sixthiterationlogs | OTA - Village, House on Fire, Aftermath

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OTA - Village, House on Fire, Aftermath

WHO: 7
WHERE: House 41
WHEN: Today all day
OPEN TO: OTA; Fire-learning about the village, house engulged, aftermath
WARNINGS: Fire/Panic

The thing about being human is that they felt things a little sharper - skin, muscles, nerves, she hadn't been unfeeling as a doll, but there seemed to be much more about the human body that was apt to go wrong or be injured. Since arriving she's been introduced to hunger, sleep deprivation, bruising, and ever so gradually the shift in weather towards a cooler clime.

That she hadn't quite been aware of until late, but a sudden, sharp introduction woke her up one morning as something skittered across her hand, and it suddenly felt hard, and cold, and heavy. She sits up, looking at her hand that is now encased in ice, for a moment entirely unable to connect with what she's actually staring at and just dimly aware on how uncomfortable it is, until there's a slight tingling in her hand and fingers, then a slight glow, and then the the ice melts and burns away and her hand returns to normal. She flexes it, wondering if she is somehow still dreaming, and eventually slides out of bed to make go about her day.

By the time she's arriving back at home in the evening, she's almost forgotten about the incident since it hadn't seemed to happen again, although there had been some strange incidents involving flames shooting from her hands. Trying to figure that out had kept her pretty busy, but she's arriving home with the understand that she's somehow developed the power to create and control (with some concentration) fire.

She makes herself some tea, then sets some wood in her fireplace, stands back to take a breath, and then makes a motion of punching her hand at it. The first attempt doesn't work, though she can feel the tingle in her palm and see some embers fall out. She concentrates for a moment, and with a sudden burst her hand erupts in flames. She looks at it, transfixed by the fact that it doesn't hurt, and then punches again at the fireplace. A ball of flames shoots out and ignites the wood and is immensely satisfying.

Fire started, she shakes her hand out and reaches for her tea, but ... it's gone cold and solid in a big mug of ice. She frowns at it, and then motion on the table catches her eyes and she looks at a little mouse, hanging onto her spear as it leans against the stable, tendrils of frost and ice starting to creep out from the little rodent's paws along the length of the shaft. She makes a grab at the mouse, but it's fast, and darts across the table, off a chair, and across the living room, leaving icy little footprints behind and encasing everything it touches in a thick coating of ice.

Following it, she slips on one of the icy patches and slams into the floor, a brief tingle in her hand as a firebolt shoots out into the wall. The mouse has stopped, sitting on her backpack (now in its own icy prison) and chitters are her. She throws her hand towards it, sending out another fireball that thaws the backpack, but the mouse has jumped off and moves on.

She chases it around the house, grabbing at it and trying to mitigate the wintry wonderland that it's trying to make of her home, until it slips into a hole and 7 scrabbles on the ground behind it, kneeling down and peering into the hole as she grumbles in annoyance. So far, she was not a fan of the cold, and she was not a fan of this creature trying to inundate her life with it.

But the mouse is now long gone, hidden somewhere in the walls of the house, and 7 sits back and huffs a sigh in order to think about what to do next. Beyond that, however, she becomes aware of a pleasant warmth and a soft glow; contrary to the icy palace the mouse was trying to convert this place into, it was warm and, maybe almost too hot?

Turning slowly, afraid of what she's going to find, 7 is treated to the truth that some of those little puffs of fireballs had found some very burnable purchases in the predominately wooden house. She's reminded suddenly of the fire in the cathedral, but they'd been able to make it out before it had gotten too big, but big it had gotten, and sitting here now she could see that it was spreading fast.

Fast rising, too, was that panic; the way her chest tightened and made it hard to breathe and her skin almost felt like it was alive. It wasn't long before the little blue light appeared, directing her out of the house and out of danger. She leapt to her feat and started to follow, then stopped and doubled back to grab her backpack and her spear, and then turn to follow the blue light again. The fire, though, where she passed close to the licking flames, hadn't seemed to effect her.

