lucetilogs | Sometimes a man goes to slay his demons

Who: Trafalgar Law, Itachi Uchiha, Adele LeBlanc, Gai Tsutsugami, others
What: The fallout from a failed(?) kidnapping
When: 28th of January ongoing
Where: House 22 moving to the Battle Dome
Summary: For every victory a price must be paid, and sometimes the currency is in blood. It’s an arrangement Law’s long accepted; one can’t move ahead without sacrifice after all. But in winning this battle, the cost might not fall on him alone.
Rating: Mature

One of them had hung back.

The world greyed, tunnelled in, and consciousness collapsed, thoughts spiralling down, down, down. One of them had hung back, while the rest had come… come… co…m…e…

Sway. Sway. There is soft moaning. Where is it? Him? Is he making sounds? He should be silent.

Sway. Sway. There is fire on him. Where is it? Fire on his back. His wing. There is fire but no flames. Torn clothing, mangled flesh. Feathers. B-L-O-O-D.

Pain. Blood. Sometimes his vision goes red. His body is… crunchy sometimes, swollen other places, under his careful fingers. Trauma. Broken ribs. Internal bleeding. Down, down, down - look down. Darts in thigh. Shiny.

His head hurts.

Concussion. DRUGGED.

One of them had hung back while the rest had come. Why, why, why? Could it have been scared? No… droid. Sleek droid. Shiny and new. Droids don’t feel fear. It had watched. But it had a brain. Do droids with brains feel fear?

Something hit him. His thigh. Fight we...nt… bad then… can’t think. "… help."

Help.

Very bad. Can’t… THINK. CAN’T REMEMBER. Lightning, parts flying… all smeared and twisted… CAN’T REMEMBER. Grappling. Fabric tearing. Wings exposed.

Agony and the world breaking.

He broke the world. He broke it and the droid left.

All wrong.

Wrong.

T-E-S-T?

(for whom?)

Maybe. Bad.

He doesn’t know.

He broke the world… the forest --- didn’t he? Where was he? This was his house. His front door. Did he walk?

Knock, knock.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Someone had a flood of visitors yesterday.

Despite being there to work, this time Mia feels like a visitor too. Like she's not just checking on him - this time at an hour when he's likely to be awake to notice - but ought to sit down or something, too. She makes a deal with herself that she will sit, then, only if he's awake and lucid.

Otherwise, she would go back to work and come by later. Perhaps with a tray of fruit and tea.]

[And when she comes in, with or without that tray of tea and fruit (the tray will immediately cause him to sit a little straighter), he puts the book he's been reading to the side.]

Mia. Good morning.

Good morning. How are you? [Besides awake enough to read. She doesn't have a tray with her...yet.]

With a bit of a headache and a somewhat sore back. But otherwise, not bad.

[He has good painkillers.]

You?

I'm all right. A bit busier than usual without you, perhaps. Do you feel up to eating something?

[One thing Mia doesn't miss is the frenzied rush of trying to heal people while in the midst of a fight. It's much more peaceful to sit down, like now, and cast a simple spell that should help Law's headache and also let her know how well everything else is healing.]

Something light. My stomach's stopped being queasy.

[He has good painkillers. Sometimes queasiness is the downside of them.]

That's good. It was going to be 'something light' even if you asked for a hamburger, you know.

[Effective teasing has been on Mia's short list of things to improve upon, of late.]

Ordinarily I would ask...well, you, actually, for a suggestion. [One defined area in which their world customs differ - 'hospital' food.] So, here I am, I suppose.

A hamburger isn't light? [Teasing.] But I'd love some fresh fruit if possible. I'm up for a treat.

Not the hamburgers I've had. [A smile, and a head-nod that qualifies as a bow.] I'll be right back then.

Alright.

[He may... sound a little bit gleeful.

Guess what is his all time favorite (non alcoholic) indulgence?]

[Hamburgers!]

[Probably not.

Mia returns with a small bowl of sliced fruit, and water and tea.]

Maybe if you eat something real, you will sleep better too.

Hopefully.

[Luke's helping him with that, but it's not a subject he wants to delve too deeply in. Talking about the nightmares inevitably leads to talking about what causes the nightmares and he doesn't want to talk about Doflamingo or Vergo or the tortures.

...

... fruit. He can't tear hungry eyes off of it.]

That looks delicious. Thank you.

You're welcome. Thank you in advance for keeping it all down. [Please.

She wouldn't press him about nightmares. That kind of discussion is very personal and the choice to have it belongs to the dreamer.]

And for not getting in trouble with Dr. Leblanc for eating it.

Well, then I'll make sure it stays down. I've had quite enough trouble for awhile.

We all have. [Look out, Law, she's watching you like a hawk anyway.]

In your experienced opinion, have you heard enough lectures yet about what happened? Or do you need another? [She doesn't want to, though. Fighting back takes more fortitude than letting them win.]

I think I can skip it. I know I'm getting a bad track record where the droids are concerned.

[Or a good one, considering the damage he's done to them. But at a hell of a cost to himself.

Ugh, like last time. And the time before that.]

You have an excellent record here, however. Soon you will have your own shelf. [There are a few people with whom a tease or two comes easily to her - and Law is one of them. That probably prompts the next thing she says.]

When you're through being a patient this time...there are a few things I would like to talk about with you. If that's all right.

[He grins after swallowing a bite of orange.] My own shelf, huh? Neat.

Of course. What do you want to talk to me about?

It can wait a little while longer, don't worry. [He doesn't need her worries on top of his own.] At least until you can do a little more. Standing, for example.

[Like a whirlwind afterthought, she holds up one stern finger.] And don't get any ideas like Shikamaru did.

Sometimes a man goes to slay his demons

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