fabian aramais seacaster (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
maximumlegend) wrote2024-04-26 08:23 pm
maximumlegend) wrote2024-04-26 08:23 pmetraya ic inbox.
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You have reached a MAXIMUM LEGEND!
maximumlegend) wrote2024-04-26 08:23 pm
You have reached a MAXIMUM LEGEND!
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[ He doesn't want him to keep hurting by himself, and that's the solution. Isn't it? Gorgug doubts that Fabian will agree with it, and so there's nothing moving in his tone: he says it like he did his question, his gaze still keeping on his hand. He flexes it, then lets it hang in rest off his knee.
(He knows Fabian won't do it, for the same reason he can't go back with Fabian; how he recalls every single test he infiltrated and mocked and taunted, even if he can't remember if he was in control. Or was that excuse? He liked it; he remembered liking it.
Now what does he like?) ]
You complained about this place all the time. We could do something about it; we could go into the hospital and find out how Aurora works. She's got a body now--we can destroy it. We can destroy all of the companion bots, if you want. I'll smash their hands.
[ It's a half-hearted proposition, but still: isn't this something that Fabian should want? What he should care about, except anything that he thinks is going on with Gorgug. Anything but what he's been doing, has done.
They don't need to talk about Krouse. They don't need to talk about Riz. ]
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And the one time the understanding comes, it just has to be like this.
It leaves him quiet for a moment, looking for words, but then he slowly speaks again. ]
You hurt the others. [ Riz, Krouse. Those are the confirmed cases Fabian has got, but he doubts that it was contained to just them. They're just the only ones who'd contact Fabian about it. ] I bet they didn't even attack you first.
[ Krouse is nicer than he likes to claim to be. And Riz is-- Well, Riz is usually a whole lot more likely to shoot first, but Fabian knows that wouldn't be the case when this is Gorgug they're dealing with.
That's the thing, isn't it? Sure, he and Gorgug did fight before, but that's because Fabian approached the situation a whole lot more physically and aggressively than he thinks either of them did. ]
Why aren't you hurting me?
[ Did Gorgug try this with them too? Is that it?
Or does he just think Fabian is more likely to crumble over this than any physical fight? ]
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It washes through him, exhaled out through his lungs, and the opportunity to not be faced with what he's done is granted by the question of what he hasn't. Why doesn't he hurt Fabian? Isn't it obvious? When he's already said what he wants, and hurting Fabian doesn't really help with the making him stay part of his desire.
He's lonely. He wants someone, anyone.
But why Fabian, is still the question, isn't it? Gorgug is quiet for a pause, his vision glazed, without focus. ]
I got excited. I don't know why-- it was the test. [ The answers contradict one another, but they don't spill against each other; but each sound reasonable out of Gorgug's mouth, honest. He finally angles his head to look at Fabian, the distance between them. ] I already hurt you -- I told you to leave. I was just mad.
[ And doesn't that explain everything? Why he went around destroying parts of Etraya, haunting individuals and playing into the twisted game of whatever entity they think is behind this. Behind whatever--details that Gorgug doesn't care about right now the same way Fabian might.
But this doesn't answer why he's asked Fabian here, does it? That's the question that's sticking to Gorgug's mind more than explanations. Why Fabian--when Gorgug knows why, but formulating words to explain is difficult, hard to know where to begin. ]
Do you like me, Fabian? [ He asks it, though Fabian might have plenty he wants to say; about what's been said, but Gorgug doesn't care. He's watching Fabian, wanting to answer him; wanting to spill everything out about that 'why'. ] Will you come here?
[ He draws his hanging arm to rest the hand against his knee, expectant, waiting. His eyes tired, his face tired--everything about him unguarded, with nothing but his height--reduced by his sitting form--and half-orc features to give him anything near to an imposing figure.
And even that's not enough. ]
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But the same goes for Riz when it comes to both of them. And yet Gorgug had absolutely decimated Riz. Fabian doesn't think he's ever seen the other like that before in all the years of knowing him.
...
He doesn't know. Fabian can't think of what it could be. Sure, there had been the spar, but-- that feels so long ago at this point, and it hadn't meant anything, had it? It had just been Gorgug going too far because of the state he was in and immediately regretting it once he realized what he was doing.
It didn't mean anything. Even if there may be some complicated feelings left behind Fabian, those can't have anything to do with this.
