Private Purple Rain

[Cartri Keswoll]

Location: Denon, apartments
Timeframe: Two weeks after shattering the mirror part 3
Tag: Daiya​

Leave it alone​

Purple-lit rain pattered against the window of the apartment, while the bright neon lights of the city glittered through the cracks of the curtains that covered the dim room from its embrace. Denon had always been a depressing place to live, but at this current time, it only seemed to be double the pain.

Inside apartment 195 was nothing but dumping ground, everything had been misplaced or damaged to the point of recognition. This wasn't the work of laziness, but one of rage that seemed to fill the atmosphere. It was no secret the apartment was crap, even before the mess it was already beginning to fall apartment. Although, at the time Cartri only thought it to be temporary. Xan and himself were saving up for a better place ever since their old home got blown up by a CorpSEC missile, somewhere that didn't have thin walls or leaking roofs that dripped onto your face at night. But, in a matter of a day, everything changed.

When he got back to the apartment he expected Xan Deesa to be back in a few days tops, but when that time arrived not a single thing was heard from her. At first, he wasn't worried, mainly down to the fact she may have been dealing with other important business. However, when the days turned into weeks that when things began to get frightening. Cartri contacted anyone who he thought would have some sort of communication with her, yet they gave all the same hopeless reply. Rumors were flying around that Xan had gone down with the ship and detonated the station, while others commented that it never even exploded in the first place. All of these only twisted his mind, slowly driving him beyond grief and confusion.

Cartri had not slept properly for days, even if he did he'd always wake up in a panicked sweat from the thoughts racing in his head. Right now he was fearing the worst, with no communication and the thing she was determined to do, it really did not look hopeful. A part of him wanted to hope that she was still alive, that she had somehow got off the ship in time, but his body was already preparing him for the inevitable confirmation.

To him, Xan was the annoying older sister he never had. From day one she helped look after him, by putting a roof over his head and teaching him the means of survival. Her training was harsh and punishing, but she did it to get the most out of him and provide much-needed experience in the real world. If it wasn't for her, he'd probably be dead or somewhere worse. Even if she didn't realize it, she meant more to him than she possibly knew.

Right now, Cartri was sitting cross-legged in front of the balcony door, staring out into the bright city while rain deflected off the glass before him. For the first time in a while, his hair was messy and uncared for, as well as his clothing which looked untidy. After all the worrying he didn't bother to look after himself, nor the things around him. Unusual events like anger spikes plagued him, and the only way to loosen the pressure was to take it out on something next to him. Unfortunately, most of the apartment had suffered his wrath with holes, broken objects, and other oddities being scattered along the floor. It was clear he was conflicted and didn't know how to react to such a thing. Sure, he lost his parents from an early age but he didn't understand back then. Yet, one thing was clear. He was back to square one, being alone and helpless.

 

[Daiya]

It was raining again.

As usual. There was a reason why the Corpo elites built cloudcutters and fled to the upper levels. The acrid-smelling, chem-ridden, sometimes acidic rain pelted down on any buildings, and anyone, too poor enough to avoid it.

Daiya was fine with it. The teen was used to the rain, in all its hazy, smelly, dangerous glory. Sometimes, like on a night such as this one, the neon colors of the lights, the tempo of the city life, and the rain all came together into one enchanted evening. She was dizzy with the feeling tonight, the purple rain drizzled down endlessly and the crowds dashed from one overhang to the next on the uncovered walkways, but there was some kind of euphoria that the teen just couldn't shake off.

The Blue Flame was still closed for repairs, so the young shadowrunner had gone adventuring. Few nightclubs would let in someone her age, or let her stay long if she tried to slip in the back way, and yet Daiya had still managed to acquire a trail of entrance stamps on the back of her hands and down the tops of her both arms. Even for the brief times Daiya had spent in the raucous, raving clubs, the teen easily managed to have fun.

Still, there was something missing tonight.

She had plenty of friends, and most of them were planetside tonight, but the girl was still flying solo this evening. As she danced in each club, or snuck a drink to try to keep up her buzz, Daiya had met and made a few new acquaintances. None of them filled the hole in her evening quite right. Nor did any of the clubs, the drinks, or even the thrill of evading a bouncer long enough to do anything real.

