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Post by Cuppy/Wonders on Aug 16, 2012 14:41:44 GMT -4
Kale nodded even though he knew Harley couldn't see him. "Holt would be proud of you," he said even though he had barely any idea of who Holt was. He tried to shift his weight away from his arms, but it only aggravated them further. As the silence fell on them again, Kale tried to think of some way to keep them entertained and distract them from their futile situation. He tried to remember how Vash had acted when he was younger, the things that Vash had liked to do. He missed his brother, but he knew he was safe. His intuition told him so. All of a sudden an idea came to him, and he decided to voice it before he changed his mind.
"Do you know any fairy stories, Oryn? All of the ones I have aren't very interesting."
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Post by Cedar on Aug 16, 2012 16:22:58 GMT -4
"I... no, I don't," Oryn replied, with a glance in Harley's direction. Stories would be an excellent distraction for the boy, he knew, and he felt useless in his inability to offer even that simple comfort to Harley. "Such things were never mentioned where I am from."
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Post by Cuppy/Wonders on Aug 16, 2012 17:10:20 GMT -4
"Oh..." Kale said, slightly disappointed and slightly surprised that Oryn had no stories at all at his disposal. He tried to think of some of the stories he had told Vash, but he was drawing a blank. He'd usually make them up as he spoke, confuse himself with the specifics and end up putting the boy to sleep before he was even halfway through.
"Well... there's one story that I think I remember... the Three Little Pigs. There once were three pigs, all brothers, all small, all able to talk for some fathomless reason. When they came of age, and gathered up the courage, they decided to leave home and make their own homes. The first brother, the youngest, the least experienced, stopped first and decided to make a home out of straw... even though straw is weak and not very stable... and said goodbye to his brothers.
"The second brother decided to make a home out of sticks, which was better, but not by much. He, too, said goodbye to his final brother. The final brother decided to build his home in the air, because he knew of the threats on the ground and wanted to make himself safe. And, as all clever pigs were aware, wolves were afraid of heights, and wouldn't dare chase him up in the clouds. So, after many days of building, all of the brothers had their own homes. "But the peace didn't last long, as the creature that the pigs had so feared - the Big, Bad Wolf - found the straw home. But, instead of breaking and entering as he would under usual circumstances, the Wolf had found himself in a gracious mood and instead asked entrance, which the pig denied.
"The wolf wasn't happy about that, so, with much irritated huffing and puffing, he decided to lace the straw house with explosives and bring it down around the pig's head. As the ruins of his house surrounded him, the pig ran through the debris towards the second pig's house. The wolf chased him, catching up... but before he could reach the pig, the door to the stick house opened and the second pig saved his brother.
"The wolf again asked to go inside the second pig's house, and once again he was denied. And, with much irritated huffing and puffing, he laced explosives around the stick house too, and it too crumbled in a cruel explosion. The two brothers fled the remains, and they ran towards the airship that would take them to their brother's house in the sky. But the wolf was running after them, getting closer...
"Just as the airship was within reach, and just as the wolf was on their heels, about to catch them their brother appeared on the railing! The brother grabbed his brothers' trotters and started pulling them aboard, but the wolf started pulling too! But, just as they thought that the wolf would overpower them, the third brother threw a spare brick from his house to distract the wolf and his brothers escaped! "And, as the wolf wouldn't dare go up in the sky due to his fear and that the third pig had sold his building materials and just bought a nice house, all three brothers lived happily ever after in the sky. The end."
Kale realised that that had been the first time he had actually managed to finish that story.
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Post by Squid (Carys) on Aug 16, 2012 22:34:20 GMT -4
Harley listened curiously to Kale's story and doing his best not to make any sounds while he was talking. Except for a few small noises, he thought he did a pretty good job too. When Kale got to the last brother, Harley frowned a little. By the end of the story he just giggled, a giggle that unfortunately still held a whimper of pain. He bit back the pain and then spoke. "That's silly. The last pig made his house out of brick. He didn't build in the sky. And since when did the wolf use explosives? There's no explosives in fairy tales..." The story did make for a good distraction though.
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Post by Cuppy/Wonders on Aug 17, 2012 8:16:44 GMT -4
Kale frowned, but the action was only half-hearted. He had made the little boy laugh, and had temporarily distracted him. "Why wouldn't the wolf use explosives? It's the cleverest thing to do. I mean, what else would he try to do? Blow the house down?"
He smiled. "And besides, if he made his house out of brick, the wolf could be mean and sneak down the chimney. That wouldn't be very good for the little pigs. But, if they stay up in the sky where no wolves are, the Big Bad Wolf won't be able to catch them by surprise."
He paused for a few seconds, and then mumbled just loud enough for Harley to hear, "Besides, explosions are fun..."
