Couldn't Penny have found an easier way to get a haircut?

[lem_ginella]

Scene: Penny and Ginella go for a walk. Aivey kidnaps Penny and Ginella (Kidnap, Aivey, kidnap!). All sorts of things ensue.

Players: Aivey, Penny, Ginella, Jensen, & T'ral (and Vej and Yeran!)

Place: The mountain clearing, the forest, the bowl, the other part of the bowl, the forest, and Darageth's ledge, in, I believe, that order.

Note: Aivey has already posted a piece of this (which I am stealing from her!), but here is the complete saga, from innocent walk through to tearful reunion, and all of the less-touching bits in between. As Aivey also pointed out, this whole thing takes place over a period of about 12 IC hours. And there's swearing. Broken into three posts for length.

Mountain Clearing
About an hour's moderate hike down a gentle slope from High Reaches Weyr, this large mountain clearing is shadowed by the peaks and spires that rise impressively in the distance. Roughly circular in shape, it has been used over the turns as a place for weary tithe and merchant trains to pause for a night's rest before continuing upwards. At some point in the distant past, a Reaches Weyrwoman had a small racetrack built here as well. It circles the outside of the clearing, bare earth packed down under a layer of softer soil.
The rest of the clearing is given over to soft grass broken with rocky patches. Tiny white and blue flowers are scattered through the meadow, thickest near the center. The outer edge of the clearing is ringed in small redfruit trees. They aren't large enough to provide a significant harvest of fruit and the thin mountain air has stunted the trees somewhat, but if the season is right they do provide for a hungry traveler.
It's a clear summer day and the sky above is a canvas of pristine blue brushed with wisps of white. It's not quite hot but the sun is bright enough to give that illusion.

"It's just up here," Penny says, strolling along easily, hands tucked into the pockets of the light jacket she wears against what could hardly be called a chilly evening -- but hey, she's from the south, perhaps she's just delicate. The clearing is indeed just up ahead, and now that afternoon has gone seamlessly into early twilight, it's bathed in the sort of purply glow of the last remnants of sunlight. "You have to imagine the trees full of fruit," she adds, glancing over at the goldrider. "They'll be blossoming soon, though, which is almost as good." She moves forward a bit, off the path, feet swishing through the grass. "Isn't it lovely?" It's as though the clearing belongs to Penny, she speaks with such possessive pride.

Ginella is coat-less, the northerner treating this like the actual summer it almost felt like earlier this afternoon and opting for short sleeves. She doesn't seem cold, entranced, instead, by the scenery. "It's gorgeous, Penny," she tells the smith, tilting her head up to gaze at the fruit trees around and above them. "You're right, I can't possibly be angry some place so pretty." She shoots the smith a smile, and slides her hands into her pockets, twirling slowly to look it all over again. "I definitely see why you like to come here."

Not too far from where Penny and Ginella stop rises a figure who, up to that point, had been hidden from view by some over grown grass in the meadow. At first glance it's apparent what this figure is about: Knife drawn, kerchief in place over nose and mouth, hat pulled low over her head. Her voice rises loudly enough to pass her warning on: "Scream or call for help, and I'll kill you." Should either think to run, the bulky shape behind them - the very same that soon latches an arm around Ginella's waist and another over her mouth - adds, "That means calling for your dragon. Keep it quiet and we'll let you live." Penny is approached with quick, confident strides, and all too quickly collared by the elbow, the tip of the blade pressed against her side, "Work with me and you'll get out of this alive."

Penny's smile is a little sly. "Well, I have additional reasons to love this--" But that's as far as she gets before she notices the figure that appears some distance away. "Jays-- what is that?" At first she just stares, confused, slow to catch on-- but when she does, her first instinct is to turn back the way she came, prepared to run. But there's that big shadow behind them, and at any rate, soon there's a knife pressing against her. "What the--" Penny stiffens, perhaps underestimating the danger. "I don't have any money. You picked the wrong people to rob, lady." She gives her arm an experimental tug, attempting to pull out of her grasp.

