I've broken every law

[primordial]

Who: A very burnt Sam Erstwhile and YOU.
Where: Right at the bank of the river bisecting the city, in Gemini Ward
Summary: After horribly suffering injuries due to Anoli at the end of the Closing Ceremonies, Sam Erstwhile decides to crawl off and nurse his wounds at the river instead of going to the hospital. Because eldritch horrors in the disguise of guys don't go to hospitals if they don't want their secret to be found out.
Warnings: Mentions of serious burn wounds, as well as some body horror because secret eldritch abomination here, hello.

(Also, Sam won't be in the best shape, so he'll probably be relying on telepathy to talk to people who approach him- please fill out his permission post about that if you haven't done so already!)


It's hard to breathe.

The events that happened before seem almost a blur to him. He was running away, ready to escape, and then the world around him had burst into flames, and then...there was pain. Nothing but pain and fear and anger, and never before had the concept of death had come close to being real than in that moment.

But he had somehow escaped all that. And now he was here, near the only place which could distract him from the throbbing pain throughout his body: the river. Water had always been such a comforting thing for him, especially considering the fact that his other half had lived in a lake for millions of years. So, he sits on the bank, bare feet dangling in the water idly (or are those tentacles? It's hard to tell) as the pain flits through his shirtless chest every time he tries to catch a breath.

And people passing by might notice in just what sort of dreadful state he's in- first of all, huge patches of his skin are blackened, looking like burnt paper, some of it peeling off. If you take a closer look, you'll find its even more horrible than one suspected- there are tiny yellow octopus-like eyes opening up haphazardly on his body, blinking wearily, and some of them are even closed and wounded for good. And at times one can see his entire form shuddering like a plate of jello, for to keep looking human the way he is takes energy, and boy, does it hurt to do that. Surprisingly, there isn't any blood.

Sam lets out a weak cough. Oh, he was mad, he really was, but now was not the time for that. He needed to keep himself from letting his life slip away, and the only way to do that is to let himself heal far away from prying eyes...

Too bad some prying eyes might have found him like this already.

Comments

[tyrantball]

Don't mind Desco, random guy with tentacles, she's just curious about said tentacles. And the eyes. So she's just gonna hover a little bit closer to you, her red eyes wide and staring.

She is seriously wondering if you're related to her in some way right now.

[primordial]

If he had any energy, he would undoubtedly jump up once he realizes that there's somebody looking at him like this, but all he can muster is a slightly surprised hiss, turning his head to stare.

He...ugh, why did it have to be like this? To be caught unawares in this state, and there was nothing he could do but close his multiple eyes wearily, mustering enough energy to cough out two words:

"Go away."

[tyrantball]

Desco, naturally, completely ignores your request, opting instead to reabsorb her tentacles and sit down next to you, her long tail folded underneath her as a makeshift seat. The nictitating membrane briefly closes over the eye in her forehead as she continues to study you.

"Desco likes your eyes."

[primordial]

Great. The...wait, what is this thing? Some sort of demon? Ugh...whatever. He really wants to stand up and smack the thing away, but just even raising his head causes him a spasm of pain. So...all he can do is just sit and wonder why his life is just made of nothing but annoyance and suffering.

At her question, he looks over, not looking particularly amused, but not particularly willing enough to say anything in reply to that.

[tyrantball]

She lets the tip of her tail soak in the water as she continues to study you. She does this in silence for quite some time before deciding on what to say.

"Do you know the name Kazamatsuri?"

[primordial]

What sort of question is that? Well, probably his appearance reminded him of someone, but definitely not anyone he knows at home.

So, he shakes his head, a clear "no" to her question.

[tyrantball]

Desco deflates a little at that.

"Oh. Desco thought maybe you were her brother."

[bolt_action_deer]

Indeed, prying eyes had found Sam, but not intentionally.

Sophie had only just arrived in this city, but already she was realising that it was not a safe place! Tournaments of people with monsters leaping out of their bodies to do battle, terrorists blowing up said stadium and hospitalising people, attempted assassinations, shot secretaries and killed champions! It was a scary place!

She had no idea how to handle it. They were locked into the city, and there was no clear way out... and there was only so long she could sit in the room assigned to her polishing her rifle and performing constant maintenance on it.

So she took a walk along the river, just to calm her down. It was then that she came across a - a heavily injured man! She stopped and stared, of course, only to shake her head and cautiously approach, wrinkling her nose at the awful scent coming off of him.

Ew, it smelled like her oven when she hadn't cleaned it in months.

"Uh, um, excuse me...?" she tried, maintaining a safe distance from the, the er, man, leaning her body to one side in an attempt to catch his face. "Are you okay? Well, obviously not but, uh, you know, need a doctor, or something?"

[primordial]

He doesn't even need to turn- the eye blinking slowly on his back see her coming, and his flesh twitches in agitation. He doesn't want to be bothered. He doesn't want all this attention, he just wants to sit here and let the pain ebb away without somebody poking and prodding him. As she approaches, he turns his face away, frowning.

Too exhausted and in pain to say anything besides a slight growl, he, with some hesitation, lets his mind reach out and grab onto hers, hissing out his annoyance right into her brain:

Leave me be.

[bolt_action_deer]

Sophie immediately yelped, stumbling back and promptly falling flat on her ass. Her rifle slipped off of her shoulder, but she quickly grabbed it and clutched it tight to her chest, her eyes wide and chest heaving in feared panic.

U-Uh-! What?!

"D-Did you- you just-?"

[primordial]

It's almost a funny sight, really, and if it didn't hurt to laugh he might have let out a little one. But at the moment he just looks over at her with lidded yellowed eyes, his mouth a line.

Go away.

[bolt_action_deer]

"Ohhhh..."

Sophie suddenly groaned, pressing her forehead against the side of the barrel of her rifle. "Great, you're one of those. The, the weird people with the, creepy eyes and, stuff, and, I dunno maybe you'll sprout tentacles like that weird little girl..."

Why was this city full of them? At least she didn't have to worry about standing out with people like those running about, but they made her nervous and jittery, and dear lord she missed home so much.

Suck it up, missy.

Nervously licking her lips, she lifted her head and slowly lowered her rifle, although she did keep it as a rather pitiful shield in front of her. "Well, uh, creepy guy you may be but, you know, you look like charred steak and, uh, you don't seem like, evil I hope, so... anything you need to, um, help?"

[primordial]

What weird little girl?

What, there was someone like him out there? Ugh, that was either good or very bad, indeed...the last time he encountered somebody like him, he almost got killed by them. Not fun times.

And now she's asking whether she can help. Really, even in this state, with eyes and burned black flesh hanging off his body in pieces, there was still something about him that made people want to help him. How funny. In his usual state, he had to pretend to be something he wasn't to get people on his side, but here, they came up to him and still talked as if nothing even mattered.

How could you even help? He asks, sounding almost on the verge of letting out a bittersweet laugh. I'm practically done for. Leave me alone.

[forceofnature]

"Nice eyes. Do you get those in a bulk deal somewhere? Wholesale club?"

Viridi wasn't a prying eye so much as she was the universe's most ridiculously nosy git. She hadn't especially made a point to keep an eye out for Sam after their conversation or anything, but when you were watching the scene from above, it was a bit hard not to notice the point when all the major antagonists had been forced to gang up on a horrifying oozing tentacled monstrosity of some sort.

[primordial]

Ugh. Not her. Of all the people to bother him, it had to be her.

A part of him isn't surprised, mostly because she has hung around him like some annoying shoulder angel (devil would probably be a better term, though he already had his own demons to fill that position). But mostly, he feels annoyed that she has to see him like this, so fragile and pathetic by the side of the river...

He narrows his yellowed eyes, letting out a huff to show that he's not particularly happy to be hearing the goddess' voice at the moment.

[forceofnature]

"I was thinking about putting some on the feelers of my Snugglypods! It would add to the intimidation factor, right? I don't know, though, do they come in green? The yellow's a little... jaundiced."

Eldritch abomination or not, Viridi didn't let a good chance to be obnoxious get past her.

