Once Greed had determined that his cell phone was telling him something and not simply acting up in some strange way, he listened with the utmost interest. It was only bits and pieces, but it was the first break in the day-to-day normalcy of this place he'd had since his arrival. And it certainly didn't sound normal.
All he needed was an idea of the location and he was off, taking the window route; no time to deal with his 'mother.' Enduring her worries had been worth it, as his explorations of the city now allowed him to easily head in the right direction.
...Okay, so he could see that Plan A might have to be revised, somewhat. The convict was... changing? He didn't have much time to try and unravel just what was happening there, as someone shrieking off in the trees somewhere distracted him, which in turn allowed him to spot the wolf coming in for an attack just in time to lift his still shielded arm. He let it chomp down on that instead of his unprotected head (though that was another perfectly good coat sleeve ruined, damn it). However, it was still freaking huge, and the momentum of its attack knocked him forcefully down to one knee in the stream with a splash, his arm still in its mouth.
"Damn it- I didn't come here for you!"
He jerked his arm in its clamped mouth, trying to force its head to move (and maybe break a few teeth) while he held the fingers of his free hand together in a point and jammed them up into beast's neck from below.
Then it was probably a good thing that Shannon was continuing to panic.
This was overwhelming. There were beasts everywhere. People were fighting, and really fighting too, not the kind of fighting people did for him! Not the kind of fighting he'd watch on a stage at night. Why wasn't anyone else screaming? "You are all mad!" Maybe it was time to let the boys do their work. Shannon wasn't interested in shards. He just wanted to prove a point, but now Shannon was thinking that the point might actually be a few miles away, warm and safe in his basement room.
He moved to back up -- and fell, very squarely, on his behind. There was something on his leg. There was something on his leg. He pulled away, trying to dislodge his booted foot from the...tree? Time to scream again: "It's not letting go! Powers, it's not letting go!" He dug his nails into the coiled root and pulled hard, damning his manicure in favor of saving his wonderful, glorious life.
Plainly this was about to be not the wolf's night. Having no reason to avoid, it sank its teeth into Greed's arm -- or at least attempted. The carbon it met with, combined with the jerk, did indeed shatter several teeth.
It didn't have long to register pain, though, as Greed's fingers dove into its throat, releasing a thick spray of blood.
Greed might not entirely have luck, though, for even as this happened, Felix's spell hit, its fur was a sudden flare of flame bearing down on its assailant.
Michaels, meanwhile, was wasting no time and had circled into the woods, vanishing for the moment among the trees.
Shannon would have difficulties of his own -- a second loop snagged his other leg, pulling him forward.
He sank his hand deep into the wolf's throat- but before he could do anything more, suddenly it was on fire. Where the hell did that come from!? He glimpsed what could possibly be a person- was that who had shrieked a moment ago?- over the flames before the stench of burning fur and flesh forced him back to the task at hand. He yanked his hand out of its throat, the blood spraying much more thickly once he had, and forced his arm out of its ruined maw before taking a quick few steps back
( ... )
"It's got the other one now, the other one!" He tried to kick and flail and generally struggle, but it was doing nothing. Felix was handling him in a very undignified way - that hadn't happened for a while - and although he appreciated the help, his arms and shoulders were starting to ache. This was not going well. "And I tried to leave, but it clearly won't let me!" Yes, Shannon was still worried about getting the last word.
"I don't...I don't know what to do! I need help!" And in that moment of complete terror, panic, and desperation, the world changed.
Well, the world was always changing. But Shannon's world was about to be rocked. If he were in the mind to look down, he'd have seen a tiny, tiny sprout shoot up to his left. Within moments, it was five inches of tree branch sticking out of the dirt. And then it was a sharp brown point, emerging rapidly from the ground and shooting towards the source of the roots, spinning forward like a drill.
Oh, and there was a pretty new daisy next to Shannon's right hand.
Light. Chaos. Noise. It was hard to entirely make it all out, particularly from Fuu's position. She wasn't about to get any closer; she did, in truth, have much more common sense than Lois Lane. The darkness also impeded things, making her unable to make out faces
( ... )
Meanwhile, near Shannon, a woman appeared within the bark of the tree that held him, her expression laughing and reproachful as she yanked him forward.
But what was this? The branch-drill met with tender, new-formed root. The tree-woman jerked back, roots loosening slightly around Shannon's feet.
There. Wasting no time, he shot in the direction Ling directed, a faint giddy feeling beginning to overtake him. So close. It's almost mine.
Of course, once he spotted him, the surprises just kept piling up. Michaels looked much more chimera than human now, and yet another person had shown up, apparently. Clearly not an accomplice by the way he made a grab for her. A hostage? Screw that-
He was saved from having to deal with that when Fuu elbowed the guy and took a crack at his shin, providing him with an opening. "Nice!" He took it by rushing up and bringing his elbow down onto the arm that held Fuu.
So, Shannon was not having a good day. The tree was not only a tree -- but a woman? "What is she?! What is she?!" His voiced cracked, and he continued to shriek as he was pulled forward.
And then it all happened so fast - Shannon saw the other branch drill forward, felt the circulation start to return to his feet, and then he was tumbling backwards at Felix, flailing his arms for balance he was sure not to find (and hitting a new high note in his screaming!). Apparently, in the heat of battle, Shannon was destined to fall on his ass. Multiple times.
Meanwhile, the branch drill continued to drill deeper -- until Shannon's ass hit solid ground and the prospect of becoming tree food was no longer an immediate issue. Then, it simply stopped, stuck in as far as it had drilled.
Fuu barely had time to register the boy in front of her; her main focus was getting this man-creature to let go. Another kick while he was distracted, putting all her weight into it -- the fracture became a solid break, and Michaels toppled back with a howl frighteningly like the real thing. And with Greed's elbow slamming down on his arm . . . there was no hope of holding onto Fuu, who tumbled out of his grip and into the dirt.
"Fucking . . ." But Michaels barely even spared the time to think, let alone finish the sentence. His arm vanished into a solid mass of bone, sharp like a blade, which sliced towards Greed's neck.
. . . In spite of the break to his shin, beyond the initial pain, he did not even seem to feel it, and it bore his weight.
Pouting, the tree-woman -- or dryad, though she could not say so -- flicked her wounded root, sending Shannon's branch flying. She pulled the wound into the earth and vanished back into the bark.
After the hit, he looked over as Fuu tumbled down, which may have been a mistake as he was just barely able to dodge Michaels' slash at his neck by jerking his upper body back, taking a couple steps back afterward to follow the movement. Where had he gotten a- oh. That was his arm.
As he regained his balance and took on a more defensive stance, arms shielded up to the shoulders and held ready for combat, his single-mindedness finally gave way enough for everything else to begin to catch up and fall into place. This guy... as little as he knew for certain about them, it had to be a shard. And he'd somehow harnessed its power to change like this. That wolf... had it sensed that this man was a threat? No, it wasn't a normal wolf- it must have sensed the shard itself. Wanted it. Was that what this woman had been looking for, too?
He addressed Michaels, casually enough despite the circumstances. "Hey, whatever your name is. How about you hand over your shard, and I'll let you go free. If you don't, I'll have no choice but to take it by
All he needed was an idea of the location and he was off, taking the window route; no time to deal with his 'mother.' Enduring her worries had been worth it, as his explorations of the city now allowed him to easily head in the right direction.
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...Okay, so he could see that Plan A might have to be revised, somewhat. The convict was... changing? He didn't have much time to try and unravel just what was happening there, as someone shrieking off in the trees somewhere distracted him, which in turn allowed him to spot the wolf coming in for an attack just in time to lift his still shielded arm. He let it chomp down on that instead of his unprotected head (though that was another perfectly good coat sleeve ruined, damn it). However, it was still freaking huge, and the momentum of its attack knocked him forcefully down to one knee in the stream with a splash, his arm still in its mouth.
"Damn it- I didn't come here for you!"
