Abandonment Issues [Open]

There was a struggle to try and get freed from these binds, but try as she might Celeste wouldn’t be able to perform the feat with the guard’s attention so heavily put on her. Though judging from the hero for hire’s silence in the midst of her jokes, it probably was a good thing she was keeping their attention so well trained. The witch offered a lofty glance to the stalactites above, feigning disinterest as the thug gave his speech about the group’s brilliant escape tactic. These tailed tyrants probably didn’t have a clue what geology pertained to, but she supposed that was another reason they were so envious of their planetary neighbors.

”Riveting plan, I’m sure it’ll work wonders for your skylight project.” The witch turned her attention to Fukushu when he made mention to ask for the person they still happened to be looking for, to which she would only return a confident smile. She looked back up to their captors, finding little reason to hold back with the wit if she could somehow piss them off. Maybe that might hand them a bit of an advantage, certainly if the heran caught the wink she shot him.

The sheepish saiyan approached to stand over her, possibly some form of body language intended to reestablish dominance over his prisoners. She understood these warriors were rather prideful, from those whom she met of this race, and probably weren’t one to allow a showing of weakness left unchallenged. A pity the timid one had chosen to wear a short-sleeved battle suit underneath that weathered, cracked armor, because it very much left his legs exposed.

Celeste wasn’t sure what the restraints were comprised of, but all she knew was that they were bound to sting like hell if grated up against someone’s bare skin. Which is what the witch then aimed to abruptly attempt, dragging the wire-like material hard against the saiyan’s thigh with a sickening glee to her smile. The poor soldier would howl with pain, try to grab at the wound in an attempt to comfort it, but would lose his balance in the several hops made. The timid tyrant would lose his balance near the cliff edge, and tumble carelessly with a scream into a lower leveled lava pit.

”Ooh, a shame I’m all out of aloe for that burn.”

TWC:(+391)8066
Fukushu

The fight ignited like a match tossed to a pool of gasoline, only the saiyans tossed into the lava didn’t burn nearly as clean. The witch had crawled away in an attempt to escape those distracted by her accomplice’s antics on the level below, doing what she could to try and dematerialize her restraints. Hm, a pity she wasn’t double jointed in the wrists, or could fold them onto themselves like the stretch superhero one found at the market. Celeste found a stalagmite further from the ledge to try putting good old friction to work, failing to understand what was in these things that could falter her abilities. Were they woven with some sort of anti-ki fabric? A frown offered when they failed to so much as deteriorate against the stone.

Maybe they needed a sturdy enough counter force? The witch tried wrapping it around the tip of the stone, then leaned her weight away in hopes that something might snap – and it did. She felt the end of the stone unceremoniously slap the side of her head, prompting a quick, excessive rub – tears welling up from the unexpected pain. ”Ow! Ow, ow!” Something flew up to collide with the ceiling at that moment, the witch would freeze to look up, only for stalactites to begin raining from above with the corpse of a saiyan guard.

The blond would yelp in surprise as she made to avoid the collisions of stone upon stone, the nameless casualty bouncing off the cliff with the rubble into the molten streams below. There was so much going on suddenly, she wasn’t sure where to begin looking for the ones behind all of this. Unless of course, that had been them swan diving into a volcanic spring moments ago. Who could say? The green mass of muscle would come hurtling down nearby, before he would make his efforts to free her of her binds. Sure enough, a bit of applied strength in the right way would free the witch’s wrists from the abnormal devices. It wasn’t without a cost though, there was some bruising around the arms. With any luck they might fade, but she could only hope for now.

”Let it not be said you lack for creativity,” added the witch, peering over the cliff in time to catch the final sizzles to one of the guard’s boots. She made to dust herself off, before reaching down to sweep her hat off the earth, righting it upon her crown with a tug at the brim. Shockwaves pierced the air with a deep thunder from the stone overhead, Celeste could hardly ignore it.

”Hm, that could be bad,” she commented, tapping at her chin thoughtfully on what to do with the worsening situation. She then abruptly threw her hands out to the side in a dramatic fashion. ”I guess we’ll just have to go down with the ship captain!” The witch’s tone unnervingly jubilar given the circumstances of a potential cave-in. They still didn’t manage to find what they were looking for, but there was no denying how big of middle-finger this was to the planet’s black market. There came a few geysers of lava, almost tall enough to singe the cliff they stood upon. Celeste let out a disdainful wail, jumping away from the heat with apparent fright.

TWC:(+554)8620
Fukushu

To say this mercenary was unusually strong would have been the understatement of the day, as Celeste watched on as he ripped through the apparent ceiling to a room, she had been unaware to. The witch could only blink to the suggestion, following the green strongarm through the gaping maw after a hesitant nod. It was far more welcoming to a potential spike through the dome, as some outside were probably unlucky to have witnessed – she could only guess as the darkness took everything around them. The room continued to shake violently, for all the apparent peace and tranquility this bunkroom would possibly imply.

