Private Tales High Tension Containment

A private roleplay only for those invited by the first writer
The confinement was getting to them. It had to be. Nothing else could explain what he was hearing. He stayed quiet, as conflicting sides of him short circuited the other's response.

On the one had: disgust. She was scared? Ella was about to be a Dreadlord. She apprenticed under Zana... THE Zana for Anir's sake! But now a few elves and a cage frightened her? He had half a mind to tell her she should have stayed at the academy if she was going to a cowardly child about this.

On the other hand: a strange aversion to being mean to Ella. He didn't want to make her feel fluffy and full of sunshine, mind you, but he didn't want to kick her into the dirt like he would anyone else who had said they were scared.

Where the two feelings met was a somewhat predictable medium: if Ella was scared he didn't need to be annoyed, he could use this to prove (once again) that he could handle anything. He stood up taller, rolled his shoulders back, and said "Don't worry, I'll get us ou-"

"Are you dedlords?"

He turned with a jump to look back at the door, where a child's voice had suddenly interrupted him. And there was... a child. A young elven girl, by the looks of it, in a plain green dress and looking back and forth from Vance to Ella with a cherub-like face of unabashed nosiness.

"What?" Vance hissed. Where the fuck had this kid come from?

"Do you know magic?" She asked again, scratching behind an oversized ear.
 
Eleanor had been fully expecting Vance to yell at her and tell her to stop being a coward or something else that would hurt her. Yes, she was a Dreadlord Initiate and she was strong, but she was also human. She was allowed to get scared. She was allowed to just want Vance to hold her and tell her everything would be okay. She would never admit that though. EVER!

The young voice that had interrupted Vance and made him jump had the same effect on her. She turned and stared at the child. Were they really using a child to get Vance and Ella to help them? That was low. That was some Dreadlord shit if she ever saw it. Fucking elves.

Vance voiced the words that she was about to say and the next question from the young elf caused her to look up at her partner. Did they answer? Of course they did. Their captures already knew the answer to this question.

"Yes, we know magic. Why do you ask? I am sure your elders told you about us..." Ella had squatted down so she was closer to the girls height.
 
"What sort of magic?" the child continued to pry, oblivious to Ella's questioning. Vance still had an expression of mixed surprise and disgust. He didn't *do* children. They were stupid and weak, and they smelled bad. The elven girl rubbed the back of her ear again, blinking enormous eyes at Ella.

"Piss off," he grumbled at the kid.

The child turned an angry face at him, with her cheeks puffed up in a grimace. "Show me your magic." She demanded.
 
Ella was about to answer the little girls next question when Vance interjected. She turned and threw him a glare that said what the fuck and shut the fuck up at the same time. She was trying to play whatever this little game was and his impatient ass was going to get them killed. Their captures had sent in the little girl on purpose.

The little elf did not like Vance's little outburst either. She glared at him with all the petulance of a child and Ella almost laughed. It was kind of cute. She imagined the first one of the twins gave that look to Zana or Talus and the face of shock and horror that would follow.

Ella was still squatted down to the girls level when the girl made her demand.

"We can't show you. This cell has some kind of block on it. We cannot use our magic at all. If you let us out, we could show you!" She smiled as sweetly as she could.
 
The little girl turned back to Ella, but kept a sidelong glare at Vance as she did so. She put a small hand to her chin, emulating the movement she had seen adults perform when thinking very hard.

"I'm not s'posed to let you out," she said, dragging her bare feet in front of her. "And he's mean."

Vance, finally catching up to what was happening, squatted down next to Ella and did his best to put on a friendly face. It wasn't very good. "I'm, uh, sorry. I got frustrated being in here. It's, um, hard for people to be in cages for so long." No way this kid would be able to let them out... but maybe she knew where a key was.

The girl looked him up and down, like she was deciding whether or not she wanted to play with a particular toy, and said "I want her to come. You stay here."

Vance was a little taken aback by the sheer guts of the kid to be giving them commands, and the anger he felt rising in his chest wasn't accompanied by electricity now. He closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. "Then you won't see my magic, and it's really, uh, pretty." There was no way he was letting Ella wander off by herself.
 
Ella was very happy when Vance finally squatted down with her. He wasn't as dumb as he looked...good. The little girl listened to his apology but she did not seem to care what he had said. He had already made her mad. He, out of all the Initiates, should know what it means to piss a female off. It did not matter their age.

Ella was impressed that the girl was giving commands. She would be powerful one day. That may not be a good thing right now though. Her eyes slide from the little elf to Vance and then back to elf.

"He is right. His magic is pretty awesome. It is actually cooler than mine," she said with a winning (and hopefully) convincing smile. It was absolutely not cooler than hers but she would let the girl think that if it would get them out of the cell.

"You should definitely bring both of us..."
 
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The child, while still not seeming happy with the idea, at least did give Vance another once-over.

"Ok. But you two have to hold hands so you can't run away."

Vance's mouth went very dry. Not even addressing why this kid thought that holding hands would keep them from running away, it was not something he had expected in the least. He'd grow... less uncomfortable around Ella, but he still had a paradoxical aversion to her (whilst simultaneously wanting to be within sight of her). In fact, if he could be within eyesight but never ever physically touch he figured that would probably be best.

But, if that was the only price for freedom, he'd pay it.

"Sure," he said, grabbing Ella's hand before either of them could talk themselves out of it. "Happy?"

The child beamed and immediately stuck her hand through the bars and grabbed ahold of Vance and Ella's entwined fingers. Green tendrils of light wrapped the pair's hands and faded into thin green ribbons. They were light, soft, and entirely unbreakable.

"Wha- hey!" Vance tugged instinctively, but all he did was bring Ella's hand closer to him.

The little girl giggled "Now you can't run away!"
 
Ella chuckled at the little girls ultimatum and then stopped abruptly. Oh fuck...she was serious. Oh fuck...she was serious. Ella had been better about being around Vance since she had stopped hating him but she still didn't do very well with touching him because then she wanted to keep touching him.

She looked over to her left at Vance for a split second before he grabbed her hand and intwined his fingers with hers. The jolt of electricity surged through her body and she, unfortunately, couldn't blame Vance's magic this time. That jolt was all her feelings and she felt her cheeks grow warm.

Her attention was drawn back to the little elf as she reached through the bars and sent light at their hands. The light turned to ribbons and she realized that she got tricked by the little imp. Ella's right hand was tied to Vance's left. This was going to be an interesting mess.

When Vance tugged his hand, Ella lost her balance and tumbled into him. Well...she tumbled onto him. She groaned when the little girl giggled as she found her face resting on Vance's thigh.

Fuckkkkkkk.
 
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The panic that went through Vance had nothing to do with being restrained in enemy territory, nor from a child that could call upon magic easier than some initiates. No, it came from Ella being very close and very warm. He scrambled up so quickly and with such vigor that he lifted Ella from the floor one-handed so that she stood beside him.

The little girl looked very pleased with herself, and she took a few silent steps to the cell door before grabbing the latch and... opening it. It didn't even look like she had cast a spell it just opened. Some elf trickery, Vance assumed. Maybe it could only be open by elves. In that case, it was pretty stupid of them not to put an age restriction on that particular charm.

In a moment quite unlike himself, Vance hesitated. It was too easy, surely they couldn't just walk out of here. Was it a trap? Was their security really so lax as to let a kid just release their prisoners?

"Come on!" the elf demanded. "We can play over here."
 
Ella grunted as Vance hauled her up by one arm. He was very close and very warm and she very much secretly liked being attached to him...literally. She would never admit that though. Ever!

The little elf opened the cell door like it was nothing causing Ella to glower at the girl. She looked over at Vance and mouthed what the fuck at her partner. She was growing more and more nervous with each second that passed.

There was something off about this child.

Play. The word sent shivers down Ella's spine but she stepped over the cells threshold nonetheless.

"What do you want to play exactly?"
 