She runs her spear and backpack outside, pauses a moment, then runs back in to see if she could salvage any more of her human necessities. As she realizes the fire doesn't hurt her, the panic subsides, but even after thoroughly scouring the burning house she finds not everything else is as lucky. Of her bolas, only the rocks remained, plate-ware was cracked, utensils melted. The dagger's she'd inherited from Cael safe in her backpack so that wasn't a concern.

Finally admitting defeat, she settles down to sit in front of her house as it burns itself down to embers, watching as the sky is dotted with floating pieces of ash. Oh, did this bring back memories, and her shoulders slump. She wasn't quite as excited about the fire powers now.

[[Find her In the village playing with her fire powers, later that evening maybe try to convince her not to run back into a burning building, or catch her afterwards contemplating the embers.]]

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7's ready to answer him, but then he exclaims and stamps in the ground. She shifts away, looking at him then down at his feet and the new furrows in the ground, then back at him.

"Yeah, roaches bad. I can control them, I'd been practicing earlier today," She lifts her hand and looks at it, flexes it and it bursts into flame, flexes it and the flames die. "I just ... I got carried away."

"...That's okay."

Eddie looks a little tired, "...I know what that's like. Maybe not with fire powers but...Look however long this is gonna happen, if it's a forever thing we're gonna help you okay? I. I am going to help you."

He gestures, "So you went after these mice and...all this happened? Did you get your stuff out okay?"

"Most of it, the important stuff." Her spear, her backpack, some nice rocks from the bola; she could get more linen to make it again.

"Have you had a house burn down before too?" The cathedral hadn't exactly been her house, certainly not the way the other dolls had made it, but it had been her place for a little bit.

At least she'd had help causing that fire. This one - was all her.

"No." He paused, "...All my uh...traumas were kinda personal. Just things that happened to me directly or were done to me. Nothing like property damage. I've been lucky about that."

He stares at his shoes before looking back to her, "...It's...look what matters is you're safe. And you've got a place you can stay and-"

With fire powers?! With us at night?!

"...Do you want to talk about it? How ...how does it make you feel?"

"No." She doesn't want to talk about it, she hadn't ever wanted to prolong awkward conversations and delve into that tricky, prickly territory about how does that make you feel. The question causes her chest to constrict, that rising fight or flight instinct taking over and in cases like this it's only ever flight. She can fight no problem; she can throw herself at the bigger, physical challenge like it's the most natural thing in the world, but sit down and discuss, dicsourse, argue, she runs.

She looks out into the forest even now considering the option, tensing her grip around her legs, but the little guiding light shows up in a steady line around herself and Eddie. Stay put. Answer this one. Don't hide from the problem. She fidgets, swallows, looks at her own feet, looks over at him but never quite meets his eyes. It's Eddie, though. Everyone here had been very nice to her, but there were precious few she would actually consider going into greater detail about the world and people she left behind. Sometimes, things just came out, but intentionally giving up that knowledge - it was a small list, but Eddie was on it.

"I feel ... I -- I don't know. I don't know how to feel." There's something freeing and terrifying about voicing it, and once it's out the other words seem to tumble past as if they'll be lost forever if she keeps them to herself, "In my world, you had to be quick. You had to be one step ahead, always looking over your shoulder, for yourself and everyone else. And I was small, everything was so much bigger but I knew how to deal with it! I don't know how to do it the other way around."

Which would explain why she had an easier time of it landing a hit on Venom while she couldn't chase down one mouse. "There was always a place to go but there was always something hunting us down. There's nothing hunting you down here. Danger stays where it is, it's not an eventuality on the horizon." She's pulled tight in on herself, "I'm wound up, but I don't need to be, but I don't know how not to be. I overreacted with the mouse and --" She looks up at the charred ruins, finally running dry on words. She's pulled herself into a small, tight ball now, sagging against her knees.

Edited 2018-12-03 00:47 (UTC)

This is painful to watch. She's really struggling and something in him hurts like hell. V? Is that you?

As he listens to her talk, Venom uncurls. Why is she stressed? She needs to move on. To not worry. The alien's concern was almost touching. Eddie hesitated before reaching for her hand.

"Breathe.

That's the first thing. Breathe. You didn't do anything wrong, powers are strange. It's okay to be scared."

