![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
☠ 8th Haunt ☠ - [Action | Voice]
[Action
It's nearing dusk - many of Luceti's residents will be finishing up their daily activities or returning home or, perhaps, beginning their nightly activities. That new club that opened up sure is a hot spot....and the bar is open until the wee hours of morning sometimes. But whether someone is going home or heading out, they may very well spy out of the corner of their eye a figure curled up with her back pressed to the wall of a building, huddled up in the shadows with her arms and legs drawn up close and tight to her body. She's wearing a dirty, white sun dress - the New Feather garb - but it's much too raggedy for this young woman to be among the new arrivals.
Grinding her teeth together, Perona breathes hard, digging her fingers into her arms to the point where she may begin to bruise them. It's too bright...too hot and bright and burning. She can't leave her little patch of shadows...not yet...but she can hear and see and smell all the people passing by. Each beat of their hearts, every exhale drives her senses crazy and despite how hard she tries to remain in one solitary spot - wait a little longer - a screaming, clawing, biting urge gnaws angrily at the back of her mind. She's so hungry...it's awful. But she can't do anything just yet, and the wait is sickeningly long. But she has to be patient, as much as her legs are itching to spring her at the next person that passes by.
Curious folk ought to be wary, because she will be counting every second it takes for the last rays of light to sink below the horizon, won't hear a word they say against the echoing beat of their hearts in their ears - thu-thump, thu-thump - and she'll look at them only with desire, like a ravenous animal would, and only bare her very new, very sharp fangs at them when the sun has fully set.
Through the night though, and with each unlucky person she nets and feeds from, Perona will regain a little more of her sensibility. By the time she's come full circle and gotten a full grip on herself will she backtrack to where she first arrived back in Luceti and find her journal, addressing a certain person in private, voice low and shaking.]
[Voice: Filtered to Trafalgar Law 80%]
M-Mr. Law? [It takes a moment for her to think of what to even say. How does she even go about explaining this? It's not like she really even wants to come clean, but if there's anyone she could talk to, it'd be Law.] I've--...may I speak with you? Now.
[Her head's swimming, trying to find words and how to piece them together. Perona can still taste blood in her mouth, and while half of her finds the notion utterly revolting (it's not at all charming like her favorite books make it out to be), the other half she's become finds the decadent, irony taste extremely satisfying.]
By the schoolyard...p-please. [It was the closest building near her. And just as she's about to close her journal, where the journal feed seems like it's ended, she adds in a very tiny voice--] ...Be on your guard.
[Just in case.]
---
[OOC: Okay, just some clarification, but Perona has been returned as a vampire. Chronologically, Law's thread will be last, but let me know if you want Perona from the get-go is ravenous, bloodthirsty hunger or a more sane attempt to get a bite. Characters also don't have to be bitten! Perona can interact with them when she's a little more herself, but the conversations will be very short, and she may attack them, which gives the option of the character also escaping.
And yes, she still have her Devil Fruit abilities, too, so if you want your character attacked by them or not, let me know. You can ping me on plurk (![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
MelonFlavored) or PM this journal for questions.]
It's nearing dusk - many of Luceti's residents will be finishing up their daily activities or returning home or, perhaps, beginning their nightly activities. That new club that opened up sure is a hot spot....and the bar is open until the wee hours of morning sometimes. But whether someone is going home or heading out, they may very well spy out of the corner of their eye a figure curled up with her back pressed to the wall of a building, huddled up in the shadows with her arms and legs drawn up close and tight to her body. She's wearing a dirty, white sun dress - the New Feather garb - but it's much too raggedy for this young woman to be among the new arrivals.
Grinding her teeth together, Perona breathes hard, digging her fingers into her arms to the point where she may begin to bruise them. It's too bright...too hot and bright and burning. She can't leave her little patch of shadows...not yet...but she can hear and see and smell all the people passing by. Each beat of their hearts, every exhale drives her senses crazy and despite how hard she tries to remain in one solitary spot - wait a little longer - a screaming, clawing, biting urge gnaws angrily at the back of her mind. She's so hungry...it's awful. But she can't do anything just yet, and the wait is sickeningly long. But she has to be patient, as much as her legs are itching to spring her at the next person that passes by.
Curious folk ought to be wary, because she will be counting every second it takes for the last rays of light to sink below the horizon, won't hear a word they say against the echoing beat of their hearts in their ears - thu-thump, thu-thump - and she'll look at them only with desire, like a ravenous animal would, and only bare her very new, very sharp fangs at them when the sun has fully set.
Through the night though, and with each unlucky person she nets and feeds from, Perona will regain a little more of her sensibility. By the time she's come full circle and gotten a full grip on herself will she backtrack to where she first arrived back in Luceti and find her journal, addressing a certain person in private, voice low and shaking.]
