Hi may I offer you a bribe for more Ascot and Sebastian I'm thinking about them a normal amount OwO Sebastian letting his guard down, gaining new hope, new trust in a human while Ascot's humanity is slowly but irreversably chipped away and they navigate this new existence with his help --- totally normal amount <3
WAAAAAAAAAAAAGGH
god I'm. mmmmhnhnhg. not only am I weak for hands but story-telling in hands.
because yes Sebastian has no reason to trust (other) humans, they've only ever been a source of misery for him for the past. 10 years? 12 years? ever since he got framed and then Urbanshade scooped him up to become their little testing ground. it's a debate on how much he sees himself as human or monster, how much of himself is left to be human, how much he just rejects the idea because of how he's been treated. and now the expendables are down here and they're just interested in doing Urbanshade's work so sure, he'll go ahead and use that as an extra way of collecting data to leverage his way to freedom.
only not every expendable is a prisoner seeking freedom. the first expendables were sent down 6hrs after lockdown, and the prison recruitment began 2 days after. Ascot is one of the unfortunate ones to go down first.
they're still human. they're still Untrustworthy. Sebastian's done with caring about other people when no-one cared about him. he doesn't like that Ascot responds to him with concern. he's here to do business, not get worried over too many years too late
it's the fact that they respect the boundaries he puts down with scowls and snaps and thin veils of business-talk. that starts getting under the scales
(more rambles and a drabble excerpt below!)
Sebastian knows powerlessness. it's all he's known for about a decade. every expendable down here is in a powerless situation and for the first time he has Power, from knowledge, from physical capability (and also the triple barrelled shotgun). it's hard not to hold that over the expendables' heads, including Ascot's. the moment they reach out to him, there's a rejection because for a moment they might be considering him on equal footing to them and for Sebastian that's a loss of power all over again. he rejects them for that, and rejects touch for the reminder of boundaries broken over and over again.
the humans around him have always had the position of power over the 'monsters'. as he starts seeing Ascot slip further down from 'human' to 'monster', the footing becomes more unequal. but with the time around them, with the experience of having this human respecting him and being responsive and just - not only is there a smidgen of trust, there's a smidgen of understood experience as he watches them struggle.
neither of them asked for this.
he's in the position of power that the scientists were in when they cut him apart and put him back together and changed him. only he can't control what's happening to Ascot. neither of them can stop the changes, only delay them through keeping Ascot alive for longer. the least he can do is take their hand and go "you're not as alone in this as you think you are".
they may both be monsters in the end but they manage to hold together more humanity than any of the humans that put them in this situation.
but also because of the beautiful bribe, I'm gonna throw in some writing thoughts because yes:
-
Those definitely hadn't been there the last time he'd seen the little sardine, now apparently deciding to live up more to their nickname. Sebastian tilted their chin back and to the side, leaning down closer to the table. Two sets of three slits marred the sides of Ascot's throat, and prodding one open with a claw revealing the feathery insides of gill filters.
Not at all unlike the ones under Sebastian's scarf.
As he withdrew with a snap, the slits vibrated, a struggling inhalation of a fish left on dry land. Empty eyes began to clarify with focus, before widening with panic. Ascot jolted, their body shuddering, thin breaths passing through open lips. Their writhing nearly tumbled them off the table, straight into Sebastian's arm, and he struggled to heft them into a firmer grip.
He knew this feeling. He remembered this moment. Only for him it'd come with leather straps and a useless oxygen mask sealed to his face.
The next room over had some containment tubes, empty of subjects - a testing laboratory. Hauling Ascot over his shoulder, Sebastian slithered into the room and up to one of the tubes, sticking a hand in and lapping at the liquid within. Saltwater. The regular stuff surrounding Hadal. Good.
He dumped Ascot into the tube.
Their panic only intensified, and they struck out at the glass tube sides, words lost to streams of bubbles. A horrified stare met his firm gaze as he pressed his hands to the tube as well.
"You need to breathe through your mouth," he said. "The gills will filter out the water. Breathe through your mouth, slowly."
More thrashing. They attempted to break for the surface but Sebastian shook his head, knocking the sides of the tube to get their attention back.
"You're not going to drown, idiot, unless you make yourself. Breathe. Mouth. Slow."
Because why the hell not, he started to mimic what he wanted them to do. Open mouth, slow inhalation, slow exhalation. Ascot watched, and opened their mouth again.
Slowly, slowly. The gills twitched and parted with each 'breath' out. They sank lower into the tube, gaze fixed on Sebastian, meeting each of his breaths. Finally, finally, he let out a low sigh. Resting his forehead on the glass, he hummed out a small low note of relief.
"Good job," he muttered. "You did better than I did." Though no-one had actually told him how, when he'd done it.
A tank of saltwater and a room of scientists with note-pads. No-one batting an eye as Sebastian begged uselessly for help, feeling his insides twist and throat burn and managing to cough underwater. He imagined the room hadn't even heard him, the only sound being pen on paper.
Tonk
Glancing up, he saw Ascot with their forehead against his, on the other side of the glass. Their eyes were full of concern, that damn soft concern. One of their hands mirrored Sebastian's, splayed out against the tube wall, palm-almost-to-palm.
"It's fine," Sebastian muttered. He was pretty sure fish didn't have tear ducts anyway.
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