reduplicating | open post

Be a dear;
Kneel properly.

[He must be good. He must be good. He must keep his mouth shut and obey. It's the only way that he can escape.

Assuming that he makes it out of this alive.

If he's good, the chances that he'll survive are higher.

And Hapsburg takes care of its own. Mikal reminds himself this as he's trussed up, tied so carefully, so particularly, and he waits, naked, bound, for the client. If he survives, the House will give him some days off, they'll fix him back to pristine order. It's all necessary to withstand in order to make it out alive.

And when he gets out... oh. Oh how the world will burn. His mouth twitches up at the corner, just slightly, as he lets himself imagine it. His plans are falling into place, piece by piece. It won't be long.

It won't be long.

He must be good.

He schools his face into one of dutiful submission, and waits.]

Gurry sharks eat polar bears and can live up to 200 years.

[ hello were you missing your daily fish fact, here it is ]

Andyr keep this goddamn useless shit out of my inbox. Some of us are actually working.

Goliath Tigerfish eat small crocodiles and Mola Mola can weigh as much as a standard pick up truck.

[ hi bro he loves u ]

[Quickest way to get him exasperated and mad: spam his inbox.]

I should have you shot.

hindsight's 20/20

what're you working on

This line isn't secure enough for me to tell you. You want to know, come ask in person.

:(

you should take a break. my tent's lonely.

The clock's ticking.

[It's a common sentiment he brings up often, shared between a lot of the mice. They can take a break when they're dead.]

you don't need to remind me

[ seriously. don't. he knows it's coming, he knows he'll lose his brother in a few years, and be alone, again. there's nothing to do about it, and he hates that too. ]

fine, coming to you.

[ and a few minutes later, he'll be popping into the strategizing tent, meandering up to Mikal to drop his chin on the other's shoulder. hi. ]

[He gives Andyr a wry smile, turning his head a little to look at him and gesturing to the map in front of them.]

We're almost done here, but it'd be good to have your opinion.

[Since Andyr's the muscle. Mikal points to the map and starts explaining the basic plan: it's a raid to get mice out first, and replace one of them with one of their clones, someone on the inside to get more information on the layout and defenses and inner workings of the place in anticipation of the full raid later on.]

[ tilting his head, andyr peers over at the map, not terribly interested in strategy at the moment, but always willing to help mikal with what he needs. skimming over the plan, the list of names for those going in, and the directions to be taken, Andyr nods a couple times. ]

Looks solid. If we can, it'd be good to grab one of the guards to bring back alive. [ straightening up, he turns back to mikal, with a small smirk on his lips. ] I'll have a chat with them. See how much they'd like to tell us about the security systems.

[ aka, he will torture it out of them. because he's good at that. ]

[Mikal smiles, a slow, predatory thing that tends to put the fear of God into even his closest advisers.]

I'll make sure it's done.

[He lifts an eyebrow, smirking.]

But only if I get to watch.

[ this is why you're his favorite, mikal. that smile, the open acceptance of the feeling behind it fueling. the lack of remorse for feeling that want to cruel, harsh vengeance. so few get it in the way andyr and mikal do. ]

Wouldn't dream of depriving you.

[ after flashing a smirk to him, andyr looks back to the plans laid out. ]

Otherwise, I think you're good.

[Mikal laughs, a short, cruel sound, then he nods and dismisses the others. Once they've filed out, said their goodnights, he looks back to Andyr, eyebrow raised.]

So. What was it you wanted?

[ as the others file out of the room, andyr paces around, looking over mikal's things and the various notes for strategy and planning, touching things here and there, because he's like a child in a fabric store. ]

Attention. What else do I ever want? [ he shoots a smirk to him, and it's not just that, really. that's just the easier, less emotionally costing thing to say. company. a friend. mikal. he's right, in that the clock is ticking, and andyr knows he won't have him forever. ]

[Mikal watches every tiny movement Andyr makes, understands, a little, what's going on, and he smiles, more softly, more kindly.]

You have my attention. What do you want to do with it?

[ for a moment, he thinks on it. he hadn't had anything terribly specific in mind, just wanted time to spend with him. missed his company. mikal's been so damn busy lately, and understandably so, for good reason.

pacing his way back over, andyr steps up into his space, arms slipping around his waist. ]

I wanna make you relax. [ he dips forward a bit, nudging mikal's nose with his own, grinning a little impishly. ] Any suggestions?

Edited 2016-07-30 08:46 (UTC)

[Mikal sighs in mock resignation as Andyr gets into his space, but he wraps his arms around Andyr in return and smiles at him gently.]

Gotten any better at massages or are you still terrible?

Little bit. Posie taught me the difference between 'rub' and 'stab'.

[ him and his boney murder fingers, you know how it is. clones like posie and mikal were made to know how to give incredible massages, but there's been no such programming done with andyr, or attempt at learning, outside of what some enforce. tugging at him, Andyr's pulling Mikal over to one of the sleep mats, and fussing at him to get him to lay down. let him do a thing, ok? let him try. ]

Mmm-hmm.

[He sounds thoroughly skeptical, but Mikal lets Andyr steer him to the mats and lies down with a sigh.]

Don't bitch if I start walking you through it.

Uh huh, yeah yeah, whatever.

[ andyr fusses at him, while helping mikal out of his jacket and the shirt under it before letting him lay on his stomach, sitting down at his side to run his hands over his bare back. ]

You're gonna do it whether I suck or not, so what else is new?

[He lets out a short laugh and gets comfortable, shivering a little at the first touches of Andyr's hands to his back.]

Look, there's just some things you do better with direction.

I can accept that.

[ Andyr chuckles, beginning to work at Mikal’s shoulders, thumbs working into the muscle there for a moment, though Andyr gets distracted with the want to touch him more, and now and again his hands stray to smooth down over the solid frame of his back, along his spine over to his sides and back up. ]

If you’re so much better, how come it’s always me trying to do this shit?

[Mikal hums, doesn't even complain or admonish Andyr for his wandering hands.]

Because I can't give myself a massage, now can I?

I dunno, I'm pretty flexible, did you not get that gene too?

[ nurr hurr hurr. his thumbs work at Mikal's lower back, trying to get at some knots of tension here and there. he's always so tense. ]

[ beijing still has andyr's head spinning, his sleep wrought with nightmares, waking up at four or five AM in a cold sweat, after being certain his skin was being flayed from his bones. it'd been sick, what they were doing there. he'd put more than a few mice, still trapped in horrific experiment set ups, out of their misery. damaged past what could be healed.

tonight, he can't get it out of his head, but god, he needs to get some fucking sleep. they have a long trek ahead of them tomorrow, and he needs to be awake and aware and ready for an attack. he'd already bothered posie the night before, so this time, he shuffles out of their tent to go find mikal's. it isn't difficult for him, though mikal's tent looks about the same as everyone else's - he just always makes sure he knows which one is his before settling down in his own.

quietly, andyr slips in, and wordlessly tugs mikal's covers up to slip under them himself, pressing up flush to him, and pulling one of mikal's arms up to wrap it behind his shoulders, tucking his face against the curve where his shoulder meets his neck, sighing out his tension. ]

[Beijing has been hard on all of them, and it's Mikal's job to be the strong one for everyone. He has to be unmovable, he has to appear unaffected, even if he's crumbling inside. Even if he's waking up from nightmares every time he manages to close his eyes.

He's only just managed to fall asleep when he's woken again by Andyr slipping in next to him, wrapping around him. He sighs deeply and turns his head. When it's just the two of them alone, he can afford to let himself show a little, to reveal the turmoil behind the icy exterior. But even now, with Andyr suffering so much, he feels like he has to be the strong one. And he's just so tired.

He's so tired. He's been running on rage and the thirst for revenge for so long, he feels worn thin by it. But he can't stop. He can't afford to. He doesn't have time.]

Andyr...

[He sighs out softly, unable to hide the exhaustion in his voice.]

What time is it?

[ they don't both have to be immovable in front of each other, andyr would tell him. has, likely, in quiet moments like this. andyr knows better than anyone how hard it is to hold off from breaking, the insane things you do to yourself - to your body, to your mind - to just keep it together a little longer. but no one's watching them here, and andyr only came for the contact, for someone who knows him, for someone who cares for him, not for a sturdy rock to lean on.

brutal, savage and wild as andyr is, he still has this need - to feel close, to touch and be touched, to feel like he isn't so alone, and he knows mikal needs it too. that's why his lips press against the side of mikal's neck, lazily, just the affection and intimacy of it, not wanting anything more than that as he curves his body against him, fitted close. ]

Four or five. Dunno.

[ he murmurs, turning to touch his forehead to mikal's cheek, as a hand raises to card fingers through his short hair, softer than andyr is with any other person in this ragtag army, besides posie. ]

Sleep much?

No.

[He softens, gives in, turns to wrap his arms around Andyr and breath in a deep, shiddering breath as he buries his face into Andyr's shoulder. He's so tired.]

Can't close my eyes without seeing it.

[It. Everything.]

Is there anything in the world worth saving?

[It's a question he's been asking himself more and more lately. Why do they even bother, when people like that exist out there? Would everything be better off if they just burned everything down?]

I don't know anymore.

[ a whispers, against mikal's cheek. he can't admit that, out there, to the others. they have to believe in what they're doing, have to keep morale up, because this is far from an easy fight for any of them. but here, he doesn't like to mikal. ]

You are. Posie is.

