singillatim | WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO CRACK THEIR BONES?

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WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO CRACK THEIR BONES?

Who: Konstantin Veshnyakov + ota!
What: an opportunity to encounter the alien parasite inhabiting Kostya's body / various other threads.
When: mid-late May / June.
Where: various places in Milton.

Content Warnings: This character comes with a parasitic alien entity by default. He's also experiencing Glimmerfog sickness, but it's in its early stages. More detailed warnings in various prompts within.

INFO !

■ — Kostya's in the early stages of Glimmerfog sickness. His little alien horror can sense this and is going to yeet itself out of him at random times / places in Milton.
■ — This scenario can be played with in a variety of ways, with varying degrees of horror. If needed, please let me know if there's anything you'd specifically like to indulge in or avoid.

horreur / plotting post
■ — Details on the alien can be found here. As a note, it will be staying more underdeveloped / larval in these threads, so although it may get aggressive, it won't be capable of doing too much damage... apart from biting, if you get close enough to its mouth... It WILL try to suck your blood if that happens!

A — THERE IS A KILLER AMONG US

This is the option to chat with Kostya before his little alien freakout, for anyone who might like some build up, to get in some initial cr-building, etc. For anyone who wants this option, I'll reach out to see how you might want the alien reveal to go down later on in the thread! OR if you might want to just have them talk and not have an alien reveal, that's fine too!

[ It's common for Konstantin to find difficulty sleeping, and so the earliest days of the sickness pass by without any real awareness to the fact. It's fine if he's mildly drowsy; he can handle it! As usual, he's prone to taking walks from his cabin on the town outskirts and into the center of things, perpetually looking to keep himself busy. Maybe you catch him:

— getting in some physical fitness, taking walks and jogs around town (stopping to smile at anyone he might see out on a porch front or passing by; he'll be happy to chat, even with strangers. Maybe you'll end up inviting him in at some point! Certainly there's no danger of this man throwing up an entire alien or anything like that)
— at the hunting/fishing supply store, which is a much less-traveled area in Milton and mostly always empty... But today there is a lone cosmonaut inside, looking for a fishing pole.... and seeming a bit lost about it, standing with his hands on his hips, frowning thoughtfully. He's only ever lived in the city and in outer space, and neither of those options have exposed him to fishing.
— at one of Milton's remaining empty cabins, with the front door wide open to let in some fresh air as he pokes through dust-coated furniture to look for any home decorating items he might be able to snag...
— wildcard options! Kostya could be just about anywhere, but for this thread, it would work best if it's somewhere there aren't too many people around. ]

B — I'M A LARVA WRAPPED IN SILK

This is the option for Kostya's alien to start making an appearance at one of the mentioned locations, but it will not fully emerge from his body. Things will still get pretty gnarly, as it will visibly be seen coming upwards, but he will not actually throw it up. Once it settles back inside of him, Konstantin will wake up (so basically this thread option will involve him shortly coming to again and your person dealing with that!) Content warnings: seizure, parasitic horror, emeto / vomiting associations.

[ It happens with little warning. All of a sudden, the other occupant in the room will begin to tremble — and it's immediately violent, his body commanded by convulsive jerks that wrench him back and forth. He'll only remain upright for seconds before he's unable to hold himself, losing control of everything, falling to the floor hard and fast.

Konstantin is not a small man; about six feet tall and with the athletic build befitting his title as a Hero of the Soviet Union, hitting the deck is a rough process, hard and heavy. He might slam into something, knock nearby objects over — might even fall into you. Ultimately he'll end up on his back, however, and it's there that he keeps convulsing, back arched inwards and head hitting the floor beneath him as he spasms. His eyes loll back, gagging against the strain of his own throat.

As quickly as it starts, it seems to stop. The man's body goes completely limp, eyes shut, mouth slack with a thin stream of drool that slips from the corner and puddles to the floor. Every muscle has been forced to shut down, leaving the cosmonaut unconscious and unmoving. It's then that the creature can safely start to make its exit from the body that's progressively becoming sicker with some strange illness.

