The City (IC) [M]

[Angel]

Just as Mykst stood to join Kali and leave, a newcomer walked in, a rat dressed like a harlequin jester. She was carrying what looked to be heavy suitcases, but wasn't showing much trouble with them. Even so, his politeness begged him to offer some form of help. Kali noticed, and tried to command Mykst with her eyes: For the love of God, don't do it, I wanna leeeeeeeave! But Mykst gave her an apologetic face, and spoke up anyway.

"Do you need help with those, ma'am?" he said to the rat-woman. Kali sighed and looked at the others with an "if I could change this about him, I would" face and a head-shake.

[Stygian]

The rat blinked, stopped with her mouth slightly open, then composed herself and turned her head around once more. Fingers rolling and flexing slowly in an idle, tentative fashion, she removed her glasses and hooked them in the neck of her tight top. She fixed her chartreuse stare on Mykst for a moment, then noticed Kali by the movement of her head. She took a fraction of a second to consider the events, and then snapped her face into a warm, amused smile directed at the cat before her. Not saying a word, she gestured toward the suitcases encouragingly, still smiling as beatifically.

[Tipod]

"It could be any Goddamn thing. Fairy nonsense, Council conspiracy, some leeching horror planted by a madman, I don't know." Payden shot a particularly harsh glare at Traxen's van. "Nothing's too uneblievable. You realize that the first time you see something with wings that turn into prop-shredders." Though the thought of malformed beasts reminded him: he needed a readied weapon before marching off into the great unknown. Shrugging off his pack to one shoulder, he opened up the top flap and retrieved a metal case and straw matting. "...you got a workbench or something in there? I need some flat space to put my .44 together."

[techmaster-glitch]

   Traxen didn't respond to Payden's comments about what the problem with the "City" could be, but when Payden started talking about his handgun, he could tell, even from outside of the van, that Traxen's interest perked up considerably. Especially since the van inched forward again.
   "...As a matter of fact, I do have a workbench in here, and while there isn't really much room for anyone but me, I can do you one better; I can put it together for you, and improve it while I do so. I'm sure I can cobble together a few enhancements on the way to the City. Trust me, I'm very good with this kind of thing, you name it, I'll make it. And heck, if you need anything bigger, I'm sure I can easily modify one of my machine guns to be usable by a person... at the very least, I can put it together for you, and start on manufacturing some custom ammo, whatever you want. Just come around to the back of 'Cawv here and gimme your stuff."

[Kafzeil]

Jinx rolled his eyes at Mao.

"You're an iidot...you do ow that? You fall and you're freak of Nature's Lunch."

Still, he was scanning the Church. Given the nature of this city, the Church's age was unknowable, but it's condition was likely poor. For all he knew a butterfly could land on this thing and topple it like a house of cards.

Still, the building's size could house any number of monstrosity. Hell, it could be a damned nest of sorts.


"Know what? I'm an idiot too. Tell me when you find the path of least resistance."Jinx muttered. Climbing this suckered would be easier in his cat form...then again, could he really trust this guy?

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Snappy somehow managed to look guilty at getting caught wandering. It teleported itself back to Sister Alex's pocket, but not before taking one more big bite of the bookmark.

Sister Alex felt the familiar weight of the animate book returning to her pocket as she tried once again to get the eye of one of the innkeepers. As she waited she watched the hedgehog down his drink. She wondered if he was an adventurer psyching himself up to enter the city alone. At the rate he was drinking she wasn't sure whether to be worried for him or the first city occupant he came across. There was a simple way to find out if he was an adventurer. "If you're looking for a group to go into the city with, our group is about to leave. You're can join us if you're looking for a group."

[Mao]

Mao waited until he could find a safe and stable perch and turned to look directly at the fellow behind him, a smile still on his face.

"You need not follow, it's your choice. Pray be careful though, as we do not yet know what has or still is happening here."

