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Bellum Letale Tempus (bellum_tempus) wrote in bellumlogs,
@ 2010-06-24 11:21:00

Entry tags:

plot: tempus, plot: xi

Russia, Day 4
Who: Group Xi
What: Dinner for the Grand Duke
Where: Alexander Palace
When: Day 4 (OOC, this will probably be open through the weekend)
Warnings: Could be anything. It's a party post.
Notes: Put your character's location in the subject line!

Dinner is an opulent affair.

The formal dining room has place settings for all scheduled attendees. Darcy and Helena are seated at either side of the Grand Duke, who keeps taking liberties with his hands that everyone at the table can see (including Vlad). The dinner is informal, and parties can dine at their leisure while enjoying the other activities of the evening.

The ballroom is chandelier lit for the evening, and an orchestra plays formal dance music, though the collection of nationalities present means that anyone can dance without standing out (as long as they're appropriately attired). There are curtained alcoves off the ballroom that afford some privacy for those so inclined. Lvov will stop his spies periodically, reminding them of the price of betraying him, while Pavel will be watching Joanie from a distance throughout the evening.

[Guests: Helena, Darcy, Vlad, Luther, Joanie, Nicky, Ella, Tegan]

Palace employees are all working the evening of the dinner/dance, and they have access to clothing in the guests' rooms (should they want to crash the festivities), and to the entire palace (should they want to work).

[Palace employees: Oliver, Will, Sam, Rosalie, Jane!Vaughn]

Outside the palace, the mob has seen Vlad, and they remain convinced he's Rasputin and that Jane!Vaughn and Ella are his witches. Even Alexandra seems to feel the same way, as she keeps drawing him aside and whispering to him. The mob is also still in pursuit of a Beast and a Tiger. Therefore, our village-hangers-on have been forced to hide in and within the palace, to keep from getting pitchforked. This group better sneak a bath and some clothing if they want to enter the palace proper.

[Hiding in the Palace: Daniel, Sebastian, Lily, Bernadette ]

[This is a party style thread. Put your character's location within the palace in your subject line. Have dinner, mingle, dance, sneak into one of those alcoves, go take a bath in a huge claw-foot tub, steal clothes, eat the Grand Duke for hitting on your woman, have fun!]

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Re: Outside the Palace

veridicality
2010-06-26 05:39 pm UTC (link)

Oliver had spent most of his time trying to lay low within the palace, keeping his ears and eyes open while working in the kitchens, then to actually serving in the palace during dinner. Every once in a while, he would spy another resident from Bellum that he vaguely recognized, but he kept his mouth shut to keep from drawing any sort of attention. Things were unstable, and even he could pick up on that.

Keeping up with appearances was starting to become more than a little tiresome, so as the evening drew on, Oliver slipped out during a time he thought the other palace workers would go unnoticed. The clothes he had pilfered early into his stay helped him blend in, but really, he just wanted a few moments on his own.

The cold air was slightly biting as he stepped outside, and for a moment, he thought it was just the sound of wind howling that filled the air. As he wandered further through the grounds, the source of the continuous noise was found out to be not the wind, but a mob of angry peasants. Oliver swallowed hard, glancing around before he started towards the forest, hoping the trees would provide some cover. If he could just slip past unnoticed by the angry mob...

Well. He didn't want to think of what would happen if he failed.

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Re: Outside the Palace

bookshelved
2010-06-26 05:52 pm UTC (link)

Beauty didn't recognize Oliver, but his demeanor was one she was starting to recognize as being displaced, which she associated with Bellum. And if she was wrong, well, there was no real danger for her here. Beauty, as Ella regularly complained, was sure of her own abilities; she would manage to manage.

So, when the unknown man started toward the trees, she let the trees beyond him shake their leaves angrily, drawing the mob's attention long enough to get him near the forest proper. And if he wasn't anyone from Bellum, well, he wouldn't know she'd had anything to do with his escape, would he?

As he neared, she curtsied, and then she disappeared into the woods again. Apparently the Bellumites needed rescuing; she could help with that.

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Re: Outside the Palace

wickedwicker
2010-06-26 05:59 pm UTC (link)

When Sam mentioned fight or flight, Joanie nodded. "Mmmmhmmm," she said, taking a few unsteady steps back. The high heels on her feet were not conducive to running, and already her toes were beginning to feel numb.

"Concentrate, dear. Change them." The Wicked Witch's voice was firm, instructive. "Don't you dare bother me with I can't, do it."

