men remain imperfect

[ahamartia]

extraordinarygrrls​:

The words may have hurt her worse than his wounds did, how could he think he was not worth her tears? She helped him slowly sit up, leaning into the hand on her tear stained face. “Of course it is.” She replied, releasing his hand, slowly cupping his cheek in return. 

They hadn’t been this close, physically, for a long time. His disappearance caused something of a rift between them, she thought she wasn’t worth his time for a while, that was why he didn’t contact her, leaving her to think he was dead, or simply gone. She was lonelier now, throwing herself into her work with nothing but a tortoise to keep her company. 

That all seemed to go away now, as she looked at his bruised face, as he said those words. “You’re worth…” She found her words a little mixed up in her head, they tended to be when she was stressed. So she paused, and just looked at him for a while, dead in his eyes. “I don’t want to lose you again, Charlie…” His old name slipped out of her, on accident, but the sentiment remained the same. “I don’t want you to die… I love you. I always have, you’re special to me, and… I think you’re worth all the heartache in the world… Just as long as you’re still here, and you’re okay.”

There it was. She was expecting rejection in that moment, or at the very least a solid affirmation that they were friends, or she was a useful asset. But she just needed him to know, for his sake. That he mattered.

There was something miraculous about the situation.

Something about Abigail. 

When they’d been younger he’d been caught up in too much anger and confusion. She’d always been there for him, and it was always unexpected. Nothing had ever been reliable before her, and each time he’d braced himself for the worst, but it never came. She was true, and she stood by her own words. Taking him in countless times, even bringing him home for the holidays a few times. Contrarily, he was the one who apparently couldn’t stop letting her down.

It had been hard for him to accept her. Mostly because she made herself so open to it. And when she smiled at him in those days, he forced something back, but still.. It didn’t come easy. Having someone care wasn’t something he’d ever learned to expect.

Her belief in him inspired him to get out of Hub City, and then ultimately to come back again. To make something of himself, and maybe make her proud in the process. Something in her pushing had rubbed off on him.

And still he’d been reckless. A trait that led to his fate, a hairs breath away from death, miles away in a cabin with a crazy man in a wheel chair.. Another positive influence surprisingly. Someone that sent him home with a new resolve.

Better, but still. It was difficult to act right around her. He hadn’t tried to contact her when he’d been away, and that had been intentional... A result of the part of him that still believed he only complicated things for her, that she’d have been better off if Lady Shiva hadn’t dragged him out of the icy depths of the lake.

He’d hurt Abby again with that decision, and he wasn’t sure if he would ever stop apologizing to her. However, she’d greeted him once again, so readily, in tears, clutching to him as if her own life depended on it. The anger and confusion was still there deep inside of him, but it had been tampered with--

--He’d been a fool not to realize it before. She said his name, his old name, and he didn’t bother correcting her. She loved him.

Without thinking he leaned forward.

[extraordinarygrrls]

Continued from x

“Vic…”

He was so lucky she had keys to his apartment, so lucky that she needed to drop in some files she had from the lab for him, copies of course. She thought it was a burglar at first, who stumbled through the window, but it was him, The Question. He didn’t need to take the mask off for her to know he was hurt, in his daze, she was the one who dragged him to the couch, who pulled out the first aid kit she’d given him in case this was to happen, prepared as always.

Practically, but not emotionally. She was barely holding herself together as she stitched him up, she felt like her father in that moment, so terrified to lose a patient. Lose a friend, lose him again… She’d already lost him once, that was her fault then, and it’s definitely going to be her fault if he doesn’t make it. 

Blood still staining her hands, wounds closed and bandaged, she looked down at Vic Sage, calling his name, shaking him through her tears. When he opened his eyes, they all burst through. “I… I was dropping off some files and… I thought I was gonna lose you again.” She wept, grabbing onto his hand with both of hers, like sending through whatever life she had to him. “I was terrified.” She wasn’t a doctor for a reason, that certainty of death comforted her. But this… This hurt.

@ahamartia​

[ahamartia]

His mind was reeling, and he realized that he’d been fading in and out this whole time-- mostly out. 

A hand raised to his face where there was a piece of gauze strapped to a previously bleeding clip at his eyebrow, and a markedly lack of mask. She must have removed it for him somewhere along the line. The skin around his eyes ached as they fluttered open and he recognized the feeling of what was definitely a black eye.

Then he heard her shaking breath, and realized with a start that Abby was crying. It was shocking enough to ground him, though he’d known this would be too much. It was the only reason he hesitated involving her. She was undeniably a genius, catching on to some clues before even him and still-- he knew she worried. Worried a lot.

