Avalon (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
chaos_drifter) wrote2023-03-27 07:32 am
chaos_drifter) wrote2023-03-27 07:32 am
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Hakkai had been willing to brush aside the questions Avalon had been throwing at him on his return: after all, they had been hurtful, but it had seemed more like a clumsy curiosity than malice.
And none of it had been anything more than he'd said to himself a thousand times over. The wounds had been almost mortal; the scars were thick.
But Avalon has been stalking him for days now, their cool gaze on him raising the hairs on the back of his neck. They haven't approached yet.
He's out of patience.
He knocks sharply on Avalon's door, face a neutral mask.
And none of it had been anything more than he'd said to himself a thousand times over. The wounds had been almost mortal; the scars were thick.
But Avalon has been stalking him for days now, their cool gaze on him raising the hairs on the back of his neck. They haven't approached yet.
He's out of patience.
He knocks sharply on Avalon's door, face a neutral mask.
Avalon opens the door, not surprised to see Hakkai standing there. “Can I help you?”
"The question, I think, is whether I can help you," Hakkai murmurs, and inclines his head in a polite little bow. "I've noticed you have been taking quite an interest in me lately. Why?"
“You were the first person I remembered from before.” Avalon takes a few steps backward to allow Hakkai all the way into their cabin.
"Was I really?"
They'd hardly known each other, and yet... Avalon doesn't seem, in Hakkai's admittedly small acquaintance with them, to have many close friends here.
He lingers for a moment in place before accepting the silent offer, stepping into the cabin and glancing around.
"Then I think my question stands, Avalon. Can I help you? I..."
He turns back towards them, offering a polite little smile. "I do understand how difficult it can be to come back here, having lived a long time back home."
They'd hardly known each other, and yet... Avalon doesn't seem, in Hakkai's admittedly small acquaintance with them, to have many close friends here.
He lingers for a moment in place before accepting the silent offer, stepping into the cabin and glancing around.
"Then I think my question stands, Avalon. Can I help you? I..."
He turns back towards them, offering a polite little smile. "I do understand how difficult it can be to come back here, having lived a long time back home."
Avalon closes the door behind him. “I am curious about your sister. If I were in your situation, I would blame myself.” They step backwards again, their mind going to Adam and Will. Two victims who know is two too many.
"I'm not sure if you realize how personal a question that is, Avalon," Hakkai says softly, crossing his arms. "Have you ever cared for someone who you lost? A person or other being who was close to you?"
“I had no one to lose until recently. Now I have a brother, but he is not someone I necessarily care for.” They lean back against their desk and slide the top drawer open behind their back. Their fingers brush Erik’s journal, then a metal quill. They grasp it, barely pausing to think before they press themself against Hakkai and try to drag the sharp tip across his wrist.
The tip of the quill bites deep; Hakkai whips his arm away from the weapon, spinning to face Avalon even as he falls into a wary crouch. Blood spreads slowly through the fabric of his neatly buttoned sleeve, red on white.
"I don't want to hurt you," he says, his tone cool and even, with just a hint of bite. "Drop your weapon."
Their warden is -- Ruka? Yes. Not someone Hakkai would personally choose to handle a violent person. He's going to have to subdue Avalon himself first.
"I don't want to hurt you," he says, his tone cool and even, with just a hint of bite. "Drop your weapon."
Their warden is -- Ruka? Yes. Not someone Hakkai would personally choose to handle a violent person. He's going to have to subdue Avalon himself first.
Avalon tucks the quill against their bracelet, the tip poking between their fingers. Their thoughts go silent as they slip into the mindset they entered the first time they lost a bead. In this moment, there is nothing but action. They grasp Hakkai’s shoulders and push against him, trying to cut him again.
Edited 2023-07-16 05:56 (UTC)
The tip of the quill darts towards Hakkai's face, and he uses his crouch to shove himself upwards. Momentum translates into power as he grabs Avalon's arm and attempts a smooth, skilled throw, a move that should send Avalon pinwheeling down into the floor with enough force to keep them there.
Avalon’s back slams into the floor before they have time to process. The air leaves their lungs in a quick burst. They hear the quill hit the floor somewhere behind Hakkai.