Gripping Sam's arm, Joanie took a deep breath. A few whispered words poured from her mouth, and the high heels on her feet shifted into sturdy boots. The peasants nearest to them saw the display and began to roar in both fear and outrage. Pitchforks and lighted torches lunged forward, leading part of the mob in an angry swarm towards Sam and Joanie.

Letting out a shriek, Joanie turned and ran, noticing the trees as they shifted. She recalled Ella's power, and momentarily feared that she was trapped in all of this. "Oliver!" she screamed ahead, having seen him slinking around the crowd. "Run! Run, Oliver!" She wasn't thinking. She was barely breathing. Her entire body was on autopilot as she took off through the forest.

Screams of words she didn't understand followed her and Sam as they ran, fueling the absolute terror that welled up inside her. She looked about wildly for Ella, hoping that the other woman was safe, while hoping that Oliver had managed to outrun the angry mob.

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Re: Outside the Palace

thimbledarling
2010-06-26 06:16 pm UTC (link)

Tegan was nearly bored to tears by the conversation that floated, mostly not understood, around her through dinner. Lvov, while conversing with others, kept an eye on her all evening. Even though she was hungry, still not having eaten much over the past few days, her stomach was too tied in worried knots for her to really enjoy the dinner set before her. Her thoughts kept circling around her brothers, getting back, and Nick. She thought, too, about the other residents that were trapped in this time. She hadn't recognized anyone around her as from her own time, but they had to still be here if she was.

Right?

when dinner had finally been declared complete, Lvov wrapped his hand around her arm, "helping" her to her feet and toward the ballroom for dancing. She trailed along complacently, but her eyes were wide with looking for a place and opportunity to escape. She didn't know how that would affect his offer of aid, but she was done being his bargaining chip.

On the way to what she could see was a ridiculously oversized and decorated ballroom, a group of people stopped Lvov with worried glances and whispers. Had she been able to understand Russian, Tegan might have been able to figure out what was going on, but the only familiar word she could pick out was 'Rasputin'. She frowned, trying to remember her history. Tyler had just studied the Russian revolution, and she'd helped proofread one of his papers, but the details of it were escaping her mind at the moment. Whatever the men were saying to Lvov, it caught his attention enough that his grip started to relax on her arm. She knew this was the best chance she was going to get, and spied a door a ways up the hallway. It was time to run.

She yanked as hard as she could, pulling her arm away, and heading down the hall as quickly as her dress shoes and clothing would allow. She was never going to win a race dressed as she was, but she was hopeful that she could at least escape to find someplace to hide.

The door she burst through led directly outside, and it took her a moment to realize that the people gathered were not an extension of the party. Several of those closest to her turned to look before shouting something angrily at her. It was like the first night in Russia all over again, as the winter air cut straight through the gauzy fabric of her dress as if she was wearing hardly anything.

When they started toward her, expressions promising nothing good, all she could do was run. There was an opening off to the side, and she headed for it, shouting as she did. "Help!"

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Re: Outside the Palace

tiger_says_rawr
2010-06-26 06:52 pm UTC (link)

This was so not good! Why the hell had they even decided to come outside in the first place? And the trees, what was up with the trees? For a second, Sam thought he had somehow ingested LSD but then just figured it was more Bellum!magic at work.

When he saw Tegan running, coming to join their cross-country team, he made an executive decision. She was young, and certainly did not deserve to get clobbered by a mob. No one did, really.

"Just keep going, just run," he said to Joanie and the other girl. "Don't stop for anything." He pulled ahead and didn't even bother with the formalities of stripping his clothes off - he was probably fucked anyway, but he didn't want the mob to continue their witch hunt. This would be a good distraction.

Shere Khan was growling and it was starting to melt Sam's brain, so he jumped - clothes exploded everywhere, littering back to the earth, and his head changed first, the pain of transformation shooting through him and crackling his bones, tearing at his muscles, but it didn't take long. The adrenaline made it close to bearable, and pain was the last thing he cared about now.

The growling was audible now, piercing the night air. Shere Khan landed on all four legs, whipping around to face whatever was coming for him. The peasants all gasped, some faltered. The tiger snarled, the sound echoing through the trees. He could practically taste the humans. Delicious! He didn't fear them at all. Their shrieking was merely the sound of the dinner bell for him.

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Re: Outside the Palace

veridicality
2010-06-26 07:21 pm UTC (link)

Oliver's head whipped around at the sound of his name being called out, catching a brief look at Joanie before the behaviour of the mob overruled that. Due to her calling out his name, identifying him as one of those that were so unwanted here, they rushed towards him, and inwardly, he groaned.

