She is just not giving this guy a break, is she? cat_rofl
Lance had been talking in his sleep, something that did not happen very often but was not unheard of for him to do from time to time. Most of the things he said were just single words, or clips of something mid-sentence. All of them had to do with being "left behind" and "my family" and other such things. Maybe she heard them, maybe not.
The kick that woke him, coupled with the simultaneous madness wavelength that filled the room, put him immediately on guard. In retrospect, allowing him to sleep was not the best idea. He was now officially recharged enough to try and actually fight back. Her kick hit his back and he used the momentum to launch himself into a barrel roll, landing facing her with two fingers pointed squarely at her face.
"You're going to let me out of here," he growled as he fired off one shot, purposely missing her head by barely an inch. "I don't miss twice." To be sure, this attempt was already going better than his first. Even if it amounted to nothing, the fact that he now had the ammunition to back it up was reason enough to give it a try. He was barely able to ignore the gnawing in his gut, the veritable screaming of his body to be fed. But ignore it he did. Soul Count:Kishin Egg: 0; Witch: 0; Demon: 0 Fight Song: Screaming Bloody Murder -by- Sum 41 “No one can deceive what is meant to be…”
Scorpio was a little shocked by his sudden standing up and defending himself. It was, however, to be expected; He seemed just as stubborn as she was.... She grinned at him as the arrow passed inches from her face. "Am I, now?" She laughed. Scorpio held her hand up with her fingers pointing at him. There were holes in the finger-tips. What were they for, you ask? Bullets. "Neither do I." She said. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to let him rest... Oh well. She'd just have more work to do. "Haven't I told you before that it's pointless? I don't know why you'd want to go back, anyway. You don't belong there." Scorpio's grin turned into a serious expression. She could hear his stomach grumbling but ignored it. Maybe if he behaved, she would give him something... But since he wasn't, Lance would get nothing.
Lance, for all his very real courage, saw the fingers aimed at him. he recognized gun barrels when he saw them. His own shots may be good, but they weren't quite the same. for one thing, bolts shot by members of the Archer family generally dissipated after a few seconds. Bullets could stay there a long time. Bullets were also, by definition, much faster. The look of hatred and resignation flashed across his face quickly, only to be replaced by a look of cold calm. His hand dropped and hung at his side as he looked right into her eyes with the look of a condemned man.
"Do what you will to me then," he said quietly. His voice, with those words, was not the same one from the night before. Though it was faint, it was there even if he didn't consciously realize it himself. He'd given up. he'd surrendered himself to his fate, his sleep that night having given him a much-feared realization that if fate really did exist, then it had to be his destiny to suffer here until he either broke or died. He felt the Madness bouncing and swirling and filling the room, and he knew that with as much as he'd already been exposed to, he'd never be the same. For all he knew, he was already a lost cause. Lance, with his pale golden eyes locked firmly onto those of Scorpio, stood calmly and without any pretense of an intent to defend himself. "Do your worst." Soul Count:Kishin Egg: 0; Witch: 0; Demon: 0 Fight Song: Screaming Bloody Murder -by- Sum 41 “No one can deceive what is meant to be…”
Scorpio looked at Lance with an almost glare-like expression as he stood with his hand aimed at her. Then she noticed his look of defeat and grinned mischievously. Good... Now this would make this a lot easier for the both of them. Well, maybe not so much for him but if he just accepted it then the pain wouldn't be so bad. Scorpio dropped her hand down to her side before taking off the giant metal hands again. She rolled her shoulders a little bit, getting used to how light she felt without the things on. It was rare for her to take them off... She laughed a little bit and then locked eyes with Lance. "Good choice." She said, taking a step closer to him. Her fist was sent aflame again; Burning with a high heat. This flame was accompanied by some of her wavelength, focused into her hand, giving the flame a dark tint to it. With that, she punched him right in the chest as hard as she could.
