voice; un: lowell

[vibing]

cw: grief, talk of death, suicidal thoughts, language

[ The feed clicks on to ragged breathing, too close to the Omni ]

Who the hell killed Flynn? Some guy with a light sword. Give me names.

[ Yuri's voice is low and rough, somehow both heated and emotionless. His emotional state has been degrading since Flynn's omen led him to Flynn's corpse. He growls and there's rustling over the Omni ]

If you killed him, be at the Gate at midnight.

Comments

[vibing]

[ The lamp lands him in the little front garden of a small, quaint brick house. Yuri pushes open the door as soon as he hears Eddie, waving him inside. Repede gets up from where he was lying in the kitchen, greeting Eddie with his nose nudging Eddie's hand.

In the small living room to the right of the front door is Flynn's rapidly decaying body. The room is empty except for him, a threadbare carpet, a pile of Flynn's armor in the corner, and a small kestrel, sitting at attention by Flynn's side. He looks up at Eddie, watching him with sharp eyes. ]

It's okay, Smokey. He's here to help.

[ Or at least to provide answers. Yuri moves into the living room, staying by the wall. He leans back against it to let Eddie work uninterrupted. ]

The crystals have been growing fast. There are more now than there were an hour ago, and they're everywhere.

[ Flynn's body is wearing just his tunic and leggings, his blonde hair limp, his face encrusted with those pale blue crystals. Yuri can't quite bring himself to look at Flynn's head. It doesn't even look like him anymore. This body isn't him. ]

[klussy]

(It really is a quaint house. It's a calmer, sweeter setting than the grisly scene that awaits him. Despite why he's here, he can't help but be happy to see the dog and murmurs a soft, sincere, "Hey baby" to the dog, taking a moment to rub Repede's head.

Animals never made Eddie nervous anymore. They used to back when he let his mom believe he was allergic to all of them, or that they were all some threat. The only thing that still kind of unnerved him were crabs and lobsters. But the krestel? Eddie gazes back at it, mostly just feeling quiet respect for its protectiveness. Animals were so loyal.

Eddie slips the bag off his shoulders and kneels down next to Flynn. It's weird. He doesn't really know the guy, but he remembered meeting him and it was such a stark contrast to that guy. Vibrancy and life gone, leaving behind this husk. It's the first time Eddie has actually seen a dead Sleeper in person, and the black cluster expands across his eye. The pressure in the room seems to gradually drop, feeling heavier, like dense summer heat.

Dolly moves slowly to sit down on the other side of Flynn, neat and almost regal in how she poses, her head bowed to watch Flynn. She was recording again, but this time for documentation, not publication.)

Can I take some? (Eddie opens his bag, taking out a few different things. Tweezers, empty vials, and vials with some blood in them.

It really didn't look like Flynn. All the same, Eddie digs something else out of his bag: a small bundle of flowers. Baby's breath. They seemed like a flower Flynn might have enjoyed. He lightly sets them just next to Flynn's head, a silent gesture of humanity that Moira once told him was proof that he was more of Angela's pupil than her own.)

Can I - examine him in general? (He looks over at Yuri, his hands on his lap, but clearly he doesn't just mean visually.)

[vibing]

[ The flower is a nice gesture, but it feels like accepting that Flynn is dead. Flowers are an offering to the dead, and Flynn-- is. He is, and Yuri averts his eyes.

The big cat is pretty cool. Yuri pays attention to her instead of everything else that's happening. ]

Uh. Yeah, I guess. I... [ He isn't precious about death, usually. He isn't, but if there's a chance, any chance, that he might come back-- ] but not too much. I don't know how any of this works, but if he can come back, I don't want to hurt that chance.

[ Smokey watches Eddie intently, clearly choosing to trust him, for now. He's as protective over Flynn as Yuri is, something Yuri thinks he must have given the bird. If he is a part of Yuri, of course he wants to protect Flynn. That's just what they do.

He pushes off the wall ]

I'll be in the kitchen.

[ If Eddie needs anything. He can't watch this. Can't watch Flynn's body be poked and prodded. And Smokey will be there to watch, to make sure nothing awful happens. He trusts Eddie, as much as he trusts anyone here so far, but this is Flynn.

Repede moves to his side, following Yuri into the kitchen. ]

[klussy]

(He might be permanently dead, it's true. Eddie wasn't about to write that off the ballot entirely, tragic as it might be. He doesn't think he is. If he was, he'd just be a regular dead body.)