It came to her as the teen was out wandering the walkways, finding herself headed in a familiar direction. As the crowds thinned and nightlife turned from celebratory to predatory, leaving her looking pretty out of place, Daiya realized she was heading towards a particular friend's apartment tonight. And the girl realized it had been several weeks, not just days, since she had seen hide or orange hair of Cartri.

Where the feth was that boy?

Daiya made her way towards the apartment building that she had visited only a couple times before. Already in a bad neighborhood, the place Cartri shared with Xan occupied a building that made its nearby cousins look fancy by comparison. The teen couldn't exactly judge, she had been forced to stay in couch-surfing mode for a while, until Shenn stopped laying low or she found another place of her own. With credits as thin as they were, and mostly meager jobs at the moment, she might have to consider someplace like this, too.

The lift was broken, of course, so she steadily climbed the stairs up to the right level. As the teen passed a few odd residents, whose leering eyes followed her up the stairs until she passed beyond their sight, she started to hope that Cartri and Xan hadn't moved out. She kept her satchel close, ready to reach in for a weapon to defend herself, but she reached Cartri's floor without issue.

A closed fist banged on the door of the apartment. Either the electronic bell wasn't working or no one was answering. The girl paused, pressing an ear to the door as if she could hear anything inside. She let out a sigh, a spark of fear lighting inside her at what might lay beyond that closed door. With a set of lockpicks and a little patience, Daiya managed to trick the door lock enough so she could slide it open by herself.

"Cartri? Xan? You in here?" Daiya stood in the doorway, asking at the inside without much response. From where she stood, the young shadowrunner could see items strewn on the floor. Damage to the appliances and furnishings. A lump jumped into her throat as she stepped inside, reaching for the blaster in her satchel.

She really didn't want to find them dead, or worse.

A figure was sitting by the window, staring out at the rain. Daiya sucked in a breath as she noticed his orange hair, and his eerie stillness amid the disarray. She asked again, her voice lower this time, gentle either from concern or from fear, "Cartri? Are you okay?"

Cartri Keswoll​

 

[Cartri Keswoll]

Daiya
​

Nothing else seemed to matter right now as he sat in a locked state, emotionally drained and numb from what he had been feeling. Not even the knocks on the door phased him. It was only when a familiar voice from the door caught his attention. His head didn't turn one bit, but it was clear he knew who was there. Cartri didn't seem to reply for a few seconds, almost as if he was pondering in even speaking at all. However, with a short sniffle, he finally replied "D-Daiya, please just go..." the teen said in a lowered tone, before bringing a sleeve up to his red eyes to wipe away a build up of tears forming in the corner of his vision.

Cartri didn't look too good by all means. His normally well kept hair was ruffled and messy, something which was unlike him to forget about. As well as this, his knuckles were bruised and covered in dry blood from the aggression he was putting into breaking things. It would have been a lie if he didn't say it hurt like hell. Yet, when Daiya first came in, he made the effort to try and hide it under his jumper sleeve. Cartri considered her a good friend and didn't want her to worry more than she was now.

Obviously, when she first came in, the girl wasn't going to leave until she knew he was alright. With a tired sigh, he broke his gaze from the window and looked back to Daiya. His face looked quite pale and exhausted while his expression looked as if he was in some sort of pain, not physically but mentally "I don't care if you've come here to see if I'm okay, I just want to be left alone alright?!" the teen said suddenly in a raised voice, his eyes looking as if they could release a flood of tears at any moment.

At this point, he didn't bother to hide his hand injuries. From the aggression he showed, they were now clenched tightly before her. Cartri himself didn't know he was doing it. Something else had taken over at this point, leaving the real Cartri to watch on the wayside in horror.

 

[Daiya]

It was Cartri, all right.

Relief passed through her lips as a sigh, and her hand relaxed. Reassured by Cartri's voice, the girl easily swallowed back her worries. What had she been so afraid of? It seemed stupid silly now, and she giggled at the awkward thought.

Daiya's mirth vanished as she heard the rest of the boy's words.

She stopped dead in her tracks, too, instincts pulling her up short of danger. There was none awaiting her. Just a mop-headed boy moping in the dark. The teen pushed through the instincts, taking another step towards Cartri. He moved in the shadow of the room, and Daiya took a moment to glance around for a light switch.

