thirty. private to einstürzen.

[goryteller]

Angelica Einstürzen.

[His voice is rough. Raw. The edges of his words are clipped off, as though he's still learning to use the proper amount of air, learning to breathe the proper breaths.]

I'm here again.

Comments

[thegooddoctor]

Katurian.

[ the way she says his name is laced with intimate knowledge, a faint touch of vicious delight. she's been waiting. ]

We've missed you.

[goryteller]

[The steadiness in his voice fails. Just slightly.]

You have something that belongs to me.

[thegooddoctor]

[ pleasantly: ]

I took a few things, dear boy. But your darling little costume is all I kept.

[goryteller]

I w-would like to remind you how much I know about you, how much I-- have on you, and that you can't quiet me permanently n-no matter how hard you try, no matter what you do. I'll still know it. I'll still know what I know.

[thegooddoctor]

[ she lets him finish without interruption. lets his threat hang in the air a moment or two before she responds with a light little hum of a sound. ]

That's very sweet of you, Katurian. Knowledge can be so very intimate, can't it? [ a light, purposeful pause. ] I so very much liked your mask and your little boots.

[ her voice seems closer now, as if she's leaned towards her communicator. ]

I so very much like what you've been doing.

[goryteller]

[A very long pause. When he speaks again, Katurian's voice has, in contrast, backed up. Physically. Mentally.]

You don't understand what I've been doing.

[thegooddoctor]

Did you want to do to me what you did to them?

[goryteller]

That's a question you don't really need to ask, isn't it.

[thegooddoctor]

Maybe I just wanted to hear you confess.

[ in a mimicry of affection: ]

You really are a vicious boy, aren't you.

[goryteller]

You did something to us. In your laboratory. Before you even attacked, you did something to us.

[thegooddoctor]

[ she makes a low, amused sound. ]

Did I?

[goryteller]

Don't play fucking stupid.

[Despite the curse, there's an almost eerie coolness to the words.]

W-We would've torn you apart, otherwise. You know this because it's already happened.

[thegooddoctor]

[ her tone is almost curious when she replies: ]

Tell me again, Katurian. Why it is that you want so badly to be my executioner.

[goryteller]

[His takes on an edge of panic. He knows the reason, a weakness buried under layers of time and memories.

Nigel.]

What are you trying to say?

[thegooddoctor]

[ her tone is one of patience, like a mother's or a teacher's. ]

We are alike, you and I. You aren't a killer in the name of justice, are you? You, dear boy, are a spirit of vengeance. [ you can almost hear her sharp smile. ] Was it easy to manipulate Terrance Ward into becoming a murderer too?

1/2

[goryteller]

I d-did-- It wasn't--

He--

[goryteller]

[He drops his voice, a harsh whisper.]

Terry didn't kill anyone.

[thegooddoctor]

[ she laughs outright now. a surprisingly light, feminine sound. ]

He would have. He wanted to. [ lower, matching his tone: ] You're making him see, aren't you? What he really is. Well done, Katurian.

[goryteller]

[Ice down his spine. Pinpricks. She might as well be holding a scalpel to his neck once more, but still, he manages the words.]

How did you kill him.

[thegooddoctor]

Slowly.

[ she discusses it as one might discuss a painting or a book, not the death of a boy. ]

The toxin paralyzed him. He likely struggled for several minutes once his lungs began to fail. I suppose the poor thing was probably counting every last faltering breath as he suffocated to death.

[goryteller]

[He takes in this information. He folds it up, carefully. He tucks it in the back of his mind.

He does not get sick, no matter how much he would like to.]

Thank you.

[thegooddoctor]

Are you going to ask how I killed Nigel too?

[goryteller]

No.

[It feels like his throat is filled with rocks.]

I was going to ask what you did with my body.

[thegooddoctor]

[ she's probably smiling. a snake's smile. if he listens, he can hear the uneven rhythm of six fingers drumming against a hard surface idly. ]

I wanted to see what makes you tick. I was getting to know your soft spots.

[goryteller]

You opened me up.

[He doesn't quite believe it, that nausea flickering in the bottom of his stomach.]