pineslog | closed ➠ we built this town on shaky ground

Entry tags:

closed ➠ we built this town on shaky ground

Who: Pietro Maximoff, David Haller, Cassian Andor, Wanda Maximoff
Where: The hospital, people's respective homes.
When: Gently backdated to May 26th
What: Pietro wakes up after his death on May 20th, checks in with people
Warnings: Graphic description of death by electrocution & fire.
[Closed]

They tell him he was in an accident — a collision, and Pietro thinks, well, at least that is one thing to come out of their mouths that isn't a lie. Not technically speaking. He doesn't remember the impact, but he remembers running. Trees passing swift on his left and right and him believing, stupidly, that's all he would find out there. That the bit of metal he'd found in his leg was just a piece of stray shrapnel the doctors hadn't noticed before, that Poe and Steve had just been playing some kind of uncharacteristically elaborate prank, that of course Wayward Pines is isolated but there couldn't possibly be armed guards around its perimeter.

He remembers the sinking feeling in his gut as his speed abruptly sapped and he'd known they were right. Just before the fence came into view. Just before his feet failed to adjust to his slowed reflexes, before exhaustion overtook his limbs, before pain crackled through every nerve ending and his momentum hurled him forward despite it, before a blinding jolt of agony ignited his skin from the tips of his fingers to the cloying stink of burning hair and blackening flesh—

(Is that what it feels like to burn alive? Is that the last thing his mother had felt before she died?)

The minute the nurses leave him alone again, he runs his hands back through his unsinged hair, over his sore but unscarred skin, over the unshattered points of his elbows and knees, before his paling fingers come to press into the meat of his calf. Trembling nails dig into the skin around another small, hard lump.

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[ Pietro has his own clothes on (or, someone's clothes anyway, since he's fairly certain his burnt to a crisp) and is already sneaking down the hallway when one of the charts along the wall brings his steps to a halt. His eyes slide over. His head turns to follow. The corners of his mouth press down. Really.

Then a shock of silver hair pops around the curtain to David's hospital bed. ]

What is this, your new favorite hang-out? [ he starts, regardless of whatever state David is in. ] This damsel in distress act is really getting out of hand.

[ David's current state is extremely confused. He's been awake for about thirty seconds when Pietro peers around the curtain, which apparently isn't long enough for him to process what he's saying and come up with a quick reply.

Instead David looks startled, then annoyed, then he frowns as he lifts his hand and gingerly starts to pull out the IV. ]

Are we— [ A pause as he drops the needle like it's a dead bug, then glances up to hold Pietro's gaze. He seems hesitant to continue, and for a second he considers just crashing Pietro's brain. ] This is real.

[ The hospital, this town, not being dead. Take your pick. ]

Of course it's real.

[ He had no idea, actually.

Truth be told, he hadn't thought about it until David said it, and now of course he can't stop thinking about it, that he might really have died when he hit that fence, that his skin might have fried right off him and his bones smashed into jelly and this could be some kind of-- what, random neurons firing? Purgatory? Thanks, David. ]

What happened to you?

[ His focus is shot enough that some of Pietro's thoughts slip through the cracks before he can turn down the volume, a repetitive loop of death and fence.

Which is a lot like his own thoughts, actually. It takes him a moment to parse what's his and what isn't, and he tilts his head slightly, pausing for a few obvious seconds before attempting an answer. ]

( The fence. )

[ An answer that's given via direct line into Pietro's brain. The hospital seems like a bad place for gossip. ]

[ So that's real, too. Pietro's eyes widen a touch, and it's enough to derail any annoyance he might feel compelled to display at the mental intrusion. At least, for now. ]

Did you— [ he starts, and then, realizing the need for discretion, shuts his mouth again. Communicating solely telepathically isn't something he's accustomed to, but he makes an attempt to slow his thoughts the way he does his words. ]

( Didyou touch it? )

[ ... Pietro may have touched it. ]

[ Slightly embarrassing question, but his answer comes with a doubling down of chagrin. ]

( I touched it... with my mind, so. )

[ Not sure if that counts. David pauses to consider it, then he starts to slide out of the bed, carefully testing his balance before he takes his hand off the thin mattress. ]

