(10/28/02)
Shortly, sweetly, this is the worst time in all of Dirah's young life. Not like that's particularly -hard- to declare--She's had a pampered life so far, and the worst bits before this rank only as 'annoying' as best. But this? Definately the worst time ever. I mean, what are the -chances- of the Yggdrasil lucking out this much? Of catching Dirah off guard and managing to successfully capture her, and even then successfully hold her? It goes against good logic to believe taht this is possible, much less that it would happen. And it's really not a comfort in the least. Dirah sighs a heavy sigh, disappointed and irritated, sitting in a chair in the back corner of the room. She's still in the outfit she was found in--That little faux Sigurd outfit of hers--But as it's a futile sort of thing to cling to right now, the eyepatch has been discarded on a table and the overjacket left aside. It might make her look a glaring lot more like a woman, but really. If they already know, what good is it pretending? Her arms are crossed in irritation, her posture is half slumped. And in every way and manner and form, she looks quite the image of a Very. Unhappy. Lady. And don't you forget it.
Resting his head against the door temporarily, Bart lets out an irritated sigh. Geez, how could he have forgotten the single most important thing he could've done after the capture? It's easy to forget about that in all the excitement, but...this has to be a sign that Bart's starting to rely on his guardian far too much. Well! He can't have that. He's not gonna go and get lazy now, of all times. Putting some distance between his head and the door, he nods. "So no problem. I'll do this." That makes it much better! At least until he's reminded of something else he may or may not have forgotten today. Pushing the button to open the code-lock, a string of beeps indicates that the door is gonna be opening very soon.
Oh, and what's that? Checked up on the gorgeous hostage that you just happened to capture by some fluke and freakish twist of cruel, cruel fate? Or, well.. Okay, perhaps not. But one can harbor their delusions all the same. But see now! The faint sound of the codelock on the other catches Dirah's attention, however. Oh, company? That wasn't a delight. Although it does get the prisoner's mind to darting about--Hmmm. What if she were to wait aside the door, remove who's ever there and try to escape? Although.. Mrf. The last person to visit her here was armed, and even so... It's so -crude-. Yes. Crude. Nevermind that she was easily overpowered when they captured her. It's crude. "No matter.. I've talents enough otherwise." She murmers softy to herself, allowing herself to untense a little, and settling back into her casual sitting pose. And she fixes a narrow-eyed peer on the door. Hm, well, that might not be a charming look, but wariness is not in any means a bad thing.
Now to give a minute for the code to verify. Bart rests his head on the door again, perhaps as a form of lack of anticipation for the coming check. She's not gonna be cooperative- and he doesen't feel like leaving with scratch and bite-marks on his arms. Or any other form of pain she may employ to his attempt to search her. Who knows what Maison left in there, after all. As he lets his thoughts run wild, he forgot one very important one- to remove his head from the door before it could open. Whoops! "Waaaaah!" calls out a surprised Bart as he nearly loses his balance and falls into the room. The door thankfully closes clean behind him so as to not leave the Dirah a chance to escape...but still, the Bart on the floor is quite an embarrassing sight. Scuffling to his feet, he clears his throat. "Ok, now."
...Well, -that- was graceful. And what a pity that is! Dirah had such a grand and dramatic entrance prepared, too. The lovely and yet suffering heroine, locked away in the enemy stronghold without any trace of dignity or mercy (the rather nice guest room completely ignored), forced to be strong of will and brave in the face of the enemy! By being narrow-eyed and half to hissing at them? Right. But, er... This all goes to pieces at Bart's dramatic entrance. And instead, she ends up breaking into laughter, uncrossing her arms if only to put a hand against her face, in a sort of pose reminiscant of 'Holy. Sheesh.' Not quite the best thing to be greeted with, is it? "Oh dear, were you -that- excited to see me?" She adds, words high and no small bit mocking, accompanied with a smile very much the same.
