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bakerstreet2020-08-03 11:31 am
khaleesock) wrote in bakerstreet2020-08-03 11:31 am
Entry tags:
the rescue meme.
→ Post with your character’s name, canon, and any preferences in the subject line
→ Those tagging, go to RNG and roll for a number between one and ten.
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1. BAD DATE - You get a text, a phone call, or maybe you can just see the other person floundering on what clearly must be the worst date of their life. Time to step in and save the day.
2. PRISON - Maybe they've been wrongly convicted, or maybe you're an accomplice. Either way, it's jailbreak time. Maybe the guards will fall for the old 'wounded prisoner' technique.
3. TAKEN HOSTAGE - They're being held at gunpoint, either for money or for fun. Maybe you can talk down their captors — or maybe you are a captor, secretly working to help them.
4. UNWELL - Your body is damaged, your suffering taken its toll. You can't save yourself anymore. You're wounded, you're starving, maybe even dying. Someone, help!
5. YOURSELF - One bad choice after another, your self-destructive tendencies are going to get the best of you unless someone steps in to save the day.
6. BIG DAMN RESCUE - You're hovering over an active volcano, a pit of sharks, about to fall off a cliff. Whatever it is, you've only got precious seconds of life left.
7. LONELINESS - You've been secluded, locked away, and the emptiness is overwhelming. You need company, or you might just drown.
8. UNWANTED SOCIAL FUNCTION - A family reunion, your three o'clock board meeting, whatever it is, you desperately don't want to go. Hopefully your good buddy can come up with a distraction.
9. BAD ROMANCE - You're trapped in a relationship that's headed south. Maybe it's an arranged marriage, or maybe it's just someone who won't take no for an answer. You need a helping hand, maybe even a Prince(ss) Charming.
10. WILDCARD - Any kind of rescue will do! Spread your creative wings and go for it.
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He seems to not be able to say what he wants. Sypha knows that there are spells to compel a person to obey, and ones that theoretically control the speech of another, though Speakers do not spend time on them at any length.
When he speaks, the man's voice is slow and deliberate. Lenore is a familiar name, one of the ones she has been searching for. She is wary, though, of his self-description as a 'loyal servant', through almost gritted-teeth.]
You will take me to her.
[Sypha meant for her voice to be commanding, but there is a faintly questioning tone to it. She also can smell burning. She hesitates.]
You may also remove your breakfast from the fire before we go.
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He's a whipped dog, he thinks to himself, as he turns back around to face his most recent captor. He's just...going to pretend he didn't hear her order. 'Lenore is in danger.' Truth. 'I should go find her.' A logical response to that truth that the spell of the ring cannot view as 'disloyal'.]
The Night Creatures that guard the castle are not mindless beings. They will not attack me, nor anyone I escort if I do not appear to be threatened or harmed.
[He offers this information not to aid the mage, but to hopefully spare at least some of his creations from a second death. He didn't want to create them, but it is no fault of theirs that they were made, nor that they were forced into the service of the Sisters. He made them weaker than they deserved in hopes it would lead to the Sisters' downfall, but that doesn't mean he doesn't want to save any he can.
He walks to the open cottage door, takes up his cloak from a peg beside the door, and looks to the mage for confirmation that he can step out without being skewered by ice shards.]
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His words about the Night Creatures are good information, but he has not jumped to explain his situation, as Sypha would expect from someone held against his will, but neither is he resisting her obvious threats against the mistresses of the castle. The ring has something to do with it, but Sypha cannot spare focus for it right now. Even a tamed animal will bite when least expected.
She moves aside as he grabs his cloak, watching him carefully, and is arrested by his gaze. He is seeking permission to go; that much is clear, but his pale eyes and pale skin give Sypha the impression that she is come face to face with a revenant.]
Lead the way.
[The remark is more brusque than she'd meant, attempting to roughly quash her own empathy and curiosity. Sypha makes a complicated motion; two of the knives of ice fold into their fellow, which remains at Hector's jugular, moving with his movements. It will be easy enough to tuck it away out of sight around her captives' back, still threatening to sever his spine, if stealth is needed.]
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The other invaders seem to be making a big commotion around the front of the castle, so the little side door Hector uses isn't heavily guarded. As he said, so long as she keeps the ice hidden, the blue-eyed creatures watch them, but don't move to stop them.
The path Hector takes is not the most direct route to the War Room, but it's the one that has the least likelihood of running them into the remaining vampire soldiers who had survived the disastrous battle at Braila. Finally, they reach a closed chamber door.
Hector stops, and flicks his eyes to the mage. He can't say, 'She's in there,' but he can look it.]
handwave the fight and skip to aftermath, or let it play out?
They make their way openly yet stealthily upwards; Sypha knows that she cannot risk conversation at the price of discovery, but she wants to ask this sad man about his lot. It is becoming more and more clear to her that he is being compelled magically to take the actions - and say the words - that he does, or can. Her eyes fall continuously to the ring on his finger; a black band innocuous save for the reddening of the skin around it.
