"Blood!" Tori suddenly said, her face a picture of fear. "I smell blood." Her head turned as she followed her nose, which she had learned was more advanced then other peoples. Probably cause she relied on it so much. "But it's close..." She continued with confusion. If the gun shots came from the other side of the house, she shouldn't be smelling blood so strongly. Tori got to her feet and followed her nose straight to Miri. The girl's heartbeat was going crazy. Tori could feel the vibrations in the floor. The smell of blood was almost overwhelming here as well. "Miri?" She asked covering her nose. "You ok? Where's the blood coming from? Did you get shot!?" She asked anxiously.
Miri: Ache "Miri?" She asked covering her nose. "You ok? Where's the blood coming from? Did you get shot!?" She asked anxiously. Miri's reply was muffled and high. "I'm fine. Just a little dizzy from a nose bleed. Nothing to worry about..." Anxiously she looked at the smears and splatters across the floor. "Well, except the mess. Sorry about the fright." Her head thumped softly against the wall once more, wishing the floor would open up and swallow her whole. Her chest ached, a combination of emotion and her own erratic heart rate. There were still a few secrets she was keeping. But what bothered her more than anything else was sudden intensity of the onslaught. She had never lost control like that before. Was there a reason her mother had kept her tucked away on the Isles? The question churned like acid in her chest, making the ache worse. Frustrated and embarrassed, she slammed a delicate foot down with a muted thump. She couldn't even stomp properly. Swallowing hard, she looked away, hoping to hid the tears that had been threatening since she had arrived.
Both Bobby and Angelo were pinned to the floor and then Bobby looked at the blood that had fell on the floor from Miri. And suddenly Bobby let out of a very womanly yell as he tried to crawl away from it. The boy literally went into near panic mode at the smallest sight of blood. He was literally tripping over his own brother. Angelo made various annoyed grunting sounds as his brothers elbows and knees started rapidly going over his back. "BLOOD! OH GOD BL...BLOOD!!!!" Bobby shouted he looked as if he'd pass out if someone didn't get him under control. Bobby had always had an immense fear of blood ever since an incident when he was eight and any time he was even near, he would either pass out or as now have panic attacks.
Jubilee Jubilee walked straight up to Bobby and slapped the piss out of him. "Keep it together, dude!" Then she took his hand like a mother leading her kid and marched to the open door, assuming the others would be close behind. "C'mon, that darn girl with the weird cat is ahead of us. Hey, wait up, we're a team...!" Jubilee caught up to Nova and the whole group travelled as one, creeping from dark corridor to dark corridor, looking for the source of the noise. The house was even more eerie at night, casting strange shadows and revealing hidden rooms and staircases that led up to blank walls. Whoever had built the manor must have been a madman. Then they heard the noise again, Bang! Bang! Bang! This time it sounded closer and they were all certain now that it wasn't a gun shot, as Nova had assumed. It sounded like someone hitting a wall, or knocking. They followed the noise to the ground floor. It came again and Jubilee pointed to a door behind the staircase. They opened it and walked down creaky wooden steps into a musky washroom. There was only one bare lightbulb that lit the room and four big washing and drying machines. One of them was slightly crooked. And then they heard the noise again--Bang! Bang!--and the washer shook with each hit. Something was behind the machine. Jubilee bravely volunteered to take a peek. She yanked the washer to the side and they all saw a hole in the wall near the floor. A mangy ball of clothes rolled out and bumped into Jubilee's leg--but no, it was a small girl, made of stitched-together fabric squares with strips of red cloth for hair and large violet buttons for eyes. The doll-thing moved and stared up at them all, her mouth trembling with fright. If she wasn't so freaky, she might actually be kind of cute. "Youz gotta help me!", the thing cried out, and then it covered it's button eyes and sobbed relentlessly.
At least things went unexpected Dahlia got close to the.... doll-thing?... And although other would had hesitated. She simply picked it up as if it were to be a common toy. After that she placed the doll over the washer machine. It was actually funny to see how that doll (supposedly a living doll, or perhaps possessed, or any other stuff) was shaking and shaking and shaking while seated over the washer. "We gotta help you?.... in what matter and why?" she asked showing her usual smile.
"It's...it's tha Ragwitch! She's back again!" the doll creature shrilled. Then it wiped it's eyes--even though it didn't actually have any tears--and looked around at everyone in the washroom. "Wait..who tha high heaven are you freaks? Where's Hogarth??" She looked indignant and she tossed her crimson hair-strips angrily. "Uhh..we're Ms Teodorie's new students." Jubilee shrugged. "We don't know who Hogarth is. But we can still help you...if you tell us what's going on." "Hogarth owns this place, youz dummies! He's gonna hex all of youz when he find out you're in here! And who is tha Tedorie that you mentioned? She's a criminal if she thinks she can take over Hogarth's house!!" The creature was really working herself up and then she leaned over and wretched onto the floor. A stream of colorful yarn and string spilled from her mouth onto the floor in a pile on the floor. "Sorries...I pukes when I get too excited." Jubilee face twitched as she tried her best not to laugh at the cuteness of the fierce little doll.
"Hey guys!" Tori protested. "Would someone mind telling me whats going on? Why can't I see the kid talking? Is she make of feathers or something?" She sighed in frustration. This was one of those times where it really annoyed her that she couldn't see. "Whose this Ragwitch? And what do you mean Ms. Theodorie is a criminal?"
Ragwitch had come back Hogarth is the true owner of this place Ms. Teodorie is a criminal.. A lot of secrets had been revealed... but not enough The change of attitude of the doll implied that it wasn't willing to reveal anything if asked nicely... or at least this was what Dahlia considered. In other words, she'll had to interrogate with a different method.... Yet why was she hyped for this?...because it was perhaps an event that could bring to her one of her two objectives. She got close to the doll and slowly said with an smile on her face.... " Tell us all you know, will you?" And then the arm of the doll discomposed, breaked into several fragments. Dahlia had activated the deconstruction as a method to threat the creature... "Or next.. it will be the other arm..." concluded with the same smile
Bobby who still pale from seeing the blood, being slapped, then even more thrown off by the Ragwitch and then the creepy girl started attacking. He was to in shock to say anything. Well except for one thing. "Hey Jubilee slap me again!" He shouted. He thought it was kinky and he didn't wanna die without being turned on. Angelo who was nowhere to be found. As he had turned tale and ran out the door as soon as the fighting started poked his head through the door. And whispered only loud enough for Bobby to hear. "Don't just stand there fight! You have the knife!" Angelo quickly ducked back behind the door before anyone could notice him. Bobby nodded. "Oh yeah right." There was a flash of silver and shining knife was flung at Ragwitch. Angelo knew everyone would find it odd why they didn't use affinity's. So as he hid he worked on an excuse.
Jubilee "Whose this Ragwitch? And what do you mean Ms. Theodorie is a criminal?" Jubilee rubbed her chin thoughtfully and then grinned. "Guys...who else could this Hogarth guy be? Who lived here before us? Who did Teodorie inherit the house from?" "Wuz youz talking about?!" the doll girl shrilled. "OH...you don't know." Jubilee's grin disappeared and she looked sympathetic. "Sorry, but Hogarth died. He was Toedorie's great-uncle and he left his estate to her in his Will. Teodorie isn't a criminal...she's just the new owner of this house. I'm sorry for your loss. What was your relationship with Hogarth exactly?" The creature looked saddened to hear this news, but she didn't seem that surprised. Her shoulders slumped and she stared at the ground. "Hogarth was the champion of Quilt World. He discovered our pocket dimension behind the washer years ago when he was a boy and he went through..." She shook her head. "He was our savior. I knew he was getting old, but he just seemed so powerful and impossible to kill..." She gave a sigh filled with sorrow. "But now he's gone forever." Jubilee got on one knee and looked the doll girl in her button eyes. "I promise you, we will do what we can to help. Just tell us what is wrong."" The creature actually growled. "Get outta my face, youz!" "Or next.. it will be the other arm..." The creature gawked at the empty space where her arm had once been. Then she gulped and spilled the beans. "Okay, okay! Hogarth came into our world fifty years ago, when he was a young powerful Magister, and helped free my people from oppression and