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 Posted: Fri Aug 04, 2017 8:39 pm
"What did you-- You bit him?" Hale glanced towards his arm, the large fresh wound causing blood to slowly flow down his forearm. Really, Julian? Odin being the one who got bit? Clearly Hale was leaving this situation with the worst of it. Once Adam was finished with the wolf he’d use the caim to get that familiar welt in his skin which would slowly fill out over the next few weeks as his body regenerated the damaged muscle. The ghoul was familiar with damaged body parts by now, so that was nothing to worry about.
Hale had already removed himself from Odin’s vicinity by now. He had to in order for the guard to feel like the situation wasn’t one worth addressing. It was long done with by now. That left Hale with his arm wrapping around Julian’s shoulder and snaking a firm grip that didn’t stop until his hand was resting against Julian’s chest. It was easy enough guiding the ink mage away since he didn’t have much of a fight in him. The boy seemed to just do as he was told, waiting for Odin to come save him time after time. If Hale remembered correctly, that was exactly what happened in the showers as well. Not so much as a single yelp from either of the boys. All of them seemed to freeze up when there was confrontation. Hale was shocked to see that even Odin hadn’t so much as fought against the advesper’s familiar once it had him pinned to the wall. He had expected Odin to knock the thing to the side and go charging right in. Maybe the wolf didn’t understand prison threats yet. When someone wanted you dead, they did it quickly without asking permission. When someone wanted cooperation, they used threats and bluffs piled upon one another.
… Speaking of threats.
Hale finally made it to the far side of the yard where he finally turned around, leaning back against the fence that keep them trapped in. Julian, of course, forced with Hale since the boy was still tied tightly to his side. Hale couldn’t have Julian running off. Honestly, the last thing he wanted was to have to punish the kid for trying to be some ballsy ********. This wasn’t about that. Hale wasn’t looking to escalate things. ”... Are you going to kill me?” Julian asked as Hale’s eyes were locked onto Adam and Odin. His focus on the situation on the other side of the yard was completely broken as he burst into a small chuckle, covering his mouth with his free hand.
”You playing cute on purpose?” Hale asked, wondering if maybe that’s how Julian got through. Acting so naive and clueless that he wouldn’t be able to survive a damn day on his own. Maybe that was why Odin felt so attached to him. Would threaten to kill for him. Hale had watched a lot of methods over the years, but playing stupid and playing naive and depending on someone to be your soul protection didn’t work well. One person couldn’t be with you all times of the day. One person couldn’t defend you against a pack. One person couldn’t negotiate and offer enough things to the other prisoners to make sure you were on enough of the population’s good side. You know what happened when you put all your eggs into one basket? The basket starts to sell off eggs to keep both your heads above water. Hale knew that better than anyone. Julian didn’t seem to understand their little trio was a joke. An inconvenience since nobody wanted to deal with the werewolf’s temper… But eventually, someone would build the balls. They already saw how quickly the werewolf could get taken down. They already saw how quickly the werewolf would turn on his own. They were already well aware they’d probably be dead without Hale intervening. Hale was the only person in this place who could keep the demons off their backs. And he was willing.
Slowly, his arm untethered from around Julian’s body. He pushed off the fence, a couple fingers knotting through the loops. Half his body was used to block Julian’s path in order to be sure the boy still wouldn’t run successfully if he tried. ”So… How many weeks do you think you have left?” Hale asked, his words balancing through the air as though they were suspended by nothing more than shallow strings. ”I mean really. Let’s think about this for a second.” Hale nodded towards Odin’s direction. ”A fae that anyone would be happy to have a piece of.” Because too many people knew about Leon’s dust. The alchemists advertised it high and low. It no longer was used in unison with enchantments, but it sure as s**t was still heavily coveted. ”A twink that anyone would be happy to have a piece of.” His tone different, dramatically shifting to lay emphasis on the different type of piece prisoners would want. Julian already had to have known he was beautiful. ”And a werewolf who is nothing more than a loner as his core.” Just like they all were. Worse than ghouls, even. Ghouls at least fell into packs. Hale at least had his brothers. But Odin? He was already judging the werewolf, using all the stereotypes to assume a werewolf who ended up in prison never had family. Never had friends. Never learned relationships. He probably lived off beating and eating people just like Hale. The ghoul tilted his head as he leaned a little closer to Julian.
”Now let’s be honest. All of you won’t make it out alive.” Hale told the boy. ”A man like Odin needs to be taken out so he’s no longer a threat, or become an alley so he can do damage for you.” He was making eye contact with Julian. Real eye contact. Probably the first proper form of interaction the poor boy had since he was locked in this hellhole. ”That’s all anyone thinks about him. I hear all the rumors passed around the cafeteria tables. Nothing gets past me.” He already knew about Hotts. Taylor and the bruises had confirmed enough of that mess for him. ”I’m not looking to cause trouble for you, Jules. But your troubles are quickly becoming mine. And we need to find a way to handle this. Odin… He’s...” Hale slowly shifted to glance over at the few. ”Obviously not the sharpest tool in the shed.” Hale explained as he turned his attention back to Julian, the boy left in the limelight. ”Now… Why don’t you explain to me what terms we’re on right now.” Hale slowly brought his finger to his neck, slowly dragging it along as he leaned over Julian, taking away the extra space they had between them. ”Do I need to remove Odin so he’s not a threat? Or are you gonna promise me you’ll make sure he doesn’t fall in with the wrong crowd? The wrong crowd, of course, being the people who have it out for me.” Which was a serious question that he knew Julian couldn’t promise. They weren’t safe. They couldn’t be. Hale just needed Julian to be aware of that.
People would constantly be harassing them, tormenting, torturing them. Prisoners had a use for a wolf like that. Prisoners had a use for a fae like that. Eventually that need would present itself and anyone with half a brain would take the opportunity to use what they need in order to gain power. Hale wasn’t going to let anyone get that power. He was the only person who could keep that trio alive by adopting them as his protected guests. Allowing them to exist within his prison without harassment. Hale was everyone Julian needed all wrapped up in one neat little package.
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Posted: Sat Aug 05, 2017 3:18 pm
 
 The words had come out of him before he really thought about them, a product of the lurching nausea he'd felt when he'd first glimpsed that finger wrapped in plastic. Fear had been with him since that moment, fever bright in his eyes if he'd ever lifted them long enough for anyone to see. It wove a tight band around his chest and squeezed, snared him, made each breath feel like it had to be fought for. And that was before Odin's temper spiked, and the mage was left gagging and choking and heaving with the thick residue of blood and card wax on his tongue. Everything happened so fast. My, people come and go so quickly here. But Julian, with his cracked skull and his anxious heart trying to hammer around the ink running sluggish in his veins, still wasn't addled enough to feel the weight of Hale's arm over his shoulders and think comfort. The ghoul was bleeding, but that was the other arm, the opposite of the one that coiled over and around the smaller male like a creeper vine. From a distance it probably looked companionable, even with the azurette's head tipped forward to stare at his own feet. Arms locked in that perpetual abdominal cradle, as if his guts would come tumbling out otherwise. From far away, it probably seemed like Hale was trying to make him feel better, but everything was just angles, like in the Reichenbach Fall. Don't look away for a second. But Julian spent most of his waking moments looking away. Seeing from the peripheral. Reading from the things he didn't see. And what he didn't see was cover. What he didn't see was plausible deniability. Even before the ravenette laughed at him, he felt foolish.
