Max couldn't help but smirk slightly at Astral.

"That may be true, but..."

The fox was interrupted suddenly by John's rear-grabbing antics and following slapping. He had to admit that the rabbit got what he deserved. He would normally chew him out for that kind of behavior...but he figured that the humiliation would be punishment enough.

The scrawny boy let out a sigh, seriously wondering if he shouldn't just wander off again. Nicky was known to have a temper of steel, but when it came to males that expressed 'intrest' in her... lets just say this wasn't the first time Nicky had nearly decked someone for try on some 'hankypanky' as she called it, though the kit suspected there were far more acurate names out there for such an intrusive act. The cub looked up at the fox stood beside him "He gets that a lot, dosn't he?"

The rabbit slid down the wall, for a moment at least it looked like the women and actually injured him. Of course a moment later he was looking astonished and rubbing his cheek, "Madam I'm insulted, my hand merely slipped, A royal guardsmen would never stoop to such a lowbrow act."

The rabbitboy whined rather loudly tensing up again, trembling and gritting his teeth in response to some pain whose source was still unknown.

"Heh, yeah right pervert." Nicola snorted, folding her arms under her chest "Just to let you know, I'm a married woman, so keep any bright ideas to your-"
The agitated rac' was interupted by Toby's moans, prompting her to look back at the bed where the boy was lain. Astral had moved from the doorway and was now standing on tiptoe as he leaned over the bed and prodded the other child gently in the back, as though trying to assitain whether Tobias was dead or not. Nicky turned an acusing finger on the guard and scoffed something that sounded like 'stay', then turned back to the bed, giving the kit's paw a light swat as she perpusfuly sat down on the edge of the bed "Don't do that astral, you wouldn't like someone poking you in the back when you're ill, would ya?"

The cub looked up, expression slightly softer then it had been in the hallway "He's so faking it, he twitched when I poked him"
Nicky chuckled at the cub who was now hugging the offending paw to his chest "What did you expect?"
"Muh, if he was hurtin' for real then he wouln' have twitched" The kit shrugged and continued watching the moaning child on the bed, placing his elbows on the bedside and resting his chin in his paws. Nicola terned back to Toby, gently rubbing his shouldre with a calming hand "Toby.. can you hear me still? Can you tell me where it hurts?" She said soothingly, her worry growing when she resived nothing but a mild groan from the rabbit boy. The rac let out a small sigh, closing her eyes in thought for a moment before speeking again, this time aloud.
"You know... As much as I hate to agree with you, you might be right." She turned her head round to look at the rabbit she'd just slapped, eyes filled with axciousness "He must be hurt badly to be acting like this, and I'm not a doctor. Damn, I should have taken him there in the first place." She looked back to the quivering rabbit, paused for a moment of calulation and then lifted him from the bed, trying to be a gentel as posible so not to cause any more halm then good. After making a few weight adgustments, Nicky stood up to her full hight and walked out into the kitchen, pausing to look back into the room when she realised Astral was still stood near the bed "Luke, could you bring Ast? We may as well get him checked over at the same time."
The fox nodded and disapeared into the room, reapering moments later with the kit walking before him. Nicky nodded soundly, altering her grip on the child she was craideling and proceeded out the door, followed by the guards party and luke, who obliged with the door. It only took a few minuets to walk the way to the vilage medical center where they were greated by several staff, incuding the vixen that had pointed the guards in Nicky's direction. After a quick explenation of Toby's condidtion (and the fact that Astral needed a look over) they were shown though to a small room just off to the left of the tiny six bed ward. Stepping though the hanging beed vail, Nicola lay the boy on the bed within the small room, sitting down beside him with a worried expression. Astral stood someway behind, having been herded all the way to the center by luke, someone he knew wouldn't just let him wander away. He hated hospitals, they stank of cleeners and other icky things. If he was totlay honest, it was mostly the blood tests he was afraid off, that and the things he'd 'seen'.

ooc: is it dead already?

OOC: Short of having a monster attack or Breech going into labor I don't know how to get Frog back here. If you want I can have a moster attack to get the gloryboys to fall over themselves coming back to save the lady and the little kid. o.o

OoC: Actually, I'm waiting for Evalc.

"No visible injuries. No signs of internal injuries. What, you mean he IS faking it? We came ten miles just to babysit some kid with the math flu?" Max grumbled out loud. Both he and Kinnear stood listening to what the town doctor had determined. Max stood rubbing his temples thinking about getting laughed at for such a stupid assignment. Kinnear was leaning against a wall arms folded, looking oddly serious.

"Considering the situation I hardly think he's trying to skip school. His reactions give every indication that he IS in pain. Or at least his brain is telling him he is." The old doctor said shrugging. "So it's psychological then?" Max spat back. "What the hell would trash a little kid's mind like that? Half this planet lost their parents or grandparents or something in the war, you don't see them writhing in bed." The doctor wrinkled his nose, "This is something that had to have been going on for a long time. Probably his whole life considering his age. Something recent must have triggered it. Nicola said he just wandered out from the woods and collasped."

The young fox perked up a bit, "So, something in the woods is torturing people? Now this is getting more interesting." Kinnear looked lost in thought staring hard at the floor. Max nudged him, "Wake up, stop thinking about that girl and focus ya damn perv. Doc says something must really done a number on the kid in the woods. Probably some sicko or something." The rabbit finally blinked back to reality. "Yeah, lets wait till morning though, I got a bad feeling about this."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back at the castle the King and his son seemed to be in the middle of a heated discussion. Both stood in what appeared to be one of the many hallways that ran through the large building. Even though the planet had advanced with technology they acquired since the war had started dealings with offworld visitors the central monument to the ruler of the world, the castle, had withstood the war even though all of mobotropolis had been annihilated. It was refurnished, the inside walls and more modernized look to them. Eletrical lights and not lamps adorned the walls. Outside many citizens owned or purchased what they'd dubbed "flyers", which were essentially just hovering transports that resembled cars. Other villages didn't have this technology yet, something the government was working to spread to all corners of the still recovering planet.

"Why NOT! There are already TWO members of the guard that are my age. Why CAN'T I join?" The younger squirrel whined at his father. The king just sighed, "The life of a Royal Guardsmen isn't always rescueing cats from trees. It can and is dangerous. Jhared, you're the heir to the throne and I can't allow anything to happen to you. *Sigh* Maybe I have be too restrictive, but I just don't want anything to..."

"Ahem." A gruff voice came from behind them as a scarred canine cleared his thoat. Bayfield turned around at faced him. "I appologize for the interruption of this can't wait. Hemayan are on the move in the Great Forest." The King winced and gritted his teeth. "A bunch of old men?" The dog nodded an affirmative response. "How did they get here, Captain?" The squirrel continued his questions almost forgetting his still wound up son listening with peaked interest. "We're still trying to figure out exactly how the 'scanner' the Kydane military gave us works. Basics are all we have but we do know some kind if ship did come down several nights ago." The king blinked, "Come down? Did it land or crash?" The captain shook his head, "We're not sure. If the device was right it looks like the ship was large enough to hold at least a half dozen passengers."

"Dad. I wanna help. They're just a buncha washed up magic users..." Jhared added as a point to further prove he could handle himself. The Captain raised an eyebrow, "All traces the scouts found indicated the group is consistant with the size of the ship and is heading to Direwood." The King's eyes widened a little, "But thats were..." The canine nodded, "It does fit, the scouts said they were easy to track, even for hemayan. Almost like they were in a hurry, like they were chasing something." Bayfield nodded, "You think they're after whatever caused the disturbance in Direwood?" The captain nodded, "I believe so. Kinnear is already there, but I'd like to send Runner and Ingram to assist in case there's trouble, sometimes these geezers can be a handful. If you want, the prince and travel with them. Maybe if he sees what we do the silly thoughts of glory he has will go away."

