Flight 1-2
The door to the basement closed and Sarah squeezed her eyes shut, focusing on calming her short, sharp gasps into longer, normal, even breaths.
Not Coil's base. Single room. Small. Dusty window. Dusty air. Not Coil's base.
It wasn't helping. She felt blood trickling between her fingers as she clenched her hands tighter and tried to breathe. It wasn't helping. The shudders that ran up and down her back and nearly sent her tumbling down the short staircase certainly didn't make it easier.
"Okay, alright this obviously isn't going to work. Come on, just step back. Again. Again. There we go. Can you open your eyes? We're not on the basement landing anymore."
Wants to help. Will be an ally.
Sarah's fists carefully relaxed and she winced as her nails slipped out of the skin of her palms. The girl - Taylor - frowned and took her hand in her own. "Are you okay with bathrooms? I should disinfect this. I'd like to get you a shower too, but my dad is asleep and that would definitely wake him up. He's a heavy sleeper, but not that heavy. Plus," she sighed, looking at her watch, "it took us longer to get back here than I thought. Are you okay with waiting a few hours until morning? He usually leaves around 6."
Sarah winced. It had been getting harder to walk the further they got. She was shaking too much. She needed her liquid wonder.
No. No, she didn't. She was fine. She was fine. She was fine.
"I mean, if you really want one right now, that's fine. I'll just have to stay in the room with you and when my dad asks, I can make something up."
Realizing what her wince had been interpreted as, Sarah tried to smile though she knew it still came out more of a grimace than anything else. Instead, she held up a hand in an okay sign coupled with a small shake of her head. Taylor nodded back and led her to the stairs.
"If you're sure…Okay, well let's at least get your hands cleaned up. The main bathroom is up here." Sarah was proud that she only had to lean on Taylor once as they got to the top of the stairs. "Right through here. Are you going to be okay for a minute? I need to go grab a book. I'll be right back."
Sarah flashed a thumbs up and Taylor left her alone. Forcing the shivers to stop, Sarah was able to place her hands under the faucet and scrub them mostly clean. She found the hydrogen peroxide under the sink and was wiping away the stinging fizz over her cuts by the time that Taylor returned.
"Oh, you already got the disinfectant. Okay, that's good." She reached for Sarah's hands and leaned down to inspect them, nodding once and smiling at Sarah as she let go. "Can't be too careful. What do you want for bandaids? We have Yoda, Hello Kitty, Hello Levi - I seriously don't get how anyone could have thought that Leviathan could be made to be cute - oh we also have Alexandria, and Legend too."
Sarah thought for a moment and held up five fingers.
"Legend it is."
Once her cuts were seen too, Taylor sat down on the toilet and brought out the book that she had taken up. Sarah frowned as she saw the title. 1001 Baby Names. She lifted her eyebrow as Taylor caught her staring.
"I can't just keep referring to you as 'hey you'. I get that you can't talk. So I can either go get some paper for you to write your name down or, if this is easier, you can just point out your name." She paused, biting her lip. "Um, you can read…right?"
Sarah gave a weak laugh, trying to ignore the shiver that ran up her back at the idea of getting a pen and pad. If she started with that, it was just a hop skip and a jump to talking and once she opened her mouth it would all be over. She wouldn't be able to stop. She knew herself well enough to know that. If she started she would keep going. So she just couldn't start.
Her parents had never been nice, but they had been family. Once they knew what she could do, they had shown who they really were. And Sarah hadn't survived the experience - not intact.
Once Master had found out what she could do…Lisa hadn't survived that either. Sarah clenched her teeth and let air hiss through her teeth.
Taylor was helping now. Taylor was nice. Taylor was friendly. Taylor wasn't going to use her for her power. She was fine.
Sarah wouldn't give the other girl a chance to find out how useful she could be anyway. She was fine.
Sarah reached for the book and flipped through the pages until she hit the S's. She paused as her finger hovered over her name; her brows creasing as she chewed her lip. Lisa had died a fiery death, that much was clear. Did she want to go back to Sarah? Was Sarah just as dead as Lisa?
