bakerstreet | ( picture prompt meme )

She did have to. But she saw no point in trying to explain it to him. "You take point," she said. If she was at the back, she had a better chance of using her abilities without being seen.

And, frankly, the vrykolakas had a tendency to attack from behind.

It was the best of all possible solutions, really. He could still feel like he was in control. And she could keep him safe. Win-win.

Assuming they didn't get overwhelmed. She couldn't quite predict the probabilities for that yet.

One problem.

It left her at his back. And South shooting him in the back hadn't been so very long ago. It still ached, from time to time.

Of course, Ariadne wasn't nearly the spiteful viper South had turned out to be. That was the rational side of him talking. Instinct still hammered in his ears, screamed, clawed, refused to accept anyone lingering back there where they could get the drop on him, leave him for dead, for whatever sort of creature lurked inside.

"I don't remember the part where we agreed that you gave the orders." It's not quite as brusque as it could be, but he's narrowing his eyes at her just the same.

The snarly male she'd first met seemed to be back. And she just couldn't think why. She was going along with his stupid plan. She was even letting him go first. Was it the mere suggestion, coming from her? Or something more.

"All right," she said, feeling a sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach. "Do you want me to take point?"

She'd take point all the way back to the other side of the beach, if she could.

"No."

Alright, now he was just being disagreeable, and he knew it. With a huff, he turned around, staring out at the water, trying to find that calm he'd had earlier that seemed to have slipped away.

"You don't even want to go."

Edited 2017-09-19 16:36 (UTC)

"No," she said. "I don't. But I'm going to. For you. Why do you hate people so much?"

It was one of those strange instances where Ariadne said something without carefully calculating it first. It was easier to have those in Fae. She was out of practice with people. And had infinitely less to hide.

All the same, she regretted it the instant it came out. Enough to lower her eyes and suddenly take a grand interest in a few grains of sand that had sloughed over the top of her foot.

He didn't look back at her, if it made things better. He kept his eyes on that horizon, his jaw rigid.

"I don't have to hate them not to trust them. There's a difference."

Betrayal never came from the ones you hated.

Was there? It was a larger question that Ariadne herself had yet to wrestle with. She'd been wounded in her life. She'd been hurt. Had her life broken. Her bones. Occasionally her spirit. But not her trust.

It was probably moot here. But it was something she would contemplate. In the future.

For now she lived in the present.

"You don't trust me," she said, matter-of-factly.

"I don't trust anyone."

It wasn't personal. It wasn't anything she had or hadn't done. It was default state, the only way to survive in the universe that had it out for you.

Wash's head shook slightly.

"Not anymore."

She believed him in that regard. His pulse was steady. No adrenaline. Well, no more than usual.

The problem was, it was a pretty terrible thing to believe.

For a few moments, she just dragged her toes through the sand. She knew it was highly unlikely that she'd get an answer. But all the same, she had to ask. "Why? What happened to you, Agent?"

In most cases, she wouldn't have gotten that answer. But they'd been trapped here together long enough that he knew, or believed at the very least, that anything he could tell her? Couldn't be used against him. It was a world and a conflict foreign to her. She'd have no way of reconciling it with her own experiences.

A long breath outward followed, his gaze drifting back towards the water.

"I never told you where I came from, did I."

It wasn't really a question. He knew he hadn't.

It wasn't a question at all. Although she had to admit, Ariadne had found it to be a little bit of a frustration. She was so starved for stories, starved for anything changing or new or exciting. When he first appeared, she'd entertained heady dreams of the two of them talking at all hours of the night, him sharing his world with her, her sharing parts of hers.

But it hadn't happened.

She'd dropped a few hints here and there. Asked a few questions.

He hadn't broken.

And so she'd dismissed it as him being a private person. Maybe in time he'd learn to open up.

Ariadne hadn't imagined that time coming so suddenly.

"I take it," she said slowly, "you come from a place where trust has been betrayed. Maybe a few too many times."

"Yeah. You could say that."

"I was part of a military project dedicated to winning a war against the Covenant. Or that's what we were told. I was facing a court martial back where I--"

He paused. Alright. Break it down so she can understand.