Something is happening to the man again. He remains unconscious, eyes shut, but his body is moving once more — softer spasms this time, torso rippling. His mouth parts and his throat convulses with movement as he dry heaves there on the floor as though needing to vomit. The creature makes its way up from its nest within his stomach, pushing itself from the safety of the organ and up into its host's esophagus. The journey takes some time, and then you'll see evidence of it — some thin thing wriggling under the skin of his throat, pumping itself upwards slowly, cautiously. But it pauses all of a sudden, waits. It can sense you're there, and it's completely vulnerable outside of him. ....What will your reaction be? Maybe it isn't worth coming out right now. ]

C — DON'T LOOK EVIL RIGHT IN THE EYE

This is the option for Kostya's alien to immediately make a full appearance at one of the mentioned locations. It will emerge from his body and can be interacted with as a separate entity. Its reactions will depend largely on how someone reacts to it, but if you have any preferences or thoughts here, please reach out to me! For this option, Konstantin will remain unconscious for the entire thread, so interactions will only be with his alien. Content warnings: seizure, parasitic horror, emeto / vomiting, an alien that is very worm-like and also has features associated with a variety of spooky creatures like spiders, snakes, lampreys...

[ It happens with little warning. All of a sudden, the other occupant in the room will begin to tremble — and it's immediately violent, his body commanded by convulsive jerks that wrench him back and forth. He'll only remain upright for seconds before he's unable to hold himself, losing control of everything, falling to the floor hard and fast.

Konstantin is not a small man; about six feet tall and with the athletic build befitting his title as a Hero of the Soviet Union, hitting the deck is a rough process, hard and heavy. He might slam into something, knock nearby objects over — might even fall into you. Ultimately he'll end up on his back, however, and it's there that he keeps convulsing, back arched inwards and head hitting the floor beneath him as he spasms. His eyes loll back, gagging against the strain of his own throat.

As quickly as it starts, it seems to stop. The man's body goes completely limp, eyes shut, mouth slack with a thin stream of drool that slips from the corner and puddles to the floor. Every muscle has been forced to shut down, leaving the cosmonaut unconscious and unmoving. It's then that the creature can safely start to make its exit from the body that's progressively becoming sicker with some strange illness.

Something is happening to the man again. He remains unconscious, eyes shut, but his body is moving once more — softer spasms this time, torso rippling. His mouth parts and his throat convulses with movement as he dry heaves there on the floor as though needing to vomit. The creature makes its way up from its nest within his stomach, pushing itself from the safety of the organ and up into its host's esophagus. It's in a hurry, alarmed; it lets the man's natural reflexes help urge it up and out, and suddenly Konstantin's body reels, mouth parting wider as something small and quivering spills from his throat and onto the floorboards with a wet plop.

At first, it looks like a mass of slime, but you might realise quickly enough that it's a sort of sac, a viscous membrane. The thick, protective coating is something the creature produces to keep itself and its host undamaged by its violent exit from his body.

The mess stays still enough for a few long seconds, but then its pulsing intensifies, and something begins to squirm within it. A writing thing emerges, but not easily, seeming to struggle with the task. Finally the thing that just came out of the unconscious man is revealed: a worm-like creature, body long and thin, consisting of a head, little vestigial protrusions that perhaps suggest limbs stuck in development, and ending in a tail.

It seems like too many things put together — something at once reptile, insect, invertebrate — its little head is hooded, much like a cobra's, but its mouth is only a round hole, lined with sharp little teeth. A cluster of eight black eyes glint, spiderlike, as the thing slowly writhes wetly on the floor. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Rorschach folded his arms over his chest, assessing the cosmonaut without saying anything at first. He looked a lot better than when he'd first arrived, which had been a state that could be charitably described as looking half-dead. Now he looked much stronger and healthier. Rorschach wouldn't have wanted to take him on in a fight, even though he thought he would still win in the end.]

Watching you.

[What, was Konstantin expecting a response that actually made sense? Rorschach had gotten better with talking to some of the people who had been in Milton a long time but he certainly wasn't going to waste good words on a Communist who was clearly hiding something and more than likely had some devious plot in the works with the other Communists in town.]

[ Though he handles himself relatively calmly, considering the situation, Konstantin can't deny that the sudden unexpected appearance has made his heart skip a beat or two, unsettled him. He stares at the man as he folds his arms across his chest and stares right back — seemingly; it's hard to read his face at all when it's... covered up with that disturbing mask he still wears.

'Watching you.'

As if this couldn't get any more creepy...

The cosmonaut stares a beat or two longer, and then slowly returns the vase to the side-table he picked it up from. He stays on edge, ready to act if needed, despite the reply he gives. ]

If you wanted to admire my handsome face, you could have just asked.

