It's one of those days, really. The rain falling from the sky has lent a bit of dampness to the world that seems familiar up in the mountains toward the Windward side of Oahu. It also tends to drive the tourists over to the Leeward Coast, leaving mainly those that live on Oahu out and about during the brief respite from gawking travelers. Because of the weather, though, the Valley of the Temples is mostly empty. Perhaps a few people with stalwart sense of desire for respecting the dead have arrived, but for the most part, the place is quietly filled with just the pattering of rainfall and the occasional 'TING' sound as a slight breeze moves a metal wind-chime hanging over a marked grave or traditional prayer bench. Still, despite the grayness to the sky, the red of the Asian-influenced buildings stands out distinctly against the rich, verdant green on the trees. And of course, those trees that have changed color with the weather looked like remarkable beacons of yellow, orange, and some deep reds amid all the deeper hues.
Aksel is here. Askel is often at the Valley of the Temples. With a light windbreaker as a sop to the weather he was idly working on the flagstones, sweeping in a lazy but acceptably efficient fashion. His feet were clad in light sandals that left his toes bare, legs covered by light tan slacks and as the eye traveled up a plain white shirt, the sleeves rolled up and covered by a pair of suspenders visible beneath the jacket. The hood was down, leaving dark hair damp and pushed back out of hazel eyes that mostly seemed to focus on the stones below him but swept the courtyard regularly, just as much as his broom did. He whistled softly to himself as he worked, a sort of meandering tune that sounded a little like "Whole Lotta Love" put through a bag of cats.
Mila burst forth from a the mouth of a trail that leads up the mountain, breathing heavily and completely soaked by the rain that had managed to catch her on her apparent run. She'd dressed like she intended to be active, wearing a pair of black, stretchy athletics shorts that left her rather intensely well-muscled legs bare down to a set of shoes that looked very thin, like they could be used either on land or in the water without weighing someone down. For a shirt, she'd elected for a bright blue sports bra worn underneath a darker blue tank top that fit comfortably, and left a little strip of firmly muscled tummy open. With her hair pulled back into a messy ponytail that had only become more messy due to being soaked, she looked a little disheveled as she came to a top against the side of a tree, sucking in deep breathes of air as she laughed in between the gasps. "HAH! That's right! I got here first, and all of these laying in the ground are witnesses!" she seemed completely pleased by this idea and pushed away from the tree with a satisfied CAW of happiness, lifting her arms up to the air to look at the sky, grinning widely. "And if you don't trust them, ask Rangi!" Who she promptly blew a kiss to. "Aloha, Sky daddy!" Being in the valley of the temples, walking up to the location of the laid dead, she didn't seem at all quieted or put out, but almost ecstatic.
Near to where the road passes, Lola is standing with Peter, peering down at the nearby temple and cemetery with a furrowed brow. "This place does not look like it fits here," she muses aloud in her light, girly voice. Her green and purple hair lightly damp from the moist air. She glances towards Peter and wonders, "Do you want to go to this place?"
Droplets splash in puddles at mid-day.
Conni is out trekking today, the Nordic Blonde not minding the weather and just making the most of it. Wearing a tight fitting, gray camisole top with the strap for her artist tube slung across her body, she has her hair back in a pony tail. Fingerless leather gloves, brown cargo pants and sturdy hiking boots finish the impression of a woman who is out for a trek. She has a staff in her right hand, being used as a walking aid today as Conni does her best not to go over in the slick mud. The rain has plastered stray strands of blonde hair to her face, Conni blinking to clear her eyes as she makes for the relative shelter of the temple.
Keha's arrival is heralded by a blue streak. Yes, what better way to greet this solemn place of contemplation and remembrance than with an unbroken string of profanity that would make a wounded sailor faint. The lithe, slightly smaller version of Mila comes charging up and all but slams into Mila's tree, hands raised to brace herself. She's also dressed to move, in a pair of hot pink running shorts and a cropped, pale blue t-shirt that leaves a substantial portion of midriff exposed. Keha is also wearing a fair bit of mud, in all the places that would land in a puddle first if one were to take a tumble. She snorts back at Mila and tightens the messy brown and blonde bun on top of her head before it breaks free. "I would have beaten you if it weren't for that slick spot, Mila - and Sky Daddy knows it!" The older twin folds her muddy arms over her chest and huffs.
The Valley of the Temples is somewhere Haruka has never been before this. Then again, she's only been on the island for a few weeks. Having found time between her studies and her other explorations, she's come to pay her respects to the spirits of the island. Given the nature of her errand, she's dressed in something resembling a traditional style, billowy black pants and loose white kimono-styled top - with an umbrella added for shade, or in this case to defend against the rain. Right now, that accessory is held in one hand, the shaft resting on her shoulder, as she walks casually up the path.
Peter leans heavily on a walking stick, looking a little pained. He, like Lola, is damp. From the rain and from the hike here. "Hmm, well, it is a graveyard, so... I don't know if those ever fit. He shrugs to her and straightens. "Alright, I'm rested enough, lets go in. We can at least get out of the rain maybe, but yeah, I want to go in here."
Volya kept one booted foot moving in front of the other as the twins had transformed a wonderful hike in the rain into a mad sprint that Volya had long decided she lost. Rain had soak through her unkempt the locks of blonde hair and onto her fading black sports bra that held down as much as one would expect from losing a fight with two bees. Her oversized cargo short hung from her hips As she neared the Valley of the Temples, she paused, picking at the knots in her hiking boots, hoofing one foot to peel out of her sock before switching to make the other bare as well. The woman started humming 'Fool in the Rain' when she picked up her boots and socks to continue her way up to Mila and Keha.
Friday, and Grayson is visiting the Valley of the Temples (not to be mistaken for the Valley of the Kings or the Temple of Doom). Clad all in black, as usual, the tall man has brought out a trench-coat for today, albeit one made of light material. He's got a backpack as well, also in black, and he's wearing a hat to keep the rain off. No prizes for guessing its colour. He's carrying a book, some sort of guidebook by the look of it, and is heading straight towards the bell and the log with which it's rung.
Loa dropped Vince.
Loa dropped Herald.
Loa dropped Smythe.
Aksel stopped sweeping and his eyebrows lifted as Mila came tearing out of the forest with a cry of victory and an exultant shout. The look on his face turned to bemusement as Keha swore up a storm following her sister. Giving them both a friendly wave and a somewhat muttered "Aloha", he leaned on his broom slightly and watched as the area started to fill with faces. Surprisingly more than a few familiar ones. Conni he greeted as well with an open smile and a wave of hello. As Haruka passed by he watched her, posture tense for a moment until it seemed that nothing was going to happen, after which he relaxed and looked about. The entrance of Peter and Lola together quirked his head, brow furrowing a bit as he spotted the cane the man relied on. When Volya finally caught up with the sisters he eyed the broom and shrugged, starting to walk towards the temple to go set it aside. Sweeping could wait a while after all, and curiosity was getting the better of him. He stopped short as Grayson passed, spinning a bit to watch the man as his attention was caught by the three men near the graves. Aksel's movement cut off as he watched, really frowning now as he stood up straight. Looking around for one of the temple proctors, he frowned and looked back to the twins. "Hey. 'Scuse me. Aloha. Mila and Volya and..." He shook his head as he looked at Keha. "Hi. I'm Aksel." He pointed towards the little knot of men. "Is that a tradition I'm just super unfamiliar with or no?"
The standing man in the trio, Smythe, looked utterly unbothered by the fact that he was soaked clean through to the bone by rain. He wasn't muddy like his companions, and his sharply featured face seemed quite attentive. He was watching, looking out along the wide expanse of the Valley of the Temples. He didn't speak, didn't move to touch anything or stop anything, just watched.
One of the men laying down on the ground, Herald, continued to do so. His movements were hard to see from a bit away, unless someone had especially good eyesight or a knack for picking up oddness. Though it might be considered odd that he was laid down onto his stomach alongside a fresh grave. You never can tell how some people grieve, though, right?
Mila laughed and turned around to wrap her arms around her sister, lifting her up into a tight huge and smooching her soundly on the cheek. "Don't worry, 'a'ole polikia! You'll have another chance when we go back down." Still happy and amused, she set her twin sister down and let her go, winking. When Volya came up behind the two of them after her more leisurely pace, Mila reached out and wrapped her arm around the taller blonde woman's waist, lifting her up and into a side-hug spin as she did so, waiting until after she'd pulled the wet shoes and socks off, of course. "We made it, Kemahameha! Let's go ring in and pay our respects to the beautiful elders!" She smooched Volya loudly, though it was a kiss given to the side of the woman's long neck, and then set her back down. At Aksels greeting, she lifted her hand and waved to him, offering a wide smile. "Aloha Aksel! Laule'a day!" Turning to walk into the Valley proper, she stopped short on her way and blinked, cocking her head to the side as her jaw dropped open, her eyes having fixed to the three men. "What kind of lolo haole shit is this?!" Shock had her shaking slightly. "HEY! YOU!" She called it loudly, and started moving towards the newer graveyard with a sense of a foreboding thundercloud, rage making her rich brown eyes stormy and flashing with intense emotion.
Lola starts down towards the temple, her bare feet finding easy purchase on the way down. Her steps infused with a hint of 'dance'. A little swaying as she goes. Only considering her footing briefly before she lifts her eyes to scan the folks that are around. A familiar face here or there, though what catches her attention are the three men, two acting oddly. By the standards of most. For her, their actions don't prompt concern. Just a casual curiosity. "Is that normal?" The question is honest in it's confusion and directed towards Peter who is near to her. And her path diverts from the temple itself to curve towards those men.
The second man laying on his stomach, Vince, doesn't react in the slightest to anything he might or might not have heard, he simply continues doing whatever it was he was doing. On the opposite side of the fresh grave from Herald.
Conni takes a break near one of the overhanging edges of the temple, glad to be out of the rain and doing her best to get wet hair out of her eyes. Seeing Aksel with a broom, she smiles and offers him a friendly wave, turning then as the racing trio come bursting out of the tree, her smile only getting broader as she sees who it is. As Aksel points out the people making mud angels, Conni reluctantly breaks away from the shelter, squelching through the mud towards where the graves are. "Aloha guys!" She calls out as she gets closer, making a point of making sure she can be heard by them over the rain. Picking up her pace, she tries to angle her approach so that she intersects with Mila, Keha and Volya, offering them all a friendly wave as she gets closer. Looking over her shoulder as she approaches, she gestures to Aksel. "coming?" She grins to him, not wanting to be the only one out in the rain.
Keha has to stifle her laughter as she's hoisted into the air by her sister, so as to properly maintain her affectation of indignation. She does give Mila a playfully salty side-eye, which then dissolves into a peal of laughter and a muddy boop on Mila's nose and kiss on the forehead. "On the way down, Mila, I'll help you find my puddle, because Mom taught me how to share." When she's set down, the little woman offers her hand to Aksel, flashing a great big grin. "Aloha, Aksel, I'm Keha. I see you know Volya and my little sister?" Keha loops her arm out towards Volya's waist to give the blonde a squeeze when she joins the little group, and upon spotting the long-limbed blonde Conni approaching, Keha sticks her free hand high up in the air and waves like a flag. "Aloha, Conni! You want to join us for a race back down the mountainside later? I'm going to teach Mila a thing or two." But then, Keha follows Aksel's look after the trio of men in gray and furrows her brow. "Not any local tradition I'm familiar with..." And then her sister is storming off after the men in gray. "And Mila knows something I don't, so I'd better go make sure she doesn't get herself into trouble." Keha's already cracking her knuckles as she follows after her twin.
Haruka pays a glance to the sisters' greeting each other, a little smile on her face as she watches their obvious closeness and the fun they're having. Still, she has other plans for the day, much as she'd love to join in the fun. Maybe if she just... eh. Hey. What's that over there? Her eyes narrow in on the trio across the way, and then someone else starts running at them and shouting. Are they really...? They -are-! "Oh, that's just disgusting," she mutters, and hops quickly clear of the muddy pack to chase after the three, angling her parasol to keep some of the rain out of her face while still letting her see what the men are up to. This just won't do at -all-.
Peter limps up to the bell and rings it twice, his taking on a somber look. His step lightens a little as they walk along, the young man echoing Lola's hint of dance in her steps. He, like a few of the others gathered in the Valley, considers the people laying on the ground. It does seem odd, to him. Peter looks to Lola a moment, and shrugs. "I don't think so, but, well, people all grieve differently. I think maybe those that prostrate themselves like that perhaps feel some guilt, or their grief is so strong, that this is the only way to express it." He speaks in a hushed voice, sounding reverent. "Let's leave them be unless they prove to be up to something, yeah? And..."
Peter looks as others appear to be approaching the three men. "One moment." He moves quickly over to the freshly arranged grave, and the three men there. Placing himself between them and Mila if possible, he holds up his arms. "Shhh!", he says to the approaching people, "This is a graveyard. Be respectful of other people's traditions, even if they seem strange to you.", he says, at a voice barely at conversational volume. "It's disrespectful to yell."
Volya fell into giggles as she was picked up and spun into a hug by Mila which quickly erupted into happy laughter as she was smooched. When her feet found the ground, her toes curled against the stone as she smiled and offered a delicate wave to Aksel as Keha gave her hug as well, "Aloha, Aksel. I hope you're doing well and are enjoying the ra--" When Mila piped up, Volya started blinking at one group of people then the next until the storming Mila's direction, she zeroed in on the three men. "This mustn't register on an emotional level... Said no one." Her nose wrinkled as she sniffed the air. "Oh no..." The woman's jaw tightened and maybe she was hearing the pulsing music from 'Kill Bill' as she marched straight at the person that was blocking Mila as her drove her foot at Peter's wounded thigh. "GET OUT OF THE FUCKING WAY!"
"Dih-dit dih-dit," murmurs Grayson, then rings the bell. When he turns away from the bell, he's humming a Metallica track quietly to himself. When his gaze falls on the men by the grave, his eyebrows lift. Various people seem to be on the way over there, though, so he folds his arms and carries on humming. Looks like the entertainment's been laid on for him. It's the perfect time and place to find somewhere to lean and watch.
Aksel nodded to Keha. "Yep. Well, sort of. We met on the beach. You're looking a lot better Mila ok.." He nodded to Volya and Conni and shook his head as Mila stormed off. "Yeah no, I guess not..." He started tromping after Mila, hand tightening around his broom. A bonk with a broom was still a bonk after all. He grinned at Conni and nodded. "Oh absolutely. They let me hang a hammock here in exchange for keeping it clean. This is definitely not clean..." He splashed through, part of the little processional. When Volya shoved Peter aside he winced but shook his head. "That's not worship. That's desecration." He called out. "Hey guys! Why don't you go do that in the ocean if you really want to go for a swim yeah?" When they promptly ignored him his fingers tightened on his makeshift weapon. "Alright... when it's noggin bopping time, it's noggin bopping time..."
