AU Box

[lovesuwithknives]

Because I can't leave that Abstract Button alone, here's a bunch of AUs that roll about in my head that I figured I'd plop in here to see if anyone wants to bat them about.

Warnings apply for pretty much everything: smut, body horror, violence, nonconsensual science, cosmic horror, pregnancy, gender-switching, and probably more.


Wizarding AU
or
Harry Potter And The Contrived Fanfiction Plot

Is it Marauders-Era and you not only have to deal with them but this weirdo new Defence Against The Dark Arts instructor? Or, even worse, is this during the books and you have to deal with all of that plus this weirdo new Defence Against The Dark Arts instructor? What on earth was Dumbledore thinking? This man looks like he just crawled out from under the floorboards of Voldemort's own goddamn house. He makes Snape look trustworthy. But boy does he know his stuff. And all kinds of other stuff. So what's Professor Azwel really about?


Cthulhu Mythos AU
or
The Call Of The Thing On The Living Room Floor Of The Witch-House Of The Terrible Old Man With The Silver Key To The Challenge From Beyond The Wall Of AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Terrible things are afoot in New England in the 1920s. Fish-people and cultists and schlubs having horrible dreams are everywhere. Things are colours that don't exist. A squiggly symbol that scares the bejeezus out of you is scrawled on random surfaces. And what's that awful tekeli-li sound that rides the wind of an evening? What are those faceless flying creatures silhouetted against the moon? AND WHY IS AN EIGHT-FOOT-TALL BUG MAN THING CLAIMING HE'S RANDOLPH CARTER? Nobody knows except a strange mystic from Europe who calls himself only 'Azwel' and seems to know an awful lot about and awful lot of things. Things man (or woman or bug) was not meant to know! Do you follow him to the hilltops or into the cypress swamps or wherever else he says the horrible tomes direct him or do you do the smart thing and run screaming into the night, trailing As as you go?


Domestic Fluff
or
How I Married A Mad Alchemist

Ah, wedded bliss. Family life and home sweet home. Is there anything like it? Probably not. You are Mr. Or Mrs. Azwel. His first name is a secret he just might someday tell you. In the meantime, you now live in a big sprawling house with either three or seventeen cats (never any other number), a plethora of alchemical paraphernalia, and a husband whom you have to tempt out of the lab to eat. But he's wealthy. And he loves you more than anything. He just... has a very unconventional way of showing it.


Sex Slave
or
Fuggit, I'm Running Out Of Titles.

a Did you get bought from the sex slave market by this odd, mysterious nobleman who only goes by one name? How will this 'Lord Azwel' even treat you? Only one way to find out, as he's bringing you home to his mansion full of books and alchemy. Oh, my.

b You're looking for that special sex slave. Well, this fellow is certainly eye-catching, all big and manly, windswept and interesting. Watch out, though, the owner says he's a bit mad, too clever by three quarters, and was sold to him as punishment for some crime nobody will disclose.


Experiments? Oh My!
It can be any time, really, the aim is the same. This strange genius who calls himself only 'Azwel' has you locked up in his laboratory. He has a mission, you see, and that mission is to extract a very, very specific kind of energy from you. It can only be collected during orgasm. Oh, but he's terribly clever at getting people to that state....


Vampire AU
a Blaaaaaa! A mysterious alchemist who never goes out in the daytime has moved into that spooky castle. And at the same time there's tell of a mysterious fiend roaming the streets at night, ravishing nubile young maidens and... whatever the young gentleman equivalent may be... and draining their blood! Can anyone draw the obvious conclusion between these nocturnal shenanigans and that weird Count Azwel?

b You vampire, you! You've somehow gone and caught yourself a nosy alchemist who insists on being called only 'Azwel.' His fault for trying to investigate your castle/house/apartment/yurt/whatever, I suppose. Now what will you do with him? My, but he's a robust-looking fellow who'll certainly serve as a ready food supply....


Girl Genius AU
Explosions! Terrible mad science! Toothy monsters with cheesy accents! Giant switches actually labelled 'MUAH HA HA HA HA HA!' Gleeful destruction! Exclamation marks! Just what have you gotten yourself into walking into the midst of Mechanicsburg in a random era ruled by Azwel Heterodyne The Madder Than Usual?

