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Vincent opens its mouth but pauses. It needs to think about this.

It has grown very used to and has even come to enjoy watching prey killing each other out of paranoia.

Likewise, it has grown used to occasionally meeting wicked beasts almost like itself, but not quite: primal beasts who are usually driven to kill by something simple, like hunger.

But it wasn't paranoia or hunger that drove Seo to murder a child. She'd grown annoyed with her. Tired of the small creature's insolence, Seo has taken a knife and stabbed her to death. She committed an act so absolutely senseless and psychopathic that even Vincent stands at a loss for words.

Then its lips curl into a smile.

All of a sudden, it sees a little bit of itself in Seo. This woman isn't nearly as clever (probably) and a little more impulsive, but that just means she'll be easier to manipulate.

"Am I supposed to thank you?" it takes a menacing step toward her, cracking its knuckles. Its smile twists into a frown, although probably too late for the break of character to go unnoticed.

"Well yes , you guys where all annoyed with her i only did you guys a favor." "Yes its maybe a little sad that she is gone , but its for the better for everyone."she said

Sure,” Vincent sneers, stepping forward. It tucks its hand into one robe. When it shifted, it had replaced Helynah’s impressive trident for something easier to initially create and hide. Its fingers curl around a knife hilt hidden under its robes.

“Sure.” Another step closer. “Thanks for giving me a reason to slash your goddamn throat.” It draws the knife. It smiles again as it tosses back and forth in its hands. So much for keeping character; this woman can't possibly miss the same manic grin twice, so it lets it smile grow as it prowls toward her.

Helynah blinks at her like she hadn’t expected to be spoken to directly. “Huh? Yes- that fight was something. The thing didn’t draw any blood.” It did toss her around like she was a sack of fish, but there’s no way on this goddess-forsaken plane of existence she’d admit that to these two.

“All of the blood out there belongs to it.”

Seo giggeld "She is dead now , don't be to mad about it."

Raven tears her eyes away from the succulent strips of flesh being offered to her long enough to say "'sup?" like she's not chilling with a bipedal dragon and they're not about to dine on the leg of a psychopathic shapeshifter in a room that, until recently, had been on fire. Then she snatches the meat out of Niskali's hand, mutters a muffled agreement, and prowls to the other side of the room, hunching over her gift in classic feline fashion.

Lisa watches the cat for a moment before letting her eyes fall to the floor. Yes, she could meet Tsi-ka's eyes for a moment and hold a staring contest with Victi but she cannot hold her gaze up to the kind green eyes peering at her from behind that long white mask.

Her throat had gone dry when Niskali turned to face her. She tries two or three times to swallow before saying anything. Her voice still cracks as she introduces herself. "L-lisa. Pleasure t-to meet you. I-" she lifts her head enough to take in the heavy tail, broad shoulders, and melon-sized fists with fingers tips with long, sharp claws. "...I'll-I...sure. I can sit with...with you."

Raven greets Lisa before remembering exactly why she avoided going straight to her in the first place. To further delay the confrontation, she takes Niskali's offering of food and retreats to the corner.

She watches Liz tremble and trip over her sentences, observing carefully and gradually feeling more and more guilty for not doing her job. The girl is terrified: her voice is hoarse, she's covered in someone else's blood, and she's stuck facing one of her greatest fears because she thought Raven might be in danger. The cat looks down at her food; she isn't hungry anymore. Her loss of the desire to eat brings to life even more guilt, so she sinks her teeth into it anyways. Anything to stop the flow of guilt.

"That girl could have lived," it replied. "You took away her chancesss of growing up. Of finding a family. Of being free." Still smiling, it steps closer. "I'm not angry..." it pauses. How far should it go?

"I'm absssolutely furious." It lunges at the girl with a yell; slashing in her general direction with the knife but not actually trying to seriously wound it. It tries to drive her closer to the back wall.

"Listen if you thinkyou gona make me emotional with some sad story then you are wrong , the kid is dead and that's it." she rolled her eyes and walked away "Fine then you are furious , but don't try to kill me cause you know its the most stupid thing to do , the kid won't come back when i am dead."

