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Raven nods. She lets the child pack, fighting the urge to cause mischief by diving onto the blanket as she rolls it or pawing at the loose rope. Refusing these easy energy outlets leads to her fidgeting, pacing, and mewing impatiently.

Finally! Adriannu is ready to go. She gallops out of the cave, turning to see her new friend following close behind.

Ignoring a frustratingly familiar scent- Make yourself known and tell me off; I dare you! -she happily chats with Adriannu.

She says she's ten. "I'm three! Er...maybe four."

What's her favorite kind of meat? "Fresh meat." She grins.

"Hunting tips? I dunno, you did pretty well stalking the pheasant."

"Oh...not much, but I have a story for you..."

Their conversation begins to shift to a darker and more or less relevant subject. "Oh."

"That's...I see."

"Hmm..." She falls silent and stops. Raven turns toward the way they came and calls out to someone hidden in the trees. "Did you hear any of that, you creep?"

The presence of someone other than Raven, even that of a small child, drives Lisa to stay hidden while they talk. She isn't afraid of Adriannu, not after realizing she's dealing with a young girl. She's concerned about her, but while Raven has the charm of a cuddly domestic animal, Lisa is a tall, formidable stranger. She can't risk approaching her and having her run away, so she waits and listens.

The girl, who sounds like she's recovering from a vulnerable moment that Raven likely caused or took advantage of, announces that they need to pack.

What the hell, Raven?

She waits. There's shuffling around for several minutes, then Raven bounds outside followed by a half-cat child. She marvels at how strikingly Chimeran she looks, yet enough is off about her that Lisa knows this girl can't be one of her own.

To avoid catching their eyes, Lisa summons enough energy for one more transformation, turning back into a crow and following them. Within a few minutes, she sees they're headed toward their cabin. Good, I should just return there and wait to meet them. She spreads her wings to fly ahead, then Raven and Adriannu's idle chatter takes a turn for the worse. When she realize who they're talking about, her beak falls open in shock.

Raven, who'd known about her being there, turns and calls her out. She hisses before fluttering over their heads and alighting on the ground. The shapeshifter flaps her wings as she lands and fluffs up her feathers to hide the scars that lace her dark body. She cocks her head at Adriannu, studying her with beady yellow eyes, then she glares at Raven.

"I heard plenty. You and I need to talk."

Adriannu packed with an even balance between haste and care, not wanting to make any mistakes in her haste that would cost her even more time. Once finished, she followed Raven out of the cave without a second glance to the place that had been her home for about a year and a half.

As she walked, the child struck up a conversation with the cat, asking her how old she was, if she had any hunting tips and what kind of meat she liked. The cat girl laughs when Raven replied that her favorite meat is fresh meat before clarifying. "Well that is good to know, what I really meant is what kind animal meat you like the most. Like rabbit, pheasant or maybe something smaller like mice and little birds. I admit I generally don't go after little animals like that since I don't like killing for so little gain. If I must take an animal's life, I'd at least like it to be worth a meal rather than a tiny snack otherwise I feel that I wasted that animal's life. Obviously you don't have that concern since you are so much smaller than me so those little critters are much more filling.

Afterwards Raven told her a story about herself and Lisa which made her laugh. "That was a funny thing you did and it clearly worked out for both of you. Sounded like Lisa needed the fun so I think you did a good thing. Though could I ask you to tell me a little more about the parade? I haven't gotten to see a parade for nearly three years."

Eventually however, Adriannu took the conversation to a darker and much more serious subject, though Raven's reaction wasn't what she was expecting. For the cat suddenly turned around before calling out to a creep.

At that Lisa appeared in the form of a crow and while normally she liked crows, this one was an exception. For this crow had been called a creep by Raven, had been following them and could talk. On top of that, she didn't know that the chimera could turn into a crow. That was all the stimulus required to activate her highly ingrained defensive drive, transforming her her from child to predator.

Suddenly she sprinted towards Lisa with astonishing speed on all fours with a dagger held clenched in her teeth, having been drawn near silently while the chimera had been talking. Her golden eyes looked upon Lisa like a hunting cat would look upon a songbird; merciless and with killing intent.

As Adriannu drew closer, she focused the crow with complete concentration in order to react appropriately to how she handled her approach. If she tried to fly away, then the Cathera would leap into the air after her with claws unsheathed in an attempt to catch and force her back onto the ground; pinned beneath her. Should Lisa just be shocked into stillness, then she would still attempt to pin her, just without jump. Finally if the crow took humanoid form, then the cat girl would stop mid-charge, stand up and point the dagger at Lisa before looking at Raven for confirmation. Regardless, Adriannu's goal was not to kill, but to interrogate.

Alastor looked at the odd shard that had been placed in his hand, as well as the disc that seemed to come with it. The two... plant people.. had seemed eager to get rid of it before hurrying off, and if their story was anything to go by, it had apparently saved them. "Doesn't seem like the kind of thing to get rid of, if it can do that." He had also been handed a good sum of gold, oddly enough. He wasn't the type to question a good thing though, and quickly hid the currency under his coat.

Alastor had heard the recent reports of a camp nearby that had been destroyed. Some kind of attack by something unnatural, according to what his contacts had passed on, and it hadn't left any survivors. Well, except for those two.

The shard in his hand didn't look like much. Lines of electrum along the sides, sure, but other than that it was just a broken bit to a larger piece. Probably not worth selling, but it would make a nice little souvenir. Alastor thought to himself while turning it over. Good for a story at the very least.

His attention then shifted to the odd disc. The two had said that it held some kind of message. He moved his hand along it, trying to find some way to open it, when his finger rested upon what felt like a button. He glanced around, making sure nobody was watching his little discovery, before pressing it in. He was startled as an image appeared before him, and started to talk! He quickly regained his composure and listened in.

After the message had completed, a large grin spread over Alastor's face. A shard of the Vase, eh? Well haven't I stumbled upon quite a legend. His mind started racing over all the possibilities, before resting on one. There was more than just the one piece, and if he could find the ones that had them, life was going to be all the sweeter.

He hurried back into town to see his gang. If he was going on this search, Urug would need to take the reins for a bit. No doubt there'd be the usual lecture about getting himself in too deep, and expecting the impossible, but the old orc was always the worrisome type. Sure, he'd saved Alastor every now and then, but Alastor could only ever think of the missed opportunities and rewards that had been passed up for the sake of 'safety'. He wasn't going to let this opportunity pass him by, not with these stakes.

After visiting the gang, appointing Urug to cover for him, and hearing the inevitable lecture, Alastor gathered up his usual survival gear. A few knives, a couple of water skins, some trail rations, a bedroll and his leather armour and coat, as well as the sum of gold he had acquired. He hated to leave his nobles' disguise behind, but it was just dead weight with where he was likely going. After a quick farewell to his 'family', he set off.

"Time for my biggest score to date."

Neo would see Drake lunging towards him,but he also saw that the weapon Joules had,as she shoot his hand.He would grab the sword on his back,getting prepared for a fight that he might not win.

Tch-CRACK!

Drake cries out in pain as the flintlock’s bullet tears through his sword palm. Bones splinter. Blood drops spatter the air. His hand explodes in sharp, stabbing pain. He drops his sword and stumbles back, drawing his mangled hand close to his chest.

Gritting his teeth he fights back an absolute hailstorm of curses. A low growl rises in his throat. Red starts to blur his vision as he glares daggers at Jules, and then he loses the quiet fight. “You’re going to pay for that, you Goddamn-” he stops. Victi has cast off her illusions and he catches sight of her- the real her -in the middle of something terrible.

It is very obvious that she's doing something, and something big. Her tails are all fanned our and curved skyward, her eyes seem blank and distant, her arms are raised, and it seems like there's a jagged fragment of night sky in the air above her, brought down from the heavens themselves.

Then something changes.

The slight movements of her fur become unnaturally rapid, she seems to blink more, but her eyelids are the tiniest of movements, over her eyes and then back away almost too fast to process.

Victi yanks Drake around space to her, her hand snaps to his shoulder, way, way, way too quickly. "We're leaving," she growls to him, "I don't want to be nearby if something goes wrong when this thing lands, and you being hurts helps not at all." Anyone else hearing it hears it as being spoken exceedingly quickly and very high pitched.

Drake's starting to get used to her crazy magic tricks. With the promise that they're about to get the hell out of there, he recovers from his shock of warping through space and seeing time slow around them a little easier. Still cradling his wounded hand, he casts a nervous look at the broken sky and nods.

"And make it damn quick!"

Being charged by someone several times her size sets Lisa’s fight or flight instinct into overdrive. Favoring flight in her corvid body, she takes to the air with a cry of panic. Adriannu apparently anticipates that, jumping and swatting her to the ground. Clawed hands hook into her target’s small, unguarded body, tearing out feathers and drawing blood.

Lisa goes limp, allowing herself to be pinned. But the moment they hit the ground, she releases her magic and jolts into her normal form. The sudden shift hopefully throws Adriannu off-balance, allowing Lisa to turn her over without resorting to brute strength. She snatches at the hand still clutching her chest and tries pushing the girl back with her bandaged hand, all while struggling into a sitting position and shouting, “Wait, wait, wait!”

“Hey! No! Girl, that’s not a random bird! Not a random bird!” Knowing how predators tend to think, Raven assumes Adriannu is aiming to kill or torment her friend. She chases after her and snatches a bundle of the girls’ clothing and tries pulling her back. “Shtap!”