sixthiterationlogs | Everyday, every second of my life Is a fight to survive

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Everyday, every second of my life Is a fight to survive

WHO: Ashley Magnus
WHERE: Fountain, Various location
WHEN: Oct 3rd, and then the weeks after
OPEN TO: All
WARNINGS: PG13? Will edit if needed

October 3rd, Fountain Arrival

There’s little that brings out the worst in Ashley than being trapped. Finding herself surrounded, having led Henry in there with her, ready to do whatever she had to for their freedom. And then there is pain. Sharp pain shooting through her body, firing through her nerve endings until every inch of her feels burned, on fire, electrified. And as she realizes what is happening, everything goes blank.

Gasping for air as consciousness comes back to her but finding nothing but water. Rushing into her mouth as she is propelled upwards, choking on it as instincts kick in. Kicking as hard as she can for the surface, with all the strength she has. Breaking the surface with a wet, choking sound as she paddles, trying to clear her mouth and lungs. Casting about, seeing nothing but the edge of the fountain and certainly no one else.

“Henry!”

Ignoring how much her lungs hurt, diving back under the water, desperate to find him, painfully aware with each dive that there isn’t anyone else to find.

Later in the week, around the village

Wherever she was, Henry has not followed. There seems to be no way to contact her mother or the Sanctuary, and Ashley has no idea what the Hell kind of game the Cabal is playing but none of it is comforting. The only thing she is certain of - and it leaves her with a bad taste in her mouth to think about - is that they held her longer than the moments when she blacked out after they hit her, and it came with someone undressing her in a medical setting. That just is never a good thing.

Sure there’s the obvious buildings, the abandoned homes that make her think of a nuclear test facility and only confirms for her this is some kind of Cabal facility, and the people, but there aren’t enough answers. Not that she expects to find them easily.

So she might be found rummaging in the storerooms as she scans through anything she can find, often sitting on the floor to make notes in a book she found and is using the print as lines for notes. Other times she might be seen oddly checking all surfaces of the appliances, the items in the forge and mill, anywhere that might have production numbers, delivery information, or manufacturer information.

In the evenings she tends to stay around the dining room, listening in on others and trying to figure out if they’re foot soldiers playing a part or others that the Cabal has kidnapped as well. Listening for any information about abnormals here, more experimentation, or even if any have managed to escape. None to subtle about it either, occasionally making notes in the book as she goes.

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Ashley is not the record keeper in the family. She's the one that makes records to be kept. But if she's going to be the only one of her family there, then until Helen finds her, Ashley is doing what she can not to let her mother down.

It also helps her to keep busy because, seriously, with the whole town that dreaded sundown vibe and lack of imminent danger, she is risking going seriously stir crazy.

Of course, if she is looking to get her heart pumping, even with things changing as they are back home, there is something about hearing that voice suddenly behind her that comes with reaction rather than thought.

Call it a character flaw.

She is on her feet before she can even process the words that come with that voice, one hand coming up as if going for his throat and the other flipping the pen to catch it with the tip jutting out from the side of her hand like a shiv.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

Okay the question, she realizes, is stupid. If the cabal could get their hands on him, they would. Which begs the question.

"How'd they catch you?" And then, more importantly. "Where's my mom?"

There are - in theory at least - other people in the village who are inclined to keep records of what might have been going on. But even so, Druitt has to admit that it's not something he's spent a lot of time looking into. Like her, he's much more inclined to be the person who's the cause of something needing to be written down, even if his own records are of a distinctly darker sort than hers have ever been. But there is still that point of similarity, even if neither of them are likely to talk about it.

Instead, he simply stands there, patient as ever as she whirls around to face him. And while he knows better than to assume that she couldn't manage to do some fairly serious damage with the pen she's holding, he doesn't seem to be concerned in the least. He simply stands there, waiting patiently until she's finished speaking.

"No one here knows the details of how. Just that we have been." A pause. "As I would imagine is the case with you."

