do you have enough love in your heart

[somebadnews]

WHO: Five and OPEN
WHEN: After this mess and bounties are issued for Messalina's little helpers
WHERE: Various points around Ephes
WHAT: A boy plays fetch with a dog, gets targeted for murder, and has too much to drink, not in that order
WARNINGS: language, violence, dead hellhounds, and other typical Five-things

Prompts below, all taking place in the same day. (I'm sorry this idea started out so wholesome...) Open to action or prose, whatever your preference!

Comments

cheers to life

[somebadnews]

Five decides that emotional whiplash is to blame. Living with the undead, in their camp while essentially acting as their sponsor is exhausting in itself, and his focus was all but shattered when his long-dead brother miraculously returned to them. Then he jumped from the realization that the threat of an apocalypse was real, to finding out the god behind it was swiftly and easily killed with no effort on his part. His mind is scattered, pulled everywhere at once, and he can't seem to concentrate on one singular outcome when everything he wants conflicts too much.

He hates to think how much worse it would be if he hadn’t gotten rid of his curse.

He would have settled for coffee. Probably should have seen if Hermione had any left, but when he passes a pub he decides getting a drink to settle his nerves is a fine substitute. Not a perfect solution, but it’s just as good of one after he just threw out a day’s worth of useless probability equations. Since he didn't think to bring a wingman, he blinks in and out with a full bottle of bourbon that his meager salary can't afford. They've got bigger problems.

A hellhound trailing behind him is his only companion as he opens the bottle and gets comfortable in a little nook near the water. It's not a bad thing, having someone there to guard while he gives himself a break, and he pats its head as he takes a drink.

"What?" The hound looks at him, like it expects something more. And it's right, he should be checking on Allison and Ben, making sure they're up to date. He will in a minute. "I'll get back to it. The world didn't end again, we should be celebrating."

[nothinglikefather]

The pub is a usual place of repose for Jacob, wherever he finds himself. Not only are they good places to listen to others talk, find any work that needs doing (after all, he doesn't have a patron, and crime does pay) but you can normally get a decent drink too.

Or two decent drinks. Or three.

And that is why he's slow to get up and wave at his friend Fiver when he spots him- and his strange dog- after they make their purchase and then they're out the door.

It takes a few moments, much longer than Jacob would like as he has to excuse himself from his table mates and the pick his way through the busy pub, but then he's on the street and following the trail perceptible only because of his Eagle Vision. This way, that turn, then down to a little spot most people would miss by the water.

"You high-tailed it out of there quick." He says by way of greeting. "See anyone you owe money to?"

[somebadnews]

Five anticipated being followed, but all things considered, he isn’t too upset to see who it is. Sometimes it’s nice when people are predictable. If he’d spotted him inside he might have let him buy instead.

“One or two who might remember me.” More for his associations, but he can’t help that. He shrugs, and offers the bottle he just to a swig from. Eyeing him, he can tell he got a head start. “Still hard at work, I see. Overhear anything interesting?”

[nothinglikefather]

"Only one or two? You're not that forgettable." He grins as he takes the bottle, bringing it to his mouth and taking a swig, and making a soft hum of approval. "You really have a taste for the fancy stuff don't you?"

He passes the bottle back and settles next to the Hellhound, offering out his hand for the beast to sniff.

"A lot of people are worried. Frightened. There's talk of packing up and leaving the city and some of their less moral neighbours are already planning to loot."

Which is going to make everything far more chaotic.

[somebadnews]

“I spent a long time without a choice. Now when I can, I like to take advantage.” It didn’t need to be expanded on, but there’s a reason for Five’s taste in alcohol. Dolores is the only one that argument didn’t work on. Although… something tells him Ben might have something to say about it after chasing Klaus’ issues for so long. But he isn’t Klaus.

“Assuming there’s anywhere better to go.” If the beacons worked for everyone, he can imagine they’d all jump ship. Right into another apocalypse, if their luck is anything like Five’s.

