[Toxic] Ring ring, says the phone.
Ring ring, says the baby.
No, Mommy says, baby says hello. Phone says ring ring.
Baby says ring ring
Phone says ring ring.
Mommy says-
"Winters."
[Trouble] Baby says ring ring.
Phone says ring ring.
Mommy says Winters.
Emily says, "Ashton?" Pause. "It's Emily. Do you have a moment?"
She sounds tired, the sort of tired that comes not just from burning the candle at both ends -- and not that many days ago, she was not this tired, despite a midnight meeting and managing Marcelle -- but also from a weight that has yet to fully settle. She is soul-weary and cannot keep it out of her voice, this Apprentice, this Apprentice who lies like she breathes, who can conceal without thinking, who is close-kept and cagey.
Something has happened.
[Toxic] There is silence.
It always begins with that, and it is strange because, on the phone, one can not tell the temperature changes. The phone is silent, but there is still a person there. The person is breathing. The overtired one in the back is quiet, because she knows that it is cold. She knows what muscle cues say. She's aware of these things.
"What's wrong?"
Ashton is also aware of these things. Acutely so. Very, very much so. It nags at her conscience, nags at her in a way too early. Apprentices and tension and being tired. She knows this sound.
[Trouble] One end of the line gets very, very still. Goes frozen, frigid, cold. Emily cannot feel it, but she can hear it. The Apprentice is more attuned than she seems, more Aware than maybe she ought to be at a scant seven months Awake.
It is mid-Summer morning. And this Apprentice is calling, soul-weary and early.
What's wrong? The words knock her silent for a moment, catch her by surprise. Like a rebuff. Like coming home too late to find her father waiting in the doorway. She tenses, then exhales heavily. It sounds like a sigh.
"Everyone's okay," she starts, because that sort of query requires an opening statement that doesn't breed chaos and fear. "More or less. For now. I mean --" She fails at not breeding chaos and fear, by the way, when she's down on her willpower and faultering for words.
"I just... I wanted to take you up on that offer. To teach me to shoot? I had to, last night, and I don't -- I --" She swallows hard, and schools herself. Pulls things back together. She's talking to Ashton-fucking-Winters, not her friend or cabalmate. "Next time I have to shoot someone, I want to know I can before I even pick up the gun."
There. Out of her mouth. It came out, clearly, in English, in words. It's just that simple, really, and Ashton will say Oh and leave it at that. Surely. Somewhere, the Apprentice rests her hand on the wall, leans in to rest her forehead against it too. There will be questions, she knows, and it will go something like this:
Who?
What?
When?
Where?
Why?
How?
What the fuck were you thinking?
[Toxic] There is silence, still.
"I don't keep regular hours," she says.
There is more silence.
"If you don't mind working on my schedule, we should be fine," she says. She is listening definitely listening, but she's conducting herself in a manner that says I've done this before. For lifetimes. She's done this so many times she doesn't know what to do with herself sometimes. Ashton listens, and conducts herself with cold confidence. She'll teach someone.
"Does anyone need help right now? Are you okay?"
She doesn't ask the progressive questions... it's... offsettling. One knows they'll come, though. Emily's had enough experience with mothers.
[Trouble] Ashton is steady; she's cool as ice. It makes it easier for Emily to be steady, to school her thoughts into something akin to order. It makes it easier to breathe, there, with her head resting against the wall of her apartment, with her eyes closed and one palm pressed against the wall.
"I don't mind," she says: resolute (unrelenting).
"Physically? Everyone's stable," she says. "All of us are stable," she corrects. There's hardly a pause before she adds in more detail; Ashton doesn't have to ask. "We had some charms that Israel made; I did what I could for the rest." She's got rudimentary first aid skills, but Ashton knows there's not much more to it than that.
"Father Ward too the worst of it," she says, calmly, so calmly. It's a preternatural calm, a forced thing, the quiet before a storm. She's level, because there's nothing else to be just now. "Ashley, too. I just took her home, but I think she's okay. Owen and Nathan got shot, too -- I can't tell how bad anyone is, beyond the obvious wounds."
I'm new at this, and I don't know what to do.
[Toxic] "Emily?"
[Trouble] "...Yes?"
[Toxic] "Are... you... okay?"
[Trouble] "I didn't get shot. I'm fine."
[Toxic] "I didn't ask if you were injured, I asked if you were okay."
[Trouble] There's a long pause.
"... I'll be fine," she says. It's almost convincing.
[Toxic] "When?"
[Trouble] "When?" Confusion.
When would she be fine?
"I... I don't know. Soon?" Yes, soon sounds like a good answer.
[Toxic] "Emily, I'm not putting a gun in your hands until you are okay. If I'm going to teach you anything, it'll have to happen when you've put yourself back together. I can help you with that, or you can do it on your own. So, I'm going to ask you again: what happened? And are you okay?"
[Trouble] ((Willpower? *covers eyes, can't watch*))
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 9 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Trouble] She was starting to come undone, just then. It was coming, the crash that would put in her a heap on the floor, sobbing for a long while. But something pulls her back. It's the clarity in Ashton's voice, or the firmity of an Elder asking for specifics, for assurances.
The Apprentices takes a moment, regroups.
"There's a Demon. He's possessing people, using them to attack us. A while back he possessed a woman in the park, made her drown her daughter and attack her son -- Owen found the girl in the fountain; he saved the boy in time.
"Last night, it was three people, and they were Awakened. And there were a room full of innocents that He used as bait. There's more going on, but this is what happened: it came to gunfighting. It was... all a tumult. I shot someone, Ashton. I killed her."
There's a longer pause, here. Heavy.
"I'm not okay with that. I don't know how long it will take. I'm not okay with watching people I care about get hurt and not being able to help, and I'm not okay with ending a life of a stranger. I've barely done worse than yell at anyone in years..."
Her voice trails off. It's less steady now. But Ashton has her answers. She can hear Emily's breathing on the other end of the line. The girl is still there; not crying yet.
[Toxic] [oh fuck, what would Dot say?]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 2, 3, 8 (Success x 2 at target 8) [WP]
[Toxic] [okay, let's make with the talking? maybe?]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 7 (Botch x 1 at target 8)
[Toxic] She is a pillar of something,
because she is.
She has lived, and is aware. She listens, and the woman is so calm and collected, to the point of seeming almost detached. This had to seem like an odd image from the other end. Who knew what her daughter was thinking. Ashton was silent, and she waited.
"Good," she finally says.
Good?!
GOOD?!
"I'm coming over. Where are you?"
... Sometimes, doing what Dorothy Morgan would do is not always the best idea.
[Trouble] GOOD?!?!
Deep breath, Emily. She means good you're not a heartless sonofabitch yet.
Yet?!?!
Calm the fuck down, girl.
"H-home," she says, stammers it out because she's surprised. "I'm at my flat." Another small pause. "Do you need the address?"
[Toxic] "An address would be preferable," she says. She covers the receiver.
"Marcy, find your shoes.... no, Marcy, shoes.... Shoes.... Yes... where's your bag? Marcy? Marcy where's your bag, go find your bag.... Go! Go find your bag!"
[Trouble] Emily gives Ashton her address, warns her about the downstairs door (just push it open [it doesn't lock] keeps out nothing but the wind), and the lift that wouldn't go. She looks about her apartment, the empty expanses and the still-cooling coffee pot, Owen's rocking chair and the jacket thrown over her dining room chair.
"I'll.... see you soon then?"
[Toxic] "Make some tea," she says, "it'll help. I'll see you soon."
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