[FIN][Yael] Not Far From The Tree [Kaleth | Ko]

[MissMisnomer]

Catching the barest ghost of a smile on Kaleth’s face, Ko felt a renewed sense of purpose, his mission a worthy cause after all. Sometimes he was supposed to respect Kal's boundaries and leave him alone to do his own thinking in peace: this was not one of those times. He was proud of himself for being able to successfully recognize that.

“Hi!” he whispered back, waving up at him. “This is a weird angle I've never been in before, so I'm just gonna come out a bit more, okay?” Without waiting for permission, he wiggled himself out from underneath the bed until he was fully exposed, and after some shuffling around, leaned to sit with the frame of the opposite cot at his back, still below easy eye level of anyone passing by, but at least he wasn't having to talk up to Kal's crotch any more.

“Phew, this has been quite the adventure,” he breathed, fixing the bandage on his forehead. “I should learn how to puke on demand, that would be super useful in the future!”

Tipping his head, he cast a scrutinizing eye over the older boy in front of him. “You look pretty bad, they haven't patched you up yet, have they? I mean, I guess that makes sense, prioritizing, since the others aren't doing very well-” Catching himself, he closed his mouth, pursing his lips. Probably not the polite thing to do: talk about the condition of people someone had just beaten the s**t out of.

But then again, that was kinda why he was here. They couldn't ignore that.

[8/10]  

[Miss Chief aka Uke]

Phew…

Kal eyed the wrapping about Ko’s head with new, puzzled concern as Ko adjusted it. He didn’t remember Ko getting hurt. Had someone else hit him? It might have been a more immediately angering thought except that he had seen Ko at the door and he had looked fine. He still looked fine, chipper as ever. Which begged the question how he was here.

Had Ko just…insisted that he didn’t feel well until they’d wrapped his head and left him be?

Kal was still in the midst of this musing when Ko directed his own inquiry at him, drawing him back to the moment. He grunted with a shake of the head. “It’s fine,” he said. “I’m fine…”

Since the others aren’t doing very well…

That gut-fear that had struck him early in the aftermath, of not knowing exactly how much damage he had actually done, twisted again with only slightly muted intensity. “Are they not…? Even with healers?”  

[MissMisnomer]

“No no, they are,” Ko said, shaking his head. “They rushed them there right away, I didn't get to see that much, just a bit, I helped set up the area for them. But it's…”

He frowned, rubbing at his legs. “It's not looking too good, Kal. I think one boy's arm was broken; it wasn't bent the way it's supposed to. I…heard them say ‘concussion’.”

Looking up, he tucked his hands between his knees, tone hushed. “This is serious, Kal. You realize that, right? I've seen a few fights, I've gotten caught up in more than one. And, I'm not…going to say you shouldn't have fought them. That wouldn't be fair, or true: sometimes you can't reason with people, no matter how much you try. They are looking to hurt someone. Some boys are just like that, they think that it will accomplish something, make their lives a bit more whole…or maybe bringing someone down makes them feel bigger, I can't say…”

He shifted, rubbing an old scar on his wrist. “I don't really care for violence. But there's a difference between defending yourself and acting as judge, jury, and executioner. And what you did Kal…you know that was too much, right?”

[9/10]  

[Miss Chief aka Uke]

At the initial assurance, some of that reflexive tension eased back out. If any of them seemed like they were going to die, Ko would have said so then. And that wasn’t the case. So Kaleth could put that concern to rest for now. At what followed, however, he frowned.

You realize that, right?

As if he might not. As if he wasn’t far more familiar with this situation than Ko—except, Kal reminded himself, from Ko’s perspective, this was new, at least in its degree of brutality. He couldn’t blame the boy for being uncomfortable. If anything, he was taking it far better than Kaleth had feared he might.

“It is serious,” Kal agreed, touching the pads of his fingers together because there was little else they could do in their position. “And it was too much,” he said. “But not because of broken limbs or concussions…as long as none of them die, I don’t care. If he can never use his arm again he deserves it…” But. He shifted his fingertips against one another. “I lost control. So that was too much…”

I shouldn’t have so little power over myself.

