but somewhere here in between the city walls of dyin' dreams

If Mauja had thought their gathering was fucked-up and tense, it was nothing compared to how fucked-up and tense it was going to get. Nyx introduced herself as a warrior, with the sterling kind of pride and precision she seemed to carry everything out with, and from the corner of his eye Mauja saw Galiel sort of .. freeze up? Widen her eyes? He couldn't put his hoof on what it was, because it was brief and fleeting, just a heartbeat's thing—she didn't have time to properly display whatever it was she was going to be feeling, because it was at that time that Dominus chose to make his rather untidy and gruesome entrance. And whatever it was that had been on Galiel's face was replaced with blanked-out terror of some kind as she moved back, miraculously not tripping over anything. Areli, on the other hand, seemed to take it in stride, though her wolf cub did not.

And Mauja, he just furrowed his 'brows, fighting the urge to run in behind Galiel and herd her back, because if the way the creamy girl had been looking at him ever since they first met was anything to go by, she already thought he was shifty enough as it was, without him trying to forcibly keep her here. So he just turned his pained gaze down to the blood-stained lion and his deer haunch, and wrinkled his dark nose. "Disgusting," he told the beast, an echo of what both Irma and Diego thought of the situation—it was too messy, too gory, not enough finesse and precision .. he was a lowly slave gorging on soup with his whole face down the bowl, while the owls sat at their high table and ate with silver cutlery and dabbed their lips with napkins. Of course, that kind of thing rubbed off on Mauja.

"You know how to make the Edge seem appealing, don't you? Welcome to our herd, come and be zapped!" A weak and watery grin spread across his face. Nyx seemed to have some sassy remark for everything—at times it was a blessing, at times a curse, and somewhere deep down he wondered what kind of shit she had been through that she was so used to dealing with everything with comic relief. "Well," he muttered mildly, not wanting to stall it longer with idle chatter, "at least we're unique?" And Nyx's skin began to spark, little currents running along the ice forming along her skin; one of them jumping to the lion and sending him off with his meal, and Mauja huffed in mild amusement. Served the bloody predator right for scaring his girls.

“Majick [...] Vat is going on here? Vere am I? Vat is zis place?” And Galiel was backing again, even as Areli shimmied on the spot, and her wolf cub ran in between her feet sending her tripping straight into Nyx and ouch—

Mauja winced. He knew what it felt like, to get all of those icy little nubs embedded in your skin, and the jolt going through your body like a whiplash—he looked aside, drifting over to poor Galiel instead, hoping she would not run from him. "It's okay," he called out to her, voice gentle, eyes gentle, black-rimmed ears flicked forward in the white mess of his mane. "Don't be afraid, no one will hurt you here." And unless she would retreat from him, he would attempt to reach out, to gently touch her forehead with his muzzle, blow hot air against her in an attempt to soothe—but in all reality, he expected her to bolt like a startled rabbit, hightailing for safety (and away from a disease that required such a shocking cure).

Still.. one can always hope, right?

[ @Galiel @Nyx @Areli -- re-tagging @Random Event because Areli pitched headfirst into Nyx's spark shield. :) ]

man, I ain't changed, but I know I ain't the same