open | so make mine a pain in the neck

[burying]

Who: Kieren Walker + You!
What: Kieren returns to Milton after his self-exile. Catch-all for August.
When: Mid-August, onwards.
Where: Various.

Content Warnings: Will be added to specific prompts!



wildcards fine with plotting, hmu! | permissions are here | contact: heolstor / _heolstor for questions/plotting

Comments

[burying]

Guess everyone's world has zombies in fiction, even mine did before the Rising. [ And then the zombie became real. Just— people thought it was just like in the movies and shows and games — Kieren can't bite someone and turn them into a zombie. Lisa's parents believed that, and he'd gone along with Jem — trying to let them keep their hope. ] Yeah, well— none of us planned to come back.

[ Kieren certainly didn't. He died on purpose. He nods at the question, though. ]

We're called— [ The worlds curl in his mouth, like something sour. ] uh, Partially Deceased Syndrome sufferers. Eventually they worked out how to treat us. They started capturing us, taking us to treatment centres and— eventually gave us back to our families.

[tinstar]

I think I'll stick with callin' you Kieren, if it's all the same. [He didn't like labels, save for the ones he used himself, the ones that were rooted in inarguable fact.]

I've heard it told that when the Darkwalker's near, that whole.. fuckin' event, everyone starts losin' their minds. That true too? I mean, I got squirrely but there's probably an answer for that.

[burying]

Yeah, I'd prefer that. [ He thinks it's bullshit. PDS sufferers. Like the government just gave that label to make it seem like everything's okay. It's not okay. It won't ever be. ]

... yeah, that's true. Well I mean— all encompassing fear? Like everything in you's telling you to run and hide? [ His mouth twists to one side in thought. ] Sounds about right for an ancient death-being, to be honest.

But it likes fucking with our minds in general, really. Once tried persuading us to go kill ourselves last year.

[tinstar]

Can't say I've ever had pause to consider what an ancient death-bring might come with. Largely because most of the stories I grew up with ended with mine fires or collapses.

[He lets a beat pass as he takes in the rest of all that.]

Seems to me like you resisted. Enough to still be here. Not somethin' you should consider givin' to everyone else, this idea that someone oughta put you down. Otherwise, I think it might be just like if you'd given up then..

[He gives Kieren a shallow smile.]

But maybe that's just me.

[burying]

Lot of people don't really want to think about death in general. Not so easy when it's staring you right in the face all the time. [ There's enough people like Kieren back home. Something, something, elephant in the room, he guesses. ]

I had help. [ He'd been talked down. When he went... well, not rabid but something like it in June — MacCready had stopped him from doing any more damage. But Kieren's quiet for a long time, considering the man's words. ]

I just— [ He takes a breath to steady himself, shaking his head. ] I just don't want to hurt anyone else.

[ He's so tired. ]

[tinstar]

I ain't got a choice, my line of work. [Hell, he was the death for a lot of people; horror of the raw humanity variety was his day in and day out. That always came with a lot of death. ]

Keep hold of that want. That makes you different than a lotta people that still have a pulse.

You got people close enough to help, if it gets too much? [Raylan already knew he'd step in if he happens to see the young man getting Weird, but that was going to be random chance.]

[burying]

[ That makes Kieren pause, and he eyes the man for a moment — equal parts concerned and curious. ]

What... do you do exactly?

[ He nods along. Sometimes he wonders if that's just the thing, now. He can't feel much, physically. Inside, he feels too much. Like he's all out of balance. But then... he was always kind of like that. It's in the bones of him, now. ]

Yeah. There's.. people who know the.. deal. [ With him. Kieren huffs out a humourless laugh. ] I was asking for help with all that the first day I got here.

[tinstar]

[If the scrutiny bothered Raylan, it didn't show. He knew how it sounded, how it sounded when it was cased in that way. He smiles a little, but it doesn't reach his eyes - he's told more than a few people and gotten blank looks; he had to prepare to get it again.]

A Deputy US Marshal. Which doesn't hold a lot of water with folks who don't know the agency or what we do.

[But he nods again.]

Is.. well, is animals any kinda of substitute? Not that I think it's a radical idea, I'm sure other people have asked the same...