o9 . the fall of clockhouse

[clocktowers]

Who: clocktowers, housemates, and enemies.
What: A surviving piece of the dream burns to the ground. There are casualties.
When: mid-July
Where: Gaze

Comments

THE FIRE BEGINS

[the_obedient_servant]

[After the earthquake came a fire. After the flood, after the beast was calmed, after the heroes had crawled their way to a safe haven to lick their wounds and recover, there came a Reckoning. That is how the fallen child thinks of what is to come.

It’s in the early morning when it happens, a figure, no taller than five feet, carrying a gallon of cold blood in a glass bottle, begins the process of creating an inferno bright enough to snuff out this place of safety, to force them from their hiding places and into the wide and hostile world. It’s not a complicated ritual, only a simple outline of the house mixed with their own darkblood to have the flames build near instantly.

It’s within seconds that the outside of the building has gone up in flames, to the point that escape out of the front entrance is impossible without being badly burned. It’s within moments that the smoke starts pouring into the main hall, and Chara begins to step inside, a small satisfied smile on their face. To Vira-Lorr and Reaper, they nod. There was a caveat to the blood ritual necessary to start the fire to keep them both unharmed from the flames and the smoke, though they doubted Reaper needed it.]

Well then. Let’s get to work, shall we?

(General toplevels for the beginning of the event go here!)

Vira-Lorr (OTA: Note - Character Death impending)

[onerthes]

[Vira-Lorr did not look herself. The evil had taken hold and with it, there were cracks and fissures all along her body as vie-blood threatened to leak its way through cracks. She was standing dangerously close to Chara, her body posture almost possessive in the way that it came off. She had a cruel looking blade and her three eyes glittered dangerously with purple, rimmed with black all through the sclera. The way that she breathed didn't seem entirely healthy to begin with.]

I... won't let anyone hurt you as long as I draw breath.

[And that, if anyone knew her, was what had taken root in Vira-Lorr when she'd been possessed. It was the possessive and protective side of her, the one that was aware that she was protecting a deeply dangerous person, but that had been trying to protect them for years now.]

If you're set on this, I'm here.

[Her lips were set in a thin grimace as she pushed through the flames, flanking Chara. She'd have so many things to say in the aftermath of all of this, but for the moment she could think of nothing other than her almost motherly protection of someone she saw as her responsibility.]

(OOC: Vira-Lorr's killer is open-ended. Whoever wants to deal the killing blow can take it. First come first served. She's very obviously corrupted and possessed by Evil and not in her right mind. I'd prefer she not actually be successful in protecting to the tune of killing someone else.)

[no_reload]

[Reaper hadn't taken much convincing once he had discovered Maul was dead. It fanned the flames of the old itch based around revenge, so when Chara had come looking for another to join the motley crew of revenge seekers, he hadn't hesitated.

He waited at the backside of the house where it was most likely the occupants would flee the flames that spread at the front of the house. He waited until the ritual had been started, when the flames and smoke began to rise and clearly spread before he moved in closer to the house.

He expected they would meet in the middle and work their way in a systematic sweep to find and kill any stranglers. Revenge ran as hot as fire, and someone important had been stolen from him even temporarily. He entered the building and concentrated to sense the sources of life close to him.]

They haven't escaped the house yet. [Let's hunt some rats.]

[onekindsoul]

[Ruby was normally up early enough to get some training in and work on Crescent Rose before the day truly began. So she was down in her workshop when the fires first started to build around the house.

She's quick to grab whatever gear she can before she escapes the basement only to find the house quickly burning down around her. She was lucky in the sense that her cold blood made it hard for her to feel the heat rising down around her, a little less lucky in the sense that it also made it hard for her to know when to bail out of a situation.

She runs to the stairs leading up to the second floor and shouts out.]

Hey! Is anyone up!? We have to get out of here!

[And that's when she hears the back door open up and she catches sight of Reaper of all people there entering. ...She hadn't known exactly what anyone had done to upset him or anyone else that could be doing this.