It had been the fear talking. That bile-raising, shock-inducing fear that had raised its head with that first glimpse of meat in a bloody plastic wrapping. The fingernail. That was what did it. Seeing someone's fingernail still attached. Oh God. And he'd almost thought he was fine. Could be fine. Could just focus on getting rid of it and discuss it with Odin later, in the dark, when the blonde was calm and sated and they were close. But things had gone so horribly, horribly wrong. The corner of his mouth was stinging, the little cut there yowling even louder than the scratched back of his throat, the way harmless injuries usually do. Odin hadn't hurt him, not really. Not badly. He hadn't meant to. He was just angry. Odin got angry. That was something he did. But he was careful. He never hurt the inkwell.
He was already trying, desperately, to reframe it all in his head. But the niggling thought was there, bright and stinging, like the cut at the corner of his mouth. Would he have stopped? Would he, if Hale didn't go barreling into him, if Hale didn't bite him? Was this the time that it would have gone too far? Or was that the first time, when Odin's hand came out of the dark and dragged him down from his bunk? Had things just started out on such an uneven keel that vertigo felt like equilibrium? Julian's gaze lifted slowly, but not to the ghoul. His attention crawled back across the yard, a kicked dog, to rest on Odin's too-quiet, too-still shape. There should have been fear in that look, but maybe the mage was too stupid for it. The only thing reflected there was a kind of bewildered, hurt resolve. It was his fault. He wasn't clear with Leon about what he meant. Julian was the one who put them all in this situation. His eyes flicked to the fairy and rested there. Anguish. Apology.
You playing cute on purpose?
The azurette squirmed under the arm that kept him in place, all the more uncomfortable. It wasn't a thing he'd wanted to be even before prison, but here it wasn't just a superficial issue. Here, "cute" was how a person wound up like Cedric. Or like Leon, as unkind as that thought felt. The fairy had always been delicate, and pale, and soft in an aristocratic way. In the years he'd been trapped here, his friend had learned to barter what he had to offer, and take whatever escapes he could find in pills or powders. Julian could still picture the bites that bracketed the ivorette's shoulders and throat-- shallow punctures and pressure bruises in the elongated shape of a muzzle. A shifted metamorphoses had done that to him, but how shifted, the inkwell never wanted to ask. He didn't want to think about it, for a lot of reasons.
"I'm not."
The words were an empty husk, drawn out of his abused throat. Not cute, not pretending to be cute, not anything. Except tense under Hale's arm, and still tense even when it was removed, because he knew that it made no difference. He still wasn't allowed to leave. The ghoul couldn't kill him, not here in the mostly-empty yard with a guard on watch, no matter what the back of Julian's mind wanted to say about it. But hurting the mage-- that was altogether possible. After what he'd done about their delivery, after going expressly against what he'd been told, that was probably unavoidable. But what about Leon? What about Odin?
So… How many weeks do you think you have left?
It wasn't what he'd expected Hale to say, and his head turned slightly, watching the ghoul from the corner of his eye instead of staring across the yard at Leo. There was a beat of silence, but the ravenette continued on, and Julian didn't interrupt. It was rhetorical. How could it be otherwise, when it didn't matter either way what the inkwell thought? And it didn't. Hale laid out the particulars with all the sharp rationality of an accountant tallying figures, and Julian's expression only grew more troubled as he estimated the worth of each of them. He'd done it himself, countless times, trying to determine what he could do to be more helpful. But somehow, knowing that his body was the only thing he could offer Odin, and having it stated so bluntly as a resource.. They were two different things. One was, at least usually, embarrassing but comforting. The other made his skin crawl, so that when the ghoul leaned toward him, Julian retreated as far as the fence would let him.
Now let’s be honest. All of you won’t make it out alive.
Even in the mage's narrow experience, let's be honest was a phrase people bandied when they wanted you to believe that what they were saying was for your own good. They were being tough, but you needed to listen, because they were also being fair. Which meant that the people saying it were rarely being honest. It was the pressure that was important. And then the fear. Who wouldn't be afraid of that ultimatum? All of you won't make it out alive. Why not? Because Hale could hurt them, or Hale could help them. That was what it boiled down to, wasn't it? The azurette's head turned slowly, as though looking the older man in the face was foreign to him after so many months of watching the floor, only lifting his gaze when it was important. But the fear in his eyes was on the ebb, too, replaced by something else. It was an assessing look, belonging more to the Julian of Before than the Julian of Now.
A man like Odin needs to be taken out so he’s no longer a threat, or become an ally so he can do damage for you.
The yellow eyes narrowed just the tiniest fraction, but the change wasn't marked by any words. Eye contact or not, this wasn't a conversation. This was a pitch. Hale was saying to him the same thing Julian had told Odin, what felt like ages ago. What they'll want from you is different than what they'll want from me. The werewolf had a strength that seemed effortless. The azurette never doubted that it was something that gangs within the prison would covet, if they could harness it. But Julian had lain in the crosshairs of the blonde's temper just a minute ago. He'd stepped too far aside and found himself outside the eye of the storm. All any of the rest of them seemed to see was an asset to be controlled or destroyed. Hale thought Odin was stupid and brutish, that no one in the world cared about him. So there were some things, still, that managed to get past the ghoul, no matter what he boasted.
I’m not looking to cause trouble for you, Jules. Establishment of good intent. Familiarity. Your troubles are quickly becoming mine. Assignment of onus. We need to find a way to handle this. Alignment of purpose. Solidarity. There was even a parting jab at Odin, who'd knocked the mage to the dirt. It was probably a gauge. Was Julian resentful? What did he think of the werewolf? And through it all, the azurette was only silent, staring back at the ghoul in that pensive way, head slightly cocked. It was easy to mistake that gaze for confusion, or a questioning, instead of what it was.
Why don’t you explain to me what terms we’re on right now.
But Julian waited. He waited, because he knew Hale wasn't done. There would be choices, or the illusions of choices. You can do this thing, or you can do that thing. But both options were predetermined, and the reactions to those choices were already considered beforehand. It was like dealing with his father. Except that John St Jude wouldn't have taken bites out of him if Julian gave an answer he didn't like. The touch at his throat was the same kind of crawling, insinuative contact that Hotts had used once, and the azurette shivered under it, uncomfortable. A small sound left him as he tried to slip aside, along the fence, so that Hale's frame couldn't curl above him. The mage, more than anything, didn't want the little space between them to close completely. He knew how that went. The shapeshifter had already done it, and there were times in the middle of his nightmares that Julian could still feel that tongue delving into his mouth. Until it turned to maggots, choking him awake.
Do I need to remove Odin so he’s not a threat? Or are you gonna promise me you’ll make sure he doesn’t fall in with the wrong crowd?
"..None of that is necessary."
It was as close as he could come to turning the ghoul down flat. The words were careful, measured, quiet. They had to be, or they could be mistaken as an insult.
"I thought.. that you were trying to get him in trouble. Get him sent to the SHU.. I don't know.."
It was an abrupt shift, but it was the only way he'd ever learned to deal with his father's high-pressure method of communication. It was the only thing he could default to when he was faced with it again in a very different set of circumstances. He nodded toward the wound on the ghoul's forearm, where a chunk of flesh was missing.
"But if that was what you wanted, you wouldn't have bitten yourself. Why are you telling me to control what Odin does..when you're already trying to..?"
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Posted: Sat Aug 12, 2017 8:10 pm
"..None of that is necessary." Was that so? Hale wanted to start mocking Julian, causing the boy grief and worry. His gears started turning the second Julian explained that he thought Hale was using the finger in order to punish Odin. It was odd. All of it was odd. People like Julian weren’t supposed to care if Odin got thrown in SHU. He was already a protected class. If anyone ******** with either of Odin’s belongings they’d answer to him the second he got out. It would only be a week or two max. They couldn’t keep single inmates in for long periods of time or they took up too much room and they wouldn’t be able to push more misbehaving inmates in. SHU was for the inmates who constantly gave the prison guards grief. It wasn’t usually home to first time offenders.