"Go? What's gotten into you?" she asked him. From his tone of voice, the girl really didn't expect a reply. Ugh, was she this cringe-worthy when she was feeling down? Daiya honestly didn't know what Cartri was feeling, but it was obvious he wasn't in high spirits.

At last, she located a light switch on the wall, and flipped it on. The apartment was bathed in a dingy light, not all that much better than it was in the dark, but now the young shadowrunner could see the extent of the damage. It looked like a Wookiee had run rampage through the place —though Daiya knew better than to make that assumption.

"Ooooooh, no," Daiya told the melancholy boy. Her rising tone left nothing to discussion, and the girl nearly flinched at her own audacity. It would just be easier to agree to Cartri's request and leave him to spend the night in misery.

Except that she'd be just as miserable.

Something was missing from her night. Finding Cartri's apartment in a state of disarray wasn't what she thought she was eager for, but as long as the teen was here she wasn't going to waste the time. "You're not getting rid of me that easy. What'd you do to the place, some kind of new VR game?"

Daiya could see Cartri's hand plainly in the light now, and the bloody knuckles that matched the prints on the walls. She didn't have to ask to know what he'd done. Whatever Cartri was angry —or angsty— about, she figured he'd tell her whenever he calmed down. "Look, I don't care. But you're a total mess."

She grabbed a shirt that was strewn across a chair, and sniffed it. Her nose wrinkled at the scent, but it least it wouldn't be full of blood or whatever else was on Cartri. The teen balled it up and chucked it at his head, "You need a shower, boy. Then we'll talk."

Daiya's lips pulled back in a smile that amused only herself, "I'm not leaving 'til you do, so might as well get it over with."

Cartri Keswoll​

 

[Cartri Keswoll]

Daiya
​

Choosing not to answer her question he decided to turn back to the window and continue his sulk, only to be rudely blinded by the lights turned on by Daiya. Cartri squinted his eyes slightly and put a hand up, his eyes still trying to readjust to the dimly lit room that had been under darkness for several days. This week, most of his time was sulking in bed and having anger spikes that made him turned into a wild animal. Which in turn explained the dump that had claimed the living room.

Slowly, the boy turned his body around and tiredly looked up to the fellow shadow runner. From first sight, his eyes would be red and baggy, almost like he had been refusing to cry or simply had no sleep at all. Although, his gaze wouldn't last long when he eventually looked at the floor in disinterest, too busy in his thoughts to even keep track of what Daiya was doing. Cartri let out an audible sigh when she commented on the state of the apartment, forcing him to release a lack luster statement "No..." He grunted out, his head raised slightly as she went towards a top thrown across a chair

She wasn't wrong when she mentioned the state of himself. His hair was like a greasy mop that hadn't been changed, his clothing was creased and worn, and his knuckles were most certainly in a horrid state. Not to mention how much he stank, anyone would probably be able to pick up the smell from the door.

Daiya gave a quick examination of a spare top and almost instantly gave it a look of disgust. Fresh clothes in the apartment were a rarity at this point, so anything laying about was probably an upgrade. The girl threw the top over to him, but instead of catching it, Cartri didn't bother and allowed it to hit his face. His hand reached up and ripped the piece of clothing away from his head, an annoyed grumble coming from his mouth as he began to slowly get to his feet

"Daiya... Please. I don't want to hear any of this crap today." he snapped in a rather aggressive tone. His normally calm eyes looked oddly savage, almost as if he was about to break and do something he wished not to do "Why have you come here? nothing that I say will even get into your brain" the teen grunted with a small shake of his head, slowly beginning to step closer to Daiya with his knuckles clenched "You don't even know what it feels like to be alone and thrown to the side like trash all your life. Let alone feel like a waste of breath" he continued, before stopping a few steps away from his counterpart "I had a chance to fix all this, with a new family. Xan helped me get through most of the days with just her presence, but now that she's gone..." his voice choked, unable to finish his sentence as he put a hand to his mouth to stop himself from letting it all out. It took him a few seconds to recompose himself, clearly on the verge of another anger spike. Lifting his hand up to her, he tries to lightly push her towards the door in the hopes she would follow his request "Just go alright?! all you do is make things worse!"

