This entire conversation was weird. First off the Summit wasn't for a little bit, or else she would be there now. Then there was the treason thing that Aislinn couldn't possibly fathom. At least at the end was something about Kel. Aislinn tried to process this one thing at a time. "Alright, so some people are getting ready for the summit, but what do you mean that Kaida is on trail? I get Aux, but Kaida?" Aislinn first questioned, but she had been away long enough she knew that there was not much she could do to help on that front. Instead of trying to deal with that Aislinn thought of the third thing. "Well it is good to know that Kel is safe. I have to pick up my niece and nephew, but if you want company to the infirmary, then I will happily join you after. I would like to see and speak to Kel myself anyways." Aislinn admitted. Perhaps it wasn't the best place to take the kids, but she was sure that Zeke would like to just go for a walk anywhere at this point. 23/30
Karina could only sit and watch as the boy start to move around in his cell. She was almost surprised when he seemed to start to hear something, if the way he stopped indicated anything. It wasn't long before he started tapping again and Karina had to sit and start to try and translate again. She wasn't sure about the first word. While she believed that she was getting the right letters for the most part, but she didn't understand what it meant. The rest of it however she made out for the most part after hearing it a few times. The missing letters were easy enough to fill in to make it make sense. At least this time it would be an easy response, and she figured she would have to be quick before the guards caught on to what they were doing. -.-- . ... (Yes) was all that Karina managed to reply before it was starting to get bothersome to do. Hopefully he managed to get enough information to provide help. Aislinn smiled back at the boy and decided to walk and talk as she started back towards where her brother in law was. "I am Aislinn. I used to travel with the SoS group for a while but I had to come help here with my family." Aislinn explained to the boy before continuing. "Though I can't say I know who this Carbine person is that you speak of. No one by that name or description when I was there. Have you seen Kel or Luna though? Last time I saw them they fell overboard the ship we were traveling on. I have been trying to keep my eye out for any sign of them since, but to no such luck." Aislinn explained to Faust, hoping that he knew who she was talking about. If not, it was likely they never made it back. 22/30
Karina would have remained laying on the floor in a curled up ball, if the tapping on the screen didn't become louder and more irritating. There was still a small corner view of the prison below the main image of the trail. At first Karina had ignored the sound, focusing more on what was going on with Kaida. She wished that she could be there and help, after all she had seen Shiro not that long ago. He was the one that helped send her back to SoS. Her father would never allow her out of here to help the case, not when he already planned to rig the case against her friend. The tapping had become too much to ignore however and Karina forced herself back into a sitting position, trying to see what was causing it, and if there was a way to make it stop. The latter of the two thoughts was likely not possible though. As Karina focused in on the screen, she started to realize that the tapping sound had some rhythm to it. It took a bit, but soon she was realizing what she was hearing, it was Morse code. Once upon a time her father had taught her the code so that she could receive and recite messages to him if he wasn't home and missed something, he never did much care to keep a paper trail. Slowly her mind started tilling in the taps with letters, slowly she started to understand more of what it was saying. She could pick up on some letters at first, then words, though what was sent didn't make too much sense to her. Karina furrowed her brow as she thought of the reply, repeating the taps and dashes in her mind. Send this back. What did he just want someone to reply to the message? He had been talking with her friends, perhaps he was trying to help. Either way she had to do something. Karina looked around her cell desperately trying to figure out what she could do. Given that they were in prison, perhaps the place they were being kept was not too far away. She could at least try and reply with something. Backing up towards the bars on her cell, Karina started to rock back banging her head against the bars, in what seemed like frustration and desperation. This however instead was an attempt to hide what she was really doing, as she banged her manacles against the bar as hard as she could, spelling something out herself. .... . .-.. .--. / .. -. / -- .- -..- / .--. .-. .. ... --- -. (Help, in max prison)