She'll take cover behind the wall next to the stairs and peer over with Crescent Rose in it's rifle form.]

I'm guessing you aren't here to help, huh?

[And then she'll move to fire a warning shot past his shoulder more to see if she was dealing with a "Friendly" Reaper or an Angry Reaper.

She had a feeling he wouldn't find it that offensive if he was trying to help.]

[no_reload]

[Reaper was tracking those life forms in a certain air, and he knew when one was coming his way. He identified Ruby by her call out as he stepped into the building, and his coat flared as the air rushed out as he walked in.

Normally, he was a troll to her, impartial at best until she annoyed him. He was in no mood for pleasantries today. This was all about revenge.

He twisted and rotated behind a pillar near the door to avoid her gun fire.]

I'd say it's a shame you live here, but this has been a long time coming.

[He leaned out from the pillar and returned fire at her before he was moving out, using the smoke to his advantage when it came to obscuring himself.]

welcome to the profound and sweet world of witches; ange & chara

[entreats]

[ Ange is so tired.

She spends what feels like an eternity looking through the burning house - only barely managing to protect herself against the worst of the flames with her magic, but honestly not even caring too much about doing that in the first place. Because she can't find Ruby. No matter where she looks, no matter when she looks back and double checks, no matter that she can feel the house on the edge of collapse at one point, there's no Ruby. Nowhere. There's fire, and chaos, and fighting, but there's no Ruby anywhere.

And by the time there's little left of the house but a heap of burning rubble, Ange has to face the reality that the other girl is gone. She's caught glimpses of others dying or escaping, but no Ruby. As she stands outside the house, soot on her face and hands from her desperate search, Ange has to come to terms with the fact that the other is gone, and since Ruby would never leave her without saying anything, it can only mean one thing.

Ange is so tired. So tired of this month, and its dumb weather, and its dumb newly arriving witches, and the dumb dumb stuff that keeps happening lately, and how it has now taken even her home, and the girl she loves more than the world itself. And for what?

Ange is so tired, and angry.

So when she spots Chara walking away, apparently content with what their actions have caused, there's no way Ange can stay quiet. She takes a few quick steps, following in the direction they seem to be going, and then raises a hand to make a wall of golden spears rise out of the ground, right in front of Chara. (It is at least definitely in front of them to stop them, rather than right underneath their feet to pierce them, however tempting that might have been to immediately go for.) ]

Where do you think you're going?

[the_obedient_servant]

[They could, of course, escape this.

[MERCY]

* Spare
* Flee

But of course they have absolutely no intention of doing so. They have no interest in showing mercy, even as an acknowledgement of respect between witches or demons or loopers. They turn on their heel without a word and meet Ange's hateful glare with a measured look of their own.

There is a dull apathy to their black eyes, like watching a story they do not particularly care for unfold. Something Ange is surely used to by now.]

Ms Ushiromiya. A pleasure to meet you at last. [Meant sincerely, despite everything. Witches respect eachother, at least out loud. It's an important rule.]

Are you sure you wish to proceed? [She'd be foolish to, but it's not like Chara can't understand what could motivate her to do so. They did just burn down her house...]

[entreats]

[ It's strange. Even though the only time Ange has paid any real attention to Chara was during the dumb karate tournament when they fought Ruby, it's as if she knows what they are the moment Chara turns around to face her like that. The moment they look at each other, exchanging gazes.

Like a moment of understanding that, in a way, they are the same. No, not the same, but similar. It explains a lot about Chara too. Why they do this, despite looking so young. Why their match against Ruby mostly felt like one of manipulation. Back then Ange wrote it off as just some child being edgy. But now she understands that she is staring right into the eyes of a witch. That cold, unfeeling nature, like they don't feel a thing about all the pain they just caused. It's exactly like that.

Common sense ought to make Ange stop at that, given the strength she has seen coming from witches back home. But it's not as if Ange, or any Ushiromiya for that matter, has ever backed down in the face of something as silly as common sense. ]

More sure than I've ever been of anything.

