They didn't know my name until you said it. [And there might not be any cameras up here, but still. Jon huffs as he jabs the button to call the lift. It opens almost immediately. He'd like to see someone try to hurt Alessandro. That wouldn't end well for the other party. Lyall, though...] I'll be careful in what I ask them. And if they start to get agitated we can leave. I can just pretend I'm making a donation still and back out, if I need to. I can't even chop off my own fingers. I doubt they'll get very far.
[ Ava steps into the lift with him, checking for those cameras in question. There aren't any, likely to protect them from liability. If no one knows the faces or names of the people who have come in to make donations, then they can't be pulled for complaints. Can't be pulled in to court. Especially if it's all about a debt.
She wonders if they shouldn't be going to some director's office. Maybe she'll do that after.
Ava looks towards Jon. ]
Uh... Do I want to know why you're aware of these facts?
I needed an anchor to get Daisy out of the coffin. My own body seemed... good enough. I'm rather attached to it. [Hahah! Dismemberment humor.] But I couldn't cut off my finger, no matter how hard I tried. It was healed as soon as I pulled the knife out. It's why I'm fine with stabbing myself if I get... hungry. It's not going to do any lasting damage.
Someone put tape recorders outside the coffin. They helped bring me back. I think it was Martin.
[He shrugs his shoulders uncomfortably as the bell dings at the doors open on the basement level.
It's a morgue. Charming. Jon's silent as they step out and he looks to Ava. He can hear someone working behind a curtain nearby. She might be able to sense there are two people over there. Only one of them is moving.]
[ That doesn't help context at all but, frankly, this isn't the time or the place for it. She absorbs what the information tells her, at least, about tape records and Martin. And when the door opens, she reaches out to grab Jon by the shoulder before he goes too far. She just wants a moment to figure out what's down here.
The morgue is clean. Pristine, actually, but it just adds to the dichotomy of the city in general, the black and white stark in contrast. But she hears someone doing...something. It doesn't sound like an embalming machine, like the one she's used to. It sounds like the soft clank of metallic instruments, like surgery.
Her vision shifts to Auspex and she moves just a little ahead of Jon to get a good look at who all is down here. Just humans, she realizes, but one is moving...and one is not. The second person isn't even dead, not entirely, not yet--
And the blood she smells is fresh. Warm. It hits her and stirs her stomach, makes her half-ravenous. She should've eaten, she realized but she'd...just had blood before meeting Jon, and she shouldn't be this hungry, but she is and she doesn't understand it. She blinks away Auspex, turning her head away, trying not to alert Jon too badly. With a gesture of her hand, she indicates he should be quiet as they approach. ]
[He holds back, notices the... odd reaction Ava's having, and creeps after her. As he does, Jon hits the record button on his tape recorder again without even thinking about it. It's only a soft click and very quiet whir from the tape, but in the relative quiet of the morgue, it's practically deafening. The sounds of movements pause and a man's voice calls, "Tom, is that you? Five minutes, man. I've gotta close up."]
Close up what?
[Jon can't help himself. He really can't. Static crackles across the tape. A melanistic man pokes his head out from behind the curtain looking confused.
And then he freezes. "I'm closing up the donor. I've got the piece of lung we needed." He blinks. "What the... who are you?!"]
[ The tape recorder clicks on. Ava turns back to Jon, irritated. And then again, near-furious, when he actually says something.
Fucking idiot--
The guy startles and Ava is quick to cross the distance between them, getting his attention solely focused on her. ]
I need you to keep working and close him up. Don't worry about us. You don't need to be concerned.
[ All of the weight of Dominate comes down in those words, forcing him to do exactly what she wants him to. But this only makes her hungrier, makes her want to eat, and now that she's so much closer she can taste the blood in the air --
Focus, Ava. Focus. ]
You need to keep that man alive.
[ Because if he dies, there will be major, major consequences. Thankfully, he does go back to working, a bit of a glaze in his eyes, though he's still adamant (even if his tone is gentler, more placating towards Ava): "You shouldn't be here, you know. This isn't safe. I can get to you in a moment, okay?" ]
[Jon doesn't hurry after Ava, letting her take point and looking around for 'Tom.' But there's no one else down here for the moment. His tape recorder crackles when Ava presses into the surgeon with her Dominate. Jon does approach after a few seconds, trying to get around the curtain to see what exactly is going on. There's definitely a man with his chest cracked open. And there's a cooler of some sort nearby. He can only assume the lung is in here.]
