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Post by Executus Gira on May 5, 2018 5:28:32 GMT
The noise from the top of the wall did not go unheard, and for Micah, it was bloody murder on her ears. She was forced to cup them to try and drown out the noise, and her teeth gritted into a snarl. Her head was thumping from the tapping, the rapping, and the cawing from the creature up on the wall.
"Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP! SHUT UP!" She screeched, yet she couldn't do anything about it. She had to keep digging through these files, in case she found what she was looking for. All she could hope, was it would stop before she completely broke...
In the upper room, Molly looked up at the roof nervously. "Um, is your friend..."
"She's fine. Just, she prefers quiet. And as for what's up there, maybe a squirrel or a nesting bird." Chalodna shrugged. "Don't think too much of it." ________
Half a block away, the netheral trail had served Demmy well. She hadn't gone too fast, but rather walked a slow, leisurely pace through the city, to make sure she memorized where exactly she was at, and where she was going. Right now, she could easily backtrack to the hotel if need be, and given that her shift and Molly's began in an hour, they didn't have much time to waste.
"The hell did you get yourself into, girl?" She said to no one in particular. This was by the wall on the edge of town, and while many of the buildings here were rather nice, something didn't sit well with her, something just wasn't right.
An eye snapped upward, and she realized what had felt so off. A figure, a cloaked form, on the roof, with some sort of animal higher up on the edge of the wall. Demmy's mouth flashed into the same twisted smile she had teased Sam with before, and her right eye flickered for but a moment. "Well well... what do we have here? You really have gotten yourself into a strange situation Molly."
Demmy shook her head. " I guess I can finally repay this damn life debt, and be the knight on a white stallion for you.... Took long enough."
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Post by Stage on May 5, 2018 7:12:39 GMT
As the red beast raised its shrill, scratchy voice, the stranger lowered herself down the chimney, closing her eyes and holding her breath to protect herself from the smoke. Guiding herself down by feel, she quickly scuttled to the bottom and dropped cloak-first into the flames before rolling out. As she exited the fireplace, she drew her rapier and stabbed backwards, knocking the damper loose.
With a loud clang!, the damper fell flat. No longer allowed to rise into and out of the chimney, smoke began pouring out into the building instead.
Crouching besides the fireplace, the stranger swapped her sword for a dagger, readying herself to slash at the heels of the red-clad women if she drew close to try and return the damper to its raised position and clear the air...
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Post by Executus Gira on May 6, 2018 1:29:15 GMT
The loud clang wasn't lost to Micah, and her brownish red eyes snapped to the damper that was out of place. Dampers didn't just fall on their own, and this while sequence of events...
She wasn't buying it.
"You're after the girl, right?" Micah said, slowly lowering her hands from her ears. Her fingers began to twitch, and crack as her eyes scanned the general area of the fire place. " You're in here, and I know it. Reveal yourself, and maybe we can settle this peacefully."
Her left foot stepped behind her right, and her right hand moved behind her back. From beneath her sleeve, the spiked ballhead of a mace, as large as her hand, rolled into her palm...
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Post by Stage on May 7, 2018 5:34:52 GMT
Sneering silently, the invisible intruder slowly drew her crossbow using her free hand. If the woman in red would not come to her to have her wings clipped, she would do it from a distance.
Crouching low, the stranger angled the diminutive weapon at the left foot of the woman. It wold unveil her, but it would no longer matter that her stride was longer when she had a limp...
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Post by Executus Gira on May 7, 2018 22:30:36 GMT
Micah's eyes scanned every area around the fireplace again. Whoever was in here wasn't going to give their presence away so easily. She prepared to take an extra step forward, body tensed and ready to spring at the slightest movement... Which happened to be a loud knock on the door, followed by it opening up. Micah sprang back with a full leap, and swerved her head in the direction of the door... To her surprise, it was the loud woman from the library, the one Molly had called Demmy.
"Sorry to barge in, but I got a feeling my friend's here somewhere." Demmy stated, her own eyes scanning the room. "And I have a feeling you know who it is, Mrs. lover of silence."
