[PRP] Broken Glass (Lucky + Caelius)

[Molten Tigrex]

It had been strange not having Caelius around - at least, not as his usual, adult self - and by this point Lucky had built up a considerable amount of questions that only the death lead could possibly answer. No one had come after him about the jar, or anything else - yet. But maybe Caelius didn't know he'd survived...

Was talking to him worth the risk? Probably not. Maybe it wasn't too late for Lucky to change his name, dye his hair, get contact lenses, and go into hiding in another division. Forever.

Lucky waited outside the closed death office door a few minutes longer, idly raking a few fingers across his shirt if scratching a phantom itch where his heart was. Where there should have been scars, there was nothing. No sign he had died of crystals, vines, or anything else, no matter how vividly he remembered all of it. There had to be more to this. And it felt like he was so close now to finally stopping Charlotte --

He sighed heavily and knocked on the door. He'd just died almost ten times, what could be worse than that?

zoobey

 

[Zoobey]

"Lucky was sighing heavily as he knocked on the door," narrated Oz in a very flat tone as the door slowly opened to reveal him on the other side, "he wasn't too sure if he should openly admit how terrible a person he was to Oz, but it was too late. Oz was already seeing someone else, having wiped Lucky from his memory." A pause as he just stared up at Lucky. "There was a moment of unrequited sexual tension between the two. It was terrible."

xMolten Tigrex

 

[Molten Tigrex]

"What? No - what -" Lucky grabbed at the door from the other side, before Oz had a chance to slam it in his face. "Stop that - that is not what's happening -"

zoobey

 

[Zoobey]

Oz pushed the door more closed with quite firm resistance just as Lucky was trying to open it. What resulted was a tug-of-war -

- Until Oz simply let go of the door and let Lucky topple inside. He then switched direction with the other and closed the door behind him on the way out.

Mark was sleeping on his desk, as per usual, and for some reason he looked a lot rattier than usual, as if he had just run through five sudden tropical storms, and the Death lead was working on what looked like a newer map, one that took up almost the entire desk.

Molten Tigrex

 

[Molten Tigrex]

Lucky landed on the floor of the inside of the office, and had just enough time to give Oz a look over one shoulder before the door shut.

But as he turned back to the rest of the room, the sight of Caelius had him scrambling back to his feet. He still couldn't quite get the juxtaposition of Caelius and Carl out of his mind - it had always been near-impossible to imagine the death lead as anything but a cold and efficient machine. Somehow, knowing somewhere deep down the man had the capacity to be a normal teenager just made it seem worse.

He spared Mark one quick look - he looked like he was out cold, and very weirdly sweaty. Good. Great, even. The last thing he wanted to do right now was look Mark in the eye after he'd drawn his weapon at Lucky. Maybe he could make this quick. Super quick. Yeah.

"Um, sir - I have some - some questions, and -" Lucky took a few careful steps toward Caelius's desk. The huge swath of paper he was working on, upon closer inspection, looked more like a map. Lucky stopped very suddenly, only a step or two short of actually being across the desk. "Er - I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

zoobey

 

[Zoobey]

"Yes you are interrupting." Somehow this was a sentence, and it was notably noted that the windows were open, probably to fan out some of Mark's smell. Probably.

About two minutes later the Death lead finally looked up, arms folded slightly over said map. "If this is about your inability to safeguard objects far beyond your level of competence, Samuel has already explained your situation. While I highly doubt legacy influence can be claimed for your every negligent action you make, it is a better justification than having to even spend ******** time thinking of consequences."

Molten Tigrex

 

[Molten Tigrex]

Lucky just stood there for the full two minutes, unsure of which was worse - staying, or trying to leave. His expression was pretty much an open book at this point.

"Oh - did he? Um." He realized he'd been holding his breath for part of that. Lucky had been bracing himself for something a little... worse. This was surprisingly generous for Caelius. Lucky owed Samuel one. Or ten. Or a million. Though maybe next time he wouldn't have to die horribly to escape Caelius's wrath. "Right. Sorry. I won't let it happen again..."

"Actually, the reason I came here was about - there was this eye -" He was a sentence in and already starting to panic internally. This was all a terrible idea and he regretted it instantly. "Or, well, that's what the thing was calling it. The - the Creation... vine... person. It even - it sort of looked like me? But with - with no eyes. It killed me. A lot. Only I wasn't dying, that eye was healing me, or something? And, uh, it wanted the eye, and, well, it... took it... out of my heart -"

He figured if he kept talking maybe that detail would be glossed over. "Um. Uh. So. Mark said you knew what it was? Why did - do you know why I had it? Or what that thing needed it for? It was still asking for another, before uh, Mark chased it off."

zoobey

 

[Zoobey]

He just looked at Lucky very evenly for a moment much longer than any awkward second, or two, or ten.

"You rejected the eye." The Death lead spoke slowly, as if explaining this to a five-year old. "Any contamination you gained and immunity as a result has been rescinded with your careless decision."

Molten Tigrex

 

[Molten Tigrex]

Lucky weathered the gaze as best he could, though the sheer amount of disappointment radiating off of Caelius was causing him to question his whole reality now. "But - legacy influence is bad. Isn't it?"

No. He needed more answers than that. Especially if there was still another eye - he couldn't even begin to guess who was behind this still. He finally stepped a little closer to the desk. "Can we - can we back this up to when I got contaminated in the first place? When did I accept something like that in the first place? And then - not remember it at all...?"

zoobey

 

[Zoobey]

"While it's ******** flattering for you to think so highly of yourself, there was nothing you personally did that you could have chose." He lost interest in eye contact and went back to work. "You were a byproduct, though Samantha's interest in you has made you a unreliably susceptible liability in any given time or situation."

This long awkward pause again as he just continued working. It was flash raining again outside, some of the water trickling through the open windows. "What do you consider your most defining accomplishment."

Molten Tigrex

 

[Molten Tigrex]

"Oh, well, that's a relief," he observed, just slightly sarcastically, talking to fill the uncomfortable silence. He thought a bit longer and suddenly reconsidered. "Wait, what do you mean byproduct?"

"Er." The death lead's question definitely caught him off guard. Lucky wracked his brain for something, anything, that sounded like an answer worth his time. The seconds felt like weeks. At least Caelius was focused on his cartography work, sparing Lucky a judgmental gaze. "I don't - uh -"

The truth was that in pursuit of knowledge, Lucky had very little to tangibly show for his efforts. For all that he had observed and collected, he rarely acted.

"Well, um. I've given you years of - of intelligence, on Samantha and her organization," Lucky admitted in a somewhat defeated tone. He instantly regretted it. It certainly didn't sound as impressive once he said it aloud - didn't other people pull of daring rescues and powerful artifact retrievals and stuff like that? No wonder Caelius didn't even want to look at him. "I take this job seriously. Sir."

zoobey

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER T__T

 

[Zoobey]

"And what," asked the Death lead in all his finite patience, "happens to people with limited power pursing years of intelligence."

Molten Tigrex