Summary:In which the Astral Entity FreakShow discovers he's not as Eternal as he thought. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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Two days ago Avery got some very disturbing news she's still processing. Further, she hurt her hand pretty bad as part of that. Once again she's had to call into work for a medical leave - they were -not- thrilled, only her incredible energy and dedication and sheer devotion to hard work when she was there prevented her being let go, which would have been devastating for the girl, and much worse for Gibbs! (Her cat)
Not really made to deal with inactivity, Avery has made her way to Mutant Town and though she has a hurt hand, she could still work well enough that the Tolliver clinic was happy to let her volunteer for a couple extra shifts. Which is good, she'd have gone mad had she sat home and brooded any more!
This evening finds Avery having gotten off shift at the clinic, and is presently sitting on top of an old rooftop style water tower, and munching on a couple sandwiches. Girl has to eat, right?
In the building below, unbeknownst to her, a family of three more fortunate than many in Mutant Town is sitting down together to a family dinner, the parents members of the Pride in good standing, and their twelve year old daughter Meriweather, 'Meri' to pretty much everyone, all settled in and having chicken soup. At the moment, things seem to be perfectly fine.
At the moment.
Catseye is sitting in a back alley, almost invisible under a swarm of cats. She had a tabby with kittens to check up on, and not only brought dry food, she brought SARDINES. A rather large container of small, stinky fish that every cat in scent-range descended upon with gusto! Then those that were still hungry tucked into the dry food, while others groomed, cuddled, and climbed. Mostly grooming, cuddling, and climbing on Catseye.
THe Pride are largely homeless, but they have allies and friends, and most of those are mutants themselves living in Mutant Town, the community the Pride calls home. The community they protect.
THe Pridelands, after a fashion.
Still worried about the threat of the Black Razors she believes are imminent, the woman known as the Hunter is hiding under a tarp on a rooftop two blocks away from that water tower, watching her land and the people under her protection through the scope of the extreme high-powered rifle in her arms; breathing it in with a sense of smell most can't even imagine; hearing everything with a sense of hearing few could even fathom, let alone tolerate in a city setting.
Headaches are a thing.
Meanwhile. There's a distinct *thump* as Lexi comes flying out of nowhere and lands on the water tower next to AVery out of /now where/! "Hi!" the purplish mutant notes, perching easily on the edge of the tank. "How did ya get all th' way up here?" is the following question as she crouches easily, followed by. "…is that pastrami?" And a rumble of Lexi's insatiable stomach.
At the sudden thump, Avery meeps - yes, literally she goes 'Meep!' - and nearly jumps off the tower towards the rooftop below, this is not as bad as it sounds, these types of towers are not really in use anymore, but even so they're not very tall, further - she's facing the roof access doorway, and it is in a small building, almost a shed. Regardless, she gives the silver-haired mauve girl a jaundiced look, yup, she's getting a mild bit of stink eye.
Which Lexi's probably going to forgive when the other young woman sighs a bit, then nods, and then smiles and offers her a paper wrapped sandwich. "Yes. Pastrami on rye, with spicy brown mustard, swiss cheese and pickles…I am most fond of the pickles." She then digs out a couple of energy bars and sets them within reach. "Please join me?"
Down below, Meri looks to her father - he's an obvious mutant, his power a minor one, but useful. He can't be burnt. At all. So…he works odd jobs involving high temperatures, his skin is what gives him away, it is a deep maroon and there's constantly shifting patterns of darker and lighter hues working through it, they call him Roil. "Da', I'm not feeling so good." The girl says, hands pressed to her stomach. Her mother is also an obvious mutant, she has a third eye in the middle of her brow, and her skin is leathery in texture, prominent ridges beetling her brow, her forearms and lower legs, they call her Beetle. Concerned, they take Meri to sit on their couch, opening the window to get the now visibly pale and trembling girl some air. Roil looks to his wife. "First manifestation?" Beetle looks thoughtful, then nods. "Most likely." She turns orange eyes to her daughter. "Don't worry, love…just have to ride it out…we're here for you…"
Catseye pets the cats, scratching, checking for injuries or fleas. Eventually she gives in to temptatiom… there's no one in the alley after all. She strips down to what looks like a black unitard, shoves her clothes into a backpack and rearranges the straps… then shifts! It's soon a large lavender lioness languidly lounging with loving little felines. PurrrrRRRRRRRrrrrrrRRRRRrrrr…. sounds like someone running a generator motor in the back alley.
