WHO: Katurian Katurian, Terry Ward, & the infamous Dr. Angelica Einstürzen.
WHERE: Norman Osborn Hospital of Psychiatric Evaluation, Katurian's room.
WHEN: After hours.
WARNINGS: All the given warnings associated with the above characters.
SUMMARY: Two strange boys discuss a mutual problem; the good doctor meets her match.
FORMAT: Threads within:
(
Read more... )
angelica drifted through the hallways to katurian's room, pausing only a moment outside the door before turning the door knob. ]
Reply
there's a moment of tension. he glances katurian's way, as if to say, what now? ]
Reply
Somehow, he managed to look at her. Hard-eyed. Determined. He could convince himself that the locking in his knees was his will, his stubbornness. He was a brick wall. He didn't turn away.]
Reply
she knew there was no point in threatening terrance. the boy was immortal. she'd seen it with her own eyes, and even if he claimed evil ran in his blood, he had an annoyingly heroic streak.
the door shut behind her with an ominous little click. she loomed in the doorway, tall and slender, pale as the dead. from her coat, she drew a sinisterly sharp scalpel. angelica's voice was, by contrast, soft and gentle. coaxing. ]
Now, now. Let's play nice, boys. Shall we?
Reply
[ angelica was right. terry had an annoying little heroic streak, probably because he was trying to compensate -- whatever, it didn't matter why, but he moved to stand between her and katurian, defiance in his face, his hard expression. ]
You can't win, Doctor.
Reply
But Terry shouldn't be doing this. That was the palpable fear, the idea of someone stepping in and bleeding next to him. He put a hand on the other's shoulder, a hold back please, and hoped Terry couldn't tell how much his palms were sweating.]
Doctor, you should-- really look at yourself, take a good hard look at yourself right now, and think about what you're doing here. You don't need to do this.
Reply
she came closer. two, three, four steps. eating up distance between them, that scalpel gleaming in her hand. she knew where to cut, too. all the softest, most vulnerable places on the body. the places that hurt the most-- or maybe worse, the places that didn't hurt at all.
she didn't raised her voice. ]
Stand aside, Terrance. [ quiet, tender even. lying, perhaps. she smiles. it's vicious, too wide and too many teeth. ] I only want to talk to dear Katurian. That's the least he owes me, don't you think? After all the trouble he's caused.
[ her smile turned blatantly unfriendly. ] I ran into a faceless man the other night. A friend of yours, Katurian?
Reply
he felt katurian's hand on his shoulder, eyes narrowing as he glanced between the doctor and his companion. but after a beat, he stepped back, standing at katurian's side instead of blocking him. his stare was stormy, focused on the doctor's face now, but he didn't hit her thoughts -- not yet.
he wasn't sure he wanted to know what was in there. unless he had to. she just wanted to talk? fine, then talk. ]
Reply
[He gestured at his own nose, cupping his hands around it, then letting go. He didn't drop his eyes.]
No... that wouldn't be-- Did he have blue eyes? No. Bushy eyebrows? N-No...
[Half a joke, half a nervous ramble, but he couldn't even smile. He could only hear Edward's words, promises that he could be stronger than he thought. That if he needed to, he could come out on top.]
Reply
angelica gave herself a moment to savor his uneven ramble before quickly closing distance between them, faster than a woman her height should have been able to move, and there, against the soft underside of his chin, her whisper-sharp scalpel just barely kissed the skin.
gently, tenderly, she responded: ]
Dear boy. Do you think that I won't hurt you?
Reply
Katurian --
Reply
It happened in a blink. His journey to Angelica's past, all those years condensed in a split second, all the traumatic landmarks and curves in his possession. Under his control. Returning to the present felt like a dunk into ice cold water, and he shuddered, all his limbs trembling and going still again. It could have been mistaken for fear if he didn't keep his eyes focused on her. the. whole. time.
He told himself that if he died again, he'd exit just as spectacularly as the last time. So.]
Oh, Angie sweetheart. [Katurian's voice was his voice, but the cadence was different, deliberately so, as though he were echoing someone else ( ... )
Reply
in her mind's eye, there was a small girl in a white dress with twelve fingers and long hair whose parents only ever touched her with gloves and needles and other sharp things. her mother called her angie sweetheart, and one night, angie sweetheart had crawled into bed with mommy and daddy and a scalpel. they never touched her again.
angelica pressed the blade harder against katurian's skin, enough that blood began to just barely trickle out onto skin and steel. ]
Get out of my head, you little brat.
Reply
maybe he'd known from the start that he'd do this. didn't he say he was going to make sure she never hurt anyone again?
terry felt on the slightest prickle of conscience before he let his powers flood his system. his skin turned deathly pale, eyes becoming a violent red. his hand must have felt corpse-cold in katurian's. he was otherworldly now, supernatural, inhuman. oh, and how easy it was, as if katurian had opened the door for him, and all he had to do now was step through. the doctor's memories were already vivid, brimming at the surface of her mind. ]
I told you. [ his voice echoed like a million ( ... )
Reply
Oh, he would be so terrified if he weren't so energized.]
It'll be like going to sleep for a little while. [His ears were roaring, but the trembling in his words fell away bit by bit. He lowered his voice to a hushed, a gravelly whisper.] It'll be all right.
Reply
but that was the nature of the relationship between a woman and such boys, a mother and her children, wasn't it? love. betrayal. violence.
angelica laughed low, baring her teeth. she pressed one shaking hand to her forehead, as if she could feel the two of them inside her skull, infecting the folds of her brain, manipulating each neuron. little boys, darling little boys. with a jerky, quick movement, she grabbed katurian by the upper arm, pulling him closer to her, pressing their cheeks together, whispering unevenly: ]
Shut up. Don't say another word. I'll cut your tongue right out of your wicked little mouth, boy, I'll bury you in pieces. [ her gaze darted to terrance, watching him with ( ... )
Reply
Leave a comment