theresalwayshope | 007} i don't care if heaven won't take me back

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007} i don't care if heaven won't take me back

[Public Video]

[When Allison's video feed comes on, she's visible in a corridor somewhere on the ship. It's necessary, okay? Because she may have ended up sleeping in a cabin that wasn't her own, and the owner of said cabin may have werewolf hearing, and may not be awake yet...

She's not talking about what did or did not happen, though nothing happened. She swears...she is, however, looking far better rested, and a little more like that relatively cheerful girl that first showed up on the Barge.]

So...I saw what the last port did to my friends. If you know me, check in with me when you get ashore. If there's trouble, I'll be there. I don't want to take any chances.

...but if this port's as nice as it looks? And I honestly hope it is...I'll be bringing hunting gear. Maybe there can be a cookout at some point.

[Private to Vergil - VIDEO]

Hi! I just want to let you know, I think I'm going ashore. Are you? If so, we should meet to leave together. I heard some nasty things about the last port, I don't want you alone until we're sure it's safe.

[Filter for Needy, Duke, and Tig]

Be safe, and check in ASAP if you're going ashore. After what I saw from the last port when I arrived, I don't trust what we're seeing. I'm not taking any chances. I'll be armed in case things get hairy.

[Pack Filter]

When we go ashore? I'm taking the lead. I do not intend to die, but after what I saw from the last port? Everyone is being careful.

I will knock out anyone that tries to beat me off the gangplank. After that, everyone better check in regularly. This is not a request.

...and if this place really is as benign as it looks? I'm going hunting. There will be a cookout. Bring anyone you want.

[PORT SPAM]

[Ultimately? The port is just that: tropical, lush, and just plain gorgeous.

...it's also a little much for someone just coming off the death toll.

Satisfied everything is safe by the middle of the first day, Allison puts her weapons to good use: she goes hunting, and brings in a nice haul of fresh game: creatures she's never really seen before, but still recognizable as rodents on par with rabbit, various water fowl, and even some fish. True to her word, she gets the word out and has a nice big campfire cookout the first night, and it's...well, it's amazing.

For the next few days, she goes exploring, with and without friends (inmate included among that number). She tries not to push herself...but she does anyway with far more climbing, swimming, and hiking than she can probably handle. The weather is beautiful, and on more than one occasion she breaks away by herself to enjoy bathing in one of the warm pools with its own waterfall and caves. It helps with the fatigue and soreness, and makes her feel more like herself again.

The last couple of days, Allison stumbles across one of the native villages. It's a little awkward at first, given that she's armed to the teeth, but the tiny, furry, chittering creatures stand down when she does, and are soon enchanted by her archery gear and high end weaponry.

She stays in touch with her friends, even invites some of them to join her in accepting the hospitality of the villagers. She wiles away her time in joining the natives on a hunt or two, playing with some of their young, and later letting them test her skill by trying to find impossible targets for her to hit in the trees. Eventually, several of them gift her with her own set of weapons: namely, a little native-sized spear, a wooden bow, and a quiver of handmade arrows, gifts she accepts as respectfully as possible...gifts that will promptly be displayed in her room to remember the trip once she gets back to the ship.

Physically, she's a wreck by the end of it...but knowing she's meant to die, and soon, she's never been so happy to be so exhausted.]

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[Allison was delighting some hunters from the little tribe she'd befriended with one of her folding combat knives when Needy emerged into the clearing. Looking up, she grins at her, having acquired a single small braid in her hair at some point, a tiny decorative bone adorning the end of it.]

Aren't they adorable? [Turning to the male in front of her, Allison pointed at Needy.] Needy. [She follows by patting her chest, right over her heart, a gesture they've managed to negotiate into meaning 'friend' before she beckons to Needy.] They don't speak a word of English, but you can kinda communicate with gestures...they let me stay in their village last night. These are hunters, I'm trying to see if they will let me join them today.

Oh my god. [Yeah, she's repeating herself. It bears being repeated. And she grins.] Look at you. You're totally like the Jane Goodall of...whatever these guys are.

[She raises her hand, palm out, in what she hopes is an understandable gesture of 'hi' as she smiles, hopeful and only mildly wary at the little furry bear people. She comes a bit closer to Allison, making a point to move careful and slow. They seem reasonable but who knows what might happen if she's perceived as a threat.]

Are these the natives the Admiral was warning us about? This is not what I ever would have guessed.

I think so! [Allison laughs as one of the natives shuffles up to Needy and reaches out to lay one furry paw against hers. The one member of the hunters' band, a broad little creature with jet black fur, started doing it just that morning, and she wonders if someone else from the ship has been teaching the natives how to high five or something.]

I first ran across these hunters, and we sort of nearly shot each other? But we got past it. [Giggling, she reaches up to touch her one adorned braid.] One of them did this for me by the campfire last night...I think I've been made an honorary member of the tribe or something.

[As she talks, Allison has to fight more giggles as another of the hunters wanders over, chattering in hushed, awe struck tones, fascinated by Needy's glasses.]

[Needy laughs, a little in bemusement, but once she realizes what's going on gladly returns the attempt at a high five. Or what she's assuming is one anyway.] Yeah, up top to you too. Can you do down low? [She bends her knees a little bit and offers her palm upwards and lower this time. It takes him a moment, but the native presses his paw there too.] Good job!

[She figures "too slow" is not something that will bridge the communication gap successfully, so it's best to just leave it there. Maybe later they can try fistbumping.]

You had an almost meet-cute with a bunch of teddy bear picnic dudes out on a hunt. That...well, it sounds like something that could happen around here. ['Here' meaning 'the barge', not so much their actual present location.

When she catches the hunter staring at her glasses, still crouched she takes them off carefully and offers them to him, frames out. He holds them up to his eyes and she joins Allison in giggling as he's clearly confused by the no doubt blurry vision of the world he sees, making a few short grunts.]

They're actually really good! This morning, he took down two shrub turkeys before I even realized they were there!

[Allison gestures to another of the little hunters, a smaller creature with rich brown fur. She is visibly enthused with her praise of their skill, eyes bright with a happy smile, as though they could do backflips and card tricks rather than take down alien game with the precision of seasoned marksmen.

Just then, the creature playing with Needy's glasses starts gesturing with them while fishing around in a pouch at the same time. Recognizing the gesture, Allison moves to intervene.]

Whups! They like to trade. I think he wants your glasses. [With a grin, she watches the little guy pull out what looks like a necklace: some simple wood and bone beads threaded onto a leather thong, adorned with a feather or two.]

I've swapped a couple of my arrowheads with visitors from neighboring villages for some stuff...I can give you a couple if you want to have something to give them? They love metal, anything high tech...they're magpies, basically.

[Needy stands up from her crouch, glancing briefly to Allison before looking back at the native again. When she sees the necklace, she can't help but smile.]

I have a spare pair back in my cabin. Besides, I actually don't need them all that much anymore. My eyes got better after the whole demon-bite thing. [And it occurs to her the moment after it's out of her mouth that she doesn't remember whether Allison was one of the Beacon Hills folk she told that part of the story to yet or not. Whoops.]

[Allison's gut reaction is not fear, horror, or even to draw on her: she knows werewolves. The Bite is not always freely given, nor freely accepted.

She's only concerned that Needy was attacked by a demon, and that it somehow changed her.

Sitting down on a nearby log, she accepts an arrow given to her by another of the furry hunters. They've been teaching her to fletch them by hand, so she starts working on the arrow as she talks, glancing at Needy with a mixture of curiosity and worry.]

Was it Jennifer? I mean...did it transform you? Like it did her? [Needy hasn't killed anyone on the Barge that Allison knows of, so it's okay by her, Needy. Werewolves will be werewolves, and demons will be demons...until someone innocent gets fed on.]

Umm. Well, yes, and no. I'm not a demon. But I did get some of her powers.

[Trying to negotiate a bit with the would-be trader through gestures and nodding is a halfway decent distraction. So Needy doesn't have to look directly at Allison as she keeps talking.]

My eyes got better, like I said. I can sort of see in the dark now. And my sense of smell is stronger too. Probably...nothing compared to, like, Scott's, but stronger than a human's should be.

And, um. Well normally I'm superstrong compared to a normal person, too, like I can push around somebody a couple times my size with ease. And I can levitate. Only because I'm an inmate I don't have most of my powers anymore...well, I'm not strong, basically. All the other stuff is the same. And I realized recently I can still levitate too.

[Allison listens without judgment. She files away the facts at hand, for future entry into the bestiary.

She's not shocked until Needy explains her powers in more detail...because she hadn't even realized that Needy was an inmate.

It rattles her. It shouldn't, but it does.

It's not that she's such a good person on the surface. She doesn't know Jack well, but she likes him. He's strong, decent, mindful, and a really good doctor. It's not that she's so delicate and fragile, either: Needy can take care of herself. Hell, she's early on in her journey yet, but she has all the potential to be a really good hunter. It's not even how much Allison likes her, because Allison does like other inmates. Bad ones, even. She likes Tig, and though they've just met, she even likes her own temporary charge, Vergil.

There's an honesty, a frankness to everything Needy's told her, it gives her absolutely no reason to think there's another side to the story. Everything Needy says she's done, Allison would have done in a heartbeat.

Allison is thrown, shocked, deeply disturbed, because she wasn't plucked up at the moment of her own death to be rehabilitated here. It could have...probably should be her, bound to the Barge until she's ready to graduate, but instead she's been made responsible for souls like Needy.

It could so easily be her.

Setting her arrow aside, Allison moves over to crouch beside Needy and the native she's trading with. Laying a hand on her shoulder, she waits to meet Needy's gaze.]

Whether or not you have a warden of your own yet? I'm here. If you need anything. If you want to talk, to train...hell, if you just want to borrow some concealer. I'm here...girls like us gotta stick together, you know?

[For some reason, it never occurred to Needy to tell Allison she was an inmate here. It never occurred to her she would need to tell her. It just never came up.

And everyone else from Beacon Hills knows that she's here unwillingly, so. Maybe she just figured Allison would have heard from them by now.

She doesn't even realize that she's just made a revelation to her. So when Allison crouches down next to them, Needy frowns and looks at her oddly, confused.]

Uh...thanks? I mean, I already do have a warden, his name is Cassel Sharpe. But I wouldn't mind training with you sometime. Is something wrong?

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007} i don't care if heaven won't take me back

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