[quote=@Mokley] The rabbit-eared kid lowered the sheet just enough to stare wide-eyed at Liam. He breathed quickly, his breath huffing against the sheet, furry ears twitching, and he glanced up at Flor and then back at Liam's warm smiling face -- then back at Flor. The boy's eyebrows furrowed. His blue eyes grew even wider as he stared at Flor. What follows took place within the span of ten seconds. Maria's voice in the stairwell surprised the child; he sprang out of the sheet like a spooked cat, leapfrogged over Liam's shoulders, launched himself at Flor, slammed into Flor full-force, and bounced nimbly away. The child perched on the stair railing, breathing in short gasps, and unfolded his thin hand; in his palm lay the pink glowing stone he had stolen from Flor's pocket. In this brief moment of pause, it became clear that a peculiar image had been drawn on the boy's bare chest in black marker. A rune. [center][img]http://i.imgur.com/qhWQEIw.jpg[/img][/center] Immediately, the boy pressed the glowing stone against his chest. The rune on his skin flashed, and the stone disappeared inside him -- as if the rune had caused the stone to be absorbed into the boy's body. The boy's eyes began to glow a bright, wild yellow as the power of the soul stone coursed through him -- he glanced between Flor and Liam with acute, feral fear. He launched off of the railing and sped up the stairs toward Maria. The rabbit-eared child grabbed her crinkling oversized coat and swung around behind her, using her as a shield between himself and Flor and Liam, and he screeched. The piercing, high-pitched noise echoed painfully up the hollow stairwell. Just outside the wall, a swarm of Grit howled in response. [/quote] Maria started as the odd child sprang around, apparently startled by her voice. "No, wait--!" She was about to say "We don't mean any harm" when the boy whipped out a small, glowing, stone - Maria fleetingly recalled her own version of that gem, stashed safely in a pocket with a bunch of candy wrappers - and shoved it into his chest. His eyes started to glow, and almost before she knew it, he was grabbing her jacket and emitting what sounded like a cross between a banshee and a cat getting kicked (her father had come from somewhere he said was far off and away, and had told her of the banshees, terrifying female wraiths whose scream deafened and even killed; she had seen a cat getting kicked by a boy once, out side her window, but after Maria had convinced him to leave off the poor thing with several well-placed lollipops; both of these things flashed through her mind infinitesimally as the rabbit-child swung behind her). Maria's ears rang, and she was left disoriented for a few seconds. [quote=@Dud] Moth pushed himself forward slightly, and let momentum carry him as he nearly tripped down the stairs. He barreled into the Grit on Maria's back. He clutched a bare shoulder with one hand, and the small creature pivoted to face him, eyes wild. With his own face showing no sign of emotion, Moth moved in one smooth arc and slapped it as hard as he could across its cheek. A faint echo came from somewhere in the dark upstairs as a robot started making noise. Moth's hand slowly turned red and he came to the conclusion that he was in a lot of pain. [/quote] The sound of Moth's hand smacking against the child, combined with the howling of the Grit outside, sprang Maria back to reality (such as it was). Two thoughts dominated the now-blank canvas of her mind, stark black on white (some far-off detached part of her, perhaps in that land her father said he came from, noted that her internal handwriting was quite different from her actual handwriting; smooth and cursive, rather than blocky and printed), flooding her with acute and primal terror. First: [i]There's a Grit on my back.[/i] Then again: [b][i]There is a GRIT on my BACK.[/i][/b] Second: [i]SHIT SHIT SHIT GETITOFF[/i] Fueled by instinct and fear, Maria backed up and slammed her back, and the boy with it, against the railing, once - twice - three times. A shred of rational thought managed to escape the blockade of terror, and, using it, Maria slipped out of her jacket faster than a cat could sprint across a room, then tried to pry the Grit-child off of her jacket with all of her strength.