| Logs |
2011 January 10
| Neverneverwhere |
| Realms |
Retired
| Reality Fault |
General Info
 |
| Realms: Taps Logs |
Blood Will Tell
The top floor seems to have been completely opened up to the smoking room. The door opens onto a lush landing and a downward staircase. There are signs that windows have been bricked up in the walls along the stairway. At the bottom there's a hallway lined with the numbered doors. Suraksha sticks her head back in the room she just left, waiting for Joe and Sabrina; she knows better than letting her support get separated from her! Joe and Sabrina are right behind her, though Joe has dragged one of the nearly unconscious women with him into the clearer air of the landing. Suraksha gives Joe a puzzled look, "Hwhy?" before she turns and pads silently to the top of the stairs. She scents the air carefully, searching for either panic, adrenaline, or gunpowder.
Joe is coughing a little, "Can't be more'n twelve, I don't think. Way too young." He follows after the tiger and Sabrina, rubbing at his smoke-reddened eyes. Suraksha nods silently at that, agreeing.
There's a lot of adrenaline in the air around a place like this, so it's hard to suss out the actual fear smells from the sheer excitement smells. Along this hallway, it's just one door that smells of fear: the one nearest the main door and furthest away from the back stairway. Suraksha glances over her shoulder at the other two, rumbling quietly, "Smell fh-hear." She nods towards the end of the hallway, then adds, "Wha' nek'ss?" Sabrina nods and moves up to the door Suraksha indicates, leaning in carefully and pressing her ear against the wood to listen for sounds of distress. Joe is looking down the big main stairway, watching for anyone moving about.
Suraksha finds herself standing effectively in the middle of two crossing hallways. The first of the four hallways is the one she arrived by. Glancing down two of the hallways, the big tiger sees there are no doors lining them -- just two big windows at the end of the halls. That leaves only one hallway lined with doors, so Sura pads silently along that one, listening carefully. Are all the rooms behind these doors filled? She pauses next to Sabrina, also listening carefully.
At least half of the rooms are filled. Most of them smell only of sex or of resting human bodies. Suraksha glances curiously at Joe, "I gh'uard, you o'p-hen doors?"
Joe asks, voice quiet, "But, uhm... which ones do we open." Sabrina, apparently having heard nothing to make her want to push immediately through the door Sura indicated, knocks and waits for a timid voice to call back, "Come in?"
Suraksha grins at Joe, tilting her head, "Come! I show." She pads along the hallway, sniffing and tapping with a paw on the doors that have people in them. She's just tapping, of course, leaving it to Joe to meet them. She knows she's scary looking, so she's started by the main stairway, heading back to where she descended to this floor -- that way hopefully people will head downwards and out. At the same time, Sabrina opens the door with the fear-smell coming from it; there's a girl inside who is sitting on the edge of the narrow, sagging bed there. She's wrapped tightly in a dressing gown with her hair done up in a very proper knot. Her eyes widen as she sees who's at the door.
Elsewhere in the hallway, doors are opening and Joe is stammering apologies and greetings. He's meeting belligerence by some and confusion from others. It takes a couple of doors for someone to spot Suraksha. When they do, however, there's a screech and doors all down the hallway start slamming open. Suraksha snorts amusedly, turning at the end of the hall and waiting for people to start heading out. She'll pad slowly forward once the movement starts, gently herding them out of the hallway -- although she'll pause if necessary because someone's having trouble.
No one goes toward Suraksha, and there's really not much problem with people getting in one another's way. No one is pausing as they head for the front stairway. Joe ducks down one of the side hallways to be out of the flow of traffic. Once the cries of "Tiger!" and (mistakenly) "Panther!" start, there is a general exodus. The first couple of people down the stairs start banging on doorways on the next floor down and hollering at them to get out. Suraksha pauses next to Sabrina, tilting her head and purring softly, "Ghoo'dh'?" as she glances towards the timid woman.
Sabrina looks over her shoulder as she hears the tigerish question. She smiles and starts to say everything's fine -- when the girl on the bed faints dead away. The runaway heiress rolls her eyes and starts tapping the girl on the cheek, "Keep people heading downward if you can." Suraksha grins ruefully as she nods, backing out of the room and looking for Joe. She stays in place -- she doesn't want to truly terrify people, and they seem to be flowing downwards nicely.
Staying in place is a good idea if that's her plan. Down below, she can hear doors opening and closing and people shouting. It's not until the next-to-bottom floor that people start trying to go against the flow and causing some jam-ups. In the room, Sabrina, being no shrinking violet, crouches and slides the fainted girl over her shoulder like a sack of oats. It's not an easy or graceful carry, but it gets the girl out of the room. When their hallway has cleared, Joe moves to peer down the stairs and see if anyone is coming upward yet. Suraksha bumps gently against Sabrina, murmuring, "Rhi'dhe?"
Sabrina huffs and does her best to lay the girl over Suraksha's back, "Yes. Ride. But I don't think you can carry any more, can you? With everyone heading for the ground floor, she should probably go out the way we came, if possible."
Suraksha chuffs a quiet laugh at Sabrina thinking the huge tiger can't carry more than one little girl. She pads slowly along next to her friend, so Sabrina can keep a hand on the unconscious girl and not have her slide off Suraksha's back. The huge tiger pauses next to Joe, sniffing carefully again, and glances at the other two, "Ehng'uff ou'dh now? We gh'o dow' or u'bh?"
Sabrina makes a snap decision, "Down the back way. Encourage people out into the street if we see anyone. The caravan women and some of the men are out there to help away the ones that want to leave." Joe reaches out and puts his hand on the tigress' head, his heart running a mile a minute as he watches the mass exit of the people in the building down the stairway. The first time he spots a body moving against the general stream, he says "Uh-oh."
Suraksha purrs lazily, rubbing her head against Joe's hand as she too checks the scene below. Her demeanor sharpens at Joe's concern and she pricks up her ears, staring down at the person trying to head upwards. Does it look like one of the men she knocked down near Sabrina? She murmurs quietly to Sabrina, "Ho'h-pyum room?"
When Sura looks over the railing, she sees Joe's first man has been joined by two others. The first is not familiar, but the other two were in the basement -- one was already out cold; one she knocked out herself. They're cursing and shoving their way through sex workers and patrons alike. Suraksha glances up at Sabrina, growling, "We gh'o now." She turns and starts padding swiftly and carefully towards the back stairway -- she doesn't want to give a long line-of-sight to men who might want to shoot at her, especially when she has companions with her, and an unconscious girl over her back. She wonders a bit bemusedly why a brothel has so many men working there... then snorts amusedly at herself. They're muscle to keep the unwilling girls in line -- duh. One of the men looks up just as Suraksha starts to turn away and he shouts in surprise, starting to push harder against the people trying to get out; what he does is mostly cause another bottleneck.
Sabrina murmurs something about up and out and follows along with the tiger, helping to keep the unconscious girl in place. Suraksha glances to make sure Joe is close. With Sabrina to help with the small girl, the big tiger speeds up her walk; she really doesn't want to be in this hallway when the men arrive!
Despite the men being large and determined to get up the stairs, the tigress and her companions have the clearer path; they're into the back stairway before the three men can make the landing of the floor they were on. Sabrina flicks her eyes up and down the stairs, obviously undecided, "Sura, if you change back they won't recognize you. We can carry her between us..."
Suraksha rumbles calmly, "Why wh'ee kh'are? U'bh, yah?" as she continues padding swiftly. Sabrina nods. Suraksha is careful to take the stairs smoothly enough that her two companions can keep the unconscious girl on her back. They go up and find the girl Joe pulled out is starting to rouse. She's shaking her head and peering blearily at what must seem to be a leftover pipe dream. Suraksha pauses next to the opium room, growling quietly, "You gh'o az'gh 'em all, gh'o now?"
Sabrina and Joe each take several deep breaths of air before ducking into the room and starting to ask the people in the room, male and female alike, if they wish to leave. The first one is the young girl in the landing. She says yes and is dreamily helped up onto Suraksha's back. Suraksha grins and purrs in a friendly fashion at the girl. She's starting to wonder a bit at the other unconscious girl on her back, though -- that one hasn't woken up from her faint yet?! She must have been sleep-starved or something, for it to last this long. The big tiger turns and backs into the room so only her head is sticking out. She'd like to keep an ear on the stairs, in case the men come thundering up them -- but she also wants to make sure the women on her back are safe if the men turn up.
