Chronicles of The Omniverse Archived Lutetia City: Lupaix

as written by Tiko and Knosis

The sounds of Brendan's outburst hardly went unnoticed back out in the other room, but Desmond said nothing on the matter. His concern for the moment was with Chloe, and a pinch of worry lined his brow.

Chloe gritted her teeth and groaned as another wave of fire ran through her skin. It was lasting longer this time. Slowly she rolled over to her side and pulled the chair to a standing position. Brendan's recent outburst only fueled her own anger further. "Don't worry, I'll be out of everyone's hair before too much longer.." She growled, although she knew no one but herself and possibly Desmond could hear her. She grunted, pulling herself up with the help of the chair until she could get her good leg underneath her. Stubbornly, she stumbled her way clumsily to the door, nearly falling through once she opened it, and slammed it behind her.
 
as written by Tiko

10 hours later...

Morning had given way to evening before Desmond finally roused from his sleep. He looked haggard, but his color was improved and he ran a hand through his hair and rubbed at the back of his neck groggily. Questions found their way through the haze of sleep as he looked around the room. Where had Brendan gotten to, and had Chloe made it back home alright?

He reached for his pocket before remembering that his phone was missing.

He pinched his brow with his fingers as he shrugged off the last of sleep and got up from the chair. The stitches in his back tugged at his skin uncomfortably, but the blinding pain of yesterday was gone. He was famished though, and hunger gnawed at him like a ravenous beast as he made his way into the kitchen.

He rummaged through the cupboards before settling on a box of protein bars. He was far too famished to take the time to cook and he was halfway through his second bar when he checked the bandages on his back. He had to crane his neck to get a look, but the blood that had seeped through during the night seemed dry and he gingerly started to remove it. Beneath the bandages was more dried blood and a neat row of stitches nearly ten inches in length. The wound itself had healed up nicely enough, but it would be a few days yet before he was a hundred percent.
 
as written by Lialore

Brendan’s head was hating him this morning. A constant ache had him still staring at the ceiling, despite having woke up half an hour ago. He was comfortable to blame it on the dumb decisions he had made last night; he was reminded too harshly of them as soon as he opened his eyes to see the state of the room, which was soon followed by the memory of the conflict last night, a groan, and an arm flung resentfully over his face.

At first he felt ashamed for his reaction to Desmond and Chloe. But then he remembered that someone had messed up his room. Oh, it was justified, all right.

The sound of movement elsewhere prompted him to stir. He padded down the hall still wearing yesterday’s clothes, with his hair all mussed and in definite need of a shave. Brendan came to a stop and leant awkwardly against the kitchen doorframe, one shoulder digging into the wooden grooves, and his hands, desperate for something to do, picked cautiously at his pockets, wanting to dive in and hide.

“So” he began croakily. He wasn’t sure where to look, so just gazed unfocused at the floor. The sight of the injury only made the guilt threaten to return. “Feel like fillin’ me in?”
 
as written by Tiko

"It didn't seem to matter this mornin'," Desmond answered a bit rougher than he intended. A glance towards Brendan softened his expression though and he sighed. He never could hold much ill feelings towards his brother. "Plannin' to stan' aroun' starin' at the floor, or want to give me a 'an' wi' gettin' these out?" he asked.
 
as written by Lialore

Brendan swallowed a snarky retort about ‘matters’ and pushed away from his position after giving his brother a sorry sort of look. He moved over to the drawer where they kept, well, anything that didn’t have a proper place and began rummaging. His headache didn’t agree with the noise.

“Well, I don’t reckon either of us were in the brightest o’ moods. And I was saving all that yer’ girlfriend was gobblin’ down for dinner. Thanks much.”

He found what he was looking for; a pair of spindly scissors that felt far too fragile in his hands.

“’O course it matters. I just wish it didn’t have ‘ter matter so much so often. Y’know.” A heavy sigh. “What am I gonna do with ye’?”

With a hearty snipping sound with the scissors, he made an unpleased face at the nastiness that was Desmond’s wound before setting to work without an out-loud complaint.
 
as written by Tiko

Desmond took another bite out of the half-eaten protein bar in hand while he kept his other hand on the counter so as to not move around too much while Brendan was removing the stitches.

