Post by The Madness Menagerie on Apr 6, 2021 11:08:52 GMT -5
OOC: Special thanks as always to mystifyingoracle for the collab! Loving what we have so far and looking forward to many more to come! (And hey look! We remembered to do this this time!!!)
Zephyr wasn’t sure how she felt. It had been weeks since Belle had left her for… She didn’t even know where. The once pristine interior of Mac Bane’s Baltimore home, now lay in various states of disarray. Clothes lay strewn every which way, fist-sized holes litter the wall, and Zephyr herself looked like she hadn’t slept in just as long. Bags hang under her eyes as she blinks away the feeling of more moisture building behind her eyes.
Closing her eyes, Zephyr can almost feel Belle’s touch, see her smile, and feel her warmth before watching it all dissipate before her. She could hardly pay attention to anything happening in Carnage anymore. Everyone coming and going distracted her to the point of overlooking the obvious hate crime that happened on her watch. She should have done something more to help protect Jon. She should have…
She shakes her head vigorously and takes another drink from a bottle of amber liquid.
Under her watch…
Under her watch, Belle was constantly attacked. Mia was kidnapped. The Forsaken all but disappeared, Jon Willis was attacked for nothing more than being himself, and all she could do was put her fingers in all the pies in order to help out. Be the “conscience” that people expected out of her. In doing so, a lot fell through her fingers, and most importantly, Belle decided she didn’t want to wait any longer to be the priority in Zephyr’s life.
Another swig, this time accompanied by a grimace.
“Priorities suck…”
Zephyr tosses the bottle behind her, ignoring the crash of glass against hard tile flooring. The number of times Zephyr had been cut by glass, a few extra scars on her feet were the least of her worries. She had to figure out how to let Belle know that SHE would always take precedence in Zephyr’s life going forward. That was what Zephyr wanted right?
Silvio really wished he’d stop hearing loud noises behind the closed front doors of people he cared about just as he was paying them a visit. Thankfully he didn’t have to pick the lock on this one. He had a feeling that if anyone caught sight of him doing that in a neighborhood like this, it’d probably result in some uncomfortable questions at best and some suburbanite vigilante asshole with a fantasy about killing a home invader at worst. At the sound of breaking glass, he throws the door open.
“Zephyr?!”
He glances about at the general tumult of the house, brow furrowed.
Oh, God.
Someone had already burglarized the place.
Zephyr Quinn stands from her place amongst the turmoil, slowly recognizing Silvio standing inside her doorway. She squints and then looks around her carefully. Shrugging she gestures at The Oracle. “Yeah, sure. Come on in.”
Closing the door behind him, Silvio glances around the house, raising a brow.
“So...uh...stupid question but, how’ve you been?”
Zephyr gestures around her but evades the question. “I could ask the same to you. How’s Jon?”
“I’m...in an interesting place. And Jon is doing better than he was,” Silvio replies, not pushing the matter as he leans down to start picking up stray articles of laundry from the floor. “When’s the last time you had a decent meal?”
Zephyr looks at him curiously. “Counting the bottle that I just had? Just a minute ago. A special liquid diet that comes highly recommended from a doctor somewhere.” She sighs. “I… Did Belle send you? How is she?”
Silvio holds up a hand, shaking his head before he continues with his tidying.
“Don’t worry about that for right now. We got some work to do before we can start having that kind of conversation.”
He nods to the kitchen.
“Anything in the fridge?”
Zephyr shrugs. “Help yourself. Went shopping a couple of days ago for some essentials. Even 'monsters' have to eat sometime.” She shakes her head and picks up the closest pile of clothes and tosses them haphazardly into a bedroom before closing the door. She looks curiously over at Silvio but doesn’t say anything as she tries to make the home presentable once again. Monster? Sure. Urge to have a “monster’s” lair? Not so much.
Watching her, Silvio shakes his head. “C’mon, now, let’s bring those back. Here.”
He deposits the laundry he’s gathered so far onto the sofa.
“Get those sorted out by color. I’m going to get something put together to eat,” he says, nodding to the kitchen. “Once we get this place organized and some food in you, we can talk.”
