Return to the Wild (Small Wonder!)

[Anonymous]

[Continued from HERE.]

It had been a few weeks since Nexus had to go into hiding to escape the followers of the Mother Sun. Apparently they took his roughing up of that young woman Niamh rather personally. Who would have thought it had stirred them so? Still, he was proud of how not a single death had been caused and he had not been seriously wounded. A few minor nicks and cuts, as well as some shredded clothes but other than that Nexus still had that strange arrogant attitude he held dear.

However, a few days ago they finally stopped chasing him. Maybe because he had gone only near places were Drow were heavy occupants, or maybe because he only needed five hours of sleep in total. Whatever the reason, he had emerged from his treetop hiding place only to find that no one was looking for him. The scent on the winds said nothing to him, it was as if they had disappeared. No doubt they thought a lost cause, too many people sent out, too much time wasted.

Did he mind? Not in the least bit actually. He was glad that he could finally have some time to himself. However, he wasn’t sure where he was. He had travelled far, far from the town called Ketra. He could smell the ocean, and in fact, he could see the ocean as well. However, he saw a rather nice sized town, complete with a port. Excellent! Now if anything went wrong, he could simply steal a boat and sail away.

His boots made little noise as he trod into town, his brim pulled down low to cover his eyes. Had he changed the style of his outfit? A little bit perhaps. He wore a silk button up shirt now, a dark forest green actually, covered by a leather vest of sorts. A pair of fine silk pants of lavender tucked into those muddy hiking boots of his. Still about his waist was that belt with the strange buckle that resembled an hour glass, satchels still tied to the belt in case of emergency.

He wore a different style of jacket however, something he remembered from his home realm. It was a long black coat with black onyx buttons. The coat went well past his knees to his shins, and could be buttoned up to about his waist or so. However, the large collar was already buttoned up, covering his mouth and nose, or at least hiding it behind the fine material. Whatever the material was, it was soft to the touch, but seemed to be quite durable, and able to keep the elements off. The sleeves went straight to his wrists, where they tapered off into button cuffs. A pair of the fingerless black gloves were upon his meaty hands, keeping them in check nicely.

In all honesty, he was a bit of a stranger. He stuck out, but didn’t match any of the descriptions were given out. It was a perfect ploy really, and he was giggling about it. On the inside at least. Right now his hardened face showed no emotions as he sauntered about town. He was looking for a tavern, a respectable one that he could get himself a delicious morsel and a tasty beverage. One day he would resolve to get drunk, or find a way to become drunk. One day.

For now however, he had to deal with the years of sobriety. He found a few taverns but they weren’t to his liking. No, they were all too dark, he wanted to be seen, to be noticed, and he didn’t want to seem like he had something to hide. Sighing wistfully he opted to go the market, maybe he could find something of mild interest there? The salty smell of the sea was thick as he got closer to the market, knowing he would find quite a haul of fish there. He despised fish for some reason, he never knew why, but they just weren’t his kind of animal. People had set up shops and carts to sell and display wares of all sorts, from fish to rugs and nets even.

He feigned interest as he mulled about the market square, simply enjoying what the people had to offer. He didn’t speak to anyone however, he decided not to open his mouth at this point.

Nexus knew he could however, the extent of that cult Mother Sun hadn’t reached here, or if it had, it wasn’t very well shown. Whatever the case was, he still stayed his tongue and lips. What were the chances though that someone he had met would be in this town? At least a million to one. He felt quite safe in this town, no more bothersome cult members trying to ‘bring the heathen savage to justice’ or some such nonsense. Just peace and quiet in this small little jungle that was called a town.

The shouting of fish mongers and sellers were starting to bug him, annoy his senses to no end. He had to get to a quieter place. The town square wasn’t far no doubt, so he decided to look for such attraction. He had been to some places where the town square was quite beautiful and full of life. Finally away from the market, his feet made gentle thumps as he walked along, looking for something to entertain him.

Already he could feel that ennui draining him, urging him to do something that would catch and maintain his interest. Eyes now scanned the roads, looking for anything that might hold his attention. There had to be something to do here.

[Rhindeer]

It may have been a million-to-one chance, but dangit if it would be Niamh's luck to be that one out of a million.

As far as Niamh was concerned, everything that had happened weeks ago was over and done with. She'd made a point of pushing everything out of her head and forgetting it all, and she never told a soul about the, ah, new theological things she had learned. No, she made a point of forgetting that, too, or at least she did what she could to not think about it. It made sense, she could admit that even if she didn't want to, but anyone could make up a fictional story and have it make sense--it didn't mean it was the truth, just that the person knew how to work logic. Besides, after everything that had happened...no, there was no way she could ever believe the word of a madman.

So, overall, her life went on rather peacefully after that, and in the end, she secretly learned from her pat mistakes. In retrospect, she could look back on that whole ordeal and see it as, well, a sort of harsh learning experience. It hadn't been pleasant in the least, but it had forced her to face some of her biggest fears and weaknesses, stare them straight in the face--hells, but it had made her feel weak. Her physical weaknesses, her emotional ones, her spiritual ones...now that she knew where she was lacking, she could work to strengthen herself again, which was what she had been doing. She practiced more with her staff and she added some extra lines to her prayers, hoping to cover all bases.

And if something like that ever happened again...she could only hope she'd have the strength not to crumble and doubt.

It was a nice day out as she walked along the streets of Cerenis, far from Ketra where that last drama had played out. This time, though, she wasn't nervous about walking the streets alone because she knew other Lumenari were here this time, and she knew where to find them and where camp was. Her staff was back at camp, safely sheathed, but she wasn't unarmed--she'd been reunited with her dagger and that was tucked away at her belt as a precaution, and the blade of even that small weapon was forged with Incendia, the same strange metal that all Solisi weapons, including her bladed staff, were forged with. She'd learned from experience that carrying weapons around in a busy town were typically a bad thing and attracted too much attention (not to mention it was inconvenient), but then again, last time she hadn't had much of choice as she'd been stranded.

Indeed, things were much different this time around. Though she was much lighter than most of the folk here, sailors and people who spent all their time in the sun on ships or near the ocean sunbathing, she could still blend in, and she wasn't wearing anything that would make her stand out, either. Just a pair of dark gray breeches, a white shirt, and some travelling boots, and a small cloth bag was tossed over one shoulder. She wouldn't be doing any converting today, not that she had the confidence to try again, not for a long, long while. Nah. Right now she was just running a few errands and picking up some foodstuffs and any other random supplies they were running low on. They weren't going to be long in this town before moving on again, she didn't think.

Which was a good thing in her mind, because this place reeked of fish, and Niamh hated fish. Having come from a desert country, she never ate fish, really, and when she'd visited communities that did...oi, she hated the stuff. It was just so...fishy. And salty. And blech. There was only so much of the marketplace she could take before, purchasing a few extra apples, she finally had to escape to take a literal breather. If she stuck around there any longer, she would have probably started to dry heave. Ah, hopefully the apples didn't taste like fish...

