001 | Day 62 | Video/Action

[burnburnburn]

[A young man glares down at the screen, his eyes pinpricked by the adrenaline rush that's making him pant through gritted teeth. He's enraged, but underneath that is a deep fear. He's pressed up against the trunk of a tree at the edge of the forest.

He snarls a retort to the message that's just finished playing as soon as his finger has left the reply switch]

Don't try to leave? Do you think you can stop me from trying to leave?!

[The view blurs as he shakes his wrist and starts shrieking at the device]

Who are you? How long have you kept me here?!  How dare you shackle a radio to me?!

[The video cuts when he slams his other fist on the device]

Comments

video

[hung_garian]

[Well, Gabriel's outlook has been anything but positive over the past few days, but this is good enough to have him looking well and truly amused. Pale and scruffy, but amused nonetheless.]

Can stop you, will stop you, and you've been here on ice for about three months and you only just thawed out. Welcome to your court-ordered anger management retreat, bucko. Hope you enjoy your meditation classes.

Re: video

[burnburnburn]

[His eyes briefly widen in surprise at the fact there's video before he snarls back]

I'd like to see you stop me, you flabby old man!

[He pushes his hair out of his face, glaring briefly at the locks as if they're personally responsible for his situation. He's got no idea if a month measured in Moons or years, but he's got enough growth it could easily be the latter.

The expression on his face curdles at the unsettling thought and he quickly turns back to Gabriel]

Who dared to try me? Are you with the Fanelians or Asturians?

Re: video

[hung_garian]

Nah. Tried them both, we had to split for creative differences. Most recently I was with The Beach Boys, but they ended up in rehab, not zen camp.

[He's fairly confident Dilandau will have no idea at all what he's talking about. He considers it fair, since he has no idea who or what either the Fanelians or the Asturians are.]

Re: video

[burnburnburn]

[Absolutely no idea and it's driving him mad. He leaps to his feet, ready to run into town and start beating some sense out of Gabriel's mouth]

Do you think you can get away with mocking me!?

Re: video

[hung_garian]

Honestly? Yeah, I'm pretty sure I can. Whatcha gonna do, call the mockery cops?

Re: video

[burnburnburn]

[The camera view's moving again as he draws his sword. The angle when he grips means the blade isn't visible, but the ring as it leaves the sheath is distinctive. He holds his arm near his face and glares into the camera]

I'm going to slice your tongue out of your head.

video

[hung_garian]

[One of his eyebrows leaps up his forehead with almost alarming speed.]

Yeesh. Looks like they got to you just in time, son, but I can't help thinking they shoulda given you some pills to calm you down, just to be on the safe side. Or possibly a straitjacket. And horse tranquilizers.

Re: video

[burnburnburn]

[The anger in his eyes slides away completely at that, revealing cold, bone-deep fear. Tranquillisers can only mean one thing]

There are Sorcerers in charge?

[A shuddery breath, and then he realises he's let his threatening slip. He quickly scowls at the camera and puts on a gruff growl]

Who's running this project?

Re: video

[hung_garian]

Good question. I was thinking the Feds, then I changed my mind to the Men in Black, now I'm thinking either space aliens or fairies. Maybe both, maybe a half-way mix. Space fairies? E.T. with wings and a little bitty tutu and a magic wand?

[He considers it.]

Space fairies sound cooler, I think.

[video]

[blackmagus]

[The look she levels is just really?]

They're not going to answer you. I think they prefer to sit and watch with popcorn.

[video]

[burnburnburn]

[That is not the cowering his rage deserves, which annoy him even further]

Then why are we here?!

[video]

[blackmagus]

No idea, buttercup. I suspect it's to play god or doctor. But I was only kidnapped here last night myself.

[video]

[burnburnburn]

My name, woman, is Dilandau Albatou. Don't pepper me with nicknames like some tavern whore trying to earn a tip.

Where did they drag you from? You don't dress like you're from any nation I know.

