A break in monotony, perhaps?

[Anonymous]

Jovan looked over at the new girl that showed up. He smiled at her, "Hello to you as well. It's nice to meet you." He glanced down at the food the manager had delivered to the table, sniffing at it delicately, "What is for breakfast today?"

Breakfast was generally not the best meal for him. As it tended to either consist of meat and eggs, neither of which he ate, or tasteless oatmeal. But one could always hope for bread.

[Anonymous]

Turning to look at the newcomer, Mara grinned widely at him, even as Lysael muttered something that sounded suspiciously like 'dammit'.  Really, was a quiet morning too much to ask for?  First the demon girl, now this guy dressed in the brightest colors, and--Wait.  A pair of large rabbit's ears adorned the guy's head.  What the...

First the demon girl with dog ears, and now bright boy with rabbit ears.  His attention was drawn to Inumisha as she emerged from the kitchen.  He returned to staring at a spot on the table, glaring at it as if today's events were its fault.  Arguing with Mara last night had put him in not the best of moods when he woke, then encountering and learning what demon girl was... And his thrice-damned curiousity, which was driving him to want to know more about her.  And now this guy, flirting with Mara.

...He wasn't even going to try to understand why that upset him.  But then something caught his attention...it might have been the way Inumisha sat back down, or the way the manager was crowding too close to her.  Whatever it was, Lysael was bright enough to figure out what was going on.  And now, even though the manager hadn't even looked at him except for when he'd paid for the room, he felt threatened.

And he didn't dare do a damn thing.  His hands clenched under the table. Even if something happened, he knew he wouldn't dare fight with the man.  Not that he was physically weak... No, it was the fear of another accident, of another death on his hands.

And seemingly oblivious to Lysael's discomfort, Mara smiled back at Inumisha and Jovan.  "Morning.  I'm Mara, and this is Lysael.  Don't mind him, he's moody this morning."

[Anonymous]

Inumisha stared at Lys her eyes fix on him. Begging him to get her away from the manager. Then her ear twitched, the manager stood up and tried to get lnumisha to follow. She tried to pull away, but to no avail, failed.
"You owe me" The manager said tightening his grip on her wrist.
Inumisha looked back at Lys hoping for help, her eyes in terror and begging for him to save her. Then, slowly, her eyes changed from golden yellow to a deep blue. She then left the room.

[Anonymous]

Jovan had smiled at Mara, flirting lightly with her. He was enjoying her friendly manner, so different from many people he ran into, "It doesn't seem to be the best morning for most people. But getting such pretty breakfast companions does go a way to make the day brighter."

He winked over at Lysael, "Even if some are moody. I shall do my best to not take it to heart."

At the manager's instance that the obviously reluctant girl go with him, the rabbit looked rather uncomfortable, the smile leaving his face for the first time, "Um, sir...I don't think she's interested."

Jovan was a lover, an artist, definitely not a fighter. But he didn't really like what was going on, "If she has a debt, maybe I can settle some of it. What exactly does she owe?"

He was a little too uncomfortable at the manager's actions to notice the change in the girl. The painter looked like he would much rather crawl under the table then deal with the confrontation.

[Anonymous]

He seemed to have frozen in place for a moment, watching the manager drag Inu away.  He knew that look.  His gaze dropped suddenly.  Oh gods, he knew what the man intended, knew the right thing would be to stop him, but fear held him in place.

Mara stared as well, shocked that the manager would do such a thing, and be so...well... blatant about it.  She gaped at the sight, then turned to her table mates.  They both seemed reluctant to face this, Lysael more so than Jovan.  Repressing the desire to tell them both off for not being men and stopping the manager, she rose from her seat suddenly.

Her pretty face set in an intimidating scowl, she marched over and threw the door open, stomping down the hall and staring down the manager.  "Hey you!  What's wrong with you?  Didn't your mother ever teach you any manners?  When a lady tells you 'No', then you damn well better leave her alone."  

She paused, glancing at Inumisha with a softer expression, then scowled at the manager, continuing to speak, though she abandoned the loud tone of voice (that ensured everyone in the inn heard her) that she'd been using previously.  "I think it'd be very bad for business if word gets out about this.  Your's isn't the only inn in town, you know."

[Anonymous]

The manager smirked."No one will care, ecpecially if the princess stayed here. Buisness would be booming." He pointed at Inumisha. "I dont mean to sound geedy but...if she bore my child, i would be king."
Inumishas garbs were nearly torn off from the waist up from trying to escape. Her arm was still in his slowly tightening grip.
"She would make me rich, and my son would be the heir. Though... there is a small pitfall..." The manager dragged Inumisha back to the dinning room(now pretty much empty) then points to Lys. "I heard her singing about you... Thats reason it was so lively in here before breakfast. Her songs hold power, hell, so does she. "He grinned. "you are my pitfall."
As the manager spoke, Inumisha was trying to cover herself. Her hair hung all around her and her bangs coverd her eye. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she sufferd this torment.
The manager quickly and carlessy pick inu up over his shoulder causing her to hit her head and get knoked out. "Bye..." The manager leaves as blood drops fell to the ground.