The thump wouldn't be audible too far away for most, but Hunter is not most folks. She hears that sound and turns sharply, swinging the barrel of the rifle along with her visual perception towards the sound … and the sight of Lexi, startling some — wait. Is that the nurse? What the …?
Diya remains pretty calm. Admittedly, Lexi's act could have set her off. But she cannot help a bit of sympathetic relaxation from the sounds of most of her herd of cats purring with Catseye down below in the alleyway. It's a feline thing.
That relaxation tapers, however, when she smells concern and fear, and hears voices through a now-opened window. There is little she can do for a child coming into her powers; but she pays attention. Roil and Beetle are allies, friends of Weather. So she watches, just in case.
Lexi promptly perks at the sandwich, going on all fours in a smooth, almost cat-like prowl that takes her from the edge of the water tower to right next to Avery in a quick motion. "Perfect! You can have my pickles." she says cheerfully, plopping down and snagging the offered sandwich as she starts to unwrap it. "Why ya up here by yerself? I mean, it's not like it's got a great view an' stuff…" she says, before carefully snagging the pickles out of said sandwich and setting them on the wrapper for Avery to munch one, before she takes a bite herself. "Mmmm, is this Firehouse Subs?" she wonders, a bit muffledly around a full mouth.
Her ears perk slightly at the faint sounds from the open window below, rotating back a bit, though she doesn't immediately go to look. It's a big district. Lotsa people have problems. Lotsa people don't want her poking her pert little nose into their problems without asking.
"Oh, I am just fond of the open air, in soo—in /truth/, I like the view." Avery doesn't mention it is because of the fact that it extends so much further than her old world's — of course, the old world was VR, and the render distance couldn't compare to /real/ lines of sight. She then offers her new friend a bottled drink, Gatorade Frost, ironically it is the purple stuff!
"I am Avery, miss. Nice to meet you."
Her smile is genuine, oh, and her right hand? Bandaged pretty thoroughly. Must have a been a BITCH to climb up her with one hand!
And no, Avery didn't say how she got up here. She does seem perfectly amenable to some company, however! AND she shared food. Which is a bonus in the world of Girls With Amped Metabolisms Who Need to Eat Tons.
In the apartment below, poor Meri grunts in quiet pain, trying to be brave, and then she cries out as her form ripples and she curls up in anguish. What follows mercifully is out of anyone's line of sight who's not in the premises of that apartment. However, even Avery and Lexi can hear the cries of anguish turn guttural, and the exclamations of fear from Roil and Beetle.
And then the side of the building shatters as a rather large figure leaps through the window, and the bricks are blasted out with it.
THUD — a massive creature lands on the street below and just outside the alleyway the lavender lioness inhabits. The pavement buckles under the impact as it writhes, a humanoid-shark hybrid with Meriweather's eyes and FAR too many teeth bared in a sudden rictus grin and mad laughter.
Catseye bristles and leaps to her feet. She rumbles at the cats who scatter, then she prowls to the entry of the alley crouching and waiting there.
With her scope turned that direction Hunter cannot see inside the apartment enough to see what is happening, but she can hear it, and smell it. Roil and Beetle are in trouble. Diya reaches for the comm unit powered down beside her, ready to turn it on and send a burst of static in a particular pattern to alert her people to trouble … but then the ripping and rending ends in four thudding footsteps and then an explosion of masonry, as the sharkbeast leaps out of that apartment.
Uncertain if that could be Meri, Diya does not pull the trigger. She flicks the radio on, taps out three short bursts: trouble, everyone check in promptly. Then she sprints out from under the tarp and leaps off the roof, sailing towards the creature down below even if she can only cover a block with that leap before falling to the street below.
It's pretty insane, and up high enough it should draw some attention. Hunter is not usually this overt. Like, almost ever.
Below, figures burst into action everywhere, all around Mutant Town. Some are responding to the explosion or its byproducts, like the shark creature in the street laughing maniacally. But most are in fact members of the Pride, or allies, checking in as they rush to check on others and secure the area. They've been amped up for weeks under threat of outside harm. This has sprung that tension explosively.