It's not. there are no enemies to fight with this.

7 takes his advice, taking a couple deep, intentional breaths. It did help.

"I'm not scared, I can't be scared of nothing ... can I?" She's not really sure of anything, anymore, and after a moment she releases her grip on her leg to hold his hand back. There'd been such a language of nuance among the dolls, conveyed with touch and expression as much as words. She hadn't realized she'd missed it, but feeling the subtle contact from Eddie reminded her of those little moments.

Eddie withdraws a hair, "Kid listen. I'm scared of nothing like. A lot. That's part of being human."

It seems like that's a thing people should know. That it's part of being human but-

you didn't know. I didn't know. None of us knew. Human beings are fragile. They can be afraid of nothing. You're afraid.

I'm not actually-

Yes you are. Of this place. Of Anne thinking you're a monster. Of Stark putting you down like a rabid dog, of this girl. Because you want to help her, to take care of her, but you don't want to fuck it up. These are...intangible. It's frustrating. You can't fight these things!

He reached for her hands, "...Breathe again for me okay?"

You can't! You should take up a weapon and fight beside her! You should!

He wraps an arm around her shoulders, "...Let's get you back to my place...and you can sleep okay?"

She breathes again, a deep, solid lungful, finding it amazing how easy such things are to forget when there's so much more going on. He's got her hands and she's coming down from panic and maybe, maybe, things will be alright.

Leaning into him as he puts an arm around her shoulder, she sighs, and nods. "I'll try, at least, but no promises." She pushes up to stand, then reaches over to collect her backpack and spear. She looked at the pile of other items that she'd tried to salvage.

"Is any of it worth keeping, Eddie? I didn't know what to - I just grabbed things."

"Right now? Take all of it. I don't have a lot of shit-"

Shit. Clawed walls and damaged furniture-

I took care of it. Venom's voice is smooth and cool, Last night. You saw?

...Didn't think to look. S'okay. Thanks V. I uh...Hopefully she won't notice.

"...C'mon gimme what you want me to carry. Point is I think you're in shock right now kid. I mean I don't know, per-se but...

Important to make sure y'know? C'mon."

She takes a moment to pile the random bits - charred and broken plates, a some solid rocks from bolas she'd been constructing - over the one linen sheet she'd thought to grab. She ties up the corners and hands it off to Eddie. It's lighter than her backpack.

"Someone else said that too. Made me go to the inn and eat." After which she'd gravitated right back outside. "I don't feel shocked just - numb, is that it?"

"Yeah. Like everything's all tingly. That's usually...a sign of shock."

He had no idea what to do with shock. He frowned at that, that realization hitting him hard. Anne would know what to do. Briefly he considers going to her with this girl, before dismissing it with an annoyed snort.

Venom is not happy about that. Anne would know? Why not go and ask her? Ask her for help? You don't know what to do you said that and-

Eddie has to stop walking before rubbing at the side of his head.

"...Headache."

I am not a headache. I have questions. Why are you suddenly being stupid about this? First you care and care, but if you can't do...something...

The creature having come to some sort of conclusion quiets and Eddie is grateful. He gestures, "Stupid headache. C'mon."

His house isn't too far but it's also a bit foreboding. He stares at that, "...S'winter right? Christmas is probably soon...should find lights to put up or something."

He moves to open the door and gesture, "...I've got a couple of house rules but those can wait. Cool?"

"Yeah, I guess maybe - then."

Was it too late to run into the forest and just live in a tree?

Watching as Eddie rubs his head and complains of a headache, she knows she's not the only one dealing with the frailties of being human. She follows along quietly, trudging along with leaden feet, looking up at the house as they get close.

It's much larger than hers, "Christmas?" Another unfamiliar human thing. but then he mentions house rules and she thinks of 1 and hesitates.

No, breathe. If they're bad I can just run.

"Cool. Got it."

"Yeah. Lights? Trees? My uh-"

He pauses, "My dad was a shitheel." The house looks far more presentable then when the last guests saw it. The scratches are mostly hidden and the broken furniture is gone, "But he would go all out for Christmas and I could kinda skate by. My older sister sang in the choir so it was kind of all about her but even then like...Y'know. You'd go to church and sit and look at the pictures of the baby Jesus and it'd feel like you were a part of something bigger."

