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Post by Leo/ Clundy on Nov 6, 2023 17:33:24 GMT
River listened quietly, his walk slowing until he came to a full stop and was just staring with his brows furrowed ahead of him. The tapping of his phone against his arm stilled and he blinked at the news of Haleema being dead. He was scared that she didn't make it and know his fears came true. He felt sick. And the feeling only worsened when he heard that Theo had volunteered to go with the exiled for the time being.
What had he fucking said to them before they left? Don't make a deal yet. And now here they were missing one of there more healthy people.
"Yes, you should have," River hissed at Dillon. His eyes cut to Dillon's, burning with a quiet and subdued anger. He shook his head and breathed out sharply through his nose as he turned his head away for a moment.
They had Pascal back. He couldn't be angry at that.
His face went blank when Laurie was mentioned. He just stared at Dillon as he explained that Laurie was with the man that tried to kill him. Another, softer sigh escaped his lips as he heard the confirmation for himself. Blinking rapidly to keep the tears at bay and licking his lips he pushed his phone into Dillon's hands with a pained smile. "Explains that then."
The phone was unlocked, producing a picture sent from Laurie's phone. Ripley had snapped a quick picture of him and Laurie kissing from and upward angle. One of his eyes were open to make sure he got the shot, his other hand caressing Laurie's neck. A simple picture worth a thousand words.
The other leader started walking away then, without his phone. His expression stoney as he called back to Dillon after said boy had apologized for the information he had to tell him. "Get it together," he scolded.
He made it back into the room just as Lucien was trying to calm Luka down and saying they all should hear them out and whatever good explanation they had.
"If Dillon didn't have one I can trust Cleo doesn't either," River spoke up. He pushed past the other people in the room and started making his way towards Pascal who was crouched down on the floor with a thousand yard stare. "What's done is done, so what we need to do is make a plan to get everyone left back to us. But, first everyone go cool off. We're not getting anything done yelling at each other," he ordered.
Stopping in front of Pascal and turning to look at everyone else in the room, he gave each of them a hard stare. As much as he wanted to fight and yell at them too that wouldn't help anything. It would only lead to more rash and stupid decisions and they've all had plenty. "Meet back here in an hour."
Turning he kneeled in front of Pascal and waved his hand a little to see if he could get is attention. "Hey," he spoke softer, careful not to get to close or touch him just in case he was going through something he couldn't see. "Welcome back, Pascal. You doing alright?"
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Post by 𝕄𝕖𝕣𝕔𝕦𝕣𝕪 on Nov 6, 2023 17:59:20 GMT
Luka's lunge was cut off as her arms were grabbed. She thrashed wildly, her eyes burning in fury. She let off a hiss at whoever had held her, an animalistic noise that escaped her throat. When Lucien commented that she shouldn't attack Cleo, that he'd have to heal it, Luka barked a cruel laugh.
"If you heal their fucking nose, I'm going to break it even worse," she commented, glaring at Cleo and almost barking another laugh as they flickered their eyes to her and took a step back. "What's wrong Cleo? Can't handle the pain you inflict on everyone around you? Don't worry, it's a fucking improvement."
River entered then, and Luka almost smirked when he said Cleo likely didn't have a good excuse. But then he said those words.
"What's done is done..."
She didn't hear the rest, feeling a heaviness in her chest. Theo was gone. Theo was gone.
"They came with the wolf," Cleo began explaining, softly, just trying to fill Lucien in. River was right, people had to calm down, but the kids had to know what all happened. Luka wouldn't calm down without one. The girl was just waiting right now for a chance to continue her attack. Their nose was stinging horribly, for sure broken, and their voice sounded stuffy as they spoke, their sleeve pressed against their nose, "and...Laurie."
Luka went limp then, staring expectantly at them, "is he okay?" She asked, voice hopeful and soft once more, subdued.
Cleo winced, shaking their head a bit, "that's not what I meant," they said, looking at Lucien instead, that was easier, "he's with them."
