psychic_hotline | 02 ☕ Voice

[Warden Filter]

I have a question. I know I'm new here and it's a little personal, but it's your choice whether or not you answer.

[A pause. Still very much unused to this 'talking into the ether' thing.]

I've heard there are floods where you completely change. Either you literally turn into somebody else - someone you knew from home - you do that, or your identity changes so much you might as well be somebody else. And theoretically the person you turn into might get off on hurting people, or just won't care enough to protect them if they get hurt.

And - correct me if I'm wrong, but floods are random. Whether or not you're affected is the luck of the draw. You can't do anything to stop it, and you can't do anything to soften the blow.

How do you deal with knowing that?

[Private to Sarah Connor, wayyyy backdated to a few days post-port]

I'm glad I had someone to have my back in there. Hell of a place.

You alright?

[Spam for Arthas, taking place after this.]

[Sara woke to find her sheets shredded, the oversized T-shirt she slept in hanging off her body in pieces, the Witchblade's armour smothering the entire bed - but it melted back onto her wrist as she staggered to the bathroom just in time to throw up everything her body had to give. For a long time she just knelt there on the cold tiles, shaking and hyperventilating.

What the fuck had she just seen? Parts of it were vague and fuzzy as she gathered other people's dreams were, but other things she recalled with her usual clarity. She could feel herself elbow-deep in Arthas' mind, rummaging through his corrupt and rotten memory like it was a goddamn filing cabinet.

The symbiote was silent. If anything it seemed unsettled - well, that was fucking perfect. The nigh-omnipotent entity strapped to her arm was unsettled.

She threw on the clothes closest to hand and escaped, eventually washing up on deck. It was maybe 3 a.m.; the air felt fresh and cold. She sunk down against the railings at the bow of the ship and sat there, breathing deeply.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

darknessb4me

[He pretty much ignores Sara (again) in favor of leveling a glare at the parasite. His eyes glow a ghostly blue in the dark.]

You've made a dangerous enemy.

From:

psychic_hotline

It wasn't the Witchblade.

[This is dangerous territory because she isn't sure how she knows, or even if she knows. This wouldn't be the first time the thing's connected her to someone else through their dreams. It didn't feel like a Witchblade dream, not that that'd hold up in court.]

It wasn't its dream. It was mine.

From:

darknessb4me

Explain.

From:

psychic_hotline

I can't.

[She gives him a brief wary look, and she knows that she's learnt a hell of a lot more about him than he has about her. He's at the end of a road that she's still desperate not to build; she owes it to him to at least try.]

...it doesn't dream. But I dream about it. I don't know how you got involved.

From:

darknessb4me

Bullshit you don't.

[His shoulders are hunched and aggressive, but the bass second layer has gone out of his voice, which is overall a good sign for his self-contol.]

From:

psychic_hotline

I'm serious. [She pushes her bare hand into her hair, her fingers catching on the tangles there.] Don't believe me if you don't want to, but usually when I dream I remember it as clearly as I'll remember this. A lot of what just happened is just a blur.

[Less than she's letting on.]

Edited (oops) Date: 2012-05-04 11:15 pm (UTC)

From:

darknessb4me

What the hell is it?

[Because it is visibly neither a blade nor a witch, so the name is not really helpful.]

From:

psychic_hotline

If I knew I'd tell you.

[She sighs, feeling it start to retract, leaving her sleeve in tatters up to the shoulder. She really thought she'd gotten it to stop ruining all her clothes but apparently that isn't cut and dried yet.]

It's been passed down a line of female bearers for thousands of years. It's at least as old as my world's recorded history. Probably older. I - inherited it a few years ago.

From:

darknessb4me

[As soon as the Witchblade moves there's a crude knife in Arthas' hand and his eyes flash. He doesn't take his eyes off it.]

How do I know that whatever's talking isn't just a part of it?

From:

psychic_hotline

[Well. Honestly? You don't. And she knows there's nothing she can say that would prove it beyond doubt.]

You'll just have to learn to trust me. If it wanted to talk to you you'd know about it. And put the shiv away, for God's sake.

[The armor's all gone now, only the jewelled bracelet remaining. Which Sara considers a pretty solid diss on Arthas.]

From:

darknessb4me

If it wanted to "talk" to me?

[He is not gonna put the shiv away, dude, in fact he is gonna wave it for emphasis.]

Edited Date: 2012-05-05 11:11 am (UTC)

From:

psychic_hotline

It doesn't have a lot of time for men in general, but if it really needs to, it can...

[She gestures at her own head. There is no appropriate mime for 'psychic whispering'.]

You were there. You know how it works.

From:

darknessb4me

I do, and I have no intention of waiting for it to decide to "talk."

[Arthas closes the distance in a few long strides and grabs for Sara's arm - the one with the bracelet.]

From:

psychic_hotline

[Whereupon it proceeds to....do nothing. So that's fantastic. She gets to her feet as best she can, or at least tries to, he's got a lot of discretion over how much she can move right now.]

I've only known it to communicate with someone who wasn't me once. In years. What do you think you're going to accomplish here?

From:

darknessb4me

[He's just staring a hole in the bracelet. We've eaten entities scarier than you.]

I'm not the one that started this.

From:

psychic_hotline

Neither is the Witchblade and neither am I. I had a dream, you got involved, I don't know how that happened. That's it.

From:

darknessb4me

I don't believe you.

[He tipped his head to get another look at the bracelet and then dropped her arm.]

But I suppose it doesn't matter. It won't happen again.

From:

psychic_hotline

[She frowns and rubs her forearm.] Seeing how I didn't make this happen I don't think either of us can guarantee that.

From:

darknessb4me

It won't happen again.

Understand?

From:

psychic_hotline

What do you want from me? I can't say yes to you because if it happens again tomorrow it still won't be my fault. [A beat.] Either of us.

From:

darknessb4me

[Arthas grabs for Sara's throat with a huge hand.]

This isn't a game.

From:

psychic_hotline

[She lets it happen. The Witchblade writhes unhappily around her forearm but with an enormous exertion of willpower she holds it back from doing anything else.]

Do you think I don't know that?

From:

darknessb4me

I'm not sure. You don't seem to appreciate the position you're in.

[He presses - it's been a long time since he's actually killed a warden, and he's very very tired of not being taken seriously.

But he doesn't like to hurt the host. It's not their fault.]

From:

psychic_hotline

Neither do you. [Her voice is predictably strained but she has to get the words out. She doesn't know if she can exert the willpower to stop the Witchblade keeping her alive - or if she'd want to.] So why don't we both just take a step back here?