009 ☣ Private Messages + Zero spam

[fridgetothefire]

[Private text to Lua, Ben, and Alex, with a voice version sent of the same message sent to Cass]

I have a decent stockpile of non-perishable food, bottled water, and an extensive first aid kit in my cabin, 5-13. It's in the cupboards under the window seat. You've all got access. Take it if you need it.



[Private text to Pietro]

Are you busy?



[Private voice to Erik]

If you're not dying, talk to me.

[Despite the demand, her voice is strained, shaky, raspy. She's not going to cry, but she's already been screaming tonight.]



[Zero Spam - arrival - OTA]

She sprawls onto the floor of her cell with a thud, off-balance from the sudden shift in velocity, her hair in a wild mess as though she were caught in a windstorm, her face shocked, her breath coming in shallow gasps. After a few moments of stunned stillness, she drags herself to a corner and curls into as small a space as she can. Keeping her eyes open, She focuses on a point on the far wall, counting her breaths as they slow, trying to figure out what on earth to do next.



[Zero spam - later - OTA]

She's pacing, with long, mathematically precise strides, a look of furious concentration on her face. She's standing rigidly upright, taking up more space than usual, exhausting the confines of her cell. Pained flinches twitch across her face but she doesn't let it break her stride. Sweat trickles down her face but she only brushes it out of her eyes, refusing to even strip off her overshirt. She can see the fire, feel it, hear the jeering. But her body isn't damaged, isn't small enough, doesn't fit into the horrors of memory. She moves and it responds. Step-step-turn, step-step-turn, step-step-turn.



[Zero spam - some other time - OTA]

She's shivering hard, but it's better than the heat. She's learned that practicing her drills to keep warm - anything strenuous enough to get her short of breath - will lead to visions of Castiel choking her again, struggling uselessly while her vision blurred black, caught in a limbo of dying and not quite getting there.

Comments

private; text

[supersonic]

Always and never. What is it?

private; video

[fridgetothefire]

[Rather than figuring out a way to answer, she just flicks the settings. She's combed it down a little, but her hair still looks like she just got in out of heavy wind, and the wall behind her is distinctly a zero cell.]

insta-spam

[supersonic]

[ Zero.

He could answer — he could respond to her in a fraction of a second, but that's one more fraction of a second that he isn't down there with her, and right now nothing seems more important than that. A strong gale heralds his arrival, and then he's just sort of there, half out of breath from pushing the Barge-induced limits of his mutation. ]

What happened? Who did this?

[fridgetothefire]

[She drops her comm, arms coming up to hug herself awkwardly.]

I was - trying to figure something out. Guy in charge didn't like it, I guess. I got teleported here.

[supersonic]

[ He stops on the opposite side of the bars, tense, teeth clenched for a second. ]

And your warden — why hasn't she released you?

[ Private : Text ]

[warisart]

Thank you. Are you okay?

[ Private : Text ]

[fridgetothefire]

I will be. Just keep doing what you're doing, okay?

[ Private : Text ]

[warisart]

We all continue to do as we do.

Where are you?

[ Private : Text ]

[fridgetothefire]

I'm in zero.

Don't come down, okay? I've already got some people holding my hand, and what you're doing is important.

[ Private : Text ]

[warisart]

Why?

If I can't help you now, nothing I do when you don't need it matters.

[Private]

[wecanavenge]

[He doesn't mind the demand, not when he hears the tone of her voice.]

I'm not dying. Where are you?

[Private]

[fridgetothefire]

Zero. I just - I saw him, my father was here and he hates me, please -

[Private]

[wecanavenge]

[Ugh. Ugh, Anya. :c] I'm c--

[wait maybe that is not best, miserable pause.] Do you want me there?

[Private]

[fridgetothefire]

Just, can you just talk to me? Your voice is different enough and, you're real but he won't stop screaming.

[Private]

[wecanavenge]

All right.

[But. What does he say.] He's not real. He's gone, Anya. He can't hurt you.

You'll be out of there soon. [She will, even if he has to rip the place apart B(]

spammmmm

[wedonot]

[Charles had left Zero only briefly, really, because as much as he wanted to stay and keep helping, he had to sleep and eat at some point, or he'd completely snap. He knew that. And so he'd reluctantly left, gotten a few hours of uneasy rest, and felt a little more human, so when Pietro contacted him for help, he didn't hesitate in suiting back up and rushing back down to Zero.

Not that he would have hesitated even if he felt like a reanimated corpse, because even though he couldn't help but feel disgusted whenever he thought about what Anya had done, she was still just a kid who had already been through hell. She didn't deserve this, this wasn't going to help her, and if there was something he could do to help, however small or large, he'd do it.

So he comes back in and casts about for the cell she's in, rushing over and crouching in front of it, openly concerned.]

Anya? It's Charles. What can I do?

wheeeee

[fridgetothefire]

[She's shaking a little, less insensate than before her talk with Erik, but her time so far has been wearing on her. Sometimes her hand twitches toward her neck; she's all scratched there, like she was trying to pry off a grip that didn't exist.]

I don't know. I don't. It's all in my head, right. Telepath versus psychovisions. Don't want to be the battlefield. Who knows what happens.

[wedonot]

[That's concerning, and he wonders if he can convince her to let him look at the scratches, maybe clean a few up if necessary with the medical supplies they'd stored in case of emergency, but considering Anya's about as friendly as a stray cat most of the time, he doubts she'll let him get that close to her.

So he just keeps talking to her, keeping his voice level, but still not bothering to filter the concern from her. He wants her to know that she's not alone down here, that she'll be alright, and he wishes he could do more than he already is.]

It is. And I promise you'll get out of here, people are trying to find a way to unlock the cells. Just focus on me, I won't go anywhere unless you want me to.

[fridgetothefire]

Can you kill people with your brain?

[It's curt but not cold, like she's flipping through possibilities, like she doesn't want to dwell. She kicks off her shoes and sits cross-legged, back to the wall, folds her hands in her lap and gazes at him. She feels minutely more in control, sitting primly that way, facing him. She flinches faintly away from something Charles can't see, brushing her cheek.]

[wedonot]

[He doesn't know why she's asking, and it honestly kind of concerns him, wondering where she could be going with it.

But he doesn't want to lie to her, either, in some ways, and that ends up overwhelming his reluctance to say anything.]

Yes. I've never done it before, and I don't want to. [Holding Shaw down while Erik killed him had been bad enough, had been more than enough to convince him - even if he hadn't thought killing was morally wrong before - that he couldn't kill someone, couldn't be responsible for their deaths no matter who they were or what they did. There had to be another way.] But it's theoretically possible. Why?

video

[hellofist]

Are you okay? Don't you... need those things?

video

[fridgetothefire]

[With a sigh, she lets it go to video on her end, too. Yeah, that's a zero cell. Wryly:]

No, I don't need them right now. I'd prefer you didn't wipe out all my stockpiles, but they're there if you need them, okay?

video

[hellofist]

[Oh look, instant frowning. Who put you there, Anya? Who does she have to punch?]

Won't need. What happened?

video

[fridgetothefire]

I was trying to test the admiral. Guess he didn't like it.

[This is both entirely true and effectively a lie. She knows she did something entirely worthy of getting imprisoned, but she was doing it to try to learn something about the state of their capricious leader.]

video

[hellofist]

[Half truths are hard for Cass, she can always tell there's something not quite right but it's difficult to pick out what. But... she doesn't want to try. If Anya wants to keep this to herself, Cass doesn't want to cheat and take the information from her.]

When you... get back out? Don't do it again. Okay?