daybreakacademy | hollow plots and zombens

Hmm. It sure is dented pretty good? Peter isn't sure he can actually undo all of it - his hands leave imprints no matter what he does - but the major bits of crookedness he can definitely do something about. He just sort of grips one end of it firmly, then moves the other hand down the length of it, working out the kinks as he goes. Kind of idly working on it while Héctor gets the ... oh.

"Man, I'm sorry," he says, wincing. "I guess I've literally ruined your music for you now."

First by looking up Ernesto, and now with his uncle's Hollow.

It hurts to look at. And yet, when he hears Peter's reaction, he can't help but laugh. It surprises himself.

"You didn't ruin music for me," He assures. "This isn't the first guitar that's been through the wringer. And as far as everything else, none of that was you either."

That was his own stupidity, his family's grief, and Ernesto's dumb and selfish ego.

"No... I fished this girl out of the trash. My last guitar before her? She got caught pretty badly the wheel compartment of a plane." He smiles up at Peter hoping that, if nothing else, the story can distract him from the situation. "So don't worry about it. These things happen."

Edited 2019-01-29 03:27 (UTC)

Well. Okay. True and valid points but. "I was still the catalyst?" he says. "I mean, it probably wouldn't be broken without me."

But okay, okay, he'll accept that explanation. And the story too, which even gets a smile out of him. ""How the heck did your previous one get into the wheel compartment of a plane?" Because that sounds like a story right there.

Meanwhile, he's still working on the cane. He's doing pretty well? After a bit more work, he taps it against the ground carefully. Look, 99% straight again. Just ignore the imprints of his fingers on it.

His brows lift, challenging Peter without a word. He's certain that there were more than a few catalysts here. Like leaving or dying in the first place.

"Travel scheme," He says. "When just catching a plane the normal way didn't work out... or hiding in the luggage... well, thought I'd do it like the movies do. Only it didn't work like the movies do. La guitarra made a great sacrifice for me and I slipped and missed the flight. Who'd have thought jumping on to a moving plane could be so dangerous?"

He shrugs as though he really couldn't have guessed. Then brightens at the sight of the cane. "Ah! You fixed it!"

LOOK. Look He won't argue that point any more, okay. He gets it.

But first he's gonna stare at Héctor for that. Like - what the heck man. "Please tell me you were already a skeleton at that point." He's assuming so, because otherwise why not just take a plane like a normal person? But he'll judge you a little either way okay.

He offers the cane, though. Nearly good as new. "Sure, it was just kinda crooked," he says. "Super strength, remember?"

One point to Tío Héctor. Which he immediately loses. He makes a face at Peter. "Of course I was a skeleton! Why else would I need to do that? I'm not some criminal!" He pauses. "Wasn't. Wasn't some criminal. But look, I've never broken a law while alive, therefore it shouldn't count."

In his totally unbiased opinion.

He sets the broken guitar down and takes the cane nevertheless, looking pleased despite the finger dents. He kind of likes them actually. "Super strength. Heh, how could I forget? You saved us more than a few times back there with it." He taps the cane on the ground, happy to see it hold.

"Alright, I'm going to going to make myself more human. If you want to turn around for it."

Be real careful about arguing what you get to do because you're not alive, Héctor. That sure is gonna come back to bite you in, like, a couple weeks probably.

"I guess you're technically right," he says. Still judging Héctor, but. Now intrigued by the premise? How do you prosecute a dead person, anyway. You sure can't give them the death penalty. Or life in prison. Anyway.

The dents add character, probably; they definitely add Peter's own personal touch, at least. A little flawed still, but functional. He shrugs a little at the compliment, distinctly pleased. He'd rather use his strength for good purposes like - well, like anything but fighting, honestly.

That warning though. Peter swallows a bit, gladly turning. Grateful for Héctor not making him watch it accidentally. "Sorry," he says, now facing away from him. "I dunno what it is. I'm good with you being a skeleton, but all that glowing dust really gets to me."

He's going to be regretting a lot of things in a few weeks, never even mind that. But probably including that.

