With Cassius (Cadmus) and Elena (spoofed by Shane)

Elena awaits her soon-to-be dumped boyfriend in the forest. A rat approaches, but not the one she's been waiting for...

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Cassius lumbers through the forest floor, a brightness in his eyes that none have seen before. The newfound power bestowed upon him by the Priestess has only incited his sense of purpose. He scans his eyes about, keeping himself quite silent in search of prey...he must carry out her will...

"Screw it." Elena sighs, leaning against the tree. He was /always/ late, meeting her. This was gonna be just another wasted romantic evening, ending in argument, screaming, slapping...she winces, touching the tender bruise on her face. Whenever he arrives, this relationship is over.

Cassius spies the female from some distance away, turning his form towards her. He takes several long strides towards her, hiding in the shadow of a particularly thick patch of underbrush as he listens to her mutterings. Meaningless to him. Meaningless accept for the sound of...pain? Just another reason why his mission is a noble one. He readies his pick hammer, watching with eager eyes...

Elena turns, a slight rustling in the bushes. "Cole?" She stands up, amber eyes blazing at the direction of the noise. "Cole, you jackass, come here RIGHT now." She stomps over to the bush, red dress blazing behind her. Ready for the final confrontation...

Cassius steps slowly out from the bushes, letting the shadows slide gracefully off of his form. He brings his pick hammer around in front of him, gleaming dully in the dim evening light. "Cole...?" He rumbles, his deep voice almost vibrating the air. "I am not...Cole..." He looks over the female, tiling his head slightly. "You are...pained? I can ease your pain..." He says shifting his hammer.

"Holy - !" Elena stumbles backwards, terrified for a split-second of the enormous rat. She waves her arms in windmills, trying to steady herself, before her paws finally find a place on her knees. She leans over panting for a second, before glaring up at the colossus. "Yeah, I'm in pain, you just game me a freakin' ulcer." She glances warily at the hammer..thing. "You some sorta creeper? Did you follow me out here?!" she accuses.

Cassius smiles, shaking his head with a light chuckle. "No...I have a mission. I am...Cassius. I cleanse. I can cleanse you. I -shall- cleanse you...why live in such pain if release is right before you?" He says. inching ever closer as that pick hammer rises and falls with his advance. He shifts rotates his hammer in his paws, bringing the long needle at the other end to point at the female.

Elena swallows visibly, musing over Cassius' strange words. Cleanse her? Is she, like, not bathing well enough or something? But from pain?... Whatever, this guy is a definite creeper. How to get rid of him... She smiles sweetly, stepping forward fluidly, no eye contact, just body language. She places a hand on the end of the needle, rubbing the sharp tip. "Look, big guy, I don't need any of your 'release'. I'll just wait until my bee-eff shows up, ditch him, then go back and get a book, ok?" On the last word, she glances into his disturbing eyes, making sure her point was made.

Cassius stands still for one moment, looking rather curiously at these movements... He does not quite understand them, nor does he know nor care what a "Bee eff" is. Yet she approached him...she must want to be free of her pain! He smiles more widely than ever, twitching his hammer for a moment and letting the needle draw away from the female's paw. Suddenly, with a sudden, fluid motion, be brings a paw off of his hammer, reaching for Elena's throat, attempting to grasp his thick fingers around it!

Elena screams, stumbling and falling back on the ground, just in time to evade the grasp of the mad rat; still, the claws rake across the edge of her throat, causing small scratches to appear and ooze droplets of blood, the same color as her dress. She picks herself up shakily, turning and starting to run back to the Valley, a paw clamped across her neck, screaming, "Cole! Oh God! COOOOOLE!"

Cassius bares his teeth, giving chase to the fleeing rat. "No...NO!" He yells, his nose taking in the smell of Elena's dripping blood with almost obscene glee; A purpose he had to carry out, true, but he still so enjoyed to thrill of the hunt... He catches up easily to the rat, making another grab for her, the arm this time. His motion suggests than should he be successful, he'll slam Elena into the nearest tree trunk!

"AUGH!" Elena tries to wrench her arm from the iron grip, but to no avail; the rat has her! Wind rushes past her face, blowing the headfur in front of her eyes, as she is forcefully slammed into a nearby tree, knocking the wind out of her. She also hears the cracking and feels the sharp pains as some of her ribs splinter from the impact. She stares, terrified, into the mad rodent's eyes, gasping for air as she tries to feeble claw at the Cassius' arm, a small rivulet of blood trickling out of her mouth.

Cassius rushes over to Elena...but not to provide aid. No, instead he picks her right back up by the throat, so caught up in the thrill of the moment that he can't even hold himself back anymore! He grips her throat, almost crushing her windpipe if not for what he does next. He puts all of his substantial muscle into the next throw, pulling his arm back and then slamming Elena again into the trunk of the tree with all of his might!

Wood splinters around Elena, making a disfigured outline of her in the tree as she is hurled into the bark. She tries to scream, but all that comes out is a harsh, gurgling, a choked moan. Her throat has been thoroughly damaged, some ribs cracked, maybe an arm?... All this is lost to Elena as she slides down the tree, tearing the back of her dress, shooting sparks of intense pain down her body. She sobs, raising her head at the giant before her, silently pleading he will not do what she fears...

Cassius stands over the battered female, his pick hammer readied with the needle-end pointing at her. He picks her up once more, not a trace of care evident in his movements. He forces Elena to her feet, that same paw pressing into her already damaged throat as he lifts his pick hammer into the air, holding it for a second. "Hehehe...HAHAHAHAHA! NOW BE FREED!" He yells into the air, letting go of Elena's throat as he jumps suddenly back, the needle-end of the hammer bearing quickly down to pierce her right through the neck where his paw had been!

Elena gasps, or what some people might interpret as a gasp, as the pointed reckoning easily slid through flesh, bone and tissue, coming out the other side of her neck, dripping that vital liquid. On the other side, blood gushed out over the front of her dress in a demonic cascade, red on red, glowing like an ember in the dark forest. Her eyes widen, legs stiffening, yet her arms still reach up, paws trying to grasp at the slippery needle, to remove it from her being. If this is free, what was confinement?

Cassius pants heavily as he watches that gush of red liquid spilling from your throat, a truly bestial cackle rending the air as he views Elena's pathetic, futile attempts to dislodge the needle from her throat. What difference would it make if she did, anyway? He places a paw to her forehead, dislodging the needle himself with a powerful pull. He steps back, more than happy to simple watch the rat quickly bleed to death upon the cold, dark floor of the forest. "Hmhmhm...let the pain wash away...it won't take long...just let...go." he says, still smiling widely. "You are free...of the pain of living... Fade away...feel no more..."

Watching the rat walk away, vision blurring, a stream of blood rushing free from the confinement of her body, Elena lies there on the ground, a mess of broken bones, torn bloody fabric and ruined fur. She opens her mouth to call out, resulting in another mocking emission from her mouth. Red storm clouds cover her eyes, and as they strt to pour their black rain, she thinks one last thought; Cassius was right. She can barely feel that bruise anymore...

Cassius stops in mid-walk, remembering one last thing he must do. He walks to the now-dead rat, forcing open her eyelids and accomplishing his final task. He rips her eyes out with a forceful pull, a last spray of blood dripping onto the ground. He looks the orbs in his paws over with an almost cherishing expression, smiling down at Elena's broken, silent form. He simply turns and walks off after a literal moment of total silence, disappearing into the underbrush with not even a backward glance.