'Dora trills an apology, and stands up on his rear legs to pat cutely at Maya's knees with one of his front paws. He's sorry, he didn't mean to interrupt her, please don't be mad! Punk, meanwhile, just looks confused. Is the game over? Did he win?
Before reassurances, condemnations, or any other reactions can be made, Krieg makes his triumphant return, two large brown paper bags filled with food nestled in the crook of one arm. The smell of delicious, greasy takeout immediately fills the room, and once he's fully inside his eyes track - as always - straight to Maya.
And then straight to the thing she's holding.
He'd forgotten about the control collar, as he usually does when he goes for long stretches without fully emptying his travel bag. The reminder is wholly unpleasant, as usual. He freezes in place as the door closes behind him, and stares with a complicated mixture of loathing and longing clear on the exposed portion of his face. Adorababy, still concerned about Maya's expletive, continues to paw softly at her lap, while Punk, completely oblivious to the sudden tension in the room, runs over to greet his trainer and begin begging for scraps. For the moment, the only sounds are the soft Eevee and Sylveon noises the pair of troublemakers are making.
Maya is just kind of turning the thing over in her hands. She remembers this. It would be kind of hard for her not to. Not after seeing two sirens trapped in it. Not after watching it choke Lilith of all people. It's... her hands clench and she just stops herself from trying to crush it, as the pokemon make her notice that someone else is in the room.
So instead she holds the collar up, with her right hand. Even holding it near her depowered siren tattoos feels wrong.
"It's Angel's." The words are out of his mouth before he can think, which is a good thing since that means he doesn't have a chance to choke up and trip over her name. Seeing the thing in Maya's hand, seeing the look on Maya's face as she holds it up and demands an explanation, makes him want to vomit. He hates the control collar. He hates it for what it did to Angel her whole life, and he hates it for what it did to Lilith. When Angel had showed up wearing it, here, in this safe and soft place, he'd wanted to break it - to crush it, to smash it, to rip it into the tiniest of pieces that couldn't possibly be put together again. But Angel had begged, and insisted, that he leave it be, and he could never say no to her, could never deny her anything she asked. He'd left the collar alone, and when she had disappeared, had continued to leave it alone.
"She found it after she--" His brain catches up to him there, and he cuts himself off abruptly, jerking his gaze away from the hated object in Maya's hand and dropping it to the floor. Punk Face stretches up to paw at his knees when he lays eyes on the little Eevee, and that grounds him a bit. "--After my guts melted."
And of course it's connected to something terrible. Of course it fucking is.
Maya takes a moment for a calming breath. Anger is fine, she's good with anger. Mostly when she's using it to kill people. This moment does not need that sort of anger. She does place the collar down to the side. Not out of her sight but out of her hand at least.
"She just found it. And she kept it."
That's, confusing? She didn't get a chance to talk to Angel as much here as she'd have liked so she never got to know her like Krieg did. But it still...seems wrong. However the last part is also important.
"Krieg. You mentioned it briefly before but I need to know. What happened with you and Angel that lead to your ...guts melting?"
"Mnnnnnnnggg..." The unhappy noise he makes when she asks that question is almost a whine. He fidgets uncomfortably in place for several moments, still in the little entryway, before finally forcing himself to move into the room completely. Much like with Angel, he can't say no to Maya. Even when her request makes him feel like he's got twenty pounds of lead piled in his stomach, he wants to do what she asks.
It's not like he doesn't want her to know what happened. Honestly, she's probably the only person in the whole universe he trusts enough to tell. He'd likely even brush off any of the other Vault Hunters, if they asked. He sets the bags of food down on the hotel room's little table, and then sits himself down on one of the beds. He can look up and see her if he chooses to, but for the time being his gaze is still fixed pretty firmly on the floor. Adorababy is quick to leap into his lap once he's seated, and Punk Face isn't far behind.
Just say it. Tell her. Get it over with, and you won't have to think about it anymore.
He honestly can't tell if the words belong to the voice in his head, or if they're his own. It doesn't really matter, though, because they're right.
