deercountry | Hey, teacher, leave them kids alone

Entry tags:

Hey, teacher, leave them kids alone

Who: Johnny, Daniel, Ortus, Gideon Nav's Exquisite Corpse, Paul, Kaworu, Deku, Harrow, Maybe more?
What: Kidnapping, Forced Adoption, Getting these kids away from the Emperor
When: Shortly after boatgate
Where: The Bone House and Cobra Kai

Content Warnings: Probably references to Murder, Manipulation, Johnny Lawrence.

Prompts and Mingle will be in the comments.

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[Johnny feels his blood begin to boil the second he hears about the shit show that is Old Blackeye's little boat trip. It was one thing to go out there and challenge the gods to a fight. It was another thing to involve kids. Especially kids that Johnny had become quite fond of. It was messed up and twisted in it's own right and Johnny Lawrence wasn't about to stand for it.

Unfortunately he knew he was in over his head. His 2009 Challenger couldn't fit all the kids in it and they had a lot of stuff too. That was his main concern, it had nothing to do with throwing down a guy who could literally summon an army of skeletons. He wasn't afraid of that shit. He was not a fucking pussy.

But because of that he started to march over to his old rivals home and prepared a message on his omni so the illegal kick using asshole would know he's coming.]

LaRusso. I need your fucking truck. It better be unlocked with the keys in the ignition by the time I get there.

[Could he have been more specific? Yes. Was he going to be? Probably not.]

[Johnny wastes no time once he gets to the Bone House. He doesn't kick in the door but he's absolutely tempted to, instead he opens it firmly and takes a look around.]

Alright nerds, listen up! We're piling out of this shit hole so get your asses out here. Let's go, go, go!

[That's how you announce you're moving out, right? By giving no actual details that you're here to help the kids.

Ortus the guy outside looked like he already had most of the kids stuff packed up already so Johnny doesn't waste any time grabbing anything but he sees Gideon just laying on the couch and assumes she slept through his little shouting spree. (She's dead.) So he's just going to haul her up in over his shoulder and starts heading toward the door.]

[Once he's got what he came for. He comes back with a can of spray paint and makes sure to spray paint a dick on the wall along with "Suck it Black Eyes." underneath it.]

Edited 2022-07-07 18:55 (UTC)

[ .. well.

A lot sure has happened today. A lot that Daniel sure did not anticipate when he woke up this morning. But now, an entire sudden house ~~kidnapping~~ evacuation and everything that comes with it later, and a bunch of kid he either doesn't or only half knows in the back of mister Miyagi's old truck, he figures he's just got to deal with it.

And since he figures he is one of the people with the least stakes in this situation and therefore probably one of the least upset, he should probably do something here to try and lighten the situation a little bit for everyone else. It's probably awkward to do anything too personal, since he doesn't know them well, but..

Well, there's one thing he can do here, isn't there. ]

So I know today has probably been.. a lot for all of you. [ Understatement of the year. ] And I know most of you don't really know me much, but.. there's apparently a slushie shop on the corner there. Anyone's got a favourite flavour?

[ Yes, this is an awkward Dad Attempt at soothing and connecting!! Sue him!! ]

Edited 2022-07-07 19:24 (UTC)

Midoriya doesn't feel like socializing. The failure to convince Kaworu to come with them was devastating. There is a piece of his heart still residing in the house belonging to God--Teacher--John. He's still heavily Corrupted from the other day, white-eyed, and he's got tear tracks on his freckles, but politeness wins out. After an awkward silence, the clawed young man in the tattered green hero costume croaks hollowly through his fangs,

"It's nice to meet you, Daniel-san. My name is Midoriya. Thank you so much for your help."

[When the truck arrives, they find a stack of crates, bags, and various household objects piled outside of the partially front door. There is no one in sight as they rumble up the ruined roadway, but when the truck comes to a halt it coincides with the door slamming wide as a stone-faced man in smeared facepaint only barely suggesting a ruined skull hauls out another heavily loaded crate piled high.

Cold, implacable anger hums in the set of his shoulders, but he sets the crate down with exaggerated care, as if it contains the most fragile of spun baubles, and straightens to look at the approaching newcomers. With his sword belted at his waist, his muffling outer robes shed, and standing at his full height and breadth, Ortus - for one of the first times in the whole of his life - cuts an intimidating figure.

Ortus recognizes one of the men who emerges from the vehicle. It does not set him at ease. He only nods, once, in acknowledgment.]

Sensei Lawrence.

[A man Gideon had spoken highly of, when she showed off her second place trophy, the first award for her merit she had ever received, which rests now in the careful swaddling of bedsheets inside one of the packed crates. The Beast of the Locked Tomb could arrive on this doorstep promising to bear away that and the rest of their precious cargo, and Ortus would accept its offered hand.]

If you have come to offer aid, we require transportation from this place.

[The man he was in life would have paused there, in hesitance, awaiting an answer. Ortus forges on as if it is already given, and much like one who would, if denied, seek to educate himself rapidly on the theft and operation of trucks.]

My Lady is resting. I will fetch her when we depart. The silver-haired child has refused to listen to me.

Gideon [he falters, only a moment, and his black eyes are hideous with it as his hand rises to brush the sunglasses hanging from the collar of his robes] lies in state inside. We will not leave her here.

Edited 2022-07-07 23:48 (UTC)

[Johnny steps out of the truck and catches sight of the guy setting down boxes. At first he's a little on edge because of the skull make up- But then he see how haphazardly it's applied and he's immediately reminded of Gideon and he relaxes just a little. He's tense but he's pretty sure he has an idea.]

You're Boartus, right? The dude camping out in the shed?

[He let's out a breath as he takes all this in. Good. He was planning on leaving too. It looked like Johnny had the right idea by coming here. He takes a hold of some of the boxes and starts to load them up in the truck, making it clear he was here to help.

There is a frown as he goes through the list of people and their stance on stating. Of course Kaworu would be a stubborn son of a bitch. But- Johnny was stuck having to respect that decision, he had earned it and Paul had asked nicely too.]

The Twink is a man and can make his own decisions. I'll try and talk to him but I'm not holding my breath.

[Nothing went as it was meant to.

In the aftermath of their flight from the house, Paul drifts within himself like a mote of dust suspended in still air. He exists between his breaths in near-perfect meditative abstraction, all sensory awareness without thought. He could catch a knife thrown at him like this, and not falter in his control. Consciousness-without-consciousness is a refuge he has never hidden in so completely.

That is the only reason he doesn't flinch when the truck veers close enough to a pane of glass for him to catch his own eyes and find them, instead, no longer so.]

Edited 2022-07-08 04:52 (UTC)

[On the far side of the truckbed from Midoriya, Paul sits loosely curled up next to a pile of baggage, staring unseeingly out through the slats of the truckbed as they rock roughly across the uneven cobblestone streets. He keeps running his thumb over the back of the bandage wrapped around his hand like a worrystone.

He doesn't look at Daniel when he speaks, subdued and barely audible.]

Strawberry.

Hi, Paul.

[It was all he knew how to say. The fallout from whatever it was that Qrow Branwen had witnessed in his vision had been greater than either of them had planned. Oscar knew he was a fool--
But visions of that horrible creature of chitin and wrath haunted him in his attempts to put his consciousness back together.

He couldn't seem to escape.

... Interestingly, it wasn't Chara that had his nerves steeled for combat despite being the one to stab him through the heart. Oscar took an odd level of comfort with the sheer honesty of the strange kid. The warning he was given while his consciousness faded made him wonder--

But his curiosity didn't matter.

He didn't have a body of his own.

Oscar had watched the goings of the day through the hollow detachment of Paul's perspective. The ether between life and death afforded the chance to see connections he was otherwise blind to because of his own biases. Likewise, truths he couldn't see were revealed:

He was already far more like Oz than he wanted to be.

Shame and worry had kept him quiet until this moment-- and he knew he needed to be gentle with the young prince he had been trying to advise.

Slowly, carefully, he continued:]

Don't panic. I'm not going to hurt you.

[ God, these kids truly look like they've seen hell. As Daniel trusts the road ahead of them for just a few moments - he's not driving.. that fast anyway, given the fact he's got kids in the back and these roads are the worst - and looks into the mirror to actually take a look at them, he well and truly realises it. It's not like he's always had an easy time in the past, but he's pretty sure that he's never looked as bad as that.

It makes him wonder about the full story of what happened here. He won't bother asking a bunch of traumatized kids about it, and Johnny's explanation only.. half-helped him make sense of anything, so maybe it'll have to mostly remain a mystery for now.

Especially when looking after said kids feels much more important for the moment. ]

Strawberry. Noted.

[ His voice is perhaps a bit too amicable for the situation, but if he knows anything he appreciated about mister Miyagi when he was young, it was the fact that the other could seem confident and calm in any given situation. Maybe that's exactly what the teens need right now. A confident and calm adult. Some normalcy in the middle of whatever this is.

