075 x 570 // video/action // A Doll's House

[dignity_misery]

[ ooc; Continuing the saga of 'Carla is a shameless monster': see here for details. ]

[ It isn't the norm to see Carla amongst a group when she makes these videos. She socializes, certainly, but she preferred those outings anonymous. Right now, however, she seems to be sitting in a well-outfitted home surrounded by pretty things. Including one she happens to be sitting on, but the angle of the camera excludes this, instead showing fawning things leaning in towards her, others that offer her food on silver trays and smile at everything she says. ]

It's a quiet morning...

[ Apparently she sees this glom of sycophants as a norm right now. ]

Who's coming for lunch?



[ ooc; all dolls and visitors can jump straight to action. ]

Comments

video;

[othersdie]

Carla. What are you doing?

[Not cursed and he hasn't been out and about enough to notice that there's one on.]

video;

[dignity_misery]

I didn't stutter.

video;

[othersdie]

That doesn't answer anything. What are these people doing?

video;

[dignity_misery]

They're visiting.

[ Her smile is never this harmless, the lying monster. ]

video;

[othersdie]

[A smiling Carla is never a good thing.]

And serving you?

[And he can't even see the living furniture.]

action yo

[brobeforehos]

[She wakes in the morning, and doesn't feel like staying at the cabin. Stiles has Derek to look out for him, and the cabin is thankfully quiet when she slips out, quietly. From there it's another trek into the forest, this time in the other direction. She doesn't think of letting anyone know - why would she? That's not important - where she is, or where she's going.

By the time she reaches the house Carla keeps, it's close to breakfast time. She's hungry, yes, but not hungry enough that all she wants is some toast; there are other forms of nourishment. Like seeing the owner of the house. Impatient, she knocks, and waits to be let inside.]

action;

[dignity_misery]

[ Carla is never in a rush, and she is certainly not in a rush to extract herself from where she is comfortably nestled amongst her dolls. She does, however, have a sneaking suspicion of who might be knocking. All the more reason to move a bit more slowly, really. She knew all about Mae's impatience and it was a worthy exercise to test it now and again. Not for too long. It is cold out there and the dogs are yipping intermittently at the front door.

Their handler has come to pull them aside, instructing them to sit while Carla answers the door. ]

It's early.

[ An amused observation, and not a complaint. She steps to the side to allow the girl in, and then the door is locked once more behind them. ]

action;

[brobeforehos]

You're sure it's not late? [She steps inside while still smiling, that easy smile that she can pull off so well while staring danger in the face. But once she sees there's company, there's a moment - a pang of pain - and she turns around with a frown.]

You have company. I didn't know.

action;

[dignity_misery]

Don't pay attention to them.

[ It's an easy kind of cruelty from Carla, it highlights the divide between her desire for the affection of all these creatures her utter inability to deserve it.

She offers out her hand to Mae, to let this one pretty doll take her arm while all the others are kept at arm's length. For now. ]

action;

[brobeforehos]

But they're here. [There's a dark frown that crosses her face, and she stands in the same spot as if glued to it.] Why?

[Chin out, arms crosses across her chest, defiant.] Aren't you a little too greedy?

action; OTA

[anatural]

[Who knows how Korra got into Carla's house. As far as she remembers, she's always lived here -- or at least long enough to know to keep out of Mae's way. Little Miss Pink could get so jealous.

When not at Carla's beck & call, she can be found outside, running through her forms.]

action;

[dignity_misery]

[ In truth, Carla doesn't mind if this one is a little bit feisty. She hadn't picked her as maid or a chair, she'd picked this one because she was fit. It was fascinating to watch a doll not quite take to the erasures, Carla had a certain respect for that kind of will. Still, motives for selecting Korra involved her body more than her mind and Carla would never claim otherwise.

Carla watches her from the kitchen window, waiting for a kettle to boil. ]

What did you say your style was?

[ The voice comes out the window she opens. Her tone is idle, preoccupied. ]

action;

[anatural]

[Korra stops and smiles brightly at Carla. Maybe she didn't take completely to the erasure, but she's still adoring. Without thinking about it, she drifts over to the window to be closer to her.]

Those were my firebending forms. Do you want to see more?

action;

[dignity_misery]

[ Carla isn't the worst master a doll could ask for. She was generally pleasant with her toys, there was really no thrill to breaking a shell. ]

Yes. [ Not the worst, but assuredly lewd.] And be slow about it.

[anatural]

[Korra smirks. She certainly has no problem with Carla being lewd.]