[Anonymous]

"...Er..." Jovan felt a little over his head. He had just wanted breakfast. That was all. And a bit of company. Maybe some light flirting. Really, was that too much to ask?

He was a coward by nature, rabbits not known for their bravery. But this wasn't right. He stood up then, trying to not look as utterly terrified as he felt, "Um...I think it's best you...er... unhand the lady. I...err....please?"

He glanced around the room. It was probably to much to hope that some knight defender was having dinner and would leap in any moment to save the day so Jovan didn't have too.

[Anonymous]

"Princess?"  Mara blinked in bewilderment, then shook her head.  "You know what, I don't care about your plans for your nonexistent heirs.  You're a pathetically disgusting excuse for a man, and if you don't let her go..."  She let the threat hang in the air.  Mara was no weak damsel that relied on other people.  If she could just get the man to let go of Inumisha...

She wasn't quite sure what he meant by pitfalls and power, but she saw the way Lysael jerked when the man pointed at him.  As if he'd been struck.  Now she was really mad.

And the manager scooped up the demon girl and left, Mara stayed rooted in place, infuriated.  And then she turned on her heel and marched over to Lysael.  "Give me your knife.  I'm going to cut that bastard's heart out, and feed it to the pigs."  She growled.

Lysael passed the knife over, hoping she didn't really mean that, and partly grateful that she wasn't asking him to fight.  He felt so sick right now.  

Taking the knife, Mara glanced at Jovan and her friend, a little worried about Lysael, and said.  "You two are going to back me up, since everyone else here appear to be a bunch of gutless cowards."

That snapped Lysael out of his trance, and he looked up at Mara, shock and disbelief clear on his face.

[Anonymous]

Jovan gave a small, nervous laugh, "I aspire to one day be as brave as a gutless coward." He glanced around at the room. There was no Knight waiting to leap to some Princesses defense, just a bunch of tired, scared townsfolk. He sighed, "But, well, I think that you holding that knife glaring at me is a lot scarier then that man in. Though as your back up, I feel you should know my best fighting skill is curling into a ball and begging someone to stop kicking me."

The painter wasn't a fighter. He was an artist. And he wasn't really all that ashamed of the fact that most fights involved running like mad or getting beaten up. He gave a short prayer that when the large Innkeeper beat him senseless that he would avoid his face. He looked over at Lysael, "What was he talking about you being his pitfall?" He couldn't tell what the pretty young man's relationship was with the dog eared Princess, "Are you her fiancé or something?"

[Anonymous]

"I don't need you to fight.  Sometimes superior numbers are enough to intimidate someone into surrendering."  She gave him a closer look, scrutinizing his lean frame.  "Besides, you look like you're pretty fast.  If he lets go of Inumisha, I'm sure you can grab her and run.  I don't expect either of you fight.  Don't wanna fight him myself, I just wanna get Inumisha away from him.

Lysael rose from his seat with an air of resigned acceptance, glancing back at  Jovan.  "I don't know.  And I don't want to know."  He had his suspicions, but he wouldn't even tell Mara, let alone someone he barely knew.  " I don't even know Inumisha.  She ran into me outside the inn, and we talked for a while.  Didn't even know her name until she introduced herself at the table."  His tail flicked behind him jerkily.  As long as it didn't come to a physical fight, he'd be fine.  Right?

[Anonymous]

As the manager carried Inumisha out, an odd wind began to blow. Then the sound of a flute began to play. The manager payed no attention to the eerie tune.
Then, Inumisha awoke in a trance. Shoving her hand through his back, the man fell over dead. Blood dripped from her hand, she stood there...stoic.

[Anonymous]

Jovan nodded, "Let's hope he's easily intimidated. Though I think he may have gone off the deep end." He shook his head, "I can't imagine that's normal behavior anywhere."

He head towards the door the Manager had left from. He's nose twitched at the strong scent of blood and he pulled the door open, expecting to find Inumisha badly hurt.

At the sight of the girl standing over the mans dead body, his blood dripping off her hand, the painter froze. That....was bad. The rabbit part of his brain kept screaming at him to bolt. The human part of him just slowly backed up.

He glanced back at Mara and Lysael, his voice soft, "I...er...think she doesn't need a rescue anymore..."

[Anonymous]

Mara nodded.  "Let's hope."  She and Lysael followed after Jovan, and when he pulled open the door, even Mara could smell the blood.  Blue eyes went impossibly wide as she took in the scene.  She'd been in no way serious when she'd said she was gonna cut the man's heart out.  Mara was not much of a fighter.  

She shook her head a little, and stepped around the fallen body, doing her best not to look at it, and reached for the girl's shoulder.  "Inumisha?"  She put her hand lightly on her shoulder, shaking her gently.  "It's alright.  Come on."  She glanced back at Jovan, blinking when she realized Lysael was no longer standing there.  "I think...we'd better get out of here."

Lysael had backed out of the room as quickly as he could.  That scene was just...sickeningly familiar.  And the smell of all that blood made him feel physically ill.  He backed into the bench and lost his balance, sitting down with a soft thump.  He really, really didn't want to deal with this.