The reality of the situation, well, it became clear to Hale that Julian wasn’t a belonging at that point. It was nothing less than an actual relationship. The two of them trying to watch each other’s backs. The two worrying what happened to one another. Julian was the one playing Odin like a fiddle, plucking his strings in just the right combination of notes. If Hale could just tune Julian in the right key he’d have a perfect combination. None of this had to be sloppy in the slightest.
"But if that was what you wanted, you wouldn't have bitten yourself. Why are you telling me to control what Odin does..when you're already trying to..?"”
Hale rolled his eyes to the side. ”Odin is a naive child even compared to you. How long have you been hiding in the sewers like the rat you are? Scavenging on scraps hoping the other inmates don’t squash you like a bug. How many times has someone touched you without permission? I already know you’ve been hiding in the shadows all this time barely getting by.” Hale’s head nodded towards Odin roughly. ”Then he shows up. First dibs. You found your little gem to hide behind but you know as well as me that he’s an absolute naive moron when it comes to the way things work in here. Nobody gets to walk around without paying their dues. Nobody gets to keep their head down and get through clean if someone finds a use for them. And him? You honestly think that will be given permission to prance around the prison at his own free will without paying his dues? You don’t think somebody will find a use for him?”
Hale’s attention moved towards the prison yard. Plenty of inmates have trickled out by this point, a few more guards as well. Adam was calmly sitting beside Odin, his hand behind his back as he held the werewolf’s hand out of sight. None of the guards needed to know the caim was using any abilities or powers. Nobody needed to know Odin had been bit. He was taking a simple nap. He was resting. That was all it looked like. Hale’s gaze didn’t stop until it landed near that damned area the alchemists used to always scamper off to. Now it looked like a ghost town, only a few worried survivors chatting in their space. They were sheep at this point waiting to be picked off. Ever since Pike left Hale had watched more and more alchemists start to cut deals with the vampires. He knew what was going to happen. Blood based drugs. They’d try to push something strong out that would easily hook plenty of Hale’s guys. He was four steps ahead of everyone already. He would set down rules that only an idiot would be willing to try and break. He would find alternatives readily available for his gang members if they had an itch that only drugs could scratch. But like hell would he let his men fall victim to the vampires. Hale wasn’t going to let them get any prison power back. He wasn’t going to fall victim to them.
”Who do you prefer to have Odin fall victim to? Perhaps the vampires can use you and Peter Pan over there as blood bags. Force Odin to carry out their demands or they’ll turn him to one too.” But that wasn’t scary enough. Being one of the sickly blood bags who wandered the prison wasn’t that bad. They rarely died of malnourishment. There was only a small handful of blood bags Hale watched waste away into their graves over his entire sentence. ”Oh, no. That would be foolish. Isn’t it Odin’s fault the alchemists are destroyed? Surely they’ll be looking for revenge. They’ve already got his last name. I wonder how quickly it would take for one to find his parents. His sister. Corner her on her way to work and kill her in the back of some alleyway. Leave her body in a dumpster. That might be too nice. Could take her and keep her tied up in one of their livingrooms for anyone to use within a moment’s notice. Keep her alive until she’s begging them to kill her and only after she’s had every ounce of fight worked out of her would they throw her from the roof.” Hale wanted to drill it into Julian’s head. They weren’t safe. Three wasn’t safe. They were helpless fish in the middle of an ocean surrounded by sharks. Hale wasn’t a brute. He was the dolphin willing to swoop in and ward them off.
”Or maybe it will be Hotts. We’ve all seen the busted face. That will be permanent. Odin ruined his face forever. Do you know what I would do to someone who ruined my face forever?” He leaned over Julian bringing his head down as he made himself sink to eye level with the ink mage. ”I would slice off both their ears and cut holes in their cheeks large enough to sew their ears into their face.” His fingers clamped around the sides of Julian’s head as he felt for the mage’s ears. ”And you honestly believe Hotts will let this all fly free? I once watched that man stab a fork into another inmate’s eye socket over a piece of toast.” Hale released Julian’s ears, giving the mage his space again. Julian had to have gotten the point by now. He had to understand how foolish Odin was, scrambling around making enemies with everyone the damn werewolf tried to interact with. Odin wasn’t made for prison. He was the noobie between the four of them. Hale and Leon have had plenty of time to adjust to the environment. Julian had lingered so long that he preferred to protect his rapist in hopes that the man would in return protect him.
”Us three, we’ve been in here long enough that we’re past the point of no return. There is no fixing you or me. There is no fixing your little fairy friend.” He spoke slowly really letting the words sink into Julian’s head. He understood the ink mage to some degree even if Julian didn’t want to admit it. ”We will never leave prison and be able to go back to our lives. We’ve already sold our souls.” He didn’t budge as he said it. ”Odin is the only one who still has those pieces in tact. Everyone can watch that man bouncing about from one spot to the next stumbling around like a child trying to make sense of the world. One day he’s going to have to pay his price.” There was a short hesitation as Hale tried to word his next sentence carefully.
”Or someone will have to pay it for him.”
Which Julian and Leon could do in plenty of ways. Plenty of terrible ways. Hale had watched people offer their bodies up to try and protect their friends. He had watched inmates take stabs and punches for their families. He had watched inmates take shots and the blame for crimes to protect their cellmates. Julian was watching Odin’s back because didn’t want the man to get punished. ”You aren’t interested in belonging to Odin. There’s no reason to sell yourself to someone who will just ******** you all in the end. You are a smart boy. Smart enough to know he won’t keep you safe. That he can’t. He doesn’t have the resources to remotely keep himself safe. Let alone you.” Hale promised the boy. The path Odin was taking was a destructive one that would have plenty of casualties along the way. Julian would be the one paying the price repeatedly. ”Why belong to a naive new inmate like him when you could belong to a monster like me?” His fingers found their way to either side of Julian’s head as he wrapped them in the fence holes.
”I have the ability to keep you safe. I have the ability to keep Odin’s soul in tact. But I cannot keep my enemies from taking Odin for themselves unless I have you there to betray him. I need to know who he speaks to and when. I need to know if anyone so much as looks at him for longer than a glance. He’s not smart enough to make his own deals and moves. I will scare them away before he can whisper any promises in their ear.” And that deal was more than fair. ”I want to own you just so you can stay with him. We will both get what we want as long as you promise me you’ll betray him every waking moment. I will make sure you three are left alone. I am the only person who has that ability and can do you the favor.” And Julian would be a fool to claim otherwise. It was exactly what Julian wanted. Hale had to make sure Julian knew nothing would change. So he repeated himself: "You don't want to belong to Odin. You just want to be with him." Hale said.
”Now are you going to help me keep you safe, or am I going to have to destroy that threat over there before he has a chance to destroy me later down the line?” tab
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Posted: Tue Aug 15, 2017 5:32 pm
The ghoul was good at this. He would have to be, to keep his group positioned above the other prison gangs. It wasn't only about being imposing, or keeping a defensible structure intact. Nobody could maintain control-- of any kind-- unless they understood leverage. Fulcrum and weight. Hale moved his mouth a lot, threw casual insults in a way that said he didn't expect to be challenged or questioned. It was unnerving for all the reasons that it should be, underlining Julian's role as a powerless, infantile possession, incapable of looking after himself. Painting Odin as a bumbling miscreant whose only possible function was to be a defensive structure. Hale spoke with a decisive certainty that said he'd figured all these things out a long, long time ago. Everyone else was stupid and weak and just a cog that would eventually be fitted into the machine, and the ghoul could find them good places where they wouldn't be ground down against larger gears with bigger teeth, if.
