watch_dogs / wynonna earp } { i been lost somewhere between heaven and hell

[stupetballs]

[The fog has been rolling in for weeks now. Curling up out of the trees, messing with people's minds, and while Waverly and Wynonna did go through a stretch of forgetting things, there's also things that she remembered too.

Things from somewhere else.

Things from Hell.

She doesn't know if Wynonna remembers, and she doesn't want to ask. She doesn't want to think that if for some reason she doesn't, her question is the thing that triggers the deluge of memories of the pain and suffering they spent there. So she keeps it to herself, toiling away with Jeremy and regular cases and hoping that one day, she'll be able to put it all behind them.

They get a call one day, about someone having been found in the fog. It's unsure how much of an affect it's had on him, but Jeremy manages to divert him back to Shorty's so they can get a better look at him. He doesn't have any ID, any phone, and he's definitely not one of the locals. But the moment they place him on the pool table to get a better look, Waverly almost drops the bottle of whiskey in her hand.]

Oh my god, Aiden.

Comments

[the_vigilante]

And we don't know if I still count as either.

[has he mentioned he's not particularly hopeful this all isn't going to backfire on him somehow now?]

[that in mind, he sighs, before:] You got a car somewhere?

[best to get this over with]

[stupetballs]

Yep. Jeep's out front.

[And with that they will pile into Waverly's bright red Jeep and drive out to the outskirts of the Ghost River Triangle. It doesn't take them long for the town buildings to fall away - after that everything else is the woods shrouded in fog and the flat, empty midwestern plains of Montanda.]

[the_vigilante]

[as they slow to a stop, Aiden gets out of the car. he takes a moment, looking around, and then with a glance back at her to make sure he's headed in the right direction, he starts forward, headed out of the Triangle]

[for a few seconds, it seems like everything's going to be alright, minus him looking a little silly, hand coming up like a man fumbling for a wall in the dark -- and really, that's sort of what's going on here, him expecting to hit some kind of physical barrier. for a few seconds, it seems like he's alright, and then he reaches not a wall but an invisible curtain of sorts. it makes the tips of his fingers tingle, then his hand cramp, then more, his nails twisting into the same long, black claws he had in Hell, rapid fire. he cries out then, snapping his hand back, and the pain starts to recede, the claws along with it, albeit much more slowly than they sprouted from his fingertips]

[still, it's not long before he's whole again, human again]

[still, that's not good]

Shit.

[stupetballs]

Are you okay?

[Like, physically speaking. She walks over to examine his hand gently, making sure that all the problems have faded.]

That is ... not good.

[the_vigilante]

[physically, he looks okay again, now -- though there's a tingling in his fingertips and a weight in his chest that are harder to shake]

Wynonna's not gonna be happy.

[he's understandably more worried about getting shot in the head than the fact that he apparently can't leave, right now]

[stupetballs]

She'll get over it. She has demon friends; she's not allowed to judge.

[A beat.]

Not that you're a demon. At least ... not in the Triangle.

[Now she looks more curious.]

That's not a normal demon reaction. Usually it's a lot more burning flesh and smoking not-quite-dead corpses.

[the_vigilante]

[he huffs out a humorless breath of a laugh]

Guess I should be glad I'm not on fire, then.

[that is a really, really cold comfort, right now, though]

[stupetballs]

Yeah.

[But also, agreed. She makes a face as she studies the invisible line between demon Aiden and normal Aiden.]

I'll have to do some research. Too bad the Iron Witch cut out of town.

[But hey, a problem to focus on. She loves having one of those.]

[the_vigilante]

[Aiden sighs and mutters an apology, feeling a little like he's being a dick]

[it's understandable maybe, though. much as he was expecting something terrible to happen when he crossed the border, there was also something like hope there. no one hopes for something bad to happen, after all, and maybe, just maybe, since everything looked like it was normal, it would be. so much for that idea, and the idea that he's safe so long as he stays put really isn't helping. he's still the monster he fears]

[he'll try and get over that. again]

[he'll at least change the subject]

Who's the Iron Witch?

[stupetballs]

The Iron Witch used to be the local white witch of Purgatory. It used to be the local blacksmith, who was very cool, but she died in a witch fight. Then her sister inherited the title and got pissed about how her sister died and decided to take it out on Wynonna, but we worked that all out and she skipped town to go build a new life for herself.

[She sighs.]

She probably wouldn't come back just because I asked.

[the_vigilante]

Gonna guess getting her in a Nudle Meet wouldn't help.

[he's going to be real confused when she tells him Nudle is Google here]

[but anyway]

[if they could at least get her on a video call, maybe they'd be able to bait her into coming back using him as the bait. shouldn't -- whatever the hell's going on with him be enough to pique her magical curiosity?]

[stupetballs]

[Yep, confusion incoming when she turns to him and frowns:]

Is that a restaurant?

[It sounds like a restaurant. Because she totally heard Nudle as "Noodle."]

[the_vigilante]

[he blinks, confused now, himself]

It's a video chat app.

[stupetballs]

[Blink ... blink ...]

Oh, like Google Meet?

[They did not talk about computers enough in Hell.]

[the_vigilante]

[ ... ]

What the Hell is Google?

[stupetballs]

It's a search engine? It's like, the search engine.

[She pauses, pulling up her phone and opening the search engine in the browser.]

When you want to find something out, here they say to Google it?

[the_vigilante]

[Aiden takes out his phone, too, almost reflexively, and if he had any doubts as to whether or not his experience in Hell was real, there's a lot of software from there still on it. it also has all of his usual toolkit on it, too, for all that he merged both devices onto one, his, shortly after arriving in Hell in the first place, but that's beside the point]

[what is the point is that he leans over her phone, briefly -- ] Huh. [ -- and then holds out his, so she can see all the Nudle software on his apps page. obviously, Nudle is his Chicago's version of Google]

Weird.

[he should have made that logical leap in the first place, but look, it's been kind of a long day]

[stupetballs]

Well, if there were ever any proof that you're definitely not from this universe.

[This would be it. But, now that they're somewhat speaking the same language:]

Let me text her and see if she's willing to talk. Unfortunately with all the angels dead, she may be the closest thing we have to an expert on why the Ghost River Triangle does what it does.

[the_vigilante]

[Aiden hums. can't hurt to try, at least]

[though, in the meantime] What're we gonna tell your sister?

[stupetballs]

I dunno.

[The "I" portion of that sentence drags out a bit, almost as though she was hoping the plan might spring to mind the longer she held it. Then she sighs.]

Maybe I should quit waiting for her to remember and just come clean about Hell.

[the_vigilante]

Think she'd buy it?

[not that there's much to buy. it's just a lot to dump on someone, even if they both know it to be true]

[stupetballs]

I think we've been through crazier things. If you're going to be sticking around a while, you'll learn that Purgatory likes to defy the rules of expectation.

[Meaning there's always crazy happening.]

She'll be worried, and she'll still give you a hard time until she gets bored. But she won't shoot you.

[the_vigilante]

Which's the important part.

[he's going to hate Wynonna just -- not knowing him. he'll live with it, though. he'll probably be a hard ass right back at her, but he'll live]

[for now, he folds his arms over his chest]

Think we should wait here for her? Or head back into town?

[and immediately come right back]

[stupetballs]

No, we shouldn't give her an opportunity to kick you through it.

[Not that she thinks Wynonna would. But still better to limit her options.]

She's going through an overprotective phase.

[the_vigilante]

[he snorts]

Phase?

[from what he knew of Wynonna, she was protective, period]