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Vance caught Ella's look but didn't hold it for long. His face had turned the same shade as his hair and he had not idea what to do with his bound hand. It was impossible to break free. Should he hold onto her hand so she knew they were in it together? No, maybe he should keep his hand as loose as possible so she wouldn't think he enjoyed touching her hand... her soft, warm, delicate hand...

What ended up happening in reality was Vance alternately tensing and relaxing his hand around Ella's, all the while getting sweatier palms, then feeling self-conscious about the sweating palms, thereby sweating more.

Figure your shit out you're a damned Dreadlord!

Right, play? What were they playing? Who cares. He gave Ella's hand a squeeze and took a step through the cage door. Nothing terrible happened.

Immediately upon crossing the threshold Vance felt the surge of electricity return to him. Both his and Ella's hair lifted with static as the power, contained quite obviously against its will, rushed back. Vance had to take a second to steady himself, and turned to cough out a few sparks.

"Magic!" the little imp squeaked excitedly. "Show me!" She spoke excitedly to Ella, somewhere in between a request and an order. Her little fists were balled up under her chin as she tottered from foot and foot in excitement.

"Just give her a taste." They may as well play along at this point. Even he wasn't stupid enough to think they could fight their way out of here while bound together.
 
Ella wanted to laugh at Vance's reaction to her hand being in his but she couldn't. This was far too serious of a situation to poke fun at the tension that rested between them. She would never admit that she, too, was nervous and excited to be touching him. His sweaty palms were enough to cover hers up. Her terribly held secret was safe for now.

The Initiates had been correct in their theory about the cage because whatever was stopping their power disappeared as soon as they stepped out. Hers was not obvious like Vance's was and she just laughed out as every hair on her body stood on end.

Ella nodded and looked around the area. There was not much that she could move around and she wasn't going to throw the little girl against the wall.

Hmmm...she thought as a sly smile crossed her lips. If the little elf wanted fun, Ella would give her fun.

The Dreadlord Initiate lifted her right hand and a moment later the little girl was raising off the ground. The hand stopped and the elf just stood there floating in the air.
 
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Vance, for one, would have been fine with Ella smashing the imp against the wall and dashing free. That is until their inevitable discovery and re-capture. They still didn't know where they were, or how large of an encampment they were in. How many elves were here? They'd only see their hooded keeper and this kid.

The structure they were in was wood, like seemingly everything these forest people made. He could light it on fire, maybe escape in the panic? But they were still bound together.

The elven girl, oblivious to the dreadlord's dire situation, giggled and waved her legs and arms. Soon, however, her face turned from enjoyment to alarm. Perhaps she realized how helpless she was in Eleanor's power, perhaps she had figured out just now how dangerous the two humans were.

"P-put me down! Put me down!" She sqeaked, moving her legs more furiously. Vance squeezed Eleanor's hand again. He didn't want her yelling to draw the guards. The strangely absent guards...
 
Ella tensed at the girls giggles and waves. It would have been adorable if they were not in a life or death situation right now. It was not long before the little elf was yelling to be put down. Ella did not smile or make any other expression as she brought the girl back down to the ground.

She squeezed Vance's hand back but she didn't let up. It was like she was holding on for dear life. It was like he was the only thing tethering her to reality.

"Now you! Now you! Show me your powers!" The little elf yelled at Vance.

Ella tensed next to him. She knew how his power was and this confined space what not a good spot for a demonstration.
 
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Vance felt the squeeze from Ella, felt the tension when he was asked to use his powers. A little bit rude, he thought. Did she not trust him?

No, she just knew how his powers worked. But Vance would not let her know how right she was.

“Alright,” he said with a wry grin, “here.”

Vance raised his free hand towards the child and, with quite a bit of concentration, focused all of the electrical potential into those digits. Blue arcs danced between his fingertips and sparks flickered in and out of existence. It was a crackling little light show, and an exercise in extreme restraint for the young hothead.

Ella would have had her hair lift at most… maybe feel a light tingle through her body, but no pain.

“I could show you more if you untied us. I don’t want to hurt my friend.”
 
Ella watched Vance raise his free and she prayed that he could do this little demonstration without killing them all. She trusted him, she did not trust his power. It sometimes had a mind of its own, she thought.

Ella felt the tingle and she felt her hair move but all her will was focused on Vance's fingers. She just smiled as she watched him put on his show. She loved watching him use his power.

The little elf was grinning and clapping as Vance finished and spoke. She clicked her tongue at them and Ella made a mental note that that was not something children usually did.

"Oh no! I cannot untie you yet! How do I know you will not try to kill me and run away?!"

The elf had a point there. That was definitely number one on Ella's list of to-dos.
 
"We don't kill kids," a flat lie. Vance had killed children before and he'd do it again. He would have killed this child already if he thought it would help them escape, but he did his best to smile and offer reassurance. At least kids were stupid... or they were supposed to be.

The little girl was not as stupid as Vance had hoped. "Dreadlords kill children all the time. My mother told me about it. You shouldn't lie."

Vance felt the bonds around his and Ella's hands tighten. He grit his teeth and made a mental note to be more clever the next time he tried tricking the girl. He made another mental note that Ella just watched him get scolded by a child, and his anger ticked up a few notches. He took some deep breaths, noting Ella's hair once again starting to rise.

The girl sat down, looking sad. "Why won't you open the box all the adults want you to? They'd let you go home if you did."

Vance blinked, not expecting such an up-front question. He looked at Ella, wanting some sort of psychic link to come into existence so she could tell him how to answer. She was smarter than him about this sort of stuff.
 
Ella snickered as Vance got caught in his lie by this little girl. She quickly straightened and resumed her seriousness once she felt his magic prickle through her. He was getting agitated and she didn’t need that when they were connected to each other.

"Why won't you open the box all the adults want you to? They'd let you go home if you did."

Ella caught Vance’s look and she knew that she was meant to answer the question.

“Because we don’t know how to,” Ella answered honestly.
 
The small elf tilted her head. "That's stupid."

Vance felt another prickle but contained it better than he had before.

"Why would they give you a box you couldn't open?"

It was, to her credit, a valid question. Furthermore, it forced Vance to remember the reason himself. "For situations like this," he said almost laughing. "So that if we are captured we can't give you what's inside. Only the Dreadlord we're delivering to can open it."

He shut his mouth abruptly after realizing he'd probably said too much. It wouldn't have been hard for the elves to figure out, he reassured himself, and they didn't know who the package was being delivered to... not yet.

Oh great. Now they knew what to ask for when they tortured the pair of them.

"Who were you delivering it to?"

Should have expected that, but the smirk Vance found on his face was more out of appreciation that the girl had even tried.

"You know we can't tell you that. We wouldn't be very good Dreadlords if we did, eh?"

You aren't very good Dreadlords for being captured. She hadn't said it, but Vance heard her little voice through his own thoughts all the same, and he dropped the smirk.
 
"Only the Dreadlord we're delivering to can open it."

Ella could've slapped Vance right there and then for being so fucking stupid. She had to give the girl credit for trying to get the answer of who. Vance, of course, told her fuck off in the nicest way.

"We do not know who we are meeting. We just know where we were meeting them."

It was the truth. They were not given a name for this reason. They should have waited until after the meeting to catch the Dreadlord but they had jumped the gun.

They were trying to kill the messengers here and she, for one, did not appreciate it.

"We can take you to where we were meeting the Dreadlord," she offered the little elf. Getting out of the close quarters may help the two of them get closer to escaping.
 
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The girl looked genuinely interested in Ella's response, and for a moment her eyes lost the childlike glow. It returned when she asked "But there aren't any Dreadlords in Elven lands. My mom told me that."

She was right, even Vance knew that the treaties between the Falwood Elves and Vel Anir restricted such things. While he was all but certain Vel Anir had some secret spies, they two of them hadn't been sent into enemy territory. That would have been disastrous.

Vance opened his mouth to speak but stopped himself to think first (a rarity). No... no it was actually better to say the truth in this case.

"We weren't going to elven land." Best not start another war with any misunderstandings.

The girl cocked her head to the side. "You are in elven land."

"Well we are now, but you brought us here."