In another life, Julian might have spoken up sooner. Might have argued that his opinions were based on a skewed perception. Might have asked how long he'd been stuck inside these walls, and who'd taught him all these horrible things. But a person didn't need a prison sentence to have a degree in pushing people around. The inkwell's father had never served a day, and yet the tactics he'd used in trying to push Julian down the path prepared for him were startlingly similar. Well, once all the prison politics were removed from the equation.
Lesson the First: You are nothing. You will always be nothing. Anything you care about, anything you value, anything you hope one day to be-- also nothing. Only through me will you ever be anything, and only if you do exactly what I tell you, because I know more than you ever will, and I am more than you will ever be. Any deviation from the rules as I enumerate them will only cause suffering. You will lose everything. You will know pain. You will know degradation. And any who associate with you? It will be worse for them, because it's them you value, isn't it? And why is that? Oh, it's because you already know. You are nothing.
Julian stood in silence, which really wasn't any different from the way he'd spent every day he'd served so far. The difference was that the mind inside his cracked skull raced even while his mouth stayed still. Hale had a rhythm. It was in the way he presented things. Like an archaeologist working their way down toward a significant find, he pummeled the top layer of earth aside, heavy-handed-- naive child.. like the rat you are..use you as blood bags. But the closer he got to the subject he really wanted, the more carefully he dissected it from the resulting silt. You don’t think somebody will find a use for him? No, of course Julian knew someone would. Even before the ghoul mentioned Hotts, that was where the inkwell's mind turned.
Hands that went sharp, and that broken face. It wasn't just Hale's proximity that made the azurette uncomfortable as the ghoul leaned closer. He flinched under the sudden hold on his ears, for a moment sure that Hale would illustrate his threat. But it was an example. And it had served its purpose. More than the other worst-case-scenarios the older man was painting, the possibility-- no, the probability-- that Hotts would eventually get around to seeking revenge settled at the center of Julian's chest like a lead weight. Because he'd been on the receiving end of that anger, had looked out through the bars at the rest of the block, knowing what was going to happen, knowing that those razor-edged fingers could slice him apart little by little, or stab into him and twist, vicious. And the rest of them would just stand there and watch.
Except Odin.
The rest of them might never understand. It was clear, from the things Hale had said so far, that he didn't. How could he? There was no way for the ghoul to understand that the werewolf, for all his faults, and his tightrope-over-flaming-chainsaws temper, belonged to a very small, very select group of people. So many times, the inkwell had gladly lain down to let others walk across him. For their happiness, or their needs, or their safety. He would rather suffer. He'd been prepared to suffer. Odin agreed to let him suffer. But when the time came, and the blonde heard him suffering, he wouldn't allow it. And that was what Julian clung to. That was what he remembered. Even more than guilt, there was a desperate kind of gratitude. Because Hale was right. When his sentence was over, when he was released, Julian St Jude wouldn't be the same person he'd been before. But Odin, in his own way, despite everything, kept that from getting worse.
One day he’s going to have to pay his price.
Or someone will have to pay it for him.
Even the inkwell could see where the hook was set. Even he understood that the fulcrum was here, and that the ghoul would apply counterweight soon. You are worthless and damaged, and all of these things can happen to make everything you already thought was horrible that much worse, but I have the answer. Of course he did. Because he was another person who had a use for Odin. That was what this was really about. What all of it had been about, somehow. The situation in the showers, and although Julian didn't understand how, the meat. All of it was--
You aren’t interested in belonging to Odin.
His eyes jumped back to the ghoul, and there was confusion on his face. Not just the average beaten-dog discomfort, but a real expression. It said very plainly that Hale had surprised him. That what he'd thought was happening here had taken a very sharp turn and now the azurette wasn't sure where he was. Worse, Hale's hands were laced in the metal lattice of the fence, and it turned the ghoul's larger frame into a cage.
Why belong to a naive new inmate like him when you could belong to a monster like me?
"I-- What..?" Came the oh-so-intelligent murmur, the inkwell's attention jumping back and forth from one of Hale's eyes to the other, like behind one of them he might find some clue as to what the older man was actually saying to him. There was no way that what the ravenette wanted was for Julian to just trade hands. But from the way Hale painted it,
his was the power and his was the glory. Odin's very soul could be saved.
The other groups couldn't take Odin for themselves--
There it was. The way people sometimes gave away their purpose with just word usage. Take, implying that Odin was already planned elsewhere.
It had been confusing before, to go from being called a rat to suddenly being a smart boy, but the rest wasn't quite as much an about-face. Betray him, Hale said. Betray Odin to help Odin. And not just Odin, but Leon.
"..I don't want to belong to anyone." The words were a sigh, and he looked away. It was the truth. In his entire life, he'd only felt revulsion at the idea of people owning other people. But.. being with Odin. Was that what it was? What he really wanted? He didn't even have time to consider it. Not right now. "..And I don't want to betray anyone.."
But there were so many lines in the proverbial sand that he'd already crossed, or watched Odin cross for him. So many that Leon had to have been pushed past by now, stuck here for so many years. They were both suffering because of him, almost all of the time. And here he was, still clinging stubbornly to his own slowly sinking moral high ground, trying to delude himself that he was still the same person, when already that wasn't true. He looked tired, more than anything. Weary.
"..But more than that, I don't want them hurt. Either of them. Odin isn't a threat.. And Leo.. He isn't a resource. They're people. " And the azurette looked past the ghoul's shoulder, eyes resting on the fairy, and the prone figure of the werewolf. Adam was there, kneeling, just casually maintaining contact with Odin. It was strange. Not a restraining touch, but.. Familiar. Julian had seen it somewhere before, but couldn't quite put his finger on it. Another thought for another time. "..And I know what you think, but they aren't stupid people. If I.. do this thing. If I do what you want me to do. Odin would notice. Leon would notice. Wandering away or writing you notes, they would see. "
But would they? Julian already knew what would be the best way, the most private way, for him to send messages within the prison's walls. His attention dropped to the ghoul's arm, to the bite Hale had taken out of himself. It looked painful, and why shouldn't it be? All the while through the older man's monologue, the azurette had been able to see them. The sharply pointed teeth that lined Hale's mouth for what looked like miles. Had he been the one to lop off Cedric's finger, or had that been one of the others? God, was he really considering working for someone who did things like that?
"..Even if they didn't.. It's.. hard for me to believe that all you want is to keep Odin out of play."
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Posted: Tue Aug 15, 2017 6:17 pm
"You don't want to belong to anyone?" Hale's right eyebrow curved as the left tightened in sharp towards his eye. "That's manageable. I will keep the wolf away from you. Until then I expect your cooperation." Although there the boy was claiming he didn't want to betray anyone as well. How? How can someone be so selfish after being in prison for too long? Was Julian honestly going to try and get away without compromising with the ghoul? Surely the ink mage had to know how stupid that was.
"Wandering away or writing you notes, they would see."
Another sharp laugh left Hale's mouth. "I think you are misunderstanding." He stated. "You'll have plenty of time to tell me while I'm protecting your little friends when Odin is bedridden." He glanced towards the sky. "Which is coming soon, hm? He should be pretty easy to smother with a pillow when he's too weak to stand." Which might have been a threat, or a simple point Hale was using in order to paint a better picture for the mage. It could be so simple for something terrible to happen to the group of three. They were vulnerable as ******** just after the moon. tab
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Posted: Tue Aug 15, 2017 7:13 pm
"..That isn't what I meant."
The inkwell wasn't sure how Hale thought he could go about keeping Odin away from him, even if it was what Julian wanted. He shared a cell with the werewolf. Even if the ghoul put someone between them every other hour of the day, once the door was shut it would be impossible. More than that, the azurette didn't want things to be that way. Odin might have snapped just a few minutes ago, might have come startlingly close to hurting Leon badly, might have filled Julian's mouth with the taste of old blood, but..
