Varna arrived at the house, exasperated from the trip. He had been following rumors about strange occurrences where criminals suddenly get electrocuted whenever she's around them as a hostage. According to their account, one of them suddenly got stuck in a pool of mud and electrocuted. Though he never cared about the criminals' well-being, he looked curious enough. Putting common sense in place, no person would be able to achieve such a feat while being tied up in the first place.
He entered the house unannounced and found nobody home, not until a muffled cry was heard. He approached the source of those cries and found a white-haired girl with her hands tied behind her back and a cloth draped over her mouth.
A few minutes since he arrived...
Mairin was still sorting out her plan to actually get off the bed, one that was rather harder to implement given how tightly bound she had been left. This was going to be a royal pain to land on her two feet without falling! She let out a cry of frustration, one that apparently caught someone's notice as there were now approaching footsteps. Her captors had returned, and she was about to level at them a most fearsome glare...
.... but that was not a guy who grabbed her. The glare subsided into a peering stare at first, it took a moment before it clicked. This was Varna, the guy who tortured Rebecca!
When she had heard of what he had done to her lady, the druid was ready to see just how flammable that skull mask - and the rest of his clothing - was. An anger that only grew the more she heard of his assaults on Lady Rebecca's friends! However, the heiress herself told her not to seek him out. He was dangerous in ways of more experienced fighters from the druid's home world. Moreover, she wanted to deal with him personally. That plan caught Mairin by surprise. Lady Rebecca was never one for revenge!
Now, however, the captive maiden had no choice. She was rather mostly helpless with the mad man in the room with her. If she could angle herself just so, she could aim her fingers at him to fire off a spell. Masquerade be damned, she wasn't going to let him abuse her like he had the others! The problem is in trying to tilt herself just so without him striking first!
Though, did he know who she was? He had to be here for a reason. And Lady Rebecca wouldn't be lying about him being stronger. The anger turned into a moment of wary puzzlement, and she silently elected to see what Varna would do next before struggling to do her thing.
Varna rubbed the corner of his eyes in dismay. He can't believe just fell for the "I just happened to find a beautiful, tied up woman while investigating something else" trope. If only she was Jules, he'd have a field trip with her. As he approached the woman, he suddenly felt a cold chill.
"What's this feeling?" he thought.
He looked at the woman and she already gave him a cold stare. It couldn't be that there's something with her. Nevertheless, he remained cautious
From what she had heard, he didn't mince any words or actions. So, he must be staring at her because... he doesn't know who she is. That's right. If he knew who Mairin was, he'd be expecting someone in a beautiful green dress and not Lady Rebecca's hand-me-downs. Maybe he didn't even know who Mairin was at all.
Well, if he wasn't going to attack her, no sense starting anything. Especially not in the state she was currently in! She'd have to play this.. innocently. Canting her head and letting her hard stare soften, she asked, "Nrm mnn mmnphh phhmm? PHhm hnphphnrnph mmhn grnhhmn mm?" [Are you with them? The bastards who grabbed me?]
Varna had heard muffled pleas in his sadistic spree, so he could understand a little of what she said.
"Lady, I can assure you, I just got here" he said as he put her in a sitting position
He just got here? Mairin acted surprised, then began wriggling frantically. "Ncph! Fnnphnphphnc! Cnn mm nnphnm mm nnn mmm cnn hm nn nnr mmrrm mmnm?" ]Ach! Fantastic! Can ye untie me and we can go on our merry way?]
At that point, Varna wants to take her gag off her mouth. However, his intuition tells him not to, as it will be his undoing. As a result, he just left it as it is. Mairin saw a bit of hesitation in him, as if he's wary of her. Did he really not know her?
There was a wariness to him. Something was holding him back. Of course, she was an elemental druid and not a rogue, so perhaps the acting skills were a bit rubbish. Nodding with a sigh, her pale blue eyes met him with some trepidation of her own. "Mnnh, mnphm, N cnn'ph mghncphmm hnrph mm nmm phnmn np mnhm phhnph, nmrnghph? Mm cnnmn nph mmnphph rmmnfm phhm gng phn mmm cnn phnmh mnhm nnrmnm!" [Look, mate, I can't exactly hurt ye all tied up like this, alright? Ye could at least remove the gag so we can talk like normal!]
"No. I'll do the talking" he responded sternly.
He'll do the talking? Mairin was ready to fume from behind the gag, but the way he worded it had her a little taken aback. Enough so that she instead went into a rather adorable pout. Enough of one to give him a chuckle, which only had her a little more flush with embarrassment!
