welcome to your new hell, Welcome to the Menagerie. Or as we like to call it, Dome Sweet Dome! We are an eight-year strong futuristic shapeshifter and sci-fi creature roleplay, dedicated to bringing you a world unlike any other; a world in which your character has become an experiment and must fight for survival in a domed city, cut off from the rest of the world. Choose to be any animal in your fight for survival in an artificial world built by the Keepers as they subject you to experiments beyond your control. Choose to wander the world inside the walls alone, as a Rogue, or find safety in numbers in one of the groups known as Rings. How will you survive?
60 - 65 ºF
blustery with scattered showers spotty sunshine
YEAR 2309
shift bans.
» Cougars (aka Puma, Mountain Lion, Panther)
» All Tiger Species
» All Lion Species
» All Wolf Species
» African Leopards
group bans.
none.
encouraged !
FEMALE CHARACTERS! create a RETRO or ANTHRO and get 250 CP + a free skill! read me for more info!
last updated: april 19th, 2016
Click on each Ring or Retro group image to view their ranks!
GROUP UPDATES
CARNARING
Jocelyn Edelwolfe is the new Alpha! Seija Mulviene is the new Beta, and Grey is the new Delta. Lead Hunter is now Boone Haywood, Head of Border Patrol is now Noelle Ndango!
FALLENRING
-
FULSIRING
Fulsi has a standing treaty with the Nakoma, granting limited access to their fresh water.
NAKOMA TRIBE
-
ANALOYA PRIDE
a while back, the Analoya suffered a suspicious poisoning of their river, luckily with few casualties; the Bellator are suspected of having taken part in it, and there are whispers that Pride leader Wanderer is talking alliance with the Nilda for access to their clean water.
BELLATOR HERD
As new leader of the Bellator, Loril has instituted some rank changes. See this thread for more information!
LAWAII FLOCK
no updates!
NILDA PACK
no updates!
CARNARING QUICK STATS
ALPHA -- Jocelyn Edelwolfe, Clouded Leopard, played by IronChild
BETA -- Seija Mulviene, Spotted Hyena, played by Seija-chan
DELTA --Grey, Mackenzie Valley Wolf, played by Kriss
_______________________________________________
When Py woke up, everything was burning. He quickly squeezed his eyes shut again, though the light still seared them from behind his eyelids. So this was what it was like to be dead. He was very certain of the fact that he was dead. This moment of lucidity was proof enough for him. Before then, there had been nothing but the fever dreams and the unconscious – the deep dark in which he saw nor heard nothing, felt nothing, knew nothing. But this – yes, he was sure. Blinking, he chanced to open his eyes again, and this time he was not so blinded. It was still bright, of course. They always said there was white light.
Only…well that was odd.
The Carna screwed up his face in confusion at the sight of the lamps built into the ceiling. Ceiling? Wait, no, this wasn’t right. And why was he moving so much? It wasn’t like he could fly in the real world, and for him to be able to in the afterlife seemed laughably ironic. His head lolled to one side, and he caught the glint of metal. Oh. Oh. He understood then. It would explain why his back was so cold. Half-dead, then, he thought with a little mental giggle. Carted off to the looney-bin…. Or perhaps the labs, where they could kill him proper. He wouldn’t have been surprised if they were frustrated by the fact that their stupid pet monstrosity hadn’t done the job right. So he was on a gurney, being taken god knows where, at god knows what day or time or month. Fantastic.
A heavy sigh followed. And then…ah, yes, the pain. It grew as his awareness did, to the point that his eyes began to water and small, unbidden whimpers escaped his lips. The medics, he remembered them even in his feverish state, trying to repair bone and muscle and flesh to stop him from bleeding out. Their faces were blurry in his mind, though; he couldn’t recall if Tain had been there. Everything felt stiff and sore and he wasn’t entirely sure if he wasn’t still bleeding, so he lay quiet. He dimly noticed that he was shirtless, but that was of little consequence. His shirt had been so saturated with blood that it was useless to him now anyways.
As he was pushed along, he thought – just for a moment – that he saw a flash of blue. Of something. The man was having troubles concentrating, of course, but he hoped that it wasn’t him. It probably wasn’t but he didn’t want Tain there; for one thing, if he was, then it was because they were experimenting on him, and for another, he didn’t want him to see him like this, all broken and blood-soaked. This was the last clear thought he had before he felt the sting of the needle; almost immediately his eyes began to droop closed, and he surrendered to sleep the next moment later.
In the next few hours that passed, he was mostly unaware of what happened to him. Everytime he began to stir from his drugged, unconscious state, they would dose him again, and he would drift back off without incident. Once he woke to the feeling of excruciating pain, but the intensity of it was such that he passed out of his own accord.
When he woke up for the final time, he was surprised to find that the fog had lifted from his mind, and with it, the pain. Or rather, the extreme pain. What remained was dull and throbbing rather than sharp. He pushed himself up to sit, and then crossed his legs carefully. Glancing down, he discovered very little trace of the wounds that had plagued him. In fact, there was not a spec of blood on his body. There were, however, scars – healed, but jagged and deep as they scored down his chest; a grim imitation of the ones he’d given Tain, he noted. A twist of his neck over his shoulder confirmed that the ones on his back and sides were in similar condition. His hand ached as he reached over to gently poke at one scar in particular, and was rewarded with pain. Best not touch, then. He knew that it hadn’t been simple bites – chunks of flesh had been torn off, and muscle. A grimace marred his expression. His leg…he’d been crippled before. Py vowed to test it later, but presently he was in a cage, and unable to stand, so he remained seated.
It was damp and dirty, and reminded him vaguely of the sewers, which was a small comfort. His ribs hurt. A headache had formed at his temples. And among these aggravating things, he became aware of sound coming from the other cage next to his. Frowning, he edged closer to the bars to see, but didn’t dare come close enough to touch them. A flash of blue caught his eye, and he sucked in a quick breath. “…Tain?!”
ooc; Ahh, feels so good to play him again <3 If I need to change anything lemme know :3
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Last Edit: May 26, 2013 1:28:15 GMT -5 by Py Ackerman
Post by Tain Rosdahl on Aug 3, 2012 14:24:29 GMT -5
It was strangely peaceful in the cages. The hum of the lights when they were on, the rush of water through the walls behind his cell the only noise aside from any he made. The floor was hard, but so was the floor in Carna before Py had dragged him into the small country that he called a bed. The first day he'd freaked out; thrashed the bars, which were electric, the neat rows of healing burns on his forearm assured him, snarled and fought. But it was exhausting, and when they flipped the lights down and left, all he had was the faint blue light of some equipment down the hall. Alone in the holding cells, he gave in.
Tain knew that so long as he was here, no one would shake him awake because someone had come back half dead, no patrols, and no hunters to accompany. It was liberating, in a depressing sense. The Keepers came for him regularly, though for now they seemed satisfied with a rush of tests every morning, like clockwork. They made him run, jump, lift weights, weighed him, and hooked him up to an endless number of IVs and sensors. He had enough sense to know anything with this much prep work was likely to turn ugly for him, but the only way he could deal with it was to ignore it, and focus on the orders barked through intercoms or surgical masks.
But then one morning, they did not come. Tain was tucked back against the wall as was his usual, one knee drawn to his chest, and head tipped back. The lights flickered to life and illuminated the backs of his eyelids, though he did not bother to open his eyes. There was no point, they always waited a while before collecting him, and he was fairly comfortable. Or at least numb to any discomfort, which was just about the same thing. But they didn't come on time. Or after that. No footsteps echoed, nothing. The waiting tightened a knot in Tain's chest with every passing minute. And there were many.
