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

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

(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.)

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[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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[When he catches up, he has to swallow hard. He knows what might happen. He knows what he might be, and he knows it might be worse this time.]

Definitely. Meet up in my room later?

Yeah. You can probably give us more details than we can find from everyone else.

[Even if she's guessing it will be hard for him to talk about, when are their lives ever easy?]

[Stiles has...already heard some of this from Scott, but he'll be there anyway. Obviously.]

Yeah. That works for me.

Cool. Like an hour?

[He's not looking forward to it, but he's looking forward to what might be coming even less.

Better to be prepared. Better to not let them go in blind.]

Yeah, I'll see you guys there.

[It's almost an hour later when Lydia makes her way over to Scott's room. Almost. She's early by about five minutes. But now that she has clearly most places and she's able to focus again, she is getting anxious about this mirror flood. And she wants details about what happened to Scott last time so they can plan.

She hopes Stiles is already there so they can get started as she lifts her hand to knock on Scott's door.]

[Stiles makes his way down the hall to Scott's room as Lydia is knocking. He rubs the back of his neck, lifting his other hand in a slight wave of greeting. He's anxious -- more so than usual. Where he was once excited about the unknown, the adventure of it all, he now dreads it because he can't help but assume that it's going to be terrible. It's almost always terrible. And he isn't sure there are enough possible backup plans for a Mirror Barge, or for freaking Silent Hill.]

Hey.

[Scott opens the door for the two of them, momentarily taken aback by the convergence. It doesn't last, and he tries to smile as he steps aside so they can come in. He's cleaned up just a little - mostly he kicked all the dirty clothes into the hamper, instead of leaving them laying around.]

Okay. [Closing the door behind them, he pulls his device off the dresser, hesitating a moment before he holds it out to the both of them.]

The last time this flood happened, I was affected. I wasn't me. I was-- [He lets out a breath, annoyed, a little angry even.] I was like Peter. And this is the post I made, during it.

[Queued up on the device is this post. Maybe it'll hammer it home for them, to see what it was like. He's glad now that he didn't just delete it afterwards.]

Hey.

[She greets Stiles and stares at him for a second to see how he's doing, but before she can get a good idea, Scott opens the door. He gets a smile from her but then she steps inside and she is grateful he is getting down to it. No need for them to waste time.

She leans forward and reads the text, eyebrows raising.]

You mean you were like Peter Hale? Because... you sound like a jerk but, there's a big difference between that and Peter, Scott.

[Stiles reads over it, too, perturbed, but less worried than Scott obviously is. He glances sideways at Lydia, nodding in agreement with her words. There's definitely a huge difference between Peter and alternate Scott, unless he's missing something.

He reaches out and lays his hand on Scott's shoulder.]

She's right, man. [No doubt a dark, twisted version of Scott would be unpleasant to deal with, but if that was as bad as it got, they can handle it no problem. He believes that completely.]

[He shakes his head, reaches out to take the communicator back. He doesn't really want to share some of that conversation with Daneca.]

I was playing a game. I was convincing people to join my pack, promising them they'd be stronger and better and faster, and then I was going to kill all of them.

[He grimaces.] I didn't know who Deucalion was back then. Maybe it was more like that, I don't know. But I was going to hurt people. A lot of people. And that Barge was falling apart, too.

[He hesitates, and pulls over his desk chair to sit.]

That was a year ago, for me. I still barely knew anything about what I was. I know more now, and if I'm affected again...

[He might be dangerous. He just doesn't want to say it. Instead, he squares his shoulders.]

Dean has wolsbane bullets. But there's - there's no guarantee he'll be unaffected. There's no guarantee any of us won't be. But I want you guys to get some mountain ash, and keep it on you. Maybe you'll still have it, then, when the flood hits.

[No, absolutely not. She's not going to let that happen. They have all lost enough and even if the Barge does bring Scott, someone shooting him and hurting him like that isn't an option.

She throws a glance at Stiles then focuses on Scott again.] We will use mountain ash if we have to, but that's it, Scott. Stiles has kept you under control during full moons before, I know it's not exactly the same thing, but we can figure it out without needing to resort to that.

We will make sure you don't hurt anyone. I should be able to incapacitate you momentarily with a scream, right? [Because she's not going to scream for the death of one of them again.]

