>Name: Anon >This is a bit of a long one. >I have a thing for twins/clones/classcest, and a thing for shared feelings. >Possible plot: >A class, writer's choice, and his opposite suddenly find themselves feeling emotions and pains (and pleasures) ((and maybe even having thoughts)) that aren't theirs, and are thusly confused/aggravated. >Maybe it's a respawn glitch. Both were killed at the exact same time (shooting/stabbing each other?), and since their genetic makeup is so similar, things get a smidge scrambled when the machines pick them up. >The two eventually decide to seek each other out to find out what the fuck is going on and how to fix it, if it's even fixable. This leads to sex. >Of course, this is just an idea, and the writer is free to do with it whatever they want. Self-imposed Limits: Eight paragraphs. Emphasize evocative writing. Dialog adds to the count. No character limit. We'll see if I can keep this brief. I learned from last time that I can't really evoke much within four paragraphs. Hah hah. Oh me. Thinking I could get away with eight paragraphs. What crack was I on? Not the good crack, that's for sure. Anyway, I saw this and after reading TwoRefined's Purge, it clicked in my head. My head-canon RED Soldier is typically a bit dense with hyperactivity encouraged by grandiose delusions and irritability while the BLU Soldier is a little more intelligent but with persecuting hallucinations telling him to follow God's will and pervasive bitterness. RED is an optimist who is perpetually wrong and BLU is a pessimist who hates being right. BLU can see forever but he can't help himself. RED can't see beyond himself but he almost always has a solution. It writes itself. Mind you, me writing it doesn't make it write itself correctly and I believe I failed, just based on what I described in this paragraph so... yeah. Fuck me, I don't care. Take it, bitch. Take my horse shit. D: Humanity Jane thought nothing of his last death. BLU was on a losing streak and all of Jane's strategy had faltered. He only challenged Tavish... no, RED Demo most days, as a way of venting his frustration but the RED Soldier had pulled him out of his anguished slump by chasing the BLU Scout right past him, swinging his shovel wildly in an awkward attempt to behead the BLU Scout, hollering and whooping up a storm in spite of the fact he could never catch the Scout that way. Jane went for the jugular and so did his enemy. That they both managed to bleed out, still struggling in the dust, at the same time was impressive. Even more impressive given that Jane hadn't retreated to find the Medic or a dispenser as soon as he felt his life truly ebbing away. For once, Jane was too angry to care and ignoring the whispers, telling him that God didn't want this man dead. As if it mattered! They all came back. It was like Hell that way, perpetually tormenting the tormentors in a never ending cycle. Jane took pleasure in the blood shed, in the power, in the sheer destruction that he could create but the lack of purpose, the lack of permanence, the lack of remorse, and the lack of true vengeance was killing him with every little drop he spilled of his and anyone else's blood. The musty smell of leather didn't startle Jane while he was watching the news with his team. He drank a strange mixture of coffee, boots, and sweat that swirled in dark rivulets of a clear desert night, the stars in the drink telling him that his work wasn't done and that he had lost his way. It was a common sentiment shared by the dulcet and screaming tones alike. The situation didn't bother him until he found one of them speaking German, broad and clear. He heard other languages and only knew they were other languages because he was told they were other languages. He understood them too well to judge any other way. Jane glared at the Medic for inspiring such nonsense but the doctor ignored him. Everyone was ignoring him. Jane slumped into the cushions uncertainly as the foreign voice intensified and then began speaking French and Italian intermittently. Damn it! He glared at the Spy next but the Spy gave him a questioning smirk before sauntering off. It wasn't until Jane was lying in bed, staring up at the ceiling, that the sensation of moist lips grazed across the area where death had claimed his throat. Jane gulped and bolted upright, the capacity for movement very different from any other time, when he had found himself pinned to the bed by evil spirits and incapable of throwing them off. He was trembling when he felt a warmth take hold of his waist, ghostly arms cradling him with a comfort he couldn't accept. Even now, he could move himself but was unable to throw off whatever was taking hold of him and with such definition! It was nothing like he had experienced before. He had killed a few angels, even though an angel had saved his life when he was a child by giving him good advice from its upside down head, and let some devils live because they looked and acted so perfectly human. He had met spirits and vampires in Europe and in America, some friendly, some animals, some smoldering, and some incomprehensible to look upon. He had never met something like this. When he was rasping for breath and shuddering, his loins tingling and exploding without even being ready for it, his balls barely tight and his underwear spotless, that was when he was positive a Succubus or an Incubus was hitching a ride. He ran to the Engineer's workshop and managed to drill a hole through his skull, to drive the demon out, before he