Death Is A Dirty Word

[Osiris (DELETED 5735)]

--The following transcript was a live chat roleplay--

Her tears were a salty wash against the iron tang of blood. As she pulled back, he watched as she began to pull herself together. Her blue eyes trembled only marginally less, the fog of madness clearing as her crystal blues began to grip what was happening. He moved his hands against her cheeks and pulled her, lightly, against his chest.

“Think about it, Duckie.”
He said that often.
’Think about it, Duckie. Who would do that, Duckie? Why would the Russians be trying to assassinate you, Duckie?’

He often asked her questions, making her find the answers for herself. When she started thinking through her answers, her mind focused, and she put considerable effort into figuring herself out. It was a way of bringing her back from the brink.

“Think about it. He might be dead… but you and I are dead, too, remember?” he spoke evenly, his voice cool and relaxed. “He told me about this. Sometimes, our bodies are too damaged to heal here in this… realm I guess. We retreat to a place called the Shadow Realm to heal. It is… not a pleasant experience. But he is strong. Stronger than both of us.”

He leaned down, pushing a kiss to her soft brow. “He will be back in no time. You just have to be strong. It wouldn’t help him in the least to come back to broken childer, would it?” he said soothingly, hand passing easily through her thick, azure curls. “Just hold on for a little while.”

<Rion> Think about it, Duckie.

She hated when he said that. She hated that he was constantly trying to get her to see reason, she hated that he was always there for her. She hated that he was able to see through her masks, her lies and her manipulations. She hated him for everything he did for her, for everything he had given up for her. She hated how easily he had found his way through her barriers, she hated that he was able to understand her when no one else could. She hated him for everything he was – and she hated him the most for the fact that she loved him. The realization hit her hard, a wrecking ball to the center of her chest.

****.

What would Micah think, then? It took him dying for her to realize how much she cared Osiris. She had felt the increase in her emotions for a long time, had felt the weight light a knife in her chest – but she had refused to breathe life into what she had always believed to be an unneeded chemical reaction. Yet, this time – she couldn’t hide from the truth. As she stood there, her head against his chest and her eyes closing – she knew. She knew that she loved the stupid **** – and he would never know. He was meant for her, he fit her better than anyone else – but she would never reveal as much to him.

Of course, she refused to believe in soulmates, but that would be what he was, right? The stupid, idiotic, annoying ******** that held her so safely in his arms was destined to be hers – and she’d be damned if anyone took him from her. Tipping her head back, she trailed her gaze up his chest until she managed to find his eyes. Think about it, Duckie. She was thinking about it. She was thinking about how Micah would refuse to miss out on this, on the realization that she did, in fact, have a heart. It was tattered, it was broken and bruised and it wasn’t much of anything – but it worked.

Clenching her teeth together, her eyes began to clear as she took a breath into useless lungs and held it there. He was dead. Dead was dead – but they were dead, right? They had their lives ripped from their bodies, and they had become reanimated. The corpses that were piling in her office were getting up and walking away, the vampires their family faction hunted down continued to return – so why wouldn’t he?

“You’re right,” she said finally, her voice calmer as she took a step away from him. The wind died down, the trees began to calm in their trembling as she kept her gaze leveled with his. “He wouldn’t just die. He wouldn’t leave me like that,” she whispered, her fingers beginning to knead at her chest. The ache was still intense, and she knew that she would feel it until he returned. “He’s dead. He’s not sleeping. He’s dead, but he’ll be back. He has to come back,” she closed her eyes then and swayed. “He’ll be back. He’ll come back, and I’ll beat the **** out of him for doing this to us. Yeah, that’s exactly what will happen…”

You’d believe anything he’d tell you. Falling right into his lies, you pathetic, weak *****. You’re no ******* daughter of mine.

“He’s dead…”

<Osiris> Shaking his head as she stepped from him, he took her hands in his grasp. She muttered to herself, a mantra of hope, no matter how broken, was still a sliver of light where none had existed only moments before. That was all he needed. It would hardly become a returning from the brink of death for their sire, to find one of his childer so fractured that she could hardly function. That wouldn’t help anything at all.

