snowblindrpg | [EVENT] Lavender's Blue [open]

[Tifa has spent most of the day trying to avoid as many people as possible, and she's failed miserably. By the time she reaches the hotel again, she's given up fighting the thoughts that keep creeping into her mind. Her head is pounding and she's a little dizzy, but Hitsugaya getting away has only made her more determined to fix it. No wonder she's felt useless, like she's been spinning her wheels, since her arrival. It's Royce and Alfie and the others that are ruining the town and trapping them here, and she was stupid to pretend otherwise.

Even more stupid was leaving Emily with them. Emily can't defend herself, and there's no telling what they'll do to her if given half the chance. Tifa makes a beeline for the first room, moving lightly as she does. She knows Royce will be hiding, and she doesn't trust him not to try to ambush her if he feels like he's cornered. Alfie will be easier, she thinks—he's sick and exhausted, and less likely to tuck himself away like a coward.]

[ Royce and Alfie have locked themselves up in a room - it's the best way to defend. Emily is out there somewhere, and Royce can't bring himself to hurt her, so they're running, hiding, making sure she can't see them or hear them. This is the third time they've relocated to a different room, and Royce is alert and jittery, hovering near the door and trying to listen for footsteps.

He's got his shivs on him, has all his weapons close by, and he's ready to fight.

Only, these footsteps are familiar. Royce sucks in a sharp breath and signs at Alfie - friend, and then hurriedly spells out Tifa's name. Get ready. They're going to have to run. ]

[Alfie is exhausted. If this goes on for much longer (and he has a feeling it will) he and Royce are going to need to start sleeping in shifts - or, more likely, he'll sleep in shifts while Royce stays awake and jitters all night. Emily is somewhere in the hotel. Claire probably is too, though he hasn't seen or heard from her in hours. Tifa had taken off, which had actually been a relief, but now she's back. Alfie follows Royce to the door. He's trying to walk quietly, though he'll never be anywhere near as light and graceful on his feet as Royce is, and the floorboards do creak a bit. He has about half of his weapons on him. He's ready.]

[Necessity is how Emily runs into Tifa on the way back to Royce and Alfie. She has her knife out; less thinking she'll need to murder and more thinking she'll need to protect herself from two men who are trying to destroy the town.

The look she exchanges with Tifa outside of the first room says as much.] I think they're doing some bad things, and we should stop them.

[The logical, normal thing for Tifa to do would be to tell Emily to go hide, to get somewhere safe while Tifa takes care of it. For some reason, that doesn't cross her mind. Emily can help. In fact, Emily deserves to help. She's as sure of that as she is of the fact that Alfie and Royce need to be dealt with. Tifa nods down at Emily, brushing her fingers through the girl's hair.]

I think you're right. Do you know where they went?

[ Well. That's terrifying. Royce holds his breath, practically, reaches to rest his hand on Alfie's arm. Shh. Be absolutely silent, because they're right outside. Maybe they'll check another room first?

They probably won't. ]

[Alfie freezes completely, but doesn't reach for a weapon. If they come in, he'll fight them off barehanded - he doesn't have it in him to stab Emily any more than Royce does.]

[Just a little, Emily smiles.] They're playing hide and seek. That's okay.

I'm good at hide and seek.

[She holds out her free hand for Tifa to take.] Were you going to check this room?

[Tifa takes Emily's hand for a moment and squeezes tight before letting go.]

Yes. Stay back if you can, okay? I don't want them to hurt you.

[And with that, Tifa waits until Emily steps back, then swings the door open. It only takes her a split second to register Royce in front of her, and then she's pulling her arm back, aiming to smash her fist into his face.]

[ Royce doesn't register that she's going to actually open the door until it's too late. All he can manage to do is push Alfie away before Tifa's hitting him right in the face. Right in the nose, in fact, and Tifa knows how the hell to throw a punch. Royce makes a noise like a dog that's had its tail stepped on and stumbles backward, hand coming up to hold his face.

He's off balance. He has to fight back. He will, if she makes him. ]

[Alfie also stumbles, because he's not at all expecting Royce to shove him. He manages to stay on his feet by grabbing the wall, though, and he makes a grab for Royce's arm, moving to pull him back up as quickly as possible. He doesn't want him getting pounced on.]

Listen - we are not gonna hurt you. This is the town, right, and it's fucking with your heads. Now, if the two of you just stay back--

[Obediently, Emily steps back so that Tifa can promptly open the door and smash Royce in the face. She thinks she shouldn't particularly enjoy the sound of crunching cartilage, but there's a rather strange satisfaction to knowing Royce is "getting dues."] Mean people always get what they deserve. That's what Kesara said.

It's okay to make the bad people obey you. [Tifa is leading, so she'll only move into the room once Tifa has entered, and her hand is still gripping the knife at her waist.] You'll just make everything go bad.

Miss Tifa, I think we should check their insides.

Then we'll know if they're bad. You'll let us check your insides, won't you? If you're sick, you probably have bad insides. We'll make you better.

Edited 2016-11-20 19:14 (UTC)

[If the sound of Tifa's punch connecting is satisfying to Emily, it's even more satisfying for Tifa to feel Royce's nose breaking under her fist. When she pulls her hand back, the blood streaked across her knuckles is strangely beautiful.]

I don't think there's any fixing them, sweetheart.

