memory share; random

[frigidaire]

( meet the new poolboy, everything is fine. cw: of physical and verbal abuse of a minor, claustrophobia, burn injuries. threadjacking welcome. )

Isaac hallucinates on a field trip, but ultimately remembers being locked in a freezer by his father

Comments

video;

[righthandgirl]

( To say that she looks like she can't decide whether to be horrified or outraged is putting it lightly. Get in the damn freezer! It gives Jo actual chills and her heart is racing when the video comes up. The last time this happened, Sally said it was real. Her fiance really pushed her down the stairs; she had really died. So if that's true and this is more of the same, then this kid, who looks so much like one of Dave's co-stars back home, only younger and cleaner -shaven, was really being talked to like that and this kid was really being forced into a giant freezer and Jo can't decide whether to scream or cry at the prospect.

What is wrong with this place?!

So, yes, she looks shaken when she starts the video. She hasn't seen this guy around, but that doesn't mean much since Jo hasn't bothered to fuck around on this old tech all that much, either, since her arrival. But if it's like Sally and it's real, then he deserves to know a stranger just remembered it like it happened to her. If this is real, he deserves to know that she knows something that she probably shouldn't. Why does she keep getting all the abuse memories...? )

Um...

( She lets out a soft breath to steady herself. )

Hi. Um, my name is Jo. I think you should know that I just got one of your memories. I don't know why this is still fucking happening...

( Jo stops for a second when she hears her voice start to slide upward into whimpering territory and she recenters herself before continuing. )

I don't know how it's happening in the first place, but I just...I saw something that I shouldn't have and I'm sorry but I thought you should know.

( And then at this, Jo's expression contorts slightly as though she's trying especially hard not to show emotion at all and is failing wildly at it. She can't look at the camera and her voice is tight and higher pitched when she speaks again, soft in volume like she's either trying to keep it down or she just can't put any power behind the words. )

I hope this place is fucking with me and he didn't really put you in a fucking freezer...

( Jo swipes at her face with one hand, her head tilted away from the camera so that it looks more like a move of frustration than one of necessity before she finally lines the camera back up so look into it again. She looks almost neutral when she finally does. )

Anyway, I just thought you should know. I'm sorry. I'll...I'm gonna go.

[frigidaire]

[ Isaac looks a little startled by the video message, but he'll get used to it in time. Something about leaving home sleep deprived on the tails of trauma and being dropped in this place, expected to maintain some pool out back? It's got him a little worked up. So he listens to her, and just before she says she's gonna go? He raises his head and speaks up. ]

Uh, yeah. Locked me in a freezer. It was a cool party trick.

[ Though he doesn't exactly sound light-hearted about it. ] But, yeah. It was a while ago.

[righthandgirl]

( Jo looks confused. )

It...party trick...?

( Then why had she felt so upset when she was remembering it? Why did she still feel her heart racing? )

[frigidaire]

He was an asshole.

[ Not much he can say beyond that, because there's no denying his dad was a special kind of awful, whether he started out that way or not. With Allison dead, Stiles wrecked by the Nogitsune, Scott and Lydia grieving back home, it's easy to forget all the crazy shit he thought was bad before. ]

But he's dead now, so. And I'm here. Word on the street says it's pretty hard to stuff your kid in a freezer just because around here.

[righthandgirl]

Jesus...

( That comes out kind of a choked almost-whisper because what the actual fuck do you say to that? )

I'm sorry...

[frigidaire]

It's over now. So, uh. Yeah.

[ Because saying it's okay feels wrong. Even though his dad's been gone a while and there have been things far worse on his plate since, it doesn't make what happened okay at all. ]

Are... you okay? I mean I'm used to those memories or whatever.

[righthandgirl]

( Jo runs her hands into her hair and shakes her head, shrugging. )

I mean, you didn't die in that memory, so it's a step up from the last one I saw. I don't think there's any being okay with this kind of thing, though, you know?

video;

[sanguinescry]

Isaac? Is that you?

( If Allison's arrival was punctuated by Lydia seeing her best friend's death through that best friend's eyes, why not Isaac as well? )

[frigidaire]

... Lydia?

[ Excuse him if he sort of blinks at the screen at first, looking worn and tired, rubbing at his eyes. ] I didn't know you were here. [ Not that he knows anyone here yet. Whatever this place is. ]

video;

[sanguinescry]

( Her expression softens a little, and she nods. His is a face she hasn't seen in years. )

Yeah, it's me. I've been here a few months, now.

( Maybe more than a few; she's lost count, actually. )

video;

[frigidaire]

A few months?

[ And while he's very aware that time and space or whatever doesn't really match whatever's happening back home, he just saw her. Or it feels like he had. ]

I just got here. [ Captain obvious, thank you. ]

[sanguinescry]

Yeah, not as long as some, but longer than others. It's a real treat, let me tell you.

( She gives him a small smile. )

It's good to see you. It's been a long time. How've you been...?

