Blood from Stone [AU]

[Tethras Clan]

Before Nav can actually touch Helene, he goes still. Utterly, impossibly still. Then an artic voice whispers down the hall. "Touch my Tuiste and I will kill you all." The threat is punctuated by the crisp crackle of restrained lightning. 

[Helene Dakesh]

Helene sags against the wall, sliding down it, huddling in a ball at the base of the wall. "No, no, no," they moan, rocking back and forth. 

[Tethras Clan]

Mister Graves and Donny both turn towards the elf in the door to the bathroom. She looks harmless, even vulnerable, in her chair. Or would, if not for three things. One, the small dragon standing rampant in her lap, eyes whirling with rage and a ball of sickly acidic green between her claws. Two, the sizzling crackle of lightning playing over her head, leashed only by a whim. And finally and most terribly, the look of utter uncaring for the lives of any present but Helene and Glimmerwing in her eyes. 

"Go. Away. Now."

[NPCs]

I wasn't paid near enough for this bullshit. "Let's- lets's go," he stammers, backing away. Navi lets out a barely audible whine, promptly Merrill to dismiss the Hold spell she put on him. Scrambling back at her glare, all three start to run off with Kevin.

[Tethras Clan]

"Leave him."

[NPCs]

"But we-"

[Tethras Clan]

"I said leave him." To punctuate the order, Glimmerwing helpfully lets out a shrill cry and flares her wings. 

[NPCs]

They leave Kevin, still bound, leaning against a wall and humming.

[Helene Dakesh]

Helene's rocking becomes more violent, slamming their head back into the wall as they moan, looking for all the world like a second escaped patient. At least the repetition has stopped -- something, enough of this, has sunk in that they don't feel the need to protest further. 

[Tethras Clan]

There's a faint murmur, then Merrill wheels herself over to Helene. Glimmerwing is missing, having gone over to Kevin. "Tuiste? Tuiste, can you- oh blast." Muttering, she casts a quick Calming spell, then starts over. "Tuiste? Can you hear me?"

[Helene Dakesh]

It's no use -- Helene rocks, not looking up at Merrill, despite the spell's influence. 

[Tethras Clan]

"Helene? Helene, I'm going to take you back to the office? Is that okay?" At the lack of answer, the elf sighs. Alright, now how to...

"She looks hurting," a soft voice asks, accented with clear signs of highly formal education. "She-"

"Ne." Giving Kevin a careful look, Merrill frowns ever so slightly. "Ne looks hurting."

Kevin blinks slowly, a touch befuddled. "...okay. Ne was nice to me. When... you spelled the bugs away. The fake bugs, the ones in my mind. I... Can... can I help?" A short moment later, Kevin comes back with the door from a restroom stall, which is then used as a litter to carry Helene back to Varric's office so nem some quiet and privacy to calm down.

[GamesMaster]

Don wakes.

He doesn't know where he is; the smell is maddeningly familiar, but he can't see anything, his eyes unused to the darkness. Mages and dwarves have ways to see in the dark, he knows, but cats can only see in the dusk that is their most wakeful time, adapted to sleeping off the dark of night and the heat of midday both. 

He can't move his arms. They're bound above his head. He can't lift his head. There's something around his throat, holding him down. Rope? Chain? Hard to tell. He can't kick his legs free, and his tail is pinned to something hard and heavy below him. 

The last thing he can remember was... was... the fight? Cattown. Being hit over the head, pain blossoming as consciousness fades. His head is sore. That can't be good -- if he were taken somewhere, he'd have been healed. But if he were in friendly hands, he wouldn't be tied down. 

Beth... Beth is safe, at least. She has to be.

[NPCs]

A murmur of voices behind him, then a coarse laugh, catches his attention. Nothing can be heard for a moment, then a faint creak. Footsteps? Silence again for just a moment, then a couple of gallons of freezing water hits Don directly across the back. Instantly, a chorus of rancorous laughter erupts around him.

[GamesMaster]

He lets out a wail, of shock and misery, before he can stop himself. This is--! This is bad, Adonis. You need to get out of here.