6/23 Instance: Family Tension

[Ferguson]

Current Timeline

<@Ankka> He'd finished his homework, had copious amounts of coffee and ice cream, spent time with Noriko and even finished planting out the roses in the gardens (which were growing bloody fast, but he put that down to the planty mutants). He really couldn't put it off any more, though...he had to talk to Lukas. Betraying them all like that...it had to be mind control. He'd heard they'd been given a drug, after all...

<@Ankka> Ankka looked down at the bottle of mead in his hand and the glasses. This probably wasn't a good idea, but it was his cousin, the guy had been the brother he should have had. Sighing, he knocked on the door.

<Lukas> Having spent the last several hours lying on his bed and reading various books, Lukas was slowly going stir crazy. He sighed when there came a knock at the door. Maybe this was someone here to threaten him, maybe it was Fabian here to entertain him. Getting up and opening the door, Lukas cursed mentally.

<@Ankka> Ankka gave Lukas a half-smile, no hugs this time, not until he was sure what to think. "Hello. Figured you would be going insane in here." He said in Finnish, holding up the mead and glasses. "Like old times, huh? I mean, there's no snow and well...it's not dark, but...thought you might like a friendly drink."

<Lukas> Looking from his cousin to the mead and glasses in his hand, he nodded. Stepping away from the door, Lukas closed it behind Ankka. "It wasn't about the snow and dark, that all just helped. Have a seat, I had a feeling this was coming."

<@Ankka> Ankka hooked a chair out with his foot, sitting down and putting the glasses on the desk. He concentrated on the bottle as he opened it, trying to work out what to say. "...You know no one had told me you'd ran away?" He said quietly, eventually, pouring the drink. "I found out 'cause I tried to drunk-dial you. Why'd you leave, Lukas?"

<Lukas> Watching the large blond work with the bottle, Lukas sat down on the end of his bed. Leaning over so his elbows rested on his knees. "I had to get away. It was like I was trapped and nothing I could do was good enough. I needed out."

<@Ankka> "Not good enough?" He frowned a little, handing a glass to the other, slighter boy. "But...you were amazing at what you did. I missed you like hell..." He shook his head, leaning back. "But I can get needing to get out of that life. It's why I came here, to find something new..." He trailed off. "...I worried about you, Lukas. Why didn't you come find me?"

<Lukas> "Are you aware of how many times father asked me why I couldn't be more like you? The way mother loved me but was silent whenever he did this? I just....had to get out," he shook his head and took the glass, staring down into it. "I didn't come find you because.....all the things I heard like that might have made me more than a little bitter towards you."

<@Ankka> "...You're fucking kidding me." Ankka stared at his cousin. "Like me? Why the hell would you want to be like me? I'm the big slow goofy one. Out of the pair of us, you were the one that would've made something of themselves...what an idiot." He looked down, flushing at the fact he was the reason for Lukas being miserable. "I'm...I'm sorry, Lukas, I had no idea..."

<@Ankka> "For...what it's worth? You've always been the one I've looked up to, you know?"

<Lukas> "I guess they didn't see it that way. I was small, quiet and sarcastic. Maybe they were hoping for big, goofy and friendly," he took a swig of mead and wrinkled his nose ", god it's been forever since I've had this stuff." He looked over and blinked at him ", you're...not serious, right? You're like a big golden puppy. Everyone loves you."

<@Ankka> "I am serious." Ankka snorted. "I know I'm a big puppy, and that I'm not the smartest person. I'm the one who should be a farmhand for the rest of my life, you're the one that should be in university. Your father's an idiot." He took a mouthful. "You were always the smart one, Lukas. And I liked you being sarcastic, I mean...I know it was at my expense most of the time, but I didn't care."

<@Ankka> He sat back, looking at Lukas, chewing his lip worridly. "You know I was so happy when you turned up here. I wasn't sure how else I was going to find you."

<Lukas> Leaning back and bracing on one hand, Lukas looked at the glass in his other hand. Swirling it a bit, he took another swig ", I am sorry that you didn't know. Sorry that my mother didn't deem fit to tell you. I have talked to her recently, on a regular basis even."

<@Ankka> Ankka rubbed his face, feeling an irrational surge of anger at his aunt and uncle. How the hell did they think telling Lukas he should be like him was a good idea? Why hadn't they told him? He shook his head. "She said, when I called." He said finally, getting his temper under control. "But...you're here now, at least, away from that." Where I can keep an eye on you. "I never...gods, I'm an idiot."

<@Ankka> He shook his head. "You...don't hate me, do you, Lukas? For what they said? I don't want you to be like me, I like you the way you are. There only needs to be one puppy, right?" He tried a smile.

<Lukas> "Yes, I'm here now and no, I don't hate you. Nothing they said was your fault, you weren't making them say it," he sighed and knocked back the last of his mead ", I'm pretty sure you and Fabian are the only ones that like me the way that I am."

<@Ankka> "Nobody else matters, surely." Ankka gave him a half-shrug and a lopsided smile, inordinately relieved to hear that. "So long as you're happy, right?" He played with his glass before knocking his back too. No, he had to talk about it. He needed the reassurance that his cousin hadn't changed that much. "Lukas...about the other day...when you tried to take Malice..."

<Lukas> "No, but I just wanted you to be clear that you're going to find a lot of people dislike me a great deal," Lukas smirked at his cousin ", I am very happy with who I am. It's a thing it's taken my time traveling to learn." The next thing the other teen said made him shift a bit. He looked away and to the other side of the room, at a small chip in the paint ", I had my orders."

<@Ankka> "Orders." Ankka repeated quietly. He let the silence stretch a little as he took in the possibilities and implications of that word, slowly pouring both of them another glass. "Orders. You were...ordered to retrieve Malice...?" His eyes flicked to his cousin. "Lukas...tell me the truth. I know that this...man mind controls people because those are my friends he's-" He reigned himself in. "Were you...?"

<Lukas> He looked to Ankka sharply and sat up, straightening his back ", no. I might not have had all the information but I was there of my own mind and will."

<@Ankka> Ankka sat, staring at Lukas for a long, frozen moment before looking down into his drink. "I don't know if that's worse." He chuckled humourlessly. "You know Herald? That's my girlfriend's best friend. Pestilence? My drinking buddy's boyfriend - Lukas, this man's been taking my friends and torturing them and you were working for him?!" He drew in a sharp breath. No, he was not going to get angry, he was not...

<@Ankka> "Sorry." He said finally. "You said you...didn't have all the information..." Maybe Lukas didn't know. Maybe he thought he was helping. Maybe it wasn't his fault. Lukas wouldn't help someone like that, not the Lukas he knew...

<Lukas> "Hmmmm I never knew any of them outside being the Herald and Horsemen. Fabian and I helped to train them for their missions. We were given their powers and the missions parameters. Or at least that's all I was given. I helped coordinate a couple of the attacks."

<@Ankka> "I...you..." Ankka shook his head, not trusting himself to speak, putting his glass down and his head in his hands as he tried to not get angry. He hadn't known. He needed to remember that. "Helped train them...Lukas, what did you do to them. Did you...did you hurt them? At all? Did you have any clue at all what was going on, that you were making them go against their friends?"

<Lukas> "I wasn't there to think. Or at least not about that. I was aware they were being controlled, though, yes. I didn't hurt them. Fabian and I tested their abilities and then heightened them. Anything painful that may or may not have been done was not our doing."

<@Ankka> Ankka slumped back, watching his cousin, unsure whether he should be angry with him or not. He shook his head, looking out of the window as he tried to get his head around this. "I believe you." He said finally. "Don't doubt that...but Lukas..." He sighed. "They are fellow human beings. How could you...how could you even condone that? I don't understand."

