EVENT: MELPOMENE ▒ HOME

[ataraxites]

CHARACTERS: Ensemble production!
LOCATION: Corridors in the belly of the Tranquility
WARNINGS: Creepiness, disturbing imagery, violence, etc.
SUMMARY: Characters discover slices of sanctuary deep in the maze.
NOTES: Open to all! Covers Stage Four of the plot & Escape.

You've been running and fighting for what feels like weeks now. Exhausted and desperate, you find another door, stumbling through into— You're home, finally, far away and safe from monsters or spaceships. You're not alone, someone here who's been waiting for you, and they're so happy to see you. Relief overcomes you; you just want to rest, and there's no reason to believe anything here isn't what it seems, is there?

Comments

[dissociable]

[ someone's calling his name and he knows that voice. it only takes the fraction of a second for him to place maria hill, to analyse what the most appropriate reaction to her presence is — but what takes longer is mustering up the motivation to react that way, too.

he's tired of being anyone but himself, and if he doesn't entirely know who he is, then at least he knows that buddy won't care either way. so he stays on his knees with his hands in the dog's fur for a moment longer than he should, and even when he turns back to maria, he doesn't take his hand from buddy's head. ]

Hill.

[ the name is clipped, acknowledgment and nothing else. there are two guns in their holsters on his thighs, he's decked out in tac gear, and he's petting a dog like none of it matters. ]

[brainsqueeze]

I never pictured you for a dog lover.

( Actually, she never pictured him as a lot of things. If she pictures him at all. The scene just seems a little bit... odd, though. It's the presence of two things - the scenic fields, dog and campsite which is a little jarred by Ward in his tac gear. Something doesn't fit )

Where is this?

( Other than something from his mind on the Tranquility )

[dissociable]

[ he lifts a shoulder in a shrug; he hopes that maria hill doesn't spend a lot of time picturing him as anything other than a porcupine, no matter how coulson might have interpreted that drawing, because that's precisely who he wants her to think she is. ( who garrett needs her to think ward is. ) ]

Middle of nowhere.

[ helpful, ward. but he's not entirely willing to give up the actual location of this place, not when it's as close to his as any place in the world has ever been. ]

[brainsqueeze]

( Totally a little shit porcupine, Ward. That's it. Definitely after that last comment )

I can see as much.

( It wasn't going to be anything else judging by the wide open space, not without an actual location. State, at least? )

Do you know what's going on?

( That they're not really here, that they're on the Tranquility still. Considering that this place looked better than her own memory had... maybe. Or maybe it was an even bigger trick )

[dissociable]

[ that's exactly how she's supposed to think of him. it's ironic how even now, even here, he's still perpetuating certain images of himself, projecting and putting forward only this or that side.

he is beginning to resent the need for it. he's tired. ]

It's a memory. I spent some time here, as a kid.

[brainsqueeze]

It's bringing a lot from our memories up.

( She'd seen the helicarrier, had even thought for a while that she was actually there, but Maria didn't know that there was a second room waiting for her. Her office. Something to lull her back into duty, her life. Her death )

We're still on the Tranquility. This isn't real.

[dissociable]

Of course it isn't.

[ he just wishes it were, and — he's not entirely certain he cares that it isn't.

she's observing him, though, and so he has to pretend to care. that's almost the same thing, isn't it? ( the outcome will be the same. ) ]

[brainsqueeze]

( He knows. Good. He's either been here long enough to work that out himself or he's met someone before. Met someone and stayed here. That could be a problem - they'd discussed before leaving that not everyone may wish to leave. What was it about this place that would make Ward want to stay? What indeed )

We need to leave.

[dissociable]

[ it isn't hard to work out that something is a memory and not real when he knows for a fact that buddy is dead.

and he doesn't want to leave, but he forces himself to his feet regardless. she is his superior officer, or at least that is the pretence. ]

Yes ma'am.

[brainsqueeze]

( She'll tip towards the conclusion that he worked it out himself. He's going with her, not fighting on the issue. She'd rather not have had to drag him out of there )

Come on.

( He was up, and she was turning back in the direction that she'd come from. Hopefully they could get out easily enough )

Just be careful. There's worse out there than here.

[dissociable]

[ he won't have to drag him out of there — he takes a step, two, to follow her — and stops because buddy is following him, whining and looking at him sadly the way only a dog really can.

he crouches down again.

he's done this before; said goodbye to buddy. ]

Go on, Bud. Off you go.

[brainsqueeze]

Not keeping him?

( Clearly that dog loves you, Ward. Something has to. But she's also not entirely serious about keeping that dog. It's not safe out there, they don't need to keep an eye on a stray dog too. And do you really want a dog on a ship, Ward? Can you even look after a dog? )

[dissociable]

He's dead.

[ said harshly; he can't manage to smooth out the edge in his voice. it just proves that he cares about buddy, but it's — weakness. he shouldn't be revealing weakness. ]

[brainsqueeze]

( Well shit. And this was a memory, of course. The dog might be very real here but could it even get out of the hallways? Damn it )

You've got two minutes.

( He can have a goodbye in private, just in case he never got one before. If he wants this one. Either way she'll step away to give him privacy before he can say no )

[dissociable]

[ it's a kindness he shouldn't need, but he does and that rankles — but he still draws buddy near, after checking that hill isn't looking, and hugging him close.

two minutes are a long time and not at all long enough to hold on to this dog.

after ninety seconds, he gets up, picks a branch, flings it far for buddy to run after. the dog does, if more hesitantly than expected.

ward turns and joins hill again. ]