[ Before she's even done speaking, Ange raises her arm. Magic circles appear around her in the air, allowing the seven stakes to slip out of it and appear in this world. Without wasting a moment, Ange sends them flying right away, bouncing off surfaces too quickly for any non-witch to see, and moving in Chara's direction to gouge. ]

[the_obedient_servant]

[Chara smiles at her certainty. Her... determination. They have heard a great deal about this girl, from Sayo, and part of them has been curious to see what she's capable of.

It seems they've gotten their wish. They tighten their grip on their dagger as she moves in for the kill.

The Seven Stakes however, simply bounce off their skin as if rejecting the order. It's a command they can't follow after-all. By the rules of Mariage Sorciere, what is Beato's is also theirs, and of course the stakes were only inherited by Ange.

Chara laughs, slightly, little more than a chuckle.]

Then you'll have to do better than borrowed furniture, Ms Ushiromiya. [And as their magic meets, Chara brings their dagger up, and the burning cinders of the house fade away in favor of a plain black battleground.]

Let's begin.

[* The Witch of Resurrection blocks the way!

>[FIGHT]
[ACT]
[ITEMS]
[SPARE]

They leap forward with a slashing attack. Aimed to kill.]

[entreats]

[ The way the scenery around them seems to change isn't the surprising part here. Considering the sheer aura the other seems to radiate, Ange expected things to get really strange really quickly.

No - what surprises her here is what happens with the stakes. After all, Ange was never informed on any decisions on Sayo's part to expand Mariage Sorciere, which means she has absolutely zero idea of why the magic bounces off them like that. It shouldn't happen. Do they have some sort of anti-magic resistance? No, that's impossible if they're using some sort of magic themselves..

Ange realises she has no time to think about it though when she sees Chara lunging at her.

Logic can wait for later. Right now it's just time to fight. It's a good thing she's been practicing and shaping her own magic here, even though Ange isn't sure whether it's strong enough at all to face a fellow witch - but she'll have to try.

The stakes disappear into thin air, apparently useless here, and instead Ange raises her hands to make a magical wall shimmering with the power of Ange's darkblood rise in front of her, blocking the weapon. The magic seems to shine even more against the black backdrop. ]

You sure seem to think you know a lot about me.

[ With another movement of her hands, the magic shifts shapes into the crocodile head, trying to surround Chara and chomp down on them. ]

Closed to Willow

[no_reload]

[Reaper had sensed life upstairs, so once he had chased Ruby off, it was time to head upstairs to investigate. The smoke was thick up here, clogging up the hallway and forcing him to actually use a shotgun to tap against walls to search for doorways.

He made certain to add a rough humming over the crackle of the flames. There was life up here for now, but it was unclear to him if they were conscious or suffering from heat exhaustion or smoke inhalation. He'd find them. Oh yes, he'd locate them, especially as he grew closer to being able to pinpoint locations.]

[frogfear]

[It's clear right from the onset that this is a deliberate attack on their home. The fire starts from the outside and works its way in. Willow has two priorities; first, she wants to make sure everyone is out - or at least, that no one is trapped upstairs and second, now that she's back to herself again, and unable to use her own magic, she needs to arm herself. The timing is too convenient, even without knowing exactly who's responsible, she's fairly sure she knows why this is happening.

The threaded cane is just by the door in her room. She grabs the red cloak from Oscar too and pulls it around her shoulders. It won't offer much protection from the heat of the flames, but she can't bear to leave it behind, this gift offered as a welcome to the family she had found in the dream.

It's bad enough to lose her home. Again.

She crouches low to avoid the worst of the smoke, and covers her mouth with her sleeve to try to offer herself some protection as she shoves open the door to go find her own escape from the house. She hears the humming and freezes for a moment, holding the cane out in front of her defensively as she peers through the smoke, trying to spot who it is.

She has a strong feeling that it is not a friend.]

[no_reload]

[Over the crackle of the flames from below and around, Reaper picked out the sound of a door opening in the same direction that some of the life was coming from. Excellent, someone to interrogate if nothing else, though a shame time was limited before the smoke inhalation set in and they'd lose consciousness.