<Lukas> He pondered that for a moment and then leaned back against his bed ", I just did."

<@Ankka> Ankka was silent for a few minutes, unable to look at his cousin, choosing to look out of the window instead. Was this really the same guy he used to have all the stupid adventures kids had together? "I...wouldn't...tell anyone you...you knew what was happening, if I were you." He said, voice cracking a little bit before he cleared his throat. "I certainly won't be saying anything."

<@Ankka> "Why did you...?" He finally looked back at Lukas, expression carefully neutral. "Why did you agree to do it, Lukas? I didn't think you'd be the sort of person who'd...you know..." He didn't want to face the fact this was his cousin.

<Lukas> "For the new experience. For the knowledge and the danger and the rush. For the chance to learn about and test my own abilities," he shrugged and watched his cousin ", mostly because I was there at the time and offered the chance along with Fabian and his sister."

<@Ankka> "For shits and giggles." Ankka translated. "You hurt my friends - whether you did it yourself or you knew it was happening and you didn't stop it - for shits and giggles. Lukas." There was a deafening thundercrack outside, and where it had been sunny before it was suddenly raining so hard the treeline wasn't visible. "Oh gods...what happened to you? I looked up to you like you were my brother, Lukas..."

<Lukas> For all that he looked as nonplussed about everything so far, the crack of thunder startled Lukas. He looked out the window and then back at Ankka ", maybe not even you like who I am. I am not the little boy that used to follow you around. I have lived on my own in the world and made my way using whatever means necessary. You will get nothing out of life if you don't grab it by the scruff and take what you want. Sometimes what you want and what someone else wants conflict."

<@Ankka> "No, you're not the little boy I used to have fun with. You're not the man I looked up to and respected, maybe you never were, maybe I was just the big dumb puppy that never saw it." There was another rumble of thunder, a blue-white jagged flash of lightning knocking a crater in the lawn. Ankka tried to control the slow-burning rise of anger, snaps of current flickering over his arms. "If that's what you truly believe-"

<@Ankka> He took a deep breath, calming himself. "If that's what you truly believe, Lukas...then you've learnt a very hollow lesson." He stood up, leaving the bottle of mead. "You've hurt some very dear friends of mine with this path. I will leave it up to you if you feel like revealing what it is you've done, I owe you that much, I suppose. You're an idiot, Lukas, and I hope you realise that before it's too late."

<Lukas> The strike of lightning made him twitch, looking over at his cousin. He had plenty to say about what he thought of the disparaging comments, but he kept his mouth shut in a thin line. Lukas watched the current crackle over Ankka's arms, his own hands and arms giving off a faint green glow in defense, kneejerk reaction. He refused to respond any further, holding his head up with his eyes narrowed, keeping Ankka's eye contact.

<Lukas> This was very clearly a conversation that was not finished but Lukas was done with it for the moment.

<@Ankka> Ankka shook his head, knowing that look - he'd seen it so many times in the little tiffs they'd had back home - anger draining away and taking the snaps of energy with it, leaving a hollow that made him want to...to sob, to cry, to reach out to the guy who was his family but at the same time... "Goodbye, Lukas." He said quietly, turning for the door. He didn't look back as he opened it and slipped out, leaving the mead bottle where it was.

[Svartfreja]

Aww, poor Lukas. Don't worry, Jess still likes you!

[puppygirl]

OMGOMG This was SO GOOD guys! I want to just hug the both of them and then slap Lukas around the back of the head and then hug him again!

This made me so happy!

[Scumfish]

SO. MUCH. FUN.

Thank you Murph, this was an AWESOME instance XD

[Ferguson]

Yesss, got to love the family tension

[Slarti]

Sic 'em, Thor! Gooooood puppy!

[Ferguson]

Does he get a treat?

[Scumfish]

ARFARFARF

He better do Puppy gets grumpy if he doesn't get kibble.

[Murphy]

Twas very fun indeed!


Also? I want to lick your avatar, Scummy.