( OPEN )

[miscreant]

CHARACTERS: Seviilia and you
WHERE: The Station
WHEN: D049
SUMMARY: Downtiiiime
WARNINGS: We've entered "perpetually hungry" mode. Escalating Seviilia's negative emotions could incite violence. PM me if you want a choking thread! (Seviilia will coma before she can do any real damage)

( WARM )

Being at least half of a magical construct, the concept of 'conditioning' was more of a 'warming up' process for Seviilia. Her muscles fed on the magic that kept her walking among the living long after her expiration date. There was nothing to tone when the simple act of feeding was what kept her in fighting form. All of that said, there was nothing to stop the itch in the Station -- nothing but other hosts, which she had already learned twice over were a poor substitute.

Slowly but surely, she is starving.

She's taken a pair of practice swords, as her own runeblades would likely tarnish communal training equipment. Its not very helpful -- they're much lighter than what she is used to. But just hitting something might take her mind of the urge to hunt the heartbeats echoing in the honeycomb chambers of the Station. The succession of the clacks of contact can be heard echoing through the hall --she's not being particularly gentle.

Seviilia doesn't sweat, doesn't tire. Occasionally, ice on her blades cushions her blows to keep from shattering them with her brute force, leaving shards and small melted spatters around the floor. She appears focused, but she does pause after someone stops long enough to make it clear that they are watching her.

"You could make yourself useful and pick up another weapon."

( NEST )

There is no necropolis to watch over, no soldiers to guide, so she continues to find solstice in the silence of the Nesting Pods. The sides of it are frosted, much like everything she touches. In her hands is a journal of sorts, accompanied by an inkwell on the outside of the pod and the quill of a strange alien bird between black fingertips. A few droplets of red run down the side of the pod from where it has dripped on its way back to her.

On the pages is a series of scribbles, notes, and small sketches, all in the same red ink. Some of birds, some of bone constructs, some of faces she remembers -- all are in a hyper realistic style, easily recognizable even from a distance. Occasionally, she pauses to think, her fingers pinching her quill just a bit tighter than she ought to be until--

Snap.

Her sigh echoes off the walls, head lolling back until it hits the wall with a clunk.

[Feel free to wildcard!]

Comments

[wrackful]

[The impact of her hunger doesn't faze him, the danger of it, of her. He pushes again, relentless in putting space between her and Bellamy. Putting himself between her and Bellamy.]

Not him. [It's not an answer, not really, but it's the one that comes out of him in the urgency, the fury of the moment.] You can do this with anyone else, you don't do it to him.

[He doesn't stop to look back at Bellamy. He's coughing, conscious, and that's all Murphy needs. His focus stays on Seviilia.]

[miscreant]

Why?

[Its a snarl as it is a wicked shriek, spittle flying from her teeth. Her weight rests stubbornly on her front foot with one half a step backward in compliance with his suggestion. A dog stubbornly tugging forward on its lead, planting its weight, a wall of muscle.

She doesn't understand, and her confusion does not mix well with her hunger.]

Is this not the worm who came for your life? And you would stay my hand for him?

[Her hungry glare looks past Murphy and at Bellamy, and it becomes clear that his stubbornness and determination are the only things keeping her from rushing him again.]

[wrackful]

[Surprise is only a flicker before anger spikes, harder and sharper than before for her words. There's no relent in him, no give. He holds his ground. She snarls and he bares his teeth right back.]

One snapshot out of my head and you think you know everything?

[The idea of her thinking she was defending him means nothing against the assumption of it. It cracks against him like an insult, making out like she knows and he's the fool, when she has no idea how complicated everything between him and Bellamy had been.]

We both paid. I've hurt him enough.

[He doesn't mean in measure, in weight balanced, debt cleared. He means an end. No more. Never again.]

[miscreant]

[He is a child, she could crush him for daring to spit in her face as if she were a peasant, and in any other situation she might have -- her snapping teeth would close around his arm, her hunger would be slaked, and he would know better than to dare treat her as if he had dominion over her decisions.

But the symbiote writhes against the urge, the snap of his voice feels physical, an unhinging of her jaw. She shifts it, grits her teeth and fights to calm herself down -- an impossible task, with her meal robbed.]

Then perhaps you should seek to more freely offer such information to me in the future, instead of waiting for that maggot to do it for you.

[Then, she takes another small step back -- barely restrained, but the best concession he'll get from her when her anger boils so high.]

He volunteered.

[deployed]

[ The adrenaline is harder to shake than the bruises Seviilia had gouged into his throat. His memories are a mess, walls shattered and mind open. Kane's face bleeds out, overlaying Seviilia even as Bellamy looks up to catch a look at her face past Murphy's defensive position. ]

Murphy.

[ Bellamy doesn't tell him to move. He knows Murphy won't. The stubborn set of his body is painfully familiar. Bellamy recognizes it from the dropship and the selfish, self-serving realization that he needed that quality. He feels faintly sick that it's shielding him now. ]

She's right. I offered.

