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 Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2006 7:53 am
Background Check, part X
"Dammit, my legs fell asleep."
Standing and brushing the snow off her numbed legs, Crow hobbled out of the maze. Chafing her hands together for warmth, she looked grudingingly back up at the HQ. She wasn't looking forward to what she had to do.
---
Julian sauntered down the hall, whistling lightly to himself and trying to wipe off a bit of drying blood from his shirt. Frowning at the stains, he gave a shrug and pushed the door to the room open. Crow's things were still scattered on the floor where she'd dropped them, and he bent to halfheartedly pick them up.
"Leave it."
Julian jumped, startled. Crow was sitting at the edge of the bed, eyeing the bloodstains he bore without comment. He gave her a cold look and picked a book up anyway, tossing it onto the bed.
"What, not going to yell at me?" he snapped, stepping forward to fully exhibit the bloodstains. Crow looked at them silently, then stood.
"Sit down an' shut up. I've got some stuff I need to tell you."
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Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2006 7:58 am
WARNING. Graphic Violence and Mature Content.
((This RP takes place simultaneously with the events of "Background Check", right after the first mini-plot post on Julian's part. ))
Hunting Rabid stalked down the hallway, her arms stiff and straight by her sides. Her face was set in a deeply angry expression, and her stomach growled in protest of every step. She reached Crow's door and knocked as lightly as her current state would allow her.
Liam followed close behind, leaning againt the far wall when Rabid approached the door. He was in a similar state, although much more loose. He was very ready to get back at them all.
There was no answer - the door had been slammed shut with some force, and was standing a bit crooked on its hinges. The front bore a few rows of claw marks - bad moods seemed to be going around.
Julian stormed back down the hall, muttering and raging to himself, ripping a fresh row of gouges down the wall as he walked.
Looking up and seeing Rabid there, his heart gave a leap - if anyone could help, she could.
"RABID." he said clearly, his voice strained and angry.
"Hunting. Now. Please."
"Exactly," Rabid growled and grabbed him by the arm, dragging him back to her room quite quickly, "I'm in the mood for a good meal."
Liam followed behind, but not before feebly attempting to fix the door. Ah well. The door could wait.
Back in the room, Ike was sitting on his bed, knees pulled up to his chest. He watched sadly as the adults entered.
Rabid quickly pushed a button on the portal hidden in the shadows of the floor.
"Under no circumstances," she turned to her son, "do you ever turn this back on."
Ike nodded in understanding as he watched a picture of a dimly-lit Vavvian street flicker up from the metal bar.
"Shall we?"
Glowering and ready to explode, Julian looked through the portal intently.
"Dibs on the first one," he said, fingers hooking into talons and claws elongating to needle points.
There needed to be death. Soon. Screw morality for five or ten minutes - he had to succumb sooner or later to his instincts.
With excessive force.
"I'm hungry," Rabid groaned, "Let me get to them before their hearts stop beating, hm?" She stepped through the portal, turning digital and flickering, "Come on."
Liam invaded Julian's mind for a moment before stepping after Rabid.
That explained things.
"Don't hurt anything!" Ike pleaded.
Julian gave a derisive laugh before he could stop himself.
"Please. I'm not going to hurt, I'm going to maul." he said, following Rabid willingly.
He breathed in the unfamiliar scents, pupilless eyes wandering lazily around for prey. He was in a terrible enough mood to let everything he'd worked so hard to suppress come forth - there was no need for inhibition here.
The release of his instincts took on physical form - his eyes darkened, claws grew longer and curved like meathooks, and there was death and cruelty shadowed over his face.
"Of course. I've forgotten my manners - ladies first," he said, smiling evilly.
Rabid gave a low, gutteral laugh and crouched down beside a building, hiding in shadow and waiting for something to cross by.
Liam snapped his fingers, simoltaneously glitching the portal out and bursting into his newfound shadow form. He perched himself atop a roof at the other end of the street to watch.
Ike was about to scream at them to stop, but had no time before the portal flickered away. Oh no...
A young man walked down the alleyway, again on his nightly patrol. He was short, as Vavvian males go; about 6 feet tall. He wore a tight, elaborate military uniform, adorned with a gruesome amount of embroidered niceties. He began whistling as he approached a corner, peering up at the buildings. Funny...shadows generally didn't fall in the centre of lighted roofs, did they?
"I hear one," Rabid whispered, standing and brushing herself off, "We approach on three?"
Julian nodded slowly, his smile thin and vicious.
"Ready when you are," he whispered.
"Three," Rabid smiled and began sauntering in the direction of the whistling, purposefully swinging her hips back and forth. She turned to give brief instructions, "Remember. Until blood starts to flow, I'm your whore." The more dramatic, the more fun.
Liam watched the man below him, his trigger finger twitching. Rabid had forced him to leave his gun home, and with good reason.
The guard, like most Vavvian men, had terrible sight. He squinted against the dim lighting at the figure approaching. Huh?
"Dae'en varie?!" he demanded.
