[Sanctuary] I've Got You Under My Skin(Mao, Kavala, Vanator)

[Baku]

18th Day of Summer, 510 A.V. Continuation Thread, started in Should Have Seen it in Her Eyes Location: Sanctuary Players: Mao, Kavala, Vanator The stuffy heat of the summer day was felt so much more after they had exited the Knirin Gardens. Whatever presence had been watching them in the garden itself didn’t seem to follow them out that Kavala or Vanator had noticed. Apparently Kavala’s pleas at the chance to reform Mao had not fallen on deaf ears. This could be in part due to the fact that Mao’s victim in this case was healed, and voiced no protest to such. Coupled with the fact that Mao could give Riverfall another son, those who had listened likely had decided to give Kavala that chance in the end. In the end, their emergence from the gardens and beginning trek back towards Sanctuary was not met by curious eyes or gawking spectators. Most they had seen seemed to be unaware of what had transpired down in the gardens themselves. Kavala’s senses, so attuned to the feelings and desires of animals and Kelvics, felt a simple complacency within Mao herself for the time being. Still, there was that nagging feeling that still presented itself. That sensation of something different, something alien within Mao’s emotional state. Mao herself showed very little signs of physical movement at the moment though, but another thing seemed odd. Mao’s hair and body seemed to sweat profusely, more so than even the sweltering heat would normally cause, especially in one that had not been doing much moving since leaving the cooled air, provided both by the shade of the foliage and the waters of the falls, of the gardens themselves. Was it was the struggle from before that was wearing down? Was it the way her body was laid and so close to the strider who’s back carried her? The most alarming thought of all that could rise within Kavala’s head was the chance that it could be the drugs she had used, as Mao’s body possibly was having some ill reaction to the chemicals that flowed through her veins and relaxed her muscles. Mao herself felt paralyzed, those same paranoid thoughts of betrayal and rage still coursing through her mind. They not only continued to course through her mind, they intensified the more she rode motionless along the back of Kavala’s strider, who began to show slowly increasing signs of nervousness as the began climbing the hill that would lead them to Sanctuary proper. To Mao’s surprise, however, the effects of the drugs she had been injected with were seeming to wane, and in her own sweat that dripped off her face and matted her hair, her keen animal senses could smell the very chemical of the toxin itself. It wouldn’t be long as even now she could give the most slight twitch of her fingers and toes, movements that, if caught by Vanator or Kavala, would simply be considered movements caused by the slight rocking motion her body made while riding along the strider. As Kavala led the strider into the stables of Sanctuary, she would notice the animals all around acting nervous. The horses would back away from the gates, almost looking for a way to escape their cages. Birds left free flew away seeking higher places and safety in the air. Even Kavala’s own pets, ones that would greet her upon most returns home she made, seemed to shy away, moving towards their nearest place of shelter and safety, heads low and ears folded back. The animals sensed a predator in Moa, and their own instincts told them to fear that nature, even as she laid motionless. Kavala’s strider, due in part to both it’s time of training with Kavala and her own close proximity, seemed to be the only animal to hold it’s fear at bay, but Kavala could still feel Windsong’s own nerves being rattled with Mao riding along his back. It was becoming suddenly apparent to Kavala, as she now began to feel Mao’s predatory nature with her own Konti gift, that whatever had been afflicting Mao, throwing her whole sense of being in flux, had been greatly increased by the incident within the gardens. It was almost as if Mao was hitting the height of her aggressive state, even sedated as she was, and that she would have to get her down to the cellar fast in order to prevent the animals around them from going into a full blown panic.

[Kavala]

As Kavala kept her hands on Mao's body and walked with her Strider into the facility she slowly came to the realization that it was 'do or die' in terms of Mao's situation. She needed help - a clear diagnosis - and something done about her fragile state. She owed it not only to the kelvic to help fix her, but to her fragile bondmate Navis who deserved a whole creature, not someone as damaged as Mao was currently. She brought Windsong to a halt in his stall and slipped his Yvas off before even remotely dealing with Mao. She'd need Vanator's help anyhow, or at least she'd have to summon Aweston to get someone larger and stronger than her to heft Mao's body. Mao wasn't big, but she was corded with muscle that made her overall mass a lot heavier than she appeared. Kavala knew she couldn't manage her limp form all on her own.