Though he was only beginning to comprehend the validity of such feelings.

“It’s--” he cut off, apparently talking and moving at the same time was a no go for the time being. The pain was sharper now. So he was coming back to the present, she’d brought him back. Slowly, he sat up from where he was laying.

“Abby,” he sighed, making himself cup her face his hand wet in an instant, his knuckles were scratched up too, though he hoped she wouldn’t pay attention to that particular detail.

“Please, don’t cry for me, it’s not worth your heartache. I’m so sorry I scared you.”

[ahamartia]

“please look at me.” Abby @ Vic, with the thing we just talked about, bring on the angst babayyyy

Her voice was like a beacon, focusing his attention.

Vic was already half-conscious when he’d pulled himself through the cracked window of his apartment. Then he’d stumbled through the dark, folding onto the couch--

That was when everything faded away. It was hard to gauge how long he’d laid there, bleeding from multiple wounds, aching, but not even really conscious enough to process how much pain he was actually in.

His eyes fluttered at the sound of her familiar voice, not quite aware enough to wonder what she was doing at his place. He definitely hadn’t meant for her to see him like this. It would just make her worry more than she already did.

“Abby--”

[tenebrescxnce]

@ahamartia​

“Do you believe in the theory of hypothetical prediction of crimes?”

[ahamartia]

“The hypothetical prediction of crimes? Humankind can barely handle the tangible.”

[ahamartia]

uiscefios​:

She noticed the fine barrier.

She wasn’t much for them. Rowle had left her alone, to create her own impressions of the world, and she had learned enough from the isolation. She did have to learn people in order to survive them, and then go much further. She had to learn their ideas, and in some way, she wasn’t right because it did affect her.

Much more than her bloodline had expected of her.

She knew that he was dodging, skittering, and she wasn’t one to stop against a boundary. That was not the way this went when she was only herself, no other part. Not Delphi Diggory, not here. It was enough to be angry, and more so.

She tapped her fingers against the pictures, thinking–still indeed. No impressions of true victims. That was…..

Another sort of gallery.

“You could feel it,” she repeated. They could do a brutal negotiation. For every piece she offered, he’d have to listen. Have to. No choice. Let the full power of it, the screaming and wailing, all of it, falling behind her. And that final hatred of someone finally making the decision to wish to kill her.

It was a profound thing.

“There are other pictures,” she said. “I don’t see my mark on them.”

That, he would have to ask.

“Most killings are due to a mark now, but that’s not what this is, and the method, hm–could be for potions, supplies. But I doubt it, if the time is wrong.”

She was buoyant on her feet,.

“There’s a gallery in town, I’d bet every last bit of my disinherited money.”

He waited for her analysis, like a tightly wound spring. Despite his mounting exhaustion from the investigation, he was like a dog salivating for a piece of meat. Enthralled at the prospects of a new lead.

Then she hit him with it.

“Your mark?”

Was she... Tracking someone? Some group? 

...

And what did that mean about the victims, she had to have assumed there was a trend. But she was keeping it from him, she wanted him to ask--

“What do you mean?”

He did ask, at least this had to do with the case. Though it was a tease at the same time. He braced himself for whatever she was going to reveal. At the same time, he wondered if she would tell him something horrible on purpose.

Something to dissuade him from ever talking to her again, to prove to him that she’d been right from the very beginning. That he’d been a fool, lying to himself, to think differently. 

[ahamartia]

tenebrescxnce​:

anthclogy​:

Breha had never been very good at meditating and the watchful droid wasn’t helping the matter. It was only out of annoyance that she flicked her hand and pushed it to the other end of the room.

Goldie made no move from there and she gave him plenty of opportunity to try. The droid simply made a huffing sound and back as if to give her space.

“Thank you,” she said and closed her eyes, tried to focus on anything other than what she could bring Kuroh into. He’d always fought her on things, but he followed her everytime and he still believed that he was the bad influence–

It was definitely the other way around.

Alright, meditating wasn’t going well.

She tried her best to listen in on the the cockpit.

Free and strong.

Breha sighed. She still couldn’t bring herself to regret convincing Kuroh to be taught by her father. She had at least been able to acknowledge that she wouldn’t be the best teacher for him.

@tenebrescxnce​

He knew his daughter.

For all he had missed, and lost, he did have that benefit. She had Solo in her, but that wasn’t all she was. And while she was many things, she was herself. He knew that Kuroh meant every word, and he recognized that level of admiration. It was going to be a long journey then, and it wasn’t his business, his was to simply teach.

But it was there, underneath the young man’s words.

