[ It's South enough, Michael thinks. Would've been, during the Civil War. ]
Roswell.
[ Which might mean something. It's not like the town ever shied away from its heritage.
It's also still weird to be talking about this. He's only done it once before. ]
We crashed in '47, but the three of us were in pods. We woke up fifty years later, three 7 year olds in the desert. Whatever happened before, I don't remember. I can't tell you where home really is, so yeah. For now, Roswell's all I got.
1947. ( Just to be specific. He's in Michael's hands and Michael is in his. They could move to the desk, or out of the office altogether, but here they stand, just talking. ) You, Max, and, is the third alien here, too? Your other sibling?
[ Michael's hands are on his waist, and Damon's still holding him back, and it's...
different, to the last time he spoke of any of this. Better, he thinks. Because he's not explaining ten years of lies, he's just explaining. ]
Isobel, is the other. And no, thank god. We woke up together, but we got separated, at the orphanage. I found them again five years later. Or they found me.
[ He shrugs, shakes his head. ]
That's all we knew for a long time. Until recently. This story gets less fun from there on out.
[ Which is fair warning. Damon might not want it all, or it might be weird enough so far. Anyway, he halts there. He'll answer questions if he has them. ]
( Depending on your definition of fun. Anyway. It wasn't then, either. Really, since being turned, Damon's story was never fun. Gruesome. Dimmed. Dangerous. But not fun.
Also, Michael, that story wasn't... all that fun. )
[ This part is trickier. He can't tell it with detachment, it's fresh. Right-before-he-came-here, fresh.
So he moves back a little, touches Damon's arm and moves to sit. ]
We thought we were. We thought no one else survived, but we were wrong. There was another pod, and the guy inside it was married to Isobel. He knew what she was. None of us knew about him. And he was...a psychopath, to put it mildly.
And there were others. They were taken, after the crash, to a prison called Caulfield. I found them the day I came here. The same day I watched them die.
[ He sits back, tense all over and trying not to be. ]
( Damon follows suit, sitting in the chair opposite Michael, staying on the same side.
The guy inside of it was married to a seven year old. No, that can't be right, he decides. Isobel. Their sister. Damon had an Isobel, too. Not like his sister. So, another pod-person had been a psychopath. )
Funny how that works.
( Being right about something in the end.
He leans forward, setting his hand on Michael's. )
[ Most of them, he hadn't spoken to. He'd felt them, but his connection had been specifically to one. To her. She was the one he'd been trying to help, and ended up sentencing her to death. ]
My mom.
[ He hasn't talked about this to anyone since he got here. Alex had known, on that first day. Michael hadn't been able to talk about it then, and he certainly hasn't shared it with anyone else.
He looks at Damon now. ]
I saw her, and I knew her. I could hear her in my head. I tried to get her out, but...
The place was rigged to blow. Alex pulled me out. I fought him, until she told me to go. It went up in a fireball. I'd been able to feel them, and then they were gone. And then I was here.
( He has his own mom story, albeit more dubious and emotionally compromising. For him, anyway. And he's not about to make this about him. No, this is Michael's big thing. Between what he's been through, all of his dad family members, one of them dead by his hand - this is something entirely different. What would it have been like to find Lily, only for her to die without learning everything else. Without knowing she'd betrayed them, left them. Given herself a new family.
Found Julian.
But, again, that's assigning Lily's shitty parenting decisions to a mother who made sure her son escaped before he exploded in a ball of flames.
His only solace might be knowing blowing up in that ball of flame might've still careened him here. )
He's aware this is a big thing to tell anyone. He hadn't come here intending to tell it, but that's where it led, anyway.
He takes a breath. ]
Yeah, she did. She's who I saw, on the ship. That was messed up, considering.
[ He looks up again, meeting Damon's eyes. ]
I don't know a lot. I know we were refugees. I know the government welcomed us as much as you might expect. Everything we know about ourselves, we've had to learn, cause there was no one to ask. We look like humans, but we aren't. We run hot. We smell like rain.
[ Which he says with a roll of his eyes, because it wasn't something he'd realised until Alex had told him. ]
But we bleed red. The powers are different for all of us. I'll tell you whatever you want to know, so long as I know it. Hiding gets old.
( Damon has a lifetime of stories like this. If this is where Michael is today, than he's here, too. For all his talk of not caring about people (and there are few he does care about), he's quickly caring more about Michael and where he came from. His staff and what their circumstances are. He's letting himself, finally.
With Michael, it's not hard.
Damon doesn't quite understand the mechanic of the ship or how it worked so differently for everyone. And he hates it all the same. )
I only need to know what you need me to. But, we're circling back to you smelling like rain.