Rodney Fischer. [The name comes to him as he stares at the patient.] Gambling debts. He's been donating parts of his body for years to try to pay them off, but this is the biggest, yet.
[His gaze flicks up to the surgeon then over to Ava.] Can he answer questions while he's working like that?
[ Christ. Ava glances sideways towards the man on the table, again reaching out to keep Jon from just running up into this man's space and causing yet another issue. She practically growls at him. ]
Don't. Let him close the man up, then you can ask your questions. If this flubs and Rodney dies, that's blood on our hands.
[ And she's refusing to let it come to that. ]
Give him time. You'll get to grill him.
[ "Yeah, uh, hi? I'm right here, I can hear you." ]
And you should be focused on your work right now. [ To Jon, she asks: ] You, be focused on Rodney. What else has he given? Do you know?
[Patience. Right. Jon purses his lips and focuses on the patient. He doesn't even need the Eye's knowledge. If Ava is paying close attention, she'll see a faint sheen of multi-colored static flicker across the Archivist's eyes.]
Oh, god. I can- I can See it, Ava. Everything that was cut out. One of his kidneys, part of his liver, spleen, appendix, gallbladder, testes, two strips of muscle and fat from the backs of his thighs. Christ...
[ She does see it. She sees the shifting static, the power in his knowledge. She isn't certain if he's calling on the Eye or if Jon simply Knows...
Some part of her wants to switch to Auspex, to look, to know, to understand the shape of the Beholding as it contrasts to Jonathan Sims... But now isn't the time. It'd be a phenomenally poor time to do this, so she holds off, squeezing his shoulder instead. ]
There's not much holding him together. His body's gonna give out one of these days.
[ "That's his problem, really." The surgeon continues to work, not even looking over. He's stitching the man's body back up. "If he's going to work himself into debt, then by all means. Why do you even care what he gets into?" ]
[The Archivist's attention turns sharply to the surgeon, and the man will have to endure a silent, heated stare that causes his whole body to start shaking.
"C-can you- make him look away if you want me to finish this right." He seems to be imploring Ava.]
Keep focusing on your task and keep that man alive.
[ It's snapped, more intimidation than pure Dominate, but it has the desired effect. In turn, she swivels Jon around by the arm so he's looking at her instead. ]
Hey. Enough. He's almost done. Don't make him lose focus, okay? Just a little longer.
[ She sounds like she's telling Wuffles to calm down when Hawke's making dinner. The irony isn't lost on her that Jon is staring down his next meal. ]
I'm not doing anything. [It's a grouse, but Jon does keep his eyes turned away from the surgeon who seems to be working as slowly as humanly possible. Perhaps because he doesn't want to deal with what comes after. He looks up sharply after a few minutes, though, looking to the lift. There's another crackle of static on the tape recorder.]
[ She stares right back at Jon for a moment, like a mother might to a child that's insisting he's not touching his sibling because his hand is an inch away from them. But Jon does as she asks and she turns back to the other man, waiting, until Jon perks up again. Ava's eyes go to the lift.
Fuck.
Turning, she takes Jon by the arm and tugs him. ]
Go, get in the corner over there, behind the other curtain. Crouch down.
[ And to the other man, she goes and clamps her arm down on his shoulder until he turns to her, and she bores her gaze into him as if looking at him will kill him, and she hisses: ]
Don't tell him about us. We aren't here. And if you say anything, I'll rip your fucking throat out with my fingers. Got it?
[ He swallows, trembling a moment, and then turns his eyes to his work. Ava goes to join Jon if he's gone to hide. If he hasn't, he's getting dragged. ]
[Jon does as he's told. Though he finds a place to crouch so that he can peer through a gap in the curtain hopefully without being seen. He wants to watch Ava and their surgeon. When he hears her threaten him, thought, there's a part of the Archivist that's... well, when she's directing it at other people, seeing Ava do that makes his heart beat a little faster with something other than fear. Maybe the danger of it is what's attractive? That's probably it.
Ava comes over and manages to get to her cover just as the doors ding and a portly looking melanistic man strolls out.