It had been years since someone had given orders to Zephyr and she felt compelled to obey instead of arguing. She grumbles slightly and grabs the pile she had just deposited, sorting everything out by color as instructed and folding them carefully like Belle had shown her once upon a time. It hardly took any time, most of the laundry was already clean and Zephyr wasn’t known for her massive color pallet. Assuming what was coming next, her barefeet carry her across the tile to where the broom and dustpan are kept. Carefully she sweeps up the broken glass from her “liquid diet” from earlier… A shard catches on an area rug and Zephyr bends down to pick it up, looking at it carefully. It would be so easy to slip into old habits… Shaking her head though, she drops the shard back into the dustpan with its compatriots before tossing them into the trash.
Heading to the kitchen, Zephyr hops up and sits on the island as she watches Silvio bustle around the kitchen. “So if you aren’t here to talk about… ’That’ then what ARE you here to talk about? I have to assume forcing me to clean up my messes in my home and cooking me a meal wasn’t everything you had in mind?”
“Oh, I got stuff I wanna talk with you about,” Silvio says, looking up from where he’s scrambling eggs in a bowl. “But I find I think and express myself better if I’m not distracted by something in my environment. Ordered surroundings, ordered thoughts.” He holds a hand over a pan that was heating on the stove before judging it warm enough and pouring the egg into it. “And I’m getting the vibe you haven’t been keeping up with a nutritious diet. Not eating just makes everything harder. So, we’re going a little Ghibli before we have any conversations.”
Silvio knew, ‘depression housekeeping,’ when he saw it.
Setting to grating some cheese, he smiles a little.
“This was one of the first things I ever learned how to cook,” he says. “Eggs were cheap, so we usually had them, and you can’t really mess up a scramble. Graduating to cheese omelette was definitely a mark of culinary distinction for me, though.”
“Right,” was all Zephyr could think to say. She was still having a hard time deciphering exactly why Silvio had shown up. Sure, he was a welcome distraction in a dark time and apparently the motivation Zephyr needed to stop wallowing, but that couldn’t be all… Could it?
The Oracle finished making breakfast, sliding the omelette onto a plate and pushing it in front of Zephyr.
“Thanks for what you said at 108. About Jon. It means a lot to me and Ax. The whole thing has us both pretty shook up.”
Right now they’d made arrangements so that Jon was in the company of one or both of them at all times.
Zephyr shrugs and grabs two forks from a nearby drawer, offering one to Silvio before sitting down and taking a bite of the omlette. “I’m sorry I didn’t do anything sooner. I meant what I said though and I’ll be damned if I get sidetracked to the point of this happening again. He was only ever out to make everyone involved better.” Zephyr stops and forces herself to take another bite instead. Not that it was a hard thing to force upon herself, Silvio made a fantastic omelette. She didn’t like being this close to her feelings. However, the attack on Jon made her feel vulnerable to attack from a whole new angle. No storyline, no theatrics, just cold blooded brutality. She could take care of herself, she was sure of it but Belle? Zephyr shudders at the thought, almost to the point of trembling and takes another bite.
Silvio nods, putting away some of the utensils he’d used.
“Nobody deserves what happened; especially not Jon. He’s got a good heart. And I just...can’t stand somebody from the roster having that happen to them right under our noses. We’ve got other queer people at Carnage. I know I’m a bisexual disaster and I haven’t been shy about it. There’s Ax, you, Grace, Belle…”
He looks grim.
“We’re going to need to look after each other. This might not be limited strictly to Jon.”
While it was true this specific attack targeted Jon, they didn’t know if whoever was doing this was focused on him, or if their hatred encompassed any queer person at Carnage.
Zephyr nods. “Anything you need, anytime you need it.” Zephyr hesitates only slightly, her voice catching. “I’m sure Belle feels the same way.” Zephyr shudders slightly as she puts her fork down and smiles at Silvio. “Thanks. As much as I’ll deny it later on, I needed that.”
Silvio gives her a little smile in return. “Hey, what are friends for? You can’t go making your Carnage dreams come true on an empty stomach.”
He may not have been World Champ anymore, but Silvio still wanted to look after the roster and had meant what he’d told people about wanting to help them reach their goals.