Ginella hasn't noticed the figure until she's standing straight and speaking, and she freezes, still too long to avoid the figure that grabs her. She struggles against his hold all the same, stomping at a foot, and doing her best to shake and elbow her head free so she can spit: "You wouldn't dare! Aneleth will be here to tear you both to pieces before you can ever get anywhere. Let go now and maybe I'll keep her from squashing you flat." She hasn't noticed the knife to Penny's side yet. "Like she said, we haven't got any money. You want to get eaten over the lint in our pockets, you go ahead and try it. She's not far."

"Did you have a nice time in Boll?" Aivey whispers to Penny, meaning the taunt for her ears and her ears alone. "Convince her or you're both dead." Aivey's partner in crime for this instance tightens his hold and digs a blade into Ginella's side, "Got my orders and one of 'em is to kill you if you don't do what I say." He too is wearing a disguise, enough to cover his features, making identifying him all but impossible. A positive sign for all that it means the pair can't ID their attackers, hinting at truth behind the promise of release. Aivey moves Penny forward, or at the very least makes the attempt to do as much. Behind her, Yeran does the same with Ginella, his hold tight and assured despite the earlier blow to his foot. If anything, the hand over the goldrider's mouth clamps tighter, threatening suffocation in addition to impalement.

If the presence of the knife wasn't enough to get through to Penny, the whisper in her ear is. Her eyes widen for a moment, then narrow again. "Oh, please. Everybody knows I was in Boll while I was away. Are you trying to frighten me?" Because she's doing a good job. Ginella's struggles cause Penny to look over at her friend, sharply contrasted in shadow in the light from the setting sun; she sees the glint of the knife. "Ginny, -stop-." There's a sudden urgency in her voice. "You're going to get yourself stabbed." Never mind that Penny did the exact same thing. She stumbles forward as Aivey pushes her forward, and she takes a few steps before she stops, and crosses her arms over her chest, stubbornly. "If it's money you're after, I can get you some. I'm not exactly poor. But I'll have to go back to the dormitory, I don't carry it around with me."

Ginella makes a surprised (not to mention frightened) noise as a knife is suddenly jabbed against her side, and she jerks away from it, or tries to, at least. "If they were going to kill us they wouldn't wait!" she declares, just before the hand tightens over her mouth. She fights against it, eyes widening as air is cut off, but maybe it occurs to her that struggling is unlikely to loosen her captor's hold, as she stops with the elbows and unsteadily steps forward, instead. Penny's offer of money brings emphatic nodding from the goldrider. Ditto.

"True. But I bet they don't know why you were in Boll. How old would it be by now? Did you have any names, Penny?" Whispers still, for Aivey intends on keeping Ginny in the dark as to why she was wrangled into this. Yeran, on the other hand, keeps Ginnella in the loop on what's planned for her. "Friends right. I'll stab you clear as it is day and don't you think I won't know if you call for help." There's a quick pause, "We'll get our money 'cept it ain't you who's going to give it to us." The pair are led to a small resting area not too far away. Aivey points to the satchel on the ground with her free hand, "In there are two bags. Get them. Stick the first over her head and pull the other on." Aivey keeps hold of Penny during the whole process, moving with Penny at whatever pace she sets while Yeran continues holding Ginella still.

And that's what suddenly drains Penny of all her bravado, the arrogant annoyance draining as Aivey's words sink in. Face now absent of any emotion, she numbly goes where Aivey pushes her, eyes straight ahead. Shock is often not a pretty thing; the smith glances at Ginella, the frightened eyes visible over the thug's hand, and then moves forward to pick up the bags, finding them inside the satchel as instructed. Her hands are shaking as she turns toward the goldrider. "Ginny. It's going to be okay." She doesn't really -sound- like it, but her tone is level even if her face is well and truly terrified as she meets Ginella's eyes. "She's after me, not you." Perhaps a bit of a jump to make, but she has to say -something- as she's reaching out to pull the bag over her friend's face. "What is it you want?" She turns back toward Aivey, not yet moving to put on her own bag. Now her eyes are searching, casually moving across the figure, coldly. "You're the one that left-- those -things-."