The smile grew wider, and Julian sauntered along. It was taking a bit of effort not to drop to all fours and rush the prey from the front, to rip open his throat - but the game Rabid played made the coming kill more entertaining.
"Sha'alath ya grezt," he murmured in response, serpentine words in an evil tongue slipping from his mouth. He put an arm around Rabid possessively, eyes lingering on the man's throat.
Rabid forced self-control and refused to let herself slip into attack mode. Not yet. She was, though, quite aware of the man before them's pulse.
"L'anfe non maerie," Rabid replied in Vavvian and grabbed Julian's arm, "I was told you would be expecting us?" Her accent was forced to the surface, although it was her original, natural accent.
It sounded like the decrepit lovechild of German and British.
"Ah!" the man replied, "Of course!" His accent was quite the same as the woman's, although he quite obviously hadn't the slightest idea as to what she was referring to.
Who was going to pass up a good run-around with one of the Ladies, though?
Rabid looked over to Julian with questioning "just-say-anything" eyes. She had to admit, doing this with someone else was all too fun.
Hiding one savagely clawed hand behind his back and the other resting on the small of Rabid's back, Julian took a shaking breath, willing himself not to give in and attack.
Cripes. Wish I could speak Vavvian, he thought.
"Y'varaath...ya gezt'th?" he said, almost coyly. "You are... interested in what we offer?" He felt a tad stupid, but was still enjoying the game.
He could hear the man's heartbeat, soft and enticing. How could he not have wanted this before?
Hm. Strange. The pimp sounded foreign.
"Of course," the guard smiled and nodded.
"Alright," Rabid gave a small smile before spinning on her heel and turning to Julian. She ran a finger down his chest and pointed to an alleyway with her free hand.
"What? There?" the man piped up from behind her.
"Of course," Rabid slurred and stepped up to the man, lazily wrapping her arms around his shoulder and kissing him fairly viciously. She gave herself a few moments to build up intense anger.
The man, of course, responded quite well. After longer than it should have taken, though, he realized something quite strange.
"Fangs?"
Rabid yanked herself away.
"Yup. Sorry, kid," she said, her Vavvian accent now totally gone.
At this point, though, she had a firm hold on the Vavvian man's wrists. He wasn't going anywhere.
"Julian, my love! Have fun!" she gave a girlish giggle and spun the man around to face Julian, hooking his hands behind his back. She teased herself, listening closely to his quickening heartbeat and resting her index fingers on his pulsing wrists.
"WHAT?!"
Entranced by the sound of his heartbeat, Julian crept forward, his face betraying no emotion.
"You kissed my girl," he said, his voice a monotone. He hooked his fingers out again and raised them slowly, letting the light play on his long, brutal claws. He trailed one down the curve of the man's face, remembering his last prey with relish....
"I didn't like that."
He struck once, twice - leaving long, bloody gashes on the man's chest. Lost in furious ecstasy, he struck again and again, claws rending flesh and blood flying in fine spray, coating his face and clothes.
"I'm-not-sick-" he hissed, delivering slash after slash, "There's-nothing-wrong-with-me!"
He halted mid-strike, breathing hard and laughing. Raising a shaking hand to his face, he wiped a bit of blood from his eyes. He leaned in close and bit at the man's neck, laughing as the skin broke and blood touched his tongue. He drank for a second, then staggered back and spit a bit out.
"All yours," he said amiably to Rabid. "I'm good for a minute."
The man shrieked at first, a high, almost animalistic sound. He soon went silent, though...and numb. Everything seemed like a dream to him, and yet it was all so real. He felt the blood hit his face, but the slashing didn't hurt, exactly. The sensation was something new altogether.
Rabid wanted to say a whole lot of things, many of which pertained to the whole "my girl" comment. She wanted to. Badly.
But she couldn't.
She just kind of stood there, her grip tightening, her jaw slack. Now that right there was some kinky s**t.
"Please..." the man pleaded, "Please let me go...?"
Rabid was confused for a good long while at the sudden voice, and it took even longer to come up with a good response.
"Tsk," she sighed, "Gre'al a sangrie takes no prisoners."
The man gave a final, shuddering breath before going completely limp, unconscious.
"Awwww!" Rabid huffed, feeling for a pulse. It was weak, and she impulsively snapped his neck, more out of frustration than anything else, "They're no good when they're that weak." She gave a shudder of morbid pleasure as she recalled back that short time to Julian's vicious attack.
"I guess we just have to wait. These guys never go out a--"
"Dae'en mel arie?!" yet another guard pressed the barrel of his gun to the back of the woman's head, his partner aiming for the man near her.
"...lone."
Julian eyed the weapon with curiousity, shaking his head slighty.
"No, no. Put that away."
He willed a spurt of fire to life in his hands, the flames dripping from his fingertips like water. What fell to the ground and on the fallen body continued to smolder, brilliantly white and cold.
"Shoo."
And with a pleasant laugh, Julian raised his fingers to his lips and blew lightly. A spurt of flame rushed forth, twisting around Rabid and trying to envelope the second guard's head.
"Never burned anyone corporeal before - maybe the flesh'll just freeze off," Julian remarked lightly, smiling at the thought.
