savetheearth | 19th Howl [Audio | Tuesday afternoon]

Entry tags:

19th Howl [Audio | Tuesday afternoon]

19th Howl [Audio | Tuesday afternoon]

The house had smelled off ever since Lyall got home from class, like acid wash or soap or those awful little grue things except worse. He was sitting on the couch with more paperwork-- though he was almost finished with most everything up until today, thank god-- while Hajime watched his obnoxious Japanese television... when the scent suddenly intensified and something crashed against the front window.

Something with tentacles and, incongruously enough, a long flowered skirt.

The sound of the crash was enough to tear Hajime away from the terrible soap opera he was watching. Not like he had anything better to do, and not like Lyall knew enough Japanese to know exactly what the show was. (So he thought.) He jumped up from his seat when he heard the crash, and his reflex was to warningly brandish his arm blades at...at...whatever it was.

Apparently, the triple-paned windows were as good as advertised: the glass didn’t even crack, though it did creak alarmingly as whatever that... thing was... smashed limbs repeatedly against it. Or tentacles. Lyall, startled, sent papers flying everywhere as he, too, leapt to his feet. His inclination, however, was to jump behind the couch, rather than to attack.

“What is that?” he squawked, squashing the urge to hide, but definitely bumped back against the couch. The tentacles continued to flail, and someone outside was shouting, or maybe wailing-- hard to hear, what with the thick window glass.

Hajime was moving towards the door now. “Whatever it is, I’m going to try to fight it off...” Whether or not that was actually a good idea was anyone’s guess. “Doesn’t look like it’s going to leave otherwise...” He tried yelling a few words at it in the monstrous language he’d picked up, though he didn’t think that would do much good.

It didn’t. Though when Hajime opened the door, despite Lyall’s abortive motion to maybe stop him, the shouting did indeed become a wail-- a sobbing wail-- in English: “Come ooooout I am lost and alone and huuuuuurt and I don’t understaaaaaaand! Come out so I can kill yoooooou!”

“Hajime!” Lyall cried, as tentacles immediately reached around the porch and towards the young-man-turned-bug.

Hajime’s response was to growl threateningly at the thing that said it had come to kill them. He yelled something back at it in his monster language, mostly because he felt like he needed to return that threat with one of his own and some part of his brain still wasn’t comfortable using such language around an old teacher. He felt his blades would be defense enough against squishy tentacles, so he charged at it swinging.

The wail turned into a scream as Hajime sliced through one of the grasping tentacles, and Lyall could only imagine what the neighbors were thinking-- hopefully none of them were home, or staring out their windows, or calling the police. He gulped and ran towards the door, keeping back from Hajime and his blades, but wanting to see and help, if he could. Despite being rather terrified.

To his intense surprise, what he saw was a mostly human torso and head on top of the writhing mass of tentacles, and that head was recognizably someone he knew. “June?!” he exclaimed, while the human half of the monster recoiled from Hajime and the octopus-half reached for them both again.

At the sound of Lyall saying that name, Hajime hesitated. “You know her?” This was just a human like him, someone who had been transformed...though she was hostile. Very hostile. He swung a blade at those reaching tentacles anyway. There seemed to be no other way for them to defend themselves.

They didn’t really have to, thankfully, because as the tentacles reached for Hajime’s arm blades, the whole of June Bellweather-- or what she’d become-- started to... deflate. It was the only word Lyall could think of to describe it. She started to fall in on herself, shrinking and... melting, almost. The grasping tentacles became weak twitches clutching at whatever came within reach, but without the strength to actually damage it.

At that, Lyall actually came outside, hurrying to her side as she collapsed against the porch and Hajime, both. Her face was streaked with tears. “Randall....”

At this point, Hajime had no idea what was going on, and he shifted gears from aggressive monster mode to just trying to hold the poor woman up without accidentally stabbing her with something. “What the...” He trailed off in a bit of mumbled Japanese, clearly pretty shaken by the sudden development.

That much Japanese, Lyall actually knew, and he shook his head. The English teacher, a middle-aged woman with no family that he knew of, was deflating even further-- her whole body, even the human part, seemed to be eating itself away. He tried to grasp a hand-- it seemed to be more of a collection of smaller tentacles, but that was slipping away, as well, even as it slapped weakly at him as if still trying to attack-- and looked helplessly from her to Hajime. “Inside. Get her inside, hurry. We need to call someone to help-- she’s dying, I can’t--” He broke off, feeling useless and flustered.

Hajime scooped up the fading woman as though she were nothing. The still-slapping tentacles didn’t seem to faze him at all. Really, with the way his strength was and as quickly as she was deflating, she might well have been nothing. He went back into the house, glancing over his shoulder as though he were making sure nothing else was out there. “Network. It’s all we’ve got. You need me to dial?”

Lyall closed the door quickly, after peering outside to see just what had been noticed. A few doors were opening, and he hurried to shut the door on it. There was nothing for it: it was going to be noticed. “I can. Set her on the couch, I’ve got the computer up already anyway.” Like always. He motioned for Hajime to move June Bellweather’s now emaciated and twitching body, coughing weakly as she tried to breathe, and dropped to one knee in front of the coffee table where his laptop was set up.

[Lyall’s voice on the network is a little panicked, and he’s speaking very quickly.]

I need help. My house was attacked by-- by one of my co-workers. Or what used to be one of my co-workers. I think she’s dying. And I think there will probably be police here before too long-- she was making a lot of noise. If anyone can hear this, please-- we need help.

[There’s a sickly-sounding cough in the background, rattling in someone’s very wasted chest.]

Please. Hurry.

((note: Hajime may be replying to this, as well!))

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Shit. Uh.

I'm coming.

[he might not be able to do anything, but he was getting tired of feeling useless hearing these things. if anything, he can find a good lawyer and pay for the fees.]

I'll be there. Give me the address.

Who is it?

[Chilled hoarse, quick, and quiet. Maybe it is or isn't appropriate to ask, but that coughing wasn't enough to recognize - and ohh, God, a teacher, someone from the school is dying...]

[[Oh shi---]]

What can I do? What do you need?

Try not to be seen if you can. You know where I live?

[Lyall types out the address quickly, though he's not sure which person this is or if they can even help, figuring anyone can see it and use it is necessary.]

Try not to be seen if you can.

Not one you've had yet. Ms. Bellweather, she teachers junior and senior English, and the AP English classes.

[He can at least say that for Anthony, though he's one of the few. His voice is pained, anyway, because he knows her. Knew her.]

I don't know. A doctor. A lawyer. Someone to keep the police out of my house since there's a dying woman with tentacles and a giant bug-man.

[None of which Bakura can really help with, but this is Lyall panicking, and hey, Bakura did ask....]

I can make a distraction.

[[Because having Diabound appear somewhere else for just long enough to be noticed would be a hell of one. And if he did it in a very crowded area... it would be impossible to tell who had summoned him, right?]]

I'll do my best. [which means he'll have to ditch his car and use one of those company cars ew. oh well.]

I'm - sorry -- ... [With an injection of pain in sympathy on top of dread - indeed maybe he should have just kept his mouth shut - and yet he blurts on anyway:]

-- What can be done?

Crap. Are the tentacles staying around or are they disappearing like those random body parts?

Don't do anything too stupid.

[Because, really, any distraction is probably going to have elements of "this was a bad idea" involved.]

I won't.

Two seconds of a monster showing up in the middle of the mall should be enough to get the job done, right?

...I should go check on that. I know I sliced off at least one back there...

[The next sound is the sound of a giant bug-man stomping off towards the front door to make sure octopus-person bits aren't littering the yard.]

[Brooke is either unrattled by the noises or very good at concealing it.]

If you don't know yet, that's fine. If the tentacles do end up disappearing, you might have to let me know if she has any next of kin. They'd want to know, but if she's... not looking normal, I might be able to remove some of them for you.