"Hey, Aamir. You got the goods, man?" He sounds far too jovial.
"Yeah. Um... I'm finished." Aamir grabs a cooler and plasters a smile onto his face as he offers it over. "Everything went smoothly. You should send Wes and Jules down here to take Mr. Fischer back upstairs. Soon. Really soon."
Tom huffs. "I'll let 'em know. Might be 20, though. Mrs. Kelso's acting up again."
Aamir's all but sweating as he nods. "Okay. See you on break."
And just like that Tom heads back over to the lift. As soon as the doors close, Jon is up and breaking from cover is Ava doesn't stop him. His eyes are fixed on Aamir. He does, at least, check with her.]
[ Might be twenty. Might be less. She's going to budget five to ten minutes at most, because they'll need to get into the lift before they come down...or they'll need time to hide again. When Tom leaves, Ava steps out, eyeing Aamir carefully. The smell of blood is still prevalent, still strong.
Slowly, she turns back to Jon.
Aamir looks between them. "Please, I don't know what you want but I can't--"
Ava's attention swivels, predatory, back to Aamir. ]
Tell him exactly what he wants to know. Then you'll go home and everything will be fine.
[ Or so she says.
She glances towards Jon and sighs. ]
Yeah, go for it. Make it quick. Five, maybe ten minutes.
[There's no mistaking the hunger in the Archivist's gaze for what it is. He's not thinking about consequences right now, just the knowledge, just being able to sort out if this is the Flesh at work and if they can stop it. Save people like Mr. Fischer from trading more and more of themselves away. There's a louder crackle of static over the recorder.]
What is this place and how did you get- [Oh, no. No. He needs this. This is important. Jon can feel his stomach turning, can taste the iron building at the back of his throat. He needs to get it out quickly.] How did you get involved with it?
[He then proceeds to vomit fresh blood all over the floor in front of him as he doubles over in pain.]
[ Aamir looks shaken, terribly, horribly frightened as Jon approaches. Even Ava's assurances only extend to her; despite knowing he has to answer to the Archivist, he looks petrified at the idea. And just as Jon asks him--
Well, suddenly, Jon is throwing up. And it's blood. Ava stumbles back a step as if she's been struck in the face, staring at Jon, bewildered and terrified for him. ]
Jon?! Jon, what's-- Oh, fuck.
[ What's happening to him? Is he hurt? What's--
Oh. That's blood. Fresh blood. It fills her senses and the hunger that has been clawing at her stomach since the restaurant starts to tear itself through her, and all she can think about is blood. Vitae. Food. Satiation from the howling Beast that claws up her throat. It howls and she is suddenly so still, so very still, staring at Jon for too long a moment. ]
[ The world narrows in scope. There is blood. There is food. There are three heartbeats in the room.
Jon is covered in fresh blood, his mouth stained and tainted with it. Aamir's gloved hands are covered with it. Her thoughts are a haze of wanting, of a desire to hunt or feed, and there is nothing here except for prey. She is the predator; she is the monster; she is the killer.
Softly, growing in volume, Ava snarls. Aamir begins to shake, even if he doesn't move, and he is compelled to answer the Archivist. He is compelled to give his story, even warbled and terrified as he watches the woman in front of him swivel her head to his direction, her pupils blown wide, her stare unblinking.
"I-I took this job because I needed the money. Came here about a year ago. They... I wanted to be a surgeon but there were no positions. I have a license; I have my degree. I wanted to do the work. So they have me down here...c-cutting up the people who come to pay their debts." His legs are trembling. "I'm very good at it. I sew them up. Tom does the paperwork, makes them sign on the dotted line, like some kind of devil or demon.
"Me, I just... I'm just the butcher. But I'm the best here. Who else could do what I do, with minimal equipment? The restaurant pays us good money for the meat. For the pieces. But we also give some of them to the patients upstairs. Organ donors. It's all fresh."
Ava's breath comes in a faint rattle, like death itself.
"Oh God, oh-- Oh fuck, what is she? Is she... Look, I just-- Please, let me go. Please!!"
He would be delicious. He has a degree and blood on his hands and no one would miss him, would they? No one would miss him at all.
