[Plot] Putting on a Show

[Quinn Quartermain]

"Mmm, see? That doesn't sound like my idea of a good time."

Quinn sighed. "How long can you go without blood anyway, Miriam? Because if I can't get close enough to give you some..."

[Miriam Bell]

She opens her mouth to lie about it. Couple of hours, a day. But he probably knows the answer already anyway if he has access to the stupid forms she has to sign to receive a blood pack.

"A couple of days and it becomes rather unpleasant."

[Quinn Quartermain]

""Now, I don't want things to become unnecessarily unpleasant, do you? I wouldn't be taking very good care of my bunny if I let her slowly starve," he smirked.

[Miriam Bell]

"I'm not your anything."

[Quinn Quartermain]

Quinn sighed, and reached for the emotion ray again.

"My options here are somewhat limited, Miriam. If it was a bit earlier, we'd shuttle you off to Muir; out of sight, out of mind. If it were a bit later, well, your little discovery would have come too late. As it is, though..." he said, flipping through some settings on the back.

[Miriam Bell]

"What are you doing? I'll behave, just don't hit me with that beam again..."

[Quinn Quartermain]

"But there are so many more settings other than submission and pain! I'm curious what an overly-optimistic Miriam Bell might sound like, or a terrified one, or one drowning in joy. I'm told that the positive sides can be quite addicting, honestly, and that it should only be used in short bursts. Shall I set it on ecstasy and see if you can put a coherent sentence together after, oh, an hour or two?"

[Miriam Bell]

Miriam's eyes go blank with terror. Some part of her knows that would leave her a wreck, chasing an impossible feeling until she found a drug that even a vampire could overdose on.

Placing her hands on the ground she pushes her power out, letting those metaphorical landscapes in her mind spill out. The polished stone floor appearing beneath her is even less permeable than the bars. Floor remains floor. A cage stays a cage, even if she turns it into more of a dungeon. Still she keeps pushing the structure out of her mind and into the world, slapping and clawing at the ground to no avail.

[Quinn Quartermain]

That startled Quinn a bit, who backed towards the door before Miriam's dreams could take over. Spinning the dial, he fired the beam at Miriam, trying to counter her gothic terror with an overwhelming sense of boredom.

[Miriam Bell]

Subconscious or not, using her power takes focus and she just... can't seem to... stay on track. It's just so... drab... doesn't grab her attention... Her mental landscape slides out of focus as she loses interest in it and the dungeon floor and walls radiating out from her crumble back into the ordinary cage. Miriam has rolled onto her back at some point and is just... staring at the ceiling, occasionally rolling her head back and forth and letting out a bored "Ugh..."

[Quinn Quartermain]

"Oh, cool, I found the teenager setting. Like you're back in high school, ey, Miriam?" Quinn said, his voice quavering just a little bit from fear.

[Miriam Bell]

"Whatever, who cares... you just keep jabbering on and on..."

[Quinn Quartermain]

"Hrm. I must admit, that hurts, some. I'm a performer, after all, and I do so love a captive audience."

He laughed at his own joke.

"Maybe if I just switch this over to "interest", I can get you to see things from my point of view. Then again, maybe you'll just start staring at the walls. Well, only one way to find out..."

[Miriam Bell]

Miriam's eyes focus immediately on the cage's ceiling.

"Can't help but wonder how many people you've kept in these cages. Probably the only way people can stand listening to you, yeah? Does it make you feel powerful? To have others at your mercy? I know how much of a rush twisting emotions can be, but at least I'm right there with them when I do and it's me doing it. You need your fancy beam to help you out and even that you had to be handed by somebody else. Can't even make me pay attention to you the way you want to."

Overwhelmed by focus and attention Miriam was still smart enough to find something to focus it on. Overanalyze the stupid cage and it's owner. And not the cage itself. The cage that's enclosing her. Trapping her. Putting her at Quinn's mercy. She freezes up and she feels a icy spread crawl over her from her neck, muscles tensing as she focuses herself into a panic attack over the cage. Bars. She's not getting out of here. Not without getting turned into a mental wreck of some sort or another. She doesn't need to breathe, yet somehow she still feels like she's suffocating.

