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Tweak says, "Your face is gone!"

ashley magnus is more badass than you (choseherside) wrote in colligo_threads,
@ 2011-03-27 13:20:00

Entry tags:

ashley magnus, john druitt

WHO: Ashley Magnus and John Druitt
WHAT: Father/daughter bonding.
WHEN: Early afternoon
WHERE: Apartment #109A.
RATING: TBD
STATUS: In Progress

Already, since her arrival in Colligo, Ashley had managed to pick a fight with a guy that had attacked her father, get her ass kicked by some blond chick, and learned that apparently she'd been in the city before. She had also learned that, at any given moment, she could lose her abilities to some unsuspecting schmuck and that crazy things like that tended to happen all the time. She had discovered that she had definitely died back home, but death didn't apply in this place, and apparently life really did go on for everyone - her mother included - even when she wasn't around for it. That one wasn't such a shock, really, as much as it was the part of her that was accustomed to being the center of her mom's world and realizing that death had changed that forever.

Needless to say, it had been quite an adventure thus far and that was only in the first twenty-four hours.

The signs of the fight she'd been in had long since faded by the time afternoon on her second day rolled around. Actually, the signs had faded within a few moments of getting the injuries, really, but that was beside the point. The point was, the only way anyone would ever find out what had happened was if someone spilled the beans. She was pretty sure Dean himself would stay quiet, at least. It was possible, of course, but she hoped that the little blond that had stuck up for Dean Winchester wouldn't decide to do any different. Not that it mattered very much. Ashley was a fully grown woman and wasn't the slightest bit ashamed at what she'd done. Dean Winchester had attacked her father for the dumbest reason ever. If he didn't want any reciprocation, he should have used his common sense instead of a knife. Or, at least, that was how she looked at it whenever she bothered spending some time dwelling on the subject. For the most part since having had lunch, Ashley had spent her time on her balcony simply enjoying the nice weather.

Being on the first floor, she didn't have any of the thrill she normally got from perching on the ledge of something. However she was able to sit comfortably on the railing and let her feet dangle over the edge, allowing her thoughts to wander. She had a feeling she'd be seeing everyone she knew from back home soon enough and raised her cup of tea (not normally her favourite but she missed her mom and it helped) to her lips, taking a thoughtful sip as she idly wondered when they were going to finally start showing up.

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exquisiterush
2011-03-27 07:42 pm UTC (link)

John honestly wasn't certain what to say to Ashley. On the one hand, he understood her motivations for attacking Dean and he could hardly fault her. On the other, he was tired of all this violence. It would never end if people kept retaliating. Besides, Dean had powerful friends, and he had no desire to see his daughter hurt. And on top of everything, there was the fact that Ashley barely knew him. While they had become close the last time she was here, she didn't remember that and most memories she did have of him weren't exactly fond. The fact that she had attacked Dean over what had happened to him didn't necessarily mean she wanted to have the same sort of father-daughter relationship they'd had before. Without Helen here, he wasn't even sure rebuilding that sort of connection was even possible.

But perhaps he was overthinking things. After all, he was hardly the killer he had once been, and if anyone could understand Ashley's difficulties controlling her bloodlust, it was someone who had once had similar difficulties. Besides, no matter what else existed between them, she was his daughter and he loved her. In the end, that had to count for something. And anyway, none of it would matter if he kept fretting and never actually went to see her.

After debating about it, he finally came into her apartment and walked over to where she was sitting, standing next to her and resting his good arm on the railing. "Hello, Ashley," he said calmly, looking out at the city. "How are you settling in, my dear?" Yes there were other, arguably more important things to discuss, but it it hardly seemed right not to at least check up on her before moving on to such things. And anyway, he cared for her far more than he did for Dean Winchester. The man had tried to kill him, after all. And he could see so much of Helen in Ashley.

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choseherside
2011-03-27 09:54 pm UTC (link)

Ashley had heard someone enter her apartment. She realized within a few seconds that it was Druitt and, although that kept her from reaching for her gun, she was hardly fully relaxed. She could tell there was something off about the man, something different than she remembered in their previous encounters. She didn't know what it was, though, and the not knowing only served to put her a bit on edge. Of course, when it came to her father, on edge was pretty much the norm. They didn't exactly have the greatest of working relationships what with him trying to kill her, then kidnap her, then showing up all willy-nilly any time he darn well felt like it.

Still. They were both stuck in the city, her mother wasn't around, and Ashley really didn't see any point in carrying over the hostilities simply for the sake of it. So while her tone wasn't exactly warm and inviting, it wasn't quite as hardened or sarcastic as she tended to be where Druitt was concerned.

