It Could Always Be Worse...

[Yevrin]

Yevrin was tired of lugging around this bothersome staff. It was extremely impractical to carry around: she kept hitting it against walls when she turned corners too sharply and she lost a hand to having to hold it all the time. Not to mention it was a terrible eyesore. It was much harder to lose yourself in a crowd if you could be remembered as “the woman with the ugly staff”. Her beautiful swords were strapped to her or sheathed on a belt and hugged close to her body so she never had to worry about them. She had toyed with the idea of just pawning it off but she did not think that she would get much for it, especially in its current condition. The staff had not taken being hit on wall corners well. It had also, possibly, suffered when Yevrin had tried to see if she could open a portal with it like the jerk had been able to by hitting it against the ground. She had given up after a few tries, determining that it must require a magic phrase like her grapnel did, but there might have been some dents and scratches on it that were not there previous to her attempts.
“What should I do with this piece of junk?” Yevrin mused, trying to figure out a solution to her problem. “I could stash it somewhere, but it would have to be a very good hiding place. It needs to be somewhere that I would not need to check up on it, lest that jerk try tailing me. Also, it should be secure, and not somewhere where that jerk would think to look or have access too.” Yevrin had thought on this for a while and then decided she had reached a very good conclusion: she would throw it into the bay. She would need to rent a small boat to go out far enough, as well as get some rope, something buoyant to mark the place, and something heavy to keep it from moving too much with the tides, but it would be a perfect place to hide it from that metal junk heap that could not swim to save his life. She doubted he would even think she would just toss it into the bay, considering it was her leverage against him, but it would be unwise to have it constantly on her in case he just tried to take it back by force rather than bargaining. Though she had no doubt in her abilities to fight off her debtor, she was not used to fighting while holding such an obtuse object. It would throw off her balance to keep a hold on it while fighting, but if she put it down it could be stolen back during the fight. Thus down to the bottom of the bay it would go until she managed to extract her money from Boon.

So that evening Yevrin went down to the docks to take a look around. She hoped she would come across a loosely secured boat that she could borrow free of charge for her errand, as well as maybe some free rope and other supplies too. Unfortunately for her, she would soon learn that her outing would not be a peaceful stroll along the water.

***

As Yevrin had been walking, a group of filthy men had approached her. She did not like the look of them. “Thugs,” she thought bemused, “Out to attack an innocent woman on her innocent nighttime stroll.” She smirked, thinking of the lesson she was going to teach them about picking on lone girls they came across at night. The six of them stood in front of her, blocking her way to continue down the boardwalk. They were dressed very outlandishly, not like the usual bandits she was used to seeing, and wore their swords openly at their sides. Though now they began to draw them rather than just wear them as a fashion accessory. She drew her own sword in return, shifting the staff over to her left hand. She waited for them to make the first move, and then when the first one attacked she dispatched him easily. The other five decided to rush her together seeing how easily she had dealt with their associate. She still managed to hold her own, though taking an offense stance was impossible. She was defending on all sides, using the staff to block with her left, but she was not used to wielding it. It through off her balance just as she had feared and she would not be able to keep herself unharmed if she did not lose it. Thus Yevrin threw the staff at the opponent directly left of her and quickly drew the dagger sheathed on her back. Having regained her usual balance and with a familiar weapon in hand Yevrin managed to dispatch another opponent and wound another. Though she had been going about her work in silence, her opposition had been yelling and cursing loudly, disconcerted that their easy prey was putting up so much of a fight. Their noise had apparently drawn others of their ilk, as Yevrin noticed in her peripheral vision that more strangely dressed thugs joined them on the dock. A few more joined the numbers of her attackers. Of the original six, three had dropped out of the fight but now four more had joined their ranks so Yevrin was back on the defensive. Then the worst thing happened. Yevrin tripped. While spinning to parry an attack at her back she had tripped on that cursed staff that had been lying on the ground. She landed badly, a sharp pain stabbing her right ankle. Before she could regain a stance she had seven swords at her throat. Then two of her attackers parted as the ugliest and most outlandishly dressed of the lot stepped forward and leered down at her.

***

The pirate captain had ordered his crew to take Yevrin back to their ship. They had bound her hands and gagged her with a disgusting rag. She had tried to maintain at least her dignity and rise to her feet without being touched by their filthy hands, but when she had tried to put pressure on her right leg her ankle had twinged painfully and she had fallen back as a result. They had then hauled her to her feet, touching her with their grubby hands, and continued to push her along as she limped to their ship. Sheer willpower had kept her from falling again; she could not bear the thought of being carried by one of these brutes. She had had to endure the assault on her ankle, the assault on her pride, and the assault on her ears from their lewd comments. She knew she was attractive, and she knew just what this type of men would want to do with her, but she would die before she let something like that happen. They had thrown her into a cell and left her in the dark, promising to come visit her later, though their captain boasted loudly that if any man touched her before he had his fun with her, he would cut off the offending body part before cutting off their head.

The lonely darkness was her friend. They had taken the useless staff, her sword and dagger that she had used in combat, as well as the dagger that was visibly strapped on her thigh, but that still left her with several blades. She quickly cut her bonds and pulled the filthy rag from her mouth, then limped over to the cell door to pick the lock.

It was a hard choice for Yevrin but she had decided to escape without reclaiming her other blades. She was disadvantaged in terms of numbers, as well as injured, and with her arm blades her largest weapon, she would not be able to withstand a several-on-one battle. They would do well for a stealthy escape though, and when her ankle was healed she would return for blades. Walking was difficult but Yevrin felt her way through the darkened hold to make her first escape attempt.

***

Yevrin had once again been thrown into her cell, this time striped of her arm blades and her vest. She had been caught trying to escape and had made the mistake of drawing a throwing dagger from her vest to use in her defense as she tried in vain to create enough distance to get herself over the railing of the ship. She had taken out three crew members and injured two more in her attempt, but had been caught and returned below decks, removed of her vest, which they discovered held five other throwing daggers, a concealed stiletto blade, and a lock pick set amongst various other things. They bound her hands, bound her feet together, putting painful pressure on her ankle, and gagged her again. She had been swearing at them much more profusely then they had at her earlier in the night so they joked they would never get a wink of sleep if they did not stop her banshee wailing. Then she was left alone in the darkness again.

Painfully, Yevrin moved her body so that her hands could reach the backs of her boots, where she removed from her left boot heel a concealed dagger. She used this to unbind herself and yanked her gag out. She took her second lock pick set out from her boot and unlocked the door to her cell yet again. She placed them back in her boot, and then removed the other dagger. Yevrin hoped that since they had foiled her first attempt they would think it unlikely that she would be able to manage a second.

Slower than before – her ankle did not like the amount of strain placed on it – Yevrin made her way to the stairs that led above deck. Unfortunately, someone opened the hatch to come down just as she was reaching the landing. She tried to back herself into the shadows cast from the lamp the pirate was carrying, but she was exposed. She killed her unfortunate discoverer, but not before he had yelled out. She quickly placed her daggers back in her boots, but that was all the time she had before she had been recaptured.

They had taken Yevrin to the captain’s cabin then. Perhaps he had decided he would use her now so if she managed to escape at least he would not lose out on his fun. It did not go as he expected it would though, as Yevrin had managed to secretly take out her boot dagger yet again.. She had stabbed him when he came too close for comfort, but his yells had called his crew to him before she could wound him fatally. He had demanded her striped completely to make sure she did not have any other hidden tricks concealed on her, and then had her thrown back into her cell. She had kicked, screamed, bit, and fought the entire way, indignant to the way her captors were coping feels of her body, so much so that she thought they were about as pleased as she was to have an iron wall separating them again after they had locked her in her cell. They had not attempted to bind her this time, but they improved their defense a bit. They left a guard and a light outside her cell to make sure there would be no third attempt.

***

Yevrin had assumed she would have a few days before anyone tried to make any advances on her; she had wounded the captain severely enough that he would not be planning on taking her to his room again in the near future. On her second day of captivity however, the guard on duty guard was less than obedient to his captain’s commands. He had entered her cell and though she had struggled to keep him from pinning her, two hard kicks to her weakened ankle sent her to her knees. She had been forced to use her last tool, the file dangling from the cord tying her hair up, to plunge it into his throat as he had tried to lean in too close to her. His blood spurted all over her as she stabbed at him until he stopped twitching. His death had been so sudden that he had not been able to yell out so Yevrin hoped she would be able to escape. She tried to stand up, but her battered ankle would no longer support her. She had torn the thread keeping the file to the cord so it was impossible to reattach; she could not conceal it there again. So she was forced to sit there in her dank, open cell, blood drying on her naked body with nothing but her bloody file and the sword she had stripped off the dead guard’s body. She removed her hair cord to tie around her wounded ankle, using the bloody file to try to make a splint for it. She doubted it would help much but at least she would be able to keep the file. The next guard found her there like that, a seething, blood-drenched figure.

Yevrin had demanded that she be given a bucket of water and rag to wash the blood away, and her clothes returned, and in return she would return her weapon without a fight. Her guard had been so spooked he had actually given her the drinking pail left for the guards on duty, as well as a rag, before he ran off to report to his captain. Yevrin quickly washed off the blood as best as she could before the captain, supported by whom she had learned was his first mate, came down, accompanied by several jumpy members of the crew.
Yevrin had definitely proven herself to be much more of a hassle than they had expected. She had acquired, at least with some the lower ranked members of the crew, a sense of awe about her; she had continuously managed to escape and attack her captors despite her limitations. She knew that there were even whispers that they should just throw her off the ship, as it was bad luck to have a woman aboard and was not she proving just how unlucky it was.

The captain glared at her and she stared up defiantly at him. She repeated her demand, she wanted her clothes and after she had them she would relinquish her weapon without any more violence. The captain smirked at her and told her he would give her clothes, but not hers, and it was her choice whether she wanted to wear them or not but either way they would have the sword from her. He whispered to his first mate, who grinned evilly after hearing what his captain said, and left to fetch Yevrin’s new clothes.

Yevrin had nearly refused to put them on when they were presented to her. Only the fact that being naked had to be worse than wearing them forced her to put them on, though the bottom had been tricky to get on with her injured ankle. She had had to put the sword aside while she was changing and a very nervous crewmate had been ordered to grab it. After she had finished dressing herself there had been a very still moment. The pirates were leering at her, though still wary of her, while she glared, openly hostile, back at them. Then the captain had ordered her to be placed and bound in a new cell and left on her own, without food or drink. He figured that after a few days of starvation and thirst she would be much more compliable.

***

Yevrin was miserable. She had not been this miserable in years. She was outraged and slightly embarrassed as well, which just added to her misery as she stewed in her prison in the lower decks of the pirate ship. She shifted uncomfortably, though it just made everything worse. She had to stop shifting positions, but it was just so infuriating to be able to do nothing at all. It was completely unthinkable that she should even be in this position.

It had been two days, as far as she could tell, that she had been left in this condition. She was hungry and thirsty, and her ankle throbbed with pain at the pressure the fetter placed on it. Her left ankle was similarly bound, and both her wrists were manacled as well. Even if she had had her blades on her, she would not have been able to free herself from her chains without some kind of pick. With how she was chained, she could not reach her file so it was as useless to her as the ankle it was tied to. The chains that bound her hands hung down from the ceiling, but did not have enough length to let her sit on the floor. She was forced to kneel with her arms stretched high above her, so that she would not be forced to stand, trying to keep as much pressure off of her ankle as possible. There was also not enough give on the chains that bound her legs to allow her to bring her feet together. She made quite the spectacle, especially in her new outfit. The clothing the pirates had deigned to give her was a very flimsy set of black lingerie: a short babydoll with matching panties. Made predominantly of a gauzy, black material, she might as well not have been wearing anything at all. The bust was at least made of sturdier, opaque material and the straps and trimmings were done in black lace. However, it was a bit small for Yevrin’s body and forced her breasts up and closer together than was comfortable and she was positive they would pop out of the cursed article of clothing if she so much as breathed too deeply. It also did not go much farther down than her upper thigh so she was also equally certain that if she shifted too much it would ride up over her hips. With her hands so far above her, she would never be able to pull it back down if it did.

