savetheearth | [open] wheel of morality turn turn turn

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[open] wheel of morality turn turn turn

Who: Karl Aurion & you!
When: 2/20
Where: Several places
What: A guy just learned his dead kid is not quite so dead and goes through a lot of emotions.

a. at locke city high school

[Today just happens to be one of those days, the kind where your mind can't stop over-thinking things. It hadn't started out this way for Karl, oh no. Upon arriving at school, the man looks oddly happy. How happy? Happy to the point he's practically humming and skipping. This happiness impacted him to the point that he forgot to wear a turtleneck and now displays some several-day-old hickies for all the world to see. When this realization hits, it gets shrugged off. Little annoyances can't get to him on a day like today because his precious son is ALIVE!!

This happiness gets shared with his first and second period classes in the form of last night's homework being extra credit and a free study session instead of a test today (needless to say a good chunk of the class was freaked by this oddly good mood). It's toward the end of second period that his mood suddenly begins to plummet due to the following train of thought: Lloyd is alive! He didn't die all those years ago when Karl tried to expose the force!! ...Like he's doing now. While still part of that corrupt force. Yup.

By the time second period ends, that happiness has become absent-minded worry. Every bad possibility about this whole mess receives at least some in-depth thought. One downside to thinking is that it leads to a lack of awareness about surroundings. Walking into something, nearly falling down the stairs, walking into his own door after believing it had been open and bumping into various people: every one of those happens to Karl.

All the rest of his classes get to witness this extremely out of it Mr. Locke, who still gives extra credit for the homework cause, hey, fairness. An attempt at teaching results in messing up on some very basic fact and that's when Karl opts to give the rest of the classes a study period, too, during which he tries to grade stuff only to either chew on a pencil or accidentally snap it. Simply put, the guy is just completely out of it for the rest of the school day.]

b. at the police station

[The absent-mindedness not only continues upon arriving at part 2 of today's work day, but actually gets worse. Being around other officers brings up thoughts of what if they found out Lloyd is alive? What if they know? What if they know and find out about him gathering up all the dirt again? What if they try to kill his son again to shut him up again?

More pencil chewing ensures while trying to do paperwork. Anyone stumbling in on Karl would not only see the poor pencil suffering at his hand, but him running a hand through his hair constantly. At one point, a really loud crash and maybe some foreign swear words fill the station air. Mr. Deputy Superintendent went to get some of the craptastic office coffee, became lost in thought and, once again, walked into a closed door thinking it'd been left open, with the bonus perk of spilling hot coffee all over himself. What a wonderful day today is. Really.]

c. at the mall

[It must be an odd sight, seeing a 6'1" guy walking through the mall with hickies on his neck and a large coffee stain visible on the bit of shirt poking out through his jacket who keeps bumping into people and runs into a trashcan at some point. Any odd looks are either lost on or ignored by Karl. Too much is on his mind to give a damn right now. The coffee incident effectively destroyed one of the last nice shirts in his wardrobe. Unappealing as shopping for clothes tonight might be, best to do it now and get it out of the way before all the rest of his clothes end up spontaneously combusting. Judging by how today's going, it could happen.

Lady Luck smiles down on this wretched soul during the actual shopping. By sheer luck, the right sizes of shirts are grabbed and no one is at the check out line. Maybe a mannequin or two got bumped into, but otherwise it's nothing but smooth sailing. The trouble begins upon walking out of the store and getting back into severely intense thinking about Lloyd and everything associated with the kid.

A sigh escapes him as he decides to just sit down to collect his thoughts and avoid any further collisions. A bench gets picked at random and he plops his bum right down on it... only to sit on half-eaten nachos. Karl appears about as happy as one would expect. Maybe, just maybe, this a sign that he's over-thinking things. ]

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Lyall came by for lunch today, in part because he was feeling restless and uncomfortable in his own classroom alone. He just wanted company, and Karl seemed the best choice for a random drop-by to eat lunch with. He rapped on the classroom door lightly, lunch bag in his other hand, just in case he had a student with him.

"It's Randall," he called in, thus far unaware of the undercover cop's mood.

One way to get his mind off all these thoughts had been to clean a little. Karl was in the middle of doing so when Lyall called, however those thoughts hadn't subsided in the least. His mind continued to race, distracting him to the point that he dropped a flask.

A frown got sent down at the broken glass. He should... probably clean that up. Ah, wait someone had said something just outside his door, hadn't they? Or had that been his mind playing further tricks on him? You know what, he'll say something just in case. Yeah, good idea. With a sigh, Karl replied as he went to get a broom. "It's open."

Cracking the door open enough to poke his head in at the sound of the broken glass, rather than the voice, Lyall looked down at the source of the sound-- the flask shards on the floor-- with a bemused expression. "Everything all right? I didn't startle you, did I?"

Ah, Lyall. Much as company right now wasn't wanted, at least this company wasn't too bad. Karl shook his head as he began sweeping up all the glass."No, my mind is just elsewhere right now." His body is here while his mind is off in France. Or maybe even on Jupiter. Either way, the guy wasn't all here, as further evidenced by the question which follows, "Is there something you need?" The fact that it's lunch hasn't even occurred to Karl. It's, what, 3rd period? or is it 7th? Maybe 8th? 8th would be good.

" ... it's lunchtime, and I thought I might come share it with you," Lyall says, a bit confused. He would have thought it was obvious why he's here. "But if you'd rather I not, I can eat in my own classroom."

"No, that's fine. I... I just didn't realize what time it is." As soon as the glass is all swept up, he takes out his phone from his pocket to check the time. Lo and behold, the hour upon them is indeed lunch. Time flies when you're having a soap opera like crisis and are very obviously out of it.