"I was going on trial. For striking my superior officer. I had a choice. Jail, or join a project that seemed like it was going to do some good. It seemed like a no-brainer." He huffed out a small, bitter little laugh.

She actually knew what a court martial was. Although her context was that of knights, not soldiers. She nodded along, although when he got to the part about the 'no-brainer,' she tilted her head to one side.

Obviously, it should have used a little...brain.

"I'm with you," she said gently.

Well. She didn't seem surprised about the whole 'punching a superior officer' thing. Just as well. Less to explain that way. He shrugged one shoulder, arms folding across his chest.

"It was a lie. The project was all about one man trying to chase a ghost. He lied to and manipulated everyone in the project, and in turn? They started to do it to each other. Friends, comrades, people who thought they loved each other? All torn apart, fighting one another. Everyone had a secret agenda. Everyone would use anyone to get what they wanted."

His stare across the water had gone hard around the edges. "Me? I just wound up in the line of fire one too many times for my liking."

Less than the truth. It glossed over one very specific moment, the moment of realization, when the pieces of the puzzle were forcibly shoved into his head by a digital entity with a death wish.

But that was just making it more complicated than it needed to be.

He probably meant a metaphorical ghost, so Ariadne decided not to ask about that. Now wasn't the right time. He was only just opening up and she didn't want to scare him away.

For any number of reasons.

"I understand what you're saying, Agent," she said. Her words were chosen carefully. No more blurting out. "A situation like that sounds horrible. And it could make anyone unhappy. But still. No two situations are the same. You can't go into one expecting the same treatment you got in another. And...and what reason would I have to hurt you? I mean, I guess I could be lying." She was lying, if you counted a lie of omission. "But do you see any reason behind it? What could I gain from you? I already have the one thing I could want. Companionship."

"Unhappy? Yeah. I guess that's a word." The bitterness spilled through his tone as he turned back towards her, his expression still rigid.

She said she understood, but she didn't. She couldn't. Not without being there, knowing the bond the Freelancers had had. Not without realizing how fucked everything had been, and continued to be. Even the mission he'd been on when he crashed here--

"I thought I knew what people wanted. I thought I had people I could rely on. I had no reason to distrust them, any more than I do to distrust you. And you can only be left for dead so many times before you start getting wise to that sort of thing."

"Maybe," she said softly. "But don't people deserve the benefit of the doubt? I haven't left you for dead. And I wouldn't." She made a vague gesture to the cave. "Why do you think I'm going in there with you?"

And there, she supposed, was the fundamental difference in perspectives. She wanted to believe the best in people.

Agent, it seemed, couldn't do that.

She shook her head slightly. "This isn't helping, is it?"

"This isn't about you."

Which came out a little more harshly than he'd intended, true. There was almost a wince as he weighed his words, clearly trying to speak plain and clear. When his eyes found hers again, there was something troubled lurking in that deep blue. Something pained.

"The problem isn't with you."

A hard thing to admit. But. There it was.

The problem was with him.

The thing of it was, Ariadne was used to the business of taking other people's problems and making them her own. On a path to solving such problems. She just couldn't stand to see someone in pain, someone suffering.

But she had to admit, problems of the mind were a lot harder than other kinds. She was probably out of her league.

"Well," she said quietly.

And then she couldn't think of what else to say.

There wasn't anything else to say. Nothing he could see that would make a difference. Words couldn't heal what had been done, or undo any of what had happened. It couldn't bring his friends back.

It couldn't put his mind back together again.

"...you're better off waiting here, where it's safe. If I find a way through, I'll come back for you." He let out a quiet breath, eyes moving towards the cave entrance.

She shook her head. "You're better off with me at your back," she said. Of course, Ariadne knew how difficult it would be for him to believe that. She was easy to underestimate. It was a fact she often used to take advantage of. "I've been here a lot longer than you have. You need my help."

And even if he shouted at her and ordered her to retreat, she wouldn't. He'd have to knock her unconscious to keep her behind.

Or kill her.

( picture prompt meme )

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject