Monday, December 19th, The Midnight Channel

[thepull_mods]

Who: The Port's Latest Shadow Televisions Stars! And Thousands of Home Viewers!
When: Midnight, Monday, December 19th
Where: In front of your Television Sets or Streaming NV TV. (Digital Cable? You'll still get the analog effect.)
Summary: Full Plot Details Here
Warnings: Please Put 'em In the Subject Lines As Necessary, Kids?

Comments

Angeal Hewley | Trigger Warning: Sucide Mentions

[frombanora]

[Angeal is in the foreground, facing away from his audience at first. There are two large, barely-healed-over vertical wounds along the right side of his back, raw and untreated, where his wings would be if they were out.  They’re not; this is how the scars look on the man himself now, though he has never shown his back to anybody in Siren’s Port for just this reason.  He’s facing the mirrors lined along the background; instead of his reflection, Angeal copies, ranging from monsters to Degradation Lazard himself, follow in his moves, all as one. They are, after all, him.]

Perfect, huh? It’s a lot harder to be than you think, when everyone else around you isn’t. [Shadow Angeal’s eyes are molten gold one can see when he looks back, different than the real Angeal’s own, and filled with something between amusement and hate.] When you see that what you really are is nothing more than inhuman, and you always have been. Is that what they call perfect these days?

[He looks off to the side, bitterness in his voice and in his stance.  It’s uncharacteristic of the man who strives to be gentle in the Port, uncharacteristic of the man who strives to be a mentor to others.] Is this what you wanted, Mother? Was my best friend the sacrifice for making someone perfect?

Was he telling the truth when he called me his son? [It’s spit out bitterly, as if the words themselves are a curse.]  The son of a monster can only be a monster, is that it?

Did you end your life so that you would never have to answer to me?  [Then, quietly:]  Were you a monster too?

[ The mirrored monsters getting more agitated with each question, reflecting his own. Angeal steps forward to pull his sword out of the ground where it had been dug in, but when his hand closes around the hilt, it crackles loudly with magic and forces him to let go, palm burned, and stares at it for a long time.]

… My friend, the fates are cruel. There are no dreams, no honor remains.

[Turning to the mirrors behind him, Angeal extends a hand.] There is nothing here... but a monster. Let us be one together.

[The Angeal Clones rise up with a loud roar, muted by the shattering of glass before they descend on the man himself, falling on him like hungry animals to prey.]

[Call]

[boundbytreason]

[ Caster hoped that Angeal wouldn't put himself at risk by heading out into the night. While she trusted that he was strong enough, there was no guarantee that he would make it through alive. ]

[ For now, she sent a call to his NV through her own. ]

[Call]

[frombanora]

[Genesis has managed to forcibly keep him inside until he's calmed down, and while Angeal knows, clinically anyway, that it was the best thing for him, as of right now he is restless and somewhat lost. The pillar of strength he usually was isn't quite there right now.

He calls her back a little bit later.]

Miss Caster?

[Call]

[boundbytreason]

[ Softly: ] Good evening, Mr. Hewley.

I'm sorry to bother you right now. [ A brief pause. She considers asking how he feels, but it was likely obvious. ] I don't know if you wanted to talk or you rather be left alone, but...if you need anything, I'm here for you.

What was shown today...it isn't right for these screens to expose anyone's inner sides. But here's what I thought. A person, for all of their strengths and weaknesses, is beautiful. They're a living person with memories and thoughts and feelings, who impacts other lives. So, what I saw today -- I consider beautiful. It is a side of who you are. There's nothing shameful about it.

[ A beat. ] I'm sorry if that wasn't my place to say. If I've upset you, I'll say no more.

[Call]

[frombanora]

[It was a lot to take in all at once, even without everything that had happened in the last half hour or so. Angeal listens to her without interrupting, takes even longer to reply though he does not hang up. Instead, he was just attempting to find the right words to say.]

Thank you. [It's all he can come up with, at this moment.] I will remember your words.

[Call]

[boundbytreason]

[ Normally, Caster would have paused, allowed for more space in-between her words. However, she wasn't certain whether he was in the mood for conversation. She had simply decided to say it directly, and if it had any effect, he would remember it as he had mentioned just now. ]

I hope you will be able to find some peace in the rest of your evening, then.

[ A brief pause. ] And, if you ever decide to confront your Shadow...please don't go alone.

[Call]

[frombanora]

[There's a small smile on his en, even if she can't see it.]

I'm not alone- I'm with friends who care about me. And that is what counts.

[Call]

[boundbytreason]

[ An unseen smile softens Caster's own lips. ]

So it is. Take care.

[Action | Closed to the SOLDIER house]

[redpeacock]

[This is the second time Genesis has seen an eerie scene on the TV screen. Angeal was still in the house, right? Certainly he wouldn't have left to do this! Perhaps this was like Franz's broadcast-- then he paused, realizing that it must be something about Angeal's hidden side. He knew well that his friend must have felt such bitterness about the entire ordeal. He rushes up and through the house to find his friend.]

Angeal!

[Action | Closed to the SOLDIER house]

[frombanora]

[It was lucky, perhaps, that Genesis lived in the floor below him rater than above him. In his current state, he would of just completely ignored the other.

He still attempts to, even, as Genesis catches him on the stairs, eyes avoiding the other.]

Out of the way, Genesis.

[redpeacock]

No!

[Despite his current occupation, he was still a SOLDIER at heart, and immediately, he got to confronting Angeal by force, grabbing him by the wrists and pinning him down to the nearest wall-- hard enough to hear a firm thump as the larger man's body hit it.

Although Genesis was more lithe, it did not mean he was less of a rival to his own best friend.]

You are not going anywhere on your own.

[frombanora]

[Angeal would never underestimate his friend's strength, but nor is he quite fighting it when Genesis bodily shoves him to the wall and holds him there, pinned between the plaster and his friend's lean body. There is strength behind Genesis from both all of their training and Mako.]

I have to take care of that thing. [Angeal is normally calm, but right now it is eerily so, without the good humor so often injected to his tone.]

[redpeacock]

And destroy it? I don't think it's that simple, Angeal.

[Genesis thinks that there is something darker behind all this, especially with a notice on the network telling people that these shadows were truly parts of themselves.]

Was the man on the screen lying?

[frombanora]

[He doesn't say anything. If there is one thing Angeal cannot do, it was deliberately lie- and they both know that his feelings on what had happened had never truly come to light, with his death.]

[redpeacock]

Angeal...

[He sighs and moves his hands away from pinning down Angeal's wrists so he could gather him into a tight, brotherly embrace.]

I'm sorry.

[frombanora]

[After a moment, Angeal returns the hug, holding on to Genesis tightly.]

It's not your fault. None of this was. [Not Genesis' fault that he had gotten hurt, that Hollander had done these things to him, and that the degragation had happened. And even though it was not his fault either, Angeal still felt like it was.]