014} i'm almost human, please don't run away / cause wherever you are, i'll be a scream away

[theresalwayshope]

[When the video feed clicks on, it shows an image of the dirt with a triskelion scratched into it. A familiar female voice narrates as a stick comes into the shot, pointing to each leg of the trifold spiral.]

Alpha. Beta. Omega. This symbolizes the cycle of the werewolf: at any time, any wolf can rise to one or fall to another.

[The feed shifts quickly, and soon a familiar set of features fills the feed sufficiently to hide the background in an effort to obscure her location. Allison Argent is pretty much the same in appearance, no matter where she's known...but those not from the Mirror Barge may not recognize the bright, earnest light in her features, and may notice the absence of that sliver of ice in her expression, despite the fact that her eyes are narrowed in the feed with steely resolve.]

We all got the same message from the Admiral. He wants these...infiltrators dead. Rack up your kills, and you get a prize.

[She leans in a little more, lip curling in a little sneer.]

He's turned life and death into a game...and the only way to truly win a game like this is not to play.

Anyone that feels the same is welcome to join me. If you want to live, if you don't want to participate in this slaughter? Leave this symbol somewhere. Scratch it in the ground, carve it in a tree, paint it on a rock. Whoever you are, wherever you come from...treat this as a symbol of safe harbor. If you leave this mark, you're promising that you won't kill anyone, and you won't attack anyone unless you have to defend yourself against a threat. I will find you, I will take you somewhere safe...and I swear, I will protect you with my last breath.

[This is the part where Allison feels a small tremor of fear. These infiltrators...she doesn't know who they are, and she doesn't know if they're friend or foe...but if they're innocent, she has to help them. What other choice does she have?

Taking a deep breath, she continues.]

If you don't recognize me, it's okay. Wherever you are, if you leave me this mark I will find you.

[She pauses, her expression shifting...not the hard, arrogant calm some know in Allison Argent, but a curl of her lip and a subtle baring of her teeth that's more feral than anything.]

And if you're out there, killing innocent people for fun and profit? Don't worry.

[Her eyes narrow a little further...then flare to life with a brilliant golden light, her voice deepening and distorting with the first touch of a lupine growl.]

I'll find you, too.

(OOC: This post is good for the entire flood event! Feel free to mark which day you're playing if you want Allison to come and rescue your muse...or if you want to hunt the poor little she-wolf down. :P)

Comments

[ichoosefight]

[ Hmm. ]

I've heard worse ideas, I guess. Take 'em on one at a time, if you're lucky.

[theresalwayshope]

I'm not looking for a fight. I'm trying to save lives.

[Because that's all that matters at the end of the day. That's all that's ever mattered: protecting those who can't protect themselves.

Anything else, and she'd be no better than the mother who asked her to end her life over the Bite...or the boy who loved and betrayed her when he delivered it.]

Video

[voluntaryapnea]

So noble. Don't you ever get sick of your own self-righteousness, Allison?

Video

[theresalwayshope]

Not on my worst day, Stilinski.

[The gold light in her eyes flares brighter, and on the crest of a growl that nearly overpowers the sound capabilities of the feed, her lips curl back to bare her fangs.]

And not on your best.

Action Spam - Day 2 Maybe?

[whatthefoxsay]

[Kira has been spending an awful lot of time running.

It's not that she can't fight. She can. Except a lot of people are out to kill each other and if it's all the same to her, she'd rather not get killed or be killed, thanks. She's had a few weird encounters so far where people have spotted her and seemed terrified, and now she's almost too afraid to approach even the most familiar faces. Or especially familiar faces.

That's why Kira has climbed a tree, trying to keep herself as hidden as possible while she observes Allison and tries to figure out if the huntress might try to kill her. Or run away from her in terror. Preferably neither one of these.]

Action Spam - Day 2 Maybe?

[theresalwayshope]

[Said tree borders a little stream of clear water, where Allison is currently pausing to wash away a little grime and dried blood before she fills the canteen in her pack, which is running low.

She can hear the heartbeat above, running like a jackhammer. The scent is familiar, too, give or take a few elements, but the underlying pheremones, skin, and sweat are still just familiar enough to her.

She finishes in the water, wipes her hands, puts her canteen away...then lifts her head abruptly to stare directly into Kira's eyes, her own blazing gold and her fangs peeking out from beneath her lower lip.

Except...it's not Kira.

It's her, she recognizes her, but she's never seen the aura that's now blazing down at her: the golden form of the fox, surrounding her like a suit of armor. It's beautiful in a way that makes her feel raw, aching, chest tight with emotion she hasn't been able to let herself feel since she arrived on the Barge.

Almost instantly, her features go slack and her fangs retreat, though her eyes stay gold, wide and questioning.]

Yukimura?...

day two - private video

[lydiascreams]

[Lydia has spent most of her time running since she found herself in this forest. She heard the announcement from the admiral and she knew what it meant. The barges had collided. She is somehow still herself, but now, she is on the mirrors hunting list.