His boots sounded abnormally heavy on the floorboards as he walked forward, and he pulled himself through the smoke as if it didn't bother him at all. He spotted a red cloak first, and his shotgun tapped against his thigh as he moved.]

Fire is red,
Smoke is gray,
Do you feel the dread,
Or are you holding it at bay?

[He moved closer, unconcerned to be identified. If anything, he wanted it.]

Well, well, well... is that Maul's torturer or do my eyes deceive me? Just who I was looking for...

[frogfear]

[He moves through the smoke like he doesn't even feel it, and Willow recognizes the stranger immediately from Maul's memory as he gets closer. She should have expected at least someone would come for revenge after everything that's happened - everything that she's done. She certainly wasn't expecting anyone to attack the entire household, though.]

Funny... I thought Maul liked to do his own dirty work. Did he at least write the poem?

[She backs away at an attempt to keep some distance between them, the cane still held up between them like a sword. The heat is oppressive, and the smoke stings her eyes and burns in her lungs. Better to keep this short, but maybe she can still talk him down.]

Look. I didn't mean for it to happen. It was corruption. And the Reckoning, too, I think. I wouldn't try to attack Maul - or Savage otherwise.

[no_reload]

[This was not his first burning building, nor was it his first hunt when it came to being in a burning building looking to finish off a name on his list for revenge. It was so familiar to him that it relaxed him, settling into an old habit that he hadn't participated in for years now.

The whole household wasn't his idea, but he didn't care to trifle with the details. It was effective for flushing out the rabbits, and Chara was enthusiastic about it. Let them have a go at chaos. Reaper would reap the benefits.]

Maul is indisposed, but he and I have the same dedication to revenge. As for the poem, I'm afraid that's all me. Did you enjoy it?

[He was still moving closer, drawing in as he pushed through the smoke and keeping his legs half smoke just in case the floor had weak spots from the fire burning below. It wouldn't be enjoyable for him if he fell through, so best to keep his weight light for the time being.]

I don't care. The fact is that you attack him, tortured him and even had a hand in his death. The Reckoning approves my coming to take my pound of flesh, don't worry. If you're going to make a run for it, I suggest you get a move on. You escape routes are closing.

Closed to Ange

[payingfordeliverance]

[The power of Good has its claws embedded deep in Xerxes Break, and has for most of the month. Even so, it's no pure white knight in shining armor who shows up to help at the Clockhouse after being summoned by Ange's omen. He's come to love multiple people in this house and views some of the others as his charges to watch over simply because his loved ones love those people in turn, and he wanders in and out of this place as though he lives there too, these days. That means the Clockhouse is as much his territory as his own home in Trench is, and someone has now destroyed the safety of it while Break was not looking, and the sense of violation Break feels at the sight of the house crumbling into flame is not at all dissimilar from the last time this happened and he came home to a mansion full of slaughtered corpses.

He committed an awful lot of murder over that, back in the day.

Baltus is sent along ahead of him, as the omen is much faster than he, and being made of shadows the grim wastes no time diving straight into the flames to see if he can find anyone who might need help getting out. When Break himself arrives, he's already suffering visibly from corruption. He appears younger than he should be, but in a way that makes him seem like some old, ageless thing who has stepped out of the distant past, his expression focused and feral all at once. The darkblood blade he conjures from time to time has shifted from the violet color he favors to a furious shade of red, and while it's not quite right to say his lone visible eye is glowing outright, the color of it is lit in a way that is far too steady to be a result of the flickering flames. People whispered about the red of his eyes, once. They didn't glow back then either, but that was part of the legend -- that the red eyes shining in the night were your only warning that the Red-Eyed Ghost was about to get you. That version of Break still exists and he's out for the prowl now, the hope that he may not be too late this time driving him.

