Vincent Nightray (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
misfortunes) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
poly_chromatic2012-08-13 06:00 pm
misfortunes) wrote in poly_chromatic2012-08-13 06:00 pm
audio ✁ ❛ towards the door we never opened ❜
Good afternoon—City, isn't it? I suppose this is an offer for work; we're rather in need of doctors—a physician, a surgeon. . . a veterinarian. . .
Vincent. Instead of asking for things we don't need—
[ Though that would make one wonder about his definition of "need." ]
—why don't you try asking for a way out, instead? That way, we won't keep anyone waiting any longer.
Well—the master's overstrained himself, after all. . . [ but, returning to the audiofeed - ] It's a matter of some urgency, you see. It seems we won't be staying.
Vincent. Instead of asking for things we don't need—
[ Though that would make one wonder about his definition of "need." ]
—why don't you try asking for a way out, instead? That way, we won't keep anyone waiting any longer.
Well—the master's overstrained himself, after all. . . [ but, returning to the audiofeed - ] It's a matter of some urgency, you see. It seems we won't be staying.
→ video; also at work (i do what i want rrrr)
But it is.
That's Elliot's voice, Elliot's face, and he didn't think it was possible.
He'd seen Elliot dead, he'd had Elliot's blood on him as he cried, wailed, over the body. He knows what happened. He knows, he's sure he knows. ]
...Elliot?
[ But maybe he was wrong, he was always wrong, he thought he knew what was right (those voices, everything he's seen, it's been right, he knows--) but maybe he didn't know.
He doesn't know what to say. But he takes a quick breath in, tries not to wince, tries to shuffle the device so it's not showing a trace of the blood on him.
Tries not to laugh, because it's not funny, it's not funny at all, but it is at the same time, he's gone mad or he's been mad already and this is what happens. Seeing ghosts like this.
Either he was wrong when Elliot died, or he's wrong now. He hopes, truly hopes, that it's the former.
Simultaneously relieved and terrified, he just stares for a few moments. ]
It's you, right?
→ video; aww yeeeeah, also thanks, now I'm tearing up at work
but he'd spent the entire week being hounded by perverted and highly incorrect assumptions, and really, he's more relieved than anything else to see leo -- and vincent, too - all right and all in one piece. besides, leo's always been just a little bit weird, at times. ]
Of course it's me, idiot. Tch. Where are your glasses? You obviously can't see a thing without them.
And you still haven't answered my question.
→ video; ffff sorry! i just want to tldr at elliot forever tho;;;
He hasn't seen so clearly in a long time. ]
Everything's-- it's fine. Vincent is just overreacting.
[ Because Elliot shouldn't be worrying about this, it's nothing. It feels like nothing when he's remembering everything that happened, it hasn't even been that long. It's not difficult, after all, to remember the heavy scent of blood and the initial quiet of that little room.
Clearing his throat, he's only partly sure he's not tasting blood. But he smiles at Elliot all the same, because it wouldn't be right to trouble him with any of this. ]
Where are you?
[ He needs to see Elliot, to make sure he's fine. ]
→ video; are you kidding, I love tldr. COME AT ME, BRO
he scowls, resisting the urge to roll his eyes, but his tone as he speaks is serious. ]
Doesn't matter. If you need a doctor for anything, we'll get you one.
[ he's already on the move, slipping out his door and to the building's exit, prepared to find his wayward servant and errant brother. ]
You guys don't know the City as well. Stay where you are; I'll come get you. [ ever the knight in shining armor, he is. ] What do you see right now?
→ video; COMIN AT YOU BRO
[ As matter-of-fact as he'd always been with Elliot, plain and simple and maybe a touch more forceful than usual. Even if Elliot will likely disagree with that statement when he sees Leo, he's sure the wound will have healed somewhat by the time that happens. He is a Baskerville, after all.