Lance felt the fist slam into his chest. He'd never taken his eyes from Scorpio and had had more than enough time to judo-flip her right into the wall, what with his Eagle Eyes showing him her every opening and every weak spot in her form. And yet as the flaming hand knocked the wind out of him, and knocked him into the wall directly behind him, even the hefty dose of Madness injected into him by it wasn't enough to make him make a sound. yesterday he'd had to resort to just hiding in his own mind to escape. hen again, yesterday he'd been tortured after a night that had almost killed him. Except for a soft grunt of what could be called discomfort he mad not so much as a squeak of noise.His eyes were still locked on Scorpio's, staring her down. He was doing something that half his family could have easily recognized. he was openly analyzing her every motion, every word, breath, facial feature, muscle twitches...in short, every single last physical detail about this person, how they moved both voluntarily and involuntarily, and how their body functioned was being observed, memorized, analyzed, and calculated.
To Lance, it was more than a way to find a person's every last weakness. It was a way to pass the time now that he pretty much knew he had all day to take the beating she was so keen to give him. as he felt his back smack the mirrored wall, all he did was lean himself forward so as to be standing straiht up again, hands still at his sides with no hint of anger, fear, or even hesitation anywhere. Like last night, he was just doing what he'd done with his own father for years. Soul Count:Kishin Egg: 0; Witch: 0; Demon: 0 Fight Song: Screaming Bloody Murder -by- Sum 41 “No one can deceive what is meant to be…”
"Well, you're awfully quiet." Scorpio said looking at Lance, who was now slammed into the wall."Can't you at least wince in pain or something? It's no fun when there isn't any reaction from ya." She kicked him in the shin with her foot covered with flames--once again tinted with wavelngth--then stood there and laughed. She let out a sigh, not unlike the kind that one would let out to show boredom.
Lance was being quiet for a reason. When she mentioned that it was no fun, he almost smirked. If she got bored enough, maybe she'd stop and maybe he'd.....the madness hit him again. Maybe she'd stop, yeah, and then she'd just kill him. But why give her what she wants? So that she's happy and gets complacent...and then we can yes. Yes we can, a good idea. Lance's inner debates these past few hours had been getting much less frightening the more Scorpio hit him with her combo of pain and Madness. In fact, by now it was almost natural that he be more or less speaking with the Madness Wavelength on a first-name basis. It had gone down in under one second. Her kick to his shin had already happened by the time he spoke. His voice was empty, save for his Irish accent that was noticeable but not quite thick.
"If you're bored, Scorpio, then by all means feel free to release me," he said in an almost languid manner. "Try to keep in mind one thing, though. My father, Jack Archer, has been a mean drunk since I was born. Not a day of my life thus far had passed without at least one beating from the man. Your attempts these past hours remind me of some of his more gentle outbursts. You'll never get anywhere if you don't pick it up a bit." And then the grin. It was so chock full of horrid ideas and his eyes seemed about to leap from their sockets. Lance was totally unaware of it and he kept going. He was rolling, started by the pain bringing back a memory coupled with him being so close to his limit of how much madness he could withstand. "Come on, big bad demon girl. Do you need me to paint you a picture, or do you think you can actually start trying a bit?" The subsequent chuckle was dark...full of every conceivable negativity, and at the same time loaded with a sick and twisted glee. Thank god it wasn't very loud of a laugh. Soul Count:Kishin Egg: 0; Witch: 0; Demon: 0 Fight Song: Screaming Bloody Murder -by- Sum 41 “No one can deceive what is meant to be…”
Scorpio scoffed at Lance's insult. She could tell that he was starting to slowly slip, which--for her--meant progress. "Is that so?" Well, why hadn't he said something before? She put on her giant metal hands again and grinned wickedly. Oh, now this was going to be fun... "Say sayonara to sanity for me, will ya?" She aimed one hand at Lance, pointing only one finger at him. Scorpio gathered a large amount of her wavelength into that one finger and then released it. Not a single bullet came out, instead it was her wavelength: Full of madness and demonic intent.
Just remember, he's not allowed to be switched over to Madness Lance until AFTER the timeskip.