"It was one of those fun weekends when the fire comes back to my throat. I could feel her static on the back of my neck, and I didn't know where we were. I don't know how we got there. But I had to find her. I had to keep her safe. I followed her static and I found her, and when I did, she was so scared, she--"
This is the worst part to him; not the agony of his fried nerves, not the slow sensation of drowning in his own lungs that followed, but…
"--she ran away from me. I was so stupid, I didn't understand and I followed her even when she begged me not to! I should have listened! She didn't know how to be a Siren, being a Siren just happened to her because no one ever taught her, just USED her, but I! Didn't! Think!!!"
His voice grows louder and more rough with each sentence, until he basically shouts the last three words. 'Dora trills comfortingly and leans up to headbutt him under his chin. The contact centers him, and calms him down somewhat, though for the moment his mouth snaps shut and he stares hard at the floor.
And there it is. The thing that she'd been worried about since she'd heard a vague mention of it when they were in jail. Angel couldn't control her powers when they were there. ....and now she has a sickening feeling about why the control collar was still around.
"You made a mistake." She finds herself talking, because it's easier to address this problem then to wish bitterly that she had been there when Angel suddenly had her powers back. To think that she might have been able to do something.
"Because you wanted to keep her safe....shit, this would be easier to say if you were both here."
Because it would. She wasn't even here for this and she doesn't know how to put this into words other then neither of you are at fault but that's harder to do with one person.
"Sometimes. Terrible things happen just because things get out of hand. You didn't think but you didn't think because you were worried for her safety."
She pauses for a moment, trying to figure how best to ask this.
"If it happened again. Would you stop, and stay away from her if she asked? Now that you know better."
"Yeah!" His reply to Maya's question is instant - he doesn't have to think about it. He also finally looks up, looks to her face, meets her eyes again. His expression is contrite and earnest. "I was gonna leave. She talked to me before the stars went black, and told me why, and I heard her, and I didn't like it but she asked so I was gonna do it."
Then he drops his gaze away again, back to the floor, because...well, actually, this is the worst part. Even worse than how he'd felt when she'd run away from him. And since he's told Maya the first part, he might as well finish it out. "But I was too slow. I was too slow, and I made her cry but I couldn't hear it. She held me and I couldn't feel it. And when I woke up she hated herself so much she wouldn't talk to me."
He hadn't realized it at the time. At the time, he had thought she was angry with him, because he'd been too stupid and too stubborn to listen to her warnings. But she hadn't blamed him, just herself.
"...She only came to see me again after she found that." He glances at the control collar briefly before returning his gaze to the floor.
She really wishes that surprised her and for a moment she wants to track down and just kill Jack again. Slowly. For using Angel, not even as a weapon, a weapon gets trained. Maya had been trained and Angel had been stuck in a chair since she was a child. She'd been a power source.
"She must have been afraid. I don't...fuck, if she was here maybe I could help her with that. Maybe-"
Meditation, training. Even without powers. Just so she didn't hate herself so much. She pushes that aside though, it's not what she wants to think about and there's the collar still.
"Did she say where she'd gotten it from?....and why she kept it?"
"She got it for Christmas. From whoever gave me one of your books." A Cunning Fox Siren mod had been Krieg's Christmas present from Poké-Santa that year - useless to him, but equally precious and sentimental, regardless. "She said it made her feel safe. She could wear it when her powers came back and she didn't have to be afraid of hurting anyone until they went away again."
"I still hate everything about it. ......but I was trained since I was a kid. I can't even imagine how scared she must have been of herself, to put that thing back on."
He is 100% down to go and murder Jack again, Maya - just suggest it out loud and he will be ready to go.
"It was important to her." His voice is a quiet grumble, softer than it usually ever gets. He stares at the floor for a little longer, before glancing back up at the offending object. He glares at it for a moment, before looking back to Maya again. "She came back once...." He can't quite finish that particular thought, because letting himself even think about the possibility that Angel could miraculously return a second time hurts too much. Maya's a smart lady, though, he knows she'll get what he's saying.
That's probably 99% of the reason she's not bringing it up. As much as she really, really wants to.
However she nods.
"That's....I get that."
She might come back, she might. She wants to believe that too.
"Okay, look. Just....keep that thing away from me. I get it but if I see it randomly I can't promise I won't just....snap and break it."
She already has nightmares about that thing. Even besides all it did to Angel and Lilith. After all, lack of known connection to Eridium or not, she had been the only other siren in that room. That thing could have ended up on her neck and the thought of that makes her sick.
"Also....if Angel does show up again but she doesn't remember being here. .....I don't think we should give it to her unless something really bad happens and she gets her powers back and can't control them."
Keep it away from Maya? He will happily do that. Also: All the other stuff she said. He nudges the lap monsters off of his knees and onto the floor so he can stand back up and retrieve the thing. It's honestly a test of his will to hold it in his hands without crushing it. He may not be a Siren, but he knows and cares a great deal about three people who are, and he hates that something like this exists that can effectively cage them.
"....Where'd you find it?" He has absolutely no concerns about Maya going through his stuff - if he has something she needs, he wants her to have it regardless of if he's around to give it to her. But she's also not in the habit of going through his stuff, and...huh, his bag's been knocked over and half the things inside has been split out onto the floor. It probably wasn't Maya, then, but one or both of the four-legged fuzz-faces currently terrorizing the room. "Did the Punk steal it?"
Of the two, Punk Face lacks the manners and etiquette he's come to expect from 'Dora.
Boy will it surprise him to learn that Adorababy was the thief.
"'Dora?" And there's the surprise. He looks over to the accused Sylveon, eyes wide in astonishment. Adorababy meets his eyes and wilts a little bit. He was just playing with Angel's necklace...
"Leave this in here," Krieg tells him, shoving the hated object back into the bottom of his bag. Once it's in place he begins to return the rest of his spilled belongings to their places on top of it. "Or we're gonna take turns breaking it." It's better that he forget the horrible thing exists again, and Maya can pretend it doesn't, because he knows she'll remember. 'Dora droops visibly and gives a sad little trill. He doesn't understand why Krieg and Maya hate something that was so important to Angel, but he believes Krieg absolutely will break it if 'Dora gets it out again.
Humans are so weird.
"Ready to eat?" That next question is directed mostly at Maya, though of course the fuzz-faces will also be receiving some delicious munchies. With Storytime resolved, it's easy to push the bad feelings down and return to the happy anticipation of eating together with Maya. Hopefully she hasn't lost her appetite.
She'll remember but she can pretend it's not there. And as long as she doesn't see it, she won't be as tempted to just break it.
Yeah, 'Dora. Humans are really weird.
"Yeah, that sounds good. What did you get this time?"
She'll look over to the food, if she forces the thoughts out of her head by thinking of other things, hopefully they'll go away faster. That would be nice.
Heck yes, time to put this whole uncomfortable conversation behind them where it belongs!
"The shop said barbeque!"
Korean Barbeque, specifically, or whatever the Pokeworld equivalent is. Inside the bags are various takeout boxes that are filled to the brim with more than just barbeque, though there's plenty of chicken wing-shaped protein to be found. Despite his fondness for meat, Krieg is probably the world's least picky eater, and appreciates all forms of non-meat foods such as fruits and vegetables. If it's got a better flavor than skag (which isn't difficult), then he's down. As such, there are plenty of boxes filled with all kinds of delicious veggie sides to compliment the meat.
There's also a box of Pokemon-specific treats, as always.
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notyourgoddess) wrote2020-01-27 11:33 pm
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Before reassurances, condemnations, or any other reactions can be made, Krieg makes his triumphant return, two large brown paper bags filled with food nestled in the crook of one arm. The smell of delicious, greasy takeout immediately fills the room, and once he's fully inside his eyes track - as always - straight to Maya.
And then straight to the thing she's holding.