"How would you know? You couldn't know! I could've called her already and you'd have no idea," Ginella stupidly points out as her head is freed for Penny to cover. Now, what -does- one say when one's friend is pulling a bag over one's head while you're both held at knife-point? Etiquette courses certainly never covered this. She just looks at Penny, confused, blinking once before the bag is pulled down. A jerk of her head towards Penny's voice at the mention of leaving things is the only /visible/ reaction, but clearly that means something to her.

"If I see her or another dragon, girly there says I can do what I want to you," There's no short amount of malice in that statement or the man's tone, "Best keep them away and do what we say. You'll go free." Yeran moves to accomodate Penny's efforts, then clamps his hand back over her the cloth above her mouth. "We're leaving now." And he does. Pulling Ginella from her, knife used to encourage compliance. The pair disappear without much more effort on their end, Yeran certainly strong and bullish enough to keep the goldrider under control. All the while, idle threats are delivered to further ensure her compliance.

Penny, meanwhile, is directed to place the bag over her own head. Aivey doesn't say anything until the task is done. "There's a reason for all this. A very good reason and you'll find out what it is when I'm ready for you to find out." A pause comes, "I don't like leaving things unfinished. You made me wait to do this. You'll pay for that before I'm through."

Penny's head jerks back toward Ginella, eyes imploring -- be -quiet-, he's got a knife! -- but of course there's a -bag- over her friend's head, so any pleading looks would be lost. But then she and her captor are moving away, and Penny's eyes widen. Don't leave me! "Wait-- where are you taking her?" But there's that bag, and the knife, and she has little choice. She picks it up, swallows, and then without further hesitation, pulls it down over her face. "Pay for it? What are you going to do, kill me? I don't even know who you are, where's the satisfaction in just knifing me and giving me no clue as to -why-? And -where- are you taking her?" Penny might be brave when Ginella's around, but apparently as soon as the goldrider's being escorted off, Penny loses her ability to remain calm.

Aneleth wouldn't exactly be able to arrive stealthily, that's true. Ginella moment of realization is lost beneath the mask, but she doesn't mention calling the queen again. When the hand is clamped back over her mouth and she's suddenly pulled away from where she can hear Penny, though, she begins struggling again, her "Wait, where are we going? Where are you taking me!?" and similar questions are muffled into unintelligible mumbling accompanied by ineffectual dragging of her feet.

"Shut up." Aivey doesn't -hit- Penny, but the impulse is there, evident within the way she roughly shoves Penny's shoulder. The route Penny takes to where Yeran and Ginella are already waiting is more direct, if a little steeper and rockier. Like Ginella's trip, Penny's is done in complete silence, the only conversation offered rebukes - verbal or by the tip of a blade - for talking back, lingering or not cooperating. The end, however, is met with the same result: Penny and Ginella are sat side by side. "This is how it's going to happen. We're going to get money. Two Caucus students oughta fetch a good price, wouldn't you say so?" Aivey's voice, to the deeper one of Yeran, who soon answers, "Goldrider'll fetch a good price alone. Maybe you should kill the Smith." To which Aivey says, "I have a better idea." The sound of movement comes, heightening anticipation toward whichever girl is to get offended first and in what manner.

"-Ow-!" After all this, Penny's indignant over the rough handling? But she goes, if not willingly, at least with less foot-dragging than Ginella. She did get that chilling revelation in her ear, after all. She sits down with a thump, and bumps into Ginella's shoulder as she does so. "Ginny?" Penny's hand gropes for a moment, seeking Ginella's, and curls around it tightly when she finds it. All the talk of price and killing and ideas brings nothing visible from the outside of the bag, but the goldrider's probably close enough to hear the raggedness of fear in Penny's breathing. "It's going to be okay," she whispers again. Like it's some sort of mantra that will come true if she says it often enough.