"You seem pretty smug," comes a bit of an irritated Bart as he brushes himself off. "Well, right. Straight to the point, here." Bart might as well get this over with, time to grit himself for the onslaught of random objects in the room. "I need to search you for any kind of things you can use against us. If you cooperate, then this'll be easy. Heck, i'm sure you want to get this over with even worse than I do, na?" relating to the prisoner tends to work for Bart...but then again- Dirah is not your average normal prisoner. "After the search, i'm gonna ask you a couple of questions, too." Ah, yes. Rule 1 of Interrogation- never ask, always state and/or demand. This might go easily, after all!
Easily? Ah-haha! Oh, that's a good one! Dirah, making an interrogation easy! Mwaha... ah... Er, okay, ahem. Anyway. Smug? Dirah? She can only give a smirk to that, in a way that is undeniably smug in its own right. Tee hee. Although it's rather a short lived expression. She raises an eyebrow, curious and questioning and suddenly very humorless. And does not budge an inch. Rather, she only crosses her legs neatly at the knee. "No." Is the sharp little answer, "Absolutely not." Relating to the prisoner doesn't seem to work, apparently, when the prisoner is the uber-vain. "I would rather you skip the entire mess, so you can keep your charming distance." Yes. You stay on that side of the room, I'll stay on mine, and we'll have a grand old time of mocking.. Well, you, and all will be well. Right? "Really, why -do- you bother? You know I'm not going to tell you anything."
Hey! They're supposed to appreciate how the interrogator is 'on their side' and all the jazz! This isn't what's supposed to happen! Bart's face goes a bit blank at this. His expression turns to a bit of a frown, "...didn't you hear what I said? It's easiest if you just cooperate, lady. I'm not going to take long, so if you'll just let me search you now..." Bart hopes that he can stifle some kind of cooperation from Dirah, but then...he doesen't know Dirah very well...does he?
Ooo, doesn't take much to stump him, does it? And it's a sad little truth when Dirah only uses his vain attempts to do the proper, rational thing--Hey, come to think of it, that -is- a frist for Bart, isn't it?--as only more fuel to mock him. Blatanty. She yet does not move, and yet those eyes are narrowed quizzically.. Really, now. What -did- you expect? "As much as I know you want to get your hands on me..." She blinks her eyelashes sweetly at that. Good God. "No. I'd really rather not. I know there's -so- much room in this outfit to hide a bazooka, after all." You know, Sigurd's outfit is just about immodest enough to allow Dirah to have few qualms about the design. And all the while, her words are high and mockingly, bitterly sarcastic. Really, this -is- Dirah. If she made it easy for him, the world might, you know, explode.
Bart pauses. No, no, no! Bart sighs. "Ok, then. So you're not going to make this as easy- then i'll just have to do this the hard way..." Rule 2 of interrogations- if they refuse to make it easy on you, then threaten them. Use fear to make them submit! This lady doesen't look too tough either, so she might be easily scared! Maybe.
Oh, such fun! Bart doesn't keep up with Dirah's jests nearly as well as Sigurd did--Mostly in that Sigurd tried to, and Bart is just looking more frustrated by the moment. Poor thing. Really. Poor, poor thing. But no. Dirah is not going to make this easy for him. Because she is very clear in what she feels she does and does not wish to do. And guess what? That includes no unpleasant searches. And so, with a small little smirk on her features, she slowly uncrosses her legs and then stands up to her full height. Her full, slightly taller than Bart, Sigurd-sized height. And she puts her hands neatly, mockingly on her hips. And allows her smirk to grow all that brighter, "The hard way? Sounds fun." She pauses, chuckling softly... Oh, she amuses -herself- so! And yet she adds, more seriously, "Really, it -can't- be worth the trouble. I'm -not- going to let you get near me, hm? After all.." The smirk returns! With a vengance, too. "We know what happened the last time you got too close, hm?"
Bart sweatdrops. She's got a really good point too. Why did this have to be so difficult? Why couldn't she be all mild-mannered and humble? Then again, that's probably too much to expect from people who dress up like male pirates and harrass them. He doesen't want to get rough either, because she's female and that would be really bad for the code of honor. Egh, what a dilemma. "...Ok. Here, i'll make you deal lady." Oh, great- he broke Rule 1...but he's got a plan that won't involve scratch-marks from fingernails. "How's about we wager on a friendly game of Speed, na? If I win, I get to search you for transmitters and stuff. If you win...um...I leave the room and will try again at a later time." Making deals with the prisoner sure isn't helping matters, but at least Bart can say he handled this diplomatically. Sigurd really needs to teach him more of the intricacies of interrogating females- because this would have gone much better if she were male.
Of course Dirah has a good point! Dirah -always- has a good point! Because Dirah is always right in everything and anything that she does, don't you know. Right. Yes, well, anyway... It's a lovely thing she isn't a man, hm? In any other case poor Bart might actually have a chance of menacing her into obeying. But as things are.. He is wiser than he looks, to be so wary of the inevitable clawing out of his... other eye. Ah, yes, talking is the only way to deal with Dirah--If, er, that can even debatedly work--But... Even she wasn't expecting his offer. "Speed?" She repeats, the flaunting ego run out of her pose for a moment as she stops to gape, "The card game?" Is he on crack? Wait, no, don't answer that. And Dirah runs a hand through her hair thoughtfully, before she laughs, "Hell, either way you get to search me, hm? I'm sure you thought that clever. But why not? If it gets you out of my hair for the moment and keeps your dirty hands off of me, I'd be delighted to humor your little deal."
Alright! This seems to be working great, even if it prompted a stare from her. Bart's expression becomes much more confident and he chuckles. "Well, then- we'll see who laughs last!" with that, he pulls out a Speed deck from his pocket very quickly, holding it out to the side. "I'm pretty good if I say so, myself. So better get your transmitters ready, cause i'm finding them!" Bart should know that this -simply is not how interrogations work-, but what else is he going to do? He can't beat her into submission and scaring her seems to have little to no effect. He'll simply apply the interrogation rules to Speed- she doesen't stand a chance! At least, that's what he thinks.
Well, at least the boy has -some- working notion of manners. Somewhat. Kind of. At least, he wont beat her down in an attempt to get her to comply, and Dirah isn't easily intimidated by a lot of words alone. So, well, lucky her? There's at least a small blessing in the fact that she was part of a crossdressing crew rather than a more functional one. "I don't -have- any transmitters on me, you dolt." She notes blandly. And even if she does, who's going to say that aloud? "But.." She smiles anew, "Speed is a game of.. Well, speed, of course. Which goes to the most confident and quick to react. I wouldn't get so cocky -yet-, boy.. I'm not bad at it by any stretch." Actually, she hasn't played in quite a while. That doesn't mean she's not going to be any less assured of her victory, however. "Let's get this over with then, hmm? I'm ever so looking forward to some solitary peace and quiet." Oh, yes, just toss jests and threats around. They might actually get around to the game sometime!
"Ok, you asked for it. Let's get this party started!" Bart declares, starting to shuffle the cards. His opponent is great, but justice always prevails over the forces of darkness! This time, there will be only one champion, and then...she will be confiscated of any tracking equipment she may have on her. He pulls a small folding table over and a stool- taking a seat opposite the bed Dirah is standing in front of.
Oh, come now! This is a game of Speed, not a mystical battle. But Dirah's still going to kick your ass, so -nyah-. Not like she's often a card player--Well, actually, she played Blackjack and whatnot now and then, but Speed? That was kind of a silly game, really, based nothing on skill and more on agression. Which is more than fine with her right now, mind you, as it'd be a wondeful way to vent. Let's forget that she's a bit foggy on the rules and hasn't played in so very long. Details wont stand in the way of her victory. So she smiles, such a confident and somehow simulataneously mocking gesture, as she sits down on the edge of the bed, right before the table. And simply flicks her hair back over her shoulder casually, "Well then, I'll let you deal. But I warn you, it's quite foolish for you to be so very confident." So says Dirah. Tee.
"So says you," Bart replies. Ha, confident? Bart is only the Yggdrasil's premier Speed player. At least, he'd like to think so. Truth is, he never got the chance to test any of his ability against the other crew members...but that doesen't matter! He still considers himself pretty good. If only in consideration. His face becomes serious as he passes out the cards- "Ok, whenever you're ready- we'll start," he finally says as he passes out the last card and places the deck in the middle. It's sort of comparable to one of those stare contests- who'll shout 'Ready!' and get super ahead of the other person first? Will Bart's hilariously bad voice samples be heard? Or will Dirah get to say 'Jerk!'?
"Very mature response." Dirah chides sweetly, as she takes her first five cards. Yes, so says Dirah. Dirah says so proudly. And it doesn't much matter that neither of the two players are particularly good at it or have much experience at the game, really, as they're both far too happy to flaunt and boast and talk about all their nonexistant might-just-exist skills. So, have at you! Let's see who's actually going to luck this game out. And how much Dirah will have to rampantly cheat to do so. And so, humming sweetly as she goes over her first set of cards, she smiles and reaches toward the center pile to turn over the two cards in the middle. "Rea~dy." She chimes, oh-so-sweet. And who cares if she's not giving him much more warning than that? This isn't about consideration, it's about winning. And putting cards down really quickly. Quick! Push L1 and R1 indescriminately until you realize an 8 doesn't go on a Jack!
She's really good at cornering people like that. So all Bart can respond to that with is, "...um...so says you." Once she gives the signal, it's SPEED TIME! Now, 7 goes on 6...Ace goes on 7...Wait. Rewind! Does Jack go on a 3? No, no, no! If only Bart had some time to warm up and review the rules a bit first. Frantically, he tries various combinations before finally starting to catch up.
Dirah does her best. It certainly helps that Bart makes it extremely -easy- for her to counter. "Yes, so says me." She responds, ever so neatly. Silly boy! No Ace on the 7! Which is made ever so much more obvious when she simply smacks his hand away from that pile so she can put her 6 down on it instead. "Numerical order, dear." She reminds, in a voice that almost sounds a little too cheerful.. As she tries to put a Jack on a 9. Oh... Drat. With a small hiss, she takes that card back up again a little grudgingly and murmers an additonal, "Although.. anyone could get the face cards confused." Of course. That's a -normal- mistake.
Bart frowns as he continues. Must...think...numerical. "Thanks for the warning, but I think I know the rules," Bart comments, almost in an irritated manner. "Though I admit, it's really hard to mistake an old bearded guy for 9 spades, don't you agree?" the frown becomes a smirk. He's caught up to Dirah thanks to her mistake and is maintaining a slight lead now. He can't lose! He's got too much riding on this game...he's got the HONOR OF THE YGGDRASIL CREW riding on this game. Ok, maybe that was slightly exaggerated.
Numbers, numbers! And then Jack-Queen-King-Ace-2. Darn, Dirah is rusty. But then again, they both seem to be. So much so that this has to be the most incompetant game of Speed played on the Yggdrasil for a long.. Long... Long, time. "Of course you do." She notes, suddenly sharply, frowning at his little jab--You silly boy! Dirah is the one who is supposed to be mocking here, not you! "But then again, at least I didn't try to put a 5 on a 2." She notes darkly, flicking the offending card aside with complete disregard as she slaps down a 3 in lieu. Take that! Even if it's a slow game, it can be an extremely -violent- one. Dirah's annoyance is plain as day, in the way that she might very well bend the cards with how she's slamming them down.
It's a wonder how long it will take for this to go from 'friendly game of speed' to 'violent struggle for eachother's throats'. Bart appears to be getting less amused with each remark. "Well...so says you! I was just doing that to psyche you out! And it worked too, cause you were too busy putting the Jack on the 8 to care," he replies, before he places down a 4 over his 3. HA! It's getting more even now, but this -is- a remarkably slow game. If anything, it's making up for it with enough taunts to make most Wrestling matches seem tame.
