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 Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2012 5:01 am
The affliction haunted him. He was cracked in so many places, held together by duct tape and Thackery on a good day and madness on a bad. The affliction sunk into his bones, filling in the gaps, overwriting his person and replacing it.
Most days, he was oblivious to its effects it had on him and his mind. The hours of madness would only be briefly eclipsed by brief snippets of clarity, too fleeting and easily forgotten. When he was we, the world was dimmer and the loneliness devoured him like a ravenous beast. It struck like a coiled snake, latching on to his every insecurity and leaking venom into his bloodstream.
He had been Fine, or a close approximation to it. Fine for three long, rocky months.
It seemed, however, that even the stoic of reapers had a breaking point.
Ashford had surfaced from his dream with an intense rage that was directed nowhere but inward, startlingly aware that there was something wrong with him that did not want to be fixed. He had torn himself to shreds with glass, jaggedly removing every patch of insanity on his body, one by one--
Two days had passed.
His skin was healing, but the affliction had spread. Forsaking his helm in a fit of madness, Ash summoned the Great Knife and went patrolling. His shirt was torn in places, stained in red, his skin mottled.
The fact that it was currently five am on the weekend was, perhaps, Ashford's only saving grace. He was lost, confused, and locked into a losing battle. How does one fight me, myself and I? How does one raise the barriers to fend off what was already inside?
The tall reaper dragged his blade outside the undead halls, muscles flexing at random, teeth grinding.
He was They were insufficient.
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Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2012 9:38 am
Malodore rattled around the campus, still avoiding its own room and the entirety of the demon dormitories and anywhere Riley's entirely metaphorical ghost might walk. It tried to sleep as much as it could, but the undead did not require such things, and it had long since reached the point where true slumber woud not come.
Instead, it walked, without Luce because it and Riley ran with Luce in the early mornings and she wasn't here so it couldn't do that any more, or at least not yet. Perhaps later. But not now. It was slowly learning what it had always known, at least when applied to others: that it took time to heal from wounds, ad also - a new discovery - that emotions could be wounded just as much as the physical body, and require as much or more time to knit.
It walked, a slow and measured tread that could never be mistaken for a run. As it approached its own dormitory again, it realized there was someone else out and about. Not unusual, but it wasn't an undead... In fact, it was someone it only barely recognized. It paused and squinted for a moment, trying to come up with a name and failing.
And then, as it drew closer, a chill shot down its spine - for there, marking the other's flesh, were the unmistakable grey streaks of what it theorized was an advanced Insanity infection. "A-ah... mi dispiace, but..." it began, trying not to seem too eager, "are you quite well? Have we met before - I am Malodore, ah..." It fell silent, wanting desperately to say 'let me examine you!' but well aware of the paranoia that afflicted those with Insanity at such advanced stages.
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Posted: Wed May 02, 2012 7:39 pm
Patrolling felt natural. The slow drag of his blade against the ground, too heavy to carry for long. The search for intruders, the urge to protect home, home, home.
There was very little that could comfort Ashford, these days. Time with Thackery was precious, and yet, he felt as though the Cerberus boy was constantly at risk of slipping out of his hands--
It did not soothe him.
The presence of another slowly diverted Ashford's attentions, drawing him away from inward facing rants and towards the stranger. Slowly, the blond reaper turned his head in acknowledgement, caught between a scowl and a snarl. Grey eyes squinted, trying to place a name to the intruder.
"We do not speak the language you are using," he replied, bland, turning on a heel to entirely face the creature before him. Ash knew, vaguely, of Riley and of her plague doctor, through Thackery's stories.
"We are Ashford, third of our name." Grey eyes looked at Malodore with suspicion, fist tightening around the hilt of his blade.
The urge to patrol still itched at his skin-- or perhaps that was his newly healed skin, and the spreading grey infection.
"We do not believe that we have met you, but Thackery has spoken of you and Riley, in the past. You two are together, correct?" He used the present tense out of ignorance, rather than malice.
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Posted: Thu May 03, 2012 5:47 pm
"Ah, of course - most do not, but it slips into my speech from time to time," Malodore said, bowing its head solemnly as it forced its excitement to stay below the surface. "Ashford... Thackery, yes, I think I have seen you briefly, perhaps at social gatherings? Usually with a helm, correct?"