Pet Person AU
a Who doesn't like a big fluffy kitty? A... really big, fluffy kitty. Even though he prefers to wear clothes, one can see just how fluffy Azwel is by his purple hair and beard, soft grey ears with purple tufts, and giant, fluffy purple and grey tail. Oh, but he'd make a lovely companion, if you can get him to stop chewing on you. His love is pointy, after all. His claws are so long they don't retract all the way, making him even pointier. But he's clever and just listen to that rumbling purr!

Oh, and one other thing. There's a very good chance he'll be in heat. And even if he's not, he's still very libidinous. Sorry about that.

b Are you the kind of pet person Azwel's looking for? He's after someone who can assist in his work and not push things off of shelves or knock things over with a wagging tail. A companion to curl up with on cold nights. A sexual partner. Is it you?

Sex Cult AU
There's a heady smoke in the air, a mist swirling grey-white under the full moon. A hypnotic drumbeat plays. Cloaked and hooded figures surround you, bear you along to the stone altar under the tall trees. They start a slow, circling dance and a low, sonorous chant slips into your hearing. At the altar stands another figure, clad in elabourate robes. He reaches up with beringed hands to remove his hood, revealing his face, long purple hair and beard surrounding pale features and a gaze that draws you in. He bids you step toward him. The ritual has begun.


As an added bonus, request Rule 63 of any of the above and hey, presto, Azwel was always a woman!


Got any other ideas? Feel free to throw them at me. ^.^

Comments

[lovesuwithknives]

Azwel turns, the motion almost blind-looking, muttering more numbers. It's almost impossible to push a reply through the haze of figures and measurements, and the effort can be heard after a moment in the breathless quality of his voice and his slightly furrowed brow.

"It's... not possible to... harness it remotely," he says, watching as his own hands type in commands and sensor values.

The array at the head of the bed emits a few clicking sounds. Something within it starts to whir, spinning quickly.

More importantly, though, the table grows warm until it feels like the most decadent of beds. A quiet hissing sound can be heard over the whirring and a musky smell can be detected after a moment, wicking into the nostrils and seeping into the pleasure centres of the brain.

[goldenglasses]

Vash doesn't like the way Azwel is talking. What if he does give the results the team behind this wants? Will they simply keep him here? What if he doesn't? Would they keep trying new experiments? Keep poking and prodding at his body until it gets the results they want? Just like her? Just like...

"Azwel!" Vash tries to snap his mind out of that train of thought. Panic wasn't going to help him. "Come on, buddy. Fight them. You beat the soul edge!" Did he? Vash wasn't too sure. He's just hoping he's gotten it right. Right now he'd say just about anything in an attempt to get through to his friend. "Beat this! Come on, Azwel! You don't have to do this!"

The last bit sounds a bit panicked. Vash attempting to tilt his head back to see what those noises were. "What's that?! What are you doing?!" The bed warming up confuses him, but it feels good. Especially on the bruises that were starting to form from his struggles to keep from getting caught.

The outlaw had noticed the smell, but had assumed it was something his friend was wearing. Although as he feels himself relaxing into the bed his mind struggles to keep up. "What..." Why bother asking? He should just relax. "This smell..." Struggling to get his thoughts out as the chemicals in his brain are shifted and scrambled slightly.

[lovesuwithknives]

"Cycling. Sixty-seven nanos per second..." He shakes his head, then turns to look at Vash again. Blinks. His eyes slip back into focus for a moment.

"Vash..." he says, confusion evident on his face. "What...." He steps forward, clearly reaching for the restraints even though he has little clue what's going on. "Hold still, I'm going to--hggkkk!" He twitches violently as the light flashes red again. His head lolls sideways and then forward distressingly and when it comes back up his eyes are unfocussed again, the light green once more.

"They've prepared for... all contingencies.... prepared...." The smell grows stronger, tickling arousals. "It's the next step... the next...." His head drops forward again, and the light goes from green to yellow, pulsing at the rate of a heartbeat. When his gaze comes up again it's heated. "No...." He takes a long, deep breath. "...no more explanations," he says slowly, his voice dropping into a husky purr.

[goldenglasses]

"Azwel!" Seeing his friend in pain hurt more than the fear of the experiment to come. He looks around. Searching for a camera or some sort of two way mirror. Excepting their captors to be watching from somewhere. "Leave him alone you bastards! Let him go and I'll do what you want!"

Even as he angrily shouts Vash knows their heartless tormentors likely wouldn't listen. Even if he would be the model test subject. The musky smell filling the room would see that they got what they wanted from him no matter what.

