Apparently, the big green-eyed brown... thing was "being quiet". That statement would quickly lose all of whatever meaning it might've had once a child began singing and dancing around in a most mortifying way, and someone else had thrown a rock so high up it was almost out of sight. Yeah, after that had happened, "being quiet" was the last thing that green-eyes was doing. Aleph was at least glad the other cub got swiped at, because that one was really only embarrassing itself there. Everything else though, namely the shouting, was terrifying, and the sound of rapid, aggressive flapping of wings in the darkness only magnified that terror. You know, the terror that Aleph absolutely didn't feel because they were "too cool" for it.

Green-eyes said to run, and in that moment, Aleph felt very conflicted about what to do. Which is not a response you should have when someone tells you to run from danger, but hey, this is Aleph we're talking about; stupid brave, insecure self-assured, childish impeccably awesome Aleph. Was running cool? Running didn't seem very cool. Running didn't seem Aleph's speed! But um... in this potentially deadly situation, what was?

Green-eyes ran, the rock-thrower ran, the green-horn ran, and that ridiculous singer... ran? Well, uh, they were all running. So Aleph would as well! Except not like the singer was, because the singer seemed completely out of it, which Aleph totally was not! So Aleph just ran in a different direction than everyone else (which was a bit hard to do), leapt behind a rock big (more like small) enough to cover them, and cowered positioned themself heroically so that they would not be foolishly destroyed, as the singing dancer running in circles out there probably would be.

Aleph wasn't scared. No, not at all! Haha, lightning? Thunder? Monsters in the sky?? Child's play! And Aleph, well, Aleph was no child.

...

Wait--

@Orthoclase-Alpha @Aran @James @Akaari

About sixty of the winged terrors swept down from the ceiling, to begin with--though the movements of many, many more were audible beyond. And all of them dove low, screeching and squeaking, ears trembling as they caught the shape of the room and their targets by sound alone.

The mass of them swept for Akaari, claws and fangs rending for her flesh and fur. Unless something drastic happened to save her, they might consume her entirely in seconds--or force her back into her chrysalis, if she were lucky, to recover.

@Orthoclase-Alpha

It could hear the clattering of hooves in two directions - James and the deer had gone, then. Cat paws were harder to hear, but singing? Clear as day. Toxic-green eyes peered up and over the rock, quills pricking silently. The cub was going in circles, calling to the sky and raising a ruckus.

On one hand, it would at least draw the swarm close. On another, how do these rock-spawn survive on their own?! Alpha stared as the Batcats swept down, descending like a dark cloud full of snarling teeth and slashing fangs.

It considered leaping out now, while the Juniors were swarming the cub - it shoved off the moral ramifications of an it's me or her attitude, for now - but hung back. While enraged and feeding, they'd just turn on it. Best to wait for the swarm to disperse after they ate. There'd likely be stragglers - weaker ones or those that didn't make it into the center for a bite. Sniffing around for scraps.

Well, if they were anything like Lesser rats.

The orthoclase stayed put, and kept its heartrate low.

@James @Alrik @Aran @Akaari (i'm so sorry sweetie)

James poked his head out from behind the rock, eyes widening to saucers as he watched the creatures come spiraling down like something straight out of a horror movie. His magic moved long before he did, and he found himself trying to conjure a shield, something strong that would hopefully hold.

He leaped over the rock, tail like a flag behind him as a shield shimmered to life around him in a perfect orb. He crashed through the mob and stood protectively over the cub, who had such a familiar shape of his dearest friend that he couldn't help but think of the lion. He shook his head and pushed the shield further, forcing it to remain steady even as he watched the monsters rage outside of it. It would not fall... not if he could help it.

"Get up!" he said, "Don't give up, okay? K-keep dancing, keep their attention on us, please."

James turned his head to look in the direction of where he'd last seen Alpha, and inhaled deeply, trying to get as much air into his lungs as possible, "HELP US!! PLEASE!!"

Even James knew that the moment this shield fell, they were done for. He could only hope that someone could use their distraction to pick off the monsters and try to kill them before the shield collapsed.

@Orthoclase-Alpha @Alrik @Akaari @Aran

When the things the green-eyed one was talking about came...

...they came like the racing wheels of a train down the tracks, by the dozens, so clustered and rapid they barely left holes of space between their wings; they came, like the train of death, leading the fallen to their terminus. Except the train itself had no end. Only its passengers did.

And now, it appeared that, because of this other cub's foolishness, she would be hopping aboard herself.

Someone came forth to save her, bearing a shield of some kind; magic? It was shiny, and awe-inspiring, much more awe-inspiring than the green-eyed one was being at this point (sitting there in its lowly position, less like a rock and more like a coward). Aleph's eyes, for a moment, peaked out from behind their hiding place, and watched the horrifying image of all those creatures swarming down onto the little cub and the shield bearer. It was terrifying, and awesome, and so, so miserable.

Aleph, yet again, didn't know what to do.

Go out there, face those bloodthirsty creatures, and end up like the cub and shield bearer? Or be a coward like the green-eyed one, and keep hiding?

What was "cool" and what was "not" were often on Aleph's mind, but not now. The Pallas' kitten had never seen danger like this before. They knew they couldn't do everything they wanted yet. They knew they didn't have that kind of power yet. They had to grow to get it, right? They had nothing, and deep down they knew this, and it was shattering them from the inside out.

And while Aleph slowly shattered, survival instincts kept their paws rooted to the ground. They would not move, even if they screamed at the universe for just the ability to. They would not move. They could not move. They would not move. And it hurt. I'm so sorry.