As Joe and Sabrina are asking drugged people if they want to leave with the escaping caravaneers, the girl that fainted wakes up. She squirms until she's on the ground beside Suraksha, looking around in bewilderment and tripping over her dressing gown as she tries to stand. She looks decidedly green around the gills. The other one -- the one Joe pulled from the room earlier -- is laying against Suraksha's back and humming happily to herself. No one else in the room is really stirring much, despite the enormous cat. Suraksha glances up at the girl once she's on her feet, and parts her jaws in a relaxed grin, purring, "Harroo." She keeps an ear cocked towards the stairs as well, of course. It's important to not let the men get to her friends and companions, should they come this way.
Just as Sabrina is asking the last semi-conscious person if they want to leave, the door to the stairway slams open and the unfamiliar man comes through. His eyes bug out as he sees the cries of "Tiger!" are true. He swears in a throaty, Slavic-sounding language and pulls a large knife out of a sheath at his back. Suraksha backs up and nudges the door shut with her shoulder. She calls, "Gh'o now!" and checks the door for a latch of some sort. No sooner does she get the door closed than there's a heavy thump against the other side of it -- and then more swearing. There are several locks and latches, as if this is meant to be a secured room, but they all require thumbs to operate. Suraksha sighs gustily and simply leans against the door to keep it closed. She glances over her shoulder, rowling, "Li'l hel'bh?"
Joe is looking completely flustered, but he keeps moving and comes over. He leans his weight on the door and snaps as many of the locks into place as he can before asking, "Up through the skylight window? Can you get us up there?"
Suraksha nods cheerfully, "Yah!" She trots over as soon as the door is locked, glancing around to see if the people will gather, then starts to rise carefully up onto her hind legs. She's doing it slowly so the girl on her back has time to grab hold; she rests her front paws on the edge of the skylight and calls, "Gh'o now!" for the others to start up her back. The dreamy girl giggles and starts trying to climb up -- Joe has to assist her heavily. The timid girl is beginning to become hysterical and is on the edge of refusing to climb up the back of a tiger. She's curled up near the door, hugging her head with her forehead on her knees. Sabrina says some very ladylike curse words and then goes over to try and get her to follow.
The windows that would lead directly to the fire escape are barred and locked -- the room is really a terrible firetrap. Suraksha holds position so all the others who wish to leave can also climb out; that should give poor Sabrina some time. The big cat keeps an ear on the door as well -- if she hears any cracking noises, as of the door being battered down, she's going to need to dramatically speed things up here.
Once people are headed up her back is when there's a shout and a blast of gunfire. Immediately afterward, a large hole appears in the door. Suraksha snarls, dropping to the ground in a fury -- was Sabrina (or anyone else) hurt?
Sabrina is fine, but Joe is staring dumbfounded at a spreading wet patch on the outside of one of his jeans legs. He's still standing, but some of the pellets from the scattergun hit home. Suraksha whips over to one of the windows -- the one furthest from the door -- and simply rips down the wooden frame in a fury. "Gh'o!" There's a screech of metal and shattering wood as the window is torn out of its frame, bars and all -- and there's also the sound of the shotgun being breached for reload on the other side of the door. Suraksha turns, waggling slightly as she sets her feet... then with silent menace she charges the door! If she can burst through it, maybe she can get the shotgun wielder before he can get another blast off.
Whichever of the men has the gun doesn't get a chance to get it reloaded -- before an enormous cat explodes through the door, knocking down the gunman and the other thug that's already been knocked out once today. Suraksha is snarling with fury -- they hurt Joe! She slaps the gunman hard, trying to knock the shotgun away as well -- then she turns on the second man, who is shouting something about, "Stay back, boss!" and she smacks him also.
Only the third man is left standing in the landing -- the man Suraksha didn't recognize. He's still holding the large knife. Bald but with an elaborate beard and mustache, he snarls at her in that same rough-sounding language and lunges at her with the knife. He's either extremely angry or extremely stupid. Suraksha waits, tail switching slowly -- then as the man rushes her she dances lightly to the side, smacking him hard with a paw to knock him out. The man manages to skip to the side at the last second, roaring defiant laughter. His knife flicks out as he does so and scores Suraksha's ear. It's not a serious hit, but it does hurt like hell and her ear starts to fill with blood. Suraksha shakes her head, splattering blood everywhere and snarling -- then simply pounces on him!
The boss-man dodges to the side and sweeps at her with the knife again. He's actually laughing as he does so, as if this is the most fun he's had in years. This time the knife strikes her across the shoulder, scoring deep into the flesh. Suraksha pauses -- this is delaying her dangerously. She whirls, darting back into the opium room, and glances around to be sure everyone's safely out. She hastily shifts to one side of the door as well, so she's not got her back to the man. There are a couple of people still lying around, but most of them are out. The only remaining conscious person is Sabrina and she's waiting by the broken window, "Outoutout! Come on!"
Suraksha bounds swiftly over, although it galls her to leave such a wicked man behind, and nudges Sabrina so she'll go first. The young woman crawls out of the window, gathering her skirts up as she goes -- like a woman who's used to navigating an uneven life with these kinds of garments -- which is exactly what she is.
Just as Sabrina gets out, there's a crash as the door is kicked the rest of the way open. Suraksha turns with a low growl, her eyes gleaming scarlet in the dim light from outside the room. She waits for Sabrina to clear enough room for her to exit as well... but she doesn't rush. She'd really like to stop this vicious trafficker in human lives! She starts crouching and digging in her feet, preparing for a swift lunge. Her tail lashes and her hackles rise... although it's not really visible in the dark room. The man comes through the door swinging his knife and calling, "Here, kitty kitty! Let me finish what I have started!"
Suraksha sinks down even lower, so she's hard to spot, waiting for the man to get closer. It's smoky and dim in the room and the man looks around, not spotting the tiger immediately. As his head is turned away, she has a chance to lunge at him. She darts silently forward, pouncing as she tries to take the man down from behind like a wild bull. She feels a hot rush of fierce pleasure as her ruse is perfectly executed and performed -- she lands squarely on the man's back, smashing him down to the ground. She makes no noise as her head darts down to grab the man by the back of the neck, and she shakes him fiercely, like a hunting dog with a rat. She's careful not to use her teeth. She wants it to look like he broke his neck in a fall -- not that he got savagely bitten.
One sharp crack and one cut-off cry later, and the man is limp and unresponsive. If she didn't break his neck, she damaged him badly. Suraksha hastily rears up to bound through the skylight and onto the roof, the man in her jaws. She glances around for where the building borders a dark alleyway, then tosses the man so he slides down one edge of the roof into the darkness below. The fall should kill him if he's not dead yet, and explain the neck damage. After that the huge tiger quickly limps over to the fire escape and drops down onto it, sniffing around for Sabrina and Joe. She's tired and her ear and shoulder hurt like fire... too much blood around. She hopes Joe's all right.
Suraksha pads down the fire escape, favoring her wounded shoulder. She can't tell in the darkness, but she looks a sight! The blood from her ear has matted one white-furred cheek-ruff and is turning her chin whiskers scarlet. It has also welled more slowly down her shoulder and part of her foreleg. Fortunately she's not yet leaving bloody footprints, but she is dripping a bit from her chin. Sabrina, Joe, and the girls they brought out are waiting near the fire escape. The girl that fainted is now doing a remarkably good job of having hysterics. Sabrina is trying to talk her down and Joe is looking completely bumfuzzled -- he's not used to women who aren't extremely strong and self-possessed. He's looking rather pale as well.
As Suraksha looks around, a pair of Sokoloffs appears over the edge of the roof. It's two of the just-post-adolescent boys, both coiled about with rope, and they too look like they aren't sure what to do with the girl having hysterics. Suraksha rowls quietly, "Gh'o. Moo'fh on," as she nudges the closest person away from the building. A moment after the Sokoloff boys arrive, Sabrina slaps the girl smartly and snaps, "There's a man here that's been injured trying to save your life. Get yourself together, child!" The aforementioned man, Joe, tries to assure Sabrina he's fine -- right before he passes out. Suraksha pauses next to Sabrina, adding tiredly, "I gh'arry Choe." She waits for someone to lay the unconscious Joe over her back.
The Sokoloff boys move to help put Joe over her back, using the rope they brought to lash their caravan-mate into place. One of them lays his hand on the tiger's head and says, "Go quick. We will distract people here."
Suraksha nods to the boy in relief, then glances at Sabrina, "You gh'oo' here? I gh'o now?" She doesn't want to leave Sabrina alone with a bunch of drug addicts, however well meaning they are... but she also knows how to follow orders.
Sabrina nods once, "Go. Take Joe to be checked out." The young man is still unconscious, but his wound is starting to clot up.
Suraksha nods again, then turns and bounds swiftly off through the night. She's very worried for Joe; she hopes Joan is back at the caravan already. She gallops through the darkness, careful to stick to shadows until she gets to the caravan. Once there she sniffs around for either Corbett or his gruff second, calling out quietly from shadows, "Choan?"
There is a small uproar at the first fire Suraksha peeks at, and a runner is sent for Joan and Corbett. The caravan is half packed, ready to clear out of town in a hurry if this rescue mission turns out to be a dangerous idea. It's just moments before the two senior members of the caravan return, along with Buddy and several rare steaks. Suraksha steps out into the firelight, Joe still on her back, and rowls unhappily, "Choe sho'dh!" Her eyes brighten at scent of the steaks, and she gives an unwittingly relieved, small growl, "Fooo'dh!"
Corbett and Joan are already getting Joe off Sura's back and Joan is muttering some of her choicest oaths at the state of the young man. Corbett says in his dry way, "Guess I cain't call him 'boy' no more. How is he, Joanie?" Joan peels back his shirt and looks a little faint with relief, "Flesh wounds. Bloody ones, but flesh wounds. Must have been a scatter-gun."
Suraksha settles tiredly down to the ground once Joe is removed from her back, giving Buddy's steaks a hopeful look, "Mine?" She licks her chops hungrily several times, but first adds to Corbett, "Gh'irrlz come!"
Buddy puts the steaks down in front of Suraksha on a big wooden serving-platter, "Yup, gal, all yours." Corbett looks grim at Sura's news, "We'll hafta get outta town quick before their pimp comes after them, then." Joan is a competent medic -- she's already cleaning and dressing Joe's wounds. "Shock probably got him more than anything," she murmurs to herself.
Suraksha glances at Corbett, her hackles rising without meaning to, and her tail lashing, "No. He no gh'omin'." She purrs with affectionate gratitude at Buddy, rubbing her head against his arms -- then flinching back with a small yelp as her slashed ear gets tweaked accidentally. She's left her blood smeared all over his arms, and she mutters, "Sorree," before she starts ravenously devouring the steaks. She adds through a mouthful of steak to Joan, "Cho'dh gh'un!"
Buddy snorts, a sound that always comes close to his true nature, and says, "Been bloodier. Eat." Joan smiles wryly at Suraksha, "Yeah, what I thought. You hush and eat. Tell us about it after." Suraksha nods several times, eager to eat first. She wolfs down the steaks, then sighs in relief, resting her chin on her forepaws for a bit. She'll have to clean herself up soon... oh, maybe she should have Joan look at her... her shoulder... mmm, that and... something else, what was it...
The big tiger has lost quite a bit of blood too, and she drifts off without meaning to. When she wakes, Suraksha is in a familiar place: the same wagon she woke up in the first time she got wounded. Her fur all smells like soap and antiseptic, and there's the familiar scent of Corbett nearby. It's quite dark. Suraksha sighs in sleepy relief, purring, "'Hankoo 'ghain. All gh'oo'?" She wonders bemusedly who moves her into this wagon... she knows she weighs well over half a ton, after all. She chuckles quietly, guessing it's Buddy. She doesn't mind. He's a good friend, and she trusts him.