 

[Daiya]

Daiya just rolled her eyes at the boy. Cartri was in such a mood. It was just typical, why was it that every boy she met was either a sleemo or just a misanthrope? She had yet to meet the normal boys that didn't act weird every Zhellday.

Maybe they didn't exist on Denon.

"Crap?" Daiya squeaked, her voice pitching higher than the ceiling. She drew in a breath, all ready to give him a hard time for that. She was trying to help him, and he called it crap?

The teen barely had to look around the room to find evidence of the opposite. He was living in squalor and had the audacity to call a few words crap? Maybe Cartri didn't like what he saw in the mirror, but he sure needed to look. Daiya wasn't his mother, and she wasn't Xan, but now that she was here it wasn't like she could just leave him this way. She'd seen spice addicts with better standards of living than this.

Cartri kept going, digging his hypocritical grave deeper as he went. The girl set her jaw, ready to weather it for a while until the boy finished venting. She could handle that, let him get it out, then get him cleaned up and give him a night of fun. Whatever was grinding on him, she figured, the boy could use a break.

And then he struck a sacred place. As if she had just heard a dischordant note, Daiya's whole body tensed. She gasped, a hand clasping quickly to her mouth. Her vision blurred, a dampness encroaching at the edges of her eyes. She stumbled back as the boy pushed at her, catching herself on a wall before she fell.

"How dare you." The sound was quiet at first, but then the young shadowrunner took the hand away from her mouth. Her eyes didn't meet Cartri again, they looked off to the side of the room. Her voice rose as she spoke again, "How dare you! You think I don't know what it feels like?"

"Cartri, I've been used and discarded my whole life!" Now she was screaming. She didn't care if Cartri was having a bad day anymore. What did he know? Some two-bit offworlder, jumping on the first ship to another planet to hit it rich or for whatever reason he came. He didn't know her world, her life, her pain. "My father walked out on us. My mother checked out, and let a drug lord practically raise me. The only things he taught me was whatever was useful to him, everything else I had to learn by myself. They used me, and when they found out about my—"

Daiya caught herself, choking back the words. She stumbled mid-sentence, gasping back a sob. A fear gripped her again, like it hadn't since those days. "When they found another way to make me useful, Cartri, I couldn't stop it. I just ran. They would have kept using and using, Eiko, my mother, all of them. Just using until there was nothing left of me!"

She pressed fingers to her forehead, the effort of it all sparking a pain that pounded against her skull. "Even Tawrrowaldr turned his back on me for that pile of circuits who looked like me. You think I cried, huh? You think I holed myself up in my room, moping and groaning about my fortune? Fortune rains from the fething sky, Cartri, and here you are...inside!"

"Maybe I should be like you, huh?" Daiya kicked at a piece of trash on the floor, sending it skittering across the room. She stepped forward into Cartri's shadow. "Maybe I should just give up, huh?"

Daiya took another step, making her voice lower as she continued, "Uhh, I'm Cartri, everything is hard!"

She picked up another piece of trash, tossing it across the room. "I throw things because I can't handle my own feelings!"

She stepped close to him, her nose practically touching his chest. "I get mad at the people who want to help me." Daiya pushed her palms against his chest. "I want everyone to feel sorry for me." She pushed harder this time. "I'm so hurt that I can't let anyone in, I'm soooo misunderstood!"

Daiya shoved against Cartri's chest, hard. It was her frustration, her fears, her own history she pushed against, but directly at his body instead. He started it, he got her raging instead of just being normal. She would have helped him, now she only wanted to hurt him. Him, and everyone else who had done with her what they wanted.

Feth them all.

Cartri Keswoll​

 

[Cartri Keswoll]

Daiya​

At first, Daiya seemed to take his anger well and hold out. Up until the last few words, which triggered a rage deep down inside her. She was quiet at first, but as she talked her voice got louder and distressed more than ever before. All Cartri could do was stand there and listen, even if he wanted to speak his opportunity would be cut off by another venomous insult. Although, some of her words found a way into his soul. Daiya... Daiya was just like himself, castaways who didn't have a purpose or future. They had different stories, but the two of them were more alike than they thought. Like a flick of a switch, her voice turned into an all out scream. The boy jumped slightly from the change and seemed to take a step back from the girl, even if there was barely anywhere to go.

With purpose, the girl began to approach, kicking and throwing various objects around the room to emphasise her points. Instead of moving back into the wall Catri just stood there, blank and expressionless from the mocking words she was throwing his way. It was no lie that the insults hurt, but most of them were not true. Only Catri knew what he had gone through, not a stubborn girl who clearly didn't know better. A shove broke him out of his thoughts as he got closer to the wall, his face a mixture of anger and sadness. Daiya didn't care about his feelings at this point, all she wanted to do was make him pay. Their friendship was far out the window at this point...

Daiya stood right in front of him now, her palms pressed against his chest before giving a supringly hard push. Cartri fell back into the wall and released a loud grunt of frustration, seemingly giving in to those thoughts that had been brewing inside his head. At first, Cartri was silent and unresponsive to her vocal assault. Yet, a response was soon made by the teen "At least you had parents..." he grumbled quietly, his head finally lifting up to meet her gaze. Something seemed wrong with his eyes... the once calm and welcoming look had turned into one of hatred and anger.

"My karking parents didn't even want me from the start. When they had the chance they threw me over to a run down orphanage and left me to rot!" raised the teen's voice as he began to step away from the wall, his stare glaring directly into hers "Yea... I was wrong about you Daiya. But that doesn't give you the right to put down another person similar to you!" said the boy with a small choke, his feet forcefully kicking away any object in his way

"Why would I want people to feel sorry for me when I don't have anyone to begin with?!" he shouted now, slowly getting closer and closer to Daiya "Do you want to know why I can't handle my feelings? why I can't control my anger? because no one cares about me! not even you Daiya!" the boy said with a sob as he came to a halt a few inches away from her face, a tear slowly rolling down his cheek.

"You will never know what I've been through Daiya, after all, you're too much of a hypocrite to even grasp other people's feelings other than your own," Cartri growled, deciding not to go further on the past rather than what Daiya "I may be down in the dumps right now but after years of built up emotion it's only right that I let something out huh?! Oh wait, in your standards that's considered weak isn't it?" Cartri said as he gave a small shove to her shoulder in return "What are you going to do, mock me? tell me a pitiful backstory to make me feel bad?" he said with a harder push this time, a clear indication of how upset he was getting now "Come on Daiya, I dare you..."

Cartri breathed heavily and scrunched his fists, looking like he was about to explode at any point. Daiya herself had clearly made something snap that wasn't supposed to, and it was only a matter of time before it made an appearance.

Suddenly, when Daiya opened her mouth to say something Cartri unclenched his hand and raised it up to her. The girl would float for a few seconds before being shot like a bullet to the couch, forcing it to topple backward with a crash with her on it. Cartri slowly approached the toppled couch with Daiya out of view, on a mission to teach Daiya a few things "You were never my friend, to begin with, were you?! All you were there for was to drive me into the ground!"

 

[Daiya]

She was red-faced and frustrated, yet her antics had been just for show. On her own, Daiya hid her outbursts and pain, shoving it out of sight —and as much as she could of it out of mind completely. Taking a dip into the Cartri Method of Mad was rather cathartic, the teen was starting to see the appeal to it.

Still, Daiya wasn't ready to witness it unleashed upon her.

Now he was kicking things out of his way as he advanced on her, spitting out the facts of his own life. Her own tactics thrown back in her face didn't bother the girl as much as Cartri's looming size and aggressive tone as he got closer to her. It struck her how much taller he was now, how well built he was.

He pushed at her with his hand, and Daiya recalled seeing it bleeding once, the knuckles bruised in the aftermath of a fight. She shrank back as he pushed again, nearly making her stumble. "Stop that." He shoved her harder, and threatened her. Daring her to throw her attitude back at him, daring her to be ruthless. She was far from that now, the teen's voice broke as she admitted, "You're scaring me, Cartri!"

He was.

Cartri's fists were balled up, like he was about to hit her. Her eyes flashed to the hole in the wall, and her hands reached for her satchel. She had never thought of drawing a weapon against a friend before. Yet Daiya had never been so close to getting attacked by a friend before. If Cartri thought she was just going to take it, to be the punching bag for his frustrations, he had another thing coming his way.

