Marguerite Blakeney is clearly beyond scruples (blazeinhereyes) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2017-09-04 21:06:00 |
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Given the fact that Marguerite was at the theatre all day because of the usual Saturday/Sunday schedule of two shows, she had missed the warning about the latest Orange County incident. That didn’t mean she wasn’t prepared though. Marguerite bringing her rapier to the theater tended to be seen as a random personality quirk, one that no one really bothered to question. Partially because they were used to strange things happening, and also it didn’t impact anything.
With the first act finished and going into the second, Marguerite was in the dressing room to change into her next outfit between numbers when the first signs that something strange was happening. Going to her phone, she quickly scanned the network before cursing under her breath.
“You have got to be kidding…”
Before she could respond any further though, the door leading to the dressing room from outside was knocked down and.. Yep. The risen dead. In the midst of startled screams and chairs scraping as cast members tried to get away, Marguerite grabbed her rapier in order to fight back. She wasn’t the only one, some had grabbed chairs to fight back, crew was using what they could find as well but they were getting backed out towards the stage.
Honestly, first she was fighting Clones/Stormtroppers in a corset with a lightsaber, now it was risen dead with a rapier while in a slip.
Unlike Marguerite, Qrow wasn’t really able to carry around his weapon wherever he wanted to. Even in “resting mode” (as he liked to refer to it), it looked like a sword bent in half and still had an exceptionally sharp blade. It drew a lot of attention and a lot of questions. Personality quirks were alright for the actors -- one could almost expect that -- but for the general audience, it was greatly frowned upon.
So unfortunately, the Huntsman was woefully unprepared when the proverbial shit hit the fan.
At first it didn’t appear as though anything was wrong. Qrow was seated off to the side, far enough away from the stage so not to accidentally “influence” the performance, but close enough to watch the actor’s closely, as well as the audience. He’d gotten pretty good at this duel observing, watching for anything out of the usual. Anything that might give Nat the break she was hoping for.
The first act was over and the second act had already begun when Qrow heard something coming from out in the lobby. At first he couldn’t quite make out what it was, but when it was echoed behind the stage, it became all too clear.
Someone was screaming. And screaming loudly
Having sat through the first showing, he knew this wasn’t part of the production. The actors on stage showed surprise and unease, but to their credit attempted to power through the distraction. Qrow himself had gotten to his feet and was stealthily making his way towards a door he knew lead to the backstage area to investigate, when a blood curdling scream stopped the production cold. The audience, just coming down from the suspended belief started murmuring, confused, even anxiously. And then it happened.
Qrow had no idea where it had come from, but suddenly there on stage was a walking corpse, straight out of a George Romero movie. It stumbled along, all gooey and wet, reaching for the closest actor on stage. The audience stared absolutely transfixed. It wasn’t until the poor actor screamed and practically jumped off the stage that all hell broke loose. It was instant pandemonium in the pit as audience members started screaming themselves and trying to flee, crawling over seats and each other for the nearest exit. Qrow got caught up in the wave of fleeing theater goers. Any attempts to control the crowd were useless, especially when more of the walking undead were found in the lobby. All Qrow could do was avoid getting attacked or trampled on.
Outside it was pure pandemonium. People running and screaming everywhere. A county-wide invasion, just like Nat had warned him. Uttering every oath and curse he could think of Qrow made for his car, retrieved his weapon and then fought his way back inside the theater.
“Marguerite!” He called hopefully to be heard above the din.
One would think that those who performed in Orange County would be used to this sort of thing. Well, some of them were and had been more proactive at grabbing things but honestly? Everything that was going on was a bit much. Yes, there was the theatre tradition of the show must go on, but when there were apparently zombies running around and attacking? Well that changed everything.
Marguerite though was already outside in the mass of terrified people. Honestly she sort of wished she had thought to bring the light saber she’d managed to find in May with her, though she was more comfortable with her rapier.
Cursing in French, the actress did her best to cut down on the number of undead in the area while theatregoers ran. Which really wasn’t all that easy with so many of them. Also there was no sign of Laura, which meant she had probably gone off to do her X-Men thing. While the help would have been appreciated, Marguerite knew that they all had to do what they could where they could so if Laura was needed elsewhere, so be it.
Hearing her name, Marguerite managed to kill (re-kill?) a walking dead that had been between her and Qrow.
“Yes?”
While it would be really nice to catch her breath as she’d been fighting and getting shoved along all at once, Marguerite knew that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.
It was Qrow’s assumption that those who weren’t a part of the network -- who weren’t dreaming like they were -- an event like this was always going to cause alarm, no matter how many times it happened. Despite a few of the performers and audience members finding and using makeshift weapons, they were doing so in order to get away, while Marguerite and Qrow were actually standing and fighting. He was grateful when he finally caught up with her.
No longer in “resting mode”, Qrow’s sword was already stained dark with the blood of the undead. He fought his way towards Marguerite. “So, this is what it likes when the county’s invaded, huh?”
At least it seemed Qrow had somehow managed to bring his weapon with him, because it would definitely be useful here. Some shows were easier to defend the theatre with - specifically if they had prop weapons that could be used. This wasn’t such a show but given the number of people in the cast who had performed with her in the past in these situations, they knew that she somehow always managed to find a way to fight back so her rapier really wasn’t questioned.
“Basically.”
