undergrounds | [OPEN] Bromley & Bexley Claims + Afterparty

"Humans taking human life is irrelevant," Ringer answers plainly. This fae clearly believes herself superior to the species, which might not be so bad if not for the very active physical threat accompanying the attitude. She steps back as the ice nears her shoes, then to the side, trying to keep from being frozen without fleeing entirely. The girl hasn't even entirely recovered from her last beating by a vampire and now she can tell she's about to receive another. The joys of the hunter profession.

"You're not barred away. You have other territories. You're an empire looking to expand." It's not the smartest thing she can say and she knows it. Ringer believes in logic though, ignoring the nuances and trying to avoid being pedantic in favor of candor and facts.

"How is t that hypocrisy is irrelevant?" Mab asked, sounding genuinely curious if angry still, frowning in response to Ringer's assessment. "We have not, ere yesterday in fact, claimed territories of this realm. We have remained largely uninvolved in thine petty disputes. If 't be true thou wish't to lay censure, behold those who hath drawn our attention. A few minor Fae playing art no more dangerous than thine mortal monsters. Thy people has't drawn the attention of the high Fae." And with a motion of her hand the sky opened up above them, clouds gathered and snow kicked up in an area about the size of a small store. It didn't just drift, it blasted, falling so quickly it gathered around their feet in at least an inch right away and then wind sprang up sweeping it around them blocking them from view to everything outside and making it very difficult to see within the space and if not careful the snow would enter the eyes, temporarily blinding. Ringer got her very own mini-blizzard. "Lay down thine weapons and leave this place," Her voice seemed to come from everywhere instead of becoming hard to hear like it might in a normal storm of this nature. But normal snow storms did not suddenly appear in the middle of July either.

Edited 2015-07-11 20:54 (UTC)

"It's a human problem for humans to contend with. Your presence won't improve that condition, so it's irrelevant." She clarified as best she could without becoming irritable. As far as she was concerned, using the human condition as an argument for invading or killing the race was a flawed position. It was partially the result of being a human herself and Ringer hated humans who killed each other even more than those of the supernatural life. But that didn't matter right now either.

The information about the territories was new. Ringer had been under the apparently false impression that every faction had claimed an area of their own. If the fae were only now expanding into their world, it was considerably more troubling. The clarification that these were not high fae was only mildly reassuring.

At the snow, Ringer lifted one arm to help shield her eyes while the other quickly pulled her gun into her hand, cocked and ready in one fluid motion. It came before the woman's word and she was already shivering against the cold by the time the fae spoke again. She didn't fire, though her aim was accurate to precisely where the woman had been before. "One of your many doors is worth more than a human life and you say you're not a monster."

"Dost thee truly believeth that human problems doth not affect others?" Seeing as Mab has not come in killing anyone (although Ringer is really testing her patience) she has no idea that Ringer believes that is her sole purpose here.

Only the past fae were minor. The high fae were now taking note. Mab walked to one side, snow never touching her, flakes each finding some way around her as though her skin had a field of cushioning breeze around it redirecting flakes. Her footsteps are silent in the cold and she stops by the explosives, looking down at them while Ringer continues.

Leaning down her fingers touch one more to get a feel for it than because she needs to. And suddenly frost creeps in along the mechanism, freezing what would automatically trigger explosion. She moves to the other one and does the same thing. When she straightens again, she is behind ringer and she makes a rolling motion of her hand focusing the cold in on the metal of the gun, if Ringer isn't careful the whole thing will ice over in an instant and take her hands with it.

"Mine door hath no relation whatsoever to human lives save a mortal stumbling upon t and ignoring their natural instinct to stayeth hence. Thou draweth parallels that doth not exist." And she smiled to herself. "At no time didst I claim I wast not a monster."

"You bring your problems and your battles into this world and then blame humans for responding to them," she replied tightly. Ringer was blatantly shivering against the cold, making it difficult to speak. Her gun aimed true at the now vacant space, waiting and somehow knowing that the woman had moved. There was no reason for her to remain there, particularly if she could see beyond the snow that was clearly of her own making.

The hunter didn't need to hear footsteps to catch sight of her explosives being messed with, not two feet away from her. It was a set back and one noted with frustration. It wasn't enough to start a long-term conflict over when she could come and try again at a later time. On the other hand, Ringer was clearly in a situation that might result in her death.

Now knowing that the woman was in a different place, she fired her 9mm into the emptiness where no one could be hurt. It was for the noise, in the hopes of drawing someone nearby. She quickly holstered her weapon not a moment later, her hand already near numb, figuring the holster would be a safer place to hold the gun without losing feeling in her fingers entirely.

"Your people take human lives and ask humans to accept that as inevitability," she shot back. Ringer crossed her arms tightly, fingers tucking up beneath her arms in a vain attempt to stay warm. "I won't."

The gunfire did draw someone over, but not another human. A large black fox appeared perched on a rooftop nearby. He looked over at them, though he was mostly talking to Mab.

