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

[connatural]

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.

Comments

[connatural]

Much as she wants to argue all of it, she knows he's right. She can't get a breath and her lungs are screaming. Hating giving up, she nods, glancing around for the nearest edge.

"I can swim," she manages, though her voice doesn't sound entirely as if she can though she makes an effort to head for the edge. "I don't need Cabal help," she says, believing it though she eyes him for a minute. If they wanted her dead, why toss her in there in the first place.

Managing to catch her arm over the edge, panting to try and draw a breath. "What the hell kind of game is this?"

[succored]

Cabal? Ty didn't even know where to begin with that, so instead he focused on diving, circling the fountain a few times, going down to the bottom even though now that the woman wasn't splashing around, the water was clear and undisturbed. No one else was there but them. After his third go around, he surfaced back up and swam near her, wiping the water out of his eyes as he went to hang onto the rim of the fountain.

"I don't see anyone else here, but there's a bunker that people come out of too. Your friend could be there."

I should make apologies and yet...

[connatural]

Ashley fought for steady, even breaths. Eyes closing, drawing them deep and holding it a moment before she began coughing. Eyes fluttering open as the stranger surfaces, giving him a look. One that grows not only angrier but more worried.

"A bunker?" That's not reassuring in the least. Not with the Cabal. "Can you show me how to get there? If they're experimenting on him..." She doesn't even want to think what would happen if they found out what he is. A werewolf, at the cabal's hands and...

She finds herself suddenly shifting, not holding onto the edge of the fountain but falling through it. Gasping, hitting the ground with a thud, legs up and on the edge of the fountain.

"What the hell was that?"

never apologize

[succored]

"Yeah, it's not too far from here." He wished he could say something reassuring like, of course they're not experimenting on your friend, but it seemed like all of them were. Case in point, when the blonde fell through the fountain instead of clambering over it like Ty did, he winced a bit sympathetically.

"About that. Depending on what color you show up wearing, you get a corresponding ability. Me and you can phase through things." He leaned forward to hold his hand out to her, looking apologetic. "I just got here too, so I don't know everything yet but I can try to answer what I can."

[connatural]

"Ability?" She grabs his hand, screaming to her feet, eyes wide from the panic of whatever that was. As Ty explains, her panic doesn't get any better, shaking her head.

"I'm not an abnormal. I don't have..." Her mother has always told her that she doesn't, but both of her parents are beyond human, so it shouldn't be that surprising. Though her eyes narrow as her mnid processes those words.

"Wait, by the color of..." She plucks at the orange top. "They're color coding their experimentation?" Anger tinges her tones, trying not to lash out at him despite how pissed she is.

[succored]

"If you didn't before, you have them now. It takes some getting used to." Ty said, squatting down next to her so that they were more eye level. The first time Ty had felt anxious, he'd gone out for a long run, only to start phasing into the ground. It hadn't been a good time, and frustration was no better. Ty had gotten used to tamping down negative emotions, to having such a telltale sign about what he was feeling was almost more jarring than the power. Almost.

"That's one theory." Ty acquiesced, wanting to nip her anger and frustration out before she started phasing again. "C'mon, I can show you to the bunker. We should look for your friend."

[connatural]

She can't help the suspicion she feels then. They've done something to her and made her an abnormal. The idea this is a training camp for a future army leaves a sickness in the pit of her stomach and has her on edge. Including eyeing Ty curiously, not quite suspiciously. Not yet.

She nods though about the bunker. "Yeah. Show me. I need to find what they've done with Henry. They try experimenting on him like this and..." She shakes her head, looking angry and not trying to hide it. "Do I assume they've not armed everyone around here?" She expects they have some. It's an easy way to pit warriors against one another, after all.

[succored]

"C'mon." Sometimes it was best to keep moving, and Ty knew that better than anyone. He gestured for the blonde to follow after him as he started toward the transportation system, figuring the faster they got there, the better.

"If they have experimented on him, likely it's already done." He paused, not sure if he should be the one to say this, but he also didn't want to keep information from her, either. "It's also possible Henry isn't here. My friend was here a year before I got here. Time doesn't seem to apply when you first get here."

He arched an eyebrow at the question, wary about arming someone who was so agitated, but she'd find out sooner or later.

"There's a storeroom with knives and bows and arrows in it. But there's nothing high tech that I know of."

[connatural]

She's wet, carrying a bag full of stuff that as she rummages through it, isn't her own. One, orange? Who looks at her and thinks orange? Two, none of it would protect her from a mosquito, nonetheless anything else she's dealt with. Even in the last two days.

That they're medical scrubs and she doesn't remember anything after the warehouse... that's the most upsetting for her. At least about herself personally.

