Sho wakes up, head still pounding, mouth dry, throat sore. Entire body sore. He feels like he's been hit by a car. As he blinks his eyes open, he groans. The light in the room seems to travel directly through his eyes to where the impact had been. Despite the pain, Sho keeps his eyes open, taking in his surroundings.
He's surprised to find that he's in a bed, tucked under a blanket. When he brings his hand up to his head, he realizes that he's not restrained in any way.
... Confident he won't be able to get away, huh...
Sitting up, he has to hold his head with both hands as dizziness washes over him. He doesn't know if he can even stand like this, concussion enhancing the usual side effect of overusing his stigma.
(( @selfproclaimedmagicalgirl ))
"You say that, but have your roles ever been swapped this badly? Has he ever had to cradle your broken body in his arms? I bet he always plays the face in your schemes, doesn't he? It suits him, putting his pretty little face in the firing range so he can pull the rug out from under them." She giggles, "it's such a delicious notion, isn't it?"
There's no warning, no telegraphing, not even a hitch in Cthylla's voice or pause in her words when she grabs at Sho's arm. Perhaps it's not even her hand that grabbed it, but in an instant his wrist is gripped by a small hand. Her fingers wrap around his wrist and squeeze, tighter and tighter, even as she continues to ramble, "personally I think the lack of danger of you in these kinds of positions is what makes the concept of seeing tears in his eyes so much more desirable." The fingers looks tiny and delicate, but they press with the weight of something far beyond her size and frame. Tugging doesn't dislodge his arm. The pain is warm and intense, and his wrist bones are creaking, screaming; the tiny magical girl in front of him has become an immovable object as she continues to idly crush the ghoul's wrist in her hand.
"Lady Cthylla-"
"As for Mido...well, I appreciate his strength, but he's a little boring as humans go. Noble brute with a heart of gold and a reflex for violence? Dime a dozen, that boy is."
Sho clenches his jaw against the pain, refusing to give in. It'll hurt more than a snap this way, pressure building and building. Trying to tug it away only makes it worse, and if he were to go for the weak point, where the tip of her thumb meets the rest of her fingers, he's sure she'd just break it instantly.
Even with his stigma enhanced, he wouldn't be able to use that to free his arm. What a pain...
Sho aims his knee at Cthylla's elbow - she's right about one thing, joints are a good aim for a break. "Let. Go."
Her face splits into a grin as she feels the bones start to falter in her grip, creaking and buckling painfully and finally collapsing. And she continues to squeeze, crushing the wrist further, a giggle bubbling up in her chest. "Aww, did it break already? Wrist bones are so delicate! I barely even-"
Cthylla catches his leg with her free arm, wheezing with laughter. "Did you-?!?" She howls with laughter, "did you think you were going to catch me off guard because I was monologuing?" The grin spreads across her face and spills onto her jaw and neck, lined with teeth, "silly little boy....I was only planning on breaking one, but you've helpfully offered a second joint! Why don't I take this one too?"
This one is a snap. Her arm wound under his knee, she quickly wraps her hand up to the top of his knee and forces the entire leg backwards towards the ground with a sharp and sickening crack. "Shall I grind this one, too? They should match, shouldn't they?"
Sho lets out a short cry of pain when his wrist breaks under her grip. He clenches his jaw shut, working to prevent any further pained noises from escaping. The glare he gives is tainted by the agony in his eyes, though.
"I didn't think I'd-" He knows where it's going as soon as her rand starts moving, and his mouth closes again with a clack just in time to muffle the sound that comes from deep in his throat. His vision goes white for a second as more white hot pain sears through him.
He exhales, both to try to control his response to the pain, and out of frustration. "Let go of me."
The Old One is practically drooling, licking her lips as she takes in those barely muffled sounds of pain, rubbing at the leg in her grip with a thumb, humming her own appreciative pleasure. This was almost better than his subservience would have been. "No, I don't think I will...."
She releases the crushed wrist and wraps both her arms about Sho's leg, tugging it towards her and sending him crashing backwards, "Your sounds are so wonderful~! Music to my ears~!" She bends the leg backwards further, "I didn't know your voice could sound so beautiful like this! Should I break it in more places? Should I break the other one? Should I-" Her fingers trail up the inside of his pant legs, stopping just short of the inner seam, "what else should I break? Where else should I touch and pull and rend? Where do you want me the least, hm? I'm not leaving Nyarlathotep with anything less than a crime scene...."