defeat our evil overlord, the Ragwitch. Since then, he has come back almost every week to make sure the Ragwitch never returned to power. She is immortal--he banished her to the Cold Pillow Moutains, but he couldn't destroy her completely. But with him gone, there's no one to stop her and she's back with a whole army of Scissor Knights and all sorts of black voodoo magic! We need help, or she'll ob...oby...oblity-bate..." "Obliterate?", Jubilee suggested. "Yeah, tha word. She'll do that to us." The creature paused. "My name's Tootey, by the way. Tootey the Explorer." She looked at Asune skittishly. "Um, can I have my arm back now...?" But then Bobby threw a knife at Tootey and it stuck right between her eye all the way up to the hilt. Jubilee gasped and the creature fell back from the weight of the knife, flailing her limbs like an upside-down turtle. Jubilee quickly ran forward and yanked the weapon out of Tootey's forehead. "AGGGHAAAGH!", Tootey wailed. "That hurt something fearsome! Why'd you do tha, youz! I came here for help and you assaults me with bladey things? Do you know how much it costs to go to a stitch surgeon?! Youz crazy!" Jubilee gave Bobby back his knife and head-butted him, full on. "Don't be a jerk, dude."
"Yeah, tha word. She'll do that to us." The creature paused. "My name's Tootey, by the way. Tootey the Explorer." She looked at Dahlia skittishly. "Um, can I have my arm back now...?" Her deep eyes carved inside the doll.... Then she smiled and lied... "I don't know how to!!!. Perhaps someone could sew it, yet is fragmented in a lot of pieces there!" she was pointing the fragments in the floor Then her head turned toward the knife.... "But I could give you a knife instead of an arm if you feel like..". Unexpected, it had been years since she felt the emotion of joy. So it wasn't a waste of her useless time to come to this place. Her life was been empty all this time, due to all the wounds that stroke her hard in the past. She even considered the suicide option... yet she was also too coward to take it. Hence she decided just to live her life entering into risky situations only hoping for something to kill her. She also accepted that nothing interesting would ever happen again, nothing would move her from the stasis that stagnated her body and mind... Yet she felt joy once again... just thinking that this little's doll arm was depending on her choices was fun. She had a total right and dominance over how the course of the life of that doll would chance, solely based on what she decided to do with its arm. But why to stop there, she could continue with its legs and remaining arm, even its head.... Go slow... otherwise you'll erase that small fragment of fun...
Jubilee Jubilee, who had just finished head-butting Bobby, turned next to Dahlia and frowned. Her electric blue eyes snapped with anger. "Girl, I knew you were odd, but I didn't think you were a bully. Give her back her arm, or I'll report you to Ms Teodorie and have you kicked out here faster than you can give us another one of your stupid fake smiles. I can be cool with you, if you act cool with me, and with people that need our help. So, what's it going to be?" Jubilee crossed her arms and waited. Her glow-in-the-dark colorful nails stood out starkly in the dimly-lit washroom, but they seemed to glow even brighter when she was angry.
Dahlia crouched to the floor... She took all the fragments of the doll.. She raised and show it to Jubilee "There..." Said with the same fake smile.... "Maybe we can sew them together..." She was having a small fun... she wouldn't let someone to ruin it so quick "I don't know how to give her arm back though... I can deconstruct something... but that doesn't imply I can reconstruct it afterward no?. What made you think I could by the way?" Asked curiously to Jubilee. She was aching to see how would she react.
"OUCH!" Bobby said as he rolled around. He was used to being hit hard so he was able to tolerate it better then most. But he still didn't like pain but this was a special case. "Am I bleeding?" He asked once he realized he wasn't he looked up at the two girls arguing. "If you two are gonna fight can I watch?" He said staring at their chests. Angelo suddenly bolted in as there was no more danger. "What's going on? I was um....in the bathroom." He said telling a blatant lie. His face was of course trying to do the best ass macho man thing. "Did that thing attack my brother? What is it? I think we should kill it." He said pointing at Tootey. Angelo's fantastic racism was very much built on nervousness.