If she ends up as one of the deceased, I mean.

[Breaking back in, this time aloud, not taking the time to actually type anything out.]

Bakura, there are more than just a few police in this city! All you'll do is draw attention to yourself, and probably not stop anyone coming here, either.

I don't know.

[Which isn't a helpful answer, but he doesn't have much else. But his co-worker is dying, mutated, on his couch. Though the mutations seem to be fading, leaving mangled legs instead of tentacles....]

God, I just don't know. I don't know if she has any family... I don't know how to explain how she died in my living room.

Thank you.

[Maybe so. He'll be here, and depending on how long it takes Sho to get here, there might be a cop car here by then, too. Then again, if he's quick, he might beat them.]

[nice thing about a boring blue sedan a couple years old and a little dusty is how easily it was to drive it under the radar. the color wasn't meant to attract the eyes and the shape wasn't one that screamed that it was capable of moving like a sports car. Shou still felt it wasn't fast enough but at least it wasn't flashy as his metallic orange sports car.

He'll take it into an alley close by before taking the rest of the way on foot. He's actually dressed more for work today in a boring suit that wasn't tailored and regular slip-on shoes. He even was wearing glasses and a tie. But before he went pounding on the door, he sent a quick message through the network.]

Any police yet?

It's worth a try! [[and what else is he going to do...?]]

No, sorry. What's the address?

That's...probably going to...ah...we really need a doctor or something in here...

[Because, yes, the woman is probably going to die, but Hajime is kind of reluctant to say that for Lyall's sake.]

Crap. I don't know how to keep people alive and I don't think I know anyone who's not working right now who could help. I saw you had people coming, right? Maybe they can help save her.

I hope they can get to you. I'm sorry, I can't leave where I am right now, and I can't exactly call 911.

But she's not -- necessarily going to die! [Likewise surely stupidly unhelpful if not worse, but she isn't dead yet, from the way that it sounds!]

[Someone else was alarmed to hear this.]

-- No - he's right, don't -- [And yet if he wants to help it would be stupid to try to discourage entirely...] -- at least without someone to keep their eye out for things.

[It's not the network post that he hears -- it's the commotion. And that much is enough to have him hurrying over to see what the hell is going on. Whether it's network-related or something comparatively mundane, he's not sure yet.

[Not until he sees Mr. Lyall and the guy who'd turned into a giant bug. Definitely has to be network stuff, right? And just what are they dragging though the door? It looks vaguely human, but the tentacles . . .

[The sudden pulsing in his head stops him short, that now-familiar hollow feeling sweeping through him for just a moment. An image of another person, a different person, with tentacles writhing, imposes itself on his sight in that instant. Gah.

[He shakes his head. No time to be worrying about that now. Something's just happened and he has to . . . He has to what? What can he even do, here? Hell if he knows, but he can't just stand around being useless, can he?

[His gaze darts around the neighbourhood. Nothing else seems out-of-place, though there's no telling if anyone saw something and decided to call the cops. Not knowing what else to do, he makes his way over to the house, trying not to hurry too much and draw more suspicion.

[... Are those blinds open? Crap. Someone could get brave and go peeking into that window and see whatever's going on, and . . . Nope, not letting that happen.

[And so just after the message gets out to the network, Toushirou raps on the window, and in a voice only as loud as he dares so as to carry through the glass:] Hey. Get these blinds closed before somebody normal gets it in their heads to come look in here.

Mou! I'm not so stupid to get caught!

And there's no way I want you there too, one person can get the hell out much faster than two and you already stick out. [[there's a pointed note in there. Anthony is way too much of a goodie goodie to be good as a lookout and in his condition may as well have a read target painted on his back. No way in hell Bakura was going to put him in danger.

Muttering to himself in Japanese now as he swipes away from this conversation and sends out a text]]

I posted it via text on the next thread. I have a feeling there will be a few people converging on my house soon, here....

Not yet, thank god. But they won't be much longer, I'm sure.

