I Moderate (i_moderate) wrote in we_archive, @ 2006-07-31 11:46:00 |
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Entry tags: | bartleby, bigby wolf, snow white |
i_atetheapple Careful Process of Avoidance...
Sticking away from Bigby was all just a careful process of avoidance. Very simple. Every time they'd had the opportunity to be together in the same room, she'd made sure she'd had somewhere else to be. She'd gone shopping on that first day, and had returned with enough clothes to last her for a little while. Or at least until she'd found herself her own apartment, with which she could fill with clothing and her own furniture and all sorts of things like that.
Today, she'd decided to have a talk to Kristy, or Kirsty or whatever her name was that Charming was so intent on wooing this week. There were some apartments free in the building, on the top few floors, but she wasn't the one who controlled the rental situation. Snow was given a card with contact details, and a quick phonecall later, Snow had set up an appointment with the realtor in charge of the Woodlands.
After that, she'd put on her finest business suit, a nice checkered ensemble, and some comfortable flats, and had begun the short walk from the Woodlands to the Realtor's office. Normally she would've taken a Taxi, but the more she relied on other methods to get herself around the city, the less likely she was to heal properly.
Besides, it meant that getting to and from her appointment would take longer, which would mean she'd be avoiding Bigby for longer.
It was a win-win situation.
From: i_watch Date: 07/30/2006 19:30:37
Revenge was not for mere Mortals to extract. It was said in the Bible that every soul, no matter who you thought you were on Earth, would meet judgment at the gates of Heaven. The Lord could be trusted inplicitly to dole out punishment and reward. Punishment was to be expelled, like the Morning Star so long ago. Reward was to be allowed through the gates and into Her light.
It took careful thought on Her part and some people remained in Pergatory ages until She decided. When Mortals extracted their revenge they didn't look at the big picture, it was usually a split second decision. A bullet through the head.
Mortals just didn't understand that these things took time and careful thought. One had to weigh the entirety of someone's sins, a hard task. There were a select few who could do that. God and the few of Her angels.
Bartleby was one of them. Or, had been when his mind wasn't fractured, splintered like a cracked window. There were the good days and the bad. This was the latter.
Now he saw like a Mortal, and it only took one sin to lable someone ready to die. When he looked at the black haired beauty below him, he saw that one sin and descended down, dropping right in front of her.
From: i_atetheapple Date: 07/30/2006 19:37:57
Snow's eyes were wide. One well versed in the ways of eye-expression might call it a 'Boggle', although they hadn't yet popped right out of her skull.
There was a guy in front of her, with fully extended wings, who'd dropped down from-- she looked up-- yup. He'd dropped from the clear-blue sky.
"Good m-morning." She stammered a little. Her composure was a little broken. She was used to the strange and Fable-like, sure. But this was no fable she'd ever met before. And he looked a little pissed off.
From: i_watch Date: 07/30/2006 20:01:58
It was a good morning out, Bartleby could feel it. Good for anything he so chose to do today. First on his schedule being the woman of course. She should be honored to be top priority.
Because she was in awe at his presence, he thought that possibly her death could be swifter. It showed that she at least had some respect for God's creatures. Maybe that would buy her some extra time in Purgatory.
"Do you know your Ten Commandments, passed by She on High to Moses at Mount Horeb?" He asked. Bartleby wasn't one to bother with plesentries.
From: i_atetheapple Date: 07/30/2006 20:06:13
OK. So he'd dropped from the sky, had wings, was angry and crazy. Just Snow's lucky day, I guess.
"Yes." Snow said slowly. "But I'm not a practicing Catholic."
It was apologetic, but she didn't think that saying that was going to get rid of him, but she had her cane, and she would use it if she had to. Snow was deal with enough crazy people at home to want to deal with them while she was on her way toward getting a new apartment as well.
From: i_watch Date: 07/30/2006 20:22:06
"At least you're honest."
Bartleby took a long look at her before reaching to his side. Loki's knife hung there in all of its bloodstained glory. He just hadn't gotten around to cleaning it, and chances were he never would.
He smiled, holding the knife in his right hand, though not making any moves to do anything threatening with it. "Could you take me through them? The Commandments, just list all ten. I want to hear you do it, make sure you really are honest. Then I want you, still being honest remember, to list off the ones you've broken." He smiled, almost kindly at her.
From: i_atetheapple Date: 07/30/2006 20:26:09
Snow glanced quickly to the side, wondering if there were any easy escape methods. She wasn't much up for playing along with the scary crazy man, and she still wasn't quite physically ready to do the hundred meter sprint.