He takes the bottle back and observes Jacob and the hound for a moment before getting comfortable beside them.

“Anyone talking about the Chained God, or are they keeping that under wraps?”

[cosplayqueen]

Things are a mess. She's super uncomfortable about the direction all of this is going. Kamala recognizes she doesn't have a better way. This isn't her lane. She has to let things play out and act according to her morals. They want to play cloak and dagger? Cool. She's not going to be involved in it.

That doesn't stop her from checking on friends she suspects are very much involved in it. Kamala finds Five and the hellhound by chance. She gives them both a cheerful wave as she makes her way over. "Five!" She breaks into a run and naturally goes for the hellhound first. There are no favorites here.

"And my favorite little guy! Who is being a good boy?!" Really.

[somebadnews]

Five’s head shoots up when he hears Kamala. She appears out of nowhere, and for several seconds he suspects she used her one-a-day teleport to surprise him. Except he doesn’t remember telling her where he is, and he quickly dismisses it as an unexplainable phenomenon. When she rushes to greet the hound, a smile even tugs at his lips. Horrifying as it is, it never occurs to him that it would attack her, and Kamala seems oblivious to its demonic appearance. She’s just… like that. Which would be a problem in other circumstances, but he’s decided the hound is perfectly safe.

“He is a good boy,” he agrees, his voice laced with amusement when the hound turns its head to him and huffs in offense. He knows it understands them, and still it exercises patience as he blatantly deviates from the mission. Or maybe it sees that Five has been drinking and it’s hanging around to make sure he doesn’t stumble on his way home.

A good boy.

“What are you here for? Did you hear the news?” Belatedly, he remembers he’s still got a bottle in his hands, and he lowers it to his side. She’s distracted, so he doesn’t think she sees.

Then he adds after a second thought: “Is there news?”

[cosplayqueen]

Some light gathers around Kamala's leg to give her some artificial height. She immediately abuses her powers to pet the hound's head more easily. Teenagers. Kamala showers the hellhound with some nice ear scratches after the initial round of pets. If anyone wouldn't know better, they would think she came for the demonic dog and not Five.

As a girl of many multitudes, she can safely say she is here for both of them. "I am here for a wellness check." Kamala answers absently while cooing over the dog. She quickly follows up with. "Which news? I'm kind of losing track of which political crisis we're on today."

That isn't entirely true, is it? She sinks back to the ground to take stock of Five. Kamala's growing frown makes it clear she's worried. "Are you in trouble?"

[somebadnews]

Kamala using her powers to pet a currently-docile demon is a sight that Five can't look away from. If he were sober, he might say something about attracting attention, but even then he wouldn't be anyone to talk. He blinks at will even when they're warned against showing their powers, and aside from that, he's been walking the streets with a hellhound in tow nearly any time he leaves the villas. He's been anything but low-key.

The last question hits him strangely. He wasn't expecting her to be the first to get serious on him. His mouth opens and shuts again as he reconsiders what he was about to say. The bourbon suddenly seems less helpful.

"I'm good." A good boy, his mind calls back in a voice that sounds suspiciously like Dolores. More mocking than amused; she thinks he's being irresponsible. Or she would, if she were here.

He clears his throat.

"Someone killed the Chained God, so no apocalypse." In theory, but he's had so many would-be-apocalypses at this point that he can't help his reaction. No one can blame him for reaching a limit on doomsdays.

"I'm good. I'm... probably in some trouble, but that's expected when you're working for the undead. Right?" So he hasn't yet heard about how the vote went for Messalina, and for a moment it doesn't feel like the most important thing. "The world isn't ending and I've got my dead brother back. None of it makes any sense, but I'm not complaining."

maybe you're why we can't have good things (cw: brief description of decapitation)

[somebadnews]

Fetch is an underrated game. Sometime between drinking half a bottle and coming up with no new solutions to their problems, he'd taken to seeing how much dog was really in a hellhound. As it turned out, they have one thing in common. He's not sure how many times he threw the stick and watched as it dutifully returned it in its gaping maw, but there's an unmistakable amusement in seeing something so terrifying getting such wholesome exercise.