Mao, concluding that this was all that need be said, turned back to the task at hand, being careful to land and grasp at spots that would be load bearing for the building.  If he was going to have a part fall out beneath him, he figured he might as well take the whole building with him, or at least a large part.  He smirked a bit at the thought, but quickly let the feeling of amusement pass.  Without turning his head, Mao quickly swept his inner sight behind him and noted the presence of the feline, which still seemed present.  The appearance of the fellows aura was different, but Mao couldn't put his finger on it.  He had seen differences like this before, but he'd never really focused on what they meant.  Given how many strange auras he had seen since arriving in this town, maybe he should start paying attention to them.  One of the most unexpected threats to any adventuring party was often the party itself or others of the same ilk.

[Noone]

Kyirri turned his attention back towards Andrace. I certainly hope her morality doesn't land us into trouble... it probably means she can be trusted though. He paused, before responding.

"Do I not owe you? You had no obligation or reason to aid me, and you did anyways. I could have been left to the mercy of my injury, or to a hospital which would have most likely thrown me on the streets after finding out I had no means of payment. It would only be fair if I were to repay you in some manner." Fair! Nothing that happens to me is *fair*, not to anyone.
"Besides, even if your conscience will not allow you to collect, I still feel I can trust you." Even if I don't exactly trust all in your company... After a pause, he concluded. "I'm ready." He returned to scanning about the room.

[SpottedKitty]

Andrace had just noticed what was going on between Mykst and the rat, and turned her head in time to spot the expression on Kali's face. Trying hard not to giggle or put a swish in her tail-tip, the look she directed back at the younger lioness said, I know, but what can y' do? Can't take 'em back t' th' shop used, can't sell 'em f'r scrap, can't maul 'em... too much.

Something she'd noticed that Mykst might not have, was exactly how the rat put her cases down on the floor. They were heavy. Very heavy. Not too surprising, considering what she suspected might be in the suitcases. Were they too heavy for the grey cat to lift without doing himself a mischief? The rat had to be a lot stronger than she looked. This might be amusing, although she or Kali might have to step in before the kid gave himself a hernia or something.

The lioness nodded in acknowledgement to Kyirri and flirted her tail in a "please yourself" gesture. She met all sorts in the adventuring business, whether as employers or the subjects of contracts, allies or rivals or enemies, and she'd realised long ago that not all of them thought about things in the same way she did. If the kangaroo rat had what she considered an unusually strong sense of obligation to her for her help in healing him, she wasn't about to kick his tail for it.

As she turned away to check on the others, a hint of a smile quirked at the side of her muzzle and twitched her whiskers. Wouldn't it be funny if Kyirri — and maybe Raek as well — were having as much trouble figuring her out (and getting it right) as she was having with them...?

[Boog]

Across town, a platypus winced and dug something out of his pocket. A bell. He'd been finding little bits like this between the cushions of his bus all day, and now one of them had actually CUT him. Through the pocket of his jeans! The old man grumbled and chucked it aside. He hated the goddamn circus.

--

The carvings on the church provided numerous footholds for an individual of Mao's abilities. Jinx would probably have some trouble with it, but he was an assassin. He could probably pull it off. Sure. Yeah.
The door hung slightly ajar, thus far ignored by both adventurers. A scratching noise came from somewhere nearby, to Mao seemingly toward one of the back rooms of the church. He was already making a good deal of time on his way up, coming up on the small unadorned window of the tower above.
Somewhere in his own head Jinx felt Max's breath, hot on the back of his neck. Three soft puffs. A laugh.

--

The demon girl looked back to her drink, thoughtfully, and started fiddling with one of the napkins with her other hand. Folding it, unfolding it, twisting it into little shapes...
Jezebel nodded to both Sister Alex and the rat woman, raising an eyebrow at the latter's clothes as she got out the Inn's registry book. "You know there wont be much of an audience in there for an entertainer, right darlin'?" Only concern tinged her voice; she'd seen a few 'themed' adventurers go into the city, superhero types focused on their reputation, and they usually ended up as some brightly colored scraps of cloth floating out of the sewers.

