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[brushoff]

"You've reached the inbox of one Dorian Gray. Don't forget to leave me a message. If you're interesting, I'll get back to you."

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[brushoff]

Dorian sighs and shakes his head before pointing out,

"People who are too clever don't die like a chump." A pause before, "They don't die like a chump multiple times."

[monsterjohann]

The rage bubbles up in him, the rage and indignation, but he's - tired.

"Just shut up. If you won't help me, then at least leave me alone."

[brushoff]

"What do you think I'm doing?" he dryly points out. "This is helping. If I didn't give a shit, I'd let you stew in your own self-loathing—you're getting dangerously close to my brand with that, by the way."

[monsterjohann]

"I've killed him twice, Dorian. Who else should I blame?"

He turns and starts walking back to shore.

[brushoff]

And Dorian follows, not letting Johann out of his sight.

"The blaming isn't the problem. The stewing in it is. You did kill him twice. Congratulations! You get to join the very exclusive club of people who routinely fuck over their lovers. The question now is: what will you do to make sure it's not a third time?"

[monsterjohann]

"Run. Disappear. Do what I always do," he says with a sneer. "That's all I'm good at."

That's what Florian had said to him. Asked him why he didn't just disappear instead of killing the professor.

It's what he did the first time. Floated out to sea, hoping to disappear.

"The last time, Johann became John. Johann died and I became something else."

[brushoff]

"Wrong answer."

It's just said so blunt, so forceful, totally matter-of-fact as Dorian stares Johann down. "Try again. What will Johann do to make sure it's not a third time?"

[monsterjohann]

"Nothing," he says, finally coming onto shore and sitting on the rocks. "I don't do anything."

[brushoff]

"Fuck that. You can do whatever the hell you want. You can tell Florian what you're doing, you can make sure that you don't do reckless things, you can work with Florian and other people, you can you can lock him in his room whenever you do something reckless."

Dorian shakes his head before pointing out, "You're not a tool. You're your own person."

[monsterjohann]

"Do you remember when we first met? You pushed me like this then, too. Respectfully," and he says it with no respect at all, "Fuck you."

[brushoff]

"I push you because I know you can take it," he snaps back. "And because I hate people who run away from things."

[monsterjohann]

"Then I suppose you must hate me, Herr Gray, because this ends when I am gone."

He leans back on his hands. Melancholy is a relatively new emotion for him, but this place has beat into him that he cannot simply escape. He feels like a caged animal, resigned to his fate, having paced himself into exhaustion.

[brushoff]

"This ends when you graduate." When Dorian looks at Johann, he's looking at him with absolute determination, a steely glare. But when he speaks, it's with absolute certainty.

"That's not running away. That's making a choice." There's a moment when he sighs. "You're smart, Johann. You're smart, crafty, and if I'm guessing correctly? Right now you hate yourself more than anybody else in the Barge. So what are you going to do with that hate? How are you going to direct it?"

[monsterjohann]

"By going off and doing another killing spree," he sayswers with some of that old sarcasm in his tone.

"I should revisit all the classics. All the ones I killed before. That kid shouldn't be the only one."

[brushoff]

"You haven't killed me yet," Dorian points out, tossing that sarcasm right back at Johann. "I'd prefer if if you weren't boring."

[monsterjohann]

"You can't be killed," he retorts, picking up a rock and throwing it at him.

"Or I would drown you right now."

[brushoff]

Dorian attempts to bat the rock away. He looks over Johann, thinking things over, before,

"There's a portrait in my attic. That portrait is intrinsically tied to my existence. Destroy it and you destroy me. I can be killed. But because it's in such a specific way, I prefer to let others believe that nothing will take."

[monsterjohann]

"Then I'll remember that next time you annoy me."

He's quiet for a long time, then pushes himself up. "Can I stay with you for a while?"

[brushoff]

"You can stay with me as long as you like," Dorian says, with a nod. Johann'll have to see Florian again. He knows that much and he knows that Johann knows that much. But at the moment? They can push it away for just a little bit.

There's a pause before, "By the way, I'm sure that once news about your murders gets out, people will be bothering me about punishing you. But honestly? I think you're being punished enough right now."

[monsterjohann]

"How fortunate for me," he says with a roll of his eyes. He starts for the door.

He just wants to flop on Dorian's couch for a while.

[brushoff]

And Dorian follows, perfectly content to let his troublesome kid flop on his couch for however long he wants. Johann certainly needs it.

[monsterjohann]

After Johann meets with Florian, after it all happens, he bursts into Dorian's cabin in a panic, catching his breath by the door. He looks absolutely wild, something frantic in his eyes.

[brushoff]

Dorian, who's lighting up a cigarette, looks over at Johann with a little frown. This is...unexpected. Normally he's not the type to be frantic like this. "What's wrong?"

[monsterjohann]

He just looks at Dorian, a bit bewildered. "I can't touch him," he says and then laughs. The sound is bitter. "That fucker. Fuck him and his stupid commands. I wasn't going to get stuck there for two fucking hours this time. Just because he's throwing a tantrum."

[brushoff]

"Wait, back it up a bit," Dorian says, as he takes a puff on his cigarette. "He ordered you to not touch him. Because of your weird Hallenkind everything, now you literally can't touch him?"