Luka started fighting against Lucien again, glaring at Cleo. "He wouldn't side with them!" She said, voice strained. Her eyes were watering, but the sheen was hidden behind her fury. "You just want him gone. You just want them both gone! Are you happy!? You got what you wanted!"
It was fairly sudden, the way the fight left her. Her voice quivered at the last word, and she turned her head downward. She took another shaky breath, and like a rainstorm, she felt something wet trek down her left then right cheek. Another shuddered breath taken, she looked downwards, closing her eyes as more tears fell. Her gaze rested downwards, locked onto the tattoo on her wrist, which was now morphed into the form of some kind of bird rather than the snake or the cat she's seen before. She focused on that to avoid that other occupants in the room. In her head, a series of thoughts repeated like a cursed mantra: Laurie was gone. Theo was gone.
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Post by pallas on Nov 6, 2023 18:03:54 GMT
Dillon knew that River had told them not to agree to a deal - they’d never intended to, honestly. Things just got a little bit out of hand. That still didn’t mean they’d made the right decision, but it was hard. Having all the pressure on you to make the right move when lives were on the line.
”They backed us into a corner. Started threatening to kill our people, and we’d already seen what they did to Haleema and their own teammate. They weren’t bluffing.” Dillon explained, knowing it was in no way an excuse for the swap going ahead. ”I was going to volunteer, was in the middle of telling Cleo it should be me. I have no powers, it only makes sense. But Theo just… spoke up and volunteered himself before we even knew what was happening. And the exiled jumped at the idea and we couldn’t stop him going.”
The explanation offered nothing, really. He knew that. Just made it sound like he was trying to justify the shortcomings of the leaders in that meeting. But being in that meeting had felt very different than any way he could describe it to River. It had been scary, and everything had gone so quickly. Sometimes the right decision had been incredibly clear and they’d been making essentially stabs in the dark.
But then River pressed the phone into his hand, and Dillon looked down at the picture sent from Laurie’s phone. His stomach twisted. They looked so… lovey-dovey. And Ripley looked so smug.
It was disgusting.
He recalled what Cleo had said, about all the awful things Laurie had done. How he’d sided with Ripley apparently to save his own ass and hadn’t once spoken up for the people he’d once called his friends. He had to admit they were right about that, even if they’d been wrong to bring up the breakup.
There was nothing he could say here. Nothing could say more than that picture had, and certainly nothing could make the situation better. So when River walked ahead, all Dillon could do was follow. River had left without his phone, leaving it in Dillon’s hands, and clearly didn’t want it back anytime soon. He understood that. He wouldn’t want it back with that picture on either.
He let River get further ahead, and fished out his own phone. He needed to call Irene, who had to be waiting on an update from the meeting. She must be beside herself.
So he video called her, feeling relief as always when she picked up. He was always so worried about them out in Venice, separated from the others. Anything could happen to them out there.
”Irene,” he greeted when the other leader’s face appeared on his screen. ”the meeting, it...”
As he walked back towards the portal room, he explained everything just as he’d explained to River. About the wolf, about Haleema, about Esme, about Theo and Pascal, about the deal, and about Laurie too.
The man explained all of this as he went, but stopped outside the portal room without going in during the conversation. There was still conversation going on in the room he didn’t want to interrupt. He’d make sure Irene was part of any important decisions, but first he wanted to update her in private. Let her take everything in. There would need to be a break, as he could hear River suggesting from inside the room, before anything else. Emotions were running too high.
_____
CHARACTER PROFILE IMAGE CREDIT: ElenaA via Picrew
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Post by Nari on Nov 6, 2023 18:47:31 GMT
Luka screaming at Cleo did little to alleviate the overwhelming feeling Pascal was experiencing. He felt panicked and awful just listening to it, and guilt started to eat away at him, as if the situation was his own fault somehow.
But eventually things started to quiet down when River returned, and the ghosts around started furiously shushing each other, to give him less sounds to take in. The Champion of Hades was able to get himself under control, and looked over at the other boy. He expressed concern, asking if he was okay.
“I’m… managing,” he breathed, nodding his head slowly, “I wasn’t expecting the anger.” It had been long since he’d seen them and he hadn’t anticipated those types of reactions. They weren’t directed at him, but he could still feel the anguish. The anguish for the person who sacrificed himself.
He didn’t want to stay on that trail of thought for much longer, and instead his focus went to the bandages on River’s body. They were fresh, but applied sloppily, as he was still able to see some damaged tissue poking out. The brief glimpse he got of an injury left him visibly concerned.
“Did you get hurt?” Pascal asked, carefully eying River, “what has Lucien been doing, it looks bad.”
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Post by pallas on Nov 6, 2023 19:03:47 GMT
Lucien did not respond to Luka’s suggestion that he should not heal Cleo’s broken nose. Nor did he make any move at all to heal it, however.
After all, it was deserved. Hadn’t Lucien almost done the same at the breakup meeting? Only River had held him back.
Lucien noted River’s return, took in his comment and watched as he went to check on Pascal. Good; he was occupied with Luka but somebody should be checking on him.
When Cleo explained, Lucien’s face grew stormy. He had half a mind to release Luka and let her have at Cleo. He said nothing, initially, which was a signal of a new level of fury for him. He was normally such a loudmouth. Him getting quiet meant he was in a different stratosphere of angry.
He released Luka when he felt the fight leaving her, instead using one hand to rub her upper arm in a gesture of comfort.
”He is with them.“ Chiara piped up quietly, confirming Cleo’s words. Luka needed to understand the severity of the situation here. They were in denial, and that denial and Luka’s anger at Cleo were feeding one another. The girl swallowed a little nervously, clearly unsure about how the news would be taken, before she continued. ”In fact, he’s with Ripley Gates. Like, with him.“
That was a detail Cleo had left out, or else not gotten to. It was probably fuel on the fire, but it would drive home the truth to Luka. And she needed to know and accept the truth, after all. They’d never move forward otherwise.
”What?” Lucien exclaimed in shock, but Chiara offered nothing further. There was clearly nothing further to say.
But Lucien knew River was right about the tensions getting high, and he could see that Pascal was overwhelmed. This had to end now.
”River’s right.” Lucien said, looking at every person in the room. ”Emotions are running too high. This is not the time to report on what happened or make any decisions. We should take that break.”
_____
CHARACTER PROFILE IMAGE CREDIT: ElenaA via Picrew
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Post by Nari on Nov 6, 2023 19:38:59 GMT
The phone wasn’t left to ring for very long before Irene picked up on the other end. Just by looking at her through the screen, it was easy to pick up her anxiety; Her hair splayed in all directions, bandages that were allowed to settle a bit too long, and she sported a wide-eyed but tense expression.
She hadn’t done anything but wait for this phone call.
“Dillon? Oh good you’re ok. I saw the bastard sent a video and was- What happened?” the young woman demanded, concern evident in her tone.
She didn’t know what she expected to hear, but it wasn’t what she got. Fenrir being there, Haleema confirmed dead, the exiled killing one of their own, Theo sacrificing himself, and Laurie… getting a new boyfriend? Honestly the last one was so hard to believe she couldn’t even process it.
After hearing his explanation, she kept quiet as she let the whole event sink in. Eventually, she let out a rough sigh.
“Those fuckers…”
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Post by Leo/ Clundy on Nov 6, 2023 20:57:15 GMT
River looked down at his hands. Scarred and scabbed over, one still with a tremble. He took a breath and dropped his hands over his knee. "Yeah," he spoke quietly then cleared his throat after he heard his raspy voice. It sounded better to his ears but maybe he'd just gotten used to it. "Yeah, I got hurt."He glanced behind him when Pascal mentioned Lucien. He looked between the standing group of Lucien, Luka, Cleo, and Chiara. Each with some sort of heightened emotion on their face. Luka was broken at the loss of both Theo and Laurie, Lucien too quiet to be anything but enraged. How far all of them had fallen for some fight they never enlisted in.