[Voice: Filtered to Trafalgar Law 80%]
M-Mr. Law? [It takes a moment for her to think of what to even say. How does she even go about explaining this? It's not like she really even wants to come clean, but if there's anyone she could talk to, it'd be Law.] I've--...may I speak with you? Now.
[Her head's swimming, trying to find words and how to piece them together. Perona can still taste blood in her mouth, and while half of her finds the notion utterly revolting (it's not at all charming like her favorite books make it out to be), the other half she's become finds the decadent, irony taste extremely satisfying.]
By the schoolyard...p-please. [It was the closest building near her. And just as she's about to close her journal, where the journal feed seems like it's ended, she adds in a very tiny voice--] ...Be on your guard.
[Just in case.]
---
[OOC: Okay, just some clarification, but Perona has been returned as a vampire. Chronologically, Law's thread will be last, but let me know if you want Perona from the get-go is ravenous, bloodthirsty hunger or a more sane attempt to get a bite. Characters also don't have to be bitten! Perona can interact with them when she's a little more herself, but the conversations will be very short, and she may attack them, which gives the option of the character also escaping.
And yes, she still have her Devil Fruit abilities, too, so if you want your character attacked by them or not, let me know. You can ping me on plurk (
[Action]
[He stops, a short distance away, his hand slightly outstretched towards her at the growl.] Miss?
[Action]
Her once dark irises are a grim wine color around the edge, and she looks more monstrous than lovely...and if Perona's lucky, she'll make a grab for that outstretched arm and pull it right toward her mouth. It's instinctual now - she knows exactly where she needs to sink her teeth into if she gets him arm in her hands. She just has to be quick... But it shouldn't be difficult, right? He's drunk, she can smell the alcohol on his clothes, on his breath...
This should be easy.]
[Action]
He notes the fangs that he's pretty sure he's never seen on this girl before. The dirty white dress. The change in eye color. At the last possible moment he pulls his arm away and casually side steps with his long legs to position himself behind her and away from her teeth.]
Calm down. I can help you. [Back home on Gunsmoke this would have never been heard of, but four years in Luceti has taught him a couple things.] Are you a vampire?
[Action]
Growling more viciously than before, Perona swipes at Vash again - this time aiming to lash out at his neck with her nails - his voice just a distant buzz that's far away from reaching her now. She wouldn't care for his questions anyway, even if she could hear them. All she cares about is getting a hold on him and sinking her teeth into his flesh to feed herself. Nothing else matters other than her hunger and satisfying that.]
[Action]
PERONA! [He's not sure if she would be surprised or not that he knew her name, but he follows what happens on the journals. Even if he doesn't speak. Names and faces is what he's always had a knack for and he's hoping maybe the shock of knowing it may startle her enough to listen.
If he catches her arm he tries to hold her away from him. His left arm isn't real. She can scratch and bite that all she may want, but if she tries to come at him again he'll let it go and avoid her once more.] I don't want to hurt you. [He'll give that arm a squeeze if he has it, because if she forces his hand. He will. She could hurt someone like this.] Please. Please don't do this.
[Action]
He does indeed catch her arm, and she makes the same mistake of misjudging his wit, flinging herself instantly onto that very arm and trying to sink her teeth right into it. With a mouthful of absolutely nothing, she releases his fake arm and lets out an animalistic shriek. Bastard! He fooled her again, that worthless sack of meat! This shouldn't be happening, she should have punctured his skin by now, she should have been feasting on his blood!
Breathing hard, her body shaking with fury and hunger, she shoots him a bloodthirsty glare, the red around the rims of her irises now spreading to color them completely - deep, dark, purple-red. The arms are no good...she has to go for his neck from here on out.]
[Action]
I'm so sorry.
[Almost like the apology was some kind of spell the gun shoots up with incredible speed as he takes aim for one of her thighs. He just wants to slow her down a bit. Then maybe he could slip behind her and find a way to pin her until this is over.]
[Action]
Of course she tries to get up again, but she can't get more than a few inches off the ground before the pain makes her stop to curl her hands around it. And of course, she struggles, kicking and hissing and looking positively furious. She shrieks a mess of incomprehensible babble Vash's way, her wide eye staring at him, cursing him quietly. After a few minutes of breathing hard, she tries again, trying to force herself to get up and to him.
It doesn't work. Perona gets as far as a few measly inches before she crumples up once more. This time, she kicks out with both legs, clawing and scratching at the ice and snow and lets out a high-pitched shriek. She's enraged that she can't even pursue her prey. And that rage manifests into something white and wispy - like a cloudy mist surrounding her body. Glaring at Vash again, she roars at him, baring her teeth and fangs, and an explosion of white, ghostly forms spread out from the white mist that once surrounded her, flying every way, though some charge him.
Ghosts. A good dozen or more of Perona's negative ghosts erupted from her body, though only a few (two at best) will come at Vash with a vengeance.]