While Aksel was busy talking to him, the standing Smythe just looked at him, dour facial features going set into a stony countenance. He lifted his hand, and in the most efficient manner, shooed him away with a brushing motion of his fingers. "Run along, brah. Listen to that guy, everyone pays their respects in their own way." He smirked slightly as he jerked his thumb towards Peter, the only break in his grave exterior, then literally just looked past Aksel like he didn't exist.
As he had gone unmolested, Herald continued his motions. By now those closer could likely see that he was pulling out heaping armfuls of earth from the grave and shoving them to the side. Between him and Vince, they'd already gotten to the point that they were starting to have to dip at the waist deeply to get to the heavy armloads of dirt. They really were moving with intensity. They were decidedly digging into that fresh grave. He kept working even as people came closer. And now, more audible, was the grunting and almost animalistic sounds he was making with his efforts.
The rolling storm cloud that was Mila stared daggers at Peter, her eyes narrowing as the veritable electricity of her rage swarmed around her like a lightning blanket. "You're in my way, hoale. Go stop traffic with your hair somewhere else." Anger had her shaking as she reached forward to try to get a hold of Peter just above his hips, like she intended to lift him out of the way, but the wily kitty-boi was able to evade her hands, which didn't help her mood. Instead, she stopped moving forward, staring at the man. "They're fucking digging up a body. If you think that's ok, but shouting around the dead isn't, I don't want you near my ohana, ever." Her teeth were audibly grinding as she spoke, and her eyes kept flicking to the guys digging into the earth, then to Smythe standing near them.
Lola doesn't rush. So Peter goes on ahead of her to try and stop things. Lola, instead, makes her way over at a far more leisurely pace. And rhythmic one. Her path meandering with her light, dancing steps. Her sodden sundress swaying limply around her when she turns or sidesteps. Though as one attempts to force Peter out of the way, she murmurs lightly, "Such mean people." Not to anyone in particular, her voice not lifted. As she draws near, she pauses and grows thoughtful. Scanning the people around her. She goes over to Peter and tells him, "Maybe you should try it too. And the others would. And everyone would be happy. They were already in the mud before." She indicates the sisters and their muddy state.
Vince, working into the grave as he was, now actually slid himself into the deepening hole to start working at the dirt like a digging dog. His face was contorted into a snarl of effort and he was making rude, grunting noises as he worked. The efforts of both men had begun to really move in earnest, now, as the whole was opened to at least waist deep for both of them.
Conni is now thoroughly confused by what is going on, just following along after the group and more than a little bewildered by Peter's intervention. "They're messing with a grave Peter, surely that's can't be okay? Although, I suppose I have seen stranger things while here." Leaning heavily on her staff, Conni eyes Smythe and Herald and the look she gives them isn't a friendly one. Her expression changes as she watches Aksel approach, noting with interest the way he is carrying his broom. She winces in sympathy when Volya jabs at Peter's injured leg, her cheeks colouring for a moment in guilty embarrassment. "Wait wait what?" She calls out as Mila tries to move Peter, confusion starting to feature rather heavily in Conni's life right now. Raising a hand, she points in the direction of the graves. "Erm...that man over there is digging now, surely that isn't normal?"
Keha has Mila's back through anything, and this is no exception. BUT Mila did win the race up the mountain, and this is also a perfect opportunity to introduce her little sister to the mud that lost Keha the race. So while Mila's distracted trying to pick up Peter, Keha dives low and leaps at her sister, wrapping her arms around Mila's thighs and taking her out at the knees, laughing like a madwoman the whole way. "SURPRISE! Betcha didn't see that coming!"
Chuckling lightly at the antics of the twins, Haruka slips around them - and Peter - and heads on towards the trio at the grave. Just what could they possibly be doing? What could it mean, are they really trying to dig it up with their bare hands? Or maybe there's something buried there that they're after? Maybe if she gets a little closer... and it seems hopping up and over a mausoleum is the way to do it. Get a better perspective.
Peter remains nonplussed by Volya's advance, and when she goes to kick him, his leg simply isn't there by the time her foot reaches that spot. "Rude.", he calls out in a singsong voice. "Sounds like someone's mummy didn't wash 'er mouth out with soap enough times.", the young man says, a very definite Irish lilt now present in his voice. Then Mila tries to move him, and he simply spins out of her grasp.
"Keep your hands to yourself, madam.", he says, again with a heavy Irish accent. Lola causes him to pause, and he hesitantly shakes his head. "No, that would be disrespectful, yeah? We can go do that later, in some proper dirt, okay?" The young man blinks.
"Wait. What?" Conni's prompting causes him to look again at the men by the grave. "Well. That's isn't on at all. You three, knock it off." He turns and limps towards them. "Get!" The young man gestures, with his stick, towards the entrance. "Get, or we'll sick the ancestor spirits and animal guardians on ye!"
Volya let out a scream of frustration and throwing her head back, "I don't know who I'm supposed to be angry at anymore!" And then Keha took out her own sister, Volya's fists balled up around the hiking boots and white knuckled as she just started growling, and she just ran at Smythe like a crazed banshee, swinging her boot wildly at the man. "STOP! FUCKING! WITH! THE! GRASS!" The boot swung a couple more times, each one growing more and more ineffective until Volya was just attacking the air. "Why can't anyone stand still!" The woman let out a howl of spite.
Grayson, having found a place to lean against a fence, watches with a certain curiosity. It's almost feline, but (perhaps unfortunately) he doesn't seem to have died yet. His eyes go from one participant to another, but appear to linger longest on Peter. Perhaps it's just the angle of the light on his angular features, but there's maybe something... hungry about that look. Malevolent, almost. His lips part, his pale eyes narrowing, and there's a hint of teeth in a smile that's a little too cold to be a smile.
Aksel stepped back in surprise as the twins went down in a heap and a splash of muddy water. His eyes went from them to Peter and went flat. "Yeah... no one worships by digging up the dead. And that guy's Jewish, which means there's a body down there." Sidestepping the rollicking, rumbling sisters tumbling in the water he followed after Conni, his grip shifting on the broom. With a grunt he tried to bring it down and to the side to literally sweep Smythe's legs out from under him. The taciturn man was just a little too quick however and kept his balance, leaving Aksel wet and frustrated. "Listen dipshit! None of us are fucking stupid and and we know you're up to some sort of crap. And I know what you're doing isn't ok..." He kept the broom close but held it easily as a weapon. "You keep that up I'm going to start burying your friends as they go down."
Giving a rough snarl under his breath, Smythe looked at those coming at them and lifted his arms up in the air to wave them off. Of course, then he had to dodge a direct attack by Volya and he seemed to grow deeply colder. "You fucking people should mind your own business." And that's when he drove a straight up mule kick at Volya's diminutive chest. It may not have been the most solid contact, but his filthy, muddy, bare foot did make a nice THUD as it hit her.
