Log: Here, Kitty Kitty
NPCs: Julio Santana
Summary: Coda, Rune, and Julio Santana get more than they bargained for when they go run down a lead at the Golden Gate Recreation Area.
Log
Coda and Rune are, perhaps, quickly able to see why Julio had earned the reputation for driving that he had from Corinna. Traffic laws seemed more like suggestions to the amazingly non-descript man and speed limits were, if anything, challenges.
Be it luck or a bit of preprepared juju though there's not a red light, traffic jam, or cop to be found along the way, though. So he's free to careen through the streets and send that big, windowless white van of his tearing down the road on two wheels just as often as it was on four.
For whatever it was worth though that meant that the trio managed to arrive at the chosen trailhead for the Recreation Area in no time flat. And despite the strange G's he forces his companions to face along the way he turns in his seat and offers the most generic smile known to man to the two all the same. "See, I am not such a bad driver, now am I?~" He remarks as he begins to undo his seatbelt.
Outside of the windshield is. . . well, the sight of a national park. It's beautifully green and growing ever so slightly more colorful this time of the year and one can smell the ocean wafting through the tree cover and cutting past the lingering smells of cars and travelers. Certainly a place so serene could have nothing as sinister as Jeir lurking in it, could it?
---
Rune doesn't mind the driving. Not one bit. If anything, he gets more excited as Julius or whatever picks up speed, sitting up a little straighter in his seat as the adrenaline starts to flow, perfectly trusting. Of course, that could just be the fact that he knows how to put his organs back where they go in the event of accident...
By the time they get to the park, the man looks absolutely invigorated, though he doesn't look back at Coda a few times, just checking in on the man. Probably checking to see if he's managed to keep his dinner down at the breakneck speed that his Leaf never quite manages to reach while Rune is in the car.
Undoing his own seatbelt, he opens the door, stepping out into the park and closing his eyes, just taking in the natural energies that his training tell him are all around.
---
"It did not bother me," Coda assures, giving a quick smile to both Rune and Mr. Santana. He hadn't even been paying attention to the driving, in truth.
He's been pensive since he learned that Sasha Vintelhaus is most likely in the crossfire here. Not having to be behind the wheel gave him time to prep--at least until he gave up, realizing his concentration was barely up to the challenge today. At that point? He'd pulled both his guns out of concealment, checked them, load them up, and get them hidden back in his clothing once more.
In his experience, of course, beauty hides sinister crap all the time, and he frowns up at the sky. If it had been raining all the civilians would be at home. He takes a deep breath and lets it out again, focusing on paying close attention to their surroundings. Not for the natural energies, which he leaves up to Rune, but for signs of danger or for anything it might be important to notice.
---
Julio isn't slow to get boots on dirt once the Rune and Coda prove ready and willing. There's even the continued presence of that slight smirk on his face, no doubt quite content with the fact that no one had any complaints about his driving. Those tended to get old quite fast.
"It was deeper in that I found the traces indicated by the spirit I spoke of at the chantry. Near the. . ." Here he pauses, very obviously trying to dredge up the name of the area he'd been in. "Wildcat Trail? Something along those lines. But if you two are ready we can begin our search. If there's nothing else to bring up, of course?"
---
Rune checks his own gun -- because sometimes, magic just isn't gonna cut it -- before putting the thing down the back of his pants, pulling his shirt down over it. The last thing they need is some open-carry wilderness nut thinking that they're here to take his little slice of whatever land he thinks he owns in a federally owned park. Crazier things have happened.
Glancing over to Julio, he gives a little shake of his head, pulling the hair-tie off of his wrist and attempting to tame that curly mane of his, almost fruitlessly, really. Which really only sort-of works, as always, but it keeps it out of his eyes. "Sounds like a good place to start, then." A glance to Coda here, a small smile offered. Reassuring, or meant to be. "It's gonna be fine."
---
"Other than the reminder that he could have hostages, a reminder you hardly need? I've nothing to bring up. Let's get this done," Coda says, soft, intense. He does quickly go looking for trail his phone, just to see if he can get a map of the area they're about to be going into to quick study while they get there, just in case it's helpful to do so, but...
"Lead the way, Mr. Santana, please."
Rune's reassurance results in a quick, warm smile. Tense, but warm. He may not be so optimistic, but...the words are appreciated all the same.
---
Julio's smile dips a bit when the possibility of a hostage is recounted. Life's little enjoyments never did last too long, did they? Then again, it was probably wrong on some level to go into what amounted to a manhunt with high spirits anyway.
As is likely to be expected the signal Coda manages to garner with his phone isn't the most stable, nor the strongest, yet he is, at least, able to get Google maps up and running, at which point he's able to confirm that the trail their guide spoke of was actually called 'Bobcat' trail.
A rather appropriate name considering the fact that even in the late daytime it felt like something predatory had begun to stalk the group. The sound of rustling branches and foliage could be discerned coming from either side of the trail from moment to moment. Ever a few paces behind and the source always beyond visible range.
Whatever it is, however, it doesn't seem intent on making its presence known just yet, it simply roams alongside the trio.
---
Rune slows a little, crouching down a bit to listen for the sound of the noise following them. It doesn't take him long to pinpoint the source -- mostly. He might not be able to see exactly what it is, but he's got a pretty damn good idea of *where* it is, and what he's looking for. Twisting his fingers in a quick configuration, he ends up with his index fingers crossed, thumbs pressed together, staring through the hole they create for him. It takes him a second to really narrow down what he's looking for, but finally, he sees it, standing back up again as he looks over his shoulder to the others.
"Something small," he assures. "Squirrel, most likely. Something curious about us." He stands, resuming his walk. "The animals here are bold. They've either seen too few people to know to be worried, or too many." Doesn't sound like his faith is on the former.
---
Coda is often the buzzkill on deck (just ask Rune)!
Once he's sure he's got the basic lay of the land as memorized as may be, he turns the phone off and puts it away. He has some tricks for boosting signal but he won't waste those right now, they're tedious and he won't do it outside of an emergency, so he might as well not waste the battery life.
He frowns at the rustling. You know what he isn't? At all? An outdoorsman. So when Rune assures him it's a squirrel, he exhales sharply. He might have been imagining that they were about to end up tangling with a cougar or something.
"Good to know," he says.
---
Julio, likely due to the time he's spent scouting the trail previously, doesn't seem too bothered by the encroaching sounds of wildlife. It's only when Rune speaks up, in fact, that he looks back with a quirked brow and then towards the sound of whatever the other man had noticed suddenly scampering away, that he truly takes notice that something else was present. "Ah, good, good. I am glad you are keeping watch, I had not noticed."
That moment's gratitude leads the way to Julio continuing on further down the trail until they reach a fork in the path that's marked out by a signpost denoting that the group may either continue along the Alta trail as they had been, or switch over to the Bobcat trail. "This ummm. . . possible hostage? Do you know where they were supposed to be?"
---
Rune looks to Coda, also curious about what he might have found on that. He might be sharp-witted and better in a forest, overall, but he's not the professional investigator among them. As Coda lets out his little exhale, though, Rune can't help but smile. "Don't worry," he assures. "I won't let them get you." It's -almost- a friendly enough tone to not sound completely patronizing. Almost.
---
"She was intending to on a trail off the Alta one," Coda replies, features going grim once more, nodding a bit in that direction. "Oakwood. There's a pond down there that she liked."
He's speaking softly, barely above a whisper; has been since they got on the trail. Rune's joke produces a quick chuff of breath that is at least kin to a laugh, though not a sound that's exactly in laughter's immediate family.