He'd forgotten about the control collar, as he usually does when he goes for long stretches without fully emptying his travel bag. The reminder is wholly unpleasant, as usual. He freezes in place as the door closes behind him, and stares with a complicated mixture of loathing and longing clear on the exposed portion of his face. Adorababy, still concerned about Maya's expletive, continues to paw softly at her lap, while Punk, completely oblivious to the sudden tension in the room, runs over to greet his trainer and begin begging for scraps. For the moment, the only sounds are the soft Eevee and Sylveon noises the pair of troublemakers are making.
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So instead she holds the collar up, with her right hand. Even holding it near her depowered siren tattoos feels wrong.
"Where did this thing come from?"
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"She found it after she--" His brain catches up to him there, and he cuts himself off abruptly, jerking his gaze away from the hated object in Maya's hand and dropping it to the floor. Punk Face stretches up to paw at his knees when he lays eyes on the little Eevee, and that grounds him a bit. "--After my guts melted."
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Maya takes a moment for a calming breath. Anger is fine, she's good with anger. Mostly when she's using it to kill people. This moment does not need that sort of anger. She does place the collar down to the side. Not out of her sight but out of her hand at least.
"She just found it. And she kept it."
That's, confusing? She didn't get a chance to talk to Angel as much here as she'd have liked so she never got to know her like Krieg did. But it still...seems wrong. However the last part is also important.
"Krieg. You mentioned it briefly before but I need to know. What happened with you and Angel that lead to your ...guts melting?"
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It's not like he doesn't want her to know what happened. Honestly, she's probably the only person in the whole universe he trusts enough to tell. He'd likely even brush off any of the other Vault Hunters, if they asked. He sets the bags of food down on the hotel room's little table, and then sits himself down on one of the beds. He can look up and see her if he chooses to, but for the time being his gaze is still fixed pretty firmly on the floor. Adorababy is quick to leap into his lap once he's seated, and Punk Face isn't far behind.
Just say it. Tell her. Get it over with, and you won't have to think about it anymore.
He honestly can't tell if the words belong to the voice in his head, or if they're his own. It doesn't really matter, though, because they're right.
"It was one of those fun weekends when the fire comes back to my throat. I could feel her static on the back of my neck, and I didn't know where we were. I don't know how we got there. But I had to find her. I had to keep her safe. I followed her static and I found her, and when I did, she was so scared, she--"
This is the worst part to him; not the agony of his fried nerves, not the slow sensation of drowning in his own lungs that followed, but…
"--she ran away from me. I was so stupid, I didn't understand and I followed her even when she begged me not to! I should have listened! She didn't know how to be a Siren, being a Siren just happened to her because no one ever taught her, just USED her, but I! Didn't! Think!!!"
His voice grows louder and more rough with each sentence, until he basically shouts the last three words. 'Dora trills comfortingly and leans up to headbutt him under his chin. The contact centers him, and calms him down somewhat, though for the moment his mouth snaps shut and he stares hard at the floor.
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"You made a mistake." She finds herself talking, because it's easier to address this problem then to wish bitterly that she had been there when Angel suddenly had her powers back. To think that she might have been able to do something.
"Because you wanted to keep her safe....shit, this would be easier to say if you were both here."
Because it would. She wasn't even here for this and she doesn't know how to put this into words other then neither of you are at fault but that's harder to do with one person.
"Sometimes. Terrible things happen just because things get out of hand. You didn't think but you didn't think because you were worried for her safety."
She pauses for a moment, trying to figure how best to ask this.
"If it happened again. Would you stop, and stay away from her if she asked? Now that you know better."
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Then he drops his gaze away again, back to the floor, because...well, actually, this is the worst part. Even worse than how he'd felt when she'd run away from him. And since he's told Maya the first part, he might as well finish it out. "But I was too slow. I was too slow, and I made her cry but I couldn't hear it. She held me and I couldn't feel it. And when I woke up she hated herself so much she wouldn't talk to me."
He hadn't realized it at the time. At the time, he had thought she was angry with him, because he'd been too stupid and too stubborn to listen to her warnings. But she hadn't blamed him, just herself.
"...She only came to see me again after she found that." He glances at the control collar briefly before returning his gaze to the floor.
