forum Glitches // OxO // Closed

Started November 27, 2019 by @ElderGod-Icefire

tune

"Oh yeahhh." Nyx said, remembering. "Right. I wanna see the other ones." he shrugged, and leaned against Jude slightly.

"Mhm, and you will, in about thirty seconds," Jude said, smiling as they walked into the reptilian section of the zoo filled with snakes, lizards, and frogs.

Nyx walked with Jude, smiling as they walked into the reptilian section. "So these are animals that don't have fur, right?" He asked curiously.

"No fur, yeah." Jude nodded, chuckling at a colourful poisonous frog, "They're all cold-blooded."

He nodded slightly. "Oh, okay." He replied, looking at the different animals with a faint, contented smile.

Jude spotted something long and slow-moving in the corner of his eye, and he let out a sound of excitement and disgust,"Mhhh! An anaconda…oh." He pointed out, his eyes widening at the sight of the giant snake.

Nyx grimaced. "Eww. It's another big belt animal." He said with a soft laugh, looking up at Jude, then at the snake.

"Belt animal," Jude repeated himself, smiling as he shook his head. "God, I'm still terrified of these. You know they're the heaviest of snakes? And they basically strangle their prey…it's just…ugh." He shivered with a strained laugh.

Nyx grimaced. "Gross. That's disgusting." He replied, shaking his head slightly.

"Yeah, well, twelve-year-old me didn't seem to think so," Jude smiled at the memory, "I loved snakes as a kid. They scared the shit out of me, but, still."

(gtg soon sorry)

He laughed, shaking his head. "Why would you love something that scared the shit out of you?" He replied, arching an eyebrow at Jude.

Jude hummed, "Well– you learn to love that part of them too," He shrugged, a little smile playing at the edge of his lips, Nyx scares me; in a subtle, non-intimidating way. And I could definitely fall– "Even the fact that a single bite from some of them could kill me six times over, I still liked them."

Nyx shook his head. "That doesn't make sense." he replied, looking up at Jude with confusion in those blue eyes. "Why would you love something that could kill you?" it didn't seem to register with him that he, too, could kill a man six times over.

"Hmm," Jude sounded, thinking of his answer, "I guess you could say I accepted the fact that they were dangerous. It's their nature, after all. You learn to love the parts you don't like, and you don't hold it against them, because it's part of what they are. You can't ignore it, and you can't let it get to you," He shrugged, watching as the giant snake coiled itself around a low branch, "There are thousands of things that can kill you in this world, and you just have to learn which ones to really fear."

"But…you could use that rationale on anything!" He frowned. "You could use it to excuse loving a serial killer!" His eyebrows drew together. "Where do you draw the line for that?"

"The line should be drawn at their disposition," Jude answered, gesturing to the snake, "Animals need to be able to fight and defend themselves. Serial killers have no excuse –other than some psychotic stuff– for killing people. If it was in self-defence, it would be different."

Nyx bit his lip, realizing something. "But…what about me?" He asked slowly, looking up at Jude with a careful, scared vulnerability in his eyes. "I killed people and it wasn't in self-defense."

"You…what?" Jude whispered, did I hear him right? His hand went slack in Nyx's as he tried to remember any mention of it before. His gaze was still and unwavering, as he tried to suppress a shiver at the thought of his father– his father's company making Nyx do such a thing.

Nyx bit his lip slightly, eyes skittering away. "I told you before what…what I was designed to do…" He said slowly. "Did you think it had never been tested?" He closed his eyes, waiting for Jude to pull away, to push him away. To say "too much".

"I thought…" Jude shook his head in disbelief, feeling the weight of the air around them. "I didn't think they–" He swallowed the bitter words that rose from his throat, his eyebrows pulling together, "When you said the project was discontinued, I thought it ended before anyone…anyone got hurt."

He shook his head a little bit, wrapping his arms around himself and not looking at Jude. "No. They discontinued it because it was taking too long and the military didn't want to wait." He replied softly, waiting for what he thought was inevitable. For Jude to say "I'm done" and walk away. Or report him, bring him back to RTI to be locked up in that pod again, forever.

Jude let out a long sigh, rubbing his eyes with a quiet groan. This changes everything, He realized, thinking about how he would never look at his father the same way, and the police…how would he explain this to them? Could he? "Fuck," Jude breathed, his hands twitching for a smoke or just something to hold. Without really thinking, he took Nyx's folded arms and wrapped them around himself, winding his own arms around him and holding him close. "I'm sorry," He told him.

Nyx let out a slow breath, relaxing a little bit with that touch. "It's okay." He whispered back. "You didn't know." He didn't think Jude would push him away now, and closed his eyes, leaning into Jude.

"Still," Jude said, shaking his head and trying to tell himself he would worry about this later, "I can't tell you how sorry I am. This is– this is my father's company, and I don't know how to fix this." He let out a shaky breath, glad that Nyx couldn't see his troubled expression.

Nyx bit his lip. "I…I don't think there's a way you can fix it." He replied quietly, eyes closed. He let out a soft breath, and held onto Jude. He didn't want to let go.