"Sophia, I want you to carry this around. If a demon or bad guy tries to grab you, whack 'em hard with it! It's stainless steel so it'll hold up no matter how hard you hit." Red instructed his daughter as they pulled up to the pond.
"A spatula?" she asked, looking at the kitchen utensil a little disappointed.
"Yeah - a spatula! It's just your size and it'll hurt as much as anything else." Red supported his weapon choice indignantly. Sophia just shrugged but nonetheless, kept the spatula with her. Red rolled his eyes at his daughter managing to still be picky...in the Apocalypse.
When the bounty hunter saw Garnett walking towards the house, Red withdrew his axe and followed her, telling Sophia to stay with Max. He figured the fireman seemed to be pretty good with kids and would look after her okay. Better than leaving with her in the care of some of the more...questionable members of the party.
"Wait up there, Garnett. Doesn't look like there's any monsters in that house but you never know. Sophia would probably kill me if I let her new best friend get eaten by a zombie so, if you don't mind, I'll tag along." the ex-boxer said. When they got to the house, Red would go up to the front door and knock - just in case the place was still inhabited.
Meanwhile, Earl looked at Lisa apprehensively.
"Wait - so you bathing in this here pond will contaminate it for everyone? That don't much seem fair to me. Why don't you just fill up a water bottle and dump it on you a couple of times instead? It's what we would do in the Army if we ran low on water." Earl suggested, narrowing his eyes at the succubus.
edited 8th Sep '14 7:35:08 AM by FantasyLiver
Max looked down at Sophia, not really sure what to do with a kid. "Uhh... here," he said, pulling Thor gently by the neck and leading him to her so they could play.
Recon groggily turned off his thermal, having woken up from a snooze in the back of the truck.
"The coast seems clear for you guys," he radioed. "Just don't have too much fun splashing about, Fisty's still marching, remember. Now if you'll *yawn* excuse me, I'm gonna go finish my nap."
With that, he was about to go back, when he noticed Garnet. Silently, he began to tail her.
edited 8th Sep '14 1:50:25 PM by gameknight102xx
THE SLORG!
"From my experience with Humans, we'll be lucky to find any that even believe those are the real deal; much less any that would actually know what to do with them" Goldilocks said to Israfel, finishing up her own ritual circle. "But we might find somebody who would want to put them in their hat or something" she added, activating the vertical ritual circle and becoming absent on Israfel's and Shinespark's magical detections.
When Earl spoke up, Goldilocks looked over at him and lowered her eyebrows. "Which is why I told everyone else to have their go first; unless you want to try bathing in a pond with plague beast residue in it. Getting food poisoning would be the best case scenario. Besides, I don't have any water bottles" Goldilocks responded to the U.N.A.M. conscript; their conversation got the attention of Jeff, glancing over after plunging the dutch oven into the pond to fill it up. He stood up and started to head towards them. Meanwhile, Goldilocks continued, "you could let me borrow a water bottle, or pour it on me yourself. That's if you're willing to trust me enough to do ei-" and then Jeff poured the pot out over her head without warning, eliciting a gasp from the disguised demonette.
Jeff snickered for a couple moments as Goldilocks went through the typical shock and surprise at being suddenly drenched. "That's better; though it looks like it'll take one or two more, huh?" Jeff said, still snickering; indeed though that had certainly helped, especially clearing off the bile residue from Goldilocks' head and shoulders, below that had seen little overall change. (In fact despite not having a shirt and her bra now being soaked, the remaining bile meant there wasn't much of a show, so to speak.) Jeff then let out a quick yeep! kind of sound as Goldilocks turned her head to him suddenly and snarled, her teeth sharpened to points. Jeff tried to step backwards but she grabbed his arm and stopped him.
"And you just volunteered to help me clean off the rest of it. Now get another pot-full of water" Goldilocks growled to him, then let his arm go. Jeff moved back towards the pond to refill the dutch oven, but stopped as the loud barking of an angry dog erupted from the nearby house and took his attention.
In the same time that the above paragraphs were happening, Garnet had stopped as Red spoke up and glanced to him. "I know; I just wanted to see if the place has any salvage" Garnet said a little hesitantly, being quite literally a kid being told by an adult not to do something she knew she shouldn't. She let him take the lead as the neared the house.