Maybe it's just dumb luck, he decides. Gorgug doesn't seem fully in charge of his own mind right now, some words reading more like him, some of it reading more like whatever is controlling him. Maybe Fabian got lucky.
And shouldn't be using that? The fact that he got lucky so far. The fact Gorgug let him come here. If he'd waste this chance to help the other, he'd be an outright idiot.
So he steps closer. ]
We can stay together, Gorgug. [ That's the easy part. That's the natural part. As long as they're a party, they stick together. ] But not like this.
[ Despite what Fabian is saying, he keeps moving closer, seemingly unafraid. All the way until she's standing next to where Gorgug is sitting. ]
We can destroy this place together, if you want to. But you know I can't let you hurt the people in it. Especially not our friends.
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And there's a moment where he nearly closes those eyes, fluttering, but not yet lowering. He removes one of his hands from around his knees and takes Fabian's within it; pausing if there's any sign of hesitation from Fabian's part, but still going for it with a steady and firm--but not tight--hold. Promising to smash the hands of the companion bots in one breath, and giving Fabian what he's wanted repeatedly now, while he tells him what he will and won't do.
Gorgug says nothing, despite a protest that nearly rises in his throat but dies before it can become a word. That part of him that wants to say he doesn't want to hurt anyone, but that can't commit to it. Doesn't he? Wouldn't he? He needs to. It just happens. It has to happen. He...
I don't want to be alone, his mind thinks louder, and he runs his thumb along the expanse on skin of the hand he holds, leaning his body to press himself into the side of Fabian's thigh. He hoops his other arm around Fabian's waist, bringing the two of them into a kind of awkward embrace, Gorgug's head near Fabian's hip, and he takes in a breath deep through his body and releases it through his nostrils.
The world isn't staying quite so grey, as every part of his perversion has found reason to invite itself in. Why Fabian?, as if he hasn't been haunted by the reason why before any of this started. Why not hurt him? Because he hasn't had the chance to.
And the words struggle in his throat, trying to die in the same way his protest had. But unlike it, the filth latches on; it builds like nausea, a wave of sickness that he tries to keep at bay until he forgets that it's what he wants. But isn't this what he wants?, the twisted part of him suggests, as he presses his forehead closer to Fabian's thigh: to be honest. To hate himself. ]
What if I told you I think about you at night? [ He finally lets out. ] Ever since that time I bit you, I play it back over and over... I'd hurt you if you told me to. I'd fuck you if you said yes.
[ He grimaces, as the shame shoots inside him. His hand resting against the small of Fabian's back palms at him a little, fingers pressing against the fabric of his shirt a little. ]
Do you still want to stay with me?
[ It's not an offer. Not exactly. ]
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But Gorgug isn't himself. And this isn't a normal situation. It makes Fabian even less sure what to do think about the way Gorgug leans against his legs, but before he can even open up his mouth to comment on it, Gorgug speaks.
Oh, how he speaks. ]
What?
[ It's just one word. One little noise, rather, because Fabian doesn't sound angry or offended. He just sounds.. surprised, startled, almost. It's why the volume of his voice is softer than the usual, yet the pitch is higher, like he's totally caught off guard by the words.
It's the last thing he expected Gorgug to say right now. Was that what the other had been thinking, back during the spar? Or is it that whatever has taken over Gorgug has the ability to read Fabian's thoughts, and knew that for a moment back there, he-- he--
(He thinks back on that moment, and he remembers a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach. For a moment the image flashes across Fabian's mind. Him lying there on the ground on his back, Gorgug's hands on him, Gorgug's lips on him, imagining letting Gorgug take him in that moment. I'd fuck you if you said yes.)
His mind violently jerks him back to the current moment. He feels panicked, his heart racing, unsure what to make of any of this. Fabian feels himself growing just a little bit hard, which makes him curse the way Gorgug is so dangerously close to his dick right now. This is the last thing Fabian needs right now. It's just-- Just a distraction, right?
After all, this isn't Gorgug. It's not fully Gorgug. Gorgug isn't saying this at all because it's what he was feeling back then, it's just whatever is in him speaking of this to throw Fabian off. There's no other possible explanation.
His heart still races in his chest. ]
You don't mean that. Stop.
[ Stop it. Stop confusing him. ]
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It's a different kind of fear from any that's come before it. There's no disgust where there should be, though Gorgug isn't of the correct mind to be surprised by that in a rational way. He notes better what he can sense, or the part of him that seeks out those unwanted emotions in others, the things they want to hide. It's not the right environment for him to sense every nuance better, but he knows what Fabian wants: it's exactly what he said.
