poly_chromatic | [ 004 ]

[ VIDEO ]

[Two figures are grappling out on the street; the shorter one is fierce, clearly one of the City's recent pests, trying to get in close enough to bite. The taller one, using his stature to keep the other at a distance, seems at first to be losing ground, until he turns on a heel, steering the shorter man toward the wall behind him. The ghoul crashes forward, hitting the wall and stunning itself.

Taking a step back, Isaak pulls a gun and shoots it thrice, the shots close enough together that you can barely hear the difference. The dead man jerks and falls to the ground.

Isaak doesn't look the least bit displeased by this turn of events. He walks over slowly, gun still drawn, and kicks the corpse in the ribs. Back to the camera, it's hard to gauge his expression, but he's kicking far harder than necessary to ensure it's dead.

Suddenly, he wheels, hearing something the video doesn't pick up. Stepping back-- nearly stumbling on the corpse-- Isaak looks utterly stricken. He angles his next backstep to keep from being pinned against the wall, as another ghoul comes into view.

As the video ends, Isaak looks torn between fight and flight.]

[ooc; forewarning for sullen misery in comments ;_; anyone who would is welcome to recognize Dexter Morgan but who knows what he has to say about their prior interaction ahaha]

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Isaak! Where are you?

[He sounds very, very weary.]

I'm all right, if that's what you're really asking.

Ah--yes. That's good to know as well.

[Except Chekov doesn't believe him because he's not all right and neither is anyone he knows who has had to destroy someone they know.]

But I would like to know where you are, if you aren't opposed strongly to company.

It doesn't seem as though I get to make a choice about company today.

[There's a faint clink of glassware behind his words. There's really only one appropriate place to go when you've had to shoot your dead lover, isn't there? Isaak's not drunk yet but he certainly plans to be.]

But. You can come down, if you like.

What do you mean?

[Well, at least the clinks give away a general location. Getting drunk--or at least numb--sounds like a fine idea, even if it is a way of coping that Starfleet doesn't necessarily approve of.]

[ Ghouls and gangsters. Very, very interesting. ]

Are you all right, Mister Isaak?

[No visual to his reply, he'd rather stay in relative hiding.]

I expect I'll manage.

[At home he rarely allowed himself the luxury of getting really drunk-- after all, drunk people tend to talk-- but these surely count as special circumstances.]

I think it's called the White Horse. Or possibly House. I don't recall.

[He hadn't been picky, and hadn't wanted to go anywhere too familiar.]

[That's not exactly an answer, but Chekov will take it.]

I can find that and, if I annoy you, you can tell me to leave. Or, if you would prefer, I can buy you a drink.

Edited (derp derp derp) 2013-01-12 02:59 (UTC)

You're welcome to buy one of the many I plan to have.

[Clink, again. Of all the people in this City, he thinks Chekov is the least likely to annoy him at the moment, and if he does, the least likely to be permanently offended if Isaak tells him to shut up.

Whenever he gets there, he'll find Isaak brooding in the corner of a corner booth, staring off into the middle distance and tapping arhythmically on the scarred wooden surface with the pads of two fingers.]

A good way to spend an evening.

[Offended? Nah. Isaak would be far from the first person to ask Chekov to shut up. "Shut up" is all part of a decent conversation.

He does indeed find a brooding Isaak (at the grossly-misnamed White Hall, which is neither white nor hall-like). Chekov raps the table lightly with his knuckles to draw his attention.]

Are you drunk yet?

[He's not quite taken unawares-- Isaak's too accustomed to keeping an eye out for people trying to kill him for someone to sneak up within his line of sight-- but he appreciates the gesture, and focuses his gaze on the young man with a tight grimace that might be trying to be a smile.]

I'm working on it.

[He gestures at the bench opposite him.]

Have a seat, we can have them bring the bottle.

[ The inclination for privacy is hardly something he'd fault. Especially after a display like that, plastered on the Network. ]

I hope you're at least someplace safe. The City's streets are getting crazier by the day, it seems.

[Once a person spends a certain amount of time around others who have spent their lives fighting and tend to attack when surprised, he tends to do what he can to avoid being too surprising. Chekov sits across from Isaak with a "thank you" and returns the attempt at a smile (with greater success).]

Good. Far more economical than individual drinks.

[een-dee-wid-yoo-ahl]

Things have been difficult?

[It's more of an invitation for Isaak to share than an actual question. Of course things have been difficult.]

[He'd much have preferred that fight to stay between him, his mortal enemy, and his dead lover; anyone's a better shot when he's underestimated, and Isaak prefers not to let on to his less savoury skills so publicly.]

So much for midnight to midnight. I wonder how much longer this will continue.

[Difficult indeed. Prior to today, Isaak wouldn't have said he was getting over Viktor's death-- he doesn't think he ever can, or will-- but he was making an effort to continue living in spite of it, and doing perhaps too good a job of that. One doesn't have to be habitually superstitious to be unsettled by ghosts rising from their graves.]

Have you had any of these... things after you?

Are you all right?

[Fair enough if Isaak doesn't want to talk about it. Chekov hasn't said a word about his experiences with the ghouls, so he can't judge.]

Yes.

So far I've had four.

[One he hadn't cared about either way, one was deeply unsettling, one was a pleasure to be rid of, and...

He frowns and finishes what remains in his glass.]

I've been worse.

[He's also been better, but so it goes.]

Finally, someone with some backbone!

[ Quite efficient too. Al's just happy to see that these things can be taken down. ]

Are the problems dealt with?

That's far worse than two.

[And Chekov shared those with Uhura. It must have been worse for Isaak (although the first ghoul... it didn't seem as if he had a problem exterminating that one.]

I hope you will have no more.

I'm sure I'm not the only one to act in my own defense.

Absolutely.

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