Escaping out of the marketplace and filling her lungs with the fresher air as she walked along, she randomly plucked at the front of her shirt and sniffed it, as though expecting herself to smell like fish now, too. Guh. How could people live in those conditions? Well, she supposed just like with anything, if they didn't know any better they probably didn't know they stan--

That was about the time when she finally smoothed her shirt back down and looked up--only to see an all too familiar presence right there. In front of her. Literally feet away. With her nose to her shirt, she would have probably run right into him if she'd kept it up, but luckily she hadn't! Instead, for a moment, she froze, staring up at him with wide blue eyes. Nexus. Of all people. Was it seriously HIM?! Was he still stalking her or something?! WHAT THE HELL!</I>

"Oh shit," were the only words that left her mouth then, and she wasn't someone that cursed often! In the blink of an eye, she spun swiftly on her heel and started to head right back where she'd come from, not wanting to run because she didn't want to attract any attention in case he hadn't seen her or recognized her. But she sure as hell had recognized him!

[Anonymous]

For poor Niamh's luck as well, Nexus didn't blink. He stared. He wasn't facing her, he pretended not to notice her for the time being, but his eye wasn't facing forward, instead, it was rotated and staring at her through his skull. Nexus was actually very surprised to see her here, and somewhat proud. She had gotten over the little psychological incident rather well. He was like an old lion however with wounded pride. She had been the one he let go, the one he had released for his own benefit.

He had let her go, and he was berating himself about it ever since. The question now on his mind now was simple; was she simply bait to lure him away and into an unsuspecting trap, where he would be jumped by several Lumenari members, or was this all good fortune?

Right now, he would take that bait like a hungry fish takes a worm. He turned on his heels, and headed after her. First it was actually concern, he had genuine concern for the poor women. After all, by the time he had reached the forest with her, she was freaking out and crying heavily. He wanted to see if there was any lasting damage at first.

However, that concern faded and disappeared rather quickly. Now it was a matter of pride and revenge. Oh yes. Revenge. Revenge because she had been the one that got away, and that tormented him every time he fell into his trance to recharge. Oh the things he planned for Niamh, he swore he would follow through with them if he ever got the chance.

Torture was his speciality, and he had grown rather fond of it. The way a whip slices through the air and rakes across a person's back, the smell of burning flesh as he brands his initials into their shoulder blade, the look of blood streaming down white skin, reaching the floor and dripping into a small crimson pool. If there was one thing Nexus truly loved, it was torture. Psychological and physical were always the best sorts of torture, more so to women and the like. Women could handle childbirth, so they could grow accustomed to physical pain quite quickly, but psychological pain was something they couldn't always handle.

He had some ideas for psychological, things like pain association, and just being a heartless bastard when it came to tricks. Nexus had gone over some things in his mind, poison tricks, giving her a ray of hope to go on, and then taking it away, only to allow another ray of hope in. He had decided that keeping her...with the idea that there was hope, and then one day simply removing all hope would be a very cruel thing.

He was going to tame her, he was going to break her, and he was going to make her into  a meek and tame little slave. Oh the plans he had for her at this time. He was giddy with excitement already, his skin had goosebumps just thinking about it. He wasn't far behind her, and he knew that he should keep his distance, lest he get a dagger in his belly. That wasn't the most entertaining notions at this point.

Nexus had to make sure he kept himself from getting too over worked at this point thinking about the torture to come. Right now all he had to focus on was getting her, then he could begin thinking more about the torture. He wished he could remember the illusion spells and perhaps send a few images of him out into the crowd as well. Multiple Nexus's would probably scare her quite a bit. Pity he couldn't recall any of them at this time.

"Keep running little poppet." His voice was whisper quiet as he pushed past people, slipped by them, one eye always locked on her, while the other searched for more members of her faction. He didn't have a weapon out, but he had some spells prepared, waiting, ready to strike out. The thin threads of power hung from his clenched fists, red, blue, electric blue, and white. All of them wouldn't do much damage to a person, but it would no doubt make them think twice. That's all he would need if he got attacked.

How sweet it was going to be when he finally had Niamh to himself, tied up somewhere and ready for his own personal training. She would make a fine addition to the list of people that had been broken.

[Rhindeer]

Ah, damn, he was following her, that much became obvious when she chanced quick glances over her shoulder at him. Argh...was it seriously too much to ask for that he just leave her alone? She honestly didn't know what she'd done to him for him to have such a weird obsession with her, following her around so that she bumped into him when she was certain she'd never see him again--and in the most random of places! She though that whole thing was over with, done, end of story, but apparently not.

Oh well. It was the middle of the day now and the streets were busy, quite unlike that time at dawn when he'd nearly kidnapped her, and Niamh wasn't stupid. She headed determinedly for the busiest part of the town she could find, sticking to the middle of the road so that she couldn't get pulled into any secluded alleys or anything, and she loosened her dagger in its sheath at her waist, ready to slip it out from its hiding place beneath her long shirt. Now she wished she had brought her staff, though part of her also knew the dagger at this point was more practical. Easier to hide, easier to maneuver, and if she somehow did end up tangled in that rope of his, it would be easier to reach it quickly so she could cut herself free. Thank the Light all Solisi blades were made with Incendia--that would make any cutting she had to do far easier.

No, she was quite prepared this time. Now she knew what to expect from him, knew what she was up against. But for now, she wanted to do what she could to avoid getting into that sort of a situation to begin with, and that meant trying to evade him. So, heavily populated areas it was!

That meant heading back to the marketplace, no matter how much she hated that fish scent. He couldn't do anything to her there, not without someone seeing, and she finally broke out into a jog as she maneuvered around people strolling the streets until she got there, doing her damnedest to weave in and out of people in an effort to lose Nexus. Niamh really wanted to head back to camp, but that was just outside of the city and getting there meant leaving the safety of the crowds, so...for now she would just stick around here and hope she ran into someone she knew.

When she finally stopped, trying not to breathe too deeply because of the fish, she was beside a vendor selling some sort of pottery and people were all over, so she finally allowed herself to relax then and pretended to browse over the merchant's wares. She wasn't really looking over the pots and clay figures, though--she was keeping an eye out for Nexus.

"Oh, how much is this?" she asked the merchant distractedly, pointing at random at one of the clay figures. Not really interested in it, of course--when she finally looked at what she pointed to, it was some sort of strange little statue, probably an idol...ugh--but she just wanted to get the guy talking, which he did, curtly answering her question though she quickly thought up another, filling the space with stupid questions like where it was from and what it meant and stuff like that even if she wasn't actually paying attention to his answers. Maybe Nexus would think she knew him. But at the very least, hopefully if he saw her talking to someone, he would lose interest, or at the very least decide not to take his chances.

She could hope.

[Anonymous]

She had spotted him following her, and now it truly was a chase. Could he blame her for wanting to run? Probably not. Was she going to succeed, even in this heavily populated area? Of course not. He had ways of taking people from places like this, some that involved leading them away, some that involved tricking them and stalking in a safer way.

What he had to do was get close to her and place a thread on her that would allow him to track her movements. Just like an animal actually, something he did quite often to train and hone his skills better. Smiling to himself he watched as she ducked and weaved about the people, trying to find a logical escape route was she, or just trying to hide amongst the people? It didn't matter, Nexus saw all at this point. Sometimes being an usually tall was an advantage.

His feet crossed the threshold between them quickly, but she ducked off and he stopped, his eye still following her wiry little form. Blast she was pretty crafty now, perhaps they actually taught her something at that church of hers. Now where was she headed this time? He remembered their first encounter had been around quite a number of people, so it stood to reason their second encounter would be around a lot of people. This time however no one was staring, at either of them oddly enough.

He stayed where he was for the time being, watching her try and lose him, but his eyes followed carefully. Hm. He knew what he needed. A small silver thread fell from his clenched hand, replacing all the other ones. He just needed her to stop at this point. Ah hah. She had made the first mistake of being prey. Stopping. That was the most dangerous thing one could do, as the hunter could now get close.

