Locked to in_verbatim

[jmlevitt]

The Sanctuary is almost always deserted in the mornings, making for a decent place to meet someone without being disturbed. It's a bit less private than the Keep, but Jeff wasn't quite well enough for everything that re-opening it involved. Besides, there's couches, drinks, a kitchen...anything one could really need was right there. And the best

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[in_verbatim]

Soze steps in without ceremony, hands buried in a winter coat, a small dusting of snow covering his hair and clothing. Though he PINpointed into the Nexus (he's been in his home world, he's always in his home world these days), he prefers arriving outside the sanctuary instead of PINpointing into the middle of it-- a sort of caution, maybe, or an attempt to make things seem more normal than they actually are.

The four months away from the Nexus have changed him. Duller eyes. A tendency to stare at people longer, closer. A colder voice. He still has his left arm in a sling. The pain is dull most days but biting others, and he's lucky it isn't bothering him much today. He needs to concentrate. His eyes make a quick scan of the room. They're alone, but it doesn't mean anyone can't just walk in.

"Hi," he says. He's relieved that Jeff is looking better. He's relieved, sure, but he doesn't really know what to-- ...he doesn't know what this should mean, the fact that he was willing to risk his life for this. He doesn't know where to go. (And there's still that itch, that need.)

"I missed you," he adds, voice softening somewhat.

[jmlevitt]

Jeff's eyes actually light up when Keyser comes in. His head tilts oddly for a moment, as if sniffing the air. He doesn't seem to notice the new habit he's picked up, or any of Keyser's, for that matter. "Hi!" he says, beaming, and he nods to a bar seat across from him with an empty plate set neatly in front of it. "I made breakfast. Help yourself." He sounds perhaps a little bit more proud of this than he should, but then again, a week ago he could count his vocabulary on one hand.

He looks more than a little taken aback by the other man's candor, and flushes a little, lowering his eyes. "Me too," he says. He looks up again, chewing his lip with discomfort. "What happened?" he asks after a pause.

[in_verbatim]

Sniffing the air. Like an animal.

(But he's alive.)

"It's probably too much for me to ask about meeting somewhere a little more private," he says, eying the breakfast and then Jeff again, his voice back to the usual empty. He hangs up his jacket anyway. "But maybe it doesn't matter. I'm sorry, where do you want me to start? There's a lot."

There always is.

[jmlevitt]

Jeff looks sheepish as he helps himself to another plate of pancakes. "Normally I would have said to meet at the Keep, but I still haven't gone back there yet. It's probably still locked." And he has no idea if the wards will recognize him the way he is now. He nods in the direction of the side rooms. "We could grab a room if you want? I was out here mostly so I could keep an eye on the door."

He goes to run a hand through his hair and stops himself, realizing he doesn't have any. He runs his hand along his scalp instead, fingers tracing over a new scar on his temple. "I'm not sure," he admits. "The beginning, I guess? I remember leaving the Keep to meet you at Luigi's...and then I woke up strapped to a hospital bed. I still can't figure out how I got there. Did Gabriel have something to do with it?" His eyes travel to the sling. "And what happened to your arm?"

[in_verbatim]

He takes the seat across from Jeff. That answers Jeff's first question, at least: he'll make due with the room.

"Gabriel shot me." He looks down at the sling before raising his eyes again, a ghost of a smile on his lips. "He spent months tracking me down, just so he'd have a chance to kill me. That was after, of course, he stabbed me in the gut and tried to strangle me. That was when he took you."

[jmlevitt]

He takes that as his cue to load Keyser's plate with pancakes and bacon. "I think I remember that," he says, frowning. That was another question he really wanted to ask, but one thing at a time here. "The um...I guess it was the second time he tried to kill you." He rubs his hand on his scalp again. "He asked me about you a few days after I was delivered to them."

He shakes his head, frowning. "I don't get it. Why would he try to kill you? And why take me? I've never done anything to him."

[in_verbatim]

He actually laughs when Jeff asks why Gabriel would try to kill him, but it's a bitter, low rasp of a laugh, and his eyes stay dead. He holds his forehead in his good hand, elbow resting on the counter. "A lot of people out here want me dead, Jeff. You should know that by now."

He purses his lips.