"I am glad, my friend," he murmurs wryly. "I've seen the goddamn Geico commercials. Even the tiniest of woodland creatures are vicious and not to be trusted."
---
Julio looks towards the fork, brown hues following the Alta trail until it bent downwards far enough to pass into obscurity. Then the Bobcat Trail earned his scrutiny, not to mention a bit more intention from his gaze. It was clear that he, personally, thought that should be the path the trio should follow. . . and yet for some reason or another he instead begins to make his way down the Alta trail all the same. "Let us find this pond, then. If there is a chance someone is in danger then we must act on that first and foremost. Especially danger of contact with. . . Jeir."
Should no one object Julio intended to continue leading the way onwards to the indicated area. . . though leading was a generous term. He hadn't been in this direction before, after all.
---
Coda might not be experienced with the outdoors. Rune, though? He's spent enough time in the outdoors that he can read the basic geography of the land. And probably tell you which mushrooms not to eat. When you Awaken in the woods with a Verbena cult, even in 2011, you learn the basics, after all. "This way," he tells the others, giving a little nod. "Trails are too winding, and there are too many eyes. You wanna find water?" He points. "Then that's the direction we need to go."
And with that, he's off, booted feet blazing his own trail through the undergrowth.
---
"Have you history with this individual, this Jeir, that predates his arrival in the San Francisco area? Which city are you from, Mr. Santana?" At last Coda has what he sees as an opening to ask *Santana* some questions, and boy is he going to take it. "How long have you been chasing him? What's the rest of the history on this Nephandus? I have only his activities here. But it sounds like you've been after him for quite some time."
As for Rune's trail? Coda follows with perfect trust, pretty much being careful to step where the other man steps just in case there's some...trail thing...that might make a problem for him if he doesn't.
---
There's a pause in Julio's stride when Rune so confidently decides to take the path less traveled. It's not hard to judge by his attire that the Hispanic man isn't exactly familiar with 'roughing it', especially not in the American wilderness.
Still, duty triumphs over uncertainty and he begins to follow along after Coda, eyes briefly lingering on their abandoned, easily laid out trail as it receded past tree cover.
Coda's question draws Julio's attention forward again, though, and that generic face of his slips into a light scowl. "I am from Mexicali, as is Jeir. I belong to a chantry of Chakravanti and Kha'vadi in that same city. . . I was. . . tasked with hunting him down and bringing him in to be stripped of his avatar." Julio explains, an obvious bit of strain in his voice as he recounts the information. . . even if he does so very vaguely. "It has been. . . three years now? Four? Something like that, Jeir is a. . . very slippery individual."
---
Rune presses forward, mouth pressing into a tight line as the mention of Gilgul arrives. Then again, it's probably no big secret why. Even Santana can likely see the vague outlines of the brand on his back. Pressed into flesh, instead of spirit, but still bold to all Awakened eyes. A mark that this one was trained and tutored by a Fallen mage, a warning to others of the potential danger, though it speaks of no crimes that he himself committed.
Still, if he managed to get that? Then it was likely certainly on the table at one point.
As that feeling of being watched grows, though, his steps slow a bit, eyes scanning around. "Well," he starts. "I get the feeling that we've made an entrance, at least."
---
"You are Chakravanti as well? A long hunt, Acarya." He's at least *guessing* that Santana outranks him, and, well, few people ever get offended at having their rank overestimated if he's wrong.
Though if Santana is Kha'vadi instead he supposes he could be offending him that way.
But he can't help but notice Rune's reaction too, and he reaches out to quickly touch the other man's arm. That's all. Just a quick touch. Gentle. Meant to be reassuring.
Then?
His head snaps up, and his eyes narrow.
"Above."
---
When we last left our intrepid explorers they'd managed to work their way a fair distance into the Alta trail of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Their outting fueled more by a desire to put a stop to a magically gifted terrorist as opposed to the general call of nature. A worthy calling if ever their was one considering that there was every possibility that their immediate actions could be the key difference between the salvation of a young woman that seemed to be caught in the crossfire of the Nephandus' wicked ambitions. . .
Though. . . that was under the assumption that the group wasn't already too late.
With haste in mind Rune began to lead Coda and Julio off the beaten path and towards a pond located along the Oakwood trail spurred on by that self same desire that drove all three men. Each in their own way. Yet it wasn't long after they broke off into the more heavily wooded path that the ominous presence of something watching them fell upon the group. By Coda's reckoning whatever was spying on their efforts was situated above the group.
Was it just another squirrel far too used to Humans for its own good taking a curious peek at them. . . or had they found their first bit of proof that they truly were in an area haunted by Nephandic will? Only time, and their coming decisions, would tell.
---
Coda hums softly under his breath, E above middle C followed by G above middle C; just to activate the mystic perceptions that he has access to that might be useful here. He has to hum it twice, mostly cause he discovers he's off-key the first time and that's enough to throw the spell.
The man really needs to take some voice lessons if he's going to shortcut to music for these sorts of things.
He raises a finger and looks over to Rune, tracing the air gently to point out the place he's sensing...*something.* ---
Rune holds back, sensing something similar, though unable to point out a direction for it. Thankfully, Coda seems to have that part covered, directing his gaze upward and into the branches. Rune follow's Coda's finger upward, keeping relatively quiet, just in case -- but also seeing what there is to see, there, if possible, reaching out a hand to signal Julio to hold a moment.
---
And thus Julio holds. . . though not -just- because he's bidden to. Though the man also fails to determine where, exactly, the sensation of observation is coming from he is, at least, able to piece together a few necessary clues after Coda has gestured towards the area he believes the presence to exist.
Slowly, as if he's making certain not to trigger an animal attack, Julio reaches into his coat to pull out a small mesh bag of marbles. A strange thing to be carrying around under most circumstances, though perhaps one that could be understood by the company at hand. Still moving slowly Julio proceeds to retrieve one of those marbles, a cat's eye. Rubbing it between his fingers and muttering quietly to himself the king of generic proceeds to place the marble above his eye, clenching it between his cheek and brow as he directs his gaze upwards.
Then, quietly, he speaks. "A dust storm-. . . No, a spirit." He begins, his voice low and tense. "It watches us. . . This is. . . not good." Who could've guessed?
---
"That is what I was afraid of," Coda mutters, because guess who also isn't a big spirit guy? No time to have a big old cram session about it either, just because this lead has arisen.
"If it only watches it is not necessarily an ally of our foe," he muses quietly. "I know nothing of spirits. Is it possible to just...speak to them, if they're around? Without doing anything special to make that happen?"
---
Rune holds both of his hands to the side. The man might be outdoorsy, but despite what other might assume, he is not, in fact, a shaman. And will be the first to admit it. "Unless it speaks English, I'm not sure that I'm much good here." And it's obvious neither is Coda. "So. I mean -- I guess if it wants to watch, then it gets to watch?" A little shrug here. "I've had worse offers."
---
Julio slowly shakes his head, that pensive expression still marring his features. . . even if it looked a bit odd with a marble over his eyes, warping and magnifying his already squinting eyelids. "I do not know how much the others have informed you. . . but Jeir's main medium of activity is the cajoling of spirits and wraiths. It is more likely that it is with him than that it is not. Or at least that is the. . . 'safest' assumption."
Slowly the one of a million man turns his altered gaze upon Rune. "Though. . . it seems to be focused on watching you, for some reason." That brief flick of attention towards Rune's shoulder, or perhaps he was looking at what was just behind it, might clue the man in that there were some assumptions being made as to what that reason was.