It's the most logical answer after all, and he figures that it's best to not touch on the part where he's seen her die, scattered into nothing more than a myriad of atoms until he has a better idea of what she remembers. Especially when she has something that could serve as a weapon and he doesn't.

"As to your mother... she's not here."

(That Helen has been here is also something that he's choosing not to mention at the moment.)

All of Ashley's records are all about preparing for Helen being there. There's just nothing in her that can believe that she won't find her there, and she'll need to know about the others being held there.

Or, you know, suddenly that is off the table and what the hell does this mean?

Standing there with a pen in her hand and a million questions running through her head. One of them stronger than the others and it only makes her hand tighten on the pen because seriously one word making her believe that he sold them out to the Cabal and she's going to see if she can literally put the pen through his neck.

Not that she wants to believe that. Her mom had let him back in, trusted him and believed he was there to help, and she can't handle it could be something else.

"If you..." She lets the words hang there even as she sinks back onto her heels, staring up at him. "Either you betrayed us, or someone else did. Got a guess on who?" As if putting that into his court might open up a few answers.

Because this idea that there's no answers really is not the one she needs, or wants.

"Good. If this is what I have to assume it is, good she's not here. Still not sure about the you being here part," she notes, settling her weight back on one foot, arms folding over her chest. "I mean, not suspicious at all, right? I don't remember a thing but the guy that transports me through space to make a point just happens to be looming around?"

Okay, so it's probably not fair attacking him because she's feeling angry and defensive. She let Henry down. She let her mom down. So why not lash out at the best available target? Least she stopped herself before putting a pen in his neck.

Her assumption that he might have been the one to betray the Sanctuary isn't unreasonable, given what she knows of him. But the accusation is also not something that he's at all inclined to tolerate. Unsurprisingly than, a flash of anger crosses his face, and when he answers it comes out in his voice as well.

"What point would there be in me betraying you?"

Admittedly, he doesn't have any idea of who might have, and only a very basic idea of when she might be from in the timeline, which mostly boils down to having a decent guess as to where she's not from. And even that is mostly based on what little she's shown him so far, and that primarily through how she's reacted as opposed to what she's said.

"And I'm hardly responsible for you being here, if you were wondering."

He can't even teleport at the moment, and even if he could and had brought her here, he wouldn't have seen fit to drop her off in the fountain on his way in, when he could just as easily have set her down on solid ground besides. And likely would have, given that a water landing would have involved him also having been in the fountain.

"Well, given that what it took to drop me in to be lizard chow is something benefiting you, I can imagine a lot of reasons you might,' she points out, at least being gracious enough, of a sort, to keep her voice down.

That doesn't mean she honestly thinks he did this, but dammit. When he starts that sneaking and looming, she reacts on visceral instinct and then it just turns to near stabby things. One day she may actually realize how much she should read into that and accept it really does take two to make a baby.

"Do you know the only reason I believe you on that? Because you wouldn't have done it without mom. Because even you wouldn't risk answering to that. And if she was here and you were hiding her? She'd have gotten away by now, and we both know it."

Which is about the only reason she backs up a step, moving to drop the pen on the book she's been writing in.

"So... What do you know? And don't bluff me. You don't live like you all have without learning every little detail you can. So spill."

For all that Druitt doesn't have any direct problem with admitting that he hasn't exactly acted in the best of lights, he still appreciates that she at least keeps her voice down. It doesn't change the fact that he is still distinctly less than pleased, but it helps keep things on a relatively even keel. By his standards at least, even if he's still not terribly pleased by the half-accusation that follows.

But she does at least step back instead of escalating further, and that's enough for him, at the moment.

"I doubt I've been here as long as you think."

But she does still have a point, and in the name of doing at least something to help repair things between them (or at least not worsening them) he figures he might as well.

"For a start, no one is entirely certain where this is. Not where we were, yes. But past that, the details are... uncertain." A brief pause. "And not everyone here is from the same world as you and I."

He knows that there are - or at least have been - people for worlds very similar to their own. But thus far he hasn't met anyone else who's familiar with Old City save for her and Helen.

One day, even if this place hadn't happened, Ashley was going to have to work through all of the pain and anger that came from learning the truth about her father. Going from never having considered it because it didn't matter to her and this couldn't be easy to anyone, but then add to the truth that she knew and them trapped here and her mind is racing.

Except it's been years on years. Decades and beyond. She has to try and let it be now, if only until she figures out this place and what it all means.

"Longer than me?" Saying as she assumes it not that she is truly asking. Folding her arms over her chest, staring up at him, waiting. She may be tapping her toe, even if she doesn't mean to do it. At least she isn't humming the Jeopardy theme waiting for him to tell her.

"Different. Worlds." She repeats that, swallowing hard. The theory is in dozen of books around the Sanctuary, in papers written by so many her mother has known personally. "Well, that's new. What about the abnormals situation? How dangerous is it given we have no weapons? It true there really is just kitchen knives and axes?"

Come on. She knows he knows!

"A handful of months," he answers with a shrug. Which absolutely is longer than she's been here, but still pales in comparison to the length of time that Helen had quoted at him when he'd first arrived. Or rather, had implied. But the point of the matter remains the same: if there'd been anyone from their world who had had a particularly thorough understanding of the situation they'd landed themselves in, it would have been Helen. And given that she hadn't exactly seen fit to leave any notes behind when she'd up and vanished, he's been left to do his best to make the most of things.

Fortunately, this is one of the things he has no problem with. And while his methods of information-gathering might involve a little more looming than is generally typical, they're no less effective for it.

"There are creatures here that would be considered Abnormals back home. However, given that this may not be our own world, it's hard to tell if they'd be considered to be so here."

For all he knows, even the strangest might be perfectly normal for wherever they are.

"As to how dangerous... there are some more dangerous ones, but most of them don't appear to be in the habit of leaving their own territory. Although if it's any consolation, the Observers have been known to leave... gifts for people. Which I believe has included weapons in the past."

So definitely longer, but without a context of how long that it with others. It's something she hasn't learned a lot about, and none of those lists and such were helping with that. It's not like it tells a person how long each of those iterations lasted, or how long any of them lasted. She has checked that more than once.

"Every creature here is," she says, making a face. "I've seen those damn lizard chihuahuas," she points out, not at all impressed there. "Unless you mean the people, in which case I wouldn't call Iron Bull a creature," she notes, having found him fairly interesting and entertaining, and wouldn't call the Big Guy a creature either.

"Observers," she says, making another face, folding her arms back over her chest. "I've yet to see cameras, find any kind of surveillance equipment. So just how are they watching over us?" Because it's more of all of this that makes no sense to her, and not knowing is just upsetting her more and more.

"If I had meant the people here I would've said so."

And while he and Iron Bull haven't really spoken any, he's still aware of his presence in the village. Not to mention the fact that he doesn't really have a foot to stand on when it comes to considering people to be monsters. Even if the term isn't one that he would have been particularly inclined to use.

"And it would be poor scientists who simply left the method of their observations out in the open." A pause. "Or perhaps they're Abnormals in their own right. Gifted with the ability to see things at a significant distance, perhaps?"

That said, however, he's absolutely of a similar mind, when it comes to the idea of simply not knowing. It's irritating, and all the more so given the fact that the Observers haven't exactly been pulling any punches when it comes to throwing things at them - he still has yet to forgive them for the list of names down in the bunkers, even if Ashley hasn't seen them yet herself.

Edited 2018-11-15 03:53 (UTC)

"Wouldn't want any misunderstandings, now would we?" Asking it sugary sweet, lilting tones that are as much controlling her own temper as they are pushing buttons to see just how he might react.

"And yet the Sanctuary, also observers, still had means and methods if you know how to see them or find them. You did, after all. Others have. You don't find it odd those trained to see these things can't find them?"

Not only talking about herself either. Much more so than that given the others she's already talked to in the short time she's been there.

"And you know just how reassuring it is you've basically just put me right back on the Cabal which explains so much." Mostly about the ability she found herself with.

By the sharp flicker of annoyance - and the way he doesn't actually answer the question about misunderstandings - she's very definitely found a button to push. Even if he is trying to keep things relatively civil for the time being. Which might rather be a futile attempt, but he means to at least try to do so, if only for the sake of making sure that Ashley has a decent grounding in the basics of how things seem to be set up.

"It's unlikely to be the Cabal. Although it could be a very similar organization."

Or at least one that's willing to kidnap people in order to take a better look at how they might react to various pressures, which isn't much more comforting in the long run.

"And we do have evidence of them having been here, if that's what you were after."

The worst part is, she's being a child purely for the sake of letting out the pain she's feeling finding herself trapped in this place. Much as they've had some issues lately, she isn't sure how to handle this with being away from Helen. So he pays. Unfair, cruel, and childish. Especially wanting to bait him into giving her an excuse, just because she's hurting.

Eyes narrowing, considering why he might think that but giving a nod then, because it makes sense.

"Have to wonder what the difference is but fine. Not them but the same ideal and concept, and more science experiments on people." Though she arches a brow at that. "What evidence?"

There's more difference than she might guess. Not that Druitt knows all of the finer details about how the Observers work, but for all that their methods are more than a little bit similar to that of the Cabal, they also seem to be more... indirect. Or at least, to involve less overt experimentation and somewhat less genetic manipulation, in so far as he can tell.

(There's also the fact that he spent a not insignificant amount of time wiping the Cabal from the face of the Earth, but that particular detail isn't one he wants to get into just at the moment, given that he has a sneaking suspicion Ashley doesn't remember anything of her time as one of the Cabal's soldiers.)

"There's a bunker, underground. One that's very distinctly been meant as a base of research."

It's also abandoned, but that doesn't change the fact that it's there, nor that it must have seen some use at some point.

For Ashley that time hasn't happened, yet, and she would be glad not to know. There is little more terrifying than that in her mind, to be used mindlessly. Death would be nearly preferable.

This place though has saved her from that. Not that she knows.

"Huh. Well then. Guess I'll try my hand at research then," she says with a nod, glancing away, though only for a moment. "Want to point me that way? I'm guess this is where that list is so many talk about?" She hears the words, but hadn't found anything but the logs in the inn, the places where they've actually done a good job recording a lot from what she can tell.

It has, that much is true. Druitt isn't entirely certain whether or not that's a kindness on the part of the Observers, but it has done that. And if she happens to learn of her death at some point later, at the very least it won't be from him. He might not be the best of people, but if he can spare her that much he absolutely will.

"It's not the easiest to get to." Especially given that he's not sure if anyone's set up a way to get to the tunnel without having to manage at least some swimming. And with the recent change in the weather, he can't imagine that would be a terribly comfortable journey.

"But I can show you where it is?"

She goes still at that, quiet for a long moment and thinking about all of this. She's in a place she's never known and learning about more things than she's lost.

"Don't make me regret saying yes," she finally says, shaking her head as she says it. "Lead on then."

"I had hardly intended to."

There's no point to it, really. He won't deny, of course, that she has every reason to doubt his willingness to offer something like this and not have it turn out to be some sort of scheme. But there's no need for it to be at the moment. No need for him to use her presence as a blunt force instrument, much less any need for him to try and pull any sort of information out of her. Still, it's hardly the first time that someone has distrusted him, and it's not like to be the last.

(And if the fact that he is being genuinely helpful for once in his life throws her for a bit of a loop, he's not above making the most of that.)

"It's this way."

There's a nod in the direction he means - towards the shore, if Ashley recognizes it - and then he sets off, trusting that she'll follow along.

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Everyday, every second of my life Is a fight to survive

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