[Rorschach's mouth dropped open upon hearing that response. His handsome what now?! Oh, if Konstantin hadn't already looked prepared for a fight, Rorschach would have socked him on the jaw for saying such a thing. He wasn't like that. No, not even with the two times he'd been in close proximity to a male vampire sucking his blood and liking it. He refused to let his mind reach the logical conclusion of that train of thought.

And nevermind the damn Communist was right. He was handsome in a clean-cut sort of way. He looked like he should have been on a poster somewhere with the Russian flag behind him and the words 'For The Good of the People' beneath him in Cyrillic. This fact was still not enough to endear him to Rorschach and his hands balled into fists as he stood straight up. (Not that it did much to improve his actual height.)

He let out a growl that was more animal than human in nature, something full of anger and frustration both.]

[ It's immediately clear that the response doesn't go over too favourably. Konstantin sees those hands forming fists and tenses again, seconds before that growl comes. It surprises him, the way it sounds — indeed like something animalistic. Not for the first time, he does wonder if this man really is human or not.

But he isn't the only one affected by the sound. By something that seems... dangerous, threatening. Maybe it's also the fact he's so tense, that the walls of his stomach tighten without his control, no doubt bothering the entity that lives within the organ. But he feels it move, suddenly, a distressed writhing that makes him gasp in sudden shock and then pain.

He tries to keep ahold of the vase, but his hands drop it, and then there's another pang of ache and one palm's slapping to his abdomen. Fuck. ]

You need... to get out of here, [ the cosmonaut pants, brows knit in pain. ]

[Whatever he'd been expecting to happen, it certainly wasn't.....this. Whatever this was. Was it a trick? Or something less sinister? Maybe Konstantin was ill in some fashion, as Rorschach had suspected when he'd first arrived.

Rorschach's eyes narrowed, and rather than feeling any fear, instead rose up within him a large amount of suspicion. Something definitely wasn't right with the cosmonaut. He wasn't sure if this was a trick or not. But while Rorschach had a large amount of prejudice towards someone he saw as an enemy, he also wasn't heartless. If the man was about to have something like a heart attack, he was the only one within range that could help.

So instead he took a few hesitant steps towards the ailing man.]

[ Unbeknownst to Konstantin, it wouldn't have taken much for the parasite to stir, anyway. It's so sensitive to every shift and change in his body, and it knows, on a level that he's not aware of yet, that he's getting sick. Sick with some strange illness that comes from this place. The thing's already nervous, restless. Agitated.

So when all of those things are simply heightened by the surge of alarm in Konstantin, the fluctuation of hormone, the tightening of his stomach's walls, maybe it panics. Maybe instinct tells it to evict itself from an environment that's no longer safe. No matter what it's thinking, Konstantin can't control the being, or what it does to his body.

It releases its toxin quickly, the agent that sends his body into seizure. The cosmonaut's body starts spasming as it's racked by involuntary, convulsive movements. If left to his own devices, he'll crash to the floor — unable to keep himself up — though at first he's tipping violently right into Rorschach, given that the man's taken that step closer to him. ]

[Fortunately for Konstantin, Rorschach's reflexes were quick enough to catch the man as he collapsed into a boneless heap. The vigilante was tempted to just drop him in disgust but somehow it just didn't seem like the right thing to do to someone who was virtually helpless at the moment. Though he was short, Rorschach was also strong, and managed to lower the seizing man to the floor in such a manner so he wouldn't crack his head wide open or end up bruised from collapsing right onto his face.

Was Konstantin an epileptic? He was definitely having a seizure of some sort. Rorschach had no idea what you were supposed to do with someone in the middle of a seizure. Was a person able to swallow their own tongue during the process? He thought maybe he'd read that somewhere. In the end, he went over to the nearest couch, took a pillow off, and slid it under the man's head so that at least it wouldn't bang against the hard floor. Beyond that, he did nothing, afraid that anything else he did would make the situation worse instead of helping. Rorschach stood there, a few feet away from the cosmonaut, watching and waiting with an intense air.]

[ The other man's grasp is enough to keep him from hitting the floor, though Konstantin's body continues to thrash and buck in Rorschach's arms. When he's laid down, he keeps jerking, but being flat on his back seems to help — this is the cue for the parasite that its host is lying down now, and that his body can be safely exited from.

