Not All That Chitters Is Gold - Interlude (Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch)
AverusBlack
AKA Aisling
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2019
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Elise's favorite spot was the large hall of the castle. Essentially a huge library space, without the books to line the shelves yet the acoustics in that room made sound ring and echo in a wonderful way and she liked to listen to music while working so it ended up being her new favorite spot to hang out any time she had forms to fill or time to kill in general.
Which is how she found herself there when the yellow man showed up.
She was humming to herself when she turned the corner into the door and stopped up. He was standing in the middle of the room with one of the genkit guards held by the collar in one hand, having plainly dragged the guard into the room casually while looking around. Aforementioned guard was slumped but she wasn't wearing any of her kit so no way to tell except a visual inspection what happened and the guard was either knocked out, which was bad because that definitely meant a concussion at best, or they were dead, which was really bad.
She noticed him the same time he noticed her, turning and letting go of the guard to let them drop to the floor. "Ah, excellent. A staff member. I hope you're more helpful than this fellow was."
"What did you do to him?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?" He almost purred it at her, looking at Elise with eyes half closed, the picture of relaxation. "Oh, don't you fret your little ears. He's not dead. Yet. Probably. Give him..." He looked thoughtful. "An hour? Maybe two? Before the internal bleeding gets him. But enough about him! Let's talk about you."
Taking a step back she hesitated, unsure of herself suddenly. The way he looked... Where Ainsley looked like a farm boy turned into something halfway between a cleric and a monk, this man looked grittier somehow, but similar. Humans tended to kind of look same-ish to her so it might have been that but there was something...
And then he's directly in front of her inside her personal space in a flicker of yellow and she's stepping back only to find her legs hitting something, causing her to fall into the construct seat he's created behind her, the manacles locking her wrists and ankles and pulling them into place. Not painful but Elise couldn't help but to breath hard, feeling trapped. Trapped wasn't something she could deal with well.
He patted her on the head. "Oh, relax. You know, it was a nice surprise to find you people have computers? Not very good ones, but still, they're rare enough that it's nice to have things be simple for once, you know?" He sat down across from her in his own construct chair, crossing his legs at the knee. "So, tell me, Elise. Where is your good friend Ainsley? Oh and if you see him before I do, tell him I like the title. Lightsmith." He waved his hand, miming a banner. "Brilliant, no pun intended." Then his charming and warm manner is gone all at once and he's staring at her in the sort of way she remembers Purists staring at her when she was a child. "Tell me where he is."
"Fuck you."
"Oh, is that what he's been doing?" He took a moment to look her over, then stole her clothes. That storage thing Ainsley does. He shrugged a little. "Not bad looking I suppose, if you can get past the fur. Bit of an oddity, but who am I to judge, really? Being here at all rather changes our perspective on things, I find."
"You fucking asshole, give me my clothes back! I'm not a fucking display object!"
"Fascinating, a human would be nervous or feeling vulnerable but you're just angry about it." A wave of his hand and she was dressed again, glaring at him. "Answer the fucking question Elise, or I'm going to stop fucking with you and start hurting you. I assure you I can do that for quite awhile before I begin actually damaging you."
"I don't know where he went. He doesn't give me a flight plan or anything. Who the fuck are you and why are you threatening us?"
"I'm Nemesis. I have a name, but I don't really tell it to people I expect to actually live. Or don't trust to keep it to themselves. Since you'll be surviving this encounter and you're not fucking me I think I'll refrain from letting you know."
"Attacking us was stupid. If he dies or I die then nothing is going to stop us from hunting you, goldilocks. Genkits fight to the last man, woman and child. You ever seen a kid pick up a rifle and shoot somebody? I fucking have. That's the people you're fucking with here, so consider yourself very carefully."
"I love this whole forced bravado thing you're doing, I really do. It's admirable. Most people sort of cower when dealing with me and I make a point of slapping around the ones who soil themselves after cleaning them up but you're handling this remarkably well."
"It's not the first time I've been tied down by some fuckhead who won't stop monologuing."
"Ah well, in that case I clearly have standards to live up to! Can't go and have you thinking that this whole thing was a brush off, now can I?" He stood up in front of her, leaning over to come face to face with her. "Because if there's one thing wielding this ring has taught me, it's that reputation matters. I have a certain kind of reputation to maintain."