Fire doesn't exactly burn slow. [Instead, she slides into her waterbending forms. The movements are very slow and sensual, showing off every curve.]

action; OTA

[sleepingstar]

[Pai looks at her dress in the mirror, examining it critically. She's trying to find the pattern in the things that please Carla, figure out the commonalities so she can keep doing it without fail.]

action;

[dignity_misery]

[ Carla pushes in to the room without knocking. She had a set of instructions on her lips, but she pauses to look at the dress as well. Considering some of the tasks the girl performed, it was better to give her a more harmless air. The dress does the trick, a cut like a schoolgirl's uniform and a hyper-feminine print. ]

That's cute.

[ For whatever that's worth as a compliment.....]

[sleepingstar]

Thank you. [She flutters over, a perfect picture of innocence, pulled towards Carla like a planet to a star. She waits eagerly for instruction.]

[dignity_misery]

[ She does assuredly love terrible things, and the girl is a lovely little weapon. Having one so devoted to her fills her heart with ~*joy*~. ]

I want you patrolling the grounds. There were some unnecessary questions being asked.

[sleepingstar]

[Another person may have asked "What questions?" but Pai doesn't need to know, nor does she care to. Only one thing matters.]

What should I do if I find someone?

[Incapacitate or kill?]

[mortemscintilla]

[ It's equal parts infiltration and retrieval. ]

[ It's already taken him less than a minute to disable any alarm systems in the mansion. The power is next. It's ridiculous; people buy million-dollar homes but never have the phone company move the D-Mark box inside their cribs. If there's no back-up power, it takes a generic toolkit and a pair of dime-store wire cutters to slice first any alarm cord, then to fry the breaker box itself. After that, it's a simple matter of slipping in. He has information on the floor plans for the house, its internal and external layouts. All meticulously logged during two recon circuits -- one for terrain, the second for threats. ]

[ If there are 'dolls' patrolling, he's prepared to take them out. ]

[ Fifteen minutes in, there's quiet zzts and five bodies in the garden. (Zapped out cold.) He slips into the house without a sound. His top priority is to find Pai. But it'll be easier going once he's taken out Carla -- the Queen of the hive. Once that's done, it's a swift descent into disorder. It won't matter which route he takes. He'll arrive at the same destination -- knocking out Pai and hauling her home. Maybe Korra too, if he finds her. ]

[ Outside the window, crickets chirp. Through Hei's nightvision goggles, the rooms glow an incandescent green. ]

[dignity_misery]

[ There are times when even Carla gets tired of her dolls. There are rooms they are not permitted to enter and she sits in one of the large bedrooms now, only the dogs for company, the pair of them sprawled lazily in front of a low-glowing fireplace. Carla herself sits above the covertop, sketching in precise sharp motions. ]

[mortemscintilla]

[ The visors turn the bedroom into a wash of brilliant green. Carla and the dogs are shifting yellow-pink blobs on a black outline. ]

[ Snapping the infrared off, Hei hangs back, flattened against the wall. The door is ajar so the view is a long thin plumb-line of dog-fur, glowing red walls, and the glossy back of Carla's dark head. Quickly, he shapes a list of options in his mind. This isn't a Syndicate op. There's no reason to utilize his preferred methods -- stealth and blitz. Instead, he hangs back, logging the interior. The dogs -- sprawled like furry pelts before the shifting line of orange embers -- aren't a threat. But they could recognize his (Li's) scent. He can't risk them bristling into alertness and giving his position away. ]

[ Better to kill three birds (metaphorically) with one stone. ]

[ From his coat, he withdraws a small cannister of knockout spray. Twists the top, and sends it skittering into the bedroom. It has a steam pattern effective upto 8 feet; an incapacitating window of two hours. Enough time to fetch what he came for. ]

[dignity_misery]

[ All the occupants of the room startle as the can bounces its way inside, coating the room in a chemical scent, clogging the air with its smoke. The dogs don't get very far, close to the floor where the smoke emanates and breathing it in rapidly. They hoof a weak woof that does not carry.

Carla makes it to her feet, but no further than a large chair by the window, slumping down into it before managing to open the windows. Her head lolls back awkwardly to one side, limp arms and legs making her look like one of her very own dolls, splayed out and broken. ]

[mortemscintilla]

[ At the first plume of smoke, Hei watches the room. At first it is animated as if by an electric charge in the atmosphere. In the next beat, it dissipates, a sick-room, shrouded and still. The dogs slump louchely, as if dozing by the warmth of the fire; in her chair, Carla's eyes slip shut like a mannequin's, all flaccid rag-doll legs and dangling, crudely stitched arms. It's almost like a surreal painting. ]

[ But Hei isn't interested in the scenery. Snapping on a gas-mask, he slips quietly into the room. Checks Carla's pulse, if not the dogs' -- then, satisfied, exits, clicking the door shut behind him. ]

[ Time to find Pai. ]