ic Werewolves Are So Hot Right Now [IC]

[GooseInduced]

"Ugh. Between the wolf smell and the rotton eggs I can barely breathe in here." Skaere turned toward the door, taking a deep breath filled with hints of the outside world before turning back inside. When she did, the room had been illuminated by Sekhmet. Her bright green eyes focused on the caged wolves, feeling a bit of anger welling up inside herself. Pelts were everywhere. The hides of numerous wolves left dangling without care for the lives that were snuffed out in their retrieval. However Skaere felt no overwhelming kinship with them though. Yes, she was technically part wolf. Or at least, a part of her was, but she in her own mind was still more human than animal. Still, part of her felt a sense of loss for these creatures. It was more an instinct than an emotion. Her unconscious mind latching on where her human self tried to put distance between herself and the beasts.

 

"Why is that smell so strong? The... sulfur right? Smells fresh." She gave her big wolfy head a shake, as if it might help push the scent aside.

[trollthumper]

The wolves sniffed the air at Sekhmet's command. One of them stepped forward. "That rotten. Still here. Growing stronger. He coming."

Temperance, while, sniffed the air. She didn't have Skaere's refined senses, but even she was starting to pick up on the sulfur now. "You are right. That does smell particularly rank. It wasn't that bad before..." Something clicked in the back of Temperance's head. "I have a feeling whoever's responsible for this monstrosity is on their way back. So, to pivot on the earlier question - assume a position of stealth, or ring around him as soon as he appears and kick his teeth in?"

[Gizmo]

"I'd not bother with subterfuge," Set called, stepping back over to the others. Crimson electricity sparked at the far corners of the godling's eyes, looking like sharply violent rouge atop the brown-black lines above her cheekbones. "I expect our host already knows we're here. Most devils can smell souls quite a ways off." Turning to face the main entrance, she flexed her fingers a few times, expression dark. "Fortunately, the disposal of such filth is something of a shared area of interest twixt She Before Whom Evil Trembles and I."

Sekhmet, having crouched enough to place a reassuring hand behind the ears of the wolf who had stepped forward to speak of his haggard pack, rose to her full height, sun disk still illuminating the room with the light of day. "Aye." Without further discussion beyond that one snarled syllable, the goddess' fists erupted in gold flame, ready to do her righteous work.

[GooseInduced]

"Ugh. It's awful." The smell was so strong that Skaere could practically taste it. She smacked her lips together as her mouth worked, tongue darting out as if to wipe the taste away.

 

"My opinion stands. There is little I can't tear apart with my claws. Besides, I'm not so great at the stealthy thing." She reached out and ran her hand over one of the concrete supports. Her claws easily tearing through the top layer like butter. "Besides, whoever did this is a special kind of evil and deserves to know that their time is up and there is little they can do about it." While she didn't plan on killing whoever had done this, she wasn't against giving them a healthy dose of fear. After all, she was pretty scary.

 

Or so she thought.

[trollthumper]

"All right, then," said Temperance. "All-out brutality is fine with me, given the circumstances." She willed some water into her hands, swiftly collapsing it into an array of frosty bullets. "I'm not exactly fond of devils on the best of days. Throw in cruelty to animals, and I think I'm all out of subtlety for the night. Let's see what this jackass has to --"

Temperance was interrupted by the screeching sound of rending metal. The doors to the warehouse were being torn open, forming a man-sized hole. Through the hole clambered a snarling beast on two legs. It resembled the werewolf from earlier, but looked... cruder. Like someone had forcibly distorted a wolf into a bipedal monster. Sulfurous breath flew from its jaws - but that was nothing compared to the gust of rotten eggs that filled the air as a man stepped through the hole in the wall. He looked somewhat bestial himself, if in a more refined sense - dressed in a simple suit and a butcher's smock, with red fire in his eyes.

"Thought I smelled something," said the demon. "Or rather, my friend here did. Hence the need for... renovations." He looked to the group. "Hmm... traces of elementalism, you're not one of my customers, and... am I in the presence of divinity?" Strange black sparks began to ring his hands. "Oh, good. Because I have some... issues with divinity. Let's see if we can work them out."

[Gizmo]

"Methinks someone has mistaken his place in the proverbial food chain," Set drawled, gathering handfuls of inky, viscous shadow around her own fists as she regarded the demon and his pet with a smirk. "Shall we correct his assumption, ladies?"