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Post by Squid (Carys) on Aug 17, 2012 8:45:59 GMT -4
"Of course he'd blow it down, that's how it goes," Harley replied, thinking Kale's version was rather silly. "'He huffed and he puffed and he blew the house down' everyone knows that. And it can't really be that hard to blow down a straw house..." He was trying to smile and laugh at Kale's story, but as his feet dropped again he cringed and bit back a pained noise. He forced himself higher on his toes again, even though his legs were shaking from the effort. "The wolf did try to climb down the chimney, but the pigs made a fire. And when he got burned he ran off and never bothered the pigs again," he explained to Kale, doing his best to keep the pain out of his voice. He had to be strong.
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Post by Cedar on Aug 17, 2012 9:58:02 GMT -4
Oryn listened curiously to Kale's story, and Harley's corrections, unsure what to think of it. It was ridiculous, of course, yet at the same time he found it mildly interesting--almost amusing. He wondered what other sorts of outlandish tales were told where Kale and Harley were from.
His thoughts were interrupted by the heavy tread of several pairs of boots approaching, and out of the corner of his vision Oryn could see a bobbing lantern and the silhouetted shapes of several men. "They're back," he told the others in a low voice.
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Post by Squid (Carys) on Aug 17, 2012 10:53:05 GMT -4
Harley looked towards Oryn and then towards the door when he heard Oryn speak. He swallowed nervously and tried to stop himself from trembling already before they even got here. There were more men this time, he saw as soon as they entered. This time he recognized what they were holding as cattle prods. The first man, the same one as before had something else as well though, and he was looking right at Harley. The young boy was trembling, and he wanted desperately to retreat from the man, but of course he couldn't go anywhere. The man stepped towards him and Harley squeezed his eyes shut in fear. He felt the man fasten a collar of sorts on him, and on the inside he could feel two prongs pressing into his neck. The man then turned away, addressing both Kale and Oryn. "Either of you don't cooperate, and he gets shocked." To demonstrate, he pressed the button on the remote he held and Harley immediately felt the powerful shock from the collar. His muscles tensed and he let out a quiet whimper. The man turned back to him for a moment, and put the cattle prod against one of Harley's legs and then the other in quick succession. The resulting shocks made Harley pick up his legs, briefly putting all of his weight onto his wrists and shoulders. With a satisfied smirk at Harley's cringe, the man turned his attention back to Kale and Oryn.
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Post by Cuppy/Wonders on Aug 17, 2012 11:40:37 GMT -4
"You bastards..." Kale growled at the sight of Harley's distress, but he quickly raised his voice, unable to keep his anger under control. "What kind of sick fucks torture a child?! Leave him alone!" His outburst only gained a smirk, and the thumb hovering above the button pushed down. As Harley cringed again Kale began to struggle against his shackles, wanting to rip the devices away. The men watched him with mild interest, keeping the button pressed down until Kale realised and stopped. "I think that was a suitable demonstration of no cooperation," he said with a calm smile. "Now... are you going to cooperate, Kale?" Grinding his teeth together in irritation, Kale nodded. The man smiled. "Good." He turned to one of the men flanking him. "Start on his left." Kale watched as the man approached him, a long knife in his hand. He flinched but said nothing when they sliced open the skin near his wrist... but couldn't stop the cry of agony that burst through his lips when the shoved the knife into the open wound and ripped downwards, hacking off nearly all of the skin down to his elbow. As he screamed, the man pushed down on the button and Harley writhed. "No, Kale," he said with that same, twisted smile. "If you make a sound, the little boy suffers too." He nodded to the man again, who moved over to Kale's other arm. He almost bit his tongue off holding back the scream then.
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Post by Squid (Carys) on Aug 17, 2012 12:37:28 GMT -4
Harley started crying again as another shock coursed through him, longer this time until Kale stopped struggling. He had to fight to stop himself hyperventilating when it finally ended. Tears were streaming freely downs his face as he stared at the ground, unable to watch Kale's torture. When Kale let out a cry of pain, so did Harley as he felt another shock. The man moved to stand behind him, bending down to speak right by Harley's ear. "Come now Harley, why don't you look up at Kale and see what he did for you," he said in a sneer. When Harley stayed looking at the floor, the man put the cattle prod to the back of his leg, and again Harley was forced to pick his feet up as his legs tensed in response to the pain. Gasping a little, he turned to look up at Kale, taking in the blood dripping down his arms with wide, frightened eyes. "Now, why don't you thank Kale for those nice little shocks he gave you?" Harley dropped his eyes back to the floor earning him another shock with the cattle prod. "I told you to look at him and thank him for those shocks. They are his fault after all." the man repeated. Sniffling, Harley looked up at Kale again. It took him a few tries to get the words out past his sobs. "Th-thank you, for... shocks," he stammered. "I'm sorry," he added quietly before looking away again.
