The wilds (Open)

[Mordechai]

The eagle sat quietly watching the man, listening as he spoke. Sensing from Zo's calmness there was no threat, the harpy lowered his head and tapped his beak against that of the snowy owl's. Stepping to the edge of the table it seemed to shrug as it ruffled its steely, blue-gray feathers. With a small push of its muscled talons, the bird launched gently towards the sky, beginning immediately to shimmer. In the time it took to inhale, the magnificent bird disappeared, and was replaced by a seven foot, three hundred pound, hard muscled male. The male wore heavily spiked New Rock boots, with black leather trousers tucked into the high collared boots. A black silk shirt stretched across a massive chest, protected by a freshly waxed oilskin duster the color of a ravens wing. The hilt of a Scottish claymore poked over his right shoulder nestled in a sea of long Stygian locks. Obsidian orbs locked onto the seated male, as a catcher's mitt sized hand was proffered. ''It would be rude of me not to introduce myself, I am known as Mordechai'' A sliver of anima drifted out caressing the male, before drifting back to impart knowledge to the killer. Turning to the owl, his mind gently stroked against hers, ''He is necromancer, yet he sits at a table full of food. He tastes young to my senses, does he not know...? There are two seats, two settings, where is his companion? Are you sure there is no danger?'' His eyes drifting over the table took in the settings, food, and wine. ''Do you expect company? I would not wish to interrupt.'' Although he paid attention to the man before him, his senses of sound and scent strained, absorbing all from the air around him as he searched to be sure they were not surprised by a fae, or errant grizzly. The wilderness was one place, that vampires were not always the apex predator.

[Zodiac]

Her eyes watched as Mordechai returned to his normal form. The owl smiled (as best as an owl could manage such a thing.) She always took delight in watching people transform themselves. Once the giant was settled back into being himself, she flapped her wings and lifted herself upwards and perched on his shoulder as he began to point out what his eyes were seeing.

"From what I am figuring out," she whispered to the big man's thoughts alone. "I knew he was a fledgling, just not what flavor he was. He seems to have a fascination with the subject of the fae and I think, think mind you, this whole deal was in place hoping one of them would sit down and talk to him. Don't laugh, dear. I did some pretty stupid stuff when I was young as well. As far as us being safe..."

The snow owl launched itself from the man's shoulder and darted out into the darkness. Sharp eyes watching for clues as she flew approximately 50 yards out and began to fly back in a gradual constricting circle looking about for anything that might suggest the fae or something else was nearby. Eventually she returned to her perch on the giant's shoulder. "Went out about 50 yards and circled back. All I saw was that rabbit you almost dive bombed, so we should be okay for now if we are careful."

With that, the owl did a flip off Mordechai's shoulder and landed on the ground. It's wings crossed in front of it as if trying to hide it's face. then a few moments later where the owl had landed, a small woman looked about. She was on her knees and her arms now covered herself to keep a measure of modesty in tact. She trusted Mordie without question, but she had no desire to give either of the men a free viewing of herself in a state of undress.

She wiped the corners of her eyes then looked at the young vampire with piercing crystal blue eyes that almost seemed violet at times in the scant light. She inclined her head and spoke to the vampire's thoughts again. "And as I was going to say before Mordie arrived, I am Mistress Zodiac. The all seeing-all knowing eyes of the past, present and future." she could never resist an opportunity to drop a hint to a possible new client. "So, that leaves us with who you are, sir. But before you answer that, could one of you gentlemen show me that chivalry is not dead and lend me a coat? I really need to remember to put something on before I do this trick." her tongue clicked against the roof of her mouth as she shook her head. "I keep forgetting."

[TobaisCorbin (DELETED 5748)]

The man stands slowly to his impressive height of 6'7" He was wearing an average hoodie however due to his height it acted nearly as a skirt for most folks. He takes it off and gently wraps it around her shoulders. "The Lady Zodiac?" He says with some surprise "My sire told me about you, in detail, she left out that you were a shifter. He gives her a kind smile and turns to her male compatriot and saw he offered a hand in some semblance of normal conversation.

His long stride carries himself to in front of the man, respectfully facing away from the woman while she hopefully dresses. He clasps the large hand in his own, which was rather long but not slender. He did not look built like the mountain before him however it was obvious that when he was alive he was of considerable stature. "Tobais, its nice to meet you. "As for the other place, no it was not for anyone that had the ability to show up, or the fae it was for someone who is..never coming" He says with a faint sigh, believing this enough time he walks back to beside his chair and returns to an examination of his guests with curiosity.

"Yes, mother dearest said you told fortunes, she made me swear to ask you to take mine should i ever chance across you. I agreed thinking the chances of that were low, it is funny you would be one of the first vampires i am to meet at all" He lets out a dry chuckle. Out of nowhere his head snaps around and his eyes narrow. He turns fully away from the pair and runs a hand through his hair once more. "Oh dear, it seems we are are to be getting an unexpected guest after all. One of who is really quite important and just as dangerous as any singular fae. Hello Mother" He calls loudly into the forest

[Sepsis]

"Holy son of a mangy mutt!" Sepsis muttered under her breath, tossing a frantic look over her shoulder as she crashed through the thick underbrush of the wilds. Ripping small tress from her path as she ran with her one free hand, a continuous stream of curses followed in her wake. There were fae in these here woods...much like the one now following her right now. Leaping over a rotted fallen log, the pyress turned, pausing long enough to gesture rudely to winged demon behind her, it's normally pretty face twisted into an expression of rage.

Her trip to the wilds today was two fold. One, to meet her Progeny, Tobais, and the second...a scavenger hunt of sorts. She had heard whispers of the magical properties the eggs of fae were said to have, and was determined to find one. The single smooth egg, white as snow that now lay in the crook of one arm, declared her triumph in this hunt. The enraged orange winged fae, with skin the colour of tree bark behind her however, did not share in her delight. Sepsis cringed as the fae screamed out at her, the pitch high enough to make human ears bleed. To the pyress however, it was a clear warning to run faster.

Switching direction, Sepsis bolted to the right, hoping to confuse her would be assailant, jumping over yet another fallen log in her way. She sensed what she was looking for however, and kept to her new path. A few short moments later, she burst into a small clearing, where her chylder, Tobais awaited. "It's right behind me!!" Sepsis called out, noting as she skidded to a halt that Tobais was not alone. Pausing just long enough to tuck the precious egg into a thicket of long grass, she turned, slinging Sleepytyme, her rifle, over her shoulder and aimed at the thunderous sound following her. "Get down, get down!" Sepsis warned, and pulled the trigger, spattering the trees behind her with bullets.

[Alexandrea]

She sat quietly below the branches and leaves, believing incorrectly that none had spotted her. When the predators of the sky began to arrive, the shifted Allurist's furry body hugged the earth tightly but relaxed each time the table laid en with food drew their attention.

Alexandrea was a curious person by nature and seeing the avians join the young man, the blonde was doubly so. Staying quiet, the small white rabbit began to inch more closely as she realized both of the winged creatures were like herself. Alex investigated both telepathically , finding them not just fellow vampires but also her friends. Zodiac in particular, whom Alexandrea felt extremely close to. The fledgling that had started this small party, too... seemed very familiar.

Staying back still, Alex continued to listen to the no longer one sided (to her ears) conversation, certain that the fledgling was someone that she knew somehow. Once names had been exchanged, Alexandrea felt even more conflicted. The mention of rudeness had hit home and she realized that she was being rude eavesdropping on the impromptu gathering but as soon as she realized why she thought she knew the new vampire Alex wasn't sure hers was a face or name that Tobais would want to recall.

She had known him, years ago. Her and Madison both had. Maddie had lived on the same block growing up and as a teenager, when Alex had known the youngster at the time, she had not been very nice.

Alex had teased him, called him names... even bullied him. She felt horrible about now but what was done was done. Just because she had changed as a person now didn't take away the fact that she was guilty of being really mean to Tobais in the past. She should at least try to make amends.

But just as Zodiac had changed back without clothing, so would Alexandrea. She wondered what Mordechai's trick was but would have to wait to ask. She had another favour to ask of the man first.

Seeing that Tobais had passed the petite Mystic a shirt that could have doubled as dress on the small woman, Alexandrea started to eye Mordi's duster. She got ready to hop out of hiding but before she could, someone else arrived whom Alex guessed must have been Tobais' sire by how he referred to her>

Without warning before the Allurist could move, there bullets were flying over her head. None hit the small form however and with her mind made up, a white blur darted from under the safety of he undergrowth to straight under the hem of Mordechai's long coast. Perched on his boot, the rabbit looked up at the huge giant of a killer as she spoke into his thoughts.

*Guess who. Kinda naked too. Little help maybe?*

[Mordechai]

Mordechai watched as Zodiac flew out and make a quick circle. Flying low like that her ears would be even more effective a sense then his eyes if he had still been in his eagle form. The beautiful snowy owl returned, and settled onto the killer's shoulder and gave a quick consise reconnaissance report. No fae, but the rabbit was still in hiding. Mordechai wasn't surprised, as that was typical of a rabbit's thought process, 'If I dont move, noone can see me'. Of course that was also why they were such easy prey. When the owl did a little flip and landed on the ground, Mordechai returned his attention to the fledgling. He had stood, close to Mordechai's height, if not his mass and started forward when Zodiac's voice graced his mind again,

could one of you gentlemen show me that chivalry is not dead and lend me a coat? I really need to remember to put something on before I do this trick.

