riverviewlogs | When Everything Falls Apart [OPEN]

Entry tags:

When Everything Falls Apart [OPEN]

who: Ava and OPEN
what: She's back in Riverview
when: Early April
where: Around quarantine and the abandoned city
warnings: Possible suicide idealization in specific threads, will warn/update if needed.

I. For Bucky

[Ava doesn't move into the communal housing. She made that mistake once, and even if she wasn't worried about hurting people, she just can't handle being surrounded by so many people all the time. Not now. So instead, she settles into one of the SkyTram trains. It's easily defensible, given her powers. Mobile, and not yet tied to any of main lines she'd been working on repairing puts it far away from the flow of people; the fact that from the outside it still looks broken just adds to the. It's small but it's enough for what she needs.

She does wander into the City, though. She gets a sleeping bag, enough food for a few days, other odds and ends that aren't in the duffle bag she still keeps. She's almost back to her little bolthole, when she feels that sense of being watched. It's subtle, hard to catch, but if anything, Ava's even more on-edge than before.]

Are you mad at me?

[Her voice is soft, but if it's who she thinks it is, she knows that he'll be able to catch it.]

II. Closed to MCU Steve

[She doesn't quite know how to approach him, but she wants to. Maybe even needs to, really. Someone that hadn't been caught up in the mess of everything that went down in the world the portal had brought her to. Someone that still feels safe, and okay. She could text him, like she has a few other people, but that seems a little... impersonal. So instead, one morning before dawn, she finds her way to the route they used to run in the mornings, and waits to see if he shows. If not, she'll eventually go knock on his door, quiet, subdued, sharper around the edges.

But either way, she does smile when she sees him. It's a small thing, a fragment of the warmth that used to be there. Things have happened, she's changed. But she's still glad to see him. Glad that he's still here.]

III. Open

[She might not be staying in the city, but she does come into the city with some regularity. She's working on the SkyTram lines under a dispensation from the Government, so she does swing by City Hall on occasion. She stops by the market here and there, since she prefers to not entirely live off of non-perishables. She does, however, avoid the festival pretty much completely, turning down any offer of flowers, and doing her best to avoid the parties that stem out from it.

Ava swings by the same coffee shop she used to like, just after dawn. But she doesn't practice in the city anymore, keeps it mostly to working with Loki or out in clearings outside the the city. The flooding isn't optimal, but she's light, sometimes moves through the trees, shadows people that seem like they could maybe use someone to keep an eye on them.

She does, however, sometimes head into the city late at night. Dark clothes, keeping to the shadows. Not everyone in quarantine plays by the rules, and while Ava no longer sees herself as a hero, she still... wants to make a difference. Do something. It's an outlet, if nothing else. She doesn't really have a costume anymore; her white bodysuit feels wrong. Too attention-grabbing, too flashy. So she's just in something form-sitting; shades of grey with black boots.

Maybe you just catch a glimpse of the blue light, or maybe you're some unsuspecting civilian in the wrong place at the wrong time.]

IV. Previous CR

[And after a few days, once she can focus a bit better, when the world stops spinning, and this feels a bit more real than it did at first. Like maybe she does get someplace where she can breathe, where the loneliness isn't quite so crushing, she reaches out to the people she knows that she hasn't run into already.

A text message, from the username avreya. The exact phrasing differs, but it's short, to the point: she's back. Sorry for leaving.]

V. Wildcard!

[Gimme whatever and I'll roll with it. I'm on Plurk at

natalia_vdova if you wanna plot something!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[He could barely believe his eyes when he saw her, his gut twisting in relief and confusion and fear all at once. Has she been here the whole time? If so, why did Pierce say what he did, and why didn't she come forward before now? If she had been gone, then why?]

Should I be?

[He steps out of the shadows, voice and tone entirely neutral despite what's going on underneath.]

Maybe. [It's not quite a sigh, but there's something heavy to the word.]

I left and I didn't tell you.