Finally, hours overdue, he heard sounds, and his pale eyes slid open, though he remained still. A screech of gurney wheels, the sharp voices of two, no three people approaching. This was not his usual escort. And when they turned the corner and moved through the room, he realized he wasn't his escort at all, someone else was strapped down. He didn't make out who as they hustled by, seated on the floor as he was, but he felt for them all the same. The Keepers were never kind, he thought bitterly as he watched them wheel his kin away. It was the first sign he'd seen of another shifter since he arrived, though. Other times when he'd been in there, there had always been others. Sometimes a few, sometimes many, but never just him. It had added to his sense of isolation, and he found himself missing his ringmates and his brother constantly. There was nothing to be done for it though, but wait and wait and wait.
Hours later, after Tain had dozed back off, they brought the other shifter back. Tain tried to bestir himself, though found it cripplingly hard. The water, he remembered, the empty bowl made a scraping sound as it was removed while the door of the cage next to him opened. They always drugged his water, they didn't even bother using something tasteless. They didn't have to, even with the IVs while they worked he got thirsty, and the drugs let them open his cage without worrying. They never lasted terribly long, at least. Hazy, he let his head loll to the side and watched the masked Keeper take the bowl that had held the water. They didn't leave any food, he noticed, and his stomach rolled protest.
"...Tain?!"
His name hit him like a slap to the face, and he jerked sideways, slipping off the wall into the bars to his left. There was a brilliant blue spark and snap of electricity, and Tain reeled back defensively from the bars, right hand clasped tight over the smoking burn on his left shoulder. "Py? How the bloody hell did you..." He inched closer to see through, and sure enough, there he was. And he looked like hell. "Your side, what happened?! Were we attacked?" Sudden fear closed his throat as he remembered both Carna's attack on Fulsi, and Fulsi's on Carna. He'd been on the receiving side of both, and the idea of a third.... Py was a bear, for christ's sake, what could have hurt him so badly? "Are you okay? What about Holly? Max, Tash, everyone...?"
Last Edit: Aug 3, 2012 14:25:08 GMT -5 by Tain Rosdahl
Well, Py hadn’t quite expected such a sudden reaction, and as Tain toppled into the electrified bars of the cage, the hunter let out a short, sympathetic hiss of breath, brow creased in a wince. Of course they had to electrify them, he thought sarcastically. It isn’t as though said bars are made of very solid and unbendable steel or anything. He wasn’t all too eager to test the force of the current, however, and edged back away from his own cage’s bars with a nervous shuffle. It was a necessary precaution. He’d seen the sparks flicker in the air, and given the hardwiring of his brain, it was trying very hard to focus on that particular event; it made it rather difficult to concentrate on much more important matters at hand, as it were. Blue eyes wide and bright with concern, he peered after the medic, anxiously eyeing his singed shoulder, then snapped his gaze up to meet his when he spoke.
He opened his mouth and made as though to speak, then snapped his mouth shut again with a puzzled frown. Did he really look so terrible? His eyes drifted back down to assess the new scars littering his body, and found that more were beginning to appear the closer he looked. Fancy that. Rubbing at one of the scars on his forearm self-consciously, he offered the other man a half-hearted smile and crossed his legs loosely. At least he could move those – he’d been more than a little worried that his attacker had hamstrung him when he’d felt his claws and jaws sink into the backs of his legs. A small groan bubbled in his throat as a thought came to him then. It’d bitten him, multiple times. Had the Keepers stopped the virus from spreading, or was he still sick and it just wasn’t expressing itself fully yet? It was hard to tell, given that he wasn’t sure what kind of virus it actually was. Perhaps it was best not to tell Tain that it had been a virus that had attacked him; the man tilted his head ponderously. Of course, that’d mean lying to him then, and their fragile trust could be easily shattered by such a stupid lie.
Fine. He’d tell him. The hunter chanced to glance up at him again, and was startled to see that Tain wasn’t in such great condition either. He looked tired for one, with dark circles forming half-moons under his eyes, and for another, he looked…out of it. Hazy. Drugged. No surprise there. Past experience had brought to his attention the fact that they medicated the water. Hell, he wasn’t entirely with it himself, and was sure that that same water was coursing through him right then and there. The questions from Tain came tumbling out in a rush, and Py had to focus the majority of his attention in simply keeping track of what he’d just said. Even as he answered, his fingers traced absently at the scars on his side that the other man had noted.
“No, no, we weren’t, not the whole ring. Just me,” he poked his tongue out between his teeth in distaste, “Got caught off guard by a virus, and it tore me up something fierce. It would’ve killed me, but I think…” He struggled to recall, but the memories of the entire event were a blur of color and sound. “Well, someone found me and got me out of there, at any rate. I can’t remember who.” A slight pause followed, and then he added, “I’ve never seen one quite so large before. Was easily two feet taller than me.” He nodded as he went on, “Yeah, I think I’m alright now. The medics helped some, and then the Keepers…well. I’m not bleeding anymore, at least?” His tone rang with the undercurrents of mild humor. “Everyone else is fine, though. Not quite sure why they helped me.” Waving a hand loosely in the direction of the hallway beyond, he fixated on Tain now, turning the questions back at him. “What about you, are you alright? Have they done anything to you?”
Absentmindedly, he reached out a hand to grasp at one of the bars, simply intent on being closer to him, and was rewarded with a sharp, painful bark of electricity across his fingertips. The hunter ground out a curse between clenched teeth and jerked his hand back to cradle it lightly in his lap, looking frustrated. That was nothing compared to what happened next, though. Even as he examined his fingertips to see the damage, he heard the rattle of keys and the grating noise of Tain’s cage door being opened. His head snapped up in alarm, and a snarl of protest rose in his throat as he found Tain being dragged rather bodily out of the cage and off to…well, god knows where. Py’s shouts went, for the most part, unanswered, except for a bark of reprimand, and then his friend was gone, disappearing into the maze of hallways. Just great. The hunter fell back against the cage wall, and began to wait, his thoughts buzzing and humming as actively as the electrical current boxing him in.
Post by Tain Rosdahl on Dec 19, 2012 4:35:11 GMT -5
A wash of relief sagged deep down to Tain's bones as Py assured him, Carna was safe, Fulsi was safe. Py himself was going for a Manic impression so far as scars went, but he couldn't batten down the sick feeling he got from looking at them to zing the tease home. If they got out alive later, once Tain had obsessively assured himself that the Keepers hadn't made a jack-up of the healing, he'd go for it. Still, it was good to see him. A 'virus' though, the monsters Tain had heard about. Huge, deformed beasts that liked to skulk around the old hospital, and were vicious to everyone who'd had the misfortune to come across one. Holly had messed with one once, the aftermath experience had been miserable, sickness and her pigheaded refusal to let other people around her to catch whatever it was. Tain just hoped that like her, the Keepers had healed the sickness in Py, and not just the flesh wounds. He looked healthyish, tired, drawn, burnt out, but no fever sweat or shaking that Tain could see. Just rampant stupidity, a symptom that expressed itself as Py asked after him and reached out and absently touched the bars. There was a sound like a bug zapper followed by one of Py's less creative curses, and Tain made a face at him, somehow managing long-suffering indulgence through the drug-borne haze. Idiot.
"Careful, s'only fun the first time," he chided, and it probably would have felt way more badass if his pain reflexes would let him get closer than ten centimeters to the damn bars at this point. "I'm great, it's like the spa in here, mani, pedi, today was gonna be yoga, but then yo-" the scrape of metal hacked off his weak mockery at the shoulder, and left him gaping at the forms that cranked his door open. They'd done this for days now, but his body didn't seem to care as he broke instantly into a cold sweat and plastered himself against the back wall. His sad attempt didn't help any more today than it had the day before, and catch-snare that locked on his ankle dragged him out a beat later like so much deadweight. There was nothing for him to grab onto that wouldn't jolt him halfway to hell, and the sudden motion made the room and lights overhead spin madly. Clammy hands grabbed at shoulders and metal edges in an attempt to right himself, but the iron strength of the lab techs was irresistible in his state, and the cold bite of metal was at his back in a flash, the snarl of zip-ties locking his wrists and ankles down.
