Alala sighed and stretched in her personal quarters at the top of her tower. After she'd reported back in, she'd gone to her study to draw up some defense plans for the city. However, she'd grown tired of it after a while and thought she might go to the library to see if they had anything on defending a city there. Plus it would give her a break to stretch her wings and maybe check up of Vilas and Zerial. She glided out of the open window and was aiming to land on the roof of the apartments when she saw and smelled a neon spirit streaking from the door.
"HEY!" she barked midair. If it was a poltergeist, she was going to be absolutely livid it had gotten in the city. Perhaps even interrogate it for information on the poltergeist's sinister plans. She'd heard rumors of a poltergeist army, but she pushed the thought out of her mind to focus on the task at hand.


Merikh jumped when a sylesti yelled at him, and he turned to see a Lupora with huge dragon wings descending on him like a predator. He saw her eyes widen in surprise at his blood-red eyes, and he felt his heart sink at the thought of how she was going to react to him. He remained frozen, muscles taut and trembling as she landed, waiting for her to make the first move.

Vilas and Zerial both jumped at a loud shout from outside. With a glance at each other, they both went to investigate. They saw Alala dropping quite quickly in the direction of a very neon, very surprised Ryori. "What in the world?..." Vilas said to no one in particular. Zerial's voiced followed with, "Should we go see what's happening over there? I think it'd be best to leave Alala to her business, but what if she needs help? Should we go find help?"

When the Lupora was about a foot away from him and showed every hostile sign possible: bared teeth, raised fur, and unconcealed growling, Merikh figured she had every intention of attacking him. And he wasn't surprised at all. He looked like a monster, and from word of spiritual mouth, he knew he was a poltergeist. So he did something he believed was totally reasonable.
He teleported behind the Lupora and kicked her into the ground, before catching himself with his wings and watching the results. Since she was already flying downward, she barreled into the ground at a very high speed which ended in a sickening thumping sound.
Ouch.
He didn't, however, expect her to roll into the impact and pop right back up a few seconds later as if nothing had happened. He certainly didn't expect her to create an icicle and shoot it directly at his face.
He teleported again, this time by instinct, but teleporting twice in a row nearly made him pass out and he spent several seconds falling before catching himself with his wings.
That was probably why the Lupora had time to tackle him out of the air and slam him to the ground, leaving him stunned and quite nearly unconscious.

"Oh my goodness!" Vilas exclaimed. Meanwhile, Zerial stood in shocked silence. Neither of them knew what to do, so both of them did nothing but hope Alala kept the upper hand in the situation. Vilas told herself to get help just in case something happened, but she didn't know where she could go for help. Zerial was thinking the same, and decided that if Alala looked as thought she needed help, he could at least be a distraction. But for now, Alala seemed fine, so he stayed where he was.

Alala knew she had won the fight when she had tackled the ryori-- no, she corrected herself, not a ryori, a poltergeist --to the ground. As long as she was touching him he couldn't teleport away, or he'd bring her along for the ride, and he certainly didn't have enough energy to teleport two at the moment. He squirmed slightly when she picked him up by the scruff and muttered something about "all the same" but she didn't really care. She was furious with both herself and the guards that they'd allowed a security breach like this to happen. She realized that Zerial and Vilas were both watching, stunned, so she figured she owned them an explanation. She put the poltergeist on the ground so she could talk, careful to always keep a paw on him so he couldn't escape. "This was a poltergeist that got into the city. You can tell because they always have red eyes. Poltergeists are evil ghosts that intend to live again by possessing and stealing a host body. I'm going to take this one into a special holding cell where it'll remain until it's no longer of use... then it'll be disposed of."


"I'm not an it," Merikh said, squirming to get away. He gasped in pain when Alala leaned forward on her paws, putting weight on the bruises from his fall.
"If you had any trace of goodness left you'd be appalled at the thought of stealing a living body for yourself." Alala retorted, growling.
Merikh stopped struggling immediately at her tone and went silent. His blood-red eyes darted toward the luffox ghost. Surely they understood the pain of death? He pleaded silently with his eyes as Alala picked him up by the scruff again.

(This'll be my last post for tonight...also, don't feel obliged to do something here. I'm sure Merikh will find another way out of this if Zerial doesn't want to do anything.)

(Okay, goodnight. I was planning on only a couple more posts anyway. Zerial definitely wants to do something. He's the kind of guy that sees good in everyone and everything.)


