entrancelogs | [Open] Don't recognize the face in the mirror...

Entry tags:

[Open] Don't recognize the face in the mirror...

Who: Darcy Lewis and YOU
Where: All over
When: 08/28 - 09/02
Rating: PG-13 to be safe - will update as needed
Summary: Setting up safe spots, dealing with the whole HYDRA outbreak, attempting to keep above the hypothetical water.

The Story:

8/29 ◆ (Open) Setting Up Safe Spots

[After spending some time in Bucky's safe room, it's pretty apparent that she wouldn't be able to stay in there forever. There were things that needed to be done and not everyone had turned HYDRA. There were people here who didn't fight - she didn't want to leave them to have to fend for themselves.

She picks a few rooms and calls in a few favors, getting a little help from Castiel in keeping them quiet. Locations get sent off to Bucky so he could help direct people to them before she takes off on her own to try and spread the word quietly. It takes a little time, but she eventually manages to get 4 different rooms set up and secure with escapes should things get dangerous and the not-so proverbial shit hit the fan.

She may or may not also be taking down a few HYDRA posters here and there as she moves between the floors to check in and make sure the rooms were still in one piece. As she goes, there's a cautious scan of everyone she passes - making mental notes of features if she doesn't know them so she can relay the information. She may even cautiously stop here and there if it's someone she recognizes to try and get a feel if they're gonna try to kill her or not.

Not the best way to probably do it, but she was a little limited in options when they were all stuck here together anyways.]

8/30 - morning of 8/31 ◆ (Open) Around the Mansion

[Avoiding people trying to shove the still sane people into the chairs was at the top of her priority list. She'd been doing fairly well so far, if you didn't count the whole Billy thing. As much as she wanted to avoid going back up to the 7th floor and specifically to her room, it was a necessary evil. Yes, she could grab a few things for the dogs from the other closets, but she couldn't grab the already loaded laptop with the rest of the info that could come in handy for Bucky.

It meant moving cautiously throughout the mansion to the 7th floor, holding her breath and all but running to her room. She didn't want to stick around for long, but it seemed like the people that woke up with the HYDRA crazy juice flowing through their veins didn't remember anything of their time here. It was something that worked in her favor, or at least she was gonna look at it that way.

Once the few items were acquired, she made her way back through the mansion - trying to avoid going up since it would be harder to get out in case they decided to try and set it on fire or something ridiculous. Find a way to flush people out to figure out who was still themselves. Occasionally she circled through Bucky's saferoom to drop off the essentials before bouncing between the ones she'd set up.

At least until Steve tries to grab her on the 31st.]

9/1 ◆ (Closed) to John Blake

[Everything was falling apart, that much was for sure. They were getting to points of desperation that it wasn't absurd to drag someone kicking and screaming down the hall and that was not good. After her little run in yesterday, she needed to lay low - stay out of the way and off the radar as best she could. The people she cared about either didn't remember her or were a little busy trying to keep people from dying or dying themselves.

If she'd learned anything from her little lesson yesterday, no matter how hard she tried to play it safe... It wasn't always gonna work. So, rather than try to lay low somewhere and hide, she kept going with her plans. She needed to check in on the coffee shop, not actually expecting to find anyone there. She had to make sure it was still in one piece and hadn't turned into a HYDRA mansion base or something stupid. They weren't allowed to hog the caffeine.

Flipping on a few lights, she almost thinks for a moment that it's all okay - that she's gonna be on her own and able to get in and out without being noticed. At least she was feeling confident until she realized she wasn't alone. She wasn't sure if he'd been in here when she'd first arrived or if he slipped in while she was clearing out the small fridge of the cream that had gone bad... But he was here and that wasn't good. She scans the room from her spot behind the counter, trying to decide if she should even bother trying to make a break for the hidden door between the Avenger training room and the backroom of the coffee shop.]

Hey... Long time no see, I'd love to stick around and chat but I got big plans, so... Yeah.

[She gives a hint of an awkward laugh, hoping he hadn't had a chance to figure out more about their relationship or friendship or whatever it happened to be that day thanks to the mansion. She was already having a hard enough time with the idea of him being brainwashed. Eyes scan the counter behind the bar for a knife or anything she could use as a weapon - the moment when she wished they served more fruits and things that required cutting.]

9/2 ◆ (Open) Aftermath

[She'd done what she could to lay low after the second run-in with Steve and that mess with Blake. She hadn't seen Bucky in what feels like forever and everything's sore from a mixture of encounters and exhaustion. When she peeks her head out of the safe room she'd crashed in, there's an almost visible release of tension in her body. The posters were gone - things were going back to normal.

She shoots off a few texts to people to check in - letting them know she'd be around the 1st floor, not even sure where to start in helping with the healing process from this. Rather than head right to her room and faceplant in the bed for a week, she stops off at the beach after swinging through the basement out of habit. She needed to clear her head and just breathe for a second before heading back inside through the garden - clearly in no rush. What was the point of running around anymore like a chicken with her head chopped off when the storm had passed. That wasn't to say the hard part was over, but it was a lot easier to work on moving past it all when people weren't trying to brainwash and/or kill each other.

