forum If I'm to be a weapon, it will be of my own volition // OxO // Open

Started January 26, 2021 by @Fraust

tune

"I'm sure they're similar enough." Adder said, shrugging and finally eating some bread. He stared at nothing and let himself zone out.

"Probably, yeah… I-I dunno how we could rescue my siblings anyway. I haven't any money to get back to England, and I dunno if they'd be willing to fight back against my parents."

Adders snapped back into reality. "I'm sure we can convince at least one of them. And we can earn money, or steal it, or-" You could ask your dad. A voice in the back of his mind said, making him trail off. His face went blank and he froze, debating with himself.

"Mm… maybe. My older brother Friese might be willing. He's the most… eager to fight of my siblings. I dunno if the rest of them would be willing to gang up against my parents…" Lin sighed softly.

I can't ask my dad, it's been six months, and he hates me.
"We can at least try." Adders said, accidentally throwing his bread slice across the fort and having to go get it. "Between your awesome fire and lightning powers and my-" He paused, "-metal manipulation, we can conquer anything!"

Lin flushed a bit and nodded. "Yeah, I guess… and my family wouldn't expect me to be coming back home with powerful magic or anything." He laughed weakly. "My older siblings are all really strong, so… it's more a question of if they'd be willing to fight."

"If you impress them with your power, I'm sure they'd follow your lead." Adders said, shaking the bread and eating some without hesitation. "I'll help where ever I can, I have a backup plan for getting to England but it has to be our very VERY backup plan."

"I guess so…" Lin looked down at his hands with a contemplative hum, glancing up again at Adders' proposition. "Hmm? A backup plan?" He asked to clarify. "Alright, what have you got? It might very well work…"

"Like I said, very very backup but-" Adders groaned and rubbed his eyes with the heel of his palm, "-my father could probably get us flown over. And that removes the added complication of me going through border control as a 'missing child'" He made quotation marks in the air with his fingers for the last two words.

"Huh. I guess you… still have contact with your dad, then?" Lin asked curiously. "Enough that he'd be willing to fly us to England in the first place?" Why would he be living alone, then?

"Not really, I haven't seen, or spoken to him for about six months. I remember where he lives, it's not close." He sighed and tapped his fingers on his wrist repeatedly. "My father is- interesting. And we had a complicated relationship to say the least."

"Interesting… my relationship with my parents wasn't good, of course, but at least I knew exactly what they thought of me and what they expected of me. They never held that kinda thing back. It sound like you and your father are a bit more complicated."

"Very much so." Adders said, losing his appetite and putting his bread down. "We fell out a lot. I was planning to leave a long time before I did. Probably should have gone earlier." He tucked his knees up and hugging them in to his chest.

"Huh." Lin paused before taking another bite of his bread, watching Adders curiously. "What exactly is your dad like, then? Is he nice, but you just fought on everything? Or is he mean and hurtful?"

"He was more focused on his job than me but when he was, I don't think he knew he was being mean." He looked down. When he glanced up again, he started directly at Lin. "Not sure I want to share it all now."

"Yeah, no problem. Don't feel pressured to tell me anything you don't want to." Lin held up his hands a bit. "I'm happy to share anything with you, though, so if you've got any questions, don't be afraid to ask."

"I'm sorry for cutting it off mid-story, I just- need to figure stuff out first." He dropped his arms and his legs fell so he was sitting cross-legged on the floor. "How did you get out of your house? You said you stole money."

"No problem… and I snuck out at night after I broke into the family safe. I only took enough to buy the ticket, although I probably should've gotten more… anyway, the doors are locked at night, so I had to burst one open." Lin yawned a bit and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Burst one open? Like with fire? Wouldn't they notice?" Adders said, cocking his head like a confused dog.

"Nah, just kicked it hard enough. I'm not too worried about them noticing anyway. I mean, I'm sure they've noticed I'm gone by now even if they didn't notice the door." Lin shrugged.

"I was worried you'd used fire, and they'd be like 'ARGGHH WHO BURNT THE DOOR' to your siblings or something" Adders said.

Lin laughed softly. "Yeah… they probably wouldn't have assumed I was the one who used fire considering they don't think I've got any powers. That's one reason I didn't try to use any."

"Way more discreet than me, we just yelled a lot, and I ran." Adders hesitated. "And ran in front of a car, and got hit, and kept going." He paused, "Anyway!"

"You got hit by a car?" Lin asked, confused. "Wouldn't that like… you know… hurt you pretty badly?" He asked. "How are you still okay? I presume you didn't get medical attention, after all."

"It hurt but I kinda just was hit sideways and just lay there for a bit, someone called the police and an ambulance but by the time they got there, I was already running away."

"Interesting. Did you have any actual injuries?" Lin asked curiously. He'd never been hit by a car before, after all, so he was interested to know what it was like.

"It reopened a scar but otherwise bruising, scrapes from hitting the ground and a concussion which I got help for at a homeless shelter." Adders automatically rubbed his shoulder. Just thinking about it made him do this. For comfort you might say.

Lin nodded a bit. "That sounds interesting. I'm not sure how I'd fare if I was hit by a car… I'm pretty resilient, but I feel like it would still hurt me quite a bit. Although… I don't really feel pain much at all on some parts of my body anymore. Sometimes I find injuries that I didn't even realize I'd gotten."

"I'm honestly surprised I didn't die. My dad reported me dead when he heard to avoid a scandal about me running away. But when some people saw me run, they reported me missing. So… I'm legally dead and missing." He looked up at Lin, "That's really sad. Nobody should have to deal with that."

Lin shrugged and looked down at his arms. "I feel like there's something wrong with me… like, I haven't really gone to a doctor or anything, you know? But I don't think it's normal not to feel pain."