Sho only has time to tuck his wrist against his chest as he falls, head hitting the floor, concussion symptoms coming right back. His ears are ringing, he can barely think through the pain. Still, he's not going to give in.
He closes his eyes and takes a breath, searching his memory. The sigil, the enn. Sho moves his good leg up, bracing against Cthylla's chest. "Get off."
Another breath before he starts chanting, "Ana jecore on ca Purson."
Faintly, there's a sound of snakes hissing. Sho's shadow darkens, writhing on the floor. He opens his eyes, white filled in with a black unnaturally deep and dark, and shoves Cthylla away with his good leg, using a distinctly inhuman strength.
He continues chanting, even after throwing Cthylla off him, to continue channeling Purson's strength. This isn't typically what he asks for, but for now, for this, he needs strength, not information. Especially not information on Cthylla. If he's not careful here, he'll lose his mind entirely.
Cthylla steps back at the shove, eyes narrowed, and then she grins. "Ohhhh you can channel them! Them! I cannot believe-" Kudlak finally stands, "no no no, Kudlak no this is so cool he's come so far I've just about broken him!"
"That's nice," Kudlak huffs and utters a single conjuration under his breath, and a single conjured droplet of red expands into a large oozing red orb encompassing Sho's head, "I'm sorry, Haizono-kun, this situation just turned far too dangerous for you. I know this is gross, but you'll have to endure." Cthylla whines loudly at the sight, "I don't care what you wanted to see from him, I am not allowing this to continue!"
Cthylla watches with a distinct air of disappointment as Sho's shock of white hair disappears within the blood, "ugh, I wanted to meet his Patron; you know ghouls have those here? Demonic Patrons? It's like Cults! But more exciting!" She reaches out a hand but doesn't dare touch it; it's not that she thinks it's gross, but it's a pure conjuration of pure magic at the moment. Real blood can't be conjured out of nowhere, but a manifestation of Chaos made real by the power of a pure-blood sorcerer....that was something. She didn't get to witness Kudlak's true power often these days; he caved to her will so easily for the sake of others, she sometimes forgets how easily his style opposes her own, how he could render her decoy useless for technique and style, if not power. "Don't drown him. Nyarly will be mad if he's maimed but he'll actually punish me personally if he dies...."
Sho's attention turns to Kudlak. He's still laying on the floor, not really able to get up on his own. His eyes widen before Kudlak voices the conjuration. Before anything happens, he already knows. Past, present, future.
"Don't-"
The thick liquid runs over his face, and he barely has time to take in a short breath before his mouth is covered. The power from channeling still thrums in his veins, even as the chant has been cut off. He won't have long before he passes out, though.
He knows Cthylla is reaching toward him, knows where her hand is, so he grabs her arm and shoves again. The force isn't the same as when he'd shoved with his leg, but it's still stronger than he can manage on his own.
Still, though, it's only a matter of seconds before the lightheadedness threatens to overtake him. His good arm involuntarily clutches at his throat as though that would help at all.
Cthylla is more offended by the shove than anything; she wasn't going to touch him! She can't afford to touch any of Kudlak's constructs anyways; he could oppose her too easily if she makes contact with them and her power and control is the thing she treasures most of all right now. On that thought, though, maybe....
She sits on his chest, pinning the broken wrist by one side and tugging the other hand away from his throat, "there we go, cutie, there we go, just let go...." She strokes at his chest gently, watching the way it heaves and flutters incessantly under her weight and struggles to keep up with the quickly diminishing air supply. "Ohh you're so beautiful like this....I wish I could keep you...."
"Cthylla...." Kudlak warns her and she pouts.
"I got it, he's like your surrogate son or something now and I'm not allowed to do anything 'bad' to him under your supervision, huh? You picked a hell of a time to decide to be a father again. And to this guy? He's a grown-ass man!" She traces a heart with her nails in Sho's chest, lifting his shirt slightly to admire the impression she's left on the skin beneath, "Although he's never spoken about his parents while I've been watching him so maybe he could use a new one...."
Sho has to work not to gasp in pain at the grip on his wrist. It's too instinctual, though, and he's not able to stop himself from releasing the remaining air he has. He can't even fight back against the grip on his uninjured wrist, or do anything against the weight that settles on him.
His stomach contracts rapidly under Cthylla, trying hard to get air into his lungs and failing. An involuntary shudder goes through him when his heart is traced by her nails.
Underneath his shirt, fading but still present, Purson's sigil glows yellow against his skin, just above his waistband on his hip. Almost like a brand against his hip. As his consciousness fades, the sigil begins fading as well. Shadow going back to normal, sounds fading out.
Sho's body goes limp as he finally succumbs to unconsciousness. His heartbeat is weak, but present still. The sigil stays, though. Faint, almost unnoticeable, but unmistakable.
Kudlak releases the blood construct the moment he sees Sho fall limp, stooping to hold his head gently. He brushes the hair from Sho's face and checks his breathing cautiously. "My Lady, if you could move?"
Cthylla scoffs, but rolls off, pausing only briefly as she inspects Sho's unconscious form. "Oh, lookie lookie..." She pushes the shirt up, tugs down on the waistband of his pants just enough to inspect the brand. "Fucking Purson," she almost spits the name out, "ugh, I hate that guy. He's so loud, and every time he fully manifests he has to bring all his legions with him! Even Hashy manifests by himself out of respect for people! Purson has none of that!"
Kudlak smooths Sho's shirt back down and gathers the young man up in his arms, "Well, if you say he has no manners, he must be bad."
"He's not as bad as Mammon but let's be honest no one is that bad. Greed is such a pit, don't you agree? But Purson...." Cthylla groans, "he's all about secrets and shaking bondage of secret keeping and whatever. I'm all for learning what you can, who wants answers just given to you?"
Kudlak sighs, "Well you're welcome for him not appearing. Now if you don't mind, I need to figure out how to splint a completely demolished wrist bone..."
Sho's breathing is shaky and shallow to begin with. His breath rattles in his chest, working hard to get oxygen back into his lungs.
Once he's in Kudlak's arms, he starts stirring again, coughing weakly and gasping for breath between. His eyes open, gaze unfocused and confused. The pain from his wrist makes him whine, and try to curl in on himself.
His head is fuzzy, he doesn't recognize where he is, or who's around him. He closes his eyes, bothered by the light in the room. It feels familiar. Any slight shift makes a quiet whimper fall from his mouth, not coherent enough to try to hold them back.
"Shh, it's okay, Haizono-kun, we're going to get you back to bed to recover..." He can't fix the bones Cthylla crushed or repair the fractured leg, but he can dip Chaos into the ghoul's body, manipulate the blood into forming a temporary brace of sorts about the injuries. It's not permanent, and even with the power of Chaos supporting it, the created clots will be washed from the body in a matter of hours. But it should hold for now, long enough to get Sho into bed and find something to make actual braces out of. "You're going to be okay, son, I'll take care of you..."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. He should be grateful I didn't do worse," Cthylla scoffs, "do whatever you want. I need to make sure the wards are up and intact. If Nyarly is helping them, he's going to enhance them so they'll make short work of the wards but we need them to waste some energy on it. This isn't a bed and breakfast."
Sho slips back out of consciousness for a few seconds, regaining it again once he's in bed. He blinks a few times, still heavily disoriented. He couldn't remember getting there. "Head hurts..."
His thoughts are moving slowly with the second concussion of the day. Not to mention the other pain. He's already seen how he'll leave this place, it's only a matter of time.
"Ugh, fuck," he groans, "Ice... need ice."
Kudlak wipes at Sho's forehead with a cold rag, periodically checking on his arm and leg. The braces he's created are makeshift, good for supporting some weight but not all of Sho's weight, most likely. He vaguely wishes he'd studied medicine more, had more useful information, and he wishes....he hadn't made his own distrust of the situation so obvious to Cthylla.
There are dots of oily red on the walls, each one a tiny spy, watching, listening- there would be no secrets from the princess. "I'm so sorry, Sho," his voice is low and quiet; no volume is low enough to escape Cthylla's eyes, but the boy is suffering. "I admire your bravery, but I don't think it's exactly gotten you anywhere so far."