And so the next phase of the process begins: just as quickly as he'd begun thrashing, the cosmonaut goes completely still. Eyes shut, arms on either side of himself, he lies there unmoving for a few long seconds. It might seem that the worst of it is over, but then his body begins moving again — this time with violent heaving motions, as though he's going to throw up. His stomach convulses with movement, and he begins gagging loudly, mouth parted, the column of his throat moving up and down.

Something is coming up.

The parasite slithers its way up from its nest within the cosmonaut's belly and travels along his esophagus, making its journey to his throat. ....But it pauses. It knows there's someone else here, and now that it's closer to that person, can recognise him as someone who'd caused Konstantin immense stress during their first meeting. Rorschach had shoved him against the wall, spoken words with anger, and although the alien can't decipher what any of those words were, could feel every fluctuation of its host's hormones, every reaction, every spike of adrenaline. This man makes its host feel in danger, and therefore makes the alien feel in danger.

If it exits him, will the man attack it? Throw it to the wall? The creature, capable of intelligence far beyond that of most animals, knows it's weakened here in this place, unable to properly defend itself. And so it lingers there, not leaving its host's throat. Konstantin's mouth stays parted, head tipped far back, eyes still shut; he's fully unconscious. But the presence of the thing staying there in his throat is making his body react, nauseated and uncomfortable, and his throat swallows involuntarily against its unwanted intruder, saliva leaking from the corners of his mouth.

This means the alien has to fight against those movements to stay there in his throat while it quietly considers what to do, and so it curls up tighter there, tail moving up to help wedge itself in Konstantin's throat. The outline of this is visible, a snake or wormlike presence moving around under his skin. ]

[Rorschach watched what was going on with a weird sort of bile fascination. Half of him wanted to get the hell out of there but this was also like watching a car wreck in slow motion. The other half was fascinated and wanted to see what would happen next. When he saw a weird bulge moving around in the man's throat, all the hair on the back of his neck stood straight up. Rorschach wasn't one to scare easy but this was something else entirely.

Jesus Christ, what the fuck was going on?!

He'd always known the Russians were performing some sort of weird experiments on their citizens and this was proof of it. Something was inside the handsome Russian and no mistake. That made him a threat. Rorschach wondered if he should go grab a knife and cut his throat. But despite his tough uncompromising nature, it felt wrong to kill a man who was helpless, unconscious and unable to defend himself. Plus, there was no guarantee killing the host would kill the whatever-it-was inside the man.

So Rorschach merely waited, cautiously and slowly backing up about ten feet away, ready to bolt out of there if that thing came out of Konstantin's throat.]

[ Even from here, and even weakened by this place, the creature can sense the fluctuations to the man's hormones — a burst of adrenaline, the fear response. Such things are alluring; it's what its diet consists of, after all. In any other setting, it would expel itself from its host's throat and launch at the nearby victim, aiming for his skull.

....But it knows better, in this place. It knows it's weak, and knows this man is a threat, and so the alien ignores its own lust for blood — it's something far more intelligent than a mere animal that's driven only by instinct. It can think and reason how best to survive, and so it reasons in the here and now that the safer option will be not to expose itself to him. Not just yet.

Instead, retreat is the best guarantee of survival. It still feels vulnerable here in its host's throat, so the thing slowly begins to turn itself back around. Konstantin's body continues to work against it, gagging around the alien, and for a moment pushing it out just a bit, enough that as it turns, some of its tail slips out of his mouth — a long, thin, pale appendage that curls wetly against his cheek.

Then it's slithering back in, the tip of the tail disappearing down the man's throat, the lump making its way back down his esophagus. As it travels, the alien makes itself smaller, so that by the time it reaches his stomach, it's no longer perceptible from the outside, tucked into the warm walls of its nest. It curls up, shuddering slightly, unnerved by the experience and by the potential threat of Rorschach. Is there a chance the man might still retaliate? Try to attack it in its home? It tries to stay very still, hoping he'll leave.

There's one or two convulsions that ripple down Konstantin's spine as his body adjusts to its intruder nestling back in, but then he goes still again, breathing slow and evenly. ]

[Fuck fuck fuck fuck. There were some things Rorschach was just not equipped to deal with, things he had never expected in his wildest dreams to be facing. Even here in Milton, he generally managed to take everything in stride. But this, seeing some alien creature inside of a human being, that was something else entirely, especially when he caught a glimpse of it curling out of the man’s mouth. Was that a tail or part of its body or….? He didn’t even want to keep speculating.