For Gorgug to stop.
And Gorgug can't stop.
Because that taste makes him looks up after letting the emotion wash into him, and he wants it again--a craving that's been piqued. Reminded. Alerted. He's looking at Fabian directly, wanting him to feel the weight of his gaze on him enough to make him uncomfortable, to make his own brain his enemy; before he asks him, the fingers of the hand against his back slipping to the rim of his pants. ]
...Do you want to?
[ And maybe, if Fabian dares to look down--if he's somehow continued to look at Gorgug, he'll find Gorgug doing the exact thing he wouldn't have wanted him to do, and to look towards his crotch. Just as he rolls in his lips to lick his tongue over them, a quick motion. ]
Just tell me, [ he offers, voice softer. Giving Fabian a push, an excuse to do it. Doesn't he?
But if Fabian thinks to do something like pull away, he'll find that he won't be able to--not with the arm around his waist that will grab on tighter, and the hand on his that won't let go.
There will be a consequence for trying to escape--for chickening out. Fabian isn't that heavy for a guy like Gorgug, after all. ]
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And that means it's not a question. It just can't be a question right now. Not when Fabian came here to help Gorgug, and instead it turned into him not even knowing how to help himself. ]
No.
[ There's no other answer right now. Fabian can feel his voice shaking a little bit as he says that no, still too overwhelmed by his racing heart and his blood moving to all the wrong places right now, but he strengthens himself, tries to steady his voice more as he adds: ]
I don't. And you don't.
[ He tries to move away from Gorgug, but he finds that exact problem. The other clinging to him too tightly, and while Fabian is a strong guy, he's not strong on Gorgug's level. He can't just pull himself out of that hold when Gorgug seems determined to hold on, and he doesn't want to use Fandrangor or cast a spell and turn this into yet another brawl, leaving Fabian once more with nothing but bruises and cuts, wounds to lick on his own after getting away from Gorgug with yet another failure under his belt.
Fabian's hands move to Gorgug's shoulders, trying to physically press the other away from him, trying to get him to let go so he can at least gain some distance, so he can at least think. ]
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There's no longer that muted barrier containing it so well, from letting his emotions dip to wherever they'll be led.
He acts without thinking, because he rarely has to, these days: he grips into the material of Fabian's pants as he yanks the other boy by his arm, dragging him to topple down on the ground in front of him without complete consideration of if he'll accidentally make him face plant. Gorgug's aiming for him landing on his side, but it's not every day he does this.
But it doesn't matter, really. Even if Fabian does land sideways, Gorgug needs to be quick to pin him, and doing so by a hand slamming down on the back of his shoulder. Just long enough to give him time to rearrange his own limbs, pushing a knee in to get between Fabian's legs before he tugs Fabian onto his back. He doesn't want to get kneed in the junk, see--he's learned other lessons from the spar than just what he likes.
It's like this that he stares down at Fabian, at his face. He's pushed a forearm against his chest, and his eyes still have the quality where they don't seem entirely focused, or too intense--too unlike Gorgug. His lips are parted, and he's breathing a little heavier.
There's something about him that's hesitating--something that he's not doing, when he could be doing something. Could be saying something.
Fabian has a chance to speak first. ]
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First the instinct to cushion himself when he's suddenly dropped - which is the exact reason he doesn't faceplant, mind you. He would have just by the force Gorgug was using, so uncoordinated and raw, but Fabian's body twists in the air by instinct, through experience of having fallen far too many times in his life. He knows how to land on his side in the best way to keep him from injuring himself.
But Gorgug just keeps going, turning Fabian, pushing him down, and Fabian's body threatens to go for instinct again. The instinct to fight back, to push back, the instinct that his father and mother have drilled into his body. A Seacaster resists, a Seacaster fights. You defend yourself, with tooth and claw if needed.
It's one thing to give into that instinct though with an opponent you don't know, or with a monster. It's another thing to do it with Gorgug, which makes the free arm he was raising to throw a punch - as evidenced by the fact that his hand is balled up into a tight fist - stop mid-air. The fist is still there, but it's hanging in the air, no longer heading towards its intended target of Gorgug's head.
It's Gorgug, after all. It's Gorgug, and yet it's not. It's his voice telling him that he'd fuck Fabian if Fabian wanted him to, but the intent can't be him. It's Gorgug's face staring down at him, but it's not his eyes. ]
I don't want to hurt you.