"She's just a girl, who needs 'elp," Desmond answered. "What is it about 'er that bothers you so much?" he asked with a shake of his head. "You've been in this city too long. You've lost your 'eart, brother."
 
as written by Lialore

Brendan was concentrating on not messing his snipping up, so there was a moment of silence as he cut another few stitches.

“I don’t know. I don’t. Yer’ runnin’ around with her all the time now, and it ain’t seemin’ to do you no good. I’m struggling as it is, to keep this roof over our heads. I just got all this worryin’ layin’ on top too.” He tugged out some of the thread carefully then sighed.

“My heart is just fine. I think yours might’a grown, y’know. She ain’t your job. There’s somethin’ more. She’s… one of them.”
 
as written by Tiko

"'an is that the sum of 'er worth?" Desmond asked in response to Brendan's implication. He glanced over his shoulder to get a look at what Brendan was doing, but he couldn't make out much. The upper portion of the wound was out of his line of sight. "I near almost killed 'er, you know. The day we met. I 'ad the gun in me 'an', an' I nearly done it. Not a thought that there might be a person in there. I owe 'er, for what I almost did."
 
as written by Lialore

Brendan could have made a joke. But he wouldn’t have meant it in the slightest. He gave him a sharp “keep still” instead.

“It ain’t her. This ain’t about her.” he admitted. “It’s you. How many times we gonna have to have this conversation before anythin’ changes? How you always wind up in these situations? No one ain’t ever seemin’ to have even half the trouble you do, brother. It’s just a case o’ how long before you don’t come back.”

His slow any steady work was almost complete. A little blood crept out and had stickied his fingers, but it was nothing to worry about. He wiped his hands on his jeans.

“Would you still be this way if you didn’t have me holdin’ fort?”
 
as written by Tiko

"I'm not so easy to get rid of. You worry to much," Desmond answered.

He craned his neck around once more to get a look at the wound as Brendan snipped the last of the stitches free. It had healed up well, with little more than a faint scar to speak of the grievous wound from the day prior.

He turned around then and clapped his hands on Brendan's shoulders and gave an affectionate squeeze of his hands.

"You need to spend less time worryin', and more time livin', brother," Desmond said.
 
as written by Lialore

Brendan smiled at his brother, it was only a whisper of his usual beam, but he offered it nonetheless.

“If I ain’t worryin’, you ain’t livin’. That’s how this works” he said, his tone was tinted with amusement, but his stare showed the sincerity of his words. A sigh followed, and he took a step backwards. “I’ll tell you to be careful but I know it won’t do no good. Like it don’t do me no good to get angry. She ain’t your job. You ain’t mine… or so I’ll keep tellin’ meself.”

“I got work. Uh, gonna see if I can get a cheap door too.” He swept the bloody threads into the bin to hide the sheepish look on his face. “What you doin’? Stayin’ out of trouble? Gettin’ me table?”
 
as written by Tiko and CelticCat

Vanessa had texted ahead to make sure Raquette was home, but even still the knock on the front door of Nieve's house held an urgency to it. At Vanessa's side stood Sophia, holding her mothers hand.

"Raquette?" Vanessa called.

A soft clattering of locks being undone followed the knock almost immediately, Raquette pulling the door open slowly as she looked the both over. She gave them both a soft smile as she assured herself that it was who she expected.

She tapped into her phone. "Hello, Vanessa. Hello, Sophia."

"Thank you," Vanessa said. "For watching her."

She knelt down to talk to Sophia.

"I'll be back soon, okay?" Vanessa said before she kissed Sophia's forehead.

The little girl was clearly upset, but said nothing.

"Stay indoors tonight," Vanessa told them. "Both of you."

"Of course," the mechanical voice chimed out.

Raquette held out her hand to the young girl, nodding quickly to Vanessa. The house was already mostly locked down, and she was prepared to bunker down with Sophia in the bedroom.

"Be safe."

Sophia didn't speak until the door had been closed and relocked. She looked to be about on the brink of tears.

"I want to go stay with my dad," she said.

Raquette went to her knees, keeping the same calm smile on her features as she met the little girl's eyes. She squeezed her hand softly and with the other began to type. "Hey, it's alright. We can go play in my room. I have some crayons?" Raquette hoped her best option would be distraction until Sophia got sleepy, then they could sleep through the night.

