Descent into Nothing

[Mandaz]

From what Maladi gathered, the two were promising their safety in return for their respect. It sounded a little too simple to be true, but at this point the words of the two shade people were all they had to go by. The gypsy considered himself to be a polite person, at least he hoped that's how others thought of him. He always stood up straight and proper, always kept his mouth shut unless he was spoken to, and always used formal language whenever he was conscious about it. All in all he would have liked to walk away from this situation with all body parts intact, no matter how mutated they were at this point, he was still quite sure he could be hurt. Hopefully his silence and averted gaze would be interpreted as respect for the two, rather than insolence. That, and sitting down for a calm drink would definitely calm his nerves.

"I should say we are civilized." Maladi breathlessly called out, fear still tugging at his vocal cords. "And we don't mean any trouble."

He turned to look at the two men, violet eyes pleading for their mercy. Another fight wouldn't be good for their group, considering how they barely escaped the last one. While he searched the faces of the two shade men, he hoped to find a glimmer of mercy behind their dark skin and crimson eyes.

[Ramlock]

"Coffee, then."

Cyril would click his tongue at the fox, motioning for her with a slight hand motion to stand beside him, rather than between the two groups. Bloodthirsty thugs though they may be, Cyril wasn't planning to fight them. It was too risky, for one thing. And even then... Cyril wasn't exactly bloodthirsty. At least, he rarely was. It took quite a lot to get him bloodthirsty any more, and action against him wasn't ever really enough. Only action against a friend. And Achren wasn't a friend to Cyril...

"Where are we going, though. I bet you guys have a neutral spot of some sort, right?"

There was still always the threat of being led into an ambush, though...

[Nayt]

Offtopic: This is moving too slow. I'm going to speed it up.

Tanner, the taller, older, and much more "sophisticated" of the two, nodded his head in acknowledgment of Cyril and Maladi's decision. The shorter one stepped to the side quite a bit, leaving a wide space between the two Ersatzshad, definitely wide enough for Cyril, Maladi, and the others to pass through. Tanner motioned towards the house Cyril and Maladi had broken into recently.

"It's neutral and it's free," Tanner had remarked.

"Yup. Saves us the trouble of breaking down a different door," the shorter one had added.

There, the shorter one had been introduced: Yuri. They occupied the kitchen for the most part. Tanner revealed there that he carried packets of coffee on him at all times, just in case of situations like this, and put some water in a pot on the stove to warm up. For awhile, they were silent. Tanner didn't say much as he prepared coffee, and Yuri did all the talking. It was, however, completely irrelevant to Cyril and Maladi's general concerns, and had much more to do with the lives of businessmen--his own in particular--than anything else. Of course, the business he was talking about was more in terms of Cyril's business than an honest living. An excerpt of one of Yuri's substantial rants is as follows:

"People in our line of business anymore just kill the whole appeal. There ain't no loyalty with 'em. They're just a buncha crooks that go for the highest bidder. We're not like that, though. I'm ain't, at least. We know what honor is all about. We find a guy we like, someone we want to support to the end, and we do that. It was only recently that we found that guy; we'd been lookin' for someone for a long time, but nah. Like I said, that's the trouble with this business anymore. Even the guys that need support are crooks and bastards. They got no ideals, no respect--just a buncha sons of bitches trying to make money any way they can. And you know they're gonna chince out on the pay for their boys. Some don't even pay. Take all the profits for themselves. What kind of shit is that?"

The whole time, he barely looked at Cyril and Maladi. It did establish a rapport that they couldn't be taken too seriously, though. They didn't seem remotely interested in the political climate of the city and couldn't be trusted wortth shit, but the coffee was good, at least. Tanner made a killer cup of joe.

They all had their seats at the table, and each a coffee mug just for them. Even Baht had one, since she had made it a point to sit upon the table. For awhile, Baht just sniffed at it, cautious to take a sip, but when everyone else seemed to enjoy it (Tanner even took requests, humorously making Baht's coffee black without asking), Baht held the mug with both hands and sipped at it. The mug was almost as wide as her torso, and while she inevitably let out a contented cheer, she would in no way be able to finish it all.

Once Tanner started speaking, Cyril and Maladi finally learned the name of the man they worked for: Sinir Bricriu. And it wasn't a second later that the front window shattered and Yuri divebombed out of his chair. The fox began to yip as loud as she could, and Voght growled and barked just the same. Cyril and Maladi were quickly, yet calmly, suggested to move away from the table, and once everyone was clear of it, Yuri and Tanner kicked the edge of it, sending it edgeward to the floor, reduced to a makeshift shield. Granted, that could only do so much against the slings and arrows. Arrows quite literally, for that matter. Every half second, a new head notched through the wood, but never enough to pierce through completely.

Tanner's cup of coffee, however, had been saved. Gloriously, too. When they kicked the table over and used it as an immobile shield, Tanner had first snagged his coffee by the handle and then kicked the table over with Yuri. Without this little boost, he figured he might get out of this with a scrape, and that just wouldn't do.

Tanner and Yuri remained behind the table, and had likewise instructed Maladi and Cyril to do the same. There was too much open space between there and the front of the house to get any better cover, not just yet.

"Damn, they caught up quick," Tanner remarked as he quite professionally finished off the last of his coffee.

"Heh, well . . ." Yuri coughed, "This is the problem with neutral territories."

Tanner nodded in acknowledgment, "Yeah. They can only be neutral for so long. Do the two of you have anything? Weapons or anything of the like?"

[Ramlock]

Cyril would remain mostly quiet as he listened to the men, still sizing them up. They were trustworthy, from the looks of things. He could trust them to act in their own best interests. And that was all he really wanted out of most people. Self-interest and a bit of logic, rare though it seemed sometimes. Baht's reaction to the coffee was a bit disconcerting, as the little shade creatures seemed more and more human all the time. In a way, they seemed to match Maladi's becoming more and more like a shade all the time...

Tanner and Yuri, of course, weren't going to be sitting with their backs to the door. Cyril had purposefully taken that chair. It was a cardinal rule of the business, but one Cyril was willing to purposefully ignore. After all, since everybody sat with their backs to the wall, there was never a point in attacking through a door... Until this time.

When the arrow flew through the window behind him, Cyril would be moving before he could even comprehend the situation, diving in a moderately ridiculous manner not just out of his chair but underneath the table, as the arrow sunk into the wall on the other side of the room. Fortunately, Yuri had deserted his position, giving Cyril a spot. Cyril, with much the same idea, would start to stand up with his shoulders underneath the table, lifting it somewhat so Tanner and Yuri could kick over the heavy wooden furniture.

"Yes, I've got a weapon. Doesn't do any good if we can't see, though..."

And seeing was going to be an issue extremely quickly. It was unlikely their opponents were trying to kill them with arrows. Bows were too unreliable, not always lethal, too hard to train people in. Arrows, however, were cheap. Which meant you could keep people afraid to move. And then, fire fixed most problems...

[Mandaz]

For the most part Maladi stood silent, cautiously watching every movement of the two gentlemen. He’s been lulled into a false sense of security more times than was safe in this strange town. Though he had little battle instincts, he was trying to at least be aware of the situation. So he watched, and listened, really unable to add much, but also a little too afraid to interrupt. He sipped a bit on the strong drink, allowing it to calm his frazzled nerves for a moment. Life always seemed better when there was something warm between your palms. He even gave a smile as Baht tried to mimic the adults at the table as preciously as possible. However the little glint of warmth quickly shattered along with the cups in their hands. Malao had let his guard down, again, and again something had surprised them.

Without a second thought he scooped up Baht, holding her safely to his chest while backing away from the windows and doors. Rose colored eyes scattered about in a panic, searching every shadowed inch of the home. “Notte. Where is he?” came out on worried breaths, knowing the shade child would be too scared to find him.

“Nothing.” He admitted when asked about a weapon, displaying his dark palms upward. Though equipped with claws Maladi was not a fighter. He’d only been lucky these past few times in battle, and fighting was never his aim. The only goal he had was to protect the shades. Protect his friends. Find Edii. He wouldn’t have been able to move anyway, until he had sight of Notte again.

[Nayt]

The whole commotion had even frightened Baht. She clung to Maladi and buried her head into his chest. She wasn't as skittish as Notte, but something like this, a veritable surprise attack, could frighten her pretty bad for a little while! Speaking of Notte . . .

Almost on cue with Maladi's concern, the fox and Voght both made their appearance from behind the table, walking backwards in unison, carrying a familiar little figure across the floor. The fox had her teeth gently clamped down on Notte's right arm, and Voght did the same with Notte's left arm. The little shade was terrified--he was crying and shaking and kicking the floor, making soft little thuds as he tried to pry himself away from the fox and Voght's helpfulness. The fox let him go first, followed in short by Voght. The very instant they let go of him, Notte flailed with a small series of whimpers until he laid on his chest, whereupon he immediately sunk his claws into the floor, the claws on his hands and feet, even, and used them to drag himself away quickly. Notte skittered to the far right corner of the kitchen in one hell of a hurry, where he stayed huddled in the corner, shaking and whimpering . . .

So, there were a couple of them armed. Cyril, Yuri, and Tanner--that worked. Maladi wasn't armed, but he didn't seem like the fighting type anyways, claw or no claw. Nonetheless, Cyril had a gun, and Yuri and Tanner had shovels. All three of them were fairly lethal. Yuri understood the issue of not seeing. He couldn't get a good angle on this whole thing, himself. Sure, they were shooting arrows at them, but whoever it was, they were aiming for the windows. The drapes made it a bitch to see, and Cyril and the others weren't gifted with the option of opening the drapes.

"Guess it's time to fix that," Yuri declared as he motioned to Tanner and Cyril--first to the table they were using as makeshift cover, and then forward, towards the windows.

It was the best option they had at the moment: grab the table, lift it up, and ram it into the window. It was too wide to fit through the window, obviously, but not too wide to fit out of the kitchen. With three men grabbing and pushing it at the same time, they would no doubt make perfect time. Ideally, this would eradicate the threat from one of two windows, after which point they could go anywhere, tactically. Attrition was an option; make some more coffee, sit back, relax, and wait for their aggressors to run out of arrows, or some sort of tactical counterattack--or anything, really. Once they had a safe place to be, they'd have all the time in the world to think up a plan--unless, of course, their aggressors came charging, but that would only end terribly for them . . .

[Ramlock]

Cyril quickly caught on to the idea Yuri was suggesting, and as he still hadn't drawn his weapon, he was in a position to help move the table. Once all the little creatures were out of the way, they could push the table forward without much of a problem. To that end, Cyril would lean forward, giving the table enough general force that the other two could make it move.

"This won't solve our problems, though..."

Cyril had no intention of staying: the enemy, whoever they were, intended to trap them in this house. They couldn't play into that. Too many things could happen. Fire, explosives, reinforcements. It was essentially a siege, after all. They had food, but no defensible positions. They needed to get out somehow...

Once the table was in place, Cyril had the solution. The houses in the City, as made sense for the apparently once huge population, were in townhouses, which left them an important way out. Especially since so many windows and doors were boarded or closed up. Walking over to the wall adjoining the closest house, he would motion to it for the two shovel-wielding men.

"Here's our way out. We can chop our way through the interior walls to the farthest house, and take the door from there."

The inside walls were not especially thick...