And ate the fellow, raw

[belladonic]

WHO: Claudia and 🥩you🥩
WHERE: Near the mine entrance, and near the fountain
WHAT: Claudia is always hungry
WHEN: After being freed from the Warrens
WARNINGS: Read this before tagging! Animal death right at the top.


a. outskirts
The stench of the carcass worsened as the blood cooled and congealed. It was already strange and sour, more than the usual earthy, gamy taste of a wild creature, tainted with fear and sick with watching fire rain from the sky. The thing had been thin and trembling, venturing at long last back to a familiar grazing ground only to find no safety there still. Claudia sat hunched on a felled log next to where it remained, its wild blood warming her through and staining her from chin to navel. Worse still, it was in her hair. Hair that had been growing increasingly untamed, difficult to control under the best conditions and with the help of expert hands, now subject to being torn through with a brittle stick as Claudia tried in vain to comb it. The struggle made it almost impossible to appreciate the hum and sing of nightlife around her, insects and frogs, or what sounded like them, darting through the underbrush, fat and unafraid after their predators were drained from the veins of this wood, flowing away from the volcano, and leaving the earth lush under the density of ash. It should have been a welcome song after being in the unnatural depths of those tunnels. And then there was the smell.

It hadn't taken Claudia long to return to the site of their burial, tiptoeing curiously around the mouth of that cave, sniffing the air for the fungal presence of the dancing mushrooms. The dark of it seemed to crouch threateningly in the moonlight now, and she had thrown a stone into that gaping maw, listening to it clatter down the tunnel until the sound had disturbed something above it. It made her stomach growl. Sniffing at it now, she wasn't sure how that was, and yet even with the taste still on her tongue she felt the hunger claw at her again. She brandished the stick she was trying to use as a comb at the carcass and admonished, "I don't even like you," like the rot and bones could do anything about it now. In response, a beetle came wiggling up through the slick of it, torn skin sliding off of its polished shell. Claudia bared her fangs, and turned her nose up to the wind again, searching for another warm body.

b. downtown
Without the glownies in their enclosure, the wind seemed to rattle the rafters and the straw on the ground looked one more night from blowing away. The flies didn't even remain, followed to wherever the herd had fled when abandoned, leaving only Claudia sitting on the fence where she could kick her legs and look mournfully into the empty sprawl. It wasn't even that she wanted the glownies to be there, for a fact; with no trace of them, she could only imagine the great mass of them all running together through the trees, and that was wonderful. And they weren't even that appetizing. But she was hungry, and one of those beasts would have at least come and eaten from her hand with its big, stupid eyes, completely unaware of its impending end. The other beasts around here weren't so easy to find out at night. Maybe, if she was lucky, she'd spy one wandering through he square, alone as most of them ever seemed to be, trusting the world to be so gentle with them even after it had spit fire at them.

She slipped from the fence and went skipping out into the fresh air, under the shimmer of the moon at its peak in the sky, and paused there to carefully fix her skirt and her hair, and tested a trembling pout before evaluating herself with a slightly unimpressed twist of her mouth. It was probably convincing enough for the meat. Now she just had to wait, turning her ear up to listen for any approach, like she wasn't in the centre of the city that should have been teeming like blood under the skin even at this hour of the night. Instead, it was like she was waiting for a lonely farmer to stumble out to the swamp to relieve himself.

There, a sound. Claudia glanced around herself to pluck up a stone torn loose from some damage to the building above, raising it over her head to drop unceremoniously to the road and let the sound of it ring through the dark streets. A beat later, she cried, "Oh, no," as miserable as she could manage. It took her another second to consider that she should maybe be on the ground for the most effective performance, and gingerly lowered herself, patting away the pebbles that might dig into her legs where she lounged.

Comments

b. downtown

[the_freak]

Eddie didn't expect to be playing hero when he went out for a snack run, and he cursed at the sound of the cry that followed the clatter of stone. Shit, shit, shit. Where was anyone more suited for this? He took off towards the noise, alarmed at the sight of the girl on the ground as he approached.

"Did it hit you?"

[belladonic]

Oh, this one was perfect. He didn't smell so strange, not like most of the people that walked these streets, and he already looked so worried. She could already feel the beat of his heart, rushed like it couldn't wait to be tasted. Claudia made to shift off of her hip and winced like she regretted it, keeping her hands planted weakly on the ground and letting her eyes well with humiliated tears that she wouldn't let fall. The boy's fear would pulse very differently if he saw the red stain her cheeks. "I wasn't looking, everything is so ruined," she said miserably. "It's like the whole place is going to come down."