Besides, there's another pang in his heart at being called 'Daniel-san.' Who knew that'd happen in this place. He doesn't remark on it right now, but.. he felt it. ]

And please don't worry about it. I.. [ He starts, then stops. Wanting to be delicate about this. ] I know most of you don't really know me well, but seriously. If you need anything at all, just let me know and I'll try to help.

[ Having looked at the road for a moment, he glances into the mirror again. ]

Midoriya.. -kun, right? [ He doesn't often have to practice his honorifics! ] You should tell me a flavour preference too, if you've got any. It's good to stay hydrated.

[ It's probably the least of their concerns right now, but that's why he's here!! To think about it in their place!! (Especially when he has zero idea whether that Midoriya kid looks like that on a daily basis, given the Juggalo thing going on with some of these passengers, but it definitely makes him look like he could use something to drink and cool down.) ]

Ortus Nigenad.

[The correction is without ire, but also without doubt.

(She spoke of him. He cannot bear this. He must bear this.)

He hefts bags to his shoulders, and without faltering he bends at the knees to haul up a crate. If he had the thought to spare for such a venial matter, he might note the firmed flesh of his arms and of his back, braced against the load.]

The child will not be moved by force. [He tells the rough edged man, calmly.] But I have seen him at play. I do not believe he will be harmed, if he lingers, though I pr-

I hope he will hear reason.

[ Daniel has absolutely no idea of what's going on. Or what's been going on, really. He's been too busy with even just trying to get himself settled in this place, trying to adjust to the strange ways in which Trench is so very different from anything he's gotten used to back home.

And then there's the fact that he did manage to find a few items from home - which is a good thing, since they at least give him a little bit of comfort. But in the case of mister Miyagi's truck it also meant the entire thing had to be cleaned after its journey here, which has been quite a project for Daniel over the past few days.

And of course, of course, right as he's finished with it, he finds the absolute most horrifying message from Johnny on his Omni. Let's be real, any message that says the sender is Johnny Lawrence is awful, but it's even worse when it's quite literally threatening one of his few dear possessions in this place.

Which is why by the time Johnny shows up, Daniel is already sitting in the truck itself. In the driver seat. Because he knows that if he didn't, Johnny is crazy enough to just get in there and take off. It wouldn't even be the first time he's seen it happen!! And he is absolutely not letting the other take and drive mister Miyagi's truck. Never.

Not that he looks happy sitting there, mind you. He frowns as he sees the blonde approach, already speaking up with a loud: ]

Johnny, what the hell is going on?!

[ --before the other has even had a chance to fully reach the truck yet. ]

[Almost anything else the voice so much like Oscar's might have said inside the confines of Paul's skull would have left him still becalmed. He expects nothing of his own mind anymore, in all its scattered, untrustworthy fragments. The illusion of a dead (we're friends, aren't we?) boy's words wouldn't come close to the strangest echo that had consumed his thoughts.

But it says I'm not going to hurt you, and Paul flinches. It's a minuscule thing, a tiny wince and snag of his thumb on the fold of his bandaged hand, but it's enough to trigger a cascading return to self-awareness. He tucks his chin and draws his knees closer, eyelids slipping to nearly closed.

Barely more than subvocal, easily lost in the rumbling of the truck and hidden by all but motionless lips, Paul says to what must, somehow, be himself:]

You should.

Edited 2022-07-09 15:31 (UTC)

[Anna's voice crackled in his memory, her rough tone resounding so loudly that Paul probably heard an echo of it:

'Paul took control of my body and the boat exploded.'

'You're not the boss of me.'

It was only a fragment of information. The pain of indignation and sullen fury of betrayal rang clear in those memories that slipped through Oscar's fingers before he could fully contain them. Somewhere in the ether, a clocked ticked on...

Without lungs to breath or vocal cords to speak, Oscar still somehow managed a sigh. He didn't belong in this space. He ~~didn't~~ know the rules. The whims of gods and kings were ~~not as~~ beyond his grasp ~~as he liked to think~~.

He was just a consciousness caught in the void between minds and lifetimes. What did he know? Who was he to judge? And yet-- he recognized the the kind of desolation he had heard in that response. Didn't he?

It was far too much like Oz when they broke his spell.

Oscar shifted, catching the memories of the frostbitten desperation that had forced him to fight for control over his body and take a punch that wasn't intended for him before they could reach Paul.

He wasn't used to the rules of this kind of game.

~~Yet.~~

The voice he responded with was his own-- but weighed down with the exhaustion of a thousand years of struggling, as if pushing a boulder up hill for eternity. He sought to be gentle, but what came out was the cold detachment of a person that had the experience of a myriad.]

No, I don't think so. You're doing enough of that on your own.

Edited 2022-07-09 16:26 (UTC)

Paul answered Daniel's question when Midoriya didn't. Midoriya goes for strawberry often enough that even if Paul didn't have perfect memory, he'd know. It feels like a knife whispering insidiously between his ribs. He suppresses a wince of pain that has nothing to do with his physical state or the cobblestones jostling the truck. Midoriya is caught between staying silent and completing their slushie order. Looking only at Daniel, he says,

"Peach."

It takes everything in him not to add and cherry, anything red. Kaworu's preference for color over taste. Midoriya and Paul may well end up sitting in silence with each other's flavors of slushie, unable to bring themselves to ask each other to switch as they think about Kaworu and the hurt between them.

Peach is all right.

Midoriya sees Daniel's words as being directed at everyone in the back of the truck regardless of state. It's the sort of broad kindness he himself would have extended, and has. Daniel's has an extra weight only years can give. Midoriya thinks of All Might. He thinks of Aizawa, recently left, who has his own brand of understanding others. Midoriya feels adrift. He searches for an anchor.

"So, um, I see you know Lawrence-sensei, from your world... I'm not a full-time student of his, I just come by practice sometimes. I'm from Earth too. Japan. Not the same one though. Your world doesn't have meta powers or heroes." Heroes is in English. "But it does have cell phones and the internet like mine."

Perhaps Midoriya's faltering rambling contains an anchor Daniel, recently arrived, might also appreciate.

[The first night in the dojo, Paul sleeps like a stone sunk to the bottom of a riverbed, curled up on stacked floor mats under a blanket too heavy for the weather. He's too exhausted for anything but the mercy of oblivion, no matter how troubled the tides of possibility

It's the second night, when he curls up on a narrow cot (with two t-shirts balled up under a flat pillow), that the dreams come back.

He throws his blanket off, fitfully, sweat tacking his loose sleeping clothes to his skin as his temperature rises. He twists on the cot as he mumbles words never fully articulated, his face crumpling with distress - until Paul arches his back with a sharp cry, fingertips flaring into points of flame in the dark.]

[Johnny hadn't slept much the last couple nights. It was more of a choice than the fact that he couldn't sleep. He was concerned about suddenly having a handful of kids under his roof that could be in danger from a pissed off Black Eyed Asshole, and Johnny had done enough to screw up his relationship with the last kid who lived here. He didn't want to make that mistake again and he wanted to make sure Paul and his friends were safe.

So he's just laying on a couch in the middle of the dojo with a beer in hand when he hears he cry. He's up on his feet in an instant and he smashes the bottle against the wall to give himself a weapon. ...He was going to hope LaRusso would clean that up tomorrow as part of some stupid form of training.

Either way he's on the move to Paul's "room" and he comes to a skidding halt as he checks to see if there's any sort of danger. No skelebros, no Black Eyes. It looked clear beyond the flames. Johnny cautiously speaks up as he drops the broken bottle.]

Paul? Kid? You awake?

open. cw: reference to corpse

[ About a week later, the thing that used to be Gideon's body begins to rot. It happens unnaturally quickly, as if making up for lost time.

The next day, Gideon stands in the entrance to the dojo, an angel by her side. Her hair is a mess, her clothes rumpled and ill-fitting, and it definitely looks like she hasn't slept in a week, but she is, without a doubt, alive. Some tension in her shoulders unwinds, as if relieved to finally have made it to a place of safety.

(And this is a safe place, isn't it? It has to be. There's nowhere else she can think of to go.)

Gideon doesn't expect to find the cots and crates, set up as if a whole group (a House?) of people have moved in. She spots her sword, and a tentative, grateful smile threatens to break across her face. ]

Hey. [ Gideon says to whoever approaches, trying to keep her voice level. There are still patches of muscle and bone where her skin has yet to heal, and the chill and numbness have yet to fully go away, but still. She feels warmer than she has in days. ] Sorry I'm late. I know, I know, I didn't bring coffee or anything, don't hate me.

for harrow.

Gideon has been rehearsing this conversation in her head over and over, all through the journey from Gaze to the dojo, although part of her feels like she's been practicing it for longer. Maybe she has, in one way or another. It's been long overdue.

She approaches Harrow when she's relatively secluded, which, thankfully, happens often. Gideon takes a seat beside her necromancer, without warning or introduction, and resists the urge to pull her knees up to her chest. Her heart races like she's about to fight a Lyctor, or a seagull, or God. Which is so stupid, she thinks, because she's not about to do any of that. She just has to talk. That's it.