Scout ships, yeah sure. Karina knew that he was lying, but she still wondered how much her friends bought it. While Karina wanted to have faith in them, but given her situation, things were looking rather grim. She couldn't help but think that it was starting to feel hopeless. Her father was taking Kaida to trial and she couldn't help but fear the worst of it. Karina didn't even know if she wanted to watch, but it wasn't like she had much else to do. After her father left the room, the tv flipped over so she could see the trial as they started. Karina didn't realize that it was going to be her father representing Kaida. "I am sorry... I am so sorry." Karina hated that she didn't have enough strength to do what was needed to save her friends. She had been weak. She failed again, but this time it wasn't to stand up to her father. Last time not standing up got Vincent killed. This time Karina tried not to immediately bend to her fathers will, and instead it was going to hurt everyone. Before her father could even do much, the judge was already yelling at him, part of her felt smug that she treated him like that, but the other part worried her about what this meant for Kaida. Of course, it was soon clear that it wouldn't be good for Kaida with this judge. She wondered if her father set this up too. She listened closely to the case, and again Karina couldn't help but let her anger get the better of her. "Kaida would never do that! You don't know wh-OW" Her body jerked and jolted as he collar shocked her again. Karina convulsed, pulling against her manacles, which cut into her wrist more and made it hurt all the more. "Make it stop!" Karina called out desperately, this time not in anger but sheer in pain and anguish. It was both physical and mental at this point. Karina was breaking down to some extent and she didn't want to hear any more of the court case. Even as she caught the fact that her father didn't immediately try and prosecute Kaida. It couldn't go well at this rate and Karina couldn't stop blaming herself for that. The more she blamed herself though, the more upset she got, and thus the more chance she had to get hurt again. She didn't know how much more of this she could take. "Someone help...." She cried quietly wishing Beuce, or anyone really was there. She just didn't want to be alone or with her family anymore. 20/30
Aislinn was about to walk out to find her brother in law, when she heard the boy at the bar say something particular. She raised an eyebrow as she looked over to him momentarily. "Excuse me." Aislinn approached the boy. She did not recognize him from her time with SoS, but that didn't mean that he wasn't a part of them. "Did you say you were with SOS? You mean like with Kaida, Ananta, Beucefilous and all them? If so do you mind answering a few questions for me?" She could take an extra minute or two before getting her niece and nephew, Adrian would be fine for a bit longer. 19/30
"You know you don't have to stay, you can go back to looking for your friends." In the tavern two ladies sat across from each other In the midst of conversation. The younger of the two spoke first as she sighed taking a sip of whatever she was drinking. "I can look for them from here. Lets face it, I don't even know where to start and at least here we meet so many people that eventually someone is bound to have run into at least someone from the SOS group." The older one said with a lot more confidence than the younger lady seemed to have. Aislinn reached out and grabbed her sisters hand as she looked her in the eyes. "Besides, Adrian needs the help representing our world, and you need help with the kids. I left you once already, I am not going to do it again." "He is trying his best." Sarah instinctively tried to defend her husband, but Aislinn just smiled at her. "I know, he is doing a fine job, but it is a lot of work and I offered to help." Aislinn continued to try and convince Sarah before standing up getting ready to leave. "Tell you what, I know that you are stressed. I will watch the kids until the Summit meeting. You can go take a nap." Sarah looked like she was about to say no, but she took one look at her sister and knew that it was no use in arguing. "Alright, but don't you have to help Adrian with the Summit stuff too?" "I will be there for him when it is time, but he told me he wanted to learn to do this himself. Now go. I will go find Adrian and take the kids off of him." Aislinn informed Sarah before starting to head out of the bar, taking a glance at the boy talking to the bartender. She didn't think she knew anyone by that description, but she would keep an eye out anyways. 18/30
By the time her fathers footsteps faded, Karina was curled up on the floor in pain. She had never been good at handling her emotions, and while she was doing better as of late, being left in prison like this only made her more angry. She didn't even have to start yelling for the collar to go off, all it took was her thinking about it too much. It was hard not to think too much about it though when between the silence and the cuffed hands it was abundantly clear just how much she messed up. On top of that it was torture to just be able to see and hear her friends but not be able to go to them. She wished that she could at least see them once more again before she was carted away to get married, but her father would never allow that. He already told them that she had run away and was gone. There was no returning to them, not when she was stuck down there. Soon Karina heard a familiar voice again as she sat up to glance at her tv. Her father had arrived to bring the first person to trail and scatter her friends. Well it was nice seeing all of them while it lasted but now they were leaving and Karina was getting nervous for Kaida. Did Kaida even know who she was dealing with? She spoke optimistically, but Karina saw it as otherwise. Her father had promised to prosecute them to the highest degree because of her, she was going to get Kaida in even more trouble. "Kaida, do-" Before Karina could yell out at the screen, again she was shocked and Karina slouched forward again, just barely able to catch Kel's question. She couldn't help but wonder what he would reply to that. 17/30