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"She must have been afraid. I don't...fuck, if she was here maybe I could help her with that. Maybe-"
Meditation, training. Even without powers. Just so she didn't hate herself so much. She pushes that aside though, it's not what she wants to think about and there's the collar still.
"Did she say where she'd gotten it from?....and why she kept it?"
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Give her a moment.
"I still hate everything about it. ......but I was trained since I was a kid. I can't even imagine how scared she must have been of herself, to put that thing back on."
Can they murder Jack again? Please.
"Why do you still have it though?"
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"It was important to her." His voice is a quiet grumble, softer than it usually ever gets. He stares at the floor for a little longer, before glancing back up at the offending object. He glares at it for a moment, before looking back to Maya again. "She came back once...." He can't quite finish that particular thought, because letting himself even think about the possibility that Angel could miraculously return a second time hurts too much. Maya's a smart lady, though, he knows she'll get what he's saying.
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However she nods.
"That's....I get that."
She might come back, she might. She wants to believe that too.
"Okay, look. Just....keep that thing away from me. I get it but if I see it randomly I can't promise I won't just....snap and break it."
She already has nightmares about that thing. Even besides all it did to Angel and Lilith. After all, lack of known connection to Eridium or not, she had been the only other siren in that room. That thing could have ended up on her neck and the thought of that makes her sick.
"Also....if Angel does show up again but she doesn't remember being here. .....I don't think we should give it to her unless something really bad happens and she gets her powers back and can't control them."
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Keep it away from Maya? He will happily do that. Also: All the other stuff she said. He nudges the lap monsters off of his knees and onto the floor so he can stand back up and retrieve the thing. It's honestly a test of his will to hold it in his hands without crushing it. He may not be a Siren, but he knows and cares a great deal about three people who are, and he hates that something like this exists that can effectively cage them.
"....Where'd you find it?" He has absolutely no concerns about Maya going through his stuff - if he has something she needs, he wants her to have it regardless of if he's around to give it to her. But she's also not in the habit of going through his stuff, and...huh, his bag's been knocked over and half the things inside has been split out onto the floor. It probably wasn't Maya, then, but one or both of the four-legged fuzz-faces currently terrorizing the room. "Did the Punk steal it?"
Of the two, Punk Face lacks the manners and etiquette he's come to expect from 'Dora.
Boy will it surprise him to learn that Adorababy was the thief.
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"I didn't notice until they crashed into my legs but 'Dora was the one wearing it as a necklace. It kind of took me by surprise."
For you know, obvious reasons.
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"Leave this in here," Krieg tells him, shoving the hated object back into the bottom of his bag. Once it's in place he begins to return the rest of his spilled belongings to their places on top of it. "Or we're gonna take turns breaking it." It's better that he forget the horrible thing exists again, and Maya can pretend it doesn't, because he knows she'll remember. 'Dora droops visibly and gives a sad little trill. He doesn't understand why Krieg and Maya hate something that was so important to Angel, but he believes Krieg absolutely will break it if 'Dora gets it out again.
Humans are so weird.
"Ready to eat?" That next question is directed mostly at Maya, though of course the fuzz-faces will also be receiving some delicious munchies. With Storytime resolved, it's easy to push the bad feelings down and return to the happy anticipation of eating together with Maya. Hopefully she hasn't lost her appetite.
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Yeah, 'Dora. Humans are really weird.
"Yeah, that sounds good. What did you get this time?"
She'll look over to the food, if she forces the thoughts out of her head by thinking of other things, hopefully they'll go away faster. That would be nice.
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"The shop said barbeque!"
Korean Barbeque, specifically, or whatever the Pokeworld equivalent is. Inside the bags are various takeout boxes that are filled to the brim with more than just barbeque, though there's plenty of chicken wing-shaped protein to be found. Despite his fondness for meat, Krieg is probably the world's least picky eater, and appreciates all forms of non-meat foods such as fruits and vegetables. If it's got a better flavor than skag (which isn't difficult), then he's down. As such, there are plenty of boxes filled with all kinds of delicious veggie sides to compliment the meat.
There's also a box of Pokemon-specific treats, as always.