[Anonymous]

When mara shook inumisha, inumisha jumped backwards as tears formed into her now glazed over eyes. Inumisha resisted attacking them. She couldn't, she had no reason to hurt them... after all, they were trying to help.
Inumisha jumped into the air, then double jumped into the forest.

[Anonymous]

Jovan wasn't even going to try and pretend to go after her. There were limits. And he was not about to chase a rather dangerous dog person thing. Rabbits ran from things, not after them.

He glanced over at the other male, not wanting to have to see the sight of the manager's dead body, "So...um....do you know any other inns? That....um....just serve breakfast?"

[Anonymous]

She looked rather shocked, all things considered.  Inumisha had just fled the scene, and her back up had, well....backed out.  They should go after her, really.  Glancing back at her friends, and then to the window Inumisha had leaped out of, Mara came to another conclusion.

This was not exactly going to look good when people came to see what happened.  And...it'd get worse when the manager's family found out.  Eeugh.  That settled it.  She strode back in to the common room, and looked at the two guys, addressing Jovan.  "I dunno.  There's bound to be one around here somewhere, and even if we can't find it, we can always get something from the market."  She glanced around nervously.  "I don't want to be here when people start investigating this.  We should go."

Lysael never even heard Jovan speak.  The teen was staring off into space, apparently just...not there.  He was a pacifist, really, and ever since things had gone wrong, he'd become a coward as well.  Insults and mockery came easily to him, but the first sign of violence, even a simple bar fight, and he'd flee the scene.  He just couldn't handle it anymore.  

But, the sound of Mara's voice snapped him out of the trance, and he glanced up, blinking.  Leaving sounded like a very good idea.  "Yeah.  Let's go."  He didn't seem to be quite as out of it now, though his voice sounded unusually soft.  At this point, Lys would have loved to just crawl back into bed and pretend this was all a bad dream, but obviously, it wasn't a choice.

[Anonymous]

After Inumisha left, the flute stopped playing, breaking Inumisha out of the trance. Knowing what she did, Inumisha hid under a tree and cried. Everything that happend.... wasnt supposed to happened..... She didnt plan on becoming a puppet again...after all...Nimari died...Right?
Sighing, she lay back. "I hope they'll take me back..." Inumisha looked into the sky. Hoping somehow, her words would reach them. "Im sorry."
Just befor falling asleep from crying, Inumisha transformed into a small demon dog.

[Anonymous]

"I agree with that. I don't want to be anywhere near here when people start coming around." Jovan was a coward. He wasn't ashamed of it. Its just who he was. When it came down to fight or flight, he choose the latter.

He shook his head, sighing, "It's probably too late to go back to bed and pretend this never happened anyway." Then he gently nudged the traumatized boy with his shoulder, "Come on. Let's get ya some food. Then maybe you'll look less like ya crawled out of Hell and more like the cute guy I wanted to flirt with this morning."

His smile reappeared, though at less then full force as he turned to offer Mara his arm, "Though that isn't to say such a lovely young lady would go unnoticed."

[Anonymous]

Mara didn't even bat an eye as Jovan flirted with Lysael.  But as he offered her his arm, turning that smile on her, she let out a little gasp.  Jovan wasn't the cause of it, though.  "Our stuff is still in the room..."  She fidgeted for a second, then glanced at the duo, nudging them towards the door.  "I'll meet you outside."  

She turned and ran down the hall, detouring around the body, trying not to think too much about the death.  In the room, she found two simple traveling packs, and began stuffing clothes and belongings in them, not bothering to sort them.  Had Mara known they'd be leaving today, she would've packed this morning!  ...She really hoped Inumisha was alright.  Maybe they'd run into her somewhere else in town?

Lysael was...surprised.  The other boy was flirting with him, and for Lys, it was kind of strange.  Girls flirting with him, he was used to that. But another guy, he really wasn't sure how to handle it.  ...Mara didn't seem to mind Jovan's flirting, so he supposed it was alright.  

He stood up, just before Mara nudged them, and glanced sideways at Jovan.  Why did he suddenly feel so awkward?  Gah.  "Y-yeah."  He started out the door, glancing back to see if Jovan was following.

((Apologies for the delay.  I've been scatter-brained today.))

[Anonymous]

ooc: Hey, no worries ^.^

Jovan was doing his very best to pretend this morning had never, ever happened. And getting to tease Mara and Lysael was helping smooth the upset over this morning.

And he couldn't feel that worried about Inumisha. She seemed rather capable of taking care of herself. She was a predator and he was prey. And seeing her dripping in the blood of the innkeeper had rather scared him. But he did hope she was okay.

He gave Lysael another wide grin, "Something on your mind pretty boy?" He fell into pace between the two. He liked being around people. And these two were quite fun. Mara seemed nice and easy to get along with. And the boy seemed like endless opportunities to tease.

Outside the painter wrinkled his nose. He often found the best way to find an inn was to follow his nose. It didn't always work, but it was a good start, "Now, lets see if we can find some breakfast. This way smells nice."

He started off down a side street. He didn't seem in any great hurry, stopping every so often to sniff the air.