The young tigress has again slung her rifle across her back, since there was little point in using it against a /spaceship/. She leads the way, her senses on high alert for any sort of trouble, heading towards the warehouse district. She navigates the streets easily, not wasting any time with idle chatter. Angie keeps a brisk pace, though she makes sure the others are keeping up. She is a bit reluctant to share the location of any of her safehouses, but she can't stand to leave the kids in danger -- even that brat Leon.

Finally she reaches her destination, one of the older warehouses. She wrestles a section of the large door loose and sets it aside. The resulting hole is just big enough for a person to slip through, though it will be a bit of a squeeze for the adults. Once they are inside, she replaces the piece of the door carefully and heads for the stairwell in the corner. She takes them downstairs, and then to a door marked "Do Not Enter". She pulls out a small piece of something and fiddles with the lock a bit, then opens the door, revealing a short hallway and another door. This time the lock takes her but a moment, and she opens the door to reveal a sparsely decorated room with sturdy metal shelving units stocked with food, first aid supplies, and a few other necessaries. A small stove is in the corner, and a table is made of a board and a few cinderblocks. There are no chairs. A doorway leads to a small bathroom, another to a room with a bedroll, and a third door is shut, and the tigress makes no move to open it.

"'Ere we are. I've got food an' water fer a month, though wi' so many o' us, it'll last less long. I only 'ave th' one bedroll, so most o' us will 'ave t' make do wi' th' floor an' maybe a towel fer a pillow. 'S not pretty, but th' walls 're sturdy an' i' won' be fallin' apart any time soon. This place 's practically a bunker."

Leon walked on in ahead of them whistling lowly as he raised his arms to lace his fingers behind his head. "So... not bad for a hideaway. Speaking of hideaways..." He trailed off, stopping at the closed door. "... If that room's empty, maybe we could 'hide away' from these stiffs, eh?"

Elegy, clearly tired of all this, buried her face in her paw as everyone proceeded to settle for the night.

Angie was right; the bunker was safe... safe enough, anyway. The building rattled about from an explosion nearby, but nothing was felt. Nevertheless, everyone was drained.

Kai immediately settled in the nearest corner. It was far enough away from everyone else but he could still see everything going on. The other Kydane children said nothing to him about it; it was something he did all the time.

"... D... D-daddy," Nel mumbled, having fallen asleep while perched on John's shoulders. Athena, with a smile, decided it would be best for the both of them if she carried her now so that she wouldn't fall off and the top of the older rabbit's head weren't used as a pillow.

Leon settled right in the opposite corner of the room, away from his brother. It was a habit of his, too, and Elegy didn't say a word.

The orange rabbit walked to the side wall between the two and slumped to her bottom, grey eyes half-closed. "Nel's got the right idea," she said. "I'm just gonna sleep right here..." She looked for a moment at Kai, who was still awake-- or not-- then at Leon, who decided to stare at the ceiling. "What's with you two?"

"Tired," replied Kai.
"Bored," answered Leon lazily.

======

Even though they were right in the middle of a disaster area, Ken suddenly paused.

Kane was the first to notice the male Felinoid's behavior, and turned back to him, expression stern. "Mr. Sonata."

"Eh?" The Enforcer looked as though he'd just snapped out of a trance. "It's nothing. I... we just need to keep going, right? Let's go." He started walking ahead, but it was obvious he was feeling drained. Nevertheless, his fist clenched, as though something were beginning to fill him with renewed vigor.

OOC: If you see it and hate Kaze, lemme know. I've got some plans for this now.

John slid down on the opposing wall so he had a vantage point on the three now spread out teenagers. He looked grim watching them all slowly doze off, usually he had no problems with kids but these seemed different. Maybe it because of the situation but even for Kydane outcasts they seemed odd, plus that family name was so familiar. It was as if he knew it, but it was for some reason just not where he could reach it. He furrowed his brow and muttered lowly, "Sonata..."