She was quiet for a long time. Strangely long, and then she spoke in the strongest "are you fucking stupid" tone Vance had ever heard.

"You were captured for trespassing."
 
Ella was grateful that Vance was finally using his brain. It was the truth so it wasn't like it took that much brainpower though. She would still squeeze his hand to let him know she approved. She would always let him know when she was pleased with him.

"You were captured for trespassing."

Ella couldn't stop the bark of laughter that left her at the little elves words.

"No, that is impossible. We followed the directions we were given to the letter. The map was in my bag so you can see where we were," she said in a matter of fact tone. She was right, the girl was wrong.

They had not been elven territory. They were not stupid.

Were they?
 
Vance shot Ella a look when she offered to show them the map. The elves might be convinced if they saw it, but then again this could all be a plan to figure out where exactly they were trying to go.

"You could have that map to trick people going through your bag."

Vance hadn't even thought of that. It would have been a good idea to have a false map when going on secret missions, he'd remember that for later. Unfortunately, the map was real, and now he had to convince his captors that he was, in fact, stupider than they thought.

"Look, we really weren't trying to trespass."

"Stop lying!" the little girl interjected. "I told you not to lie!"

She lifted a small arm and the green ribbons binding Vance and Ella's hands tightened painfully. He felt it drive Ella's nails into his skin, and he stumbled to a knee. An initial surge of energy rippled across the pair of them. It was too much to suppress, but Vance managed to redirect most of it to his other hand were a crackling, blue ball of lightning materialized.

With inhuman speed the child threw up her other hand and green vines sprung from the floor to Vance's side and pulled his arm down. With the surprise and sudden movement, the current discharged into the ceiling where small flames started up.

"We aren't lying," he hissed, though most of his focus was on trying to keep too much electricity from running through Ella as the copper rods on his armor started to hum.
 
Ella cried out as the ribbon tightened around her wrist and she was pulled down to her own knees when Vance went down. She felt the electricity surge through her but it was only a small bit that caused the hair on her arms to stand up. There was a buzzing in her head that caused her to shut her eyes.

Because her eyes were shut, she missed the little elves second attack. Her eyes shot open as the crack of his lightning hit the ceiling above them.

"We aren't lying."

The hairs on Ella's arms started to stand up again and she knew what was coming. Vance had gotten much better at his control but this was too much. There was too much anger right now.

Ella looked around the room quicky and shot out her free hand in an attempt to throw a bench at the elf.

Who the fuck cared if she was kid at this point!
 
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Ella had pushed their position too far. The bench flew towards the child who made no attempt whatsoever to avoid it. It broke on impact, splintering in half an arm's length from the elf as it collided with a shimmering barrier. She was angry, but it wasn't the hot anger of a child, it was the cold and honed anger of something much, much older.

With a brighter shimmer the girl disappeared, and in her place was their captor's true shape: A tall elven woman, bedecked from neck to toe in golden armor fashioned after tree leaves. She was devastatingly beautiful, with a deluge of silky-straight blonde hair swept back from a face carved by angels. Her skin had a youthful glow that complimented her armor, but her eyes, black as night, vivisected the pair of dreadlords with the gaze of something far more ancient.

The vines at Vance's wrist gripped harder as the heat from the flames above grew hotter. Thin cracks of lightning flickered from his fingertips to the floor and he felt a static shock pop between his shoulder and Ella's.

"You are actually too foolish to manipulate. My kindness, and patience, have run out. You could have saved yourself torture, humans." The word slithered from her lips to their ears burning with contempt, and a pair of elven guards stepped in from the adjacent room, where they had been watching. "Do you know what we do to Dreadlords? No... you are too young. Your mentors are too young. But we remember. We remember everything."

She had no fear of them. Even without blocking their magic she approached. In any other situation Vance would be trying to disintegrate her, but the more Ella's nails cut into his flesh the more he thought of nothing but directing his power away from her.

He heard the floor shudder as more thick vines erupted and entwined Ella, wrapping around arms, legs, and torso. "No!" he barked, but he just sent another bolt off to the side and lit more of the makeshift prison on fire.
 
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