Baltus spots Ruby first and is forced to make the decision to leave her to her fate because of the urgency of the flames -- if nothing else, they can confirm that she's not dead in the fire, and hope the girl sorts herself out on her own later. Break finds Qrow some while after that, and lets him know what happened to Ruby. Off he goes. Ozpin is clearly a lost cause, and Oscar is already gone. Then, once he's satisfied that there is no one left inside that he can reach and that it's time for he himself to get out, Break exits and ends up right at the outskirts of Ange's battle with Chara.

He's been only vaguely aware of the brat's existence, and now it's become clear that they've got entirely too much power for a brat this size -- that means there's some sort of bullshit going on in their history, and there's a part of Break whose immediate impulse is to leap into the fray, take over, get one of his favorite people out of there even though it's painfully obvious Chara could kill him and at best he'd be buying her time to try and get away. The rest of him, warped just so by the influence of the Reckoning, sees the reflection of his own pain in Ange in even more clarity than usual. They've always understood one another so exquisitely, and for all that Break is angry, Ange is the one who has truly called this place home, who has built a life here for herself as best she can and who has already been dealt everything from a liar moving in right under her nose to those she's wanted to love for so long turning away from her within these walls.

It's her right to throw every scrap of anger she has at the brat, and Break lowers his sword and stands back and lets her do it.

Once the threat of Ange's beasthood sends Chara into an annoyingly sensible retreat, however, Break has another choice to make. Of course he'd dearly love to go after them himself. It certainly wouldn't be the first time the loss of something dear sent him into a murderous frenzy, and even without the Reckoning, he fully believes the brat deserves whatever they get and that it would be very pleasing if what they got was Xerxes Break. The difference now is that someone he treasures is right in front of him, hurting, an echo of the little girl he once turned his back on in favor of satisfying his own pain. He confused rage for love once, and learned the hard way just how much he could destroy by blinding himself so. Now, eyes open, Break chooses to stay. Baltus, all his many teeth out and hackles up as a reflection of Break's current state, slinks off to ensure that nobody else is going to try anything idiotic. Break dismisses his sword, recklessly certain he isn't going to need it, and steps forward.]

Miss Ange. Hold.

[entreats]

[ If you were to ask Ange right now how things got to this place, she wouldn't be able to tell anymore. Maybe sometime after she will able to make a logical analysis of this moment, realising that she augmented her own magic with her blood magic too much, just way too far beyond what she herself had practiced so far.

But in this moment, there's none of that. There's only the feeling that's been running through her blood all month already, its call swelling with each and every single incident, with things that just kept piling on top of each other, until this climax here. The fire, the chaos, watching the first place she could truly call home in over a decade collapse. Not knowing where anyone was and whether they were alright, not knowing where Ruby is, and Ange much too worked up to properly be able to sense anything about the other girl across their bond.

The anger. The fear. The magic.

The mix of it all was what caused Ange's shape as it stands in front of Break right now. Two large wings on her back, having ripped their way through her top, ruining its backside. The fingers on her hand having grown longer and sharper, more talon than hand at this point. Her limbs covered in black soot and glittery darkblood from both the fire and the fight.

And when Break speaks up, Ange's head turns to look at him, showing that her eyes are now completely glowing gold. There's no pupil anymore, no iris, no sclera, it's all just glowing gold light meeting the bright red eye looking at her.

The expression underneath those glowing golden eyes is twisted with pain and anger, to a point where it's hard to tell just how human Ange still is in this moment. She's clearly not all beast, but not all human either, and without her reacting verbally, it's hard to tell where Ange currently falls on that line between the two extreme opposite ends.

At least she's not pouncing on the man. But then again, she didn't pounce on Chara either, like some part of Ange maybe realised something is wrong here and stopped herself from going further, from just bursting into beast form in one fell swoop. Instead her body follows her head a moment later, now fully turning to face the man since the child - no, the being, the entity, whatever the hell they were - is gone.

She doesn't move towards him. Not in a good way - to seek comfort, as she may have if she were her usual human self - but not in a bad way - to attack him - either.