Somewhere to his left, he could hear Py yelling, but then the gurney rolled forward, and they quickly left him behind, and Tain was left with the back and forth muttering of the staff. They were more animated than usual today, he thought with a sinking feeling, and his anxiety did not decrease in the slightest as they went down a familiar hallway. They passed the door where Tain had done his fitness testing, and went through the next one.
The room they entered was not what he expected. There was no surgery equipment, just a broad readout along one wall, sleek computers, and a three large cylinders in the middle of the room. Each looked like they could have fit Tain and his brother in them with room to spare, though all were presently empty. Adrenaline was doing a decent job of fighting the drugs in his system at this point, or they were just plain wearing off, but he missed the drunken haze immediately when a tray of no less than sixteen syringes were set near him.
"Overkill m-maybe?!" he stuttered in a high voice, then snapped his jaw shut as a taser was calmly, and deliberately set next to them within his sight. So that was today's policy on back-talk, it seemed. It wasn't even like he was afraid of needles, he used to shoot up the damn things on a near-daily basis for crying out loud, but that had been him and he was fairly sure two of the syringes were big enough to vaccinate an tyrannosaur.
What occurred in the following minutes was tediously unpleasant. Track marks up his arms, legs and chest burned like someone had buried ice under his skin, and they concentrated all around his upper chest, and lungs. The few pieces of clothing he'd still had on his person had been cut off and discarded, and the Keepers stood with their backs to him, tapping away on the computers while the icy sensation spread through his body. It took them a couple minutes, but they finally seemed satisfied, and with a combined effort offloaded him from the gurney into the left-most cylinder. The door shut with the hiss of a pressure seal, and didn't so much as budge when Tain leaned heavily on it to climb, unsteady, to his feet. There were vents around his ankles, and more above him. There was a low hum, and then green lasers blinked to life in a grid over him, and startled him hard enough that he knocked his head back against the glass with a yowl of displeasure.
Outside, the senior scientist pressed a button. Inside, there was a mechanical sound, a rumble, and then water poured up through the bottom vents.
There was nothing gradual about it, Tain had barely registered the lukewarm water around his ankles and it was surging up past his thighs. There was nothing for it, he screamed. Outside the cylinder, his vitals spiked through the roof, tracked by the lasers, and peeps and readouts chimed in the small room.
Moments later, Tain was drowning. One barely managed breath had been sucked in before the water filled the container completely, leaving him floating and scrabbling at the door. His fingernails slid uselessly over the flush seam of the glass, then dug into his palms as he hammered against the walls. Interested faces looked back at him, impatient and unmoved by the mind-bending fear that was tearing Tain apart. How often did he practice holding his breath!? Only twenty-five seconds in and his lungs were fit to burst as he thrashed. Fifteen more and black chewed the edges of his vision away, and then finally, panic overcame common sense, and he inhaled. Water flooded his lungs like a punch to the solar-plexus, as he hacked out the last bit of air in his chest, arms tight around his middle.
Color refilled his vision, and clarity returned in a rush. He was drowning, no, drowned, his lungs were flooded for crying out loud, but he was breathing.
Breathing.
An hour later, Tain was thrown back in the cages, damp, naked, and coughing. He shouldn't have been that impressed that they could do that to him, after all the way he could heal others with a touch was arguably far more incredible. But he couldn't wrap his head around it. Breathing water. Of course, any kind of breathing now felt kind of like scrubbing his insides with sandpaper, but the pain was keeping him pleasantly grounded against the gentle coax of exhaustion.
"Py?!" he rasped, and pushed himself up until he could sit cross-legged. It wasn't all that successful, and shivers were already thrumming through him with regards from the concrete. A press of will, and his form slipped into a great gray dog. He was still soaked to the bone, but at least his fur could stand out now. "It's fine. Fine-ish. Yoga was rescheduled, turns out." Never let it be said he couldn't manage bleak humor. He'd caught sight of Py quickly enough, though this time he was directly across from him rather than beside. It was somehow lonelier, though they had nearly the same amount of metal and voltage between them as before.
"Guess who's aquaman now? Betcha feel stupid about the captain collar now, huh." The collar in question presently was around his canine neck, and proving thankfully water resistant for now. "I guess you can be Wonder Woman."
It wasn’t long before the shouts died away in his throat, and Py was left sitting alone, the relative silence of the room weighing down on him. Only his thoughts kept him company, although they weren’t very comforting ones to say the least. Doubts nagged at him, worries plagued him – what were they doing to his friend? Where had they taken him? And most importantly, perhaps, how different would he be when he came back? The Keepers weren’t exactly known to be charitable, and when they were, it was usually questionable charity – often it resulted in some poor chap receiving either absurd and bizarre mutations, or else skills which had plenty of drawbacks to counter their benefits. He’d only been in the labs a handful of times, but even he knew the Keepers’ cruelty by experience. The hunter bit his tongue, worrying at it with a canine tooth as he rested his burnt hand against the cold concrete to sooth it. There was also the possibility of Tain never coming back from the labs, and that was a thought Py most certainly had no desire to entertain. He shoved it roughly from his mind, and leant his head back against the wall, staring at the smoothed ceiling as he tried to keep track of the time since Tain had left. It was near-impossible, really – no clocks, no sun, no chalk to count each second and minute and whatnot. And he had to wonder, for no small reason, what kind of drug exactly had been in that water of his. With a casual roll of his head to the side, he peered at the bowl suspiciously, doubtless of the fact that it was contributing to his restlessness.
There was nothing to do, really, but wait. Wait and wait and wait, until he returned. In that time, the hunter glanced over the scars running in jagged strips down his sides and chest – it was rather patchy work by the Keepers’ standards, since they’d left it like this, but then, it was admittedly better than what any of the medics in Carna would’ve been able to do. He remembered what it had felt like, the rip and grind of skin and bone, the agony of being carried back, the blissful coma his body had granted him when it realized he was better off that way. But he could remember voices too, even in his coma, speaking to him and around him and although it was difficult to place who had been who he thought it might’ve been some of his friends – Holly, certainly, and he could’ve sworn Tain at one point, but that was impossible considering the circumstances. Goosebumps had risen on his arms – from cold or memory he couldn’t be certain – and he gently rubbed at the skin of one forearm to try and ease them away, glancing up hopefully when he heard footsteps in the hall, then dropping his head again when they faded.
It was a long wait, to be sure; in fact, it took more than an hour, but finally Tain was dumped unceremoniously in a cage in front of him, and Py shuffled forwards as much as he could, visibly brightened at first, then despaired when he saw Tain’s state. Wet and naked. In another context it might have been attractive to Py, but here it was out of place and simply disheartening, and all he really wanted to do was hand him a towel and maybe give him a hug. He kept his eyes downcast until the other man had shifted, and then glanced back up, head tilted in curiosity despite himself. What exactly had they done to him? He didn’t look any different in either form, at least, so that was well enough, but then…well, at least he still had his humor. Py offered him a weak grin in return for his comments, and at the sight of the familiar collar in question. “Not entirely stupid, it’s still fetching on you. But…aquaman? What’d they do this time, give you gills?” There was a slight pause, and then he added, “I’m not the warrior princess here though,” And he inclined his head with a broader grin, gesturing at Tain loosely, his manner teasing.
Their banter, unfortunately, was short lived. No sooner had Py opened his mouth and said, “Hey, can I talk to you about something,” when he saw a pair of workers making their way down the hall, and his expression fell. They reached his cage in a matter of seconds, opened it with a sharp screech, and bodily hauled him out in rapid succession. He was clocked twice, once for baring his teeth at them, and the other time from trying to escape back into the cage. Though he struggled some, they zip-tied him like they had done with his friend. As he was shoved roughly between the shoulder-blades and marched down the hall, he cast one last helpless look at Tain before disappearing around a bend. Maybe he himself really was the damsel after all. The thought left a decidedly sour taste in his mouth.
He was maneuvered down a great many halls and past a variety of curious looking doors before finally coming to a stop in front of a metal and tightly sealed door. There was a press of buttons and other manner of technology use – he couldn’t watch any of it, as they’d forced his head down so that he was looking at his shoes instead of at what they were doing – and then a hiss of motion as the door was opened and he was pushed inside. He certainly didn’t like what he saw, and his stomach rolled queasily as the odour of hospital-like sterility hit him. Unlike with Tain, this room did have surgical equipment, and a lot of it. Taking an involuntary step back, he was rewarded with another shove forward, and this time he was grabbed by some of the room’s workers instead and towed towards a sleek metal table that lay in the middle of the room. A surgery table.
Py couldn’t turn back no matter how hard he tried, because a moment later he was bodily wrestled onto the table and strapped down by steel manacles both on his wrists and ankles. He could still move his head, though, and he tilted it to try and watch what the surgeons and workers were doing, only to immediately fixate on the tray of surgical tools nearby. Oh, fantastic. Nonono, so not good. The hunter could handle being almost torn to shreds by a virus or mangled by some mangy tiger or else nearly gored by a boar. He could handle all those. He could even handle that one tenderfoot’s painful attempts to hit on him. Surgery, however, was entirely out of the question in terms of what he considered okay.
The surgeons were cold, brisk, and efficient. Ignoring his questions and curses, they swiftly cut away his shirt so that he was left shivering, half-naked in the chill of the room and of his own fear. Next they hooked him up to the standard monitoring machines to keep track of his heart and breathing, and strapped him down tighter with leather straps, several across his chest and legs, and another over his neck to keep his head from being raised. One of the workers on his right injected him in the arm with a syringe, and he felt the effects almost immediately. It was a numbing agent, but it only somewhat dulled his senses – he would still be able to feel everything they did, and panic jolted through him, causing his heart rate to pick up.
What happened next need only be described as painful – agonizing, really. It was obvious they wanted him awake for this entire procedure, and though they gagged him to keep him quiet, he still struggled in his horror and pain. It made a mess of his wrists really, the skin rubbed raw and bleeding only a few minutes after they had first sliced into his stomach with a wickedly sharp scalpel. The blood on his wrists was no comparison to that which flowed from the procedural cuts. Breath coming in little pants through his nose and mouth, his vitals were rather shaky, but they didn’t seem too concerned. He was injected several times with something that felt entirely too warm and more than a little uncomfortable; he himself was cold however, and it was a wonder he hadn’t already passed out. He figured that whatever they’d given him prior was also meant to prevent that. The man stayed on the table for what seemed like hours as they monitored his stats –
And what happened next happened quite suddenly and perhaps expectedly, because they wasted no time trying to rectify it. The monitor spiked and beeped in rapid fashion as his vitals kicked into dangerously high gear. Whatever they’d given him, his body wasn’t taking to it very well; he’d broken out in a feverish sweat, his body felt like it was on fire inside and out, and the region where they’d injected him was now causing him to twist and writhe in pain even more so than before, both fists balled tight as he tried to fight against the thing his body was trying to reject.
Of course, his body didn’t win in doing that. With some work, the surgeons managed to bring down the fever and put out the fire, as it were. The pain was still there, but it was a dull, gnawing ache instead of the press of a hundred knives. He was sewn back up and left without a stitch, and kept in a monitoring cage for several hours in the surgery room before being delivered back in the cage room sometime later. The hunter was put beside Tain this time, much to his relief, and he simply curled up against the wall, clutching at his stomach as the pain throbbed in and out.
His humour was far bleaker than Tain’s, to the point of non-existence, and he stared through the bars at him without attempting to crack a joke, his eyes glazed from the pain and the leftover drug effects. At one point, the sharp knife pain came back, and he let out a hiss, teeth clenching as he doubled over. When it subsided, he pushed himself back up shakily and beckoned Tain to come as close as he could. “Tain, listen, I need to tell you something. This…this is important, okay? Really important. If…well, I don’t know what they’ve done to me, and I think they almost killed me back there. So, if I don’t make it out of here – if I die - I just wanted you to know that I’ve been meaning to tell you for a while now that I..that,” he took a gulp of breath to steady himself, as much for the pain as for to prepare himself.
“I love you.”
ooc; Merry Christmas Etch, here's your present: have some feels. This felt natural for Py – he wanted to say it in this post, so I let him.
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Last Edit: Dec 25, 2012 3:39:36 GMT -5 by Py Ackerman
"Even better, doesn't seem like I need em. Their testing method sucks, though." Shiftertongue made his whine the real thing, and it echoed around the cages. Py at least was used to his carrying on, and turned a shade more serious a beat later. Tain perked up, as well as a hundred pound drowned rat could, and cocked his square head in curious permission before the sentence was even fully out of Py's mouth. Of course he could, and since when had he ever felt like he had to ask? When Tain had first come to Carna the two of them had shared a ridiculous coexistence that was equal parts hot-burning hatred and possessive indignation. Py may have been pissed about all things Tain, but having dragged him there with Holly, had seemingly adopted some kind of reluctant responsibility toward him. It probably didn't help that everyone referred to Tain as Py and Holly's dog for weeks. He was pretty sure it was still spray-painted on the wall over his old corner, Carna City Pound.
But as it turned out, the two of them just had too much damn chemistry to stay hating each other. Chemistry, with an emphasis on the fizzing, popping, exploding side. Their sparring matches left them looking like they'd taken on an enemy patrol, and neither of them should have enjoyed them half so much as they did. After a while, Tain even started fixing Py up after. Even longer after that, Py quit bitching about it. Their hunts were a hideous disaster until Py realized Tain had a hell of a way with the hunting dogs, and could patch them up after a round with a particularly vicious boar without getting his face bitten off. The arguments about Tain pushing himself well past the reasonable limits of his body trying to heal injured Carna mirrored the ones that went down when Tain found new burns on Py's arms, though they both knew the other couldn't help it. Friendship was at once too strong, and far too weak a term for the relationship they forged between them by inches and miles.
But Tain wasn't going to find out what Py wanted to ask him, not immediately. His ears perked up as the muffled thump of shoes on concrete announced the Keepers return. He thought they'd be coming back for him, for follow up on his new Aquaman powers. They weren't. Py was dragged out of his cage like a obstinate cat, and cracked one for struggling. A chainsaw snarl tore out of Tain as he surged to his paws, useless as Py was escorted away in double-time. The side of him that was very much animal sent him snarling into a circle, pacing the small cell in a fit of rage, hackles bristling and teeth bared. Human thought took a backseat as he let the possessive anger burn out the dark loneliness of the cages. Bars blurred past him as he paced until he was sick of it and curled into a tight ball, ears pressed tight back against his skull. Malicious, his pale eyes stared down the hall. Py was hardly the only person that could elicit this kind of response from him, though usually he kept his canine fits of territorial temper shoved to the back of his headspace. Alone in the cages, it felt good to vent.
Tain stayed like that, curled in on himself for hours. By the time footsteps announced Py's return, his entire body ached viciously, though his fur was dry. He was on his paws the instant the sound registered, pressed close enough to the bars that his fur stood on end along his side. They shoved Py into the cage to his left and slammed the door shut, leaving him sprawled on the floor. When the anger surged again in his chest, Tain twisted it in and forced it down, then let his form slide back to human.