--

Moze blinked, and then laughed, "Sure, some of the silver coins. A troll with a bag of treasure and silver coins, hehaha! Sorry, sorry, old nursery rhyme my Nana used to tell me. Let me get a look at those coins." Moze liked Raek. The mythos reminded him of a dragon he'd known, way back when. He'd waltzed into the brute's lair in the dead of night, bold as brass, axe in one hand and a jug of rum in the other... The dragon asked for a swig before the fight, a swig turned into a few swallows, eventually they were getting into the dragon's wine cellar... Damn classy woman. What happened to her anyway? "Anyway, will there be anything else?"

--

One tentacle tore a gash along the reptile's arm. It dodged with a quick jump backwards, avoiding the lethal points of the tentacles reaching down from above. The creature moved FAST, dodging Ed's bolt and most of his tendrils. A last swipe with another tentacle managed to scrape the iguanabeast's calf though, causing it to stagger as it fell back. Still didn't look too worried though...
Something in the toll booths moved. There was a brief impression of something large before things resembling a Great Dane and a boar crashed through the tiny toll booth doors on either side, with the crashing sounds of other doors slamming open.
Ephrael cursed under her breath and drew her bow immediately, eyes flicking from one target to the other. In addition to the two that had popped out right next to Ed, more of them were coming out of hiding. It had been a trap. Only hearing the grinding sound of the manhole cover behind her at the last second, the tasmanian devil dodged just in time to avoid the tail of the alligator-ish thing that had dragged itself out of the sewers, a deep croak echoing from the back of its cavernous maw...

--

The hostel owner came back with a bottle of something pale brown. "Here we go, swill the local brewery churns out. Vile stuff, but it'll get you where you're going..." She looked over the assembled currency with a raised eyebrow and started looking it over. "Huh, that bill's from... Volken. And I don't recognize this coin. Been doing some traveling?"

[Myr]

Pity the lupine Mythos was more interested in sealing the bargain with Moze, as it were; he might know he needed to do this somewhat quickly, but he didn't know they were already starting to leave without him. Just as well, actually. Raek still had to sort out what all happened earlier, and certainly didn't need more distractions- be they a newcomer, a decidedly interesting discussion, or that demon sheep doing something more than being a grouch.

Besides, now he was somewhat confused again. A bag of treasure...? His furless ear flicked back as a decidedly befuddled look came to his eyes. Wait...he means the other stuff, I think. That actually made a lot of sense when he considered it for a few seconds, so the wolfish troll decided to go with it.

As to the offered coinage...it didn't really seem to have changed from before, honestly.

Indeed, the same scuffed coins-along with those ones that seemed to have either severe tarnish or verdigris (Or was it mold? Raek really, and truly, needed to clean his pockets more often in any case!) made up the norm of his earnings. Still, a few coins seemed more or less in good condition, and of those some were strangely marked-suggesting the aberration of a canid had traveled much, seen places... not that one needed to go into that at the moment. Stories like that could be coaxed out of him later.

Either way, he certainly didn't know what the simian chap was getting at, to be truthful...well, wait. A nursery rhyme? He'd certainly not heard anything about that, but still. "A joke?" His muzzled crinkled a little as the puzzled look returned briefly...only to be replaced by the more benign, somewhat friendly look he tried to use around others while deftly picking out five or six of the more recognizable coins to go with the rest of the jewelry. "I...don't think I get the joke, but no...." He frowned slightly as he stuffed the remaining money back into its respective pocket and offered the payment with the other, "I don't think I need more." He smiled a little, those wicked-looking teeth showing that could probably shear right through light chainmail like it was cloth...or a drone, as it were. "And I'm pretty sure I can find something to eat after we head out."

Don't get one wrong, but that sounded a touch foreboding to anything he might encounter...provided he could defeat it first.

"I'm also sure they'd like me to hurry up anyway," He grunted, panning his head slightly to look in the general direction of everyone else-not that he could see them from the stairs. Besides, he still needed to figure out that one feline that'd hired him. Interesting girl, her. She hadn't seemed scared of him; but then experienced adventurers tended to be good at hiding their feelings from what he'd noticed. Hopefully plenty of time to puzzle her out later.