The second and significantly taller guard shrieked in agony and tried to rip the fire from his head, and in effect tearing the flesh from his face. Green-black blood poured from his wounds. He collapsed to his knees suddenly, his muscles wrenching in agony, before his brain gave way to the cold and he dropped to his stomach, lifeless.
The first guard, acting on frightened impulse, pulled the trigger of his gun.
Rabid gave a sudden sharp breath as blood spurted from her nose, mouth, and ears, along with a greal deal of brain matter. She gave Julian a disconnected kind of pained "not-again" look before her eyes rolled back into her head and she dropped to the ground. A slight crackling could be heard as her body healed and regrew ever-so-slowly.
Julian gave a shouted curse and knelt down, gathering Rabid in his arms.
"Sorry - didn't think-" he whispered before laying her down gently. Turning to scowl at the guard, he rose and shook his head slowly.
"Bad, bad man. You're gonna pay for that."
Snarling, he lunged at the first guard and slashed a couple times, relishing the raging dark roar of blood in his head.
"You-don't-do-that-to-a-lady!" he spat between blows, finally giving up the sport and grabbing the man's hair and yanked his head up.
"I'll apologize for you when she get's back up, just because I'm a gentleman," he whispered. Without hesitation, he grabbed hold of the man's head by the sides and gave it a violent twist. He gave an ecstatic laugh at the sound of breaking bones, eyes dancing.
"Nnnnn..." Rabid groaned and sat up, "The...I and the oh...ffff..." She gave herself another few moments before the crackling stopped completely. She fingered her forehead and felt no mark. She stood slowly, using Julian for support.
Upon seeing the guards lying on the ground, the last going through post mortem spasms, the Vampire gave a saddened sigh. Her stomach growled hollowly, as if to accentuate her unspoken feelings.
Breathing a sigh of genuine relief, Julian held Rabid close for a second.
"I'm sorry - I didn't think," he repeated, touching her face to make sure she was okay. Suddenly realizing the poor girl still hadn't gotten a bite in edgewise, he winced and released her.
"Er - forgot about that,, too. Why don't you....take the next one," he said sheepishly, the madness caused by his raving instincts abating a little.
"You must be starved."
"Blah," Rabid wrapped her arms around Julian's neck and flopped slightly, peering around, "Thh...they generally just walk around in two-os...threes are rare, even." She continued searching for other signs of life while her speech reassembled itself.
She gave a sad sigh and rested her head against Julian's neck...and the first thing she noticed was his pulse. A steady, repeated pulsing of the arteries and veins in his neck. She was fully aware of the thumping, and almost nothing else.
That terrified her.
She suddenly wrenched herself away and crossed her arms, never tearing her eyes from Julian's carotid arteries.
Julian smirked down at the bodies.
"He said he's sorry, by the way," he said dryly.
Noticing where Rabid's gaze lingered, he ignored the predatory urge to put out her eyes.
No. he told himself firmly. She's one of the people I won't touch.
The urge ebbed away, though a sense of discomfort remained. He shrugged and put a claw to his throat, ready to slice if she wanted.
"Hey, whatever. Go for it - not like you're gonna kill me or anything."
Rabid snerked and tore her eyes away from his neck. It was generally the offers that made her snap out of it.
"I don't want to hurt you," she smiled slightly, her pupils fluctuating wildly. She hadn't the slightest idea what being fed upon felt like, but it didn't seem that puncture wounds and blood-draining would be very pleasant.
...weeeeeell...
Kicking at one of the bodies in sudden boredom, Julian gave a sly grin and caught Rabid up in his arms.
"You've got the perv-look, you know," he said mildly.
Not that that was a bad thing. He bent his head down to kiss her, then hesitated to wipe a bit of blood from his face.
"We make a sick couple, don't we?"
"Do I, now?" Rabid laughed richly and, mildly disappointed, kissed Julian herself. She ignored the faint taste of blood, not quite wanting to tear out the jugular of the only person that could recognize her thoughts by way of facial expression.
"You have no idea," she laughed again as her stomach growled. For some reason, everything was suddenly happy.
Ye Gods...sap.
Enjoying the moment, he tangled his hands in her hair and kissed her back. There was something vaguely sadistic about making out next to freshly dead bodies, but what the heck, wasn't like anyone was complaining.
"...We should probably find someone for you to eat - you didn't get to do anything with the first two," he said, pulling away with a bit of effort on his own part. Willing his nails back to normal size, he touched the side of her face tenderly, careful not to scratch her.
"Could... could I stay with you for a little while, when we get back?" he blurted, feeling a blush rise for the first time in ages. He hadn't been nervous around her for such a long time, it surprised him how quickly he fell back into the habit.
"Of course," Rabid smiled, although she felt her face grow hot. She gave a nervous laugh and looked away for a monent. It was weird, how Julian seemed to be the only person physically capable of making her nervous for no real reason.
"Either you help find me a victim," she changed the subject quickly, "Or you are the victim."