They got within a few strides of the front door when suddenly loud, furious barking came from in the house. On the plus side, it definitely wasn't a dire wolf; this sounded like a normal, if rather pissed off, dog. There was also clearly only one of it. On the down side though, the barking got a bit distant, then lost the echo of coming from inside the house as it started moving to the left; the back door of the place must've been open. And sure enough, a big doberman pinscher came charging around the left side of the house towards Red and Garnet, still barking madly as its mouth frothed slightly.
edited 8th Sep '14 11:28:24 PM by FirockFinion
You are reading this.
"I got this." Red said as he stepped forward and hurled the axe at the dog. If that didn't work, he'd draw his revolver and shoot the thing until it died.
Earl, back by the pond, heard the shots and looked around at everyone.
"Should we be wondering what that is?"
Recon broke into a run. If Red somehow missed, he'd try to intercept the dog with a vicious flying kick. If Red did hit the feral, he'd instead come to a stop beside the former boxer.
THE SLORG!
((OOC:Going to cool off quickly led to hanging out with friends and getting distracted for a really long time. Anyway, I'm done with that now and feeling back to normal, so here's the post.))
The doberman tried to jump to one side to avoid the incoming axe, but it still manged to clip one of the dog's rear legs, making it stumble as it landed and try to resume its charge. The first shot hit it right near center mass at a slight sideways angle, going through the doberman's ribcage and out in front of its other rear leg, and the dog yelped and reared back in a reflexive motion, going up on its hind legs somewhat. At that point the canine was probably already going to be dead, but in the heat of the moment Red had fired one more shot as it was reared back, hitting it near its front left leg and exiting out of the left side of its back. The doberman then hit the ground on its side, dead before it made contact with the dirt.
Garnet leaned to one side to look at it, having quickly gone behind Red when he stepped forward to throw the axe. There was a momentary silence of anticipation... Which extended into a regular silence. "... I think that's all there was" Garnet commented after a few moments of silence. "Thanks for the save" she said to Red, then headed into the house, cautiously, despite her earlier comment.
Over at the vehicles, a similar silence loomed for a moment until Goldilocks looked away from the house and at Earl. "I think everything's okay over there" Goldilocks said with a slight shrug, not seeing anything popping out besides the one dog. She then focused on Jeff as he finally returned with the refilled dutch oven to see about continuing her rinse off.
Back at the house, they'd quickly find it was abandoned, and seemed to be stripped of anything useful or valuable. Heck, there was almost nothing in it at all, only furniture, and even they had bits missing or looked like they had chopped/chipped off. It almost seemed like a complete bust until Garnet spoke up from the kitchen with, "here's something!" She picked up a metal food bowl off the floor, dumping out some dry dog food that had been in it and brushing it off with her sleeve. "It's not much, but I might be able to use it as a scrap part" she muttered, standing up and turning it over a couple times.
You are reading this.
"Wait a minute." Red said, as he looked at the dog food that had been dumped out.
"I used to have a dog and I know they can't be around food and not eat it. They're stupid that way. Which means someone has been feeding this dog." Red deducted, looking around the house suspiciously, and then going to check any possible attic or basement areas.
Earl just shrugged and started to wash off himself.
Sophia began playing with the dog, laughing as she did so but then frowning worriedly when she heard the barking and gunshots.
"What was that?" she asked Max.
edited 10th Sep '14 6:16:50 PM by FantasyLiver
THE SLORG!
"... Hey wait a minute, you're right" Garnet realized, poking at one of the pieces of kibble on the floor. "There's no way this has been sitting here for five years" she muttered, and looked around the little kitchen.
"... I think we should get out of here" Garnet said, a clear nervousness coming into her tone as she started to move towards the front door, constantly glancing around at the floor, walls, and ceiling as she did.
You are reading this.
The Blinder
Pyro sat on the hood of the car, watching Goldilocks clean herself off, he looked at the house. "So, you're a Succubus right?" He asked the demon, a sense of vague interest coming from him. "Shouldn't you be all supportive of El Diablo?" He pointed out. "I mean, I'm fine with you being on our side," Good was not the right word. "But...Eh, forget it." He muttered, watching the house.
