interstellar5555 | Age of False Innocence

Sariel might be nursing a cup of tea, his pale face grave. He might be dressing down in a grey Housatonic University tee shirt over loose fitting jeans. "I know of a place where I could crash, but... it's probably better if we all stay close, if I'm not mistaken?"

Meanwhile Aramat is busy picking at an omelet, she's not much for talking lately.

"I've wanted to leave that place since March. But I don't like what you're implying."

Oh she hates Lesedi, she wants her dead. But... Aramat's been edgy lately.

"If by stay close you mean close to Pride, no. But still in Vista City if that's what you mean." He takes a bite of his milk bread and turned his attention to Aramat.

"Why not?"

These two, the older members of the band. They were... different from the rest. He cared for them deeply, but there was something about them that put him on edge. Especially after his talk with Sariel and how his Sawbones persona was closer to his true self before coming here.

Which only made Tooru have more questions.

"Still in Vista City, is what I meant: there's any number of folk who hang about Crowley's, the underground goth club I've frequented, who'd be more than willing to put me up," he says, lowering his cup into his lap. Dryly, he adds, "They were suspicious about my signing on with a label, perhaps they were wise to think that way."

Meanwhile Aramat is less inclined to talk, and she's not willing to agree with Tooru or even think about who would take her in if she leaves.

"I can't leave. Even if I wanted to, I can't."

Okay, this was going better than he thought with Sariel. He gives the older man a winning smile and then turns his attention to Aramat. "Why not?" he asked.

Something was wrong. He had suspicions that Aramat was like Sariel, but he had hoped those were wrong.

"Squalo's helping me come up with a plan."

When in doubt use family connections.

"I could contact them: Hermann the housem andolinist wouldn't mind having me spend more than a night in his apartment, and I know Vic the Dragon would be more than happy to ...create a smokescreen. Not a literal one, though," he says, then sits back to listen to what alternative plans might come into play.

"...And your point is?" Aramat adores the man, but it's obvious now that Squalo isn't her son, isn't even her student.

"He has my support in leaving, but I'm not going with him."

Aramat's voice is shaky. "I'm not who you think I am, Tooru. It's best for everyone's safety."

She needs to stay in the cage with the animals.

"It's obvious to anyone with a brain is none of us are who we thought."

He pointed to the side of his head. "Back home I played volleyball, never touched a cello in my life. We've all been brain washed into thinking we're something we're not."

"I was a surgeon before I came here: I was.... a little too good at what I did, and in some ways, not good enough," he says, looking into his teacup, running a finger along the rim, and from his tone of voice, it's clear what he might mean by "too good" at what he did. "I... had a fondness for classical music and dark things, but having a fond ear was as far as it went." He doesn't add that he is-was one of the dark things, and that he might actually be the scion of some dark angel.

Aramat struggles to admit this. "I've physically hurt people, Tooru. And I didn't care if they were good or bad. I might... no I will hurt someone soon. I can't put anyone in danger."

Edited 2016-05-28 02:09 (UTC)

Tooru frowns at Aramat. "I told Sari-chan this, and I'll tell you; you're welcome to come to my world. We can get you help there."

How much help? Tooru isn't sure, but he cared deeply for her, for everyone in his band.

"If you don't want to right now, that's fine. We'll come back for you when it's safer."

He might lean forward a bit, looking into Aramat's face as he speaks. "I'd like to keep in touch with you or keep close, whichever turns out, but it's for you to decide," he offers, not pleading, but encouraging her gently.

"What would I do in your world, Tooru? Do you even know how naive that sounds? Take the fucking murderer out of Vista then she won't have these feelings anymore." She gets silents for a moment, then apologizes.

"I'm sorry. I just... I enjoy this life, aside from Lesedi and the constant attention of the public."

"I don't know," he admitted. "But, Aramat, you know what Santiago is capable of and..." He bit his lip.

"She and Blanche are just using us as batteries. We deserve better than that."

He looked around and then asked. "What do you mean murderer?"

Though he knows what she means. He just doesn't want to believe it.

"It's almost poetic justice in my case: I was... technically am, though it seems to have been silenced for the time being, something that lived off the lives of others. But I can't say that I want to continue having this leash on my neck," Sariel notes, but he'll quickly fall silent, giving Aramat the floor, in a manner of speaking.

"You heard me, Tooru."

It's sudden but what comes out Aramat's mouth is morbid.

"For the things I've done in my world. Maybe I need to be a battery. At least I'm useful to someone in a non-destructive way."

"Ara-chan," Tooru said quietly, reaching out to take her hands. "I don't care. I want you to come with us. You're important to me."

He'll lean forward as well, finding her gaze with his. "You're important to me as well... at the risk of sounding like a lovelorn admirer: after these past weeks and months we've spent together, I can't imagine going on without you," he says. "I want to keep making music together, you and I." With a look to Tooru, he adds, "Maybe all three of us, if he wants it."

Aramat only looks at the both of them with weary eyes. "You have all this love and acceptance for a lie. You wouldn't say that for the real me, would you? The real me is a crazy, murderous bitch that distrusts men."

"I told this to Sari-chan, and I tell it to you. You have the choice now. If you like this version of you better, then be that person."

He leaned back in his seat and looked at her.

"What I think is that this is the real you. The you before needed help and for whatever reasons couldn't get it."

Sariel looks at her, his good eye deadly serious. "You aren't the only one who prefers the person they are now to the person they were in their world," he says. "I killed people, including one of my own patients and her father. I stole organs from people for experimental purposes. I used dark magic and not for protective or defensive purposes, either. I was - and probably still am - a creature that fed off the lives of people around me. Damn me, I forced myself on a young man, then put a curse on him that caused his life force to slowly drain into me, till it eventually killed him."

Looking to Tooru, he adds, "He's right: as horrible as this situation is, it has given us a chance to change and change for the better, to begin a new life and be the person we need to be and more than what we were."

Aramat pays no heed to what Tooru says or even most of what Sariel says. Her focus is on seven words he said. It makes Tooru's idea even more impossible and makes her temporarily filled with potent, potent, rage. Ever wonder why Aramat doesn't trust men?

"You did what, Sariel?"

A song is forming in her head, and it's not a good one.

Edited 2016-06-09 07:08 (UTC)

Okay. Okay, this was a lot more then he was expecting from Sariel. Fuck. He had suspected that he was a killer, but he had convinced himself it was only once.... But he was a seriel killer, a cultist, and a rapist too?

He stares at him, in disbelief, and then noticed then the tone in Aramat's voice. Fuck, he needed to do something before she killed him. He looked at Sariel again, and wanted to throw up. For a moment he wondered if he should let her. But only for a moment. It's not their place to judge each other. Not if they wanted to survive.

"Aramat, please don't," he said softly but with steel. "This isn't the time or place."

By now, Sariel has gone very quiet and still, his hands resting on his knees, his head bowed, his eyes closed, though tears might be escaping the corner of his good eye.

"I'm not that man now and I don't want to go back to being who I was, but I don't blame you for any judgement you might have," he says, softly.

Edited 2016-06-09 15:39 (UTC)

Age of False Innocence

Re: Crown of Thorns

Re: Crown of Thorns

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