Rather than swing through Bucky's saferoom to grab her laptop, she slides her new phone into her back pocket before heading to the first floor to the room she'd set aside awhile ago to catch some much needed sleep. She'll respond to texts that come through eventually, inviting people to come down to her room on the 1st floor to chat rather than her room upstairs. A, it was closer to the kitchen, and B, she was way too frickin' tired to climb 7 flights right now.]

[ooc: if you want a specific starter, just let me know on plurk or through pm. I'll match style.]

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Oh, it isn't me? This— [ His grip tightens and he leans in toward her, practically sneering. ] This is me. The only part that matters.

[ He doesn't let up, taking it upon himself to draw her into the depths of the back room. ]

Listen, listen, listen— [ John's voice turns entreating and he presses Darcy back against a shelf. ] Shh-shh-shh, it's fine. Really. Don't think I'm not in control, 'cause I am.

[ Blake loosens his hold and his thumb rubs over Darcy's wrist. ]

I'm in control. Of all of this.

[She can feel her pulse jump as his grip tightens and he works himself closer into her bubble. This was bad, like a different kind of bad from Steve... And more terrifying. There was a calm to him - one she used to find comfort in. She didn't like this version of it.

When she feels the shelf against her back, a sharp breath escapes as her body tenses. Holding back something that could be close to a whimper, she tries to stay tough in the hopes that she'd either get through to him or someone else would come by. Steve had left her pretty rattled yesterday and maybe if he'd pulled this before she might try and break out of the grasp and run off.

Her eyes drift down to the thumb rubbing over her wrist as brown curls fall in her face, voice quiet.]

Y'know... The more you say you're in control, the less you actually are.

You must be an expert, then? We could use a few more of those...

[ Blake doesn't believe for a second that Darcy's going to forget this. In fact, he's positive he needs to find a way to shut her up, and shy of death, he doesn't have a whole lot of options.

In the darkness his eyes look almost black. ]

No interest in bein' on the winnin' side? None at all? You know you'd be taken care of.

[ Lips close to her ear, he whispers as if the next part is their little secret. ]

I'd make sure of it...

What makes you think I'm not already on the winning side?

[Yeah, she's definitely not planning on forgetting any of this. In fact, as soon as she can get away from him she'll be letting someone know. Breath shallowing when his mouth hovers by her ear, she's about 90% sure her heart stops for a second.]

I'm being taken care of just fine, thanks for the offer.

[It's hard to not react to him being this close, tendrils of Storybrooke memories still floating around. Even if this wasn't the best time. Like, at all. Which means she needs to go and she needs to go now. She tries to pull against his hand on her wrist, the other searching for something to grab to strike him with.]

[ Her hand slips his grip, but he's practically pressed into her, so he doesn't expect she'll be going anywhere. His expression is very nearly blank outside of her view, but when he zeros in again, a softness has made its way on to his face. ]

Just fine? That's not what I've heard... [ It's a lie. ] You sure 'bout that?

[ He's not one to use himself in this kind of way, but any advantage is taken here. The mission depends on it. His security depends on it. ]

[She liked her bubble, even if she had a tendency to invade other people's. This wasn't what she wanted from him, especially not like this. Not when he'd been brainwashed and wasn't himself. Hands move to press against his chest, even if her right arm protested slightly. She needed to get him out of her bubble and give herself a chance to think.

Although he gets her attention, attempts to push him away stilling.]

What have you heard?

[She ignores the softness of his features just like she planned on ignoring anything he said... But, that didn't mean she wasn't curious. Not like she was apparently going anywhere.]

It's been... tough. Quiet. Too quiet.

[ He doesn't mind playing on a person's fear of being alone, especially in Wonderland. In fact, he's found more people respond to that fear than most any other, their own soldiers included.

John shakes his head. ]

Anyway, there's no shame in being lonely.

[No matter how many times she told herself that he was just pulling strings to get under her skin, his words struck a chord. It was hard to keep it off her face, although she takes the emotion at his words and channels it into something a little more useful.]

There is when a majority of the people I care about have been turned into brainwashed zombies.

[And that’s when she tries to slip away from him again, movement a little more desperate than before because he was figuring her out and that wasn’t good.]

[ Instinct kicks in a Blake is quick to subdue, his grip reappearing with some force. Using long-polished skills, he stops her and pushes her into the wall face first, one hand pressed into the back of her head and the other wrenching her arm behind her back. ]

You have no idea what you're talkin' about. You don't know anything about what's goin' on here.

[ His tone is dark and he breathes close to her ear, not wanting or needing anyone else to hear his ominous words. ]

[She groans at the twist of her body, muscles protesting to the movement - more so after her run-in with Steve. It was enough to send a small wave of pain through her, breath leaving for a hot second.]

