Voice || End of his Tether

[notjustinthemirror]

Alright. I fucking give up. Who the hell did I piss off this time?

I've impaled myself on my own mannequins, lit myself on fire, knocked a building down on my head, and I don't even want to know what the fuck I just teleported into, but it smells like something crawled up an asshole and died there.

[There's a loud crash and some scrabbling noises.]

And I almost got decapitated by a window.

What the fuck?

Comments

[quaerit]

I've only just gotten here, I'm not exactly up on everyone's professions.

[ That probably means no. ]

But you can't just be fine if you've been impaled by a metal pole! Not to mention all the rest that's happened to you since. How are you still walking around?!

[notjustinthemirror]

I'm fine in the sense that I'm still upright and talking. Not so much in the fact that there's a nice new hole in my chest. I'm being aerated for freshness.

If I had blood to lose I'm sure I'd be dead. But I don't. And here we are.

[quaerit]

You don’t have blood?

[ What kind of creature is this? Clearly not a human one, Gansey thinks. Jesus, this place is incredible. ]

I suppose that’s your good fortune, then, since absolutely nothing else has been. What’s your name? I’m Gansey.

[notjustinthemirror]

Gansey.

You're on my diagram.

[Who knew this stupid thing Noah drew him would actually come in handy.]

Well I bleed, it's just not blood. Or critical to my survival. Actually I have no idea why I'm full of fucking tar.

I'm the Alcohol Demon.

[quaerit]

[ …uh. ]

The…I see.

[ An actual demon? Probably, if he’s bleeding tar. Jesus, Gansey has no idea how to approach this. He’s comfortable in most social situations, but this is not one of them. ]

Which diagram do you mean, exactly?

[notjustinthemirror]

[Well that's a better reaction than most, so that's nice.]

Noah drew me a diagram because I can't keep any of you fuckers straight.

There's butterflies riding skateboards on it.

[quaerit]

[ Ronan had told him Noah had befriended a demon. Apparently that's very literal.

And diagrams are involved. Christ, this is strange. ]

A diagram of my friends and I? How did we confuse you?

I feel I should say we don't actually ride skateboards. I'm glad to meet a friend of Noah's, though. [ His tone is very polite. ]

[notjustinthemirror]

Because he keeps talking about all of you like I should know who the fuck you guys are.

I didn't actually think you were butterflies either, but thanks for clearing that up.

[Someone you know is friends with this jerk.]

[quaerit]

[ Two people he knows have already warned him off, though. That’s also a thing. If the demon in the name hadn’t been enough to make Gansey wary, Adam and Ronan’s opinions certainly would. ]

I think you know well enough who we are. You’ve met our other friends, after all, and I’m led to understand it wasn’t a pleasant encounter.

[ His voice has gradually cooled. Gansey had started this conversation with sympathy; that’s ebbing away now that he knows who he’s talking to. ]

[notjustinthemirror]

Did he fucking tell everyone about that?

Sore loser.

[quaerit]

[ Gansey’s tone drops several more degrees. ]

You had a baseball bat. We don’t all have quite your level of tolerance for personal injury.

[notjustinthemirror]

I didn't at first.

I'm sure he would have pulled all his punches and made sure I was just fine at the end of the fight.

[quaerit]

[ It’s Ronan; he probably wouldn’t.

But on the other hand, it’s Ronan. ]

I’ll tell you what he wouldn’t do. He wouldn’t lay into someone weaker than him just to prove a point. There’s no excuse for that.

[notjustinthemirror]

Have you told him you think he's weak? He might be interested to hear that. And considering I didn't even come close to killing him I'm not sure why everyone is so pissed off about this. Well, everyone except Ronan himself.

Curious.

[quaerit]

I don’t think Ronan’s weak. I think there’s a difference between someone who can survive being impaled and set on fire, and someone who cannot.

This isn’t something I want to happen to one of my friends. I’m sure you can understand that.

[notjustinthemirror]

This is one of those 'just walk away and be the bigger man' things isn't it? I'm not going to go out of my way to have a rematch with him, but if he starts another fight, I'll be the one to finish it.

[quaerit]

[ And just like that, any hope of Gansey befriending this creature goes straight out the window. ]

Thank you for clarifying. I shouldn't have thought we have much more to talk about, in that case.

[notjustinthemirror]

Whatever you say.