Inbox~ Penance

[swordofzero]

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[swordofzero]

Yes. That's correct. How are you faring Leonard?

[He remembers their meeting as children, how Leonard had struggled with his name. He wouldn't dare call him 'Lenny' though, not as an adult.]

((OOC: JSYK Suzaku 'vanished' on hiatus at the beginning of the month, but I'm cool with this being set between their kid thread and leaving Mammon's realm if that's cool with you!))

[chillestrogue]

Fair, considering.

Wanted to thank you for helping calm a scared kid down. Even if you were only one yourself.

[OOC: whoops, thanks for the heads-up! Makes sense to me too!]

[swordofzero]

It requires no thanks. I apologise if I were... abrasive. [It's a little embarrassing how proud he had once been.]

Thank you as well. [After all, he might have had bravado but he had been scared too, having an older kid around had helped.]

[chillestrogue]

You call that abrasive? I thought it was adorable.

[swordofzero]

It got me in a lot of trouble, long ago. [Adorable is not a word that has ever been used about him before.]

It seems things are stable for now though, until the next strange thing. [How they had been children he doesn't know. It seems almost impossible, despite everything he had seen in hell already.]

[chillestrogue]

How long is 'long ago'?

[because to the middle-aged Snart, Suzaku looks like a kid]

Wouldn't get too comfortable, then.

[swordofzero]

Eight years. I was... ten then [It's weird to even talk about, he had been ten years old again for a day. Though he could argue he had gotten into trouble ever since. He was no longer as proud though, not by a long way.]

How have you been since?

[chillestrogue]

Well, considering I'm in hell right now, probably not amazing.

[swordofzero]

[Probably very true.] I hope you've managed to avoid trouble since becoming yourself again. With the circus and all... [That had been a very disturbing incident, Suzaku had been lucky enough to not be changed into any creatures, he could only hope the same for Leonard.]

[chillestrogue]

Shockingly, yeah. I know how to fly under the radar.

What about you? All good?

[swordofzero]

Yes, I managed to avoid being turned. [Though he hadn't quite avoided all trouble, he had gotten out mostly unscathed.]

[chillestrogue]

Glad to hear it.

Well, this has been fun. Guess I'll see you around, kid.

[swordofzero]

I'm glad you are well too.

See you later, Leonard. [He should probably argue about being called kid. But he doesn't particularly want to start arguments with people who actually tolerate him. So he lets it slide.]

continued thread: Hellburbia

[swordofzero]

A continuation of this thread with Katherine and Suzaku.

continued thread: Hellburbia

[bossyboiler]

She waits until Kaiba is out of sight before entering the house. Once she is inside she locks the door behind her. Kaiba is out of sight but not out of mind. Now she has to deal with that problem.

"Are you injured, Suzaku?" Her first responsibility is to her son. She looks him over for any signs of injury that needed to be tended to first.

This might be the calm before the storm.

Re: continued thread: Hellburbia

[swordofzero]

He warmtches Set leave, that last look like a hammer to his chest. It is wrong of course. Seto is the one who betrayed him. So why is it that Suzaku feels guilty?

He steps back as his mother returns and locks the door. It takes him a moment to shake out of his shock. "I'm uninjured, mother."

He was used to being tackled in sports, he hadn't injured himself in the scuffle. "Did he hurt you?"

He doesn't want to believe it still. That Seto would go so far to attack his mother. "Would you like a hot drink?"

Even if she is uninjured she used a lot of power and caring for her is easier than thinking about literally anything else.

[bossyboiler]

"Are you sure?" The desire to baby him and give him a thorough once-over is there. However, Suzaku is practically grown and not a demonling anymore. It is beneath them both to give into such emotions and feelings.

"I am fine." She is a little out of breath. Her forcefields had been larger than the ones she normally created. I had taken a little out of her but she is going to act as though she is fine. She is fine. It had been just a little overexertion. "You are very considerate to offer but no. I do not need something hot to drink." Perhaps later.

Katherine reaches into the pocket of her apron and removes the small vial. She holds it up to the light and examines it. The very act of looking at it makes her uncomfortable. "How long have you known him?"

[swordofzero]

He nodded. He was sure. It was no more than he could handle and he was not a demonling any more. Crying and snivelling was far beneath him. They had both survived. It was fine.

His frown deapened as he saw the vial. He is relieved of course that she had managed to grab it off Seto. It meant he could not go on to poison someone else. Not with that vial at least.