Nodding eagerly, Julian kicked at the bodies again as he crept out of the alleyway. Listening hard for any kind of prey, his eyes swept from one end of the street to the other.
"...There. I think I hear someone." he murmured, pointing off into a shadowed corner of the sidewalk.
Another guard, he hoped. They were fun to kill.
Alas, the newest soon-to-be-victim was not a guard, but the half-breed son of the king. He was a bit short, a bit off, and a bit too pretty for his own good.
Not to mention the fact that he couldn't possibly be older than 10 or 11. In the way of Vavvians, though, that was mentally and physically somewhere in the late twenties.
He turned a corner and spotted two people standing there.
"Hello?"
Rabid recognized the boy, and all thoughts of a game were erased from her mind. Predatory instinct took over. He was nothing but food, and she was hungry.
"Hello, Dinner."
"What are you t--?"
He hadn't the time to finish. Rabid already had him by the shoulders and was keeping him tightly in place.
"What are you doing? WHO ARE YOU?!"
Rabid ignored the boy's pleas and peered up at Julian with a questioning glance. To her, feeding off of someone was one of the most intimate events one could go through. This meal just happened to be male, and it only made sense to her to ask permission.
"ANSWER ME!"
Eyeing the fresh meat with malicious pleasure, Julian nodded briefly at Rabid.
"Go on ahead - make him thrash a little, it'll be funny."
Crossing his arms and grinning, he edged a little closer - he'd yet to have the pleasure of seeing Rabid do the whole Vampire thing that didn't involve beating off assailants in rage-mode.
The prince struggled for a moment, trying to overpower the taller woman holding him. He hadn't the slightest idea as to what was going on, but he didn't like it.
Rabid gave Julian a small smile before returning her attention to the prince. She could make it quick, or she could make it painful.
Ah, this brat had thrown rocks at her as a kid.
Rabid bent slightly and cocked her head to one side, slowly opening her mouth. When at the proper angle, she snapped forward, piercing the flesh on the boy's neck, purposefully just barely missing anything vital. She removed her fangs quickly as her pupils dialated.
She wrapped her mouth around the quickly bleeding wound and, feeling absolutely no compassion, quite literally chugged the vital fluid from the boy's body.
After a few moments, she shifted her weight a bit and closed her eyes in complete ecstasy. She made a small noise out her nose, completely undaunted by the horrified royalty's short, sharp movements. It was strange, how they fought until the end...even when they felt the life being drained from them. Even when they felt too weak to stand on their own.
The pulse began to slow, though, and Rabid forced herself to pull away from her latest victim. She licked her teeth and lips clean and threw the prince's near-lifeless body to the ground, her mouth still slightly ajar. Her eyes flickered to Julian, pupils very slowly returning to normal size.
Hm. She'd forgotten what that felt like...
Julian gave a long, low whistle. He was impressed.
"You're beautiful when you're killing things," he said in easy amusement, taking her in his arms again and glancing down at the almost dead boy with interest.
"What d'you do with 'em afterwards? Just leave 'em or dispose of them?" He asked, faint licks of fire tracing over his hands.
"I could get rid of him, easy."
Rabid nuzzled the side of Julian's face affectionately, resisting the urge to do quite a bit more. Instead, she pulled away and began looking for the least-damaged body. She settled on the faceless guard and, without a second thought, forcibly tore her way into his abdomen and removed his intestines with her bare hands.
She immediately went to work, spelling out "I'm Back" in Vavvian with the entrails. She was going to scare this city back into submission no matter what it took.
"I leave them," she said once finished, her expression still quite serious.
Liam sat atop the building in his normal, Humanoid form. He watched the murderers (for that's what they had to be considered there) carefully, jealous as all Hell for seemingly no reason.
Ignoring the flare of bloodlust that surged up as he watched Rabid work, Julian gave a wild laugh.
He was definitely going to have to do this more often.
"Ah, Rabid, that's classic," he said jovially. Wishing he had a camera for posterity, he wrapped his arms about her from the back and laid his head against hers.
"Entrails look lovely by night, don't they?" he asked jokingly, absently twirling one of her curls in his hands. After a moment's careful thought, he let her go and skittered over to the other body. A smile of pure innocent pleasure on his face, he bent over the body and cracked open its jaw. Humming lightly, he ripped out a couple teeth and polished them with his shirt tail, and held them out to Rabid with a loving expression.
"I keep one, and you keep one," he said with buoyant pleasure.
Julian had gotten into the habit of taking trophies from his prey - though he had not yet had the opportunity to claim one from a dead victim.
Rabid was disappointed, to say the least, at being released, but her spirits lifted slightly as the tooth was offered up to her. She approached quickly and took the trophy, smiling and holding it up against the dim illumination of a street light.
"Thanks," she laughed, blushing slightly, "We're so damned creepy." She gave the tooth a final glance before shoving it into her pocket and rushing to Julian once more. She slung her arms around his neck and leaned back a bit.
"They'll be after us soon. We should probably go back."
"The creepiness is just character," Julian said mildly, pocketing his own trophy and reaching up to toy with her hair again. Standing a little regretfully, wishing the hunt could have lasted longer, he nodded.
