SEVEN BILLION SOULS — MEETING & ORIENTATION [08/03]

[ceilidh]

[div style="margin: 0 auto; border: 0%;width:50%;text-align:justify; font-family: verdana; font-size: 11px;"]Naturally drawn to the scene, the ginger tabby came breezily to the throne room, her brow quirked in a hefty expression, lips trickling downwards on her sharp face. She kept her front up, guarded, but softened and intrigued by the gathering of the Rosebloods. Isolde had seen these faces before, Sola, and her Advisors Felix and Prestige. Flinty pools of phthalo blue followed the tracings of the three, though the rested primarily on the leader, ears nodding to catch the words of the ruler. It was a new period in her life, but she could hardly tell with the apparent transition into life that the Rosebloods were making. The renewal of prosperity and anticipation was seamless, and she allowed herself to flow along the river with the rest of the figures around her.

But she made her way to the front, entranced by Sola's calling. The cheetah stood out to her of them all, obviously a powerful force she could look up to, as if she'd been designed to do so. When the dust settled from the meeting, her eyes trained blankly on the bowl, which had now become the object of interest amidst the orientation. There was distrust about the liquid, whether it was poison, blood, or polluted water, she didn't care. Isolde would drink from it, she must. It was a binding act of loyalty and respect, not blind trust. If she, personally, wanted to truly feel like a member of the Rosebloods, she would commit to drinking the wine. So she stepped forward, her body solid but her movements fluid, peering down into the blooming pool. The tall figured longhair had cut through the room in complete silence, in the midst of the talkings of the other Rosebloods. For this moment, she didn't try to flaunt or bring attention to herself, though her aura seemed to blossom with a sense of calm brightness and cold strength.

The feline did not smell it, did not try to figure out what it was, but only looked towards Sola before bowing her head to taste the liquid. It danced on her tongue as she lapped it up, and after a few moments, she stepped back, head tilting up high before she turned back to the rest of the gathered animals. The taste stood with her, pressing her tongue to the roof of her mouth to soak out the red wine, before running the muscle through her teeth, exhaling gently. Without a word, Isolde returned back to the crowd, taking no interest into the conversation at hand. She lacked a proper opinion on whether or not the orientation ritual was sufficient or not, because it didn't pertain to her. Isolde was meant to simply do as she was told to earn trust, not combat the system and try to grow her own. Instead, she would just listen in, her head tilted idly to look towards the others speaking, chin held up but the rest of her hanging like a willow.

[SAYØNARALULLABY]

[align=center][div style="width: 455px; text-align: justify; font-family: nyala; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 1px; color: #000"]　　　Darkness closing in reality. / Opening day the same before him. / Repeating. / Repeating. / Breathing. / Though, in the end, Ayon senses a presence of newly gold and bold approaching by his side. / Baby blue eyes are now on to the eyes that holds what cuts through the sky; oh, how the world will tear and weep from who he realizes is his older sister, Charon. / He have no fear of her, despite he is like a sheep who enters the wolf's den, however; / a wool to a pelt, they bleed blue and gold, but it is all divine from the stomach filled with wine nevertheless.

　　　Ayon nearly leans towards her touch as he gazes her mouth moving... / Oher... / Ses... / No orry... / Mother... / Masses... / No worry... / There is a fire, small, but strong. / Comfort is there, though, he himself is burning ( so what does that make instead to him? ) / It doesn't stop the celestial kit from nodding at her once the empty words dies off. / Gratitude flickers across Ayon's ocean stained eyes. / ❝ ..Tha..thank... you... ❞ / Rolling clouds. / Slow. / Soft. / A bare, single cut to it and under a blink, it will evaporate; weak.

　　　The wind begins to blow harshly through the reality, and so easy, Ayon moves towards the direction of where he sees the fainted white nearby. / His attention only locks on what he believes is a spirit, and the star child stops in front of her. / When her daggers and stolen teeth are more noticeable to see, he releases a small gasp and takes a step back, eyes widened, but remains silent. / A hanging star in ancient ink and blood. / A ghost who manages to crawl out of the never-ending flood, willing to make others drink hellfire with her.