“Life could not get any worse,” Yevrin thought sullenly. “I have no weapons, no picks, no clothes worth mentioning, no food, no water, and no hope of rescue. I have an injured, unusable ankle, manacles and fetters I cannot pick on each limb, lingerie that leaves nothing to the imagination, and an annoying amount hair falling into my face every two minutes. The Fates could not contrive a more terrible tableau if they tried for decades to weave it.” Yevrin sighed. Why had this happened to her? It was entirely that stupid jerk’s fault. If it had not been for him she would never have been walking down those docks with that cursed staff in the first place.

[Boon]

The few days Boon had been parted from his precious staff had probably been the most miserable and infuriating few days of his artificial life. Not only was he without a clue as to where it was currently located, it had fallen into the thieving hands of who he was certain he could now officially call his arch nemesis, Yevrin, and there was little guarantee that she would even attempt to keep it safe in her clutches. The weapon was his treasure, and was also the source of his bizarre, albeit handy, ability to open portals leading to other realms. He loved the magic item so much that its clock face symbol adorned Aeon, the realm he ruled, from his gaudy throne to the uniforms his guards wore. If he found so much as a scratch on it, he would make sure to conjure up a particularly hellish realm to heave Yevrin into for the rest of her days.

But first, there was the matter of retrieving his portal-conjuring weapon in the first place. If he did not find the thief and force her to relinquish the staff (or so he planned), he was sure he would soon lose his mind to his typically rampant rage. The alternative options were dismal ones. As much as he loved himself, Boon would rather throw himself into one of Aeon’s trash compactors then live the rest of his existence on this blasted island, without his staff, or the knowledge that Yevrin had won looming over his shamed head for an eternity. So he scoured the city endlessly, and eventually took to asking commoners for help, much to his dismay. Unfortunately for Boon, he was not exactly the most genial android around. Cornering, grabbing and/or shouting at islanders to coerce them into providing some hint as to Yevrin and his staff’s whereabouts was not having the desired effect. Once or twice he had passed by the delivery service during his skirmish around town, and mulled over the idea of enlisting Sebastian and Swaizzo’s help. The pair knew the coast well and the gryphon’s flight combined with his literal eagle eyes would certainly come in handy on Boon’s search. Of course, even in his dire need, he could not bring himself to stoop so low as to ask them, as he was certain they would take some convincing after Boon had tossed Swaizzo into a portal earlier that week to be rid of his annoying presence. Although, he could blame Yevrin for that as well, as it was her idea in the first place.

He was at his wit's end. The wretch had to be in the city somewhere. She could not use the staff to leave Lamiere like he could, and he was certain that the conceited creature would not be caught dead in or near the swamps and mountains surrounding Abastecimiento. Finally, in the late hours of the night and after three days of ceaseless, fruitless hunting, he had come to the docks. He had avoided the area for as long as possible, as it sat directly on the bay and the very sight of water filled his mechanical being with uneasiness. He spotted a lone dock worker there tidying up a stack of crates. He swallowed his pride yet again and inquired about a woman with Yevrin’s description, carrying a staff. Boon did his best this time to sound a little less abrasive, although he couldn’t help but use a few colourful words to describe his hated foe. His eyes widened in disbelief when the worker actually told him that he had seen someone matching her description here just a few days ago. He explained that he had seen her engage in a scuffle with a gang of grubby-looking men who he assumed, by their weapons and attire, were pirates, and was ultimately overpowered and dragged her back to their ship. He pointed a thumb over to where it was currently docked.

Boon could not waste another minute. He hurried down the docks towards the pirate ship without even so much as a thank you or farewell to the helpful worker.

The deck was empty. It seemed as though the ship’s occupants had retired to their quarters for the night, leaving Boon to slink onto their vessel unnoticed, at least for the time being. The air reeked of their slovenly presence and he nearly slipped once or twice on some unknown slop. Even in the squalor and gloom he could not help but grin widely at the thought of the scenario. If the dock worker was correct, Yevrin had been outnumbered and viciously attacked, and who knows what had happened to her after that. She could very well be dead and his dirty work would have been done for him, as he preferred. If he could locate where the pirates were keeping his staff quickly enough he could escape from this hole in no time.

Seeing no sign of his staff or where it could be hidden above deck, he descended into the lower part of the ship as quietly as he could muster. He cringed at every creak his steps coaxed out of the wooden stairs. His weight could not be helped and as he became increasingly fearful he would be heard, he dashed down the remainder of the steps, no quieter then when he was being careful. He winced and stood stiffly at the bottom for a moment listening for any sign of an enemy. Not a sound. He straightened out his coat then and assumed his usual confident posture. He began his search of the hull, rummaging through crates and peering into rooms which appeared to be designed to hold prisoners. Besides what seemed to be dried blood stains and tattered cloth, they were empty. A smirk grew in his lips at the thought of what torture Yevrin might have had to endure in these cells. She deserved it, after all, for all she had done to him in the short time they had known each other.

Finally, he came to a cell with its door shut tight. He cocked an eyebrow at it curiously. Not wanting to overlook one lousy room at the risk of losing his staff, he stepped towards it and placed his hands onto the metal surface. Assuming smashing the thing wide open would create quite a racket, he moved his hands to the lock, and tore it out of its place on the door with ease. With that accomplished, he dropped the useless lock to the floor and lightly pushed the door open with his foot, sending it creaking aside lazily. What was revealed to him in that next moment dashed any thoughts he had about finding his staff from his mind, temporarily at least.

He stood there in the door frame, completely stupefied. Yevrin looked miserable, and understandably so, although admittedly the rest of her was quite a treat to the eyes. Miraculously, this was the second time in days Boon had seen her in some sort of lingerie, however this time around, the situation was not in her favor in the least. He stared openly at the outfit that was entirely too small for her body, then finally he could not contain his glee any longer and a boisterous laughter erupted from him. He could not have wanted a more entertaining scene to stumble upon. To his disappointment she appeared relatively unscathed, although he was sure the humiliation of being found in this state was far more painful then any sort of physical torture the pirates could have inflicted. He pressed his fingers to his lips and did his best to compose himself. He was going to savor his time in her cell, tormenting her as she had once done to him. Leaning against the door frame, he folded his arms over his chest and grinned impishly, gazing over his spectacles at her chained form.

“Yevrin,” He drawled coolly, “That’s quite a new look for you. Did you do something with your hair?”

[Yevrin]

Yevrin wondered if she had started to become delusional from the lack of food and water. The Fates could not possibly be so cruel as to make her deal with that jerk now of all times. She shook her head gently, trying to get as much of her hair out of her face as possible and looked up at her visitor. There was no mistaking it; Boon had come to make her even more miserable than before. His laughter stung more painfully than the metal digging into her wrists.

“Who is he to laugh at me?” Yevirn thought furiously. “It is his fault I am stuck like this in the first place. And if it had been him ambushed instead of me he would be dead by now. At least the pirates saw some use for me. The only reason they would keep him alive is to sell him to some freak show if they noticed his blood was blue before they killed him.”

She was not sure what would be worse at this moment: Boon’s visit, or if the pirates had come back. She determined after much internal debate that Boon was just slightly better, because she at least had a small bit of hope of manipulating him into unlocking her chains. True, she did not technically possess his staff at the moment, but if she pretended she knew where it was she could probably talk him into releasing her. Maybe. It was her best chance at the moment with no other options available to her.

Yevrin tried to compose herself, forcing her anger deep inside her; yelling and threatening him would not work to accomplish her desired result. She took a deep breath to calm herself, though regretted it instantly as she felt the material press tightly against her chest.

“Chaos take those cursed pirates!” Yevrin thought angrily, hating her current outfit. She looked at Boon and could not stand how much he was enjoying this. “Pervert,” she thought, though did not say it out loud since she had to try to not insult him right now, no matter how easily it could be done.

Yevrin tried to force a smile. “No, nothing really. Just letting it down for a change. I would not have thought you cared enough to notice. You do not think it covers too much of my face and neck when left down? You look … the same as ever,” she replied with forced sweetness. “So, what brings you to this part of town? I did not think rescuing damsels in distress was a pastime of yours but I would not protest if you wanted to give it a try…”

[Boon]

Boon could not believe his ears. Here was Yevrin, a being filled with absolute hatred towards him, addressing him completely lacking in any sort of snide comments, threats or insults. His first reaction would have been to double over with laughter at the absurdity but after a moment the sensation of being spoken to in such a way was almost unsettling. Her charade was painfully transparent, and hearing her voice tinted with even the slightest bit of sweetness added a great deal of entertainment value to the situation, despite it being so utterly bizarre.

Leisurely, Boon stepped away from the door frame and over to where she knelt on the dank floor. He stopped mere inches from her, ensuring that she would be forced to crane her neck to look up at him. It was such a glorious feeling, to watch his nemesis hang helplessly in her bonds, reduced to forcing smiles and kind remarks. With his arms still crossed, and head cocked, he looked as arrogant as ever and was well aware of the fact. He smiled, knowing that no matter how much Yevrin tried to feign pleasantness, she was undoubtedly seething underneath it all.

He bent over slightly and lifted a few strands of dark hair from her face, and remarked after a moment of scrutiny, “No. In fact, I think it’s quite an improvement like this.” He smirked and straightened up, carelessly dropping her hair from his fingers. “And really? Rescue? You? Do you take me for an idiot?” Boon chuckled, then suddenly remembered who he was speaking to and added curtly, “That was rhetorical, by the way. Have you already forgotten about the amount of wrongdoings you have committed against me? You’re always saying rude things to me, throwing daggers at my face, impaling me...” he listed nonchalantly, all the while counting each point on his fingers. “You know, that scrap metal junk heap comment from before really stung. Do you honestly believe a being as sophisticated as myself really deserves such a comparison?” His smirk dropped into a frown then, “And still, there is the greatest wrong of them all... You had the audacity to steal my staff, knowing very well how much I would miss it. I don’t suppose you know where it is? Seeing as how you were stupid enough to drag it down into this disgusting hole with you...” He glared down at her, his features hardening with anger. As enjoyable as it was to loom over Yevrin’s chained, exposed figure, the fact that his cherished weapon was not on his person was marring the whole experience. In her current state he was certain it would not be difficult to draw the truth out from her, as well as a few flattering words, which truly he could never tire of hearing.

[Yevrin]

Yevrin had to resist the urge to attack the arrogant fool that thought she was harmless in her current state. She resisted the urge to bite the insulting fingers at her face that dared touch her hair. She resisted the desire to bring herself up on her good leg and use her chains to strangle that fool who dared come too close to her – just as she would have done if one of those pirates had decided to try to take advantage of her in this state. It would not have been the first time she killed a man with the chains of her bondage. But she kept her violent impulses under control; let the insult slide, for the moment at least. Boon was currently her only hope out of here, so she had to restrain herself and let him feel superior for the moment, though it ate at her that she had to leave his ego unchecked. She at least had some satisfaction that he still feared her a bit; she nearly smirked when he quickly covered up his mistake of asking her for her opinion of him. She had stopped herself since she assumed it would likely anger him, and she had to do her best to try to avoid doing that.

Yevrin decided to ignore the comments about the supposed atrocities she had done to him. Everything she had done had been self-defence, righteous revenge, or justifiable methods to try to reclaim her property. As for any statements, they were all truth, so why should she feel guilty for stating fact? He apparently did not feel the same way however, so it was best not voice this aloud.

