rattle...what’s that rattle?

[felinemystique]

Characters: Bastet/Yoruichi felinemystique, and OPEN to witnesses/arrivals after the fact
Date/Time: late morning, Monday, August 15, directly after/during this entry.
Location: A remote area of the Park
Rating: PG-13 or so
Summary: Yoruichi has unwisely taunted the Tree and its creator, and so pays the price.
Notes: While I know some people will arrive during

Comments

[crimsonmischief]

Crimson had been working in his lab, lost in his various researches, his journal sitting next to him on the table, unopened and unchecked that day. So it wasn't surprising that he missed Bastet's outburst and loss of control due to whoever the anonymous writer had been. However, what he did not miss was the flare of that familiar reiatsu, turning it from a lazy summer breeze to a raging, fiery tiger. It caused his head to snap up in alarm, grey eyes flashing with worry as he dropped the test tube he had been holding

[felinemystique]

It took a few seconds to register that someone was calling her, and another few still to realize it was Kisuke. She was exhausted; her insides felt scraped out and battered, and she knew the rest of her would follow suit soon enough.

He must be frantic with worry; she knew she had to look a mess. Blood mixed with dirt itched as it dried all over her skin, and her injuries had soaked through most of her rainbow fatigues.

Still, though, she managed to lift a hand and pluck at his sleeve, her grip feeble compared to the force she'd used earlier to destroy the ground. Her eyes burned as she looked up at him; despite her injuries, she was still as angry as she'd been earlier.

"Still...here," she gritted out, taking short, shallow breaths. "I don't...think he could kill me...this time." Her grip on his sleeve tightened as her voice grew more fervent. "Have to...tell people. He's getting weakerIf he was getting weaker, then there must be a way to take advantage. Yes, he obviously still held significant power, but there had to be a

/sneaks in here

[weaver_girl]

Kagerou had been running in the Park after her morning training with Gai. In fact, she'd mostly been walking in between short skips and hops at a jog, as the sparring part had already expended a good part of her effort. In midstep, she jarred into a halt as a tremendous, jagged wave of energy went up somewhere in the more wooded area ahead. She'd felt Yoruichi's presence there earlier and filed it away like she noted the weather or a fetching hat on a passerby, but the morsel of information slid into acute context with the swelling of her reiatsu

[sting_to_death]

As soon as she felt Bastet-sama's reiatsu flare Lin wished to run where she was, but she'd been told times and again about boundaries, about leaving the woman some space, about being reasonable... So she waited for a while, being as reasonable as possible, but when she felt Crimson's reiatsu joining her mentor's she had no doubts anymore.

She ran there as fast as she could, ignoring the elevator-- almost taking a branch right in the stomach on her way there. Lin stopped for a moment, utterly shocked. Something like that had never happened to her. Not like this, the Tree had never tried to stop her in such a way. Why? Why now? She had no time to think about it, she had to get to Bastet-sama, no matter what.

She jumped over the branch, planted both feet on it and used it to launch herself even faster towards the point Bastet-sama's desperate reiatsu came from. It was the feeling of her mentor's energy growing so erratic and angry that made her lose focus, made it impossible to think about anything else but getting there immediately

[crimsonmischief]

Holding her close with one arm, Crimson slowly began to do his best at assessing the amount of damage Yoruichi had taken, his hand hovering over the wounds as grey eyes took in what they could through the fatigues before they snapped up to meet Yoruichi's

[weaver_girl]

Kagerou scrambled upright again, giving Lin a glance but zeroing in on Yoruichi. She was the important thing here, never mind all Kagerou's misgivings about Lin--surely they could work together here?

"I'll do my best." Please, please don't fail me now. "Please don't move her any more, Crimson-san. Actually, just stay right there, I can..." There might have been a way to manoeuvre her healing shield with more finesse, but she found it easiest to just make it completely encompass the person she was healing.

Shunou, Ayame--help me! With her thought, the two fairies detached from her hairpins, drawing a tawny dome of energy over both Yoruichi and Crimson, as he was still crouched beside her. To her enormous relief, Kagerou felt her power flow into the shield without restraint. The damage began to reverse itself, the gaping gashes in Yoruichi's limbs and torso rapidly closing up. The wounds were deep: Kagerou wasn't sure if she could fix them all the way, but at least she could turn them back from life-threatening.

[felinemystique]

It became harder to concentrate as the adrenaline drained from her body, leaving her woozy and chilled. She almost hissed at Crimson for moving her; even with as much care as he'd taken not to jostle her, pain still flared up from her wounds.

Kagerou's and Lin's arrivals were noted vaguely, but injuries were pushing everything else to the background; things like tactics and planning would simply have to wait.

The conversation above her sounded far away and fuzzy, as though they were speaking through a layer of cotton wool. But a moment later, amber light seeped through her barely open eyelids, and she could feel her wounds beginning to mend. The temptation to simply slip into unconsciousness was great, but she hung on, concentrating on keeping her breathing steady and shallow.

