theairlock | Week 5

Entry tags:

!round 2,
!week 5

Week 5

[As with the weeks before, life in the Fantasy Sweet returns to something resembling normalcy with shocking efficiency. The second floor rest area and ~~Adventure Zone~~ Death Orb Room are spotless again, the demon glitter has been vacuumed, the deflated orbs have been replaced. It's like none of it ever happened, like three more friends aren't dead and stored away in the guest house morgue.

There's a new floor to explore, their "reward" for a job well done.]

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday

[ooc: Don't forget to to turn in your activity for week 4, submit your memory regains and put in your threads for the Benefactors!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Angel should have been grateful that there were no cameras in Eleseer. She had managed to track the audio feeds of her father and Athena, heard what followed, but seeing it on her screens? That would have been too much.

What happened in the Vault changed him. Changed them both. It didn't take long for him to ascend the final rungs of the corporate ladder after that. Tassiter was found not long after, strangled to death. Officials would say they had no idea what happened. The only one who would hear would be the Guardian Angel, who would be unable to do anything.

She had known that her path to freedom would be one caked in blood, telling herself it would only ever be the deserving. Tassiter had been easy enough to make excuses for, but more and more bodies piled up. And the excuses? Trivial at best.

Freedom never came. Instead, she was transferred to the surface of Pandora, the new Control Core Angel. Everything else continued on as normal -- making friends with the locals and using them. It wasn't long until she was asked to befriend the Vault Hunters once more. Through her, the shields were lowered around New Haven. She convinced those in charge that there was no threat.

She made one mistake in the assault on New Haven. In the process, Lilith was killed. Her father screamed for hours about his plans, all of which hinged on the other siren, and her ability to "charge the vault key."

And then his gaze fell on Angel.

She felt only a prick of pain as an IV was inserted into her arm. A sickening purple liquid entered her blood stream. Her tattoos burned against her skin -- a promise of the power that her father so desperately craved. He told her it was only temporary, but Angel knew what eridium did to those who used it.

The dream ended with the feeling of cold metal. Her father had designed something for Lilith -- a collar that would keep her in check. With the fiery-haired siren dead, the gift instead fell to Angel. And as it clicked into place around her neck --

Angel woke not with a scream, but a whimper. She sat up, doing her best not to disturb Rhys beside her but knowing that she probably failed. Nevertheless, she slid from her bed and down to the ground, where her head came to rest against her knees. The movement reminded her of the metal against her neck, sending a wave of panic through her. She reached up to where it rested, clawed frantically until she found the clasp, and then tossed the biting band as hard as she could across the room. It connected with a sharp twang, before clattering to the ground.

The sobs flowed freely afterward.]

Edited 2017-06-11 19:10 (UTC)

[ He wakes up in a cold sweat.

It makes sense now. Why he came here feeling like he'd been hit by a truck. Rhys is shaking pretty badly by the time he's awake, but more importantly-- ]

Angel?

[ His voice is thick with sleep, and he blinks a couple of times. Something strikes him as very incredibly wrong. The absence of the collar he'd tried to convince her to take off. The sobs. Rhys clambers down from the bed and pulls her close. ]

Angel, did you-- It was that bad?

[The presence of someone, anyone, was startling in the face of her dreams. She jerked away instinctively, before realization dawned on her. Weak and groggy, she decided to instead collapse into him, sobs shaking her bony form. She wanted to tell him, but only her tears followed.

Where did she begin? What did she tell him? The ruins of New Haven burned brightly within her mind, but her veins burned with eridium and her throat felt tight under the memory of the collar.]

Jack -- [It was the only thing she could think to rasp.] He --

[ He holds her just that much closer. The way she's shaking, the way she can't even speak, not even to him... it actually kind of scares him.

Rhys stiffens. Jack. The common thread in their lives. ]

Angel, what did he do? Can you tell me?

New Haven.

[Would it mean anything, in his future? Or was it another smoldering secret in Angel's attempts to give her father what he needed. She didn't want to think about either option. Didn't want to consider the condemnation. Rhys understood more than anyone else in this place, what it meant to serve under Hyperion. But certainly there were limits to even his support.

She quickly shook her head. That wasn't the only thing on her mind, and she wouldn't fool herself into thinking as much. It was hard to ignore the burn in her veins, or to forget just how purple she had been upon arriving. What was easy was putting together the pieces.

That brief hit was only the start. And it was hard to ignore what it meant.]

He's killing me. Slowly, I think. I -- I don't know how far he will go. But he's feeding me eridium, and that has never ended well for anyone.

[ He feels sick. Suddenly, his worries are far away. For a long while, Rhys is quiet, because he's so angry he could punch something. Break something.

Rhys's breathing is a little more labored, and he pinches the bridge of his nose. ]

What the hell... even knowing what eridium does to a person? Is he-- [ crazy, he almost says, but that's a given. ] Jesus, Angel, I...

[ What does he even say to that? Suddenly, things make sense. Why she's so small. So thin. So frail. The eridium... that had done it to her. ]

He told me I would be free, once he came into power. He promised me.

[For years, she kept her faith, believing that if she just listened, she would one day see the real world. That she would finally be able to walk around like a normal person, confident that her father could protect her.

But her father had died on Elpis, if he had ever really been a father at all.]

They were right, to give me this title. After everything, I deserve all of it and more. [Maybe even the eridium, the slow creeping death she knew was coming, was deserved as well.

But she didn't say that much out loud.]

... But he broke that promise.

[ Goddamnit. Rhys presses his lips to her forehead. ]

No-- Angel, no. You... I don't know everything you've done, and I'm not gonna force you to tell me, but I know you. I know you wouldn't willingly betray someone. That's not the kind of person you are.