Peering up at his friend he's not sure what else he can do for him. "I don't know what you'll remember of this, Azwel, but I don't blame you." For anything that is about to happen. It was clear that Azwel was not in his right mind.

[lovesuwithknives]

After a beat, Azwel reaches into the array and retrieves two electrodes on leads, and presses them to either side of Vash's head. His fingers slip down either side of the other's face, slow and gentle. His head tilts to the side, and he seems to look through Vash.

The table tilts backward until it's horizontal, then sinks closer to the floor, taking the array with it. Azwel, his eyes glassy and his skin feverish, now, climbs onto the table. Slowly, his fingers get to work unfastening Vash's clothes.

"They... know things, they... they won't tell me what, but... so many things," he breathes. "We cannot resist...."

It's clear that they know far more about both Vash and Azwel than is comfortable for either--they know they could essentially use Azwel's brain as a processor for their data, filtering it through his already obsessive understanding of subtle energies. They knew they could easily spark the necessary sexual energy in him--too easily.

Azwel reaches past Vash's head toward the array again, and his body presses against Vash's, making it obvious by the throbbing heat how aroused he already is. When he sits up again he looks at the other through lidded eyes. Slowly, he sticks more sensors to Vash's skin.

"They know," he whispers. "They know." He drops his head forward until is lips are next to the other's ear. "But they don't know everything," he breathes, scarcely audible. He shivers and goes very still for a moment. Then he sits up again and resumes what he was doing, before, pressing sensors to Vash's skin with heated, caressing hands.

[goldenglasses]

He tilts his head away when Azwel presses the sensors to his temples. Not so much because he's trying to avoid what is happening, he knows he can't stop it, but more out of disgust. He flinches slightly as the table starts tilting backwards.

"I am more than just some battery." Vash spits out miserably. More for their captures than for Azwel's knowledge. "I am a person. Not some thing to be used up and thrown away." This time he does look at Azwel when he speaks. "And so are you."

Soon enough Azwel will have Vash bare. The effect of the aroma clearly working on Vash considering how he was already getting hard. "I will keep resisting unless they free your mind completely." He can't be sure I'd it's Azwel that's trying to tell him not to resist or the people controlling him. His body starting to tremble the more sensors that are stuck to his skin. Would he eventually end up in multiple jars? Would these monsters actually be happy with just the one test? He hears those words Azwel whispers breathlessly into his ear, but doesn't react. If it really was his friend trying to give some sort of hope or warning he didn't want to give anything away.

Hope was the only thing he has left to hang onto. Stripped and at the mercy of science.

[lovesuwithknives]

The last sensor is a flat, bendable crescent, trailing cords. Azwel carefully places that around Vash's cock, and it stickily adheres to the hair and skin, covering that area but leaving the balls untouched. Those versed in the esoteric arts (or who are simply observant) might notice the placement of the electrodes echoes the meridian lines that'd been cut into Azwel's skin so long ago. If the irony is noticed by him, he gives no indication.

Even without that detail, the sheer amount of sensors stuck to Vash is probably frightening, to say the least.

Azwel slides off the table and pulls his partially-unbuttoned shirt over his head, dropping it. He unfastens his trousers and steps out of them, also dropping them. He, himself, is nearly erect. His eyes are glassy and his skin flushed, and he almost looks the way he usually does when aroused, if not for the blankness of his gaze.

For a moment, he pauses, looking at the machines. "Cycling... one hundred nanos per second...." he mumbles. He continues mumbling a string of numbers and, somehow, the machinery reacts, some of the array moving. He picks up an object that looks for all the world like a sheath catheter and fits it onto his cock. The tubing at its end is long and terminates somewhere Vahs can't see. After a beat he picks up a bottle.

He climbs back onto the table, straddling Vash's hips. It's almost poignant--such a familiar position, but somehow that isn't Azwel in there. Whatever that blinking device is, it pushes his thoughts and actions in a single direction of someone else's choosing. His head tilts to the side again.

Then he leans forward again, his lips near Vash's ear. "They let the others go," he whispers. "They'll let you go, too...." He gasps, sitting bolt upright, his spine shivering. His face turns red and it's easy to see why after a moment as small drops form in the tubing and heated, almost plaintive moans escape him. He drops forward onto his hands, shivering with the effort of keeping his hips still.

[goldenglasses]

Vash's nose wrinkles in disgust at that strange sensor. Scoffing when Azwel puts it in place. "Yeah. That one is going to suck coming off again." He's bitter and angry; yet strangely still getting aroused and he hates it. Hates how warm and comfortable this bed was despite the restraints. Hates that strange smell in the air. Hates that blinking light on his friend's head. Hates what he is. Hates that he's not just a boring normal human. Hates this place.

"What is cycling!?" He pulls at his wrists again. "What do those numbers mean?!" Vash yanks his head back. Trying to see where that tube is going to. Wanting to have a better understanding of what is being done to him.

He hears that whisper again, but he can't believe it. Not once has anyone ever let him go once they've started their testing. He's always had to save himself and so Vash believes this time will be no different. Silently he watches as Azwel enjoys that warm heat on his body. Vash guesses that will be his own fate soon enough. Arms twisting and pulling against the restraints. As if he keeps trying he might be able to pull his hands free.

[lovesuwithknives]

Azwel shivers and moans desperately. "They mean... everything and nothing..." Here he twitches again. "....change reality. Mmmmhhhh... creation and destruction," he pants, a familiar refrain. "Done this before...."

He shivers again, a loud moan in his throat. Only now does he open the bottle. The sheath on Azwel's cock makes the course of action relatively clear, and it only becomes clearer as his feverish hands spread lube onto Vash's length. He closes the bottle again and drops it onto the floor where it hits with a dull, plastic thud.

Usually Azwel is so tight that he needs some kind of preparation before doing this. But this time he simply reaches back and guides Vash's cock into position. When he slides down around him with a rough, quiet sound in his throat he's quite stretched and somehow more feverishly hot.

Once again he leans forward, his hips rolling wantonly. Desperately. As though being filled like this relieved some kind of distress. He gives several thick, throaty moans before he can speak again. "'ve done this before...." he pants, pressing kisses to Vash's neck. "...done this before.... saw them sent back... saw it myself...."

Above them the array starts to slowly rotate.

[goldenglasses]

Vash shakes his head wildly. "No! No don't push my limits!" He's worried now. Images of Lost July pushing their way into his head. "You'll only get the destruction!" Of course they're both thinking of two different things right now.

Sharp eyes watch Azwel's every movement. The cool lube spreading along his warm cock cause him to shiver even while being held down against that warm bed. "Wait! D-Don't!" Vash thinks Azwel's about to hurt himself and is shocked by how easily Azwel slides into place. "Shit, how long have they had you trapped here?" Vash is horrified by the implications. How many others have Azwel been forced to do this with?

Oh god. He was so warm! Vash can't stop the long, low moan that escapes him. Yet, he's still having trouble letting completely go. Especially when he can hear something moving and working just out of his view. "What is that!?"

[lovesuwithknives]

It's several moments before Azwel can respond again and when he does the words are nearly incoherent. His hips never stop moving.

"It won't... harm us...." he pants. "Mmmmmhhhh... just... let go..." his voice drops to a lustful whisper. "Please.... It's all right... you'll be all right..."

He angles his hips slightly and the pressure to his sensitive spot elicits an almost sobbing cry--it's so much more tender than usual. Shaky moans ride every breath for several moments.

"Fall with me..." he breathes, his hands caressing Vash's face and neck. Another moan escapes him. "Please...."

[goldenglasses]

"No." He says stubbornly. Although it half turns into a moan as he speaks. Shaking his head and trying to dislodge some of the sensors that have been stuck to him. "That's what they want!" He doesn't want to easily give these people what they want, but ooooh those hands! They send electric shivers down his body as Azwel touches him. "I won't! Not until they r-release y-aaa-aaaaaahhh!" He bites viciously into his lip to try to slow down the chemical in his brain. The ones trying to lull him into being passive. To take some enjoyment out of this experience if he really must live though it.

Only his refusal to cooperate is the only thing he has. Even if it's meaningless he clings to it. "This is wrong! It's WRONG!"

[lovesuwithknives]

"It's wrong..." Azwel whispers, like an uncomprehending echo, so softly Vash would think it was in his own mind but for the breath against his skin. Azwel doesn't stop, though. He kisses that skin, lips drifting to Vash's ear. One hand slips into Vash's hair as he takes that earlobe in his mouth, gently worrying it between his teeth, now sucking on it.

All the while his hips lift and drop, falling into that rhythm he so often drops into. Words flee him entirely, now, dissolving into moans whose urgency vibrates in every sound.

The scent hangs heavy in the air, undispersed by the turning array.

