Shadowhunt (insaney vs. southern belle)

[insaney]

Halloween, the time of year when shadows cascade upon the bright faces of the masqueraders who march on the cobblestone streets, merrily dancing and drinking the night away, clothed as their role models or alter egos. Their shadows mirror the movements, the streets they are cast on becoming alive at this Halloween carnival. The people held their charade with makeup or masks, the kinds that weren't meant to be frightening, but provide the lightheartedness of celebration. Perhaps it was nights occupied by carnivals like this that inspired Shakespeare to write of a similar setting for the scene in his play Romeo and Juliet where the two lovers first kiss at the masquerade party. Perhaps William Shakespeare himself was among the masqueraders tonight.

But we would never really know, would we?

One thing was for sure; what was about to befall that unsuspecting carnival tonight, could have been immortalized in one of Shakespeare's work of literature art, lost in time among the years that followed. The story would've begun with the vampire, who now had this night where he could smile a little more, and people would not become suspicious of his unnerving nature. Yes, this was the night where Rain Seraph could show who he really was, even if his nature was still under the guise of masks and pretenses of Halloween. There were other, false vampires strutting about, with their pale make-up and plastic fangs, black cloaks with red fabric on the inside, their collars upturned. Some even went so far as to stain their shirts and chins with chicken blood, adding a slight touch of realism. Their cliched forms flitted the cobblestone roads, bumping into one another, and exchanging words in their mimicked Transylvanian accents.

Heh... Dracula wasn't Transylvanian.

Rain smiled to himself, letting his fangs show over his bottom lip. He hadn't a costume for tonight; he didn't need one. His fangs and eyes were all. His head was unconsciously bowed though, signifying that he was not yet accustomed to showing his true nature. The streets glittered with shining dust and the shadows that danced among them. For a while, Rain was entranced with such a sight, like dimmed fireworks ignited on the ground. Putting one foot in front of the other suddenly became hard and, when he finally snapped out of his trance...

"Oof!"

Rain looked at the man who had grunted, but not moved. It seemed that he just wanted to make Seraph notice that the vampire had bumped into him by accident. Rain looked at him, but still he stood unmoving, as if an apology for absent-mindedness was demanded. It was obvious that he was drunk. An apology would indeed be necessary before disorder followed.

"... Sorry."

The man set his mouth. Seeming as if he was about to unleash a flurry of his profanities against the person who had caused this slight incident.

"... What are you supposed to be?"

"A vampire."

"Pfft." The man scoffed, "You don't look it."

Rain narrowed his eyes as he met the man's gaze, smiling mischievously, making sure his fangs protruded over his bottom lip.

"I'll bite you."

"Ah... "

"Excuse me."

Rain pushed passed him, and into the crowded street. There was no order here, the vampire now took on the role of a pinball being bumped into any, and almost everyone, in the parade. He squeezed through the dancing bodies, along with grunts and various voices of protest. An opening, finally, to the other side of the street.

Of course, he could have just used his speed. But where would be the fun in that?

[southern belle]

Bella stared at the town, ignoring the branches poking into her sides. “Hmm… why would they choose a town?” she thought to herself. “It just doesn’t make sense! There’s no room to fight, especially with this little festival going on.” She sighed. “And how the hell am I supposed to find him? A vampire, in the middle of a Halloween festival… Well, it should be interesting, at least.” She swung down from the branch and began walking towards the town.

She tried to stay out of the way of the parades and large crowds, for the most part. While she did enjoy such events normally, now was not the time to get caught up in such things. And she knew that if she were to become swallowed up by the crowds, there was no way she could find her opponent. No, she needed to stay low, at the edges, and observe for awhile.

Bella grinned. Complain though she might about the poor location choice, she did enjoy the chance to use her tracking abilities. It was reminiscent of being in the woods once more. When you ignored the masses of people, they became little more than trees, swaying in the wind. Her eyes skipped over them as they would any oak, searching only for the man described in the letter.

Of course, this was somewhat difficult, because vampires were always a popular costume choice. “Black clothes and black hair… yes, those are such a rarity here,” she thought, grinning to herself.

She heard footsteps, and glanced to the side. “Just a little girl…” she thought, going back to surveying the crowd. Before she realized it, however, the little girl was standing in front of her. “Why awen’t you weawing a costume?” she asked, looking up at the Hylian with wide, blue eyes.

Bella looked down at the girl, who couldn’t have been more than four or so. She was made up like a fairy, with pink plastic wings and everything. Bella couldn’t help but grin a bit. “I’m here on business,” she said. “I wasn’t able to get one.” She looked around, and saw the girl was unaccompanied. “Shouldn’t you be with your parents?”

The little girl blinked and looked around. “Uhh…” She shrugged with the carefree innocence that can only come with youth. “They’ll find me.”

Bella sighed. She really didn’t have time for this. But if she didn’t help, it would be bugging her all throughout the fight. “Where did you see your parents last?” she asked.

“By the pawade!” the little girl replied with a giggle.

“Oh wonderful… how am I supposed to stay out of the crowd now?” she thought. She smiled kindly down at the little girl. “Alright, lets go find them then.”

It took a good thirty minutes, getting the girl back to her parents. Near the end of it Bella was almost considering letting her loose for someone else to worry about, but a glance around the crowded streets killed that idea. When she returned the girl to her frantic parents at last, they attempted to nearly smother her in gratitude. She just smiled and waved her hand. “It’s fine, it’s fine, just keep a closer watch on her.” “Come on… I gotta get going!” she thought impatiently.

She wandered away from the group, and looked around to see she was right in the middle of the parade. “Wonderful…” She began attempting to slip through the crowds. As she was nearing the edge, she heard something off to her side.

“…What are you supposed to be?” a hostile sounding voice asked. Bella turned, thinking perhaps someone was talking to her.

Her fears proved unfounded. “A vampire,” a dark man said calmly. Bella grinned.

“Pfft… you don’t look it.” Bella shook her head. What a fool.

A moment’s pause. “I’ll bite you.”

That did the trick. The vampire pushed past, and Bella followed, several paces behind. “I’ve found you now… now I just need to wait until we’re somewhere less crowded,” she thought. Mentally, she thanked that lost little girl. “You led me right to him, sweetie.” She grinned.

[insaney]

Rain had no desire to be among the sweat and heat of the festival, but rather just looking upon the populace at an adequate height would be satisfactory. His walking pace slowed, and then he stopped altogether. The vampire turned toward the sky; the darkness seemed to encircle the moon, which contentedly shone it's dimmed light upon the parade. The halo around the orb collected its dark metal colour amongst the curves of the night's clouds. Rain's eyes fell upon the town chapel; its brick and stone steeple stretched it's finger towards the clouds, it's nail at the tip scraping the sky, and out of the wound bled the blackest velvet, speckled with soft white dust.

Considering the fact that the church steeple was about the tallest structure in town, Rain moved himself towards it casually. Just one foot in front of the other. Truthfully, he was feeling a bit lazy. Why rush? Just take it easy for once, enjoy the sites and sounds, but not exactly the smell. Seraph stood in front of the church's closed doors, it obviously wanted no part in this sort of festive atmosphere. Of course, the doors were closed, but they weren't locked. Christians who wanted to escape this 'vile' setting could still enter, and proceed to kneel and pray their night away. Getting up on the roof would prove a slight challenge from the outside of the church. Decorators had stretched wires from the walls down towards the center of the church square. The lines bent with the weight of lanterns, glowing eerily against the dark background.

The vampire surveyed the front of the chapel, from the ground up. It would be easy to just leap between the two stone columns that protruded on either side of the door. A loud knock brought his eyes back to ground level. A woman, cloaked from head to toe, avoided eye contact as she turned to observe the young man at the church steps. She had knocked on the large wooden doors, a sound that rang a small echo. An echo which had enough strength to pull Rain's eyesight towards her. The woman lowered her gaze even as the priest creaked open the door and let her into the building.

But it should be even easier from the inside.

Rain walked up the front steps, and raised his hand, curling his fingers. His hand made contact with the door, ringing out a familiar sound. Another creak met hit ear as the priest once again opened the door. This time he stalled for a few seconds, staring straight at Rain's golden irises. His mouth hung open slightly, and he seemed that he wasn't going to regain himself any time soon.

Rain parted his lips, and spoke in a soft, comforting tone. Soft enough to avoid shock, but audible enough to snap the priest out of his trance. He made it a priority not to expose his fangs, along with his nature, as he spoke.

"Hello, Father."

He shook his head, and creaked the door open a little more.

"Um.. yes, my son, would you like to come in?"

Rain nodded and pushed the door open himself. The soft candle glow in the halls of the church provide an equally soft fantasy feeling to the atmosphere. The small children that were here seemed to embrace their new fantasy world, and walked on tip-toe among the aisles. There was large crucifix at the altar, which displayed Christ stretched out upon it, holes in his palms and feet, and red paint trickling downwards, signifying his blood. This posed no threat. Rain would have to touch it first to be weakened.

Rain put his hands into his pockets as the church doors screeched to a close. He didn't turn towards the man, Rain only kept his eyesight on the inside, just surveying the church.

"Father?"

His tone went in accordance to the soft glow of the lights.

"Which way is it to the roof?"

What an odd question from this stranger. The priest plastered a look of confusion upon his old face. He twisted his lips to one side, pondering whether to reveal the ladder to the roof or not.

"Ahm.."

A knock from behind them once again sent a familiar echo throughout the building. The man turned towards the door.

"Excuse me, my son."

Rain turned around, looking after the man who walked towards the doors.

They once again emitted sound as they opened. The priest greeted the next visitor with a friendly face.
A small looking girl slowly popped her head into the building. Her hair was red, pulled back into a ponytail with a few strands hanging down carelessly on either side of her face, which was home to her bright blue eyes.

The priest greeted her with a warm smile and a warmer tone.

"Hello, my daughter."

[southern belle]

OoC: "Suppedly inactive"? What is that supposed to mean? My dear Insaney, I may take awhile to post, but I would never abandon this. Heck, this is the easiest posts for a battle have come to me in a LONG time... I'd like to even continue it in the regular BA after the tourney.

BiC: Bella lowered her head slightly in a gesture of respect. “Hello, Father.” The man in front of her didn’t look like what she might have expected. Rather than an old, jolly-faced man, she saw he was young, probably in his late twenties. However, his face was lined prematurely with wrinkles, gained through worry over his church and it’s members. She imagined it was a stressful job, being responsible for the souls of all those people.

The priest brushed his light blonde hair back and smiled at Bella. Though his expression was pleasant enough, she could tell that he was slightly disturbed by something. “Would you like to come in?” he asked.

She smiled at him. “Yes, please.” The priest stepped back and held the door open. “Thank you very much, Father,” she said quietly. She walked to a pew, acting as though she was just another villager coming to pray. As she knelt down she looked around the church. It was a modest building, but obviously it had been well cared for. It had small, high windows, creating a dusky look in the church. Apparently glass had been a bit too expensive for them to use very much of it. The lights cast a warm glow however, attempting to dispel the gloom and bring a bit of cheer into the church.

The huntress bent her head, and scanned the people of the church. There were few other people here, and it didn’t take her long to spot her opponent. He was lurking in the shadows, nearly blending into them himself. She remembered his race, and wondered if it was a trick of the eye or if he really was blending into them. Whether he was or not made little difference though, she just needed to keep a watch on him, and wait for her opportunity to approach.

Which came almost immediately. There was another knock at the door, and the priest walked over to answer it. Bella’s eyes drifted over to watch him for a moment, and saw that he seemed to be having some kind of argument, though she could not tell what it was about. Her eyes flicked back to where the vampire had been, and she held back a curse as she realized he was missing. She did a quick scan of the building and barely saw him turning disappearing upwards into the shadows at the very back corner of the church.

Bella slipped out of her seat and followed him, puzzled. As she reached the back of the church she saw that there was a small ladder built inconspicuously into the wall. Seeing that the Father was still occupied at the door, she climbed up without a sound.

Once more she was out in the open air, the crisp winds tugging at her hair and clothes the instant she came onto the roof. The vampire stood on the other side of the roof, watching the hatch above the ladder. “So much for stealth,” she thought. “Well, it had to end sometime. I suppose now is the time to face my opponent face to face at last.”

She straightened after clambering somewhat ungracefully onto the roof, and looked at the young man who was silently watching her. He hadn’t attacked while she came up, that was a plus. “Well, it appears the time for our battle has come at last, good sir,” she said with a smile. “I must say, you are a most challenging man to track.” She pulled out her sword. “Shall we begin then?”