They're down. Gonou reaches into his pocket, pulling out his communicator and tapping rapidly through the contact list. He's going to call Ruka, and then he's going to make sure Avalon is somewhere where they can't get their hands on anything sharp--
As soon as they catch their breath, Avalon pulls themself up into a crouch. They get to their feet quickly and come up behind Hakkai, jumping up to wrap their arm around his neck. They grasp their elbow to pull their arm tighter against his windpipe. Their body hangs down his back as dead weight.
Edited 2023-07-16 06:38 (UTC)
how do you feel about using next Wednesday or Thursday as a specific date for this thread?
reformedsinner
2023-07-16 01:46 pm (UTC)(link)
The communicator falls to the floor with a loud clatter.
Hakkai staggers: it hasn't been that long since his poisoning, and he's still weakened by it, still sometimes short of breath. He grabs Avalon's arms to pull the choking pressure away from his neck and bends sharply forward, trying to throw his attacker over his head and back to the ground. He won't be making the mistake of pausing to call for help this time. No: this time he's ready to follow the throw up with whatever additional force he needs to make sure Avalon won't be able to come after him again.
Hakkai staggers: it hasn't been that long since his poisoning, and he's still weakened by it, still sometimes short of breath. He grabs Avalon's arms to pull the choking pressure away from his neck and bends sharply forward, trying to throw his attacker over his head and back to the ground. He won't be making the mistake of pausing to call for help this time. No: this time he's ready to follow the throw up with whatever additional force he needs to make sure Avalon won't be able to come after him again.
Avalon tries to curl into a ball as their body arches over Hakkai’s head. Their feet catch on his shoulders and they land headfirst. Pain shoots through their neck as they black out, their body crumpling.
Avalon hits the ground with a wet crack of bone and crumples.
Hakkai's eyes flare wide with shock, and he's at the inmate's side in seconds, the glow of qi gathering brightly around his hands as he tries to stimulate healing. Their native energy is strange, slippery as Hakkai's encounters it, but their body is human enough, bones and blood, nerves and --
-- human fragility.
Hakkai's eyes flare wide with shock, and he's at the inmate's side in seconds, the glow of qi gathering brightly around his hands as he tries to stimulate healing. Their native energy is strange, slippery as Hakkai's encounters it, but their body is human enough, bones and blood, nerves and --
-- human fragility.
ruka coming in like that pizza gif where everything's on fire
moonsounds
2023-07-19 11:22 pm (UTC)(link)
It isn't the first time someone Ruka knows has died. It's not the first time she's seen death or dead bodies or anything like that and she's certain it won't be the last.
But it's...
She feels odd about it. Like maybe it just hasn't caught up to her yet, what it all means. Her camera obscura in hand along with her communicator, she arrives at Avalon's door, pausing just for a moment before she knocks.
"Hakkai? Are you still here?"
But it's...
She feels odd about it. Like maybe it just hasn't caught up to her yet, what it all means. Her camera obscura in hand along with her communicator, she arrives at Avalon's door, pausing just for a moment before she knocks.
"Hakkai? Are you still here?"
Re: ruka coming in like that pizza gif where everything's on fire
reformedsinner
2023-07-19 11:30 pm (UTC)(link)
"Yes. It's open," Hakkai says. His voice is still flat and cold; the door is unlocked. When Ruka opens it, she'll find Hakkai, bruising coming up on his throat and one sleeve half-dyed in red, kneeling beside Avalon's crumpled form, his posture perfect but his hands lying useless on his knees.
He looks up at her.
"His neck is broken," he says with cool precision. "I came in here to ask him why he had been following me, he asked me if I felt guilty for my sister's death, and when I said that was personal and asked him if he'd lost someone he cared for, he attacked me with that quill."
He nods to a fallen quill halfway across the room, its sharp metal tip darkened with clotting blood.
"I took it from him, but he tried to choke me when I reached for my communicator, and I threw him off.
"He landed badly."
And Hakkai has no idea if he's about to be demoted or not.
He looks up at her.
"His neck is broken," he says with cool precision. "I came in here to ask him why he had been following me, he asked me if I felt guilty for my sister's death, and when I said that was personal and asked him if he'd lost someone he cared for, he attacked me with that quill."
He nods to a fallen quill halfway across the room, its sharp metal tip darkened with clotting blood.
"I took it from him, but he tried to choke me when I reached for my communicator, and I threw him off.
"He landed badly."
And Hakkai has no idea if he's about to be demoted or not.
Ruka lets the door close behind her, watching and listening. It sounds like Hakkai is confessing to her, and she's not sure what to do to absolve him. It doesn't like guilt, exactly, but...
