forum || One-on-One w/ Headband-Warrior || Some kind of awesome apocalypse RP thing || :3

Started October 13, 2019 by @Moriarty

tune

Curtis knew Kaz was right; he would've done the same. Even so, he was beyond grateful. He wanted to thank Kaz, but he felt like "Thanks, man," wasn't enough to cover it. He swore to himself right then and there that he would make it a point to do everything in his power to help this guy. Besides, it wasn't like he had anyone else to trust besides Kaz, either.

"You can call me Eden," she replied blankly as she pulled open the door to the vehicle. She glanced at his terribly damaged clothes. "Yes, definitely. You need them badly."

Kaz froze when the lady said her name. You did know her! his brain shouted with glee, running on overdrive for a few moments to drag up a repressed memory.

"You need to stop" Eden had said, looking up at him with her big (blue?) eyes, "Please, just stop."
He had ignored her and grabbed the terrified man by the neck, pinning him against the wall.
"Think you can shoot me, huh?" he growled, his hand clenching even tighter as the man stared up at him with wide eyes. "Think you're gonna shoot me in the back and run off with my money?" Kaz was close enough to smell the alcohol on the guy's breath.
"Kaz!" Eden shouted, shoving him off of the poor guy. "Stop! You can't just attack people like that!"

He snapped out of the memory and looked up at Eden, his eyes going wide. Christ, what kind of person was I?

He fumbled through a few questions that he could've asked, but settled on one.
"Did I kill him?" he asked in a soft voice, a frown forming on his face. She probably doesn't even know what I'm talking about.

"Kill who?" Curtis asked, utterly oblivious to the situation.

Eden stared at Kaz for a short moment, a twinge of sadness– or some similar emotion– visible in her intelligent (yes, blue) eyes. Does he remember something from before? The fact was that he had killed too many people for her to keep up with them all. How was she supposed to know which one he was talking about?
"We'll talk more about this when we get there, if that's alright with you," she responded finally, although she sounded a tad more distant and thoughtful than she had before. "We should probably get going." She motioned for him to get into the vehicle.

(I like the touch with the flashback-memory. That was snazz)

Kaz looked over at Curtis, a confused expression on his face. Words struggled to find their way out of his throat as he attempted to explain what had just happened.

"I…remembered something," he managed to squeeze out. "And it wasn't good."

With that, he climbed into the vehicle and sat down next to Eden, staring down at his feet as he wrestled with his own memory. C'mon, he pleaded with it, Just give me a little more.

No, it responded indignantly. *I don't want to.

(Thank you!)

Curtis clambered into the vehicle after them, wondering what it could've possibly been that Kaz remembered. Something about killing someone, obviously. He wanted to ask, but he didn't dare tread that ground– just in case. He sat down beside Kaz and intertwined his fingers, sitting in awkward silence while he tried to make sense of the situation. It had been a weird day, and he was afraid it was only going to get weirder.

Once they were in the vehicle, the driver hit the gas. A few moments of silence passed, with Eden staring straight ahead, obviously lost in her own thoughts. After some time, she glanced at Kaz. "What did you remember?" she asked, her tone low, almost a whisper.

He didn't look up from his feet, which he just noticed where shoeless. He must have lost them in the explosion. Or maybe he didn't have them to begin with.

"Just…..you telling me to stop," he said, returning to the one memory he had. "Me pinning some guy to a wall, then you shoving me away. Then….nothing."

Kaz looked over at her with a pained expression, hoping she could make sense of it.

Eden bit her lip. She couldn't help but feel sympathetic towards him. Sympathy towards Kaz? It wasn't that Eden was incapable of sympathy, because she had plenty, but it typically didn't spill over Kaz due to his actions. But something was different here– something that made her heart hurt for him. She almost didn't want to tell him. Fortunately, her expression remained nearly blank.
"I know what you're talking about. A drunk man– he shot at you, tried to rob you. You freaked him out and threatened to kill him for it. I tried to stop you, but you were dead set. Do you remember anything else?" she asked slowly.

He rubbed his head with both hands, his fingers weaving through his tangled hair. After a few moments of silence, he shook his head.

"N-no….no, I don't," he mumbled, barely opening his mouth when he spoke. "What happened afterwords?"

"You killed him." Eden felt a bit sorry for being so blunt about it, but what was the point in sugarcoating the truth? Besides, he was Kaz. He wouldn't care anyway.
Would he?

Curtis eavesdropped, as confused as anyone but legitimately interested in the details

He sat there in stunned silence, his jaw slack and his eyes glazed over.

You killed him. There was something about the was she had said it. Like it happened all the time. Maybe it did. What about the guy he had punched after getting his with the rocket? Was he even still alive? Sure, he was about to hurt Curtis, but the idea of killing someone disgusted Kaz enough to make him want to hurl.

"W-…." a ball of emotion lodged itself in his throat, making it almost impossible to speak. "Was that the only time?"

