|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 6:57 pm
Rikki was buzzing in the back of her head. He really was. She hadn't seen him yet- well she hadn't seen anyone yet. After listening to the announcement, she'd felt extremely uncomfortable with all these people, and ran straight back to her room. In the morning she received a note that she had exam accreditation, whatever that meant.
There was only one boil she was beelining for though, and it wasn't Rikki.
No, it was Roch. Danny was on a mission to his dorm. She needed to know if he was ... well if he-
She needed to see him.
Danny reached her goal and with a shaking hand, knocked on the door. It wasn't her normal bang. If he was sleeping, she didn't want to wake him. If he wasn't there ... she didn't want to know.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 7:01 pm
The door opened and the punk boil himself stared at her blankly, wearing a pair of pants he'd barely managed to pull up and holding his guitar--yes, his guitar. He hadn't actually been thinking on what he was doing, he'd just grabbed his guitar the moment he'd realized he could and--
He stared at her blankly for a moment, the hint of fear and rage in his eyes slowly calming. And then, shockingly, the punk boil dissipated his guitar and hauled the fire demon into a hug. He buried his face against her nape and, not crying, shook.
"That--that--" he muttered pathetically.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 7:05 pm
Danny's face just about broke with relief when she saw Roch standing there looking shaken, but still there. Missing some clothing, but still there.
As he pulled her in, Danny was pulling herself closer, wrapping her arms around him. She could feel Roch shaking. Roch never faltered. She'd never even seen him cry more than a tear maybe. She could relate though. The same emotions were rushing through her, making her begin to cry. "I know," was all she said, just savoring the fact that he was alive for Jack's sake.
They didn't need to apologize for their fight. It wasn't even an issue. Not after all that. Danny wasn't sure what Roch had gone through- or if he'd gone through anything at all- but she knew after what she'd been through, there was no point in an argument.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 7:09 pm
"I mean..." he said slowly, pulling away from her. "Of all things, why a jackin' TWO HEADED GUITAR?" he demanded, sounding quite outraged. "Sure it's cool lookin, but it'd be a pain in the a** to fight with! What would you hold onto? Both necks? And there is no jackin' way I'd let someone play me! Not unless they were a DAMN good guitarist--not even then, they'd have to be a jackin' MASTER! And I seriously doubt those brainless bastards have a musical bone in their body!!" ((Sorry Jerry.))
Yes, he was ranting. But it felt good to rant. It felt good to be able to move, to speak, to hold other people--
He paused, looking at her. "I got turned into a weapon. Do you wanna tell me what happened to you?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 7:17 pm
Roch was ranting about ... a guitar? Danny didn't quite follow. Maybe it was like she had initially expected- Roch hadn't gone through the hell and a half she'd experienced. He apparently when to a place where there were guitars and people who couldn't play music. Then again, that could be hell for Roch any day.
The one thing she did understand was his last statement. He got turn into a weapon. Danny's eyes were full of concern. "Oh Roch," she murmured, looking down. That sounded fifty times more painful than what she went through.
She moved past him a little, so they were less in the hall and more in his room. She calmly shut his door. This wasn't something she wanted a lot of people to know about. "I ... they put us in a room- me and Gene- I don't even know what happened to Bea," she began. Danny still counted Bea thankful that she never woke up. "They asked us questions about halloween- but we didn't answer. Then there was this hissing noise ... and I don't remember anything after that for a while. Things went dark. When I came to Gene was gone." She took a moment, as if reliving the terror of finding Gene gone.
"They ask me questions and I- I ..." She looked up at Roch, her guilt covered by a sense of self defense, and sorrow. "I told them everything! I even told them about you, Roch. But ... but you should have heard them! They were telling me I was next, they kept saying these horrible things-" She leaned against the wall, not expecting Roch's comfort, but still needing support. She knew she was a traitor. "They told me I could go free but ... a white coat- a hunter right?- he came in with two guns and he sh-shot my leg." Her eyes were dark and cloudy, she was clearly gone from the room. "I couldn't stop screaming and then he shot my throat." Her hand instinctively went up to touch the place the bullet had entered. "I choked on my own blood and FEAR Roch. I- I-" Her hand flung up over her mouth, she was done talking.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 7:24 pm
He was silent. She had told them everything. The very thought of spilling all their information, all their--
Wait.
"Danny," he said quietly. "Danny, breathe," he told her, reaching up and resting his hands on her shoulders. "It was a dream. It was a stupid dream--I bet it was our last trial, y'know? Like how Xiu can go into dreams, maybe they can give you them. Whatever you told them, you only told yourself and maybe the horsemen, okay? It's okay."