"Can you carry her? If you can, I'll show you where we need to put her." Kavala said. If Vanator offered to heft the prone Kelvic, she'd lead them into the clinic proper past the Veranda Vanator was familiar with and up into a main examination room. They didn't linger there though. Instead they went into a side room and down a set of stairs. It was a kennels of sorts - a room filled with various sized cages, some occupied and some not. The cages were comfortable, filled with furry beds and toys obviously designed to house recovering patients who were either sick, had surgery, or were being watched because they were giving birth any day now and it was expected to be difficult. Everything below was spotless but the walls were painted with a cheerful color designed to sooth the animals and help them forget they were actually confined. The end two cages though, were huge. They were people sized and contained cots, chamberpots, and washstands. They looked like they were designed for Kelvics and appeared more like healer hall rooms than actually kennels. Kavala unlocked one and gestured for Vanator to ake Mao inside and lay her gently on the bed.

"Something isn't right with her. She's burning up as if shes burning off the sedative too quickly. And shes different. Touching her is like touching a stranger and I don't understand it. I want to keep her down here because Sanctuary is full of Kelvics and if this is something the others can catch it could be really dangerous. All I feel from her is boiling rage and a growing sense of being trapped. It almost doesn't feel like her at all." Kavala said softly, thoughtfully, as she moved a small stool over by Mao's head. The bed was situated in the middle of the cage so people could comfortably move around it and have room to work as a healer. Kavala perched on the stool, laid her hands on Mao's forehead, and opened her Konti senses to the girls feelings - probing deeply and looking at her overall physical condition with a healers senses.

Could she feel anything? Sense anything? Kavala had no idea where to start in regards to this particular healing.

[Vanator]

Van stalked beside Windsong, opposite of Kavala, as they entered Sanctuary. Though he had only been in the facility once before, the Drykas did not miss the unsettled quiet of the compound. Once in the stall, Vanator stood by, watching Mao, still wary and ready to react if the Kelvic revived. "Yes, let me get her." He answered Kavala, gingerly working his arms under the unconscious girl and slipping her off Windsong's back. She was indeed heavier than expected, but proved no problem for the broad-shouldered horseman to bear. His first instinct was to hoist her over his shoulders, making it easier for him to negotiate through the buildings. But it would not be comfortable for Mao, and not easily defendable if she awoke and attacked. Instead, he cradled Mao in his arms, her head lulling against his shoulder, one arm under her knees and the other around her back and under her outside arm. Following Kavala through doorways and rooms, Van had the opportunity to see what his sister had built in Sanctuary. Before his arrival in Riverfall just a few days ago, he had never been in a building. Now, he marveled at the colored walls and functional rooms his sister had orchestrated to do her work. His appreciation of what she had accomplished grew as they turned each corner. Finally reaching the kennel, Vanator hesitated outside of the large cage Kavala had unlocked. He looked down and the limp kelvic in his arms, so convincingly human in her appearance. I am putting a girl in a cage. His eyes darted to Kavala, who had gestured for him to take her in and lay her down. Flashes of the attack returned to his mind's eye, Kavala's words of explanation returned to his ears. It was necessary if they were going to help Mao. Stepping in, Van carefully laid Mao out on the bed, moving back to allow Kavala to approach. It was a comfortable enclosure, and aside from the bars, was as clean and suitable as any tent. As Kavala pulled up the stool and sat close to Mao, Vanator distanced himself a bit towards one corner, to avoid aggravating the Kelvic, though she was clearly still out. This was Kavala's world, and he did not fully understand all she spoke about. But he was glad to be able to see her work. "Could a sickness affect her so...emotionally?" The brother spoke out loud, feeling somehow he should contribute to the effort to diagnose Mao. But then Van realized the familiar set of Kavala's face, the hands placed gently on Mao's head. The Konti was searching Mao, using her special talents. The Drykas waited fell silent and remained still in anticipation.