Was it ever a particularly -friendly- game? But it certainly isn't going to be even pretending to be anything of the sort for much longer, that's for sure. Who cares if they take for freaking ever to play, and they might as well be playing a game of 'Slow'? It's bound to degrade into a game of Full Contact Speed at some point or another, anyway. If either of them can stop jumping the gun and putting cards in the wrong places. But, see, the urge is to play -quickly-. Apparently, playing well is not a requirement. "Tsh." She makes a somewhat disgusted noise, the taunting smirk completely gone from her face. This isn't fun at all. She's hardly getting any cards down at all--He isn't either, but that's not the point--And thus this isn't looking promising. The nerve! She can't loose, after all. She's obviously the superior one here. "Oh, really, can't you come up with a better comeback than -that-? You're going to stop sounding clever soon." She snatches up her Jack only to place down a 2 and then 3. Look, a winning streak! And...that's where it stagnates. And she grits her teeth softly.
Bart wasn't being particularly clever to begin with. He appears to be slightly picking up the pace, now. That is, until he pauses to look at his cards. All the while repeating in his mind- 'can't let her win can't let her win can't let her win can't let her win...' It's enough that he challenged the prisoner to a game of Speed just so he could search her- but how bad would it look if he subsequently LOST the game? "That's it. It's time to finish this! I'll win if it KILLS me!" now the pace is really picking up as he starts to concentrate more on the game.
"You know, if that's your goal, sweetheart, I'm sure we can schedule that." Dirah chimes in happilly, her smirk returning if just for a flicker. But that's just about all that she has the time to offer--She's getting the hang of this again, finally, and as Bart actually starts to focus and speed up the game, so does she. There, there.. And... damn, can't play anything... draw...There we go! Agh! Can't let the stupid Ygger win! She has just as much pride to uphold, and just as much of an ego to support. Even if this is a game of -Speed-, of all things. Er, well... The competative -are- competative. Now get your hand out of the way before you get hurt! None get in the way of Dirah! And slapping hands aside is certainly not beyond her.
Bart's hand gets in the way several times. If she's going to play that way, he'll have to respond in kind. The deck finally begins to draw thin as the game really picks up. Bart is just short of getting the last couple of cards on the deck. If he can work a little faster, he'll have her right where he wants her. "Don't talk so soon," he says as he reaches for them.
Hey, no one ever said that it couldn't be an extremely -violent- game of speed. It's not cheating, so to say.. Its... Um. Playing intelligently! Right! Mind you, this goes one way only. She can feel perfectly happy with slapping his hand out of the way when she wants to play before him, but responding in kind? That's just -rude-. And she hisses softly in surprise as she gets a little of her own treatment--Although one can't fathom why it's exactly -surprising-, as she grumbles, "Twit." No, not one of her patented clever responses, but damn it! He's gaining on her, and the look that she can steal of how many cards he has left is not comforting--She's going to have to take it up a notch if she wants to beat him. And she's only just cleaned out her auxillery pile. Grr! "I was just being obliging. Why not take your own advice?"
Bart will have a hard time finding a comeback to that- and his lack of cleverness in that respect only breeds, "...so says you!" Eventually, he'll have an army of them at his disposal. Then they can have a great large war battle that will likely end because the plot demands it to. It all comes down to that final card. Bart reaches for it in the quickest way he possibly can. Or at least, in the quickest way this game's pace will allow. Will he win? Will he suffer a crushing defeat that will make Dirah's ego grow? Who is that mysterious masked man, anyway?!
Oh, come -on- now! Dirah has countered that comeback of his at least half a dozen times during this game. It's no surprise that she's running a little short on clever counters. And so, instead of actually bothering to find yet another adorable way to call him a moron, she just settles for a snippy little, "Oh, shut up already." Aha! Down to the last few cards, are they? Both neck to neck? Go, go, super Dirah attack! There's no way in imagination that she's going to let him play his last cards before she did. Even though she has two and he has one. Life hates her. But you know what? A proper amount of violence might give her the edge she needs. She doesn't just neatly -slap- his hand away this time--She just intends to whap any limb of his near the cards quite far out of the way, and then keep one hand overing over the two stacks while she tries to put her cards down. Oh, yes. She's a clever one. ... Or just a rampant cheater. But she -refuses- to lose to someone of his poor intellect! It's a matter of -pride-!
