lieutenantantichrist | [17] [Text/Action for Mahogany] - "Whenever You Get Involved, Someone Gets Hurt."

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[17] [Text/Action for Mahogany] - "Whenever You Get Involved, Someone Gets Hurt."

[ACTION]

[In a low-rent corner of Mahogany, there's a real gym. No mazes, no boss trying to fight you in exchange for something they call a badge, no lackeys, just weight machines and a floor covered with rubber mats, the way it should be. Open twenty-four hours, and this late there's no human in this room but Blake. He's in a sweatsuit, gray in contrast to the brown of the Hitmonlee holding pads for him in its upraised paws. The only sound is his harsh breaths and the thump of his fists on the canvas. His shoulders are hunched like a boxer's. His eyes look straight ahead. Judging from the sweat darkening the back of his shirt, he's been here a while.

On the other side of the room, a Snubbull is sitting on the floor, looking at a Gear that's resting on the mats. A Musharna floats beside her. Fifteen minutes of frustration proved that claws are no good for texting with, but she wants to talk to someone. She really wants to.

She snubs softly, so as not to make her trainer angry. The Musharna's eyes show no reaction, but the buttons on the Gear depress. The text that Steve watches appear seems to be accurate, more or less. The transcription might come strange through the dreaming creature. It's close enough for what she needs.]

[TEXT]

Hello lo low hello

Please talk to me.
I want to talk.
I will tell you my favorite story.
He told it to me when I couldn't sleep. His eyes were closed for some of it but I shook his knee and got to hear the end. Without the end it isn't a story.

Once
upon a time there was a girl. She was poor and alone because her parents were dead, and child services didn't exist then, so she had to go to live with her wicked stepmother and do work for her. Hard work, the kind that nearly killed her, but in time she got used to it.

Then one day she heard the prince was giving a big ball. She asked to go, but her stepmother wouldn't let her. So she tried to run off and get a ride to the castle from a knight, but her wicked stepmother had tailled her, and she found her and dragged her off the horse. While she was going, the wicked stepmother threw the knight a gold coin. He held onto it, and he kept looking at it all the time. He kept thinking about the girl.
He wanted to help her, but he couldn't.

The knight went to the ball, and he was going to kill the prince, but there were too many guards around watching him, so he ran away.

Then the knight went to find the girl and save her. The wicked stepmother grazed him in the neck with an evil spell, but he killed her and all the other guys too, even though he got hurt bad. At first the girl was scared, but then she was free and she was okay. She got to go back home to her real parents. The knight was a hero. All the papers said so.

And everyone lived happily ever after.

..........
..........
..........

Tell me your favorite story.
Voice or video if you can.
The words alone are lonely.

Tell me please.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

War? No.

[Blake shakes his head, not knowing what the kid is talking about.]

Only one shot fired.

[Ah, okay... So it wasn't about that D-Day talk. Or whatever it was called. Still, one shot. That can only mean one thing...

Riku's face pales slightly, and a crease forms along his brow.]

...And were you the one who fired the shot?

[That was a while before Blake was born. He grew up hearing a lot about it, though.

He sees the look cross the kid's face. Looks like he gets this is something serious.]

It was my call. I gave the order.

Another me did, and in his place, I would've done the same thing.

...It sounds like you didn't have a choice.

[But then, what does he know? He wasn't there? Still, doesn't that just mean that he's in no place to judge?]

Scumbags always say that. They tell you in the car all the time. "I didn't have a choice." No, asshole, there were plenty of things you could've done besides stab your wife seventeen times. You had options. Nobody had a goddamn gun to your head.

[His eyes lower.]

One of us did it and the other didn't. So there must have been a choice.

[Behind him, Steve is slowly creeping closer.]

...

[He's right. The fact that Blake's path diverged from another reality is proof of that. So what can he even say? At first, Riku casts a glance off at the wall, his face eerily blank.]

...But you said it yourself. You weren't the one who fired the shot. That was a different you.

What's the difference? Same guy, just a copy. Same mistake I would have made, if I had the chance.

[The eerie blankness on Riku's face is reflected on Blake's.]

Hey. You ever met a kid here named Shaun Mars?

