Pulled Along {Jenn/Shini}

[Nathalia]

Chunk! Scrrrraaaapppe. Draaaag.


Chunk! Scrrrraaaapppe. Draaaag.

The sounds reverberated about the alleyway, nasty, hollow, and fleshy. The sound moved at a set pace, neither speeding up or bothering to cover itself, as though the one making it wasn't too bothered about being found.


Chunk! Scrrrraaaapppe. Draaaag.

The creature passed under a flickering lamplight visible for a full twenty seconds before passing beyond the reaches of the glow. Its body was long, low slung, and looked kinked. The red fur was swirled with the grey of age and glistened with sweat and grease. Its front legs were furless, practically skinless, the delicate paw bones showing through the papery layer of skin and muscle keeping them from escape.

Its hind legs, what remained of them, were a mutilated mass of carnage. One stump had a length of bone protruding, it made a hollow "Chunk!" noise every time it was used to lever the creature over the cobblestones. Its other limb was a mass of dangling, pulpy muscle, which looked just about as useless as it actually was.

The creature panted heavily, dragging a leather bag behind it, the bag contained tiny purple beads and glistening trinkets, they rattled softly as they were pulled over the street.

"Din' bargin fer all this, m'lady..." The creature grumbled to itself. The voice, deep, raspy, and filled with slippery, wet decay, was decidedly male.

"What'cha got me ow 'ere for any'ow?" He snorted; wet droplets flying from the cavernous holes in his face that may once have been a nose. "Shoulda jes' wai'ed on ol' Furl...'E kin flah. S' not fair, I cannae flah, ain't got no wings...eh."

The creature snorted again, this time also managing to dislodge a few thick strands of saliva, they fell halfway to the street, becoming entangled and matted into his chest fur. "Woulda fallen off by nah any'ow..."


Chunk! Scrrrraaaapppe. Draaaag.

[Jenn]

A ways behind the shambling, scraping creature, six small forms crept stealthily. Mama went to sleep early that night, claiming a headache - but they all knew she got tired after a night 'gambling' with Father. Their littlest sister was asleep and they saw no need to wake her since she got whiny and tetchy when woke in the middle of the night. Her disturbling was curled up with her so they weren't leaving her alone. Just...behind. Again. It made them giggle to hear her squeal in the morning. She was so easy to tease, their little sister.

Their own Di stalked faithfully at their side, firmly entrenched in their little group now that they'd come to accept ownership. As plushies, it hadn't taken nearly as much as it would have if they were other ranks and not so cuddly. The six of them stalked, waiting for just the right moment to present itself.

One dragging scrape just seemed perfect and they broke from concealment, sprinting for his naturally hunched form and launching themselves onto him with a warcry of bunny and Di shrieks, the latter of which were paralyzing in their intensity. They landed on his back and limbs like the little hellions that they were, delighting in the way the old body reacted to their leap. Brats of the worst kind were these three.

Off to the side, a dark form raised its head from beneath a pile of old, discarded clothing to blink blearily at the piercing cries a little ways off. Crusty gunk was wiped away by an absent elbow, covered in nearly as much filth and scabbing as the residue it strove to remove. What...?

[Nathalia]

With a snarled "Yelp!" The Torn Euclides fell onto his side, rolling frantically in a mad attempt to rid himself of the sudden plague of children. His long, thin, form crashing into dustbins and a rat carcass as he struggled.

"Gerrof! Rott'n lil' buggers! Leggo, m'leg!" He shook himself violently, thick strands of unusually sticky, smelly saliva flying everywhere.

He snatched the leather bag angrily away from grasping, prying paws, and tugged a tiny Di off of his head as it attempted to inspect his nostril holes.

"Wha' th' blazes yew lil' types doin' round bouts 'ere?" He rumbled, drooling more freely now that he was miffed. Groaning, he righted his odd body, gingerly setting his less attractive back limb in the correct fashion on the cobble stones. He glowered at them all, before allowing his face to split into a grin.

