Well, Phooka You Too [Open]

[Sky Lily]

In her euphoria, Ismene had foolishly believed that the giant sandworm was no longer a problem.

She quickly realized that this wasn't the case when Leviathan's wide and steaming maw rose from the earth to greet them.

The warrior had turned around at the sound of earth rumbling, cursed, reached for the halberd she had slung back behind her... stopped and paled as a breath strong as tornado winds began to slowly pull them closer and closer to the massive jaws of death.

When the great Leviathan roared out his challenge, Ismene quickly ducked forward, gripping all the more tightly onto the Phooka carrying her. She didn't need to be told that it was time to speed out of here, and that this was going to be one hell of a ride.

Moon Moon surged forward just as the dire sandworm snapped his chops.

The beast almost seemed to curse as he missed his target by inches. Ismene couldn't see anything, for she was determined to stay as securely on this bird as she could and didn't dare look back behind her, but the blast of rotting air that repeatedly ruffled her hair was unmistakably Leviathan's hungry mouth. The woman yelled for Shadi to hold on and prayed for Naira's mount to act fast, all the while racked with frustration over the inability to fight their enemy.

Moon Moon rose higher and higher into the air. Clouds rushed past, and the sky grew bluer and bluer. It was only when the oxygen had begun to thin that something large and monstrous finally collapsed back from whence it came. Ismene cautiously looked over her shoulder to the ground far below, and could just barely see a long fissure cloaked in upturned sand.

Thank God.

The phooka did not halt in his ascent until it grew painful to breathe. With a snap of her fingers, Naira fixed this issue.

Ismene took a deep breath as fear finally ebbed away into sheer adrenaline... and exhileration.

"WOOOOOOOOOOO! That was awesome!"

For a moment, something flashed in the darker crevices of her memory... the green scales of a wyvern as they soared over castles... the sensation of wind whipping her hair back behind her--

... No way. She'd... done this, before, hadn't she? There was a brief somber silence as Ismene again pondered her lost past, but the feeling dissipated as she concluded that this current experience was probably far more awesome than the other one could have possibly been.

"Sure thing, ma," Naira said aloud to nobody in particular. The Reaver turned her head to face the others, allowing a grin to pass over her features. "Sheikka's yelling at me. Shall we head ... back ... ?"

Naira trailed off as her expression turned incredulous. Ismene stared at her questioningly before looking back behind her... and being struck with just as much bewilderment.

"You've... gotta... be... shitting... me."

"Oh, f*cking hell." Ismene's shoulders tensed.

The skyworm brigade was upon them.

"You ever get the feeling that the 'powers that be' want you dead? Or deader, as it were ... Moon!"

Moon Moon dived downward as their newest enemies followed in pursuit.

Her mind was racing. She couldn't use her halberd up here. None of them had saddle or rope holding them in place, and it'd be foolish to even try tying herself with the rope in her backpack while they were still flying. Agh. Dammit.

I hate having to use this.

But it was the only thing she had. And if one of those f*ckers even came near, it'd be easier wielding natural weaponry than that of her halberd, as much as she loved the thing.

Ismene slowly began to change form, her armor and clothing melding away into icy white fur. Within half a minute she had fully shapeshifted into a bipedal werecat with strong lioness features. The backpack, however, remained intact.

"You think we can lose them?!" she called out to Naira, her voice still sounding rather familiar, although harsher; a little more snarly.

[*RainyRomanianAbyss*]

Arilinda heard a voice from behind her, and she slowed down but only slightly. Footsteps that were light, different from a Being's. Much lighter for that fact.

"Hey HEY! Wait it! Slow it up! I'm not used to this shit!"

The Demoness finally slowed to a walk and she looked back. The demoness thought it too hot to have her cloak on, so in an instant she shed it and her long raven feathered colored hair flowed down her back. She then looked over her shoulder and confirmed what she had thought of the female following her. She was human and dressed in such clothes that would make it feel like it was the Sahara Desert ten times over.

