[BrickyardBabe]

Melissa watches Robyn with considering eyes as the elf makes her case. Her athamé still drips with blood, and the only sound in the room is the chorus of pained whines from Calista and the other captive, a girl on the cusp of womanhood, bound to another table opposite Calista, the crowns of their heads almost touching. The girl covered in cuts and marks that look disturbingly like sigils is clearly in worse shape than Robyn's lover with no regeneration to sustain her, and she doesn't have the energy to do much more than shake as Melissa absently strokes her sweat-slicked skin and tangled blonde hair as she thinks.

Finally, Melissa says, "I think you misunderstand my motives here, darling." Her voice is a sickly-sweet, too-rich sound, a corrupt sound and it sets Robyn's teeth on edge. "I am no shadow spirit, to feed on terror and pain. This," she gestures at Calista and the other girl, "has purpose." Her smile is smug. "What, didn't you know that your little phage subjects herself to this willingly? Blood magic is hard on the captives, I'm afraid, and your sweet little banshee slitch seems to have a terrible time knowing that if she doesn't submit to me then I will simply kill a handful or a dozen captives to provide the fuel for my work." Melissa laughs in her too-sweet voice and shakes her head. "No no no, little musician. I love little Anguish here more completely than you ever will, and she loves me too. That's why she comes back every time." She turns to look at Calista. "Isn't it, pet?"

Calista whines but doesn't dare shake her head. If Melissa got it into her twisted mind that she loved Robyn more than her, she would gut Robyn and festoon the room with her entrails. She'd done it before. In her head though, Calista pushes her mind up against Robyn's and thinks, *Please, baby, don't do this! She can't kill me, she needs me too much! Please don't make me watch her hurt you just to save me a little pain!*

Melissa smiles, satisfied when Calista doesn't argue and turns back to Robyn. "Your concern for your friend is touching, but you'll always take second place to me. Still, if you want to come in and spirit away the crumbs from my table, I suppose that is your right. After all, she'll come back to me if I need her. She always does." She looks appraisingly at Robyn and then nods once. "Your offer is sound, little elf. Anguish here has been developing far too much of an independent streak lately, and she needs to be guided back to the right way of thinking. Seeing what happens when she so callously inflicts her life upon someone else seems to be an excellent way of accomplishing that, and as it happens I have need of a touch more power. Poor Anguish is just about tapped out, and my ritual is nearly complete." Melissa glances behind Robyn, looking at Holly and snaps, "Take her. Put her next to the vampire."

Holly surges forward, and Calista can see that her pretty blue eyes have gone a hard, glowing yellow-green. A scent of foxglove and nightshade, wild roses and black lotus rises off her skin as she moves, betraying her as a spirit bound into human form, and Calista's eyes widen in surprise as the mask drops away and her astral sight sees the inhabiting toxic plant spirit for what it is,poisonous and deadly and enormously strong. "Holly"  grabs Robyn with a grip like steel tongs and lifts her bodily from the floor by the throat, then slams her back down onto the tabletop beside Calista, who screams and pulls and thrashes at her bindings until Melissa snaps a word and Calista freezes in place as the spell paralyzes her.

Barely able to breathe, her eyes frozen open, Calista has a perfect, unbroken view of Robyn as Melissa takes the slender silver nails from her work table and hammers them with slow deliberate motions through Robyn's palms, Holly holding her down until its done.

Robyn screams in pain, and she sees herself through Calista's eyes as blood pours from her hands, her dead eyes wide and horrified and her jaw open far enough that she fears it might dislocate. Melissa laughs gaily at Robyn's shrieks and chirps, "No more cello for you, little girl!" She moves down and repeats the process through the small bones of Robyn's ankles, and the blind elf knows that without magical assistance or reconstructive surgery she'll be crippled for the rest of her life.

Melissa whispers soothingly, and a wave of healing magic washes over Robyn, stopping the flow of blood but leaving the pain. Melissa comes into Robyn's borrowed line of sight and looks quizzically at at her, then at Calista and grins as she understands what the quickened link is doing. "My, that's a novel use of your gifts!" She opines with sadistic good cheer. Then she raises the athamé and and her voice turns low. "Sadly, I've no more time to talk. My work must be completed by dusk tomorrow, and there is so much to be done..."

The curved ritual blade comes down, and the metal is almost obscenely hot against the chill of the room. Melissa takes her time, cutting away the Vashon Island steampunk couture that Robyn wears, each slice leaving a hair fine line of blood in its wake. They hurt, and Robyn can feel a horrible tugging against her self, as though something is being pulled away from her with each slice. It hurts and chills and burns all at once, and Robyn knows that these are only grace notes. The real agony is still to come.

Above her, smiling that horrible smile, the blood mage brings the blade toward Robyn's face, and the screaming begins in earnest.

[Mercy Merchant]

Robyn turns her head to Calista when Melissa claims that Calista loves her more than she can love the musician.  A small part of her believes that.  After all, what can one month mean compared to the conditioning that Calista had had to go through for years.  But the larger part of her knows, KNOWS, that the vampire loves her.  Then comes the voice in her mind.  Robyn gives a small mental shake, **You may be magical and can regenerate, but I am the physician and you are nearly spent.  She can let you rest and start again, but it might be too much.  I will do this if it will spare you even a minute of pain.**

Robyn turns back to the torturer.  "It matters not what your reasons are.  I am willing and ready to take her place.  Consider the bargain set."  Robyn knows that such a bargain is protected by magic and that Melissa will not abrogate its constraints or risk a backlash from the rest of the Court.  The odor of Nightshade and Foxglove permeates the air as the acolyte picks her up.  Robyn is a bit startled and says, "It was you.  In the Zone.  All that blood."

She groans as she is slammed to the table.  The sight link she has with Calista lets her see Melissa take a silver spike and mallet from a tray and she shivers in fear as the woman places one of the nails against her right palm and lifts the mallet.  She watches as the hammer falls, almost in slow motion, and all the preparation in the world is not enough for the pain that shoots through her body.  It is not just the pain of the strike, for that would not be terribly worse than some of the injuries she has suffered in a life of trekking the wild jungles of the world.  No, there is something else attached to the spike, something that increases the pain.  Robyn's body jerks and she arches her back as a shriek more animal than person rends the air.  The acolyte needs to be as strong as she is to prevent Robyn's body from contorting away from the second strike.  Melissa grins and laughs as she hammers the second spike into her left hand and moves down the table.  Calista's head is frozen in place so she cannot see Melissa slam the spikes into Robyn's ankles, which means Robyn does not see the blows coming.  Some small part of her surgeon mind temporarily remains cogent and tells her that she will be crippled forever without immediate care.......care that is not forthcoming. 

Melissa's sorcery stops the bleeding, but the pain continues, wave after wave.  She knows that she should have gone unconscious long ago, but some magic keeps her from passing out,  She is meant to feel the pain......all of it.  She does see the odd knife lower and feels it cut her clothing away, each stroke leaving a mark of red behind.  The pain is excruciating and soon the shrieks overpower the throat.  Her mouth still open in agony, but only whimpers come forth from a throat that is too abused to utter more than that.  Robyn watches through Calista's eyes as her blood flows from the tip of the knife and she wonders how much blood she has to lose.  Melissa pauses for a few moments after stripping the Elf naked to admire her handiwork.  She grins without humor as she raises the knife and moves to Robyn's face.  She does not like the silence; perhaps the screaming is needed for part of the magic, and she sends a flow of healing directed at the throat, allowing Robyn to scream again.  The noises are not even recognizable as Robyn's, but are animalistic and primal.  And the screams go on and on and on and........

[BrickyardBabe]

...on!

Calista tries to clench her eyes shut, but the full-body manabind has frozen her eyes open, so she can't even spare Robyn the horror of watching as her lean, trim form and lovely face are methodically desecrated. Calista is crying openly again, her tears dripping from her face as Melissa tortures her girlfriend. Above her, Holly is leaning forward to watch as Melissa destroys her new captive, and Robyn's animal sounds of pain echo through the room in a hellish chorus of horrified agony.

Melissa's knife rises and falls, sometimes fast, sometimes slow. She stabs and cuts and skins and flays. She starts with Robyn's hands, slowly reducing them to a bleeding ruin with bones broken and nails torn away, smiling merrily all the while, bantering even. Every few minutes she addresses Calista, telling her that its all her fault, that Robyn wouldn't be here if she had just stayed Melissa's devoted creature. She takes great delight in describing the damage to Robyn as well, every cut and stab and crushing blow, and how utterly crippled her hands will be.

Calista tries to be there for her friend. Even as blasted and burned-out as she, Calista tries to be there in Robyn's head. First its actual speech, pleas and reassurances and comforting words. But Melissa's cruelty pushes Robyn beyond rational thought quickly, and Calista's words are wasted on a mind that can barely even comprehend them.  She shrieks and tries to thrash and weeps, every movement accompanied by new flashes of pain and the squelching sound of her own blood from where it pools in the low places on the table.