"Something really bad happened, didn't it?" Taylor's soft voice was almost a caress on her skin. Sarah looked up. It was hard to see Taylor for some reason.
[̴̩̍H̵̛̖̮o̴̰̕ṣ̴̨̋̈ṱ̵̍'̵̪̙̓̒s̵̛̫̱̆]̶̧̂ eyes are coated in watery film. [̷͚͌H̷̩̍o̸̥͒s̸̪̊t̵͝ͅ]̷̛̥ crying. [̷͚͌H̷̩̍o̸̥͒s̸̪̊t̵͝ͅ]̷̛̥ emotional response brought on by unexpected empathy. Taylor will help. Taylor is ally.
Taylor laid her hand over Sarah's, her smile gentle, her touch just as soothing. "Do…do you want me to…choose a new one for you?"
She shut her eyes, letting out a long, silent breath and nodded. Let Sarah die. It was better this way.
"Okay. So, bad things happened so we need a strong name. A survivor, someone who beats the odds and keeps going." Taylor tapped the cover of the book. She didn't need to open her eyes to know that Taylor was frowning down at the cover. "Hmm, a few options I can think of right away. First off, Jo, or Josephine. Like from Little Women. She bucked the normal trends for women of the time period, she was a writer, she didn't marry the person she was 'supposed' to, she was as close to a tomboy as the people of that period could get…"
She bit her lip, then shook her head once.
Taylor grunted. "Okay, yeah, it is a bit old fashioned. My mom was a literary professor so…yeah. How about Lara? Like from the video games about that tomb raider woman? I don't really play games, but my dad was a fan and he used to tell me about how she dual wielded two guns and got to leap around everything and show everyone else who was boss. I think she fought a dinosaur too."
She snorted, though quickly shook her head again.
Taylor chuckled. "Yeah, probably not the best fit, huh. Okay, um, oh, how about Nancy? Like for Nancy Drew. She was a big contender for best detective besides the Hardy Boys and was a huge progressive figure for girls who were just starting to read and wanted a strong figure to look up to and emulate. I mean, you know, as long as they didn't go trying to hunt down killers and chase ghosts into swamps and stuff but…well other than that she was a great role model."
Nancy. A detective. She had wanted to be a detective once upon a time. It might as well have been in another life now, but…She clasped her hands and forced a half smile, nodding.
Taylor smiled back, her face lighting up and she dropped the book onto the countertop. "Nancy it is. So, Nancy, if you want to freshen up a bit, I can go make a quick plate of sandwiches. Remember, no shower, but anything else in here is good to go. Except the hairdryer. That would wake Dad up too. I'll get an air mattress set up for you in my room too. Since the basement isn't going to work, that should be okay and it'll keep Dad from seeing you hanging out on the couch when he leaves. I could probably get away with saying you were a friend sleeping over, but he'd ask at least a few questions, and…"
No recent photos downstairs. Taylor unsure of Father's state. Taylor's Father not present in her life. Changed recently. Possibly won't question presence in house. Eventually will ask. Taylor unable to deflect or defuse questions - not confident speaker. Will ask direct questions. Will refuse continued housing when questions rebuffed.
Nancy gulped, squeezing her hands tighter to stop the shaking. She'd have to provide some sort of answers or Taylor's dad would call someone before kicking her out. She wouldn't let them contact anyone else. She couldn't. Master - no, Sarah had a Master, not Nancy - Coil would find out. She nodded. Forcing herself to peel her right hand off of her left, she lifted it and formed a thumbs up.
"You know I'd feel a lot more confident about leaving you alone up here if your hand wasn't shaking like a leaf…"
Nancy scowled at her hand. Stupid hand, betraying her nerves. She shook her head, trying to clear the cobwebs out. This was just in her head. None of it was physical yet. She didn't have to worry about physical effects for at least another -
Twenty seven minutes, nine seconds.
- hour or two. And even then, she'd just have to tie herself to the bed or something for a day or two. If she could get over the worst of the withdrawal, then she would be fine. She would be fine.
Coil had broken and killed Lisa. Master had tamed Sarah.
But Nancy was free. Nancy was free, and she'd never be a slave again.
