Once in a while, Erich drops by the Cold Crescent. Usually on Saturday. He's discovered that one of the Walker-heavy packs hosts a pizza'n'wings night every Saturday, with movies and games and whatnot, and he is never one to turn down free meat. So it is that, while chowing down on wings with one hand and buttonmashing through some fighting game with the other, Erich is rudely interrupted by one of the Guardians poking his head in.
"We've got a situation," sayeth the Guardian. "Need volunteers for a recon."
Erich volunteers. At some point -- before or after or perhaps in that very same pizza-and-wings-laden room -- so does Avery.
And that's how they end up bumping out to the 16th Street Mall in Avery's car. It has to be Avery's, because Erich left his truck parked wherever-it-is-the-tinyhouse-is and hoofed it/bussed it to the city. So most likely he's sitting on leather, trying very hard not to get anything dirty, trying even harder to resist the urge to push all those fancy buttons on the dash and play with the navigation system and ooo maybe it has Tetris.
The mall is quiet when they get there. It's mostly dark, only night-lighting on in store, the pedestrian boulevard empty. They end up parking one street over and then cutting between two stores to get to 16th street proper. There's an info kiosk, and that's where they go, peering at the posted map like gawking tourists until they find
Blue Bridal Boutique. Erich, spying it, plants a finger on it. Grins.
And off they go.
Reverence of DawnAvery is decidedly not consuming chicken wings or playing video games. She is, however, standing just down the hall talking to one of her own tribe, laughing at some joke, her ears catching the call for volunteers. Her eyes are bright and keen momentarily on the young man with a trace of sauce he's wiping or licking off his lips, and not so long after:
her eyes are keen on the young man who is trying so very hard not to keep mashing buttons just like he was up in the sept. She doesn't comment on it as she drives downtown, her bouncy white Juke a surprisingly smooth ride. There are buskers and there are homeless but it's late enough that even the clubs are shut down. Parking is never plentiful downtown, but Avery gets them into a lot and she even pays for the spot, insisting on sliding her card for the overpriced space before they continue. Her hair is tied back, her dedicated yoga outfit casting her in sleek black, the jacket zipped up against a desert-night chill.
Erich finds the boutique and points, grins. Avery can't help herself; she laughs lightly and reaches over, clapping him just as light as that laughter on his shoulder. "Lay on, Macduff," she says, which may not make as much sense to him, but at least isn't a misquote.
ErichThis is the first time they've really met, Erich and Avery, though Avery will in a few days or weeks meet Erich's packmate. Or... in a sense, she's already met Erich's packmate. A hundred fifty years ago. Oh, the brain hurts. But anyway:
this is the first time they've actually met. And their meeting was short and to the point -- names exchanged over a quick handshake, and then the both of them attending to the Guardian as he explained in broad strokes what they knew:
- bridal shop
- WEIRD NOISES AT NIGHT
- complaints of blood on the floor in the morning
- no bueno
And now here they are. Lay on, Macduff, Avery says, which only makes Erich give a confused sort of grin. He wonders if she's having one of those psychotic breaks Fangs are so renowned for -- but she doesn't seem insane. She seems ... kind of nice, actually, for being one of those notorious Fangs. But then again, he reflects, it's hardly fair to judge her by her tribe. Charlotte doesn't embody the Fang stereotypes. Erich doesn't embody the Lord stereotype. And anyway -- there it is: Blue Bridal. Time for game faces.
Despite the whimsical name, the store is sleek and modern, all plate glass and steel and granite on the exterior, warm wood and open spaces on the interior. Lots of gowns, obviously: enough white ones to arm a battalion of Swan Lake ballerinas and then some. But also:
someone still inside. A shopper? She is browsing gowns. Wait, no: she is pawing at the gowns, leaving messy smears of some thick viscous brownred goo on the lovely lovely white chiffon and silk and lace and ... whatever the hell else such dresses are made of.
Reverence of DawnSure, she's seen him at the moot last month. Listened to his story. Sought out Charlotte and Ingrid with her eyes because of that story. She saw the way he led the Revel. She does recognize him, though she does not know him. Not in the slightest.
They grin, and Erich is confused, and Avery does not call him out on it. That would be horribly bad manners, to explain something to someone after assuming they don't understand you, when they haven't asked you to clarify. How rude. So she leaves it, and they walk up or down the street until they get to the boutique.
She can't help but look at one of the dresses in the window, its skirt asymmetrical, baring a slash of tulle, the fabric winding and wrapping up the bodice. It's gorgeous. It would look incredible on her. But the purpose of wedding gowns is to make the woman wearing it look incredible, and Avery looks incredible wearing a picnic blanket, so: that isn't saying much. She smiles a little to herself, and there's an ache somewhere far behind that look, but she takes her eyes off the silly white dress and looks through the glass and sees
the 'shopper'.
"Repulsive," Avery murmurs.
Erich"Aw," Erich can't resist, "I'm sure she just wants to look beautiful on her big day."
The shopper, meanwhile, has lurched away from those pristine white rows of gowns. She shambles toward one of the mannequins flanking the accent wall, which bears the name of the store and a rather posh by appointment only sign. Bridezilla ignores the sign, though. She reaches for the gown. She rips the gown down! Maybe she just really really wants to try it on! -- but no: she rips the gown down and she grabs the mannequin and wrestles it to the floor and
CHOMPS ITS ARM.
Only to get a mouthful of wood, of course. Bridezilla tears, she bites, she chews, she crushes wood to splinters between rotten teeth; she gets a look of abject disgust on her face. What's left of her face, anyway: we'll spare the gruesome details of decay and corruption. More interesting, anyway, to focus on how forcefully she spews that mouthful of splinters out across the floor. Shrieks with mindless, ravenous fury.
Erich shifts from foot to foot. He glances at Avery. "So," he's practically bouncing on the balls of his feet, "charge?"
Reverence of DawnAvery casts a sidelong glance at Erich, but it isn't wary or unamused. She has a little smirk on her face, a twinkle to her eye that just reads as Oh, you. They keep an eye out, crouched or leaning to peer through the glass. Neither of them is a Ragabash, or they might be a little more careful about how stealthy they are. Then again, the late-night shopper doesn't seem to be looking out for anyone.
She eats part of a mannequin. She howls, and Avery is taken back, her spine stiffening. Erich is bouncing on the balls of her feet. And up til now she's been following his lead: he's the Ahroun, after all. But then he waits for her, asks her if they should charge, and she remembers what she is. She remembers, too, the effect she has on people.
Avery straightens up and looks at him. "We'll go to the other side and slip through the walls; this place looks new enough that it shouldn't be any trouble. I'd like to draw her attention to me and give you the advantage, unless you find it dishonorable to attack her from behind. If so, we shall charge."
ErichErich looks uncomfortable at that suggestion. "It's not that I find it dishonorable to attack from behind. It's just, if a Full-Moon and a Half-Moon walk into a zombie bridal shower, it oughta be the Full-Moon drawing the fire. I mean, I'm tougher than you are. Not bragging or anything."
Reverence of DawnShe laughs softly at that, smiling despite the howling, shrieking woman inside who is no longer a woman. She laughs at 'zombie bridal shower'. She laughs at his assertion that he's not bragging. "That you are," says Avery, without hesitation, since she did pat his shoulder earlier. She could feel it: the solidity. The strength.
"Very well," she concedes, with a deep nod. "I appreciate your candor and courage, Storm's Teeth-yuf. I am beginning to think that neither of us is the sort who relishes enacting trickery, however practical it may be."
A slow, dark, sly little smile. "We charge. Right through the front door."
Erich"Okay," Erich says. His grin is the opposite: quick, bright, ear to ear. He sticks his fist out for a bump. "Let's do it."
[AND INITS!]
Erich[Bridezilla! +10]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (5) ( fail )
Erich[Maid of Honor! +8]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (3) ( fail )
Reverence of Dawn[Shifting to Hispo!-1 WP for Resist Pain-1 WP for Fangs of Judgement+9]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (9) ( success x 1 )
Erich[Bridesmaid! +6]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (2) ( fail )
Erich[Bridesmaid #2! +6]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (4) ( fail )
Reverence of DawnAvery laughs at that, but silently. She fist-bumps him right back. A moment later she is tossing her head side to side, shaking out a coat of brilliant white fur, her blue eyes gleaming even in the form of a direwolf. A terrifying, hungry, chops-licking direwolf.