"'Ave tae hand it to yew, though." He coughed, wiping a forepaw across his mouth, pulling strings of spit from his jaws and wiping them on his chest. "Never hear yew commin', nice and quiet-like yew were until yeh hit me, kiddies."

He paused and considered the young, vibrant forms.

"Yew kids got anyplace tae go, or yew all lookin' fer som fuhn?" He asked, extending a deformed forepaw to the nearest child. "Name's Mulsej, how'dje do?"

[Shinigami]

Biyuse bounded down the alleyway as fast as she could move, huge legs kicking off against the walls whenever she came to a corner to facilitate her movement at the high speeds she could achieve. Atop her head, a multi-shaded blue Di clung to the pair of huge ears as best she could with her front paws, tail streaming out behind his owner in the mode of transport she was so very used to, having traveled this way for...well, for however many years it had been since the lapine had caught and adopted the plushie.

Biyuse didn't really mind her pet's rather precarious position on her head. If Aveline went flying, then she'd just turn around and catch up the little thing again, allowing her to resume her perch. For now though, she was just reveling in the sugar high that came from eating a sticky little child that had only recently pigged out of a huge amount of cake and candies, indulged by parents that didn't care at all about their child's health. The kid hadn't had a chance to digest much at all before Biyuse had been on him, and that meant that she was currently flying as high as a kite; well, moreso than usual.

Banking off of another turn, she yelped in surprise as some of the corner seemed to give way beneath her paws, throwing her off of her pre-planned course. She flailed through the air, landed on a pile of old clothes and something that was lurking beneath said clothes, rolled off of him, continued along (while leaving a sticky trail of blood from her open wounds) and ended up in a heap near the mustildae and the trio of other lapines. Aveline had gone flying somewhere in the middle of that, and blinked up in confusion at the nuclear-green canine who had been beneath the clothes, and then squeaked in an attempt at a threat, made far less threatening by the fact that she was thrashing around with her tail, trying to get away.

[Jenn]

The younglings shrieked with laughter as the old Torn rolled and shook at them, Jaun flying to land against a waste bin and his Di being plucked from its inspection of the gaping nostril holes. The others eventually slid off, slung with ropes of saliva and not caring a whit. They giggled and tugged at the limbs of their Di, Berri trying to ferret her way into the curious leather bag as it was pulled roughly away. They all watched him struggle to right himself from their assault, misshapen limbs set back in place. He was an icky old man, which of course made him fascinating.

They listened to him talk for a moment without interrupting. It wasn't until he stuck a furless, nearly skinless forepaw towards Bibine that Berri shoved her out of the way for a chance to gingerly touch it and giggle. "M'name's Berri, and I'm doing just great," she told him with a smirk. "This is my sister Babs and my brother Jaun. And our Di. We're always up for some fun, ol'man Mulsej. What's in your bag?"

Even as she said this, Babs's mini-Di was creeping up behind to try and wriggle her way in.

Meanwhile, Maskaeinji let out a loud snarl as something suddenly collided with him forcefully, erupting from the pile as best he could after the impact to bare his rotting teeth in a gruesome expression. Seeing nothing but a Di in his immediate vicinity, she snapped it up in his jaws by its fishtail and loped towards the bizarre 'gathering' that had just interrupted his catnap. Or dognap. Whichever.

Spitting the blue creature on the ground in a puddle of Mulsej's string-like saliva, his own infected liquids soaking it, he glared at the group with eyes blacker than ebony. "If someone doesn't start explaining or walking away soon, there'll be bits of Di littering this alley," he growled, voice low and menacing. It wasn't easy to make him give a damn about anything, but this situation was ridiculous enough to have grabbed his attention and held it. Being assaulted out of a doze was good for that.

[Nathalia]

Mulsej laughed; an awful, choking noise, much like wet sandpaper rubbed over a rotting limb. He pulled the tiny Di out of his bag and tossed it on top of a dustbin.

