Week 71: Pain and Bondage

Coraline looked up at the sound of Hugo's voice, he was close but hadn't found her. She moved her center of hearing to the nuke's location and kept it alongside him. [observation pass by 4]. The plague doctor slid off the wall and began tracking him, her GUI keeping her updated on the distance between her Hugo and herself. Of course this meant Coraline was oblivious to the sounds of her own movements. [fail stealth by 9]

Wait! What was that? There was a noise somewhere to the left of him, a thud or a slam. It rang out like a shot in the quiet air. (Pass obvs by 5.) He began to move quickly toward it. It was over a wall, huh? With only the tiniest little huff, Hugo began to haul himself over the nearest wall, moving toward her as fast as possible. (Pass Atheltics by 4.) The only hope he had was to cuff her before she hit him again with that dangerous pacifier. It wasn't his kind of weapon, but he was beginning to see its appeals.

Coraline became disorientated by her Hugo's sudden and inexplicable change of direction as well as velocity. Firstly she tried to track him and work out his new heading before smacking herself in the head. There was only one place the nuke could possibly be going in such a hurry, towards her. The shapeshifter returned her hearing to her actual location with a pop in her ears and looked around for an quick escape. [Fail observation by 4] As such she was facing in the opposite direction and oblivious to Hugo's presence as he approached.

Hugo jumped on Coraline with the grace of a dying panther, grabbing her and wrestling her to the ground. Like before, he voluntarily took the brunt of the fall, but there was frustration in his moving and breathing now. They scrabbled on the smooth cement of the hall, but Coraline's initial flailing gave the nuke a much better chance to grab her. He pinned her hands in front of her, cuffing them. (Pass on the dot with Coraline, but she's untrained in CC so she botched ha HAAAAAaaaaaaa.)

He grunted triumphantly, holding the little agent down. "Gotcha!"

Once the initial shock of a crash landing Hugo wore off, and it would never cease to be a surprise, Coraline sighed softly but not unhappily. She had been unable to hold back a little gasp as they hit the floor and now she was blushing a little. "Yes you certainly did darling, again. Now, not to put too fine a point on it but what are you going to do about it?" Coraline teased, purring slightly and sounded a little smug, even. [L&A pass by 5] Coraline smiled up at Hugo as if she was the cat who had got the cream and not the other way around.

"Strip you," Hugo mumbled through gritted teeth, equal parts amused and frustrated. He leaned back, clasping his big, cybernetically roughened hands on hers. He shook his head and sighed. "What are YOU gonna do about it?" The large agent was responding to her smugness with annoyance. He moved her back and forth with his arms, his hands still holding hers together helplessly. Panting and making rather intense eye contact, he didn't seem to want to move just yet.

Coraline flinched, pulling her head back from Hugo and biting her lower lip. She kept eye contact and frowned deeply, trying to keep the nuke's attention away from her hands. "Well, I-I mean, I thought I would... slip my restraints? A little?" The plague doctor held up her hands helplessly and carefully placed them on Hugo's arms, hopefully preventing him from shaking her more.[fail L&A by 1, pass crime by 7] The shapeshifter didn't try to struggle or break eye contact thought, her Hugo seemed annoyed enough as was.

Hugo rolled his eyes and climbed to his feet, pulling the diminutive Coraline with him. He carefully removed her cuffs and shook his head again. Some times she was so forward and others... He sighed and extended one hand, then the other. "Cuffs. Earrings." He wiggled one set of fingers for "cuffs", the other for "earrings".

He was being easy on her, and he shook his head with a dumb little smile. She would know that he was being nice, but he didn't care.

Coraline's mouth formed an "o" of surprise and and she frowned as the nuke pulled her to her feet. After his abrupt declaration her eyes narrowed and she tilted her head. The plague doctor's surprise turned to a pout before she closed her eyes and breathed out. "Now sweetie, thats not fair on you. You said clothes and those are both accessories. Possibly fashion statements, if you were feeling generous at the time. One moment"

The plague doctor licked her lips with a pensive expression and turned her back on Hugo. [L&A pass by 3] She removed his jacket, holding it out with one hand before letting it fall to the floor. Then she pulled her stealth shirt up and over her head, letting it fall to the floor behind her, she was definitely not wearing a bra. Coraline turned her head to look back at her Hugo, "See you soon, alright Juicey?" She said meekly, looking if anything slightly embarrassed. After a moment the shapeshifter broke eye contact and walked off, still facing away from the massive ex fed agent.

Hugo watched with raised eyebrows for a moment, and had to physically stop himself from following Coraline as she walked away topless. And trouserless. And...

He bent down to pick up his jacket. He put it on, and then crouched to pick up her shirt. He wasn't sure how she was going to stealth with just her skin. Did she want him to have more of an advantage, and catch her? ..Oh.

She had walked off somewhere in that direction, yeah.. And he slowly followed, keeping his eyes out for her.

