We are the Hunted (Invite only)

[Ma Sai The Caged Tiger]

A hesitant smile slowly graced the smaller brunet's features, happy at the thought of having something to keep himself busy. "If you're sure, then I'd love to. I guess if you aren't home much then I'll need to find something to do, for a while atleast." He flushed and itched his ear sheepishly. "I really am sorry you had to go through so much trouble to find me. I really do appreciate it though, I honestly didn't think I would ever get out of there, alive atleast."

Fidgeting with the toe of his borrowed boot, he glanced about a bit anxiously. "I'm afraid I havent any clue where we are. I don't remember much of the trip here, I was in and out of it. How far ismy home from here?"  

[Sorrow_Mirth_and_Sin]

"I'm sure. And there's nothing to be sorry about. It was my choice after all and I happen to think it was worth it, so relax. You don't need to thank me at every turn and feel bad about what I did," Icarus pointed out, kicking a stone down the pavement, his hand shoved firmly in his pocket. He seemed to know exactly where they were going, making all the right turns and never having to glance around much. "Only a few blocks actually," he said simply. "We aren't going a usual route by any means."  

[Ma Sai The Caged Tiger]

"Ah, well. I'll try not to. It's just that it isnt every day a complete stranger helps you out like that." Following after the other male, Tobin looks around at the general surroundings, amazed by the lack of attention Icarus seemed to pay to their route. "Wow, you really know your way around here. I get lost after only a few streets normally. I always need precise directions or it takes me forever to get somewhere, even if i've been there a few times." He keeps up the nervous chatter, rambling on to keep himself busy as they walk.  

[Sorrow_Mirth_and_Sin]

Icarus smiled distantly, continuing to kick his pebble down the side walk. As much as it had come up, he was glad that Tobin wasn't questioning just why he would go to such lengths to help someone he wasn't supposed to know a thing about, over a promise to a person he also wasn't supposed to know, let alone be. He knew he couldn't rely on luck like that forever but he could be grateful for it while it was there.

"I know every inch of this city - well enough to get where I need to go blinded and completely stupefied from severe lack of sleep and blood-loss," Icarus said, his tone suggesting that he was speaking directly from experience. "I'm more used to seeing it from different angles and in the dark but I've travelled this route enough to know it anyways. You'll figure it out after awhile too."  

[Ma Sai The Caged Tiger]

"Oh I think it will take me a whole lot longer to learn it, especially in the dark." He trailed after the taller man, idly picking at the hem of hisloaner shirt. He would be glad to get some of his things, he flet as though he were almost swimming in the other's clothes. But, oh to be home again. Even if his garden were long gone, the familliar sight of his little cottage and its small yard. The garden had to be put in the side lot, the river was far too close to his back porch for there to be any worth while soil in the back.  

[Sorrow_Mirth_and_Sin]

"Probably but I see better in the dark, so that's the only reason I took to it so quickly," Icarus replied, letting the conversation lull as they walked. The buildings thinned out, as did the traffic. It wasn't long before Tithe could see their destination up ahead. Icarus slowed as they got closer. He really had no idea what to expect here. It had been weeks since he had laid eyes on the place.  

[Ma Sai The Caged Tiger]

Tobin, excited to see his home in view, sped up and left his new friend in the dust. Outwardly the cottage looked the same, and he halted at the small gate to his home. The front looked almost the same. It could use some touch ups, but there wasnt any sign of neglect, which was extremely odd. Glancing towards the side of his home, he moved slowly towards it, a feeling in his gut churning as he steeled himself for the horrible sight of however bad his garden must look. It wasn't as though he could have hired osmeone to look after it after all.  

[Sorrow_Mirth_and_Sin]

Icarus paused just inside the gate, giving Tobin his space. Between searching for the boy, during the times when he'd attracted too much attention and had to lie low, he had spent countless hours trying to keep the place more or less the way the boy had left it. He had cleaned up the mess the boy's capture had caused at least. The up-keeping had been more difficult. There was so much he knew next to nothing about but he had done the best he could. He smiled silently at the boy's excitement and he hoped he wouldn't be too disappointed once he got a good look at things.  