"What'ch wit all these rabbits' tonight, eh?" He cackled, looking Biyuse up and down. Gazing admiringly at her ears...his eyes lingering for longer than necessary on her rear end. "S' like an hoorible plague ohf yehs...heh heh."

He took the paw of the one named Berri and shook it delicately; trying not to reveal the delight he took in the simple act of touch.

"Glad tae hear yer all up fer som fuhn, then. What shay we jus-" His head snapped to the left and his gaze was torn from its comfortable resting place on the Agony's rump by the explosion of angry green canine.

Mulsej watched the newcomer as he dropped the fish-like Di into a puddle of..well...stuff...his stuff, and began to snap at them in an ill, yet angry tone.

The Torn waited patiently for the other to cease his tirade before attempting to calm the situation, his ear stubs folded back in submission, paws akimbo.

"Nah, nah, lad. Hold up shen. No one's tryin' tae dishturb no one, see? We all's jus' tryin' tae have shome fuhn, going out to some place, I gots' tae head 'ome. They're wit me, at leas'-" He turns his head to regard the lithe black Lapine. "Most of 'em are, yew commin' too, beauty?"

He shakes his head, as though to clear his mind, and returns his attention to the still miffed Canine. As he speaks, he slowly drags his way in front of the younglings, just because this newcomer didn't look like a cannibal, didn't mean he wouldn't kill the little ones...

"Any'ow, we're just passin' through, sorry fer any trouble, lad. Oh, yeah, Name's Mulsej." The Torn once again extended a half-dead paw. "Ew' ah yew, now?"

[Shinigami]

Biyuse squeaked in horror as Aveline was spat into a puddle of, well, liquids, and immediately scrabbled to her feet to hop over to her. She started to reach down and pick the Di out of the puddle, and then her nose wrinkled. Actually, that was just...disgusting. Really, really gross. The lapine stared at her pet, and then started to look around for a stick or something to pick the Di up with, until she could find some water to dump her in. However, first she had to deal with the icky Infection canine that had threatened to rip her Di apart!

"You leave Aveline alone! It's not her fault she can't hold on well. And it's not my fault I landed on you! I mean, there was the wall, and it had a weak corner, and it broke apart when I kicked off it, which is kind of silly don't you think? Walls are supposed to be strong and supportive, not just breaking apart whenever your average Euclides comes along, 'cause that really hurt, 'cause I didn't just fall on you, you know, I think I hit other things too." The sugar was still in force, and she stared off defensive and loud, hunching up in her best "threat" pose, which wasn't all that imposing due to the fact that she couldn't stop bouncing up and down and up and down and up and down and... Then her attention was diverted and she turned her attention to the Torn, who had to be some sort of relation to her own type, though she rather thought that she had the better part of the deal. At least she could deal with her pain in various ways, he just had body parts falling off.

"Sure-sure! I'm coming, I'm coming, don't worry. I need a stick though, Aveline's gross and I don't want to carry her. She needs a bath, 'cause she's all drool-covered and he's," an imperious paw pointed toward Maskaeinji, "an Infection, and I don't fancy getting infected or anything 'cause that would hurt and wouldn't be any trouble at all. My name's Biyuse, by the way, but you can call me Deffa if you like. Where are we going, anyway?" Throughout each of the times she'd babbled, she'd occasionally taken short pauses to spit blood off to the side, away from the other Euclide. However, her usual precautions weren't enough this time, and she had to turn her head away to cough violently, before letting a mouthful of blood hit the ground with a splat.

Aveline, however, simply stared mourfully at her owner, and waited to be, pardon the pun, fished out.