[A few days earlier, perhaps even the night previous, she would have been overwhelmed by his, admittedly innocent, touch. Now it felt wrong. Why did she deserve happiness, deserve him, after all she had done. It didn't make sense to her.

But disgusted as she was with herself, she didn't pull away. She was a selfish creature, after all. Had clung to Jack despite knowing better. Clung to Rhys despite knowing she didn't deserve him.]

You're wrong. I convinced an entire settlement to trust me. And we razed it. People died brutally because I let them believe that I was their friend. That I would protect them.

[ If she'd drawn away, he'd have let her... but Rhys doesn't want that to happen all the same. There's a part of him that's worried that's what'll happen. Angel's obviously filled with a lot of self-loathing... and it's painful even for him.

He won't deny that he's a little shaken by what she's told him. At the same time... there must be something he's missing. A piece of the story. ]

Did you want to do it?

[Did she want to do it. It was a question that struck her silent, left her alone with her thoughts. She didn't want people to die, that much was true. Especially not Lilith, whom she looked up to and wanted to call a friend. But saying no... Had the thought even crossed her mind? If it hadn't -- was it because of unquestionable faith, or fear.]

I... cared about the people there. But what could I say or do? I had nothing, and my powers... [She winced, remembering the core.] He had me locked away in a facility on Pandora. It was no longer just... keeping me safe.

But I still did it. I did not question him. I... saw what happened to people who questioned him. And even if he would not kill me... there was plenty of ways to hurt me.

[ Rhys listens to her. As he thought, there is far, far more to the story than she'd initially let on. His blood boils the more she tells him. It's one thing to lock up his own daughter, and another thing to poison her, but... ]

He used your fear to control you. [ He sounds utterly disgusted, and he wants more than ever to throttle Jack. Too bad that's not possible. ] Angel, that's... He knew you were scared. He let you see what he did. He... It might've seemed like a choice, but he didn't give you one. Not really.

[ He shakes his head and sets his hands, gently, on her shoulders to look at her. ]

He used you to do his dirty work, Angel.

I let him. All along, I believed that what we were doing was right. I might not have been able to say no then, but what of before?

[She shook her head. There was more she could say, more she could argue, but she was exhausted. Whatever the cause, whatever could have been done differently, it didn't matter. At the end of the day, the blood was on her hands, and there was no going back from that.

No, what was more important right now was her fate. Somehow, some way, she was alive. She couldn't say for certain, though, that that would continue to be the case, however. The eridium was killing her, if nothing else, there was no denying that.]

I cannot go back, Rhys. Please, whatever happens, however we get out of this, you cannot let me go back there.

He took advantage of how scared you were, Angel. And-- he's your dad, you... it's not easy to say no to a family member, right?

[ Especially someone like Jack--he probably made it sound like the best thing ever, like what they were doing was a good thing.

Her request makes him pause. ]

I won't, Angel. I-- I don't know how, but I won't let you go back to that. Not if I can help it. [ He looks at her firmly, determinedly. ] I'll make a plan, for-- for both of us. That's what I do best-- plans.

Maybe.

[There was more she wanted to say, but she didn't want to argue with him. Right now, she could at least stomach Rhys' acceptance. If nothing else, someone in this facility still trusted her. She could question it later. She needed comfort now.]

I... trust you.

[More than anyone who came before him. More than her father, and perhaps even more than the otthers here.]

Thank you.

[ Idly, he reaches up to stroke her hair. More than anything, he needs to let her know he's here for her. Now, always. ]

Hey, you don't have to thank me.

[ He doesn't want to see her hurt. ]

It's just... you deserve good things. To be happy. Even if you don't think so.

I don't... know what I deserve.

[Not when there was so much blood on her hands. It seemed wrong, very wrong, to be happy like this. To have a boyfriend that cared about her, that appeared to want to stand by her despite all she had done. And friends, she had those too. She didn't know if they would think the same of her, but she would gladly count Nari, Junpei and Choromatsu as her friends, and that was only if she was being conservative.

No. She deserved to be in a game of murderers, deserved to be a victim, to suffer for her crimes. Certainly nothing like this.

But she was certain that Rhys wouldn't agree with her if she said as much aloud. Instead, she simply rested her head against his chest and tried to focus on simply breathing.

Better than what you believe. And... what he's made you believe.

[ His voice is firm, because it's truly what he believes. Despite what she thinks, Angel deserves freedom. He's not sure what'll happen in this place, but he'd do anything to make sure she gets the ending she deserves.

And that ending... is an ending without Jack. Because even though Jack is dead and gone in Rhys's time, he's not sure about Angel. Knowing that, if she returns to Pandora, she'll possibly be going back to a death sentence?

That's not right. ]

[Several protests began and died on her lips. She wanted to argue that the corpses in New Haven, the families of those who died in the massacre, all might disagree with him. But she didn't. Her mouth remained closed, and for a long while, she simply leaned against him.

Eventually, a voice in the back of her head began to chide her. She wasn't the only one who received memories, at least she was almost certain she wasn't. She lifted her head, giving Rhys a serious look, before laying a hand against his cheek.]

What about you...? Are you alright?

[ He hesitates. It feels wrong to turn attention to him when she's not... doing well at all. Rhys instinctively places his hand over hers, squeezing lightly. She's... asking, so maybe... ]

I... not. Not really. Angel, I did something-- really bad.

[It was as if Rhys had flipped a switch. Though she still felt her own distress rising up within her, it could at least be ignored for the time being. It was like she had thought earlier -- she wasn't the only person receiving memories.]

What happened? [If Rhys could forgive what she had done, she could at least listen and try to do the same.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Week 5

CW: needles, closed to Rhys

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject