Out on a Limb (Xenon)

[Nako]

Damn. Who knew that limbs could be so heavy? Panting, Dyspar drug the dead weight on his back, the highland limbs flopping uselessly at his sides. How convenient it was that he found a dead body with such perfectly good limbs still attached! He'd had the things on ice for a while, but now he had to move them from one location to another; this was.... easier said than done considering his lack of hands. So he took the back alleyways down a side of town he knew nobody would call the authorities if they saw the likes of him and what he was doing. All he needed to do was get to a house where he knew a Corvie guy who'd help him put these things -on- his body!

He paused, breathing heavily as he rested a moment by some trash cans. Hell, these things were heavier than they looked! At least he didn't have much farther to go.

He tensed.. hearing movement nearby. Who... who was there?

[carcinoGeneticist]

When he spoke to Xiven, the man had lied. He'd told her that there was no specific point or purpose to his return to the alley, not far from where Treasa had been murdered. He'd just needed to try and clear his head about what had happened, try to find some peace with the loss of the sweet little puppy.

In reality... The memories of the discovery of the girl's body burned hot in his mind. It kept him awake and restless at night. He had such a cozy, comfortable life at the palace. He ate good food, drank expensive wine, bedded the Queen of his Suit. He had good health. It confused him, whenever he stopped to think about it, that on one side of the world a person could have all of that and on the other a little girl could be murdered, her limbs cut from her body before the rest of her was just abandoned beneath a dumpster like so much trash. Being here with that knowledge made his heart beat hard in his chest, vision going red.

He wanted some form of retribution for the injustice that had been done, and it was something he had to do alone. Xiven didn't want him here. She was afraid for his safety.

Apocalypse didn't give a shit about his safety. He just wanted someone to die, wanted to slice off their limbs and throw them under a dumpster. He wanted to laugh at them, and the more time he spent in the dingy streets, the more he felt that urge. Did it matter if the person was even responsible for it?

Probably not.

A noise caught his ear, and he moved towards its source, his muscles going tense with anxiety as he neared it. He moved slowly, peering around corners. He wanted to catch whoever it was unaware. Then he could pin them and interrogate them, try to gain more information about exactly what had gone on. What he hadn't been expecting was to see a young man walking down the alleyway, holding onto a very familiar set of legs (though the paws had been skinned) and a merrily-wagging, red-striped tail.

The world went still.

Throwing his previous caution to the wind, the King began to move towards the deer at an urgent pace. He couldn't even think of any spells to use; his mind was a blank slate tainted with the most intense rage he'd ever experienced. A snarl escaped him as he broke into a flat out run and then threw himself at the small Corvie.

[Nako]

Tail held stiffly in alert position, ears swiveling around at the noises around him, he scrambled to face the sudden noise of feet pounding against the damp stone road. It was tall, human... strangely pale. Those teeth were the scariest... rows of razor sharp, jagged edges that flashed bright int he dim light as his lips peeled back with a rage that Dyspar didn't understand.

A shriek escaped him as his hooves tried to gain purchase on the ground, the heavy, chilled limbs slowing him as he attempted to leap out of the way. It was no use; mid-leap the man came down on his hind legs, causing him to fall heavily to the earth with his limbs strewn about alongside the dead ones.

He tried to scream again, but he found himself robbed of his voice. The force of the man bringing him down knocked the wind out of him. All he could do was gasp and choke for air, his front legs scrabbling vainly to try to pull himself away from the man. Who was he? Why was he trying to attack -him-? These questions were sloshing through the blinding white flurry of panic in his mind, his whole body feeling awake and on fire from the adrenaline coursing through him.

[carcinoGeneticist]

There was a moment when Apocalypse felt satisfaction, his hands grabbing thin cervine legs and holding tight. It didn't last long, of course, because an instant later they both slammed into the ground. A grunt escaped the man as he hit the asphalt, feeling his flesh scrape across the ground. It hurt, but it wasn't enough to distract from the fact that he'd mostly managed to land on top of the Corvie. The child was fighting, struggling hard, but he wasn't going to let go that easily, not when he was this close to getting revenge for Treasa.

Still clinging tight, he pulled himself forward, one hand shooting out to grab the deer's jaw, forcing his head to the ground. Orange eyes burning bright with rage, Apocalypse hissed.

"Did you kill her?" He snarled, his voice rising to a fevered pitch as he rocked forward, holding the child more securely beneath his body. His mind was screaming for him to just snap the damn thing's neck now and be done with it, but he needed to know the answer. "Did you? Or did you just strip her limbs off? Did you care who she was? Did you stop to think for just one minute that maybe - maybe - she had a family of her own?"

He wasn't even aware of what he was saying, the words leaving him in a furious rush. His grip on the jaw tightened and he shoved the boy's head back again for good measure. "Answer me, you son of a bitch!"

[Nako]

Dyspar's chest heaved with an attempt to regain his breath, finding himself being flipped and pinned in such a way that allowed him to strike out with his back legs. And so they did, the sharp hooves lashing out toward the man's belly. The motions hardly scraped skin, glancing across the scarred, pale flesh before kicking out feebly in the air beside the man.

When his head made forceful contact with the ground, his kicks ceased as he stared off, dazed and sobbing as tears began to spill from his eyes. When the question was first asked of him, he found himself unable to answer, hazy expression wandering as they attempted to focus on his head. The second time his head was slammed, he managed a desperate, sobbing scream.

"She was dead! Dead.... there... she was already half torn apart! She was dead long before I got there. I.. I only wanted the limbs!" His eyes squinted shut as he attempted another feeble kick. "P-Please... let me go. I... I didn't know! She was already dead I told you! I di- I didn't do i-i-i-t...."

[carcinoGeneticist]

He'd been so focused on holding the deer down that he hadn't paid much attention to where the boy's legs ended up. It didn't matter very much, but for a moment surprise registered on the pale King's face as he felt something slide across his belly. That could have been very bad, he knew in a moment. Deer had sharp hooves, humans had soft bellies. With a grunt he twisted, using his legs to pin the deer while his hand closed around one of the legs, just above the hoof. He twisted it sharply, not quite enough to break the bone but enough to be damn painful.

Crying. The damn little monster was crying. Even if the tears hadn't been so obvious, he would have felt the shaking of the body. Had Treasa cried, when she was killed? Had she been shown any pity, or had her murder looked on her as calmly as Apocalypse now looked at Dyspar?

No one could say for sure, but that didn't stop the man from hissing again, beginning to shake from the force of his rage. Excuses. All excuses. "No? You didn't kill her? You just defiled her corpse, then?" He began to twist the leg a little harder, leaning in close, his bared teeth an inch away from the Corvie's face. "Did you ever think to tell someone that you found a dead Highland Heart? Did nothing click in your retarded little brain that she might be the daughter of an important person...? Like a King of Hearts?"

The deer began to kick again and Apocalypse wrenched hard on the leg he was holding, the snap rather satisfactory to his ears. "Stop fucking moving."

[Nako]

He wailed as his hoof was slowly turned, the tendons straining as the limb was moved in a way that it wasn't meant to go. The sinew creaked oddly and the joint ground in a funny manner as it slipped off the slick cartilage and onto bone. Oh shit. Oh fuck. He'd stolen the legs of this man's daughter! Or that was the conclusion he'd drawn to, as there was indeed a king of hearts currently looming over his body and seeming ready to pull his hoof right off his leg.

He was asking questions that he couldn't answer, stammering dumbly as he squirmed below the man, hoping to perhaps find some way to get loose. His squirming was rewarded with the splintering of his leg, the noise of it echoing in his body all the way up to his ears. The pain.. it was mind numbing.

His hoarse scream came out loud and clear, whimpering helplessly at the tail end of it as he tried very much to stay still as ordered. In his mind, he was hoping that perhaps this man would let him go.. but it was unlikely.

Dyspar was going to die.

"Where was her family!?" Dyspar all but screamed out, delirious with pain to the point where... the words just kept coming out. "Where were you!? She was alone! In the Capital. Why the fuck was she here?" He hated this bitch and her legs for getting him into this. She probably was out causing no good anyways. Fucking Highlanders never could own up to their own mistakes. He began to tremble violently in response to the pain... and what happened next he sincerely couldn't help it.... He vomited.

[carcinoGeneticist]

This was the first time he'd handled a hoofed animal in this manner, and Apocalypse was somewhat surprised to find the inner workings of the leg slid so easily in his grasp. Not enough to relax his grip, of course. If anything it just gave him a little thrill. So fragile, so easily broken... And the screams were music to his ears.

"I bet that she screamed, too," he remarked as he dropped the broken limb, settling back on his hips once more. He knew that he weighed more than the deer, that it'd be painful if he rested his full weight on him. So he did exactly that. Then the little thing started to scream at him, and Apocalypse went very still for several long minutes. Then he smiled. "You stupid twat, did it ever enter your mind that maybe she wasn't my daughter, but that her death still carried repercussions on my life?"

Then he leaned in again, sinking his sharp teeth into the deer's ear and pulling hard, ripping flesh. He'd done this before, but this time, it wasn't the end. It was just the beginning. "Tell me... why the fuck are you here? Where is your family?"

[Nako]

There was no talking to this man. He needed to get away. He needed help. Dyspar just started screaming. At the top of his lungs, not necessarily a scream of pain or fear but an all out cry for help.

Where was his family? Not here. That was obvious.

He writhed and wriggled, trying to get his front hooves free enough to strike out at the man. He was crazy; absolutely mad. The kid hadn't been his, and at that point he didn't care what the man's relationship with the girl was. Life was about survival. It was about selfishness.

And Dyspar cared about his life right now. Not about the dead limbs that were still under his back. Finally, a front leg wiggled free from the man's hold, lashing out wildly at whatever he could hit. He aimed for the man's face but... well... there was no telling where he'd land his hit with the panic and pain he was in.

[carcinoGeneticist]

That screaming was starting to get annoying, but Apocalypse knew better than anyone that it wasn't going to attract any attentions. It'd just bring the scavengers on them, which gave the man a sick little thrill. They could remove the boy's limbs, too, just as he'd done to the sweet puppy. He could tell he was running out of time, he had to end this soon. As much fun as he was having with tormenting the bastard, he needed...

When the deer began to thrash with renewed vigor, Apocalypse yelped. He wasn't expecting the leg to shoot out like that, the hoof slamming into his chest just across his collarbone and slicing the flesh up across his throat. Blood poured from it almost instantly, the pale man gasping in pain. He gave a sharp jerk, slamming the deer hard against the ground.

Shit. He could still breathe, which was good. He brought a hand up to his neck, actually slipping his fingers into the wound. It would probably look damn disgusting to the deer, but he didn't care. He could feel how deep the gash went, and more importantly, that nothing critical had been slashed. The surface vessels would bleed like hell, however. He turned his attention back on the deer without another word, twisting the boy's head to expose his throat and then digging his teeth deep into the exposed flesh.

He wouldn't miss the vitals. Just to be sure of that, he yanked with his teeth.