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Ash (played by Minerva)

It was a few weeks into spring when an animal was left at the temple in an otherwise absent hour, left before the break of dawn for the benefit of watching the light cast through the esoteric symbols of the stained glass. It was certainly an odd freakshow about the size of a medium sized dog. Four horns complimented it: Two bullish horns, and a pair of warthogish tusks jutting from beneath either side of the lip. The nose flared rapidly like a young calf, but that was where the cattle-esque features ended. The undermaw was shaggy, with blackened lips and more jagged, carnivorous teeth sweeping into a feline jaw line. Its ears might have harkened more to bovine, if only due to the many ringed piercings riddling through it weakening the structure from an originally feline design--they were, however, far too large for either creature--something like a furry indian elephant. Similarly, the horns atop the head were decorated with multi-cultural rings and jewels. Only a single line of hair ridged the back of the neck, sprouting like a red-and-black mohawk.

It had a fairly strong body for its size and young proportions, something expected of a hunter. Save for its bovine head, it held primarily predatorial features. While its back legs seemed utterly feline, the forelegs were jagged birdish talons--not quite as human as someone else's former fore-grips, holding itself more natural to a bird, or at least a raptor. The tops of the falcon legs graduated into smoother scaling, which wrapped around from the underside of the neck where it pleated akin to a snake's underbelly once the fur broke from beneath the jaw and the back ridge of hair.

The body was not the prettiest of sights. What fur there was mostly graduated from along the back ridge, which forecasted a mane that would eventually reach the mid-lower back. Shorter fur broke away into patches of snakish scaling, and by the lower torso plated into thorough blackened stones, or at least that's how it looked. It defined a semi-human anatomy, lengthened and flexible for the animalistic prowling and posturings. At a few points, the skin broke and revealed a rib before the plating and tattered fur remnants sealed it over.

The tail behind it was primarily feline, continuing the dark brown fur halfway down the length before revealing a skeletal, flexible spine curved in a scorpion's stinger at the end rather than ending in a tuft. It didn't seem to have any particular target, just snapping around in response to various attentions and focuses.

It sat on the center rug, pulled into itself and head sunken between its shoulders as it seemed to glower at the door, letting out a cows's frustrated "pffbhbhlt" from one side of the lips. Ears rotated, following the sounds of rowling cats meandering around the temple, seeming to collect unnaturally to the location.

As soon as the temple door opened for company, however, the beastie would sprint in a straight path for the way out, trying to squeeze past whatever pair of legs had enabled it even if that meant bowling them over. If not stopped it took off in a straight line, sprinting right into the street only to find a bike blaring its horn and squeeling to a stop. A slight thump was relatively harmless to the animal, but resulted in a cycle skidding one direction and Raphael Emmerich pulling himself up from the ground a few feet in the other direction, stopping his several miles per hour of remaining momentum with a roll and his extended palms. Problem? That's kinda where he hides his insta-suit, so in a sudden burst and whirr of mechanics silver washed over him, then black tint, and then Wraith was standing there.

Straightening, he flexed his sore wrists and turned to the sound of a roar--not entirely anemic, but not entirely commanding either. The animal was threatening his cycle for daring to strike it. He realized he was looking through his interface. The momentary searing pain that usually came with it had been dismissed as skidding on the road, but no. "Ah, fuck." He stood, glancing around. He really hopes nobody saw that. Thankfully he came in before Emmerich Repairs got there. It's not like he could just retract it, unless he wanted to sneak through the neighborhood. Save for him having proofed his gloves to be high heat resistant for it, it tended to vaporize whatever clothes he had on by the transformation.

Hiking a brow, he went to collect his vehicle from the road while hitting a cue to change the colors to Wraith's black and blue flames, grumbling as he inspected a sheer rake to the side. A few nanocams had been damaged, revealing some of the original paintjob beneath. Oh, well. It looked enough like a normal scratch, he could blame the yellow on a car passing by. He rectified the bike, being stared down only momentarily by the animal curiously, it grumbled something that almost seemed like human speech--but at best it came across as babbling and a tangling of a flat tongue--that is, unless you know Akkadian. It backpedaled as it stared at Wraith as if in fearful recognition of the dark spectre, then turned to try to head back towards the temple--but rather than sprinting into it, it tried to burst around towards the alleyways. Rafe isn't going to try to collect it between all of this, so someone else is going to have to.

"...What the hell was that?" The vigilante was left blinking dumbly inside the suit. Even if nobody HAD been there he'd have muttered that aloud all the same, by the looks of it. "Felt like I hit a goddamn boulder." His metallic, grating voice mumbled.";
Gabriel (played by Loki)

Gabriel was going about his typical routine, completely unaware that there was a...little beastie waiting inside. Unfortunately he was the one that opened the door and let the creature out, which bowled him over in the process and sent his cleaning supplies all over the ground outside. "What the--" He's scrambling up, in time to hear the crash and the roaring. He's heading across the street, rubbing his head to find Wraith, and a weird looking beast that is running off.

His eyes widened, "Oh shi--" He'd eye Wraith, "You...okay?" As long as he got an affirmative, he's tearing after Ash, "Hey! Stop! Bad boy! Bad! Get back here!" Poor Rafe was probably left extremely confused. Gabriel's about panicked, he was sure he was going to be blamed for Ash getting lose in the city. All sorts of terrible thoughts were running through his head, it wasn't the nicest of places for a...young life form to be lost. "Come on...kitty kitty! Where'd you go?" Is he able to spot his quarry?
Raphael Emmerich (played by Minerva) Topic Starter

He put up the kickstand and glanced aside to Gabe while remounting his bike if only for the comfort of sitting down. "Oh. You're here." Yeah. That was more normal than Rafe being here. "I wanted to--" Annnnd Gabe's running off after the mutant.

He sighed--which sounded like a metallic gurgle courtesy of his distorter. Gabe was allowed a head start as Wraith popped open a compartment to secure a rolled scroll in his toolbelt. With that, he took another avenue: climbing the stony outter structure of the Taurus Temple to get a high view, looking through ravaged alleyways and jumping on poorly standing surrounding buildings.

Gabriel was in for a chase, because it didn't seem to listen. It zipped with animalistic speed into the alley in advance while Gabe checked on Rafe. Don't worry, you can have a good idea where in the rubble it is, just follow the few seemingly pained YEOWLs of cats that betrayed where it went. A husk of a building would make an interesting chase, with it seamlessly traveling between collapsed support beams and broken patches of wall too small for a man--though Gabe might be able to follow through a few slots others couldn't due to his small stature.

Rafe's rooftop advantage ended as it took that particular building, with Rafe having to drop through shorn parts of the roof onto crooked support beams, which drew its high-alert ears attention and made it growl again this time, nose flaring and snorting, pulling into twisted demeanor and baring the fangs through drawn back teeth. Gabriel's presence might have been answered by retreat, but it was the second time the beastie broiled in the presence of Wraith. Wraith moved like a shadow, undetectable and yet subconsciously looking all too familiar. It didn't like that. It reacted like a scared animal, flaring out its ears to appear larger and rising to exaggerate itself.

"Well, aren't you a pretty one." He scoffed behind twisted vocals. It might give Gabe enough time to catch up and take action, especially with it distracted. Rafe wasn't depending on that, though. He reached for his belt for something that looked suspiciously like a gun, lining up a shot.
Gabriel (played by Loki)

Gabriel was trying to follow Ash as best he could, which was probably hard given that he didn't operate on four legs. Still, he's slight of stature so he's going around through that empty building in the same path that Ash had taken.

Unfortunately, this meant it was slower going and that allowed Rafe to catch up to the weird beastie first. Gabriel's stumbling onto it just as Rafe is leveling the gun object and his eyes go wide. He just assumes that Rafe doesn't know who or what the creature is, and without even really thinking about it he sprints the last of the way to them, flinging himself between the gun and Ash. "NO!" With that word, a glowing blue force shield was conjured that thankfully stopped anybody from being shot, and hopefully stopped Ash from escaping from behind, seeing as it was more of a bubble that encircled them both.

"Are you crazy? Just what are you doing? You can't shoot him!" Not that Gabe's panted babbling was making much of any sense. Hopefully the beast behind him wouldn't take him as a threat and start attacking him. Gabe's going to need a moment to catch his breath, because he feels like his muscles are going to give out at any second. Rafe had given him quite a scare.
Raphael Emmerich (played by Minerva) Topic Starter

Ignoring any panic that might come from it, and someone depending on Gabe counter-distracting it, he pulled the trigger. He wasn't sure what the bubble would do and wasn't taking any chances. The report was surprisingly quiet, but detectable. Something like bolos spread out, but in a set of four that spread in the wake of a net which pulled with strong magnetism towards its counterparts and wrapping shut with resounding clangs after dancing from contrast of magnetism into a knot--trying to collect the beast (and possibly Gabe in the net, if he was too close). It probably wrapped around the dome, leaving Rafe blinking inside the dark suit.