"A few years." He can't actually remember meeting him. Just one of those people who seemed to have always been in his life.

"He is the one who taught me metal working." He frowned. Seto had always seemed at ease with his life. He has a husband. A life here. How could he turn on them?

"Do you know what kind of poison it is?"

[bossyboiler]

"That was him?" What had happened to the demon to make him act violently towards them? Had he ingested what is in the vial?

It's not the time for hand-wringing or clutching pearls. "I do not." Which troubles her. It looks like it might be blood but what kind? A lot of potions looked like blood. (They usually had blood in them!)

Katherine heads into the kitchen where she retrieves a small tin box from a cabinet drawer. She opens it, puts the vial inside, and feels better immediately. The effect does not go unnoticed. She finds it odd. It surely must be a dangerous poison or worse, a drug.

"I'm going to take this to your Father."

[swordofzero]

He just nodded. He's struggling to believe it himself. What had happened to him? Why would he act in such a way.

The potion looked strange to him, but potions is not his strongest subject at school and if his mother could not tell what it was then he had very little chance.

He felt a bit more at ease when the potion was put into the box and more so when she suggested taking it to his father. If anyone had the knowledge to figure out what it was it would be him.

"I am sure he will get to the bottom of this. If there are more vials like this around it needs to be dealt with."

Before demons got hurt.

[hypoxic]

[When Suzaku returns from the mission with his school, he'll receive a summons to his father's office. It's sent by formal messenger, with none of the silly informalities that those boxes have been perpetuating. At least Barbas has seen to it that they've been silenced. They always were a menace.

Whenever Suzaku arrives, the doctor will be occupied. He's settled at his enormous desk, signing off approvals or denials, occasionally pricking his nondominant palm with his quill when a document is important enough to need to be signed in blood.

In times like these, there should be an assistant doting on him and helping to relieve the stress. There's a tightness in his knuckles as he works alone. The summons is not a joyful one.]

[bossyboiler]

She nods her head at her son. It is urgent that she gets the vial to her husband but she can't leave the house like this. She reaches to the small of her back and undoes her apron which is then hung on a hook. (A place for everything and everything in its place!)

"He will." He has to, she feels. Under normal circumstances, she would never go to the torture mill. Leopold Fitz is a busy man who does not need a distraction while at work but this is important.

Katherine moves very quickly. She puts on her best coat and hat. She changes her shoes into something more appropriate. When she's done she rejoins Suzaku but not before collecting the tin and putting it into her handbag.

"Alright. I am leaving." She secures her hat with a very long hatpin. "I want you to bolt the doors, all of them. Make the house look like no one is home." His chores outside can wait. "Do not answer the phone or the door. Do you understand?" Because she is taking Seto's threat of coming back seriously.

[swordofzero]

It was worrying that his mother felt strongly enough about this that she planned to go and find his father at work. But at the same time it was reassuring that she was willing to go so far to protect them, he felt safe in the knowledge that she had the matter under control. After all if there was anything his mother was good at it was control, everything was planned and deliberate from dinner to schedules to the organisation of knives.

He waits whilst she gets ready, just watching the tin with the vial in it. He doesn't want to let it out of his sight. Not until she returns and it is safely in her handbag.

He worries about her going alone, but he won't insult her by insinuating she can't protect herself. She can and it is not that far to the torture mill. Her orders get another nod.

"I understand mother. I will."

[swordofzero]

[The summons is very unusual and Suzaku knows straight away that it is serious. After all his father is a very busy man, most days Suzaku does not see him at all, a brief greeting in the morning or welcoming him home after a day at work. Sometimes they share meals together but more often or not his father works late. Suzaku has been to his office before, probably. When he was younger, accompanying his mother. But he has never been summoned like this before.

He wastes no time, the doctor is a busy man and not one to keep waiting. He is surprised by the lack of assistant or secretary but merely knocks at the door and stands almost to attention.]

You wished to see me, doctor?

[Familiarity would not do at all. This is Suzaku's father and he cares for him deeply and that is why he will not allow his behaviour to reflect badly on him in the slightest.]

/wrap?

[bossyboiler]

She finishes fastening the buttons on her coat. "You're a good son, Suzaku." Katherine smiles briefly at him. It's another blink twice and you'll miss it moment.

She is soon ready to go and leaves via the front door. Before departing for the torture mill, she locks the front door. She trusts that Suzaku will do as he is told.