-It couldn't help it, it flinched backwards as he mentioned her name. "Yes... yes. We are - we were, before she... passed on," it murmured, forcing itself to lift its head and face Ashford head on. The excitement drained away, replaced by that empty numbness that had become so familiar to it, yet lost none of its impact despite that familiarity. Still, though, the Reaper might be doomed to that same fate, if...
It had to focus.
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Posted: Thu May 03, 2012 6:40 pm
A slow nod. "Correct. It is unusual for us to be without."
A pause.
"Dire circumstances arose."
Flashes of death, deaddeaddead flickered into his mind's eye, and the reaper could do nothing but flinch at the visceral recollection. His beautiful boilfriend, precious and kind, ruined in every way.
"Were?" A blank stare, lips curved downwards. "We were not aware that she had passed." She had been so young, still in school, still...well.
They were all little more than children. She had been regal but no exception to the rule.
"We would apologize, but we do not understand the sentiments. Instead, we will say that your loss is a regrettable one." At least she had returned home.
"If we may be so bold: How did she pass?" Skirting around a subject of interest was not the reaper's style, and he was intensely curious. It was strange for a student to pass with such little fanfare. The buzzing in his mind still clouded it, a swarm of insects that were very much alive.
Ash wanted to patrol. He wanted to dig his claws into his skin and rip the infected parts off to--
Focus. Focus on speaking, on listening. Focus, Ash.
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Posted: Fri May 04, 2012 10:15 am
"You need not apologize. It was not your fault," Malodore said, quietly. "She... it was..."
Well, there was nothing for it. And the Reaper had asked.
"The... the grey, that I see on your skin. She had it too. It is called Insanity, an infection of the mind. I had hoped to find a cure, but before I could..." It swallowed, hard. It was still hard to work past the deep guilt it still felt, and would probably always feel. "I am not sure what triggered the final stages - perhaps it was exposure to more Insanity in its raw form. But she was taken over fully by the grey, and when it was all over... her flesh had become stone. And then the Bogeymen took her remains away for study." Its beak clacked shut angrily. It wasn't going to forget that, either.
"... I have sworn to let no more fall. That would, ah, include you as well, though I do not know you well." It lifted its head again and looked at Ashford frankly. "I do not want any other student to die as she did. I refuse to permit it. I... can try and help you. If you are willing. If not, I... understand."
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Posted: Fri May 04, 2012 3:42 pm
His heart stopped, and the Great Knife was dropped with a clatter.
She had died.
She had died, and he had the same affliction.
Of course, Ashford. So ignorant to think we could be affected so strongly with no consequences?
Delusional, perhaps? Foolish. Foosh, foolish, foolish.
With gloved fingers, the infected reaper ran his hand along a patch of grey. Horror swirled with nausea in his gut, the crashing waves in his mind growing louder.
As much as he desired to go home--
Ash did not want to die. Perhaps this creature was lying to him. Perhaps it was an enemy--
"We do not want to die. But we are-- not--" Struggling to find words, Ash crouched down to pick up his blade with a shaky arm. "We are -- we wish to go home and yet not. We wish to run and not stop. We wish to kill and tear and maim when we cannot-- control it--"
He ground his teeth. "But we--" A snarl in displeasure, and it was a struggle to disassociate from the smothering grey fog that clouded his mind. "I. I. Want to live."
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Posted: Fri May 04, 2012 3:56 pm
"I want you to live, too," Malodore said, with a sharp nod. "About... about home, I understand. I have heard the voices too, in the past. And I felt them in Riley's mind. But I... you must understand, the Bogeymen took Riley away. They may take you, too, if they see you and realize you also carry the Insanity. I don't know what they're doing to her," it said, the feathers in its wings rasping against each other discordantly. "So you - we - must be careful and discreet. But I believe there is hope... I just have to find a treatment. Somehow. But not one that takes you away from home."
It was too late for her, but not too late for Ashford, or Jericho. Who knew how many other students were hiding the grey taint? It would have to find them all, quietly.
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Posted: Sat May 05, 2012 3:54 am
"It appears that we are in agreement."
He doubted the intentions of this creature. He doubted himself, and he doubted the sanctity of his mind, and he fought the urge to go home.