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Post by Cedar on Aug 17, 2012 15:34:28 GMT -4
Oryn grimaced, wincing with each shock the man inflicted on Harley, but held his protests. They would not help. But when the guards forced a stammered thanks out of Harley he could keep silent no longer. He turned his head to glare venomously at their captors, despite the pain the twisting motion inflicted on his wrists. "Why?" he asked angrily. "Why torture a child? What sort of sadistic bastard can find enjoyment in torturing a little kid?"
"I think you can answer that question yourself, Oryn Gyvres," one man replied, smirking. "You have plenty of experience with that sort. But I do not appreciate the way you are speaking to us. I should teach you a little respect." The man pulled a slender rod from somewhere and lit its end with a match, the small flickering flames illuminating his grinning face. He watched it for several minutes as the flame increased, then faded to a hot glow. "This is a special type of flame, you see, Oryn. An especially hot flame, due to the chemicals we have used. I call it the teaching flame."
Reaching up, he set the blunt, flaming end of the rod to the tender underside of Oryn's right forearm, holding it in place for several seconds. Oryn bit back a scream, detachedly noticing the taste of blood in his mouth. The man then moved to his left side and repeated the action, watching as Oryn writhed in pain.
"Still not going to admit you're in pain, then?" the man taunted.
Oryn glared at him. "No."
"Shame." The man shoved the glowing rod into the palm of Oryn's hand and held it there, one eyebrow raised. Oryn released a sharp cry of pain as it touched the sensitive nerves in the hand, eyes closed in a futile effort to ignore the pain. The man pulled the rod away, though Oryn barely noticed. "Well then. Stubborn one, aren't you? But everyone breaks eventually, Oryn. Everyone." He turned on his heel and strode away, sending a gleeful look over his shoulder.
"I already have," Oryn whispered through gritted teeth. "Can one be broken twice?"
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Post by Cuppy/Wonders on Aug 17, 2012 15:50:51 GMT -4
Kale watched them leave, feeling the air cut into his skinned arms and the blood trickling down. Every single exposed nerve burnt and writhed, and his arms were shaking. He hated the fact that tears were gathering in his eyes from the pain, hated knowing that he was helpless while they punished a child. He waited until the distant footsteps had died and he had regained some control over his voice before speaking.
"A-are you alright, Oryn, Harley?" He cursed how his voice shook, how he already sounded so weak. But the pain was sharp and overwhelming, worse than anything he had ever been forced to bear, and every hint of a breeze started a fresh wave of agony. But, worse than all of that, was that he knew that this was only the beginning.
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Post by Cedar on Aug 17, 2012 16:14:16 GMT -4
"Not really," Oryn replied, his voice pained but surprisingly steady. "Though I've been worse." He fell silent for a moment, grinding his teeth together as he felt a fresh wave of pain from where the brand had burned through his skin. "And I think they're going to ensure none of us is alright."
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Post by Squid (Carys) on Aug 17, 2012 16:25:49 GMT -4
Harley couldn't stop himself trembling. Couldn't stop himself crying. He could only barely still keep himself up on his toes to keep all the weight off his shoulders. He wanted to. He wanted to stop shaking and to just take in a breath, but he couldn't. He couldn't force himself to calm down. At Oryn's last words Harley just found himself crying more, not less. "I wanna go home," he managed to get out eventually.
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Post by Cuppy/Wonders on Aug 17, 2012 16:41:13 GMT -4
At the sound of Harley crying, Kale was abruptly reminded of the times that Vash had had nightmares, and temporarily forgot his own pain in favour of trying to comfort Harley. He was a grown up, he had to deal with all of the pain and the sadness. He couldn't let a child feel it too.
"You'll get home, Harley," he said, trying to keep his voice as steady as he could. "You just have to be brave and strong, like you were before. If you stay brave and be good, they'll have to let you go."
For a moment, he didn't care about the agony pulsing through his arms with every heartbeat, and the sting of his broken rib. All he cared about was keeping Harley happy. "I could always try to think of another story, if it'll make you feel better."
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Post by Squid (Carys) on Aug 17, 2012 17:05:29 GMT -4
Harley remembered Oryn telling him to be strong early and all the other times when Holt had told him similar things. Slowly, he managed to at least slow his breathing back to an almost normal rate. "I can be brave," he said, trying to make himself believe it. This was a lot worse than any tornado he'd ever seen though. At Kale's offer he nodded, forgetting for the time that Kale probably couldn't actually see him.
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Post by Cuppy/Wonders on Aug 17, 2012 17:17:18 GMT -4
Kale tried to think of a story, one that Harley wouldn't find as strange or unrelatable, but he was drawing a blank. Every time he tried to think, the pain in his arms would make itself known and interrupt any valid thought. He gave up and turned his head towards where Oryn was chained. "I'm sorry, but can you think of any Oryn? I... I can't think of any right now..."
