sacrilege

there was some word that had traveled and the o'brien family was mentioned more than once in relation to the missing people and then later in relation to ties to afterglow. of course, they were all easy to ignore as bullshit or squash if needed. but there was one that didn't make sense to finn and continued to poke at the back of his mind. it didn't hold much weight but it reminded him that he hasn't been as attentive older brother as he maybe should've been the past few months since his youngest re-appeared amongst the shamrocks.

it's why he told someone to have caelen come up to his office as soon as he was able to. in the meantime, finn busied himself with looking over the perennial pile of reports, messages, and requests on his desk. he was mid denial of a request for arms dealing from a corporate entity in the united kingdom, on principle the shamrocks would never deal with british entities. "come in, shut the door, make a drink if ye want one. i'll be ready in a sec." he motioned to the bar as if everyone didn't know where it was in the office, force of habit. as soon as the last bit of information was scribbled onto the paper and cast aside to send out with the rest, he turned in his chair. "so, we haven't talked much since ye got back. what were ye gettin' up to out there? tell me where ye head's at now." a good enough place to start finn figured, he wasn't looking for much but opening the rare opportunity to listen to whatever caelen needed to say.

"We both been busy," it's offhanded as he sinks into the chair offered to him – as if he wouldn't have once made himself completely at home in Finn's office. As if he now felt like a loose nail in an otherwise structurally sound floorboard. "Didn't seem like there was alla' that much time to chat," or maybe that simply resided in the fact that he presumed that he'd be dismissed. Looked over, as two years of absence had been with no contact at all. He swallowed thickly, hoping to cover the ridge of his throat as he reached instead to rub at his chin, "Layin' low. Lookin' for.. – y'know, shit people want."

LOCATION: the afterglow compound, night. FOR: noah cerulli.

CONTRARY TO POPULAR BELIEF, even raven needs a moment to relax -- before they burst. despite portraying a perfect soldier, eyes trained on the next task at hand with little sign of moving, there are times where even they feel the overwhelm clawing at her back. however, much like many other annoying voices, she had become particularly gifted at ignoring it. that is, until the day has finished and the rest of the world is sleeping. except for her, that is. raven was born constantly alert, sometimes to her own detriment. who would she be if she slept through the action? that they wouldn't be there to fight next to her soldiers -- when everything imploded?

he wandered, always wandered. especially throughout the night. if there was one thing noah could guarantee, is that he wouldn't sleep until he found the point of utter exhaustion. but that's simply the way he'd always been. there was always too much to do, too many things to concern himself over; and as of right now, the latest group of people garnering mutations brought through his office and passed along to research had carved their names beneath his eye lids, right beside all of the others.

who : noah cerulli ( @bcrntbcnes ) where : afterglow hospital complex

❝ one thing i have learned in my twenty plus years at afterglow, at this hospital, ❞ felix begins, unprompted, when the doctor walks into the room, not even bothering to look up from the linens in his hands, ❝ is that not even the brightest of scientific minds can make any sense of folding a fitted sheet. ❞

and, to be perfectly fair, the chief medical officer has absolutely no business in the hospital's laundry facilities ― there are far better uses of his time, of course. but it's late, felix has long since finished any work he's needed to complete and there's something strangely therapeutic about the repetitive nature of folding laundry.

or perhaps it's simply that he knows however long he remains in the hospital for work, lieutenant castillo is assigned to his personal security. he expects she is thrilled to find that she is forced to spend her evening watching him fold towels from whatever shadowy corner or security camera feed she's found herself.

he hadn't intended to seek out felix, but as luck would have it, something in the back of his mind felt an iota of relief in stumbling across him - as if he hadn't known the linen might have drawn the other man in with its easy monotony. noah couldn't swallow back the irony quick enough, he never could. not when it came to dr estrada. that he could quietly think the man a monster, and yet know he held little other choice within the palm of his hands other than to find some sense of hope in the man. he was a ticking timebomb, and perhaps felix was the only one who knew how to disarm the inevitable. "as well as can be expected, all things considered." the events of the past few weeks weighed heavy. the onslaught that had come through the emergency room following the hoard weight heavy enough without adding the near loss of his own brother. he could still feel the dried slick of old blood upon his hands now. gritty; lingering. the corner of his mouth twitches with something akin to appreciation, however it's paired with the modesty of a lifted shoulder, because it's nothing; he'd just done what was right, hadn't he? "it was a team effort, honestly." were it not for his attending and surgical team, noah would have long since fallen flat, of that he was certain.

"actually.." the edge of his teeth caught upon one another as he fought against grinding them together. it felt like admitting defeat, each and every time. "i need you to take a look." at his back, it doesn't need to be spoken to flippantly. "i can't be certain, but i believe I'm approaching nerve damage at the very least.." as if instinctual, he flexed his fingers only to bury them within the material of the towel in hand.