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Post by VALKYRIE on Jun 13, 2016 7:45:20 GMT
 There's not many places in the Factory District to take an unconscious kid, even when you can punch out Cthulhu. Thalia slings him over her shoulders in a fireman's carry, then stops to wonder if she should carry him bridal style, decides it's too creepy, and keeps moving.
The bad news is that they're not in a movie, and he's stirring to wake up within 30 seconds. She's barely out of the alleyway. Thalia almost drops him on the ground when he starts to come awake, but recovers herself and ends up placing him gently on the ground instead.
There really is a difference, she swears.
Someone in the building across the street looks at the two of them, standing behind a curtain at her window, and sneers. Then she disappears into the bowels of her house. Thalia isn't sure if she should hope the woman calls 911 on them or not.
jack
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Jun 14, 2016 10:47:01 GMT
Post by jack on Jun 14, 2016 10:47:01 GMT
Jack woke up, realized his vision was only just starting to spin back into focus, and promptly started wishing he had never gotten his ass into trouble in the first place. His hands shook as he tried to move in a coordinated fashion; for some reason, his brain just wasn't cooperating. He managed to awkwardly prop himself up with an arm as his other hand rubbed at his cheek where blood had started to cake.
"God," he rasped, blinking back hot tears that seared the corners of his eyes. "The fuck?"
Wildly, he stared up at Thalia. Jack wasn't even sure what he wanted more at this point, an explanation or a memory wipe.
VALKYRIE
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Post by VALKYRIE on Jun 15, 2016 2:03:53 GMT
She watches him rub at the caked blood with equally wild eyes, hands fluttering uselessly as if to pull his hands back, before she decides against it.
"Uh, maybe you shouldn't touch that?" she says, and chews on her bottom lip. "Are your parents at work? I can call them."
Kids. She has no idea what to do with them.
jack |
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Jun 16, 2016 11:58:29 GMT
Post by jack on Jun 16, 2016 11:58:29 GMT
"... don't," gasped Jack, then stopped speaking just as suddenly as he had. He was just another kid. She didn't need to go that far. He took a deep breath, but that didn't help him any.
He stopped staring at Thalia, and looked towards the ground with considerably less of a crazed hint in his eyes. Jack muttered, "I fucked up."
And then he lowered his head into his hands, cradling it gently as if it were about to shatter from the pain that struck his head like lightning.
"Please don't let dad know."
VALKYRIE
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Post by VALKYRIE on Jun 19, 2016 4:35:54 GMT
"You didn't fuck up," Thalia says with more confidence than she feels. "You didn't do anything wrong. You were--" She wants to say victim, but she knows that doesn't sit well with a lot of people, so she settles for weakly finishing with "--in the wrong place at the wrong time, that's all."
Thalia rocked back onto her heels, considering the situation. Conclusion: Problematic, but not beyond repair.
"I won't call your parents, but we gotta get you cleaned up and safe."
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Post by jack on Jun 19, 2016 9:05:37 GMT
Being in the wrong place at the wrong time, huh? That sounded incredibly familiar. Jack choked back a vague, dying noise that bubbled from his chest.
"Being alive is safe," he told her, and it was an honest statement. Relief had yet to wash into his system, but as long as he wasn't laying there on the ground, dying like a fish out of water, he felt fine. Almost like the luckiest person in Arkham, for escaping that container alive.
He squinted at her through the darkness, and tried to figure out where he had seen her before. Pink hair shouldn't be too difficult to place, but it was eluding him.
VALKYRIE
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Post by VALKYRIE on Jun 21, 2016 6:45:29 GMT
Being alive is safe, huh? She wishes she could believe that. She wishes that were true.
Being alive is the unsafest thing of all.
The kid seems to be coming back to himself, though. She wonders if he can handle a question or two. Time to test the waters.
"Do you know who either of those men were?"