His eyes trailed across the floor, over to Ko, finally studying him in earnest. “And I wish you didn’t have to see that. I get…” He hesitated, “…angry, sometimes…”  

[MissMisnomer]

Kal seemed serious enough, he looked properly despondent. But what he was saying, and how he was acting; things weren't lining up. At least, not the way Ko would think they should. Kal didn't seem to regret the damage he had done to the boys, the level of aggression he'd used: he seemed more concerned with the fact that it wasn't what he had expected. As if it was fine to send people to the hospital, but if you did it without meaning to, that's when it was bad?

He frowned.

“But I did see it, Kal,” he said, fidgeting coming to a stop. “That can never change, and it's something I can't pretend didn't happen. I will be honest, because I made that promise to you, and I meant it.”

His voice dropped, hesitant. “You scared me, Kal. Seeing you, like a wild animal…it was upsetting. I didn't know you had that much anger in you. And I wish you had told me that this is a normal thing for you. I might have been able to help…do something else before things got so bad…”

[10/10]  

[Miss Chief aka Uke]

You scared me…

Kaleth winced. This was exactly what he had hoped to avoid—but he couldn’t be surprised, and he supposed, even, that he ought to be grateful Ko said as much at all. He had been frightened, but here he was, sitting in front of him still. And in the moment, when things had been far worse, far more dangerous…

He had been right there, too.

Kaleth had almost hit him. The memory came back like a chastisement, shoving in his face what might have happened—if he’d had only a sliver less control, if he had hurt Ko or some other uninvolved bystander.

Or if Ko hadn’t stopped him at all, and things had progressed into a worse state than they had. “I’m sorry…” he murmured at length, “…that I scared you. And…” Another moment’s hesitation, after which his words came quieter still, “…thank you…”

For intervening when you did. For being braver than every other boy in the room. For being here now.

“It’s not…” Normal? It certainly was a pattern of his, and though it may only have happened a handful of times, it was of the level of seriousness that even once was too many, and a habit couldn’t be excused, even if it consisted only of ‘limited’ number of times. One hand fiddled with the metal encasing the opposite wrist. He sighed. “I was…hoping it wouldn’t happen again, here. I’ve been kicked out of other schools before, I’m sure you’ve heard someone say it. I told you when we met I might not be here long, but…”

But?

It all, in the end, came back to the same thought.

“I wanted it to be different this time. I didn’t want you to need to know…and I didn’t want you to be afraid of me. It’s not…something I brag about.”  

[MissMisnomer]

It was odd and almost unsettling seeing Kaleth in such a slumped, submissive state, head hanging as he mumbled. He was usually such a solid figure, sure of himself, and unforgiving in his straightforward nature. This felt like looking at another person entirely. Someone Ko didn’t recognize.

But he wanted to.

“Kal…” he sat up more, staff be damned, scooting forward to get closer. “I’m not afraid of you. That other boy, the one who snapped...that’s not really you. I could tell. You were nowhere to be found when he was on the rampage. That’s who I’m scared of.”

He tucked his fingers into Kal’s, holding his hand.

“We’re friends, and friends don’t keep secrets from each other. It’s your turn to be honest with me. I want to help, but I can’t do that if we don’t talk to each other. Even when it comes to the things you’d rather not say…”

His grip tightened.

“Tell me why those boys made you so mad. What happened to your father?”

[11/10]  

[Miss Chief aka Uke]

But that’s me too…

Just not a state of himself he was fond of, or that he knew what to do with. He didn’t want to personally adopt the cop out of pretending it was suddenly ‘someone else’ when he got worked into such a state. But, perhaps from Ko’s perspective, it was a fair attitude, and not one Kaleth could begrudge him. It was kind, even. To separate his judgment, and give Kaleth the benefit of the doubt, reserving his discomfort for just that sliver of behavior and not allowing it to stain his entire view of Kaleth.

Ko’s fingers slipped into his, and he found his grip clutching loosely, instinctively. Grateful, regardless of however little he lingered on communicating it verbally.

“It’s not a secret…” he said eventually. “You just never asked. And…”

What happened to your father?

