If it's a bad day, you try to suffocate

[lasttimeilost]

Chicago's a rough city to be in any day of the week, but for some people it's rougher today than it has been in a while.

Leon Warner is laying on his side in a puddle from the rain yesterday, protecting his head from the poorly-aimed kicks of the group of larger boys around him. Oddly enough, he didn't ask for this fight, it just came to him, and

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[starryeyed_cass]

Cassie is passing the alley when she overhears the fighting. She stops with a pang of fear and quickly turns invisible to judge the situation. She doesn't know who the boy on the floor is being kicked and punched - but she knows in her heart that she has to stop it. She can't fight herself, but she does know one way to try and stop it.

Inhaling deeply, Cassie silently stalks down the alley toward the group. Shadows erupt from all around her and begin to crawl along the ground reaching up onto the walls. They come in the forms of strange and terrifying beasts, some that might come from books others more real in appearance: wolves, gargoyles, things with huge claws and teeth silently roaring and clawing at the brickwork.

As they reach the group, they leap down from the walls and take a more 3D form. They circle the group, starving, hideous wolves looking for a meal. The details of the beasts incredibly life-like - right down to the fur and the shadow-drool dripping from the angry, snapping mouths.

"Leave. Him. Alone." Cassie orders

[lasttimeilost]

Ohhh, that's a good way to get the boys to panic. The minute the wolves appear, the group panics and practically fall over each other in an attempt to get away. "Shit shit shit shit shit!" the one who was punching Leon cries as he falls over and begins to crawl away as fast as he can.

If Leon actually understood what was going on, he might be laughing, but instead, he's decided that there's some kind of Rift monster or something, so he just lays there and pretends to be dead. It's not very hard, as his face is covered in blood, and if he can hold his breath for long enough, it might lose interest and go away.

Or it might try to eat him, but he doubts he could outrun a monster anyway, so he's going to risk it.

[starryeyed_cass]

Cassie might not be able to be seen by anyone, but she's grinning proudly. That she's gotten them away without actually needing to use her fists. That she's been able to successfully scare them instead. It annoyed her that it didn't work on Kaden, but this time has given her a little hope.

One of the wolves snaps at the heels of the boy crawling away for good measure - making sure he goes as quickly as possible. And as soon as the boys have gone, the shadow monsters remain and watch warily - making sure they don't come back.

Cassie walks over and picks up the bag lying in the puddle. Crouching down at his side, she appears into view with a concerned look.

"Oh god, are you alright?" she asks in a worried tone. She carefully reaches down and brushes some bloodied hair out the way with one hand, another trying to find a pulse at his neck. "I.. Can you hear me?"

[lasttimeilost]

The boy crawling away squeaks in fear and scrambles to his feet as he's snapped at. They're all gone now--there's just trash in the alley, and Leon and Cassie and her monsters and the sound of cars as they pass by.

Leon flinches at first when she touches him, because oh god he's going to get eaten. Also the monster speaks English. But then, those are HUMAN fingers, not monster claws of any kind. He opens his eyes and lets out the breath he was holding.

"Oh," he says. Which isn't the BEST response in the world, perhaps, but it's the first thing out of his mouth. Oh Leon.

/gives you some late tags

[lil_nellie]

Nellie isn't exactly the best person to help fight off bullies, but when she's wandering by an alley and hears a commotion she can't help but check it out. She immediately recognized Leon as the boy who she met on her first night in Chicago, and she knows she has to help somehow. She has to repay his kindness.

She's small and she knows she'll be no match for the boys going after him. Or she doesn't have much faith that she will be. Even so she's determined. She spots the backpack on the ground and sneaks over to it, then picks it up and goes running, swinging it at whatever bully is closest. It feels heavy enough to her, maybe it'll get her somewhere.

I LOVE ALL TAGS. Including lates ones. :)

[lasttimeilost]

"AUGH, WHAT THE FUCK?" the boy she hits shouts, and attention for a second shifts to Nellie, which gives Leon about half a second to assess the damage on the ground. The damage is: OW.

And now he doesn't have time to think about how much he hurts or where he's bleeding, because there is another person involved here, and if they get hurt on his behalf, he's going to feel ridiculously guilty.

So he strikes out at the boy on top of him, catching him off guard and sending him rolling away, whimpering in pain. He's free now to scramble to his feet and start in on the closest kid he can reach.

"Run!" he shouts to the girl, because even between the two of them, they can't take on the entire group. "Run!"

[lil_nellie]

She watches this all go down with wide eyes, but she doesn't move. She should. She should run. This isn't her fight and she doesn't actually know this boy, but...she can't move. Her head shakes and instead of running she runs up to knock a kid in the side of the head with her elbow. Maybe not the greatest move, but it's the first thing that comes to her.

She really isn't a fighter though so she doesn't know how well this can actually end. She just has to hope that these boys won't hit a girl.

[lasttimeilost]

Leon punches a guy in the face, and then shoves him away. He's a half-way decent good fighter, in no small part because he's been in more fights than he can count. He's not great, though, and most of his tactics tend to revolve around pushing people off balance.

"Go!" he shouts. "Go go go go go!" A third guy gets punched, and then Leon is shoved to the ground. "RUN!" he screams, because hell if he's going to let her get beaten up. These guys are going to hit a girl if she hits first, and the one she elbowed has almost recovered by this point, and is pissed. He whirls on her.

"You bitch!" he shouts. Leon hopes to god she's fast, because he doesn't know how much time he has to get all these guys off of him, plus go running after her.

[ohshiny_tomatos]

Luckily, or maybe unluckily, for Michael there is a certain blond thief wandering about. It may be early, but she hasn't actually been to bed yet. She has been out all night doing things she shouldn't be doing and because of that she is still dressed in her all black catsuit. She has a jacket over it now to keep out the early morning chill, though.

When she finds Michael she just stops and stares at him. She's trying to figure out if he's dead or asleep. Dead wouldn't be fun. Dead would mean she would have to run in the other direction. But if he's asleep? Well, she's too damn curious about why he would be sleeping there to not find out.

She steps closer to him and crouches down, then jabs a finger at his side. "Hey!" Her whisper isn't quite a whisper, but it's not loud either. It's more like a child's stage whisper. "Hey! Are you dead?"

[stillaboyscout]

Vaughn moans. That should be a sign that he is Not Dead, although he could be a zombie! Which might be even more interesting than alive.

Except he continues to moan, and then he opens his eyes and blinks up at this woman peering down at him. Who the hell is she? And why is his back wet? Why isn't he in bed? Questions flood his head and he closes his eyes again, willing himself to just go back to sleep so he can wake up again.

"This is not happening," he whispers to himself, because maybe if he verbalizes it, it can come true.

[ohshiny_tomatos]

Parker is just leaning over him, peering, almost amused. She will be relieved that he's Not Dead, but possibly a little disappointed in the lack of zombie. Zombie's are cool. At least she thinks so, but then one hasn't tried to eat her before so she might change her mind one day.

But when the man moans and she realizes he's not dead, she will only peer closer. And poke him again.

Her head tilts when he speaks. "Yes it is." She doesn't know what "it" is, but clearly it is happening. She can see it.

[stillaboyscout]

Vaughn keeps his eyes closed, because maybe he's right, and he's just lucid dreaming or something. Stranger things have happened in Chicago.

But then she pokes him and he opens his eyes and if he's dreaming, it's a REALLY convincing dream. And he may as well interact with this woman, because she appears to not be going away.

"Okay then," he says, looking back up at her. "It's happening." Better to have that attitude in Chicago, he knows by now. Still. Waking up in the park with no memory of how he got there? That is a little ridiculous.