Turning back towards Pascal slowly, River's brow furrowed slightly. "Don't blame him for this. I-" he stopped. He didn't know what he wanted to say in that moment. Too many reasons as to why he still looked the way that he did.
I don't want him to touch me
It's true he didn't want to be touched. His last memory of touch wasn't one he wanted to remember and yet it was all that filled his senses when he closed his eyes or got too close to someone. Steel and bone and pain.
I didn't want him to feel the agony im in
It also just hurt. He could barely touch his own body from the way it flared up every nerve in his system. The way it still hurt to move the muscles around his neck or to simply breathe.
I don't trust him
I need to feel it
River sighed and offered a hand to Pascal in cause he needed help getting up. "Come on, let's get you a coffee or something."
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Post by Nari on Nov 6, 2023 21:55:31 GMT
Pascal narrowed his eyes as River spoke, starting to notice the raspiness in his voice. It sounded painful and abnormal, deepening his concern even more as he was told not to blame Lucien. Why? These injuries weren’t beyond what he was capable of healing, and he certainly showed him how to wrap injuries better than what he was seeing.
Which meant one of two things. Option 1, Lucien had refused to heal River. An unlikely scenario given the Champion of Apollo’s nature. Option 2, River was avoiding treatment. Given his state, that was the more likely scenario.
Soon the Ares Champion suggested coffee, and Pascal nodded in agreement. He reached his hand out to grab River’s and shakily got to his feet. His own hands felt cold against another person’s, and he wanted nothing more than to get something to warm him up and keep him awake.
The desire to sleep was overwhelming, but he needed to push through it for now. There was stuff he wanted to check on since he got back, and River’s condition was a priority.
“Coffee is good, yes,” Pascal said as the two started to walk, “but do you mind if I take a look at your injuries afterwards? I want to know how they’re healing up.”
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Post by 𝕄𝕖𝕣𝕔𝕦𝕣𝕪 on Nov 6, 2023 21:58:20 GMT
When Lucien let go of her, Luka let herself sink to the ground, bringing her knees up to tuck under her chin and biting her tongue to keep from making any audible noise. Her shoulders shook as she buried her head in her knees, Chiara had confirmed what Cleo said, and unlike Cleo, Luka trusted Chiara.
She felt broken. She felt betrayed and hurt. She felt like everyone was lying to her. Laurie cared about her. Theo cared about her. But they were both gone. They both left.
Guinevere was crying too, though her own tears were drying. She bit her lip a bit at the influx of anguish. It had been bad enough when it had just been Chiara's sadness, but it combined with River's, Pascal's, and Luka's was overwhelming. A new wave of tears came, and she look at the occupants in the room in sorrow.
"Theo...he did it to protect us," Guinevere said, leaving Griffin side to approach first Chiara, then the distraught Luka, eyes watering as she neared them both, "you have to know he loves the both of you."
Luka's tears fell faster at that, a choked whimper-like sound escaping her, an amalgamation of sorrow and hurt.
Cleo themselves looked appreciatively at Lucien for that comment, "the Exiled have given us a list of people they will accept in return for Echo and Daniel," they spoke, voice sounding stuffy due to their throbbing nose, "we will discuss it once everyone is in a rational mindset once more."
At that they glared at the small Australian girl, before they glanced over to Lucien, "heal my nose, will you? This is getting quite annoying," they said, sleeve bright red as they held it under their nose.
Luka herself seemed to freeze at the mention of a list, but she couldn't voice anything. The sorrow eclipsed, and she suddenly lookg up. Her tear eyes glared at Cleo, laughing a bit, "of course there's a fucking list," she said, voice choked as she shook her head, it came out with vitriol and sadness, "Dillon and you are such pathetic excuses for leaders, for people, for friends. And-" she choked off again, her throat closing off as a sob shook her body, breaths ragged, "and both Laurie and Theo deserved better than you."