---
"No. I was informed," Coda says with a sigh. "I was just hoping we'd get lucky."
And okay, Rune's comment about worse offers is funny, but he's way too focused. His face goes blank as the exchange around Rune's mark takes place, a sudden and complete blocking of outward emotion.
"I do not suppose, Mr. Santana, that you as the primary investigator on this matter have some sort of method by which you can pass the ability to see spirits...or do anything about them...on to colleagues you happen to be in the field with?"
---
Rune just offers a little shrug by way of reply. "If he wants to stare at me, then let him stare," he says. "Worse shit's happened." A glance between the pair, waiting a beat. "I'm not taking anything off until I for-sure know that that's gonna help, so neither of you get too excited."
Coda's question is a fair one, though. Rune turns his gaze to Julio, raising an eyebrow. It would make *sense* for the man to be good with spirit, but not a guarantee by any means.
---
Julio cracks a slight, humourless smile at the thought of getting lucky. . . no, not for that reason. "I am sorry to say that I don't tend to get lucky very often, nor do those around me, unfortunately." He admits.
"What I do have, at least, is the ability to let you perceive as I do." He confirms. Once more reaching into his bag of marbles to retrieve a second and third cat's eye which he holds out to Rune and Coda. Both perfectly well polished and perfectly clear save for the streaks of color in their centers, one blue and one red. Using his other hand the man motions towards the marble over his own eye, likely silently instructing as to how it was to be used. ---
Coda rubs the marble between his fingers and holds the marble above his eye, pressing it into place; he doesn't have a lot of confidence in his ability to clench it between his cheek and brow, though if that's the only way to get 'er done he'll get it done.
Then again, also nothing is happening.
So he'll look, but he also says, "If it is only a watcher there's also no sense in continuing to wait around here. We might as well continue our investigation."
Still, he will look. And this time, at least, Rune's quip gets no return banter. ---
Rune takes one of the little marbles for himself. "Well. Being able to see this thing is half the battle, I guess." At least they'll know enough to be able to get out of the way, maybe. He takes the little marble, mimicking the motion as well, though he agrees with Coda. "Not much use just standing here staring at each other. If it's gonna watch us, it's gonna watch us. Might as well press on."
---
Once both men have placed their respective marble in their chosen eye Julio begins to mutter to himself again, ever certain to keep his words spoken just loudly enough to be heard yet without the enunciation or volume to actually be fully understood.
Understanding, it seemed, was not at all a necessity.
Once Julio finished speaking Coda and Rune would find that not only did their sight in the eye they didn't have clenching a marble begin to adjust itself but so too did their hearing. . . as well as their sense of touch, smell, and, if either of them wished to stick their tongue out and lick anything, taste as well.
The dimming sunlight that streamed down through the trees took on a far colder hue, lightly draining the warmth from the very air itself and even seeming to pull color from everything it touched to paint the entire world in a much bleaker relief.
One thing that remained unphased by that grim filter of ashen sunlight, however, was a dust storm that seemed to be hanging in the air above their heads. Only lightly rustling the leaves of the trees above despite how tempestuously the winds that composed it blew.
There was something far more noteworthy than foliage that was barely being effected by that wind, though. Dozens of fleshy orbs hung amidst the flurry of dust. Heavily bloodshot eyes detached from any body and covered in an open dome of skin that was likely meant to serve as an eyelid. Those lids remained entirely open, however, allowing the recognition of pupils of myriad color to be seen. Every one of which was focused entirely on rune save two near the periphery of the storm that quietly observed Julio and Coda.
Julio, for his part, definitely looked much more perturbed by the fact that he was being watched, yet it still wasn't something that dissuaded him from motioning for Rune to continue leading the way all the same. If the other two could retain their nerves then he would simply have to labor to do the same. The man had a duty to do, after all.
---
"Holy shit," Coda whispers, eyes widening.
He actually takes a step back as he clenches the marble, as if somehow doing so could make reality right itself again. This is a whole other level of seeing things, and the changes alone are enough to rattle him, just a little bit, just for a moment.
The fact that it comes with a side dish of dripping flesh orb eye things is a real bonus on the WTF Blue Plate Special that's being served up on this day that is today.
He exhales though, squares his shoulders.
Out of his element twice over now, but nothing to be done for it but to keep following Rune and to look for either information, or ways to positively impact this situation one way or the other.
---
Even Rune has to take a second to adjust to this new way of seeing the world. Thankfully, the man has done enough drugs in his day that this? Isn't even all that weird, comparatively. He sees all the eyes on him, giving a three-sixty about himself to try and figure out exactly how *many* of them are watching him. Even he can't hide the fact that the sheer number is a little unsettling.
But he, too, has a duty at this point, and turns back to the direction he started in, blowing one little, cheeky kiss at the eyes watching him as he treks off into the underbrush again.
---
As Coda, Julio, and Rune continue their way down the path the disturbingly quiet and intently watchful dust storm proceeds to float along after them. All of those eyes unblinkingly locked upon them as they advanced through the dense forest.
As it had been firmly put to the back of the group's mind, or at least two third's of the groups mind, however that left room for other things to be noticed.
Namely the sound of something rustling in the undergrowth to the group's immediate right. Julio, for his part, didn't seem to notice at all. The man to busy trying and failing to keep from looking up at the dust storm as it continued to follow them.
Coda, at least, could tell that whatever it was, it was intentionally keeping pace with the group, and though it had failed to escape immediate notice the way it moved very clearly indicated something that wanted to be the one doing the noticing, not getting noticed.
Rune. . . well, Rune noticed a little more.
---
Rune slows his pace a bit, but doesn't stop, looking out into the darkness on either side of them, trying to get a sense of exactly what it is that's causing that noise.
And whatever it is he sees, it causes him to tense a bit, noticeable to anyone paying attention.
Still, he tries to keep his tone level, low-pitched to the others can hear. "We're being hunted," he tells the other two, stepping lively along the path now. "Something big. More than one something big."
Because that's exactly what you want to hear when on the hunt for an evil wizard sending spirits to stalk you -- that something much less ephemeral is also stalking you. "Don't run. Don't stop. Don't give them a reason to think they've been made, or change their patterns. But also be prepared for the worst. Because there's a very real chance that it's coming."
---
Coda's hand twitches towards the place where he has his Glock stored, but...that would give them a reason to think they've been made. So he leaves it undrawn, for now. "Understood," he says, quiet and tight. Though hearing it's *not* ephemeral is actually *good* news.
Not ephemeral means it's something he can friggin' shoot.
But he steps lively behind Rune as well, keeping up.
---
It's only after Rune has brought up that they're being stalked that Julio finally notices the sound of moving foliage and the sudden tension present in his companions. It's a tension that spreads easily and the everyman's shoulders are quick to bunch up before he has to forcefully calm himself again in order to comply with the act they're apparently all putting on. . . though he's also definitely more than happy to pick up the pace alongside the other two.
As they continue through the forest at their increased pace the stalking continues, both by the supernatural and the, supposedly, mundane. . . but the more they move the more the sound increases. Perhaps the creatures, whatever they were, were getting bolder?
. . . Or perhaps. . .
---
This time, Rune does stop, turning his eyes out toward the darkness. Something out there is bothering him, that much is clear. Kneeling down in the path, he traces a quick symbol in the dirt, placing his palm over it as he inhales, exhales, centering himself as he focuses out in the darkness.