[Mao]

They are coming. These humans, these vile creatures. They will hurt me, like they hurt mother; they will kill me! Kill me! But their blood, their blood is so good, so delicious, I can't stop. I can never stop. No, you are mine, forever. There was a screaming in her head, a sound she couldn't stand, a voice that throbbed in her mind. In the deep, inky recesses of her thoughts, Mao could only taste the blood on her tongue and the texture of flesh torn beneath her claws. She wanted to move, she wanted to run! But her limbs were trapped, her mouth sewn shut, and she could do nothing but weep. Was this a dream? Was this a place where murderers like her went to for retribution? Mao knew nothing of the gods or their ways, she knew nothing of the afterlife, she lived for the moment, survived because instinct dictated it be so. This poison cannot stop me, nothing can stop me! I am true Power! The sound of her heart pounding against her chest was jerking her back to the mortal realm. She could hear the woman's voice. Treacherous, decietful, traitor! And the man, Kill.. kill. Kill. Lid's fluttered open as slowly as Mao had come to, and she could feel a soft hand on her head. Her vision blurred, but she could feel heat emanate from her, and her body felt slick as well. Only when the kelvic saw the bars surrounding the three did cold fear consume her. She jerked up, sluggish in part because of the sedation, and her nails raked at Kavala's arm. "Traitor!" She shrieked, "You mean to kill me!" Her voice was hoarse, her eyes frantic, "It was right... it was right, I'll be trapped here, left to rot!" She attempted to scramble up, only to spot the human in the far corner of the cage, and her rage was renewed. "YOU DID THIS!" She roared, but when she lunged off the bed, it was not towards Vanator. Mao threw herself against the bars, gripping them as tight as her slick hands would allow and pulled and wailed. When the bars did not budge, the kelvic reverted to a far corner of the cage and curled up into a ball, trembling from her own wild thoughts, and her eyes locked onto Kavala's. Something was stirring.

[Baku]

