Betrayal at House on the Hill

[angelcage]

[ You sleep, the ground cold beneath your cheek. The ground is hard as stone, cold marble beneath a fine layer of dust that doesn't come anywhere near acting as a cushion. The dust stirs with your breathing.


>> Wake up ]

Comments

[withintreason]

[ she pulls him -- it's incredible, her strength even as a small girl. even as a dying girl. well, maybe it's the adrenaline -- it's something she's mastered, fighting and pulling herself out and clinging to life through the skin of her teeth. even when she was alive, even when she had nothing to live for but to kill arthur.

she's pulling him on his uninjured side to lean against her, and she'll drag them both along with her sword along the ground. ]

Miles?

[ bizarrely, like she's in a good mood ]

What sort of name is that?

[dendarii]

[ More evidence that this girl is fucking crazy. But the fucking crazy girl is currently dragging him to relative safety, and that's something. And besides, he's Barrayaran. Fucking crazy violent people are kind of the norm on his planet.

Simon was still completely, ridiculously unnecessary in his opinion, though. ]

It's my grandfather's. [ Wheeze. ] Means soldier.

[withintreason]

[ true, she is literally fucking insane. listen though he pissed her off, that's really why she killed him ]

Ahhh. Hah. Not much of a soldier if you don't want to kill though, huh?

[dendarii]

Well. I command more than I soldier. Conversion always served me better.

[withintreason]

Well, that explains some things.

[ is she going to insult you while she's carrying you

yes

there's a beat ]

Saber. You can call me that.

[dendarii]

[ gee thanks a lot. He just snorts, though. He's heard worse. ]

Saber, huh. It suits you.

[withintreason]

Well, what's a Saber without a sword? Obviously no one looking like me could be an Assassin, right?

[ ahhh stairs. she doesn't want to. but she does, just, drag them up. her breath is short and ragged but she seems to be in a good mood, anyway. ]

[dendarii]

I beg to differ --

[ Ow fuck stairs. Sorry Mordred, he's coughing blood all over your shoulder. ]

[withintreason]

Oi.

[ coughs, also. ]

You saw that armor I was lugging around. You think an Assassin wears that? Could it be that this commander is an idiot?

[dendarii]

[ He subsides after a moment. ]

N-no. Not my point. Mustn't ... rely on appearances. S'how I surprise people.

[withintreason]

[ mumbled, a little ]

Sure surprised me with that tackle of yours.

[dendarii]

[ A sharp, pained laugh. ]

Just so. Same applies to my people. Scrape together every advantage you can get.

[withintreason]

Hah!

[ --- coughs ]

Ah, damn. That's something I can respect. --damn, these stairs go on forever.

Your people all tiny like you?

[dendarii]

[ Another of those wet laughs. Despite everything, his vision is starting to darken and blur. Not good ... hold on, dammit ... ]

Alas. No. Most are at least five and a half feet, on average. I'm the smallest by far.

[withintreason]

[ i guess that's what size humans are normally ]

Huh. And here I thought you were like, a commander of gnomes.

[ grunts, as she finally gets to the top of the stairs -- and she squints, taking a moment to pause. ]

Oi oi, that wasn't there before, was it?

[ about the exit door ]

[dendarii]

Nothing so fanciful. Only normal humans.

[ He lifts his head. It's mostly a blur ... but it looks like the outline of a door. ]

So the ritual really did open our way out.

[withintreason]

The ritual or killing that last rat?

[ either way, she's pushing forward -- faster this time, reinvigorated ]

[dendarii]

Either. Both. Whichever.

[ He's getting blurrier, but - dammit. Hold on. Almost there... ]

[withintreason]

Hey -- you'd better not die on my back, that's a shitty place to go!

[ BUSTS THROUGH THE DOOR

or just pushes it w/e ]

[dendarii]

Alive. M'alive. Not dead yet.

[ He wants to be, though. Every breath hurts. He blinks dizzily at the ... countryside ... around them. Shit. ]

Car?

[withintreason]

[ she stands up taller, straighter. at the same time, she begins to glow -- gold. from the moment she stepped outside.

ah. ]

. . . Can't see one. Maybe around the back.

[ setting him down though, gently -- against the door, with care and strength. ]

[dendarii]

[ He's too weak to do anything but wheeze uncomfortably as she sets him down, one hand falling across his chest. And blink at her. Everything. ]

Are you glowing?

[withintreason]

Ah -- well, I thought this might be the case, but it looks like it. What a pain!

[ with a lofty shrug ]

It's a long story, but I'm not human to begin with. The point of the matter is that I've run out of mana, so I don't have much time left. It looks like I'll be returning sooner than I thought after all.

But you managed to get out of there. That's great. Keep fighting, eh, Miles?

[dendarii]

[ He's hallucinating now, as close to death as he is. That's what's happening. Okay, he'll play along. ]

Mana? What? Returning where?

[withintreason]

[ oh look her feet are disappearing. fun ]

To the Throne of Heroes. I'm a Spirit, of sorts -- a ghost. Hey, you wouldn't happen to be a magus, would you?

[ with a laugh, like it's a joke ]