escordvi | open 🪶 the world owes me a debt, and i've come to collect.

Entry tags:

open 🪶 the world owes me a debt, and i've come to collect.

Who: Benedikta Harman & you.
Status: Open.
Where: All around.
What: Oops, all MANTA stuff. And a not-date with Cid.
Warnings: FFXVI spoilers, foul language, suggestive content. The usual.

🗡️ i. bite-sized blessings

[Apparently, Benedikta's ears are looking quite delectable to one small, pink dragon today. This is why she hates Eltrut—half the time she comes here, no, a majority of the times she comes here, there is always something. A goose, a conning healer who sends her out to do his grocery shopping... Today, it is a small pink dragon that has bitten her ear and tries to do it again. She's attempted to swat it away, walk it off, but no matter how fast she moves, it follows her and nips at her, or finds joy in playing with her hair.

Fool her once, shame on her. Fool her twice—]

You little brat!

[—it's managed to grab at her hair, and it pulls, before swooping away from her grappling hands with a chirp, as if it thinks this is some sort of game!?

Someone please help this woman. Or this dragon. She has yet to hear all about how this thing is meant to be returned to Elah, so if you are looking for said pink dragon, here it is.]

🗡️ ii. a steamy winter heist

[It was the exorbitant prices that drew Benedikta to the job first. The black market was always open, and she was always willing. Call it doing someone else's dirty work, if it put a good sack of coin into her pocket, then who is she to complain? Besides, it's not as if stealing something off a ship in the dead of night was difficult—she's done it dozens of times before.

The fact that it was a special sort of tea was only a bonus, so of course she would pocket some for herself... Maybe a handful. Or maybe a whole crate if she could get away with it.

Now, that is the question, isn't it?]

༄ a. getting to the ship. [Perhaps it is your lucky night and Benedikta is feeling somewhat charitable. Charitable enough that she is willing to use anyone she finds as a decoy while she sneaks in to steal the goods. Of course, she isn't about to say as much, as she stands on the docks and stares out to the merchant ship coming into the shore, its lights blinking against the darkening sky.

She has her pipe between her teeth as she almost always does before a job like this, letting the smoke swirl on her tongue before letting it billow outward.]

So, that there is the ship? [She scoffs.] She is certainly impressive.

[As large as a rich, black-market-selling merchant's ship should be. Which is why she's agreed to a "two-person" job.]

༄ b. caught red-handed. [Or, maybe she wasn't feeling so charitable.

As if being caught matters all that much to her. She's in the middle of making off with a whole crate—and the last one, too; people have been busy—of these tea bags (there must be hundreds of them in here) when she hears footsteps coming. She hardly flinches, if at all, and stands there with it tucked haphazardly under her arm while she stares the other person down with a smile before she tosses her head back.

Yep. You saw right. A whole box.]

Sorry. As they say, the early bird and all. A shame you came all this way only to come out empty-handed, but try again another night.

[There may have been a threat underlining her voice somewhere.]

🗡️ iii. poke 'n prance

[Well, at the very least, being paired up with Benedikta for a challenge like this cannot get any better... or worse than this, depending on who you ask. Having a history of torturing others means that she knows exactly where to put the sword and how much pain it will inflict. After all, when fishing for information, it is best to poke and prod it out of someone, and you can't very well gain much from a dead person, now can you?

Which is why she walks up with her own sword in her hand with all the confidence and arrogance of a pretty peacock, her fingers caressing the sharp edge of her blade, from hilt all the way to its jagged tip.]

Now, pay close attention to where I stick you because we can only do this once. Perhaps twice, if you can withstand it.

[She smiles, so sweet and saccharine and sarcastic.]

So, consider this a valuable lesson.

🗡️ iv. coins of the crescent

[Well. What she thought would be a nice, peaceful ride out to this island to fetch some coins turned out to be... well, everything but. It had been fine for the most part, but as the island came into view through the fog, things had started to tip and tip and tip until everything went fucking tits up.

Not only did the crew start to howl and turn rabid, much like those stupid wolves she can hear in the distance, but so did the captain, and now the ship is wayward on the seas at the behest of the waves. Fortunately, she can use the winds to guide them true, but it will take a little more concentration than what she can afford as she drives her sword into the shoulder of one infected crew that lunges at her with what could only be thought of as a kitten's claws.

Don't worry, that won't kill him, but it will send him reeling to the ground wailing in pain, and she kicks him in the gut to quiet him.

Whoever might be standing near her, she will shout at them with no shortage of rage in her voice as she gives her sword a brandish, the blood spraying from her blade.]

Might anyone spare a moment to take care of them while I attempt to not crash this fucking ship!?

[Must she do everything!?]

