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Current Mood: lethargic

Entry tags:

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Characters: Lavi (

looseleafbook) and anyone else
When: May 30th
Where: North of the schools close to the river
Rating: PG?
Summary: Lavi sulking and hiding away from everyone.

Lavi had avoided the apartment building for the past couple of days, the past week. Instead roaming around the deserted streets full of debris and the past civilization. Sometimes he would roam across the bridge in clothing similar to the current styles over there, redhair and patch hidden from sight with a hooded sweatshirt.

But for now he was hidden way back in the most damaged streets of the city, a trolly car that had been derailed in whatever happened. Hidden from sight unless one looked as he slouched on the bench seat, feet on one end while he leaned against the wall. Several times he had come here to sleep, it was still cold out, too cold to camp like he was, but Lavi forced himself to ignore it.

Being alone and cold was preferred to being warm and bothered.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Isn't home. Isn't home anymore, and it's that second word that wrenches at Allen, even as he keeps his eyes wide open and fixed bone-dry on the other's when he answers, very simply but with a telling heaviness, "No, Lavi. He isn't."

Lavi closes his eye, keeping quiet on his own concerns about Kanda and Alma's whereabouts. He wondered too at what Alma was like all grown up, he certainly hadn't stopped growing, so was he like that other version currently wandering around or was he different? Lavi let out a sigh and slowly opens his eye again, just a little, "What about Chaoji? Lenalee...didn't say much aside that they didn't think he'd make it."

There's guilt buried in his words that he's feeling so heavily, Chaoji had been his responsibility and he had let the new Exorcist down.

"Chaoji? What do you mean, they didn't think..."

Oh God, it was his first mission too, wasn't it? A memory brushes his mind then, distant only because of how much has happened since then. Kanda's voice saying he would remember his name, but only if he lasted longer than a month―

"I don't know much either, only heard in passing that he's hurt. They locked me up as soon as we got back and wouldn't let anyone see me."

Except Link, but then again, Link is part of Central. Allen didn't exactly get to ask after anybody. Mostly, the Vatican did all of the asking while Allen strove to keep his silence. He turns a worried look on Lavi then, having caught the note of guilt in his tone, though it's quickly replaced by one of warm reassurance.

"I know the other teams came home around the same time, though, and that's several days before Lenalee was brought here, so... He must've held out for about a week already."

A smile, the same one he had worn in a crumbling, blank canvass of a city with all of their comrades scattered or worse, and nothing left to do but to believe.

"Chaoji's tough, remember? He stuck with us through the Ark ― barehanded. Matron and the Science Division will help him get better."

"That's good at least..." He had been worried, still was worried. "Hopefully they can do something for him, wouldn't want Anita-san to be mad at us for sending him back to her early..." Lavi knew that Allen hadn't gotten to meet the lively young woman that had helped them get to Japan, but he wished he had. The redhead had a feeling they would have gotten along well.

Lavi got to his feet and went to one of the benches, sitting on it again. "What else is happening that I don't know about yet?"

He did! If only briefly before the whole Suman debacle ended in the rest of the team setting sail without him. Allen will forever remember Anita as the woman who believed, despite all evidence pointing to the contrary, that his Master still lived, just because Allen did as well.

"I'm sure they'll do their very best. Besides, you know Chaoji will fight too." He lowers his voice slightly, almost conspiratorially, a bit of normalcy amidst all the unpleasantness. "It's either that or face Miss Mahoja's wrath."

When Lavi rises, Allen follows his example and takes a seat opposite him. The rations lie between them, all but forgotten. Tim flutters down to land atop one of the tins, doing what little he can to help by standing guard over them, while his mulls over Lavi's question. Trying to arrange his answers in an order that will make them easier to swallow, tailoring some of them, all with marginal success.

"...The Order isn't what we think it is; what they let us think it is. They've been hiding things for us. Have you heard of the Apocryphos?"

Edited 2011-06-17 15:06 (UTC)

Oh, yes. Stupid forgetful memory. But even briefly couldn't cover everything they learned about her and her crew.

"He's done his best since coming with us..."

Lavi had always known there was something in the dark about the Order, there always was with organizations saying they wanted to save the world. They also had their own agendas that - with the support they had been given - could accomplish as well as work toward the publicized goal. Apparently this one was worse than what Lenalee had witnessed as a child, the forcing of compatibility that reduced in Falling.

"No, not even Gramps has mentioned something like that," but he was sure the old man knew. He knew a lot more than he ever let on to his young apprentice.