He took off running then, trying for the trees where he had heard and seen that rustle, hoping against hope he could make it to the forest before the peasants overcame him. And he might have made it if the sound of a tiger roaring caught his attention, leaving him to stumble as he turned towards the source, staring at the creature. His hesitation, his pause... it didn't last for long, but it was more than enough time for the peasants to overcome him in a mob of pitchforks and torches.

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Re: Outside the Palace

bookshelved
2010-06-26 08:24 pm UTC (link)

When Tegan ran out, Beauty realized a natural distraction wasn't going to work with her as it had with Oliver. Then there was a tiger, and everything went to hell. She could, from where she was standing in the safe press of greenery, see Oliver set upon, and she could see Joanie and Tegan and the aforementioned tiger. Safety in numbers, was the thought that came to mind, and she slipped up behind Oliver, the trees covering any sound her now-bare feet might make on the ground, and she slid her hand into his, and she pulled.

Not away from the fray, no, toward it. Toward Joanie and Tegan and the tiger. The mob, however, wasn't so quick to let Oliver go, and the pitchforks and the flames came close enough to catch their fabric and light, and by the time they'd gotten halfway to the others, they were lit up in flames which Beauty was at a loss to extinguish; her plants would only feed such a fire. She could smell blood on the air, and she felt it trickle along the hand that was held tight in Oliver's. He was injured, it seemed.

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Re: Outside the Palace

thimbledarling
2010-06-26 08:51 pm UTC (link)

Seeing Joanie and Sam, hearing English instead of Russian or French, gave Tegan at least a little bit of hope. She kept running, as Sam said, but couldn't help looking back at the sound of him changing, quickly shifting into a roar from Shere Khan. She'd known there were those in the building that could turn into animals, and the constant press of Wendy in her head made her think that changing was possible even without the full moon, but to see a tiger where Sam had once been made her gasp and stumble in shock.

Adding to the shock was the realization that the trees were moving, and that the peasants were turning on a man who looked like Oliver from the first night. The "No!" was torn from her throat without even thinking about it, and she stared as he was absorbed into the trees.

She didn't even know where she was going any more, but the peasants were everywhere.

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Re: Outside the Palace

tiger_says_rawr
2010-06-26 09:15 pm UTC (link)

What in the fucking hell? How did Ella's dress manage to get set on fire, with Oliver, and what...? Complete insanity was the norm these days, it seemed. He hoped people didn't just plan to stand around and watch.

Stop, drop, and roll, Ella! Sam shouted at her in his head, but unfortunately he couldn't do anything since Shere Khan was in the driver's seat. The tiger jumped on the one with the torch, the one who had set Ella's dress ablaze, and grabbed the human with his forelimbs. The torch flew backward, the man screamed, and -

Oh, nice, you just set like eight Russian peasants on fire, Sam remarked when he heard even more screaming.

Shere Khan was laughing internally, joyful about suffocating the human until the air tube was broken - but there was blood all over the tiger's snout, as he had punctured the throat. To cut him open required the use of the tiger's underlying teeth, since some of the teeth constitute an almost scissor-like system. But Shere Khan didn't plan to spend time eating the man - it was a warning, of sorts. Who else wanted to die this way?

And so he continued on, lunging with all six hundred pounds, onto the next from behind - pity this one was carrying a pitchfork. He fell on it, and killed himself right then. This was certainly much better than being locked in the ape's head while he sucked face with that strange girl in a closet!

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Re: Outside the Palace

vespertine
2010-06-26 09:28 pm UTC (link)

[Continued from this.]

The frozen night air would rejuvenate her stale and static senses, wouldn't it? It would cradle her cheeks, bemuse her into believing her condition was harmless. It would assert her equilibrium from being subdued by fatigue and cravings; sturdy it. It would solidify the spine that felt so soft and weak from walking. Lily had high desires for the promises of outside. Everything in the ballroom was too searing, too full of motion. It was beginning to make her feel woozy.

Beginning to make that voice feel ravenous.

The new acquaintance she'd made was not one she would let go of lightly. She needed him to come with her. Sebastian was the only thing here at this point which made her feel at any hue of the shades of other, awful things she currently felt, sane. He was from where she was from. Without him, she'd be all alone again.

The moonlight sliced through the tendons of clouds with the precision of a sculptor. It stuck itself into the ground as substantially as a marble pillar, and just as cold. The voice she had heard before taking this exit could have been a crowd of anyone. A crowd of revelers, of an audience of some compelling performance. It was not until she had made it out however, that the anger of the voices were more so distinct ...

And when they'd opened the door, seeing the rush of people who so enthusiastically pursued a group of others, she naturally hesitated to fully exit, but was faced too quickly with the decision of staying in or out of the palace.