"Okay. We can come back soon, though, right?" He said, eyes wide and innocent as he glanced over at the mutilated bodies.
"Not too soon," Rabid laughed, her face turning an odd shade of red, "The anticipation is the fun part. The cops...not so much."
Liam sighed deeply and teleported himself down to the ground beside Julian and Rabid. Without another word, he made a motion with his hand and sent them all back to Rabid's now-empty room.
Feeling refreshed and happy, Julian grinned at Liam and offered him one of the smaller teeth he'd yanked.
"Here - I got one for you, too."
Kissing Rabid on the cheek, he smiled brightly at her.
"I'm just gonna get a change of clothes from the room - I'd just like one night away from the Moodswing Queen. Back in a second," he said lightly, setting of jauntily out the door to his and Crow's room.
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Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2006 8:39 am
Greenhouses, Angst, and the Four Eyed Monster
((This RP takes place before the events of "Background Check". Like the dope that I am, I forgot to reserve a post for it before I started the mini-plot. .-. Just pretend this post is above the mini-plot ones! xD ))
Clicku - pgs. 8-12
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Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2006 4:09 pm
Community Slavery - uh, Service
"Oh, will you just shut it already? I'm coming!"
Lenore had come to the conclusion that doing services for others sucked. Big time. So far, she had done the following:
- Mucked out the horse stables
- Fed the chickens
- Tried to milk the cows
- Gotten nearly gored by cow horns
- Slipped on goat dung
- Tried to kill the goats for laying a dump where she'd been walking
- Collected chicken eggs
- Been chased around by the chickens
- And, last and not least, tried to feed the pigs.
She was beginning to hate life.
An ornery sow that had snapped at her a couple times while she was trying to fill thr trough trundled over beside her and nudged at her, grunting angrily. Lenore swatted the pig away, equally displeased.
"Oh, go roll in your own crap, you oversized pork chop," she snapped, dumping a load of slop into the trough and flicking off some dung out of her hair. She'd been in a foul mood not only because of the punishment, being forced to clean the classrooms by hand and slaving away in the farm, but because she still could not for the life of her understand what Malachi had done.
Why had he taken the fall? He'd lied for her, though it hadn't worked - she wanted to seize him and shake the answers out of him.
"Why? Why why WHY?"" she hissed, nearly tearing at her hair trying to understand.
Friendship was something she couldn't get her mind around. Maybe she just wasn't built for it. Would she have done the same thing for him, had the occassion arisen? Would he expect her to?
"BLOOODY HELL!"
Throwing down the slop bucket and shaking her head, Lenore leaned against the pig pen's fence and put her hands over her face.
She just didn't understand.
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Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2006 5:16 pm
[ Message temporarily off-line ]
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Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2006 1:23 pm
Chase
"Dammit, if that stupid goat tries to butt me one more time..."
Lenore was sitting out in the snow outside the barn, fuming. The sun was beginning to set, and she observed it stain the snow a fiery gold as it sank below the horizon. Grumbling and muttering and cursing to herself, she drew her knees up to her chin and picked a stray bit of hay out of her hair.
"My life sucks."
It could smell the bird - and she smelled appetizing. The creature limped out of the forest where it had taken to haunting its fringes, sniffing for its prey.
It hated that bird.
Oh, how it hated her.
Standing and brushing the snow off her tail feathers, Lenore stretched and shivered as the sun slipped away, leaving a gray dusk behind. Marching stiffly back into the barn, she spat angrily on the ground. If she wasn't so terrified of Jabir, she would have tried to wring his impossibly long neck for such a miserable punishment.
She was in the barn for a grand total of seven and a half minutes before she was chased out again by a goat.
"Get away from meeeeeee!"
It's ears perked up at the angry shouting. The bird was close. Very close. Speeding up into a painful gait, the creature loped towards the sound. The wound across its chest blazed in pain as the thin scabs split, and the creatures blood spattered the snow.
It was going to kill that wretched bird, one way or another.
"BAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
Thunk!
"OOOOOWWW!"
Lenore kicked the goat square in the jaw, howling and hopping around in pain. The damned thing had butted her right in the back with its stupid horns - she was surprised she could breathe without coughing up blood, it hurt so bad.
"Stupid goat! Stupid farm! Stupid Jabir! Stupid stupid stupid STUPID!"
It was so hungry - but the creature had a plan. It was going to maul her a bit, then eat her. Take out some of its foul temper on her before killing her. It slowed to a stalking creep, four eyes fixed on the bird's lanky frame. It gave a low, predatory growl and crept forward, fangs and claws bared.
It'd teach her who was boss.
The goat gave another bleat and trotted off a little ways into the darkness, then froze. It's ears were perked forward, and it gave a sudden terrified yelp and pelted back for the barn. Lenore kicked it as it passed her, smirking.
"What's the matter, you mutant rat? Afraid of the dark?" she said nastily, smirking. Her smirk faultered as she heard the gravelly snarl emanating out from the shadows, and drew back.
