Grimm Tail [Apotheosis & Wolf]

Posts : 77 Join date : 2023-08-21

Wolf is glad to see Apotheosis is clever enough to pick up on his ruse; moving away from the cage a little and hiding the keys from the sight of the elderly woman who’s home they are inside. He’s not certain where the dragon has gotten off to, between one glance and another she’s just gone, but he hopes that she’ll stay hidden long enough to convince Yaga not to eat them all. Or something equally terrible.

The little old woman waves a hand over the table and it fills with all sorts of delicacies that are more familiar to Wolf’s eyes than they are likely to be to Apotheosis. There’s borscht, and black bread, and a few other items. Simple fair, but more than enough of it. The sorts of things that he might have expected to find in a home like this really, if it didn’t belong to a woman notorious for her cunning and occasionally wicked ways.

He settles himself at the table and waves Apotheosis over to sit at his side. “You are kind to welcome us to your table.” He says gently, as would to his own grandmother if he had ever known one. "This looks wonderful.”

The old woman titters at the complement, looking pleased. She dishes out the food for them and a portion for herself before settling down. Zalgiman searches the table and notes that salt is missing from the table. He smiles slightly to himself, and draws his plate toward himself as if to eat. Gently he leans over to Apotheosis and murmurs quietly. “Don’t eat, but pretend to eat.”

Suiting words to action, he does so himself. “Mmmm. Tell me, is there anything I can do around the house in gratitude for you giving us this fine meal?”

Yaga doesn’t touch her own food, watching them instead with sharp eyes. “Oh, you kind child. Offering to help an old woman. I could use some help tidying up the place. Sweep the floors. Clean up after the meal. Perhaps stack the firewood.” She smiles warmly. “It’s difficult for a woman my age to do all these chores. I would appreciate the help.”

Posts : 15 Join date : 2018-05-07

There’s a big difference, in the mind of someone stuck in a cage, between the idea of being rescued now and being possibly rescued at some point in the future. In spite of the fact that the peoples tell her that they will rescue her - and she believes them - but it’s hard being stuck in a cage all alone and without any hope of rescue in the perceivable future.

It’s only made worse, when key after key is turning out to not work, leaving her wondering if any of those little metal things will magically open the little box that she’s been shoved into. And if that’s hard enough to deal with then the fact that the peoples assisting her turns away - ignoring her plight - and addresses the not-peoples instead.

A low little moan slips out of her mouth as she is, to her own perception, abandoned entirely to her locked-in-a-cage fate. Will she be forgotten in here? No one can see her, so no one will think to rescue her at all. She’ll be stuck in this little, tiny space for the rest of forever! Little invisible tears well up in her eyes and she sniffles. “Please-don’t-leave-me.”

It’s a little whisper, a plea that she hopes doesn’t fall on deaf ears. She sniffles again, trying her absolute best to be quiet, but! She doesn’t want the peoples to forget her!

Posts : 85 Join date : 2023-08-21 Location : Newton, MA

In truth, Apotheosis hardly knows what to do here other than to follow Zalgiman's lead. She wishes she was more clever, more charismatic, more brave, anything, anything at all. In the face of Yaga, she can hardly think, so wracked by fear, and so wracked by guilt for not finding the key earlier to free the poor little golden dragon who continues to whimper.

She does play her role, though. Pretending to eat. In truth she has a little bit of practice at it. When she was younger, and she was made to attend fancy dinner parties with her parents, they would have items on the menu that hardly appealed to her whatsoever. What seven-year-old enjoys caviar? Peanut butter soup? Smoked duck? Mashed squash? But her mother would get on her case if she didn't at least pretend like she was eating, so she mimes it. Licking her lips every now and then, moving her jaw like she's chewing, swallowing food and liquid that isn't there.

Some part of her keenly wishes this isn't her first time being exposed to borscht and other Slavic fare. She'd rather have shared a proper meal with him in a Russian restaurant somewhere in the real world. Staring into his silver eyes, enjoying his company. Not... Not this.

"I can help," she offers Wolf. "I can stay here, in fact, and clean." That keeps her close to the golden dragon's cage!

Posts : 77 Join date : 2023-08-21

Wolf nods in agreement to Apotheosis’s words. “We’ll both stay the night, help you clean up and then you can get the rest that you deserve.” He smiles at the old woman pleasantly and the meal quickly winds down from there. Their efforts to pretend-eat meet with approval, and soon enough the elderly lady is asleep at the table, snoring loudly. With her asleep deeply, he motions for Apotheosis to join him.

He quickly clears the table of the food, and makes show of cleaning the house a bit. Tidying up and watching the old woman every second until they’ve finished ‘cleaning’ and slowly but surely making his way back toward the cages where the little dragon is hiding invisibly. He can hear her whimpering and crying inside in spite of the fact that he can’t see her.

“Okay. I’ll keep watch, but by the rules we should be able to get her out without waking up Yaga. Just keep it nice and quiet and we should be able to sneak right out the front door.” He motions with his hand for Apotheosis to handle the cage and key effort given that she’s the one with the keys at the moment.

Posts : 15 Join date : 2018-05-07

Worse than being stuck in a cage while being forgotten is being stuck in a cage, forgotten, while others have nice conversations and eat dinner. Bemoaning the fate that leaves her stuck in this cage without a thing to do but sit here - invisibly - and wait without hope of rescue, the little dragon makes sad noises and tries not to weep too loudly. The peoples did ask her to try and be quiet. And she does try! She does her absolute very best, but it’s hard.

They eat their tasty people-food - of which at least there seems to be no fish - she couldn’t have borne it if they’d been eating fish right in front of her without sharing or anything. As it is, watching them happy and free is hard enough. It’s her burden to bear however and eventually they move away from the table.

Surely this then is her moment of freedom!

She perks up hopefully, watching the peoples moving about the room but…

No.

Neither of them move for her cage and she wilts. “Peoples!” She whispers the word as loudly as she dares. Have they forgotten about her? Surely they have! Otherwise they would have come right away to use those metal long thingies to free her from her prison! Instead they set about cleaning and her hopes are dashed yet again.

Invisible tears drip down her snout and she mourns her freedom like any creature born of the skies might do. “I’m-here!” She says helpfully, hopefully.

It seems that maybe this is the reminder that they needed because at long last they look in her direction! Hope! She clings to the bars of her cage and peers out at them. Her tail thrashing and clinking against the metal. “Oh! Please-please!”

Posts : 85 Join date : 2023-08-21 Location : Newton, MA

The moment that the old woman's eyes close, Apotheosis feels relief, but it's a slender little thing, a hopeful little thing that knows that it could be very short-lived if one thing goes wrong.

But she has to have hope. There's no one else who can save this poor little creature. Apotheosis doesn't even think of the ring anymore; she's just thinking of that poor little golden dragon who whimpers and cries as they clean.

She nods to Wolf's words and slips over to the cage. "Shh, it's okay," she whispers back. "You're gonna be okay. Be nice and quiet so we can get out."

It's a big ask for such a little golden dragon, but Apotheosis needs the cooperation. Carefully, not letting the keys jangle against each other, she tries one that she hasn't tried yet, putting it in and...

The lock opens.

Apotheosis breathes a sigh of relief, holding her hands out for the dragon to fly into her arms. A little freedom. She just hopes the dragon stays quiet so they can leave...

Posts : 77 Join date : 2023-08-21

Wolf tenses at the little dragon-weeping-noises that the dragon makes as they make their way slowly toward the cage. It’s worse when she talks, her voice is pitched low so as to be quiet; obviously keen to their request that she be quiet and he has to admit that he’s very curious about her. She doesn’t fit the stories at all. There should be children in the cages. Not a little dragon. Certainly not an impatient little dragon who makes enough noise that he’s worried with each passing second that she’ll wake the old woman and prove his efforts in vain.

The tall man stands somewhat between Apotheosis and Yaga, his whole body ready for a fight that he hopes is not actually about to take place. If it comes to it, he has little doubt that Yaga can and will put them all in cages for later eating regardless of his efforts to stop her. Such is an experience that he has little desire to try out.

Then, like a miracle the key slides neatly into the hole and Apotheosis smiles as the cage unlocks. Her arms spread for the little dragon to leap into and Wolf can feel himself wincing at the expected squeal of joy from the tiny dragon as she is at long last freed. “Quietly!” He warns in his own whisper, praying that she doesn’t make the noise that he’s expecting her to.

Posts : 15 Join date : 2018-05-07

The truth is, is that the moment that the cage door opens, the little dragon has to restrain every bit of her exuberance and jubilation in order to not do exactly what one of the peoples at least, is expecting her to do. She does in fact, do exactly what the other expects.

Carelessly the door falls open and she leaps out of the cage in a single glorious bound. Becoming quite visible again as she lands in the wide-open arms of the peoples that freed her from her imprisonment. Like a cat finding their One True Owner, she snuggles into the arms of that glorious peoples, snuggling into the warmth and purring loud as a motor. “Good-peoples!”

Only the exclamation and reminder of ‘quiet’ keeps that declaration a more reserved response than it might have been otherwise. She thrums like a struck drum, nuzzling and bumping her head into the soft face of the peoples to let them know that they’re a good peoples. “Good-peoples.” She says more softly, tucking her wings close and climbing her way up to a shoulder-perch.

From there she peers around the room balefully and huffs. “Burn-it-down?” A totally natural inquiry of a place that’s been used to hold her captive.

Posts : 85 Join date : 2023-08-21 Location : Newton, MA

Apotheosis is all kinds of nervous, and the golden dragon's enthusiasm is a little noisier than she would have wanted. But the fact that the dragon is free makes her feel a little safer now. Even if the dragon is a little dragon... Dragons have power.

Or, well. They do, but the fact Yaga could put one in a cage suggests either she's stronger than this dragon or that she was lucky and caught the little one in a trap. The first is not a comforting thought at all to Apotheosis.

"No burning, keep quiet. We need to get out of here," Apotheosis says quietly to Wolf and the dragon alike. "Quickly." She makes her way to the thing that looks like the front door that Wolf had referenced earlier, quietly creeping forward on light toes.

Maybe looking like a stick most of your life is good for something after all if it means you're naturally a little stealthy, she tells herself. Or at least... She hopes being a slender, short little thing will miraculously help now. Be light as a feather!

Posts : 77 Join date : 2023-08-21

With the dragon freed of her cage, Wolf wasted no time opening the door to the cabin and ushering Apotheosis and her outside. He expected actually, that the dragon might disappear once they got beyond the second room, but it seemed like she was going to stick with them. Just as well that Apotheosis convinced her to not burn Yaga’s house down. The woman surely would have awoken and then what?

He motioned the other two quickly through the door and then himself last, looking around the new room in the hopes that they were somewhere far from Yaga.

In this it seemed that he had a bit of luck, because they were outside. A ring of tall trees surrounded them on all sides, a perfect circle of tall trees that he didn’t actually recognize the species of off the top of his head. No sign of a cabin behind him and he breathed a sigh of relief. Inside the ring of trees was a circle of flowers which again, Wolf didn’t recognize the species of. They were small blue flowers however, and they grew only in that circle. In the midst of them, a pedestal, upon which the ring that they’d come to claim sat upon.

“Looks like we’ve reached the end!” He can’t help the relief in his tone.

» Never Get There [Wolf & Apotheosis]
» Bright Eyes [Apotheosis/Chimera/Wolf]
» The Darkening [Apotheosis & Chimera]
» On the streets of Seaguard (Cordelia, Kol, Red, Apotheosis)