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He gets the alert and he drops what he is doing, speeding off to search for his wayward, violent inmate. It takes some time for him to find him and when he does, he discovers the poor state Collins is in. Gritting his teeth, Zichen lifts the man into his arms and takes him to the clinic. Once he wakes, the death toll is no joke. Zichen has paid that toll to himself.

"Who did you anger?" he tuts and lays Dennis on a spare bed, pulling up a seat to sit beside him.

After he washes his hands, of course. It is still difficult to touch others, but he couldn't just leave Collins in a lonely corridor. In this case, his sense of morality - and loyalty - overcame his fear.

Edited 2024-04-25 23:38 (UTC)

Collins doesn't even recognize the clinic at first sight. Though it has that clinical feel to it--bright lights, thin bedding, the smell of cleanliness--and he thinks of a hospital immediately upon waking. His thoughts wander to the last time he was in a hospital. He was there to kill someone. Ty up loose ends.

It's not the same hospital though and he realizes it in short order. He remembers that he's stuck on this forsaken ship that's actually a prison. It's hell pretending to be purgatory. A universal joke full of chaos and lies.

His pale blue eyes skit over the room and stop on Zichen waiting patiently in the chair. He stares for a moment before simply closing his eyes and willing the man away.

Yeah, since Song Zichen isn't a hallucination or a ghost, he can't be willed away so easily. He sees Collins's eyes open - the blue would be hard to miss - but he makes no comment. His inmate is about to pay for his deeds (no matter his reasoning for doing them in the first place). As such, he pours Collins a glass of water.

"I brought you here to be safe. Death tolls tend to vary in intensity." but they are always awful, "If you don't want to talk, we can discuss what happened later. Right now, rest and heal."

The sound of the water pouring made Collins realize just how thirsty he was. He hated that sort of thing. How tempting a simple sound like that could be. He doesn't open his eyes to look.

"Don't like it in tha infirmary. Stupid place ta be ta 'be safe'. And what's tha point? The dead don't need medical attention, just plenty of drugs fer tha pain."

At least he had his music. It still brought him pain to think about where it came from, but it was back and it would keep him company. He didn't need a damn clinic or anyone to look after him. He would manage as he always had: on his own.

Zichen isn't trying to torture him. He sets the glass of water within easy reach - for Collins - and then sits back.

"The death toll was my concern. If you would rather be in your cabin, I can take you there." but he is still concerned, "I had to stay in my cabin for a week when it happened to me." mainly because he couldn't get up and make it to the door.

At least the clinic has medication to ease the misery.

Collins shifted a hand onto his chest and scratched idly at where the wounds had been. The one in the lung had been his doing while the one directly to his heart was from the imp. He snarled silently at the thought then settled impassively again.

He couldn't hurt anyone. Not directly, probably not indirectly either as he'd been told, no way to hurt physically. Not through his own means. He'd have to come up with some other means to extract revenge then. He also smiled at the challenge but managed to keep the thought to himself.

"I'd rather be in me cabin, but ya ain't carryin' me there. I'll make it on my own."

He was too stubborn to be completely down for a week. He would stay in his cabin though. This one really hurt. Then again, it was fresh.

Collins reached out for the water and took a shaky sip. See, no help required. He was fine on his own.

"Careful." Zichen sits forward at the scratching; he had seen those wounds tended to and knew the depth of them. The magic of the Barge never ceases to amaze him, yet in Collins's case he wishes the man wouldn't test the limits of it so much.

"I don't think you can." he states bluntly, "Returning from death has depleted you." and he knows, without a doubt, that Collins had been dead.

He watches him sip from the cup, ready to catch it should it fall from his fingers.

"You might be the most stubborn man in existence."

Edited 2024-04-26 13:05 (UTC)

"Hah," he let out mirthlessly. "I'm fine with that."

At least stubborn didn't mean he was giving up. At least stubborn meant he wasn't succumbing to what was forced upon him.

He set the water down, almost tipping it over in the process, but somehow it stopped wobbling and didn't spill too much. Collins shifted his weight and closed his eyes for a bit again.

"Maybe I just don't like you and don't want yer help, fool."

True enough. No one should crumble under the pressure of another. Being stubborn can be good in that case. In Collins's situation, however, it's...troublesome. And deadly.

Zichen steadies the water cup with a light touch, avoiding any physical contact with his inmate.

"It must be offensive for me to offer you help." he has no trouble seeing it that way and his feelings aren't hurt, "I am older than I look, but not by much."

He's already dead, he doesn't really care at this point. Nor can he fight it anymore. In more ways than one.

"Tha hell do I give a rat's ass about yer age," he retorted with a small snort. "I can't stand all yer badgerin' like some pitiful old lady. Or yer prideful sympathy as if it's not just pity on someone in a different class than yer own. Had fuckin' enough of that back in tha States."

He opened one eye to glare at Zichen. "And ta top it off yer stupidity gets on my last nerve."

"Different class...?" Zichen looks genuinely perplexed, "I have no idea where you fit in your society. I exist on the fringes of mine. I don't care if you're nobility or a commoner."

Morality is what separates people for him. Money, belongings, land just don't matter.

"Is it stupid for me to care about what happens to you?"

"Well tha society here is pretty clear, ain't it? Wardens and inmates."

He could hate a person on that alone. Really does for many of the people present here. And Collins did not have a moral bone in his body. Had not had one for a very long time.

"Yes. Mind yer own business. Yer stupid enough without tryin' harder."

"I don't see it that way." Zichen states flatly, "I am no better than any inmate. Perhaps I can help and that's good, but it doesn't place me above you."

Even his quarters are relatively humble and he hasn't expanded on them much.

"Someone needs to keep an eye on you."

"Well now, what you think makes no bit of difference, does it? It doesn't change tha fact that yer a warden with all tha power here, and I'm an inmate with no say in anything."

And don't give him that bullshit about 'of course he has a say in things' because without fucking permission no he does not. There are places he cannot go and actions that he can no longer take, both of which were not true in his life. Only here.

"I'm not a fuckin' child, you asshole."

"I haven't bullied you, have I?" Zichen would like to point out that there is a reason Collins has so little freedom - multiple reasons, actually. But his dear inmate is convinced that he is merely acting according to his nature. He wonders what will happen when Collins realizes murder is never natural. Or will he ever have that breakthrough?

"Says the man who keeps murdering."

Misbehave and there will be consequences.

"That's my choice ta make," he said simply. "And I'll keep makin' it till tha day I die. Because it's not some cosmic joke's choice ta think he can force me into changin' just because he thinks I don't get ta die when it's my time."

He honestly would rather be in a real prison or dead than be here suffering this unnatural fate. He was ready to take advantage, but not in the way that others would want of him. Certainly not in any way Zichen would be proud.

"Yes, and it is my choice how I respond." Zichen trails off and cocks his head. That's interesting. He shouldn't be surprised at Dennis's choice - death over magic - but there is more to it than that, isn't there.

"You've accepted your death." he finally murmurs, "Was it justified to you?"

"No, it wasn't." He responded bluntly. His acceptance of death had nothing to do with his own. It was more about his philosophy.

Collins seemed to be growing tired. He even shifted to get more comfortable in the infirmary bed. He wouldn't stay for long, not a full day if he had his choice, but with the continuing conversation it seemed a rest was needed before he attempted to get the hell out of here.

"I'm sorry." Zichen murmurs, referring to Dennis's death, "Get some rest." he almost lifts the covers to tuck the man in better, but he stops himself. Dennis Collins is not an inmate who would appreciate fussing of that nature.

Yet Zichen thinks he could use some care. He just has to be careful how he shows it.

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