"Cripes. What now?"
The creature stalked forward, maw wide and tongue lolling out. It panted a bit for breath - perhaps it shouldn't have been so keen on running. It's main eyes looked down in dismay as it caught a strong whiff of blood - the wound slashed across its front was bleeding heavily.
It gave the bird an irritated look before it collapsed in the snow.
Well, so much for that.
Gaping at the animal, Lenore ventured forward slowly. She winced and averted her eyes as they caught sight of the gaping slash that seemed to be pouring blood.
"Hello again," she whispered, going a little closer.
The creature huffed at the bird through its nose, rolling over onto its other side painfully and its club-tail thrashing at the snow. All that way, all that planning, just to die at the damn prey's feet. How irritating.
Hesitating for a second, Lenore bolted back into the barn, emerging a few minutes later with bandages and salves meant for the livestock. She grinned as the animal turned four dubious eyes on her.
"I'm the one hurt you in the first place, so it makes sense I should be the one to take care of you now," she said, holding out the bandages and bottles of salve for it to sniff.
Too weak from hunger, pain and blood loss to do more than growl, the creature rested it head in the snow and huffed again.
If this wasn't reason enough for its fellows to be right in chasing it off in the first place, it didn't know what was. Accepting help from prey.... ugh.
Taking the growl as an assurance she wasn't about to have her arms ripped out of their sockets and eaten like chicken wings, Lenore knelt next to the animal and started treating its injuries.
It was very beautiful, now that it wasn't trying to kill her.
"Good boy. See? I'm not so bad when you're not threatening my life, isn't that right? You're doing fine... you'll be fine....Chase."
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Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2006 9:19 pm
Shadow Eater
Not for the first time, Julian was glad Crow slept like the dead.
He thrashed under his blankets, sweating and biting back moans of pain. He was fevered and aching, the heavy smell of blood choking the air out of him. He felt deafened by the dozens of heartbeats he could hear.
He was surely, slowly going insane.
Twisting around under the covers, he dared to look over at Lenore's corner of the room. The child, too, was at least for once asleep. She knew about his night time problems - he was grateful she hadn't told Crow yet.
Biting hard on a finger to stifle a gasp of pain, he shivered with fevered longing for blood and squeezed his eyes shut. He just had to sleep, get through another night....
He gave an inward groan as he tasted his own blood on his tongue. Throwing the blankets off in frustration, he spit it out and curled into a ball on the sofa cushions.
"Make it stop, please, just for a minute, make it stop," he muttered to himself, hands clenching at his hair and claws biting into his scalp.
I need to get out of here.
Slashing at the blankets where they were still twisted around his body, Julian slipped off the sofa and brushed the fevered sweat out of his eyes. He was hungry - he needed to get out. The out of bounds forest was his only sanctuary.
Julian snuck out of the HQ for what seemed like the hundredth time, running for the forest.
---
The air was freezing cold. It hurt to breathe in as he wandered through the trees - but he didn't care. He was at home here. He could do anything he wanted, and no one would care.
His fever hadn't gotten any better. If anything, the further he went in, the worse it became. He could hardly walk straight, gasping with pain and nearly screaming with the unrelenting scent of blood, the hurting roar of heartbeats pounding in his head.
He fell to his knees into the snow, clutching at his head and screaming. Why wouldn't it stop?
Hunger welled up in him - a starved, hollow feeling that sent shudders through his body. Julian gave a moan and tried to stand, but collapsed into the snow.
How can Crow live like this?
The fever was burning him up from the inside - he twitched and snarled wildly as another wave of pain engulfed him. Rolling onto his back, he writhed in the snow and turned pain-blinded eyes up to the clear winter sky, framed by the naked branches of the trees. The moon and stars were brilliant, though he couldn't see them. He gave another scream, low, long and hoarse, as his body gave another great shudder.
This had to be the fifth time in the last three weeks this had happened, and quite frankly, he was getting a little tired of it.
His limbs seized up, shivering and taut, and his back arched out painfully. He squeezed his eyes shut again as he felt as though he was being torn apart, all his bones cracking and breaking.
Okay, he was really tired of it.
Dammit. Not again...
----
"Hnnnn...."
Shivering violently, Julian pushed himself up out of the snow where he lay in tattered nightclothes, squinting in the bright morning sunlight. Stretching and yawning widely, he stood unsteadily and shook the snow out of his hair.
"Ugh."
His teeth chattering, Julian hunched his shoulders and tried to chafe his numb hands together for a hint of warmth. It did him little good - it felt as though his blood had frozen in his veins.
"Man, I gotta stop doing that," he snapped to himself, looking around in disorientation. As his eyes adjusted to the light, he gave a long groan.
He had woken at the edge of the woods again, and as usual, there were the things he'd killed from the night before scattered all around. Here or there, one of the animals twitched with some remnant of life - these he pitied the most, and hated himself all the more for.
"Ishta."
Wonder if it's like the others? he thought mildly as he knelt next to a half-dead deer. He cast a long shadow across the snow in the bright sunlight - the deer, however, did not. None of the animals had even a trace of a shadow, and even a scrawny sapling here or there had been stripped clean of it.
