InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Hello, Mon Capitane!"

Alice Shaw (goodnightalice) wrote in colligo_threads,
@ 2009-10-05 21:24:00

Entry tags:

!open, angela petrelli, noah bennet

WHO: Alice Shaw, Noah Bennet, Angela Petrelli, and Noah Gray
WHAT: Arriving in Colligo.
WHEN: Not long after this.
WHERE: The Grand Library
RATING: TBD
STATUS: In Progress
NOTES: As usual, this is pretty tl;dr. However, the main thing to be aware of is that, as per Alice's ability, it is now storming something fierce.

For three years, Alice had avoided anything even remotely resembling civilization. No people, no towns, no cars, nothing. She stayed in, and as close to, her bunker as much as was possible and only ventured out for food and various other supplies, or when the cabin fever became too much to bear. Even then, she always traveled under a cloud of sand or thunderstorms. Safely cocooned within an ability that had cost so many lives before, secure in the knowledge that as long as she remained in Coyote Sands she would be safe from the world and the world would also be safe from her.

It never occurred to her that Angela was coming back for her. She assumed her sister was dead by this point. Oh, granted, she held out the faint hope that she had survived. Angela's prophetic dreams might have forewarned her and Alice certainly hoped that was the case. However the more time that passed, the more convinced she became that her sister was as dead as their parents. It was a sorrowful thought and, on the nights when it became too much to bear, the local weather always reported random thunderstorms that raged across the barren wasteland of the desert.

Still, for all of the sorrow that came with her new life, Alice did have moments of happiness. Peace. Tranquility. She could change the blistering heat into snow and could make it rain when her water supply ran low. She could stay up as late as she wanted and sleep all day if she so chose, and while she knew that eventually her lack of education would catch up with her, she was still grateful enough not to have to go to school daily that the thought of such things didn't weigh her down.

Yes, her life was relatively happy... and then it all changed.

She went to sleep in her bunker. She woke up somewhere else entirely. Books upon books surrounded her but she didn't see a single one that had any words. Nor did she see the guards until they had whisked her off of her feet. She shrieked, she kicked, she felt panic swell within her, but the calm interior of the library never changed to reflect those emotions. In fact, she had started to wonder if they had done something to make her ability go away forever. Until the doors opened and revealed outside.

The skies were already turning gray and streaks of lightning were slicing their way across the dark, thick clouds that were heavy with rain. Thunder rumbled ominously in the distance and made a loud clap nearby as the girl was unceremoniously dumped on the ground. She made a slight "oomph" sound before scrambling away from the guards. A device was tossed at her when she spun back toward them, the vicious skyline behind her painting a deadly picture of a girl on the verge of losing complete control.

Alice caught the unknown thing without thinking but didn't take her gaze away from the guards. Instead she willed the anger and fear forward and watched as two bolts of lightning seemed to come from nowhere and head toward the two retreating figures. They fell short, however, and the guards were inside the library with the door closed before Alice could comprehend the fact that she'd missed. Only, she never missed.

Blinking, the girl felt her anger melt away as uncertainty washed over her. "Oh," she breathed out loud, glancing down at the eletronic something in her hands. "Oh... my. I can't be here." She looked back to the doors, eyes wide in absolute fright. "Please!" she called out, rushing to them and banging upon them with her empty fist. "I have to go back. It isn't safe! I must go back!"

There was no answer, though, and something told her there wouldn't be one anytime soon. So without a clue as to where she was, or how she'd come to be there, or how to return to the only place in the world where she still felt safe, the girl slowly turned away from the door and slid down to the ground. Her knees went to her chest and she hugged them tightly.

Within seconds, her own tears were mirrored by the rain that had begun to fall from the skies above.

(Read comments) - (Post a new comment)

thecompanyman
2009-10-06 02:12 am UTC (link)

This was familiar. Noah remembered another storm like this. It had been a few months ago, early on in their stay in Colligo. Noah was the kind of guy who noticed things like that. It was what made him an invaluable part of the Company. He saw things and, more importantly, he made connections. He grabbed his jacket and headed toward the library without an explanation, tucking his PDA into his pocket.

She looked different than last time. A few years older. But the terror was the same. And there was something there that just made it painfully obvious that this was Alice Shaw. He could see bits of Angela in her features, even in the pouring rain, and he took a seat next to her, not wanting to startle her. "You shouldn't stay out in the rain, Alice," he said gently, but loud enough to be heard over the rain. "You're liable to get sick."

He held up his hands so she could see that he wasn't a thread. "I'm Noah," he said. "I'm a friend of your sister, Angela...you call her Banana, right? Do you want me to take you to see her?"