((OOC: I apologize for the long wait. So much stuff has gone on my schedule has been messed up. >.<))

[Windra]

[JunoZXV]

(Thought I responded to this... uhhh uhh... pass?)

[Windra]

Fail. xD
Click!
I'll get something going tonight, guys ~

[Windra]

Sixty seconds and counting, Sheikka's mental voice hissed. The volume and focus of it was getting stronger, possibly due to the fact that the Anubian was beginning to focus her energies into one thing ... Ismene would probably catch a few spare words here and there while Juno would likely hear the whole thing. Get your hide back here in one piece. You can bring your loverboy, too, but preferably in several chunks.

Is this really the time?! thought back a frustrated Naira, holding on tightly to Moon Moon's neck without strangling the poor thing. They were diving at a straight angle. If anybody lost their grip and fell ... from this height ... it spelled inevitable death by gravity or te hungry teeth waiting below.

Windra was poking fun at you for it, figured I might as well join in ... Besides, you pb[did[/b] call me old.

I'll call you a lot of other things if you keep it up,

Sure, sure ... Forty-five seconds.

There's no way ... Daring a glimpse backwards through her own billowing hair and rushing wind, Naira could see the venom-laced Skyworms chasing in hot pursuit. There was something else, too. Ismene. She wasn't the same as she had been ... and when the woman-turned-beast tossed a question her way, the Reaver nodded - a motion blurred by their own movement. "We'll damn well try! Throw whatever you can at them in the meantime!"

Naira couldn't very well focus on her wind magick, or she'd be chuckling obstacles at the monsters behind them in rapid-fire succession. Instead she breathed in deeply and fixed her attention on what awaited below ... with large teeth shimmering brightly in the sun, all eyes displaying eagerness for a meal no matter how small it was. It took almost no time at all to reach the ground ... and the danger ...

"HOLD ON! MOON MOON, NOW!"

Complete shift! The Phooka went from vertical to horizontal in almost no time at all. Leviathan's teeth snapped behind them ... missing by mere inches but closing on a squealing Skyworm who thrashed its body against the clamped maw. Skyworm #2 slipped above the chowing creature, continuing the chase. Swallowing the food in one large gulp, Leviathan, too, pursued them from the ground.

Naira slipped her heel aganst Moon Moon's side and the Phooka turned right ... oculars fixing themselves upon an on obstacle course of large, tall rocks shaped like loops and bridges and tunnels ...

--

Finally!

Panting, the Earthling slunk up alongside the demoness. Her clothes were damp with sweat and clung heavily to her body. She kneeled forward with her hands on her knees, taking in large gulps of air ... completely unbothered by the fact that the giant Sandworm behind them was on the move. In the other direction, though.

Gulp. Gasp. Gulp. Gasp. Finally she heaved a lungful and stood upright, wiping the dripping sweat from her forehead. "Well, that was exhausting," she mused, licking her lips. Around this time she realized that the Demon Girl was still walking away and picked up the pace, quickly catching up. "You know how much trouble it was finding this place? A Reaver can't teleport without some kind of visual of the destination, y'know. If it hadn't been for the guy in the big blue box, I wouldn't have made it! Why the hell did Naira pick this spot anyway?! It's in the middle of nowhere, it's fuckin' hot, and ... Worms! I didn't dress for this! Where the hell is she, anyway? I told her I needed to speak to her!"

For all her ranting and raving, it took the woman several more sputtering sentences to realize she had no iea who she was talking to, and that the person probably had no idea what was going on. This i mind, the purple-haired woman stepped back and grinned sheepishly. Her flammable temper cooled to a manageable degree.

"You uh ... you don't know anything about this, do you? Yer a total stranger, and here I am prattling about my business like it's any concern of your's. Sorry about that! But still - "

A large black bird with three passengers caught her vision. It was flying in the other direction ... and her sharp eyes were able to make out who was sitting up front ... You didn't need hawk vision to see what was chasing them, though.