"Ah Sonata's, I do love those. Perfect to listen to while cleaning up a tad... could do with some of that around here..." The voice was chipper and slightly youthful. It's owner slid down next to John, the squirrel looked in his early twenties and wore and odd combination of a blue trenchcoat over a simple set of shorts and a t-shirt with tennis shoes and socks pulled halfway up his calves. The young man gave a goofy smirk and ran a hand through a odd dirty blond faux hawk he was sporting, "Maybe yer old lady could help with that, eh?"

“Mr. Smith…” John said with a bit of irritation. “If I remember right last time you said you would NOT be back.” The squirrel looked genuinely hurt, “Oh don’t be like that. You missed me, admit it.” He feigned a smile. The rabbit glared, “No, I didn’t, your last bit of advice was nothing but trouble. Tobias is now miserable and possesses powers he can’t control. Plus he hates me.”

The squirrel’s nose twitched, “Riiight, sorry, but you had to or you wouldn’t have met Athena! Plus without you two these kids would be dead. All kinds of good things, I’m sure he doesn’t mind.”

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

Tobias felt the ground through his shoes, more than once wince of pain from something sharp cutting through into his feet. He didn’t care; he had to get there now. He’d promised Jamie he’d get him out of here. He trusted him and now the whole city was in ruins.

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

“John how did you get in here, these people hate adults, and you aren’t exactly a kid.” The rabbit stated ignoring the previous line of questioning.

“What? Oh, I suppose I just popped around when they weren’t looking. Besides that’s not what’s important. We have a new problem.” The squirrel said in hushed tones, looking almost serious.

“I’m done helping you, I done letting you mess up my life.” Kinnear growled out lowly.

The squirrel raised one finger, “There’s a kid in danger.”

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

The rabbit’s pace faltered until he’d completely halted. He stared at the burned and broken husk of the apartment complex. It’d taken a direct hit from one of the missiles and was threatening to collapse. He could feel his heart sink seeing the main damage was to his friend’s second floor apartment.

“JAMIE!” He heard himself scream, running into the creaking mass of stone of metal.

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

John scowled, “It's Leon… isn’t it. I knew I sensed something.” The squirrel cocked his head quizzically, “Who’s Le-oooh, that Sonata kid? Nah, he should be fine. Iiit's Toby.”

The rabbit’s hand shot over and grabbed the collar of the squirrel’s black t-shirt, “You said after I released White Tail he’d be fine. I swear if you lied and hurt him…” The squirrel shrunk down and cowered, “I, I’m sorry but something happened. Well, it wasn’t supposed to but someone did it anyway. The Attack.”

John loosened his grip, “What do you mean The Attack? The bombardment earlier? I figured Kyzarie got tired of the ceasefire.” The squirrel sat up suddenly, “No, no, that’s not it at all, someone did it. Sarna’s lower class district is in ruins and will not recover, then the grassroots movements start, then…. It’s almost like someone knew what would happen.”

The rabbit groaned, “John Smith, if you don’t start making sense I’m going call for that Angie girl and let HER deal with you.” Smith nodded quickly, “That attack is going to destabilize Sibko… They’ll lose the war.” Kinnear rubbed his muzzle in frustration, “What does that have to do with Tobias?”

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

“JAMIE!” The rabbit kicked in the remnants of the door to the main building lobby to see nothing but debris.

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

The squirrel looked distraught, “Mister Kinnear,”

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

“JAMIE!” Tobias flew up the stairs only to be stopped dead at the top by the corpse of Patricia Followil, his aunt. He could feel the tears, shoving them down and stepping over the poor woman.

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

“I’m… sorry.”

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

“JAMIE!” He burst into the apartment to see the sky; the missile had hit the apartment directly. The hysterical Lepoid ran forward into the room slid off the crumbling floor and fell the full height of the story below, landing heavily and falling to one knee from the impact. He grunted and forced himself up and half ran, half limped to what was left of the small bed he’d been sitting on not a few days prior. The colorful sheets covered in the ash from the explosion and cracked and broken the fall from the bedroom above.

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

The squirrel closed his eyes, “Jamie Followill is dead.”

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

Toby fell to his knees by the destroyed bed, one small dust covered arm sticking out of it. The rabbit slowly knelt over fully to look under the bed, a glance was all he needed the young man jerked away and back peddled through the debris on his rump for a few yards. He couldn’t move, the yellow rabbit just sat staring at the sight breathing heavily his eyes blurred with tears for what seemed like hours before his hyperventilation overtook him forcing him to lay down as his vision faded.

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

The old rabbit felt his body weaken. Jamie was another refugee from Kyzarie that they’d helped escape to Sibko during the initial military actions. The boy and his mother Patricia were in hiding from both worlds as they were one of the last living members of House Underwood, Patricia being Russell’s sister. Xira’s Kyzarie wanted all remnants of the Underwood’s bigoted rule eliminated and Sibko had always hated Russell Underwood for his stubborn attitude towards a religious government. John had done his best to make the mother and son safe here. He finally stammered out, “Does Tobias…”

Smith looked down quietly, “He found him about 5 seconds ago.”

The rabbit jumped noisily to his feet, “We NEED to go. I HAVE to find him. That kid was the only thing keeping Toby sane!” The squirrel winced, looking around suddenly as if scared to be discovered, “No, no, no… not yet, you’ll find him but you can’t leave these kids… Oh... um, HI!” He looked over seeing they'd gotten too noisy and attracted company.

Angie, having just exited the third room -- whose door closes with the definite sound of locking -- has a pistol pointed at Smith's head in mere moments. "You better keep /real/ still, mister," she tells him, all trace of her chirrupy accent gone. She has interpreted Mr. Kinnear's reaction as a negative one, and therefore adding to her displeasure at finding an uninvited guest in her safehouse. "Now, I want you to tell me just how you got in here, and what you intend."

"Ah... guns, yeah, forgot those are pretty popular now." The squirrel stated slowly raising his hand over his head, "Actually... I'm, done? to be honest. Had a message, delivered it. My name is, um, John, John Smith? It's a pleasure to meet you Miss....?"

The tigress snarls, tail lashing, her ears folding back. "I asked you a /question/, mister. I want a straight answer, and I want it /now/." She doesn't bother giving the man her name. She didn't go handing her name out to everyone who asked, especially those who currently were looking at a very short life expectancy.

His hands shot up a little further, face plastered with a kind of comical frightened look, "Whoa whoa whoa, I told ya already. Please watch were ya point that. Got enough dead people around here as it is."

Kinnear gave a sly smirk, "Her first question, you know, the same one I ask about you getting in here? Oh and considering she's already attacked one kid and threatened another repeatedly. You may wanna answer her."

The squirrel blinked, "What? Attacked a kid? Err... shouldn't you have killed her?"

*Click*

"Alright! Alright! Jeez this place was violent in the 900's. I... sort of appeared." He looked at the old rabbit painfully, "Shouldn't we be getting to finding young Toby? He's probably passed out by now. Alone. In the Dark. Under a building close to collapse?"

Kinnear sneered, "You didn't wanna go before. You said I couldn't. And now you wanna leave?"

The squirrel nodded, "I have a gun in my face and the person holding is demanding I tell her something you know she'll not believe. I'd say that's a pretty good reason for wanting to LEAVE."

The rabbit leaned back and relaxed, "Nah... I think you're lying about Toby being in immediate danger. Otherwise you woulda already had me go find him. Besides I wanna hear you tell her about how within a century most of this planet will be able to time travel with their minds."

Smith looked over at the still menacing Tigress and gave a half hearted smile, "I don't suppose you'd believe that?"

Angie glances briefly at the rabbit, frowning. "You believe him," she says, not quite stating but not really asking either. "More importantly, you seem to know him...." She takes a deep breath before standing down, putting her pistol back in its holster inside her hoodie. "Alright. But I'm warnin' you, mister. I'll be watchin' yew. Ya got tha'?"

Unlike the other Kydane children, who had long since drifted to sleep, Kaien stirred awake at the sound of the squirrel's voice. He kept his eyes closed, however, and his head turned ever so slightly so he could focus on this voice. How did it even get in here? The more he tried to figure out who he was, a dull pain started to brew in the back of his mind, so he gave up.

He finally opened his eyes once Angie reentered the room and hefted her weapon at the stranger, but he still made no move. Instead, he opted for a slightly different line of questioning:

".... What are you?"

======

-Arverne 3rd Mansion, Kyzarie-

Never had the phone rang so loudly in his life.

The orange tomcat snatched the receiver off its hook so quickly it was a wonder the wire didn't snap.

"You'd better have a damn good reason to be calling at this time of night."
"Master Cecil."
"...?" Cecil sat in silence for a moment before he suddenly recognized the voice on the other end. "... Oh, OH! Councilman, what a surprise! The session is over already?"

"Of course it's not, it's been extended again. However, there are several important things I would like to discuss with you."
"What is it?"
"What does the name 'Sonata' mean to you?"
Arverne wrinkled his nose at the question. "A pain in my ass. What of it?"

"Well," the other speaker went on as though nothing happened, "I assume you are aware that an Enforcer by the name of Sonata was on that ship."
"... Your point is? He married a freaking HALF-BREED and had a kid with her."
"Mr. Arverne..."
"I'm very cranky. Hop to it."
"... Leon."

The cat suddenly perked up. "... Leon? What of it?"
"Leon Sonata-Arverne was on the list of passengers obtained from an unknown source. You know, your SON?"
"... And? I don't have the boy with me on account of my former brother-in-law being a total hypocritical asswipe of an Enforcer."
"Well, he is currently unaccounted for, along with the rest of Mr. Sonata's boarding party. You are aware the Epoch Genesis was attacked, aren't you?"
"No. Then again, you guys always keep a tight lid on media coverage, anyways."
"It's not being covered by media *yet*. The morale of the masses is quite low, so we plan on holding a press conference to boost spirits. What I want to ask you is, would you be okay with the young Master being declared officially... dead?"

Cecil inhaled sharply. Leon? Dead? "What are you planning to do?"

"Well, I don't know about you, but this cease-fire's dragged on for about the last two decades or so, and it's BORING. Therefore, we're going to get rid of it. Since the attack on the Epoch Genesis occurred in Sibken space..."

"You're going to pin this on the enemy."
"Correct~! And furthermore, the story continues to say that noble blood has been spilled this day-- that's were your son and those others come in."

"What, you're not going to find them?"

The other end was silent for a moment. "We are. Just not now. We do have to keep up appearances, you know, or it's our hides. I'm not really supposed to be giving you all this detail, but, as you actually do have a child, even if you don't see him, don't you want you want to know everything BEFORE you make a decision?"
"I suppose but..."
"Great! It was nice talking with you, Mr. Arverne. See you around!" *CLICK*

"You could say that... It's, a long story." The aging rabbit said, sighing and wrapped his arms around his knees like a child. He'd tried to maintain a tougher face but the news was just weighing too heavily on and him. John lowered his head into his arms and fell silent.

The squirrel noted the boy and the question, popping up and back to his chipper demeanor as if he'd not just given the news that a boy had died. "Hey now that's just rude. I'm not a what!" Then he seemed to notice something and pointed at Kai, "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, you're that one ain't ya?" He trundled over and knelt down to look Kai over before letting his eyes widen and his smile increase. "I knew it, an albino! Man you guys are rare right now. No joke, by the time this is all over they drop to like a quarter of a percent of the population." Kai gave a scowl and waited for his question to be answered, but it went unanswered as the squirrel continued to ramble about nothing. Smith looked over at the scowling Tigress, "He always like this? You know, acting like he's in a brooding contest or something?"

Angie shrugs. "'Aven't known 'im very long," she replies. "But I'mma ask th' same question. What are ya, 'xactly? Yew talk like ya already know 'ow this all turns out. That 'ave anythin' t' do wi' th' time travelin' ya mentioned?"

((short post is short))

-Meanwhile-

It was Kiri who spotted the lone Cervoid first after they had been walking in complete silence for some time.

