genessia | [ Action | OPEN ] if love's a fight then I shall die, with my heart on a trigger

Current Music: The Cab - Angel With A Shotgun

Entry tags:

[ Action | OPEN ] if love's a fight then I shall die, with my heart on a trigger

Who: Cassian Lynch, Tannusen, and OPEN
Where: The hospital folks wake up in when they've died.
What: A direct continuation of this scene.
Where: Six+ hours after Cassian's death.
Warnings: Angst, probably some gore, more angst.
NOTES: Folks are welcome to encounter him wandering the hospital, but please don't prevent him from finding Cass in that thread at the end of it.

- - - - -

Tannusen could be found wandering the hospital in a daze, dried tears caked on his face, his right arm and hand a bloodied, burned mess. His soul, already crumbling to ash in places from the act he'd just committed, smoked and hissed at being inside this banal place that ate away at the Faerie like an acid.

He didn't care.

The tiger wandered the halls, brushing aside the fake people who tried to stop him for one reason or another -- it wasn't visiting hours, his arm -- without seeming to really even register them.

...

Eventually, eventually, one of the rooms he glanced into made him stop in his tracks. Pause, for a long few minutes in shock. He hadn't really expected Cassian's body to re-appear here, and wasn't sure, yet, what it meant that it had. Tannusen stepped into the room and stared at the body for another long moment, not quite registering that it was breathing; the expression was no longer slack with death.

It was only after he'd climbed right onto the hospital bed with the unconscious man that he realized there was a heartbeat drumming away in that thin chest.

He didn't know why.

The tiger just clung to the smaller man and shut his eyes, listening to the sounds of life where there shouldn't have been any.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Yeah, it's from the stabbing. Wielding cold iron hurts my kind, from my world, a lot worse than touching it. Killing with it is worse than that. Killing someone who loves and trusts us..."

His arm's damage is just an outside indicator of much worse damage, inside.

Good thing he's already a lunatic.

"Try to focus on the question, I'll let you get a closer look at my arm and hand after question time's over."

Of course, Lil doesn't look any happier to hear this, and again opens his mouth to insist he gets some help.

Tannusen beats him to the punch with the reiteration of the question.

"Well... I..." Well?

"No one's... ever asked my opinion of it before. I mean... I mean I won't know really, that I'm... shut off. I'm not aware that I'm not awake, it's a touch like sleeping I suppose. You don't really know you're asleep...

But it's very lovely staying with you here, I'd hate to be a bother, I've enjoyed our nicer talks and singing to you is always very enjoyable-"

Stop him.

"You're not a bother," Tannusen quirked an eyebrow. He was sometimes struck by what an awkward nerd Szel had been, once upon a time. Still was, he'd begun to suspect, he'd just learned to hide it more. "I could actually take you out of this room, too, now that... things are done."

Especially if he can somehow convince Szel not to try to steal him back at every opportunity.

"You're like a... technological chimera. I don't see why you shouldn't have a say in what happens to you."

Oh Szel had become a master at hiding his social issues. Mostly under just being impossible to talk to and via intimidation. Worked wonders! Don't have to deal with people if they're all too scared to deal with you.

"Out?" He looked towards the staircase, then back at Tannusen, the gears turning in his head.

"Well it's not that really just-" Well...

"Well even my creator wasn't... created to... you know, just up and decide whatever he wants. That's just..." A beat.

"It just doesn't work like that."

"Well, then, I guess you're in a predicament," Tannusen rests his chin on the back of his good hand, elbow on the table, his uninjured fingers still holding onto his Genessia phone, "because that's what hanging out with me entails. Or, you could choose not to. I suppose I could find you a different guardian, too, so there's a third option for you."

Sleep, Tannusen, or mystery person.

The decision making is only getting more complex as time goes on!

AH THIS IS GETTING MORE COMPLICATED WHY.

The hologram flits about nervously, even flickering a few times as if he intended on just quitting and vanishing back inside the orb.

Rather, however-

"Well... If... I'm not a bother, and you don't mind me being here... I mean it's all... it's very nice here and I really rather enjoy it here."

Spit it out.

"I... I don't mind staying with you."

"Alright," Tannusen chuckles, look at that progress. Four billion year old baby's first decision!

"I had a name suggestion for you, if you'd like something less... derivative, but it's not an assignment. You've gotta decide if you like it for yourself or not."

IMMEDIATELY, MORE DECISIONS. Tannusen's not an easy task-master, is he?

Look, it's so weird, he wasn't made to make his own choices.

Really for almost any other seraph, this would have been less complicated.

They'd just not. The 'choice' would be a predetermined pattern. Even Camael upstairs would always make the same 'choice' without having to think about it.

"A name? Well... Alright I mean that.... That can't be too hard."

That's how a lot of chimera actually are, too. But if you push them hard enough for long enough, they're capable of change. Just look at Jethro, everything he does right now is based off his programming, based off Tannusen's own subconscious decisions. But any day now, the kirin could sprout actual legitimate sentience... and the tiger's pushing him in that direction, always.

This doesn't feel much different from Tannusen's perspective.

Tannusen turns his phone so the hologram can see the images of a specific type of flower, the phone set to auto-scroll through the small folder of pictures. "My suggestion is 'Lilly', because of these. These are Lilium Starlette, in specific."

He could even still use Lil for short.

But it wouldn't just be for 'little' anymore.

The hologram peered at the given pictures, perking at the colors of them.

"Oh they're beautiful!"

A lily, was it? Lilly.

That was the name.

Of course, Lil had no damn idea what was a male or female name, as far as Lil was concerned, neither he nor his maker were really either.