The door shut behind her. The die was cast.

Sebastian and Lily became the newest targets of the mob, and although every muscle in her body ached before... adrenaline informed them all to run now. The villagers faces were contorted by hatred. Their terrible grip held torches. She grabbed Sebastian's hand. "We have to go!" and ran toward where the other group of people were headed, which didn't seem like anywhere distinct, instinctually. Though through an entirely different avenue of avoiding fire or angry clutches. They were close to the others by now, and this was hardly turning out to be a good thing. People were dying. There was a tiger. The plants were alive. Chaos was all around her and she felt disembodied, but knew to keep running.

She could smell... blood, fresh blood, and this energized her. That voice.

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Re: Outside the Palace

wickedwicker
2010-06-26 09:45 pm UTC (link)

Everything was happening so quickly. First Tegan joined them, then Sam changed, and all of a sudden Oliver was trampled and Ella was set alight like a Roman candle. Later, Joanie would recall that she had screamed and possibly shouted some nonsense that she didn't understand. She'd remember the heat from the flames as they came so very close to her skin, too close for comfort.

Something in her told her to run. The Witch was screaming about her weakness, and the most primitive part of her was prepared to simply run until her feet fell off. But there was that thinking part, the part of her that remembered these people as allies and companions, that caused her to pause.

Though the peasants were raging, Joanie turned towards Ella. Her dress was a beacon of light, a signal calling to her. She picked up an armful of snow, running haphazardly, and flung it at her. The snow hissed on the flames and melted instantly, and for good measure, Joanie caught the woman around the waist and brought her heavily to the ground, not realizing that she was dragging Oliver down with them.

Heaving an unsteady breath, she looked down at Ella as she smoldered her way into the snow bank. "You okay?" she wheezed, finally turning to look at Oliver. "You?" Unfortunately, the peasants were approaching, and they didn't seem ready to honor this Kodak moment of friendship.

Just when it seemed that the peasants were going to do them all in, an enormous tiger sprang to the rescue. The forest became a fountain of blood that soaked the snow they laid in. Wheezing, Joanie rushed to her feet, shoving at Oliver, Tegan, and Ella. "Go! Run!" As she urged, the remaining peasants chased after them, and the flat side of a pitchfork came down hard on Joanie's shoulders. Shrieking, she turned, grabbing the weapon and with a few words, turned it to dust.

The peasant wielding it stared at her in livid rage before fisting a hand in her hair and dragging her back, through the bloody snow, into the raging mob.

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Re: Outside the Palace

bookshelved
2010-06-26 10:07 pm UTC (link)

The fire and Joanie and Shere Khan's subsequent dousing of it had left Beauty too panicked to react, and her hands were blistering and raw from the flames. Unlike Ella, she was better at controlling her reactions to fear, but this was too much, even for her. Once Joanie's familiar face came into view, her mind kicked in, and when Joanie was dragged into the crowd, Beauty panicked in earnest and the entire outside of the palace became coated in vines and brambles and things impossible to move in without drawing blood.

The peasants, not understanding what was happening, and therefore even more panicked, began screaming for Rasputin (who they assumed to be among them and calling the vines upon them). Beauty's hand was painfully tight in Oliver's, and she looked over her shoulder as the crowd dragged Tegan toward the nearest tree, even as the vines made themselves thick as labyrinth in the bloody, burning clearing.

She didn't need to speak Russian to realize they intended to string Tegan up, in the hopes that would bring Rasputin into the open.

She couldn't make out the tiger in between the vines, and she couldn't calm enough to stop them. An uncontrolled laugh escaped her as she glanced toward the palace, which was beginning to look like something out of Sleeping Beauty at breakneck speed.

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Re: Outside the Palace

vespertine
2010-06-26 10:27 pm UTC (link)

There were a few girls being hurt by the villagers. Hurt was an extreme understatement, but it was what she'd employed to placate herself. Nothing like this had ever happened to her. There wasn't any one specific girl being harmed, nor particular target, making it difficult to tell if she could be of any assistance. They were hurting who ever they got their wrathful hands on, and if they were women or men was not in their discretion. The only people that Lily could see however, at the moment, were girls... in any other circumstance, she would've been overwhelmed by emotion so much so, that she likely would've wept as she fled. For now, however, the tell-tale, ready gleam in her wide, horrified eyes against the illumination of swishing firelight was the only clue she was upset. She held onto Sebastian's hand as tightly as she could... but she was considering letting it go, just for a moment. Just for a way to help one of them. She'd seen Joanie be hit, and it aroused a protectiveness in her. As well, at seeing Ella... she was able to catch a glimpse of her. Her and the animal, and the other man. And a... was there another girl? Another girl being grabbed, dragged toward a tree.

Lily was going to help her. Her heart was in the right place. She had begun shuffling through the snow even more deftly than she thought possible, leading Sebastian through a fresh, vivid pool of blood--unbeknownst to her, almost about to take a blow from someone's makeshift pitchfork herself--when the vines wrapped around her, and her surroundings.

She'd let go of Sebastian's hand on accident...

Lily instantly felt claustrophobic and panicked; feeling as if she couldn't breathe at all. Now she was certain this was a nightmare. Having fallen halfway into the blood, her skirt and hands were now drenched with it, and she was unable to flee. Slender fingers curled into the mockery of dainty little claws, and she she tried to escape desperately as she swiped at them, barbing and cutting whatever skin was exposed against the thorns.

A scream filled the night air that was so terrified and primal, any bird left over and perched within the trees, fled in a flurry of flapping toward the icy moon.

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Re: Outside the Palace

thimbledarling
2010-06-26 10:43 pm UTC (link)

Tegan screamed at the first peasant that touched her, twisting away, but there were suddenly more people there than she could escape, pulling her away from the fires and familiar faces, and even away from the tiger. She saw Joanie get dragged away as well, into the crowd that seemed to swallow her up, and Tegan fought harder, shouting as loud as she could, fighting to get back to the rest of the group from Bellum.

The crowd around her was shouting out more things that she couldn't understand, the name Rasputin still echoing through their cries. She didn't know where they were taking her, other than closer to the forest, the trees that weren't moving. The open area between was filling with vines that were covered in thorns, catching on the lace of her dress and tearing it to pieces, quickly running out of fabric and scratching instead at the skin of her arms and legs, drawing blood that she could feel seeping down warm against cold skin. She'd lost her shoes in the move toward the trees, feet slipping in the snow as her toes began to go numb.

She fought and struggled the entire way, adding nails and teeth now in desperation, even managing to bite down hard on some unwashed peasant's hand. The only thing it earned her was and angry shout and the handle of some peasant's shovel to the side of her head, making the world go grey and dim for a moment, limbs heavy, and letting the crowd get a better hold on her. She never saw the rope before it looped around her neck, catching a scream in her throat as she finally realized what they meant to do.

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Re: Outside the Palace

nobleblood
2010-06-26 11:35 pm UTC (link)

[Continued from here.]

Vlad stopped just outside the palace, the night air cool and refreshing against his flushed skin. As far as he could tell no one had pursued him, but he didn't have time to wait and see if his assumption was right. He'd only taken a few steps forward when a mixture of incensed shouts and helpless screams reached his ears, along with the sharp scent of blood and smoke. It was the mob the dinner guests had whispered about, and there was nowhere for him to go but into the chaos if he had any hope of getting away from the palace. They will kill you, Vlad. Release me. Dracula's voice was suddenly alert, roused by the blood and cries. This was what he fed upon, the chaotic mess of human beings. His mind went to Helena and what would happen if she needed help, but he had to admit that Dracula was far better suited to fight than he was. If he plunged into the fray as himself, as the perceived Rasputin, then it would be little more than suicide.

Fine - but there are conditions, and if you break them then I will remain in Bellum until the day I die and make SURE that you are locked up every full moon, understood? You are not to harm anyone from Bellum, and if Helena needs help then you WILL help her. Lay a hand on her and you will starve to death. Vlad could feel his heart pounding and his lungs constricting as Dracula's influence began to creep over him. Give me your word, vampire! Vlad refused to give in until he agreed, fighting the change with everything he possessed. There was a long pause, and then a concession. You have my word that no one from your building will be harmed, and Helena will be kept safe - but everyone else belongs to me.

It was good enough. He lowered his defenses and in an instant Dracula seized his chance, almost as though he feared Vlad might change his mind at the last second. It was quicker than usual, and in a split second his eyes turned a burning inhuman scarlet. Dracula ruled this body now, and he had his sights set on the frenzied mob beyond the forest. He didn't fear the human fire or their pitiful weapons, and he lunged towards the chaos with inhuman speed. There were people he - Vlad - recognized, bloody and injured, but true to his word he left them alone. There were plenty of peasants to quench his hunger for now. He saw them dragging a young unfamiliar girl being dragged, a rope around her neck, and the word Rasputin being repeated over and over gave him a good starting point.