Ginella is already seated, and she swivels her head around as the noise of Aivey and Penny's arrival reaches her ears. "Penny?" When they're sat together she tries to lean towards the smith, but finds her fingers and squeezes them instead. "We'll be okay," she agrees in a whisper, controlling her breathing only a little more successfully than her friend. "Don't kill her!" Ginella insists, grip tightening on Penny's fingers, "She's worth as much as I am, probably more!" A better idea? The goldrider stiffens. This does not sound promising.

Penny is about to be made a liar for all that she is the one who's handled first. The bag is pulled off her head and quickly replaced by a more secure blindfold. The knot is made tight and secure before a handful of hair is grabbed and hacked away. Given it's a knife that's doing the hacking, it's not a pleasant process and indeed it /is/ a process for all that Aivey chops away as much of Penny's hair as she can get to, leaving it a wretched, ragged looking mass. Yeran once more proves his worth for all that while this is going down, the man is wrenching Ginella's hands behind her back and securing them with a rough cord. Tied too tight and knotted several times over, Ginella's likely to experience discomfort there before terribly long. By the time Aivey finishes Penny's hair cut he's able to pull the hood off her head. Facing Penny, Ginella will get a quick eye full before a similar looking blindfold is pulled over her eyes and knotted, "-You say we can give this one one of them cuts too? Look real pretty on a goldrider."

Penny murmurs, in an undertone, "I don't think they intend on killing either of us. They would've done it by now if they did." But her grip on Ginella's hand is tight, her own hand a little damp from perspiration. "Wait--" Ginella will hear the fear in Penny's voice as Aivey and that knife are suddenly visible with the removal of the bag, sense the convulsive tightening of her hand before it's pulled away from hers. "What-- stop it!" She tries to struggle, but there is the fact that she's unarmed and frightened and the woman attacking her hair has a -knife-. "Don't-- not--" Odd, that a simple hair cut should be the thing to make Penny start crying, after all that's happened. Ginella will see tears spotting Penny's blindfold and leaking down her cheeks, a reddened nose. "Why are you -doing- this? Please-- stop--" She swallows, trying (and failing) to gather her wits.

"I know," Ginella murmurs back, but then Penny's sounding afraid, and Ginella with that bag on her head can't see what's causing it: "What is it?" she demands, "Pen, what's she doing? Don't hurt her! Stop! Ow!" The last is for herself, as arms are wrenched and bent and tied too tightly. She struggles some, trying to force him to tie the knots more loosely, but fails. When the bag is pulled off, she looks quickly at Penny, only to see Aivey wielding a knife around her head. The haircut doesn't register before the blindfold is already on, she just sees tears and a knife and Penny and for a moment, freaks: "What're you doing to her? Stop it! Don't you dare hurt her, stop it! We'll get money, leave us alone, let her go! Don't kill her, please don't kill her!"

For all her shouting, Ginella is backhanded. She has no way of knowing it's not Yeran who does it but Aivey, her fist hardened by the blade still clutched in it. Seconds later, Yeran (slightly less ruthless then Aivey) pulls her away from Penny and situates her on the ground.

Aivey, still in disguise, doesn't listen to Penny's pleas, doesn't even stop until the last bit of Penny's hair is cut. "Pretty, don't you think?" She asks of Yeran, who needlessly bobs his head in agreement. The sound of more movement comes, in which Penny's hands are twisted behind her back and bound at the wrist with a cord similar to Ginella's. Chore done, Aivey addresses both Smith and Rider. "Now that all the little stuff is taken care of, here are the rules. You'll be returned safe and relatively unharmed when your friend there... the rider..." Twisted, that title, "Delivers this note. She has under an hour to get it to Jensen in time. My friend will set you in the right direction, rider. If you say a single word he'll kill you. If he sees your dragon, he'll kill you. When you get to the Weyr, you're free to shout your heart out. Tell them all about me and my friend, but make sure Jensen gets the note. Can you handle that or is it too much for you?"

