come_sailaway | END GAME: THE COUNTDOWN STARTS

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END GAME: THE COUNTDOWN STARTS

[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.]

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[thank the fucking gods. the relief is visible.]

Great. Do you know anything about this place? How one would get out of these cells?

[he's still washing, but she can wait.]

[pauses]

You cannot fit through...?

[goes back to licking.]

Tough luck. Neither could my brothers.

So far, I've remained a bit too big to squeeze through.

[even as she says it, she's pressing on the bars again, as if that would change after however many times she's done it.]

Your brothers were prisoners here? What happened to them?

They are ensorcelled. The English tried it on me, but I am a cat, and cannot be told what to do.

Stupid of these English.

[who are they? doesn't matter, they tried bewitching a cat.]

Part of the reason we want to get out is to free anyone else they have captive. Breaking whatever spell controls them and making them pay for it. We can help return them to your side, if there's any way you can think of to get us past the bars.

[does she know who they are, what binds them? no, but they'd known they would have to sever the control of Malin's thralls to make sure she loses all protections. it's not as though she's offering anything that wasn't already on the table.]

[a thoughtful pause]

And freeing my sister.

Naturally. We wouldn't leave her behind.

[anyone else means anyone else.]

She will be harder. The English bitch keeps her.

[that just makes her smile. harder isn't a deterrent.]

If that's the woman with the eyepatch, I've already resolved to murder her most foul. To break her chains will be a delight.

[a pause. the cat looks at her with strangely human eyes.]

I have my lightning. The bars can melt... Three times, I can do it. Before my brothers notice. They are listening.

[three chances. more souls that can get out - but souls that will have to take the burden of freeing these unknowns in addition to helping wrest back control. she nods, meeting the cat's gaze. lightning. she has nothing but respect for such a being.]

Understood. Sorry to make you wait any longer than you have to, but I need five minutes to make a decision.

[and to probably shout around at other people in the cells. it's difficult to hold out hope to them a second time - she'd seen the group that had fortunately already managed to get out, and they're passing back information about the little magical boy - but it's necessary to consider the options.

plus, if someone else wants to talk to the cat, then they'll be free to while this is coordinated.]

Can you free Valdis?

[Max hasn't put any thought behind this, he just wants Valdis to be okay with his entire heart. He's absolutely biased.]

[she meets his eyes, making herself ask the question she doesn't want to.]

I owe her for the Village. But is she in a shape to fight?

[it has to be efficiency. people that can help without a single hesitation. not a pretty choice to have to make.]

[He takes a sharp breath in, closes his eyes, and shakes his head.]

I... don't know. She might have gotten hurt when they... pulled the snakes out of her.

[He feels like he's slicing off a piece of his own heart just for saying that.]

I don't know.

[she exhales slowly, the expression on her face clearly torn.]

Much as I want to get her out - get all of us out - going forth is going into uncertainty. If she's hurt, if she can't like this...I won't ask her to walk into her likely death.

[she can't ask that of anyone. whoever goes needs to put themselves on the line immediately and unquestionably, and the most that's reasonable to go for is death possible. if Valdis is well, she's inclined, but if not? the goddess can be mad at her later.]

I know. I know.

[Valdis would do that, for him, if she thought it would save him. She'd much rather die fighting than linger here in these cages waiting for worse. He knows that. He loves her too much to hold her back.]

But she's one of the oldest of us here. She's smart. She knows how to fight, but she knows how to negotiate, too. I still think you need her. You're going too, right?

Unless someone makes me an offer I can't refuse. I know, might be selfish of me when there's some of these cages that have two people in them, but I can hold my own at least three times over.

[it's a possibility. but not one she wants to really entertain. a last ditch scenario.]

I don't think it's selfish. I've seen you fight. You'd be one of the ones I'd choose. So... I guess that just leaves one more?

[He doesn't put himself forward because he's already well aware he isn't a fighter.]

I... don't know, maybe Edgar? He's good at survival.

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[and with a thinking it over that totally happened over less than five IC minutes:]

Okay. Please get me out first.

[get the team, then ask where his brothers are - his sister, with Malin, so it'd be better to aim for them to start with. especially since the others were headed off to find her anyway.]

[for a moment, nothing seems to happen, except for a little determined glint in his eyes. then, the tang of ozone, and the hair of everyone in the general vicinity starts to frizz with static. Guatauva seems to get it worst of all, becoming little more than a puff of orange fur, its tail sticking straight up.

lightning strikes a bar.

he probably should've warned everyone about the blinding light. whoops.]

[YES YES YES YES YES YES

the lightning might be blinding but she's used to it from casting, which means that the very second she can squirm her way through the now melted bars, she is, and picking up her feet. freedom. it tastes as sweet as it did every other time.]

Next, Valdis.

[Valdis, Valdis...there she is. Fever knocks on the bars, as if her presence wasn't enough to gain notice.]

Hope you're ready to get out now.

[Valdis looks up to see the cat and Fever. A smile creeps across her face.]

I'm ready for another team up with you.

Figured I owe you from that Village. Plus, Max wants you out.

[a smile exchanged for a smile. go kiss the man about it later, when they win.]

[Of course Max would vouch for her. Valdis stands up.]

Even without powers, I'm pretty sure we can figure this out.

[She glances at the cat.]

Who is your friend?

...I actually don't know.

[this is said right before Guatauva lets off another lightning burst to melt Valdis's cell. name trading hadn't been as important as getting out, though the cat had her name.

okay. one more. one more person she can liberate and take with her. she knows who she wants to have at her side, and turning on her heel, she's striding down the hallway in search of him.

that is, of course, unless someone decides he's going to get her attention.]