nebulochaotic | memory share; random (threadjacking welcome)

[ He'd been on his way home from CrossFit when the memory hit and he's still on the hypermonorail, head in his hands, and trying to catch his breath when the video starts up prematurely. The camera is showing an awkward angle of a young woman with a baby strapped to her chest trying to ask if Derek is okay and the camera moves dizzily as he waves her off before sitting back up and letting his hands fall away from his face.

A moment later, he's trying to activate the video and realizes belatedly that it's started without him.

You found her—

I found her in pieces

Derek looks a little green around the gills and the woman with the baby is asking him if he's sure he's okay, but he's ignoring her and when he does speak, his voice comes out as a croak. ]

Are you home? If not, can you get there in the next, I don't know, ten minutes?

[Laura's in the kitchen of their shared house, and she looks extremely confused - along with a heavy dose of concern written on her face. She's still in her work-clothes, not having gotten out of them or done much of anything other than gone through the fridge and every cabinet since coming in.

Now, though, that's completely forgotten, her entire focus on Derek and how green he looks, massive worry flooding her system and evey protective instinct firing up.]

I'm home, just got here - what's wrong, are you okay? Did something happen?

[Laura's been lucky up to this point - she's seen plenty of terrible memories that have been...more than a little bit difficult to notlyly carry, but to process. Up to this point she's been lucky, though, because her own terrible memories, and the ones that have been so hard tocarry alone...well they haven't been projected out. And, honestly, because it hadn't happened yet Laura had figured maybe they wouldn't.

That maybe she'd be the one person to miss out, and she's convinced herself of this for the moment. She doesn't even want to go there, to think that the look on Derek's face, or the concerned woman spawn from her - she doesn't want it to even be a remote possibility.]

No, I am so fucking not okay, Laur.

[ He looks up at the woman holding the baby and has the wherewithal to give her an apologetic look for the language before giving his attention back to his sister. ]

Can we talk about it when I get off the train? It's not really the kind of conversation I want to have with an audience. But so that you're not driving yourself nuts wondering and so you can mentally prepare: I just got one of your memories. Your last one, if you know what I mean.

[ The camera moves away from him again as he scrubs his face with both hands and then he returns to the screen. ]

I should be back in Eglaf in about two minutes and then I gotta Uber home, so hang tight.

[Laura can feel a ball of dread starting to form in her stomach - and any thought before of food is abandoned completely now - in fact she feels slightly sick worrying about what's going on, what he saw, what happened.

And the bomb that Derek drop - to allow her to prepare, lets that sick feeling settle in the rest of the way, Laura's face falling and the memory of claws raking down her back, of the manic look in Peter's eyes as he attacked her - she literally shivers and gives a nod. And when she speaks her voice is heavy, hoarse.]

We'll talk when you're here - I thought...well it doesn't matter what I thought, just be careful. Be safe, I'll be here waiting.

[Laura's trying to swallow her emotion as best she can but it's not exactly subtle that she has to reach up and brush away the tears that she realizes were starting to pool, ready to fall. She should be stronger than that, than this - she wasn't then and she's damn well not now, really.

And with everything...all Laura can do is stand there in the kitchen - not even mustering up the thoughts to move to sit down somewhere and wait - probably because she's lost in the memory and pain of her death and it's kind of hard to pull yourself out of that.

And the conversation that's to come is goign to be....agonizing for both Hale siblings.]

Edited 2020-07-23 00:07 (UTC)

When he gets back home a little less than ten minutes after the video, Derek is still numb with the shock of seeing it. Seeing her body had been bad enough. Finding out Peter had been the one to do it had been worse. But remembering her being torn apart by someone who was supposed to have loved and taken care of her; remembering it as though it happened to him is something for which Derek could never have prepared himself...and it shows.

He moves into the house and waves off Chance who, sensing something immediately off the second Derek walks through the door, he stands up from the spot on the floor where he'd been sleeping in the warmth of a ray of sun shining through a window. Chance whimpers but lays back down, watching Derek carefully.

"Laura?" he croaks, frowning. He could find her, but he doesn't want to. He'd rather her come to him so that he knows she's actually ready to have the conversation. There's no point in forcing it onto her before she's ready.

Laura hears Derek before he even gets in through the door. She can smell the acrid tang of emotionns on him as he comes in through the door. And it's the sound of his voice that pulls the alpha out of her frozen rooted spot in the kitchen. Her body is still tense, and it takes her a moment, and a breath to propel herself from the spot. The images flashing through her head, the memories, haven't really stopped.

And neither has the horror that Derek had to experience it, to be put through seeing, or experiencing, all of it. She just wanted to be lucky this once. She just wanted to not have to infect or screw anybody else up with the heaviness of what happened to her. And the knowledge that she couldn't avoid that..it's rough.

"Coming!" Is the rough response she manages to get out as she moves to the other room, to find Derek - to face this as best she can. She doesn't knwo if she's ready for this, but...she's avoided it as mucha s possible, not talking about it, not telling very many people about it, and she can't avoid it for forever. But as she walks into the other room and she sees Derek and how rough, how heavy it's weighing on him, just like it had been when he'd initially reached out...Laura wishes she could take it away or make it better for him and help him, but she knows there's literally nothing she can do.

