be cleaned up.  One thing was for certain, if they were going to ask for recruits, she was going to be far away.  Matters of blood are what she cleaned.

At least it seemed to still be quiet and thoughtful with the others in the glass room when she happened upon it.  Paige was nearby, and Peterson was staring off into space, the two 'Cubi barely saying anything it would seem.  The only other bit of company was the gryphon...Not that the reason for the quiet it was any of her own business.  Aisha turned her scarred back to them and crossed her arms, allowing her vision to wander once again as one asked another what had happened.

"It was just a little tussle, really," Aisha answered first, her head turned back, briefly.  Occasionally she would pick slivers of silver fur from niches in her chain.  "Nothing unmanageable."

But before she could completely relax, her knees nearly buckled as the very floor at her feet lurched, almost violently.  The strangest sounds that perhaps anyone could pick up groaned across the airship.  When she regained her balance, so too did the giant machine.

"...I pity those without wings," she muttered.  "Even more those who have them but don't know how to use them".  She glanced around to see if she could vaguely pinpoint the source...and would be ready to run if need be.

[Paladin Sheppard]

Sliding her sword into its sheathe on her back Paige turned to Jakob and Axiyne. "It seems that Cogidubnus will be ok,  he bit down on some sort of charm and the magical energy shorted him out and changed him back. Interesting I didn't pick him for a were..." Paige realized with Pandora and Axiyne in the corridor no one was in the cockpit, she blanched. "Uhh who's flying this thing?"

[Tapewolf]

"George is flying," Cross said and laughed at the look the others gave him.  "Axiyne said that the ship has automatic levelling.  It will happily keep flying in the direction we're pointing."  He did not mention Axiyne's suggestion of an air attack.

At length, Cross pulled himself to his feet, and promptly fell over as the ship shook.  He looked perturbed.  "Either Cog has damaged the vessel structurally, or there's been a mechanical failure.  I wonder, how much redundancy did Pandora build into it?"

He scanned the myriad dials, but the labelling was too cryptic, even to him.

"The junk-monster!" he cried.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Witt managed, if possible, to look even more sheepish, and whilst shuffling his feet, managed to twist to put Cog between him and Pandora. The palpable aura of a little boy caught with his hand in the cookie jar rolled off him in waves, and he didn't seem to know what to do with himself.

"Ah... um... er... bottles. Just the two, though - the big spider lady kinda took the others off me before I really got going. Er." He edged back a little, just in case, still trying, surreptitiously, to extract his hand from the webbing attaching it to Cog's fur.

Just as he did so, however, the whole ship leaned, and he - and Cog - slid sideways, managing to avoid sticking both of them thoroughly to the wall, floor, and various loose panels by the thinnest of margins.

"Er... perhaps we could get Cog settled, and detached, and then sort out what's going on with the ship? Before counting drinks..."

He shuffled away from the loose webbing around him, desperately trying not to touch any of it.

[e_voyager]

Epyon had been retreating form the conversation with the were bird the hedgehog and whomever else that was  following the bird. he'd had enough for now and they the ship rocked and he pitched forward Threw his arms before his face probably spared hims losing an fire of some face disfiguring but even as he impacts again the wall her hears the tell tell sounds of bones that have taken too much and are giving way. Cripes that meant more repair work to do on his body but he refused to be like other undead that just discard parts of themselves . as long as his body would respond hos his healing mending magic he would uses it dead or alive.  oh gods how he wished he was alive again.

[Sunblink]

...Axiyne:

As the ship quaked violently, Axiyne toppled over and sprawled in a heap of fur and feathers on the floor, his wings splayed outward. Again, his goggles tipped out of proportion, slumping down over his eyes. Axiyne scowled and snarled in a chattering noise, reaching up with his front talons and scraping the oversized lenses back onto his forehead, then scrambled over to his chair in a series of scrambling strides. For once taking charge, he skittered back onto his chair, climbing up, and seized the controls, examining the readings. Amidst his frantic analysis of the readings, he overheard Cross's exclamation and gasped sharply.

"The WHAT monster!?" Axiyne exclaimed, shooting a terrified glance over at Cross. Immediately his memory returned to recollections of his encounter with the intimidating Arcwelder, and he panicked. Was that thing hacking the ship somehow? Right now he had to work on rectifying the angle, so they didn't sink beneath the clouds... he started to tap a few buttons, and took the controls, angling them upright. The ship responded in kind, the cockpit shuddering turbulently, but reversing.

---

...Pandora and Keaton:

Pandora gave Witt a dumbstruck look as he confessed the exact amount of alcohol he had consumed. By all intents and purposes, she reasoned, the hedgehog should be dead, or at least she assumed, considering she had no idea whether or not he was of any remarkable heritage. Fortunately, Witt handily changed the subject to Cog's incapacitated state, a more pressing matter, although she was still concerned about the hedgehog instantaneously collapsing in front of her. Or whatever. Pandora surmised that if Witt was going to succumb to alcohol poisoning, he would've exhibited symptoms by now. Sidestepping a sizeable smatter of webbing glued to the tiles on the floor, Pandora approached Witt and Keaton, who was still emptying Cog's nose of blood.

" 'Old this, toots?" Pandora asked, and handed a slightly reticent and stunned Keaton her rifle. Keaton cradled the ridiculously elongated firearm in her arms, staring down at its barrel and then glancing at Pandora, who assessed Cog from where he was plastered to Witt's shoulder. Seizing his arm, she tried to pry him off, jerking incessantly with the full intention of dislodging him until, after fruitless efforts, she resigned.

Again, Pandora kept jerking, then snarled, buckling a little and resting her hands on her knees. She scowled. "Tha' fuckin' spider," she mumbled, "She'd know 'ow t' take care o' this, but where is she?"

She rolled her head in Keaton's direction almost lazily, and sighed. "C'n y' find 'er?"

Keaton looked a little hesitant about running Pandora's errands for her, but knew it was prudent to release Cog from the grimy webbing. Nodding affirmatively, she sighed, ran her hand through her hair, and then dashed off, running for the kitchen first. She decided to start her search there.

Meanwhile, Pandora glanced back to Witt with a slight air of resignation. "Eh, now tha' she's gone, wha' t' do wit' ya?"

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Witt grinned impudently up at the bird. "I'll just stick around, eh?"

He grinned for a moment more, then froze as a thought struck him. "Maybe we could shift it with some drink?" He shuffled around under his jacket with his off hand, and came up with a hip flask - slightly dented - which he loosened by the simple expedient of grabbing the cap in his teeth, and twisting. He then opened it one-pawed, and muttered "It's a cruel waste of a good drink, but needs must." He sighed, glanced around, and murmured "I'd be a bit happy if nobody would strike a match, just now..." before splashing a goodly bit on where his paw was stuck to Cog. "If this works, we'll probably need some more."

As an afterthought, he took a good swig, almost absentmindedly, then offered it to Pandora whilst he attempted to work his paw loose.

[Cogidubnus]

The tremor that had run through the ship seemed to be short-lived, although the sudden lack of power had indeed caused it to list slightly off-level. Axiyne was taking care of that nicely, however, keeping the airship above the clouds and in the safe zone.

Deep in the bowels of the ship, the mad technomancer was ever attuning himself to the rhythmic pulse of grease and turbine. Rust was beginning to cover the engine room, the telltale sign of his malign influence. Small delicate parts whirred and clicked as they oxidized, and the room began to fill with metallic powder and the acrid tang of old metal.

* * *

As Sal exited the kitchen with food and supplies in her pockets, her attempt to leave the ship was foiled by the limited nature of the ship's corridors. The group in it's entirety lay between her and the ship's door, and what's worse, it looked the yellow jackal was heading straight for her, apparently armed to the teeth.

The kitchen itself seemed to offer little cover - a relatively open space surrounded by cabinets and an island off to one side, and the moderately-sized refrigerator sitting in the corner.

    * * *

To Witt's dismay, his paw seemed just about as stuck as it had before, only now it smelled a lot more like rotgut than it had before. It appeared that a special solvent might be needed to get rid of the web, or something a little stronger than drinking alcohol.

* * *


As Axiyne pulled the ship back up, keeping it from dipping beneath the clouds, Cross and Aisha and Paige were treated to one of the more magnificent views on Furrae – moonlight shined off the tops of the clouds, a true silver lining that seemed to paint the air beneath them silver. As high up as they were, the sky was painfully cold and clear, and the stars seemed somehow brighter.
Cross looked down, the black ocean highlighted with streaks of silver, as far as the eye could see. As he stared, something occurred to him.

Where the hell was the ship headed, anyway?

[Tapewolf]

Cross glanced at Axiyne.  "Where the hell is the ship headed, anyway?" he asked casually.

[Stygian]

Stopping short, Sal blinked, while her eight eyes spun to search her surroundings, and she clamped her jaws when she realized her situation. Keaton didn't seem directly hostile, but the pressure of the situation set a negative tone, and tinged the jackal's features. Under her coat, the spider tensed up, slowly flexing her limbs while trying to keep up a relaxed face outward. Standing in place, she regarded the rest of the group with her 'extra' eyes, while she kept her main ones fixed on the succubus approaching her.

[Aisha deCabre]

Aisha inwardly sighed, simply keeping her eyes on the cloud cover while the 'Cubi and gryphon talked behind her.  Yeah, nobody ask the demon what happened, she thought with a smirk as she picked the last of the silver fur from the links of her chain.  I get that a lot.  No hay gentes inteligentes.  I'd avoid me too.

It was the dark gray wolf who had suddenly during the conversation blurted out whom he thought was the cause of the ship's sudden lurching...which made the assassin whip her head around incredulously.  "The what?" she said right after Axiyne's shocked reply, having thought she recognized that description.  "I thought we left that dangerous heap of scrap and flesh unconscious, or something.  Does nobody take precautions?"

She turned back around and pinched the bridge of her nose, slightly annoyed that everything was taken in such stride.  But, perhaps that was to be expected.  Perhaps Pandora had everything under control.  Perhaps the room was guarded.  Perhaps someone was on their way down to investigate.

Or perhaps, Aisha thought as she looked through the window, we're all gonna be dragged to hell.

Despite that thought, the clouds did look beautiful, with the moon casting its borrowed light upon them.  The night was dragging on, and yet she still felt the need to stay awake for the time being.  How could anyone afford to sleep anyway, with this bunch?

"Yeah, I wouldn't mind knowing where we're going, either.  I'll even accept a vague answer: to trouble or away from it."

[Tapewolf]

"The junk monster was in one of the machine rooms," Cross said.  "I was going to ask Pandora if he was supposed to be there when the shit came down.  Talking of which, what did happen to Cog?  How did you kill him?"

[Aisha deCabre]

"The machine rooms, of course," Aisha echoed with a hum.  "That would explain the ship.  Ah well, hopefully, his presence isn't going to be as big a problem as before, not with everyone else on their guard."

The panthress glanced back at the incubus on the other question, quirking an eyebrow.  "I thought I heard someone explaining that before, but...maybe I'm mistaken.  No, we didn't kill the Were.  I held him off and everyone wore him down, and there was a scuffle.  He transformed back and is unconscious, and hopefully is now sleeping somewhere in confinement down there or...being helped by Keaton, or something, since we all figured he's still important to this mission.  In a nutshell."

She turned back to the window.  "So, to clarify, he's alive."

[Tapewolf]

Cross looked vulnerable for a moment.  "They did?  Perhaps..."  He rubbed his head again and pulled himself back to his feet.

"He's no normal Were, whatever he is.  With that kind of strength, Keaton is no doubt using him as her secret weapon.  It must be the reason the assassination failed as well."

He began to pace.  "I hope she knows how to control him.  If it happens again we might not be so lucky."

[Sunblink]

...Axiyne:

Gripping the controls tighter and steadily reconfiguring the angle of the flying machine, Axiyne struggled to push the Perihelion back into place without disorienting any of the passengers, or accidentally breaking anything in the momentary grapple between both his and Arcwelder's ministrations. After a while, he started to ease the Perihelion back into the safe zone, and slumped with relief over the controls. Aisha's voice was a harsh reminder of the reality of the situation, however. He perked his ear in her direction and adjusted his goggles one last time, then climbed off of the controls, sighing.

In response to Cross's and Aisha's question, Axiyne tilted his ears curiously, then answered, "Zaphyre'ae." He nodded attentively after he remembered the name of the capital. "It's the Kamei'Sin Capital."

---

...Pandora:

It took Pandora a moment to comprehend Witt's pun. After she realized the punchline, she chuckled a little, her slightly exasperated countenance faltering, somewhat. She watched Witt pour the alcohol over the webbing trapping his palm, and expectantly observed the results. Much to her dismay, the alcohol had little to no effect on his mucilaginous prison, the unyielding substance not reacting in the slightest. Pandora glowered despondently at the webbing, as though expecting for it to suddenly vaporize beneath her intense glare, then sighed and leaned back, glancing away. She rested her hand on her hip, and finally accepted the bottle from Witt, tweaking the neck with her thumb and tipping it back, swallowing a generous portion.

Pandora finally removed the bottle from her lips and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, sighing with satisfaction. She extended the bottle, offering to return it to Witt.

--

...Keaton:

Surprisingly, when Keaton finally approached Sal, her pace locked in a brisk jog, her countenance was uncharacteristically welcoming and unguarded. Whether or not this was sincere or simply a façade was still debatable, but it was a somewhat appreciated change compared to her previous attitude. Despite this, however, the current atmosphere made her approach much more antagonistic than she had intended.

"H-Hey! You!" Keaton called out. She still didn't know Sal's name. Frustrating when she actually wanted to address someone on cordial terms, but she'd figure out her identity later. Suddenly feeling slightly fatigued, Keaton stopped and rested, slumping, Pandora's rifle dangling from her grip.

Walking in the airship was becoming more of a comfortable experience for Keaton, but the slightly turbulent quaking Keaton experienced beneath her feet was disorienting and almost borderline agonizing for her easily-provoked mind. Keaton glanced up at Sal. "I-I need to talk to you. Your... well, your webbing. Witt's caught in it..."

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Witt graciously accepted the bottle back, closed it, and put it away. He wiggled the stuck hand, watching the webbing closely, and sighed. "Well, that didn't work. What now?"

A sudden thought struck him, and he glanced, as well as he was able, at Cog's limp form. "Out of interest, is what happened to him, ah, "normal", for a Were? Turning into a big furball, and trying to eat everyone, I mean. I can't say I've seen you do it, but you'd probably know... And when is he likely to do it again, do you know? Since having him stuck to my shoulder might make that just a little bit more interesting than I generally prefer..."

He grinned, somewhat nervously, at Pandora. "... and if you're gonna start trying to eat us, I have a few people I'd wouldn't mind standing behind, first. No point starting with the dessert, now, is there?"

[Stygian]

The spider's gaze flickered forth and back between Witt and Keaton, and the rest of the party as they bickered on. She seemed quite conflicted what to do. A few moments ago she had been bent on leaving the evidently malfunctioning ship. The damn thing was still shaking. Now, she wasn't sure. They were over water, and though these people would be no bother once she'd bailed... She didn't exactly imagine that she could find life rafts on board quickly. At the moment though, the lack of communication was the real problem. Personally, she wanted to be able to tell the jackal something at least, like 'bugger off!', or 'alright, here are my terms', or even 'I'll solve that if I can have your ears!'. As it was, she could just hope to attract the attention of the hedgehog. And he seemed to be ignoring her completely.
   After a few hesitant and annoyed moments, the spider sighed, relaxed, and stepped past Keaton, placing a hand on her shoulder and gently pushing her out of the way. Briskly, she walked up to Witt and Pandora, then briefly put her fingers in her mouth, applied something sticky which she rubbed between her fingers, and then placed on the web. Rubbing it in for a while, she dissolved the webbing as much as she could quickly, and then with a jerk she untangled the hedgehog with a smarting rip.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Witt responded, reasonably predictably,  to the ripping pain in his paw. "Nnnnnnngh. Ah. You again. Thank-you. I think." He glanced down at his paw, and unclenched it. "It might be an idea if you left some of the fur attached to him on the next patch. I don't know about you, but I don't particularly want to see a half-shaven wolf, if it's all the same to you."

He sighed. "You could also wait until we've figured out where we're going to leave him to sleep it off - I presume" he glanced over at Pandora "that we're not going to drop him here in the corridor, are we? In which case, he's as safe stuck to my shoulder as anywhere else. I might not be, but he is."

After a few moments thought, he continued "Oh, and I don't think we've been introduced. I'm Witt. I'm sure Pandora over there would like to know who's made such a mess of her flying brick." He nodded to the bird behind Sal.