agogelogs | SEEMS I GOT IT WRONG

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SEEMS I GOT IT WRONG—

WHO? hei

dipolar and some various other punks
WHAT? closed prompts for dreamshares, hit me up if you want in on this
WHEN? december 12th to december 23rd
ANYTHING ELSE? content warning: child soldiers, suicidal ideation, graphic violence/gore

ＡＲＴＨＵＲ．

(russian winter in vladivostok. a stone's throw from north korea. despite how close it sits to japan, its cold bites as mercilessly as the rest of the country's weather does. arthur can still feel it, even seated inside the dining car of a train headed for — where? with nothing outside but a vast expanse of inexplicable ocean, it's difficult to tell direction. with a sky that looks caught between dusk and dawn, it's difficult to tell time. the dreamer's impression of these oddities is bleakly accepting, finding them to be something run of the mill.

the only heat in the area rolls off of a wide spread of food laid out across a too-small table. overwhelming overtones of a gnawing hunger make it irresistible.

hei sits across from arthur in a nineties parka, forking bite after bite after bite of his meal into his mouth with a numbness that threatens to sink the scene into the waves lapping at salt-stained window panes. looking at him, he's almost unrecognizable with long, unwashed hair pulled away from his neck in a thick ponytail and an unkempt face of patchy scruff. the reality of it becomes stark when his hand stills and dead eyes lift with a response so quiet it'd be easy to miss under the anvil-like weight of a flask dragged closer.)

I killed Pavlichenko. Is that all you wanted to discuss?

(hei's sure he knows who's there as he raises the flask to drink — an action that triggers a worrisome groan of the train's metal skeleton trying to hide its shame. but it's just not arthur he's seeing, not really.)

ＭＩＤＮＩＧＨＴＥＲ

(up, down, left, right— it's all the same underwater. it rushes and surrounds, cuts off air supply and threatens to drown him. there's no supernatural quality, no ethereal glow to guide him out of the blackness of it. what it is in reality? a submerged hall of a building that fell victim to land subsidence, abandoned and left to sink.

if that wasn't stressful enough already, there's no obvious exit in this research and development department. logic would tell anyone to follow the gradual upward slant of the ceiling if it manages to be found in the dark, but what's another potential cause for alarm is the sound of a struggle close by. the crackle of movement that's swift when unchallenged by current. turning to face it will bump midnighter into someone who's been searching for him since the plunge and bring him within arm's reach of gloved hands.

while m isn't who he's been expecting, hei's mind makes up for the oddity by slotting the man into the place of whoever it belonged to first. the change, albeit convenient, fills the room with a contagious, sick kind of panic that sets the mood for the entire nightmare. eyes narrowing at the foggy outline, he tries to grab at an arm to get the teenager's attention. it's obvious why: he has the only ventilator, one that fits snugly in the mouth without oxygen tank or tube.

one he's insisting on giving to him, offering it out with a slow shake.)

ＲＹＵＪＩ

(ryuji stands in a lake at twilight, full moon high and shedding an eerie lambency that seems to dance on blond hair. a dense rainforest grows up around him and, from the shore, great, timeless roots sneak into the shallows to sponge up what drink they can. it'd be a peaceful scene, but something's innately wrong. something's off and it's hard to pick out any one thing until he's taken his first step — only to meet the resistance of a liquid so unlike water that the viscous surface rolls instead of splashes.

red. the vast body of water sits still and dark like blood, so rich a colour it blocks light from seeing beneath its layers at the unevenness he can feel underfoot.

a foreboding atmosphere, giving ryuji the unique sense that this is somewhere he shouldn't be. it makes the air thick and difficult to breathe, but that could be the clouding mugginess that weighs on unaccustomed lungs in a climate so shockingly divorced from all others. or the sudden sighting of a lost child on the shore of the teenager's macabre bath. the haunting image of a small boy no older than twelve with a runt's stature and bruised eyes that point out from beneath a familiar mop of unevenly cut hair.

it's over the lake he stares, calm. the feeling around him is not, rather strikes as something a fearful resolution.)

Area secure; we're moving on.

(a lengthy pause, like the child's wondering if he's been heard, but avoids a direct look at ryuji when he turns away to wipe at a round cheek. it only serves to smear more grime into his skin, only glancing back once to address his idleness.)

You'll die if you stay here with them.

