exsilium | sixth rune; death; audio; dated to saturday morning.

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sixth rune; death; audio; dated to saturday morning.

[Koltira's voice is even more guttural than usual, thick with gravel and pain. The strange reverberation is more pronounced, too; it's as though some other spirit hisses in echo of each word he says.]

I ask you--for my sake--for yours--do not come near my lake right now. [he pauses, exhaling raggedly.] Best ... best, in fact, to avoid the area around it in a several mile radius. For several days, at least.

Please.

[another short, gasping breath, and he's done.]

[OOC edit: koltira is now in his blood frenzy. you are free to approach him, action-style, but please keep in mind that the content of such threads may be triggering. death knights are sadists, and their view of violence is inevitably sexualized. OK? OK <3]

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[Mahdi makes his way over cautiously.]

I'm not gonna turn back after coming all this way.

[He keeps moving back, though he stumbles as he does so, his steps unsure due to the constant waves of pain.]

I don't want you here.

[Mahdi may not be human, but his flesh looks as soft and fragile, as fit to tear, as anyone else Koltira has ever met. He looks away, covering his face with one hand, and groans.]

Koltira...

[Never the best person when it comes to sensing danger and self-preservation, Mahdi makes a cautious approach, hand extended.]

You're in pain...

[And he knows what he was told, and it isn't that he didn't believe it, but he simply can't stand to see anyone suffer. Not if there's something he can do.]

Can't I at least stay with you until it passes? You shouldn't be alone right now.

[he snaps, taking another step back, doing his best not to even look at that hand.]

Alone is exactly what I need to be! Go home, Mahdi. [He growls low in his throat.] Now.

[Mahdi lowers his hand, swallowing the lump that's suddenly developed in his throat. Jeez, Koltira can be really scary when he means to be. He's dangerous, too, Mahdi hasn't forgotten. But he doesn't leave. Koltira is still his friend, and that's what's most important. He takes a few, cautious steps closer.]

Maybe my powers can help. At least let me try that?

[He doesn't want to use them without permission, especially with Koltira already angry with him.]

[His voice is choked with pain. He makes a rapid 'no' gesture with his hands, several times, frantic. He can hear the rush and flow of Mahdi's life inside his body, and it's becoming difficult to concentrate.]

Do not. Do nothing. Go.

I can't do nothing. That's the one thing you can't ask me to do. I can't, not for someone I care about.

[Mahdi is certain of this. He's stood by when others suffered and done nothing - what precious little he tried had no effect, and he could not use his voice, could not touch - and even now, he knows it might have a bad result, or no result at all. But for his own heart he can't do as Koltira asks him. Not more nights lost to sleep, to the oppressive anxiety of helplessness he experiences his more than he would ever admit.

He thinks: It can't be easy for Koltira. Koltira is so many things that he's not, things Mahdi doesn't understand. He's big, strong, angry, violent, certain. Beautiful like a hurricane on the horizon, a dark sky ready to throw lightning.

Mahdi clips his flashlight to his belt, pressing his hands together as if in prayer. It's really just a way to focus.

He can't make the pain vanish completely. If only he could do that. He isn't sure what will happen, if his projections will distract from the pain, if they'll be sucked away like light into a black hole, or if there will be any use of this at all. He clears his mind, so the emotions he sends won't have a touch of fear to them: warmth, affection, love and admiration.]

[It isn't that Mahdi's efforts are useless, or meaningless. It's just that they aren't enough. Nothing is enough right now. Koltira feels a momentary break in the haze over his mind, but that only clarifies his desire to get as far away as possible. His eyes widen, and he takes another uncertain step back. Unfortunately, the haze settles over him again all too quickly, and he falls to his knees, trembling with the pain.]

Mahdi. Please ...

[Mahdi rushes to his side, touching Koltira's shoulder.]

Hey... At least let me get you home or something...!

[How he plans to get a huge elf with heavy armor on anywhere is kind of a mystery, but if there's one thing Mahdi is, it's optimistic.]

[Koltira grabs Mahdi by the wrist, his grip crushingly tight. His voice seethes with threat.]

I told you. I told you, and you would not listen--

[Words fail him. Mahdi's skin is warm under his cold fingers, warm and pulsing with red-blooded life. He twists Mahdi's arm painfully, unnaturally, and then pushes hard on the other man's chest, intending to knock him down. He keeps a tight grip on Mahdi's arm as he does this, his sharp nails cutting into whatever flesh they touch.]

Ow! [Mahdi cries out loud, hearing sick sounds as Koltira's nails tear through flesh of his and he's tossed down as effortlessly as an unwanted toy.

"Your wrists are so fragile. Someone could break them so easily. They wouldn't even have to try hard!"

"...Not funny! Let me go!"

He's pretty sure he also hears his arm going from his socket as he's shoved, since he falls and his arm pretty much stays put, aside from the skin going to ribbons where he's gripped. There's a kind of beautiful efficiency to it, Mahdi thinks: Koltira doesn't have to waste a lot of movement to hurt him badly.

"You're so cute when you struggle. You really don't know when to give up. Be careful with that, baby, someone's gonna take that as an invitation to break you."

Mahdi is trembling. He's getting a woozy, and he's not sure if it's a case of nerves or more pain.]

I'm sorry, Koltira. Please don't be angry with me.

Is this going to help you?

[Mahdi thinks he must look pathetic, dangling, so at another's mercy. He's clammy with fear, but at least he's not crying.

Not yet. Not while anyone's looking.

That's the thought that gets him through.

It has to, because his only other thought is, This is it. I seriously might die.]

[Koltira throws Mahdi to the ground, pinning him there by his wrists. He bends low over Mahdi, his breath cold against the other man's neck, his body shaking. His sharp nails rake down Mahdi's forearms as he whispers.]

You cannot help me. You could never help me.

[Mahdi can't look Koltira in the face like this, and he's almost relieved about it, because the hot sting in the back of his nose and the welling of in his eyes indicates he's nearly to his limit. The pain is incredibly - experiencing this kind of pain is so much worse than witnessing it.

But the sharpness, the cold helps a little here, reminds him that this weight is Koltira, the key difference, the thing that keeps him grounded in all of this ugliness instead of being yanked into years of the past by whispered memories.]

I'm sorry. This must be so hard for you. I know you can't control it it but I didn't understand.

[Mahdi swallows the lump in his threat that very nearly prevents words from escaping.]

I know you wouldn't want to do this to me. Whatever happens, it's my fault, okay?

[There is one option. One way to escape, though it terrifies him. Still, fear is better than injury or death, right? He can't reach his flashlight, though, so it's probably his only option.

It wouldn't be right to shove himself on Koltira's blade, though, in spite of everything Mahdi is certain his friend would live to regret that.]

[Somehow, the sight of Mahdi's blood, or perhaps the sound of his voice, or the frightened shift of his weight beneath Koltira's body--somehow, the full reality of the situation strikes Koltira. He jerks back abruptly, letting of Mahdi, his eyes wide with horror at the long, livid gouges he's left on both of the other man's arms.

Koltira scrambles to his feet.]

No--no.

[Mahdi falls to the ground uselessly, quickly scrambling out of reach.]

I'm... I'm sorry, this is all my fault. I know you wouldn't normally do something like this. I hope you can forgive me.

[The sight of his own blood is unnerving. Not to mention the pain is pretty incredible. Over all this might be hedging into the top 5 most terrifying things he's even been through.

Okay, it might be in the top 2.

Mahdi struggles to his feet, still backing away.]

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sixth rune; death; audio; dated to saturday morning.

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