Anyway, prosecuting a dead person usually went somewhere between adding to his record, giving a fine he can't afford, and blacking out when his energy wore out only to wake somewhere unpleasant. Still not a good time but he'll leave those details out.

The dents add a specically "Peter" character. He could be sentimental even when he didn't talk much of it.

"It's alright," He says, and it is. It's preferable to Peter fearing the skeleton part. "It's probably a phobia you didn't realize you had. Like people who are scared of bugs." He lets his power work, body shifting over and getting heavier. He gives a hiss as his arm forms back not-quite-right and with the general sap of energy he finds himself grateful for that cane to brace on. A few strained breaths later and he straightens.

"Okay. We're good. Might need your help with the guitar though, I'm not sure I can carry it."

Edited 2019-01-29 13:07 (UTC)

"A phobia?" That. Would make sense? "Maybe, yeah. I guess." He still thinks it's weird as heck, but ... well, some people are weird about things. He gets weird creepy crawlies looking at lots of little holes next to each other, so maybe it's the same thing.

(It's not, of course, but he has no way of knowing that yet.)

In any case, he keeps turned away until Héctor tells him it's okay. And then he looks back. That arm looks ... painful. He winces even just glancing at the poor thing. "Yeah, for sure," he says, moving to do just that. He'll just tuck the pieces under one arm and look back over at Héctor again, still concerned. "I can carry you too, y'know."

In case that cane is too awkward to use with one broken arm.

It's the only thing Héctor can think of at this time. It'll probably fall into that future list of regrets.

He gives another downward glance at his arm, sure it's going to swell and bruise. Oh well. At least he has an arm.

He laughs then. "I'm sure you can!" He smiles Peter's way. "But I'm not entirely helpless. Forgive me for just a little bit of pride."

He'll manage, he's sure. Just as long as no more monsters show up.

Edited 2019-01-29 13:25 (UTC)

That's still concerning Héctor! Gosh! It still looks kind of broken okay.

But fine, fine, if Héctor wants a little pride, then what can Peter do but allow it? He sighs, though. "If anything else shows up, you're not getting a choice." But if it's quiet enough, then sure. He'll let you do that.

That's because it is. And held together by tape. But at this point in unlife he takes what he can get.

He laughs again. "If anything shows up again I don't want you to give me a choice." Better carried than crushed.

The walk isn't comfortable the way back. Even beyond watching fearful for anything along their path, Peter's got a lot to weigh on his mind and distracting the boy tends to draw him back to looking at his broken body. There's not a lot of good going on here, but they try to make do with it.

They don't turn in for their dorm, instead, heading to infirmary where, mostly likely, Ekkehardt is still lingering. He pushes at the door with his better shoulder, giving room for Peter to step on through-- with the broken guitar still. Maybe they should've put that back. Oh well.

"¡Hola, Ekkehardt...!" Héctor greets with a sheepish grin, and in that moment Ekkehardt will also be greeted with the sight of a definitely freshly broken arm, a cane dented with fingertips from an attempt to straighten it, and two very tired looking blighted people. "We need to see you for a drop in."

Edited 2019-01-30 02:55 (UTC)

To Ekkehardt's credit, he doesn't say much when greeted by the sight of two obviously beaten up people, one of which has a broken arm.

"Gotten yourself in trouble, have you?" His voice is mild, rather than judgemental, but the again? of that sentence is implicit in his tone. He rises from his chair, stepping over to inspect the most immediate damage. Héctor will feel the light sensation of magic as Ekkehardt figures out what, exactly, he'll need to do to fix his arm.

"Please. Sit. Whatever you did, I'm sure you're weary from it." He says please, but there's a little bit of an undertone in it that suggests obedience would be strongly recommended.

Peter isn't really injured at least, so there's that? He sort of stands off to one side, gingerly setting down the pieces of Héctor's guitar. Also his ruined backpack.

"It was my fault," he says with a guilty wince. "I - my uncle attacked us."

