A Day In The Sun {Jenn}

[Jenn]

Tabia frowned and tucked her wings close, seeing tiny shafts of light shining in from the sunlit world outside. None were large enough that they looked promising, however. Basement-diving she would go.

”Hold on then!” she said loudly, hoping that the volume would help carry her voice to her canine companion, whose hearing would likely be up to the task. ”I’m going into the basement! I’ll try to find us an opening there!” So saying, she turned away from the tightly boarded door and made her way through the maze of displaced pews, thrown willy-nilly around the main room. Things would be much neater if she decided to make this her home, oh yes.

The stairs for the basement were a black pit downwards, which was just fine with her hearing. After she went down about halfway, however, she paused mid-step and cocked her head to the side, ears up like fuzzy radar dishes. She’d never been down here before, which was probably a mistake. Something...breathed? The sound was thick, as if whoever it was had a cold, and she could imagine small bubbles going in and out of their nostrils. What an unpleasant mental image. She let out a worried chitter and started to back away slowly up the stairs.



Below, Maskaeinji lay sprawled on a pile of old altar cloths, dozing lightly. Though he didn’t snore, his breathing was heavy enough with phlegm to disturb another light sleeper. The sound of the chiroptae’s chitter woke him from his slumber and he made a grunting noise, eyes as black as the void opening to scan the area around him. Nothing looked out of place, though his vision wasn’t remarkable in the basement’s gloom. The bit of light shining in from the hole he’d entered by illuminated enough for him to notice movement to his left, where the sound had come from. Something big, which either meant human or Euclides. Or perhaps Amuni, seeing as this was a church, however old it was.

He bared his teeth in an unseen grin and began to slink towards the stairs, his movement shuffling. Tabia heard and let out a high-pitched shriek. No one had ever called her brave, and this situation was eerie enough to send her running back towards the door. Mask chuckled low and broke out of his slow crawl, diving for the stairs and running up with a wheezing growl.

[~*Nyx*~]

The female waited, pacing around the church hoping to find her own way in, that would at least save Tabia some trouble. Whenever she saw a board that looked even the slightest bit loose, she would start to tug at it with her powerful jaws. Not that it did much good. She wasn't the strongest thing ever, spending most of her time lazing about, enjoying the finer things in life. . .at least as fine as she could find them.

On her second circuit around the church she though she spotted a hole that was a bit larger than the other ones she had found. It was worth a shot anyway. 'Nautbi nosed around the hole, pushing most of the debris away from it, which in hind sight, probably wasn't such a good idea. Once she was satisfied that she had cleared herself a spot so that she didn't get completely filthy, she started to push her way through the hole. It would turn out that the hole was actually much bigger than she had first thought because once her shoulders were through, the rest of her followed with a crash and a thump, followed by a awkward grumble and whine.

[Jenn]

Those noises sounded as if they came from a chiroptae, thought Mask absently as he ran for the creature, still hard to see in the gloomy light of the boarded-up church. Enough light shone through various holes in the roofing that he could tell when his prey beat its wings frantically and shoved itself aloft, his snap for its ascending form catching only empty air. Blast!

Gulping down huge breaths, Tabia pushed herself to reach the ceiling without a proper take-off and clung to the first rafter she could reach, her back legs digging into and nearly splintering the wood of her perch. A Euclides here? Why?! Obviously this location was now unsuitable for a Church of her own, being known to the vile creatures. She wanted nothing to do with them if she could help it, but perhaps informing another Pope, maybe that handsome blue zealot with his own congregation, would earn her some favor. It was worth a shot, at any rate.

While the chiroptae stayed safely out of reach, the Infection paced below her and considered how he might convince her to come down. At present, nothing was coming to him. When a noise from the basement reached his ears, however, his head swung immediately in the direction of the stairs and his muzzle split in an obscene grin.

”How’s about I go make the acquaintance of your friend, then?” he called up, starting for the stairs and hoping it was indeed a friend of hers. He didn’t care much about the odds of two Amuni against one Euclide. He could cough and roll and sneeze all over both of them! Then they’d both leave covered in his delightful germs and fleas, housing who knew what illnesses to spread to their people! What a delightful prospect.

[Jenn]

((I know you're on mama-hiatus, but do you want to continue this or should we end it?))