Melissa spends an hour on Robyn's hands. When she finally stops for a minute, Robyn's throat is so swollen despite the healing magic that she can only make the barest little whimpers and rasping sounds. Melissa leaves her to her agonies, stepping out of Calista's sight. She can't see it, but Calista can feel the surge of dark magic and hear the sibilant chanting as Melissa turns Robyn's blood and pain into power before returning, her athamé once more ready to absorb the harvest of blood and dark emotion.

Thirteen more times Melissa repeats the process. She works on Robyn's feet, on her inner thighs, on her face. She cuts little pieces from her fingers and toes, the tips of her ears, her eyelids. She stabs and slashes, she peels long strips of skin away with the athamé's curved edge. And then she heals Robyn and start again, and again, and again. The healing is never enough to put Robyn back together, and little pieces of her are missing after each round.

All Calista could do was stay in Robyn's head, sharing the pain. When words failed, Calista used her eidetic sense memory to push the memory of a bliss high into Robyn's head, slowly ramping up the intensity until it was almost at BTL levels, but even that could only mask the pain for so long. So Calista, hating herself for what she is doing, what she had done and what she was going to do still, reaches for her badly depleted magic and throws a spell. Its a pleasure spell, usually called "Opium" or "Opium Den," and while its a horrible invasion and a crime to use it on an unwilling target, Calista doesn't think twice, hitting Robyn with it as hard as she can.

[Mercy Merchant]

Robyn is so agonized that she has no indication of time.  Even the sane, methodical part of her that is the physician has disappeared into the pain.  For a while, she thought that she could hear Calista in her mind, but now even her lover seems to have abandoned her to this pain that never ends.  She retreats behind every wall her clinical mind can put up, only to have each wall shattered by the next blow or the next cut of the enchanted blade.  She feels several waves of healing, but does not know what is being healed; the pain just goes on so why the frag do the healing?

Suddenly, Robyn finds herself freed from the physical constraints of her body, her mind moving to a welcoming abyss.  The closer she gets the more she hurts, but she cannot go back.  But each step nearer to the edge brings a whisper of...........something.  **I can make the pain stop. little songbird.  I can teach you to enjoy it, to revel in it, then use it on others.  I need another acolyte.  Most of those I see are too weak, too foolish, and without a lifetime of experience.  I can make you like Anguish.  I can love you as I do her.  I am almost done here, but could continue to work on you.  When you reach the abyss, take the last step and embrace pain.  Embrace me, little songbird.  I will heal you and hurt you, again and again and you will learn to enjoy it.  Take the step.**

Robyn reaches the precipice and looks over the edge into the abyss.  It rises like a sphere of darkness before her, beckoning her forward.  It all seems so enticing, so real.  The pain will stop and she will be whole again.  The entity that is no longer Robyn lifts a foot to take the step and....................................no................................No..............................NO!  As she stands poised at the edge of the cliff, she feels something rushing toward her from the darkness behind her.  She does not need sightless eyes to see the faint trail of sparks arrowing in her direction.  The Not Robyn carefully places her raised foot back on the ground and whispers out to the abyss, then calls out to the abyss, then shouts out to the abyss.  **I will not go.  I am a vessel you cannot control.  I will survive this because you cannot kill me and I will survive all of my future visits to you.  I reject your offer.**

Robyn's defiance is short-lived as Melissa redoubles her efforts, bitter and angry and almost careless.  In her anger she thrusts the knife into Robyn's chest and the enchanted blade is millimeters from ending Robyn's life before she remembers that she needs to finish the binding rite and it is now too late to use another body.  She remembers that she is bound by magic to not kill the Elf or suffer magic penalties that could destroy her House.  And she remembers that the woman is protected by the First House and she can get away with this torture of one of its denizens because of the bargain, but killing her would have serious political repercussions,  She gets her anger in check and finishes the task at hand, although a bit less conscientious about using the healing magics.  This upstart girl MUST suffer.  The pain she is receiving is nothing compared to what she will visit upon her in the future.  Melissa is so entranced by her own hate and the need to complete the ritual that she misses the spark of magic that finally finds Robyn. 

Robyn herself is still dangerously close to the precipice to the abyss after her refusal of the offer from Melissa.  The small spark she had seen is tantalizing, drawing her away from the crumbling edge.  Suddenly, the spark finds an opening in the swirling mass of pain that surrounds Robyn and darts in, driving straight home and burning out as it explodes in one of the gaping wounds left by the tender mercies of the torturer.  Robyn's body is taken by the spell that draws her fractured mind into the bliss of an opium den.  The body still suffers and the screams still come, but the mind is no longer Melissa's to warp.

