RP:Linn's Almost As Impatient As His Narrator

From HollowWiki

Part of the Do You Believe In Magic? Arc


Summary: The baking never seems to end and Linn's plotting is only just beginning.

Raiez's Cave (Dead End)

Restless was becoming an understatement to describe Linn. Given the lack of activity and any indication of the passage of time he seemed to be sleeping less and less and spent his wakeful time pacing about, doing whatever exercise he could in the confines of the jar, toying with the gems he had, or playing the occasional game of cards with Odhranos. He wasn’t that good at that last thing though, if anyone wondered. Despite that, his focus and gaze grew sharper, jagged, even, with his impatience. Whenever he worked with his gems or examined the outside of the jar he practically looked like he was trying to make whatever it was explode with his mind. Suffice to say, the ideas turning in his mind that he was using to keep himself busy wound up being rather counterproductive to the occupation, as the desire to do something with them set in not long afterwards. More ideas, more idle ideas, more will to get out. Recently, he had taken to trying to rock the jar, test its stability when Raiez wasn’t looking. Sometimes forward, more often to the side of the ledge. Regardless of the results, well, he was looking ready to get out, and had taken to crushing a selection of his gems into a fine multicolored sand. Odds are he had recruited Odhranos to make him a bigger stone capable of doing the crushing, or he’d be doing it with another gem of his own against the glass bottom of the jar. It made a nice anvil at least, being mostly unbreakable and all. Sometime during the process he’d speak up. “You know if she’s got these jars fixed to the ground well at all?”

Khitti was baking again. What else could she do? I mean, she did go back and forth between that and the violin and rereading her fairy tales, but let's be honest, she wasn't as good as she wanted to be with that violin and she was essentially the Hollow equivalent of Belle from Beauty and the Beast; she knew all of those stories by heart. The baked goods were starting to pile up in the jar now. She'd taken to just baking out of boredom and the treats were all separated into piles by what sort they were. Everything was categorized. Everything had it's place. Anything out of place would be promptly crushed underfoot. That's probably the crazy talking though. Speaking of talking, did Linn says something? Oh. Apparently he did. Having just stuffed a glob of brownie batter into her mouth, she could only get out, "Bwaht? Fixed to zhe ground?" Khitti, swallow your food please. Doing so, she wrinkles her nose at the formerly armored male, "What do I look like...a mage?" Well...that could've been assumed. You -are- trapped in a cave with a ton of other mages. That might make -you- a mage, also. Maybe. Sort of. "I don't know vhat zhe hell she's done to anything here. I don't even properly understand my magic let alone a millenia old dragon's."

Linn glanced over at the treats every now and then; it may have been for the best that he didn’t have them in his jar. The smell would probably make him hungry, which under most circumstances was easy enough to ignore between meals. The gems he had originally held their bit of order, but were quickly falling into disarray… -by- being crushed. How ironic. Maybe it was the crazy coming out in him. Those that found themselves reduced to sand held only one thing in common in that they were the densest ones he could pick. Linn had to look up from his little crushing operation the moment he heard the muffled voice of Khitti… who was stuffing her face. Man, why did all the food have to be with the vampires? Dragon logic. A roll of his eyes signaled that yes, Khitti was in fact, a mage. Or something close enough to it. He only cracked a weak smile at her excuses. “Doesn’t mean you could give it a push to find out.” Uhmmmm, check that statement, with the bitey one and Dominic and that precious precious order of sweets that was probably a –really- bad idea. “Nevermind. Odhranos mentioned that these jars were broken before when you were in them. Something about them getting pushed over the edge? I have a couple ideas that could do that from the inside, but I have no idea if she’s taken any extra precautions after one jar broke.” Any reasonable person would, right? Well… everyone around here was unreasonable in one way or another… so, there’s a chance, right?

"You don't zhink zhat perhaps after vhat is likely zhe strongest of her pets got out of it's cage zhat she wouldn't put some stronger magic in place to protect against zhat?" She does a sort of mocking bow, complete with drama and flair. "Be my guest, zhough, if you'd like to try and zhen Raiez comes along and eats you." There's a shrug from the vampiress to accompany her sarcasm, and what sounds like a bit of snickering coming from the other redhead in the jar with Khitti. Wait. She actually knows what laughter is? The dark ranger blinks and turns around to face the bitey murdery one, but as usual, she was still in that strict training regimen. You know, the one that never seems to end. My god, doesn't she ever get tired? Probably not. The amount of energy she had was well...shocking. Shaking her head, Khitti turns back around, returning to devouring her brownie batter. It was delicious, okay? And it's not like she was going to gain any weight. Thankfully her mother wasn't alive or else she'd likely get scolded for it. 'Save some of the brownies for zhe rest of us, Khitti!', she'd say. Gawd, mom. Fiiiine. Whatever. Wait. You're dead. Get out of my head. After that weird train of thought, Khitti decides that maybe she's had enough chocolate for right now and actually puts the rest of the batter into a pan to be baked.