Erich[erich: hispo! -1 resist pain! +9!]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (1) ( fail )
Erich[action order:
Avery 18
Bridezilla 15
MoH 11
Erich 10
Bridesmaid B 10
Bridesmaid A 8]
ErichWith a muffled thud, the paws of a second direwolf hits the concrete beside the first. This one isn't nearly so pristine. He is grey...ish, brindled with black and charcoal, undercoated in paler grey and white. He big and agile and muscular and his paws, his enormous paws, carry him shockingly quickly across the ten or twenty feet between them and the plate glass windows
which they fairly cannonball through. Glass shards everywhere! Ear-splitting crashes! Bridezilla looks up from her unsatisfying meal, still spitting splinters, and her horrid oozy zombie-eyes light up with hate. And hunger. Always hunger.
She shrieks again. And:
the dressing rooms, those neat little white boxes with the slatted doors and the three-part mirrors: they fly open. One. Two. Three: the third one so hard that the door flies clear off the hinges. Shambling out are the attendants of Bridezilla, her BFFs-for-life-and-death: two bridezilla-maids in matching green bridesmaids' gowns, the seams burst and the sides split from their efforts to get them on, and one very special maidzilla of honor.
Who appears to have appropriated a bridal veil. And who is wearing it askew, the veil over one eye. This, needless to say, makes Bridezilla shriek again in unadulterated rage. For a moment it seems she might attack her maidzilla of honor. But no: in the end, true friendship in fact never dies. The zombiezillas turn on the wolves as one.
Erich[Bridesmaid A: PRETTY WHITE ONE! claw avery!
Bridesmaid B: BIG GREYISH ONE! chomp erich!
Erich: WTF. 1) spur claws on maid of honor! R1-3) bite bridezilla a few billion times!
MoH: YOU NO HURT BRIDEZILLA. claw erich!
Bridezilla: 1) GO FOR THE EYES. claw avery! R1) chomp erich! R2) chomp erich again!]
Reverence of Dawn[-1 WP to turn on Lambent Flame once they crash inside. +1 diff to hit Avery from now on, phbbbbt.1a. Bite Bridezilla!1b. Again!R1. --R2. -- Bites on Bridezilla, MoH, and Bridesmaid B in that order!]
Reverence of Dawn[1a. Bite! -2 for split]
Dice: 6 d10 TN5 (1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 8) ( success x 4 )
Reverence of Dawn[Damage! [A]]
Dice: 12 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 3, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 10, 10) ( success x 6 )
Erich[SOAK!]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 4, 7, 7, 8, 8) ( success x 4 )
Reverence of Dawn[1b. Bite again! -3 for split]
Dice: 5 d10 TN5 (1, 4, 6, 7, 7, 10) ( success x 4 ) Re-rolls: 1
Reverence of Dawn[MOAR DAMAGES]
Dice: 12 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 3, 6, 6, 7, 8, 8, 8, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 9 )
ErichDice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 4, 4, 5, 7, 7, 10) ( success x 3 )
Erich(x_X)
Erich[bridesmaids: DDDDD:
changing actions!
A: splitting: claw avery twice!
B: splitting: chomp erich twice!
MoH: splitting and changing target to clawing avery twice! SHE SKAREE.]
Erich[MoH: claw 1! +1 diff changing action, +1 diff lambent, -2 dice]
Dice: 5 d10 TN8 (1, 4, 5, 9, 9) ( success x 2 )
Erich[dam +1]
Dice: 8 d10 TN8 (1, 1, 2, 2, 4, 5, 6, 10) ( success x 1 )
Reverence of Dawn[Soak!]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 6, 7, 8, 10) ( success x 4 )
Erich[again!]
Dice: 4 d10 TN8 (2, 2, 3, 5) ( fail )
Erich[Erich: GOOD GOD, PERFORMANCE PRESSURE. spur claws on MoH! -1R]
Dice: 10 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 3, 5, 6, 6, 7, 8, 9, 9, 10) ( success x 7 ) Re-rolls: 1
Erich[dam +6 don'tpwinkdon'tpwinkdon'tpwinkdon'tpwink]
Dice: 15 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 4, 5, 5, 5, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 4 )
Erich[FUCK YOU DICE. MoH soak!]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 7, 7, 8, 10) ( success x 4 )
Erich[OMFG.]