The digging of Herald didn't stop, no matter how much attention he was getting. He moved into the grave with Vince and they were both now shoveling dirt out like dogs, covering the ground and everyone around with spatters of mud and dirt in a steady shower. The sounds coming from them were far more animalistic now, and anyone getting a good view of them could see that their skin had grown more gaunt, their eyes more shadowed and hollow. Their teeth had gone to a more sharp point on all of them, especially the incisors, and their hands seem to be tipped with long, filthy nails that were crusted soon enough with filth from the grave-dirt.
A frustrated scream left Mila, her rage echoing across the Valley as she was taken down from behind... by her own sister. What came from her mouth was a series of words that only those fluent in Hawaiian, and gutter Hawaiian at that, could understand. She ineffectively attempted to get her sister pinned to the ground, but the angle was all wrong and she couldn't even get her mitts onto Keha.
Lola isn't stupid, but she is playful and distractable when she's green and purple, having suddenly a sharp focus on Peter, despite the developing situation nearby her. "Why wait?" Of course, the question comes with Lola suddenly jumping lithely onto his back. Arms around his neck, knees dug in at his sides. "You can do it now, we're not on the grave places!" Mind, she's not that heavy, really. And she's not exactly trying to push him down. But he does now have to deal with her weight and a shift of his center of gravity.
Vince is continuing his digging, and he has also taken on the more animalistic visage that Harold had come to. They were quite positively going for pay-dirt, and the grave was almost dug down to where they'd hit a casket.
This is a difficult moment for Conni, both Mila and Keha are friends and they've helped her in the past but damn it, they need to settle down. What they need now is a Valkyrie hug, just which one? The scream from Mila ends up making the decision for Conni, Mila being the bigger of the two twins and a much more worthy adversary. "While wrestling with twins was high on my 'bucket list', I don't think today is that day." Letting her staff drop to the ground, Conni dives forward to end up behind Mila, the tall blonde doing her best to wrap her arms around Mila's waist from behind but the mud and the movement of the twins just throws off her grip. On the plus side, it does look fascinating.
Keha may not be the stronger of the twins, but the little yoga instructor is damn bendy when she needs to be. She ducks out of the way of Mila's grasp and her mad cackling only gets louder. When Conni joins the fray, Keha lets out a triumphant whoop because the addition of the tall blonde to the mix presents her a perfect opportunity. A handful of mud plus her little sister's face. Just like cake at a wedding. Perfection. Or it would be, if Mila wasn't so damn quick! Keha almost gets Conni instead. She's having so much fun, she's hardly even noticing the strange visage taking over the men at the grave.
Haruka might not immediately recognize what she's seeing, but the diggers are getting deep, and they're clearly up to No Good. At least some of the crowd seems to be taking notice of it and not caught up in sibling shenanigans, though! Perhaps it would be better to keep them distracted while someone else gets in their faces.
She jumps atop another mausoleum, looking over at the trio a few graves away, and waves and yells. "Oi! Stinky! This isn't your mamma's garden! What are you, a bunch of dogs?"
Peter simply stares at the sudden chaos that descends upon the place, and he shakes his head ruefully. "You've all gone daft in the head!", he says. "What has gotten into yaaaaaaaaghhhh!" The young man's taken completely by surprise as Lola is jumping up on him for a piggyback ride.
"Lola, what're you dooooing?!" Peter stumbles about now, his injury not helping him keep his balance at all. Letting out a frustrated breath, he reaches around behind to grab Lola's legs and cinches her up higher. He turns and begins to walk away a dozen meters or so before turning around to watch the unfolding scene.
Volya let out a groan of pain as she was kicked by Smythe, her hand immediately moving to guard and rub the center of her chest. Her blue eyes narrowed hatefully. "You have to dug up graves! Fine! You get more people to dig up!" Volya unleashed an ululating scream, circa xena, as the changeling took two steps and leapt into the hole. There was no one to strike as her elbows impacted the muddy walls of the grave and she fell back onto Herald and Vince. "Keep off the fucking grass!" She let out another wild scream, slinging mud, but mostly being a nuisance rather than damaging.
Grayson's smile gets even more toothy when the swearing starts. He can't speak Hawaiian, but for some things you don't need to. "Now, now, ladies," he calls over, his superior smirk entirely audible as well as visible. "This is a place of peace and serenity! When it's not being dug up by Ghouls, at least." The blonde moving in gets an even broader smirk from the man, and Lola jumping on Peter? The sheer entertainment value here is spectacular. He really does look like the cat who got the cream - he even applauds when the faceful of mud happens, even though it misses, and apparently can't help but start laughing at Peter's antics. It's laughter with an edge, but laughter all the same, laughter that redoubles when Volya jumps in too.
Aksel watched in disbelief as the three women grappled in a muddy, soaking heap, expression totally boggled. "Ladies... ladies! Please?" When Grayson spoke up Aksel frowned, then snarled. "Oh well fuck that!" He came at Smythe again, totally on the attack now, the broom lancing out to try to catch the ghoul in the face. The attack was narrowly avoided though, and Aksel reversed his grip to slam the broom into his target's cheekbone, hearing the impact with a satisfied leer as he stepped back. "Absolutely not..."
Being hit with a Broom was enough to sour even the dourest of moods. And Smythe's mood had almost seemed ok, if not a little perturbed, after he'd kicked Volya in the chest. But now, oh yeah, he'd come out of his shell. Before everyone's eyes, the man that had been standing watch hunched over a bit, his arms elongating, his cheeks going hollow, and his eyes taking on a sunken appearance in now tallow skin. He snarled, his teeth long, needle sharp protrusions from his jaw. Claws that were blackened with long-accumulated grave-filth extended from his lengthy fingers and giving off a disgusting scent. He lanced his arms forward at Aksel, then slashed at the man across the midsection, in an attempt to relieve his bowls for him. All it managed to do was give a nice slash across the clothes and scrape along the tender belly flesh, but the intention was clear. Perhaps Smythe was hoping for a larger meal?
The sudden appearance of a slender blond in the digging hole with Harold and Vince had Harold quite perplexed. Seeing an ankle, he reached for it, confusion making his snarl into more of a gurgle as he tried to grab hold of Volya's leg. She managed to make him look like a clumsy toddler going for a cat as she stepped out of the way without seemingly any effort at all.
Mila's shriek was now aimed elsewhere, or maybe just at everywhere, as the sheer volume of rage inducing impetus had only grown. Then of course, there was the ululation of Vee as she jumped into a grave.. with.. Ghouls?! "VEE!" The growl of anger and frustration ended in Mila's screaming the woman's name as a lambasting vibration, and she surged herself forward away from the attempted grasping of Conni and the facial attempts of Keha. "Pupule WAHINE!" She leapt into the pit that used to be a covered grave and landed with her knee in the lower back of Harold, the one that had tried to grab Volya's ankle. She almost had him pinned, but the filthy creature turned slightly to the side and she moved past him, slamming her knee against the soft dirt of the opening grave. "UGH!"
Lola quite happily rides off to the side with Peter, bouncing a little bit up until he stops. She cants her head to glance alongside his face, then grins a little and hops down. "That was nice," she decides before looking at the conflict. Grayson's laughing gets a glance, but the activity is far more interesting. "Those men aren't nice," she observes of the ghouls, now that she's actually paying attention to them. She grows a touch nervous at that moment, lips faintly pursed. In fact, she starts to get a little antsy, shifting her weight from one foot to the next.
A rainy late afternoon gives way to evening.