The distinction in Lavi's reply, that it's entirely possible that Bookman may know and has simply never mentioned it before, troubles Allen more than it rightly should. Rationally, he does know the Bookmen are supposed to be historians before all else, but that's just something he's been told, back when Lavi's name was still the only thing Allen knew about him. And it's easy to forget what he's told when he's been fighting and maturing and living alongside the Bookmen as comrades for so long. For the first time in ages, Allen finds himself quietly wondering what else a Bookman's job entails, and whether it will ever be the right time for him to ask.

Now certainly isn't the time though, so he elbows it to the back of his mind and says, quiet even under the cover of the rain outside, "It's a form― The only form of sentient Innocence meant to protect the Heart. It looks just like a normal person when deactivated and even holds the title of Cardinal."

Meaning it's been with Central all along.

"It broke into my cell―" There really is no better way to describe it, the way all those guards had been knocked out. "―right as the Fourteenth was fighting for control and tried to fix me by combining with Crown Clown."

Allen wouldn't like it, the current Lavi doesn't like it but he lives by it anyway since it's all he knows. While he knows he could flounder about with finding a new way to live he owes too much to do that.

"...The Cardinal?!" His eyes are wide with a bit of shock, having seen the man in past records with other dealings with the church (pure headcanon since the church was so powerful a force back then), "You mean he's really just Innocence?"

But wait, something more Allen is adding to this, "H-he's what?!" Immediately his eye goes to Allen's left arm, it looks fine to him but who knew if the Cardinal - Apocryphos - had damaged Allen's Innocence in some way. But it also explained the truce in a way, if it was damaged then their fighting strength would be severely dampened. "Did they authorize it? Or is it just doing it because it wants to?"

"Pure, sentient Innocence. He had this aura―"

Allen doesn't finish his sentence, there's no need to. Any Exorcist who's been in the presence of a Critical will be familiar with that tingling, hair-raising feeling, and if the Cardinal's made of pure Innocence, one can only imagine how much stronger it must've felt. He tugs off his left glove as he speaks and rolls his sleeve up, a silent answer to Lavi's unvoiced question. No, Crown Clown isn't damaged. The threat runs deeper than that.

"He didn't say, but I'm guessing the Vatican sent him. Some branch of the Vatican that even Link knew nothing about."

He pauses then, because this is the first time he's realising that if Link had no idea, L'vllie probably had nothing to do with it, and isn't that a disturbing thought.

"...And Lavi, I think the Vatican's known where the Heart is all along. The Apocryphos was talking about the Heart as if he knew them personally."

Lavi hadn't noticed it being that at the time, he had simply thought it was because the man was so close to the god that he worshiped. The similar presence - but not quite alike - around such highly ranked men of religion that he had indifferently shrugged off now made sense.

He glances at Allen's hand, feeling reassured by its normal appearance that the Innocence was still alright. "Religious organizations do that, hide things from their 'sheep' that need not know what they're doing for the 'betterment of the flock' and all of that..."

The redhead lets out a sigh and rubs at his head, it's possible that L'ville knew briefly about it but to him it had just been words. Nothing that he personally knew about like Hevlaska and everything else, he might have not been ranked high enough to know or to have his questions answered. Everyone had someone else to answer to, even him, and they kept secrets too.

"So if none of us know the Apocryphos while it's masquerading as the Cardinal it can't be any of us. Or anyone we know... It couldn't be the Vatican, could it?"

Allen shakes his head, but in agreement.

"Afraid I don't know any better than you do. Assuming the Heart is with the Vatican, they would have kept it hidden so the Earl can't find it. Rhode and Tyki did say the Apocryphos is a clue to the Heart, one they've been searching for for seven thousand years... Ah, they broke into the Order to get me. That's how they saw the Apocryphos for themselves."

He pauses and blinks, "They broke into the Order to rescue you?" Wait is that-- "That why we have a truce with them at the moment?"

A matching pause and blink.

"Ah, no. I set that up before any of us knew what was going on back home―" His voice gets a little firmer. "―because there's no point in fighting here, and there're people from other worlds to think of. It's just better for everyone this way."

"We don't want to drag them into our fights kind of thing?" He's trying with the truce, Lavi really is. But he and Rhode simply do not get along, Tyki...there's banter but is mostly harmless and the lazy man generally leaves Lavi alone. Maybe it's a grudge against her messing with his head back in the Ark.

"It wouldn't be fair to them, having to put up with our world's problems when they've already been torn from theirs. Rhode and Tyki didn't ask to be brought here either. The war doesn't even exist here. Fighting here isn't going to change anything back home, just give us more to deal with on top of everything else. If the truce's a way for us to work on finding a way back together, or at least not have to constantly watch our backs here, I'd rather give it a shot."

Lavi grunts, turning his head to lean it against the frame that once held a window, "Then tell Rhode to lay off."

This whole not looking at him business is really getting to Allen.

"I've been. It's just―" Cuts off, worrying at his lower lip, hating how it sounds like he's picking sides. Which he isn't, honest, but the Exorcists need to understand what he's about to say.

"...I can't be around to do that all the time." Though he tries, God knows he tries. "Rhode's just as frustrated about being trapped here as we are, and she's a Noah. If you push her buttons, she's going to lash back at you."

It's a human reaction, because the Noah are still human, but with an utter lack of sympathy and the ability to bite a lot harder. If it wasn't for the truce, Allen's sure Rhode would have attacked Lavi with a lot more than words. He heaves a quiet sigh, running a hand through his hair.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is ― please be careful."

It's not really about not looking at Allen, honestly. He's just tired and wants to go home already, "I haven't tried to push her buttons, Allen. Not to mention she seems to think I'm watching her every move when I haven't been. I've got my own concerns to take care of."

There isn't much he can say to this beyond what he has already said the other night. He turns to gaze out the window as well, rubbing his nose a bit.

"...I know you weren't trying to, Lavi."

It really is the most unfortunate thing about all of this. Allen understands Lavi had been contributing, in his own way. Family just happens to be a touchy subject with Rhode, and she was already high-strung from the event, which had made her feel hunted -- the only Noah living among a group of Exorcists. Tyki's recent departure made it worse.

"I'll talk to her about it." See if she can put a little more faith in the truce. See if they can all do the same.

Lavi reaches out and ruffles Allen's hair, "Don't worry about it, alright? You've got enough on your plate without harassing her too. I'll just avoid the little runt."

Even if he called her such things, Lavi in no way underestimated her since he had seen some of her power first hand. Which was why he cut the feed or ignored her as best he could. In no way did he want to get into another situation like that.

This is a look Allen has worn before, but rarely, all too rarely ― and he's wearing it now. That semi-blank, artless look of gentle surprise at the fact that someone would be kind to him when he's trying to be it all (and often falling a straining arm's length short).

He can't remember the last time anyone told him not to worry. Not back home, and certainly not here. He's never on the receiving end.

Now that he is, though, he sadly isn't going to listen. There are days when it seems Nesreca is only held together by his ability to think of and worry about everything ever, and his ever-expanding capacity for all kinds of crap. But he does appreciate everything about the gesture, those simple words and that simpler contact.

Edited 2011-06-26 12:23 (UTC)

So Lavi gets to muss his hair up a bit more than usual before Allen ducks his head, making a token swat at the other boy's hand. Just because.

"Sounds like a plan, except she's bound to harrass me sometime. Might as well make sure something productive comes of it."

Lavi honestly does appreciate Allen's kindness, he's just always so unsure with it and how he's supposed to accept it that he just ends up trying to return some of it. But telling him not to worry? That's the big-brother part of the redhead that seems to well up whenever there's a difficult situation facing them both. He should try to shoulder it first, or at least most or part of it, he'd feel like a lazy bum if he just let Allen hold onto it. And he never got the chance to try back home. All he could do was just joke around like a big-brother might, never got to do any of the other stuff that he had read about and seen.

Hand batted away Lavi lets it settle in a companion-like squeeze on Allen's shoulder and then pulls it back to himself. "Yeah, but don't take it up with her until then, alright? If you're going to talk to her wait until a whole bunch of things need to be said. We can take care of ourselves until then, don't you think?"

If there's one thing Allen can say about Nesreca, it's that it is full of firsts. Without the war, the Order, or Bookman here, maybe Lavi will get his chance to feel more comfortable about being something more than make pretend. Allen will help ― it's easy when he doesn't know to expect otherwise.

"If you say so," he answers with a light jab to Lavi's arm, tone a study in mock disbelief. Just a bit of good natured ribbing between friends. Friends whom he'll have to trust to take care of themselves until―

(Long way to go, Allen.)

"...But there's something else you ought to know, Lavi. I left the Order."

―he comes home.

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resulted in Falling* I don't know how head got reduced instead of resulted

XD <3

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2/3 okay i lied

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