[Random adventure times] Kat X Rogue [with Celölas and Lutis!]

Celölas let go instantly, and jumped away from the creature and Lutis. She was getting a little freaked out, and was just about ready to get out of there. After all, the warehouse they were in was probably not the one they were looking for, and the creature could just be a coincidence. Or so she hoped.

She decided that she would let Lutis deal with the creature, and turned around to look around the warehouse. The light from the match meant that she could see the next few crates, and she made a game of guessing what the old warehouse might have been for from the smell of the boxes. She flicked her tails carefully, and winced a little as the stump of the third one grazed the floor. It still bothered her that it was missing, despite the years she had spent without it. Either way, it was enough to distract her from the creature for a few seconds, but her curiosity was too great. With another leap, she turned around to watch again, this time from a distance, as the creature continued to writhe and squirm.

The moment Celölas let go of the creature, Lutis flipped it over onto its back, pinning it back to the ground before it could get away again. It squealed pathetically, holding its hands up in surrender next to its head as Lutis pressed his short dagger to its throat.
“Please don’t kill me mister!” squeaked the little slip of a… child? A child had been hiding in the box? Sure, he was pretty tiny and grimy to boot, but in a box?

“It’s just a kid,” said Lutis, leaning back and sheathing his dagger again. Celölas was keeping her distance- a surprisingly long way away, for a dragon of her size. He would have thought she’d be less scared of a little boy, but apparently not. A fierce little boy- one hand flashed out to try and scratch him as he desperately tried to escape Lutis’ grasp again.
“Oh no you don’t,” he grunted, shifting so the boy couldn’t move, arms trapped under one of his hands. “Come help me with this little monster, he’s wriggling.” Lutis wasn’t going to just let the boy escape without he explaining why he had been in a box. If being in an abandoned warehouse hadn’t been weird enough on its own.

((Apologies for crappy post, muse is being temperamental))

After seeing that the ‘monster’ was just a kid, she relaxed a lot. However, when he looked ready to scratch Lutis she panicked again. Of course he was no serious danger, but she knew that as soon a single drop of blood was spilled, they would all be in trouble. She cautiously edged forward, and plastered her best smile across her face, but she knew that it would look terrifying to the child. Maybe that way he wouldn’t try to attack them. After all, they meant no harm.

As she got closer, the boy spat at her in rage, before looking up at her. She growled quietly, trying to sound scary, but it didn’t come to her easily, and she sounded like a farm cat purring. With that she slumped into a tiny patch of shadow next to another box, so she could only be seen by the white flashes down her back. However, she was still within arms reach, and that seemed scary, even if it was just a kid.

((appologies for even crappier post, my muse is on holiday xD))

For all the "big scary dragon" that... well, any dragon projected (apart from maybe a butterfly dragon, everyone knew they were harmless), Celölas really was terrible at keeping up such a façade for any time longer than a minute or two. How could a dragon be so flighty and frightened, especially now they knew that it was just a little boy that had been hiding in the box. He looked up at her in incredulity as she started up a low growl, the noise sounding pretty unimpressive. She was obviously completely unused to showing any sort of threatening behaviour.
"It's not really the time for cat impressions," he said dryly, squinting to make out the shade runner where she had retreated into one corner of boxes. The boy under his grasp suddenly went back to wriggling furiously again, squirming out of his reach like a snake and chomping down on his hand as he went to catch the child again. Lutis yelped and shook the boy free, clutching at his hand and cursing fluently under his breath. The boy dashed off into the darkness, disappearing like a wraith- a wraith that could really bite!
"Crap... ouch, that hurt," muttered the man under his breath, rubbing his hand up and down on the front of his coat and hissing in a breath when the movement made it hurt more.

“Lutis, are you ok? It’s not bleeding, is it?” Celölas panicked, squirming uncomfortably. She hadn’t even had time to process the sarcastic comment before the boy had run off, and now she was in no mood to laugh. She edged backwards again, her eyes wide and frightened as she looked at the teeth-marks in Lutis’ hand. She couldn’t /see/ anything, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

Lutis, if it is, you have to tell me.” she said, her voice edged with terror. She wasn’t ready to loose herself to that sickly, velvety redness just yet. But… it felt tempting. She felt her eyes dilate further just at the thought, but buried her nose in her fur to stop the smell getting to her. Fear blotted out her vision, and she found herself shaking silently in the dark, waiting for an answer.

