It's a Graves thing (![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} soundofwings) wrote in ![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small} doorslogs, |
Iris had barely made it to the chair in the hotel lobby when the first memory hit. She had her eyes squeezed shut, but it didn't make any difference as things appeared in bright, sharp detail. Her first thought was that something had gone very very wrong with her medication, that it was bringing on hallucinations that were even more realistic than she'd suffered in the past. But something about made her think that maybe this wasn't a hallucination at all. She came out of it with tears on her face and a hand pressed low on her stomach, where she felt a sharp ache of absence. Despite her time with Gus, she'd never actually wanted to have children of her own. But this (whatever it was), left a yearning in her that was hard to push back.
She didn't have to try for long though, as things shifted again when the second memory came. She knew this one, though not completely. He remembered waking up, finding Anton demanding cake in the middle of the night. The emotions surrounding it, though... She knew that Anton acted, put on a front for everyone including himself. But she never thought (despite everything) that she might be on the receiving end of those hidden emotions. She always thought she'd been forced into his life because he knew Orin, and that somehow that had turned into the obligation of looking after her when things inevitably went wrong. She hated the thought that she was someone's obligation, but this didn't feel like someone who felt forced to do things. She thought maybe they were going to need to talk, even if it did lead to sappiness.
Iris didn't think that there were many people in any world that could crack a safe as easily as the owner of the next memory. The mantra of "don't"s felt like she - no, not herself, the owner of the memory - trying to convince herself of the things. The names on the documents were too familiar. "Selina," she whispered into the silence of the hotel lobby. She didn't know why she was getting that memory, and she frowned as the next one came right on top of the last.
Jersey and working hard made her think of Sam, but it didn't seem quite right to be her. But close. Iris tried to relax her fingers from where they'd clenched around the arms of the chair, trying not to think of how she'd never had to work that hard. The priviledge of her adopted family.
Her tears had started to dry from the first memory, but they sprung back after the next one. Her own, not those of the owner of the memory. She wondered if she knew the owners of all the memories, since she recognized this as well. Not from being in that exact moment, but the building was familiar. 2 years worth of familiar. Trying to wipe away the tears, she fumbled for her phone, needing to talk to Louis.
She wouldn't get the chance, though, and she wondered how many more memories were going to wash over her. For a moment, the sirens seemed to be outside the hotel, but the memory solidified into another city that she knew. The smell of blood was familiar, both within the memory and without, something her mind could never let go of, and the sight of the bodies left her hands shaking and breathing unsteady. She knew that there could have been so many worse memories from Bruce, that the one she received was tame. But it still threw her off balance and made her wish for it to be the end.