She was glad the loss of his staff had upset him. If it were not for these stupid pirates, her plan of extorting her money from him by holding it hostage probably would have worked, which made her feel a bit better. “Now he can feel a fraction of the pain I had when he bent my beautiful sword,” she thought. “Though… perhaps it would be better if he did not know I was the one who damaged it when we find it. Better to blame those horrible pirates. They deserve it anyway and they probably would have broken it eventually. It is terribly awkward; I would not be surprised if they banged it a few times getting it through the ship. Though if they did anything to my possessions… I swear I will come back and sink this cursed ship.” But future vengeance would have to wait. She needed to get herself out of these chains first.

Yevrin kept her fake smile on her face, though it did not reach her cold, calculating eyes. “Of course I know where it is,” she bluffed in a sweet tone; with just a hint of reproach that he would think that she would not possess this information. “However, being chained up does not put me in a very tell-people-where-their-staff-is mood. Are you sure you do not want to give that rescuing thing a second thought? Supposedly the Fates reward good deeds you know…”

[Boon]

"Fates?" Boon repeated, cocking an eyebrow, "I should have guessed a human as irrational as you would believe in such nonsense." He rolled his eyes and sighed, "A perfect entity borne of metal has no need to worry about the motives of your imaginary, fairy-tale characters..."

His gaze drifted away from her as he considered his options. Although he was proud of the fact that he had managed to locate the general vicinity of his stolen staff, he had no clue as to where it was being kept specifically, and there was a decent chance he could spend the rest of the hours of the night rummaging through the ship without any luck. And in that time, it was also feasible that the pirates would finally realize they had an unwanted addition to their crew and skewer him 20 times over - or worse yet, throw him overboard into the bay.

He gritted his teeth at the thought of releasing Yevrin from her bonds. He would be perfectly content knowing that her wrath would be restrained until the end of her days, and she left to be miserable and despondent on this dump of a ship if he decided to abandon her. The only thing that was marginally worse than the idea of setting Yevrin free, was the thought of those disgusting brutes laying their hands on his weapon. It would be in his best interest to do whatever he could to retrieve it as soon as possible, before they dirtied or damaged it. Though, there was also the trouble of determining whether or not Yevrin was being truthful about knowing its whereabouts. He glared back at her, hating that even in her vulnerable state, she was still managing to undermine his confidence. This devil woman was going to do her best to manipulate him, which he would not stand for. If he could manage it, he would draw the information out of her without having to lift a finger to break her bonds.

"No. I believe that won't be necessary." Boon replied shortly. He held his chin between his forefinger and thumb thoughtfully and began to circle around Yevrin at a leisurely pace. "Are you forgetting who has the upper-hand here? If anyone is going to be making ultimatums, it's me... Either you tell me where my staff is, before I release you, or I take my leave now and forget I ever saw you here." Standing behind her now, he bent over and leaned in brazenly close to her face, and continued, "Besides, I'm beginning to think you're enjoying this whole debacle of yours... If you really wanted out of these shackles, you would try a little harder to convince me to oblige. And anyway, this new get-up is such a good look for you. I'm sure your captors would be unhappy with me if they caught me undoing the work they must have went through to get you into these things." He smirked and jabbed a thumb at the chains hanging from the ceiling.

[Yevrin]

Yevrin seethed at how difficult he was making this. She could not let him call her bluff; he would never release her if he realized that she had no idea where his stupid staff was. She sighed, her chest pressing tightly against the fabric of her top, increasing her annoyance. She pouted, and in a somewhat childish and whiny tone replied, “Ah, yes, sorry. I guess my social graces have somewhat dulled as of late. What with being chained up, in a position that does not really aid sleep, and being deprived of food and water, I suppose it is no wonder that I am not as polite as I should be. You will not hold it against me, no?”

Yevrin continued, in an overdramatic fashion, “And yes, it is true. It is terribly mistrusting of me to want you to release me first. I mean, what possible reason could I have to ask for that? I know you are the honourable type; it is not as if you have ever broken your word to me and run off before. How could I possibly be so selfish as to impugn your honour so? We will just have to chalk that up to the bad influence of these pirates that have captured me; they have utterly destroyed my faith in other beings. For I am truly unhappy here. Someone of your intellect could of course realize this at a glance, so that comment before must have just been some joke that went over my head, since you are of course such a great being that you would notstoop to tease such a tortured, defenseless girl so. I mean, you are such a great leader, ruler of that place we met at if I remember correctly, and all great leaders care for even the lowliest of their subjects. For such wonderful, magnificent rulers are loathe to see the suffering of any under their care, and the truly great, which of course you must be, cannot stand to see such injustices anywhere. Thus I thought that even though I am not one of your subjects and this is not your land, your noble character would compel you to aid me and defy these horrendous monsters that would perform such atrocities upon a lady.”

She paused. Her tongue felt fuzzy from all the lies that she had forced it to say. She thought she understood now why some parents threaten to wash their child’s mouth with soap. Well, at least the jerk ought to realize that none of this was true; if he did not then his ego must have driven him delusional.

Yevrin smiled, and then directed the icy grin to her unpleasant audience. “Am I wrong?” she asked sweetly.

[Boon]

The amusement Boon was experiencing while goading Yevrin soon dissipated as he listened to her spiel. He crossed his arms and frowned as his anger returned to him, his fingers pressing against his arms in irritation. The sarcastic remarks about his intelligence and integrity were not exactly the compliments he was hoping to hear. Her comments about his competence as a ruler particularly flared his temper up. As far as he was concerned, he was a magnificent Overlord, one to be revered and respected, as his subjects correctly did. How dare she speak to him in such a condescending manner? He resisted the urge to strike the insolent creature; to throttle the life from her worthless carcass.

"Do not patronize me, you blithering low-life." Boon hissed and grabbed hold of her chains in her stead, and shook them forcefully in aggravation. "You are human, and a particularly annoying one at that. As Overlord of Aeon I have zero responsibility or desire to care for the lesser races... I am only here enduring your presence right now because you took something that is rightfully mine, and I want. It. Back." He forced his words through clenched teeth and yanked her bondage at each punctuated word. Of course, the blatant hypocrisy of what he was getting at did not once occur to him, and likely never would.