Py had tucked himself against the wall, curled as tight as a human form would allow. Tain wanted to say something, anything to break the silence, but the look on Py's face was tortured, and agonized. Any words Tain tried to speak died in his throat as he doubled over, something in his abdomen clearly causing him intense pain. When a minute later Py gestured for Tain to get closer, he silently complied.
The scowl was almost immediate, as Py began to speak. Dread knotted in his stomach like a lead anchor, and his head felt dizzy despite the lack of drugs. They almost killed me, his words sunk home and Tain didn't know if he felt scared or furious or borderline hysterical. And as it turned out, those feelings were nothing compared to what they were building up to. Py loved him.
Tain didn't have enough warning to guard his expression, and the guilt-stricken, panicked, ashamed expression that answered Py was nothing the other man could have possibly hoped for. A fragment of him wanted to melt, to tell him it was mutual, that it had been mutual for over a month. That piece of him was crushed, instantly, brutally, by a reservoir of self hatred so deep it might have been an ocean inside him. A hundred different things he wanted to say slammed through his mind, so mixed and confusing that he almost didn't hear himself yell. "NO." It was as much a defensive snarl as anything, the harsh echo cracking off the wall like a flung stone. There was bitter anger behind his words, so strong that his lip curled back as he spat them out. "No, you don't."
Tain should have known he was playing with fire, letting himself be attracted to someone in Carna. He'd come there to betray them at the first bloody sign of a move on Fulsi, or news of Legend, he wanted to scream to himself, wanted to scream at Py. He'd told himself a thousand times that he'd kept Py well enough at arm's reach, so what if he had some involuntary feelings?! Py had plenty of flings in Carna, and Tain hadn't even merited a notch in the proverbial bedpost. No, cause you went for his heart, you manipulative bastard, his mind snarled at him, and he had to tear his eyes away from Py, a stony expression in place. "You're a damn fool, Ackerman." If his words were choked, the mask he was wearing didn't acknowledge it.
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ooc; D: (props to Han for the table u.u <3)
Last Edit: Dec 28, 2012 12:22:36 GMT -5 by Tain Rosdahl
Py knew something was wrong the instant Tain’s expression changed, because it wasn’t any expression he’d ever seen on him before, at least towards him, and it certainly hadn’t been what he’d expected in reaction to what he had said. Surprise would have been understandable, sure, perhaps even sadness, denial or – preferably – happiness. But this? No. This was something else, a mixture of panic and despair and anger that seemed to engulf both himself and the hunter. The air practically crackled with the friction and tension of it, and it was terrifying, frankly – more terrifying than the virus had been, or the Keepers’ experiments, or the thought of dying, simply because it was so out of place, and he hadn’t a clue what had brought it on.
So, he recoiled from it, watching in helpless silence and disappointment as his confession was thrown quite literally back in his face. The force of the words caused him to flinch, and then inch backwards, away from the bars, in his own method of self-defence. Normally he might have just walked away to avoid the sting of further rejection, but such a thing was an impossibility in this case. It only allowed him so much room to maneuver, and if he moved any further away he’d hit the electrified metal and burn his back. Hurt curled in his stomach like a hot knife, but as far as he could tell, it had nothing to do with the physical pain from before. It was because of him.
It wasn’t like Py hadn’t been rejected before. Before and in the Menagerie he had been turned down several times by a number of different people. However, the majority of these times hadn’t involved any seriousness to the relationships – it had just been in good fun. Tain, though, was different in every way. Py had had to work hard to get to know him, given the start they’d had to their slow-growing friendship. But they had lived together for months – years, now, really. Sparred and ate together. Hell, they even shared Py’s bed, which had been no easy task in the beginning of trying to convince Tain that he wasn’t just being charitable for the sake of it. They knew each other’s quirks and habits, like how Py preferred the late night hunts and afternoon naps or how Tain slept like the dead to the point that Py had had to devise all manner of creative wake-up methods. Even the little things, such as Tain’s habit of humming the Mission Impossible theme (of all things) while they were out hunting, much to Py’s both annoyance and amusement. While they were more physical in their interactions, they’d still talked about things, such as their past and of the present. The future had remained untouched in conversation, but there was always a sort of an unspoken optimism about it despite its uncertainty.
And with all of this knowledge about Tain, all of the things that made him him, his self-sacrificial nature and patience and playfulness, something had sparked in Py, like a flame that had grown into an out of control wildfire. There was no way for him to deny now that it was the love he felt towards the medic; Tain could say Py didn’t really love him all he wanted, or try to deny it, but it didn’t make Py’s feelings any less true, and somehow he doubted any of this could change them.
Still, it hurt, and the hurt evidently moved from his stomach and into his face a beat later as he grimaced; the remark that he was a ‘fool’ cut him deeper than anticipated. The silence stretched on for what seemed like hours, but finally he broke it, his voice unusually tentative and more than a little dejected, but containing none of the anger that Tain’s had held, “So much for letting me down gently. What makes you say all this, though?” He paused, considering, then added, “Look, Tain, I…I understand if you don’t feel the same way as I do, I get it,” The last words were rather choked out, but he managed, continuing, “But you don’t have to be so pissed off and defensive about it. And how am I a fool for it? I don’t understand what you mean.” He shook his head, reaching up to slide a hand through his shortened hair (courtesy of the Keepers) in confusion, an exasperated sigh escaping him a moment later. “Yes, I do. I love you, it’s how I feel, and I can’t change it on a whim just because you’re convinced otherwise. I'm not sorry for it, either.”
A frown touched his lips as he edged closer, trying to peer at Tain’s face, which was now turned away. “Is there something you aren’t telling me? Because if there is, just tell me. Don’t lie about it, or…act like this.” He gestured loosely at him, then straightened up, crosslegged with his arms draped loosely over his knees as he muttered rather sourly, “You’re a terrible liar anyways, and you have been ever since I met you.”
ooc; More..feels? For you and errybody else 8|
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Last Edit: Dec 28, 2012 19:02:05 GMT -5 by Py Ackerman
He felt sick, nausea writhing through his stomach and pounding in his head, and he barely breathed in fear that too deep an inhale would send him to heaving. Py was such an idiot. Such a bloody idiot. Too dense to take rejection with the pissed off dismissal Tain had so painfully, desperately tried to elicit. His teeth were sunk into the inside of his cheek on the side away from Py, trying to distract himself with physical pain. By the time he could taste blood, it still wasn't helping, Py's words twisted like a dull knife until he wasn't certain if it wanted to yell or cry.
And then, in his typical fashion, Py blundered right over the massive elephant in the room. Is there something you aren't telling me? Don't lie. You're a terrible liar. Tain's mind was in full hysterics. He couldn't even look at Py for the guilt, not if he'd been ordered to with a gun to his head. It was the perfect place to tell him, his mind screamed, no one to eavesdrop, no one else to hear except the Keepers, and he'd bet his left arm they'd been aware all along. Py would hate him. If Tain was bloody lucky, when the Keepers dropped him back in the dome he'd be as far from Carna as physically possible, because once Py spread the word dead meat wouldn't even begin to describe him. Fulsi wouldn't take him back, hell he wasn't sure he wanted anything to do with them. Tarrik was still missing, Dalton too. And after the attack in the sewers.. he couldn't. He'd come here to try and stop Carna from doing it again, and Fulsi had launched a slaughter campaign instead.
A hundred reasons to keep his trap shut, and yet he couldn't stop himself. Something in him had latched onto the idea of truth, something he hadn't even allowed himself to consider before. The constant lies had flayed him to the bone, and pressure from Py or not, he'd been at the breaking point for weeks.