But the Archivist-- Her gaze falls on Jon once more, a slow breath drawn in, the smell of blood fresh and sweet to her senses. The Archivist knows more. Sees more. Has so much more to give. She could bite him and he wouldn't die, and maybe then she'd finally Know too. Maybe she'd Know about the Beholding. He's right there. He's right there, and so close.
Ava steps forward, reaches out, and takes Jon by the shoulder. ]
[ Ava's grip on Jon's arm is like a vise. Her growl is a rattle close to his ear as she leans in close, her eyes drawn to the smear of viscera on his lips. She looks deeply into his eyes until she can see the sharpened focus of fear. Quietly, she rumbles: ]
Get. Away. From. Me.
[ And with that grip, she shoves Jon towards the lift as she rounds on the surgeon himself, who looks like he might die of terror just by looking at her. With a smooth movement, with the grace of an acrobat or a dancer, Ava leaps upon the man backs him into the wall. She clings to him like a spider and sinks her teeth into his throat. He barely has time to shout before he's lost to the intensity and bliss of her bite, and the scream becomes a curdled, whimpered moan as he sinks down onto the floor with her still attached. ]
[It hadn't occurred to him until the moment when he's coughing, spitting, trying to wipe trails of blood from his mouth that he has a vampire with him. It's made abundantly clear just how much of a problem that is when he looks up and sees Ava staring at him... and then at Aamir.
Jon can't help his own gaze sharpening on the man as he gives his Statement. Pitiful though it might be, it's a lead to this Tom. Perhaps something of the Web is actually at work? The Web aiding the Flesh?
He doesn't get too long to ponder on it by the end, though, because Ava is gripping him hard enough that Jon can't help a sound of pain. And she's growling, and leaning in, and his mind flashes to that day with Daisy, with Mike Crew carelessly murdered beside him, a dull knife pressed to his own throat. Ava's teeth won't be dull, though.
His pulse thrums a rabbit's pace as he stares silently, terror gripping him. And then she's bodily shoving him halfway across the morgue to the lift. Jon staggers with the force and whips around as Aamir starts to scream. She'd told him to leave, but he can't. He can't leave when he has to bear witness to this. His throat is tight. But that man's is tighter. He's going to die.
Aamir is going to die tonight and maybe that would be right, but-]
Ava, stop! [Jon shouts it. Then, because he doesn't have any better 'weapon' to use against the vampire... he tries to compel her.] What are you doing, Ava? Answer me. Right now, right here, what are you doing?
[ The blood is sweet and good on her tongue, warm as it slides down her throat. She's monitoring his heart rate even as the Beast howls in triumph deep within her chest. Ava's control is only just, a thread that's plucked over and over and close to snapping if she doesn't get what she wants. This abates that need just a little but she's well aware that she'll need more. Jon will go and she'll find her way back up, and everything will--
She hears her name only distantly until Jon compels her, and then she's wincing, whimpering into Aamir's neck, pulling her mouth away to gasp painfully, the sound wet with blood that drips from her mouth.
Whipping her head around, she sees Jon there, and her gaze is dark and predatory. She is being denied her meal and he's hurting her. ]
I'm eating, Jonathan Sims, and I told you to get away from me.
[ Those last words are not only thrumming tightly with Dominate but also being shouted into his head, trying to get him to actually go while her meal is fresh, while she can glut herself on this man, or she's going to turn on him. ]
Guh! [He's forced to take a step back toward the lift, and he almost raises a hand to call for it when he stops himself. He's now sporting a splitting headache of his own.]
Promise me you won't kill him. Are you going to kill him?
[Without Ava's fangs in his neck, there's a bit of a lag for Aamir, but he does start to stir. "What's going... on?" Speech slurred. "Hey... you?" He's trying to sound solicitous, clearly still high on whatever toxin is in the vampire's bite.]
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winterfish
no subject
Date: 2019-09-13 05:54 pm (UTC)[This is, surely, comforting information.]
no subject
Date: 2019-09-13 09:45 pm (UTC)She wonders if they shouldn't be going to some director's office. Maybe she'll do that after.