Still cursing under his breath, Lutis inspected his hand in the low light of the warehouse, flexing his fingers. “It hurts like bloody hell, might be bleeding.” He looked up at the dragon, shuffling into a more comfortable position on the ground so he wasn’t crouching on his toes any more. No need to be on his guard now the little boy had buggered off somewhere else. “Hey, are you okay?” The shade runner seemed to be shaking, pressed as far into the corner as she could go. “Are you afraid of blood or something? We can’t even see in here, not without a light.” He could understand if Celölas was jittery and didn’t like to see blood, but where it was dark… Something didn’t quite make sense.

“Okay, let me check,” he muttered under his breath as she insisted on knowing whether his hand was bleeding, flexing it slowly again. The back of his hand was still stinging, and as he held it up to peer more closely at it, he felt a trickle of liquid slide down around his wrist. “Ah yeah, it is. No wonder that hurts so much.” He stuck his hand in his mouth and licked it, trying to stop it from bleeding more while he hunted with his other hand in his pockets for a bandage, completely oblivious to what might happen once the dragon knew he was bleeding.

Celölas fell still. She could feel her paws slipping out of her control, and knew that it was too late. The rich, velvety smell rolled towards her like a wave, and as it reached her nostrils; her eyes went wide and glassy. Her mind swirled with a scarlet mist, and it would only be a matter of moments before she was completely lost.

“Lutis, run.” She gurgled, forcing the words out desperately, before her mind went blank. There was nothing but the redness – nothing but the rich, velvety smell, and the taste that she remembered so well. She wanted it – she wanted to taste blood again so badly…

her vision centred on the tiny dark speck on Lutis’ hand, where the blood was just starting to well up, and she dropped to all fours. Her mouth foamed a little, and as her consciousness left her instincts to take over, Celölas lost all concern for Lutis – all memory for him even. Her teeth clacked, and before her animalistic mind could even register, she was leaping towards Lutis with hunger in her eyes.

/Just a few inches between us now, Celölas. You know you want to taste it again. Just a few inches…/ the velvety voice whispered. She growled – this time sounding much fiercer and definitely not like a cat, and sunk back to leap again. The timid dragon that had been so twitchy all day was gone, and now a monster stood in her skin.

All the scrabbling around in his pocket eventually found Lutis a bandage, and he pulled it out with a little noise of achievement. He knew he had stashed one away somewhere- ever since he had met Hone, it seemed to be a regular thing that either one of them needed a bandage. “It’s fine, I found a bandage now,” he said, taking his hand out of his mouth and messily wrapping the bandage around it, tugging at the fabric until it laid straight. It was only a few seconds afterwards that it fully clicked what Celölas had said.

He yelped as the dragon suddenly leapt forwards, falling back against the floor as her teeth clacked together just before his front. This was not the dragon that he had met happily pootling along with the day- this was a killer! He scrabbled backwards while she was still on her haunches, eyes wide at her growl. Oh shit…

It was time to take the dragon’s advice. Scrabbling to his feet, he spun and leapt over the boxes that Celölas had knocked over in her haste to catch the little boy from before, running as fast as he could for the exit.
“Celölas, STOP!!”

The words dimly registered in the back of her mind, but Celölas was powerless to stop. Her feet were pulled forward of their own accord, following the sweet, metallic smell that was filling her head. /Just one taste, Celö! You know you want it…/

Then, “STOP!” The word was loud, and made the hazy redness in her mind wobble. That voice belonged to the carrier of the blood, and that made them important, even if only for a second. Celölas manages to clear her head for a second, and tried to shout again.

“Lutis, I’m sorry! I can’t -” she spluttered, before falling back into the redness. She had the smell now, and it just wouldn’t go away.

