villagelogs | 001-003 » a chilling mathias welcome

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001-003 » a chilling mathias welcome

WHO: Everyone.
WHERE: The east end of Mathias, along the waterfront.
WHEN: Days 001-003
WHAT: The newest residents of Mathias Township are welcomed with a storm.
WARNINGS: Will update as necessary. PM this account to have a warning added!
NOTES: A small love letter from your mod. This spot can be used for plotting.

RECOMMENDED ♫ Deadly Avenger "Mara"

DAY 001
THE ARRIVAL BEGINS

Is it the whooshing crash of waves on dark jagged rocks that wakes you? Perhaps. It might also be the near-continuous rumble of thunder growing closer every second, the vibrations almost seeming to come from the wet sand beneath your hands. Or maybe it’s the shivering of your own body as water recedes from the pebble-covered shore, the cold sinking into your very bones as a chilled wind picks up. It could be any of these things that rouse you from a deep slumber that leaves you feeling groggy and out of sorts--

But it’s the fear that gets you moving. A deep, intense terror grips your chest and squeezes the breath right out of you, and you know without a shred of doubt that you have mere minutes before whatever it is you’re so afraid of arrives on that stretch of rocky beach to greet you. Even if you want to stay rooted to that spot and faced it head-on, your body betrays you, a survival instinct etched into your genetic code forcing you to seek shelter.

Welcome to Mathias. You should probably run now.

THE STORM ARRIVES

When the storm crashes into the small township, it's hard to remember what life was like before it. The ocean becomes a raging thing, waves rising and falling as if trying to attack whatever they can reach along the coast. Any foolish enough to venture along the beach have no hope of surviving the encounter; their bodies will be swept out with the current, gone in the blink of an eye.

The wind is a howling beast, screaming between buildings and driving spikes of cold into any crevice it can reach. The rain is just shy of freezing, every drop like a shard of icicle trying to itself into your skin. It will bite at your nerves and leave you shaking if you stay out in it too long, so you had best get inside if you haven't already. You certainly don't want to attract the attention of the lightning that arcs in the sky like a vengeful god ready to unleash its wrath.

The Grey Gull restaurant sits at the edge of the town along the beach, and just a few yards away are two parallel rows of houses lining what might be a picturesque street if the world weren't beginning to resemble an apocalyptic landscape.

Move quickly, and choose wisely.

DAY 002
THE STORM RAGES ON

The storm has somehow become even more violent overnight. The world outside your shelter might be trapped in an endless night, for all you can see through the thick covering of storm clouds. Lightning continues to streak across the sky, thunder following almost immediately in its wake, threatening just how near those spikes of electricity truly are. You can see them touch the shore at times, even the street between the homes, but never the buildings themselves. A blessing, perhaps, or an oddity to take note of?

Some may be foolish enough to try venturing outside. They are welcome to, of course, that is their right, but the rain is still like ice and that lightning is so very near. You may try heading further into town, and you can certainly see buildings beyond this row of houses, but should you walk toward them...

Well. It is far from a pleasant experience. Exhaustion sinks into your bones so quickly that it leaves you reeling, and every second you push through it makes you physically ill with a feeling that you might collapse at any moment. The second you turn away from that path, however, you feel infinitely, and even more so each step back the way you came.

Something wants you to stay where you are. Perhaps you should.

DAY 003
THE CALM DESCENDS

The third day begins much as the second, with waves crashing upon the shore and thunder booming with such force that the ground seems to shake. It feels very much like the world might end right there, torn apart by a force of nature unlike any seen before. Any who venture outside at this time are almost immediately afflicted with a terror so intense that they can make it no more than a few yards or the short distance to cross a street before they become incapacitated by the fear that sets their heart beating dangerously fast. The term scared to death may very well become literal this day.

And then, suddenly it stops. The rain, thunder, lighting— all if it just stops and the silence that fills the night is deafening. There are no sounds of life within the town, no car motors or dogs barking or the voices of anyone beside those new arrivals in the immediate vicinity. In fact, none of those things even exist in Mathias. There are no cars, no animals or insects, no other people. There is just... emptiness and silence.

It may be best to wait until daylight to move further inland.

THE NIGHT DARKENS

For those who are foolish enough to leave the relative safety of the cluster of houses near the Grey Gull, they will find their journey quite chilling, in a very literal sense. There is another row of houses beyond where they had been, branching off on either side into a neighborhood. There are no lights on in any of these homes, though there are occasional streetlights illuminating their way. But as they continue further, reaching a third block of houses, those lights begin to dim, until they have gone out completely, and what had previously been a simple fall chill becomes biting cold as the temperature sharply drops.

In all of this, there is silence. No sounds travel through that night air to comfort them, and even looking up to the sky stretched out above them offers little reassurance. That sky is black, without a single star and not even the faintest outline of the moon to guide them. All that reaches them here is the barest hint of light traveling from the way they've come. The longer they linger outside in this place, the colder it will become, and any light they carry with them will slowly begin to dim as well.

Truly, they should have waited until the sun rose once more.

LOCATIONS

THE GREY GULL is what one might expect of the most frequented restaurant in a small coastal town. The wrap-around porch is lined with white chairs characterized by peeling paint. Exposed wooden walls and worn seating speak to its many years of existence, and the mishmash of décor confirms that the owner never much cared for how the place looked. What mattered here was the food, and faded chalk menus advertise soup specials and a daily pie. The bar appears to have once been well-stocked, but all the bottles remaining are unfortunately empty. There is, however, quite a bit of food in the kitchen that is somehow as fresh as if it were purchased that day.

The second floor of the restaurant is a sparsely furnished apartment. There are no personal items to be found; perhaps it was waiting to be rented out to someone.

THE HOUSES are well-kept, middle-class homes, four lining either side of the street. Their doors are unlocked, windows unshuttered, and everything within feels like the owners might return at any second. There is running water and electricity, fresh food in the fridge, photographs on the wall... but also dust everywhere. If you didn't know better, you'd say the place had been abandoned for years, and yet nothing has aged. It is both strange and unsettling, and yet no matter how hard you search, no answers may be found within these homes.

What can be found within them, however, is a phone. One single black phone within a main room of the house, and beside it, a list of handwritten numbers and names that have been crossed out.

1302 8-5491 ~~Thomasen~~
1304 8-9256 ~~Lyrie~~
1306 8-4712 ~~Anders~~
1308 8-3201 ~~Mulcalley~~

1301 8-0415 ~~Sanderson~~
1303 8-6762 ~~Reese~~
1305 8-9132 ~~Evers~~
1307 8-9025 ~~Hirano~~

Should your character choose to shelter in one of the houses, you are welcome to choose the features of that particular unit. Please reply to the comment thread below with the details you decide upon, specifying the house number in the subject line.

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[ They're almost to the porch now and she feels an almost palpable sense of relief at that knowledge. The porch means safety and shelter, a place to rest and catch their bearings, even somewhere to stay if this storm continues with the ferocity.

But as glad she is to be so close, she almost stops moving altogether when he asks that question. Almost. Instead, she stumbles just a bit, taken completely off-guard, and looks at him with utter incomprehension. ]

What do you mean? You've seen me quake like that a hundred times.

[ He catches himself letting out a breath he didn't even know he was holding in, because he's as relieved to see the porch as she is. It means shelter and safety, and it's something solid they can (hopefully) rely on.

But when she stumbles, he's quick to reach out to try and catch her so she doesn't fall. ]

That's- [ Not possible, he wants to say, but he doesn't want to anger her. ] I've never seen you do that.

[ Anger is not the emotion such a statement would provoke. Confusion? Frustration? A modicum of true panic? Absolutely. Though she's still pissed as hell that he went out into the storm, so... ]

Yes, you have. That's how I fi— [ Her foot hits the first step of the porch and she almost has the urge to thank a deity she doesn't even believe in. ] Did you actually get hit by lightning out there or something?

[ Confusion is exactly what he's feeling as he stares at her like he's never seen her before. He knows what he knows, and that he's never seen her display anything like that before. It's an incredible thought, but he's starting to think that just maybe, at some point, they branched off and remember different things as a result.

Stranger things have happened, after all. ]

No, Skye, I didn't. I just know that in the time that I've known you, since we first met, you never displayed the ability to do anything like what I just witnessed.

