What the fuck is that, Boyscout?

Actually getting him hooked up was way harder than Jude expected it to be. The fact was, Jude didn't have a lot of medical knowledge, and there was a bit of trial and error in getting the line in.

But it went better than expected, chugging away for maybe an hour. But by the end of hte hour, Jude was squinting at the machine's (really basic) controls, and deciding that they'd probably done as much as they could.

—-

The second night was much the same, complete with Jude having to explain to Angelo why he kept leaving so late at night. The third was the one where Jude wasn't going to take no for an answer. So he waited until Broen was his captive audience--hooked up to the machine and unable to go anywhere--and then asked.

"Is it working?"

There was no way he hadn't tested.

Jude felt like he was being immunized to Broen's way of speaking. Back in Halcyon he'd never quite gotten used to it. He'd always been bothered by boyscout, probably because it had rubbed him too raw. Now it just felt normal. Now it just felt like home. Boyscout seemed like a good enough name as any.

"I'm concerned it's not going to actually do enough, actually," Jude pointed out, settled down on the chair while Broen sat on the bed, his blood flowing up the tube and vanishing into the machine. "That in the end you'll feel a bit better, but nothing's really going to change because too much is in your body."

Really, the first night had been better. The first night there'd been a lot of fumbling, but there hadn't been any awkward lulls while he watched Broen's blood slip into the machine.

Now there were.

"How's school?"

It was the most blatant attempt to create smalltalk, but at least it'd be more interesting then sitting there and watching.

Smalltalk was the best possible alternative, wasn't it? But fine, if Broen didn't want smalltalk, he could have not-so-smalltalk.

"For the record," Jude said, "you were right. Giltenn does understand Eldritch, and they were in fact talking about you. To give you an exact memorized quote, translated into English..."

He paused for a moment, and then started.

"Do not trust this one. He speaks gold tongued lies. But I will only tell you this. When you break a man's will... things become much easier. And my full self loves to break hotshots."

"They're not used to dealing with people like you," Jude pointed out. "They're used to what they get told in school. That if a bully's bothering you, it means he's just looking for attention, and you should ignore them."

Jude snorted.

"Dad was always very clear that wasn't the truth. When the teachers gave that whole lesson he pulled me aside and told me what to actually do if someone bothered me."

It involved someone learning very quickly not to bother him, more or less.