The Killing Game

[quaerit]

Who: The Raven crew: Gansey, Blue, Adam, Ronan and Noah
What: Blue targets Gansey during the Assassin event
Where: The Raven House.
When: During Rage's Assassin event
Warnings: Attempted murder, the full list of swear words known by Ronan Lynch, teenage angst.

[ As far as Gansey knows, it's an ordinary morning in their house. He's yet to venture outside, and hasn't seen any of his friends emerge from their rooms. Given that his own is the living room these days, and also given that he struggles to sleep most nights, he typically finds himself wandering around alone in the mornings. This isn't a place with a great prevalence of cereal boxes, and his beloved car is still at home, so his usual methods of distracting a wakeful mind are unavailable.

That's why, on this particular morning, his friends will arrive to discover Gansey has built some approximation of the Eiffel Tower out of a range of the house's cutlery. There may have been one or two minor crashes, when his efforts collapsed on him, but really, that should just make everyone glad that he didn't decide to use the plates. This is a lot harder than it looks. He's in the kitchen, minding his own business, and setting this monstrosity up on one of the counters. There's also some indeterminate can of something being warmed in the microwave; let no one say he never attempts to cook for his friends.

Oblivious to what's started to happen around the city, Gansey goes innocently about his model building, and waits for the first of them to wake up. ]

Comments

[ampliat]

[ And just like that, there's Ronan.

Of fucking course there's Ronan. One of Gansey's first friends. One of his closer friends. She sees them standing together and she feels that pang in her chest. She feels small and like the outsider all over again. And doesn't Ronan fucking get it? She's just trying to keep Gansey from hurting him. Adam and her? They've all suffered for Gansey. Gansey lived instead of Noah. It's only a matter of time before Gansey drags Ronan down with him.

Yet Ronan's telling her to calm down like none of it's fucking true. She just wants to protect them from the real threat. They can fight the bad guys outside them every day but it means nothing if the threat is coming from within. ]

Yeah, well. Maybe that's the problem. [ Her voice is low. Her anger still there, the lowness a threat in itself.

She drops her purse with little concern. She takes her switchblade out from her pocket, flicking it open. She takes a step toward Gansey, her eyes darting to Ronan. ]

I swear, I'm doing this for our all of us. [ She tells him, before she throws herself at Gansey before Ronan can stop her. Because if she knows anything, she knows that Ronan will protect Gansey. ]

[greywaren]

[The appearance of the knife takes him by surprise. Not that Blue has one- he knows she does, and he generally thinks it's pretty cool that she walks around armed- but that she fucking pulls it on Gansey.

It's gone too far. He's almost frozen by the sudden movement, but instinct kicks in, violence opens up into action and opportunity. Ronan moves fast, everything in the entire universe narrowed down to the knife in Blue's hands and Gansey's fragile, beating heart.

He'd give anything to stop it, to rip her away from him before it happens, because it's Gansey. It's Gansey, and Ronan can't watch this, can't even entertain the possibility of failure as his fingers finally make contact with Blue's shoulder and he curls his hand around it, trying to stop her and at least buy Gansey a little more time to get away in the process.

She's too close to him. Has she cut him already? Ronan wants to search for blood, but he's focused on subduing Sargent first- his arm slides across her shoulders from where he's standing behind her, reaching out frantically to try to hook her elbow, the one with the knife, in his other arm.

Too fast. Ronan tries to look over Blue's shoulder toward Gansey, tries to make sure that he's alright before anything else happens.]

[quaerit]

[ Gansey can barely credit what's happening. He knows Blue's angry. He knows she's saying things that he wouldn't have thought she'd say in a million years. But even that is a considerable step back from actually attacking him. Gansey would never have believed she was capable of that.

The switchblade would, undoubtedly, have stabbed straight into his chest if Ronan hadn't been there. Thank Christ Ronan's reflexes are quicker than Gansey's, because if Gansey had been left to his own devices, he'd be bleeding on the floor by now. It takes Ronan's action to even make him fully realize that she has just tried to kill him. That thought replays over and over in Gansey's mind, and finally spurs him to move, skirting back from Blue and instinctively putting the kitchen table between them. His eyes are wild, going from her to Ronan, and he's now very aware of that switchblade. Jesus, what if she hurts Ronan in trying to get to Gansey? ]

Blue, stop! What the hell are you doing? Put the knife down, we can talk about this!

[ Can't they? How has this come to one of his best friends pulling a weapon on him? This entire situation feels impossible. ]

[ampliat]

[ Blue stops as Ronan grabs her.

She's not out to hurt him. If she struggles too much, she might hurt him. She doesn't want to hurt Ronan. She just wants to get Gansey away from Ronan, before Gansey does end up hurting Ronan. That's how it all plays out in her head. That's how it all twists together.

Her heart is pounding in her chest as she stands, slightly frozen with her teeth ground tight. Gansey looks like an injured bird and Ronan's there to pick him up and save the day. ]

Ronan.

Let me the fuck go. [ She snarls under her breath, fingers tightening on her blade and eyes fixed on Gansey. She hasn't really looked away from him since she came in the house. ]

[greywaren]

Fuck you, [he growls back at her, not quite sure if he means it or not, but that hardly matters. The point right now is that he's not about to let Blue hurt Gansey, not like this.

Gansey is panicking and Blue isn't in her right mind. Something has to be done about this, and Ronan grits his teeth, trying to figure it out, even if he's not necessarily a planner. Adam would know what to do, wouldn't he? Even Noah could probably help, and so he heaves Blue back another inch or so, before leveling his gaze on Gansey, sharp and uncompromising.]

Go. Find Parrish, tell him what's going on. I'm taking Sargent up to her room.

[He swallows thickly, trying to process the rest of this out, jump over the immense hurdle of Blue just tried to stab Gansey. Jesus. His arms tighten on her, determined not to let her go.]

Stay gone for a few hours. We'll calm the fuck down here, and then figure this shit out together. Got it? [His arms tighten on Blue, directing the next words to her-] You. Got it?

[quaerit]

[ She didn't answer him. She's just struggling in Ronan's arms, trying to get to him with the knife, still trying to -

Jesus Christ.

No. Gansey has to get a hold of himself here. This is very, very wrong, and it is very not Blue. Even if she were angry with him, she wouldn't kill him. She wouldn't kill anyone. This is all wrong, and they have to -

They have to help her. But they can't if she's just looking at Gansey with rage, and -

Ronan's right. He needs to get away from her. He backs off, and forces his eyes to fix on Ronan rather than Blue. ]

Get the knife off her. I'll tell Parrish.

[ Whatever's wrong with Blue, Ronan is stronger than her, and he has her in a lock. He'll be all right. He has to be. Gansey backs out of the room, turning the corner at the door so that he's out of Blue's eyeline, and then he leans against the wall. He needs to catch his breath here.

Then he'll find Adam. ]