ash borden

Wyatt looked contemplative as he glanced back down at the loaf, breaking off another piece with a considering noise. He tried to discern what game Ash was playing, unwilling to accept his claim at face-value. “Are you breaking up with me?” he asked, tone unchanged. They’d been down this road several times over, with each retread losing its potency. Though that didn’t mean Ash was any less serious, it did increase Wyatt’s tolerance each time, like a fix he couldn’t seem to stop chasing. 

“Not a single thing you’ve just said it true. You only say things to be mean,” he said airily. He plucked up his gift and tossed it into the trash bin behind him without bothering to check if it contained what Ash said it did. While a map and key would be immensely helpful for his escape, he had no interest in using either if the result ended up cleaving them in two. “Thank you for your present, but a gift card would’ve sufficed.”

Ash breathed a sigh, feeling as unheard as usual when it came to Wyatt. While it was true that he usually did say things just to be mean, there were also a lot of times when Wyatt had misunderstood him as trying to be mean because they communicated on different wavelengths.

“You can’t break up with someone you aren’t dating.” He stated flatly, his temper flashing as Wyatt tossed his gift into the trash bin. “You’re such an idiot, Wyatt. I’m not leaving here with you, and you want to leave. So just go.”

Unaffected by Ash’s response, Wyatt raised his brows at the foil-wrapped block offered to him. It smelled undeniably like bread and sugar, and he peeled it open to confirm his suspicions. “Did you bake a nail file in here for me?” he asked, breaking off a piece and popping it in his mouth. “How thoughtful. But how will it get us both out of here?” He didn’t even entertain the idea of leaving Belmont without Ash, which seemed like an entirely worthless endeavor. They’d be right back where they started, with Wyatt pounding down the walls to try to get to him.

“It’s a map of the power grid and a master key to the admin that was tough to find, so don’t lose it.” Ash planted his elbows on the table, laying his arms across it and leaning over them. 

“Wyatt, I don’t want to leave. I want you to leave because you want to. If you haven’t had a bad enough time in this place it’s by no fault of mine. So, please, just listen to me for once. If you try to take me with you I will sell you out as many times as it takes, and I’m not going to help you out of here a second time. I’m not saying this to be mean, I'm just trying to get us what we both want.”

“Is it syphilis?” Wyatt asked blandly, still a little miffed about the whole Will situation. Nevertheless, he couldn’t deny that he was excited about the prospect of a gift from Ash. It was rare for the man to find a reason to seek him out for a purpose other than to make Wyatt’s life miserable, so he was pleasantly (if not pettily) looking forward to some form of atonement. It was a wild and likely impossible hope, but he’d always been attracted to Ash’s ability to surprise him (usually for the worst).

Wyatt placed his uneaten brownie in front of the other and held his hands out expectantly, beaming despite his earlier greeting. “Show me.”

Ash paused, glancing up at Wyatt with a withering stare. “It can be, if you want it to be.” He stated blandly, placing a small wrapped loaf of bread on the table in front of him. “I know you want to get out of here,” He slid the loaf across the table towards Wyatt. “And I want you to go.”

Ash entered the cafeteria and made a beeline for Wyatt, possessing the ability to immediately pick Wyatt out of any crowd. He sat down across from him, hesitating momentarily before he opened his mouth.

“Please don’t make me regret this.” He requested, already knowing that Wyatt would. “I got you something.”

I’d use you as a lightning rod.

Fuck Wyatt - Seriously, fuck that guy.

Marry Will - Same great flavor at lower prices.

Kill Bailey - He’s a grown man with a tramp stamp bigger than his brain.

Fuck Bash - I could live with that.Marry Kendall - We’d both have to live with that.Kill Bailey - He won’t, but I can live with it.

Fuck Tommie, because it’d be equally unpleasant for us both. Marry Kendall, because it’d be equally unpleasant for us both. Kill Marissa, because why the hell not.

DRtask04

She almost stuck out her foot to trip him. Almost.

“Well aren’t you pleasant as always.” She rolled her eyes. “Don’t you have more important things to do than harass the detainees?“ 

Ash tossed the packaging from his lunch into a nearby trash can, shrugging lightly.

“I’m not harassing anyone. Just stating facts.” He glanced her way, his eyes narrowing slightly. As far as he knew, Marissa wasn’t even one of ‘them’. “Why do you care, anyway?”

“He’s just joking.” Romeo fell into step beside Ash before he could get himself pummeled. “He has a really shitty sense of humor,” he explained and nudged the other further down the path and away from the glaring students. “And no survival instincts,” he muttered under his breath, more for Ash’s benefit than theirs.

“Stop poking the bears. You’re like that mouse that keeps hitting the pleasure button instead of the food button.” That is, if the pleasure button happened to dole out torture to others. He shot a curious look at the man, brows raised. “What’s got you in such a mood?” Granted, Ash was rarely not in a bad mood, but he seemed particularly persnickety today. 

Ash glanced sidelong at Romeo, his lips twitching into the smallest of smiles as the other tried to make excuses for him. “I wish.” He admitted, suffering a lifelong drought of allowing himself to exist under pleasurable conditions. 

“I’m not in a mood.” He grumbled, waving off the other’s accusation that he was. “Why, are you defending them?”

Most of the commotion, somehow she’d managed to miss. Whispers had gone around the place, but when she locked herself in your office to try and finish up some much needed-to-be finished projects, getting lost in the work was inevitable. At least some of it got done. Except for the locational work.

Locational work had included fixing some cameras and wiring in the administration offices. It was something she somehow needed to do every other week, at this point it was almost comical. “You know you look like you could use some sun.” She’d commented as she backtracked to the offices to hold the door open, seeing him coming. “Maybe stand out there for a good five minutes. Vitamin D’s good for ya.”

Ash snorted around a mouthful of pizza. “Sun exposure also gives you cancer.” He was surprised when she held the door for him, more accustomed to people slamming them in his face whenever possible. 

He passed her by, giving her a critical once-over. “And between the two of us, I’d say you’re the one who probably needs more D.”

Look, Tommie hadn’t gotten her powers back. It was a bummer, but she was over it. Clearly some spooky shit had been going on, and she was determined to figure it out. Granted she was no scientist but with her sources on the outside and the information she could glean from within there ought to be some kind of reasonable conclusion available. Maybe it was time to start bugging staff rooms.

She snorted out a laugh at Ash’s snide comment. “It’s your kind of power too.” She reminded him, one eyebrow arched. “They wouldn’t allow you to be ‘running loose’ any more than they would the rest of us.”

Ash shot her a look, stuffing the last of his lunch into his mouth like he wasn’t on his third meal of the day already. “I have my papers.” He stated it matter-of-factly but it was still obviously a flex. “The only thing keeping me here is myself, which is more than the rest of you can say.”

Fear of losing control

Ash’s greatest fear is of losing control. Press his buttons, take away his control, and you will see his mask slip, and the meltdown occur. He needs to feel that he has control over everything and everyone. This has been a strong theme throughout his life. His aggressive dissociation from his family, his manipulative relationship with Wyatt, and his decision to stay at Belmont are all ways that he seeks to stay in control of himself and his situation.

He squinted against the glaring sun as he reluctantly emerged from the staff building, stress-eating a second lunch as he walked towards the administration offices. “You guys really trashed the place, huh.” He commented to a couple of detainees as he passed them by. “And you wonder why they don’t want you running loose with that kind of power.” He muttered more to himself.