Then after a few more minutes everything went still. Rorschach still sat there, frozen with indecision, but it didn’t appear the whatever-it-was living inside of the cosmonaut was making anymore appearances. His mind started to calm and he began to think more clearly. What he needed was answers. Knowledge was the shield against ignorance and right now he knew absolutely nothing about the thing he was facing.

So he first took the nearest rope-like material he could find, which was a lamp’s electrical cord, and tied Konstantin up. Not that it was going to do much good if that thing came out of him but it heightened his sense of security. Then he went to the kitchen and got a very large butcher knife. He came back over and not so gently prodded the Russian with the tip of it, waiting for him to wake up.]

[ The effects of the toxin that the creature exudes to knock its host out take some time to wear off. However, in this place where everything about it is weakened, that toxin is likewise weakened — Konstantin won't be unconscious for as long as he ordinarily might.

So although he remains completely limp as the other man binds him, the alien's effects are already easing off, and the coaxing that comes in the form of a knife tip is enough to help nudge him back out of it even faster. Konstantin's eyelids flutter and he blinks thickly, vision glossy, strange. A frown tugs at his mouth, confusion layering everything. Back home, he's begun waking with clear memory of everything that happened while he was out, as though the alien's mind is tethered to his own. But here... that tether is broken. He doesn't have any awareness of what it was up to, doesn't even quite grasp that the thing was out.

Though there is some evidence in the form of an unpleasant viscous coating at the back of his throat, and waves of nausea coil within him, making him swallow a few times. He blinks again, before realising he can't move his arms, or move much of anything at all. What... what's happening...?

That's when he sees Rorschach, hazy gaze slowly moving up to him. Rorschach, and a large knife. A beat of alarm hitches in his chest, and he tries to move around, giving quick pants of exertion. ]

What... what are you doing to me?

[The black dots on Rorschach’s face swirled about and it was times like this that he knew it was an effective method of intimidation. When no one could see his expressions or even his eyes, it made it all the easier to gain the upper hand. He remained silent for a moment or two when Konstantin woke up and asked him what he was doing. Then he prodded him again none too gently with the knife.

His mental voice was as blunt and harsh-sounding as his physical one. The only difference was that he was a bit more eloquent when he used it.]

I’ve seen a lot of strange things in this town. But you just might be one of the strangest of them all and that’s saying something. Now– [He pointed the knife at one of Konstantin’s eyes.] --You’re going to tell me just what the hell is going on with you. Whether you’re some weird Communist experiment gone wrong or whatever. And don’t lie. I’ll know it.

[The knife held enough emphasis to make that abundantly clear.]

[ He's been on the bad end of this guy's wrath before, but this amplifies things times a hundred — he's bound, there's a knife aimed his way, and as the seconds tick by, he's becoming more sure of just what had to have happened.

The thing must have come out of him. It's unprecedented — it doesn't emerge during the daytime, knows better than that. And it has no reason to evacuate his body at such an odd time, unless.... the animal blood they've been feeding it isn't enough. He's always worried about that, a needling horror never too far down. Maybe it smelled a person nearby, its hunger raring, tried to attack someone. Did it go after Rorschach...? Though he's pretty sure if that were the case, the man would have just killed the creature, and then Konstantin himself would be dying right now, too.

Breathing heavily, he swallows against the unpleasant layer of slime still coating his throat, and stares hazily up at those black dots as the man's mental voice reaches him. Konstantin scowls, eyes narrowing. ]

Mudak! I've told you before. I'm sick. None of that is a lie.

[ There's no sense pretending there's nothing fucking weird going on with him, but he can still be careful with what he reveals, and how. ]

I've been to space. Exposed to an infection that isn't of this planet. There's no conspiracy!

You know, most infections cause someone to just get a really bad flu or cause them a long hospital stay or kill them if their immune system is weak enough already. This is the first time I’ve heard of one causing a parasite to live inside someone. Excuse me for not believing you the other times you’ve told me you’re ‘just sick.’

Still, at least it made sense as to how such a creature had ended up in Konstantin to begin with. If he’d been to space as a cosmonaut, there was no telling what was out there that he might have possibly brought back with him to Earth.]

What is it exactly? How is it surviving? And is there a way to kill it?

[Surprisingly, Rorschach didn’t mean ‘kill you’; he’d been deliberate about the way he worded that. If Konstantin truly had no choice in the matter, he thought he’d be doing the Russian a service in getting rid of the creature that was all but possessing him.]

