In Baker Systems, the central building for OSU's computer departments...
(5th Floor, Baker Systems)
The creatures are black and indistinct, with furry bodies, glowing red eyes, and vicious claws. They move very quickly, growling and grunting like beasts, yet moving upright like men.
Tess turns, her broadsword swiftly drawn. Stepping between Sebastian and the onrushing creatures, she shouts, "Sebastian, find us a window!"
Then the creatures are upon her. Two swoop past her to focus on Jubair and Sebastian, as the other makes powerful swipes at her with its long, ivory claws. Tess is unable to avoid either claw, but fortunately one scrapes across a belt buckle and is rendered harmless. The other leaves a small gash on her left arm.
"I'll do it!" Jubair shouts. Before he can act, however, the creature is upon him. Jubair tries to dodge, clumsily, and actually succeeds, avoiding the creature's broad swipes with it's claws. He is forced back against the wall, however.
"No! Fight if you can, get back if you can't!" Sebastian balls his fists, hunches his shoulders, puts his head down, and charges horns first. His face has gone from it's normally passive and cool gaze to complete animal fury, with teeth bared and eyes on fire.
Unfortunately, his hooves slip on the smooth floor and Sebastian falls, the beast is quick to leap upon him, clawing at him. Sebastian takes some superficial cuts, but nothing he can't ignore. More dangerous is the creature perched upon his chest as he lies flat on his back.
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(Elevator)
Chris/Kelia gasps at the sight of the furry creatures, then the door closes. As the elevator starts down, she says, "What the hell was that?"
"Shit!" Keighvyn explodes. "We've gotta help them!" As the elevator starts down, his shoulders slump as the futility of suiting actions to words sinks in. "Dammit!" He grits his teeth, and whispers, "The Great Raven watch over you, friends... and bring you safely back to us." His eyes are wet, though he doesn't seem to realize it.
Brighteyes looks very concerned. "Are you okay, Miss Christine?"
"No," Chris/Kelia replies with a pained smile, "I don't think I am..." She opens a pouch on her briefcase and fishes around inside, pulling something smallish and dropping it into a fold at the waist of her flowing silk attire with a metallic jingle. She leaves her hand within the folds of her garment.
Elvish ears twitching, Brighteyes shoves her hand in Christine's pocket and grabs Christine's hand.
Chris/Kelia looks down at Brighteyes, clearly surprised. "What're you doing?" she demands, pulling her hand and its contents out of her silk skirt and bringing it high over her head, out of reach. The object appears to be a set of keys.
Brighteyes blinks. "Huh? I wasn't doing anything."
Chris/Kelia narrows her eyes at the girl but says nothing. She does, however, maintain a firm grip on her keys and shift her bag away from the girl.
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(5th Floor, Baker Systems)
The creature before Tess slashes at her with its claws but fails to connect. Tess swipes back at the black furred creature, her broadsword moving in a wide arc, but the blade catches on the chimerical stone that this man-made mountain is constructed of in the Dreaming and the blade is knocked from her grasp.
Jubair looks for some sort of weapon as he dodges the creature but finds nothing. he slides along the wall, dodging one clawed swipe but taking a gash across his thigh from the other.
Sebastian, snarling with rage, reaches up and grabs the creature around the neck with both hands, then he rolls sideways and turn the tables so that he ends up sitting on its chest.
The lab assistant steps into the hall, and stares at the three snarling and fighting against thin air. "Wh-what's going on here?" he asks in a trembling voice.
"Jubair! The sword!" shouts Tess, as she swings a punch at the beast before her. Tess' blow lands, the creature not even trying to dodge, but it shakes off the solid blow easily. Tess in her turn ignores the small cut its claws leave on her forearm.
Seeing the dropped sword nearby, Jubair heads over and attempts to kick-pass the sword back to Tess. He succeeds admirably, launching the weapon towards her with precision and finesse. Tess, however, doesn't bother to catch it and the blade hits the wall beside her and falls to the ground.
The creature fighting Jubair takes advantage of his distraction to sink both of its claws into his gut. The wounds are not critically deep, but they are very painful and bleed freely.
Sebastian, keeping a firm hold on the creature's throat with his left hand, pulls his right hand back to deliver a jackhammer punch to the beast across the bridge of its hideous nose. The creature yanks at his arm with all its strength, but fails to dislodge his hand, it does disrupt his punch, however, which doesn't have much strength behind it and does no appreciable damage.
The lab attendant continues staring at the three people writing on floor or against the wall, miming a climatic battle against invisible foes.