He shrugged, "...Like you were less alone."

He hasn't thought about that in years, mostly because he did his best to surround himself with people.

Then everyone left.

Turning to look at her he swallows, "Um-only rule is...if it's night time, common area's my space ok? Like. Not to get all beauty and the beast stay out of the west wing on ya, but...yeah. Nighttime's for sleeping. Make sense?"

She looks around, but it's less with a critical eye and more just something to do as she floats along. She sets her backpack down, never lets go of her spear. Lights and trees, she doesn't have any concept of what he's actually saying but there's a picture in her mind that's special in its own right.

"Baby Jesus." She'd been in a church, an old cathedral, and she'd seen pictures and writings in the stained glass, but that's the extent of her understanding.

The house rule, however, gets her to look sharply at him, expression going hard, panic starting to kick up and pull at her chest again. She looks at the door, is it too far to run, can she make it in time, and then back at him and shakes her head.

"If I want to leave, I leave."

"Oh yeah no. Of course." He pauses... " I just - sleepwalk. At night. Wake up and wander around and I don't want to risk bumping into you or scaring you. It gets pretty creepy but..."

He pauses. She is nervous. why?

...Her house just burned down V she's probably in shock...

Don't remind me. Be nice Eddie. She is a hunter, the only one I've seen who doesn't scream when they see us.

She's the only one you've seen period! Probably!

"...But honestly maybe I'll just...see what I can do. About that." He gestures, "Just if you hear weird noises at night that's probably me bumping into things okay? It's not dangerous. Just a...a habit I've had for awhile."

He pauses,"...You like Christmas?"

"I don't know christmas. Something with lights, and trees, and a baby?"

She relaxes, but it's less a release of tension as it is finally starting to sag in the aftermath of the events.

"I don't like being locked up." Is what she can manage to explain, but the words feel slow, she feels slow. "What, uh, what room should I take?"

She lifts her hand up to brush her hair back. "I think - sleep might be a good idea right now."

Edited 2018-12-03 06:13 (UTC)

Eddie's nod is slow, "...Easy out. Uh - there's a room next to the door here?" He gestures, "Bedroom over here's got a private porch."

The bedroom on the other side of the living room is spacious, a single bed, warm linens, all of it.

"That way if you gotta go you gotta go and uh...yeah. I'm across the hall if you need anything and we can..." He nods, "...well. I mean I suck at cooking but if you need anything seriously. Like. Just knock on my door except at night cause...I stumble."

He pauses, "and if you hear any noises. It's me and I'm okay. I promise."

She knows you're lying

Venom makes him tired on a good day.

"...It'll be okay kid. I got you."

She walks over to check out the room, it's good - porch is good. She's feeling a little better about this arrangement. Bed, linens, private entrance. "I've got what I need."

Settled in the doorway, she looks over at him. Between the headaches and his insistence that he's fine with this 'sleepwalking' thing, she wonders if she should be worried.

It's still hard to feel anything.

"Are you sure you'll be alright?"

"Honestly? I'm great."

This is the secret to Eddie Brock's success. He can fake things with a powerful degree of acting ability. In another life he could have been a hell of a thespian. Here he's seemingly at ease, "...If I seem distracted it's cause I'm honestly thinking about Christmas and things to do with it."

You know, because that's healthy, burying things beneath the holidays.

"Seriously though kid. You need an extra blanket or something please let me know?"

"Okay, I will. Promise." She edges into the room and closes the door, adding softly, "Thanks, Eddie." This whole being human and having powers thing was weird, but having friends like him made it bearable.

Settling into her new room, she tries not to think about her earlier failure. She's exhausted now, though, not a physical exhaustion but something much deeper; as if the whole world is pulling at her bones. She unties and drags off her boots, then settles on the bed, curled up protectively around her spear. It's a fitful sleep at first, but eventually her body gets the better of her and she finally, finally sleeps deeply for a change.

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OTA - Village, House on Fire, Aftermath

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