ＡＣＨＩＬＬＥＳ

(a satake telescope sits at the edge of a pond in a park long abandoned by the day. insects and tree frogs chirp, a warm breeze ripples grass, no dangers lurk in the setting. there's a serene calm to this dreamscape and a startling expanse of stars, a memory visited and revisited often, which is perhaps what makes it the most troubling kind— no one wants to wake up from something like this, no one wants to lose this boneless kind of relaxation.

there's something lonely about the child sitting in the grass beside the tripod. he doesn't look the least bit bothered, but the mood inward borders melancholic. it's the sense of him being the only one, the last one. of what?)

A shooting star is the light that escapes whenever God opens the lid to the sky...

(as though talking to himself, his voice is soft. quiet enough to be a whisper but carrying well to spite reality's rules. then he moves with slow purpose, breaking the scene's stagnancy with a raise of a hand. palm up like an offering to the starry ceiling above them, wanting to give something back to the glittering little lights, as though he could present himself and be taken away by them. something that should be possible in this world he's found a shred of restfulness in, but he just can't seem to part with any piece of his soul.

moments pass and there's a sudden shift, a movie reel missing a frame, and hei's smiling shyly at achilles like he's been there with him the whole time, sharing in this as friends, as family.)

If you make a wish when you see one, God will listen to it.

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(then they become indistinguishable, one face and the other. he made his choice.

a jerk of his head as he walks with his own purpose, an unspoken "come on, then.") We have to find and destroy the main body of the Black Dandelion. Parasitic plant that feeds off its host in exchange for contractor powers.

(stops short at the door and lets his fingers hover near the doorknob, listening a moment. needs to know if this is an ambush, if there are infected soldiers already waiting beyond. instead of an uneasy shift in the dream's mood, it's frightfully calm. this is their area of expertise. this is what they've both been bred for.)

I have reason to believe it's just beyond here. Careful; if it's seeds get imbedded in your skin, it could be bad. I can at least rip it from your body if it comes to that.

[Lucas Trent follows along, eager to show himself to be of use. He's so tired of being kidnapped, caged, captured. He wants to do something. The idea of helping people is impossible to resist.]

I can rip it out myself. I- I'm stronger than I look.

[Already bristling with nervous energy, he readies himself for a fight. The computer sees every angle, and he can use that. He can help people. He can be free.]

[Somehow, in his mind, the two are tied together.] Is this what you always do?

If you say so. (if it works, he's all for that, but it this kid gets tagged with a seed and suddenly is overwhelmed with a contractor's logical need to keep the flower then it's hei's problem.

the question gives him pause, fingertips on the doorknob, turning it slowly.)

Yes.

(then throws his weight into the door, flinging it wide in a slam against the next wall. as he thought, there they are. at least a dozen soldiers in full combat uniforms. doesn't seem like they knew him and his plus one were coming, however, all distracted gazing a the giant tube in the centre of the room, gaping at their mother plant — a massive black dandelion suspended in a pink substance with roots that gather at the bottom of the tank.

a wire-threaded dagger's whipped at the soldier who makes the first superhuman sprint at them, catching him in the shoulder, leaning with it to the left. bodily swinging the man away from the doorway and lucas isn't difficult, following his stagger with his next plunge of knife.)

The flowers are beneath their helmets, it's growing from the skull. Get the heads...!

(but a warning like that might be too slow for a brain all jacked up on fight computer.)

[Quite the reverse- this rapid pace battle, Lucas Trent finds, is easy to keep up with. It's what the computer in his brain was made for. Human interaction, conversation, the play-by-play between likeminded souls, that's the difficult stuff. The computer doesn't understand it. He doesn't understand it.]

[But violence is easy.]

[Lucas Trent doesn't have a lot of experience, but he knows what the fight computer wants, and he finally, finally gives into it. It's such a relief to finally just do what it wants. He runs up, bare feet on wet floor, and dodges bullets with ease. One whirls past his ear, another cuts his shoulder, but he doesn't appear to react. Given a directive, his purpose is single-minded. He grabs the nearest soldier, avoids their weaponry, and twists off his head with strength that can only be described as superhuman.]

[There's an empty place, he realizes, where he should feel disgust for this violence.]

[He doesn't.]

[One of the soldiers barrels away from Lucas Trent, and he pursues like a hungry predator. The soldier runs straight for Hei.] Watch out-!

