metalogs | [Closed] Judged By the Company He Keeps

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[Closed] Judged By the Company He Keeps

Who: Huvrye

effiomsfavorite and those close to him
What: Guess who's finally getting shot!
When: April 14-15
Where: Jason's safehouse, Huvrye's apartment
Content Warnings: Violence, gore, probably some PTSD, further CWs marked in threads as needed

Birds of a Feather (Narrative)

For all that Huvrye has been warning people against associating with the Red Hood, citing just how dangerous the gang leader can be, the consequences of his actions sure do blindside him.

Because he's been associating with the Red Hood - three times over a span of months, but two of them very visible and the third well known in crime circles - and people have noticed. Specifically the D'Amico family, who are only on Huvrye's radar under 'organized crime; do not interact.'

Which is why he's not prepared to find half a dozen of them waiting for him as he lands in an alley just outside of neutral territory, demanding he come with them and brandishing guns when he refuses.

Great. Wonderful.

The fight, such as it is, is mercifully short. There are no metas among the people the D'Amicos sent - they'd probably thought he couldn't do much more than fly, and weren't prepared to face down everything a Lasardhin homunculus is capable of bringing to combat. Two of them are down from broken spines or broken skulls, brick walls cracked and broken from where they'd died on impact. Three are torn apart, missing limbs or chunks of chest or half a head as a result of Huvrye bringing his alchemy to bear. The last has been shot with his own gun.

Huvrye stands, leaning heavily against a wall, covered in blood both his and not, with a pair of gunshot wounds in his gut for his trouble. Great. This is exactly what he needs tonight. With that much gunfire, someone's going to investigate sooner or later, which means he needs to get out of here soon. Neutral territory is close, and with it the Descendant. He can hole up in the safehouse overnight and heal for a bit. He shrugs his jacket off, wraps it tightly around his waist, around the wounds, and ties it off as best he can, and activates the magical disguise hidden under his sleeve. Wings hidden, hair and eyes and ears different, and a full foot shorter in appearance, he heads out of the alley looking like a normal human, walking quickly, pushing through the pain until he makes it to the safehouse (carefully, carefully, making sure he hadn't been followed) and slips inside.

1. Jumpscare (Closed to Dylan)

Thankfully, there'd been no one in the safehouse when Huvrye had arrived, and he'd set about taking care of himself - laying out towels in the corner, cleaning out his wounds as best he can, and applying pressure. He'll heal - it'll take a bit, but he's got enough energy that it'll happen sooner rather than later - but he's not going anywhere else tonight. After a couple of hours, the bleeding stops, and he passes out on top of the towels, fully intending to sleep the wounds off.

He's still very much asleep in the morning...lying on the floor, on bloodied towels, in bloodied clothes. Not the best impression to give anyone heading into the safehouse without context.

2. Just a Flesh Wound (Closed to Huvrye's friends)

He spends the morning recovering in the safehouse (charging his phone, apologizing yet again to Dylan, doing his best to make sure the D'Amicos don't know where he's gone to ground) before he heads home in the early afternoon. He leaves in disguise, drops it to fly back to his neighborhood, and activates another disguise to get in the front door of his apartment building. He sighs heavily when he walks in the door. He needs to clean up. He needs to get something to eat. He needs to rest - the bleeding may have stopped, but it'll still be a bit before his wounds are fully healed. And he needs to talk to quite a few people - he hadn't realized so many people had noticed he'd gone missing.

(It'd only been a day. They cared that much?)

He closes the door behind him and heads towards his room.

[I'm open to Huvrye's friends having heard from other friends about his situation/injury - if we haven't already talked about it and you think yours would know/care, let me know and we'll do a thing!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Well, that answers one question. Leo can’t help but look a little shocked; it’s not like he thought Huvrye was defenseless, but it’s weird to think of him as being capable of killing multiple people.

He’s not scared - if Huvrye wanted to hurt him he would have by now - but he’s a little in awe.

He shakes it off for now, though. At least it sounds like their home is safe for the moment.

(He doesn’t take for granted that guild housing is safe. He doesn’t even take for granted that the guild would protect them. But that’s a conversation for another time.)

“Well, uh, that’s good.” He hesitates. He wants to hug him, but it would probably hurt right now, so he settles for touching his arm (lightly).

“We can talk about it more after you’re cleaned up?” He has more questions, but he can hear the pain in his voice, so he’s fine waiting until he’s comfortable and resting before he asks.

Huvrye being incapable of killing people could not be further from the truth, but he's happy enough to not elaborate. Leo knowing Huvrye can fight is fine; Leo does not need to know about Huvrye's history.

Leo touches his arm, and Huvrye puts his hand over Leo's. His hands are clean, at least - the illusion wouldn't be able to cover him leaving bloody fingerprints behind. "Sounds good." He pauses, and then: "Would you mind grabbing clothes from my room?" Huvrye isn't dripping anymore, but he still doesn't want to get blood anywhere he'll have to clean later, especially when he's already in pain.

He feels better when Huvrye touches him - Leo is a tactile person, in the end, and having that confirmation that Huvrye is at least here and not dying is good for his residual anxiety.

Leo takes one more deep breath in and out, then pulls his normal cheery mask back on, smiling as he takes his hand back.

"Sure; fresh clothes coming up." He eyes the bloody clothes. "And maybe a trash bag for those."

He can try to save them if he wants, but Leo would just throw it out at that point. They would need a whole bathtub of white vinegar for this.

For a moment, Huvrye just stares at that smile. It looks so much like Leo's normal smiles that he wouldn't be able to tell the difference otherwise, but-

But Leo had just been worried about enemies coming into their home. Either he really is able to turn on a dime like that - and he really has been reassured that easily - or he's hiding behind that smile.

And if that's the case, how many of his other smiles have been masks? How much has he been hiding? Is he even hiding, or is Huvrye reading way too much into this?

He shakes himself out of that spiral (okay ow) and offers Leo as much of a smile as he can muster. "Good idea. Thanks." That imparted, he heads for the bathroom. Hot water isn't going to feel great on his wounds, but he needs to get all this blood off him before he can really relax.

Leo isn’t sure why Huvrye stares at him for that moment, but the guy just got jacked up - he’s probably really out of it.

Either way, the plan is accepted. Once Huvrye is in the bathroom, Leo busies himself getting clothes and the trash bag, then he grabs a bottle of water from the fridge. He doesn’t know about fairies, but he assumes they need to stay hydrated to replenish blood just like earth creatures. All of this he slides onto the bathroom counter so it’s waiting for Huvrye to get out.

Then he settles on the couch to wait, turning on a random tv show. He spends his time scrolling through his phone, looking for news of any murders in the area.

It's a lukewarm shower at best. Huvrye knows it's going to be painful regardless, but he also knows turning the water as hot as he'd like would be agony on his wounds, so 'warm' is as hot as it's going to get. It's also short - only long enough to get the blood off his body and out of his hair. Maybe he can take a more relaxing shower once it no longer hurts to be in hot water, or stand, or be awake. It'll be a day or two.

He gets out, shoves his bloodied clothes in the trash bag and ties it off, wipes up the blood on the floor, and rinses his hands before drying off and getting dressed in the clothes Leo brought him. The water bottle is a thoughtful touch, and he can't help but smile. Leo's a good kid. He deserves better than Huvrye.

He drops the tied bag by the door (he doesn't have it in him to bring it down the hall to the garbage chute - not yet) and sits slowly onto the couch with a hiss of pain, only opening the water bottle and draining half of it once he's settled. "Thank you," he finally says. "That helps."

“No problemo,” he says, looking up from his phone and scooting around so Huvrye can get more comfortable. Maybe also getting in close proximity; not enough to touch but nearly.

“Soooooo…” His eyes dart around the room like he’s searching for a topic, even though he knows exactly what he’s about to ask. “Are you gonna tell me what happened last night, or are you gonna make me guess?”

He has some guesses and honestly? Huvrye should just tell him what happened because he can come up with a lot.

He notices the proximity but doesn't say anything yet. Giving Leo a hug on the couch like this is going to hurt, given the placement of his gunshot wounds, but he'll also do it in a heartbeat if asked.