[Ma Sai The Caged Tiger]

Skidding to a halt as he turned the corner, Tobin stared. Someone had been upkeeping his garden. It was a shoddy job, but someone had tried. He walked thr rows of vegetables, noting the lack of weeds and choking grass, heading over to the herb selection and kneeling. His mint and lavender had flourished while he was gone, and he bent to sniff at the herbs with a smile. Straightening, he called out to Icarus excitedly. "Hey! Someone's been here, and they kept the garden clean!" He waited for the other man to come, hoping he could persuade the man to take some transplants with them for the new garden. So caught up in his pleasant surprise, he had failed to notice the for sale sign in the window.  

[Sorrow_Mirth_and_Sin]

Icarus didn't miss the sign in the window, pausing when he caught sight of it. He made no comment on it, less than eager to draw Tobin's attention to something that would so obviously upset him when he was already so overjoyed. He nodded, forcing a smile. "If you think anything could survive the trip, go ahead and take what you need."  

[Ma Sai The Caged Tiger]

Tobin all but beamed at the man and scrambled to gather materials to uproot a few plants. Really all he wanted were a few of his herbs, all of the vegetables were relatively easy to grow anew. Gently pulling a few samples of a handful of his selection, he placed them in a plastic container and into a burlap sack. "That's all I needed from here, now I just need a few changes of clothes and we can leave."

Standing he dusted himself off and stretched, sighing happily as his back popped. Turning towards the back door he approached, pulling a brick out easily by the door and picking up the hidden key. Replacing the brick he turned and grinned at Icarus. "Always have a spare handy." Unlocking the door he swung it open, expecting dust.

What he didnt expect was boxes labeled neatly and stacked, and a house bare of his furniture. He stared in shock, unable to understand what had happened. "M-my house...." It couldnt have been a thief, they wouldnt have labeled everything so neatly. But the writing, it looked familliar. The flowing neat script stood out against the dull brown box and he let out a shuddery exhale in recognition. It was his sister's precise writing. "My sister's been here..."

He moved towards the house, but as he crossed the threshold he tilted with a startled cry, clapping a hand to his neckas a warm unpleasant sensation swept through him. It throbbed and he wobbled unsteadily, clutching the counter beside him in an effort to remain standing. His neck ached terribly but it wasn't enough to impair him. His hair parted as he pulled his hand away, a precise cut red line slicing across the area where the tip if his spine connected with his head. It didn't look fresh, but it certainly wasn't old.  

[Sorrow_Mirth_and_Sin]

Icarus followed the boy up to the house with an ugly sinking feeling. He was at a loss, knowing he should speak up but unsure of what to say. What could he say to make any of this better, to soften the blow? He couldn't think of anything. Whatever he said, the fact of the matter remained painfully clear that Tobin's family had abandoned him. That coupled with what he had been left to believe about Theo only completed a train of thought that Icarus could only hope Tobin had never come to reach: Everyone that had ever given a damn about him had turned their backs, leaving him to face one hellish nightmare of a reality alone.

He made a mental note to address that as soon as the opprotunity arose. He was about to try and say at least something when Tobin suddenly cried out and pitched forward against the counter. Icarus was there instantly, reaching to steady him and freezing when he saw the scar, recognising it instantly. He hissed through his teeth, hating what meant, what had to happen next.

"Tobin," he said slowly, forcing his voice to be calm and steady, "You've got a bug and I think they just turned it on." He moved closer, digging his fingers into the boy's neck around the scar as gently as he could though he got the feeling the action would cause the boy pain no matter what he did. He could feel something under the boy's skin that didn't belong and breathed out a sigh of relief as it moved with the boy's flesh. It wasn't implanted in the bone then. Icarus was insanely grateful for that much, the last thing he'd wanted to do was tear a tracker out of the boy's spine.  

