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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Desperate, predictable, and alone. Brought so low that, perhaps, the universe was taking pity on her. Because, once she scoops up the little golden thimble, another gleam of gold flashes through the crowd just a few yards ahead, and a gold buckle inlaid with silver flashes against the street.

More will soon follow.

Lost in the crowd, invisible thanks to her stolen gift, a former Watcher watches her scramble, prepared to lead her until the end.

A mixture of paranoia and almost embarrassment at being watched makes Ginia go invisible. Each shiny item disappears into her pockets as she picks up one after another, mindlessly following the trail. It winds her through a direct path toward the gates leading out of town, each glimmering item drawing her closer and closer toward the trap.

And Ginia thinks nothing of it as she hoards up each item, only deviating slightly to clear out her pockets in the nearest stash. That some of her stashes are empty or missing a few items doesn't even cross her mind.

And the thief had tried to be careful in his rummagings. After all, it wouldn't do for Ginia to get distracted halfway along and go hunting for treasure she wasn't going to find anyway. Seeing as it was all in Giles' bag.

She is being watched along the way. And even invisibility doesn't help much, since all Giles has to do is keep an eye on where and when the bait disappears, with the occasional glance at his scrying mirror to make sure she's still where he thinks she is.

And so it proceeds until the bustle of Schwanheim gives way to the few scattered little houses around the edge of the city, including one where three people used to live. And it's there, in the shadow of their house, that Giles' invisibility flickers.

On and on the merry little chase goes, the rogue chasing the treasure, and the sage chasing the rogue. Ginia barely recognizes the house when she passes by it, the location hardly registering in her mind. However, in looking for the next shiny bit of gold or silver, she sees the flicker of a person.

She freezes, counting on her invisible state to keep her safe. She freezes and stares, recognizing Giles.

[Giles doesn't realize immediately that he's been seen. He's looking into the mirror, after all, and the distance and positioning are distorted, to the point that he's not actually seeing her from the angle he should.

But then he sees the barest flicker of movement from her eyes. Giles looks up, casting about for any sign of someone else who might look threatening or prove to be troublesome.

And then his gaze finds the place where he thinks Ginia is, and comprehension dawns. He doesn't know how, but somehow she knows he's here. He can feel the force of her gaze.

Giles reaches into his bag, pulls out a fistful of treasure, and scatters it far and wide on the ground, trying to keep her attention before she can disappear all over again.]

Ginia's eyes flicker to the jewels scattering across the ground and unable to hold herself back, unable to do anything more than react, she goes for the jewels, gathering them up. She's become a shadow of herself, a character must like the other townspeople. A person who doesn't think for herself, but a person who acts accordingly to the role she's given.

Each bit of treasure disappears off the ground. With nothing left to focus on, Ginia regains some slight sense of herself and looks at the spot she previously saw him at.

He's not there - in fact, Giles actually undoes the clasp of his cloak, and is revealed to be standing several yards ahead of Ginia.

He keeps the cloak draped over one shoulder, and holds the clasp tightly in one hand. The other tosses a gold coin idly up and down, just so for the morning light to make it sparkle.

"Hello, Ginia," he says, and there's no emotion in his voice at all.

As he reveals himself, so does she. She's faster that way, not having learned how to shadow jump while stealthed yet - a blessing to all. Ginia may look the same, but she's a slight shell. Her eyes are sunken from lack of sleep, she looks pale, and whatever calm and composure is replaced with a jittery nature. Her eyes watch the coin, unable to turn away. Up and down. Up and down.

Right now Giles has the advantage; the closest shadow to her is a few feet away.

Up and down, up and down, glittering and valuable and out in the open.

"Can you even hear me?" Giles asks mildly. "Do you actually understand me anymore?"

Looking into her eyes, he's not so sure. He isn't entirely sure that whatever is behind Ginia's eyes is even human anymore.

"Can you speak?"

Catching the coin, he holds it tight in his fist for a moment...and then he holds it out, palm open, the coin resting in his hand.

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.

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Always feel like she's runnin on a hamster wheel

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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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