"I'm actually a little busy at the moment. I have an appointment." She said as cheerfully as possible, leaning down on her cane. "But I'm sure we could have coffee or something later and discuss it then?"
From: i_watch Date: 07/30/2006 20:33:22
"You're never too busy for your Lord, God," Bartleby admonished, shaking his head disappointedly. All of those points she'd just won for being honest were lost. Gone down the drain.
He tossed the knife up and caught the blade. Squeezed once, christening the blade with his own blood first as he always did before the kill.
Attention turned back to Snow. "I know this isn't a new situation for you. Pretend I'm that huntsman. In fact, if it would make you more comfortable, we could move to the park. Find us some tall trees or the like." His smile turned cruel.
From: i_atetheapple Date: 07/30/2006 20:37:58
"It wouldn't make me comfortable." Snow said, so honestly that she was quivering a little now. That was one very sharp and dirty knife right there and Snow had no doubt about what he was going to do with it. "I'd be very uncomfortable, actually."
She took a few steps back, cane clacking against the footpath noisily, as she tried to keep her balance. It didn't work very well. She almost tripped over.
From: i_watch Date: 07/30/2006 20:44:14
Well, let it never be said that he hadn't tried to be nice. Not every one got the offer of familiar surroundings before they died. He would have flown her there and everything.
All she was doing now was beginning to annoy him. And she still hadn't answered his first request.
"The Ten Commandments. What are they?" Bartleby asked again. "This might not be something the hunstman asked you, but do try and remember and cooperate. I need to hear them. From you. Law says I can't kill you without telling you your sin, and it's always so much more fun to have the sinner tell me."
From: i_atetheapple Date: 07/30/2006 20:47:25
Oh so that was what he wanted, was it? The cogs in Snow's mind were twisting over. Well then she just wouldn't say anything. Except of course, "No." Maybe it'd delay things for at least a little while and then maybe she'd be able to find help.
She twisted around, and hobbled quickly back the way she'd came, glancing over her shoulder...
From: i_watch Date: 07/30/2006 20:53:56
There were loopholes to each law.
Bartleby reached out to grab her shoulder, clamping down in a way only painful if she squirmed around too much trying to get away. "Not so fast, Miss. White. We still have business to discuss. Knowledge to extract from that pretty little head."
Point of the knife went to her arm, scratching just enough to produce a single line of blood. "The stories are right, then. Your lips really are as red as blood. And here I thought that was just an added dramatic effect."
From: i_atetheapple Date: 07/30/2006 21:00:04
The cut stung like a papercut, short, sharp, and inexplicably painful in the way that clean cuts always do. She gasped a little bit, and glared up at the man who had such a steady grip on her shoulder. Her blue eyes were deadly and sharp.
"I don't know how you know that stuff about me, but you're crazy." She hissed. Although the fact that he was crazy really did go without saying.
"Let me go." She twisted a little, and gripped her cane harder, readying it for a good, hard, whack if need be.
From: i_watch Date: 07/30/2006 21:11:45
"I'm sorry, I didn't explained myself fully. I tend to do this sometimes. Jumping ahead of myself and all that." He didn't let go of her, but the knife lowered ever so slightly. Enough to indicate he wasn't going to slice and dice just yet.
"My name is Bartleby. I'm an angel, a Watcher, currently having taken over the spot of the Angel of Death. Just until he gets better, he's dead you see." No, this certainly was not one of Bartleby's better days. "The Angel of Death is in charge of removing sinners from Earth, so that he or she can face judgment before God. You, Miss. White, have sinned and She is waiting for you."
He stopped, sighing. "The answer I wanted from you before was, thou shalt not murder. It's the fifth commandment that Moses passed on to the Hebrew people."
From: i_atetheapple Date: 07/30/2006 21:17:17
"Well, Mr Bartleby, you must've made a mistake." Snow said, doing her best to be calm. "Because you see, I haven't killed anybody.!" Snow said indignantly. "Though if you're looking for a killer, I suggest you find Goldilocks..."
No. Snow didn't feel guilty passing the buck in this situation. Especially since it seemed that soon she'd be fighting for her life and all. Not that she was too great at the fighting aspect of this. She was more of a planner and a thinker than a doer.
Nevertheless, the cane was slowly being leverred between them subtly, aiming for the back of his knee so that she could get a good crippling whack in when the time came. And the time was soon to come, she could tell.
From: i_watch Date: 07/30/2006 21:26:23
"Goldilocks has been taken care of. She caused her own undoing," he said with a shrug. He wasn't interested in the blonde woman. It was the one with the ebony hair that had all of his attentions.
