Being a hostage is so hard by DivJustice

Alternative version fav.me/d99t96h

“Eheheheh, please stop tickling mehehehe! Not the fehehehetet, not the fehehehet!”
Nia Teppelin was exhausted, not because of the feathery sensations colonizing the soles of her charming, soft and tender feet, which caused her to squirm and giggle. In fact she was fond of them and almost felt delightful for the young member of the Great Gurren Brigade. The problem was different: she had to pretend she was enduring the most horrible of ordeals, unless she wanted her captors resorting to more gruesome methods of interrogation. Nor that having her feet tickled appealed to her as a torturous situation; she was having a great time after all.
“But it’s a bit hard to pretend” Thought Nia disappointed, she was working hard fooling those beastmen into thinking they were tormenting her. Which was something she could not fully grasp: how come tickling was considered a method of torture anyway? She emitted an unremitting surge of adorable giggles just because of those feathers caressing her soles. It felt so relaxing to laugh because of something that innocent and simple. And still she had to do her best just to make that duo believe they were putting her in an unbearable misery. She was doing a fine job apparently, she trashed against her bonds, pulled at the strong hands holding her nimble and delicate arms, laughing and begging at the same time she did so. Her ‘tormentors’ teased and threatened her with more of that suffering unless she gave them the information they wanted. Nia almost felt bad for them. They were sure about their success and were diligently brushing her feet, knowing that she would break soon. Little they know the princess-like girl found this attention agreeable.
“But I need to buy some time” Thought Nia, decided to perform the best act she could deliver, that of the helpless damsel in distress “Besides, I rather haven then tickling me. I need all of my fingers after all if I want to help Simon and the others” At the thought of the boy, something warm in her chest gave her hope. She only needed to wait a little more and he would come rescue her, she was sure of that.

Thinking about Simon made Nia remember the events that led her to her current position: with her little ankles tied together and being forced to sit on the dusty ground of the desert in order to go through and excruciating session of tickling in her soft feet. It had been a day like any other at the Great Gurren Brigade. Nia awokefrom her comfortable bed yawning sweetly as she usually did. Her clear eyes looked around the dark room. The sight made her smile: Yoko and the rest of the girls in the brigade were still deep in slumber; some of them were producing funny noises as they slept. The girl could not help but to giggle, that image made her feel at home.
Seeing that it was early in the day and that it would take a while for the rest to wake up, Nia got dressed and decided that she would check on Simon. For some reason being next to him made her feel happiness, she was unsure of the reason though. Additionally, she surprised herself by noticing the effort she was putting into looking as sweet and charming as possible.
“Time to pay him a visit” Thought Nia looking forward to talk to the boy.

“There you are Simon, I’ve been looking for you everywhere!” Nia’s voice sound like a bell over the quietude of the Great Gurren’s dock.
“Oh, Nia you awake?” Asked Simon returning the radiant smile that appeared in the girl’s face as soon as their eyes met “It’s a bit early. Shouldn’t you be sleeping?” Asked the blue-haired boy full of concern.
“I couldn’t sleep, I wanted to see you” Replied Nia, she tilted her head when he saw Simon’s face turning red and his eyes looking away. He sure did weird things, because of that she liked his company that much.
“Anyway, I was about to go in the Lagann for a reconnaissance round” He said patting the small Gunmen next to him.
“I see” Contorted Nia in return “Can I come with you?”.

The small robot walked steadily but slowly. The cockpit was a bit crowded with the two youngsters sitting on it. Nia’s rested her body comfortably over Simon’s lap, whose face had taken a bright shade of red from the moment he felt the weight of the girl’s minute body. As the two of them enjoyed an eventless stroll, they talked about all kind of matters. Nia asked about Simon’s life and took a great interest in the way the boy’s eyes sparkled with pride when he was asked about his ‘big brother’ Kamina. He was so lost in narrating one of the anecdotes about that man Simon had looked up to so much, that Nia smiled and was intoxicated with his enthusiasm.
“And then” Said Simon, raising his arms “Kamina said ‘Just who the hell do you think I am!?’ and ran up to the Gunmen without nothing but his katana. I was so scared, but not him. He could take anything!” Added the boy with love in his voice.
“But you are also very brave, I think he would be happy to see the man you are turning into” Declared Nia, taking Simon out of guard.
“I’ll never be like him. No one is braver than he was. He even stood up one time that Yoko was angry without even twitching an eyebrow!” Said Simon back. Nia could not avoid gasping at this.
“But Miss Yoko sure is scary when she’s angry!” She covered her mouth with both hands “What did he do then?” The girl was sincerely caught in the story.
“He simply waved his hands like nothing was going on and said ‘Yoko, you need to relax, laugh a bit more!’ And tickled her tummy; I have never seen her laughing that much” Explained Simon nodding with approval. The girl, in return, winked her eyes in confusion.
“He tickled her and Yoko laughed? Why? Did he tell her a joke?” She tilted her head profusely, that mystery was more than she could handle. Simon grinned evilly.
“Don’t you know about tickling?” He asked, Nia simply waved her head negatively.
“You’ll just find out right now!” With this statement, he dug his fingers around the girl’s sides, who jumped on her seat and began laughing immediately.

A few minutes later Simon’s fingers stopped squeezing the girl’s sensitive side and allowed Nia for a breath.
“Ehehehe...why did you stop?” Asked the girl confused.
“Because you were very ticklish” Replied Simon unsure of what his interlocutor meant by that.
“I don’t understand this too much, all I know is that when you touched me I couldn’t do anything except for laughing, it was very fun!” Said the long-haired girl, smiling pleased.
“As I said it’s because you are very ticklish. But I don’t want you to be mad at me. That’s why I stopped” The only reply he got was a confused stare “I mean, tickling can be used as torture”
“Really!?” Nia was taken aback completely “Who wouldn’t like laughing?”
“Hmm” Simon was pensive “Maybe you think you like it because it was only for a while. But I don’t think you’ll enjoy that much if I tied you and tickled you for hours on your feet”
“Why the feet?” Asked Nia, whose confusion was growing.
“Because that’s where many people are most ticklish” Said Simon back.
“Really? Would I laugh even more if you touched mines?” The girl dangled her legs over the boy’s lap and dedicated an inquisitive look to those extremities of hers. She then opened her eyes at a sudden realisation. “Oh, and why would you tie me up?”
“So you couldn’t move you feet away?” Replied Simon who was unsure about the aim of that conversation.
“Why would I do that?” Inquired Nia, staring at Simon right in the eyes.
“Because tickling is not for many, especially after a long time. Ask Yoko, for instance; she would punch if I tried to tickle her” Was Simon’s reply.
“I don’t understand any of it” Finally interjected the girl “Simon!” The boy jumped when he saw Nia’s eyes next to his “I want to understand this mystery. Would you tickle my feet when we return with the rest at the Great Gurren?”
“Wha..wha...what are you saying?” Simon’s face had turned even redder than the Lagann’s plating he was piloting.
“Yeah, you tickle me and we see if you really need to tie me up”She noticed the boy’s hesitation “Unless you don’t want to, of course”
“I do want but...” If Simon wanted to say something else Nia did not let him, she embraced his hand dwith hers.
“Then it’s settled! You will tickle me for hours; it’s going to be so much fun!” Nia’s smile was so radiant that Simon’s throat went fry.

The stroll continued with a completely different atmosphere: on the one hand, Nia sat over Simon’s lap smiling happily; she was looking forward to enjoy more of those feelings that would make her laugh so much. On the other hand, Simon tried to focus on the Lagann’s control, but his eyes darted at the girl’s body over him and his mind began to be filled with images of her laughing as he touched her skin. Eventually, his mind became separate with his body, until the later ordered a recede.
The robot stopped on its tracks and Simon gently pushed Nia aside while jumping from the Gunmen.
“I’ll be right back. I need to...” He paused, he felt wrong to just state he was taking a leak in front of a delicate girl such as Nia “...Nature’s calling...” He added shily.
“Oh. I’ll wait here; take all the time you need” Asserted the girl waving her hand.

Nia decided to stretch her legs and dismounted from Laggan’s sturdy frame. She patted the robot.
“Thanks for taking me for a walk with Simon” She said, thinking that the trusty Gunman would enjoy the compliment. The girl leaned her body over the metallic frame of the automaton.
Then, out of sudden, a strong hand wrapped around her mouth making impossible for her to scream.
“I got her, c´mon Grooto, take the Gunmen!” Said a raspy voice. Nia struggled to see the identity of her captor, she only saw a mass of hair which hinted that it was a beastman, one of the Great Gurren Brigade’s enemies.
“I’m on it, but it won’t move! Ask the girl, she must know how to start this thing, Kuzult!” Replied an acute voice.
“Okay human, I’m going to let your mouth free, you are not going to scream for help or anything like that, do you?” Nia nodded “Smart girl” The hand was taken away “How do we...”
“SIMON! HELP ME, THE BEASTMEN ARE... Mmmmphhh!!!” Nia tried to yell but her lips were sealed again.
“Damn it, what a liar! C’mon Kuzult we need to get out of here!” Ordered the beastman jumping from Lagann’s cockpit “Take the girl with you, she will be our hostage!”.
With no effort, Nia was pulled and saw with impotence Lagann’s figure shrinking in the distance.

“Very well missy. We will make your friends surrender to the Spiral King if they want you alive” Said the beastman named Grooto, a sort of human shaped bird which pointed its feathery finger at her “But in the meantime you will tell us the secrets of the Great Gurren Brigade!” He added with decision.
“I’ll never do that!” Replied Nia not in the least concerned.
“Then we will torture you!” Said the bird sneering “Kuzult, break one of her fingers. Let’s see how many of those we need to crunbke before you speak”
Nia tried to fight against the strong arm of the hairy beastman holding her left wrist. In seconds they pulled at her pinky and waited.
“Last chance! Are you ready to talk?” Inquired the bird menacingly.
“We are not playing here, it would be too easy to break this little finger you got” Added the creature behind her “Besides, you have ten fingers, and I’ve only got eight, you sure are greedy!”.
The girl worked hard to find a solution to this situation. She was more than ready to sacrifice herself for the sake of her friends, however that did not mean she would not try to avoid that pain if possible. Fortunately she reminded her conversation with Simon and a plan formed in her head.
Out of sudden, when she felt the grip at her finger increasing, she let out a satisfied sigh.
“Why did you do that?” Asked a suspecting beastman.
“Nothing” Replied Nia “It’s just that I’m glad you are going to do this to me, instead of...” She opened her eyes theatrically “Oops, I almost said it!”.
The beastmen exchanged confused looks.
“What are you talking about?” Kuzult did not like not being in charge of the situation.
“I can’t say, please go on with the finger breaking. After all I would prefer having all of my bones shattered rather than you tickling my feet” She gasped even more theatrically this time “Oh no... Please forget I said that!”
The duo chuckled.
“Silly human, after telling us that do you really believe we wouldn’t use this information against you?” Nia worked hard not to let her relief be seen, they had bought her charade “We are going to tickle you like no one ever has! You will become crazy once we are done with you” Announced the birdman evilly.
“Yeah, you will beg us for mercy in no time!” Added the hairy beast holding Nia in place.
“But I’m begging already!” Pleaded Nia in a convincing manner “Anything but my feet, don’t tickle them, they are very ticklish!”.

That happened a while ago, the exact time Nia could not remember. To her it felt like a flash. She was amazed at the different approaches they used on her feet. Sometimes her captors exchanged places, one tickling her and the other holding her arms in place. It seemed that they only got enough rope to hold her ankles together, which explained the necessity of one of them always making sure she could not escape. Nor that she would, in fact she was curious about what else they would do with her feet, but she had to maintain a believable image of a poor girl in ticklish hell.
“Please Simon” She thought “Come help me soon. I want you to tickle me and not these two!”.


Prize for who won this contest some time ago Contest-What was Kuuko playing? WINNERS! ,apparently he was juggling with a few ideas, but then he told me that when he saw this: Cheer up, Yoko! .He thought: "There are almost no Nia pictures, someone has to fix that shortage". And I couldn't help but to agree with him. Don't get me wrong, I like Yoko, she´s an amazing character. But I like Nia much more in every sense. Besides, the idea he gave me was simply adourable: to have Nia pretending not to like being tickle so that her kidnappers woulnd't do anything nastier to her, that's so like her!

Nia Teppelin and all of the characters mentioned are copyrighted by Gainax.

Fun facts:
-Other tentative names were "Does this count as torture?" and "The princess of acting".
-I love how cute this picture turned out, even if I say to myself.
-It was a bit of a challenge to draw Nia in her young version. I'm a bit too used of drawing older girls with more voluptuous bodies.
-Drawing these beastmen and comming up with their names was interesting.