found himself in respawn, steam rising from him thicker and murkier than a fog. Take that! Jane slunk to his room and managed to sleep better than he expected, though his friend Engie swore that he, poor bastard it had been his power tool, didn't get any the rest of the night. Jane's dreams were somehow blissfully empty of the usual trappings from his farmstead youth and his married army uncle's Chicago apartment. Jane thought that would be the end of it but then there came more voices. No, not really voices. He couldn't hear it but it was there. He woke feeling more energetic than he had as a boy and it seemed easier to hope. His rage found new heights and his mood soared at the slightest prompting, all of his desires easy and well within grasp. Then he would crash back into himself and push his helmet down until the pressure was uncomfortable. The actual voices, the sights, the smells sometimes disappeared entirely. He was used to that. It happened for a day or two at a time but they managed to elude him for nearly two weeks, playing hide and seek around all the corners of the world, as if they'd found somewhere new to be. Jane floundered and complained to the Medic, who stared at him, hastily shoved some papers onto a clipboard, sat down, and asked what medication he had been taking while scribbling rapidly. Jane punched him and left, realizing the Medic wouldn't be of any use. Jane tried to coax the Sniper and then the Scout into helping him catch his lost spirits of mayhem and direction. The Scout gave him the lighter that he had stolen from the Fox Confessor and shook his head. Even touching the arcanely marked silver lighter didn't seem to attune Jane to the spiritual beast that had once democratically freed him from the uncertain clutches of a bunch of Nazis. When Jane tried to enlist the Engineer's help, the Engineer chuckled until Jane mentioned the sudden tendency to hoard and the up until then unheard of desire to keep bits of his enemies as mementos. Jane couldn't believe he hadn't thought of that first. Of course it had to be a respawn glitch! Damn thing had weird glitches all the time. This was the strangest that Jane had heard of but then most of his team didn't share their stories out of fear of disapproval for the sexual turn some of them took. Jane didn't know why they assumed he was against sex, per se. He'd long since loosened up from his church morals and determined that some of them were impossible. God only disapproved of Jane having sex and tempted him with the forbidden whenever he tested Jane. Maybe God was testing Jane again. Jane couldn't tell for certain without sinking to the abysmal depths where the devils crooned in his ears, teasing him under God's orders. He had to find his insane RED counterpart and get the man out of his head! At least, that was his intention before he sank to his knees, clutching his queasy stomach, paranoia and despair taking hold as hard as the night of Tavish's betrayal. He dragged himself back inside the base, wondering who the fuck he needed to blame for that. The next battle he did nothing but slaughter Tavish, spurred on by a rage he found familiar but unrelated and somehow completely foreign. Afterward, he composed himself in front of the sink, eyes red and the mirror blurry, the cold water knocking some of the hatred back into the waiting murmurs and silky choir that had been replaced with a drumming march bounding through a jazz band featuring Judy Garland and Cher, eventually right through both of the Sinatras and into Elvis. He'd started focusing his uneasy attention on music, something the RED Soldier must have shared for it came all too easily, in a desperate ploy to evade the echoing lies that circled in dizzy chair spinning ways. Sunlight washed over his face when he wasn't even outside. As he waited for his vision to return, he felt rough hands sweeter than a kitten's nuzzling on his skin. It didn't frighten him this time nor did it go further than his upper back, almost a memory from a forgotten, laborious childhood holding him so soothingly that Jane didn't want it to end. With a sigh, Jane found it fading and gripped the ceramic sink hard as he found it replaced with resolve, multiplied by another. He wiped his face on a towel that was growing stiff with neglect and stormed out of the base, not even concerned about finding his weapons first. He didn't think killing the RED Soldier would solve anything. Neither would talking but he had to find the man. To prove that Jane wasn't losing his sanity, he was simply unintentionally giving it away to someone else he hated. In the twisted hallow of no man's land, the RED Soldier noticed him first. Jane knew the hellish depths of eternity and so did the RED Soldier now. For once, the RED was mostly speechless. A wave of rage crashed over and tore Jane apart. He fought back with his own plunge of sorrow, neither of them moving as they gritted their teeth and bore the eddy of madness that struck their paper boats, seething and incapable of discerning the distance between them. “How many fucking screws do you have loose?!†the RED Soldier howled, “Take all these yammering halfwits back! I don't want them! The only things that should talk are my troops and my army friends and only when spoken to! And while you're at it, stop draining my essence! I've seen you bouncing around like Scout on Bonk! You're the one who's been taking all my energy from me! Sapping my will! Give it back, you crawling mutant maggot!