(catches the display as he pulls himself off of the first— second dead soldier. with strength and speed like that, they should be fine. they can clear this room, destroy that fucking flower, and hit the rooftop for evac.

he's well prepared when the third soldier bum-rushes him, lucas' shout adding to an already keen sense of the layout and pieces on their board. hei's shoving off of the corpse between his feet, a twist and dip backwards away from a swipe of a combat knife, retaliating with a blurring thrust of a dual-bladed dagger into the base of the man's throat. a brutal shove and it's through thick cartilage. the human body was always so delicate a thing.

jerking it into a turn, angling it sideways to finish the partial decapitation, blood's spat at him as the rest pools where his fingers grip the handle.

drops the body with a tilt of his chin and a quick shift in target.) Take care of yourself. Got it? (said when he takes the few steps towards lucas to regroup, a parting slap-shove of a wet handprint on his shoulder, breaking away with a sprint left to avoid gunfire from a fourth and fifth soldier — six and seven seem far more interested in the dandelion's tank, throwing the barrels of their assault rifles in a point to the thick glass. nothing good comes from that thing getting popped open.)

[It occurs, belatedly, to Lucas Trent that he still has a man's head in his hands. He drops it just in time for Hei to touch his shoulder-- or try, anyway. Lucas twitches out of reach on instinct, and is left lonely for the lack of contact. Especially when,] What? [Is he leaving? He can't leave.]

[The idea of being alone in this mess of a world is unexpectedly terrifying. Lucas Trent follows after, weaving around bullets and punches. He lets the fight computer do the thinking, and bobs and weaves with it, turning to the side to snap a man's neck, break another's arm, steal his rifle and shoot off his head. It doesn't matter. It's all noise. He follows after Hei, not caring about the crazy flower or anything in this situation he doesn't understand. He just doesn't want to be left behind.]

(throws his dagger with wicked precision and tags a man between the eyes, having to yank it from his skull with a sick noise. whips it across the gut of the next and the body shouldn't have crumpled so quickly but something seizes the body and something flickers the lights and hei checks back on lucas against his better judgement.

still following him, still as effective against these mindless husks of men, planned.

hei can't wait on the dandelion any longer, pushing into a leap enabling him to grab the edge of the stage the violet tube's displayed on. a flip up, expecting lucas to stick with him where the spray of bullets becomes far less of a distraction, shoes sliding over solid platform. has to lean back a fraction to take in what he's seeing at this new vantage, amidst computers lining the walkway—

an experiment, is what it looks like. on a young girl no older than the kid beside him in the tank with the flower and the wiring and the liquid keeping them suspended and asleep.)

It's time; we kill it and get out of here before it all comes down.

[He floows,and, oh, he's not being left? That's good. So he ends up covered in blood, mostly not his own, and he doesn't really care if he's not alone. He follows behind Hei, and sees the girl- the experiment.]

[Lucas Trent is very strong. When he sees the way the girl is wired up, his hands clench around a bit of railing he's holding; it snaps apart like brittle branches.]

We kill her too, right? [She's even worse off than he was. He wouldn't want to wake up from that. It'd be a mercy.]

(remarks the strength, seeing what's useful about it instead of seeing what's bad or threatening. he's already seen it from that angle bobbing on the surface of dark seawater. it's something to behold, a contractor power like that. but it feels different, looks different, and he knows it's nothing similar. all he ever needs is context.)

"Too"? (an interesting choice of words, shaking his head at them.) She is the Black Dandelion. The plant body grew quickly, it's almost awake.

(looking to lucas with a jerky tilt of his head, masked face betraying nothing in expression as he adds something quiet,) Good work.

Like the others. [Is he missing something? You know what, it doesn't matter. He'll do it, if Hei isn't. He stands, and readies himself to jump forward.]

[He doesn't know what to do with the praise, so he ignores it. Everything he did was just... natural. Like breathing. Is that bad? He doesn't know, but suspects it might be, despite the praise of a man he doesn't understand.]

If you're not going to do it, I'll kill her.

[Maybe he doesn't want to kill children, doesn't understand that children are just weapons in the right hands. He doesn't want this girl to end up like him. It'd be better if she never woke up.]

I can take her out, but I don't care how it's done.

(killing a child isn't the problem, not that he prefers it by any means. a hand's raised, signalling lucas to stop that readied jump — his concerns are infection-related.)

If you break that, all of what's inside is going to flow out. I can neutralize the offshoots from the dandelion, but you need to get out of the liquid the second you kill the main body.

[Lucas Trent doesn't want to die, but he also knows he's got nothing to live for. Being careful with his body, with surviving this mess he's found himself in, hasn't completely occurred to him. Injuries are so middling, anyway. He thinks he got shot, somewhere back there, but he keeps ignoring the pain and forgetting about it.]

[He looks at Hei.] Or what?

Or my attack will kill you.

(doesn't know how to tread lightly around any grim topic, not that it is to either of them. lucas won't give a damn, that much he's learned from their brief stint as teammates.

hei's ability kicks in and red eyes glow from behind the mask. he gestures to the tank.)