Maybe he should keep it around.

And maybe it's his fault that both of their guards are down when the attack comes. One moment Five is smirking when the hound jumps to catch a particularly bad throw over its head, and the next its body is cleanly separated from it as a blade slices cleanly through it. Five reacts immediately, shouting much louder than he should when the body lands, but whoever threw the blade wisely sticks to the shadows. Then he hears all the telltale signs that he's surrounded, and any doubt of what they're after dissipates.

It was a matter of time before they went after Messalina's supporters. He spares a glance at the corpse of the hound, still twitching. His jaw clenches, and through the haze of alcohol he can feel the familiar light of rage. They won't live to regret that.

Can't even have wholesome demon dog interactions smh

[deescalate]

Cal is kind of used to things falling apart in an instant, whether it be a society or parts of his own life. And Ephes is right on that precipice, though they've all seen parts spill over already.

It's a mess, in short, and Cal is sure it's going to get worse before it gets better. That's typically how these things go.

It's one reason he's out on the streets, despite the random harassment and weapons searches - his blaster and lightsaber still on his person, but covered by his clothes. Cal doesn't know how to sit still, anyway. Some people would say he's out looking for trouble, but he intends to help keep people out of it, if he can. So when he sees someone playing fetch with a hound of sorts, he hopes that's all it is.

But then a sudden wave of nausea rolls over him and he knows it isn't. Not a moment later, the hound is in two very separate pieces, too far from him to have reasonably done anything, but it still bites, it still hurts, and Cal immediately looks and reaches out to find the culprit. Which also doesn't take long considering the multiple presences he senses nearby. They mean to ambush and, he won't kid himself, kill this person.

Cal would like to try and talk them down, but there isn't time for that. He doesn't think they'd listen, anyway. No one seems to want to listen to him these days. Instead, he brings one half of his lightsaber hilt to hand and pulls one of the ambushers to him with his other hand. He ignites the saber and a a beam of icy blue pierces their gut without resistance. Cal then unceremoniously pulls the saber free and drops them to the ground.

He calls out to anyone else hiding. "Doesn't seem like a fair fight, huh?"

not for him :(

[somebadnews]

This is hardly the first time Five has been ambushed, but for once they were smart about it. When the earth tilts beneath him he's suddenly aware of how much of that bottle he put away. How long were they watching him?

It won't matter.

He's grabbing for the discarded blade from the gore at his feet when a bright light catches his eye. He squints in the dark to watch a body dropping from some kind of beam. The voice seems familiar, but he can't place it — or has time to before movement draws his attention; he disappears in a flash of light just as another blade flies towards him.

The calculations are off. Five reappears and nearly slams into his attacker. Fortunately their surprise makes up for his sloppy technique, and he slashes the moment they turn. He hits his mark and smiles at their shocked expression as warm blood sprays him from the slit he put in their throat.

In hindsight he should have left him alive to find out how many others are out here, but that wouldn't be nearly as satisfying. Instead he fends off their feeble attempts to fight back, and in one motion he severs them into as many pieces as they'd left his companion. When he circles back to where a part of the hound remains he's bloodied and still swaying slightly, but the sight seems to fuel the adrenaline and fury that keeps him upright. He doesn't want to be done.

"Don't you dare run," he warns the darkness that seems to answer with the distant sounds of footfalls. He can't make out if they're from the ones after him, or the man with the beam. "Where are you?"

works?

[stomacles]

Things Ben didn't expect when he went out for a walk - Five having a large, horrific looking animal bound toward him. It takes Ben a second, because from a distance it looks like he needs to get involved and save his brother, but no. The creature has a stick, and seems to be...playing fetch with Five. That's almost cute.

Ben even thinks he'll go over, say hi and join in. Until the body lands, the familiar splash of gore all around it. Even Ben's expression changes from amusement to confused, then to alert.

He starts to run over, "FIVE!" immediately worried for his brother's safety. He'll deal with how affected Five might be mentally from the scene, later, he has priorities.

He's by Five's side, trying to cover his back for him, and unless this person has Diego's powers, figuring out where the blade came from is easy enough to deduce.

"It came from over there, right?" he cants his head, ready to follow him in.

works! hopefully this does too

[somebadnews]

Five looks wildly to the shadows when Ben calls for him, just as he had his hand around the thrown blade. In an instant his rage turns to full-on panic. Ben can't be here. Any threat to his life is nothing compared to the possibility of losing his brother again.

"There's more," he says quickly, tense as he barely fights the urge to slice their individual heads off just as they had the hound. They're too exposed, and he can't bring himself to risk leaving Ben to fend for himself even for a few seconds.

A glint of light shining off of metal catches his eye, and he grabs Ben's arm without ever thinking of where he should take him. Blinking while drunk is never a smart decision, so when he teleports the two of them, he slams into something solid and loses his footing. The sound of movement tells him he didn't go far, and when he looks up he only sees two large crates down the alley from the hellhound's corpse.

"Shit," he rubs his shoulder and throws his bright, alarmed gaze back at Ben. "Are you alright?"

works for me!

[stomacles]

Five's concern for him would worry Ben, as he can fight for himself. And Five's well-being matters just as much, after all, they felt Five was dead before Ben's death.

They are exposed, no argument there, but the Umbrellas are more than accustomed to that kind of situation.

"Yeah, other than...." Ben breathes in and puts a hand to his stomach, "that uncomfortable feeling your teleporting caused. Why'd you do that?"

[somebadnews]

It's only a small relief that he's fine, for as quickly as he brushes off any discomfort from his teleporting. The 'why' should be obvious. The last time Ben died, Five wasn't around. He always liked to think if he were, that wouldn't have happened, even if it means blaming himself for running off on them.

"You saw what they did," though he says it with a slight question in his tone. The shock was sobering, but not enough to get him to settle. They didn't aim for him, they aimed for the hound. Take him out and then Five would be easy pickings. Like fucking hell...

"They didn't see where we went. I don't think." He shifts and remembers the blade in his hand. Blue glows around it until he remembers his stumble moments ago. Which is fine. He doesn't have to use his powers, which he'll explain to Ben with perfect efficiency. "I've got to go kill them."

you were almost like a friend

[somebadnews]

Sometime after the situation is resolved, when he's sobered and covered in the blood of his attackers, he thinks about going back for it. The hellhound was loyal. Kept him from being alone. He never checked if the twitching stopped or if it's still suffering for its companionship, and he feels... strangely sentimental about it. He might not have time to bury it, but burning it seems kinder than leaving it to rot. Maybe the bourbon hasn't completely left him, because for a moment that actually matters to him.

“Dammit," he sighs as reality creeps back from his brief reprieve. There's probably going to be more after him before they get the picture, and it's nostalgic in a way that he hasn't experienced in a while. He looks like the easiest target, but he reasons he'll have some time before they try again. Enough to start a fire.

[fiercechains]

The living dead boy isn't phased by how much blood Five is covered in when he does come upon the other. Does he know what happened? No. That, however, did not mean he wasn't a bit concerned even if it can't be seen on his features. All he knows is that Five is one of theirs and he seemed... not annoyed, but some other emotion he can't truly pinpoint. Or maybe the other was annoyed by something.

"What happened?" Though, if he does end up seeing the dead hellhound then he'd know that something had gone on. His own friend was afraid of dogs, in general, and maybe it was better if he came upon Five rather than Wei Wuxian coming upon him.

[somebadnews]

Five turns to the sound, still on edge after getting ambushed, if not as sharp as usual. He recognizes the man after a few seconds, and his shoulders drop. The first thought he has is telling him his dog died, and he scoffs a laugh without explanation to what he found funny.

