the black bean massacre; action

[mongoosegrin]

[Alex shoved the stupid little bean stuck in his pocket into the dirt of one of Edel’s plants before setting off, just before the sun rose.

he’s been very careful about a single thing and careless about the rest, but he’s finally, finally done it. blood - not his - is soaking the ground near his feet, and the animal is dead and no one or no thing

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(LOCKED TO PRINCE SIEGFRIED)

[mongoosegrin]

[as Fexis’ belly swells with the souls of the slain, it grows in girth and strength to pick Alex up under the arms and practically carry him along the path. to the water, odd-colored but water regardless, it drops the body at its base and twists him to face it and drink.

physical shapes are such troublesome, high-maintenance things.]

Re: (LOCKED TO PRINCE SIEGFRIED)

[richest_heart]

[Siegfried comes along the path; his steps earnest and his face set with fresh determination. Now that Rue is with him again, he must do something to show her his affections. Though his previous attempt at obtaining flowers was so ill-fated, he still finds the idea pleasant.

However, when he comes across that odd figure, he pauses, his feet automatically assuming what is for him both a ballet and battle stance. He cannot say why, but he has a chill dashing along his spine.]

Excuse me... Might I ask what business you have here?

[mongoosegrin]

[Fexis pulls Alex's head out of the water, coughing and sputtering. he groans, rolling his eyes Siegfried's way as he's told, but registers nothing. bah! such a child...must Fexis do everything?

that mongoose shape is still clutching, affixed by lengths of itself that stretch and thin the further it drifts away. it floats off the perch it made of Alex's head and begins to swell, a back absent of spine curling into a sharp u-shape and a neck twisting in a serpentine fashion.

it bares ghostly, wavering teeth as it snarls, grinning.]

[richest_heart]

[He draws in a sharp breath, hopping elegantly back and calling forth his sword in a flash of clean light. The only reason he had hesitated with his weapon before was the lack of open aggression- his nature is not a violent one, whatever his skill as a fighter. However, the plain threat sees a swan-graced blade leveled at his apparent enemy.]

What are you?

[For all that his eyes are wide with shock, he does not waver as he takes in his monstrous opponent. All that he currently fears is what might happen if he hesitates.]

[mongoosegrin]

Shishishishishi-- [--Fexis laughs, encouraging a lazy grin from Alex. he wobbles to his feet, shaking by the ankles with the numbing of pain, and wipes the water off his chin.] Ghaa...ha...[he stares dimly ahead and begins to shift posture as Fexis wishes, mannequin-like in action.

one arm lifts, twists the hand, and twitches. come now, sword.]

[richest_heart]

[With grim determination, he accepts the invitation. His sword gleams as he dashes forward to strike, the steady grace of his movements sharply contrasting the grotesque twitching of his opponent. He pivots en pointe just before he makes his final step to complete the blow with a swift spin, intending to carry the blade into the creature's side with his other arm flowing behind him for balance.]

Speak to me! Or do words escape your foul tongue entirely? Tell me your purpose!

[mongoosegrin]

[Alex rocks back in counter to the swing of the blade, closing his eyes as Fexis drops like a rock, shrinking and slithering down his face and hopping to the sword, little feet prancing fast like its on fire, doing a fast pair of twirls around it before dropping to the ground, tugging the sword along with it by the tail.

in sync, Alex's knee shoots up to hit the closest bodypart.]

[richest_heart]

[Siegfried gasps as the sword is pulled sharply from his grip, and he is only just preparing to spring away when the spry motion is disrupted by a cruel kick to the stomach. He grimaces, biting back a cry when his feet miss the ground, and he can only regain some measure of imprecise control by scraping his hands against the ground. Instead of rising immediately, he lunges for his weapon, knowing well that his chances rest on it. He will not allow himself to lose now, not now, when his reason for fighting has returned-]

[mongoosegrin]

[Fexis is free of the sword and darting up Alex's leg, hissing and slurring a strange sequence of sounds at his ear. Alex drops his foot down on the small of Siegfried's back and presses his weight forward, down.]

[richest_heart]

[Again, he gasps, this time not from shock, but simply from the breath leaving him. His face meets the ground next in a burst of bruises and blood, making it all the more difficult to replace both air and the strength that followed it from his lungs. Thoughts come, but fuzzily. His princess returns to him, and so quickly, he might be taken from her.

And with that, adrenaline courses from his heart together with what he can only call desperation; the feeling is both unfamiliar and unwelcome, but he takes advantage of it to struggle.]

[mongoosegrin]

[Alex leans and leans and comes to sit on the struggling prince all reeking of some storybook magic funk. smell it, child? awful, this one is, too... Fexis scurries down to lurk before Siegfried's face, perpetually grinning and inhaling deep.

one foot on one side of the dirt at the prince's shoulder, one on the other, bare and blackening around the soles. he stamps the heel of one twice, giving it a shake to lengthen the links of chain spilling out. Fexis scoops a link up in its mouth, grinning, and drags it closer, dropping it and letting its tongue loll like an eager dog.

Alex, with just a finger and thumb of dexterity, feels blindly around Siegfried's scalp, trying to snatch a bunch of hair and pull his head up.]

[richest_heart]

No!

[For a moment, his composure shatters. He had just a story for so long, words weaving into his heart and denying it freedom. At the end of his tale, he was given no mere "Happily Ever After" but a life, a love surely too perfect for the reality he forged from a story.

And now here is mortality, he is certain of it; it twists his face with terror and sets him wrenching wildly, painfully against the grip in his hair. I'm sorry, my princess! Rue... I am... This should not be!

Yet it is... If this is to be the end of him, not just his story, then he should face it with dignity befitting a prince. He forces his harsh breath to a halt in his throat, falling stiffly still and summoning reserves of courage with a natural ease. He will flinch no longer, even when some blade slashes across his throat.]

[mongoosegrin]

[once the fight leaves the body below him, Alex's face smooths to a rather serene smile, spurred on by the cackling of the beast on the ground before him. oh, oh child, you are so much stronger than the filth here! such strength, i chose so well, i did. do it, go now, this one is worth making an example of!

a good example...

he remembers his mother holding the legs still, back when he was a boy. when he climbed to the head of the bed and shook his foot to loose the chain, like so...Alex holds the prince's head up steady while Fexis noses the chain below.

he remembers how utterly novice he was, desperately coiling links around the throat; it's methodical and as unconscious a movement as blinking now, winding it around the neck once, leaving length to wrap around his wrist.

he doesn't have all his fingers to grip this time around, after all.

Fexis slithers up Alex's leg and climbs to his arm, limbs like limp noodles as they coil around his wrist as well, and begins to tug it taut.

yes, child, exactly. just like so. just like the

[richest_heart]

[He releases a fittingly strangled sound as the chain tightens around his throat, his face blanking with shock and terror that he can't conceal. The pressure soon paints swirling black spots over his vision, but it seems his will is slower to fade, or perhaps desperate instinct now drives him, far more human than princely.

Regardless, he thrashes, all the pristine precision of his earlier fighting gone and replaced by something mindless; a struggle of raw feelings that he can no longer name.]

[mongoosegrin]

[Alex is seated well; he only needs to lean back slowly, taking one length of the chain with him while the other stays rooted where his foot remains. tighter and tighter...until all the fighting stops. and even at that moment, Fexis leaps off the ground to clutch at his shoulder, racing down his back and leaving that glorious feeling for the kill.

it motivates a need for a little...excess. while there's still blood flowing. but the owner of the body has little time to worry about the dignity of his remains - not in Fexis' company.]