Which is exactly what Nexus did, he moved closer, simply parting the people in front of him. People just seemed to get out of his way, no doubt knowing not to mess with someone his attire and size. When he got close, he watched Niamh talk to the man, asking about things. She was distracted, and he was behind her. Slowly he looked away from her, to somewhere else, and started walking again, as if he had seen her somewhere else. When he was maybe a good fifteen feet away, he let the silver thread go.

It caught upon the wind, and started to float and drift away. With such a small thing, he could control where it would go. However, he had to close his eyes and drown the world out. All that mattered was the single silver thread floating on the wind. It was moving, dancing, streaming toward Niamh slowly. Thread was hard to control sometimes, as it was so light...but he managed in the long run. The thread slipped onto Niamh's shoulder, seeming to integrate itself into the garment. It was nearly invisible amongst her clothes, one wouldn't notice it unless they were looking for it.

Ah, sometimes he could be so cruel. Nexus let his eyes open and he saw a person leaving wearing a white white shirt and dark breeches like Niamh was. Better pretend to play it off like he had spotted her. He headed after the person, weaving through the crowd and grinning. He could still feel that little thread upon her, signalling her out, and allowing him to know where she was. He left the marketplace and headed to an alleyway, he would wait there instead.

In the shadow of the dark alley he waited, his eyes slightly closed, focusing on Niamh's locations. This was one of the better routes he had chosen, one that would lead to out of town. After all, she would eventually want to leave, and once away from people, he would get her. Oh he would get her good once more. He couldn't wait to get his hands upon her...first he had to focus though. No good fantasizing until he had her in his grasps.

[Rhindeer]

Niamh had no idea how much of a mistake stopping would be. If anything, she thought it would discourage him because he, hey, in a large crowd of people chatting it up with some merchant...what could he do? If he hung around watching her or something, he'd only look suspicious, and it'd be easy for others to notice him because he was taller than anyone she saw around here. Besides, it would be safer for her--he was taller, which thus meant longer legs, which thus meant he could run faster than her so she sure as heck wasn't going to try and leave town until she was certain that he wasn't still following her. She just had to be patient and careful, even if she really did just want to bolt and get out of here now.

Ugh...why did this whole thing feel like one giant game of cat and mouse? And why the hell did people call it a game, anyway? It sure wasn't any fun. Whatever the case was, she was determined not to be the mouse. In fact, she was determined to free herself entirely from this "game".

Still only half listening to the merchant and still asking stupid questions--the last one had been something about the history of the place that item came from, and she was pretty sure the poor man was annoyed with her by now--she kept her eyes open, still glancing around the area as subtly as she could. Still no sign of him. Good, good...maybe she'd lost him? She hoped, but she wasn't going to make any assumptions yet, not until she'd waited a safe amount of time...

Which turned out to be a good thing! Because it was right then that he came into view, and she stiffened, quickly turning her head to look over toward the bored merchant though she was watching Nexus out of the corner of her eye. She watched him until, suddenly, he seemed to see something and take off through the crowd after it, and then she sighed and slumped with relief. He must have mistaken another person for her, or...something else. Whatever the reason was, she was going to use that distraction to her advantage, and for a while longer she was still, watching Nexus until she could no longer see him. That's when she finally sprung into action again.

"Thank you for explaining all that, sir!" she told the merchant abruptly, cutting off whatever he'd been droning on about, and without waiting for him to reply she took off through the crowd in the opposite direction of where Nexus had headed, this time at an all-out run. It was lucky she had such a slight build because it made it easy to dodge around all the people, and before long she had broken out of the crowd of the marketplace and was running full speed down a street that lead out of town, the same one she'd entered town by.

Good grief. This whole thing was so ridiculous. But it didn't really matter. Niamh was making a bee-line straight back to join the other Lumenari some distance outside of town and once she got to camp, there would be hell to pay, because right about now she was sick of being stalked. Maybe she should have waited a little longer, just to be sure that he was really gone and hadn't just been waiting for her to bolt out into the open--that thought struck her a little too late as she ran, feeling unnervingly exposed. But it was either now or later, and she'd at least rather do something reckless and bold when Mother Sun was at Her peak in the sky--because her power was also at its peak now, too.

There was some safety in that.

Of course, Niamh also had no idea about the thread, nor that Nexus was waiting in an alley up ahead. Man would she be pissed when she learned about that.

[Anonymous]

(((XD! "Man would she be pissed when she learned about that."))

Oh the Gods were smiling on him once more. She was a predictable little thing wasn't she? This made it all the better for him. He flattened up against the wall, his eyes opened and watching carefully. He couldn't see her, but boy could he see the thread right now. It was giving him a direct location for her, and he couldn't have planned this any better.

He needed...He needed something. This wouldn't be a regular thing, she had that knife now, and despite not knowing that it was made of a special alloy, he knew that ropes could get cut by sharp things like knives. Slowly Nexus fell to one knee, his palm flat on the ground as he concentrated. What he needed was something that would get her on the ground. If she fell, he could literally pounce. So what he needed, was a foot trap.

It would have to be like the ground, unnoticeable for one, but somewhat strong. Strong enough to at least trip her up and get her to lose balance. This had to be well orchestrated, and very carefully planned. Slithering it's way from his hand was a small rope no bigger than maybe an inch. It looked very similar to the brick ladened ground, and contained within was a piece of metal wire. This would make it strong, and the rope around it would make it easy to hide.

It was just like casting a spell, only in this case, the spell he cast was a noose. The rope made it out onto the road, and using the thread attached to Niamh he gauged where she would be, where she would no doubt step, and how her foot would probably get caught up in the run. Oh he was a bastard, this much he knew, but Nexus loved every minute of it. The only thing he had to keep in mind was that he needed to disarm her, quiet her down, and then find a place to take her.

Sigh. Sometimes he hated making plans on the fly, but he had a good idea where the warehouse district was. Once in one of those empty warehouses, she could scream until her throat was raw and it wouldn't matter. That also would give him a good storage area even, lots of open space for all sorts of toys and goodies.

He counted the steps he could hear, focusing on the thread as well as it approached. She was very close now. His had slipped from the ground of the alley to wrap the rope tight in his hand. He didn't stand, as it would make the rope more noticeable with it sticking out strangely from the alleyway, but he did however brace himself, one knee on the ground, his other foot planted firmly against the brick of the alleyway.

Oh she wasn't going to like this part one bit. No this would probably rate up there somewhere with the first kidnapping he had done to her.

[Rhindeer]

[Ahaha! XD Nexus is such a sneaky bastard!]

So far, so good. Niamh was almost home free, she just had to make it through the final stretch, and she wasn't even short of breath yet. She always had liked running, she just didn't enjoy running from people, but if she treated this just like a race of some sort (...which it kind of was, a race against time, really, because she didn't know where the hell the guy was now) then it wasn't so bad. Oh, that man was going to get it, and she did plan on telling the other Lumenari that he was here. It wouldn't be difficult to find him. He was tall, his height alone made him stand out, so if they just walked around and questioned a few people, chances were they'd be able to sniff out his trail. Because, quite frankly? She had had enough. Let's see how he liked being tied up and dragged around, the bastard...

Only he'd probably end up being dragged behind a horse.

