Verity Alice Price

The dragon's eyes were a luminous pumpkin orange, like giant jack-o-lanterns burning in the face of the largest lizard the world had ever seen. He was still mostly prone, but his head was raised like the head of a snake getting ready to strike. The few remaining cultists cheered, apparently thinking he'd finally woken up at their command, and would now be happy to do their bidding. ( Verity wasn't completely sure they were wrong. )

[AND WE'RE DONE! Thanks to everyone who read along and even more thanks to rockstar babe firstofitskind, not just for all her preplaying and coding, but the encouragement and cheerleading all through this, as well as her AMAZING PATIENCE. Adapted from Chapters 25 of Seanan McGuire's Discount Armageddon. First post | Previous post. NFI, NFB, OOC is love]

After saving her from the Sleestacks--pardon, the servitors--Candy had first dragged Verity onto the Metro and then back off not far from the warehouse district. The dragon princess had informed Verity that she was being brought home with her; there were too many unanswered questions that they needed to discuss before Verity hared off and got herself killed. Verity would have liked to protest that, but considering Candy had just saved her ass from what would probably have been a very gruesome murder by Sleestack, she was willing to let it go.

Going through a maze of blind alleys and sudden turns--and even through a cramped and dirty bodega run by another dragon princess named Priscilla who'd looked at Verity like she held the last hope of the world in her hands--they ended up in front of a squat, ugly building. The building had started life as a slaughterhouse, and didn't appear to have changed much since. The alley door led into what had once been the holding pen for sheep or cattle; the floor was concrete, with spilled-wine bloodstains worked deep into the stone. A few of the low holding walls were gone, replaced by empty space. Overhead, the walkways and management offices hung in the gloom like spiderwebs, gray and sterile. ( The light was uniformly low, and an air of decay hung over the entire place, like no one had been there for years. )

[Adapted from Chapter 19 of Seanan McGuire's Discount Armageddon with wonderful coding help from my fave, firstofitskind. WARNING FOR NPC DEATH. First post is here, and here is the previous post. NFI, NFB, OOC is love]

The first out-of-the-way manhole cover they could find was located on the edge of a small park, about a block and a half away from Sarah's hotel. It was mostly hidden in the middle of one of those little seating areas that spring up around the city like mushrooms after a hard rain. The few people who did walk by pretty much ignored them. "I love big city life," Verity said quietly, looking around.

Liam had removed his jacket and shirt before taking the crowbar Sarah somehow managed to wheedle out of the hotel manager--when a cuckoo got involved, it was better not to ask exactly how they accomplished things--and setting to work. Sarah was back at the hotel, gulping Tylenol and keeping a telepathic 'eye' on the area. She would let them know if she saw trouble coming.

In the meanwhile, Verity was absorbed with the all-important task of checking her weapons, including the emergency throwing knives and smoke grenades she'd retrieved from Sarah's closet. Well, that, and watching the way the muscles of Liam's back moved every time he strained to get a better degree of leverage on the manhole cover.

Look, they were about to descend into a sewer and possibly discover a dragon. Verity felt no shame in ogling Liam a bit.

( At least until he shoved the manhole cover off to one side, releasing an unpleasant gust of sewer smell. )

[Adapted from Chapter 12 of Seanan McGuire's Discount Armageddon with amazing preplay AND coding help from firstofitskind, who wins at everything forever. First post is here, the previous post is here, and the next post is here. NFI, NFB, OOC is love]

It was nine-thirty in the morning and Verity--or, rather, the red-haired Valerie Pryor, who had never lived on a crazy island and couldn't even fathom the idea that monsters existed--was trying not to freeze to death in a dress consisting entirely of fringe, sequins, strategically-placed strips of lace, and even more strategically-placed pieces of double-sided tape. The hall rented for the Maryland State Argentinian Tango Open was packed to the point of comedy, but even all the bodies jostling together weren't enough to keep it warm, especially up here on the stage where the crowds of the hall itself had given way to just the ten couples of group seventeen.

Well, nine couples and 'Valerie'. Her partner, James, was nowhere to be seen. She had seen him earlier in the hall, talking to his boyfriend, but that had been soon after he'd arrived and checked in, so well over two hours ago. After that, he'd been swallowed up by the crowds, not that Verity had been worried. This event had a two hundred dollar non-refundable buy-in and the top twenty would be going to regionals and she trusted James to have his priorities in order.

But now with the judges saying, "Positions, please," through the speakers, Verity was starting to worry. Couples entered as couples, and there were no substitutions allowed once the event program had been printed. There definitely weren't any substitutions allowed after you were on the floor.

The other nine couples had fallen into ready position, leaving her all-too-visibly alone in the middle of the floor. She barely managed to keep from wincing as the speakers clicked on again. ( Number one hundred eighty-four, please join your partner. )


[Adapted from Chapters 9 & 10 of Seanan McGuire's Discount Armageddon with amazing preplay AND coding help from the adoration-worthy firstofitskind. Parts one, two, three, four, and five, along with post seven. NFI, NFB, OOC is love]