asgardmeridiem | ® oo4. ] closed [ ways to fall

Entry tags:

® oo4. ] closed [ ways to fall

Who: Erica Reyes | Scott McCall | Isaac Lahey.
What: Erica levels up and it triggers her seizures. Also triggers a fight with Isaac.
When: Day 302
Where: Baldr | Hel
Rating: TV MA (warning for epilepsy & seizures)

There is a definite sense of self-worth that Erica has these days. She knows that things aren't perfect, that Isaac still tries too hard to protect her. That secrets keep being laid out one over the other and that each time he expresses how it's not her - that he trusts her, that there is a sliver of doubt that comes from him. Things have been different since Isaac had come and gone. If it had been the thought that two of him here was difficult, that there was some hierarchy of one over the other, or that fears had laced through him Erica wishes that she knew. Trying to be helpful and actually being helpful are always two different things and when it's overtly clear just how little you can do to help every detail matters.

Details like showing Scott that she doesn't get lost in the city anymore. That she has a job and she maintains a routine. She has a doctor and a magician (though she's sure Merlin wouldn't appreciate that title) to help her with her epilepsy. She's better at using her power, even if she's positive that making baby animals walk won't really help out anyone at all. It matters to her though and she knows that Isaac is close with Scott, she knows that when things go to hell Isaac will tell Scott first. She knows that if she can show Scott that it's okay to trust her that maybe Isaac will feel better about it too.

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Scott? Oh, um, no. No. Uh, Isaac did.

[If Scott had been here when Erica had had her meltdown, he wouldn't have just left. In fact, why hadn't Isaac called Scott? That was a question for another time, though. Right now, he was standing in front of an obviously distressed Erica. Watch him comfort. ~~Fail~~]

He said there was broken glass, so, um, maybe I can help pick that up?

[More brow furrowing. She had forgotten that. There's a vague gesture over her shoulder as she steps away from the door.]

He... he threw it. Or maybe it fell. [She's making excuses, because part of it is that she doesn't recall the details. It blurs.]

[He steps in, looking her over as she lets him. She seems off and he's wondering how bad the fight had been. He's also looking for any signs of injury.]

Are you okay? I mean, you're not cut or anything, are you?

[Hearing about things being thrown and glass breaking made him think of some bad abusive and dramatic relationship. It made him wonder what was going on between Isaac and Erica.]

No... [She rubs her elbow, lightly.]

I had a seizure today. Scott was there... he called Isaac. Isaac brought me home.

[She glances to Stiles.] We talked. It didn't go well.

[She looks so... fragile. He shifts a little closer, a hand resting cautiously on her shoulder, his very feeble attempt at comforting.]

Maybe you should sit down? I can get you some water or something.

[He'd seen her after (and during) her seizures and they scared the crap out of him.]

I was... [She glances back to the kitchen, back to the floor.]

Did you know? [She returns her eyes to him. Not moving away.] When you asked me if I would do it again, when we were in the library and I was looking up what it was to be a werewolf -- did you know I -- ?

[Her mouth draws into a tight line. She doesn't really want to say it.]

Did you know?

No.

[And holy shit, was he ever glad that was something he could answer honestly.]

I knew you'd run away. You and Boyd. That's all I knew. Scott told me... He told me the other day.

[Scott had looked so broken when he'd come to his room, just another reason for him to want to kick Isaac in the junk. Right about now, he'd take either version since really, they were the same person.]

I didn't know until Scott told me. I didn't know then.

[He'd known that other stuff happened, like the kanima induced seizure and her getting her ass handed to her a few times by Scott, but he hadn't know about her dying. He didn't think he would have been able to hide that.]

Come on, let's go sit down.

[She runs away?

Wait, Scott knows?

She isn't even sure what's worse that everyone seems to know the truth but her or that everyone still felt they couldn't tell her. It was her life. It was her future.]

No. I don't need to sit down.

I run away? [She didn't have this context.] You knew I run away? From what? From home?

From... from everything.

[He didn't want to tell her about the basement or that he hadn't been able to let her loose. He didn't want to tell her that she ran away from Derek and Isaac and that no one knew where they'd gone.]

Well, how about you sit down while I clean up, okay? Consider it a load off my mind.

[How does he expect her to sit down? Everything in her just wants her to fight against what she's being told, to deny it so strongly that it wills it into being the truth.]