Corbett's gruff voice says, "Well, good as can be expected. 'Bout six girls came away with us. We heard somethin' 'bout the pimp breakin' his neck."
Suraksha rumbles relaxedly, "Ghoo'. Choe?" She checks herself carefully, sniffing at her shoulder and delicately touching her ear with one huge paw -- is she stitched up? Is she on painkillers? She's willing to change shape to talk to Corbett if he wants, but only if she's sure she won't injure herself worse in doing so. The ear still hurts when she touches it, but it's a dull ache.
Corbett says, "He's in bed. He wanted to do runner duty, but he passed out again when he tried to get out of Joan's wagon."
Suraksha snorts amusedly at that, then grins. "Wan'dh I wa'chsh him?"
Corbett laughs, "Yer on injured reserve too. I know you'll heal quick, but we're moving on and yer stayin' put till we're a safe distance out."
Suraksha grins as she rumbles teasingly, "Hokay. Wan'dh I slee'bh by Choe?"
Corbett chuckles and pats one massive shoulder, "Only if you're in human form to do it, gal."
Suraksha purrs lazily, turning her head carefully so her ear isn't flicked as she tries to give Corbett an affectionate and grateful head-rub. "Gh'o'dh kgh'lo's?" Amusedly she wonders if there are enunciation coaches for tigers. She'd really like to be able to pronounce her 'th's and glottal consonants correctly! She adds hopefully, "Gh'o'dh more foo'dh?"
Corbett gives a good-natured, "oof!" and mimes nearly being knocked over, even though Suraksha knows that's almost impossible to do. "No idea whatcha just said, but I brought clothes and another steak for ya if you want to change back."
Suraksha purrs, rising carefully and following her nose through the darkness to the steak. Before she devours it she happily rumbles, "'Hankoo!" When she's done and has licked her chops she adds carefully, "May vh'all oh'fher, yah?" She takes a deep breath, then slowly changes shape. She blinks with pleasure once she's in human form, her voice surprised, "Whoa! I feel great, actually!" She giggles cheerfully, then adds, "Did you say you had clothes for me, please, Corbett?"
Corbett doesn't blink at the nudity as he hands over a bundle of clothing. It would be impossible for anyone that doesn't know him to see, but he's quite relieved she's doing well, "Musta been that last steak."
Suraksha beams at Corbett, swiftly wriggling into her clothes as she muffledly replies through the shirt being pulled on over her head, "Going to have to thank Buddy, then! Thanks to you too, Corbett -- and Joan, for her amazing stitchery." She pulls her hair out from the shirt as she beams and adds, "I'm so relieved Joe's doing well too." She tilts her head as she studies Corbett for a moment, then says carefully, "Would you like to ask me any questions about what happened, sir?" She adds curiously, "Actually, I want to know what happened outside too, if that's all right?"
Corbett says, "Yeah, I would. But I want to wait until we're all gathered up together."
Suraksha nods and continues dressing, "All right. I do have one question for you right now, though. Um, how to put this..." She finishes dressing, then thinks before she says, "How... clear should I be about my, ah... conflict with the pimp?"
Corbett doesn't even have to think, "You kill 'im?"
Suraksha studies Corbett silently for a few seconds, then nods firmly -- she's not ashamed of what she did, "Yessir, I broke his neck and dropped him off the roof so it would look like an accident instead of a large monster."
Corbett smirks a bit and moves to open the door on the wagon they're in, "Good on ya, then."
Suraksha blinks -- then smiles slowly. She murmurs, "Thank you, sir," as she steps for the door, adding softly, "but should I keep that quiet to the others, or be frank about it?"
Corbett thinks. "I'd keep it quiet for the general populace. I think Joan an' Sabrina should know. Little J- I mean Joe... should probably know too." He considers a moment longer, "You know who you trust. Tell them. Keep it quiet for the general run o' folks."
Suraksha nods and pauses long enough to give Corbett a quick, tight hug as she murmurs, "Thank you so much!" She finds him very fatherly, and he's helped her a great deal -- then she grins and scampers off, waving to him, "Going to go check on Joe, then!"
Corbett calls after her, "Take care of yourself, too!"
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