The Animus

[Entaru]

The paper was almost yellow with age.  It seemed like something out of an old book in a museum.  The only thing that seemed to differentiate it from a museum piece was that it wasn't brittle.  In fact the paper felt like it was almost new...but it's age was obvious.  Upon closer inspection one would find that the paper had a pinkish hue beneath the yellow.  On the paper was a stange sketching, along with indecipherable runes.

The sketch showed what look like a statue of a well muscled man at first glance, but more details soon became apparent.  The man's face was featureless besides an insane lipless grin stretching far behind the man's head.  His wrists split into a pair of four-fingered hands, set in a venus flytrap-like fashion.  These strange deformations were only multiplied by the man's chest, which was splayed open like the petals of a flower with a rune burned into every 'petal'.  Through the hole, a ribcage could be seen housing a small pyramid shaped object.  Every detail seemed to be painstakingly drawn out to the greatest anatomical presicion.

Tori's stomach turned slightly as she held the paper, seeming as if it did not wish to be held.  Everything in her mind seemed to scream at her to forget the image on the paper, and yet to study it further at the same time.

[Dtannings]

Tori swallowed hard, wishing to look away from the gruesome paper. She figured one of the Acolytes dropped it, and that closer inspection may help them. But then again, this parchment creeped her out, and she was typically able to stomach such things. Best bet was that the others would throw it away it, thinking it to be nothing but a morbid sketch from one of the Acolytes. Not wanting that to happen, she quickly pocketed the item.
The wolf had had her nose to close to the ground in search for her wrench to take notice of Nero's antics, otherwise she would've brought it before him. Alas, the oblivious wolf went back to her original action of finding the lost monkey wrench.

[KittKat chunky~]

As Tori continued her search for the lost monkey wrench Kitt took of his backpack and rifled through the contents... underneath his stacks of ammo clips for his AK he found what he was looking for, a small box of low callibre bullets that would fit for Tori's pistol... pulling out the box a bullet fell out and rolled away, Kitt jumped to his feet and gave chase, he caught the bullet as it bounced off a rock, and looking down, found a monkey wrench half covered in blood and mud beside the body of a dead acolyte...

Picking both objects up he pulled on his backpack and walked up to Tori who was still searching... he held out the box of ammo, and the wrench...
"Think i found somthing of yours miss.... and if ya just hand me the pistol i can show ya how to reload it safely..."
He smiled, for the first time in quite a long while....

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Shinzuu finished up his activities by burying the dead, Acolyte and non-Acolyte, in a mass grave, laying them in a line. He ran out of dirt fast, since it was more of a ditch that he expanded rather than something he dug up. Shinzuu saluted the dead, mumbled a soft "Namu satsu.", and turned around to walk back over to the group. Shinzuu found a high spot to sit at watch and lost himself in thought, talking to the dead Lieutenant Acolyte with his mind. Of the many that I've fought in my years of life, you were the only one I've ever met to be a decent fighter. It's a shame that we had to be on opposing sides.

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

Veronica found a clean area of grass and laid down upon it. Staring up at the sky, she let her mind wander. She mainly thought about the day that her parents had told her they were sending her to military school and the events of the years that followed. Military school never really broke her though like it did to your average girl who was either sent there to straighten out her attitude or to teach her that a things weren't just going to be given to them without earning it. It did teach her to control her temper better than she used to but the attitude was still there, just kept in check by needing to talk to the higher-ups in particular ways. Compared to what was going on now, military school was a piece of cake. It never prepared you for the emotional parts but for some reason she wasn't emotional. She figured it would come back to bite her later. Closing her eyes, she sighed, putting her hands over her stomach where her wounds was beneath her shirt and the gauze. She missed the simplicity of military school.

[Entaru]

"Blast it!  WHERE IS THAT PAPER?!"  Nero started to panic as he could not find the paper.  That paper held crucial information on the Acolytes that could be used against them.  "Someone help me find it!  The fate of the world may depend on it!"

[Dtannings]

Tori smiled up at Kitt, "Thank you," she took the wrench and reattached it to her tool belt. As she was about to grab her pistol for the lesson, she overheard Nero's screech.
"Umm, excuse me, but what's on the paper?" Tori asked the frantic hyena, thinking of the drawing she'd picked up. She scratched her side as she approached him.

[KittKat chunky~]

"No problem... now, with this pistol...."
Kitt was about to reach for the pistol, when Tori turned away to Nero.... he sighed, his paw still outstretched, as if hoping to grasp thin air.. he sighed and let it drop to his side... while waiting he looked over Tori's shoulder at Nero who seemed to have gotten himself in a fluster over somthing or other...

[Entaru]

"It has a scary-*** guy on it with some weird writing.  I stole it from an Acolyte when I heard them saying that it was important."  Nero was incredibly flustered at this point, not knowing how or why the paper disappeared.

[x]

Gavin originally didn't want to get too involved with whatever was going on with Tori, Kitt, that new child, and his strange peice of paper....but...He changed his mind once he heard Nero speak those last few sentences. After all, a scary-*** guy? Weird writing? You know something like that had to be good. The monkey sauntered over to them and joined them. "....Now what's going on again? I heard you guys talking, and, well.....monkeys get curious too." His tail started to twist again as he glanced over them. He wasn't as embarassed as he would have been otherwise, but was still nervous playing the game of socialization.

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Shinzuu paid no mind to the small gathering near the wounded Felix. In fact, he didn't really care about what goes on between them. Shinzuu's only thought now was to survive in this Hell-forsaken world. Never once had he thought he'd prefer that ice-block of a refuge over going back home. But, what's done is done, and no use crying about it. Instead, Shinzuu continued his watch, sighing occasionally as he tickled his old memories of the barracks and making his superior officers' lives a living hell. He smiled.

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

Veronica had gotten up from her spot on the grass and wandered around the area aimlessly. She finally silently walked up behind Shinzuu and spotted the smile on his face, which made a half-smile appear on her face to see him feeling better. "Someone seems to be feeling a bit better, judging by the smile." She said quietly. She looked around casually as she stood there before finally sitting down beside him.

[Gabag]

"WELL IF I'M NOT ABLE TO SEE COMBAT, CAN I AT LEAST WALK! It's getting really uncomfortable strapped down to this thing. I mean I thank those who did, but now it's just weird..."

Felix groaned, and with the large group of people arguing over a scary looking dude on a paper with weird writing, Felix wanted to see, unfortunately he couldn't move.

The world was slapping him in the face and laughing at him.

[Dtannings]

Tori pointed at her chest while talking, "With a pyramid in the chest right?" The wolf pulled the paper from her pocket and showed it to Nero. She wished not to part with the parchment, feeling it to be important, and selfishly wanting to keep it to herself. However, it was not hers, and her Morales kept her from stealing.
"It's pretty morbid."
Why would you steal something like this from an Acolyte. But then again, I picked it up too.

[Entaru]

"THAT'S IT!" Nero swiped the paper as a wave of relief went over him.  "Thank God!  Do you know what this is?"  Nero held up the paper for the others to see.