#bedlam.

[hittheredline]

@deadasadisco ( Strike ) || Shiny!

“This place gives me an uncomfortableness.”

  He nods along before she's quite done speaking. “Should do.” He parts from their little flicker-flame fire and steps aside a bit, looking out. He glances back, then points. Long gesture out, drawing attention to a shape faintly visible in the gloom. It won't quite resolve until the sun shows out again, just a darker shadow in a dark night. “That's what's left of the Charlatans' Hammer. We're on her Drive.”

  Bedlam chews on a silence, staring at the not-so-distant shape.

  “She's hard t'see 'til you get real close, even in the sun the shine all bounces off the frame an' hides her like'a reflection but-” he gives an approximate gesture, height and prowess- “that's the rig Nova Nine cracked the wall with. She ran down three exxies b'fore they caught her out. Swarmed her out there, biggest cloud anybody'd seen in the desert. And she took nearly all of 'em with her on her way t'dust — everyone but that last exxie. Captain Ruffles himself. Two whole years b'fore mom'n'dad set him on the Fab.” Probably a big promotion for him, that day, ghosting somebody like Nova. Bedlam scowls. He makes a motion toward the old rig, hidden by the way he's facing, before he returns to the rough camp. “There's enough static around here t'scramble a better babysitter than me, so uh. Don't think too hard on the dark, an' don't go gettin' too far from me, okay pup?”

[havenofseven]

@champagneprobllems || Blood, Blood

"The fucker deserved it," Poppy snarls, retrieving her knife from the fucker in question's chest. Dolce is off a short distance, inspecting her injuries—all superficial, thankfully.

  He hears the scuffle only about a second before he finds it. Not enough warning, really, to stop from turning the corner, but plenty to brace him a little for what waits around it. A dropped body and two standing. A small plume of dust still hangs in the air. Bedlam looks from the closest, to the farthest, to the body.

  “...Well.” The word bounces out for segue after a pause of awkward silence. He's picked an odd time to cut a shorter path through the less crowded end of the old block. “I'm no pig.” He's definitely not here to play inquisition. He's barely even around at all, on his way out — behind about a day or so, even. (Not enough for any rumors of getting himself dusted to really get caught up in the wind, but plenty to give Embalm and Embed time to stew. Maybe it'll do them good, get them to branch out.) “Don't think Twister's gonna like you movin' ghosts in behind his favorite place to set up the smithies, though.”

[hittheredline]

@glasshcldhigh ( Gem ) || The End of the World

"What fun you seem to be having."

  “Best day of my life so far,” he burbles, not a lick sarcastic as he wipes a gritty mixture of blood sweat and sand from his head before it can fall in his eyes. Any day under blue skies where he keeps breathing is that.

  Still, he heaves a big noisy sigh, pulling melted fabric away from the shot to the side that had interrupted his run and dropped him so presently in the dirt. It sits close to his hip, dead on and hotter than hell judging by the spread of the pins and needles up the rungs of his ribs and down into his thigh. It's going to hurt something fierce when the numbness fades. He's lucky the mask responsible had been so far away. He tears the ruined fabric away, so it won't keep scratching. As he lets the wind take the ashy crumbles, he looks up, shading his eyes to see.

  “You on my tail, Electric Angel?” Crooked smile and shining eyes. He never forgets a face. And "Gem"s just fine, but now he's seen her skate and he's sure she's hiding wings. “Didn't know I was under your cloud.”

[hittheredline]

Bedlam : [ 🩸 ]ㅤ.ㅤis there something or someone that, if lost, would break them ?

Headcanon Questions

Good question! I know he has family. I don't know how large. But I do know they're still in the city. And while I don't know for sure that it would break-break him, obviously losing any/all of them would deal some real damage. I'm just not sure that it's a complete folding point. He's already so apart from them, independent and probably rarely (if ever?) gets to see any of them to begin with. That braces you, in a way, for something like that. As much as one can be braced.

