Rapture

[Fortune86]

So that was that then. Ari was gone.

 

James shook his head and went back outside to check on his bike. It seemed like every time they found someone new someone else would vanish. He wondered if that was some kind of rule or whether it was just a coincidence.

[Marcus Pheonix]

((Maybe when people rp as their pets we can all assume its Jaunes imagination ))

 

Jaune groaned and sat up.

"Ugh, I barely even got any rest," He swung his legs over the side of the ambivalence and dropped down, the sudden freefall in gravity startling Juni. Juni scurried out of Jaunes hoodie and wrapped his body around his face covering his eyes and nose.

"Hmm..." Jaune said.

"From this perspective I can see all the fibers of his fur... of her fur... how could I not notice? Well my dear should that demon dingo ever try to force himself on you, let me know and I shall call the authorities!" Jaune said, straight faced as Juni looked alarmingly around, still clinging to his face. Jaune stood still for sometime, his back pressed against the ambulance.

"I'd appreciate if someone could pry her off... her foot is in my eye," He said, absentmindedly scratching behind her ears.

[Avialae]

As Wisperlee replied, Micah couldn't help but hear the screams and sobs of his younger siblings as, shut off in in a bedroom so no one else would see, his father would whip them with his belt for doing things they shouldn't. Of course, he wasn't upset about that happening to that, or even the numerous times his own back had felt the lash when he was younger. It was the proper Christian way to discipline children, after all. Nevertheless, Micah couldn't help but clench his jaw as he said to Wisperlee, "It was a great gift to be able to raised in the way that God truly intended a family to be. I will always be grateful to my parents for that."

 

Raising his eyes to the road in front of him again, Micah continued, "My sister Esther is . . . was . . . a great admirer of classical literature, so when a friend of hers invited her on a trip to England she was taking with the intent to learn about that time period, she jumped at the chance. I decided to accompany her." He frowned. There was no trace of Ari anywhere. Maybe the others had found her, or she'd decided to leave town altogether. He refused to believe that she'd been raptured. The Rapture only happened once, and as far as he was concerned, that settled the matter.

[Fangirl05]

Erin sighed as she gathered up her things. She couldn't quite shake the feeling that Ari was out in town somewhere, even though she and James had searched half of it and come up empty.

 

She decided to fulfil Juane's request and tugged the ferret off his face. She held the weasel's gaze for a minute, then smiled nastily and wave it over her head.

 

"Oh Dingo!" she called, "Lunch time!"

 

She chucked the ferret in Juane's direction and darted back into the pub, cackling. If Juane wasn't going to meet her halfway with her attempts to be nice, she wasn't gonna waste her time trying.

 

She pulled a cardboard box out of the recycling bin in the kitchen and spent a minut taping the bottom. Dingo kept religiously to her side, but his brothers and sisters needed the persuasion of a shaken cat food bag to come to her.

 

Their mother followed them in, but stood seething in the doorway as Erin loaded them into the box. Erin gave her a look at tilted the box toward her in invitation, but all she got for her troubles was to be hissed at.

 

She abandoned the box and lifted the mother cat, who yowled unhappily but didn't try to run, by her scruff. Her narrowed pupils made it look all the more like she was glaring at the human.

 

"And you will be Lilith" Erin decided. She set her down in the box and folded the top flaps down, to Lilith's apparent displeasure. "Shut up" she scolded and thumped the side of the box.

 

She hoisted it onto her shoulder and headed back into the Common Room. "Cats are ready" she announced as she slung her suitcase over her free shoulder. "Petra, do you wanna hold on to them on the ride over, or should I?"

[Salix]

Petra was walking sadly over to her car, it seemed wrong to be leaving the pub without finding Ari, or at least some kind of trace of what may have happened to her, but the group couldn’t linger here any longer. As she moved also tried to quash down the dark guilty feeling that she was also somehow abandoning her boys, a little voice in her head kept insisting that if she looked hard enough she would find them.

 

She was just about to open the door to the Land Rover when she heard Erin call her

 

“You found the cats?” she flashed Erin a delighted smile. During the course of morning Petra had been keeping an eye out for them, but she hadn’t seen tail ‘nor’ whisker of them, even breakfast hadn’t proved tempting enough for them to make an appearance. She had just assumed that their mother had marched them off to somewhere more seclude and away from the noisy humans.

