Ciguatoxin comes in a little glass vial
Krysaliss Lynne says, "Now I leave you in
my partner's capable hands, for the time being."
Krysaliss performs a graceful curtsey.
Krysaliss leaves to the south.
You smile impishly and say, "Welcome, one
and two, to this exhibition! I'm sure you may be wondering just what I
have in store for you today."
Iluv Bialystone says, "That I am."
Kabaal gestures broadly before tapping the side of his head, “The mind of a sentient being is a fickle thing. Enlightenment can destroy it. It can be convinced it is sick or incapable of action. It can even be forced to believe in hallucinations and act a certain way.” A snap of the fingers causes his body to jerk about in a quick circle, “Unfortunately, these changes are not permanent.”
Iluv Bialystone says, "What will I be witnessing exactly?"
Kabaal sets an odd contraption on the nearby table: seemingly a collection of various gears, including the obvious designs of a recorder and charger, even a skilled engineer would have trouble guessing at its purpose. Roughly bowl shaped, several prongs stick out of concave side, a multitude of turnkeys on the opposite. A larger turnkey, red in color and heart-shaped, sits at the center. A crooked smile comes on his face, and he gives the main turnkey a small twist, causing the device to spark, “Seeking a way past this dilemma is why I brought you here today!” He gives a loud, rising whistle.
Iluv lazily twirls his dirk around in his hand, nimbly avoiding injury.
The smell of blood wafts through the room, leaving a tantalizing, rich, metallic scent in its wake.
Krysaliss arrives from the south.
She is followed by a black ouroboros and a breathtakingly beautiful fairy named Eslavella.
Krysaliss saunters in, a lovely fairy in tow
attached to a short leash. The fairy's arms and legs are bound in
heavy, steel shackles and her elegant wings are pinned tight together
behind her back. The fairy struggles with each step, needing to be
yanked forward forcefully. She whimpers pitifully behind a large gag.
The shackled yet otherwise unadorned fairy
struggles back against the leash, her gagged mouth emitting pleading
cries to you that match the look of terror on her face.
Theophilus eyes a lovely fairy carefully, his expression portraying a slight degree of concern.
Iluv dances about in utter glee.
Kabaal brings his hands together in a loud clap as he strides towards Krysaliss, taking the end of the leash from her after a peck on her cheek. The sudden jerking of the unfortunate one fills the room with the sound of rattling chains followed by a crisp slap. The snake leads the girl towards the center table, but even the physical violence seems to not dissuade her from protesting her fate, "As you can see, she is anything but perfectly obedient. Considering this flaw in her, this experiment has the benefits of being a foray into complex techniques on an expendable subject!"
The cheerfulness in Kabaal’s voice sets the fairy off once more, futile kicks and punches doing little to deter him from tossing her onto the nearby slab of a table.
Theophilus winces in pain.
Kabaal moves to the head of the table and secures the fairy's hands above her. Another strap is threaded through slits in the table and goes around the back of her neck, holding her head in place. Motioning for Krysaliss to do the same at the girl's feet, he pulls a small vial out and shows it to the gathering, "Ciguatoxin! As all of us should be aware, the paralysis does not stop mental activity, allowing me to work with her mind as I change her body."
Tugging at her bonds, the fairy sobs uncontrollably.
Krysaliss slips to the base of the table, leaning into the fairy's lower limbs as she wrests the thrashing legs still long enough to bind them still against the cold metal.
Kabaal takes the device from and steps on a lever at the bottom of the table, and the solid slab abruptly turns at a right angle. The base allows Kabaal to turn the girl about with another lever, offering a side view of the predicament. Handing the oddity to Krysaliss, he pulls a narrow dirk from his waist and punctures the side of the fairy’s neck in a swift motion. A tiny trickle of blood pours down the wound and over her sun-kissed flesh.
The screams grow frantic and desperate, loud even through the gag, but the twitching rebellion of the fairy gradually fades as paralysis sinks in.
Iluv inspects the shelf of decapitated baby heads, while the experiment continues on.
Kabaal pats the girls cheek, causing a small amount of drool to escape, “Normally, I would let her scream at will, but I do not want her biting her tongue off or to cause me a mishap.” Scaled hands brush her hair to the side before prying the heavy lids of her empty eyes open. A fixating stare from the snake’s fiery eyes causes the pupils to dilate even further. A quick spin shows off the wide eyes to the audience, “As you can see, she is immobilized, yet she is still frightened and quite aware of things.” An overly zealous spin sends her about several times before his foot stops the table, the fairy’s back to the crowd.
Theophilus continues to observe, his expression displaying both amusement and horror.
Flicking a gleaming straight razor into her clawed hand, Krysaliss sets about efficiently shaving the back of the fairy's head. Once satisfied with the bare, smooth flesh left in the razor's wake, she deposits the blade on a nearby table and gathers a small tray from one corner of the room. This contains a collection of inks, small rods with screw tip ends, and a handful of wickedly sharp needles.
Theophilus touches a brazier tattoo and Thoregg appears suddenly in your location, looking disoriented.
Theophilus gives Thoregg an acknowledging nod.
Kabaal returns from his quiet exit during the clipping with a hammer and thin needle, a wide and flat base at one end of the slender implement. He sets them on the small service table and picks up the blue ink and smaller needle from it. A dip of the needle in the ink precedes its use to mark the fairy’s scalp, eight small dots and four inch-long lines in a circle around a central point. He talks during the procedure, occasionally stepping aside to let the audience view the progress, "These will serve as guides for the perforations and incisions, the style of the ink giving you an idea of the cuts I will be making. Each corresponds to a part of the apparatus."
Theophilus tenses up in anticipation of the cruel procedure.
Kabaal exchanges his tools for the hammer and larger needle, bringing the tip up against one of the points along the circle. "The first cut is always the deepest!" he gleefully exclaims before driving the needle in with a steady blow. Withdrawing the needle slowly, he has Krysaliss hand him a rod from the table. The slightly larger shaft causes audible squishes and squelches as it forces its way in. A few jets of blood and small flecks of other matter smack across his face and chest.
The fairy's foot twitches just slightly.
Iluv watches as bits of blood boils in his fiery face.
Thoregg creeps closer to others.
Kabaal wipes the blood away from the face, sneaking a lick of his fingers, before applying a small dab
of salve around the slightly protruding, grooved tip of the rod, "We don’t want her to bleed out before were finished, now do we?" He hums quite happily and begins work on the remaining dots, center one included. Each hammer blow is quiet and finessed, the grotesque sounds of the insertion contrastly capable of turning stomachs. When he is finished, seven tips proudly stand out on the back of her head. He exchanges the hammer and needle for his dirk and quickly lacerates the flesh along the longer lines of ink, "These will footholds for additional anchors. I’m not quite sure what the effect of the rods being wiggled about will be, but I want to minimize it regardless."
Krysaliss collects the strange device with something nearing reverence, careful not to jostle the arrangement of rods as she moves towards the fairy's head. She offers it, palms up, to you, as though she carries something of great value. Once Kabaal takes it from her hands, she releases a trapped breath and steps back.
Kabaal sets the device against the back of the fairy's head, making sure to carefully align it to the rods. He calls Krysaliss to hold it up for him as he he presses four tabs in along the rim, a sudden pop accompanying the journey of each into the footholds. Starting from the top, he begins to turn the smaller keys until they click several times. The center key is left unturned, for now.
Kabaal steps on another lever, and the table tilts forward to its original position, "Unfortunately, the poor girl will need some time before we can determine whether or not the procedure was successful. I hope you all enjoyed the show, and I will be keeping the Empire, and others if they wish, aware of how her recovery is progressing." He bows deeply and gestures for Krysaliss to do the same.
Krysaliss draws a dark sheet over the prone form of the much abused fairy, concealing her form from the gathered audience as Kabaal speaks. She clasps her hands formally before her chest and bows deeply, "Thank you for attending the surgery," she adds to Kabaal's own gratitude.
Comments
(Ring): Lartus says, "Then it exploded."
(Ring): Zsetsu says, "Everyone's playing checkers, but Theophilus is playing chess."