020 ♪ audio ♪ how can they possibly know that

[chosenfake]

[The communicator clicks on, and at first, it seems incredibly innocent. Just the sound of a bath. But then there is a shaky and familiar voice pleading over the water.]

I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Just make it stop.

[For those inside of his apartment, there's a pretty evident trail of red leading from Luke's room to the bathroom-- so thick in

Comments

[craaaaaaaazy8s]

Luke?

[chosenfake]

Egh-- [Some splashing, and then awkward silence.] ... Vriska?

[with some effort] I didn't know this thing was on.

[craaaaaaaazy8s]

Yeah, it's a thing that they do, turning on like that.

You sound like a wriggler. What's going on?

[chosenfake]

[He's pretty much beyond the point of pretending there's nothing wrong, but...]

It's just a curse. I'm okay.

[Points for trying.]

[action]

[stupidgenes]

[The door of Asch's room opens with a click. He'd have made his way to the kitchen if he hadn't noticed the blood trail on the floor. First, he bursts into Luke's room, discovers it empty, and rushes to the bathroom to investigate.]

--LUKE!!! [This is no time to focus on his being a replica. Something's up, and he doesn't know what's going on.] What the hell happened to you?

[action forever]

[chosenfake]

[Asch's sudden appearance startles Luke into stepping on his PDA, which makes it shut off again. On the plus side, he has clothes. On the minus... well, those clothes are absolutely soaked with blood. His signature white coat lies crumpled in the corner of the bathroom, and his pants and shirt are wet with blood. Curiously enough, he's unharmed; from the looks of it, he's tried washing his hands off in the bathtub, which has turned pink from his efforts.]

Asch--

[The water dripping from his fingers is blood red. He shoves them back into the tub and turns away, hunching his shoulders as if he can make himself harder to see.]

D-don't look.

[stupidgenes]

[--the replica's reaction is no less alarming than the trail of blood in the hallway. Asch is no less confused than before coming in; after all, there isn't any logical explanation. But he doesn't have enough any information to go by.]

Would you cut that out, it's ENOUGH!

[Asch quickly reaches out for the replica's shoulder, hoping to turn him away from the tub. He wants to be able to face his look-alike, wants to better assess the situation, wants to understand.]

Tell me what's going on.

[chosenfake]

[Luke can't really do much to protect himself like this, so Asch is able to turn him just fine. Of course, he doesn't want to worry his original with his problems, but it's a little late for that.

Pfft. They really are a lot alike.

He can't look away from Asch's face once he's there, green eyes wide and slightly worn from crying. He stopped a while ago; there are smears of brown blood from where he tried to wipe his cheeks and gave up.]

It's a curse. [He doesn't mean he's unlucky, either.] It's just a curse, right? It'll disappear at the end of the day, and...

[Akzeriuth won't. He'll always see the blood on his hands. He always has.]

[aettir]

H... hey! Can you hear this?

[chosenfake]

[There's some scrambling, some hesitation, but eventually a shaky voice comes through.]

Y-yeah. I can hear you.

[aettir]

... Keep listening-the rest of it isn't real! Can you get out of there?

[chosenfake]

That won't do anything. The problem is me.

[Like always.]

I-it's all over me... It's better if I just stay in here.

[Action]

[servidude]

...What the...?

[Whatever Guy had been doing is dropped in favor of following the trail of blood quickly to the bathroom. Screw knocking, whoever's in there needs help.]

Luke?!

[action forev]

[chosenfake]

[Luke looks up sharply. He isn't hurt, but there's a sickening amount of blood everywhere, staining his clothes, the floor, everything. Even the water in the bathtub is pink. He makes no move to get up from his knees or pull his hands from the bath; he knows it won't work.]

It's-- it's a curse. It won't stop...

[He knows why. These were the same hands that used hyperresonance to steal the lives of ten thousand people in a single instant. And then, ten thousand more in order to save millions.

He feels sick again and hides his face in his elbow. How long is he going to have to endure this?]

[action forev]

[servidude]

[Guy strides over to Luke, sinking to his knees by the kid and checking him for injuries that aren't there, because that's what you do. A curse that covers you in blood, really? That's extreme, especially for poor Luke.]

[He drops his hand on top of Luke's head and frowns, leaving his hand there as comfort as he considers the bath and Luke.]

Nasty. [He decides.] This place is really nasty sometimes.

[What can he do for Luke? He feels kind of helpless.]

[chosenfake]

[He lowers his head, but otherwise doesn't struggle. What can he do but sit here and think about what he's done? If anything, this just proves that no one can hide from the deities. Are they mad because of his plan? Or is it because he hasn't told a single soul of his crimes?

Not that he's been pretending he's a good person. Luke is the first to stress that he's no hero whenever it's brought up. He knows what he is. And who he is. It is a part of him. The blood he took is now his own. Their memories give him strength-- at a terrible price.]

I hate to ask this, but... could you do something about the blood outside before Florian sees it? I just don't want him to worry. [His expression harbors a hollow, wry sort of humor.] You're always cleaning up after me, but this time I really can't do it myself.

voice;

[notflynn]

--hey. Luke.

voice;

[chosenfake]

[Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck.]

H... hey.

[It's sad how much he wants people not to worry, but uh, that tone itself is pretty worrying.]

voice;

[notflynn]

...I think I got a few others interested in that adventure of yours.

[Distractions. Because Luke doesn't need to be reminded of the state he's in.]

voice;

[chosenfake]

[He doesn't respond for a moment, trying to do what Yuri's suggesting and drag his mind from the horrible memories before him.]

... R-really? That's good news.

[He's trying so hard.]