Pine Grove Animal Sanctuary

[Jenny]

It was really sad to see all the poor kitties that were hurt, especially for someone like Jenny that absolutely loved animals. She was holding one of the poor cats with with a broken paw while watching Liv talk to the cat on the beam and get very frustrated in the mean time. Jenny sighed in exasperation and nuzzled the sweet cat gently. "You knows, for sthomeone whos sthupposeds to know animalths, yous knows nothing abouts cats," she said to Liv with a pointed look.

With the utmost care, Jenny placed the cat carefully on the hay bale, so not to hurt his paw further, and stood up. While moving to stand by the two big kids, she reached into her pocket and pulled out the string cheese stick that Sean packed in their lunches. While looking up at the cat on the beam, she started unwrapping it carefully, catching the attention of other animals near by. "Cats love cheethe you know, and whens you gots a stubborn cat, all you gotta do is asthk them in a ways that the gets it," Jenny lectured as she watched the cat look at her with rapt interest as she pulled strings of the cheese. "Come on Moxie, I knowths you wants some," she cooed softly at the cat that Jenny just KNEW would be a little pistol.

She ate the first string of cheese and then peeled another one off, holding it up to the cat with the pretty eyes. "Come ons, you can have sthome, but you're all the way up there and I'm all the way here," She called and waited patiently as the cat stood up and jumped down from the beam and on to a hay bale, and then jumped to a lower one that Jenny could reach, sitting down regally and swishing her tail around her with her eyes fixed on the cheese in Jenny's hand.

Jenny beamed and walked over to the cat, holding out the cheese to her first and grinning wider when the cat gingerly took the cheese from her and gobbled it right up. "Sthee? You jusths needs to know how to talk to them," she said and kept right on feeding Moxie the cheese, while gently stroking her ears in a spot on her head that she knew cats loved. "I likes her but we can only take her if Chief likes her too," Jenny added thoughtfully, looking over at the collie sitting dutifully by Colossus.

[D'mnchyld]

Whilst meanwhile in the office of the animal sanctuary....

"Umm okay I think that does it," young Katie said as she finished filling in the last of the paperwork. She was a bit reluctant to put the location of where they had come from, but the woman was obviously not stupid. k'8 had seen how the lady had regarded them all the moment they arrived and she'd also had made a mental note as to the look on the woman's face when the dogs went wild in her presence. She handed the papers over with some notes of hesitation and a weak smile on her face.

With a tug at the papers from the noticeably reluctant girl the woman pulled them to her to look at how incomplete they most likely were, fully knowing they would need revisions, however in so doing she heard the young girl yelp and draw in a quick suck of air. "Oh dear. Child I am so sorry did I give you a paper cut?" She fretted as it was not her intention to hurt the young lady, only to hurry the process along.

Oh NO! k'8 thought as she shook her hand quickly and looked down on the spot in between her fingers where the last bit of the paperwork had bitten into her flesh all hell is gonna break loose now.

[Rhetoric]

Liv grumbled as Jenny bribed Moxie down from the beam and rubbed the little Havana's ears. She didn't doubt for a second that if she tried to pet Moxie, too, she'd get a hand full of claw. "I never said that I knew animals. I said I talked to them. There's a difference, you know. I’m not just some all-knowing critter 411 and... why am I arguing with you?" She caught herself and suddenly looked up as the fact she was getting offended by a toddler dawned on her. Shrugging indifferently she just added, "Cats and I don't always get on," and left it at that.

She was also distracted. Liv was doing her best not to look at some of the more abused cats that were circling her feet, swarming Jenny and Sean, or watching dolefully from the hay bales. Some were scarred, or disfigured with missing ears, eyes, or limbs. Some were so painfully thin, it made Liv cringe. A few seemed perfectly fine but they kept as far from the small group as possible, tails fluffed up defensively. Liv swiped her curls off her face, her discomfort and her anger needing some form of an outlet. It was unreal that people could be so cruel. Abusing an animal... neglecting it... Liv cracked her knuckles and turned away, mouth set in a taunt, furious line. Just let her get her hands on them. They’d each have her size 6 Con shoved so far up their asses they’d be flossing with her rainbow laces.

“Hey, Chief! How’d you like to meet your partner?” Liv waved the dog over and the collie came to sit between her and Jenny. Some the braver cats pounced on the leash trailing behind him, or batted at his constantly wagging tail, but most scattered at his approach. “Scaredy cats,” Liv smirked at how clever she was and rubbed Chief playfully. “Whatcha think of Moxie, Chief?”

It’s a cat. Why on Earth would I have an opinion on a cat? They aren’t interesting. Chief looked up at Liv, tongue lolled out of his mouth happily at the attention that the Paragon was pouring over him.

“Moxie?”

The Havana’s nose wrinkled as her whiskers twitched. Her tail flicked back and forth in deliberate, little whipping motions. He smells like he’s rolled in his own—

“Moxie!”

Moxie just chuckled and moved past Jenny’s hand to drop down and sit in front of the collie She stared unblinking and unshaken and Liv had to admit, the cat was fearless. I’m in charge, toilet water breath, Moxie said smoothly. After all, cats rule and dogs… dogs drool.

Chief cocked his head to the side. Get a life, cat. Get nine of’em

Liv snickered and shook her head. “Play nice, you two. Chief? Is she our mouser?”

She’ll do.
Liv nodded up at Sean and Jenny while Moxie jumped into Jenny’s arms, tail still lashing in superiority. The sleek Havana looked over Liv and Chief, clearly annoyed by them. Ugh. Canines.

[Colossus]

Piotr smiled a bit to himself as he watched the kids all try and pick the animal out together. He had to admit, Liv's power was quite impressive and would prove to be useful with all the animals. He also liked that her and Sean seemed to be getting along, as he knew they would both be spending a lot of time together should they be working in the stables with the animals. Jenny was a different story though, and he had a feeling that it would take both girls a while to warm up to each other.

"Alright, we are ready then yes?" Piotr looked between the students and smiled widely at them. "Well that was very well done! I hope you are all sure of your choices, but as I see you did a great job!" He ushered them together, handing the dog's leash to Liv for appearance sake, though he was fairly sure the dog would follow them anyways.

He opened the door carefully so the other cats would not escape and waited until the children went through the door before he slid it closed behind him. "With your gift, do you understand everything they say? And they understand as well? It is truly remarkable," Piotr said quietly as they approached the barn. "Please be sure to warn the cat about K'8 as well. I hope she is finished with the paperwork, we should be able to leave soon."

[D'mnchyld]

Quickly k'8 jammed almost her entire hand into her mouth. The hope being that she'd be able to prevent her blood from hitting the air and erupting into a demon for each drop that fell. Her tongue felt out the spot between her fingers where the edge of the paper had sliced her and it flicked back and forth on the tiny wound. "Mmmm" she mumbled at the woman's apology "s'okay."

She was surprised that she didn't taste the metallic salty ick that was her blood, but then she thought it mustn't have cut her deeply enough. Yea, but it felt deep and I know cuts she thought to herself it actually kinda felt good. I do sorta miss that burn, that itchy burning peeling -uh- no... NO! I'm not goin back to that. I have a full life, I don't need to cut anymore, people like me and Sean even loves me, I know he does.. he's the greatest thing ever in my life and it'd totally hurt him if I went back to that. If I started to shut him out, hide myself away again.. like I did at home with Grammy and Aunt B.

She shook her head of the thoughts and pulled her hand from her mouth to look at the wound that shed no blood. "I guess it's not that bad really, heh.. didn't - even - bleed?" The statement turned into a question at the end as she took a closer look and ran her thumb across the paper-cut. A touch of crimson deep in her flesh showed itself and then the drop rose to the surface. She went to put her mouth back over it but it was too late hell had arrived....