Julian gave an aggrieved sigh and stood, looking at the animals with pity.
"I'm sorry," he said, willing fire to life in his hands.
He hated cleaning up the messes he made.
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Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2006 6:03 am
I feel a bit stupid doing this. What's the point of secrets if you're just going to write them down for everyone to see?
Meh. Julian went through the trouble of buying me the damn thing, I might as well use it. Okay, then, time to spill the secrets, I suppose.
Yeah.
The LIST
Dei - captain, good friend. Erebus is a pain in the neck that I'd more than like to stab repeatedly.
Osso - Where is he, anyway?
'Dite - I heard she grew pretty recently. I liked her, I guess.
Ike - glad everyone's finally getting along again. Miss him.
Sabriel - SCARY AS HELL.
Well, that was dumb.
Pausing in her scribbling, Lenore gnawed on the end of the pen and flippde through the pages briefly. It was a very pretty book - she almost hated to spoil it with her rabbling writing. Shuffling the pages back to the doodle and scribble covered one she'd started defacing, Len gave a sigh. Little girls adored diaries, apparently. Coloring in a doodle of Chase's eyes in the margin, she shrugged and tried to start writing again.
Okay, maybe I'm not doing this right. BIG secrets of the moment: I've been taking care of Chase for about a week now, and he's stopped snarling and snapping at me. He's kinda sweet, almost, when he's not trying to bite my head off.
Still stealing little things here or there. Found something called a "katamari" the other day - I think it might be a bit of a problem, since everything in sight keeps sticking to it.
I'm trying to learn how to play guitar. But my stupid fingers are so long, they just get caught in the strings. Why is it that I'm like the only person on the PLANET that has to worry about stupid crap like that?
A curious sense of relief as she wrote spread through Lenore. It was a comfort to tell her secrets. Smiling slightly, she capped the pen and stowed the book under her pillow.
Maybe it wasn't such a dumb idea after all.
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Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2006 6:26 am
Belated Deliveries
((Holy crap, I've been meaning to do this for ages. xD ))
"I can't believe that god damned overgrown lizard was hoarding all this stuff!" Crow shrieked, glaring at Cheshire angrily. The dragon merely grinned at his irate owner, fading out of sight and leaving the grin behind.
Julian gave a shrug and poked through the pile of gifts.
"How'd the fish stay alive this long, I'd like to know," he said mildly, watching the newly found koi swimming around in a large bowl Len had scrounged out of the kitchen.
"And the raven, don't forget him," Len added, patting her new bird's head with pleasure as it perched on her shoulder.
Sifting through the pile, Crow shook her head in dismay.
"Better crack out the thank you cards."
The Gifts
Gullien and Thylassa The soft quiet of the night is broken by the small squeak of a stroller wheel and the crinkle of a piece of paper as it slides under your door. It appears to be similar to a small postcard and has writing on the front and back.   Looks like someone is wishing you a happy year of the dog!
From Tori: 
From Silencer:
 
From Azumi:
the note Dear Crow, the day after Osso grew to a toddler we found this odd guy outside hobbling about and making quiet a fuss. As soon as Osso saw it he yelled out,"p'sent for Len!" and so, being that sap that I am, we took it in and fixed it's injured leg and wing. As a gift from us to you two I'm giving him to you as a gift! He's quiet easy, actually, and not very loud...Though I honestly have never seen a raven of his pigmentation before and it really puzzled me. He also seems to caw was sounds like "janatra!" but I'm not 100% sure. He's good natured, for a bird anways...But if you can't keep him, I'll take him back if you want. Good luck and best wished to you and Lenore! -Azumi
(c)Azumi
From Kii:
Note: ((Shavira's scribbles have been translated by KiiMeLwi.)) Lenore- Sorry gift late. Fo' Halloween. Gift late cause it was hard to get. I give you candy for halloween too. Candy very good. Happy Halloween! Trick or treat! ~Shavira To Glass Crow & Lenore:: I'm so sorry this gift is late. Halloween just came too quickly and ran away again I suppose. Shavira and I stumbled upon your gift in a small shop and couldn't help ourselves. We just got it in the mail today. We do hope you like it, as well as meet you again soon, even though our last and only encounter was brief. From, Kii
From Anonymous:
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Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2006 1:31 pm
Flowers? Diehard_Dreamer Flying through the halls of the Magical Mishaps was an odd sight, it was white with a large pink bulbous nose. Honestly? It could be compared to a plushie, if it wasn't for the fact it was flying with small black batlike wings. A red orb bobbed up and down as the moogle flew through the halls, a mailbag at it's side. " I wonder where it is, kupo? Can't be that hard to find, kupo..." flustering about it finally came to a stop infront of Lenore's room.. or at least to a locked and closed door. Knocking happily, the moogle called out. " Special devilery, Kupo!" Sighing he wated a few minutes after no reply, he pulled out the the long box and letter and left it by the door. Flying away he prayed Baxterfullous wasn't going to make him into a hat if it wasn't the right door. Baxterfullous Dear Crow,
I know that this is rather out of the blue, but I wanted to thank you once more for talking with me the first and last time we had met. It was...nice to speak with someone who understands.