( Has he not noticed that? Is it that he's been so busy with him, that he hasn't made the connection? ) I run hot, too, if you haven't noticed. I'm dead, but, my blood still pumps. ( Also obviously. ) Your powers are different than Max's, and Isobel's?
[ Nothing cold. No issues with breathing. Damon could easily pass for human, and had done for long enough. ]
All alien stuff smells like rain, apparently. And our powers, yeah. Isobel's psychic. And Max...
[ Well, that's complicated. Michael frowns, hesitating over how exactly to put it. Damon's a vampire, though, for all his human-like appearance. Odds are, he'll have heard weirder things than this. ]
He does shit with lights. Electromagnetism. You ever notice the power turning funky while he's in the room, odds are he has something to do with it. And something about that power lets him...control people's bodies, in a way. He can heal. And harm. And you know mine.
[ Picking locks with his brain. ]
We got a connection to each other, too. But that's the basics. Alien 101. How'd you like it?
( Some of the time. Glorified it even. But, he'd liked Buffy.
Isobel's psychic. Michael is telekinetic. And Max... )
How'd I like Alien 101? I think I'd ace it. Max has electromagnetic hands. He's heart-stopping. Literally. And heart-starting? Isobel is psychic, so, never introduce me to your sister. And, you have the active mind. ( He picks locks. ) Is it hard for you being away from Isobel and not feeling that connection?
[ He smiles, because yeah. That about covers it. ]
It is, and it's not. Cause if she were here, that'd be worse. Isobel's been through some things.
[ And honestly, it's not that she's been through them. She'd gotten past them. She's not weird about sex. She's into it and honestly kind of kinky, which Michael tries to know as little about as possible. But she could cope, he thinks, with the sex.
It's the trauma underneath. The possibility of blackouts. How she'd be affected by a place that would be sure to trigger all the upset she'd buried, especially since it's all so recently come up again. He looks down. ]
This would be a bad place for her. She's better off out of it, so I hope she doesn't follow us. Even though I know that if you could ask her, she'd want to be here with me and Max. You get that, though, right? I mean, I don't figure anyone whats to put someone they love through this place.
I get that. I wouldn't ever put this place on Elena. Or, Bonnie. Stefan's feathers would ruffle but he's resilient. ( Of everyone, Caroline could handle this place. But, if he could send Caroline back, he would. ) Isobel ends up here, you'll deal with it. I'll help. Any way I can.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2020-09-04 10:12 pm (UTC)Roswell.
[ Which might mean something. It's not like the town ever shied away from its heritage.
It's also still weird to be talking about this. He's only done it once before. ]
We crashed in '47, but the three of us were in pods. We woke up fifty years later, three 7 year olds in the desert. Whatever happened before, I don't remember. I can't tell you where home really is, so yeah. For now, Roswell's all I got.
no subject
Date: 2020-09-04 10:18 pm (UTC)1947. ( Just to be specific. He's in Michael's hands and Michael is in his. They could move to the desk, or out of the office altogether, but here they stand, just talking. ) You, Max, and, is the third alien here, too? Your other sibling?
no subject
Date: 2020-09-04 10:27 pm (UTC)Yeah. Right after the war.
[ Michael's hands are on his waist, and Damon's still holding him back, and it's...
different, to the last time he spoke of any of this. Better, he thinks. Because he's not explaining ten years of lies, he's just explaining. ]
Isobel, is the other. And no, thank god. We woke up together, but we got separated, at the orphanage. I found them again five years later. Or they found me.
[ He shrugs, shakes his head. ]
That's all we knew for a long time. Until recently. This story gets less fun from there on out.
[ Which is fair warning. Damon might not want it all, or it might be weird enough so far. Anyway, he halts there. He'll answer questions if he has them. ]
no subject
Date: 2020-09-04 10:29 pm (UTC)( Depending on your definition of fun. Anyway. It wasn't then, either. Really, since being turned, Damon's story was never fun. Gruesome. Dimmed. Dangerous. But not fun.
Also, Michael, that story wasn't... all that fun. )
no subject
Date: 2020-09-04 11:33 pm (UTC)We weren't the only ones.
[ This part is trickier. He can't tell it with detachment, it's fresh. Right-before-he-came-here, fresh.
So he moves back a little, touches Damon's arm and moves to sit. ]
We thought we were. We thought no one else survived, but we were wrong. There was another pod, and the guy inside it was married to Isobel. He knew what she was. None of us knew about him. And he was...a psychopath, to put it mildly.
And there were others. They were taken, after the crash, to a prison called Caulfield. I found them the day I came here. The same day I watched them die.
[ He sits back, tense all over and trying not to be. ]
So now there's three. We were right in the end.
no subject
Date: 2020-09-04 11:45 pm (UTC)The guy inside of it was married to a seven year old. No, that can't be right, he decides. Isobel. Their sister. Damon had an Isobel, too. Not like his sister. So, another pod-person had been a psychopath. )
Funny how that works.