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Post by Cedar on Aug 17, 2012 19:19:21 GMT -4
"Uh..." Oryn tried desperately to remember if he knew any stories he could tell to Harley, but could come up with nothing. Nobody had ever told him any stories. Still, he could see that Kale wasn't in a condition to be telling stories, and Harley desperately needed a distraction. They all did, if he was honest with himself. "Well..." He could still think of none he knew, but that just meant he would have to make one up. He took a deep breath, and started talking. Hopefully some type of story would come out of his mouth.
"So, uh, a really long time ago there were these three knights. And one day the knights decided to go on an adventure. They didn’t really know what they were getting themselves into; mostly they were just bored. So, they left the kingdom where they lived and wandered off into the wilderness without a plan. They, er, weren’t particularly intelligent. Except for one, who just sort of went along to make sure the other two didn’t get themselves into too much trouble. But, well, anyways, the knights roamed the wilds for three months. It was rather boring. They couldn’t find any adventure, just a bunch of mosquitoes. And a couple snakes. Plus a few slugs. But the slugs aren’t important. Just, um, really slimy.
“One morning two of the knights—including the smart one—woke up to find that the other one was gone. The smart knight assumed that, being rather an idiot, their companion had gotten lost in the woods when he’d woken up to, er, relieve himself. The other knight was too busy making breakfast to care at first, but eventually he noticed the absence of their friend and asked where he had gone. They decided to wait and see if he found his way back, but after a few hours the third knight had not yet returned and they decided to go looking for him.
“They spent all afternoon wandering through the forest, and through a swamp, and over a mountain—it was a small mountain—and still could not find their companion. So they decided to stay the night in a cave in the mountainside. Since otherwise they would have had to sleep in the mud again. With the slugs. And they didn’t want to do that because the slugs were huge and slimy and gross.
“So, anyway, they decided to sleep in this cave. So they made dinner and went to sleep in the cave. I mean, what else were they going to do in there? They didn’t have a chess set or anything to pass the time, so they just went to sleep.
“A few hours later they got woken up by a roaring sound somewhere deeper in the cave. Of course, they got scared, and the less intelligent knight tried to hide behind his friend, but the smart knight decided they had better go see what was making the sound. Since, y’know, a knight’s supposed to be brave and all. So he picked up his sword and went to go see what it was. The other knight finally figured out this could be the adventure they had been looking for, so he followed his friend and pretended not to be afraid. He did a pretty good job of it, too, until they got to the very back of the cave and found a giant pile of feathers. Basically it was a nest, but it was gigantic. So, they figured that whatever slept on the nest must be gigantic too. But they were knights and it was their job to find out what it was.
“They went up to the nest to look inside of it, and found that it was empty. Except for one thing. Their friend was lying inside of the next, tied up. So they untied him and asked him what had happened. He told them that a giant creature—sort of a bird, but it had a bear’s head instead of a normal bird one, since that’s more convenient for chewing; birds don’t have teeth—anyway, the giant bird creature had snatched him up and taken him to its nest. Which was inside a cave for some reason. Don’t ask me why—it just was. Then it had flown away. The roaring sound had come from the tunnel it had flown down.
“The knights decided that this bird thing was probably dangerous, so they decided to wait until it got back and then try to fight it. Because knights like to solve problems by fighting things. Mostly because they’re good at fighting and all. Because, um, they’re knights. Yeah. Then they stood around for a while waiting for the bird thing to come back. Which it eventually did, since it got tired. And so this exhausted bird thing came flying back into the cave—it was a big cave, so it could do that—and landed on its nest. And it looked down at the knights, because, quite frankly, it wasn’t used to seeing three knights standing there by its nest. But it didn’t find them that interesting, so it decided to go to sleep. It had eaten some slugs for dinner, after all, and slugs make giant bird creatures tired.
“The knights just stared at it in shock, because they’d never seen anything like it before. So they stood there until it settled down in its nest, confused because it wasn’t attacking them. So the smart knight stepped forward and asked the bird why it wasn’t attacking—didn’t it want to eat them? And the bird said, “Of course I don’t want to eat you humans. You taste bad. Awful, actually.”
“They were surprised that the bird thing could talk, but the smart knight asked, “If you don’t want to eat us, why did you tie up our friend?” And the bird thing looked down at him and shrugged and said, “I was lonely.”
“The knights were confused by this, but they decided the bird thing was telling the truth, since it really did look pretty lonely. So, to keep the bird thing from being lonely, they decided to stay with the bird thing for a week. And since it had a chess set they sat around and played chess a lot. And ate slugs. And the giant bird thing gave them rides. And every year after that they went and visited the giant bird thing for a week to keep it company. The end.”
Oryn stopped talking, rather pleased with himself. He had surprised himself with his storytelling ability. Hopefully it had kept Harley amused.