[BrickyardBabe]

After fourteen hours, Calista is certain that Robyn isn't going to survive Melissa's affections. Melissa is cutting her lover to pieces a bit at a time, and after each healing she just isn't quite as whole as she was before. Calista can't even get into Robyn's head anymore. Its just...too much. Pain, fear, and magically induced pleasure have been assaulting her for far too long, and Calista is afraid that even if by some miracle Robyn lives and can be returned to health, her friend and lover's mind will have completely snapped. She wants to drop the opium spell, wants to take some of the pressure off of Robyn's mind and body, but the only time she's tried in the last few hours Robyn's screams reached new heights of horror. She might be hopelessly addicted and warped by the overexposure to Calista's magic, but Calli just can't bring herself to worsen Robyn's suffering.

But even this must end.

Finally, the last drops of blood are taken from Robyn, the last cuts inflicted. Robyn is a crippled, bloodied mess, her mind as broken as her body. Her ears are missing the last two centimeters of of their tips, her white eyes are permanently open, and she's missing the tips of all of her fingers. Her internal cyberware is flashing warning after warning about broken bones, lacerations, and a dozen other things. Large patches of skin are missing, her hands and feet are ruined, and blood stipples her lips from her torn larynx, and if she could marshal her thoughts long enough to see through Calista's eyes, just the sight of her would be enough to tell her that she is dying. But between the spell and the mental and physical trauma, Robyn isn't entirely there.

Calista knows death when she's staring it in the face, though.

So wrapped up in holding the spell for Robyn and trying to keep from withdrawing into herself is Calista that she actually misses the final culmination of the ritual until the magical backwash tears through the room. The power is hot and vital and alive and horrid, blood magic, the stuff of horror trids, and whatever it is that Melissa has created is truly titanic. Robyn's drones can see the supine form of the girl, the subject of the ritual as the blood daubing her form disappears, absorbed into the skin. The body shifts and contorts, and the pale flesh is suddenly crawling and rippling, rearranging itself into a more pleasing and voluptuous form, flushing with new life. The body's blonde hair darkens and changes, becoming a bloody red. Her eyes open, and they glow the color of rubies, When she smiles, she shows teeth sharpened to points. She sits up with easy grace, stepping off the ritual table and out of the circle, caressing Holly as she passes.

Melissa finally puts down the athamé and nods at Holly, who withdraws. Melissa leans over so that Calista and Robyn can see her and coos, "Goooood pet." She pats Calista on the cheek, seemingly ignoring Robyn entirely. "See? No innocents had to die. Just one blind cellist. You've saved lives again and made your mistress very happy." Her voice is the sort one uses to speak to a favored pet. "I think you deserve a reward, don't you?"

Calista shrieks wordlessly, snarling and spitting and snapping at the hand near her face- so fearful that now the ritual is over, Mellisa will finally kill Robyn that she doesn't notice she can move again- and Melissa snatches her hand back, then backhands Calista across the face hard enough to crack her cheekbone. "Fine then. I'll leave you here to say your goodbyes and think on what spurning my favors might mean for you." Her smile is cold as she finishes, "It won't be long. Your friend has minutes at best." Then she is gone, taking Holly and her inhabited Blood Spirit with her and leaving the pair still nailed to the table.

[Mercy Merchant]

Most of Robyn is incapable of any thought at all, much less rational thought, as the pain and horror at what has been done to her has shattered her consciousness.  Yet, even in the midst of the pain and the euphoria, a small part of her realizes that she is about to die.  That same part of her wonders why.  She had been so sure that Melissa would not kill her that she had not counted on the arrogance of the woman to defy the magic laws of the bargain she had agreed to.  The knowledge itself does not bring any additional sadness for herself; after all, what more can be done to her?  But it does bring sadness for failing Calista.  Robyn's sacrifice had not really saved her friend much, perhaps even made it worse.  Then the small remnant of her mind rebels at that idea, telling her that what she did was out of love and that can never be wasted  Love is powerful.  It is a form magic that has eluded mages for centuries, from charlatans with love potions, to sorceresses casting spells to simulate it.  But Love is far beyond reason and even the most puissant of mages cannot truly factor the components of it and bring it to heel. 

Several sparks of love have survived in Robyn's tortured body.  Love for medicine.  :Love for books.  Love for music.  But strongest of all is the love for Calista.  That spark has weathered all the pain and all the damage the body has been subjected to.  It brings her to consciousness even now, near the end of her life.  Her love tells her that her time is night and that she has one last act remaining in a life that has spanned sixty-four years.  Her muscles are so badly torn that they refuse to obey her commands.  The effort required to force them to do her bidding will certainly lessen her life span, but she has to do this.  Even already numbed by pain, Robyn shrieks anew as she pulls her left hand from the silver spike driven through it.  The right hand is worse and the cries and screams of agony echo about the chamber again.  Melissa would appreciate it if she could hear her, but Robyn does not care.  Her love fuels her now, the only thing left to her.  She grabs a leg with two shattered hands and pulls, the very act sheer pain itself, adding to what she is doing to her leg.  If the ankle was not already fractured in so many places she might not have had the strength to pull it free.  As it is, the last of the bones break and release what is left of the leg.  The other leg is freed in the same manner.  Robyn feels what little blood remains in her broken body slipping out through the new wounds she has caused, but she cares not.  She is dead anyway and a few moments will not matter; she has something to do. 

Robyn rolls over to face her vampiric lover and stares at her with misshapen and blind eyes.  She carefully reaches out to touch Calista's face, somehow disappointed that she cannot feel anything in her hands, but still trying.  The open maw that is her mouth manages a few intelligible words.  "I love you.......just in case."  This act has taken the last that love can do and she collapses in the unconsciousness the presages death.

[BrickyardBabe]

Calista struggles with her own restraints, but she freezes for just a second as Robyn puts mangled hands on her face. Blood coats Calista's cheeks, and she can barely see through the tears in her eyes, but what might be Robyn's last words come through loud and clear. Calista shakes her head in denial, and the shaking becomes full-body thrashing as Robyn collapses, her dead eyes closing and her body going limp. The thrashing becomes closer to seizure as Robyn's labored breathing becomes thready, her heart slowing and her skin cold.

As life finally goes to leave Robyn, Calista burns the last of her blood, the last gasps of essence she'd stolen along with her rage and her fear and her own life force. For just a moment, Calista's muscles regain their strength and with an awful heave, she wrenches her hands off the spikes, hearing the bones in her wrists grate and crack as the metal is pulled through. She sits up, gripping the spikes in her ankles by the base and bodily ripping them free. Blood spurts from the wound before her regeneration seals it off. Her whole body is burning, her temporary boost to her body's power catalyzing her regeneration. It will fade, and soon, but for now she is strong enough to do what needs to be done.

Calista is up off the table with the speed that only a vampire can claim, naked flesh tearing from where its stuck to the tabletop with blood. She blurs across the room to her discarded effects, reaching for her clutch. She tears the synthsilk open. Patchpatchpatchpatch...there! Calista rips the slap patch coverings open with her fangs, a red and a blue, stim and trauma. In the blink of an eye she's back at Robyn's side, searching desperately for a large enough patch of skin that can take the patches. One ends up over her rips and the other on the inside of her thigh.

Calista prays that its not too late.

Gathering Robyn up in her arms, Calista turns for the door, then stops and shakes her head. Stupid! What the frag is she thinking? There's no way Melissa will let her leave out the front fragging door! But the window...

Calista cradles Robyn as gently as she can and walks to the window overlooking Earl's court. Six story drop. She might be able to survive it but Robyn wouldn't, not without aid. A spirit? That might work, but she can't summon one in the room, the tradition is too aspected toward Melissa's magic and astral space is corrupted in the aftermath of the blood spirit summoning. She glances toward the door again, looking around the room, wracking her brain for any other solutions.

But there are none.

Gritting her teeth, praying to anyone who will listen that this will work, that the patches aren't too late, that Pax or Stitch or Daiyu can help, Calista holds Robyn as close as she dares and takes a running start and throws them both out the window, reaching for her magic the second she crosses the threshold out of the room and Melissa's ritual space.

[Mercy Merchant]

Death come surprisingly slowly.  Robyn's tortured spirit had waited for its release from her mortal body, its own survival in doubt several times due to the strong effects of the chamber the body was trapped in.  Mercifully, all that was now over......mostly.  Certainly the room is still horribly tainted by the blood magic, but the woman is gone and the chamber alone is not capable of restraining the spirit that was Robyn.  Waiting for the final ticks of the heart to slow to nothing, the spirit looks forward to the release.  It has been shackled to this body for a long time and had come to like it there, but that time is over and...............and the impossible happens.  The spirit is being drawn back and it looks for the reason, seeing science, not sorcery.  The medicine pouring into the broken body is barely enough to support what minimum life still exists, but the effect will be short-lived and the spirit freed after all.  In minutes at the most.  The spirit disappears back into its customary place in the body, again waiting for the release that is imminent.