"You call for your Rasputin?" He roared, not caring that they wouldn't understand English. There was no fear within the monster, just a rush of power and bloodlust that would soon be satisfied. "Then have him, fools, for you bring this upon yourself!" Dracula laughed cruelly, fangs bared and visible in the firelight for an instant before lunging at the closest peasant and tearing his throat out in a spray of hot blood. Oh, yes - this was his kind of battle. He got the glory, and Vlad would be left to deal with the aftermath of pain.

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Re: Outside the Palace

tiger_says_rawr
2010-06-26 11:53 pm UTC (link)

Sam was going absolutely apeshit with righteous fury and hatred that was so intense it could have caused the Earth to begin rotating backward, or perhaps the entire solar system to explode in a nuclear blast of darkness and death. Forget pithy Pluto and losing its planetary rank - this was more like not even the cockroaches, anywhere, survived. He was screaming at Shere Khan to get Joanie, drag her back out, if she died he was going to lock the tiger away in a cage forever, etc.

All of the internal racket caused Shere Khan to balk a bit, his paws already scraped up because of the thorns, and one of the peasants lunged at him with a pitchfork. The pointed part didn't hit him but the effect was like a battering ram - both pitchfork and human slamming into the tiger's side. Human ribs would be cracked later, but the tiger didn't worry about that now. He latched his teeth onto the human, shaking him like a rag doll until he was good and rattled and dead, then dragged his bloodied carcass through the snow like any tiger would do after killing its prey.

To shut Sam up, Shere Khan clamped onto another poor peasant on the edge of the mob that had dragged Joanie in - essentially tearing the man's spinal cord out - and flung him carelessly. He had full intention to eat his way through this crowd, and he didn't care about what Sam would do in the morning either.

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Re: Outside the Palace

bookshelved
2010-06-27 12:57 am UTC (link)

The crowd became even more crowded as everyone in the palace tried to escape. The furor had resulted in broken glass and broken gates, and the vines were climbings into the windows and the ballroom, and there wasn't a thing Beauty could do about it.

By this point, her blistered hand had slipped out of Oliver's, and she couldn't even call for him, because she didn't know his name. The jostling of the peasants knocked her to her knees, and she decided that might just be a good thing.

She crawled in the direction of Tegan and the tree she was being strung up on, and once she was close enough, she made the noose slip from a branch that withered and wouldn't hold the girl's weight. It wasn't perfect, but it was something, and maybe it would buy someone else enough time to get to the girl.

She could hear Dracula in the crowd, and despite her own fear of the vampire and his fangs, she knew he was the least of their worries right now. She crawled free of the throng, and she just managed to get into the forest proper, the mess of vines offering her cover. She sat in the snow, her back against the trunk, and she kept repeating the process of withering all the trunks they tried to string Tegan up from. The girl already had layers of rope marks on her neck, and Beauty crawled after her each time they moved her, calling herself a million kinds of fool for depending on a man (or a Beast) to keep her safe.

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Re: Outside the Palace

thimbledarling
2010-06-27 01:46 am UTC (link)

Tegan was at the point where she could barely fight off the peasants every time they found another tree. Her breath, when it came, wheezed in her throat, and felt like it was on fire. Black spots continued to grow in front of her eyes, and she didn't know how many more times she could fight back from it.

She didn't know why it was happening over and over. Maybe it was some twisted trick of the building again, but all she wanted was for it to stop. Every time it happened again, she had less and less energy to fight back to consciousness.

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Re: Outside the Palace

vespertine
2010-06-27 01:55 am UTC (link)

An insurmountable horror rose up into her throat. Her screams were deadened as suddenly as a candles flame between two wetted fingers; a whimper tapering off the finish of it like a tiny blue banner. The strident aroma of freshly spilled blood, of the sticky feel of cooling blood upon her, the sting of wretched little cuts that bit her hands, arms legs, inspired her heart to continue galloping hastily toward an indistinct escape--even if she was stuck. It was the moist and terrible, ripping sound of skin being separated from skin, of ventricles being torn, that kneaded her clambering anxiety into a lazier, more idle procession with the absence of sound. While still roped within the subjugation of the vines, she had looked down toward her hands, at least... what she could see of them.

It was not her blood alone that shamelessly stained her pale, trembling fingers. She could discern this by the smell. This blood, mingled with snow, gingerly piggy-backed the enchanting scent of vodka, hate, and honey. It made her mouth water at once so much so, that she had to swallow. She was ready to wake up now. She was ready to forget; she shut her eyes tightly. Everything stung or tingled. The villagers had resumed being wrathful--or at least, what was left of the villagers--and she was beginning to feel as if she might faint, when:

Taste it, it whispered sweetly and warm to her, lilting, like a lullaby on a swing anchored to the moon. It appeases. Mmmm, I promise. Lily, with quivering wrist, impressionable as she could become having faced this situation, yielded.