( It wasn't great. )

[ He's pretty sure it was death, actually, and the association makes the voice in Pietro's head feel bitingly wry. David fusses a bit at his gown, crossing his arms defensively before he steps forward. He glances past Pietro towards the door, hesitant, like he's expecting someone to overhear and interrupt. Stupid. When he looks back to Pietro, his eyebrows lift in pointed curiosity. ]

( Did you... ? )

[ Er. Pietro had been backing easily out of David's way, but at that he stops still, as if caught. ]

( Well. I am very fast. )

[ –Which is not answer, but there are only so many ways he can think of explain without making him sound like an idiot. He's very fast, and he can't be held accountable for what happens when other people don't understand that, obviously. ]

( And it is very difficult to slow down when that thing is leeching away your reflexes. )

[ So, yes. Sort of. "Touch" may not be the right word. ]

( I noticed. )

[ Thanks for the psychic headaches. That comment's out before he really processes what Pietro's said, and it's followed by a deliberate, bemused pause. ]

( ... you ran into it. )

[ He's trying to picture what that would look like. It isn't a particularly nice thought, even if there's some very sad humor in it. ]

( I ran toward it with substantial momentum and neglected to stop. )

[ Which is totally different!! And, you know. Horrifically painful in ways he doesn't want to think about any longer. Anyway, wow, can they make this about how David is a loser and not him again please. ]

( How did you manage to electrocute yourself with just your mind, anyway? )

( So... you ran into it. )

[ C'mon, pal. Not that David has a leg to stand on, here. He drops his gaze at the question, and the way he tightens his crossed arms and rubs a hand over his mouth is half unpleasant recollection, half embarrassment. ]

( I don't... remember, actually. I mean, that's what they told me. And there was a loud noise, I think, but I was just... tired. )

[ Does that sound better than 'I fainted'. ]

( So, what, you took a nap? )

[ As if Pietro didn't also black out for what he can only guess was the same reason. The fence draining his will to live. He doesn't remember any loud noises, though. (Except for himself hitting the fence, of course.) ]

( What were you trying to do? Do you remember that? )

[ Even after talking to David (perhaps especially after that), Pietro leaves the hospital feeling scattered, unfocused. He was on fire, he remembers, and there's no sign of it now, but he can still smell it on the air if he breathes too deep. He isn't imaging it. He didn't imagine the tracker, or the fence either, did he? And if the fence is real, that means they're trapped. Someone has already put them in a cage, is already experimenting on them, and if he thinks about that too long he won't be able to stop.

He doesn't know where to go, so he goes to Cassian. He should tell someone, he thinks, and Cassian will know what to do, so he just goes, and he doesn't bother checking the time or seeing whether Junyoung is home or even knocking, he just sort of– lets himself in, and finds his way to wherever Cassian is, and then doesn't know what to say anyway, so he just says— ]

There is an electric fence all around us.

[ In case you were wondering. Also: hi. ]

[ Cassian is sitting at the kitchen table, going over paperwork - there's English there, and some pages that appear to be in some other language entirely; when the door opened Cassian rose to his feet, stance wide and prepared and he doesn't relax so much as he lets out a breath he hadn't been conscious of holding. ]

I know.

[ Now Cassian relaxes, at least enough to lose the 'might draw a weapon in a blink' energy around his shoulders. Since he isn't, he moves around the table to frown at Pietro. ]

What happened? To you.

You've been gone a week, I don't know if you know that.

[ A week? Pietro pales just a touch, his stomach flip-flopping. What were they doing with his unconscious body for a whole week? ]

No, I was-- I woke up in the hospital. It is fine.

[ He's a terrible liar. ]

How can you be so calm about this? There is an electric fence and someone is trapping us here like-- like animals.

Waking up in the hospital is not fine.

[ Cassian's nostrils flare. ]

Because I'm not in a position to do anything about it right away. Because if there's anything I know about toppling infrastructure it's that it takes planning, cooperation, and people.

Because I don't know any other way to be.