Part of her wishes she was here to fight. She's fought Harrow so many times that it's become the easiest, most second-nature thing in the world. A good fight might even calm her down. But they're well past that, aren't they? And they have been for months.

Instead, she swallows, picking at a ripped spot in her pants. "Um." Wow! Great start, Griddle, you're killing this. "Hey. Can we talk?"

[Gideon is the one who gets him to stop clinging to the house in gaze like a someone lost in a cold storm with only matches for warmth. Kaworu had to see the house for what it was. Or perhaps he always knew what it was but he just saw what he wanted to see.

In the end he didn't want to be there. He doesn't want to be here. He doesn't really want to be anywhere. Except maybe back in a time and place where none of this ever happened. Look at him, acting like a sentimental human, trying to hide from the pain of the world instead of accepting it as is. A place like that would be nothing but a dream.

Eventually, he tears himself from Gideon and the safety her presence brings to go settle in a corner. He pulls his the hood of his oversized sweatshirt over messy silver hair as thought it creates a wall between him and the rest of the world, shadows covering up the seven red eyes that remain from the corruption of everything that happened on the beach.

He's been such a fool. How does one make up for past sins when you cannot redo?]

[Johnny was handling Gideons death completely fine. It's not like he had been propping her corpse up through the Dojo either doing finger guns, acting like she was lounging around, or training. So he definitely was not the first the first or second person to notice she was gone. (He had to give Harrow some cred it here.)

But for the most part when she shows up at the door he does his best not to make a big deal about it. He leans up against the threshold and thrusts a thumb into the door.]

You'll have to do fifty pushups on your knuckles to make up for that, but it can wait. We've got manwiches cooking.

How you holding up, kid?

[If Johnny ever actually had the answer for that question, he'd let Kaworu know. But he didn't. He was the king of making mistakes and trying desperately to try and put things back together, getting frustrated and eventually just making things worse. So he did know a little about about what everyone was going through here on a much smaller scale.

He knew Kaworu wasn't his biggest fan and if he was being honest out of their one encounter Johnny wasn't his biggest fan either, the points Kaworu had won with him had landed Johnny in the dog house with the people closest to him, but that was more Johnny's fault than his.

So he sees the Kaworu sitting there and he doesn't quite have anything to say. But he does slide over and take a seat on the ground a few feet away from him. Actually being careful to give him some personal space. He doesn't say anything right away partially because he's not sure whether Kaworu will stick around to hear it.]

[The shattering of glass should have woken Paul even before Johnny calls his name. Neither does, but his expression twists in greater fear as the sound slips into the weave of the dream.

His hands close into fists, flame licking through the seams ofhis knuckles as his head whips back and forth on his flat pillow.]

Don't -

[The word comes out in a panicked near-sob, heaved from whatever nightmare still holds him fast in unconsciousness.]

Are you going to tell me what I fool I've been? I suppose you have the right.

[He mumbles, wrapping his arms around his knees, and resting his chin on them. He looks small, insignificant, nothing like an Angel and nothing like the Beast who terrorized the beach.]

[It's odd to say that Johnny looked thoughtful, but there were certainly gears grinding in his head about how to respond to that.

The kids had all made some mistakes but they were all following someone who they legitimately believed in and had too. He knows what it's like to have the rugged pulled out from under him.

He also didn't want to push his own bullshit and regrets about what happened to him on this situation.]

Actually I was going to say I'm glad you decided to come around. I'm pretty sure the last place you want to be is holed up with me. But the other kids missed you.

[Johnny is quick to put himself in the passenger seat of the truck and because he's not driving he even takes the time to buckle his seat belt. He didn't like this- Reaching out to LaRusso for help, for his things, but Johnny felt like it was the best way to go about this. If LaRusso and Tory were right they had been able to work together at least and he was going to bank on that being true.

For all their faults LaRusso had done right by Robby. Surely he could do right by some more kids too.]

Listen, LaRusso. You don't like me and I don't like you. But I'm going to need you to sit down, shut up and trust me on this.

Some asshole has been fucking around with my students here. We're getting them out of there.

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Page 1 of 10

Hey, teacher, leave them kids alone

We don't need no education (Johnny and Daniel)

We don't need no thought control (Open)

no dark sarcasm in the classroom (open, in the truck on the way back)

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all in all you're just another brick in the wall (open)

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just nod if you can hear me (Oscar)

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you are only coming through in waves (Johnny)

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i have seen the writing on the wall (open + closed; one week later)

Hey you, don't help them to bury the light (open)

More references to corpse.

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