Her feet pounded on the hard ground, and she leapt over boxes effortlessly in the gloom, chasing Lutis. /So close now. Just keep following. He can’t run forever…/ As the light from the open door drew neared, she slowed, the brightness hurting her wide, unseeing eyes, and she stopped for a moment to paw at her face, the beast inside her thoroughly confused. But it wouldn’t last long. Until the smell was gone, Celölas was gone, and this was left loose.

Last edited by Rogue on Sun Nov 27, 2011 10:38 pm; edited 1 time in total

Celölas’ spluttered words didn’t make Lutis stop, realising that if he did, she was definitely going to catch him. That wasn’t happening- he really had no wish to become dragon food, and he didn’t think the shade runner would thank him for it in the long run if he did. The break she gave him as she paused for a moment in her chase gave him just enough time to bolt out the door, wrestling the heavy wood closed on its rough edges- it was a sliding door, so it wouldn’t slam shut on whoever was moving things from inside or out of the warehouse. Practical enough when it came to actual work, but when it came to escaping from a crazy dragon… well, it wasn’t so great. He did eventually manage to drag it shut, resting his back against the wood and breathing hard as Celölas turned into that monster again. She was like two sides of a coin… a Jekyll and Hyde.

Something about blood just made her crazy… he hurriedly started to wind the bandage around his hand more tightly, adding another length of cloth out of his pocket once he got to the end of the first one. The more the better, and the quicker the better too- nevermind the mess, he could fix that later. As soon as he was done with the second length of bandaging he ran for it, clambering up a tower of boxes propped against the side of another warehouse and perching on the top, eying the rooftops nearest and which would be easier to jump to if Celölas came after him again.

As the door slammed shut and plunged Celölas into darkness, the voices started to shout louder and louder at her. /Stupid dragon – you almost had it! Next time, no stopping. Now, just shove open the door – he can have gotten far. Stupid, stupid dragon…/

Obediently, she charged the door, ramming it with her shoulder in a hasty movement. It was met by resistance, and barely moved. She tried again, and then… she fell still.

Something was missing. What was it? She felt her head clear, and she returned to her body properly. The smell – it was gone. But she knew that it had been there. What had she done this time?

Celölas looked around the dark room in panicked. Where had Lutis gone? She prayed to herself that he had gotten out of the warehouse, as her memory failed to tell her what had happened while she had been… that.

She looked at the tiny crack of light under the door, and let out a high-pitched whine. Then a whimper. Then a howl. She had lost control again, and she hated it. She sat whimpering to herself for a few moments, cursing herself for not fighting it, before shaking her head to bring back her real senses.

“Lutis? Lutis, are you ok?” she called softly, wincing as her voice echoed back in the dark, silent warehouse. Her ears drooped in shame, and she curled her tails around her paws, her claws retracting safely once again. The broken stump of her third tail scraped the floor and made her wince again, but she didn’t make a sound.

The pile of boxes Lutis sat on provided a good viewpoint for the door of the warehouse, and he watched with a little fear as the door juddered, the dragon obviously trying to break out of her makeshift prison. It seemed that, while she was intoxicated by the smell of blood, she lost all sense of subtlety or flair, going right back to her animal instincts- which meant she couldn’t figure out how the door slid open. Lutis certainly wasn’t going to go down there and let her out though, because he didn’t have a death wish.

After a while the door stopped shaking as Celölas gave up. Lutis was in two minds as to whether he should make a bolt for it while he could- if she was figuring out how the door unlocked, and was still that monster, then it didn’t bode well for him- or he could go and investigate.

He picked neither option as a chilling howl echoed from inside the warehouse, the noise almost metallic as it bounced around the big building, freezing as he started to pick his way down from the first box he was sitting on. A moment’s time he spent crab-like, hands held behind him and feet on the box below as he waited for something terrible to happen, then started climbing down again as the sound petered out. Once he reached the ground again he stuck to the edge of the building, ready to run for it if the dragon suddenly managed to escape. Even with the pitiful calls from inside the warehouse from the shade runner, he didn’t get too close to the door, wary of a ploy to catch him off his guard.
“If you call you trying to kill me without any explanation, then I’m just hunky dory”, he called back. “What the hell Celölas?”