“Evidently,” he starts, then clears his throat. Then notices the blood on his sleeve, and frowns at it, like he’s only becoming settled with what happened. “They’ve finally made their choice.”

[fiercechains]

The laugh, unfortunately, throws Wen Ning off. He is not entirely sure what the other is laughing about nor does he want to ask. There might be a part of him that wants to but it also wasn't any of his business. Something could've easily broken the man before him. Anything, honestly, could've happened without anyone else's knowledge.

He doesn't say anything about the blood on the other, nor will he. Not when he, himself, has seen his fair share of bloodshed. "You are no longer a use to them?" Simple enough question really. One that Five doesn't have to answer. But they all played their parts, didn't they? Every last one of them had played a part and some had just gotten in far deeper than others. That? It seems to be Five's case, from the looks of it.

[somebadnews]

The question gets a suddenly intense amount of consideration, like he's recalling a memory, before he abruptly shakes his head. That may be true in a broad sense, but there's a more specific reason why they'd try to take him out.

"This wasn't about me," he states, slowly as he tries to keep his thoughts clear and correctly articulated. In hindsight, the signs were all there that this wouldn't end well. "It's her. Something must have happened."

He looks utterly disappointed to be making that conclusion. Weeks of work, and it's all for nothing. She could already be dead.

[matermali]

[ Despite the chaos, Vanessa has managed to avoid trouble thus far. It's easier for her than it is for most to stay hidden if she needs, but her concern has more to do with what endangers her colleagues. The blood splattered on him isn't notices as much as his lack of companion. Her own hound taps over to Five to give a stare as Vanessa approaches.

She doesn't say anything at first, standing near should he require assistance but is too proud to ask. She will at least hold out a handkerchief, for his face if nothing else. ]

[somebadnews]

[ The hound draws his attention, and Five watches as it circles near. His brain takes a moment longer to process that he's seeing a different hound, and he didn't just imagine everything that took place moments ago.

When he spots Vanessa it comes together. More so when she hands out something to wipe the blood off, which he numbly accepts and mops over his face. He's surprised at how red it is when he lowers it again, but he only frowns and proceeds to wipe his hands. There's always so much blood. ]

Thanks. [ He tries to pull the word out, seem less rattled, but now that his adrenaline has settled, he doesn't feel steady on his feet. He barely looks at Vanessa, and when he does, it's only because something amusing clicks with him. ] Good timing, as always.

[matermali]

Yes. I'm quite serendipitous.

[ If one means that she is a walking omen, that is. If he is suspicious about anything, she won't be the one to dissuade him. Why would she want to make him less likely to recover their old agreement?

The dogs themselves are strange new company in that Vanessa has never been the type to keep pets, but she has had a habit of keeping monsters and demons in the past. ....And she does like dogs.

For the moment, her hound continues to hover around Five to catch his scent, and then its ears slowly flatten with its head lowered. Vanessa watches the grieving beast with a softness to her gaze. ]

How did it happen?

[ It must have been an ambush, but how? Where? ]

[somebadnews]

[ Five doesn't miss the curious sympathy in Vanessa's tone. Maybe he's still in a strange mood, because even the question strikes him as funny, and he laughs this time. 'How did it happen'? He was drunk and playing fetch in the street. Maybe he should be flattered, if she thinks it'd be hard to get the drop on him. It'd be a shame to spoil that.

He settles unnaturally quickly, watching the other beast mourn the loss of its own. Not everyone is married to death. ]

Does it matter? They're dead now. [ Faulty logic. Even if they did get all of them, it's clear that this was targeted, and he gives a halfhearted shrug. ] They were watching. Attacked at a distance and killed the hound before I saw them coming.

[ He turns back to Vanessa, still feeling uncomfortably raw but keeping up appearances. ]

How are you enjoying politics?