 

“I’ll take them in the car with me, if that’s okay with you?” She smiled happily at Erin and moved around the car so that she could open the door to the passenger side, and Erin could put the box of cats into the foot well.

 

“Thank you so much for finding them.” As Erin got the cats settled Petra called “If it’s okay with you I’ll pop your suitcase into the back along with the rest of the luggage, it will give you and Dingo a little more space in the van, or if you like you and Dingo are more then welcome to ride with me”.

 

[Fangirl05]

"Thanks" Erin agreed with a smile. She'd been debating whether or not to ask Petra about her kids for a while. On the one hand it would be at least a little helpful in figuring out something to do in their memory, but on the other hand she seemed like a seriously soft touch. She didn't want to start her crying or anything...

[Fortune86]

Once James had made doubly sure that his motorbike was fit for the journey, he turned around and looked at the others. It seemed everyone was almost ready to leave.

 

"So are we going then?"

 

With the disappearance of Ari, he didn't want to stay in Stanleytone any longer than he had to. Okay, so Hawkingsthorne probably wouldn't be any safer, but at least they could get to work making the place secure, insofar as possible, which would help take his mind off things.

[Mistress of Whispers]

"I'm sorry about your family," Wisperlee offered to Micah. She was no longer in contact with her parents when the event happened, yet she still missed them. She could only imagine what it was like to lose a score of siblings you were close to. She did notice the comment about being raised the way God intended it, which did not have any positive connotations to Wisperlee, but since they were already back at the bar there was no more time to ask about it.

 

"No sign of Ari," she confirmed to Mak.

 

"Thanks for watching Cujo," she said to Petra as she picked up the dog. With that she went to prepare the motorcycle and fit the dog's harness.

[Fangirl05]

And so Micha and Wisperlee turned up Ari-less. Erin sighed sadly; she'd liked that little walking toothpick.

 

She set the box down and folded the flaps more securely closed, which got her a swipe from Lilith. She pulled the box back open and cuffed the cat in the head as punishment.

 

As she rubbed Neosporin into scratches on her hand, her gaze drifted over to Micah. She was convinced she'd offended him last time they talked. She figured it was best to clear the air with him.

 

She headed over to him and tapped his shoulder with one finger to get his attention; that couldn't be too forbidden, could it?

 

"Can I talk to you for a second?" she asked, nodding to the side to hint that she wanted to do it away from prying ears.

[Kestra15]

No Ari. Mak shuddered.

 

"Okay. Load up, let's go," he said, walking over to Wisper and James by their bikes. "The bigger vehicles will travel in convoy together, but since you're probably going to make better speed and time than us - especially if there's any blockages on the road - I was thinking you two could probably scout on ahead and get into Oakington early, find out if there's anyone around. I used to live there, and there's a building next to the Busway that would be ideal for us. Busway gives us a direct route to and from Cambridge centre and the hospital, and the building itself is an old pub that was extended, so plenty of room for us all. I think it would serve our needs best."

[Fortune86]

James nodded to show he understood Mak's plan. He just hoped no one else would vanish before they got to Oakington. Getting on his bike James re-adjusted the strap for the shotgun and put on his helmet. He kicked the engine into life and then looked over at Whisper to see if she was ready to get moving.

[Avialae]

Micah couldn't help but tense a little at the unexpected physical contact - he wasn't used to people touching him without any warning. It didn't help matters when he realized that the person who was touching him was Erin - he still remembered the last time she had spoken directly to him, when she had peppered him with question after question about his life. He still wasn't sure how to respond to those questions if she started asking them again, and the rapid mood swings she seemed to be prone too didn't help matters. He didn't know how to handle those either. But, he reasoned, he was probably going to be in close proximity to Erin for quite a while, so he should at least try to be civil to her. Although that didn't mean he was hoping any less that they would find someone capable of getting him to America in Hawkingsthorne.

 

"Sure you can, Erin," Micah replied, turning to face the young woman. "What do you want?" He didn't realize that Erin meant that they should talk in private. He wasn't used to people communicating with him in such subtle gestures.