"I'm the best damn liar you've ever known," he grated out, hands balled into bloodless fists. It was a heady feeling, like looking down standing on the edge of a void. For someone terrified to get more than six feet off the ground, it was saying something. "Don't you get it!?" The octave of his voice snapped up, and wavered, fear clear in every inch of him and note of his voice. "I used you, I used ALL of you! It was a giant bloody ruse, Py, Fulsi didn't kick me out, I volunteered."
Py couldn’t breathe. It felt like something had crept up into his throat and was slowly, painfully cutting off his air supply, causing him to choke on nothing but his own surprise and indignation. It passed after a moment, and he exhaled sharply, but the horrible feeling remained, leaving him with the disturbing sense that he’d just been violated on some very personal level. Because, in truth, he had. Tain had just told him as much. The blood had drained from his face as he’d listened, leaving it as bone-white as it had been prior to coming to the labs, and for some strange reason shivers had started to rack his body.
He’d been used. His whole ring – family - had been used.
The hunter was having a difficult time comprehending this fact, simply because it was the last thing he ever would have expected, hoped, or even thought possible from the man he had come to consider as one of his closest friends. He had trusted him. It had taken months to build, but, like all things, it only took a simple sentence for this trust to collapse with a resounding thud. His thoughts twisted and screamed at him to do something. Anything. But what could he do, separated by bars and his own reluctance to draw any closer to him? What could he say, then? How would anything he had to say possibly make this situation better? It couldn’t, not right now, and he knew it.
He said things anyways.
A snarl of something that was unmistakeably fury tore from his throat, at once inhuman for its animalistic quality and human for the raw emotion that lay beneath it. He wanted to pace, throw things until they shattered, shift, and he couldn’t. Damn cage. A sharp curse chased after the snarl, loud and echoing in the dank room, and then he turned to Tain, and drew in a breath. The bastard wouldn’t even meet his eyes. Fine, he wouldn’t bother either, not right now anyways.
“Spy,” He stated, dropping his eyes. “You’re a spy. And you used me to get into Carna.” Py’s words were cold and deadpan in contrast to his earlier outburst, but his tone quickly began to simmer over in anger, voice rising as he continued. “Are you for real? Seriously, who the hell do you think you are?! Just waltzed into my life and into my ring and decided to screw everything up? Endanger my family?!” A half-snarl pulled at one corner of his mouth as he snapped his head up, yelling freely now, “Look at me, Tain! Christ, I think you owe me that much.”
Pausing for breath, the anger in his expression began to merge with the hurt from before, but he carried on, too upset now to care about checking himself. “You know what? You’re right. I am a fool for having trusted you, for having convinced the whole ring to trust you. Because I gave you exactly what you wanted, didn’t I? Handed it right to you on a platter. Hell, how can I trust anything you’ve said? How do I even know if your name’s Tain? Everything’s been a bloody lie from the start!” He shook his head angrily, swiping at his eyes with the back of his hand as they began to water. “Why did Fulsi send you to Carna? What did they want to know? And I swear to God, if..if you try and lie to me right n-now…” He trailed off, the threat as empty as he felt as his head dropped into one of his hands, allowing the tears to spill over silently.
ooc; .-.
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Last Edit: Dec 29, 2012 19:19:21 GMT -5 by Py Ackerman
The way Py used the present tense made Tain want to scream rebuke, but his body was numb and foreign, a distant thing. He couldn't even look over to Py when he demanded it, his pale eyes were fixed on a dark stain on the concrete floor by his ankle. The dog in him, some ass-backwards, scientific part of him offered, was cowering. And they were his family now too, he wanted to protest, but again the words never came. How could Py believe him anyways? He could feel the man falling to pieces next to him, and the knowledge that he had caused it was like a festering sore. He was a healer, he liked to fix things. The notion that the The Truth Will Set You Free had never felt more bleak. Anger he could take. This agonizing heartbreak? He hadn't been able to sink the blade into Py's throat one night well over a year and a half ago, and he couldn't do it now either.
"Legend was gone," he began, voice hoarse as he forced himself to answer. "Some of us thought Carna would come back, finish the job. So a couple of us, we threw a mad plan together in a matter of hours. We were desperate, there was almost no chance it would actually work." But it had, thanks to two Carna in the Speakeasy. "I looked for him, which was useless. But I was really just.. waiting. For Carna to rally again, set out to cut the heart out of Fulsi while it was down."
He finally chanced a look over at Py, who was no longer looking at him. Why was he even bothering to explain?! But once started, it was like an avalanche. "But you didn't! Christ, Py, I thought I'd be there a month. A week even. I didn't think I'd get to know you all, you were so.. you were the same! And then Adam ordered..." his eyelids pressed shut as his teeth ground together. The very thought of it still rankled, a betrayal very nearly as deep as the one Py felt himself. When he forced out the words, they were quiet, and they were acid on his tongue. "He'd been demanding information, and I wouldn't give it to them, how could I!? And it didn't matter, you know what they did. To Kerlain, Angee, Den."
How could he have been so stupid? To believe that he was protecting Carna by refusing the new Alpha. He'd never heard so much as a whisper of the plans, never realized they wanted more than the information he was denying them. They'd wanted blood. "I didn't know, Py, I swear. I would have stopped them, warned.. I could have done SOMETHING!" He could have died trying, which was more than he had now. Carna had taken hold in him, made a true traitor out of a fake one.
He didn’t cry for long, at least, and when the well ran dry Py wiped swiftly at his eyes again before lifting his face from his hands. Still, it had drained him not only of tears but also of emotion, it seemed, as the build-up of anger began to ebb. It was replaced not only by a sense of calmness and sadness, but also by a budding fear – the idea that his ring was in danger, had been in danger for months, had dealt him a heavy dose of anxiety, enough so that Tain could probably smell it off him. How much did Fulsi know about Carna? About their lives, supplies, ranks and numbers? It was difficult to guess at what he might have told them, but when Tain began to explain, Py listened in stony silence, head ducked, one fist clenched as his nails dug into his palm. The fresh pain kept him grounded and alert rather than letting him sink back into his miserable thoughts, and he welcomed it.
By the time Tain finished, Py had been thrown into an even deeper pit of confusion, but also of sudden clarity. What he said made sense, of course. Had Carna’s leader been taken, Py would have volunteered to do the very same thing. He had little doubt about that, as by doing so it would’ve helped to have protected the ring as a whole. However, while he could see his point of view, it did little to ease the bitter disappointment of the betrayal, and his skepticism still remained about just how much of what he knew of this man was a lie. After all, as far as he could tell, their relationship – whatever it was at this point – seemed to have been forged on the basis of deceit. Deceit obviously made for rather weak support, and, like a bridge built in such a manner, it had all just come tumbling down. He wasn’t sure where this left them. Tain, having just been outed, was in a precarious position – if Carna found out, he’d be flayed alive. But so would Py, if he withheld this information and it was somehow found out that he’d kept it a secret.
Spies. He knew about them, of course; Carna – and Fallen, surely – had spies of their own as far as he was aware of, and while the rings that they belonged to held them in high esteem, the rings they invaded most definitely did not. In his own mind, he’d always thought of enemy spies as akin to nothing more than the rats that creeped through the Carna’s sewers. And then there was Tain – the exception, apparently, to this label. The man could hide most aspects of himself, sure. He’d just admitted that, and Py believed him wholeheartedly.