"What's the problem?" They had a schedule to keep. Stop playing with your food.

Mab puffed out an annoyed breath. Her voice still seems to come from all around as she responded, "Child do you not believe that I could have killed you before this conversation began if that was my intention? Do not tempt me."

Her eyes lifted and the snow seemed to blow less dizzying for a moment as she listened to Heiji. Then she shot him an annoyed look if he could see it and the snow stopped entirely. Suddenly both Mab and Ringer were visible within about two fee to of snow that tapered off in a 100 meter circle all around them. Her eyes moved from Heiji back to Ringer but the charges were buried at the moment in fresh snow.

Grimalkin stepped onto the snow and stalked forward to curl around Mab's ankles ignoring Heiji and focusing on Ringer, heavily muscled and the size of a bobcat he made a soft yowling sound that grated on the ears. "Take your explosives and leave, Mortal. My kindness wanes." And indeed her voice was colder, more remote than even before.

Edited 2015-07-12 18:31 (UTC)

Ringer remained where she was, caught between her desire to see things through and her realization that the risk was too high now. She looked around with nothing in sight except the wall beside her and the snow both stacked against her legs and falling in a blizzard around her. The hunter squinted into the storm for the source of the second voice, blinking the moisture from her eyes when the snow suddenly stopped to see the ice queen, a cat of some kind, and the large fox. The fox who had asked her about horseshoes.

She lifted her hands to wipe away the snow from her face and hair as best she could, her fingers stiff and mostly numb. Whether the fox had come to her aid or was on the side of the frigid witch was unclear. Ringer wasn't keen on the idea of dying, but she also didn't like the idea of obeying the fae's orders. Humanity was already on its back foot with the supernatural beasts and proving themselves subservient wouldn't help the situation at all.

So, instead of obeying, Ringer did the dumb thing and remained where she was, looking between the cat, the woman, and the fox. She crossed her arms again, hand sliding around the grip of her weapon in its shoulder holster, remaining poised and ready with no move to actually draw the gun. Something wasn't adding up. "Why let me live?"

Mab frowned as Ringer decided to stay her ground. Very well then. Her speech though becomes more modern. Absolutely understandable. "Grimalkin you may defend the door against the foolish. Indulge yourself." Her gaze on Ringer stayed for a moment longer. "Such a question's answer would cost more than you could pay." And with that she turned and walked toward the fox. The malk made a sound that was disturbingly like laughter, the large pads of it's feet making it easy to walk across the top of the snow toward the girl.

Walk is really the wrong word, it's definitely a stalk and a cat that big has very long teeth and very sharp claws. As he stalked forward, his eyes lifted to the girl with homicidal eagerness. He gathered his body and leapt at her claws slashing and it might just be coincidence but it's across her upper chest with the potential to sever her backpack straps if it was still on her person. When it did it let out a scream somewhere between that of a mountain lion and bending metal.

Ringer watched the woman walk away, then turned her attention to the creature. She was about to move in the snow when she realized the thing was already moving toward her. It looked ferocious and the fae's parting words were not encouraging to the hunter's chances of survival. Ringer uncrossed her arms and drew her weapon in the same motion as she intentionally dropped backward, knowing the snow would catch her fall.

She managed to dodge the first slash, the second cutting one of the straps to her pack clean into pieces and gouging into her skin with it. The hunter pulled the trigger easily at the same time as the attack came, sending one bullet into its chest a couple feet away and another into the thing's shoulder area at point blank range. The third narrowly missed as the animal pressed her shoulder deep into the snow, twisting her arm uncomfortably as the rest of the creature followed. Claws dug into her shoulder, its other paw scratching her side and elbow as it pinned her opposite arm. It made its bizarre scream again and shredded the other pack's strap.

Heiji, running toward the scene of the conflict, batted the weapon out of Ringer's hand with a slender paw and used his own body to bump the two of them apart -- he didn't know Grimalkin, and he didn't trust Ringer not to try and shoot him while she was at it.

"Stop," he said. Hopefully the cat would know well enough to obey the orders of a higher-ranking fae. Hopefully the bullet hadn't simply enraged it, because injured animals were infinitely more dangerous than ones on the hunt.

"This isn't what we came here for. Leave her to the cops." And indeed, there were sirens wailing in the distance, summoned in response to the sound of shots fired. Presumably, they wouldn't be too happy about finding the explosives.

Grimalkin yowled in pain then snarled and was about a quarter of a second from ripping the girl's throat out when Heiji intervened.

Mab turned and frowned at Heiji's interference. Something severely annoyed passed over her features.

Meanwhile Grimmalkin's fur burned blue around the exit wounds. The malk barred his teeth at Heiji. "You interrupt, fox." With conflicting orders he took them from the fae he owed allegiance to. He prowled around the outskirts of Heiji's reach, limping on his hurt paw, a low growl rumbling in his belly. "Mortal authorities." He made a hissing noise and spat to the side. "They will not avenge the use of the bane." His voice was awful, cats aren't made to speak human languages. Everything about it felt wrong.

"The girl was given a chance to leave peacefully." Mab said, cold imperiousness in her voice. Her eyes tracked Grimalkin, assessing the Malk's injuries. As far as she was concerned, whatever happened to the girl now as her own doing and if it provided play for her servitor, all the better. They could wait until the last minute and step through the door if they needed to. But it would be interesting to see how the mortals dealt with explosives in the middle of a park. Terrorism was such a fear among the humans these days.

Ringer being parted with her gun felt like the greatest loss of all. She was entirely convinced she was about to die until things unfolded in an unexpected way and she found herself free to move. The hunter immediately grabbed her gun again. Instead of trying to shoot anyone, however, she immediately holstered it and pocketed the two shells dropped in the snow. The fox was right about the police. To Ringer's benefit, she was nothing if not prepared. It had been eight minutes since the gunshot and the police averaged a fifteen minute response time to this area with a best of just under ten. If she hurried, and if luck was on her side, she could still make it away without her sanity being questioned. Or worse.

Ringer wasted no time in grabbing her pack and moving to the wall to retrieve the explosives. Knowing exactly where she placed them and never having completed their wiring, it wasn't difficult to retrieve them, just time consuming. She kept a wary eye open to the fae, fox, and panther thing as she set to work, wondering if she could shove the backpack through the fae's door if needed. Hopefully it wouldn't come to that.

"Millenium Park by the Ecology Pavilion, 9:00 PM, in one week," Ringer muttered to the fox as she worked. She had questions and she was hoping that the fox, if not the woman, might be willing to give some answers. It was a park not far from where they were, comfortably in their new territory. "A peaceful talk."

Edited (literally just icon) 2015-07-13 05:14 (UTC)

W h y was this happening. Wasn't it bad enough that Ringer had apparently shown up with a bunch of explosives, determined to face off with two fae who could eat her face? Was she really going to try and use him as a living shield while she collected all her junk? Because there were definitely two of Mab and Grimalkin and only one of him, and while he could reasonably hope to stave off one of them, he definitely would not be able to prevent the other from doing whatever the hell they wanted in the meantime.

Left with no other alternative, Heiji did the only thing he thought might have a reasonable chance of this encounter not ending horribly: he stalled.

"No, they won't. But think about it. Do you really wanna kill her now? I mean, you could do it, but it'd just leave a mess and get everyone on high alert. And wouldn't that be a little too easy a death for someone who used the bane on you? One and done? 'Cause it seems to me like it'd be a lot more fun to stalk your prey. You know, follow her around, show up when she least expects it, do a little terrorizing? Make a little game of it before you decide to end it for real?"

Cats... liked games, right. They liked playing with their food, right.

Heiji resisted the urge to slap a paw over his face."Cats have excellent hearing; how d'you think they always know when you're gettin' out the Purina? You show up there and he's gonna use you for kitty litter. What you should be doin' is remembering your promises, so hurry up and scram!"

Grimalkin paced in irritation spitting out his disdain for people on high alert. Let's just say some of the lesser fae are more 'in the moment' types. Not so much evil as hyper violent. But if she got away there was no way he wasn't going to cause her grief in the future. The cat's eyes moved slowly from Ringer to Heiji and something close to a laugh left it's ... lips? Whatever you'd call it on a cat.

Mab just sighed and turned to continue walking. "Join me when you are finished saving the human from herself." She glanced over her shoulder at Grimalkin and something silent passed between them that needed no verbal cues. The cat sat, fire slowly dying on his fur and he waited for Ringer to scat. Because if she stuck around he was going to finish what he started. Though Heiji might have added a little torture to the death if it went that way.

Ringer was well aware that the fox had saved her life. Even as he metaphorically threw her under the bus, suggesting that the other fae and its pet stalk and torture her. It wasn't very reassuring in the realm of heroics, but vinquit qui patitur as her old mentor had once told her. She could worry about the rest of it later, when she wasn't running on pure adrenaline. After all the pain of the evening came rushing back to her and she had time to deal with it all.

She finished with the explosives while the sounds of sirens grew closer, not yet arrived. The fox's words to her specifically only served to confuse her. The girl couldn't remember making any promises as of late, other than to make an appearance at a girl's party this weekend and to check out that one coffee shop. It wouldn't occur to her until later that one of those promises might be related to the fox.

For now, she slid the broken straps into the bag as best she could and cinched up the top, carrying it under her arm as naturally looking as possible. Without hesitation, she gave the fox a quick nod and then bolted in the opposite direction of the woman, trudging through the snow and then running once free of it. She only hoped her blood would wash away with the melted snow.

Good ol' torture followed by death. Relieved that things hadn't gone even further south, Heiji slipped back up onto the rooftops to hopefully attend to a situation that was slightly less tense. Maybe he'd run into Mab, if she wasn't too far off.

Otherwise the whole night was ahead of them.

[OPEN] Bromley & Bexley Claims + Afterparty

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