Robyn is mercifully unconscious when Calista picks her up and breaks through the window from six floors up.  True to their programming the aerial drones fly out of the room after their mistress as does the hound, loyal to the end.  The flying drones have no trouble navigating the drop, but Calista, Robyn, and the hound drone are not so fortunate. 

[BrickyardBabe]

The spirit comes when Calista calls, her reckless conjuring ripping a scream of pain from her with the effort of calling one that will be powerful enough. The storm sylph materializes in a flicker of lightning and a whiff of ozone, forming into a winged woman with snow-colored skin and stormcloud hair. Calista shrieks as they fall and twists to shield Robyn as they plummet toward the cobblestones. She grits her teeth and shuts her eyes...

Calista touches down, lighter than a feather, her naked shoulders kissing flesh-warm stone. Her head snaps around to see the storm sylph standing on empty air five meters away, one hand extended with her fingers cupped, as if holding something. The sylph smiles coolly and nods once, respectfully. Calista nods back absently, operating entirely on reflexive courtesy and stands. She checks Robyn over, and her heart falls at just how bad the mutilated girl looks. She turns, putting her back to the wall and looks out at Earl's court. She has a choice: Run for the exit and try to get to the Ten Thousand Lions above, or cross Below to find Pax in the Warrens?

Above, she hears a shout and a scream above her, and then an abhuman roar. Calista's choice is made for her. The way across Below starts in front of her, so that's the way she'll go. Speed, now. It will come down to speed. She looks to the Sylph again, begging for speed in exchange for release, and the sylph obliges. The world slows down again and Calista takes off, moving at almost five hundred kilometers an hour. Naked, covered in blood, carrying a mutilated body and being followed at some remove by a drone-hound, she would have made quite a sight if she wasn't best measured by her mach speed.

The entire time she runs, her entire upper body locked to keep Robyn stable, a steady stream of sound spills from bloodstained lips. "Itsgoingtobeokayyou'resafeitsgoingtobeokaypleasebeokaywe'regoingtogethelppleasedon'tdieI'mherestaywithmepleasestaywithmeIloveyouitsokay..."

Its only a few minutes before she hits the Warrens, taking the twists and turns at a speed best described as suicidal. She only slips once, her dancer's grace otherwise keeping her from breaking bones on the rubble, ruins, and detritus littering the Warrens. The one time she falls, she goes down on her back, leaving ten centimeters of skin on the cracked pavement. She's back up in a flash, running again.

Ten minutes after she left Earl's Court, the ghastly spectres of Calista and Robyn burst through the cheap, badly hung door of Pax's clinic, bursting into an otherwise-empty waiting room. Its old, ugly, and badly lit. The "clinic" started life out as some kind of small storefront in the underplex shopping center that was planned for this part of The Old Smoke, but now its floored in roll-out linoleum, and plastic curtains divide it into a single waiting room with three folding chairs and a stack of screamsheets five years out of date, and a small triage area.

Pax comes out from behind the curtains a few seconds after Calista blows the door off its hinges with a shoulder. The little Xapiri Threpé with the wild hair and black cybereyes wears an irritated scowl. "What frag did you do to my d-!" She breaks off as she takes in Calista and Robyn and her black eyes get big. "My Goddess, Ang!" She half-screams. "What the frag...?"

Calista falls to her knees, spent as the last of her stolen blood and power trickles away. "Needs...help. I...need Grinner..." She turns her gaze up to Pax, a horrified look spreading across the medmage's face. "Help us..."

Then she collapses, falling next to her lover.

[Mercy Merchant]

Robyn wakes in a bed.  Not her bed.  Not Calli's bed.  A mostly comfortable but unfamiliar bed.  Her ears and nose pick out the sound of someone nearby breathing and smoking.  Without moving, she reaches out with her heightened senses to feel the room.........................and nothing.  Nothing more than normal sounds and smells.  Confused, she checks the wireless connections.............................and nothing.  No connections.  She tries to sit up but can't due to restraints placed on her wrists and across her body.  Suddenly, unbidden and entirely unwelcome memories flood into her and she shrieks in horror as she tries to pull herself out of the restraints.  The prick of a needle is the only warning she is being attacked and she thrashes about in an unsuccessful attempt to get away from Melissa.  The drugs flow into her arm and she passes out.

Robyn wakes in a bed.  Not her bed.  Not Calli's bed.  A mostly comfortable but somewhat unfamiliar bed.  Her ears and nose pick out the sound of someone nearby breathing and smoking.  Without moving, she reaches out with her heightened senses to feel the room.........................and nothing.  Nothing more than normal sounds and smells.  Confused, she checks the wireless connections.............................and nothing.  No connections.  She tries to sit up but can't due to restraints placed on her wrists and across her body.  Suddenly, unbidden and entirely unwelcome memories flood into her and she shrieks in horror as she tries to pull herself out of the restraints.  The prick of a needle and a cool cloth on her forehead are the only warnings she is being attacked and she thrashes about in an unsuccessful attempt to get away from Melissa.  The drugs flow into her arm and she passes out.

Robyn wakes in a bed.  Not her bed.  Not Calli's bed.  A mostly comfortable and oddly familiar bed.  Her ears and nose pick out the sound of someone nearby breathing and smoking.  Without moving, she reaches out with her heightened senses to feel the room.........................and nothing.  Nothing more than normal sounds and smells.  Confused, she checks the wireless connections.............................and nothing.  No connections.  She tries to sit up but can't due to restraints placed on her wrists and across her body.  Suddenly, unbidden and entirely unwelcome memories flood into her and she shrieks in horror as she tries to pull herself out of the restraints.  The prick of a needle, a cool cloth on her forehead, and a soft Russian woman's voice are the only warnings she is being attacked and she thrashes about in an unsuccessful attempt to get away from Melissa.  The drugs flow into her arm and she passes out.

Robyn wakes in a strange bed.  "Calli?"

[BrickyardBabe]

"Heyyyyy..." a soft voice croons. "You're awake." Footsteps, a light tread in practical shoes. Robyn can smell disinfectant, menthol cigarette smoke, the coppery tang of blood. There are restraints on her wrists and ankles, but as she draws breath to shriek, memories flooding back to her there is a small hand on her forehead and a soothing voice. "Shhhh, shhhh, relax, you're safe now." Says the voice. "Your friend brought you here to get patched up. The restraints are only there so you wouldn't hurt yourself while I was putting you back together." The voice is strangely calming, and Robyn has spent enough time with Calista to recognize the self-directed magic of an adept in her words.

There is the sound of something small hitting the floor, a cigarette butt being tossed away and then stamped out and a second hand joins the first. "I'm Pax, I'm a medmage in The Warrens. You know the Warrens?" She did. She knew the Warrens in general from experience and Pax in particular from Calista's stories. Pax is a healer and a pacifist, a Xapiri Threpe and a self-taught mage. At Robyn's nod, Pax pats her cheek and says, "Good, that's good. Now, you're heavily sedated so don't feel too bad if you find it hard to move. I'm going to undo the restraints now and pull the faraday blanket off of you. If you start thrashing or try to run, I'll have to sedate you again, and neither of us want that so just take it slow, okay?" Another nod. "Alright." There is the feeling of something moving, a thin cloth that Robyn didn't even realize was on her and then the sensation of small, delicate fingers at her wrist, undoing the heavy leather strap. The process is repeated three times, and wireless, much-hashed and spotty but still active comes back to her along with freedom of movement.

"Go ahead and massage your wrists and try for an uplink if you would like. You're safe to move. Just undernourished and sedated." The footsteps move across the room for a moment, then there is a snap and an inhalation, Pax lighting a cigarette. "Your friend should be back any minute. She's at The Body Shop right now. Poor thing's been on her feet for the last twenty-two hours, ever since you were brought in." The footsteps return. "Can I get you anything?"

[Mercy Merchant]

Robyn nods and lets the hands release her from the bonds.  The soothing words help convince her that she is not in any danger.  For now.  Robyn remains cautious, believing that Melissa would be devious enough to use a trick like this.  And why is she not dead?   Her last memories were as she lay on the slab and.............

Memories flooded in of the torture she had undergone and tears welled up and started flowing down her face.  "Is Calli OK?  Why is she at Grinner"s?"

Mollified by the answers from the medmage, Robyn tries to access her implants ands gets spotty responses.  Every device she has inside of her was damaged in some fashion by Melissa'a knife and would need some measure of repair.  She turns her head in the direction of the voice.  Are we in the Warrens?  I will apparently need to see a ware shop to help repair by implants.  Do you know of someone that might be willing to help me?"

[BrickyardBabe]

Pax frowns, crossing over to the small folding table along one wall. A 'kaf maker is there and she pours herself a cup, adding imitation cream and artificial sweetener as she considers how to answer. She blows on the 'kaf, then takes a sip before returning to Robyn's side and sitting. There's a creak, the sound of metal. Some kind of barstool, maybe? Robyn hears Pax's thumbnail flick the butt of her cigarette, tapping ash before she answers.