"He took you because you were in his way. Nothing more." He chuckles again, softer now, watching the plate in front of him instead of Jeff. "He told me that too, if you could believe it. He tried to convince me that he had no other choice. But I don't believe him. He wouldn't even rescue you, would he? He got what he wanted and then left you to lose your mind."

[jmlevitt]

He closes his eyes a moment. "I suppose," he says dully. He sighs and shakes his head. "But then why did he show up when I escaped? He could have tried to stop us. He could have tried to kill you again." He drops his eyes. "But he didn't. Why? It doesn't make sense."

[in_verbatim]

"Because I killed him."

He knows Jeff remembers this. If Jeff remembers Gabriel shooting him, then he remembers this. But their new, temporary link isn't something he's ready to verbalize yet. He fiddles with his fork idly, sliding a piece of the pancake around the plate. "He must be biding his time. Or maybe he wants to make a good impression, now that he knows he isn't in control."

[jmlevitt]

"I know." Apparently he does remember that bit, though he seems perhaps less affected by it than he would have been four months ago. "But shouldn't that give him even more reason to try something? It's not like I could have really stopped him." And Rassilon wouldn't have, but let's just leave that awkward bit of conversation out, shall we?

[in_verbatim]

He's silent for a few moments, tongue pressed to the roof of his mouth. Jeff has a point-- with Gabriel and all his Eldritch energy, they were no match for him now. Then again, maybe Gabriel knows that. Maybe he figures he can play with Soze a little longer, or maybe he's just trying to save face. After all, even Eldritch gods can draw an angry mob in the Nexus.

"I know what he did to you," he says finally, digging for a cigarette. He still hasn't touched his food. "And I know he still wants me dead. Whatever you do with that information is up to you."

[jmlevitt]

Now it's his turn to be silent, mulling it over for a few moments. "When I woke up, they told me I'd been shot," he says slowly. "That was him? He shot me because I was...in the way?" he asks. He would add at this point that Gabriel didn't seem the type, but well...they both knew his track record with that assumption.

[in_verbatim]

"It was a stray bullet," he answers, easily and fluently, as if he had preparing for that lie his whole life. But he wasn't really lying-- after all, if he knew it was Jeff, he wouldn't have fired. A misguided bullet isn't all that different from a stray, he figures, at least not in this case. "Like I said," he continues, "he was pretty busy trying to kill me. You startled him so much, he even let me go."

That was also true. He takes a drag of his cigarette, rests it in his mouth, and then goes about cutting his pancake one-handed. "I'm sorry, I never even asked: how are you?"

[jmlevitt]

He nods, accepting the explanation without question. He gives a weak smile. "Well," he says, "I'm glad I could do some good, even if it was just showing up."

He waves off Soze's apology. "Don't worry about it," he says. "I'm doing a lot better, um...as you can probably tell." His grin widens a little, and for a moment there's a flash of yellow in his eyes and his canine's lengthen just a little. He starts, and closes his eyes, taking a deep breath.

In.

Out.

Okay.

He opens them again, no longer smiling. "Sorry," he says. "I still have a hard time controlling it. Any time I get emotional, or something happens that reminds me of a um...a form I was in, I start changing. Sometimes I can clamp down on it, but...yeah." He swirls a bit of pancake through the puddle of maple syrup on his plate, watching the patterns.

[in_verbatim]

He returns the smile-- just as weak and not entirely convincing-- and winces when Jeff starts to change. This could have been avoided.

He tries to remain calm. Cool-headed. He can remove himself from the events that led to Jeff's state if he tries, if he only thinks about all the things he's never felt guilty about before.

"I'm sure you'll be fine with practice," he says, noncommittal. "I heard Rassilon's helping you out."

[jmlevitt]

"He has been," he says, helping himself to thirds. Dang, guy's grown a hell of an appetite. "By the time he showed up...Jeff really didn't exist anymore. Well, I mean...I did but...nnf. It's hard to explain."

He puts down his fork and spreads his hands. "I mean...I was there, but...it was like...any rational thought, things like...I don't know. Words, memories, names...all of that was just this really tiny voice that kept getting shouted down by much louder ones. 'Eat. Hide. Hunt. Kill.' Instincts. It wasn't so bad at first, but...every time Dr. Marco gave me new DNA I lost a little more. And then he tried that dinosaur DNA, and whatever was in that just...flooded everything out. After that I was just an animal until..." He trails off, frowning.

"...until you showed up in my mind. How'd you do that, anyway?"