"Disposed of? That seems really... Cruel. I don't for a second believe that there are no poltergeists that aren't completely evil. Sure, the way they go about getting a body is wrong, but I bet at least some of them would rather work on the technology that would allow them to take a soulless body rather than steal someone's body. And anyway, I certainly don't think that simply being what you are is cause for death. Or in this case whatever 'disposed of' entails. I'm sure you have plenty of ration justified, and completely sane reasons to hate them all and want them all gone, but some of them died in ways that makes them feel the same about living beings. I'm not saying they all deserve to stay, I'm just saying they all deserve a chance." Zerial didn't miss a second in his speech, and took a deep breath when he was done. He made certain to hide the fear he felt. The fear that Alala would be angry with him, or that the poltergeist being held would escape and do something horrible and he would be blamed because of being a distraction.


Vilas was extremely worried about Zerial, and wanted to stop him from talking. After he finished, even though she didn't completely agree with him, she tried to make what he said a little less, well, crazy. With a shaky breath, she softly said, "What he means is that nobody can change what they are, but everyone can change who they are... If they want to, and if they try, that is..." Vilas didn't know what to expect, but she hoped Alala understood and at least accepted Zerial's opinion.

(What have I done. ;-; I feel like making these two stand up for poltergeists was a baaad move... But, hey, if ghosts can become poltergeists, then why do all poltergeists have to be bad? There's an exception to every rule, as the saying goes. I think that's a saying, anyway. ._.)

Alala seemed surprised at Zerial's speech. Merikh tried to take the opportunity to scoot away but was stopped as Alala put her paws over him again. "You really are naive," Alala said, not even trying to keep the ice from creeping into her voice. "Do you know what happens when a poltergeist possesses someone? They rip apart the inhabitant's soul until it surrenders, and then kick them out of their own body."


Merikh tensed at this, and went very still, not even daring to breathe out of years of living habit. The hate for poltergeists Alala had was obvious, and grew more so with every syllable she spoke. Merikh could practically see his chances for survival slimming by the second. He wished that if he were still enough, Alala would forget he was there.


"However..." Alala began thoughtfully, and the poltergeist under her shuddered. "Vilas, you wanted to be a scientist, right? Well, this is your chance to specialize in both ghosts... and poltergeists. This is the first...well, live wouldn't be the appropriate term, but active poltergeist we've taken as prisoner. I'll allow him to live, on the condition you and any other scientists who want to study him. Of course, if he does anything..." Alala pressed some of her weight onto Merikh, who barely suppressed a whimper. "He'll be executed. Do you accept?"

(I'm excited for the tough moral questions this rp will bring... that's one of the reasons I made it. :D)

Vilas was startled by Alala's tone, and what she said poltergeists did scared her. She was curious though, as she alwyays is, and wanted to learn what made a poltergeist a poltergeist. There was a long pause before Vilas answered, "I think this is a good opportunity for scientists to learn potentially useful information about poltergeists. Who knows when another one will happen by and be captured?" She tried to sound as confident as she felt in her answer, but only managed to be a bit louder than she usually was. She quickly glanced at the poltergeist beneath Alala's paws, and couldn't help but wonder what made them different from other spirits.


"I... Didn't know what they did or how they did it. Even knowing that now, I still believe there can be a poltergeist that isn't inherently bad. I'll be far more wary in future encounters." Zerial said, feeling a little idiotic for standing up for something he knew next to nothing about. He silently thanked Vilas for agreeing to Alala's proposition.

(Yay, potentially devastating decisions! :D But also, Vilas and her curiosity is going to get her into deep trouble at some point I think... >.>)

Thorn stood there, waiting for the puffadores to answer his sister. After a while, he got tired of waiting, and whispered to his sister, "Let's go"

However, Fluffers did not want to go, "Come on! We should hear what they have to say!"

So the wait continued.

(I forgot to ping you. Please check my last post)

Merikh released the breath he'd been holding as a short gasp, closing his eyes to try and wrap his mind around the situation. On one paw, he was overjoyed he'd be allowed to live-- well, exist, on the other, being kept as a science experiment didn't sound appealing. But, as a sylesti, he was incredibly amazed and grateful that these two luffoxes had basically saved him from what would surely be a slow, agonizing second death at what was a huge risk to their safety. He met eyes with them, and mouthed the words 'thank you.' He'd intended to speak out loud, but he was still so frightened of Alala that he could barely make a sound. She was definitely the warrior type, and he did not mix well with those.


Alala, keeping a paw on the poltergeist, addressed the pair a final time. "Come with me to the laboratory. Vilas, you can sign up to be a scientist, and I can show you both the holding cell where it will be kept." She felt the poltergeist flinch at the harsh word 'it,' but otherwise did not protest. It remained limp as the Lupora picked him up by the scruff and began trotting in the right direction.

(I checked the official sizes... Ryori are exactly two feet tall, while Lupora are exactly three. Alala could probably carry Merikh like that, though, because Ryori don't actually weigh anything, so Merikh could probably hold himself off the ground while remaining clamped in Alala's jaws.)