Day 2 | Night | Abducted

[Kannon]

Last thing they remembered was being led out in blindfolds by Tu Daq out of the Muadh Village. Then, strong direct light had blinded them through the eye covers and something heavy and viscous had fallen on them from above, toppling them to knees. Nausea had followed from sheer contact, and then consciousness had been lost.

Until now. They were no longer blindfolded, but it was dark. Once their senses would return from numbness, the rocky discomfort of the surface they had been laying on was the first to make itself felt. The second - inability to move. Their wrists and ankles were tied with a thin string that caused tremendous, incisive pain at the slightest attempt to adjust it. Gags filled their mouth, preventing spitting out or better breathing. Nasal track was still partly stuffed and irritated from whatever sedative they had been administered during subdual.

There were others in the dark space, though unseen so far. Delirious groans and yelps were reaching their ears, one of them furtive, defiant, in strong baritone, interspersed with shouts.

[For Laila and Kiran Only.]

[Kiran Alsahar]

Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.

They closed their eyes.

No. Calm down.

They tapped into their mother's teachings, repeating the litany against fear in their head.

I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.

They opened their eyes, carefully adjusting their ocular nerves and muscles to the light.

There's only one course. Get out.

Farsight: 1eF 1 Light Side

[Kannon]

The prana-bindu training, suffused with the calm the Litany had brought, let Kiran see across the dark. The voice of the one who fought the most belonged to a large man with long, wavy hair. They had tied him extra-tight, not just wrists and ankles but across the torso and thighs too, and his body had already sustained multiple cuts from shigawire. Further, there was a more passive body, merely whimpering, but this one was unifromed, with the Golden Lion of House Corrino on the epaulettes. This man looked even worse, his head plastered with blood clots near nose and ears. And there were others, maybe three or four, as the space was an irregular volcanic cave with many lines of sight precluded. Those looked like Muadh, including Tu Daq.

[Laila Bridger]

For all of the booze she had consumed habitually over the last three years, Laila had avoided other drugs.

Like most smart Ecazi, she believed that narcotics were a thing to sell, not consume.

So she was immediately livid at the strange sensation.

Where the hell was she?! Who else was here? Had they gotten Hadrian, Efren, or Kiran, too?

Ironically, the shigawire was the most familiar thing.

Breathe.

She remembered the advice she'd gotten in training from the woman they'd all called "Auntie."

Don't get afraid, fear makes you stupid, and stupid gets you killed. So suck it up, take a breath, and remember who you are and what you can do.

Fucking Auntie. What a goddamn weirdo she'd been.

But it helped a bit.

Fucking shigawire. What a goddamn nuisance.

Laila held herself in stillness, taking in the sounds.

Wait for your moment, if you can.

[Kannon]

And then, there was light. A single difting glowglobe that followed a small, thin, gray-skinned man with expressionless eyes into the cavern, concurrently giving Laila the sights Kiran had already had.

Marek.jpg (16.46 KiB) Viewed 1516 times

"So the disgusting powindah have awoken. Not for long. Your misguided existence shall have some purpose now. No better than that of a slig, but that's an improvement from the vermin you've been, trying to spread your rot into my plans. You are an offence, but I'll make you a useful offence."

He reached to the suspensor tray for long syringes with brownish content.

"Those are new concentrations. I am curious how you weather them, my test sligs."

[Laila Bridger]

Pow in what?

...

Who is this fuck?

Laila's life had been blessedly free of direct contact with the Bene Tleilax, a sunny, cheerful streak that was now, alas, at an end.

[Kiran Alsahar]

Kiran breathed deep and slow, watching the man. The wrist bindings hurt incredibly, and would probably flay their hands if they tried to pull them out directly, but if push came to shove, pain was temporary. They had plenty of the rest of their lives to heal up. The beefy guy could potentially help, though.

"So you're the one behind the ailar," they noted, voice even.

[Kannon]

Their mind forgot they had been gagged, so to the mm-hm-mmh-m, the Tleilaxu grinned despicably, revealing two rows of thin, sharp teeth.

"Test slig squeals. Is it volunteering? It reminds me of the specimens from the northern plantations. Nostalgic. Vindicating. Gratifying."

Marek approached Kiran with the syringe.

"Some tolerance to be expected. Exactly what the experiment requires."

[Kiran Alsahar]

Kiran scowls, but can't do much more than that for now. Even making a rude gesture would be pain that serves no purpose. They left it at that for now.

[Kannon]

When the narcotic was injected, Kiran felt no familiarity, at least initially. They suddenly felt very cold and started shaking. And then they felt nothing, until...

[For the First Dream, Kiran can use whole Farsight force power tree.]

Marek put away the empty syringe, and took another.

"And you, fat slig? Will you be causing problems like him?" He kicked Idaho in the ribs. The man groaned but did not wake up. "We could always use more shigawire..."

[Laila Bridger]

Laila watched carefully. She recognized Idaho, but he'd been a lot more impressive on Grumman, where his blade had seemed like a living thing, and nothing had been able to touch him.

Of course we're still not equals. These fuckers trussed him plenty. Me...

She recalled another bit of Auntie's advice.

"Any animal can gnaw its own limb off to escape a trap. Be better. If you find yourself trapped... if you find yourself irretrievably screwed... wait for your moment."

She lay very, very still, doing her best not to think about the future with Hadrian this smug little shit was going to take from her. Testing a new narcotic, what a way to go.

Your wrists and your ankles are trussed. You can, at best, get one good headbutt in, but you need to be ready.

Leave him something to remember you by.

[Kannon]

"Good."

He leaned over to jab her...

[Brawl Hard with 2 Challenge an 3 Setback; every net failure and threat mean a wound from shigawire]

[Laila Bridger]

She surged up sharply, the wire biting into her flesh, but she didn't give a damn about any of that as she did her best to slam her forehead into his face.

[Laila takes 2 Wounds, down to a measly 15, and whatever a Triumph gets her

Symbolic gesture, headbutt, Hard with some difficulty ramping and some serious setbacks, "I love violence almost as much as I hate it upgrade".: 3eP+2eC+1eD+3eS 0 successes, 2 threat, 1 Triumph
]

[Kannon]

[Triumph gives her a strong self-confirmation of mental fortitude, see below]

She'd almost got him, but the grey man was quick. What this effort netted was the drug lord's brief discomfiture that broke his condescending, hateful demenour for one satisfactory moment.

The pain from shigawire tore into her flesh nonetheless, and then she received some kicks before she got held by two thugs.

"What an insolent slig. You'll get more docile after this."

He prepared a double dose, which killed her lucidity right after the injection...

[Laila receives 1 Force Die and can use whole Enhance force power tree during the First Dream.]