Vince rushed forward with his claws bared and mouth open wide into a gaping maw at Volya. While she had merely had to sidestep the attack from Harold, the claws of Vince managed to grip into her leg, digging deepy into the muscled flesh and gouging out some of it, leaving behind the disgusting filth and grave dirt in the wounds as they left her.
Scrabbling to her feet, Conni reaches out with a hand and picks up her staff, her flicking left and right as she tries to see where Mila has gone and what got her so upset. Blinking in surprise as she sees the ghouls, Conni launches herself forward, wincing as she sees the ghoul grabbing at Vee, slightly cheered as she sees Mila joining the fray. All thoughts of continuing the mud wrestling are cleared when Conni sees the wound that is inflicted on Volya, her face twisting up into rage as she charges at Vince, spinning at the last second and twirling her staff with full force, the mud catching her feet at the last second but the angry Valkyrie is still able to land a cracking blow on the side of Vince's face.
Keha loves a good friendly brawl, but now Volya and her sister have gone and gotten themselves in harm's way. "Did you say GHOULS?" the little woman asks incredulously to the dark, smirking figure of Grayson, but the answer isn't going to matter because she's already diving into the grave to make the close quarters even more snug. "Howzit, Asshole?" Keha greets Vince with a feral snarl before spitting into his toothy, elongated face. "Why don't you pick on somebody your own size?" Then because spit doesn't do enough damage, she throws her knobbly little fist at his throat. When it doesn't connect, Keha gets furious...so furious that the lovely bronze of her skin starts getting mottled all over in shades of orange and red.
The shower soaks the earth as twilight deepens.
Screaming a wordless battle-cry, Haruka leaps from her perch at the embattled ghoul 'Vince', hair streaming behind her, gleaming with the rain. And then - he steps out of the way of another attack, and ... down she goes. Face down in the mud, getting it all over her nice white top. Oh how wonderful. What a -beautiful- distraction. Not.
Peter is already undressing before Lola hops off his back, his shorts dropping to the ground, followed quickly by his shirt. He casts a glance to Lola as she seems to be getting antsy. And then the young man ripples, stretching out, his skin changing colour and growing fur. Moments later there's a large Tiger standing there. Raising up its head, the Siberian roars loudly, the sound echoing throughout the place.
Then the creature fairly blurs as it lurches into motion. The fastest creature around, for a short distance, the Tiger runs full tilt at Smythe, leaping at the last moment, inches long claws fully extended. And the feline scores several claw lines along the man's body.
Volya screamed as her thigh was slashing, but rather than balling up and praying for it all to go away, Volya starting pushing back. Climbing her feet up the wall, and she kicked her weight back against Vince as she started scratching at the muddy walls with her hands to add moisture to the coffin top. With a scream and a final push, Vince stumbled and slipped in the hole under the feet of everyone.
The sound of Grayson's laughter continues as he leans away from his wall, then ends as the tall man vanishes into the temple with a last glance back over his shoulder at the tiger. Apparently as entertaining as this has been, he's seen enough - it's time to go and do whatever brought him here. He sticks his head back out of the gate to call, "For goodness' sake. Beat them with something holy - or just go for the bloody /eyes/." He sighs, and the sharp of hearing might catch a muttered, "Amateurs," as he disappears from view.
Grayson heads back down to the Windward Coast.
Raindrops sprinkle down from a night sky obscured by dark grey clouds.
Watching the twins and Conni leap into the melee brought a sigh of relief from Aksel, brief as it was. "Oh thank god. I'm just a guy with a broom you know!" He turned back to engage Smythe just as hundreds of pounds of tiger sped past to tear at the ghoul. "Oh... I guess there is a tiger after all. Who would have thought?" He He did his best to help the brute beast, jamming pointy bristles into the ghoul's eyes, the broom easily batted away and ignored.
Pure anger made the sound of Smythe's now distorted voice even more disturbing. A gargling, enraged scream left him as a freaking tiger attacked him, and then Aksel attempted to blind him with his damn broom, and that just didn't sit well. Flinging his arm out with as much force as he could, he just barely managed to catch the tips of his claws along Peter's fur, only scraping against the massive cat's body and not even breaking the skin enough to fully rip the fur out.
In the quite muddy, now extremely watery pit of a grave, Herald set his sights onto Mila with a snarl of his lips. Lunging forward he attempted to gouge into her flesh with the nasty claws tipping his elongated fingers. Of course, the surfer managed to dodge him and made it so he ended up with nothing but a handful of mud as he drove his fingers palm deep into the dirt alongside the grave.
It's no doubt that Mila's pissed now. And the space in the slowly hollowed out grave site is growing slim, what with the addition of her sister, it's downright tight. The beautiful, dark caramel shade of her skin shifted to something that was more marbled and mottled, orange-ish and coral colored as she appeared to grow bumpy, rough outcroppings. Her skin had taken on the armored, roughened appearance of Coral itself. From within the hollows of that coral, elongated spike protruded, starting at deep, vile crimson at the base and extending to vicious, black tips. For lack of a better analogy, she looked like a spiny urchin. A moment later, after ducking out of the way of Harold's claws, Mila lurched forward with obvious intent to wrap those spiny, vicious arms around Harold. He tried to dodge, really, but Mila seemed to have a bee-line to his body, and a moment later he was wrapped up in Mila's extraordinarily strong arms, and fixed against her in a tight hug that held him still with the spikes from every part of the front of her body and arms spearing into him.
"Sister.." Lola murmurs under her breath. Likely only Peter can hear the word as Lola bounces slightly in place. His change and departure something she barely notices. Her upper lip twitches a few times before she lurches, her head dropping forward for a moment before it snaps upward again, eyes wide. Her hair changes colors, her vibrant colors going red and black in a noiseless sweep of color. Her head tilts backward, lips curling into a feral smirk. "I smell fun.." Her voice rolling out rough and harsh, rather than the girly that came out moments before. Her head snaps forward and she starts to walk forward. "Time to play.." Her movements completely different. The woman leaning forward into an almost feral stalk as she approaches the growing rumble. Her eyes scan and she notices.. loping over around a small reflecting pond where she finds two heavy stones that fit just right into her hands. Each an effective bludgeon in her hands. "Yes.." A throaty expression of base pleasure.
Vince was steaming mad when he was knocked around onto the now rather deeply pooling amount of water at the bottom of the pit he and Herald had been digging. Letting out a roar, he went after Volya again, reaching up for her as he came up to his feet. His claws raked up her side, but managed to only slice through her clothing and left a claw's set worth of welts up along her rib-cage.
Beyond angry now, Conni launches a flying knee at Vince, laying him out flat on the ground and in a perfect position for her next move. Face still twisted in a snarl, Conni places one of her heavy boots on Vince's throat and then stands over him with her staff held high in one hand. "What did Grayson say? Go for the eyes..." Grinning evilly down at the Ghoul as he lays on the ground, Conni casually spins her staff in a lazy arc before bringing it down with a squelching thud on the Ghouls face. There is a wet 'plopping' sound followed by a crunch and then much screaming from the Ghoul underneath her boot, Conni then lifting the end of her staff and wincing when she sees the ichor on it. "Ewwwww! I got ghoul on my staff!"