"Anyway, I think this should do it," the canine mythos said a touch gruffly as he reached for the sack with one hand, the remaining payment in the other.

[Mao]

Climbing his way up steadily, Mao noted the unadorned window and did his best to stay out of it's lines of sight.  Without being close to it, there was no way to tell what was on the other side, and he still wasn't interested in finding out just what was going on here in an up close and personal fashion.  Instead he did his best to look for decent places to observe from, even if it meant just hanging there.  As these thoughts passed through his mind he was distracted by a scratching sound he had not heard before he started his ascent.  The source of the sound itself eluded his sight, but he easily got a feel for where it was coming from.

Mao settled on the nearest load bearing joint he could find, a corner specifically so he could sit and focus on the sound and maybe even try and catch a glimpse of whomever...or whatever was making the sound.

[Kafzeil]

The feline's neck fur standing on end, Jinx grabbed his gun and spun around, pointing the barrel of his gun at...

...Nothing. His lips forming a silent but frustrated 'motherfucker', Jinx grabbed onto the wall and holstered his weapon, leaving his luggage on the gourd. he doubted anything in this city was smart enough to loot it, but if it did, well Jinx would be still be keeping a close eye on it,and a bullet between the eyes would fix that.

Rapier and revolver at his side Jinx begun to climb. At a slower pace then Mao, but hey was also being cautious. Paranoia had saved his life before.

While climbing though, another rogue mania managed to make itself known. For a brief second,  while looking to his side for a better foothold, Jinx caught a glimpse of something that made nearly reel back in horror. Dangle from something was the body of his mother, a thick, brown roped wrapped around her neck in a thick noose, her long, combed, shiny black hair and smooth fur, he blue blouse and shorts...

Her eyes...those once shimmering emerald eyes now pale, staring right Jinx, a swollen purple tongue dangling out of her mouth.

Then,to put the final nail in the coffin, she smiled at her own son. he blinked, and she vanished.

Jinxturned away, coughing, doing his best to hold onto the wall while keeping himself from vomiting in pure shock and horror.

[Mao]

While attempting to focus on the source of the scratching sound, Mao couldn't help but notice the erratic behavior of the fellow who had tagged along with him.  Hallucinations maybe?  Perhaps he was falling victim to this place.  Maybe the source of the troubles here came in the form of illusions and other such things.  He had seen and experienced the horror of hallucinations before and knew how potent it could be to fool the mind in such a way.  He would have to keep an eye on this, and try to make note of anything else that seemed unreal or out of place to even him self.  For all he knew, if it was hallucinations that struck, he could already be under their sway.

The trick to surviving hallucinations, Mao knew, was to trust his instincts and keep his cool.  His sight granted him a useful tool against hallucinations, but nothing is infallible.  For now, he would proceed on as he was but he must be sure to take care to watch for signs that he was not right, or that his new found follower wouldn't be the source of his own downfall.

He shifted his sight to the feline and focused on it, studying him closely in hopes of better understanding him.

[Lisky]

As the realization donned on him that the entire thing was a trap, Ed sent a section of 5 tentacles across the paths of boar and great dane beasts.  The tentacles were setup to prevent any dodging in their wide arc, making a side by side sliced with the lowest at ankle level, and the highest at about eye level on the beasts with the others evenly spaced in between.

The low, throaty croak took some of Ed's focus away from these other beasts as he turned his hand, still giving off the sparkling black mist, towards the Gator-beast.  He fired the other bolt of magic straight at the gator's belly. while shaping his fingers into long and vicious looking claws, he adjusted his senses to a shorter range and prepared for the other beasts.  He started backing up.  He shouted towards Eph, " Shit, they were waiting for us... this doesn't look good... Think we can stand our ground, or you wanna fall back to the burbs now?"

He sent out a few extra tentacles towards the Gator, just to be sure, and sent the rest towards the onrushing horde, doing his best to try and cripple or kill them with the fast, whip like slashes.