Jubilee "I don't know how to give her arm back though... I can deconstruct something... but that doesn't imply I can reconstruct it afterward no?. What made you think I could by the way?" Jubilee was aghast. "Oh, I don't know, maybe because you're a bald-faced LIAR?!" Then she took a deep breath and took the pieces of Tootey's arm back from Dahlia. "I tried to give you a chance, Dahlia, but now I'm gonna have to tell Teodorie, as soon as possible." "Do youz have to! What about the Ragwitch?!" Tootey rubbed the scar on her forehead, looking frantic and desperate and pissed-off all at once. "I'm gonna tell her later, after we come back from saving your world, Tootey." Jubilee cracked a grin and winked at Tootey. "I got your back, little cutie." Tootey scowled, but she seemed pleased that they were going to help her out. Jubilee turned back to Dahlia. "Last chance, Dahlia. We can't have psychopaths on this team or in this school. You can be as weird and quirky as you want, but that's where I draw the line." She cocked out her hip and put her hand on it, the picture of righteousness. "Did that thing attack my brother? What is it? I think we should kill it." He said pointing at Tootey. Jubilee smiled at him, her blue eyes shining in the dark. "She's a friend, okay, cool guy? Calm down and see if your brother doesn't have a concussion. I hit him pretty hard."
She stood quietly hearing to the ranting of the girl. Then replied without hint of emotions at all, not even a smile "You're right there... I'm somehow a liar. But you know?... Is more difficult to deal with a liar. Because you never know when it may be telling the truth. Is like the tale of the boy and the wolf. However sometimes that truth can be useful..." She grab a chair and sat on it, then continued fixing her empty eeriee eyes without color toward Jubilee. "The funny part.. is that I can also take control of the fragmented pieces.. " she said while doing a gesture with her fingers, making the pieces to levitate... "So let's suppose you're right and I can reconstruct but I don't want to. What will you do?.. go running with the pieces to speak with the mistress?... I could just take the pieces from your hand and reconstruct its arm... then you'll reach the office of the mistress without evidence on your hands..." "Now if I can't reconstruct something then. What do you expect me to do?. It was necessary for the ball of cotton to spit the information".. A malicious smile formed on her face... "And in every situation you'll be confessing. We escape from our rooms to check the place" Yet it was quickly replaced for a normal yet fake one... "But I guess, playtime is over!!!" said with a cheerful tone this time. And then using her skill, the fragments reconstructed in mid air, taking the shape of an arm once again. Then flied and attached to the doll. No more likely the arm and the doll flied and attached together in mid-air, letting the doll fell to the floor. Then Dahlia stood up and crouched in front of the doll... "I changed my mind... next time it'll be your head... so please don't hid things from us right?"
Jubilee Jubilee scowled at Dahlia, completely unafraid. She didn't care about her threats, but when she threatened Tootey's life, that pushed Jubilee over the edge. "You're right it is more difficult to deal with a liar. But you know what? Unlike you, I'm NOT playing a part. I'm a hundred percent REAL. and I am not lying to you when I say, if you threaten that doll creature, my friends or anyone on this earth again, I will personally make it my life's mission to DESTROY you. Got it?" She picked up Tootey and cradled her in her arms. "Oh, and I'm pretty sure you're really good at what you do, but I doubt even your power could deconstruct my color manfestations. I could bowl you into a pancake with a twitch of my fingers, little girl..." Jubilee stood over Dahlia for a moment, smiling dangerously and casting the smaller girl in her tall shadow. Then she turned to the hole in the wall, completely pushing Dahlia out of her mind to address the more pressing issue of the Ragwitch's return. "Now, if you're in, say "Aye"," she told the others. "I would completely understand if you stayed behind, guys... But I know that I'm going through with it." She smiled sheepishly. "Do you all have my back...?"
