Senkha is muttering something under her breath; it almost sounds like the words to a song. Her voice is shaky and breathless. Her right hand clutches at the bed, trying to pull herself over to the side, but she can't quite manage it. This sucks.
Ludovick knocks on the door, hood pulled well over his face.
Ziichi sets her gauntlets aside as well, leaning her hip against the table as she watches Senkha. When Ludovick approaches, she glances towards him. "Hi."
Ludovick gives Ziichi a dead stare, pale as a ghost, making his bruises stand out further. "I do not have much time for talking," he says flatly.
Senkha 's panic attack actually steadies slightly at the sound of Ludo's voice. "Lu-- Ludo?" she asks in less than a whisper.
Ziichi moves over and pulls Ludovick's hand softly. "C'mon an' see 'er, Ludo."
Ludovick just found out his wife is fucking around. He is a robot. He steps into the room, looking Senkha over with a blank expression. The hand that holds Ziichi's is limp.
Senkha is all jacked up to hell, left hand swollen and unable to close. She's also halfway between a panic attack and trying to be normal. She gives a half-sob and sounds insane. "H-hi, Ludo. I'm gl-glad...glad you're alive."
Ludovick simply tosses his stave aside where it clatters to the ground. He's banged up, but not nearly as bad as Senkha. He looks very close to saying something, but keeps his lips pursed, sitting on the edge of the bed.
Ziichi watches each of them, then steps back and heads into the front of the ship to check on Dizzy, chewing away at her lip as always.
Senkha has no idea what's going on with Ludo, but as he doesn't freak out at her appearance or ask what happened to her, she looks very happy to see him. She tries to push herself towards him, but it hurts too much. "Ludo. Ludo, y-you're alright. I'm so glad."
Ludovick simply stares down at Senkha, as if she's no more interesting than a bug on the sidewalk. "You do not seem to be," he says flatly.
Senkha frowns at his tone more than his words, finally managing to get herself into a sitting position with some pain. "...what's wrong?" she asks in a low voice. She's calmed significantly, though she still lets out small hiccups every now and again.
Ludovick shakes his head, keeping his hollow eyes on her. "Nothing."
Senkha says: Ludo, you look like you're dead. -Tell- me...we've known each other our whole lives, don't shut me out.
Senkha says: Is Faronne alright? She didn't get hurt, did she?
Senkha tries very hard to make it sound like Faronne getting hurt would be a bad thing.
Ludovick, at the mention of Faronne, looks away and to the floor. His posture is that of someone who is wholly defeated, and wouldn't fight off death for anything if it came to them.
Macglynn holds up a finger to Dizzy as if to say he'll be back in a moment, and walks briskly to the back room.
Macglynn says: What th' shit are you wearin'.
Senkha tries to push away from the headboard and towards Ludovick. This doesn't work, so she just reaches out towards him...and drops her hand when she sees Oliver, her concern fading into a deadened expression that matches that of Ludo's.
Ludovick ignores MacGlynn, keeping his eyes on the floor. He's also ignoring Senkha, and, well, everything.
Senkha 's expression remains flat and dead; the gash on her head, however, reopens. A tiny trickle of blood starts down the side of her head.
Macglynn stares you down.
Macglynn says: Senkha.
Senkha looks at Oliver, looking not at all unlike a crazed rabbit about to be caught by a snake.
Macglynn also looks at her. He doesn't say anything, though, and eventually just leaves.
Ludovick continues to be a dead robot.
Senkha sags in relief as Oliver leaves. It's only then that she touches her hand to her head and sees the blood on her fingers. "--fuck."
Ludovick 's eyes lazily drift over to Senkha. "You are bleeding," he observes.
Senkha swallows hard several times and closes her eyes, her hand still over the gash. It slowly seals itself, though she glances to the door warily. "...I can't...I...fuck." She drops her hands to her lap, defeated. "Ludo."
Ludovick is now staring at Senkha, unblinking. "I am here to be used. Do what you need with me," he says in monotone, as if he's a vending machine that dispenses only deadpan stares and bad advice.
Senkha looks at Ludovick. "Tell me what happened. That's what I want from you right now. I need to think about something other than how I feel right now."
Ludovick takes this as his cue to look away, pulling his hood back. He looks like his world has pretty much just ended. "My efforts were in vain."
Senkha 's expression becomes sympathetic, no longer panicked. "...not Urien, I hope?"
Ludovick shakes his head.
Senkha says: But someone.
Ludovick shrugs, resting two fingers against his temple.
Senkha nods and pushes herself forward with an enormous amount of effort. She tries to rest her right cheek against Ludo's shoulder, but her lack of left hand results in it being just her forehead against his shoulder, like a shoulderpalm or something.
Ludovick doesn't respond to this at all, despite Senkha's obvious physical pain. "I should go," he says flatly. "I have work to do tonight. The Light's justice will see this through."
Senkha doesn't move from this position, despite its awkwardness. "Ludo...I need you to stay alive for me tonight."
Ludovick 's head slowly turns to regard Senkha. "My heart has been taken from me. I have one no longer. With no heart, I do not live."
