hadriel_logs | i could make you care [OPEN]

Entry tags:

i could make you care [OPEN]

Who: Rey and You!
What: Over time, Rey is starting to let herself feel again since the Assassin event. But it's not without effort. Bring it on, fireflies.
Where: Various.
When: May 1st-10th.
Warnings: Language and potential assholery on Rey's part.

I. Home (Spire Two, 301)

It's been a few days. More than enough time, one would think, to allow oneself to start being human again. The problem is, Rey isn't human. Never has been and never will be, even when she had believed herself to be as such during her past lives she had lived as different women. Those memories, along with the hopes and dreams and aspirations of those women, have been inaccessible for quite some time now. It's just safer this way.

Rey doesn't sleep much, if at all on some days. Most of the time she spends her hours in her apartment, checking up on the fish long enough to feed its stupid face just so that she can leave all over again.

Whether you're there by chance or as a concerned individual, it makes no difference. When she opens the door to leave her apartment, she doesn't expect to bump into any familiar or strange faces, but she does anyway.

"Apologies," she says in the same monotone that's plagued her since she had locked her emotions away. It's become a problem.

II. Fireflies (May 3rd-7th)

The sudden appearance of the little insects (and the lack of lighting throughout the city) do not go unnoticed. Rey has seen such flies before during her various travels throughout the world, but something tells her early on that these are no normal bugs.

Before long, they become an obvious nuisance, oftentimes following her around while attempting to rest upon her shoulders or her head of short mahogany hair. Whether she's taking a reprieve at the park, on patrol, or heading to the bar, the damned things seem to have taken a particular interest in her. And it's no mystery as to why.

Despite their endeavors, the little bubble of happiness they're intended to rouse have no such effect on Rey. That would require allowing herself to feel delight, and she hasn't felt a damned thing after she had almost been manipulated into killing a girl. She can't let that happen again, or give their captors what they want. This includes locking away the good along with the bad.

So, no happiness for Rey. No matter how many little delightful fireflies land on her. From time to time, she can be found with at least twenty of them having perched on her, and she bearing the utmost visage of apathy imaginable. Occasionally she flicks one off an arm or her shoulder, sending an insect spinning through the air before flying away. Other times she just crushes one without any sense of pity or remorse. It's their fault for bothering her.

Perhaps she'll care eventually. Perhaps not. The poor things seem determined, though.

III. Wildcard

[ooc: Want to do something else with Rey for the first half of the month? Hit me up with whatever you desire or I can whip up a super special awesome starter just for you!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Carlisle's curiosity over the fireflies didn't pick up until the third one he managed to catch. The first had landed on him, and he'd thought the slight, but sudden cheer he'd felt was uncharacteristic of him: a brief instant of warmth and happiness was hard to miss when one spent of his time being varying degrees of cold, anxious, and miserable. The second firefly had pushed the correlation between the itself and that feeling into his head, and by the time he got a jar and trapped firefly number three, he had decided he should probably try to catch as many as possible. You know, just to see how good this feeling could get. It was clearly necessary research, and nothing more.

Unfortunately, it turns out that his skills in hunting and trapping animals is as impressive as ever (which is to say "not at all"). What that means is that he's very excited when he sees a flock of fireflies congregating around Rey without a care in the world. He calls to her from a ways off, digging in his bag for one of his jars as he picks up his pace.

"Ah, Miss Rey! Stay right there! Don't move! Don't move don't move don't move!"

Edited 2016-05-02 07:17 (UTC)

Oh god, no.

It's bad enough that the insects aren't leaving her alone. When she hears a recently familiar voice from nearby, her shoulders just slack. And not even that can deter the fireflies' resolve to peeve her. A couple of them manage to fly off as Carlisle draws near, but for the most part she remains a glowing beacon in the city's dimness.

"What do you want?" Rey asks, not quite putting two and two together yet when she notices the jar coming out of Carlisle's bag. The hell is that supposed to be for?