He jerked his arm in its clamped mouth, trying to force its head to move (and maybe break a few teeth) while he held the fingers of his free hand together in a point and jammed them up into beast's neck from below.
Reply
(The comment has been removed)
This was overwhelming. There were beasts everywhere. People were fighting, and really fighting too, not the kind of fighting people did for him! Not the kind of fighting he'd watch on a stage at night. Why wasn't anyone else screaming? "You are all mad!" Maybe it was time to let the boys do their work. Shannon wasn't interested in shards. He just wanted to prove a point, but now Shannon was thinking that the point might actually be a few miles away, warm and safe in his basement room.
He moved to back up -- and fell, very squarely, on his behind. There was something on his leg. There was something on his leg. He pulled away, trying to dislodge his booted foot from the...tree? Time to scream again: "It's not letting go! Powers, it's not letting go!" He dug his nails into the coiled root and pulled hard, damning his manicure in favor of saving his wonderful, glorious life.
Reply
It didn't have long to register pain, though, as Greed's fingers dove into its throat, releasing a thick spray of blood.
Greed might not entirely have luck, though, for even as this happened, Felix's spell hit, its fur was a sudden flare of flame bearing down on its assailant.
Michaels, meanwhile, was wasting no time and had circled into the woods, vanishing for the moment among the trees.
Shannon would have difficulties of his own -- a second loop snagged his other leg, pulling him forward.
Reply
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(The comment has been removed)
"I don't...I don't know what to do! I need help!" And in that moment of complete terror, panic, and desperation, the world changed.
Well, the world was always changing. But Shannon's world was about to be rocked. If he were in the mind to look down, he'd have seen a tiny, tiny sprout shoot up to his left. Within moments, it was five inches of tree branch sticking out of the dirt. And then it was a sharp brown point, emerging rapidly from the ground and shooting towards the source of the roots, spinning forward like a drill.
Oh, and there was a pretty new daisy next to Shannon's right hand.
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But what was this? The branch-drill met with tender, new-formed root. The tree-woman jerked back, roots loosening slightly around Shannon's feet.
Reply
Of course, once he spotted him, the surprises just kept piling up. Michaels looked much more chimera than human now, and yet another person had shown up, apparently. Clearly not an accomplice by the way he made a grab for her. A hostage? Screw that-
He was saved from having to deal with that when Fuu elbowed the guy and took a crack at his shin, providing him with an opening. "Nice!" He took it by rushing up and bringing his elbow down onto the arm that held Fuu.
Reply
(The comment has been removed)
And then it all happened so fast - Shannon saw the other branch drill forward, felt the circulation start to return to his feet, and then he was tumbling backwards at Felix, flailing his arms for balance he was sure not to find (and hitting a new high note in his screaming!). Apparently, in the heat of battle, Shannon was destined to fall on his ass. Multiple times.
Meanwhile, the branch drill continued to drill deeper -- until Shannon's ass hit solid ground and the prospect of becoming tree food was no longer an immediate issue. Then, it simply stopped, stuck in as far as it had drilled.
Reply
"Fucking . . ." But Michaels barely even spared the time to think, let alone finish the sentence. His arm vanished into a solid mass of bone, sharp like a blade, which sliced towards Greed's neck.
. . . In spite of the break to his shin, beyond the initial pain, he did not even seem to feel it, and it bore his weight.
Reply
A pity. He might have been fun, too.
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As he regained his balance and took on a more defensive stance, arms shielded up to the shoulders and held ready for combat, his single-mindedness finally gave way enough for everything else to begin to catch up and fall into place. This guy... as little as he knew for certain about them, it had to be a shard. And he'd somehow harnessed its power to change like this. That wolf... had it sensed that this man was a threat? No, it wasn't a normal wolf- it must have sensed the shard itself. Wanted it. Was that what this woman had been looking for, too?
He addressed Michaels, casually enough despite the circumstances. "Hey, whatever your name is. How about you hand over your shard, and I'll let you go free. If you don't, I'll have no choice but to take it by
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