snowblindrpg | [log] Event: Howl [open]

[log] Event: Howl [open]

Characters: everyone
Location: The sort of location M.C. Escher wishes he'd thought up.
Date: nights 211 & 212
Summary: I hunt for you with bloody feet across the hallow'd ground
Warnings: potential for violence, death, and psychological horror; please note in subject lines if any specific warnings come up!

like some child possessed, the beast howls in my veins
I want to find you tear out all your tenderness

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Oh no. That is not a voice he wanted to hear, but he still stops instinctively as if a part of him knows that House is his best friend and only wants to protect him.

His head tilts in the direction of where the voice came from, though he can't see anything.]

Where exactly are you, Dr. House?

Your eight o'clock. You're about four feet away from a chessboard cliff. You might reorient with some new gravity, but you wanna take that chance? Are you feeling lucky, punk?

[He remains on the spot, but he does turn so that he's facing Dr. House properly. He holds his hands up, a gesture of non-violence.]

I feel like-- I feel like you're supposed to help me, there are monsters here and we have to fight them.

At least one of the half-pints is gonna yell at you for calling them 'monsters.'

[He lost Frisk and maybe feel a little bad about it on the same level that he feels compelled to aid Al and protect him.]

And it's whatever the hell is screwing with our heads here. Fine. Tell me where you see one of those things and we'll start pulling lights from them.

They're monsters.

[He doesn't feel bad about saying that at all. These aren't like Nina, these are more like the engineered soldiers.]

Are you sure you don't want to find someone else, it's-- I know you don't want me to be anywhere near you.

[It's no skin off House's nose, so he just shrugs. Not that Al can see.]

You're a Prophet. You can see the 'monsters.' I can't. Let's do the math here on which is more dangerous to me right now. Unless you're feeling murderous again.

[It's bravado, mostly. The fact that Al is the Prophet only heightens House's current level of anxiety. How long before he turns into one of the cultists again? But the doctor can put on a decent show in tone, even his body language is tense and fearful. Al can't see that. It's fine.]

Edited 2017-02-25 18:52 (UTC)

I'm not!

[It comes out too quickly, disgust and fear lacing his voice before he pushes them down.]

I mean-- I'm not, you really don't have to be scared of me. I promise I'm not going to hurt you, I don't want to hurt anyone.

[But he does start looking around for any of the lights, he won't push House away if he's sure about this.]

Over there.

[He points to where a big wall blocks their path.]

Well, I hope you wanna hurt the monsters. I mean they're trying to kill us and all.

[He breezes right past the matter of being scared.]

There's a wall in the way. Good job. We're going around. Follow the sound of my voice.

I don't think that's going to be enough, sorry.

[He really does feel bad about this, but he can't afford to be falling every few steps.]

You're going to have to let me hold on.

[Just about every part of him screams in rebellion at that. He isn't letting that hulking suit of armor touch him ever again. But that's overlaid by the sense of Andromeda, of wanting, needing to help... and there's still that guilt in the back of his mind. House remembers watching the Joker stab this kid, blind him, inflict horrible injuries and leave him there to bleed out when it shouldn't have happened that way. But it had. Because House had misjudged the emptiness of that suit of armor.

He swears under his breath and moves forward. Instead of letting Al hold on, House grabs one of his wrists... or grabs as much as he can of it, and starts pulling Al.]

You make any move to grab me, I'm leading you off a cliff and leaving.

[He can't feel it, per se, but he knows the hand is there at his wrist. He allows himself to be led, but his gait is long enough that tugging him isn't really something that's going to happen.]

I'm not going to grab you.

[He just sounds guilty as hell.]

I wouldn't do that, Dr. House, you have to believe me. It was-- I would never want to hurt you.

Well, I don't have to do anything. [Now that he's regained his personal autonomy, anyway.] And you're less of an annoyingly optimistic brat when I don't trust you. So, survey says...

[He huffs, but it lacks bite.]

Actually, that was because my brother died. [He is still annoying optimistic, circumstances just happened.] But I'll make sure to make an extra effort to bring a smile to your life if you've been missing it.

Because your brother died again. You do a great job protecting him, don't you?

[Look, if you're going to threaten him with optimism, Al.]

[House will feel the absolute flinch beneath his arm.]

My brother-- Ed could protect himself. If he couldn't fight it, then nothing I could have done would have saved him.

See, you say that. The flinch tells me you don't actually believe it. Plus the whole guardian complex and guilt thing.

I know you're just trying to hurt me so you don't have to believe that people might actually want to look out for you.

[But he still sounds a bit strained when he says it, because House isn't wrong.]

[House can see the corner of the wall they're walking along up ahead.]

And you're deflecting because I'm right. Let's talk about you, Lelly, you're way more interesting. Did you murder anyone else that night or did I get special treatment?

[This is the perfect time to talk about trauma, right?]

Shut up, Dr. House.

[He's extremely tense, which is a feat and a half for a suit of armour, underneath House's touch. But it's not wholly because of the conversation.]

...over there, can you see it?

Well, did you want me to shut up or not?

[Petulance, thy name is Gregory.]

Did you have to take a class on how to be this annoying?!

[It bursts out of him as he tries to tug House along.]

There's a monster over there, you have to help me fight it.

Nope. I was just born this way.

[And he does let himself get tugged. He sees nothing in front of them, which continues to be frustrating, but his survival sense does kick in about then. He drops the mocking tone.]

I can't see the monster right now. You're gonna have to distract it when it comes up. I can grab for the light.

[Once it's close enough to kill him, then he will be able to see the damn thing.]

No problem, I'm a good fighter.

[It slips out before he thinks about what he's saying. Stupid. Of course House knows that, he was on the receiving end of it last time.]

It looks pretty big, like-- some kind of giant person, maybe? But it has too many arms.

[House doesn't say anything about the slip, just gives Al a Look that can be felt, even if it can't be seen.]

Goody. Kick its kneecaps, then. Or are there too many legs, too? The lights are in the mouths.

[He will just ignore that look and focus on the monster that's getting closer. He pulls himself free of House and takes a ready stance slightly in front of the other man, determined to protect him this time.

The creature is nearly fifteen feet tall, covered in shaggy dark fur, with six arms and two legs and a whole lot of teeth and claws. It looks almost like a cross between a werewolf and an octopus.]

Can you see it at all? You have to stay behind me.

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