Her tongue slid from the base of her opened palm, to tip of her finger.

A villager, having heretofore escaped the wrath of tiger and vampire, saw her do this, sharply gasped, and hurriedly swung at her hand with a branch he'd picked up as if being witness to an event so seemingly obscene damned him already. It hit her wrist, ricocheted from her jaw, with a force that knocked the rest of her free from the vines. It also got her hand away from her mouth as intended and back into the snow and blood. That presence, that voice wasn't too happy. The stroke had hurt badly, until it hummed.

Much like anyone hiding a beast in them that they did not know how to access, she merely growled as a warning for them to keep away from her.

Wasn't working. They still persued.

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Re: Outside the Palace

veridicality
2010-06-27 02:30 am UTC (link)

Chaos. It was simply chaos everywhere. Moments were blurring together and he was having a hard time separating everything as it happened. One arm was folded protectively over his stomach and he was afraid to look down, to see why the sleeve of his coat was soaked in blood. The cool air bit at skin that was blistered and burnt, but he managed to stumble on, pulled by the woman with the trees.

And then fingers slipped from his and he fell to his knees in the snow, turning to look about him in a sort of shock. John yelled in his head fiercely for him to keep himself together, to pay attention, but then there was that guttural roar and his head whipped around just in time to see someone... no. Not someone, John corrected him. Dracula tear the throat out of a villager.

"No..." Oliver whispered, guided by John's rage, and somehow he pushed himself up to his feet, lurching towards Dracula and his victims. The mob, he understood, was dangerous. They had pitchforks and torches, but noone deserves to be killed by that monster! Let me out! He would never see this coming! Oliver! There is a torch over there, one burned out in the snow. Just take it. Wind your fingers around it and go after that monster!.

It was a combination of adrenaline and confusion that had him reaching towards the abandoned torch, fingers curling around it as he hefted it, making his way towards the monster. John's expression was set, determination flickering in his eyes.

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Re: Outside the Palace

nobleblood
2010-06-27 02:57 am UTC (link)

Dracula never lost control, not even when bones snapped beneath his teeth and angry shouts turned into anguished screams that faded away to silence. He was a monster, yes, but not an animal; it was a distinction that probably wouldn't have mattered to anyone else but it was one he was always aware of. He certainly wasn't a hero, and he didn't attack the peasants that were targeting the innocent residents of Bellum. If his bloodlust saved a mortal from being set on fire or stabbed by a pitchfork it was completely coincidental and not something he aimed for. He wanted blood and slaughter; woe to any poor fool who stood in his way.

The presence of the tiger would have been irritating if there hadn't been such an abundance of prey, which meant that watching the animal tear human bodies apart was rather amusing. To give the mortals their due they did attempt to stop him, but he didn't feel the sting of a pitchfork slicing dead flesh or the burn of fire as it licked at his feet. These were human injuries that Vlad would suffer later, but none were fatal and he would survive. No serious harm would come to this body while Dracula was in it, and as a particularly brave peasant charged him with a pitchfork, the vampire simply laughed and snapped the man's wrists like twigs. From there it was easy to gain hold of the pitchfork and drive it through the man's neck, licking at the blood staining the rusty pointed ends.

Vlad was there in the back of his mind, but the man's voice was quiet enough to easily be ignored. There was a scent that stood out among the rest, and he paused amidst the slaughter to cock his head to the side and try to focus on it. It was strange, something familiar and yet not, but before he had a chance to consider it he caught a blur of movement from the corner of his eye and spun around, snarling and still clutching the bloody pitchfork. "Seward," he hissed in amusement. "You are willing to ignore the plight of the many to focus on me? How flattering."

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Re: Outside the Palace

tiger_says_rawr
2010-06-27 03:22 am UTC (link)

The homo sapien was still yapping, but Shere Khan was an animal - quite literally - and he hated humans more than anything, especially the way they traipsed around taking and stealing and destroying habitat, no cares whatsoever. He could grudgingly make an exception for the ones Sam liked, since Sam was essentially in control, but all of these peasants were fair game for massacre and the tiger did not care. Any excuse to give back to them, times ten, what they had given other species was something he would eagerly take. Therefore, it was easy to rip, claw, and tear along on his merry way and not feel remorse. The tiger's fur was stained and his paws were sore, but he was stronger and more powerful than a human - especially ones as malnourished and brittle as these peasants.