Magical artifacts are not Sypha's specialty at all; Speakers rarely use them, though vampires seem especially fond of charmed objects, so she has encountered more of them in the past year than she has for her entire life. The book where she had eventually found the spell for moving Dracula's castle had been a trove of knowledge, and she wishes she'd had more time to peruse it, now.
They halt outside the door of a chamber, and the man turns and looks meaningfully at Sypha. In there? Of course. Sypha nods. She is grateful to the mysterious man, who is betraying the Sisters at obvious risk to himself, though she is not so foolish to think that he feels the same way about her. After all, she has done nothing for him. Yet.
Sypha motions the man out of the way, steels herself, and opens the door.]
I'm fine with handwaving it!
Whoever wins, Hector will still be a captive. If it's Lenore, he can't afford for her to learn of his betrayal. If it's the mage, he doesn't want to be forced to attack her in the process. Hector doesn't always make wise choices, but he tries to be pragmatic. The most reasonable course of action is to be elsewhere, and let what will happen, happen.
When Sypha is done with the fight, she'll find him down the hall. There's no point in running, not into the harsh Styrian wilderness with no supplies and no safe place to go. He's in the process of sending the Night Creatures away into the shadows of the snowy mountains. There's no safe place for them, either, but at least there, they are less likely to find themselves on the end of a hunter's sword.]
excellent
Sporting new tears in her cloak and in the flesh of her left leg and forearm where Lenore had wounded her, Sypha exits the chamber haltingly, making for the stair. She is surprised to see the man there, a ways down the hall and, with an effort, she forces herself to be on guard once again. He is a wildcard; she cannot afford to relax here.]
Waiting for me?
[Her voice is amused, though it has a raw edge from the pain in her leg and the trouble in her heart. Lenore had fought with every available weapon, and she had successfully gotten under Sypha's skin with words alone. Sypha had pushed down the roiling emotions of rage and pain in order to clear her head, but they were bound to come out sooner or later.]
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Is she dead?
[He'll need time to process what that means for him, and that will just have to wait.]
There was no point in my trying to leave while any of the four sisters yet live. I could never hope to outrun them.
[He doesn't know if the ring's spell is flagging, or if it just doesn't dispute those points.]
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[Sypha appraises the man. He looks noncommittal, even dull, with no apparent surprise at her news, and she lets go of a breath she had not noticed she had been holding. This makes things a bit easier.
She moves forward, and her leg buckles a bit. She kneels, uncovering the gash on her thigh, and swiftly calls fire to cauterize the wounds. Her forearm is quick work, the wounds shallow, but the tear in her leg is deep, deeper than she had thought, and charring the gaping flesh only slows the blood flow to an ooze. It hurts and Sypha bites down on a scream as she pulls her hand away.
Unmindful of the man, Sypha tears strips of cloth from her loose garment and binds it in a makeshift tourniquet. That will have to do for now. She looks up at the man with a pained smile as he speaks.]
That makes two of us, now.
[She hesitates.]
Will you help me to leave here?
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No.
[He doesn't try to say more than that about Lenore's death, unsure both of what the ring will allow and what he actually feels. He doesn't owe his captor the full explanation, and it's close enough to the truth for now.
The mage patches herself up with a crude but effective use of fire.]
You should wash those wounds when you have time. Otherwise you could lose your limb to infection.
[Which is not something most medieval people would know, but Hector's made a study of necrotic flesh and spent almost a year with access to Dracula's medical texts. He doesn't make any move to help her with her makeshift first aid, figuring she wouldn't trust him near her while she was vulnerable.]
I can call you a ride. Don't harm it.
[He reaches out and calls for one of his creatures, something horrific and large and winged. It can definitely pick up Sypha and not be slowed down in the least, if she doesn't put an ice spear through it.]
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Don't harm - oh!
[Sypha's expression of puzzlement is cut off by an involuntary gasp at the lumbering approach of a winged Night Creature. The eyes glow; it seems docile, under the man's will, but she instinctively recoils.]
What - what about you?
[The creature's presence and its obvious obeisance to the man has her flesh crawling with suspicion at last. It had been a nice several minutes, but Sypha was back on her guard. He could easily instruct the Creature to tear her to shreds as soon as they were outside of the castle, or drop her to her death from fifty feet in the air.
Plus, she was genuinely curious. The balance of power was very obviously shifting in Styria; what would he choose to do now?]
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[He's doing a series of mental calculations, and deciding that it's better to ally himself with the mage for now. Carmilla, as far as he knows, isn't dead. He is unable to rectify that. The mage and her allies, however, could.]
I'll bring you near where your companions are, if you'll tell them not to attack me or my friend. [He gestures at the creature.]
I think your business here is not yet done.
[That is, slaying the last of the sisters. But he can't say that, not say that if they encounter her, he and his creature will be forced to comply with her commands. But if the mage was powerful enough to kill Lenore, she can presumably deal with this situation as well.]
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[Not well at all, though, and Sypha knows it despite her level comment. She knows she needs to be very careful and take it easy on her leg from now on, but willingly agreeing to be carried by a Night Creature is not within the realm of taking it easy, for her.]
