ArchivedLogs:Blood and Tears

Blood and Tears
Dramatis Personae Anette, Akihiro, Pedro
In Absentia	2016-06-16 "I uhm am sorry that your welcome is er. Rough?"
Location <BOM> Compound Grounds - Ascension Island
In some places, reaching the main grounds of this island takes a precarious scramble up from the rocky-craggy shore; in some places, just a short hike away from the beach. Once an old homestead, most of the 28 acres of property are taken up with forest, a dark thick sprawl of greenery through which a small stream winds crookedly. Under its shady canopy, myriad buildings are tucked away, an eclectic mix of sheds and tiny sturdy log cabins that give the area a rustic feel. Centrally, a wide clearing has been cut out of the trees. A large sweep of lawn has had a metal swingset -- two swings to either side of a small trapeze bar -- set up to one side. The lawn leads up to a cabin bigger than the others, a squat one-story building. Long and low, its wide front porch and cheerfully-painted yellow and pink shutters lend the building a welcoming air. It's been eight months, so when Akihiro strolls in from the beach it definitely draws some attention. Rumors have already been spread that the almost immortal was spotted in the surf, but actually seeing the man is somewhat unexpected. He's currently without a shirt or shoes, and headed up towards porch with the bag of what meager possessions he does own. It's a rather lazy day, Anette lounging on the couch, TV air old Simpson's episodes. A lazy hot day, with a grey tank top and a pair of old shorts she dug up from the back of her closet somewhere, her hair not only tied in a ponytail but also wrapped in a messy bun. Her phone buzzes, unfortunately, it's SO FAR AWAY on the other side of the couch. It takes her a few minutes before she musters the energy to sit up and reach for it. She barely glances away from the TV to check her phone, a text from someone on the island. a brief glance, then a sudden jolt up, clutching the phone tightly in her hand. She stares at it, yellow eyes darting back and forth as she reads it a second, third, tenth time. The phone slips from her hand as she suddenly stands up, her wings pressed tightly against her back, feathers almost painfully flat. "I'm going to KILL him!" she yells, quickly turning and RUNNING towards the door, quite literally slamming it behind her. Once outside, it takes almost no effort to find him. At the first sight of Akihiro, she literally skids to a stop in bare feet, her breath catching in her chest as yellow eyes track his every motion. She doesn't speak, merely standing and watching, as if trying to believe he's really, truly here. Pedro had been content to play his game, sprawled out on the floor and tapping away at a tiny mouse attached to a small-ish laptop. The sound of Anette's phone buzzing causes one of his ears to twitch and turn to focus on the sound, but he plays on. It's only when she suddenly stands up and yells that he looks up at her, eyes wide. He stands in a hurry and glances at the screen of her phone, his eyes widening further. "Mierda," he says, hurrying out the door. "Anette! Slow down... shit, she's going to get sliced..." Akihiro stops in his track, nose twitching as his head tilts towards the sound. When he catches sight of Anette his bag hits the dirt, and then he's making his way towards her. By the time he's close enough to tell she's angry, it's obvious he's in pain and there are tears in his eyes. "Anette.." he says quietly, in a fashion similar to their shared dream of the future. The second Akihiro approaches, Anette's wings span out: a warning. If the way her teeth are gritted together, her eyes pierce through him, and her talons stretch out weren't enough. "Don't, don't you dare," she says, her voice cold, distant. She looks him over, taking in his new appearance, lingering a moment on those tears and the pained expression on his face. Suddenly, her eyebrows furrow and she RUSHES him, mostly running though a few beats of wings help to propel her. "YOU FUCKING BASTARD!" she screams, clearly intended to tackle him to the ground as her talons make a calculated swipe at his face. Pedro flies overhead and circles, coming to land near the two ... lovebirds. There's a light breeze that gently caresses Anette's face, a warning in and of itself, for the next moment the wind picks up massively, threatening to carry Anette away. But it lasts but a moment. "Come on, Anette, leave him be. You're better than this.", Pedro calls out, the bat mutant eyeing Akihiro curiously. Akihiro doesn't do anything to stop Anette, allowing her to tear his face open. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry." he says quietly, voice threatening to be drowned out by the wind. "I shouldn't have left you. I know I can't take what I did back, but I want you to know I did it so I wouldn't get you killed." Maybe it's the gust of wind threatening to pull her away, maybe it's Daken's unresponsiveness, but one good solid swipe across his face and Anette pulls away, taking a step back. She has tears in her eyes as well, her entire body shaking as she tries to control her own emotions. "I...you...so I wouldn't be killed?! Do you know how many times I almost died while you were gone?! How many times I needed you and you weren't here?!" Rage bubbling to the surface again, she balls her talons and goes for an old-fashioned, talon free punch across his face. "I /LOVED/ you!" Pedro looks mighty uncomfortable as Anette lets out her anger and upset, and flinches when she winds up to punch the other man. "Anette. Enough." He decides then to lean forward and gently grab her arm before she can get a second punch in. "Easy now, si?" The mutant looks to Akihiro again. "Daken, I assume? I uhm am sorry that your welcome is er. Rough?" Just as the slashes across Akihiro's face start to close up he takes a punch to the nose, causing blood to dribble down into his beard. "I still love you." he says quietly, straightening his nose out with a grunt. "I was a fucking idiot, and I was close to relapsing into who I used to be. I shouldn't have left, but I knew you needed me. And now I can be here, even if it's not in the same magnitude, once you can forgive me." He pushes up and shakes his head at Pedro, "Akihiro. And I earned it when I ran away from the only person I've ever actually loved." The smile he flashes doesn't reach his eyes, if anything they look empty now. Anette shakes her head, chuckling rather darkly as Akihiro talks, though she quickly looks down to the ground. "You don't...you don't get to say that. Not now, not ever. You pushed me into this. You /knew/ I wanted no part of this and you pushed me into it anyway. I loved you and I /trusted/ you. And then you broke my heart!" As Pedro grabs her arm, she immediately shakes him off and pulls it free, though she doesn't seem to be interested in taking any more punches. She even takes a few more steps back, distancing herself from Daken even further. "Stay out of this Pedro," she hisses to him, tears finally breaking free and falling down her face. Pedro looks a little sad at how Akihiro replies, and nods slowly. "Pedro. A pleasure to meet you, at last. Uhm. I don't think you deserve a rough welcome, even considering the circumstances of your leaving. In your head you must have felt you had a good reason." He glances back at Anette a moment and shakes his head. "No. You can't tell me to stay out of it. I'm making sure you don't hurt yourself." "I was scared." Akihiro says, reaching up to clean the blood and tears from his face. "I was never scared of anything before, and it had to be you that made me feel that. The first person I ever really loved, and I'm going on seventy. I also knew that at some point in the future we had a child, and that fucking mortified me." "Fucking Christ, stop SAYING THAT!" Anette yells, tears falling heavier the more Akihiro mentions he loved her. She quickly turns her head to Pedro, eyes still burning with anger though significantly less passionately, subdued by her pain and tears. "You don't get to decide what he deserves. And you should know by now hurting myself is just what I do. Apparently there's no getting around it." She finally reaches up and carefully wipes away some of those tears though they're replaced just as quickly as she can clear them. "And I wasn't completely terrified? You knew how much those dreams terrified me and you thought it was the best idea ever. You're the one who wanted to get fucking /married/!" The batty mutant's ears flatten to his head, and he shakes his head. "Si. You are right, Anette, but you too do not get to decide now what he does or does not deserve. He understands the distance between you two, and that he caused it. Maybe you should leave it be for now, and try to get yourself together a bit? And si, I know very well that you hurt yourself. That's why I'm here. If I thought you two were going to sit down and have a chitchat about old times, I'd have not followed you out here." Pedro glances at Akihiro. "Do the uppity ups here know you're back? Do you have a place to stay?" "I was an idiot. But the only reason I didn't throw myself off a cliff and die in that frozen wasteland was because of you. Every day I was out there you were all I could think about. While I was tracking food, while I was trying to sleep, it was you. I'm not going to lie and say I didn't miss you, even if that'd make me being here easier. I'm still the man that wanted to marry you.. Just stable." Akihiro does his best to explain, not even looking at Anette anymore. There's a sound of tearing flesh as his claws extend, blood running down them to drip onto the ground. "Yes, and no." he answers Pedro quietly, knuckles going white as his untrimmed nails dig into the flesh of his palm. "You know, I really, /really/ don't think he understands. Not a damn bit," Anette says to Pedro, some of that anger picking up. She steps closer to Daken, hands balled safely away at her side though she stares into Daken's soul, forcing eye contact if he lifts his own gaze. "Do you want to know what I went through while you were gone? While you were 'thinking of me', I was addicted to crack, smoking it just about everyday. While you were 'missing me', I was almost raped by my dealer. While you 'couldn't sleep', I was dying from the zombie flu and nearly killed Pedro and Killian. And you. Were here. For none of that." Her feathers fluff behind her in a very predatory manner as her anger bubbles up once more. Pedro winces at the sound of tearing flesh, eyeing the claws as they extend. "Uhm. None of us here are your enemy, Akihiro. Put your claws away." The bat goes silent while Anette tells of her past year or so, and he stretches out a wing to gently touch Anette's back. "Easy, Anette. I don't think getting more angry will improve his understanding. You both need time to heal. Leave it be for now, si?" "Then kill me." Akihiro says finally, bringing his left hand up to press those ominous claws to his throat. "I failed you while I was out trying to get better for you. I don't think I can live with that." "Speak for yourself Pedro," Anette murmurs, unphased by the claws, even as Akihiro presses them against his throat. She pauses, eyeing the claws as if she just might take him up on his offer. Finally, she presses her lips together and merely shakes her head. "Too easy. What the hell did you think would happen Daken? That I would come crawling back? That you could just show up and everything would return to how it was?" This is said quieter, as if she had finally vented out her own pain and anger, for now at least. "I moved on. I did love you but...I moved on. I'm with someone else. You're too late." This too is said rather softly. Almost...mournfully. The bat's eyes widen and his ears stand up tall when those claws are pressed to Akihiro's own throat. "Nonono... don't do that!" Pedro takes a few steps forward as if to try to stop Akihiro, or Anette, and he seems quite relieved when Anette does not carry through on Akihiro's offer. He winces visibly when Anette says she has moved on. "Sorry.", he says quietly, taking a step back. "I'd hoped you would wait.. But I figured you wouldn't." Akihiro retracts his claws, which just so happen to open a gash up along his throat. Though it closes in seconds. "And I've hurt you enough. You don't have to worry about me trying to win you back. I fucked up. I love you.. But I fucked up. I just want you to be happy, even if it isn't with me." "Tell me you love me again and I /will/ remove your head," Anette warns, pointing a talon directly at Akihiro to emphasize her point. Though she slowly lowers it, along with her eyes as she looks down to the ground, rubbing her eyes. "If you want me to be happy...then you should have stayed wherever you were. God do I need a hit right now..." Anette says, quickly turning her back to Daken and stepping away. The second she has the room to spread her wings, she does, lifting her self into the air and making her way towards the direction of the city. Pedro blinks as it seems to be suddenly over, and stares at Anette as she flies off. "Mierda", he says quietly. "Fuckshitpiss..." He pauses and glances at Akihiro. "Check in with folks in charge here, si? Get yourself a bunk. Get something hot to eat, and wash it down with something cold. Then sleep. I'm going to go make sure she doesn't get that hit..." "I'm probably just leaving, actually." Akihiro decides. "Stop her, please. I told her about that shit." He sighs and heads off, back towards the water with his shoulders slumped. The bag he dropped is left where it is, only now surrounded by blood and disturbed earth.