Turn--Thump! The creature hit the wall, shook its head, and looked confused. It... said something that sounded almost like profane primordial speech. Whatever it was trying to say, it wasn't happy. If Gabe did end up sealed in the net, more than the horns, the twitching tail was what to look out for. Try not to get injected with sensual poisons and go all stupid in there. Thanks.

"Don't care how many I heard it just boff, that ain't no fucking cat." enough time under an underpass and you hear enough cats get mated. He sheathed his weapon at his side. "The hell did you think I was doing? You know I don't kill my targets."

The animal sat down, ears pressed back and glowering at Gabriel. Surely, it's his fault.
Gabriel (played by Loki)

Gabriel is glowering at Wraith from inside the net. "You know, I really hate your stupid lack of faith powers." Wraith didn't really believe in the force shield, so likely Gabe was stuck in netting with the Ash!Monster. Hopefully it hadn't jabbed Gabe with any sort of poison, because he definitely didn't want his brother to see him going nuts.

"Ugh gross, he was not!" He looked weirded out, but it was probably true given what that monster was. "Well he looks just...like weird and stuff now...I didn't know what you were going to do!" He'd shift a bit away from the animal, and he'd look at Ash, "And you, sneaking out. Whoever put you in there did it for your own good. You can't just run around all willy nilly. What if you had caused a real wreck and someone got hurt?" It's doubtful the creature can understand anything he's saying, but he's gotta try. "Don't give me that look. You're the one being bad."

"How are we going to get him back inside? It's probably going to be my ass if someone finds him missing."
Draeval (played by Rubix)

The wolf had just been padding around the city sulking for one reason or another, he sulked generally whenever he felt like it so that's what he was doing now. He hear a commotion but dismissed it until he heard voices and felt that familiar tingle of something connected to him. With all that noise and those he knew were around he worried that something may be happening that could be bad. And so he took off at a lope and tore down streets and alleys until...

Until he spotted what looked like a baby Ash and Gabe in a net with Rafe standing nearby. He tilted his head and gave a woof before padding closer. Skeptical he looked over to Gabe and tilted his head in the other direction, "Wut ya doin in dare?"

Then he realized where the net must have come from and he turned to glare at Rafe, "Let dem outta dare ya zilly." He snorted and flicked his ears, he'd become rather grumpy mostly because he'd been worried that someone was getting crushed or something.
Raphael Emmerich (played by Minerva) Topic Starter

"Man, you ever hear a cat get mated? They scream and run away or attack the male if they think they can get away with it. Can't blame them for running, in this case." the beast stared with the same grudge at Gabriel, seeming entirely unenthused with him and turning its head to hike it as if lifting its chin in obstinance. The appearance of the wolf drew a sharp snap of Wraith's head in its direction. Oh, just the talking wolf that made him panic and throw up in shock when he came to the nexus. Thats all. right. "If i let it out it'll probably run again. It seems to think itself a cat and is responding to the local cat calls. I dunno about you, but I dont wanna see any more cats like this." the thickly distorted voice was equally disgruntled. He turned to Gabe, metal-wrought face unbending. "...heh, sorry about that. Didn't know you were gonna do... whatever you did. Figured better catch it while I can, y'know?" even if he had been fully aware, he would not have expected it to neutralize the bubble. (c)
Raphael Emmerich (played by Minerva) Topic Starter

"I can unwrap you or drag you back as is. which is better? And what the hell is that thing?"
Gabriel (played by Loki)

Gabriel looked up as Draeval approached, "Trying to catch him." He pointed back at Ash, "And no, don't let us out, he'll run off again and I'm not chasing him all over the city." Gabe'd wrinkle his nose at Rafe, "Um...ew. But...I'm not surprised." He shot Ash a look, and then returned his attention back to Wraith, "If he was thinking correctly, he wouldn't want to see any more cats like this either. He's just being a brat." He was whole again, and lacking extra parts, Gabe didn't see a reason for his kitty grabbing spree.

Gabe'd sigh, "Yeah. I was trying to shield us because I thought you were going to shoot him." As for what it is, Gabe bites his lip, "I'm not entirely sure, but I think it's...well what used to be Ash. I dunno what his name is anymore." He'd look over at Drae, and then back at Rafe, "He needs to go back inside, I guess you'll just have to drag us as is, if I wiggle out he'll probably just try to squeeze past me." He's pouting though, didn't exactly sound like a fun time to be dragged through the alleyway and back into the temple in a net.
Draeval (played by Rubix)

Snorted again and looked over at Wraith, 'Well den dun let it out.' He tilted his head towards Gabe and then glanced at Ash. 'Datz...okay doezn't really zurprize me...' Wraith's appearance, as usual, didn't disturb Drae but that hum of energy he felt made his skin tingle and his mouth water some. Occasionally his tongue lashed out and around his lips before flicking off his nose. Otherwise he stood pretty still and considered things for a moment.

