LAY IT, LAY IT DOWN, LET ME SEE YOUR HAND—

[dipolar]

WHO? hei dipolar and ashitaka lonelywar
WHAT? ashitaka engages in fisticuffs to hopefully subdue hei
WHEN? i think right after the angry text log/shaper reveal
ANYTHING ELSE? content warning: beatdowns, um... shaper torture... not good

(another electrical current driven into the metal wall of the ship, one palm flat as his teeth grind out his aggravation. he tries not to fall asleep; their defence mechanisms are nothing to the occasional slap of a shock he turns on his own body. this is how they die. five at a time, roasting and squealing and scrabbling between slates of their conductive hiding spots. it's not a humane way to dispatch them, especially for someone with any kind of conscience.

hei doesn't care. he wants them gone. they've fucked with him for the last time.

by the time ashitaka shows up, his killing spree is tiring him. despite this, it's never a good idea to underestimate a man who's fought wars in similar states, worse states, and without the ability that glows in his pupils like laser lights. radiation rolls from his outline in a sick blue and it looks far from healthy, the presence of it alone making the dim hallway flicker as it tickles the wires in the ceiling, in the floor, everything he touches is alloyed.

not a whole hell of a lot is going to stop him now, hateful gaze bruised by lack of sleep trained on the wall he funnels his power into again and again and again.)

Comments

[fessus]

What the hell do you mean you can't tell?

[ His eyes are blown wide with the sudden burden of what he's just witnessed, riddled with questions and receiving no hint of an answer. Even still Hei's question prompts him to hurriedly press fingers to Ashitaka's throat, feeling a swell of panic at the initial lack of response and then a stronger wave of relief when that pulse throbs against his touch. Well, thank fuck for that.

He keeps his fingers right where they are to continue monitoring him, too, only then raising his head again to look back up at Hei.

It's the first time he's seen him in person since-- Well, that shouldn't be the main focus right now. But it jars him, violently. ]

Seriously, Hei, what the hell happened? Who is he?

[dipolar]

A heart's rhythm, under the duress of electrical shock, is unreliable. It could still stop.

(it's not a reliable way to tell. all noctis can do is wait and monitor, something he already seems to take control of.

the sight of the king presses shame down on his shoulders like a physical weight, knowing the words of praise he'd had for him are gone under the stress of the moment and aren't liable to ever return. he's uncompromising when he wants to be, this boy with far too much responsibility. hei's tired slump against the wall is forcibly removed so he can begin rebuilding his composure, trying to shake the pain of losing his body to the decay set upon him by every single one of his highness' ancestors.

it's too much. why can't he die?

why is he too big of a fucking coward to kill himself and spare the rest?)

Ashitaka tried to stop me from killing the shapers and I tried to kill him. (a measured breath, before turning away from him with a dead stare down the hall.) I don't have time to stick around and make sure that happens. Don't pursue me.

[fessus]

[ He doesn't miss the reluctance in Hei's own weary stare, the way he purposefully points it away from him as if he knows there's nothing he'll witness that won't add more weight onto his shoulders. Noctis almost wishes he could do the same, staring at the exhausted figure of a man that he's seen beaten and bruised in a dream, for him. ]

Ashitaka? [ The name immediately rings a bell as one he's read on the network, the one belonging to the man he'd most agreed with regarding the treatment of the shapers. He'd been kind and offered his points in a well-reasoned way, and now he's on the ground like this? For trying to adhere to his own cause? ]

I'm not. [ And the anger's finally seeping into his tone, turning his full attention back on the man in his lap instead as he lifts his chin, trying to keep his airways even clearer as he checks him for electrical burns. ] He's more important right now.

[dipolar]

(the disappointment in noctis' tone is enough to mentally bowl him over and he realizes how exhausted he really is in the next second, sluggish limbs pulling him away from the scene. ashitaka is more important, he understands that and hei's acclimated himself to the idea that he's expendable.

everyone else is the priority.)

Fine.

(bitterness comes with that territory, though, and there's a sharp scoff, refusing to look back and not sure he could in a rare moment of cowardice.)