A ring moves down on the array's axle, opens up, extends a spindly arm toward them. That arm unfolds a lens. That lens catches a light and shines it onto Vash's face.

That light... it pulls at him and yet that pulling feels so good, like that heated sucking on his earlobe.

[goldenglasses]

He feels dirty and abused. Azwel's weight on his pelvis and the rocking pushing him ever forward towards a climax. He could fight it, but there would be no stopping it.

Moaning lightly when Azwel takes his ear between his teeth. It's something he usually enjoyed, but now it felt tainted as he struggled against the influence of that musky smell.

He jumps slightly when he catches sight if that spindly arm. "What that?" Surprising himself with how breathless he was already getting. "That light..." his thoughts start to melt away as he stares into it. Finding it so hard to look away.

Now Vash slowly starts to squirm in his restraints. Unable to interact with what was happening to him. He couldn't kiss Azwel while he was doing those wonderful things to his ear. He couldn't even raise his hand to touch Azwel's soft hair. A frustrated whine escaping as he pushes his hips up into Azwel as the restraints will allow him. It being about the only thing he can do.

[lovesuwithknives]

Azwel's breath catches as Vash starts to move under him. He can sense that building of energy as it bounces between the array and the device on his head and into the batteries. The array starts to turn faster, now.

Words well up in Azwel's mind but the device won't allow him to say them. All he can do is move, his rhythm slipping into that pace that he can't stop. His breathing grows harsh and yet he kisses Vash's neck and shoulder tenderly and strokes his hair, trying everything he can to soothe him. He's swiftly losing all thought, and yet he doesn't fall into that sweet oblivion this time. Instead a swirl of data surrounds him and his brain immediately dives into it, sending it winding around itself in streams and spirals and helices until it makes sense to... something. If not to him then to the device, whose light flickers between yellow and green.

The array turns faster. The light pulls harder. Azwel's hips grind against Vash's, then buck spasmodically as a shaky sound escapes him. The sheath eagerly sucks up Azwel's release and yet he doesn't stop moving. Doesn't stop trying dimly to soothe Vash.

[goldenglasses]

Having resisted for so long Vash is still a little ways behind Azwel. Although now his protests have grown into moans. His struggles to get free and escape more pulls to join in. Hips rocking up in an effort to reach deeper as much as the restraints holding him down will allow.

Although there was something that was still Vash deep down within him. Past the machines, aromas, and basic instincts currently driving his body further. A part of him still hates everything as tears slip down his face.

Then his body tightens. The readings likely going off the charts as his Plant energy does starts to build up within him. Finally releasing with a mournful cry as Vash finally climaxes.

[lovesuwithknives]

The array behind him whirls madly, so flooded that it emits its own almost blinding light.

And his release slams into Azwel, causing his head to snap back, his spine arching, his nails digging into Vash's skin. A hoarse scream escapes him as the massive influx of energy bounces between the array and the device on his head.

And.

Everything stops.

Reality holds its breath, caught between one second and the next. Droplets of sweat hover for an instant amid the wild tangle of Azwel's hair. The light quivers on a watching researcher's eye, frozen open for a beat.

Somewhere deep within the facility machinery that had stirred sleepily, monitors winking, suddenly thunders to life. A heartbeat later the collected energy pulls in on itself. Explodes in a soundless detonation.

The energy and data reverberate back and forth through Azwel in a manner Palindrome could never have achieved, flooding his senses into a second wild, convulsing climax, tearing another raw sound from him. His eyes roll back.

He falls forward heavily, gasping for breath. The array slows in its spinning.

[goldenglasses]

Vash stares up at Azwel as time seems to freeze for a few moments. Breathing heavy and his skin on fire from his release. Bodily tingling as his power fades back into it's dormant state.

He worries with the way Azwel's eyes roll back and he falls heavily onto him. "Azwel!?" He shouts thinking perhaps that he's passed out. Vash suddenly worried he's been left alone with his thoughts while strapped to this strange table. "Azwel! Are you alright!?"

[lovesuwithknives]

Several moments pass as he lies motionless. The array slows to a stop. Everything goes quiet, a few display screens silently flickering with images and code.

Azwel stirs with a low, breathy sound. He whispers something, but it's so slurred it's impossible to make out. He carries on with this mumbling whisper, a scarcely audible, breathless monotone, almost like a chant or mantra, until he subsides into silence for a moment.