Sekhmet responded with a primal roar that shook the rafters of the warehouse, her sundisk flaring with solar fury as she charged for the hellhound. A haymaker punched wrapped in golden flame cracked into the beast's jaw without mercy and adding the acrid smell of burning hair to the foul brimstone stench around them. The goddess' stance was unmistakably feline and predatory even as she remained in human form, ready to press her advantage.

A pair of globules of shadowstuff followed quickly behind her, smacking into the crumbling wall on either side of the demon's head. Hopping up atop the workbench and giving him an infuriating, toying look, the godling gestured with one upraised hand for the unholy creature to try his luck.

[trollthumper]

As Sekhmet struggled with the bound wolfman, doing some damage to the infernal servant, the demon neatly ducked Set's bolts of shadow stuff. "Congratulations," he said. "She Before Whom Evil Trembles, the Lady of Slaughter, the woman who almost slew the entire world... has managed to get the upper hand on some mutt I shoved one of the Legions in." He looked back to Set, and the god could see the predator pacing behind the demon's eyes. "You're one to talk of the food chain. So thin. So brittle. Whatever happened to the man of chaos? The one who strode the world with all the darkness of night and the soul as his very shadow? Do you really think you are one to tell me of place?"

 

"Well, if he won't..." 

 

The temperature dropped several degrees as the ice in Temperance's hands grew sharp and spiny. "You think you've found a kingdom up here. A place of strays on two legs and four. Brutalize the latter so that the former can have desperate little fantasies, never knowing the true cost. You're one to talk of the high and mighty when you're willing to crawl into the smallest of corners."

 

The ice flew across the room at breakneck speed - but the demon still was quicker, dodging the volley nimbly. "I at least have places to climb to," he said, "whereas your friends seem to be on the way down."

[GooseInduced]

As the Demon and his... pet came in Skaere did not sit idle. Seeing the warped creature accompanied with the smell made bile rise her her throat. But beyond the physical response was anger. Pure, unrefined anger. Something in her, more like than not her instincts, recognized how wrong the scene before her was. He couldn't be allowed to continue his work.

 

After she watched Sekhmet busy the wolf and her other allies try their hand with the Demon, Skaere decided that the big guy would be the biggest threat for now. Using her speed and agility, she bound her large frame across the room. "Shut up you disgusting creep." The werewolf used her momentum, putting her weight behind the attack as her clawed hand sliced through the air. Only that was it, just air. She'd turned her body into the attack and made her next step stumble. She was exposed. Her eyes went wide when she realized how open for retaliation she was.

[trollthumper]

GM

The twisted beast howled terribly as Sekhmet's claws ran through its flesh. Blinded by fury - and perhaps the aftereffects of its infernal transformation - it took a wild swing at her, charging to try and push the goddess down. But she was faster, and the beast was left to snarl in frustration, dancing to try to match her movements.

The demon, meanwhile, looked down at Skaere as he effortlessly dodged her onslaught. "Well, you're interesting," he said. "You're not one of the pretenders; you have the true wolf blood in you. Or one of the strains - there are so many types of you nowadays that I find myself crowded out of the market. And if there's one thing I've always hated... it's competition." He glared at her, and a wave of shimmering heat fell on Skaere, one that quickly coalesced into flame. "Imagine what I could make from the pelt of a true werewolf..."

[Gizmo]

"Aw, you noticed I lost weight, how sweet! Gluten-free works wonders," Set called back to the demon, feigning a mixture of self-conscious modesty and pleased preening. Sekhmet responded with actions rather than words, ducking under the hellhound's swipe and bobbing back up to deliver a fiery uppercut that caught the beast under its jaw and lifted it just slightly off of the ground. Capitalizing on its unbalance the warrior goddess grabbed one of its forelegs and twisted, slamming her opponent into the warehouse floor and pinning it with a knee pushed into the small of its back. With a snarl, she threw her weight into the painful hold.

When the hellhound's master turned his sadistic attentions to Skaere, Set's expression soured into a snarl of her own. "I do not recall giving you permission to switch dance partners." From her tabletop perch, the godling made a series of grasping arcane gestures and the shadow globules dripping down the warehouse wall behind the demon sprang into movement again, lashing out like tentacles of tar. "All the darkness of night and the soul, hm?" Cracking like whips the tentacles ensnared the demon and continued to spread, enveloping him in shadowstuff.

[trollthumper]

The hellhound struggled under Sekhmet's divine grip, trying to break free from the goddess' incredible might. The wolf snarled and spat in her grip, and - at times - whimpered in distress. When it seemed like the wolf-man might yield, however, his body convulsed with terrible fury, and the whimpers turned to growls of anger. But despite all that, it still could not break Sekhmet's hold.

Temperance, meanwhile, looked on the demon, who was struggling with the confines of Set's shadows. "I'm sorry," she said, "what was that about ascending? You seem to be struggling to stay on your feet." She flung her bullets towards the hellhound, careful to avoid Sekhmet - she'd been working on her aim since the incident in Boston. The balls of ice managed to strike the beast, one catching him right on the temple, shutting off his growls - at least, for a second or two.

[GooseInduced]

Skaere felt a pit of dread grow in her gut when the demon turned it's gaze upon her. She swallowed thickly, managing to suck in a deep breath as that voice sent a chill down her spine. She knew then exactly what this... thing thought of her. She was nothing to him, worth only what he could do with her pelt. She knew whatever he had planned for her would she was powerless to stop. 

 

She saw it before she felt it. The air around her shimmered and distorted before exploding with heat. The werewolf yelped, whining as her fur burn under the heat. Even through the pain her anger grew, and her eyes glowed with a furious green as she snarled. She wasn't going to hold back next time.

[trollthumper]

GM

The smell of burning fur filled the air as Skaere struggled with the flames. Even though the thick shadows kept the demon's form tightly obscured, Set could have sworn he made out the ghost of a smile under it. "It is strange to see a prince of darkness holding with such mixed company," he said; even under the thick embrace of darkness, his words were still as arch and acidic as before. Only now, they were louder and off-balance, as the demon attempted to compensate for his imposed deafness. "If you knew anything of darkness, it has left you long behind. No. That's not it. It's hiding. It does not recognize you, and you will not recognize it. I wonder which is worse? You think you can dance in the light as if nothing has happened. But it has. And it remembers. All of it."

[Gizmo]

Set waited until the demon's fiery blasts had worn through the shadowy cocoon enough to expose his face before laughing right in it. "If you think long memories worry me you've clearly never had a Twitter following, sweetie. Oh, you may wish to duck." The warning gave the demon just enough time to turn his head before Sekhmet hurled the hellhound like a shot put directly at its master. The pair collided with a chorus of groans and audible cracks, the rest of the shadowstuff collapsing into liquid darkness around the demon's buckling knees.

Still atop the table at the center of the warehouse, Set narrowed her eyes an raised both hands, letting crimson electricity arc between her fingers. "You sulfur riddled simpletons always think 'darkness' tis the sole shorthand for 'power'. Darkness tis a hobby. I'm of the storm, little thing; I don't dance in light, I dance in lightning." Thunder exploded overhead like cannon fire as ruby lances on energy streaked down, shattering the warehouse's skylight in glittering teardrops before skewering the demon over and over again.

Sekhmet had no wordplay to waste upon the fiend but she was not yet finished contributing to the exchange. With acrid smoke rising from the demon she charged forward with a leoine roar that rivaled Set's thunder and delivered a roundhouse kick to his stomach, his beaten form folding almost in half where her sandal clad foot struck.

[trollthumper]

The demon snarled at Set's tart words, but not as much as the hellhound snarled when it collided with him at high speed. Both hit the ground, a mass of infernal flesh and twisted fur. The scent of brimstone and desperation rose off of both as the demon locked blazing eyes with Set. "You... you really think you can command --?"

 

"As much as I love this clash of wits," said Temperance, "I think I know whose pull of dark forces is bigger." With that, she conjured up another storm of frost, but she no longer had any reason to remain all that precise. She unleashed the full force of the volley on both the demon and his minion. The hellhound let up howls of pain, but they were soon drowned out by the anguished screams of the demon. The thing resembling a man fell to the ground, the scream shifting in pitch as his form ran and melted, leaving nothing but the scent of burning ichor and a ruined suit. 

 

The hellhound, meanwhile, stumbled to its feet, bruised, battered, and quite confused. It scanned the room, the feral rage still clear on its features... but there seemed to be confusion in its eyes. As if it didn't know why it was still fighting...