"Gin, I'm fine," Penny manages, through her somewhat inopportune tears -- funny how shock will make you react to seemingly insignificant details. She doesn't -sound- fine, her voice thick in her throat, but she also doesn't sound as if she's been stabbed or sliced open, so that's a plus. Maybe. Then she hears the sound of a blow, and she twitches violently, scrambling forward. "Ginella! Ginny, are you okay? She reaches out, blindly. "GIN!" But then she's being bound herself, hands dragged roughly behind her back, and she's resigned to gulping back her tears as the cords dig into her skin. "Fuck you," she spits, angrily, blindfolded head twisting round to where Aivey's approximate location is. "You'll not get anything from him, he's got no money! He's got nothing-- leave Ginella out of this, she's done nothing to you!" And Penny has? Apparently she's decided she must have pissed off this woman in the past, to deserve this treatment. "The captain's out of this too, there's no reason he'd care what happens to me!" She's just spitting things out wildly, now -- if Aivey knew about the miscarriage, it'd stand to reason that she knows about Jensen and Penny's affair, too. But she's not quite rational. "Fuck -you-!" She struggles now, stupidly, only serving to force the cords deeper into her wrists.

Ginella lets out a surprised sort-of-gurgle of pain, her head snapping back at the blow. There's some sniffling, and a grunt as she's shoved to the ground, then silence before she mumbles, "I'm fine, Penny, just smacked me, I'm okay." As Aivey explains she goes quiet again, letting the smith take over on the 'angry resistance' front. She blinks a few times behind the blindfold, and swallows, and then nods. "I got it," she tells them, "I'll get it to him. Don't worry, Pen. If he can't pay, I will. I've got money. We'll get you." She struggles to roll to her knees, facing where she thinks Aivey might be. "Let's go, then, take this stupid blindfold off and give me the note."

"Baby girl," Soothing at it's greatest, Aivey goes as far as patting Penny's head like one would a dog, "Such language. Thats not at all becomming." The hand slips down to collar Penny by the back of her shirt, "Move another inch without me telling you to and I'll hobble you. You're a smith, you have to know what that means," Whispered so Ginella can't hear it - it won't do to have the other girl know such a thing after all.

Yeran hauls Ginella back to her feet and presses a note into her hands, along with a fistful of Penny's shorn hair. Bound as they are behind her back with the tension of the cord likely to make her fingers go numb before long, it'll be a chore to hold onto them both. His voice is too mirthful as he says, "Oh she forgot to tell you. That's part of the challenge. Make your way back as best you can. I'd hurry if I were you. You have an hour and no longer." A push against her shoulder might send her stumbling to the ground, but does at least send her in the right direction. "Walk straight and you'll get there." Aivey this time, "Just watch out for the cliff." A taunt were Ginella to know the area at all.

Penny's angry tirade is cut short with a bit of a sob at the sound of Ginella's voice, and she falls silent, breathing hard and sniffing every now and then, trying to get herself under control. She doesn't miss that endearment, the words eliciting a gasp of shock and confused fear. "How--" But she doesn't even ask the question, Jensen's favorite endearment becoming something awful instead. Wretched, tears leaking quite liberally from underneath her blindfold now, Aivey's managed to completely tear away her footing. Any further attempt at speech is cut off with a bit of a gurgle as Aivey grabs her shirt, the rough movement causing the front of her collar to dig into her throat. "Gin--" It's an effort to raise her voice as she twists away enough to release some of the pressure on her throat. "Gin, I'm so sorry-- tell him--" Gurgle gurgle. Damn windpipe.

