Fionraella

The Two Sides

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The Boss nods slowly, "Good! Good, you should feel that way. See, when you're mad you can push away the people who are hurting you. It makes you stronger, you know?" He picks up the scalpel from before and taps the blunt end on her cheek. "But there you go, crying out for help from the very cause of your pain." He leans down as to hide his words from the camera. "You see, your dear Rosey is going to break at some point. He knows it too! He knows that at one point I'll take it a step too far and he will confess to me the information I require." He taps the cheek again, this time cutting a thin line on her cheek not dissimilar to Ambrose's burn. "But if he knew that this whole time, why not save you from the very beginning? What kind of brother chose the imperfect safety of others over the wellbeing of his sister?"

The guard sets a mean pace down the halls to an elevator which he clicks the button for several times after scanning his ID.

@Hawksnest565

Ptelea whimpers softly at his words, shivering at the cold metal on her cheek. Doubt crosses her eyes and she flinches at the cut on her cheek. A few more tears roll down her cheeks. She looks at the old man and bites her lip, sniffling. "He..."She frowns, trying to justify her brother's actions. Her lip trembles. "Rosey's a good person..." She says uncertainly, before looking away, confused. "But..Rosey didn't stop you from hurting me..." She closes her eyes, shaking her head. "Rosey loves me, right?" She looks at the old man worriedly. "Rosey loves me lots..."

Ambrose paces outside the elevator, his heart racing as he thinks of all the torture his sister must be going through. He groans and kicks a wall angrily.

The Two Sides

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The Boss pushes his fingers to her tears, wiping them up as quickly as they came. "Such waterworks! What's all this little one?" He bends down and looks into her eyes. "Are they sad tears? Or are they mad tears?" He holds out his hand for her to spit the candy into. "You see Ptelea, an old man like me knows plenty about life and what works. Being sad gets nothing done! But if you're mad, you've got a fire burning to keep you going." He cocks his head. "Well, which would you say you are? Sad or mad?"

The guard shakes his head, "The Boss is just getting started."
She'll make it." He didn't mention what shape Ptelea would be in when they found her. The guard leaves the room and heads down a long hallway.

@Hawksnest565

Ptelea hesitantly spits the candy into his hand. She sniffs and swallows, grimacing at the taste of blood in her mouth, the taste of lemon lingering as well. She hesitates, trying to figure out which answer wouldn't cause him to hurt her anymore. "Mad?" She whimpers, then looks away, unable to look him in the eye any longer. She sniffles. "I want Rosey.." She whispers softly.

Ambrose shivers at that thought. He nods and follows the guard trembling slightly.

The Two Sides

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"My dear, quit acting like a child," The Boss chides at Ptelea's struggles. He wrenches her mouth open by pulling her chin down with one hand and quickly grabbing at her tongue. Once it's in his hand he cuts a slit in the middle. The wound is small but deepened from the way the old man's hand shook as it cut her. Blood began to well out into her mouth. "That looks like it hurt a little!" He drops the scalpel and pulls something out from his pocket. It's a lemon sherbet, already unwrapped. "Your big brother wasn't accepting of the comfort of a lolly. I'm sure you'll be much more grateful than him." He pushes the acidic candy on to the cut.

The guard carefully pried Ambrose's fingers from his shirt. "Okay, I get it! Don't worry, we'll go to her now!" He opens up the door.

@Hawksnest565

Ptelea cries loudly as he cuts her tongue. Tears roll down her cheeks as she struggles to pull away. But I am a child! She thinks, whimpering. She then begins screaming as he pushes the candy onto the cut. She tries to pull her face away, or at least spit the candy out. Tears keep falling down her cheeks, as her screams turn into sobs.

Ambrose nods and runs from the room, but not before hearing his sister's screams. His face pales and he looks back and gasps, seeing the blood well from her tongue. He bites his lip fearfully. "He better not kill her between now and when we get to them." He warns the guard. "I might not want to talk if he hurts her too bad." He snaps, waiting for the guard to lead.

The Two Sides

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The Boss winds the wire about Ptelea's ankles, just tightly enough to make blood flow a slight problem. "Don't worry, Ptelea," he coos to her, "this won't take away your feet straight away. We'll come back to it, you know? It might just be slightly uncomfortable for the time being." He glances over at his notebook. "A cut to the tongue next, isn't it?" He takes a scalpel from his pile of tools and then clamps his hand on her chin. "Open wide, my dear. The dentist just wants to see your pearly whites!"

The guard let out a sigh of relief and went to grab his radio. "I think you've made the right choice, mate." He clicks a few buttons on the radio. Then his face goes pale. "Oh. Oh no." He desperately clicks the buttons harder. "How could I... How could I forget to charge this?!" He looks to the screen and Ptelea's struggles.

@Hawksnest565

Ptelea cries at the wire around her ankles. She whimpers and clamps her mouth shut at the mention of her tongue. She tries to pull her face away, shaking her head, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Ambrose jumps to his feet. "The hell?! I just agreed to tell you everything and you can't even help my sister stop suffering?!" He snaps, turning back to the monitor. He growls and grabs the guards shirt. "We have to go there now and stop him!"

The Two Sides

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Jett rolled his eyes but couldn't help smiling slightly. "I'll take that as a suggestion," he replied, giving her a doubtful glance. "A very bad suggestion."

