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.

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Come in.

[It's very hoarse. Law's voice hasn't exactly seen much use in the last week.]

[That's all the invitation Gai needs to open the door and step inside, shutting it behind him to give the two of them a bit of privacy (which he suspects Law hasn't had a lot of in the past few days).]

I expected to see you in more pieces after the story I heard.

[He chokes back a laugh. God that hurts.] With all the stitching hiding under here... I think they've managed to piece me back together.

[He doesn't expect much privacy in the future either. Not till he's able to go home.]

Then I'm sure you'll be glad to hear that I'm returning that favor you did for me a few weeks ago.

[That long coat of his is capable of concealing many things beneath it. Flashbangs, grenades, knives... and in this case, a bottle of spiced rum from the bar. As to how he got it-- does it really matter?]

Aa?

[... hoo, could it be? HELLS YES. HE NEEDS ONE.]

... we're going to be flirting with such trouble.

Let's make sure they don't catch us.

[You are the best bro. The best. Let him summon his chart to take a look at his medications to make sure.]

Edited 2013-01-30 09:42 (UTC)

Heh. I don't like being in anyone's debt. Consider us even now.

[He's no stranger to flirting with trouble-- Law of all people should know that.

And look, he's even got two shot glasses to go with it.]

Even.

[He'll just raise that shot glass. Cheers.]

So what happened while I was out?

[He's assuming the village didn't explode or something like that.]

[Gai pours them each a shot before tucking the bottle back beneath his coat just to be safe and leaning against the wall to down his.]

The entire village seems to be missing two days. No one can remember anything that happened during them besides vague recollections-- no changes to the village itself or to any of us that anyone has noticed. Just two days of missing time.

Mmm... again. Third time that's happened. Once every year that I've been here. Around this time of year too, usually.

Oh?

[Well, now he's intrigued.]

Sounds like they've got some sort of routine Shift that they run on us once a year. Makes you wonder just what it is that they're checking.

... good question. All I've found during these times are that my normal things have been disturbed... and bizarre new things have made there way into my home.

Like pineapples.

[Last year was the year of the pineapple for so many people, man.]

Pineapples?

[Okay, that is pretty weird. There wasn't anything out of the ordinary in his own apartment, but... pineapples? Really?]

Pineapples.

[He knows how it sounds.]

It could be worse, all things considering. At least pineapples can be put to good use.

... they do go well in smoothies, I must admit.

Say things like that and I might bring you one next time... with a few extra ingredients.

[Ohohoh. This bed-bound thing might not be so bad.]

... extra ingredients, huh? Whip one up for yourself as well. Smoothies like that shouldn't be drunk alone.

[Sipping the rum. Oh seas, that's good stuff. It burns more than usual, but that's because no worry. He's still recovering.]

Of course.

[He smirks, pulling out the bottle to pour himself another shot.]

The least a friend can do is stir up a little trouble in your heart.

[He'd said the same thing to Shu, though he doubts the other boy really understood what he meant by that. Law, on the other hand, should get it right away.]

I'll drink to that. [And he does, a slow sip. He gets it. A man would go stir crazy in this place without someone to keep things interesting.] And repay the favor if ever our positions are reversed.

I'll be holding you to that.

[Little does he know just how soon he's going to need to cash in that favor...]

At least this means our efforts with the droids were a success.

... about that.

[There's a look on Law's face. An uneasy one.]

[Gai raises his eyebrows but says nothing, an indication for Law to continue.]

I wasn't attacked by all the droids. Just... the originals. There was a new model one there as well. It never did anything but watch us. And after that... it just walked away.

Like it got what it came for.

[Or it was afraid... but that's a silly thought.]

It didn't participate at all?

[That's strange. Though he's never been kidnapped himself, from what he's heard, they send out exactly as many droids as it will take to subdue the subject. He's never heard of one of them just standing around and observing before.]

No.

It just stood there.

February 5th

voidseeing - 2013-02-24 01:15 (UTC) - Expand

deathsdoctor - 2013-03-05 02:26 (UTC) - Expand