Ava looks towards Jon. ]
Uh... Do I want to know why you're aware of these facts?
no subject
Date: 2019-09-13 09:49 pm (UTC)I needed an anchor to get Daisy out of the coffin. My own body seemed... good enough. I'm rather attached to it. [Hahah! Dismemberment humor.] But I couldn't cut off my finger, no matter how hard I tried. It was healed as soon as I pulled the knife out. It's why I'm fine with stabbing myself if I get... hungry. It's not going to do any lasting damage.
no subject
Date: 2019-09-14 03:21 am (UTC)It doesn't matter if there's no lasting damage, it still hurts like shit.
[ And considering she has been stabbed multiple times? Yeah, she knows that personally. ]
An anchor is supposed to be a part of your body? You weren't attached to anything else in the world?
no subject
Date: 2019-09-14 04:17 am (UTC)[He shrugs his shoulders uncomfortably as the bell dings at the doors open on the basement level.
It's a morgue. Charming. Jon's silent as they step out and he looks to Ava. He can hear someone working behind a curtain nearby. She might be able to sense there are two people over there. Only one of them is moving.]
no subject
Date: 2019-09-14 06:06 pm (UTC)The morgue is clean. Pristine, actually, but it just adds to the dichotomy of the city in general, the black and white stark in contrast. But she hears someone doing...something. It doesn't sound like an embalming machine, like the one she's used to. It sounds like the soft clank of metallic instruments, like surgery.
Her vision shifts to Auspex and she moves just a little ahead of Jon to get a good look at who all is down here. Just humans, she realizes, but one is moving...and one is not. The second person isn't even dead, not entirely, not yet--
And the blood she smells is fresh. Warm. It hits her and stirs her stomach, makes her half-ravenous. She should've eaten, she realized but she'd...just had blood before meeting Jon, and she shouldn't be this hungry, but she is and she doesn't understand it. She blinks away Auspex, turning her head away, trying not to alert Jon too badly. With a gesture of her hand, she indicates he should be quiet as they approach. ]
no subject
Date: 2019-09-14 06:17 pm (UTC)Close up what?
[Jon can't help himself. He really can't. Static crackles across the tape. A melanistic man pokes his head out from behind the curtain looking confused.
And then he freezes. "I'm closing up the donor. I've got the piece of lung we needed." He blinks. "What the... who are you?!"]
no subject
Date: 2019-09-14 06:51 pm (UTC)Fucking idiot--
The guy startles and Ava is quick to cross the distance between them, getting his attention solely focused on her. ]
I need you to keep working and close him up. Don't worry about us. You don't need to be concerned.
[ All of the weight of Dominate comes down in those words, forcing him to do exactly what she wants him to. But this only makes her hungrier, makes her want to eat, and now that she's so much closer she can taste the blood in the air --
Focus, Ava. Focus. ]
You need to keep that man alive.
[ Because if he dies, there will be major, major consequences. Thankfully, he does go back to working, a bit of a glaze in his eyes, though he's still adamant (even if his tone is gentler, more placating towards Ava): "You shouldn't be here, you know. This isn't safe. I can get to you in a moment, okay?" ]
no subject
Date: 2019-09-14 07:00 pm (UTC)Rodney Fischer. [The name comes to him as he stares at the patient.] Gambling debts. He's been donating parts of his body for years to try to pay them off, but this is the biggest, yet.
[His gaze flicks up to the surgeon then over to Ava.] Can he answer questions while he's working like that?
no subject
Date: 2019-09-14 07:25 pm (UTC)Don't. Let him close the man up, then you can ask your questions. If this flubs and Rodney dies, that's blood on our hands.
[ And she's refusing to let it come to that. ]
Give him time. You'll get to grill him.
[ "Yeah, uh, hi? I'm right here, I can hear you." ]
And you should be focused on your work right now. [ To Jon, she asks: ] You, be focused on Rodney. What else has he given? Do you know?
no subject
Date: 2019-09-14 07:38 pm (UTC)Oh, god. I can- I can See it, Ava. Everything that was cut out. One of his kidneys, part of his liver, spleen, appendix, gallbladder, testes, two strips of muscle and fat from the backs of his thighs. Christ...
no subject
Date: 2019-09-14 08:35 pm (UTC)Some part of her wants to switch to Auspex, to look, to know, to understand the shape of the Beholding as it contrasts to Jonathan Sims... But now isn't the time. It'd be a phenomenally poor time to do this, so she holds off, squeezing his shoulder instead. ]
There's not much holding him together. His body's gonna give out one of these days.
[ "That's his problem, really." The surgeon continues to work, not even looking over. He's stitching the man's body back up. "If he's going to work himself into debt, then by all means. Why do you even care what he gets into?" ]
no subject
Date: 2019-09-14 09:05 pm (UTC)"C-can you- make him look away if you want me to finish this right." He seems to be imploring Ava.]
no subject
Date: 2019-09-14 09:46 pm (UTC)[ It's snapped, more intimidation than pure Dominate, but it has the desired effect. In turn, she swivels Jon around by the arm so he's looking at her instead. ]
Hey. Enough. He's almost done. Don't make him lose focus, okay? Just a little longer.
[ She sounds like she's telling Wuffles to calm down when Hawke's making dinner. The irony isn't lost on her that Jon is staring down his next meal. ]
no subject
Date: 2019-09-14 10:07 pm (UTC)Tom's coming for the lung.
["Thank fuck," the surgeon mutters.]
no subject
Date: 2019-09-14 10:13 pm (UTC)Fuck.
Turning, she takes Jon by the arm and tugs him. ]
Go, get in the corner over there, behind the other curtain. Crouch down.
[ And to the other man, she goes and clamps her arm down on his shoulder until he turns to her, and she bores her gaze into him as if looking at him will kill him, and she hisses: ]
Don't tell him about us. We aren't here. And if you say anything, I'll rip your fucking throat out with my fingers. Got it?
[ He swallows, trembling a moment, and then turns his eyes to his work. Ava goes to join Jon if he's gone to hide. If he hasn't, he's getting dragged. ]
no subject
Date: 2019-09-14 10:46 pm (UTC)Ava comes over and manages to get to her cover just as the doors ding and a portly looking melanistic man strolls out.
"Hey, Aamir. You got the goods, man?" He sounds far too jovial.
"Yeah. Um... I'm finished." Aamir grabs a cooler and plasters a smile onto his face as he offers it over. "Everything went smoothly. You should send Wes and Jules down here to take Mr. Fischer back upstairs. Soon. Really soon."
Tom huffs. "I'll let 'em know. Might be 20, though. Mrs. Kelso's acting up again."
Aamir's all but sweating as he nods. "Okay. See you on break."
And just like that Tom heads back over to the lift. As soon as the doors close, Jon is up and breaking from cover is Ava doesn't stop him. His eyes are fixed on Aamir. He does, at least, check with her.]
Can I ask him now?
no subject
Date: 2019-09-15 02:33 am (UTC)Slowly, she turns back to Jon.
Aamir looks between them. "Please, I don't know what you want but I can't--"
Ava's attention swivels, predatory, back to Aamir. ]
Tell him exactly what he wants to know. Then you'll go home and everything will be fine.
[ Or so she says.
She glances towards Jon and sighs. ]
Yeah, go for it. Make it quick. Five, maybe ten minutes.
cw: vomiting blood
Date: 2019-09-15 03:00 am (UTC)What is this place and how did you get- [Oh, no. No. He needs this. This is important. Jon can feel his stomach turning, can taste the iron building at the back of his throat. He needs to get it out quickly.] How did you get involved with it?
[He then proceeds to vomit fresh blood all over the floor in front of him as he doubles over in pain.]
1/2
Date: 2019-09-15 03:29 am (UTC)Well, suddenly, Jon is throwing up. And it's blood. Ava stumbles back a step as if she's been struck in the face, staring at Jon, bewildered and terrified for him. ]
Jon?! Jon, what's-- Oh, fuck.
[ What's happening to him? Is he hurt? What's--
Oh. That's blood. Fresh blood. It fills her senses and the hunger that has been clawing at her stomach since the restaurant starts to tear itself through her, and all she can think about is blood. Vitae. Food. Satiation from the howling Beast that claws up her throat. It howls and she is suddenly so still, so very still, staring at Jon for too long a moment. ]
2/3 i lied
Date: 2019-09-15 03:48 am (UTC)Jon is covered in fresh blood, his mouth stained and tainted with it. Aamir's gloved hands are covered with it. Her thoughts are a haze of wanting, of a desire to hunt or feed, and there is nothing here except for prey. She is the predator; she is the monster; she is the killer.
