[Another long pause; quick breathing. Grief sets in again, grabs him by the lungs and squeezes tighter than any constricting python he's ever tamed. His eyes burn again, making his fingers seek to relieve the pressure, pressing firmly onto his closed lids. Joker can't see him, and he's thankful. Before- before when he felt this, he'd had a goal, a direction. Track the scent, find them. Find his family at all costs and then they would be together again. Now, though, he knows that's impossible. No amount of searching would yield results here.]
'Snake wishes to search for Elliot. The way he searched for you and the others when you didn't come back,' says Oscar. [His voice is tight, even if he's only a translator for the snake conveying his feelings. Somehow, the roundabout nature of it all makes it easier.]
But I won't be able to find him. I know I won't. [Strangely, he sounds more even, distant, emotionless. The straining at the corners of his eyes and mouth relax. No tears, and his expression wipes blank- his voice to follow.] Just like I wouldn't have found you. Even if I didn't know it then.
[ for a long moment, joker himself is silent, throat tight and eyes pricking. snake sounds so heartbroken, and he would have done anything--has done anything--to keep that pain away from him. joker has sacrificed everything for his family--- and for what? they're all dead except for snake, and snake..
snake is so wounded. ]
I can't tell yer it's gonna' be okay, Snake, b'cause we bofe know I'd be lyin'. But it'll get better, I promise, an'-- an' I'm 'ere for you any time you need me. Yer th' only reason I'm 'ere. Yer all I 'ave n th' world, so-- so let me 'elp if you think I can. Please?
[Joker is there. His family, the last part, the part that's somehow returned to hime, is there. Elliot had said before that he'd died in his world; Snake had witnessed him covered in blood for the second time when he arrived. But Elliot existed here, before. Joker is the same. Images of the nights where Snake had held tightly onto the younger blonde in the midst of something horrible played and replayed. Elliot died... he's dead in his world... When someone leaves here... they... go back....
Breathlessness returns and Snake does everything in his power to keep it from being audible. Familiar traces of scaled bodies wind up his limbs and under his clothing. Flicking tongues and hissing voices that only he can hear sing to him a calming song he can't begin to translate into human words. Sometimes there are things that can't bridge that gap.]
'Snake doesn't wish to be in this house, Joker. But he doesn't want to leave,' says Webster. [Falling back into the comfort of being the middle man, more rustling is heard in the background.]
Well.. [ there's rustling on the other end, and joker's voice sounds further away when he speaks again. ] You an' th' rest jus' stay there wiv 'im, Webster, an' I'll be there soon. Awright? Jus' gotter get dressed..
[ more rustling, joker's voice going muffled as he clearly pulls a shirt over his head. ]
An' Snake, you jus' leave yer door open fer me, okay?
'Master Ciel would be upset if Snake let someone onto the grounds without his permission,' says Wordsworth. [Trying to remember all the nuances that are the duties of a servant is hard. Sebastian had gone over them so quickly, it'd been a little daunting. An exchange follows, a conversation in sibilance.]
'Snake will meet you at the gates, Joker,' says Oscar. [Joker is all he has left, and it's clear that the other man feels the same way. Somehow, it all still feels empty. Snake's voice remains even, without a hint of excitement that would be expected from the reunion with his long lost family member. Cool and composed as he's always been, Snake is holding himself together well for how quickly he's crumbling on the inside.]
[ true enough, joker arrives in good time, dressed in (surprisingly enough) modern jeans and a peacoat, his long hair pulled back in a simple tail. he hurries up to the gate, and as soon as he's within reach of snake, he pulls him into a fierce hug (careful of any serpents that might be draped or wrapped around him). ]
[Snake is bundled to say the least. His sleek black suit matching Sebastian's is swaddled in a thick black wool coat that nearly trails the ground. A knit hat and scarf in the same shade of green are pulled tightly around his head. And finally, a pair of white dress gloves are not the warmest, but he refuses to remove them. They're the last bit of Elliot that he has left, save for Lewis (the easily agitated albino rattlesnake) that is tucked up beneath his hat.
