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 Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 4:38 pm
The crazed look instantly fell away from Jeddeth's face at the order, and he bowed his head.
"My apologies," he said peaceably, as though he hadn't been practically frothing at the mouth seconds earlier. The man, cursing vividly and with a very noticeable fearful tone, tried to get loose of Björn.
"Just let me be!" he said hurriedly. "I won't do nothin', I'll leave you alone, just let go!"
The man was in his mid-forties, very grizzled and with hair that had gone gray far too early. A scar twisted his upper lip, a jagged, vivid pink weal against the stark white of his face as he shied desperately away from Björn. It was an odd sight, especially since the man was rather well-muscled and of a decent height. He shouldn't have been so fearful, though it seemed now he was close to a nervous breakdown.
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Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 4:50 pm
"As my friend so eloquently put it," Björn said, leaning down so as to not be so imposing, "Calm your s**t down." He motioned to Ethan with his free hand.
"You came to save him from...what?"
"Yeah!" Liam piped up, needing to feel useful.
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Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 4:58 pm
Looking very ill, flinching involuntarily every time Björn moved, the man stared hard at the floor.
"We're bein' picked off," he said finally, rummaging in a back pocket for an abused pack of cigarettes. He lit one with a shaking hand and took a very long drag before continuing. "Not just one here or there. That wouldn't be unusual. A lot of us were ********' punks as it was. Out of one prison, into the next, didn't make any diff'rence. But it's not just one or two. It's methodical. They're-"
"Richard."
Richard's head snapped up. Ethan, his face ghostly pale, was staring at him as though he wasn't sure if he wasn't just having a particularly awful nightmare.
"'lo, Kris," Richard said, taking another jittery drag on his cigarette.
"I shot you."
Richard gave a coarse laugh.
"Remember what I always said, you couldn't aim to save your life?" he said, pointing idly at an ugly scar scored across one side of his neck.
Ethan gave a mute nod.
"Kid, you can't aim to save your life."
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Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 5:00 pm
Björn heaved another sigh. Here it goes again. He released this Richard character, whoever he was, plucked a pack of cigarettes from intangibility, removed one, lit up, and took a drag before speaking.
"Well, here we go again."
Liam fidgeted. Perhaps there was more to the torn corpse than he'd originally thought.
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Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 5:07 pm
"Go away."
Richard blinked.
"What?"
"Go away, Richard. Leave me alone."
"Kristof-"
Ethan stormed past Richard into the apartment, wrenching his arm out of reach as the other man tried to grab it.
"No."
Richard followed doggedly, looking utterly perplexed.
"Kristof, I came to-"
"Go back. Go away."
"Why are you-"
"NO!"
Richard flinched and took a step back. Ethan looked unaccountably angry.
"Leave me alone," he said in a low voice, jabbing at Richard's chest with a finger. Richard winced and took another step back. "I'm finally alright. I've gotten myself together again. You don't have any right to be here. I don't want to see you. LEAVE!"
It was Richard's turn to get angry.
"I came to help," he snapped. "Kristof, we're getting knocked off left an' right!"
"I'm safe here."
Richard gave a hoarse bark of laughter, glancing back into the hall.
"You're not safe," he said, looking back at Ethan. "This whole ********' world isn't safe."
"I'm safe here."
"Will you ********' listen to reason, god damn your soul!" Richard shouted. "When they come for you, they are going to open you up and tear you apart!"
Ethan stiffened, but didn't turn around, determinedly unpacking his school bag on the table.
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Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 5:12 pm
Björn leaned against the doorframe, still smoking calmly.
"No you're not," he snorted, "I wish you were, but...well, lookit it this way. Big ole' thing like me thought he was safe here. And then I up an' died. Ethan, I'd rather not have you end up dead."
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Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 5:21 pm
Ethan stood, breathing hard, shoulders hunched, bracing himself up on the table.
"I will not be any safer with another Brigader," he said coarsely. "Don't make me go."
Richard looked imploringly at Björn, silently encouraging him to make the kid see reason.
"Look," Richard said after a few minutes of silence, "It's not like it'll be forever. Just a couple months-"
Ethan gave a hissing sigh. Richard faltered, then continued.
"-a few months. Just until this blows over and they catch the ********. Didn't you hear on the news? They got every cop in the city working on this."