"Predators," he assures. "Feline. Stealthy, and well coordinated, actively avoiding us seeing them." He squints, listening closely. "At least four. I can hear them breathing. Maybe more. Possibly more incoming, but I don't sense any close."
---
"Unless I miss my guess they are also surrounding us," Coda says softly. Rune going ahead and drawing a symbol in the dirt decides him on something at last. He starts to whisper softly as he scans the area; calculating angles, no doubt, mentally measuring distances, plotting statistics. One of the shooting techniques he practices every morning in their little fenced in back garden.
He angles his body to try to conceal that he's doing it, but he draws his weapon, keeps it pointed down, eases the safety off of it. He doesn't want to lose time having to draw if a bunch of possessed cougars are going to leap out and try to give them all hugs.
---
For a man so intent on his duty Julio is definitely kind've a coward. He's not exactly shaking in his boots, but Rune can probably smell the light mist of sweat building on the man's brow and the way he's fidgeting with his marbles is certainly audible for all to hear.
Thankfully, with how unnaturally generic he is in appearance he could be mistaken for just about anything at first glance, including a man who's just naturally a bundle of nerves. Which -might- keep whatever's stalking the trio at bay with the belief that they still haven't been noticed. . . but then again, that's assuming that the beasts are operating under that assumption to begin with. They're certainly not 'hunting' like any wildcat in California is supposed to, after all.
Thankfully it doesn't seem that the man has anything of his own to prepare, as no doubt with his nerves he wouldn't be able to properly concentrate anyway. It's a wonder that he's able to steel himself enough tos peak without a stutter, really. "Shall we. . . press on?" He questions softly. "I don't believe staying in the middle of the woods is a good idea if we are going to be. . . ummm. . .well. . . if things happen, yes?"
"Are we close to our destination?" He queries Rune.
---
"Few minutes," Rune answers. "If we keep up. Could be faster if we flat-out run, but you're definitely gonna wanna save that until it's needed, because you definitely won't outrun them. Best you can hope for is to get out of the trees and hope they don't want to be seen, still."
He stands back up, already moving along the trail, making a big faster time this round as Coda does his little mental bullet map. Rune, too, reaches for his gun now. "If they're trying to surround us, I have no intention of playing by their rules."
---
Coda steps it up right along with Rune, nodding grimly. "I second this not playing by their rules." He has the shape of his calculations in his head now; they adjust continually as the trio moves along the trail Rune blazes.
He can almost see them, glowing white lines continually shifting, measuring, showing him numbers, lines he can follow when it's time to shoot, and there's a quick, grim smile. There *are* a few things he does reliably well with his magick and this is one of them.
---
Julio offers absolutely no protests to the statement that he wasn't going to outrun whatever was stalking them and indeed no comment on the matter of 'playing by their rules'. Probably because that would require vocalizing again and as far as he had seen thus far -that- was only making it clear just how incapable he was going to be if it truly came to a violent exchange.
Thankfully he'd lucked out and ended up with two people that both owned guns and, seemingly, knew how to use them.
Having to hunt Jeir in America was proving to have at least one beneficial point for once.
. . .
There's no signs that the felines intend to jump their intended prey before they arrive at the clearing the pond was in. And indeed when they exit from the south-eastern side of it onto the area they'd been seeking, a slightly cultivated camp ground centered around a small but not inconsiderable pond. Its placid waters reflecting the now darkening blue of the sky above.
Currently at the campground is only a single, orange, luxury tent. The kind you'd expect to see from a college kid that bought it because it removed enough of nature's strain on comfort to make camping bearable for those less inclined to truly roughing it.
There was no activity to be seen inside of it, however, nor in the rest of the clearing as once the group exitted the tree line the cats, as predicted, did not follow.
---
Rune steps out of the treeline, taking a few running steps into the clearing toward the tent before turning to look back into the trees, making sure that all three of them get to where they're going. "See?" he says, voice only shaking a little bit (bravely!). "Pond. Tent."
And then, a glance over to Coda. "So. That's my part." He nods to the bright orange tent. "That part's you boys."
Rune. Not a shaman. Also, not a professional investigator, no matter how eagle-eyed he otherwise is.
He turns those eagle eyes back to the treeline, gun still in hand, making sure that they're going to *stay* alone.
---
Trust and believe that Coda isn't wasting any additional time here. He keeps his gun pointed groundward as he goes, but he definitely step-step moves to get to that tent, careful not to disturb much, paying close attention to everything. Foot prints or marks around the tent. Physical evidence that might have been left.
"Sasha?" he calls softly, because maybe, just maybe, she's still in there, and he doesn't want to scare her if she is. But he's still going to push the flap aside with the back of one hand, looking inside the tent, too.
It's definitely a get the evidence and go kind of vibe, as he's already aware he detoured them away from the spot Julio brought them out here to look at in the first place but is equally aware there might be something *important* here.
---
There is no response from the tent. No movement in the clearing. . . well, except for those eyes, which have taken to hovering over the pond, their reflection not being cast in the water even though that of the dust storm they inhabit is.
Julio was, of course, very quick to enter the clearing as well. Mostly because Rune was and he wasn't exactly keen on being a straggler when there were wild, presumably anyway, beasts lurking just outside of perceptible range.
For as lacking in spine as his ways are though the man does show enough gumption to begin approaching the tent when there's no response. He doesn't outright go to it, but clearly the thought that a life -could- be saved is enough to draw him in. "I don't. . . sense any traps. . ." He explains.
---
Rune follows -- whatever it is out there in the trees, head scanning to the side. "They're very much not done here," he tells the others, keeping that gun good and ready, though not raising it just yet. "Still trying to surround us. Upside is, we should be able to see them coming," he notes. "So. There's that." A glance over to Coda. "So I guess we're probably not going anywhere soon. Still... maybe don't dawdle."
---
"I never dawdle," Coda says mildly. But he's not giving his full attention to this defense. He steps into the tent.
And he lets out a soft sigh as he crouches down, breathing shallowly against the gruesome smells.
And while the others might see it as a waste of time, the prayer for the dead that he gives in Spanish, while brief, is anything but to Coda. He pulls on a glove and reaches out to close her eyes; then takes a photo of the slit carved into her forehead.
Then he exhales and steps out.
"We have a dilemma," he informs the other two. "One I am not sure how to solve. Elliot Vintelhaus' spectre made a deal with Corinna to find his poor daughter, and here she is. We can't exactly haul her out of the park at the moment, and we don't exactly seem to have the luxury of a proper burial. He has also mutilated the body, and may have her spirit captive...he might have meant find the spirit and not the body. He put a little cut. In her head. Just here." He demonstrates on himself, not just assuming they want to see the gruesome picture or the sight of the dead body. "And now we know we cannot save her physical life, only her soul, if indeed he has it. Other than the body and the cut there isn't much evidence of use here."
---
Through all his nerves there is a distinct sadness that overcomes Julio's dime a dozen features when Coda reports his findings. For a very brief moment it cuts past the fear he's been wearing this entire time and gets the man to step closer to the tent.. Face falling at the sight of her, almost enough so to cause him to drop that marble from his eye, but thankfully he steadies himself before that happens.
The gash he sees in the woman's forehead has him shaking his head. . . and then directing his attention up towards the dust cloud of eyes and then back towards the body again. He doesn't speak for a long moment, and when he does its only after he's turned his attention back towards the treeline again. . . and after his sadness has slowly begun to be replaced by his fear again. "We should. . . go. . . if there's nothing here for us then we'd best find a way out."