The woman nodded. "Well that answers that question. Every time I see her she's starting a fight with something. Just had to pick a fight with big bad and ugly, huh?" She snapped her fingers and something big and smoky appeared just above the flying group. "Well then, Cheryl's on the case!"

Nevermind the smoke that formed a circle around her and the Demoness ... it rose up to consume them, completely concealing them from view.

--

Nothing they did was working.

The Skyworm was too quick, and Leviathan too hardy. All of their attacks were either deflected or dodged completely. Leaping through 'hoops' or trying to lose them through tunnels wasn't doing much, either. The Skyworm would just twist its agile body to manage whatever came its way. Leviathan simply smashed through everything with the brute strength that accompanied his gargantuan size. Moon Moon was filled with boundless energy and could continue to flee ... but that wasn't the problem.

It was Naira.

With five seconds on the clock, she made a frantic effort to tie something down onto the Phooka to keep her from crashing down to earth. "No matter what, get them out of here," she told Moon Moon, keeping her voice low so as not to alert those sitting behind her. As the last words fell from her mouth, so to did her body from the Phooka's back ...

Sheikka was casting her spell on Scarlet's long-dead yet somehow preserved corpse, extracting the V-ACT's mind from Naira's and upsetting whatever equilibrium the half-dragon Reaver had. Colors burst in her vision. All feeling left her arms and legs, nerves temporarily deadening and limbs going askew. Screams, hollers, and roars would be lost to that underwater muffle effect. Mismatched eyes rolled to the back of her head. Naira would have fallen prey to the snapping jaws below had Moon Moon not been more intelligent and perspective. Black talons stretched, wrapping around her body and securing her close.

And then there was that cloud.

It was big and black and billowing with smoke. Despite the fact that they were still on the move, the formless embodiment kept up with them ... Eventually the smog cleared, and an exact replica of Cheryl appeared. A hovering Cheryl.

"Well, this is odd," she remarked, eyes passing over each individual before her. "Where's - " Her gaze settled on Naira. "Oh, there she is. Yer always getting into some kind of trouble, aren't you? Classic ruffian. And you wonder how I got so bad." There was no response from Naira, who was still comatose. Realizing this, Cheryl nodded. "Guess I should get you out of this mess. This kinda sucks. I was hoping to show off my abilities ... as for you two, hang tight ... and I hope you like cheesesteaks!"

More black smoke erupted from her hands. It surrounded them completely. They vanished from the canyon, and slowly the noise of their surroundings changed from roars and hisses ... to the honking of horns and blaring of sirens. It was the same for the Cheryl standing beside the Demoness.

[Sky Lily]

((OOC: Oh yeah, it's my turn isn't it... ))

"We'll damn well try! Throw whatever you can at them in the meantime!"

Throw? Okay, then!

Ismene held tightly onto Moon Moon as she slung an arm behind her, straining her shoulder as she groped around in the contents of her backpack for any possible ammo. Her coins? Too small... Crowbar? Oh hell no, that might come in handy some time. Rations--

...

The Rations.

Bingo.

"EAT IT," Ismene snarled as she threw her last packs of travel-food at the pursuing skyworms, who snapped at the forsaken morsels rather eagerly before pursuing the Phooka's riders with even more gusto.

Well, sh*t.

"HOLD ON! MOON MOON, NOW!"

Naira's new beast made a 90-degree turn upward that sent Ismene's stomach flopping, just barely missing the jaws of death. The second skyworm wasn't so lucky, however, and the werecat couldn't be happier with this turn of events.

That elation was quickly cast aside when she realized the still-living skyworm was still chasing them persistently... and so was its giant, wingless brother.

Nothing they did was working.

Rocks? Cliffs? Arches? That stupid skyworm dodged and squirmed through every one of them.

