audio

[slighted_stains]

[white noise, the connection severing throughout]

-- nd the authorities can handle the living. The dead won't wait.

[pause, then the increasing sounds of supernatural activity that's been punctuating train murders. Creaks, thuds, wood breaking, something like...scissors cutting perpetually, dripping, and overlapping voices]

Om. Amirita --

[

Comments

[whoistheother]

That sounded like it hurt.

1/2

[slighted_stains]

[silent while slowly... getting himself up and together...]

voice

[slighted_stains]

I believe it served me my own warning.

voice

[whoistheother]

"Power responds to power."

[cleanupaisle3]

Quit it you're making it harder for the rest of us.

[slighted_stains]

I didn't calculate the inconvenience.

audio

[horrible_penny]

Subaru? Are you o--no, never mind. What happened?

audio

[slighted_stains]

...professional hazard.

audio

[horrible_penny]

A professional hazard happened?

audio :: 1/2

[slighted_stains]

I'm afraid they don't give notice.

action;

[lipstickninja]

[ They decided to separate --Hokuto decided, at least. She wants to check on the victims, close their eyes, give them a semblance of final respect. And count how many there are. Come find me when you're done, she said, Then you can make sure they're at peace.

But from a compartment away she heard the loud thud and her mind rushed to all the ugliest possibilities. No no no not now not when we've just-- I've just-- running as fast as her feet can take her, much too slow, she slams open the door to find him-- ]

Subaru!

[ Kneels down on the floor beside him, one hand tucking his hair behind his ears and the other finding his hand. She almost sighs in relief, but resorts to words instead. ]

It was too much, wasn't it? Was there too many of them? You shouldn't be so careless --okay, wait here, I'll get you some water. And towels. Don't worry about that, I'll help you clean it up.

action;

[slighted_stains]

[her voice, more than anything, breaks him out of it - not the distraught tone, not the words in themselves, but the speed with which they fly by him.]

Hokuto.

[slowly, surely, patiently, Hokuto, give me a moment to hear you. He can't tell her that. And she knows, anyway - the old tricks, and the old rites and the old practices. When nausea dispels, he brings himself to his knees, almost laughing hoarsely through it.]

Thank you. It's fine - I'm fine.

[He coughs a little, fixing the strain in his voice.]

I'd forgot what it was like.

action;

[lipstickninja]

[ She knows, sometimes, but she more often forgets, never one to go through a mental checklist of rules and considerations before springing into action or, well, words. If she would just step back and see the two of them now, she might realize what a funny picture they paint. The little mommy hovering over her once little brother. ]

Sshhh. Don't speak, you'll hurt your throat.

[ Takes his arm and tries to lead him to the nearest seat. She cups his face, rubbing a thumb over his forehead, and smiles, before taking a few steps toward the doorway. ]

I won't be long. You need to drink something.

action;

[slighted_stains]

[Incompetence morphs from nostalgia to embarrassment: she shouldn't have to see him like this, not when he's grown so much, in every way, body, mind, heart, as a practitioner. He isn't a child, and this isn't a squabble with a forlorn spirit, and curse it all, he should have mastered it better and not endangered the premise. Her premise.]

It's fine.

[He pats the seat to his right - unfortunate to keep her on his blind side, but at least Hokuto he can trust with that. A vengeance-prone specter wouldn't be as kind. ]

Please. It's unwise to move too much now. I don't know where it -

[No, not one. Far too strong to be one, two, a dozen.]

- they're focalized.