@jaywing93

Sacha shrugs. "Guess I give bad suggestions." She says quietly, before shaking her head. "Anyway, a lot of members have left, so if you'd prefer a new tent you have your pick. No one really took care of yours, so who knows what critters have been rummaging through your stuff."

The Two Sides

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The Boss waves Geoffrey away. "That's a good boy. What a nice warm up, hmm?" He gives the man a hearty pat on the shoulder. "I think I'll take over from here. Can't have you do all my dirty work now! Why don't you go grab yourself a coffee or something? I'll give you a buzz should I need you."

With his dismissal, Geoffrey gives a short nod and then lumbers out the door.

The Boss's hands fling to Ptelea's ankles and he squeezes them. "Such strong bones you have, little one!" He removes his grip and turned to his pile of gadgets. "But you know, the body functions so poorly with a lack of circulation." He picked up a spool of thin wire. "How about we have those precious feet of yours cut off from the blood line whilst we deal with the rest of today? I can't wait to see the outcome. Does a parrot need its feet to fly?"

The guard goes to pat Ambrose's shoulder but stops himself before making contact, as if remembering some terms given to him. He points to the monitor,
particularly referencing the beaten wrist of Ptelea. "It ain't my choice kid, but if I were you I'd give everything to make sure that little girl was safe, even if it meant throwing my friends under the bus.

@Hawksnest565

Ptelea tries to pull her feet away as he squeezes her ankles. She whimpers, tears rolling down her cheeks. She sniffles and looks at her wrist and begins crying. "R...Rosey..." She sobs, shaking fearfully as she watches the old man. Nothing made sense...Rosey was supposed to help her, save her from this evil man hurting her. But Ptelea felt betrayed..Ambrose wasn't there. Ambrose had let that man hurt her hand. Would Ambrose help her now...? She looks at the old man. "P...please." She whimpers. "please stop!"

Ambrose pales at seeing the wire. "Oh shit.." He whispers, shivering. He gulps, then bites his lip nervously. He hesitates before hanging his head in shame. He thought of his groupmates back in the forest. How could he give them up to this man, who would do unknown horrors to his friends? But then he thought of his sister, who looked up to him, who by sitting her watching her suffer, was doing nothing to stop her pain. He gulps, and looks at the guard as much as it pained him to do so. "You're right...I'...I've let this go on long enough..." He whispers, looking away and squeezing his eyes shut for a moment before looking up at the guard once again with as much strength as he can manage. "I'll tell the old man everything I can...I can't watch my sister suffer anymore..." His stomach churns as he thought of how he could save his sister and not betray his groupmates. He could figure that out when he came to talk to the old man about whatever he wished to know...right now he just had to help his sister.

The Two Sides

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Jett raised his hands defensively. "Big talk from the Rabin girl that did date me," he pointed out teasingly. "Hold on, no kissing you, period? Or no kissing any Rabin girls, period?" he clarified, trying to appear serious and not as though he wanted to laugh.

@jaywing93

Sacha snorts. "That was two years ago. I was young, naive and apparently very stupid." she smirks at him. "No kissing anyone on either side of the river, or in the nearby towns. In fact, just to be safe. No kissing anyone in the entire world. Ever again." She crosses her arms at him, smirking.

The Two Sides

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Jett caught up to her and took advantage of her teasing as a way to work in some of his own. "So if I'm not allowed to ever kiss you again, am I at least allowed to date other Rabin girls?" he asked innocently. He was clearly joking, but he was unsure if she'd pick up on this right away. It was clear enough to him that there were no other girls in the group that he'd look at twice in that way.

@jaywing93

Sacha glances at him and laughs slightly. "Like any Rabin girls would want to date you." She smirks and looks up at the sky. "But if you really are determined, I don't see why not. But no kissing, period." She chuckles lightly.

The Two Sides

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Jett nodded with a slightly smile. "Good, I'm glad. You look like you're in pretty good shape, so that's a decent sign." He blinked and reconsidered the offer, although this time, it was presented differently to him. "Any conditions?" he said warily, raising an eyebrow snidely.

@jaywing93

Sacha chuckles lightly. "Thanks? I think." She then smirks slightly at the question. "Haha, you're funny." She winks and continues walking, deciding to let him think whatever he wanted.

The Two Sides

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Jett softened a bit at her change in tone, relieved that he was finally seeing traces of the girl he used to know. He frowned slightly at her confusion over the events from two years ago, and he found himself overwhelmed with invading memories. "When I found you by the river, I thought you were dead!" he blurted out suddenly, a bit more worked up than he had intended to come off as. "I carried you back to camp and I was crying the entire way. I was screaming and swearing, furious that you never listened to me about keeping yourself safe. I handed you over to the healers as soon as we got back to camp and I waited. Finally, when I heard that you'd be okay and I got to talk to you, you just insisted that you'd do it again for the Rabins," he trailed off slowly. "So I left. I was just trying to protect myself, and it was stupid, but..." he shook his head.

@jaywing93

Sacha looks away, clenching her hand in a fist. "I felt dead..." She shakes her head, before looking back at him sadly. "I know. I'm sorry. I..." She exhales softly. "Look...can we just..." She shrugs. "Can we try this whole inviting you back to join the Rabins again? I care about you Jett, even if I don't always show it..." She manages a small smile. "If it's any consolation I have been trying to keep myself safe. Even if I suck at it, I do try to take other people's advice..." She snorts quietly.