And Leviathan? Nothing seemed to stop that gigantic monster at all. He smashed through everything in his path as if they were nothing but flies. Fear was beginning to knot in the warrior's stomach as she wondered how long they could keep this up. With fear, however, comes anger. And when your mind is clouded with the instincts of a lioness, such anger could only be amplified. Ismene's mind was running with ideas, grasping at any possible solution to the peril at hand, when finally, circumstances made the decision for her.

When the remaining skyworm gnashed its teeth at the Phooka's wing, Ismene saw no other choice. Roaring with defiance, the werecat made a leap of faith... right onto the flying monster's back.

Claws dug into wormflesh mercilessly as the skyworm began to writhe and shriek underneath her. It did everything it could to either dislodge Ismene or snap its jaws around somewhere fatal, but with the lioness stretched from its lower neck to its upper back, it was nigh impossible to get a good hold on the warrior; though that didn't stop it from trying. So focused was the thing on its new rider that it wasn't flying as efficiently as it should, dropping lower and lower. Ismene shifted her weight upward, forcing the worm's head to tilt slightly down and face the Leviathan slithering just below.

Yeah, you see that? He won't hesitate to kill us both and you know it.

"You're mine now," she snarled loud enough for her enemy to hear above the roaring wind. The skyworm was still shrieking with indignation as Ismene shifted her weight heavily to one side, forcing it to bank away from Moon Moon even while it continued to stupidly pursue him. This was both a bad and a good thing. At least she wasn't going to lose Naira and Juno now--

Wait.

What was all this smoke?

And then both she and the skyworm had vanished just as quickly as the Phooka.

((OOC: I'd been planning for Ismene to do that for a while, I hope it's not an issue, and if it is I'll gladly edit the post ^^' ))

[JunoZXV]

(I can't think of anythin. My brain is poop. This is all that's going off in my head right now.)

"FALCOOOOOOOOR~" The Neko yelled as he finally got upright on Moon Moon's back despite the danger around him.

Then a shift. Time warped and things went unclear, There was smoke, snarling fangs and just them flying... some sort of segway.

"I don't mean to be absolutely clueless here. But can I get a recap?"

[Windra]

Scarlet was really unfamiliar with this kind of thing.

Floating around somebody's head was one issue. Being without a body? That was ... well, it was a really strange sensation of being neither here nor there, corporal yet surreal. Nothing to fit into. No place to claim as her own. Impenetrable darkness surrounded her on all signs while her arms flailed uselessly in the mist: treading water when you couldn't swim. It was highly uncomfortable ... yet here she was, giggling like an idiot. There was a subtle tug on her chest leading her somewhere. Unknowingly, the V-ACT 32 followed ... fully aware of another presence lurking closely behind.

The familiarity was obvious. You couldn't not recognize something like that. It lingered nearby, cloaked form expanding - a noxious gas in a free-roam environment, devouring the oxygen to fill the whole room.

Sheikka found herself reduced to a terrible coughing fit. Her thoughts drifted out loud, touching those of all Reaverkind in an attempt to find the half-dragon lady who suddenly wasn't there anymore. Naira? Naira! Small issue ... you won't like this.

---

But Naira was, at the moment, completely incoherent. Eyelids fluttered half-lidded here and there, but otherwise her mind was gone. A massive headache swallowed her cranium whole. Sheikka's words mingled with Scarlet's thoughts prematurely torn, and they both bounced about the walls of her inner sanctum of subconsciousness. Sharpened teeth pressed into a grimace. "Screw this."

The Reaver was on her back. She was dimly aware of the softness pressing against her spine, the smell of fresh soil - grass? She was on grass? But hadn't they just been in an arid plain? An attempt to open her partially-blind orbs lead to exploding agony in her skull when the sun met her vision and she drew back with a hiss.

