2020-08-09 Animal Antics in the Toy District

Animal Antics in the Toy District

Participants: Ripley, Abigale, Addison, Preston Parker, Tink, Zheng

Storyteller: User:Haight

Location: Toy District

Date and Time: Aug 9th 2020

Summary: A threat to the bawn is dealt with.

============== Toy District - Downtown Los Angeles ==============

The Toy District emerged in the 1970s, thanks to the four Woo brothers. Shu Woo (who started ABC Toys), Charlie Woo (who started Mega Toys Inc) and their two brothers established the neighborhood's character when they began importing cheap novelties and electronics, mostly from China. In the decades that have followed, many more have joined them, growing to encompass a 12-block area consisting of mostly one and two-story buildings often painted in pastel shades and home to roughly five hundred toy and electronics-related shops. These businesses are mainly small wholesalers who import dolls, radio-controlled cars and other goods from Pacific Rim countries.

It remains far from a place of whimsy however. Before the arrival of the first toy merchants, the area was considered to be part of Skid Row; an impoverished area habituated by the homeless - and tensions remain.

Over the last decade, people have begun referring to a stretch of Winton Street (once the southern border of the Toy District) as the 'Bong District'. It's been named after a growing concentration of shops selling not just bongs but hookahs, glass hand pipes, rolling papers, vapes and more. Even more recently, it's begun to see far more than its fair share of cannabis dispensaries.

An Awoo of Concern had been laid across the city, caught up lifted again until its worry ringed the outer bawn area and descended sewer grates down below. The first had Ripley sitting up from a hammock strung in a down-below alley. The echo has him stumbling out of it and dunking his feet into shoes before yanking the ties and stepping outside onto the streets. "You! You! YOU! Get your things, we gotta go topside." It isn't too long before Ripley is leading a motley crew of 'Rou and 'Folk up several ladders before they're bursting out of a set of stairs set inside the fenced off section of a fake-tree cell phone tower and they're on the interior edge of the Toy District but still in the territory claimed by the Sept of the Smiling Angel.

Parker has been yelled at by Liam to be around more so, the Doctor is around more. Though as he walks in and has basically gotten out a few hellos and was going over to maybe check in on some of the kids and pups around the bawn, it seems like it's time for action. And so he goes to where the supplies are kept and pulls out a backpack, and a cylindrical style almost architect's blueprints carrying case made of leather that contains his bow an arrows. Really, when he's here, and is getting involved in something, it's absolutely going to be th emedical support but at least he doesn't have to be a completely sitting duck as he hops to it and sets to follow the pace as best he can that's set by those leading the way towards the Toy district.

Addison had caught a glimpse of people making hurried advances up from the tunnels. The Fostern, who'd been in the Uktena's cavern when he'd heard the scurrying of sneakers and paws. Sensing something may had been amiss, he'd instructed Abigale to wear her human-shape for now.

Once topside Addison spots the Warder and falls in behind Ripley. "What's all the commotion?" He asks the Bone Gnawer. He doesn't pause to ask, but hopes for an answer as they keep moving. The Ragabash pauses to marvel at the secret entrance in the plastic cell phone tower. He'd have to remember this one for later.

Abigale would follow after him, still remaining in her Hispo form for as long as was possible. She was much more easily able to keep up with him until it came time to access the top of the surface. She whined loud, almost having a small fit to herself before transforming into her Homid form. The Garou seemed almost annoyed by having to do this. Yet she climbed up onto the surface behind Addison and surveyed the shapes around her. "Did something happen? I could hear the sounds coming from all around. Also are there any humans around? This form itches..." The Lupus tugged on her shirt, finding it uncomfortable to wear.

Not too much need to go gear up, since Tink is almost always ready to rock and packing heat. There's a quick pocket check for the basics: lighter, phone, flashlight, zip ties, couple of spare mags for the forty-five against the small of her back. A quick text and one of her kin meets her at the bottom of the ladder. It makes her last one up the ladder, but a layer of kevlar and a baggy windbreaker to conceal it is worth being the last to breach.