[ Shit. Shit.

He saw. Somehow, he saw the fucking thing, but it didn't... attack him? Or maybe he saw it... returning to him? Which means it was out either way, right? Konstantin has no idea that the thing stayed hidden, not revealing itself fully. For all he knows, it evacuated itself from his body and ran around all over the place.

His pulse quickens despite his efforts to keep calm, pupils dilating, swelling. He's pale, whether from stress or illness or a mix of both, a cold sweat at his temples. He doesn't feel well. He feels trapped. But it's the question that gives him a new pause, something hitching inside of him. is there a way to kill it?

That's a dangerous goddamn question. It's also the one he's been asking himself ever since the thing forced itself down his throat. The reason it's a dangerous question is because it's an impossible one — it's symbiotic, tethered to him; it can't die without him dying, too. ...But that was before this place, where the rules of its functioning seemed to change. Maybe it's possible that it could be killed here. Konstantin stares up at his captor, tongue pressed behind his teeth, jaw tight. Finally, he answers. ]

I don't know. I don't know if it can be killed. I was trying to figure that out before I was brought here.

[ He squirms slightly against his restraints, the binding uncomfortable against the swell of muscles in his tense arms. ]

I don't know exactly what it is, either. In my time, we've never discovered anything like it before. I'm the only case.

What did it do? Try to attack you?

That’s none of your business.

[Rorschach growled out in his mental voice. That wasn’t fair. If there was anyone who deserved to know about the interaction Rorschach had with the creepy alien parasite, it was the man it was attached to as a host. But Rorschach wasn’t about to tell him a single word more explaining what had happened then he had to. He wanted to keep the upper hand here, so the less Konstantin knew, the better.

He sat back a little bit, no longer pointing the knife at Konstantin like he was planning to gut him like a fish.]

Want me to try to kill it?

[In all honesty, that was probably the nicest thing Rorschach had ever told Konstantin, weird as that might have been. He felt it would be a good thing to get rid of some unnatural creature that was using the poor man as a host. Granted, he had no real idea of what he was going up against given he’d seen just the barest glimpse of the alien, but he felt confident anything would die swiftly enough if you stabbed it through the head.]

[ The cosmonaut's lip curls at that. It is his business, but he's not about to flash his teeth too sharply at this man. Rorschach is a threat, and one whose degree is uncertain, which makes him especially dangerous. Just how far will he go, here? What is he planning to do?

The question leaves him speechless for a few long moments as he just stares up at the other man. There's a kneejerk response in him, one he can't swallow back from himself. A plea. A beg. Yes, please, kill it. Get it out of me. Do whatever it takes.

But he can't. He can't ask for that, he knows he can't. At least not yet. ]

No. I don't know what might happen. I don't even know if it can be killed. Before I came here, it was capable of... healing, unnaturally. You might just end up with a deadly enemy if you try that.

[ ....Beat. Admitting this next part is a big fucking risk. It's giving up his weakness. But he needs to stress the threat that underlies everything, here. ]

..It's also attached to me. Symbiotically. If it dies, I die. We're— connected. At least, we were back home.

...Why are you asking that?

Edited 2024-10-22 20:26 (UTC)

Have plenty of enemies already. An alien would be a new one though.

[He knew Konstantin had a point there. He had no idea what he was really going up against, not having seen the full creature, or having any idea if it was vulnerable to any of the ways one might kill a creature from Earth. For all he knew, the thing had impenetrable skin and could survive being thrown in a fire.

Rorschach stayed silent for a long while, listening to Konstantin speak. For all that he kept a rigid black-and-white mindset, it was only because deep within he had a tender heart. He felt damn sorry for the man who was host to a parasite he couldn’t get rid of and might never be able to. The emotion felt was similar to the way he often felt when he’d intervened to protect women from the brutality of male criminals. It was a strange sensation to be feeling it for a man in general but he chalked that up to the strange and unique situation he’d never thought he’d find himself in.]

Same reason I used to take pleasure in killing rapists back home. Seems cruel to not even be in control of your own body, to have no say in the fact something else is using it. Parasite or man forcing you up against a wall, it’s not a situation anyone should be placed into.

[He was tempted to untie Konstantin as he was no longer classifying the man as an active threat in his mind but he needed clarification on a few more things first.]

