slug princess

"I planned to keep both eyes on you." She confirms, far more comfortably in her nudity than in her towel. Tugging on Céline's arm, she draws her deeper into the water.

Her gaze stared up at the sky when Alectro tugged her into the water at first. She was also technically naked, but her biology did a good job of disguising the things that wouldn't be advisable to expose. She pulled her own towel off and tossed it onto the side of the spring.

* Battery Acid, Yes * I've Been Told That It's Currently Harmless But I Haven't Been Able To Verify It Myself

At least the tests she spoke of sounded promising, but she still didn't think it would taste good.

"I haven't found Constantine yet. He's on a lower floor, or so said one who is so far a trustworthy source," he explained as he observed what restraints she faced and found the best spot to start. Targeting the bindings on her hands behind her, his eyes flickered between her and Alecto, standing at the door like a sentinel.

"This should help the two of you fare a little better," he explained with a note of cheer before activating the Day Fragment on his earring. A faint light illuminated it and spread out between them. The first use of the day, it would heal minor wounds on his two present allies.

The bindings on Céline's hands loosened enough to drop to the floor. "You two should do what you need. I want it to be safe enough for all of us to escape this," he said with a smile, but a furrowed brow. There was a pressured haste to his words. "But if you could avoid killing a woman with dark red hair in a ponytail, I would appreciate it. She was a wonderful help to us."

"In here—!" cut in an unfamiliar voice far too close, and he frantically worked to release her legs.

Hiyori was confident Alecto could handle the start of this first conflict, but Céline called it well: he was afraid of what he might be about to witness just to survive.

So, when Hiyori healed Céline, Alecto couldn't help but think that Hiyori was strong. Stronger than Alecto expected. She was willing to admit it, but didn't understand fully where to find the words. Shaking her head, her hair going wild and free behind her.

Red hair, ponytail. She'd try her best.

But, really, the issue was what would happen once she got started, and if she would be able to stop once her tantrum began.

The first person who walked into the room was greeted by the palm of her hand, grabbing them by the face and cutting off a yelp as she smashed them backwards into the wall. Once, twice, thrice. When they dropped, their shocked companion pulled out something shining. All Alecto could see was the whites of their eyes as she lunged at them, not caring much where the knife went, as was her way.

The entryway was quickly being spattered with blood as Alecto continues to beat the knife-wielding person with her bare hands, her first combatant - if they could be called that - completely still from their place on the ground.

She was visibly surprised to see Hiyori use powers so freely. "You can use healing magic? Oh, no... They sell those, don't they? I've heard about them but I've never seen them used." It might have been something worth investing in. Nonetheless, she rolled her neck and stretched now that she felt a little better. "That was a big help, thanks!"

Whether or not she could do something to help, she wasn't sure. She didn't have much of her offensive ability returned yet, so she'd likely spend most of the time hiding behind Alecto.

As soon as some of their captors entered though, Céline realized something she could do. Alecto was quick to engage, and while she kind of wanted to watch because it seemed kind of hot, she covered Hiyori's eyes with one of her hands before gently leading him towards the door.

She only uncovered them once they were on the other side, free from a place where he could see. "...Some things are better left unseen, don't you think?" A long pause followed before a whisper. "...Do you think they have cameras that record everything?"

"Can't I take the towel off in the water? If it's under the water, then it's fine." She swam naked at home all the time, and there was so much more water there.

It would be a pretty bold thing to do, but they were completely alone.

Midway through the exploration, he found one door with someone sitting outside it like a sentinel. Instantly it was more of interest than the rest. After looking behind him to check if anyone had followed, he again seized the opportunity to improvise and approached.

"What?" the person asked ahead of time, gruff but disinterested.

"It's time to switch guards for the girls," Hiyori told them, hoping their earlier staring blankly at the opposite wall had encouraged them to lose track of time.

"Oh, right..." They put their hand down on the chair and began to stand, but quickly snapped their attention to him properly. "Wait. Who—"

In a moment of panic, Hiyori seized them by the face and slammed their head back against the thick basement wall. They fell with an unpleasant amount of noise, but if no one was in earshot it was probably fine. Probably.

God he hoped he hadn't killed them.

Dropping down at their unmoving side, he briskly patted them down and took what seemed of use: a handgun and a sparse ring of keys. The gun felt foreign in his hand and he hadn't the slightest idea how to use it, but it felt better to have it than leave it. Into his waistband it went. Standing, he began trying keys on the door, feeling even more pressured by the chance of someone walking by and seeing one of their own collapsed on the floor. As if he had the strength to heft dead weight back up onto the chair!

Dexterity won out over frantic haste, and Hiyori swung the unlocked door open. Harsh light from the hallway joined Céline's natural luminescence, and he leaned against the doorframe, hand at his chest.

"There you are—ah, I'll help as soon as I can," he said, recognizing there was no time to waste feeling relieved. From a cursory glance it looked like Alecto was already partly out of her restraints at the point of his intrusion. "You're further along. I'll help you and then we'll both help her," he suggested, moving to assist Alecto first. "I'm so grateful you're both alive."

Not-so-distant shouting reached his ears, and he tried even harder to pick up the pace.