 

 

[Fangirl05]

Micah didn't make any move toward the pub. Guess the guy didn't have much experience with facial cues. This just got a whole lot more awkward.

 

"Look, eh," she started, rubbing her neck uncomfortably, "I'm sorry if I crossed the line with that question about being beaten yesterday. It was a spur-of-the-moment thing, I know nobody wants to talk about that kind of thing."

[Marcus Pheonix]

Jaune looked over towards Erin and Micah suspiciously, he didn't trust either of them and the fact that they were both talking together didn't sit well in his thoughts.

"What are you two conspiring?" He asked, the suspicion evident in his voice.

"Are you planning on who's to go next, hmm? You decide which one of us your 'god' has deemed not worthy while the she witch does the dirty work? Funny, I always assumed the bible spoke of hatred towards demons and that is what witches are, servants to the demons you so despise!" Jaune declared. Pausing, he grabbed Juni and held her out infront of him examining her.

"You didn't put a curse on Juni did you?" He asked, suddenly afraid. He rotated the ferret around searching for any signs of curses. Satisfied he placed Juni back into his hood and sat down inside the van, still glaring at the two, focusing his hearing towards them.

[Fangirl05]

Erin shot Juane an evil look and stepped between him and Micah protectively. Her face morphed into an evil smile.

 

"Have you ever heard the phrase 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend'?" she asked, hoping to rattle him, "Or 'A deal with the Devil'? God's gone and chosen a few of us to bump off a few of those he thinks don't deserve the pearly gates." She glared at him meaningfully. "Like those who worship false idols."

 

She smiled cruelly at his feverishly turning over his ferret. "Don't waste your energy," she told him condescendingly, "you'll never be able to break the hex I put on her." She stepped closer to him and tilted her head a bit to the side. "And as long as you keep that ferret on you, I will be privy to everything you do and say." She raised her eyebrows. "Just some food for thought."

 

Even though convinced he wouldn't understand why, she winked at Micah over her shoulder.

[Marcus Pheonix]

Jaune glared back at Erin and then broke into an uncharacteristically bright smile.

"Well you may not like the things you hear Erin, also I think your friend may be a little disheartened to here you saying that his beloved lord and saviour does not care for him any more and has left him to whittle away with us." He said, still smiling.

"Also the context for the enemy of my enemy is that the person was also initially your enemy but on the discovery that you both dislike another that you should work together to take them down before returning to hating the other, which is basically implying that you hate everyone," Jaune said, with his smile still evident on his face.

 

(Ever heard of a Slasher smile?)

[Avialae]

Micah blinked in surprise as Erin made her apology. That was what she had wanted to say to him? It seemed a strange thing to apologize for to Micah, given that he had barely registered any single question she'd asked among the intense barrage she'd sent at him the last time they'd talked. He was about to reassure her that it wasn't a big deal when Jaune showed up and started slinging insults at the two of them, and before he could think of how to respond Erin's whole demeanor changed and she started insulting him back.

 

Micah did not really want to interact with Jaune; for one thing, everything that came out of the boy's mouth was repulsive in one way or another, and for another, he feared doing so would eventually lead to someone or something being destroyed, which was not really an unreasonable fear considering that their one previous conversation had led to a fire nearly breaking out. On the other hand, he could not in good conscience leave Erin alone with him either. Jaune was dangerous, and if something she said set him off - which, judging by how she'd acted towards him so far, it very well could, she'd need somebody to protect her, and as a Christian it was his duty to protect the weak, not to mention his responsibility as a member of the group. Well, as one of the sane members, anyway.

 

Micah wished he could just break up the fight altogether, but he had no idea how, mainly because he wasn't sure what would and would not cause Jaune to lash out. He looked around hopefully for Mak. He remembered hearing the older man said that they would be leaving soon, surely he'd come check on them before too long.

[Fangirl05]

((I'll see your Slasher Smile and raise you a Psychotic Smirk.))

 

"No, my deranged friend," she leaned in closer to him, "just you." She patted his cheek gently. "Although I must admit, I am touched that you know my name."

