[CLOSED] like a puzzle.

[deacon reid rudman]

Deacon sat in the middle of the living room with Bandit, getting her to put her ABC's in order. It wasn't easy, but she was starting to get it.

"A is'a for apples." She told Deacon, handing him the block with the A on it. He nodded and smiled, sitting it on the table.

"Yeah. Very good. What's B for?" He asked, handing her he block with the B on it.

"B is's for baaaabies." She told him, and he chuckled, nodding his head. "C is'a for Connor 'n cookies 'n chocolate." She said, handing him the next block. He smiled, sitting the two blocks on the table next to each other. "D is'a for daddy. I wanna go see daddy."

"You can't go see daddy, baby. He's sleeping." He said, handing her the block with the E on it.

"E is for edaphant."

"Elephant."

"Edaphant." She said stubbornly, handing it back to him.

[connor crayze sykes]

The past two or three days, all Connor had even does was sleep. He had barely eaten, though his stomach wasn't as upset as it had been since they gave him the medicine he had reacted to poorly. He yawned, shivering, unaware of his fever as he pulled the blankets close. Eyes opened and he jumped at the clear image of his father staring at him, cried out and scrambled back. "G-go away," He choked. But the moment he blinked, the figure was gone. He wiped drool from the corners of his mouth, looking around, on edge and wary. He drew in a breath, eyes cautious.

[deacon reid rudman]

Deacon heard Connor moving around upstairs, and picked Bandit up, climbing the stairs. He pushed open the door, eyeing him warily. Back at the base, they had said some parasite that had been lying dormant had awoken after over a hundred years. And the last time, it caused a lot of deaths and turmoil. And they had no way of figuring out who had it and who didn't. Not unless they got tested.

"Are you okay?" He asked, sitting Bandit down on the floor. She toddled over to him, wrapping her arms around him tightly. He couldn't help thinking he was looking sicker than he had before.

"Yub oo, daddy. Yub oo." She told him, kissing his cheek.

[connor crayze sykes]

Connor nodded. "F-fine," He mumbled absently, hugging Bandit close. "Love y-you too.." He breathed, kissing her head. He shifted his weight, pillow dropping to the floor, and jumped at the muffled sound. Yawning, he rubbed at an eye tiredly, curled back up and hugged Bandit, gently playing with her hair.

[deacon reid rudman]

Deacon sat down carefully on the edge of the bed, watching him warily. He was starting to get a headache for no reason, probably from thinking too much. 'If it was over a hundred years ago, then you should remember..' He kept thinking, but he couldn't remember any parasite plague. Not here, anyways. All he could think of was what would happen if it stopped being a biological mutation and became transferable.

"A for apples, daddy." She told him, cuddling close. She looked up at him, obviously wanting just as much pride in her to come from Connor as Deacon.

[connor crayze sykes]

Connor smile. "It s-sure is...good job baby..." He kept an arm around her, chewing at his thumbnail before tearing it with a faint wince. He stared down at the blood for a moment, closed his eyes. But he remained alert, tense.

[deacon reid rudman]

"Ew, daddy." Bandit said, wrinkling her nose. She tried pulling away, didn't want blood on her. Deacon walked to the bathroom, grabbing a rag. He quickly pulled his hand away before he could get blood on Bandit, knew she would never stop screaming if that happened. He held tightly onto his hand, sitting down next to him on the bed. He chewed on one of his snake bites, pulling the rag back to check the bleeding before he pressed the rag back to it.

"You lost enough blood, Connor. You need to stop biting your nails." He told him, saw Bandit was hesitantly snuggling close to him, wary of the blood.

[connor crayze sykes]

Connor stared up at him emotionlessly. "It's j-just a nail.." He mumbled, glancing past him. His father grinned, pulled the trigger of the gun in hand. The sound rang in his head along with his cry as he scrambled backwards, dark wings bursting through his back out of instinct, staring at the corner of the room in his crouched position.

[deacon reid rudman]

"I don't care that it's just a nail, Connor. You're still bl-" He threw his arms up instinctively over his face, heard Bandit cry out and scramble for him. She climbed up onto him, and he hugged her tightly, carefully dropping the bloody rag to the floor.

"Fuck, Connor.. What's wrong with you?" He asked, rocking Bandit slowly. She stuck her fingers in her mouth, looking over at Connor with bright blue eyes.

"Daddy scare me.." She cried, trying to get closer to Deacon.

"Ow, Bandit.. Stop with the cup checking." He complained, hugging her close. He couldn't help thinking that Connor had been acting really strange, that he wasn't being himself. And that bothered Deacon, especially after Connor seemed to actually want him in the hospital. 'I guess everything goes downhill..' He thought, playing with Bandit's hair.

[connor crayze sykes]

Connor worked his jaw, now vibrant blue eyes looking over at the two. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "N-nothing's wrong with me," He snapped somewhat visciously, the lightsbin the room popping and going dark with a soft whisper of shadows, the power of the fallen. He'd never showed Deacon this side of him, but knew he probably knew what a fallen angel was like. Still, something was off, he felt irritable, like somebody was watching them. All he wanted was to sleep without being bothered, found himself too edgy right now.