Turning his head as he slipped the buttons on his duster, he saw the lithe mystic kneeling, her arms crossed modestly brfore her. The killer's eyes appraised her, but no emotion was shown nor felt. The necromancer had doffed his hoodie by then, and proffered it to Zo. His duster unneeded he turned back to the fledling and completed their greeting as Zodiac slipped into the massively oversized, on her, hoodie. Introducing himself as Tobais, he continued on with a slightly confusing explanation of why he was there, the table, and the setting for two, before continuing on to converse with with his sireling Zodiac.

As the massive killer turned towards the sound of crashing brush, he heard Tobais call out

'hello mother'

and wondered if it was a human female making all that noise, or if he referred to his sire, as a blonde haired female burst from the woods, streaks of crimson hi-lighting the long hair flowing behind her. the woman shouted

'It's right behind me!'

as she spun, dropping something into the tall grass, and pulling up a rifle to shoot randomly into the woods behind her as she continued shouted warnings.

Mordechai spun drawing his Equalizer, eyes scanning for any sign of a target or enemy. It seemed the gunfire was finally enough for the white rabbit, as it burst into the clearing and against all natural instinct ran straight to the biggest predator in the clearing and stopped on his boot. He almost lowered his eyes in disbelief when another familiar voice caressed his mind

Guess who. Kinda naked too. Little help maybe?

Alexandrea Quartermaine.....was a bunny. Eyes still tracking the forest around them Mordechai dropped the Equalizer to the ground next to the bunny and shed his duster in one smooth motion as he stepped forward to be between the two women and whatever was coming. Drawing the claymore from its spine sheath, the killer growled 'use it' towards the rabbit as he took another step forward to set him solidly between his women and the one madly spraying bullets into the woods. Raising his sword to the ready his body shimmered as he assumed his war form, the muscles in legs and arms growing, claws springing from his digits as his fangs grew in to formidable weapons in their own right. A warning growl burst from his throat as a slow burn of anger started to flow thru him.

[Zodiac]

She smiled as the cloth was placed over her back and shoulders. "Thank you so much." She would ask for him to clarify who had told him about her once he was done speaking with Mordie. As the men spoke, she slipped her arms into the sleeves and stood up, and once she managed to get the sleeves up her arms enough to have use of her hands she zipped the hoody closed. The garment was large enough to give her a respectable skirt so she relaxed while pushing the hood back to allow her to find her hair. Her fingers pulled through her ebony tresses, causing small bits of white down and a few feathers to fall free around her feet. Zodiac crouched down and picked up the few larger feathers from her transformation. She laid them on the table carefully. A small 'gift' for the man who was a fan of owls. She listened to the youngling speaking and raised an eyebrow in surprise. Had he prepared some type of meal for his sire? What a quaint gesture, she smiled. Perhaps he saw his sire as a possible more than a sire or was just being nice. Either way, she liked seeing such simple kindness from others like herself was still possible.

Her head turned at the sounds of commotion charging their way. She would swear she had seen or heard nothing close (save for the rabbit) when she flew over the area, so whatever this was had to be moving very fast into their area. When the woman burst into the clearing, her jaw dropped a bit. "Oh how in the hell did she find her way out here like this?" she sighed. Sepsis, in the gypsy's professional opinion (aka private view), was a fruit loop. A likeable one, but still a loop. What did she have under her arm and what was all the screaming about?

It was obvious she knew Tobias. ( "Oh gods, she is breeding." ) and suddenly the girl was shooting back into the direction she had come from. The mystic could not see whatever it was (real or imagined) that was being targeted, but whatever it was it was it was pretty well pissed off at that moment judging by the sounds she could hear. Her hands dropped in reflex for her weapons and found only skin and the cloth of Tobias' hoody. "CRAP!" her thoughts screamed. She would stand shoulder to shoulder (though normally it was more like shoulder to elbow) with Mordie in a fight, but not empty handed. Stealth would be required in this instead. Her eye caught the motion of the rabbit who finally decided to break cover and run right into the potential middle of whatever this was going to turn into thinking it was safety. 'Brilliant! That's why you a rabbit' she sighed to herself.

She moved a few feet to the right of where Sepsis was shooting and super jumped upwards into the higher part of a tree that was not currently a target of Sepsis' gun fire, and perched on the branch high above the scene below. Her eyes still trying to see what the woman was shooting at as she tapped into her inner strengths. The girl may have been unarmed, but pouncing whoever or whatever from behind and using her powers was always an acceptable equalizer. "Get dressed before shifting, get dressed before shifting," she kept yelling at herself over and over.

[Sepsis]

Sleepytyme's aim was true, and Sepsis heard the screeching of the fae thundering through the woods behind her. She had known that it was going to be a challenge when she had first lifted the egg, but this was getting down right dangerous. Swinging Sleepytyme back over her shoulder, Sepsis withdrew her ever trusty dagger and crouched, ready to pounce upon the raging far as it burst from the trees. A moment later, it did just that.

