eswareinmal | Always feel like she's runnin on a hamster wheel

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Always feel like she's runnin on a hamster wheel

Characters: Ginia Solana, Rupert Giles, and Helios Sprensonne
Open? No
Where: Schwanheim to the Two Faced Forest
When: Morning of RD 19
What: It's time to put a stop to Ginia's stealing spree and Helios and Giles know just how to do it.
Warnings: Violence and language

There was always a fall. A dark, crashing, downward spiral after the high, after the moment, after that fleeting feeling of success. Ginia knew there would be a fall and now that she was falling it was all she could do to slow her descent.

She barely slept after the heist, laying awake under a dark bridge, making sure no guards were coming after her, too jittery to sleep. Some of the books were safely with Liara, the other half left in the house - she couldn't call it a home, not anymore - as a sort of offering to Giles and Helios. They would know what to do with them, with the information hidden inside. Because even if she wasn't entirely herself anymore, the parts that hung on loosely still remembered her dearest friend and lover.

The morning came too quickly. She stole some pastries from the bakery, sating her hunger and her need to steal, but it wasn't enough. Nothing was anymore.

So when she sees a ring left carelessly on the ground, sun hitting the gold surface just right, Ginia pounces on it and hides it in a pocket, quickly seeing another shiny thing several yards away. That too, she went after. Once she was a thief, meticulous and almost masterful, now she was desperate and predictable.

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It's a coin. A simple gold coin. Ginia has probably stolen a hundred of them throughout her spree. There is only one difference between that coin and the ones she already has and that's she doesn't have it. Greed is all that rules her. She's stopped seeing the items as anything but another piece for her collection.

Some quiet voice in her voice screams 'Yes. Yes, I can hear you, yes, I can understand you. Help me, Rupert, help me.'

Ginia says nothing. She springs forward, her speed quickly closing the distance between them.

She reaches for the coin, seeing nothing else.

Giles has learned, since their last meeting. He's learned what to expect, and the way she lunges for the coin only confirms it.

He yanks the coin away, closing his hand around it again and bringing his other arm up for an elbow to the face in the same moment.

If Ginia is no longer human, then she is an animal, and an animal can be vicious and dangerous. She sees the elbow and ducks, taking the blow to the side of the head instead of directly to the face, staggering back a few steps. She glares, looking at the hand holding the coin, at the pockets holding all the other shiny bits and pieces, then back at Giles proper.

If her vocal chords were working, there might have been a growl or snarl. Instead, there's only anger and ferocity in her gaze.

"...I guess that's a 'no', then."

This time, Giles can't quite keep a note of utter sorrow and regret out of his voice. But he holds resolute. He lets the coin clatter to the ground, taking the second it will have Ginia's attention to swirl his cloak back over his shoulders and fix the clasp in place. He wants Ginia to follow him, of course - but this might keep her from being able to get ahold of him long enough for him to get to where she needs to be.

"Want your things back?" he asks mockingly, before he disappears. But Ginia will still be able to hear his footsteps hurrying away. And, of course, a trail of treasure appears every so often behind him, most of it made up of bits and pieces looted from her hiding places.

He predicts correctly; she goes for the coin, forgetting about him and scooping it up and sticking it in her pocket in one fluid motion. When Giles turns invisible again, she growls, unable to see where he's going, but quite able to follow the trail of treasure.

She recognizes some of the more distinctive pieces. A hairpin with a gold flower and ruby center. A gold ring with an onyx setting. A delicate silver choker with little dangling diamonds. Those are the pieces she recognizes. That he stole them from her makes her more angry, and in anger, she gives chase.

From here, it's not far - they don't need to go deep into the forest. Just enough that they're unlikely to be interrupted by curious villager or other such meddling forces.

At a seemingly random point, surrounded now by trees but with the town stll visible in the distance, Giles stumbles to a stop and turns on his heel to face Ginia. The cloak is torn off and tossed aside. The next thing to come out of his pockets is a necklace - silver and emerald, a thing of true beauty, and not something she'd already taken.

And this, too, Giles holds out to her. A bit breathless from the run, he nevertheless manages to say:

"How long has it been since you've been given something?"

And then, his voice grows hard and cold, to a degree probably never heard by Ginia before outside of an experiment.

"My watch doesn't count."

Helios has to be nearby. Giles just hopes he's timed it right. All Ginia has to do is take a few more steps, and all Helios has to do is activate the sigil. Then, they have her.

Giles is in the perimeter of the sigil as well, but without the cloak clasp on him, there's nothing for it to disable.

That they're heading out of the city doesn't strike her as suspicious or add at all. All that matters is he's stolen her stolen goods and she wants them back. She gives chase, shadow jumping when she needs a boost, and is not even the least bit winded when they end up in the forest.

She eyes the necklace with greedy, almost lustful interest. It's a beautiful necklace. Silver, three perfectly cut emeralds, it's one of the most beautiful necklaces she's ever seen. Of course she wants it.

Giles' words, the coldness in his tone, the comment about the watch, she hears them, but isn't listening. One day when she's able to look back at everything, she'll listen to the words and realize truly how much trouble she was in and feel nothing but shame at having stolen his most precious item.

Her eyes tick around to find the nearest shadows. They did well picking out their spot, selecting an area relatively open and with few shadows to work with.

However, all she needs is one shadow nearby. Instead of stepping forward, she steps back and to the side, disappearing into one shadow, and appearing out of Giles' shadow.

She lunges at the necklace.

There is a short, powerful, blast of wind that collides with Ginia when she makes that lunge towards Giles and the necklace. Like a wall it'll push her back towards where the sigil lies and Helios won't step out of the bushes yet. Not yet but his features are touched with a sad, resolute, expression. Ginia. It pained him to see her like this and what that necklace has done to her.

He wish he had known about it sooner. Wish he could have stopped it before it got this bad. Before Giles had to fight his own girlfriend like she was some sort of animal. But it would be over soon enough. His eyes glow with power as he keeps the wind steady.

Giles has a lot of advantages, in a fight - the fact that it's slightly harder to blow him about with a gust of wind is, right now, a big one.

He digs his heels into the dirt, covering his face against any flying twigs and dirt. But he'll also try to give Ginia a shove in the right direction, should she prove equally resistant.

Her light frame gives her speed, but does nothing to help her stand against the sudden gust of wind, especially when it's so unexpected. She goes flying, tumbles on the ground, and rolls herself back onto her feet.

Unfortunately for her, she stands exactly where they want her.

Helios' chant can be heard from the darkened forest around them as the wind dies down. The sigil begins to glow a bright white and then blue as it's slowly activated around Ginia. Helios finally steps out from where he was located under cover of the forest.

Helios' glowing eyes dart to Giles as he gives a curt little nod. "I-It'll hold." And now Giles simply has to go to her and cut that necklace loose.

Despite himself, Giles lets out his breath in a long sigh of mingled relief and exhaustion - exhaustion as much of the mind as the body, probably more so, because he's long for greater distances against even greater threats. But this entire affair is exhausting to him on multiple levels.

He nods at Helios' words, keeping his eyes on Ginia all the while. "Can I step into the circle with her?" he asks quietly. He knows that Helios keeping his concentration is the most important thing, but he also knows that it will be easier to get ahold of Ginia from inside the circle.

Either way, in preparation, he draws a knife from his belt.

She remembers. She remembers the circle of light, the sigils, she remembers him, the caster of the spell. There's no friendly recognition left in her eyes, though little else is there. Helios is a trapper, an enemy, he needs to be stopped.

However, there is also Giles to contend with. If she were capable of making any sort of sound, she might have growled. She bristles at the sight of the knife, drawing out her own. Giles may be the stronger of the two, and with his height, better reach. Given how she's bound to a location, he has all the advantage, but she still has speed and he's still the one who has to enter the circle with her.

Her eyes flick between Giles and Helios. She grips her knife a little tighter, the blade a thin sliver of silver.

Helios also lets out a relieved sigh but it's short lived as he makes note of Ginia's hardened, angry, almost feral gaze. He winces and bites his lip, nodding to Giles.

"Y-Yes you c-can. But-but be c-careful. I-I don't know if I can...d-do too many spells at-at once." In terms of protecting the other man he means. He is by no means ever going to try and hurt Ginia again, not ever. He will not let this devolve into something like that.

Giles goes absolutely still as he catches the glint of steel in Ginia's hand. His mind is suddenly working a good deal more quickly - that's no shiny bauble she's holding in her hand, that's a proper blade, and every line of her body screams of the intent to use it.

...well, then.

"I'll be careful," he says, when he realizes that Helios has spoken. "Focus on the sigil. I'll get away on my own, if I have to. We...we won't get another chance, if this doesn't work."

And with that, he steps forward. Taking care not to scuff the lines of the sigil itself, Giles steps inside the circle.

And he grabs for the hand holding the knife.

If there's something Giles should remember about Ginia, it's that Ginia is quite good with a knife and never carries only a single blade. Unfortunately, that hasn't changed between Ginia and her.

The hand holding the knife draws back and flings it at Helios' direction, remembering how distracting him was good enough to get her out of the circle last time. Her free hand pulls another knife from a hidden sheath and slashes upward at Giles' face. There's nothing on her face but fierce, feral anger.

It's funny how a situation can go from good to bad. A single stroke of bad luck or a miscalculation of some sort. Helios' entire focus was on maintaining the barrier and the fact of the matter stood that even using a spell to defend himself would make it break. He wasn't going to allow Ginia to escape again, couldn't allow her to escape again, he would never forgive himself if she did. So when that knife comes flying towards his person he can only think momentarily enough to gasp before it slices through his arm. Sure he had enough time to conjure up some sort of spell, but he didn't. His vision goes white briefly as there's a sickening crack as he feels the knife puncture through his jacket and shirt sleeve and probably hit bone. God it hurt so much, it hurt almost as badly as the owlbear they faced a few nights ago.

There's a choked back sob of pain as the barrier wavers dangerously close to breaking, but it doesn't fall, and then it realigns itself back in place. Helios' body is turned slightly away from the two of them, hunched over as well, as he holds his bleeding arm before he looks down at the knife, glinting red and dark under the dying light of day. If he pulled it out he might bleed out before this was over. Instead he shakily raises his blood stained hand of his good arm and puts more power into the sigil. His eyes go wide as he looks at Ginia and Giles.

"Giles!" He makes to move forward then to put up some kind of barrier between the two of them. But he's dizzy and quite shaken still from the knife.

Giles barely even feels the knife cut home - only turning his head to stare in horror at Helios turns it from a blinding strike to a slash along his cheek. He's pale and afraid at the sight of Helios, bleeding and obviously in so much pain, and for a moment the instinct is strong to just go to him and stop the bleeding.

But then Helios calls his name, and Giles remembers why they're here. And he turns on Ginia in one fluid blur, bringing his leg up for one good, solid roundhouse kick to the solarplexus. If she dodges that, she'll probably find a fist coming the other way.

If he can get her on the ground, so much the better.

It's Giles' quick attack that saves him from another strike. With all the force behind it, the blow would make anyone stagger. She drops to her knees and supports herself on a hand, trying her best to breath again. She's still armed, but with both knees and a hand bound to the ground, it's a lost battle and she knows it. She's a broken Icarus, burned and blinded by her ambition and brought back down with broken wings.

Tears spill from her eyes, a mixture of pain, frustration, and even a bit of relief.

So much the better and the war is won when Ginia falls onto her knees and one hand. The sigil binds whatever part of her that's touching the dirt to the ground and her movements will be inhibited until the barrier breaks. Helios begins walking closer then his arm throbbing in obvious pain but his will and concentration remains fixed on the task at hand. Just a little bit more and this will be all over, just a quick slice of the knife and they can all go back home.

Or so he hopes. But there's no telling how things will turn out once this ends. The aftermath and all the pain Ginia will more than likely be in.

One quick slice. Or several slices. Giles is well past caring. He goes for the necklace, pulling the leather binding as far from Ginia's neck as he can to minimize the chance of doing her any further injury.

Then he cuts and saws for however long the material decides to hold out, and when it finally comes undone, he throws it into the woods.

This madness ends today. It has to - they've run out of tricks, and Ginia has nothing left to lose.

The cord may be simple leather, but it does its best to resist each strike of Giles' knife. However, leather is leather and eventually it gives, falling away.

It feels like a great weight lifting off Ginia's shoulders and body, but the weight of clarity and regret sinks into its place. Ginia stares at the ground, still bound in place by the spell, looking as if she's bowing in supplication. She is, though she knows none of it is deserved.

She robbed a city blind out of greet and excitement. She hurt her friends and threw away their attempts at helping. Even now she hurt the two closest to her and put them through so much misery.

The knife in her hand gives a tempting call of her own and she turns her head to regard the sharp blade, drops of blood staining the end. Skin yields to steel, always. It would be easy. A single slice through her neck, cutting away the marks left by the cursed necklace. It would be easy.

Her hand tightens around her knife. Then Ginia throws it away from her.

Helios is wavering in his place as he stands with that knife in his arm. He was so glad that it worked. Gods everything was fine now. Everything would be fine now and they can put all of this behind them. He fought back the burning sensation of tears as he continued to walk slowly towards the two of them. His concentration and his strength was giving out. The wavering flickering of the barrier making it that more clearly. He'll slump to the ground for a few moments as the barriers light flickers and then dies down to a faint glow. The light escaping from the circle like it was something from a campfire. And then a small little 'pop' will break the silence and the barrier will dissipate in the blink of an eye.

They did. It was over.

It's over. It's all over. Ginia can get back to being Ginia, and they can all go home.

The dying of the light within the circle is his first warning. By the time the barrier "pop"s out of existence, Giles is already moving. He grabs his discarded cloak from the ground and sets to work with his knife, cutting a section of it into strips.

"That, um...th-that arm needs looking at."

Dimly, he's aware that the cut on his cheek is still bleeding freely. But, especially compared to Helios' injuries, it's not a life threatening hit.

It's over. It's finally over.

For Ginia, the horror has only begun. Even with the binding spell gone, Ginia remains transfixed, curling onto herself and steeping in the horror or her actions. She can hear Giles tend to Helios, both of them who she injured.

Still avoiding looking at them, she slowly rises and goes to retrieve her knife. She scrubs the metal on the grass - she'll clean it properly later - before she sheaths it again. Without a word to either of them, and secretly hoping they haven't noticed, Ginia begins to walk deeper into the forest.

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Levy after your comment?

Yep! I let her know.

Now you gone a dun it Ginia. >:I

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