And she feels little embarrassment when it continues on, as someone unlocks the door. She's ready, one hand free is enough. "I only need you. Because if I'm not in my room, I'm in your room." Another truth, the door opens, and she lunges.

And...luckily she's still restrained because she would have killed Hiyori. Blinded by rage, she would have killed their friend and rescuer. She's happy she was restrained for once, and impatiently works with Hiyori to undo hers.

She wanted to protest, for him to help Céline first, but instead she tore at the bindings he undid.

"Hiyori." She acknowledges him verbally, looking back to Céline, and then to the doors. Shaking her head, she violently snaps the rest of her bindings.

"Help Céline, and be gentle." Popping her wrist back into its joint, she walks toward the door in her bloodied and dirty clothes from her previous thrashing.

"I'll kill anyone who walks into this door." (She stands straight, shoulders square and broad, and her chin high. Just like-)

A not so subtle invitation to spend the night together with the assertion that they would escape.

Her attention turned to the opening door just as the light poured in, though the harshness of it all was quelled somewhat by the light her own body was giving off. She had expected to find whoever had locked them up, since she still didn't know who the culprit was. She was pleasantly surprised to see a friendly face instead. "Hiyori? Does that mean Constantine is here somewhere too?"

That was the most logical guess she could make. Hiyori helped Alecto out, and then they both turned their attention on her situation.

"Aren't we going overboard on this? Keeping those people in the basement is going to cause more problems with that guy and his money than anything else."

"Oh, shut up. Just because you're a fan of his you wanna go easy on him. We get it!"

An argument played out between three different voices, and they cut the meeting short without resolving it. As soon as he heard them begin to head out, he stepped away from the door, against the wall, and watched them move down the hallway in the direction he'd come from.

"You'd think one of our women would have better hobbies," scoffed the first man to leave, and a second man shuffled after him, encouraging the disparaging remarks. That left the third voice he'd heard behind, and he decided to take his chances. He stepped inside.

"Who the hell are you?" the one remaining asked, her head snapping up to glare at him. When he set aside the package, removed his sunglasses, and gave her a dazzling smile, her hostility shifted to starstruck.

"I think you know very well who I am," Hiyori answered with a wink. "Unfortunately, I'm short on time. I'll give you 50,000 Dust and an autograph if you tell me where they're being held."

Her mouth, half open, snapped shut. She nodded vigorously, and he pulled out his phone to start the transfer.

"I dunno where they're keeping the guy. Just that he's definitely lower. But if you check the storage rooms just under this room, you should find the gals pretty quick. Holy shit, I'm your biggest fan—"

She continued to ramble a bit while he followed through on his promises, and even threw him a black jacket someone left in the room that he gladly put on. Eager to leave after that, he promised to keep her cooperation a secret with a finger pressed to his lips. He left the empty box where it was, replaced his sunglasses, and headed out in search of the nearest staircase down.

The trip down was uneventful, but the second he stepped out on the first basement floor, he could hear more bodies around. Looking as if he belonged was his only method of survival now.

Popping together a few of the buttons on the jacket, Hiyori kept his head up and forward. A calm stride carried him forward toward the area of the floor beneath that meeting room, and the few figures he passed barely spared him a glance.

"Céline!"

Her voice is loud. Loud and almost dangerous but not quite dangerous and she pulls at her restraints again. She hates it, she hates it but she's used to being bound even here and she needs Céline to know she's here.

"It's okay. It's okay. It's okay."

She repeats it three times, trying to think of everyone whos ever tried to help her.

"It's okay, I'm here. I'm here. I'm here. Alecto. I'm Alecto and I'm here." The glow coming from Céline illuminates them both, showing Alecto and her bruises and blood.

"Ah...you're...you're so beautiful. Like an anemone. Don't slam against the wall. You're so beautiful. I'll kill everyone when I get free. For you I'll kill them all. So don't worry, we'll get out. I'll do it." She will, she starts to wiggle her wrist, angling it right. (Pyrrha taught her in case she couldn't pop her arm off. In case she had to be safe. Secret. Hidden. Golden eyes dulled and covered by long dark hair and-)

She feels one wrist pop.

"Tell me, about how we wanna decorate my room. Can I have new shirts? This one is bloody now, I'm sorry."

She could have laughed at Alecto's words. She probably didn't look conventionally beautiful at that moment, but Alecto's preferences were so different that she had no reason to doubt her words. "Alecto..." Fatigue hit her all at once the second she relaxed. Her girlfriend wasn't in any better shape than she was, that much was certain.

A better person would have told Alecto not to kill them if given the chance, but despite the airs Céline put up, she really had no problems with killing people she thought deserved it. She'd been doing it her whole life to stay alive. It was part of the reason she considered herself a monster.

"R... Right. We can buy you new clothes when we get out! Did you want to match? I know it's a little corny, but some couples do it..." What Alecto was attempting was transparent, but she played along. It still helped her focus on other things to calm her down, which was surely her intention. "And you like your room dark, don't you? But what about some mood lights? Of course, I can always illuminate it if you'd like. Like this..."

"Did we even do much here during the last year?" He doesn't remember. Might be a problem, might not be~! "Cel?" Something must have caught her eye. Constantine turns to look at her, head tilted with curiosity.