In room below Sanctuary, where there was only one way in or out, and only solid walls of earth surrounded them, sounds would not travel to far to the ears of others. It would shield them in what they did from prying eyes, but whether that would be beneficial to them or not, remained to be seen. As Vanator laid Mao down along the bed, her foot twitched slightly as sweat dripped down from her neck, hair and back. Her head swayed just slightly back and forth as Vanator backed away, finding himself in the corner of the room. An almost thick feeling crept over both his and Kavala’s senses as they came within such close proximity of Mao, her skin almost shining in the light provided, her breathing a series of short, quick breaths. Everyone could sense there was something, wrong, even Mao herself to a certain extent. None could, however, seem to figure out what. It was all speculation at that particular moment. As Kavala sat down along the stool and began to reach out to touch Mao, the Kelvic’s body twitched, almost seeming involuntary for a moment, save for the fact that her eyes began to flutter. As Kavala began to probe Mao’s feelings, using her empathic gift as a Konti to sense an animal’s feelings, she sense the deep rage swelling up within Mao, the distrust, the bloodlust, everything predatory about her animal nature. However, to her alarm, it was intensified, almost doubled what it should have been. Further still she probed, trying to find the root of the problem, the causes, and as she waded through the emotional torrent she found something she couldn’t read, something so entirely blank, it may as well have been someone completely different she was trying to read. Kavala’s reading did not have a chance to go further though, as a sharp pain entered the palm of her hand, almost as if a quick jolt of electricity had shot up. It began to make her head hurt, like a severe migraine, and her fingers go numb. Unfortunately, the little feedback she received from her probe did nothing to numb the rest of her as she found Mao’s claws raking down the scaled skin of her forearm before her body, despite the effects of the toxins she was under, vaulted from it’s laid position along the bed, gripping the bars of the cage. As her words raced out of her mouth, hurling accusations, it was almost as if her very voice reverberated on itself. Like two different voices speaking at once, echoing over one another like a dual chorus. Finally, after escape through the bars proved futile, Mao found herself in the corner of the cell, hugging her knees. It was then, just as her heart was beginning to slow down, that she felt a heavy thump of a heartbeat, one that echoed in her ears like the sudden slap of a hand along a eight foot tall drum. Incoherent words began to echo into her head, almost like a language she had never heard before. Then suddenly, before anyone could react any further, whether it was to utter a word to Mao or restrain her in any way, her balled up motion shot into a flat lay along her back, her eyes widened staring up towards the ceiling as all the muscles in her body tensed up. A scream echoed from her mouth as her torso moved upwards, arching her body as her heals and head pressed along the ground. Her body fell flat along the ground once again, and Mao could feel adrenalin surging within her, her heart beginning to race, stressing almost to the breaking point. In a blurred motion, she was on her feet once again, her hands rushed up, grasping the collar at her neck by the front and back. With a intense, jerked motion, fueled by adrenaline and rage, the collar snapped, freeing her completely. A slow, rumbling growl escaped Mao’s lips as she crouched to the floor, her arms crossing in front of her as her palms pressed flat along the ground. Her head slowly tilted sideways as those slit cat like eyes peered at Kavala and Vanator especially. A wide smile bore long sharp canines, the claws along her fingers extending further, slowly the black fur that Mao normally sported while in animal form slowly began to grow out over her arms and legs, almost like a sign of shifting that was absent of the shimmering golden lights. Her muscle mass began to increase slightly as well, growing twice as large as her clothing began to grow snug. Finally, when her changes stopped, Mao took on a form that almost appeared as though she had shifted halfway between her human and animal form. There was no sign of a tail, or of her head and face being reshaped to that of her panther form, but her muscle, teeth and claws, the fur that lined her skin save for her face and front of her neck down to her collar bone, was indicative of her Panther form. “Vakoo nowen.” A voice, not Mao’s own suddenly blurted out, it’s tone almost like an ooze of poisonous mal-content. “Ith wa nooksa.” Mao was then suddenly brought to the surface, those same paranoid thoughts fueling her emotions of rage and mistrust, but she now felt stronger, faster, more agile then she had ever felt in the past as her claws tore easily through the surface of the floor. Her heart, however, still raced with such ferocity, that it was almost beginning to feel painful. In the end though, it felt as if it were a small matter in the back of her mind, as a her gaze focused on the two that might bar her path to escape the cage. There, as she contemplated, a tiny voice once again rose in her head, this time easy to understand. “Do what your nature tells you to do,” the voice said.

[Vanator]

OOCSorry! Didn't realize you were waiting on me! Van's watched with curiosity as Kavala attempted to discern Mao's condition, frowning as his sister winced, her face scrunched as if feeling a sharp pain. Mao's sudden quickening froze the concerned question on his tongue and the Drykas immediately shifted his legs to a more stable defensive posture, his hand resting on the hand ax thrust through his belt. But the Kelvic was not bent on attacking either of them at the moment. As Mao flailed against the bars and crumpled to the ground, Vanator moved a few steps closer to Kavala, ready to defend her. The unnatural quality of the voice that the girl emitted had sent a chill down his spine, and something in his core tightened at the unholy sound. "Did you...see...anything?" Van asked his sister in a hushed voice. Any response by the Konti was drowned out by Mao's frightful scream and her convulsing body. As he saw Mao rip the leather strap from her neck, the horseman suppressed a panic. If the violent Kelvic shifted to her panther form in the confined space, he was unsure if he could defend Kavala and himself from her assault. Van began reach for Kavala, then he froze as he saw the girl...change. The kelvic's freakish transformation was the stuff of nightmares, surreal and frightful, causing the man's eyes to widen and his mouth to drop agape. Vanator had seen Kelvic shapeshifting before, and what he had witnessed Mao undergo was nothing like it. Vanator's instincts quickly engaged, and he grabbed Kavala by the arm and yanked her back as he attempted to move her towards the cell door with him. There was no mistaking the malice in the crouching creature, hostility directed not only at him but at his sister as well. Van slid the ax from his belt with his other hand. He had considered leaving it outside the cell, wanting to remove any temptation to use it if Mao attacked again. He had forgotten to do so, and now, with the appearance of this...abomination, Van regretfully held it ready to employ if necessary. "Kavala, get out...we have to get out." Van breathed, trying to keep his tone from startling whatever Mao had become. If Kavala did not resist, Vanator would place himself between her and Mao and back out of the cage. Once safe, the siblings could determine what had happened to Mao.

[Kavala]

It was like nothing she'd ever seen, truth be told. Mao was both herself and something vastly different. Every bit of Kavala's essence screamed that it wasn't right, that it wasn't natural, and there was nothing 'ill' really she could focus on as a healer to help heal the kelvic. Her senses didn't need physical contact to read Mao. She didn't need to be sitting at her side. It was the healer in her that did so, comforting, offering touch to sooth. The Konti had always taken advantage of her calming nature and had always been as close to her charges as possible before she treated them.

It was the way of things. Touch. Voice. Healing. They worked in conjunction. And yet, Mao seemed to be having none of it. That concerned Kavala. Generally her touch, even her very presence was enough to sooth the the feral kelvic.

Kavala rose as Mao started struggling. The feelings and intensity that were oozing off the kelvic - malicious and almost unholy - scared the Konti. Kavala backed up even as the creature struggled on the table, rolling off the platform and retreating to the corner. When the collar came off - something Mao should not have been able to do - Kavala was truly frightened and confused.

It didn't make sense. It made no sense at all. It wasn't anywhere near natural or in the nature of a kelvic to act the way Mao was doing - even the hurt and wounded ones. Kavala voiced her thoughts even as Vanator asked her. "It's not normal for her... even for her. Mao is outside of normal for most things, but even this is extreme. There's such hatred and violence in her and it keeps getting worse. It keeps building up, almost like a festering wound. I don't understand it, Van." Kavala said in a fierce whisper. She suddenly wanted Hatot there, in the worst way, a quiet reassuring presence. Kavala lifted her eyes, met Vanators, and exited the 'cell' with him. She wasn't a fool.

Her mind was full of Mao's thoughts. Her empathy on full scale overdrive. She opened her mouth, shook her head, and started repeating what Mao was broadcasting in her mind. "They are coming. These humans, these vile creatures. They will hurt me, like they hurt mother; they will kill me! Kill me! But their blood, their blood is so good, so delicious, I can't stop. I can never stop. This poison cannot stop me, nothing can stop me! I am true Power!" Kavala's eyes went wide, almost dilating on their own, as she channeled what her Konti gift picked up. She kept backing up, even outside the cage, until her hands bumped the bars of the enclosure across the walkway between the rows of 'kennels'.

"Vanator, she just wants to kill. You. Me. She thinks I'm a traitor. She doesn't feel like a kelvic should feel like. There is so much 'wrong' about her I can't even begin to decide where it starts and where it stops." Kavala said softly, shaking her head. Her whole body was shaking. Mao had her scared. Terrified. But it was obvious that the panther needed help. Kavala drew in a deep breath and glanced at the ceiling. "I'm going to get something stronger, and a stick pole, to see if we can't immobilize her. I can't treat her if I can't touch her." Kavala said, turning and all but fleeing.

"Watch her." THe Konti said as she raced down the aisle, back up the stairs, and into her storage room. She rumaged around, came back with what looked like a pointed stick sharpened, and a vial of really strong herb extract called knockweed. It was called knockweed because it could generally knock someone out if they got enough essence of the plant infused in their blood.

Kavala was back at Vanator's side in a moment, and dipped the stick in the vial. "Don't get any of this on you. It is a paralytic." She warned, then moved to the bars where she could stab Mao gently with the stuff if she got close enough.

She wasn't, however, going to go back int he cell. And when they'd exited, she'd made darn good and sure that the door was chained shut with a lock.

[Mao]

The throbbing, the screaming, the pain. It hurt! It always hurt! Why did the pain have to be so real! She was so afraid, trembling, curled up and watching, always watching, those that would hurt her, that deceived her! Her trembling increased, almost to the point of further involuntary action, until she had found herself on the ground, eyes wide and locked on the ceiling with only the sound of thrumming in her ears, and her own screams drowning out the world that encased her now. Something had pushed her back, something so wild, so feral as herself, so….unknown separated her from the control of her body, and so she watched from the sidelines, as this creature transformed her body, heightened her rage and her adrenaline and spoke to the Konti and the Drykas man. Why do they want to hurt me! Mao cried, Kavala… she was like my mother, does my mother want me dead? Does she not love me anymore? In the dark recesses of her mind, the Kelvic cried. She cried her sorrows and her pain, until her control was wrenched back to her, and the sudden fury that arose threatened to overwhelm her. Mao could feel the strength brimming in her muscles, her long, sharp claws and her teeth extended and ready for the kill! But her heart, her heart ached at the incessant pounding against her ribcage. Do what my nature tells me to do. She repeated. A low growl escaped her, and then a hiss as Kavala and Vanator both retreated out of the cage. The door had been closed shut before Mao had the chance to escape. And now she roared and clawed and hissed her anger at the two, reaching through the bars with a clawed hand to catch the Drykas man and haul him in. Only when Kavala returned with a pole did she back off, reverting to a corner of the room that was the farthest from the Konti. When she spoke, she seemed to simply speak in feline, with a combination of hisses and growls and low guttural sounds from her throat. But in her mind, she was repeating the same words. Traitor, traitor, traitor!

[Baku]

It was all so horrific in it’s display. The intensity of emotion, the unknowing in it’s source. Even Mao herself couldn’t tell for certain what lurked inside of her as she hissed and growled, reaching out through the bars to claw at Vanator and Kavala. They were her captors, her would be executioners even as Kavala soon returned with an instrument for her demise. A it was a simple stick with a fine pointed tip, but to Mao, it looked like a lance. A lance with which to pierce her body fatally through the cage. A sense of panic, fueled by paranoia and backed by rage overwhelmed her as her golden eyes with slit pupils eyed the stick. To further push her towards that edge, Kavala began dipping it’s tip into a liquid of sorts. A poison, one meant to dispatch her in case the lance couldn’t find it’s mark. Mao’s rage drove further and further overboard, a loud feral cry sounding more like her animal half echoing out from her mouth. Just as Kavala was applying the last of the sedative to the tip of the stick, Mao suddenly rushed forward. Her frame, while smaller and lighter in the state she was in, still seemed to carry so much force behind it as her shoulder slammed into the door of the cage. The entire structure of it rattled and shook, the bars bending outwardly as the lock punched free from the cage, the chains being stretched to their limit as one link suddenly snapped, but didn’t fall loose. As Vanator reached to grab his axe, and Kavala readied her stick, Mao began to rear back, her right shoulder falling limp for a moment as she rolled it around, trying to get feeling back into it once again. As she rolled it around for another moment, her faced wince as a subtle pop could be heard echoing out through the cellar of Sanctuary, indicating that the shoulder had just popped back into it’s joint, having been dislocated during the first rush at the cage door. Then, just as Mao’s face was tensing up, her body language expressing to rush at the cage once more, she stopped. A look of surprise crossed her features as she slowly looked upwards. As suddenly as all that rage had built, it had faded as Mao suddenly fell to her knees, her eyes going wide. A groan of pain started first, echoing out from her lips as she began to lean forward, her hands and arms sliding along the ground. The long hair along Mao’s back then drifted off to the side, exposing the back of her neck and the fur that had grown out there. If Kavala or Vanator had been watching closely at that point, they would notice a sudden pulse of rising flesh happen, a bump forming along the fur along the back of her neck, just next to the base of her skull. A yell of pain is then released as Mao lifted her head, her voice reverberating on itself as it had just before her change before dropping down to the floor once again. Another pulse of the flesh along her neck suddenly rose before finally a few drops of Mao’s blood suddenly shot outward from the area, hitting the wall behind her. Small, almost hair thin like strands rose from her neck, quickly whipping around as if to grasp for anything tangible. Finally, they all rested along Moa’s neck, quickly pressing along the surface as something more began to pull itself free from under Mao’s flesh. It’s body was translucent, almost clear as only the curves of the body, that caught the right light, seemed to be visible at first. It’s body looked grotesque all the same, misshapen as the hairline tentacles that it used to pull itself free lined the entire length of it’s inch long body. It was barely an eighth of an inch thick at it’s widest point, which was the head, so the wound it left behind along Mao was superficial, something Kavala could tell strait away wouldn’t come close to putting the Kelvic into mortal danger. The parasites head quickly swing around as the faintest threatening squeal could be heard echoing out from it. The hair line tentacles that spread out from its body suddenly curved as it sprung forward from Moa’s body, flying towards the side of the cage. For it’s size, and it’s lack of any distinguishable wings, it moved quickly, its hairline tentacles wrapping around the bars of the cage as it vaulted itself across the room before clinking to the wall and skittering up the stairs. Mao laid motionless on the floor for the moment, her chest still rising and falling as if entering a peaceful state of sleep for what almost seemed to be the first time since Kavala had met her. Something else strange had happened, however. As Mao continued to lay there, the fur along her body slowly began to retreat, but more than that, it slowly began to change color. It lightened, as the black soon turned to a subtle, lighter color, save for spots that lined the fur in an almost patterned way, resembling the coat of fur one would typically find along a jaguar before finally disappearing, her body shifted into human form once again. Her long hair in that state was no longer jet black as it once had been as well, but more resembling a light brunette in color. And finally, through Kavala’s senses, she could feel a sense of contentment, of relief echoing from Mao, even as she began to slowly stir from that brief slumber. Upstairs, however, the animals of Sanctuary roared with panic, and Kavala could feel them having a sense of urgency, a need to escape. Vanator, with his years out in the grasslands, soon picked up the faint voice of another, echoing out in front of Sanctuary itself. The language eerily similar to the one Mao had uttered just after her shift.