He raised his hand to her, palm out.

"Please, Car—" Daiya started. She couldn't get more than that out. Instead, the girl felt herself weightless, floating free for a split second. It was a split second of bliss, a momentary reprieve from the heated argument and their confrontation. As if all of that had only been a dream, a nightmare of something horrible that she could now wake up from.

A splitting pain disabused her of that notion. It traveled from the back of her skull down the curve of her spine, shooting out to shoulders that crumpled awkwardly against her neck. Daiya couldn't focus, blinking back bleary confusion and the pain that had started her eyes to water. Her new scenery was very plain now, until an orange spot filled her view and she heard the orange thing make noise.

Chit, Daiya, keep it together.

Her mind was slow, but her hands worked on instinct. They screamed at her, a rolling protest that moved up her arms and sat sharply on her shoulders. She ignored it, ignored the million and ten questions pushing at her mind, ignored the tears that threatened to flood her vision. Her satchel had been flung to the edge of her reach, and Daiya clawed at it, dragging it back to her. Everything seemed like it took an eternity, even if it was only a second.

A second was all she might have.

Life and death squared off in the pit of her stomach, but Daiya grabbed for the blaster in her satchel. It found her hand as she found it, whipping out the 434 blaster to point it right at the orange spot. The orange spot that looked very much like Cartri now, glaring down at her with haughty eyes and an open palm.

Down?

Daiya glanced for a second, enough to spy her body sprawled back on the back of a couch. One that was currently on the floor, dumping her unceremoniously between it and the wall. How she had ended up on the floor with the couch, the teen wasn't too sure. Her eyes flicked back at Cartri, at his palm, at his power.

"What the feth are you? Are you even my Cartri or some boltbrain double?"

The young shadowrunner struggled onto her knees, staying crouched near the floor. It felt safer somehow down here, more defensible. Her blaster pointed at the figure looming above her, blinking her damp eyes to keep her vision clear for aiming. Daiya didn't know what to do. Every breath she took caught in her throat. Everywhere she looked, there was something in her path. With no escape, no answers, no air, Daiya was drowning in the fear and paralysis that held her just as captive.

"Are you some kind of Force Wizard?" She asked, spitting out the term. "Some Jedi?" Daiya held onto the blaster for dear life, but her hands shook. Her head and shoulders throbbed with pain, numbing her fingers. The blaster drooped, and then fell from her hand. A gasping sob escaped from her lips as the girl's eyes looked deep into Cartri's. "Please don't hurt me, Cartri."

Cartri Keswoll​

 

[Cartri Keswoll]

Daiya Xan Deesa​

The only noise Cartri could hear right now was his own deep breaths, ones filled with hatred and anger that had been tucked away in his mind for years. To the teen, it felt good to finally release the emotional baggage that had gotten heavy on his soul. Although,. the way he was doing was far from right. His eyes finally caught the sight of the sprawled Daiya who struggled to get on her knees, both in shock and harmed from his powerful force push. She questioned if this was even her Cartri anymore, something of which she was more than right in asking. Right now Cartri is enraged and powerful for his own liking, two things that the real Cartri always tried to avoid. It was almost as if someone had hijacked his brain and thrown the real kid overboard

"Shut up! just shut it!" he growled down to her, his already red eyes welling up with tears as he stood a few steps away. What he didn't see was her blaster pointing directly at him. Her hands were shaking violently from being afraid, as well as her voice that constantly choked from each word. It was unclear if it was being afraid of him or the possibility of hurting a friend, either way, she wasn't going to hit anything in the state she was in.

Daiya looked completely helpless, scared and unsure of what to do with herself with Cartri still looming over her. All he could do was stare down to the girl until she suddenly dropped the blaster and pleaded for him to stop. Her sobs and stare dug deep into his soul and forced him to look away, tears beginning to roll down both of his cheeks now "I-I can't stand you anymore..." he choked, his own hands beginning to shake while reaching over and grabbing Daiya by her shoulders. He slowly began the process of bringing her to a standing position, turning his head to look back down into her sorrowful eyes. Cartri couldn't hide the stress and sadness in his own face much longer, it looked like he was about to break down any moment "I never even meant anything to begin with did I?! all you did was use me and toss me aside when I wasn't needed! Hell, Xan didn't even want me to begin with! she's the damn reason why I'm in this mess!" he said, looking taken aback with himself as he stopped her midway up.