I was hoping we could meet again, and if you are ever in need of help you can call uppon me. I don't have many friends, and I don't want to lose the little I have.
Sincerely,
Baxterfullous
PS: The rose is for you.
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Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2006 7:59 pm
[ Message temporarily off-line ]
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Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2006 11:44 am
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Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2006 1:20 pm
The Piano
"Dammit."
Lenore paused once again and wrenched her tangled fingers free from the guitar strings. Ignoring the pain of her skinned knuckles and the way her fingers were bleeding, she looked at the tab sheet with determination and tried again.
"Ouch!"
Thump.
She'd thrown the guitar away in frustration, cradling her finger where the nail had been bent back to the quick.
"Stupid guitar."
It wasn't fair - she wanted to learn how to play so badly. But her fingers...
"STUPID!"
TWANG!
She'd picked up the guitar and broken the neck of it over her leg, making those hateful strings snap and break. Her fit of unthinking anger over before it had barely begun, Lenore stared at the ruined instrument in guilt and shame. All she wanted was to learn how to play - Ike and Dei got to play, and they were probably a thousand times better than she was already. She knew all about the different strings and how to play it properly, but ever time she'd try to play...
"Who needs music, anyway." Len said to Sadako, who'd been watching from the girl's bed with a sympathetic expression. Disliking getting pity from a doll, Len curled her long fingered hands into fists and whistled for Cole.
"C'mon, boy - let's get out of here for a bit."
Slamming the door behind her as Cole followed like a dog, Lenore felt as though she'd left a dead body on the floor where the broken guitar lay.
---
She'd left the grounds often enough with Crow or Julian, but never on her own. Not that anyone would notice - Julian was most likely off killing something, Crow at work, and the other Mishaps....
"...Probably learning how to play guitar," Len muttered bitterly, spitting into the dirty snow of the street in frustration. Cole trudged beside her loyally, snuffing and blowing ash from time to time. He gave her a curious look as she muttered, but looked away when she glared at him. Feeling even worse, she petted his head briefly and pointed to a random store.
"Let's go in there."
She liked Durem - there were so many different places to go. The little store was a hole in the wall kind of place, its windows grimy and stuffed to the ceiling with an assortment of odds and ends. Pushing the door open, she jerked her head at Cole for him to follow. The dragon melted into shadow and slithered across the ground, disappearing into the thin grey silhouette the girl cast on the ground. Smiling and entering the store, Lenore looked around curiously.
"Hello?"
There was no answer. Contenting herself to wander around, she wormed her way through the overstuffed racks and tables laden with dusty antiques. The place had an air of neglect - it was deadly quiet except for the ticking of a tilted grandfather clock stuffed into one corner. When the thing chimed three, Lenore nearly jumped out of her skin and stumbled back, knocking over a spindly table. The vase on it toppled and smashed, spilling the ancient stinking water it held all over the floor.
"Uh oh."
Fleeing deeper into the shop, Lenore dove through a crooked doorway and hid as she heard the shopkeeper emerge at last, clamping a hand over her mouth to keep herself quiet.
"Hallo there?"
The shopkeeper had a wavery old voice that creaked and wheezed as its owner stumped around the shop.
"Damn mice," it snapped, continuing to mutter and curse as its owners stomped away again.
Close one, Lenore thought. Looking around the dark little room investigatively, she was dissapointed to see only a funny shaped crate shoved off against one wall. A number of little white and black panels fitted at the front of the crate leered out at her like teeth, cracked and broken.
"Wonder what this is?"
Creeping towards the crate, she poked at a panel curiously. She jumped as a sound chimed out from the crate's innards, lingering and mournful.
"What the-?"
She pressed more panels, and a variety of tones came from the crate. She gave a shriek of joy and pounded the panels, a jangling, messy tune spilling out as her fingers touched them. So intent on making the sound as long and loud as possible, she didn't even hear the shopkeeper shouting behind her until he grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her away.
"HEY!"
"Hey yourself, you little runt! What th' devil you think you're doing messing with my piano? That's an antique - you could've broken it!" the shopkeeper snarled back, looking furious.
Lenore twisted away and crouched down, automatically on the defense. Her shadow loomed behind her and glared at the old man with Cole's fierce red eyes, narrowed and dangerous.
The old man was unimpressed.
"Oh, bugger off. I've lived in this madhouse long enough not to be scared by glowing eyes and animal children," he said offhandedly, grabbing Lenore's wrist and leading her out of the room brusquely.
"Ye've broken my stock and nearly maimed a priceless antique - now get OUT!"
And with that, he shoved her out of the store, slamming the door as she stumbled into the snow.
Blinking in the bright sunlight, Lenore stuck her tongue out at the door and jumped up, running back the way she'd come, back home.
A piano, huh?
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Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2006 5:58 pm
[ Message temporarily off-line ]
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Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2006 9:37 am
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