He should be pretty easy to smother with a pillow when he's too weak to stand.
He wanted to say that Hale was wrong. That Odin was stronger than the ghoul was giving him credit for. But even Odin could be hurt. And Leon, who didn't have the werewolf's strength, his durability.. The after-effects of the moon made it incredibly difficult for the blonde to defend himself, but the fairy was that way all the time. If he was caught off-guard, if he couldn't dust his attacker. There were circumstances where either of them could die.
"..I said.. that I don't want to do those things. Not.. that I won't."
It wasn't as though he didn't have a choice. There was always a choice. He could tell Hale No. But the inkwell didn't have any illusions about that. If he balked at what he'd been asked to do, he doubted the ghoul would just politely gather Adam up and leave them alone. It might seem like he had, but there would be suffering exacted. Odin or Leon or both would hurt or killed, and Julian himself.. It was hard to think about it. Hard to pinpoint a fear for himself, when the worse thing for him would be to lose the other two.
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Posted: Tue Aug 15, 2017 7:56 pm
Didn't want to, but needed to. Yeah. That about summed up prison. Hale gently reached out, patting Julian's cheek. "That wasn't so hard now was it?" Hale asked as he finally brought his hands back to his sides and out of Julian's personal space that he had been invading the entire time. "I'll come find you at the bathroom closest to the laundry room. Let's say... 4 o'clock." He nods as he twists his body slightly indicating they're about to be done. "We'll work out the specifics in private." There were no specifics. Hale didn't need specifics. He just needed to make sure Julian would listen and behave.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH." His head quickly spun to the side, eyes locking on Adam. The caim had been sitting so quietly and patient as he gently held the werewolf's hand. It was only a few moments ago when he had placed himself down next to Odin.
"Not a good idea going near a werewolf. Ever." Adam said nodding to the knocked out inmate on the ground. Odin couldn't move after just getting bit. He felt it was at least worth mentioning to the fae. "It's common practice for groups of them to murder animals so they get it out of their system." Which was probably true for most werewolves in prison. They were in here for a reason. Without getting their satisfaction, killing another person would be more than well enough for them. Adam took another deep breath. He could feel the heat engulfing his lungs. It wasn't normal. This was one of the abilities that came most naturally to caims, but it never felt normal to Adam. "Think you're supposed to keep your eyes down and avoid contact, then back away slowly. Let them know you aren't trying to challenge them. Or maybe that was bears? "They eat their prey alive." Where had he heard that before? Adam had so much troubling remembering the conversation Hale held with him just moments before.
With Julian and Hale still pulling away towards the far side of the yard, Adam knew what his job was. Just take some of the anger. Odin would be good for a few hours until the magic wore away. Hale should be finished speaking with Blue soon... He's gonna make me heal him. I'm gonna forget who I am again. Not Adam. No. I mean not Hale. Not Hale. Don't fall for it. You're not Hale so... Nobody better touch me. That patience slowly turned to shaking. Adam's free hand clenched tightly as he could feel his pulse trying to pop out his veins. What. The. ********. Retarded ******** useless piece of s**t. NOT EVEN GRATEFUL FOR EVERYTHING I'VE DONE. His thoughts began to whirl. One giant wave of emotion crashing over the shores of his brain bringing him literal physical pain as he broke contact with Odin one minute too late. Past the manageable point. He absorbed those emotions like a sponge. The anger. The rage. He wanted to murder them. Julian didn't give a ******** about him and Leon needed to die. He needed to be dead. Gone. Adam wanted him gone.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH." The shriek left his mouth. The same shout that caught Hale's attention immediately as Adam could hardly control himself. The rabid caim first slammed his palm down on Odin's face trying to smash the werewolf's head into the ground. He ripped around shooting up from the ground like a spring as he reached out grabbing hold of Leon. He grabbed for the fairy's neck. Adam tore back ripping the fae to the ground. The ground didn't shake beneath the impact like Adam wanted to see. The earth didn't bend to his will and his red flashing vision didn't help, the tunnel vision landing on his hands tightly gripped around Leon's delicate little ******** limb. He was going to snap that ******** neck.
"EVERYONE ON THE GROUND NOW." One guard started running forward with another tightly at his heel. The third rushed through the front door to set off the prison alarms letting all inmates within the facility to know they're to lay down on their stomach with their hands pressed flat against the ground. "s**t." Hale whispered, still much too far from the situation to prevent anything. The ghoul glanced at Julian before slipping onto his knees, gently placing his hands down on the dirty ground. The two guards grabbed Adam tearing him forward, one of his hands was ripped away from Leon's neck, the other hand still harshly wrapped around that windpipe. One guard smacked the caim's wrist a couple times until he was finally separated from the fairy's delicate little body. "PIN HIM." One of the guards screamed as he was roughly throwing Adam to the ground so he could use his body weight to keep the screaming caim beneath him. You'd think it was directed towards Adam, but it wasn't. And that was very clear when the second prison guard was grabbing Leon's arms forcing them behind the fae's back before they even bothered to check if the male was alright.
Their job wasn't to make sure you were okay in the end, it was to keep the peace. Enforce the rules. Fighting was against the rules, and in plenty of situations there wasn't a victim and assailant. Not in prison. Everyone was a criminal here. Most guards just saw them as fights. Fights that you either won or lost. It didn't matter which position you were in. What mattered was that you were involved in a fight. "The stupid ********> Hale whispered into the dirt. tab
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Posted: Tue Aug 15, 2017 8:45 pm
Julian tensed as the ghoul's hand touched his cheek. In the time that he'd been in Odin's shadow, it had become rarer and rarer for anyone else to touch him at all. But Hale, this entire time, had been casual about it. Invaded his space, threatened and boxed him in. The pat to his face was, in comparison, less frightening and simply condescending. Hale had what he wanted, and he stepped away enough that the azurette's breathing should have eased. But it only got worse, because the ghoul's next step was to schedule a meeting.
"..That isn't necessary if you mean you want me to report in.. I .. don't have to be face to face with you to--."
The words were stilted, slow. He didn't want to be doing any of this, but he especially didn't want anymore restroom deliveries from Hale's people, and certainly not with Hale himself. If it would buy him distance, he would risk inking messages onto the ghoul's skin-- if he could manage the distance. But he never got the chance to mention it, because from across the yard there was screaming.
His first thought was that Odin had come awake and broken Adam's wrist for touching him without permission. It was doubtful that the werewolf would come out of whatever Hale's bite had done to him and suddenly feel all better. His temper had been close to tipping past a very dangerous edge before. But it wasn't the blonde who moved.
It was Adam.
Hale's cellmate turned, launching himself at Leon, and the second loud cry came from Julian as he reflexively stepped away from the fence. He was too far away, too slow, couldn't get between them, but seeing the dark-haired male lash out at Odin and then Leon in quick succession, he immediately turned his wide, terrified eyes on Hale. Why was the ghoul doing this? Julian agreed--
"Please--"
But his bargaining didn't get any further than that before guards were already breaking it up, and the inkwell had to go to his knees in the dirt, carefully lowering himself, trying to keep his eyes on Leon. What if he was dead? He was so small.. So much more fragile than anyone else here. Even Julian didn't bruise as easily. His eyes shifted back to the ghoul, and the look in them was pleading, until he realized that Hale was almost as displeased as the inkwell himself. Adam was still screaming, flailing under the guards dragging him to the ground, and absurdly, the uniforms were treating the tiny fairy beside him as though Leon was just as much to blame. It shouldn't be surprising. Not anymore. But it was. Something about it was heartbreaking, and not just because his friend had been attacked, and would probably also be punished for it. Suddenly, that quiet hold Adam had had on Odin made all the sense in the world. Suddenly, Julian understood why it had seemed familiar.
