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Post by mintedstar/fur on Nov 15, 2021 13:08:06 GMT -5
The door opened.
And yes, Percival saw that Benjamin was returning empty handed.
But all that happened for a very long while was he stared down at Benjamin, his shoulders sinking slightly. He could smell the smoke on him. Knew where he'd been.
And that house had likely not even been burned by the firestarter.
What Percival did was very out of character. He leaned down and hugged Benjamin, lifting him slightly off the ground in the process.
The hug lasted for several seconds. Then the man stood, and opened the door wider.
"Please," he said, softly, "Come in. I ... think there's something I should tell you."
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Nov 20, 2021 12:40:49 GMT -5
Benjamin’s eyes widened as Percival folded him into a hug, but he didn’t protest. It would have been easy to pull away, but Ben had never been the type who minded hugs. They were… comfortable. Not to mention it seemed like Percival needed this one. Ben may not have known all of the circumstances, but he could understand the impulse to just… hold someone until it felt like everything bad about the world went away. It never did, of course, but you could pretend for a while.
Dread took hold of Ben’s heart as Percival pulled back, his expression just as downcast as it had been the last time they had seen each other. It was foolish to think that the hug might have helped, but Ben had still hoped…
“Okay,” he whispered, stepping lightly over the threshold. He wasn’t certain he wanted to hear, but he wanted to be there for Percival. He wanted to help him; maybe with more than just the fires.
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Post by mintedstar/fur on Dec 12, 2021 1:46:57 GMT -5
Percival retreated back to one of the chairs which was in the room, slowly sitting in it and looking to Benjamin with an expression of someone who really didn't know what or even how he was going to speak.
He very, very carefully looked at his hands.
"I ..." he started. "I don't know if you ..."
Know. He didn't know. Or maybe he'd guessed. Percival felt like Marcus was a gaping hole, so why wouldn't everyone know?
"Marcus is dead," he breathed. Then placed a hand against his face as if to steady himself from saying it out loud. "The ... the fires."
This wasn't even all that he wanted to say, but it was still the only part of it that he'd managed to get out thus far.
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Dec 16, 2021 23:35:09 GMT -5
Benjamin knew that Marcus had disappeared. He knew he hadn’t seen him lately. As far as he was concerned, that could be any number of things. It was easy to forget, sometimes, that death was an issue people more well off than Ben’s family could even face. He had grown up knowing that his mother was always one bad day away from death. He had grown up knowing that the well-off either never got the sickness his mother was suffering from, or they could afford to treat it. Death seemed like something that couldn’t even touch them. Percival and Marcus weren’t rich, of course, but they still seemed untouchable.
“I’m… sorry,” Ben managed after a long moment, his hand a fist at his side. “He… he was nice. I’m sorry he’s gone. And.. and I’m going to fight as hard as I can to help you solve the fires, so it won’t happen to anyone else.”
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Post by mintedstar/fur on Jan 5, 2022 19:00:15 GMT -5
There was just this slow shake of Percival's head. Slow, but then more and more hurried. "No, no, no," he whispered, more to himself than to Ben. "It's my fault. It's my fault, all my fault."
There was sounding like you were blaming yourself - and then there was sounding like you believed it. Percival was the latter.
He just looked down at the table, down at his hands, then murmured, "We aren't - weren't - he wasn't and I'm not human. Not human. He shouldn't have had to die."
His voice was broken. He didn't know how to express to Ben that this was even more dangerous now.
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Post by mintedstar/fur on Feb 8, 2022 21:34:07 GMT -5
Percival wasn't in the least sure how to explain. So for the longest time, he just stared into the distance and seemed to be trying to work out how to say anything. The words just wouldn't seem to come.
But, eventually, he did look up and into Benjamin's eyes and he just slowly said, "Vampire. We are ... I am and he was. Look like humans. But aren't."
He just sounded so tired. He slowly got up, but rather than moving toward Benjamin, he headed for the one and only window in the room. From there, all he did was he gently pushed up the glass until he could look out.
A little escape route. A tired escape route. Though for the time being, he didn't use it.
Instead, he turned around, looked at Benjamin, and murmured, "And some of us start fires. That's what happened. That's what has happened. Someone is starting these fires. I, in part, have ... taken advantage of these fires."