He was forlorn and sullen and a mix of other emotions at the same time, Kenneth observed as his wife moved aside and Kane started asking him the usual questions. As lost as his expression seemed, his speech was still coherent enough to answer and the pointed towards a particularly hard-hit area of Sarna, explaining that the rabbit-- Tobias-- had last taken off towards there after losing his temper at the younger teen.

Kiri looked towards Kenneth, her orange eyes filled with concern. "What should we do?"
Aria, who had remained silent the entire time, shrugged. "Dunno if we should keep going, but you never know if any Sibken are gonna notice us wandering around here."

Kenneth sighed. "This is all reminding me of the civil war after that suicide bomber destroyed a good portion of the market square; I don't like leaving others behind, and if we take a detour, this whole thing will just take longer than ever..."

OOC: I feel lost. -.-

OOC: I totally forgot about Hawthorne. Sorry, Ramza. I'll try to have a post up soon. Of course, if Athena isn't asleep, you can try the current John/Angie/Smith/Kai banter starting up. I'm... slowly moving the plot along.

John didn't seem to be concerned about the strange newcomer, face still hidden in his arms he seemed between fatigue and meditation.

The squirrel seemed the exact opposite scratching his head quizzically, "I suppose it does, but time doesn't work like that. There ARE some kindsa things that don't change," He stated clearly holding up a finger, Then slowly degrading the certainty of his voice and gesturing oddly with his hands, "...or that can't... or that shouldn't... you get that point. But there are other things, like me being here, that can. It's... a little hard explain. I don't you've heard of a moebius strip? Because it's kinda like that, with the bug? And well, there are people.. like me, that... put, the bug on there. Or feed it, or keep the building from falling it." He eyed John warily.

"I don't know what to do. He was so scared. I just... I just wish he would talk to me." The cervoid said leaning against the wolf. Kane looked down in irritation at the clinging teen, then at Kenneth sighing, "Tobias, in all probability, can take care of himself. However we have cause to be concerned he will make more trouble for us. The boy is... prone, to violent responses with little provocation. Leaving him could endanger our ability to leave the planet later, if he is held by the local law enforcement. However, as you have said, the more detours we take, the more chance there is that we; ourselves, will end up fighting our way off this planet."

"A lead?" Hawthorne touched a finger to his forehead. "I don't know. I've never been to this planet before, and all I was told was that my target could be anywhere." He shrugged, shaking his head. "I've never been one to rely on leads; intuition is more my forte."

The man took a moment to look Ashley in the eye, smirking. "So... if you were thinking that you ended up saving someone with worthwhile detective skills, you were quite mistaken~! ♪"

======

"We may end up fighting our way off here, anyway," Ken groaned in response. "If the young man is as volatile as you say, we may as well go retrieve him." He looked back towards Aria, who apparently resigned herself to go along with the group wherever they went. She simply nodded, planting her hands on her hips.

Kiri, who had been comforting the Cervoid the best she could, said nothing as she stood up to full height, saying, "Whatever we do, we need to keep moving. I do not wish to continue standing around here, surrounded by death."

======

-Somewhere on Sibko, in a certain building-

"... We won't know the extent of the damage for a while yet. From the eyewitness reports, it seems that missiles just rained from the sky without warning, the source of which may or may not be from the wreckage of that ship that crashlanded on the outskirts of the capital this morning."

The assembly members all started muttering amongst themselves as the Sibken Police Chief finished his report. It had been a miracle to get the thing typed up this fast, considering the amount of resources of the department being used to search for missing citizens of the city. Because it all happened without warning, there were probably more casualties than evacuees.

After a moment, the Assembly quieted down, and one of them spoke up to the police chief, his face clearly etched with fury. "This is a most serious matter; Kydane refugees, a Kydane Enforcer, and the wreckage of a Kydane passenger ship raining weapons fire all over Sarna. This reeks of Kydane involvement."

"Where is this 'Enforcer' anyway?" asked a second Assemblyman. "Is there anyone with him and whoever he's with?"