All was going well and good. No sign of Nexus anywhere, no sign of anyone anywhere. Just a bit further, and she could be back among her people, and that goal alone was enough to make her put on an extra burst of speed whereas before she had been pacing herself. Almost there...almost there...almo--

"Gyah!" Her foot hit something, maybe a crack in the road that she just hadn't seen, and she went down with a grunt and a distinctive thud. Luckily she'd managed to catch herself on her arms and save her nose, but her elbows and hands were now banged up for it and her knees were no better off, earning her a small tear in the right knee of her breeches and a little blood along her arms, and likely her knees--she had been running hard, and she fell appropriately. Wincing, she started to sit up, ready to quickly pick herself back up and continue on, even if now she would probably have a limp. Wonderful. At least no one had seen, she didn't think.

...How embarrassing, though. Well, maybe once she got back she could just cover her clumsiness up and say Nexus did it. Add more fuel to the fire. Like she cared, she was angry and exasperated enough right now to tell a little lie--she just wanted the guy gone.

[Anonymous]

((I thought you would like that one.))

Little did Niamh know that she could actually blame her tripping on him, and for the most part, it was the time when he had to pounce. If he was going to make this work, he had to pounce, and it had be now.

He didn't actually expect his little trap to work, but here was the proof right here, poor Niamh falling face first onto the ground. He let the rope disappear, and he quickly got to his feet, walking out behind her. He conjured for himself an electric blue whip, holding it tight in one hand. If she tried to run, he could stun her with it. That would work out nicely he believed.

"My beautiful little poppet. The one who got away. Here's the deal. I'm holding a whip right now packed with enough electricity to paralyse a raging bull. What you're going to do is throw your dagger ahead of you, and then I'm going to tie you up. If you even scream, I will whip you, and use your own dagger to remove your tongue from your mouth." Was he sore about losing her that first time? Yes, indeed he was. After finding she was a lost cause from that last time, he had believed she would make the perfect toy for him.

To show her that he wasn't messing around either, he cracked the whip near her face. Static electricity arced off the strange whip as it passed very close near her face, no doubt close enough to make the hairs stand up. A small spot on the ground, resembling a sort of burn was left. Not a smoldering hole however, but still enough to show her that he meant business.

"Go ahead now my darling little Niamh. If you dare turn around either, I'll stun you. If you move too fast, I'll stun you." Gods above he wished Carthax was here to witness this. The two of them used to have so much fun tormenting people like her. Also, Carthax had that unique way of fighting where he could hit pressure points to paralyse certain parts of the body. Damn he now wished he had trained with him on that. Oh well, too little too late for that wasn't it.

None of her Lumenari friends were close as far as he could tell, most of them were no doubt out in the camp at this time. Wondering just where Niamh had got to and why it was taking her so long probably. Oh this was divine, truly the Gods were shining upon him again once more. He kept his muscles taught, at the ready to give Niamh a shock in case she tried to attack him. One eye was focused upon her, while the other was spinning in his socket looking for anyone who dare try to attack him. After all, this wasn't Ketra where no one responded to the cries of a Lumenari girl being carted off by a strange man.

This was going to be one very exciting day for the both of them. More for him, she was probably going to hate her life after he was done with it.

[Rhindeer]

Niamh had just pulled herself up into a crouch when, suddenly, the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end and she froze, a chill going down her spine. Oh Light...you have got to be kidding me... Slowly she turned her head, just the smallest amount, so she could glance over her shoulder and confirm that, yup, it was him, now complete with a lovely whip. Him again. For one brief moment she could feel the urge to all-out scream building in her throat--not a scream of fear this time, but a scream of genuine frustration. Him! AGAIN! If this wasn't deja vu, she didn't know what was. Man she hated deja vu.

"Nexus..." she muttered back in "greeting", gritting her teeth to hold in said frustrated scream, even more so when he repeated that nickname or whatever it was he seemed to like to call her, the one she had hoped to never hear again. Lovely. Lovely. So it really had been him that had tripped her this time. Charming. Still not moving, she listened to his "deal", heart hammering in her chest, swallowing past the lump in her throat. Get whipped or get tied up. Again. And then he cracked the whip right in front of her and she jerked back a bit in alarm, staring wide-eyed at the scorch mark it left behind. She swallowed again and, in an attempt to keep calm, wiped her damp palms off on her breeches. Stay calm, stay angry...

Oh hells...

This wasn't much of a deal.

Still, she had choices...she had a few options here, even if they didn't look like much. Well, in any case, one thing she had learned from the last encounter, and been taught later by her peers, was that if she ever was put in a position where she was going to be kidnapped, the worst thing she could do was listen to them. Last time, she'd been fairly compliant, not making an attempt to fight back because she was scared of the consequences, and in retrospect she could see just how damned lucky she was to have been let go. If he hadn't let her go and she hadn't tried to fight...who knew what could have happened. No, even if he threatened her now, she couldn't do what he asked. The time to fight was now when she at least had a chance, not later when she was bound, and even if it failed miserably at least she would have tried. After all, he was threatening her now...what did she have to lose? If he wanted to kill her or hurt her, well, it was better to go down fighting now than it was to be taken prisoner, only to suffer the same fate down the road.

This was not going to be a damned repeat of that last episode! And as long as she felt like she still had a chance...she was fine. Calm. Yeah. It wasn't over yet.

Niamh's chest felt tight as she crouched there, frozen, quickly going over all her options in her mind--and she was rather proud of herself to find she wasn't so much scared as she was just...pissed. She couldn't believe this. She seriously couldn't. With a sigh, she slowly but calmly reached for the dagger at her belt. Alright, Niamh, think, think... She had to have a plan. If she just acted impulsively, it wouldn't be very effective; he'd just stun her, and it would be lights out then.

"Heh...you...you don't have a very good memory, do you Nexus...? I didn't get away. You let me go," she mumbled, slowly drawing the dagger out of its sheath, feigning caution like she was afraid to move too quickly, as she'd been warned not to, when the truth was she was just trying to think of what the hell to do. To be honest, his words seriously confused her. He was acting like she'd somehow managed to escape! One who got away? He'd cut her free and now he was acting like it was some personal front to him--after he'd been the one to screw with her to begin with! What was he going on about? Oh hells. He was insane. That's what.

She shifted the dagger in her hand, as though reluctant to let it go, and took the tip between her fingers before leaning forward and extending her arm out, as though getting ready to toss it in out in front of her as told. Alright. Hopefully she remembered how to do this, not that it mattered. She just needed a distraction...and it wouldn't hurt if she could hurt him a bit in the process.

But just as she seemed like she was going to chuck the dagger out onto the street in front of her in an under-handed throw, she altered the motion abruptly and instead threw the dagger over her shoulder and at Nexus--or where he seemed to be, judging by the sound of his voice. She had a little experience in knife throwing, not a lot and the dagger wasn't exactly suited for those purposes, but all she wanted was a distraction. She didn't even wait to see if it had hit, been knocked away, or had just gone terribly off course, for the second it left her fingers she lunged to the side in anticipation of the whip and went to scramble to her feet, ready to take off running again.

No, Nexus might have expected her to cave easily like last time, (she was banking on that, at least, and hoping that if he had such expectations it would lower his guard some) but she sure as hell didn't plan on it. She'd learned from the past--hopefully.

