[log] Lean on me [closed]

[zunesareawesome]

Characters: The Sorcerer Not-Yet-Supreme, Star-Cat, Star-Lord, and the Librarian
Location: Building 318 and various
Date: Day 339-343
Summary: The visiting of Flynn Carsen to the clan of Snow.
Warnings: References to character death, drowning, blood (because this is a scary building), more CW's in ensuing threads.




318: The stench of blood is thick in this garage, with blood long-soaked into the concrete floor, staining nearly the entire expanse. There are empty wooden tables to be sat on if you would rather not sit on the floor, though they've all been flipped as if in anger. One of the tables has been broken into pieces and burned, and another has pieces missing as if someone had begun to break it into pieces but was interrupted. The whole place has a hostile air to it, and the walls sound like they're breathing at night. "ALPHONSE ELRIC, DAY TWO HUNDRED AND EIGHTY TWO, CONTACT @LELRIC FOR ANY ASSISTANCE." "ALPHONSE ELRIC, DAY TWO HUNDRED AND EIGHTY SIX, PLEASE CALL @LELRIC FOR ANY ASSISTANCE NEEDED." and "ALPHONSE ELRIC, DAY TWO HUNDRED AND EIGHTY EIGHT, FOR ANY ASSISTANCE PLEASE CONTACT @LELRIC ANY TIME." are written on one of the walls.

Comments

[thewarningafter]

"I mean how did he extract it?" asks Stephen impatiently, annoyed as much at his mind having reached for the wrong word as at Peter's apparent ongoing obfuscation. A thermos. This is ridiculous. "If I unwrap this, how angry am I going to be?"

[zunesareawesome]

Okay, yeah, he should definitely be worried.

"It was me, I'm the one who cut myself--don't....don't blame him," he quickly adds, drawing his arm back. "Don't worry about it."

This is fine.

It's anything but fine. There's a hitch in Peter's voice.

[thewarningafter]

"So...very," Stephen concludes, jaw setting. He should have been there. He could have put a stop to this -- no matter that he doesn't think Flynn can do anything meaningful with the blood he took; Peter hurt himself. Stephen wants to tear off that bandage and -- and what? He doesn't have any of the supplies he'd need to put in stitches if they're needed, couldn't even hold a needle steady if he did.

He drops from his crouch to sit on the floor, the fire going out of his expression.

"How big did you make it?" he asks more quietly. "How deep?"

[zunesareawesome]

"Come on, man..." There's no protest to the words at all. Just a saying.

He gives a slight shrug. "...enough to make a steady trickle."

[thewarningafter]

Stephen shuts his eyes, expression pained. "How long ago?" he asks. "Has the bleeding stopped; can you tell?"

[zunesareawesome]

"A little while back, I wasn't exactly keeping track of the time, I don't..."

He shrugs. "I think it's still bleeding a little. That spot wasn't there earlier."

[thewarningafter]

"I can't give you stitches," says Stephen. "You can't -- if you get hurt like this, I can't always fix it --"

[zunesareawesome]

"I'm fine. Really, I promise--it's nothing." He tries to sound as confident and reassuring as possible. "I'm not stupid, we were being careful, it's not a big deal! Really."

[thewarningafter]

"You cut open your arm for a man who doesn't even have a way of testing the blood he took from you," objects Stephen. The implication of stupidity seems pretty obvious to him.

[zunesareawesome]

And it's lost on Peter.

"He's a genius, I don't even know what cool, MacGyver-y thing he can cook up, but I'm sure he can!"

He draws his arm even closer to his chest. "We need to figure this out, and if there's anything I can do to help, I'll do it."

[thewarningafter]

Figure what out? You were feeling normal this morning, weren't you? None of you started getting obsessed with answers until Flynn told you that you should be.

[zunesareawesome]

"Oh, so you're blaming this all on him, now? He actually has a good idea around here and you're complaining about it? Come on."

He points to his own face vaguely. "You know, this stuff. Red eyes, red lines. Everything, really. We need to figure it all out before something bad happens."

[thewarningafter]

"Something bad is happening, Peter! You're hurting yourselves--literally cutting yourselves open for him, for the others without the lines, when they can't even tell you what good it will do!"

[zunesareawesome]

There's something of a dawning realization in Peter's eyes, an almost frantic, worried look when he considers the what-if's.

What if Stephen was right? And John? What if this was the bad thing?

"It's not like it was even--I didn't bleed out for him or anything, jeez! Okay, so let's pretend something bad did happen. What could this do, huh? A little bit of blood, or hair?"

[thewarningafter]

By contrast, some of Stephen's desperation lifts when he sees that Peter is finally, finally starting to get it.

"I don't know," he admits, still sick to his stomach with it. "The rules here aren't clear. We just know that our actions have mattered--who chooses to jump, who doesn't, who draws eyes and who crosses them out."

[zunesareawesome]

...yeah, that's actually making it worse. The realization in his eyes takes a turn for the worst, and he's starting to sound nervous.

"...so what exactly are you saying here? We're all gonna--gonna turn into murderbots?"

[thewarningafter]

...Oh. Oh, that's not a good sign.

"I doubt it," says Stephen, though it's not as though he can offer Peter any kind of reassurance that that isn't what's going to happen. "Just--just don't give Flynn anything else. Whatever happens, don't feed into it any more."

[zunesareawesome]

He still wants to, but after the last debacle, that desire to share things, to give things is tempered.

He nods, feeling chilled to the bone. He's already given so much.

"...okay. Yeah, I won't...I get it, I won't do it anymore."

[thewarningafter]

Stephen lets out a little sigh as he looks at Peter. He reaches a hand out to put on the other man's shoulder, his grip feeble but physical and solid. "This is going to pass, same as everything else," he says.

[zunesareawesome]

And that helps, quite a bit, because right now he's feeling so out of sorts and weird and just...everything seems wrong. But Stephen's reassurance makes all that badness kinda go away.

"...I hope so. How can you be so sure?"

[thewarningafter]

"It always does, eventually."

Translation: he isn't sure, at all. Eventually most things pass here...but not everyone's still alive and well by the time they do.