The Police Chief faltered. He wasn't expecting a question like this. "That is... well," he started.

"There is no security detail with him?!" a third Assemblyman exploded, his expression completely appalled.

"All of our able-bodied officers are in the city looking for survivors and working with the fire department and area hospitals," the chief said. "There--"

"NO EXCUSE!" the first Assemblyman bellowed. "For all we know, all those Kydane could be spies! This is a direct violation of the cease-fire put in place!"

"And something of this caliber," a fourth Assemblyman quipped, "it should be grounds for a complete, immediate repeal!"

"But, but!" The Chief could only sputter those words as the First Assemblyman rose from his chair. "Surely the Kydane are our enemy, but even they wouldn't stoop to anything this low!"

The words fell on deaf ears as the Assemblyman said, "Our fellow man has motioned to repeal the Cease-fire, established and ratified in Year 902 by the General Assembly of Sibko and the New Sodalitas Order of Kyzarie, on grounds of violation of terms and provisions set forth by both parties, which includes and is not limited to any kind of coercive and subversive activities of any kind. All in favor?!"

Never before had the Police Chief seen every single hand raised in the air so quickly. It's like they were waiting for any excuse to get back at the Kydane for something, and this extremely unfortunate tragedy just seemed to set them all off.

"AYE!"

As soon as the united shout echoed in the circular, dome-topped room, the gavel pounded heavily on the lead Assemblyman's stand. "Very well! Chief, you are hearby dismissed. This meeting is adjourned. We shall reconvene to discuss our next actions... and contact the Kydane government."

Within the Hideout:

Athena glanced about, mainly keeping an eye on John. She wasn't sure if she recognized who he was talking to, but then... she didn't know most of the people he spoke to. There were still recesses of her husband that she could never seem to pass. This troubled her. But just as she was starting to delve into thoughts of her husband's private life, he train of thought was completely derailed. "I wonder what it would be like to have kids..."

Meanwhile, Alma was staring at the others. None of them had spoken to her since she arrived. Her dress was starting to feel sticky. Standing up, she strode to where the other children were sitting. "Um... hi. My name is Alma. I don't know you. Can I... know you?"

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Sibko; Amongst the Rubble:

"Let me get this straight... your only intel was that this person you're looking for was on this planet? Gee, why don't we just blast the rest of the surface! Then we can slip in without a hitch! Captain! You're an idiot!" shouted Ashley as she started to rant.

"Aw... but the fire's so warm and pretty! I wanted to share!" quipped the hedgehog, "Besides, it's not like anyone is going to miss this place. And if they do, I could always blow them up, or something... Then they would be nice and warm! Er... what were we talking about again?"

"I've finished collecting samples. Now, if we could move along before we are all caught and hanged?" snided Regis as he recovered his cooler.

Kaien, still wiping off his glasses after the squirrel-- "Smith" was the name he was going by-- turned to the girl with his usual unreadable expression. "Kaien," he introduced himself simply. His half-open crimson eyes surveyed her only briefly before his eyebrows furrowed. It was unintentional, but he had ended up gleaming Alma's mind for the briefest of moments, and the vision he got was a little more than... distorted. It didn't help that the girl's eyes made something stir in the back of his mind, reminding him of something he didn't quite want to think about at that moment.

Renewed fatigue started to show in his face as he rubbed his eyes. "I... I'm sorry, I've had a very long and harrowing day," the albino teen said, his voice dropping in volume a bit. "Conversation is also not one of my strong points..."

"Yew c'n call me Angie, kiddo," the tigress says gently. She eyes the girl's blood-soaked clothing and makes some quick size judgements. "'Ow 'bout we get chu outta those clothes an' letcha wash up, an' yew can borrow one o' my nightshirts t' wear." The girl can't be comfortable covered in drying blood, no one would be. And the smell is tugging at instincts that she would prefer to keep leashed around so many children, at least until she needed to defend them. Her underlying nature is not a pretty one, and might very well frighten the poor girl further unless she keeps a tight grip on it.