[ That's what he knows, right now. They're the two things most precious to him in the world, and he'd burn everything for them. So long as the Houses are looking to take them back, they'll be first on the list. Once they're done with that, who knows. But it's easiest for him if he narrows his view of it down to just that. The pinpricks of what's his, and what he can't live without.

knowing he'll be forced to anyway, one day. but that's still a ways off. ]

[He lets out a harsh breath, almost a voiceless laugh, but bitter.]

I'm not worth saving, Andyr.

[He doesn't have much of a conscience, not really, but he knows what he's done. He knows.]

[ andyr frowns, lifting his head and crawling up mikal enough to hold his face between his palms and kiss him, softer than you'd think ever of them are capable of. ]

You are to me.

[ there are plenty, even on their side of things, who have seen andyr standing in a bloodbath, soaked in it and smiling like a maniac that would say andyr isn't worth keeping around either, but fuck them, honestly. they don't know where he's been, they don't know why he does what he does. mikal does. and this world has no idea what all mikal's done for it, that it never deserved either. ]

[Mikal lets out a sob, so, so quiet, when Andyr kisses him, and he tightens his grip on Andyr, holds him as closely as he can, presses his cheek to Andyr's.]

You're an idiot.

[But he clutches Andyr desperately, threads his hand in Andyr's hair and holds him like he's an anchor, like they're the only things keeping each other from falling to pieces in the midst of the tornado.]

[ the sob resonates against his lips, and andyr swallows it down, kissing him deeper, holding him closer, fingers pushing through the soft waves of his hair, and cupping the back of his head delicately. ]

You're my brother.

[ and i love you, is somewhere lost in there, but even familial love is hard for either of them to push out. it's understood, at least, andyr knows it must be. mikal gets him more than anyone else, really. he must know. ]

I'm not ever leaving you, you know that? [ not until the very end. whether they make it through and out of this war or not, mikal's all he has left to really call family, and with all the memory he has of andyr's life before hapsburg, he knows the weight of that, for him. ]

I know.

[He lets himself care about so few people in the world. He doesn't have time for love, he tells himself. He's only got time to burn the world down.

And then there's Andyr. Mikal's never had real family, he was grown in a lab, raised to be an object, the property of their Dear Corporate Mothers and Fathers, but Andyr... Andyr is his brother, in that weird twisted way they consider family.

And he loves him. And he's not entirely sure he could do any of this without him.]

Don't... don't ever.

I won't, I promise. Come here.

[ He whispers against Mikal's cheek, lips picking up tear tracks and brushing them away with soft kisses, as he rolls them. Laying out on his back, Andyr's arms around his brother's shoulder pull him closer, to curl against his chest.

No one's watching him here, no one needs to know how he crumbles, sometimes. He pets back Mikal's hair, and presses kisses across his forehead and over his eyes, tugging him close and tight. ]

No where else I wanna be. [ not even in Alaska, with Alva. Not with Mikal out here. No way in hell. ]

[He takes a deep breath and curls up against Andyr, then laughs softly.]

You didn't come in here to comfort me.

[Mikal sighs and trails his fingers across Andyr's skin, his cheek pressed to Andyr's chest, still blinking back tears.]

We should be doing this the other way 'round.

I came in here to be with you.

[ there's nothing that can be said or done about what they've seen, where they've been, or where they're going. what he'd wanted was mikal's presence, to be able to hold on to him, know he's there and isn't going anywhere.

a thumb wipes at his eyes, a trails back over his shoulders, rubbing smooth circles over his back as their legs tangle. ]

This's all the comfort I need.

[He sighs again, closing his eyes when Andyr wipes at his tears.]

You're a sap.

[But there's no meanness in his words, just a tired insult, or a joke, out of habit more than anything else. Or maybe out of love. He nuzzles into Andyr.]

Thank you.

And you’re a jackass.

[ Spoken fondly, after all, it’s a large part of why Andyr likes him so much over the other clones. He never claimed to be well adjusted - none of them have. ]

Don’t need to thank me. [ Andyr murmurs against Mikal’s hair, arms squeezing around him as he nuzzles in. ] You’re my brother.

[ it’s just what he does, because Mikal is important. Because he matters, because Andyr loves him and always will. ]

[He laughs, exhausted, and holds Andyr close.]

You're mine.

[The only family he has. The only family he needs.]

[ Another kiss it touched to his forehead, and Andyr shuffles some, getting them in a comfortable sleeping spot, with the blanket tugged up around their shoulders. ]

Try to sleep, okay? You got more work to do tomorrow than me.

[ and Mikal's always so insistent that that work gets done. sleep deprivation won't stop him, so andyr wants to make sure he gets as much rest in as he can. ]

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idefk what canon point, fite me

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now deciding this is war time canon point lalala

good

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