Through the Deep End (Finished)

[Spiderfly]

A cacophony of screams rose eerily up the stairway to the dungeon. It was odd as normally the sounds didn't reach this far. Whoever or whatever was making those noises must have been having an extremely horrible time.

The noises stopped for a second before the silence was ended by another wrenched scream and a hard sob which was abruptly cut off by another torturous sound.

Anyone entering the dungeon at first would see nothing, until they noticed Pravus in bipedal form. The cat was sat, legs splayed out in either direction, facing the wall. Tension sang through his shoulders as his hands moved in front of him. And if the anyone was brave enough to get close, they'd see a morganberry trussed to the wall. A pool of blood began to spread out from Pravus, soaking into his fur and away towards the drain like a red river.

Pravus moved slowly, one claw at a time, inching the sharp utensils beneath his captives skin and loosing it from it's owner.

His voice was low but sing song. And yet it sounded empty. "Should have told me ratty, should have told me." The rat on the wall screamed again.


(( the only reason this is limited is 1. because no one else would enter the dungeon willingly 2. probably no one else would survive Pravus at this point ))

[Vyn]

Mephitisia's heart was like a hammer, pounding against her ribs in time with the sound of her hooves moving over the cold floor. She hadn't expected it. Not his death and worse yet, not her emotions. She cared about that Queen, she had sworn she would make it to his side one day. A pang of regret, remorse even, filled her. She had never made it there, not quick enough... Perhaps she could have offered her assistance if she had.

With a forceful shake of her head, Mephitisia thrust that thought from her mind and allowed her true goal to return to her. Pravus. That was another fretful moment of confusion for the doe. Two people. Two people that she cared about when Mephitisia had not even know she had the capacity to care at all. That was perhaps even more confusing than her own concern for the loss of The Queen and her worry for the feline. A scream tore her from the depths of her thoughts and a relieved smile touched her maw.

The Dungeon.

Those dreaded screams that would have held others at bay, but she plunged into the dark subterran where she knew she would find the Queen's broken shadow. "Pravus." Her voice was a whisper, low and cold but soft with concern. There was blood everywhere but it was a familiar and welcome sight. The screams doubly so. The tension in her shoulders melted for them. Slowly she made her way closer, not so much that she would dare to touch him without warning, but so that she might be heard over the sound of screams and agony.

Mephitisia did not bother to ask if he was alright, if he would be alright. She merely repeated her first call, lightly still but nearer too. "Pravus?"

[Kari Muffin]

Damn. Damn. Damn. This was actually happening. Peaches shook her head in frustration as she walked down the hallways, shifting into her biped form. She made sure her fan was still firmly attached to her jacket before continuing.

She came to the entirely too failure stares and shuddered briefly at the screaming. Yes, of course someone that horribly in love would snap. Pravus just snapped harder than most, and their was violence involved. And Serafino was... she wanted to cry at the very thought. His life had been holding together how many people? Enough that his death would shatter so many lives. So many.

One was down the stairs. She had seen Mephit go ahead before her, but.... Peaches couldn't stay here. She couldn't help but feel guilty. She carefully made her way down the stairs, stopping at the last one when she caught sight of Mephitisia.

Peaches bit her lip as the screaming continued and the blood.... and just everything. This really was happening. Damn it. She'd wait to say anything though. She didn't want to upset the balance that was almost nonexistent.

[Spiderfly]

Pravus was intent upon the dancing flesh before him. It was always harder to skin something if it was still awake, but he simply didn't care. It wasn't worth the wasted materials to put the rat under, and quite frankly, he wanted to hear the screams. The rat had been here for over a week under torture for information on Fino's father that had escaped.

Useless. The other team was useless, this rat, was useless. "Make a pretty little throw pillow perhaps, or a nice table runner. For when Fino gets better, to make him feel better. Yes, a pillow I think." He paused at the hesitant question behind him, nose flaring. Ah. . . Mephit yes. . .

A claw slipped deftley underneath the rodents skin once more. Making a line from the section down it's stomach and along one leg. Slowly then, he inched it beneath, peeling the first inch of skin back from a leg. The rat was hysterical, eyes wide and panicky with too much whites showing.

"Humm. Some poison to shut him up perhaps?" He asked the air, though perhaps he was asking Mephit. "Fino could use a nice new pillow, all warm and garrish."

[Vyn]

The room was nothing but suffering. Anguish drenched it from wall to wall. Anguish from so many different bodies and Mephitisia could honestly say it was the feline who suffered worst. No physical pain could have compared to what Pravus must have been feeling then. She had not been around him long enough to pretend she knew the ins and outs of his mind but everything in his posture and his the tone of his voice spoke to him. Broken and empty and lost.

He was not himself, not within his own mind...but somewhere else and somewhere safe from reality. If this could be called safe at all. All drenched in warm blood and angry thoughts and the sweet sound of screams, but he was so far away.

"Yes," she agreed lowly "some poison would do quite nicely."

The doe turned away, intending to get one of her various concoctions when she was stayed by the sight of Peaches standing on the bottom step. She arched a brow and then slowly she bowed her head, saying nothing. If she was brave enough to risk those torturous screams than she had every right to be there. Only Pravus could say who he did not want. A syringe was quickly filled with poison before she returned to the feline's side.

"May I?"

The poison was derived from her own bite and would, if injected just so, paralyze certain muscles. Such as the vocal chords of an obnoxiously screaming rat.