He can tell that Lisa is still terrified of him. Saddening, yes, but..... she did not seem like one from a civilization that had yet wandered the stars, not to even consider mentioning the universes beyond the one they call home. She did not know of his kind, and he admitted to being... somewhat intimidating. Perhaps one of his sisters in arms would have been a better ambassador here, but no matter now. He would do his best.

His voice is still low and quiet, making a deep, warm, almost purring rumble as he speaks, "You have done a great service, providing healing to the sorceress. Not only to yourself, healing an ally in this twisted place, or even to her, or to merely all of us trapped here. You've performed a great service to the Goddess, preserving one of her finest weapons and most cunning allies Somewhat a bow without arrows here she is, but she has been useful nonetheless, yes? I admit, I had never seen her before today, only heard the stories...." He pauses for a moment before adding, "I am sorry that you have been brought here. That any of us have, but especially you. You seem.... gentle, good. This place is cruel, spirit devoured by some monstrosity, and I suspect not simply the beast with which I have fought. I wish to ensure your protection, and so will share a small secret, regarding one of those recently fallen. I take a chance and say that I suspect you encountered a Tsk-tak'clk Quarantiner?"

Bronze gave Helynah a thoughtful look and scanned her from head to toe. He imagines that the fight was quite one sided, considering that all the blood spilt was from the enemy. He doesn't want to underestimate, but he felt relieved that it was dealt with a win.

But he still has questions.

"So right now we have a spearwoman, miss vixen, the other lady who ignored me, the handsome devil you see before you, this "dragon" of yours, and a she-cat that randomly found me scouting in an alley. Is that it? Where's the brat and the little kid?" He stretched his arms to his side in a questioning manner.

Victi's eyes widened, and she said something in some other language that sounded like it was probably very, very curse-word heavy, before closing her eyes and thinking for a moment. When she opens them, they carry a dangerously focused look. She begins to talk out a plan, "She probably went back to that store again. I still need time to recover, letting my body heal normally burns through resources way too quickly here, so I'm staying here and giving myself time to do it more slowly. If you go get the warpriest, the dragon in the other room, and tell him that there's probably a child in danger, he'll come down like his Goddess herself on anyone who's hurt her. Lisa and Raven, too, since they're with him. Raven will help tget you there, and Lisa's our healer for now. She'll probably be needed. If she isn't, then we've alredy got a priest for the funerary rites."

"Trident lady, if you can stay with me, I'd appreciate it. I can appreciate a polearm keeping me covered while I'm down, and I got partially blinded earlier. I have some things I'd like you to read, since I still can't, that may give us a clue on what happened here," she adds. She really hopes that she hasn't stepped out of line giving those directions. She's not the one with the pointy things.

Vincent's grin widens until the corners of its lips nearly touch its ears. "You are an idiot if you think that will ssstop the others. Or stop me." Though it has stopped the monster, at least for a moment. It lowers its arm and the blade dissolves into its body, disappearing completely.

"As a matter of fact," it tilts its head; "Helynah's" icy blue eyes melt away, as does her nose and dark freckled skin, leaving behind the shiny black carapace that makes Vincent's true head. All that remains of a face is its impossibly wide smile. It lowers its body to the ground, crouching on all fours like a feral beast. The blue robes retreat into its body and become grey flesh. Its hands and feet elongate into spindly fingers and toes tipped with lethally sharp talons. "Sssenslesss killing is what I'm built for."

Vincent, in all its demonic glory, rises to its hind legs, towering over Seo. It flexes its front claws and laughs.

Helynah sits up, away from the wall as Victi slings unfamiliar curses into the air. She reaches for her trident, ready to take off with the others to find this lost child. Then the fox-woman asks her to stay behind. She pulls a frown and shoots a glare, though the request isn't unreasonable. Niskali would make the best line of defense and is apparently driven by the desire to protect the innocent; he'd turn over every brick and tear apart the foundation of every building to find that girl, and goddess help the soul who dared harm her if they find her wounded, or worse. Of course, he'd make the better muscle for their search party. She hastily sets aside her pride as she stands and nods her agreement.

