itinere | Open: In the eye of the hurricane, there is quiet ....

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Open: In the eye of the hurricane, there is quiet ....

There are moments in a person's life when everything makes sense, just as there are moments when the opposite is true.

When the monsters appear in Itinere, some may panic, but Noah Czerny feels a kind of strange calm. It's almost as if this is what a part of him has been waiting for.

He is no fighter. That's Ronan's thing, even if his friend has tried to teach him. Noah, having been raised privileged, never needed to learn how to fight. Perhaps that's why his supposed best friend at the time - Whelk - was able to off him with a skateboard.

Now, in this moment, as he sees something come down the street, right at him, just as he was going to find his friends, to check on them, to check on Jill and Lucy, Noah sees this thing and he stands there and he feels ... calm.

Perhaps he never did anything, really, in his life. Perhaps it was after his death that he was able to make any kind of difference at all, for the only real friends he ever had. And perhaps that is why, right now, he stands his ground as this thing advances. Perhaps if he can do just one good thing, it would have all been worthwhile. Perhaps finding himself in a living body wouldn't have been all for naught.

So, yes, in the middle of a street in Itinere stands an eternally-seventeen year old boy, facing a creature that shouldn't exist. It's not going to end well, but that doesn't mean Noah isn't going to try.

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It happened completely by accident. Adam's at the garage working, something strange comes in and attacks, Adam panics and slams the sharp side of a hammer into the thing's head and it falls to the ground. At first he thought he'd just killed someone. But upon further inspection, the thing wasn't human. It was something other.

His first thought is to get to the Barns and make sure Ronan and Opal are safe. Or, not his first thought, it's his only thought, at least initially. That gets set on the back-burner when he closes up the garage and steps out onto the street to see Noah there, standing in the middle of the street, with something massive looming over him.

"Noah! Catch!" He yells, getting his friend's attention before tossing the hammer in his direction. The hammer circles end over end toward Noah. Adam doesn't have any weapons except for that... and the screw driver he has in his back pocket, which he takes out after he throws the hammer.

Startled out of a kind of trance, Noah turns toward the voice, blinking. The hammer lands at his feet and he stares at it. But in the time that he does that, the thing - he still doesn't know what it is - makes a growling noise and lunges, knocking Noah to his feet.

"Go, Adam," Noah says, nearly thoughtfully. "Go to Ronan." He turns over, reaching for the hammer.

"What? Don't be crazy. I'm not leaving you here!" And really, he's surprised that Noah would think he would. He remembers sharing Noah's nightmares awhile back while in this place. He hadn't left Noah then either. Adam is stubborn that way. Anyone who knows him know that he's stubborn as all get out. There's really nothing to be done about it.

As worried as he is about Opal and Ronan, Noah is right here in front of him and takes priority over that. His little makeshift family will understand.

So Adam moves in to shift the hammer closer to Noah with the toe of his boot. He reaches down to give Noah a hand to help him up. The screw driver is fisted in the other hand as the large beast looms over them making terrible noises that make Adam's skin crawl. "Come with me! We'll make a run for it!" Because neither of them are fighters, at least not physically speaking, and they both know it.

"Adam - "

Even as Noah picks up the hammer as a foreign object (when has he ever used a hammer?), he tries to push Adam behind him. "Go."

The thing swipes and he staggers back, into Adam's chest. It seems he's not quite ready to die (again) just yet.

Really? That again? But Noah knows him. He knows how stubborn Adam is. He also knows the kind of person that Adam is. And yet he still tries to get Adam to just leave like Noah isn't in impending danger. There are many ways that Adam is selfish, but that is not one of them. They can run. They can run together. Adam isn't leaving Noah no matter what.

"We can run, Noah! Come on!" He's just reaching out for Noah to pull him with him when the beats swipes and Noah trips back into him. All the better, Adam thinks. He grabs Noah's wrist and starts pulling him with him, trying to run because by his way of thinking, that's how they fight, that's how they stay alive, that's how they survive. Adam Parrish may not be a fighter, but he is a survivor.

Noah is neither of those things; he's not a fighter and he's not a survivor. He's a ghost. Even here, with a human body, that's how he's felt, even if he's been alive in a way, with Lucy and Jill.

But he's not meant to be alive, not really.

He staggers as Adam pulls him, gradually getting his feet under him as he runs.

He doesn't seem like a ghost, not to Adam and probably not to anyone who actually knows Noah. Adan would think it sad that even with everything he's gained here, people and not, that Noah still feels like he isn't alive. It would make him sad, but he supposes he could also understand in a small way, if just because Adam knows how it is to be unable to evolve beyond your past no matter how hard you try.

At the very least, if anyone deserves to live among them, it has to be Noah, Adam thinks. Perspective, it's a chasm that's hard to breach from one person to the next.

They run together, Adam pulling Noah in tow and with the monstrous beast hot on their heels. The thing they have going for them is that they're smaller and quicker compared to the large creature that's lumbering along. Adam uses that to their advantage, weaving them left and right and through an alleyway and onto another street. They can do this. They can.

As much as he looks forward, Noah looks back. There's a kind of wonder in his expression. What is this thing? Is this like what Ronan would dream up? Is this something that was drawn into this place?

it's distracting enough that he staggers again, nearly pulling Adam down too, against the concrete wall of a building. Where are they? He doesn't know, but he leans back, trying to catch his breath for a moment. He just needs a minute, his heart pounding against his ribs. "What is that?" he asks, gasping.

There's no time for them to rest or catch their breath. But one look at Noah and Adam can't say no. So his hands go to his hips and he paces back and forth, giving Noah the minute he needs while he, too, takes the opportunity to catch his breath. Adrenaline is a mighty force. It can make a person forget they're only human and only capable of so much.

Adam glances back down the alley as another roaring sound echoes in the streets. Did Ronan dream that up? "Maybe Ronan brought it here by accident." Ronan had recently dreamed Opal here. Maybe something followed her into the world of Itinere. Adam's mind is still a little twisted, not all put together as it should be from that dream thing brought to life. He wouldn't have it any other way though. He'd wanted Opal here too.

"If we can make it to the Barns, maybe Ronan can dream up a Night Terror to fight it." He says, already knowing that the Barns are far away out of the city proper. It would be quite a trek to get there. "Or maybe we can hide somewhere and wait it out."

That's a long run Adam is suggesting. Noah knows this and he's not in great shape; another thing Adam knows. "You should go," he says again. "Get to Ronan and tell him about what you saw. Then he can do his dream thing. I - "

The words clog in his throat for a moment before he speaks again. "I can distract it."

How, he's not entirely sure.

Noah keeps trying to get rid of him, trying to send him to Ronan as if Noah doesn't matter to Adam as much as he does. Noah matters. Adam isn't leaving Noah behind because Adam cares and he knows that Noah is even less of a fighter than Adam is. It's stupid and thoughtless to think of leaving Noah here. Adam is neither of those things.

This is why his response is dry, accompanied with one arched brow as if to say 'really? this again?'. "Or... we could both go to Ronan. Right?"

Just then, there's a crash; here comes that thing.

Noah pushes himself to his feet and shoves at Adam's shoulder to run in the other direction from it, away. "Go!" he shouts and he'll try to follow, but again, not fit, and not fast.

He knows that he doesn't exist in the time that Adam and Ronan came back from. He knows he's not needed. He hasn't, it can be argued, for a long time. So, maybe that's guiding this. Maybe he's just feeling sorry for himself at the worst possible time. Maybe he's tired. Living, after all, is hard.

Adam doesn't even argue his side of things with Noah when he tries to get him to run away without him. He's sort of glad for the adrenaline rush because it keeps him from thinking too much about the fact that Noah thinks Adam would leave him behind, no matter the circumstances.

Instead, he just grabs Noah's hand and pulls him along with him. Yes, he knows that neither of them are in the best shape, although Adam isn't necessarily in bad shape. He just isn't as active in a working out sense as he could be. He's never had time for that before.

So he runs. He runs as fast as he can with Noah's hand in a death grip in his own. He'll drag him with him if he has to. He'll pick him up and carry him if he has to. He'll do what he has to do.

Dammit, Adam. Noah is trying to do something good here. He's actually taking action here, rather than being acted-upon. He finally kind of has a purpose. He runs, unable to free his hand from Adam's, only staggering a little. He's not exactly sure why he's feeling this way; what he's doing in wanting Adam to leave him.

Maybe it's just ... a focus he suddenly has.

Of course, that's when something grabs his ankle and yanks.

Since he's looking ahead, Adam feels that jerk of Noah's hand in his. He turns around to see the beast holding onto Noah, sharp teeth, sharp claws, drooling mouth... it's horrible. If Ronan dreamed this, it's nothing like what Adam knows about. And Ronan and Adam have gotten to where they talk about most things. This, Adam has to think, is different.

"No." It's a tug-of-war that Adam already feels deep in his gut is a foregone conclusion. The monster is bigger and stronger than him.

He looks from the monster to Noah, back and forth as Noah's grip slides out of his inch by inch. Adam makes a decision, screaming as he lets go of Noah's hand, draws the long stemmed screw driver from his back pocket and charges. The metal slams into the beast's shoulder and the creature lets out another roar. Adam pulls it out and slams it into the monster's neck. This earns him a backhand with so much force and strength behind it that Adam flies through the air and slams against a brick walled building before sliding to the concrete below.

He's dazed. The screw driver is still protruding from the creature's chest.

There's a moment when Noah can feel the thing's grip lessen. He claws at the ground, but the thing grabs him again, and yanks him back. He stares at Adam unaware that he's shouting. He's shouting Adam's name, and he's thinking of Ronan and Gansey and Blue. All the people who matter most to him as he's pulled.

It doesn't even hurt, which is so strange. But Adam seems to be fading from view. Is he being dragged away? What is going on? It all seems to be a blur.

Noah screaming at him is the only thing that keeps Adam's adrenaline going enough to keep trying. His head hit the brick wall pretty good so that his head is swimming. But he uses the same brick wall as leverage to help him get to his feet. Upright, the world tilts sideways but he blinks and shakes his head and its set to right again.

Adam Parrish has plenty of experience with having his bell rung like this, sadly enough. He knows how to plow through it.

When he feels steady enough, he pushes away and starts after Noah, being dragged away by the beast. He doesn't run. He's slower than he was before, at least at first. He staggers along, then as he gets his bearings he walks with more sure of a step. Then his pace slowly picks up and up.

"Noah! Get the screwdriver! Get the screwdriver and fight!" He says, trying his damnedest to catch up.

The way the thing has him around the neck, Noah can't turn around. He's can't even seem to feel his arms any more. He stares at Adam, and it's almost funny, isn't it? That somehow, it all comes down to this.

"Be safe," he hears someone say, and it has to come from him, doesn't it? The voice doesn't sound angry or scared. Almost matter-of-fact, really. "Tell Ronan - "

And everything goes black.

At this point, Adam can't tell anything that Noah is saying. He can't even tell how he's dying. From being dragged? From being eaten? From being clawed? From what? There's no way to tell. All he knows is that he's watching the monstrosity as if in slow motion, still trying to get closer to keep Noah fighting in some way, and not getting there fast enough.

It's horrible not to know how it happened, what the monster did besides drag Noah further away. It's horrible watching and not knowing.

How will he tell the others if there's no description to tell? Noah is just suddenly dead.

He knows it's over for Noah when the monster turns on him though. Finally, Adam runs.

Hey, it's me. You okay out there? There's weird stuff happening and I'm boarding up The Houndstooth.

hey. i'm gonna try to get to you in a while, ok? be careful. is lucy with you?

Lucy's here too, yeah. She's keeping people entertained. You'd be safer here. I'm glad you're coming. But you be careful too.

b there soon.

Okay, good. I'll watch for you.

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Open: In the eye of the hurricane, there is quiet ....

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text in the morning before sadness happens

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