We are the Hunted (Invite only)

[Sorrow_Mirth_and_Sin]

You lose, Tithe snickered internally to... himself. The scales really weren't necessary for a change in persona but Tithe was pissed. Confusing the kid over just who was talking would only drag on the stupidity. "So, explain this to me, Tobin," he said coldly, hissing the boy's name as though it were a word that particularly offended him. "You think you're going to go home and just wait there forever for your prince loser to waltz his sorry a** back into your life? You really think what they send after you is going to make an exception just because you think last week's screw-you-and-lose-you might decide to come back for round two? After how long you've been gone? If you're ******** buddy was ever going to come knocking again, don't you think it would have been way before now? Or are you stupid enough to be his once-in-a-blue-moon toy?"

He moved into the room slowly, the floor boards creaking under his weight. Icarus should have made them wear the black coloured contacts today. These eyes were his and the look in them now was not meant for anything short of prey. "Do you imagine they'll waste any amount of time of a human's life to pick you up? That it will be a bunch of cow eyed, meat suits with matching uniforms and badges kicking down your door and then politely offering to share their doughnuts with you on the drive back to that hell?"

He laughed, dropping to his knees in front of the boy and grasping the ankle of his burned leg none too gently. "I used to be the thing they sent after stupid little boys like you. Do you have any idea how we spend our days when we aren't made to play fetch like mindless bitches? We don't get comfy little pools with meals via IV and lovely little drugs to make us sleep almost every possible moment. We are isolated, locked so far away that it might be months before we so much as hear another human voice, let alone receive any form of contact. We spend our days in cages with cold iron floors to sleep on - and there's only so much sleep a body can take before it simply won't any more. We go unfed for days before we are sent on a mission. When they open that god damned door and send us tearing after someone like you, there is nothing in our heads but hunger and need," he snarled, dragging the boy slowly closer as his spoke until his knee dug into the boy's groin. He leaned down, his mouth so very close to the boy's ear when he murmured, "and who do you suppose we take it all out on?"  

[Ma Sai The Caged Tiger]

Watching the other, his rescuer take control, Tobin began to smile. Now he could thank the man properly. He had half opened his mouth to do so when the cutting words left the man's lips. His smile fell, replaced by shock. His words hurt, but even moreso they angered him. He knew nothing of the man he had loved, and Tobin was going to tell him so.

Until Tithe had started stalking across the room. The smaller brunet shrank back against the bed instinctively, heart slowly picking up it's pace as the man moved closer. He felt hunted, like a rabbit chased through a wood. When the other male grabbed his injured leg he let out a small noise, pulled from his weak grasp on the bedclothes closer to the odd eyed man. He drew a shuddery breath as he was dragged closer.

Tithe's words were frightening, but his body language was far more terrifying. The boy squirmed, fingers dragging along the floor in a vain effort to slow his movement. Tobin flattened himself against the floor and whimpered softly when the man's knee bumped him in such an intimate area, struggling to move away from the touch. Tears pricked his eyes as he exhaled shakily, green eyes wide and concentrated upon the man above him. Terror sang through his veins as Tithe all but whispered his last statement. "Please...stop it." His voice wavered, pressing his cheek against the floor in an effort to put distance between he and Tithe.  

[Sorrow_Mirth_and_Sin]

Tithe snorted, hot billows of smoke pouring from his nose. “They won’t stop,” he said after a long moment, releasing the boy and sitting back on his haunches, “and when they’re done with you, they won’t leave you behind. You’ll be waiting for your little friend right back where you started yesterday and I doubt he’d care to look for you there.”

He stood, glaring down at the boy through narrowed eyes. “You better think long and hard about whether he’s really worth everything he’s going to cost you. I for one would doubt that very much.”  

[Ma Sai The Caged Tiger]

Swallowing the building lump in his throat, Tobin nodded silently. Moving his face away from the smoke, he sat up, curling an arm around himself. "I understand, that you're trying to warn me. And I'm grateful, truly. But please, don't speak ill of him. You don't even know Theo, so don't judge him like that."  

[Sorrow_Mirth_and_Sin]

Tithe stiffened, staring at the boy for a long time. That other part of him, the one that so rarely surfaced, stirred within his murky corner, dust clouds of raw emotion and memory churning in his wake but Tithe shoved him away. It took a long time to bury you, he hissed at his counterpart, you don’t get to come back and screw things up now.

Shaking the feeling off, Tithe turned and walked away. He paused in the doorway, not bothering to look back as he snapped in retort. “You don’t know a damned thing about me either, so who’s to say what I do and don’t know?”  

[Ma Sai The Caged Tiger]

Tobin looked up at the long silence, cocking his head curiously at the lack of speech from the scaled man. He blinked in confusion when the man abruptly turned and moved to the door, flinching at his cold words. "Wait!" Pushing his hair from his eyes he hurried to speak, grabbing the side of the bed and struggling to pull himself back to a seated position. "You're right, I don't know you-but what do you mean what you know? Please, what did you mean?"  

[Sorrow_Mirth_and_Sin]

"That would be telling, now wouldn't it?" Tithe smirked, turning back to face the boy as he backed out of the room. "Why don't you try asking Icarus some time? I'm sure he'll use prettier words and judging by how pissed off he is at me right about now, I'd say he happens to be against making you cry." He laughed darkly, continuing down the hall. "Go get cleaned up before he grounds me to my corner. If I'm still here when you're done, then I'll play twenty questions - I'm going to see how many of his students I can fail before he gives us both a headache fighting for control."  

[Ma Sai The Caged Tiger]

Sqweezing his eyes shut, Tobin took a slow breath. Talking to the man had been a whirlwind of highs and lows, he couldn't even remember what they had started out discussing.

But the man's reminder of cleanliness had him flushing to his roots. Looking down at himself he grimaced. He was a mess. Looking through the doorway, he saw the light across the hall. Hoping that it was the washroom he wobbled to his feet, gingerly making his way across the room and leaning against the doorway.

Taking a moment to catch his breath he continued on to the room, sitting on the edge of the tub as he quickly declothes and submerges himself. It felt so much better to scrub away the grime from the lab. He felt refreshed, and soon enough he was out of the tub and drying off with a borrowed towel.

Draining the tub, he made his way back across the way to the bedroom and grabbed the shirt from the bed. It was a bit big on him, falling down to the top of his thighs, thankfully concealing his modesty. Peeking out of the room he looked down the hall, edging down the way and peering about. "Tithe?"  

[Sorrow_Mirth_and_Sin]

"No, but in here," Icarus called. He was seated at the kitchen table again, a mess of crumpled and marked up papers scattered out in front of him and at his feet. He was leaning back in his chair, pinching the bridge of his nose against the migraine that pounded behind his eyes.

"I'm sorry for what he did," the man said softly, tilting his head back against the back of his chair and sighing. "We are merely parts of a whole. Kindness is not within his domain. Thankfully, he doesn't ask - or fight - for control very often outside his own activities but you should try to keep away when he does. And don't make the mistake of believing the scales are the tell. They are mine just as much as his and he goes without when it suits him as well."  

[Ma Sai The Caged Tiger]

Leaning against the wall for support, he steadily made his way into the kitchen, lewobbling over to a chairand taking a seat with a grateful sigh. Looking at the clutter on the table he blinked, turning to Icarus and thinking better of asking about the mess at the look on his face.

"It isn't your fault is it? There is no need for you to aplogize for something...the other you did. But, how do I know who is who? It is all still very confusing to me." Senna trotted out of the bedroom at that moment, pawing at his legs. Leaning back the smaller brunet gave her room to jump up, snuggling up to her as he waited for an answer.  

[Sorrow_Mirth_and_Sin]

"Considering we're still technically the same person, it seemed appropriate. You'll never get anything even remotely resembling an apology out of him." Icarus said evenly. "As for knowing one from the other, I'm sure you'll catch on soon enough. We speak differently, act differently, walk differently." He paused, glaring at the papers in front of him. "It would appear we even write differently." He sighed. "Ask if you're ever unsure. He might choose not to answer or try to talk around it - I'll tell you right out. And he doesn't have the patience to pretend to be me, so at least you don't have to worry about him lying about something like that."  

[Ma Sai The Caged Tiger]

"Well, that's a relief I suppose." The boy mumbled, laying his head on his folded hands and resting on the table. "But why am I here? You never answered that question." The ginger tabby curled up on his lap, content to be both a lap warmer and decency keeper, her added weight making sure his shirt didnt ride up.  

[Sorrow_Mirth_and_Sin]

Icarus stared at him for a moment, trying to comprehend the question. "I'm sorry, but where else were you suppose to end up? Dropping you off at your own home would have been stupid and we've already discussed that. And as amusing as Tithe might have thought it, leaving you on your own wouldn't have been much better. What point would there be in going to the trouble of springing you, just to leave you somewhere to rot or get caught again?"  

[Ma Sai The Caged Tiger]

"I just mean, you said yourself that it wasnt because you do it for a living or anything. I just want to know, why me? I don't understand why at all. I don't mean to be rude, I'm extremely grateful." Wide emerald eyes stared across the table to the man opposite of him. "I've never met you or Tithe before, so how did you know where my house was or where I was for that matter."  

[Sorrow_Mirth_and_Sin]

"Why you?" Icarus repeated slowly, sighing. Tithe might be the one that couldn't be trusted but he was the one that was going to have to bend the truth until what was real and what was false looked nearly the same. "To keep a promise. Someone who used to know you, used to work in the book shop I own. He wanted to be sure things like this would never happen to you. Well, clearly he failed in that. When he couldn't do what was necessary, the job became mine - mostly Tithe's. We didn't know where you were, not exactly. We knew that you'd been snatched and who was behind it - once it's happened to you, the signs are easy to recognise. Finding you was not easy. It took months of hunting. I don't even know how many buildings Tithe raided before we yesterday and that was just blind luck."