( keep it to yourself )

[thanoodles]

Comments

[bewhat]

[oh boy oh boy OH BOY.]

[bewhat]

[He's not going to say anything, Teagan, just hope his heart stops beating so goddamn fast. So take your time.]

[eventhegood]

I told you monsters eat people, right? Whenever they feel like it, pretty indiscriminately, all that.

[ Her words are muffled by her hand, and she sounds like she's on the verge of tears, though for now her eyes are only glassy, unfocused. ]

[bewhat]

Yeah... you did. [he doesn't sound very secure of his words, still has a lot of trouble fully believing man-eating monsters could roam any world outside his TV screen.]

[eventhegood]

[ Teagan has never done this before. She has never directly told anyone from her world that she is a hybrid, not unless they were hybrids themselves, or not unless they could tell anyway. It's easier, though. All you have to do is say "hybrid", and that's enough of a warning. This... this is so much worse. She has to go into the details. ]

That... that's a pretty inherent part of being a monster, yeah? It's in their nature, they don't care. [ She can feel a dull ache starting up in her forehead as she forcefully holds back her emotions. She still can't say it straight. Her words a little ambiguous, hopeless. ] They don't care that they pass it on, either. Always, without fail.

[bewhat]

[It's not as hard to find anything to say, but it's still pretty damn hard. It's not like he wants to encourage her to tell him the rest, but he doesn't just want to assume anything for her. She's made it clear that this is a very sensitive subject.

She does get a growing frown, however. He's trying not to make the dread too obvious, he really is.]

[eventhegood]

[ A certain flat quality takes over her tone. She has to bite the bullet instead of drawing this out - suspense is sorely overrated, in her opinion. ]

I'm only half human. The other half of me is something horrible that I only have to deal with every so often. Routinely. [ Another involuntary laugh, wobbly, this time accompanied by a few gathering tears. ] Every five weeks, just about, I feel something in the pit of my stomach that isn't human, and I tell it to go away. Because of that, I get angry. I get rude, destructive, until it becomes too much. [ She ignores the wetness of her cheeks. ] Then I kill someone. [ And eat them. But she hopes Jeremy can guess that without her having to spell it out. ] The feeling goes away. I pretend I'm normal again for another five weeks.

[bewhat]

[It's painful to see Teagan so upset, a sight that grips at his anxiety, but he can't bring himself to try and comfort her. Jeremy would probably be just as helpless in any other situation, which this definitely is not.

His expression shifts into a grimace, incredulous and dazed--it almost looks like a very deceitful smile. Somewhere in his silence he manages to gather enough of his voice to mutter.]

You kill people?

[eventhegood]

Yeah. [ Teagan is pressing the palms of her hands into her eyes now to try and stop a steady flow of tears, inhaling a little thickly and unsteadily as she tries to keep her voice level. She rehearsed this in her head over and over, but actually doing it is so much worse. ] It's not because I want to, I just... I don't have a choice. I-it's what hybrids do, whether they like it or not.

[bewhat]

Teagan, you don't--[Don't what, exactly? That's a little harder to finish. He's so sure that he would have known something if she really did, which says enough about how his mysteriously acquired pieces of knowledge have already ruined him. If she's telling the truth it means that not even they are reliable enough to keep him safe. If she's lying, then... that would make very little sense. Jeremy doesn't have enough of a humor for that, and he doubts Teagan would.

But as we can see, he's been wrong before.]

You can't kill people. [She's just a girl, and he's just in denial.]

[eventhegood]

[ She makes a sound that's halfway between a snort and a sob, covering her face with her hands for a few seconds as she tries to find some way to respond to that. Of course, it sounds ridiculous that a girl like her, young, small, skinny and scrawny, could do things like that. ]

Can't I? Is this just another something I'm making up, then? [ She's speaking through her hands, incredulous and frustrated. It would be better if he just ran away screaming instead of trying to convince himself that what she's saying isn't true. A little painfully: ] You said so yourself - we barely know each other.

[bewhat]

I--[He's giving her another of his helpless looks, brows arching and knitting together while his mouth opens to utter an answer that he has not yet figured out. Jeremy closes it, choosing silence, then deciding that it is probably the worst answer, opens it again--]

I-I know what I said. But--

[--Jeremy looks dazed for a fraction of a second, interrupting himself with a frown. The first signs of what looks like blood starts to run down from his nose. Quietly, slowly, he has only enough time to bring his fingers up to brush it off his face, almost knowing.

Before he can say anything else, his eyes roll back and he collapses on the floor.]

[eventhegood]

[ ... to be perfectly honest, this was far from the reaction she was expecting. ]

Jeremy! [ With a strangled yelp she leaps towards him as he falls, grabbing him by the arm and the collar in order to try and stop him from toppling over completely, but all she really down is sink down next to him. Suddenly a little frightened and rather alarmed, she slips her arm around his shoulders, trying to hold him up - which isn't hard, considering that he really feels rather light to her. ] Jeremy! Wake up, wake up- [ helplessly, practically wailing: ] -Christ, trust you to faint instead of run away!

[bewhat]

[He seems completely out of it for moments, eyes barely open and unfocused. All that blood running down the mouth and sides of his face ain't pretty, son, and several seconds pass before he brings a hand up to grab her. Something seems to be stuck in his throat, like he's figuring out how to release the words he hears and sees.

But he finally mutters something, lips shaping into a smile under the blood. It's still rather indiscernible, though...]

[eventhegood]

[ To be honest, Teagan is quite used to having other people's blood on her clothing, so she dabs away at it with her sleeve without a second thought, a frantic mind panicking and unsure of what other course of action to take. When he grabs her she utters a slightly strangled shriek, jerking back, her nerves suddenly too frayed for her to exact much control over herself.

The smile worries her. This isn't a smiling situation. God, she hopes that this isn't her fault, but what else could it be? ]

Jeremy- Jeremy, I can't understand a word you're saying. Come on, speak to me properly, enunciate, whatever, just- [ her voice falters a little, her damp face now drained of colour. ] What's wrong? Tell me what's wrong, Jeremy.

[ It's as if she wishes that saying his name over and over will help, even though she knows it won't. ]

[bewhat]

[He's still smiling, eyes shut. There's blood on his teeth now, grinning up with a fake, familiar laugh, identifiable enough to show that it isn't really his.]

Just get it over with, then! [His tone is crazed, delirious, yelling at a distance even though she's standing right there. FAMILIAR, ANYONE? Because I just copy pasted it big whoop wanna fight about it.] You're not getting any younger!