[Angel]

Mykst, sadly, did not know just how heavy the suitcases were, only that they were heavy and offering to help carry them was polite. He reached down with one hand and gave an experimental tug at the suitcase handle. Finding it was too heavy for him to pick up with one hand, he tried both. Even with two hands, the housecat could only get it an inch off the ground. Any more than that and he knew he'd snap a tendon. He did his best not to show it, but Kali could see him gritting his teeth with effort and saw his thin muscles jumping beneath his fur.

Somehow, he managed to keep from dropping it, and took a deep breath. He turned to the rat-woman. "I have to ask (breath)...what exactly do you expect (breath) to be facing out there (breath)?" Kali walked over to the two.

"Okay, I'm gonna have to help before you break a blood vessel," she said with a grin.

Mykst nearly turned red, but shook it off. "I can do this myself."

"Sure you can, sweetheart, I just want to make sure you don't die trying," she smiled. Then she turned to the woman dressed like a jester. "Hi. I'm Kali and this is Mykst."

[Stygian]

The rat's amused smile only broadened as she watched Mykst strain and grunt, tendons standing out on his slim neck like tightened ropes under heavy canvas. As he dropped the case once more with a both audible and palpable thud, she patted his shoulder for some reason, a half-giggling sound quenched a moment too late somewhere in her throat. She quirked her head once more, as seemed to be her tendency, when she heard Jezebel speak up behind her. Looking over her shoulder, she gave the worried lady a saccharine smile.
   'No worries,' she said, briskly and so soberly as to be on the border of manic. 'It's not for anyone else's entertainment. It's for my own.'
   Then Kali stepped up. The rat's eyes snapped to sharp attention of the lioness instantly, a flicker of apprehension blowing over in a microsecond. She waggled one hand's fingers, appearing to consider something for a moment, and then made a strange little half-bow, jingling merrily as she smoothly palmed her hat over her heart in the same motion to reveal a scalp full of spiky short hair that was so maroon that it might have been colored with blood.
   'Charmed. I'm Jess,' she said, once again in the same clipped, laconic manner, which just seemed to be her way of speaking. The words sounded both angular and curved sharp, much like the incisors that gleamed in the very middle of her smile. 'It's alright about your pet. I didn't have the heart to stop him,' she continued, and gave Mykst both that smile from before and a gaze that made his clothes seem awfully tight and warm.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Sister Alex handed her coins across the counter to Jezebel and signed the proffered register. Her room for the night secured she turned back to her newly made group to find the young feline playing some sort of weight lifting game with a clown that entered the building while the nun was tracking down her errant book. She hoped the boy wouldn't exhaust himself before they even began. She crossed the room and stood by the door hintingly.

[Paladin Sheppard]

Rolling backwards away from the gator-thing, Ephrael put enough distance between her and it to draw one of her special arrows. Putting it to the string she drew the bow and fired. The cherry red glow lit up the Gator's mouth as it went towards it's gullet.

"Is the poor widdle cubi afraid of a few monsters?" She said in a mocking tone as she nocked another arrow.

[Lisky]

Ed managed a look over his shoulder, and replied with a smirk, "It's not me i'm worried about.  But a fragile little girl like yourself may get hurt... or worse... If that were to happen, this little foray would all be for naught... Can't have that, now can i?"  He had a bit of a twinkle in his eye and his grin grew a bit toothier... He then focused on the advancing monsters again as he started preparing another spell.

[Cogidubnus]

"You must have done some traveling to have heard of Volken." he smiled, picking up the bottle of swill and tying it to his belt. "I've never seen women prettier than they were there, or the sun brighter. God if it's not far though." he looked up, as though counting something above the both of them. "What, across the sea and hundreds of miles across the most dismal mucklands you've ever seen, until you get to the black pine forests and the smell of alcohol hits you."
He grinned with some foreign recollection. "I think I mentioned the women. But that...was a long time ago." he paused, tilting his head at the proprietress. "I'm surprised you heard of it. I shall, then, apologize." he pulled out a silver coin and plopped it on top of the rainbow colored bill. "The currency there inflated to worthlessness a long time ago. The only value that would have is sentimentality. But silver is always silver."