[GooseInduced]

The werewolf's fur was still sizzling when her assailant went down. It would take her a few more moments to fully shake off that attack. She just... hadn't been quiet prepared for what he was going to throw at her. It had been instant, all consuming... thinking about it sent a shiver down her spine. She noted the hellhound rising as Skaere untucked her shoulders from the protective position she had vainly tried to curl into.
 
It was still angry but... she could tell it was scared too, confused. She could smell it even over the acrid stench of decaying furs. Without the demon there was a chance, a small one but a chance, that she might be able to talk it down. "Woah. Brother-" At least, she thinks its a guy. Hopefully she isn't wrong on that front. "Easy. There is no more reason to fight. We do not want to hurt you. He was controlling you yes? Using you to hunt and kill? It's over. The demon has been reduced to ashes."
 

[trollthumper]

The hellhound just looked at Skaere, confused. That fury was still there, but it seemed to be fighting for every inch of control. The hound twitched like a puppet caught in its own strings as black coils of smoke rose off of it. Soon, the air was thick and acrid, obscuring everything. There was a long howl like heartbreak...

...and then there was just a wolf, standing in the middle of the warehouse and looking quite dazed. It stumbled on its paws, as if trying to regain its balance. When that seemed like a losing proposition, it sat down on all fours, just looking towards the door.

"I do believe we may have convinced him to abandon his practice," said Temperance. "Good work for the night. Though I believe we may need to call Animal Control..."

[Gizmo]

Set hopped down from the table, brushing lingering motes of shadowstuff and lightning from her fingertips and looking immensely pleased with herself as she walked over the rejoin the group. "And I worried my 'pull on dark forces' had escaped your notice, oh blizzardy beauty," she quipped to Temperance with a satisfied smirk, conspicuously adjusting the straps of her cross halter. Her expression turned more serious as she surveyed the warehouse. "Once we have seen to the beasts, the contents of this blasphemous lair would be best burned to ashes. Many nasty little toys I would not care to see fall into other hands."

Sekhmet walked over to the former hellhound and took a seat on the warehouse floor nearby, gracefully crossing her legs beneath her. She did not reach out or otherwise invade the animal's personal space but remained a comfortingly immovable presence. "Aye, the reek of degradation and fell bargains be thick here. Better to cleanse it with purifying flame."

[GooseInduced]

Skaere didn't know quiet what she expected the hell hound to do. Though the twitching and smoke and heartbreaking howl was not high on her list. It left her feeling an emptiness in her own heart, wolf like brow furrowing as she crouched low. She watched Sekhmet approach the animal, sitting herself down near it with her feline grace. She decided to follow suit. She moved on all fours, her more human proportions making her posture hunched and but no less animal. She kept herself the same distance from the wolf as Sekhmet, not taking her eyes off the animal.
 
"Burn it down." She said, voice soft but firm. She was crouched low and cocked her head to the side. Green eyes studied the wolf carefully and she made a slight whining noise in her throat  "What will happen to him? Will they kill him?" The howl still rang in her ears, she couldn't bare it. Maybe she could save him somehow. Take him with her. Take all of them. Start her own little pack.

[trollthumper]

Temperance looked at the wolves that surrounded them, as well as the one that lay on the ground. She didn't really have the finest grasp on the operating procedures of Freedom City's Animal Control, nor did she have a solid idea of if any threat remained in the wolves. Yes, the demon was gone and the beast he'd made was banished... but he may have a way of tracking the wolves and shoving more of those demons inside them. And yet...

"We can make sure of it," she said. "I'm not an authority on the way of wolves, but we can plead our case to the authorities and make sure they're not destroyed. We may need to tap somebody to vouch that they're not a threat, occult or otherwise, but I'm fairly sure the authorities have some compassion for animals who've been abused in this fashion. I believe there are a few sanctuaries outside the city, where they can be nursed back to health before being returned to the wild."

[GooseInduced]

Skaere looked back at Temperance, her large wolf like ears pressed flat against her head and making her look sad and unsure. "I don't want them to die." She gestures around them, looking up at the hanging pelts. "Too many have died already. They deserve to be free. In the wild." The last part was for herself more than anything. These were wild animals. She couldn't take him home, as much as she wanted to. But maybe... Maybe she could get involved with whatever organization helps them.
 
She turned to Sekhmet. "I know you are more of a cat person but... Do you think they will be alright?"