ataraxionlogs | PLAYER PLOT: fear is the mind-killer

CHARACTERS: You and all your least favorite things.
LOCATION: Shipwide.
WARNINGS: Violence, gore, monsters, psych trauma. (Please warn for any potential triggers—e.g. medical horror, eye stuff, recollection of past sexual trauma—in your subject lines.)
SUMMARY: Boggarts. See the plot post for a full timeline if you want to forward-date; otherwise, watch this space for updates.
NOTES: Whatever happens, however this ends, remember that it's Draco Malfoy's fault.

JAN 22

If you've been paying attention, you should already be on edge. Ward and Resnik have returned without many answers. There's the dead pirate again. The Tranquility is being pursued. People are talking about violent confrontation like it's inevitable, any cycle now. Any day. And now Morgoth is back, somewhere in the corridors.

If you keep an eye out, you won't find him. But you might find something else.

JAN 23

Never mind about Morgoth.

JAN 24

Despite very well-intended claims to the contrary (see above), the mounting evidence suggests that boggarts can be killed. Also, there's probably more than one. Sorry about that.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[jasper's unlucky enough to have been trying to get bellamy's attention when he'd become transfixed with the wall, and after failing to get the older boy to look his face even after calling his name twice, jasper had come over to see what he was looking at just in time to witness himself go flying out into the vacuum of space.

it doesn't even really hit him what he's watching until he sees raven go out next.

after living on a space station where being thrown out the airlock was a legitimate threat, bellamy was hardly the only one with a fear of getting floated, and it's only the fact that jasper first witnessed himself that he can work the issue through in his mind and come back around to that post on the network a little while ago about something called a boggart.

still, he has to take a deep breath to steady himself, but then the reaches out to touch bellamy's shoulder.] Bellamy. It's not real, okay? It's not real.

[ The hand on his shoulder is startling, and Bellamy whirls on instinct, a hand coming up to shove at Jasper before his mind has time to process who it is. As soon as he does, though, he stops short, lips parting in disbelief. He- but-

Affronted, startled, his eyes flick between the empty airlock chamber to his right and Jasper in front of him, and he exhales sharply in disbelief. ]

I- you were-

[ He starts, stops, then reaches out tentatively, suspiciously, to wrap a hand around Jasper's shoulder. Sort of an awkward pat, grab like he's trying to prove to himself Jasper's really physically there.

Because Bellamy just saw him get sucked into space.]

[jasper can't really help it, not after getting elbowed in the face by raven less than a month ago, he flinches slightly when bellamy's hand starts toward him.

when that aborted shove turns into a grab instead, it takes jasper a moment to adjust his mindset, and then he's reaching back to wrap his own arms around bellamy because even knowing what he saw wasn't real, it's still pretty traumatizing.]

It's not real, it's okay. Didn't you see the network post about those boggart things? They're just trying to scare us.

[ Bellamy's always a little thrown off when it comes to being hugged by people who aren't his sister. He spent two decades of his life pointedly keeping everyone away from him, he spent those first months on the ground making sure everyone feared and respected him, and so a part of him gets caught off guard by displays of affection. He's getting a little used to it, though, enough that he doesn't miss the opportunity to hesitantly pat Jasper on the back during that hug.

Jasper and Monty were always doing stuff like this. Hugging, high fiving, whatever. It's just a bizarre concept to him, even though he's got O. He'd be lying if he said it didn't make him a little more fond of Jasper, though. Weirdly. ]

It's working.

[ He admits unhappily, grimly, finally stepping back and evacuating himself from the hug. ]

I thought-

[ He stops himself then, tugging his eyes from Jasper and shaking his head a little. ]

There wasn't anything I could do.

[ He mutters finally, fingers flexing at his sides, because as weird as it feels to admit that to Jasper, to admit any kind of weakness at all, he still can't help it from coming out of his throat. It was a rough thing to witness. ]

[jasper appreciates the pat on the back, as hesitant as it is. he's never had a problem with physical affection or comfort, but before, up in the ark, the only person jasper had been close enough to do that with was monty.

and the fact of the matter is, jasper had been bothered by the illusion, just as much as bellamy had, even knowing it wasn't real. because it was a real fear that didn't just go away, not after so many of them had been counting down the days until they turned 18 and got floated themselves.]

I know. [jasper fiddles with the zip on his jack for a minute and frowns.]

They don't float people here. I asked when Raven and I first woke up in those pods. And I haven't heard anything about people getting accidentally floated either. But, uh-- [he offers bellamy a weak smile now.] We could probably avoid having meetings in places like that anyway, just to be safe, yeah?

[ Bellamy knows they don't float people here. Much like Jasper, it was the first question out of his mouth after Raven got taken away. Do they float people? Were they going to float her? If that had been the case, he would have torn SEC apart to keep it from happening. Still, considering what they grew up with, it's no wonder neither of them fully believe this place is float-free.

He can't help the huff of something that might just be laughter. ]

Yeah. Good idea.

[ He agrees, a little amused though he's still shaken. They should just stay far, far away from airlocks, basically for forever. He glances back toward that wall one last time, then nods his head toward the direction Jasper came from. ]

Come on, let's get out of here before that thing comes back.

[ And, you know, make sure everyone else was still alive... ]

[black eye or not, there would have been nothing that could stop jasper from keeping the sec people away from raven if he'd seen even a hint of floating being a thing here (even if they were told it wasn't, that didn't mean it wasn't some sort of dirty little secret of this place, so he'd listened and he'd watched and he'd seen nothing)

granted he still thinks getting brigged for a fight in their own group verged on ridiculous, but at least it had given everyone a chance to calm down and stop hitting each other.

jasper nods in agreement with bellamy's suggestion, and at the unspoken motivation behind it.] I think Raven is still in engineering. She's got a few new people to train up on the parts. Saw Octavia near the lockers a little while ago. [wherein "saw"="ran away from fake reapers for a bit" but he's certainly not going to tell bellamy about that now.]

Not too sure about Clarke, to be honest.

[ His lips press into an unhappy line when Clarke's whereabouts remain unknown. The others he can take Jasper's word for, trust that he's seen them and that they really are alright. The latter, though... ]

I'll find her. Check up on her.

[ He decides finally, then nods his head toward the elevators. ]

You get somewhere safe, okay? Don't wander the halls. I don't want you to have to deal with this.

[jasper hadn't exactly wanted to admit he didn't know where clarke was, and not just for bellamy's sake. because jasper relied on clarke like he relied on bellamy, like he relied on raven now too. and he hadn't enjoyed seeing clarke (not clarke, not clarke) go through that airlock either.

but he also knew that bellamy would be able to find her, if he was looking. and he was kind of anxious to double check and make sure that raven was really in engineering like he'd said. jasper nods in agreement. he's not all that eager to have to deal with this thing either. the backlash from bellamy had been bad enough on it's own.]

Can you text me when you find her? Just to let me know she's okay?

[ He nods solemnly. ]

I will. I'll let you know as soon as I find her.

[ Which shouldn't take long. Honestly, it's like the pair of them have some kind of gravitational pull toward each other. Like magnets or something. ]

Just be careful.

[ Is his last order, before striding off to find Goldilocks. ]

PLAYER PLOT: fear is the mind-killer

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