The message from the topside part of the bawn mentioned animals acting super aggressive, seeming to be bulked out and far more dangerous than they should be, in an alleyway in the Toy District. Some Gnawer Kin have managed to drag dumpsters across an alleyway along with some discarded bits of wood and cardboard - maybe to hem the creatures in, maybe to hide them from the eyes of those who think the world is mundane, maybe both.

The alley is sadly not a dead end, more like a rat-run between storage and residential buildings that has half a dozen entrances - though this is the most public - and as the group close in, they can hear the sounds of dogs barking and cats yowling, and can smell the coppery-tone scent of blood.

"Something." Ripley gives a response to Abigale and her asking about the barking chain howls. He'll step up front to be the first to peer over and through dumpsters all mish-mash and overlapping to make a barricade. "Wolves up front." The man speaks over his shoulder towards his accompaniment before setting his feet and shoving a dumpster hard sideways to bump against the alleywall, then the next to make space for the group to come through.

"Rabies outbreak?" Addison comments, hearing the yowling. "No..." It probably wouldn't be so easy. The Fostern looks to the Warder when he orders them to the front. He makes no objections and slips through the space between the dumpsters. Once out of view of the prying eyes of humanity he starts to shift forms. The Ragabash would change out of the frail form of his birth shape into something fuzzier and much more agile.

Abigale would follow behind Addison, looking about at the group of Garou around her. Once out of prying eyes of the humans, she too followed suit of the Ragabash and shifted into a more combative form of her natural shape. Back into the form of the Hispo. She shook hard, feeling far happier in this shape.

Parker will follow long. See he knows that because when they say wolves up front, he isn't one of such. Waiting until they get into the alley, he will reach back and undo the top of his quiver, reaching in to pull out the bow. The quiver string is attached to one side but needs to be set on the other, something that takes a matter of moments for one as practiced as he is, but it still takes that moment of prep time on his part. Still....no reason to go crossing a Los ANgeles street with a bow out. He'll wait until they get to the alley, eyes alert. If there happent to be a series of nice even rooftops, or some other vantage, he might try to look to getting a little higher simply because, well, if there's something on the ground, some distance is never a bad idea. He doesn't add to the conversation or speculation however. Just gonna let the big, bad, and ragey do their thing and try to help.

Tink pulls the forty-five from her lower back, working the slide just enough to double check that there's a round chambered. The loudest weapon amongst them, that makes it a last ditch device. No matter how common shootings are out here. "I really should get a crossbow." she says, looking at Parker and smiling. The windbreaker concealing the body armor, she moves slightly forward of the doctor and to the left, so he has a clean line of fire as they move.

Into the alleyway via the gap made by Ripley's shoving of the dumpster, and there is no immediate visual sign of the animals. The alleyway is about wide enough for four people to walk abreast, or two dumpsters to sit side by side, and splits left and right in a T-junction at the end about 80 feet away. The neighbouring buildings are tall, though there is a fire escape running up along the left-side building. The roofs are fairly uneven, packed in side by side with no regard for aesthetics.

It is worth noting that the alleyway isn't totally hidden from the eyes of mortals - there are windows looking out over it, and though nobody appears to be spying at the moment, that isn't a guarantee.

Keen senses hear the sound of the snarling and yowling is coming from the left of the T-junction, though the alleyway echoes horribly, and the scent of blood is coming from the right side.

Ripley steps out into the alley further, a glance back to see if he'll have wolves following him before he points upwards towards windows. An informative gesture to make them alert to possible prying eyes. Then he is about to step into the midst of the tee-section and glance down the left way with consternation. Then to the right to the blood. "Well fuck." An internal dialogue made external as he glances between the two exits. "I need a kin to text downstairs to see if we can get the other exits cornered. Its really not something we can wait for though. Left is where the fight is. Cleanup will be needed right." Then he is going left towards the sounds of animalistic scuffling.

