Who: Snow, Rose, Beast, and Ravenna What: A minor disagreement over Rose's incarceration that nearly ends in eaten girls more than once. Where: The Beast's castle. When: Following the previous doc with Ravenna and Snow driving up to the castle. Warnings/Rating: None.
It wasn’t much longer until the carriage stopped, the jostling finally ceasing as they crossed the untended pathways and rotting drawbridge. Snow White was already opening the door before the footman could even think of offering her a hand, though she suspected he couldn’t be bothered nor would she care for it. This was no social call and she wouldn’t want any of dawdling on her part.
The castle was even more desolate than Snow envisioned from down the road, each movement echoing off the ruined walls. Yet she made no effort to be subtle or quiet as she scaled the steps. She couldn’t see any servants or guards or hear anything but the soft howl of the wind as it blew through her cloak. But there were two that she knew were inside, her sister and her captive, and she wanted to make sure at least one of them knew she had come.
When finally her feet stopped at the stop of the stairs, firmly planted on the other side of a massive set of doors, Snow turned around to see if there was any other soul around. No sign of anyone from the castle or even her former royal companion. Alone with her thoughts she wondered at how easily the queen disappeared and where she had disappeared to.
Finding no better option, Snow squared her shoulders back and rapped the knocker twice on the wood, waiting patiently for an answer. Any answer.
There was a long pause. The invisible servants didn’t know what to make of yet another guest. Years, possibly even decades, of being the only living humans in the Valley, and now four guests in one month? It was hardly possible. But eventually there was a faint stir behind the massive door, barely audible under the bluster of the wind and the growl of a coming storm that would bring no rain. The heavy outer door didn’t slide open easily, but instead ground open with great effort just wide enough to admit one person. Powdered rust fell down from the hinges, and far above the round entryway a thin naked chain doused in cobwebs swayed gently in an invisible breeze. Four candles floated steadily in the air, two to either side, illuminating the entryway. Beyond, the Hall, and three directions: carved double doors ahead to the Great Hall, and a massive staircase to either side, East and West.
Snow watched patiently as the door opened, stealing a quick in and then around to see if anyone had shown their face. Still there was nothing but once there was enough room to enter she did so quickly, as if fearful that it would slam shut if she dared to hesitate. Floating candles were hardly what she expected to greet her but magic laced the land outside. The inside of the castle should have proven no different.
“Hello?” Snow called out to the emptiness, hoping for the something or someone who opened the door for her. Seeing no one still she ventured forward, steps seemingly loud to her own ears, as she moved toward the double doors ahead of her. “Rose?” She called out once more, a little louder this time, and she strained to hear some noise or change around her so she could navigate.
Indeed, the interior of the castle was not much improved from the barren land outside. The dark dust of charred and empty farmland accumulated in the corners and in the walls, and only the relatively new drops of white wax on the floor hinted that there was a recent occupant. It was grim indeed, and the four candles that were lit cast more shadows than they illuminated. A stirring at the top of the long stairway was the only warning of another presence, and after a split second, it became intensely clear that it was not Rose. “Another thief?” the voice asked, so thickly that the words almost did not separate from each other, interwoven with flat consonants and a voice so deep that it seem to come from beneath the earth instead of high above.
“I am no thief,” Snow replied evenly as she turned toward the voice, taking great care not to do or say anything rash despite the urge to. She splayed her hands open, empty and unarmed, trying to show she was no threat though truly she wished for her knife even if it wouldn’t help. If this was the creature Rose spoke of and the one whose eyes she had once seen through, Snow was vastly outclassed. “I’m not here to steal anything that belongs to you. I came to help my sister, Rose Red.”
The Beast attacked out of necessity and rage, but very rarely to defend himself. What could possibly threaten him? He was the biggest and strongest beast on two or four legs in leagues, and the only thing that could conquer him was the Witch. It was decades together before he saw the Witch, and he had no reason to expect her. He was currently sheltered in the shadows at the top of the massive curved stairs, old stairs cut out of stone and not wood, now crumbling in some places and missing the lovely carpets that had been there in times past. “Then you are a thief. The girl belongs to me, and I paid more than she was worth.”