†“Spoken like a true idiot! You're the crazy one! Like a dog that eats its own vomit. Or maybe cat shit!†Jane snapped, “You put our heads in my helmets, both of which you have no right to! And you act like they're soldiers under your command?! What sort of disrespect to the uniform is that?!†Even so, he fumbled with doubt. What if the RED Soldier was right? He'd been called insane before but he always brushed it off. He saw more of reality than anyone else. He saw the hidden world. The monsters and the truth that everyone kept because they thought he was too dumb or absorbed to understand. He knew the battles between RED and BLU were pointless, the age old feud being acted on to keep up appearances. He knew the Administrator was the same. He knew where Dracula lived; it wasn't as swanky as the last place. He knew about the BLU team, as much as he actually dared to contemplate. They deserved privacy, after all. He'd learned more about the members of the RED team than most of the RED team knew, aside from the Spies. He already knew that Tavish was sorry but he couldn't bring himself to accept his own mistakes or Tavish's just yet. He knew the RED Soldier had been having sex with the RED Medic and the BLU Spy, now that he had his clarity and adding skills returned... the RED Soldier grimaced and walked backwards, away, stumbling on a chunk of loose brick as the revelation shot between them, hitting the RED Soldier square in the face. Jane considered that. The BLU Spy, huh? So he wasn't the only one who had fallen to temptation. He couldn't tell if the BLU Spy was because of the recent confusion or something that had been going on for awhile. It didn't matter. The RED Soldier was now flinching and more confused than Jane. “Huh... never gave a shit about someone judging me before,†the RED Soldier murmured, “Never. How do you live with yourself?†Jane growled. What right did this asshole have to say anything?! “How do you live at all? You destroy everything with no discrimination! Everything. You are a pathetic excuse for a soldier who can't even protect what's worthwhile! I could tell when you fucked up whatever it was you had going between... Hell, probably both of them.†The RED Soldier inclined his head towards Jane, listening, but no more convinced than before. He squirmed and took a step forward. He sniffed and rubbed his nose with his knuckles roughly. “How much have you... been following?†the RED Soldier asked, “I got all your baggage, Major killjoy! No direct memories to explain it though. Thank the lord for that!†Jane narrowed his eyes under his helmet and charged! The RED Soldier was too surprised to stop him and once he had recovered enough to pry Jane off, he was simply groaning from the way such a simple kiss was amplified. The ass-grab probably didn't hurt either. Jane wasn't generally this forward but the jerk had asked him and it was easier showing than telling. Not to mention, all those unknown, out of nowhere touches had left him lonely in a way he couldn't ignore. He was at a simmering burn, bitterness giving way to weak fury and mild lust, but it was the RED Soldier who pulled Jane's other hand down to his hip and grabbed Jane's helmet straps as he opened his mouth to loosen both their tongues. If Jane had been more sensible, he might have reconsidered. It was harder to think with the RED Soldier's enjoyment matching his own and bolstering his enthusiasm. At some point, Jane had writhed his hips away long enough to fumble with his belt and shoved his pants down, his penis greeted the slightly cooler air with a salute that was well met by the RED Soldier's. Jane might have asked for orders, a pretend superior officer was just as enticing, but words would have ruined it. He had a sense that the RED Soldier wanted his mouth wide open and downward, he had the same desire by proxy, but he didn't even know where to begin. There was no mattress out in those wastelands and running off to find one would be admitting defeat. The RED Soldier put their straining erections together, the tingling shudder making Jane thrust, anything for more, before the RED Soldier reached down for Jane with long, firm strokes. The RED Soldier yanked Jane by the wrist into grabbing the RED Soldier's cock and then pushed Jane up against the nearest wall, pinning Jane until he moaned happily at being held captive. His shirt rode upward, scraping mortar and brick against his back, but the pain barely registered as he felt his body ache and spasm, the RED Soldier feeding his pleasure with even more, that weak, wavering smile, eyes closed under his helmet, which was tilted just enough to show. Jane closed his eyes and remembered better times with the people he loved and lost because he wasn't meant to love them at all. He lingered on Tavish and pulled the RED Soldier's chin close enough to lasso his tongue, groaning into the slithering sweetness, arching into the hot, slick palm that wasn't his own, and might have fallen to the ground if he wasn't being ground into the bricks while their pleasure twined into a euphoric mess all over each other. Jane was disappointed when he opened his eyes, slumping against the wall and wiping his hand off on his pants leg. He needed Tavish now. It was stupid. So stupid, to go after doing this. But Jane needed that high to push him onward, keep him steady and capable. Without a word, the two Soldier tidied up. Jane saluted the RED Soldier, properly, and the RED Soldier gave him a standard salute back. They passed one another, heading to the opposite base and merging into the shadows.