[ And that's the concerning thing. Just what happened to her to make that even a possibility? He knows better than to let his mind run away from him, but he's thinking the worst here. ]

[ Okay, something is very wrong and she is not okay with it. The way Coulson's looking at her makes her feel a very different kind of fear. So she tugs at his hand, ignoring the pain in her arm again, pulling him underneath the overhang so they're at least out of the rain. Funny how the inexplicable fear almost immediately dissipates, leaving only the real thing behind. ]

Why do you keep calling me that? [ She hates how quiet her voice comes out, fear leaking out into each syllable in a way she'd stop if she could. So she continues quickly, forcing herself past the panic rising in her chest. ] No, it's— it's fine, you'll be fine, we'll figure out what's wrong and get you fixed up—

[ He agrees with that assessment. Something is wrong, and he can't begin to guess at what that might be. She's acting differently from how he remembers her being, and he still can't shake the image of her launching herself at him like she was blasted from a cannon.

He lets her pull him under the overhang, and this time, he really sighs in relief, because that gripping fear has finally subsided, leaving only confusion in its wake. ]

What do you mean? That's your name. [ The only name she knows, and it's all he knows her as. ]

And sorry, what do you mean by fixed up? I'm fine.

[ She lets go of his hand finally, needing to take a step back and scrub at her face. This can't be happening. This can't. After everything she's been through this week, this can't be the hand she's being dealt. A deep breath. She can handle this. Work the problem, figure it out, deal with it. ]

You might be, or you might not. [ Another breath, because she needs to consciously work at not hyperventilating. ] Just answer one question: What's the last thing you remember before this place?

[ He can almost feel her distress, and that worries him. The confusion on his face is replaced by concern, and while he doesn't know what's going on, he wants to make this easier somehow. ]

I promise, I'm fine.

[ Physically, anyway. Mentally, he's rattled. ]

I remember being at the Hub and trying to stop HYDRA.

[ His expression darkens. ]

So many of our friends were HYDRA agents the whole time.

[ HYDRA. The nightmare that just wouldn't stop coming, the boogeyman in SHIELD's closet that had been such a formative part of her early years as an agent. It had taken so long for them to root out every last bit of it, only for it to resurface again when they least expected.

But that's not what's important right now. Either his memory really has been fried by one thing or another, or—

She steps closer again suddenly, moving in to wrap her arms around him in a hug. It feels so good to hug him again, to feel him solidly beneath her hands. Basking in that sensation isn't an option though. As soon as her arms are around him, she sends a gentle quake through his body, just to be sure. The ache in her arms is sharp again, making her wince at the pain, but there, beneath it all... ]

How are you—?

[ He waits for a reaction, for surprise, or shock, or some other expression to give him a frame of reference for where she's coming from. Obviously she's from a much later time than he is, because even looking at her, he can see the differences.

Suddenly, though, she's wrapping her arms around him and pulling him in for a hug, and for just a second, he leans into it, content to just stay like this for a little while. But he doesn't get that chance, because no sooner are her arms around him than he feels a strange kind of vibration pulse through him, and he looks at her again, that confused expression from earlier slipping back into place. ]

What was that?

[ He doesn't mean to answer her question with another question, but it seems to him that they're both very much at a loss here. ]

[ She'd like nothing more than to wrap him back up in another hug and never let go, but they can't just stand here in the cold, not when he's probably soaked through and human. So she pulls back, her hands lingering on his shoulders for just a moment before dropping to her sides. It feels... strange, to be standing there with a man who has been like a father to her for so long but who barely knows her. He knows Skye, the hacktivist desperate for a family and a place to belong, who is still trying to find her own identity and is only just beginning to tap into the strength she always had within her. ]

Me. That was me... [ He knows nothing about Inhumans, has no preconceptions about the species and what they're capable of, but he knows enhanced people. Will he see her the same way he did back then or will this time be different? She clears her throat and gestures to the door before moving toward it. ] Let's talk inside where it's warmer.

[ She needs those seconds to stretch into hours, because how else will she get hold of her emotions and keep from looking like she's completely lost and devastated. Some of that's already showing through her carefully crafted expression, she knows, but then he always had been able to read her like an open book. ]

[ He's beyond mystified, because nothing that she's telling him is adding up, let alone those strange vibrations that he felt running through him when she pulled him in for that hug. ]

I don't understand. How was that you? [ He poses that question even as he's moving to follow her inside. Once they're there, the urge to just pepper her with questions is strong, but looking at her, he can tell she needs a minute to think, to process- something.

There's something else in her expression too, something that worries him and makes him want to do something to soothe away that devastation that's slipping through. He can't even be sure what's causing it, but that doesn't matter. He just wants to help make it go away. ]

Why don't we sit down? I have a feeling this could be a long conversation.