She hadn't gotten more than a glimpse of the killer, but he seemed like he'd been a man.
jack |
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Jun 21, 2016 14:30:56 GMT
Post by jack on Jun 21, 2016 14:30:56 GMT
LlKNd1EM <60 jack shuts down
"No," said Jack. He had pulled his legs to his chest and started rocking back and forth where he was. "I don't think ..."
He looked up at the sky, as if it held answers. It obviously did not. Jack looked down again with a heavy exhale.
"He appeared out of --" Jack's breath caught in his throat, mid-sentence. "-- what seemed like nowhere. And then --"
Jack stopped speaking. His brain had started replaying not the images of the scene, but the voices. There was the man, gurgling to his death as he choked on his own blood. The slow drip of blood from the murderer's blade. The sickening twist of something. Crates being moved. His own breathing, fast and sharp and shuddering. A blank gaze, with eyes that stared deep and yet seemed to be searching for nothing; if he had to put a sound to it, it would have been static from a broken television.
He bit his lip, muttering, "The guy seemed ... like he needed a break," and he didn't know why he said what he said.
VALKYRIE
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Post by VALKYRIE on Jun 23, 2016 8:27:58 GMT
Out of all the things she'd been expecting a traumatized kid to spit up about the murder he just witnessed, the opinion that the murderer just needed a break was not even under consideration. Thalia freezes where she is for a moment, staring at him.
"What made you think that?" she asks, partially because she's curious and partially because that was one of the only sentences he managed to get out without trailing off completely or breaking down in. Maybe talking about it will help. Only one way to find out.
jack |
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Jun 23, 2016 13:14:31 GMT
Post by jack on Jun 23, 2016 13:14:31 GMT
"He had this look in his eyes," said Jack, pulling his hands up to his eyes and gesturing at them. With his fingers, he drew lines across his eyes, as if to illustrate the scene. "Like he needed a day off work."
He paused, trying to recall the exact moment. Bad move, really.
Jack's eyes snapped shut. Did normal humans have that much blood? Why was there so much of it? Even now, the guy probably was still bleeding out. Maybe the container would never wash clean again. God, this meant that the blood wasn't going to wash off him now. And then what? And then what?
He opened his eyes again, but they now shone with a sort of faintness that came from raw energy; he didn't know it, but his body was starting to soothe his mental wounds. Jack was shaken, and where he was (deeply) cut, he would heal, but it would scar. Over time, the scar would fade, but until then --
"It's like being tired of classes, but you attend anyway because you think it's the right thing to do, and you won't disappoint anyone that way." Jack sounded bitter. "So you just go with that dull look in your eyes and do whatever you have to do, stuff like homework."
Too late, Jack realized that he had just equated manslaughter to homework. He squeezed his eyes shut.
VALKYRIE
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Post by VALKYRIE on Jun 24, 2016 6:54:37 GMT
Thalia has...completely lost the plot on this one. But the kid is talking, and up until the moment he squeezes his eyes shut the second time, he seems like he's doing pretty okay, considering the circumstances, and that's got to count as a win.
"I understand," she lies through her teeth. Most of the murderers she's met seemed like they never did their homework.
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Jun 24, 2016 11:17:04 GMT
Post by jack on Jun 24, 2016 11:17:04 GMT
He didn't think that understanding was enough. Maybe it was because that wasn't what he wanted. Jack groaned, then stood up all of a sudden.
"You know what," he told her, "No more moping." He still shook in his shoes, but he didn't want to make more excuses for himself.
"I'm fine. I don't know."
Jack looked at her, and there was a distinct world-weariness in his eyes. He could summon all the courage he wanted, but it wasn't like he could pretend nothing had happened.
VALKYRIE
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Post by VALKYRIE on Jul 1, 2016 2:25:59 GMT
Thalia sighed and got to her feet as well, looking at the kid.
"I'm still going to need a report," she said. They could make it at the hospital, although he didn't have to know that.
/thread end |
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