Despite all of the training from Bucky, she knows she can't survive dozens of skilled killers, some not even human. So she can only really do one thing: hide. She has come close to people a few times, but she found her way up a hill, where she is hiding behind trees and she has a vantage point where she should be able to see anyone coming. If nothing else, she knows she can at least give herself time to prepare to play the other Lydia before facing them.

She knows she can't ask for help over the communicators because she doesn't even know who she can trust. But then she hears a familiar voice, offering help and even if Allison isn't herself, she's Lydia's best bet.]

Allison. [She knows she looks like a mess. She has scratched herself on the cheek running too close to a tree. Her clothes are already dirty from hiding close to the ground and she knows she doesn't look as in control as her mirror self would. And right now, this might work to her advantage. But she still can't ask her for help right away.]

day two - private video

[theresalwayshope]

[When Allison answers the message, her eyes have already flared gold, fangs just visible as she sneers at the battered visage on her screen. As always, the sight of Lydia brings a sharp, wistful pang of regret for what once was...for what could have been.

Using Lydia the way she had on her arrival in Beacon Hills was, very possibly, Allison's single greatest sorrow. For a time, they'd been friends. They'd even grown close...but after Scott cursed her with the Bite, after Allison arrived to find a monster greater than the one she'd known back home...

She wishes she could feel more vindicated by the scratched and sullied image in her comm, but all she can feel is pity and anger.]

What do you want, Martin? [Her voice is cold, her tone hard.] I don't know where Scott is, I'm not going to kill him, and I am not going to help you.

[With a sneer, she moves as if to cut off the feed.]

[private]

[routemistress]

[Iris watches this more than once, rewinding, replaying and examining Allison's face and movements carefully. She wishes she knew her a little better, wishes she had more skill at reading humans; but in the end, she thinks, it has to come down to faith.

Still, she's careful. When the video feed cuts in, Iris is up in the crook of a tree. She could be anywhere in ths forest. She's wearing the blue protective bodysuit Barbara made her, although the colour's barely visible under the smears of mud and grime; Iris' face, too, is daubed in mud and black streaks, and there are leaves and twigs tangled in her hair.]

I get the feeling you mean that. 'Ave you found anyone from our side, yet?

[private]

[theresalwayshope]

[Allison stills, peering curiously at the unfamiliar woman on the screen...wary, but still open and earnest.]

I do. There are others who don't want to do this...I'm protecting them.

I'm sorry...have we met?

[visetvires]

That's not just your symbol to play around with.

[theresalwayshope]

Believe me, I am not playing.

[video]

[crossingyouout]

Is that a threat, she-wolf?

[Despite being in the middle of the damn wilderness, Anita looks glamorous and perfect. All that demonic power, it does a body good.

She hardly ever pays attention to Allison. She's barely toed the waters of the wolves and their feuds, and Allison only rates as about a pawn in the game in her eyes.]

You should be careful. Somebody you don't want to deal with might misunderstand you and take you up on it.

[video]

[theresalwayshope]

It's not a threat, Lesnicki. It's a promise.

And I always keep my promises.

Bitch.

[walkthedarkpath]

[ OH, he liked that. That was right up his alleyway.

Unlike his counterpart on the mirror BArge, Vergil has a shirt on, and his hairs styled. He smirks a bit into the feed, speaking more prim them his mirror self as well.]

I am very impressed Allison, Good luck to your cause.

[theresalwayshope]

[She blinks a little at the image in front of her, unaccustomed to seeing Vergil so...put together. It's not ridiculously unusual, and yet...

Hesitantly, hopefully, she tilts her head as she studies his image in the feed.]

Thanks...Vergil, is...I mean...

[She bites her lower lip, then promptly switches the feed to private so she doesn't give his identity away.]

Are you...one of them? The ones the Admiral wants dead? [She hesitates, then offers up a wan smile of reassurance.]

The ones I'm dead set on protecting? At least thus far, anyway.

[with_my_teacup]

I like the target you painted on your back. Matches your shoes.

[Dull cynicism from an inmate turned warden turned inmate who lives deep in the grey between right and wrong. Bitter. Sad.]

[theresalwayshope]

[She smiles a small, grim smile of her own...but it reaches her eyes, it adds something warm to the golden light already shining within.]

I'm an inmate other wardens fear. The target's been there all along.

[After a moment, the light in her eyes fades, her voice takes on a beseeching note.]

Join me, Riddick. I will protect you...not just here, I can keep you safe.

[voice ; private]

[walkingmeltdown]

[He almost thought this was the same Allison Argent - until she did the glowing eyes trick. Damn. He swallows dryly; he's going to have to be more careful, if more of the Mirror Barge folk are that close to their counterparts.