[She doesn't try to hide it, but her expression is sad more than anything as she looks in his direction when he steps out of the shadows. She still looks the same, mostly. Her hair's a little bit longer, and there's something sharper around the edges of her, the way she holds herself is a little bit off.

But, she's out here instead of in the City, and that says a lot too. She's not exactly hiding, but- she needs her space. She ran, and this time it hadn't been some general worry about HYDRA. It had been people. The Avengers. Nat and Tony and people that were too close.]

I'm not your keeper, you can go wherever you want, it's not my business.

[He's not angry at her for leaving without any word, she had never promised to do otherwise and he respects choice. Maybe she felt she had to flee, maybe she didn't have time to talk to him, it doesn't matter.]

Maybe that's not why I'm mad.

[Because yes, he is kind of mad.]

I still should have told you.

[He might say that he's not her keeper, but she feels bad about it. He's the one person she'd wanted to tell. But even without the machine she'd still felt compromised-- leaving had just seemed better. She'd been alone and scared.

But it's hard to put that into words, especially now. So instead she focuses on the second point. There's a slight twitch of her eyebrows as she tries to parse though the options and comes up blank.]

Then why are you mad?

[He keeps his distance from her, even if they're talking together. His barriers are up, his expression neutral, his voice level.]

I talked to Pierce after you left.

[Does that give her a clue as to why he might be mad?]

I guess it was fitting that he told everyone you had gone, considering what good friends you were.

[She looks more lightly surprised that he actually talked to Pierce, at first, more than anything. Ava doesn't see where this is going until he says it, until the words such good friends are there on the air between them.

Before she left she would have been angry. Now, she's just-- It's different. She looks at him, even, still, quiet for a long moment as she lets his words hang in the air.]

When you talked to him, did he tell you why I left? Because he knew. Did he tell he about the tech?

[It's slightly calculated. Not manipulative; but she makes a snap judgement off what she knows, which at the moment is just that Pierce has clearly been misrepresenting her to Bucky. And in line with that, she imagines he probably skipped the part about brainwashing tech.

Saying he's lying felt too cheap, so instead she tries to prove it, as best as she can.]

No.

[He's not stupid enough to have believed everything Pierce told him verbatim, he knows things will have been missed out or twisted, but the basic facts? Those he believes, because Pierce doesn't usually outright lie to him, it's what makes him so dangerous to talk to.]

But he told me you danced for him, and played chess with him, and visited him a lot just to talk.

[His voice is still very deliberately level, careful.]

Is that true?

[And Bucky's right on that point; the basic facts aren't wrong. But the framing is. The idea that they'd been friends was wrong. What they'd been had been contentious and a recurring game where no matter what step she picked it was always the wrong one.

It's a complicated question, and she doesn't answer yes or no because it would mean either confirming his fears or lying to him.]

I was alone practicing ballet when he showed up at the room in the studio I used. He tracked me down there and was- trying to pick me apart, I think. Get in my head. [There had been knives there; in the words between them, in her dance. Pierce was complicated for her in ways she didn't like to talk about. He was the villain, she knew this, couldn't forget it. But from the time she was nine until she was fourteen she'd been raised by STRIKE, and there were chinks in her armor, murky lines that Pierce was trying to get his hooks into, that he pushed at. She hadn't known what they were when she was a girl with a past she couldn't hold onto, instead clinging to the lies they told her about rescuing her from the Russian Mafia.

She's not angry that he believed Pierce because she knows how good he is at this. She knew that she'd given him more rope than she ever should have. But the idea that they were ever friends just isn't the truth, or at least not her truth.]

I was part of an experiment they called the OPUS project. There was a machine they used to link us, control us. The idea behind the project was to make distance irrelevant. It showed up here, and they handed it over to Prometheus Labs. I didn't-- I didn't know what to do. I was--

[There's a pause, she's trying to find the words, her eyes a little too bright, her breath coming fast.] --scared.

