The Beginning of the End [M]

i used to dream in the dark of palisades park

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played by

thorn

Gavin Merlino

he/him

october 28th

circhester, galar

demisexual

the harbinger

underboss

devour me

if you really think that you can stomach me

6'3" height

creatures of habit, carrion flowers, growing from repeated crimes.

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Cillian Quinn

The Beginning of the End [M]

POSTED ON Jun 10, 2023 14:42:55 GMT

Naia Kayode likes this

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Where Cillian sees loathing reflected in Isaac's gaze, Isaac will see only void in return. Sunlight is gone from the eyes of the underboss, the harsh fluorescence reflecting their amber colour without warmth.[break][break]

He has been taught to empty himself. Isaac was one of the few people who understood why; a Hatterene's SHATTERED PSYCHE had shown a glimpse into a history kept quiet. If you feel nothing, she can't hurt you.[break][break]

He feels nothing as he watches Isaac struggle to knock the man unconscious. He feels nothing as the knife is plunged desperately into the traitor's chest, again and again. He feels nothing as blood pools around the body, drawn away from his shoes and toward the drain in the floor. He has changed Isaac irrevocably, and Cillian feels only the chill that pricks in the air.[break][break]

Though he does not feel, he remembers.[break][break]

He, too, had gone for a quick kill. He'd aimed for the base of the skull, only for his thrashing victim to deflect the blow. He'd lost his grip on the knife, cut his finger as he fought to regain it.[break][break]

"You'll want the jugular." He'd had to resort to that, in the end. "Quick. Easy."[break][break]

Not painless. They didn't do painless.[break][break]

Cillian holds out his hand for the knife that had scarred it, and now scarred Isaac's psyche.

[break][break]

[attr="class","tag"]Isaac Merlo

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notes

[break]
🔗 DOUBT

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played by

Wanderer

The Liberator

he/him/his

April 10

Lavaridge Town

Figuring it Out

Penitent

Renegade

I've got a, I've got a

Pocket fulla sunshine

949 height

Turned on my friends and brought them pain. I have no right to show I can change. But I gotta try!

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Isaac Merlo

The Beginning of the End [M]

POSTED ON Jun 10, 2023 17:20:50 GMT

Cillian Quinn and Naia Kayode like this

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[attr="class","skulltitle"]導通抵抗

[attr="class","skulloverlap"]BUT HOLD YOUR BREATH, GUESS WHO'S RUNNING THE SHOW?

[attr="class","skullbody"]Even Isaac knew what the jugular was, though if you showed him someone's neck he wouldn't be able to tell it from Adam's apple. All he'd have was some vague knowledge it was that part of the neck, and one wrong move there would lead to someone wheezing and suffocating as the air leaked from their throat. Long. Agonizing.[break][break]

Painful either way. Team Rocket didn't do painless.[break][break]

Cil's palm waited, emotionless yet expectant. For a second, Isaac imagined "returning" the knife by plunging it right in there. However, the intrusive thought quickly faded as Isaac noted the criss-crossing network of scars already traced along his fingers. Even someone like Cil hadn't come from his first kill unscathed. How could he? How could anyone?[break][break]

What was the Cil that stood before him but a ship of Theseus, man slowly but surely replaced by scar after scar.[break][break]

He was a victim. He, in turn, became Hoenn's biggest victimizer. Isaac mourned him. Isaac hated him. In a strange sense, Isaac even pitied him. He wondered if, before Cil, THEO BECKETT had been the same. Had he been a victim before becoming a victimizer? Had Walsh?[break][break]

Would Ashley Shepard, too, become a victimizer?[break][break]

His face unreadable and his hands still lightly shaking, Isaac flicked the blade closed. He then gingerly set it back into Cil's pawn. By now, his intrusive thought had been thoroughly snuffed out. Rocket perpetuated the cycle of harm long enough. The best form of rebellion he could take was to break that cycle.[break][break]

There might come a time when he no longer had that choice.[break][break]

"I'll keep that in mind," he said, along with each and every other thought this nightmare of a day had brought to his attention. Something told him he would be carrying what had happened with him for the rest of his life.

[break]

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[attr="class","skullinfo"]MOBILE POST / Cillian Quinn

[attr="class","skullcredits"]TAIKO!

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played by

thorn

Gavin Merlino

he/him

october 28th

circhester, galar

demisexual

the harbinger

underboss

devour me

if you really think that you can stomach me

6'3" height

creatures of habit, carrion flowers, growing from repeated crimes.

awards

7,862 posts

DOLLARS

part of

TAG WITH @gavin

Cillian Quinn

The Beginning of the End [M]

POSTED ON Jun 14, 2023 12:02:29 GMT

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Cillian sees the last spark of defiance in Isaac's glassy gaze. Or perhaps it's only that he imagines it, reflecting upon the bitterness he'd felt when THEO BECKETT put him through these same paces. Either way, that perceived spark is smothered before it can catch.[break][break]

MIASMA swirls around the underboss as ever, a promise of speed and reflex.
[break][break]
Even if he'd wanted to, Isaac couldn't hurt him. Not like this.[break][break]

As the knife exchanges hands, so too is the man's last lifeblood smeared between them. Each were complicit, and neither innocent of the horrible act that now bound them together.[break][break]

Cillian nods, satisfied, as he pockets the blade.[break][break]

Don't make the next time so difficult, Theo had told him, but what Cillian says is only, "You can go."

[break][break]

[attr="class","tag"]Isaac Merlo

[attr="class","notes"]

notes

[break]
🔗 DOUBT

[attr="class","pkmn"][break]

close tab

played by

Wanderer

The Liberator

he/him/his

April 10

Lavaridge Town

Figuring it Out

Penitent

Renegade

I've got a, I've got a

Pocket fulla sunshine

949 height

Turned on my friends and brought them pain. I have no right to show I can change. But I gotta try!

awards

4,315 posts

DOLLARS

part of

TAG WITH @isaacmerlo

Isaac Merlo

The Beginning of the End [M]

POSTED ON Jun 15, 2023 2:38:44 GMT

Cillian Quinn likes this

[nospaces]

[attr="class","skullhover"]

[attr="class","skullimg"]

[attr="class","skulltitle"]導通抵抗

[attr="class","skulloverlap"]BUT HOLD YOUR BREATH, GUESS WHO'S RUNNING THE SHOW?

[attr="class","skullbody"]"Alright."[break][break]

This wasn't Isaac's usual. This wasn't the Isaac that lingered around. This wasn't the Isaac that always had one more question. This wasn't the Isaac that proudly held his head up high, speaking his mind no matter the moment.[break][break]

This wasn't the Isaac that Cil was getting tired of teaching lessons.[break][break]

Had the breaking already started? Had such a grievous, shocking act finally made him realize his place? Or was he holding something back, keeping that usual maelstrom of Isaac-y thoughts and rambles under a tight lid for the first time in who knows how long?[break][break]

Perhaps Cil wouldn't care. He'd made himself clear, and now Isaac could go.[break][break]

"Thank you."[break][break]

And go he did.

[break]

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[attr="class","skullinfo"]MOBILE POST / Cillian Quinn

[attr="class","skullcredits"]TAIKO!