---
Rune hears the talk about a slash in the forehead, peeking inside himself. There are some benefits to having a pretty dark magical mentorship -- some things just don't surprise you. And he might be more than a little intrigued, himself.
Not that he's in a hurry to get back out there. He doesn't quite look at Julio as he answers, "Going back into the treeline is tantamount to suicide. They're already working on surrounding us still. Out there, they've got cover. They can launch a stealth attack and there's not a damn thing we can do. Out here, at least, we can see them coming. They have to get ballsy if they want to move on us here, and that gives us time to do something sufficiently ballsy in return."
Still, he looks around the tent, seeing what he can see from a magical perspective, rather than a strictly mortal investigative one. "Besides," he adds. "Coda's right. We shouldn't just leave her out here like this. And if we have to deal with mortal authorities, well." A shrug. "They're easier to work with than things with teeth and claws."
---
Coda looks into the treeline. It's all treeline eventually.
"Perhaps if this is the ground with advantage then we should simply begin the battle here. Take a moment to do any other preparations we might wish to do, find targets, try to take them out fast, and take out the others when we flush them out. Then we can leave and alert the rangers about the body, and either double back to the Bobcat trail to continue the original investigation or conclude that we require more back up and slip out of the Recreational Area to go get it. Our quarry may well leave the area if we do that, so if that is the case we are concluding that we three are not up to the challenge of taking him down on our own based on the feline menace alone."
He's not entirely sure of the right course of action, but he puts it all out there for consideration while Rune has his look.
---
Rune doesn't take terribly long in the tent. He studies the body for a few seconds, the little pieces starting to come together in his mind. The slit in the forehead, and the -- storm of eyes behind them.... "They took her third eye," he mutters to nobody in particular, but loud enough that the others can hear. "That's what's been watching us. The third eyes of his victims. Christ..."
He almost looks like he's ready to pull back out of the tent, but something catches his attention. "...oh ohnonono FUCK, CODA!" He turns his gaze back to the other two. "She's not dead. *She's not dead!*"
Almost immediately he's shrugging off that backpack, tossing it to the side as he calls for the others, "Help me get her out!"
---
Rune, Coda, and Julio have managed to make it to points they intended to investigate in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, though not without their share of oddities and burgeoning trouble along the way.
The first foreboding event was the discovery of a strange cloud of floating eyes enshrouded in a dust storm, visible only through the lens of spiritual perception. The eyes themselves beginning to follow along with the group, ceaselessy watching their every move.
Which meant that they were present when something else took interest in the group as well. An almost unnervingly coordinated quartet of large, predatory felines of unknown variety had joined the intrepid investigators on their path to the pond situated along the Oakwood trail. Never once revealing themselves yet persisting throughout the later portion of the journey and surrounding the clearing the pond was in once they had arrived.
More dire a revelation, however, is the confirmation of Coda's theory that Sasha Vintelhaus had indeed gone on the camping trip she'd planned with her late father. . . and, further, she had also been discovered by Jeir who, apparently, had been conducting some business in the national park, or perhaps having even made it his base of operations.
It's not all bad news, though. . . just all extremely pressing. It turns out that Sasha, despite the length of her disappearance, is still alive. Though only barely. So now the group is left to figure out their plan of action. Do they have what it takes to actually stabilize and save the young woman despite her extremely weakened form? Even if they do, will they be able to get past the creatures that have taken to quietly stalking them with a mortal in tow? Perhaps now is the time to find out. ---
Rune, of course, is already inside the tent, trying to draw the woman out into the open air. Both because there is better light out there, and in the hopes that something other than the stale air she's been breaking for -- oh god, how long has she even been breathing like that? -- will help to keep her stable and oxygenated. He's strong, and she's light, so it's probably not too much of a challenge, but given that she's dead weight -- or, at least, mostly dead weight -- he could still probably use another hand.
---
When Rune screams for Coda to get the body out of the tent so that he might try to save the girl's life, Coda wastes no time. He hastily holsters his gun darts in to help bring her out of the tent, heedless of the substances that she's been soaked down in. He does his best not to make any of the damage on her form *worse.*
He will, of course, help to put her down anywhere Rune wants her towards the goal of saving her life. But he remains silent, not wanting to distract him.
---
The most difficult part of moving Sasha proves to be getting a grip on her past the moist filth that clings to every part of her that had been in contact with the floor of the tent. As neither man shows any issue with getting his hands dirty that's an obstacle that proves a non-issue quite quickly, however.
And while looking on the bright side of issues the team didn't have at the moment another boon was that, aside from the thin but deep cut on her forehead, Sasha seemed to have no other wounds that could be disturbed by moving her. . . well, at least no visible ones, anyway.
And another boon is that Julio isn't making himself an obstacle in any way whatsoever. . . mostly because he seems to have no idea what to do to help, really. Apparently the man had no experience at all when it came to tending to the wounded. A strange quality to lack in a man that had been sent on a manhunt.
One thing he does have going for him are functional eyes, however, which lets him notice as two shapes begin to approach from their front, a quick glance behind him confirming that two more were already circling around from the other side of the pond. . . all feline, of course. A fact that Coda manages to pick up as well, the sound of their soft feet padding through grass cutting through the tense silence of the moment. Their fur, strangely, is all black as pitch. A distinctly unnatural color for a group of bobcats, it almost seems as if they've somehow been stained black.
---
"Coda..."
Rune starts to point out what doubtless Coda already sees -- their pursuers emerging from the treeline, that slow, deliberate way the four of them move, two in front, two behind.
But Rune can't concern himself with that right now. He reaches into his bag, bringing out a bag smelling like strange herbs. That, and a sharpie, which he's already using to draw those practiced, familiar symbols on the girls body. Symbols of revitalization, of warding off death and disease. A hodgepodge working in the heat of the moment to try and stabilize the girl, bring her back from the brink of death, or at least keep her from moving any closer to it.
After the symbols are drawn -- hastily, but as precisely as he can manage, he reaches into the bag, pulling out a handful of herbs that he mixes with a handful of dirt and ash -- except when he reaches for the fire, he notices that it hasn't been lit before. That draws a short curse from him, but he grabs a handful of the dirt anyway. "Have to do," he mutters, getting to work rubbing the herbs and dirty together as he sprinkles the mixture over the body of the girl -- symbols of vitality springing back from death, and the symbols of death itself -- the dirt where something, at some point, died, returning its essence to the earth.
---
"Heal her, my friend. I will guard you."
Coda steps directly in front of Rune, features taking on a grim cast. "Mr. Santana, if you are unarmed I suggest you get behind me as well."
Him against four panthers. That's probably fine. But he can still see the angles, the shots, the statistics, all unfolding in his mind. He takes a moment to take aim. If he can catch one and take it out fast, before they're done with their slow stalking, then that's one less to worry about. And he's not so amazing, even with magickal help, that he thinks that he can just start blasting away and get a good outcome. They're all going to be moving damn fast once the shooting starts, if they're possessed.
He steps out a little bit though, because he wants them to attack him first. Santana is helpless as best as he can tell--a strange thing for a Chakravanti hunter, a Nephandus hunter--and Rune has the girl to try to save. So if someone's gonna get mauled, that someone's gotta be him right now.
---
Julio's dull brown gaze continues to flick back and forth between Rune and his efforts at healing, Coda's protective back standing before him, and the threat approaching them. His jaw is clearly clenched with strain and one can see his Adam's apple bob with a nervous swallow as he considers his options. . . or one could if there weren't much more important things to focus on than Julio at the moment.