Some monstrous form of him, but Peter is still 100% sure it had to be his uncle. There's no other explanation. He looks for a chair to collapse into for a moment; he's thoroughly exhausted. And still aching from spending all that time too close to an anti-undead charm.

Edited 2019-01-30 03:07 (UTC)

Ekkehardt's tone, even mild as it is, is pretty easy to read. He offers a nervous laugh in response, not refuting. At least, not until Peter speak up.

"It is not your fault," He says firm. And then to Ekkehardt, "It wasn't the boy's fault. This thing showed up out of nowhere. We need to talk to you about that too."

He feels that little bit of magic, grimacing at the way it interacts with the pain. He's sure Ekkehardt's gathering a good enough picture, but nevertheless he says, "Lower end of the humerus. Mostly cracked clean but there's a splinter going up." His eyes dart over to Peter then back. "Peter here helped me tape it together for now. He knows about me." And with that, he does as asked and takes a seat.

"I see." It's a neutral response, waiting for more information. "While I fix this for you, feel free to elaborate. Since he knows...it will be easier to treat if I can see the bones directly."

He'll wait for Héctor to use his powers before he starts work, but once he does, it won't take that long. Broken bones are a common sight, flesh or no flesh.

Oh. Peter turns away then, sorry Héctor. He just can't bear the sight of flesh dissolving into magic for some reason, so better to look over here at this corner and not have a minor panic attack.

"It was still him," he insists. He won't try to blame himself more but. "My uncle - he's been dead for seven months, but we saw him at the gazebo tonight." He swallows thickly. "And he turned into some kind of monster. I - I don't know what kind."

Except undead, obviously, but not Héctor's kind of undead? He's never seen anything like it.

He casts an apologetic look towards Peter and waits until the boy has looked away. His power lights and his flesh turns to that gold dust before vanishing. He shifts just his arm for now. He feels weak all over but doing two complete shifts in a night is going to make him more so.

The glow dies down and he wincingly lifts the skeletal arm for Ekkehardt to look at.He speaks after Peter.

"Whatever blight he's got, it's gotten right in his head. Made him crazy. You know how the undead can get sometimes. Hungry? But I've never seen anything like that, even in the outlands." He shakes his head, eyes looking distant. "He just turned into this monster... this spidery thing. Chased after us trying to get to Peter. We hid by... you know that antique shop? It's got all these cursed things in it, some kind of powerful blight repellent? We hid by there."

Ekkehardt might be more aware than them; the item in question isn't a blight repellent but an undead one. It's result on the two of them is the same.

"It sounds like a curse of some kind," Ekkehardt answers absently, as he puts his focus and power into fixing Hector's arm, making the bone whole again. "Most undead don't undergo that kind of significant transformation, unless empowered by something outside of their control." Whether they steal the power, consume it - or have it consume them, have it forced on them...

There's all sorts of things you can do to the dead, after all. "Though there's a first time for everything, I suppose. But it sounds like something else's doing, to me."

The comment about the antique shop, though...he doesn't pause in his work, but he does turn it over in his head. "Yes, I do recall...the items they sell there might look a little dubious, but I can't argue with their effectiveness." He practically has to cross to the other side of the street to avoid it sometimes. "It's fortunate that you were able to put it to use."

"So something did do this to him." He's both hopeful and horrified at the same time. If a monster did this to Ben, then - that means it's not his uncle just turning into a monster out of the blue, which is good. And maybe - just maybe - it means Peter can do something to help Ben. He's still kind of terrified that he might have to put his uncle out of his misery rather than do anything to help him. God. If he has to do that ... He's not sure he'd recover from that, mentally.

He turns back once Héctor's done transforming, watching Ekkehardt work. That part is kind of fascinating, at least, and he's glad to see Héctor get some help. Whether Peter deserves any blame or not, he sure does feel guilty.

At the mention of the shop, he winces a little, rubbing at his head. "Yeah, no kidding," he says. "We were able to hide in the dumpster outside until the monster went away. I've got a hell of a headache though."

