29. » spam + text

[tolaywaste]

spam } barge, day 1

[He died. He was alone. He was in the dark. There was not much air because the heat of his passage strangled it out, and then there was nothing, because his head was cut off by . . . something. Some monster.]

[Some man.]

[Marsh.]

[He remembers the way his body tried to keep breathing, even though it absolutely couldn't. And he remembers waking up, as alone in life-after-death as he was in death. More alone. Erik is gone. Charles is gone.]

[He trembles when no one is around, feeling hemmed in by the airless levels and the close quarters. But when people are nearby, he acts bigger than he is, a cornered animal reminding other animals that he is still more dangerous than them. Look at him sideways, stand too close to him, and he'll lash out with his fists or his powers. There's madness in his eyes and a scar on his neck, and he is alone, alone, alone.]

text } end day 1

Fuck loyalty. Nobody's loyal.

spam } port, remainder

[Now it's too open. He is practically agoraphobic after the close quarters of the broken-down Barge; it's too bright out here, and the people look at him with suspicion as he looks at them with fear and aggression.]

[It won't be long before he tries to pick a fight with someone he shouldn't on the ground, but before that his fear will get the best of him. He'll stick close to the few people he still knows and trusts. Everyone else will be attacked, no questions asked - maybe a couple answered.]


( ooc; text refers to this; alex's backstory here. encounter him anywhere, let me know how much damage you're cool with your character incurring. return tags coming from letslip. )

Comments

spam, day 1

[youwillgotohell]

[Alone, alone, alone. She understands that shivery sensation, that feeling of a cavern opening beneath your feet. When she realized Charles and Nathan were gone, she felt she was teetering on a plank, barely keeping her balance. She tries not to think about them now, not when there is so much to do. As long as she keeps moving, her balance holds true.

When she sees him, her heart aches a little. How alone he must feel, with all his family gone. Raven too, she remembers. They did not always get along, but she saw what empathy passed between them.

She approaches slowly, rather than pen him in. She has been penned in. She didn't care for it.]

Alex?

[She tips her head to the side, not reaching out, stepping closer without rush.] How are you feeling?

[letslip]

[He doesn't move. Just casts his eyes sideways at her, blank, baleful.]

Drowning in all the shits you're acting like you give.

[youwillgotohell]

What makes you think I'm acting?

[She arches her eyebrows at him, but that blankness concerns her. It's what pushes her to say more, perhaps unwisely.]

I miss him, too.

[letslip]

[His lips peel back in an almost feral grin. It doesn't reach his eyes, though, and the blankness never goes away.]

Him? Him who?

[He knows. Of course he fucking knows. But he dares her to say his name out loud.]

[youwillgotohell]

Charles.

[She's not afraid to say it or let the sorrow bleed into her voice. Alex is all that's left of his world, and she doesn't want to leave him to tremble alone - but she doesn't want to bear the memories alone, either.]

text

[lydiascreams]

Welcome to the real world. ;)

[letslip]

Wow did you come up with that response all by yourself ;)

[lydiascreams]

I made all that effort just for you!

[letslip]

It's almost enough to make me forget what a bitch you are.

[spam]

[fridgetothefire]

[She finds him, when the world has realigned once again around her. Erik is gone. Dean is - worse than gone. But Ben is mending, and the ship is mending, and she is still here.

She slips up to him, quite footfalls and the soft clacking of teeth.]

I brought you water.

[He is not alone.]

[letslip]

[His response to her presence is neutral at best. His arms cross protectively over his chest, as though he has anything to protect himself from, really; as though she's stronger than him.]

[(She is.)]

[He takes the water, never touching her fingers with his, but doesn't drink it.]

Good for you?

[fridgetothefire]

I was scared you'd gone too.

[She was a mouse for months; it's so easy to find in herself, not quite the shrinking shadow she was in the alps, someone smaller but more noticeable. Her voice is quiet, above a whisper but only just, and her fear is very real. They've lost nearly a third of their people in the last week, indiscriminately, wardens and inmates alike, so many of them close to her. She was so scared, the moment she looked for him and didn't find him. Her hands are held together in front of her without the water bottle, like she's holding herself in instead.

This is the best promise that she will not abandon him: she needs him too badly right back, and if she is a little more resilient than him, she makes up for it with her lack of stoicism, peeling back her ribs to show the quavering quickness of her nervous heartbeat. She'll never turn her back just to prove she can. It's not the kind of thing her pride is interested in.]

[letslip]

[It's hard to believe Anya for anything. She's manipulative, even Alex knows that, despite his general blindness to subtlety.]

[But at the same time, there's the beating heart of her. He can see it, bright as the sun in front of him.]

[Besides, it's not like he has anything left to lose. Everyone's left him already. Everyone but Ben and Anya.]