[ Fabian wants it to sound tough.
But it doesn't. Somewhere between the fluster and confusion that ignited within him at Gorgug's confession and the breathlessness of being manhandled over here, it doesn't. It falters, emotion leaking through in it.
(After all, he doesn't want to hurt Gorgug, no. But what about all that other stuff? What about Gorgug's suggestions? Why isn't he replying to those, when his denial from a moment ago doesn't feel like enough by itself?) ]
I'm so tired of this. [ Of this place, and of everything it has done to him over the months. Of all his encounters with Gorgug, always doomed to end this way, despite the good intentions Fabian enters them with. Of not being able to do a single thing to help his friend.
Of feeling so confused. ]
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Isn't that exactly what Gorgug's doing?
And can't Fabian be his someone else?
He doesn't have to fight, something whispers in him. There, pushing against his brain, a freedom anyone should offer a friend they care about. Tantalising, and yet Gorgug gets it, Gorgug understands that deep sadness resonating from Fabian and into him. The confusion, the weariness; the desire to stop fighting, even when they can't. He squeezes his eyes to stay shut, and it isn't the first time they've been like this--close, with Gorgug above him, trying to chase away the demons. ]
I can't fight it, [ he whispers, voice hushed and quick. ] It makes me mad if I do. I can't do anything.
[ A beat. ] I don't have anything else.
[ He can't fight it. The loneliness in him, and the parts of Fabian that he can make feel better--can't he? It washes in, pressing against his being, and Gorgug lowers his head and brings his mouth to Fabian's neck. He moves the hand that was holding up his weight to around the side of Fabian's head, to help his angle as he sinks his lips there against his skin; trailing his mouth up, and letting his tongue skim along the artery that leads up to his ear.
It's wanting, it's desperate; it's a trembling journey. His mouth parts, and he doesn't know how much control he has over himself anymore, if he ever did, as he brings himself over to Fabian's lips with his, and he kisses him--he forces a kiss, pushing his tongue against teeth, biting on Fabian's lip hard if he has to. All to get entry into his mouth, so the darkness waiting in there can move forward.
So Gorgug can have his punishment for wanting Fabian with him in the first place--for letting the real pieces of him sneak out, to try and find someone to help him to begin with.
No one will want him now. ]
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But it's so hard to muster up the energy for it. He feels.. drained. Empty. Maybe it's just the effect of already having tried to bear the circumstances in this place for so long now, or maybe it's just this close proximity to Gorgug right now, the thing within him radiating out to Fabian, mixing in with his own emotions as well. Fabian knows he has to fight, and there's a part of him - whether nature or nurture - that tells him he has to, no matter what happens. But it's drowned out by the helplessness of it all, by the fact that this keeps happening, and yet he can't even help his friend. What if he did get away from Gorgug's hold somehow? What then? He'd run away, find Gorgug again some other time, do this all over again?
Gorgug says I don't have anything else.
Fabian thinks what's the point?
And then Gorgug is suddenly on him. Lips against his skin, reminiscent of something that happened not even that long ago - also an awkward experience, also Gorgug not being in control of himself, yet different from this. And more importantly-- Fabian's body remembers. There's something that feels good about the way the other sucks along his skin, even as Gorgug's lips move against his own. The feeling Fabian is being taken over by from Gorgug being this close to him with his own overwhelming emotions makes him not even think about the awkwardness of being kissed by one of his friends. He can only remember how nice he felt last time, and wouldn't it be nice to feel that way again for a few moments? Hasn't he struggled for so long, doesn't he deserve just a moment of this, of Gorgug kissing him, of warmth and affection and having someone he cares for close to him, and of--
Of--
There's something.
There is something entering him, and it manages to set off the alarm bell in Fabian's head that had been dulled by the heavy feeling coming over him. It feels so unnatural and terrible that Fabian, lulled into inaction, finally remembers to fight back. He doesn't care that he can feel Gorgug biting his lip, doesn't care that he can feel blood in his mouth from it-- Even if he's not sure he can stop any of this when Gorgug is the one with the overwhelming strength in this situation, Fabian refuses to be the one Seacaster that doesn't go down fighting. A lot of his limbs are trapped within Gorgug's hold, but he tries to move anything else he can - trying to move his legs enough so his knees can jam against something, trying to swing his fists, trying to shove his head against Gorgug's own if he has to.
It's likely already futile, but he does it anyway. ]
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And he's infecting him. He's making him as bad as him.
What's the point? Fighting it, being anything else than some figure of himself he never knew, but was always detested for belonging in the shadow of: his heritage as part orc, chastised for years by peers for not standing up for himself, chasing away relatives for daring to be born. He hates it: these ghosts he never asked for now haunting him here, being told to seek his anger and now, he can't control it. Every little thing going wrong, and it would be better just to give in. To be nothing.
To wait for someone to take him out.
And then Fabian thrashes.
His body writhes under his, he hits against him, twists, pushes forward their faces, and there's an instance where Gorgug pushes back. He grabs into Fabian's hair to control him and pushes his own face down, refuses to give him room to move; his lips seeking to bruise at Fabian's, a growl sounding from his throat. A leg up against Fabian's crotch, intention there that may still be too rough, that may be difficult to know if he means to threaten, or to take this somewhere else: the same place he's been offering for this encounter to go for a while. He breaks apart their kiss to lick his tongue flat across the soft texture of Fabian's lips, his breath starting to heave, a growing excitement building in his already trembling limbs.
Fingers dig harder into Fabian's scalp, and there's another sound from deep inside Gorgug's throat as his eyes again are screwed up tight. He grits his teeth, and then slides the hand holding the top of Fabian's head onto the floor, slipping it inch by inch from him, trying to crawl away.
As he tries to do the same with the arm across Fabian's chest to pinning him, his weight loosening above him. Saliva wets around his mouth, but there's a glint around his eyes, too, small grunts that begin to sound like small sobs trapped in his throat.
He can't. He can't give up if it means hurting Fabian; he can't give up if he's going to do something like this. He can't, he finds himself managing for this moment, in this instance. But it's hard to fight, when everything that tells him this is wrong makes it feel right, too.
And didn't he want to not be alone? Hasn't he felt alone all this time? When there's only one voice he hears anymore coming from inside him, telling him that this is the way it's going to be.
He's so despicable anyway. Who is he trying to fall by backing out now?
Why not take it as far as he possibly can--? ]
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The last part is doubtlessly the worst of it all. He can feel it. It's like it's moving around inside of him, and it's one of the most awful sensations he's ever felt in his life - and that's saying something, given everything he has dealt with in all the years he's been alive.
It makes the word sound raw, like Fabian is growing hoarse, like he can't fully use his own voice right now. The sensation of something being in him is coming with something else, weird emotions starting to emerge, something inside of him no longer feeling like him and what the fuck--
He breathes. Fabian desperately sucks in a breath, trying to fight the weird feeling inside of him. Especially when he notices Gorgug trying to drag himself away from him, the odd sounds coming from the other. ]
Gorgug, you have to fight it. You have to fight it!
[ His voice still sounds weird. It takes effort to drag the words out of himself. It takes effort to do just about anything right now, but Fabian is giving that effort. His one eye widens, something about his look turning a little crazed in the middle of all his determination.
Maybe in this way, Fabian is like his father.
Fabian reaches out as Gorgug is trying to move away, his hands latching onto the fabric of Gorgug's shirt, dragging the other back closer towards him - like he's trying to force Gorgug to look at his face right now. ]
I'm fighting it, so you have to fight it too! [ He's practically spitting out the words now. ] You think I'm going to let it take you away from me?!
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--He's being pulled back. Not by the source he expects it to be, the tug from his shirt confusing. Is it stuck? But he can't figure how, and Gorgug opens his eyes to look, finding Fabian glaring right back at him with his one good eye, the fist balled with his clothing.
Tears blur his eyesight, but he can still see the way Fabian looks at him, hears it in the fire in his voice. Gorgug's limbs tremble, everything in his body feels too fragile, too ready to tip over into the deep end, and yet-
Yet something about the way Fabian is speaking lets him break in another way. ]
I'm sorry I called you, I'm sorry-- [ His voice croaks, the words slipping out from his mouth. He doesn't know how long he can control himself, how long he has. ] It wants me to rape you, [ he admits with a quieter voice. ] Please don't let me hurt you. Please. I can't stop it, it makes me mad.... I can't stop it....!
[ His eyes start closing together, not even intentionally, but from the rush of emotion now pushing up his throat with the tears, the sobs. He wants to keep telling him sorry, tries to, over the hiccups making his limbs all the more loose and hard to balance; as he fumbles with his hands on the flooring to keep steady above Fabian.