[rakue]

[align=center][div style="borderwidth=0px; width: 55%; text-align: justify;"]♛ // The Rosebloods. To see their history come to fruition before his very eyes was a sight Felix never thought he would live to see again. The past was retired to history books and wives tales, yet here it was renewed before his eyes as flesh and blood. Like a phoenix they rose again and again. Relentlessly, ruthlessly, endlessly. Cobalt eyes trailed slowly across a congregation of old and new, some faces he had known for eons while others he was just now seeing. Of course Sola would become the Leader of this ragtag group of rogues. She was someone that commanded respect, not the kind of person to take no for an answer from any source. Regality suited her in a way it did no one else. An armor of scars on her bodice, an invisible crown of bones and offal atop her head, a legion of cultists beneath her paws. Sola was the Queen of Hearts, a title she had earned herself and deserved. Marked lips curled slightly up at the thought, rounded ears flicking back as the beast rounded the edges of the crowd to approach the lady occupying his thoughts. His ex-wife, his close friend, his Leader and he would serve beneath her with pride as he had never done before for his superiors.

A slight commotion had begun by the time the monochrome wildcat arrived, fashionably late in a fashion that would quickly prove to be commonplace for the aged tiger. A small little ghost seemed to be pestering Sola - Capone, he recognized, skin prickling with annoyance as the name crossed his mind. He did not have fond memories of the feline, what he was still able to remember. His soul sat youthful in an aging husk, unwilling to jump so willingly from vessel to vessel. His gaze returned to Sola at the thought, briefly grazing over her new body. He would always prefer her as a leopard, such a graceful and powerful body that suit her so well. He supposed a cheetah sufficed well enough. Prestige already sat at Sola's side, gaze sliding next to the snow leopard and giving the slightest tilt of his head as a silent greeting. Broad paws carried him confidently upward toward Sola, rope-like tail whipping behind him as his gaze slid off both beings of flesh to instead rest on Capone as his ears inclined back to the murmurs and protests of the crowd that had gathered at Sola's call.

"Enough."

His voice was a deep rumble like that of thunder, foretelling of a coming strike. The maltese tiger comes to a slow stop alongside Sola. Felix slowly tilted his head toward her, beauty and the beast, before returning it to the crowd allowing it to slide smoothly across the gathered Rosebloods. One of the forms he almost immediately spotted in the crowd was Jiyu, a familiar face in a mass of children, newcomers, and Sola's new suitors. His stern scowl lifted into a slight grin, locking eyes with the calico as he did so. He damn near grew up with the cannibal, and even with her posture and expression void of emotion he knew her well enough to understand what she was fretting over. They did not need protection, not now. Someone would have to be a damn fool to try to attack Sola, even more so to challenge Felix to a fight. Prestige he could not speak for, but it was safe to say any harm to his fellow Advisor would be met with an unholy wrath from the aforementioned duo. Felix was not one to move past grudges and Sola's vocabulary lacked the definition of mercy. Jiyu herself had a nasty bite to that small body. Felix huffed in amusement at the thought, rolling his head to the side as his tail whipped to the side to rest atop Sola's own. Her hesitance did not go unnoticed by her longtime friend, and hopefully the contact would provide a stability she hadn't quite found on her own yet.

"An' I'm Felix."

Orientation was certainly going to be a treat Felix hadn't indulged in in many years.

[Deborah]

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Together We Stand, Divided We Fall --

The large lioness slunk closer and closer to the mansion. Oh, it had not been hard to find them at all. The calico was easy to track down and had been making herself known to many of the local clans. Besides…
The feline knew all of her tricks.

She had been taught each trick one on one by the calico, of course, and now she was ready to put her training to good use. The lioness herself was rather large for a female lion, being closer to the size of a small or medium-sized male of her species. The feline had sneaked into the mansion undetected, the call of a meeting so clearly as the signal for her to make an advance. The high positions would be in the same place and everyone would get to witness what was about to go down.

Most importantly, that person would see what was to go down. The feline would not hold back. She had trained her entire life for a moment like this. Besides, what joy was there in killing the calico? As typical, she would come right back in some way, shape, or form. There would be no winning unless this was done. The lioness was more than ready.

Quiet paws tread the carpet of the mansion quietly, with not a single sound protruding from her steps, her movements, or her breath. She had dulled the scent of her pelt with the smells of local nature and the mansion itself, just as she had been taught. This was not to avoid the noses of the Rosebloods, but the keen nose of her. It would not be an uncanny smell, and the feline would fit in with all of the newcomers as she entered as a late arrival, but not too late. She was there for the tail end of the spirit making an appearance, criticizing the use of alcohol, and the reassuring of the advisers and members.

