quiet when i'm coming home | jasper & liv
May 3, 2020 23:57:51 GMT -5
Post by gamemaker kelsier on May 3, 2020 23:57:51 GMT -5
o b l i v i o n .
"Don't you know I'm no good for you?
I've learned to lose you, can't afford to
Tore my shirt to stop you bleedin'
But nothin' ever stops you leavin'"
Four years, two months, one week and four days since he last saw Jasper.
And he wishes he could stop counting the days but he can't, it doesn't work like that for him, never has and it was always Jasper who knew how to turn his brain off with one gentle tap on the shoulder. He could always bring Oblivion back to the present moment and without him it's all too easy to drift away, forehead resting on the glass panel of a barrack window for too long. Water still clings to the pane, a recent rain giving the district a much-needed rinse.
"Hey yo Newbie, you're patrolling the South end with Tizzy tonight, got it?"
He looks up, his lieutenant giving him an impatient look. She's five-foot-eleven, from District Two and has chosen to despise him on principle. That's kind of new for him, he'd always been easy to love by most, but he doesn't hate the concept of being hated. It feels kind of good and a little deserved. "Come on, get your gear, kid, haven't got all day," she says. He's pretty sure they're near the same age but Oblivion knows better than to correct her, since arriving in Nine a week ago he's already seen her beat three different foot soldiers.
He still hasn't seen Jasper.
Tizzy smells like cigarettes and is disinterested in general about having Oblivion with her. She doesn't hate him as far as he can tell but she probably doesn't like him either, she's from One. Tizzy is pretty, manicured and out of place on Nine's streets, like a hedge of roses in a desert and Oblivion isn't much better. He's short for a Peacekeeper and feels as fresh as he looks.
Hazing's a thing and Liv is kind of expecting it so when Tizzy tells him to split off he shrugs and goes along with it, not like they're gonna kill him. If the worst he has to go through is a beating, then that's fine.
He breathes deeply, the fresh rain gave everything a clean scent. A memory tugs at him, teasing, some rainy afternoon in a small café off style street with Jasper but he doesn't follow it, not out here in a place that doesn't want him despite the curfew-deserted streets. If he doesn't stay alert he might get himself killed, he was given a whole briefing about Nine's gang culture before his arrival.
He doesn't want to die right now, which is nice.
Dark clouds drift above Oblivion's head cutting out the stars and he doesn't see another living soul for a long time. At one point, something moves in the street in front of him but it turns out to be a large rat dragging something bloody into a gutter. Nine continues to be an odd place.
Despite himself, his mind begins to drift and he draws things out of the shadows that are meant to stay there. An urge, searing and out of nowhere claws into him and Liv stops, eyes squeezed shut tight, the want to be numb dragging at him. It always sneaks up on him when he forgets to concentrate and Liv knows he could probably score here if he wants to, which is the bad part. It would not be hard to find a drug dealer in a district full of gang members, he wouldn't even have to look far. Maybe there was even something in the Evidence locker he could get his hands on, it'd be so ea-
A door swings open down an alley to his left and Oblivion's eyes snap open. Whoever's breaking curfew has just saved him and he can't help feeling grateful. It's probably just Tizzy anyway, back for that hazing and if this makes his squad like him at least a little, it's worth it, so Liv enters the alley, a hand on his gun.
"Hello?" he calls out softly, "There's a curfew in effect, you need to go back inside." The light fades behind him as he walks deeper in and he knows he should feel some sort of apprehension but there's only quiet acceptance.