"I'll read whatever you got to give me," she says.

The flash of realization and worry in their eyes made Bronze feel shocked and disappointed. He didn't get the answer he was expecting from them. How in hell did they let a child slip away in a diresome place like this? The feline stood up from where he was, knowing that the only reason they're suddenly and hastily preparing is for one thing: to try and find that child, or what remained of it.

"You lost a child." He snorted, bending over and picking up the toy gun he has been carrying since he left the store. "We'll talk later. Right now, I'll help." Bronze stated, crossing his as and leaning at the wall.

"Perfect," she says, and begins to run Helynah through the situation.

"This building was apparently a base of opperations for local law enforcement. These documents are reports detailing any incidents that they would have been called to deal with. The ones I pulled out are the most recently dated ones I could find, assuming they're sane and have more days per month than months per year. They may tell us about any increase in crime, mysterious or allegedly accidental deaths, or other anomolous activites in the days and weeks leading up to whatever the hell happened to have everyone here get slaughtered like this, and if there's any patterns we can use to come up with a plan of action."

"Oh, and sword boy," she calls to Bronze, "If you can remember to grab some metal wire, while you're looking for the girl, at least an arm's length or so, that would be great. I need it for something. Girl first though!"

His words first come across more as cunning flattery than as comfort. The one thing that sees to Lisa relaxing enough to step into the room- then press herself against the wall to try hiding how much she's shaking -is his sincere-sounding apology. Niskali then tosses a few words both unfamiliar to her yet conjuring up memories of her first few hours here.

Her encounter with Tsi'ka feels ages away. She'd almost completely forgotten the giant creature. A haughty and terrifying oversized invertebrate that first lured Liliath away from her under the pretense that she'd make a better guardian.

She might have been right; Liliath ran off- probably straight into danger -under Lisa's orders. She imagines Tsi'ka's ferocious glare. Liz can't help but feel she kind of deserves one of those now. She realizes she won't get one; as Niskali's speech starts making sense behind the curtain of terror in her head, her eyes widen.

"That thing is dead?"

"Mostly." he begins, hesitantly and thoughtfully, trying to think how to describe the idea he was about to present, "Her kind are a.... collective conciousness, a unified awareness. For them, the personal experiences of each member are useful as the personal experiences of every member of their entire species. Sometimes, they become seperated from their Hive mind, and frequently those times bring particularly valuable moments, and the isolated member dies almost as often. So, they developed a.... way to recover lost memories. They carry an additional pair of memory centers, each with a small set of organs to allow them to persist. They are simple, and do not require much energy. All they do is carry the memories of the dead."

"Their Hive also serves as their afterlife, their conciousness seperating from their body, and becoming a part of that collective. Those who were particularly exemplary in life, however, can still be made of service. Fighting the monster here, which given her forceful decapitation is how I suspect she died, would be a particularly valuable memory, especially if she actually did much harm to it. These organs will be valuable when we leave this place, and if she fought valiantly, she deserves her reward," he explains, "She cannot help us here and now, but in the future, this could be very important."

The feline is quite hopeless for the additional task the vixen gave him but is more disheartened by the fact that he doesn't have a clue on where to look for it. By how he sees it, he'll need luck if he'll go by himself. "Err yeah, sure. Name's Bronze by the way, if I haven't introduced myself yet. Wanna give me a clue where to find these wires?" He inquired as he started walking around, his eyes darting around.

Curiosity is something he will never quench, and it will not die down soon. He gently placed his paw on a filing cabinet, dragging it down as to feel its texture. He pushed it softly to feel its weight next and pulled one container open, only to find papers and more papers. Bronze pushed it back and gave an amused snort.

"The store might have wire coils somewhere, but first, get the dragon, and go find that girl! Again, the wires are lower priority than the child's life! GO!" she re-iterates.