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Post by Erik Destler on Feb 24, 2009 18:53:20 GMT -5
"Nothing for the moment. But come here."
He beckoned the boy closer, taking his hand and pressing his little fingers to the man's pulse at his neck.
"Always check twice." he muttered and then rolled him over onto his stomach, dragging the body upward so that Simon was closer to his lower legs.
"Being as short as you are now, the best thing you can do is to disable any attacker by ridding him of his ability to stand."
Again Simon's hand was taken and pressed to the back of the man's knee.
"The pair of tendons here. If you cut them, he will drop like a stone to the ground and be too preoccupied with screaming and holding himself to worry about you slitting his throat."
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Simon Destler
- Ingenious Pilot -
A lost boy. Not a Lost Boy.
Posts: 222
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Post by Simon Destler on Feb 24, 2009 19:01:54 GMT -5
He listened carefully, though the lesson made his stomach turn. Still, he did not want to present a face of fear to his father again, and tried to keep himself from looking sick.
"What if he already has me?" asked Simon, considering that much as a concern when he had faced the other Erik in the cellars. Since he had not been able to see where the man had been in shadows, he could have been done for then.
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Post by Erik Destler on Feb 24, 2009 19:12:07 GMT -5
"Well then, use whatever you have--feet, fists, a rock or a knife--and smash it into his balls."
He grinned again and worked at the man's collar, exposing his throat.
"But don't think twice about what you're doing or you'll end up raped or dead."
Erik pulled off the man's neckwear and stuffed it into his mouth.
"When you have him down, sit him from ear to ear, or if you can't reach, just cut across here with as much force as you can muster." He traced his fingers over the man's windpipe around to his jugular. "On this side. Very important. And best to do it from the opposite side if you don't want to end up bathed in blood."
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Simon Destler
- Ingenious Pilot -
A lost boy. Not a Lost Boy.
Posts: 222
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Post by Simon Destler on Feb 24, 2009 19:49:10 GMT -5
"Don't think twice," repeated the young man with a nod, trying to swallow all this at once. The technical way his father explained it did not make it easier to understand, only gave him a grounding to work from. He would need experience in defending himself like this, and the only way to gain experience was with practice. As he did with the violin.
Moving out of this father's grip, Simon positioned himself near the top of the man's head, and away from where he had been warned about the blood spray. He touched the pulse on the man's neck and felt it running faintly under his fingertips.
Thinking again about how the man had been so ready to kill an old man for a few coins, in the brief moments following, it all came up with memories of seeing more of the same done to other men and women, and Simon's hand around the small knife was moving through the man's throat before he was well aware of what he was doing.
When he was done, he looked down at his bloody hands, seeming yet unaffected by the act.
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Post by Erik Destler on Feb 24, 2009 20:43:29 GMT -5
Destler sat quiet a moment, not having had the moment to react. He hadn't meant for Simon to kill the man, he planned on doing that himself. After a moment, he cleared his throat and pulled another kerchief from his coat, handing it to the boy to clean his hands and standing to lift the man by the ankles, holding the gurgling body away from them over the gutter to let it drain faster.
"In the future, unless the situation really calls for it, it might be more sporting to allow your opponent to be conscious..." He wasn't going to tell Simon he'd killed the man for no reason, he had merely thought of showing Simon what to do and then rousing the man to demonstrate. Well, all the better now. The boy had killed and it would get easier from there.
"Now of course, you have no need for a mask so I won't bother to show you how to skin them--unless you want to learn that, of course."
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Simon Destler
- Ingenious Pilot -
A lost boy. Not a Lost Boy.
Posts: 222
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Post by Simon Destler on Feb 24, 2009 20:53:04 GMT -5
"He wouldn't have been sporting attacking an old man," replied Simon quietly, cleaning his hands off, then the knife. The smell still lingered around him - he'd need a bath, he reasoned - but still listened to his father. He still had his own mixed feelings about what he'd just done, and it wiped his face clean of any sort of expression for the time being.
"Skin them?" he repeated, coming out of his small haze when his father's voice woke him up. It took him a moment to put the two together and he gave Erik a bit of an odd look. "Why would I want to wear someone's face?"
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Post by Erik Destler on Feb 24, 2009 21:02:31 GMT -5
"For fun? How should I know. I don't wear that sort of mask anymore because I don't have anything to sew it on to, and the only people who matter to me are used to or getting used to my face anyway."