Watching the screen, moving as Elliot does, is slightly dizzying, so he's thankful to have an excuse to look away (though he worries, irrationally, that as he does, Elliot will disappear again, as though he were never here in the first place-- all because he sees things, hears things). ]
There's...
[ Nothing, he realizes.
Not an empty landscape, devoid of buildings-- there are buildings, many of them-- but no lights. As if there is no Abyss here, as if there is nothing for him to do. No need for him to do anything.
(If this is the price for Elliot being alive, if he really is alive and here and well, he'll take it, he thinks. Doesn't care about betraying Vincent by not helping. Vincent has never meant as much to him.) ]
A fountain, buildings.
[ He holds the device up, giving him a better view of his surroundings. ]
→ video; AW YEEEEEAH
Stay where you are; I'll be right there.
[ more movement, some silence. Elliot's more focused on making sure he gets to Leo and Vincent in the shortest time possible. but along the way, he speaks up again, his voice this time more subdued. ]
If you wanted a haircut, you could have told me.
→ video;
I will.
[ Because it's not as though he could find Elliot, and it's something he's been told to do by his master. He never thought he'd be told what to do by Elliot again, but here it is, he missed it and he can't not obey it.
It is the least he owes his master. ]
I wouldn't have done that, you'd do a terrible job.
[ Maybe if he tries to pretend that things haven't changed, it will be true. ]
→ video; aaaaand to action?
We could have gotten someone else to do it. [ honestly. ] And I'm not that bad! At least I wouldn't stab you in the eye.
[ a poor word choice there, perhaps, but he really can't be faulted for that.
and it's not too much longer before he's rounding the corner and catching sight of blonde and black and calling out: ]
Leo!
→ action it is!
He rises to his feet, a bit too quickly, and has to use the bench for support-- doesn't dare to step forward, both to spare himself further embarrassment and because he still isn't certain that Elliot won't disappear the moment he does.
For a brief second, he looks completely, utterly, helpless.
And then he manages to force a calmer expression onto his face, to almost smile. It's what Elliot should see, not this worry. Even if he knows that telling Elliot the truth back then may have spared him, he still, selfishly, doesn't want him to know. ]
It took you long enough.
→ action /o/!
Leo, what happened?! Is this why you needed a doctor?
[ he's frustrated and annoyed and worried and Elliot doesn't really think straight when he's all of those things at once. rather than doing the rational thing, which might include a few questions on the nature of the injury, he elects instead to grab onto one of Leo's arms and proceed to drag him down the street. ]
Come on, we'll get you a doctor.
→ action
He wants to be able to talk, to lie and tell Elliot that everything is fine, even though it isn't, but he can't form the words, can barely even take in the air required to speak.
What he does do is refuse to go along with Elliot; plants his heels and just stops, because he doesn't need a doctor, doesn't need anything else. ]
Elliot.
[ Finally managing one word-- one name, he shakes his head, almost wishing he hadn't told Vincent to cut his hair. Not because of the things he didn't want to see, but because of what he was afraid Elliot would see. ]
I don't need it. Really.
[ He's more worried, still, about Elliot. ]
→ action
Don't be stupid, Leo. You're hurt. Of course you need a doctor.
[ the only saving grace in this entire situation is probably in the fact that Elliot is so focused on moving forward and isn't spending as much time as he usually would be scrutinizing Leo. it means he's not catching the minute changes in the atmosphere, or gazing into eyes that are--different, now. ]
What the hell was Vincent doing just standing there?
[ honestly. typical Vincent behavior. ]
→ action
Elliot should probably be angry with him-- for being here like this, for having fought with him at that party, for walking away, for...a lot. There's a lot of things. But all he seems is worried.
Leo doesn't deserve his worry. ]
You're always like this-- you never listen to anything anyone's telling you.
[ Sharp, angry, probably more familiar to Elliot than it is to Leo himself, who has no idea who he is anymore. And he doesn't want to talk about any of it, and he does, but he can't be sure what the right thing to do is. ]
I don't need your help.