[These days, she hides her vulnerability deeper, that fear that if she touches it then every hurt she's suffered since will all come boiling out. But she manages to catch herself, to push it down.] I tried to stay away from people, from everyone. And the only person that reached out to me was Pierce. So yes, I took a chess board when I went to see if he was planning on ripping away who I am, and we played two games. We talked. And then I fried the machine. But he let me and I still don't understand why, and I'm still afraid there's something I missed.

[Her shoulders slump and she quiets, her gaze finally falling from him to the ground, blinking her eyes.] So, yes. It's true. And if you're mad at me for getting in over my head, letting him push me away from everyone, you're not wrong. But it wasn't like that.

[He knew there would be more to it than Pierce said, and her words colour in the rest of the picture, but it doesn't absolve her. He understands how Pierce can twist things and confuse the mind, he doesn't blame her for him hunting her out. But that she went to him, more than once.

That's not something he can forgive easily.]

Why didn't you come to me?

[He thought that he'd made it clear that even if he was hiding, he still cared about what happened to her. Perhaps he hadn't, perhaps this was a failing on his part too.]

You didn't even tell me that you were speaking to him. Him. And you know what he was, what he can do.

[He pauses a moment, breathing out steadily through his teeth to get his control back in place. He turns his back on her, voice hard.]

Forget it. Welcome back.

[And unless she stops him, he'll start to walk away.]

I did.

[Her voice is soft and quiet, but there's steel to it, too. Something sharper than she's ever been before, but more brittle.]

I told you about the first time I went to see him, and after he approached me at the ball. You told me to leave him alone, so I did my best. I told you I couldn't guarantee that he couldn't-- And that's the only reason I went to see him. Because if we were face to face I at least knew his finger wasn't on the trigger. You told me to make friends, get close to people, and I tried, but I'm not good at it. I don't really have anyone, and that's not what anything with Pierce was about, but I didn't know how to talk to people about it.

[Except him, clearly.] And when this all happened... Any attempt I made to reach out to you would have potentially put you at risk, depending on how the tech worked. And I would--

[Her voice cracks, like she's unused to talking this much, but there's also emotion there, closer to the surface, rougher and tempestuous.] I would never do that to you. I trusted that anything I knew you'd have ditched by then. But if I reached out to you? If Pierce was able to get to you because of me? I just couldn't risk it. So I risked myself instead. Maybe that was the wrong choice, but it was the only one I knew how to make.

[She turns to the side, dragging the back of her hand against her eyes, unable to modulate both everything that happened with Sana, and then the fact of feeling like she'd fucked up here despite her every best intention. Her shoulders slump and she takes a breath.] Don't go. Please.

[She won't force him to stay, but she wants him to. She has so little left now that the idea of losing him too- even if it was only this nebulous thing that might have almost been close to friendship once or twice- it hurts.]

Edited 2018-05-01 08:32 (UTC)

[It's not the same, telling him that Pierce had approached her at the ball, and telling him that she had approached Pierce to talk. He can't forgive her for that, even if she thought she was protecting him.

He didn't ask to be protected.]

Yeah, it was the wrong choice.

[Perhaps that's harsh, but it's true. He barely trusts anyone and he had started to trust her, finding out she'd kept all of this from him is enough to shatter that trust.

He doesn't go, though.]

What do you want from me?

[She wont ask him to forgive her. Can't, really. Not here and now, when she's not sure that she deserves it from anyone. When so much bad feels like it rests on her shoulders. If he hates her, she can't really say she doesn't deserve it.]

I know. Running was the wrong choice, too; I had a year to figure that all out.

[She sighs a little at the question, because it's hard. Harder to put words too, especially when that means acknowledging that it's selfish. That what she wants is probably something she doesn't deserve. She doesn't want to be alone, even if staying out here probably looks a lot like isolation.]

I just- I understand if you're mad at me, you have every right to be. I've lost so much. I just want a chance, I guess. I'm not even saying I deserve it, I know I don't.

[Ava's a lot sadder than she was when she left, a darkness that curls brighter, closer to the surface.]