[Jenn]

The three lapines grinned proudly as Mulsej called them a plague. Their mama called them that sometimes when she wanted to sleep and they crashed around the house with reckless abandon. The other bunny, the cut-up bleeding Agony, made their trio a quadruplet again, which they were more used to. "Four bunnies are better than none," Berri said with a snicker, rocking back and forth on her feet while she pet her Di. When the Infection burst onto the scene, she pulled her closer and glared. No one touched her girl without her express permission, scary sickly freak or not.

Maskaeinji listened impatiently to the old sack of flesh rasp out his excuses, less interested in him than in the hyper, fast-talking little nuisance of a bleeder. He coughed a little, the sound phlegmy rather than gurgling like hers, and spit his own pile of mucus right on top of her disturbling. It hit the little creature with a wet 'splack' and coated her head quite nicely with its green-yellow viscous consistency.

He smirked, feeling a little bit better, and ignored anything else she might have to say. Time for a scratch. One red-touched hind leg came up to rake across the side of his neck and he let out an almost obscene sigh at the sensation. Missing his morning scratch always made him tetchy. "Shut yer trap," he said with a happy sigh to Biyuse as he changed the location of his scratching. Fleas almost seemed to abandon ship at the repetitive movement.

Babs crept up until she was right behind Mulsej, his smelly bulk blocking her completely from sight. "Can we go have fun with you now?" she whispered just loud enough for him to hear.

Suddenly, a rat skittered across the side of the alley, breaking from hiding to flee from the odd gathering of creatures. Mask saw it immediately and pounced, shifting to bipedal form with it in his paw-hand. He grasped it firmly and, grinning, gave himself a brief rat-bath. It consisted of rubbing the squealing, squrming creature all over his stomach and neck, liberally coating it with fleas and flaking scabs. With a thick chuckle, he then flung it from himself, aiming for Biyuse. It squealed like a mini-torpedo.

[Nathalia]

Mulsej watched in fascination as the Canine spat...something onto the hapless Di. It was actually as green as the creature's fur, with a consistency that didn't bear thinking about. The old Torn watched as the Agony Lapine's paw hesitantly danced about over her Di, as though she couldn't quite bring herself to pick it up. Hmm....small favors could sometimes result in large rewards.

Mulsej's countenance split into a wide grin as that thought crossed his mind. There was a tug on the bag slung about his shoulder, he looked down as one of the younglings gazed up at him and asked to go with him.

Perfect.

“Coursh we can, everyone loves a bit ah fuhn, eh?” He smiled, his lopsided teeth protruding over dripping black gums. “Mayaps’ that’ll calm yew lot down a touch.”

Dayobi would be thrilled, now all he needed to do was drag the pack of them back home...shouldn't be that bad. He smiled at the Agony's stutter of "sure-sure" to his inquiry with delight, such a sweet, jumpy young thing...

Grinning, the Torn stretched out the paw meant a moment before for the Infection type, and instead fished out the Di.

"S' all right, love," Mulsej murmured, rapidly, to the Lapine. "I'll jus' carry 'er back fer yew, shall I?" He watched her face change from one of relief too one of disgust as there was a crash behind him. Turning, Mulsej watched in sudden fascination as the lurid green Canine transformed, grabbed a rat, rubbed it crudely about his person, and flung it.

Mulsej did what anyone would do.

He ducked.

[Shinigami]

Aveline was absolutely miserable, and hung in the Torn's grasp with an equally-miserable expression on her little stitched face. It was amazing how much emotion the little fish Di could convey, but dripping spit and mucus, she couldn't be anything but. Biyuse herself was regarding her Di with a similar expression, though she herself wasn't actually covered in the same disgusting mixture of whatever-it-was and something-she-didn't-want-to-think-about. The fact that the aged Torn had picked her up with no qualms at all prompted her expression to change to one of relief and gratitude, and she turned to thank him profusely when movement from the Infection caught her attention.

