video; un: barebone

[repressings]

[ Credence shouldn't go exploring. That's implicitly obvious, but he'd done it anyway, and when he recovers from this he'll have a nice long mental self-reprimanding. It had been a simple enough affair. Surely, there would be some kind of answer among the metal corridors and winding labyrinth of strange technology. There's a buddy system, but Credence had simply not wanted to bother anyone, not wanting to impose.

He's not expecting to round the corner on deck 3 and see the body of a man. He's jarred, falling backwards, tripping on things that aren't there. His rear hits the hallway and he backs up, instinctive, and doesn't stop until his back hits the metal hallway.

He has to let people know. It's instinctive, to pull out the necklace he'd been given in the dark alley before arriving and touch it, and it's only after his heart stops racing too much (he can't stop staring, this is decidedly different from his sister, or is ma) that he starts a video. The movement is shakey, and he's sure no one on the ship will really recognize him, having kept to himself and his quarters, but they have to know. ]

There's--there's something...

[ He pans the camera to the body, trying to keep his body from shaking, voice high with fear. ]

Deck three. It's on deck three.

Comments

[fujita]

[ there isn't really much to do here besides poke the replicator things in the kitchen for another coffee in the hopes that it'll taste better than the last, playing fetch with toto, waiting for someone to come up with a solution. lucas has gone off for a while, but dorothy isn't too worried; he knows how to take care of himself.

she's mostly checking the network out of boredom, except —

except there's a body and it's lucas, it's lucas and he's just lying there, blood on his stomach and shoulder and arm and pooling below his body and dorothy has seen dead people before.

he can't be dead. ]

Where on deck three? [ her question is sharp, and she's already on her feet and running, the video jerking as she does. ]

[repressings]

I don't-- [ He has to get his thoughts in gear, there's a kind woman whose voice is sharp like needles, urgent, and Credence forces himself to close his eyes and just breathe, because he's acting exactly like when he realized what he'd done with his sister and his mother. ]

--I was just exploring, I swear I didn't do anything--

[ he's not answering her question, not right now, not when everything is far too overwhelming ]

[fujita]

[ dorothy doesn't have the time to comfort a panicking young man right now. if she were less focused, less in shock herself (she'll recognise it later), she'd recognise the symptoms in him. she's a trained nurse, she knows how to deal with distressed individuals — except right now, she feels less like a nurse and more like she can't breathe, won't be able to until she knows that lucas is going to be all right.

even with glinda, with him trying to kill her, with everything, she can't lose him. she can't. ]

I don't think you did this. [ she manages after a moment. he's too freaked out for that, and lucas can defend himself. ]

[repressings]

[ Good. Good, he thinks--not that Lucas is dead, but that this time he didn't do it. Even the sentence with the word 'think' in it is enough, even if this girl doesn't know what he's capable of.

Good. It's enough he calms down, just a little, and takes a breath. ]

I can--I think I can tell you my location on this, can't I? So you can find...him.

[fujita]

Please. I need to -

I need to help him. [ because he isn't dead, all right? she's a nurse, she can fix this. she has to be able to fix this. ]

[repressings]

[ Credence nods, fumbling with the navigation. It takes him a few moments, clumsy, before he pings coordinates accordingly. ]

I don't want to go back.

[ It's whispered. Apologetic. Can you go on your own? ]

video, un: th.ing

[fingerprint]

Oh - oh, wow. Is that a dead body?

[ The lack of tact is purely out of ignorance, not maliciousness. Being naive doesn't equate to being completely innocent; he shares a house with a witch who killed her entire family just because she wanted to have their power. Theodore was born (made) on another magical whim. She's capable of a number of horrors, some of which he might have witnessed, had he not been pulled to this strange ship.

The first time seeing a dead body will have to be under these circumstances, unfortunately. ]

I've never seen one before. What happened?

[ It'd be wrong to say Theodore is excited, but he's not at all horrified. ]

[repressings]

[ Yes it's a body, Credence wants to say, and he's nearly snapped out of his panic from how strangely calm this man is. so much so that he stares, unable to say anything for a brief moment. ]

I don't know, I just turned the corner, and he-- [ Credence is up and moving again, somewhere away from the corpse. ] --there's a lot of blood. [ Too much, .Credence had never seen blood when he'd destroyed. ]

[fingerprint]

So... it was a messy death. I've never really studied the ways people die.

[ Because that's something to study, right. (It might be useful in the future, though. ]

Unless something went really wrong. [ Hmm. ] You should look for someone you trust, just in case it was a murder.

[repressings]

I didn't-- I didn't do it! [ Not this time, why is he saying things like 'murder?' Maybe it's the alien, maybe it's someone else--he can't remember doing it, but he can't remember hurting Senator Shaw, either-- ]

I swear.