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Post by Squid (Carys) on Aug 18, 2012 3:56:58 GMT -4
Harley smiled just a little at Oryn's story, even though it was completely ridiculous. He had to at least giggle a little bit at how absurd it was. He didn't say anything though, he didn't know what to say, and might not have been able to anyway. As it turned out he didn't have a chance to say anything anyway before he felt another shock from the collar still around his neck. His muscles jerked involuntarily, and he let out a yelp. As his muscles relaxed again, he felt the manacles around his wrists bite in more as they slid up around the base of his thumbs. He winced a little and tried to remind himself to stay brave. His weight was almost entirely on his wrists by this point, and the manacles bit in painfully. He tried again to push himself onto his toes, only to have his legs give out within seconds. As he slipped back down, the cuffs bit in more, but he realized with a soft gasp that they were sliding further up his hands. They might have been smaller than Kale's or Oryn's, but they weren't really made for his small hands after all. Biting his lip to hold back his pain, he started wriggling and trying to pull the cuffs free. With each movement he made they cut into his hands a little bit more, but he could feel them slowly moving closer to coming off until finally they both slid free. Harley collapsed in a heap on the floor as soon as the restraints keeping him upright were off. He was vaguely aware of how bloody his hands were from forcing the manacles off, but for the moment at least he didn't care. He just lay on the floor, smiling weakly at having gotten free. Even when he felt another shock from the collar he didn't cringe as much as he had before. Without every movement straining on his shoulders and wrists it wasn't as bad.
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Post by Cuppy/Wonders on Aug 18, 2012 4:28:42 GMT -4
At the sound of someone falling, Kale immediately turned towards the sound. He winced as the movement put more pressure on his skinned arms, but he knew from the direction of the sound that it had been Harley who had fallen. "Harley? Did you... did you manage to get the cuffs off?"
He didn't care that the manacles around his own wrists were just as tight and cutting as they had always been - Harley had managed to get loose. Harley had defeated them and managed to get loose. Unless... unless they had loosened his cuffs for a reason, and had expected him to escape just so that they could punish him further... Kale didn't know whether to tell Harley to put the cuffs back on or run, so he settled for a third option.
"Harley, could you try to get that collar off you?"
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Post by Squid (Carys) on Aug 18, 2012 4:59:47 GMT -4
"Yeah," he mumbled quietly, trying to sit up now. It hurt to do so, but he managed eventually. He waited a while before he listened to Kale's suggestion of taking the collar off. He just wanted to sit there and fully catch his breath and stop shaking for the first time since he'd woken up here. Eventually, he lifted one hand to the collar to try and feel how to get it off. As soon as he touched it he was greeted with a shock and he pulled his hand away quickly with a soft moan. He waited a few minutes, calming down again, and then tried again at undoing it. Another shock, and he pulled away with another pained noise. "I can be brave," he whispered to himself, trying once again. This time when the shock came he didn't pull away, but the shock just kept going until finally he gave in and pulled his hand away, tearing up again from the pain. "Can't, I can't," he whimpered quietly.
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Post by Cuppy/Wonders on Aug 18, 2012 6:48:07 GMT -4
"It's alright," Kale said gently, even though he felt the sadness and the hopelessness as if it were his own. "It's alright, Harley, don't be sad." He wanted to tell Harley to run, to leave them and try to escape, but he was well aware of the repercussions if he was caught. He would be punished severely, and Kale blame himself for it. He still heard the stammered thanks echoing in his ears... even though Harley had been forced to say it it did not lessen the guilt. He didn't want to be the cause of the child's pain again. But if those men returned while Harley was free then Harley would have no chance of avoiding punishment... He hated leaving Oryn in the same helpless situation as himself, but he hoped that the man would understand. After all, Kale was sure that Oryn wanted Harley's safety more than his own, just like Kale did.
"Harley," he said slowly, "I think... you should try to get out of here. Don't worry about us, just try to get out. We'll try to get out too, when we can."
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Post by Squid (Carys) on Aug 18, 2012 7:45:19 GMT -4
Harley rubbed his eyes a little to wipe away some of the tears and looked to where he knew Kale was in the darkness. "Maybe you can get out too though... I did...Right?" He glanced towards the door and then back in the direction of Kale. He was scared to try and leave on his own. He sniffled a little and tried to sound hopeful, "Are you sure you can't get your hands free? Maybe if you tried..."
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Post by Cuppy/Wonders on Aug 18, 2012 8:03:45 GMT -4
Hearing the hope in Harley's voice, and the fear, Kale tried to ignore the agony in his arms and tried to manoeuvre his wrists out of the manacles. But it was impossible; the movement was agonising and only caused the already tight manacles to cut into the skin. He winced but he continued to try, until one of the manacles touched the exposed flesh of his arms and he was forced to bite back a scream.