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Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2017 10:43 am
"Not a good idea going near a werewolf. Ever."
Leon raised his eyes quietly when the caim spoke, for the moment not deeming to answer. Odin wasn't moving, wasn't responding. Gold eyes flicked back to Hale and Julian, apparently embroiled in very intimate conversation, although they were too far away and their voices were too low for Leon to make out what it might be about. Whatever it was, it didn't bode well. Hale was addressing them individually, not as a unit. It was one thing if it was only Odin he was doing it to, but since he'd pulled Julian aside, it only furthered the fairy's suspicions of the ghouls intentions. Splitting. Dividing. Although to what end, he still couldn't say. Power. Control. That was what people vied for in prison. What was Hale trying to get out of Julian? How did pulling Julian aside gain Hale more leverage? He was talking an awful lot. Leon watched Hales lips move while he listened to Adam talk. Admittedly, Leon knew exactly jack s**t about werewolves. Odin was the first one he'd had any real contact with, aside from a glance at a distance at some of the others incarcerated in the system. But the alchemists had never let him get too close to anyone like that.
"It's common practice for groups of them to murder animals so they get it out of their system. Think you're supposed to keep your eyes down and avoid contact, then back away slowly. Let them know you aren't trying to challenge them." He quirked an eyebrow, scooting back when the caim settled close to the werewolf to touch him. He still wasn't certain of the angle any of them were playing at. He only knew that they were being played, beyond a doubt. The tune was too familiar. He wondered idly if Adam was getting werewolves confused with normal wolves. "They eat their prey alive." Frankly, that sounded more like the stories he'd heard about ghouls. But he wasn't a great social commentator, so he couldn't exactly refute what the caim was saying. As always, he lacked knowledge. There wasn't much that he could do without more information...
"Not so." Logic said.
"How? I don't have the other pieces of the puzzle. Odin, Hale, Adam, Julian.... I don't know what any of their intentions are. I can't."
"Sometimes finding the missing pieces IS the puzzle. You used to do puzzles like that all of the time in high school."
"Right, filling in those grids.... using the little information I do have."
He brought up his knees, sitting on the ground, eyes darting regularly back and fourth between Adam and Hale. He wouldn't let Adam try anything with Odin. While he doubted the end goal was to slit the werewolfs throat, he didn't trust the caim as far as he could throw him. That went double for Hale, still speaking long and low to Julian across the way, but if they lost Odin then he and Julian were both screwed. So he hovered close to Adam as he compiled his thoughts.
"Using the information available to me, what can I deduce?"
"What can Hale get from Julian? We can assume his current methods thus far extend only to verbal persuasion and intimidation until otherwise shown."
"The end goal is always power. What power can Julian offer?"
"Well, he can control ink. But they won't let him so much as go near a ballpoint bic in here. So while he could relay messages, they would be hard pressed to utilize those abilities without contraband. That seems like a lot of effort to go through just to make passing notes easier."
"And what about his blood?"
Leon glanced down at the black blot on his wrist. No one had seemed to take note of it. But, then again, he had no cellmate at the moment.
"I can't think of any way Hale or the ghouls would know about that, not within reason. So use for his ink is possible, but very unlikely."
"All right. So for the moment assuming that his mage abilities are not what power the ghouls are after, what else does Julian have?"
Leon flushed a bit, looking back at Adam touching Odins hand.
"Well.... his body. What he trades Odin." As if he didn't hear it every damn night.
"It's reasonable."
"But I don't think so. Not for something like this setup."
"But he DID save Julian from Odin just now."
"Power is the end goal. a** in prison is just another means of utilizing it. You saw Hale drag in the new kid during mess, how Odin got worked up when he saw it. If that were the case, Julian wouldn't have come out of the bathroom to rejoin you. It would have been the showers all over again, but an even easier play. They're playing a long con. You don't do that just for a piece of a**. Not when you have access to it like he does."
Leon listened to Pikes voice in his head. The alchemist made a good point. Hale could take Julian by force if he wanted to. But instead he was trying to play friends with Odin. Why?
"Again, possible still. But not very likely."
"What else does Julian have?" Leon was starting to get frustrated. What did anyone have in prison? There was nothing. Just what you could trade, and the deals you could make. Just you and your allies. The fairy blinked, frowning.
"I can't think of anything else. All Julian has is himself and us-"
"So consider 'us' as a viable trading chip."
"What? No, that isn't po-"
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH."
Leon jolted from his whirling conversation in his head, startled by the sudden shrieking. He whirled, wide-eyed, to look at Adam, who all of a sudden seemed to have lost his damn mind. He was acting just like-
"Get back get tHE ******** BACK!" Leon started to scramble backwards, away from the caim, when he slammed his palm down on Odins head. Wait, no, that was bad. Without Odin they were sitting ducks-!
"H-! Hey st- w-what are you-!?"
In a flash, Adamd apparent wrath was diverted to Leon instead. He'd paused in his hasty retreat, but as soon as the caims eyes were on him he tried to scramble back again, too late. It seemed like there was nothing he could do when the caims hand wrapped around his neck, hurling him to the ground. The impact wasn't so hard as to jar his spine, but it was certainly enough to drive the wind out of his small lungs. Before he could choke out a breath, both of Adams hands were around his throat, vicing down, cutting off blood and air both. Desperately, the fairy clawed at his hands, trying in vain to pry them away from his throat. It was surprising how quickly the lack of proper blood flow to the brain could affect a person. Leons vision was already starting to tunnel, going dark around the edges as his face quickly went from white, to red, to dark red as he heard guards distantly shouting, alarms going off. Instinctively, his wings twitched underneath him, but there was no way for him to even consider dusting his attacker with them pinned beneath him. He could feel small blood vessels already starting to rupture in his neck. He kicked and flailed desperately, trying to kick Adam in the groin if nothing else. But it was getting hard to see, hard to think, hard to hear the voices of Logic and Pike over the deafening sound of his brain suffocating. Dying. He was dying.
By the time the guards were yanking the caim off of him, he'd almost passed out. But even then Adam wouldn't let go so easily. The deathgrip around his throat said he wanted the fairy dead. So he ought to have counted himself lucky when the guards pried him away, letting the fairy suck in a desperate gasp of air that immediately degraded into a rasping, wheezing cough. It burned when he breathed, and it still felt difficult, not quite right. Taking in air was still too difficult, even with Adams hands gone. Of course Leon couldn't see the deep bruise already starting to form, ringing around his neck as a compliment to the fading bite marks just below it. He didn't have much time to try and figure out his breathing before he was wrenched over, yelping as his arms were wrested behind his back, although the noise was more like a pathetic rasping sound. He tried to ask them to stop, wait, to tell them he couldn't breathe, but no sound came out, aside from wheezing. So all he could do was squeeze his eyes shut and try to get as much air as he could. In a distant part of his mind, the voices muttered quietly,
"You are the bargaining chips."
"Information is what everyone is after."
"I can't breathe."
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Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2017 3:31 pm
 IF I'M SOMEBODY ELSE, IT NEVER HAPPENED TO ME. IF I'M SOMEBODY ELSE, IT NEVER HAPPENED TO ME_____________________
Hale’s eyes went straight to the werewolf. Odin seemed calm. The madness happening right in front of him wasn’t quite registering. It might have been because the venom was still fresh in his veins, or it might have been because the werewolf was mellowed out from all the anger Adam was trying to shoulder himself. Clearly, the caim didn’t exactly have much of a heads up as to what he was about to be dealing with. The moron didn’t know he was only supposed to take a little. Take it slow. Odin wasn’t like Ced. The damned ice mage never had intentions to literally murder everyone in front of him. How did Adam not ******** realize how different Odin would be from Cedric? The ******** did he think was happening when Odin was nearly murdering his own prison family?. The werewolf opened his mouth to say something, but Hale was too far away to catch the words. He watched as one of the guards hastily jammed handcuffs onto Adam’s wrists.