Good to be back
"Go." Red said to Garnett.
"Bring Lisa." Red ordered, continuing to search the house for any potential hiding spots someone might use.
"Also, scoop some of this kibble up and give it to Thor. He probably hasn't had quality dog food in a while."
Recon pulled out his quad-barrel silently. He was still groggy from his nap, so he wasn't in top-shape.
"Voices down," were his only words.
"Right." Red whispered back to Recon.
"I figure if Lisa can't find out who's been feeding this dog, we could hide in the house and wait for him to come back."
THE SLORG!
After Garnet hurried out the front door, forgetting about grabbing any kibble for Thor, the house fell into silence.
Outside, Goldilocks managed not to flinch when Pyro spoke up. "What are you talking about?" Goldilocks said to him, looking at him with an incredulous expression. Red's daughter doesn't know yet, so quiet down about it! he'd hear her demon voice say in his head, telepathically.
"Wait, what?" Jeff said, looking confused until Goldilocks looked at him and presumably transmitted a similar message to him. She and him continued the efforts of rinsing her off when Garnet ran up.
"So we found out, that someone's been feeding that dog... But we can't find any sign of them, so they thought you might be able to?" Garnet asked Goldilocks between heavy breaths, having apparently gone all out to get away from the house.
"... Huh?" Goldilocks muttered, not following. "Okay, calm down a second then go back to the beginning. What's going on and what do you want me to do?"
Garnet nodded, took a few deep gulps, then stood up straight. "Inside the house we found a bowl full of dog food; dog food that couldn't have been sitting there for five years. So we know that someone has been feeding the dog, but we can't find any sign of them. Red asked me to come get you; maybe you've got some way to track them?"
"... Probably not" Goldilocks commented with a slight shrug after thinking for a few moments. "Besides, why would it matter who's been feeding- a stray dog in a house out in nowhere?" she asked, pausing ever so momentarily as Jeff poured another load of fresh, cold water over one of her pant legs.
"Uh... I, don't know?" Garnet answered, somewhat confused herself now that she thought about it.
Goldilocks sighed slightly and shook her head. "Go tell them they'll have to wait until I'm done rinsing off" Goldilocks told Garnet, who went off to do just that after slight hesitation when she looked back at the house.
You are reading this.
Red took out some paper and the pen he had in his backpack and wrote
I HEAR VOICES CLOSE BY. FOLLOW ME AND STAY QUIET.
He held the paper up to Recon and motioned him forward, following the sounds of the voices he heard.
Recon nodded and followed.
THE SLORG!
The voices (Which Recon still couldn't hear.) were still rather hard to tell what direction they were coming from. The best Red could do was experimentally move around and see where the voices got any louder. Moving towards the door to the living room, the voices got quieter; turning around and heading for the door on the opposite side of the room, they got louder... Until he actually got near the door, then they got quieter again. Going through that door, (Which was actually the back door of the whole house) he wouldn't hear them at all, then coming back into the kitchen he'd hear them once again.
It wasn't helping that the voices were starting to talk less and less, like their conversation was ending, but eventually Red found where the voices were loudest. (Still not quite loud enough for Recon to hear with his helmet on.) Over to one side of the kitchen, just under a little vent on the ceiling.
This was about when Garnet walked in, glancing nervously around each room as she entered, until finally spotting Red and Recon. "Um, Lisa said she'll come over to help as soon as she's done rinsing off" Garnet said, glancing back through the doorway down a short hallway.
You are reading this.
Red turned the paper over and wrote
GET EMERSON. HE CAN CRAWL THROUGH THE VENT AND SEE WHERE THEY ARE.
Sandwich Summoner
Vehicles
Israfel, no, Rafaella, as she was wingless now, stiffled a little yawn as she stretched out of the truck. "Is something happening?" She asked, all while an all too familiar bird darted outside the truck to seek and nest upon a certain ex-cultist's head.
It was then when she saw her target. Making deft long strides, she zoomed past the firetruck. Her target on her sights, she lashed out to grab her and firmly clamp her to her chest in a hug. "Oh my! What a cute girl! What's your name, dear?" She added, with barely contained giddyness, while hugging Sophia.
EEEEEEEEHHH! A HUMAN LARVA! SO CUTE! HEAVENS! She telepathically relayed to Goldilocks, in a shrill excited tone that it hurt.