"I can't, Harley. You'll have to try to leave by yourself. But you can do it, so be brave. Don't be afraid."
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Post by Squid (Carys) on Aug 18, 2012 9:46:58 GMT -4
Harley bit his lip a little and then nodded. "Okay," he mumbled, getting shakily to his feet. "I can be brave." His legs still felt weak from staying on his toes for so long, but once he steadied himself and took a few deep breaths he looked towards the door again. He was still scared, but he forced himself forward, thinking of Holt and his home in Nebraska. Since they'd been chained up, the men had been leaving the door open. They must not have been expecting any of them to escape, Harley thought. So maybe that meant he had a better chance of getting away. He started down the hall, repeating in his head again and again to be brave, that he'd get out and get home. Harley walked on for a while, always terrified that around each corner one of the men would be waiting for him. When he reached intersections in the halls he would simply guess and carry on. The longer he went on and still with no sign of anyone, the more he started to worry, and yet, still no one came for him. Remembering that Oryn had said they were underground, when he found a set of stairs, he went up it, starting to feel hopeful that he might be getting close to the exit. But at the top of the stairs, his hope faded instantly into terror. He saw what he thought was the way out, but he also saw the men there, and they saw him. They'd been waiting for him. He turned and fled back down the stairs, but when a shock was sent through his collar they caught up to him easily. One of the them grabbed him by the neck, not squeezing enough to cut off airflow, but certainly enough to make it difficult and painful. "You know what to get," the man told his companions casually. The two other men split off then, presumably to go get whatever torture implements they'd use this time. The man holding him by his neck as struggled in vain to get free then dragged him back down the halls by his neck, moving fast enough to keep Harley staggering along backwards desperately. The two men rejoined with them as they reached the room Kale and Oryn still hung in. The lights flicked on as the man, still dragging Harley by his neck, strode across the room, forcing Harley's back against the far wall. The wounds from the cat o'nine burned at the pressure of the rough stone wall against them. One of the other men came forward then, and Harley saw that he was holding a power drill in his hands. Harley's eyes widened as he fit a bit onto the end of it. As the man pressed down on the drill's trigger, Harley's attempts at trying to get free became more frantic, the pain in his back intensifying with every movement he made. As the man with the drill bent down to reach Harley's legs he started kicking desperately. The man with the drill held his leg down, and the other man stepped down on his foot, pinning it in place even further. He felt the tip of the drill get pressed right against the side of his knee, right on the bone. He didn't start drilling immediately though, instead he waited while the man holding Harley turned his head to smile cruelly at Kale. "Now, let's just think for a moment about who told Harley he should try to escape. Tell me, Harley, who was it?" he asked, looking back at the boy. Harley didn't answer. He couldn't even breathe, let alone speak. And then the man with the drill pressed down on the trigger of the drill, and Harley screamed louder than he'd probably ever screamed before in his life. Even when the man pulled the drill out again, he couldn't stop himself from screaming at the pain. The man with the drill moved to his other side, and again Harley's leg was pinned down by the other man's foot, and again the man asked his question. "Who told you you should try to escape, Harley?" he asked over the boy's screams. Through his screaming and sobbing he managed only barely to get out Kale's name. He wanted that to be enough. He'd answered what the man wanted, maybe now he wouldn't do the same to his other knee. He did though. The drill bored into his other knee as he screamed in agony. When the drill bit was pulled back out, the man released his grip around Harley's neck. Harley collapsed, completely unable to hold himself up on his legs anymore. He let out another scream as one of his knees hit the stone floor, and then he just lay there bawling. The man turned calmly to face his other prisoner's, sending an especially wicked grin toward Kale.
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Post by Cuppy/Wonders on Aug 18, 2012 10:34:44 GMT -4
Kale could only stare at Harley in utter horror, feeling terror and misery overcome him even though he was not the one who was being tortured. But guilt was the most prominent. If only he had told Harley to stay... The man with the device he didn't recognise, yet had tortured Harley so horribly, grinned at him. "Why do you look so sad, Kale? I thought you wanted little Harley to be hurt. Why else would you tell him to try to escape, when you knew it would be futile?" He brandished the drill, dripping blood and shards of bone, and Kale didn't even flinch. The man's grin became a frown. "You're not afraid? You don't care if I drill through your knees, mangling them and making sure that you'll never, ever walk properly again?" Kale glared back at him defiantly, but daren't say a word in case it led to more pain for Harley. If Harley had to bear the pain of the drill, he could. With a look of disappointment the man lowered the drill, but almost instantaneously the happy expression returned to his face. "No matter. I can make you afraid." He nodded to the other two men in the room, and they both moved to either side of Kale. Without warning they uncuffed his hands, and quickly forced his arms behind his back. The pain of the sudden movement made Kale gasp, and the feeling of all of his foot on solid ground was strangely disconcerting. The man smiled at Harley, who was still writhing on the ground. "Don't worry, Harley; we're going to punish this nasty man for being so cruel to you." He glanced at Oryn and smiled at him too before turning on his heel and leaving the room, his companions following and forcing Kale to walk. They walked down the same long corridor that Harley had, but turned down a seperate intersection. After what felt like forever, a door appeared in front of them which one of the men pushed open. As soon as Kale saw what was inside he began to panic. It was a table, equipped with straps for the victims arms, legs and torso. Beside the table were various buckets, and the strong scent of alcohol hit his nose. His wounds already began to sting as he pieced together what they were about to do.