"She's a girl, not an object," Snow reminded, tempers spiking before she could stop it. For all their bickering and bad blood, no one talked badly about her sister. Well, no one but Snow at least. Still, she wouldn’t take it now and not from the Beast and she strode forward to peer at the talking shadow there. "She can't be your prisoner. She doesn't belong to you and she doesn't belong here. So set her free."
“Three days of food, a man’s life, and a rose from my... the garden,” the Beast growled relentlessly. He shifted as he spoke, moving from one end of the landing from the other. It was like watching a boulder shift on a mountain. “As I said. More than she’s worth. Another mouth to field, and an excessive amount of trouble.” His voice filled the hall, echoing down the stairs and reverberating off the high stone chambers. The harsh smell of excessive dust was slowly taking on the metallic scent of coming rain brought in by the arrowslits in the walls above the outer door and the shattered stained glass at the end of the Hall.
Snow’s lips curled into a quick and knowing smirk. Trouble was probably one of the better ways to describe her sister, but that was beside the point. “A flower, some food, and a foolish man. It’s still an unfair trade in her favor.” She watched him as he moved and turned to follow him, never letting her back face him. His growls still kept her uneasy but she wasn’t as nervous as before, though own irritation had something to do with it as well. “And if she’s such a burden, set her free. Give her to me and she’ll be one less thing for you to worry about.” She cast a quick glance around to the ruined castle, to the barren land outside the windows. “Surely you have other matters to tend to.”
The Beast was certainly tempted. This presumptuous woman would take the girl away and he would have his solitude again, and no one to pry into his affairs or eat the food that was bought so dearly. No eyes to stare or feet to run from his hideousness. But then pride reasserted itself. The thieving merchant had taken something of his, and the girl was spoiled and used to having her own way. This was life, and he had spared the stupid thief's life. The girl was his spoils and she would remain because that had been the deal, and the Beast too must have his power.
"No. She is mine, as the food was mine and the garden is mine. You have no right to her, no claim that supersedes mine. Even for her to leave is to break a vow, and oath breakers do not last long in this world, even if you escape my teeth or the black forest." Forsaking the shadows, he began to move down the stairs, four feet and a slow prowl along the rail. Even the stone seemed to give under his massive weight, and the tattered black cloak that covered him from neck to tail could have curtained the broad door behind her.
“Claim? Maybe I don’t because she’s not a sack of grain.” Snow wasn’t scared that he was descending, too wrapped up in these archaic notions of ownership. Her time in the modern world hadn’t done her many favors in that regard. “I’m her sister who’s concerned for her wellbeing. And that claim is far older than whatever promise has been made to you. I’m to look out for her and she’s scared, being here.” The memory of Rose in this castle pulled at her and though it had been some time, she sincerely doubted her sister’s opinion had changed. How could it? She was being held captive by a Beast.
Remembering the other promise she gave, Snow tugged the strap of the bag slung over her shoulder. “At the very least, let me see her. She asked me to bring her some clothes.” Any opportunity to give her sister more appropriate clothes to flee in, Snow would take.
The sister? The royal sister? She was dressed oddly for a royal, and here unaccompanied, extremely unlikely. The idea that royals might exist within two or three days' traveling distance was extremely appealing to the Beast, even more so than keeping his pride and the sack of grain. Potential allies against Ravenna. The sunshine sparkled for a moment, and he paused his delicate step on the stair, the tips of the rough bear claws on his left forepaw scraping on the stone, but then reality swept in once more. Even if there were people who might stand against Ravenna, the fact that this girl was standing here alone meant that one, they didn't know who Ravenna was nor did they understand the threat and two, the girl herself could not be a power.
"A barter has been made, a life for a life. Perhaps in your castle it is different," he snorted, "but here, such deals are more than honor. I think your sister is understanding enough of the immaterial to realize that no good will come of it if she attempts to break her vow." The Beast gave himself a shake and his fur brindled under the neck of the cloak. Dropping down on the first landing, the Beast sniffed for hints of what was in the girl's bag. "How is it you were able to travel through the black forest alone?"