Boon grew impatient. If he really did have to free Yevrin in order to get his staff back, he was going to make sure he got something else out of this fiasco as well. He reasoned that perhaps this was not sure a terrible option... Assuming that this worked out as planned, he would be able to leave this place and have gained a great deal. Well, besides having saved his hated foe and thusly damned himself to endure her relentless stalking forever more...

Then, an idea struck him, brought on by that particular thought.

He walked around Yevrin and stood in front of her again, and looked up thoughtfully at the ceiling for a moment and continued, "Say I was to 'rescue' you from these thugs... What else are you willing to do for me, besides the return of my staff? I mean really, I have already wasted a great deal of my valuable time by having to come here in the first place, not to mention this tiresome little meeting," he gestured flippantly towards Yevrin, "I am going to have to be compensated if you absolutely must have my help. There are numerous ways in which you've made my life miserable as of late, you know. For example, I haven't particularly enjoyed you dragging my name through the mud while on your stupid chase for my money... Would it not be easier for us both if you simply gave up on the whole ordeal by now?"

[Yevrin]

It was revolting. Each shake of the chain caused her ankle to scream in pain, though Yevrin refused to let a sound escape from her throat. This stupid jerk could actually hurt her now. This pompous idiot had the gall to pace around her as if he had the power of life and death over her. And what did she do? Nothing, because she was chained and defenseless. It reminded her too closely of her years in slavery. But she had escaped from that and she would escape from this too.

Yevrin grabbed onto the chains attached to her manacles and pulled herself up, standing on her good leg. “If I have to go to the bargaining table for my freedom, I am at least going to go to it standing,” Yevrin thought fiercely. Her ankle twinged with the movement, but she ignored it. Her baby doll might have ridden up a bit with her shifting position but she was too focused to be worried about that now. She glared at her might-be rescuer, wishing she had her blades so she could cut that superior look off of his face.

“So basically you will agree to… rescuing me if we can settle on the right price,” Yevrin stated coldly. Having to admit that she needed him to rescue her in such blunt terms was painful. Hinting and teasing about it was bearable, but actually stating it out loud as a fact made her skin crawl. But she persevered; she could not have her vengeance on him or the cursed pirates if she stayed chained up in this ship. “Compensation. When have we discussed that before? Ah, this is so nostalgic. So, keeping with the past, shall we say the same amount then? I would owe you what you owe me, thus effectively cancelling your debt. I am not the ruler of a great land, so my resources are more limited than yours. As well, since you are a ruler, I highly doubt you are hurting for money as much as I am. Thus cancelling the debt seems fair; I will give up on taking back my money from you since will be yours. Deal?” Yevrin did not mention that she would not try to take his money from him, just for the fun of stealing it, but that was an entirely different matter so of course should not be included in the bargain.

[Boon]

The sight of Yevrin hauling herself up by her chains had injected some amusement back into Boon's mood. That simple act seemed to require some effort and she did not appear any more comfortable standing than she had been kneeling on the grungy floor. Her outfit, on the other hand, was doing it’s job just fine and granting her no better covering in her current pose. He kept his eyes fastened to hers as she came to face him, but could not hide his telling, impish smirk.

“Not so fast,” Boon replied, and wagged a finger at her reproachfully, “Since, as you say, we are keeping with the past, it would not be appropriate to let you off so easily... Or have you forgotten about how long you let me freeze in that watery hell?” Boon shot her a glare before looking away for a moment, and pressed a finger to his lips as if considering some very weighty options. “Ah yes, I recall owing you more than just my money.” He said finally and nodded, “I had a favor to do you as well. I bet you really feel stupid now, after you wasted that perfectly good part of the deal on that babbling rodent,” he laughed derisively at her, and continued with a mischievous grin, “Yes, that is what I will ask of you as well, in addition to forgiving my debt and the return of my staff. I can assure you I won’t be so careless with the use of my favor... but I’ll let that wait for another time.” Boon practically bristled with excitement at the thought of Yevrin being stuck in his debt. If he could manage it, he would prefer to manipulate their relationship in his favor instead of having to settle for completely neutralizing it, and this was, by all means the perfect circumstance to do so.

“So? Will you have it? Or shall I wish you luck on your next encounter with your new-found keepers?” He asked wryly.

[Yevrin]

“You were in and out of that ocean in less time than it takes me to care for my sword,” Yevrin thought derisively. “I’ve been here for days, with disgusting sea trash trying to make my life more miserable. You just had to splash in some cold water for a little while. Weakling.” Yevrin wished she could say this out loud, but she was so close to being free. She did not wish to jeopardize this chance. She just had to play nice for a few more moments and then she could go back to insulting him aloud rather than just in her head.

She had hoped he would have forgotten that favour part of the deal. Even she would admit that she had wasted that. Swaizzo had been driving her insane and she had just wanted him gone in the quickest way possible that did not involving strangling him. She should have just put up with it a while longer and then lost him in a crowd, but it had just seemed so convenient to have him sent far away in an instant. Besides, she had doubted Boon would have actually ever been able to do anything worthwhile for her. She had just wanted to have him owe her a favour to have it hanging over him.

“A favour…” Yevrin said as if the word was distasteful to her. The smug look on Boon’s face was even more distasteful to her though. What would that jerk try to get her to do? She still believed that Boon had not figured out that she was a thief, so she would likely not have to steal anything for him. She believed that to him she was an abrasive, skilled with blades nuisance. So it would likely be something that involved her swordsmanship. She had no desire to fight for him; she tried to fight only for defence –intimidation counted as a type of defence – rather than offence. If only she could make him use it up quickly on something pointless just as she had done.