[Anonymous]

Oh good! She remembered his name then! That was always nice to hear ring through his ears once more. He even managed to smile after that. He watched her moving, more so after he had cracked the whip near her. She was scared, or...was that pure anger he smelled hang heavy in the air? Whatever, it didn't matter at this time. He was the one in control of this situation, or so he believed at this point in time. He was the one with all the cards, and for that matter, she still didn't take the rope off her leg. A big mistake no doubt, but that wasn't something that mattered right now.

He waited for her to comply, she seemed to be going through some motions, trying to think on this. It was almost cute to watch her try and wrap her head around what was going on. Almost. To him it was tiresome, she wasn't doing this fast enough for him. Hm. Would that make any sense? He told her to move slow, and yet she wasn't moving fast enough. That didn't make much sense to him really.

"I pitied you, but no more pity. You aren't worthy of it." Nexus did bear a hatred for women, it was because of his past of course, but no one really had to know that much. He just stared at her, keeping his muscles tense, his eye moving in all directions to look around just in case.

Both eyes locked onto her for a moment as he watched her getting ready to discard the knife. Finally. However, the way she was holding it sent off alarm bells in his mind. Ever so slightly his knees bent and he shifted his weight forward. He had a good idea what was going to happen at this moment, and it actually came true too. The dagger was sent hurtling toward him, smacking his shoulder with the hilt as it went screaming by. Nexus had shifted to the side a little bit, but was glad her dagger wasn't suited for throwing. She had just discarded the only weapon...and now she was in his territory. He didn't whip yet, he waited for her to have to scramble to her feet.

That would be the most opportune moment as she would have a hard time getting out of the way. When he saw her start to try and get up, that's when he struck, allowing his arm to crack forward, the whip following through. It was a precise strike, aimed for her lower back. If you wanted to incapacitate someone then that would be a good place to start, more so when using electricity. He wanted to disrupt her nervous system, paralysing her cleanly. Carthax might have been able to use his own hands to do this, but he had to make do with the powers he had at his disposal.

Nexus was going to make her pay for trying a stunt like that.

[Rhindeer]

Pity? He had pitied her? He certainly had a strange way of showing pity, which really shouldn't surprise her too much since she'd already concluded weeks ago that he was a psychopath, but she didn't have any time to think any further on that because she was currently trying to get the hell out of there.

Discarding the dagger had been the only thing Niamh could think of, since he really hadn't left many options open--the guy had covered all his bases rather well, so even if he was psychopath, he was a smart psychopath, and that was even worse. So, basically, she had been positioned between a rock and a hard place. If she tried to move to attack him with it head on, she probably wouldn't have taken more than a step before that whip got her, so that would have been a wasted effort. Her best bet, she decided, had been a long range attack. Which sucked, because she didn't use long-range weapons, Nexus had such a weapon, and that would mean throwing away the only good means of defense she had on her. Well, she would have to give up the dagger one way or another, either by surrendering it as ordered or by throwing it at him, so she couldn't really regret doing it, though she did regret that she had to lose the thing, period--and she regretted that it wasn't a throwing dagger, because she would have liked to cause <I>some damage, just for spite's sake if nothing else.

Even a little cut, a little blood, would have made her happy.

But the lack of any sounds on Nexus' part let her know the dagger hadn't struck him, because if it had she couldn't think of anyone who could take getting stabbed without making some sort of sound, but that was okay, it didn't matter if it hit, she just needed a few extra seconds. Niamh didn't look back to see what was happening, only focused on pushing forward, and she had just managed to leap to her feet when it happened.

Something struck her lower back, and all thought left her as the shock jolted through her body, pain searing through her, muscles seizing so she couldn't even breathe or cry out, and for a moment everything whited out. She collapsed right where she'd started to rise, muscles still spasming though she found she couldn't move an inch except to gasp and cough painfully as her body ached and her chest felt too tight for her to breathe properly. But even that wasn't her moving of her own will, just her body doing its natural functions to keep her alive. Indeed, the blow had effectively paralyzed her for the time being to the point that it was hard to even think much beyond, Shit, that hurt... Which was also a huge understatement, but she could be forgiven because her mind just wasn't working well enough to use words any bigger than that.

But Nexus could rest assured that whatever thoughts she was coherent enough to have were nice little fantasies involving him meeting rather nasty ends. Repeatedly. Thank Goddess she was way too out of it still to really grasp just how royally screwed she was right about now.

[Anonymous]

Ahh, satisfaction as he watched Niamh fall after the whip raked across her back. That was sweet to say the least. She really had tried her best hadn't she, but he was just too smart for her. The whip disappeared slowly in his hands, replaced instead with a rather large coil of metal wire. There would be no escape for her this time, there would only be a whole handful of pain for her. He smiled to himself as he reached down, first his hand went across her back, to the rip in her clothes and to the small cut on her back from the whip.

Slowly he raised the blood to his lips, and sucked the crimson liquid from his fingertips. Delicious. She was going to be a sweet one. It was easy when they couldn't fight back like this actually, as he could now tie her hands behind her back, as well as bind her feet in manacle fashion. While she still would be able to move properly, the metal wire would restrict all movement, and if she tried to move her legs too far apart the wire would no doubt cut and chafe painfully.

"I still can't believe how easy this is." Nexus murmured as he finished binding her hands and legs, as well as ripped her clothes here and there. He splattered mud onto her face and clothes, even ruffled her hair up. Why? He wanted her to seem nothing more than a common criminal. That reminded him. His hand went into his pocket, more importantly, to that strange satchel at his side. He removed from it an odd looking device. It was two straps connected to an odd red ball with clips to hold the straps together. A ball gag. He fastened it in her mouth, clipping it behind her head. Perfect! Oh! He just needed one more thing.

After dipping his hand into the satchel one more time, he removed a fedora, more weather beaten and faded than his own, and plopped it securely on her head. Excellent indeed! Then with both hands on her shoulders he yanked her to her feet.

"Today Niamh is no more. Now the common criminal Tiama lives." He attached a length of rope starting from her neck and moving to stop at his wrist, giving a little slack. This was a bit difficult as she was still paralysed so he had to rely on holding her up on her own feet for the time being.

"That paralysis should wear off any second now. Then we can begin our trek."

[Rhindeer]

Her mind began to function more as more time passed, but that did little good as she still couldn't bloody move, not even to wince when he touched the cut on her back, even though it stung. Bastard, bastard, bastard... Niamh couldn't look back to see what he was doing, which was probably a good thing as seeing the creep licking her blood from his fingers would have been, well, creepy to say the least, but she could feel what was going on and she groaned inwardy. Tying her up. Again. But no, she was not going to panic. Panicking last time had only caused her to lose her head and not be able to think properly and that was dangerous. No, she just had to not think about the future, ignore that clautrophobic, painful tightening in her chest and between her shoulder blades, and just...well, at this point, she just had to think of a way to make this as <I>difficult for Nexus as she could.

It wasn't over yet. They were still inside the city, and near one of its entrances. Anyone could see them still...but she couldn't count on it entirely. So even while she was immobile, she used her time wisely, mind racing. He might just want to rough her up again, then let her go, just like before with this whole stupid cat and mouse thing they had going, just like how a cat would play with its prey before letting it go every now and then...except the cat usually ended up killing the mouse eventually and batting around its dead body. Ergh...yeah. THAT was a bad analogy! Right! No more analogies, she sucked at picking nice ones. In any case, she still couldn't count on being released, couldn't take that chance. The guy was clearly instable, and that mean unpredictable. Which was bad.

One upside to all of this, though, if there was an upside? She found that she was able to move her fingers now. The paralysis was starting to wear off. Just not fast enough...

Just hang in there...stay angry...

It was surprisingly easy to stay pissed, too. If this had been her first time dealing with him, she probably would have been having another panic attack. But as he gloated about how easy this all was and began to rip of her clothes here and there and spatter mud on her face, even ruffling her hair...ergh, what the hell? And if she had been pissed before, she was livid when he stuck that...that...thing in her mouth, a small wave of panic washing through her--she really was claustrophobic and her initial, panicked reaction was that she was going to choke and suffocate before, of course, the logical side of her brain kicked in and reminded her that she still had her nose. The hell was wrong with him?! The paralysis was wearing off gradually and she was starting to shift on the ground, trying to work the feeling back into her limbs as quickly as she could even if they still weren't functioning properly. Damn him...damn him...

A hat was plopped onto her head and she was hauled to her feet, slumping because her body still wasn't cooperating--but it was cooperating enough for her to glare malevolently at him as he finished with the leash, probably not a very effective glare all things considered but a glare nonetheless. Bastard, he was the criminal! Trek? No way. She wasn't going. If he wanted to take her anywhere, this time he would have to drag her, because she was not going to be walking. Even if the leash was around her neck, even if, from the feel of it, the wire would cut her. She swore it. He'd have to drag her. She just wanted to make this as annoying and difficult as she could and if she passed out from choking or bleeding, so the hell what?! She didn't know what he had planned up ahead, what the hell was there to lose? And, as she'd been told, it was better to fight now than later.

Yeah, she'd had enough right about now...

So, the first thing she did as soon as she felt her body start to function more was shake her head sharply, knocking the hat off and onto the ground. It wasn't much, but her body was still out of whack and any little thing she could do to be annoying was fine by her!

Goddess, she hated him. No, that was too weak a word.

[Anonymous]

Nexus didn't look all too pleased with her knocking the hat off of her head, and he just bent down, grabbing it and placing it back upon her head firmly. He actually liked her this way, no arguments so to speak, just a struggle. It was fun for him to say the least. He smiled at her as he put a thumb on her chin and grinned.

"Oh stop your struggling. No one can save you at this point." For some reason, he almost sounded like he wanted her to struggle and fight against him. Why? Well, there were two types of criminals out there. The broken destitute ones who have given up and accepted their fate, and the ones who keep fighting till the bitter end. Honestly, no matter how she acted, people would see her as a common criminal.

"But just for you little Tiama we're going to play a game. I call this game 'Keep the hat on your head' alright?" He reached up and pushed the hat down further over her, trying to get it to stay in place properly.

"In this game, every time I see your hat become displaced from your head and land upon the ground, I'm going to cut a thumb off. When I run out of thumbs, I'll start cutting off fingers. Once we run out of your fingers and thumbs, I'm going to skin a strip of flesh from your arms about a foot long, and then I'm going to sprinkle salt onto the wound then cauterize it shut. When I run out of skin on your arms, I'm going to take it from the soles of your feet." Nexus had a very odd look on his face at this point. He was smiling, his eyes slightly wild as he watched her. The left corner of his lips were trembling, not twitching, but trembling in anticipation actually.

"Struggle all you want, but be very careful about that hat. We wouldn't want you to lose the game after all." Then he turned about promptly and started walking, giving the leash a small yank. Did he care whether she followed him or not? Not in the least bit actually. He would have rather had her out cold and being dragged behind him but...he doubted whether she would actually go to that extent. Luckily he had only used a soft rope around her neck, so it would simply choke her if she resisted, no cuts. Not upon that beautiful swan like neck of hers. No that was the spot he wouldn't touch. He couldn't bring himself to do that to a person's neck for some reason.

He just smiled and tugged the rope again. If she didn't have feeling back in her legs, she would no doubt just flop to the ground, but if she was regaining her strength, she might actually be able to walk, if not like a new born calf.

The walk to the warehouses wouldn't be all that long. He could break into an empty one, string her up and then start his fun. Mmm. That would be interesting. She had such a nubile young body, sweet and innocent, untouched...by the end of it all, she would be nothing but a broken, filthy mess of something people might have called a young woman at one point. Maybe he truly was insane, he couldn't tell at this point, nor did he really care about it. All he knew is that he was going to get her back for pitying her.

"Oh what fun we're going to have together." His voice was soft now, almost dreamy as he spoke. Yeah. He was off having a few perverted little day dreams, but he quickly snapped back into reality to let his eyes wander about, looking for any danger. He almost forgot about that part. People could still be watching, or people could recognize her, and he just couldn't have that.

[Rhindeer]

The bastard...she jerked her head away from him when he touched her chin, the hat once again on her head, but she was still glaring openly up at him as he smiled, determined not to shy away from the eye contact. She didn't care if no one would save her, she wasn't expecting that because, thanks to him, she now looked like a common thief or something! But that wasn't really the point! The point was that she just wasn't going to hang her head and--

...WHAT?!

The glare slowly faded, and if there was such a thing as a classic "oh shit" expression, that would be the sort of expression Niamh was wearing right then. Her body froze up, her muscles locked with tension, and she just stared at Nexus with wide eyes. Reflexively, she balled her hands into fists behind her back, too, just for good measure as though to protect her fingers. He...was not serious. Oh, hell, he probably was very serious for all she knew, after all, even in their last episode he had followed through with everything he'd promised, even if for some reason he'd suddenly let her go in the end, thank the Light. And now, here she was, faced with a very serious dilemma. Continue struggling and hope he was just trying to scare her--and if he wasn't just bluffing, well, she'd find out in a very unpleasant way--or follow him calmly to...who knew what, he might just go ahead and cut off her limbs in the end anyway.

Finally she averted her eyes because she hated the expression on his face. He would like this sort of a game...way, way too much from the looks of it...how did he even think of those kinds of things?!

Unfortunately, the shock of that particular threat, of that game, had also shaken her out of her wonderfully angry state just long enough for some of that repressed fear to rear its head. When Nexus gave the leash a small yank and started to walk, she very nearly toppled right over again but managed to catch herself right before she did, her legs sore from her previous fall and now ridiculously wobbly like she was learning to walk for the first time, swaying precariously like a drunkard. Only worse, because now she didn't have the use of her hands to help with balance. Half dazed, not knowing what to do now, she chose for the moment to remain on her feet...because if she fell...the hat...

Rrgh...she couldn't give up, though! But...she also didn't want to be butchered...but what if that was just going to happen anyway? Or if he was just going to freak her out and release her? Maybe he was just waiting for her to crack again, maybe he got off on that. Light, there were so many "ifs" and "maybes"...nothing was concrete at all, and each option only seemed to present even more opportunities for her to just end up hurt. Still, she followed after him on shaking legs that were slowly starting to stabilize, though the rest of her body was starting to tremble now, too, a thin layer of sweat breaking out along her skin.

Niamh didn't know where they were going, but she twitched at his words. Fun. Right. Oh Goddess...she swallowed with some difficulty, given the damned gag made that hard to do, and forced herself to keep on breathing. No, no, no panicking, no panicking...she had to keep her mind active and open, couldn't let it seize up with fear, had to get angry again because that at least stopped her from really thinking about the severity of the situation--kept her mind more occupied with just what she'd like to do to Nexus when she got free, kept her plotting ways to get free. But it was starting to happen again, she could feel the tell-tale warning signs, her pulse pounding in her ears. What he'd threatened...if he'd threatened that much in passing, what was he planning on doing?