Castle? Snow mouthed the word silently to herself before breaking into an eye roll. Rose would mention that, an old wound she liked to bring up whenever it suited her. It seemed she had been chatty with the Beast. Her attention had been focused on his form, the sound of claws on stone, when she realized he asked a question.
"I followed the magic from my wor--land. Walked. I have no coach or footmen, if that's what you're asking." Snow White bore no titles anymore, as far as she was concerned. There were no fortunes and no lands to offer him. She frowned as she recalled the circumstances of her arrival. "I did get a lift though. A woman saw me on the road and helped escort me to your castle."
The Beast was a uniform predator, but it seemed incredibly unlikely that his form was the result of planned, decisive effort. Though the cloak hid much, including the flattened wings and most of the tail, his forelegs did not match (one with feline stripes and the other with flat brown hair) and the wolf’s sneer was shadowed by the wide diamond of a horse’s forehead and the heavy mane of a great cat. The copper fire of his eyes were wide-set with slits so spread they almost seemed human. He prowled nose first down the stair until he set cautious foot on the stones of the Hall not far from where she stood.
“Remarkable,” he said, looking her up and down. “That forest has been impenetrable for decades, and yet here you are, blissfully untouched. What woman on the road?” He completely ignored her request to see her sister, and the last phrase was an ominous growl as his suspicions flared.
The growl made Snow’s spine straighten, a small wave of uncertainty washing over her features. But it passed as quickly as it came and she didn’t shrink back, not after she had come so far. “I don’t know her name. She didn’t offer. She said she was a queen from a nearby kingdom. One who knew a touch of magic.” She couldn’t stop the frown that tugged at her features, remembering how quickly the uneasiness settled in her own stomach once she realized that of her traveling companion.
Then Snow looked to the Beast, eyes wary and voice even, despite the question in her tone as she added, “She said you tried to kill her once.”
Ravenna. The Witch was still in the forest, and this stupid girl had led her right back here. “More than once.” The Beast had a thick forehead from some ancient equine ancestor, and his brows were not mobile, but somehow his eyes widened and the pupils began to narrow. Slowly the massive head was lowering to the ground, and while he was close and his mane prickled with tension, the wings under the cloak slicked down and the tail began to slowly undulate somewhere behind him. His shoulders rose in preparation for the pounce, the kill. “And I will again, should she come near. And anyone who serves her.” He should have smelled it on her before, smelled the metallic stink of the Witch’s magic. Yellowing ivory teeth appeared under his sneer, and the air of danger almost became tangible.
"I serve no one," Snow spat, the best she could muster before her voice wavered. The sight of his anger finally overwhelmed her own and she took a step back, and then another, quickly trying to think how fast she could make it to the door.
Rose did not know about Snow's arrival, and it was only happenstance that brought her down the staircase from the East Wing to hear Snow getting into one of her fits. Now, Rose had spent her time since the altercation with the Beast in the kitchen in her room, avoiding any attempt to lure her out by the enchanted "candles." In the end, hunger won out, and it was the rumbling in her belly and the desire for a hot bath that coaxed her from her room just then. She was prepared to do battle for both of these things as she descended the staircase, dirty and in rumpled blue, but her sister's voice changed the battlefield and the players entirely.
It should be noted that Rose had not yet made amends with her sister. She still felt bitter resentment at Snow for abandoning her when they were children, for going off to become a princess in a castle, while Rose was left alone in the woods. She had not yet learned why Snow had been sent away and, with the way things had gone now, she might never learn. Therefore, it was not a warm reunion she expected once she reached the bottom of the stair. But, still, there was something in her that warmed at the fact that Snow would come at all. After all, Rose had ruined Snow's marriage entirely.
Rose cleared her throat near the bottom step, hand on the banister and red hair as neatly tucked up as she could manage, as her pride hadn't allowed her to ask for a tub of warm water yet. "She isn't kidding. She serves only herself, does Snow," she said, as if she wasn't a prisoner at all. "I wouldn't eat her. She's probably too perfect to taste good. Hello, Snow."
The Beast had been concentrating on Snow, who was quickly becoming the image of the enemy, and he was startled out of his snarling stalk by Rose’s perfunctory interruption. Some of the prickling fur settled and he turned his head slightly so that the slightly side-set eyes could get a good look at the girl on the staircase while he kept the other one in view. “You’re not going,” he snapped at her, tail lashing faster.
Snow wasn't graced with the ability to split her attention like the Beast and kept her eyes trained on him. Still she knew Rose could read the exasperation that rolled through her shoulders and the sound, the tone really, of her sister's voice. "A fine thank you that is. Hello, Rose. Still want to be free or are you going to change your tune now that I'm here. You do so love to change your story in my presence or make me the fool."
"He won't eat you," Rose assured her sister as she reached the final step, which she bounced down from with a flourish. You see, there was face to be saved here. Snow had run away, left her abandoned, married a prince and become a princess; Rose still hadn't forgiven her that. Now, Rose was prisoner, but it was more important to look as if she had won the proverbial Homeland jackpot, and so she turned to look at the Beast (who was possibly more hideous this morning than the day prior), and she smiled. "You won't eat her," she repeated regaly. "I think I like having a castle of my own," she added, through it was decidedly untrue, and though the castle in question was quite horrible.
The Beast was even more disarmed by Rose’s apparent cheer. He did not know she was capable of such drastic moods, and he had not seen a smile like that on her face before. He did not suspect her of subterfuge, not yet, not understanding that the sisters were not united in single purpose and understanding. He saw Rose moving across the floor in the dark-haired woman’s direction, and jealousy and panicked flared in one white hot sear. He leapt forward as a cat onto a mouse, landing not on either one but between the two. He shouldered Rose roughly to one side, not hard enough to knock her down, but hard enough to shove. His head, however, was turned toward Snow, and this time it was not a snarl but a roar. “SHE STAYS.”
"SHE CLEARLY NEEDS TO GO!" If Snow was in her right mind she would have realized the foolishness of her actions. She had spent too many centuries as a woman in charge and able to snarl back at anyone who yelled at her first. Sure she was getting roared at but she had dealt with animal Fables before and more importantly her sister had gone crazy thinking she was a guest and not a prisoner in this ruin. Yelling back was far from the smartest thing Snow had ever done but it was her most instinctive.
"STOP THIS."
At the end of the hall, the doors, heavier than many men put together, screeched open across the stone floor. They sent down a shower of rust and a silver streak of burnt metal and smoke to the nose, the friction so quick and harsh that wisps rose from the edge of the doors.
If her voice had not caught their attention, loud enough to compete even with the Beast's, thundering through the cavernous hall like a live thing, than the terrible scratch of metal on stone certainly would have. And there in the door stood the queen. Her iron crown was worked with sapphires, her flaxen hair woven through the metal, holding it in place and adorning it as stones never could. Her dress was blue, as opposed to her usual black. Today she looked a queen, and not so much a witch. The perfect guise with which to present herself as an ally to these two beleaguered girls.
Ravenna walked toward them, and marked them, one by one. The girl on the stair was the prisoner, no doubt, since she already knew the one facing down the creature. She looked to her next. Unharmed. Good. She wanted that one, and her sister, eventually. But all things in due time. "Clearly there is a disagreement about the fate of the girl," she said. Her voice had dropped, now. Her voice was steady, and her eyes were fixed on the Beast. "Though you are a loathsome creature with terrible appetites, you clearly still have enough of a mind left to bargain." She pressed her lips together, the picture of concern, perhaps even fear. "Let the girl go home with her sister, and I will do what I can to help you."
It was a show for both the Beast and the girls. Ravenna fully expected him to refuse her offer, and make himself look even more the monster before these innocents. Then it would simply be a matter of letting him stew with the girl in his care, curdling his resentment into hatred as she rejected him over and over. Perhaps he could even be driven mad enough to devour her. She would like to watch that, and the guilt it would bring his wounded conscience.
Surprise sent lightning through the Beast’s veins and into his many limbs, straightening them into a splay on the stone as his head came down in preparation of unmistakable challenge. The cloak choked the shocked flap of awkward, oversized wings, and the widening of eyes and hard twist of his body to face the door cut off his deadly advancement toward the dark-haired girl that dared defy him. The sight of Ravenna overtook his reason, and his anger at the imposition of the girl was overtaken by his rage and devouring resentment, as a wildfire overtakes a candle. Paws and mismatched feet pulled under his body into the shadow of the cloak, and slowly his whole form seemed to contract in preparation of claws and teeth. “I want none of your bargains, Witch. The girl’s father made an oath, and even you do not break such things lightly.” He hissed at her, not a rumbling growl or a even a cat’s warning, but the sound of air through a rattlesnake’s fangs. The spirals of iridescent snakeskin stood out on his forelegs while every feather stood on end.
Rose said nothing at first, merely crossing her arms over the wrinkled blue of her dress as Snow and the Beast argued about which one got to keep her, as if she was a trinket they both absolutely desired, when she knew neither of them really liked her very much at all. It was all about having something that someone else wanted, and about nothing more, and she blew at the lock of red hair that was blocking her vision of the altercation. Her money was on Snow, but then her money was always on Snow in fights. Snow might not have claws or sharp teeth, but Rose felt sorry for anyone who thought that meant Snow entered battles unarmed. Snow's very personality was a scythe.
But the appearance of a queen turned the situation entirely on its ear, and Rose's hands moved from her belly to her sides in an unconscious move intended not to show fear. She glanced over at the Beast, who she could tell was about to become dangerous in a way he hadn't with Snow, at the newfound queen, and at her sister, who she reached out and snagged by the sleeve, tugging at her to drag her behind her, safe. Because they might have problems (okay, so they did have problems), but Rose wasn't going to let Snow get eaten. "I'm staying," she said simply, hoping her agreement with the angry creature would calm the impending madness. "I said, I'm staying," she repeated, this time for the queen's benefit- No, witch. Rose could smell it on her, that she was a Weird, like them. "Thank you for visiting," she informed the queen with all the politeness she had learned to feign at her sister's court, "but we can't possibly take visitors right now. The castle is in disrepair. You understand?" Fake smile.
“You’ve gone mad,” Snow hissed quietly under her breath now that she was close to Rose. “You can’t stay here. With him. Like this.” It was difficult to speak through clenched teeth but her sister knew the tone she was trying to convey. Still, the Beast didn’t favor the queen - and both parties hadn’t been shy about the whole ‘he tried to kill her and would do so again’ business - and Rose wasn’t pleased to see another interloper in their midst.
The queen’s arrival wasn’t making negotiations any easier. In fact, she’d wager it would just make it worse, a feat Snow hadn’t actually thought possible. “It would seem that circumstances have changed since my sister’s last cry for help,” Snow offered dryly from behind her twin’s shoulder. “She likes it here.”
"Is that true?" The queen asked, turning her eyes to Rose. Well, that would be a development, but she didn't believe it for a second. Putting on a brave face, no doubt - it seemed believable for the stubborn thing she'd written to on the journals. "An oath has been made, but we all know the terms of such an agreement can be negotiated. This father of hers, she has been committed to you as...what? Payment, so you will not ravage his home and slaughter his family? What manner of sacrifice has this girl been forced to make? Surely, something else could be put forward in her stead." She was still feeling out the situation, still unsure whether either of them truly wanted the girl there. If she was bringing him happiness, Ravenna wanted the girl gone. If she was deepening his self-loathing, Rose could stay as long as she liked, however she felt about the arrangement.
