Infighting Week Two

[animusmods]

Characters: any character participating in the Infighting event
Setting: pods, week two of the event
Format: any
Summary: All week two Infighting event threads should go in here, to keep things organized.
Warnings: horror, trauma, experiment results, impossible geometry, cabin fever

[Week Two Information]
[Week One]
Dax's Pod
Riki's Pod
Jason's Pod
End of Week Two

Comments

[moontothetide]

...w-what are you hearing?

[Tara keeps her voice low, but hopes that, with her standing more or less next to Luke, he'll still be able to hear her.

She recognizes the look of someone in mental or emotional distress, though, and almost gravitates to something more familiar, as opposed to the walking horrors that are the more blatantly physically changed.]

[sacred_flamer]

[Luke glanced at her, not able to hear what she said, but able to hear the concern in her mind. He raised a shaking hand, gently touching her forehead.]

[moontothetide]

[...hm. Sign language. A shame Tara was always the worst guesser at charades.]

Our...th-thoughts? They, they m-made you telepathic?

[Then she remembers that he probably can't actually hear what she's saying, if her guess is right. Tara instead focuses on making herself easy to hear, calming her thoughts and quieting her mind. It's easy enough - she actually is fairly calm, cool, and collected. She's made her choice, and she still thinks it's the right one.

She tries to send a thought at Luke, asking if this is helping.]

[sacred_flamer]

[He couldn't hear her words, but he got the gist, nodding. At least she was being nice and not thinking so much around him, but he catches onto that resolution of her choice before her question. He reached out, grabbing her arm and looking sad.]

[moontothetide]

[At first Tara is quite off guard, pulling back slightly and looking startled. But...no, if he is telepathic, then even if she isn't worrying about her impending death, it's been on her mind for days. He'd see.]

I-It's okay. [She holds up her other hand, the one with the black wristband that marks her as one of Dax's group.] I-If it's anything like last week...it'll be quick. I-I don't think I'd, um, even have time to f-feel anything.

[sacred_flamer]

[...that didn't really help. Luke hated death; he didn't like killing people, and he didn't like seeing people die either. He looked away, giving her arm a squeeze in a sort of quiet empathy, before letting go.]

[moontothetide]

[She couldn't really fault him for that. The explanation was there, it had made sense, it had convinced enough people. But she couldn't really fault him, and she felt even worse for making someone else, a stranger, feel sad over her.

Tara's hand caught his, just for a moment, just long enough to squeeze his hand in turn. Her thoughts conveyed her sympathy, her sorrow, and her gratitude to him for caring.

Then she let him go, and turned away to watch the crowd for more people she had to speak to before the time came.]