It can’t control you, can it? Make you do things against your will like attack people?

[ Konstantin stares at the other man, baffled by the response. So he is a killer. But he kills.... horrible men, men that one could argue certainly deserve such a fate.

His own monster was fed dangerous prisoners, many of whom had committed the very sorts of acts that Rorschach speaks of now. Konstantin let it happen, and despite something in him insisting he should feel guilt about a human life being taken by the thing that occupies him now.... at the root of him, he can't feel sorry for those men. At the root of him, he does think they fucking deserved it. Weren't they the real monsters?

Maybe that's something he could talk to Rorschach about someday. It's a startling though, but... it sounds like maybe this man could actually relate? He's stunned by this revelation, and by the fact that Rorschach seems... empathetic to him at all. He just stares up at him for a few long moments of startled silence, taking him in, before he replies. ]

No, it can't control me. It just.. lives inside of me. It can't survive on Earth's environment without my body as protection. [ It's ironic, really. The spaceman becoming a spacesuit for something else. ]

I don't want it to hurt anyone. I've been doing what it takes to try and keep this thing... satisfied. Feeding it animal blood. Keeping it warm. I didn't realise it had been... leaving my body. If it's doing that, it must have a reason. Maybe it needs me to give it more food, or maybe something frightened it.

Think maybe the thing that frightened it was me.

[Rorschach noted in a thoughtful tone. The alien had been all set seemingly to leave Konstantin's body until it had gotten close to coming out. Being able to sense Rorschach was there and being able to also tell he was an enemy made as much sense as anything regarding a strange alien creature.

Satisfied that Konstantin was telling the truth, he put down the knife and began to loosen the tight bonds he'd tied up the cosmonaut with. He continued to speak with his mental voice as he did so.]

Still don't trust you. But will keep your secret safe, Konstantin.

[He already knew all sorts of things about the people in town, things he had discovered by observation or by them telling him for whatever reason. One more was something he could easily keep to himself. It was a mark that he'd softened towards the Russian at all during this entire interaction by the fact he was willing to use his name.]

Just know that if things change, if it starts to kill people, I'll have to take action. I don't want to kill you. You're not a bad person even if you are a Communist. But if it comes down to saving one man or the rest of the Interlopers, you know which one I'll pick.

[ That.... might be it, actually. Konstantin can see how the creature could've gotten spooked by Rorschach. Strange to think that the thing is so... vulnerable, for all the ways it can also be so deadly.

But what stuns him the most is when the other man starts to loosen the binds, leaving the cosmonaut freshly startled as he stares up at him. He'll keep his secret safe? He still can't figure this guy out, but.... maybe he's figured out a little more about him, today.

It's those next words that have him speechless for a long moment, however. Not out of fear or aversion, no, something deep in Konstantin shudders and leaps forwards with something almost like yearning, something desperate. No one who knows about the creature has offered anything like this to him before. ]

Good— [ He breathes out, hard and fast, surprising even himself. Good, fucking good. ] If it gets out of control.. if it starts hurting people — do it. Please.

[ He'd killed himself once before to stop the thing, and woken up horrified in this place that he hadn't stayed dead. And now here's the one person who would probably ever willingly provide such a thing for him here. Konstantin could almost cry from relief. ]

Thank you.

[Rorschach jerked back a little when Konstantin thanked him, the first real sign of surprise he'd shown through his body language while the other man had been conscious. He still wasn't used to the people here thanking him for doing what he'd always done before, things that he just saw as necessary to keeping law and order, good and evil in their proper place. No one at home had appreciated what he'd done and even after eight months he still wasn't used to the occasional person showing their appreciation for what he'd did or offered to do.

More than that, he was surprised that Konstantin would thank him for the offer to kill him if it was needed. But clearly the cosmonaut had lived with the alien creature inside of him long enough to understand the ramifications of what would happen if it got loose to do something like a killing spree or became stronger than it already was. After he regained his composure, the vigilante reached forward and clasped Konstantin on the shoulder in an awkward but friendly gesture.]

You're welcome.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO CRACK THEIR BONES?

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cw: internalized homophobia

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cw: seizure, parasite horror things

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cw: seizure / epilepsy, emeto associations, parasite horror involving the throat

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cw: continued parasite / worm horror involving the throat & stomach, emeto associations

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cw: mention of parasite horror

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cw: subject of rape, lack of bodily autonomy discussed

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cw: introspection of suicide

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