More to the point.
It wouldn’t help him.

His hands pulled her face in for another kiss to her brow before he let her curl against his chest. He took a slow breath as he steadied himself, securing the lock around his emotions, keeping them in no small order of check. He wouldn’t allow their freedom for anything. He was her hope, and he wouldn’t give that up lightly.

As she leaned against him, more of her weight required his help for support, his arms sliding around her torso as he kept her upright. He gave a small, twisted smirk as he tipped his head toward the tree. “Why don’t you sit down for a minute, Duckie? We can take a second to straighten ourselves out before anyone else shows up… we both look a right mess.” He gave her that winning smile and used practiced fingers to push the messy blue curls from her eyes. “I’m sure we won’t be the only ones here. Besides. Someone needs to stay close by, in case something happens up there.”

He tipped his head back, nodding up into the tree, where she had been teleported from

“His body is up there. It’s best if we just… make sure it stays safe as best we can. It’ll make me feel a lot better than doing nothing, and I’m sure it’ll help you feel better, too.” He took her arm, then, and pulled her down to sit next to the towering tree, their backs to the trunk as he lifted the sleeve of his shirt to begin cleaning the blood from her face. “You’re an absolute mess…”

[Velveteen]

She pressed her ear to the phone as she straightened the sheets that covered her husband’s body, fussing over him like a mother to a sick child. She was surprised at Athena’s request. The pair had only met in passing but she was family so her requested would be granted. “You can. Just be don’t be going all batshit crazy on me like your sire. Ya ready?” The words were barely spoken as she concentrated on the woman, piecing a vague image of her together in her own mind. Ready or not other woman materialised and Velveteen removed the device from her ear and ended the call, tossing the phone casually to land on the end of the bed.

Just the thought of that blue haired banshee irritated her and is the very thought invoked her she heard her screaming from down below. Her lips set in a thin and her gaze narrowed. Velveteen likened being around Rion to sipping battery acid; Unpleasant, painful and left a really ******* terrible after taste. “Sorry Athena. I will be with you in a sec.” Several purposeful strides took her past the woman to the closet where the doors were swung open. She looked like she might be looking for a change of clothes but instead withdrew a gun. A quick inspection confirmed a full clip that was slapped back into place.

She began to make her way out to the balcony, stopping momentarily at the foot of the bed as she spoke to directly to the inanimate body that occupied it. “I should have ******* shot her. I wont listen to you next time.” With that she disappeared outside and hung the gun over the edge firing blindly towards the ground. Bullets lodged in the trees and tore through leaves as she fired round after round downwards. She doubted any would actually find their mark though she could get lucky. Just one. “**** back off to whatever filthy hole you crawled out of you ******* irritating, self-centred, boot licking, troll!” She screamed, the gunfire ceasing momentarily but Velveteen was far from appeased as she added another and then another and just...one more which turned into another until the clip was empty. Disgusted, she threw the gun and sent it hurtling towards the soft earth below as well.

Silver orbs rolled upwards and she took a deep breath, the motion soothing, as she counted backwards from ten and attempted to smooth out her hair. Her entire face changed in an instant and she was a different person as she stepped back through the door. “Sorry about that. The wildlife gets a bit nuts out here.” She waved a hand dismissively and laughed a little. Her head snapped around and her gaze set on Micah and narrowed ever so slightly. Her head canted curiously as if she were listening to something and then she nodded. “I know but she had to go.” Her brow furrowed, obviously unhappy with whatever response she thought she got and she nodded.

She turned her sterling orbs on the other woman. “I need a smoke? Do you smoke?” Her head motioned toward the door , a silent invitation to step outside onto the balcony. “He’s all sorts of cranky right now. Might wanna let him calm down a bit before you try talking to him.” She turned and made her way outside certain that Athena wouldn’t be too far behind.

[Osiris (DELETED 5735)]

She was calming down. Finally.

He gave a small sigh of relief, reluctant to let down his guard as she settled against the trunk at his side. It was often that she appeared to be calm on the outside, but would be a firestorm of crazy in her mind, and he would let his focus slip just long enough for her to fly into an all-out assault, catching him unawares. This was one of those times that the luxury of losing focus couldn’t be afforded. Instead, he sat quietly, stoic as ever while he waited for her break to slowly pull itself together and right herself before they moved forward.

He smiled, turning to her and lifting a hand to her chin, tipping her head back to look up into his eyes as he began to speak in a caring tone, laced thickly with sincerity in his next words. “ ]It will be alright, Duckie. He’ll be back soon enough, and he’ll want to know about what happened. We should try to—”

His words were clipped short by the bark of machine gun fire, punctuating a sharp voice that was tossed down to them through the branches. His brows knit at the words and he stood as the first of the bullets rained down on them. He frowned, lips twisting into a grave expression as he lifted an open palm toward the tree’s canopy.

“Hey! What the **** are you doing up there? There are ******* people down here, you goddamn lunatic!” He shouted into the tree, ducking as another hail of bullets struck the wood with a series of loud thumps, the damaged leaves hissing as the hot metal passed through them without resistance. He could see each copper round flying through the air, striking at the dirt and crashing into the tree as they passed through the canopy. A single round hissed past his head, the bullet grazing his cheek close enough to slice the flesh cleanly, a thin black line forming across his ivory face before a second slammed into his shoulder, sending a splash of oily-black blood spraying into the air with the impact, where it seemed to freeze in time and space, the splotch of black like a small anomaly into which all light poured, but never escaped.

He was bleeding a little black hole into the universe. That kind of awesome phenomenon wasn’t lost on him. He stood, fascinated with the blood before it curled into tiny wisps of smoke and vanished. Instantly, the wonder was gone, and pain blossomed in his arm. He grit his teeth and dropped his hand to his belt.

Another volley of rounds came spitting down at them and this time, he answered with a single shot of his own, the silenced Glock whispering against the bark of automatic fire, lost in the cacophony of the nasty weapon. He aimed away from the spray of bullets, firing into the tree above his head to signal the woman above them that he was still down there. They both were.

“Would you bugger off with that already?” he snapped into the leaves thumbing the safety back into the ‘on’ position with a sharp click when the weapon came tumbling to the earth with a thump more hollow than the hard impacts of the bullets. He realized the weapon was empty, that she had spent an entire round firing at them. “Absolutely ******* unnecessary.” he snarled, his usually very genial manner completely erased as a practiced and steady hand lifted to the gaping wound in his shoulder. Black blood oozed from the hole like an angry spring, the puffs of smoke rising from the wounded limb dissipating as soon as they appeared. He grimaced, and pushed a single digit into the hole. As his finger dug into his flesh, more of the black excretion ran down his arm, small plumes rising from his fingertips as he fished the hot bullet from his arm.

With a snap of his teeth, he finally found the metal object lodged in his shoulder, curling the digit around the hunk of copper and pulling it from his flesh before tossing it to the earth. He grimaced again, the expression hard as he slowly pumped his fist, testing the mobility of his hand and the pain in his shoulder. He frowned at the latter. The pain was intense, the wound an angry, black mar on his joint as he worked to lift the arm, the shattered bone of the shoulder joint refusing to move where its range of motion would take him before.

Shaking his head, he tucked his firearm back into his belt and turned to look at the woman in the dirt with a frown. “You two have got some seriously fucked issues.” he muttered at the blue-haired vision as he pushed his back to the tree, standing over her. He looked down at her and smiled. “Though, I suppose I knew that coming into this. I just always thought that you would be the one to end up shooting me.” He shook his head, and used his touch to ruffle her exotic curls. His eyes moved around them, glancing at the bullets that littered the earth and jammed into the tree, and he pushed a hand through his hair. “At least we can take a little solace in the act that I don’t actually think she was aiming at us?”

He chuckled, the humor back in his voice as he did his best to make light of the problem. Honestly, the quarrel between Rion and Velveteen was a subject weighing on his mind often. There was little in the way of things to be done about the rift, but at the same time, putting them at such odds was driving a wedge between people that should be family. It bothered him more than he would admit. He smiled down at the woman and held out his good arm for her hand.