"Lexi, nice ta meetcha!" the mauve mutant says, offering a hand as she takes another bite of the pastrami with obvious relish. Even though there are no pickles now. She notes the hand, looking curious, but before she can really ask the conversation below suddenly turns panicky, then there's screaming and crashing and Lexi mmphs. "…fuck, that's not good." She quickly breaks off a hunk of the sandwich and chimpunks it into her mouth, holding up a finger to pause conversation (because she doesn't wanna be rude) then scurries over to peer down, chewing rapidly. "….mphafugugh." she comments, especially as Diya goes flying past, before she swallows. "So, uh, ya may wanna stay up here for a moment, juuuuust a sec…" She extends tendrils from her arms, then flips down off the roof. "Thanks for the sandwich though, be back in a sec!" And she begins parkouring down the side of the building to perch on a streetlight above the creature.
Roil is looking out the wrecked wall of his apartment, holding an obviously broken arm close to his side even as Beetle helps steady him, both of them look on in horror at the shark-thing down below.
That Hunter is there is obvious comfort to them both, they trust the erstwhile guardian of the Pridelands in Mutant Town. Though…they're unsure what can be done by the sniper. It is a relief at least that no gunshots rang out.
Avery too notices the ruckus, how could she not? "Nay, tis not!" Okay, that weird accent of hers returns - she's not thinking about speaking more normally, not that Lexi would know - still - she went from faintly semi-British, to thick semi-British with old word choices, that much is notable. "Oh, I shall join you, friend Lexi, tis a knight'd duty to protect the meek after all, aye?"
And then even as the mauve girl parkours, Avery simply draws in a breath, and appears at street level with the exhale. No fanfare, no flash of light, no rush of displaced air. That certainly explains how she got to the roof!
Both Hunter and Cat have keen senses - they can smell /two/ scents from the creature, one clearly at war with the other. One has the stink of something truly evil, something old, and vaguely shark like but very much off. The other? To Diya who's met the girl - Meriweather, though altered, powers emergant.
The problem is that she's currently in so much pain that the other entity is in the driver seat. Whirling at the sudden movement of the Hunter, it wrenches a light pole from the ground and swings it like a bat! And yes, Lexi, it would just happen to be the one you're perched on! Oops.
Catseye dashes out of the alley, landing in front of the shark like creature. Her tail is up and waving, her mane fluffed… she makes SURE she has the creature's attention, before she pounces away. She's played can't-catch-the-kitty and distraction many a time, it's one of her better roles, and if it works it gives the Pride the chance to evacuate more vulnerable people out of the area.
The Hunter lands in the street and sprints at nearly blurring speeds acros the macadam towards the shark creature. She twists to try to avoid the incoming lamp post, but is still clipped and sent rolling, slamming to fetch up against a wall with a wet grunt. The soldier pushes off, refusing to stay still and be an easy target, leaping to her feet and pushing off the wall to a new angle of attack.
To those with the sense to hear, a subsonic growl has begun to permeate the air. a rumbling that does not sound pleasant or amused. Hunter's people are endangered. Amur Khatum is not happy, and is making her displeasure known.
"Hey!" Lexi's tendrils twitch around the lamp before she uses it to catapult herself into the creatuers back, lashing the tendrils forwards with a snap to try and wind them around the creature's toothly mouth. "I think someone needs a time out!" And she'll just…ride 'em shark girl? At the moment at least!
The big lavender lioness definitely grabs the creature's attention, and after batting aside the leaping human, it turns towards the lioness it grips the post in both hands and brings it crashing down with incredible force. The impact hits the space where Catseye /was/ with enough violence to deform the cast iron to the breaking point, and ends up with it having a shorter pole - with jagged edges.
The turn does give the Hunter a clear line of attack towards its back.
Lexi manages to stagger the brute and send it stumbling two steps forward, but that's about it for the kick, the thing's leathery hide is /durable/! The tendrils get a far different response…much like a real shark, this thing clamps down on them with massive crushing power. This is beyond reflex, it is literally hard coded on a gene level!
Catseye rumbles and darts in, swats at the creature, and darts out. She keeps her claws sheathed however. "Smell -child-" She gets out between growls, trying to make herself understood and fight the instinct to bite and rend. If this creature is a child… if she kills a child… she'll never forgive herself.
Hunter springs through the air while the shark creature's back is turned, its attention focused elsewhere. Now she makes no sound, no thudding or slapping of feet, no warning offered save the slight rustle of air against heavy fabric …
And then Hunter hits the ground just two feet behind the shark-figure's back and leaps again, this time directed to literally a foot or so off the ground, driving her entire body through her shoulders aimed at the back of humanoid knees. Some would call it a picture-perfect tackle. To Diya, this is just a way to narrow the mobility of the target long enough to figure out how to separate the girl from the Evil she can smell. An evil she already hates. An evil she must destroy!