[fingerprint]

Oh - do you think I'm accusing you? [ He hadn't thought of that, actually; Theo isn't too well versed in the art of human deceit. If he sees a young man panicking about a dead body, his last instinct is to think that he's covering up for his own crime. Probably for the best in this case. ]

That's not what I was saying at all. What I mean is: find someone you trust, just in case the murderer tries to kill you next. Since you found the body and all.

[ That will totally help him calm down, right? RIGHT ]

[repressings]

[ Credence is many things, and rightfully paranoid is one of them at the moment--the man's voice is too calm, like he's watching something in the cinema, not like it's happening, and it's making his skin crawl.

And here he suggests he's going to die? He doesn't have the guts to call him out on it--no, he's incapable, and he takes a big, deep breath. He has to get out of panicking blindly. ]

Sir? Do you---you don't speak from experience, don't you?

[fingerprint]

Of course not. I think I'd be traumatized if that was the case; I'm very sensitive.

[ He says... to Credence... ]

Are you looking for someone you trust yet?

[repressings]

[ He doesn't sound sensitive at all, but Credence looks in the middle of some sort of second panic attack. Someone he trusts?

Graves. Markhell. ]

I don't know where they are...

[fingerprint]

They can't be very far, I don't think. Maybe they haven't seen this yet, but you don't have to be alone. [ That's too optimistic to be really practical, but help is help. Unless it harms. ] We could meet, if you want.

video; un: s.rogers

[america]

[ Steve flicks on his end of the camera as quickly as he knows how, the moment he receives the message on the network.

His soldier/captain/leader/superhero, whatever you might call it, instincts kick into high gear. ]

Hey. Hey, I'm Steve.

Where on deck three are you? Are you there by yourself?

[repressings]

[ that's strange, someone speaking. It's in a calm manner, and it's to him of all people, and it will take Credence a moment after all this is over to realize it. Now, though, Steve's tone and wording seems to have unconsciously reached him: he at least stops visibly panicking, enough to answer. ]

Deck three, um... [ He gives the best approximation to the way of the body: he, however, is visibly moving. There's no way he's staying with a dead body for that long. There's blood, Credence had never seen a dead body bloodied before, it's always been chalky skin and black markings. Never blood. ]

I didn't do it, I didn't, I just--I turned the corner, he was there, I swear.

[america]

I'm not saying you did it.

[ Steve's voice remains steady, authoritative in a 'don't worry, if you need someone to lean on, you can lean on me' kind of way. He's already gearing up on the other side of the line, mentally cursing his lack of a shield. Not that he knows what he's up against or how the Cap shield would work against it, but it's something. ]

All right. I'm going to make my way up to deck three. Do you think, if you met me by the doors, you could lead me back to the body?

[ He thinks about calling back-up. He thinks about seeing where Natasha is. ]

[repressings]

[ The problem is that Credence isn't sure if he did or not, and that slight flicker of self-doubt is quick to blow up again: he's killed his mother, as horrible as she was, he's killed his sister when she did nothing, he's killed politicians for calling him a freak--

--no, no, he focuses on Steve's voice, nods, and tries to will himself out of his spiral. It works a little but not enough as he'd hoped, and his voice is dry when he speaks, boderline hysterical but calmed down significantly from before. It's a slow process. ]

I think I can. I'm--headed your way.

[america]

Okay. Good - great.

[ Steve is already moving, searching for a way out of this corridor and towards the nearby elevator lift. He pulls the speaker-piece away for a brief moment, long enough to send Natasha a quick text.

He hits his fist against the elevator control panel leading up. ]

I'm going to keep you on the line. Is that okay? What's your name?

[repressings]

Credence. [ His words are weak, but there's still fear in his eyes. It's fine, he thinks, it's alright, this man--Steve? His name was Steve--is calm and collected, and there's no panic in his voice. He knows what he's doing, like he's done this before.

Credence tries not to let that bother him. Instead, he focuses on the fact that it's probably not his fault. There's never been blood when he does it--surely, this is someone else?

He reaches the elevator with ease, tall, lanky, hunched over frame blending in with shadows, clothes straight out of the 1920s. ]

Mr. Steve? [ It is Steve, he's sure of it, and he peers at the communicator, finally able to stop himself from shaking. ] Do you think it's the creature, sir?

[america]

No 'Mister'. Just Steve will do.

[ There's no need for honorifics, not when there's no real reason for him to pull rank on anyone, especially someone who might have just been traumatized by a sighting of alien-induced death.

When Steve gets to the right deck, he finds a thin, tall-ish figure lingering in the shadows. His first instinct is to get into defense-mode because who knows who or what that could be, but the moment the boy speaks, Steve finds the tension easing out of his shoulders. He's still on high-alert, of course, because anything can happen up here, but the kid's voice is familiar.

