Bearer of Bad News [LOG]

[kirin_ja]

Who: Jyabura and Kaku in The Room Thread // Lucci and Fujiko in the Hallway Thread
What: Kaku gets to once again bring the bad news.
Where: A room and hallway, private, on the SDC Sub
When: Tonight

Comments

[kirin_ja]

"Fair enough."

Kaku sat down directly across from Jyabura and handed him the file folder. It was curiously like handing him a briefing; Kaku wasn't sure he liked how that felt.

"There was not much information; I went through every mainframe I could access, using every conceivable search that could be derived from the information you gave me." He was careful to keep his voice even, which he was terribly good at, but he had to remind himself that this was not a debriefing he was giving; this was deeply distressing information that he was relaying to a friend.

"After being taken from Wylk Island, the slavers proceeded to the nearest trade market. Ship records captured by the Marines indicate that all people who were not able-bodied were killed to prevent losses at market." He knew that Jyabura would understand the atrocities that this implied.

"Most of the men and women who arrived at the market from Wylk Island were sold to different owners. I traced ownership records and then death records, and discovered that of those from your tribe...all of them perished while in bondage." Kaku kept his voice as even as possible, but it was evident that he sounded a great deal empathetic. He, too, understood what it was like to lose your entire family in a most brutal fashion. At least he was spared the hope that they might still be alive.

[agent_wolf]

...Jyabura had experienced the death of people he liked or even cared about before, but this...this was worse. He'd expected to feel numb, or even relieved, in a way, and admittedly he was, but the knowledge also hurt immensely in a way he couldn't even begin to describe. It was like being crushed under weights, or burned alive, or drowned, only on the inside. It was everything he'd been feeling since this started come crashing down over his head at once.

But Jyabura was - had been - a professional, and he kept his cool: his expression did not change, his hand did not shake as he flipped through pages of of the file folder Kaku had handed him, glancing at details, taking everything in while not really reading it.

All of them. And some had been killed beforehand. Those who were not able-bodied. Jyabura knew what that meant. The sick or injured, pregnant women, those ailing from transport, the very old, and...

"Did they...did the...kids..." Most of them had been around his age at the time. He'd had a little sister; he remembered that...

[kirin_ja]

Kaku watched Jyabura's methodical movements; it would have taken a extremely trained eye to see past it all to know that his fellow former agent was growing distressed. In a way, it was very admirable, but Kaku had come into this meeting knowing that it was extremely volatile. It was like waiting for a volcano to erupt, and knowing you'd be unable to escape.

"The children..." Kaku remarked quietly, and reached forward. He gently moved Jyabura's hand aside and turned several pages. Finally, he paused on a roster of names of captives who had been brought ashore at that particular market from that particular slave ship.

"I checked all the birth records of the people taken from your village," he murmured, still quiet. "The only ones who had death records were these listed. However..." He closed his eyes for a moment, but soldiered on.

"This list of people are the only ones who made it from your island to the markets. The slave trade was and is..generally not known for keeping very good records of those slain en route for being 'undesirable'." The disgust in Kaku's voice went unchecked; normally, he would have kept such disdain to himself as any good agent would. But no, he was no longer that agent, and the gross display of sheer inhumanity was revolting.

[agent_wolf]

For once, Jyabura didn't resist when Kaku moved his hand out of the way; he put it down under the table instead, not even wanting to touch the folder at this point, like it might burn him if he even looked at it for too long.

Undesirable. It had been almost thirty years since he'd last seen that village or any of those people, but the wave of disgust he felt at that word was fresh. Even worse than at the time, maybe. Back then he had been furious, and a child, unable to understand what had really happened. Now...he felt helpless, and sick, and angrier than he could ever remember having been in his life.

He didn't even look at the list. He didn't want to know, but he already knew what it meant; there was no need to look. And he didn't care how he looked right now, as he stood up out of his chair and brought the table with him, throwing it hard enough to make both the table and the wall it hit splinter and crack at the impact.

[kirin_ja]

Ah.

That was nice.

Kaku looked silently at the area where the table once stood, unfazed by the sudden and volatile act of rage that he'd just witnessed. Honestly, he'd seen far worse in his day, but he'd been expecting this sort of reaction. It reminded him a great deal of his own sort of unchecked rage when he'd been young, witnessing the death of his own family...

The cracks on the wall alerted him to the sudden and real danger of the situation. They may look like walls of a home, but this was still a submarine, and cracks in any sort of wall were not a good thing. Standing quickly, Kakulooked at Jyabura intently, but knew better than to touch him.

"Jyabura," he began. "Jyabura!" He had to raise his voice a little to get over the sound of the inner beast within his friend raging. "I understand what you're feeling, I honestly do, but be aware of where you are. Please, sit down and calm yourself a little."

[agent_wolf]

It took Jyabura a moment to regain enough focus to realize that Kaku was saying his name. He'd never felt this angry in his life, not that he could remember; it was like the demon within him was fighting with all its strength to get out, and he didn't see much point in stopping it. But then Kaku spoke, and for a brief second, the hot rage overtaking him froze.

He turned to look at Kaku, suddenly feeling as cold and dead as ice. "You...understand." The fury was slowly threatening to boil over again. "You understand?" What gave him the right to say that he understood? Jyabura took a step forward, and then another without thinking. "You want me to calm myself."

Jyabura did not feel calm. He felt so much the opposite of calm that he barely noticed his fist swinging until it connected to Kaku's jaw with a sound like a cracking of bone.

[kirin_ja]

A lesser man would have stumbled.

No.

A lesser man would have died soon after from severe head trauma.

Kaku, however, only took a single step back as blinding pain knocked him momentarily senseless. His head jerked to the side, and immediately, the coppery tang of blood blossomed on his lips. He immediately brought a hand to his jaw out of instinct, and knew one of two things at once.

Either his jaw was dislocated, or it was quite soundly broken. He wasn't entirely sure if any of his back teeth had been knocked out, but either way, they'd been rattled quite soundly.

He wondered as he brought his head up and took a step towards Jyabura, if perhaps he'd deserved that. But in reality, he knew the dangers of anger unchecked, and he knew that Jyabura did to.

He'd also be ready in case a second punch followed, but he wasn't going to strike back. He'd gone into defensive mode.

"Jyab-" he attempted, but stopped quickly as pain seared his jaw. Oh boy, this was going to be fun.

[agent_wolf]

Punching Kaku was immensely satisfying for about two seconds before the adrenaline wore off enough to let Jyabura recognize the fact that he'd just possibly broken Kaku's jaw.

He took a step back, fists dropping to his sides, and stared in faint disbelief. "...I didn't mean to - fuck, why would you say that?" It was hard to feel guilty knowing that the son of a bitch was trying to get him to sit down and shut up. How would he even know?

"Just...just leave me the fuck alone." Jyabura didn't know what else to say. He just had to be away from everyone right now. He looked away, but didn't let his guard down; he wasn't going to let his guard down for a long time.

To Be Continued in Rec Room Thread

[kirin_ja]

Kaku gave Jyabura a look that said that he would love to reply but was currently unable to at the moment. Looking grim, but not really angry, he merely nodded, and turned on his heel.

He'd let Jyabura calm himself down; right now, it was of utmost importance that he determined whether or not his jaw was completely broken. If the canine wanted to talk to him later at any given time, he knew where to find him.

Without saying a word (and really being unable to), he strode out the door and headed for the first place that he knew had a first aid kit: The Recreation Room.