THE SLORG!
"Um... I can try but I don't know if he will. Lately all he's been doing is staring at the cherub" Garnet answered, and started to leave the house again. Soon as she had finished saying that, the whispers had stopped; for a moment, then they seemed to have a quick exchange, then they stopped again. Right after that, the vent vibrated up and down slightly for about half a second, then stopped.
After that, the house was in complete silence.
Outside, Goldilocks had finished up rinsing herself off with Jeff's help, looking over as Rafaella hugged Sophia, giving a slight twitch as the dominion transmitted to her. They're called children, and believe me, I know Goldilocks sent back, then turned towards the house. "Alright, let's see what they wanted" Goldilocks muttered, heading that way as Garnet exited the house and started to jog towards the firetruck.
On top of the firetruck, Arthur looked over towards the house, his eyebrows lowering in slight confusion as he glanced from one side to the other. "What is that?" Arthur thought aloud.
"What's what?" Clark asked, turning to the half runner.
"Some sound... Like the buzzing in your ears if you stay somewhere really quiet for a while, but... Different" Arthur responded, "only heard it for a moment. Did nobody else hear that?" Nobody else had.
You are reading this.
Recon crouched down, writing something on the note and giving it to Red before noiselessly crawling to the nearest piece of cover.
On the note, written in messy handwriting: THEY HEARD US, GET READY.
Red peered through the vent, trying to see if he could spot whoever was making the voices.
Sophia tried squirming to get out of Israfel's cuteness-fueled grasp.
edited 16th Sep '14 9:01:27 AM by FantasyLiver
The Blinder
Pyro shrugged, cocking his gun and aiming it at the house. "Like...Bees?" He suggested, hoping the house wasnt't full of giant killer bees.
That would suck.
Good to be back
THE SLORG!
((OOC:And then "a while" turned into getting distracted reading webcomics for many hours. Whoops, sorry guys. Hehe.))
"No, it reminded me of... The sound of little rats moving through a field" Arthur commented, hopping off the truck and taking a few steps forward, looking around and getting his rifle ready. He sounded confused at his own comment, as if even he didn't see how that made any sense.
"You sure you weren't imagining it Arthur?" Clark asked, nonetheless being on the lookout himself.
"No, it definitely-" Arthur stopped, quickly turning his head over to one side. "There it was again, over there now" he commented, pointing slightly to the side of the house and stepping in that direction through the tall grass.
Meanwhile Garnet had made her way over to the truck, asking Emerson if he could do a favor for Red and Recon. "Nay, I am still busy" Emerson said, gaze locked on Sheila's car where the cherub had gone to rest on Jacob's head. Garnet sighed and shook her head, having figured it wouldn't work.
About the same time, Red and Recon would hear footsteps coming from the front room of the house, someone walking around... "Red, Recon?" Goldilocks said loudly, moving from room to room until she stepped into the kitchen. Still dripping wet and wearing only her jeans, a bra, and her hat, Goldilocks stared at Recon taking cover behind the dining room table and Red trying fruitlessly to stare into a vent on the ceiling. "... What are you guys doing?" she asked, thinking they were acting rather bizarre; and that was coming from the disguised demon that was both partially naked and completely soaked.
You are reading this.
Vehicles
Israfel huffed somewhat at Goldilock's condescending attitude.At least i'm not the one whose smell would give her away in a mile radius. She thought bitterly to herself. Reaching for her bag, she started fiddling for her ritual circle ingredients, and she started to draw a presence masking circle, setting the ingredients aside. She also set the transformation circle ingredients as well, intending to do both spells while they were busy.
Meanwhile, Matt thinly smiled and handed the pot "It is being used this fast, eh?" He added. But then, the small Cherub-turned-robin chirped and left the car, flying towards the truck. Being also called to have masking applied on it aswell.
Israfel breathed deep, before feeling her wings one last time. Her actual flying stroll had felt liberating, but she had to assume mortal form once again. And the ingredients were running low. Without hesitation, she felt for some slightly deteriorated feathers and plucked them ruthlessly from her back, presenting them.
"This should net us some ingredients more, provided we can sell it without many questions." She answered to Goldilocks.