"Is that so?..... You'll blindly trust that....thing..?...." Asked Dahlia curiously. "I was just doing the best for all... it was necessary for that thing to tell us all.." continued She then paused for a second.. "Yet you threat me freely like that?.... You probably considered to even kill me... while I was just torturing that thing..." It's fine... she could try to kill me, it would be interesting.. "So you're willing to go that far I guess.... So we can't be friends then, how sad is that...." And then she smiled once more. Using her own teeths she bit her finger, letting a bit of blood to sprout... "Oh... I forgot a piece more of cotton..." Then using her skills, she moved the cotton, right in front of Jubilee. It was reddish, covered by the blood of Dahlia's finger, even a piece of skin attached to it.
Miri: Curiosity and Not a Little Courage. Miri swallowed hard and wiped the blood off her face as best she could. Slowly she pushed to her feet and followed the others, trailing slightly as was her wont. Shoving the stained handkerchief back in her pocket, she hurried down the corridors as the banging grew consistently louder, and decidedly ungun-like. This was something else entirely. Her pale hair shimmered with subtle hints of gold as she entered the dimly lit washroom. She was careful to keep to the shadows as a tattered little rag doll tumbled free of a small open behind a washer. Fascinated she listened, watching the contretemps from the relative safety of a frayed wicker hamper. "Now, if you're in, say "Aye"," she told the others. "I would completely understand if you stayed behind, guys... But I know that I'm going through with it." She smiled sheepishly. "Do you all have my back...?" "Count me in." Miri chimed from behind. Her mien was sombre, but curiosity was riding her hard. A pin prick of fire glowed bright, easing the ache in her chest. Oddly enough this felt right.
Lyle "Now, if you're in, say "Aye"," she told the others. "I would completely understand if you stayed behind, guys... But I know that I'm going through with it." She smiled sheepishly. "Do you all have my back...?" Lyle had barely finished being angry that they were stuck in a dark and gloomy attic with one window before all the commotion started. Then they had gone exploring, in the dark! In the freaking dark of all god forsaken things! What was the matter with this place, and these people? That was what Lyle was thinking when the doll started talking. After recovering from his initial shock at that episode, he was shocked to see the poor little creature have it's arm removed by the dead eyed girl, Dolly or whatever her name was. Then, it got skewered in the head by one of the wannabe men in black. Retards. Lyle had decided that he didn't like them, or Dolly Dead Eyes. Jubilee seemed okay though, he didn't mind her. But now there was this whole question of delving into the magical and fantastic, and Lyle was skeptical. Quilt World? Had they somehow slipped into a J.K Rowling novel? (At least no sparkly vampires had showed up yet, then it would be a Stephanie Meyer novel and Lyle would be forced to just off himself right then and there.) Then there was the possibility that this was all some kind of demented test, or lesson set up by their good lady of the house, Teodorie. Just from what little he knew about her, this seemed like just the kind of thing that she would do... He just hoped that there wasn't a horrible and gruesome death awaiting any of them at the end. He had played enough video games that take place in creepy old mansions to know what happened there at night... at least what writers think happen in them at night. But, what the hell, there was a chance that in this other dimension, with all its quilty goodness, that it might be slightly brighter, and Lyle would appreciate that. "Aye," he said.