As Ekkehardt speaks, his thinking follows along the same line as Peter's. It's not a good thing but curses can be broken. Blight doesn't have a cure. No matter how much more terrible this seemed, there was hope.

He breathes a sigh as the magic works. The pain of his arm ebbs a little and it shows in his face. Even with the lingering effects of that shop making him look more gaunt than usual. "Thank you," He says, with full sincerity, whether Ekkehardt's done or not. "For this, the short notice, everything. I'm still looking to repay you someday." He speaks that little warning with the ghost of a smile before he returns to the central topic here.

"So we just need to figure out the curse and break it." Probably not half as easy as it sounds. "Would you know any particular person who could stop Peter's Tío without... hurting him?"

"The most effective way to take care of the problem would be to rip out the source at the root, as it were," Ekkehardt says, lifting his hands away from the broken arm - which is now cleanly healed, with no break showing. "Killing whatever laid the curse is usually a good way to lift it." Not always, but most of the time, it's a decent beginning.

In response to Hector's mild warning, he waves a hand in clear dismissal of the offer, it's fine.

He considers the question carefully. "You could seek out those students who have strong ties to the Rune Guards for advice - their equipment is generally of a more protective, preventative nature. They may have some insight for you. Miss Gayle or Mr Kafer come to mind -- you should know the latter, Mr Parker, since I believe he supervises your dormitory floor.

For those among the faculty...your best bet for containment is probably Professor Valvatorez, or Professor Michael...? Perhaps 82 White Chain, but she would take some convincing not to just, ah...obliterate the problem and be done with it. Professor Atchison is also an option, given his love affair with traps, but I doubt he'd do it without significant leverage."

He shrugs. "I can also contain people, if there's nobody else to turn to, but my power is far more limited in that area. I would recommend all others I suggested before myself."

It takes Peter a moment to realize who Ekkehardt is even talking about with "Mr Kafer." Who? The person who supervises - oh. "You mean Bumblebee," he says. Yes, Peter has completely forgotten Bee's real name. In his defense, that seems to be what Bee wants anyway? And Peter is happy to oblige. "I dunno if I want to talk to him. He's already mad at me for sneaking out at night."

Exhibit A: currently out, at night. At least Héctor technically has permission for this.

"I guess he probably doesn't hate me enough not to help, though," he says, mostly out of a grudging respect for Bee. Even if Peter's bad enough to deserve not being helped, he's pretty sure Bee's a good enough person to do it anyway. Plus he likes that option better than possibly obliterating his uncle. That. Makes him pale pretty considerably in fact. "I'll ask him first. Thanks."

Meanwhile, he leans over to look at Héctor's freshly healed bone. And lets out a low whistle. "You're really good at that," he says. "Do you work on alive people too?"

Ripping out from the source sounds nice in theory but aside being undead and a few other small perks associated with that, he hasn't got much in the way of any "ripping" power. They barely got away from Peter's Tío.

Ekkehardt waves him off and he shakes his head. Keep dismissing him, but he can be stubborn too-- just another time maybe. For now he draws his arm back, running his fingers over the bone. He gives his skeletal fingers a little test and is pleased to find they move as easily as they did before the break, and painlessly.

It's not a bad list that Ekkehardt gives either. No immediate solution but something that will give them time and keep others from falling into danger during that time. He's glad that Peter's rethinking his initial statement because that immediately earns a look. He's sure Bee would considered a rampaging family remember a higher priority than a grounding.

And then he laughs. "Peter," He says. "He's a healer and a school médico. I would think he works on the living." As smart as this boy could be, sometimes... "Ekkehardt, would you happen to have anything for his headache?"

"I'd be very worried if I couldn't work on living people, considering what I was loaned for," he says, deadpan. Loaned, not hired, an important distinction.

"A headache? I can certainly take a look. Sometimes all you need is rest, which...is probably something you should be getting, right now, considering the hour."

He reaches out, despite his words, to give Peter a looking-over with his magic. It's a headache caused by something magical, so he should be able to ease it easily enough.

Keyword should.

hollow plots and zombens

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