She turned just as he threw the rat at her, and her eyes narrowed with a sudden burst of adrenaline and concentration - the combination that she absolutely loved. In a move that was more fit for a time far in the future from hers, she lept into the air in what seemed like some sort of slow-motion, her body rotating with the leap. One huge lapine foot came up, and around...and slammed into the rat with the full force of a bunny kick, sending it flying back in the direction of the Infection as if she'd been a cricket player hitting the ball for miles. Luckily for her, her feet only rarely developed the open wounds of her kind, and this was one of the times when the pads were clean of anything except for some dirt. Time sped up for her as she landed on both hind feet once more, and then glared at Mask.

"Don't do that! It's icky!" Said the one who was constantly bleeding. Then she turned back to Mulsej and the trio of bebe bunnies. "Where to now?"

[ooc: Sorry for how long this took.]

[Jenn]

The trio of bebes watched the impromptu game of rat-ball with wide, fascinated eyes, suddenly far more interested in a potential new game than they were in being leery of the Infection himself. How hard would it be for them to catch a rat themselves, to weigh it down with something so it didn't scurry off, and to play a foot-game with it? Their sister may or may not be receptive to the idea...but if they could get her in on the fun, there'd be even more help in catching the rats! Their eyes gleamed as they considered the possibilities.

The disturblings on the premises lost Mask's interest completely in favor of the bunny flip-kick and the sudden rat projectile zooming straight back at him. That hadn't been expected at all. He laughed out loud as the creature hit his side with a resounding 'thwack', the sound phlegmy and raucous. This evening had turned around from extreme annoyance to genuine entertainment, both of them rarely expressed emotions in his daily routine. The apathetic veil he normally surrounded himself with lifted for the moment and he grinned, enjoying the heady rush of emotions.

"Icky?" he laughed. "Me? Or the rat? Or the game? That's not a nice thing t'say, little rabbit. Not nice at all. I think we had a misunderstanding, all of us." He smirked. "Why don't we all just kiss and make up?"

[Nathalia]

Mulsej watched Biyuse's impressive show of dynamics from the ground where he lay, flat, attempting to avoid becoming part of the spinning-rat-drop-kick. It did not stop him; however, from eyeing the Agony more closely, he hadn't known she could move like thaaaat...hmmm. Delicious.

He watched the rat makes its progress back toward the Infection, and watched it hit with a solid thwack noise, he grinned nervously as the large Canine laughed abruptly, his attitude appearing to change. He then sighed with relief as the Infection appeared to forgive them their grievances caused and appeared ready to make up for his atrocious attitude.

"Kiss an' make up, eh lad? Huh, whell, Ah'm game if yew are." He grinned, pulling his lips back off of his foul protruding teeth and rotting black gums. "The bebes might enjohy a bit ahf a show, eh?" Mulsej then laughed too, he could take a joke, spittle flew out of his mouth which he hurriedly wiped on his arm; remembering just in time not to wipe it on the Di.

"Wehll, if we're ahll done with the bickerin', nohw..." The old Torn, rasped, gazing around at the group. We'd best be shovin' off," He turned to Mask. "Yew kin come too, iffin' yeh like, lad. M' sure m'lady won't mind ah bit, eh?"

With that he turned, heaving his bulk off down the pavement.

Chunk! Scrrrraaaapppe. Draaaag.

He led them slowly, but surely toward Onyx Park, the moon hidden behind the clouds, the darkness covering their paths. His bag rattled and clinked as it was dragged over the ground, his breath rasped in his chest, and his body scraped along.

“Be there shortly,” He wheezed. “Just through a bit ahf park, nohw…”

[Jenn]

Mask snorted at the offer, good mood still in place, though evaporating slightly in its strength. "Nah. Wherever you're goin', it's not where I want to be, which is sleeping. The invite's acknowledged, though. Maybe I'll see you around again sometime, meatbag." He snorted again, the sound more amused, and turned away to slink off down the alley. Time to find a new place to park his carcass for the evening.

The children watched him go, then quickly followed after Mulsej - until they remembered that they didn't need to move fast at all, overtaking him in a few youthfully energetic bounds. They stopped, looked at one another, then Berri flopped her legs weirdly on the ground and started dragging herself along by her forepaws. Grinning, her siblings did the same, their mockery of Mulsej's movement several feet ahead of the torn probably quite entertaining. He was much better at the awkward dragging from years of practice, but their vigor more than made up for their lack of experience. For fun, Jaun started making wheezing noises to match his own. His sisters promptly fell over in their laughter.

Watching their owners in puzzlement, the trio of disturblings followed after, ignoring Aveline as she dripped goo in Mulsej's disgusting maw.

[Shinigami]

Biyuse didn't bother to hide her relief upon hearing that the Infection wouldn't be accompanying them to wherever they were going. She didn't like him, oh no, not at all, not in the least. He was icky and gross and nasty and slimy and he'd gotten Aveline all disgusting and she really didn't like that. And he'd thrown a rat at her. A rat that was icky and gross and nasty and...

It was a difficult effort to skip on four legs, but Biyuse made an admirable attempt at doing just that as she accompanied the other bunnies and the Torn down toward wherever it was that Mulsej was going. The fact that she didn't have a destination didn't bother her - she almost never had an actual destination when she set out from whever she'd decided to nap that night. She eyed the trio of bunnies in their mimicry of Mulsej's actions, and wished that she could do much the same thing, but the ground was ickyicky dirty and would get in her wounds and that would hurt almost as much as if she was infected by the Infection. And that wouldn't be fun at all.

"So, where are we going again? And what's in the bag? It's a neat bag, I rather like it. Why are you carrying it, though? I mean, you've got enough trouble getting along as is. Would you like me to carry it for you? Since you've got Aveline for me and all, that is."

[Nathalia]

Mulsej pulled himself along, chuckling still, at the parting shot from the Infection. Meatbag? That was a new one, he liked that. Always good, to hear people still had senses of humor. The Di in his maw squirmed fitfully, and the Torn, moved his tongue about to re-situate her. Suddenly, one of the tiny Lapines dropped onto the path in front of him. To Mulsej's utmost surprise, she then began to drag her lower body behind her...her siblings began to play the game too.

He watched them for a few seconds, his grin spreading. He couldn't hold it. The Torn burst out into hearty guffaws, spewing Aveline onto the ground as he roared his mirth.

"Yew kids! Heheheh, lookit 'cha! Ahahaha!" He pulled a paw up to his face, trying to calm the fits of laughter, and managing to tone it down to somewhat messy sniggering.

"Lookit tha', yer tuggin' yerself along jus' like me, fanshy tha'. Here," He poked the lead youngling...what was her name...Berri, in the side, lightly. "Wha' shay yew an' I have a race, then? Go!" Mulsej quickly grabbed up the fallen Di and took off at a surprising pace, not fast by any means, but certainly quicker than they may have expected him capable of. He laughed around his mouthful of Di and moved forward.

When they were out of breath, he fell back into his normal pace and watched the pretty Agony skip along, quite a feat in and of itself. He watched her jumble of legs with interest, wondering if he could have pulled a stunt like that even when he'd had legs.

She then began to speak; or rather, she began to chatter. To his surprise she then offered to carry the bag for him, huh that was new... Placing Aveline down for a moment to rest, he turned to her.

"Well, love, tha's awful kind of yehs. Ah'm pretty shure Ah'm all right, but iff''in yeh wan' yeh could take the bag fer a bit...S' jus' got some stuff from an errand I wash runnin'." He put up a paw to his muzzle, conspiratorially. "Yeh kin look, pretty one, but don' go showin' those bebes, eh? They'll run off with 'em." He shook the bag off and picked Aveline up once again, dragging himself over a slab of stone, as they entered Onyx Park.

The bag clinked gently, and a small silver ring fell out of it as well as two tiny purple beads, they rolled a bit before stopping and lying still, gleaming dully in the moonlight.