Sensing what was coming, she leapt to the right, narrowly missing a clawed hand that had reached out to swipe at her face, acting in turn, Sepsis lashed out with her dagger, nicking the creature in the shoulder. The fae's face contorted with hate, and kept coming. Reacting almost instinctively as claws once again struck out towards her, Sepsis used her own special abilities upon the creature, and mentally overwhelmed the being, drawing it's attention away from Sepis long enough to strike swipe at the fae's wings, tearing a long rip into one of them. Sepsis tauntingly sneered as she lashed out again, this time using the woods against the very creature who thought they owned it. Sepsis heard the low hum before it struck out, as did the fae, who turned just in time to see a massive swarm of hornets and bees, and wasps streaming towards it. Pausing just long enough to cast one last look of loathing in Sepsis's direction, the fae turned, and ran back into the woods.

After watching the woods for a moments to make sure the winged demon did not return, Sepsis's eyes sought out Tobais, her Progeny, breathing a small sigh of relief as she saw him there, safe. Noting the massive mountain of a man, claymore in hand, her bladeless hand rose in a peaceful gesture, and she wiped the daggere across her thigh before re-sheathing it. The woman crouched behind him she did not know either, but the half naked Zodiac her eyes picked out sitting in a tree top above them, she did know.

"Greetings". Sepsis said, smiling as she walked to hover by her chylder, pausing only long enough to pick up her newly gotten treasure before she did. Looking up towards the lumberjack pyress again, she 'spoke' to Zodiac,"The only other time I saw a vampyre in a tree...I was watching Twilight. You're not going sparkly on me now are you?"Sepsis laughed mischievously. Knowing the party before her could not hear the silent conversation with Zodiac, she instead focused on the giant blade wielding vampyre. "I think it's gone now..."

[Alexandrea]

When the commotion had had ushered in the arrival of Tobais' colourful sire had begun, Alexandrea had believed herself as yet unseen in her hiding place of shrubbery. So when the gun shots were fired back in the same direction that the other female vampire had arrived from, the last direction a small fuzzy rabbit Allurist wanted to go was backwards. It was pretty clear to her mind that she hadn't been the target, the aim had been far too high. Smack in the middle of a group of her own kind seemed like the safer bet, given the unknown nature of whatever had cased Sepsis to arrive in such a panic.

The huge duster Mordechai had deposited on bunny Alex was just slightly smaller that the state of Texas. She struggled briefly to find a sleeve or the hem or anything that she could use as she shifted to hold on to the coat but soon gave up and just started to change back. The duster almost slipped off of her the change happened so quickly, but the now very human looking and completely naked Alexandrea Quartermaine managed to catch the coat's collar at the very last second and quickly wrapped the huge garment around herself. She stayed behind Mordechai, glancing between her favourite Mystic as the Gypsy took to the tree tops and the direction of whatever it was that everyone was waiting for to come out of the trees. Then she looked at Tobais and gave him an awkward smile.

"Hello Tobais. I rather hope you do not remember me..." The blonde was about to launch into an apology of just how sorry she was over the way she had treated Toby, Toady as she had sometimes called him back then, but she stopped herself before saying too much. Maybe he didn't remember. She would still have to tell him she was sorry at some point if that was true but with everything that was going on, distracting him at the moment might not be such a great idea. Alex's eyes kept going from between the young man and the woods where still nothing yet had arrived.

[TobaisCorbin (DELETED 5748)]

Tobais breathed a deep sigh of relief when it leaves and he slowly tucks his pistol, along with his large hunting knife into his coat. He seems much more at ease when she comes to hover around him, he catches her and his gaze is filled with simple but mindless adoration for his sire.

However he looks away, no reassured by her safety, taking this chance to examine in earnest the reactions of his companions to the fae. The large killer in the duster withdrew a claymore, stood in front of the rabbit, who seemed to have run right to him was unarmed and armored, however it had not stopped the mistress Zodiac, who had taken the high ground. She had prepared to ambush. The man takes out a small notebook and scribbles in it for a few moments , however a realization hits him like a semi truck.

Very slowly his pistol is drawn once more and the few remaining scraps of plant life around the tall vampire wither and die, a passing bee shares their fate. His gaze fixes on the small woman behind the large vampire. "It cant be...Alex" The vampire, who had remained calm and cool headed, even through the attack of the fae seemed seething with rage at the sight of this woman. "No, spirits be damned no you cant be a damned vampire too! I left that life behind, i left you" He says saying the word with malice "Behind, you,, your peice of trash "true love" your group of lackeys, ive moved on, im nothing,s punching bag anymore"

He goes and stands firmly next to sepsis and grips his pistol with a shaky hand. He was actually frightened, not of the large vampire with the sword, but the small woman behind him.