Beyond Evolution

Luce’s missing watch wasn’t exactly missing. Missing in action would have been a better phrase of description, really. Since unhooking itself from her wrist sometime during the latest bit of wtfery at the school, it had been simply ‘around’, inching its way here and there, scooting through a corridor here, sliding under a door there. Most of the mansion’s inhabitants wouldn’t even notice an errant accessory, especially in all the aftermath. But all the mansion’s inhabitants weren’t gremlins. Roaming through halls somewhere near the kitchen, Harvey skittered about, certainly up to no good as per usual when left to his own devices. Then glittering little eyes spotted the watch scooting along the otherwise empty stretch not a few feet away. For a moment, Harvey’s oddly shaped little head tilted as if considering exactly what to do about it. The answer was both obvious and inevitable and occurred about .02 seconds later when a green blur dashed forward, prepared to snatch up the interesting object. And that’s exactly what would have happened if not for the fact that when three claw tipped fingers reached forward the watch stopped, folding backwards over itself to sharply slap the creature’s hand away. No touching, please. An almost offended snarl emanated from the little monster’s throat as he tried again, only to get the same result, then tried a different approach and proceeded to jump up and down on the watch so that it couldn’t scoot anywhere else. The tactic worked for a few moments until the watch flipped itself over while Harvey was jumping up, then wrapped itself around the creature’s ankles, essentially making him trip over his own feet.

Never one to miss out on the fun, suddenly Wallbanger was there as well, just as intrigued by the watch as his partner in crime was. But gremlins weren’t exactly good at sharing and within in moments the two had begun to not only fight with each other over which was going to mess with the watch but the watch itself when they did try to mess with it. It will not go quietly into the night, thank you! A cacophony of snarls and hisses rose in the corridor, loud enough to make Jaya stick her head out of the kitchen. What the fuck, you guys? Can’t she even get a sandwich without- Wait, something wasn’t quite right here. Making the brawlers stop whaling on each other and separate, Jaya’s eye widened a little and she almost dropped the bottle of water she was carrying. There were three gremlins in the hallway. Harvey, Wallbanger, and- a new one. Amazingly yes, Jaya could tell them all apart. Honestly, most who saw them enough probably could as well since each one had certain distinct markings. Well that’s- whatever. They can all duke it out and she’ll deal with them later once she’s grabbed a snack. Jaya really didn’t have the energy for it at the moment and the knowledge that she now had yet another minion to lasso into obedience wasn’t really helping.

[narrative, closed]

Prince had missed working the circuit. It wasn't the most conventional of lifestyles, obviously, but it wasn't like that had ever been a secret. It was how he was raised and it was what he knew, though -- no matter how strange it seemed to other people, it was what was normal for him. Story of his life, apparently, as it had followed him in a dangerous sense on to the school. And gotten worse, and worse, and worse, until he'd finally had to leave. Except that wasn't really fair, it wasn't the events themselves that had driven him away. Prince was an emotional person, and always had been; unlike his brother, he couldn't keep things in, couldn't bottle them up. He had to get them out, or they killed him. He'd tried to do what King wanted, but it had gotten worse and worse. So he'd left. Each and every step away from his twin tore an even bigger hole in his heart, but he knew that it was something he had to do. The only way he could think to save himself, so that he could save King. ( So he abandoned the person that had literally been with him before birth. )

[NARRATIVE]

The past couple days blurred together for King, smeared boundaries of night and day that had no real power down in the windowless medlabs. He didn't cling to any particular moment. More than anything, he felt like he was drifting out at sea, some hollow husk of a person with no hope of finding shore, unsure at times whether or not his head was really above water or whether he was breathing at all. Frankly, it didn't matter to him. It wasn't his own breaths he was measuring; he was watching Nico's, each rise and fall of his ribcage beneath the blanket becoming the forward march of minutes. Pretty much his entire world had narrowed down, through his own fault -- things he hadn't said, things he couldn't admit, people he'd pushed away when they'd asked more from him -- to the person in that hospital bed, and part of him was fully convinced that if that life ended too, so would his by proxy. Nico was the only person who wanted and needed him anymore. His anchor, strangely enough. It was hard for him, sometimes, to care about what other people felt or remember to have empathy, unless they were under his skin or close to his heart. Nico had managed to do both. It was no wonder he felt like something had been mauled inside of him, too.

He hadn't intended to leave the medlabs, but at some point either Jeremiah or Luce had convinced him to stand up, and sooner or later he'd found himself sitting in the shelter of the back deck. The solid grey sky overhead was drizzling icy cold rain, and the back lawn looked half-flooded, slushy white snow forming an archipelago between puddles. His cigarette was in one hand, his cellphone in the other, and there was a number from his contact list called up on the glowing screen. Home. He watched the image switch to dialing, and listened to the tinny ring through the speakers for a long moment before he actually held it up to his ear. ( Waiting for someone to answer his call. )

[ NARRATIVE ]