More trouble with Avin

Pacing Move: [4] Advance a threat

Olan is in trouble, and Avin isn’t about to show mercy.

As the smoke parts, the scene that Lux comes upon makes her heart sink. Avin, the short, bald, brutal-looking outcast, is still standing – obviously hurt and bruised, but standing – while Olan lies slumped against the wall. Atara is still seated in the chair where she was restrained; it’s hard to tell what condition she’s in. Still oblivious to Lux’s presence, Avin seems to be catching his breath before continuing his onslaught on Olan, who doesn’t appear to be in any shape to fight back.

Lux can’t just stand here and watch this. She moves in, hoping to catch Avin unawares.

Yes/No (Unlikely): Can Lux defeat Avin? | [3,1] No but...

He’s too strong. Lux is beaten. But maybe...

Doom increases to 3

As she’d hoped, Avin is taken off guard. Lux aims a kick at his ankle from behind, making him stagger. He turns awkwardly to face her, and she dances around him, looking for another opening. For a moment, she thinks she has the upper hand. For a moment.

The first hit knocks the wind out of her, a boot to her stomach that sends her reeling and coughing. The second hit lands so hard and so fast that Lux isn’t even aware of it – one moment she’s still on her feet, the next she’s on the floor, on her hands and knees. She tries to straighten up but ends up sitting down hard on the stone floor instead. Dual images of Avin loom over her as her vision wavers.

Cold reality crashes in on Lux as she sits staring in mounting terror at her opponent. With no weapons and no magic, she realises just how defenceless she is – and all her efforts to defy her fate have amounted to nothing but failure. To think she’d tried to manipulate Olan and Radan, deluding herself into thinking she was using her body and sexuality to her advantage, when the truth is that she was never the one in control at all. She opened her legs for two men she’d never even met before, and she got what she inevitably deserved – a heavy load of sperm oozing its way into her unprotected womb.

Now, looking up Avin as he approaches her with **** in his eyes, she knows she’s reached the end. To Radan, she was a brood mare, of value only for birthing his child; but to Avin, she’s less even than that. An animal to be slaughtered. A fat, stupid cow, just like Rina said, who right now can do nothing more than scramble backwards on her ass, trying to delay the inevitable…

Avin reaches down, and Lux lets out a shrill, breathless cry as he roughly grabs a handful of her hair. Heedless of her screams, or perhaps spurred on even more by her fear, he begins to drag her struggling body across the floor. Twisting frantically to escape, Lux feels her stomach fill with ice as she realises he’s bringing her towards Rina’s invention, towards the mass of malfunctioning magics –

Then, suddenly, he seems to lose his grip. Looking up through a haze of tears, Lux can see another figure twisting Avin’s arm behind his back. Furiously, Avin tries to shake off his attacker, who – showing none of the hesitation Lux felt earlier when dealing with Rina – simply shoves him towards the crackling ruin of Rina’s invention.

The energy around the broken device flares blindingly bright as Avin falls onto it. Lux squeezes her eyes shut and sobs quietly, too weak to move a muscle at this point. She feels strong arms around her, lifting her up, as everything fades into darkness.