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Post by Cedar on Aug 18, 2012 11:37:50 GMT -4
The men roughly dragged Kale over to the table and shoved him down on his back, securing the straps tightly around his arms, legs and torso. If he tried to struggle, the straps would cut even more deeply into Kale's already skinned arms, causing even more excruciating pain. His back stung painfully as rubbing alcohol from the table came in contact with the wounds, and Kale could not suppress his gasp of pain. "Having fun yet?" one of the guards taunted, grinning at Kale. At the lack of response he sighed, and turned back to the others with a look of mock disappointment. "Better get started then, since he doesn't seem to be much fun. Yet."
Another man covered Kale's face with a heavy cloth, effectively blindfolding him as well as ensuring that he would be further suffocated by what they intended to do. They stood there waiting for several long minutes, letting their victim's anticipation build up--that made it all the more fun.
At a silent signal from their leader, two of the men stepped forward and quietly lifted one of the buckets, then tilted it down over Kale's head and torso. The alcohol splashed down over him, plastering the cloth to his face and biting into his raw wounds. Unable to scream, Kale struggled in vain against his bonds, barely noticing as they ripped against the wounds in his arms. Blood was dripping onto the floor, forming small pools beside the table.
After several long moments, the men stopped, and lifted the cloth for just a few seconds to allow Kale a couple desperate, gasping breaths before they repeated the procedure again and again. The pain was all Kale knew--there was nothing but the agony, the need to breath--everything else was unimportant. At one point he felt his wrists snap from the intensity of his struggling, but the broken bones only became part of the unbearable anguish.
The men finally stopped, stepping away from Kale. The buckets had been emptied; they had tortured him enough for now. After the cloth was ripped away from his face Kale simply lay there gasping for air. He didn't know--or care--how much of the liquid on his face was alcohol, and how much was his tears.
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Post by Cuppy/Wonders on Aug 18, 2012 12:11:05 GMT -4
"What's wrong, Kale?" one of the men taunted, that same grin upon his lips, "I thought you weren't afraid."
He couldn't speak, couldn't move. All he could do was stare, his breaths shallow and frantic in an attempt to regain lost air. The man tutted, shaking his head at the sight of Kale's terrified eyes and the tears that were still rolling down his cheeks.
"You do know that this is what you deserve, don't you? After all, you were the one who told little Harley to run. You were the one who made sure that little Harley would never run again." His breath caught at that, and the happy smile on the man's face widened ever so slightly. "If you had kept your mouth shut, then Harley would be able to walk. Now he'll never run with his brother, will never ride a bike... and it's all your fault. You ruined his life."
Kale closed his eyes and shook his head. His throat was raw, he couldn't speak even if he wanted to. The man's smile faded ever so slightly and a sudden contemplative look appeared on his face. "You know," he said, addressing the others in the room, "I don't think he fully comprehends just how much he's ruined little Harley's future. That in itself is punishable." Kale screwed his eyes shut even tighter, bracing himself for whatever it was they would do. He heard them laugh before he felt them tighten the straps around his broken wrists, tighter and tighter until he could feel the broken bones touching one another. He cried out and started thrashing against the bonds again, and was only greeted with more laughter.
"So weak," one of them said. "He's hardly even worth our time. You, stay to guard him. If he does anything you don't like, feel free to punish him. We'll get 'Kale'." He didn't even care what they meant by that. He heard two pairs of footsteps leave the room, and the slamming of the door behind them. The remaining guard cracked his knuckles.