Keha lets out a growling cheer of approval for Haruka's battle cry and leap, pumping her fist. Her now roughened, coral-esque skin, all mottled in shades orange, is suddenly blackened by hundreds of viciously sharp, protruding spines that pierce through her clothing and hair. "Nobody gets to take a swing at my sister but me," the smaller Urchin-woman hisses at Herald the ghoul, as if the combatants hadn't already been in a fury. But she's also been listening. "Hold him, Mila, but keep his face clear. I wanna show him something." With a snarl, Keha lunges for Herald, her spine-covered fingers extended towards the creature's eyes. The tips of her spines secrete a noxious smelling venom as Keha plunges them into the ghoul.
The Siberian tiger continues to pester Smythe, but cannot gain a solid enough purchase with its claws. But he does at least keep up the act, snarling, growling and roaring noisily. And then, an almost seemingly random swipe takes a decent sized chunk out of the creature.
Haruka gets herself up out of the mud, and looks about to quickly assess the situation. Two of the ghouls seem to be taken care of, for now, but the third is still up and fighting... so she runs over to try to bother him, so that someone else can get in a solid blow. Unfortunately he doesn't even seem to notice her.
Bleeding and panting, Volya stumbled into the grave to keep her feet under her. She wasn't sure if she was blinking through rain or tears at this point as she gripped the muddy wall. Like her blue eyes focused, it was Herald she saw and she let out a scream as she pressed forward, driving her elbow into the ghoul's throat, his windpipe caving before she slipped in the water, blinked at the swirl of crimson from her own leg. "Well Vee... You're alright in the cemetery... Hurray..."
As Smythe wrestled with a tiger and Haruka's attempts at distraction, Aksel stopped and stared as the sisters began to change and Volya delivered a devastating blow of her own. Shaking his head, he looked down at the broom in his hands and let it splash into the water. "I am way over my fucking head right now..." He shook water out of his eyes and reached up into his jacket, behind his back, returning with a pair of fat bladed, recurving knives. "Alright... enough of this..." He swept in, throwing water in front of him to throw off Smythe's attempt at a dodge, both kambantulli tearing through the ghoul's flesh as he spun and hacked into him once more. "I told you asshole. Didn't I? Didn't I?"
Smythe was nearly blind with rage at this point, the massive tiger the easiest target to see and hit because of it's shock of color against the gray of the rain and the brown of the mud. He slashed out, finally gaining some purchase and ripping open a tear along Peter's hide by gouging out the flesh of his flank, on the opposite leg that had already been injured.
Herald, now free of the spiky embrace of one of the Wonder Twins, let out a sound of sheer frustration as he launched himself at her, raking a clawed had down along her entire left arm and leaving behind an angry trail of fractured looking coral where her skin used to be.
Mila sneered at Herald as he scraped down her arm, then shook her head fiercely. "I don't give up that easy, lover. Come on back. I've got more for you!" A grunt of effort came from her as she reached out and this time clamped her powerful arms around him a bit lower, pinning his arms in to his sides and piercing the flesh of his torso and forearms with her spines. "Hold still while my Ohana sings you a lullaby." Her harsh whisper into the ghoul's ear was spoken with the knife's edge of rage running through it like a pulsing vein.
Lola twists around sharply and launches herself into battle. There is something about how she moves that is utterly without restraint. And Smythe is the one first on her target list. She flies at him without consideration for her safety, the pair of heavy rocks held out to either side. A throaty rumble rolls in her throat on approach, a leap coming as she closes in. "Aloha motherfucker!" The only warning that comes before her arms snap forward and both of those rocks slam into either side of his head with a sickening crunch. And a look of simple satisfaction on her face.
Vince wasn't happy in the slightest, as his eye was hanging out at cheek level after being broken free from the socket. Surely the loss of depth perception should have made his life hell, but no, he was clearly able to see Conni. Perhaps he only just missed, though, as his claws raked against Conni in such a way that it sliced through the Pectoral muscle just beneath her collar bone. Maybe he was going for the jugular and just missed? Either way, let the blood flow, and the wound sting from the nasty crap caked under his claws.
Conni is clearly starting to run out of steam, the rain is pouring down and that is at least washing off all the mud from her earlier escaped. Her clothes are absolutely soaked through, her thin camisole top showing her to be peanut smuggling if nothing else. The blow from Vince almost ruins yet another item from Conni's wardrobe, the gashes it leaves just below her collar bone extremely painful looking but apparently ignored by the Valkyrie during the heat of battle. Beyond angry and moving to an almost clear state, Conni grips her staff in both hand, a good two feet from the grip and lays forth with a flurry of blows, using each end of the staff to strike his body with deadly ferocity. There is a dull thud at particularly evil blow to his ribs which Conni finished with another jab at his eye, merely bruising it this time instead of removing his ability to see.
Keha gives her sister an alarmingly feral grin out from a face full of black spines. As the grave fills with water, she sidles up to the pinned Herald. Almost lovingly dragging her spines down Herald's face, Keha takes hold of both sides of the ghoul's head and squeezes...and squeezes...until she has a nice firm grip. Then she wrenches the ghoul's head 180 degrees with a sickening crack. Grimacing, she has to shake her hands vigorously to get the spines out of the dead thing's skull. "Eeeew, I can't get it off!"
Haruka just sighs and shakes her head as her various antics fail to even get Smythe's attention. She hops up onto a slab or marble and starts wiping mud off her shirt. "Good grief, guy. You fight like a clown. Are you drunk or something? Maybe that's what you were doing with that poor man's grave, trying to swim to China?"
The large feline continues to press and worry Smythe, alternating attacks with Aksel. And after Haruka's taunt, the Siberian tiger rears up and savagely rakes the ghoul down the front, spilling all manner of awfulness upon ground. The great feline roars noisily once more, directing his sound and fury at the now dead thing. Turning with a snort, the Tiger kicks up some grass and dirt with its hind-paws, showering Smythe's body with debris. He limps over to Lola and bumps his head against her chest.
When Herald finally dies in Keha's arm, the added release of his bodily function hits Volya's nose and the woman bolts to stand looking wide-eyed like a cat hit with smell salts. "I'm up!" The woman swayed on the balls of her feet, attempting to focus again. When her eyes tried to roll back in head, they snapped forward again with a growl. Throwing a wild haymaker that missed Vince and almost parked her onto Keha, the woman tiptoed back away from the twins to fall back onto the wall. "'tchyo za ga'lima, pizda?" The woman's Russian rolling off her tongue as she hissed and gripped her thigh.
"Whoa hey now all yours!" Aksel backed up as Peter the Tiger began to disembowel and shred Smythe into chunks. He missed seeing Herald die but got a good look at the leftovers and went sort of green. "Oh hey that's... whew... ok." Gathering himself up he gripped both blades and made a move towards the final ghoul. Vince fought with Conni and Volya. Watching the latter jump away gave Aksel the space he needed, jumping in to use the meaty blades for their particular purpose. To break bone and cut through flesh all in one go. Both blades carved through Vince's skull before sweeping out as Aksel took the monsters head, staggering back from it. "Oh shit I didn't think they would come off that easily!" He looked wide eyed to Conni and Volya and grinned weakly. "So... this was novel..." Then he plunked down on his ass in the water.