“I’ve been kinda worried about you,” he says slowly. “The whole thing with you and Belle...I just wanted to see how you were doing. I know Belle’s worried about you, too.”
Zephyr stiffens but relaxes. Of course she knew this was coming. She tries to shrug, but instead her shoulders just slump. “I… Failed her. I put everything else before her. The Institute. The thing with Mitch and Kane. Hell, I even went to that other fed to vouch for Trent in front of JC. Not going to lie, I’m glad I’m not taking part in it because it would just be another thing. But Belle…” She smiles, remembering of times long gone. “She’s the one that showed me how to be human you know. After that whole time as a mindless monster phase. There was a time that I never let her out of my sight and I guess that I lost sight of what was truly important. Now I’m just unsure how to repair being gone.”
“If you want, I could help you talk with her,” Silvio offers. “You two are better together than apart. If I can do anything to facilitate that...all you have to do is say the word.”
Zephyr considers it only briefly. “I think… That might be best. I’m not the best with the words and feelings but I know that they’re there at least.”
“Consider me at your disposal,” Silvio says with a little salute. Hesitating, he drums his fingertips on the countertop. “Hey, uh...you...wouldn’t mind at some point maybe...discussing Pandaemonium with me? No pressure if you’re not feeling up to it.”
Zephyr’s grip on the counter tightened as she sits down. She grimaces and flexes her fists in reflex. “Yeah. You sure you don’t need back up for your challenge? They… Aren’t really anything to take lightly.”
“I know.”
They’d been victorious on their match at 108, and they’d shown they certainly weren’t above playing dirty.
“That’s why I’m bringing Kane with me. I...was a little hot-headed at first and I was thinking of just taking them on by myself, but I thought better of it. I’m not going to be of help to anybody if I can’t keep my head on my shoulders. They hurt Jon and Axton; made them feel helpless. Made them look helpless. That kind of perception can translate into encouragement for others to go after them; see them as easy targets. I want to make sure those people think twice.”
Zephyr sucks in a sharp breath as an icy barrage of icicles slides down her back. She blinks, takes a breath and looks Silvio in the eye. “I get your intentions, I do. Good people want to vanquish evil in every walk of life and this is just another example. You’re good, they’re the personification of evil. They hurt those closest to you and now it’s time that they learn their lessons. I. GET. THAT.” Zephyr takes a breath, regaining control of her anger. “I’m sorry but where I get the ‘why’ of the matter, I’m a bit lost on the ‘how’ of it all.”
“These people made my life hell, erased my childhood, turned my twin sister into a psychotic nut job, and I’m only just figuring out how deep this rabbit hole goes in my family. Kane… Has had his own path to this point and I have to question if it’s a good idea to get him involved with them. They don’t need to know about him, they don’t NEED to have him in his sights because they’ll learn and they’ll adapt. If they learn about his history? They’ll do anything to get their hands on him.” Zephyr shakes her head. “I kinda wish you had come to me before now honestly.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t get to you about this sooner. Honestly, I kind of had cult fatigue after the last two we had to shuffle off this Carnage coil. But…”
He hesitates, gazing down at the countertop.
“Kane’s not going anywhere. And if they think for a moment I’m letting them walk out of that match under their own power, they’re delusional. This is payback and a warning.”
He looks up at Zephyr, something knowing in his gaze.
“I think they’re going to be looking into Kane anyway considering what happened a few months ago with that weird noise that knocked him out. I’d rather take the initiative and be proactive instead of reacting to them doing whatever they might do first.”
Zephyr shifts in her seat. "I get it but I don't trust them not to try something being that close. I don't like putting him that close to them." She pauses and shakes herself free from agitation. "I get that you were mostly responsible for the last two to leave, but The Institute is different. Those 'cults' from before talked a big game but never backed up what they said. The Institute can and will; I'm walking proof of that." Zephyr looks up at Silvio and notes the look of steely resolve. "I know I'm not talking you out of this so of course I'll help however I can." She takes a breath. "Tactics. They might not look like it but Pandemonium defines 'teamwork' for The Institute. Show them a soft spot, any hesitation, and they'll pounce as one. You won't just be going up against Incubus and Succubus either. Su is around still at the very least and it would not surprise me in the slightest if she gets involved. Where the numbers were even the last two times you eradicated cults, this time the scale could easily be tipped against you. Expect anything and then? Expect more."
