hello darkness, goodbye light

i have seen what the darkness does

say goodbye to who i was

He thought that maybe returning to the scene of the crime might give him some sort of insight to who had attacked Nate. But there’s little to be found — the merchants all talking of someone short, a girl perhaps, someone who had hurt herself somehow and dropping in the middle of the ground at the time he and Nate had been walking through.

It doesn’t make sense to him, and the confusion surrounding it only adds to the shit mood he’s in.

A cigarette hangs loosely from his lips, picking up a couple of books for LongNight, some other items that he thinks Nate might appreciate whole holed up in their home. And after? Just aimless wandering yet again — scanning and attaining information where he could until it hits a brick wall, until he feels like he’s spinning out and out in circles with nowhere to go but chase his own tail.

Zephyr

SUNJATA

Zephyr

"Oi, lads, that's enough."

It's a small brawl, nothing life-threatening or serious, but enough of a headache that you've been roused from your musings to attempt to intervene. You know most of the players involved: dock kids with chips on their shoulders, the lot of 'em drunk. The main perpetrator is a local boy with a fiery temper who's given you trouble before; his primary opponent, a scrappy young woman, is known for her nimble fingers and scathing wit. You don't know what which of them did to start this particular disagreement, but you aren't about to wait and have it all explained.

Especially not with the new lawmen skulking around.

You skulk into the circle with a deep frown on your face, shoving aside onlookers to reach the middle of the group. Placing your hand on the fellow's shoulder, you roughly pull him back, trying to keep him from escalating.

And failing, because he immediately throws a punch. A punch which you are able to dodge, but which squarely hits the person behind you.

Son of a taint.

never trust a survivor until you find out what he did to stay alive

i have seen what the darkness does

say goodbye to who i was

There’s a circle that forms and it grabs his attention immediately – though this one seems different from the one Sunjata had circled around when Nate had entered it. There’s no signs of someone in a fair amount of pain, finding that this circle seems a bit more like a fight. Good. He could use the idea of letting off a bit of steam, and so he does – finding a familiar face within the crowd and moving to stand somewhere behind him, watching the fight with arms folded along his chest.

He’s silent as he watches Zephyr steps forward, Sunjata clenches his jaw and pulls the cigarette from his lips, stamping it out beneath his boot – looking up just in time to see the punch flying toward him and Zephyr casually dodging out of the way, meaning the punch goes straight into Sunjata’s shoulder. A step back from the blow and Sunjata inhales sharply, teeth baring a small amount as he reaches for the daggers and pulls them out – gaze landing on the person that’s thrown the punch, slicing down with the dagger as he moves to get his way into the circle. “Enough.” Sunjata calls out, the blade slicing through the air and snagging on the person beside him.

Oops.

SUNJATA

Zephyr

Ah well shit, so much for keeping this quiet.

You only get a second to turn around before the glint of iron catches your eye and your brain does A Stupid Calculation and you've stepped forward into the path of it, thinking only that you have to keep the idiot child from being hit. And bravo, you succeed! Because instead of hitting the fight-starting moron, the knife cuts into you, slicing neatly down the left side of your face, hitting eyebrow and cheek and mercifully avoiding your eye.

Not that he'd be able to tell over all the blood.

"Fucking hell, son of a Rae-fucked cunt!" The string of expletives likely would have continued, except you have to stop to spit blood out of your mouth. Someone passes you a rag and you press it to your face, trying to staunch the flow of blood. Behind you the attention has shifted away from the would-be brawlers; it is now focused solely on you and the tall man, an uneasy and angry crowd murmuring as they wait for the next move.

never trust a survivor until you find out what he did to stay alive

i have seen what the darkness does

say goodbye to who i was

In all honesty, Sunjata had never meant to cause much harm. More of a warning than anything else, but he feels the tension and shift of the blade as it sliced through skin and keeps going until it’s free, distracting him from the group as he half turns to spy the dripping red from the starry blade, his teeth still clenched and his jaw tight with a large amount of tension. And then he spies the eye covered in blood, and there’s a second where his heart roars in his ears, an oh shit as he’s shifting away from the person that’s thrown the punch as rags are handed to Zeph.

