(no subject)

[meatbrained]

( five + one )

how it works:

i. post a comment with the characters you play.
ii. go around and prompt other players with a 5 + 1 prompt (e.g. "Five times Hope said sorry and one time he didn't")
iii. write a fic for the prompts people leave you!
iv. enjoy your fic? we hope?

Comments

[hornrims]

Five times Richie listened to his brother and one time he didn't

1) Richie Gecko is five years old. Even at five he was much larger than the other children. Some of the teachers said that he would grow into his frame. Others said that he would grow into nothing but trouble.

He feels awkward in his own skin, hunching into himself to appear smaller and not so different. It's not the only aspect that the children notice, but it's the one that makes the most to Richie.

Seth Gecko is six years old, standing next to his brother during recess. His face scrunches as he sees Richie scrunched into himself. "You look stupid. Come on, I found somewhere better."

Richie hops the fence bordering the playground to scale the tree just outside the schoolyard. Up here is different. From here he can touch the sky, hear the overhead planes before anyone else, and feel the rustling of animals that wish to remain hidden. Though Richie knows that he'll be made to come down sooner rather than later, it really doesn't matter. Up here he remains far higher than anyone else can hope to be. And it feels right.

2) Richie Gecko is eight years old. He watches from the street as his house burns to ash. Flashes from the lights of emergency vehicles illuminate the street at night. Seth is shaken, clutching a gray blanket slung around his shoulders by one of the paramedics. Richie remains stone faced and distant, rooted to the spot.

The police on the scene know what kind of man their father was. A thief with a record, history of domestic battery and public intoxication. A real piece of shit. None of the officers seemed surprised that Ray Gecko didn't make it out of the house.

"Well, that's one way to drink yourself to death," Richie can hear one of the officers say with a laugh.

That wasn't the whole story. Their father has passed out with a lit cigarette in his hand, yes, but he wasn't responsible for the accelerant soaked into the carpet. As he watches the house burn, Richie wills for the flames to erase any existence of Ray, down to the bones, down to the layers of filth coating the house.

"It will be okay." Seth's words are shaky and unsure. "We can go live with Uncle Eddie now."

Though Richie doesn't respond, he knows. Now it will be okay.

3) Richie Gecko is twenty years old. They're on their own now. No more guidance from their uncle, no safety net of the Kansas City syndicate. This is it. A car parallel parks in front of the bank, engine still running. The young men dressed in matching black suits and ties look out the windshield. The thought of turning back never occurs to them.

"We've got this, brother," says Seth with a grin, patting the back of Richie's head. "Got your balls on?"

Richie doesn't respond with words, but instead holds out a hand, prompting a handshake between them that they've developed over the years. When they release the clasp of the hands, it's time to go.

"Screwed on tight."

4) Richie Gecko is twenty-eight years old. Seth Gecko's time as a free man outside of a federal prison is one day old. Once again Seth takes control of the car, speeding away long after their trail has been lost. It had taken a lot of time and planning, but Richie had done it. The transfer had proven to be the perfect time to break his brother away from his sentence. Though a disagreement about the risk of a job had lead Seth to fly solo, Richie was not about to let a disagreement between them end up with such extreme results again.

Of course, disagreements between brothers were always bound to happen.

"Look, I'm telling you, Richard, we're stopping here for chicken. I've been in the slammer for five years. I think I've earned my shot at eating what I want."

"Fuck you, man, you didn't earn shit. We are not stopping there."

"You wanna tell that to the bruises still on my ribs? We're getting chicken."

Seth opts to park rather than go into the drive thru. Richie sits in the car with a deep frown as he watches Seth enter the restaurant alone. After a few moments he follows his brother inside.

5 + 1) Richie Gecko is twenty-eight years old. There's a dead hostage in the hotel bedroom. Her eyes are gouged and her stomach gutted. The palms of her hands have been slit, with her eyes stuffed deep into the center of each one.

Upon seeing the body Seth panics, taking Richie by the shoulders and slamming him against the door.

"...This is not who we are. This is not who you are. Say it."

Richie listens, his response is coldly dutiful. "This isn't me."

When Seth demands that Richie say it again, his words run sharp like venom.

"It is me."

[meatbrained]

SCreams yes thank you for breaking my heart on this cold autumn morning. ;_;