((A response to Jamie Jameson's fantastic Fire Pit playable, located here.))

On a Sunday...

Emlen's eyelids twitched and tensed as consciousness slowly began to creep back into his brain. He stirred himself awake and grunted lightly as his hand moved to swipe at his face. This action was of course halted by the bindings that surrounded both wrists and kept them together. "...Mghh..?" Voice halted beneath the cloth that rested between his lips. It was a gruff and raspy sound, as if he'd smoked his entire life. The sound alone made him crave nicotine in the form of a filter pressed to his lips. His vision was blurry, but it wasn't hard to tell that he'd been abducted. The floor beneath him was cold, but hadn't affected him much.

Emlen gave his head a light shake, as if it might throw away all the fogginess that resided in it like some etch-a-sketch. He swallowed hard and bit down on the bindings and tried to form some sort of recollection in his mind, anything he could remember. Emlen recalled waking up, and annoying Minoko by eating an old chicken sandwich for breakfast. They'd started their day with a run, but that's all that he could remember. That's about when the panic set in. He'd begun yanking at the bindings around his wrists with a series of grunts and groans.

It was as she started to regain consciousness that a face formed clearly in her mind. This face wasn't any of the predictable ones, though. It wasn't Emlen's or her sister's. It wasn't that of her long dead parents or any of the suspicious figures that had arranged her kidnapping. No, it was the visage of Aloysius. Minoko didn't think of him for any sentimental reasons. She thought of him only because he was the person who had done this to her before. The memory of today's abduction came back to her in an instant. They had gone out for a run, as they usually tended to do, when they had abruptly been ambushed. Emlen had been stuck with a couple needles and loaded up with some sort of sedative. A sweet smelling rag had been applied to the lower half of her face before she could properly react. Minoko's eyes opened. She didn't struggle with her bonds as Emlen did. Her dark gaze shifted down to her left hand, and she focused on her pair of rings. No pink aura enveloped them. It was exactly the same as before. A deep sigh was let out against her gag. Now what"

If only it was something so simple as Aloysius back to his old, weird self. At least then he'd know for a fact that Minoko wasn't in any danger. He might've been, but not her. He sucked in a breath as he gave a final jerk to his bindings before giving up. All he had right now were his muscles. Emlen could feel the power drained out of him, and the helplessness that came with being basic. Was this how Katan felt all the time" A little growl escaped his lips before he let his head hang for a moment. It wasn't long before the door opened and a strange light spilled in. Eyes lifted to the...woman"...who had drained them. Her creepy blackish eyes stared back, but she said nothing, only stepped aside as the larger men would pour in. One for Emlen, the other for Minoko. "Ngh..." he grunted as he was grabbed and jerked to his feet. Emlen slammed his shoulder back toward the man to shove him off, but was only palmed in his back to send him stumbling forwards toward the door. "Mnnkhh..." he called out.

Minoko doubted that this new kidnapping had anything to do with Aloysius, but it was easier to think that it did. The assumption kept all sorts of nightmarish ideas at bay. Once the door opened she stared blankly at the strange looking woman, racking her brain to try and remember if she had seen her anywhere before. Then the men entered, and she was brought to her feet. Unlike her husband, Minoko didn't try to retaliate. Her feet shuffled, slowly bringing her to the door. The most out of line thing that she did was respond to Emlen's call with a simple, "Mmm."

Minoko was entirely too cooperative in Emlen's opinion, though he was powerless against just about all of it and was only making things harder on himself. His wife was always the smarter of the two of them. The light hit his eyes as they stumbled out and down the path toward the pit. A little growl escaped through the bindings over his face and mouth. After some amount of walking with bound feet and little steps, they'd made it to the destination. Emlen's hands and feet were cut free just as Minoko's would be. He pulled the binding from his mouth. "The hell is going on?" he asked, but the two retreated and left them locked inside. Emlen could feel his powers being restored just as he looked around at the crowd. The announcer spoke up, "Ladies and not-so-gentlemen, in honor of Couples' Night, we have a special treat for you tonight! Please show your appreciation for our fighters, Muscles and Asia! Let's see which will come out alive....Place your bets now!"

She got an idea of what they were here for as soon as she was brought into the light and laid eyes on that ring. Had the duels really gotten so stale that something like this had come into being" Minoko removed her gag as well, but she refrained from speaking just yet. A sudden awareness of all the metal in the room flowed into her with the return of her powers. Then came the announcement. Asia. Of course her fighting nickname had to be Asia. Dark brown eyes rolled as Minoko stepped over to the edge of the arena and started to inspect its walls. They had to come up with an escape plan, and fast, if they were going to avoid a fight to the death.

While Minoko went about inspecting the metal and trying to come up with a plan, Emlen was less smart about it. A fight to the death? Him versus Min" He'd rather chainsaw his own throat....The thought that anyone would kidnap a couple off of the streets and put them in here made his stomach turn. He wanted to teach them all a lesson. A little growl tore through his throat and he lifted his chin some with a stern expression on his face. "Bastards," he muttered softly and then went running at the bars opposite of Minoko. His full weight slammed into them hands first, but they didn't so much as budge. The grinding sound of his chainsaw palms rang out, sparks flying as the awful sound of metal on metal plagued the arena.

Under different circumstances Minoko would have clamped her hands over her ears to muffle the sound of Emlen's blades attacking the bars, but right now it was serving as an encouraging song. The Asian's arms lifted, and her pink aura enveloped the section of the wall that was directly in front of her. If she could rip it out and hurl it at the nearest group of people then maybe that would cause enough chaos to let them escape. With her palms facing towards the bars, Minoko widened the spaces between her fingers and then abruptly pulled her arms back. There was no change to the wall. Everything stayed put. Everything except for Minoko, that was. A powerful shock ran through the woman when she attempted her disassembly, and she leapt backwards as a result. "Wards!" was howled over to Emlen before she took a deep breath in and looked up to the ceiling.

The word was howled about two seconds too late. Emlen felt the shock throughout his body, and every massive muscle in him stiffened and then went limp. He collapsed to his knees, one knuckle slamming forth into the ground as the pain vibrated through his body and a pathetic grunt left him. "Ngh...! Son of a bitch!" Emlen cried out, and then the second fist hurled for the rough arena floor. He forced himself up to his feet and turned to face his wife. They were completely closed in, and there was no chance for escape.

Sensing his gaze on her, Minoko looked down from the ceiling and locked eyes with her husband. Her limbs were given a quick shake as the last of the wards' pain left her. She then closed the distance between herself and Emlen, leaving nothing but a few centimeters between them so she could safely hiss into his ear. "Fake it best we can?"

It was as if his wife had read his mind, when she closed the distance he let his eyes fall shut and listened. The grin that wanted to spread across his face was held back, and he didn't nod. Instead, he whispered back. "Make it look good..." he muttered softly. "Lodge something into my heart so that I don't come back right away, and then get us the hell out of here..." Fingers moved to rake through his hair and he swallowed hard. It wasn't as if they couldn't pull this off, but the fact that they had to made something dark boil in his belly.

A faint cringe came from the woman when Emlen spoke of jamming something into his heart. Spearing her husband made the most sense of course, but that didn't mean she had any desire to do so. There had to be a better way....Minoko looked nervously to the crowd as she pondered their other options. A weapon had to be left in to prevent him from resurrecting in front of everyone, which ruled out something simple like brain damage. There was always the flip side of him killing her, but that would most likely mean taking his blood. As much as she missed his blood, that wasn't an option. The long fingers of her right hand clenched into a fist. A bright pink light came to it, and a metal object started to take shape. "I love you. And try not to **** up my teeth, okay' I hate that."

"I love you, too....I'll do my best," he replied in a sharp whisper and lifted his chin some. Eyes swarmed around the crowd, perhaps to memorize some faces as he clenched his fists. He had to fight back, it had to look good, but he was never the abusive type. Yeah, if Minoko came at him and attacked in a possessed state, yeah, he'd hit her. If only to spare her the heartbreak of taking him out. This was different though. This was a forced fight and every bone in his body hated it. As she constructed her weapon, he waved his arm to send a blast of energy her way to hopefully knock her off of her feet.

Her right eyebrow lifted slightly when Emlen said he would do his best. What if his best wasn't good enough' She instinctually ran her tongue over her teeth. Eyes wandered down to her feet as Minoko did the opposite of her husband, avoiding the faces in the crowd best she could. She was terrified that she'd find someone she knew out there, be it a regular customer at her inn or a random citizen of Sama or, worst of all, someone she thought to be a friend. This was exactly the kind of place where she could see- Wham. The blast of energy was successful in knocking her onto her ass, and her rush of paranoid thoughts left as quickly as they had come. Minoko glared up at her husband. The glow of her right hand flickered briefly, and then she was whipping it forward, sending the half formed, razor sharp stake sailing for his torso.

There was a slight sadness in his eyes, because he didn't really like doing this. There was a part of him that wanted to seek revenge on the prick responsible. For now, he focused on making it look good. On getting them both out of here alive which he was fairly confident he could do as long as he kept his cool. Thankfully, he'd been hunting regularly....So when the stake sailed for him, he crossed his arms over his chest and grunted as the metal sank into his arm. Ripping it out, he threw it on the ground and stared at her for a moment. Mostly because he didn't want to hit her. It was that hesitation that had a strange woman calling out to him. He turned his eyes that way and stiffened up when he caught those eyes. Those awful, flaming eyes. Immediately he tore them away and began holding his head. "Damn it..." he hissed beneath his breath, fighting the effects with everything he had.

Minoko would be lying if she flat out stated that she didn't enjoy hurting Emlen. But there was a time and place for everything, even their version of foreplay, and it certainly wasn't here in front of an audience of sadists. She hopped back to her feet and held out a hand in the direction where Emlen had tossed her stake. It sailed back into her glowing palm, the blood now coating it carrying a bit of her husband's warmth. She ignored its call and turned to get a look at whatever was causing that reaction in Emlen. The flaming eyes were spied, and Minoko immediately switched gears. Her stake was elongated into something close to a javelin. She then hurled it for the bit of wall closest to the woman, knowing fully well that it wouldn't hit. Anything to get her to blink.

The bars were struck by the javelin, and it caused the woman to blink those eyes away as Emlen was rubbing at his own. "Ngh..!" Something of distress and a growl, mated with a whine. Pacing to try and wear off the effects, the immortal held his head and attempted to shake off the anger that had infected him like a virus. A snarl escaped him as he collapsed down to a knee and began punching the ground as if to take his anger out on that instead. Those once blue eyes were now a strange black burning flames within them. As if the flames made the reaper want to come out and play.

The smartest thing to do in this situation might have been to spear Emlen and bring a quick end to this catastrophe, but of course Minoko couldn't ignore her husband so easily. She leaned down next to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Em, what did she do?" came out in a nervous hiss as she tried to tune out the jeering of the crowd.