"You brought this on yourself." Her father replied before turning to leave the cell block. Karina may have been in pain, but that didn't stop her from making one more comment. It was something she had been holding onto for when she had nothing else to lose. "I may have brought this on myself, but know who else brought something on himself? His name was Uniform, or Hughes something? I can't be bothered to remember. He seemed to know you, well and thought he could use it against me. If felt good when I killed him." Karina taunted her father. Her father stopped walking further, as he turned back around slowly. "Is that meant to infuriate me?... That you managed to eliminate one of my former lieutenants?" He began to walk back towards her, his footsteps echoing in the empty corridor. "You killed an old man?- That is your final statement to me?..." He shook his head in disappointment. "I'm holding much resentment towards you right now. Not because you kill that war horse, but because you can't do the one thing I told you to. But I'm done being mad. It's like being angry at a cup or lamp. Blaming something you own is foolish. You either have to get rid of it or throw it away." He leaned over and spoke softly. "Why do you think I'm trying to give you away?" He stood back up, letting that sink in. "I know full well that you are trying to get rid of me. I have know from before you first tried to marry me off. If you wanted me gone so bad, then you shouldn't have dragged me back here. I never planned to return home." Karina sat in a cold, simmering anger, nothing that raised her blood pressure or set off the collar. "But that isn't possible is it, because you are such a stuck up *Kupo*hole that you can't stand the thought of anything being out of your control. But guess what, this isn't home. These worlds, these people, my friends, they aren't governed by you. I can't wait to see your face when you lose control of more than just me." It was a threat and a promise. Uniform was just a start. "Really should've brought a muzzle with me," he stated before turning to leave again. Karina didn't even say anything in response, but her father was making her so frustrated that even without saying anything, her collar shocked her as she tried to scramble towards the bars after her father. If he smacked her it would be less painful than this stupid back and forth they were doing. If he would just be the abusive father she remembered than the manipulative one he was being now, it would at least feel more justified. Now it felt like she was being the bad one and she knew it was just her father not wanting to give her any ounce of satisfaction that she was right about him. He probably had an image to maintain here and beating his daughter to a bloody pulp wouldn't help it. Which only made her want to get under her fathers skin more, reveal his true identity. 16/30
Scott got closer again, Karina dropped the scissors down so they were no longer in her sleeve but in her hands. She turned and swung them, stabbing the scissors into Scott's neck. As she did so, the back of her dress ripped from the force of her movement. There was a snarl across Karina's face. "I will never mother you children." She wasn't able to stab the scissors in far, her movement was limited, but at least she managed some damage. Scott felt a graze from his neck and covered it with his hand in shock. Xares immediately dashed forward and grabbed Karina's wrist, twisting it behind her until it dropped. Scott picked up the scissors off the ground and held them to her cheek. "I can see you still need some behavioral readjustment." He licked his lips as he almost cut her. "Don't worry,... I can wait. I'm going to enjoy watching you slowly degrade into servitude." He took the scissors and cut a small chunk of her hair. "A small memento for making me wait more..." Xares dragged Karina out of the room silently as Scott waved gently to her as they left. Xares was silent as her dragged her to the elevator. Pressing his access code as they went down the elevator. Karina screamed. She screamed in frustration and anger. Even as he father wrestled her arm behind her back and Scott held the very scissors she cut him with to her cheek. She was not having any of this. She hated every moment of it. "I will never marry you. I will never let myself become your belonging, no matter what you do to me." Her dress ripped more as Karina continued to struggle. Her father tried to drag her to the elevator, and as soon as they were in away from any more guards, Karina stomped back onto her fathers foot trying to break it before twisting, using her other free arm to try and elbow him in the throat. She just needed to get him down long enough to get his tablet thing that he was carrying and the keys away so she could get away. "Stupid