[It's a good thing that she doesn't ask him to forgive her there and then, because he doesn't know if he could have done that. He feels betrayal pretty keenly, and it hurts all the more that it was a choice.

But he's made some bad choices too, even if they aren't ones that have impacted her, and he knows what it's like to have thought you were acting for the best. Does she deserve another chance? Probably. Can he trust her enough not to go running back to Pierce? That's the one he's much less sure on.]

Another chance for what?

[To avoid him again and run to someone else?]

[When he asks the question, she pauses, considers. There's a bleakness to her world that makes it hard to find the right words, but she is trying. She hasn't entirely given up, even if that is hard.]

--To do better.

[She's not sure if it's the right answer or not. She can't really defend running to Pierce in anything aside from her state at the time. She'd been scared, and Pierce had the trigger, the power, so when he reached out to her she'd followed, even if she knew better. She'd felt so alone. If anything she feels even more alone now, but she's more aware of it, of the reasons why. And that makes it less dangerous. And there are people; Loki and Steve.

Maybe Bucky, too, if she hasn't entirely burned that bridge.]

[Can he deny her that second chance when he's needed a second, third, and fourth chance from the people around him? It would by hypocritical not to, but he can't deny that something has changed between them that might never be fixed. He won't trust her with his story any more, he can't risk it getting back to Pierce.

But he nods all the same.]

Fine.

[Another chance, a way to repair a damaged bridge.]

Just give me time, a few days.

[She feels like she should say something, some kind of reassurance, but she doesn't really know how. She's afraid of pushing too hard, and losing what small concession this is. So she just nods, looks up at him softly.]

Take your time. Find me when you want to talk.

[She'll give him the space he needs, however long it takes. She knows he can find her, and given that she's planning on living in her abandoned tram car, it won't be too hard to track her down anyway.]

[He appreciates that she doesn't argue with him about this, because he really does need those few days to figure out just where he stands with her and if he can trust her at all again.

A small nod is all she'll get in response, his expression carefully neutral, before he continues trying to walk away.]

[ Chase isn't a victim or a criminal.

Well.

He's a murderer, which he guesses technically makes him a criminal. But it's not like he's killed anyone here, so whatever. Anyway, the point is, what Chase is, is a night person. Maybe it's old habit, having to hide who he was for so many years, but he's just more comfortable doing magic at night than during the day. So that's all he's doing right now, out in the city at night.

Using. Because he apparently blipped out of existence for a few months, remembers nothing about it (just an overwhelming sense of nothing), and came back to being left here all by his lonesome. Because while he was gone, Caleb and Sarah found their way home again, he guesses, off to happily ever after. Because he doesn't really have anyone or anything to turn to except magic, and magic's the best drug there is.

Right now, he's sitting on a rooftop in a bad part of town, having levitated part of the way up, then teleported the rest. Makes him feel like a goddamn superhero, sitting up high, watching the streets below him. Except, if we're being honest, he's just watching little altercations, drunken arguments, and petty crimes play out, which is like. The opposite of superheroing.

But... Hello. What's that blue light breaking up a mugging-in-progress? Time to find out... All it takes is a thought, a little bit of magic, and he's swept up in wispy shadows, appearing on the ground behind her. Cue applause, Chase clapping slowly as he grins at the girl in grey. ]

Nice job. Bet those glowsticks on your hands kill at parties.

[Ava's sharp. If anything, her senses are a bit more keyed-up, on edge. And between Riverview and the world she'd ended up in people with powers are a little bit less startling than they might have been once upon a time. She does turn to face him, though. She has two blades, one clearly a narrow-bladed sword, and the other is short, more of a long dagger, with a curve to it.

But, the first thing he probably notices when she turns around is how her eyes glow a faint electric blue in the lowlight. The muggers weren't much of anything, she hadn't really had to use much of her powers, but her eyes still sparked. She looks him over, curious more than anything, but a little bit on-guard, but she flicks her hands and the glowing blades vanish into the handles. She slips them into her belt with a slight shrug of her shoulders.]