 

She turned her attention back to Micah and nodded in the direction of Petra's car. "We should get going" she suggested.

[DragonSpirit009]

Emily sat by a table the whole time while the others went off to look for Ari. Her stomach turned when they came back and they couldn’t find her. She slightly rocked back and forth in her chair patting Nougat who was sitting between her legs. She started to wonder if this was the way it would end. The last people on earth, disappearing one by one. It truly scared her to even think of it but it made her feel sick thinking it might be true.

 

When the group announced that it was time to leave Emily made her way to the ambutaxi. She felt a bit light headed due to her mind getting the best of her earlier and her twisting stomach didn’t help much. Eventually both woman and dog got in to the car and took in a seat far in the back near the driver.

 

[Fangirl05]

Micah didn't make any move to follow her, so Erin kep her ears open for the sound of a fight behind her. Petra was loading a few last things into the trunk of her car, and Erin tapped her shoulder to get her attention.

 

"Do you mind if Micah rides with us?" she asked, nodding back at him.

[Salix]

At Erin’s tap on her shoulder Petra stopped fiddling with the stuff that was already loaded in the car and turned to face the girl to answer her question.

 

“No, of course I don’t mind if Micah decides to ride with us”. She looked over at Micah and smiled in what she hoped was a warm and friendly manor. To her eyes Micah looked as if he was undecided as to which vehicle he should ride in.

 

Hoping to discreetly give him space to make his decision, Petra closed the boot of the car and checked all the doors, before settling herself into the driving seat.

 

[Mistress of Whispers]

Wisperlee nodded to James to indicate she was ready and, having secured Cujo, climbed onto her bike. As she carefully navigated to the highway, she wryly thought the event had one advantage at least: empty roads. She hadn't driven with a sidecar since her motorcycle exam and it was nice to be able to ease into it. She cast a glance at Cujo and was glad to see that he was alert, but not tense. He'd probably been taken in cars before and Wisperlee reckoned that for a dog, this was just like a giant window to stick your head through.

[Avialae]

Micah nodded in agreement with Erin when they said that they should get going, but then realized he didn't know which car he should get into. The others had already ridden into the cars on the way here, and he didn't want to take anyone's seat. He felt a wave of relief when Petra said that he could ride with her.

 

"Thanks a lot," he said gratefully to the older woman. She wasn't really a whole lot older than him, but she gave off a quiet air of maturity somehow. He walked up to the car, checking the luggage through the window, wanting to help in whatever small way he could. Then something occurred to him. "Jaune's not riding with us, is he?" he asked both of the women, a little worry in his voice. Being trapped in close quarters with that lunatic for an extended period of time was the last thing he wanted.

[Fangirl05]

"Hell no!" Erin answered, "Not unless we're tying him to the roof."

 

She opened the passenger-side door and fished Dingo out of the box, to his apparent delight and his mother's fury. She stuck her tongue out at the latter while rubbing cheeks with the former.

 

"Come along, my pet," she told the kitten as she slid into the back, "and sit still while we're driving." She rubbed his belly and wriggled her fingers in his face to draw his attention.

[Kestra15]

With Nay and Petra's cars ready and loaded, and the two bikers unable to take more passengers, Mak had the sinking feeling that he would be the one lumped with their resident troublemaker. While his headache from the previous day had now subsided and Jaune was at least calmer now he still did not relish the idea of having the boy causing trouble in his vehicle. But he wasn't callous enough to leave him behind even if it would probably be more harmonious; they were all still adjusting to the situation and perhaps the young man was not yet at a point of acceptance. His abrasive manner may just be an attempt at letting off frustration. Perhaps, in a day or two...Mak could only hope.

 

"Right, load up everyone," he called out as he slung his bag in the front of the ambu-taxi, indicating to Jaune to jump in the back. He walked to each driver and handed them a small fold-out map with their destination marked; he had found them stacked in what was the pub's small office, probably for locals who were lost or looking for a walk. It would probably take the Land Rovers and speed-limited ambu-taxi an hour and a half, while the smaller bikes would likely take less time especially if there were abandoned vehicles en route. "We'll meet at the large house by the Busway in Oakington - you can't miss it."