Celeste looked around against the dying light of the warm glow beyond, passing shadows of falling debris danced through the windows, as she stalked Fukushu through this frail sanctuary. The scene was like some warped storybook fantasy with all the beds, lined neatly in rows – each a testament to their former occupants and their different pasts, personalities, lives that now returned a land they sought to exploit. A few tablets were scattered here and there, none of which seemed to bear any signs of battery life when she made to inspect them.

The heran had found passports nearby, a rather unusual discovery she would find as Celeste made to pick one up. This one was so worn; the name and photo were all but indiscernible save the code running along the side of the card. There was no missing the only other door in the room, with the first now inaccessible due to what ensued beyond the rumbling walls.

It wouldn’t be long before this place too found the warm embrace of the rivers below, Celeste estimated they didn’t have long before they would find out firsthand. The blond took the worn passport, wondering if there was some significance to its use. A glance to their only apparent exit from this potential deathtrap, and the blond would saunter up to wave it casually about what she estimated to be an old data reader.

”Open, sesame!” she proclaimed loudly, spreading her arms wide before the door. Nothing happened. The witch would blink down out of frustration, the muffled thunder outside would continue. She shot a nervous giggle to the heran before offering a shrug.

”Well, it was worth a try I suppose.”

The girl returned her focus to the worn, dirtied steel that stood in silence, barring their path forward. A deep breath and Celeste would thrust a palm toward the iron guardian; a sudden burst of wind and kinetics would prompt the door to bend inward near the center, before bowing over in a crumpled mess like a crushed can to reveal another dark path forward. The blond would frown. More electrical problems, that would make this all the more interesting. She gave an innocent smile to her companion, gesturing kindly to the opened path.

”After you.”

TWC:(+481)9101
Fukushu

In the midst of their ambling through the darkness, Celeste had much to contemplate about where this day had gone. It all started looking for someone she believed a friend, only for that unfortunate soul to have wandered off somewhere. There was no denying that the abandonment hurt, stung to an extent, for Celeste to have cautiously placed her trust in another, after so long, only to have it treated this way. She had done everything to try and find him around this seemingly bleak and uneventful environment, asked every possible soul she knew to, even ventured to the unknown to search further. The longer they walked, the longer that she was able to regain some composure after what had transpired, the more time Celeste had to think on this whole matter.

It was true, she said she would do what she could to try and help, but a question this mercenary presented earlier crept back into the forefront of her mind. As it stood now, what could she actually do to help? She knew no mending spells, no proper healing magic whatsoever – there only belied her ingenuity and resourcefulness when it came down to it. Even if they managed to find the missing saiyan, what could really be done about that problem that to simply stifle it, if only temporarily – truthfully, she was at a loss about what to do.

What was she to even say after all of this, assuming they even got out of here? This hardly seemed like a story anyone might believe. The steps echoed on in the dark, a question from the taller man managing to break her silent brooding long enough to stop. She could barely see anything, but there was no denying she was staring down at her hands. ”I think its probably safe to presume he isn’t here, but this is probably what that patient wanted to warn about. Though who could say, he may have just meant the burger-” The echo of her voice grew louder, there was a noticeable lack of physical presence where there had once been not several feet ahead.

”Hello?”

The witch would snap her fingers, prompting a glow around them long enough to discern that Fukushu had gone and vanished on her too. There was an emptied shaft not too far from where she stood, weathered and dirtied with rust and debris, the faintest traces of a cable or chain could be seen somewhere against the faint light. She waved her hand, dousing the illumination before cautiously pacing forward, leaning over the edge of this drop to try and glean some sign of the bottom.

”Are you there!? It’s me!” the witch would call down after the heran, presuming he was unfortunate to have not seen the fall. ”Are you alive!?” Celeste gave it a few moments, before taking to consideration that if he wasn’t, that might make it a tad difficult to answer her question. A pensive hum as she brought a fingertip to her lips, before taking a casual step off the ledge into the darkness.

A graceful crunch of metal and mineral beneath her boots greeted her at the bottom, the rather daunting room filled with gem and beast warranted a few awe-inspired blinks from the witch. The fascination with the creature was soon dashed by the escaping saiyan, the blond furrowing a brow before she made to pick up a rather sizable sapphire. She threw it as hard as she possibly could, merely to symbolize her frustration with the entire day, the saiyans, and their dumb infighting over a bunch of stupid rocks. The gem nearly whistled for the velocity put on it, before it would ricochet several times through the lift, nipping the coward in his right butt cheek at least once.

A satisfied smirk followed the howl that came from the lift, before the girl would make to throw herself to the side; a rather sizeable tail having coming down in an attempt to squash the girl in the decorative hat. Riches were thrown through the air, a roar to symphonize the pain of a creature that longed to be free of it. Another swing of the tail, and Celeste soon found herself thrown into a pile of colorful stones.