[ Without understanding, maybe, but he had still been sincere. Seviilia's confused anger tangles in Bellamy's gut even as he protests, voice hoarse, at Murphy's intervention. ]

[wrackful]

Shut up, Bellamy.

[If there was any idea that Murphy's anger was directed solely at Seviilia, it's completely destroyed by the snap in his voice. Of course Bellamy had volunteered. That was what he did: the heroic, self-sacrificing, stupid thing. There was no arguing him out of that, no way to make sure it didn't happen again. Murphy doesn't even turn to look at him. He keeps his attention on Seviilia, the one who matters on this, the one who needs to understand.]

I'm telling you now.

[Ignoring the bullshit, hypocritical idea like he should've just opened his head up to her. As if he'd need to. They were brood, the only ones left, the bond between them more like a channel than the threads tying them to the rest of the Nest. He doesn't advance on her. She's taken one step back, and he accepts that, the space she's given. But he doesn't back off.]

I don't care if he comes begging for it. We don't hurt him. We don't feed off him.

[If he realises he's slipped into plural, there's no sign of it.]

[miscreant]

[Even begging, as if resisting such a call wouldn't be torture in its own right. Seviilia can do nothing but stand and seethe, either also unclear on the distinction of 'we' or just too frustrated to care. Her teeth grit, her eyes moving to Bellamy, waiting for the joke to collapse on itself so she can resume what she had been doing. But it doesn't. Bellamy's last bit of discomfort is starting to fade, and she can feel the last dredges of her meal slip out of her fingers.

She still doesn't understand, why this boy is more important than their need to ease their own pain, why they would waste energy or time protecting someone who had tried to kill them.

But Seviilia clamps down on her jealousy when she recognizes it and finally casts her gaze past both of them like they were not even in the room. Her stiffness accentuates her unliving status -- no room for breath, no blinking, and the only movement being an occasional muscle spasm when the hunger claws at something soft.

A message, strained and choked off, filters through to Murphy. Even if she's managed to stem the tide of jealousy, there's nothing to cap off the pain in her tone.]

( You are incorrigible. )

[deployed]

[ The anger crackling between the pair of them sparks and heightens the adrenaline left over from the fight. Bellamy's pain might be fading, but it's harder to let go of the way his body had responded to the immediate threat Seviilia had provided.

He owes her an apology. That certainty crystallizes in Bellamy's mind even as she goes still and silent. There's a momentary, glancing contact as a tendril of awareness reaches for her and withdraws at the flare of her anger and the more complex sense of jealousy. The apology Bellamy's carrying is nothing in the face of that combination. ]

Murphy.

[ Bellamy repeats it, tone rising insistently. His voice raspy, still scraped raw, but swallowing doesn't dampen the effect. ]

That's enough.

[ At any other point, Bellamy would be irritated about it spoiling any future attempts. But there's been a shift between all three of them. Or between Bellamy and Murphy, and Seviilia has been dragged unfortunately along with them. ]

[wrackful]

[Her answer's there in her stillness, the withdrawal in her mind more than her physically moving off. It hurts. Murphy feels every second of her pain, and it's so much harder to hold against than her anger, but he doesn't relent, change his mind. She calls him incorrigible and she's right. Guilt still rises for it, what he's done to her, to them, but relief blooms larger, unfiltered, gratitude an almost cautious offering in its wake.

This isn't an easy acceptance. He knows Seviilia still doesn't understand. But staying to explain is just going to be pouring salt in her wounds. Pouring it in his own, slowly feeling raw at the edges from the fear for Bellamy, fighting against her, how totally exposed he is between the two of them and in what he's just done.

Anger's so much easier, and Bellamy's voice - Bellamy talking like he can tell him what to do - drops him back into the cling of it immediately.]

Get up.

[As he finally turns from Seviilia, looks at Bellamy on the floor, gaze hard. He doesn't offer a hand. Bellamy can get to his feet on his own.]

I'll take you to medical.

[deployed]

[ Regret sweeps through Bellamy as the pain fades. Murphy's relief is jarring, especially when he looks at Seviilia and knows that she doesn't share any of it. She's upset. She has a right to be. Looking past Murphy at her, he finds himself at a loss as to how to convey any of his regrets to her.

She should have had a meal. Bellamy should have kept his reactions to himself, but in retrospect he's unsure there was ever a way to keep this from Murphy. Murphy, who is now simmering with renewed anger. Bellamy's gaze shifts back to him, and he studies him for a long moment before he pushes himself laboriously up. ]

I don't need medical.

[ Because arguments are really going to smooth this over. ]

Let's go.

[ And leave Seviila to her own devices. There's no sense in trying her patience any further, or continuing to inflict his presence on her after the possibility of a meal has been revoked. ]

[wrackful]

Yeah, I wasn't asking.

[A large part of him doesn't trust Bellamy not to push the agreement Murphy's just made with Seviilia. Doesn't trust him to admit his own injuries, either. Taking him to medical is an easy answer to both, and there's structure - direction - offered by it that Murphy more than willingly grasps onto.

He holds Bellamy's gaze, makes it clear he expects him to go first. Still keeping himself between him and Seviilia even as they finally leave.]