And there's the question. He'd known it would be coming; at this point, after scaring him all night, Huvrye owes him the truth. "Yeah, I'll tell you." He takes another swig of the water bottle, trying to get his thoughts in order, and puts it down. "I've worked with the Red Hood three times since I got here: once before I knew better; once when we had the same goals; and once when he was openly helping people. Evidently three times over the span of five months was enough for some people who're after him to decide I was an associate of his, and that if they had me, he'd come running. They cornered me in an alley last night and tried to kidnap me. I didn't give them the chance." He sighs, wincing at the movement. "They shot me twice. I found a place to lay low and rest until the bleeding stopped. I should be okay in a day or two."

It's a lot to put on Leo - all of this is a lot to put on Leo - and he pauses, watching to see how Leo will react.

That...

is a lot, but it probably says something about the kind of life Leo has lived up to this point that he doesn't react with any particular amount of horror. Outside of his earlier surprise that Huvrye was able to kill multiple people at once, none of the rest of this is really all that shocking to him.

Well, except the part where Huvrye has worked with that Red Hood guy multiple times, despite telling Leo to stay away from him.

But dangerous guys assuming Huvrye works with a different dangerous guy and deciding to make it his problem? Shooting him multiple times? Sounds like pretty standard bad guy behavior.

"Does this mean more people will be after you?"

He knows he said he killed the ones who did this, but if this involves a bigger crime organization, surely they didn't send all their guys after one mark.

That's a lot calmer than he'd expected Leo to be, and he can't help wondering if Leo is hiding (if he's even capable of hiding, or if he's been doing it all along - that smile so quickly after that fear is still on Huvrye's mind, though there's not much he can do to dig into it now).

"I don't know." Might as well stick with the truth. "I'm hoping last night was enough of a deterrent, but I'll handle it either way. I'm probably going to be using the disguise going in and out for a while, though." No reason to take any more risks - not until he can get this sorted.

He's very good at hiding, something Huvrye will find out more and more. But right now, not being questioned about it makes Leo feel like he's succeeding, so he keeps it up.

"What, by yourself?" Leo looks at him skeptically. "I know you said you took care of them, but not before they made you Swiss cheese."

He looks serious as he says his next words.

"So let me help."

If they'll keep coming after Huvrye, then they need to be dealt with. Simple as that.

"No." The answer is immediate and set in stone, brooking no argument. "I've fought through much worse than this, and I am not letting you put a target on yourself. I will handle this."

There's exactly one person in this room who can tank a bullet wound and walk away, it isn't Leo, and Huvrye is not about to put the kid in the line of fire. He can deal with his own mistakes.

Edited 2023-04-11 06:47 (UTC)

He doesn’t know what Leo can tank. He was intended to wage war against humans in America, after all.

The forceful answer gets Leo to frown. He’s not backing down easily, even if Huvrye is against it.

“It doesn’t matter if you’ve fought through worse than this, what matters is that if you go it alone they’ll just hurt you again!” He folds his arms. “I’m visibly a Meta so the target’s gonna be on me sooner or later. I might as well get something done before that happens.”

Leo is also still a child.

"They didn't go after me because I'm a Meta," Huvrye snaps back. "They went after me because they thought I was involved, and if you do get involved, then there will be a target on you! So you're not. Getting. Involved."

He's been responsible for too many deaths already. He has too much blood on his hands. He won't add Leo to that. He can't.

No one ever cared about that before.

“I’m already involved because they hurt you! I can’t just pretend that didn’t happen!”

He’s not backing down on this, not yet at least.

“And you said you’ve been around this Hood guy multiple times? Then there may be others after you… This gang may have been too stupid to learn something about you before attacking but that doesn’t mean the next one will be.”

Then it's about time someone did.

"Yes, you can! I'll shake this off in a day. It's not worth you getting hurt or killed." This isn't worth Leo's life. He isn't worth Leo's life. Not even close.

"If there is a next one, I'll deal with that too, but you're not putting yourself in danger for me!"

Why now!?

"Why not for you!? Just because I'm a teenager and you're an adult!? That's... that's ageist reasoning!"

He knows that's a stupid argument, but it's what he goes with.

"You know what I can do so what's the big deal? Just let me help you!"

Because it should've happened a while ago and it's never too late to start.

"Because I'm not worth it!" That's the crux of the matter - the thing Leo doesn't seem to understand, and that Huvrye can't get around. "My problems aren't worth you getting killed, Leo! I'm the expendable one here, not you!"