“You know, there used to be a time that they said the Jedi had the call of all the Light in the galaxy. It was their domain.”

He shook his head.

“What is forgotten is that darkness isn’t a domain just owned by the old Sith either. Everyone has that side of them.”

Omen of death or not.

“Just got to be aware of it,” he said, “because when you’re too busy thinking on how your failings, you…don’t see.”

If he thought he wasn’t enough…then try. He knew Breha would try, he did know that about her. Strong and free and sometimes very afraid through all of it.

He did know her.

@ahamartia​

He’d leafed through many scriptures growing up. Reading a fair share on lightness and darkness.

It was an ancient battle of the light vs the dark, and those who witnessed were forced to pick allegiances just by default. Kuroh had considered himself in the context of the battle and felt utterly confused.

He despised nearly all the elements the dark represented, and yet he couldn’t feel the lightness either. Rather--

He felt colorless.

It was strange.

Still, grown now, colorless felt right... Comforting almost. Though he thought he understood what Ben was speaking about. It must be why this strain was consuming him now, at least that had to be part of the reason.

They’d untapped something furious and passionate, and it was growing increasingly difficult to keep a tap on it.

“It’s hard not to focus on my failings when any wrong decision may bring someone undeserving harm.”

Or worse someone he cared for, someone like Breha.

@anthclogy​ @tenebrescxnce​

[queenretcon]

Congrats on the milestone!! If you’re still doing the superhero sketches, could I request The Question?

I wasn’t sure which one you meant and I Just Think They’re Neat

Send me your favorite superhero and I’ll sketch em

[discourteouscuttlefish]

Based on that futurama whale biologist scene bc I’m pretty sure that’s how JLU Vic Sage approaches his day job ... also I hate drawing is stupid goddam hat

[ahamartia]

@extraordinarygrrls​ from here

He’d emerged from the shower, actually impressed by the water pressure-- this new place of hers was a step up from the college dorms but it was still the worse part of town (actually Vic wasn’t sure he knew of a better part of town when it came to Hub City).

Still, he was pulling on a fresh t-shirt, well, fresh from the suit case, when he heard the beckoning of her singing voice.

He leaned against the door frame quietly, smiling softly, taking it in. It was a familiar comfort he’d missed while off exploring the great cities of America, and developing his new persona, Vic Sage. Parts of him felt incredibly different, but this-- this was just like the old days. He was crashing on her couch again, and she was offering way more than he deserved.

Abigail had a lovely voice, and he was tempted to join her except that it would definitely ruin it. His singing voice wasn’t good for anything other than carrying on the choruses of group chants.  

That, and he wasn’t familiar with the tune. Still there was something perfectly apt about the lyrics crooning form her melodically. 

He was content, leaning and listening and watching her move about her own space.

[ahamartia]

@kaospersona from here

He was still wrapping his mind around these blurted words when she pushed him against the wall.

“Mph--” 

And her finger against his mouth, and lips way too close! Kuroh’s eyes widened, and he was definitely unsure of what to do with his hands. Despite his racing heart, he thought he understood what was going on here. However, there were great odds the red clansman wouldn’t have even paid attention to them walking along.

He doubted few outside the upper ranks of the clan had even head of the Black Dog, the right hand man of the late colorless king. Still, it was smarter to avoid unnecessary conflict. No doubt this strategy was unorthodox, what the devil were those noises she was making??

“Okay--” he pulled her away brusquely when the man had turned out of sight. “Enough!” 

Kuroh straightened his jacket awkwardly.... Not at all how he’d thought this expedition would end.

[ahamartia]

tenebrescxnce​:

Hm.

No, it was just that he used to be human. Now, he was not. He raised an eyebrow because that was interesting in itself. Not many would seize upon such knowledge, but he thought it was more in a way of utility. Curious. Of course, that made sense.

“I’m only as good as the results, and that is always a work in progress.”

He lifted a shoulder at that, an inviting gaze to the scrutiny.

“The mind is creative. Always searching for another way once you find one. You have to be dedicated.”

And that was–he wanted the purpose.

“But I’m glad you can have that realization. You did do some work before, right.”

Work was an interesting way of putting what she’d done.

In truth, Eden was growing more and more concerned. She really couldn’t defend a single one of her previous actions. None of it was genuine, just desperate.

“No,” she sighed. “This is my first time.”

“I want to be honest with you, doctor. Truly, honest--”

And the words were already catching in her throat. She could tell him about her ability, warn him so that he could defend himself if things ever grew out of hand.

“But I don’t think I know how to be honest.”

[ahamartia]

uiscefios​:

“Not beyond you,” Delphi said. “You’ve seen enough to figure it out.”

