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[ forced into standing there, into stillness, tony can do nothing but feel it as it engulfs him. the pain wipes out most thought and her will drags the truth out of him. he tries to resist, but a scream shudders up from his chest and rips out of his throat: ] I'm not from this world! We have more!

[ and there it is. the secret. he grits his teeth again. he answered. of anything beyond her immediate questions, he can't think. he's being cooked alive from the inside. ]

Edited 2024-11-15 22:34 (UTC)

[ More.

Oh what a thrilling thought that is. What rewards the gods will grant her. Delphine laughs, and with a snap of her fingers the spell ends. Whatever holds Tony in place snaps like the strings of a puppet being cut. ]

There we are. Was that so hard?

[ Venomously sweet, as she peers down at him through the bars of his cell. ]

[ tony collapses to one hand and knee, breathing hard, the other hand grasping the raised knee and his limbs shaking, the top of his head brushing against the bars. the pain lingers as a memory but growing now is another, different heat, tight in his chest: one of fury.

in that moment, he wants this woman dead. he wants a crow to swoop in and slit her throat. suddenly, tony understands this world just a little more. ]

Edited 2024-11-15 23:09 (UTC)

That's alright. With your blood, we'll be able to properly mold you.

[ There's a glint in her eyes that says she's enjoying this, both his pain and his fury, and his complete helplessness in the face of all of it.

Oh, she'd never grow tired of watching men have their power stripped away from them. So small, in the end. So disappointing. ]

We'll go into that brilliant mind of yours and pluck away all the little things that don't matter to your work. When we're done? You'll be happy to give us all your little secrets, all your machines of war. You won't even remember why you refused in the beginning. You'll be happy.

And you'll thank me for it.

[ the edge to his naked shoulders and upper back eases, slumping, and the top of his head rests heavier against the bars:

resignation. ]

[ Delphine sighs contentedly. ]

Consider now what you'd like to tell me willingly, before we start. It could go easier for you.

[ he doesn't move. just stares at the floor.

no answer. ]

Mm? Hard way? Pretty please? Well. Since you asked so nicely...

[ Again, her hand lefts, and the blood swirls. ]

Hands through the bars.

[ tony lists to one side when his weight-bearing hand lifts, but sways back upright, and both of his arms stick through the bars, up to the elbows, from where he kneels. some tension reasserts itself in his frame. ]

Edited 2024-11-16 02:05 (UTC)

[ Bare skin, there. The perfect canvas for the runes that will need to be carved into his flesh.

She reaches up, drawing a small blade from her hair ornament, and without hesitating she seizes hold and begins to nick and slash, etching in ancient markings, symbols from tombs no long legible, in tongues no mortal has spoken for a thousand years. A gift from the gods, a means to dominate the will--

All the while blood wells to the surface, trickling down over the sides of his arms and pattering against the floor. ]

[ nothing from him when she begins, no sound or resistance (can't resist), just his head hanging low. but the more she carves into his forearms, the more he reacts in hissed sips of air, fingers twitching where they're allowed, until, eventually, his face contorts beneath the fall of his bangs, and he starts screaming again.

he doesn't know how long it takes. he loses track of time. there's no stopping this. he can't stop this. ]

[ Suddenly the door slams open, and a guard dressed in blacks and reds comes rushing in. Delphine snaps her head to the side with a snarl. ]

Can't you see I'm busy, you fool?

[ But the guard shakes his head. ]

He's here. The Demon. He found us--

[ And the whole air of the room shifts. Far now from being a predator in her lair, enjoying her prey, there is a tremor that passes over her face. A flicker of sheer, absolute dread, quickly masked by anger as she jabs a finger at the guard. ]

Then get back out there and kill him! Don't stand here stammering about it!

[ As the guard scrambles back out, leaving the door open in his wake, Delphine turns to look back down at Tony and her half-finished masterpiece. With a wave of her fingers, the door unlatches itself. ]

Looks like we'll have to finish this on the road, sweet thing. Get up.

[ with a sudden reprieve from the knife cutting into him, his screams fade into noisy, shivery breaths. he hears them talking, but the despair that overtook him resonates louder. truer. no one's coming for you, it's saying. the only one who might care enough is will, and what can one over-the-hill blacksmith do against a group of people with mind-control magic? what can anyone do? nothing.

yet she orders tony to his feet. his naked body obeys with the faintest crease in his brow. blood wells and oozes from the slashes and symbols, streaks bright red down his forearms and palms, drips from his fingers.

she can control people with a vial and a thought, yet they're leaving here, and in a hurry, too. they're running. from what? whatever's happening outside? the guard called it something...a demon? ]

[ Delphine reaches in, seizing Tony roughly by the shoulder and hauling him out of the cell on unsteady feet, before a noise comes from down the hall. The shout of that guard who'd been there moments before--

And something else. Ghastly, monstrous, warped and unnerving, somewhere between a laugh and a roar. Then the hall beyond is eerily quiet. Quiet enough to hear the catch in the blood mage's voice as she draws Tony near, holding him almost like a shield in front of her.

The bloodied blade lifts, resting against his throat, as she watches. Waits.

The torch just outside the cell suddenly snuffs itself out. Silence. Delphine clearly can't take it anymore, barking out to the dark hallway beyond: ]

...take one more step, and I'll slit his throat right here and now! Understand?

[ tony freezes in mind and body. the blade cuts the thinnest line over his adam's apple when it jumps in his throat. then it clicks: she's scared. whatever or whoever is out there, she's scared of.

this demon could kill them both, but strangely enough, tony finds some relief in that. his death will mean he won't be used to unleash hell on the people of thedas, and god willing, she'll die, too. ]

Edited 2024-11-16 17:52 (UTC)

[ For a moment, there's no answer.

Then there's a blur of something darting in from the hall, wrapped in shadow, feathers and a violet haze. Delphine intakes a breath...

And then the knife clatters from her fingers, her grip on Tony releasing as she reaches to grasp at her own throat. There's already a necklace of blood trickling down to soak the front of her robes, and a wet gurgle of wordless fury as she drops to her knees on the stones.

Behind her, a pair of spectral wings fold and vanish into nothing, and that eerie violet light fades from familiar dark eyes as Lucanis reaches to take Tony by the shoulder, looking him over swiftly before his eyes settle on the wounds on his arms. ]

Can you walk?

[ uncomprehending for a blink, tony belatedly realizes her magical grip on him is released as well and he lurches forward one step before pivoting halfway around. he sees the wings first, the violet in them the closest light, and his mind unthinkingly associates them with angel before they fold and disperse and he recognizes the man they're attached to. he amends it with of death.

dellamorte. italian.

it's lucanis.

tony gawks at him until his eyes trail down to delphine choking on her own blood, at which they sharpen. his mouth thins. voice wrecked from thirst and screaming, he only nods. ]

Edited 2024-11-16 21:47 (UTC)

Good. Gather your clothes.

[ Lucanis pauses, following Tony's gaze to Delphine, ashen-faced and still trying to hold her own lifesblood in as it pools around her fingers. They tried that so often. But a mage's hands were often too delicate, unused to exerting the sort of pressure it would take to hope to stem a wound that wide, that deep.

There's no pity in his eyes as he spins one blade around with a flick of his wrist, swiftly jamming it into her temple. At once her struggle ceases, her eyes going blank and her hands dropping limply. As he withdraws the dagger, the rest of her follows suite, slumping gracelessly to the floor.

He'll take a knee, searching her briefly for anything of use, though he suspects he won't find much.

Still. It will give Tony a moment to collect himself, as much as he's able to, before they leave this place. ]

[ tony watches her suffer, his expression tight with a quiet, cold fury in his eyes. right when lucanis jams the blade in, he flinches, turning his head aside, and then stumbles back into the cell. the next couple of minutes are just the whisper of cloth and creak of leather, tony mute with his bare back to lucanis while he redresses. the tight leather shirt he saves for second to last. a long, loud hiss escapes him when he pushes his arms through the sleeves. fresh blood smears up to his elbows.

he exits the cell buckling the last buckle of the waist cincher and his eyes avoiding lucanis and the body. he doesn't know what to think or feel. too much to process at once. ]

[ By the time Tony exits the cell again, Lucanis has gotten what he needs, standing upright once more. Already he's reaching for a pouch at his belt, a length of bandages being quickly unrolled. There's something sticky and astringent-smelling on the underside of them. ]

Let me see your arms. We'll have time to tend to them properly back at the villa, but we shouldn't linger here. We'll stop the bleeding, at least, and the elfroot will help numb the pain.

[ There's no room for argument, the words gentle but firm, as he gestures for one arm at a time. ]

[ a glance to that open doorway shows nothing, no more guards running in, just darkness and more eerie silence. he wants to say he's fine just to get out of there sooner, but tony relents and holds out his right arm. on the underside of each forearm, beneath the blood, a semi-circle and strange symbols have been etched deep in his skin.

he keeps his eyes on lucanis's hands as they work, a faint twitch in his fingers when something stings. after a moment, he croaks out, ] Thought you didn't do altruism.

Mierda. A binding spell. It doesn't look like she managed to finish it, though. This will scar, but there shouldn't be any lasting effects.

[ It doesn't stop the disgusted noise in the back of his throat as he works, quickly but securely binding Tony's arms one by one to stop the bleeding. There's a momentary pause at his words, before the corner of his mouth twitches upwards. ]

I also said you were my responsibility, did I not?

[ The last bandage secured snugly, he nods towards the hallway beyond the open door. It's dark, but there's a figure visible, slumped against one wall.

There will be more, as they go on. Dead, to the last man. ]

[ tony brushes immediately past and ahead, out of the door, but when lucanis follows, he's stopped at the slumped body of the guard, staring down at it, unreadable in the dark. ]

Edited 2024-11-17 02:06 (UTC)

Tony.

[ He almost reaches to touch his shoulder, but thinks the better of it. Maker only knows what they did to him before he managed to track them all down.

But it's nothing they can afford to dwell on, here. ]

We need to keep moving.

[ the reminder gets a lift of tony's head and then a stiff, jerky nod. he motions a hand ahead, down the hallway: take the lead. he'll follow. (he says nothing about keeping a little closer.) ]

Edited 2024-11-17 02:41 (UTC)