Had he been more of a man, more of the person whose echoes reached his consciousness in only whispers, sodden hints of drunken depression and black thoughts, the Beast would have been just that easy to manipulate. But the Beast was a creature of resurrection. He had been many things before he had become a Beast, and he thought he would be many things after--though none of them beautiful. He had been a creator and a destroyer, a waste and a treasure, a laugh and a scream. He hated his appearance, and he hated his own uselessness, but very deep down, he did not hate himself. He hated her. Instead of despair, there was hatred, hatred so red it was black, so hot it was cold. There was a reservoir of it, and he drew that hatred up when he needed something to make him go forward. It blotted out everything else, pushed aside his horrible form, ignored his loneliness, closed away his grief. The girl was now a pawn, her sister a nuisance. He did not care what they thought.
The Beast stalked forward, body lower to the ground and yet still fully as tall on four legs as the girls were on two. He bypassed both of them, every nerve and inch focused on the iron crown that stood in his hall. He thought that the Witch likely knew about the tiny slivers of glass that still stung under the skin of his forepaws, remnants of the creatures he had destroyed after her last visit. He did not care about that either. He did not care that she would only rise up again. One day, one day she would not rise up. “Payment. A life for a life. She belongs to me, and she will stay here and scrub the dirt from the rock until she dies if I so wish it. Unless you care to break that oath.” The Beast didn’t care how Rose spent her time. If she wanted to clean, then fine. But if the Witch killed him, there would be no oath, and no more suffering. He would get in a bite before that happened, he decided. He showed all his teeth. “Or you may serve in her stead.” The Beast laughed. It wasn’t a man’s laugh, for it made no sound; it was a gaping hound’s laugh, a swipe of his jaws through the air and a loll of his tongue to one side. No one who only knew the language of men would recognize such a laugh.
If the Beast thought that Ravenna would stumble at this obstacle, at the idea of the reaction of the girls when she turned down his request, he was to be disappointed. She watched him stalk closer, and she did not quiver, or stand down. She stared into his wet eyes without flinching. "No," she said softly. "And leave my kingdom without a ruler, only for you to kill me at the first opportunity? I think not." That covered her sufficiently, she felt. A queen could not be expected to stand in for some girl in prison. To even contemplate it was ridiculous, even if the circumstances had been precisely the way she had lied that they were. Really, she was starting to feel more and more pleased with the situation. Now the girl would know her imprisonment was for life. All she need do was step back and watch the show as it unfolded. The girl would stay. It was much too entertaining a situation to change.
Ravenna crooked a finger at Snow. "Come here, child. It seems we are no longer welcome guests."
Snow had been quietly watching the exchange from the sidelines, biting back any questions or commentary she might have had. The queen's redirection of her attention shook her from her reverie and though she wanted to leave this place, she had to decline. The Beast had accused her of an alliance she didn't fully agree to, and she wasn't about to prove him right.
"Thank you," she started cautiously, "but there is much still I need to speak with Rose about. I will be fine. I can brave the forest on my own." Though the Beast had expressed doubt that anyone, let alone she, could venture through it without aid, Snow remained optimistic. She would not be as vulnerable as the last time she was in the woods. She would see to that.
Rose was just about done with this entire conversation. "What part of I'm not going did you people miss?" she asked, hands on the hips of her wrinkled blue dress. "We'll make sure Snow gets home safely, and you can leave now to go back to your kingdom." She paused thoughtfully, remembering the Huntsman's words. "Try not to steal any wives or kill any forests along the way," she added, blue eyes gleaming with magic and knowledge and anger. It was one thing to be locked up in this castle and growled at from morning until night, but it was another thing altogether to be bossed around by someone in a crown. It reminded Rose too much of Snow's castle, the crown and the queen's blue dress, and that always out Rose in a foul mood.
Ravenna's smile turned to ice on the redheaded girl and her ungrateful sister. Well, she did intend to lock the girl in a dungeon in her own castle, but still. Rejection was no way to meet an offer of royal hospitality. She was also not foolish enough to attack the girl when her strength was not what it should be and there was a Beast between them. There was a shine on the girls not wholly human, and she had marked it. However she chose to deal with them, it would need to be more careful than an all-out assault and kidnapping. "I do try," she said, smoothly, with a gaze that said whatever warmth she had offered Snow did not extend to Rose. Even make-believe warmth. "Since no one here needs my assistance, I will of course take my leave. But if either of you changes your mind, you need only send a messenger."