[ Daisy has been through a lot in her life. A lot. She knows how to deal with the shitty hand she's been dealt, and she's powered through the hard times again and again over the years. But this... If they'd met just a few weeks ago, she might have just told him everything. Flat out, tell him all the good and the bad, and the in-between. Now? Now she can hear Mack's voice in her ear, telling them to make ripples, not waves. She has to preserve the timeline. Somehow.

She nods at the suggestion of sitting, leading the way over to a table while she tries to decide how to explain. What to explain. His simple question has such a complicated answer. Shivering slightly from the cold rain that's soaked the bottom of her jeans, she gratefully shrugs off the raincoat that had kept most of her dry, only to be reminded of her injuries. Her wincing is both from the deep ache as the coat is draped across the back of her chair and from the dark mottled bruises from palm to upper arm that are clearly visible with her short-sleeve shirt.

There's no hiding them now. ]

[ Sure, Coulson hasn't always felt this way, but now that he knows her and what she's been through, he'd do anything to change how her story started. Of course, it's true that she has a new found family with him and the rest of the team, but it's not a replacement for her real family. He can't even begin to know what's happened to her in the intervening years between what he knows and what she does, but he doesn't really have to. Something about the way she carries herself suggests to him that it's been a long, hard road.

Still, he imagines that she's risen above it as she's done before, but he can see that some kind of toll has been taken on her.

Once they're both seated and she's removed her raincoat, his glance zeroes in on how she moves and winces, and then he finally spots the bruising pattern on her hands and traveling up her arms. ]

Skye, what in the world?

[ He'd never be this forward with anyone else, but because it's her, he reaches out, intending to take her hand in his so he can get a better look. If she lets him, he'll gently move her arm just enough that he can see it and check for anything out of the ordinary. He's not a doctor, but he's seen injuries before, and some injuries just feel a certain way. ]

Did this happen because of the- [ What did she call it earlier? ] Because of the quake?

[ She lets him, of course, resting both arms on the table so he can have easy access to them. It's not exactly that she wants him to fret and worry over her, just that she accepts that it's going to happen and so she might as well make it easier on the both of them. There will be a slight grimace if he touches her wrist or near her elbow, the deep bruising from a few days ago just exacerbated by the additional injuries, but there's no grating of bones or other outwardly apparent signs of serious injury. ]

Yeah, this happens sometimes. It usually takes a lot more than this though, I don't understand— [ Her voice breaks and she takes a quick breath to power through before he can say anything about it. She is not telling him about Nathaniel Malick. There is no way in hell she's putting that on him. ] It's Daisy now, by the way.

[ Because hearing him call her Skye... It's bittersweet. ]

[ He keeps it brief, because it's not like he has an x-ray machine in his back pocket, and he doesn't want to cause her too much discomfort with his cursory examination. Finally, when he's finished, it's not to his satisfaction, but he sits back and sighs. ]

I know I'm no doctor, but you're probably going to want to take it as easy as you can for the next little while. At the very least, your arms are probably going to be very uncomfortable.

[ And it irritates him that he can't do more to help with that. But he doesn't have time to dwell on that irritation, because he finds himself taken aback by the next thing she says. ]

All right, but why Daisy? [ The name feels foreign on his tongue, but if she wants him to use that name, of course he'll comply. He's about to say something else, but then it hits him. ]

You found something out, didn't you?

[ On one hand, it feels like a leap, because when he last saw her, she was no closer to knowing who her parents were or what her history was, but since she doesn't strike him as the type to just spontaneously change her name, it also seems like the most logical conclusion. Combining that with the sudden bombshell that she has abilities, Coulson feels compelled to conclude that there's a significant gap in time separating the two of them.

The only problem is, he can't be sure how much time and how much has changed. ]

[ It's tempting to tell him that she'll be fine, this isn't the first time she's had injuries like this, and she knows exactly what sort of damage was done. After her vigilante period, she knows what these injuries feel like. But telling him any of that would just do more harm than good. She needs to pick and choose what to reveal, weigh what will give him information versus what will just serve to hurt that heart that cares more than anyone else she knows.

So she focuses on what she can tell him. Her name... That's an easy one, relatively speaking. ]

I found out everything. I found them. [ She takes a deep breath and shakes her head, wet hair hardly moving. ] Everything with HYDRA... Everything you remember, that was five years ago for me. A lot's happened since then. But, uh... Daisy is the name my father gave me. Daisy Johnson.