And then there was the urban orchestra. Car horns. Airplanes. People talking. The random scream and argument, followed by roaring engines and the music blaring from somebody's portable mp3 player. As the smoke cleared, the group would find that they were no longer within the Wildlands of the desert. These were badlands of another sort. Namely? Battery Park, Manhattan, New York. They'd been sat down facing the Atlantic Ocean. At their backs were towering hulks of metal and glass : high-rises as far as the eye could see.

Moon Moon, alarmed at this new predicament but suspiciously calm about it, immediately morphed into the form of a small black cat (neverminding the fact that Juno had been on his back ... ) and crawled upon Naira's chest, where he curled up and began to purr. Nara's hand automatically went to his head, scratching behind an ear.

Here they were, all in a group, sitting in a land totally unfamiliar to most of them. The violet-haired Reaver who transported them there stood in front of the mass, hands on her hips and grinning.

"Well really," she said in response to Juno's query, "if you gotta know, there's this Reaver and Reaper conference thing ... Nay wanted me to meet up with her out there, where you guys were. Shitty idea. Too many Sandworms. So I figured I'd bring you all here." She waved a hand behind her, encompassing the scenery in one large sweep "Welcome to New York."

Naira finally sat upright. One hand was slowly massaging her temples one at a time while the other kept stroking the feline balancing on her knees. "Normally I wouldn't complain. But most of these guys don't even know what a coffee machine is ... I can kinda see Ismene trying to cut a bus in half. 'Die, metal dragon!' and all. And we kinda stick out like s - wait a sec ... " Suddenly alarmed, Nemo's head jerked in all directions. "Where's Ismene?"

[Sky Lily]

"DIE METAL DRAGON!"

... would have been fairly hilarious in that moment, if not also alarming. But thankfully, this wasn't one of those times.

"Right here Naira," Ismene instead called out with a wave of her furred hand as she slung herself over the safety railings and back onto land, no longer the feral werecat from moments before, but a (mostly) ordinary woman with sopping wet armor and a miserable looking dragonling huddled around her shoulders.

"Totally..." *gasp* "Totally fine! Really! But I can't say the same for the little wormsh*t over there," the warrior gestured over her shoulder with her thumb toward the unconscious skyworm mass in the ocean just behind her. "Hey... Think I could... tame it or somethin'?"

It was mostly a joke.

... Mostly.

She took a moment to wring out her hair. "... Also, where exactly are we? This place is kind of loud!"

It should be noted at this point that Ismene, herself, was talking at an unecessarily high volume. The poor adventurer wasn't used to such urban lands.

She was, however, used to being thrown into completely unexpected situations, hence her lack of reaction to the sky-scraping "stone" towers just in the distance. Someone would explain that to her soon enough, anyway.

[JunoZXV]

Juno was nowhere to be found, or rather as soon as they had gotten to New york he made a B-line for the nearest convenience store, only to show up about 5 minutes after Nay's recap with a white bag of groceries.

"Words, words, words. Point is were here in the city! And I got some things! Here..."

Juno pulled out from the bag a series of consumables and started handing them out. Probably because he was in full tourist mode.

"Lol Juice for Nay, Canned tuna for the Derp thing. Perky Turkey Hurkey Jerky for the Tightass, and for Isemene..."

He paused pulling out the triangle wrapped confection from the bag, in its frosty sugar coated glory.

"An Oreo Cornetto."

There was a light pause.

"What? I figured after all the stuff going down, we could use a little pick me up."

[Windra]

Okay, really, Ismene was handling this better than she had been credited for. Cheryl didn't seem perturbed in the least about this. Naira, however, crossed her arms and nodded, smiling in approval.

"I don't know if I ever told you about Earth, but this is basically where I'm from. And this city is one of the most populous ... well, not really, but close ... definitely one of the more popular ... in the world." There was a paved clearing nearby with some kind of huge, monumental Sphere carved of steel propped in the center of a fountain. Naira and Cheryl slipped that way, kneeling by the water. The half-dragon routinely ran her hands through the fluid while Cheryl looked on. "There's been several changes. Didn't this used to be between the Trade towers?"