It's after his few moments of indecision, however, that he does something that is, perhaps, actually worthy -of- notice for once, though. Standing up and taking a few cautious steps to the other side of Rune and the fallen girl he reaches into his jean pocket and pulls out a switchblade knife. The blade that springs out after he presses the well concealed button on the implement is no longer than three inches at best. What he can actually accomplish with the tool is anyone's guess, but clearly he does, at least, intend to act as some slight line of defense while Rune works on Sasha.
The bobcats are not so forgiving as to stop their advance simply because their apparent prey has the balls to stand up against them. They only continue to approach further, slowly beginning to circle the trio as they closed the distance and. . . laughing as they did so?
It's a strangely Human sound to hear coming from a group of felines, only stranger still because it seemed to be coming in perfect synch from all four of them at once. A synchronous projection of voice that continues on to form actual words.
<Spanish>"Taking my leftovers, huh?~ Now that's rather ruuuuude of you, isn't it? Didn't anyone ever teach you to go out and find your owwwwwn materials, boy?"
The comment and question are clearly directed towards Rune. . . but it's Julio that curses first. "-Shit. . ."
---
Rune hears the voices, but keeps his mind on the task at hand. Still, he bothers to answer, given that it's polite. Or something. Some habits die hard. "Not interested in your sloppy seconds," he answers back. "Never had a problem getting what I need before. And I do mean sloppy," he sighs dramatically, looking the girl over. "Less than impressive. But my mentor did teach me to go out and pull whatever strings I could find to see if I can start to unravel all the work done by some random asshole that thinks too highly of himself. Lucky you were here."
But just as he's trying to get under the other the skin of the other -- mage? Maybe? The other mage has managed to distract him just enough that he doesn't make any real progress in his spell. But neither does he lose it, either. Refocusing, he returns to the task at hand.
---
Coda does not curse. Coda doesn't even speak.
Coda aims at the head of the nearest great cat and pulls the trigger.
For one moment he'd hoped that maybe, just maybe, these weren't Jeir's creatures, but their commentary puts paid to that notion. The eerie rising of a single voice from four feline mouths.
---
"Heheheheheh. . ." The laugh is slow and without actual humor. . . then again, so is everything else about the voice being projected. Perhaps it's a matter of how it's being broadcast, but there's no sense of a Human mind behind it. . . or at least not one that would check off anything on most people's list of 'Human'. The only thing it even begins to emulate is warmth, but only in word, not tone. It's the vocal equivalent of a piece of raw meat left out in the sun until it can present the slightest facsimile of the warmth of life.
<Spanish>"Whoever thought of giving the five star treatment to a cannnnnn of spaaaam?" The voice retorts as the cats continue to circle closer. <Spanish>"Is that why you're here, thouuuugh? Hmmmm. . .?~" The voice questions.
There's obviously more to come, but it's interrupted by a gunshot and the subsequent sound of a heavy body collapsing on soft ground. There's no outcry of pain or final heave of breath to signal the end of a life. Coda's shot is spectacular and it perfectly drills a hole right through the creature's brain and out the other side. A pool of blood that goes ignored by the other cats beginning to reflect the darkening sky above in sanguine tones.
Another thing the other cats ignore is, well, the fact that anything happened at all. They simply continue circling for a moment longer as that voice carries on. <Spanish>"Have to make it up to 'Master'? For being a bad boy and getting maaaaaaaarked?"
It's when the 'd' in that last word is so firmly enunciated that the cats finally move, one of them quickly streaking towards Coda while another makes a beeline for Julio. The third, curiously, just continues to stalk.
---
Rune continues working at his spell, the gunfire not enough to shake him out of the working. Little by little, though, he starts to make progress -- likely not the kind of progress that he would be hoping to make in more favorable circumstances, but these are hardly favorable circumstances.
The mention of being marked, though, causes his head to shoot up once he finds a safe spot to do so, narrowing his eyes as a slow grin spreads over his face. "How do you know he's not the one that marked me?" he asks the cat. "Maybe I like it when he gets a little rough. Maybe I like the challenge."
Sort of like what's happening now, working to save a girl that should be dead, by all rights, in hostile territory. While under active attack.
And here he thought the weekend was going to be boring.
---
Coda lets out a harsh cry of pain, staggering back as the panther's claws cut into his flesh. The *force* behind the great cat's blow is not to be underestimated. Sweating, paling, he's talking *now,* and it's a steady growl of particularly vile swear words in Spanish.
He pivots on the ball of his foot, dashing sideways, trying to put distance between him and the bad kitty while he targets Julio's. The shot flies wide...as well it might when he's still staggering from the blood that's turning the emerald green of his shirt to an ugly brown mess at an alarming rate. And drives home that maybe he should deal with the cat that's right the fuck on top of him next time.
---
Julio's having a bit more luck with his imminent danger in feline form than Coda. . . and luck is certainly the right way to describe it. The man has no combative grace or composure whatsoever. When the bobcat lunges his solution to dealing with the teeth so very clearly aimed at his neck is simply to perform a full body duck while covering his head. . . Or as most people might refer to the maneuver: Cowering.
His entirely ignorable height makes all the difference, however, as thanks to his fast thinking, if one wants to call it that, the big cat just soars right over his head. . . and lands by Sasha and Rune just as a bleak touch of flushed skin presents itself on the former's cheeks as Rune continued to work his wonders.
That was. . . probably going to be an issue.
<Spanish>"OOoooooh. . . I like it. . . is your frrrieeeend into marking toooooo? It looks like he's enjoying himself with my little pussy cat. I know my favorite little booooooy isn't.~"
---
Rune sees the cat in front of him. But if his twisted apprenticeship taught him anything, it's how to work through fear. Through pain. To focus on the task at hand, no matter the dangers to his body. The flesh will heal. He doesn't yet know how to heal death. Priorities.
He pushes further, the adrenaline in him acting just as much a focus as any of the magical tools he's using, the transfer of life energies from the universe to the woman only sped along and eased through by the sheer pulse-pounding fear moving through him.
But at last, he feels the magic take hold, snap into place, knowing that she's stable. And just as soon as he knows that, he starts to reach for his own gun...
---
Coda is moving, moving, moving, still dancing with those lines, those angles, those probabilities. He calms himself, the swearing stopping. The panting isn't. It's loud in his ears as another bullet rips from the chamber of his gun, grazing the nimble great cat's flank.
"We are the guardians. Chicomecoatl, guide my hand," he whispers. It's not a spell...he has no time for all that, and isn't nearly good enough to do it under attack. It's just a prayer.
---
Where the sound of her breath had once been so slow and weak as to even be hidden from Rune's sensitive ears it was now refreshingly loud against the backdrop of the ongoing scuffle. It was a gasp at first, an unconscious body struggling to take in what it had been lacking for who knows how long, and then a pained and terribly underutilized throat proceeds to channel lungs that onc emore had the energy to perform their one labor in retaining life.
<Spanish>"Oooooh, good job.~ Nowwwwwwwww-what, boys? You're not goign to use her for parrrrrrrts. . . so what's next? Do you llllike the near death look? If so, I can show you to sooooo many more. I'd be glad to see you-"
<Spanish>"Shut up, god damn it!" Julio barks as he wrestles with the big ol' kitty that just had so much love to give. Oh. . . wait. . . nope.
That's hatred. They look so similar sometimes.
And what potent hatred it is, the beast twisting and turning as if bone structure didn't really matter to it and eventually tearing its way free with a particularly acrobatic lurch. At which point it begins to start pacing around Julio. He'd gotten it's attention much better than Rune now, it seems.