His eyes lock with Joker just moments before the embrace snares him close against the man's warm body. It shocks him silent, eyes wide in the delayed revelation. He's really here...
Breathe. Shaking, but breathing. Trembling with cold and the welling of pain that chokes the words away again.
He's really... here.
Just trying to breathe, it's all he can manage until he finally whispers into the man's lapel.]
It's me, luv. [ he laughs, breathless and a little pained despite himself, his human hand cupping the younger man's nape.
this is the last member of his family. everyone else is dead-- hell, joker's dead, too, but for some reason.. for some reason, inexplicable to him, he's been given this second chance. away from the baron, with snake here--
he pulls back enough to smile at snake, his prosthetic lifting to gently tweak the young man's nose. ]
Tol' yer I was, roight? 'M sorry I were-- yer know.
'Snake wishes to search for Elliot. The way he searched for you and the others when you didn't come back,' says Oscar. [His voice is tight, even if he's only a translator for the snake conveying his feelings. Somehow, the roundabout nature of it all makes it easier.]
But I won't be able to find him. I know I won't. [Strangely, he sounds more even, distant, emotionless. The straining at the corners of his eyes and mouth relax. No tears, and his expression wipes blank- his voice to follow.] Just like I wouldn't have found you. Even if I didn't know it then.
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[ for a long moment, joker himself is silent, throat tight and eyes pricking. snake sounds so heartbroken, and he would have done anything--has done anything--to keep that pain away from him. joker has sacrificed everything for his family--- and for what? they're all dead except for snake, and snake..
snake is so wounded. ]
I can't tell yer it's gonna' be okay, Snake, b'cause we bofe know I'd be lyin'. But it'll get better, I promise, an'-- an' I'm 'ere for you any time you need me. Yer th' only reason I'm 'ere. Yer all I 'ave n th' world, so-- so let me 'elp if you think I can. Please?
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Breathlessness returns and Snake does everything in his power to keep it from being audible. Familiar traces of scaled bodies wind up his limbs and under his clothing. Flicking tongues and hissing voices that only he can hear sing to him a calming song he can't begin to translate into human words. Sometimes there are things that can't bridge that gap.]
'Snake doesn't wish to be in this house, Joker. But he doesn't want to leave,' says Webster. [Falling back into the comfort of being the middle man, more rustling is heard in the background.]
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[ more rustling, joker's voice going muffled as he clearly pulls a shirt over his head. ]
An' Snake, you jus' leave yer door open fer me, okay?
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'Snake will meet you at the gates, Joker,' says Oscar. [Joker is all he has left, and it's clear that the other man feels the same way. Somehow, it all still feels empty. Snake's voice remains even, without a hint of excitement that would be expected from the reunion with his long lost family member. Cool and composed as he's always been, Snake is holding himself together well for how quickly he's crumbling on the inside.]
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action;
[ true enough, joker arrives in good time, dressed in (surprisingly enough) modern jeans and a peacoat, his long hair pulled back in a simple tail. he hurries up to the gate, and as soon as he's within reach of snake, he pulls him into a fierce hug (careful of any serpents that might be draped or wrapped around him). ]
'Eya, luv.
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His eyes lock with Joker just moments before the embrace snares him close against the man's warm body. It shocks him silent, eyes wide in the delayed revelation. He's really here...
Breathe. Shaking, but breathing. Trembling with cold and the welling of pain that chokes the words away again.
He's really... here.
Just trying to breathe, it's all he can manage until he finally whispers into the man's lapel.]
Joker...
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this is the last member of his family. everyone else is dead-- hell, joker's dead, too, but for some reason.. for some reason, inexplicable to him, he's been given this second chance. away from the baron, with snake here--
he pulls back enough to smile at snake, his prosthetic lifting to gently tweak the young man's nose. ]
Tol' yer I was, roight? 'M sorry I were-- yer know.
[ gone. ]
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