I'm not much of a party person.

[Her eyes slowly dim a little, but they're always a little too bright, a little too blue. She's not quite sure what to make of him. He doesn't seem immediately dangerous, but appearances can be deceiving. If nothing else, he's pushy, given how he tries to push her off-guard. And even if she's not obvious about it, part of it worked, because she can feel the energy under her skin hum. It's not quite magic, but there's still power in her fingetips.]

You just like hanging out in alleyways at night?

Yeah... [ He tilts his head, looking her up and down. There's a spark in his eyes; he's impressed by her blades, and the light in her eyes calls to mind one thing: power. His own tend to burn like wildfire before going black, when he uses. Blue calls to mind a different sort of power entirely. ] I could kinda tell.

[ He lets that observation hang for a beat, before laughing, like everything's a big inside joke to him. ]

What do I look like? A drug dealer? I was hanging out-- [ Pointing up. ] --up there. The little light show got my attention.

[Ava's petite, hardly more than five-foot-even, beautiful in an Eastern European sort of way, even if alone in an alley with glowing swords, she doesn't do much to dress up that fact. Her clothes are nondescript, easy to blend into a crowd, but her red hair tends to make her memorable. And her eyes. The glow.

She doesn't have much faith in him not remembering her, but somehow she doesn't think he's here to tell her beating up badguys is wrong. So she's less worried than she might be elsewise. She's still a little awkward about the things she can do, the way that her powers make her feel. Alone, different. And that's not touching the anger that twists inside of her ever since she got back. But for the moment, she's focused on him.

And Chase doesn't not look like a drug dealer, but she opts to not point that out. Instead she looks up to where he points, a slight tilt of her head before she looks back at him.]

Well, I'm glad you liked the show.

[She's a bit annoyed at herself for not noticing him, but she'd gotten caught up in it, wanted to not think for a while. Turns out it had its drawbacks. Albeit, the way he'd appeared behind her wasn't normal, she was sure of it.]

How did you move like that?

[She fights differently than she used to. It's with less of a smile on her face, no longer the girl that thought she could save people. That she could be different from Natasha, that she could make a difference. She was different from Natasha, in the end, but it wasn't quite for the reasons that she had wanted it to be. But she's still out here, even if she knows she's not much of a hero, she can't completely ignore the part of herself that wants to try.]

So-- pizza?

[She'd thought about offering to get a drink, but given how much of alcoholic the Tony in the world she'd been to had been, it's still sort of a knee-jerk to avoid the temptation. She looks over at him in his suit, a slight tilt to her head as she flicks her wrists and the blades retract back into the hilts which she slips into her belt.]

[It's hard to read body language through the armor -- more a feature than a bug considering the people he spends a lot of time around -- but Tony still seems almost considering as he slowly drops down to land next to her. Maybe it's the look of intense focus the faceplate seems to have, all of it pointed directly at her.]

We going to talk now?

[And that's dry enough to be picked up through the voice filters. It's not that he's skeptical so much as most of their conversation don't actually end up revealing a whole lot. Whether that's by design or the fact that they're both kind of cagey bastards is up for debate.]

[At the question she exhales softly, a huff of something that's more resignation than humor, and she nods softly, reaching up to brush a few strands of hair back behind her ear.]

We can talk, yeah.

[She hardly knows where to start, but it's-- really, Tony's not the worst person to talk to, she guesses. He tends not to push, to let her get away with pulling back from the things that she'd rather avoid. He does too, she knows, and maybe that's why he's easier than some people for her to be around.

And she doesn't really blame him for Sana, not even the cross-universe version of him. She blames herself.]

[He studies her in silence for a moment longer, then just nods once.]

Fine. But you're buying.

[Okay, that's more of a tease than anything. But he's not exactly gong to turn down the opportunity to figure out what the hell is going on with her, so Tony gestures a bit floridly (or as much as he can while encased in metal) for her to lead the way.]