"What--" Ginella's fingers twitch as the hair is pressed into them along with the note, sticking to her sweaty palms already: "What is that? Why --" she cuts the question off in shock. "You're not -- but how am I supposed-- I can't--" A couple panicked breaths, and then a grunt as she's shoved and stumbles. "You're both going to wish you were dead," she promises angrily, "You're going to regret it, I promise. And there aren't any cliffs around here, so just shut up! Fuck you both!" She stumbles again already, tripping over a root, but somehow managing to keep her feet and take off in the direction she was shoved, as quickly as you can go while blind and awkwardly bound.

"I thought they taught you Caucus brats better then that," Aivey says, tsking quietly as she watches Ginella slowly disappear. Seconds after Ginella's footfalls die away, Aivey talks. "This is nothing personal... at least not all of it is. It's his fault you're here. His fault I did what I did. His fault I'll have to kill him. You were just a means to that end." Aivey delivers this pleasantly as though she weren't talking about murder, "When he's dead it'll end. I'll leave you and your friend - Gin, was it? - I'll leave you both alone. I'll have finished what I came here to do." The sound of movement comes again before Penny finds herself drawn to her feet, Aivey's hand upon her forearm firm and steady, "For now though, I need to prepare a welcoming for him. You'll stick around, won't you? It won't take me long. I'll be back, promise." Aivey then attempts to drag Penny to a nearby tree.

Go -Ginny-. Even Penny seems a little taken aback for a moment at the vehemence of Ginella's parting shots, and strains to listen to her footsteps moving away and fading into the sounds of the night. But then the psycho is speaking again, and Penny listens. She's shaking now with reaction, unable to control the tremors, and when Aivey drags her back she doesn't struggle. "You're a psychotic bitch," she says in a low voice. "And you're never going to win this. Jensen could take down ten of you in his -sleep-. He'll come for me, and he'll -kill- you for touching me." The words are steel and fire, spat with resolve and utter confidence. There's no room in her mind for a worldview where Jensen isn't immortal and capable of anything.

Gag at the ready, a gag to be mirrored in the one Ginella will arrive with, Aivey hesitates. "Psychotic. That is what they're calling me, isn't it? I don't like the sound of it though," Aivey's hand slips to Penny's chin, wrenching it up and to the side so that Penny's head might strike the tree trunk she's forced against, "Make sure people know that. I'm not psychotic. I'm - you'll appreciate this - /dedicated/. There's a difference. Ask Seft- wait. I'll ask him myself." Too bad Penny can't see that smile because it'd help her case in that there's nothing but malice in the toothy grin, "Jensen's a joke. I could have killed him so many times but I didn't. I want to savor it when I do and I will now, thanks to you. He'll rush to your rescue like the good little Captain he is. When he does, I'll cut his throat." Aivey begins winding the rope around Penny, taking her time and showing no concern over the tightness she uses to bind the girl to the tree, "Now like I said. Don't move." Aivey doesn't laugh, but mockery is well in place. The gag is slipped on and as a last measure, Penny's head is pat. "That's a good girl."

Penny gives a little cry of pain as her head strikes the tree, making a solid thunk that dazes her for several moments. Gasping with the effort not to completely dissolve into tears, enough of what Aivey's saying filters through the stars she's seeing to affect her. "Sefton? What about Sefton? What the fuck are you planning to--" She struggles against the bonds again, serving only to rub her hands raw against tree and cord. "You leave him OUT OF THIS." Some wrench of her wrist against the bonds, something bad, causes Penny's face to drain and go pale -- possibly some sort of dislocation. She listens to the description of Jen's death now, numbly, unable to absorb it. "No," she says, with effort, speaking almost drunkenly. "No, you can't-- he won't..." But then she's gagged. She doesn't even move when Aivey pats her on the head.

Aivey does move. Penny might develop whole new fears, staked as she is out in the forest alone. To a tree. The sound of Aivey walking away grows fainter then stops all together. Presumably, Penny is then left to her lonesome and time will pass in which there is no relief from that notion. In truth, Aivey never moves more then a few feet away and remains silent with the time that passes. An hour, maybe two after Ginella's freedom and no rescue has come. Penny... Penny is left with her doubts and her fears while Aivey quietly watches.

