3/29 Instance: Getting Ahead of Ourselves

[Slarti]

Timelined the day after Little Prick and People are Strange

<Angelina> Between classes, Angel decided to head into the kitchen to find something to eat. Surprisingly there were enough things for her to make a salad, so that's what she did. After filling the counter with every vegetable she could find, she started to make herself a giant salad.

<Cecilia> Cecilia rounded the corner into the kitchen after her last morning class and made a bee-line for the fridge, rummaging inside for her prize. "..." She lifted up an empty container that read 'Cecilia's - Eat My Lunch & Die'. "Someone ate my sandwich?! Goddammit!"

<Angelina> "Allora, people here are scavengers," Angel laughed, giving Cecilia a sympathetic smile. "Would you like some salad? I'll definitely have plenty to share."

<Cecilia> "If you don't mind," Cecilia said, throwing the Tupperware into the sink and sitting on heavily on a barstool. "...I thought saying it was mine was enough to discourage people...next time I'm gonna write I'll decapitate them, that'll show 'em."

<Angelina> "Selene used to label things as experiments, or body parts, or even hide them in lemons." Angel got out another bowl and started dividing up her greens.

<Cecilia> Cecilia laughed. "I liked Selene. What little I saw of her at any rate, I came here just before she was...taken and now she's gone..." She shrugged, "I guess people move on."

<Angelina> "She moved on to the big leagues with her husband, si? The official team, non lo so," she laughed, chopping a tomato and cursing in Italian when the juice squirted onto her pantsuit.

<Cecilia> Cecilia handed over the washcloth from the sink. "Well...not to be rude, but I'm not planning to do this the rest of my life either. The team does good things, but I'd rather my excitement stay in the more normal range as opposed to the truly outrageous, know what I'm saying?"

<Cecilia> Her Bronx accent was getting much stronger talking to Angel. It'd been awhile since she'd talked to someone from a similar race and background.

<Angelina> "I got you." She murmured a grazi for the cloth and rubbed at her suit in annoyance. "I left for a long time myself and finished school in Sicily. Allora, when I learned they needed help here I came back, but this isn't forever." Angel flicked her wings back. At least she didn't think it would stain now.

<Cecilia> "Really?" Cecilia said, a little surprised. "That's funny 'cause it seems like Scott...sorry, Dr. Summers, hasn't left at all really other than when the Traskland shit happened. At least not that I've heard of."

<Angelina> "Scott and I... allora, we've had a complicated history, yo," Angel snorted, falling back into her own old speech patterns. "Been through a lot together and apart."

<Cecilia> "Mm," Cecilia remarked, wondering if her own story would be similar. "I suppose that's how these things work, yeah? We hurt those we love the most and any relationship that means anything to you inevitably brings pain."

<Cecilia> "...Sorry, that's a bit pessimistic," Cecilia laughed. "I didn't mean to get so deep before the drinks were handed out."

<Angelina> Fluttering her wings, Angel touched her dragonfly earring. "But you're right, I suppose. Hate looking at it that way, but it's the truth." Looking down into the salad bowls, she made a face and shook it off.

<Angelina> "Let's just find some dressing and we'll see if we still need the cocktails after lunch, si?"

<Cecilia> "...You'd let me drink?" Cecilia said, raising an eyebrow. "You know I'm not nineteen till May, right?"

<Angelina> Angel laughed. "Girl, didn't I just say I lived in Europe? And it isn't like I never had a drink under age. You forget I was a student here too. I know how it is."

<Cecilia> "Goddamn I love Europe!" Cecilia laughed. "So far everything from there has been great...maybe I'll have to think of setting up shop there once I'm done here..." It was a thought.

<Angelina> "So do I. I have family there, and it feels a lot like home too now." Angel grinned and went to raid the fridge for salad dressings... and some things in bottles she wasn't sure were really salad dressing.

<Cecilia> "That must be great," Cecilia said, getting up to inspect the salad dressing. "Only overseas family I have is in Puerto Rico...and they don't really talk to me much." She frowned a little at that.

