The Warped (2nd Party)

[Goblin Cat 😸]

Mortis crawled into one of the beds, being sure to leave enough room for one of the others to use it if they wanted. "Just wake me up if something happens," she grumbled lowly, seemingly half asleep already and speaking to no one in particular. For once, she fell straight asleep without much dawdling since she was so tired. All the times she hadn't slept well seemed to be catching up to her at this one moment. She slept somewhat soundly, lying on her belly using her arms crossed as a pillow. She often laid like this while she was relaxing, not needing a blanket or pillow to satisfy her comfort, the bed doing just enough by existing.

[Ares the Ram]

As Macid tried to sleep, he dreamed of being back in the bookstore. He was sitting at the reception counter as he always was, checking out books and checking them in. He was smiling and enjoying himself until two small cats ran up to him. "Daddy! Daddy!" "Daddy! Daddy!" They ran up and tackled him, giggling as he toppled over. Macid was surprised that they called him dad, and even more surprised at what he heard next. "Allright, you two, get off your father." He looked up and saw Constance standing above him, smiling at him and the kids. The kids collectively whined at Constance, who shushed them. "Daddy works at a library, remember? We have to be quiet. Now run along and go read a book." The kids got off Macid and ran off into the library. Macid got up and watched them run off. "Beautiful, aren't they?" Macid turned to Constance, admiring her beautiful face. "Yes... you are." In the real world, Macid was smiling and sleeping the best sleep he had had in a while.

[serpington]

max instantly tried to struggle when he was grabbed, getting out a single call for help before getting silenced by one of the six. he woke up on his side a few hours later, his head throbbing madly as the ropes ground against his scales, he could feel the stinging of dirt dried into the small openings in his skin where scales Had been riped out during the struggle. his vision was blurry and unfocused, his mouth tied shut, the ropes just out of reach of his small claws an his tail tied tightly around his body like another simple rope. he passed back out shortly after waking up, a single guard watching him from just inside the door being the last thing he saw.

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

The party slept well that night, but not for Max. About half way through the night, the guards kicked him up, and sat him in front of the camp fire, the light and heat keeping him from falling back asleep. The guards would punch and kick Max, yelling at him, "Where art the others!? Where are thy comrades!? Talk, you foreign dog!" About the same time, the mayor walked into the room where the party had been resting and shook Mortis awake, whispering softly, "I don't mean to bother you, but it seems the last one of your party has yet to return, and no one in the village has seen him. I am very worried."

[Goblin Cat 😸]

Mortis groggily fought waking up until she realized that the mayor was the one waking her. "What?" She asked, seeming to come out of a fog. She wasn't annoyed so much as she was tired. She looked around the room after realizing what he said, figures coming into focus as she wiped her eyes. "Macid, Constance..." She grumbled as she took role in her head. "Max." She looked to the mayor, "Max isn't here." She was stating the obvious, again mainly because she was so tired. "Did he go out?" She slung her legs off the side of the bed after she sat up, grabbing her bag. She wasn't thinking too clearly, "I'll go out and check for him," she slurred. The chameleon stood up and stretched, pulling the bag over her head, her hand on the Mayor's shoulder as if to reassure him that she knew what she was doing, despite the fact that she didn't. She was still half asleep, not realizing that she wasn't dreaming.

[Srgntcuddles]

Constance didn't fall asleep for a little while, she eventually used her bag as a pillow since her paws became numb from laying on them. She got to sleep soon after that. It was going to be a bit awkward to sleep since he didn't only just sleep on her back the whole night. This time she would have to since her leg was propped up. She drifted into a dream where she was standing in an open field with the sun beating down on her. She turned to see Macid standing there, he used Anon on her, saying her full name to see her thoughts. He didn't say anything, but she could see his lips moving to form the words. "Constance Nightingale" he said while pointing at her. She was confused as he looked down to see what the book would write. She looked away nervously and when she looked back Max and Mortis were there standing next to him. He looked up from Anon in disbelief, his hands weakly dropped to his sides and he dropped Anon on the ground. "Why?" formed in his silent mouth before he turned and walked away. He began to blur and fade away. Mortis shook her head and walked off to her right and went invisible, disappearing from view. She watched her go up until she vanished and then looked at Max who walked towards her. He put his hand on her shoulder and shook his head before walking passed her and fading away like smoke on the wind. Constance stood there alone, collapsing to her knees and curling into a ball and started to cry.

[serpington]

max started to laugh as the guards beat him, the heat starting to get to him, making him more hyperactive in his restraints "do you really think i know, i didn't have the map, i don't know where we are and the last thing i payed attention to was the hill you grabbed me on, out of the entire group I'm probably the worst one for you to grab!" he shouted in their faces, making sure to spit blood in one of the soldiers faces once he was done just to get a reaction. the soldier kicked him hard in the gut knocking him to the ground winded "you'll.......get no.....nothing.....from me...." he panted still smiling menacingly from his place in the dirt.

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

After a couple hours of interrogating Max, the leader of the pack finally spoke up. "Just kill him. It doesn't really matter if he talks or not. The main point is that they don't succeed in taking down our masters, correct? Well, they need everyone to do that. So if we just kill one, we will win. They won't be able to stand a chance against our masters as long as they don't have a full party. Now make it quick. The sooner we kill this one, the sooner we can go back to our spouses."

[Goblin Cat 😸]

Mortis stumbled outside of the Mayor's hut, looking around to see if anyone was awake to ask if they had seen Max. She knew the mayor said no one had seen them, but she wondered if maybe the others had seen anything unusual. She caught sight of smoke rising in the distance and scratched her chin, wondering if there were citizens there she could interrogate. She suddenly wished that Moon was there, knowing that her flight would help her see what was ahead. Again, scanning the area, she saw a pile of hay that was stacked against one of the huts. She headed towards it, using the hay bales to get on the roof of the hut to see if she could see who exactly was around the fire. Her scales rippled just in case, camouflaging her all except her pair of trousers that she was wearing. She was somewhat thankful that they were dark in color, still staying out of visibility against the dark night. I wonder if he got a wench and ran off or something... Mortis thought somewhat amused, a smirk creeping on her face despite how serious the situation was. She still was in a daze.

[Srgntcuddles]

Constance woke up from her nightmare and sat up, propping herself up on her elbows. She looked at Macid who was still sleeping away before hugging her legs to her chest, burying her face. She thought about the dream, thinking everyone was going away. "No one's gonna leave...It was just a bad dream..." she thought to herself, trying to find some assurance. She looked up at Mortis' bed and her heart sank when she saw she wasn't there. She looked around the rest of the room not seeing Max either. Looking back to make sure Macid was still there she practically jumped into the bed with him and embraced him. "Macid! Don't disappear! I'm sorry!" she almost forgot where she was and shouted, but she managed to keep it at a loud whisper.

[Ares the Ram]

Macid was enjoying his dream, being married to Constance with two kids and living happily together, until the real Constance woke him up. He squawked slightly at his abrupt awakening, slowly blinking and  yawning as he did so as he slowly grew aware of her embracing him and telling him not to dissapear. He blushed slightly as he turned himself around so that he could hug her and comfort her, talking to her in a whisper. "What are you talking about? I'm not gonna dissapear." He brushed her hair with his paw as he looked around the room, his eyesight slowly returning to normal from sleeping. He noticed that Mortis and Max weren't in the room, and it was just him and Constance. He blushed even redder as he whispered to her again, "Constance, do you know where Mortis and Max are? Are they outside?"

[serpington]

max laughed louder, the build up of excess energy not getting burnt off while he was restrained numbing his body and causing him to fidget and writhe on the ground laughing like a straitjacketed maniac after hearing the leaders comment about his worthlessness "stab me one, stab me twice, stab me thrice, and see me singing with the mice. jump around the fire, arms for hire, yo-ho ha ha!" he started singing between laughs, more than likely sounding like he was already insane. he managed to end up on his back looking at the leader upside down still smiling "does it look like i care if you kill me?! up until a few days ago my life sucked, then since getting here it's just been going from bad to worse, you think I'm expecting to last another few weeks out here?!" he broke out into another fit of laughter, this one echoing into the distance. ever so slowly his writhing taking him closer to the fire heating him up more.

[Goblin Cat 😸]

She saw that there were several tents around the fire, but she couldn't really see if there was anyone out. She grabbed her book to draw, but then grumbled, unable to see in the dark. She shakily stood up on the hut, careful to keep her balance and wobbled down to the other side to get near the tents, almost falling. Her eyes grew wide as she heard laughter. She didn't recognize it, but she did recognize the voice as Max's. She grabbed a stick from the roof of the hut and threw it over near the fire, attempting to direct attention away from Max if she could. It was hard to tell where he might be just going off of sound. When the stick clattered against some nearby bushes, she slid off the roof, landing behind one of the tents. Thankfully the light inside shone a little through the cloth of the tent, just enough for her to see. Mortis opened her book and began to draw a gnome, looking up every now and then to make sure no one was near or around her.

[Srgntcuddles]

Constance continued to embrace Macid, when he asked what was wrong she didn't speak. When he mentioned they were the others were gone she held him tighter. "I know. They're gone. And...And you're going to disappear. They all are...I saw it. In my dream." she said. She probably sounded insane but she was really paranoid at the moment from her dream. "I'm sorry. I don't know what I did...I don't want you to go away." she continued. She was on the verge of tears at this point.

[Ares the Ram]

Macid hushed Constance and began to stroke her hair to try and comfort her. He remembered to continue to talk in a whisper, as per the warnings of the mayor. "It's ok Constance. No-one is gonna disappear, I'm sure they've just gone outside for some air. Come on now." Macid took his hand and lifted her head by her chin until he was looking straight into her eyes. He could tell she was on the verge of tears as he looked at her. He leaned in and gave her a quick peck on the cheek to reassure her he wasn't leaving. "Come on, lets go find the others. I'll show you that they're just outside and they haven't disappeared."