[ Her father, who had given up everything for his family. He'd spent decades of his life looking for his little girl, watching his wife become a twisted version of herself while he too became a monster. And then, what he'd done for his daughter... Even after all this time, her heart aches at the thought of that day on the ship. The day she'd lost her parents all over again. ]

[ Well, that's the thing. Whether or not she tells him, he's got some very specific questions for her, even if knowing the truth winds up hurting him. It's just one of those things that's unavoidable in life. But then again, whether or not she'll answer them remains to be seen. For now, though, he's just focusing in on how she found out her name and her parents. And that gap in years between them, which is one of the most concerning things here. ]

Five years. [ He shakes his head, ignoring the little droplets of water that are dislodged as he does so. ] I don't even know how that's possible, but I know you well enough to know you wouldn't lie or make that up. [ There's no benefit in it that he can see. ]

Well, Daisy Johnson, it's very nice to meet you. [ Whatever confusion he's feeling and however strange it feels to use that name, he's happy for her. She finally found what she was looking for, and he really truly hopes it's all she ever imagined it was. Of course, he can't know that for himself, but regardless, he's always wanted her to be happy. ]

So, five years into the future, are you still with SHIELD, or is that something you can't answer?

[ He might not be the world's expert on time travel, but it stands to reason that there are some things that should not be messed with under any circumstances. ]

Edited 2020-10-11 22:01 (UTC)

[ It's a very good thing that he doesn't ask if it was all she imagined it would be. If she's happy. Because he won't like those answers one bit. None of it had been anything like she'd imagined, and her parents... Well, as broken as her dad had been, he'd still been full of love for her, waiting and willing to shower it on her every chance he got. Never for one second had she doubted that he loved her. Her mom, though.

She still has nightmares about what happened with Jiaying. She figures she always will. Having your mother try to murder you and then watching her die at your father's hands — that's not something you ever really get over.

Hearing him say her name for the first time again is almost magical. It'll be a miracle if he doesn't slip up a dozen times like her Coulson had over many months, but that's okay. Every time he calls her Daisy will be a gift, an acknowledgment of the person she's become, and she'll cherish each and every one. ]

I'm still with SHIELD. [ Honestly, the idea that she might not be just makes her smile in amusement. ] I did leave for a little while, when I needed to deal with... Well, things were bad. But I came back and I— SHIELD is my life. I can't imagine anything ever changing that.

[ The very thought of losing SHIELD is terrifying for her. SHIELD is her reason for being. It gives her a reason to get out of bed everyday and without it... ]

Edited (i can word properly, i swear) 2020-10-11 22:37 (UTC)

[ Hearing about that would definitely not make him happy. If anything, it would ramp up the concern he's already feeling to somewhere past 100, not to mention the urge to pepper her with far too many questions. He's trying to suppress that urge, but it's proving to be more difficult than he thought.

And he's well aware that he'll trip up and use the wrong name a lot until he finally gets used to it. But the thing is, she's spent so much time longing to find her family and to find out who she really is that now that he knows she's learned all that, he can't not honor her wishes. To do otherwise would be doing her a disservice, and he can't have that. ]

Good. I'm glad to hear that. [ It's difficult for him to imagine her not being part of SHIELD, and not seeing her every day. She made a place for herself there, and to picture life on the Bus without her is to picture a landscape that had some of its color taken out of it. In other words, there'd be a piece missing that would be impossible to replace.

After a moment, he just leans his elbows on the table and steeples his fingers together. For once, he's a bit at a loss as to how to proceed. With her being five years ahead of him, that adds a new dimension to things, and he finds himself hesitating. ]

So, what happens now?

[ It's not a question he normally asks, because usually the next step is right there in front of him, but he doesn't have that luxury this time. ]

[ Having Coulson ask that question of her is disorienting. He's always had a sense of what to do, which direction to take, which path to follow to get them out of the darkness. It's a talent and skill she'd taken for granted until her brief time as Director, when suddenly making the right call had been completely on her. And look how that had ended...

She leans back away from the table, slipping her arms down into her lap where the worst of the bruising would be hidden from view. There was a first aid kit in the kitchen, she recalls distantly, hoping there's some gauze or wrapping she can use for her injuries. ]

Well, we— [ But she stops, feeling completely lost and overwhelmed, and just shakes her head helplessly. ] I don't know. The fact that we're here from different times, it— It could mean anything. Suddenly, I'm not so sure the rest of the team is here, or if they are, that they'll be from the same time as either of us. And with you being from my past, I—

[ She closes her eyes and shakes her head. ] The only thing I can think to do is try to preserve the timeline. If we get you back to where you belong, you can't know all the details of the future, and you can't act on what you do learn.