Exploding forth as Jack from deep within his Box sprang the demon. A spiked and gnarled purple and orange fleshed thing. Pimples and carbuncles ripened on it's flanks, set they were to burst and spew horrid nastiness at any moment, and it had a longish torso that was twisting and curling about making threat of bursting puss a certainty. With a sharp cackle it rushed out and across the desk straight for the nice old lady's throat. k'8, in a state of near shock, froze momentarily.

It had been several months since she had used her power and the last time she had seen a demon was the last time she ever wanted to see a demon in her life, as far as she had been concerned at the time. Now however, she had a strange sense of nostalgia, almost as if she missed her little evil mates. Her partners in acts of mischief and vandalism had empowered her in her rebellious days, days she was hardly even removed from, and a smirk crossed her lips but for only the slightest fragment of a moment as she recalled the fun she'd had back then.

"NO!" She said it with authority. It was more that she said it to herself for not wanting to be like she had been, the temptation to flirt with her destiny tickled something deep in the darkness of her half-hell soul. The demon froze in his tracks, it's arms ending in sharp little claws of a most vicious nature held in that moment with the will of the D'mnchyld. A long moment passed and it realized k'8's power waned, and the control again was it's own to run ram-shot over paperwork and rip tear-ass around the trailer.. so it did just that. Katie's tone of voice the only thing having saved the woman from a torn open throat.

Shock having melted away to terror at that moment the woman let loose a bloodcurdling scream.

[Rhetoric]

Warn the cat about k'8? Liv rubbed Chief behind his ears and frowned up at Colossus as she tagged after him. Warn her about what, exactly? Liv had no idea what k'8's power was, though Colossus had just made her curious. She’d have to ask on their way back to the school. The dogs had been howling that she smelled wrong, but that wasn’t much of a hint. Nose wrinkled in confusion, Liv looked at the Havana Brown in Jenny's arms and shrugged. "Moxie, there's another girl here with us and I don't think she gets on with animals so well. Just give her a chance, alright?" She held Moxie's cool, green gaze until the cat blinked in irritation.

Your bizarre two-legger friends don't concern me, she said lightly. Her ears twitched forward, a bored look of confusion crossing her expression the same moment Chief suddenly pulled up on the leash.

The collie's nose tipped upward, catching a scent on the air. Trouble…He only just wuffed the word out when a bloodcurdling scream tore through the air, coming from the office.

“What the f*ck?” Liv tensed, automatically looking to Colossus for some sort of direction, but Chief wasn’t waiting for instructions. He surged forward, the leash going taunt a split second before Liv was yanked along after him. Liv wasn’t a hundred percent sure that she wanted to be going toward the scream, but that decision was out of her hands. Chief snarled and jumped at the door to the trailer office, growling both his fury and fear. Whatever was on the other side was getting him dangerously worked up. “Whoa! Easy, bro! It’s just a door!” Liv had to use all of her weight to restrain the collie. “Dude, SIT!” Liv’s dual tone took on something altogether more authoritative and Chief’s butt hit the dirt instantly.

Liv dropped the leash and banged open the door of the trailer, her honey eyes surveying the scene with confusion. Some sort of nasty, sick looking thing was tearing around the trailer, all purple and orange flesh, spikes and teeth. Frozen in the doorway, Liv started at the sight of the freaky, little …whatever, nearly tripping back down the stairs in ungraceful shock. She spared the proprietor a brief glance but her eyes cleaved to k’8. “Uh… what the f*ck, Voorhees?”

[TuneUP]

The sound of the scream made Sean freeze for a second, but no longer than that. His blood ran cold as he didn't know what could have happened, and the last time he heard a blood curdling scream like that was in LIMBO. He ran in behind Liv, eyes widening at the sight of the disgusting looking demon. From that point on, it was like Sean moved automatically and without thinking as he grabbed an empty metal kennel that lay folded by the door and threw it hard at the demon. As it moved through the air, the metal of the cage molted and reshaped itself, becoming thicker and stretching. When it hit the demon, the metal wrapped itself around it, enveloping it in the thick covering as it rolled on the ground.