Silvio nods, looking thoughtful.
“I’ll put in the hours to do the research,” he assures her. “And I’ll let King know about everything you just told me.” He snorts. “Honestly at this point, I don’t think you could stop him from taking a swing at those people. He’s been occupied dealing with everything that went on with his last defense, but now that he can focus on other things, I know the Institute’s presence here has been nagging at him. He sees you as the next person to challenge him for the belt, so your connection with them is definitely something he’s been paying attention to. LRK and I have always understood each other better than anyone else at Carnage has understood either of us; I’m not worried about our teamwork.”
He hesitates, curling his fingers against the counter.
“...but...I’m kind of worried about myself.”
The words come out a bit haltingly, as if he doesn’t like saying them.
“I’m…”
He sighs, tapping his foot briefly.
“...I think...I might have a problem.”
Zephyr’s eyes widen slightly but knew the best course of action was just to let Silvio continue. She gestures reassuringly and squares her shoulders, letting Silvio know she wasn’t going anywhere.
Shame roils through Silvio’s thoughts as he takes a deep breath, trying to center himself.
It was so easy to be there for other people; understand when they came to him with a vulnerability or a problem.
It was so hard to ask other people to be there for him.
Or admit this.
He set his teeth for a moment before meeting her eyes.
“It’s...a dependency problem. I can’t...really go into the details, but...I just don’t want it to get worse.”
But was that even an option without quitting completely?
Zephyr stays seated but her hand instinctively goes up to her opposite arm, rubbing the forearm. She snickers. “Ya know… The Institute has a funny way of teaching people to deal with pain.” She shrugs as she rolls up the sleeve of her hoodie, showing a bewildered Silvio her cacophony of scars. The deepest scars were all but white lines in her skin, but they were longer and more jagged than any of her others; and there were several of them. A pale finger traces over them as she continues. “Being vulnerable wasn’t something that anyone had time for, so they bled it out. One cut at a time and in order to make a monster? It requires constant pain to the point that all humanity is blinked out. All that’s left are the moments that you’re put through the sensation again. You live off of it, it becomes your lifeblood But the more you feel it, the more you give into it… The more you realize that nothing will ever be as good as that first one again.” She stops and rolls down her sleeve meeting Silvio’s gaze.
“Everyone has shit Sil. The difference between us and them though? Is that we’re willing to help each other get through whatever it is that we’re dealing with. I told you that because if you’re going to open up, I suppose I do the same to someone other than my girlfriend. Ex?” Zephyr shudders but forces herself to continue. “Thank you for coming to me. Whatever you need from me, you got it.”
Silvio is left speechless for a moment before nodding in reply.
“...Thanks for showing me. And...thanks for being there.”
It wasn’t anything he could stop from happening, but maybe…
“How do you cope with it? How do you live with it?”
He swallows around a lump in his throat.
“How do you come back from it?”
Zephyr shrugs. “It’s always there. People will tell you all you have to do is accept it and move on but if it were that easy this wouldn’t be a conversation piece. Personally? I focus on everything that would happen if I weren’t here. If I gave into temptation and turned my back on everything I had set up. I make sure that I focus on everything my life has become that isn’t pain and all… Monster-y. Belle showed me a lot of those things and the parts I’m learning about friendship?” She winks at Silvio. “That’s where you come in.”
He can’t help but blush at that, giving her a lopsided smile.
“Aw, shucks, Miss Quinn, t’weren’t nothin’,” he drawled, tipping an imaginary hat.
After he did, he couldn’t help but glance around the house, feeling a pang.
“Seriously, though. Thank you.”
“I’d curtsey but…” She gestures at her attire. “I’m fresh out of tutus.” She follows his gaze and winces as she notices the holes in the wall. “Don’t worry about all this. The thing about wallowing is that it never lasts forever.” Winking she walks over to the nearest closet and opens it, revealing everything needed to fill in the holes in the wall. “I always thought Belle was overreacting when she insisted that one day, ‘I might need all of this.’”
Silvio laughs, feeling the weight of the moment lifting.
“Let me know if you ever wanna make a party of it or anything.”
“You got it.” Zephyr grimaces as she looks around. “First though I have to clean.”
Zephyr wasn’t sure how she felt. It had been weeks since Belle had left her for… She didn’t even know where. The once pristine interior of Mac Bane’s Baltimore home, now lay in various states of disarray. Clothes lay strewn every which way, fist-sized holes litter the wall, and Zephyr herself looked like she hadn’t slept in just as long. Bags hang under her eyes as she blinks away the feeling of more moisture building behind her eyes.
Closing her eyes, Zephyr can almost feel Belle’s touch, see her smile, and feel her warmth before watching it all dissipate before her. She could hardly pay attention to anything happening in Carnage anymore. Everyone coming and going distracted her to the point of overlooking the obvious hate crime that happened on her watch. She should have done something more to help protect Jon. She should have…
She shakes her head vigorously and takes another drink from a bottle of amber liquid.
Under her watch…
Under her watch, Belle was constantly attacked. Mia was kidnapped. The Forsaken all but disappeared, Jon Willis was attacked for nothing more than being himself, and all she could do was put her fingers in all the pies in order to help out. Be the “conscience” that people expected out of her. In doing so, a lot fell through her fingers, and most importantly, Belle decided she didn’t want to wait any longer to be the priority in Zephyr’s life.
Another swig, this time accompanied by a grimace.
“Priorities suck…”
Zephyr tosses the bottle behind her, ignoring the crash of glass against hard tile flooring. The number of times Zephyr had been cut by glass, a few extra scars on her feet were the least of her worries. She had to figure out how to let Belle know that SHE would always take precedence in Zephyr’s life going forward. That was what Zephyr wanted right?
Silvio really wished he’d stop hearing loud noises behind the closed front doors of people he cared about just as he was paying them a visit. Thankfully he didn’t have to pick the lock on this one. He had a feeling that if anyone caught sight of him doing that in a neighborhood like this, it’d probably result in some uncomfortable questions at best and some suburbanite vigilante asshole with a fantasy about killing a home invader at worst. At the sound of breaking glass, he throws the door open.
“Zephyr?!”
He glances about at the general tumult of the house, brow furrowed.
Oh, God.
Someone had already burglarized the place.
Zephyr Quinn stands from her place amongst the turmoil, slowly recognizing Silvio standing inside her doorway. She squints and then looks around her carefully. Shrugging she gestures at The Oracle. “Yeah, sure. Come on in.”
Closing the door behind him, Silvio glances around the house, raising a brow.
“So...uh...stupid question but, how’ve you been?”
Zephyr gestures around her but evades the question. “I could ask the same to you. How’s Jon?”
“I’m...in an interesting place. And Jon is doing better than he was,” Silvio replies, not pushing the matter as he leans down to start picking up stray articles of laundry from the floor. “When’s the last time you had a decent meal?”
Zephyr looks at him curiously. “Counting the bottle that I just had? Just a minute ago. A special liquid diet that comes highly recommended from a doctor somewhere.” She sighs. “I… Did Belle send you? How is she?”
Silvio holds up a hand, shaking his head before he continues with his tidying.
“Don’t worry about that for right now. We got some work to do before we can start having that kind of conversation.”
He nods to the kitchen.
“Anything in the fridge?”
Zephyr shrugs. “Help yourself. Went shopping a couple of days ago for some essentials. Even 'monsters' have to eat sometime.” She shakes her head and picks up the closest pile of clothes and tosses them haphazardly into a bedroom before closing the door. She looks curiously over at Silvio but doesn’t say anything as she tries to make the home presentable once again. Monster? Sure. Urge to have a “monster’s” lair? Not so much.
Watching her, Silvio shakes his head. “C’mon, now, let’s bring those back. Here.”
He deposits the laundry he’s gathered so far onto the sofa.
“Get those sorted out by color. I’m going to get something put together to eat,” he says, nodding to the kitchen. “Once we get this place organized and some food in you, we can talk.”
It had been years since someone had given orders to Zephyr and she felt compelled to obey instead of arguing. She grumbles slightly and grabs the pile she had just deposited, sorting everything out by color as instructed and folding them carefully like Belle had shown her once upon a time. It hardly took any time, most of the laundry was already clean and Zephyr wasn’t known for her massive color pallet. Assuming what was coming next, her barefeet carry her across the tile to where the broom and dustpan are kept. Carefully she sweeps up the broken glass from her “liquid diet” from earlier… A shard catches on an area rug and Zephyr bends down to pick it up, looking at it carefully. It would be so easy to slip into old habits… Shaking her head though, she drops the shard back into the dustpan with its compatriots before tossing them into the trash.
Heading to the kitchen, Zephyr hops up and sits on the island as she watches Silvio bustle around the kitchen. “So if you aren’t here to talk about… ’That’ then what ARE you here to talk about? I have to assume forcing me to clean up my messes in my home and cooking me a meal wasn’t everything you had in mind?”
“Oh, I got stuff I wanna talk with you about,” Silvio says, looking up from where he’s scrambling eggs in a bowl. “But I find I think and express myself better if I’m not distracted by something in my environment. Ordered surroundings, ordered thoughts.” He holds a hand over a pan that was heating on the stove before judging it warm enough and pouring the egg into it. “And I’m getting the vibe you haven’t been keeping up with a nutritious diet. Not eating just makes everything harder. So, we’re going a little Ghibli before we have any conversations.”
Silvio knew, ‘depression housekeeping,’ when he saw it.
Setting to grating some cheese, he smiles a little.
“This was one of the first things I ever learned how to cook,” he says. “Eggs were cheap, so we usually had them, and you can’t really mess up a scramble. Graduating to cheese omelette was definitely a mark of culinary distinction for me, though.”
“Right,” was all Zephyr could think to say. She was still having a hard time deciphering exactly why Silvio had shown up. Sure, he was a welcome distraction in a dark time and apparently the motivation Zephyr needed to stop wallowing, but that couldn’t be all… Could it?
The Oracle finished making breakfast, sliding the omelette onto a plate and pushing it in front of Zephyr.
“Thanks for what you said at 108. About Jon. It means a lot to me and Ax. The whole thing has us both pretty shook up.”
Right now they’d made arrangements so that Jon was in the company of one or both of them at all times.
Zephyr shrugs and grabs two forks from a nearby drawer, offering one to Silvio before sitting down and taking a bite of the omlette. “I’m sorry I didn’t do anything sooner. I meant what I said though and I’ll be damned if I get sidetracked to the point of this happening again. He was only ever out to make everyone involved better.” Zephyr stops and forces herself to take another bite instead. Not that it was a hard thing to force upon herself, Silvio made a fantastic omelette. She didn’t like being this close to her feelings. However, the attack on Jon made her feel vulnerable to attack from a whole new angle. No storyline, no theatrics, just cold blooded brutality. She could take care of herself, she was sure of it but Belle? Zephyr shudders at the thought, almost to the point of trembling and takes another bite.
Silvio nods, putting away some of the utensils he’d used.
“Nobody deserves what happened; especially not Jon. He’s got a good heart. And I just...can’t stand somebody from the roster having that happen to them right under our noses. We’ve got other queer people at Carnage. I know I’m a bisexual disaster and I haven’t been shy about it. There’s Ax, you, Grace, Belle…”
He looks grim.
“We’re going to need to look after each other. This might not be limited strictly to Jon.”
While it was true this specific attack targeted Jon, they didn’t know if whoever was doing this was focused on him, or if their hatred encompassed any queer person at Carnage.
Zephyr nods. “Anything you need, anytime you need it.” Zephyr hesitates only slightly, her voice catching. “I’m sure Belle feels the same way.” Zephyr shudders slightly as she puts her fork down and smiles at Silvio. “Thanks. As much as I’ll deny it later on, I needed that.”
Silvio gives her a little smile in return. “Hey, what are friends for? You can’t go making your Carnage dreams come true on an empty stomach.”
He may not have been World Champ anymore, but Silvio still wanted to look after the roster and had meant what he’d told people about wanting to help them reach their goals.
“I’ve been kinda worried about you,” he says slowly. “The whole thing with you and Belle...I just wanted to see how you were doing. I know Belle’s worried about you, too.”