And killing another risen dead. True you could never quite know what to prepare for. Risen dead, stormtroopers and droids, aliens, spikes in crime, curses. Marguerite lost track of it all. Either way, strange things were par the course. Not that it didn’t terrify people when it happened. That was the sane reaction really.
There seemed to be more people finding makeshift weapons than usual, though given the nature of the show and promo, there were more active and former military around which might have something to do with it. Marguerite wasn’t going to complain given the current state of things though.
Qrow wasn’t either. It was better to have people to fight along side with when dealing with an all out swarm of these things. There didn’t seem to be any end to them. Nor could he tell where they were actually coming from. Just when a pathway looked clear, there was another wave already starting.
Yup. Qrow could easily see how this would become very tedious very quickly.
He adjusted his grip on the hilt of his sword. They were fighting in too close quarters for him to use the scythe feature. The shotgun, though? He’d seen Evil Dead. Shotguns were a necessity. He was careful to put holes in only the undead and not in the theater itself, although some collateral damage had to be expected.
Flicking the sword’s blade back in place, he risked a glance back towards Marguerite. “So, what do we do about it?” One thought kept asserting itself again and again in his mind. Yang and Ruby were out there caught up in all of this. Yang may have done this dance a time or two, but Ruby hadn’t. And even if Yang knew what she was doing, she shouldn’t have to fight alone anymore. “I can’t stay here an’ fight these things all day. So, what’s the plan?”
What was the plan indeed? Each time it was necessary, Marguerite responded as necessary - meaning she used her rapier and put an end to one of the risen dead that was too close.
“Fight to protect people and once the area is evacuated, get out of here.” So Qrow could go to wherever it was he needed to get to and Marguerite could get to Percy. It wasn’t an ideal situation but sometimes you just had to weigh the odds and figure out what you were capable of and where you were needed. The theatre was Marguerite’s home but she also knew that it was a building and those could be fixed. People?
All Marguerite could do was hope that this was going to be one of the shorter invasion situations. Though it did seem invasions did tend to be shorter than other Orange County specific things.
Qrow considered this a moment as he cleaved and shot his way through another wave. The man in his Dreams was a Huntsman, but Qrow didn’t consider himself to be any kind of hero. Outside of family he’d never stood in defense of anyone and he’d never done anything like this. For a moment he’d wondered what his sister would have done. The answer came easily. She would have fought, naturally, but not in order to protect those who couldn’t. She fought because she could. Because she was strong. She wouldn’t have been concerned about her daughter or Ruby either. She would have stayed out here all day if it suited her.
A click of the switch on his sword’s hilt and the blade lowered again to allow for more shots to be fired at a few undead that had appeared on stage. The bodies flung backwards, one spinning. An errant thought about what the clean-up would be like (if they all should survive this). For some reason that made him think of Tai. How would Tai react to all of this? Surely by now he’d heard what was going on. Was he freaking out? Was he out there looking for his daughters too? Qrow bet he was, probably springing to the defense of anyone who needed it along the way. Well, if Tai could do it…
“Alright,” he “let’s clear the area of what we can, get whoever’s still here to safety.”
It probably said something of how used to this sort of thing Marguerite was that she had that basic plan in mind, was able to tell what was and was not going to be possible. It wasn’t like she was a fighter in her dreams. She scrapped by, survived, stood for what she believed in. But there was a difference between what she did in her dreams (it was a lot more planning or organizing when she was actually part of the League versus using her skills and intellect as needed in dealing with the nature of men) versus those who were trained to fight these sorts of things.
So she nodded, and went back to fighting to clear the area and get people to safety. She was going to need to check on Armand once this was all said and done to make sure he was okay.
It was tough work, but between her and Qrow, plus those who had picked up objects to fight back, it wasn’t impossible work and while it felt like there was a never ending horde of these things, at least those the area was cleared as people got to safety.
A goal was good. A goal meant that they had some kind of endgame to work towards, which was much better than being stuck at the theater forever fighting legions of the Undead for the rest of time. That wasn’t how this worked, was it? There had to be some end. From everything he’d heard there was always a time limit on these invasions.
Qrow worked as quickly as he could, herding both those fighting with them and those too scared to fight towards the exit, cutting and blasting a path clear for them all to get out. It seemed painfully slow, making their way from the theater and through the lobby towards the door. Their goal. And finally through it.
There were even more of the damned thing out here! “Christ,” Qrow swore under his breath. “When this place goes to hell, it doesn’t fuck around.” He glanced at Marguerite. “Look, I’m sorry, but I gotta go find my nieces. Make sure they’re alright. Will you be ok?”
Sometimes all you could do was set a goal and go for it. This was one of those situations but they had managed to get through it and that was what mattered. No major injuries or anything of that nature.
“It certainly is never a dull day.”
Marguerite scanned the area to see the odds. Which seemed important given it seemed Qrow needed to leave. But she could understand why - family. If Armand were in this mess, she’d be doing the same thing. However he wasn’t in the County which meant she had one less thing to worry about (she’d still call him once she was back at the apartment).
“I’ll be fine, go.” She’d been through worse before and given it seemed the civilians had gotten away, that was her main priority. Besides, knowing Percy, it wouldn’t surprise her for him to show up if he was able.
Qrow nodded to her in appreciation. “Thank you,” he said. “I’ll be in touch.” If not to check in with Marguerite, then to at least let her know that he reached his own goal. With a nod and a wave, he was on his way, sword in hand.