<Angelina> "And Puerto Rico is kind of overseas light, I suppose," she laughed. Picking up one of the more mysterious bottles, she opened it and took a sniff. "Dio mio!"

<Cecilia> Cecilia cringed at the smell. "Ugh, God! I didn't know salad dressing could go that bad! That must've been in there for ages." She sighed. "Well, it is, but it's still home. I was born there, y'know."

<Angelina> "Oh, si?" Angel didn't think her acid spit even smelled that bad, so she screwed the lid back on it and was on the way to throw it away when she heard the loud thud.

<Angelina> "...Did you hear something?" She looked at Cecilia and then toward the door leading to the foyer, head tilted. The sound didn't repeat.

<Cecilia> "Yeahuh," Cecilia said, following close behind. "Sounded like a paperweight getting dropped on the carpet."

<Angelina> "Allora, around here I expect weird noises, but it almost sounded like it came from the front door." Angel made it to said door, her heels clicking on the tile floor of the foyer, and peeked outside. Seeing nothing, she opened it.

<Angelina> The spring breeze was pleasant as she stepped out onto the stone landing, looking around. Nothing.

<Cecilia> Cecilia wasn't so interested in the pleasant outdoors at the moment though. "AI!" She screamed, leaping back and pointing at the door. "ANGEL!" There was a blood splatter on the door.

<Angelina> She spun around and her hands flew to her mouth with a gasp. "Dio mio! What now?" She looked down and all around her feet, buzzing her wings and lifting up just to make sure she wasn't stepping in blood.

<Cecilia> Cecilia shielded up, eyes swerving from side to side. "They could be anywhere," she said. “The property's enormous. We need to sound the alarm. This might be a prelude to an attack!"

<Angelina> "Si." Angel slicked her hair back from her face with both hands, to better look around as she buzzed higher. "Facade, go-" She cut off when she saw it - small and dark - off to the side at the bottom of the steps and almost in the shrubbery. "What is that?"

<Cecilia> Cecilia looked over. "I dunno," she approached the object, expecting to find a rock with a threatening note attached to it or something very similar. It looked...a bit like a dead animal. "Oh for fuck's sake, it's a dead squirrel or something," she said to Angel. "Must've thrown it against the door."

<Cecilia> She picked up a stick nearby to move it and get a better look at it. "This had better not be some dumb prank 'cause right now this shit is not-"

<Cecilia> Cecilia stopped talking abruptly and turned so ashen that it was alarming, but she did not pass out and she did not scream. This would be a point of pride later, especially when she realized what -who- was looking up at her.

<Angelina> She touched down right behind Cecilia, starting to warn her not to touch it - she remembered Forge, after all - when she realized what it was. She could make out dark hair and an ear, at least, but when the object rolled free of the bush, she knew.

<Angelina> Angel did scream, hands flying to cover her mouth. "Dio Mio! Sebastian! No!"

<Cecilia> Cecilia was quiet for a long time, eerily calm considering the situation. "...Where's the rest of him?" She said, feeling very unreal all of a sudden.

<Cecilia> She got up and stumbled off the porch, looking around. "...We gotta find the rest of him."

<Angelina> "Mi sento male..." Angel still hadn't taken her hands from her mouth, and tears were filling her eyes.

<Angelina> Finally she touched down and crouched beside the head, just to be sure. Sebastian's pale blue eyes stared back up at her and she gagged. Other than the blood staining his face, there were no marks, no bruises, just that familiar symbol etched into his forehead. His neck was a shredded mess of flesh, as if it had been gnawed off.

<Angelina> "Dio Mio..." she repeated.

<Cecilia> Cecilia stumbled back, removing her sweater and putting it over the head. "...Don't look..." she said, patting Angel's back. Still weirdly calm, though her breathe seemed to be hitching more now. "He's not there anymore...he can't suffer now."

<Cecilia> ...She'd spoken once to him. Only once but she'd liked him...and now he was dead. The second person she knew that was murdered...How many more?

<Angelina> "Me ne infischiio!" Angel wailed. "They ate him!"

<Angelina> Backing away, she looked around. Nothing. She could see nothing, but it had only been moments. "And they're watching us..."