Now, it was time to act. The lioness stalked up to the throne where the leader had once sat, her gaze fixed on the bowl. She kept her face hidden from the calico, who likely would not recognize her so fully grown anyway. Her golden eyes were fixed on the bowl, as she approached it with the ‘intention’ to be the next to suck it up and take a drink of the vile liquid, to prove her loyalty to the Rosebloods.

The lioness bent her head down to take a drink, only to snap towards the leader with her entire body in a burst of speed before her tongue could touch the grape poison. The cheetah was right next to the bowl, and within extremely close proximity to the lioness. Large reinforced and sharpened claws lashed out for the cheetah as the bigger feline lunged to pin the smaller feline down. She pinned the cheetah and kept her claws over her throat to avoid being so easily thwarted by her surrounding ‘clanmates’, while the other paw simply held Sola down. If there was retaliation, the larger feline hoped to drive the claws through the cheetah’s throat eventually-- but not yet. Once she was successful with the pin, her golden eyes would flash towards Jiyu, a look of fury and triumph in her eyes.






ooc //I received OOC permission from Crim to pin Sola down.

[sub][W]isker[/sub]

[emil]

[align=center][div style="width: 500px; padding: 10px; height: auto; overflow: auto;"][div style="width: 400px; padding: 0px; line-height: 14px; text-align: justify; font-family: arial;"]the tom was quiet through the rest of the bickering, flashing felix a smile as the much larger male slunk over to address the group. it was still strange to see the old members here, especially since he had dated the maltese tiger's son and almost married him. a pang of sadness clenched is heart at the thought, but prestige ignored it. it was long past time to continue mourning the loss of livius. the only way to go was forward.

blue eyes fixed upon the lioness as she entered the room, and immediately the fur on his spine stood up. there was something off about her; though almost every roseblood was off in some way, this woman, she left a bad taste in his mouth already. he watched her intently as she slunk up to the wine and lapped it up, and before he could even blink, she was on top of sola. the adviser leapt to his feet and bristled. "what the hell?" he hissed, following her gaze to jiyu in a moment of confusion, before his mind told him to act.

he was a pacifist. he was. he hated fighting so much, but this was sola. his closest friend, pinned beneath the scoundrel of a lioness, claws to her throat. prestige puffed out a short breath. keep her safe. there were no guards yet. though he was sure jiyu, being as protective as she always was, would jump into action, he and felix were the closest to the cheetah. they were her guards. they needed to have her back, needed to keep her safe, needed to get this damn lion off of her.

though he was tiny, a mere domestic cat, pres took charge. hind legs launched him off of the ground and he lunged for the lioness, attempting to sink his claws into her shoulder and bite into her scruff, hoping to at least distract her from sola until someone bigger stepped in.

[Jiyu Simul Stamus]

Most of the meeting faded together for her, none of it important on its own and very aware she could deconstruct it later in her mind if she needed to. Jiyu perched there letting everything soak in as she kept her optics keenly observing the location. Of course, when Felix locked his gaze to hers the calico grew distracted her empty mismatch gaze staying tied for the moment to his. Distraction was something she didn't have often, frozen as she was, but the grin from him meant a lot, enough to gather her full attention for several moments. It was just enough time, and she'd realize the weakness she had fallen into later. She adored her friends who had grown with her and taught her that she could draw strength from more than just herself, that she was stronger when she let their emotions into her when she had something to fight for.

Something was wrong in the air, this sense of dread creeping up her spine, she had noticed something but for some reason was unaware of whatever small detailed she had seen that told her something was about to go wrong. What had she seen?! Jiyu scanned the room again, checking for anything that could even be slightly out of place, anything that could be a threat to the lives she was supposed to be protecting, even if it was just some part of the mansion suddenly growing weaker. Seconds ticked by, keenly observant yet empty optics taking in everything, yet she seemed to find nothing. Dread crept down her cold spine and the calico felt increasing panic at the fact she couldn't seem to figure out what was wrong. How bad would a threat have to be if she couldn't notice it? Damn Felix and his stupid grin, that must have been when she missed it.

No.

It couldn't be.

There was no way.