The metal covered the demon in a box like shape, the metal thickening all the more as Sean concentrated. He looked around wildly for a the nearest piece of metal to have something else to work with. In this case, it happened to be a common wrench. He didn't waste any time, picking it up and throwing it at the metal box. As the wrench spun towards the target, the shape stretched as it flew through the air, and when it hit the trapped demon, the metal molded into two strips while it wrapped around the boxed creature for extra reinforcements.

It was then that Sean turned to look at Kate, going right up to her with a serious look on his face. "You alright Katie girl? That thing didn't attack ya did it?" He looked her over only to see that she was alright, if not shook up a bit. "What happened Katie, you're usually so careful sweetheart, did the- uh." It was then that Sean realized that the woman was still there, and he probably just confirmed that they were all mutants. Aw hell. This ain't gonna be good, he thought looking between the woman, Kate, and Colossus, not knowing what to expect next.

[D'mnchyld]

Her head had snapped around, looking to the door as the Pine Barrens babe had called out to her. Then, when her cowboy had come riding.. well uh- running in.. to save the day, a smile as big as Texas had spread across her face. "Sean!" Was all she could say as she pulled away from the lady and wrapped her arms tight around TuneUp, tears welling up in her eyes at the relief she felt in his arms.

The cage banged and popped around like a metallic Mexican jumping bean. Fist and foot dents protruding from it at all odd angles for a minute before silence fell and it settled. The woman's mouth opened further as did her eyes, her scream having stopped shortly after it had begun. In fact when the other children had burst in she was actually holding Katie in her arms from behind as if to shield her with her arms. She'd been about to rush for the exit, fear cemented her feet though and she as well as k'8, had been transfixed with it.

Looking up from the embrace she said sweetly "I'm okay, just a paper cut, but wow.. you- you-" her eyes widened as she thought back to the moment of his entrance and how he had done his metal working. "-you used your power at range. WOW!?! When did you learn to do that?" She had been with him all the days since they'd met, as star crossed young lovers, a kiss or two the depth of their physical intimacy but in all things they had shared their thoughts, hopes and dreams. "Well, I guess it's true what Ms.Pryde said about doin what you have to when the moment presents itself huh?"

Before she even realized what she had done she'd spoken of their powers and of how the both of them were 'gifted'. She with the spawning of demons and he with a mastery of metals. A look came over her at that, the same look Sean had worn a moment before, and then she looked to the woman. "Uh, ma'am.. I.. uh, we.." She didn't know what to say or how to go about saying what words wouldn't come. Yet, she saw something then in the woman's face and she knew she could relax.

The woman, Mrs.Fergus, had not been raised a fool. Nor had she only of late fallen off the turnip truck, as they say. No, she was well adept at judging a potential guardian for her beloved furry charges and in these kids she had seen something more than the average person. She had known from the start there was something different, something off, about them. Not 'off' in the foul sense, nor 'off' in a malignant way, simply 'off' as in different and sometimes different was good. It meant sometimes that folks would try a little harder to love her furry babies, and lord knows they needed love most of all.

"It's alright" Mrs.Fergus said clasping her hands together softly. "I had a feeling you kids were from that school. I'm not one to judge, not about who's deserving of love at least. I judge who's capable of loving, and the moment I lay my eyes on you all I knew" she turned to look them all over, her eyes looking then into Piotr's "I knew. Though I don't know whether your kind is blessed or cursed, I do know you all have some loving hearts. It's clear to me you do your best to deal with what hand life's dealt ya and for that you have my admiration too."