But something was screaming. Something close. Something coming directly from Aleph's mouth-- wait, that was THEM. "HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP!!!!!" they were shouting, with all their might. They didn't even know why, or how, or what? And once they realized it, instincts clamped their jaw shut and shoved their head back behind the rock.

@Aran @James @Akaari @Orthoclase-Alpha

table coded by banshee | for free use!

I think for slightly graphic description?

Just remember, darling, all the while. You belong to me.

~ ~

Thus the apocalypse was down upon them, with the sound of hell on their wings and burning fire in their claws. How could one measure time? Is each second a sharp fang against the skin? Each minute the tearing of flesh from bone? Perhaps one could feel the ticking pass them by in the nattering of hungry mouths and the clacking of claws on her skeleton.

Having felt such joy at being useful she was now cast aside like a forgotten ragdoll, not even to sit on a shelf to be marvelled at. Her eyes were shut tight, though it would not help in saving those fragile eyelids from being targeted, and fearful cries were being torn from her throat with every new clump of fur and dermis that was stolen from her. 'Get up! Don't give up, okay? K-keep dancing, keep their attention on us, please.' Did she hallucinate those words, was she not alone? Did she even have ears any more? Skin? Eyes? A body? "Savages, savages -" Was that blood she could taste or just her own tongue? "We want your blood." The words were no longer a song but the screams of sinners in the pits of hell, hoarse and broken. Keep the attention on them. She was trying. Was that even her voice anymore? Did she do well? Could she still be upon the floor or was she back in the ruined buildings, a story to tell Archimedes beginning to form on her lips as she muttered the different endings to herself? Yes, she was definitely back in the ruined buildings, on her back, her tail fluttering against her nose, stone's beneath her and pushing against her body. Was that part real or a dream?

Was she free? Nothing was ripping her flesh from bone any more, was it? Yet every muscle was burning and she was leaking (water from eyes and liquid rubies from every part of her body, was she even grey any more?) and she couldn't move. But she had to dance. Move the paw, wave to the roof, wiggle that butt; nothing moved. Nothing responded.

The pressure started at her mouth, closing it so that she may not call for mercy or confess her sins. Spreading like a plague down her cheeks, her neck, torso, legs and paws. Until there was nothing left of that cub save for the pink that clawed its way out of her heart and enveloped her form. Hiding from the real world. With all that her skin was a furnace, nails digging into the wounds and tearing down until they could break her apart no more, hooks against her orifices as if her entire epidermis might be snatched from her body and left her muscles bare.

Then: blissful darkness. An entire nothingness.

As long as they could complete their quest everything was fine. Perhaps she'll get to congratulate them in the next life...

@James @Aran @Alrik @Orthoclase-Alpha

So many things were happening at once - gembounds screaming, the cat being swarmed. It was dangerous. This whole situation was dangerous. Aran found himself wanting to make it all stop, though he didn't have a spell to do such a thing. The cat was going to be at her terminus soon. The end. It was gross, all of it was. One of the others casted some form of something to try and help. Of course, Aran's legs found him moving before he could think about it.

Rearing up, he charged right into the swarm of them, throwing his head back to try and chase some, if not most of them off. He wouldn't die. He couldn't die. But he couldn't let someone right in front of his face die, either. Even if the cat was inside their chrysalis now. That asshole of a green thing with feathers was just sitting there. Though, the grey thing should have listened. Aran had, for a short time.

James' shield held them for a moment, a few slamming off and bouncing away--and then it broke against the battering, claws and fangs rending at the falling snow leopard cub. And then they drew back from the spreading chrysalis, and sought a new target.

The swarm of batcats had already numbered in the dozens, and at the cacophony of screeching--the Gembounds' screaming, and the scent of blood--the ceiling itself seemed to come alive. There were over a hundred of the creatures, though in the mass chaos of black, moving bodies it was hard to count how many... A hundred fifty? Two hundred?

For a moment they swept for James, seemingly unaware of those hiding close by--and then Aran was charging into their midst, a symbol of heroism... or foolishness. Whatever one wanted to call it, the swarm locked on its new target, and the black forms swept over Aran, covering him from sight in a heartbeat. He, like Akaari, might be consumed and killed quickly, if he was unlucky enough not to return to his chrysalis; the rest could take or leave this deadly situation as they saw fit...

The screeching was deafening, now.

@Aran @Akaari @James @Alrik @Orthoclase-Alpha

Aran managed to get the swarm away from the other two - at least for now. It wasn't long for the yelling to get louder and holy shit all of them were coming to him. In a flash of black Aran was swarmed. He would look something that of a creature made of the batcat jrs. though he was not. Aran was a deer and his skin was being yanked at by those things - as if he was a chewtoy.

He would hunt down that weird green thing when he got back.

Everything went dark. The chrysalis of the Barasingha replacing it.

James watched the shield crack, shatter, and fall apart, the batcats swarming down towards him. He squeezed his eyes shut and cowered, bracing himself, feeling claws- wait. His eyes opened and he watched them fly away, confused. Where were they going-

A shriek left his mouth as he watched the creatures attack the fellow grazer, his eyes widening in horror as yet another gembound was surrounded by their chrysalis due to injury.

He let out a whinny and turned, ears pinned, tears welling up and falling as he realized that... he'd failed. The shield erupted over him again, protecting him as he bolted away once again, teeth clenched. At least they were alive. They were all alive... Hopefully, he'd live, too.

Exit unless stopped.