Day 56: Bus 3

[rocksthecourt]

Waking carried a sense of disappointment along with it for the first time in a long time. Klavier actually sighed in irritation when he realized where he was. Damn it all. So they hadn't managed to move quickly enough to cover as much ground as they had hoped. It was a shame, really. Last night had actually proven to be relatively productive. If

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Morning broke with pain, and that was enough of an irregularity to freeze Albedo's motions in transition, press hand to side where bandages lay over healing flesh and wonder. What had he thought last night? How quaint it was, to touch against mortality and shudder in its wake, feel a cold frost of threat and taste fear, thick and metallic. He stood, then, the action more of need for movement than want to shift, and he immediately stumbled, left leg giving out under his weight. Heavy bandages covered that leg. His head cocked at a severe angle--he wanted to rip it off, press his fingers into it, tear at the edges. How many times would he have something like this to dig into? To see his flesh separating in threat of removal. Shouldn't he gaze in idolatry, laugh at all of this?!

He shuddered, frozen; his hand returning to the gashes in-between ribs and thigh. At least Nigredo... Hadn't been injured. At the end, he had thought... And Albedo had been so wretchedly powerless to do anything. Anything at all. It must change. There was no way

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He'd nearly inhaled both the muffin and his granola bar by the time the bus was mostly done filling up. He didn't feel anywhere near full, but not feeling like he might collapse from hunger at any given moment was a plus. A relief, really. This was so much better. Klavier felt he'd had very good reasons to withhold from food, but he couldn't keep doing this. With everything else that could get him in this place, it was be horribly embarrassing if he went down due to his own carelessness. Maybe that was why he'd been getting sick more frequently

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And this was almost delicious. Not only was the fool acting like nothing had happened, but he was playing as well. How cute.~ It reminded Albedo to reteach Klavier again. Of how sweet Albedo truly was. His brother's words were shrugged off, despite the argument that had been born from the subject. There had been nothing stated, no commands issued. Albedo would still move as he would.

His head raised from his knee, lips widening in a broad smile. "I wonder!" he chirped back, eyes narrowing. "I seem to get hurt quite a bit. Just the other night my throat was crushed and now this!" He sighed dramatically, as if it was such an inconvenience instead of a threat on his livelihood. "Though I can't quite remember...." He feigned confusion. "Was I defending someone or tearing one to pieces?"

His hand raised to touch his cheek, his smile darkening. "Why don't you ask Nigredo what happened last night? You seem to check in on him often." He blinked slowly. "I'll assure you that we were so careful, as you requested

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His eyes turned back to the child when he spoke up, that voice akin to nails on a chalkboard to him. Most especially when he sounded so bloody pleased. He'd been hoping to tick the kid off or irritate him or at least offend him enough to make him go sit elsewhere. Seeing him the exact opposite was enough to shoot a quiet flash of anger through his chest. Even if he was just being a sarcastic jerk, Klavier couldn't stand him looking so happy. Not after everything he had done

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Albedo's cheerful expression dropped, the only thing remaining his thin smile. "What did I do, Klavier?" he asked quietly, tone close to a threat. He watched him carefully. Now. Your 'perfect' concern. Give us the cause. Was the man only taking offense to Albedo in general? Concerned for others? Protective of Nigredo?

Wanting Albedo all to himself, maybe?~

The dark expression was a nice touch though. Albedo approved. "So fierce.~" He said, expression remaining constant despite tone. "What will you do to me, hmm?~ If I did something unforgivable?"

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Klavier didn't falter an inch and maintained a sharp frown on the child even as the tone and expression shifted. Albedo was avoiding the question. Why? Why didn't he want to tell him what had happened? Shouldn't he want to gloat, or was he just having fun because he somehow knew leaving Klavier in the dark would drive the man up a wall

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...Oh, this was simply adorable. It was as if the man never remembered screaming in pain and piecing together the best words to stay Albedo's hand. Klavier acted as if they were equal, as if Albedo had never laid a hand on him, and in truth, it was far more charming than the rage the other had shone before.

His lips split, the boy grinning broadly. Instead of answering anything Albedo had asked, Klavier had chosen this route. It was far easier to play this way, though it lacked an interesting edge. Albedo would have preferred learning what torments the man would have poured out on his body. But here--Albedo would play. He knew the steps as well as any. He shrugged, teeth shining in the dull sunlight. "Maybe you're right!~" he said with exclamation.

"Maybe--" He leaned closer as if relating a secret. "Maybe Nigredo bested me, hmm? We're both such delightful weapons, after all. And my brother possesses a gun. He could have defended himself in such an excellent manner."

[rocksthecourt]

If Albedo thought Klavier was going to recoil in terror at the boy's mere presence, curl into a ball against the window and cry and beg for mercy, he certainly knew absolutely nothing about the man. He wasn't one to cower in the wake of another, regardless of the reason or who they might be, he wasn't going to live out his life in fear. And most certainly not due to a stupid little psychopath like this kid. After the first assault, it was true he'd been exceedingly nervous regarding another encounter, but that had just slowly waned into anger over time. Klavier had mostly healed from the injuries this little monster had given him, but it was something he would never forget and would never forgive. Ever. Words couldn't express how he looked forward to the day when he would see the bastard put away for good, but for now, Klavier had to put up with it

and in this post, Albedo is creepy.

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If there was only something more than revealing teeth to show pleasure. How had Albedo forgot how much he adored Klavier, how much the man reacted to every little thing? It was like consisting of bread and water and being offered leg of lamb. He shuddered delightfully, wishing to touch Klavier again, press him for more of those delicious reactions.