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Witt snorted. "Looking for group? Nah. Other than someone to follow, point, and laugh at."

He emptied his glass, and, with his other paw, palmed the half a bookmark off the bar, and slipped it into a pocket as the Sister turned to leave.

To be specific, the pocket that Snappy had appeared in, rather than one of his own. He accompanied it with a muttered comment of "Keep yer grimmy happy, and you'll be better off.", but declined to make any other remarks just yet.

And with that, he turned, and leaned on the bar, watching Alex move across the room; to all appearances merely to prop himself on it, but actually so he could saunter out after the group, once it started moving. He fished in a pocket, and pulled out a knife, and amused himself idly rolling it back and forth across his knuckles, one-handed.

[SpottedKitty]

Andrace flicked her tail-tuft under one paw and held it carefully down, hiding at least the outward signs of the annoyance she felt as she watched the rat, and her reaction to Mykst's futile efforts to lift the deceptively heavy suitcase. The lioness didn't mind the odd practical joke (and she and her sisters and brothers had come up with some extremely odd ones), but something about the rat's smile rubbed her fur the wrong way. The smouldering look she directed at the grey cat didn't help one little bit.

"Nice try at ringin' th' kid's bells," she said with a smile that the unobservant could easily mistake for friendly. "I think 'is girlfriend likes 'is arms th' length they are, though. C'mon, you lot, we're movin' out." Before anything else happens, she thought darkly. She turned her gaze on Kali, Mykst and Kyirri in turn, and jerked her head towards where Sister Alex stood by the door.

Finally Andrace stepped to the foot of the staircase and called up. "Oi! Raek! Shift y' tail, we're leavin' now!" She glanced around the room at the others; the barmaid, the injured Demon, the hedgehog propping up the bar; then she turned and strode across the room to wait beside Sister Alex.

[Angel]

Black Magic smiled evenly at Jess as she introduced herself. She got a strange vibe off the woman, but she couldn't help being curious about her. Any suitcase that heavy had to contain guns - lots and lots of them. Of course, Mykst seemed like he might still want to meet up with Payden, which could lead to difficulties if he distrusted this woman; and she didn't like the way Jess eyed Mykst either. But somehow, she felt the rat could be useful. It was just a hunch, but her hunch was what had led them here. What was the harm in following another?

"Well, he can't help being a gentleman. But I have the feeling if you can lift those things yourselves, you'd be pretty damn useful. Wanna join up with us?" Mykst gave her a surprised look, a nervous air still around him from the way Jess had looked at him. He glanced at the others in a "We'll be right there, as soon as she lets on why she's doing this" look. He didn't mind the joke, he was just a little anxious to leave and didn't want to quibble over who was going to be with them any longer.

[Tipod]

"I'd like it assembled and nothing else, if you don't mind. I don't have the time to relearn handling it." Payden approached the vehicle's rear, looking for whichever porthole would accept his piecemeal weapon. "No bullets, though. Unless you think I need something sharper than teflon-coated rifle rounds to kill whatever's in there." Which, admittedly, he couldn't begin to guess about. For all he knew, he could come across a living suit of armor walking the streets.

[techmaster-glitch]

   "Oh, well, if you ever need more ammo, I can do that too..." Traxen's voice sounded slightly disappointed over the speakers. Inside the van, Traxen shifted around, and got two objects on his way to the back of the van.
  Outside the back of the van, Payden waited for a moment before a ratcheting and metallic thunking sound was heard, presumably some sort of custom locking mechanism. One door on the back opened up a little like any other back-of-van doors, and a black-and-white furred Being poked his head out. He seemed rather thin, from what little could be seen of him, and the only particularly notable feature was that he was wearing goggles on his forehead. He reached out and took Payden's things, but instead of pulling back in right away, he handed two things to Payden. "Give the second one to the girl with the animated book when she come out, please." Traxen said, and then he actually pulled in and shut the door.
  The objects Traxen had given to Payden were some kind of modified headsets. They were of a universal model, designed to fit nearly any Being or Creatures head with a little adjustment. However, on one side, they had a microphone attached, and on the other, there was a thick rubber-covered antenna that looked to be from a walkie-talkie or some other radio device.