[Ma Sai The Caged Tiger]

His chest heaved from large ragged breaths as he tried to remain calm. But listening to Icarus explain what he knew only instilled more panic. Something, they had put something in him. He didn't care what it was but he wanted it out. He felt more than saw Icarus come near him, and let out a shuddering exhale as his hand slowly touched his neck.

He didn't stay calm long, The taller brunet gently prodded about and suddenly the unpleasant sensation he felt raised ten fold. His knees threatened to buckle and he cried out, vision whiting out around the edges. Whatever it was, it was designed to immobilize him. Probably long enough for him to be picked right back up and carted on his merry way.

Panic flashed through him and he hissed through gritted teeth. "Get. It. Out." One of his hands gestured wildly to the boxes on the counter, one of which he had seen clearly labled cutlery. Sqweezing his eyes shut he fought to keep himself steady. The thing was fairly pulsing now, and he doubted that it was for his health. Probably some sort of beacon device.

"Please...I-Icarus..." His palms were sweaty, and his breathing was becoming rough and harder to maintain. Whatever it was it was royally screwing his system up and he doubted conciousness would stay with him much longer. He could only hope that his new friend would take the hint and grab something to use to get it out of him.  

[Sorrow_Mirth_and_Sin]

Icarus didn't need to be asked twice. He went to the box Tobin had pointed out and tore it open, riffling through it quickly until he found the sharpest knife of the lot. Returning to Tobin, he moved to pin the boy against the counter as best he could without the use of his hand, wishing he had more than just the one so he could make certain the boy wouldn't so much as twitch while he worked.

"Hold still," he warned firmly, turning the knife on the boy's skin even as he spoke. He didn't piddle around, cutting deep and fast, slamming the knife down on the counter to free his hand and then working the foreign object from the boy's flesh and dropping that on the counter too. He picked up the knife then, wiping the blade clean on his shirt before turning his head away from the boy and breathing a tongue of flame on the blade until the metal turned red. He pressed the glowing blade to the wound then, cauterising it effectively.

He set the knife aside, cleaning his hand on his already blood smeared shirt and breathing easier now that the task was over and done with. He took half a step back, giving Tobin the space to move of his own accord but remaining close enough to offer support if the boy needed it. Reaching out tentatively, he ran his fingers through the boy's overgrown hair, avoiding the wound and stroking his scalp in as soothing a gesture as he could manage.

"I'm sorry," he said softly, hating the pain the boy undoubtedly had just gone through.  

[Ma Sai The Caged Tiger]

Everything was starting to slow down to the boy, all he could do was concentrate on the pain and his own breathing. Icarus pushing him more solidly against the counter was his first warning, his voice telling him to hold still the second. Bracing himself as much as possible he took a loud long breath. If he moved, or if Icarus missed, it was going to hurt a hell of a lot more.

The light feel of cold metal against his skin was the last warning before sharp agony ripped through him for mere seconds. His breath came out in a choked pant, fingers gripping the countertop hard enough to hurt himself. Feeling Icarus root around and pull the thing out was no better. He bit through his lip though when he felt the man burn his wound closed. A small sob escaped through red painted teeth as he felt the other pull away, shuddering loud breaths wracking his slender frame.

He whimpered softly when he felt a hand card through his hair, tilting towards the touch though it sent a pulse of pain from his newly cauterized skin. It was throbbing with reminder of what he had just gone through, but he could tell by the way Icarus sounded when he apologized quietly that he must have felt terrible himself for having to do it.

It wasn’t over yet, not by a long shot. Whatever that thing was it was supposed to keep him where ever it was activated and by now they probably knew exactly where they were. They had to get out probably, and with a small groan he tried to push himself up, only making it halfway upright before leaning heavily against his kitchen counter. Gritting his teeth he straightened fully, turning and thus pulling away from the soothing touch to his hair. Wiping blood from his lips he looked away, unable to meet the taller brunet’s eyes. “Should go.” He mumbled, though his voice was barely audible.