However, Py had also seen sides of him that would’ve been much more difficult to hide, such as how he was incredibly dedicated to his work as a medic; by extension, his compassion for others had always led him to the self-sacrifice. He often maxed out his healing powers to the point where he literally drained himself of all energy, causing him to pass out. It was something that Py had always given him shit about and liked all at once – he’d found it admirable, in a way. Of course, now, his feelings about everything in general were rather sour, but he couldn’t deny that he still felt the same as he had before in regards to that. The raid, too, which Tain had just mentioned, was another instance. He could’ve ran and saved his own skin, as a spy, and nobody would’ve really been any the wiser in all the chaos that had ensued. He’d helped get people out of the sewers, though, and Py had seen the looks of both anger and anguish on his face, before and after the raid. It would’ve taken a great actor to pull it off, and it had seemed so real…Tain was insisting that it was real, that he hadn’t helped them plan it.
The hunter pinched the bridge of his nose, a pained expression forming on his face. He wanted so badly to believe everything that he was saying, but it was hard to. The trust that had once been shared easily between them had been effectively fractured. “Of course we were the same,” he said, voice cracking, “We’re all shifters, not monsters…” He dropped his hand, running it over his face before resting it on his cheek wearily, “At least not entirely.” There was little he could do to try and deny that what they’d done in Fulsi was monstrous, and they’d been down that road before, so he dropped that subject, picking back up the topic of the Fulsi’s raid instead.
“If it wasn’t your idea, though, then how did they get in? The entrances are always sealed at night, someone would’ve had to have left them open.” Py hated to even think about the raid, much less talk about it, and even now the pain of the memories seared anew. Kerlain, his young apprentice who had been on guard duty that night, had been killed by one of the Fulsi scouts. Py could still remember each of the wounds, the too-red blood as it dripped onto his arms and hands and shoes. His voice crackled again as he added, ”Tain, if information was leaked by you before the raid, then the ring is still in jeopardy, even now. Names, ranks, those are still important things. What did you tell Fulsi about us?”
A few beats passed, and he licked his lips, before murmuring in a voice that was once frustrated and hopeful, “I saw you. During the raid, helping people get away, even when you could've just not and said you did. So, look – I want to believe that you’ve changed. That you aren’t spying for them anymore. Switched loyalties, turned traitor on Fulsi.” A sigh followed as he tried to catch Tain’s gaze, just for a moment, but it was proving difficult. “Maybe I’m wrong, but you act like the Carna is your home now, and…but what if Fulsi changed leaders again? Would you still feel the same way that you do?” Py stared after him for a moment, then glanced away, biting hard at his lip as his tone dropped lower, rougher, but thankfully not angry. That had passed long ago. “I have no way in hell of knowing what you actually told them about Carna. No way of knowing that I can really trust you. I wish I could – I wish you could show me somehow that I can. I just...I understand why you did it, but I don’t know what to think right now, because I don’t know the real you. Not completely.”
He wanted to say a hundred things all at once, but forced it down; let Py speak. Py had some hella good points, but so did he. "I don't know how they got in, I never found out. I asked, but..." he shrugged, tense and useless. "Nothing."
And Py wanted the info he'd given away. It was barely anything, that hadn't been why he'd come. Who was he kidding? He wasn't cut out for subtle workings, planning in the shadows, waiting for a moment to strike. "I tried to map the sewers, but there's so many levels, and bloody hell Py I got lost once or twice and it scared the hell out of me. There's things in there, I don't care what the scouts say, there are." His voice didn't shake, but the memory drained what little color remained in his face. One memory always stuck out, a firelight deep in the tunnels, the glimpse of a man surrounded by rats, hundreds of them. They'd been gone in seconds, but the image stayed with Tain. He'd never dared go that deep into the sewers since. "The maps were fragments, nowhere near camp. I told you, I was waiting for Carna to go something."
How could he convince him?! For all Py knew Tain had given then a roster of every Carna member, the layouts of where they lived, their patrol habits. He'd been asked for them before, a couple weeks before the breaking point. He'd sent Tarrik back with a vehement message of screw you assholes. That had gone over about as well as he'd expected, in that Adam wanted his head on a stake. But what had Py said?! A new alpha...? Hope, cautious and tight with apprehension, ignited in the pit of his stomach.
"Fulsi has changed leaders, Py. I used to know her. My.. my brother is Delta." he swallowed, throat tight at the mention of Tarrik. "..and missing. But I don't want to go back, Py, I can't. My damn heart's with Carna," his voice was quiet now, the confession Py'd been looking for earlier. "With you, for what it's worth." And by every god named and unknown he prayed that it was worth something.
When Tain admitted that he knew nothing about how the raiders had gotten into the sewers, Py wasn’t entirely sure if he was relieved or disappointed to hear it. Relieved, of course, in the fact that Tain was claiming that he hadn’t helped to facilitate the attack, but also disappointed given that Py still had no clue of how it had happened. Nobody in the entire ring did, apparently. There were still so many questions left unanswered in regards to it, since they had never found anyone else who may have aided the Fulsi. Despite his thoughts’ protest, Py listened quietly, as Tain had done for him, face tucked against his arms as he tried to ignore the increasing level of pain curling in the pit of his stomach again.
He’d tried to map the sewers? At any other time, Py might have given him an ‘are you completely mad’ look, as it was indeed a very mad thing to attempt. Instead he managed a quizzical quirk of an eyebrow and a slight shake of his head, and while it didn’t quite convey the message he wanted to send, it would have to do. Tain was right, though – you didn’t ever want to get lost in the sewers. God help the person who did. They’d lost a tenderfoot or three down in there before, and only one of them had ever turned up – dead, of course, with his face gnawed on by rats and who knew what else. Messy turn of events, that. Though it’d been a while ago, the thought of that happening to Tain – despite everything that had just happened – was enough to make his stomach flip flop uneasily. “Idiot,” he gritted out, but the word was half-hearted, nearly affectionate in nature. Y’better mind the monsters when we’re out of here.”
The hunter’s nose wrinkled a little, skeptical of what the other man was trying to convince him of. It was hard – so very hard – because yes he wanted to believe him, so badly, but the doubt was crippling. He’d never in his life been in such a difficult position – it was obvious that Tain was good at deception, considering he’d deceived all of them for months. But would he – could he be lying now? Such a bold-faced lie, right to Py’s face when he’d practically begged him for honesty? He still couldn’t be sure that Tain hadn’t rattled off compromising information to Fulsi. Py swallowed heavily, eyes averting again. It felt like he was down to the wire, having to choose between Tain and his ring. Because that was what it came down to, wasn’t it? To believe Tain, and possibly jeopardize his ring in the process, or to not believe Tain, to align with his ring and throw someone who spied on them under the bus. Damn. Couldn’t it be both ways? Why did he have to choose? He hadn’t asked for this, and it wasn’t fair, but there was no use whining about it. His mind scrambled with the decisions, grappled with his thoughts even as he listened further.
The next thing startled him enough that he nearly toppled over, eyes wide in surprise. Fulsi had changed hands again?! Where’d he been? – Oh, right. On his death bed. Well, hardly his fault, he couldn’t be blamed for not knowing that, then. He started to ask who it was, when Tain’s next comment caused him to freeze, then bark out a tumbling reply before he could stop himself, “You have a brother? What’s his name?” Why hadn’t Tain told him this before? He seemed close to him – or at least concerned about his welfare – enough that he might’ve at least mentioned it in passing before. But he never had. And this was exactly the kind of thing that Py had meant when he’d said that he didn’t know Tain completely. Of course, all of this was nothing in compared to the shock he received a moment later when Tain very well admitted that he loved him. Py blinked once, twice, stunned. He hadn’t been expecting that – the earlier rejection had near him down in that regard, and the sudden confession was enough for a riptide of emotions to come flooding back through him. Confusion, desire, frustration, excitement, and…well then. He was pretty surprised he hadn’t melted into a puddle at this point.