Ange just stands there, her body so unbelievably tense that it's as if she might collapse if someone were to snip a metaphorical string. ]

[payingfordeliverance]

[Break is an idiot, but he isn't actually stupid. That he survived a great many of the wild scrapes he got into as a very young man was dumb luck. The ones he's made it through since then were a matter of skills he's honed with great intensity all his life and the well-earned confidence that comes from them, and these days he has a solid idea of what he can and can't handle.

Ange could kill him like this. It would be easy for her, even without using her magic, and Break knows that. He also knows he cannot let her do that, because the realization later on that she'd used her own hands to destroy one of the people she's repeatedly turned to for support would devastate her. Break does not need to know exactly how she'd describe what's between them to be certain that this is true. And, while he's finally managed a successful shield today, it's certainly no Aura. That new trick is one he can't depend on to defend himself or anyone else with, not yet, not when the stakes are so high as Ange Ushiromiya.]

You're losing yourself, Miss Ange.

[Even so, he makes no move to bring his sword back out. He does trust that if he needs it, it will be there. Instead, taking slow, careful steps in Ange's direction, Break holds both of his hands out where she can see them -- not up and in between them, not in a sign of defense or warding, but out, palms up, an offering that if she should decide to reach for him now he'll accept her own hands in his talons and all.

If he needs to take her down before she goes on some sort of rampage, it will break his heart, but he will do it. But they aren't there yet, and even without the benefit of a blood bond to reach her through, he has to try.]

Come. Stay with me.

[entreats]

[ As he takes steps in her direction, Ange actually takes steps backwards. Not quite as many as he takes forward, which means the gap between them is slowly growing a little less wide, but she's still distancing herself from him.

It's hard to tell why, just looking from the outside. She still seems so tense, like she could leap forward in attack any moment now, but she doesn't. Instead she widens the gap between them, like there's some part of Ange, deep down, that knows he shouldn't be near her while she's like this. And while she can't consciously realise as much in this moment, it's like some safety measure is triggered in her brain anyway, making her take those steps backwards without really thinking about it.

She opens her mouth, but the only sound that comes out of her throat is a very inhuman sound, more like an animal's shriek than anything a human voice could produce. Something about it sounds half-threatening, but mostly like a warning. Some golden feathers grow out of Ange's hair, resting behind her ears like a laurel wreath crown, but no further changes occur in the moment. Ange doesn't seem to be hurrying towards becoming more of a beast, her human form still apparent, despite her beast features.

The girl opens her mouth a second time, and even though her voice is distorted to a point where it doesn't sound like Ange's own voice at all anymore, and where it's hard to make out the exact sound she's going for, Break might still be able to understand what sound Ange is producing here. ]

RRRRRrrruuu.. by...

[ Her talon-fingers run against a piece of Clockhouse wreckage, cutting it up as they move. ]

G... [ Apparently she's stuck on that letter for a moment, like she's choking, but then manages: ] .. gone...

[payingfordeliverance]

[He does stop when the feathers emerge, and when the first sounds out of her seem to be shrieks and growling. With her backing away like this, and with her frame so taut with stress and perhaps the pain of the shifting, it's difficult to read her body language. It won't do at all to make Ange feel as though she's backed against a wall, and her only course is to lash out at him after all.

Then that growl resolves itself into Ruby's name, a second word comes after it, and oh.

Of course. Break understands. Blood bonds are supposed to work to help reverse beasthood, but if Ruby isn't even conscious to use it at the moment, Ange likely can't feel her at all, and...]

Someone took Ruby away. Baltus saw, but couldn't get to her. [He speaks slowly, enunciating his words carefully.] I've sent Qrow to find her. He knows the one who stole her.

[Break can't promise Ange that Ruby is safe right now, or even alive, and he hates that. But he can at least tell Ange where Ruby isn't, and that her own devoted uncle is aware and on the case, and that what he's certain Ange is thinking is not true. Hopefully it's enough.]

Ruby isn't in there, Ange. She's not in the fire.