Jubilee nodded at her team mates and a proud smile split her face. Then she saw Dahlia's bloody, skin cotton trick. Jubilee sighed and told her in a whisper that only she could hear: "Listen, you have problems. I think that is pretty obvious. But I can't let you torture and intimidate poor innocent creatures. There is no place here for that kind of behavior. Save all that bloodlustiness for when we have to face some Daemons. You can still chose to change..." She shrugged one shoulder nonchalantly. "But if not, then I won't let you stay. Tell me if I'm bluffing." Her electric blue eyes stared into Dahlia's, had and true. She continued without waiting for an answer, a small grin playing on her lips. "And I wouldn't kill you, sweetie, I'm not like that... I would just knock the living daylights out of you." And so they turned to the hole in the wall. Jubilee took a deep breath and got down on all fours to crawl inside. Tootey got on her own feet and trotted ahead of them, calling back, "Hey, youz freaks keep up with me!" They followed the little doll creature into the long tunnel. The walls were made of compacted tube socks and it smelled like the bottom of a dirty laundry hamper. But the smell isn't what scared Jubilee, she was used to the smell of her own sweaty socks after a long day of playing sports outside. It was the fear of getting stuck in a tunnel that she couldn't even stand up in and no one knew where to find them. But just when it seemed like they had been crawling forever, they made it out. The tunnel opened out of the side of a hill. As far as they could see there were lush green meadows with a smattering of trees. Upon closer inspection, the grass was actually little bits of green fabric and the bark of the trees were hard brown leather, the leaves made of cotton. Tiny pincushions grew on the branches of the trees like peaches, but in all the colors of the rainbow. The sky over their head was like an enormous lavender blanket with clouds and a yellow sun sewn into the surface. "What kind of place is this...?" Jubilee's voice was filled with awe. "It's Quilt World, I already told youz, youz dummy," Tootey said, tossing her red hair-strips with frustration. "Now follow me this way, we got to talk to the Patchwork King before we do anything..." Tootey led them over several ridges in the land and past a few groves of pincushion fruit trees. Finally, they walked to the top of a high hill and Tootey squeaked with fright. "Down, down, down!" The little doll girl jumped onto her belly in the fabricious grass. Jubilee looked to see what Tootey was scared of and saw a great gleaming silver river with a sturdy bridge spanning the distance. Jubilee noticed that the water looked spiky and realized it was made up of thousands of needles, metal spools and sharp-edged metric rulers. Anything that braved those waters would be grinded to a pulp. Across that terrifying river of death were four Scissor Knights. They wore a knight's armor with helmets like oversized thimbles and giant pairs of sheers instead of swords. Even stranger, their helmets didn't have slits for eyes, as if they didn't need them to see. "The only way across the river for miles is that bridge," Tootey whispered fiercely. "What do we dooz now, freak boys and freak girls?" Jubilee looked at the others. "Well? Any ideas?"
Miri: Fluidity Jubilee looked at the others. "Well? Any ideas?" Miri piped up, her eyes bright, molten silver. "What element is the arch nemesis of metal? Rusting, warping, twisting...Corroding...Fluidity against the impossible rigidity. They use metal, harsh cutting edges, which limits their mobility. Exploit that weakness, work with the flexibility of the fabrics around us. Use your own dexterity, don't go for the obvious strike..." Her Affinity gathered about her in a sheening cloak as she spoke. The deep, billowing songs of her element rose in her head as she waited for the others to weigh in.
Lyle He had been right, this land in all its quilty goodness was in fact brighter, and he appreciate that. He didn't know how it was brighter, the sun was a roughly cut piece of yellow cloth, but whatever. It worked. Then he looked down into the valley at the scissor knights. "We could just attack them..." he said nonchalantly. "What element is the arch nemesis of metal? Rusting, warping, twisting...Corroding...Fluidity against the impossible rigidity. They use metal, harsh cutting edges, which limits their mobility. Exploit that weakness, work with the flexibility of the fabrics around us. Use your own dexterity, don't go for the obvious strike..." Lyle shrugged. "Or that," he said. "I still like my idea, of just like, attacking them..."
Miri: The Plan? Lyle shrugged. "Or that," he said. "I still like my idea, of just like, attacking them..." Miri wrinkled a brow. "That would be like sticking one's hand into a food processor. Why do guys never bother to assess the situation? Always ready to forge in blindly..." The idea light bulb flicked on in Miri's brain as she studied Lyle. "You're a Light Affinity, right? Would it be possible to blind them with light refraction, giving us time to spring an attack?"
Lyle shrugged. "Or that," he said. "I still like my idea, of just like, attacking them..." Jubilee chuckled softly. "I think that's what Miri was saying, Lyle, just in a few more words." She reached over and ruffled Lyle's hair. He looked conflicted and moody all the time and she didn't want that for him. She decided to pay him extra attention in the future. "You're a Light Affinity, right? Would it be possible to blind them with light refraction, giving us time to spring an attack?" "Uh, Miri, they don't have eyes," Jubilee said plainly, a smiled quirking her mouth. "Otay, so what are youz waiting for?" Tootey demanded. "We don't have all ding-dong day, youz..."