[Noone]

Kyirri was right next to Andrace when she called over to the others to hurry up, and kept close to her as she went around the room, soundless footsteps following her like a ghost. He didn't particularly mind waiting. His blank expression remained, though he was perplexed by Mykst's attempts to recruit another, as to how he could trust someone he had presumably never seen before. They're way too trusting... He looked up at Andrace again, and tried to say, "Can't we just leave him behind?"

However, he couldn't, as soon as he tried, he felt an invisible force grip his neck, a squeezing sensation that prevented him from talking, and momentarily breathing. Realizing he was in a large, open area, he gently brushed his neck with his right hand, trying to hide the occurrence. After the force let go, he pulled his hand down, and adjusted his gloves.

Damn it, he thought. I guess he doesn't want me saying that, I guess it's bad enough I'm being sent to this place horribly unprepared and with company that's either too trusting or completely untrustworthy... I suppose nothing is ever easy for me, and it always ends badly... After a moment's contemplation, he continued his observations about the place. He kept his eyes focused on Jess and Witt, whom he considered likely to cause problems with those he felt indebted towards.

[Stygian]

The rat's expression almost equaled Mykst's in terms of puzzlement, but was over far swifter. She smiled, twitching her whiskers slightly, fingers toying a bit with one of the jingling ends of her hat. She couldn't help but wonder, with a profound sense of incredulous curiosity, whether if the girl in front of her were joking, irregularly bold or just a little bit stupid. She'd already made up her mind though; either of those were fine with her.
   'I have to drop these off first,' she said, and with a turn and a smooth bow forward, gripped the handles of the suitcases and hoisted them both off the ground without much visible effort, holding them up for the lioness and the cat to view. 'No use lugging them around unless you're expecting to have to change into evening dress while we're at things, is there?'
   Letting the cases down and her shoulders slump back, the rat looked around for a moment to see whether if a room key had produced itself. When she saw nothing, she looked back up at Jezebel.
   'Oh, would you mind helping me to my room, please? It'll be easier getting my things in if someone holds the door.'

[Gareeku]

Gareeku had also heard the sounds of a pen softly scratching on paper coming from one of the hallways. As much as he would have liked to look at one of the other hallways, the wolf though that maybe, whoever this person (at least he assumed it was a person) was, maybe they knew what had happened to the museum. Signalling to Aisha to follow him and staying quiet himself, the lupine warrior hid behind the entrance to one of the other hallways, keeping a watch on the entrance of the hallway which the sounds were coming from.

With his hand gripping his sheathed sword, Gareeku had no idea who, or what, he might face. Sure it sounded merely like someone writing on paper as they walked, but if his experiences had taught him anything, it was that one should be prepared to encounter anything...

[SpottedKitty]

Out of the corner of her eye, Andrace had noticed Kyirri walking silently along, right behind her. Hmm, th' little guy's real quiet on 'is feet, she thought. Wonder what else 'e can do? I don't think 'e ever said. Then she realised what their relative heights meant, worked out the geometry, and a broad toothy grin spread across her muzzle for a moment. If 'e's ghostin' along at m' tail just so 'e can stare at m' butt... let's give 'im a taste o' what 'e's lettin' 'imself in for.

As she strode towards the door, the lioness began to roll her hips a little more, sinuous curves running down her spine and putting some more swish in her tail at every step. She turned slightly more than she needed to when she stood beside Sister Alex, so she could glance over her shoulder at the kangaroo rat. If that hadn't got a reaction out of him, she'd try something a bit more direct. Swishing her tail-tuft across his snout — accidentally, of course — two or three times — ought to do it...