Then he looked over at Gabe and whined before looking at Wraith again, 'Iz it protected againzt magic? Udderwize I could probably pull Gabe out an leabe da fuzzball.' Then he looked back at Gabe and tilted his head in the opposite direction, ''e waz juz runnin around da temple? Z'ouldn't 'e be...I dunno more protected?'
Raphael Emmerich (played by Minerva) Topic Starter

Draeval earned a nod. Yo. All right. Then dragging it is." He would have cracked his knuckles if he could, but the best that would do was make the armor clang. Instead, he rubbed one fist into the opposite hand before dropping down to level. "...That tail looks fatal. Be careful. If you can do it without wigging him out too much I'd suggest grabbing it and debilitating to avoid any mistakes." With that, he took to grabbing a spare piece of net, which made the animal grumble as it retired to its fate, lounging in such a way to displace its weight and be a difficult drag. "Anyway... I wanted to talk." He spoke casually, as if he wasn't, y'know, dragging his brother and some odd beast through the wreckage.


"Repairs are coming through for the rest of the block, so if you have anything else needs fixed or shined up might as well ask right now." The skylight and such had been repaired, as had primary requested damages, but you never know when someone just didn't want to ask about a small pock mark. "I was gonna leave block schematics in one of the churches." Temples, Rafe, temples. Same idea, though, right? "It's just a rough draft. We're seeing what we can salvage from the neighborhood and what utterly needs to come down. The repairman," he tried to stop talking so first person--"is buying the property from the owners, since the places aren't much good to them anymore. They get some money out of it, Emmerich clears out the trash and get it at a small discount, and you guys get a big lawn to do... whatever with." Aside from a bumpy ride, a few potential lumps, and a rebellious... cat thing, they were approaching the temple doors pretty effectively--hydraulics and trained strength made it seem relatively easy considering the beast's obstinance.
Luci (played by Minerva) Topic Starter

As they approached the door, it popped open with familiar, outlined eyes of a spring-line fashion Brian Muriel darting to and fro--only to settle on the approaching familiar faces. "Oh. ...He got out. Heh." He grinned awkwardly. Yeah, he expects someone's gonna get mad at him.
Gabriel (played by Loki)

Gabriel really didn't look like he was having any fun being dragged through the alley and back to the temple in the net. He did the best he could to shield himself from the tail but creating his own little force shield between himself and Ash, hopefully that would be enough.

"Temples. They're temples." Might as well correct while he can, it's not as if he could do anything else. As for the rest of it, "Sounds nice. You'll have to talk to the patrons of the temple about what they want to do with their lawn space though." Either way, it was nice to have a heads up on what was going on.

Soon they're back in view of the temples, and Luci is there at the door. "Yeah. I would have been more careful if I knew he was in there. Probably should take us all the way in before taking the net off. Otherwise he'll probably figure out how to get away again." The last bit was directed at Wraith.
Raphael Emmerich (played by Minerva) Topic Starter

Wraith carted them in--watch the bump on the step--and released the net. The creature, obstinant as it was, simply laid on top of the net and stared, discontent with a flick of the ear.

Wraith grunted. "You talk to them." He reached into his belt. Yes, Luci was right there. No, he wasn't addressing him. From the satchels he pulled inter-rolled scrolls, with red Xs marking doomed buildings. The first displayed the temples in a to-scale display of the few surrounding blocks with various buildings marked out with an X, probably unsalvagable or just not worth the effort for abandoned shacks. A few buildings at the other end of the same block weren't marked out, but the immediately encompassing surroundings were mostly Xed out.

The second page showed a theorized exhibit of a cleared out section of lawn, extending the property line until the other corner of the block, where indicators of a new small repair branch squeezed in between existing buildings, across the street from the nearby coffee shop. Elsewise, there's a good stretch of lawn. "The repairman," he tried to stop talking so first person--"is buying the property from the owners, since the places aren't much good to them anymore. They get some money out of it, Emmerich clears out the trash and get it at a small discount, and you guys get a big lawn to do... whatever with." He rubbed the back of his neck.

"Do whatever you want with it--once its clear, of course. Start planning, I guess, but tell me what you really need. I gotta admit they're pretty places, they didn't deserve to be shoved between a bunch of crappy shacks anyway. If you really need, I might be able to see about talking Emmerich into even buying a little bit of the city property and extend it to the next block over. It's torn to hell and keeps trying to become a sewer river and I really doubt many cars will be going through that road, removing it shouldn't be a problem. If the subterranean system gets re-routed though, they may be able to transform it into an artificial brook with the cleaner water flows in from the ocean."

