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Post by Jules on Aug 19, 2008 14:54:14 GMT -5
Camilla had been making her bed, humming softly to herself. When someone came clattering down the stairs, she half-expected it to be Jack. She hadn't been paying attention to her ward's locations since it was all settled.
Or so she thought. It wasn't Jack, but Jasper. It had been stupid to warn them. Camilla should've just waited, let him go to the Rissa and break him out later. She should've anticipated that Diaspro wouldn't react to the information the same way Jasper would.
"Of course she is. Nothing can ever be simple." The stairs were only a few steps away, and---there wasn't really a chance she could outrun Jasper, even in pants. "Fine."
Diaspro was waiting at the top of the stairs impatiently. "Hurry up, will you?" She called down angerily. James was waiting at the door, fumbling with the flare, attempting to tuck it into the back of his pants. The note was on the door. "We're ready to go." He called.
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Post by Miss Jack on Aug 19, 2008 15:04:18 GMT -5
"Sorry," Jasper muttered, and grabbed her hand. "No good deed goes unpunished."
He pulled her up the stairs. He sighed when he saw James and snatched the flare from him. "You don't get to carry anything with a trigger," he said, and tucked it into the front waistband of his pants, where he could see it. He nodded at Diaspro.
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If Jasper wasn't so lucky, they would have been caught. But the wind blew their scent in the opposite direction, away from Johnny, and the shack kept in direct line to their path, and the L.O.S., so they remained just out of sight.
Jack glared at the door. "What is this, a ransom note?" He swivelled to look at Johnny.
The werewolf shrugged. "Villians-- who can tell? It could be a spontaneous decision based on the unexpected rescuer." He raised an eyebrow at the king, and then turned to the three officers they'd taken with them. Vince, of course, couldn't be bothered with a simple search and rescue mission. "Well, gents, we need one volunteer for the remaining leg of the journey..."
"I'm going," Jack said, annoyed.
Johnny grinned, teeth sharp, expecting such an answer. "Well, then. We await the flare."
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Post by Jules on Aug 19, 2008 15:17:58 GMT -5
Camilla followed silently. She wasn't sure if Jack would bother with this, if it was all just a little too much trouble. Hopefully, her judgment of him as a Good Guy wasn't overrated. You could never know, really. She'd thought Jasper was a bit better then dream bombs.
James handed over the flare readily. Triggers made him nervous and Jasper had the better aim. Not that a lot of aim was required in firing a flare. Diaspro picked up her case and left the place locked, hopefully they could come back at get the bombs when things cleared up.
It didn't take long to get to the dried lake that had probably once been an oasis of sorts. Diaspro had James hide behind a rock and she told Jasper to have his pistol ready after he shot the flare. She'd taken Camilla and had the woman's head between her two hands, ready to make good on her threat of a crushed skull.
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Post by Miss Jack on Aug 19, 2008 15:33:12 GMT -5
Jasper fired the flare into the air and kept his pistol, as instructed, in hand. Though he found it kept twitching more toward Diaspro then the open plain where he was supposed to be keeping watch. It made him uncomfortable to have Camilla's life in such a precarious position.
Back at the shack, Jack's eyes flicked to the sky where the flare hovered and burned. "There it is," he said. Johnny, in wolf form, shook his tawny head and let out a low whine. He and the other three officers were going to search the shack while Jack was away, and this side of him was far more suitable.
Jack closed his eyes and his body grew wispy, transparent, and he hit the ground as a shadow, zipping over the ashy ground as quick as wind. In about the third of the time it would have taken him on foot, he spotted the figures in the distance. He solidified out of the shadow and loped gracefully to his feet, black flames licking at his ankles.
He walked the rest of the way, eyes scanning the scene before him. He recognized Camilla immediately, but not her two captors. A girl, something off about her, and a guy who was well over six feet; slender, but broad arms and shoulders. And he had a gun in his hand. They were both Dreams.
Who knew if they would recognize him or not, but he certainly wasn't going to start this whole mess by introducing himself as their supposed king and demand they return his ex-fairy godmother.
"I think you have something of mine," he said.
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Post by Jules on Aug 19, 2008 15:42:49 GMT -5
You couldn't not run an organization (in the loose definition of the term) aimed towards destroying Nightmares and not know who King Jack was, or what he looked like. Diaspro was shocked for a moment. He was Camilla's rescuer? But that was all the better! He was rich, he had influence, there was so much she could ask for, and even if she didn't get it then she could leak the story of just how Camilla died. Bad press for the Monarchy. She smiled widely and tightened her hold on Camilla's head, who winced.
"Do I?" She intoned happily. This was working out just too well. "How badly do you want it back?"
Camilla didn't really appreciate being talked about like she belonged to anyone, or was something along the lines of a stolen necklace, but whatever. As long as she got out of this mess, Jack could call her whatever the heck he wanted.
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Post by Miss Jack on Aug 19, 2008 15:52:14 GMT -5
Nothing? He'd expected some kind of rebuttal from Camilla, especially considering that she wasn't even his godmother anymore. He eyed the hands on her head in new light. He wasn't sure why it was dangerous, but he could guess that in some way, Camilla was in a prety life-threatening position, and it had nothing to do with the gun.
Sasquath Get Your Gun still had yet to say a word, though his whiskey-colored eyes were severe. And the brief, furtive glances he kept throwing Camilla made Jack think he wasn't much happier about this situation than he was.
"How badly do you want to keep her?" he retorted.
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Post by Jules on Aug 19, 2008 16:01:33 GMT -5
Of course, there had to be this pseudo-witty bantering edging around how much they both wanted to give up for what they wanted. Seriously, this wasn't time to be cheap. Camilla sighed, she'd pay Jack back every penny they asked for. He could wish for it back as soon as she got a new wand. She threw him a glare but remained quiet. Diaspro's hands were firm enough.
"Oooh, I'd say pretty badly, huh, Casper?" She used her little nickname for him intentionally. No need to give away his real name. "She's not much of a bother, and she keeps the basement tidy." Diaspro didn't really care. She'd sooner finish the Fairy Godmother off before keeping her if Jack didn't want to pony up.
"But I suppose if she isn't worth anything to you..." The statue's hands gripped tighter and Camilla let out a little yelp. Having your head ground between two stones wasn't exactly a spa treatment.
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Post by Miss Jack on Aug 19, 2008 16:07:00 GMT -5
"Alright," he said coldly, holding up a hand. He kept his voice even. "What do you want?"
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Post by Jules on Aug 19, 2008 16:12:28 GMT -5
Her mind had been racing to figure out what she should ask of the King of Nightmares. Not too much that he would flat out deny, but enough that it would benefit her. Money wasn't really an issue for them, but it might be nice to have more. But this was the King! She couldn't just as for some spare change from his treasury that he'd never miss anyways.
"We want some time to think about it." She answered and loosened her grip on Camilla's head a fraction of an inch (who sighed in relief none the less). "You can go back, and we'll send another flare when we're ready."
Because as fast a thinker as Diaspro could be, this was a bit too much to decide purely on her own.
Camilla closed her eyes in frustration. How long where they going to drag this out?
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Post by Miss Jack on Aug 19, 2008 16:20:38 GMT -5
Jack's eyes narrowed and the jewel against his neck pulsed. He stepped closer.
"No. We're deciding this now."
Jack!
His face didn't shift from it's cool glare, but his throat tightened a little in surprise. His eyes glassed over as the conversation in his head occupied his attention.
What?
Sink me, they have dreambombs in here!
Jack couldn't find words at first, just a soundless expression of surprise. !!!
Not as good as anything Hina produced, but I didn't know anyone else could make them... Johnny trailed off, speculating.
He raised an eyebrow at Diaspro. "Perhaps you should consider your position. Right now, you have some leverage. If you kill her, you have nothing but an arrest warrant for illegal manufacturing of Dreambombs and a useless corpse."
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Post by Jules on Aug 19, 2008 16:31:16 GMT -5
"I'm not stupid Jack. If it gets out that you let the Director of Good Hope hospital die at the hands of an extremist group because you didn't want to negotiate, that will be just as much in my favor. You should hope that I think of something I want more then that that actually makes trading Camilla worth it. A corpse is never worthless. So you'll give us some time to think it over."
Her stone hand slipped around Camilla's neck and squeezed. "Or are you really going to let her die so I don't have anymore leverage?"
The Fairy Godmother's feet weren't touching the ground anymore, and her hands were scrabbling uselessly at Diaspro's. She didn't want to die.
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Post by Miss Jack on Aug 19, 2008 20:25:08 GMT -5
He curbed his groan of exasperation. Right. What were the masses going to do? Hate him more? He'd never been the most popular ruler. If people ever liked him, that's when he'd start to worry.
"Okay, fine!" he snapped hurriedly. At his words, Jasper moved forward and pushed Diaspro's arm down, forcing her hand off.
"I'm leaving," Jack repeated, backing off, "But don't say I didn't give you the chance to back out peacefully."
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Post by Jules on Aug 19, 2008 20:46:21 GMT -5
When Camilla was released from Diaspro's grasp she coughed for a moment before taking in grateful gulps of air, but of course the woman's stone grip was around her upper arm before she could take so much as three steps away.
Diaspro didn't feel that worried about Jack's threat. He obviously didn't want Camilla dead, and he'd let them go free if she was going to remain alive. But Diaspro had to think. If they took the Fairy Godmother by force then she'd have nothing and probably be outnumbered.
They may have had slight leverage with Camilla, but they had no were to go, no were to hide. She'd just have to keep a firm grip on the woman and include letting them go without being hunted.
"Now Jasper, if you could have one thing from King Jack, what would it be?"
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Post by Miss Jack on Aug 19, 2008 20:53:47 GMT -5
Jasper's shoulders drooped with relief when Jack left. If he wasn't careful, this was going to give him ulcers.
"Don't ask me," he said, and he meant it. She was the brains, and he didn't want to think about things. It wasn't his plan to strategize, and the game changed entirely when someone's life was in the balance.
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Post by Jules on Aug 19, 2008 21:07:16 GMT -5
Camilla had had enough of being silent. "Oh God, do everyone a favor and just shutup. Just please, you're giving me a head ache."
If Diaspro wasn't sure that Jack coming back to a pulverized Godmother she'd be in a spot she would've smashed the woman to pieces. As it was, her grip tightened enough to grind bone painfully, but thankfully not break.
"No warrants for our arrest, I want our bombs, do you know how hard it was to get a hold of those?"
"No one cares." Camilla muttered and Diaspro couldn't help but snarl. She shoved Camilla away from her before she ended up killing their leverage.
"You take care of her." And the leader rumbled just a few feet away to think.
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