She looked away again, closing her eyes. Her tattoo glowed a bit, and her body quickly transformed in an explosion of black feathers. When it was done, a lone raven sat where she was, beady white eyes staring between the occupants of the room before cawing and turning from the group on her spindly legs. Lifting the wings, she experimentally flapped them a bit, before flapping them rather quickly, a bit new to the sensation. After a few seconds of flying close to the ground, the raven flew around both Chiara and Lucien before it flew towards the open window and flying out without much more fanfare, disappearing out into the sky.
Watching Luka's raven form leave, Cleo glanced at the others, then at Lucien, expectantly. Guinevere herself had taken to standing close to Chiara, in case the other girl needed additional comforting.
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Post by pallas on Nov 6, 2023 22:52:42 GMT
At Guinevere’s words, Chiara nodded but seemed even closer to tears. Guiney was kind to say it, but it offered little comfort. The girl put her notebook and pen down on a table and stepped back until her back hit the wall, using her good arm to hug herself as best she could.
Cleo then requested - or rather ordered, as there was no ‘please’ involved - Lucien to heal their nose. The young man looked at Cleo for a moment as if considering it, but then looked at them with a completely empty expression.
”There are supplies in the Medbay.” Lucien answered, voice far too calm. He shrugged. ”I think that’s a consequence of your own actions I’m going to let you feel for now.”
Luka had done what Lucien himself had considered doing before. In fact, it felt long overdue if he were honest. For what they’d done to River, for what they’d done to many others.
He had been making positive progress in his relationship with Cleo the night before the meeting, when they spoke to him in the Medbay. That was true. But they were by no means repaired. They were by no means fixed.
He’d never addressed the ‘daddy issues’ comment, for example. That punch had spoken for him on that matter, though. And it felt only fair after the River situation and quite frankly, a lot of other things.
Besides, he wasn’t doing anything terrible. Just making Cleo take a punch the way a normal person would who didn’t have someone able to instantly heal injuries would. He’d probably heal them later, once they’d felt the pain for a bit. He just wanted to let them wait for it a little bit.
Then Luka raged again at Cleo, her anger flowing regarding both Dillon and Cleo. Lucien himself was shocked to hear there was a list. So they’d already started thinking about this? Maybe even making plans?
How fucking disgusting.
His mouth fell open in shock when Luka transformed, jumping when she suddenly flew around him. Chiara, who hadn’t been following all the conversation since Guinevere’s words, seemed jolted back into the present when Luka flew around her.
”Luka.“ the name came out as a strained gasp as the bird flew before her.
Lucien himself called after Luka as she flew towards the window, but he had to watch her disappear outside.
Shit.
He was worried about her, of course, but she clearly needed time alone. It didn’t seem the right time to go and talk to her. But what if she did something stupid? He didn’t know what to do.
Either way, he needed to leave this room. So, just after River and Pascal had left, he also headed out of the portal room.
This had gone spectacularly badly.
_____
CHARACTER PROFILE IMAGE CREDIT: ElenaA via Picrew
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Post by Leo/ Clundy on Nov 6, 2023 22:57:04 GMT
River shifted uncomfortably at Pascal wanting to check on him and his injuries. He wasn't sure what to say to that. His hand went to cover the other in a small attempt to hide. He suddenly longed for one of his hoodies to cover his arms and neck.
He didn't answer for a long time. Still unsure of how to answer until they got to the dining area.
When he turned his back to Pascal to begin making coffee, he finally answered. "Wouldn't you rather sleep?" he asked jokingly. But it sounded more avoidant than humorous. Nervous to be examined under someone else' s eye too closely. "I'm sure that place was hell, we should be checking you out."
He poured a scoop of coffee grounds into the machine and poured some water into it before setting it to brew. As he put things away, he pulled out too cups and set one in front of Pascal with a tired and fake smile.
"Really, I can take care of myself. Always have. I'm fine," He insisted. He didn't want to be too blunt with him yet. He just got back from being kidnaped and already had to deal with the fractured house at each others throats. He didn't need to tell him off so forcefully yet.
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Post by Nari on Nov 6, 2023 23:37:43 GMT
Pascal took note of River’s silence at his inquiry, and he creased his eyebrows in thought as they walked. There was a little nagging at the back of his head, and for once it wasn’t because of one of the ghosts trying to get his attention. The nagging feeling of his response being avoidant of the topic.