(Leo doesn't know what he is. It's blindsiding Leo with a truth he has no context for, and doing it while he's exhausted and in pain and losing his temper is not the best way to go about it, but here they are.)

Leo freezes, his eyes going wide.

It’s not what he’d expected at all. He’d been braced for more arguments that he was too young, or maybe too inexperienced, too untested, he didn’t have enough training, his damn powers don’t even work-

He had been ready for that.

He wasn’t ready for this.

“…What?”

...well, it's an argument ender, at least.

(As though Huvrye isn't well aware this is about to become a very different argument - one he'd already had with Mark and had to walk away from.)

"I'm not worth it," he says like it's a known fact (because it is, even if Leo is only just now learning it). "My problems will never be worth your well-being. Let me handle this."

(If he knows saying things like that will start an argument, maybe eventually he’ll question why.)

Leo gives a jerky shake of his head. “What… what do you mean you’re expendable?”

He wants to argue that the safety of his family would always be worth his well-being, but he’s too stuck on this first part to continue.

Last time he told this to someone, it was Mark, and Mark had started something in him that still burns, still questions his lack of personhood and whether he could actually be one-

He doesn't want to do that with Leo. Leo doesn't need to know what he is, or carry that burden, or have to answer those questions. Leo is a kid with enough on his plate already.

"I've been a soldier all my life in a war that doesn't end," he says, and it would be the truth if not for the gaping hole in the middle where I'm a homunculus should be. "I got used to the idea." He puts a hand on Leo's shoulder. "You have family that you need to get home safely to, and you have family here. I'm not going to let you put yourself in danger for problems I can handle - not when you have them waiting for you." That much is a full truth. He's also well aware that it's a cheap shot.

It is a cheap shot, and Leo tenses under his hand when it’s put there. Bringing his family into this feels wrong. Everything Huvrye is saying feels wrong, setting off alarm bells in Leo’s head.

“Soldiers aren’t expendable. They’re still people.” He says it from the position of a strategist thinking about the next move: the people who he’s directing aren’t pawns, and if the strategist ever forgets then they’ll let anyone die to win. Leo never wants to be a leader who would do that.

(He doesn’t realize that Huvrye might not be thinking of himself as a person to start. That’s unthinkable.)

“And… and you have family, too.” He can’t say for sure about the people Huvrye talks about from home, but… “Or what are me and Hunter, chopped liver?”

He lets the remark about soldiers pass by without comment. Armies outside of Lasardhi are generally made up of people, but he's a Lasardhin homunculus, which means normal rules do not apply. He'd rather avoid that argument as it is; he knows how it goes already, and he doesn't want another round of it.

Especially since Leo throws him for a complete loop as he continues talking, calling himself and Hunter Huvrye's family. That...that's not right, is it? People have families, and Huvrye isn't a person, so...he can't. Right? That doesn't mean he doesn't care about them - it's just another thing he can't have.

(The ember in his chest that Mark had fanned to life latches onto family and burns a little brighter. Why shouldn't he have a family? He loves them - isn't that enough?)

"Of course not," he says, a reply to Leo's question that takes just a moment too long, and he knows Leo is too perceptive to miss that moment, but what else can he do? "I love you both, and I'd do anything for either of you, and that includes getting you home in one piece." He knows Leo goes out on night patrols, and that he can handle himself, but there's a difference between taking out an opportunistic mugger and taking on organized crime and he does not want Leo tangled up in the latter. He doesn't want to be there himself, but that ship has already sailed.

The pause does not go unnoticed, and it makes Leo tense more. Maybe he was wrong, and Huvrye doesn't really think of him like that. Maybe he just took Leo in out of pity, some misplaced sense of duty to a kid who didn't have anyone to look after him.

But if that's the case, why all the other stuff? Why hug him after a nightmare or go along with Pizza Fridays? Why say...

But then Huvrye answers, and says it again ("I love you both") and Leo feels security and warmth and frustration all at the same time.

"Well I'd do anything for you, too, because that's what family does." He says it with conviction. "And you didn't come home in one piece. I can't just ignore that!"

He's raising his voice again. He just can't help it. Huvrye saying he's expendable, putting himself and Leo in different categories, has shaken him in a way few things do.

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