Lydia Martin screams (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
lydiascreams) wrote2015-05-10 09:33 pm
lydiascreams) wrote2015-05-10 09:33 pm
Entry tags:
[032. And you want three wishes.]
[Today, a basket of candy showed up in everyone's cabin.
The candy will be personalized to match people's tastes. If for some reason someone's world doesn't have candy, it'll be a collection of the best candy from Lydia's Earth.
There'll be a note on the basket that says:
Be Sweeter!
♥ Lydia
Those who eat the candy will be feeling a lot more mellow, calm, and will be overall less likely to get involved in fights or anything violent.
The more candy consumed, the stronger the effect will be. The time it lasts will depend on everyone's biology and metabolism. The only side effect is that-- it might make people hungrier than usual.
She's fully expecting people to ask her about the candy, and she'll be glad to answer questions anyone might have. Even if she is pretty worn out from getting all of that done.]
[Video - Wardens]
[She's also exhausted from the other thing she did. After Arthas was released, she wasted no time before taking care of him.
When she starts the video, she has a tired, but satisfied smile on her lips.]
I have taken care of Arthas for the time being. He won't be hurting anyone.
[She turns the camera to show a bunny in a pen, and he's showing her his teeth. So she turns the camera back to herself.]
He's pretty vicious for now. I encourage anyone who knows him to come see him and talk to him. He's still himself and he'll remain this way until he starts to listen to us.
For his safety, I won't let him out of my sight, but his communicator is with him in case you want to leave him a message.
[Private - Pounce]
[She's still more than a little shaken up. She doesn't know what she was thinking, she doesn't understand how she couldn't see it before, but she does now. And she wants to fix it. So she follows Letty's suggestion and doesn't hesitate before asking for more help.]
I need your help with Arthas. It's urgent.
[Spam - Stiles]
[It's not until after she took care of everything with Arthas. Until after she spoke with Letty, took a shower and she managed to calm down that she makes her way over to his cabin with Prada in her arms.
She finds it strange that he hasn't checked in on her yet, but as she uses her key and quietly steps into his room only to find him passed out on his desk, it suddenly makes sense why.
So she closes the door quietly, sets Prada down, then silently makes her way over to her boyfriend.
If he was in bed, she wouldn't wake him. But as it is, he just looks uncomfortable.]
Stiles. [She whispers quietly, then places a hand on his arm.]
The candy will be personalized to match people's tastes. If for some reason someone's world doesn't have candy, it'll be a collection of the best candy from Lydia's Earth.
There'll be a note on the basket that says:
Be Sweeter!
♥ Lydia
Those who eat the candy will be feeling a lot more mellow, calm, and will be overall less likely to get involved in fights or anything violent.
The more candy consumed, the stronger the effect will be. The time it lasts will depend on everyone's biology and metabolism. The only side effect is that-- it might make people hungrier than usual.
She's fully expecting people to ask her about the candy, and she'll be glad to answer questions anyone might have. Even if she is pretty worn out from getting all of that done.]
[Video - Wardens]
[She's also exhausted from the other thing she did. After Arthas was released, she wasted no time before taking care of him.
When she starts the video, she has a tired, but satisfied smile on her lips.]
I have taken care of Arthas for the time being. He won't be hurting anyone.
[She turns the camera to show a bunny in a pen, and he's showing her his teeth. So she turns the camera back to herself.]
He's pretty vicious for now. I encourage anyone who knows him to come see him and talk to him. He's still himself and he'll remain this way until he starts to listen to us.
For his safety, I won't let him out of my sight, but his communicator is with him in case you want to leave him a message.
[Private - Pounce]
[She's still more than a little shaken up. She doesn't know what she was thinking, she doesn't understand how she couldn't see it before, but she does now. And she wants to fix it. So she follows Letty's suggestion and doesn't hesitate before asking for more help.]
I need your help with Arthas. It's urgent.
[Spam - Stiles]
[It's not until after she took care of everything with Arthas. Until after she spoke with Letty, took a shower and she managed to calm down that she makes her way over to his cabin with Prada in her arms.
She finds it strange that he hasn't checked in on her yet, but as she uses her key and quietly steps into his room only to find him passed out on his desk, it suddenly makes sense why.
So she closes the door quietly, sets Prada down, then silently makes her way over to her boyfriend.
If he was in bed, she wouldn't wake him. But as it is, he just looks uncomfortable.]
Stiles. [She whispers quietly, then places a hand on his arm.]
[ Warden Filter ]
Being human is his right, not a privilege. You don't get to bargain for that!
[ Warden Filter ]
He's been here for years, people have done everything to stop him and he's still here.
He won't listen to us, extreme measures are necessary.
[ Warden Filter ]
No, extreme measures are what made him stop listening. Wardens using their power to get away with heinous shit just because they could.
This isn't torture, but it's literally dehumanizing!
[ Warden Filter ]
[The smile is more than a little sarcastic, as is her tone.]
You haven't been here long. I've seen cases like his. I've been you and I have fought against things like this. I'm not doing this on a whim. I have experience with problematic inmates.
The bottom line here is: if he stays the way he is, he'll keep on killing people. He'll keep on getting killed by people who are angry at him. Right now, most of the Barge wants his head on a platter.
At least this way, he's still himself, and he is safe. The other option would be to take away what he is, what makes him kill. Changing his body rather than his mind sounds a lot less intrusive to me.
[ Warden Filter ]
[Because really, that's what sews it up for Letty, whose jaw tightens and her dark eyes harden.]
You've never been me.
[She'll address the rest, later. For now she's focusing every bit of her borrowed power on turning Lydia into a rabbit too.]
[ Warden Filter ]
[She's just about to talk, when she suddenly can't. Her communicator fall flat on her bed and when she reaches up for it, she sees a paw instead of her hand.
And then she screams, or screeches, as loud as she can -- which is pretty loud for a rabbit considering she's still a banshee.]
[brief spam]
Arthasrabbit has his nose against the bars, black eyes gleaming. He kicks and the enclosure rattles, quiet at first and then louder and louder.]
[brief spam]
She slowly makes her way toward the edge of the bed and looks down at him. Her nose is definitely twitching and it's the weirdest sensation.]
[brief spam]
[brief spam]
Instead, she makes biting motions, because she's sure he's gonna bite -- and possibly kill her -- if she lets him out.]
[brief spam]
Then he backs up and the noise redoubles. THUMP. THUMP. THUMP.]
[brief spam]
It's her attempt at a peace offering, but she stays far enough that he can't reach her.]
[brief spam]
[brief spam]
When she gasps and her actual voice comes out. With wide eyes, she stares down at him.
She was terrified. And yes, this is actually torture. It's like being trapped inside her own mind, with no way to communicate.]
I'm so sorry. [She whispers quietly at him, her eyes wide.]
I'll turn you back. I promise. [And she almost does it right then, but she saw his vicious teeth earlier, she knows what he's capable of. She knows her room will be covered in blood before she even has a chance to call for help.]
I just need to make sure you can't hurt anyone first.
[brief spam]
[ Warden Filter ]
When Lydia seems to run out of breath to shriek with, Letty speaks without lowering her hands.]
You can't make someone change by forcibly changing them. You can piss them off, change them into something else, make them pretend, but you can't. Force them. To change.
[It's ten minutes before Letty will change Lydia back, already feeling the leaden fatigue creeping into her muscles from two species changes in such a short span.]
[private]
She's crying, shaking and more upset than she's comfortable with people seeing her. But she's already so ashamed. What does it matter? Everyone already saw what she did.
So when she looks down at Letty, she doesn't bother hiding her tears.]
I get it, okay? I'm one of them.
[One of the people she was talking against for so long when Jerry was on the Barge, one of the people she was blaming for making inmates not trust them. She's no different.]
What do I do?
[private]
Letty is sunk back into her couch by the time Lydia has settled again, rubbing her temple with one hand and wanting to get up and get herself a beer, but first she needs to see how this shakes out.
The tears don't really affect her all that much. It's the fact that under them, Lydia really is truly distraught. She frowns, sitting forward a bit, pushing back the fog trying to roll in on her brain.]