Linn shrugged with a much more passive sarcasm. “Oh, I think so. But, well, you just never know do you? I’d probably be dead soon anyway if I don’t get out at this rate. Or insane. That’s just as bad.” Of course, when everyone’s crazy, that probably wasn’t valid. He didn’t care at this point. As the captives continued to go about their business with what they had Linn couldn’t help but scowl, grabbing one of the remaining gemstones in his hands. After a long pause of sitting still (for once) with it, he pulled his hands apart as if to shear it in two and… did exactly that with a light snap. Tossing one half into the air it began to hover and float about his jar while he focused on the other. Much as he’d love to test tipping the jar, he didn’t actually want to succeed at this moment and give away the possibility. This trick though seemed much more possible, but… it was dangerous. “But would she be willing to eat her precious mages? Well, the ones not making big problems anyway. Not that anything I’m thinking of would qualify as such if it even succeeds…” And so the grasping at straws continues, looking for some kind of opening he could play from, no matter how small.

Khitti side-eyes the gem-obsessed male as she pops the pan into her lovely magic oven that curiously had the words E-Z Bake on it. And it was. It was oh so easy. "Linn, zhere's an entire town of mages as vell as many others abroad in Hollow. Most are easily replaceable." Well, not her. Ohhhh no. She was special. Whatever sort of aura she and Amarrah gave off, Raiez liked it. The lightning-wielder did too, for that matter, and honestly that was probably more frightening at this point. There was another brief glance towards the bitey one before her entire attention is returned to Linn, the smell of brownies baking filling the air. "Don't you have a family or something? Zhere's gotta be someone lookin' for you so quit being so damned impatient. You're likely to do something zhat'll get some of us killed. If you die, I swear to vhatever god is listening zhat I'll bring you back, and zhen I'll kill you myself." There's a pause, and an amendment to her statement, "Unless she eats you. I'm not going anywhere near her stomach -or- vhere you'll be after you've digested."

Linn had taken to staring back outside of the jar, almost seeming to ignore his disposable nature with how passively he accepted it. Khitti’s prodding at his potential family brought him glaring back; what should be a hopeful statement only seemed to push him farther over the edge he was slipping on. “Yeah, and all this is much, much closer to them than I’d like. It’s a miracle enough one of them hasn’t shown up again down here, or maybe they have and I don’t know it. I’m not going to sit by. I’m going to wait there’s an opening, and I’m going to take it.” They just needed exits, and with Odhranos, they had those. They needed a way to break the jar. He had a couple ideas. And then… they just needed the right time and setup. He turned back to the gems he was working with, piling the dust off to the side as he shrugged off the idea of dying multiple times. A look in his eye suggested a silent thought in response though: try me.

"You heed my varning vell zhen, Linn. If you do something to get Dominic or Brand or anyone else here hurt vith your recklessness, I'm going to hurt you." There was a very pointed, and not exactly nice stare sent in Linn's direction. It probably wouldn't have been so bad if she'd known him better, but, that wasn't the case right now. "Zhat goes for Odhranos too, zhough I'm sure he's quite capable of taking care of himself." The brownies she'd been making were done right away, much faster than a normal oven it seemed, and she was quick to take them out before they burned. She'd not mention the fact that she was probably just as impatient and reckless as Linn himself, but that wasn't really relevant right now; she wasn't the one desperately trying to get out.

Linn’s eyes flickered over to return the stare. “I’ve got more to worry about. You’re welcome to come along if I even manage to bust the jar though. I’d much rather be worried about you than the dragon or any of the other insanity up top. Whether or not you come back with me to end all this… that’s your choice.” Knowing the consequences of failure, he had more or less put the possibility out of his mind. There would be no turning back if he did what he thought he could do. It would be do or die. “I’m looking to go when she’s gone off on one of her trips. Even in the worst of scenarios that will buy us time to work with the cave and figure it out.” He blinked as the oven was done so soon. There was… a lot of potentially useful stuff down here. He still had that dragon underneath his home to worry about first though.

Khitti tossed the brownies in a pile on the floor, not bothering to cut them. Baking seemed to be the only way to keep her mind off of things. It helped dull the pain of being stuck in the jar, these stupid feelings for Brand that she'd developed, and the realization that she'd probably never get out and get away from him. She's soon on to making something else, the ingredients for a chocolate cakelog dug out of the seemingly bottomless bag that Raiez had given her. They're all stirred together, a sideglance given to Linn, "I don't know. It really doesn't feel like a good idea." A bit of batter is tasted to make sure it's good, then is poured into the pan and popped into the oven.

Linn stood silent for a few seconds before starting with a light, bouncing nod of agreement. “It shouldn’t. But there are no good ideas at this point.” A moment was taken to realize the turn of events from when their captivity began. Now he was –being told- to hold off on his attempts to break the jar. How ironic, but by now he wasn’t to be dissuaded. “We have what we need to actually get out of the cave fast enough. That’s… what comes after breaking the jar, and we have it. I’m ready to go, and if I’ve got a way out, I’m going.” If only things were simple as that, like walking through a door! “If there isn’t a way out, we can make one. Odhranos can work with the stone in the caves for that. If there’s ice… Unless you all have something better I can carve through it.”

"You seem so sure of yourself. Raiez is a -mage-. You don't zhink she's put up wards around her cave? The outside, I mean?" She sighs and shakes her head. "Do vhat you vish zhen. Not like I can stop you from doing anything stupid while I'm in here." Khitti waves her hands about, motioning to the jar. The cakelog is popped into the oven, and an offhanded comment muttered to herself, "I hope Hildegarde likes my cakelog...if she lets me make it for her, zhat is." She shakes her head again, going back about her business and letting Linn get back to what seemed like really bad planning in Khitti's opinion.