He swung the body back around and laid it down on the ground again. "Check twice."
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Simon Destler
- Ingenious Pilot -
A lost boy. Not a Lost Boy.
Posts: 222
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Post by Simon Destler on Feb 24, 2009 21:27:18 GMT -5
"Twice." Simon leaned over and pressed his fingers around the bloody mess of the man's neck, finding no pulse to be had. He cleaned his hands again and decided that the skinning lessons could come at a later date. "He's dead."
For just killing a man when not too long ago he thought he would never do such a thing, Simon seemed all right. Not so scared anymore, at least. Standing from the body, he looked up at his father. "Anymore for tonight, sir?" he asked, still unreasonably calm.
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Post by Erik Destler on Feb 24, 2009 22:11:56 GMT -5
Erik chuckled and tousled the boy's hair affectionately.
"No, I think one murder is quite enough for one night for a boy your age. Unless you'd like to go prowling for one of those despicable souls who preys on young boys? Teach him a lesson?"
He knelt to pack everything back into the stained old bag and clipped it closed, standing.
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Simon Destler
- Ingenious Pilot -
A lost boy. Not a Lost Boy.
Posts: 222
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Post by Simon Destler on Feb 24, 2009 22:47:56 GMT -5
Simon considered the idea, looking down at the little knife in his hand. Perhaps it would make him feel better... confronting one of the many monsters he'd learned to avoid in the past. Of course, that would mean baiting a man and taking him down as instructed. Well, all in the name of practice...
"I think I would like that, Father," he said, contemplating the act. "Not just for me, though. It'd be a public service."
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Post by Erik Destler on Feb 24, 2009 22:53:23 GMT -5
The Composer smiled--so perhaps there was something of himself in the boy after all--and patted his shoulder, leaning down to instruct him on how to hide the knife and pull it out for use quickly.
"I will be right behind you in the shadows should anything go amiss, you needn't worry."
And they were out again, to somewhere more populated, Erik letting Simon walk alone while he followed unseen in the dark spaces.
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Simon Destler
- Ingenious Pilot -
A lost boy. Not a Lost Boy.
Posts: 222
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Post by Simon Destler on Feb 24, 2009 23:25:17 GMT -5
Walking along the street, Simon felt a little safer with his father nearby and the knife hidden away on his person. If there was anything of his mother left to him, it was his ability to pick out certain types of people within a few minutes of spotting them.
Drawing out one such person, he tried to remain brave and calm when the man made a comment to his pretty golden curls and suggested they make use of a nearby alleyway. Keeping a couple steps ahead of the man, Simon kept his hands in his pockets, his little heart pounding. He let the man get close enough to grab him by the hair, then produced his knife, managing to slit the man's wrist and tendons and earn him a right smack across the mouth when the man flailed in pain. A short scuffle landed Simon against the wall, lip bleeding from where he bit himself in the fight. The man was down, and Simon forced him onto his back with his foot, checking for a pulse before digging his knife through the man's neck, and for good measure, shoved the blade into his pelvis... a couple times.
It had not been incredibly discreet, nor as quick and clean as he could have hoped, but he was learning. And the man was dead now, Simon a mess. He leaned against the wall again, his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath.
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Post by Erik Destler on Feb 24, 2009 23:45:52 GMT -5
The Maestro materialized forward from the wall, arms over his chest.
"Check twice, Simon. Always check twice."
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Simon Destler
- Ingenious Pilot -
A lost boy. Not a Lost Boy.
Posts: 222
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Post by Simon Destler on Feb 24, 2009 23:56:05 GMT -5
Simon took a deep breath and leaned back down over the man, checking for a pulse amid the mess of his neck. "Ugh, he's cold..." grunted the boy, wiping his hand off on the man's shirt, not that it really improved his filthy appearance any.
"I want to go home now..." he said, sounding tired from his excursion.
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Post by Erik Destler on Feb 24, 2009 23:59:44 GMT -5
"Very well. A bit sloppy--go for the knees, my boy, not the arms. If you take out one leg you cripple him, if you take out one arm, you make him angry. See? And a good jab to his nethers is better served when he's still alive."
He chuckled and stroked a hand through Simon's hair, reaching down to pluck the knife from his hand and return it to the bag.
"Come along, then. Would you like some cake? Boys like cake, don't they?"
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