Jar in hand, he slows down as he gets near her, his eyes trailing upward and away as a couple of the lightning bugs scatter. He decides to close the rest of the gap with slow, deliberate movements.

"How do you manage to get them to stay there?" he asks in a hushed tone as he takes a long, slinking step while removing the lid from the jar.

The fireflies are relentless, still clinging to Rey as Carlisle makes his way over with the promise of jarring a few. Or more.

Even when Rey just shrugs a shoulder, the insects continue to just hold on. "By not moving? Probably?"

Or maybe they're attracted to misery.

Edited 2016-05-02 21:20 (UTC)

If they were attracted to misery, Carlisle would have had no trouble getting more than the three he already has. As it is, they don't seem nearly as drawn to him as they are to her. Perhaps apathy is a better bait.

"Well, keep doing it," he says with another step. "I'm going to see if I can't get a few of the ones flitting about you."

True. They certainly seem to be adamant about getting a response out of Rey, though. And yet, no matter how many gather around her, she can't seem to experience the same effect that is intended. No mystery as to why.

Expression unchanging, she just blinks at Carlisle, gradually approaching her. "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" he hisses through his teeth, reaching toward her shoulder with the jar in one and hand the lid in the other. He tries to nudge one of the fireflies into the container with the lid, but the bug refuses to budge. Rey clearly needs its help more than he does.

"Stubborn things," he utters, trying again; the insect decides it's had enough and takes to the sky, leaving Carlisle to only watch and sigh.

Edited (Tenses are hard.) 2016-05-02 22:57 (UTC)

It looks like he's getting within her personal bubble, but as he holds the jar out, it becomes more obvious what he's actually trying to do.

"Seriously?" Rey tilts her head away from the fleeing insect, which has had enough of Carlisle's shit.

"What?" Carlisle asks, a few more bugs taking off with his volume? They don't go too far, choosing to hang around in the air just out of his reach. He shoots them a sour look before returning his attention to her.

"I know your perception is not that dull. Surely you've felt it, having this many on you."

Great job, Carlisle. You just can't use your indoor voice outside, can you?

Rey stares at him, her inexpressive gaze piercing. "Felt what? Are they supposed to be doing something?"

As expected, she can't feel anything at all. Not even the little bubbles of bliss that emanate from the fireflies' presence.

His brow furrows as she stares into him. "Er... I'm not sure it's their intended purpose, but they certainly are doing something."

He reaches into his bag and pulls out a small jar, the current home of the three fireflies he's managed to catch. "See, I had one land on me, and I thought it was a fluke, but then the second one came along and there it was again: this feeling of... Well-being. Warmth."

He offers her the jar, as though holding it might help her senses somehow.

"Like what?" Rey asks before Carlisle retrieves another jar from his bag.

Well, that just answers that question. She takes the jar that's handed to her, holding it in front of her as she studies the firebugs within. Yet the miracle doesn't happen.

The edge of Rey's mouth twitches, but there's no change in her demeanor. "Don't feel anything."

At all.

"Really?" Carlisle asks, incredulous. "Nothing? Nothing at all?"

He looks at the bugs in the jar, his eyes narrowing as though they'd decided not to work just to spite him. Given their refusal to be captured, that seemed incredibly likely in his mind.

But then one finally alights on the edge of his glasses. The sight of something on his periphery startles him, but there's that feeling again -- minute, given it's only one bug rather than many, but it's there.

"Okay, I know I didn't imagine it that time. It must be you."

"Nothing at all," Rey echoes, though lacking in the disbelieving inflection.

She only watches for a moment as the insect lights itself up on Carlisle's glasses. Part of her thinks that perhaps she should be feeling insulted, but then...

"You're probably right." She looks down at the jar in her hands, and then returns it to its owner. "No, you're definitely right."

In a way, it's good to know that she isn't being controlled by another one of Hadriel's tricks, even if it's a harmless one.

