[reverse darkest timeline AU: cellthread #2]

[stilljustandrew]

[Previously: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

What's worried Baby the most, over the past few days --

Well. What's upset her the most is Andrew's consistent refusal to speak to her mind-to-mind, or out loud beyond the few necessary words she might exchange with any other inmate, such as requests for food, fresh clothes, an extra blanket.

But what's worried her is that he hasn't asked for anything to pass the time. No tablet with games or videos on it, no pencil and paper, no baseball to bounce off the opposite wall.

No books.



In the cell, Andrew finishes his breakfast (cornflakes, with sliced banana), sets aside the bowl, and settles down leaning against the wall.

Comments

[forewarned_is]

Kali moves down the center corridor at a slow, purposeful glide, looking into each open-fronted cell. Her heels make no noise against the floor; this is not an occasion on which she wants her presence heralded.

Outside Andrew's cell, she slows further, and stops to study him.

If he's noticed she's there, he gives no sign of it.

[hadyougoing]

Ava's heels, meanwhile, make plenty of noise as she strides along in Kali's wake.

What is with people coming in here without authorization?

"Excuse me--"

[forewarned_is]

Kali turns, in no particular hurry, to look at the new arrival.

"That one," she says, indicating Andrew. "Is he the Morningstar's servant?"

[stilljustandrew]

In the cell, Andrew slowly looks up.

[hadyougoing]

"Did somebody put out a memo?" Ava demands sourly. "He's fine. Security is taking the situation very seriously."

[forewarned_is]

"I'm delighted to hear it," Kali says flatly. "I just wanted to be able to identify him, in case of any further incidents."

[hadyougoing]

Ava's eyebrows climb.

"Okay ma'am, well, trust me, nobody's gonna be watching out for further incidents more than I will. What was your name?"

[forewarned_is]

"I didn't offer it." A one-sided smile, edged with acid. "Just a concerned citizen."

[hadyougoing]

Ava smiles, unfazed.

"Okay. So I assume you don't want us to inform you if there are any further incidents?" After a minuscule pause, she adds, "I'm Ava Wilson."

[forewarned_is]

Her smile widens. "Not especially. I'll keep my own watch. But your offer is most kind."

She slants another long look at Andrew (who shrinks back from it), and sweeps past Ava, heading for the exit.

[hadyougoing]

With one last, sharp glance to Andrew, Ava stalks after her.

"Hey, lady!"

[forewarned_is]

She turns half around, enough to eye Ava over her own shoulder.

(Is she taller than she was a moment ago?)

"Yes?" Coldly.

[hadyougoing]

Ava's expression changes only minutely: around the eyes, which widen slightly.

"I'm trying to be polite here?" she says. "But every time I turn around this whole case gets weirder and worse, so I'm gonna need to know who you are and what you want with Andrew."

[gothamsheiress]

This is hardly Brix's usual sort of assignation. She's been engaged primarily to listen to patrons before; she's been engaged by one person to be with another before. She's never been asked to go and talk with someone she's never met like this, though.

But Matt -- Matthew -- seemed to think it a good idea, and she is perhaps a little more easily swayed by him than by many.

She's wearing a relatively unadorned dress of grey-blue when she enters the Security office, looking for someone to speak with.

[hadyougoing]

There's a familiar brunette seated at a desk, writing irritably.

Iva Shahrizai would surely never be caught dead dressed the way she is, though: in jeans and a gray jacket and a blouse with a flower pattern. And when she looks up, there's no sign of recognition on her face.

"Hi. Can I help you?"

[gothamsheiress]

Brix halts, her eyes widening slightly.

"--Elua above. Iva?"

[hadyougoing]

"Ava," she corrects. "Ava Wilson? Hi."

[gothamsheiress]

"Ava."

She shakes her head.

"I beg your pardon, you look exactly like my cousin."

[hadyougoing]

Well that's ... the weirdest thing anyone's ever said to her.

All she can think to say is, "You don't look like any of my cousins."

For one thing, this woman is much hotter.

[gothamsheiress]

"This place seems to delight in providing me with coincidences," she says. Grumbles, really. Matt is a lovely coincidence, but this is starting to feel a little egregious.

She holds out a hand, anyway. "My name is Brix nó Balm de Marsilikos. Matt Jamison suggested I come and speak to one of your prisoners."

[hadyougoing]

"Oh," Ava says as she rises, "right, you're the--"

Therapy hooker!

"Thanks for coming." She shakes her hand, phrasing? Keep going. "I'm honestly, kind of at the end of my rope with this." Her lips twitch. "Or maybe I started out there. What did Matt tell you?"

[gothamsheiress]

"Well, he told me of his own ordeal. But he feels, it seems, that -- Andrew? -- isn't entirely to blame for his actions. He told me Andrew was captured and held by an angel called Lucifer" -- she says the name with a hint of a French accent -- "and likely tortured until he came around to believe his captor's lies. Even to idolize him."

[hadyougoing]

Ava sighs.

"Idolize is right." She frowns. "Do you want to sit down? I think the pertinent stuff might take a little while to explain."

[gothamsheiress]

"Thank you, yes."

She's still a little unnerved by how much Ava looks -- almost sounds -- like Iva, but she takes a chair willingly enough.

[hadyougoing]

Ava sits down again, pushing her papers to one side and laying the pen neatly on top.

She glances Brix's way.


"Okay ... Andrew's not from my world, but Lucifer is. From what we can put together, around five years ago, he took over a mutual friend--Sam. And possessed his body." Her tone is carefully devoid of emotion, a tightrope she finds familiar. "Andrew went looking for Sam, got kidnapped, and for some reason--I really don't know why--instead of killing him, Lucifer decided to brainwash him into becoming his servant."

Ava rubs her temple with one hand.

"He's been gone for four years."