🗡️ v. untitled goose bounty 2

[Well, this is certainly not what she was expecting to see when she arrived on Eltrut, or tried to. She'd heard sounds from above across the ship's deck first—the worried shouts of the crew and riftfarers alike. Benedikta had been enjoying the peaceful ride in her cabin aboard the Stormbringer, and had half a mind to ignore the noise and go right back to sleep...

...

Until she hears something else.

The loud, low, rumbling sound of a... honk?

Something visceral shatters through Benedikta's whole body then, forcing her to sit up when the flashbacks of those eight-headed geese attacked her not even a month ago. She rushes to her feet and then out the door, shoving people out of her way as she storms up to the deck where she beholds—]

You've got to be fucking kidding me.

[—an eight-headed(?) goose large enough that it could peck out Eltrut's eye.

Much, much larger than she recalls it being.

And she is pulled out of her reverie only by the sounds of magitech cannons being blasted off.]

I see it's come back for another taste.

🗡️ vi. wildcard

[None of these prompts work for you? Want to do something that isn't from the MANTA board? Feel free to hit up my plotting comment, or via plurk @

crystariums! I'm also around on the game discord, and PM works, too! Also open to texts/bottled messages!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

They want her returned to the sanctuary on Elah, for her own safety---ow!

[GUESS WHO JUST JOINED THE GOT BIT CLUB!]

Hey, rude!

[Dragon don't care. Dragon is taking his hairclips as bounty.]

[Yeah, she's not helping him. That dragon can have all the clips that she wants so long as she leaves Benedikta well alone.]

Sanctuary?

[She looks affronted.]

A creature like that should not be kept anywhere.

[A pause, and she narrows her eyes, the slightest flicker of a light bulb going off in her head, but besides that, her expression remains much the same.]

What exactly are they looking to give in return for her?

I think it's meant to keep her protected from hunters, until she can protect herself--ah, ahhh, not the earrings, please--

[Unfortunately, Kaveh, they are very large and sparkly. Denied the sparklies, she has bitten him again. Marvelous to watch someone else get bullied by a flying iguana, huh?]

...I don't recall what reward the Paladins posted, but I'm sure someone's missing her back home.

[He hopes. He prays. he is not here to be a lizard parent, Benedikta. He's too pretty for fatherhood.]

[Well. He's going to have to play lizard parent for a little longer because she is not going to help him as the little one pulls at his hair for not letting her have the shiny!]

Well then, I suppose we should be getting her back then, hm?

[At that, she hisses and whips her tail, slapping it against the side of Kaveh's neck. Better him than her. :)]

Unless there is someone else who would offer a heftier sum for her or her scales than the fucking Paladins.

[Is it obvious that she hates them? Because she hates them.]

You are being rude, little one--

[Tiny dragon gets a nosebeep and then pried off his neck by Mehrak so Kaveh can take off his cloak and burrito her in it. Dragon does not like being a burrito.]

...I don't suppose you feel like sharing what it is the Paladins have done to earn your ire?

[He is holding the little dragon a little more protectively to him at the mention of selling her scales.]

[Don't think she doesn't notice. It's fine. She will pry her out of his grasp eventually, though whether it's to sell her scales or give her back to the Paladins or, hell, set her free is up for debate at the moment. She's still deciding.

As for his question—]

Well. For one, keeping a winged creature in a cage only to be so irresponsible to lose her shows just how irresponsible they truly are. They boast being organized and that they do good and look at where that got her.

[She motions to the dragon with a wave of her hand.]

Never mind that they are filled with tight-assed, stiff do-gooders.

[Her nose wrinkles. She hopes your ears are burning right now, Xenk Yendar!!! She's talking about you!]

And don't even fucking get me started on the Gallows bullshit from a month ago. And we are all having to pay for that particular mess.

[That is to say... yes, she will happily share what the Paladins have done to earn her ire.

And when she's finished, she flashes Kaveh a smile.]

Caged?

[Oh he's distressed at that concept. He does look down at his dragonrrito, who looks up at him with a sullen chirp.

...fine, he'll take off one of his earrings so she can play with it. Here, tiny.]

The gallows...I heard a little bit but I wasn't so unfortunate as to see it. Were you one of the ones who...?

[Like, she's not dead but given her words, Kaveh probably figures she was picked up by the Corsairs. Which he doesn't mind but he's not going to like. Volunteer he's from the paladin fleet. He's an idealist not an idiot.]

Destroyed them? Who's to say...

[Not a straight answer because neither is she an idiot as to give that information out so freely when the Paladins are looking for a woman that only partly fits her description, but she isn't going to risk that much.]

At any rate, this does nothing to better their impression on me.

[There's a tittering from the dragon as it tries to bite right into his earring and chew on it, confused about why her teeth won't go through before she drops it to the ground.]

And yes, caged. [To answer his first comment.] Is that not what a "sanctuary" is masked as?

...Sanctuaries are a little different, where I'm from. Protected areas, not cages. But I haven't seen what they're calling one here...

[Okay, baby, you are gonna break your teeth on that, those are solid gemstones. Do you want to chew on one of his hairclips first. It's fine he can get more hairclips.

He is definitely eyeballing her at the 'destroyed' comment. Well. He's an architect, so it's fine.]

...I wonder where her family is.

And what exactly do you know of having wings?

[It's muttered—or more like growled—under her breath, only just loud enough for Kaveh to hear through the bustle of Eltrut's streets as she watches the dragon make grabby-claws at the ground where she'd tossed the earring.

Pick it up, human!!!]

Most likely set her off once she was able to fly.

[You know when he had his telekinesis expanded he did not somehow expect to be using it to pick up and dangle his own earrings for a dragonrrito, but here we are.]

...Sorry, what was that?

[He doesn't give any indication he heard her. he did, but he's not going to give any indication he did.]

Cut them loose early, hm? ...Well, then the trouble is releasing her somewhere she won't just be caged again.

[It was nothing.

She watches the dragon, a conflicted feeling settling into her chest and bleeding out into her posture, her shoulders tensing and hands tightening into fists.]

And you believe that the Paladins will be responsible with her? Better to find an island. She seems quite capable of finding her way on her own.

[She found Benedikta, didn't she?

At any rate, she's going to suddenly start walking away, in the direction of the docks.]

Well, they haven't talked about selling her scales yet--hey--?!

[MA'AM. MA'AM HE WAS STILL TALKING? RUDE???

Which is to say of course he's following her. Walking away in the middle of a conversation is Alhaitham behavior, Madame. >:|]

[She ignores his offended cry out to her, simply waving a hand to dismiss it as she continues. He's following her, isn't the? And the dragon chirps up at him in confusion.]

Well, perhaps they should.

[Just an offhand comment, but whether she actually means that or not—]

I am sure we can find a suitable island for her that isn't with the Paladins. A dragon should not be kept. And you may take her there.

[Yep. Just casually volunteering him. :)]

I think she's still using her scales, so they should not.

[He says it pretty flatly, but...well. If he's been voluntold, then.]

...That's probably the best idea, then.

[He looks down at the dragon and kind of rubs under her chin with a finger. Which might get chewed on shortly, depending on her mood.] Sounds good to you, little one? Somewhere to fly freely?

[She doesn't seem to understand what's happening, only that they are going somewhere new!!!]

Now... where do the dragons live. She shouldn't be the only one around here...

I can't say I've seen any others like her...[...but he does know someone who sends the wildest letters.] But from what I've been told, they might want to go somewhere far away from human cities.

[Looking down at the baby. Who looks up and just kind of chirps. Bruh why are you looking at her, she doesn't know shit!]

So, a remote island, then.

[And there's just the slightest, almost wicked upturn of her lip.]

Do you enjoy swimming?

...I grew up on a river?

[Benedikta, no.]

And? That didn't answer my question.

[He'd better come up with something quick because here they are at the port, and the dragon has started to wriggle in her little burrito of his shirt to try and fly out of there.]

Just because you grew up on a river doesn't mean you like it. Or know how.

[She should at least hope he knows how to swim, however!!!]

Of course I know how to swim--hey, hey, hold on a minute, I'll let you out.

[He's going to carefully unwrap the burrito! Be free, you tiny menace!

...he stepped out onto the dock to do it. Oh, Kaveh, you magnificent genius, you.]

Good.

[She'll continue to walk past him, motioning to a small boat with a sail tied down nearby. Whose boat? She has no idea, but clearly it doesn't matter if they've left it unguarded, right?

The dragon flits after her, and lands upon it to sniff around when Benedikta motions to it, her boot coming to rest on its edges.]

This should do us well enough.

Right...

[He's eyeing it a little dubiously--is this hers? but he'll step onto the boat. What could go wrong.]

Do you know how to steer this?

[Funny. Benedikta doesn't seem to be stepping onto the boat, only keeping her foot hooked over the edge as she looks out to the vast sea beyond. The dragon chirps, curious, as she looks up at her before she's trying to claw her way up onto Kaveh's lap.]

I could probably figure it out.

[She starts to unhook the rope that ties it down and gives it a little toss into the boat.

...

.... hm.]

Do you?

...It's a little different from the river boats I'm used to but I can figure it out if I need to?

[He's scritching the dragon (and ignoring the claws in his thighs oh archons) but...wait. Why isn't this lady on the boat? Why is she asking these questions?

...Surely she doesn't mean to...]

open 🪶 the world owes me a debt, and i've come to collect.

it's fine kaveh's used to this

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i'm so sorry kaveh........ 😔

I'm cackling

wrapping this here, enjoy the wide open seas kaveh! 🎀😌