Softly, growing in volume, Ava snarls. Aamir begins to shake, even if he doesn't move, and he is compelled to answer the Archivist. He is compelled to give his story, even warbled and terrified as he watches the woman in front of him swivel her head to his direction, her pupils blown wide, her stare unblinking.
"I-I took this job because I needed the money. Came here about a year ago. They... I wanted to be a surgeon but there were no positions. I have a license; I have my degree. I wanted to do the work. So they have me down here...c-cutting up the people who come to pay their debts." His legs are trembling. "I'm very good at it. I sew them up. Tom does the paperwork, makes them sign on the dotted line, like some kind of devil or demon.
"Me, I just... I'm just the butcher. But I'm the best here. Who else could do what I do, with minimal equipment? The restaurant pays us good money for the meat. For the pieces. But we also give some of them to the patients upstairs. Organ donors. It's all fresh."
Ava's breath comes in a faint rattle, like death itself.
"Oh God, oh-- Oh fuck, what is she? Is she... Look, I just-- Please, let me go. Please!!"
He would be delicious. He has a degree and blood on his hands and no one would miss him, would they? No one would miss him at all.
But the Archivist-- Her gaze falls on Jon once more, a slow breath drawn in, the smell of blood fresh and sweet to her senses. The Archivist knows more. Sees more. Has so much more to give. She could bite him and he wouldn't die, and maybe then she'd finally Know too. Maybe she'd Know about the Beholding. He's right there. He's right there, and so close.
Ava steps forward, reaches out, and takes Jon by the shoulder. ]
no subject
Date: 2019-09-15 03:55 am (UTC)Get. Away. From. Me.
[ And with that grip, she shoves Jon towards the lift as she rounds on the surgeon himself, who looks like he might die of terror just by looking at her. With a smooth movement, with the grace of an acrobat or a dancer, Ava leaps upon the man backs him into the wall. She clings to him like a spider and sinks her teeth into his throat. He barely has time to shout before he's lost to the intensity and bliss of her bite, and the scream becomes a curdled, whimpered moan as he sinks down onto the floor with her still attached. ]
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Date: 2019-09-15 04:15 am (UTC)Jon can't help his own gaze sharpening on the man as he gives his Statement. Pitiful though it might be, it's a lead to this Tom. Perhaps something of the Web is actually at work? The Web aiding the Flesh?
He doesn't get too long to ponder on it by the end, though, because Ava is gripping him hard enough that Jon can't help a sound of pain. And she's growling, and leaning in, and his mind flashes to that day with Daisy, with Mike Crew carelessly murdered beside him, a dull knife pressed to his own throat. Ava's teeth won't be dull, though.
His pulse thrums a rabbit's pace as he stares silently, terror gripping him. And then she's bodily shoving him halfway across the morgue to the lift. Jon staggers with the force and whips around as Aamir starts to scream. She'd told him to leave, but he can't. He can't leave when he has to bear witness to this. His throat is tight. But that man's is tighter. He's going to die.
Aamir is going to die tonight and maybe that would be right, but-]
Ava, stop! [Jon shouts it. Then, because he doesn't have any better 'weapon' to use against the vampire... he tries to compel her.] What are you doing, Ava? Answer me. Right now, right here, what are you doing?
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Date: 2019-09-15 04:27 am (UTC)She hears her name only distantly until Jon compels her, and then she's wincing, whimpering into Aamir's neck, pulling her mouth away to gasp painfully, the sound wet with blood that drips from her mouth.
Whipping her head around, she sees Jon there, and her gaze is dark and predatory. She is being denied her meal and he's hurting her. ]
I'm eating, Jonathan Sims, and I told you to get away from me.
[ Those last words are not only thrumming tightly with Dominate but also being shouted into his head, trying to get him to actually go while her meal is fresh, while she can glut herself on this man, or she's going to turn on him. ]
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Date: 2019-09-15 04:32 am (UTC)Promise me you won't kill him. Are you going to kill him?
[Without Ava's fangs in his neck, there's a bit of a lag for Aamir, but he does start to stir. "What's going... on?" Speech slurred. "Hey... you?" He's trying to sound solicitous, clearly still high on whatever toxin is in the vampire's bite.]
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