“I think that maybe we should find a better place to wait, Duckie. Someplace a little less likely to get us shot up by a bunch of crazies?” He gave her a coy smirk, and crooked a finger at her as he extended his hand closer. “At least to the other side of the tree? Her balcony wouldn’t give her such an open shot at the other end of this monster.”

He pat an open palm against the rough bark and grimaced again, the bone in his shoulder grinding painfully when he lifted the arm. He would need to quit moving it for a while, before it would heal. He could already feel the bone setting itself into place for repair.

He took her hand with his good arm and hoisted her to his feet. “Are you alright? I didn’t notice any of the bullets hit you… but I also managed to miss the one that actually got me.”

[Rion]

It was as if the puzzle was beginning to finally fall into place. Each piece had shifted until they began to click together, forming the picture that everyone else seemed to see but her. He would be home, he couldn’t remain dead – they didn’t abide by human laws. Once he had drained the blood from her veins, she had been reborn into something more. The unique power that pulsed through her body would also, logically, pulse through his. He wouldn’t remain dead – he would come home. He would return to them – and then she would kick his *** for putting them through this. It had all began to finally make sense, and the tension in her muscles finally began to ease. Tipping her head back, she parted her lips to speak to him, to tell him that she was fine and he could quit hovering, but the words died on her tongue as the sound of gunfire filled the air.

At first, she couldn't pinpoint where it was originating from. Her mind refused to accept the fact that Velveteen would be that stupid. After all, wasn't she the leader of the one faction sworn to protect the masquerade? Obviously, shooting blindly into the ******* open world wasn't going to benefit that cause much. Yet, no sooner had she tried to reason with herself - then the woman began to scream. I tried to give you the benefit of the doubt, idiot, she thought to herself as a bullet brushed through her hair. She felt the burn against the side of her skull, and her fingers lifted to press to the wound. While she continued to toss her less than original insults [seriously, where the **** did she come up with these? Sand Box Insults for Dummies?], the younger necromancer leaped to her feet and shoved her hand against her boyfriend's chest, as if she was going to protect him from the rain of projectiles.

It seemed as if he had the same idea, for the second she moved to step around him, she found her back pressed to the tree and his body bent over hers. What in the **** is her issue? The question was hissed violently through her mind, and she shook her head. The sound of bullets continued to echo throughout the area, and she sank her teeth roughly into her lower lip. She was trying to keep her wits about her, the hold she had finally had on her clarity threatening to slip through her fingers with each report of the gun. She could feel the beast inside rearing it's head, and the shadows began to creep over her vision until all she saw was black. ****, she really needed to get them out of there before she did something equally stupid. ““Come on, let her have her tant—“ The insult was silenced when the scent of his blood filled the air. Absolutely ******* not.

At once, there was a shift in the necromancer, and her blue eyes narrowed dangerously as the world began to shake. The leaves that had just been assaulted by bullets trembled for an entirely different reason, but it was clear the small wisp of a woman didn't notice. Her entire focus was on the blood that was dissipating in the air - and the origin of it. “That ******* **** has gone too far,” she growled, her fingers closing in around his wrist. It was the skin on skin contact that kept her in place, when all she wanted to do was vault her way onto the balcony and rip her head from her shoulders. There was no coming back from this slight. Any and everything they had been working towards faded into a cloud of smoke. It was one thing to come after her, to insult and berate her – it was an entirely different world for her to hurt an innocent.

No, not just an innocent – but Osiris.

In the second it took for the bullet to erupt through her boyfriend’s shoulder, spraying his blood through the air, Velveteen had effectively managed to lose any and all ground she had to stand on.