The more Malodore spoke, the more the reaper realized how much danger he was in.
"Most days, I am concealed by force of habit."
Ash blanched.
"Today was an exception. I had...temporarily lost control of my faculties."
Insufficient. His mind was made up, in the firmest of ways. If he was to perish, or even if he was at risk of it--
Well.
The decision was clear. Better to be gone and despised instead of gone and missed. He couldn't do that to Thackery. Couldn't inflict the same loss evident in Malodore in Thackery.
He just couldn't.
"We--I have affairs to settle before we are of use--"
The paranoia curled into his veins, but it was a comfortable and familiar burn. The affliction was not pleased. This creature was going to kill you, silly Ashford. You are so weak without us. You do not know anything, Henry, do not know anything--
It was very unhappy with his decision.
He had never felt more free.
"After that. After that, you may do what a plague doctor does to its patients."
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Posted: Sat May 05, 2012 10:22 am
Malodore tilted its head to one side. "A plague doctor cures its patients, with any luck. Though I cannot promise such things at once, it is my ultimate goal." It spoke quietly, and carefully; the Reaper's movements were faint but erratic. It subtly extended its empathy and felt the roil of conflict within Ashford, though nothing more specific than that - such emotions were to be expected, it supposed, as sanity and Insanity grappled with each other.
It must be exhausting, it realized with a surge of regret and pain.
"I am not sure where to begin - it would be helpful, perhaps, to have the assistance of those close to you. I, ah, was... was able to assist Riley somewhat, in that way. To stabilize," it said, with a quiet sigh.
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Posted: Sat May 05, 2012 1:53 pm
"Forgive me for being uncertain, given the state of your previous patient," Ash replied bluntly. Malodore would sense fear in Ash, raw and coiled around his chaos.
It spiked with fury and confusion and distress. "The only one close to me is Thackery. I do not want to..."
Ash hunted for an appropriate word. He had hit him, in a momentary loss of control.
In a loss of control he did not really remember save for the evidence of injury on Thackery's face.
"I will not subject him to this." In beautiful irony: guilt, and lots of it. "It has been worsening," was the only explanation Ash provided, his tone grave.
He would not put the boil at risk any longer. Thackery would probably disagree-- but the reaper refused to risk it.
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Posted: Sat May 05, 2012 2:52 pm
Tension swept through Malodore's frame like a flood; its wings twitched, making that metal rasp sound again, but it bowed its head. "As you wish. I will aid you with the malady alone - of course, your other affairs are your business. My apologies." It folded its long fingers together under the bell of its sleeves.
"When you are ready, come to me?" it said, after a moment's silence. "I am in the undead dormitories, in a room on the first floor. To the left, and then the right, when you enter..."
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Posted: Sat May 05, 2012 5:55 pm
Ash watched as Malodore had its metallic feathers ruffled, but at least it agreed.
It agreed to help. The Pyramid Head was not fond of pleasantries; hellos and goodbyes and pleases and thank yous all found to be unnecessary--
But there was a time and place to show your gratitude.
This was one of those times.
So Ashford bowed his head in deference to Malodore, committing the instructions to memory.
"Thank you. I will...seek you out."
After the...unpleasant business he had to attend to. With that, he left, to cover the marks that would brand him to the Boogeymen, should they find out. It would be best if that they never did.
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Posted: Sat May 05, 2012 7:01 pm
Malodore sighed and slumped against the wall of the dormitory as soon as Ashford was out of sight, the metal spars of its wings scraping against the stone. Its fingers came up to rub at its temples, pushing the mask forward just enough to allow that movement.
So there were more. More than just Riley and Jericho - and advanced, too, beyond the point of easy recovery, if there even was such a thing. How many more could there be? If there was one, there might be dozens, concealing their condition. Alone with only them and the voices and-
It shook its head, sharply, and pulled its empathy inwards, folding its mind and wings around itself. It couldn't... couldn't imagine Riley like that, a single spark drowned in a sea of maddened minds.
Was she one of the voices calling Ashford towards home?
For a moment it ached, wishing that it could take the grey into itself, just in case it could hear her voice - but no. That choice had been removed from it. Sighing, Malodore pushed away from the wall and stared up at the sky before pivoting on one hoof and heading back inside.
It had work to do.
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