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Feb 9, 2022 3:50:14 GMT -5
Benjamin frowned, trying to wrap his mind around the word. Vampire. He had heard stories about monsters before, but not very many about vampires. He had heard Elijah speak of Bram Stoker’s book, but he was too young to have read it himself. Elijah hadn’t even read it, he had just heard about it from some of his friends. It had made headlines a few months back, but Ben didn’t know the contents. He knew very little about vampires, which was either a blessing or a curse. Maybe both.
“Okay,” he said slowly, blinking as he looked up at Percival. It didn’t change his opinion of him. It didn’t matter if others would consider him a monster.
“Oh,” Ben added after another moment. The whole situation was much more complicated than he had first anticipated. He had thought it was one arsonist who did it for reasons that didn’t really matter. He had never expected the people ho were trying to solve the mystery to be part of it.
“So… you still don’t know who’s started them?”
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Post by mintedstar/fur on Feb 19, 2022 23:53:09 GMT -5
Percival shook his head numbly. Ben didn’t understand, but he was almost glad of the ignorance. All of this only served to cement the fact that he … he needed help. He needed someone to tell him that there would be something that he could do. And sadly, there was little that he could do that would offer Ben much insight into what he would be getting into.
So he just did his best to pull himself together, leaned forward, nodded, and said with a very slightly raspy voice, “We don’t. Didn’t. Whoever they are, they know the … more than basic tricks. They pass as humans too well.”
Then he pointed at his eyes, “You … can tell the difference between them and humans because of the eyes. When they look at fire, they’d … they’d be gold.”
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Feb 25, 2022 4:25:10 GMT -5
“Oh,” Benjamin whispered, frowning a little at that. “I haven’t seen anyone with golden eyes, but… I don’t think that makes much of a difference.” He felt a blush spread up his cheeks, grateful that his complexion was dark enough to hide it. He hadn’t actually been present at any of the fires, just at the aftermath. He wouldn’t’ have been able to see anyone with golden eyes if there was no fire to look for.
“I have… an idea,” he managed after a moment, shoving his hands in his pockets. “It’s probably a really bad idea, but… but what if we set a fire ourselves? If we set a fire and they come to investigate us, then wouldn’t we be able to see who they are? Unless your eyes also do the gold thing when you look at fire. Is that a thing that happens for vampires all the time?” Ben was babbling, a fact he was aware of but couldn’t seem to get a handle on. He didn’t know how to deal with such a foreign situation, and it was rattling him more than he cared to admit.
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Post by mintedstar/fur on Mar 20, 2022 19:17:06 GMT -5
Percival just watched him. For a long time he just watched him. Then he nodded. “That’s a good idea,” he said. “My eyes do become gold though. But yours don’t.”
It was an option. It would at least allow for someone to be watching. He’d have some control, but not as much as he’d like.
“Are you scared?” he said eventually. Not of him, it wouldn’t see. “Of the situation?”
It wasn’t exactly a great thing to be embroiled up in. This wasn’t a game. Percival wanted to know what was happening.
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Post by mintedstar/fur on May 14, 2022 12:34:52 GMT -5
Yes, that made a lot of sense to Percival. Though it just served to remind him how nothing about Firestarters were ever positive. It would always be a notch in the negative category.
A wain, pained grimace. Then he nodded.
"Yes, the plan could work. And the fact you believe that helps. Now we'll just have to see if it works."
Trembling, like he was older than he looked and he needed to stand, Percival got to his feet.
"Now we work. I guess the first step is getting all of this ... going ..." And quickly. More of Six Stars would come eventually. Inevitably.
(Time skippy to either the start of the plan or Aliissa turning up?)
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Post by mintedstar/fur on Aug 10, 2022 10:04:05 GMT -5
And Percival did arrive sooner rather than later. He looked weary. Weary and tired in more ways than one. Even still, he came to stand next to Benjamin with a look of rather intense seriousness.
"The idea," he murmured. "Is to start it when we aren't around." Easier said than done, but Percival had a bit of experience. He nodded around the corner.
"Follow me."
It was in the opposite direction from the house, so it was hard to work out how Percival was going to carry out the statement he'd just made. But even still, it might be a bit clearer when he was around the corner and that good stretch of space away. After all, as Ben had noted, it was hopefully unlikely that the fire would spread, due to the space between the houses. But as Percival waited in a doorway, it was notable that he was holding a cigar.
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Post by mintedstar/fur on Sept 29, 2022 20:52:21 GMT -5
(Bump.)
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