Erich[bridesmaid B: chomping erich 1a! +1 diff for changing, -2 dice.]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (3, 4, 7, 10) ( success x 2 )
Erich[dam +1]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (4, 4, 6, 6, 9, 9, 9) ( success x 5 )
Erich[soak!]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 4, 6, 10, 10) ( success x 3 )
Erich[chomp again!]
Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (1, 6, 8) ( success x 2 )
Erich[dam+1]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 3, 8, 9, 9, 9) ( success x 4 )
Erich[soak!]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8) ( success x 2 )
Erich[bridesmaid A: clawing avery twice! +1 diff changing actions, +1 diff lambent, -2 dice]
Dice: 4 d10 TN8 (1, 3, 5, 7) ( fail )
Erich[GET IT TOGETHER, ZOMBIES.]
Dice: 3 d10 TN8 (5, 7, 10) ( success x 1 )
Erich[dam]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 3, 5, 6, 10) ( success x 2 )
Reverence of Dawn[Soak!]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (3, 3, 5, 6, 9, 10) ( success x 3 )
Reverence of Dawn[R1. Nomming MoH!]
Dice: 8 d10 TN5 (1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 8, 9) ( success x 5 )
Reverence of Dawn[Damage!]
Dice: 13 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 8, 9, 9, 9) ( success x 7 )
Erich[owie!]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 8) ( success x 3 )
Erich[erich R1! umm. BITE BMaid A.]
Dice: 10 d10 TN5 (2, 2, 3, 5, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 9, 10) ( success x 8 ) Re-rolls: 1
Erich[dam +7]
Dice: 16 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7, 7, 7, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 8 )
Erich[soak!]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (2, 4, 5, 6, 9) ( success x 2 )
Reverence of Dawn[R2: FINISH HER.]
Dice: 8 d10 TN5 (1, 1, 1, 4, 6, 6, 7, 8, 10) ( success x 5 ) Re-rolls: 1
Reverence of Dawn[Damage!]
Dice: 13 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 5, 5, 6, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 9 )
Erich[LULZ LIKE THIS WILL HALP.]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (2, 4, 4, 7, 7, 9) ( success x 3 )
Erich[erich R2! kill it with teeth!]
Dice: 10 d10 TN5 (1, 2, 2, 3, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 8) ( success x 6 )
Erich[dam +5]
Dice: 14 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 3, 4, 5, 5, 7, 7, 8, 9, 9, 10, 10, 10) ( success x 8 )
Erich[soak]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 5, 9) ( success x 1 )
Erich[erich R3 - chomp that last one!]
Dice: 10 d10 TN5 (2, 4, 5, 5, 5, 7, 8, 9, 9, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 10 ) Re-rolls: 2
Erich[dam +9]
Dice: 18 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 8, 8, 9, 9, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 9 )
Erich[soak!]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 4, 5, 6, 6) ( success x 2 )
ErichThe wolves leap into the fray. And they really do leap. They flex into their warforms, they tear across the pedestrian boulevard, they launch themselves through the window and
as the zombiezillas turn to face them
they surge into the thick of it, joyous, savage, vicious. Oh, vicious. Reverence of Dawn is a veritable killing machine: she tears down the strongest, the fiercest, the baddest of the zombie bridal party in two. swift. bites. Storm's Teeth is frankly gobsmacked: he did not see that coming. She's not done. She wheels on the next, the veil-wearing maidzilla of honor; the story is the same as the first. Two bites and done.
For the first time in a very long time, Erich feels juuuust a tad of performance pressure.
Which might be why: that first attack of his, the one and only bit of strategy he attempts to employ, goes so horridly awry. His claws glance off maidzilla-of-honor's hide. It's not even that she's armored or toughened; it's just that his aim was that bad and his strength was that misspent. Turtling, Erich darts a glance at Avery,
just in time to see her shrug off something like four hits in a row without a scratch. And then: one of the zombies grabs Erich's head, mauls him, opens the side of his neck right down to the shoulder, nearly rips an ear off.
Erich is mortified. Epic Fail is his name right now. Maybe that's what gives him a second wind. A fourth-quarter comeback. Maybe that's why he rallies, growls short and sharp and choppy, goes after those last two shambling zombiemaids.
