The man seemed nonplussed by Skylar's remarks at first... The other men seemed to follow his lead as well, the torchlight reflecting off their non-blinking eyes. His voice, as harsh as it sometimes was, wasn't necessarily angry towards them... At least for a moment. Ishi's first comments had been too quiet for him to hear, but the latest... After a few seconds, something seemed to dawn on him, and that seemed to make him angry...

"Vimal? Did she say Vimal!? He's still alive!? And she... God damn it! I am not like that bastard!"

The man would slam his hand against the throne, the knock echoing through the throne room. He had a history with Vimal, from the sounds of things... Skylar would be able to notice something, as it happened, though... Her powers weren't functioning. Something about the situation prevented her from establishing a connection between herself and either Constantine or Ishi...

"I'm sorry about how she was hurt. I honestly am. These creatures... Are hard to control sometimes. Believe me, I wish we didn't have to keep you down here. I'm afraid this is her home, now. And yours. And his. We can't take the chance of any of you leaving. Whatever is on the surface isn't your concern now. They won't trouble any of you down here..."

Standing up and waving the others away, the man would walk towards the three of them, eventually stopping just short of where Constantine could possibly reach. Constantine would slowly stand up, leaning heavily against the pillar to face the man, his arm and body partially blocking Skylar and Ishi from the approaching man. His heart didn't seem to be fully in it, though, and the way he still leaned against the support pillar with one hand made his efforts seem less fruitful...

The pounding of the man's fist upon his throne made Ishi jump in Skylar's arms. Ignoring dignity, she pulled herself up and curled back, trying to sit up and lean into Skylar, as if the woman had everything that could keep her safe. Ishi was digging her foot (as only one was functional) into the dirt as if she were trying to back away as the man approached them. She didn't want to be near him--not this man, not this creature that looked to her like nothing more than the ghost of a rapist. Ghost or not, he may already have been; Ishi was almost convinced of what happened to her whilst she slept. Even if it wasn't him, it was one of his men . . .

He was lucky that she had no sharp object on her. They were all lucky. If Ishi could have had her way, she'd have spilled the guts of all these men one by one--and enjoyed it.

". . . iie . . ." Ishi whispered, straining to speak; the pain wracking her body made it next to impossible for her to talk all that loud at all anymore. "Vimar dead-- Vimar dead-- Vimar ghost-- be-cause I kirr . . . Vimar . . ."

Ishi had actually said it with a certain degree of pride--as if the achievement of killing Vimal was such poetic justice to her that she was happy that she had been the one to do it, and not someone else--like Constantine or one of his brothers. Only so much could be discerned from whispers, though.

That seemed to be angering him. What better thing to do than to make it worse? Between herself and Skylar, this leader individual's blood was boiling. Though, they were both just telling the truth--Skylar firmly disagreed with what was going on here, and Ishi really did see the ghost of a child molester in the place of that pale man.

". . . you . . . ghost . . ." she began to cough, sputtering out between fits of coughing, ". . . you . . . Vimar oni . . ."

The knock echoing through the throne room, caused her to jump slightly. Still..she was angry. “You wish you didn’t have to keep us down here?” She laughed slightly at the thought of his words. “You don’t! Who are you trying to fool? We don’t care about all of this! We have our own lives to deal with.”

Ishi. The poor girl. More then likely half understood what was going on, and half didn’t. Her fear however, was not to be denied. She clung to Skylar like the woman was her saving grace. For the first time since Ishi joined them, this was the first time Skylar though she might not be able to fulfill that role.

The man stood, and moved closer to her, to them. The others followed suit. “Stay away from us!” She hugged Ishi even tighter, if it was possible, and tried to move closer to Constantine, however, he was trying stand. He succeeded. Though, something still wasn’t right. He leaned against the pillar, trying to shield the two from the men. She wondered if he had the strength to be any kind of challenge for them.....god she hoped so.

The man didn't come any closer. He was unhappy at Ishi's words, because they seemed to strike a personal chord with him... Extremely personal. If there was one man in the world he didn't want to be compared to, it was Vimal. The only thing that kept him from being extremely angry was the realization that Vimal was dead...

"I'm going to ask you to come with me, now. I have food and clothes for the two of you. Or you can stay here with the man and be uncomfortable and undressed. It really doesn't matter to me, I'm just trying to be a pleasant host..."

His demeanor had changed somewhat, his voice softer towards Skylar and Ishi now that the happiness of the situation was starting to sink in. There were finally females in the underground, which gave them some hope... None of the truely bad criminals were down here. People who had stolen for their families, spoken out against unjust authority... Angered the wrong crime lord and his crooked cop... The murderers and rapists had been weeded out by underground justice...

