#asafehavenx

m a r i s a.

She frowns, looking at him. "Funny, I've always found the opposite to be the true. True love means that you'd be willing to walk away if it was best for them." Marisa glances over to her husband, trying to give off the impression that she was talking about him. Of course, she wasn't, but as charming as Lord Asriel was, Marisa had to keep up appearances. "But then again, someone with your reputation for dalliances might have a different experience than I would, my lord." She chuckles lightly, covering up her dig at him with her laughter. So far Marisa was enjoying his company more than most of the other gusts at this party, but she did still have to play the game they all did.

     Lyra had lost too many people in her young life to accept another loss so soon. Frantically, she shook her head, her lips silently mouthing ‘no’ again and again as her daemon approached the golden monkey with slightly less trepidation than usual. His tiny, ermine nose was twitching, hovering barely an inch from the monkey daemon’s bright fur. “A fire … yes, a fire…” she whispered, more to herself, feeling the weight of her mother’s life on her own shoulders as she scrambled to grab some dry wood from what little they had left. There was a time, not so long ago, that she might not have cared so greatly that Mrs. Coulter was injured. She might have been glad to know the world would be free from all of the atrocities she continuously committed. That was then. Now, the bond Lyra had never known was right there, hidden beneath the surface, further than she had been able to feel until now, had strengthened. Her mother had seemed different to how Lyra had thought of her since they had left Lord Asriel’s fortress together. She had made more good choices, or at the very least, better than Lyra’s father’s. As much as the girl convinced herself that she cared very little, that she remained unmoved, witnessing her strong, controlled mother in such a state shook her.

     “Is that better?” she asked, once a small fire had been lit. The young brunette was more grateful than ever for her eagerness to learn survival skills, even though she didn’t have quite the expertise of her mother, who had stunned her with her knowledge. “You’re gonna be okay. The man who shot you, I saw his daemon disappear … he can’t hurt you anymore, he’s gone.” Lyra grabbed hold of Mrs. Coulter’s hand and squeezed it tightly, forgetting all their distance. “You’re gonna be okay … aren’t you?”

“You look beautiful.” Marisol spoke, a soft expression on her face. Being here with her sister on her wedding day, and the two of them not even fighting, it didn’t seem real. Her compliment was even genuine, not forced or sarcastic. “Marisa, would it be alright if I gave a toast? I promise not to say anything embarrassing.” 

Perhaps it was par for the course as the aliens grew more active in public, now two did people assume anyone with powers were the same.  The tensions were at an all time high.  Normal people were scared, aliens were scared, the people like her were scared.  None of this was going to end well.

Luckily for Victoria, her particular gifts made it rather easy to walk down the streets without gaining the attention of the random passerby, without the new security measures reporting that she wasn’t some normal human.  It was hard to calculate what exactly she was, if she was just an evolved human or if she had some alien in her, passed down from a time the world had forgotten.  Perhaps it was better that she didn’t know.

And, despite her relative safety of her pseudo-invisibility, Victoria paused as she saw a child with blue skin be ripped from what she could only imagine was their adoptive family... or maybe the family member could camouflage, it was hard to tell.  Placing her fingers on her temple, she directed a message to the man: “the police are closing in on you.  Let the child go now, and you may walk out of here unscathed.”  Of course, the police weren’t here and, even if they were, she doubted they’d be any real help.

Once the men had released the child, her attention went to the rest of the people the men were with. “Sleep,” she sent through, and, one by one, the men fell to the ground, snores filling the scene.  The family whisked  the child away with fervour as Victoria’s hand left her temple and she turned to head on her way.

​ Caroline/Elise continuation

A wide eyed blink came from Elise as she received what she would have considered fairly personal information right out of the gate. Perhaps her own family was a little more tight lipped about these sorts of things. She winces when Caroline reminds her of her name. She’d known that. “Of course. Caroline. I knew that.” Saying it out loud was supposed to make it stick. “We moved from Vermont. Another small town, not really worthy being talked about. Dad got a job and he apparently had always wanted to move off of the farm. Hence the buying things. He feels a little bad to uproot me. It would have been nice to be there until college.” Elise gave a small smile. “But everyone has been so nice here that the adjustment hasn’t been too bad. I doubt that will last forever if any of the books about high school I’ve read are to be believed. Is there anyone I should avoid in particular? You seem to know everyone.”

She pauses and thinks about the statement for a moment. Knowing the future would certainly take away some of the fun, but it had it’s appeal as well. “You wouldn’t use it to get a winning lottery ticket?” she asked. “That at least would be a good thing out of the knowledge.”

Daisy considered the question, pursing her lips before she came to her conclusion.

“Good is relative.” She shrugged. “Would complete financial security be good? Sure, but who says something else wouldn’t happen that took it all away again?” Daisy shook her head. “No, I’m good with not knowing. Whatever’s coming is coming, no matter what.”

Myka had taken the clipboard with her share of the day’s inventory and all but fled into the depths of the Warehouse.  It didn’t feel great, but she really just didn’t know how to handle being around HG again.  Working and living side by side.  After everything that had happened it was hard to process everything she felt about the inventor.  Thinking she had lost her had nearly broken Myka, and then she’d been back and they’d solved the mystery and saved the Warehouse together and she’d been elated.  But now time had passed, and the routines from that short time they’d worked together before her betrayal kept trying to creep back in.  It scared her, how little control she had over her own feelings around Helena, so she retreated from her.

She’s glad of that. She wants a moment to absorb this new and unfamiliar world, and she tilts her face towards the sun with a small smile lingering about her lips.