[Either Alfie's words don't register at all, or Tifa is ignoring them. Alfie is stronger, she knows, but he's also sick and exhausted. Royce is the bigger threat at the moment, and hasn't he made it obviously from the beginning? All that talk of morals, all the threats and terrible comments she brushed off... She was stupid not to take them as the warnings they were. So, Alfie pulls Royce back, and Tifa reaches out to grab the front of his cloak and yank him forward, trying to pull him down to drive her knee up into his sternum.]

Edited 2016-11-20 22:20 (UTC)

[ Royce stumbles back when Alfie pulls him, but he's just off balance enough that Tifa can manage to grab him and knock the wind out of him. He's - not horrified, because he's heard worse, but he's thoroughly unnerved by the things coming out of Emily's mouth, and it's stunning enough that Tifa completely gains the upper hand.

If she lets go, Royce crumples. If she doesn't, he just sags, coughing and trying to get his air back, not knowing what to do. He can't - he's going to have to hurt her. He struggles, trying to get out of her grip, her range, groping for his blade. ]

Solomons, get out of here -- [ Get around them, run, go. ]

[Alfie gives Royce a sharp look, letting him know just what he thinks of that idea. Emily's words send a shiver up his spine, more because of who they're coming from than anything else, but he can't focus on that now. He grabs Royce by the shoulder with one hand, trying to help him yank himself back, and with the other he pulls out his chair-leg-turned-weapon, slamming the blunt end of it onto Tifa's forearm.]

Miss Tifa, look out! [Oddly, Emily sounds less worried and more angry. Tightening her grip on the knife, she does something she only recently learned: with a burst of speed, she zips through the doorway and charges Alfie, swinging the knife at his legs, though she doesn't stop for a cut and, instead, continues to ram herself into his waist and knees with all of her weight.

Peter busted her nose by tripping her feet, and she mimics the move in hopes of knocking Alfie down. "But you always gotta know yer gonna get hit," Peter had said.]

[Tifa pulls her arm back, not quickly enough to avoid the blow completely, but she manages to keep it from doing too much damage. And then, before she can retaliate, Emily is there, trying to ram herself into Alfie.]

Emily!

[She reacts instinctively, grabbing the chair leg and trying to rip it out of Alfie's grip. Emily is too quick for Tifa to do much else.]

[ Emily crashes into them, and Royce, disoriented as hell, broken nose throbbing, stumbles. He can't let either of them win, especially because he knows it'll end in his or Alfie's death, but he's already out of it.

Royce rolls away from where Emily's tackled Alfie to throw himself at Tifa's legs, aiming to knock her over. ]

[Emily is light enough that Alfie doesn't go down completely, but he does stumble back hard. He takes advantage of her closeness to make a wild grab for her knife, but he hasn't completely regained his footing yet, and it's clumsy.]

No! [Worried Alfie will steal the knife from her, Emily begins a wild, frantic swinging of her arm, swiping the knife left and right to cut whatever is in its way without making the effort to focus on a particular spot. She thankfully can't reach Alfie's face and neck, but even stretching her arm allows her to cut toward his chest, his arms, his hands, and swinging down can get the tops of his thighs when she's this low.] We'll make you better!

We'll fix your insides, and then everything will be right! The town will be right! Show your insides, Mister Alfie! [Her tactic changes. Instead of slicing, she resorts to stabbing even if Peter told her she wouldn't be able to manage much of it. She's close enough to Alfie that stabbing upward will surely have to work.]

[Royce hits Tifa and knocks her to the ground, and suddenly she finds herself pinned underneath him. She tries to twist away from him, squirming in an attempt to get one of her legs up and between them so she can push him away from her, at least a bit, with her knee. If she can get at least a little space, she'll aim another quick jab at his jaw.]

[ See, Royce is much more suited to combat with knives. Punches and kicks and hits like this aren't really his forte, and plus, he's really trying not to hurt her in the first place. He should be. He should be fighting back, should just stab her and get it over with, but he can't bring himself to, and - well. Honestly, she's got him where she wants him.

The jab to his jaw rattles him. Royce falls back, shiv dropping to the floor next to him. His nose is freely bleeding, and he's disoriented, trying to see what happened to Alfie, trying to grope for his shiv again so he can defend himself from Tifa, but she's in better shape than he is, right now. ]

[If Royce is suited to knife fights, Alfie is suited to shooting his enemies in the head and having that be that. Neither of them are in their element here.

Reaching under his coat, Alfie pulls out his final trump card - his jump rope. He advances on Emily because she's the closest, aiming to grab her and get her hands behind her back.]

[The threat of capture makes Emily give a shrill squeal of fright. She jerks back, then twists and bounds quickly away from Alfie toward Tifa and Royce instead.] Miss Tifa!

[She might be too small to take out Alfie on her own, but Tifa, based on Royce's current condition, can surely get Alfie pummeled into submission.

Her eyes look down at Royce.] I'm sorry. We have to make the bad people go away. You were bad people all along, like the Loyalists. You pretended to be our friends, but you lied.

[She steps on Royce's wrist and forearm to keep him from getting his shiv.]

Emily, stay back!

[Tifa doesn't trust either of them, and she especially doesn't trust Royce not to stab Emily now that she's close, so Tifa makes a grab for the shiv.]

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cw for the gross stuff (broken limbs, blood, etc) starting here

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