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Post by Gracia Rodello on Sept 14, 2006 13:48:50 GMT -5
Lips had pursed together, a smile so fleeting it could have been missed. Her left arm slid beneath Lance's head, she didn't want to kill him of course, and opening a flask she tipped it up against his lips. The water had some restorative properties, not enough to make him fully better but enough to stop him from crying. Releasing his head it bounced off the wooden slab and turned to eye Thomas with a smile.
"How does it feel.....To have had a major role in torturing Lance"
Again she glanced down at Lance and stroked his face with the back of her hand and nodded down to him.
"Just say it already Lance...say it loud so your Emperor can hear you. Tell him how you will serve him until the very end, how the Empire is everything to you"
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Post by lance on Sept 14, 2006 13:58:20 GMT -5
Someone was touching his face. Eyes fluttered open... still on the table, in the room. It was Gracia. Of course. As she spoke, he struggled even to hear her words. He was too drained even to try to bite her hand... he just lay there, inert, staring up at her through blood-shot eyes.
Hadn't he already said he would serve the Emperor until his death? At this point, he would have said anything just to make it stop... to end the pain, to be free to move about.
Miserably, his lips moved. His mouth was so dry, his throat so raw. He didn't even know if he could speak any longer.
His voice emerged, barely more than a breath, tongue like sandpaper in his mouth.
"I will serve... until the end. He and his... are everything to me."
He coughed, and couldn't seem to stop coughing. Agony, more and more agony. He finally managed to stop... tears leaking out of his eyes from the coughing fit, mingling with blood and sweat.
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Post by thomasthane on Sept 14, 2006 23:08:19 GMT -5
::Her words crossed his mind and well..they rather infuriated him and he strained and struggled more against the straps and continued to growl, nevermind the fact that he had the horror right next to him, he was doing his best not to look into that creatures eyes..that was for certain and still he struggled wanting to get to gracia::
[glow=green,2,300]"I did nae do this to him...ye did...I did nae hath a par...." [/glow]
::he frowned as he trailed off, he knew to a degree it was a lie, he was attempting to make himself feel better though it certainly was doing not much good at all...::
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Post by lance on Sept 14, 2006 23:24:40 GMT -5
He heard the familiar voice of Thane and tilted his head to look over at the man... a spurrious cough as he did. His head was swimming, and he was having double vision... two thomas's. Never mind that one was bound and the other wasn't...
Why was Thomas there anyway? What had he said? He didn't have a part in this? It made no sense to Lance. Gracia had drugged him. Gracia had tortured him...
He tilted his head back, to look to Gracia. Shivering.
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Post by Gracia Rodello on Sept 15, 2006 11:38:17 GMT -5
She had given Lance time to recover, his body still shivering from the shock. Grabbing another flask she forced him to drink the liquid. A look given towards Thomas and then Lance once more and nodded.
"So answer me boy's....will you both be part of the Unholy Empire until your last breath?"
Eyes darting between both as she forced Lance to drink more Rum.
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Post by lance on Sept 15, 2006 11:56:42 GMT -5
The liquid trailed fire down his throat, actually burning, on account of the fact that his screams had left him raw and spent. He began choking, coughing somewhat, the rum spilling out of his mouth and dribbing down his chin and cheeks. He turned his head to the side... he wanted no part of whatever she was giving him to drink.
"Yes... I will serve until my last breath."
His voice was not his own. It was a rasp, gravelly, dead in tone. How many times now had he sworn fealty, had he uttered that phrase?
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Post by thomasthane on Sept 16, 2006 2:55:16 GMT -5
::He growled once one, and twitched his ears at the new words as she poured the liquor down lance's throat...still he struggled against those bonds...nearly to the point of just giving up and going limp and being held against them by his body weight alone::
::He was not one to give into anyones demands..but in this particular case wanted nothing more than to be freed and to have the torture of the boy stop...tails twitched as he considered the words...::
[glow=green,2,300]"....Till my last breath..." [/glow]
::The way it was spoken might of led gracia to beleive otherwise, but he had said it..and she infact knew by now the way he was, it was hard to determine if he was serious..or was it just something complacent so she would let him go...::
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Post by Gracia Rodello on Sept 18, 2006 2:03:19 GMT -5
A smile, it began so corrupt that pleasure that coursed through her, as if in the throes of what most would call first love. Except for Gracia, what it was, well it was greed. To hear their words caused her a slight tinge of color to warm her cheeks, and she turned to Thane looking into the creatures eyes and smiling.
"Till your very last breath...."
Her attention going to Lance just then, the beat of war had begun to rumble deep within her gut.
"I don't have much time, the pain that will be delivered to you Lance will be worse than this. So, I'll prepare you, make your hide tougher."
Ashen gaze going towards Thane just then as she spoke directly to him.
"I'm doing this to make both of you stronger. I know you don't understand it just yet..."
Slender hand snapped outwards, fingertips a quick point towards handcuffs hanging from the low ceiling, turning on her heel she strode towards a cabinet as Lance was strung up, left standing there. Naked back with its blood and welts opened up to her like a butterfly showing its wings. Fingertips picked over the various whips used there, finding one smaller, blunter one she turned and smiled widely. Making her way over to Thomas, pressing the butt of the whip against his cheek and then moving towards Lance slowly, skirt undulating with each movement. Blood coating from the tips of her fingers all the way to her elbows in small splatters, she had begun to wrap his arms and legs watching him hang there. His body tired, barely giving him enough time to rest upon the slab in the middle of the room.