[Kari Muffin]

Peaches has clearly forgotten how much she hated blood. With a rather awkward noise she swallowed hard, when the scent hit her. Misery, pain, suffering and insanity all rolled up into the smell of blood and death. What a fantastic thing to come into.

Non Compos Mentis described Pravus very well at this point. Her ears twitched unhappily and flattened as she heard his words. Oh whatever forces there are, why was this happening? She bit her lip harder as she moved off the last step, getting closer to watch Mephit inject the poison. At least it would shut up the rat.

She cleared her throat in her usual manner. She didn't want to make Pravus pop her head off like a daisy or something. Hopefully he wouldn't after she spoke.

"Pravus, Mephitisia, Not to be awkward or anything..." Peaches said as confidently and quietly as she possibly could in the current situation. Why did it have to be blood? Couldn't he have just snapped people's bones? That was cleaner and didn't reek! Her tail swished with annoyance at her thoughts. Throw pillows. Joy. "Just wanted to let you know that I'm here... to... check up on you two." She was struggling to focus a bit more than usual. Fantastic.

[Spiderfly]

Pravus' nose flared once again as Mephit leaned close enough to inject her poison. Every scent seemed overstrong to him, every movement quick and jolting. He continued to work at the rat in front of him until one leg stood bare and fitfully the victims eyes rolled into the back of his head. Finally, he had passed out. Pravus began to move to begin on the other front leg when a sudden bout of nausea rolled through him.

What. . why was he feeling like that? Surely there was non reason for him to be upset, none at all. After all his Queen wasn't actually dead, right? The blood drained from his face, though unnoticeable beneath his fur. The look of sickness however was quite plain as his claw reached forwards with a tremble and cut only an inch along the leg before falling to his side.

The headache that had been plaguing him all day sat at the back of his head, the throb now evident through his haze. His Queen's headaches. . his dead Queen's headaches. A paw reached forwards slowly once again, trembling mightily before landing on the floor beside him once more.

The room began to spin, closing tight upon him and stealing his breath. Pravus' chest heaved and suddenly he screamed. It was a high, ear-splitting caterwaul that shook through his body until he was left slumped upon the ground trembling horribly. His muscles wouldn't listen and he could not sit up. . . His Queen was dead.

A small whimper escaped him.

[Vyn]

When Peaches spoke, Mephitisia tilted her gaze over her shoulder and stared hard at the female although her expression was completely unreadable. For all that the woman had come to check up on them, Mephitisia was honestly not sure what she could do to assist anything. There was a skinned rat hanging from the wall, so near to unconscious, and Pravus...Pravus was in a state that Mephit was not sure she could honestly reach. In fact, Mephit was not sure if she was in any state worth commenting on. So she sighed heavily and nodded once.

"Thank you."

What else could she say? There was no use in being rude when she had more important things to worry about. In fact, even before she could turn back to the anguished feline she was caught off guard by that horrible shriek. It turned her blood to ice like nothing else could and she spun swiftly to tend to him as he slumped down.

"Pravus." Once more, low and icy but full of that unusual extra quality -- worry. It was such a foreign concept to her that she was struggling to accept its presence with every aching movement.

Kneeling down beside Pravus, careless of the pool of blood around herself and the feline as she reached out to touch his arm. So it had sunk in at last, had it? A heavy sigh escaped her, as chilly and detached as the rest of her words, and smoothly she lifted his head so it rested upon her knees instead of the bloodied ground. If he bit or clawed, she would not care nor mind but she had already come to the assumption that such things were beyond him in this state.

If only saying "I'm sorry" would've seemed appropriate, she might have said it. Instead she remained silent and simply stroked the fur of his cheek, there was nothing else that seemed 'proper' for her to do. If he remained lax and malleable she would take him upstairs to his quarters or at least move him to a less bloody section of the dungeon.

[Kari Muffin]

Peaches puffed up at the scream, and hopped back two or so steps. She had not expected a blood curdling scream from Pravus. She stared blankly for a moment at the pair of them. Mephit trying to comfort him.

"It's a headache," Peaches whispered as she shifted to her human form. Walking back to the stairs she skipped three steps up, and removed one of the crumbling bricks from their place. She removed a small container of water and a package of herbs. Of course, she wasn't supposed to do something like that, but fuck that.

Pulling back her jacket sleeves she undid the cap and poured the small packet of herbs in as she returned to the scene. She momentarily paused as she shook the bottled and looked at the blood. Best to get over her fear now.

She swiftly moved over to Pravus' free side, sitting down ignoring the gore and horrible mess that was around her. "Pravus," she said quietly, "You need to drink this."

Herbs she could deal with. Mental insanity was a bit sketchy.

[Spiderfly]

The trembling continued to rack his body, forcing him to remain as he was until he was craddled by Mephit. His eyes moved up to her face, a need and longing so evident in them as to be painful. His Queen, he needed his Queen. Tears streamed down his face like rain and his paws curled up and kneaded at Mephit unconciously. Though his claws remained in their sheathes.

"He said he'd never leave. He said he'd never leave." The cat tried to explain to Mephit until Peaches kneeled down at his other side to hold the vial to his lips. He did as she said and downed it quickly as he could. Someone could be cutting his legs off right now and he wouldn't notice.

He grabbed a little harder to the nearest limb he found as the trembling continued and he tried to explain, tried to make them understand. "He said he'd never leave me."