Pretty sure I can swing a pizza.

[There's a slight touch of humor to it, but it's dry, She nods, and starts walking. One of the good things about the time disconnect here is that it means things are still mostly the same in Riverview; the pizza place that she used to like is still here. So, that's good at least.

She leads the way back toward the city, through the trees and the fog. She's light on her feet, almost seems to not-quite touch the ground at points, when the flooding's high. She's quiet, but eventually they make it to the city.

She's really not quite sure what to say, here. But she'll figure it out, she supposes.]

[Walking in the armor means that he's not remotely as graceful as she is, but it seems like a companionable kind of thing to do. They don't really need to worry about scaring anything away anyway, if he decided lack of heat signatures on his HUD are any indication. Nobody brings Iron Man on stealth missions.

He's tempted, like he always is, to fill in the silence with aimless babble, but something keeps him quiet. Maybe it's that he's not quite sure where they stand at the moment, or maybe it's that he's waiting for her to go first. There's a tension here that he's pretty sure wasn't there before she left, and Tony really doesn't know what to make of that. Or if he should even comment on it.

When he does finally speak up, his tone is mild.] You weren't gone that long, if you're curious.

It was about a year, for me.

[There's a slight pause before she answers. She notices the way that he doesn't fill the silence, and she's not entirely sure if that's a good thing or not. She's not worried about the lack of stealth; she still trusts him enough to let her know if his sensors pick up anything, and generally speaking they should be able to handle just about anything that comes at them.

But, she's been gone for a while, things have happened. Very few of them good things. Which is why she'd back here now. She feels like she should say something more, explain, but she hardly knows where to start and there's really nothing good that comes out of any of it. So instead she just looks over at him for a moment, her voice soft:]

I don't really know where to start. But you were- different. Honestly, I sort of missed it.

[More than just sort of but his ego is big enough already.]

Different how?

[There are a lot of ways that can go. More, even, than he'd immediately think up considering the other versions of himself he's actually met. Minor variances or major personality shifts. She's always said the place she comes from is pretty similar to his, but- he wonders, sometimes. Hard not to.

And if he was different enough for her to have clocked in on it and apparently missed him, signs are pointing towards not good. So that's fun. If there's anything he likes more than having to make up for his own stupidity, it's having to apologize for someone else's.]

When you left, was it because of the thing? The brain thing.

Less like you and more like them. You were a serious alcoholic, and just. Different.

[It's the easiest way that she can think of to explain it, since she knows they've both had at least passing contact with the other versions of him here. But after a moment, she pauses, looks at him with a slight shrug of her shoulders.]

It wasn't quite the right world, where I got sent to. But it was right enough. It mattered.

[This is clearly an important distinction to her. She can't dismiss what happened, the loss. It was close enough, it was right enough. And given that she doesn't exactly plan on trying to go back again-- well. It is what it is, she supposes.]

Partially, yeah. I took it down, but I just wasn't entirely sure, and so when they offered-- [Another shrug.] I missed Sana too.

[The bitter fragment of a laugh that follows is unbidden but hangs heavy.]

[Well okay, that's a thing. Tony takes a moment to let that filter through, yet another him-but-not. And apparently a much less appealing version, if what she's carefully not saying is any indication.

He arches an eyebrow at that laugh, and the obvious story behind it. Whether she feels like telling it is another question, but she clearly wants to talk about something.]

And now you're back. Trying to actually get home?

[Steve is a man of routine when it comes to his daily run and work-out. Its repetition is soothing to him, making each day easier to begin. So it should come as no surprise that he can be found run his laps down their usual path at the exact time that's expected.

What's not expected is for him to see the familiar flash of red hair and that smile that he'd thought he'd never see again. At least, not here. He comes to a slow stop a few feet away before closing the distance in a brisk walk.

Within seconds he has his arms wrapped around her in a gentle hug.]

It's good to see you.