"If they've tried that, they better hope he finished him before I get my hands on them," she says, about as menacing as a petite blonde in orange scrubs can be. Which for her is fairly decent.

Though she stops, watching him for a long minute on that. "Show me real quick? No offense, but if they're holding an abnormal they've experimented on and they're living? I'd rather be armed."

[succored]

"Abnormal?" Ty asked, a bit concerned about arming someone who was so furious, but it would most likely be worse if he didn't. Besides, most of her rage didn't seem to be focused on him, and if it came to it, Ty was sure he could deescalate the situation or disarm her if he needed to.

So he turned towards the storehouse instead, looking at her curiously. "Who are you expecting to be experimenting on him?" Because while it seemed everyone had wildly different ideas as to how they had gotten here and for what reasons, Ty was sure they all held a clue to it one way or another.

[connatural]

"It's a term my mother uses for those that are not just baseline normal humans. Can be just about anything," she says, shrugging as if that excuses using the term. Maybe he's not Cabal, just another victim of them. Or maybe he's just really good at play acting. She isn't sure, but isn't ready to judge one way or another. If he arms her, that may say something in her mind.

Following with him, glancing sidelong at him. That question again could go either way, but she sees no reason not to be honest. If he's one of them, he's testing what she knows. If not, then he should know who could be behind this.

"The Cabal. They're who had me surrounded before I found myself knocked out and brought here," she says, glancing around as they go. "Is this like one of those towns where they reconstruct the past?"

[succored]

"Guess we're all that now." Ty said, not sure if he liked the term all that much. It had a connotation of being wrong, or freakish, though he supposed it wouldn't be an incorrect assessment of a bunch of clones running around in a backwards town. He led her over to the storage shed, grabbing one of the knives just in case, not wanting to grab anything larger in case it was seen as an act of aggression.

As she picked through everything, Ty leaned against the shed's wall, frowning slightly. If this woman had seen the Observers, or the Cabal as she called them, she'd be the first that he knew of. "What do the Cabal look like? And what reason would they have to bring people here?"

The next question, however, knocked some of his seriousness from his expression, his mouth quirking up slightly. "Could be. All we're missing is a lady churning butter."

[connatural]

Ashley's expression tightens, not angry but really not sure how to deal with that either. She has learned recently just how dangerous she could be, the genes that came into making her, and the idea of an ability that she could use in the same ways he had, scares her.

"Yeah. Guess we are," she says, trying to keep her tones even, trying not to let it bother her too much. She's still herself, and nothing changes that. She hopes.

"We don't know them all. I don't know. Right before I came here they had surrounded me and Henry," she says, picking up a small knife that is likely a pairing knife but in a sheath so that she could carry it with her, and then staff that would do for a walking stick as well as defense.

"If they're behind this like I fear? They're hoping to destroy all the abnormals and clear the world of them."

Laughing a bit at that, needing the tension breaker in that moment. "How do people here gets dairy products?"

[succored]

Ty crossed his arms over his chest, listening intently as she described the Cabal. Even from that brief explanation, he found himself shaking his head. He didn't think they were the ones behind it, considering this place seemed to want everyone to be abnormal, but it was interesting that she and her friend had almost been taken by them before coming here. Was it a saving grace or maybe it was someone working against the Cabal? Either way...

"This place seems to want to give everyone powers willy nilly." Which probably wasn't comforting, so he was glad to talk about something else.

"The old fashioned way." Ty said with a small grin and helpless shrug. "There are animals here who produce milk, but if you're wanting something like ice cream you might be out of luck."

[connatural]

She gives him a look. "Not as reassuring as you might think. They've been amplifying things to try and get the world to know they're there and turn against him. For the most part they live in peace, and when they don't, that's when I step in," she admits, nodding as she figures what she has will do her.

"Was more thinking butter," she admits as she stands, giving him a nod. "Or why there isn't a woman churning," she adds, offering a bright smile then. "Alright then. Lead on to this bunker and we'll have a look around?"

She pauses before adding.

"I'm Ashley, by the way. Ashley Magnus."

[succored]

Well, so much for thinking the Cabal might not be behind it. But more importantly- "So you're like a police officer or peacekeeper then, where you're from? Is Henry one of your wards or friends?" Not that there was a wrong answer to that, but it was idly curiosity as she picked through the cache.

"Maybe you could be that woman and inspire everyone else." Ty said with a small grin, before returning her nod. He was about to start again for the bunker when she spoke again, and he stopped to look at her, giving her a quick smile.

"Nice to meet you Ashley. I'm Ty Rhodes. C'mon, the bunker is this way."