He said more, but she was having trouble focusing by then and the screaming drowned it out anyways.
Which is how she found herself there when the yellow man showed up.
She was humming to herself when she turned the corner into the door and stopped up. He was standing in the middle of the room with one of the genkit guards held by the collar in one hand, having plainly dragged the guard into the room casually while looking around. Aforementioned guard was slumped but she wasn't wearing any of her kit so no way to tell except a visual inspection what happened and the guard was either knocked out, which was bad because that definitely meant a concussion at best, or they were dead, which was really bad.
She noticed him the same time he noticed her, turning and letting go of the guard to let them drop to the floor. "Ah, excellent. A staff member. I hope you're more helpful than this fellow was."
"What did you do to him?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?" He almost purred it at her, looking at Elise with eyes half closed, the picture of relaxation. "Oh, don't you fret your little ears. He's not dead. Yet. Probably. Give him..." He looked thoughtful. "An hour? Maybe two? Before the internal bleeding gets him. But enough about him! Let's talk about you."
Taking a step back she hesitated, unsure of herself suddenly. The way he looked... Where Ainsley looked like a farm boy turned into something halfway between a cleric and a monk, this man looked grittier somehow, but similar. Humans tended to kind of look same-ish to her so it might have been that but there was something...
And then he's directly in front of her inside her personal space in a flicker of yellow and she's stepping back only to find her legs hitting something, causing her to fall into the construct seat he's created behind her, the manacles locking her wrists and ankles and pulling them into place. Not painful but Elise couldn't help but to breath hard, feeling trapped. Trapped wasn't something she could deal with well.
He patted her on the head. "Oh, relax. You know, it was a nice surprise to find you people have computers? Not very good ones, but still, they're rare enough that it's nice to have things be simple for once, you know?" He sat down across from her in his own construct chair, crossing his legs at the knee. "So, tell me, Elise. Where is your good friend Ainsley? Oh and if you see him before I do, tell him I like the title. Lightsmith." He waved his hand, miming a banner. "Brilliant, no pun intended." Then his charming and warm manner is gone all at once and he's staring at her in the sort of way she remembers Purists staring at her when she was a child. "Tell me where he is."
"Fuck you."
"Oh, is that what he's been doing?" He took a moment to look her over, then stole her clothes. That storage thing Ainsley does. He shrugged a little. "Not bad looking I suppose, if you can get past the fur. Bit of an oddity, but who am I to judge, really? Being here at all rather changes our perspective on things, I find."
"You fucking asshole, give me my clothes back! I'm not a fucking display object!"
"Fascinating, a human would be nervous or feeling vulnerable but you're just angry about it." A wave of his hand and she was dressed again, glaring at him. "Answer the fucking question Elise, or I'm going to stop fucking with you and start hurting you. I assure you I can do that for quite awhile before I begin actually damaging you."
"I don't know where he went. He doesn't give me a flight plan or anything. Who the fuck are you and why are you threatening us?"
"I'm Nemesis. I have a name, but I don't really tell it to people I expect to actually live. Or don't trust to keep it to themselves. Since you'll be surviving this encounter and you're not fucking me I think I'll refrain from letting you know."
"Attacking us was stupid. If he dies or I die then nothing is going to stop us from hunting you, goldilocks. Genkits fight to the last man, woman and child. You ever seen a kid pick up a rifle and shoot somebody? I fucking have. That's the people you're fucking with here, so consider yourself very carefully."
"I love this whole forced bravado thing you're doing, I really do. It's admirable. Most people sort of cower when dealing with me and I make a point of slapping around the ones who soil themselves after cleaning them up but you're handling this remarkably well."
"It's not the first time I've been tied down by some fuckhead who won't stop monologuing."
"Ah well, in that case I clearly have standards to live up to! Can't go and have you thinking that this whole thing was a brush off, now can I?" He stood up in front of her, leaning over to come face to face with her. "Because if there's one thing wielding this ring has taught me, it's that reputation matters. I have a certain kind of reputation to maintain."
He said more, but she was having trouble focusing by then and the screaming drowned it out anyways.
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