Sophia pulled her hand free and ran for the couch, where she threw herself down to hide her face in her arms.

Raquette followed after Sophia to the couch, gently sitting down on the floor close to her face. She brushed her hand across the girl's back and mimicked as best she could what her mother had done when she had been scared as a child. She began to softly whistle a tune, slow and melodic. Calming.

Some time later...

Coaxing Sophia to sleep was out of the question, and more than once the pair had heard the distant sounds of gunfire, and car alarms. She endured it without complaint, but she kept her face burried in the crook of her arm on the couch with no sign of wanting to move.

Everytime a vehicle went by, it no doubt left a stab of unease going through the both of them, but it was the sound of a trio of motorcycles barreling down the street that brought trouble with them.

Their rowdy shouts preceded the shattering of one of the front windows as someone hurled a flaming molotov cocktail into the house. The bottle shattered as it struck the floor, spraying flames across the carpet.

At first Sophia didn't see what had happened, and she clamped her hands over her ears as if that would somehow aid the situation. The sounds of the fire drew her to look up though, and she screamed.

It wasn't for the front door that she ran though, but rather for the back of the house.

____

Chase couldn't help but raise an eye as he made his way through the streets of Lupaix with Riaze. One thing he could say for certain was that he didn't anticipate life being droll here. That's what he had wanted right? Some excitement and adventure?

Still, he hadn't quite anticipated their arrival being met with such wanton destruction.

Car alarms sounded in the distance where windshields had been smashed in, and every so often the sounds of distant gunfire filled the night. More curious yet was the complete and utter lack of a police presence in intervening.

Across the street a trio on motorcycles sped past, one of them lighting a molotov cocktail before hurling it through the window of one of the houses before disappearing down the street.

"I think feuding was an understatement," Chase said. "It's a fucking warzone. And why aren't there any police out here?"
 
as written by Lobos

His expression one of careful neutrality as he looked around, a beanie firmly secure on his head, the old lycan shrugged. "Only answer I could think of is that the cops don't want to get caught in this."

"This is going to make things..." Riaze thought carefully for a few moments. "More...challenging. I didn't think the fighting was this bad."

Drinking deep the night air, he sifted through the myriad scents, unfamiliar, unknown. Passing a hand over broken glass on the pavement, he looked again to the newly burning house. Fighting as humans. Why?

"Stay on your guard. If they're this violent, if we get mistaken for a rival pack we'll be in for a fight."
 
as written by Tiko

"This is insane," Chase said.

He looked up and down the street, keeping a watchful eye out as Riaze stooped to muse over the broken glass. A scream from the nearby building drew his attention though.

The scream that had come from the burning house wasn't the scream of a combatant, or of a raging werewolf. No, it was the scream of a child.

"Was that... a child?"

Chase paled at the thought.

Observe, not intervene. That was what they were here for tonight, but he gave the house a second look before glancing to Riaze for some sign of direction or intent. Surely a child changed things.
 
as written by Lobos

Closing his eye as he heard the scream, Riaze mentally cursed. Watch, not act.

Grimacing as he looked at the house again, he glanced at Chase. "Curse my bleeding heart."

"Fuck it. Follow me, we're going in." Rising smoothly, Riaze ran for the house, casting a half-assed street check as he crossed the road, angling himself for the front door. Dipping his shoulder and tucking his head away, the man threw a final lunge into a shoulder charge to gain entry.
 
as written by Lobos, Tiko, and CelticCat

A splintered frame erupted around him as he wheeled with the yank on his shoulder. A crazed panoramic view as he spun, a glimpse of a form running deeper into the house and another ducking beneath a counter. The rank scent of fear.

And other werewolves.

"Chase, get the runner and get her out of here!" Riaze snarled.

Chase did as instructed, darting around the flames, and down the hall after the little girl, trusting in Riaze to watch his back. Sophia slammed the bathroom door shot and locked it just as he reached it though, and he tried the handle before slamming a hand against it. He grit his teeth and wrenched the handle hard enough to splinter the entire mechanism and latch from the door frame entirely.

Raquette didn't complete her transformation in time to cut off the first werewolf, but she sprinted after him as soon as she had. She heard Sophia slam the door shut and internally hoped it would buy the girl enough time. She made to leap at the man and tackle him away from the bathroom door.