Flinging her violet hair from her face, Cheryl shook her head. "It got moved here once they dug it out. Were supposed to move it again sometime last year, but you know New York ... always procrastinating."

"It looks better over here anyway."

And then Juno came back, plucking trinkets into each of their hands. Naira held her cup of coffee high like it was the grandest trophy ever to be had. She coddled it close and took sips with a small squeak. "Damn straight, I could kiss you right now." This being said with a general prance back towards Ismene. It'd been a long time since she had coffee. REAL coffee.

"Who's the tightass?" Cheryl bit, suddenly frowning ... until the bag was plopped into her open palm, where murder flashed across her eyes. "Very funny, pink midget." Bitterly opening the snack, she added, "At least I'm not going through a gender crisis."

Moon Moon was all over his snack. Affection was displayed by rubbing against Juno's legs. Irony!

Naira stopped, suddenly struck by a thought. A wary glance about showed worry. Her gaze fell upon the passersby , seemingly miffed that none of them appeared bothered by the ... off appearances of those who had just arrived from nowhere. "How come we're not being stared at? I mean ... weird hair, fuzzy ears, tails. weapons ... "

"It's New York. Do you think anybody cares?" But Cheryl was fishing through her pockets while stating this. Tossing the empty, crumpled jerky wrapper into a nearby trashcan, the goth Reaver handed each of them a small plastic card tied off to a piece of nylon, to be worn about the neck as a form of identification. "There's some huge anime convention going on today. You'll blend in."

Naira stared at her's. "I suddenly feel like a nerd."

"There was never a question about that, luv," jested Cheryl. She stepped back with a dismissive hand gesture. "I'm gonna gather the gang. Meet up at the Dive tonight, be there by ten."

"The gang?"

Before her question could be answered, Cheryl was gone - not having walked away, but teleporting. In broad daylight. Nobody nearby seemed to mind ... Live someplace so unusual and soon everything just makes it's own weird kind of sense ...

Donning her convention tag, Naira chugged at the java. She plucked a rather large keyring of various lockpicks in varying sizes from her longcoat, casually jingling it. "Suppose we could stop by my old lurking spot, if it hasn't been ransacked. And - oh, skyworm ... if it doesn't drown ... " From her tone, the thought that it might die in the ocean was not something that concerned her. Naira shook her head, held her arms out to either side, and grinned exponentially. "Who wants a tour of the city?!"

Bribing the naked Times Square cowboy to hug an Ismene or Juno? Awkward moment of the century that was going to happen.

[Sky Lily]

"And for Ismene..." Juno said as he held something out to the warrior in question: "an Oreo Cornetto."

Said warrior did blink in mild bewilderment of the thing being held out in front of her, and she took it carefully with her free hand to examine it a little more closely. Huh. It was cold, and kind of like ice? But from what she could make of what was already melting, it smelled... sweet.

"What?" I figured after all the stuff going down, we could use a little pick me up."

Ismene took a tentative lick at the ice cream... and was visibly pleasantly surprised by its taste. She grinned and happily took a bite at the top of the cone, taking some of the cream with it as Shadi stretched his tongue out to catch a falling droplet. "No idea what the hell this is," she managed to say once she'd swallowed at least some of it, "but thanks, Juno."

"How come we're not being stared at?" Naira then asked somewhere behind her. "I mean ... weird hair, fuzzy ears, tails. weapons ... "

"Fwut?" Ismene replied through another mouthful and a wipe of her sleeve. " In what world are people not used to weapons?"

But then Cheryl gave her an odd looking necklace with some papery square attached, which the warrior could only assume had some sort of disguise charm on it or whatever.

"Huh... clever."

She slung the thing on with a shrug and resumed enjoying her oreo cornetto. The charm-giver then departed, but not before leaving them with the message to join her with the rest of some 'gang' later on. Naira returned her attention to those who had remained.

"Suppose we could stop by my old lurking spot, if it hasn't been ransacked. And - oh, skyworm ... if it doesn't drown ... "

"Mm. Fair enough." She gave the last piece of cone to her begging dragonling and hoped that he would keep it down.

And at the invite to a tour of the city, Ismene gave a thumbs up. "Sounds good! I should try and get familiar with the place, anyway. Are there any dangers I should be aware of, or what? And why do none of these people carry a single..." Ismene trailed off as she continued to stare at the passerbys, hand still on her halberd. Strange cloths, strange hats, strange shoes, and no weapons. How did any of them travel safely? And what was that zooming sound she kept hearing in the background? (This, of course, was answered when the woman finally noticed the speeding metallic shapes beyond Battery Park's decoratively planted trees. The hell?) She had to admit, the place was starting to feel a little unsettling. But she was going to keep her cool for as long as she could manage.

The warrior shook her head. "Okay, I've got lots of questions that I feel can only be answered with a tour. So... I'm all for one."

[JunoZXV]

(This is all I could think of at the moment. But it feels silly enough that I couldn't resist.)

"Fine by me! Oooh do we get to take a cab? Tell me we get to take a cab!"

Juno perked up yelling as he walked toward the street, yelling:

"YELLOW CAR!"

[Windra]

"I was gonna suggest a subway ... "[color] Naira uttered, shaking her head slowly. "I mean, cabs take forever ... and ... "

She paused suddenly as one particular cab passed her. Mismatched orbs took note of the number adorning its trunk - 13 - and the Reaver ran after it, waving her arms about franticaly. It was a good thing that coffee cup was empty by now, or java would be spilling everywhere, dousing her with hot fluid and burning the living hell outta her.

"Yo, stop!"

It must have been amusing to watch a woman with a dragon's tail chase a car halfway down the road. Even moreso when the black cat that was Moon Moon kept on her heels, mewling to enunciate his confusion and fear of getting left behind in a place he wasn't familiar with. They didn't have to run long. Whoever drove the vehicle took note of the flailing being and pulled over. Naira stemmed her run to a job and carted herself towards the window.

Leaning through the open glass, she spoke with fervor an a massive grin. A bronzened hand of age and wear reached out of the car to rustle her hair, leaving it aright mess. More words were spoken - muted to the others by distance - but the deal was sealed by a bumping of fists. Nemo shook her head to force her hair to fall back in place, waving the others over.

"Free ride, c'mere!"

Three of the cab's four doors popped open on their own.

Here was an odd occurrence.

Gravelings.

The little things were invisible to most humans ... Unless you were dead or undead, the little Death-Dealers were invisible. There were five of them hurrying off to some unknown destination, but upon seeing Naira, they screeched to a halt and gawked from the sidewalk. They huddled close in a mass of whispers, chuckled several times, and dispersed in noxious brown plumes of smoke ... leaving not a trace behind.

[Sky Lily]

(( sorry for the late reply D: ))

Ismene would have never fathomed that people dared to ride the roaring beasts of the road beyond, but lo and behold, Naira summoned one with no more than a sprint and a few waves. As soon as she was beckoned to come over, the warrior did approach-- but she did so at a slow and tentative walk.

The thing jittered and quivered in place as it continued to snarl, and in Ismene's world, such signs from a moving thing were always taken as aggressive warning. Yet neither Juno nor Naira, nor the man inside the beast seemed to have any qualms about it. This was new. What kind of... creature, was a cab anyway?

Just to make sure of whether this might just be an enchanged item of some sort, the were-woman placed a hesitant hand on the beast's hide, only to realize that it was shockingly warm. Definitely alive in her book.

"Whoa..."

And with that, a very intrigued and mesmerized Ismene scooted into the backseat.