The handle of the whip was pressed against the small of his back, hard, pushing his body forward, forcing him to arch forward for her.
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Post by lance on Sept 18, 2006 9:14:01 GMT -5
He was being moved. He only knew this because myriad injuries flared up anew, and then conflagrated as he was once again suspended from the ceiling.
Gracia's goons were fools... If Lance had any control of his body, one hand seal would have been enough to destroy both of them. He had already discovered that pain could be a useful means of channeling his chakra... but at the present moment, he was all but shut down. He couldn't have performed a simple clone jutsu if he'd wanted to.
He moaned, uncomprehending, as all of his wounds that had tried to heal were re-opened by the skin-stretching, resulting from being hung by his wrists... again.
If Gracia's methods were a bit skewed, the result was somewhat startling... Lance had given up all hope, save for one: the Emperor. It manifested almost in a fantasy, that Shane would arrive and save his loyal servant from further damage. The pain she was and would be inflicting was lost on him, at this point. Agony would still be done, skin torn, muscles flayed, bones scraped; but Lance did not care.
Blood-spattered lips twitched into an almost childlike smile. He remembered the first time he had met the Emperor, the fear and awe that had filled him... and then the change it had evoked.
He had suddenly realized that he was not a force of nature. He was just a scrawny teenager with a talent for murder and deception. And humbled so, he had sought advice from those around him, and only now did he know what one individual was speaking of.
A feeling of protection. Not any sort of paternal or fraternal affection involved... but so long as he remained useful, Lance knew that Gracia wouldn'... no... couldn't do anything to truly harm him. If he died at her hands, he rationalized, then he was weak, too weak to warrant any protection at all.
Lucidity struck him like a maul. Eyes darted about, re-assessing the room. Gracia. A whip. Perhaps a little cliche, but it would do. He wanted to watch this. He wanted to remember it.
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Post by Gracia Rodello on Sept 18, 2006 13:21:21 GMT -5
Cliche' that was the only way to put it.
As she swung her hand backwards, it was as if she was in her natural setting, wielding this weapon. Pleasure coursing through her veins, almost giddy with anticipation as the end of it slithered against the ground. It was short compared to the others, the special thing about the tightly coiled whip this short, was the loose worn leather.
Suddenly with a snap, arm coming forward the tip whistling through the air and snapping coiled around lance's thin body like a lover pulling him backwards, leaving its angry fingerprints upon his rib cage and over his waist.
"There's one...use brutality to annihilate the empire's enemies"
Her hand stretched backwards and again snapped forward, this time the whip snapped over his shoulder, the very tip leaving a welt over his left shoulder.
"There's two...use obscenely cruel methods to deal with the Empire's foes"
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Post by lance on Sept 18, 2006 13:33:19 GMT -5
His back arched as the whip struck, legs contorting as he reflexively struggled to get away. A bare whimper was all the sound he could make. Her words and the crack of the whip seemed to meld together in his ears, echoing...
That is until the next stroke of the whip. His form, seeming so frail now, was lurching about. Fresh blood mingled with old blood and dried blood and sweat. He could feel his gorge rising up, but refused to vomit.
He would endure this.
He would overcome this.
Teeth were gritted, awaiting.
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Post by Gracia Rodello on Sept 18, 2006 13:39:07 GMT -5
Feeding off the frenzy to escape the whip, her hand snapped backwards and forward. A whistle through the air as the leather found its current lover and snapped down his back in a slash. Lush lips compressed a smile so sinister upon her lips that it threatened to make her laugh.
"Thats three...so that you remember that none can break you..."
That was said like a threat, just let him vomit, let him spew. Her hiss was loud, as she watched the writhing form and snapped her hand back once more only to send the whip flying through the air and letting it caress his left flank.
"That's four....The Empire and its name you will always help protect.."
A hiss through the air as the whip found its mark upon his back.
"Thats five...so that you carry yourself in such a way, that none will ever disrespect you."
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Post by lance on Sept 18, 2006 13:43:01 GMT -5
He let out a cry, albeit a muffled one, as his back and side and then back were torn open. His arms were coming out of socket. His wrists felt ready to snap off.
Eyes closed, despite his best effort to keep them open. Blood began to dribble down his chin from his lip, which he had bit through unknowingly. Five. How many more? How many more could he take?
He coughed, a racking cough that spasmed his whole body.
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Post by Gracia Rodello on Sept 18, 2006 13:52:55 GMT -5
There was a fleeting look of sorrow within those rigid ashen eyes. Her breathing was coming in spurts. She turned to one side and snapped the whip so hard across his back that she was finally done.
"And that last one..so you remember, that we serve the Empire. We serve the Emperor. Nothing..nothing matters more"
Watching his writhing form she nodded to herself, as if enjoying the stretch of sinew and muscle in its pain.
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Post by lance on Sept 18, 2006 14:02:56 GMT -5
He cried out again, he would have screamed if he could have. Anguished and depleted, he just hung there, swinging back and forth. He had no voice to lift. He had no energy to move. Blood was flowing down in rivulets, dripping onto the floor beneath him and pooling there.
Eyes opened. Gracia. Done? He couldnt't tell.
A look to Thane. Was he disgusted? Angry? Indifferent? It didn't matter to him, and he didn't have the ability to differentiate anyway.
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