"Well I... don't see why not."

Tannusen, while definitely male, was a Faerie. He didn't give a shit about gender roles or whether a name was more one flavor than the other... not a single shit.

"Can't have the actual plants around, unfortunately. Toxic to housecats, and I live with two."

Just getting the pollen on you was enough to make you deadly to be around a kitty. Tannusen would probably be safe enough, if only because he was so huge. But little kitties? A lot more fragile, they were.

"So you like the name?"

"I do!"

That just sort of came out, the AI looking delighted.

"I've never seen that flower before! Oh do they grow here? Can I find them here at all- Can you download the information about them?"

"Sure," Tannusen turned his phone back so he could see what he was doing, and sent all the information he'd found -- and images -- to the old phone. Good 'ol bluetooth!

"There you go," the tiger pocketed his phone and, yes, because he'd said he would, he laid his arm and hand out where the hologram could get a better look. That was definitely a tentacle-shaped burn, going up his arm. And his palm had lost its skin entirely, the edges of the gaping wound crispy and black.

"My hand and arm's the least of our worries, once I get some Glamour back in me I can heal... at least most of it."

And he would have taken his new information and started cataloging it, but no, there was still the matter of Tannusen's arm to attend to, and the hologram was finally able to get as close as he wanted to it.

Of course, it wouldn't feel like anything, having Lil put his hands near the burn.

But the desire to help was pretty clear.

"Isn't there anything else you can do? You'll get sick, Tannusen..."

"It won't get the chance to get infected."

...Probably. He'd get Cass' help cleaning it out right before he Heather Balmed it, just in case. Didn't want to trap anything in there, after all.

"Are you sure? I can look up all sorts of ways to clean and care for it if you want! I mean it's... I mean I suppose you could do that too, yes, but I'd like to think I'm a bit faster than hands on a keyboard-"

Look, he's frustrated. He wants to help and he can't because he's an intangible light projection it's not fair.

Tannusen rests his head on his other arm, curled on the table. He's so worn out that staying upright is starting to become more aggravation than it's worth. And he shoots a glance off toward the bathroom, a trickle of anxiety going down his spine. Had he imagined Cassian being alive, after all?

"Sure," he replied to the hologram, rather than voicing any of that. Let the little hologram try to help, why not? He was so earnest about wanting to.

Maybe it would even score the tiny AI some points with Cassian.

...If Cassian was really here.

He... was, wasn't he?

And then, from the bathroom-

"Are we gonna use this tub? Ye need it, that arm of yours needs attention."

Yeah.

Yeah he's still there, now popping his head back in the door to look blatantly at Tannusen.

This of course, causes the AI the stammer another excuse and BLIP!

Away he goes!

Tannusen feels bad for Lil, but he's so relieved at Cassian's reappearance that it shows on his face, the tiger sitting back up.

"..." The relief is so stark, he just sits there and stares at Cass for a moment.

"...I mean, we can?"

Lil won't take it personally, don't worry. He kind of understands.

The other man stares back, just for a moment, before the faint aggravation of waiting for Tannusen to finish the conversation just... melts away.

Gone in a heartbeat.

"Aye, that we can, can we? Ye want a bath, Tannusen?"

Well he is kind of covered in Cassian's blood from the stabbing, and his face and throat are still caked in dried tears. It doesn't sound like a bad idea, other than holy hell is it going to hurt if his arm goes into hot water...

Still, a soaking might pull out anything that's gotten in there.

"Is... that what you do with a burn like this?"

Though he still looks half-mad with relief until he manages to get to his feet and cross the distance over to Cassian, reaching out with his good hand to reassure himself the other man's solid. "...You've said 'we' twice now, are we both climbing in? Because I have no objection to that idea."

He's not even being a pervert about it; Tannusen just wants to be close.

"Aye, soakin' it is a good idea, but don't scrub at it. It'll only cause more issue."

Tannusen reaches out to touch him, and Cassian reaches up with both hands, cupping his face gently.

"I think I'd like to share it with ye this time, yes." Had enough nights bathing Tannusen, after all.

"It looks so comfortable when it's just you in it, can only imagine how nice it might be with both of us."

"Okay," Tannusen bowed his head to press a kiss to the top of Cassian's, relief flooding him at the touch -- both his to Cass, and Cassian's return gesture. He's real. He is, he is, he is.

"Let me... find us some towels and clothes, then. You can start the water?"

Yes, Cassian's in perfectly clean stuff that Tannusen dressed the corpse in; no holes, no blood except the bit that's transferred from Tannu -- but no soaking through of the cloth with it -- but, it's not like he's going to live in it for a week or more.

Probably best to save Cass' usual for whenever they emerged from the basement.

"Of course, luv."

Yeah, these clothes were fine, but no he wasn't going to wear the same clothes for a full week. Honestly, he hadn't even thought about getting a spare pair yet though, the fact that he didn't bring a change with him just hadn't reached his mind yet.

There were other things to concern himself with.

With a soft kiss to Tannusen's jaw in return, the smaller man vanished into the bathroom again to start the water.

The basement had been retrofitted into a tiny safe-house with the idea of it containing a few people with no warning given. So of course, there were clothes and things in here. Pajamas and sweatpants and tshirts and sweaters, mostly. Stuff that could fit anyone. The tiger grabbed some likely clothes for them both, and a pair of towels, and was quick to join Cassian in the bathroom, shutting the door behind himself out of habit more than necessity.

Look, he'd even found black clothes for Cass!

"This doesn't feel real," which was saying a lot, coming from a Faerie. He'd been so absolutely certain for so long that the stabbing would be the end...

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject