tushanshu_logs | [OPEN] Didn't I see this movie?

Entry tags:

[OPEN] Didn't I see this movie?

Characters: Erskine, Bakura, and OPEN
Date: August 10, 2016
Location: Central Sector
Situation: Erskine has been failing to deal with some Bad Things from his past and now it's catching up to him. He's having a bit of a nervous breakdown and, as an Elemental sorcerer, is going to be setting fire to a building in the city as a result. Tag-ins welcome from anyone! Come help put the fire out before someone gets hurt. Come shuffle the kedan away from the burning building. Come yell at this idiot?
Warnings/Rating: Bad headspace. Possible violence. Arson. Vague spoilers for the SP series through the end of book 8; will try to keep specific spoilers to a minimum unless noted otherwise. Please let me know if you're okay with spoilers or not and I can adjust as necessary ♥

He'd asked for help.

That thought echoed small and almost forgotten in the back of Erskine's mind. He'd asked for help. It shouldn't have come to this. Maybe he'd been too late, or maybe he'd been past the point of saving.

The evening was hot--too hot. Everything was hot and dry and the fire spread too quickly, jumping from the awnings of an outdoor cafe to the quaint little building behind it. Fire bloomed a brilliant orange against the skyline, against the deep blue of the sky. Kedan screamed, scrambled to get away, to get their loved ones away. Screamed at him, though from a safe distance.

Who wanted to get too close to the man with fire in his hands and rage in his eyes?

((ooc: Please note that for the sake of continuity/planning/etc, Bakura is going to be the one to take Erskine out of the area, and ~~no one is going to die~~ no kedan are going to die. Otherwise feel free to interact as you see fit, even if it's not with Erskine! Fight fires. Be heroes, do cool stuff. Yell at Erskine. It's all good.))

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She coughed, pulling up an arm to cover her nose and mouth as her other hand drew at the flames again. The crash startled her more than the angry roar of the flames, and she jerked her head up, eyes searching as her wings worked to their limits to beat away the smoke as she cleared the fire.

She did indeed hear the whimpering, and moved closer, determined to clear the thick black smog from the area until she saw Yuri emerge with the girl. Relief flooded her, but she held tight, still working hard. She could at least guide them toward a way out... but something had to be done about the building...

Once they were out, she stopped, casting Yuri an almost desperate look from the smoldering doorframe. "Was she the only one?"

Yuri indeed followed her out, the angel's wings being handy in keeping both himself and the girl from inhaling much more smoke than they already had.

Once they were out, he put the girl down and placed a hand on her back. The girl obviously suffering from burns and smoke inhalation.

"Yeah," he told Dove and then stood. She would probably notice that there were also burns on Yuri's hands and arms. He had kinda moved some burning debris to get the girl out. That having been the crash she heard. But he acted like they weren't even there.

She stared at the two, torn once again between helping and taking care of the fire. This was going to hurt... but she would do both.

Immediately, she was at the girl's side, kneeling, her hands aglow and tending to the wounds. The smoke in her lungs wasn't something she could handle well, but she could at least give her a little energy and take care of the seared flesh. Once she was sure the young woman would be okay and that the teen understood she was, the angel stood again, slightly unsteady on her feet, and turned to Yuri. Taking both of his arms in her hands without warning, just below the elbow, she looked him in the eye and sent a pulse of energy into him, taking the heat from his flesh and healing the wounds as she spoke. "Catch me."

And then she was in the air again, her eyes pulsing that bight golden glow again, and the fire racing upward and away from the building, this time much faster, and only barely within her control. Era watched soundlessly, sure to stand between the flames and his master's charges as the heat rose.

When the fire burst, the glow faded from the angel as it had previously, but this time, instead of lightly descending, Dove fell, pushed to her limit.

The building creaked nearby, the remaining flames small and dying.

Yuri watched as she healed the girl, but then blinked in surprise when she grabbed his arms and started to heal him too. Again, she was reminding him of a certain princess back home. But he was grateful as he felt the pain ebb and saw the burns on his skin fade. But her statement again surprised him.

"Huh?"

But then she was in the air, so Yuri watched Dove carefully as she again redirected the flames and caused them to dissipate in the air. But what alarmed him was when she suddenly fell.

Yuri didn't hesitate and dashed to where she plummeting, his arms out stretched just in time to catch her.

"You okay? That was amazing."

If he had listened to her, she wouldn't be aware until quite a few minutes later. She had put all of her trust in him in only seconds.

Luckily, her trust hadn't earned any of them the gisley sight of an angel spattered across the charred earth. Instead, she fell heavily into his arms, her body trembling from exhaustion, wings dragging the earth, and her head lulled against his chest. So much excitement at such a fast pace, and with so many emotions filling her, the act had rendered her helpless for now. At least the fire was out, and would stay out.

