bark at the moon

[annette--miller-deactivated2014]

Slave to the Night & Sea | Brava & Annette

[annette--miller-deactivated2014]

Annette chuckled. Now that she thought about it, she supposed she didn’t care very much if she did get wet. She wanted to feel alive again, or at least something close to it. And she couldn’t do that locked up in the Bellagio, no matter how wonderful it was.

She shook her head at her new companion. “I suppose I’m a little out of practice at having a good night off.” she admitted, leaning back so her hands rested on the sand behind her. “I don’t think it’ll be too bad.” she added with a smirk, looking from her new companion to the sky above them.

[barking--bad-blog]

"You'll get the hang of it," she promised while she wiggled her shoulders. Settled into her little sand spot "A lot of it's just bein' in the right place at the right time with one hand on the right ass 'n your other with the right bottle." There it was, all the mysteries of life answered in one simple equation. Well, at least the mysteries of Brava's life. She couldn't much speak about that of the girl beside her. If she even was alive. Hard to tell with all the ocean smell on her, but damned if Brava cared at this point. Human, biter, whatever. Girl wasn't fuckin' with her bar so Brava didn't care.

"So, what's your story, lonesome?" But she figured, might as well ask. Get to know someone new, right? She wasn't going to remember a damn thing about it come morning, but it would fill up the moment well enough.

"And, y'know, while you talk, if you wanted to pet me, you really could." Dogs were the masters of subtlety when they wanted attention. "Right on the head. Wouldn't mind one bit." Or, well. Brava wouldn't mind a bellyrub either, but she felt like she'd oversold it enough. Maybe. She gave another l'il wiggle to make sure her tummy was nice and available, though, just in case. Subtlety.

[annette--miller-deactivated2014]

Slave to the Night & Sea | Brava & Annette

[annette--miller-deactivated2014]

Annette heard the werewolf long before she spoke. But, having not had much interaction with their kind, well, more like any interaction at all, since she had come to the island, Annette decided it would be best to let the newcomer initiate conversation, if she wanted any at all. And when she spoke, Annette was almost relieved. She was starving for communication of any kind, and even if this werewolf was drunk, which it seemed likely she was considering the strong scent of alcohol that she brought with her, it was communication and she wasn’t about to turn it down. 

She looked up at the darkening sky above them, she hadn’t even noticed the huge, billowing storm clouds rolling in when she had left the Bellagio. “Guess I didn’t exactly pick out a relaxing night on the beach, huh?” she laughed at herself before looking over at her joiner, laughing a little to herself as she plopped down next to her. 

She really laughed though when the woman asked if she was “one of those weird artsy types.” Taking the bottle offered to her, Annette took a long drink. She knew she technically couldn’t drink alcohol and it would cause her to be sick later, but she would rather be polite in this instance. Considering, this was one of her first interactions with another inhabitant of the island. “I’d hardly call myself artsy, but then again, I don’t know. I just thought this would be as good a place as any to spend my night off.” she replied, offering the bottle back to her new companion with a thankful smile. “Also, I just love the beach. It’s so…” her voice trailed off and she turned to look back at the ocean before them and she shrugged, getting caught up in the beautiful view again. 

[barking--bad-blog]

Drunk was arguably the best time to talk to Brava. Arguably. True, there was a much higher chance of her cracking a bottle over your head, but before things got there? She was much more lethargic than usual. That didn't mean she was exactly all sunshine and daisies, but better than her usual bouncing-off-the-walls-driving-everyone-insane energy level. So, arguably. If you didn't mind the bottle thing.

" 'pends on how much you care 'bout stayin' dry." She tried to think of possible perks for being out on a rainy beach. "Less chance of a fire?" She scratched at the back of her neck.  All right, maybe there weren't very many perks.

"Night off, shit. Ain't had one of those in .." She took the bottle back and tried to count. God, that was so long ago. How was anyone supposed to remember that far back? "Damn long time. Shit. You should be doing better than this. Night off. Should be.. Fallin' in love or somethin'. Fucking like fire. I'd say setting something on fire, but.." She pointed toward the sky. "Mother Nature's checkin' that off the Damn Good Night checklist. Get in a fight. You'd look real pretty with a few scratches on you." She grinned to herself and leaned back until she felt her shoulders touch the sand.

"But I guess some water ain't bad, either."

[annette--miller-deactivated2014]

Slave to the Night & Sea | Brava & Annette

After 3 years of hiding away in the Bellagio, Annette was finally feeling adventurous enough to explore the island where she had been residing. Once it grew dark enough, she made her way outside of the large casino. Stepping out into the fresh, night air, Annette breathed in deep. She had only dared to leave the Bellagio once or twice in the last three years for fear that her maker’s revenge-bent partners would come storming onto the island chasing her.

She was finally beginning to believe she wasn’t going to be staked through the heart on this island and she wanted to do a little exploring. Heading out of the back entrance, Annette made her way to the beach behind the exquisite casino, slowly walking towards the water. Once she reached the waters edge, she sat down on the sand, placing her feet in the line of the incoming waves. She was so entranced by the wonderful smells, sounds and sights before her, she didn’t even notice someone was approaching. 

[barking--bad-blog]

"It's gonna rain," she announced to.. Whoever that was. She didn't recognize them. Night by sight or smell. She figured it was only polite to mention it, though. Her nose had started twitching a few minutes back, and she was sure of the change in the weather. Usually would've prompted her to start heading back, but that meant going back to the bar. She didn't feel like doing that at the particular moment. She'd gone to the beach to have a nice walk and get away from that. She wasn't going to let some oncoming downpour fuck that up for her.

Besides, she felt like having new company. Maybe the woman wanted to be alone, maybe she didn't feel like having a dog sniffing at her. But Brava didn't give so much as half a shit about that. She dragged her feet right up to the same water line, and helped herself to a seat right beside her.

With her left hand she reached down, picking off her shoes. Formality at this point, they were going to get wet in a few anyway, but.. At least she'd prevent them from getting sea wet? Did that even matter? She didn't know. Didn't care at that moment. The bottle she held in her right hand was something like her eighth of whiskey, so she was pretty solid in don't give a shit territory. She offered the bottle to her new friend.

"You one of those weird artsy types?" She figured it was worth asking since the woman was, y'know, sitting there looking out at the sea looking all contemplative 'n shit.

[loladesdamnes-deactivated201408]

Since the first couple nights hadn’t seen many visitors to the shop, Chloe had become used to working alone, not expecting anyone to stop by, though as far as she knew, it was still open. She’d already become comfortable there, much more so than anywhere else she’d visited or stayed on the island. She was in place, supposed to be there, and it still wasn’t trapping her like she felt the Villa was.

Her back began to ache from unloading boxes and putting the incoming items in their places in the store. They ranged from what could’ve been seen as normal, every day clothes, to lingerie, to all kinds of toys and furniture for carnal needs, and none of it phased her.

The opening of the front door and the little bell that jingled along with it let her know someone was there. She snapped up from the back of the property, where she’d been organizing and disposing of shipping containers, boxes, tags, all of that. She was working alone right now, so it would be her responsibility to attend to the customer. Chloe trotted up to them, a couple hangers still dangling in her left hand. “Can I help you?” she asked breathlessly.

[barking--bad-blog]

"Yeah! Maybe? I don't know." Brava was just fucking frazzled. More than usual. It had been a tremendously difficult few days, and her brain was just.. Just gone. She was distracted by being furious at Adele, she was distracted by trying to keep things calm, she--Just everything. Ordering replacement shit for the bar, moving it in, setting it up. She had to have it re-opened soon. Like, soon. Days. But it needed to be an event. It needed to be something.

Truth told she didn't have any idea what she was even looking for when she came in the shop. She just saw that it was a place that sold, y'know, stuff, so she decided to come in and see what the hell was what the hell.

"I need, like.." She was gesturing, but it was kind of ambiguous as to what she was doing. It was the world's worst game of charades. Her first hand motion was kind of like she was showing off a big fish. The second, like she was auditioning for a spot on Wheel of Fortune. The third was probably a curse in some cultures. "I need something for the re-opening of my place. Something.. Hilarious, would be good?" It would be nice, yes. "Hilarious when drunk." She threw that part in because that was important. It was a lot easier to be funny when you were drowned in alcohol.