"Lady, there's something bugging me around here. I got this talk about you, being captured on some occasions. Then all of a sudden, your captives suddenly blacked out from shock and you're still left in a trussed up state"
Mairin was surprised. He never expected Rebecca's torturer to be that much intuitive. Worst case, he may find out about her identity as a druid. How did he know all of that? Her misadventures had never made the papers, and the police had usually bought her explanations of 'decrepit housing' and 'freak thunderstorms' as it made their paperwork easier. He had picked up on quite a bit, and it was making her quite nervous. If he of all people knew...
The thought of knocking him out was there. However, she would still be bound and gagged and probably just made him even angrier. You don't pick fights when you're tied up! But what could she do...
It was then that, perhaps mercifully, there were footsteps. And a shout.
"HEY SOMEBODY'S HERE, CHECK ON THE CAPTIVE THIS INSTANT"
There was no time to act. Varna immediately shoved Mairin back to the bed. He then opened the window and jumped right outside. Her eyes darted from the door and back to Varna, realizing he had probably left a few doors open on his way up. Only Varna wasn't there, for now she was back flat on the bed, the window was open, and he was gone. Mairin was left dumbfounded. She lay there quiet for a good moment before realizing the thugs would be returning. Back to being the helpless mewling captive again, she sighed before starting to whimper behind the gag. These thugs were easier to fool than the other guy, at least!
Lying on the bed, Mairin caught the window closing from the outside. Her eyes widened briefly in surprise, her new friend was still nearby! Varna was just hanging by the window sill, closing the windows to avoid the captors checking it, then moved a little bit to the right, just out of sight from everyone inside.
"I really want to go home," sighed Varna.
He may have regretted entering the house in the first place. However, he had made his decision. He's gonna see everything through, what will she do in this situation. She sniffled up a little to make sure she looked like the appropriate helpless damsel! "Pmmnphm! Mmph mm gn!" [Please! Let me go!] Varna was peeking when he saw what happened.
"Gotta give you guys little girl. You had to act the part in order to let their guard down" he thought, giving her praise
The captives arrived and mocked her seemingly helpless state. Mairin had them easily fooled. The problem was that she knew Varna had a front row seat. If he saw her throwing spells, there wouldn't be any doubt left. On the other hand, how would he react to her not casting if he was convinced she was a caster. If he really did know, however, why didn't he strike her when he had a full chance where she couldn't fight back?
As she was debating that, she was busy whimpering beneath the gag while the thugs mocked her. Please don't hurt her, she's an innocent girl caught up in your evil machinations! It would at least buy her a little time while she decided...
… that maybe a little show of force couldn't hurt. Varna wanted to learn one way or another. Fine, she'll give him a show! Good thing her captors had positioned themselves right in front of where her fingers were trapped beneath her. A little waggle and suddenly there was a puddle of water beneath them. She waited one moment for that to catch their attention before she let off a jolt of lightning at the puddle.
As the thugs jolted in place, she tossed a rather proud glance to the window. Ye happy now, mate?
She glanced at the window where Varna was supposed to be watching, and immediately realized his presence disappeared. He left? Really? Wasn't here to watch and... you know what, Mairin didn't care. If Varna wanted to do his own thing, that was fine by her. With the mooks convulsing beneath her, she slid off the bed and hopped her way out of the bedroom and into the living room. She needed some fresh air - and preferably a sharp object.
Not being as practiced in hopping as the other girls were and definitely not being practiced in hopping in such a tight skirt, however, the distressed druid took one wrong landing, wobbled, and wound up catching herself by landing rather undaintily on the couch. "Nnf!" Varna didn't see that, did he? Hopefully not! As she sat by the couch, there was one thug left who had seen everything.
"What...what are you?" he trembled in fear
Mairin's just leveled a tired stare at him above the gag, her eyes darting back to the room before returning to him and offering the first thing she knew: "Fnnmphm mmnrnng nnn pmnmhnng." [Faulty wiring and plumbing.] He readied his weapon when all of a sudden, the door opened, and a familiar figure entered the room. It was Varna.
"Hey buddy, got a light?" He asked, feigning ignorance.
"How the hell did you get here?" the captor replied. He knew he didn't simply come here for a light
Before everyone knew it, Varna threw a fistful of mud in his eyes. He then lunged at the captor and delivered an elbow to the back of his head, stunning him. Exhaling, Mairin flashed the interloper a rather grateful look at first. She knew her captor was not going to be any match, no other thug around was. Her belief was validated by what came next, a swift yet decisive fight that left her captor stunned and ready to be knocked out. Little would she know that sense of relief would later turn into a minute of pure terror at what he will do next:
The captor pleaded with Varna to let him go. He carried him all the way to the living room and set him down on the table. Mairin was confused. He just stunned the captor. Why was he bringing the beaten baddie over to her? Was he showing off? There was a moment of a puzzled tilt of the captive druid's brow at Varna. What are you doing?. However, she noticed that he already had a shiv in his hand, and her eyes lit up in horror. It was already apparent what he would do to him.
