Alex's eyes flash open at the sound the cry and the footsteps from downstairs. "Anyone else hear that?" she says, glancing around at the others. "Maybe this is actually working! Remember , we need to concentrate!"
She shoots a look over at Joel, fixing him with the firm gaze of her eyes, which seem to have taken on an altogether darker hue than normal - more black than brown, though it could just be a trick of the light. "We need to all be thinking of Lady Clements. Not anyone else." she glances at Mindy. "I don't really know what might happen if you're focussed on the wrong thing. One of the things I read said that it might get,... weird. And not in a good way."
Mindy sighs but plays along, deeply focusing on Lady Clements.
Mindy hates this spooky b#$#&$&%, but she tries her best anyway.
Yumei pads into the student lounge dressed once again in her skirt and socks and adjusting the strap of her sling. There was no sense in getting Yungfeng's slacks dirty and then scrambling back into this in order to get back to bed.
Tonight had Yu's wires crossed in the worst way. Plagued by unnamed doubts, Yumei looks around the room before approaching the upstart vending machine. She was shaking and fidgeting restlessly, running a curl of hair over her fingers, back and forth.
Kelly hadn't gotten all dressed up for her trip to the vending machine, a tank top, loose sweats, and a hair tie had been quite enough, so she was surprised to see that Yumei was back in her uniform at this hour. Still, even knee socks and a sling couldn't entirely distract Kelly or her Wolf from whatever strangeness Yumei was up to. She smells the same. She's practically twitching with nervousness, playing with her hair, made a weird excuse to talk to me, but she doesn't smell nervous or hot or anything. And that scared look earlier? It's like she's not really here at all.
Okay, me, Carrie, that redhead's some kind of predator too, and now Yumei and Yungfeng. What the f**% is going on at this school?
Yu
Alex and Mindy
Wasn't like I was thinking of you or anything. Joel mutters
Everyone in the room closes their eyes. and you all hear it. the thump, thump, thump of someone walking up the stairs half asleep, the cries of a young child. and you hear the door nearby open. if anyone opens their eyes, nothing is moving, no-one is there.
as the vision ends, and you guys sit there by the circle. except for Alex, who is standing by the door, hand on the handle when she comes to. what do you do?
Carry
You wake up in a dumpster, covered in blood, Kelly's saliva, and other unpleasant things, with no keys, and your bike gone... what do you do?
The smell of grass, but no sweat. A school uniform that still smells like the plastic bag it came in. A sampler platter of one-dimensional pheromone cues communicating unease and distress with unusual deliberation. Even its sling comes off as a sinister affectation, like a wounded lamb baiting a trap. Prey doesn't perform weakness. What's more, she's different now, even since the shower. What you know of them, the triplets usually carry with them an air of mystery. This thing has discarded that for a roiling heat, like the tense spring of a bear trap.
Yumei flashes an uncertain smile, a light blush coloring her face and bringing out a light dusting of freckles across her nose. "Let's get you something to kill those cramps." Her eyes take Kelly in again, reading her apprehension and her casual attire before turning her back on her unpredictable classmate to approach the kiosk. She props her chin in one hand and bends at the waist at the prescribed angle to tease a flash of panties. With the timing of a sitcom, she turns back. "Well? Turn around. I promised a taste, not an all access pass."
A different night, it might've worked. Or maybe it had; after all, she'd definitely caught Kelly staring while her skirt crept up her thighs, right up next to the point of immodesty. Maybe that was all she wanted.
It certainly wasn't all Kelly wanted.
But Yumei smelled like a trap. Not an "Oh my god Kelly! What are you doing? Wait till I tell everyone" trap. Kelly knew exactly what disarmed those.
So even though she couldn't help but think about what she could do to Yumei while her back was turned, what it would be like to push her frail body against the vending machine and find out everything that made her blush, Kelly didn't bite.
"Fine," she rolled her eyes as she turned away, you can keep your secrets. "
The first thing that hit her was the smell. Dark and stinky. Not the first time she had woken up like this, but it never smelled this bad. She reaches out and her hand hits something hard. It takes her a while to figure out which side is the hinge.
She climbs out to a quiet night. This quiet isn't normal. There should be people winding down from the night. The cops must have been here. It's then that she notices her ring is gone. She looks through the dumpster, grabbing a stick to stir it up. Damn it. Kelly must have left her hand on the roof.
Stepping onto the dumpster, she begins shimmying up the drainpipe.
Alex comes back to awareness of her surroundings finding herself standing by the door with her hand on its handle, and with no idea how she got there. Snatching her hand away she turns to the others, her usually rosy complexion pale and her eyes wide, staring and red with tears.
"What just happened?" she gasps, hugging her arms around her body against the suddenly cold feeling that seems to have infused her body. "Did you guys,... did you hear that? It was horrible. That poor baby..."
Ugh, I bet that might have worked for Alex. I can't have Kelly sniffing around. Even if she weren't breathing down my neck, she's dangerous.
As soon as she's sure Kelly has turned around, Yumei holds her middle and ring fingers with her thumb to make the prongs of a taser with her pointer and pinky, then lunges, twisting from her crouched position, to drive the digits under Kelly's ribs.
in the Vending-machine room
Kelly, A sound and a sudden but of movement trigger some Feral instinct in you. Your arm snaps out as you turn,a dn you have the wrist/arm of Yu in your hand. Their fingers have a bit of charge going between them, like a stun gun. you have them at your mercy (inflict 1-harm for free, If you so choose) what do you do?
Yumei had been so kind to make a gift of her wrist, and Kelly wasn't the kind of girl who would turn it down. Her twist want quite enough to snap the bone, but it was enough to make a point.
But little miss lightning fingers was in Kelly's home. Kill her?
No.
But she needed to really learn.
Yumei's slender wrist was all the leverage Kelly needed to pop her shoulder out of its socket with a mouth-watering **pop**
She let her fall.
"Be good, and I'll let you pop that back in.
Just show you know who's boss."
The roof was a mess. But if she hadn't have died through it, she wouldn't be able to tell what happened. It didn't look like blood. It looked like some rotten brown slime. Some of it was bubbling, and all of it smelled like a dumpster full of dead raccoons. There were some tracks of police, but they obviously didn't go too far.
Over by the edge there was a bubble of the slime. A couple of crumbly things poked out. Bones already turning to powder. It was interesting to see what happened to her parts. She flexed her new hand. It was still a little tender.
There was nothing around to poke through the remains of her hand. So she just reached in and poked around. The ring was there. Now that the important part was done, she needed to get out of here. Pulling out her phone, she sees the message from Kelly.
C: A ride and clothes would be good. Now that we've gotten stuff out of the way, we need to talk.
C: Pro Tip: When you take something apart, always make sure you don't leave any of the pieces lying around. Took care of it.
Mindy is shocked...shocked at the contact.
Yes...yes I heard. She’s more shaken than you’ve ever heard her.
Yu's hand hits dead air.
Fair enough. I might be able to get my other arm out of the sling before-
Kelly's hand closes around Yu's wrist.
Nope. Okay, Kelly usually shoulders into a throw. This time I can tumble into a crouch-
Yu's arm goes numb as several infrastructural systems decouple. A thin band of flashing red in Yu's vision reports the unexpected system failure like a light on a car's dash.
Yumei barely registers what Kelly says. One feeble kick scoots her ineffectually across the floor. "I'm a part of the school- security, or something- they don't tell me anything. Yumei, Yungfeng, Yuji, it's just me keeping an eye on everyone. You came in smelling like blood, and- I'm sorry. I was just trying to keep everyone safe."
There's a hungry gleam behind Kelly's eyes as she watches Yumei retreat.