Parker smiles back to Tink, a little wink given as he takes a deeper breath. "I wanted to play video games. Mom wanted me to learn our ways. This happened to be a compromise," he says, glancing to the bow before setting back into step again. As he hears that sound of the growl though, Parker starts to glance around. When the fighting starts, he'll help, however that's not going to be his first priority. He's going to look for innocent, injured, those who need to be gragged away or who might be able to be spared if somehow he can get to them before they bleed out from whatever this...thing...they're hunting might have done. Itf course, if any of the wolves go down, or Tink, then his priority will shift, but Parker knows where his skills are and how he's best made to serve in a situation like this. "Come out come out wherever you are...." he says so quietly under his breath it probably wouldn't have been heard by the wolves ahead if they weren't...you know...freaky ass keen sense machines. He does look to Tink though, the bow being a two-handed affair, to see if she'll do the texting.

Abigale would sniff the air and the ground, nosing around the dumpsters to get a better source of the scent. Her eyes looked to the right then she followed the scent of the blood and the combat. The Hispo would gently nudge Parker to the side so she could squeeze her way through into the alleyway. Her ears flicked and listened for the source of the sounds.

Tucking her hefty pistol back into it's holster at her lower back, Tink grabs her phone. Texting her crew, she gets the message out of where they are and what to do. They're an efficient group, so with luck and some speed they'll get people put together to help plug exits. "On it." she says, dropping her phone back into a pocket and readying her weapon once more. "Show me sometime." She asides to Parker, mostly watching the wolves.

In Lupus Addison, or rather Ghostwalker, looked like a big coyote. Those Red Wolf lineages tended towards looking like that and it had even fooled some biologists! With any luck if any humans saw him like this, they'd just assume a an urban coyote had gotten into a fight with stray dogs. He does notice Ripley's cautious look though. <<"Abigale. Too big. Human or wolf shape. Good.">> He tries to communicate to the Lupus. The Homid's wolf speak wasn't so good, though.

At the intersection he notices the scent of blood and the sound of fighting. He looks back and fourth between the blood and the sounds of fighting. Though his curiousity pulled him towards the blood he moved to back up the Warder. <<"Abigale... go with kinfolk. Blood smell. Might mean... hurt. Need healing. Protect kinfolk. I go with Warder. Be safe!">>

To the left side, those going that way can see five animals. Or rather, grotesque mutations of what should have been three medium-sized dogs and two normal housecats. Instead they're over-muscled to twice their normal size, teeth and claws overgrown. Mouths drool constantly because they're too toothed-out to close, and their fur is all mangy and matted and blood-stained. They're in a cluster, sniping at eachother without really hurting, jostling for leadership perhaps.

On the right, two formerly-human bodies are in pieces across the concrete. Dismembered, muscle and tissue torn away by hungry maws, clothing strewn just so the meat could be gotten to. There isn't enough left of faces to really identify them.

"Hey teeth for brains, I bet your mothers ate oatmeal and your fathers drank shoepolish!" Ripley, upon seeing the gathering over teefies and now ugly poor wretched animals decides to insult them all. Along with some feet stomps and homid-bark-bark bark like Jon Berenthal playing The Punisher.

Parker is standing there and as Ripley jumps into action, the would be Legolas slash Rambo slash Hawkeye pulls an arrow and quickly notches it. His stance is fairly well practices, a slight lean as he takes aim, the hunting bow sleek, black, and there is a quick 'twang' followed by a 'ssssssssssssiiiink' that whizzes between Ripley and Addison and plunks itself in to the larger part of the bod of one of the cats, the arrow vibrating with the force of it sinking into tainted kitty-flesh.

At first the cluster of animals seems set to break up; two dogs to one side, two cats to another and the third dog hanging back. But when Ripley yells at them and stomps and barks, they decide clearly he needs to go DOWN, and all five of them swarm him. The dogs get in some nasty bites to his legs, but largely block the cats from getting more than clawtips into skin.

One cat, now sporting an arrow from the rump thanks to Parker, gives him /evils/. You know, that look cats have when they're displeased about something.