“Thank goodness.” Celölas gasped, settling down on the floor of the warehouse. Only then did she manage to collect her thoughts enough to actually reply.

“Erm, you cut your hand, right? That’s probably it. I promise I wasn’t after you personally, Lutis – I would never do something like that, I just… can’t help myself. I’m so sorry.” She whimpered - trying to find some way to ameliorate what had just happened. There wasn’t anything – she really had just chased him out of the warehouse trying to kill him.

“I guess you’ll want to go off without me now – I wouldn’t blame you. This is why I never let myself stay anywhere too long.” She said softly, licking the stump of her third tail pitifully in the dark inside the warehouse. Her eyes were starting to adjust, and she could make out a few boxes near her by the crack of light from under the door. She could let herself out once Lutis was far away – she had no hope left that he would want her to come along any more, for all that she wished she could.

Lutis listened sceptically as Celölas gave him a bit of an explanation as to why she had suddenly just attacked him, still on his guard. The dragon certainly sounded upset enough about what had happened- but what was to say she wouldn’t do it again? He rubbed at the new bandages around his hand, wishing he had fixed them a little better, but was too anxious that the shade runner might smell his blood again and have a repeat performance of what had just happened to try and change them now.

“Well, depends if you’re going to try and kill me again,” said Lutis, not having any better way of phrasing than just the blunt facts. “Or if we find something bad at the end of all this, if you’re gonna go crazy again. Because that would be bad.” That was a bit of an understatement. “Am I going to be okay if I let you out again? I wrapped my hand up in like, seven layers of bandage.”

Celölas sniffed the air carefully She couldn’t smell anything at all, but just to be on the safe side…

“If you have any extra bandage, can you pass in under the door?” she asked, deciding that, if Lutis did decide to let her have a second chance, she was not going to let anything happen again.

“And yes, you will be safe. My sense of smell isn’t that good, so seven layers will be fine. I am so sorry.” She repeated, feeling almost on the verge of tears. She didn’t know what she would do if Lutis decided to just leave her in there, but equally she thought she might cry if he found it in him to let her out again. She wasn’t going to let him down, she vowed all over again.

“There’s more, of course. I can explain everything. I really am sorry.” She said miserably. This was why she had to move on so much. It would have all been so much easier if she hated humans, but as it stood, she loved the little two-legs, and could hardly bear to stay away from them, even if she was putting them in danger.

Celölas’s request for bandages was quite strange, but Lutis obligingly dug in his pockets for another length of material, eventually finding an old roll that he had forgotten he had tucked away for emergencies in one of his back pockets. He crouched down by the side of the door, carefully pushing the bandages underneath the door with the hand that hadn’t just been bitten.
“Here, don’t bite my other hand off or anything,” he said, hastily withdrawing his hand again. He had to shove aside one of the boxes he had partially blocked the door with, the wood scraping loudly along the ground. He was sure it hadn’t been that hard to knock them over into the way.

He sat down on the box once the bandages were safely under the door, quickly unwrapping then rewrapping his hand, while he still hand the time to, before he let the share runner out. The bite wasn’t too deep, but it hurt, and he would definitely have to properly wash it later- a little water from his water bottle had to suffice for the time being though.
“Okay, explain a bit more, because I really don’t understand what just happened,” said Lutis as he worked, laying the fabric flat over his palm and carefully winding it around his hand again. “And it’s okay, no damage done. At least, not by you. This isn’t too bad though.”

Celölas took the bandages, and unravelled the roll with her paws. Then, she set about wrapping them over her sensitive nostrils. It would look ridiculous, and she wouldn’t be able to open her mouth, but since she communicated using thoughts, that wouldn’t be a problem. And it would stop her smelling anything, which should keep Lutis safe.

“I don’t bite when I’m myself, don’t worry.” Celölas explained, as she finished wrapping up the bandage. She would need Lutis to tie it, as her paws were too big and clumsy, but she couldn’t even smell the rust and dust of the warehouse through it.

“Well, basically when I smell blood, my rational thought goes out of the window, and bad things happen. I can never remember what I did, which was why I was so frightened when I came back to my senses, and once I’m back to normal, I can promise you that there is no malice left in me. If I’m rational enough to talk, you’re safe.” She explained. There was also that bit about controlling the blood-beast, but she could leave that for the time being.

“Right, you’re safe now. Don’t laugh – I look ridiculous, but I won’t be smelling anything for the rest of the day.” She said, hoping that she would be let out – that she had said enough. This was the best aftermath she had ever faced, and she didn’t want to ruin it by having to outright beg to be let out. Of course, she could just open the door, but she felt that she should let Lutis do it – after all, she had just tried to kill him, even if it wasn’t out of choice. It had to be his choice to release her.

Lutis sincerely hoped that Celölas didn’t bite normally- being bitten once in a day was bad enough, and that was only by a human! Being bitten by a dragon had to be a lot, lot worse… all those pointy teeth. He sat back on one of the nearby boxes as the dragon fiddled around with whatever she was making the bandages into- he hoped she was using them for some good cause, because he was really going to start running low if he needed to use any more than the three already wound around his hand and the shade runner’s nose.

“Well, unless you’ve eaten me and this is all a dream, then I’m okay, right?” Lutis wanted to make completely sure that Celölas wouldn’t try and eat him again once he let her out. She certainly sounded regretful enough about her accidental attack… He breathed out a sigh, then jumped off the box he was sitting on and shoved it aside, making sure he didn’t use his hand too much and start it bleeding again. He paused before unbolting the lock, his hand hovering over the metal before he dragged it back and leapt clear, still on his guard. She could open the door herself now, it was just an easy matter of pushing it open.

“Yes, you’re safe.” She replied. Then, as the bolt clunked outside, she jumped with fright, not expecting the loud noise. It took her a couple of minutes to collect herself properly, but she made her way to the newly unlocked door and pushed one paw through the side. It slid open a little way, and she smiled underneath the bandages. He had decided to let her out.

“I look ridiculous – please don’t laugh. I need you to tie a knot in something.” She said, as she slowly eased the door open and stuck her head out. The loose ends of the bandage hung down either side of her nose like a moustache, and Celölas knew that if she had seen herself, she would be able to do nothing but laugh.

“See? You’re safe.” She told Lutis, hanging her head low; still ashamed. She edged her way out of the warehouse inch by inch, until she was standing on all fours near the pile of boxes outside, with both of her tails coiled around her. She was terrified that Lutis would hate her after that unfortunate incident, and was trying to do everything she could to make herself look submissive and harmless. That was how she was, when she was quite herself, but that might take some proving now.

“I’m safe, with a dragon that goes from harmless to wanting to tear out your throat in a moment and on the trail of some monster haunting the warehouses.” Lutis gave a nervous laugh, his voice a little higher than normal. “Such a standard day, nothing different about this at all y’know?” He laughed again as the shade runner slunk through the now-open doors, sounding- to himself, and probably anyone else who had known him for more than a couple of hours- slightly hysterical.

“This is mad, I’m actually going crazy,” he muttered to himself as he carefully stepped over towards Celölas. He took hold of the two lengths of long bandage in each hand, tying them in a quick knot over the top of the dragon’s nose before backing off a lot quicker than he had approached.

He took a deep breath once he was a safe (safe!) distance away from Celölas again, letting it out slowly. “Nothing we come across is going to be more mad than that.” Yep, he had surely cracked. “Really going to just say, what the hell, are you still coming with me to finish this mystery?”

Celölas’ eyes lit up, and she broke into a grin (most of which was covered by the bandages, but the corners of her mouth were just about visible). “You mean, you’ll still have me around? Of course I want to finish this thing!” she exclaimed, her eyes twinkling. She felt overjoyed, and could hardly think of what to say.

“You won’t regret this, Lutis!” she bubbled away to herself, fluffing her tails happily. With the bandages wrapped around her face and her tails all puffy like that, she looked almost completely harmless – after all, she felt harmless – and was acting a little like a happy kitten.

“If it’s any comfort, it is possible to control me when I go a bit… you know. And it doesn’t happen often.” Celölas added, sitting up a little bit more as she re-inflated. “Now come on, we need to find the haunted warehouse!” Even her ears were fluffed up now, as her fur started to stand on end, and she looked like a huge pompom on legs.

Lutis rubbed awkwardly at the back of his head as the dragon enthusiastically agreed that she was still along for their little adventure- if it could be called “adventure”; the word sounded a little tame with the added danger of Celölas possibly trying to chew his arm off at the slightest whiff of blood. He supposed the ridiculous dragon’s current appearance countered the danger; she looked ridiculous!

He gave a small smile, slightly reassured. “Well, I hope it’s not going to happen again soon… at least, not towards me. Maybe if there’s some big monster at the bottom of the warehouse mystery… well, that might be a different thing.” If he got out the way, a crazy dragon might actually come in handy. And he never thought he would ever think that.
“Your pick of warehouses this time then, lead ahead!” he said, eager to be away from the scene of Celölas’ earlier incident. “I would pick that direction,” he added afterwards, pointing along the road they hadn’t walked down yet.

“Ok, that way it is!” Celölas bubbled to Lutis, before forcing herself to calm down. She must have scared the life out of him with the whole psycho dragon thing, and it didn’t seem like the most appropriate time for heightened emotions.

“Three. The third one, I think – three is my favourite number.” She said childishly, looking down the row of warehouses ahead of them down to road Lutis had signalled. It looked a little dark and foreboding, but with her nose all tied up she didn’t see any danger in it. She wasn’t going to flip out, and the velvety, dark voices had been pushed right to the back of her mind, so she set off with a playful bound towards the warehouse, letting her fluffed-up tail bounce along behind her. Her fur was all on end, but it was keeping her warm so she didn’t care. She could fuss about her coat when they were finished.

Celölas had managed to flick through most of her usual emotions quite quickly that day, all things considered. She’d been shy and quiet, a touch evil, and now she was bounding down the street like a hatchling. This had been one heck of a day…

Lutis followed Celölas down the road a little more slowly than the shade runner, rubbing unconsciously at the new bandages around his hand and thinking. How did she switch from one emotion to another so fast? Maybe it was a dragon thing; Hone did the same sometimes.
“Three is quite a good number. Nineteen is better though.” He smiled slightly. “Not sure we’d want to tramp all the way up to where warehouse nineteen is though.” With a second thought, going to warehouse nineteen probably wouldn’t be so good for other reasons either; it was owned by a notoriously strict company, when it came to trespassing. Not that this was trespassing of course; it was… investigating under private interest. Yes, that was it.

They stopped outside the warehouse. Lutis pressed one ear against the crack between the two wide doors, instinctively checking as to whether there was any noise from within. There was a faint clacking noise, maybe rats running over the tops of crates or whatever was inside.
“This one, definitely? Okay.” He pulled the lock open on the door, letting the door open outwards.

There was a scuffling sound from inside, more clacking, then a loud “baaaaa!” and a sheep leapt out through the gap and into the sunlight.

“Nineteen is a pretty good number. So is seven – apparently it’s lucky. But three is still my favourite.” She smiled, before prancing up to the warehouse door with a playful wave of her tails to wait for Lutis to catch up. She watched intently as he rattled with the lock, and listened to the rustling behind it in fascination, her negative emotions drained away completely.

The door seemed to take forever to open, but as the bleating sound erupted for inside, she leaped back in fright. The fur of her tail stood on end, in the same way that a cat’s tail does if something scares it, and she froze. However, as she realised that the flying white shape had just been a sheep, she felt decidedly foolish. “Well, I hadn’t expected that.” She said, laughing as she trying to preen her tail fur back into place. She still had high hopes for this warehouse, and wouldn’t let her high spirits be dampened.

“Just a sheep. So, shall we go inside?” she asked brightly, finally happy with her tails, and eager to continue. Her bright moods could be a bit much for some people, so she usually favoured her shy attitude, but she was too happy to be even the littlest but nervous.

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