"Do you have anything funny? Like if you ever looked at somethin' and went man, who the fuck is gonna buy that?" Brava pointed at herself. "Me. I'm the one."

[barking--bad-blog]

[ Brava & Micah ]

[mic-ah-deactivated20140626]

"It’s a good look," Micah agreed. "Very fetching.” He wasn’t one for extravagance, but there was something to be said for the way the light caught the crystals. Turning on his heel, he followed obediently, keeping a smile on all the while. “You do have a nice way of resolving decisions. I like that.” He could deal with the bossiness so long as it kept the cash flowing, and it was always fun to see someone outfitted to the fullest. While he hadn’t quite gotten to the point where he was rolling around in money, he very well could have been. Even more so if this purchase went through. Going by previous experience, it was incredibly likely that it would.

Micah paused, teeth catching his lip for a moment. “Go big or go home. Maybe some earrings to pair the whole thing off.” That would mean…no, none of the displays had quite the look he was envisioning. “Well you’ve come to the right place for that. Lucky for you I have just the thing.” Micah disappeared into the back of the store, depositing the duster and heading straight for the safe. Against a werewolf or a vampire, a simple glass case wasn’t likely to be much protection. He kept the truly expensive things in the back, in a silver lined safe. Not that anyone would think of stealing from him, but it couldn’t hurt to be careful. He opened it quickly and collected his prize.

“Here we are,” he said once he returned. “Necklace, matching earrings. If you’re looking for anklets, we’ll have to do a bit of measuring. But this is definitely a start.” He offered the box, smiling proudly. “Trust me. Once you’re done here, you’ll shine.”

[barking--bad-blog]

"Do you?" She clapped and beamed. "Doyoudoyou?" She immediately brightened up as soon as he promised he had what she needed. She followed behind -- not too closely, of course. She respected the private areas of establishments, as she expected her own to be. She stayed a decent enough distance away when he went for his safe, but that didn't stop her from going on her tip-toes and trying to crane her neck and get a sneak peek at whatever he had for her.

When he presented the goods to her, her eyes got wide. She bit down on her lower lip and, of course, her hips wiggled just so. Just because she didn't have a tail didn't mean she couldn't try her god damn best to wag. She accepted the box of the glittery goodness.

"Iwannashine." It came out as all one word, nodding approval at his thought process for how all this should go. God, this was going to be, like, the biggest fucking hit right in her purse. But damned if she cared. All she could think about was shining. Once that word got entered into the equation, she was hooked. "It's the best start."

[barking--bad-blog]

Burning Down The House | Adele + Brava

[adelegreyback-deactivated201708]

♥

[barking--bad-blog]

Brava was getting exceedingly sick of Adele. She refused to answer the most simple of possible questions that she'd been asked -- what, five times now? Six? And now she was dragging the older wolf around, tugging her outside. Brava followed in the most minimal fashion she could, just letting the younger girl pull her to get her forward. And when they were outside, of course. Instead of explaining shit, Adele was quick to off in some other direction. Now Brava was supposed to hit her. Because something happened with fruit.

"I want you to shut the fuck up, Adele." She rubbed her hands over her own face, wiped at her cheeks to clear them. Rubbed her sleeve under her nose because why the hell not, she was already a mess. "I want you to just.. Shut. The fuck. Up.

This," she pointed toward the bar "this is my life. Not yours. Now.. I don't know what the fuck your dumb ass did with whatever fucking.. Fruit? To who the fuck ever," she shook her head. This whole thing made no sense. And for something to not make sense to Brava it had to be pretty fucking out there. " 'n the look on your face says you got a full mind to make this worse. For me." She motioned toward the bar, motioned toward herself. On any other given day, on any other given occasion, she was first in line to ride shotgun for Adele through whatever bullshit she wanted to get into. But with her place on the line? She shook her head, started to walk back inside.

"I have to clean up." She stated what she was going to do about this right now. Which wasn't hitting Adele or raising hell or whatever. She picked up a piece of her front door, tossed it onto the dirt outside. "That's where the pile starts." She pointed with her thumb over her shoulder, speaking to the men still inside.

[barking--bad-blog]

Burning Down The House | Adele + Brava

[adelegreyback-deactivated201708]

♥

[barking--bad-blog]

"Wh--Give yourself in? Adele, what the fuck-- Who is he?" Everything she said just made the other wolf confused. And then she went about barking -- He just flinched back, sighed again. Whenever they eventually gave in they just sort of settled on the sidelines. Watching. Trying to figure out what the damn hell was going on. "Bad enough when it was just the one.."

Brava, meanwhile, was somewhere between irreparably furious and horribly distraught. Her eyes were read, tears left streaks down her cheeks. She looked a mess. But she still had her fists balled so tight that she was pretty sure whatever nails she hadn't broken off on the floor were digging holes into her palm. She wasn't going to punch Adele. Yet. She was listening to her favorite pup, but all she was understanding was one thing.

"You know why this happened." That much she gathered. The part she needed before she decided where her roulette wheel of emotions would land was: "Tell me."

"Please. Whatever this was clearly went way the fuck too far." "We got your back but you gotta let us in on this, man." The peanut gallery chimed in. As far as they could guess it was.. Debt? Gambling? Was she borrowing money from some crazy loan shark? They hadn't the slightest fucking clue.

Brava wasn't trying to guess. She didn't have the mind to. She could barely form enough thoughts to process the information that was being given to her, she didn't have anything near the capacity to invent shit on her own.

[barking--bad-blog]

Burning Down The House | Adele + Brava

[adelegreyback-deactivated201708]

♥

[barking--bad-blog]

"IF YOU TOUCH ONE MORE THING IN MY FUCKING HOME I SWEAR --" She damn near scrambled straight over one of the men trying to hold her back when Adele's foot knocked against the broken wood. Her torso was up and over his shoulders, her legs about to kick right off his big ass head. She decided if she couldn't go through them the she'd go over them.

Maybe it wasn't Adele's fault. But pretty much the only thing more precious to her than the girl in front of her was, well. The place around them. And the former had bits dangling by thin slices of wood and windows that had loose glass falling out, still. Especially when there was the thudding impact of  the man finding the solution to Brava's escape plan -- he grabbed her by her hair, pulled her back and pinned her to the ground. She was not happy about that.

While he attempted to convince Brava not to go on a rampage, the second man sighed, ran his hands through his hair. He turned to the girl that wasn't half a second from shrieking her way into shifting, and attempted to figure out something about what the hell was going on.

"Did you just say 'a vampire'?" He asked Adele, running his hands over his face. The only thing that was going to make this night any worse was the conflict being inter-species. So of course. "Ok. Okok. What the fuck is going on, man? 'Cause this is --" He looked back at Brava, who was still kicking. "This is bad, man. Just .. Tell me without hitting anything, okay? Just nice and quiet-like." Because he was pretty sure that if Brava heard one more piece of debris clatter in her place, she'd be going full feral.

And she was. "My home." Her throat was nearly gone, her fingernails were clawing at whatever she could, and she was kicking to.. Basically kick, at that point. She wasn't sure whether she wanted to get up or just hit the body above her. At that point she was equal parts sobbing into her friends' chest, and between her gulping breaths she was screaming bloody murder into the muffle of his body pinning her down.

[barking--bad-blog]

Burning Down The House | Adele + Brava

[adelegreyback-deactivated201708]

♥

[barking--bad-blog]

"YOU!" Brava was halfway through the air when the two wolves caught the woman and kept her back from the bartender. Her arm managed to poke through them, and extended a finger pointing at the cutely pajama'd girl. She struggled against them for a few moments before she finally calmed down enough that they relaxed their grips. Slightly.

"We good?"

She looked up, pulled herself back from them. Tried to collect herself and her thoughts in the middle of.. Well, her entire livelihood being kind of a complete mess around her. She released one of her fists, pulled out a long, thin slip of paper.

"So." She spoke like every word was an effort to get out without screaming them. "I'm.. I'm not good with numbers. On a usual day. So right now I'm.." She lifted her fist up next to her own head, and for a minute the wolves flinched. She had her fingers clenched hard enough that her arm was shaking. Eventually she let out a breath and lowered it.

She held out the slip of paper to the two men that were acting as guardposts between her and Adele. One accepted it, half-turned and handed it off to Adele.

It was a simple list. Three columns. In the first, it numbered each bottle that was broken (broken into categories by type), the exact number of stools, exact number of chairs, tables, so on down the line. The second column was the estimated dollar value of the total damages for each individual item group. The third column was the overall damages added over the course of the list, ending down at the bottom at what the listmaker had as roughly "~$99,875.95"

Beneath the neat list was a hand-written pair of sentences from a different source than whoever had done the tallying above it. They read:

"Payments tendered as recompense for the slights of one Adele Greyback. You may keep the difference."

Whenever Adele was done reading, Brava was waiting for her. Her hands up in the air, palms to Jesus like she might catch answers falling from the sky. "EXPLA-FUCKING-NATION?"

[barking--bad-blog]

Burning Down The House | Adele + Brava

"You! The bar! FUCKING NOW!"

She threw her phone as a substitute for turning it off. The man at her side attempted to touch his hand down to Brava's shoulder and console her. He said something along the lines of "Hey, that's not gonna help" before she whirled around. Her eyes were wide,  every vein she had was fit to pop, and she was pretty sure she was as close as she'd ever be to literally seeing red.

"If you touch me again I will tear your fucking hand off and jam it down your fucking throat do you fucking understand me?"

He was twice her size in every direction, but he knew her well enough to call it at that. It was the assfuck of night, long after closing, when Brava should have been able to sleep. She really god damn loved sleeping. How calm it was, how uninterrupted by, say, people calling her to tell  her she should really look at her bar. She didn't blame them, of course. Barkers she'd known since days long gone who just happened to see the broken windows when they were driving by. They didn't do anything wrong. Still, she was half a minute from murdering them both.

"Where the fuck is she?" She asked herself while she paced, stepping over.. What was it? Two tables? It was hard to tell when they were in splinters. The entire bar smelled like every sort of liquor, but that's what happened when every bottle was smashed and left to leak basically everywhere. It looked like Godzilla had given birth right in the middle of the place. At least the ceiling fans were left alone and were spinning slowly, adding in a little creak of a noise every now and again to punctuate the silence.

"It's.. It's been like two minutes since you called, Brava."

"Did I fucking ask you?"

The men sighed at each other, shook their heads. They understood her being furious, but there was only so much abuse they were going to take. She'd used up her freebies for the broken windows, the busted-in door, the smashed liquor, and some of the stools, already. She was running out of good will. And she knew it.

She tried to focus on the pacing. One foot in front of the other. Don't flip out. Don't. Flip. Out.

[barking--bad-blog]

[ Brava & Micah ]

[mic-ah-deactivated20140626]

Micah hummed to himself as he ran the duster over the shelf. With a store as big as this, it took more than a little work to keep the place clean and sparkling. He was thankful for the extra stamina lycanthropy gave him; he spent most of the day on his feet. Nevertheless, work was something he relished, and it wasn’t as if he could leave his store in the care of others for the whole day.

As he finished up with the shelf, he started making his way towards the back of the store. Micah turned as he heard someone’s fingers snap, sighing inwardly. While he wouldn’t have traded his job for anything in the world, he wasn’t overly fond of being…summoned. Nevertheless, he pasted on his retail smile and approached the woman he recognized as Brava.

“Mmm,” he mused, twirling the duster between his fingers. “There is something to be said for subtlety. Then again, subtlety isn’t a wolf’s strong suit. Personally I like the second one. Catches the light.” While flashier, it had the added benefit of being slightly more expensive as well. Business was business after all.

[barking--bad-blog]

"Arf!" She yipped as he brought up the W word, which.. Hm. Maybe wasn't entirely wolf-like? Whatever, she didn't worry about it. She just grinned all the way through turning back around, facing herself in the mirror, going from one to the other again.

"It really does. I do like sparkling.." She hummed to herself, and decided with a nod. Okay, yes, this was definitely a flashy tiara sort of outfit. She turned back toward the man and marched out from the booth. She was a wolf on a mission, and now it had a direction for her to go in. All she had to do was succeed. First step; "I'll just have to buy them both. I do like the other one." Which he probably appreciated. Bitchy finger-snapping customers were one thing, but bitchy finger-snapping customers that also had cash to burn were.. a slightly more tolerable thing? Yes? Probably.

"But if I'm gonna say fuck subtlety I should really say, y'know. Fuck subtlety. Add maybe a bangle? Something for my ankles. I should definitely get something for around my neck -- Right?" She looked back at the mirror, brushed her from her shoulders to get a better look at her throat. Yes. It needed something. "I'm feelin' You Couldn't Afford Me kinda chic right now." It was a bit of a Catch-22. Werewolves were dying to buy booze by the bucket-fuls. Brava had more business than she could shake a stick at. But between all the wasted clothes and the mechanical bulls, she was always two-steps away from red lines in her checkbook.

[camilabedford-deactivated202603]

+Franklin (& Brava)

[franklin-bertollini-deactivated]

Franklin struggled with every ounce of strength he had to get past the werewolves that were holding him. “CHARLIE! LET ME GO! CHARLIE!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. His vision was laser focused on her as she was carried away, but his limbs started fighting back. He struck out with perfect precision and took out the two werewolves that were holding him, only to have four more appear.

No matter how many times he fought them off, they seemed to multiply, like the heads of a Hydra. It wasn’t long before one of the werewolves finally wrapped a silver chain around his neck and Franklin screamed bloody murder as his skin was singed. But even as his skin gave way and the silver began to melt his muscle, he still screamed out for Charlie and fought with everything he had.

He knew he was in trouble now. He’d probably have his fangs pulled, but he couldn’t let them take Charlie. “Punish me!” he finally cried out, dropping down onto his knees and giving up the fighting, “Don’t punish her, she was only doing what I said.” His eyes, which were blurring in the pain, watched as the werewolf continued carrying her away, “No! No… NO!”

[barking--bad-blog]

"Shouldn'ta done that." Brava provided backseat commentary while.. Well, basically everyone else did work. Instead she just stood there, fished through her bag to find her cigarettes. If he wasn't going to need the door opened, then.. Well, her work was done, wasn't it? As far as she was concerned she didn't like her friend nearly enough to start getting slapped around by some vampire. She let everyone else handle his thrashing. Until silver finally got involved. Once she was pretty sure he was done with his shitfit, she came 'round to him.

"You can't change how this works, biter. This is how this works," she gestured toward the girl being dragged off, and him with the chain. She reached out to pat him, but.. Silver. She didn't like being too near it. So she just sort of gestured the patting in the air. She was sure that it was the thought that counts, right?

"Just trust me, all right?" She nodded toward the wolves at work, telling them they were free to take him off to.. Wherever. "You'll see daylight yet!" She promised. Probably as a metaphor. For like, a good outcome, right? Probably. But who could tell? She had no idea how bad this would get.

[barking--bad-blog]

[ OPEN ]

Brava might have been a complete mess mentally, emotionally and.. Well, most things-ally, but that didn't stop her from wanting to look damn good. So every now and again instead of burning some place down or getting trashed in her own bar, she helped herself to a day where she just spoiled herself and bought a new slew of princess clothes to throw in her overflowing closet. 'Closet' being more just a pile of expensive garments she wore, like, maybe once. She wasted a lot. She huffed at the mirror, trying on one tiara, then the next. One was a bit more subtle, more like a decorated band than anything else. The other was a bit more extravagant,  a bit more Disney princess. She was buying both of course. But which worked for this outfit? When she heard someone walking nearby she reached out from the fitting booth, snapped her fingers while she tossed the curtain aside.

"Hey! You! You!" Point. Snapsnap. Point. "One?" She put the more subtle tiara on her head. Removed it. "Or two?" And then the other.

[barking--bad-blog]

Brava-Doo, Where Are You! [ OPEN ]

[adelegreyback-deactivated201708]

"Sometimes i think you really underestimate me." When Brava smiled at her, Adele decided to not return the gesture. Brava was her friend, but Adele was too stubborn and too proud to give in so soon. She thought that Brava had teased her enough, but when the older woman continued talking, Adele growled at her. "What would happen if what?" Adele was waiting for her next move. She waited for her to let go off her hair, instead her grip tightened. Adele was slowly starting to lose her patience. The moment her hands got dangerously close to hem of her pants, Adele prepared herself to tackle Brava. Sure, she wouldn’t be opposed to sleeping with her, bu the circumstances mattered.

