sticksandbones | bad moon rising

Entry tags:

bad moon rising

Who: Beat + whoever wants to fight a crazed werewolf
What: It's the first Full Moon since he's been here, Beat wants to try out his Full Moon form. Oops. Flowers.
When: March 25th
Where: The Grove
Warnings: yikes. gonna be blood. violence. written big dogs with bared teeth. gore. saliva. description of flowers under the skin/coming through.

opening: i hear the voice of rage and ruin

Beat's excited, because this is the first Full Moon he's experienced since arriving in the Grove, and he really wants to see how many of his powers have made the cross over with him. Plus he's his strongest when it's Full. It fills him with energy. A desire to run around. He's given Josh a heads up about what he plans on doing.

He doesn't expect it to go so wrong.

The shift (cw: saliva, bared canine teeth) starts off perfectly fine. Limbs elongate, his aspect becomes more bestial, more wolf like. Fur blanches and silvers out, and his eyes glow with the light of the Moon. He lands on all four and shakes, feeling good. Strong, powerful. Itchy?

It starts as a crawl under his skin, something familiar, squirming underneath there. Like when the mushrooms sprouted. Worriedly, he begins to scratch at himself, turning his muzzle to chew. Slowly little purple bell like flowers begin to sprout throughout his fur following in the wake of his raking nails and teeth, peeking through the cuts and bites he makes. Dripping blood as they grow and sprout. Beautiful and deadly. Aconite. Monkshood. Wolfsbane. It doesn't take long for the flowering poison to seep into his blood, igniting burning pain. Driving him to claw at himself to try and rip it out, before his mind sinks into the grip of it as well. And another little voice, seeping in. Whispering. Urging him to let loose. Claw. Bite. Spread.

He was never good at resisting mental influences.

a. don't go round tonight, it's bound to take your life

[ With a loud wavering howl, Beat will put his incredible since of smell to use and begin the hunt. He won't attack those he already smells the Corruption on, but anyone else is fair game. It may be night, and people may be in bed or asleep, but that won't stop Beat from breaking and entering into buildings to stalk down his victims. The hunt is slow, deliberate.

And if he catches sight of someone who smells uncorrupted, fresh? He stops, stares. Eyes glowing, breathing coming out in a warm almost foggy manner. His posture hunched, arms closer to the ground. Seems to be waiting for something. Or thinking, pondering the environment.

Otherwise he moves around the building, claws scraping, motions deliberate as he stalks.

That's not creepy at all. ]

b. i know the end is coming soon

[ Though he will go inside to hunt his prey, he will mostly wander around outside, creating a horrible cacophony of howls and snarls. The Guardians he will try to avoid, especially Zahliya, quickly running from the Gargoyle if he attacks or comes too close. But outside, he's unrestricted as he would have been indoors. He's under the Moon, wild and free, and seems more keen on running around.

He smells of soil and decay, rot, and an underlying cloying scent. And blood, as by now he's undoubtedly injured, either by himself clawing or the fights he might have picked. And if anyone crosses his path, they will instantly have the Werewolf baring down on them. Teeth snapping, claws attempting to grab. The motion is almost rabid. A far cry from his deliberate actions while inside a building.

He will keep this up until the Moon goes down, or until he's successfully put down for a nap. ]

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[ The explosion causes the Werewolf to veer hard to the side, and is there a bit of panic in those silver glowing eyes? There and gone again, when there's no follow up fire. But it's enough to have the Werewolf pause at a safer distance, shaking itself briskly. Checking itself over for damage in the way it moves.

Huh.

It seems it wasn't injured, but now it has a good idea what the other is packing. Time to play how good is the lizards aim. Slowly it begins to circle again, a light lopping motion, it's eyes never leaving Sesa. This time, when it attacks, it zig's and zag's, tightening it's circle as it does, but constantly moving and not in a straight line. ]

[Sesa really does not want to have to get up close and personal with that thing. He wasn't expecting him to grow larger, so it isn't like he can be blamed much in that regard...but now he's gotten himself cornered into an odd position, with only two shells remaining.

What does he do?

Well...he...

He turns around. And he starts running.]

I said I didn't want to hurt you!! Do not make me shoot you directly, please-!!

[More like how fast can Sesa scale a fucking tree-]

[ What.

There's something oddly disorienting about your prey, that was standing up to you a second go, suddenly just taking tail and running. But it also activates that chase desire, and the Werewolf stops going for strategy and just full out chases, getting as low to the ground as it can to streamline. Big powerful muscles work to send that locomotive of a beast forward, huffing and puffing and it's jaws opening wide to-

-snap on thin air as Sesa scales the tree and the Werewolf can't stop fast enough to avoid slamming into it. The tree cracks ominously and shudders under the blow, branches and leaves angrily shaking as the big creature is momentarily stunned. It grunts and rubs it's head in an odd show of humanity, just a big guy trying to get rid of the ow and splinters jabbing into it. Second time today it's slammed it's head into something and it's getting real tired of it.