Ghostwalker's snout wrinkles as there's suddenly a vibrating arrow sticking out of the cat he'd picked out as prey. He catches the cat as it turns to hiss at Parker and gouges it with claws.

Abigale was about to lunge at the nearest dog which suddenly turned it's attention to the Warder. She snarled and chased after the nearest dog and leapt at it, sinking her fangs into it and began to viciously shake in a violent fashion while trying to kill the beast.

Loud weapons are a last resort, though Tink is sorely tempted when all the beasts pile on him like that. Instead, she holds ready and moves to be able to position her armored self between Parker and the animals if needed - gearing up for a defensive game to keep Parker clear of an attack while he is free to skewer the targets.

OH RIGHT! Ripley gets a clamoring of Dogs and Cats working in harmony to get ahold of him. Teeth dig into his flannel and his jeans here and there until they go from loose and baggy to tighter to his frame and he suddenly is wearing a midriff flannel. "Thats right, get some you pupperdoodles and mangy cats!"

Tink glances back to Parker and adjusts her position, making sure he has a clear path of fire. The forty-five is held in a tense low-ready with both hands. Watching. Ready to move if things look too bloody with the wolves or one of the beasties breaks off to have a go at Parker.

Ghostwalker has landed a swipe on the cat. The wolf's instincts tell him to go in for the kill, forgetting his human mind's former apprehension at biting the animals. His teeth snap at the cat! If he'd only managed to burry his fangs in the cat it would be no more, but he only tears away a big tuft of hair.

Despite being bitten and shot and clawed at the animals continue to focus on Ripley, clearly not a tactical decision but more a frothing hatred for his flannel. Again the cats make little headway, the dogs continuing to bite at all the now-much-tighter fabric and the flesh below.

Seeing Tink providing cover, Parker needs to move but you know what he doesn't do? He doesn't walk in front of the girl with the loaded 45. Moving in a practiced nature as he moves back behind her to find an opening now between the warriors and the attackers, Parker lets looks another arrow as he reaches back, notches, draws, and releases. It's just a smooth motion as the arrow flies forward, this time sliding right into the eyehole of the kitty, before going throug hand out the other eyehole, the mega kitty being shot right into the side of a building. Of course, as the animal is shot it seems to lose side, so what would have been the kitty being pinned to the wall by the arrow going thorugh both its eye sockets, ends up being a rather morbid view of a cat shot by the arrow and suspended in mid air, itslifeless husk swaying in the breeze.

Abigale turns her head and shoves the dog down. Her huge paw gets placed on it's head and she shreds into it. Ripping and tearing at the poor pupper and releasing it beyond the mortal coil in a very wolfish fashion. As it dies, it's spine hanging out of it's back shrinks down much to her confusion before spitting out the spine and moving to engage with another. She had to protect the kinfolk!

Of all the lousy things to happen today, getting teeth through his only 'clean' flannel is enough to piss off poor Ripley. Cats and Dogs swing about him like hula-hoops as he turns to face down the the one who dared make rips instead of puncturemarks and introduces its snout of teeth and fur to the heel of his boot to send its paws scattering sideways at the impact. Blood, teeth and other assorted viscera splash outwards!

The sound of snarling and growling and yelping - from the animals at least - is loud, echoing through the alleyway, louder even than the background sounds of traffic and such. A window opens on a high floor and a fifty-something woman leans out to yell at the animals, pausing with her mouth open as her eyes take in what is actually going on, then hastily ducks back inside, her expression one of fear. She screams for her husband to call the cops. What are the cops gonna do? No idea, but it's her first instinct.

The incoming Doggo 2 gets all of Ripley's current attention and the entirety of of a lackluster and scuffed black boot into its throat! The Hulk-Version of Ripley goes heel-toe into the doggo's throat in a way that tumbles it sideways, then over and over again from the ferocity of said kick.