"Well that's... weird. What do you mean sec-" **bzzzzz** Kelly's predatory gaze shifts to a look of uncertainty as she glances at her phone. "S%~@." She gives a hard glare at Yumei, "To be continued, I guess. I've gotta go. You gonna do anything stupid if I pop that back in before I do?"
"No. I didn't realize I wasn't the only one holding back in kiddie thunderdome. I don't have a habit of replicating mistakes." Yu tries to untangle its arm from Yumei's sling to sit up. When that doesn't immediately work, it sits still and waits to see if Kelly can undo what she's done to Yu's arm.
I clearly wasn't built for that...
Kelly's posture never really shifts into anything resembling comforting, but as Yumei backs down, the hunger behind her eyes subsides as well.
Pack
What? No. She's not part of the pack just because she backed down.
Not prey. Not rival. Pack.
She shook her head; there were things that her Wolf's instincts really weren't subtle enough to get, but despite herself, she softened as she examined Yumei's shoulder.
"Well, I just go to the Sweat Shop to blow off some steam. If you go around crippling people, you have to find a new gym.
"Speaking of which, lie down. This is gonna hurt, but it'll keep you from losing the arm or whatever"
Once Yumei was in the proper position, Kelly braced herself, and firmly but steadily tugged on her arm until she heard and felt the familiar pop.
"The joint's still not at its best. I dunno if you heal too, or if you should go to a doctor, but hey, you've already got a sling until you've got it fully sorted."
Okay, gotta grab some clothes for Carrie.
"And hey, in case this wasn't clear, remember, Safety Rule Number One is:
'Don't f**! with Kelly.'"
"What actually happened here? You said it was some kind of murder / suicide. Yeah? No-one mentioned a baby." Alex asks the other three students.
Yu is halting and plyable in Kelly's hands, like a doll. It makes it easy to dispell any unintended tenderness. When the limb is returned to its socket, the warning light goes yellow, and Yu flexes a few fingers. "Trust me. You'll experience a marked decrease in students f$#&ing with Kelly."
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Fun wasn't really the point, but Yumei going almost lifeless set Kelly's teeth on edge. Ugh. Like a block of wood. She was so f@%#ing hot when she turned it on, but now that I've seen her like this, no way will it work again.
Okay, clothes.
Kelly didn't really have anything that would fit, so she sniffed around the halls for a moment until she found Carrie's room.
Locked.
Why bother? Most of the locks in the dorms needed either the key or about 5 seconds with a credit card, and this one was no exception.
"Ahhhhhh! What the hell are you doing here?!"
"Oh, hey Squeaky. Wow. That's uhh... wow. Guess the mouse really does play while the cat's away, huh? I'm just grabbing some clothes for Carrie, so you'll have your privacy soon for... that."
Barely resisting the urge to ask a lot more questions, she grabbed a change of clothes and headed out to Carrie's bike and the road beyond.
S%**, she kept her promise, I really am gonna be useless tomorrow after all these round trips. Well, nothing says I'm sorry for killing you and dumping you in the garbage like a fresh pair of everything. She snorted, "I should write a f!&%ing etiquette book for werewolves."
Once Kelly has left, Yumei collects herself off the floor and heads back to her room, expecting to find Alex obediently sleeping. Would that this night were over. "Not poppy, nor mandragora, nor all the drowsy syrups of the world, shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep which thou owedst yesterday..."
In the creepy house
Lady Clements found out her husband was cheating. she offed her kids and herself. Sorry, forgot you two weren't locals Joel says, almost callously. Megan hits him a little bit.
Whoa.Kenny says, I didn't expect anything that... intense. good call Alex.
Carrie
You get back do you sneak in, or risk getting caught, or ask for help?
Kelly and Yu
As she hears her bike come into the alley she looks over and waves. Being a dark alley she strips off her bloody clothes and reaches in the pack to pull on the replacements quickly. "Obviously, this is sort of awkward."