( Being right about something in the end.
He leans forward, setting his hand on Michael's. )
The prisoners, they were your family?
no subject
Date: 2020-09-04 11:51 pm (UTC)My mom.
[ He hasn't talked about this to anyone since he got here. Alex had known, on that first day. Michael hadn't been able to talk about it then, and he certainly hasn't shared it with anyone else.
He looks at Damon now. ]
I saw her, and I knew her. I could hear her in my head. I tried to get her out, but...
The place was rigged to blow. Alex pulled me out. I fought him, until she told me to go. It went up in a fireball. I'd been able to feel them, and then they were gone. And then I was here.
I told you it got less fun.
no subject
Date: 2020-09-04 11:58 pm (UTC)Found Julian.
But, again, that's assigning Lily's shitty parenting decisions to a mother who made sure her son escaped before he exploded in a ball of flames.
His only solace might be knowing blowing up in that ball of flame might've still careened him here. )
She wanted you to survive.
no subject
Date: 2020-09-06 04:30 pm (UTC)He's aware this is a big thing to tell anyone. He hadn't come here intending to tell it, but that's where it led, anyway.
He takes a breath. ]
Yeah, she did. She's who I saw, on the ship. That was messed up, considering.
[ He looks up again, meeting Damon's eyes. ]
I don't know a lot. I know we were refugees. I know the government welcomed us as much as you might expect. Everything we know about ourselves, we've had to learn, cause there was no one to ask. We look like humans, but we aren't. We run hot. We smell like rain.
[ Which he says with a roll of his eyes, because it wasn't something he'd realised until Alex had told him. ]
But we bleed red. The powers are different for all of us. I'll tell you whatever you want to know, so long as I know it. Hiding gets old.
no subject
Date: 2020-09-06 04:49 pm (UTC)With Michael, it's not hard.
Damon doesn't quite understand the mechanic of the ship or how it worked so differently for everyone. And he hates it all the same. )
I only need to know what you need me to. But, we're circling back to you smelling like rain.
( Has he not noticed that? Is it that he's been so busy with him, that he hasn't made the connection? ) I run hot, too, if you haven't noticed. I'm dead, but, my blood still pumps. ( Also obviously. ) Your powers are different than Max's, and Isobel's?
no subject
Date: 2020-09-08 03:02 am (UTC)Yeah, I noticed. Buffy was a lie.
[ Nothing cold. No issues with breathing. Damon could easily pass for human, and had done for long enough. ]
All alien stuff smells like rain, apparently. And our powers, yeah. Isobel's psychic. And Max...
[ Well, that's complicated. Michael frowns, hesitating over how exactly to put it. Damon's a vampire, though, for all his human-like appearance. Odds are, he'll have heard weirder things than this. ]
He does shit with lights. Electromagnetism. You ever notice the power turning funky while he's in the room, odds are he has something to do with it. And something about that power lets him...control people's bodies, in a way. He can heal. And harm. And you know mine.
[ Picking locks with his brain. ]
We got a connection to each other, too. But that's the basics. Alien 101. How'd you like it?
no subject
Date: 2020-09-09 04:31 pm (UTC)( Some of the time. Glorified it even. But, he'd liked Buffy.
Isobel's psychic. Michael is telekinetic. And Max... )
How'd I like Alien 101? I think I'd ace it. Max has electromagnetic hands. He's heart-stopping. Literally. And heart-starting? Isobel is psychic, so, never introduce me to your sister. And, you have the active mind. ( He picks locks. ) Is it hard for you being away from Isobel and not feeling that connection?
no subject
Date: 2020-09-13 03:38 pm (UTC)It is, and it's not. Cause if she were here, that'd be worse. Isobel's been through some things.
[ And honestly, it's not that she's been through them. She'd gotten past them. She's not weird about sex. She's into it and honestly kind of kinky, which Michael tries to know as little about as possible. But she could cope, he thinks, with the sex.
It's the trauma underneath. The possibility of blackouts. How she'd be affected by a place that would be sure to trigger all the upset she'd buried, especially since it's all so recently come up again. He looks down. ]
This would be a bad place for her. She's better off out of it, so I hope she doesn't follow us. Even though I know that if you could ask her, she'd want to be here with me and Max. You get that, though, right? I mean, I don't figure anyone whats to put someone they love through this place.
no subject
Date: 2020-09-14 06:57 pm (UTC)( Like anyone that might show up for Damon. )
no subject
Date: 2020-09-18 02:39 am (UTC)I'll do the same, if it's one of yours. And I will, for the ones of yours there are already.
I would like her to meet you. Me and Max, we've had our issues, but me and Isobel? It's always been easier. She'd like you.
[ She'd approve, he thinks.