”Inmates! Disciplinary action immediately! Thinking you can fight in our yard.” The guard planted his heels into the ground as he tore himself up, harshly grabbing hold of Adam as he took the exhausted caim to a standing position. Adam did look exhausted, a bit confused, but still angry. It only took that minute or so since he broke contact with the werewolf to start to come to his senses. Adam glanced around the yard looking for his familiar face, and upon looking at all the inmates laying out on their stomachs he knew they were taking this seriously. His eyes landed on Hale. The ghoul was looking straight back at him. The ******** is wrong with you? Hale’s expression was sharp aimed right for him.
”Hey I-”
”Shut up.” The guard snarled yanking Adam’s hands to the side to be sure the inmate knew who was in charge. Adam looked away from Hale and it was hard to ignore Leon. The guard who had the smaller fairy was to the side of Leon, he wasn’t tearing him up like the guard had done who was struggling with Adam. ”Come on. We’re throwing the both in SHU.”
”Both?” The guard who had Leon gave a skeptical look, eyeing the marks on his neck. It didn’t exactly look like a fair fight.
”Yes. Both. You hear me?”
”Duh.” He got up pulling Leon by the back of his uniform, carefully shifting the fae so he was moving in front of him. ”Start walking.” He ordered. Adam looked like he wanted to say something, but now wasn’t exactly the time to speak. They had enough s**t going on. Once the guards had moved inside and down a few hallways they were pushing the two along at a quick pace.
”The ******** was that back there?”
”Have you seen his neck? Was wheezing something harsh.”
”Don’t you EVER question me in front of inmates like that again!”
”I didn’t!” The guard handling Leon protested. ”We’re bringing them both to SHU. It just looked like I was confirming with you.” He said attempting to defend his behavior by twisting the story when the other guard had clearly already been there and understood his co-worker’s intentions.
The four of them finally got to the solitary confinement wing. The guard handling Leon moved forward to unlock the door and then nodded for the fairy to move. ”Are you even okay?” The guard blurted out seeing those finger prints as the tiny male moved past. It was unnatural, comedic, almost. He was shorter than most women walking around and clearly didn’t stand a chance in a fight. ”If you need to go to medical instead of soli-”
”Before solitary.” The second guard quickly cut in, making it extremely clear Leon wasn’t going to have some simple alternative to skip out on his punishment for getting in a fight during broad daylight. ”If he can walk, he should have ran away instead of fought.” The guard stated coldly, absolutely no sign of understanding or sympathy for the tiny thing. ”Which is what makes you guilty. Nasty troublemaker.” The way the guard said nasty suggested he knew what type of inmate Leon was. As though he already knew what types of things he did with other inmates and guards when nobody else was looking. The guard removed Adam’s handcuffs pushing him into the third cell from the right. He slammed the door without much warning. Within the prison walls the guards got to act as the judge, jury, and executioner. They didn’t need permission and they were allowed to forget about you within those small cells for as long as they damn well pleased. Adam went towards the small slip that could be opened for food and toyed with it a moment trying to slide it open, missing that it was locked from the outside at the moment and not even that small piece of metal could be shifted. ”Wait! For how long?!” He asked rather desperately wanting some clue as to how terrible the upcoming days/weeks/months would be for him. Not months. That was ridiculous. It couldn’t be months.
The second guard opened up a cell across the way for Leon. ”If you don’t need medical, get moving.” He stated nodding for the shitty little bed in the corner of the cell. Leon would be getting very used to it very quickly. Hell, that was if he wasn’t already sick of the confined space before he even stepped foot inside.
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Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2017 8:27 pm
"What do I do? I can't breathe. What do I do?
...
hello?"
The only answer Leon got was the guards saying there would be disciplinary action. Guards getting involved only ever made things worse. But neither Pike nor Logic piped up in his head. Had he been dreaming? An after effect of coming down from the drugs, perhaps. Hell, he'd been using for a while now. Maybe he'd just finally cracked. Maybe Adam attacking him had just jostled him back to reality. Speaking of which, Leon coughed loudly, trying to draw a breath. He could suck air in, but it was like breathing through a straw, and his throat burned like hell every time he did. Breathing was laborious, and his head felt like it was spinning. The black rings around the edges of his vision were fading more and more, but he still felt lightheaded. The pain throughout his entire throat was still more concerning than anything. He could feel it starting to swell, making breathing even more difficult, and he didn't need a mirror to know that there was already blossoming in a neat blue and black ring around his neck, like a ******** up collar. He also didn't have to be a genius to know that if Odin had been the one doing that, his neck wouldn't be bruised. It would be snapped. He was quietly grateful that the guard handling him didn't yank him around. At the rate he was going, he felt like his head might roll right off of his shoulders if he was shaken much. He did his best to support his own weight when the guard to his side tugged on the back of his uniform, rising on knees that were still quaking. His head spun a little as he stood. All the while he was still working too hard to draw each breath. It was too difficult to breathe, much less speak up to tell the guards as much. He hung his head as the guards handling himself and Adam had their little disagreement.
Both. Of course it was both. ******** guard pigs. They didn't care about what was right or wrong, or the fact that any of the other inmates in the yard (hell, maybe even the tower guards) could easily recount that Adam had jumped him. They only cared about making their own jobs easier. As if they didn't already get to go home at the end of their shift. See their families. Stop by a fast food joint to satisfy whatever food craving they had at the moment, on a whim. ******** guards. Leons little flicker of anger was just a smoldering of an overarching vindictiveness towards them. When he had very first been introduced into the prison population he had, stupidly, believed that the guards were supposed to represent some semblance of protection, of justice. Some part of him had never quite gotten over what he perceived as a bit of a betrayal upon realizing the truth of things. When they told him to walk, though, he walked, only staggering a little bit here and there. He was trying to focus on his breathing. Each breath still came as a ragged wheeze, burning his throat. That wasn't right. Breathing wasn't supposed to be that difficult.
Leon was normally a very cooperative prisoner, regardless of the circumstances. He did his best to ensure that he wasn't regarded as a problem. After all, he had enough problems without getting on guards bad sides. Not that even he was able to keep on everyone's good side. So when the guard handling him moved ahead to open the door, he waited politely. But even Leon had to hesitate when faced with the room. It had been almost four years since the first time he'd been thrown in solitary. At least then, he'd actually dusted someone. This time he was getting tossed in for getting the life choked out of him. Still, he started to step forward, dragging himself in when the gentler guard spoke up again,
"Are you even okay?"
Was this guy new? No one was ever okay in- oh, right. He meant literally. Like, the fact that he was actively wheezing and gasping to get air in him, and his eyes were red, and he kind of felt like he was dying. He had been so disoriented that he hadn't even thought to see what happened to Julian, or Odin.
"If you need to go to medical instead of soli-”
”Before solitary.”
Leon winced as he listened to the rougher guard detail that he 'should have run' and was therefore guilty. He kept his yellow eyes on the floor so that they couldn't see any change of expression and take it as back sass. "Nasty troublemaker."
Even for Leon there was no missing the tone in he guards voice. Nasty. Ah. So that was it. He was one of those. He hung his head, trying to focus on the fight to breathe instead of the smoldering anger bubbling up again.
"Yeah I'd like to see what any of the inmates here would do to you if you were in my position, you fat miserable sack of s**t-"
Leon blinked. Huh. That was out of character. Where had that come from??
”If you don’t need medical, get moving.”