But what if she did tell the hunters? Hell, did it matter? They snuck into their school and learned stuff all the time, not even needing dreams to get it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 7:28 pm
"But I told them Roch!" she retorted, pretty much trying to condemn herself as the traitor she was. "They didn't even use some weird FEAR magic to make me spill everything. I did it because I was scared Roch." She went silent for a moment, then said, "What good am I to Halloween if I'm going to just spill everything the second someone tells me I'm going to die."
She rested her head on his shoulder, listening to his reassuring. "Even if it was just the horsemen's dream ... what if they were real hunters?" That was the real question, wasn't it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 7:33 pm
"They probably know or don't care about most of it," Roch said honestly. "Remember what the horsemen--Invi and the others, not the guys that gave the test--said? They can look like us. They can come here and we'll talk to them and without even threatening us, we'll tell them all sorts of stuff they shouldn't know."
He let his hands fall. "We need to... I don't know. Not be so trusting. And yeah, you spilled your guts, what can I tell you now? I hate you? I lied like a little p***y trying to make them let us go--it didn't work. I stood there and I watched Edel be turned into a weapon. Then the moment I could run, I did. I didn't--"
He hadn't even thought of saving Rikki or Moure or Aksaja. "And they caught me."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 7:51 pm
Jack she'd almost forgotten about Roch's feelings too. Here she was crying over her own death when Roch had clearly experienced something horrible as well. Even if Roch wasn't a touchy feely person, Danny's hands slipped around him again and she murmured. "Roch I'm so sorry. I'm so so sorry." She wasn't just sorry about Roch- she was sorry for all of them. Sorry Gene disappeared. Sorry Roch'd died. Even sorry for jackdamn Edel.
Why did the horsemen do this to them? Were they trying to prove something? Did they just like torturing students? She'd dissipated nearly 3 times during the trial of war and then died- actually DIED during the trial of death.
"This whole thing was horrible, but ... Jack Roch. I'm so glad you're alive. I'm so glad it almost hurts." That was one thing she could look forward to. Roch's life suddenly had about ten thousand times more valuable.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 8:01 pm
"Look," he said abruptly. "If it makes you happy to give me your emblem, you can give it to me. What the boogies do to me--that'd be a walk in the park in comparison to whatever the hell it was that just happened. Jack 'em. They ain't big time. I'd only be stuck in the clinker till the hunters got here, anyway--then they'd probably turn me into a weapon like in the dream."
Then he shook his head, scowling. "Maybe--hell, remember what they said about the horsemen? The student exchange thing? They're still gonna do that, right?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 8:15 pm
Danny was beaming. Roch was giving her the okay. He was reluctant probably, but she wasn't going to miss the opportunity.
The small emblem glowed slightly as the FEAR formed in her hand. "I know you're not really okay with it and all still- but thank you." She slipped the emblem into his hand, smiling lightly. She was still scared and paranoid, but she had Roch. That was a support. A comfort. She could do jackdamn anything.
"Hey Roch ..." she said, detaching from him, but still standing closely. "I know it was all fake but ... while I was ..." Dying. "In there, I kind of realized ... I don't really get a second chance at this." She gestured to the room, not really sure what she meant by that. "But ... I want you to know ... err. You're really important to me." Essentially she was going for love, but that was WAY too embarrassing to say to gross icky Roch.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 8:20 pm
"Yeah," he said, lifting a hand and forming his own pin. "You know I got your back... At least..." As much as he could. The words lingered on the air as he held out his emblem to her. "Now go on, you said somethin' about Rikki makin' you happy on groanspring, right? You two get back together?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 8:23 pm
Danny held Roch's tiny little pin like it was a shiny pumpkin pill- but it was even better than that. Her face was beaming, her old goofy smile starting to shine through, even slightly. She nodded, understanding Roch's sentiments without needing words.
She looked up at him, confused at his intuition. "Ah ... Yeah ... we did," she said, rubbing her cheek and looking at the ground rather bashfully. "That's okay right? I mean ... you're okay with it?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 8:26 pm
"Hell if I know," he said honestly. "Right now what's important is that both of you are happy. As long as that works, I'm good, I think. And hell..." There was a tiny hint of a flush creeping up the back of his neck. "Y'know... I uh... well... made a couple of flirt buddies, myself. I'm gonna try and figure out relationships to begin with before I go around deciding what's right and what's wrong."
Yes, he had said "couple." As in more than one. As in Roch was turning out like Vegas OTL.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 8:29 pm
Danny's mind was already reeling with questions about Rikki- namely if he was okay, where he was. She really wanted to just run off and go check on him, but Roch was actually opening up for once, something Danny didn't normally receive. Her mind was telling her go, but her feet were saying stay. Rikki could wait a few more minutes ...
"Flirt buddies?" Danny said, looking at Roch skeptically. He was notorious for his fiasco with Xiu in Danny's mind. How Roch had managed to catch two ghouls was just beyond her.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