When you're ready.

I don't think it can.

[He says it carefully, unsure more of himself than Hei. What the computer tells him, what knowledge he suddenly just has from its observations... It's untested, but unquestionable.]

[What is he?]

[But it doesn't matter. He has something to do. Maybe that's better than knowing who you are. He isn't sure, so he just lets himself be pulled by the flow of chaotic events surrounding them both. He stands, gives Hei a curt not, and takes the jump, going farther and longer than a boy his age or size should, crashing through the glass and snapping the girl's neck in one fell swoop.]

(he can't exactly contest him, he doesn't know the extent of his abilities. if it can't, it can't — but it might be enough to wake the kid up.

the moment lucas crashes through the tank, red eyes track the jump, the aftermath, where the flood is going. he can't let those seeds spread, he can't let the host body ruin the world by filling it with monsters. there are enough of him already and to add any more would disturb a very fine balance, one that never should've existed in the first damn place.

sloshing into the water, he meant what he said: he won't wait to attack. if lucas doesn't remove himself immediately, he'll face hei electrocuting the water with a current powerful enough to make it boil.)

[Lucas Trent does jump out of the water, mostly out of his own sense of speed than genuine concern. What happens next is... it should be horrifying. It should. Instead, it's only exciting, exhilarating, impressive. Violence is... addictive. Electrifying.]

[What is he?]

[Lucas Trent, perched on top of a storage container, surveys the gruesome scene. It feels right, somehow.]

Is it over?

(steam rises from a desiccating floor, chemicals from the water pungent.)

Yeah. (punctuated by the worrying groan of the building's constitution, making him tip his head back to huff a sigh. maybe not entirely. they still have to get the hell out of this place and he's not exactly sure how unless they take the watery exit they entered from.)

With me, Lucas. We'll have to find another exit. (dropping from the platform with a quick check of their surroundings — straggling enemies nowhere in the vicinity. maybe they cooked with the plant-life they took out together.)

Do you have people on the outside?

[With me, Lucas. It seems so normal, and that in itself is comforting. He follows along quickly, quietly, walking bare-foot and wet in lockstep with Hei.] Uh, no. I don't think so. They- they're all dead.

[He's getting good, he thinks, at lying on his feet.]

Are you affiliated with any organization? Will the people who kidnapped you be searching for you?

(strides through the leftover pool of water, shoving a lab door open with a quick pace through to clear it.

they're important questions for his next idea, knowing it's a bad one. but he needs all the help he can get and it's difficult to find strength that isn't claimed by the syndicate, the CIA, MI6, a russian or chinese group...)

No- um. [He thinks for a moment. His first instinct is to lie... So he does.] No, they won't be. They won't know where to look.

[He'll have to disappear completely to make that lie the truth, but something in him feels confident he can accomplish that. There isn't a tracker in his computer. He knows that much. Doesn't know how he knows, just does.]

Edited (and then he NARRATED HIS THOUGHTS OUT LOUD.) 2017-12-31 00:54 (UTC)

Fine, then. You'll come with me. (simply said, hands finding the cords that draw moth-eaten blinds away from large windows.

this will do. they can get to the roof from here and commandeer one of the helicopters. yin should be there. should be.)

I'm going to Taiwan.

[It's impossible not to see the relief on Lucas Trent's face. He follows Hei eagerly.]

Where's Taiwan?

China. Just off the coast. Nowhere's safe, but it's better than nothing.

(he's never told anyone that. but it feels appropriate to bring people he wants to protect to his homeland where he can move far more freely.

holds the curtain against the window and smashes the glass with a sharp strike of fist. clears the shards and leans out of the tilted building with a grunt of approval. yeah, this is exactly what he needed. begins his ascent with a climb out the window, shoving up to grab the next frame feet above.)

We're in Japan. Did you know that?

Um.

[So, no.]

[Lucas Trent follows behind eagerly, tailing behind the other man without real difficulty. He cuts himself on sharp glass, and doesn't appear to notice.]

Where's Japan?

I'll show you a map later. It's close enough to our destination.

(+1 suffering child, he feels his burdens increase but... he can't just leave him here and he's keeping up. he can stay so long as he keeps up.

at a peculiar outcropping, unstable foundations make him tug his dagger out with a small lean back. whips it high, listens to it sink into roof and latch on the side, tugging it to test its durability. then offers a hand out to lucas with a sharp tilt of his head.)

Topside and we're both free. I'm washing my hands of this place.

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thingpuncher - 2017-12-31 15:37 (UTC) - Expand

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dipolar - 2017-12-31 17:55 (UTC) - Expand

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