lio catch all

[burningrescue]

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[madburnout]

[He's standing outside the door to his room. He's been standing there for a few minutes, actually - not going in. Only waiting.

When Galo goes by he'll actually lift his head though, turning to look at him. Seeing if he'll stop.]

[burningrescue]

[Looking up at him - and obviously Lio is waiting for him. He knows why, and he's not a coward, not for something like this. So he nods.]

I have to clean it. Wait for me.

[madburnout]

No.

[Honestly, he wasn't going to tear him down for what he knows he did wrong yet. He just doesn't want to open this door right now, alone.]

We'll clean it in here.

[burningrescue]

Okay.

[That works. He didn't want to invite himself in to bleed all over his room? But this lake water shirt is nasty. Following him to his room.]

[madburnout]

[Leading the way then, not hesitating this time at the door. Going in first, rudely, letting Galo follow.

Fortunately, he doesn't have to worry about bleeding all over the room! There's still blood in here.]

What do you need?

[burningrescue]

Already got ice, so. Some cloth you don't care about, and something hard to make a splint if you have it, but that can wait.

[madburnout]

[Nodding - he opens the closet up, digging around in there. Pulling out a bottle of vodka, half empty, a shirt that looks too big for Lio (Asch will . . . no longer be in need of it, will he?), and holding them out.]

Asch used it to disinfect. I assume you will know what to do with it.

[As for the splint. He turns to dig around more - then, flipping the cushion up on the chaise lounge and revealing where it's been cut into or ripped open on the bottom, digging around until he finds a cardboard box of food and dumping the contents back out. Folded cardboard should be hard enough, maybe? The concept of a splint isn't one he's necessarily super familiar with.]

[burningrescue]

Oh! Yeah, that'll help a lot. Thanks, Lio.

[He flashes him a smile, but his heart isn't in it, and it's incredibly obvious. He takes the items and goes to the bathroom, using the vodka to try and clean the hand that's no doubt dirty from lake water before wrapping the shirt tightly around his fingers. The cardboard is good enough for now. It won't keep his fingers still, but the pressure will at least remind him not to move them.

He'll come out of the bathroom a little under ten minutes later, with a bag of ice from the kitchen now pressed against his bandaged hand.]

[madburnout]

[He'll . . . notice that there's a blanket and pillow on the bathroom floor. For some reason. Weird. But Lio has kept busy while Galo's been in there - stripping the bloody sheets from the bed and dumping them in a corner of the room. Though he hasn't sat down on it or anything.

Glancing at the fingers.]

Does it hurt?

[burningrescue]

Yeah. But not too bad. I've been hurt worse. And easy to fix.

[The thought of replacing these fingers doesn't bother him. He's thinking, suddenly, of Kray's prosthetic arm, and then he quickly shakes that thought away.

Anyway, more importantly.]

I went back on my word. Sorry. I panicked.

[madburnout]

[He wants to scream. He wants to erupt into flames and burn the whole room down with them both in it, until it is nothing but ash. He wants to grab Galo's injured hand and squeeze until he can feel how tight his chest felt in those moments when thought he might have doomed Galo along with his friend.]

You promised me.

[burningrescue]

I know I did. Fuck.

[He feels guilty, too. He actually does get why this was a big deal; how angry and betrayed he'd feel if Lio did the same thing to him. But Galo can't ever look anything but defiant in the face of being yelled at.]

But I was worried somebody else would vote for you!

[madburnout]

I don't care! I will not carry the burden of watching you die by your own hand! We made that decision together, you will respect it!

[Pacing in a little circle, like he can't quite figure out what to do if he stops moving.]

[burningrescue]

It won't happen again!

[He shouts it at Lio, still defensive, but also trying to break through his anger and at least get that key point through his head. He knew as soon as the votes closed he'd made a mistake.]

[madburnout]

[He isn't even truly angry is the thing. Just desperately, desperately sad, and scrambling at the walls of a thousand things inside his brain. Does he not trust me, does he not trust me, does he not trust me.]

You're right. It won't. We will not be voting for each other. We will have to make decisions - who we actually think it is.

[burningrescue]

[He trusts him. He'd rather have his fingers cut off than risk losing him. He's sorry for the betrayal but he's not sorry for feeling that way.

...But he nods.]

Maybe you're right. I had no fucking clue who it was this time. But I knew, I knew it wasn't him. I think almost everybody had to know.

[madburnout]

It was an easy answer to an unsolvable problem in the moment.

[ He finally sits down. On the edge of the bed. Collapsing into himself a little, now that the heat has burnt off.]

To allow others to make difficult decisions while we stand by . . . I cannot do it anymore. If I am wrong, the consequences will be the same as this. Failure.

[burningrescue]

Okay. If that's how you feel, I'm with you.

[He's more conflicted than Lio, but he knows Lio is conflicted in the same ways he is. If Lio's reached a conclusion about the right course of action, he'll follow it.]

[madburnout]

[He isn't sure it's how he feels. It is decision made with a gun to his head, but he feels like inaction is proving to be more cowardly than action. Which is, of course, probably how they want them to feel. A hand on the knife, instead of simply a witness.]

If you hurt yourself again, I will never speak to you again.

[burningrescue]

Then you should probably stop talking to me now.

[It's some brash, cocky thing he'd say. But he's more serious this time.]

I won't vote for myself again. You have my word there. But I'll always choose to protect other people, even if it puts me at risk. And that means sometimes I'm gonna get hurt.

[madburnout]

[Backing down a little. Because, yeah. He knows that about Galo.]

Fine. Without reason.

[burningrescue]

Hah. Okay. I can try.

[Against his will, his lips turn up a little at Lio making compromises because he does want to keep talking to him.]

I’ll probably fuck up more than you like. But I’m not going to get myself killed. I told you, I’m going to help you stop Gov Kray. I meant that.

[madburnout]

[ He’s already fucked up more than he’d like and he’s not quite sure why he cares this deeply. He stands up again, to pace more. Mostly in a little circle - it’s not a big room. ]

If anything happens to me— [ He stops. Because he can’t ask him that. It’s his own responsibility. ] I need you to ask for a few things. From the staff. Hairspray, or any sort of aerosol spray. They might give it to because of [ gesturing to hair?? ]

[burningrescue]

[He hears Lio cut himself off, and interjects, fierce.]

If anything happens to you, I’ll still go back and stop him. But nothing’s gonna happen to you.

[He just wants Lio to know he can rely on him. At the latter, though. He frowns. He has an idea where that’s going.]

What for? Your hair looks fine to me. You can’t just ask a firefighter to help you make a flamethrower!

[madburnout]

[ Stamping a foot! Like a horse. ]

You can’t ask me to be totally defenseless. Listen, it isn’t ideal - but you need some way to fight back that will leave an obvious mark. Someone got hurt committing those crimes and we missed it. No one will miss a well-placed burn.