Just get Joanie out, Sam begged, trying to make the tiger listen to reason. He obliged, snuffing impatiently, and latched onto the girl's coat, dragging her away - like a mama tiger dragging her cub to safety. He deposited her in a fresh patch of snow, away from the blood and gore, then went back into the fray. This riot had to end eventually, but it wouldn't end well for the other team.

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Re: Outside the Palace

veridicality
2010-06-27 03:31 am UTC (link)

John hardly noticed the chaos going on around them, his attention focused as it was on Dracula. Instead, he gave the monster a dark look, his fingers curled in a white-knuckled grip around the handle of the burned wood he picked up. "You are the plight that affects them," he said icily, stepping forward through the snow towards the monster and its victims. "I will save many if I can take care of you," he continued, moving forward unafraid, the sight of the bloody pitchfork making his stomach roll over.

He was still for a long moment, simply staring, the sound of the tiger roaring echoing behind him, and then he moved. It was neither fast nor with any sort of grace as he lunged towards Dracula, stake in hand with full intentions on striking the monster. If he could do this... so many would be saved. The monster had to be put down!

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Re: Outside the Palace

shebringscurses
2010-06-27 04:08 am UTC (link)

Vaughn and Daniel had perused the palace for several minutes, but Ella was thankfully not to be seen. Vaughn kept his wrist in the gentle curl of her claws, and the Witch's spookshow laughter echoed dimly in the recesses of her mind.

Outside, Vaughn, outside. To the woods, release me and I will make this man who troubles you weep..

Returning for a final weave through the kitchen, the pair vacated out one of the side doors of the palace just as the chaos was beginning to erupt. Almost instantly, there were shouts of panic rising from all four corners, and people rushed from the palace as vines began to overtake the stone. Too easily, Daniel and herself were separated by the beginnings of a riot. The snow up ahead was visibly splashed in gore, and she hesitated even as the Witch shouted about her insufferable conceit.

The Beast, you've lost the Beast!

Before a booted toe could even venture further into the trampled snow, a sneer-toothed peasant had her by the front of her blouse, shouting to his comrades both fighting and fallen, "VED'MA! VED'MA!"

Vaughn did not have to understand the translation, and she ignored the Witch whose insistence was as warm as tricksmoke, Let me out..

She just slammed the heel of her hand into the man's throat, and found release in his choking collapse. Like a marionette with cut strings, the man had crumpled, and she hustled over him as she ventured toward the bloody fray.

"Daniel?!" Bodies. Everywhere. She spun on her toes, looking for a sign of familiarity in all this red. Release me..

"DANIEL!"

Wait, was that a fucking tiger?

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Re: Outside the Palace

bookshelved
2010-06-27 04:20 am UTC (link)

The villagers had given up on trying to hang Tegan, since they had their bloody Rasputin, and Beauty had crawled over to the girl and cradled her on her lap as soon as they'd moved away enough for her to get to the girl. The quiet, however, had only lasted a moment before Dracula and Shere Khan had begun their bloody foray through the vines, where the blood was so thick that the snow ran red, and the air fogged with the heat of it.

The villagers, of course, reacted terribly to all of this, and even the members of the palace guard had begun work, slicing at the vines in an effort to get to the Tiger and 'Rasputin' within. Moments later, strong arms came and grabbed Tegan from her, and though Beauty managed to hold off the first set with vines upon vines, the second group was more determined. Both women were hauled to their feet. Joanie joined them as they were dragged through the crowd, her arms twisted behind her back, and Helena (who was seen with Rasputin) as well. All four women were tied up to pikes held high in the snow.

The villagers, it seemed, thought this a good way to get the attention of Rasputin and his tiger. Beauty didn't think as much. As they were lifted high above the ground, tied with ropes, she saw Jane calling for Daniel, and she witnessed her taking out the man in the crowd.

Really? That was interesting, wasn't it?

A moment later, the fire teasing at her feet at the bottom of the pike drew her attention. She couldn't do anything about fire. She desperately tried to control the vines, make them drag the fire-bearers down, but she was too afraid, and it was fruitless.

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Re: Outside the Palace -

wickedwicker, 2010-06-27 04:44 am UTC

Re: Outside the Palace -

old_fashioned, 2010-06-27 05:27 am UTC

Re: Outside the Palace -

bookshelved, 2010-06-27 05:36 am UTC

Re: Outside the Palace -

vespertine, 2010-06-27 05:48 am UTC

Re: Outside the Palace -

nobleblood, 2010-06-27 06:15 am UTC

Re: Outside the Palace -