Adele ended up rolling her eyes when all she got as a swat. “Fucking seriously?” She huffed in annoyance while she fixed her hair. “I still think that ghosts and spirits are bullshit.”

When Brava started to pretend that nothing had happened, Adele decided to do the same and let it go. “Yeah, yeah… That’s what she said.” Adele tried to keep a straight face, but she ended up laughing at her terrible joke. “You think? Doesn’t this house have a map or something? It;s fucking huge. Whatever. I will change my mind about this place if we find out that Jefffrey Dahmer is actually a vampire and that he is living here. Now that is something I would want to see, bot this Disney Haunted Mansion bullshit. Come on! You can’t tell me that you are scared right now. …are you?”

[barking--bad-blog]

"You should try taking me seriously sometime." She suggested while she pushed open a door. It looked like a kid's room, little rocking horse still rocking, all that jazz. General 'Haunted Mansion' bullshit as she put it. That didn't bother Brava. It wasn't so much anything she could see or hear so much as something she just felt. "I do. More often than people think I do." Like, say, a minute ago. She wasn't pretending nothing happened, she was just moving on. Adele did the same, so why should she dwell? Or like, say, now. The hair on the back of her neck was still standing up, and Adele's scare would likely work a second time just the same as the first. She pushed open another door. Nothing. Ugh, what was it? It felt so close but

She blinked when dust fell on her head. She looked up when she heard the creaking. Soft, slow thnk. thnk. thnks above her head and the little particles loosing from the ceiling to show.. Someone walking on the floor above them right where Brava was.

When she leapt, she cleared the space of about two rooms down the hall in one good, clean jump. She landed on all fours, and all it took was a half second and one turn down the next bend for her to vanish in a heartbeat from Adele's sight. A blink of an eye and there was just her muffled barking coming from down the hall, then slightly above, and then nothing.

[eleanorcrane-blog]

{ OPEN }

[eleanorcrane-blog]

Brows crinkled as the words left Brava’s mouth. The confusion was fleeting, disappearing with the shake of her head, and amusement rushing in to replace it. She scanned the girl for any sign of injury or tampering. “Brava, did you fall down and hit your head? We are friends.” 

Or at least she had thought. It must’ve been the new perfume scent throwing her wolfy friend off. She could’ve had some fun with the memory loss, mess with her until she realized her idiotic mistake. The thought lingered as Eleanor slowly sipped the martini, the only indication of ill-behaved thoughts was the slow forming smirk pulling on her lips. As entertaining as it would’ve been, Elle decided against it. 

"It’s Eleanor, you idiot." Insults often flew off her tongue but you could always tell when they were playful or serious. This one was a slight mixture of both. She rolled her eyes, returned to sipping her drink at long and slow intervals. The woman on stage was still going, partially recapturing the attention of Elle. "I’m quite offended, Brava. I think you should fix that. "

[barking--bad-blog]

"Wh--" She blinked, leaned in. Sniffed. Maybe there were too many scents in this place? But she was damn sure that she was smelling the woman in front of her. She looked like a dog hunting for a disappeared treat for a moment -- looking at Eleanor, sniffing, looking around, sniffing. Eventually she gave up and believed her, since.. Well, she looked like Eleanor, even if she didn't smell like her. Which was still confusing. Brava sighed, slumped back in her chair.

"I should fix what?" Brava huffed toward the woman. "Fix it yourself! For a second I thought I was getting laid tonight." She looked back at the woman on stage. Her foot thumped the floor once or twice as her leg twitched. "Well, still will, but. For like, thirty seconds there," she said, gesturing toward the path she walked toward her old seat to her new one "It was gonna be you, prolly in the bathroom, over a sink in, like, twenty minutes." She laid it out like it was a game of Clue and she just laid down her best detective's guess.

"We'll call it even between your offense and my disappointment."