A shadow of his earlier anger twisted through his gut like the keldari that had slid out of his locker. But, like the serpent, it too was headless and cold now, a harmless wreck of its former self, and not directed at Ko besides.

“My father’s in prison,” he said. “The boy I hit first…he said that his head should have been put on a pike. Some people…” How to put it? Kaleth frowned. “Some people think my father did some bad things. He was a businessman. He worked with a lot of important people…” His fingers shifted in Ko’s grip, gaze becoming more unfocused as his thoughts moved inward and backward. “I’m still not sure what actually happened, but he was taken away when I was eight, and I remember that everything changed. There are people who blame him for the death of family members or friends…they’ve said he arranged for people to vanish, or their businesses to be ruined, but…”

A familiar prickle of aged indignation and disbelief stirred under his skin.

“Nobody knows anything about him. He was a good man, and he shouldn’t be gone in the first place…I fight people who say otherwise to my face. It’s…gotten me in a lot of fights.”  

[MissMisnomer]

Ko did his best to simply listen to whatever Kal had to say, keeping his attention on a tight leash, as it was prone to wander often. But this was significant, he couldn’t afford to lose focus. Not when it was clearly so important to Kal.

And what was revealed was...unexpected, to say the least. Why Ko had never heard of any of this before, was beyond him. Surely he should have caught wind of something this big? People vanishing, businesses ruined...everything sure sounded newsworthy to him. But then, it couldn’t be argued that Ko had the tendency to live in his own little world: perhaps he HAD been informed before, but didn’t listen, or forgot. It hadn’t been relevant to him before.

But now, it was.

“That’s…” He paused, thinking. “A lot. Maybe, and I’m sorry if this comes off a bit…”

What?

Ko pushed forward anyways.

“Maybe, don’t fight every person who disagrees with you? I can’t form an opinion, since this is the first I’ve heard of any of it; I don’t know anything about your family, except what you’ve literally just said. But everyone has their own personal opinion, and their side of a story. Have you considered that they just might be uninformed? Maybe they heard the wrong thing from someone else, someone who was biased?”

He kept his hand firmly in Kal’s come what may. “Either way, you might not like to hear this, but I think you should try to take a step back whenever the topic is brought up. Even if you argue, or throw a punch, some people will never let their mind be changed once it’s been made up. And if this sort of thing happens every time someone says something you don’t like…”

He frowned, worry wrinkling his freckled brow.

“Eventually, you’ll do it too many times, or to the wrong person. And I won’t be able to help, because what if I can’t be there? Especially if you’re kicked out of this school too...I don’t want to lose one of my only friends, Kal.”

[12/10]  

[Miss Chief aka Uke]

‘Maybe don’t.’

Kaleth snorted, but didn’t otherwise react. Ko meant well, and it wasn’t as though it was harmful advice—just not perhaps the most helpful, no matter how well-intended. “I don’t fight everyone who disagrees with me. Just the ones stupid enough to come looking for a fight. They-”

Ko had seen, though.

Or, he’d seen the keldari, and from that he could probably guess that it wasn’t limited to this, that baiting happened in various forms. But even so, he was right to an extent. Kaleth knew he shouldn’t let it get to him. Not so quickly, so easily, so much.

It was too much power to give to other people, to allow himself to snap at the slightest provocation. It didn’t further any of his goals, and if anything, it weakened his overall position and made the losers ‘right.’ Martyrs by default. Besides — Especially if you’re kicked out of this school, too… — he didn’t want to be kicked out of this school.

He breathed out.

“I’ll try. I avoid most people anyway.” And maybe once would be enough of a warning to discourage repeat instigators. Maybe — hopefully — he wouldn’t be expelled for only one infraction.  

[MissMisnomer]

“Good,” Ko said, breathing out a sigh as tension left his shoulders. “I’ll try to help as much as I can, so don’t get too annoyed when I end up under-foot, alright?”

He gave Kal’s hand one more good squeeze before releasing it, finger pointing up at the other boy’s face instead. “Reacting only validates their claims; you’ve gotta be better than what they say you are. That’s the only way to start fixing things, heading in the right direction. End the cycle.”