Mila gagged at the scent of dead ghouls, all their nastiness floating in the water with her, and she turned her face up to the rain and groaned. "I'd almost wish for an ice storm, Rangi, if it would make this smell go away." She shuddered, her spikes slowly retracting into her skin while the bumps of coral smoothed away to the sleek, darkly tanned flesh she normally sported. Of course, the spikes left lines of foul ofal along her limbs and her abdomen, which she scrunched her nose at. Until she caught sight of Volya and let out a sharp sound of worry. "SHIT! Vee.. dammit." She rushed over and hefted Volya out of the hole, getting her away from the befouled water and onto the side of the grave so it didn't soak into her wound any more than it had to. "Is everyone else ok? Kehaulani?!" She looked at her twin, worry in her wide, brown eyes. "You good, nani?" Still shaking from exertion and adrenaline, she looked at Aksel and Conni, grinning to them both with a less than sturdy curve of lips, gratitude there and obvious. Her attention was caught by the cat destroying the body of Smythe, which had her eyes wide. "Holy shit, I read about that tiger. Damn! That's... wow." She looked at the tiger, then at Lola and blinked, trying to figure something out about the woman's appearance, possibly.
Lola grunts as Peter comes to bump her and casually knocks him on the head with the back of one hand, sparing him a rock to the skull. "Not now." But when she looks up for her next target, she finds none. Which prompts a scoff. "She takes so long, the fun is over," she grumbles, tossing the bloodied rocks to either side carelessly. She glances down at herself, and scowls faintly. "I hate dresses," she growls. She's changed, of not in body. Obviously the hair, suddenly a new two toned shade. But likewise how she caries herself. How she speaks. A gruff, abrupt tone. A hint of feral edge to how she moves. A far cry from the girly person who was there before. Her attention lifts to the gathered and she notes Mila's attention. "Got blood on me?" As troublesome as a speck of dirt, given her casual tone and the way she glances down at herself. Not this time, not like the last time with those zombies. Tonight she's clean for now.
Stepping away from the grave site, Conni can finally catch her breath, her left hand moving up to her collar bone as she finally senses some irritation there. "Ow?" She says in response to Mila's query, removing her hand and seeing the blood there. "How is Vee?" Urgency shows in her voice and her expression as she heads over to the grave as Mila pulls her out. "Vee?" She winces as she spots Vee's bloody leg, her own pain being forced to take a backseat as she surveys the damage. "I uh...I know a guy. He's a good guy and he can help Vee...and me and get stitched up." Conni is being all stoic and all that but she is more than glad for the rain which is disguising a multitude of sins in her opinion. "I think...hmm I think I could get us both there quickly, out of this valley I mean. Vee? Ever wanted to fly?" Conni isn't making a terrible amount of sense but she sounds and looks sincere as she looks over her friends. "Um...sorry about earlier? I now know wrestling will have to wait."
Keha has to retract her spines to get the damn ghoul's skull off of her hands. But as soon as she does, she turns to Mila and gives her a good thorough look over. "Don't scare me like that, Kaikaina. I'm fine. For some reason nobody likes to get close to me when we get prickly. Did it hurt you? How's Vee?" Her brow furrows as she glances up to Volya, where Mila has left her, but then it turns back to Conni and Aksel and she throws a shaka, giving a lopsided grin. "Thanks for kicking ass. That was...that was not what I was expecting to find he...OH SHIT CONNI your boob!" She narrows her eyes and gives the ghoul's head a solid kick. That'll show him. "Let's get out of this sewage. I feel bad for whoever's buried here. I hope their aumakua have already guided them home." She gives Conni a fond clap on the arm. "I'll wrestle you any day. I promise to stay smooth, even." She crawls out of the grave and spots the tiger, blinking several times, but nobody else seems alarmed. Play it cool. Keha offers Haruka a broad grin. "I like your style, that was a crazy leap of faith you took to help us out. Thanks. You okay?" She has to peer at Lola for a long minute, touching her own hair, then giving a questioning look to the people around her. "It's red now, right? That's not just me? Do I have a concussion?"
The Siberian grumbles noisily at Lola, already sporting scratches, an old wound that has started bleeding again, and a new, fresh wound on his other leg to match the first one. He turns away then, and sits down, beginning to lick at his wounds. The feline takes in the others, looking across the open ground with golden eyes. He pauses to meow noisily at the women and Aksel, his tail swishing back and forth behind him. The Tiger looks over his shoulder at Lola, as if to doublecheck her haircolour.
With most of the mud scraped off of her nice blouse, Haruka remains perched on her seat, taking a deep breath as she sees the fight is over. She then immediately regrets this, as she gets a snootfull of the absolute stench that is a trio of dead ghouls. "Feh. FEH! Good grief," she spits, covering her face with her sleeve. "This is just.... argh. Please, please, tell me there aren't a lot of these on the island? I need breath mints. Lots and lots of mouthwash. And an entire jar of VapoRub." She hops down from the seat, catching herself easily despite the mud. "I'd say it's good to meet you all but this really isn't the place for it."
Panting, exhausted and bleeding Volya watch as Aksel took down Vince and gave him a thumbs up. "Thank fucking G-d!" With a groan, she turned to start climbing out of the hole. Vee managed to get herself half way out of the hole when she spied with her little eyes, a tiger. Those eyes went wide and she slipped right back into the watery grave with the corpses, hissing and holding her thigh. "Changed my fucking mind. I quit. Just refill the hole with me in it. At this point, I pray that I bleed out and go into shock so I don't no--" Tilting her head back, she stared up at Conni. "What? Are you asking me if I want to get high? I have some scooby snacks in my pack..." She thumbed over her shoulder to the pack on her. Blinking, she glanced at Keha and grinned drunkly as she struggled to get out of the hole on her own. "Just toss me out of the hole... I bleed on clear ground."
Aksel was shaking slightly as the adrenaline bled off, but he nodded to Mila, holding up a hand. "Yeah thanks. I got scratched and I'm going to go swim in bactine but I should be fine. It's just been a while since I was in a mix up like that." He frowned as the others tended to Volya, nodding. "If you need help I'm not far from here. We can go a good clip if we have to." He stopped when Conni made her offer and shook his head, throwing his hands up. "Right... forgot where I am. That's a hell of a thing." He didn't return the Shaka but did raise a hand in acknowledgement. "Anytime. And if it makes you feel better you don't need to worry Keha. Not about him." He nodded towards the open grave. "When it dries up a bit I'll help fill in the hole and say Kadish." He sighed with relief when Volya started talking, standing to clean his weapons and put them away. "Glad to hear you speaking." He raised an eyebrow at the mention of scooby snacks and chuckled, slipping a flask out of his pocket and holding it out. "This might help with that, but I wouldn't take more than a sip if you don't want to be laid out for a while." He tilted his head at Keha's comment and looked over to Lola. "You know... I couldn't say. I was a little distracted. It wasn't red before?"
After the last of the ghouls was dead, and people had started speaking, energies started dissipating, there was a slow, uneven creaking sound. From the forest near the edge of the burial grounds, a small, asian woman started walking. Everything near her shrinked away, and while the foliage didn't die or turn brown, even the grasses under her feet bent away from her as if she were carrying their opposite charge. She was dressed in a thick black skirt that reached down to her calves, but her legs were bare from there down, including her feet. For a top, just a simple, black corset that held her fast, but was decorated with bones. Small ones, as buttons, of various ages, all of them completely clean of flesh. her hair was fastened back into an odd, half-coil along the side of her head, but was woven in with small, animal skulls.