I will tell them not to attack you.
[She leaves the plurality of the pronoun ambiguous; it could include the Night Creature, if the man took it that way.]
And yours will be done then, too? What business do you have here with the Sisters? Tell me, if you can.
[She will not be carried by a Night Creature, much less one at the command of a man who - though not an immediate foe - has not signalled friendly intent. At all.
That said, he is very clearly being magically coerced - but for what purpose? If Sypha could only know a bit more, perhaps she could do something about it.]
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I...hope it will be done.
[His whole arm already aches from defying the ring as much as he has. He's not interested in finding out what else it doesn't want him saying. So instead of trying to skirt around his business here in Styria, he turns the focus to the mage.]
What do they call you?
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She does notice, though, that this man does not answer her question outright. Perhaps the fault of the curse, perhaps the nature of the man. She does not press the point. Yet.]
I am Sypha Belnades. And you?
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I am called Hector.
[No family name. He gave that up when he burned down his house and began life on his own.]
If you're ready to go, follow me.
[He'll lead the way again, moving slowly and quietly through the lesser-used corridors of the castle, turning aside any blue eyed night creatures he comes across as they make their way to the outside.]
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I am ready.
[Sypha gets to her feet, not without difficulty, but determined. She follows Hector silently, at first, as he weaves his way through the castle corridors. They are a maze; Sypha is unsure if they are taking the same way as they had on the way there, or going a different route now. She notes how the Night Creatures obey this man's wordless gestures immediately, and deduces this ability is most likely why the Sisters kept Hector here with them. She
is afraiddoes not want to ask him about this power and its meanings.]Your hand. Does it hurt still?
[Her voice, though soft, is abrupt and sounds harsh in the close silence of the corridors.]
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No more than usual.
[And sadly, it's true. He never stops testing the bounds of the spell, and the pain has become a constant in his life.
Hector pauses, listens, and turns them down a narrow corridor when he hears movement up ahead. He can't fight any vampires they encounter, and Sypha probably shouldn't in her state. Far better to avoid them.]
Can you keep up if I increase our pace? [He murmurs. They can't hope to keep quiet and hide from an enemy that could smell their blood or hear their heartbeat, so they have to keep moving and hope the vampires still around are too distracted to notice them.]
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I think so.
[She catches on to the thread of his thought fairly quickly, but she's fairly certain that Trevor and Alucard are busy being as distracting and overdramatic as possible in the courtyard, so she is not too concerned about vampires hearing herself and Hector.
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He nods at Sypha, and wraps his burning fingers around the little ball. Melted water drips onto the stone floor as he walks.
They keep moving, and by either skillful navigation, dumb luck, or some divine intervention, they don't encounter resistance on the way. Hector pauses at a servants' door that leads outside.]
This will take us into sunlight, but don't let your guard down. Carmilla has--ah, fuck!
[His hand spasms hard enough that the half-melted egg of ice slips from his fingers and shatters on the floor. How could he forget? The binding would never let him warn an enemy about the human mercenaries Carmilla and her sisters hired...though who is to say that they loyalty still holds, with half the sisters at least dead.]
Just...be careful. [He hisses. He's undecided about Sypha, but between her and Carmilla, she is the lesser evil by far.]
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Carmilla has other humans working for her.
[Sypha finishes the sentence for him grimly, and readies herself. She can hear the shouts and growls of fighting faintly beyond the door; so much for stealth. Hector cannot go outside - she understands that if any of the sisters were to see him, he would be forced to obey them. The thought chills her, and makes her think. She hesitates.]
I shall. Are they - can you tell me, do you know if anyone besides yourself is ... similarly compelled?
[The thought of lethally attacking human slaves compelled to attack her via vampiric sorcery turns her stomach.]
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No, there are no others like me here.
[The soldiers are bound first by love of money and second by fear of defying the sisters, but they have free will. They could surrender, if they chose. Hector honestly doesn't know if they will. Fear and greed are both strong human drives.]
I'll stay out of your way.
[He can't help, but he won't harm. That's a better reassurance than Sypha's likely to get from anyone else. Maybe if he's lucky (which he never is, but there's got to be a first time eventually, right?), he can get back to his breakfast before it goes ice-cold.]
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Thank you.
[She could be referring to his choice to recuse himself from combat, his guidance of her to and from the war chamber, putting his own life on the line to guarantee her safe passage. Sypha conveniently ignores that she threatened him at first. She is grateful, truly. He did not have to stay to meet her after her fight with Lenore.]
I will come find you after, if you wish it.
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If you survive, you might as well come by for breakfast.
[They can discuss terms then, over eggs and coffee. If Hector only has shitty paths ahead of him, he's going to choose the one that sucks the least.]
aw Hector <333
When I survive and come find you, I will expect breakfast.
[With those words, she is out the door and skipping in to the air with twin blasts of flame to propel her towards the cacophony of the skirmish.]
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sorry for the super delayed tag! life is a jerk.
No worries!
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didn't plan on her falling asleep on him, but here we are, sorry XD
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feel free to correct me on the ring's appearance lol
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