“She doesn’t care. She’s too busy locked in her delusional tantrum to give a flying **** about us or anyone else.” Shaking her head, the woman curled her fingers into fists and held them against her rib-cage. It was the only thing she could do to refrain from ripping his gun from his hand and firing a bullet straight through the other woman’s skull. She couldn't believe how easy he was letting her off - but she knew, in the back of her mind, what he was trying to prove. He didn't want to hurt the woman - he just wanted to remind her that he was not one to be fucked with. He was as fierce over her protection as she was as is. It was ironic, really, how utterly alike the two couples were. Maybe that's why you two ******* hate each other, another voice mocked bitterly, leaving the woman to narrow her eyes as she scanned the sky. “She wasn’t aiming for you, at least.” With another shake of her head, she pushed her fingers roughly through her hair before leaning closer to inspect the wound in his shoulder. She had to snap her teeth together to refrain from shouting another threat up to the woman above, and instead she focused on ripping part of her shirt off to use as a tourniquet.

“It’s not my ******* problem. It’s all on her. I’ve not done **** this time around, but she’s yet to remove that bat from her ***. She’s so far gone, she seriously thought to blame me for the earthquake earlier.” it was obvious she still hadn't noticed the slow rumble of the ground beneath their feet. It had begun to slow the longer she focused on his wound, and after a moment she finally lifted her gaze to his. He was her rock - her sanity, when she wanted to do nothing more than lose control. The fact he had been wounded by Velveteen's gun...

... I will never forgive her for this.

She waited until she heard the final report of the gun before she pushed from the bark and stepped out into the open. When she took those steps to distance herself from him, the grasp she had loosened more. Rage caused the woman to tremble, and it was taking the very last of her willpower to refrain from finding a way in to rip her throat out. “We should probably just go. I need to get cleaned up and now I need to stitch you up. Thanks to Mrs. Psycho With a Gun up there, she’s probably alerted half of the city to our location. It’ll look less suspicious if we weren’t here.”

Waving her hand vaguely towards the balcony, she turned to focus on him once again. “We’ll come back later when there’s less drama.” Her voice was tight as she held her hand out, fingers lacing with his. She knew he would follow her – he always did. Without looking back, the woman led them back towards their hotel. She'd deal with the fall out later - but she would deal with it.

[Athena (DELETED 6736)]

Athena was asked ‘are you ready?’ and her body tensed. Was she ready? She didn’t think so. Hell, she didn’t even know what to do in these sorts of situations. Actually, what WAS this situation? Rion was going batshit crazy? It wasn’t a far fetched idea that the blue-haired woman was crazy but now she was acting crazy? What was going on there? She was walking in blind and she was okay with that for the most part. This was a family matter and no matter what she was that- family. She wanted to show her respect. She wanted to show her love. This right here for her? Was ballsy. She was trying, that’s all she could offer. Was just that. Her company, her willingness to do whatever was needed and the fact that she would try.

But then as soon as her thoughts were over and pushed aside. Just when she felt her lips part to tell the other woman that she was ready. Well, that she would be ready because who was ready to walk into a line of fire, anyway? Athena felt her body become weightless, her entire body jerked with the magic and she swallowed down the blood that almost forced it’s way from her stomach to between her lips and onto whatever floor she was placed on. With her phone in hand she stumbled around, her heels struggling to keep footing as she used her free hand to cover her mouth. Oh god, was she going to hurl? Once she swallowed that blood down and managed to collect herself again she was standing up straight.

“Sorry Athena. I will be with you in a sec.”

Athena was struggling even with her blood swallowed. It was hard to try and figure out where she was. Those words registered in her mind and with them she whipped her head around the room she was standing in. It was a mess. Everything was a wreck. There was glass. What looked like to be burn marks. BURN MARKS?! Letting out a sigh she tried to put it all together but then she heard Rion’s screaming, but it wasn’t coming from the room. It was coming from.. down below? Her surroundings didn’t matter anymore and she watched Velveteen with large blue eyes while she walked past her and towards a closet. Why a closet? Then there was the answer with a gleam of light from within the room which bounced off the gun, she started to freak out first inwardly and then she found her footing and her words. Where was Velveteen going with that gun? Why did she have a gun anyway? For a moment Athena thought maybe she was going to get shot in the face. The thought was gone once she saw the other walk towards the balcony where Rion’s voice could be heard screaming.

Only taking a second to consider that Velveteen had just spoken to a corpse, a corpse that was robbed of the life that it had once held. The life that was now stuck in another world for the dead who walked the night. A world that terrified Athena at the thought. Now, she didn’t know Velveteen that well and she wasn’t looking to get shot herself but she couldn’t help the words from coming out. “Velveteen! NO!” She started to scream too. Athena used her right heel to push her after the other necromancer. “You can’t just SHOOT AT HER! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” Her voice raised, it was a surprise even to her own ears that she would just… yell at Velveteen like that. It had been brought from her throat with fear. She was scared for Rion. She was just plain terrified. It wasn’t like she had the strength to stop Velveteen and she fired off below and towards Rion anyways despite all of her screaming.

Just as quick as that Velveteen went from screaming and shooting randomly towards her siress to turning around and calming down. Athena watched her smooth down her hair. Just as still as ever, her lower lip dropped as she watched the other. Was she always this mad? Was this why Rion was doing all that ******* screaming? Athena couldn’t come to any sort of conclusion right now other than pure terrified shock. She didn’t want to move a muscle but there Velv was smiling like nothing happened and it all happened in an instant. To say Athena was scared would have to be saying the least at this moment.

“Sorry about that. The wildlife gets a bit nuts out here.”

Normally Athena would have laughed at that especially when it was pointed towards her siress. Did Velv think she was shooting a talking squirrel? Wait was that a joke? Hell, she didn’t know and she didn’t try to pretend she knew. She watched Velveteen whip her head towards Micah suddenly who was laying there lifeless and speak to him.. like he was there. Like he was living there. He wasn’t and the thought made Athena’s heart throb for Velv then. Did she think Micah wasn’t dead? Everything seemed to come slow to her tonight. Maybe it was her nerves. They didn’t do so well in situations she wasn’t sure of herself in. This being one of them.

“I need a smoke. Do you smoke?”

Hell yeah Athena needed a smoke. She did follow Velveteen outside and into the balcony, her hand rubbing over her face as she did. She ignored her words to Micah. She was skeptical. How do you handle this? It was obvious to her now that Velveteen wasn’t right in her head right now. But how to handle it? Her other reaching into her pocket to pull out a pack of smokes she always carried and her lighter. As she stood near the other she used her thumb to pull back the cover of the pack and offer the cigarettes instead. “Velveteen…” she started quietly, carefully even. “Is there a power that you can get that allows you to talk to the dead from their corpse to the shadow realm?” she asked, hopeful that Velveteen wouldn’t just throw her over the balcony to her siress. Or shoot her. It was worth a shot, though.

[Velveteen]

Velveteen snatchd up the crumpled and obviously empty pack before dropping it in disgust. Had she really smoked that much? Unless the local wildlife had taken up smoking and was sneaking up here to specifically take hers then the answer was yes. Yes she had. More annoying was the fact that she was going to have to get more. Not so much out need but simply because it was a diversion, and excuse, a smoke screen, that masked the real issued and let her avoid addressing the nagging feelings that refused to desist.

Her arms crossed over her chest as she leaned up against the wooden railing, her head tilted just so as she listened to the murmurings down below. The were too far away to hear exact words but she was curious as to who the second person was. As far as she was aware Rion had been on her own. Her focus shifted with a noncommittal shrug, her ability to care anymore about who else was down there had died with the offer of a cigarette. Before the Necromancer could open her mouth to offer a thank you, Athena spoke her name. Velveteen gave the woman a curious woman. Something about the way her name was spoken seemed somewhat ominous. Velveteen certainly hoped not.

One arm was crossed over her midsection to support the elbow of her other arm, her hand up and twisting as she watched the fine tendrils of smoke twist and turn upwards, building momentum as it reached for the sky. The woman remained silent as she listened and then gave Athena’s some serious thought. “Hmm...that is a curious question, Athena? But no, I don’t believe there is. Why? Is there a corpse you need to speak with or through or something? A dead person you are wanting to contact perhaps? I may be able to help you with the latter but the first is for the purely insane only I believe.” She grinned a little, just to let the other know she was teasing.