Bartleby raised the knife again. She'd lied. For that she recieved an identical scratch next to the one he'd given her moments ago. "The rules don't say you have to admit to your sins, just that you must know them before you die." Such a convienent rule, Bartleby thought. "I'll elaborate. It was your stepmother. You killed her. Watched her die even."
From: i_atetheapple Date: 07/30/2006 21:38:56
"Ahh." Snow gasped again, and barely managed to keep a hold of her cane. Her hands were beginning to sweat. "That was hundreds of years ago. And I didn't kill her."
Technically, she hadn't. She hadn't held a gun to the woman's head, and she hadn't strangled her with bedsheets or anything equally as active as that. But she might've ordered her step-mother to be forced into white-hot stilettos and commanded the woman to dance. The woman had really killed herself! Besides, she'd been an evil witch of a woman who'd tried to kill her! Snow thought that ordering her death was a perfect punishment, and that no one in their right mind would blame her for what she'd done.
Of course, Mr Bartleby here, wasn't of his right mind, that much was for sure.
"OK. I'm sorry for what I did. I'll repent. How many rosaries? How many acts of contrition?" Snow was a woman of reason.
From: i_huffandpuff Date: 07/30/2006 22:05:37
She wouldn't be able to yell at him, not this time. This time it actually looked to be a matter of life and death.
This wasn't to say that Bigby didn't wish it were a situation where Snow would end up yelling at him. For then everything would be safe and he'd have no reason to worry. But she was an amazing magnet for trouble, whether it was in her dreams or in reality. The winged man accosting her with a knife was proof enough of that.
He hadn't been following her. Not really. Well, he'd happened to be taking the same path as her having left the Woodlands just after her. But he hadn't been following her, really. The plan had been to see her off to where ever she was going, making sure she arrived safely, and then proceed to his destination. The police station. He'd arrive there in human form, of course, it was just easier to track Snow as a wolf.
His nose picked up the scent of her blood from two blocks away. Trailing her that far behind was necessary if he didn't want to be caught and it wasn't a hardship. He just used his nose, the same nose which now had him running ahead the two blocks thinking she'd fallen or done worse.
It was worse; he should have been expecting worse.
Bigby took no pains to hide the deep growl that emerged as soon as he approached Snow and the man holding her. The wings didn't phase him, he was too busy taking in wafts of air. The smell of blood was all over the knife he was holding, most importantly being Snow's. It was strong, nearly driving Bigby to distraction. All of his instincts told him to jump the man, but he couldn't. Not while he was holding Snow like that, not while the knife was so close.
He growled again, staring at the winged man. "Let. Her. Go."
From: i_atetheapple Date: 08/06/2006 16:58:45
Snow's stomach unclenched, and she snapped her head around to look her savior in the eye. "Bigby..." She said, doing her best to not sound too desperate and pleading. She was scared. The guy who had her in the death grip was scary and homicidal, and she'd just spent a good part of a year in rehabilitation from one near-death experience, she did not want to have to do it again.
Snow struggled in the man's grip. Now that someone was around to help her, or at least avenge her death, she was willing to be a little more reckless. "Let. Me. Go."
From: i_huffandpuff Date: 08/13/2006 19:07:10
Her attempt to sound as if she was alright was unnecessary, a waste of energy on her part. He could smell her fear. She stank of it. Her assailent smelled... of nothing. Bigby's upper lip curled up slightly more upon that discovery. Something that didn't smell generally meant bad news.
"Bigby Wolf."
He'd crouched down, growling, but the noise stopped momentarily when he heard the winged man say his name. His full name. Snow had only said his first right then, and while, yes, Wolf wasn't much of a stretch it was still a bit much of a coincidence for him, and Bigby really didn't believe in coincidence.
"Compared to you, your friend Snow here's a veritable saint." The man chuckled as his grip tightened and his knife slipped up towards her neck. "Unfortunately this isn't a matter of comparison. You'll get yours eventually, as well. Terrorising little girls and defenseless animals... pity."
Bigby ignored him. The words weren't important, besides betraying the fact that the man liked to talk, which worked in his favor. While he was busy talking, Bigby focused in on his legs.
From: i_atetheapple Date: 08/13/2006 19:18:08
Snow leaned back, craning her neck as far away from the knife as she could manage, although that only succeeded in baring her slender white-skinned neck more for the homicidal angel.