[the_freak]

She looked young, maybe around the same age as Dustin and the others. Maybe a little younger, it was hard to tell in the dark, and with those old clothes. Or maybe it was the miserable tone and teary eyes. Either way, Eddie felt that protective urge he did for all his little Sheepies, and raised his hands to try and stop her from moving, stooping by her side. She didn't seem to be bleeding, not that he could see at least.

"You're all right. This place is a mess, I nearly fell through a patch of floor earlier," he shared with a laugh to try and help reassure her. "Do you need me to take you up to the hospital? Get you checked out?"

[belladonic]

From the ground, he seemed to loom over her, or at least that was how she reacted as he bent closer and shied away cautiously; just a stoop of he shoulders, and demurely watchful sidelong look, her knees drawing up a little closer, and her laugh in return short and a clear display if politeness. A vulnerable girl on her own had to play some parts to keep a man pleased with her position.

"Oh, no, no, I think I was just startled," Claudia said, and brought a hand to her chest to emphasize, "I'll just need to catch my breath, no reason to pull the doctor out of bed. I'll be all right here, thank you, it's not that dark..." It was really quite strikingly dark without any streetlamps or even a warm glow from a window overhead.

[the_freak]

Breathing out a sigh of relief, Eddie felt much less pressure to be the responsible adult, tension noticeably leaving his shoulders.

"I mean, it's pretty fucki-uh...pretty dark," he said, poorly censoring himself as he looked around. "No shame in being scared in a place like this, trust me."

b as well

[work_wife]

Listen, Robin was not one to be out alone at night. Not anymore. Too many dark and creepy things to deal with in Hawkins to make her comfortable with it. But the Upside-Down wasn't here, and she had intended to head for the diner to whip up an evening snack before going back to her room to make plans for the coming month. The cuffs of her pants and her shirt were dirty with ash, she wanted a long shower to end the night, so really, she shouldn't be taking so long.

But fuck, the stars were so pretty out here at night. There were no street lights, so you could just see forever, or so it felt.

That's why Robin was looking up when she walked the streets. IT wasn't why she jumped with a nervous little yelp when she heard the tumble of rocks. And then a voice.

People here haven't been dangerous so Robin, some helpful girl from the middle of nowhere, can't help but move for the voice. Sounds like some girl was in trouble.

"Hey out there," she said as she approached. "Where are you? Dammit, I need a flashlight so bad."

[belladonic]

The darkness was no veil for Claudia, who say as well as if the sun was at its height above them, and the reflection of every star off of the surface of the fountain or polished slope of a cobblestone was a shimmering glow. She could watch this girl's approach for what felt like a mile. And under the cover of dark, after the girl called out and seemed to meander after some other scent, Claudia's perfectly poised distress dropped with an impatient huff and roll of her eyes, and Claudia drummed her fingers thoughtfully on he street as she considered her next lure.

"Quickly, please, oh, it's so dark," she decided to agree, tremulous and pitched youthfully high, under she was dropping the character once more to rest her head on her shoulder where she was still propped up on one elbow, and watch this searching girl with a critical purse of her lips.

[work_wife]

Oh, she was clearly turned the wrong way. The voice calls out again and Robin turns toward it, making her way toward it.

"I mean, it's not a full moon but it's not that bad," she mumbles to herself as she approaches, at last, the girl.

[belladonic]

Excellent, she already wasn't taking Claudia seriously. How riotously humiliating it was going to be to realize what lurked in the dark. Claudia drew herself up as the girl approached to put her face in her hands, in part to cover the tug of her smirk so she could more convincingly sob, "I know I'm supposed to be grown, daddy's always telling me there's nothing to be afraid of..." She shuddered a few times for effect, for a poor girl who was in this strange world all on her own, where there really were monsters in the dark.

[work_wife]

"Oh, there's actually a lot to be afraid of," Robin says as she finally approaches the young woman. "There's a lot of them back where I'm from. Which probably isn't polite to talk about when you're already scared. Come on, let me help you to the hotel, or the diner. Get you all comfortable."

See, she can be helpful.

a

[thepurpleone]

It was late, maybe- impossible to tell when you already had a screwy sleep schedule, and Donnie had completely lost track of the hours down below. Right now, he was quite awake, and decided to make the most of his wakefulness by doing some scouting. Perhaps not the best time to do so considering how dark everything was, but at the same time, he was used to operating at night. It was just that the city was usually more lively and lit up.

The cooler temperatures at least made venturing around more tolerable, the evening air prompting him to pull on his purple hoodie over battle shell and all before he'd set out to prowl. With the recent volcano eruption still fresh on his mind, he couldn't help but think that maybe having a setup within a close vicinity of the place would make more sense for... Well, for what, really? It was probably laughable to be so concerned over the location of a garden, a fresh plot for what was left of his plants from the outside experimental group. Maybe the whole thing was pointless...