There was no curtsy as she left, of course. She bowed to no one. She turned to go, just like that. No muss, no fuss. Easy. And when she got outside, she informed the man driving her carriage that they would have another passenger, and she set to work.
Snow watched the queen leave with a wary gaze, the unsettling sense of déjà vu she felt in the other woman’s presence returning and lingering even as the heavy door closed behind her. Only then did she shake her head to try and free her thoughts. She turned to Rose and the Beast once more, nearly ready to resume their earlier shouting match but the fight was going to get her nowhere and she sighed.
“This discussion isn’t over,” Snow said simply, though she knew she was going to get a shout, or growl, of protest otherwise. With a shrug she slid the bag she brought off her shoulder and handed it to her twin. If she couldn’t leave with Rose, she could at least leave the clothes her sister requested. “But I’ve got a town to take care of and it’s a long walk back.”
Rose grabbed the bag, and she tried to keep her mouth shut. She really did try. The thought of Snow walking all the way back to wherever she had come from with her mundane clothing was precisely the kind of thing that warmed Rose's cold nights when Snow had abandoned her. But, in the end, she groaned and turned to the Beast. "Is there an enchanted carriage or something?" she asked, fully expecting a growl or a hiss for her trouble. She held up a finger. "Just answer, and I'll stay in my room and only come down to the hall for meals," she promised, though even she knew she wouldn't be able to resist the temptation to wander and explore. But he didn't know that, and that's what mattered just then.
The Beast had stalked after the queen for several steps, stiff-legged, fox-tail tuft bushy and attention rapt. The red fur flagged back and forth under the ragged hemline of the cloak, and he kept flicking the wings like a hawk about to take flight, causing odd deformations of the cloth and hard, soft sounds of feathers impacting hide. He was trying to decide whether or not to spring up until the last moment she was framed in the door, and after he snorted in irritation at himself. A missed opportunity warred with sense. The Beast was relatively sane and had no real desire to die, and even if he might have accepted it under certain circumstances... well, it was all too late now.
Slowly, the wings settled, and some of the soft disc-shaped feathers on his face and neck seemed to calm under the prickling heavy hairs of bear and tiger. He dropped his hindquarters into a sideways sitting position so as not to mar the length of the wings. His head was several inches lower than usual as he turned to stare at the two girls, golden eyes long and hooded. “An enchanted carriage,” he scoffed. “Decades this forest has murdered anything that dared walk through its wood, and now a parade of you.”
Snow bristled at both the request on her behalf and its response. She didn’t often enjoy taking aid from others and her strange ride with the queen only reminded her of that fact. Though she was worried about what she would find in the woods, the fact that the Beast didn’t think she would survive her trek home only made her more resolute that she could and would prove him wrong. Pride clearly was a familial trait.
“I’ll be fine without,” Snow sniffed indignantly as she pulled her hood to cover her dark hair. With sure steps she strode toward the double doors, giving her sister a look over her shoulder. “Try not to make any more foolish oaths.” With a quick wave of her hand in farewell she pried open the exit and slipped outside.
Once the doors slammed shut behind her, Snow gave a sigh as she took a step down the staircase, dreading the walk home already. A faint ripple in the short distance ahead of her made her and that odd sensation returned, turning her stomach and setting the nerves on edge. There was magic about, it had taken her long enough to recognize the feeling for what it was. It was a trap laid out before her, ready to snare her and spirit her away to the queen no doubt.
Snow White should have known better but there wasn’t any time for muttered curses. There was only a moment for a half cry of surprise that ripped from her throat as she evaded capture and then she took off, sprinting around and away the trap the queen had laid out for her. With the castle barred from her and the road too easy for the queen’s carriage to ride through, there was only one other way and so Snow ran as fast as she could to hide in the shadows of the dark forest until it was safe.