Carlisle would remark on how of course he's right -- one would have to be some kind of unfeeling construct to not notice that warmth emanating from the fireflies -- but he's suddenly very preoccupied the second he gets his jar back. That makes four in his possession altogether, and the resulting sensation is much to his liking.

"Ah, okay," he says to himself, a smile tugging at him. "Good! This is good. I was right in my earlier assessment that more of these makes it stronger. I wonder how good it can get?" He hesitates for a second, then adds, "For research, of course. Strictly want to know in an academic sense."

Edited 2016-05-03 02:25 (UTC)

Now that she has something of a better idea as to what is going on, Rey just lets Carlisle do his thing. Be the know-it-all that he is and such.

"Whatever makes you happy." She pauses when something occurs to her just then. "Are you sure collecting more is a good idea? What if it's possible to get too happy?"

Only Rey would consider the repercussions of being too happy.

"Miss Rey, I don't think there is such a thing as too happy," he returns. "Not unless it's being happy over tragic occurrences or something of that sort. But this isn't that."

He tucks the jar with the three fireflies back into his pouch, then tries to nudge the fourth bug into the empty one. He's met with success as it marches past the rim.

"Besides that, there is bound to be a capacity for how much happiness these insects can garner."

Rey huffs. "Wouldn't be so sure of that. Knowing the way things operate around here, it wouldn't be a surprise if you could explode from euphoria. Or have a heart attack. Or something."

Or something. You never know. After the craziness that was Delight's citywide party, Rey can believe that too much of even a good thing can hurt you.

Carlisle now has a stare of his own to offer her, one colored with mild horror. He's drawn from it as the firefly at the lip of the jar takes off, some of that warmth going with it.

"Hey!" He calls after it, but the insect keeps flying, so he returns his attention to Rey. "I suppose you would know, and perhaps have a point. Perhaps I could collect them, and you could monitor me? Just to take note of any sudden changes. And maybe, I don't know, toss the jars away should something look like it's going terribly wrong?"

Perhaps she does have a point, or perhaps she's full of shit and just saying whatever shit flies into her head. Rey starts to speak, until Carlisle offers his suggestion and she just goes back to watching him. Almost searching for a 'just kidding' to present itself there, but no dice.

"Are you really trying to figure out if you can die from too much happiness?"

Is that what this experiment is about?

"No," Carlisle scoffs. "I simply just..."

He pauses for half a second. 'Enjoy the feeling' doesn't seem like a suitable answer, especially when he knows he should be handling this occurrence with caution, so he goes for something else.

"Am hoping to learn more, and thought you might be willing to help me."

It wouldn't be so hard to turn him down. She doesn't owe him anything--

And that's when Rey recalls what he did for her. Regardless of how strange he may seem, he did help her even when he really didn't have to. Was willing to even put himself at risk to aid her.

Scratching the side of her scarred face, Rey's mouth forms a crooked shape as she considers Carlisle's proposal.

"Fine. Don't have anything better to do, anyway."

Carlisle sighs, relieved, and offers her a smile of gratitude.

"Good. Very good. Now, if you don't mind..."

And there he goes again, offering her a jar -- an empty one this time. Rey does seem like she might be better than he is at this whole bug-catching thing, especially when they're obviously drawn to her.

In fact, Rey doesn't mind. She doesn't even care, which probably now works in Carlisle's favor, now that she thinks of it. It's not like she gives a damn which way she's being pushed, so long as it's not into another lecture.

Catching fireflies though? Sure. Why not.

She takes the jar, awkwardly holding it as a firefly lands on her head.

"Don't know what to do with this," she admits. Her bug-catching skills are minimal at best.

He gives her an incredulous look as he gets the jar with the three fireflies again, ready to add to his collection the moment his assistant understands the basics of what it is they're doing.

"You're getting them into the jars. Alive, preferably. Lure them in, catch them, try to nudge them past the rim, I do not care."

May 3rd

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