WHO: Nevenka, A Big Scary Beast, & OPEN WHEN: 23rd, around dawn. WHERE: Somewhere between Vice & Virtue and the Plantation House WHAT: An unknown monster attacks. WARNINGS: monster attack, bit o' blood and violence.
Nevenka had a habit of doing two things on her way back from work most mornings.
1. She was probably singing to herself, along with whatever song was currently caught in her head. Sometimes inspired by what had been playing in Vice & Virture but not necessarily. There may have been dancing as well: taking a few spins around tent poles, a little dip here, a rhythmic flourish there.
2. She was probably not paying much attention to anything going on around her. The circus was either closed for the night or in the process of closing, so patrons didn't need to be any of her concern.
On this morning in particular, Nevenka was definitely doing both these things. The tune was Nina Simone's Feeling Good, a song she had adored since the first moment she'd heard Ms Simone perform it in a smoky club, and Nevenka's fingers had slowly and unconsciously dug into Jianfan's arm beside her while she watched rapturously. Humans were capable of such beautiful depths of emotions, despite their natural shortcomings. (But maybe it was because they lived such brief fluttering lives that they were able to reach so close to grace as they did.)
But even if Nevenka had been paying attention, she wasn't sure later that she would have been able to avoid it. The beast seemed to come from nowhere, silent and without any warning. All Nevenka knew was that one moment she was singing that the river running free knew how she felt, and the next moment the full weight of whatever it was had landed on her with so much force that it threw her to the ground, knocking the breath from her lungs and scraping her face and arms against the dirt and stones.
The strength and the angle of the attack had fortuitously skidded Nevenka somewhat out from under the beast, and she rolled onto her back, hearing the sound of scrabbling and snarling. Her eyes couldn't focus very well on the creature, and she didn't know whether it was because of magic or because she was currently fighting to try and breathe and pain was shooting through her body.
It was a huge thing of meat and muscle, perhaps smaller than many of the predator shifters in the cirque, but so much bigger than Nevenka herself, especially with the way it was advancing on her. She tried to push herself up but yelped with pain as soon as she put her weight on her arm. She dropped again, moving to pull herself up with the other arm instead. With a growl the creature flew at her, teeth bared, eyes orange and locked onto her. Nevenka screamed, throwing her hand up to uselessly shield herself.
The vines that shot up from the dirt around her hadn't been intentional or called for, but it wasn't the first time they had appeared to protect her. They wrapped themselves around the beast, but Nevenka knew from previous experience that they would not hold something this strong, not for very long at all.
So, fighting the pain, she pulled herself to her feet and ran between the tents, her chest tight and sharp with every still too small breath. Agony was shuddering down her arm with each step, and she found that her vision was being blurred by blood dripping down over her eye. She couldn't stop. She had to get back to the house. As long as she got back to the house, she would be safe.
Once there, Nevenka stumbled up the steps, hitting the wood of the porch hard on her knees before awkwardly crawl-running the rest of the way into the house. At the bottom of the stairs she stumbled and screamed out, "Help!" Her cheek and forehead stung and she was sure she'd grazed them badly when it had thrown her against the ground. She could see the tiny stones and bits of leaves and dirt on her forearms, blood blooming around them. Licking her lips (the taste of blood there as well), Nevenka looked with panic towards the door, waiting for the thing to appear there.
"Somebody, please!"
The house was safe. The charms would surely protect the house, even with the door wide open. Wouldn't it?