Jiyu hurriedly looked around the room again this time her action being somewhat noticeable to someone like Pey who was right beside her but not far beyond that. There was almost no information, but the path of someone late to the meeting pushing their way up to the front without leaving a single piece of mud, dust or tracking anything from anywhere else. Suddenly everything began clicking into place, another breath light as her's finally catching her attention. No.

She couldn't express the sheer wall of emotion that came crashing down on her, body remaining corpse-like as ever, trapping her in place unable to deal with what she was feeling. Empty optics focused in on the swish of that fuzzy brown furred tail tip. Only in the calico's eyes? It was much smaller and fluffier attached to an infant running ahead of her to chase some butterfly instead of a full grown lioness. With each step the tan female took? Jiyu watched the figure grow larger, more scenes flashing behind her eyes. In only a matter of seconds Jiyu watched every single time she had fed that small lion cub, patted her head awkwardly without word when she was upset, each time she told the child they needed to find someone else to patch up their wound, every time she chased away a bully for the small creature until she had become able to do it for herself! Each day when the words 'i love you mom' had been spoken and she had simply nuzzled the cubs head instead of saying it back. As she remembered each time she taught that small lioness something she knew, it was no wonder things had turned out this way, giving so much brutal capability to someone and then never truly teaching them what love was. Not that she didn't love the lioness, but just like right now, it had all stayed inside of her and only showed in her actions. Now grown lioness was using all her own tricks to take away something else she loved.

No.

"SOLA, FELIX, PRES, MOVE SHE'S NOT JOINING!" she would have already known Deborah was here before the meeting if this was anything other than an assination attempt. The calico's words only escaped her as the lioness bent down to drink from the bowl, a second too late for her friends to truly do anything to protect themselves. She had spent every second since she got back trying to protect those three from threat, prepared to fight anything, Jiyu would go through dragons to protect them, she had known that. Could she go through Deborah to protect them?

For the first time what her friends expected her to do failed to happen. Normally? The calico would have sprung regardless of being smaller than the lioness, instantly tried to tear the life from the attacker's throat. However unexpectedly she stood completely still, seemingly locked in place for several moments. It was only when she saw prestige move that her limbs suddenly remembered how they worked. "No!" it was the second pres sprung when the calico realized this was no simple assassination attempt, Deborah was trained far better than something so foolish. If she had really been after taking down just sola, or just the three of them? The lioness would have targeted them when they were alone, not attacked them so publically. "Don't Do It!" She knew because it was what she would do if she could still feel that strongly if she hadn't had most of her emotions crushed as she had. Jiyu very heavily suspected her daughter was going to kill Sola last. After all, such an event was so much more effective if you showed the leader that they were the greatest weakness of their people.

Very likely many would take time to think of how to act, considering the fact Deborah had their leader very much by the throat. However, the calico already knew, this was not a cat in their right mind, nor was this a feline using normal methods to accomplish her goal. She had to protect them all, she had to stop Deborah from doing this, her daughter didn't know what she was doing! Jiyu had been there, done that and the path it set her on allowed for the sheer cliff fall that had violently thrown her into what she now was. Jiyu couldn't lose any of them. This couldn't be happening, but it was.

[S. Mortem]

There's not much she has to say when Capone appears, as a number of members have beat her to the punch, so she simply comments, "I'm not trying to poison anyone. I promise no one's getting hurt." No one that she likes, anyhow, but she doesn't elaborate, as there's no need to. Instead, she tries to ignore the majority of the commotion, simply offering Prestige a smile as he places himself at one of her sides. Now there's someone she likes, and would quite literally die for. As she's smiling at him, she's distracted by a presence. At first, it's Isolde, the only one to come up, but then there's more.

An unmistakable (and unmissable) presence. Her gaze follows after the maltese tiger as he makes his way through the crowd, and she swears she can hear the fast beating of her heart. Even after all this time, she feels something, but isn't quite sure what to do with that budding emotion, so she just stares. "Felix," she greets, breathless, as he takes his spot beside her. She thinks about how much that's exactly where she wants him, and after a few moments, his tail laid across her own is the most calming thing in the room.

With her attention so intent on Felix, everything else is background noise.

She hears a warning, vaguely, that seems to escape Jiyu's lips, but the words don't completely register in her mind. When she turns her head to try and better focus on the calico, she's met with an unfamiliar face. "Move?" The word slips from her lips, a confused expression appearing across her face, mere moments before the newcomer is lunging. Sola never had a chance.