When she didn't respond, Yuri frowned lightly. He still didn't understand a lot of things about her or how her powers worked. But she looked like she was in pretty bad shape. Thus, holding her carefully, Yuri decided it was probably best to get her out of there and to somewhere safe. There were plenty of other people around helping too, so right now he could focus on helping Dove.

Which was what he did as he carried her back to the hotel.

She stayed silent and immobile as he took her back to the hotel, her body relaxing finally from the strain of battle.

She was not a knight. She was not one of the ranks that had been trained in combat. The only time she had ever had to fight like that before had been over a year ago, and even then she wasn't terribly impressive. Things would have to change, clearly, if she was to be of any help in a fight here on the turtle.

Eventually, she would stir, not long after Yuri had laid her down. Her wings would fade, leaving behind a few stay singed feathers across her bedspread as she groaned and furrowed her brow.

When her eyes opened, she stared silently at the ceiling for a few moments before turning to the presence of another in the room with her. She offered him a tired smile, and a quiet word of thanks, as a tingling sensation pricked across her shoulderblades and started slowly down her spine. "Hey, you caught me..."

Her soul gem pulsed lightly with her inner Light as the healing slowly started.

Yuri sat on the edge of her bed, almost protectively, as he waited for her to wake up. His arms folded patiently. When she did, he looked over.

"Yeah, I thought you were more attractive as you are than a grease spot," he joked lamely. He suddenly looked a little nervous, an attempt at a smile turning into a grim line instead.

"How're you feeling?"

A small glint of hope flickered in her eyes at his joke-- at least he was teasing her, and not walking out again. She let her eyes close again as she tried to concentrate on his presence instead of the branching soreness that was leaking through her limbs as her Light began mending over exerted muscles. "Nng...Thanks," she managed, a fleeting smile of her own disappearing as quickly as his.

She opened her eyes again, looking away from him as she evaluated the situation now that the flames were safely extinguished-- for now. Surely someone had found Erskine by now... The thought made her tense and doubled the already doubling pain.

But Yuri... Yuri was nervous, as nervous as she felt. She wasn't sure if it was a good or bad sign.

"I'm-- I'll be fine," she answered him, her voice quiet. She then hesitated a few minutes- he had been fine, and for the fleeting moment she had looked at him, he appeared physically unharmed.

"Are we okay?" she finally asked, her voice small and little more than a whisper. Still, her eyes stayed low, away from the man as she waited for their sentence.

She'd rather face the fire again than see him walk out. She'd face it without her wings next time, if he would stay for even just a few minutes.

Edited 2015-08-18 19:17 (UTC)

Her question drew pause and Yuri tilted his gaze away from her. A hand absently rubbing at the back of his neck. That was a heavy question. A good one but difficult to answer, and Yuri honestly didn't have a good answer for her. She would know if he was lying, and he'd already messed things up enough already. Was he okay? No, not really. Was she okay? Probably not. So that made things between them even more uncertain.

"I don't know," he then answered finally, honestly.

She moved onto her side tentatively, curling the smallest bit toward him; it would help with the blow, if there was to be any.

"I want us to be," she furthered, only brave enough to lift her eyes to his chest. A longer pause would pass, before her eyes flicked to the soul gem at his throat. Guilt washed over her again, and she let her gaze fall, closing her eyes. "I'm so sorry, Yuri..."

At her apology Yuri sighed. He definitely couldn't be angry with her if he wanted to. But what happened made things complicated, and the days they spent apart had made him think. He didn't know what this meant for them in the long run but he should talk to her about it. She deserved that much.

"I've never really talked to anyone about that stuff," he admitted. Which was true. Flynn was really the only one who know about some of it, but he never really talked about those things openly. It was pretty ugly after all.

"And I'm sorry you had to see that."

She listened in silence, her heart hammering in her chest. "I know," she nodded. He was more private than most of the people she had met in her life. "I'm sorry I took that choice from you."

Before she realized it, she had forced herself into sitting. "I didn't mean to force you into that... I just wanted to take away the things that were hurting you without waking you up. I did it all the time back home, and I never thought..." She hung her head in shame, her arms crossing over her middle to hold her arms. She had seen horrible things-- terrible things that he had done.

"I know," he said quietly. "It's done and it can't be taken back."

Even now he was still trying to cover up his feelings. Old habits don't just go away after all. There were things he knew he should say, and things he wanted to say. But the words weren't coming to him.

"I've done some pretty bad stuff, and I wouldn't take those back."

No, it couldn't. No one that she knew of could erase time or the mistakes they made within it-- it was even outside of her grandfather's ability. "That makes me no less sorry..."

She could feel his struggle, wilting and hurt by the magnitude of it. The only comfort she could take in the jumble was that he was opening back up to her, willingly this time, and that at least in some things, he was resolute. Without knowing the circumstances, though, she was unsure if his determination was justified or not. She could only pray that it was; she didn't have a chance at even thinking to cast a stone at him.

"They were memories..." she said quietly, more a statement than a question.

Edited 2015-08-18 23:41 (UTC)

"Yeah," Yuri confirmed.

"I'm not sorry for what I've done." But he wasn't proud of it either. "I'm not exactly a good person."

Was he intentionally trying to push her away? Maybe. But she needed to know the ugly truth after what she saw. And it helped him realize that he didn't deserve her. She deserved something better than what he could ever offer. His hands were stained with blood and not even her light could change that. She was pure and good, everything that he wasn't.

Her eyes widened before the words could leave his lips, lifting to his face as he mentally condemned himself. There was no mistaking the self-loathing; she had felt it too many times before.

She was on her knees before him, her hands on his face before he could stop her. "Yuri...Look at me..." she pleaded gently, her voice gentle and guiding as her fingertips.

Yuri blinked once, a little surprised as she took his face in her hands. The way she said his name getting his attention. He said nothing and merely looked at her, giving Dove his attention for the moment.

Good, now she could catch his gaze, hopefully hold it long enough for him to listen.

"Good people do bad things," she told him, stroking his cheek with her thumb. A few seconds she searched his eyes, before letting one of her hands fall to his neck, her fingertips brushing over the soul gem at his throat. Her inner Light called to it quietly, her warmth flowing into him without command. "Your soul isn't pure--neither is mine. But my Light wouldn't call to yours like this if you were Lost."

She paused, feeling as though she could cry for days, but kept it hidden as best she could. "I'm not sure why you did what you did, but I know there's more than just hope for you. Your story is far from over, Yuri Lowell."

Edited 2015-08-19 00:58 (UTC)

Yuri stared at her as Dove's words sank in. But as he felt her warmth flow into him, he suddenly pulled back. It was happening again. What was that? He wasn't sure he understood about her Light and all, but she was definitely still naive, pure or not.

"It's not that simple," he told her firmly. "We're not talking about some little screw ups here and there. I killed people. Murdered them. And I might do it again. I probably will. I'm a criminal, Dove."

Could she live with that? Knowing that he might end someone's life again when it suited him? Because he couldn't promise that he wouldn't, or even for the right reasons. He wouldn't blame her if she was scared of him, she probably should be. A part of him was even scared of himself. That he might go too far one day.

She jumped a little when he jerked back, her face set into a desperate frown as she listened to his protest, tears welling up as he bit back. She shook her head with each insistence until she finally turned her face away from him.

"I killed the love of my life, Yuri. Don't think I don't understand."

And her words genuinely stunned him. It was written all over his face as he stared.

"What?"

That was all he could manage to say. He never would have imagined that she would do something like that. In face he was questioning whether he actually heard her right. There was no way...

She waited a few moments, internally warring with herself. She knew everything because she had stolen it from him... the least she could do was share her own demons, even if the scars burned because of it.

After a few moments of silence, she reached out with a shaky hand and uncovered the photo album that sat always on her bedside table. The items covering it fell to the floor without a second thought. Yuri might recognize it as the one she had found at the yard sale. Though she didn't understand how it had made it to the Turtle, it only proved that she never would escape her ghosts.

She held it tightly in both hands for a few seconds, still struggling under the weight of the entire situation, then offered it to Yuri, her face still turned away.

If he opened it, he would find each of the pages filled to the brim with letters scrawled in childish writing, the sentences sweet and filled with the purity he spoke of. Drawings covered the papers tucked inside, filling the spaces in between the photos of Dove and a young boy with hair of bright blond and eyes bluer than the sky. With each turn of the page, the boy grew older, from an infant to a beaming boy of eight or nine. Dove remained the same.

Yuri watched in silence as she took the photo album and then handed it to him. He hesitated, wondering if he should really look inside. But after a moment he opened it and started flipping through the pages quietly. The young boy reminded him a lot of Flynn when they were younger.

He continued to look through them, wondering exactly who the little boy was.

"What happened?" he asked carefully.

"I gave him to a demon," she told him, forcing the words before she could stop herself. "He was my last charge, and the reason I'm no longer a guardian."

She stayed still, refusing to hang her head in shame. Yuri needed to know she could be just as transparent as she had forced him to be. He deserved to see her throughout, and she wouldn't dare let him go on thinking she was innocent.

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