Ashlyn

[undread]

Comments

[undread]

[that reaction is sort of funny; she understands a little.]

Well. Perhaps not all nice, but they care for you.

[killies]

You end up caring about anyone you're stuck with in dangerous situations like that.

[undread]

Maybe.

[but it's a little bit cute.]

What is the dangerous situation, precisely?

[killies]

Getting pulled into another dimension for seven hours each night. Full of monsters and stuff.

[undread]

Any particular reason why, or is that part a mystery?

[killies]

It's kind of still a mystery.

[undread]

...Imogen is often carried away to other places in her dreams. And things happen there that can affect the waking world. Is it similar for you?

[killies]

Kind of the opposite. If something moves in the [ sure, she'll use that phrase. ] waking world, they move in the Phantom Dimension too. But if we move something in the Phantom Dimension, the waking world version is unaffected.

Even injuries don't carry over fully. There's no physical trace of them and the pain is lessened by a lot.

[undread]

You said you felt you bore some sense of... responsibility, perhaps.

[or blame.]

[killies]

I... [ she's a little uncomfortable saying this part. she shifts her weight from one foot to the other, uncomfortably. ] I hear things, sometimes. Auditory hallucinations. Like a side effect of my sensitive hearing.

Or that's what I thought, but it's been the phantoms. And if I've been hearing them my whole life, that means there's some connection between me and that place. Like maybe I'm the one who pulled the others in.

[ she sounds uncertain about it, though, like this is just her best guess. ]

[undread]

[ah...]

It is similar to Imogen. [her hearing of other people's thoughts and emotions, her prophetic dreams, dragging them all into something dangerous.] I don't think you pulled them in. I suspect your sensitivity just made you alert in advance to something that might have otherwise been an unknown.

[killies]

[ oh. my redundancy. oh well. anyway. ]

Maybe. I don't know. They think that maybe we can open a rift between the two dimensions. And if that's the case and I opened it first...

[undread]

Would you notice, if you opened a rift?

[killies]

If it was me the first time and it was me every night since, no. I just know that we wake up there.

But... I... Did open one. On purpose. [ guess who's been compartmentalizing something for weeks. ]

[undread]

Did you? What happened when you did?

[killies]

I'm not sure. The power went out around me, and around all the others. Apparently they all sensed it, but—that's all we know.

[ which isn't. a lot. ]

[undread]

So then, if you'd been the one who'd opened it in the first place, you'd likely have noticed.

[she hmms.]

...Is this something that happened shortly before you arrival?

[killies]

Maybe. Unless there's a difference from doing it consciously and unconsciously.

[ she's not willing to dismiss the idea. ]

Yeah. It happened like... a day before we got here. I'd barely gotten to talk to my caretaker since it happened.

[undread]

...Are you worried about it?

[you seem worried about it.]

[killies]

[ a very tense nod. ]

I don't know what I did to those people. I wanted something bad to happen to them.

[undread]

Oh?

[unfortunately, she smiles a little at that, interested. but it's not cruel.]

Who were these people? What did they do to make you feel that way?

[killies]

They kidnapped us. They locked us and our parents up, and they might have been responsible for us getting caught up in the Phantom Dimension from the beginning.

And they made me kill someone.

[undread]

Then it rather sounds as though they got what they deserved.

[she's not against hurting some dangerous people.]

How is it that they made you...?

[killies]

Maybe.

[ that's how she felt in the moment at least. but thoughts like that always scare her afterwards. ]

It's complicated. But he was basically—like a zombie? Like he wasn't in his right mind anymore. All he could do was attack anything in front of him.

They said they wanted me to talk to him. And then they released his restraints. It was a matter of survival.

[undread]

[well. she's an undead, so she supposes she should stand up for zombies, but... she wouldn't fault someone for defending herself.]

Of course it was. I do think part of being a leader is being willing to protect the people relying on you, even if it's painful. You needn't feel ashamed of your instincts to defend yourself and others.