InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "I smell apples."

Roxanna Fielding (bang_a_drum) wrote in nevermore_logs,
@ 2014-10-20 00:14:00

Current mood:	sore
Entry tags:	hermes, jameson kemp, lena rainmayr, roxanna fielding, saint anthony, thomas kemp

Who: Roxanna, Hermes, Jamie, Thomas, Lena, token appearance by Anthony
What: Please take me home
When: Backdated to Thursday, the 16th
Where: Kemp duplex, abandoned warehouse, hospital
Warnings: Kidnapping and the aftermath, violence, drugs, language, god-smashing, TBD

It had been over a week now since Jamie had last seen Roxanna, and he was starting to go out of his mind. He'd talked to the police every day for almost a week, and had finally gotten the polite version of 'don't call us, we'll call you'. It had been after that that he'd begged Anthony's number off Lena and called him, explaining the situation. Anthony had turned up within the hour, map of the city in tow, and set up camp in the dining room.

Jamie took to pacing around the house, wearing tracks in the carpet as the cats watched. "You'll make yourself dizzy," Anthony remarked, not looking up from his map. "Please, Jamie, sit down before you fall down."

Jamie threw himself into one of the empty chairs, letting his forehead smack gently against the table. "I just feel so useless," he muttered against the tabletop. "I wish I could do something to help."

"From what I'm given to understand, you've been at the police station every day for the past five," Anthony countered. "You've called her friends. You called me. You have done everything it is within your power to do. Adding guilt to yourself helps nothing."

"You clearly don't know me at all," Jamie joked dryly, and Anthony smiled faintly. "I think Catholic guilt trumps everything else. Well, Franciscan, but then we're getting into theology and various sects, and I'm almost positive you don't care."

"I'll care all day once she comes home," Jamie sighed. Anthony finally looked up, offering him a steadfast, solid gaze. "I have faith," he told Jamie. "All will be well. It wouldn't even work if she wasn't still alive."

Halfway across the city, Roxanna was definitely still technically alive, but certainly not well. She was underfed, dehydrated, and exhausted. She stank, there were shadows under her eyes, and she'd gained a new feature: track marks on the inside of her elbow. Her captors had taken to dosing her with drugs to keep her quiet, and while they did their job very effectively, they also gave her nightmares. If she awoke with them still in her system, those nightmares tended to bleed into the waking world.

She'd lost track of how much time had passed. She'd long ago stopped hoping that someone would come to her rescue. Now...now she was just waiting to die.

(Read comments) - (Post a new comment)

bang_a_drum
2014-10-28 12:34 pm UTC (link)

Jamie fell to the floor, driven down by the combined weight of Lena and his father. He heard the sharp, wet crack of Tony's neck breaking, then the heavy thump of the body hitting the floor.

"Lena, be-" Jamie knew she wouldn't hear the rest of it. "Careful. Love you too."

As the door burst open, Roxanna curled in on herself, fulling expecting another shot to be the last sound she ever heard. She chanced a look through her tangled hair, and saw, not her captors, but...Lena? And Julia?

"That's not right," she muttered in German, because she'd always associate that tongue with Lena. "It's never you in the dreams, it's always them. It's always bad. So you can't really be here, and I'm going to wake up in a second, alone and hungry and waiting to die." She leaned her head against the wall and closed her eyes, because as far as she was convinced, it didn't matter anymore.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

sat_by_the_fire
2014-10-28 12:39 pm UTC (link)

Thomas kept his arms wrapped around Jamie for longer than necessary while Hermes literally cut through the men who had taken Roxanna. He didn't want Jamie to actually see people dying in front of him. He was shaking all over, refusing to move an inch from residual fear and horror at the sounds of death coming from the middle of the room. "Don't listen," he whispered to his son. "Plug your ears, Jamie, okay? Just plug your ears, kiddo."

Lena reached for Roxanna's face while Julia went to work picking the locks. Her father had taught her well, after all.

"I'm really here," Lena assured Roxanna. "It's really me, mein schatz. You're not going to die, honey. Julia's picking the locks and then we're taking you out of here. Oh god, I'm so glad to see you. You need some water?"

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

bang_a_drum
2014-10-28 12:45 pm UTC (link)

Jamie was all too happy to do as he was told, but he knew he'd hear the crack-thump-flop in his nightmares for weeks afterward. He stuck his fingers in his ears, burying his face in his father's chest.

When the first shackle fell off her wrist, it still didn't seem real. Roxanna rotated her wrist in all directions, marveling at the feeling of being able to do so, without metal cutting into her skin. As soon as the other one was off, she buried her face in Lena's shoulder and sobbed, mostly from relief. "Please," she finally rasped out. "Please take me home."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

asterismos
2014-10-28 12:50 pm UTC (link)

Thomas kind of wished he could block his ears, but no way in hell he was letting go of his son. He just clung and shook and waited for Hermes to finish his massacre.

Lena retrieved a water bottle, handing it over to Roxanna so she could drink before they tried to lift her. "Here. Try to go slow, but I know it's hard okay? We should take you to a hospital, babe."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

bang_a_drum
2014-10-28 01:06 pm UTC (link)

Jamie's nerves felt stretched tighter than guitar strings, and even when the sounds started to abate, he still didn't look up. And he wouldn't, not until his dad gave him the OK.

Roxanna did her best not to snatch it, and took probably a bigger mouthful than she should have. It made her cough and splutter, but it tasted better than she ever remembered water tasting before. She forced herself to swallow, then take a much smaller sip.

"They'll drug me too," she finally said. "Make me sleep, make me feel better. Fucking needles. I can see how people could get a phobia." She coughed again, and it hurt her chest by the time she was done. "On the other hand, the last thing I need is fucking pneumonia..."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

sat_by_the_fire
2014-10-28 01:14 pm UTC (link)

Thomas watched until the carnage stopped and Hermes wiped his hands on his trousers. "Okay, come on," Thomas whispered to Jamie, pulling his son's hands gently away from his ears. "Just keep your eyes closed, okay? Don't look, Jamie. I've got you." And he made to lead Jamie out of the main room and towards Roxanna.

Lena stared at the marks she hadn't noticed on Roxanna's arms. "Those fuckers," she hissed. "We'll tell the hospital they aren't allowed to put anything in your body unless they explain it to you and you give your permission," she growled. "I'll tell them."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

bang_a_drum
2014-10-28 08:01 pm UTC (link)

Jamie pushed himself up off the floor, still without opening his eyes. He trusted his father to lead him away, and he didn't open his eyes again til he heard Lena's voice. Roxanna looked terrible, paler than usual, haggard and worn down. She was clutching Julia's hand like she'd float away if she let go, her head resting on Lena's shoulder.

"I could do that," she said. "They kept telling me it was to help me sleep. What they meant was, to shut me up. I kept fighting them, I kept trying to get away. So they just gave me more. And I slept more, and I had more nightmares."

She finally noticed her father standing with Jamie and Thomas, and she lifted her chin to address him. "You're a psychopomp, right?" she asked in soft, halting Greek. "That's one of your duties. Can you do something for that shade?" She pointed to the silent ghost that had been her only companion for the past week and a half. "It never left, I think it was some sort of...early warning system, like they have for tidal waves. And now its watch has ended. Don't you think?"

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	sat_by_the_fire 2014-10-29 04:49 am UTC (link)
	"Christ," Lena hissed as she wrapped Roxanna in the blanket she'd brought for her. A ghost? Shit. Hermes just nodded and turned to the shade. They both disappeared a moment later and Thomas' eyes widened in horror. "Er...okay then. We- We should go then." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

bang_a_drum
2014-10-29 05:50 am UTC (link)

Despite everything that had happened to her, Roxanna still managed a weak laugh. "Yeah, I'm not sure how many of you knew, but-I see dead people. They don't generally talk, or approach me, but I know they're there, and vice versa. It stood watch over me the whole time."

"Can you stand?" Jamie asked, wrapping her in her hoodie, then tucking the blanket back over her.

"One or two of you will probably have to help me," she said, voice very small. "I don't know if my legs will hold my weight."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	asterismos 2014-11-02 01:38 pm UTC (link)
	Thomas immediately moved to help her up, able to support her weight. "We've got you," he promised her. Lena was glancing around the room, obviously kind of creeped out about the shade. "I'll help you too. Getting away from the haunted room sounds like a good idea." (Reply to this) (Parent)

(Read comments) -