As she changes, she's noticeably a bit thinner. You can see her ribs as she pulls the shirt and bra off.
Kelly tried hard to keep her gaze from burning into the parts of Carrie she had tasted, only achieving any kind of success by staring awkwardly at Carrie's feet.
Mostly she tried to pretend she couldn't see how Carrie was gaunter. How even if she was still here and walking around unscarred, she'd been marked.
"Sorry. About..." Kelly gestured uselessly at the dumpster as she muttered.
She forced her gaze up, past Carrie's hand, past her stomach, to meet her eyes.
"I thought I'd made you into something like me."
"So you thought provoking me would make me wolf out? In the middle of a rave? And that would..." She shakes her head and slaps herself. Hard enough to leave a mark. "I shouldn't have said that. My usual sarcasm and passive aggression is probably going to make things worse."
"Let's just say that this all happened and move on." she climbs on the back of the bike, "I'm going to need a few pounds of meat and then we just might make it back in time for class. You get to drive."
Kelly doesn't wait for Carrie to finish before she starts talking over her "Wait - I provoked you?! I just said I needed some f&#$ing air, and you tried to beat me with a chain and-" **SLAP** "-Cut that s%@~ out! What, you haven't been hurt enough tonight?!"
Her eyes blazed as she looked at the handprint beginning to form on Carrie's cheek.
"Look, I just want to get you home. That's gonna happen. But if you can't stop starting s~&*, I'm happy to hogtie you first."
She responds with a flat voice. If Kelly doesn't quiet down, she won't hear it. There's no aggression. There's no blame. She simply sounds like somebody who is tired to the point that she's hit the wall. "That's what I was hoping we'd be able to put down. Now that I know what's going on, I'm guessing that your fr... The way you looked at me was because you ate some of me when I was dead. I know what that kind of hunger feels like."
"I'm asking you to calm down, and accept that we've both pulled some s%+~ and move on from it. You're an alpha who doesn't back down and I'm somebody who is mystically wired to make a bad situation worse. We have to figure out how both of us can get beyond this, because if we don't, you know it's going to escalate. We've seen what happens when it escalates. It leaves blood and body parts all over the place. And next time the cops might decide to search the dumpster or the roof."
Her head cocks to the side and her eyes light up. Like somebody having an idea. But she wait's to see how Kelly reacts first.
"I didn't eat you." this time "You've obviously got all your parts. But you're right."
A speech like Carrie's at the wrong time could have set her Wolf off; she might not have given in, but the Wolf would've fought. But she and her Wolf were both tired. Shared blame she could deal with.
The spark in Carrie's eyes catches her attention. "... What?"
Her voice was wary, but beneath it,she was relieved to see that glint of life was still there, that she hadn't come all the way back just to find a corpse.
"I was thinking that this is going to inevitably end up in blood. Let's use that. We can swear a blood oath to each other. Blood sisters."
And she'll take up a piece of glass from the ground and cut her hand. Not the one with the silver ring. "By joined blood I swear. We shall be as one bloodline. By joined blood I swear. Your troubles are my troubles. By joined blood I swear. My strengths are your strengths. By joined blood I swear. No secrets nor lies shall come between us. By joined blood I swear."
"...What the f+$$? Look, there are a lot of things I'll do the first time I meet someone, but whatever blood magic s%%~ this is? Let's just leave this at we owe each other one." Her gaze dropped to the pile of bloody clothes. "Maybe more than one. If you need me I'll back you up, but... That's just f&++ing weird."
"Is, is that why you come back?" She asked, staring warily at Carrie's dripping palm.
She looks down and finds the least filthy part of her old clothes to wrap her hand with. And to hide her face for a moment.
"I don't know why I came back." She says. "I don't know why I do half of the stuff I do. Let's get going."
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Okay, ripping her hand off was definitely worse than just hurting her feeling by not being Blood Sisters or whatever the f!%$, right? It would be really f#*~ing stupid to be all guilty and s!** that I don't want to do this, right? G%*@$$nit!
"F+%&! Carrie, just give me a damn second." Kelly pulled out her pocketknife and gave her palm a red smile as well.
"By joined blood I swear... all the same stuff.
So what now? We hold hands or something?"
Alex frowns at Joel's words but smiles sheepishly at Kenny. "Yeah, it was kind of intense, wasn't it. I mean, it was horrible hearing what happened to that baby but actually getting it to work. That felt,... good,.. like,.. kind of,.. powerful. We should try it again sometime? Not here though. Maybe somewhere without quite such, um, bad memories? We should probably be getting back to school though, yeah? It's getting pretty late."
Mindy nods, almost in a daze. Life...after death? Was it possible? Or were these just echos?
Yeah. We...should get back...
The half-assed comeback stung worse than the rejection. She felt herself being pulled in many ways. Lashing out and turning away on tears competed for a moment. But they were evenly matched for long enough for the moment to pass.
Carrie holds herself still for a moment, then just tears off another clean section of her old outfit and hands it to Kelly. "I shouldn't have done that. We'll just get home and then let tomorrow be tomorrow."
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Slightly relieved, Kelly nods uncertainly as she quickly wraps her hand. She wasn't stupid enough to think she'd handled that well, but Carrie wasn't attacking her, or crying, or doing spooky blood magic.
She'd take it. She only really knew how to deal with one of those.
Her hand throbbed with pain as she drove them home. F#~%! Right across the palm. Why the hell is that where people cut themselves in movies for this s*#@? To be the most awkward in the way place to hurt yourself?
It was a quiet ride, not a lot of traffic in their way this close to dawn, but even if Kelly couldn't figure out what she was supposed to do for Carrie, she figured stopping at the 24-hour supermarket to buy her a few pounds of meat couldn't hurt.
Eating does help her get back to normal, but she's pretty quiet on the way home. As they make their way back onto campus, she does joke, "Hey, we get a whole thirty minutes to sleep in before we have to get up again. Not bad."
Kelly smiles, slightly eager to jump on anything lighthearted "You do you, but I'm just gonna spend the extra time in the shower. Lotta road dust and a fresh coat of secondhand garbage juice to deal with. At this point a cold shower's gonna be better for staying awake than a catnap anyways."
"Careful, you spend half an hour in the shower and people will talk." She says as she comes into the room quietly.
She realizes she needs a shower as well, but waits a bit. No need to run into Kelly in a towel.
This time her shower is more private, and peaceful. No artifical-smelling campus security, no living dead.
The wound on her hand already looked like it was a week old, so she skipped re-wrapping it. The bandage would draw more questions than a fading scar since only Carrie had seen her get hurt.
She didn't know what to do about her mouth though. That same awful taste that had made her spit out Carrie's hand kept intermittently flooding her mouth. She swiped someone's mouthwash and gave it a few swishes, but there was nasty brownish blood mixed in with the spearmint green when she spat it out.
A few more repetitions didn't lead to any more pleasant result, but when she took a careful look, she saw it, it must have been some tiny sliver of Carrie's ring that was caught in the side of her mouth. Her skin had already grown back mostly over it, but it was clearly visible once she knew to look, a nasty, infected looking canker. She closed the door to the communal bathroom, and braced it shut with one of her legs, No need to start any new rumors, and made a couple quick cuts with her pocket knife until the sliver was freed.
It hurt like a m~+~@*!$%##@, but that strange, dizzyingly awful taste was gone. After all, the taste of fresh blood in her mouth was much more familiar.
As the group make their way back to school, Alex seems lost in thought - the events of the evening had sparked a jumble of mixed emotions in her - horror tinged with sadness at the revelations of the murder, but also a sense of latent power that filled her body and promised of other things she might be able to do. She couldn't wait to get back to reading through the strange book that had showed her how to summon the spirits.