OPEN | the waves still crash on the bonfire ash.

[evite]

who: skye & you, hopefully.
what: getting settled? getting hype? what's soon to be the usual, probably.
when: throughout the month of may.
where: city-wide!
warnings: none yet.

✈ in memoriam.

( she doesn't want to mourn. not like this, anyway. skye has too many guilt-laden memories that hang off her ribs to let them free into this city yet; she's half-convinced she'd light too many lanterns and burn the place down. so, instead, she opts to observe. she finds a quiet place off to the side where she can draw 8-bit patterns across the lantern someone had so helpfully placed in her hands and thinks back to all the people she'd left behind.

she draws a pattern on one side, jagged lines that don't quite meet so much as attempt to cross each other out, and hides a name in the blur of ink in the middle. trip, four letters, but they're hard enough to write as it is. another side depicts the layout of the bus, a messy blue print from an untrained hand. the lines are thickest for a square off to the side; not her bedroom, but the sparring room. a place that left her mourning for something that had never been real in the first place. ward. what could have been.

at one point, someone approaches her, lighter in hand and ready to help lift the lantern up into the sky. there's a beat of hesitation before she shakes her head, fingers clutching reflexively over the paper between them. )

No, I think I'm going to keep it, actually.

( is that weird? it might be weird. )

Is that okay?

✈ in officio.

( they offer her a job. well, to be more specific, they tell her to find her own work, which seems a lot more real than anything else thus far. she's not used to having things handed to her, anyway; the idea of having to find her own work seems much more skye than playing cheerful worker drone and just going where they tell her to.

not that she really has to try, anyway. the city seems more than happy to request software codes — mostly inconsequential things, housekeeping projects that likely are a little too blase for anyone they might keep on staff full time, but skye doesn't mind. it puts money in her pocket and boredom on the back burner, the former of which she prefers and the latter of which is probably better for the city.

as a freelancer, though, skye doesn't have an office. there's no official place for someone to meet her or come calling; ultimately, it means that everywhere becomes her office. depending on the day or her mood, she calls a few places "home away from home" — the coffee shops, of course, with their comfortable seating and plentiful selection of baked goods; the local university's library, naturally, and its expansive collection of quiet working tables and reference materials; and in a twist, the local gym, where skye can scout for someone she might want to approach after hours, in the hopes of filling up all that precious free time.

she thinks may might even be proud of her for that. sparring voluntarily? who would have thought. not skye, that's for damn certain, but she's trying new things. like talking to people, for one. such as: )

Hey — ( hey you, no, that's rude. ) — listen, can you hand me that?

( "it" could be anything. a lamp, a book, a muffin someone dropped on the ground. go crazy. get weird. make things happen. )

✈ wildcard.

( y'all probably know the drill. if you want something particular, please shoot me a pm and let me know! ♥ )

Comments

no worries!!

[otherflash]

[ Wally's eyes widen the moment Skye begins to waver, and by the time she takes her stumbled steps, he blurs to her side so he can place one his arms around the middle of her back and uses his chest to support her shoulder in an attempt to steady her.

He thinks she's having some sort of panic attack at first, but the way he can literally feel the vibrations coming off of her now thanks to their close proximity has him concerned she might be on the verge of having one those accidents she talked about any second now.

An accident that could potentially take out a building if what she alluded to earlier is correct. Fuck would seem to be an accurate description of the situation.

Deciding they can't risk such a thing taking place within the city, he mumbles a quick hold on, before he hooks his free arm underneath her knees and scoops her up so he can speed her out of the Quarantine as fast as he can. Skye doesn't have any time to protest the act if she wanted to, because a fraction of a second later, the two of them come to a stop in a small clearing in the jungle somewhere on the other side of the moon in their gym clothes. ]

Are you okay?

[ An incredibly ridiculous question made even more so by the fact he is still holding her in his arms. ]

[evite]

( she's always prided herself on being quick with the upkeep, on being able to adapt to new situations and keep on trucking even when things get weird. she's managed to survive through dozens of foster homes, through the strange black hole that had been her first few years on the streets, even through the bizarre reality of shield purgatory — but finding herself blinking in a new forest, cradled by someone else's arms holding her upright, when she didn't have so much as a memory of stepping through a door... well, it's a lot.

is she okay? skye swallows hard, rumbling echoing in her ears, and shakes her head. ) No. ( not that she needs to say it. even before the syllable drops from her lips, the ground that should be beneath her feet begins to shake, leaves falling from the tree branches around them without even a hint of a breeze to move them. )

I'm not — you should —

( you should go. before he gets hurt. before she winds up hurting someone else, someone who's only been nice and polite to her, who doesn't deserve the damage that seems to come in her wake. )

I can't control it.

[otherflash]

[ Wally is finding it a little difficult to keep his balance with the ground trembling beneath him like it is. They are running out of time. He has to think of something, anything before he and the woman in his arms find themselves buried beneath a lot of trees. The only thing he knows at this picosecond is that he isn't leaving her no matter what she says. ]

Don't worry. I'll think of something.

[ The sureness in his voice is only matched by the determination in the emerald eyes looking down at her. He sucks in a breath through pursed lips, racking his accelerated brain in attempt to come up with what his next move should be. The only firm conclusion he comes to is that he is so far out of his depth here. Maybe he shouldn't have sounded so sure.

That line of thinking leads to him resorting to asking himself the same question he always does whenever he finds himself in an overly difficult situation; what would Barry Allen do?

The muscles in the arms holding Skye suddenly twitch, as if he's preparing to take off again, before he gently sets her on the ground, a comforting hand staying on her shoulder while he kneels beside her on the shaky earth. ]

Okay, um. Whenever my powers got out of control, my uncle used to tell me to take a few deep breaths and start focusing on listing things that I love. I know it sounds silly, but maybe you'd like to humor me?

[ His words are as light as they are hurried in an attempt to present a level of calmness that he isn't really feeling. He knows this is a long shot, but talking her down is exactly what his mentor would try to do in this situation. And if it doesn't work? Well, some people don't call him the Fastest Man Alive for nothing. ]

[evite]

( things she loves? the reality is stark, and admittedly a little sad — at first, skye's mind goes blank, struggling to come up with anything that feels real. she's tempted to rattle off cheesy things, sarcastic quips of things she likes just to get him off her back, but the genuine concern in his eyes stills the words before they can spill past her lips.

she's quiet; instead, her attention goes to steadying the rapid, shallow breaths that run back and forth across her mouth, trying desperately to calm herself before anything irreversible happens to someone who very much doesn't deserve it.

eventually, though, she manages to come up with something. it's not quite as sincere and meaningful as my family or my friends, but it means something to skye, and she has to think that counts for something here too. )

Belonging. ( she winces a bit, waiting for a laugh that — much to her surprise — doesn't come. ) The feeling of... I don't know, of being part of something. A place where you mean something, where it matters if you show up or not.

( her palms splay out over her face, pressing against her eyes for a brief moment as if to quell any wetness that might be threatening to bubble up beneath. crying would be ridiculous. she won't be that person. )

I love... I loved being part of a team. God, that's so — so ridiculous, but I did.

( and then they decided that people like her were dangerous creatures, and skye had watched that thing she loved fall away from her, just like every other place that had ever been home. )

I loved them.

[otherflash]

[ The act of Skye bringing her hands up to her eyes has Wally turning his head away from her to look off in the distance. Partly to give her what little feeling of privacy he can while staying by her side, partly because he doesn't want her to see the emotion that flickers across his own face.

Everything she had rattled off in response to him prompting her to list the things she loves strikes a chord with him. He could easily see himself mentioning the same exact things if their positions were reversed.

The sense of belonging is something he has yearned for ever since he escaped the Speed Force back home to find out he was nothing more than a forgotten memory thanks to the villain Abra Kadabra having erased his existence from the minds of everyone in the world. He struggled mightily to fit into a place that had easily moved on without him.

The only real and certain thing in his life during that time was his friends on the Titans. The team and their friendship provided him with a feeling of purpose that was otherwise missing, but even that was taken away in the end as the Titans were forced to disband. Despite everything, he would freely admit how much he loves them to anyone who would listen.

He eventually blows out a heavy breath, pushing whatever sentimental thoughts that are rolling around his head out with it, and turns to look at her with a reassuring smile that can only be described as genuine. There will be no judgment here whether she has managed to compose herself or not. ]

I love those things, too. Well, not your team specifically. I mean, I don't actually know them. But I'm sure they're great. [ a beat before: ] What I'm trying to say is that I get it. At least as much as anyone can get it.

[ The pace in which the leaves are falling off the trees has slowed and he has noticed the energy building up underneath the soil below them has begun to ebb a little. It may be a little premature to say, but it looks like he can score another point for Barry's teachings if he can continue to keep her relaxed and focused. ]

[evite]

They are great. ( the words are accompanied by a strained laugh, huffed out with a small shake of her head as her fingertips drag across her eyelids. there will be no exposing of the tears that have pooled there today. ) They're... the best thing that ever happened to me.

( and it's true, it really is. coulson plucking her out of the void instead of throwing her into the nearest shield gulag had been a blessing skye hadn't really been able to process when it was happening; it had taken her arrival here before she truly understood the magnitude of that generosity. her time had been short, but it had been full; from may's tutelage to the friendships she'd forged with jemma and fitz, to even the rise and fall of her so-called relationship with grant ward... there had been life in her time there, a life well lived and love sincerely felt. to lose it so suddenly and without warning, and at no real fault of her own — )

Or they were.

( the sorrow swells up in her chest, hot and dangerous like lava bubbling up through a supposedly dormant volcano, and skye swallows down the first cry. she's learned to hold those back, but with the repression of her emotions comes the strength of the quake beneath them. maybe it might behoove her to consider letting loose, ironically enough. )

Now they don't want anything to do with me.

[otherflash]

[ Wally opens his mouth, about to ask her why they would do something like that, before he snaps it shut without saying a word. Her developing powers, the panic in her eyes when she realized he had noticed them at the gym. It's more than enough for him to jump to his own conclusions for better or worse.

He remembers John and Clarice telling him they come from a world where people (mutants they are called, he thinks) are singled out and targeted simply because they have abilities they didn't ask for. That, instead of offering these people the help they need to deal with their powers and everything that goes with it, the government would rather just lock them up and throw away the key.

Wally knows firsthand the potential damage powered people can cause and the blood they could spill. But he also knows of all the truly great and heroic things they can accomplish if they are just given the opportunity. The idea that people, much less so called friends, would discard someone for something they have no control over before even giving them a chance...

The thought this might be what happened to Skye has his own anger bubbling up to the surface, the most visible manifestation of it being the small sparks of bluish-white lightning flickering around his eyes since he's still tapping into the Speed Force in case things go south. Usually, the lightning is a sign he's actively using his powers, but in this instance, it's the result of his emotions about to get the better of him.

Knowing losing his cool isn't going to help anyone, he tightly closes his eyes and takes a few deep breaths to squash the gathering storm inside him until the lightning effect fades away. Now with his own emotions reigned in, he opens his eyes which are wholly green again and begins to lightly rub the hand that was previously resting on her shoulder up and down her back in what he hopes is a soothing act. ]

You don't have to worry about anything like that happening here. And we'll figure this whole power thing of yours out. Together. I promise.

[ He doesn't know how much a promise from someone she just met several minutes ago means here. All he knows is it's a promise he fully intends to keep if she lets him. ]