Lexi isn't expecting the speed at which the shark is able to snap at the tendrils before they can finish winding around its muzzle…maybe she was thinking of crocodiles and holding their mouth shut? Either way:
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Because it hurts! And, well while the tendrils are tough, they're not THAT tough. And they get severed in a rush of blood and mess, with Lexi going tumbling off as the broken tips withdraw back into her, leaving rents in her skin as they start to pinch up and seal over, her body responding to the blood loss immediately to minimize it.
Oh no, now it's got a taste of her! It's like that shark with the clock in Peter Pan!
She's still thinking of crocodiles. Also, ow.
Cat's swat does little more than get her a glare, the creature in the mean time swallowing the severed tendrils Lexi was so kind as to provide! The voice that emerges is a horrifying blend of harsh over-echo and twelve-year old girl, slightly out of synch. ~<Tasty…little purple girl want to play? Should learn /the rules/!>~
And that's when Diya's tackle drives into the back of the monstrous hybrid's knees, buckling one, and sending it to the ground with a grunt. This thing is STRONG, however. ~<Little Human girl also want to play?>~
To the senses of Catseye and Diya there is a curious co-mingling of Meri and the Shark monster's scents, but…also a sense of /tension/, the girl-scent is…concentrating, focusing, trying to separate, but it is having little luck — save when the brute is hurt, each attack, though doing little harm, gives that girl scent a bit of a boost.
Catseye rumbles. "Game is /tag/. NastybadThing is IT." She then starts focusing her swats, putting the strength of a great cat behind them. Diya knocking the creature to the ground gives her the opportunity to focus on possibly vulnerable areas… Snout, gills, ear-slits, even eyes. But no claws. No biting. She's focusing on not being bitten, a bite will take too long for her to recover from. Blows from flailing limbs send her tumbling, and will leave her human form more purple than her fur form! But she can fight -through- bruises, even bruised organs or cracked ribs, in a way she can't fight through bloodloss.
And then a snarling, almost but not quite inhuman voice snarls, "Fight, Meri! Fight for Roil! Fight for Beetle! Daughter fight for Pride!" The voice that booms out is far, far louder than the usually whisper-soft, mush-mouthed tone that is Diya's norm in the guise of Hunter. But there's a compelling strength to it, a snap of command. Instinct virtually demands that voice be obeyed.
To the other creature, then, the woman in threadbare fatigues just grins. "Foul thing think Hunter human? Not so smart. Not so strong. Come dance!" Diya dances in, timing her virtually blurring-speed strikes in counter to Catseye's pounces and swipes, giving the creature too many coordinated threats to avoid them all. But Diya's punches are not slaps, and they strike with a good deal more force than a woman of her height and build could ever generate.
But this is Mutant Town. There should be no surprise there. But also, no mutant gene in her to be exploited.
Lexi winces a bit as she shifts her arms, then two new tendrils sprout of out of sides above her hips, curling forward, before they snap out with a whipcrack, trying to wind around the shark's legs to trip it up as she tries to help the other two menacing it!
~<FreakShow…the mind-shifter called me FreakShow, it is a good enough name.>~ Certainly it is apt!
Beady black eyes narrow further, and it grunts and whirls, each attack driving it to greater heights of fury, and each impact giving Meri a moment's more respite. And then it it snarls, turning that gaze on the Hunter. ~<Do. Not. Presume. To. Judge. Me…you do not KNOW what I am.>~ And from the creature's essence is wrenched a bolt of…something. Something old, something /vile/ and corrupting - this energy strikes at the Hunter, and were she just human it might have a chance of infection. But there's ALREADY something occupying that niche in her! Though now /it/ has something to fight too.
Lexi's blows hit with such force that the thing is distracted again, the constant harrying angering it, and doing it some small hurt - though it heals rapidly.
Catseye snarls under her breath, then runs UP the side of the nearest building in a move that should not be possible, and somewhere around the second or third floor, pushes off, twisting mid-air, aiming her POUNCE of several hundred pounds of annoyed feline at the creature's gills. She'll be vulnerable for a second or two when she lands, but it's a risk she is willing to take.