[ It makes sense, what Cassian is saying, there is nothing they can do right now, but Pietro can't stop hearing his mother's screams inside her caravan and he can feel the helpless panic he's been pushing down all morning starting to boil unstoppably over. He shakes his head, and one hand lifts to push back into his hair at an uncontrolled blur, his shoulders shrinking tremulously inward. ]

ButIcan'tgetusoutIcan't-- [ breathe ] I tried, but it isn't just electricity, there is something that leeches away abilities, and I couldn't compensate-- and how are we supposed to plan our way past that?

[ It only takes a moment - the gesture, the words running into one another - for Cassian to realize he's being too detached, too clinical about all this, and that it's not helping. It's not helping Pietro, anyway, and right now that takes a precedence over everything else.

He's already moving towards Pietro, raising his hands to put them on the teenager's shoulders before I couldn't compensate sinks in. Fuck.

Fuck.

Instead of answering right away Cassian pulls Pietro in to a tight hug.]

Everything has a power source, [ Cassian whispers, because it's important to answer Pietro's questions but it's not as important as this. 'I'm glad you're okay' doesn't begin to cover it, especially when Cassian is sure Pietro is not okay. He has a pretty good idea of what running into the fence full-tilt might've done, and then he remembers what he was told about what happened to Pietro's mother and Cassian squeezes all the harder. ]

[ Pietro nods a few times, and it's hard to tell if that means he's agreeing or just that he wants to show that he's listening. Though not a small young man, he suddenly seems it, his broad shoulders crumpling into Cassian's embrace and his chin ducking against him like he can just hide there, just for a moment, until the screams stop. Cassian is here and safe and solid, and for all that Pietro obstinately plays protector for all his siblings, he can't deny that sometimes he needs them, too. Whatever unnameable force it is that keeps him on his feet, he feels like it's missing lately, like his supports have been cut out from under him, but that just means he needs Cassian and Wanda and Lorna all the more.

It isn't a need he allows himself to indulge in for long, though. He's not a child, he hasn't been a child since he was twelve, and as his trembling starts to taper off he fights to buck up again, to straighten and pull back and not be such a baby about this in front of Cassian, who he doesn't want to see him that way. ]

Well, now we know for certain it's part electric. [ Ha. Ha. He doesn't manage more than a shaky flinch of a smile with that quip, but he's trying. ] If we can shut it off, even for a second, I can get over it.

[ See? He can be useful, and not a liability. ]

[ Pietro pulls away probably too quickly for Cassian to feel like his embrace really had the impact he'd hoped for but Cassian understands; he's still getting used to Poe's easy embraces and dismissing the idea that it means less for him to take some comfort in it, and Pietro and he are alike in a lot of unhappy ways. ]

Yes. [ Cassian decides he'll make a duplicate of BB-8's notes on the wall and what's beyond it for Pietro to read at his leisure; better an idea that talking about it in sight of the house's cameras. ] I know you could but you wouldn't be going alone, I won't hear of it.

No— I can look after myself.

[ Pietro sounds exactly his age when he says that, and he knows it, but there's real distress in his voice too, tendrils of a fierce fear bursting through the cracks in his composure. One hand that had still been hovering near Cassian moves back to his forearm. Please no, please don't make him lose anyone else. ]

Listen to me, I am not the one I am worried about. I can outrun anything, I can dodge bullets, but not if they're aimed at you.

[ Then he has to stand in front of them. Obviously. ]

[ There are things Pietro goes to Cassian for and things he doesn't. Talking to him and Jyn helps ground him in his thoughts again, helps settle his mind, but he can still taste ash on the air when he leaves, and he needs his sister.

(He dreams sometimes of growing up with her, even though he knows they didn't, and even if they had, she's old enough that they would never have been children together that way. Still, he dreams of a girl with bright, laughing green eyes running ahead of him through the woods, climbing trees he couldn't quite reach but pulling him up into the branches with her anyway, first mate on their imaginary pirate ship. They're just dreams, but they make him feel safe anyway.)

He has the foresight not to walk right in this time, instead knocking on her front door, and only a little urgently. It's fine, it isn't an emergency, he's fine. He just wants to see her. ]

Wanda?

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closed ➠ we built this town on shaky ground

David

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lmfAO

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Cassian

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Wanda