---
Rune hears that gasp, closing his eyes and allowing some of the tension to drain from him for the space of two heartbeats or so. But then Coda is crying out, there's the sound of tearing cloth. A scent of blood and cordite as his ears ring with the gunshots. And something in him catches fire, anger seeping up like hot magma in his blood as he pulls that gun from his waistband, pointing it at the cat and unloading a few quick, precisely placed rounds into its fur.
Rounds that, still, don't seem to be quite enough to kill it. If it's even still alive, at this point, though it feels "alive". For what that's worth. Magic can sometimes be an unreliable mistress in the gray areas between life and death.
---
Coda is kind of currently stepping lively to avoid more mauling. He's aware that Rune will eventually be able to help out of here and that will change the battlefield math, but if he doesn't stay alive it won't change it enough. So for now he's moving out of the way.
The movements are neither swift nor graceful. He can feel wind from the panther's claws. But it's *enough.* Enough to keep him breathing another couple of precious seconds as he hears the report from Rune's gun shatter the air, a potent punctuation to nephandus taunts and the frantic fear of one Julio Santana.
---
Even with the effort he's clearly putting in it is still fear that defines Julio. The heavy breaths that slip in rapid rhythm from his lips are more indicative of someone that had run a marathon as opposed to having simply tussled a bit with a kitty cat. . . Even if said kitty cat was composed of twenty pounds of muscle geared towards working its way into his heart via the most direct route possible.
One could even argue that his fear could be the reason the pitch black feline was able to so easily slip from his grip. In the end that proved a fairly lucky turn of events, however, it made sure the man of disquietingly mundane mystery wasn't in the line of fire when Rune strode forward and started to unload anger and lead onto the beast in a quick staccato burst.
Fear can be a potent and useful thing, in fact. Especially that directed, intentional and rational fear that serves as fuel for getting out of harm's way. An emotional nitro that provides just the boost in speed needed to evade possibly fatal claws.
. . . And the fact that the moist ground near the pond gives way a bit beneath the bobcat's pounce doesn't hurt either.
With another bobcat still waiting in the wings, now watching from a perfectly relaxed, prone position in the grass a few meters away, there was still more to be wary of than just the combat at hand. So something more than fear was going to be needed to make sure the night got done without a life lost to exchange for the one that's in the process of being saved.
Effort that Julio is still going to try to put out despite, or perhaps in spite of, himself. Once again the man lunges, intent on trying to drive his small knife into the pitch colored cat's side.
---
Rune watches as the cat turns from Julio, charging at him. He manages to sink his weight down, raising his forearm to give the thing something to bite on. And bite it does, fangs hitting skin -- but managing not to pierce it, thankfully, perhaps in part due to the magics that he cast earlier.
There's the briefest moment of confusion as Rune tries to figure out why he isn't gored. But then a second later, he seems to realize what a golden opportunity this is, raising the gun and firing yet more bullets into the thing from a range he can't possibly miss at, sinking into its fur further. And *still* the damned thing won't drop. "Just. Fucking. Die already," Rune growls.
---
Meanwhile Coda is doing a lot of backpedalling and hasty shooting. The Chakravanti flings his body sideways abruptly to avoid another cat-hug and rolls in the marshy muck. He comes up fast, on one knee, letting off a three-round burst, but winning a cat vs. man speed battle isn't easy.
He mentally counts up the bullets in this gun; 4 more before he'll have to drop it and switch, and then he'll be down to knives. He needs to come up with something better than this dodge-n-shoot dance, but what?
---
As flesh is torn through by hot metal that thrice harmonious voice continues to resonate from the three remaining bobcats. <Spanish>"Heheheheheh. . .~ Your maaaaaaster needs to work on his quality. His pets are having so much trouble with mine.~ Maybe you two would like a new mentor?"
As chill inducing as the man's voice was, especially in its eerily projected manner of output, his taunts should perhaps take a backseat to the presumably more dire danger of the moment. The cats that wanted to eat everyone present.
Though blood oozes from them and their eyes have grown wide with unvoiced pain the creatures continue to attack. The savaging of its flesh taking a toll that presented more on the mental plane than the physical, it seemed. Both of them apparently having grown intent on their chosen prey to continue trying to get a mouthful of them while blatantly ignoring Julio. . . though perhaps it was his ineffectual efforts that had brought that about.
Still the man tried, at least, the weight of both his dreadful lack of capability in the combative realm and the goading of that phantasmic voice towards his companions began to replace fright with anger. And it was with that he hefted his blade to try and wield it in a more brutal stab this time around. . . hopefully, anyway.
Rune fires the gun at the damned cat once more -- and manages to chip one of its teeth as the bullet zings away. Not even terribly badly, leaving the damned thing sharper than when it started.
A thing that he experiences up close and personal not a moment later, when the cat lunges, sinking its fangs deep into the tissue of the man's thigh, eliciting a scream of rage and pain from him as he drops the now-empty, mostly useless gun, baring his own teeth at the cat as his eyes darker a bit, something murderous creeping up there...
---
A sudden burst of insight tells Coda what he could be doing differently here. As he dances back and back he traces a symbol in the air. Fortunately the sacred geometry for earth is a simple cube. When he's got it drawn, the smoke from his gun faintly tracing the symbol, he mimes twisting it.
It's quick, it's dirty, but fortunately Chaos Magick *is* a part of Coda's practice, for all that he'd prefer to be doing a nice, orderly reality hack with a well written Beyond Rademacher knot sequence, this just might get the job done.
But he knows he is still well beyond many of his peers in enlightenment. He lets the dancing trickster inside of him fill him with its light, shooting him up with a swift burst of Quintessence. It makes him feel alive, brings the pain of his wounds into sharp relief, puts the smell of blood and mud and cordite and viscera deep into his nostrils, even as he prays to the Luck Goddess that She might bless this effort.
Wild grounds are full of random holes. It sure would be lucky if the cat plunged a foot into one and twisted or broke it so that Coda could finish it off without having to dodge its claws. Worst case, maybe it will at least throw the thing a moment so he can get one good clean shot.
As his brain blazes with magick, Rune's scream seems to reverberate through every bone in his body.
---
Julio simply cannot catch a break. For surely it is he who's only pain in the moment is the spiritual failure he continues to receive again and again when he once more proves how inadequate the only weapon he has brought with him is.
The determination and anger that saturates the air is echoed in the generic gentleman though. And in it he finds the resolved push past whatever feelings of driving him at the moment to continue to try and protect those that would seek to aid him.
Or, at the very least, to make himself more of a target than the two injured men trying to save a dying girl.
It is with that effort in mind that he wants again flings himself at the beast that had just tried to make a feast of Rune. Yet again hoping to capture it in a bear hug, hopefully a more resilient one this time.
---
Rune's blood glistens on his leg, running out of him in red rivulets. He puts a hand down, as if checking to see if it's even real -- and then presses his bloody hand to his face, holding it out in front of him as he points it to the bobcat that had the audacity to attack him so brazenly.
Thunder rumbles in the distance as the man's voice booms out harsh, gutteral words in a language that hasn't been heard since man used stone tools, calling upon the most primal of curses, the pain of the wound, the power of the blood, life reaching to life....
Red welts raise on his skin as he incants the spell, old runes, speaking of terrible things. Mastery and slavery, dominance and murder, territory and supremacy, the hunt, the kill, the sweet satisfaction of death, and pain, and the power that it brings to the predator....