Bayfield closed his eyes for a moment, "Meeting Ingram would show him what being a boy in the guard requires. And with Kinnear around, well he's good but that pervert would scare off anyone." Jhared's eyes started to light up, "Come on dad! I can handle it! I can be just as tough as that Ingram kid." The sentence almost made the dog snort, and the King glare. But after a few moments he sighed and nodded, "Alright, but make sure he stays out of sight and JUST watches. Maybe watching your people scare off a bunch of fanatical old cultists will knock some since into him."

The Captain nodded, "Come on Prince, the others are waiting to go. You three can be there by sunrise if you head out now." Jhared blinked, "Sunrise? It's only ten miles." The dog smirked, "Guardsmen don't use flyers, in case they need to stay out of sight." The young squirrel groaned and dragged behind the larger canine.

Astral looked on at the whole procedure, mumbeling under his breath while holding his tail close to his chest "Toldya he wus faking it."
It was clear the kit was in a degree of discomfort, not liking the hospital suroundings one bit and had taken to clinging close to the wall, as though he were trying to hide behind the bedside table. Nicky was far too buissy looking worried, standing at the bedside with pitty in her eyes "Who could have done this? It's just... sick." She paused for a moment, shaking her head and turning to Max "He said that he did run away from some where, but he didn't say where."

Max considered this new bit of trivia, nodding slowly towards Nicky. So the kid was mentally traumatised, probably by someone that he had run away from... This assignment was getting more interesting. If he could track down whoever was responsible and teach them a painful lesson...well, it certainly would improve his reputation in the Guard, and it would be fun to boot.

"Whenever we get the chance, I'd like to question him about that. If he can't tell me directly, maybe the kid can give me some clues. Now...do you know somewhere we could stay for the night? My friend here seems to be tired."

OOC: Comeon guys, you can go more than 2 posts without me babysitting you. Try harder!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The doctor showed them to a small inn in the town for the night. John was still oddly silent the entire time. He sat on his bed quietly hugging his knees and staring distantly.

Deep in the forest a blur of movement hopped between the trees making little noise other than a swish from the wind the figures were cutting through. No voices between them, but it was like they knew what they other was doing.

In the hospital Nicola had refused to leave. She had been staring in mortified shock for the last five minutes as the rabbit had been screaming and hold his head in intense pain.

ooc: Ugh, magure pc problems again.

IC:

In a nearby examination room, Astral sat patiantly on the edge of a table while a young doctor-in-training gave him a once over for injuries or mall helth. The kit twitched slightly at the shreeking that was coming from the room where he'd left Toby and Nicky, making doctor Lorian's job far harder as he tryed to examin the boy's eardrum. "Please lad, just stay still. This won't take much longer." the doctor muttered irritably as he adjusted the scope again, never having to give an exam on his own before, especialy to a fidgity child. It wasn't that Astral was whining or anything, just that he seemed to be trying to make everything twice as hard as it needed to be, swinging his legs during the reflex test and making his iruses change to that strange cloudy colour when Lorrian tryed to check for signs of damage to his eyes.
Finaly he removed the scope, anouncing that they were 'all done' and feeling throughly satisfyed that hadn't let the child's antics errode his profestionalisam.
The kit looked up at the doctor cynicaly "So, whats wrong with me?"
"Nothing," Lorrian chucked.
Ast razed an eyebrow, clearly not convinced "Four weeks in the forest alone and there's abserlutly nothing wrong with me?"
"Well," Lorrian said chearfuly "nothing that a good meal, a bath and a decent nights sleep won't cure." He bent down to Astral's eye level, a slightly more serious look on his face "How long is it since you last slept Astral?"
The boy seemed to become uncomfortuble at this question, ducking his head into his shoudure and looking at his gently swinging feet "..you're the doctor.. you tell me."
Knowing he wasn't going to get anywhere with this, Lorrian nodded and lifed the scruffy boy down from the table by his underarms, placing him on his feet and leeding him back to the room where the screeming was still coming from.
"Why is he screaming?" The boy quearied as they aproched the door, the doctor shrugging in responce "Hasn't anyone just asked him why he's screaming?"
Lorrian smirked and patted the boy on the head "I don't think he'd tell us even if he could."

After her initial attemps at calming Toby had failed, Nicky could do nothing but stand there while the boy screemed, the attendents confirming that what ever was wrong with him had to be psychological and nothing they themselves could treat untill he calmed down. The woman's ears were held particualy low, partly out of trying to detract from the awful sound, but also out of her own self suffering. She despriatly wanted to do something, feeling in some way responcible as it had been her who took the child in after he colapsed in the market street. And yet, in her shock and disalution, she couldn't think of anyway to help the poor boy. If it had been one of her own children, Rayne or Kathryn, she would have probably simply held them close, rocking gently until they calmed down as any mother would. But this was not one of her children, how was she to know whether such contact wouldn't just make things worce, sturing up bad memories that could torment the boy firther.

As the atendents tryed in vain to calm the boy an assess what was realy wrong with him, Lorrian lead a rather disgruntled looking Astral back into the room. As Nicky had her full attention on the rabbit boy, she didn't notice Astral walking toward the bed with a look of determination on his features, hands covering his flatterned ears. Nicky took a step forward but was far too late to stop Astral once again taking the direct approach. The kit pushed his way between two nurces, stopped right next to where he could see the boy's face, leaned over, prodded him on the fore head and yelled above Toby's screaming "HAY! WHY ARE YOU SCREAMING?"

For a second it seemed to do nothing, the rabbit's small muzzle still open letting out shrill screams. Then suddenly he went completely limp. Astral was unsure whether to be proud of himself or if he'd killed the poor guy. He jumped on the bed putting his paws on either side of the boy's head to see if he was still faking it.

*snap snap*

He felt small paws clamp down on his wrists like restraints. He couldn't move, it felt like the rabbit was going to crush his wrists. He looked up from staring at the sudden movement to see two very menancing emerald spheres intimidating him. It was no sideways glance this time, it couldn't be his imagination, this kids eyes HAD changed color. Suddenly a strangely gruff voice hissed at him, "Touch him like that again and you'll regret it."

Suddenly he felt the boy's grip loosen, the eyes closed, and the youth's small body was racked with one more jolt of pain before he went completely limp, falling unconscious.

The second the rabbit let go of his arms, Astral fell backward from the bed, the force with which he'd been trying to pull away from the suposedly disabled boy sudenly releaced. The kit rocketed across the floor, scrambleing backward untill his back was firmly against the wall, holding a hand to his quickly paning chest with a look of perpetual shock and horror on his normaly plain face. Nicky was emidiatly by the kits side, her worried questions falling on deaf ears as a scowl grew on Astral's features, quickly terning into a look of manic rage. It was only then that Nicky realised why the boy had his hand on his chest. The lamps in the room had begun to flicker and dim, as though something were stealing the light from them.
A dark, ominouse pressonce could be felt, pungulating thoughout the enire room as the child slowly roze to his feet, his eyes clouded with clouds so gray that it almost appeared as though the iruses themselves had turned black.
He advanced a step, his hissing voice puminating the room as viscus as the pressence that defiled it "..wrraaAAAITH!!"

Sudenly the kit broke into a run, tearing the ruin from its lace around his neck and headed right at the boy laying on the bed, every intent in his mind of killing the child to distroy the Wriath. But he bearly got the chance, as a moment later, Nicky lept forward into his path and grabbed him with both arms, takeling the small boy to the ground and holding on for dear life "DON'T YOU DAIR!" She balled, voice wracked with untold fury.
"Letmego! LETMEGO! There's a Wraith in him!" The kit shreeked, struggleing against "There's a freeking WRAITH IN HIM!" But it was no use, Nicky had the rune firmly pressed into the kits chest and was holding him so that he could bearly move. Now shushing the wriving boy, Nicky realised that tears were flowing down Astral's face even though he was still clearly furious with the creature that possed the child on the bed.

After a moment or so the kit calmed down, seacing his struggeling as the lights above reterned to normal, the dark shadows retreating back to their rightfull corners. Gently, Nicola turned the boy around to look at him sirously, intending to ask why he'd nearly tryed to kill Toby, but finding her answer when the kit sudenly lept forward and clung to her, burring him head into her shoudure and begining to cry in earnest. Even though the normal assumption of any adult would be that he had started crying in shock over Toby's suden 'attack' or frustration over Nicky's restraining, the Coon knew that he'd been crying from the second he'd realisd what it was that was within Tobias, for there were very few things that could drive Astral to tears so abruptly. Carefuly she stood up, craideling the balling child and rubbing his back reasuringly while hushing words comfort, knowing that no amout of consolement in the world could seel the gaping hole Nicky knew he was feeling at that moment in time.

The woman looked at the young doctor, who was standing over the bed checking the rabbit boy's pullse and eyes for dilation. Lorrian gave her a nod coupled with a small smile, as if to confirm that the unconsious rabbit was alright and that she was ok to leave for a moment or two. As the Coon caried the crying child out of the room, Dr Lorrian finished checking the Rabbit-boy's pulse, thankful that his hart rate seemed to have reterned to normal. Yet there was no quiet smile or satifyed nod about the young ferrit. Instead there was the look of someone going though an intence series of cognative dessions, calculating a worrying posibility. Astral wasn't wrong about this kind of thing often, renowned as he was though out the vilage for knowing far more about 'Unnaturals' then even the elders. And yet, if a Wraith had been possessing the boy why hadn't it attacked anyone yet? Indeed the boy's symptoms were simmiler to someone fighting the invaiding pressonce, but he'd never heard of anyone managing to keep that up for more then a few hours at the most before the vial spirrit overwhemled them and took controle entirly, using its victim's body to kill just about anyone in its path. Yet if the boy was posessed, why hadn't he even attempted to kill anyone? In actuality, from the way the spirrit had apparantly taken control it would have seemed almost to be 'protecting' the boy?

Then again, it could just be psychological, as they had first diagnosed. The doctor leaned over the limp child, speeking in a low knolageable tone "Tobias?... Tobias, can you hear me?"

OOC: edited a bit more in. Its down to either Froggy or Mike now to post.

Meenwhile at the Inn, the guards were being shown to their rooms for the night. The boy they had come for was going no where for now and it made little sense to remain on guard when they had already been on the move all day.
Hue Macgrawl, the Bar owner gestured to the group as he aproched the stairs, his old lungs itching with the gentel lair of smoke from the room below causing him to choff and wheez.
"I 'pologies's for the state of the rooms." the old Boarder colly said gruffly, trecking up onto the corridore. "Don't usualy have 'royal guards' around 'ear."

A snort. "You don't see a lot of things around here." the voice was sly, and mysterious and the guards knew what that meant. It took the ole' watchmen to speak up, he had been quiet the observer during this trip.

"So do I get a room too? Considering I came with these honorless blokes?"

Hue looked back at the guards gradulay following him up the stair way "There ar' plen'ie of 'um" He said lightly, moving to the first door in the hall and unlocking it with a key on his belt "But no one ever stays here anymore, only a few travelers come this way, never stay for more then a night too. Hed'ing off into the woods they say. Consiquently, I an'ly keep two of the rooms in good 'nic"
Leaving the now open door to swing inward of its own accored, Mcgrawl now moved on down the line of doors, unlocking just enough for the gards to have one each. Finaly, he plodded back down the stairs, choffing as he went "Le' me know if ya need anything."

"There isn't a single cloud in the sky.", the fox said with a sneer. He was told that he had a wide variety of sneers, but he never bothered to lable them all. Seemed like a waste of time.

"Hairless AND senile...heh."