[ That, he knows, the moment it's said, wasn't the right thing, for him or for Elliot. ]
→ action
releasing Leo's arm, he spins, his face a mask of anger and hurt. a single gloved hand lifts to jab a finger in Leo's face, and Elliot snarls. ]
I'm always like this? What about you?! You're always the one trying to do everything by himself. You always have been, ever since I met you!
[ there's more he wants to say, but he's conflicted. all Elliot's ever wanted was for Leo to trust him, much in the way that Elliot trusts Leo, though it's not something he often shows. he'd thought, after the unbirthday party, after his unlikely truce with Oz, that they'd reached that level, that level that was more than just master and servant. and for the briefest moment, he wonders if maybe Claude and Ernest and Vanessa had been right all along, that he'd misjudged Leo.
the thought's thrust away quickly enough, as it always is, and he grabs ahold of Leo yet again. he can deal with the hurt later but there are things that need to be dealt with now, whether Leo wants it or not. ]
I don't care if you think you don't need my help, I'm getting you a doctor if it's the last thing I do. I am not letting you kill yourself because you're too stupid to do something about it!
→ action
Maybe he was foolish for expecting anything to have changed, even after Elliot's death. But he feels like things should have changed. Whether it's Elliot's continued kindness towards him, or the way he still gets angry over the same things as he did on that night, it almost feels like too much.
It's enough to stop him from arguing, this time. Because he knows better now. ]
Don't be ridiculous, I wouldn't die from this.
[ But he doesn't want to follow Elliot, doesn't want to move at all, because he's fully aware of every mistake he's made now. To have burdened Elliot like this, making him worry up to his death, and even now-- still, now-- he's made things worse again.
He always makes things worse. ]
I don't need anything.
[ He doesn't, because all he'd needed is right here, and he's still managed to ruin that. ]
I don't.
→ action; sob, I'm sorry......
but. an explanation. it's all Elliot wants. it's all Elliot's ever wanted, really. and he tries - he does, really! - not to push to hard, to give Leo his space when he needs it. it was never anything he'd been good at, but he'd hoped...
well, he'd always been hopeful. and it'd never really worked, had it?
he's fed up with this, he's fed up with Leo being stubborn, and he's fed up with the damn City doing everything at exactly the wrong time. ]
Fine! Let yourself bleed to death! [ a glance at Leo's jacket does seem to indicate that the other boy is doing better, but Elliot's a bit too upset at the moment to care ] You never listen to me anyway, why should you start now? Do what you want! Nothing I say ever makes a difference anyway.
[ he lets go, turns, stalks off, too angry and hurt to wonder about what he might be leaving behind. it's always the same thing anyway, isn't it? not just with leo, but with everyone.
in the end, he's still always alone. ]
→ action; my heaaaart :c
Because this is it, this is the only chance he was ever going to get, and even if it's not real, he won't forgive himself if history repeats.
He hasn't forgiven himself yet.
It's sheer desperation that moves his legs forward, because even though it hasn't been that long that he stood there after Elliot left, and even though he could still see him-- he still feels that Elliot will disappear, nothing but an illusion. That he was never anything but an illusion, because he died, he must have died, of course it's like that.
His voice doesn't work, but by some miracle, his legs do; half-stumbling, half-running forward, chasing after a ghost in the flesh. Reaching for, trying to catch at his arm, trying to stop him.
He'd rather Elliot yell at him, hit him, than leave. ]
→ action; fjejkw return of the tl;dr next tag, my brain is dead right now /)_(\
he whirls, mouth open and quite prepared to give the offender a nasty bout of verbal abuse, but the second he realizes just who it is, the words die a quick death.
there's a beat of silence, before: ]
I thought you didn't want any help.
[ but his voice is subdued, and nowhere near as loud as it was only moments ago. ]
→ action; dw dw;;; i just deleted an almost fully typed up tag so we'll be even.