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Post by Stage on May 8, 2018 0:15:09 GMT
The unseen stranger barred her teeth. Another one? She would need to change tactics once again.
After swapping her rapier out for a dagger, the intruder slide the short blade into a boot to free one of her hands. Raising it, she focused beyond the newest interloper.
"I'm over here!" a voice identical to Molly's sang from behind her.
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Post by Executus Gira on May 8, 2018 0:24:36 GMT
Micah's eyes snapped wide, and her eyes swerved out the door. "How... What..." She stammered. "No, she's upstairs."
Demmy also swerved her head out back, purely out of reflex to the voice. The netheral trail agreed with the woman, yet... what was going on here?! "You got a parrot around here or something?" She asked.
"No... No parrots anywhere near this building." Micah was now slowly edging back up to the stairs. "And I doubt this is your friend's doing."
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Post by Stage on May 8, 2018 0:40:01 GMT
Veil of invisibility dropping as she raised her crossbow, the stranger fired a bolt at the exposed nape of the newcomer. Without waiting to see the outcome of the shot, she turned and drew the dagger from her boot, sending it spiraling at the breast of the woman in red with a flick of her hand..!
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Post by Executus Gira on May 8, 2018 3:27:11 GMT
The moment the crossbow was fired at Demmy, was when all hell broke loose.
Micah had just enough time to try and twist her body so the dagger lodged into her shoulder. Pain still roared up her arm, and she screamed from the sharp pain coursing through her body and the scorching smoke that was filling the room, but it was more than just that...
It was an alarm to alert everyone else in the building that trouble had come.
The stranger was suddenly beset upon by Demmy, who had the bolt sticking out of the side of her neck. One hand grabbed the stranger by the neck, and lifted her off the ground and into the wall. The grip was like a vice, and seemed to only get stronger. "That was a very poor mistake on your part." Demmy hissed, ignoring the blackened blood dripping from the wound.
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Post by Stage on May 10, 2018 3:21:37 GMT
The wide, blue eyes of the stranger grew wider, and her scarred lips drew back into a feral expression of fear. Her short legs kicked useless at Demmy's chest for a moment until a chill went through her, dulling her expression and clearing her mind.
Lifting both hands to grasp her larger assailant's wrist, she redirected the chill into the white-haired woman, sending frost creeping up her arm.
"L- Let go," she grunted in a small, annoyed voice.
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Post by Executus Gira on May 10, 2018 4:20:06 GMT
The cold chill raced into Demmy's being, yet the woman outside of tensing her arm to fight off the frost, barely seemed to register it. Her eyes remained focused only on the small woman.
"And why should I? So you can slink off and try again later? I'm not amused, little girl." Demmy hissed. Her grip around the smaller woman's neck tightened, constricting so that, slowly and surely, her windpipe was being closed off, and her nails digging into the flesh on the throat...
"The fuck is going on here?!" Chalodna's voice momentarily distracted Demmy, and caused her to shift her left eye to the side, while her right remained locked on the woman. Sure enough, Chalodna was barreling down the stairs, with a large spiked whip in her hands. "Whoa, that ain't fucking Unish... And Demmy?!"
"I came here to pick up my friend, when this dwarf decided to hurt your friend and shoot me." Demmy said, her voice returning to a more normal tone rather than the low almost chilling hiss it had been. "And she's a little magician with some magic spells, not something I'd expect from a human, midget or otherwise."
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Post by Stage on May 10, 2018 5:20:14 GMT
The tiny intruder tried to retort, but could not. The words were crushed in her throat.
The voice from the door, however, was loud and clear.
"Put her down."
Sam stood in the door frame. A bag of nonperishable groceries laid at her feet, apparently cast aside in favor of the military-grade handgun she had leveled on Demmy's chest.
"What the hell is doing on?" she asked. Her question was addressed to everyone in the room, but her eyes, like her gun, were trained on Demmy as she strangled the stranger.
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Post by Executus Gira on May 10, 2018 5:53:42 GMT
Sam's entrance had completely caught Demmy off guard. Her left eye swerved to face the woman, and her face was wide with shock. "What.... How... When..."