[camilabedford-deactivated202603]

+Franklin (& Brava)

[franklin-bertollini-deactivated]

Franklin had stilled as he watched people begin to close in on them. His mind immediately started going through all of their escape plans. He could grab her and run. He could stand and fight. Those seemed to be his two most viable options. However when Charlie released his arm, his eyes turned immediately to her. When she dropped to the ground, all of his plans went out the window.

Her voice rang in his ears and his heart sank. All he could hear was her, and he felt the pain of every single one of her words. Without worrying about the advancing army upon them, he dropped down beside her and gathered her into his arms. “I’m so sorry,” he muttered into her hair over and over again.

[barking--bad-blog]

"Did I really, though?" She asked while she rubbed at her throat. God damn that still hurt. Well, Charlotte was probably never going to forgive her. Probably? Brava was still going to bug her, of course, but who knew. Still, that wasn't her damn problem. If the girl couldn't handle the blowback, then she shouldn't have taken .. whatever chance she was taking, in the first place. Brava had her guesses, of course. Still, when the rest of the guards finally came up and asked "The hell is going on here?" All the wolf could do was shrug.

"Something. We'll find out when.." She tilted her head, considered her options "you take her to the cells. Exerting my authority blah blah, superseding ownership, blah blah, bring her in for questioning." She waved her hand, they'd heard it all before. Did she actually have to say all the words? Fuck it. "He's got people to meet, we really shouldn't keep him."

She grabbed one of the men by the scruff of his neck. Wait. Shit, wrong one. She let him go, looked around a bit, grabbed a second one. There, he was the guy she wanted. "She don't get one question asked 'til I'm there, though. Got it? I was the guard on duty. Consider my presence mandatory." 

She sighed. She wasn't going to get, like, even half the thank yous she deserved for this, in her opinion. Of course, she still might manage to get one for doing her job, depending. "Hey." She gestured toward the man that had been hugging on Charlie. "Still need that gate open?"

[camilabedford-deactivated202603]

+Franklin (& Brava)

[franklin-bertollini-deactivated]

Franklin’s whole body had turned to stone. His possessiveness and jealousy was off the charts. He was seeing red as he gazed at this dog. He could feel Charlie gripping his arm, and the message was clear, but he couldn’t hear it. His eyes darkened as his hand reached out and grabbed the dog by the throat, “No one will touch her, own her, or have her company but me, do you understand me, dog?” He pushed her back as he released her, hissing as he did so.

"Now open the damn gate!” he roared. Anger coursed through his veins. This one bitch was going to keep their well laid out plan from working. “She is my property, and I will take her where I damn well please!”

[barking--bad-blog]

Did Charlotte understand? 'Cause Jawline sure as hell didn't. Or maybe he just decided his chances were still better being a dick than taking the safe road. Brava had given them an easy out. She'd have seriously just kept Charlotte a day or two, forced her to keep bringing Brava treats basically 24/7, maybe made her read her a book before bed. Nothing awful. It was better than what anyone else would've given them once they sniffed something was up.

And maybe she'd have kept being nice if he didn't grab her by the throat. That kind of hurt. And by kind of hurt she was pretty sure she wouldn't have a windpipe anymore if she wasn't made of sturdy stuff. She was coughing while she stumbled back a few steps after the shove. Barely keeping her balance.

She held out a finger indicating they wait a moment while she hacked and grunted out a few sounds. "Memememememe~e.." She touched her fingers to her collarbone while she croaked out the first few notes there, getting kind of near her normal voice by the end. Kind of. Good. Now for the important test.

When she barked, it wasn't to its usual prowess. Adele wouldn't be hearing it down at the bar. It wasn't her happy yipping that they got when she charged Charlotte, either. Deeper, angrier, and by this point anyone on staff at the moment knew what it meant when Brava let one or two of those out. 

One or two being important because she wasn't sure if she'd still have a throat after them. Still, the important thing was all gate staff in bark-shot got the sad notice that they might need to do their job for a few minutes. Heads turned, asses started to get up and moving. So, whether or not the vampire decided to let her stand where she was or fling her into the distance, she still did her job. Good dog. Give good dog treat.