Call Pounce. Arthas is gonna come after you, now, too. I don't know what the damn cat has been doing, but it's five days later and I'm still not dead, and I doubt he just gave up.
And make sure you're the one that turns him back. Then get over here and we'll talk, okay?
[She hesitates a moment, but the interim time has let her calm down some, let her realize that she isn't sorry for what she just did - especially not since, apparently, it worked - but it wasn't exactly how she wanted it to go down either.]
We'll figure it out.
[private -- > spam]
Most times when she fails someone like this, it always ends up in death. She doesn't wanna put Stiles and the others through her own death. She has to fix it.
So with a nod, she takes in Letty's words, then disconnects the call.
After Arthas is taken care of, after he's human again and he's no longer able to hurt anyone for the time being, she makes her way to Letty's cabin and knocks quietly.
She doesn't even wanna face the pack right now. Not because she doesn't think they'll understand. The problem is that they will. And she's the one who's supposed to guide them -- especially Stiles and Allison -- away from this. Along with Scott. Right now she feels like she failed all of them.]
[spam]
Letty is already feeling the effects of her kneejerk reaction sinking in but she's always been the determined sort. She's shut off her communicator by the time Lydia arrives, answering the knock promptly if not immediately. She glances up and down the hall even as she steps back to let the girl in, waving her past into the well-worn living room of her cabin.]
Everything go alright? Arthas is safe? [She meant is he secure, but when that's what she ends up saying, she doesn't try to correct herself. Letty closes the door behind them both, and leads Lydia over to the wide couch with its threadbare, punched out of shape cushions. It's not the fanciest house in existence, but it is comfortable.]
[spam]
[Her voice is quiet as she answers Letty on her way in. She doesn't really look at her until she's sitting on the couch. She's even more drained now that she turned him back to normal, but it helped lift some of the weight from her shoulders, in a way.
Sighing softly, she looks down at her right hand. It's covered on scratches from when she picked Arthas up to take him to his cabin, despite the gloves she was wearing. But she already cleaned it up, at least. And she knows it'll heal soon enough.]
He's back to normal. He's in his cabin and Pounce will be there with him.
[spam]
Good. I don't know what the hell the furball is doing, but it seems to be working. For now.
[She can see the cleaning efforts, anyway, and there's not as much damage as there could be; impressive, for a rabbit, but not bad. Letty lets go and disappears for a moment into the kitchen, returning with a bottle of tylenol and a glass of water, both of which go onto the coffee table before she reclaims her beer and a seat in one of the chairs. She folds one leg up under her and levels her dark eyes on Lydia.]
Wanna tell me what's going on now?
[spam]
She watches as Letty moves around in silence and after she settles down on a chair, Lydia takes a moment before taking a sip from the glass of water.]
Thank you.
[She's pretty sure the question is about her and not the inmate, but in case it isn't...]
I'm not doing anything else. I told Pounce to ask me for help if he needs it, but I'm not going after Arthas again. [Or anyone else. In fact, if it wasn't for her deal and the people that'll be affected by it, she'd probably just leave. But she can't. She has to stay. For them.]
[spam]
[Letty repeats the word selection skeptically, because she can still clearly hear the way Lydia was putting her off before, the way she was evading when Letty was asking her about what she realizes now was the plan that culminated in the candy baskets, in what happened today. And she knows it was a plan, something Lydia did for a reason, something she thought would work - it wasn't like what Letty did, a reflex, the powers equivalent of a kneejerk reaction. She just also doesn't know how they got from where they were when they were talking about accountability, to here.]
You gotta give me something, man. You gotta tell me what you were even thinking with that kind of bullshit.
I get this much: I know you thought it would help. You aren't mean, or I'd've laid you out straight in the door. But you gotta help me understand.
[spam]
But she feels like she owes Letty an explanation, so she'll get one.]
I couldn't let anyone else die. [It keeps happening, it's her responsibility. Double so when she's assigned to the most dangerous inmate and she's a banshee.]
You told me he was coming for you and for other people, so I tried to think of a way to stop him, make him harmless and still make him listen. Because I didn't wanna make it all about stopping him. I wanted to find a way to get through to him, too.
[spam]
[spam]
[spam]