Everybody Knows The Good Guys Lost (for Ford)

[frogfear]

[For a little while after the dust had settled from her murder at Maul's hands back in February, Willow stopped consistently carrying Ford's talisman in her pocket. It had stopped feeling necessary, at least for a time. Although in retrospect, it occurs to her that it probably would have come in handy when she was on the doomed voyage out to sea.

She picks the habit back up again at home, in the aftermath of all of the harm she's wrought in the days before her death at Faith's hands. She fully expects she has not seen the last of Chara, or Maul, or perhaps even Johnny or Sayo, or someone else any of them are close to.

She does not expect anyone to deem the entire household guilty by association and come for them all.

Abandoning Faith to face Reaper alone feels like a betrayal, but there's hardly anything she could do with her leg so badly injured by his shotgun that she can't even stand on it. She can practically still feel the muzzle pressed against her temple.

Her fingers, slick with pearlescent blood, barely needed to curl her fingers around the talisman before its magic whisked her away to the safety of Ford's lab. She still has it gripped tightly in one hand like a lifeline as she sits curled in on herself on the floor, with her other hand pressed against the wound from where she was shot, trying to stop the bleeding.

He is the only one she didn't actively try to harm while corrupt, she's fairly sure he won't turn her away now.]

[cryptograms]

[ There are a few people Ford's given his talismans to, something he's very aware of. So he's made the surprisingly astute decision to set up a little alarm system. Nothing too complex, just something that chimes whenever someone enters the basement via said talisman.

Turns out it works perfectly. It also turns out that the one time it goes off he really doesn't need it. He's in the basement when Willow suddenly materializes, making what he's taken to thinking of as apology laser batteries for Viktor and Fiddleford. He is less surprised by her sudden arrival than he'd like to be - this month has been a long one - and turns to face her with something like wary acceptance.

Unfortunately, he's very familiar with the sight and smell of freshly spilled Paleblood. He goes from wary to worried in a flash, and he's across the room and at Willow's side just a moment later. ]

Willow!

[ It's nice to know that she's back and alive and all that, but he really would have liked to find out some way other than this! He kneels at her side and, if she makes any effort to stand up on her own, reaches out to steady and stop her. He wants to get a look at what's wrong before they worry about moving to a safer location. ]

[frogfear]

[Willow jumps a little as the chime sounds, and she completely misses the wariness on Ford's expression as it gives way to worry instead. It's too much of a relief to see him to think too much on it, and a relief to find safety in the lab, away from the smoke and heat of the fire at home.

Unwilling to release the talisman just yet, she moves her hand from her injured leg as the blood wells up from the wound to grip Ford's arm to try to steady herself. The smell of smoke clings to her clothes and she coughs into the elbow of her other arm, her expression twisted in a pained grimace. It's a few long moments before she can find her voice.]

Ford... The house was attacked - there's fire. I don't know who's still there, but they need help.

[cryptograms]

[ At least the injury is easy to find - but before he can start to work on that her words cut through his thoughts. 'Attacked' and 'fire' are both pretty alarming things to hear on their own, and combining the two only amplifies the yikes factor of each. Ford hesitates for a moment.

Then he shifts, moving to slide one arm behind her knees and the other behind her shoulders before lifting her up. ]

You need help.

[ It doesn't feel good deciding to leave the rest of them to handle it. But while Ford doesn't consider himself a liability in a fight, he also knows he does best with time to prepare. He's best off right here, where he can both give Willow first aid and gather information. ]

Who's attacking? And do you know why?

[frogfear]

[Willow doesn't have the heart to insist Ford run off into a fight that isn't his, and he might not even be prepared for, so she just nods as he lifts her up, and puts an arm around his shoulders. She can't deny she could use some help as well, as safe as it feels here in the lab.

Ozpin, Ruby, Qrow, Faith. They're all highly skilled, trained fighters, all with their own power as well. Not to mention Ange is a powerful witch. They'll be okay. Right?]

Reaper, at least. I'm not sure who else is there. He came because of me. Because of what happened with Maul, when I - Well. You know.