"About as well as can be expected, I guess," she answered simply, with a slight shrug of her shoulders. Kicking her feet idly, she peered up at the sky for a minute before glancing over to the man beside her. She tried not to take note of the clearly still damaged arm. She tried very hard not to think about the fact that the man responsible was still breathing. She tried to think about much of anything else, really.

And came up lacking each and every time.

Finally, not sure what else to say, she turned her attention back to the scenery. "A part of me keeps expecting this to be some whacked out dream courtesy of the drugs the Cabal pumped into me," she admitted. "I'm going to wake up back there again, trapped inside my own head."

She didn't look at him, wasn't sure she could continue if she did. But she had to say it to someone because having the worry rolling around inside her head was going to drive her nuts.

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exquisiterush
2011-03-28 03:54 am UTC (link)

It was certainly uncomfortable, being around someone with whom he had been close but who didn't have memories of that. Still, she was his daughter and he would be happy even to have her hating him if it meant she was here and alive. And this sort of awkwardness was better than outright dislike, in fact it was somewhat friendlier than he was used to from her, though he still wasn't quite sure how to talk to her. But he supposed he had never really been the type of person who knew how to talk to young women, even ones related to him.

He wanted to put his hand on her shoulder, or hug her, or something to reassure her that she was all right, but he doubted it would help much coming from him. Honestly, he was floundering with what was and wasn't allowed and he was certain both James and Nikola would mock him horribly if they knew just how overwhelmed he was by the prospect of interacting with a twenty-three year old girl. Nigel too, now that he thought about it.

"It is a lot to take in," he agreed, "but you'll manage. You're your mother's daughter, and you've always been good at adapting to strange situations. Just like she always did." Talking about Helen made him feel a surge of heartache and loneliness, as it always did, but it was a little less. Maybe one day, in another century or so, he wouldn't even miss her. But probably not.

"This is not a dream," he assured her, "however it might seem like the product of one's imagination at times. Would I be here if it were? I was under the impression one dreamed about good things." His smile was self-deprecating. "You are free here, whatever that means. I do not pretend to understand what happened to you, or to know whether or not you're completely free of it, but I want you to know that I am here for whatever you need." Whether she took him up on the offer remained to be seen, but he had made it at the very least.

"I should tell you," he said, "that I am not the same man you remember. I know that I have done horrible things, and I would not ask for your forgiveness, but I want you to know that I have changed. That is firmly in my past. You may believe that or not, whichever you choose, and I will respect that...but I promise you it is the truth." He sighed. "The man I was would not have allowed someone who threatened him to live. But then...the man I was would have been a greater danger to this city than Mr. Winchester ever was."

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choseherside
2011-03-28 04:21 am UTC (link)

You're your mother's daughter.

Ashley had heard those words before in her life, many times in fact. Sometimes they were said fondly, other times with great annoyance. Rarely did she believe them and found it especially difficult to do so now. Yes, she could adapt to strange situations, but she didn't have near the grace or poise that her mom did and highly doubted her mother's transition in the city would have resulted in being tossed off a roof.

Granted that was mostly because anyone with enough nerve to even try would be drinking out of a straw for the rest of their life, if they were lucky, by the time her mom's team was through with them, but that was beside the point. The point was, Ashley didn't feel very much like her mom at the moment. In fact, she wasn't all that sure how she really felt at all, about much of anything.

She did know, though, that this conversation was definitely a lot more awkward than any conversation had the right to be. She felt a bit ridiculous, really, that she couldn't just talk to the man who was responsible for half of her genetics. However she couldn't help it. She didn't know him and what she did know about him wasn't very positive. Sure he claimed he'd changed and she very much wanted to believe that he had but it was hard to trust someone who had so easily tried to kill her simply to prolong his own existence.

And yes, she felt a bit like a hypocrite considering she knew for a fact how easy it was to lose control even when you desperately didn't want to. But Ashley also never claimed to be perfect and wasn't about to start now. Instead she opted to answer him, hoping verbally communicating might help with the rest of it. Or, at the very least, take her mind off of everything else. Not sure what to address first, she finally went for the least personal thing he'd mentioned.

"Winchester is a joke," she muttered, gaze dropping briefly to her lap. She clenched and unclenched her previously broken fist rhythmically, not even realizing she was doing so. She felt a slight twinge of something, not quite guilt but maybe close, at having gone after the man while knowing the one beside her didn't want it, but she shoved the feeling aside and returned her attention to the courtyard just a few feet beyond and below her balcony.

