final investigation

[arsholes]

[It's been almost a week since Orthrus' lucky escape. Almost a week, of all calls to Heisenberg going (metaphorically) to voicemail. Almost a week, to rest and recover from the harrowing losses of the previous Friday.

It's been almost a week. And the storms are getting worse.

You know the locked door on the first floor? The one that goes into the center of the tower, right across from the great entry hall doors?

Today, there's a heavy iron key sticking out of the lock. With a familiar crest on the head.

The key is sticky with wet yellow paint, and wetter blood.]

Comments

[thealchemist]

[He looks up at the edge of the hole, and brightens.]

Junior!

[The snake - Junior - extends to stretch down into the pit and stops, looking uncertainly from Heisenberg to the rest.]

They're fine, Junior, they're with me. Show some manners when you're being offered a treat.

[Junior slithers up to Mei and flicks its tongue at the offered rice ball. Then wraps its cold, flat tongue all the way around her hand and slurps the rice ball into its mouth.]

[ghostsguysgyuudon]

Oh, so cute!

[She giggles a little and pets its nose.]

But wait, does that mean it escaped, or...

[twibeast]

Cute…???

[ he shudders ]

[ninehundredlives]

[Oh, Susan is extremely with you on this one, she's staying the hell back here.]

[twibeast]

That’s yours?

…And you named it Junior?

[thealchemist]

Yep. He's the smartest of the three, aren't you, gorgeous?

[mlelelem. Junior lets Mei pet its nose for a second, then tosses its head lightly, and flicks its tongue to give her a sniff.]

So far I've determined he has ice breath, paralytic venom, limited telepathy, and can change his size at will. You want stairs out of here? Here's your guy. And best of all, he's bound to me.

[At that, Junior looks up at him, and the two seem to have a brief exchange.]

...Sounds like the the others were still fighting your friends. Time to get out of here and see if there's been any casualties.

[ghostsguysgyuudon]

Please don't say that so casually! We need to make sure they're okay!

[reresurrected]

... if he can do all that, what can the others do?

[JUST. SLIGHTLY CONCERNED HERE, DON'T MIND HIM.]

[twibeast]

[ Yeah also… this

…He might be also looking at the top of the pit again as if hoping he could just jump out of here in Clifford mode instead of using a snake but… yeah probably not doable. Frick. ]

[thealchemist]

[Heisenberg gives a whistle, and Junior grows to its big size, putting its head down so the human-sized ones can climb onto its broad, rough-scaled snout. Once anyone who wants to has climbed up (including Heisenberg, who decides not to overstay his welcome on Orthrus' back and carefully slides off to his own creature), Junior puts its chin on the floor above, coiling its body into what could be a high enough platform that Clifford could make the jump.]

Abbadon's the one they'll probably have to have killed by now. He can fly and breathe black fire and has a bite and claw attack.

Fenris is... [A disappointment.] ...Doing his best. I had to put a laser cannon on him to make him near as powerful as the other two. He's fast and strong and has a pretty mean bite on him.

[ghostsguysgyuudon]

[Mei puts out the fire, gathers what's left of their stuff, and carefully climbs the snake.]

I hope everybody's okay... I know they're strong, but it's still worrying.

[reresurrected]

Nuadha-sama and Felix-san will protect them.

[He only wishes he FELT quite as sure of that as he's hoping he sounds right now...]

[ninehundredlives]

What the fuck.

[She's staying with Orthrus please and thank you!]

[twibeast]

[ Oh thank god. He's going to do just that then, lowering himself and wiggling his butt in preparation before jumping to the snake platform and then the rest of the way out of the hole, shrinking himself as he's about to reach the floor above so he lands back in his more manageable size. If anyone wants to ride on him instead of the snake, he'll gladly let them. ]

We should go find the others then...! I won't suffer another tragedy like last week ever again!

[ninehundredlives]

[Susan will absolutely take this ride! Although she climbs down very quickly afterwards.]

Do I even want to know what happened last week?

[twibeast]

[ He was about to run off once Susan was down, but her question makes him pause and hang both of his heads. ]

We... lost a lot of people. People I failed to protect. And we could have lost even more.

[thealchemist]

And now we're gonna burn this fucker down.

But first, I've gotta go call off my other babies. If the others haven't taken them out yet.

[Despite calling them his babies, he's... not not upset, but understanding of the thought that they might be too late.]

[reresurrected]

Hello there, Junior.

[He has to bite back a laugh at the name - for personal reasons, honest! - but he'll reach out a hand to pat if it will allow it.]

[thealchemist]

[Junior accepts the pats, and sniffs Baldr out. Mlelelelem.

Despite how big the thin, forked tongue is, it almost tickles.]

[reresurrected]

[He laughs a little and lets the snake sniff. He probably smells pretty interesting given the magical nature of his body...!]

Thank you for being willing to help us.