ataraxionlogs | i was following the pack all swallowed in their coats (closed log)

CHARACTERS: Allison Argent, Derek Hale, Stiles Stilinski
LOCATION: Allison's room on floor 33
WARNINGS: None I can think of, will update if needed.
SUMMARY: Stiles teaches Allison how to use Mountain Ash; Derek's their guinea pig. Guinea wolf?
NOTES:

It had been her idea, actually, to use the room she'd been given on her arrival here when Stiles had mentioned they should probably use some place they could lock to keep out prying eyes. She wasn't using it for anything else; she had been planning on using it for possible storage, but reality had dictated that she'd probably never have enough stuff to just keep it in a separate room. There was plenty of space in the room she shared with Lydia. Turning it into a work room, of sorts, was the best thing she could do for it.

She's sitting on the bed, legs crossed lotus style, shoes kicked off onto the floor nearby, and she's watching Stiles with a little bit of disbelief.

"You know the last time I tried to visualize something, I nearly killed Lydia, right?"

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Stiles pulls himself away from staring down at the jar in his hands and trying to figure out if there's any less mountain ash in there than when he first found it in his locker. He's only had to use the mountain ash a handful of times since then and he'd always made sure to gather back up as much of the ash as was possible after he was done, so he figures if he has lost any it hasn't really become noticeable yet.

Either way it was pretty necessary for Allison to learn how to use it, in case something like last month happened again.

Allison's words have him looking up and shaking his head at her, frowning slightly. "First of all, there are absolutely no arrows involved in this experiment. Second, that was back when our minds were being invaded, so I really don't think we're going to have a repeat of that performance today.

"I mean, Lydia isn't even here." He can't help but add, gesturing to the room at large and it's very obvious lack of Lydia Martin anywhere to be found.

"But I am," Derek says, loitering in the doorway like he's rethinking all of this. Maybe he is. But he said he'd help, and Stiles played the Scott card, so backing out isn't as easy as he's pretending it would be.

"Try not to put me in medical bay."

As if Derek would ever allow himself to get taken down to the medical bay when he could just opt to sleep it off in his room. Good life choices with Derek Hale, everyone. He looks at Allison, then at Stiles, eyebrows raising.

"Are we going to do this?"

She shoots Derek a look, not a particularly nice one, and takes a deep breath, looking back over to Stiles.

"Yeah. Okay. So, what do I do?"

Of course Stiles played the Scott card. Was there ever any doubt that Stiles would use that sort of underhanded manipulation if he had to? It even had the added effect of having been true.

He rolls his eyes at Derek's comment and says, "Nobody is going to end up in the medical bay, it's a defense precaution." And then he turns his attention to Allison instead. "Okay so I'm going to tell you what to do and it's going to sound painfully simple, I'll admit it. But like I told you before, it's all about belief."

Stiles opens the jar and pulls out a small handful, holding it out in his hand so Allison can see it as he speaks. "So you take a handful of the mountain ash and you lay down a line. Pretty straightforward. But while you're laying that line, you have to understand that the line will stop a werewolf or a kanima or whatever, and then you have to believe it.

"If you believe hard enough, it's even possible to make a very small amount of mountain ash reach much further than you'd think it would."

Derek looks right back, because it's near impossible for him not to twig to a challenge. He's working on that. Or he's trying to work on that, especially where Allison is concerned. It's a small ship. He's tiptoed around her each time she's arrived, and maybe it's time he just--

Well, the Argents aren't his enemy anymore. Derek has to learn how to deal with that in peacetime, not just when the sky is falling down on their heads.

"Should I be standing somewhere specific?"

Since Derek has already heard this, more or less. Hearing it from Stiles isn't exactly like hearing it from Deaton, but still.

Allison wipes her palms off on her shorts as she stands up, listening to Stiles explain. She's seen this stuff in action before, so the believing part isn't hard. It's just believing that she can do it. And he's right, it does sound simple. Almost too simple.

"No chanting or anything?" She peers at the ash in his palm a little dubiously, reaches out to touch it and examines the little bit that clings to the pad of her index finger. It doesn't feel any different than normal ash or dust, although it's a little shinier.

Stile waves vaguely at one side of the room across from him and Allison, firmly ignoring the tenseness between the two of them by reminding himself that it would actually probably be even more awkward if he had chosen Isaac instead.

Which he never would have because that would have required asking Isaac for something and no way that was happening anytime soon.

"Anywhere really, doesn't matter. We're just going to do a line instead of a circle, to save on the mountain ash." He tells Derek, only to turn his attention to Allison next. "No chanting." Stiles says firmly. "Just believe."

"You can't reuse it?"

Derek sound dubious, but the idea of it only being a line is something of a relief. at least if worst comes to worst he can just step around it.

"Close the door and the roombas won't get at it."

Allison looks from Derek to Stiles, unable to answer the question. So instead, she grabs a palmful of the ash and closes her eyes, taking a deep breath.

Believe. Believe that she can do this, that it's not just something reserved for druids and the supernatural to use.

And she tries it, laying a small line down in front of Derek.

Stiles watches Allison lay the line down quietly, gaze serious and completely still to try and avoid disturbing her concentration. When the line is finally set, he smiles encouragingly at Allison and then turns to look at Derek, nodding down at the line of mountain ash on the floor between them.

"I can reuse the mountain ash just fine, or I haven't had any problems with it yet." He tells Derek. "But have you ever tried sweeping a floor? You never quite managed to get all the dust off the ground. Every time I use the mountain ash, i lose a few specks. I just don't want that to add up to anything important further down the road while I wasn't looking."

And then he gestures down at the line. "Go ahead and give it a try."

"How many times have you been laying out circles of mountain ash?"

But it's the sort of question Derek probably doesn't want an answer to. So here they are instead, Derek taking a step forward. It makes his entire body tingle when he puts a foot over the line, but.

"I can feel it." Derek tells them, taking his foot back, resisting the urge to rub at his leg. It feels unnatural. "Try it again."

As complicated as things are with Allison, Derek doesn't particularly want to see her fail at this.

She huffs, and tries to not take it personally. Derek doesn't mean it like that, it's stupid to get mad at him for it. She still shoots him the tiniest of dirty looks.

She squats down and tries to scoop up as much of the mountain ash as she can back into her hand, but there's a little bit left on the floor when she's done.

"Okay."

Stiles just gives Derek a flat look back at his question and offers up an answer anyway. "How many werewolves do you know up here that have trouble controlling their shift? And how many months have I had the jar already?" Is that answer enough Derek.

And yeah that little bit left behind is exactly what Stiles was talking about when he was talking about running out. It wasn't something that people not laying lines down would think of.

Stiles had done it often enough to know all too well how much he lost each time.

"Explain your thought process to me when you were laying down the line, Allison. Tell me what it's like when you shoot, too." He wants this to work. He wants to not be the only person in their group that can use the mountain ash. In case...

In case.

i was following the pack all swallowed in their coats (closed log)

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