Grabbing the captor by the forehead, he slit his throat. He then wrapped his left arm around his bleeding neck, slowly strangling it, and proceeded to use his other arm to stab him multiple times in the chest. The captor flailed around in his last moments as Mairin looked on
To be fair, Mairin had seen plenty of brutal fights, but they were between two able fighters. Not like this. Not murdering a helpless man - even an admittedly awful one - in cold blood. Brutally. Without remorse. She starred on wild eyed as she cringed into the couch, trying to ball herself up away from any blood splatter - or to get herself as far away from the vicious killer as she could. And with his first victim dead, she could only tremble staring terrified at him, an earnest muffled whimper escaping her lips. She was still tied up. He knew what she was capable of. He would have her dead before she got a spell off, maybe even if she was untied. Would he do so? A chill ran through Mairin as she stared into his eyes. She had heard the story from Lady Rebecca of what had happened to the young man, but this... this wasn't what you do out of revenge .After he was finished, Varna stares at Mairin, his eyes showing no life.
"No amount of faulty wiring and plumbing can explain this bloody mess"
His words left her puzzled behind her fear, not immediately understanding what he meant by that. He was leaving a message for someone, maybe. Perhaps her.
He did, however, not make a move on her and instead went for the phone. She could see where he was standing in water, just a little move and she could...
No. She wasn't. If a message had been delivered to her, it was received. She remained where she sat, almost unmoving, just watching Varna with those bright terrified pale blue eyes of hers peeking from above the gag. Varna just noticed where he was stepping and realized that she's not going to shock him.
"Not going to shock me?"
Mairin shook her head, not even caring she was now well and truly giving her secret away to a mad man. It made no difference, he knew. Without hesitation, he approached Mairin, already curled up in fear. She was a threat, and she struggled to try and back away and buy enough time to maybe get one spell off but he was too close and this was it-
He sat beside her and... to her surprise, he was just gently patting her head.
"I'm sorry if you had to witness that bloody sight. That was just me venting out my frustrations on recent matters" he apologized
Soft words apologizing for the bloody scene that was still in front of her. The druid could only just blink in stunned confusion. A confusion that didn't last for long, as she had friends back in the old world that vented in rather similar ways. Only those were orcs and goblins and not another human being. Then again, there wasn't much difference between these bastards and the orcs beyond their bathing habits and choice of meals.
And she hadn't been head patted in ages. It felt good. Nobody does that to her here.
Wriggling herself gently to face Varna, she gave him a soft solemn look and then a nod. Her words were quiet, though still with a hint of her fantasy Gaelic edge, "Mm hnnmm mm phmcrmph nnmm mnphm, nnn... mm phnfmn mm frnm phhmphm hnphphnrnph phnn. N nnnmrphphnnn, nnn N phhnnh mm." [Ye know my secret now mate, and... ye saved me from these bastards too. I understand, and I thank ye.]
"Nnn mm cnn hmnnpnph mm nnmphnmm." [And ye can headpat me anytime.]
He bid Mairin farewell as he took her leave.
Mairin was pretty exhausted from the whole ordeal. She then stared back at the corpse. She was still taken aback from the sight, but Varna's apology made her ease a bit better. Admittedly, taking a nap in a room with a mutilated corpse wasn't quite the most pleasant of ways to fall asleep, but her eyelids were sagging as the adrenaline wore off.
"Perhaps he's right, no faulty wiring and plumbing could explain that monstrosity on the table" she thought again
Just a little nap, she'll just say she passed out from all the savagery. Tired by the events that transpired, she lied down on the couch as she slowly drifted to nap time, waiting for whoever could free her.
The next day, she would meet up with the Lady Rebecca and the pair would share stories about Varna. Mairin would first tell of her kidnapping ordeal, and how he had helped her out of it - admittedly rather bloodily. The heiress would then go on of how she had sought him out after their first encounter, helped nurse him to health, and how he then saved her - twice - from kidnappers.
"The lad's got a thing about savin' damsels, eh?", Mairin noted over her tea. "To be fair, dear, as dark as his life has been, he's still a young man." Rebecca smiled over her own tea, "A young man that may be a little smitten by a lovely heiress and a silver-haired beauty." "Ye talk of him like he's some wayward fighter with a crush and not a cold-blooded killer." "Mairin, dear," the widow asked. "Have you ever considered that he very well could be both?" The druid blinked, setting her cup down as Rebecca continued, "It's up to us to ensure that he's more wayward fighter than cold-blooded killer."