She drew a shaky breath through her nose, and let it out in a rush when she stumbled over a crack in the road and nearly fell again. Light...she really must have done something horrible in her past to have ended up in this predicament twice. No...she served Mother Sun loyally. The guy was just a psychopath.

[Anonymous]

Nexus had to swoop down and pick up her dagger from the ground, shoving it into his satchel with a small smirk. This would make for a nice souvenir he hoped, he might even have to use it on her as well. It looked strong enough to cut through bone he hoped. He started walking again, taking her along with him. He didn't go through the market, no way too many people. Instead he headed through back alleys, knowing this would be the safest route to drag his little prize along with him.

"That looked like such a nice dagger. I'll have to see what it can do later on to human flesh." Nexus said to her as he turned his head slightly to look at her for a moment, then to look ahead once more at the alleys as he manoeuvred through with her. The warehouses, that's all he needed to get to at this time.

He could hear her heart thumping, her blood rushing, the smell of fear thick in the air. Mmm. Gods above he loved that smell. It smelled like....well fear to say the least. He couldn't wait to get her into the comfort of privacy. He would just have to wait patiently however, as they would get there eventually wouldn't they?

He began to hum to himself, his left eye searching constantly for anyone trying to attack. Boy, he wondered how normal people functioned without such things. He just wished he had three eyes, that would be nice. Maybe if he saw Carthax again he could find out about having a third eye installed, another cursed one that was as helpful as his normal eyes.

"I still wonder how you figured this would possibly be a good idea. 'Let's go to the town where the crazed heathen savage was last seen near. It'll be safe.' Well, I guess we know that was the last mistake you'll ever make. Well, you're last eight fingered two thumbed mistake that you'll make. There will be plenty of seven fingered and one thumbed mistakes out there waiting to happen." Nexus really wasn't joking when he told her that he would cut her digits off. First, he was hungry, two, he wanted to assert his dominance upon her, and third, he wanted to test his new dagger out.

Pity that he would have to wait now wasn't it? Oh well, the moment she messed up he would get to have some fun. It would be much better once he was able to get her gag off. he was going to make an interesting little proposition to her that would put a good scare into her he hoped.

[Rhindeer]

And there went her dagger, into that satchel, same one he'd stored her staff in, though she had no time to worry about it. She was just too focused on staying upright and walking, and on keeping her fear at bay, though that wasn't working very well--especially when he mentioned wanting to use her dagger and see how it worked on human flesh. Niamh blanched but quickly ducked her head as she followed after him, not wobbling quite so much anymore. Yeah...not going to pursue that thought any further. She didn't want to think about it, and anyway, well...ahah...needless to say, that dagger was very sharp and the edge never seemed to grow dull. Incendia was tough stuff, and it had that extra trick where it burned and glowed, hotter than fire. Yeah, it cut through stuff effortlessly...and could cauterize, too, if you used it that way. But she didn't think he'd be able to use it that way, make it glow and burn. He was a heathen, and as far as she knew only Solisi could trigger that.

Goddess, here's to hoping that was true. It would be even better if it backfired instead. She wished. But she honestly had no idea what it did when it fell into heathen hands...

Augh! Stop thinking!

As much as she wanted to struggle and fight back...Light help her, she couldn't. But he was already implying that he was going to hurt her...testing the dagger on human flesh...unless there was another human around...and yet, still...there was always that possibility that this was all just another sick joke. Or that it wasn't and...dammit! She was so confused, and...she shifted her arms a little, feeling the wire rubbing against her wrists, and then she pulled at her wrists a bit, testing the sharpness and the looseness and wincing. Too tight...she could hardly move them without it hurting, and they weren't spaced apart far enough that she could step through her arms to at least get her hands in front of her...

Ah...wait...maybe she could...it would be a <I>very tight fit and she would have to mangle her wrists all to hell...but when he wasn't looking, if she had the opportunity to spend some time working at it...

Finally, there was some hope, but Niamh didn't do anything yet. If he saw that her wrists were bleeding now, he'd know she was up to something, and besides, she had to be somewhere where she could stop and really have time to focus. Still, it was something. If she had the use of her hands...she could get free.

That small bit of hope calmed her a bit, though her breathing was still short and uneven, her heart still thudding almost painfully. Hope. A chance. She clung to that small bit of hope like a lifeline. Even if it didn't work in the end, for now it would keep her sane.

Meanwhile, Nexus just kept talking, seeming so damned cheerful, even humming, the bastard. Niamh could feel her throat tightening a little despite her revelation, but she just kept walking, head down, hiding her face and trying to think through the fear that was clouding her mind, ignoring the pain that shot through her ankles whenever she took too big a step--the wire was chaffing badly, maybe it had even cut her a bit. Her shoulders hunched when he mentioned coming to this town was her <I>last mistake...Goddess...but even when he clarified, it was no better. Light...was he seriously planning on torturing her? A shudder ran through her, but she just kept walking. This...this really wasn't her fault. She didn't know Nexus was last seen near this town...if she had, she wouldn't have come in it alone...or, hell, she wouldn't have even gone in with someone.

Not that she could say that now.

For now, all she could do was follow quietly, try to stay calm...and plot.

It wasn't over yet.

[Sorry if this is...incoherent! XD I should go to bed now. Also, I use the word "bit" a lot. *shakes fist* I must change this. But too tired to now! XD *toddles off*]

[Anonymous]

Would he actually use the dagger that she had? Never in a million years. That was like picking up a scroll filled with magic and reciting the words. Nexus knew all about booby traps and tricks on weapons, and he wouldn't dare use a weapon he knew nothing about. Besides, he was trained with his weapons, and by the Gods he would use them instead. It was much better that way, less chance of losing anything of his when the time came to the torture.

For example, his weapons included all the rope and wire that was surrounding Niamh. If he wasn't looking at her, he was simply focusing on the rope and the location, seeing it with his mind's eye once in a while. However, he didn't need to, as he kept one eye looking ahead, and the second one looking behind, mostly on her. He wondered if she could remember that he had the power to do this. Heh. Nexus truly wished he was a telepath, he might have like to hear what was on poor Niamh's mind at this time. It would have been interesting to hear her thoughts on all this.

Not far now though! They were already near the waterside, and near the port side of town, where he could see warehouses of all shapes and sizes. He needed a small one, one that was sturdy and would drown out most of the screams. Well. He didn't NEED it to drown on the screams. That simply meant he wouldn't have to expend energy on a bubble around her that ceased people on the outside hearing her.

"Hm, just need to find ourselves a nice small warehouse." Nexus said to her as his eye searched along warehouses. They were all nice sized thankfully, obviously this town hadn't built ones that were too tall, probably nothing of such quantity to store within. He had to find one that was degraded and broken without windows. Then he spotted it, the perfect one. Red, no windows to look inside with, about the size of a one story house and not too long. Only one door to go into as well! Joyous! It even looked a little run down which gave him the inkling that it would be empty.

Not very many people were down here too, those that were scurried away quickly to get away from them, and he was glad. Once he could see and hear no more people watching them, he went to the large doors of the warehouse and pushed on open, dragging her inside. It was dark save for the light that flowed in through the doors at the time. Dark until he brought forth a strange torch that's head didn't burn but produced light in a near three sixty degrees. He held it up, illuminating a lot around them. There was just some junk, boxes here and there, a thick later of dust everywhere, and a few knick knacks of no real importance. Nothing sharp either, nothing that she could use to harm him or escape with. Excellent. It even had some marble support pillars that touched the roof and held the entire thing up.

