curriculum_fictae: (Default)
[personal profile] curriculum_fictae
[ Martin had always known that Lukas would kill him in the end. If not along the way, then surely at the end, once he'd gotten what he wanted out of Martin, whatever that turned out to be. When the Lonely rose up to swallow him, he'd accepted his impending death with ... what?

What did he have left, really? Numbness, mostly. A hallucination of Jon in the Lonely, looking for him, but - but that was impossible, ridiculous. His mind playing cruel tricks. He settled himself down in the frigid surf, knees drawn up close to his chest, unshed tears frozen to his cheeks and lashes.

And then. A door. A door that shouldn't exist, that couldn't exist. That he shouldn't take at all. The Lonely was terrible, yes, but it was quiet, and it was peaceful. Martin was aligned enough with it by now to very nearly enjoy it, in a strange and terrible way. The Spiral would be infinitely worse than this quiet beach.

But ... it was hope, too. In a strange way. Hope enough that Martin found himself turning the door handle and stepping through, leaving the false comfort of the Lonely behind him.

The transition was unpleasant. Long. But Martin couldn't remember it after; he only remembered stumbling out through the door of a supply closet somewhere deep in the Archives, blinking up at the dim bulbs that pretended to be sufficient. What time was it? Had he escaped? Where were Lukas and Elias now?

And where was Jon? ]

Date: 2020-08-06 03:08 am (UTC)
contractuallybinding: (Default)
From: [personal profile] contractuallybinding
[Elias is a rather unassuming visitor, really. He doesn't stop at the nurses station, merely wanders directly towards the room in question. His tight, polite smile quickly ends most scrutiny turned his way, if the expensive suit and the air that he belongs here didn't already.

For Jon, it's a quick, perfunctory knock on the door and the feeling of presence outside, like a storm cell on the horizon, an awareness that crowds even though the medication.


For Algric, however, he seems to walk right past the Lonely-afflicted man, with no more of a hesitation or a spare glance than anyone else.

At first. It's a moment later that his footsteps slow, and then stop.
]

Date: 2020-08-06 12:38 pm (UTC)
contractuallybinding: (010)
From: [personal profile] contractuallybinding
[The terrible thing? Elias doesn't turn. Algric's eyes settle on Elias' back and the odd way he is cocking his head, as if listening. But he can feel the burning, focused gaze of the little old lady in a wheelchair, waiting for her trip out to smoke. And the small child stop in their run to crane their neck up. The parent slowing just behind.

(It pulls at something cold and gentling around him. Something soft and distancing that kept the immediacy of the fear at a slow curled, pushed the terror away, that told him that self loathing was just the practical, realistic choice... and it began to burn off it like fog in the sun. He can feel the weight of the full, real gaze pressing shifting towards him.)
]

Ah. Yes, yes I think you can.

Date: 2020-08-06 01:03 pm (UTC)
contractuallybinding: (001)
From: [personal profile] contractuallybinding
Just a moment.

[It's so mild. It doesn't have the intensity of Jon's compelling. But it bypasses Algric's head and settles in his legs, locking his knees.

The child smiles, face still stony and serious, but his hand lifts in a shy little wave.

The Eye's gaze creeps closer, sliding along familiar anxieties, lovingly sweeping along the dread of the unqualified, the unloved, the unnoticed... Looking for him.
]

I'm looking for 32-oh-.... one, is it? Sims.

Date: 2020-08-06 01:23 pm (UTC)
contractuallybinding: (002)
From: [personal profile] contractuallybinding
[Moments, if that. The Eye was once not the sophisticated thing it is today. Once it was what the prey feared, huddling in a bush.]

Hm? Ah. Right you are.

[And abruptly he's free. Those around him simply move on as if they'd never been trapped into this horrible tableau.

Those crisp, clean footsteps echo as the monster ... seems to have taken what he needed? Some unknown measure or quantity, and was satisfied?

Elias leaves him, instead, walking calmly towards Jon.
]

Date: 2020-08-06 02:13 pm (UTC)
contractuallybinding: (015)
From: [personal profile] contractuallybinding
[There's only one more of those invasive sweeps, that searing, scouring glance backwards just before Elias knocks.

How fast and well CAN you hide, Algric?
]

Date: 2020-08-06 04:22 pm (UTC)
contractuallybinding: (Default)
From: [personal profile] contractuallybinding
[It seems to work, as Jon calls out for his visitor, Elias' gaze slips past Algric and focuses hungrily into the room. The cost of it, though, another layer of that protective nothingness sheered off, exposing just a little more to the air.]

Date: 2020-08-06 10:58 pm (UTC)
contractuallybinding: (Default)
From: [personal profile] contractuallybinding
[It is. There's a reason even the Spiral doesn't dare directly lie in the Eye's domain. And yet, it did read as the truth.

But there are ways to find out more. In fact, the Institute is dedicated to the best way of them all.

Before Martin was consigned to die in the Lonely, he never really felt the Eye before. Not like this, the crawling sensitivity, the pervasive feeling of not only someone near but LOOKING. --

And he feels it now. Maybe he wouldn't have needed to, seeing the expression on Jon's face, and the odd momentary tableau where Jon seems to be pinned by nothing more than the gentlest of fingertip. But the words rake against Martin. He knows, can feel the same warping, defining cut in the air that is now an anathema to him (that burned that horrid hatred into his own self image) delicately dip through Jon.
]

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Date: 2020-08-06 03:21 am (UTC)
eyediot: (s5; but that just reminds me how)
From: [personal profile] eyediot
[For Jon, the knock is a distant dream. Barely even a registered thought through the exhaustion and medications he's been given. But just like that, he blinks once, and can feel someone's outside the door.]

Yes?

[So tired and drained but straining to be consciously aware.]

Date: 2020-08-06 12:41 pm (UTC)
contractuallybinding: (014)
From: [personal profile] contractuallybinding
[Elias' cultured voice filters through the fuzz and disconnect with polite concern.]

Goodness me. That's far worse than they'd reported.

Date: 2020-08-06 01:34 pm (UTC)
eyediot: (s5; 'you'll fall and break your back')
From: [personal profile] eyediot
[Oh.

Oh!

Elias. Hm. That's. Hm. Patently not good? To anyone seeing him, it's just his boss coming to pay visits to an injured employee that got hurt on the job. Nothing wrong with that. But something in Elias' voice has his blood steeling and he can't bring himself to even try to move.]


I- yes, they. Probably didn't want to worry you too much.

Date: 2020-08-06 02:16 pm (UTC)
contractuallybinding: (013)
From: [personal profile] contractuallybinding
Given that it's I monster I was not aware of harming my employees, I do think there's cause enough for me to worry.

[The visiting chair creaks as Elias settles into it, one knee crossing over the other, and hands folded on top of them. From the way Jon is settled in bed, he can't see the man's face, but he can feel the stare.]

And.. feel some responsibility. Naturally, I've cleared your leave- pending you finishing off the requisite paperwork when you return. But... do you have everything you need? Someone at home to help?

Date: 2020-08-06 02:20 pm (UTC)
eyediot: (gotta get to the bottom of this)
From: [personal profile] eyediot
[He can feel it. And he can't bring himself to move, can't even raise his eyes to look Elias in the face. But maybe that's just the pain medication. Which is surely what's causing his answers to seem slower, and not because he's having to think about what to say.]

...Yes, I. I do. And I'll be sure to finish the papers when I return.

Date: 2020-08-06 02:30 pm (UTC)
contractuallybinding: (008)
From: [personal profile] contractuallybinding
Oh, naturally. I wouldn't bother you with the details here.

And that is good to hear. Who is it?

[That last question sounds so amiable. Like small talk. But the static fizzles and crackles in his ears, and the question seems to slither through the medicinal haze.]

If you don't mind my asking.

Date: 2020-08-06 02:34 pm (UTC)
eyediot: (with a backwash swill)
From: [personal profile] eyediot
[That feeling, that need to answer is pretty impossible to ignore. What's odd is probably how easily the answer comes. Like it really is just casual conversation. No, Jon doesn't have much control in answering, but he's not lying at all.]

Hm? Oh, Algric. A friend. Had nowhere to go, so I've been letting him stay with me for a short time. Honestly, I've been considering just letting him be a roommate on the lease.

Date: 2020-08-06 02:49 pm (UTC)
contractuallybinding: (015)
From: [personal profile] contractuallybinding
[Elias is very still for a moment. The soft ticking of the hospital clock filling the air.

Then, Jon will see those hands shift, finger steepling.
]

Well. I suppose I'm a little old fashioned, but... I do care about you, in my own fashion.

Do be careful of strangers, Jon.

Date: 2020-08-06 02:53 pm (UTC)
eyediot: (*deep inhale*)
From: [personal profile] eyediot
[Jon sees it, knows he should probably be wary of it.]

He's an old friend, Elias. I've got nothing to worry about from him.

Date: 2020-08-06 03:07 pm (UTC)
contractuallybinding: (002)
From: [personal profile] contractuallybinding
[He certainly should be.]

Mm. Well, you would know best.

...

I should let you get some rest, I think. I look forward to seeing your speedy recovery. I know you do have a bit of a problem not burning it at both ends, but do try to take care of yourself, Jon.

[The hands settle on the armrest before the center of that awful gaze that seems to press him into the bed rises further.]

Oh. While you have more than enough time accrued, I would like to see you in when you have the energy. To, well, take the statement.

Date: 2020-08-06 03:10 pm (UTC)
eyediot: (that it's me who was to blame)
From: [personal profile] eyediot
I--

[The weight so carefully and masterfully pinpointed to his chest causes him to have to catch his breath for a moment. Must be the exhaustion and all, surely. Not some kind of strange sleep paralysis where he simply can't move.]

R-right. Of course.

Date: 2020-08-06 03:24 pm (UTC)
contractuallybinding: (014)
From: [personal profile] contractuallybinding
[It's not a friendly clasp of the shoulder. In other circumstances, it might even be charming how awkward it seems. To have a single, light brush of a finger on Jon's shoulder from a man so wrapped up in his image that even that was an almost unbroachable distance.

Except it came with that horrible, paralytic pressure, something that seized every nerve he had and kept him right there. Helpless and supine, supplicant for the next, precisely enunciated words to burn into his mind.
]

Don't forget.

[And then it was over, wrapped back up into the comfortable explanations of how opiates affect the senses, how much the pain drives the mind to odd ends. They settle and wrap like a blanket around those simple, clear words rattling in his mind.]

See you soon. Do take care of yourself, Jon.

[And the pressure slides away as Elias turns, taking that first step to the door.]

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Martin K(nife) Blackwood

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