Unless someone with some kind of magical healing shows up in the next couple minutes....

[He realizes a bit belatedly who he's talking to, and doesn't actually finish that thought.]

I'm sorry. I don't-- this is just a little out of my league.

[His head jerks up at the rapping, but the voice simply doesn't carry through the triple-layered windows loudly enough for Lyall to actually understand it. He does spot the boy, though, and hurries to the door to beckon him in, hissing worriedly,]

Get in here, before you're seen!

If it's a big crowd, maybe I should hold off. Don't large presences attract more of the monsters?

[The fussing is kind of annoying, but between the pulse he'd just experienced and the general immediacy of the situation, his irritation doesn't show much beyond a slight furrow of his brow.

[He hurries inside as bidden, and barely spares a glance at Hajime. Is it sad that he's getting a little used to people looking so strange already? Maybe. Who knows? It's useful, at least. He closes the blinds.]

These shouldn't be open. Somebody could get too curious even before any cops get here.

Okay. I'm almost there, so if there is anyone or thing that needs hidden, I got a car they can be put in. I also have a list of lawyers to contact that are fairly level for you to look at. I don't know what else I can help with but that might be a good start.

I hadn't... even gotten to thinking about that. Thanks.

[Lyall shuts the door behind him, looking back at the dying form of his co-worker. He can't seem to help it; he's worried, but there's nothing he can do. Ms. Bellweather coughs again, a wheezing sound, and shudders. At least most of the tentacles seem to be turning back into legs and fingers....]

You got here awfully fast.

[It's the only thing he can think of to say.]

Just June. I think she's dead. I can't find a pulse, and she looks like she can't be possibly alive. I don't know what to do with her.

[There's a little panic there. The Sage died in front of him, the dog police were torn apart, but this... is something entirely different.]

Someone I don't know, and Toushirou, so it's not too many. No police yet. I keep hoping that they just won't show.

[He glances over toward the woman when she coughs, but he doesn't look long. He's seen violence before, thanks to all this, and he's a pretty together person in general . . . but that doesn't mean he has to watch that.

[He shrugs.] I was already in the neighbourhood. I heard the commotion.

Take a deep breath. [he wouldn't know what to do either but he didn't think that panicking would do anyone any good.] You just contacted the club, right? No one else?

Of course. Who else would I call? The police?

[Hahaha no.]

Oh. Right. Of course. Because there was a lot of it, and I'm sure half the city heard it.

[He turns back to the dying teacher on his couch, who is slowly looking more and more normal, if more and more wasted and death-like, but can't really decide what to do. The regular emergency first aid he's been trained in for school seems like it really wouldn't do much good, here. He feels, and looks, helpless.]

Just checking. Hate to walk in on a bunch of guys waving guns in my face.

[he double checks anyways before knocking on the back door.]

[The back door is not really what Lyall had been expecting, so it takes him a minute to get to it. It's the door attached to the garage, which is mostly not in use, so he has to flick on some lights, trip over some boxes, and curse a little before he gets to it.]

Hello? Can I-- oh, are you from... where I was just talking?

[Because hey, he didn't know who he was talking to exactly. At least it's obvious the young man isn't a cop.]

Shou of the Numbered.

[He smiles, making a 'V' with his hand before glancing around. the back looks a little odd but if he didn't use it that much, maybe they could use it to sneak things out without people noticing anything too weird.]

Did anyone else from the network get a hold of you?

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

19th Howl [Audio | Tuesday afternoon]

voice;

no subject

[Audio]

[Text]

[Audio]

no subject

[Audio]

[Text]

[Text]

no subject

[Audio]

audio;

[Text]

[Text]

audio;

no subject

[Audio]

[Audio]

no subject

no subject

[Audio]

[Audio] derp sorry for the late reply

no subject

no subject

[Audio]

[Audio]

Action

[Audio]

[Audio] no worries, I'm slow too :B

no subject

[Audio]

no subject

[Audio]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

[Audio]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject