001 (video)

[jumpiness]

[ Maybe Independence Day is Coach Finstock's favorite movie for a reason. All Stiles knows is, at first he was in his jeep, dropping Scott off at home - and then he was in a shuttle, with some nasty-looking dude with six eyes staring at him.

He may have shrieked in a totally manly way and sat on the bench furthest away from him.

Anyway the shuttle - space shuttle, space ship - had set down, and he'd been herded out and dumped on a launch pad in some serious need of scrubbing. Some dude with actualfax fucking mandibles had tiredly told him that he was supposed to go to Zeta district and help with repairs if he didn't have anything better to do. He did not field any other questions. Stiles has been flying by the seat of his pants for the last few hours.

That first hour may have involved hyperventilating.

Regardless, he knows how to work this omni-tool thing now and he's using it thanks to ingenuity and possibly some passerby help. His face fills up the entire screen. ]

So aliens are real. Big, giant huge wrinkly aliens that look like they want to eat my face, and blue space babes. Okay, that's cool, we respect all of the species in human-land. Totally cool bros here.

[ A teenager's very determined expression of resolve goes here, though. ]

What we don't respect is kidnapping. Which I'd say is what just happened, you know. But I've got questions. If any of you see a five foot three girl with fair skin, green eyes, and strawberry blonde hair, or a five foot ten dude with tan skin, brown eyes, brown hair and an uneven jawline, you're gonna tell me, okay?

And if any of you touch a hair on that fine lady's head, I'm going to go Will Smith on your butts.

[ Scott can handle some heat. Stiles turns the video off, then switches it back on suddenly. ]

And the dude you're telling is Stiles!

Comments

[jumpiness]

You're okay, right?

[ He asks her this because he has to, because he can't not, perpetually worried while assured that she's a strong person. He just doesn't know what to do.

At least with this, he doesn't have to lie. ]

I have no freakin' clue, like at all. Scott and I were playing lacrosse [ as if the crosse stick slung across his back isn't evidence of that ] but then I was like, here.

What happened to you? How'd you get all the way out here?

[sucking]

I got off that shuttle and then I started to walk. I got distracted. [She might have taken some wrong turns...]

And I'm fine. I've been kidnapped. That's perfectly fine and what do you mean you were playing Lacrosse with Scott. I just left your house.

I just left your house and then I was here and I don't want to be here because there were things I needed to do back home.

[jumpiness]

[ His mouth opens and closes, because what? ]

What do I mean? What do you mean? Did you block out the last few days or whatever?

You haven't been to my house since - since before the whole Jackson and Derek in the warehouse deal.

[ Not that she'd need to. She had Jackson again, after all. ]

Also, I've been kidnapped too! It's not like I'm in a different boat.

[sucking]

[Her gaze narrows, arms crossing over her chest.]

What Derek, Jackson, and the warehouse deal?

[jumpiness]

[ He spreads his arms. ]

The deal where you gave him back his house key or what-freaking-ever it was. And it totally like, inspired warm fuzzy feelings in him so -

[ So Derek and his Uncle brutally gutted him and you thought he died, but then he wasn't really dead. ]

And he stopped being so lizard-y. At least in the monstrous sense.

You really don't remember any of that?

[sucking]

What the Hell are you talking about? How can I remember something that hasn't happened? [Lydia is upset, angry actually, because she hates not knowing what's going on. It's a constant with all of her friends and now there's this huge thing that Stiles is telling her and she's completely unsure of what's going on.]

They wanted me to go, to go see him, to give him something -- but I haven't gone and what do you mean he stopped being all lizard-y?

[jumpiness]

[ Stiles can see that she's angry, but he's frustrated, and he gestures to her. ]

I don't know, because it freaking happened to me? I was there and I know you were too because we crashed into Jackson.

And I mean he stopped. He was freaking human as could be and then he got what he wanted, I guess, because he definitely had the fangs and fur going on.

[ To be a werewolf. ]

[sucking]

[God, there is so much here that isn't making sense, but then does make sense. It's like all of his annoying rambling, while completely frustrating her, is filling in those blanks. Things she thinks she knew, thinks she had sorted out and now it's all sliding into these gaping holes.

No, some things don't make sense, but Jackson yelling at her, telling her that she took something from him. That's clear. That's clear as day.]

Got what he wanted. [She nods.] Right. [Less nodding, more walking away from Stiles. It's not on purpose, but she thinks better if she can keep things moving. Forward momentum is good for the mind. It motivates her. Makes her think less of what's behind her.]

No, it didn't happen for me yet. [She states it and then whips around, so if he was following her there is definitely space needed and she will shove. She has no issue with that.]

Which means whatever took us, whatever half-assed attempt at kidnapping, but dropping us into a new location where we apparently have zero actual restrictions except where the population's minority, also has the ability to interfere with timelines which is clearly mostly theoretical at this point. Not here, of course, but back where we're from.

[Why is she bothering explaining it to him like this.]

Look, what happened with Jackson? Tell me everything. [And yes. Right here. In public. Right now.]

[jumpiness]

Hey, where are you going -

[ He thinks she's walking away, and he moves to follow her. Her hair nearly whips him when she turns around and he raises his hands, takes a quick step back when she makes to shove at him. ]

Uh, yeah? That sounds like you got that part down.

[ When she demands that he tell her about Jackson, he grimaces a little, and looks around. ]

Right here? Can we at least find some place where the six-eyed dudes aren't glaring at me?

[ Because they are making a racket, after all. Even the space dock felt less skeevy. ]

[sucking]

[She wants to tell him no. She wants to stick to her ground and inform him that he needs to tell her right now. She's tired of people saying they'll explain, that they'll listen. However, she does look at their current surroundings and there are people who seem interested in what they're doing. Her shoving him probably didn't help.]

Fine. Where should we go so that you can tell me everything, Stiles?

you can skip them to zeta if you want /o/

[jumpiness]

[ He just has this sense, from her tone, that he's not going to be able to get away from explaining this to her. ]

I don't know, literally anywhere else but here? The dude with the mandibles told me to go to Zeta District, I'm pretty sure I can find that. We'll just talk - there, all right?

[ And then he pulls up his omni tool, pulls open his map and - ]

... Apparently Zeta district requires taking a shuttle.

[ He glances at her before he starts to lead the way. ]

skipping!

[sucking]

[It's possible she took that shuttle earlier. She thinks she remembers that, but either way she takes this shuttle and now they're in the Zeta District.

The entire way there she is silent. Her eyes trained onto her device, trying to learn the ins and outs of it. She needs to be adept at it and the thought that there is something that she doesn't know every feature of is her motivation.

Of course, when the shuttle stops she knows she has to follow him again.]

So, now where?

[jumpiness]

Somewhere not here.

[ It just ends with them wandering until they find an empty street - apartment complexes, but the street's empty and so Stiles finds a bench to sit on and that's good enough for him so far. ]

I don't know what you want me to tell you. [ this is ninety percent honesty, lydia. ] You gave him that key back, or whatever, and he stopped being a giant lizard, and then he was a [ he hesitates ] werewolf. You were happy, he was happy, it was very touching.

[ He is still not telling her about the part where Derek and Peter stabbed Jackson and she sobbed over his dead body. Seeing it once was enough. ]

[sucking]

[She doesn't sit she stands, towering over him as best she can with all five foot three of her.]

No. Before that. Before all of this incident that I haven't lived through. How was he lizard-y? What happened, Stiles? I was locked in Scott's house. I don't even know what all I saw, but I know that you guys were avoiding telling me. Allison wouldn't even explain any of it because she was too concerned about me telling her dad that it was Scott's house she was at.

Just tell me what they haven't been telling me.

[jumpiness]

[ Just tell me what they haven't been telling me, she says like it's really that easy. ]

Lydia, I will if you want, but you gotta listen to me, you don't wanna know. The things out there at home? They're terrifying, bloodthirsty, ruthless.

And they will come after you, once you know. There's no way that they won't.

[ That veers uncomfortably close to if you die I'll be devastated . ]

You're safer if you don't know. If you're absolutely sure you wanna know, because you can't go back... I'll tell you.

[sucking]

[She frowns, because it's admirable that he wants to keep her out of that, but she's already IN that. She's so far IN that - that she knows there's no way anything is going to keep her from it now.]

They've already come after me, Stiles. I was attacked. I wandered the woods. I have the... [She takes in a breath through parted lips before her jaw sets. It still makes her stomach twist. It still makes her hands shake. All the times she tried to get someone to talk to her. Tried to explain what she is going through.]

I can't go back, Stiles. It's too late to think that I'm something untouched by all of this. [Maybe if he knows, maybe if she tells him what's been happening -- maybe then. Maybe he'll be okay telling her the truth.]

You asked me if I know what's even going on and I told you that some of it is like a dream. [Her lips part again, lower jaw sliding forward slightly with a breath before she pulls both lips in against each other, teeth worrying at a small slip of skin before she just stands up straight, determined to just say it.]

The dreams aren't mine. Well, they are... but they're partly because of Peter Hale. The nightmares, the waking dreams, the erratic behavior in school. The cryptic writing that I can't help but write.

It's all because of him. So, I can't go back, Stiles. I'm already there. So, please... [Her eyes plead with him.] Please, just explain to me what I don't know, because I'm tired of hearing the only truth I hear coming from a dead man whispering to me in dreams.

because you know all this

[jumpiness]

[ He wants to open his mouth, to say Peter Hale wasn't doing it to get to you -

Only then she's talking more. He honestly, genuinely thought it was trauma that made her get strange, though he still had no way to explain what happened at her party.

But they dreams aren't hers. They're Peter's, who he knows is alive. He stands up because he's too surprised not to. ]

You were dreaming about Peter Hale - no, he was doing something else to you? You know he's not dead any more, that he's alive now? Did you know that?

[ He starts to come closer and then - he stops, rubbing a hand over his face and laughing. ]

It's all because of him. And me, I guess. You remember them finding Laura Hale's body? Scott and I went looking for it first. And Scott got bit by Peter. He was a werewolf, and he turned Scott into one too. Yeah, werewolves are real.

[ He lowers his shoulders and begins talking. He tells her about Peter Hale, Derek Hale, the whole Hale family - burned alive by Kate. He tells her about Allison's family, Scott, Jackson figuring out what Scott was. He tells her they killed Peter, that Derek became the alpha and bit Jackson, bit Erica, Isaac and Boyd.

He tells her what a Kanima is, what happened to Jackson, that someone was controlling him. About the murders that happened, about Gerard Argent and Allison's mother.

He stops after the incident at the police station, at the start of the championship game and a brief detail of Gerard's plan. She knows what happened after. ]

So. That's why I haven't really been able to concentrate in Chemistry.

[sucking]

[She is about to tell him that she knows he's alive, that it's because of her -- but then he cracks this laugh off and she's not sure what to think. He's closer to her and there's a hint of something in that laugh and it makes her quiet.

So she listens. Which, for Lydia Martin to stand there and just listen without color commentary - without her opinion or facts or more questions coming in - is a miracle.

Other things slide into the gaps. The fire for one... that explains a majority of why her waking nightmares were flooded with images and things she didn't really like touching. Burned skin, clumps of hair in the drain. It explains why she was drawn to the house - why she couldn't slip away from that pull of him.]

Thank you. [She feels it's important to express that she's grateful for the information, that he didn't lie or leave things out. That it is as much information as she can have from him.]

And I know he's alive. Peter. I know... because I did it. At least, I think -- it's like I was there, but I wasn't and when I try to think about it... [Her gaze fixes to his, hard and determined.] I don't like thinking about it.

Then Jackson died. He died, Stiles. And then I'm supposed to bring him something and you say that I did - that I do and that it fixes him and now he's ... now he has what he wanted. [Which, she's not even sure what it was.]

He blamed me. Jackson. Blamed me for why it wasn't working... and Peter said I was immune. [She nods.] I wish someone had talked to me. [That part is said softly, mostly to herself, because maybe it could've been stopped. Someone could've done something. Something different.]

[jumpiness]

You did it?

[ The full moon was her party, she locked them all in - he wonders if it was then, or earlier, or later. He's mostly incredulous, because he's pretty sure Peter Hale was dead, until he wasn't, after all - when Stiles saw him jam claws into Jackson. ]

I mean, how - [ But she doesn't like thinking about it so for once he shuts his mouth for a while, listens to what she says again. ]

You are. Everyone who gets bit by an alpha should - should either die or turn into one, and you didn't. Jackson's poison - it didn't paralyze you, either. [ Regretfully, ] Isaac put some on the rock candy, in Harris' class. You're immune, but I dunno what that means.

[ Her last words make guilt curl up, thick and black, inside him, and he lowers his gaze to the ground. ]

I thought it was better - that you'd be safe. Because of what had already happened.

[ It wasn't just Stiles who thought that. But he's thinking of himself right now, himself and Lydia. ]

[sucking]

The best laid plans of mice and men...

[She stands up straighter, arms crossing over her chest.]

Regardless of what happened, there's nothing we can do about it here. Which is outer space where we're the minority apparently. So, we need to find a place to stay because I am not doing the shuffling homeless person in space.

at this point we could handwave them finding the housing or not up to you~

[jumpiness]

[ She changes subject so fast he almost gets whiplash. His mouth falls open, then closed. Of course Lydia refuses to bum. ]

Hey, it could be fun!

[ But he does open up his omni tool. ]

Mandible alien told me to come here, help with repairs. I think that means we can get a place here. I mean, I hope...

[ Then Aria's voice drifts out. He listens to the post, frowns, and looks for another one - and he does. ]

O-kay. So apparently we have to worry about a protection bracket on top of finding a place to stay, but I think there's someone we can talk to around here? Hopefully.

[sucking]

[Just because she changes the subject now doesn't mean she won't be delving into the details of certain things later, but that was a huge infodump. She needs to compile and sort the information. She needs to sort things out so that she can be properly upset at how her friends ignored her own trouble for their own trouble.]

[She frowns at the word Mandible Alien, because that sounds like a lot of jaw if it's being given its name based on a sudden identifier.]

We'll just have to ask around until we find something that suffices. If they expect us to work, they should expect us to have daily needs too.


[And sure! There are a few hours of them asking and researching via their devices and following crude directions and being hissed at by some aliens and then... there is actual living space. That is slightly awkward, because Lydia now realizes that she's living with Stiles.]

Are you messy?

[jumpiness]

[ All Stiles learns is that the hissers are vorcha - and that the vorcha really, really hate humans. Oh boy.

It's pretty awkward, especially because Stiles stands there and the elation of sharing space with Lydia is offset by how the place looks nothing like his home. How his dad isn't here, and he really only has the things on his back to wear, and that they'll have to wait till one of them gets some credits (he learned that's what they're called) to buy food.

Her question is at least... an effective distraction. ]

Um. [ He looks around, fiddling with his crosse. ] I generally pick up after myself? Not that I have much to leave around right now.

[sucking]

[This is definitely the low-end of living, but she's fine with it. She can manage. There is a roof and a door and the door closes and locks. Plumbing and electricity are there (she hopes it all works properly) an that's all she needs. They'll find work (or a way home) and then they'll just take each day one at a time.]

Okay, that's good. I'm very clean and I don't like cleaning up after other people. [She doesn't want to use the phrase that she's not his mother. That's just inappropriate on so many different levels.]

We have a place to stay, we know each other - so that's good. We should figure out how to check in with each other. Just to make sure that one of us hasn't been kidnapped further or injured.

[jumpiness]

I promise you won't be cleaning up after me. Pretty used to picking up after myself.

[ That's probably a sadder thought than he needs, and he shakes it off. Missing Scott and his dad are more pertinent thoughts anyway. ]

We might end up having to share the place later, but hopefully not. As long as we're not too unlucky, anyway.

[ He purses his lips, then. ]

Maybe there's a way to send private messages over this thing? Like email? I know you had some numbers attached when you replied to my post, so maybe that's like your - contact info?