Zephyr stiffens but relaxes. Of course she knew this was coming. She tries to shrug, but instead her shoulders just slump. “I… Failed her. I put everything else before her. The Institute. The thing with Mitch and Kane. Hell, I even went to that other fed to vouch for Trent in front of JC. Not going to lie, I’m glad I’m not taking part in it because it would just be another thing. But Belle…” She smiles, remembering of times long gone. “She’s the one that showed me how to be human you know. After that whole time as a mindless monster phase. There was a time that I never let her out of my sight and I guess that I lost sight of what was truly important. Now I’m just unsure how to repair being gone.”
“If you want, I could help you talk with her,” Silvio offers. “You two are better together than apart. If I can do anything to facilitate that...all you have to do is say the word.”
Zephyr considers it only briefly. “I think… That might be best. I’m not the best with the words and feelings but I know that they’re there at least.”
“Consider me at your disposal,” Silvio says with a little salute. Hesitating, he drums his fingertips on the countertop. “Hey, uh...you...wouldn’t mind at some point maybe...discussing Pandaemonium with me? No pressure if you’re not feeling up to it.”
Zephyr’s grip on the counter tightened as she sits down. She grimaces and flexes her fists in reflex. “Yeah. You sure you don’t need back up for your challenge? They… Aren’t really anything to take lightly.”
“I know.”
They’d been victorious on their match at 108, and they’d shown they certainly weren’t above playing dirty.
“That’s why I’m bringing Kane with me. I...was a little hot-headed at first and I was thinking of just taking them on by myself, but I thought better of it. I’m not going to be of help to anybody if I can’t keep my head on my shoulders. They hurt Jon and Axton; made them feel helpless. Made them look helpless. That kind of perception can translate into encouragement for others to go after them; see them as easy targets. I want to make sure those people think twice.”
Zephyr sucks in a sharp breath as an icy barrage of icicles slides down her back. She blinks, takes a breath and looks Silvio in the eye. “I get your intentions, I do. Good people want to vanquish evil in every walk of life and this is just another example. You’re good, they’re the personification of evil. They hurt those closest to you and now it’s time that they learn their lessons. I. GET. THAT.” Zephyr takes a breath, regaining control of her anger. “I’m sorry but where I get the ‘why’ of the matter, I’m a bit lost on the ‘how’ of it all.”
“These people made my life hell, erased my childhood, turned my twin sister into a psychotic nut job, and I’m only just figuring out how deep this rabbit hole goes in my family. Kane… Has had his own path to this point and I have to question if it’s a good idea to get him involved with them. They don’t need to know about him, they don’t NEED to have him in his sights because they’ll learn and they’ll adapt. If they learn about his history? They’ll do anything to get their hands on him.” Zephyr shakes her head. “I kinda wish you had come to me before now honestly.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t get to you about this sooner. Honestly, I kind of had cult fatigue after the last two we had to shuffle off this Carnage coil. But…”
He hesitates, gazing down at the countertop.
“Kane’s not going anywhere. And if they think for a moment I’m letting them walk out of that match under their own power, they’re delusional. This is payback and a warning.”
He looks up at Zephyr, something knowing in his gaze.
“I think they’re going to be looking into Kane anyway considering what happened a few months ago with that weird noise that knocked him out. I’d rather take the initiative and be proactive instead of reacting to them doing whatever they might do first.”
Zephyr shifts in her seat. "I get it but I don't trust them not to try something being that close. I don't like putting him that close to them." She pauses and shakes herself free from agitation. "I get that you were mostly responsible for the last two to leave, but The Institute is different. Those 'cults' from before talked a big game but never backed up what they said. The Institute can and will; I'm walking proof of that." Zephyr looks up at Silvio and notes the look of steely resolve. "I know I'm not talking you out of this so of course I'll help however I can." She takes a breath. "Tactics. They might not look like it but Pandemonium defines 'teamwork' for The Institute. Show them a soft spot, any hesitation, and they'll pounce as one. You won't just be going up against Incubus and Succubus either. Su is around still at the very least and it would not surprise me in the slightest if she gets involved. Where the numbers were even the last two times you eradicated cults, this time the scale could easily be tipped against you. Expect anything and then? Expect more."
Silvio nods, looking thoughtful.
“I’ll put in the hours to do the research,” he assures her. “And I’ll let King know about everything you just told me.” He snorts. “Honestly at this point, I don’t think you could stop him from taking a swing at those people. He’s been occupied dealing with everything that went on with his last defense, but now that he can focus on other things, I know the Institute’s presence here has been nagging at him. He sees you as the next person to challenge him for the belt, so your connection with them is definitely something he’s been paying attention to. LRK and I have always understood each other better than anyone else at Carnage has understood either of us; I’m not worried about our teamwork.”
He hesitates, curling his fingers against the counter.
“...but...I’m kind of worried about myself.”
The words come out a bit haltingly, as if he doesn’t like saying them.
“I’m…”
He sighs, tapping his foot briefly.
“...I think...I might have a problem.”
Zephyr’s eyes widen slightly but knew the best course of action was just to let Silvio continue. She gestures reassuringly and squares her shoulders, letting Silvio know she wasn’t going anywhere.
Shame roils through Silvio’s thoughts as he takes a deep breath, trying to center himself.
It was so easy to be there for other people; understand when they came to him with a vulnerability or a problem.
It was so hard to ask other people to be there for him.
Or admit this.
He set his teeth for a moment before meeting her eyes.
“It’s...a dependency problem. I can’t...really go into the details, but...I just don’t want it to get worse.”
But was that even an option without quitting completely?
Zephyr stays seated but her hand instinctively goes up to her opposite arm, rubbing the forearm. She snickers. “Ya know… The Institute has a funny way of teaching people to deal with pain.” She shrugs as she rolls up the sleeve of her hoodie, showing a bewildered Silvio her cacophony of scars. The deepest scars were all but white lines in her skin, but they were longer and more jagged than any of her others; and there were several of them. A pale finger traces over them as she continues. “Being vulnerable wasn’t something that anyone had time for, so they bled it out. One cut at a time and in order to make a monster? It requires constant pain to the point that all humanity is blinked out. All that’s left are the moments that you’re put through the sensation again. You live off of it, it becomes your lifeblood But the more you feel it, the more you give into it… The more you realize that nothing will ever be as good as that first one again.” She stops and rolls down her sleeve meeting Silvio’s gaze.
“Everyone has shit Sil. The difference between us and them though? Is that we’re willing to help each other get through whatever it is that we’re dealing with. I told you that because if you’re going to open up, I suppose I do the same to someone other than my girlfriend. Ex?” Zephyr shudders but forces herself to continue. “Thank you for coming to me. Whatever you need from me, you got it.”
Silvio is left speechless for a moment before nodding in reply.
“...Thanks for showing me. And...thanks for being there.”
It wasn’t anything he could stop from happening, but maybe…
“How do you cope with it? How do you live with it?”
He swallows around a lump in his throat.
“How do you come back from it?”
Zephyr shrugs. “It’s always there. People will tell you all you have to do is accept it and move on but if it were that easy this wouldn’t be a conversation piece. Personally? I focus on everything that would happen if I weren’t here. If I gave into temptation and turned my back on everything I had set up. I make sure that I focus on everything my life has become that isn’t pain and all… Monster-y. Belle showed me a lot of those things and the parts I’m learning about friendship?” She winks at Silvio. “That’s where you come in.”
He can’t help but blush at that, giving her a lopsided smile.
“Aw, shucks, Miss Quinn, t’weren’t nothin’,” he drawled, tipping an imaginary hat.
After he did, he couldn’t help but glance around the house, feeling a pang.
“Seriously, though. Thank you.”
“I’d curtsey but…” She gestures at her attire. “I’m fresh out of tutus.” She follows his gaze and winces as she notices the holes in the wall. “Don’t worry about all this. The thing about wallowing is that it never lasts forever.” Winking she walks over to the nearest closet and opens it, revealing everything needed to fill in the holes in the wall. “I always thought Belle was overreacting when she insisted that one day, ‘I might need all of this.’”
Silvio laughs, feeling the weight of the moment lifting.
“Let me know if you ever wanna make a party of it or anything.”
“You got it.” Zephyr grimaces as she looks around. “First though I have to clean.”