he was down on the floor with his lips to a glass

[mismanagement]

Who: Maketh Tua and open
What: Aftermath of the doubles event.
Where: Apartments, Guard HQ
When: 26th and onward
Warnings: Alcoholism, depression, mentions of death and torture, probably swearing. I will match format.



Apartment

[Stars, she's tired. All the time now. Ever since Henry took her home from Hope's temple, she's been drawn to her bed and its blankets, a refuge that she can hide in and forget everything else. Anyone who knows Maketh will have noticed a change in her routine. She's sleeping almost the entire day, getting up only to drink or vomit from the drinking. If she goes out at all, it's in the middle of the night, a move engineered to let her avoid as many people as possible.

The best way to get in touch is to bang on her door, loud enough that she can't ignore it.]

Guard HQ

[Quietly, Maketh has changed all of her shifts to avoid the most people possible. So while she's still performing her duties, she's doing them out of sight and largely around two in the morning. If you've got insomnia and happen to wander in at odd hours, you might see her rewriting damaged reports, or trying to clean the mess off the floor.

Often she keeps a bottle of whiskey on her desk. Not to drink - not when she's working - but as a taunt. She often stares at it.]

Around the city

[By choice Maketh has turned into something of a nocturnal creature, rarely leaving the apartment - or indeed the room - during the day. But at night she goes out, either to check things with the guard or just to wander. Sometimes she goes to the river and tries to imagine what lives at the bottom. Either way she's alone.]

Wildcard

[Dealer's choice. Hit me.]

Comments

[mismanagement]

There's blood. That would be irrelevant except for the internal damage that produced it. Maketh twitches, dropping the knife. It doesn't fall. Rey holds it fast. Maketh can't tell if it hit any organs or some vital piece of machinery. Rey is different, hardier than most, but she can still die.

No. Stop that. She is not allowed to die.

Maketh jerks her coat off, eyes wide, and holds it out to Rey. "Put pressure on that, damn you!"

[circumitus]

Rey staggers back when Maketh pulls away, finding a wall to rest on. She shakes her head when the other woman offers her coat.

"That's not the right answer."

As she says this, she wrenches out the knife, tossing it onto the floor.

Blood splatters, spits out of the wound afterwards. Staining the blade.

[mismanagement]

Damn it all. Maketh flinches at the blood, hugging the coat to her chest when Rey won't take it. Look what you did. Look what you fucking did. "Stop! Just stop it!"

[circumitus]

A flash blinds her for a second. Only a second. When her face gets hot and her blood starts to boil over. Their positions have, once again, changed. From Rey trying to calm Maketh, to Maketh shrinking at Rey's wound and fury.

She could fix this. Make the bleeding stop. It isn't like she doesn't know how. First aid and other skills have allowed her the ability to shrug off these hits.

But then nothing would be learned.

"THAT'S STILL. THE WRONG. FUCKING. ANSWER," Rey bellows, throwing her fist to the wall. Pounding it four times with every pause of word and breath. It doesn't do her condition any favors, as it only exacerbates the injury.

[mismanagement]

Maketh flinches back, raising an arm to shield her head. If the blow comes she'll take it, she's good at that. Protect your head and endure, cadet. This is her fault, her foolishness bleeding out into the open and now Rey - one of their best fighters - is injured. Maketh's damn knife went into her chest.

It's a waste of resources. It's not right all.

She holds her ground but doesn't speak. Just waits. There will be a blow. She'll take it and learn her lesson like a good soldier.

[circumitus]

At the moment, violence is the only thing that seems to have any impact. It's the way Maketh had expressed her emotions, and the only thing getting a reaction out of her right now.

Unfortunately, it isn't the reaction Rey is looking for.

Bringing her hand from the wall to the wound over her stomach, she just scoffs.

"What a damned disappointment," she mutters in a weary, aggravated undertone, before brushing past Maketh. Her shoulder bumping against the other woman's maybe a little too rough.

[mismanagement]

Maketh shivers. This isn't right at all. "Wh--what are you doing?"

[circumitus]

Is this for real?

"You just stuck a knife through me and now you give a shit?" Rey snorts on her way towards the exit, stepping over debris with her hand over the aforementioned stab wound. "Home. Or somewhere. Don't know and don't care."

[mismanagement]

"Rey, stop!"

This isn't right. Maketh knows that with painful certainty, a sharpness that she can feel in her chest. Not where she stabbed Rey, not there, but higher - possibly in her lungs. Either way it hurts to breathe.

She doesn't grab Rey, but moves to stand in front of the door.

"Just stop. Let me fix it."

[circumitus]

The look Rey gives Maketh is a blank one. Unreadable and empty.

"There's nothing to fix."

That... might not actually mean the way it just came out.

[mismanagement]

"You're bleeding," Maketh steps, because that is the only problem right in front of her that has some damn chance of being fixed. "Stop. Just...stop. Please, Rey."

