paixaorpg | Hope for improvement? None. [Complete]

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Hope for improvement? None. [Complete]

Characters: Rosette, Laharl, Kovu, Link, Valerie, Misha, and the random Dusks that ferry them in and out of their cells.
Content: A continuation of this thread. Experiments continue, with the subjects still baffled and increasingly hurt.
Setting: ?
Time: An hour or two after this thread.
Warnings: None so far.

Rosette barely felt it as the strange silver creatures dumped her roughly in her cell. Her mind still reeled with all the man in black had said and done. Was she...had she really done everything...for nothing?

No. No. It couldn't be...

She picked herself up as best she could and made her way over to the cell next to hers, where she still hoped Laharl would be. She was dimly aware of the people in the other cells, but Laharl was the person she knew best in this hell, and she needed some words of reassurance.

"Laharl?" she tried quietly. "You still there?"

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He'd managed to somewhat doze off for awhile, but it hadn't been a deep sleep at all, but asleep enough to be dreaming. Not a pleasant dream either. Too many things he'd rather not think about had been brought up. Luckily his dreaming was interupted. Blearily he opened his eyes at the sound of a choice and his name. Gah... Who? What? Oh. It was that girl. Hey wait... she'd been taken right? So she was back.

"Y-yeah... I'm here," Laharl replied after a moment. Really now, where would he have gone anyways? He'd already been taken away. Of course, who was to say they wouldn't be taken in for a second round? Hell, he sure hoped not...

Blinking sleepily a few more times, finding his head still as fuzzy as before, he peered up at her questioningly. "What is it...?" he questioned.

Valerie got back and sighed. She was stifling the pain, and she could care less that Larxene probably had more things in store for her. She might even turn into one of those heartless things. That would be the perfect end to a very crappy day. Even so, Valerie wasn't concerned about that. She had seen Misha, and she wanted to know that the little angel was ok.

"Misha? Misha?" She called out weakly. "You there? Are you all right?"

Kovu huddled against the wall of his cell, mostly ignoring the others at the moment. Their captors had pretty much left him alone for now, though he wasn't sure if it was because they hadn't gotten around to him yet or if they were just trying to make him go nuts worrying about their plans for him. The first option was probably preferable for him (although not for the other prisoners), since it meant he had some more time before anything exceptionally nasty happened to him. As for the second possibility, he was determined not to crack that easily. He was a lion, for crying out loud. They didn't get to be kings just because they could roar loudly from the tops of large rock formations. Not to mention, Kovu was an Outlander, which meant he was used to bad living conditions. At least there were no termites chewing on him.

He wasn't any closer to figuring out why they were all trapped there than he had been a few hours before, though. The others who had been taken had eventually been returned, usually the worse for wear. It seemed like they were being tortured more than kept for any reason that Kovu could fathom. It made him wonder if this organization was really just a bunch of psychopaths with unnatural abilities. They didn't seem to have any goals that he could make out. At least, none that made any sense.

"You- I- Oh thank God." Rosette slumped heavily against the bars separating her cell from Laharl's. Even though she'd only known him for a few hours, the familiar voice was helping calm her down.

"What- what they're saying...it...it's not true- it can't be true..." she gasped quietly, silently urging someone, anyone, to affirm her words, to tell her no, it wasn't true, she didn't waste what was left of her life for nothing...

Almost unconsciously she reached through the bars, searching for his hand with hers. She needed to know that he - that anybody - was there. She needed that touch. She couldn't be alone now - she just couldn't.

He had no idea why the heck she was thanking god of all people that he was here, much less why she was so glad to see him, but... okay, whatever. She seemed to calm down at anyrate.

So they'd been trying to get to her too? Geez... Was it all true or not? How to answer that. Larxene.... hadn't been exactly... wrong. Not that he was in anyway about to admit that. He'd already let her words get to him more than he should have. "... I.. donno..." he finally answered quietly. Maybe someone else would do a better job comforting her. Expecting anything from him was a bad idea.

"O-o-oi.... W-why are you...?" Laharl then spluttered as she reached through and took his hand. Under normal circumstances he would have pulled away, but he had no way to move so his hand was free for the taking, but he was still able to give her a flustered and confused look. Why the heck was she looking to him for comfort?!

The long-eared elf had long since fallen asleep, huddled even as he was in a corner of his cell. If his weeks of adventuring had taught him nothing else, they had taught him how to sleep comfortably anywhere the need struck him - provided that he first cleared the area of foes and potential predators.

Now, as some time had passed - he would never be sure how much - he awoke from his troubled sleep - a dream that faded like mist before the sun - and reached for his sword and shield. Only after a moment's groping and a choice word did he remember that he was here unarmed - a prisoner.

Not even the Gerudo thieves had taken away all his things when they captured him. Did these people have no honor? Apparently not, if they were holding even children.

As he often did, Link took out his ocarina - a pale imitation of the Ocarina of Time that had been Princess Zelda's parting gift - and played a soft melody. A lullaby, taught to him by Zelda's own bodyguard. A song which held power over all the sealed places of Hyrule. It was soothing to him, but at that time, he could not bring himself to play more than a verse. Instinctively he knew that the wooden flute would not work such wonders as its counterpart was capable of; this one could not teleport him, nor did it hold sway over the fabric of time itself.

Link was trapped here, just like everyone else.

A portal of darkness deposited an individual in a black, hooded coat and a burlap bag in one of the unoccupied cells. Not being one to stick around to answer questions, Xaldin did what he had come to do; the bag of bones was dropped unceremoniously in the center of the cell, its top open enough to spill the contents all over the floor.

Two more wisps of nothingness appeared; these were not the dusks that had been escorting prisoners, but dragoons. Xaldin's own foot soldiers. They had their orders; put the skeleton back together as quickly as possible, and then leave. Simple enough.

With the unnatural speed, flexibility, and strength that was their hallmark, the dragoons performed their job and vanished into the ether, leaving a more-or-less complete skeleton in a pinstriped suit alone in the cell...

(OOC: Hee, according to the diagram, Valerie's on his right and Misha's on his left. ^^ Say hello to your new partner in misery.)

Jack felt and saw his head roll across the bare floor, too dizzy and disoriented to do anything else. He'd been helpless for a while, watching his friends be overwhelmed and teleported off, and had even been unable to prevent the indignity of being stuffed piecemeal into a burlap bag, like.... well, like a sack of bugs. Like that rascal of a ghoul, Oogie Boogie. Just the very thought upset him.

By the time the Dragoons left, Jack was sitting up with a groan, rubbing his skull and swapping a few bones so they would all be in their proper places. Only then did he dare a look around, baffled as he noted the young ladies in cells to either side of him, and others further down. Where were they, and what was happening? Whatever it was, it couldn't be good.

"No answer, damn," Valerie muttered, too tired and weak to even hit the bars in frustration. She heard the murmurings of others, so she was at least glad not to be alone, even if she was imprisoned. She couldn't bear to be alone at the moment, and really didn't want to think about what was happening to Misha or Jazz.

She looked outside of the bars as best she could. She couldn't tell who everyone was, but there was one person that was unmistakable: there weren't too many walking skeletons around, after all.

"Guys?" Valerie said, raising her voice a little. "Have...have you all been m-messed with too? Are you all ok?"

Kovu had closed his eyes at the melody the guy in green was playing. It was a beautiful sound, unlike any music he'd heard before. Singing was one thing, but instruments were a new thing to the lion. He actually felt himself relaxing a little at the music, although that didn't last long. Soon enough, one of their captors appeared, bringing them new cellmates. He glared at the black-robed person as he disappeared again. At least this time they weren't taking someone out for interrogation and torture... Small consolation, but Kovu wasn't about to complain about some extra time in the relative safety of the cell. The bad things didn't seem to happen until you were taken out, after all.

He heard one of the others ask a question, and decided to answer it this time. He felt a little calmer after listening to that music, and perhaps a little more in the mood for some conversation. "They've left me alone so far, actually." he replied to Valerie. "Kind of hoping it stays that way..."

There was a rustling sound from one of the other cells, and a groan as the recently-added occupant slowly stirred back to consciousness. It was darker than he expected, and the floor was harder than the ground he'd passed out on. This confused him, since he couldn't explain the change. It obviously wasn't a hospital, because those tended to be brightly lit, but he couldn't figure out where else someone would drag an unconscious and possibly injured man.

The man sat up and brushed off his clothes, wishing he could see. How could he tell how he looked if he couldn't see a thing? His eyes were slowly starting to adjust, but that barely helped matters. In fact, it only proved that he was in an even worse situation than he thought. "What is this?" Gaston growled irritably as he spotted the bars in the darkness. "Jail? Who has the gall to treat me like some kind of common criminal? I have rights! I demand an explanation!"

He found the door and pounded on it for a moment to no effect. "Hey, guard?" he called, wondering if anyone out there was even paying attention. The fact that someone would lock him up and then ignore him was even worse than just being in jail! "Guard!"

No answer came from outside, which only served to worsen his mood. This had to be that girl's fault. Her and her stupid meteors. Not only had she decimated their group, but she'd probably caused damage to the city. The hunter just hoped she was locked up somewhere secure too.

Misha was returned to her cell abruptly, dropped off by the Dusks and then left alone. "Owie'su," she whined a bit, rubbing her rather sore backside, and wondering why they couldn't just set her down instead of tossing her about everywhere.

Valerie would have recognized that 'su sound anywhere. It was Misha. Valerie cheered a little inside, despite how weary and depressed she felt. She ambled over to the front of the prison and felt to her knees, coughing a little. She tried to wipe the dirt off her face, and hoped that Misha wouldn't see the cuts and bruises. The last thing she needed was the little angel worrying about her. She had been useless enough as it was.

"Misha? Misha! It's me, Valerie! Are you ok?"

As quickly as they had deposited Misha, the dusks were back again, this time dragging away the Hylian. His ocarina lay on the floor of the cell, near to the bars. Forgotten.

(Consider this Link's exit, for now.)

Kovu had barely enough time to observe the change of prisoners before another set of the nobodies appeared, this time in his own cell. Realizing that his time of reprieve was up, he snarled and lunged at them, only to vanish as they grabbed hold of him and disappeared once more. The sound of his growl cut off abruptly, plunging the cell back into relative silence.

(And... Kovu's gone too!)

Logic and common sense were finally beginning to override the panic and hopelessness that had gripped Rosette ever since her session with the black-cloaked man. What they'd told Laharl couldn't have been what they told her. Sure, they'd probably hurt him with words, same way they had with her, but...well, just because it might have been true for him didn't mean it'd be the same for her.

Hopefully.

"It's not true," she said forcefully, trying to convince somebody (whether it be herself or those listening) of that fact. "It couldn't be true." Despite her newfound strength, she still held tight to his hand.

She looked over to the other cells as the doors opened. Two new prisoners, one man and one - was that a skeleton? - had arrived, most likely against their will. "You guys okay?" she tried quietly, her question cut off as the man stood up and began pounding against the door and yelling. Her mood immediately soured. "Oh, shut up," she called back to him exasperatedly. "You're stuck here just like the rest of us. Deal with it."

All the belligerence rushed out of her as two more people - one in the cell right next to her - were snatched by the silver creatures. She clutched at Laharl's hand tightly, terrified they were after her again. As much as she was certain that man was lying...well, she couldn't handle any more time with him. Not yet, not now, not ever.

He gave up trying to understand why Rosette was using him for comfort, but apparently it was somehow helping her. The last thing he really wanted was to have a panicking girl beside him. As time passed and people were taken, Laharl's eyes grew heavy again and slowly he started to doze off, despite the noise around him.

He stirred a little when he suddenly felt her grip his hand even harder, but settled again, but his rest wasn't to last long.

Nobodies appeared once more, a set of dusks, snapping him from his doze as they hoisted him up by the arms. His wounded arm and shoulder burst into pain at the movement, jolting him more into wakefulness as he yelped. "L-let go you bastards!"

Brief panic flittered through his eyes, as for a moment he found his grip, and his fingers tightened around Rosette's hand. He really didn't want to be taken away again, but it seemed he'd have no choice as they pried his hand away from hers. He could not have possibly looked more unhappy and annoyed as he disappeared with the dusks.

((ooc: Ah, Laharl's out for a few round or two now too! /o/ I'll drop him back in when it 'feels' like enough time has passed, and back into his spot after Rosette, since his second thread was already finished. ^.^; ))

"Messed with?" Jack frowned in confusion at the question; he'd only just been put back together, after all. "Just what do these people do, aside from assault and abduction?" He peered through the bars at the rest of the prisoners, blinking a little--a lion? Why in Halloween's name would a lion be imprisoned? To what end were they being "messed with," to speak in such plain terms?

A groan? And that complaining.... Both the voice and the nature of the complaints were quite familiar. "Gaston! There's got to be..... some reasonable explanation for this....." He faltered and trailed off almost as soon as he started speaking; as cheered as he was to recognize someone, seeing Misha dragged in was starting to make him have his doubts. Who would incarcerate a sweet little girl like that? Why would they leave prisoners dirty and roughed up? Just what was going on, here? Even the strange, pointy-eared young man and lion were being snatched away....

What wasn't true? It was very true that they were prisoners, but.... "Just a little shaken up, thank you. And the rest of you? What are they doing to us?" Was that a nun in the far cell? She seemed a bit young to be one, but then again, you never knew..... At least she seemed to be more knowledgeable about this place than he was, which was something.....

Even if said knowledgeable girl happened to be scared out of her wits and clinging to the hand of another pointy-eared young man, who was also being dragged from his cell by the creatures. He was quite obviously hurt and upset, and clinging to her hand too.... A strange set of friends, to be sure. But then again, who in this whole city wasn't?

(OOC: Late and craptacular. I'm sorryyyyyy. T__T)

Gaston halted his assault on the door when a shout from one of the other prisoners ordered him to shut up. He spun around, aiming a glare in the general direction of the voice. He refrained from making an insulting comment, though. He would have done so if the voice had belonged to a man, of course. But he supposed that since she was a girl she was probably distraught from her incarceration. Obviously, to a more rational person like himself, it made more sense to find out why they were imprisoned, and either obtain a lawyer if it was for just cause or escape from the place if it wasn't.

