interstellar5555 | Age of False Innocence

"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)

"And why shouldn't I, Tooru? We trusted this person, and all this time he was nothing but a waste of fluids and tissue. And you thought he was fit to bring into your world. If he goes, they'll just replace him. You don't want this rapist around you either, and you know it." She hisses out.

"You wanted me, Sariel, but you're not even fit to be swine. Hmmm... Swine..."

Stop her Tooru.

"Aramat," Tooru said again, using his captain voice. The voice that got all but Mad Dog-chan to listen to him. "Stop. Now."

He spared Sariel a glance, felt his stomach roil in disgust and didn't bother to hide his disgust before turning his attention to Aramat. "You're right; I don't. But I think doing whatever you're planning to do in public is poor planning. We don't want too much attention on us."

He reached out and put a hand on her's.

The truth is he feels out of his depth in this. He's eighteen, barely an adult in the eyes of his world. And here he is between two murderous adults trying to play mediator.

He tries not to show any of that. If he can handle Mad Dog-chan, he can handle this. Right?

He doesn't look up, he doesn't even move, not a muscle, except for the tears coursing down the left side of his face. If anything, he seems to have gone into a wait state, awaiting whatever judgement might happen to him. Nothing he can say can amend what he did; he can't argue or really disagree with Aramat's response. Having nothing to say to either of them, he says nothing, at least for now.

"Tooru..." And at that, she begins to sing.

You don't own me, no
I'm not one of your little toys
You don't own me, no
You can't keep me from those other boys...

Tooru may be paralyzed and Sariel's fingers may try to grab a steak knife.

Okay, acting like a leader was out. Time to beg.

"Aramat, please," he said fighting to reach out to her. "Please don't do this. Not here. Not where I can't protect you."

His eyes darted between her and Sariel, panic rising in his chest. He knew what she was going to try to do. He had always had strong instincts. "Please, I don't want to see this."

If Aramat killed Sariel? Tooru didn't care. He could sympathize with Sariel wanting to move on from what he had been; he really could, but... he could sympathize with Aramat even more. When Sariel admitted to what he had done. It was hard to look at him. He thought of his nephew. Little Takeru, who he wanted to protect.

He was sure that if Aramat and Sariel got the help they obviously needed they would be okay. But... would they really? Now that he had an idea what they were.

Sariel's eyes pop open and he looks around, frowning. Then a hint of panic comes into his good eye, as his right hand starts, seemingly of it's own volition, to reach for a fruit knife lying on the table. He manages to fight it, willing his left hand to clamp down on his right and smack it onto the tabletop. But he's clearly under a tremendous strain to keep it from pushing back and escaping. He'll stand up, using main force to keep the errant limb under control, gritting his teeth and growling under his breath.

"What's... happening??" he almost whimpers.

"That is just a taste of what I can do. But I won't do that. I won't kill you, not here." And the control is loosened. Aramat looks somber, very out of it.

"I got a little ahead of myself. But now you know, I'm not fit to be rescued. Look at what I almost did. I am a awful person." Although if Aramat continues like this, she'll have to be stopped.

"Don't try and save me. You can't cure what I have, Tooru."

Edited 2016-06-11 16:30 (UTC)

Tooru gasps and jumps away.

"I... I need to go."

He has no idea what to do. They're both killers. And... he doesn't let himself think. He throws some money on the table. "I need to think."

And he all but runs.

Sariel breaks loose of the spell, as it were, falling to his knees, hitting his arm on the edge of the table, bruising it in the process. He's breathing hard, sweating and shaking, tears still streaming from his good eye.

"I can't stay here..." he mutters. And picking himself up, he'll hurry to his room, almost running himself. Shuffling sounds might be heard, like he's packing in haste...

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scalpedsociety - 2016-06-13 06:33 (UTC) - Expand