It became more obvious when they finally made it to the dining room, and Ares’ Champion shifted his concern back to the older boy. Pascal’s expression didn’t waver much as he watched the other man start making the coffee.
“I have done nothing but sleep for the past 5 days,” He responded, flatly, “the last thing I want is to sleep more.”
Being stuck with the Exiled impacted his sleep schedule more than he’d like. Some days he spent as a ghost, roaming the halls until his body became too tired, while the rest of the days were spent sleeping away his exhaustion. During the incident with Haleema and Fenrir, the Champion of Hades managed to wear himself out so badly that he’d been out for the whole week.
However, River still didn’t answer his question, and as he set down a couple of mugs for the both of them, he only reiterated he could take care of himself. Pascal closed his eyes and let out a slow breath.
“River, you are not ‘taking care of yourself’. Are you avoiding treatment?” Pascal’s voice was even but serious, his expression sharpening as he looked at the other boy, “I need to know.”
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Post by pallas on Nov 7, 2023 9:33:39 GMT
In response to Irene’s simple two words after hearing the whole horrible story, Dillon let out a bitter chuckle.
”Yeah, that about sums it up,” he replied, ”but if I were any good as a leader they wouldn’t have Theo right now. We wouldn’t have a list of people the exiled would accept. It’s such a fucking mess, Irene.”
He sighed, tipped his head back until it touched the wall against which he stood, and closed his eyes for a moment. It should’ve been him the exiled had, not Theo. Everything should have gone so much differently, but the meeting has been so tense and so much was at stake. With peoples’ lives on the line he’d tried to make choices that wouldn’t result in anyone getting hurt, but in the end Theo had suffered anyway and the choices? Well who knew if they were the right ones. The shouts he’d heard from Luka inside the room were right. He was a terrible leader and a terrible friend to boot.
Everything was shit at the moment anyway. He’d gone to Venice to check in on the group there before the meeting. He’d ended up talking to Enzo, and the conversation had taken a turn he hadn’t anticipated. Probably because everything felt so scary, like they were on the edge of a cliff with no idea what lay below, or about to enter a tunnel from which they could see no light. There had been a strange energy in the run up to the meeting. Perhaps that was why it had happened.
Regardless of why, it had been revealed that the two boys had feelings for one another. There was a part of Dillon that had wanted nothing more than to give things a try with Lorenzo. But he’d told the other boy that he couldn’t. That they couldn’t be together right now, for many reasons. Chief among them was that Dillon refused to add hypocrite to his long list of faults. After being partly responsible for breaking up River and Laurie, he’d never be able to live with himself if he started dating Enzo. Secondly was that everything was so dangerous, so scary and it didn’t feel like the right time to be starting something. Especially given Dillon’s responsibilities as leader. This was not the time to be adding complications or dividing his attention. It wasn’t the right time.
He had a long list of reasons. But none of them stopped him from feeling awful about the whole thing. Even more so because he’d hurt Enzo in the process. He hadn’t told anyone what had happened, of course. He’d come back and got on with things. There was nothing else to say. And absolutely nobody would be hearing about it, at least not from him. He had a job to do.
Still, he couldn’t pretend it wasn’t adding to how he was feeling. Overwhelmed, like a bad leader and a worse friend. Like he tried his best but for some reason it seemed all he could do was hurt people or at best just get in the way.
Then the door opened to let out River and Pascal and the brief moment was interrupted. Dillon made a quick ‘one moment’ signal to Irene before fishing out River’s phone and handing it back to the man as he and Pascal passed on their way to the kitchen area.
Then, he returned to his conversation.
”Listen, Irene,” Dillon said, ”we’re taking a break here it sounds like and then we’re going to give a full update and talk next steps. I’ll give you a call again when that’s happening so you can be part of the conversation.”