Donnie paused, head lifting. Was that a sound? But then the night was filled with many sounds, all of them foreign and loud; one would say the city was loud but to his ears, the natural ambiance of a virtually dead city was deafening and he didn't even have his techno music to drown it out.

[belladonic]

A crack like a twig being snapped, muffled by the brush, came from the edge of the wood, and all of the sound around it dampened like a spreading bruise as the small, crying creatures fled, or went still and prayed that the predator that might have made the sound turned their attention elsewhere. It made no following utterance, but the dry grass whispered with a sudden gust that continued to blow out across the road, making dust and ash swirl even as a dark figure came to a frozen halt just a few feet from the treeline.

She wasn't any taller than Donnie, narrow shouldered and dressed in a long skirt that swayed through the grass with the breeze. The moonlight didn't reveal much more, but a bright wildness in the reflective shine of her eyes, glint of her terribly white claws, and a wetness that glistened and slid slowly down. In the cool of the night, a heat curled off of her like steam.

She was definitely looking at him. The limp, furry thing clutched in one hand was slowly lifted aside, that billow of condensation trailing after it until its heart stopped beating, and it hit the ground with a wet splatter.

[thepurpleone]

This place at night was only a step away from being wilderness and Donnie hated it. The sharp noise that punctuated and then just as quickly quelled the sound of the night life made him freeze in turn. He swallowed as he tried in vain to make anything out in the dark, although once a figure did step into view, the turtle wasn't sure if that made him feel any better.

One of the many humans who made up the scant little Temba population, although even then he could only guess by general shape, but there was something else that made him question even that much of his observation. He watched her anxiously from beneath the shadow of his hood, half wondering if she was really there or some kind of apparition. The look in her eyes, it was unsettling, the claws- wait, claws? His weight shifted, and he took a step back. He wasn't too sure exactly what she held in that clawed hand but the sound from its fall wasn't at all reassuring.

And still his logical mind grasped for some reasoning to this all; that look in her eyes, the wisping streams, perhaps he'd caught her in the middle of some late night exercises. The claws... he had little explanation for, much less the tiny wet body...o-oh, that was a body, wasn't it...

[belladonic]

He only had a moment to make that realization. The moment he shifted, she tensed, her hand still held aloft curling and catching the light, those claws twisted into a hungry grasp. The rest of the prey at the edge of the trees had known well enough to go still and silent. Just this one moved.

The whisper came again, like a gust of wind cutting through the grass, the only warning Claudia's meal got before she was on him, covering the ground in a heartbeat. To her, it was two long steps, and then a leap to throw herself bodily up around his shoulders, where she could paralyze him in a tangle of limbs as she tore into his throat.

[thepurpleone]

Maybe it was some deep-rooted animal instinct that finally kicked in, maybe partially ninja reflex, but the sound this time wasn't something he ignored. Donnie dug his heel into the ground, pivoted and-

Ohcrapshe'sfast!

He could be fast but he was still caught off guard by her speed. Lanky as he was, he still managed to bear her weight as he felt her upon him. Maybe coming into contact with the armor of his shell beneath his hoodie would at least throw off her immediate attempts, but he staggered forward all the same with a yelp.

b.

[ashwantstobattle]

Ash and Pikachu are out for late night walk as the Pokemon trainer was having some difficulty sleeping. He usually did right before or after something big. It does him good to walk around in the cool night air, Pikachu walking happily beside him. He doesn't plan on being out for too long but the sudden thudd, followed by a girl's distressed voice has him moving before his brain is able to fully register what he's doing, Pikachu dashing along side of him.

"Miss, are you alright?" He rushes onto the scene, skidding to a stop before moving over to assess the girl to see if he maybe needed to kind that doctor lady.

"Pikachu?" Pikachu questions, head tilted. There was something felt off but he couldn't quite put his paw on it.

[belladonic]

A little kid by his lonesome in the middle of the night running toward her was already enough to surprise Claudia, and for once she was on the other side of that interaction, feeling the instinct to look around for his guardian or the smoke over the rooftops of his bed that clearly must have been burning down. Coupled with that, the strange animal whom she had only glimpsed in the caves coming right up to her and chirping was almost enough to shock her entirely out of her performance, staring at it with fascination while still sat daintily on the road, held up by one hand. "Does it bite?" she was compelled to ask without bothering to answer the child's question, already reaching a hand out to find out for herself if she could touch its head. She knew how deadly a bite could be, but hadn't met anything yet to fear.

[ashwantstobattle]

"Huh?" Ash glances down at Pikachu at the question. "Not without a reason to." He offers confidently. Besides, getting bit by a Pikachu is usually not the concern people have with an electric rodent. "I'm Ash, this is Pikachu."

