Distant stars come in black and red

[connatural]

WHO: Ashley Magnus
WHERE: Fountain, Inn, Around
WHEN: End of March
OPEN TO: OTA
WARNINGS: Violence, brainwashing, experimentation fallout

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Fountain

The world went suddenly from darkness and a muted sort of pain as her consciousness stayed locked away and the reality of water suddenly cold against her skin. A burning sort of cold that stings her eyes as she fights for the surface.

As with when she first arrived, the wall that she's suddenly clawing at vanishes and she finds herself face down on the ground, panting for air as water sluices off her skin. Snarling as she lifts her head, still nothing more than a biological weapon for a moment, eyes red and short, needlelike claws digging dragging at the ground beneath her.

For a moment she seeks nothing but the target that had been before her, finding everything she'd last known gone while her mind fights to remember where she is. Who she is. To remember this place that her heart knows but her mind rallies against in that moment.

Inn

Sitting by the fire, dressed in dry clothes, and clutching a small cup of the homemade vodka from the kitchen, clinging to it as a lifeline as if to remind her where she is. She knows who she is, that she has a home here, and friends, and she is not alone.

Yet part of her mind is reminding her that none of it is real, as if that darkness while she was fighting for those that sought to destroy everything she loves was all that mattered.

Wincing at those thoughts, Ashley took another sip, staring at the sharp, deadly claws that crisscrossed one another at the edge of the cup.

Around the village

Even days after her return, Ashley is having the hardest time finding herself. The animals she had loved as part of her home steered clear of the being she is now. Her reflexes are faster and she is stronger and it leaves her feeling as if her body is not her own. Changed in more ways than the obvious ways that lingered in her eyes and the tips of her fingers.

The village she knows though, trying to use this place to root herself into who she has been there.

Sleep is harder than she thought, the idea of slipping into darkness terrifying, as if she might lose herself once more. So Ashley wanders, touching buildings and often staring at things for a long time as if she can make herself banish those fears of how long she can hold onto Ashley in this place. And fearing what will happen if she can't keep control.

Comments

[connatural]

Ashley doesn't move as Beverly's hands come near hers. The claws aren't just a reminder of what she's been through, they're razor sharp and she's still adjusting to them herself. Nonetheless with other people. But she doesn't pull away, fresh tears brimming in her eyes. "I went back,' she manages, proud of herself from stopping the tears, for keeping her voice even. "And... and it's everything Druitt told me would happen. Except then? I didn't know. I couldn't remember until here," she says, closing her eyes tight. "And now it's like... it's like I'm both," she admits, words she hasn't said aloud, though she's hinted at them. "They used me, my blood, and they tried to destroy everyone."

[ethnobotany]

Beverly's arm wraps around Ashley, holding her as close as the young woman will let her. Listening to the story nearly breaks her heart. For all that Ashley leaves out so many of the details, they've already talked through a lot of it based on what Ashley was told would happen. Beverly can imagine it's just as hard to experience as it was to see or hear about, if not worse.

"But they didn't manage it, did they?" she points out softly. She might not know all of the details, this wasn't something she and Helen ever spoke about, but she does know Helen. If any of this had ever come to pass for her friend, Beverly would have known. Rather, if everyone had been destroyed, if the Sanctuary Helen kept safe had ever been destroyed by Ashley or whoever had control of her, things would have been much different for Helen. Somehow, Beverly has always had a feeling that Helen came from a point farther along the timeline than Ashley did. This only serves to confirm it, for better or worse.