There's been a great deal for hours, of course, but it was down in the pit. Ivan stayed in the shadows, eyed by but not harassed by the guards, who had bigger concerns. He'd come in the late afternoon, toward the evening, when it became clear that the event was teetering on the verge of chaos. He had wanted to see how it went.
What he hasn't bargained for was a riot with no way out - he should have, stupid and sloppy, he'll later think. He isn't concerned for his own safety in particular, though it won't do to be careless. He starts looking for a way out, through the mass of screaming panic, picking his way around and through.
But the blood is distracting. He tries as best he can to ignore it.
And then a man full of bullet holes, dying but not dead, is thrown back into him. Ivan catches him around the chest and waist, almost tender, like an embrace. The man is covered in blood, his own, others', and he is struggling, frantic, without having understood anything that's happened.
No one is looking at Ivan when his eyes go black. He steps back into the shadows and sinks his teeth into the man's neck. In the middle of the screams and the fighting and the panic, no one even blinks at them.
He's no longer particularly interested in leaving.
no subject
There's been a great deal for hours, of course, but it was down in the pit. Ivan stayed in the shadows, eyed by but not harassed by the guards, who had bigger concerns. He'd come in the late afternoon, toward the evening, when it became clear that the event was teetering on the verge of chaos. He had wanted to see how it went.
What he hasn't bargained for was a riot with no way out - he should have, stupid and sloppy, he'll later think. He isn't concerned for his own safety in particular, though it won't do to be careless. He starts looking for a way out, through the mass of screaming panic, picking his way around and through.
But the blood is distracting. He tries as best he can to ignore it.
And then a man full of bullet holes, dying but not dead, is thrown back into him. Ivan catches him around the chest and waist, almost tender, like an embrace. The man is covered in blood, his own, others', and he is struggling, frantic, without having understood anything that's happened.
No one is looking at Ivan when his eyes go black. He steps back into the shadows and sinks his teeth into the man's neck. In the middle of the screams and the fighting and the panic, no one even blinks at them.
He's no longer particularly interested in leaving.