bad breath and bad vibes Who: Locke Cole + Severus Snape When: Late evening, maybe. Where: New York State Theater What: Monster in the house! Rating/status: ~PG/finished.
Oh God, and they were getting to the good part!
The British envoy had just arrived and Tuptim and Lun Tha were missing! Locke didn't notice how tightly he was gripping the arms of his seat until the chandeliers shuddered...and chandeliers never shuddered. The tickle of light had taken him out of the moment and he felt rotten -- he'll have to see this play, again. But his fingers did relax and he looked up to the lights and the shadows in-between it and the glass that covered the ceilings.
He could have sworn he heard something move up there...
Locke disappeared from the audience as quietly as Tuptim...or maybe not so quietly because Tuptim was apparently found as he left the hall. Dammit, what happens next?!
Finding his way around the theater had been easy enough and soon, he would be slipping into the concealed space just above the light. It was dusty to say the least, and it smelt bad enough for Locke to wrinkle his face and press the back of his gloved hand to his nose. God, what is with that stench?! He was not new to it but he definitely didn't like it.
Down below, Tuptim was swearing hysterically that she would join Lun Tha in death (So he died?! Geeeeez!) while Locke set free his polished, metallic boomerang as well as his red-veined sword from his makeshift sack (it was starting to wear, anyway) and wore them carefully on him. He was quieter than a rat as he crept across the space.
But the silence didn't last for long. Mid-way from the edge to where the chandelier hung, he spotted a lethargic body sprawled along the dirt and he took haste to approach it and cradle the head to his arm. It was a maintenance man, and he looked pale and sickly and he looked at him with wide eyes. "It's all right," Locke hissed to him as he slipped a hand inside his utility pack and slipped out a tiny flask he uncorked with his teeth. Spitting it out, he placed the narrow glass tube carefully upon the man's lips and whispered, "The taste is not nice but it will make you feel better. Don't fight it, just drink it all the way down."
As if he could protest, anyway. Locke took total control of the Remedy, tipping it higher and higher as the liquid escaped the vial and soon, the man shook -- as if electrified -- in his arms and color returned to his cheeks just as quickly. Locke corked the flask and slipped it back in his pack as he allowed the man to relax on the dusty glass floor. "What was it?" he asked later.
"Monster," he croaked with difficulty. "Monster...!"
"Monster?" Locke's brows furrowed. A monster in a place like this?
"Big...green...e, evil...grin...!"
"Evil grin--" Locke didn't need to know the rest of them, most especially not after the big green, evil grinning thing had slithered out of the shadows and Locke gaped at the moving...plant thing about a head and a half bigger than he was. It had no face, just a big red grin and two rows of fangs and its head was crowned by green tentacles just a half shorter than its legs.
Locke gulped tightly. "You have got to be kidding me--"
His hand had set the boomerang free and he'd already tensed his arm to send the thing flying straight into the Malboro's face but the green, icky tentacle reached his face first and Locke was sent flat to his back and sliding down the edge from where he came.
"Waaaaaaaaahhhh!!!"
Thank God he was born to do this! Before he completely fell back into the hall, a swift left had hooked itself onto the edge and he yelped as he dangled and swung his right arm uselessly. Anna's things were packed for some reason but Anna had shrieked and so had everyone who looked up to him and pointed. He took this chance to address them appropriately.
"Monster!!" he cried out to them, slashing at the air with his right and his feet kicking helplessly. "Monster in the house!! Get out while you can, I'll hold it back! Leave your bags, just go, go, go!!"
And so it was that the entire theater shot up to their feet and made straight for the various exits torn open with their strengths. As for Locke, he snarled under his breath as he looked up to the glass that he hung onto. A plan would be a good thing to have right about now.