"And look, girl, I am not anything like that Vimal. I hated him with every fiber of my being. That bastard killed my wife and took advantage of my little girl, then him and that crooked cop Barr had me sent down here..."

There were almost tears in the man's eyes, but sadness had been replaced by bitterness after so many years. He was just trying to do the best with the situation they'd all been forced into...

--not Vimal. The man was trying to convince her that he wasn't that monster in her memories, or, rather, that he wasn't the ghost of him. Ishi's broken and confused mind couldn't grasp the concept, though; she couldn't understand half of what he said in the first place. Only half of the sense he tried to talk into her was actually comprehended, and due to inconsistencies in her mental translation, it was entirely discarded. For this man to talk any sense to Ishi, he was going to have to be less imposing and maybe speak a bit of her language. Even if it were broken, poorly spoke Cizokian, she was going to understand it better than Common.

The girl did comprehend the notion of him providing her (and Skylar) clothes to lessen their discomfort, but modesty had actually been something she was progressively less concerned about. Ishi already felt like she had been touched--in all the worst ways--by these men. Even if it weren't true, nothing was really going to convince her others.

Nonetheless, Ishi crossed her arms over her chest. Even if she was too defiant to accept any help from these twisted people, she was going to be a little decent--out of spite, really. They were interested in her and Skylar just like Vimal had been interested in her, and Ishi never gave Vimal the pleasure of seeing her in one of those overtly childish and sort of obscene fetishist dresses.

"You are . . ." Ishi began, and in just seconds, she was defiantly screaming at the top of her lungs, "You--sick man! Sick rike Vimar! Vimar ghost! You . . . you do . . . do what Vimar do--to me--you do . . . you do and are sick rike Vimar ghost!!"

Luckily, the man did stop. However she already knew that it would all be short lived. They were horrible out numbered, Constantine was not at his best, and Ishi and herself were no match at all for all these men. She did take note that the man did not like being referred to as Vimal, and it was soon learned why.

He offered them food and clothes, and Ishis look on it all was obvious with her little outburst. After all, she was a child. A child that had thus far had a terrible existence. This only seemed to be another notch on her bad experiences. “Wait...” She paused for a moment and looked around the room. “Why do we have to leave to get food and clothes?”

It was almost as if they were trying to lure them away from Constantine....something she wasn’t planning on doing...leaving him alone in an obvious weakened state. “He needs to eat, too...we all do...so, just bring the food and clothes here. We’re already half naked, it’s not like it matters if you watch us dress and eat at this point.” She looked the man in the eyes as she spoke, it would seem the only thing they were interested in were her and Ishi. If she had to use them as pawns in the ungodly game, so be it.

The man was still annoyed and even angry with Ishi, but he restrained himself from acting against her. She had been through a lot, but he was trying to make things better... At least, as good as possible as things could be living down here. Eventually, both Skylar and Ishi would be expected to produce children, but there was no rush. Personally, he didn't ever plan to produce another offspring...

"We'll bring him food. He'll have to get used to the loneliness, if he's going to be one of us. We owe him something for being so stupid as to bring you two down here. Besides, I need to show you where you'll be staying..."

Constantine took on a sort of resigned pose, his brain still addled from the blow. He wasn't really in a state for anything, and needed time to heal. At least, they would have the opportunity to do so. Escape could come later, when they had a bit of time. Until then... Constantine would stand down somewhat, knowing that in the end, this man was really the master of their fates...

"Go ahead with him... We can't go anywhere now... You have what he wants, though, and you can take it away from him if you really have to..."

Constantine was referring to Ishi and Skylar's lives, really their only bargaining chips at this point. The only sort of dominance they had over the situation. There was no real reason for Skylar and Ishi to refuse what comfort was offered, particularly for his sake...

Although she did want to stay with Constantine, Ishi's inevitable decision wasn't for his sake. In fact, she hadn't thought about him at all when she was considering the options.

"Iie . . ." Ishi quickly shook her head, whispering with a significant degree of doubt in her voice, "Do no want . . . oni food . . . do no want oni crothe . . ."

Ishi was refusing everything the man was offering her, and it went without saying that she fully intended to stay where she was. Unless they personally dragged her out of the room, that was just how it was going to be. Unfortunately for her, dragging her out of the room was easy. In fact, were she to actually take the man up on his offer of food and clothing, she'd have to have been carried out of the room anyways. Ishi couldn't walk. On her own, the most she was going to do was crawl--and even that would have been painful.

Of course, she had her doubts about her decision. Namely, Ishi would have liked to have been clothed and fed. She was exceptionally uncomfortable with all these stares at her naked body, as any girl would have been, and she was really quite hungry. Accepting any sort of kindness from these men was out of the question, though. Ishi had accepted kindness from Vimal before, and that hadn't turned out well for her. Even though she was convinced that the worst had befallen her whilst she was unconscious, there was a tiny voice in the very back of her mind that suggested it she was at least fortunate that she hadn't been awake for it. If she accepted their kindness . . . well, who knew what would happen?

Her eyes averted back to Constantine, a worried look upon her visage. Then her gaze would turn to Ishi, so young, so fragile, and so abused. She shook her head slightly and turned her attention back to the apparent leader of the pale men. “Alright, listen...” Her words trailed off, it would seem anger wouldn’t be a very good way to deal with these people. Her tongue ran across her parched lips, as she drew in a deep breath.

“Ishi and I will come with you on a few conditions.” She kissed Ishi on the head, and leaned against the same column as Constantine, to help herself stand. Every muscle in her body screamed and groaned as she came to her feet. She did the best she could to straighten her spine, holding herself as a respectable woman. “First, you move him to the room where we all will be staying until we are all well. Ishi stays with me, no matter what, and that is not negotiable. I see that you are an intelligent man, obviously with a heart, else you would have let him die, and take advantage of Ishi and I.”

She pushed herself off of the pillar and moved closer to the man. With every step, she swore that her heart was pounding harder and harder, she hoped the couldn’t hear it as she could. Now, just a couple feet from him, her voice lowered. “Ishi has been through abuse that most grown woman wouldn’t survive, and right now, Constantine needs some tender loving care. They are the only family I have as of now, please, do not take that away from me in their times of need.”

She swallowed hard, and locked her gaze to his. Silently, she pleaded with him. She had what he wanted, god forbid it came to that, but their safety, Constantine, and Ishis, were her only thought at the moment.

The man looked over Skylar, Ishi, and Constantine with narrowed eyes, deep in thought for a moment. Finally, however, he would reach into his pocket, drawing a key. He would throw it to Skylar, pointing to an open doorway at the end of the hall, with a vaguely visible bed inside.

"Fine. There's clothes in there for both of you. I'd advise you not travel too far, as it takes concentration to keep those things from attacking, as you can see on Ishi."

Turning, he would leave the three of them alone in the room, exiting by a room behind the throne. Even if they attempted an escape, they were unlikely to get far. They had no clue where they were, had no equipment, and were essentially dependent. As he left, though, he would speak.

"We really do want to make you as comfortable as possible. You'll perhaps grow to like us."

He didn't mention that there was no choice. Constantine would shake his head, though, still leaning somewhat on the pillar. He was very, very tired, and it was a very poor time to be so. At least, though, they had time, with a semi-gracious host...

"It could always be worse..."

No! No, no, no, no~!!!

Skylar was trying to help, she really was. Ishi couldn't be mad at her for that, but the fact remained: she didn't want it. The food and the clothes and the shelter that the man was providing her . . . she'd have rather starved to death, naked and cold, than accept kindness from what she had declared to be a demon. She just wasn't going to do it. No one was going to convince her otherwise. Force her, maybe, but then there was the chance of forcing her dislike in the process. Nonetheless, Constantine and the others were left alone, and Ishi was left to momentarily stew in

Actually, it was a wonder that Ishi still ate in the first place. Considering what happened to her, it would have hardly been misunderstood if she stopped eating altogether.

". . . iie . . ." Ishi shook her head quickly.

The girl gently broke away from Skylar; she was angry, hurt, and sad at the same time, and especially unwilling to be around other people for the time being. Once on the ground again, she dragged herself away--crawling, biting her lower lip and suppressing the urge to cry again as her terribly injured leg dragged on the ground. When she was far enough, and reasonably covered in uncomfortable and irritating sand--the sort of moist kind that acted more like dirt than anything. When she felt that she was far enough away, she curled up, bringing her knees up--painfully--and hugging them to her chest. The girl set her forehead upon her knees and sighed. She didn't want to be hear any more than the others did, but she couldn't be as mature about it as Constantine and Skylar.

"No want . . . oni crothe or oni food or oni bed . . ." Ishi stubbornly stated, choosing instead to sit closer to a wall than to take comfort in another person's arms.

A simmer flashed as something was tossed toward her. She didn’t realize it was a key until she opened her hand. She looked at it as it lay in her palm, and then back to the man. She nodded to his words. Truth be told, none of them were in the shape to try to run. They were out of gear, out of torches, hungry, and most of all sleep deprived. At least for now, they were safe. Right? “Thank you for understanding.” She forced a smile, though she still wasn’t thrilled with the situation.

Ishi still showed defiance towards the man. Throwing a fit as only a girl of her age could. “Ishi.” Skylars tone was motherly, yet strict. “Come, we can get dress, eat, and get some sleep, and all be together.” She motioned the girl to come to her, as she took steps toward her. She would have to carry Ishi to the room, if Ishi decided to fight her, Skylar feared she wouldn’t have the strength to fight back.

“Please sweetheart, come on......please.” Skylar pleaded with Ishi, her arms outstretched toward. “Constantine, can you get yourself to the room, or will you need me to help you?” She prayed he would say he could make it alone, leaving one behind to get the other to the room, and then leaving that one to fetch the other.....Ahhhh.....it was something she didn’t want to have to do. She didn’t want any of them to be alone, anywhere, any time. She would wait for a response from them both before she would make another move.

"I can walk..."

Constantine would respond to Skylar's question, leaning forward slightly against the handcuffs. The door to the bedroom was open and didn't appear to have a lock at all, leaving the key's use limited to only really Constantine's restraints. He realized this, but wasn't really able to think or talk about more than one thing at a time, and Ishi was pretty noticeable in her strained flight and short tantrum...

"That's attractive... I don't think acting like a spoiled brat will get us out of here..."

Constantine's tone was sarcastic, his comment intended to inspire her to some sort of action or reconsideration. They couldn't really leave her here, even if he possessed a certain amount of trust in her captors... Almost more than he trusted Ishi alone. She was a bit impulsive, as could be expected after everything that had happened. Still, maturity, even out of a young girl, was something they needed...

"If you come get dressed and eat something, I'll take you to get some things you want when we get out of here..."

". . . iie . . ." she whispered to Skylar, shaking her head.

But they weren't going to accept that answer. No, Constantine was going to berate her. She didn't even see it as him talking negatively about her, though--she saw it as herself. Her heart thumped hard in her chest, her hands gripped her knees tightly, and she felt rage--incurable rage. Not at Constantine, but at the notion that she was just being a spoiled brat. There was a good reason for such anger, too: somewhere, she felt as if she was being spoiled. Rebelling just for the sake of rebelling.

"I . . . I NO SPOIR AND NO BRAT!!" Ishi screamed about as hard as her lungs would let her, before instantly sauntering: ". . . I . . . I hurt . . ."

Truth be told, it wasn't a matter of being spoiled or anything of the like--she just hurt all over. Her body ached all over and her psyche was in ruins. Immaturity should have been expected. It wasn't like she could just get over all of this in a snap of a finger; her insecurities weren't going to go away that easily.

"It happen before~! It happen rike this! Peopre take and take me to prace and Vimar ve-ry nice and give me room and . . . and I . . . and I take room and take crothe and take bath and . . . and he no nice . . ." Ishi sniffled, trembling all over--crying audibly, but muffled to the best of her ability. ". . . he hit and . . . he hit me and he go in me even when cry and say no and . . . and other man hurt Sofia-sama and . . . and . . . . . . . . it . . . it happen again--it happen again here--and . . . and I . . . and they--they Vimar ghost and--and--"

She was trying not to cry, though. It was hard, but she was giving it an honest effort. She'd been crying too much, but earlier was in physical pain. Now, it was emotional trauma that was demanding she shed tears--but, again, she had shed so much that there weren't enough to cry. Her eyes were dry and shut, while her forehead was upon her forearm, and she could barely feel her heart beating. Maybe it had stopped when she verbally acknowledged everything that happened to her--that she could barely bring herself to trust Constantine and Skylar, because her trust had been broken so much, and she'd been subdued so harshly.

"I want Vimar die and go away," Ishi stated flatly, "That arr I want . . ."

Good news was, he thought he would be able to walk. A sigh of relief escaped her lips. However it was soon demolished as Ishi threw another of her tantrums. In all honesty, Constantine was right...she was acting like a brat, and now was not the time for all of it.

It was time however, for Skylar to play the role of mother, and mother with a firm, yet loving hand. “Ishi, that is enough. No.” She still wasn’t sure how much Ishi understood, but it seemed the longer she was around all these people, the more she learned. This was in fact, the most she had heard the girl speak since their duo became a trio.

“I am here, and I will not allow anything to happen to you.” Granted the scarabs had gotten her, but Skylar couldn’t do anything about that, since she, too was under attack. “Ishi, come here.” Skylar would go ahead and attempt to scoop the girl up, though should she fight it, it was a possibility she could be dropped onto the hard floor, which would do nothing more then further the wounds she already had.

After such, Skylar would take the key, and unlock Constantine from his restraints. “We need to get moving before they change their minds. Right now, all we have is each other, lets not give them a reason to take that away from us.” She looked from Constantine to Ishi. She wanted to hold them both close, and cry, but it was obvious who had to be the strong one, this time.