She was losing control of the need to panic. Her heart was jack-hammering against her ribs, and her blood was running cold. She was the epitome of barely restrained terror. If there were a telepath in the wings, her thoughts would've been a blurred mess of "HURRY UP AND KILL THIS GUY BIGBY" and "I'MGOINGTODIEI'MGOINGTODIE" with a good dash of "OHMYGODOHMYGOD".
From: i_watch Date: 08/13/2006 19:24:11
Bartleby grinned, letting his fingers pass down the woman's throat. As a divine being he wasn't supposed to touch or enjoy touching as such while on the job, or ever to be perfectly honest. But it had been quite some time since Bartleby had been divine in both spirit and being.
He enjoyed this feeling, and was enjoying it enough that he didn't notice when the wolf crouched slightly more, a sign that it was ready to pounce.
And it did.
From: i_huffandpuff Date: 08/13/2006 19:47:49
He'd blame his formerly injured paw later for the slight hesitation in his actions. It slowed him down ever so slightly, by less than a second, but that was an eternity when it came to certain attacks. Especially when your enemy could fly.
The man dropped Snow like a bag of rocks once he'd gotten a few inches in the air though, Bigby noticed, he was careful to keep his knife in hand. Seconds later he was a good six feet off of the ground. His wings cast a shadow down on both Bigby and Snow, the way they moved practically begging Bigby to jump up and grab one in his teeth.
But he didn't. He managed to resist the need to taste blood in his mouth as payment for the crime against Snow. Growling, he watched the man retreat and when it appeared that he was indeed going to fly away he finally turned and hurried over to Snow.
She was bleeding in one spot on her arm and in a flash his tongue had wiped it clean. "Are you alright? Can you get up?"
From: i_atetheapple Date: 08/13/2006 20:18:36
She definitely wasn't shaking, and the jittery tension in her voice was purely coincidental. There was a quick examination of her body, checking to make sure nothing was hurting that shouldn't be hurting. Besides a pounding headache and the stinging of the cut on her arm, she seemed fine.
"I think so." Snow said, chosing not to comment on his licking of the cut on her arm. While he was a wolf, Snow was willing to forgive certain more animal aspects of his behavior.
She felt around for her cane, the one that she'd dropped a few minutes ago. She felt fine enough, but even if she hadn't just been attacked by the angel, she still probably wouldn't've been able to get up from the pavement without aid.
From: i_huffandpuff Date: 08/16/2006 15:41:49
Bigby saw her palming for the cane and grabbed his teeth to bring over to her. He set it down within reach and then stood by, ready to assist her if she needed help standing up. He honestly didn't mind if she needed to lean on his back.
He swallowed and then licked his fur, trying to get the taste of her blood out of his mouth. Normally he wouldn't have minded, but not while she was hurt.
"We should get back to the apartment." Bigby nuzzled gently against her legs, urging her up. "Who the hell was he?"
From: i_atetheapple Date: 08/16/2006 15:56:52
Snow took the cane without a verbal "Thank you". She'd voice her gratitude later, when she was feeling a little less fragile.
"He said he was an Angel of Death." Snow said, choosing instead to answer Bigby's questions. "He knew everything about me, Bigby..."
It was slowly becoming clear to Snow that the mundies in this town definitely had a little more between their ears than the ones from their New York. Keeping her anonymity was proving be more difficult. Especially when Snow hadn't said a word about who she was, and people like that Bartleby fellow just knew.
She let the thoughts fester in her mind for a little, as she gathered herself, preparing to get herself up from the ground. It wasn't easy for her, and it required a precarious balancing act, using her wooden cane, and Bigby's shoulder for support. Eventually, she was off the floor, upright, and standing tall. But her head was pounding ten times harder than before, and her left side was beginning to feel stiff again. She needed to lie down, and soon. She could feel that a dizzy spell wasn't out of the question.
From: i_huffandpuff Date: 08/19/2006 07:38:04
Something wasn't quite right about all this. Bigby eyed her closely, standing still so that he was careful to not to topple her as she tried to regain her ballance, but after awhile he wasn't so sure that she needed to be walking anywhere by herself right now. The apartment was too many blocks back.
"What were you doing going out alone like this?" He could help but asking. So sue him, he cared, he was overprotective, and sometimes he had gender issues.
He sniffed lightly. "You should ride. I don't think you're going to make it back and I'm not trusting some Mundy driver. Get on."
Momentarily Bigby forgot that while his Snow had done this before, this Snow had not and might actually protest to such a thing.
From: i_atetheapple Date: 08/19/2006 07:44:32
"I'm not going to ride you, Bigby." Snow said pointedly, though she was talking slower than she would normally. Some of the words were a little slurred. She shifted her weight onto the cane, and found something in the distance-- a Coca Cola sign to stare at and to keep as a point of reference so she wouldn't fall over again.
Her free hand touched her temple lightly, as though she could siphon off the pain through her fingertip. A deep breath, and she was relatively fine again.
"People would stare, and we can't draw attention to ourselves." She said. "I can walk..."
From: i_huffandpuff Date: 08/19/2006 07:52:50
"As opposed to the attention we're going to draw when you fall over in a faint on the sidewalk," Bigby muttered, though very sure she could hear. He scowled, wondering why she had to be so damned stubborn when he was trying to protect her.
He turned for a moment, very quickly ducking away from her into a little corner on the sidewalk where they were working. Changing and keeping her in eyesight was a difficult task, but Bigby managed and he made the change a quick one.
He was rough looking when he ran quickly back out to her. His shirt was untucked and his khakis and tie were wrinkled, but he didn't care. Never really had. Human form was better for this if she was going to be stubborn. At leas this way he had hands. If Snow fell Bigby would catch her.
"Walk slowly. I don't even know where the hospital in this city is." He touched her arm, intending to lead her on.
From: i_atetheapple Date: 08/19/2006 07:58:02
Snow turned to look at Bigby. It was a bit of a glare, paling, of course, in comparison to a full-blown glare, but it was still dangerous. "I only ever walk slowly nowadays, Bigby."
Even still, she was going slower than she normally would. Step. Step. Click of the cane on the concrete. Step. Step. And so on.
"Now we know the city has angels, too." She said softly, as she concentrated on keeping the balance.
From: i_huffandpuff Date: 08/19/2006 08:10:36
"Homicidal angels." Bigby shook his head. The thing was still a bit fantastical even if they had both just seen it. It was painfully obvious that he was going to have to find that thing and do something to it, every instinct was telling him to. It'd hurt his mate and therefore had to be hurt in return.
Mate being a reletive term of course, seeing as Snow didn't quite think that way.
"They're not the only thing that flies here, if you look up in the sky sometimes you can see people. Without the wings." He paused, then added quickly. "Don't look up. You'll get dizy."
From: i_atetheapple Date: 08/19/2006 17:55:35
Saying something like that was like saying "Don't think about Peanut Butter." You couldn't help it. But for her own sake, and to placate Bigby, Snow only tilted her head slightly upwards, eyes seeing more of the horizon than the sky above them.
"This is a strange place." Snow muttered. "In some ways it feels like we're back in the homelands. So many strange people, all in the same situation as you but there is no guarantee they're on your side."
The Homelands after the Adversary had attacked, of course. Everyone was displaced after that. People existed in worlds that they shouldn't've been in. She and Bigby weren't originally from the same world, but they'd been at Fabletown together for six hundred years now, it wasn't hard to forget.
From: i_huffandpuff Date: 08/19/2006 23:13:34
Bigby nodded. In his mind Snow had just neatly summarised exactly why she shouldn't be venturing out alone. But he knew she wouldn't see it that way and she'd spit something out about being independant if he mentioned it. He would then have to tell her that he was aware of that, but that she was hurt and independant. She would protest again, and the conversation would become very circular very quickly.
So Bigby kept his mouth shut on that for the moment. Their relationship was an interesting one, indeed.
"I was heading for the police station before I found you and your friend," he offered for neutral conversational value. "This place has more district precints than New York."
From: i_atetheapple Date: 08/19/2006 23:52:25
"You're thinking of getting a job working for the mundies?" Snow inquired, turning her head slightly to look at Bigby once again. "Well, as long as you're cautious..."
It was a superfluous warning, really. Bigby was the one person that Snow trusted complicitly to uphold the Fabletown laws, if he wanted to work in the Mundy world, that was fine by Snow. It also meant that someone would be earning some money around here, and Snow would be able to "borrow" money of both of the men in her life for items required for living instead of just her ex-husband.
From: i_huffandpuff Date: 08/20/2006 00:03:01
"I am. One day Charming's luck will run out, leaving us with nothing." He didn't mean to paint such a bleak picture, but this was Charming they were talking about and it was common knowledge that Bigby didn't necessarily trust him.
The man wasn't doing much more than laying around in bed with the desk clerk from the lobey, and he was doing a horrible job of hiding the stench of sex. It was practically permiating the entire apartment, making those males who weren't partaking rather grumpy. It was one of the reasons Bigby had finally left.
"Don't worry, I'll be careful, for all the good it'll do us with people like that angel wandering around," he said.