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(Might as well get moving somewhat...)

Akari looked quizzically at Sissmuth as he cried out in what sounded like pain and almost drop to the ground. As Sissmuth looked up, Akari looked around quickly, in case it was caused by any enemies, and then went to his side. "Are you all right?" he asked, "what happened?" he continued, trying to help him to his feet.

It shocked him that, being the oldest of the group, he was so shaken by something, far more so than anyone else in the group. He looked around again, trying to see what might've frightened the lizard so much, but after a while, he saw nothing. He looked back to Sissmuth to see what his answer would be. He knew that something must have been really off for Sissmuth, perhaps the toughest and more experienced of the group, to collapse like that. As much as he didn't like Sissmuth all that much, he felt obligated to help him, being an ally of his.

Anayu, who had been leaning a bit extra on Akari, almost familiarized herself further with the ground when the wolf had retreated from Rusty & her to assist the lizard. It took her a moment to understand what was going on.
"Sissmuth," she began almost simultaneously with the wolf, "what happened?"
She was clearly too distracted to have felt what Sissmuth did; partially because she'd only be able to 'feel the ground' when she concentrated and part because she's got a leg wound that worries her. Maybe also part because of a certain wolf she had grown a fondness for - who knows?

Anayu watched both of them; Sissmuth was not exactly the most popular member of the group and Akari had more than enough reason not to care at all. She knew that she wouldn't have cared much about him under normal circumstances; sure, he wielded the same elemental magic as her, but she really had no love for the lizard's attitude.
But Akari seemed to care, even though they were such apparent opposites.

In many ways, this didn't make sense to her. Then again, she knew that she wasn't exactly a candidate for the 'Most Social Anthro'-award herself. But even so, a part of her Dhole nature stirred and she worried about Sissmuth now, if only a little.

((FYI: I edited my above post, seeing how I missed some details behind Akari's motivations. If it will help anyone, check it out up there.))

((Also added some more detail to mine.))

Sissmuth grunted and shook his head violently as he pushed himself back to his feet. Teetering a little, he was quick to straight himself, though his head still felt as though he had spun in a hundred circles. Akari's voice sounded distant and echosome, but after a while he was finally able to discern his senses. "I... don't know," he said gruffly. "I picked something up; an earthquake, I think. The magnitude was incredible. Like nothing I ever felt before. It came from farther up... towards Desdon."

He gave his head another final shake to clear out the dizziness. When he came back to, it annoyed him a little at the way the others looked at him; like they knew better. Of course, he didn't want to generalize and judge, but he just felt so out of place.

His voice hardened as he folded himself back up inside his cloak. "Never mind it. Let's just keep moving."

Akari nodded, still looking concerned as Sissmuth noted that it was coming from Desdon, or at least in the general direction of the city, but once he started to walk normally again, he quickly hurried back to helping Anayu walk. "Guys," he said, "if an earthquake really did strike Desdon, we'd better be extra-prepared. A post-disaster city is going to be a hotspot for looters and gang violence. Keep your guard up."

Akari adjusted his grip on Anayu's arm and inadvertently squeezed her hip a little bit with his other hand around her waist. He bit his lip and quickly adjusted his hand again and kept walking.

"An earthquake in Desdon?" Anayu muttered to herself. A sense of bitterness arose inside her at the thought. She had always wanted to explore the aftermath of an earthquake and study it; for two years, she had been trying to perfect a magical technique that would allow her to cause one herself. It had rarely worked and when it did, the magnitude of it was so small that it was barely noticeable. Secondly, she'd always felt drained.
And earthquakes were fairly rare in this region, but now that one had happened she was unable to explore it or even remotely try and learn of the forces behind it.

When Akari once again held her, she did notice that for one second his hand had touched her hip. Her immediate response was to pretend she hadn't felt it, although she smiled at him appreciatively.




Meanwhile...


Slowly but surely, the world seemed to fade back in sight for her. Not quite sure what was happening just yet, the last thing she recalled was a punch to her face and a lizard, then the sounds of an argument.
"Nngh.... my head..." she complained, rubbing her temples.
"Well, you did take quite a beating." someone said - a female voice.
The mare opened her eyes and looked towards the source.