I don't think I've met him, but I might've seen him around on the network.

[Does this have to do with him? Riku considers asking, but ultimately decides to keep his mouth shut and let Blake speak for himself. It's still too soon to judge.]

[If you tell him this, it's not something you get to take back. This kid you've known since you landed here? He'll hate you.

Well, says another voice, cool and reasonable, shouldn't he?

Blake hunches his shoulders and throws one more punch.]

I'm the one who killed his dad.

[...

There are no words. Riku's eyes pop wide open, and he averts his gaze, trying and failing to grasp the gravity of the situation. Death is serious business, and to kill a kid's parent? Even worse. Logic dictates that he should be angry at this news, and yet all Riku feels is... numbness with a dash of confusion.

Just knowing that Blake killed somebody hardly paints cohesive picture. It's like pencil lines before the first coat of paint.]

So why'd you do it?

[Yeah, that's about what Blake expects to see.]

It had something to do with thinking he was the serial killer murdering little kids.

All I know is I told my men to stand down. The other me...

Must've been he didn't.

...And is the kid from a reality where you killed him?

[Because otherwise, how else would he have learned? Something just doesn't stack up in Riku's mind.]

Yeah. First thing when I got here, I saw him. Not long after I first ran into you, matter of fact. He showed up on the screen. Looking at me like I was some kind of monster.

[The hatred and terror on the kid's face, the idiot words in his head making him want to say no kid you don't get it, you got it all wrong, I was saving you.]

He said it real clear.

[Blake breathes in deep. He tilts his head back, and his eyes close. The whispering sound outside could be a car passing by, or it could be rain.]

"You told them to shoot him."

[His eyes open and find the boy's face on the screen, and suddenly there's something desperate in them.]

But I didn't do it. You gotta believe me, it wasn't me.

[The Musharna floats helpfully behind him. All on their own, the keys of the Gear depress in sequence]

s t o p l y i n g

[Riku opens his mouth to speak, but shuts it once the text appears on the screen. What can he say? In some reality, Blake killed a kid's father. Whether or not it was a misunderstanding, the fact remains that he took a life, no doubt crushing the kid involved. Riku should be mad, seething with disgust. His stomach bubbles and twists into tight knots, and he lowers his gaze, gripping at the front of his shirt.

And then he slowly shakes his head, exhaling through his nose.]

It was and it wasn't. The way I see it, it still happened. In that kid's reality, you killed his dad... but that's just one of the possible outcomes. It's not gonna erase whatever pain he suffered, but at the same time, I don't hate you.

It's... I don't know. I wasn't there. I wasn't that kid, and I sure as heck wasn't you. Can't begin to imagine what was going through your head at the time, but... you said it yourself. It happened differently for you.

So I guess...

[He takes a deep breath, rubbing at one of his temples.]

Just try to be the best you can be while you're here. Take what you've heard and try to move forward... That's all you can really do.

[Blake takes in a breath to snap back that the kid doesn't know what he's talking about.

Then, just for a change, he tries listening.]

I....shit.

[Just breathing in slow and letting it be possible that somebody besides him might be right.

Riku says he doesn't hate him, and for some damn reason, he believes him. His shoulders sag as the mad, violent energy drains out of him. He doesn't notice the little Snubbull creeping closer.]

It wasn't me. But it was me. Or, it could've been.

It wasn't supposed to be like that.

[It's a good thing he isn't looking at the screen. He wouldn't want to see this.]

o r e h e h t e b o t d e s o p p u s s a w I

[There's more hesitance on Riku's end. It's good that Blake's calmed down. That's a start, but what's he supposed to say now?

It's... tough. Riku may be nineteen now, but in many ways he is still a kid. He lacks the hard life experience of a full-grown adult-- especially someone like Blake, who's served on the police force. A job fraught with danger.

Is Riku too idealistic? Maybe Sora's rubbed off on him more than he expected, because his gut instinct's to say something like, "It'll be okay." He raises his index finger, then lowers it, once again hit with hesitation.

After a while, he finally starts speaking.]