"That small woman attacked us." The response came from Micah, who had managed to raise back to her feet. A hand was covering the blow to her arm, and with a yank, she pulled the blade out. " She's after a girl upstairs."
"All the more reason I should crush her windpipe, and keep her away from Molly."
"No." Chalodna said. "Murder is not the option. Not in any world. Let her go, and we'll take care of this mercenary."
Demmy's right eye remained fixed on the tiny woman, yet her left was on Sam, and the gun in her hands. Honestly, what a troublesome situation she had landed herself in, and all with an arrow sticking out of her neck. She wanted to just snap the little brat's neck here and now, and that would be so easy for her to do, even with such crippled power...
Yet, out of the corner of her left eye, she saw someone behind Chalodna. It was Molly, and she was looking back at her, with confused and terrified eyes. It made Demmy's resolve waver, and any resistance she had been putting up fell apart. "Fine." Was all she said, before she began to lax her grip, while preparing to pin the girl to the floor...
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Post by Stage on May 11, 2018 1:50:00 GMT
Before the small invader could be slammed against the ground, the combination of her assailant's loosened grip, her stiff, frostbitten arm, and the stranger's unexpected strength, more like that of a normal sized person than a dwarf, allowed her to rip away from the terrible grasp. Swinging her feet over her head before it could crack against the ground, the home intruder rolled away from Demmy, gasping raggedly as air was allowed to flow back into her burning lungs. Though her voice was hoarse as it heaved and coughed, her footing was steady, bringing her to a crouch several feet away from the much taller woman.
"Stay where you are!" Sam barked, moving the barrel of her sidearm to track her.
Red-eyed and snarling, the stranger grudgingly complied, peeling her hands away from her bruised throat and lifting them into the air. The corner of her mouth formed a tiny smirk though, and she closed one into a fist. A screech, deafening and shrill, shook the room, causing Sam to instinctively squeeze her eyes shut. She lowered her piece, unwilling to let out a shot, willingly or otherwise, when she could not see. A less voluminous screech answered it, and a shadow fell over Sam. With an angry, hyena-like chortle, the red-feathered creature which had been on the wall dropped from the roof and onto the gunman, dragging her to the ground with its claws.
Now bearing a full, cold smile, the stranger closed her other hand and vanished from sight once more. Whisking mutely across the ground, she approached the woman in red, producing her rapier as she moved invisibly. She would be slower thanks to her injury and further harm would likely distract the woman with the whip since they seemed to be friends. All the better if she managed to kill her. Becoming visible before her, albeit barely due to the smoke still filling the room, the same color as her dark, dappled cloak, the assassin raised the thin blade and thrust it towards the red-clad swell of her chest, intending to pierce through the useless mound of flesh and hoping to skewer her heart...
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Post by Executus Gira on May 11, 2018 2:21:08 GMT
The small woman was in for a surprise. As she drove the blade toward Micah's chest, Demmy's hand grabbed the woman's own, and the blade stopped but an inch from its target. The assassin's eyes went wide in shock as Demmy's other hand, the frostbitten one, connected with her throat and slammed her back of the head into the ground. One booted foot stepped onto the assassin's wrist, pinning it down so she couldn't use the blade, and then another boot on the other wrist. "You know, a bladed weapon like this isn't something a kid should be running around with." Demmy said, before turning back to Micah. "You okay?"
The woman in red nodded, though it was clear she hadn't been expecting the attacker to materialize right before her, or for Demmy to have seemingly tracked her effortlessly. "I'm fine. It stings, but I'll be okay. That creature, though-"
"I'm on it." Chalodna walked over to the feathered menace that had Sam pinned, and prepared a crack of her whip. She knew most animals didn't enjoy the snap of a whip on their body, and she didn't feel like trying to wrestle this thing off of Sam. the smoke was burning her lungs, but the sooner this thing was gone and they could just get out, the better...
All the while, Molly could only watch from the stairs. Her throat burned and her lungs choked from the smoke filling the room, and she was caught in a coughing fit. It was hard for her to see exactly what was going on now, but she knew it was absolute chaos down there. As much as she wanted to try and help, she was stuck just above the smoke cloud..
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Post by Stage on May 11, 2018 3:04:32 GMT
The crack of the whip on its spine sent the scarlet beast's head folding back with a pained squawk. This was all the chance Sam needed. Pinning one of its wings to its chest, she drove a knee up into its pelvis. With a wheeze, the feathered fiend tilted on its broad hips and, unable to balance itself without the use of its forearm, fell over. Freed from its weight, she rolled onto her stomach and reached for her gun, but it was gone by the time she rose to aim it.
"Your friend has fought robbers before," a tiny, cold voice said directly into Demmy's ear. Though the stranger, windpipe once more crushed shut, could not speak, her blue eyes stared into Demmy's. One of her hands was squeezed into a trembling fist.
The phantom voice continued. "Speaking of them, do your friends know you aren't human? You survived a bolt through the jugular. You can see the invisible. If they didn't before, they do now. I wonder what they'll do. Especially the frightened one."
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Post by Executus Gira on May 11, 2018 3:47:09 GMT
Demmy's eyes were solely on the stranger. If there was a change in expression on her face, it wasn't noticeable, not to Chalodna who was searching for the robber, nor to Micah who could only watch the strange, silent exchange between the two, and not to the stranger herself.
"Well, aren't you a detective?" Demmy's voice somehow rang through the stranger's mind. "So you figured out the obvious... what, are you expecting me to let you go just off of that? If so, you're mistaken, trash."
She lowered herself down so her knees were now what were keeping the stranger's wrists restrained, and her head lowered down so her eyes seemed to fill the stranger's vision. Her right one especially seemed to flicker in the shrouds. "What is it that you want from my friend? Money, a tool, food perhaps? You even so much as attempt to touch her, and I can guarantee your entire family, your race, everyone you know and care for will wish they had never existed."
Meanwhile, Molly had raced back upstairs, and had started to open up as many windows as she could, in an attempt to get the smoke out of the building...
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Post by Stage on May 11, 2018 4:01:37 GMT
"You'd waste your time looking," Demmy was told snidely by the small, secretive voice. "And I saved your friend's life. You can ask her. I only wanted to make sure I was properly reimbursed. I wasn't going to touch her. No pay in that."
Covering her mouth with a sleeve to keep herself from inhaling smoke, Sam entered the building. "Do you have anything to restrain her with?" her muffled voiced asked Micah and Chalodna.
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Post by Executus Gira on May 11, 2018 4:19:11 GMT
"So blackmailing her? Don't make me laugh, trash." Was Demmy's mental response. With her free hand, she reached up, and was ready to yank the arrow out and jab it down the stranger's throat, when Sam's voice reached her ears. This time, the tiniest scowl etched itself on her face.
"I can use my whip." Chalodna answered. Gently running her hand across the edge, she slid off the jagged spikes that had been attached, and quickly approached the downed form of the attacker. "You can stop pinning her now. And, good god your neck!"
"Yeah, I'll let you handle this. And it's nothing major. It doesn't hurt that badly. I'll get it treated once I can." Demmy coughed, before maneuvering the stranger's wrists so they were straight up above her head. She quickly removed her knees, and Chalodna swiftly tied the whip around her wrists, binding them together. "Micah, the mace?"
"Yeah, use that to keep those bound." The red uniformed woman handed over the weapon in question, and Chalodna was quick to bind up the stranger's feet together as well. Only then did Demmy get off of the stranger, and remove her hands from her throat. "Chal, can you fix the damper and get this smoke out? We should be outside where we aren't coughing up our lungs."
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Post by Stage on May 11, 2018 4:27:35 GMT
"Then I'll let her die next time," noted the voice in Demmy's ear mockingly. "The one with the grotesque bottom doesn't seem to like you. I wonder what she'll do when she finds out. I wonder what the guards will do. Will you kill them all in front of your scared friend?"
Sam turned her back on the others. "I'll watch for her pet."
"Or," the voice continued, "I could show you one of the quiet ways out."
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