008} i'm gonna hide my wings tonight

[theresalwayshope]

[PUBLIC - Video]

[When the feed clicks on, Allison is in her bedroom in her cabin. She's sitting cross-legged, hair mussed and still in her pajamas, having clearly just woken up. She's also wearing a cardigan that some parties may recognize as being pilfered from a certain new werewolf arrival's room, but she's not talking about that right now. She's smiling, and she looks pretty sleepy...but she also looks pretty darn happy.]

Morning, Bargees. [She grins, wrinkling her nose cutely.] I haven't really checked in with peeps since port, so I just wanted to see how everyone was doing.

[She pauses, her expression still soft, but...a little more sober.]

I guess...I don't know, I've just been kind of thinking. A warden arrived recently that...made me stop to appreciate how lucky I am to have my pack here. See, werewolves in my world? They're stronger in packs, literally. And wolves without a pack? They're called Omegas. It's...the worst thing in the world a wolf can be. Alone, friendless...clawing, fighting to survive every day. And I hate to think that anyone on this ship...could be an Omega.

So...if this ship is a pack? Then no matter how alone you are, I'm your packmate. Warden, inmate, my door's always open. And it's not, like, pity or anything, or even sympathy, it's...I care. I really do.

[The sudden earnestness in her face is real, because she's having another of those moments she tries to hide from the pack: where she feels the weight of her own mortality. Her friends are going to save her, but...she's still sort of scheduled to die.

So are they all...and the sudden revelation makes her chest tight as she realizes that nobody, not anyone, deserves to be alone should the end ever come. Even on the Barge, where it can come a hundred times.

Allison will do anything to make sure that doesn't happen.]

[Private - Vergil]

Hey, Vergil! No biggie, I just wanted to see how you were doing. We didn't really get to talk much after port, did you have fun?

[Pack Filter]

Haven't talked to any of you much since Isaac got here, but...you all know Isaac got here, right? And yes, Isaac, I know you can see this. I just...want everyone to be on the same page.

[She pauses, taking a deep breath as she carefully keeps her face schooled into happy, fond lines. She has to hide the weight of the emotion she's feeling. She has to make sure that none of them see that maybe a rough day is coming for her, one where she might need to be alone to either cry or scream or just stare at the passing stars on deck and let silent tears of pure gratitude slide down her cheeks.

The worst, the most visceral, the most intense parts of dealing with her impending demise, she will do alone.]

And I wanted to tell you guys that I love you.

[That's it. That's the message...because they need to hear it. Every day, every second, until they're sick of it...so just in case, just in case, they will be drenched in it for the rest of their lives.

Every day, she's going to tell her pack she loves them...so it will be impossible for them to ever feel her love is missing from their lives if she somehow doesn't come back to life when their deals are fulfilled.]

((pre-dated fourth wall day transmission, because tomorrow morning may be too hectic for me to get this up. :P))

Comments

[gottohaveacode]

[Allison will now be treated to a rather unimpressed-if-faintly-amused familiar face. What are you up to NOW.]

Please tell me you've taken up drama and are practicing for a new play I've never heard of.

[theresalwayshope]

[Allison's world comes crashing to a halt when the familiar face fills her screen. It's strange, but he looks somehow younger than he did when she left Beacon Hills, younger than she imagined he would look after...

Her eyes get glassy and wide as she swallows thickly, not able to let herself think too hard about whether he's a warden or an inmate. It doesn't matter, not right now.]

...Dad?

[gottohaveacode]

[It's easy when your world hasn't completely crashed down around your ears yet. Loss is inevitable but he still has her, and so things got more complicated along the way but he's trying. Managing.]

Yes, Allison, this is your father speaking. Don't sound so surprised, I know what goes on with you kids.

[theresalwayshope]

No, I mean...

[She trails off, shutting her eyes and taking a deep breath.

He doesn't know. It's a different time.

She has to lie to him.]

Can you do me a favor, Daddy? [She only calls him that when she needs him, when she's lost or desperate or in pain, and she is...but right now, she needs him to listen. It's manipulative, but she has no choice.]

No questions, no explanation...can you tell me where you are, and tell me what was going on the last time you talked to me?

[gottohaveacode]

[His expression hardens when the words change. He knows the manipulation, sure, it's been pointed out to him once or twice. He'd have to be stupid not to pick up on it, or blind, and Chris Argent could never truly be called either of those things. So the shift gets his guard up, but he also knows she wouldn't do it unnecessarily.

At least, he trusts she wouldn't.

And he may not be a stupid, foolish, or blind man, but she's still his little girl. He may be able to see the manipulation for what it is, but that doesn't mean it doesn't work all the same. More or less, anyway.]

I could. But I'm going to need an explanation. Did something happen? Where are you.

[theresalwayshope]

I promise, I'll explain...after you tell me. It's important, please.

[gottohaveacode]

I'm home, and the last time you called you were telling me the bus broke down so you got held over. You also told me everything was fine. Which, questionable monologues aside, I was happy to believe.

[More or less, edging towards less.]

What happened.

[semifreakingnormal]

Mr. Argent.

[All their parents. Well - almost all. He's wary, though: he doesn't want to spoil what's coming. Especially if he doesn't know.

Still, that means Scott's not sure if Chris wants him dead.]

Um. Hi.

[gottohaveacode]

Hello, Scott.

[Yes, this is a questionably-sincere smile, but no, he doesn't want to kill you.

Well. Besides for the usual, overprotective father-type reasons.]

Should have expected you wouldn't be far away.

[semifreakingnormal]

[He gets that! He can live with that. Because, you know. It leaves him alive.]

I, uh. Try to be where I'm needed?

[gottohaveacode]

Hero complexes are dangerous things, but then I'm sure you already know that.

[And despite his outward demeanor with the wolf...pretty much always, it's one of the major reasons he hasn't already put him out of his misery.

...that and Allison, but given the su.mmer he's not entirely sure she would entirely object either.

...okay no she probably would.]

[semifreakingnormal]

[For the record, Scott super absolutely objects to being put out of his misery. He likes being alive! Breathing is great!]

Yeah, I guess, but - I don't think I'm a hero. [Or complex.]

[gottohaveacode]

[Yeah, yeah. He knows. It's a condition most people prefer. Most animals, too.]

Never said you were.

[semifreakingnormal]

Right.

[Pause. Paaaaaaaaaaaaause. How does he talk to his ex-girlfriend's dad when they haven't quite walked through hell together yet? Scott lets out a breath and rubs a hand over his face.]

Everything's okay though. Here, I mean, we're okay here.

[gottohaveacode]

And where is "here," exactly?

[Yes he knows where they are SUPPOSED to be, but it's quickly appearing that it's not where they actually are, and he's fairly sure he's going to end up with a headache when this is all over but it doesn't stop him from asking all the same.]

[semifreakingnormal]

Um. The Barge?

[He says it slowly, eyes flitting across the communicator while he tries to catch himself up on Chris' conversation with his daughter. Is he stepping in a lie she told?]