I won't do anything much. (He promises swiftly. He had the skill set to perform a basic medical examination. Cadavers were the starting place of any med student, but out of respect for the two men, he won't do it.

He doesn't question it when Yuri leaves. He honestly couldn't stomach watching someone pick at Richie's body either. He tries to work quickly, efficiently. He peels off samples of the crystals, trying his best to not damage Flynn's skin in the process. He takes swabs from inside his mouth, under his nails. He scrapes away some decay and sees if there's any blood to draw - which, turned out, there was mostly ink with streaks of blood. He moves Flynn's body gently, mostly to see how stiff he was, how he felt.

He closely examines the wound he supposed killed Flynn. Occasionally, he stops to jot down quick notes in his notebook or murmur something to Dolly. Then eventually he sits back on his calves and just watches. Flynn's rotting, no doubt, but there's something else. It's like he's pulsing with the rot, the crystals. The air didn't smell as acidic as it normally would with a corpse, but it smelled...vaguely salty.

Eddie finally gets up from the floor. He puts most of his evidence away into his bag to be examined later, but brings the vial of "blood" or, rather, ink with him out into the kitchen.)

I'm not so sure he's as dead as he looks. (Eddie stops in the doorway to the kitchen, rolling the vial in his palm.) He's...dead, but I don't think he's going to stay dead. The parts under the crystal don't seem to be rotting the way the rest of him is. And this is um- what his blood looks like right now.

(He holds the vial out.)

That's not what blood looks like after we die. That looks a lot more like ink.

[vibing]

[ Yuri started cleaning the last few dishes as soon as he got into the kitchen. It's something to do. Not that he likes cleaning, but it's better than sitting still.

He goes from that to sweeping. And from that to wiping down the surfaces, refusing to think about Flynn. If he doesn't think about it, it isn't real.

By the time Eddie comes into the kitchen, he's sweating in the dim light of the lamps. Repede is watching Yuri impassively, looking very unimpressed. ]

So he's... going to come back?

[ Somehow, that hurts too. It's like a kick in the gut. A kick in the gut that makes his knees weak and he leans on the counter, his eyes feeling hot. Fuck. He hasn't cried in years, and it's been verging so much today, like he's going to break, like it's going to spill over the edge.

He takes a ragged breath, looking up at the vial through a curtain of hair. ]

Yeah, that. His blood was red.

[ Normal, he doesn't say. It didn't change. Flynn didn't get anything special, no new powers. He was just Flynn. ]

How soon?

[ Like Eddie will know. He needs to know. His hand balls into a fist against the counter, and there's desperation behind his eyes.

After all, what's the point without him? ]

[klussy]

I don't want to give you any definitive answers. This is purely theory, okay?

(Despite the clinical words he goes with, Eddie manages to say this as gently as possible. He doesn't want to give Yuri hope for one direction or another. That would feel cruel, but one of the hardest parts about being a medic was the Bad News Part which...usually had open-ended ideas rather than solid answers.)

I think he's going to come back. But this is nothing like what we dealt with before. But it's also not ...normal death either.

(Obviously. Eddie swallows and shifts closer to Yuri. He almost doesn't touch him, but in the end, he decides to lightly reach out to place a hand on Yuri's shoulder. His touch was light enough that it'd be easy to shrug away, but the contact felt important. He doesn't tell Yuri that it's going to be okay.

But it was a gesture that he wasn't alone either. He drops his hand a second later, only mildly awkward.)

I'll see if there's anything unique about this back at my place. (Along with the other samples he took, but he wasn't about to get too clinical.)

Yuri, it's impossible to determine that right now. We don't know anything about dying in this place. I'm sorry. It could be a few hours or a few days. (Or longer. But...He felt that went without saying.)

I'd keep a close eye on him though. His body's still changing which could mean it'll continue to change back to life. He might be really vulnerable when that does happen. (If it happened.)

[vibing]

[ He isn't surprised at the words. He knows what Eddie's doing. He's trying to not get his hopes up, but not dash them either. He's trying to make him feel better without promising that there will be some miracle, that Flynn will just be there in the morning, smiling that stupid, sunny smile of his like nothing even happened.

He drops his head and nods. ]

Yeah. Yeah, I'll watch him. I'll... If he's not back in, in a week or something, then I'll decide what to do next.

[ He lets out a breath, looking away across the room. What he hell is he going to do if he doesn't come back?

Well, he'll deal with that when the time comes. ]

Thanks. For looking at him. Tell me what you find.