His eyes turn a shiny black as the magic takes hold, the air around him rippling with the power he calls down upon the creature. Bones break as blood starts to pour out of every orifice, Rune ripping back the lifeforce that it dared to try to steal from him, as Prometheus stole fire from the very gods themselves in his audacity and hubris... and was punished in equal measure.
In a moment, some of the bleeding has slowed, and the cat lies dead and crumpled at the man's feet as whatever dark magic he called upon passing. The blood is still there, and he's still limping, panting as the power passes and the cat lies dead, turning to the last cat as he narrows his eyes, seeing it ready to pounce. "I learned enough..." he answers the dark mage's earlier comments...
---
So much for insight.
Coda watches in horror as the cat recovers and takes a flying leap at him. As the spell explodes into a twist of paradox, sending pain ratcheting behind his eyes. It's dwarfed by the pain of the massive panther landing atop him.
Somehow he keeps hold of his gun, even as he throws his arms up to try to protect himself. But it's no use. This cat is ravaging him, and while the man is no stranger to danger or to pain himself, there are certain things that fire straight to the primal centers of a person's brain.
His rough screams split the air, equal parts terror and agony. His blood churns in the mud beneath him, and his struggles are weak as his body starts to go limp.
---
Bobcats are decently hefty, and bloody ones particularly difficult to get a grip on even if they are dead. So it's something of a task to extricate one's limbs from on. With all of the pain and chaos surrounding him, however, Julio definitely has the will to get the job done. And where there's a will, a Shaman makes the way.
With a grunt he rolls over and straddles the corpse of the feline that had lost its last breaths right atop him. The man isn't fleeing the corpse immediately, apparently, no, he's got other work to do, and it's a necessary component of that.
As Rune's magic resonates with the environment around him and turns an already dark scene darker still as nefarious, even if well intentioned, dissonance cracks the air with thunder and the grating sound of that ancient language.
A snapshot of the moment would look almost like a satanic ritual as Julio proceeds to gather some of the fallen bobcat's spent blood to mark his hands and face with tribalistic tattoo's in vague representations of animals. It sort've brings the Nazca lines to mind.
Artwork completed and hands marked with circles Julio proceeds to turn towards the bobcat savaging Coda and. . . violently bow to it?
The man really had no combative instinct at all, did he?
The remaining bobcat continues to watch from the sidelines with quiet interest.
---
It's probably a good thing that Julio 'bowed' when he did. Rune lines up his shot right over where the man is standing, taking it in the heartbeat where Julio ducks down below line of sight. The bullet whizzes over the other man's head, punching through the bobcat's chest as it sits atop Coda, now bleeding profusely, looking on the brink of death -- and yet somehow, against all odds, still managing to stay conscious. Rune is already taking a few limping steps in that direction, drawing his own knife from his boot as he gives a furious look to Julio, and all of his ineffectual whatever-he's-doing that the cats are largely ignoring as well.
---
One shot. One bullet left in his gun, though there's a back up on his person he isn't exactly in the right position to get to it right now.
Coda gives it a try anyway. He feebly raises it, thinking okay, shoot it in the mouth...
The damn thing bites his hand. He screams, the shot goes awry, blasting bark off trees nearby.
It's his last bit of defiance before he feels teeth clamp around his throat.
Against all odds for that shot, but not much past that. Coda passes out at last, his struggles ceasing entirely, a limp ragdoll in the clutches of the beast.
---
There's a grunt of derisive concentration from Julio that sounds off into the quiet a moment after the report of Rune's pistol. One that comes a second time as a further round is unloaded into the creature, finally causing both it, and Julio, to slump to the ground. . . not that the man could do much slumping considering the way he was almost presenting to the cat watching from the sidelines.
Thankfully for all three of the men, however, it didn't seem to be as after their asses as its cohorts. Instead it simply continues to watch from a distance, laying quietly in the damp grass. If it weren't a bobcat no doubt its tail would be waving languidly at the gory tableau before it.
<Spanish>"Hmhmhmhmhmhmhm. . . HMHMHMHMHMHMHMHM. . .~ Oooooh my compliments to your master. What did you say his name wassssssss?~"
---
Rune takes a bullet out of the gun, biting the lead out and spreading some of the powder over that wound. "Sorry, buddy," he sighs. "This is gonna hurt you a lot more than it hurts me, and that just can't be helped." And, reaching for a lighter, he gives it a gentle flick, the smell of burning flesh filling the air as the wound seals itself, blood staunching.
Rune stands up, looking down at Coda, battered and bloody, and then back at Sasha. He glances at Julio, shaking his head a bit as the man lays slumped over. "When you're done with your nap-nap, oh fearless lead nephandus hunter," he sighs, "pick her up. I can't carry both of them, and she's lighter." And then, muttered under his breath, "try not to break a nail or something. Christ."
Reaching for Coda, he pulls the man up over his shoulder in a fireman's carry -- probably still damn uncomfortable to both of them, looking at the remaining cat. "It's twenty-fucking-twenty-one," he retorts. "Her name. We're well into the era of equal opportunity psychopathy."
---
Good news, really: the gunpowder fix elicits a faint cry of misery from Coda from the depths of his unconsciousness, though the lifesaving cauterization itself seems to cut the sound right back off. That means he's not just straight up in a coma, but he doesn't exactly wake up either.
If there's any protest for the fireman's carry, it's soundlessly made, but Coda is a dead weight on Rune's shoulders, unable to render even the helpful aid of shifting his body weight around.
---
<Spanish> "Aaaaaaaaaah. . . So it's feeeeemdom you're into? Heheheheheh. . . How very progressive of you. But you make a fair point." The big cat looks towards Julio now, its eyes that have grown reflective in the growing darkness of night clearly tracking the motion of the non-descript man as he works his way to his feet with a light grunt and makes his way over to Sasha to gently pick the woman up into a fairly stable princess carry. <Spanish>"If men can be so worthless. . . why shouldn't women have a bit of poooooower."
<Spanish>"So then, her nnnnnnname?"
---
Rune just starts down the path again, shaking his head. "You'll know her name soon enough," he assures the cat-Jeir. "You just tried to break her favorite toy, and she's a jealous one. Best you get to know her in person. I'm sure you two are gonna get on like a house on fire." Still, he takes another step closer to the cat. "So. Am I going around you? Or am I going through you? Because I'm over this game."
He has very little patience left in his voice, at this point, and a gun still in hand, thumb impatiently playing over the hammer.
Whatever he thinks of Julio right this second, he keeps it to himself. ---
<Spanish> "Mmmmmmmmeee?~ Oooooh, no, you won't be going through me, little boy. It would be mmmmmmuch more fun if that were the case. I'd love to introduce you to my kinks.~"
The bobcat rises to its feet as Rune begins to approach, teeth showing in what could be assumed as an attempt at a grin by the man puppeting it. "Since you're so tiiiiiiired though. . . I'll make a little deal with you. I'm the impatient sort, so how about you give me her name now, and I'll let you stop playing this game. If nnnnooooot. . . I think I'll take one of your lives to make up for taking my leftovers. I'm sure this little pet, fressssssh as it is, could manage that before you put it down, hmmmmm. . .?"
---
Rune takes a deep breath. The man puppeting this cat is clearly starting to piss him off. But he simply offers a smile in turn. "Cerridwen," he answers, flatly. It's not like Jeir couldn't have found that information with even a cursory check into the man's history. It's printed all over his back after all. "Her name is Cerridwen. Last known location, Malaysia, two years ago. If you find her, send her my worst wishes, yeah?"