[Action]
He's calculating how hard he'll have to swing the handle of his gun as he tries to move himself into a better position. Staying out of her reach until he can just rush in and jump back in case whatever the Malnosso have done to her causes his calculation to be off and he'll have to try again.
He pauses his careful movement as mist seems to suddenly start to surround Perona.] What the... [Was she about to disappear? Turn into a bat? Vash suddenly finds himself cursing his limited knowledge of vampires. If that is what he's guessing the Malnosso have done to this girl.
He doesn't want her to get away to hurt someone else so he takes the chance to charge in before she can. Then she's roaring and the white explodes taking shapes.] What the hell!?
[Vash jumps far back away from Perona, nearly slipping on some ice but keeping his balance at the last moment. A bad miscalculation as he nearly loses his footing, but exploding ghosts was not something he had expected. He gains it back just in time to move out of the way of the first, but it comes circling back. Vash takes aim and while the noise is loud his bullet sails harmlessly through the ghost's shoulder.]
Yeah, didn't think that would work! [What was he suppose to do about ghosts!? His mind is racing. Ghosts. Bullets don't work. Vampire on the ground. Ice below. Can't hit them. Silver? Where's silver? Does silver wor-BEHIND YOU!
He once heard something about ghosts and iron. Suddenly wishing he didn't have what would be considered an advanced gun on Gunsmoke. He's pretty sure it's mostly steel, but steel was made from iron, right? Lacking better options at the moment he switches his gun to his left hand and swings at the ghost flying at him from behind.
It's not very effective. In fact it's not at all as the ghost continues right through Vash leaving the gunman rather startled at first. Yet, it passing harmlessly right through him. Almost harmlessly.
Vash stares at the revolver in his hand.] W-what am I doing? [He flips the safety back on it before tossing it away from himself. He suddenly feels heavy and he slumps down to his knees, eyes already filling with tears.] I can't. Every time I lift that thing, someone... someone dies. I can't save anyone. I'm sorry, Rem! I'm so sorry! Please, Rem. I don't ever want to hurt anyone again. I want to be with you.
[The tears start coming very freely now.] But I don't deserve it. Wolfwood was right. Legato... everyone. What they say about me is true. Everyone around me dies. I'm a monster who shouldn't have ever been born. It would have been better... Rem... you... you'd...
[Action]
It takes her a few seconds, but eventually Perona manages to crawl her way toward Vash. She grips his clothes feverishly, grip tight as a vice, and pulls him down toward her. This is it, she can finally get a precious few drops of blood. Breathing hard from the exertion that she went through just to get to this point, she focuses her gaze on the male's neck. Swallowing just once reminds her yet again of how dry and pained her throat feels, and she wastes no time in pressing herself against Vash, mouth on his neck and fangs digging into his skin. She's none too gentle about the puncture, either, nor is she about the actual feast. Every draw of his blood she takes is long, hard and swift.
The blood calms her down, though. It appeases the monster, and her eyes close as she drinks deeply. The ghosts disperse into nothing, no longer of any use to their master, and the night is calm and quiet. At last...at last she's gotten what she wanted. She always does. On way or another Perona always gets what she wants.
Always.]
[Action]
The gunman doesn't move as her fingers grip his jacket and he leans down easily with her pull. He even tilts his head back slightly as she leans in towards his neck hopeful that this time maybe Luceti won't send him back. He didn't deserve to come back after all he had done.
He grunts and his muscles tighten for a moment as her teeth sink in. It hurt, but not nearly as bad as he deserved for all he had done. Vash can feel his blood draining from his body; an unsettling feeling he does nothing to try to stop.
Eventually he starts to grow tired. Weak. He begins to slump forward, the only thing keeping him upright now are the fangs in his neck. His eyes feel heavy and the world is spinning.]
R-Re--Rem...
[No. He doesn't deserve her. She won't be there waiting for a murderer like him. With a sigh he shuts his eyes and drifts away into sleep as he waits to be completely drained.]
[Action]
Drinking deep, Perona's mind begins to fog as well, but with a content, almost euphoric feeling. It's so good to ease the ache of her throat, and the taste is perfection to a starving animal, a true monster. A throty growl rumbles in her chest again, but this time it's more like a purr or a grunt. She's filled up enough with this one, and she can now taste the taint in his blood - the alcohol. Now that she's no longer ravenous she can begin to be picky.
Releasing Vash, Perona sighs happily and licks over her lips, shoving him away from her like a broken, unwanted toy. She's done with this one. He's sated her enough and now his blood taste bitter and strong - too much of whatever he was drinking before masks the sweet, irony taste she hungers for. But this wasn't enough. Not even close to filling her appetite. She needs more, another one without the vulgar taste of ale or wine or whatever this fool had.
Easing herself upright - hissing from the pain in her leg - Perona hobbles back into the darkness of the alleyways to await yet another fool to stray to close. Someone hopefully weaker, less quick, and not a staggering drunk.]