"So this change you say you've gone through, how did that happen?" she questioned, glancing over at him. "You're a little old to be having a mid-life crisis."

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exquisiterush
2011-03-28 05:33 am UTC (link)

Whatever she might think, Ashley was remarkably like her mother had been in her youth. Granted she had more violent tendencies, which he attributed to his own influence, but she was just as strong-willed as Helen had always been, and he saw the same irrepressible fire in her that he'd seen in her mother when they had first met. Those days seemed so long ago now, perhaps because more than a century had passed since that time, but it was more than that. He was a different person now, they all were, and there was no way to reclaim the innocence and idealism they'd once had.

"He seemed serious enough when he was trying to kill me," he said dryly, then frowned. "I suppose I really ought to scold you or something...for going after him like you did. But I've never been much good at it, and I can't really say I like the man so...just never tell me what happened? That seems like a fair compromise. Really, I'm just tired of all the violence. If everyone keeps seeking revenge, it will never end."

When she asked what happened, he managed a small smile. "A man can't have a mid...bicentennial crisis without getting questions about it?" he asked in a light tone. Then his expression turned serious once more. "As you remember, I had my bloodlust under control after Nikola, for lack of a kinder term, tortured me," he said. "After you died...I chose to take down the heads of the Cabal. All that killing...I lost control again. Your mother killed me...temporarily, then resuscitated me. That was when we found out there was an abnormal living inside me."

He sighed. "It was basically an energy creature," he explained. "As you have undoubtedly realised by now, our bodies convert to energy when we teleport. At some point, when I was teleporting, the creature somehow...tagged along, I suppose. It was...malicious, merciless and lived to cause violence. Sound familiar?" He gave a rueful smile. "I could have got rid of it back home, but it was causing too much destruction. So...I took it back." He looked away from her. "And then, when I was here, I met someone who could remove it safely. I was hardly going to turn the opportunity down."

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choseherside
2011-03-28 07:05 am UTC (link)

Ashley blinked. Then she blinked again. By the third blink, she realized she should probably actually say something. Unfortunately, most of what she had just been told was either hard to believe or so surprising that she wasn't sure what to make of it.

For starters, if that was his idea of scolding her for going after Winchester, he really had a lot to learn. Not that she was complaining. She was a grown woman who could make her own decisions and did not need permission to take someone down. Which was all well and good to claim, but they both knew if her mom were there that would not be the case even in the slightest and Ashley couldn't help but feel a small bit of gratitude that Druitt hadn't tried to step into that role in her mother's stead. She wasn't quite ready to go from homicidal maniac with some semblance of control to Father of the Year. But she was all for the deal that they just never speak of it again.

Then, of course, came the bit about why he he was no longer a homicidal maniac with some semblance of control. Ashley had heard of a lot of things in her day - and she did mean a lot - but she was pretty sure she'd never before heard of something like that. Not that she knew of every abnormal to exist. That was a claim no one could truly make. However his tale was still an awfully big pill to swallow.

"So, let me get this straight," she finally said, starting out slowly as though trying to come to terms with the idea in her mind. Which she was. "You had some kind of freaky chest monster and that's why you tried to feed me to a giant lizard?"

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exquisiterush
2011-03-30 07:08 pm UTC (link)

John gave a low chuckle at her reaction. He knew it was a rather unbelievable story. If he hadn't lived it, he wasn't sure he would have believed it himself. But it was true. His thoughts turned solemn as he remembered the lengths to which he had gone to deal with the creature inside him, the numb, drugged state that had become his norm before the abnormal was removed. He felt another swell of gratitude toward Crowley for removing it, and he knew he would forever owe a debt of loyalty to the demon who had done more for him than anyone else.

"When you put it that way," he said with a small smile, "it sounds a bit ridiculous, but I swear to you it's true. I won't lie and say I am completely without violent urges or bloodlust - some habits are learned, and I had over a century to learn those - but I no longer feel that compulsion to hurt people...to kill them." He sighed. "James and Nikola have both said that I'm much more like I was before the serum, a fact for which I am quite grateful."

He was quiet for a moment, and he looked over at her as he spoke again. "I want to get to know you," he said softly, "properly this time. Without...kidnapping or mortal peril, as it were. I feel I've been dreadfully remiss as your father. That isn't to say I want to parent you...even if you weren't too old for that to really apply, that has always been your mother's purview. I simply wish to be a part of your life...if that is what you want."

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