"Know … do not belong! Know … wrong!" Diya growls, snarling as she is then struck with the crackling bolt of barely seen, barely understood energies. That dark power reaches out within Hunter, vying for control.
And then one more rage-filled shout snaps out. "Know … too stupid to know power!"
And then a very different sound erupts from a no-longer entirely human throat: a roar. Not a human shout, but the roar of a beast. A roar that speaks to Catseye's feline nature, and that of the passel of ferals in the alleyways, a cry loud enough that those in the zoo two miles and more to the north stir and pace in ager and excitement.
Diya is punched, launched through the air as she skids to a stop, stock still. Her face buckles visibly, contorting around that howling roar. Bones snap, tendons stretch, muscles contract as joints dislocate and twist. The roar continues, becoming pain unto agony even before Diya's body bounces off a solid stone wall. She does not get up right away …
But when she moves again, it is not with human movements. The speed is not - yet - there again. But now that form moves on all fours, unsteadily, as the twisting agonies continue.
Amur Khatum does not come quickly, nor easily. But she also does not brook the interference of paltry spirits, either.
Lexi makes a note of Diya's roared comments…something to talk to her about later, perhaps…
WHEN THEY ARE NOT FIGHTING A LAND SHARK!
Right,s he's still doing that! Well, the shark looks pretty muscular. She wonders if he can't bend over very well! And with that in mind..those tendrils snatch around the shark's ankles, trying to wind around them to either tie them together or jerk the beast off balance for Catseye and Diya to deal with more easily!
Several hundred pounds of enraged Catseye slam into the FreakShow's gills and it /shrieks/ in anguish, the very first sound of true pain it has made so far! The gills are clearly a vulnerable spot, and it is reeling under the anguish of that massive pounce.
And then it shrieks again as the purely magic of Diya's were-self /shreds/ that infection it sent…and -it weakens- the FreakShow in so doing. Amur Khatun is no push over — slow change or not, painful and difficult as it is, she has the time, and the rage to fuel it!
Lexi's tendrils snap together the ankles of the brute, and it is dropped to the ground - landing on its back just next to Catseye.
And Meri's concentrates further, a pure white radiance starting inside the thing, illuminating the bones from within.
Catseye snarls "Let. Littleone. GO!" and rams the gills again, careful not to be bitten. Alas, the creature is FACE UP and thrashing, and a stray blow sends her tumbling head over tail, but when she fetches up against a wall she rolls to her feet with a snarl and starts circling the creature again. Those with heightened senses can smell her pain, hear the lack of anything resembling language in her new snarls. But she doesn't stop, doesn't -show- the damage she's taken. Wild creatures don't show weakness, and in this state neither does Catseye.
And Amur Khatum shows only rage, hiding pain with a bone- and soul-deep anger that fuels that change, ripping that changed form from the threadbare fatigues. Black and orange stripes ripple across exposed flesh as skin lets through fur. Joints realign, bones lengthen, incredible muscle mass billows out of seemingly nowhere. What was a very fit and well-muscled woman of five-nine or so has quickly expanded to a creature almost three times that size and a staggering nine times the mass.
As the fight continues, as Freakshow is weakened, as Meri's power coalesces to fight for her soul, her life and her sense of self … a roaring Siberian tigress stalks away from the alleyway, shedding any last remnant of the woman that was, and leaving only the enraged force of nature that is. In all that understands Nature, there is no predator greater than the pulse that thunders from her presence.
Amur Khatum is come. And she is come for Freakshow, her roar a command that needs no language to be understood: this is her domain, and that foul thing had best leave or be destroyed! Tail lashing, mighty enough to be a flexible bat of nearly eight feet in length, the tigress advances.
Once the shark goes down, Lexi advances, her tendrils uncoiling and curling back to get them otu of the way of the two more powerful cats, the thief looking unsure of herself as she dances around outside of the brawl, looking for where she can swat at it again! Which is difficult to do when you don't want to accidentally hit a friend!
Another gasp of pain as Catseye attacks the FreakShow's gills, and for a moment there's a shuddery-shivery quality akin to a skip in a film revealing the pure white child inside, wrenching and pulling - striving with all her heart and soul to break free of the darkness of the FreakShow…but she is not yet there, not strong enough.