[ But then, what if this had already happened? It's Sousa's question all over again. Does this always happen? Had her Coulson already lived this and just never said anything because he couldn't? Had he already acted on the information he'd had and her timeline events were always supposed to happen in that way? Thinking about it all really does make her brains want to spill right out of her head. ]

[ It's really not ideal; in fact, it's so far removed from ideal that it's beginning to upset him just a little. But he's been in this business long enough that he's a pro when it comes to compartmentalization. If anything's bothering him, or beginning to eat at him, he's not about to let that show. Of course, he's aware that he doesn't need to rely on pretenses around Skye- no, Daisy, but there's some very odd ripples of something happening that's making his usual ability to stay calm and to think things through more of a challenge. Whether that's uncertainty because of the long list of unknowns they're facing, or the after-effects of the inexplicable fear breaking through his barriers, he can't be sure.

Whatever it is, it's not good, but he's doing his best to ignore it. ]

I agree with you. About the difference in times, and the fact that there's been no sign of the rest of the team anywhere. If they were here and capable of making contact, they would have by now.

[ And that's also a slippery slope that they're skirting; it's far too easy for the mind to run wild and imagine the worst case scenario, but the truth is, they have no reason to think the team's in trouble. ]

I don't know how this is all supposed to work, but it seems that it's possible for only some of us to have been brought here.

[ It's one thing among many that Coulson intends to keep investigating.

But then he chuckles and shakes his head. She seems more like the teacher here, and he's just the student. It's an interesting sort of role reversal, and now he can see her growth clear as day. ]

You sound like you're an expert on this subject. I've encountered time travel before, but only briefly. Of course, it makes sense that there are some things that aren't meant to be meddled with.

[ Even if meddling and SHIELD go together like night and day. ]

[ It's an incredibly strange sensation to be both unnerved by the fact that the rest of team probably isn't here and also grateful that they likely aren't. It's going to be hard enough to keep things straight with Coulson, to not let on about all the horrible things that are in his future. All the pain, all that loss... If she had to lie and keep things from Jemma, or Mack, or May—

She'll cross that bridge if she ever comes to it. Until then, it's one problem at a time. ]

Yeah, I uh— [ She sighs heavily and looks down at the table. ] It's not the first time for me. Not by a long shot. The first time, we were trying to change things, but more recently, it's been the opposite. Make ripples, not waves, as Mack put it.

[ And, realizing after half a second, she adds: ] He joins the team not far in your future.

[ There's so much Coulson doesn't know. Mack and Yo-Yo. Deke. Sousa... Inhumans. HYDRA and Maveth. Hive. LMDs and the Framework. The list goes on and on, years of missions and a mounting pile of secrets she'll have to keep suddenly threatening to crush her. But she forces it all down, because she can't let him see struggling. He's always been strong for her, now she has to be strong for him. ]

[ That she's changed isn't the only thing he's noticed. There's a weight to her, like she's carrying something heavy, whether loss or secrets or worry, or some amalgam of all of the above, and that in turn is worrying to him too.

He wants to ask her more questions, to find out how deep that weight goes, and if he can help lighten it somehow. But she said she has to preserve the timeline, and as much as he hates to admit it, trying to dig for answers probably wouldn't do much to make sure the timeline stays untouched. ]

Whatever it was, it must have been important if you went to such great lengths, and then did it again.

I'm sure he's a positive addition to the team.

[ Now he can't leave things uncommented on. ]

Are you all right?

[ There's a look on her face that he can't quite decipher, but it troubles him. ]

[ Of course, he picks up on it. She can never hide from him, even when she tries. He always sees through any barriers she puts him, and more often than not, he knows how to help her so she feels safe enough and strong enough to pull them down. But that can't happen now, can it? In this, she's alone. Again.

She shifts uncomfortably in her chair, starting to say something and then biting her lower lip. Finally, she just shakes her head and smiles sadly. ]

There's so much I want to tell you, but I can't. I guess I'm just... Having a hard time with that. But it's okay. We'll get through this. First, though— [ She lifts a hand, using her injuries as a very convenient excuse as she starts to stand. ] I saw a first aid kit in the kitchen. I'm gonna see if there's anything I can use to wrap these. It'll hurt more if I don't.

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