...Well, there's still time to turn it around. You could look at this place like a second chance. But even if you don't, just... everyone has their screw-ups every now and then. I've heard that I make some pretty lousy mistakes myself, so you're not alone.

[Because even if Riku didn't shoot somebody, he still ends up destroying his home in the future, a fact that's haunted him for years.]

What could you have done? You're barely out of high school. [For once, it's not dismissive. Just remembering a time when problems and mistakes were on a whole different scale.

Riku's phrasing takes a second to catch up to him as he looks down at his hand, turning it over and back again.] You've heard? So it's some other universe shit for you too, huh.

[Blake should be the wise one, here. The one with the answers.]

Hell. I don't know. Second chances are a damn nice idea, but there's shit you can't make up for.

That's why people get locked away.

How about plunge an entire world into darkness? Hasn't happened yet, but...

[He gulps and shudders, a grimace crawling across his face. It probably sounds stupid. Abstract or even unbelievable. Riku was shocked when he first heard, but after everything that's happened here, it's become a bit harder to deny, even if everything turns out right.

Maybe he oughta focus on something a little easier to grasp for now.]

But sometimes people can change. They don't always, but there's always a chance that they can turn things around. They just have to be willing to try.

Edited 2014-07-26 06:06 (UTC)

[It sounds insane, but the look on the kid's face stops him dead. Obviously he takes it seriously, and it has a kind of fairy tale nightmare logic to it. Blake's heard of weirder things. Seen them, too, lately.]

Getting dark doesn't kill anybody.

Makes me think of something I told another kid a long time ago. You can't arrest somebody on fortune-telling. Conspiracy, plots drawn up, that's one thing, but you can't blame somebody for a crime that's not even in their head. Whether or no to do it is still up to you.

But this...

[He takes a long, long breath.]

This is done. No taking it back.

[Change. Small word, big, big idea.]

You got your whole life ahead of you. Me...

I've done a lot of nasty shit, kid. I always had a good reason. There was pressure, shit to take care of, no time to go around wearing kid gloves or second-guessing your gut.

Here, I got nothing but time.

Have you... talked to him about it? The kid.

[Well, obviously it's come up somehow, otherwise Blake wouldn't have learned in the first place, but what about after the fact?

Then again, what kind of kid wants to dwell on something so deeply tragic, not to mention personal? Especially at such a young age.]

...I mean, I guess that's a risk no matter what you say or do, but it could at least get you guys some closure.

[It won't change what happened, but sometimes it's good to tie up loose ends. To reach some semblance of understanding.]

I tried. [His shoulders rise and fall.] He even listened. Didn't kick me in the shins or nothing.

[Just looked up at him with those big hazel eyes. Looking at him like he was the monster in the closet that turning the light on didn't scare away anymore, and, in a weird, worse way, like he'd stopped bothering to try.]

When it came down to it...I knew what I had to say, and I couldn't do it.

[A sneer of derision twists his face.] Fuckin' coward.

[...Of course.

But who's Riku to judge? Saying you'll do something and actually doing it are two very different things. It's easy to walk through things in your head, but when it's finally time to act, nervousness sets in. Maybe even fear. Riku's had that happen before, albeit under different circumstances.

So what can he really suggest? Riku rubs at the back of his neck, taking short, slow breaths.]

You ever thought about trying again? Maybe through writing. At least that way you wouldn't be on the spot.

[Something about the kid's thoughtfulness makes him seem older than he is. Like he has some idea what he's talking about.

The easy answer is:] The kid doesn't want to hear from me.

[From a step away, Steve lifts his head. She protests a single, sharp snub!

Blake gestures toward her.] Now Steve he likes.

[Hmm... So the kid's fine with his Pokémon, huh? Riku brings a hand to his chin, silent for a few short moments.]

What if you had Steve deliver the message? Guess it'd only work if you were close by, but who knows? Maybe it'd ease some of that tension.

[Blake's eyes slide away.] Shit, I don't know. What would I even say? He doesn't want to hear it. Ow!

[That last would be from a disapproving Snubbull poking him in the leg with a claw.]

[17] [Text/Action for Mahogany] - "Whenever You Get Involved, Someone Gets Hurt."

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[video] ack! thought I already tagged this

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