FreakShow plants massive fingers into the pavement, their strength sinking them inches deep, and then massive tree-trunk thick legs pull in opposite directions, greater strength forcing the tendrils binding them inexorably apart as it lurches to a sitting position, and then to one knee. ~<I…am…ETERNAL!>~ The rage of that cry is palpable, and its heard by ears and mind, an oil-slick sheen of filth left in its wake.
CatseyeSNARLS in fury. Despite being the size of a tiger (though not an Amur Tiger) she has the vocal box of a small cat. She is a cat who purrs, not a cat who roars. She looks at Amur, curves her spine, tilts her head, the silent body language of cats on the hunt, then rushes at Freakshow, hitting hard and bouncing off of him. She isn't going to be able to take him down, but she -can- try to put him off balance, to set things up for the larger, stronger Amur Khatum.
A mental voice that is not … not entirely … that of the Hunter responds, called forth. Challenged, Amur Khatum answers the challenge. ~< Ancient! Decrepit! Weak! NOTHING! >~
The tigress is unimpressed with this creature entirely. It is but a parasite, unworthy of any respect, and she gives none.
Aloud, the tigress responds to Catseye with an encouraging snarl, clearly indicating she is willing to share this hunt with the smaller, pretty purple cat. There is enough of the woman Klavdiya in the tigress that there is a curiously indulgent warmth in the response.
Then, as the opening is made, the gigantic tigress, weighing over half a ton and moving with force to rival an eighteen wheeler, leaps and headbutts the shark, riding it down as all that momentum is transferred unrelentingly. And the entirety of the tigress' essence calls forth to Meri, as to a cub under her protection, as she latches onto shark flesh with claws and bites into the chest at the glow, doing all she can to scruff the cub and pull her out of the murky unclean waters into which she has fallen. This child is HERS, under HER protection!
Lexi scuttles from side to side, not knowing quite what to do now! I mean, there's the beatdown that's obvious! And the other two obviously have that in hand. Er, paw. So her tendrils curl a nd wind, resting closer to the battle, preparing to snatch the moment she can spot any sign of Meri and pull her clear of the battle!
Freakshow is headbutted by a rather large kitty, and this halts his progress, he ends up stuck striving to get to his knees, and then stand. He is absolutely off balance when Amur Khatun snarls and leaps to the attack. Being a magical creature gives her an inroad when she feels that filthy corrupting mind touch, and she pounces there too.
The impact of were-tigress and parasite-shark creates a shockwave that actually blows out a near by window, and hurls dust and detritus about! The FreakShow is driven to the ground again as she dips her jaws and claws into digging the girl child out…and it works! She creates a hole through the filth and Meri's form, her TRUE form is that of a being of pure light!
She pours out of the hole wrenched in the brute and latches on to Amur Khatun's commands and anchors to Lexi's tendrils when they reach for the light. She CLINGS, soul to souls of Tigress and mauve girl with desperate need.
Now that Catseye can no longer smell the child inside the monsters the claws come out, the fangs are engaged. She rakes across the gills, biting at the back of the creatures head, clinging with claws so the monster will want to throw himself back, throw her off his back. Yes, her urge to cause damage is real, her scent heavy with rage, but more important is to get it's throat exposed to Amur Khatum, to set the monster up for the classic throat-crushing kill preferred by most cats great and small.
Reeling from the loss of the host-essence of the body the parasite was going to feed on, it shudders as it is forced WHOLLY into the material plane. And then the Purple Cat claws and bites and rends — it can't help but arch as intended, instinct and nature are very visceral things and it has been a long time - a VERY long time since it has felt pain like this, pain to IT. It cannot help but react!
Tastes like shit though, poor Catseye is going to be tasting that filth for days! Faceplanting in rotting sewage would taste and smell better!
The glow that is the precious child, Meri, is hauled out of Freakshow by main Pride force, and then released into Tendril's more tender care. Then the giant tigress roars in primal rage and unleashes the full force of her anger upon the eldritch beast, long dark claws burying themselves into chest and abdomen as the half-ton cat bites down on that massive throat, ripping and tearing with muscles fit to throw about trucks. Amur Khatum will no more like the taste of Freakshow than shall pretty purple Catseye, but she will accept that filth as the price for her bloody and furious vengeance against that which would DARE to challenge the Pride!
The moment Meri pulls free those tendrils slide around her as two more shoot out from behind Lexi, wrapping around a pair of dumpsters to brace as she quickly reels the girl in, catching her in her arms as she backs up warily, ready to flee with the child if it looks like the shark is going to be able to come after her again! She doesn't look away from the ripping and tearing, her teeth and overly large canines bared at the sight. "That's right asshole, hakari, it's what's for dinner!"