Lance didn't even blink this time as the wave hit him. It was being blasted with a fire hose of straight pure insanity. It pushed Lance backwards a bit in its force, and his chuckling became more pronounced, his expression twisting into a deranged scream of joy.....for about a couple seconds. And then Lance's eyelids fluttered, and his breath came up short. He was panting in no time, as if the air had become too thick to breath properly. Without warning, Lance was on the floor. His fall had been limp and without any effort to catch himself, the loud cracking sound of his head hitting the floor evidence enough of that. Not dead, not sleeping, not even 100% under the Madness's influence (only about 70%).
But all the adrenaline, Madness, pain, and cockiness in the world could not keep straight hunger at bay forever. Lance had by now gone all of 39 hours without eating and just about 24 hours without drinking. His body had quite simply been unable to keep going at such a fevered rate like that. His laughter was immediately replaced by the groaning gurgle of Lance's stomach. In this state, not even a bullet to the foot would have woken him. This far under and out cold, Lance looked somewhat peaceful, even if his cheeks were a bit sallow and the dark circles under his eyes looked like discolored bruises. Soul Count:Kishin Egg: 0; Witch: 0; Demon: 0 Fight Song: Screaming Bloody Murder -by- Sum 41 “No one can deceive what is meant to be…”
Scorpio smiled as she heard Lance's twisted chuckle. IT WAS ABOUT FRICKIN' TIME HE BROKE! But then... He collapsed onto the floor. The boy looked pale... She looked at him for a second and realized that he was probably dehydrated and/or maybe starving... He was, after all, only human.
Scorpio left the room and went to her little kitchen area. She thought about giving him a couple of Souls but then again, he was only human. She had to remind herself: Baby steps... The last time she rushed this process the victim ended up dying, and she would not let that happen again. So, what would he need? Water? Yeah... water... She took off the metal hands for about the third time and grabbed two glasses and filled them with water. What else would he need? Something to eat... Human Souls would have been an option, but once again: Baby steps.... Gotta be patient with that sort of thing. She would have to save those for later. So, Scorpio grabbed one of those packets of Ramen. (You know, the Top Ramen or Maruchan stuff that you can just buy at the Grocery Store for cheap.) She cooked it and put it in a bowl before searching around for some kind of utensils: Fork/Chopsticks (she didn't know if he could use chopsticks) and a Spoon.
Scorpio walked back into the Mirror Room with all of the stuff: Glasses of water and all. Somehow managing to balance everything without spilling. She placed everything in front of him and poked him, unsure if he was even still alive. "Hey, Lance, get up." She said. This was, actually, the first time she had called him by his real name instead of calling him 'Kid' or 'Dumba**'. If he hadn't responded to that, she would slap him. "WAKE UP!" She yelled in his ear.
I'm just trying to stall for a little time before the time skip. If I can time it just right, he'll finally lose it about 1-3 posts before it happens. Trust me, I am just as eager to see Lance snap as you are. cat_blaugh
Lance heard his name coming from Scorpio's mouth, telling him to wake up. His faint was already starting to go away by then and thank Lord Death he'd always been quick to wake up. His eyes opened with a groan but his arms either couldn't or wouldn't support him enough to get to more than laying with his back to the wall. His moment of passing out had not entirely reset the crack, evidenced by the wild gleam in his eyes and the grin that kept tugging at the corners of his mouth. He paid no attention to either, those eyes locked warily on Scorpio. Yeah he was hungry as hell and just as thirsty, but the past day or so had given him much reason to be suspicious of this otherwise humane act. Soul Count:Kishin Egg: 0; Witch: 0; Demon: 0 Fight Song: Screaming Bloody Murder -by- Sum 41 “No one can deceive what is meant to be…”
Scorpio moved the food and cups of water towards him. "Eat up. I don't want you to die..." She said, looking away from him. "N-not yet, anyway..." She mumbled, crossing her arms in a semi-frustrated way. Scorpio didn't want to fail at this again... This would have been, what? Her fourth attempt at this? There were far too many people that she saw as out of place... Standing up now, she stepped back to the center of the room. "Don't give me that look. I didn't do anything to it, I swear." She could understand why he was suspicious of her actions, but she was telling the truth. "If I wanted to kill you, I would have done so last night. So just eat, damn it."
She didn't want him to die...and then she mumbled something he couldn't hear. He felt something inside of him give a little at those words, but when she made the good point that she could have killed him already, he couldn't argue with it....or with his appetite. Grabbing the fork (because even though he knew how to use chopsticks, he was out of practice) and the bowl of ramen, he dug in with a will, shoveling it down his throat in under 2 minutes, only pausing to wash down the occasional bite with the water. It wasn't much, but it was enough to take the edge off his hunger. As he finished, he held the paraphernalia in his hands and looked at her with a confused expression, the shakiness of his sanity still very much present in his eyes and in the way it seemed he was always on the verge of a smirk.
"Th-thanks..." was all he trusted himself to say at this point. He just knew that if he tried to say anything more, he might end up saying something he wasn't ready to hear himself say. Like that she'd literally saved his life, and rescued him when he knew even his own father would have left him for dead. That in some perverse way, her hourly poundings were more enjoyable than those of his dad. And especially he didn't want to hear himself tell her that she was kinda pretty...for a demon hell-bent on destroying his mind. Soul Count:Kishin Egg: 0; Witch: 0; Demon: 0 Fight Song: Screaming Bloody Murder -by- Sum 41 “No one can deceive what is meant to be…”
Scorpio walked back over to him, taking the dishes away. "Don't mention it." She said, her words were devoid of emotion. She paused at the doorway of the Mirror Room before exiting. "Seriously, I don't want to hear anything about this." She didn't even bother to look back at him as she stated it. Scorpio walked out of the room and placed the dishes in the sink, leaving them there. Eh... She would do something about those later...
Coming back into the room, Scorpio sighed again. She looked Lance right in the eye and noticed that he was at his limit... He was close to his breaking point. This is going to be a long day... Perhaps a day was too short. A week? A month? A year? Either way, it was going to be long. She saw no reason to beat him up at this point. The kid was behaving, that was good enough for her. Besides, he was so close to Madness that her just being there should be enough. What with her Madness Wavelength and what-not. Scorpio went over to the wall that was opposite him and sat down, just staring at Lance blankly.
I'm having him open up to her slightly to not only set up his post-skip admiration/obsession but also gonna have it be the straw that breaks him. Basically with his soul bared, so to speak, there's nothing left keeping him tethered to his sanity. AShould also provide a little filler as we wait for the aforementioned skip.
Lance felt better after the food.In the brief time Scorpio was gone, he'd sat up a little and prepared himself mentally for the wave of abuse.....that, when she returned, didn't come. weird...and even more suspicious than the food itself. Being more aware of himself now, he was able to feel the Madness around him, know where it was coming from and going to. he could feel not just the intensity but the intent, the reason, the cause and effect. But as soon as he had each one, it was gone. each time he understood some aspect of it, it was as if it was forcing him to forget. he still was straddling the line and he knew it. Perhaps that knowledge was what was keeping him from falling off the deep end. a minute passed with her just sitting there bored. Lance couldn't take it anymore. Call it Stockholm Syndrome or whatever, but he needed to talk to someone and he felt an insatiable urge for it to be her.
"So...I never thanked you. For pulling me out. I'd have died for sure and...and, even though now I'm a prisoner and barely keeping my head on straight, that act alone was more than anyone's ever done for me." He was frowning as he said it, but his lips kept twitching every few seconds, his eyes still keeping that frantic bug-eyed look. They'd also changed color slightly. Instead of their usual pale gold like those of a bald eagle, they'd darkened and grown more vivid to a yellow that was both almost lit up from within by the insanity that threatened at every second to drag Lance under. Soul Count:Kishin Egg: 0; Witch: 0; Demon: 0 Fight Song: Screaming Bloody Murder -by- Sum 41 “No one can deceive what is meant to be…”
Lance had been talking in his sleep, something that did not happen very often but was not unheard of for him to do from time to time. Most of the things he said were just single words, or clips of something mid-sentence. All of them had to do with being "left behind" and "my family" and other such things. Maybe she heard them, maybe not.