"Then, it was an accident." She says it simply enough, blinking slowly as she takes a few steps near. She stares down at Avalon's body, feeling-- dizzy. The room spins and she tilts her head up to look at the ceiling, taking a breath. Avalon's body doesn't look too different from how her friends' bodies were found. It's not a pleasant comparison.
There's nothing to be done for Avalon right now, but Ruka wanders anyhow, too restless to sit still. She turns to the bed to grab the comforter off of it, wanting to cover up the body--wheter out of respect or simply because she doesn't want to see it anymore is anyone's guess.
"An accident," she mutters again, "and self-defense. Mistakes happen." Even if this is a very, very huge mistake. It doesn't feel like the right word for it either, but she doesn't really know what else to say about it. It feels like moving on auto-pilot.
"You're bleeding."
"Then, it was an accident." She says it simply enough, blinking slowly as she takes a few steps near. She stares down at Avalon's body, feeling-- dizzy. The room spins and she tilts her head up to look at the ceiling, taking a breath. Avalon's body doesn't look too different from how her friends' bodies were found. It's not a pleasant comparison.
There's nothing to be done for Avalon right now, but Ruka wanders anyhow, too restless to sit still. She turns to the bed to grab the comforter off of it, wanting to cover up the body--wheter out of respect or simply because she doesn't want to see it anymore is anyone's guess.
"An accident," she mutters again, "and self-defense. Mistakes happen." Even if this is a very, very huge mistake. It doesn't feel like the right word for it either, but she doesn't really know what else to say about it. It feels like moving on auto-pilot.
"You're bleeding."
"Yes," Hakkai agrees, and glances down at his sleeve, a tiny frown creasing his forehead. He settles back, unbuttoning the cuff to push it back. Well -- maybe the gouge that they had left on his wrist was a little deeper than he had thought. He hesitates for a moment, then checks his pockets, finding a handkerchief to press over the freely bleeding wound.
After a moment, he rises to his feet, stepping back from Avalon's body so that Ruka can cover them with the comforter. It's only the second time he's been responsible for a death on the Barge, and the first -- long ago, when he'd barely arrived -- had been one he was unquestionably responsible for. He's not quite sure what the expectations might be.
"...I'm sorry," he adds, blinking, as realization strikes. "You probably aren't, ah. Used to dealing with--"
The aftermath of violent death seems like a callous thing to say, so he just inclines his head towards Avalon's crumpled form.
After a moment, he rises to his feet, stepping back from Avalon's body so that Ruka can cover them with the comforter. It's only the second time he's been responsible for a death on the Barge, and the first -- long ago, when he'd barely arrived -- had been one he was unquestionably responsible for. He's not quite sure what the expectations might be.
"...I'm sorry," he adds, blinking, as realization strikes. "You probably aren't, ah. Used to dealing with--"
The aftermath of violent death seems like a callous thing to say, so he just inclines his head towards Avalon's crumpled form.
As she finishes covering Avalon, Ruka wanders to the bathroom with purpose, poking around until she can find a small towel. She'll apologize to Avalon later for rifling through his things, but for now she returns to hand it wordlessly over to Hakkai.
She looks at the covered lump and then glances away, rubbing her arm to self-soothe. "At the sanatorium people died all the time. Most of the time they took their own lives instead of letting the disease grow more. Or they'd fall from the top of the buildings trying to get up to the moon."
She kneels down to fuss over the blanket, not sure what happens to the body after it dies here.
"There was a little girl, a patient like us... She was obsessed with collecting specific things, like a lot of other patients. For her, she collected 'beautiful things' but for her, 'beautiful things' were injured and broken people. She considered them dolls and liked to hurt others. The doctors let her do what she wanted, so she hurt people often. She killed Madoka's canary one. She cut its head off with scissors. She liked attacking with those scissors most of all.
Apparently she didn't like me much though, so she left me alone. She said I was 'too broken to break any further' so it was no fun for her to try."
She's babbling, she's aware. She thinks she must have dealt with it before, to be like this now. Or maybe she's just in shock. What is one supposed to do in a situation like this? She'd never been involved in the clean-up or anything like that.
She rests her forearms on her knees, staring at the blanket. "What am I supposed to do now? Do I... reach out to the Admiral?"