He could push away from Fabian, but he doesn't want to touch him. He wants Fabian to know to get away. It's okay, it's okay-- it's okay to run from him. ]
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It immediately makes any other words die in his throat before he can spit them out like the ones before. Most of the time he's been pretty convinced it was mostly the thing inside of Gorgug talking to him, twisting Gorgug's feelings into pretzels. Sometimes it was a little more ambiguous. But this-- This is the first time he thinks it's been just Gorgug. It doesn't even sound like it's something trying to manipulate him. It's just his friend, for the first time in what feels like maybe a whole month.
His heart beats quicker with adrenaline at the realisation that Gorgug is still in there, still capable of coming out, even if it's just for a moment or this desperately. And then his heart beats even quicker when he hears what Gorgug even says. It wants to--
I'd hurt you if you told me to. I'd fuck you if you said yes.
The words echo back into his mind. He thinks about Gorgug's lips crashing onto his own only a moment ago, and something inside of Fabian moves, twists, somehow makes giving in seem so tempting, and--
No, he knows this isn't the time to think about it. He knows the thing inside of him isn't him, and-- god, he has to get it out. He has to hurry and let someone get it out before he loses his mind too. He has to get away from here and over to where people are, he has to get away from Gorgug before the other does something they might both feel terrible about later.
It's hard though. It's hard because Fabian doesn't know for how much longer Gorgug can fight it to let him go. Fabian doesn't know for how long he can fight the weird feeling spreading inside of him, making all sorts of thoughts appear in his mind, and he can't even tell which are actually his anymore.
(Shit-- Is this what Gorgug has been feeling like for weeks now?) ]
I'm leaving.
[ He says it with a weird tone. Like he's trying to convince someone here. Maybe himself, maybe Gorgug, but-- Someone for sure, and he's already trying to move, seeming like he's trying to get out from under Gorgug, trying to get up.
He's not thinking, he tells himself. He can't think. There's all sorts of jumbled up stuff in his mind, and there's instinct, and there's something awful, and there's something inside of him that's driving him, and just before Fabian pulls himself back up onto his feet, he uses the fist he's still got curled up into the other's shirt to pull Gorgug even closer, pressing a quick peck onto the other's lips and a near-hissed, much too hurried: ] Spring break, spring break-- I fucking believe in you!
[ There's nothing after that. Fabian gets onto his feet so quickly that it feels like he might trip over his own feet, and a second later he's leaving.
Not down the stairs, mind you. No, he's pulling open a window and jumping out onto the Hangman, waiting stories below, driving off right away.
No, Fabian also doesn't realize what just happened. If he remembers this at all after getting his own infection cut out, he might need about two to three business days to process what happened here and start screaming into his own pillow. ]
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Go, [ he says, hushed words shared between them, and he's ready at any second to move or to be pushed away while he still has a say in how his own body reacts. Even as the idea of being left alone manages to slither its way into his mind, coiling over his willpower, squeezing.
He's going to leave you. Grab his arm. Ask him to stay, you're so alone.
There is a chaotic nature to Fabian Seacaster. Loud and opinionated, carrying his own insecurities, busy working to establish himself to show the world who he is (and to know who that is himself). Every one of the Bad Kids have this nature, that makes them unpredictable even to Gorgug after all these years with them, and it's one of those things about them he's come to accept. He admires it about them. Except, regularly, it often throws him off, or sends him into a frenzy that knocks him off the same rails as them.
Which is to say: the kiss, or encouragement, is that kind of chaotic choice that keeps Gorgug's mind from focusing straight. A kiss to attract him, and then a reminder that reaches out from inside Gorgug himself, and- Spring break. Spring break. They're a year younger and they're on their way to break Adaine and Aelwyn out from their prisons, bodies on fire, never feeling as connected to one another as they did then.
Gorgug doesn't reach for Fabian's arm. He doesn't turn his body over to follow Fabian's direction, to watch him go.
Instead, from behind Fabian (and even as he jumps), a rhythmless chant follows his exit. ]
Spring break! Spring break! Spring break, spring break!
[ Gorgug keeps a hold of the hope of friendship, like a flame passed on from Fabian that blazes different inside Gorgug than his own twisted rage, for as long as he's capable of doing. It dies down eventually, becomes smothered by the fear and grief that manages takes it place, but even so--
The ember persists somewhere inside him, that Fabian and Riz will do the right thing. They'll stop this. He knows they will.
Spring break. I believe in you. ]