Dark Forest!AU: Vol. I || Once Upon a time, there was a dear little girl...
The theatrics didn't quite match up to the mood of the situation. Read the room, read the room.
A crowd had gathered around the stage, it looked like it had been decorated up for a festival or parade, some great joyous occasion. Quite a crowd, in fact. All of Sector 5 were in attendance. Which was mandatory, of course.
The sky was bleak above, a mass of heavy grey clouds covering any light as dusk drew in prematurely. And the people cheered and jeered and generally made noises that protocol dictated were appropriate for this impromptu event on the community calender.
A figure burst onto the stage, leader of this parade, and the cheers grew before he silenced the fivespeople by standing up at the microphone front-centre. "People of Dark Forest Sector Five! Present Government Officials! Visiting Citizens! D.F.A Representatives!" He greeted in turn, gesturing histrionically as he welcomed each group, over the crowd before him, the seated officials to his left, the crowds again, the dark figures lined up at the back of the stage and around the edges of the outdoor gathering... Everything about him was unsettling, the marionette way he moved, that stretched white smile slicing his face in two, large unnerving eyes. You could tell by the rich fabrics and colours he wore that he was well-to-do. Probably Sector 2.
"My name," he continued, lean body gesticulating wildly, "is Caius O'Brian III, and I'm pleased to announce that following the tragic incident which befell our dear Hilda-Marie Dukebottom, I'll be replacing her as your Sector Representative!" He had a certain way of speaking that led you to believe without doubt that every sentence ended with an exclamation point. Which then led you to wonder what he would be like to have a casual conversation with, minus the theatrics.
Orbs hovered around the stage and behind the people, another behind Caius. These VisionPods™ projected this ceremony live across all of Dark Forest. Little red light bleeping, bleep. bleep. bleep.
Caius allowed cheering to pick up again as he tried his best to look modest and blushing, before he wagged a lithe hand to hush the people again. "My first public ceremony with you, is to be a great one! Our first lynching of this term -- and the first of many, lets hope!" He gestured off stage and one of the dark figures nodded to another. Caius twirled his hand at the audience again with all of the grace and control of a fine conductor.
Sebastian watched, in line with the other D.F.A. reps at the rear of the stage. The Dark Forest Army were a sort of assumed police force, their slogan plastered on billboards across the Sectors "We're Here, for Your Protection." The legitimacy of that statement was left to be ignored by any citizen who wanted to remain "free". You could see that in the faces of the crowd now, contorted and twisted into smiles, and cheers as hollow as those expressions. No one meant it, it was simply how it was dictated that they should act. And so they did.
Perhaps he was maturing, but part of Sebastian was growing tired of these hangings and stonings and all of these age-old traditions. Even if they had been polished as a spectacle with banners and flowers and ribbons, a shitty little band for music, all of the dramatics in place for camera. It was simply a show. Repercussions.
The Red Hood was dragged on stage by his brothers, masked behind their ranking animals he recognised Brutus (a Bear) and one of the new Fox recruits. Sebastian was a Wolf, the highest order. Too highly ranked to even be at one of these local executions, but it was a Red Hood.
They had her strung up and ready to drop when Caius clapped his hands together merrily, his eyes creased in a sort of maniacal fashion than made Sebastian turn up his lip. Brutus stepped forward to pull the crimson hood away, revealing the girl's face. She'd been beautiful when they'd ensnared her, long dark hair, rosey red lips and pale skin... As the Bear towered over her now, leering down at her bruised and broken face, filthy and mutilated and just a cringe-worthy sight... Sebastian managed to keep his face straight. Not that it mattered, it was barely visible.
His attention was drawn away from the girl by a blood-curdling scream over the crowd, Esmeralda! A woman with somewhat familiar dark hair and rosey lips, just like her daughter, was fighting through the crowd, screaming and crying and people around her panicked, unsure how they were supposed to react. Like headless fucking Chickens.
Sebastian nodded at two of the men at the edge of the crowd who had automatically looked at him for orders. At his signal they were walking through the people without struggle, a path cleared for them to allow the woman to be dragged away, no mess, no fuss. Caius handled the outburst like a seasoned SecRep, he'd do well here.
His eyes flickered over the crowd again when he caught her eye, trying to slip away. And he smiled, a chilling half-smile that no one should see. The cheers and Caius' booming voice, the music and applause and drop of the rope... it all faded into the background as he slipped away too. Catching up with her easily as he followed her back into the abandoned streets.
"These public events are mandatory, miss, where might you be heading?"