"Pika." Pikachu raises a paw in greeting before climbing back up to Ash's shoulder, still feeling a little suspicious.

"Are you okay? It sounded like you might have been hurt or something."

[belladonic]

It did seem very friendly, like the snakes that the men near the docks carried, and took tips from the fine people who had never been down to the swamp before. She doubted this boy was set on stealing her pocketbook though, and she pouted when she didn't get the chance to touch the animal. Oh, right, she was meant to be pathetic.

"Something fell, scared me right out of my wits," she said, patting at her hair and looking up cautiously at the crumbling building. "It's fine to be out in the fresh air again, but I'm thinking those tunnels might have been safer for someone clumsy like me."

[ashwantstobattle]

Ash glances over where the rock had fallen. It could have really hurt someone- good thing it had just missed. "Yeah, guess it can be kinda dangerous." He comments before moving a little closer to the girl, Pikachu still seems a little wary.

"Once we get things cleaned up again it'll be safe for everyone." At least, that's what he's hoping for. "For now, maybe it'd be a good idea to go back inside? Pikachu can knock some rocks away but it's better not to put yourself in danger if you can avoid it."

"Pika?" Pikachu looks at Ash skeptically. "Pikachu pika. pipi pika chu pika."

"That's different." Ash waves off whatever Pikachu said to him

b.

[buildingitsir]

He hasn’t been by the glownie pen since the holidays. He should’ve been by sooner since then and meeting Miss Lark, but he hasn’t. So now, after the volcano ordeal, he wants to check on them.

He follows the odd sound of a rock, trailed by the wail of a girl. A girl that he hasn’t seen before as he approaches where the creatures had been kept at some point.

The android looks down at her, hoodie over his head and a teal glow on his neck. "The fuck are you crying for? They‘ll be back eventually." His tone is crass but there’s some concern on his face as he stands over her, blinking.

He doesn’t get it, but he’s also never had a pet before.

[belladonic]

This one smelled strange, and the sound of him...A chugging, like a heart already drowning in its own blood, rather than that appetizing beat. He hadn't been this close to her before, and Claudia thought the mysteries of him would be more clear when he finally approached, only to persist. In contrast, his lily-white arrogance wasn't nearly so alien.

She was going to have to feel out which role to play that would excite him more, but either one meant letting her accent drag her tongue down heavy, all honey-slow as she tried, "Sorry, I didn't know anyone else was here." She kept her head bowed to watch him through her lashes as she pushed carefully away from him to right herself, dutifully dusting her skirt to be more presentable, with only a quick swipe at her cheek and choked sniffle.

[buildingitsir]

That beat sounded more mechanical than a regular heart - like one replaced by machinery. There's warmth to him, even with the cold teal light and his matching colored eyes.

He thinks of what Reeve or Richie would do in this situation. Maybe not be an asshole for starters. There's a huff of warm air, and he goes over like he's about to squat to her level, but she gets to her feet first. Whoever this girl is, she still looks... distraught. About the glownies. York looks about for a moment, as though one of the fluffy creatures would spring out of thin air for her at any moment.

"I think almost anyone would come running at such a wail." He sounds annoyed. The android looks at her. "I haven't really seen you around much. You new or did you get caught up in this volcano bullshit?" The accent was... interesting. His information pegged it as maybe somewhere in the marshlands of the united states of america, but it could be other places in the south as well.

[belladonic]

He might have been satisfied in making Claudia apologize for her own humiliation, at least he didn't yet seem too keen on making her wail himself, so she gave a dutiful flinch at how pathetically he characterized the sound she had deigned to make and then nodded, keeping her eyes averted, of course, she shouldn't have presumed to be so noisy. She then genuinely wasn't sure if he was asking in anticipation of an answer, or to berate her for speaking up if she tried, and her cautious sidelong look wasn't really part of the game. He didn't seem to be poised to interrupt her, but he didn't seem to be thinking anything at all.

"The volcano, I saw it--I've never seen anything like it before in my life, or like those caves or those little mushroom folks," she admitted, betraying some of the wonder she felt with a bright-eyed glance toward the now dormant mountain, biting her lips like she rather hoped it would start to glow again. She was still looking at it when she said very calmly, and more enunciated, "I've seen you."

[buildingitsir]

"Yeah we didn’t have any volcanoes in Detroit, either. This whole thing was bullshit." But he’s been saying that since he got here. This place is bullshit, it’s stupid, all manner of adjectives but here he was. Still stuck here. Beats being in his Detroit, York supposes.

His hand extends out to her. He’s missed the strangeness of her eyes when she moves because she seems to be completely normal at the moment. "York Stark. Why check on the glownies now in the middle of the night anyways?"

Humans are fucking weird.