[sting_to_death]

Lin held her breath as she heard Crimson and Kagerou talk behind her. Much as she wanted to turn around and see if she could do something too-- or at least check what was going on, Lin didn't budge. She stood there, staring instead at the branches, turning towards any creak or noise. She picked apart Crimson's tone and words to figure out what conditions her mentor was in, gladly not finding any trace of desperation in it. She should have realized that he was probably able to keep a calm voice even in the worst of situations, but right now she just thought it was incredibly reassuring to hear him speak like that

[crimsonmischief]

When the amber light engulfed Yoruichi, Crimson had to fight to keep from jerking towards Kagerou in surprise. Instead, he settled for letting his eyes dart towards her as fragmented images seemed to slam home in his head, settling in with hardly any finesse even as that ever familiar niggling sensation tickled at the back of his mind. But this was not the time to think on those, not when his best friend was like this, not when the Tree could attack again at any moment

[weaver_girl]

What Kagerou would not have given to be able to simply mend Yoruichi, to make the horrible injuries knit up and bones and muscles become whole and sound again. When she had healed Kazahana in her memory, it had been taxing, but somehow... clean and wholesome, as if something in the Sphere's air were clouding the flow of her energy when she focused it into healing.

However, she did the best she could, gripping her wrist to hold her hand firm above the glowing shield, funnelling her power into it as quickly and steadily as possible. It would not lift the pain, but it would heal what it did cleanly, beginning from the deepest part of the injuries. She wasn't certain if Crimson had sustained any harm getting to Yoruichi, but any minor hurts of his would vanish at the same time.

"There," she finally stammered, breaking off the healing only when she felt herself nearly wobble sideways. "That-that's the best I can do. How... how do you feel, Yoruichi-san? Should we get you to Wellspring? I'm sure Kazahana could... help some more."

[felinemystique]

Being healed by Kagerou was different than being healed by Kazahana, in some distinct, unidentifiable way. She didn't try to determine the specifics, simply noting it as 'different' and leaving it at that

[sting_to_death]

With every minute that went by, Lin was beginning to feel more and more reassured the Tree wouldn't attack again. By the time Kagerou was done, her heart had stopped pounding loudly in her chest, and she even risked walking around them, standing behind Kagerou and before Crimson. He would surely keep his guard high and watch for any branches that could come behind Lin's back, and she'd do the same with him. That way, they'd be protected from all sides

[crimsonmischief]

Now that Bastet was out of immediate danger, Crimson could feel the anger start to rise again. Anger at Fugue and the tree for all that it had done, but also anger at whoever had told Bastet such things.

And perhaps some anger at Bastet herself for believing such things enough to lose her control like that, for placing herself in danger.

Forcing it all back down though, he merely focused on his worry, lightly placing a grateful hand on Kagerou's shoulder before he withdrew it so as to be able to stand up with Bastet cradled to his chest. It would be best to take her home and let her rest there for now.

"Shh..." he chided softly as he tucked her close, turning to catch Lin's eyes before shifting them over to Kagerou, silently asking her to make sure that the girl would be alright. After all, they did owe her for healing Bastet. Hopefully that would be enough for Lin to at least act somewhat decently towards her. "Let's get you into a bed first, hmm?"

[weaver_girl]

She managed a wan smile in response to Crimson's gesture, nodding at him. Stiff upper lip, chin up and eyes forward, she was just a little woozy and it would pass. Her power rippled and snagged, but she willed it to still and wrap around her like a comfy blanket. That was a good mental image, anyway.

"He took them all away." Yoruichi could only mean one person. Later, Kagerou would go over this scattered conversation and try to make sense of it, but that shone clear: Fugue.

"I'll... come see you later, Yoruichi-san, but Crimson-san is right. You need to rest."

[felinemystique]

Yoruichi inhaled slowly, trying to force a little more steadiness into her voice. "Home," she said. "Don't...feel like staying at Wellspring." She still kept her hand over her eyes, even knowing that the gesture did nothing to hide her pain and anger and grief.

She didn't want to rest, even though she needed it. She wanted to get to work, to make sure Fugue was never able to do this to anyone again. Never again using people as playthings under the guise of benevolence. As though loneliness excused what he'd done.

So as difficult as it would be, she'd wait. She'd recover, and bide her time, and gather her friends, and they would work to find a way to break his power over them.

[sting_to_death]

Lin was torn for a moment on whether she was supposed to go with Bastet or watch over Kagerou. On one hand, she really wanted to be with her mentor, and the girl didn't seem to be needing assistance-- on the other, clearly they owed Kagerou for healing Bastet, and Crimson was there to take care of everything.

Eventually, she looked at Crimson holding Bastet in his arms and thought that maybe it could actually be a good thing to leave them alone a few minutes. The last thing she wanted to be was a nuisance, and she couldn't think the woman was happy about letting everyone see her in such a state. Only a few minutes, she promised to herself, then nodded at Crimson.

"I'll be there soon." Then, to Kagerou: "I'll walk you home."

Maybe by the time she'd be back Bastet would have managed to pull herself together a bit, and then she could have asked at least what had just happened, what those words meant.