(Reply to this) (Thread)

goodnightalice
2009-10-06 02:22 am UTC (link)

Alice's first instinct was to run. Well, actually, her first instinct was to rain lightning bolts down upon the man who had sat beside her and then run. After all, he knew her name. And the only people alive who would still know her name were the government. She didn't like the government, didn't trust the government, and saw nothing wrong with killing one of them if it meant her own survival.

She likely would have, too, if the man hadn't said something else. A name she hadn't heard spoken by someone else in three years. A name she could scarcely think of without wanting to cry from the loss she felt in her heart.

Banana.

Alice's tears stopped from the shock of hearing the nickname she'd bestowed upon her big sister at a very tender age. Surprise, coupled with suspicion, was etched upon her face as she studied the man who had said it. She didn't move, didn't dare call off the storm still raging around them, but she did blink... then spoke to someone else for the first time since she'd seen her parents murdered what felt like so very long ago.

"Am I dead?"

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

thecompanyman
2009-10-06 04:40 pm UTC (link)

He hadn't expected that question, but it made sense. Alice had probably been alone for a few years now, and of course she would assume Angela was dead. It only made sense to a girl who had been alone so long.

Noah rested a hand lightly on her shoulder and gave her a small, reassuring smile. "No," he assured her. "You're not dead, Alice. And Angela is here. She's been looking for you for a long time." A minor lie, but he'd seen what happened when Alice was told the truth, and he didn't want to risk it.

"Would you like to go and see her?" he asked. "I can take you to where she's staying, or get her to come here. Whichever you prefer." He sighed. "I need to explain some things. First...this place is complicated. We don't know how we get here, and we haven't figured out how to leave this city." He'd get to the rest once she was calmed down.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

goodnightalice
2009-10-07 04:06 am UTC (link)

Alice tensed. The last person who had touched her had been her father. Right before the guards had shot him. Trembling a bit at the memory, she tightened her grip around her legs and tried listening to his words rather than lose herself in the memories that assaulted her.

Wait. Angela was... here? But how? Where was here? These questions, and so many more, flooded the girl's mind once Noah's words registered. Her brow furrowed, gaze wary and laced with suspicion and no small amount of confusion as she studied him. What did he mean, they didn't know how to leave?

"I'd... like to go see her, please," she finally spoke, voice hesitant and quiet. Contemplative. If this was a trick - which Alice knew it might very well be - she'd do better if she wasn't near a building that she could all but flatten with gale-force winds. There was a much smaller chance of her harming herself in an effort to get away if they were moving, out in the open.

And if it wasn't a trick... well, Alice didn't dare let her hopes get too high. She wasn't sure her heart could survive anymore breaking. Although almost as a sign of good faith, or perhaps a subconscious act born from an overwhelming desire that he was telling the truth, Alice glanced toward the storm clouds that surrounded them and willed the weather to once again return to the bright, peaceful calm it had been before her arrival.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

thecompanyman
2009-10-15 06:48 pm UTC (link)

"All right," Noah said, getting to his feet and holding his hand out to help her up. He smiled as the skies cleared and nodded at Alice. "We'll go and see Angela right away. You have a very good control over your ability, you know. It's impressive, for someone as young as you are." It was a simple compliment, not something to think about too much. Noah had been fond of Alice the first time around, and this teenager didn't seem so different from the younger girl before.

"Before you see Angela," he said gently, as they walked in the direction of Angela's apartment, "there's something you need to understand." He held out his PDA to show her the date. "It's currently October 5, 2009. People get brought to this place, none of us are sure how, and we've not figured out how to leave. It isn't a bad place, really, but nobody likes being kept somewhere...especially a place that isn't Earth. And people get brought from different times and places. You're from 1964, at my best guess, but Angela is from 2007. She's quite a bit older than you remember her, but she's still your sister, and she's missed you. She spent a long time thinking you were dead."

He sighed. "I know this sounds completely crazy," he said, "but I promise you, I'm not lying. If you look at the sky at night, there are two moons, and we have a clairvoyant here who will attest to the fact that we aren't on Earth."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

goodnightalice
2009-10-16 01:21 am UTC (link)

"It scares me," Alice admitted quietly, voice little more than a whisper, as she allowed him to help her to her feet. Her clothing - a long skirt that was still covered in the dirt-crusted sand from the place she'd been calling home the past few years - and a blouse that was a little too big for her - made her feel somewhat embarrassed now that she had calmed down enough to realize what she was wearing. She had shoes on, thank goodness, and of course no socks, but out of the entire ensemble the shoes were the only thing that looked halfway decent. And that was only because Alice had been given them by a kind old woman who hailed from a nearby town. She had gotten lost in a random storm that wasn't Alice's fault, and Alice had helped her find the road again. As thanks, she'd been given shoes that actually fit properly.

Her thoughts flickered from her appearance, to what the man beside her was saying, with a bit of a start as his words finally registered. "That's..." She wanted to say impossible, but she knew that very little was truly impossible. Improbable, yes. But not really impossible.

So instead she did the math as best she could in her head and murmured, "It's been over forty years. I-"

There was a gust of wind that picked up, causing her skirt to twist around her legs, and the teenager wrapped her arms around her midsection as she dropped her gaze to the ground and her thoughts inward rather than burden the veritable stranger beside her with them.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

thecompanyman
2009-10-16 01:50 am UTC (link)

"I understand," Noah said. "My daughter, Claire...she's just a little older than you, can heal. Anything that happens to her...she heals from it, and she doesn't feel pain...and it scares her sometimes too." He smiled slightly. "But it gets better...easier. Your power is connected to your emotions, more than most peoples'. You can learn to control your emotions better, and eventually make it so that they don't affect your ability so strongly."

He glanced over at Alice, glad she was taking it well. "You want to say it's impossible, don't you?" he asked with a smile. "I know it's hard to believe, but it's true. And Angela may be forty years older, but she's still your sister, and I know she's missed you."

"What's on your mind?" he asked, looking over at her. "You can tell me. I'm a good listener."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

reapwhatwesow
2009-10-16 02:07 am UTC (link)

Wrapping her coat tighter around herself, Angela raised a hand to shield her eyes against the wind that just whipped up, pressing forward from the apartment complex and towards the library where the clouds were hanging low and had gathered together into a tight cluster, knotted like thick nerves gathering on edge. At least the cloud burst had eased off, for now, and that made it easier to get through the area.

As she was closing the distance towards the library, a familiar figure of Noah stood out against the landscape, but Angela's vision shifted almost instantly to the younger woman standing next to the older man. Her heart seized in her chest as she glanced over at the younger Noah, her hand reaching out and lightly grasping his for support as she tried to force the anxiety that was flooding her system to ebb away.

Alice would have every reason to hate her. Every reason. But she couldn't turn back now. Even as much as she wanted to.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

sonofsylar
2009-10-16 05:09 am UTC (link)

Noah gave Angela's hand a gentle squeeze as he tried to offer as much support as he could. He didn't imagine for one minute that this was easy for her. He didn't imagine it was going to be easy for Alice, either. However, when push came to shove, Noah's concern was for the woman beside him rather than the teenager that he didn't even know, so it was on her that he was focused even if his gaze was on the duo they were approaching.

The sight of Noah Bennet both helped put him at ease and set him on edge at the same time. He didn't really know the man, more knew of him, and the things he'd been told painted such a picture that he felt downright insignificant whenever Bennet was near. Yet Noah refused to dwell on any of that at the moment. He was paying attention instead to the weather around them, the teenager responsible, and the woman who was, for all intents and purposes, his grandmother.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

goodnightalice
2009-10-16 05:18 am UTC (link)

Alice wasn't about to tell Noah what she was thinking. It wasn't that he hadn't been perfectly nice to her. He had. However, she didn't know him and she didn't trust him. Really, she didn't trust anyone, so it wasn't a personal thing. It was just... the way it was. The last people she'd trusted - the government - had betrayed her in a terrible, tragic way. She wasn't going to make that mistake again.

So instead of confiding in him, she simply shook her head. "I... I can't do this." She stopped walking then, the winds picking up as tears stung her eyes. Her gaze was focused on the ground; she watched as small bits of dirt at her feet were swirled around and around from the ever-increasing winds. Alice found herself wishing she was back in Coyote Sands. Back in the desert she knew so well. The place that had become home to her over the past few years.

She didn't like it here. She didn't want to be here. And she certainly didn't want to see her sister forty years older than she remembered her. Not when she was still young and they wouldn't have a thing in common. Not when she'd promised she'd stay put and simply by being here, clearly hadn't.

"I have to go," Alice finally gasped out, gaze snapping up. There was clear panic in her eyes. A sort of silent terror that she couldn't explain but that was prompting her to get out of there, get away, and do it fast. "I have to-"

It was as she was turning toward Noah that she saw them. A boy who looked about her age and a woman who was significantly older yet still familiar. Instantly Alice knew who it was and a whimper escaped her lips at the sight of her sister for the first time in three years.

"NO!" she shrieked. The wind gave a loud roar and all but lifted her off of her feet as she turned, blindly running back in the direction of the library. Debris stung her eyes and her skirt flapped wildly around her legs, stinging and biting at her ankles, but she didn't care. Alice couldn't stay here. It wasn't safe and it wasn't home.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

reapwhatwesow
2009-10-16 06:12 am UTC (link)

No. No. No! Angela's hand gripped onto Noah's hand tighter, fear flooding into her as she tried to see through the debris that was being whipped up by the storm. She had to get to Alice, but at the same time, she didn't want to lose either Noah in the rush of the storm. Stumbling through the blindness, Angela's snagged Bennet's hand as well.

"What did you say to her?!" Angela shouted through the rush of the wind before her gaze shifted to try and catch sight of her through all of this before glancing back at Noah.

It was all up to him now. And she had faith that he would do what he had to do for as long as he needed to.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

sonofsylar
2009-10-16 06:23 am UTC (link)

Well. This was going about as well as a head-on collision with a train, wasn't it? They hadn't even gotten a chance to speak with Alice and already the wind was roaring so loudly that Noah half-feared he might go deaf. He felt Angela squeeze his hand and heard her words to Bennet. However, his gaze was trained on the vague, slight outline of the quickly retreating teen.

He knew he had to time this right. He couldn't afford to make a mistake. Too far away and he'd only get a bit of her ability but too close and it would double back on him and probably knock him unconscious, if this sudden windstorm was even a glimpse of what she was truly capable of doing.

So when he thought she was far enough that he could stop her ability without harming himself too much, Noah glanced briefly at Angela and Bennet and offered a small, determined semi-smirk. Then he released her hand, stepped away from both of them, and focused everything he had within him on Alice.

Several things happened at once. The wind stopped. The debris all crashed back down around them. Alice froze in her tracks and spun toward them with a horrified expression on her face. And Noah...

Well Noah was knocked backwards and over, nothing but a car parked along the side of the street keeping him from going right out into traffic.

He held onto her ability, though, despite the pain that shot up his spine and the agony that burst from behind his eyes as what felt like a literal storm began to rage within him. He slid to the ground, knees bent and hands fisted at his side, as he tried to get control over the backlash that was assaulting him. Thunder boomed overhead, a random bolt of lightning struck a nearby tree, and then everything went completely still.

Noah slowly climbed back to his feet, the echo from Alice's ability having dissipated and the pain from his fall having eased to little more than a dull throb. His head still ached fiercely but it was an acceptable side effect if it meant keeping Alice from destroying the city in a fit of panic.

"I think we have her attention now," he finally said, voice tinged with a dark sort of humor as he looked back to the two adults present.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

thecompanyman
2009-10-27 05:47 pm UTC (link)

"I'm sorry," Noah said sincerely. "I didn't mean to overwhelm you. I just thought that you deserved a little honesty." He sighed in frustration, with himself not her. "Please don't go, Alice, we need to go see Angela." But apparently Angela had found them. And seeing her caused Alice to freak out. That hadn't happened last time. Shit.

"It wasn't what I said," Noah insisted, gripping her hand tightly but not overly so. "I just explained this place to her. Seeing you...it must have startled her." He could understand why. "She wasn't prepared for it. I told her you were older, but seeing it is different from being informed about it."

He watched as Noah handled the situation, feeling impressed by the boy's control. Yes, he was overwhelmed by it, but anyone would be by an ability so powerful. And Noah was handling it better than most would at his age. He saw what others might not, that the last bits of the storm came from the boy rather than Alice, and he filed the information away for later. He moved over to Noah, checking to make sure he was alright, then nodded his agreement. "So it would seem."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

goodnightalice
2009-10-30 05:24 am UTC (link)

Her ability was gone. Just like that, the only protection she'd had for the past three years had stopped working. Now she was alone, vulnerable, and wholly incapable of defending herself if necessary.

Alice didn't know what was going on but whatever it was, she didn't like it. Not even a little bit.

"What did you do?!?"

The words were spoken before she'd even realized it. Taking a few steps closer, her gaze flickering between the three present, she blinked rapidly to ward off the tears as her attention at long last settled on her sister. Noah hadn't been kidding when he'd said that time had passed. Angela looked far too old, in Alice's mind.

But it was still her. That was what mattered. She was still her Banana, no matter how old she might look. And while Alice's heart ached to rush to her sister and embrace her in a tight hug, another part of her kept her rooted to the spot, wary and on obvious edge.

"I don't understand," she spoke again, her voice a bit more calm despite the trembling in her limbs. She stared at her sister, willing the only familiar face in the group to help her. "I just want to go back."

(Reply to this) (Parent)

(Read comments) -