Flicking out his pinky instead, he waved it, cherubic face set into a determined mask of seriousness. “Promise you’ll try really hard, okay? Or I’m not going to defend you anymore, everything will be your fault if you don’t make the effort. Promise me.”

[13/10]  

[Miss Chief aka Uke]

“Mm.” After the first inquiry, Kal gave a nod. He wasn’t usually annoyed with Ko, and didn’t imagine having him about would worsen things. If anything, just that might help ward off flash reactions. On this occasion, Ko hadn’t even known what to look for, and at its early triggering point, Kal had essentially forgotten Ko’s existence, blindsided by his anger.

Maybe if Ko had dragged him back sooner-

Not that he could rely on that, but it wasn’t an objectionable thought.

When Ko went on, though, Kal grunted. He knew, of course, that Ko was again right to an extent. Lashing out only proved to those who challenged him that he was exactly what they thought he and his family were. Monsters that shouldn’t be here. And he didn’t want to make them right—but he did want to make them pay. It was a difficult paradox.

Ko waved his little finger, and Kal blinked down at the peculiar gesture. Promise you’ll try really hard, okay? Or…everything will be your fault… A guilty knot pulled in his stomach, and he breathed out with a minute nod, despite his frown. It was a fair request.

“I promise,” he said. He’d never really had a motivating reason prior to avoid trouble—other than a vague understanding that it was ‘bad’ and would cause his aunt and uncle stress—but these were not pressing to him. He hadn’t cared.

Now, though…

If he got kicked out of this school, he would probably lose contact with the first person to really try to befriend him in a long, long time. He had something to lose.

“They’re not worth it. I can do better.”  

[MissMisnomer]

All things considered, Ko was glad to hear Kaleth agreeing with him without raising a fuss at all. He didn’t think himself a very persuasive boy, but Ko meant every word, and that’s what mattered: he wanted to let the logic of his statements do the convincing, not any fancy talking tricks. He felt he was right in this particular situation. That didn’t happen very often, and he was going to make the most of it.

But all the same, he frowned, gesture left hanging.

Moving his finger forward further, he sat up onto his knees, holding it right up to Kal’s chest. “I don’t care how immature this is ― if you call me a kid, fine ― but I want you to take my pinky, Kal. Connecting words with actions helps me remember them, and it might help you remember too.”

“Pinky swear.”

[14/10]  

[Miss Chief aka Uke]

On some occasions, Kaleth admittedly may have brushed off Ko’s rituals not because he didn’t understand what the boy was going for, but simply because he thought it unnecessary or silly or better left to Ko himself. In this case, however, Kaleth was — despite the commonness of the thing in actuality — genuinely clueless as to what Ko was attempting to communicate, though when the boy pushed his finger forward it did become all the more clear it was indeed something.

Take my pinky, Kal…

He stared, puzzled, at it and then Ko, reaching. “Take…?”

When he first clasped a hand lightly around the digit, however, the first flicker of reaction in Ko’s face told him this was not what was being asked of him, and he resorted hastily to his second guess: catching his own pinky on Ko’s. His brow was still pinched, in confusion more than anything else as he looked to Ko, their fingers locked.

“Is this…? What’s a ‘pinky swear?’”  

[MissMisnomer]

In any scenario Ko could have fathomed, it had never even occurred to him that someone might not know the most basic of childhood rituals: cootie-shots, spittin-to-seal-the-deal, cross-my-heart. But as Kal floundered, clearly confused, holding onto his pinky before he got it right, Ko realized perhaps there were people out there without the knowledge of this most sacred of vows. He stared at Kal, looking from his face, to their linked fingers, and back again, honestly at a loss for words.

“It’s...it’s a…” He gestured, emphasizing their connection. “A pinky swear, Kal. Have you...never done one before? Ever ever? Even when you were a kid? How could you have missed this, it’s only like, one of the cornerstones of childhood bonding?”

He raised his eyebrows, feeling silly. Which was ridiculous: Kal was the one who was a know-nothing, why should he feel embarrassed? “So just, say your promise again, out loud, and then ‘shake’ them. It’s a thing kids do. I did it. I still do, it’s...just more special that way?”

[15/10]