[Okay, admittedly...that's a bit worse. And it does make him think of Deucalion even before Scott mentions his name.

And he really doesn't want to think about the possibility of anyone hurting Scott. At all. He turns away from them and moves to sit down on the edge of his bed, resting his elbows on his knees as he leans forward. It makes him uneasy that there are wolfsbane bullets floating around when people might not be in their right minds even if Scott is. He watches them for a moment, silent. There's no part of him that's willing to intentionally hurt Scott, whether he's full of rage or darkness or whatever, or not. Mountain ash, though, might contain him temporarily.

But that's what they're there for. To come up with plans. And backup plans.]

Lydia can scream, and we can do a double ring of mountain ash around you. If we have to.

[He realizes with Lydia's reaction that he should have said it more carefully. He doesn't want them to hurt anymore than they already are, but if it comes down to them or him? Scott knows his answer. He always knows the answer to that question.]

Okay. Yeah. That'll probably work, but guys - if it doesn't--

[He looks down at his hands, clasped between his knees, and wets his lips. When he looks back up at them, he's a little resigned, but he's determined.]

I'd rather deal with the death toll than hurt anyone.

[He doesn't mention that the last time they were on that Barge, the death toll was breaking. Everything was breaking. He doesn't want them to worry more than they already are.]

This is just an in case, though. [He tries to lighten his expression, eyebrows up, mouth pulling at the corners.] The mountain ash will probably be fine. And I may not even be affected, you know?

[He's not a fatalist, he never could be. But he's not as naive as he used to be, either: faith in everything working out isn't enough.]

[Lydia isn't at all surprised that Scott is willing to sacrifice himself in order to keep them safe. It's the same thing all of them would do, have tried to do. She knows Stiles almost killed himself with that sword because he wanted to protect them, Allison went after her despite finding her warning because she wanted to save her, and even Lydia herself had accepted the idea of being trapped with the Nogitsune to protect Allison.

She supposes it comes with being part of a pack, the instinct to protect the others above anything else. Even if it doesn't always work out.]

Hopefully you won't be affected.

[She doesn't want to ask the question in front of Stiles, considering everything he's just been through, but that's why they are there, right? And better safe and all that...]

We have a plan for you, if you do, though. What if it happens to one of us?

[Of course Scott is willing to sacrifice himself to save them. To save everyone. He's Scott. Stiles isn't surprised either, even if it makes him feel sort of sick. More than sort of. He's pretty sure he's not sleeping tonight. He knows what he'll end up dreaming about if he does. So, no, but he'll pass on that.

He hopes Scott isn't affected either. Or Lydia. Or him. Because if he is affected, they may very well end up dealing with Void 2.0 on a Barge full of people who are literally trapped in close proximity with him. He draws in a breath and looks up at them.]

We might want to find some silver just in case. [His voice is devoid -- and there's a joke there somewhere, he's sure -- of any emotion. He can't afford, nor does he want any emotion involved.]

[Scott's eyes shoot from Lydia to Stiles, and his chest constricts at that detachment in Stiles' voice. This isn't right, none of this is. He's been glad to have them here since they showed, but now he finds himself wishing they never came.

They can only plan for so much, and they have no idea what will be coming at them. Maybe another version of Stiles embraced the Nogitsune. Maybe another version of Lydia abuses her power. Maybe a thousand things, and Scott can only guess at them.

He finds himself nodding, scrubbing at his face.]

Dean might have some. I'll ask him. Guys--

[He exhales, looks down before meeting their eyes in turn. He doesn't know how to be a leader. He's still working it out .]

Whatever happens, it'll only be for a few days. Then it'll be over, and we'll be back here.

[She wants to smack both of them for just easily suggesting this, after everything. But she doesn't have a better solution in Stiles' case, so she just crosses her arms over her chest and remains quiet for the time being.]

If something happens to me, make sure you cover my mouth so I can't scream. I don't know how else I'd be able to hurt anyone.

[She pauses for a second. Because she knows herself and she's guessing she'd use her only other ability, which would be to manipulate people into doing what she wants.]

Just lock me up somewhere and don't listen to anything I try to tell you.

[He feels Scott's eyes on him at his words and he avoids his gaze. And Lydia's too, for that matter. It's not like he's thrilled about the prospect of any of them going evil, either. He's basically the opposite of thrilled.

