[ oh... that whiplash. he gets it just a bit and offers a kinder smile. ]
It's normal to crave the familiar over newer and shinier things... I'm not surprised. It's a rather lovely stage, though, we should definitely see it used, at the very least by this week.
[ he's about to say more, but there is... a bubble that's sort of swallowing them up now. ]
What in the—
[ instinct says to press against it, so he does, but it doesn't. seem to give. ]
[ he frowns, kazunari had seemed so eager at first. there's an odd whiplash here, at least that's what he thinks. ]
And we're not stuck, we're just... going to have to treat this the way we treat everything else.
[ he sighs a bit and will... sit down as well as the bubble iridescently gleams around them. he looks down at his hand and conjures up a bit of color, eyeing it briefly before pressing it to the surface. ]
[ of course... color solves things in its own unique ways.
the body of delilah briarwood thunks down the stairs with a sickening noise. thunk thunk thunk thunk. cassandra, your sister, holds her by her hair and doesn't care as the body twists and rolls and delilah lets out a pained noise each and every step of the way. the list feels hot in your hand, the name LADY DELILAH BRIARWOOD emblazoned on it and glowing red hot.
this is what you came for, this is what—
"i only answer to the whispered one!" delilah hisses, spitting blood into cassandra's face. you turn your gun towards her on the ground immediately, stepping forward. the mask in your hand feels like a comforting second skin, and in the back of your mind, a voice stokes the coals of your anger. "but he has abandoned me..."
"then i will gladly send you to him," you declare, lifting your gun and the barrel marked for delilah points to her.
"go ahead. you've taken my husband and any hope of getting him back. what more could i lose?" she does not move save to meet you eye to eye, defiantly as she clutches at her gaping wounds. "end me."
as you pull the mask over your face, everything begins to blur. your anger, your pain, your vengeance. the dark thing inside of you is curling its claws around your throat, lifting fingers up to tug the corners of your mouth into a rictus smile with teeth. (you have never smiled like this in your life, this is orthax, this is the beast that chews on the aching parts of you, that encourages unendingly.)
so you let him take hold. the words leave you:
"no. your pain will linger." as you approach. "i'll shatter your ankles for my sister, vesper. your hands belong to julius. each de rolo will have their pound of flesh..." you grab her by her hair and press the barrel of the list to her mouth, bruising her cursed lips. "—until i flay the skin from what's left of you."
scalan's voice sounds like it is coming to you from under water, he approaches with his hands outward, telling you that something something maybe you're overdoing it something—
so you cast him to the side, a wave of sharp, dark shadows punching him in the gut and sending him careening.
"your suffering will be merely a taste of the pain you inflicted upon my family!" you laugh, lifting yourself up so you stand before delilah, who is sprawled upon the ground, your pepperbox lifted. the smoke explodes from your body, cradles you in the soothing darkness of the moment you've been waiting for. this moment.
vex'ahlia's voice rings out—"something has possession of you..."
and a sound comes from your throat. it is no longer your own. from within, orthax moves your teeth, your tongue, your vocal chords.
"and we are better for it."
"we? what? percy!"
you stare at her from behind the glass of your mask—your breath heaves softly through the respirator. your lungs. your lungs are your own, great heaving bellows of black smoke. you want to say her name, you want to tell her i don't i can't this isn't but orthax is drowning you, pushing you downward further.
"step. aside."
"you're going to shoot me too?" she asks.
orthax steals your voice. "if we must."
no. you struggle, you writhe, everything inside of you wants to scream, to put the gun down, but orthax binds your limbs. you stand in point-blank firing stance of the woman who helped clothe you, feed you, helped pay for your new gun.
but when she places a hand on your gun, when she whispers that it's all right, that you can put the gun down, you know in this moment, as the tears pour down your cheeks, that you are just barely hanging on to your own consciousness. you sob through the pain, the way orthax rakes over your soul, digs deep like slow, torturous punishment.
"i can't," you say, your voice a whimper. "it... won't let me..."
your finger twitches on the trigger.
you're a second away from blowing a hole in the face of your friend—
so you turn the gun on yourself, you place the hot barrel of the list under your jaw and you let you another raw, naked sob.
"percy, no!"
"i... i don't know what else to do," you whisper, and as you try to pull the trigger
orthax pulls back on the trigger. no. blowing your own brains out is not the way this story goes.
it will not let you die, not without fulfilling the bargain. everyone on your list. must. die.
percy stares outwards at the bubble, his eyes wide as the memory slowly pours off of him, slick like oil, slick like darkness. ]
Fffffuck.
Edited (i suck pls bear all my edits) 2022-03-08 17:28 (UTC)
[ for a long while percy is still, his brow drawn tightly as he stares downward. ]
Yes, I know very well what it's like to be at the mercy of something else. I wonder if I ever really wanted that sort of violence, or if that's what it wanted of me.
[ he turns. ]
That's the way this sort of thing works. It crawls inside you, makes you a puppet. You're culpable and for what? Being a toy.
[ he turns a bit. there's still a bit of unsteadiness in his voice. having to witness it again is... not his favorite thing, but there's more concern, really. his gloved fingers curl slightly into his palms a moment before he frowns. ]
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It's normal to crave the familiar over newer and shinier things... I'm not surprised. It's a rather lovely stage, though, we should definitely see it used, at the very least by this week.
[ he's about to say more, but there is... a bubble that's sort of swallowing them up now. ]
What in the—
[ instinct says to press against it, so he does, but it doesn't. seem to give. ]
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[ whatever. bubble? there's a bubble? percy tests it out, while kazu seems to just... give up, and sits directly on the stage. ]
Guess we're stuck here...
1/2
[ he frowns, kazunari had seemed so eager at first. there's an odd whiplash here, at least that's what he thinks. ]
And we're not stuck, we're just... going to have to treat this the way we treat everything else.
[ he sighs a bit and will... sit down as well as the bubble iridescently gleams around them. he looks down at his hand and conjures up a bit of color, eyeing it briefly before pressing it to the surface. ]
With color—
2/2, cw: murder, possession, violence etc.
percy stares outwards at the bubble, his eyes wide as the memory slowly pours off of him, slick like oil, slick like darkness. ]
Fffffuck.
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Haha... So that's what you meant.
[ the laughter continues to bubble up in kazunari's chest, louder and filled with delight. ]
You really do get where Kazumin was coming from, huh? It's practically the same thing! That's just too good!
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Yes, I know very well what it's like to be at the mercy of something else. I wonder if I ever really wanted that sort of violence, or if that's what it wanted of me.
[ he turns. ]
That's the way this sort of thing works. It crawls inside you, makes you a puppet. You're culpable and for what? Being a toy.
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Wonder if that's where the prism got the idea? That'd be funny, right? If a little lacking in creativity.
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[ he turns a bit. there's still a bit of unsteadiness in his voice. having to witness it again is... not his favorite thing, but there's more concern, really. his gloved fingers curl slightly into his palms a moment before he frowns. ]
Kazunari, are you truly alright?
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[ uuuuugh why is everyone like this!! ]
I'm fine! Way better than you, I bet.
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[ he rakes a hand through his hair. ]
That's not the first thing people usually say after seeing all of that... violence. So I suppose yes, you are doing much better, that's for certain.
And at least... I knew the source of that violence, here? I'm not so certain anymore.
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[ he laughs. ]
Don't worry about it so much! It's not like it matters, anyway. We'll see them again in no time!
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