Senkha looks up at Ludo from his shoulder, her eyes filled with tears. "Ludo...please don't do this. -Please-. I...I can't do this. My daughter's out there. We just found her alive, she was missing for three days."
Senkha says: And I'm so -angry- with her, she broke my heart. And I'm afraid to see her because I don't want to break hers.
Senkha says: She -hurt- me. And I can't do this alone. Oliver doesn't understand it at all. But I know...I know that -you- do.
Ludovick 's eyes are clearly watching Senkha, but they are glazed over. "What do you wish me to do," he says in monotone. "I am but a tool now." Yes, he is a tool.
Senkha finally manages to lift her right arm to go around Ludo's waist, holding herself close against his side. "I need you to stay alive for me, until I've come back to myself more, until I'm less broken. When I'm not in pieces anymore, when I'm whole again..."
Senkha says: ...if you still want to die then, if you still want to kill yourself then, I won't stop you. Light knows I've wanted to kill myself more times than I can count.
Ludovick shows the first hint of emotion he has during the entire conversation, huffing through his nose. "I can make no promises," he sighs. "You are my friend, and I care for you."
Ludovick looks away, and back to the floor.
To Mariius: Her mental voice is very tightly controlled, as if she's holding a LOT back. "Ludovick is going to kill Faronne and himself. I'm trying to talk him out of it. I'll let you know if I need help."
Mariius whispers: "Just tell me. I'll disable him."
Senkha looks up at Ludo again, swallowing hard and letting out a quiet sob. "Ludo...I care for you, too. You're all I have of my past anymore that made me happy. I...can't lose you now, too. Not after losing Riley."
To Mariius: "I will."
To Macglynn: If Oliver is paying attention at all, he'd notice that her thoughts are about six billion times calmer...and not at all on her family. They're also about six billion times sadder. The saddest thoughts.
Ludovick shifts slightly, leaning back and pulling Senkha's head into his lap to rest. He has yet to smile or even frown. "I have never wanted to die. However, lessons must be taught to those who would seek to toy with my very dreams."
Macglynn whispers: If Senkha is paying attention, Oliver is discreetly discussing with Marius that his daughter was encased in shadow magic when he found her and wtf is dis.
Senkha turns her head in his lap so that she's looking up at him. "What will your death teach her?" she asks in a thick voice.
Ludovick has one arm wrapped around Senkha's side, the other hand resting on his knee. "That she has broken my heart. She wanted it, after all. I will simply deliver it to her personally."
Senkha grimaces at this statement and shakes her head. "Ludo...I think that by her actions, she's shown that she's unrepentant. If she -is- unrepentant...what's to make her so punished by your death?"
Senkha says: If she's cruel enough to break her heart, why would she be soft-hearted enough to have her heart broken by you?
Ludovick shakes his head. "She flogged herself...the night before. I suppose after she...," he trails off, choosing not to finish that sentence. "She is the only woman I have ever given my love to, or my fidelity." He gulps, reaching into his robes to ferret about for a cigarette, lighting up and taking a long drag. "I have a dead heart in a dead world, Senkha. There is nothing for me here."
Senkha resists the urge to facepalm at this emoness and pushes herself up from Ludovick's lap. She cringes in pain as she does so, a pain that's not only outward but inward as well. "And what of those who haven't hurt you? Why would you punish us?"
Ludovick slides his hand from Senkha, simply leaving it to rest by his side. "Life moves on," he says with a shrug. "I may survive this, after all. It depends on if my hand is steady enough, and my mind is quick. The removal of my heart may go smoothly."
To Mariius: "...he wants to remove his own heart. Does that even work?" Again, she's holding back a torrent, but she's reaching out for him quite a bit more than usual. Healing Senkhas = bad idea, Marius.
Mariius whispers: ~He'd die before he actually managed it, I'd imagine."
To Mariius: "Then you may want to knock him out shortly. I don't know that I'm getting through to him."
Mariius whispers: "Alright."
Senkha says: ...you'd die before you even reached your heart, Ludo.
Ludovick shakes his head. "Not with the proper mending and will. The Light will see that the woman I thought I would be atoning for every misdeed with together will suffer just as I have."
To Mariius: "...yeah, he's a loss. How do I knock him out?"
Senkha just sort of stares at Ludo as if he's speaking a different language. The language of the even crazier than Senkha.
Mariius fits at his gloves. -And then whips around like a two-ton truck to SLAM Ludovick in the back of the head-- knuckles crooked-- and aim to knock him straight out.
Ludovick is cracked in the back of the head, falling to the floor and crumbling into a heap. He seems shocked, and even more betrayed than before, still just a bit conscious. -
Mariius says: -This is so you don't kill yourself. Stop making the 'woe is me' eyes.
Senkha peers over the side of the bed, looking very apologetic. "...I'm sorry. You're not thinking clearly. We'll talk about it more when you wake up."
Ludovick taps the wedding ring on his finger, disappearing with a loud crack.
Senkha says: --No!
Senkha is staring at the spot where Ludo was on the floor, face aghast. "--no, no-- LUDO!"
Senkha yells: LUDO!
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