He said goodbye to Irene and then ended the call there. He needed some time to think himself. How on earth were they going to deal with this whole situation with the deal with the exiled? Could they get out of it somehow? Not have to trade anyone and avoid the prisoners getting hurt?
He had no idea.
_____
CHARACTER PROFILE IMAGE CREDIT: ElenaA via Picrew
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Post by pallas on Nov 7, 2023 10:22:50 GMT
Shortly after Lucien left, still in his disconcerting quiet fury, and just as Dillon was entering the room again, a new portal shimmered into existence.
Chiara stepped forward from where she’d been allowing Guinevere to comfort her so she could get a better view, eyes wide in shock. Who could possibly be gaining entry to the Pantheon? The group in Venice were stranded. The kidnapped kids had no keys, apart from Laurie’s which he could still have. But surely it wasn’t him, why would it be? Everybody else was there, right? Nobody else missing.
Her question was answered very shortly afterward.
In the mess since that mission she’d almost forgotten Lane was gone, as shameful as that might be. But here the girl was, all but falling through the portal. That wasn’t usual for her, who could usually travel through the portals with a practiced grace like she’d been doing it all her life.
The reason was obvious. She was barely conscious and covered in blood. The girl was covered in cuts and wounds, some looking pretty deep. She was drawing in shallow, rapid breaths and Chiara had to guess she was exhausted. She must have been running at her full speed, not to mention the exertion of just getting back when she was injured. Lane’s pallor told Chiara that she’d already lost far more blood than anyone would like. She was also clutching something. It looked like a helmet, and though the metal was slick with Lane’s blood her grip on it looked incredibly tight.
Chiara had so many questions. Where had Lane been for so long? Why had she left? Who had done that to her? What on earth was that helmet and why was it so important?
But this was not the time for them.
Dillon rushed to support the Hermes champion instantly. She seemed to dimly register that she was being helped, but if Chiara had to guess, Lane’s grip on consciousness was tenuous.
”Shit, okay I’ll get her to Medbay,” Dillon was saying, ”and wherever Lucien’s gone someone get him back down here. Call him on the intercom or text him or something.”
As Dillon left the room with Lane, Chiara rushed to the supply store near the Medbay. She knew Pascal and Lucien, or only Lucien during Pascal’s absence, kept the Medbay well stocked and made sure supplies were ordered when needed. She just had a feeling it would be good to get more supplies just in case what was already in the Medbay wasn’t sufficient for what Lane needed.
She understood why Dillon hadn’t suggested they call Pascal too just yet. He was only just back from the exiled and needed some time to recover. Besides, Lucien could deal with these cuts and he’d dealt with heavy bloodloss with Luka before.
Chiara grabbed anything she thought might be helpful, careful not to mess up the careful organisation of the space. Pascal and Lucien were very serious about their supplies being kept in the right places.
Doing something to help was good. It distracted Chiara from the shock of the meeting and the general emotional distress she was in.
_____
CHARACTER PROFILE IMAGE CREDIT: ElenaA via Picrew
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Post by Nari on Nov 7, 2023 13:43:09 GMT
For the time Dillon vented to her, Irene kept her mouth shut. It hurt to hear him blame himself for everything going on. He had fucked up on multiple occasions, she can agree to that, but she doubted someone else being there would have somehow changed what the exiled wanted. To her it seemed fairly clear the Exiled orchestrated a no win situation for them.
When the boy finally finished talking, she let out a sharp sigh before speaking. “You need to stop thinking about the should-haves. Wishing things were different isn’t going to help people. Theo made his choice, and it would have hurt no matter who it was. It was meant to be unfair.”
Irene hated that the Exiled had gotten what they wanted. Hated that everything was going so badly and she could do jack shit about it. Hated that they had to contemplate what to sacrifice just to make sure people could get home.
It sickened her, viscerally. If she had any say in it, she would have cracked the jaw of every single one of those fuckers. Twice.
Eventually, Dillon mentioned them having a meeting later to discuss everything, and Irene nodded briskly in response. This was important, and regardless of her current position, she didn’t want to miss out on it. Was about time she finally said her piece.
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