...Maaaaaaaaybe the network, as well? It's more or less the reason he jumped the wall to begin with, so it's the thing he left his family behind for. The reason and source of ... more or less his entire life, these days. Without it he'd be very lost, at least, if not broken. So would a lot of the desert. But him more than most.

[hittheredline]

i tried so many times to get a decent screen shot of this and simply could not but for the record. blueberry boy. hair like this.

[hittheredline]

Oddly Specific Headcanons : Bedlam

questions from this post but I'm randomly generating them and which character I answer them for (but you could still send any)

10. What fact do they excitedly tell everyone about at every opportunity?

Oh whatever little event that's coming up, whichever concert or party or thing-of-the-week that he's involved in. The moment he bumps into another 'joy while out and about he's incredibly likely to let the cat straight out of the bag. You can always rely on him to tell everyone.

18. Who do they love truly, 100% unconditionally (if anyone)?

I do believe I've got a mama's boy on my hands with this one.

40. How do they respond to a loose handshake? What goes through their head?

You know I don't think he's ever had an opinion on a handshake in his entire little moon-adled life. Well, maybe about those ones that are too-tight actually, when somebody who shakes your hands tries to hurt you you know? Which is obviously really funny because why are you trying so hard over a handshake. But other than that I'm not sure he notices.

41. What phrases, pronunciations, or mannerisms did they pick up from someone / somewhere else?

I think. He/his family has a little Australian accent (or at least a lean for it if not an all-out accent) that persists despite all the other ways everything in the city gets boiled down into sameness. So in that sense he picked it up from his parents the way stuff like that works.

54. What’s their instinct in a fight / flight / freeze / fawn situation?

I think it's a little variable? He is by title a runner. It's more important for him to keep on and carry news, carry word, boots to the ground. You could argue for fawn, as he'll do his best to talk most confrontations down. He's big on the zones being cooperative, wants the best out of dustkids, so he'll at least try to get things resolved without getting bloody. If he can sense neither of those are going to work, though, he's got good arms and a pretty good shot with his ray gun. It's all about figuring out which one something calls for, with him.

[hittheredline]

oh hey a quick rundown that i don't think is surprising(?) but that i should maybe consider putting on their about pages actually oops:

Sunny: she/her

Kobes: he/him

Zilch: ,,, he/him but like. he's so the way he is that it's we/us (he+handsome(+the girls)) so often that i think referring to him in the singular probably throws him a little bit. referring to him at all probably throws him a little, really-

Bedlam: he/him (...so far?)

Red: he/him

Weasel: mostly he/him because he is largely masc-presenting but he is in fact agender and simply Does Not Care. they/them is fine, she/her is fine, none of it matters he's the Weasel and everybody important calls him things that aren't pronouns anyway so who gives a shit, etc. etc.

Viv: she/her to my knowledge(!) <- still not mine but i think she might appear sometimes given how woven together She/Red/Weasel are

E (the taller of the twins, shimmery dark blue hair): he/him except also sometimes they because the twins do everything together so it's they in the plural sense sometimes actually

Em (the shorter of the twins, blonde): he/they methinks. maybe just they/them? feeling it out and then also plural they, too. very normal levels of attachment taking place here

[hittheredline]

@hvndredzones || What If They Kissed?

Omens + Bedlam edition

  He can't help but hum. Another splash of something so achingly sweet he wouldn't even know it as alcohol if not for the rush of fire that follows after sends him swirling skyward. His head falls back. Spinning and spinning. He expects he'd spin right past the stars if not for the chaser: an impatient but thorough pair of lips crashing into his.

  He doesn't always get to participate in the events he orchestrates, too busy chasing the wind or passing word or planning the next, in some other corner with some other someone just begging to get the go ahead. As the end of the year creeps up, it's only getting more true. The city has the monopoly on their manufactured menagerie of holidays, but the desert has plenty enough celebrations all their own as answer to the longer, lonely nights that this part of the year rolls into. Busy zones. Busy boy. It's nice to play.

  “Y'know,” Bedlam buzzes between breaths as Omens kisses a path down his neck, “I don't think.. this's what they mean by 'tip your paper boys'.”