He ducks his head, focuses on Elliot's shoes, unmoving. ]
...if it's what you want, it's fine.
[ He's still Elliot's servant, maybe, after all. It's the least he can do, and even if he can't make up for his mistakes, he can try.
It's all he can do, to not lose all that he has. ]
→ action; omg that's terrible! D: i hate it when that happens
because, for all that it takes him a bit to catch on to things sometimes, Elliot Nightray isn't stupid. he knows when something is wrong, and when people are hiding things from him. ]
I want you to be safe.
[ and happy, and not as burdened as you always are, but that's not something he feels he can say, not yet. ]
What happened, Leo?
[ and this time, he's asking about more that just the physical wound ]
→ action;
[ He is safe, the wound doesn't hurt as it did some minutes ago, and he isn't somewhere else, somewhere where he had to be Glen and pretend he was so much more ruthless than he's ever been able to be.
Yes, he's safe. But that doesn't mean everything is fine.
He can tell that Elliot knows; he's been unable to hide that fact. It was easier to hide before, but not now. But he doesn't know what to tell Elliot, how to tell him.
There isn't anything, he realizes, that he can say. Not enough half-truths to explain away what's changed in him (because nothing's changed, really, he's always been like this and now it's just at that point where he's had to stop lying to himself), or to explain away what's happened to Elliot. To either of them. ]
Don't ask me that.
[ With none of the forcefulness that he's had, previously. There's no heat to his words, nothing but a quiet kind of resignation. He won't lie and he won't disobey, because he can't watch Elliot leave again. All he can do is ask this favor, something that he doesn't deserve.
Elliot owes him nothing, nothing at all. And yet, here he is, asking him for more.
Wasn't his life enough?
Enough, and too much. ]
Not now, not yet. Please.
→ action;
the easy thing to do would be to shake him off, to turn around and leave again like he'd meant to the first time, to throw another temper tantrum and regress back to being a child again. but he doesn't remember the last time he chose the easy path, and indeed, he doesn't remember the last time he was even given the option.
he's forgotten, a little, what it's like to have a normal life, though it could be argued that he's also never really known. ]
....Fine.
[ just one word, but it's the only one that really matters right now. as much as it hurts to feel untrusted, it hurts more to see Leo in this state, a state Elliot's never really seen before. he's witnessed angry, teasing, bored, chastised, but this vulnerability....it's new. and it's worrisome, almost moreso than any flesh wound.
if he can get it to go away, even just a little bit, then perhaps he'll have been justified in all his actions up until now. ]
Can you still walk? Or am I going to have to carry you around?
[ just a hint of gruffness in his voice. he'll take the easy way out by means of mockery if it means bringing Leo one step closer to him. ]
→ action;
For now, considerably less tense, worried, than he was a moment ago, he exhales, slow and quiet. He's lucky, he really is. ]
Wouldn't that be too embarrassing? I can walk by myself, you know.
[ As though Elliot hasn't seen him like this, like it's as simple as that. But in a way, it is simple.
He knows he can, knows he has to. Not because it's his job to follow Elliot, but because he knows there's nothing else he can do but to follow. Not so much a task as it is an absolute.
He'll keep this as long as he can. ]
→ action; I think my tldr just wants to alternate today.
still, he doesn't show it, electing to roll his eyes and wave his hand dismissively as he resumes walking again. ]
Tch, like hell you can. You almost fell over trying to reach me.
[ but Elliot hopes that Leo knows that he would have done his best to catch him, if that risk were to ever become real. ]
→ action; tldr does what it wants, huh.
I was just surprised that you were able to find me on your own.
[ Mock-surprise. The lie, perhaps, isn't so much a lie if Elliot knows it's not the truth. Or, at least, a more bearable lie than the others he'd told. But it's better to pretend things are normal than to think about all that he has to tell Elliot.
It's easier, too. ]
→ action; it's a rebel, does what it wants all the time.
→ action; don't i know it.