A delicate, sweet smile curved her lips as she observed everyone in the burial grounds, her eyes somewhat unfocused as she took them all in. Nodding once, she stepped a bit closer and then peeked into the grave where the two dead ghouls were befouling it, then looked at the one Peter had torn asunder. Dirt started to churn around the dead bodies, swallowing them whole, though it didn't churn around the living. Once that brief moment passed, the ghouls were covred, as was the top of the casket that was once displayed. Of course, this meant that the feet and calves of those in the grave might be a bit covered as well.
Thewoman lifted her hands, and in them, there were a pile of small bones, like the femurs of weasels. Walking to each person in kind, she dropped a small bone near them, only pausing at each individual so they knew that the bone was specifically for them. Then, she lifted her empty hands, pressing one finger to her lips, and made a soft breath, giving the universal sign of 'shhh.' Slowly, she turned, and began walking to the forest again, all the grass springing back into place behind her.
Mila stared slack-jawed at the woman who walked out towards them and started covering up dead ghouls with slack earth? Her feet being covered are the real key that got her moving, and Mila scrambled like a puppy afraid of water up out of the hastily hollowed out grave. When she made it to the side, she looked at the bone she'd been given and picked it up, holding it carefully in her hand and staring at it, before she looked at the woods where the woman exited. "Uh. Ok. That's... Never seen that before." She swallowed, then pushed back a little further from the grave as it slowly continued to fill back in with dirt. She gave a look to Conni and Volya. "If you can get her to safety? That would be great. Mahalo Conni, I'll wrestle whenever you want." Clutching the bone she looked at the rest of the people and licked her lips. "I think we should probably leave, but I'm sounding the gong before I go."
Lola seems amused at the attention she gets, though that waits a moment as she eyes Peter. "No grumbling, kitty cat. Now you'll have more cool scars for the ladies." She grins broadly, looking back to the others. She lifts a hand to stroke her fingers through her hair. "It's all natural," she states, which does nothing to explain what's up with her. Then the asian woman emerges and Lola's attention shifts towards her. When the woman draws near, Lola curls a lip slightly, something about the woman setting her mildly on edge. The bone dropped near her gets eyed, her expression bemused. She frowns and jerks a thumb after the strange woman. "The fuck?"
Haruka blinks as the old woman comes out to them, and starts to say something - probably something snide and sarcastic, judging from the look on her face. Then she just shuts her mouth with a click of teeth. Yeah. That's not going to happen. She stays quiet until the old woman turns away from her. Then she looks down at the bone she was left. Something... well, you just -don't- turn down a token like that from someone like that. It's incredibly -rude-. She hops off her perch and squats to pick it up, tucking it away in a pocket. "Well, that was a thing," she muses. Then she shakes her head. "I need about fifty showers right now. Anyone know a good curry joint I can get dinner at later?"
Grinning weakly, Conni winks to Keha. "I know! Please, don't talk about it. I'm trying very hard to ignore it right now." Her expression would leave one to believe that she isn't doing very well, her brows furrowing as a jolt of pain reminds Conni of the gashes. She glances over as Aksel approaches, managing to grin a little more sincerely now. "You did well with your broom, it is a weapon to be reckoned with in your hand. Perhaps you are not so bad after all." She nods to Aksel, closing her eyes for a moment as she works through a mental checklist. Opening them again, her mouth drops open as the woman approaches from the field, Conni's eyes narrowing as she watches the forest's reaction to her. Memories suddenly coming to her, Conni reaches forward and picks up the small bone, holding it delicately with both hand. Bowing, albeit haltingly, she shows her respect to the entity. "Thank you!" She whispers, a certain reverence in her voice as she slips the bone carefully into a pocket. Waiting until she has left, Conni actually smiles, patting the pocket with the bone in it before turning to the others. "Death just said 'Thank you' to us. Okay, it wasn't *the* Death but Hawaii's, still. That was a big deal, huge even."
looking back down to Volya, Conni reaches down to lift her up, looking her for confirmation before she takes her weight. "Not flying as in getting high, actually getting high. You know about the wings right? So uhwe're going to take the quick way back if that's okay." There is a lot of manoeuvring to be done, especially with the wound to Conni's chest. "Just put your arms around my neck and I'll carry the rest of the weight. Flight time today should be about ten minutes, we expect some turbulence so please keep your seat belts fastened and your tray tables in the up right position." Closing her eyes to focus one she has Volya in a comfortable position, Conni speaks a single word and then fades from view, Volya disappearing along with her. A few moments later, there is a flapping sound and a heavy gust of wind, followed by a 'woomf'.
Keha picks up the strange gift from the even stranger woman, her mouth hanging agape. "Mahalo!" she calls after the retreating figure, before her thoughts return to the mundane. "Cafe Taj Mahal, Waialae, I think it's the best. Try the lassi, too." she tells Haruka distractedly, her brain processing thoughts of food more readily than a force of nature like the one who just visited. Her twin gets a solemn nod that returns with a hint of a grin. "Let's ring the bell to pay our respects, then I'm racing you back down the mountain. You owe me a rematch. And we should probably, you know, get medical attention for these guys sooner rather than later. And..." she looks curiously over the tiger, "Veterinary attention?"
Then Conni makes her explanation and Keha's jaw just goes slack again. "I...oh. Wow. I knew this place was special, but uh...I don't know if I was expecting that kind of distinguished company." She looks around at everyone else, swallows hard and finally asks, "You're all seeing this too, right?"
The Tiger meows loudly at Lola, before he leans down to take the bone near him into his mouth. He carries it like a delicate thing. Meowing again, he leans against Lola, his tail curling around her waist. The feline then goes to the clothes Peter discarded, and takes them up into his mouth as well. With his tail up, the Siberian begins to take his leave. There's a vet he needs to get to.
Volya was blinking and make a yelp of the ground started filling in and she was scrambling. Hissing from the reaggravating of her thigh, her eyes moved to the bending plants before she even noticed the asian woman. Vee's focus was on the plants more than her or her words. When the bone was dropped, she picked it up and stared up at Conni, her eye twitching. The woman stood up and did as instructed, they were off into the air, their passage easy to track through the rain from Volya's screaming until it faded into the distance.
Aksel watched as the woman moved out of the forest, and he for one felt no fear of this person. His eyes roamed around the graveyard, and he nodded in satisfaction. When she passed him, he gave a subtle bow of his head, a servant acknowledging a source of command. When she returned from whence she had come he bent slowly and somewhat stiffly at the knees to retrieve the bone. Looking at it in the palm of his hand, he smiled slightly and pocketed it. "Well that's a first." Still smiling, he looked to the others, grinning. "I guess I just have to say Kadish then." He watched as Conni flew off with Volya in her arms, looking to Keha with a laugh. "Second time I've seen em. Crazy right?"
Haruka offers a nod to Keha. "Thanks, thanks! Enjoy your race, I've got to have this outfit -burned-." A fox's sensitive nose really, really, -really- does not like the smell of dead ghoul. In fact, she should really get out of here before she - urk - no, no, not now, swallow that before - oh, that's not gonna be happy. Watching others depart, she swallows again, and then - no, no, gottarunBYE!
Lola glances at Connie as she explains things. She seems faintly skeptical, but glances down at the dropped bone and shrugs. Leaning forward to snap it up. Though with no pockets, she simply holds it. She shifts and glances down at her bare feet. "I need my boots," she grumbles, walking in another direction altogether.
|