Mm, ah, but the moment passed. Here again was what Albedo had eluded to the night before, here was Klavier denying their existence. "Nigredo is mine to treat as I deem correct. You have no holding on our interactions whatsoever. I'd advise you to stay out of it." That said, he went on, expression adding a layer of severity. "And we've been over this. He and I, and Rubedo, we aren't human. Think what you will on mind and soul, but physically we are created weapons. I won't withhold a fact because you're uncomfortable with it. You're a grown man. Act like it

like he isn't in other posts...

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The little hairs on the back of Klavier's neck stood on end with that reaction and he could feel a cold sensation run up his back. Again he had to fight against his baser instincts, which were less telling him to move back and more telling him he might be better off jumping out of the bus. He was accustomed to dealing with all kinds of people, but complete psychopaths like this were another matter entirely. Here he was, honestly snapping at the moron, and he... It was just impossible to ever understand this one at all. Someone so thoroughly unpredictable, unreadable... and completely dangerous. Klavier should honestly know better than to let his emotions slip and break through, but Albedo always managed to find exactly the right buttons to push. Like, for example... basically everything he'd just said

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He drank in the emotions, the anger, allowed it and passed it by. His expression froze as again the man violated his space by yelling at him, hardened as he continued, and when Klavier was silent, Albedo's expression had stilled to the extreme, eyes both shining and dull, looking nothing more than he had a night before, when he had warned the man in front of him to leave. The item lacking from the expression was humanity, that which gave a human being emotions and form, and without it, the child again looked like nothing more than a creature of will, bleak and able to do whatever was deemed necessary.

"Vollidiot."

The word came suddenly, and with the dead weight of fact behind it. The expression kept for a moment, then lightened the barest degree, Albedo watching the other flatly. "If you're going to hate me, hate me for what I say and do, not the conclusions that you draw yourself. When," The word was sharp, hissed--emotions too potent in the solitary syllable. "Did I say that Nigredo is there to entertain me? When did I say he is

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To be perfectly honest, Klavier should really know better than to let his emotions overtake him like that. It wasn't becoming of him at all, and it was honestly a little shameful of a display. But he couldn't even begin to care about that right then. This kid just riled up every part of him in ways that few to none had ever really been able to. Aside from everything else, in a selfish sort of way, a good portion of his anger really came from animosity bred from his own assaults. Yes, he had been scared, but when the kid had taken to provoking him, Klavier had managed to convince himself that it was really more that the kid enraged him

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After a moment of strained silence between them, Klavier pursed his lips then finally shook his head back and forth just slightly while still maintaining eye contact.

“No…” He was a lot quieter now, still trying to sound firm, but the ferocity was gone. “You can’t say that. You can’t say you’d never abandon him. Not when you’ve attacked him before.” He swallowed and tried to frown, tried to bite back the instincts that were screaming at him and continue speaking. “You’ve said before that you wouldn’t hurt, and since then, you’ve attacked both of them. You were even proud to tell me about the incident with Nigredo. …Now you expect me to believe a claim like that?” Truthfully, he kind of wanted to. He wanted to believe even a little monster like Albedo was capable of loving his brothers. But it had already been disproven so many times. …And it was hard to have faith in someone when you were trying really hard not to back away from them. “You already betrayed him. Do you understand me? That isn’t a ‘conclusion.’ That’s a fact. So what

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...He was surprised to find something warm heating within him. Something much like anger, actual, in truth, not like the kind offered to others. It came as hate and the feeling was too intimate for this man. Klavier did not... deserve Albedo's hatred. Not when his offense was idiocy, his crime ignorance--his sin only close-minded stupidity. There was no grace within this man. There was no delicacy to his acts. Klavier stumbled like a newborn animal, crushing whatever he tread on. Albedo's violence held more intricacies, each act deliberate and pointed to extenuate a fact. Of this... A creature yet fearful and still continuing... The man had no survival instinct, no listening skills, and no willingness to allow a different view from his own. Klavier's mind was made up. Albedo had known this. What the weapon hadn't thought of was the other continuing, shakily stepping forward to crush Albedo's truth by ill-phrased words. Of Klavier--the man was barbaric, the prime example of a race consuming itself to claim supremacy over nothing, and

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There was movement, and he had shifted to face Klavier utterly, blocking the entry point into the seats. Of the same motion, his hand darted out to grab Klavier's wrist, fingers closing around it tightly. "What did I say," the Variant questioned, and it was perhaps that Albedo's tone was flat, lacking in any emotion that was the most giveaway of the heightened state he was in. "That was the last time, Klavier. The last time I would warn you."

He stared forward, humanity again bleached out as if it had never thought to return. "Do you want to banter about methods of betrayal? You, I, and Nigredo all have that guilt, thick and choking. Rubedo is the living incarnation of it, and you the follower in his footsteps. Nigredo and I--our violations are petty, and if you ask him, he'll speak the same."

His fingers tightened, muscles in his hand squeezing the small bones in Klavier's wrist together, grinding the joint to point of pain. "It's not that simple." His face darkened with anger finally, deep and potent, his eyes flashing violet. "I

[rocksthecourt]

The fact that Klavier had continued to push through with the conversation despite fear was either a testament to the man's courage or a display of utter stubbornness and stupidity. Especially with Albedo the way he was. But as brave a face as he was trying to put on, he reacted purely on instinct when it came down to it. The moment Albedo snatched up his wrist, Klavier gasped and flinched both at once, immediately shifting to try moving away. But they were on a blasted bus! It's not like there was actually any room to move one way or the other. So his options were pretty much limited to either doing nothing, yelling for security, or attacking back... assuming he even had time to do any of that. The way his hand had been grabbed was faster than one might expect, and he’d only had time to act on reflex