Rips. them. apart.
--
So that's that. Four dead putrid zombies who used to be... well, god knows what they used to be. Not a bridal party, that's for sure. One of them, on closer inspection, isn't even female. God knows what brought them here tonight, or why they decided to have a costume party, but -- well; some part of Erich is glad to see they aren't actually some Wyrm-hijacked wedding party. That would just be sad.
He's also glad there's blood in his maw. Blood on his teeth. Blood matting the side of his head, too, but well: war wounds. Glory. Etcetera. He hops on his forepaws a little, somewhere between awe and glee and triumph and shame, and then he trots over to Reverence of Dawn. Bumps his good shoulder against her flank. Licks at her jaw, her chin, her cheek.
Erich[final tally:
Avery: full health
Erich: 4A
Bridezillasmaid A: 7 +6overkill
Bridezillasmaid B: 7
Maidzilla of Honor: 7 +3
Bridezilla: 7 +1]
Reverence of DawnNot a bone in Avery's body is fatalistic, death-seeking, oblivion-loving. Even the parts of her that love silence and solitude would not shy from this call to duty; sometimes, it is the only call that can stir her from her self-isolation. She does not welcome scars or wounding. She does not laugh in the face of death.
When she fights, it is with the solid thudding of her life-loving heart filling her ears, expanding her chest. Like tonight: they do not slip through the walls secretly, ambush the zombie, or attack her from behind. They leap through plate glass and shattering wood and lunge, wolves light and dark, and in what amounts to less than a minute, they destroy four times what they thought they were facing.
Avery may be drenched in blood at the end, but not a drop of it is her own. She took glancing blows, attempts-at-scratches that don't even bruise. Soured blood drips from between her teeth to the floor. Two halves of what was once a person lie in front of her, entrails trailing from torn, putrid flesh. Avery observes it for only a moment before she is turning to look at Erich again, letting out a low sound of concern to see his ear nearly ripped off, blood matting his fur. He's an Ahroun, and she knows that, but she wishes she could offer him succor in the form of healing.
Instead, he seems to seek it in the form of companionship, nearness, awe and glee and triumph and licking her face. Avery's voice whuffs recognition; she licks him back, as though to clean him off, as the glow of her fur fades from fullest moonlight to simple, natural purity. There's no indication that she even noticed that he mis-aimed once or that his strength skimmed the side of an enemy, and in fact: she likely did not notice that. She only noticed that he fought, and fought hard, and took a hit without stopping, and came back tenfold to leave two other creatures in not two pieces each but... several.
Avery paws at the ground. Now with Erich beside her she gives a low bark and dances slightly from forepaw to forepaw, swaying side to side, wagging her tail.
ErichThey both have such bright souls. Erich's, though it was dulled for a while with rejection and uncertainty, is full of joy and wonder. And Avery's, like every Fang's, has darkness threaded through, sickness infecting it -- but it is not dark in and of itself. Quite the opposite. She sees strength in others, and she draws it forth. She inspires by example, by word, and by her own adamantine faith in the best abilities of others. She stands against the darkness not because of love of death or love of slaughter, but because it is her duty, and her place.
She was like flame tonight. Like sunshine. Storm's Teeth cleaves to her, revels in nearness and temporary-pack-ness and the brilliant destruction they've wreaked. She sways, she barks, she wags her tail. He dances around her, bounding on his great paws, roughhousing until an uncareful bump jars his wounded ear and sends him yelping back to homid.
And then he's a young man again, albeit one with blood streaming down the side of his face and neck, blood between his teeth, blood down his chin. He looks around and his rehumanized brain takes in the damage and he realizes: oh. they can't stay here.
By then Avery has already returned to her own birthform. Her very practical yoga attire hides the worst of the blood. She has her cellphone out; she places a call. While Erich ineptly attempts to hide some of the stains under wedding gowns, she informs the Sept of the somewhat bizarre nature of the threat, of their indisputable success in neutralizing it, and of the rather dire need for cleanup. Immediately.
When she gets off the phone, she finds Erich piling body parts into one of the dressing rooms. She dissuades him and calls him away. As the Sept's cleanup team begin to arrive, he's climbing into her Juke, gingerly keeping his stained self away from as many surfaces as possible.
They drive away. The cleanup crew gets to work.
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