He debates for awhile before deciding to respond to this. He doesn't need her help, he thinks - but she deserves to know she isn't alone in this.]

I won't be putting the symbol up myself, Miss Argent. But thank you for the warning. Now if I see it, I'll know what it means.

[His voice is completely reasonable and odds are this is the most words 'Blight' has ever said within her earshot strung together without an angry scream or a growl.]

[voice ; private]

[theresalwayshope]

[She stills, recognizing the voice. Barely, it's so quiet and even...but it's still identifiable as Blight to werewolf ears.

And on her end, it makes her smile, a small one that can be heard in the tremulous note of hope in her voice.]

You're not...him, are you? You're one of them...an infiltrator.

[She says the word with a child's breathless hope, like infiltrators are guardian angels and fairies and Santa Claus...like something to be cherished instead of destroyed.

After all, every one she's met so far has been precisely that.]

[surfaceshine]

You say that as though life and death wasn't already a game.

[It's not exactly cruel, the way he says it. Musing more like. He's smiling anyway, gaze intent and human. For now.]

At least this way, everyone is playing by the same rules.

[theresalwayshope]

It's not a game. And this? This isn't something we have to do.

I'm here to save as many lives as I can. What are you going to do?

[video]

[seizurings]

[Have a slow clap before the camera shifts and glowing blue shine to the golden.]

That was moving, really. Protecting everyone you can...

[Her eyes narrow, a total and complete lack of humanity in the look she gives Allison.]

Are you sure it's worth it? If you're out looking after everyone else, who's looking out for you?

[There's a veiled threat in there, the corner of her lip turning up ever so slightly.]

[video]

[theresalwayshope]

[Few things truly scare Allison.

Betas like Erica and Isaac are one of the things that frighten her...send her wolf cowering, the human half to trembling, threatening to crush everything in her that's changing into something more, something greater.

It takes all her courage just to stare her down through the feed...and in that courage, there's a ghost of red in her golden eyes.]

My pack will. It may be small, but at least I have one. [She frowns with mock thoughtfulness.] Remind me again: who has your back? Is it the psychotic sadist on a power trip...or the other psychotic sadist on a power trip? There's so many, I sort of lose track.

private

[imfollowinghim]

[Bucky's tempted not to say anything. He's not eager to out himself as one of the people who hasn't swapped, because he's got Steve and Helena to protect, and probably other people out there too, but.

Fuck it.

It's a voice message, because he's still not sure he wants to broadcast where he is in case Allison's lying to everyone, but it's easier to talk quietly and walk instead of stopping to type out a message, and she'd know who it was coming from regardless.]

Leaving a trail like that is just gonna mark them for the psychos who want them dead. You can't be everywhere at once.

[The Other Bucky would probably make it sound like a sneer, mocking her for being a naive kid. This is serious, earnest, because she has to listen, or she's going to get people killed.]

private

[theresalwayshope]

[She recognizes the voice...but not the tone, and she's already met enough infiltrators to take what she hears at face value.

Except Barnes isn't like Blight. Blight can't control himself like that.

She has to make a choice...so Allison chooses to have faith as she answers, honestly and earnestly.]

Draw the symbol and run. Everyone knows there are werewolves out here...they know they don't have to stay. They know I can find them as readily as McCall and the others.

And I'm not alone anymore. My pack is growing...and if you are who I believe you are? Some of your people are with me, and they're safe.

[Private video]

[semifreakingnormal]

[Alpha. Beta. Omega. Derek taught him that. Derek tried to teach him a lot of things, and so much of it didn't sink in right away.

Scott feels like he's been socked in the gut when he sees her, when he sees her eyes. She's a werewolf. She was bitten. Someone - he doesn't even have to wonder, because he knows. Deep down, he knows it was - the other Scott. He wants to put his fist through something, but instead, he pushes air in and out of his lungs, then scratches the symbol into a tree. That's what his feed focuses on, when he turns it on.

Maybe a better orator would make a good speech, but Scott has never been good at that: when he turns the camera on himself, he keeps it simple.]

Let me help you.

[Private video]

[theresalwayshope]

[When she sees him, the air leaves her lungs because she knows it isn't him.

It's not the symbol: McCall would absolutely try to use it against her. He would try to trick her, to be the boy she once loved...

But not even that boy would offer help. He would have taken her burden, put her behind him...back then, she'd been too blind to realize it wasn't about chivalry or kindness, but about power. Being the alpha male if he couldn't be the Alpha werewolf.

His words make her doubt. His words do more to shake her than anything.

...but she has too much to lose now. She needs more than faith: she has to be practical.]

Prove to me you're one of them...an infiltrator...and I'll let you. [Her voice is even, cool...but she can't disguise the breathy awe of hope.] Tell me something my Scott wouldn't know...tell me about Deucalion.

[Lydia said he was a cruel man in her world...in hers, he was a visionary.

If he was from Lydia's Barge...he would tell the same story.]