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

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.]

[ Out of everything, Emily's scream gets Royce the most distracted. He looks up in her direction when she squeals, and that's enough to allow Tifa to grab his shiv. Emily steps on his wrist and he hisses, trying to wrench his arm away, but Emily's got her weight on it and he's unwilling to hurt her.

He can only hope Alfie can do something to help, but - really, he'd prefer if Alfie ran. ]

Don't. Emily. [ Royce says hoarsely, staring up at her, pausing in his useless task of pulling his arm away. ] Don't.

[Alfie goes for the shiv too, but Tifa gets to it first, and he curses. He switches tactics, going for Emily next - not with a weapon out, but just to try to scoop her up and get her off of Royce.]

[For a moment, a strange, reasonable, familiar expression passes across Emily's face as she peers downward.] Royce. [That's his real name.

But the recognition is fleeting, and the darker cast returns to her brows and eyes. Pity, almost. Disgusted pity. Royce is a bug, and Emily's once hesitant foot now presses down harshly, backed by most of her weight.] You're misbehaving. People who misbehave get punished.

Miss Tifa and I will punish both of you to protect this-- [Alfie's interference gets another, softer squeal of surprise. She quickly tries to pull away, then starts squirming.]

Edited (shhhh you saw nothing) 2016-11-22 17:38 (UTC)

[Tifa doesn't use knives—she never has, and she's not comfortable with them. She's gotten it away from Royce, though, which is all she can hope for. She's about to pin Royce down when Alfie grabs Emily, and then she's up again.]

Let her go! She hasn't done anything to you!

[This time, it's Alfie who's getting a punch to the face, although Tifa is careful to make sure Emily doesn't get hurt in the crossfire.]

Edited 2016-11-22 18:49 (UTC)

[ Royce flinches when Emily says his name - and then practically yowls when she presses down on his arm. He only gets relief from it when Alfie scoops her up, and when that happens, he sort of curls into himself. His nose throbs, and he covers his face with his hands for a second, trying to brace himself through the pain of it.

He's down for the moment, but he's going to attempt to drag himself up eventually to get that shiv, Emily's words echoing in his head. ]

I'm not gonna--

[The punch connects with the side of his face. His cheek gets the brunt of it, and he feels his teeth clack together hard, chipping one. But he's still feeling a little hopeful - he's pretty sure Royce had broken through to Emily, even just for an instant. He tries to keep his grip on her, while at the same time doing his best to make eye contact.]

Emily, Emily. Do you remember the paper bird?

[Emily gives another soft squeal when Tifa's punch connects with Alfie, less because she's worried about him and more because the strength behind it startles her. She continues to struggle without hesitation, refusing to look Alfie in the face or in the eyes. The light in them feels almost like it's burning, and she hates it.

When she finally chances a look, her eyes are not unlike the eyes plaguing them before, plaguing the town in scrawling art.] Let me go! You tricked me! You pretended to be my friend, but you're a liar just like all the others!

[Her squirming twists her body in Alfie's arms. She rears back suddenly with the pocket knife, then plunges it into the right side of his chest.] If you want the bird, I'll bury you with it!

[Now Tifa grabs for Emily, trying to wrestle her away from Alfie, bringing her heel down on the top of his foot as she does.]

Just shut up! Let go of her!

Solomons --

[ Fuck, fuck - Royce tries to drag himself up, voice cracking slightly as he watches what's happening. No, no, no - a knife to the chest like that, there's no way he'll survive, he just - he's -- screwed, is what he is. Because Royce can't manage to pull himself up in time, his whole body thrumming with pain centered in his nose.

Does he run? He can't. He can't leave Alfie. He tries to grab for his shiv instead, inching across the floor to try and pick it up. ]

Royce, talk to her! Talk to them!

[He doesn't feel the pain immediately, when the knife goes in, but his body still reacts - his grip on Emily loosens, and he stumbles back with a gasp, finally falling to the floor. The jump rope is still in his hands. He should do something with that - try to tie them both up before they can do any more damage. He tries to push himself to his feet, but his right arm doesn't seem to be working right.]

[Emily thinks it strange that she's so relieved to be out of Alfie's arms. Wouldn't she have enjoyed it before, being near Alfie and Royce? She can't imagine feeling comfort and safety with them now.

Instead, she clings to Tifa until she can be put on her feet again. Alfie gets a glare, but then she grips at Tifa and points toward Royce.] Miss Tifa! [Even wounded, Emily would be stupid to believe Royce couldn't utilize anything right now as a weapon.

Rather than wait--Alfie is important, too--Emily darts ahead and snatches the shiv up before darting away again, leaving Royce on the floor.]

[While Emily is grabbing the shiv, Tifa focuses on Alfie, pulling the jump rope out of his hands. He's struggling to get up, so it's easy for her to put a knee in the middle of his spine and tie his arms behind his back.

Tifa gets up again, turning her attention back to Emily for a moment.]

Keep an eye on him for me, okay, sweetie? If he looks like he's getting free, tell me right away.

[And then she crosses the room back to Royce, taking a page from Emily's book and trying to stomp on his hand. The difference, of course, is that she's far bigger and wearing heavy combat boots with thick soles.]

[ Emily snatches up the shiv and Royce growls out: ] Emily. Stop it, right now, give it back. What are you doing? There's no reason to --

[ And he's going to keep talking, follow Alfie's lead, try to talk them out of it, but Tifa heads back over and stomps on his hand, and he loses all of his words at once. Royce lets out a strangled noise as the bones in his hand crack and snap, crunch underneath her boot. The pain is immense - he's pretty sure his hand is useless, now, even as he's trying to pull away, scramble back. He hits the wall, hand held to his chest, eyes sharp and frightened, like an animal in a corner. ]

Tifa. [ He rasps at her. ] Don't. Please. Just leave us here. Go somewhere else. We aren't going to hurt you.

[Still on the ground, still with that knife wound that's growing more and more noticeable by the second, Alfie lolls his head in Royce's direction and lets out a wordless sound of protest. He tries to push himself up again, and actually manages it this time, though he could be easily shoved by back down even by someone of Emily's size.]

[Even scurrying away, Emily chances a glance back at Royce, face bunched from the scolding. She clutches the shiv to her chest protective, seeming now worried perhaps that Royce and Alfie had been intent on doing what they believed they were going to do.] You're going to hurt us first.

I don't want to watch Miss Tifa die like Mother. [She turns toward Alfie as he struggles to get up, watching him. She remembers what they told her, about being not-nice men. Liars.

Why did she let yet more people pretend to be her friend when she knew better?] We can't let you do bad things to the town. [Firmly, she reaches out and shoves Alfie back down, then towers over him with the shiv.] When you're Empress, you have to protect yourself or you'll be killed. I learned that from Mother. [With both hands, she raises the shiv and plunges it down into the top of his stomach.]

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cw: broken bones and worse from this point on

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