She's not sure what she's going to do, really, not until she finds herself moving directly to him and pulling him in for a tight hug. "God...you shouldn't have had to see that..." She whispers, throat tight, and tears stinginga t her eyes. No matter how they move forward....this is always the reality, no matter how much Laura tries to void it, or forget it. She triest o pretend that it doesn't still impact her, but it does, and she can't just forget, no matter how much she tries to hold it together and be the strong one.

She sounds like Derek feels: blown and rough around the edges; in no way prepared for this conversation. Knowing what had happened to his sister and finding her body was bad enough. Even just seeing it would've been better than remembering it as though it happened to him. He remembers the fear and the resignation only in those last few breaths when she'd realized that there was no winning it.

Laura doesn't say anything at first, pulling him into a hug and Derek lets her, his own arms circling around his sister and his eyes closing as he tucks his head against hers. "You shouldn't have had to experience it," he whispers back, turning his head slightly to kiss her hair. He can hear it in her voice that she's either crying or very badly wants to be and it's a lot for him to absorb because she's never been terribly emotional in his presence. In fact, Derek thinks that maybe she's always been trying to be the strong one, especially after the fire. So while he's still reeling from what he just experienced on the train, maybe it's his turn to be the strong one.

"I'm sorry, Laura," he adds softly, giving her a little squeeze. "I know you probably never wanted me to see it." He'll never tell her that he's the one who found her body. If it comes up, it comes up, but he's never going to proactively offer that. It's too much; she doesn't have to know that.

[ He's white as a ghost and shaking, but to Caleb's trying to hide at least the latter since he's unaware of the former. ]

Are you still here?

[ As in, this isn't just a fucked up nightmare he had without realizing he'd fallen asleep and it's actually a thing that actually happened to someone he actually fucking knows and likes? ]

Edited 2020-07-23 00:07 (UTC)

Caleb - what...yeah I'm still here.... you look awful, are you okay?

[There's concern written all over Laura's face; with everything going on she's not sure where to let her mind go, but she knows she's extremely concerned about her former roommate right now.]

[ He takes a shaky breath and shakes his head a little. Just barely; just enough for her to see it, like he's trying fight it and lost the battle at the last second, but only just barely. ]

Did you...are you alive? Back home?

[ Please, God, let it be his imagination getting the better of him, he finds himself thinking. ]

[The sickening realization hits her like a ton of bricks. Between how sick he looks, how shaky what he's seen has left, him and that question - Laura Knows what Caleb experienced or saw now. And she can't help but shut her eyes, head hanging for a moment as she sucks in a breath and then looks back at the camera, trying to hide the pain and struggle she feels internally with this bubbling up.]

No, Caleb. I'm not - that's...you saw didn't you? You saw what happened to me back home?

[ For a minute, Caleb just stares back at the camera, jaw clenched, brow creased, and eyes narrowed in an effort to stave off the prickling he can feel threatening them.

He's seen a lot of death this week. A lot of it, but that? That was sickening on top of being terrifying and awful.

After a long moment, Caleb looks away and nods, swallowing thickly and causing his adam's apple to bob in his throat heavily. His mouth opens to verbally confirm it but no sound comes out when he tries, so he closes it again and looks back at her. Caleb is really starting to hate it here... ]

God, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry - you shouldn't have to see what happened to be - what happend to anybody, you shouldn't have to deal with any of this...

[It's the older sister in her that she can't quite shrug off that as her looking at him with a whole hell of a lot of worry, sympathy, and that only grows as she watches his demeanor, and sees the tell-tale shine to his eyes that makes it seem like he mis trying his damnedest to fight off emotion.]

Caleb, honey, I'm okay - I'm alive now. I'm okay I know you're not okay, and this has got to be a lot, this whole...memory thing going on is so much and it's not fair, but you're not alone are you?

[Laura worries about him, he's still so young, he's a kid - and he's been through so much personally without adding to it...]

[ As much as he doesn't appreciate being patronized with the pet name, he knows that she doesn't mean it that way and, in a weird way, it's annoying and comforting in equal measure.

He shrugs to her question, looking away again toward the lower right corner of the screen. ]

I don't know, Sally might be home. I'm gonna text Adam when I calm down.

Well...if we were having a contest for the most fucked up way to die, I'm pretty sure you win, actually...

It was my turn to have your memory, I guess.

And here I thought I was lucking out - that I was going to get out of this without everyone seeing, Jesus.

[Laura sighs, voice mired in sadness.]

Don't really think it's a competition - there are too many of us with different, violent deaths.

Yeah, that's the most fucked up part. We all had horrific deaths so far. Like...can't any of us have died peacefully in our sleep or something? Jesus Christ.

Apparently not - this place wants to gathered the most traumatized and fucked up people that it can, I guess.

I'd think more about it if we weren't all good people, really.

Evidently. Well, if that's the goal, they're doing a pretty great job.

memory share; random (threadjacking welcome)

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switching to prose cuz fuck brackets

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private audio;

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