"Oh they must have known I was coming. This is perfect." For a moment, Nexus wondered if he had died and gone to heaven. Right now, he didn't care. He was eyeing the six support pillars with interest. He had enough pillars that he could tie at least three girls up in a spread eagled position. Hm, he might have to go out and find other women who got on his nerves. He dragged Niamh toward the support pillars, stopping just in front of them, inspecting them with a careful eye.

"Look at this dear Niamh, this is where you're going to spend your time. Now that we're in private however we can take that gag out of your mouth." He told her as he went to her, reaching one hand around to detach the gag from her mouth, storing it away for later.

"Now! Before you go off onto a tangent and start calling me names and insults I'm going to tell you another game.  Every time you speak and the sentence doesn't end in the word Master, I will remove an article of your clothing. When all your clothing is gone, I'm going to find something sharp and painful. Said object is going to work itself into parts of your body that can accept this long sharp object. When I tire of that, I'll start making new holes for the sharp object. You can speak normally to me, but every sentence must end with Master." Maybe Nexus was twisted, perverted, and a sadist but he couldn't argue with the results or the techniques. They were tried and true for the most part, and this always was the best game to play.

Now, he needed to get this all to work out properly. He knew exactly how he wants to her string her up, and how the pillars were going to help with all of it, but he had to figure a way to make it so when he took the existing bonds already on her, she wouldn't flee or try to attack him. Maybe the stun whip again...choices. One eye was firmly planted on her, watching every move, while the other roamed around in his skull looking for anything that might harm him, just in case they had been followed. He had at least remembered to close the warehouse door. He even set the strange illuminating torch on the ground for the time being.

"Though I think for my plan to finally fall into motion, I'm going to have to stun you again. What do you think of that Niamh?" A test of sorts, to see what she would do. It would be interesting to see if she could swallow her pride on this.

[Rhindeer]

It was a good thing he couldn't hear all her thoughts, because she was still in the process of planning furiously--and it would suck to have any plans she came up with spoiled. Niamh kept her head down as they walked though she was also careful to make sure of her surroundings, watching where they were going and how they got there. Once she got free--and she would get free, she had to stay positive--it would be important to have a sense of direction so that she could effectively get away and not just be...lost and vulnerable. She could see the warehouses coming into view, and as soon as Nexus spoke she knew that's where they were headed.

Oh. Light. No.

She had no choice but to follow him as he lead her into one of them, because it was either that or get cut up if she struggled, especially if the bloody hat came off, stupid "game". Still, she couldn't help but slow her steps, pressing back against her bindings a bit until her wrists started to sting. She didn't want to go in there. She really didn't. Just the <I>sight of that dark, closed in room was enough to make her want to panic, but she swallowed fiercely and held onto her wits. No panicking. Can't panic, or it's all over. The instant she did, she was done. It's only a dark room. That's it.

...A dark room with a psychopath! And she hated the dark as it was, and hated closed-in spaces...Goddess, help her.

Niamh could hardly breathe by the time they got inside, her body freezing up completely, a tight knot settling between her shoulder blades. But then Nexus produced some light, and...that made it a little better. Light. Good. Light, heat, and fire were all sources of energy for Solisi...so as long as there was light...good, good. It wasn't over it. She took a deep breath through her nose and rolled her shoulders as much as she could, trying to work out the painful tension, just to give herself something to do as she looked around uneasily and did her best to block out Nexus' voice. He sounded so happy...but then she was, too. A little. Just a little when he finally announced that he'd take that damned thing out of her mouth, and then followed through and actually did it.

She seized the moment, working moisture back into her mouth and the stiffness out of her jaw briefly before turning to glare up at him, opening her mouth, about ready to tear into him with words--at least, until he started to speak.

After which she fell quickly silent, mouth closing with a slight clicking of teeth before licking her lips nervously. Shit. Another game. Wonderfu--WHAT?

Once again, she found herself staring at him in a hybrid of utter disbelief and horror, twitching a little. Master? He...she...what?! She could feel her face going through a lot of different expressions as he spoke before finally settling on a completely blank one, as though unable to really, well, come to terms with what he just said. He was sick. Oh Goddess. He wasn't serious. People...didn't actually DO that...er...did they? Well, in any case, she quickly decided that she was not going to find out. Oh hell, she'd call him master if it would make him happy and keep her clothes on and body...un-probed. The word wouldn't have any meaning to her. This was just about surviving. She swallowed hard when he finished, angry again but also scared, and while part of her wanted to use this opportunity and speak, to call him every crude name under the Sun she could think of--all ending in the word "master", of course--she held her tongue.

Instead, she simply shuddered and looked away, off to the side, not looking at him. "I...understand, m-master..."

There you go. Stop fighting...that's probably what he wants, for you to fight and insult...

Indeed, she was already starting to think on a completely different strategy.

Especially when another ooportunity presented itself to her suddenly. A small one, but it was there. His...plan? Stun her? Wait...he probably wanted to untie her...

Oh damn, she had to take this and do something with it, and fast.

"...I think..." She paused uncertainly, shifting a little, hands clenched behind her back and chest heaving with her breaths. Was she frightened? Hell yeah. She was terrified. But not yet to the point where she couldn't think at all, it was just more difficult. Okay. Think. Nexus was like a feral animal...animals tended to find things more interesting when their victims fought back. Well, if she was still using the whole cat analogy, that's how it worked--they lost interest once the mouse lost its will to survive, and last time Nexus had let her go when she had, well...broken. She assumed he lost interest, at least. Maybe he just liked the fighting and struggling and insulting, and as long as she kept it up, as was her instinct and impulse, he'd just keep pushing her. Alright, Niamh. Let's try a new method...pride didn't matter anymore, this was just about coming out of this alive with everything intact. Besides, it couldn't bruise her pride, anyway, if it was all just about pretending and acting.

Which would be easy to do, because her fear was genuine. No acting there! And it would be even easier to pull off since, last time...the same thing had happened. Nexus would really have no reason to suspect that he <I>hadn't pushed her to her limits yet again. She hoped.

Shivering, she shook her head, carefully so the damned hat didn't come off, and then bowed her head, eyes clenched shut as she shied back away from him as far as the lead would allow. Her voice was oddly thick and trembled--also not something she had to work at. "I...think I...please don't...don't do that...I'll stay put, Master...please..." she begged, much in the same manner as she had before, breath coming in shaky little gasps. Goddess she hated saying that, especially that one certain word...but she could deal. It was meaningless, it held no power over her.

Light, she hoped this worked, hoped that he would take off the bindings and not stun her. Because she sure as hell wasn't broken yet, and as soon as those bindings came off...no, she wasn't planning on running. Oh hell no. He'd have to get close to her to take them off, and he'd still be close to her once they came off--way too close for her to run. No, there would be no running--she still had a lot of energy, nervous, desperate, adrenaline induced energy, and she planned on using that energy and hurting him. She may have been smaller than him, but there were still some things she knew how to do when she wasn't tied up or too far away to do it. After all, she was a close range fighter; all the times prior to this, Nexus had had the advantage in regards to reach, attacking her and incapacitating her from a distance. This would be the perfect opportunity for a last ditch effort.

...All assuming he didn't stun her, of course. Goddess, please let this work...