bakerstreet | the rescue meme.

Entry tags:

[meme] characterization

the rescue meme.

the rescue meme

'Cause sometimes you just can’t save yourself.

→ 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.
→ Alternatively, just pick the choice you’re interested in most.

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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[Hector isn't far away when he hears the cry from Sypha's chamber. Sypha's two companions left him with very clear instructions, and even clearer threats if he strays from them. Luckily for him, when he gets to the door, he hears the sound of water hitting a pan before he flings the door open.

He'll just... wait a few minutes, then go in to check. Bursting in on her now would surely get him killed at least three times over.

Once he's sure she's finished her business, he knocks once, then opens the door.]

You know, when I said you should keep off of your leg, I didn't mean 'pass out for three days'.

[She looks rumpled and exhausted, but there's been no sign of the infection he'd cautioned her about earlier, so that is good. He comes in and takes a seat in the chair beside the bed.]

You are lucky Lord Dracula's son studied his mother's craft. You should mend up well.

[Sypha's wonderings are interrupted by a voice that she knows. She glances up to see Hector, looking - well, looking a lot better than the last time she'd seen him. He isn't as ruddy in the cheeks as a perfectly healthy man, but he looks a whole lot less deathly pale and defeated. Her eyes follow him as he takes a seat near her.]

Three days?

[That was... longer than expected. She digests his next words. "Lord Dracula", hm.]

Where are we? Are Trevor and Alucard well? Did they -

[She glances at his hand, catches sight of a small black band, still there.]

[Hector's eyes look heavenward for strength at the mention of the two hunters, though there's never been any help for him from that direction before.]

They are out killing things... or scouting for information... or doing whatever it is monster hunters do. They were not precisely forthcoming with me, only said if I didn't take perfect care of you while they were out, they'd use me to figure out whose magical weapon is better at splitting open a body.

[Of course the two of them had even had to turn threats into a competition. Hector is glad Sypha is awake now, so that he can at least speak with someone sane.

The ring's still on, but thankfully, Belmont and Baby Dracula didn't think to take the paired rings from the hands of any of the Sisters they killed, so Hector's mind isn't under new management. He still can't get the bloody thing off, but at least there's no new orders coming through it.]

[Despite herself, Sypha smiles. That sounds exactly like them, and she can imagine how frustrated Hector must have been in the moment.]

Good, I am glad.

Not about them threatening you, of course, just that they are well. And in good spirits, it sounds like.

[She shifts a bit to sit up better in the bed.]

Though I wonder what constitutes "good care", come to think of it.

[They have very different definitions of "good spirits".]

Don't expect me to wait on you hand and foot.

[He says after their last interaction was literally him serving her breakfast. Shhhhh.

He motions at her leg.]

But I would like to check on your bandage.

The thought had not crossed my mind. Though, no chance for toast?

[Oh, she remembers.]

I suppose that is a good idea, yes.

[Bandages, then breakfast. Sensible, she reluctantly agrees. Sypha flips the bedcovers back; Alucard has been solicitous in removing her soiled clothes and replacing them with a simple shift. She pulls it up a bit to more fully expose the bandages on her thigh for Hector to inspect. No bleed-through, so that is a positive, though Sypha is the furthest thing from a healer so that is about as much as she is able to tell.]

Nothing so nice as last time. I have yet to be entrusted with a knife for slicing bread.

[He checks the bandage-- dry and still in place-- and feels the bare skin around it. Not overheated like infected skin would be. The medicine Alucard mixed up must be doing its work.]

Looks like you'll live.

[He leans back from the bed.]

No toast, but I can get you some soup if you're hungry.

[Sypha wonders if Trevor and Alucard were able to get more of Hector's story than she was, and if the no-knife restrictions are due to that, or due to the fact that he is an unknown quantity. She can't help but flick her eyes to his ring as he says that.

His fingers on her skin are cool but not unduly so and there is no redness, which she guesses is a good thing. Hector confirms this.]

Well, that is a relief.

[What is also a relief is that Hector seems completely unbothered by touching the skin of her upper thigh, which Sypha has no problem with in the context of having a life-threatening wound checked (Speakers tend to be very practical about these things). In her experience, though, non-Speakers would almost always get awkward about touching or being touched by another human in certain areas. Her grandfather's caravan had been run of a town once, memorably, due to a merchant taking great offense while Ioanna the healer was just trying to do her job to treat his injuries.]

Soup would be very welcome.

[She sits back on the pillows, rearranging the blankets. And then you can tell me more about that ring of yours, Hector. But first, she needs food.]

[Hector has no qualms about touching around the wound. It needs doing, and most of the subjects he's worked on have been dead. They've never complained about silly things like propriety.]

You should still take it easy for a few days. The Belmont mentioned getting a wagon for you.

[Not to Hector, mind you. Neither hunter spoke much to him so far, other than to make threats. They'd been too preoccupied with their injured Speaker to spare the time to interrogate him properly, much less inform them of their plans beyond what he overheard.

As Sypha settles back down, he goes to fill her a bowl of soup from the pot by the kitchen fire. A hot broth with bits of fish and vegetables, nothing too strenuous on a recovering stomach, but something to warm and fill.

He sets the bowl on the little table beside Sypha's bed so she can grab it once she's sat back up and gotten herself settled.]

[Sypha digests this. Then, they were still in Styria, if Trevor was talking about moving her on a wagon in the next few days. She turns that thought over in her mind as Hector goes to bring her the soup, and she repositions herself to sit even more upright.

Once he sets the soup down, she takes it from the small table and hungrily devours a few bites - it is too hot for her to bolt down ravenously as she feels like doing. She is forced to be slow, but once the soup hits her stomach, it stays and warms, giving her the strength to say what she does next.]

I do not mean to pry, Hector, but I would like to know more about your ring.

[She has decided that being forthright is the best approach. He seems to appreciate honesty. And he may very well be wearing a magickal link to the one person in the world who wants her, Trevor, and Alucard dead on a very personal level, if she suspects correctly. She feels she has a right to know as much about it as its magic will permit him to say.]

[Well, Sypha wastes no time. Not with fighting, eating, nor broaching awkward conversations. Hector likes that about her. But he's also extremely cautious with what he says. Every time he's trusted someone, that trust has burned him.

It's not just the magic binding. It is the fact that it could be used again. Revealing the spell would leave him vulnerable to a second round of enslavement. So maybe he's going to be a little cagier about the details than the magic compulsion strictly calls for.]

I prefer not to wear jewelry. I'd gladly be rid of it.

[The fact that it is still on his finger should make the 'but I can't remove it on my own' obvious without saying so overtly.]

[She can tell that he is choosing his words carefully. Sypha admires Hector's ability to dance around subjects he is clearly not supposed to talk about, and then feels a deep sympathy for the man who has been subject to this magical binding for long enough to learn its ways.

Despicable. Speakers do not use compulsion magicks, so she has very little knowledge of what this is, but the small portion she does know may be of use.]

May I see? I may be able to help.

[She is not sure what inspection will yield, but she wants to know if Hector is willing to work with her.]

[Hector pulls up a chair beside her bed and offers her his hand. His ring finger isn't as burned as it was last time she saw it; he hasn't spoken any forbidden words lately.

He's not sure how much of the compulsion is still in effect, other than the fact that he still can't remove it on his own.]

Have you seen anything like this before?

[Sypha slowly lets out a small breath that she had not known she was holding and gently takes Hector's hand in hers, turning it over carefully to inspect the ring from multiple angles without causing him to bend his wrist unnaturally. She bites back angry exclamations at the scarred flesh of his finger, which extends down the back of his hand following the tendon almost to his wrist. His palm is similar, though she notes with interest the callouses. She remembers that he said he was valuable to Dracula's court because of what he made, and she wonders if he told her but pain and sleep have wiped the memory, or if he withheld it. He is not built like a blacksmith.

The ring itself is a simple affair, a black band without markings or filigree. When she carefully tries to slip it loose, it catches at his knuckle and the skin begins to ruck up: she stops immediately.]

I have not.

[She wishes she had, so she could give him that comfort.]

I would gamble confidently, however, that there is a book either in Dracula's castle or the Belmont family library that covers spells of compulsion and magicked items.

[She looks up at him levelly, gauging her next words.]

I do not want you to cause yourself harm, Hector. But can you tell me anything, anything at all about this ring and its masters?

[Hector gasps as Sypha tries to pull the ring off. Lenore had warned him of a pain that would make him wish he were dead, and... he isn't brave. There's only a hint of pain, maybe a phantom pain born of his fear, but it's enough to have him shaking.

He draws his hand back from her.]

Lenore used local craftsmen for her pet projects. I don't know if they are known outside of Styria.

[Hector had not seen anything in his year-long tenure there, but honestly, little had interested outside of his own narrow field of study. The books about anatomy, biological alchemy, and forging, he could probably list out a full catalog by memory, but he'd looked little at tomes about other topics.

He pauses, thinks it over. If this Speaker and the resources she can provide are his only hope, he has little choice but to trust her with more information.

So he must find a way to say more in spite of the compulsion.]

Lord Dracula commanded loyalty through power. I saw nothing... relevant to this... when I was there.

[Hmm, "local craftsmen". Sypha is not sure that finding the ring's maker would do Hector any good; magical objects tended to be imbued with spells after their making, unless the person making the magical item was a powerful mage as well as skilled in whatever craft was relevant.]

There are spells for making and there are spells for unmaking. A maker may well not know what particular rituals undo their magic.

[She speaks absentmindedly, her thoughts entirely devoted to the problem of the ring. Perhaps she is callous in shutting that avenue of possibility. Perhaps not. Hector's next words are halting, and she can tell that he is carefully wending words around the power of the ring.]