How high can you go, Sesa, as the Werewolf begins to stand again. Reaching arms upwards, ten feet, eleven, twelve... mouth open and gaping, as it reaches for it's quarry. Come here. Little bite. Won't hurt. ]

[He can go as high as he fucking needs to!! It's just that the tree is going to be the real problem here, in that it's probably only just barely tall enough to keep out of paw-reach of Beat. And that's to say nothing of how easy it would be for the were to knock the tree down with a few well placed shoves...

Sesa practically twists himself around the upper branches of the tree, checking to ensure his gun is armed and ready to fire again if need be. The problem he faces here is knowing that while a direct hit would blow the beast to smithereens...it would blow them BOTH up. No matter how strong Vouivre are, he cannot survive an explosion point-blank.

Don't think he didn't notice the way Beat rubbed at his face just then, though. It's very...strangely human in a way he's not seen from the creatures of the forest. Not to say it isn't possible, but...]

I'm serious! Leave this Grove, you are not welcome here!!

[He centers the gun on the were, but...the tip of the barrel is shaking nevertheless.]

[ Can't. Quite... reach!! There's something almost comically by the way those elongated paw fingers wiggle, another very humanoid - and very frustrated - gesture as the Werewolf tries to grab it's prey. For a moment, the Werewolf stands there, arms stretched out, resting against the wood of the tree like a dog that's chased a squirrel up one.

Then Sesa gets a very eerie annoyed YARP of a bark aimed at him, the sound echoing loud and distorted, before it drops down and begins to circle the tree. It's thinking. Could keep lizard up there, wait for it to come down, bite then. Could jump.

Eyes zero in on the lizard.

Now would be the best time to blast it in the face, as it's eyes narrow in an intelligent look, and it backs up a step or two. Jumping will take it right on top of the lizard, and it crouches, muscles bunching. ]

[He can't shoot him. He can't shoot him he can't shoot him-

Sesa begins to panic. He feels his finger twitching, flickering to the trigger, but he can't. And he's realizing, in this exact moment, that if he can't? It's very likely he's going to simply die.

He'll have walked out here to try to help, to try to protect the Grove, only to immediately be mauled to death for his stupidity.

The Werewolf jumps, and Sesa jolts back. He feels his weight topple, his balance uneven as he begins to fall backwards. Falling out of the tree and breaking his neck would be just as certain of a death.

He squeezes his finger.

In an instant, a ball of fire ignites in the space between them. It isn't completely direct since he was both falling and struggling to aim right at the Were's head, but it will knock them both back to some degree. And Sesa, well...he certainly isn't staying in the tree, nor is he going to stay anywhere near it, either.]

[ The pain hits as a side thought. Something divorced from the Werewolf's main processing. It's aware there is another explosion, it twists itself in mid-air to try and cover its face, to turn itself away from it. Fire catches fur, singes skin that is missing in patches due to previous fire trauma already, and then it's being pushed back via the force. This time it doesn't land elegantly on feet and hands; too stunned by the concussive force, the fire (panicking a portion of it's mind that Remembers), by pieces of shrapnel embedding in it's skin as the grenade explodes in several directions.

It will lay there stunned for a bit, bleeding from various wounds, fur burning merrily. But still breathing. Still alive. Sluggish hands lift to pat out the fur in a way that would seem like it's panicked if it wasn't for the very likely concussion it has. And Beat's voice, distorted by the form but still very much his, gets out a choked and rasped: ]

Fuck.

[ He will lay there for a moment, unable to hear the creature through the ringing in his head. He stares upwards at a starless sky - that makes no sense to him how can the Moon be there nice and full and there be no stars that seems unfair - and tries to wrap his mind around what just happened. He's in pain. An awful lot of it. It's knocked literal sense back into him. That's kind of funny, but his chest hurts too much to laugh. He does make a sort of agoowooo sad noise as he rolls onto his side to push himself upright the best he can. Hm. He's bleeding. That's not cool. ]

[Sesa gets blasted, ass over teakettle, out of the top of a 12 foot tree. By all accounts, he should either be in pieces, concussed, broken, or dead. Perhaps all of the above.

What ended up happening is that he hit a couple of trees on his descent, which helped to break his fall enough to keep from breaking his back on impact with the ground. He doesn't feel good, but he- too- is at least alive. The only part of him that burns is his hair, a bit singed along his bangs and the longer parts framing his face, his scales protecting him from the worst of the heat. But make no mistake: it still hurts. Even the scorching sands of the desert don't compare to taking a grenade to the face.

Fortunately, he has some time to recover, his ears ringing where he ended up landing. It's almost comical, but he and Beat didn't get blasted too far away from one another; he's close enough that he hears the sad howling from the Were as he struggles to sit up, just as Sesa follows suit, dirty, bruised and battered, but still in one piece.

He has one shell left. He doesn't want to have to use it. But now he isn't sure what to do. Should he flee? Go for help? He doesn't want the others to get hurt, but he knows he can't take this creature on by himself...but he can't just turn around and leave him to terrorize the Grove either.