TWC:(+710)9811
Fukushu

The witch’s hat had come to rest gently atop the large pile of sparkling brilliance, sitting motionless for nearly several moments before it would eventually stir, the girl’s head popping up beneath it with a gasp of air, followed shortly by a low groan. What the heck was that thing, a dragon? A hand unburied itself to rest against a temple in the side of her head, the pain low, consistent, but still just as bothersome – there was a good chance a muscle or nerve had become pinched. It would take a few moments to work that out, but judging from the situation that developed in the room, that would unfortunately have to wait.

Celeste did her best to unbury the rest of herself from the stones, their combined weight making it more worth an effort than she initially anticipated. There was no denying it, she was heading for the nearest city when this was all said and done to splurge on a hot bath and meal – if such luxuries could even be found on this backwater planet. She shook away her frustration, bending over to pick up a handful of stones, which she proceeded to lob at the beast pinning Fukushu against the wall. A few rasps against the back of its noggin, plus the unfortunate removal of its tooth, would reaffirm their chances to possibly get out of here in one piece.

The creature had backed away, the sudden change of behavior not gone unnoticed by the girl, who made to step adjacent to it and Fukushu to possibly dissuade the heran from acting further. ”Look what’s around its neck,” she tried to draw his attention to a device not too dissimilar to the restraints that had once bound the both of them, albeit more advanced in intricacy. She directed her attention to the wounded saiyan, still rolling about in the stalled lift, excessively rubbing his sore bum with dramatic breaths out the nose. She made a few cautious steps toward the creature, and the lift, raising her palms slowly as she tried not to startle the poor creature.

It was already in a lot of pain, and probably quite aggressive as a result – backed into a corner, any beast could prove lethally dangerous. With all that they endured on this rather unexpected adventure, the last thing Celeste wanted was to have to carry her companion out of here, or potentially worse. She stepped wide in a strafe around the creature, trying her damnedest to give a wide enough berth, and still manage to close in on their downed foe and the remote to that nasty collar.

TWC:(+439)10,250
Fukushu

The game was afoot, and as soon as Fukushu set to motion about distracting the beast, Celeste would do her best to hurry to the fallen saiyan. The lift itself was rather high off the ground, but not so enough that she could risk an inhuman hop to spare herself the trouble. The witch’s boots rasped the lift’s flooring with the lightest of sound, her search for the remote being a rather quick one, finding it sitting near the furthest corner from where she crouched. She arched a brow at the saiyan, who appeared to have passed out from the shock of his experience with the sapphire. A satisfied scoff before she would aim to step over the unconscious thug, leaning over to try and snatch the remote.

The girl’s eyes went wide as she felt her balance give way, snapping her attention down to the fingers that suddenly coiled around her ankle. Before Celeste knew it, she was falling head over heel, quite literally, due to this imbecile. Her head would hit the side of the lift, before she felt the constriction of his hands on her throat, then his weight as he made to straddle and sit on top of the blond. The disorientation of the blow to her cranium would allow this thug to get the jump on her, coming to find her ability to resist against the not-so formiddable strength far more difficult than it should have been.

Celeste would gasp for air, her fingers tight against those that sought to cut off her breath by any means. She stared helpless up into those irises, filled with a rage for a people not her own, an odd and sadistic mixture of pleasure and hatred – the eyes were wild. She would fight the weight, trying as hard as she could to get air to her thirsting lungs. It burned when she wanted to cry, she could see that fiery pain in that face, as he wished for her to die. She threw a hand out to the side, grasping at emptiness frantically for the nearby remote, maybe there was some way it could help here.

The witch’s eyes began to flutter, darkness wanting to take her as the breaths became weaker, the smile on the saiyan much wider. Her hands were growing weak, fingers clawed against the flooring for something, anything to help stave off this feeling. Then she felt it, rather unexpectedly, her fingertips finding an item rather solid under them. She grabbed hold of it without a second’s hesitation or thought, it was more instinct that an actual decision with what drove her arm into a hard swing. The darkness took her vision once more, the sound of a pained groan and an unceremonious thud against the lift would follow. The burn in her chest began to ease, the fire against her neck didn’t hurt so bad all of a sudden.

A slow blink, and Celeste would turn her head in a glance to where she found the saiyan; a glinting sapphire embedded firmly into the dead soldier’s forehead. The blond would grimace at the sight, turning away as she fought to sit up, gingerly touching at her neck as a few seconds were taken for reprieve. She looked around for any signs of the remote, pushing aside the corpse to wrench it free from the dead weight. Celeste gave it a once over, finding it had more buttons than she likely expected given its purpose – maybe it operated more than the beast’s restraints? Her thumb pressed one of them, which she suspected was the most likely candidate to grant blissful freedom.

TWC:(+607)10,857
Fukushu