[primordial]

"...S-shut up."

He coughs that out, though it's clearly laced with an icyness that makes it clear that the more she talks, the less he is in the mood to talk about such things. Yeah, go ahead and laugh, he thinks. Who' the one burnt to a crisp here, huh?

[forceofnature]

"...Hey!"

Viridi manages to sound offended despite having just been the paragon of tact and consideration.

"Well, what did you want me to do? Start screeching about eye-monsters? I thought you would appreciate some levity. Not like anyone ever appreciates my scintillating conversation skills, anyway."

[primordial]

A sigh. He's going to regret this, isn't he?

He closes his eyes momentarily as he feels out for her mentally, and...there. Just like that, the tables have been turned, and he's the one speaking into her mind now.

Just leave me alone.

[justkeeprunning]

She'd been staying away from the Chaos. She didn't like fighting if she could avoid it, so the whole Tournament had been kept on T.V. only. Consequently, she knew what had happened, she just didn't know who all was involved.

She didn't really want to think about it.

All of this wasn't what she'd bargained for when she started running and now that it was happening, all she wanted to do was run as fast as she could, but the time-chip deep in her arm had stopped working and so all she could do was walk.

She hadn't really come by the river before, so that was where she went now, just trying to keep her thoughts on superficial things...the sight of someone sitting by the river, however, caught her attention.

She didn't instantly recognize who it was, what with the damage to his skin, but when she did she let out a loud gasp and went running towards him. "Oh my god, Sam! What happened? Are you-" As she got closer, it registered that there was more going on here then just burnt skin. Still...her friend was hurt and, if she could help, that was what mattered. "...how can I help?"

[primordial]

Oh. Oh, god, no, it was her. Probably one of the best people he was leading on here, and she was seeing him like this?? Great.

He wishes he could just up and run, behave as if it wasn't him, but even moving a limb sends currents of pain through him, so all he can do is stare back at her with yellowed eyes which shudder as they try to form pupils and blue irises like he would normally have.

And at her question, he just shakes his head, shutting some of his eyes wearily. No, he doesn't need her help. Just leave him be, he thinks.

Leave him alone.

[justkeeprunning]

She decidedly looked away from the things that looked like eyes as she got got closer, they were just too much to process right now. She kept her eyes on his and knelt down beside him. "No, I can heal some of this if you'll just let me...it looks really painful."

She decided not to wait for a possible dismissal and called on her Persona to help. A feminine feline figure appeared behind Femi as Bastet allowed her to heal some of the smaller wounds and help along the larger ones. It wasn't perfect...but hopefully it helped.

[primordial]

"W-what?"

No, what is she doing? Healing? What, no torches to burn him up to nothing, no proclamations of how he must be extinguished because of how much a monster he is? Just...healing?

He gapes somewhat, and before he can even cough out a word in apt disagreement, her Persona appears, and he can feel his skin weave back together, his eyes opening from their previous wounded position.

No, it still isn't fully healed, but at least most of the pain is gone, and his eyes settle back into blue as he takes a good breath for the first time since the incident. That being done, he turns and surprisingly, there isn't a hint of gratitude in his features.

"What did you do that for?? I didn't ask you!"

[justkeeprunning]

As soon as she did what she could, Bastet vanished and Femi put her hands in her lap, pleased with what healing had been done. She was about to ask him if that felt better when he turned on her.

She frowned, confusion coloring her expression. "You were in pain, weren't you? I wanted to help you, that's what you do when friends are hurt, you help them. Besides, some people don't always ask for help when they need it." Why was that such a big deal? "What was I supposed to do, walk away?"

[primordial]

"Honestly? Yes."

He shudders slightly, rubbing his healed arm, before turning to her with an angry expression. How many people would know his secret by the end of the day? He hates it, he does, being exposed like this, and no that it's nice and personal he shudders to think of how far this fact will spread.

"You should have just left me alone, like a normal person would. I didn't want you to see any of that, alright? It's my problem, and then you had to come and go and fix it because suddenly, it's your problem too."