Coraline weaved and wound through the labyrinth, taking as many new routes as she could. She kept her hearing where she was, even if she could use it to find Hugo's position doing so would so give away her own. The former plastic surgeon was walking quickly for her but kept to a measured pace. [Fail stealth by 3]
***
Before too long Coraline stumbled across one area unlike the others and giggled in delight. She quickly covered her mouth and hurried inside. For a few moments the plague doctor indulged in playing with the camouflage/illumination aspect of her video skin, enjoying the reflections and lack thereof before disappearing into the mirror maze.

Hugo had NO IDEA where Coraline was. He had been distracted, unable to follow her with his feet or eyes. (Fail Obvs. by 8.) Maybe he could get up higher, but so much of their gave had been around the tower, and it seemed like it would be harder to climb with no, or at least, very little visible clothes on. So he wandered around, moderately lost, with no idea where his target was.

.........She hadn't even given him the cuffs back..

Minutes too slow, a dumb and heavily EMPed Hugo suddenly shouted, "OH GODDAMN IT, CORALINE." He sounded far away from her hidey hole in the mirror maze.

Coraline could not keep from and did not even try to stifle her laughter. "~HUGOOO~ I WAS SURE YOU HAD NOTICED ALREADY!" She ahem-ed to herself before smiling broadly. The plague doctor was very pleased with herself for managing to EMP her Hugo when she had. Otherwise this whole affair would have been entirely one sided. Coraline took the time to find the location within the mirror maze with the most reflections cast, all the better for sneaking up on the nuke. [L&A pass by 9 & Int+stealth fail by 3 but eh]

Hugo whipped his head around, trying to pinpoint the location of her voice. A-ha! (Pass obvs by 5.) He began to jog toward her, chuckling a little. "I WAS DISTRACTED!" Despite shouting, he sounded very amused. And sounded like he was getting closer. "I'LL JUST HOLD YOUR DOWN. OR USE YOUR PANTS." And smugger, too.

"OH? I'M NOT CERTAIN STEALTH SUIT FABRIC MAKES FOR A VERY ROBUST ROPE SUBSTITUTE JUICEY." Coraline stopped shouting as she began to feel Hugo's approach, tucking herself into a corner [L&A pass by 4]. She was quite deep into the maze now and this way she could maximize the impact of stepping out, creating around a dozen other Coraline's in her Hugo's field of vision, once he got this far. The former plastic surgeon had a hard time not snickering after shouting so much, it was such an unusual thing to do these days and hefted her pacifier. She was grinning ear to ear at this point.

Hugo jumped as he saw movement, but after a moment realized he was looking at a reflection. His reflection. He frowned for a moment, and began to slow down. Mirror mazes were.. fine.. but a little constricting. Still, he couldn't complain about the view.

Smiling a little tightly, Hugo walked into a maze, arms outstretched. (Pass obvs. on the nose.) He could figure out how to not crash into his own body, but... Where was Coraline? Row after row of Hugos looked around for her from all angles.

Coraline became gradually smug-er as her Hugo approached, remembering to switch on her respiratory reserves so that the sound of her breathing would not give her away. Once the nuke was far enough along she stepped out, reflected Coraline's springing into existence around Hugo. Many of them currently in front of him when the plague doctor was herself, crucially, behind her best friend. Wearing nothing but a pair of black underwear and covering her chest from view with the pacifier, a small army of Coraline's advanced on the man who had stripped her. Each wearing the same delighted and predatory expression. No sound gave the actual shapeshifter away, while she continued to track the real Hugo effortlessly with her geo sonar array. [L&A pass by 5, stealth pass by 1]

Coraline might have been quiet on her feet, but the many mirrored versions of her only served to help Hugo figure out where she was. (Pass obvs by 5.) She was moving, turning.. He spun toward her, fast but not exactly agile, feet stumbling as he bumped into mirrors. (Getting ref+cc on the dot.) He was running toward her, her own stealth shirt in his hand.

Coraline frowned and her jaw fell open as she realised Hugo was headed straight for her. "Oh come on!" She half shouted in exasperation [L&A pass by 1]. Then her internal AI helpfully highlighted a path she could quickly dodge forwards into and head away from Hugo, Coraline took it gratefully. [pass observation by 7] She couldn't outpace her Hugo, but perhaps she could get him turned around. Was the last thought to pass through her head before she ran headfirst into a mirror and bounced back off, falling to the ground. [Fail stealth by 11] The plague doctor groaned, it was typical really.

Hugo readily saw Coraline, even catching her bounce off the mirror. He stopped jogging toward her then, slowing to a halt and letting out an affectionate if schaudenfraudetastic laugh. His brows raised in sympathy. "Oh, honey, encantadora," he cooed. He moved toward her, all attempts to bind her with her own clothes forgotten. He took a few more steps before kneeling next to her, reaching out a hand to help the topless, shoeless, be-earringed girl off of the ground.

Coraline pouted up at Hugo, still somewhat dazzed and pinched the bridge of her nose. She looked around vaguely, spotting the pacifier at her feet. Unfortunately too far to get before her Hugo just grabbed her again for trying. Plus the nuke was being nice even if he had laughed. The shapeshifter's brows knit together as the huge ex fed reached out to her. But she smiled and seemed about to take his hand, when she took him by the wrist instead and gently pulled her Hugo on top of her. [L&A pass by two]