At this point, if any of the wolves wish to file a complaint with the Gaian admin on duty for the guy sniping their kills, they can go ahead and do so at this point. Cause...it's legit. Parker finds the angle he wants as Ripley's boot comes smashing into the form of the doggo who's about to be dead and as its body whips back in recoil, one can almost imagine the slow motion shot as the arrow is then released so that as it prepares to launch back at Ripley, the arrow slices through it in that moment, sinking deep into the throat of the dog before it collaps to the ground, turning back into the size and shape of a once lovely houes pet, likely named Hero or Duke or some such.

Abigale would lunge at the next one, tearing into it though not as forcefully as the next one. She yipped and snarled at this one as she bit into it and shook her head back and forth in an attempt to rend flesh from bone.

When the trouble begins to outweigh the desire to stick to quieter weapons, Tink brings the glock up, tracking a target and squeezing off a round with a practiced movement. There's regret for the sound of the big pistol, the round clipping the hind end of the remaining dog. Not the shot she wanted, but maybe it'll get Ripley some breathing space to heal.

Ghostwalker opens his mouth to bite the first cat, but it's snatched right out of his jaws when an arrow pins it to the alley wall. The wolf snarls with a spark of rage. His human brain was quietly happy there was one less problem to deal with but his wolf brain was angry at /his/ prey being snatched away just as he was about to finish it off.

The Garou needs to let his anger out on something. He twirls around and swipes at a fresh cat.

Ripley might've been all ready to smosh a dogskull into oblivion, there was still two dogs around him and he was already shifting focus with supernatural speed and supernatural grump to the other dog when an arrow whooshes into the first to finish its attempts at mauling him. A shuffle-step towards the remaining doggo before a soccer-kick presents the top of his foot to the ribcage of this dog and turns ribcage from a completed jigsaw puzzle into a mishmash of stray pieces with several missing from the box.

There really is a lot going on! But Ripley thinks everyone needs to feel the brunt of his feet, the speed of his toes, the flutter of his thunder! So he'll turn to the remaining cat who is already looking unhappy and distraught with its situation and hup-two-three-fours it in a sweeping lifted kick that sends its upwards into the air and twisting as if might somehow find its feet again before someone else kills it!

Silence broken on her end, Tink commits, counting rounds as she looses a trio of rounds towards the dog. *POP POP POP*. Quick and steady, one narrowly missing the dog, another glancing off the back of a leg, and the last sinking in closer to the soft spot behing the ribs and where the giblets live.

Machine gun cha cha. As the dog that was still trying to get after Ripley is alive, even after taking a couple of those bullets, Parker follows up with another grab-notch-draw-fire releases, the hunting bow and him good friends. To be fair, it helps that he gets to finish things off from distance. He doesn't have to get up there like the rest of them to do this, and manage both taking shots and mitigating them amidst fighting. He just sits back and plunks, which is perhaps crude but effective. It may be that after that last draw and fire and seeing the 4th of the 5th go down, he holds out a fist towards Tink for a proper kinfolk fist bump atta boy.

Abigale was about to get that last dog before the kill was stolen from her. Her temper flared but she snorted and instead went to the cat, picking it up by the neck. It was unceremonious or had any sort of real dramatic flare. She merely squeezed her jaws around the cat and it's spine and neck broke. It shrunk just as the others did and she dropped it to the ground.

Ghostwalker stands panting looking among the corpses of animals. He can still feel the Rage running hot in his veins from the fight. His snout lifts to the cat dangling from the arrow, skewered, fixing the dead thing with a glare. As the New Moon's Rage settles he sniffs around the scene, looking for the Wyrm's touch or evidence of other types of witchery.

Parker makes his way around, then, after the wolves give the a-ok, to collect his arrows. He'll put them in a wrap cloth he keeps in there, to clean them later for using and to make sure they don' ttouch the other arrows. He'll also unsling his medkit then and start walking towards Ripley. "I've got some tools here. ANything I can do to give you a little bit of a boost back to good before letting you have to let nature run its course on the rest?"