[video]

[blackmagus]

[Dilandau? That attitude is the fastest way to get peppered with more nicknames than you know what to do with. Fortescue smirks at him, just a little, before she gets a hold of herself.]

I'm from the Imperium Empire, chuck, but I don't expect that you'd have heard of it. I doubt we're from the same world.

Re: [video]

[burnburnburn]

I'm not someone to be trifled with, woman, so watch your manners. If you're too dim to remember my name, call me Lord.

[Since he hasn't heard of it, he makes a sour face.]

Is that world the Mystic Moon, Gaia or Earth?

[video]

[blackmagus]

[Fortescue is only a humble agent of the Empire, of course, and not its bogeyman who practices forbidden magic, but she really doesn't care about ticking him off. It's funny. It's also kind of endearing. She wonders if he has a blood pressure problem, or a blood sugar problem. Or is his ego really this bloated?]

Earth, the year nineteen forty-one.

[video]

[burnburnburn]

[At last, the woman's answering without any foolishness. Obviously she's learnt to stop her mouth running, so he keeps his interrogating to the point]

Do you know where we are now?

[And because he's curious]

What are you counting from on that calendar of yours?

[reluctantsword]

[Wallie raises an eyebrow.]

First things first, you have to calm down. No one here's got a lot of answers for you, but we won't get anywhere unless you take a deep breath. All right?

[burnburnburn]

[Sorry, Wallie, but Gabriel's just wound him up even further. Since Wallie doesn't look like another flabby smartmouth, Dilandau grits his jaw and hisses rather than shrieks]

What answers do you have? And if you start talking about space fairies in tutus I swear...

[His eye twitches. If he hadn't walked away from the forest he'd have punched another tree at the thought]

[reluctantsword]

[Space fairies in tutus. Okay, that's genuinely funny. Wallie makes a game attempt to not smile, and passes his hand over his face to hide it until he can get himself back under control. Right. Serious time is now.]

I know there's a lot of us here, none of us are really sure how we got here, and we've been here... various lengths of time. We're all fellow prisoners here.

[burnburnburn]

[The expression on his face curdles at that hidden smile. He keeps up with the terse questions]

What nation is this? What nations were you taken from?

[reluctantsword]

I haven't heard any good, convincing explanation as to where we're from. We don't know for sure. I was in Casr when I was taken. You, uh, wouldn't have heard of it.

[He can say that pretty safely, since anyone from the World would have craft tattoos like the swords on his forehead. No tattoos, from some other world.]

People seems to have come here from all over.

[burnburnburn]

[He doesn't know where that is and he's not pleased]

That's nowhere near Zaibach. Is that in the northern continent, Asgard?

[The last person Dilandau knew with facial tattoos turned out to be a stinking traitor, but perhaps people who put swords on their faces are more reliable than those who tattoo on tears. He eyes Willie on the screen for a moment.]

You don't look like you're a pushover. What's keeping you here?

[reluctantsword]

Nowhere near Asgard. Long way from anywhere you'd have heard of. You're a long way from home, I can tell you that.

[Asgard? Interesting. Not that he's ever heard of Asgard being a continent in itself. An interesting coincidience, maybe.]

Few people here can be termed 'pushovers.' Most of us are pretty tough. That doesn't mean any of us have managed to find the way out, either. You can have all the keys in the world, but they won't do you much good if you're in a room without a door.

[Now, stage two. Is this guy calm enough for introductions?]

My name's Wallie. What should I call you?

[burnburnburn]

[He makes a small sound of annoyance. What is it with bulky, tattoo'd guys and their love for metaphors when a direct sentence would work?]

I'm Dilandau Albatou. What do you mean by no doors? Are we walled in? How far can we go through these woods? Do the levistone currents pass above this land?

[His eyes take on a light of fear as another interpretation occurs to him]

Are they drugging us in a way we can't avoid? It's an easy way to make sure a man stays under your power.