Booker kept his eye pinned to the danburite, watching Louie's vague outline from his peripheral vision. The tense silence hung like granite, and after what felt like years the fox moved, sinking to the floor, covering the developing chrysalis and forcing the scribe to focus on his face. And for a moment, Booker's ears perked forward, his head lifting up, tail curling - this could be their chance to finish this, to stop this vicious cycle of whatever you could classify these blood-soaked meetings as - and then the other man's mouth dropped open to speak, and the numbat stilled, frozen. I'm sorry.
And, well.
There weren't many ways to take that.
But he was crying, so he couldn't have lied, no; he wasn't leaving because he'd been caught out, he was leaving because he wanted to. And that was... worse, somehow.
Booker watched, gaze wide and blank, as Louie rose, grabbed the gemstone, and began to simply... walk away. Black opal spikes sparked as if aching to reach out and grip the blood singing through the fox's veins, pull until he couldn't leave anymore, force him to deal with this the right way, but the moment slipped past and the fox's shadow faded, melting into the twisting darkness that shrouded the tunnel.
And then he was alone, sitting in silence so complete it threatened to steal his breath, compressing his chest like an iron weight.
I told you this would happen. I warned you a million times, and what do you do? Not only do you completely ignore me like a fucking child, you fight me off for control only to, what, confess your true love to a guy who tried to murder you? Christ, Booker, what the fuck did you think he was gonna do? He was just lying to play with you, and goddamn did he play you like a fiddle. Got you to open up about your little crush, huh? You like being tortured and humiliated, watching your brother lose his mind in captivity? Huh?
Leave me 'lone.
No! No I will not; I am done playing second fiddle to some asshole who keeps flinging himself into every dangerous situation possible and expects some sort of miraculous outcome every time. Every single time something goes wrong, you just shut down and become this useless little snivelling sack of shit, Booker! Haven't you gotten it through your thick skull by now? This has happened before, and God help me if I let you back out it will happen again. I let you out, and Bee, my son, the one I chose, leaves. I let you out, and your own son, where's he? Huh? Where's Diot, Books? And for fucks sake, I didn't even let you out this time, and look what happens! He leaves! You're just not getting it, are you?
There's only one common denominator here, and that's you.
This is your fault.
Leave me alone.
Just shut up Bo-
I said leave me alone!
Burning, there was something burning, the smell of charred fur and sizzling skin, and the half-blind numbat in the tunnel shrieked awake with a jump, gaze shifting downwards to watch as blue flames encircled his fingers, then his palms, slithering up his arms like twin snakes. It didn't... hurt. It felt more like being in Polaris again, feeling the fire curl around him without licking, the heat without the pain. The flickering blue figures twisted up and around, reflecting in the sparking shine of his gem, dancing through the spires and lapping at the opal, traversing his back and coming to a stop at the old burn wounds left by Raheerah, sinking into them with a twist of bright pain.
Another shriek, and Barnett shuddered out one breath, two, blinking down at the markings the flame, the one that swirled in his shared mind like a broken mimic of the winds of Monoceros, had left etched on the stone. There was a figure, a shadow, sketchy at the edges like they weren't sure exactly what it was supposed to be. But the flames engulfing it were unmistakable - as was the body suspended in animation, dangling in front of it.
He shivered once, leaning over the edge of the alcove to vomit bile, wiping his snout with a paw covered in brittle, blackened hair.
A sign.
He snorted.
It was as good a time as any to become a believer.
[ exit Booker ]
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