bakerstreet | The Stockholm Syndrome Meme

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The Stockholm Syndrome Meme

THE STOCKHOLM MEME

WARNING: Meme will contain TRIGGERS, including kidnapping, dubious consent, and general uncomfortable content. Please do not click if you don't want to see, and please respect your fellow role-players.

Stockholm Syndrome is a psychological phenomenon in which hostages express empathy and have positive feelings for their captors, sometimes to the point of defending them. These feelings are generally considered irrational in light of the danger or risk endured by the victims, who essentially mistake a lack of abuse from their captors for an act of kindness.

Stockholm syndrome can be seen as a form of traumatic bonding, which does not necessarily require a hostage scenario, but which describes "strong emotional ties that develop between two persons where one person intermittently harasses, beats, threatens, abuses, or intimidates the other."

HOW TO PLAY:
1) Comment with your character and their series in the subject line of the comment. Include any preferences you might have on type of scene/squicks/etc.
2) Comment around to start scenes! Use random.org if you get stuck for ideas.

PROMPTS:
1. KIDNAPPED. You've been taken, either for ransom money or just because you've pissed the wrong people off. Or maybe your kidnapper just wants company. Maybe they need someone to be their companion, to be their confidante, and they chose you.

2. CAPTURED. Maybe you were a soldier, fighting in a battle. Maybe a spy, or a political dissident. Either way, the military has caught up with you.

3. IN CUSTODY. It's a law enforcement agent that has you locked up. Maybe you're a criminal and you're in prison, or on house arrest so that agent can keep an eye on you. Maybe the agent doesn't have enough evidence, so they took matters into their own hands.

4. ASYLUM. This person isn't keeping you here against your will. It's for safety. Maybe you're in the Witness Protection Program. Maybe you sought asylum from your own country. Maybe your criminal life got a little too heated and you had to go underground somewhere.

5. HOSTAGE EXCHANGE. A war, between countries or gangs or even planets, and the two sides have decided to exchange important hostages as a gesture of trust. You're one of them. It might even involve arranged marriage -- a way to unite your two peoples. Hope you enjoy staying with your enemy.

6. HIRED. Someone's being paid to keep you. Maybe a new parent or guardian keeping you at home, or perhaps an evil uncle has had you tossed into a discreet asylum in order to claim your inheritance.

7. SLAVERY. Through birth or misfortune, you've become the property of another. But they're not such a bad master. You might even grow to love them, if enough time passes. If they treat you with the right combination of cruelty and kindness.

8. WILD CARD. For anything not covered by the other options!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only | Expand All

(ooc: hmmmm captive. i can't quite picture alex as the captor now that i think about it.)

((OOC: So 2, 4, or 5? I can't see Eliot involved in any of the others as captor unless it's back during his enforcer days.))

(ooc: 2 would work! Alex has a bit of a history with spywork)

((OOC: Yeah, as does Eliot, most likely. Although, on second thought, that would most likely result in them both as captives... ;) Preference for what country they've ended up in this time?))

[Eliot grunts as the guards shove him into the dark cell. He doesn't bother turning around. They're already locking the door behind him, blocking out what little light there was from the hall. He felt his way to a wall, cursing quietly as he tripped over a pair of legs.]

(ooc: lol that works too! hmmm no preference on country, make it wherever!)

[Though Alex wakes up immediately when the guards open the door, the new guy is shoved in and the door locked before he can even scramble to his feet.

Damn.

Settling back against the wall, he grunts when the new guy trips over his legs. The cell isn't all that big. Just enough room to stretch out, but really not enough to move around too much.]

Welcome to the Ritz.

[Eliot snorted at the other's wit. His lips twist into a smile despite his bruised ribs.]

Ain't it classy?

[The timbre of his cellmate's voice registers then and clenches his fists. What the hell?!]

What's a kid like you doing here?

[Alex lets out a small laugh. For a moment he considers putting on the 'scared kid' act, but he already gave himself away by snarking at the guy and not being a sniveling mess. Besides, the goons already know who, and what, he is.]

Waiting for them to decide what they're going to do with me. I think I heard them say 'sharks' earlier, but I'm a little fuzzy on the language.

[Eliot had to admit he was impressed. He couldnt see the kid, but his voice sounded pretty young. How a mere kid could remain so call while talking about his own impending execution, he didn't know.]

You know Portugese?

No, but I know Spanish and there seems to be quite a lot of overlap.

[Even if he sounded relatively calm, Alex was not resigned to his impending doom. He'd been in tough situations before, and if he kept his wits about him, he might just find a chance to escape.]

[Eliot nodded before remembering that the kid couldn't see him.]

There is. So... I know why I'm here. I still don't understand what they have against a kid your age.

They don't seem to like it when people get too close to their fences and 'afaste-se' signs.

Well fences with signs on them usually mean "keep out" or "stay away."

[His tone is dry, almost amused.]

Congratulations on stumbling on a terrorist cell.

Is that what this is?

[and then he gives a bitter laugh]

I was on holiday. I was just on holiday, but I saw someone in town that I thought I knew and I had to make sure...

[Eliot sighs and shakes his head.]

Let me guess. You followed this guy you knew here. How do you know a member of Scorpia? You're, what, sixteen?

[There's a somewhat awkward silence before he replies.]

Fifteen, actually. And it was a her. I met her once, in Italy.

Wait... So those rumors going around were true? You're John Rider's kid?

[God, just how many people out there know about him? He's never going to have a normal life at this rate. He considers denying it, pretending he doesn't know who John Rider is. But the need to know anything about his father, anything at all was too strong.]

I swear, for a group of people who are all about secrets, they sure can't keep any.

Did you know him? My father, that is.

[Eliot chuckles at the kid's words. He does have a point.]

No, I never met your father. I knew of him, though. Probably would have met him if he'd lived longer and my unit hadn't been sold out.

Sold out? What happened?

[Eliot sighs and runs a hand through his hair.]

My unit and I were on a covert mission in Europe. My best friend in the unit sold us out.

[He sighs. He might not like remembering that time but it had changed his life irrevocably.]

When something goes wrong while you're on a mission that supposedly doesn't exist, you either get written off as dead, dishonorably discharged, or both. It's the worst part of getting borrowed by the CIA.

Damn, I'm sorry.

[What is with best friends and selling people out? That is not what best friends are supposed to do.]

Sounds like MI6 though. They only appreciate you when you're dead.

[Eliot gives a bitter laugh.]

Yeah, I think those secret intelligence groups are pretty much the same worldwide. Scorpia and MI6? You really get around.

[and the CIA and the ASIS...]

What can I say? I have the shittiest luck in the world.

That's one way of putting it. At least someone got Scorpia to take the price off your head.

Doesn't mean they don't still hate me.

[especially after Indonesia]

So what brought you here?

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2 it is, then

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Is this supposed to be before or after Scorpia Rising?

before, lol, alex is difficult as all get out to play after

Cool, that let's me play with Scorpia...

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