Sesa struggles to his feet, ensuring his gun is prepared to fire its last round if necessary. He gives his head a shake, ignoring the smoke still rolling off his shoulders and the burnt edges of his jacket as he looks over to where the Were ended up. They're about thirty yards apart.

...did he just hear it speak?]

[ Don't worry, Sesa, after the night he's had, Beat doesn't seem too inclined to move himself into an upwards position. He's managed to make it to seated, but the explosion has left him pretty badly damaged. Survived, yes, intact mostly, but now he's got several gaping wounds. And his head won't stop spinning from the amount of head trauma he's taken, the constant offkey eeeeeeeeeeeee in his ear not going anywhere either.

He feels like he might be ill, but somehow manages to keep it all in. Somehow. Making vague distressed noises though.

Silver eyes swivel in Sesa's direction as the Vouivre stands, and while Beat is still Beat he gives him a rather cheerful open mouthed grin. ]

Shits pretty fucked, yo.

[ His voice is ragged and curdled sounding through forcefully going through more wolf like vocal chords, but it's... clear enough. Beat somehow manages to pull a piece of grenade shrapnel out of his chest without flinching. Cheerful. ]

You know the last time I was blew up, I died. This shit is gonna haunt me again. That's pretty whack.

[ His words are beginning to slur as his control slips and the Creature pulls the strings of the Wolf back into existence. Beat's last vocal thought before he slips back under is a very sad: ]

I wanna take a nap, yo.

[ Then he's climbing to his feet, and moving into a position that looks like he's ready for the fight. There's too much damage, though, a lot of head injury and he's wavering where he stands.

I think that's probably enough.

[The voice seems like it comes from everywhere and nowhere at first, disembodied as it is. But Joshua is quick to reveal himself, floating a foot above the ground between Beat and Sesa, facing the latter as the wings behind him remain still and folded at his back.

Beat is in a bad state. He's been watching, of course, but things look a little too grim here. And, considering he's unable to control deaths in this place... well. This is the best he can do, isn't it?

He tips his head just slightly, smiling at Sesa in a way that indicates he should probably put that gun down.]

He said he's tired, didn't he? Maybe you ought to save that ammo.

[Take a look around you, Joshua. Which of the two of them looks more eager to fight right now, because it sure as hell is not Sesa-

He threatened Beat when he first lumbered into the Grove, sure, but he's done nothing but run since, and he has no qualms about it, though he is certain he knows of several operators back at Rhodes who would call him a coward for it.

Sesa has not, and will not, put down his gun. Not while Beat is still staring at him, still standing in a way that suggests he will come for him again. He won't fire it unless necessary, but...]

He? I was not aware the Creatures of the forest could speak.

[His gaze narrows, every bone in his body aching as he looks back at Joshua, his expression grave.]

I have no interest in fighting. I would not even have fired, had he not come after me. Now. Are you going to explain to me what is going on here? Because you seem to be acting like you know.

[He doesn't recognize the voice. He's only ever spoken to Beat through the notebooks after all.]

[ With Josh's back to him, Beat - the Wolf - sees it as a prime target. While the two talk, distract each other, the injured beast creeps forward on quiet paws. Slowly, carefully. Stalking.

Mouth slowly opening, aiming at Josh's leg. Quiet. Keep focused on the other, keep talking. ]

[Just because Sesa isn't the one that's eager to fight doesn't mean that Josh is here to protect him, exactly. He's here to keep Beat from dying, and if this continues on, that's likely what's going to happen. Beat is, ultimately, from his world, thus it all falls under his jurisdiction. Anyone else is out of luck.]

Oh, he's not. He was brought here the same way any of us were. You've probably talked to him, in fact - he's very friendly. Well, normally, anyway.

[Whatever look Sesa is giving him, Joshua looks entirely unfazed.]

He said that he was going to try stretching his muscles, so to speak, since the moon is full. Clearly, something went wrong.

[His ears are nowhere near good enough to pick up the sound of quiet approach. He's well aware that Beat is behind him, though, and still very much dangerous, so if Beat was to try to bite him... Unfortunately, his teeth will end up bouncing right off a barrier. No bites for werewolves!]

[ MAN! His teeth just colliding with another barrier finally sends the Werewolf over the edge. He will AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA in a scream at Josh's shielded leg, then turn and begin stalking away.

Limping away, really, oogh. Hurt. No fight. Sesa can't shoot at him with Josh in the way. Retreat now. ]

[The sudden appearance of the barrier makes Sesa flinch, moving back a step as he watches the way Beat bounces off of it and cries out his displeasure. It takes a moment, but he seems to give up the fight after that...looking more than a little beaten fr his efforts. It's enough to get Sesa to lower his gun finally, trying to ignore the tremble in his own shoulders.]

Clearly.

Are you certain he will not attack the Grove again? Is this something that will wear off, or...?

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bad moon rising

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