It was a female human, clad in what could only be identified as silvery-white metal armour. The first thought running through the mare's head was that it must've been awfully uncommon to be armoured like that these days. Then again, what was common anyway?
Around the two lay several bodies, some still moving and some not so much. Bloodied stains on the weapon the human carried - a complimentary, silvery-white zweihander - told the tale of battle.

"Why are you here?" the mare finally got herself to ask. "Who are you?"
The woman made a grunting noise before she spoke.
"I am Laila McLaughlin and I was called here to take care of you."
"Pff, I can take care of myself."
"Clearly."
The mare's right eye gave a twitch.
"How did you know about me, then?" she asked.
Laila didn't answer, but another voice - male - did.
"'Twas me."
A small, but broad & well-built creature with a huge tail & a sword was sitting by a nearby tree, wiping something off his weapon. The mare really hadn't noticed him.
"Y'see, 'tis wom'n gave m'a good offer an' I was all sure-like." he said, although a hint of bitterness was heard in his voice.
"But I's glad t'be workin' w''tis wond'ful person."

The woman called Laila turned to him.
"Was that sarcasm?" she asked him sharply.
"No..." he answered reluctantly.
"Good, for I would hardly have to change my offer if you catch my drift."

The mare rose from the ground.
"Offer?" she asked. The human gave her a sweet smile.
"Yes, indeed. You see, I work for a rather... ah, ambitious man who would rather not have his work disturbed by anyone. My job is all about eliminating such disturbances."
"'Eliminate' them?"
"Quite so. You see, dear Tob here is a member of the Wallers - a rather silly name, if you ask me - but he also works for us. He had been following that group of anthros since they entered Waller territory and was about to apprehend them before they could reach Desdon when you and your group arrived yelling God-knows-what about bounties. Did you not notice that he ran off when you attacked?"
The mare kept quiet, although with a frown.
"My own co-workers had asked Tob to take care of their pursuers before they ever got as far as they did, but they also hired you in case trouble hit the fan and Tob wouldn't be able to. Obviously, it is too late now and they will reach Desdon long before either of you can reach them. Therefore, I am going to send both of you to Desdon right away so that you can stop them from ever leaving the city alive."
"I think not." the mare responded and turned to leave.
"Oh, but you must if you want your group of bandits to survive the night." Laila said, still wearing that sweet smile. But for the mare, the human had just crossed the line.

Without any other words, she turned around and charged straight at Laila, wind concentrating around her fists. And she lashed out a punch toward her armoured opponent.
What happened next would be something the mare never forgot; a brief beeping noise filled her ears and suddenly the wind around her fists dissipated! As that happened, the human simply took a step aside, gallantly avoiding the now-really-harmless blow.
"Do you like it?" she asked, mockingly. "It is my new toy; a Magic evaporator. Of course, not quite perfected yet but it clearly works."
"How..." the mare began, baffled.
"It is simple. Sounds tuned to the right frequency nullifies your active magical energy. In other words, you would not stand a chance against me in battle. Now I am being generous; for the second time, you will go to Desdon together with Tob and put an end to those anthros. However you do it is up to you, but make sure they do not leave Desdon."
A minute passed, but finally...
"Very well." the mare said. "I'll do it, but you must guarantee my comrades' safety."
"Of course. You will go under the name 'Storm' while working for us."
With that said, Laila called in a helicopter to their location before speaking next.
"You two remain here and your transport will arrive shortly. You will be given weapons and appropriate clothing when you arrive." she said as she turned and left, walking a fair bit into the forest.
She kept moving until she was sure that not even wind would be able to carry her words to 'Storm'.
"We got her. You may kill them off." she said.
"All of them, Lady Ashbourne?" she heard in response.
"Every last one. We'd hardly want any of her loyal goons to pursue her. And that's not my name, idiot! Call me by it again and I will have you on desert-duty until your mother forgets what you look like!"



(( Note: I've obviously made a few changes to Laila that are different to how she's portrayed in my in-the-making "From Ashes to Fire" writing. I'll write up a bio for her if necessary. ))

Rusty shifted his wait to be a little more over his own center of balance, letting go of Anayu. Clearly she was more into Akari for support than he, but he stood close incase she really needed a second aid. Now unburdened, he was able to focus more on these phenomenons the other Earth Bearer was experiencing.

It was a very strange claim Sissmuth had made, an earthquake here. It was true that earthquakes happen normally in areas surrounding the Astrainian Peaks. But this area hasn’t seen any sort of measurable natural earthquake in years—like, decades. Sure, it was possible for an earthquake to happen now…but not at all likely. If it was likely, then newsstands all over would have articles from the scientific community. Even in a relatively disconnected town like Asper.

The other possible explanation would be a magical earthquake created by some Earth Bearer punk, likely showing off too. Though it’s more likely than a natural one, it wasn’t. Sissmuth said what he felt came from Desdon. That still a distance away. No Earth Bearer of any strength could even send a small ripple in the ground that comparatively massive distance….

Overall, nothing was making sense, and he just kept contemplating it as the group slowly gathered themselves and moved along the path.

But then, a clue was in the air.

“Hey, guys, do you smell that?” inquired Rusty.
“It’s faint, but it smells like something burning,” he said, taking small, quick sniffs of the surrounds. The smell was all too familiar to a Fire Bearer like him.

"So... What will happen next?"
Storm (who had to sit on the floor during flight) looked toward Tob - who had told her he was a variant of the tasmanian devil species just out of the blue with no apparent reason - as she asked him. The devil shrugged.
"I'unno. Prolly gonna ge' gear'd'u', if y'kno' wha'I mean. As y'saw, we cannae take 'em wifou' proper stuff 'n all." he answered and even though it took the mare a few seconds to interpret, she managed to get his point.
It hurt to think about; she'd had that wolf in his place, had that 'coon not interfered. But the agility of the wolf had tired her 'slightly' and as a result she hadn't been thinking clearly once the 'coon went for her. And she'd fallen right into his trap!

This was no longer a question of bounties or drops; it was a question of restoring her integrity and honour. And even if it meant turning entire cities into ruins, she would have her revenge.
As she lost herself to her thoughts of vengeance, her gemstone gave off a slight pulsing glow, recharging itself slowly.

A few minutes passed before Tob woke her up again.
"Oi, lookit down ther'!" he yelled. And Storm gazed through the window to see a burning city - or at least much of it. A disaster had obviously struck and for some reason there was a huge area of water filling up below.

An ambulance stood beside a collapsed house and by it stood several anthros and humans. Among them, a fox and a lion - they seemed to be carrying another anthro from the wreckage with a blueish hue to its skin or fur, but neither Storm nor Tob could tell its species.
They saw the ambulance driving off before they flew out of sight.

And then they could see a landing plate just north of the city guarded by what looked like a military force. However, upon landing they could read the initials on their uniforms: "P.A.G.S". Storm knew about them - the letters stood for "Private Armed Guard Service". There had been some conflict about their former name that had begun with an F ("Fallout", which also happened to be the name of the organization that trained them - "Fallout Weaponry" that produced the guns humans seemed to favour); apparently, not many were keen on walking about with that tag.




Anayu's head turned slightly upwards and she sniffed the air. She did indeed smell something, alright. Could be something burning and Rusty would know if it was, she'd trust. They had already moved a fair bit away from where they had last stopped and the pathway split in two directions; one toward Desdon and the other toward the mountains.
However, the road only led to a cave that collapsed many years ago and was of no real value - she should know, she spent several days exploring it and all she found was the remains of what looked like an underground living quarter. Everything had been burned, though.

"Right... we're here," she began, "this road should take us directly to the walls. There is a door there that few people know of and there should be an antiques store right behind it if memory serves me right."

She sniffed the air again.
"But if something is burning... maybe we should wait a while? I need to try and get this bullet out anyway..." she said, the last through gritted teeth as her injured leg bumped a bit too hard against Akari's. Not to mention, the makeshift bandage wouldn't hold forever and it already seemed to be bleeding through if the red dots were any evidence.

((Sorry guys, if this sounds a bit too much... but I REALLY think we need a scene shift... we've lingered a bit too long on getting to Desdon, I think... and some things just need to get done.))

"Yeah, we really should wait a while. Smoke is not a good sign, the ground could be unstable, the buildings could be unstable, and there might even be fire. Plus, with all the potential gang violence and looting, I don't think going there right now would be very safe. C’mon, it’s getting late, anyway. We should sleep for now so we’ll have our full strength for when we get there.”

During the first day of waiting, Akari stayed by Anayu’s side more than he really anticipated or intended to. He wasn’t sure why, but he did feel a strong urge to make sure she was all right. Though, after a good amount of time, it occurred to Akari that the bullet in her leg wasn’t going to heal itself, considering how deep in her leg it was. Nobody in the group, as far as he knew, was a doctor in any capacity, and, assuming an earthquake had hit the city, hospitals would probably be at least crowded, and plus, they probably wouldn’t take a bullet wound in without questioning as to how it happened. That was something they didn’t have time for. That bullet needed to come out immediately.

Akari turned to her, laying down on her back, “Listen,” he said, “That bullet wound isn’t going to heal itself. We need to get it out. Don’t you think?”

Anayu looked at her wound and nodded. “It is something of a pain…” she noted.

Akari nodded and picked up her staff. “Listen, I’m not really trained to do this without severe pain, but I at least know what to do. Just… be strong for me.”

Akari drew his throwing knife and produced a small pad soaked with rubbing alcohol from his back pocket, and cleaned both the knife and the wound with it. It probably stung her like crazy, but it would be a lot better than getting an infection. He held out her staff, "You should bite down on this," he said, "wouldn't want you biting through your tongue or anything…”

Anayu bit down without a word, and Akari, bracing himself, slowly drove the knife down into the wound. Anayu winced, but no screaming pain… at least, not yet. Then he hit the bullet lodged in her leg. Getting around that, so that he could get it out, was what got Anayu to start to groan loudly in pain. I really wish I knew more of what I’m doing… he thought to himself as he finally got to the pointed tip of the bullet, and angled his knife a bit to force it up and out. This had obviously increased the amount of pain Anayu was feeling, as this time she started to scream. It really did pain Akari to hear it, but before either of them knew it, the back of the round had protruded from her leg. As soon as it was substantially exposed, he used his other hand and yanked it out, then slowly angled the knife to a perfectly vertical angle and pulled it out, too. Anayu’s screams of pain were replaced by gasps and panting, likely in shock.

By a somewhat instinctual desire to be comfortable (at least, based on what he himself thought at the time) he lightly removed the staff from Anayu’s mouth and set it down, but quickly lifted Anayu up to him and clutched her torso in his arms tightly in an embrace. “See…?” he said, “it’s all right… we got it out… you’ll heal, now… you’ll get better…” he told her, panting, sounding like he was getting close to tears, but not very close. Akari himself started to pant nervously, as images of potential damage he had done kept flashing through his mind.

(I'm back. My brother's out for sure. He apologizes for keeping you waiting... He might join in later but as of now he is not a concern.)

Cyrus had mainly kept to himself the remainder of the trip, fully recharging his stone in the process. There really was no reason to talk to anyone in his mind, save to banter with Sissmuth, perhaps. Feeling foolishly ignorant of Valterian culture, Cyrus decided to play it safe and not bother his friend, who was in a state of silence himself.

Cyrus sensed something upsetting within him, but felt as if he had probably done enough emotional prodding for the trip. He wasn't sure what level of openness was considered good or bad in Valterian eyes, and didn't seek to press Sissmuth's patience if he wasn't fond of big-eyed raccoons asking him how he felt every five minutes.
Of course, that's what the overly analytical Cyrus feared his friend might perceive him as.

-Freedom came suddenly when the earth shook him out of his head.

"What was that?" he asked in an unfitting sense of calm, glad to be back in the real world. As they discussed the possibility of an earthquake, he of course looked to Sissmuth, who was fiercely alert.
It was then that the smell reached his Anthro senses. As Rusty was saying, it was definitely smoke, but he recognized something within it that was only slightly different... something...
Near.
"Hey guys- I smell gunpowder." he said quicky, darting his eyes to everyone in the party. He unsheathed his blades, feeling the fearful surge of adrenaline that had become more familiar to him over the past few days.
He spoke in a heightened whisper-
"We need to move off the trail. Someone's nearby, I don't want to meet them." And no one else did either, as they were all now wary of the trees, readying themselves. He dashed over to Akari and Anayu's awkward scene, and helped Akari lift the wounded girl to a stand by her arms. "C'mon, up ya go. Can you walk?" he asked her kindly.

"I got her." replied Akari instantly. He obviously wanted to repair his embarrassment. Glad to rescue him from his situation, Cyrus patted Akari on the shoulder as he ran past him to Sissmuth, who was instinctively sense-searching the ground.
"Anything?" Cyrus asked.

(( Welcome back! ))

'It is something of a pain,' she thought. Sure is the understatement of the year.

When Akari had asked, she attempted a braver answer than 'OH BY THE GODS IT HURTS GET IT OUT OF ME' or 'I'M DYING I'M DYING IT BLEEDS BY THE GODS'.
She'd truly wanted to yell that for some time, but bit it in, fearing what the others might think of her.

She didn't like Akari's answer to her response any better and for a moment she regret having said what she said, but it was too late to turn around now. It hurt when he cleaned her wound, though she imagined it to be nothing compared to what was coming. But the way he had spoken to her was always in the back of her head that both eased her pain somewhat (or at least it felt like it) and surprised her:
Did he know?
Had I been too obvious?
We only just met!
Could we...

"Bite down on this. Wouldn't want you biting through your tongue or anything." he'd said, giving her the staff.
Biting down on it ('Uargh, metal!' she thought), Anayu braced herself.

The immense pain (and screaming and tears) that followed were soon forgotten as Akari lifted her up to him and embraced her. The wound still bled, but she couldn't care less right now; all she wanted was to remain in his embrace, hearing his comforting words.

And then a bushy piece of tail and head interrupted them and, suddenly snapping back to reality, she once again felt the throbbing pain in her leg.
"I - We... Mmf, we need to stop the bleeding still..." she managed to say.

Sissmuth was leaning against a tree, off to the group's side, watching the endeavor with critical eyes. A slight wince escaped him when he saw Akari's knife enter Anayu's body, and he bore to watch for a couple seconds before he turned around and pulled his cloak over his shoulder, resuming his previous task of earth-sensing the ground, hunched down low as to avoid having to see what was going on. Though he heard. And felt.

That was when Cyrus came up from behind him. "Anything?" he asked.

Sissmuth opened his closed eyes and stood up again. "Nothing. No tremors, no aftershock... It's as silent as night." He reached over the back of his head and scratched at his hard crest confusedly. "Not at all like any regular earthquake behaves. But given the circumstances..." He swiped his hands together and, seeing that Anayu was back on her feet again, continued forward to Desdon. "...I'd say there's hardly a thing normal about ANYTHING that's been going on lately."

A ways ahead of the group, he quarter-turned at the others. "If what we think has happened has happened, there's bound to be adequate medical help once we reach Desdon."

Akari quickly took off his button-down shirt, leaving him in only his tee-shirt, and wrapped it around Anayu's leg. "This is the best I can do," he explained, "we'll need to get to a hospital once we get inside. But this'll do for now," he finished, tying the shirt into a knot with the arms. He set her down and patted her shoulder, and then drew a sword, his back pressed against a tree.

Footsteps. Akari's ears pricked in the direction, and his head snapped in the same direction. A wolf. Feral, typical grey wolf markings. Their anthro cousins spoke a different dialect of the wolf language, but it wasn't incomprehensible when compared to the timber wolf dialect that Akari spoke.

"Tago, shalker," he whispered, bowing his head to the wolf.

The wolf bowed in reply.

"Santa-lieka, terkal. Spracken."

The wolf growled and pricked each ear in succession.

"Meedrai," he swore, then held up two fingers to the wolf, "Takanta?"

The wolf raised his tail. Akari nodded in reply. "Kaloga. Sachen-sachen. Talkernaf!"

The wolf bowed once again and sprinted away. Akari turned to the others, "Two," he said quietly, holding up two fingers, "armed and looking for something. Stay down low and still and they shouldn't notice us," he explained, gesturing all the while at what he was talking about so those further away would know, too.

(Let's just let these guys pass by. Save the fighting for when we get to Desdon... is that OK with everyone?)

[just a quickie to get something in. ^^]

Sissmuth stopped. He hadn't caught what happened between Akari and the wolf, but he didn't need to. His slitted pupils contracted to the vibration his clawed, bare-feet picked up. "Two, he whispered quietly to himself. Spinning around, he called out, "Everyone, get off the road!"