girl." He dodged her attack before dragging her hands down and grabbing a pair of cuffs from his belt, He then took a shock collar and put it around her neck. "Congratulations." The elevator door opened as they went down a long hallway. He threw her into a cell in a large empty prison. "You're the first Sanctuary resident to be sent to Maximum Security. You will stay here and you will fester until you are ready to do as you are told." He reached out his tablet and pushed a few buttons. "But don't worry, you can watch your friends in the meanwhile..." A small screen was visible in the center of the room for Karina to see. It was a view of Prison Block G, where all her friends were. "You're going to watch as I prosecute each and every one of them to the maximum penalty." How could all her training lead to nothing. She didn't manage to do any damage to her father, instead he simply locked her hands behind her back, immobilizing her. When she couldn't move her hands efficiently anymore, he managed to get some sort of collar around her neck. Karina wasn't sure what it was, but she wasn't liking the look of it. Her father pushed her down a long hallway, and the quietness of the area was bothersome to her as he father explained just where she got herself. "I am so glad that I get this privilege." Karina tried to put on a brave voice as she was thrown into a cell. A screen popped up in the middle and Karina stared at all her friends together, some in cells, but some of them free. "Don't you dare hurt them!" Karina snarled out at her father. As she did a sharp pain pulsed through her neck, leaving Karina gasping for air. Instinctively she tried to reach up to grab at her collar, but she couldn't with her arms behind her. She struggled against the manacles, trying to get free, but instead they were just cutting into her wrists. "Get this thing off of me!" She called to her father again as it zapped her once more and Karina was forced to her knees. Karina found herself slouched forward with tear in her eyes as she tried to fight off the pain long enough to keep speaking. 15/30
Hearing a knock at the door, Karina stiffened from where she now sat on her bed. Had it been half an hour already? It had to have been given the dressing and pimping her mom did, but the time really did go by fast. Karina looked down and waited, whether she said something or not her father would enter. Xares opened the door. "You're decent. Good." He moved out of the way and made room for Karina's betrothed to be. Into the room sauntered a rough, handsome looking man. He shot a tender smile towards Karina. "She looks simply breath taking," he spoke in a deep voice. "I never thought you'd get her in a dress General," he chuckled to Xares. "A little conviction goes a long way," he reassured. The man stepped forward and grabbed Karina by the shoulders tenderly. "I, Scott Stomond... Will make you the happiest wife." He caressed her cheek."Don't make it too much of an easy marriage though. I enjoy that spitfire spirit of yours," "Oh is that what you are calling blackmail now?" Karina would have crossed her arms if she could move that much, but the shoulders of the dress was too tight to do much. Karina tried to not show the disgust as Scott touched her, but that didn't work too well. It was clear as she flinched away and then pushed up off the bed to stand up and move away from Scott, glaring at him. "I highly doubt you can make me happy." Xares glared at his daughter in disapproval, hoping she would fall back in line. "Don't worry," he ran his thumb against the corner of her mouth. "I have my ways," he smiled. "As long as I am stuck back in our world and away from my friends, then I will not ever just be the happy little wife of your dreams." She never said she wouldn't do it, but she was not going to be happy about it and just fall in line so easily, despite her fathers wishes. "Don't worry sweetie, you can always make new friends. Besides... When you mother our children, you'll be kept plenty busy anyhow." Oh that was it, she could feel her hand trembling at her side as it was a struggle to keep it there. "Come closer and tell me that again." She might not have punched him yet, but her temper was getting the better of her at that moment. She couldn't keep her mouth shut. He went in closer. "I'm going to give you-" 14/30
Well now that she was alone, Karina supposed that she needed to make sure that everything was secure. She told her mother not to take the clothes, but her father would certainly take them when he saw them still sitting there. He might take them anyways just because he thought it looked too messy. Taking the clothes, Karina started to shove them under the bed and out of sight. While it wasn't a good long run solution, she hoped that she didn't actually need it for the long run. Ideally she would like to get out of here before her father thought it was needed to take a close look at the state of her bedroom. That only left one thing to do though. She needed hide the scissors she stole in such a way that she could use it later. Given how tight the sleeves were, it took a few tries, but Karina managed to get the scissors up her sleeve where it would be hidden at least for a little while. If she kept her arms in front of her or at her side, she could keep it hidden for quite some time. 13/30