“Tain, I…” He coughed, clearing his throat, then trying again, hesitant this time, voice shaky. “You damn well better be telling the truth because I-I still love you. Even after all this.” He pressed his eyes shut, expression pained. The next bit was something he knew Tain wouldn’t want to hear, but it was the truth, and if they were being honest here, then he had to tell him, “But I still need some time to figure things out, I think.” The whole trust issue was rearing its ugly head with a vengeance, it seemed. And yet…well, yes, Tain’s words were worth something. They meant a great deal to him, even if it’d been a double-edged confession in the long run. If he was being honest, then he had guts to tell him all of this. Had placed an awful lot of trust in Py. Maybe, just maybe, that was the key to setting the bridge amend again. “Just, look…if. If I trust you in this. If I trust that you haven’t told them a shitlload about my…our, ring. I need you to promise me something. I want you to promise that…that I w-won’t…” The pain was coming back; he could feel it creeping up through his ribs and into his chest, spreading along his back with searing hot fingers. Little did he know, the fever had slowly been coming back again too, and it was making it difficult for him to think, let alone spit out words. “Just promise I won’t find out that you’ve said something to jeopardize the ring, please. Swear i-it. SHIT.”
Yep, there it was. He doubled over, arms folding around himself to clutch his stomach, to try and hold in the pain as it caused him to sink to the ground, cheek pressed to the concrete as he tried not to heave. Still, his breath came in harsh pants and as the pain kicked in he presently found himself subjected to the phantom feeling of having his chest ripped open again. Unable to control it, he screamed, and when he did try to control it, he bit his tongue by accident. At that point, he covered a hand over his mouth, though blood trickled between his fingers as he writhed in his agony. If he could’ve had a coherent thought at that point, he would’ve loathed the fact that Tain had to see him like this –weak, vulnerable, pathetic. But it didn’t cross his mind at that point. Several minutes later, the pain subsided, but he stayed on the floor, breathing heavily, eyes fixed on his blood-stained fingers. His whole body ached, and he didn’t dare move even if he wanted to. He didn’t want to. He could just…stay like this. For a while. When he finally chanced to speak, his tongue felt heavy and the words were butchered, but all he said was, “Sorry, I’m okay. I’m fine.”
Of course Py got hung up on the brother thing, Tain couldn't really blame him. It had been a hell of a job keeping his stupid mouth shut about Tarrik, he was so used to talking about him like he was his other half. His unshaven, bullheaded other half. Tain had been so afraid of either of them being used to leverage the other, by Carna or Fulsi. Turns out he hadn't been far off, the old leadership had tried to lean hard on Tarrik. Fortunately for both of them, leaning on Tarrik was a lot like leaning on an increasingly pissed off bull; one with a hell of a lot of issues with authority. Given that he was now Delta, Tain was dying to heckle him about that. Providing he turned up alive, though the likelihood of that was now promising. Tarrik wasn't in the cages, which hopefully meant he'd already been returned to the dome.
What came next, Tain had honestly expected. Py needed space, needed time, and Tain could give him both. He probably wasn't going to like it all that much, but hell, it wasn't like he was a friendless whelp anymore; the Fulsi reject. Py, Holly, Crash, Maddox, Vince, Pistachio, everyone. Py was far from the only thing he was trying to hold onto. Them, and the fragile reassurance that Py hadn't written him off as a backstabbing bastard, was all he needed. Of course he'd give his word on it.
Before he could, the discomfort that had been visible in Py since he'd come back from the labs escalated into something that could only have been blind agony. "Py?! PY! what's happening?! SHIT!" He snarled at the bars between them, slamming the side of his fist into them in frustration. There was a hot crack-scream of electricity, but Tain scarcely felt it this time. He could be helping him. But he needed touch, to be able to reach Py to help him with the freakish ability the Keepers had installed into him. The Keepers, Tain thought, and turned around quick enough to pop his neck. "COME ON! SOMETHING'S WRONG! ..HELP HIM, DAMMIT! I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME!"
Py's screams of pain were his only answer. Even as they faded down, and Py managed to grind out a few words, it didn't soothe Tain in the slightest.
"You're not fine! What the hell did they do?! Jesus, Py. And I promise, alright, I swear. And, and my brother. Twin, actually, identical. His name's Tarrik, and he's a great big loveable idiot. The blue, that was him, years ago, the asshole." He was talking like a crazy person, but maybe words could distract Py. It was worth trying.
"He thought I was out of my mind for coming here, but what does he know? He beats people up with expensive sports equipment. ...you'd like him. He likes you, cause I mention you sometimes, and he thinks you are such a dick for beating me up and then hitting on me, but you know I live on the edge?! Right?!"
In the hall, the sound of shoes on tile grew louder.
He imagined this was what it felt like for a fish that was being gutted alive – his mouth gaped and closed, taking in air in little breathy panting gasps, blood still trailing from the corner of his bottom lip as he lifted his head a fraction off the ground. Tain’s shouts seemed a long distance off, and there was a ringing in his ears that made his head feel pleasantly numb. Of course, that was just a façade; the pounding headache would inevitably come back with time. Or maybe that fever. In fact, it might very well already have, but he found it a bit difficult to determine. Who was Tain yelling at again? ..oh. Right, the Keepers. Py wasn’t so sure he wanted to be the subject of their attention once more, but he supposed it was necessary. Maybe. It must have been, or why else would the medic have wanted them to come?
He probably looked awful. Horrible, in fact, considering it seemed as though he could very well feel that he was paler than usual and sweaty in the most unpleasant way – which was a shame; he much preferred the pleasant ways, and had been subjected to them oft enough. Except right now, that is, considering Tain was…well. Nevermind. No matter. What was he even on about this for? They were in the goddamned cages, not a warehouse. Or bar. Nor a hotel suite, though that would’ve been really nice, except for the fact that Py would’ve probably gotten blood everywhere. And he was mad at Tain. At least, that was what his brain was telling him he was supposed to feel towards him, more or less. Sadly, Py’s train of thought was rapidly becoming…not just derailed, no. It was more like the train had run off the tracks, become airborne, and then suffered an explosive crash after falling into a pit of landmines located some two hundred feet below. Whatever. Frankly he couldn’t muster up enough energy to give a damn about anything at that particular moment. And they – that is, Tain, and the Keepers - would just have to deal with his unholy appearance and mangled thoughts.
Fingers scraping against the concrete of the floor, he pushed himself back up into a sitting position, his hand leaving a bloody trail behind as he did. This new posture helped, in a small way. It didn’t clear his head, but it helped rid him of the remaining pain in his stomach, for whatever reason. He simply sat, and listened to Tain, nodding along in agreement whenever it was necessary. Tain, bless him, was rambling, and it was a bit hard for Py to follow given his current state, but he tried. “The blue…blue…oh! Your hair? That was him?” His face brightened a bit, and he leaned forward eagerly, adding, “You should thank him, you know. I’ve always loved that shade of blue. …actually, you should introduce me sometime, I’d like to thank him myself. Just…after. After I’ve thought things over, you should.” As it were, the sentences were a bit choppy, the bite on his tongue making it hard to form certain words, but he managed better this time around. “And..well. If you didn’t like living on the edge…we probably would never have met. We wouldn’t have just had this discussion. Right? So.”
At that point in time, he heard the footsteps, and then saw the feet as he squinted out of the cage door, an exhausted sigh escaping his throat a short second later as he was hauled out of the cage again. This time, he went much more willingly, both unable and unwilling to put up a fuss about it. And if some hours later Tain heard the loud, guttural, hissing sound of some pissed off animal that wasn’t any animal that had any right to exist in nature, well then, he’d be right in figuring that Py would come out of the labs sporting a very…very different state of being. A new level of freakshow.
ooc; HA..HA. FINISHED? D8 FINALLY. Sorryforthewaitandsorryifit’snotthegreatest, I’m trying to fix muse still .3. THREAD FIN.