END GAME: THE COUNTDOWN STARTS

[sailmods]

[the prisoners wake up on cold, hard floors.

the lights are bright, glaring, a sterile cell with sterile bars facing a sterile hall. the prisoners with you, across from you, and no one else. no rocking of a ship in waves, nothing. just the prisoner and their prison.

time passes, one assumes. the rhythmic click of Friday’s heels down the hall. it’s almost like the ticking of a clock.]

Comments

[maximumcake]

"Right. Magic interference..." That's why he hasn't been able to hear them. That has to be why. Maybe that at least means Valdis is spared from having to feel his pain and fear right now.

"I, um. I think I'm one of those unwell ones," he says with a miserable wet chuckle. "I'm so scared we're gonna be... slaves again." That "again" is actually just him telling on himself without realizing it.

"I don't wanna be alone. I don't want..." he shuts up to keep himself from breaking down into another fit of hysterics. That doesn't quite stop a smothered sob from trying to break through his chest.

[abhorrently]

"You are not going to be."

There's a strength in her words, a force of will that demands this be the truth and no less, the same conviction that allows her to channel magic through her blood though it is locked from her at the moment. All of it, she brings to bear in her words, the rainfall after the clouds threaten for so long.

"Listen to me. You are not alone, and you will not be made such. And we will not be made slaves. For all she has at her disposal, she is flesh and blood. We can and we will overpower her. We will be free, and we will remain free."

At the bars, red eyes seek his own, to know he's heard her. It's the same surety that let Fever defy the parasite in her head that infuses her words, how even in the darkest moments, there had been that scrap of self to push back, to refuse to be conquered. The mess she contributed to is extensive, she knows, but it can be fixed. It can be made up for, and corrected. She'll bear its weight until then.

[maximumcake]

The force of her words makes him look up with those big brown eyes, full of vulnerable hope. He just needs someone to tell him it's going to be okay; he already wants to believe it so badly. So, with very little effort, her affirmations settle over him like a warm blanket. Already, his teeth have stopped chattering together. Some of the color returns to his face as his breathing finally slows.

"We will. We will. We... have to."

[abhorrently]

"And we're going to."

She may feel sickened with her abilities absent, but she still has her life. That will prove to be this woman's mistake. As it has been a mistake before. She sees the light in his eyes, and knows her words hit their mark. Good. He can't lose faith yet.

"It's just some trick we need to find the catch to undoing. Then we'll use the fact that there's more of us and we're all deeply annoyed. There's no way she wins this."

[maximumcake]

"I wish I knew more about magic..." Max laments, drooping a little but not losing the fire of hope she's put in him. "But I'm... I can fight if we have to. I can be annoying." He can't do much more than that, really, but he'll try.

[abhorrently]

"Do you have any idea how valuable that is in a fight? Getting the enemy to split their attention is vital, that way you can have someone else sneak up and deal with things when they're unguarded."

Sometimes you had to be downright stupid about it, but redirecting focus was critical in the worst fights - to get others to safety, to allow time to heal.

[maximumcake]

"I... kinda do..? Yes. Actually, yeah." Max doesn't tend to advertise this fact, but he is more martially trained than one would think at first glance. Distraction was one of the tactics his old teacher, Josiah, used to drill into him. Because even vampires can get distracted.

"I think I needed a reminder."

[abhorrently]

"Happy to provide."

And the edge of a smile flickers on her lips.

"Listen, before we got all thrown in here, I got a good look at what she has under that eyepatch as well. My best guess is that it's something like the essence of insanity - I've been near enough to the Madgod to know exactly what that feels like, and also to know that it'll probably try and latch onto whoever's too close if she exposes it. So make sure you keep at a distance while you're bothering her."