[circumitus]

"No, I'm not."

When she removes her hand from her stomach, the bleeding has already stopped. The wound has closed up enough to offer a temporary band-aid for the time being.

Underneath, the skin has been cauterized, though no doubt Maketh would rather see that for herself, so Rey just pulls up the bottom of her shirt a bit to show this. "Do you really think I'd let you stab me if I knew it was going to kill me?"

[mismanagement]

"That--"

Should be impossible.

Maketh claps a hand over her mouth to swallow the laughter. It's not right at all. She shouldn't be laughing at this, the site of Rey's wound suddenly sealed back together. An inconvenience at worst.

Damn it all.

Maketh drops her hand suddenly and grins.

"I must be insane. That is the--logical explanation."

[circumitus]

At least Rey wasn't expecting a normal reaction. Not after everything so far. There is nothing normal about this -- or anything in relation to her life, for that matter.

"Well, you're hardly the only one around here."

That is hardly comforting.

[mismanagement]

Maketh laughs at that, loud and a little desperate. Stars, this is mad. "I shouldn't have done that. I know, I know---"

Stop. Focus.

Maketh shifts from foot to foot, eying Rey carefully.

"You--you will be all right, won't you?"

[circumitus]

She waves a hand, dismissive. "No worries. Am a lot harder to put down than that."

If the scar on her throat is any indicator, and the marks on her body, both visible and not. Rey has taken several heavy hits during her time, and her previous lifetimes, to have a good sense as to what her limits are.

It wasn't much different than with Faye, really. Like back then, Maketh just had some issues that needed to sort itself out. Sometimes you just need to go to town at someone. It's a totally valid form of help!

[mismanagement]

Maketh swallows hard. Focus now. Don't be foolish. "I know that. But I---"

It shouldn't have happened at all.

She shivers. Tries to smile.

"You'll be fine."

Rey said she would. So it's okay. It's going to be okay.

[circumitus]

No, it really shouldn't have happened. But it did, and if anyone understands psychotic episodes that result in anger and violent stabbings, it's Rey. So she withholds any judgment that would be cast on Maketh over something as seemingly unforgivable as attempted murder of an ally.

"Yes, will be fine." She pauses, giving Maketh a hard, studying look. "Will you?"

Rey already knows the answer, but it needs to be asked.

[mismanagement]

Don't laugh. It's not right. Maketh covers her mouth with her hand, eyes watering from the force of holding everything inside. But she doesn't laugh. She feels her teeth against her hand from the smile and so her words come out muffled. "No. Yes. In time. But not right now."

This is one of her bad moments.

She shivers. Drops her hand and the smile both.

"It's all right. I will be--fine."

[circumitus]

It's obvious, yet not even hearing Maketh's response makes Rey feel any more at ease. Any of her other selves would have turned and walked out. Left her to her madness or struck her down if the option seemed enticing enough.

Will any of them ever be fine? If it isn't a wicked counterpart wrecking havoc to the city and its inhabitant, it'll be something else. It's always going to be something else.

So she doesn't reel back. Doesn't retreat or push away like she had intended a few seconds ago.

Instead, she takes Maketh's shoulders and pulls her in to bring her own arms around the other woman.

Because it's better than saying the bitter truth, or telling a sweet lie.

[mismanagement]

"Ah--"

This is happening. This has happened. There's a moment where Maketh is sure she's imagining things, that she's finally lost her mind in a way that can't be recovered. Rey is warm and solid, holding her close.

Stars. Maketh shivers just once and leans into it, closing her eyes.

[circumitus]

Unlike before, Rey's hold isn't oppressive in attempt to subdue Maketh this time. There isn't the same concern that she might start physically hurting herself again. It's different now.

Maybe she's gotten soft. A year ago, she wouldn't have thought to extend such a gesture to anyone. But then, a year ago, she didn't have family in this place. She didn't see it as a second chance, or a possible home compared to the alternative she has to look forward to. And maybe that has made her go soft.

So what?

She's still strong. She could throw a grown person down flat on their back with little to no effort whatsoever. But she doesn't strengthen her hold, and gives Maketh the time she needs to retreat or stay, to cry or compose herself. Whatever she needs right now.

"We're good?" Rey finally asks.

Just wants to be sure.

[mismanagement]

It takes time to slow her breathing down, to make sure that she won't do anything foolish like start crying. Maketh shivers just once, then steps back with a nod. She can't manage a smile, but she meets Rey's eyes briefly. "Yes. I--will not do that again."

[circumitus]

Pointless gestures like forced smiles wouldn't mean a damned thing, anyway.

"Good. Nick probably wouldn't appreciate it very much if you did." Just saying.

[mismanagement]

Maketh huffs, patting her hand against Rey's arm. "No, he wouldn't."

Stars, Nick would be so disappointed if he knew what just happened.

She shivers, then bumps her head against Rey's chest. Just for a moment. "I'm sorry."