I'll tell you all how the story ends

[cleartranquil]

Who: Ghost Quest kids and all those who want to see them.
What: So as it turns out, going against the label might've been a bad move. Who knew, right? 
When: Feb 3rd and after 
Where: Pride HQ
Warnings: Talk of torture, aftermath of violence, aftermath of brainwashing, dudes there's some dark stuff.

For the past three days, the troublemakers and ghost helpers of Pride Records were kept locked away from their friends and their bands. 

As far as everyone else knew, they were just gone. And then they were back. 

They are all worse for wear, some far more than others and some much more mentally than physically, but they are all returned to their penthouses, finally, at the end of their ordeals. 

But, at least they're back. Somewhat in one piece. For the most part. 

Comments

[blindfoldcode]

This is... worse than she expected in a way. She looks around. There's not a ladder anywhere near here and she doesn't even know if he remembers how to swim.

"Hold onto my arm, okay? I'll try to pull you out."

[tigermillionaire]

He nods blearily, reaching up his hands to her and grabbing on, as instructed. He tries to push himself out of the water, but he's not as helpful as he could be at it. He's feeling really uncoordinated at the moment.

[blindfoldcode]

She pulls him up with what force she has, but when he's safely out... well. Converse and wet floors, now even more wet from a dripping Tiger, do not mix. She slips back with a groan but pushes herself to sit up and examine him. "You okay? You didn't inhale any water or anything, right?"

The way she asks him is... surprising normal for someone who's avoided him for days.

[tigermillionaire]

"No," he says, without inflection, seemingly just answering the question on command. He lets her look him over, too - only a couple small cracks show on his body, at the moment, though his eyes are still hazy pools.

He apparently just walked into the pool randomly, of his own volition.

[blindfoldcode]

She reaches out to pet his hair but pulls her hand back last second, looking away and getting to her feet to hold herself. She's already hurt him enough.

"You should go back to the penthouse. You're hurt, Tiger."

[tigermillionaire]

He doesn't really respond to that. Instead he just keep keeps staring at the tiles, clutching at his gem through his wet tank top. He feels really tired. The room seems to spin, ever so slightly.

[blindfoldcode]

Shit. Can he even hear her? She's shaky but she offers a hand out. "I'll take you if you don't want to go alone..." And then she'll disappear into her room again or something.

[tigermillionaire]

He sees the hand, stares at it for a moment, and then nods - apparently comprehending that part at least. There was no way he was finding his way back to the penthouse from here on his own at the moment.

He manages to get to his feet, still dripping wet from head to toe. His hair is draped over half of his face, and he never looks up. He just holds her hand and stares at the floor, waiting for her to take him back to his pen.

[blindfoldcode]

Tiger, no, you know that's not what she means. She hesitates at the way he looks. "Do you need me to carry you?"

She can do that. She thinks, anyway.

[tigermillionaire]

He doesn't need her too. Not really. But the nature of the actual question doesn't seem to quite make it through, and so he just nods and looks up at her.

"Okay..." It was a question, not a command, but...communication is obviously a struggle here.

[blindfoldcode]

Very obviously. Which is why, regardless of whether he quite understands or not, she's crouching to help him on her back. It's harder than usual but she doesn't complain.

"I'm sorry, Tiger. This is all my fault." She says it quietly, but he's close. And it's not like he'll understand her anyway.

[tigermillionaire]

He gets up onto her back without much problem, settling against the crook of her neck comfortably. Being held like this makes him feel safe for some reason. Being picked up feels so natural. He doesn't realize how tired he is until he isn't having to stand anymore. Why did he come down here?

"We did something bad," he mumbles in reply, like that somehow justifies what happened to both of them.

[blindfoldcode]

"I should've gotten you home." She holds onto him tightly, careful not to slip again and send them both down. Almost everyone's told her to watch out for him. Don't they see how obvious it is that she can't?

"I'll find a way to fix it. I won't let you get hurt again." Even if she has to deal with the pain again herself.

[tigermillionaire]

For a little while, he doesn't response to that, closing his eyes, and burrowing his face against her neck. Then, eventually, he seems to notice something he hadn't fully comprehended before.

"You can see," he says.

[blindfoldcode]

"Kinda." Things are fuzzy, still. The world is more blobs than anything else. Sometimes her eyes just blink out. They hurt like hell.

But she'd take being blind forever over Tiger still being hurt. "Don't worry about it."

[tigermillionaire]

He remembers when they did that, though his thoughts had already been scattered at the time. He didn't really get why it was happening, at first. They spent a lot of time making it clear to him afterwards.

He feels like something good should have come from this, like there had been a really good reason that they took the risk in the first place. It's just so hard to contemplate right now, and anything that put him at odds with his keepers seems inexcusably foolish.

"What did we do?" he asks softly, after getting lost in his head.

[blindfoldcode]

"Whatever we did," Kido still doesn't quite understand everything that went down, "we hurt Lesedi with it." She slows her steps to reach up and hold one of his hands.

"Everyone told us to run. We didn't. I shouldn't've let you go, kid. I'm sorry." She has to take a deep breath, then, shaking. She feels like she's choking. He's hurt and he might not get better and it's all her fault. She promised she'd look out for him and...

[tigermillionaire]

"I don't remember why I wanted to go," he says, his voice still hollowed out but ringing with a sort of despair. "It doesn't make sense anymore. I can't...I can't feel..."

He trails off. He doesn't have the words for what's missing, but he knows that it's gone.

[blindfoldcode]

She only lets go of his hand to wipe the tears from her face. She can't stop them. Hearing and seeing Tiger like this is just... She's seen a lot of terrible things, she knows what it feels like to die, she watched her sister die, she knows she's been betrayed, she knows that she's a monster, she knows that life is just generally so fucked up, but...

This is the most painful thing she thinks she's ever felt.

"We rescued someone. Or something. I think. And it's gone now." At least someone's out of Pride's clutches.

[tigermillionaire]

"Oh..." he says softly, remembering for a moment what she means. He wishes he could feel happy, or accomplished, but he doesn't. All he can feel are the thoughts drilled into his head over and over again - that he shouldn't have rebelled, that it wasn't worth it. That he was a traitor to his label.

"We...we did the wrong thing. W-We..."

He sinks down against her shoulder, shivering. He still can't cry, even now, like something has been cut off from him.

"It was okay and now it's not."

[blindfoldcode]

"I don't think it's ever been okay." She runs her thumb across his hand before she tries to fall back into a stride. Everything hurts. She's a monster and now she sees why.

"Not sure it will be again, either. Just... just don't hurt yourself, okay? If talking about it hurts... you don't have to."

[tigermillionaire]

He does fall silent for a while, apparently taking her invitation to stop. The world passes him by like something on the other side of a thick sheet of glass. Part of him feels weary enough to sleep.

"I don't know what to do," he mumbles. He's too broken to function. All he can do is hurt.

[blindfoldcode]

"You just... hang on, okay? I'll find a way to fix it. You don't have to do anything but hang on."

[tigermillionaire]

"I'm glad you can see," he says, circling back to that earlier though, as she carried him along. He swallows. "I'm sorry...I'm sorry I wanted to go. You protected me."

[blindfoldcode]

"Not well enough. Don't apologize--this isn't your fault." It's hers. She's an adult. She knows not to do this kind of thing. She doesn't tell him her eyesight's still bad or that it blinks out when her powers flare up.