She had been through some rough times in the life she'd lived, as most anyone who ever lived a life has had to endure, and she needed nothing of a hard heart in her profession. She was a kind soul. Her words held wisdom and she placed a hand on Katie's shoulder as she looked down on her saying "You're not to blame child, I can tell you have a good heart. This thing you have inside you is not your fault, and a good man once said some words that fit right here. Said 'I seen children surmount the effects of an evil inheritance. It's due to purity bein an inherent attribute of the soul.'.. and ya know, he was right. Devils in your blood is a harsh thing to get over, but it looks like you got a good start," she let her eyes float over the rest of them as she said "and you have a bunch of friends to help you, so I'm not worried for you a'tall."

She smiled with a nod of her head at Colossus and a wink at Jenny as she swept her arm toward the door for them to leave. It was a peaceful gesture, not made with any malice, and since all the paperwork was done all she needed was the donation that was asked for. Just then the metal box clanked and clattered and a ripping sound was heard. The sound of metal being torn and peeled open. "Oh no - I knew my blood was stronger now!" k'8 yelled as she turned to face the thing she had spawned. In truth she had been working out and following all the suggestions that Heather had given her for diet and exercise, even going so far as to train alongside her with Kitty and sometimes Alex, but mostly he would just sit by and watch with brooding eyes. The pose she struck was a ready position and she was prepared to hold back the monster as it stuck it's head out of the cage and hissed a gurgling laugh saying "Oh, little princess- heh heh heh- we have all missed you so. I have a message from Briarious.." the creature tried to pull itself through the hole it had torn in the solid cage, pushing and tearing it's own flesh in the attempt to get closer to it's Master's royal Heiress. "..He says he will be seeing you soon." Then in a crimson implosion, it was gone. The smell of the hot acrid air of that horrid land of LIMBO filled the trailer.

[Jenny]

Jenny was hidden behind Pete's leg, hugging Moxie gently to her and nuzzling her face into her fur, comforted by the cat's purring. The demon scared her a lot, not so much how it looked, because she knew that Petey wouldn't let her get hurt, but the message that the demon said made her very scared. She remembered what happened when everyone was gone for Limbo, she remembered how horrible she felt when Nightcrawler was just gone. It was just a horrible feeling, and she didn't want to have him go back, or anyone else.

"Does that means they are gonna go backs to that place?" Jenny asked with wide eyes, trying her best not to let her eyes water and look like she was going to cry. She rubbed her cheek gently against Moxie's head, just to hear the purrs vibrating through her body to soothe her. "I don'ts wants them to leave again," she added softly and hid behind Pete's leg again.

She stroked Moxie's fur softly, her mouth now in a frown as she thought about the school and what it was like when everyone was gone. It wasn't fun, and she would certainly not be okay with some of her new friends being gone again. "Can we just go home now? Pleathse?" She looked up at them, looking much sadder now than before, just wanting to go back and be in the comfort of her friends again.

[Colossus]

The whole scene was something to behold to begin with, everything from the demon to K'8's obvious increase in power to the woman not calling the police on them. Pete's head was still trying to wrap around all that happened before his heart strings tugged at the small voice of Jenny as she sounded so scared and so lost. He looked at the others for a moment before turning around to kneel down in front of her. "Ah Jenny, do not worry about that. No one is going anywhere again, alright? Everyone is at home, and we will go there right now. You will see that they are all still there and safe alright?" Piotr said gently and smiled at her. He pat her head gently and moved down to pet the purring cat in her arms.

He looked over at Mrs. Fergus and held out his hand, shaking her hand. "Thank you so much for everything, and I am sorry for the trouble we caused. We will order the bags of food tonight, as well as a new cage and wrench for you," he said with a smile before turning to the children. "Come everyone, we have a bit of a trip home, and we need to stop at the store to get the proper supplies," he said with a slight smile, ushering them out of the barn after they said their goodbyes to Mrs. Fergus.

He loaded them into the car to begin the trip first to the store for some pet supples and then for home. Moxie stayed in the arms of Jenny practically the entire time, not seeming to take to anyone but the small girl, and Chief sat calmly as ever with the others for the whole drive. By the time that they left the pet store, with all the pet supplies that everyone insisted on getting to have the new additions of their family, Piotr was glad that home was just around the corner.