( Her opinions on Derek and his pack have softened over the years, especially since two-thirds of them died and the last one, Isaac, dated her best friend for a while. ...before she died. )

[frigidaire]

[ What a loaded question. Isaac's face screws up, like he's trying to find the words for what to say, but he decides against it and shrugs one shoulder. ]

You know. Thought I was going to France and ended up here. Pretty weird plane ride. [ He clears his throat, his own dry sarcasm enough to make him a little uncomfortable. ] How are you? I mean, if it's been months.

video;

[solipsistically]

Shit...

[ Number Five sighs. He could really, really do without all of the insight into the fucked up things that have happened to teenagers. It's almost like this place wants to rub salt in the forever open wound that is his own adolescence by morbidly reminding him that hey, just because he got trapped in an apocalypse, that doesn't mean some kids didn't have it worse.

Their father was a monster, but he never locked them in a freezer. Though, he supposes locking Number Four in a mausoleum wasn't much better.

He sighs again and scrubs his face with both hands before reaching for a glass filled with ice cubes and amber liquid, taking a drink. ]

I hate this fucking place...

[frigidaire]

Glad we're all here then.

[ Not that he's put two and two together on the whole memory thing, but to say he's a little overwhelmed by everything is an understatement. Turns out arriving when everyone's brains are broadcasting across this strange place is just his speed of weird. Beacon Hills has sent him adequately prepared with a high tolerance for bullshit.

But then there's the glass that definitely has alcohol in it. ] Are you even old enough to drink? Not that I can blame you or whatever.

[solipsistically]

Could be worse. I could still be in the apocalypse.

[ His tone is flat and casual; he can appreciate that this kid either has no idea what's going on or he's trying to deflect. Five doesn't care to try to explain the inexplicable if it's the former and he can respect it, if it's the latter. ]

I'm 58.

[ He takes another drink and sets the half-empty glass down. Fuck it, he's gonna need to find out eventually. ]

Somehow, the portal is forcing other people's memories into our minds. I'm just processing the newest one to invade mine. Welcome to our own special hell, kid.

[frigidaire]

Gotta suck to look like that and be 58. [ Maybe he should question the fact that this kid looks 58, but listen, he's a teenage werewolf who's seen snake monsters, crazy bald women, and has dealt with a fucking cursed tree. Maybe a 58 year old kid isn't all that weird.

He slouches in his chair, leaning away from the screen. ] You got one of my memories?

[solipsistically]

No shit, puberty was bad enough the first time around and now I have to pay my younger brother to buy my fucking booze. It sucks a lot.

[ He nods and frowns. ]

Yeah, I remember like it happened to me. We were in a shitty motel room and I'm pretty sure we were having a panic attack of some kind. And then we remembered being locked in a freezer. Your father, I'm assuming, sounded charming, by the way. Almost as charming as mine.

[frigidaire]

Dude that sucks. [ He can't even fathom going through puberty and whatnot all over again. He's lucky that being a werewolf shields him from a lot of things. But he clears his throat at the mention of the panic attack, the freezer. Sort of makes his skin itch even thinking about it. ]

I mean, the puberty thing. My dad was just an asshole. [ Isaac Lahey, kind of bad deflections. ]

video; private

[fateless]

[ It disorients her at first to be hit with Isaac’s memories, and for a moment she doesn’t know what’s happening. But she hears his voice, and her heart feels like it plummets to the bottom of her stomach.

Without really thinking it through, she reaches out via video, her brow furrowing with concern. ]

Isaac? Is that—

Are you okay?

video; private

[frigidaire]

[ Even with Lydia warning him about her arrival, it doesn't change the fact that the sound of Allison's voice and seeing her alive and well on the screen makes his heart leap up into his throat. ]

Allison. [ It feels like some kind of wolfsbane hallucination, even though he knows it isn't. ] I'm okay. Are... are you?

video; private

[fateless]

Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay. Settling in, I only showed up a few days ago.

[ She smiles in what she hopes is a reassuring manner, because she wants him to know that it's true. She really is okay. Enough time has passed since she had been killed that she has made peace with it, but she also would never regret it anyway. Not when it ultimately meant helping her friend. ]

Did you just get here?

video; private

[frigidaire]

Yeah. Just got here.

[ Well, long enough to sit through all the information and sleep everything off for a day or two. He scrubs a hand over his face, trying to keep it together. ]

It's pretty weird. I, uh. I was leaving with your dad. Ended up here instead.

video; private

[fateless]

Oh so you just...came from Beacon Hills?

[ The news of her dad leaving town doesn't surprise her; her family had never settled in one place for long, after all. She's just glad that he was going to take Isaac with him, so that neither of them would be alone.

The fact that he's coming from Beacon Hills, though... She suddenly regrets not texting him first so that he didn't have to deal immediately with seeing her after what happened. ]

Sorry for just calling you. I thought-- I think I saw some of your memories. I just wanted to check in.

video; private

[frigidaire]

Yeah, sort of walked out the door there and woke up here. [ Or that's certainly how it felt. Seeing her hurts, in a way, but there's an undeniable relief that goes with it. Like Lydia said: she's okay. ]

It's okay. I mean, I'm glad you did. It's just— it's weird. Because of home, and all of this is so real. I know it is, but. [ He shrugs and lets out a deep breath. ] I'm sorry.