But at her words, he does glance up, nodding, despite how heavy he feels about all of it. He knows they all feel it. How can they not?]

Maybe we should have codewords. As a check in that we're really ourselves. It should be something different for all three of us.

That's a good idea.

[He hates this. Preparing for the worst, because it could really happen any day - he hates it. And he doesn't think he has it in him to hurt either of them. It's too much, and when he thinks that, he makes himself sit up straighter.

It can't be too much. He has to deal with this, or he's going to crumble, and he won't do that with both of them here, with all of them relying on each other.]

Something we can drop into a conversation without sounding weird over there. Maybe Beacon Hills, or something about lacrosse.

[At least Stiles' suggestion isn't one that makes her want to scream, so she nods her agreement.]

Maybe a general subject. I can talk about Prada.

[If this is a different version of her, she might not have Prada at all. Lydia didn't get him until her parents got divorced since her dad never liked dogs.]

Maybe the jeep for you, Stiles?

Edited 2014-05-02 20:18 (UTC)

[Stiles hates it too. But this is what they do. It's what they have to do, because they have no other choice, really. It's either prepare as best they can or be completely caught off guard when the worst happens. And he doubts that's what any of them wants. Not that what they want really matters.

So he focuses on their conversation, nodding slightly at Lydia's mention of her little dog.]

Yeah, that's a good idea. The jeep's name is Roscoe. [He glances over at Scott, chewing his lower lip.] What about you, man?

[Scott runs a hand across his jaw, staring at the floor between them all. He can smell how afraid they all are, how agitated Lydia is with the path their thoughts are traveling, and he's trying so hard to push it away.]

Lacrosse, I guess? I got the feeling he only bothered when there were...inmates to use for target practice.

[He grimaces, but it's a step in the right direction: he's completely detached himself from the other him. He just doesn't want more memories of it.]

Prada, Roscoe, lacrosse. We can test each other, and if one or two of us don't recognize it, then...whoever's unaffected needs to stay safe.

[He says it knowing it's not likely to happen. They all care too much.]

[As much as Lydia still hates this whole thing, she feels mildly better about the fact that they have an actual plan now. She doesn't know if their plan will actually do any good of it it will blow up in their faces as usual, but it's a start.]

Okay so, if things start getting weird, we approach each other carefully and go from there.

[She can only hope that in case one of them gets affected, that it will be just one and not two, or worse, all three of them. But hoping is usually pointless, anyway, so she purses her lips and clasps her hands together as she tries to think of something more tangible.]

Do you know any signs we could look for other than the obvious personality changes, Scott?

Lacrosse makes sense. [He can tell that Scott's trying as hard as he is to be detached from the situation. That Lydia's upset. It's all hitting a little too close to home for all three of them. But at Scott's whoever's unaffected needs to stay safe, he can't help but give his best friend a yeah right look. Because they all know each other way too well to believe any of them will just hide out if things go south with one of them.

He shifts, sitting up a little more from his slouched position as something else occurs to him.]

Were the cabins secure? When the mirror barge happened? If people who aren't affected stay in their rooms, will they maybe be safe there? [Because there are people on the ship who have no real fighting abilities. People who might be unaffected by what's coming and maybe that's another backup plan.]

[Scott lifts his shoulders in a helpless shrug at Stiles' look: he's holding out hope, even if he doubts they'll do it.

Drawing in a deep breath, Scott lets it go slowly; this part is going to be rough. If it wasn't likely they were going into this, Scott wouldn't tell them. But he won't let them walk in unprepared.]

Yeah, there are other signs. That Barge was kind of...falling apart. The Admiral was out of commission - wasn't talking to anyone, wasn't letting anyone leave or bringing on new people. Only a few wardens were allowed to leave when he made port, and we had to rely on them for food and stuff. And there was this...door, on deck. Not attached to anything, totally locked, just hanging out in the middle of the deck. And the death toll was...off. People were coming back way too slowly, or coming back not healed, or - it was looking bad. And at the end of the flood, the door opened. I don't remember much after that. I think it ended after a few people went through.

[He turns to Stiles, nods and then shrugs.] I think cabins were safe, but I didn't really try to break them down. It depended on who lived there, and their wardens, I think. A lot of wardens didn't care if other people roughed up their inmates.

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

Stiles | Lydia | Scott

Stiles | Lydia | Scott

Stiles | Lydia | Scott

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