What He Is
Who: Peter
When: After his week in Zero
Where: Zero, then sporadically around the ship, and cabin 516
What: Peter loses something
Warning: tbd
When Lahabrea explained what was going to happen, and why, Peter argued. How was this any different than what he'd done to those adults, how was this any different from maiming him? He shouted and screamed and tried to kick the warden in the shins, to claw at his face and get his hands around his neck.
And it happened anyway.
He stays three days in his cell in Zero after his week is up and the door unlocks, because he does not want to be seen like this. He might be easy to overlook, translucent and wispy like something about to blow away.
He's a shade of sand and tree roots, boy-shaped and long-fingered, leaving small bare footprints of damp dust as he paces the cell. The clearest thing about him is that he has two faces; one the sweet and innocent face of a child, with vague soft features but a shining smile and a tiny orb of light hanging above its forehead: the other a sharp-angled creature with so many long, long teeth. Both faces share a single pair of grass-green eyes.
When he can't stand the cell any longer, he still keeps himself to out of the way places, venting his anger and frustration where he can. His teeth and claws are useless – he can slash all he wants at the cushions of a common room sofa, but they don't tear for him. The best he manages is flipping over the basket of cutlery in the dining hall, or knocking over potted plants in the greenhouse.
And when he's worn out of that, he goes to the one place on the ship he's avoided since he arrived – his own cabin, the cracked tree-trunk on Deck Five that leads to the empty hollow he once found for his boys. It's strewn with cushions of branches and hides – enough space for all of them to sleep.
For only him.

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When she finally catches his scent, her mouth twitches in curiosity. It's recognisably the same scent, but it's different: more brackish, less organic, the peppery tingle of magic more pronounced. She is less surprised than she might have been, when she comes across him in a common room - though she wouldn't in any case have let herself show it.
"Oh, there you are. That doesn't look very entertaining."
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“What do you want?” he asks, and at least his voice is still his own.
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"You remind me of someone I knew. It's got me interested."
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“Who?”
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"My second inmate, my Vic. Not really that much alike, I s'pose - Vic were a seven foot unkillable cat man. But you've got some of the same attitudes."
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"That's just what Vic would've said and all. And you're both right, of course, and also really, fundamentally missing the point."
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“How’d you get your hand back on?” he asked, not wanting to continue that topic. He’s already checked the chickens - he knows his prizes are gone.
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It's kind of true, she thinks, and she's disinclined to tell Peter any more.
"I like that angler fish thing you've got going on. Very on the nose."
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"What fish?"
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"They're hungry fish with big, sharp teeth, and they live very far down in the dark deeps. They 'ave a little dangly thing on their 'eads, and it makes other fish think it's something worth 'aving, so they come closer to check it out."
She mimes the movement of a curious fish with her hands.
"And when they're close enough, snap! Crunch! The angler fish eats 'em!"
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But from one monster to another, potted plants belong upright and unshattered. Wen Ning is not very good at laying down the law, but... But really!
Too new and shy of the network to connect any of this to discussions of murders and missing hands, he walks up and lets himself loom. He's tall and spooky when he's not hunched over trying not to exist. The effect is a bit damaged when he speaks in the voice of a shy, mumbly teenager. "What did the plant do to you?"
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“Why even have something so easy to break?”
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The guy? Kid? He looks vaguely childlike at least... but he's clearly a demon or something along those lines. Not the first time he's seen two faces on a creature so once it notices him he just gives a shrug.
"Look I'd offer to fuck that shit up for you, but it usually doesn't make you feel any better by making someone else do it."
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"... Do it," he says after a moment's consideration, and holds the pillow out to him.
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...actually the worst is probably the fluff in his teeth now. Once he's done, he's still picking at bits of it.
"That about do it for you?"
Common Room
"Well, well, well. If it isn't the consequences of your own actions."
Re: Common Room
"Don't talk to me." He doesn't know who this is, and doesn't care. Every adult aboard is complicit in this humiliation, as far as Peter's concerned. Well, maybe not John.
Re: Common Room
He smiles.
“Or what?” he asks sweetly.
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"Ho there. My name is Cassia. I come from the forest and the mountains, and I won't do you any harm."
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No, she's fine, she can do this on her own. She does her very best to keep her voice even and steady.
"Is this what you really are?"
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Peter's flat on the floor again, because he's feeling pathetic and wants
Jamieeveryone to know that. The edges of him are indistinct, sand seeming to smear out around him, gathering and dispersing again when he moves. When he looks at her, it's the child's face, eyes grass-green and narrowed with the little lighted lure floating between them."No, I'm a boy. This is- this is horrible," he says, voice tired. His eyes flick to her hand, but this face doesn't make expressions, only a glassy smile.
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“Cutting hands off was always Jamie, anyway.” He sighs, and looks back at the ceiling. “And now my everything is cut off, and something else sewn on instead.”
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She cuts herself off, crosses her arms tighter.
"...Do you think what's happening to you right now is fair? Does it make you upset?"
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"You got a bunch of attention, hurting people, and you're not even locked in the cell any more. And now you're whining like a girl who doesn't feel pretty enough. Why should I feel sad for you?"
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“This room isn’t any worse than any other room here, why should I bother going anywhere else?” he snaps, ignoring the rest of what she said and intending to forget it.
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It's only once Peter's week in Zero concludes and he yet shows no sign of leaving that Lahabrea makes an appearance, and if he is the slightest bit bothered by how the Admiral has chosen to enact his request, he makes no mention of it. Instead he merely offers a polite nod in Peter's direction before speaking.
"You are free to go."
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"What difference does it make? The whole ship's just the same as this."
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"It is no less a prison to many."
Not all, but Lahabrea is under no illusions that it is as good as a prison to those who are unable to leave or otherwise object to the nature of the Barge.
"Yet I would not expect to find any comfort on this level, as opposed to others."