[She looks up at him when he comes to a stop. That touch of a smile still playing gently on her face, so she doesn't have to admit that she's a little bit nervous. She hadn't thought about it when she'd left, it had been selfish, and she knows it. She can't help worrying that he'll hold it against her, even if as far as quarantine is concerned, she seems to have only been gone for a month.

But he closes the distance, and he hugs her and Ava hugs him back because she needed it, even if she couldn't ask for it. She'd lost so much. So she maybe hugs him a little tight, a slow blink of her eyes.]

You too. I'm-- glad to be back, I think.

[Everything's gone wrong, but it's hard for her to talk about. This is easier, even if she pulls back after a moment, looking a little sheepish as she takes a breath. Everything's fine, really.]

How've you been?

[Even if it had only been a month it feels like ages since he's seen her last. Finding out she had left had hurt, not because she'd done it, but because she hadn't told him beforehand. But at the same time he could never really blame her or hold it against her. He's gotten to know her well enough to believe that she'd done it for a reason. That if she happened to never return, it was for a purpose. Even if that turns out not to be true, he's too happy to see her again to really care.

After giving her one last gentle squeeze he takes a step back so they're face-to-face.]

You think? That's a bit lacking in enthusiasm.

[He studies her for a moment, looking for clues, but not finding anything. He just has to trust that if she has something to tell him, that she will. In time.]

Good. Not much has happened since you left, if I'm being honest. Although maybe I should start changing up my routine a bit if I'm this easy to track down.

[She'd had reasons, and the truth was that Ava was bad about talking about things, admitting that she was scared, that she needed help. Things that in the last year, and the aftermath she was realizing might not be the best strategy to have. So here she is, and no intention of leaving now.]

Sorry. Things have been kind of rough. But I'm glad to see you, really.

[That comes out with a quiet intensity, earnest, real. She smiles a little, a slight tilt of her head as she looks him over. He looks well enough, and that's good.]

Well, it's not that bad. Pretty sure you could handle any would-be muggers. [It's an attempt at teasing, although a little flat.] If you're not finished, I thought I could maybe join you.

[Ivar catches the two colors late one night in the city out of the corner of his eye: the blue flash and the sight of brilliantly red hair. When he turns towards the sight in his wheelchair, he sees a face that gives him a little bit of surprise. He stares up at Ava.]

Huh. I thought I heard on the network you'd left.

[Maybe she'd just gotten lost outside the walls or something. But she wouldn't be the first person to disappear and return, so maybe Ivar heard it right after all. All he knows is that the old guy seemed awful sad that she'd gone.]

[She recognizes him, from the fire. And given that he doesn't seem particularly shocked or scared by the sight of a girl with glowing energy blades, she just retracts them with a flick of her wrists and tucks them into her belt. She walks toward him, to make conversation a little bit easier.]

I did. I just got back.

[But, he's the second person to mention something about hearing she was gone from a post on the network, and she has an idea of who it was from. Something on her list to look into later.]

It's almost funny, how little time passed here.

Well, good. At least you're not dead.

[Is he being sarcastic? Surprisingly little. There was always a scenario that included being killed when a person left here. Ivar always thought the worst of everything. It meant he was never disappointed.]

It is strange. Two weeks here were two years back home for me.

[The entire time, Ivar had thought of his home here. His family and friends, but mostly of his daughter. To think she might have gone on growing up while he wasn't there to see it had been absolute agony for the Viking warrior. He was so relieved to finally get back to her.]

How much time passed for you?

[That just gets a slight murmur in response. In her case, being dead is not quite what she'd call the worst case scenario. But she doesn't know him well, so she just goes along with it. Slight nod of her head in agreement.]

A little over a year.

[It's an easy answer, and honestly there's something a little comforting in knowing that she's not the only one that's suffered from a time-dilation effect when going through the portal.]

It does correspond with not everyone being from the same point in time here, though.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

When Everything Falls Apart [OPEN]

I

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iii

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For Tony (MCU)

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ii;

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if you wanna just handwave this one for the new thing that's 100% cool btw

III

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