Did Vic bring her in as the killer? No, that was not him, and she had seen his–assortment of Muggles. The ones with powers that were a threat, and something she was taught to never believe in. Of course, she had left them alone but she was aware of them. She’d leave that to the world she had left behind.

“I’m just the topping,” she said, sitting down on the couch, legs folded underneath herself. It was a show, and a good one. She cupped her chin in her hand, looking up at him. It was true. She had no marks to show for the fight. It had been that quick.

“He owed me a duel,” she said. “One-on-one. He owed me that, none of his little friends involved.”

She kept her gaze on him.

“Let me see what you have. Show me the still pictures.”

There was no other company in this apartment. Was that meant to mean something to her?

Vic steadied himself, reminding himself to breath.

Rarely anything was ever too much for him, it’s why he loved her... She was a force to behold, and a part of him couldn’t forgive himself for attempting to hold her back. Yet at the same time, he’d hated watching her relapse in such a vicious way.

Despite his aching curiosity, a thirst to ask questions-- He also very deeply craved peace. Rest from the headaches, and the sleepless nights, and the furious fist fights that left him wondering how much longer could he keep this up?

They were both growing older, and more and more tired.

And she couldn’t resist herself, bringing up that night. She had to know he wanted every detail of the story, thirsting for a complete picture-- but that was complicated. It wasn’t why he’d called to ask for her help, no matter how tempting it was to talk about it. 

And he would not humor her. Vic was drawing a line. No matter how many times she brought it up. It wasn’t for him to know anymore. 

He led her to his scattered map of thoughts across the room, passing her a highly disorganized file filled with pieces of the puzzle and some truly cruel images of the victims.

“It started in June, and it was a quick build from there. People keep going missing without a trace. Except...” 

He couldn’t help it, looking her in the eye, the case lighting something within him.

“I could feel it. Then, obviously, they all reappear. It’s always only a matter of time... Delphi. Someone’s gone missing again. And I want to find him before he reappears on his own.”

Before they claimed another.

[ahamartia]

anthclogy​:

Susan could practically see the gears turning in his head like he was walking in a dream and that every choice within in would spill over to reality. Even his words seemed so carefully thought out.

Your Majesty.

“Will you ever use my name?”

Her eyes closed for a moment and she turned his face into his hand and pressed a kiss into his palm before looking up at him.

“Susan,” it came to his lips like a song, like a gasp of fresh air.

A secret intimacy. He couldn’t believe what was happening. If this was even happening. 

“Susan,” he sighed again, his eyes fluttering shut, with the taste of her name in his mouth. He ached to pull her close, still, something was holding him back. Even if she was allowing this, whatever her reasons, her needs had to come first, and he wouldn’t dare cross any line for a fear of ruining her. 

The truth of the matter was, he wasn’t sure how to act in this situation. It was as if it was his first time in the arms of another. Even though it definitely wasn’t, it was the first time he’d come even remotely caring for the other person.

[ahamartia]

So Hamilton is pretty awesome, turns out the hype was well deserved! 

[ahamartia]

uiscefios​:

It was the only question. He did have to prove something to the other man, that was the point of ‘heroes’. He learned too well, and his goal, too endless. But he did have to show his power–and play that doubt.

He wasn’t certain it was a lie. He crossed his arms and thought about the story that Peter, the son of his enemy, had told him. Peter was the kind of man who would jump off a building in front of his brother. Peter was the kind of man who would never want to be a bad guy.

It was all lining up for him already.

“A realistic one,’ he said. “I’ve brought back a lot of the dead in my time here. Sometimes very young.”

 He knew Arthur, and he knew the pattern of manifestation.

“The preferred approach is to take away their memories. I told them that would backfire on them. Curious if it has yet.”

It occurred to Peter what Adam had just said.

“You’re saying you can bring people back to life?”

He was enthralled by the idea. It was the same feeling of when he’d seen Nathan in the sky. Wonder, bewilderment, amazement. Then it occurred to him. He’d already absorbed the same ability. It meant he might have a chance at the same challenge.

A breath escaped him, and he closed his eyes, processing it. That thought was somehow heavier to hold. Not to mention he’d nearly crumbled under the pressure of his absorbed abilities. There was so much to keep straight. So much to control.

“It’s definitely backfired,” Peter said, thinking about all the misplaced people the company left behind. 

[rey-kryze]

#big dick energy

[ringcfxfire]

@ahamartia​

“How many times have you died?”

A first time to ask for him.

[ahamartia]

He preferred to focus on the opposite. How many times had he been on the brink of death, but survived--

“What kind of question is that?”