Eden hesitated. He looked so bothered by the news that it made her feel conflicted. He did care. What? That wasn't the Kaz she knew. The Kaz she knew didn't give a crap about whether or not people who messed with him lived or died.
But this Kaz– amnesia-stricken confused Kaz– cared. He seemed to give a crap. He seemed to give a lot of craps.
Eden didn't want to lie to him, but she didn't want to tell him the truth, either. "Only a few times, " she responded finally, after carefully thinking it through. "You always had a reason, though."
Even if that reason was stupid, you always had one.

"That…..don't really make it better," he mumbled to the floor, staring at the floor beneath his feet as he tried to repress the urge to throw up.

God, I was a monster, he thought. Am a monster.

He looked over to Curtis to gauge his reaction to the shocking news.

@PrettyLittlePyro, if you would like to do a separate one-on-one with me, we can, and if not, that's also fine. ^u^ I just wanted to let you know I'm not neglecting or ignoring you.

(You're fine lol. Sure, we can do a separate one.)

Curtis was, honestly, surprised. His new friend who had saved him? A killer? No. No. Not likely.
"How do we know she's not lying?" he asked suddenly, fueled by the faith he had in Kaz. "And even if it were true, you saved me. Whatever you did before is in the past, right? Besides, maybe they were really evil people and you didn't have much choice."

Eden bit her lip, staying quiet.

The reassurances did nothing to help, but it brought a small smile to his face anyways.

"Taking a life isn't right either way," he said softly. "And I trust her. If she wanted to kill us, she would've told those guys to back there."

Eden smiled a bit, although a bit of sympathetic sadness for Kaz refused to leave. "Thank you, Kaz." She glanced down at the floor, amazed at how different he was– and a bit sad that she was afraid it wouldn't last. Soon, he'll revert to his old memories– and his old self.

"For what it's worth, you're one of the best people I've ever met, and I've known you for less than an hour." Curtis offered a bit of a smile, but his distrust towards Eden lingered a bit.

"I appreciate that, man. I really do," Kaz said, giving his friend a light pat on the shoulder. He made sure to not be too rough, afraid of causing Curtis physical harm. He turned back over to Eden, a slight frown on his face. "How long until we get where we're going?"

"Not long. I would estimate about… Mmm… ten minutes," Eden responded, her bright eyes staring down at an expensive (and technologically-advanced) watch strapped firmly around her rather small wrist. "Getting antsy?"

"Not really," Kaz said, looking don at his clothes once again. "I would just like to be properly covered again. What happens when we get there?"

"Good question," Eden replied. "We'll get you come clothes, probably check on your injury to see how severe it is, maybe run a few more tests…" Her voice trailed. "Honestly, I don't know for sure. We'll fine out when we get there I guess. And we're almost there."
The vehicle hit a few bumps, nearly sending Curtis out of his seat.

Kaz reached out and caught Curtis by the collar of his shirt before he reached the ground, surprised how fast his reaction time was.

"So….what am I?" Kaz asked after pulling Curtis back into the seat. "I….I can't be human. No human can survive the stuff I did."

There was a moment of hesitation in Eden's response. "You are human," she said. "You're just special."

"Thanks, man," Curtis said, re positioning himself in his seat. He glanced at Eden doubtfully. He didn't trust her– at all. The tiny speck of faith he had in her was only because of his now-permanent respect for Kaz and his internal oath to stick with Kaz no matter what.

"You hesitated," Kaz pointed out, scowling slightly. "Tell my why I can do these things, then. Why can I pick up grown men like they're toddlers? Why can I survive rockets and guns and freaking buildings falling on me?"

"Look," Eden began, obviously trying to think carefully about her response. "It's really complicated, and it sounds dumb. I'm sure you'll remember soon enough, and then– then it'll all make sense. Besides, you've been through a lot in the past hour and you need to rest. You don't need a bunch of information dumped on you just yet."

He crossed his arms over his chest and looked down into his lap, scrunching up his nose. "Whatever."

Why am I getting so mad at this? Kaz thought, I should be grateful for what she's done for me, not complaining about what she hasn't.

Once again, he looked over at Curtis and gave him a what do you think? look.

Curtis's eyebrows were raised; he wasn't even hiding the fact that he was skeptical about all of this. "This is wack," he said finally, reading Kaz's expression. "Real wack."

"Wack?" Eden inquired, arching an eyebrow.

Curtis nodded, unafraid to voice his opinion; the only thing he wanted to avoid was angering Kaz. "I'm just not sure about all of this, I'm not gonna lie."

His confidence was bolstered by Curtis's statement, so he voiced his own.

"I find it really hard to trust someone who won't even tell me what I really am," he admitted, looking over at Eden again.

Double-empowered knowing that Kaz agreed, Curtis threw in a "Yeah!"

"It's not that I won't tell you," Eden retorted. "It's just that I don't think now is the best time to tell you. What? So do you want to leave, then? Want me to throw you out and let the gangs ravage your little friend? Maybe you won't get hurt, but if twenty guys storm you, you can't shield what's-his-face forever." She paused, then sighed. "I'm sorry. I'm just trying to keep you from being overwhelmed. Besides, we're here now anyways."

Kaz gave her a hard stare, something flashing in his eyes. The fact that she had just threatened Curtis made him like her even less.
"You know what?" he said slowly, sounding as close to his old self as he had all day. "I think I might risk it. Open up the doors."