[Quinn Quartermain]

"I've never kept anyone in a cage like this before. It's new to me! I've used them for animals for routines before, but never an interloper.

And people stand listening to me just fine, because you know why? I'm a nice guy. I listen to them when they have problems, and offer solutions. I include them in my activities, and care about what they have to say. I have friends. You have victims.

I'll admit, though, I do see the power rush here. Probably not good to do this for too long," he said, scratching his chin. "But I suppose we all must make sacrifices. I'll sleep poorly for a night or two, but when the headmaster's plan comes into fruition, I'll be a hero."



"You quite alright in there? Miriam? Hellooo?"

[Miriam Bell]

Miriam laughs with a panicked pitch in her voice. "Doing great, just being held hostage by a fucking psycho. I'm not getting out of here with my mind intact and maybe that's poetic justice or some shit but it terrifies me anyway and you think you're the bloody good guy for it..."

[Quinn Quartermain]

"Oh, you're not a hostage. You've just been removed from the board for now.

And really, you brought this upon yourself. If I could trust you not to fight back, I wouldn't have to do any of this. I'm very sad you're making me do this to you."

[Miriam Bell]

Miriam laughter dissolves into hysterical sobs and tears. "Of course. Of course! Look what you made me do! Why won't you learn!? This is for your own good! At least I have the decency to know that I'm full of bullshit excuses for what I did..."

[Quinn Quartermain]

Quinn frowned. "You're full of something, that's for sure," he said, tweaking the dial to "annoyance".

"But I think it's time to really test to see if you're vampire brain is what caused you to break out of the effects of the ray. I'm going to leave this on while I leave the room, and we'll see what state you are in when I get back, right?"

[Miriam Bell]

Miriam tries to muster a glare, but all she manages is to look pitiful. She finds the spike in her pocket. If it's between excruciating pain and being emotionally crippled she knows what she's going to chose.

[Quinn Quartermain]

Quinn waved as he left the room, leaving Miriam to her own devices.

[Miriam Bell]

How dare he just leave her be. The audacity!

It takes her a moment to catch on to the effects, which in turn just annoys her further. But the worst part is that she can't even seem to manage to build up proper anger. No emotional release to just.... gah! Everything's just shit and not in the usual broody way but just... existing in the wrong way somehow. Aggravating. Then she spends a good ten minutes being frustrated with herself for not having the stomach to jab herself with the damn spike again but this isn't that bad, is it? God, now she can't even get proper mad at what's being done to her. Like an itch she can't scratch except it's inside her own head.

Grabbing the spike she lets it stick out just a tiny bit as she jams it into the palm of her hand, creating just enough of a little spot of searing pain that she manages to let out a proper. "Fucking hell!"

[Will Stanton]

It was hard to keep track of just how long this went on for -- which was aggravating in and of itself! -- but eventually, the door opened again.

Will stood at the back of the room, arms crossed, shaking his head. He slowly -- agonizingly slowly, walked over to the device, and shut it off.


"Well, look what the cat dragged in."

[Miriam Bell]

At that point Miriam's palm and partway up her arm is a mess of pin-prick spots of angry red against her pale skin. She's on her knees and shaking, looking up at Will with clenched teeth.

"W-was this some kind of trap? Are you h-here to gloat?" she asks meekly.

[Will Stanton]

"Apparently, I'm supposed to play the 'good cop'. I guess they don't know about our history. Funny that the shoe's on the other foot now, yeah? I mean, normally, when you and I are alone, it's me that needs help. Control slipping in the other direction, hrm?"

Will smirked a little, taking a seat across the room from Miriam. "...I do think the ears are a good touch. The size, eh, and the tail isn't you at all, but I think you should keep the ears."

[Miriam Bell]

"I fucked up and I hurt you but I never enjoyed seeing you or anybody in pain. You have to let me out of here before he comes back... Will, please..."

[Will Stanton]

"First things first, Miriam. First. Thing's. First.