Oh yeah? So you guys are doing something other than recruiting and brainwashing?

[It’s said through clenched teeth, trying to see if he’d slipped a little something - not that she could do anything with it. Bucky was basically off the grid, dealing with Steve no matter the cost.]

Let me go, John - you don’t want to do this. You know me. Deep down, I know you do - buried under the HYDRA bullshit.

[ His face twitches unpleasantly at the thought, though it's unlikely she can see it from this angle. ]

What makes you think it's buried? Is it impossible to believe in somethin'? Changin' your mind's not hard to do, Darcy. Trust me.

[ He intends to be changing hers soon enough. By force, if necessary. ]

[She can feel her body start protesting the position more loudly, her fighting against it getting a little more aggressive. She could try to catch him off guard with a burst of force as a last resort, but she needed to make sure it was worth the try. That it wouldn't end in her getting hurt worse or dying.

She refused to let him be burdened with that guilt.]

Because you wouldn't be doing this if you remembered us - remembered what we've been through together. [A beat.] And it's a hell of a lot harder to change a mind when it's unwilling.

[Just try, Blake. Just try to get her in that chair.]

[ Oh, that's his intention, it most certainly is. The pain, the threats, the chair. His grip tightens and he lets out an unpleasant growl. ]

Resistance is futile. The mind is made willin'. In a lotta diff'rent ways. Trust me on that one.

[ He releases her aggressively and steps back. Go ahead and attack, Darcy — he'll end this before either of them can say another word. ]

[Oh god, if she weren't terrified right now - only made worse by that growl - she'd give him shit for pulling the 'resistance is futile' card. When he lets her go, she doesn't move for a long moment, just trying to remember how to breathe. Something easier said than done.

She eventually does turn back to face him, keeping her back pressed against the wall as she tries to figure out what to do next. He was one of the people she really didn't have any interest in trying to fight, knowing she'd probably lose and it could get ugly.]

Don't do something you're gonna regret when this is all over... Please, just - let's go our separate ways and you can go off to do whatever else you need to do and I'll just - I'll just - I need to go.

When this is all over? [ Blake smirks, his grin and dark eyes making him all the more shark-like. ] Sorry to say, this isn't the reality you think it is, Darcy.

[ He's run into this more than once already. All of these people seem to think their reality is the reality, but John knows — absolutely, unequivocally knows — that he's of his right mind about reality, and everyone else is being affected by an event. Why else would so many of them have all these false memories with him? ]

Don't you see? This facade you believe I've been livin' is just another Wonderland trick: the Core spitting out what you want to be thinkin', when in reality, you're better off fightin' this place by bein' told what to think.

[ Blake releases her roughly and begins the agitated pace of a calculating predator. ]

You, of all people, shouldn't be so blind.

[What if he's right?

That thought's a little more terrifying than this actually being a HYDRA event... But, she can't let him get into her head because if he manages to get her into that chair, Bucky was on his own. More on his own than he was before. She couldn't let that happen. Oh god, this wasn't going well.

She stays quiet for a long moment, watching him move as she attempts to remember how to keep her breathing even - keep herself as in check as possible before the true need to freak out took over.]

No, it's not. It's not Blake. That time in Storybrooke? Yeah, totally fake but it felt real. This isn't you - the time on the beach was 100% real. What we felt when Natasha left, also real. Getting lost in my room, ridiculous but real. Starting to see a pattern here? You're not an emotionless robot fixated on converting people who stand in your way. Because if you were, we wouldn't be such good friends.

[It's a last ditch effort before physically moving to get the hell out of the room - try and get through one more time before making a mad dash for the door.]

Edited 2015-10-01 01:46 (UTC)

You don't know what we were. You don't know anything.

[ And maybe that's what makes him the angriest. Probably because he doesn't want to remember anything, but Wonderland has seen fit to leave him in on the secret, as it were. Instead of being oblivious like some of these fools, he honestly and squarely gets to face off with what he believes is an impossible future.

It's frustrating. It makes him feel... unsettled. And dangerous. He roughly grabs her arm and pushes her toward the door. ]

Get the fuck outta here before I skin you—! [ Wild eyes. He's probably serious. ]

[Well, it worked in its own way. She didn't like his reaction to it, but it worked. It struck a nerve of her own, flashbacks to the fight on the street - only this one had more venom. Amazing how HYDRA always seemed to infuse that into people.

She stumbles a little when he pushes her, hesitating slightly as she attempts to looks at him. She knows that glint in his eyes, it's one she's seen in a few other people - one she has absolutely no plans of sticking around to poke with a stick.

So, the opportunity is seized and she books it to the door and heads up to the safe room she knows Helena's in - someplace to lay low and ignore everything for a little while. Wait for the adrenaline to wear off and the sting to settle back in over her body. Breathe and focus on channeling her hurt and anger into Wonderland - not the people.]

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[Open] Don't recognize the face in the mirror...

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