Ripley lets his head loll back and forth as he looks less like the combination of a caveman and an anime protagonist that spent 4 weeks training and resumes his normal shape. His normal shape being much more typical human-sized, but also wearing attire dotted in flannel and spin-washed with blood splatters. A lot of which is his. "Alright. We ain't staying here for question-answering. We'll cleanse it later. Hoof it. Someone text that officer kin. We'll mend somewhere we won't get gawked at."

Tink bumps them knuckles that Parker holds out when the kills are confirmed. Tucking the big pistol in against the small of her back in it's holster, she starts to move forward. "Back underground?" she asks, eyeing the bodies. "We bringing those with us? Not to the Bawn, but just underground? Get them out of sight so we have time to give them a better look see?"

Abigale nodded to Ripley's command, making her way towards the entrance of the alleyway. But before she made it to the edge, she shifted into her Homid form so she wasn't conspicuous. "I'd say maybe? It could be spirits..."

"Do you think we'll get all the way back with them before cops show up?" Ripley grumbles aside towards Tink at the request. "We're worrying about the veil now. We need coverage from Zheng for whoever was yelling out that window. Most of this can be explained away." Without a fight to throw himself into, Rip's hands shmoosh into his pockets and he stands there waiting for things to start moving.

Ghostwalker backs away from the corpses, snuffing at the Wyrm stink that hangs on the bodies. The Ragabash is going to do the Ragabash thing and basically become invisible as he follows Ripley back to the bawn. He didn't want to risk his pretty human face getting recognized by anyone on the street.

"Back?" Tink looks confused and motions towards a manhole cover. There's a slight shake of her head, but she holds, for the moment, waiting to see what the wolves want to do.

The Ragabash looks between the human bodies and the animal ones. Back and forth the snoot moves between the animal corpses and the human ones. Eventually he'd paw at one of the poor souls that met their end in the alley. <<"Hide these...">> He seems to think hiding the human bodies was a priority.

Red and blue lights flash on a black-and-white as the police cruiser comes up. The door opens, and, fortunately, it's Zheng who gets out. He's in uniform this time, badge, gun, and everything. And so when he gets out, he walks over towards the scene. "All right," he says. "What on /earth/ is going on here? Or do I even want to know--what I don't know, I don't have to lie about in the reports, after all."

Ripley swapped out a bloody flannel and t-shirt for a hoodie since they had stashed clothes all around the bawn for /just/ this sort of thing. He'll be standing to meet Zheng as he shows up with flashing lights. "Iono man. Coyotes man, I tellywhat." Someone gave Ripley hulu and now hes watched King of the Hill so he will be absolutely horrendous to deal with in the near future.

Zheng looks at the scene, then at the folks still there. "Please tell me that the animals were going after the humans, and then you put the animals down as a mercy. Because honestly, that's the easiest way to keep weirdness out of this." He pauses a moment. "Do we want the bodies to be identified?"

"That's more or less what happened." Tink says with a lift of her shoulder, letting it fall before looking to the bloody mess and wrinkling her nose. Patting herself down, then smoothing it down.

The Garou in Lupus tilts his snout up as Ripley unleashes his inner Hillfolk. The Ragabash hangs back in the alley, watching how the Ward chose to handle the situation. Something Zheng says causes his nose to twitch. He gives Tink some whale-eye and creeps over to one of the bodies of the bodies, looking to see if /they/ had collars or I.D. tags.

"They'll need to be cleansed first." At the moment, it looks like its just bystanders walking to the police about what they saw. Not...vicious attack people lying to the police. Ripley's shoulders shrug up and then droop down again. "Then people should get some closure. Might be homeless."

Zheng grunts. "If you guys can cleanse them before I have to document things...is there anyone I need to talk with--other than you--about what happened?" He looksup at the windows, and then at the alleys, "Anyone see stuff they shouldn't have?"

Tink doesn't grok wolf body language. Though it seems like most anything she might be needed for is over. Uneasy with lingering, she double checks herself, then starts to sidle off thataway.

Ghostwalker is going to... ghost walk away home and take a mutant cat with him back towards Skid Row.

Scene fades, with Zheng dealing with the cleanup