“Get out of here.” He calls to the group, hoping they’ll listen — the majority of them at least. Haai makes her appearance, circling Sunjata briefly before moving to try and push the crowd away and back. The blade goes back to his side as he moves toward Zeph, steel gaze finding the person who’d handed the rags. “Go get some water. Fresh water, not salt water.” He hopes that they listen before his attention moves to Zeph, grabbing another clean rag. “Where’d I get you?” Where’s the worst of it?

SUNJATA

Zephyr

Still cursing aggressively, you press the cloth more firmly to the gash with one hand and attempt to wipe blood out of your eye with the other - a futile gesture that only succeeds in leaving you more grotesquely bloody than before. It's not the deepest cut in the world, nor the deepest you've ever gotten, but faces have a tendency to bleed like goddamn faucets and yours is not exempt.

Through your remaining clear eye you see the towering figure of the Arm-Biter approaching you again. "Get the fuck away," you snarl, shoving out with your right arm in an attempt to gain some space. It occurs to you that you could likely tell this crowd to jump him and they'd oblige; already itching for a fight, you doubt it would take much to turn them against this literally towering figure of authority. Some of them have dispersed at his command, but not many.

And nighttime in Torchline is not the time to pick fights.

You're starting to feel a little dizzy. Someone returns with water, looking hesitantly between you and Jata as though unsure who to give it to. You know you probably ought to find a doctor, but you're reluctant to leave this particular powder keg to explode.

Or maybe you should. Fuck it, man: he wanted to be a 'biter. Shouldn't be such a surprise, if the people decide to bite back.

never trust a survivor until you find out what he did to stay alive

i have seen what the darkness does

say goodbye to who i was

Somehow, Sunjata isn’t worried about the possible fight – perhaps it’s because of the arsenal of shifts within his skin. If they wanted to test the idea of an armbiter, he could think of a couple shifts that would fit directly in that scenario. But he hopes it doesn’t come to this, not as some of the crowd begins to fade and he can focus on Zeph and the amount of blood that comes pouring from the other man’s face. An arm flings up, trying to gain some space, pushing off of Sunjata a small amount as he sighs quietly.

Wondering why Zephyr had stepped into the space in the first place, easily getting hit with it. But the bucket of water comes, and Sunjata reaches for it – gaze flickering back to Zephyr. “Close your eyes.” He rumbles, absently adding in an ’if you can’ and moving to pour some of the water overtop Zephyr’s head to get the blood out of his eyes, to make it easier to clean up and see where exactly the Arbiter had gotten him.

Still, surprisingly Sunjata doesn’t feel any remorse for it. More of a ‘what the fuck Zeph’ sort of feeling, swallowing down any impending thoughts of Nate and what had spurred his shit mood to begin with.

SUNJATA

Zephyr

You'd assumed the water was for you to drink, not for your wound. Because of this you only have a second to think about the request to close your eyes, compute what it means, and snap out "Don't-" before you're doused in liquid, filling your nostrils and causing you to cough as red drips onto your shoulders and chest, leaving you somehow more of a mess than before.

"Fucking shit- you tryin'a kill me, y'godsdamned biter cunt?" In all fairness, you can see better now- well enough to glare at him, your now-uncovered gash continuing to ooze fresh blood. From off to your left you hear some whispers confirming your fears (Didja boil that first? Oh, shit-) which means you have infection to think about, which is just lovely.

An older woman with broad shoulders and a hawk's gold glare grabs you around the shoulders, clearly intending to lead you away. "You oughta get out'a here, 'Biter," you growl at the taller man. "I ain't gonna' protect ya if shit goes south. I gotta find someone to stitch up my fuckin' face."

never trust a survivor until you find out what he did to stay alive

i have seen what the darkness does

say goodbye to who i was

“If I wanted to kill you, I would have.” Sunjata replies easily, not thinking half a mind about how exactly to speak while there’s far too many ears around. But regardless, he focuses on the way that Zeph can actually see now. His lips part to mention to apply pressure or something, that’s what Nate had taught him, right? Fuck, he can’t entirely remember, and now there’s that deep set of dread coiling up within him.

At least the gathering crowd has mostly dispersed. Job done, yeah?

“I don’t need your protection Zeph.” He replies somewhat dryly, nodding to the woman that goes to take him away, before his gaze slips toward the crowd once more and he’s shifting into his panther form as someone goes to move forward to grab. A hiss and a snarl leaves him as he darts through, hopping over debris left in the alley and disappearing to figure out what exactly he needs to do now.

-FIN

SUNJATA