The hunter was leaning more towards 'imprisoned unjustly', since he hadn't done anything that would have gotten him arrested back in his hometown. There was always the slight possibility that he'd done something that was illegal in Paixao, but if that was the case, they really ought to post some information on the town's laws up somewhere. With so many people coming into the place from all over creation, how could anyone know what was and wasn't allowed?

They'd also thrown a lion in one of the cells, at least temporarily. That wasn't exactly something most jailers did. Gaston was actually a bit disappointed that he hadn't gotten a good look at the thing before they'd taken it away. They didn't exactly have a lot of lions where he was from and it was the first normal animal he'd seen in the place since his arrival. Apparently there ~were~ some of them running around the place!

He looked over at Jack, finding that he was strangely happy that his friend was still with him, even in the cells. He wouldn't have actually wished that on the skeleton, but it was good to have someone familiar around to talk to. "Well, I don't much like the looks of this, Jack..." he commented darkly. "Anyone who uses those creatures for prison guards can't be the friendly sort. If this is the local law enforcement, then this city is more rotten than it looks."

"Valerie-chan?" Misha called, sniffling and rubbing her eyes. For a moment, she almost thought she was going to fall asleep, but there were various other voices in the room and at least one was familiar. "I'm... okay'su," she said bravely.

She peered out the bars of her cell, trying to see who was left in the other cages.

"Hello'su?" she called. "Who else is here'su? My name is Misha'su..." Even though she was scared, she also wanted to be able to help if she could. "Is anyone hurt'su?"

Valerie sighed. "Yes Misha, its me. I'm glad you're OK. They didn't hurt you, did they? Umm..." She saw little reason to lie to the girl. "Yes, I'm a little hurt. I wound up meeting an old friend of mine, and she was none too anxious to remind me not to run from a light with her."

The cuts stung and all, but she was just glad that little Misha was OK. As far as Danny was concerned, she hoped he was all right, but she couldn't count on him to come save them. He was having enough mental problems. Hell, she had enough problems, but right now she just wanted to be sure Misha and the others were all right.

Staying in that prison though, she had nothing but time to catch up on all the entries. It looked as if some people were gathering to find out who it was that had kidnapped everyone and even try to save them. Valerie breathed a sigh of relief at that. At the very least, people had noticed that they went missing.

"I think some others were hurt to, Misha-chan," Valerie said. "The people that have been keeping us here haven't been too nice about it. I think some others are trying to find us though...what do you all say to trying to let the others know where we are?"

"Laharl! Laharl!" Rosette cried, holding tightly to his hand even as the Dusks in his cell pried them apart. With one final yank, the Dusks separated their hands and dragged Laharl out of the cell, leaving Rosette leaning against the bars, suddenly and thoroughly exhausted. They...they took him again...but what happened when-

Her train of thought found itself coming true as Dusks appeared in her cell as well, using the element of surprise to grab her from behind and drag her through their portal before she could react. A final cry of surprise and terror was all she could manage before the darkness closed around her.

[OOC: Pulling Rosette out as well~]

"Nor do I.... you shot one of those creatures near Folio's, didn't you? They look to be the same, though I don't see why local law enforcement would be running amok and attacking people, the way they supposedly were...." Maybe that was why they were imprisoned? That only brought up more questions, though, ones he hadn't any idea how to answer. Were they terrorizing their own citizens? To what end?

Well, it was good that the little girl was okay, at least, as was Gaston, and himself.... The poor thing must be scared out of his wits, and for once, it was a kind of scare he was wholeheartedly against. "My name is Jack Skellington." He offered the little angel a smile. So people were trying to rescue them? That was.... nice of them, and only furthered the thought that they were imprisoned wrongly, especially if they were being hurt, like the other young lady had said.

He watched with some surprise as Rosette was dragged from her cell, only to feel the Dusks' flexible limbs wrap around his own arms as well. "Unhand me!" He struggled valiantly, it was true--hard enough for both arms to pop out of their sockets, and force a third Dusk to grab him by the torso so he couldn't squirm away as they stuffed his arms back on and dragged him through the portal.

With the Dusks suddenly active and removing people from their cells, Gaston instantly went on the alert. He'd actually managed to get the hidden knife out of his boot and raise it to a defensive position by the time he felt his own arms being grabbed. He twisted and gouged the knife into one of the offending creatures, and was then slammed roughly into the wall as the others wrested the weapon from his hands.

A moment later, the hunter and nobodies were gone, and the only sound left was the clink of metal as the discarded knife fell to the ground in the empty cell.

(OOC: say bye to Gaston too!)

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Hope for improvement? None. [Complete]

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