A girl walks around the corner of the hall, from the direction of the restrooms. To the lab attendant she just looks like a teenaged girl. She's wearing blue jeans, Converse all-stars, and an OSU sweat shirt. Her pale blonde hair is tied behind her head in a pony tail, with shorter strands from the front hanging out in wisps.
To the combatants she looks very different, however. Her hair is silver-white, and her cheeks are crimson. Small spirals dance from the corner of her eyes, and her ears are elongated and sharpened to points. Her chin is slight and pointed, with a thin red spiral forming right on the cleft.
The girl ducks back around the corner.
Jubair screams, tears himself away from the beast and attempts to get away. The creature is too swift for him, however, and keeps him against the wall with savage swipes of his claws, which slash at his clothes but miss Jubair's flesh by inches.
Tess scoops up the blade, as the creature comes at her with large swipes of its claws. She ducks low, under the creatures attack, rolls back and hits the elevator button.
Keeping his hand firmly on the throat of the beast, Sebastian pulls back for another punch, this time twisting his torso sideways to add velocity and power to the strike. He swings toward the creatures left cheek with all his might. The blow lands with a satisfying thunk in the creature's face as it tries to squirm its head out of the way of his fist.
Suddenly, the lights go out, plunging the building into near complete darkness.
From the darkness comes the lab tech's weasely voice, "What the hell is this now?"
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(Elevator)
The elevator doors open on the first floor, the lobby appears to be empty.
When Keighvyn steps out of the elevator, he surreptitiously looks from his companions to the other elevator and back again, his expression torn. He takes a deep breath, and when he speaks, his voice is rough with suppressed emotion. "Okay. We need to wait for the others."
He looks to Christine then, and tries to resume the mask of nonchalant politeness, but his face cracks and anguish is clearly visible in his eyes. "Would you mind accompanying us to the Conservatory, ma'am? Or is there another place you'd prefer?"
"Your friend, the, uhm, blue woman," Chris/Kelia says as the doors open, "she suggested going to someplace public to talk. I need coffee. So, I'm going over to Starbucks. Tell her y'all can come if you want. To talk." She heads toward the exit.
When Christine turns to the glass doors to head outside she sees her reflection in the mirror. It is not the reflection of Christine, the computer science graduate student but rather that of Kelia, the Sidhe lady of House Eiluned.
Chris/Kelia stops abruptly at the sight of her reflection. "Ohmigod," she whispers, "Ohmigod." She closes her eyes and swallows hard. "I am not," she said softly, her eyes still closed, "going to have a breakdown in the middle of the goddamned lobby." She opens her eyes and winces at the reflection. "I'll go somewhere else and have a breakdown," she mutters, starting forward again. She brings her free hand to the side of her head. "Kelly? Kelia?" she says is a quiet, confused voice. She starts walking faster.
Brighteyes continues to follow her. "I don't think you should go alone," she says. "Especially in a car. You shouldn't have a breakdown in a car, cuz you might get hurt. And you don't wanna get hurt, especially now, because especially now you need to know who you are. Please stop...." she adds in her calming voice.
Chris/Kelia looks down at the girl. "I-- I have to work here," she says with clear desperation. "I can't do this here."
This conversation appears to shake Keighvyn out of his funk, and he listens intently. He approaches the two a few steps, and asks gently, "Ms. Logan? Would you like to sit down for a minute?" He keeps his distance, though his expression is clearly meant to calm her as much as Brighteyes' voice. "I promise, I'll stay right here and not come any closer." He hangs back, clearly waiting for her reaction.
"Not here," Chris/Kelia repeats. "I want to get out of here."
"Okay," Keighvyn says. "I think I can understand that." He takes a deep breath. "Would you still like to meet at Insomnia?"
"Uhm, yes, that'd be fine," Christine agrees.
"Keighvyn," Brighteyes says, frowning very deeply, "if she drives by herself, she could get hurt."
Chris/Kelia starts to say something, but apparently thinks better of it. She turns to look back at the elevators. "Where're your friends?" she asks hesitantly.
Keighvyn looks worriedly at the elevator doors. "They should be along...I hope." His expression is torn.
"Tell them I'm going to the Starbucks in Upper Arlington," Christine says, her voice taking on a strangely commanding note. "I think I'd like to get away from here." She turns and walks toward the doors, squaring her shoulders and pushing through them with a defiant air, walking past her reflection in the glass.
Suddenly, the lights all flicker ad go out, leaving the lobby lit only by the light coming in from the glass doors.
Time: 9:37 am Wednesday, 26 August 1998
Current Weather: Sunny Expected Weather: Sunny
Original summary by Paul Westermeyer; converted to HTML by Midori Hirtzel-Church