<Angelina> Spreading her arms and her wings, Angel took a stance at the bottom of the steps. "Vaffanculo, ti faccia di merda! Ti ammazzo! Ucciderò ognuno di voi!"

<Cecilia> Cecilia didn't understand a fucking word Angel was saying but she spoke a similar enough language to guess it was swearing. "...Fuck me," she said, feeling suddenly sick.

<Cecilia> Fuck her, indeed. She was going to be sick - again. She rushed over to the opposite side of the porch and retched into the bushes.

<Angelina> Nothing came at her from the empty drive or the woods, in fact, birds were singing now that her echoing rant had died. The chirping stopped at the sound behind her and she went to Cecilia, spell broken.

<Angelina> "Mi dispiace, bella," she said, rubbing the girl's back. "You're right... there's nothing we can do, so we have to go inside... sound the alarm." Now, she was just tired. Tired and horrified and she was crying, she realized, when she rubbed her eyes.

<Cecilia> Cecilia spat over the edge of the porch and wiped her mouth. "Fuck me..." she muttered hoarsely. "That's the third fucking time this week! Those fuckers...I'm gonna kill him. You hear me? I'm gonna kill him I swear to Christ!"

<Angelina> Angel gave a dry laugh, but choked on it. "Si... that's what I said. Allora, more or less." She kicked off her heels and picked them up, glancing once more over to the sweater covering what was left of Sebastian Shaw. "Riposo, il mio amico."

<Angelina> "Let's go." She urged. "We'll have to call the police too..."

<Cecilia> "Goddammit..." Cecilia said, wiping her mouth and lurching towards the door. "Not again. I don't wanna talk to them again..."

<Angelina> "Neither do I... especially Eddie..." She climbed the steps slowly, but still had to look back once more before she reached the door. It seemed so wrong to just leave him there...

<Cecilia> She paused and looked towards where the head....Sebastian was. "En otro tiempo, en otra vida, espero que encuentres algo de paz ... Te estaré viendo de nuevo," she said quietly.

<Cecilia> ((Spanish: In another time, in another life, I hope you find some peace...I'll be seeing you again.))

<Cecilia> "...He didn't have any family did he?" Cecilia asked Angel.

<Angelina> Like Cecilia, Angel understood the gist of that, and sighed. "No, he didn't."

<Cecilia> "...I'm not sure if that's bad or good," Cecilia admitted. "I'm sorry, I know you were friends...we gotta leave him for a bit...the cops will want a look. They'll already have a beef with me covering his face but I don't care, we can't...we can't let someone else see this."

<Cecilia> Her hands were shaking. "I'll...I'll go find Charles and you'll call the cops?" She said, making her way unsteadily to the door.

<Angelina> "That sounds like a plan..." She didn't want to think about it now, but she wouldn't be able to forget his blank eyes. "You did the right thing..."

<Angelina> She sighed and went inside. "Let's just get this over with."

<Cecilia> Cecilia nodded. "...That's the third one I've found," she said, flatly. "You don't think the cops...?" Nevermind the cops, now. What about the other students? She'd befriended Quent. Invited him to the school! As if they needed any more reasons to doubt her or lose faith in her.

<Angelina> "The cops what?" Angel shoved her hand through her hair and looked over at Cecilia. She wasn't closing the door... in fact, she was staring at the blood stain on it.

<Cecilia> "Nothing," Cecilia said quickly. She looked away from the blood stain bloodspattersonthebrickwall on the door. "I think I'll go...upstairs now. Find...find Charles."

<Angelina> Angel nodded numbly. "Okay."

<Cecilia> Cecilia nodded and waved a hand as she went. "Nos veremos otra vez."

<Cecilia> ((Spanish: I'll see you again.))

[steyn]

Oh dear... this is bad, I started liking him more and suddenly you go and Whedon him.

[Starfish]

More than ever, Shaw could really do with someone... giving him some... head. Yeeeeaaaah!

[Chaos]

Eeeh, I still think Shaw's a cut above the rest. ;3

He really lost his head over this. x3

Clearly, he pays his barber too much - sure he just asked for 'a little off the top'. xD

That's a real slice of life. :DDD