Penny is quiet for a long time. She's crying, to judge from the dampness of the blindfold, but not out loud. It's only after this long period of silence that she tries to scream for someone, anyone, her voice muffled horribly by the gag. She only makes a couple attempts before the futility of it is obvious, and sits breathing hard for a few moments. Another period follows in which she tries to struggle free, pulling at her bonds over and over, twisting her wrists; but something seems to be wrong with one of them, dangling oddly. She may actually have dislocated it, tugging the way she had been, and it's with a groan of pain that she gives this up, too. By now nearly an hour has passed, and Penny falls into a sort of of numb trance, silent now and no longer even crying. She's just waiting.

The silence breaks with Aivey 'arriving' back to Penny. The sound of footsteps comes from behind, the binds tying her to the tree are cut and an absent, "You should get a healer to look at those wrists. They really owe me what with all the business I'm giving them lately." Pain is to be felt as Aivey tucks something beneath the rope binds. Afterward, Penny is rounded, Aivey now standing infront of her. Close enough that Penny can quite easily touch her, "Your Captain failed to do what you swore he could do. He's lying dead now... probably still bleeding out. I cut him deep." Still blindfolded, Penny really can't see that twisted smile from Aivey - delight in knowing she's hurting Jensen by hurting Penny, "Feel free to head back to the Weyr. Enjoy what time you have left with Sefton.

The sound of foosteps doesn't serve to snap Penny out of her daze, but the sensation of having the binds cut does. She gasps, painfully, falling forward -- she'd been sagging against them. She's unable to stifle a cry, muffled against the gag, as that something is tucked into the ropes around her wrists. "Nnn--" Penny's trying to speak, her face gaining back a little of its fury. She's shaking her head, denying it all, and so sure of herself. More muffled sounds from around the gag, choking.

Aivey, compasionate soul that she is, pulls the gag out of Penny's mouth - her whisper reverent, "You were saying, darling?" Another quiet taunt, entirely too mocking for all that the half often speaking the endearment is, supposedly, dead.

"You -liar-" Penny hisses, as soon as the gag's removed. "All you do is lie-- you drag me out here, you tie me up, you tell me he's dead just to fuck with me. You're -nothing-. You can't touch him." The endearment is what does it -- without hesitation, Penny spits in the direction of Aivey's voice. "Don't EVER call me that again." The coldness of her voice would be frightening -- if, you know, she had any power whatsoever. Bound and blindfolded and, by this point, bleeding, she's pretty much all talk.

Aivey is so kind that, for just a moment, she ignores the spit that lands and all those vulgar, mean, hurtful words. Penny's blindfold is reached for, slipped up and the edge of a blade propped into view. Stained red with blood that looks to be drying, if not already dried, Aivey says, "Can't argue with the evidence, can you?" The blindfold is slipped back on, gag back up and a pat to Penny's cheek follows. "On your way. Try not to trip over his body. I imagine that'd be pretty scaring." A nudge compliments of Aivey's foot is offered to Penny's rump, Aivey then nodding to a lurking Yeran who signals a warning. Without waiting any further, Aivey turns and heads away - whistling softly as she goes.

Penny's head jerks back away from the blade -- a knife suddenly next to one's eye is mighty shocking. Her head connects with the tree again, but the pain of it is lost, this time, her eyes fixed on the bloody thing. She's silent as the blindfold is slid back down over her eyes, silent as Aivey's foot hits her, silent even when the woman walks away, whistling. It's as though that sight cut away whatever strings were holding Penny up, fueling that fury that kept her from completely breaking; now, she just kneels there, motionless. It's a long, long time before she gets up, slowly, inch by inch. Eventually, with several false starts, she's on her feet. There's no way for her to tell which direction she should go, so for a long time she just -stands- there. Eventually, she picks a direction at random, and begins walking.