The air is knocked out of her lungs, body being thrown back against the floor, the weight of the lioness entirely unexpected. For a few moments, she's gasping, vision blurry, the world seeming to violently spin around her. She can't breathe... She can't— Blindly, without thought, she kicks out her hind legs in an attempt to claw any part of her attacker's underside. It's a desperate move, and one that she should have probably thought through, considering how close the lioness' claws are to her throat.

Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Prestige move, and she can feel her heart drop.
"Pres!" She calls out his name before she can stop herself, and she can feel her desperation grow. "Stop, stop, stop... No one do anything." While it's often a member's immediate reaction to protect the leader, she's hoping none of them go against her word. As Pey just so recently said, it is law. For a few moments, in this situation, her selfishness disappears, with selflessness in it's place. She's not going to put any of her members in danger solely to protect herself. Not now. She may be a survivor willing to go to great lengths to keep her head, but she has to put these individuals above herself, for once. She just promised she wouldn't let them get hurt.

Breathing heavily, she stares up at the lioness through caramel eyes. "You haven't killed me," is murmured by the cheetah, a somewhat surprised tone accompanying the comment, although she does her best to stay composed. "Which means you must want something. Spit it out." She doesn't know whether she'd prefer to be right or wrong.

ooc this is a mess cause i didn't want the post to be Super Long by addressing everyone/everything and i kept skipping around while writing rip

[heyyew]

Heh… This was funny.

The cheetah being killed by a lion. (She was assuming that was what would happen.) A story as old as time. Cheetahs were weak. Built only for speed, even vultures could chase them away from their caught prey after the brutal toll their massive sprit put upon them. Making them so tired they weren’t even able to eat their prey until thirty minutes of rest.

But that was a normal cheetah. Capone had no idea what kind of powers Sola might have. It was already clear she was assuming most people here had invulnerability to this type of poison. The only reason Sola might stand a chance against this lion was that she was well rested.

But actually? No. She could’t see a cheetah winning against a lioness.

But really it didn’t matter. As much as Cain had tried to debunk her and tell her to go back to the afterlife… It was funny. “Multiple generations of leaders of this place have reincarnated multiple times. Death nowadays is nothing but a stopgap for people like her and I. You could easily call us Cheetahs of death.”

Get it? Cheetahs? Cheaters of death? Haha.

Haha.

Eehhh…

All joking aside, she had noticed his jab that this wasn’t The Elite. Nor would they ever be. But she couldn’t let a few lemmings dissuade her from her missionn. Dissonance had had a point. She had a responsibility to The… Whatever- whether they wanted her to or not. But her mission didn’t have to stop with here.

But it was looking like the direct approach might not work as well as she might wish. No… She would be direct. Just not in a crowded room like this. She needed one on one time with certain people.

“So whatever stakes you think you hold little lioness, you’re wrong. Death won’t do anything but mildly inconvenience her. And the she’ll probably take over your body.”

In fact… Maybe Capone ought take that body for herself. She wasn’t normally a fan of big cats. But this one was simply beautiful. It was only a matter of time before she found her own body. So why not this one? "Or maybe I will... You are a rather lovely specimen."

[axiom]

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© lexasperated

I WISH YOU COULD SEE THE WICKED TRUTH
CAUGHT UP IN A RUSH, IT'S KILLING YOU

She pressed back into her brother slightly with her shoulder, a quick bump to nonverbally acknowledge his thanks. She follows his gaze for a moment, but doesn't think anything of it - her brother often stares off into space, and she doesn't see anything interesting in the air. Unlike many others of the group, Charon can't see their fallen leader's spirit; she doesn't understand why a couple of them are getting riled up about defending the wine, but... she has seen stranger behavior from them before. She thinks of it as just another symptom of Roseblood insanity.

But the specter isn't the only potential threat here today; Charon, with her greenhorn experience, doesn't notice the sneaking lioness until right before the large feline strikes her mother down. A stray draft sends the lioness's scent towards her, and she turns to see her mother fall. Charon freezes for an instant, before she steps in front of Ayon protectively; as the older sister, she reacts to protect him instinctively, especially as her species puts her at a much larger height compared to his runty kitten body.

But the young cheetah's bravery extends no farther than that, her hackles raising as her fur fluffs out in a vain attempt to make her seem older and stronger. The black hairs clustering the back of her neck and spine are particularly dominant, but she is no threat - her gangling, childish legs are twiglike and her golden eyes shine with more fear than bravery. Her heart beats rapidly in her chest, expanding and contracting in endless waves with its steady beat drumming loudly in her hears. She never experienced an adrenaline rush quite this strong before, and it fills her with power that she finds fantastically thrilling despite the situation.

"Stop, stop, stop... No one do anything," she hears her mother speak oh-so quietly compared to the rushing of her blood.

Her heart stops, leaping from her chest to her throat before the beats resume even quicker now. She doesn't understand; this lioness is larger than almost everyone here and clearly capable of killing her mother right now. Charon's lips pull back as her fear gives way to rage, the anger sloshing about in her blood as the drumming in her ears beats louder. And louder. And louder. Her toes tremble, curling and uncurling as she forces herself to watch the older members of the group and their first reactions.

But her rage multiplies at their inaction, her black lips twisting into a teeth-filled snarl. Her muzzle, too big for her face, looks garish against her childish body - she looks more like a gremlin than a proper threat, though she feels fiercer than she ever felt before.

Golden flashes pulse from her paws and the black fur of her mane lifts up as though pulled upwards by a god. Snap! Crack! The noises of lightning fill her ears, nearly drowning out the drumming of her own heart. All of her muscles tremble now with the force of adrenaline and something greater, ears snapping back against her skull and as her teeth part into a silent scream. Yellow electricity races up her fur, hissing and spitting with a life of its own while Charon remains utterly silent.

The child is transformed for one moment from a defenseless wrench to a wrathful goddess, her entire body trembling with the electricity racing around and on her body. Only now does she scream, eyes flung wide as she yowls, "MOM!" But the lightning is quicker than her voice, leaping off of her body and arching towards the lioness with spurting twitchy noises. Charon has never used this power before - this is the first she's ever experienced magic - so her aim is poor, but her power is magnificent, perhaps too much so as she is entirely incapable of aiming away from anyone standing between or around the lioness (including her mother, though Charon cannot comprehend this at the moment).

A millisecond after the lightning gushes out of her, a loud boom echoes through the room. The girl is powerful. But this magic comes at a cost - as the boom hits her ears, her legs are already buckling, weakening from all the energy she expended in the effort to protect her mother.

TAGS • WRITTEN BY AXIOM

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© LEXASPERATED

[Deborah]

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Together We Stand, Divided We Fall --

Jiyu was too late. Her cry rang out but was left hanging in the air as the large feline pinned down the leader of the Rosebloods. Surprise, shock, and fear flooded the room. The lioness eagerly breathed in the fear scents, specifically the scent of Jiyu’s fear. Her mother’s fear-- she relished it.

The ten pound, black and white furred weight that attacked her shoulder and scruff was ignored for the most part as Sola spoke, followed by the ghost. “I’m not here to kill you,” the lioness hissed, before noticing the bright flash out the corners of her eyes of crackling lightning on a cheetah pelt. Her mother had taught her about elementals like this and how to deal with them. Predicting what was about to occur within a hair of a second, the four hundred pound lioness aimed to grab the cheetah with her jaws and claws, and hurl her towards the electric feline, while using her hind legs to spring out of the way while doing so. Her intention was to get Sola caught up in the blast of lightning.

As soon as that deed was done, the lioness would target the black and white feline. How loyal of a small creature, to basically attack a monster to protect someone he loved. If he had fallen off of her in her jump, she would locate him again, or if he had managed to hold on, the lioness would attempt to rip him off with a large unsheathed paw. Growling, the feline would attempt to slam the tiny tuxedo cat against the solid floor. Her goal was to crush him under her four hundred pounds of weight, with claws to aid in the process. However, she did not attempt to kill him swiftly-- oh no, she wanted the Rosebloods to hear him scream. She wanted Jiyu to hear a friend in agony.

If she were successful, Prestige would slowly have his life squeezed out of him, with his bones cracking a little at a time, until she completely killed him under her weight. “Everyone cheats death. That’s how this world works.” the Simul Stamus announced grimly, before casting her golden glare at the calico. “That’s why killing you isn’t enough.”

[sub][W]isker[/sub]