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Post by Squid (Carys) on Aug 18, 2012 14:17:12 GMT -4
As the men marched Kale out of the room, Harley could do little but just lay there and watch in agony. The entire time the men were gone, Harley didn't move an inch. He didn't even attempt to. His own blood pooled around him, and he just lay there in it. His crying faded, but only because his body no longer had the energy for even that much exertion. So when he heard the sound of footsteps coming back he only lifted his eyes to see one of the men enter. The man walked over to him, kneeling in front of him with a sympathetic expression on his face. "Hey there Harley," he said softly. "Having your knees hurt like that because of Kale must be rough. He had to know that if you tried to run it'd end badly for you. I'm certain he told you to on purpose. It's really him doing this to you, not us. Just like all those shocks before. He knew it would hurt you, but he yelled and then told you to take the collar off anyway. He was the cause of all that pain." Harley dropped his eyes away from the man, his breathing picking up again. "Why?" he asked eventually. "Why? Why because he wanted to see you hurt. He enjoyed watching that happen to you. But you know what Harley? My friends and I took care of him for you. I don't think he'll hurt you again now." He straightened then and called to someone out in the hall. A second man strode into the room, carrying something large with him, but he couldn't see what it was because of how the two men were standing. He heard the clinking of chains and then the men moved aside so he could see what it was. Hanging in front of him by only one manacle was a body. Harley's eyes worked their way down the body, taking in the skin missing from wrist to elbow on the arm the body hung from. Much of the skin and hair on the face and head looked to have been burned away. The head was hanging oddly twisted beyond what seemed natural. Harley's eyes just continued working their way down though. The abdomen of the body had a large gash across it, and it was still dripping blood. When he reached the end of the other arm, it became plain why only one was still in the manacles. The skin was removed from the elbow down, but halfway down the forearm the arm stopped. The wrist and had had been hacked off, leaving another still dripping wound and some exposed bone. Harley felt sick, but he couldn't bring himself to look away. His eyes moved lower, and saw the knees which looked like they had been crushed by a vice. The feet each had a deep gouge in them that looked as if they had been opened up some to expose more of the muscle and bones. Those wounds served to add to the quickly growing pool of blood under the dangling body. Harley finally managed to pull his eyes away from the disgusting sight, fighting the urge to vomit. The body was Kale's, and they had slaughtered him more thoroughly than Harley could ever have imagined. He thought the men were going to go and leave it at that, but before they disappeared, one of them looked over Harley with a smirk. "Oh, sorry, we forgot a piece didn't we?" He then threw something across the room towards Harley, where it landed almost directly in front of his face with a sickening squelch. He recognized it immediately as a hand: Kale's hand that had been hacked off. His stomach churned at the sight of it. The two men then turned and left, this time making sure to leave the room lit so that Harley and Oryn could continue to see the dangling and mutilated corpse.
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Post by Cedar on Aug 18, 2012 16:27:08 GMT -4
Oryn felt sick at the sight of the mutilated corpse--which he very much doubted was actually Kale's--but even more he was sickened by the way the man had spoken to little Harley. How he had tried to turn the boy against Kale. And very likely succeeded, Oryn realized bitterly.
Oryn turned to glare at the guards' receding backs. "Why do this to a little boy? Why?" The guards gave no indication of hearing him. Oryn stared after them for a moment, then his eyes widened as realization hit him. "What do you want with Kale and me?"
The men stopped, and one turned around slowly. "Well, then. Putting the pieces together, are you? We'd appreciate your cooperation."
"No."
"Well, then." The two men crossed back over to Oryn and released him from his hanging position, scoffing a bit as he collapsed to the ground, unable to support his own weight on his exhausted legs. Hauling him upright again, they proceeded to tie his hands behind his back to a rope hanging across the room, suspended several feet in the air. He gasped as he felt his arms strain painfully in their sockets, and wondered vaguely whether they had been dislocated. He had little time to wonder before the rope dropped a few feet, jerking against his shoulders. A cry of pain escaped him as he felt the telltale crack of bone breaking.
A knife was driven suddenly into his left calf, and he felt it tear through the muscle, releasing a flow of blood onto the floor. They repeated the action on his other calf. Oryn grimaced, reflexively jerking away from the excruciating pain, but the movement caused a jolt of agony to lance through his broken shoulders. He felt tears coming to his eyes, but kept his teeth clenched tightly, refusing to release another sound. Refusing to show weakness.
"In pain yet?" one of the men asked. When Oryn didn't answer, he shook his head in disapproval. The man sighed, then cut through Oryn's leg again. "I find it hard to believe you're not showing weakness yet. Come on, doesn't it hurt? No?" The man suddenly seized Oryn's feet and jerked down, sending unbearable pain through his wounded legs and shoulders. He screamed in pain, screwing his eyes shut as he tried to stop the tears pooling in his eyes. The man grinned widely. "Ah, so it does hurt. Thought so." He turned to his friend. "Now, I don't want to do too much permanent damage, so we'll have to let him down." The rope was cut and Oryn collapsed to the floor, free from his bonds, but left to lie in pain in his own pooling blood. Somehow he managed to summon enough energy to glare at the men as they exited, but he had not the strength to move.
"Harley?" he tried to ask, unsure whether the boy could hear him. "You have to stay strong, Harley," he whispered. But he knew now that Harley was simply a tool. If he agreed to cooperate with whatever they wanted... would they leave Harley alone? His own wounds hurt, sure, but every time they laid a hand on Harley it broke his heart.
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