Then he moves with some kind of coherency, turning his head to look at Vash with half-open but lucid eyes. He's terribly weak and yet perhaps his mind has returned. The light on the device on his head is dark.

At that moment there's a sharp little sound and the restraints snap open.

[goldenglasses]

Vash breaths heavily as those moments pass. His head yanking around trying to see what those machines say. Trying to understand and comprehend what is happening. He relaxes slightly when he hears his friend muttering even if he can't make it out. To know he wasn't completely alone.

His eyes immediately go to that light on his friend's head. Surprised to find it dark. "Azwe-?" He doesn't waste a second by completing whatever he was going to say. The very moments those restraints open Vash sits up. Arms reaching for the contraption on Azwel's head. "How do I get this off you!?" Quick fingers looking for some way to remove it.

[lovesuwithknives]

As Vash sits up Azwel nearly falls over, leaning heavily against him. He can't move. He can scarcely think. He tries to push words out but all he manages is a stringy moan.

Unbeknownst to them the door had unlocked and a suit-and-labcoat-clad woman walks in, answering for him without so much as a greeting. "I wouldn't do that. It'll create a neural backblast that'd likely kill him." She steps over to them, fishing a small device from her labcoat pocket. Pressing a button on it creates a shrill electronic noise for a beat and the tiny, spider-like lead retracts its wires with a little snap, withdrawing into the thing on Azwel's head.

"Now it's safe to remove," the woman says causally. She then proceeds to ignore them with the kind of thoughtlessness only laboratory scientists are capable of, her attention focussed on the screens, instead.

[goldenglasses]

Vash's eyes narrow at the woman who enters. Clutching Azwel to him as if afraid she was about to try to take him away or force him into doing something once again. Confused at first as the lead retracts. "Why are you helping us?" Vash doesn't trust this. Doesn't trust what is happening, but yanks the strange thing off of Azwel's head and tosses it to the other side of the room. Reaching up he tries to see if he can take the collar keeping him from using most of his power off of his neck. Hoping it's not locked in some way. Wanting it off so he can be at full strength to fight off anyone else who comes. Not wanting to be limited in what powers he can use.

[lovesuwithknives]

The thing clatters into a corner where it lies unregarded. Really, it was damaged by the energy influx, anyway. Vash's collar, unfortunately, remains fast, still damping his powers.

Azwel stays slumped against Vash, semiconscious, just trying to regain some kind of coherency, to gather even a little strength. The way Vash had clutched him protectively rolls about in his mind, touching small warm emotions and making them bloom like tender little night flowers. No-one has ever protected him like that.

The researcher, meanwhile, looks at Vash. At least, one would assume she's doing so, as the complex, multilensed goggles covering the top half of her face obscure her eyes and forehead and what is visible is expressionless.

"Why wouldn't I? The procedure is completed." She returns her attention to the screens but, at least, now acknowledges that they're there. She points to a screenful of graphs. "This energy output, from a single session, has provided enough to not only power the reactor but the city, as well. And with the reactor now active, we have no more need for external power sources."

She then looks at Azwel, reaching up a hand to touch the goggles. A few lenses move, clicking into place away from or over her eyes. "He will need rest before he can return to the city." She moves to another terminal, fingers tapping at a touchscreen.

The restraints on the bed-table retract into its frame and the frame's sides extend outward. More cushioning pops out as though it had been compressed. The structure is now a little more than twice its original width, able to fit two people easily.

[goldenglasses]

Vash has no intention of resting, but he gently lays Azwel down onto the table. Careful to make sure that his limbs stay away from where those restraints use to be. "How do I take the collar off?" She had been helpful so far. Maybe she will continue to be so.

His eyes flick towards the screens. Fighting every once of his urges to find something to toss that will destroy that disgusting machine. He hides any intention of doing so for the moment. Waiting to see what she might do with the collar. Instead he smiles and looks fairly peaceful. Every bit of him portraying the clueless idiot that he usually acts in the city.

Of course, if they've read his file, they would know just how dangerous this clueless idiot really could be if given half the chance.]

[lovesuwithknives]

Azwel lies where he's put, but at least his breathing is calm and he watches them with half-open eyes.

The researcher, however, has, indeed, read Vash's file. And Azwel's. She pauses at the door. "The collar will be deactivated in three and a half hours. This will give us time to compile the data and clear the facility of any valuable components."

They really read those files.

She opens the door, steps through, and locks it behind her. There's a small silence.

"See?" Azwel whispers. "Told you they'd... let you go."