The astral parasite is rent, and clawed and without the precious sustenance of the child…it cannot linger. Hurt as it has not been hurt in centuries, the foul creature thrashes and bleeds…and then discorporates, leaving behind ectoplasmic residue that actually smells worse than it did! The girl child is reeled in by Lexi, and the instant the light body touches purple fanged girl…Meri goes flesh, and starkers she passes out when she does so.
There's a pregnant pause - a moment of perfect stillness.
Catseye falls to the ground as the creature vanishes, no longer having anything to dig her claws into. A moment of silence as she waits, making sure it really IS gone, then she rises to her feet with feline dignity and an expression of 'I meant to do that'. She turns towards Amur Khatum, studying the larger feline…
And starts to purr. Head lowered slightly, tail down, she approaches the larger tiger cautiously, wary of rejection or attack, and then rubs down one side, then back up against the other, and then headbutts up beneath the larger feline's chin!
And Amur Khatum lands upon the street, splattered by spectral goo, befouled by the unclean essence that remains. And she raises her giant head to the sky, mouth wide open as she roars to the heaven, loud enough almost to be heard by the stars, proclaiming her victory and her claim of dominion and protection upon this territory.
After her declaration of victory, the tigress watches the pretty purple lioness' display, and then she touches her nose to that of Catseye, then nuzzles her cheek, strops her massive side against the smaller - but still huge - cat, and flirts her tail. She welcomes Catseye, and makes it clear that she will welcome the smaller feline in her territory. Pretty purple kitty is good kitty.
Lexi's nostrils flare as she hugs the girl to her, her ears still perked as she stays alert, thougha brow raises at the pair having their feline meet cute over there. "So…uh…what th' fuck was that, an' is it gonna be back? Do we need ta put a watch on Meri here or somethin'?" She blinks, then looks up to where Meri's parents are probably peering out wondering what' soging on. "She's okay! Just unconscious!" she calls up to reassure them.
During all this kerfuffle, Avery has been doing what she could to evacuate people from the battle zone, and they'd find that the young woman is VERY good at that! She can get to people she can see, just…there…and they they're moved to another point she can see. Finally, towards the end she moves to Roil, and with Beetles help gets a proper splint on that broken arm.
There's no sign of the FreakShow, the goo is rapidly evaporating in the light of day, and the material world.
When the two massive kitties greet one another, Avery gives Beetle and Roil both a lift down to their daughter. "Oh, well done, Lexi. I am sorry I was so little use in the fight…" She's actually ashamed, and a bit nervous about the huge cats! A little.
Catseye ponders Lexi's questions, language not sitting right in her kitty brain at the moment. She pads over, sniffs a little at the unconcious Meri, then chirps reassuringly at Lexi. Nothing to worry about, her big golden eyes seem to say. She noses at the little girl, then looks pointedly over at the little girl's parents, then gives Lexi another look, this one with more of a 'what are you waiting for' look.
Once she is done visiting with Catseye, Amur Khatum lopes lazily over to check on the child and her parents, and she is not very subtle about applying a massive furry shoulder to the back of Roil to get he and his wife moving towards their naked daughter. That done, though, she then pads over to Lexi herself, and once the purple squid girl is no longer holding Meri, she butts her furry head against Lexi and nuzzles at her back and the sealed but still bloodied wounds there. Once the reunion is complete, she will stroll towards one of the alleyways with Tendril in tow.
Lexi will set Meri down as her parents approach…because it would be mean to give her over to her father given the broken arm, and she's not sure her mother is good with carrying her, soooo…yeah. They'll figure that out in a moment. She sighs a bit, then peers at Catseye, pursing her lips. "….okay, so…right, what am I thinking, asking the cat to tell me secrets of th' universe an' stuff…" she mutters, but reaches out to scritche both kitties behind the ears. "You both did good…" She sways at the bump from Diya, then looks down at her arms, sighing at the nasty looking slashes and the little divot where muscle fiber is now missing on the backs. "…that's gonna be a pain to heal up. And I totally needed another sandwich…" Her gold eyes widen as seh blinks, then looks to Avery. "Sorry! I totally left ya up there…um..I guess…everythign is okay now so…uh…" She eyes everyone. "…all you can eat BBQ, my treat?"