Don't worry, he's not talking about removing Main, that still maintained traffic, but the smaller road offset next to K had little reason for traffic with Main so close and most buildings unsalvagable. He might not know the ideals behind the entity, but he is capable of understanding what makes pure and natural ground.

"I mean... that'd put your property right off Main though, so I dunno... if you want that kind of attention or not. I just figure having a few blocks... feels more right. Unless I'm wrong. I just don't normally think of things like this sitting on a half acre, y'know? More buildings, or a garden or patch of woods or something. Whatever."

He ignored the vibrant gesticulations of Luci trying to make him cease ignoring him, but Wraith seemed to not even see him there.
Luci (played by Minerva) Topic Starter

Luci grimaced. "Yeah... he's... still as stubborn as ever." Rafe set to talking, and Luci... gestured, as said, considering he was looking for a chance to speak but getting little. By the end, he was attaching magnets pulled from gods know where onto his suit. "I intended to stay with him, but... y'know how life goes. Imagine trying to keep track of him in China."

As Wraith seemed ready to walk out, Luci frowned. "...What are you talking about? Yard?"
Gabriel (played by Loki)

Gabriel winced as he was drug into the temple over that bump, and once they're all in and the door is closed, Gabe's eagerly climbing out of the net. He'll stand up and brush his pants off, before looking back at Wraith. When told he had to talk to them, he'd sigh. He didn't understand why Wraith couldn't do that himself, considering Luci was standing right there. If the scrolls are offered, he'd take them. "Thanks for helping, I probably wouldn't have been able to capture him myself."

"I'll tell them your ideas, but honestly I couldn't say what they'd want to do with the extra space. It isn't for me to decide." He's gaze shifts to Luci, who's probably putting magnets on Wraith by now. Gabe just chooses not to comment. "Guessing your heard all that, so...basically you have a yard now. Need to decide what you want to do with it, then I guess my big brother needs to know so that the appropriate actions can be taken, to clear stuff out or whatever. Um..." He'd look at Ash, "Can he talk yet? Because otherwise one of you guys is probably going to have to decide for him." He'd bite his lip, "And what am I supposed to call him now?"
Luci (played by Minerva) Topic Starter

Wraith gave a loose salute with a pair of fingers, "Peace. I shouldn't stay out too long in daylight." And with that, he went out the door and about his own business.

Luci... blinked. "...It's like he didn't even see me." Regardless, Gabriel's queries earned a grimace. "Well, yes, he can speak... but Populus felt it more important to teach him language from the ground up. Like... prehistoric ground up." He turned aside, letting out a gutteral word to the beast, which returned with disgruntled snort and a few words in similar dialect. It then stood, walked to the center rug and slumped. "...Call him what you want. Ash is still entirely suitable, as it is a core aspect of his name--as is Aza and so forth. He's entirely physical at this point, so any purely esoteric names are pretty silly. According to Populus, the two of them took up a compound similar to diamond--meaning I imagine it's actually an embodiment in the sphere you gave us. However, in the few weeks it seems to be less compressed. Hopefully it won't get worse as he gets older... don't need a bull made of fine china. That's a walking contradiction."
Gabriel (played by Loki)

Gabriel waved, "Later." Then his attention was returned to Luci, "He probably couldn't. You know how his...stuff works." He didn't really seem overly bothered by it. He'd already told Rafe the powers annoyed him anyway. The scrolls would be offered to Luci, "I guess the red X's are what's been bought up to be demolished."

As for language, "Well, at least one of you guys can ask his opinion then." Obviously Gabe couldn't speak...moonlanguage or whatever the heck they were using to talk. "I guess. Feels sort of weird to call him that though." Something else Luci said caught his attention, and he blinked, "They were both...born?" As for the rest of it, he'd frown faintly, "...I did the best I could when I brought the stone..." He hoped it wouldn't get any worse either, that would be weird.

"Anyway, I just came to tidy up, so don't mind me." And then he's going about picking up his scattered cleaning supplies.
Luci (played by Minerva) Topic Starter

Luci sighed. "We'll have to figure it out later, when we can all discuss it. Tell him thanks for me... unless he can censor out anything I think." He pressed a finger to his temple. "...Yeah. His other is with Populus, as apparently I'm not trusted to keep him alive, or something like that. And I'm not criticizing the stone. I don't think anybody imagined he'd actually turn into a crystal... this isn't final fantasy. He's here, that's that. I imagine he'll just have to reach a transitional point, which might also pair with his consciousness. Or that's what we're guessing, anyway."

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