"With bang-up results."
"Don't get mouthy, ya ********' punk," Richard said coldly, severe anxiety making him mean. "I came out of my ******** way to come get you."
"Nepríjemný človek," Ethan replied under his breath. Richard flushed, catching the tone even if he didn't understand the insult.
Another uncomfortable silence spiraled in the room.
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Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 5:37 pm
This was not a time for arguing, clearly.
"Ethan, if you don't go with him, I will carry you out of this room." Christ, he hadn't heard himself sound like that since he'd grounded Damon.
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Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 5:46 pm
Ethan looked at Björn silently, then bowed his head in defeat.
"Fine," he said. Richard let out a long sigh of relief.
"Good. We're heading out tonight to a new hiding spot, my apartment's too conspicuous. We'll pick up Jared and the others, and we'll-"
"Where do you plan on going?"
Richard hesitated.
"Anywhere but here," he said frankly. Ethan, leaning against the wall with arms crossed, eyed the jade-plated skull that eyed him right back, laughing croakily.
"I have a better idea," he murmured. Richard bristled slightly.
"Out with it, then."
"How far do you want to go?" Ethan said, enjoying baiting Richard a little too much.
"As far as ********' possible."
"How about Berlin?"
Richard blinked.
"Berlin?"
Ethan nodded.
"There's a doorway," he said, "in Aekea. I don't know how it's even possible. But it leads into an old warehouse in Berlin. Far enough?"
Richard gave a nod.
"It'll do."
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Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 5:50 pm
Björn's eyes went wide.
"...Berlin?" Up until that point, he'd thought he was coming along. Now, he realized that perhaps he wasn't meant to. Oh well.
"I...uh. Good luck with that."
"Yeah."
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Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 5:54 pm
"Not asking you to come along for the whole ride," Richard said, taking a last drag on his cigarette and lighting up a new one. "Just until we get out to Aekea. We find this wonder door of Cebcharik's, and we're out of your hair."
There was a note of pleading in his voice he was trying to disguise, though it wasn't quite working.
"Please," Ethan added, very quietly. "Just to the warehouse. Please."
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Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 5:57 pm
Oh. Well then! Björn wasn't sure which was worse, not going at all, or only going fa enough to make sure Ethan was gone again?
"Alright. Sounds good," he said, righting himself from the doorframe.
"I'm coming too," Liam nodded.
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Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 6:06 pm
"Me too," Jeddeth piped up from the hallway. Richard blanched.
"NO. Absolutely not."
"Not the boss of me," Jeddeth said mildly. Richard turned to Ethan, about to protest, but Ethan silenced him.
"Don't," he said simply. Richard quieted, and shrugged.
"Pack a bag," he said shortly, going out into the hall. "Three minutes. Move."
Ethan obeyed, emptying his school bag of books and hurriedly shoving clothes into it. He put his school uniform jacket on again, buckling it closed with hands that trembled slightly. After a seconds thought, he grabbed one of his notebooks and hurriedly wrote a note to Crow and the others, taking five long minutes to explain.
"MOVE!"
"Coming," Ethan snapped, shouldering his bag and leaving the apartment, head bowed. Jeddeth trailed along after him like a lanky shadow, looking at Liam and Björn mildly over his shoulder, beckoning them to follow.
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Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 6:11 pm
And the odd pair did follow. of course. When you saved a being from certain death or had been forced to watch him suffer through it, you were never quite ready to just send them off to...Berlin, for example.
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Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 6:16 pm
To call Richard's van decrepit would be a kindness. It looked rather like a rusted metal barrel that someone had haphazardly strapped wheels to, just to see if it could pull off looking like a car.
"Hmm," Ethan said. Richard gave him an absent smack upside the head.
"Don't get mouthy," he said wearily. Jeddeth gave a tiny growl, and Richard thought twice about giving Ethan another smack as the teen snorted derisively in response. "Well, c'mon. It looks like s**t but it runs alright. Big enough to fit you in too," he added, glancing at Björn. "Provided you curl up into an upright fetal position."
Ethan clambered into the front, and Jeddeth bounded into the back of the van like an overexcited puppy.
"Never been in a car," he said eagerly. "Go fast, go fast!"
"Not unless you want to careen down the road in a fiery metal deathtrap," Richard replied, wrenching the driver's side door open and climbing in.
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