[002. The Wail of the Banshee -- Part 1?]

[lydiascreams]

(OOC: Banshee scream below! It takes place on the Deck. Feel free to have your characters react to hearing it and let me know if you have any questions.)

[Action Spam -- Open]

[Lydia has been working on this little by little every day since she got to the Barge. She's been hearing all of the deaths and taking notes on her phone of names, murderer and murdered as a way to keep track of who could hurt them as well as how they chose to hurt them. Some of them showed up several times and she knows she needs to warn Stiles and Scott of those, at least.

She knows she's reaching breaking point. After each flashback, it becomes harder to hold back the scream. And that's why she chooses to go up on the Deck today. Because she figures at least she will be the furthest away from the rooms if she can't hold back anymore.

Except she doesn't expect the deck to hit her as hard as it does.

Once she gets there, she feels like she's being slammed with memories. There are so many of them all over the place, she feels like her head is going to explode. There's someone being strangled. Skeletal animals torn someone else apart. Another man's soul is splintered apart. A boy about her age has his throat slit open by a girl. One dies after a fight with the same man who strangled the first and the man whose soul got splintered kills another with a back stab.

It's too much, she can barely make sense of it all. Her hands are covering her ears and it's loud. So loud.

Before she can help it, Lydia screams. It's a loud, agonizing scream that makes her entire body shake and it feels like it's going on forever. She's never screamed for so long before, with the pain of so many.

Once it's over, her knees give under her and she kneels on the floor, hands trembling as she rubs them over her face, trying to catch her breath.]

-------------------

[Delayed filters below]


[Stiles & Scott]
I'm so sorry, Scott. I'm okay. I just couldn't hold back.


[Wynter]
I want to start training. As soon as you're available.

Comments

[outofclothes]

Hey no big deal. [Stark lights his cigarette and blows the smoke away from her.] I'm capable of human decency every now and again. Just don't tell too many people or I'm gonna have these assholes knocking my door down for favors.

[lydiascreams]

Your secret is safe with me. [She doesn't mean to sound like he needs to keep her secret as well. But she certainly won't mind if he doesn't go around talking about the girl who screams like a lunatic.]

You shouldn't do that to yourself, so you're capable of human decency for longer. [She nods at the cigarette. It's none of her business but she wants to talk about something else to get her mind off everything she just saw.]

[outofclothes]

[Stark looks at his cigarette for a moment and then grins.]

If it wasn't for these and alcohol? There'd be a huge drop in my ability for human decency, trust me.

[lydiascreams]

[She grins softly and nods at that, arching her eyebrows.]

Fair enough. As long as it helps you help people, who am I to judge.

[outofclothes]

So what brings you on board this shithole?

[Screaming aside, Lydia doesn't seem like the type of person who'd want to be here for any reason.]

[lydiascreams]

[That's another question she doesn't really want to answer, so vague will have to do. Because she won't talk about Allison to a stranger. Especially not one who already saw her breakdown.]

Needed the Admiral's help to change a couple of things back home. You?

[outofclothes]

[It figures she's a warden. Stark smiles a little as he takes a drag off his cigarette before he answers.]

I did the shit they warn you not to try at home.

[lydiascreams]

[A bad boy? Obviously. He seems nice enough but, yeah. It figures.]

Looks like you're getting a second chance?

[outofclothes]

Third, fourth, fifth...

Dunno. Kinda lost count after a while.

[He also feels he has a nasty habit of generally screwing most things up. The big stuff, for whatever reason, he can manage sorta half-assedly. But other things, he drops the ball on repeatedly. Not for a lack of trying to do the right thing or be better, of course. Some people just have bad luck and Stark thinks he might be one of them some days.]

[lydiascreams]

Maybe this will be the last one you need.

[She can't help but think about her well, not-really-boyfriend. And wishing he had gotten at least one more chance too. Maybe if she had believed him him just a little more... But no. She called him a bad guy to his face, and he died trying to prove her wrong. That he wasn't a bad guy anymore.]

[outofclothes]

[Stark's smile is a little derisive, but only a little. Lydia's obviously young and while he has no doubt she's seen or experienced some shit, she's still just that. She's still just a kid. Age hasn't completely burned out all sense of optimism out of her yet.]

[He decides he won't be the asshole to try and convince her to toss it aside even if that kind of thing can get you into more trouble than you can handle.]

Maybe. For Vin's sake, I guess I'd hope so or else this will have been a colossal waste of her time.

[lydiascreams]

[Lydia is surprisingly good at faking optimist. At making her smiles look real when she's breaking down. At looking absolutely perfect and put together even though her whole world is falling apart. That's just how she was raised. Show people what they want to see, they will all love you if you do.]

Is Vin your warden?

[outofclothes]

[She's the biggest pain in his ass. She's his Jiminy Cricket. She's the first to tell him he's a dumbass and slap him upside the head, but she's also the first person to tell him things will be okay. They're cut from a similar cloth and yet she stands on the other side of the fence. She believes in him when he doesn't and doubts him when he refuses to admit he's doing the same.]

[Vin's family. Short and simple.]

Yeah. That's a word for it.

[lydiascreams]

I'm looking forward to being assigned an inmate.

[Both because she wants to make herself useful, to help someone and to make a difference in someone's life. And because she can't wait to go home and see her best friend okay again.]

Have you been working together for a long time?

[outofclothes]

More or less since I got here.

[Stark liked Vin at first. They got along well. But then she got the file. And she read it. Stark never felt more betrayed. He's still a little sore about that if he's honest. But he's learned to look past it. Vin has, too. She's a little more careful about invading his privacy now.]

Not to be a Debbie Downer, but I wouldn't get too excited about getting an inmate. They could be basically your best friend until you're assigned and then bam! They hate your guts.

That little file you wardens get? Rubs a lot of inmates the wrong way. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

[lydiascreams]

Don't worry, I don't expect it to be easy.

[And for what she was getting in return, it was worth the effort.]

And I'm sure it will take time before we're comfortable with each other like you seem to be with your Warden, but I expect it to be a process.

[outofclothes]

[A sound and rational head on those shoulders of hers. Stark can't really tell if that's an advantage or trouble just waiting to happen, but there's a distinct possibility that's not up to him to figure out either.]

[Stark nods.]

Well, hopefully it won't be the same process as Vin and me because ours involved a lot of hitting and name-calling.

[lydiascreams]

I'm more of passive aggressive than hitting, hopefully it will be okay.

[She knows how to control people when she wants to. That's why she and her ex actually worked to begin. But she's learned to use her powers for good and not to make him watch The Notebook every Friday night.]

[outofclothes]

[Stark chuckles.]

Hey passive aggressive can get pretty dangerous, too. Don't underestimate it.

[lydiascreams]

Oh, trust me, I know. And I don't.

[She smirks.]

[outofclothes]

[Stark gives her a crooked grin.]

Then hey, you might just do alright.

[lydiascreams]

Thank you, I'd like to think so.

[outofclothes]

[Stark takes the last drag off his cigarette and flicks it over the railing. He likes to imagine it's landing on a baldspot of some jackass on some world.]

I'll see you around. Anybody gives you any shit, let me know.

[lydiascreams]

I will. See you.

[She's a little surprised by the offer but after offering him a smile, she nods and starts back toward her room. There was no such thing as having too many people on her side, after all.]