Then a thought struck her. Yevrin controlled her face to make sure that no smile would cross her face to make the jerk suspicious. “Nothing is mentioned about how I must treat him while I owe him this favour,” Yevrin thought, planning how she would escape this favour clause in the contract to get her freedom. “I will jut torment him to my heart’s content until he has to use that favour to get me to desist. It is not like he is capable of making me stop with his own abilities. I will just make him use it on something like: stop spreading insulting posters of me all over town, stop breaking into and ransacking my grubby inn rooms, or stop hurling daggers at me. I should be out of his debt within a fortnight.”

“Fine. Debt cancellation and one favour in exchange for rescuing me,” Yevrin finally replied, trying to make it sound as if it was a hard and hated decision. She did not want him to realize that she had no intention of letting him enjoy either condition. Still holding onto the chains for support she pushed her arms towards his gloating face. “Now off with the chains… please,” she demanded sweetly.

[Boon]

Boon’s coat buttons strained. He had won. He was her prey in her incessant hunt for his money no more, and had succeeded in tipping the scales beyond that in his favor. It pleased him greatly that she did not seem content with this development in the least. Admittedly, it would have been a much greater victory if Yevrin weren’t completely and utterly incapacitated by chains and a prison he had had no part in throwing her into. But he would not let that fact puncture his pride. In his mind, it was her own incompetence that had led her into this situation in the first place, as was well-deserved after she had had the audacity to steal his beloved staff.

Taking one final opportunity to savor this moment of superiority, as he was regretfully certain it may never happen to this extent again, he gingerly held her chin in his hand and said, “Excellent. I knew you’d see things my way.” His voice was languid and syrupy. He beamed internally at how much she must have loathed each one of his brazen moves.

“Now, this shouldn’t be too hard...” Boon mumbled to himself and crouched down to test the fetters around her ankles. He started with her right and gripped the thick metal ring in both hands, and pried either side apart with ease. He let the useless metal clatter to the floor and preformed a similar action on her left, paying no heed to any sort of pain or discomfort his clumsy strength may have caused her in doing so. He smirked at how effortless it was to break the bonds that had kept her imprisoned for days.

“Humans are such terribly feeble things,” he muttered mockingly as he rose to stand again, “I am constantly amazed at how the lot of you manage to survive as long as you do.” He reached up and wrapped his fingers around the manacles on her wrists, and forced each of them open as easily as the prior two. A bit belatedly he realized that it may have been in the better interest of his health to keep her somewhat bound. But he had seen nothing that could be of use as a weapon anywhere in the cell and did not fear Yevrin as much when she was without her blades.

With his work accomplished, he stepped back and raised his palms nonchalantly. "Well, there you have it. I'd appreciate your help finding my staff now, if you please." He said with a hint of annoyance.

[Yevrin]

Freedom. Finally, Yevrin was unchained. The only thing spoiling this moment was the throbbing in her ankle, and the fact that she had had to rely on the jerk to liberate her. His audacity knew know bounds. She was going to cut off that offending hand. She smiled at the thought of him using his favour in begging her to stop sawing off the hand, though then wondered how hard it would be to do that considering he was a metal monster. She had wanted to kick him in his gloating face when he had knelt down – such a perfect target – but she had yet to be freed at that point so had had to restrain herself. Though now she no longer had any need to be nice, polite, or even civil to the jerk; she was now free in that sense too.

“Well, personally, I always found that possessing skills and intelligence were useful tools to survival, though I suppose you would not understand that,” Yevrin replied smugly, savouring the fact that she could openly insult him again. She let go of the chains, and managed to stay upright, keeping as much of her weight as possible on her left leg. She rubbed her chaffed wrists, and inspected the damage. They were only slightly chaffed as the manacles had not dug cruelly into her skin. Her right ankle was probably another matter entirely. She wanted to bend down and inspect it, but she was afraid that if she sat down she would be unable to stand up again. As well, she did not really desire to bend down in her current attire.

“Oh, right, that ugly staff of yours. It is somewhere on this accursed ship. Not in here, or in another cell, or in the captain’s cabin last time I was there,” Yevrin replied nonchalantly. She was free now so it did not matter to her that she could not tell Boon exactly where his staff was. She had not lied, technically. To the best of her knowledge she knew his staff was on this ship. When compared to how large the world was, or even how vast existence was, what with multiple dimensions, knowing that it was somewhere in one ship was pretty good. At least that was how she rationalized it. Unfortunately his problem was not completely irrelevant to her; finding his staff was the same as finding her possessions. They were likely in the same place so the probability that she would recover her belongings was high if she helped him find his staff.

“I suppose I will help you look for it though, even though I am not really obligated to, because I am such a generous person. Much more so than you. Really, taking advantage of a woman so. If you had a parent they would be ashamed at how you turned out. Well, might as well get this search started.” Yevrin took one step, and cringed at the pain that flared in her ankle and up her leg. She managed to take another quick half-step half-stagger to put her weight back onto her left leg. However, her balance was off and she had to put her right foot down to try to regain her balance, but even that was too much pressure for her poor ankle. The pain was terrible and her ankle refused to be tortured anymore. Her right leg crumpled beneath her and she fell with a swallowed gasp of pain.

Yevrin quickly put her hands out to try to cushion her fall and keep herself upright. The pain in her ankle was so acute that it even drove the horror of having collapsed in front of Boon out of her head, at least for the moment. Since she was now on the floor anyway, she figured she ought to inspect her ankle. She leaned over and started to unravel the cloth from around her ankle, quickly palming the file as she did so. What she saw was definitely not what an ankle should look like. It was horribly swollen; it looked twice the size of her other ankle and was an angry red colour. She was not going to be able to walk on it now or likely anytime in the near future.

Yevrin’s heart started to race. Despite being unchained she was still not free; her own body was chaining her to the terrible place. There was nothing she could use as a crutch, and she had only her small file for self-defence. She would be unable to escape this ship on her own; she probably could not even make it out of this room. “What am I supposed to do now?” Yevrin thought despairingly. “I have no tools. I supposed that jerk might count as a repulsive resource, but he is not going to be willing to help me. He already extorted so much just to break four measly bands of metal. And what could he do anyway even if he was inclined to help? It is not like he could heal my ankle so that I could walk.” But she had to get off of this ship. She had to figure out a way. There had to be a way. She was not going to rot in this ship a moment longer.

