aberrant_type | maskormenace contact post

Nothing's going to make me look away from you, Lynch, [Adam tells him, voice soft but insistent.] I'm sticking around when you get old and ugly, asshole.

[Adam does his best to boost Ronan's energy, but he hasn't got much to give. He's exhausted from doing this for weeks.] What's going on? [He looks up to Hange for information, noting some of her accoutrements.] Did you find out anything useful?

[Ronan leaves this one to Hange. Though he probably has more answers than she does, he doesn't want to be the one to say them out loud. He keeps his head turned away from Adam, wiping at his face with his hands and accomplishing very little, only smearing them with the black stuff.]

[Hange won't risk this opportunity by telling Adam to fuck right off, but the thought crosses her mind. She has... the wrong impression of their relationship...

As it is, her tone is cool but professional. Teens have died in the dozens all round her, Ronan is just one more to take the trip if he can't be saved.]

He's dripping black ooze and no longer seems to have blood. [that is, if he ever did.] He's not actually dissolving and flesh seems intact under the drip. Lymph nodes are not swollen. Some ooze left his tear duck, but I haven't been able to closely inspect the eye. The fluid doesn't seem to have a scent and I haven't tasted it. He reports discharge from the nose and ears as well, of the same kind. He informs me that this has happened before and was due to [... hm] attack or invasion, I suppose, by a demon, but none such is present in this world.

[Adam's impressed by the report, and it helps to have data like that. He only barely keeps himself patient enough to listen to all of it. While he does, he tugs out a cloth handkerchief and starts helping to wipe Ronan's face.] He doesn't have blood? Don't taste it. Ronan, stop. Why are you trying to hide this from me?

[Ronan wants to keep hiding, but he doesn't want to push Adam away, and ultimately he relents and allows Adam to clean him. Very slowly, he turns his face back up to Adam. Sometime in the past few minutes, the oozing had come to a stop. The mess left behind is still terrible.]

I don't want this to be what you remember.

[Hange... waits... teenagers. They get a moment to have their moment, she grabs one of the phials of ooze she just drew and offers it to Adam.]

This came out of a vein. Take a look at it. Ronan, I presume you normally have blood?

[he'd certainly know, what with all those scars.]

Don't talk like you're dying. I'm not going to allow that to happen. Remember how we talked about you trusting me with these things? [Adam sits on the pew beside him, curling a protective and supporting arm around Ronan. He accepts the phial, considering it briefly and handing it back. He's not that kind of scientist. He can't do anything useful with it.] He normally has blood.

I've got you, baby. Did anything happen or is this just the same thing getting worse?

[He is most definitely dying, and even with all the power of the ley line, Adam had been unable to stop it. Ronan can't bring himself to point that out.]

It's the same thing.

[He'd known this was coming. He should have left.]

Do you feel anything? Not off me. I mean... Your eyes? Your hands?

I'll be right back.

[Hange is just going to take one of those phials outside, where she can study it in better light... hold it up to what sun there is, see if there's any color to it there. How can anything be this depthless dark? This does NOT make any sense.]

I feel fine. Tired, that's all, from boosting you as much as I can. [Adam smooths his hair, trying to comfort him as much as he can. He sends a quick text to Magnus, because this is clearly a situation that needs some healing boost as soon as possible. When Hange comes back, Adam lifts his head.] I want to try something with him. I'd like you to observe and collect data, and interrupt if it seems like the situation is significantly worsening.

[Hange's not his first choice to trust, but Ronan seems to have accepted them--her?--and Adam needs information more than anything, which warms him considerably to the idea of a scientist collecting data on Ronan.

He knows Ronan's not going to like this suggestion:] I need data. I want you to take me into the dream. I need to see it for myself.

No.

[That's not a word he uses very often with Adam, but Ronan's using it now. Firmly.]

[Hange took those moments both to observe her sample (it's black out there too, an unnatural black that suggests if she uncapped the phial and dropped in a stone the stone would just be gone, out of the universe, a black that suggests a bit that could eat anything) and to lick some of the ooze off her fingers. A good scientist must taste as well! And it tastes like nothing, too. An absence of data rather than presence of it.

It's really not her argument to have, though Ronan's swift and firm denial interests her.]

I'm willing. [She's always willing to collect data!] Though treating this is completely beyond my expertise, and my equipment, asking for healers from the imPorts might turn up some possibilities. I could easily play it as exploring my own possibilities for medical treatment.

I texted Magnus. He's a magical healer. He'll come.

[He holds Ronan's gaze even as he speaks to Hange.]

I will not let you die, Ronan. I need you to trust me. I need data. I've let this get worse for weeks. I cannot let you die if there is anything I can do. I need to see it for myself.

[Ronan stares right back at Adam, unwavering.]

It doesn't work like it did before. I can't just take you into a dream. I have to take off my body, and I don't know if I can get it back if I do that now, and I don't know what will happen to you if I'm in your head, and there's nothing to see. Which is why I helpfully summed it up for you: No.

[Hange stands there, listening to what sounds kind of like gibberish, blatantly eavesdropping.]

You what? You can't dream without taking off your body? [That's... new.]

I can dream. We can't dream. I have to possess you. Which sounds like a pretty fucking terrible idea right now, doesn't it?

That's bullshit. I have always been able to follow you into dreams. We haven't tested it here, with your new powers, but my powers and our connection are the same. Dream. I'll follow. If I can't, I'll pull you out.

[Yes. The bargain. The stupid fucking bargain that's still got a hold on Adam here. The connection that might very well kill Adam along with Ronan.]

This is a bad idea. You don't know what you're asking for. You should be doing everything you can to free yourself.

I don't know what I'm asking for. That's why I have to ask for it. I need information. It's how I function, Ronan. Trust me and my power. Do you want me to put you under or do you want to go yourself?

[and at this point, the door on the confessional rattles, rattles, and a blond homeless zombie comes out of it, looking a bit informal (and not exactly here to save the day), with bare feet and a hoodie. Magnus' grey eyes are intent and serious, as they take in what appears to be a complete shitshow]

Hey -- uh. [he did not expect Hange, crocodile dundee, to be here. he moves quickly to Ronan] What's happening -- ?

[oh... too bad. hange was enjoying all that juicy information. she recognizes magnus by voice, smiles and waves a hello.]

Seems your healing powers will be put to the test.

[Ronan is less surprised by Magnus's appearance than he should be, though he would have expected him to use the magic key on a better door. Finally taking his eyes off Adam, Ronan looks over - his face still an apparently half-missing horror - and sighs in a way that suggests his time is being wasted.]

I'm dying and they're all going to end up doing stupid shit to try and stop it. Can you guard the door and make sure Gansey doesn't come in? He's gonna be the worst about it.

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