[So he snatches the water bottle out of her hands and clutches it to his chest. The plastic crackles under his grip.]

Whatever. Just . . .

I didn't go anywhere. So don't freak out about it.

voice

[halfofeverything]

Don't be ridiculous, of course some people are loyal. But they're typically the ones taking bullets and falling on swords the first chance they get.

[letslip]

Then they're not loyal anymore. They're dead. I'm still right.

[halfofeverything]

How do you figure? If we're not counting the dead, I mean.

[letslip]

Have you ever met anybody without their own agenda?

[ Spam ] I AM COOL WITH ALL THE DAMAGE 8D

[warisart]

[Ben died. He knows that, he knows he came back wrong, he knows he was almost lost, but he also knows this: now he is whole again. He is whole again and the people he relies on most, his inmate, are all still here. Those that sought to destroy him are gone.

He is worthy.

It infuses him with energy in a place where despair is prevalent, gives him faith and hope where others have none. It validates him and he lets it, and he does his duty to the absolute best of his restored ability.

But his heart sinks when he wakes and finds Alex's response to the Admiral's message, and a small niche of concern starts in the very center of his heart. If Alex begins to doubt, will the Admiral forsake him? Ben cannot let that happen, so he runs a quick errand down to the surface, and then he seeks out his friend, and upon sight of him, says the only thing he can possibly think of to say, his voice low and soft with concern, warm with love.]

You cannot mean that, Alex.

[ Spam ] and that is one reason why i love you

[letslip]

[Ben is one of the few people Alex responds positively to anymore. Then again, Ben is one of the few people Alex doesn't doubt. If he thought about it, he'd realize that the transgenic's presence on board and at his side is enough to make him doubt his own doubt. But he's trying so hard not to think at all.]

[It takes him a minute to realize what Ben's talking about. It had been an offhand comment, borne of frustration. There is fear-sweat on the back of Alex's neck, as there always is these days, by the time he understands.]

[Ben is afraid for him.]

[He laughs, low and bitter, tossing his hair out of his face.]

But I do. I do mean it. Cross my heart and hope to die.

[ Spam ] no YOU

[warisart]

[Ben can smell the fear, of course. It excites a part of him because he knows he instills it, and it is a beacon to him of those whose faith is flagging, whose loyalty is wavering. It is a signal to him and he follows it like sharks follow blood in the water.

But this time it leads him to Alex, and when Alex tosses his hair and sneers at him, speaks more distressing words, the X5's face falls slightly even as he reaches up to trace the scar at Alex's throat with the tips of his warm, dry fingers.]

You are made whole again.

I am here. Anya is here.

And you had the dream. I know you had the dream. You're a good soldier, if you will only let yourself be.

[ Spam ]

[letslip]

For someone else's benefit. Not my own.

[Nevertheless, he stills when Ben touches him, because that is what he does. That's the obedient thing to do. Ben has conflicting feelings about obedience from other people, Alex thinks, but doesn't know himself exactly what he thinks about obedience, other than that he's too disorderly to follow anyone's lead most of the time.]

[He can feel Ben's pulse in his fingers, as well as his own against Ben's skin. He misses Snow. She helped him understand his place and how to push against it.]

I have lots of dreams.

spam

[myresponsibility]

[Peter is still trying to figure out who's affected and who's not. With some people, it's obvious and others? Not so much.

Alex is one of the obvious ones, and as soon as Peter spots him at the other side of the fifth floor common room.

Erik and Charles lived here, he remembers. Anya still does. The other two are gone now, and he has no idea what happened to the people they'd been here or the other people who'd vanished since then. Were they dead? Did people even realize they were gone? Did anyone care?

Peter hunches into the black sweatshirt like it's actually going to protect him if Alex gets mad. They weren't friends, he thinks, but maybe they weren't enemies, either?]

Hey.

spam

[letslip]

[That's not right. This isn't right. That's not how Peter stands. That's not how he talks. That's not fucking Peter.]

[Alex backs up, his hands balled up into tight fists at his sides. Maybe it's just paranoia. But even if they weren't ever exactly enemies, like hell is he friends with Peter Parker.]

Fuck you. Fuck your hey. You want to go? Because I'm ready.

spam

[myresponsibility]

[Peter's hands go up reflexively, even though with him, that's not... exactly a gesture of surrender when he's still technically got what qualifies as weapons strapped to his wrists.

I mean, technically. He uses them as weapons, sort of, not that they're lethal.]

Woah, take it easy, I'm just... gonna turn around, okay? Is that okay?

spam

[letslip]

[And Alex's eyes do snap to Peter's wrists, narrowing in suspicion. Slowly, though, he nods.]

Turn around. You turn around and face the wall and tell me what you want from me.