Then, Yevrin realized what was required to get off the ship. “No…” Yevrin thought, wishing to reject the idea with every fibre of her being. “Fates, no! Anything but that. I’ve already had to put up with so much; do not make me have to put up with that too!” She wracked her brain, trying to come up with some alternative, but nothing came to mind. As much as she wished to deny the reality, she had only one option open to her.

Yet again Yevrin had to look up at the foul face of her reluctant rescuer. She could not keep the flush from creeping onto her face as she realized what she was going to have to say next. Trying to keep her voice as neutral as possible, Yevrin stated, “So, it appears that I am not completely rescued yet… You are going to have to carry me.”

[Boon]

Boon’s over-inflated posture drooped as Yevrin’s insulting attitude turned on him. He had known that having his foe under his thumb was too good to last but he had childishly hoped that it might not have ended so quickly. He bit his lip in frustration as she readily retorted his remark that he had stupidly left himself open for. He opened his mouth to retaliate but a swelling tide of anger muddled his train of thought too much to form a proper sentence.

When she confessed to having no idea as to where his staff was located on the ship, stated so coolly and offhandedly, his body stiffened up into an exaggerated cringe. Despite having gained a favor and an abolished debt, the time he had lavishly wasted in her cell felt to be for naught. Even the pleasure he had reaped from tormenting Yevrin had dissolved, as she seemed to have been largely unaffected by his effort to aggravate her now that her bonds were broken.

“What do you mean, it’s somewhere on this ship?!” He squawked incredulously, arms sweeping outwards in a dramatic motion,“I already knew that you worthless --”

Before his anger completely spilled over into a filthy stream of derogatory remarks, his words trailed off as he witnessed Yevrin collapse suddenly onto the cell floor. As was natural for a completely self-absorbed android, Boon had made no motion to help her. He merely stood in perplexed silence and watched her examine her ankle, which he now saw was not in suitable condition for walking. On the contrary, it looked extremely painful, which did help Boon’s mood a bit. Seeing Yevrin in any sort of discomfort was normally a memorable part of his day, however in this particular instance it was going to wind up causing him quite a bit of discomfort, as well. This fact did not occur to him at first, until Yevrin stated her next requirement aloud.

“I’m sorry, what?” Boon snapped, his voice shaking slightly with a feverish laughter. “Oh, no. No, no, absolutely... No.” His eyes shut involuntarily at the thought of what he was just asked to do. He shook his head and repeated the two-letter word, vainly hoping it was some sort of incantation that would wake him from this nightmare. He opened an eye again cautiously, and was unfortunately met with unchanged surroundings. He had been so close to a nearly effortless victory... His life was going to return to normal and all he had had to do was be himself in front of his captive nemesis. Why did she have to go and ruin everything like this? He did not want to help her, having freed her from the pirate’s bondage was more than enough help. But he had already squandered so much of his time in her cell, and he could not fully enjoy his victory over her by simply forgetting about it entirely and abandoning her here.

He pressed his hands to his face and groaned loudly. If he really was going to have to go through with this he wanted it done quickly, and in a way that permitted the least amount of embarrassment. Having to carry Yevrin period was hard enough to come to terms with, but he foresaw that in her current attire, it was bound to be more complicated. Boon was all too familiar with Yevrin's explosive temper. If he so much as grazed a thigh or looked at her wrong she was likely to gouge his eyes out with her bare hands, and with her chains removed, was now within the realm of possibility.

He swallowed the lump in his throat and forced himself to crouch down beside her. He turned his body and exposed his back to her and held his arms out at his sides. He would carry her on his back so his eyes would not be met with hers, or any part of her, during their ridiculous escape out of this hell-hole.

“Let’s do this quickly, please,” Boon said and made an impatient gesture with his fingers. He stared defiantly at the wall as he spoke.

[Yevrin]

Yevrin stared disbelievingly at Boon’s back. She had expected him to deny her, as he had done at first; he had looked about as pleased hearing her request as she had been to ask it. She had not expected him to comply so submissively with her demand. She had already been coming up with counterarguments and threats in her head to try to coax him into at least considering carrying her. But there he was, with his back wide open to her, offering to carry her without so much as an insult. “It has to be a trick or… something,” Yevrin thought, highly suspicious of Boon’s sudden change in character.

Yet she could not see the trap. It genuinely appeared as if Boon had decided to help her. “Maybe he figures he has to get me out of here rather than just running off and breaking his word to me again,” Yevrin reasoned, trying to make sense of Boon’s sudden good nature. “If he does not get me off this ship, then he has not rescued me, thus I have no need to fulfil my part of the deal and can go back to trying to get my money from him and not owe him anything. He has to be just following the deal, since this one favours him more than the last one did.”

Still somewhat hesitant, Yevrin cautiously reached out and grabbed Boon’s shoulder. She used the hand that held the file; in case he did try something suspicious she could at least try to wound him. But he still seemed complaisant so she grabbed his other shoulder with her other hand and pulled herself closer to him. She realized he intended to carry her on his back rather than cradling her, which suited her just fine. Then she remembered just how little she was wearing. “I do not have my pants – I do not even have a flimsy skirt or dress to cover my legs! He is going to be touching my bare legs. Pervert!” Yevrin thought disconsolately. Yet she continued to prepare herself for Boon to carry her. She forced her useless leg into position and knelt close against him, her body pressed against his back and her arms wrapped around his shoulders. She would be able to hold onto him without strangling him – though if he did something distasteful she could easily turn it into a strangle hold – and should have a strong enough grip that even if he dropped her she should be able to cling for a little while at least. This was still assuming he was going to pick her up at all. When she figured she was ready, and almost wishing that Boon had never come and found her here, Yevrin muttered, “Just watch where you put your hands, alright?”