Swearing as the second figure bolted out, Riaze lunged forward with preternatural swiftness for her as she darted after his nephew. Despite his slight appearance, the lycan weighed upwards of two hundred pounds; a third of it resting across his back, a fact that made itself aware as he plunged for the half-shifted female's back.

Arms reached out to grapple and pin, long experience and instinct guiding his movements for a fast takedown.

"This was a really stupid idea!" Chase hollered from the bathroom.

It didn't take him long to find Sophia hiding in the shower, but the girl let out an ear piercing shriek when he grabbed her arm.

"God damn it, girl," Chase growled. "I'm not going to hurt you."

Sophia wasn't hearing any of it though and continued shrieking at the top of her lungs until he grit his teeth and bodily picked her up under one arm.

"I've got the gir- SON OF A BITCH."

He cursed as she bit down on his arm.

Raquette went down quickly and easily, as she wasn't exactly combat ready. However, she didn't stop resisting, bucking her body around in a desperate attempt to get free. She heard Sophia's cries and began making a 'sssss' noise as if trying to reply. She twisted one of her arms to try and dig her claws into the attacker.

By the time Chase re-appeared from the bathroom, the girl in question that he had been carrying was now a squirming, red-furred wolf-pup that was snapping at his arms.

At Riaze's back the fire was rapidly spreading as it licked its way up the curtains and door frame, filling the house with thick smoke.

Claws scythed into his side, a roar more bestial than man ripping free of Riaze as raw instinct, lone eye blazing as he reared back for a killing blow. Halting through brute force of will, snarling.

"Here to help, bitch!" Lunging off of the woman as he shoved forward, the lycan threw a glance backwards, hacking at a draft of smoke. "Choice is your's. In or out, but we are going out! Chase, on my heels! We are leaving!"

Raquette closed her eyes tightly as the roar deafened her for a moment, expecting the blow that never came. As soon as he moved off of her, she jumped up and glanced between the two of them before dashing for her phone.

She typed quickly as she moved toward the one that held Sophia. "Give her back!" the electronic voice echoed without feeling.

Chase seemed to all but ignore Raquette's words at his back as he moved after Riaze, trying to hold the squirming pup securely to his chest.

Raquette barred her teeth, but crouched down an followed them in their exit of the house. She didn't let the one with Sophia get outside of a foot away from her.
 
as written by Lobos

A moment's regard to the mute woman, then a snarl as he turned towards the front of the house, veering into his lupine form with appalling swiftness. His form merely seemed to blur and expand, as he bolted forward not on the two legs of a man, but the four of a wolf the size of a horse, fur the hue of midnight. Lunging forward, Riaze trusted in the pair behind him to follow on his heels, tucking his head as he plowed through the front of the house like a out-of-control car.

From smoke and ash to the clean air of the night, scrabbling on the pavement as he hacked bodily, shaking hot embers and dust from his massive head, crimson eyes almost luminous.
 
as written by Alara

Chase kept low, hunched over the pup in his arms to protect it from the smoke and flames as he too spilled out of the building, coughing heavily. As Raquette joined them out front of the building, he all but shoved the flailing pup into her arms. The thing had already bitten him numerous times.

With his arms free he rested his hands on his thighs to let out a few more hacking coughs.

"I better not get rabies," he managed in jest.
 
as written by CelticCat

Raquette held out her arms as soon as she'd made it through the front door, a few silent coughs shaking her body. She more than eagerly held the pup to her chest--tightly. She couldn't risk Sophia running off in some random direction in her fear. She made soft, breathy "shhhh" sounds to the girl, not willing to relinquish her hold on the girl to type.

She looked between the two werewolves warily. Not Scion. However, she was still on guard. They could easily be recruits from out of town.
 
as written by Lobos

Sembling his return to human form was as swift as his veering, a blurring of outline as it sharply drew inwards, shrinking to the man's slighter build. Glaring at Raquette a moment, he shook his head as he glanced his lone eye towards Chase.

"Don't let me talk myself into that again. I don't want a reputation of being soft spreading around." The words were growled out, though there was the ghost of a smirk on his face, but it vanished quickly as he regarded the woman and pup once more.

Rubbing a hand on his face, he narrowed his unnerving stare, sighing. "I don't suppose you can explain, since it seems you can't talk, can you?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top