He paused, swallowing and wincing as he did. It felt like the insides of his throat was raw meat grinding together. It burned. He lifted his eyes meekly, glancing between the two guards. He wanted to remember which was which, to avoid the rougher guard and to appreciate the gentler guard. Even common decency like offering medical aid was something of a valuable kindness. He settled his gaze on the gentler guard. When he spoke, his voice sounded... wrong. Broken. It came out as a raspy rattle.
"I... ca-an't breathe r-right... hard."
Fuuuuuck talking hurt. He coughed again, eyes watering from the stinging pain.
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Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2017 12:04 am
 
YOU’VE GOT NO PLACE TO HIDE. AND I’M FEELING LIKE A VILLAIN GOT A HUNGER INSIDE. ONE LOOK IN MY EYES AND YOU’RE RUNNING CAUSE I’M COMING GONNA EAT YOU ALIVE
 "Oh-- Mhffree.. Ihhn no.. Mhfhh fhhree--"
Beg you ******** little pest. Beg to suck my c**k in front of everyone. Beg I won't snap your ******** neck. Beg I don't eat you whole. Beg I won't jam my ******** fingers so ******** far down your ******** throat. But it was faded. Faded in the background the monster was going off in his head. Because there, in Odin's grasp, his body didn't budge no matter how many times the monster was telling it to. There was something stronger than the monster that helped the werewolf control it even this close to the moon.
Auribus teneo lupum.
It rang through Odin's skull so clearly. From the day he had been sitting at that table poking at a toy car sitting in front of him. "I've noticed you've become more restless as the full moon comes close even on your medications, Odin." When he glanced over his shoulder he saw his tutor standing there in the doorway.
"Oh." Odin responded, his hands dropping into his lap. "Sorry." He muttered softly, his glazed over eyes staring straight ahead.
"Don't be sorry, my dear boy." The tutor moved over pulling a chair next to Odin, placing a finger on the toy car as he moved it back and forth in front of the 12-year-old. "A bit old for these, huh? Most kids your age have moved onto video games."
"Oh." Odin responded. He didn't have the mental capacity for hobbies. Not when it took all his energy to stare straight ahead at whatever wall was sitting in front of him day in and day out.
"Do you want to go out today?"
"No."
"The doctors want you leaving the house at least twice a week."
"Oh." Odin responded. The tutor let go of the toy car, leaning back in the chair as he fiddled with his hands.
"Ian has been having a difficult time with you lately."
"Sorry."
"He misses his brother."
"Oh."
"How would you feel if I spoke to your father about taking you off the medication? Perhaps switching your prescription to something else?" Feel? What was that again? Screaming. Balling his eyes out. He remembered going through the motions, but he didn't remember how they felt. "There are therapies we can try instead. Behavior specialists. I think if I put the time in to interview a few we can find you a suitable one."
"Oh."
"Would you be willing to give therapy a try?"
"I need my medication."
"There are other methods you can take. We all know this isn't ideal..."
"I need my medication."
"Why?"
"I don't want to be down."
"Down where?" Silence. "Don't want to be down where? Feeling down?" The man tilted his head, carefully placing his hands on the table as he tried to get a read on the 12-year-old's blank face. "Odin, it happened four months ago. You can't live the rest of your life like this. This was meant to be a short term fix but it's starting to get dragged out. We need to start looking for alternatives."
"I prefer not to behave like a rabid animal."
"Odin... Nobody thinks you're a rabid animal." It was true, maybe. His father apologized for calling him one. Said he didn't mean it or think Odin was any type of monster. But sometimes apologies don't cut it. Sometimes the first time someone says something it feels the most sincere. Odin understood how people saw him. "Vincit Qui Se Vincit." He Conquers Who Conquers Himself. Beauty and the Beast.
"I don't want to be the beast." The tutor went silent for a bit before he leaned back in his seat and stared at the same wall Odin had his gaze on. The two stayed there for quite some time.
"You've outgrown your motto, huh?" No. Just failed at it. The werewolf didn't know what to respond, so instead he went still. "I have another one for you. Auribus teneo lupum.
"What does it mean?"
"Holding a wolf by the ears." He leaned towards Odin, his elbow resting on the table. "But it's not about keeping your demons at bay or being responsible with yourself. It's meaning boils down to... Sometimes in life there are no good decisions. If you fight it, you're likely to fail. If you do nothing, you're likely to fall." He began speaking with his hands, trying to paint a picture for the young boy. "And you need to decide if you want to grow into a person who fights when things get hard, or sit back and try to let nature take it's course when the going gets rough." Odin still didn't respond, so he asked a direct question: "Which one do you think you'd rather do?"
SWAT.
Odin watched bits of blood spike up onto Julian's face as he tried to catch the thing that whizzed past his head, his reflexes taking control. Happened within the blink of an eye. Odin was about to shove the bloodied bit into his mouth when he was suddenly on the ground unable to move. Unable to scream. Unable to thrash and use his fist to beat someone's skull into the ground. His eyes shot from one direction to the next, but nothing else worked. His limbs. His spine? Was his spine broken!? The werewolf felt himself growing physically exhausted from the pure energy it took trying to command his muscles, which refused to listen. KILL THEM. His monster would screech. MINE. MINE. MINE. It wanted to screech loudly as it could, only to find not a single word was able to leave it's lips. Nothing compared to that wave of emotion that came soon after: "Odin, the ghouls are playing you. They aren't your friends, they're after something, I just don't know what. They're taking Julian. So if you can get up, I need you to. I don't know what's happening." Terror. Horror. Pure ********... "And if you can't I'll... Think of something." Leon promised him.
GET HIM NOW. NOW. NOW. NOW. I WAS FIGHTING WITH HIM. WE WERE FIGHTING. HE ******** BETRAYED ME. HE HATES ME. HE HATES ME BECAUSE I RAPE HIM. HE WANTS ME TO SUFFER. The monster came with a strong wave of doubt. That nagging voice at the back of his head thumping as hard as it could while Odin was trying his hardest to plead with Leon to get Julian back. To tell Julian to run back to them. That's all he wanted. It was quickly spiraling into Leon's fault. Leon's fault. And it was then that Adam placed himself in front of Odin, their fingers gently intertwining. It was like a breath of fresh air as the monster was sucked straight out of him. Odin's eyes shifted trying to land on Leon. The screech was heard first. Adam unable to harbor a portion of the emotions Odin had. He understood what was happening, but Leon didn't. And Odin would have told him to run if he could. There was a giant blur in front of the werewolf as he could do nothing but watch calmly as Leon was getting murdered right in front of him. He was supposed to protect the fairy.
Then the guards came, roughly breaking up the fight as they pulled an alarm forcing inmates to get on the ground. Odin, luckily, was already in position. Leon was separated, his hands behind his back but Odin saw those sputtering gasps for air. He tried to sit up. Tried to push the guards back so he could look at the fae. Tried to. Tried to so hard just to feel his fingers curl and his muscles tense. The slightest bit of movement. Leon was about to be pulled away from him. "You'll be okay." The werewolf shoved the words, they barely passed through at the volume of a whisper as Leon was picked up and the guards began to bicker. Dragged off just as quick. Once the alarms were turned off Odin slowly lifted himself from the ground, stumbling a few times as he used every ounce of determination to drag himself to the ghoul and Julian who had been trapped near the fence.
Odin stared at the ghoul intensely for a moment, but no words were exchanged. Just a silent mutual understanding of some sort as Odin quietly sat back against the fence and dropped to his butt. Both the werewolf and the ghoul had just lost one. Odin ran his fingers through his hair glancing down at his palms. Everything about his body was so weak and lethargic. And now, because of him, Julian just lost his little friend. The werewolf leaned his arms against his knees as he stared at the ground.
The same skill he had perfected back when he was 12. Auribus teneo lupum.
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