They told me you had come snooping around, but I couldn't believe it, as that sounds for a moment like you cared for others, which is just crazy talk.
Are you insane, or do you just enjoy always making the wrong decision, all the time, forever and ever?
Watching you beg in the cage is strangely theraputic for me; after the months and months you and your doppelganger decided to bounce my head off the walls.
Us good people, we don't use others for our benefit.


Do you understand what I'm saying, Miriam? Am I getting through to you?" he said, raising an eyebrow at her.

[Miriam Bell]

Miriam is more than a little out of it, but something's not right about this and then it clicks.

"I... yeah, I think I do..." she says and it's not hard to sound defeated and worn down.

[Will Stanton]

"Good. Then maybe we can get somewhere."

Will stretched out his arms and attached something to the side of Miriam's cage -- one of those hamster water bottles, only filled with blood. He was very careful to keep his head out of Miriam's telepathy range.


"It's really too bad you've burned all your bridges, and you have no friends who give two shits about what happens to you in here. Was it worth it? Is messing around in people's heads what gets you off at night? I suppose I know the answer to that better than most, don't I?"

[Miriam Bell]

"Yeah, careful or I'll twist your mind into a soft pretzel." she says, dubiously approaching the bottle. "Was this really necessary?" she frowns, refusing to put her mouth on it and instead pushing on the little ball valve with her hand and bringing the resulting drop to her face with her hand.

[Will Stanton]

"Well, you know me. A little humiliation is my thing, right? And you can't blame for wanting a little revenge after our penthouse adventures. Maybe Quinn'll let me move your cage into my room once this is all over; wouldn't that be fun? I wonder how many tricks I could teach you."


The blood tasted good. Some of it was some nourishment after Quinn's torture, for sure, but this was also 100% genuine real stuff, not the synthetic crap that the university provided. In fact, this was...familiar. Made just the way she liked it from, er, a 'chef' that she had spent some time with.

[Miriam Bell]

Miriam briefly glances at Will, then pushes her hand against the siphon and letting the blood spill down her arm and into her mouth. She doesn't care hos undignified she looks right now, she is ravenous for something this good, this nourishing, something to wash the last... who knows how much time out of her mind with it's earthy sweet aroma, even if some of it gets spilled and her face gets smeared with blood.

[Will Stanton]

Nothing like a little home cooking to make you feel right as rain again, even if Miriam was now more Carrie than Edward. Some of that same...bounce and energy she got from the last time she opened a bottle of Chateau Stanton, though tinged with more than a fair share of frustration, loss and sadness.

"Did you really think, that after all you did to me, that I wouldn't take this opportunity to get my own back at you? You took control from me, you did things to me against my will, you made me dance to your tune. Did you think part of me liked that? That it was all I was good for?"

He took another step closer, just outside the range of Miriam's telepathy range. From his pocket, he took a small golden key, and he waved it tantalizingly in front of the cage. "I'm going to have fun with you, Miriam. You and me; we're bound together, after what you and Mel did to me. And I'm going to make sure you get exactly what you deserve, damn what you think."

[Miriam Bell]

"You're the worst Good Cop ever, you know that? But at least you're honest. That's better than Quinn's delusional Nice Guy routine."

[Will Stanton]

"Lippencott's number one prefect, that's me," Will said, leaning just a hair closer to Miriam, with a smirk. "Unstoppable and unbreakable."

[Miriam Bell]

Looking up from her bloodstained hand Miriam's eyes snap onto Will's.

"And unfortunately, a fool."

"Thank you! I... just... thank you."

"Let me out. Now!"

[Will Stanton]

Will's hand was drawn towards the cage, but haltingly, Will legitimately straining against Miriam's command with all the might he could muster...

[Miriam Bell]

"And I'm sorry."

And with that she pushes the command hard into Will's mind with all the desperate intensity she can muster, making her desire to be free of this cage Will's own for a moment.

[Will Stanton]

"GnnnnnAAAAA!" Will cried, as his straining failed, and he slammed the key into the lock, jostling everything, and frantically opened it up.

[Miriam Bell]

Miriam wastes no time in scrambling out of the cage and down to the ground. She has no idea how to regain her regular size or what to do about the ears and tail, all she knows right now is that she needs to get away.