His son commands an enchanted weapon and the castle itself was - is still a very powerful magical object in itself. If Dracula himself preferred not wield magics, it is very likely he still had quite a few resources relating to it.

[Her voice is mild, her speech again mostly self-directed, reassuring herself that this is the correct line of inquiry. There is a beat of silence. Voice still mild, but brow furrowed, she looks up at Hector.]

Why do you still call him "Lord"?

[Is that a side effect of the ring? Is the ring's mastery broader than she thought and any vampire can command Hector's loyalty?]

[She's so quick to discount the idea of finding the ring's creator. It's... discouraging, but Hector assumes she knows better than he. His magical focus is so narrow, and the Speaker, by her nature, carries with her the knowledge of her well-traveled, well-informed people. Fuck.]

I don't always. But when I do, it is because he was not always the vampire he was during the siege of Wallachia. He once traveled the world, seeking out scholars, passing on his knowledge and learning from others. He found me, and he was... kind.

[Hector had thought him a mentor and friend, once. Dracula had been the first person to ever see value in his work, and that moment of understanding between them had meant so much to Hector. When Dracula had called him, he'd come.]

He had no need of jewelry like this.

[The sobering reality of the fact that Dracula had once been Alucard's father, husband to Lisa, once again strikes Sypha. Her dhampir friend's deep sorrow and despair both before and after the fight against Dracula are mirrored in Hector's wistful tone.]

I believe you.

[She says it softly, and lets the subject drop. It is not the Dracula that she was familiar with, but lately Sypha has become acquainted with the fact that humans (and, she supposes, vampires) can be very complex moral beings. It is very possible that he was a good man. It is very certain that he was also a monster.

Either way, Hector has answered the question that she had implied with her simple inquiry.]

What were you making for Lenore? Can you tell me?

[It helps, that she believes him. Hector knows by now that he has made some very poor decisions in who to trust, but at least his service to Dracula had begun from good intentions.]

You saw them. Probably killed a number, before we joined up.

[He's not going to try to say 'night creatures' or 'devil forging', because he isn't sure how active the binding spell is, but Lenore definitely would have considered it 'disloyal' to disclose the Sisters' purpose for keeping him.]

[Her eyes widen a bit before she catches herself, and tries to cover her shock. That... is not at all what Sypha expects to hear, though in retrospect it makes a lot of sense. She had never really thought about where night creatures came from, other than that Dracula and other vampires summoned them probably, somehow. Speakers had no knowledge whatsoever of these beasts' origins.

But now, here is this man who does. Curiosity wins out over the already quickly subsiding shock of Hector's admission.]

How?

[Oh Sypha, you've just opened a floodgate. It's been so long since Hector's had anyone interested in hearing about his work.]

Well, it's actually what I'd classify as a form of biological alchemy. The term 'necromancer' is reductive of the cra-

[His hand convulses, and he doubles over in pain. Welp, ring's still active, those floodgates are crashing closed as quickly as they opened.]

Fuck!

[Sypha is saved from having to maintain the expression of polite interest that she has donned to mask her horror at the word "necromancy" by the ring activating.]

Are you okay?

[There is nothing false about the genuine concern in her tone, but her horror only grows at the realization that not only is the ring controlling Hector's loyalty, but also dictating what he can and cannot speak about to the point where it bars him from discussing the magical part of his own soul.

That has been taken from him: Sypha feels that horror at a very visceral level, and when she speaks, though she tries to rein her tone back to that of a gentle mage, her voice is far colder than she intends.]

You can tell me of it after we have destroyed that ring and its magics.

[Hector squeezes his watering eyes shut and nods. Fuck, but he'd hoped the magic binding would fade.]

D'you think you can?

[If Sypha can't do it, he's going to end up cutting off his own finger, his whole damned hand if that's what it takes, like a wild animal caught in a trap, gnawing its way free.]

I will. We will.

[Sypha has never overpromised. Plus, she has faith that Alucard and Trevor will help her with tracking down and ending the last Sister, and they tend to work well as a team. Or, they did. They have Issues to work through, but there is nothing quite so helpful to one's mental health than setting terrible creatures on fire. Hector may be a necromancer but he is human, and he helped her when she needed it: he deserves to be free. The vampires that did this to him are not people.]

Tell me how you came to Dracula's court.

[Hopefully he can articulate that safely enough. She is starting to feel tired again.]

He asked me to come.

[This, at least, he can talk about. And maybe he's ready to talk about it, too. To look back on his choices and reevaluate them.]

His wife had died, and he needed an army. He wasn't going to be swayed, and I thought it would be more... humane... if we could see his war done quickly. But his ends were not what I was led to believe.

[It had taken longer than it should have for Hector to realize that when Dracula said he wanted to kill everyone, he wasn't being hyperbolic. It had just been too horrible, too counterproductive for him to accept.]

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the rescue meme.

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feel free to correct me on the ring's appearance lol

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