[Vanator]

Vanator took a position next to Kavala, though his eyes remained fixed on Mao. She was berserk, flailing her clawed hands through the bars in a futile attempt to reach them. His attention turned to Kavala only when she began to speak, catching the hesitation and confusion in her hushed voice. His sister was trembling in fear. The fact that Kavala was so distraught confirmed to the Drykas that what Mao had undergone, that the Kelvic's violent behavior, was unprecedented and truly dangerous. His focus of concern, having been on helping Mao, now centered on protecting Kavala, though he still did not wish to harm the affected Kelvic. Nodding in affirmation as the Konti retrieved the stick and paralytic, he waited, eyes fixed on the bizarre apparation Mao had become. Watching Kavala apply the drug to the stick's point, he did not see Mao charge the door until he heard her crash against the bars, rattling and stretching the chain. He saw the restrain about to snap, knowing another blow from the creature would throw the door open. He drew the hand ax from his belt, briefly considering throwing his shoulder against the door to hold Mao back. But that would put him in reach of her claws. Watching her pop her shoulder into place and readying for another charge, Van braced himself, partially blocking Kavala but careful to avoid her stab stick. His hand rested on her shoulder, just about ready to shove her away and demand she flee the room. But Mao's composure changed, and she abandoned her assault on the gate. As Mao fell to her knees, Van took an involuntary step forward, watching the disturbing events unfold. A chill ran along his spine as Mao emitted her eerie cry, the hair on the back of his neck rising at the sight of the creature emerging from the back of her neck. "Kavala...what is it?" He voiced lowly, almost involuntarily. He flinched instinctively as it leapt to the bars and made its way out of the room with unnerving quickness. Turning back to Mao, he watched as her appearance altered once again, similar yet different than when he had first seen her. She seemed alright to his untrained eyes, even peaceful. Vanator was about to ask his sister if the Kelvic was truly alright when the riotous sounds drifted down the stairs and Van heard that same chilling noise that Mao had noised. "Kavala..." He took several hurried steps towards the stairway. She would see in his eyes the urgency he felt at getting upstairs, knowing something very wrong was happening, that all his sister loved and cared for was in danger from this....thing. If she did nothing to stop him, the brother would run up the steps and outside to discover what was happening.