04 . Spam for pre-arranged threads

[godsays]

[ He settles into his own mind with a jarring sense of wrongness, from thoughts that fell in orderly lines to a jumble, mismatched and unsettling. With the ebb of the flood, he has changed, from sanity to the lack of same, and he feels the difference all the more starkly now that he knows for certain what both of them mean.

Heel of his hand rubs at the lump over his breastbone.

He would be sane, if not for the voice. Is that what this meant? Or was it the weakness in his heart that stopped him from being as dangerous as he otherwise would have been? Was the Admiral's goal to take away his teeth, to make him meek? Or was this truly a lesson he should take to heart?

He tries to herd his thoughts, settles into stillness in the corner. Utter stillness, not moving a muscle for hours.

In the meantime: his door is closed. ]

Comments

[wemaketheworld]

[He didn't want to accept the request. Didn't want to leave his cabin at all until he was ready, until he had the situation firmly in hand, but Iris had intruded and made a request of him and obligation more than occasionally trumps personal turmoil. Which would be why Rorschach is currently stalking down the hallway towards Zane's cabin.

Oh. Hey, Zane. Especially cranky Rorschach has been sent to retrieve you.

There's a banging on your door.]

[godsays]

[ The banging on the door gets no response. Zane is not particularly inclined to heed his surroundings, right now. ]

[wemaketheworld]

[He bangs harder, but if there's no answer for long enough he's coming in regardless, even if that means breaking the door down.

Yes, it would probably be less invasive to pick the lock, but he doesn't have the patience for it today and breaking it down is more immediately rewarding anyway.]

[godsays]

[ Unfortunately for Rorschach's sense of catharsis, at some point, Zane glances up, irritated, and stalks to the door. Perhaps he's learned his lesson from Cassel.

Opens the door, to see a completely unfamiliar figure, with some odd cloth stretched over his face. ]

What do you want?

[wemaketheworld]

[Ink shifts across the cloth, agitated but without any clear patterns in it yet. None that Zane doesn't create himself from them, anyway.]

Sent to retrieve you. Have been in your room too long, apparently.

[godsays]

[ Is this something from the Admiral? Inmates can't stay away?

Flicker of confusion, through the annoyance on his face. ]

Who thinks that?

[wemaketheworld]

[Rorschach doesn't know either, Zane, he'd been more than happy to stay in his OWN room rather than drag you out of yours.]

Iris.

[godsays]

[ Iris? Has he been assigned a warden without knowing about it?

The movement of the mask is subtly hypnotic. Odd, the way the patterns change. ]

What does she care?

[wemaketheworld]

Didn't ask. Isn't my problem.

[For a moment the pattern gives the impression of a butterfly's wings, but it's a fleeting moment, and they soon give way to more aggressive impressions, restlessly shifting from one to another.]

Can take it up with her yourself if curious. Only here to get you out of cabin.

[godsays]

[ A beat, as he considers.

Then ] No.

[ The word is testing, to see how Rorschach will respond. ]

[wemaketheworld]

[He growls under his breath, taking a step closer.]

Don't have time for this. Leave now.

[godsays]

Or?

[ It interests him, that Rorschach hasn't made a threat. (Yet?) ]

[wemaketheworld]

Or will force you.

[godsays]

Why does it matter to you?

[wemaketheworld]

Not here to discuss details.

[If he won't move, Rorschach will make him. Currently, this includes stalking over to him and grabbing an arm, fully intent on just bodily dragging him out.

...Yes, Rorschach is significantly shorter than Zane, even with shoes with lifts in them, and technically less physically imposing.

That being said, he has a gift for looming anyway, and it won't stop him from dragging him, or at the very least attempting to.]

[godsays]

[ He moves with the grace of a trained assassin. Lets Rorschach pull him an inch or two and then stops, bringing the other hand forward to drive it into the pit of his stomach and twist free. ]

[wemaketheworld]

[But he's watching for it; the hand comes out and he reaches for it, closing a gloved hand around the first two fingers and pulling, stressing them in their joints because he's found it's the most efficient way to get control of someone. He braces for whatever resistance comes, and waits.]

Leave now. Won't ask again.

[After the stress of earlier this is almost a relief for him, a world he actually understands. A world he doesn't need to think too hard about.]

[godsays]

[ He knows he doesn't have metals. Of course he knows; every day he feels sluggish and blind, wrapped in cotton.

And yet, someone moving faster than him still comes as a shock.

He surrenders. Goes limp. There is fury in him, but he has it under control. ]

Fine.

[wemaketheworld]

[A shove as he releases the appendages to ensure he keeps moving, and the vigilante follows, shutting the door behind him.]

Shouldn't keep to yourself so much. Makes people concerned.

[...says the guy who's been avoiding people but he never said he wasn't a hypocrite.]

[godsays]

[ Unbelievable. ]

I'll keep that in mind.

[wemaketheworld]

[He grunts in something that might be approval, but having nothing further to do he starts down the hallway.

He did what he was asked.]