"Yes, miss Lysander." She replies softly. "We're in the Warrens." She's talking around the butt of the smoke in her mouth, needing her hand for something and Robyn can feel a clean square of linen or something like it on her face, dabbing at her tears before the kerchief is pressed into her hand. "Here. You don't want Calli to come back and find you bawling, do you?" Pax pats her shoulder, then takes the cigarette out of her mouth. "You're about half a klick from Hellbound station, in my clinic. Calista brought you in yesterday." Pax sighs. "You were a mess, the hardest patient I've ever had to work on. I'm sorry about your cyberware, some of the damage was caused by me when I had to reopen your wounds, and more was caused by immortal flower-induced regeneration trying to reject or absorb them."

Pax taps ash again, takes another drink. This close, Robyn can smell the shot of cheap whiskey in the soykaf. After a moment's thought, Pax ventures, "I could call Doc Dicer. She can probably do your 'ware repairs. Good cyberdoc, good sawbones. I'm actually surprised Calista didn't take you to her." Pax stands again, draining her cup as the door out front opens. Quietly, she averrs, "I'll let you ask her where she went."

There's the sound of heels on linoleum and a soft, "How is she?" It sounds like Calista, but...not. Her voice is rougher, lower now, as if damaged. Pax replies, "She's awake. You can see her." Calista is immediately running, and a second later Robyn can feel soft, bare arms and the small weight of Calista's body as she throws herself into a full-body embrace. "Oh god, baby! You're alive! I was so worried that you wouldn't make it!" The words are coming in a rush, and Calista is trembling as she kisses Robyn's cheek. Robyn can make out the scent of blood on her breath, fresh and metallic under the scent of some kind of bodywash, but she doesn't get a chance to comment amongst Callista's rapid speech, "How do you feel? Are you okay? Can I do anything?"

[Mercy Merchant]

Robyn gives a sort of laugh.  "Always wanted to spend some time in the Warrens.  Guess that shows I should be careful what I wish for."  She puts a hand to her right cheek.  "My Ward.  Is it gone?"

"I have heard of Slicer.  Do you think she will see me?  I am.........different........without my implants.  I feel different.  Not whole.  They have been part of my life for too long now."

She turns to face Calista as she enters the room and is trying to open her mouth to say something when the woman slams into her.  The embrace is all she needs to know and answers all of her immediate questions.  See just holds on and allows her tears to flow freely.  When the tide of words stops, she places her forehead against Calista's and says, "I am so sorry that I failed you.  I had thought to save you and instead brought greater risk to you.  Thank you for staying alive and saving me.  I love you."

[BrickyardBabe]

Pax leaves the room to give the lovers some privacy, muttering something about ending in tears. Calista pays her no mind. Her entire world has shrunk down to the woman in her arms and palpable relief that she's going to be alright. Her silent, unmoving tears give way to great wracking sobs as Robyn apologizes to her, and she curls into Robyn, one mostly bare leg stretched out alongside Robyn's and the other thigh pulled up, resting across Robyn's hips with her calf pressed against Robyn's thigh. One arm is around Robyn's shoulders and the other under her breasts, and her face is buried in the hollow of Robyn's neck as she cries piteously, gasping, "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean for you to get hurt! I never wanted you to get trapped in my world!"

Calista kisses Robyn's neck and jaw and cheek, still gasping and crying and holds her close while she gets control of herself. Her hand comes up to trace Robyn's face, wandering along her still-intact ward before tracing her nose and lips and throat. After a few seconds, when she can speak for a moment, she manages to get out, "Dicer will see you. She's a good doc, even if she's a bit prickly. She can help repair the..." Calista dissolves into another fit of crying as she remembers how terrible Robyn looked when Calli carried her in, and why, and the awful, animal screams of pain. It takes maybe fifteen seconds before she can finish with, "repair the damage to your 'ware."

Calista takes a deep breath and lets it out shakily, then raises her head up enough to look at Robyn's face. As firmly as she can muster, Calista says, "You did not fail me. You came for me. No one's ever come for me, and while I would never, ever want you to go through that, you coming when you did probably stopped Melissa from killing me to finish her work." She kisses Robyn full on the mouth. "Never, ever blame yourself for any part of this. I love you too." The uncharacteristic steel in her voice gives way to a quavering note as she collpases back down, curling close to Robyn again and asking, "How do you feel?"