"Ouch!" now that really hurt. Ok, now it's vengeance time. She can't use her deck...if he moves it away from her hands! "Whoops!" Bart says as he nudges her deck away from her hand. With that, he reaches down for his final card...
"Oh, 'whoops' my a...!" Dirah cuts her own self off at that. She hardly has the time to taunt, mock or snap at him when they're both down to their last cards. And with cheating not really doing much good when they're both so very close to winning, then it's merely down to a point of, well... Speed. She scrambles for her last card and, quick as she possibly can, leans forward in an attempt to get her card down first. It's awfully close, though, and it could be anyone's game... And that is precisely what is so -frustrating-. She was supposed to deal him a humiliating defeat! This is quite intolerable.
Bart manages to grab it. At last! Victory! "In your FACE!" he says, before he tries to put it down. Of course, she could still grab it and mess everything up. Anything goes in -this- game of speed. Now he can get to searching her and all will be well! If she still refuses to be searched, though, then Bart is fresh out of ideas o_o. That is assuming too soon, though.
"Darling, you do realize that talking before you act isn't terribly bright?" Dirah coos, a perfectly -vicious- smirk dawning on her look. Goodness knows that this is not the best time to be trying to pull more dirty tricks, but really! This is dignity on the line here! And she simply tries to snatch his very own card out of his hand while she tries to play down hers--Goodness knows if she can do it, or manage it, or if she can tear it out of his grasp or not, but she is really hoping that it at least is a good distraction while she tries to play her last card. Otherwise? Goodness, it's anyone's win. How infuriating!
She's grabbing his card? Grr! Two can play at that! Actually, Bart was caught quite off guard and he even thought she wouldn't attempt something like -that-. Thus, she manages to grab the card. NOOOO! Crushing defeat! How is Bart going to ever live this down?
Mwa ha ha! The answer is that you -don't-. Oh, yes. Take -that-! Bwa ha ha--Okay, anyway. Dirah pauses a moment to catch her breath as she pauses, her hand still firmly on her last placed card. She.. She did it? It's actually momentarily surprising. And it takes more than a moment to settle in. She blinks slowly, and then settles back into her chair--She was leaning pretty far forward for the last bit of that game--And finally slides her hands off the cards. Even as she gives the sweetest little smile and displays his swipped card between her middle and index finger proudly before tossing it down casually on the scattered pile of cards, "In my -what-, now?" She coos, "I -told- you that your arrogance would be the end of you." Oh, she might not be saying -much-, but what she says is all quite in enough arrogance to make up for that little fact.
Such humiliation x_x. Bart can only offered an annoyed frown at this unfortunately turn of events. "Well, damn. You may have won this round...," he stands up and starts grabbing the cards to shuffle. "...but just you wait!" until what? He comes back and gets placed in a compromising position again? "I'll be back...and then your transmitters or whatnot won't stand a chance against me!" would it be hard to believe that this started as an actual (I wouldn't call it innocent) interrogation?
Oooo! An annoyed frown? At least he's a pretty good loser--Not one single whine or complaint about cheating! What a little angel. Or, well, he knows when he's met a superior opponent, and resigns willingly. Dirah likes that last option tons more. And her smile only grows more and more confident, more and more pompous.. And she simply leans her elbow against the table and cradles her chin in her palm, smiling ever-so-sweetly in victory. "Of -course- I won this round. Was there ever any -doubt-?" A small pause for a laugh, "Oh, whatever makes you happy. I'll be glad to spite your efforts -then-, too. Just run along like a good little boy now, I do believe we had a deal."
Bart doesen't add much to that but a bit of a defeated grunt. She's a pretty sore winner, isn't she? "Right, right. Don't worry, I remember. I -always- keep my promises, so you don't have to worry about that. Just remember- the battle may be won...but this isn't over yet!" with that, he walks out. How embarrassing!