He flicks off his video-feed and nods in his direction. ]

Good to meet you in person, Credence. We can't say anything until we've seen the body you found. In the meantime, tell me what you know about this creature.

[repressings]

[ No mister? People on this ship are strange. Credence says things like sir and mister, ma'am and miss like it's only natural. Politeness has been beaten into him, over and over, and for someone to not prefer it seems downright outlandish.

It's easier to focus on little things like this than the overwhelming fact that there's a dead body, a corpse, on this strange ship with curling shadows. Credence swallows heavily, lump in his throat, and he tries not to look at Steve and what he's wearing too much. ]

Not a lot, sir--Steve. [ He carefully makes his way back, shoulders hunched, slumped into himself but somehow rigid all the same. ] Someone's on the ship with us, he--it?--shot a fellow earlier. We'd been going in pairs, but--I really didn't want to bother anyone, so I didn't...

[ Focus. Credence winces at his behaviour, turning a left, then a right. ]

Whatever it is, I'm not so sure it's human.

[america]

[ Well, if it's any consolation, Steve Rogers has never been anything inlandish, not even when he was a kid.

(Or maybe especially when he was a kid.)

Getting into fights, poking metaphorical bears, defending the weak even when he couldn't really defend himself ... well. He's polite, sure, but he sure doesn't fit any kind of pre-determined mold. ]

Extra-terrestrial?

[ He kind of figured, what with being on this spaceship and all, that whatever they were dealing with might not be Earth-bound.

He shakes his head, shifting his glance from the kid, to the length of the hallway from here, then back again. ]

First thing's first, can you take me to the body, Credence?

sorry for the delay :c

[repressings]

I don't know. [ He feels like he's somehow failing the other, saying things like 'I don't know' and being unable to answer his questions.


He nods, shoulders still hunched, moving quickly and efficiently. He turns a left, and then a right, and then a right again. ]

May I ask what you're looking for, exactly, sir? [ He can't think of a single person that wants to actively look at a body. ]

no no its totally ok <3

[america]

Familiarity.

[ That's the first word that comes to mind as he follows Credence towards the body. The layout of the ship is confusing but Steve memorizes the directions they've made, makes mental cues about their path so he can commit it to memory. They might need to come back here in the future; they might need to warn someone away from here too.

He won't recognize the body, that much he can be relatively sure of. This spaceship wouldn't bring in anyone he knew, would they?

Why he even considers this place capable of that kind of power is beyond him - but the realization is a little unnerving. ]

A way of learning about what we're dealing with through the way they kill.

[repressings]

[ familiarity, Steve says, like he's seen aliens before. Credence narrows his eyes with confusion, but other wise doesn't say anything. There are stranger things than someone being familiar with aliens, he thinks. Like winding on this ship in the first place.

Or maybe that's not what he means, but either way, after a few more moments twisting and turning, Credence suddenly comes to a halt, pointing beyond a dark corner. ]

It's there.

[ His words are quiet. Hushed. ]

[america]

[ Steve follows the direction Credence points at, where he can barely make out a dark silhouette slumped in a corner. ]

You don't have to stick around if you don't want to. [ He says, turning to face the young man. ] You did good.

[ And after what he'd probably gone through, discovering the body from the start, Steve can't imagine it's easy returning to the "crime scene" as it were. This spaceship is pretty terrifying as it is. ]

video.

[negativechill]

[ no. no, it isn't going to happen this way. gellert recognizes credence because of course he does and something clenches in him - it's not concern so much as it is a predatory possessiveness and his fingers are clutching the communicator so tightly that his knuckles are white. but in the video he just looks concerned. ] Credence. Credence.

[ it's quiet but firm - markell isn't supposed to know that credence is the obscurial but gellert certainly does and if credence can't control it here then they'll all likely die in the empty dark of space when the obscurus rips a hole in the ship. ]

Credence, let me go to you. Send me your location on the device and I'll be at your side before you even know it.

[ a breath and it shakes - markell is worried, markell is frightened. ] Let me help.

video.

[repressings]

[ It's Markell. It's Markell, the man with the same necklace and same circumstances--Markell, who he trusts implicitly, just like he does Mr. Graves.

something similar to relief washes over him, even if his voice is still steady, and he's trying to distance himself from the body as much as possible. He can feel it, the other part of him trying to bubble up from under skin, escape from anything, even the space between his fingernails, and he shuts his eyes as tight as he can to try to stop it. People are coming, he doesn't want to hurt them. ]

How? [ He asks quietly, ducking into a darkened corridor, and obeys diligently once the other explains it to him. It's then Credence waists, shaking, and his last sentence is more of a mumble. ]

I'm so sorry, I didn't do anything, I swear.