She looks at the covered lump and then glances away, rubbing her arm to self-soothe. "At the sanatorium people died all the time. Most of the time they took their own lives instead of letting the disease grow more. Or they'd fall from the top of the buildings trying to get up to the moon."
She kneels down to fuss over the blanket, not sure what happens to the body after it dies here.
"There was a little girl, a patient like us... She was obsessed with collecting specific things, like a lot of other patients. For her, she collected 'beautiful things' but for her, 'beautiful things' were injured and broken people. She considered them dolls and liked to hurt others. The doctors let her do what she wanted, so she hurt people often. She killed Madoka's canary one. She cut its head off with scissors. She liked attacking with those scissors most of all.
Apparently she didn't like me much though, so she left me alone. She said I was 'too broken to break any further' so it was no fun for her to try."
She's babbling, she's aware. She thinks she must have dealt with it before, to be like this now. Or maybe she's just in shock. What is one supposed to do in a situation like this? She'd never been involved in the clean-up or anything like that.
She rests her forearms on her knees, staring at the blanket. "What am I supposed to do now? Do I... reach out to the Admiral?"
Edited 2023-07-20 00:33 (UTC)
"Yes." She's panicking, that's clear enough. Hakkai steadies himself against the humming panic in his own ribcage, breathes through it, and smiles at Ruka, small and sympathetic.
"You should reach out to the Admiral and ask for your inmate to be revived. There's no need to take him to the infirmary, although--"
He glances around, frowning a little at the sight of his own blood spattered on the floor, the quill cast aside.
"--he'll come back to life in his own body, with all of his injuries healed. I'll help clean up in here. It might take a few minutes for him to come back after you make the request, but it's usually not very long.
"After he comes back, he'll feel very ill for about a week, with pain where the fatal injury was."
He takes a deep breath, steadying himself, and glances down to check on the progress of his wound. The blood seems to be slowing, maybe stopped, although he resists the temptation to let up on the pressure to see.
"I can help move him to his bed before you ask. It might be more comfortable for him."
"You should reach out to the Admiral and ask for your inmate to be revived. There's no need to take him to the infirmary, although--"
He glances around, frowning a little at the sight of his own blood spattered on the floor, the quill cast aside.
"--he'll come back to life in his own body, with all of his injuries healed. I'll help clean up in here. It might take a few minutes for him to come back after you make the request, but it's usually not very long.
"After he comes back, he'll feel very ill for about a week, with pain where the fatal injury was."
He takes a deep breath, steadying himself, and glances down to check on the progress of his wound. The blood seems to be slowing, maybe stopped, although he resists the temptation to let up on the pressure to see.
"I can help move him to his bed before you ask. It might be more comfortable for him."
Ruka stands, turning toward him. “You should take care of your wound first. Do you know any, um.” She makes a vague gesture toward his arm. “Healing magic?” It’s quicker than typical bandages and she’s sure there’s people with healing magic around the ship, somewhere.
“I’ll help clean up. He’s my inmate, so this is my responsibility too.” It isn’t, not really, but it’d make her feel better. “I’m sorry he attacked you. I’ll… do something about this.” She has no idea what, but something, surely.
“I’ll help clean up. He’s my inmate, so this is my responsibility too.” It isn’t, not really, but it’d make her feel better. “I’m sorry he attacked you. I’ll… do something about this.” She has no idea what, but something, surely.
"I do, but really, it isn't that deep," Hakkai assures her. "I heal quickly. As for what you do...."
He trails off, his mouth setting into a thin line.
"I think you may want to discover why, exactly, he attacked me. He asked me about my sister's death during the last flood, and I told him." Because: flood. He wishes he hadn't, now, but there's no undoing it. "He's asked me about it a few times since. It seemed as if he was trying to... push me to express guilt, and that he then attacked me--"
There's something about Kanan's death that clearly triggered Avalon's interest in him. He shakes his head slowly.
"I don't understand his motivation, and, not understanding his motivation, I don't know how likely he is to try again."
He trails off, his mouth setting into a thin line.
"I think you may want to discover why, exactly, he attacked me. He asked me about my sister's death during the last flood, and I told him." Because: flood. He wishes he hadn't, now, but there's no undoing it. "He's asked me about it a few times since. It seemed as if he was trying to... push me to express guilt, and that he then attacked me--"
There's something about Kanan's death that clearly triggered Avalon's interest in him. He shakes his head slowly.
"I don't understand his motivation, and, not understanding his motivation, I don't know how likely he is to try again."
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