His face didn't seem to have any anger anymore, just a bleak realisation of loneliness and loss of hope that blankly looked down to Daiya "Not only have my parents left me in the dirt but my new family too..." he gasped in a quiet tone before suddenly letting go of Daiya and falling to his knees, an apprehension of what he just did coming into his mind "I-I can't take much more" was the last sentence he uttered before two hands came to his face, trying to hold back the emotional floodgate that had just been let loose. What was a loud whimper soon turned into an uncontrollable cry, one that would make the bravest souls feel uncomfortable. The outburst was loud, one that seemingly had been held back for a very long time. To him, there was no way back now...

Even though Daiya was in front of him he couldn't bear to look her in the eyes. For all he knew their friendship was over, and it was only his fault to blame. At this point, he didn't blame her if she got up and left, leaving him to rot with what little dignity he had left. All he could think of was to say sorry, but his constant crying was preventing him from saying a word. Slowly, his upper body leaned forward and forced him on all fours, tears dropping rapidly to the floor below as the wave of emotion kept coming. This was truly the lowest of the low

 

[Daiya]

She could see nothing in his eyes.

Nothing that resembled the Cartri she knew, anyway. None of the sweetness, none of the resilience. Just a vessel of rage, spitting fire and insults at her, to an end that she feared to learn.

He growled at her, and the girl wanted so much to flee. Her eyes glanced from Cartri to the blaster she had dropped on the floor. Her hands wanted to reach out, but she was frozen. Fear and terror gripped her, making her stupid and lame. She wasn't the Daiya she was used to being, in control and quick to respond. That almost scared her more than the being in front of her.

Cartri hauled the girl to her feet, and she looked away from him. His words hurt, but they were mere prickings against her now. Daiya watched his hands, wondering what would come out of them next. The power he had displayed was like that of all those legends she feared. Force Wizards like the Jedi or Sith, changing the things around them with a whisper of their voice, destroying their enemies with a wave of their hand. Her question went unanswered, but not her curiosity. She knew what Cartri was now.

Dangerous.

"Get—get away from me!" She shoved back his hands as he released her, and Daiya took the chance to swipe her blaster from the floor. Her feet moved quickly, unsteady but finding fortuitous placement as she stepped back to put space between her and the boy now. She wasn't sure if she dared raise it back up to him, if it would set off his Force fury once more.

Now he was on the ground, crying and moaning again. A trick? The teen's mind whirled, trying desperately to keep everything straight. Was Cartri a friend or foe now? Was he in need or a danger? Should she shoot him just to be sure?

"I don't get you, Cartri," she admitted at last. It was a real reflection of her thoughts, but Daiya hoped it stung as well. His mood swings, from vitriol to victim, seemed to have no care for who was caught up in the calamity that was Cartri now. "You act like everyone hates you, even Xan. I don't know where she is any more than you do, but take a fething look at yourself. I came to check on you, and you threw me across the room!"

Daiya took another step back, breathing a little easier with the distance now. She let out a huff, her stomach still wound tight inside her throat. "I was going to bring you out to have fun, but then you had your little pity party and your Force freak-out. What if I'd been Xan? Chit, what if Xan's somewhere out there, and needs your help?"

She shook her head at him, some of her blonde curls matted against her skull where she'd hit the wall. The girl feared to investigate, not knowing what she might have done to it. "You know what, stay away from me. Better yet, stay here in you're own filth." Daiya's voice had a wistful quality to it now, but she still glowered down at the boy. It was hard to feel pity for someone so pathetic. "You're out of control, you're no good to anyone. Much less me."

Daiya turned away from him, hiding the tears that lurked at the edges of her eyes. If she stayed, she might have said more. She might have done more, with her ever-tightening grip on the blaster in her hand, and it scared the girl. Cartri was the one throwing away this friendship, not her.

The young shadowrunner took the last few steps toward the door, and opened it. She still didn't look back as she spat her last few words. "Wallow in your own misery, kid, that's where you belong."

Then Daiya walked out and she didn't turn back.

Cartri Keswoll​