At the reassurance, Lyall comes the rest of the way inside and lets the door fall shut behind him. Karl, of course, is getting a concerned sort of look. "Are you sure you're all right? You don't look-- quite yourself."

The broom gets put pack in its proper place when that question comes. It gets Karl to pause in his movements to ponder a response to that. Part of him wants to lie, part of him knows lying won't fly right now. Rather, there's no way in hell he could come up with a remotely suitable lie.

Karl sighs before running a hand through his hair. He turns back toward Lyall, but stares at the ground rather than actually looking at him. "I... My mind has been racing most of the morning. I can't get it to stop."

Coming to set his lunch down on one of the lab tables, Lyall frowns and asks, "Did something happen?" Obviously something had to, to discomfit his friend like this. A new pulse of some sort, or trouble at his other workplace? Both of those have the potential to put Karl on edge-- and Lyall, too, for that matter.

If only it were about a pulse. Life would be so much easier that way. Unfortunately, Karl's issues are far more complicated than pulses. Does he actually want to spill everything to Lyall, however?

The decision reached is ultimately a yes. Not only had he lied to the guy too much as is, but talking with people about this might help with figuring things out. Saying everything or telling everyone won't happen (too dangerous), but telling a few people some details can't hurt. Karl nods before looking up at Lyall. He opens his mouth, closes it and then opens it once more. "I found out that my son's alive."

"Your son." Lyall blinked in confusion. Because this was new to him-- and not just the alive part, either. "I'm very glad to hear it, but... ah. You have a son?"

Confusion at this news was only to be expected. Few people knew about his son and Karl preferred it that way, even more so now that the kid magically turned up alive. A nod came in reply as he answered, "I do. I believed him dead up until, well, yesterday." One day ago which felt like a lifetime ago with how his mind's been racing.

For a moment, Lyall tried to imagine the enormity of that kind of revelation. He didn't have much to compare it to. So he settled for setting down his lunch and having a seat, and saying: "I think you had best start at the beginning. What happened to him, and how did he disappear for all this time?"

Karl sits down, fairly ungracefully, as soon as Lyall does. "Around 14 years ago, he, his mother and I were attacked by several individuals. I attempted to fight them off, but was knocked unconscious and severely beaten. My wife and my son were killed. Or so I was told." Though missing a good chunk of details, this is the short and sweet version. Going in depth doesn't feel necessary. Talking about everything might still be uncomfortable, too.

"How terrible!" And he does mean it, despite how trite the words might otherwise sound. He sounds mildly alarmed by the whole prospect. "Why would anyone tell you that? And where in the world did the boy go after that?" Someone had to have taken him in, somewhere... apparently somewhere nearby.

"The reason why isn't important." Rather, the reason is still a sore subject preferably not yet spoken about, something evident in the hastily way the sentence got said. Knowing your fellow officers not only tried to kill you but then learning they lied to you about your son being dead takes time to fully wrap your head around. "Lloyd and my dead wife were found by another man, who took him in once it became clear no one would claim him as their own."

Lyall isn't entirely convinced, given that swift put-down, but he doesn't pursue it, either. He doesn't feel confrontational enough to try and combat him on anything like that, today, especially when it might not be important. "That's-- amazing. Much better than it could have been. How in the world did you find him?"

"He found me. Lloyd had already been aware of his father's, of my, real name prior to this. One day after school ended, I dropped my wallet, he found it and looked through it, noticing my ID with my real name inside." Dropping that wallet felt like the biggest hassle at the time and dealing with Lloyd after, as well. Now it feels like a blessing in disguise. Mostly. Figuring out what to do now can't be called miraculous in any way. The headache coming along with it also, bluntly put, sucks.

Shaking his head in amazement, Lyall says again, "Amazing. Are you two-- talking? I mean, he had to have told you, or you would never have found that out."

"We are. I can't say that there isn't an awkwardness, but we are talking." How could it not be awkward, really. Movies may make long lost family reunions tearful and instantly perfect, but reality is no movie. The thought gains a frown out of Karl. A perfect reunion with a son who remembers him would have been nice. Instead, the kid barely knows anything aside from the fact that half his genetic code comes from Karl.

"I imagine the awkwardness will pass eventually," Lyall offers, though for all he knows, it won't. It probably depends on him and Karl, themselves, and how they handle their reuniting. "Does he remember you at all? He was terribly young when he was taken away, you said?"

The kind words are appreciated, even if Karl doesn't give any indication about that. A pause comes at the question. Lloyd... doesn't remember anything about him, does he? Yeah, that knowledge hurts just a little. Though not Lloyd's fault at all, it still pains Karl to know that the only one with memories of the past is himself. "He was 3 so, no, him possessing any memory of me is unlikely."

"You never know, he might remember a little something, even if it isn't much. But even if not, now you can get to know each other, at least. It's amazing he found you." The shock finally over, Lyall finally actually opens up his lunch and pulls out something to eat. "How are you feeling about it all?"

A hmm comes at the first part. Amazing is putting mildly. A small, little inattentiveness led to all this. It still feel surreal. As for how he feels, well, describing as much proves difficult right now. Emotions are bouncing back and forth all over the place. Happy one second, sad the next, etc. Going back and forth like this makes eating hard so Karl refrains right now. "I... I don't know. I mean, I'm happy he's alive, but... my involvement in the corruption could easily endanger that."

"No one else knows he's your son, do they?" Lyall offers after swallowing a bite of his sandwich. "Except you, him, and now me. And whomever else you happen to have told thus far. If you don't tell those corrupt... somebodies about him, then he's perfectly safe, as he was before you knew about him."

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[open] wheel of morality turn turn turn

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