Everything is a lot, Stiles. [She still stands. She still feels hollow, like someone ripped everything away from her. Probably because they did. They settled her fate. They knew and they kept it from her.]

It's a lot. [She repeats it, still unsure of what it means or why it happens.]

You -- [Her resolve breaks a bit.] I asked you if everyone is okay and you said everything was fine. [She watches him move to the kitchen.]

Why did you say everything is fine if you knew it wasn't?

Hey, don't give me that look. For all I knew, it was. Maybe you and Boyd had run off to Cancun to have some sort of permanent Spring Break thing. I had no idea. You were... there, and then you guys weren't. No one else thought anything bad either, okay? You both wanted to leave and you left. End of story.

[He felt guilty that he hadn't thought anything bad had happened, but hey, he only knew part of the story. He still hadn't been clued in about the Alphas or them being kidnapped yet, so no blaming the Stiles, thank you.]

[She nods, it's more of an absent gesture than anything else. It still seems shitty of everyone. She goes to sit down on the couch, pulling her feet up so that her legs fold to her chest again.]

That's not the end though and everyone knows it. [It's almost like the seizures. Where everyone knows they happen and they wait around for one. They wait and then they make fun of her. They point it out to her -- how weak she is and how ridiculous she looks.

No one talks to her. No one can look at her.

Isaac can't even be in the same room as her - and it's to the point where he even sends someone he doesn't even like to check on her. Not Scott - Not Derek.

Isaac probably needs them. He's probably off with them. With the people he actually belongs with. Not the broken, wrong version of Erica.]

You don't have to stay. I'm sure you don't want to be in the same room with me either.

[He's picking up the broken glass, holding it gingerly in his palm as he does, a little pile growing. But he turns when she says that, attention diverted to her.]

Why would you say that? That's a dumb thing to say. Jesus, Erica. You're not contagious or any-- ow.

[Okay, so maybe he should pay attention to the pile of glass he was holding. It had shifted, a piece sliding off and cutting open the meat of the palm of his hand. Ow, dude. OW. Okay, it was just a little blood. No big deal. He could totally handle a little blood.

A little blood that was now dripping over his hand onto the floor. Oh, shit.]

Um, I need, uh, hold on.

[He was trying to shuffle his way over to the trash can so he could deposit his bloodied handful of broken glass before heading into the bathroom.]

[The ow has her attention. That and the silence. He's picking up glass and then ow? Ow is not a good sound to make. Her fingertips press to her forehead and she frowns before she rises to her feet to follow him.]

I can help. [Because she's not useless.] Will you let me help? [Because maybe he thinks she's useless. Whatever, she's not waiting for an answer, because she knows where all the things are. Man, Ryan is gonna be mad if there is blood all over the bathroom again.

She kneels down and grabs the first aid kit from beneath the sink and sets it on the edge of the tub. Reaching for a washcloth, she rinses it and wrings it out before she hands it to him.]

Just apply pressure; we can clean it off once I get everything out.

[There's a shattering tinkle as the glass is dumped off his hand, along with the patter of blood hitting the sides. He'd have to wash out her trash can. How weird was that? Washing out a garbage bin.

He looked down and saw red, red pooling in his hand and red dripping over the sides. Ooookay, so maybe he wasn't so good with that much of his own blood. His other hand moved to cup under it to try to catch it as he hurried into the bathroom, leaning over the sink to let it at least make a mess somewhere easy to clean up.]

Shouldn't I run water over it? I thought you were supposed to run water over it...

[Not that he could touch the faucet, both hands covered in blood.]

[Erica frowns. She's had enough cuts and scrapes over the year to know what to do.]

Pressure first. If you want to run it under water to feel like you're doing something, feel free - but all you'll do is not apply pressure. Which I want you to do.

[They can rinse it off when she has gauze and peroxide and everything else ready, otherwise he's just going to have it running under the water constantly and the sooner that clots the better.

She gets out the peroxide, gauze, tape, and the small tube of antibiotic cream. Setting them out, she finds the small scissors and sets them down too.]

I've done this for Isaac, too, but mostly for myself. [She takes a breath and turns the water back on.]

Ready for that rinsing you so desperately wanted? [She uncaps the peroxide and puts some on a folded piece of gauze.]

Rinse it off and then I'll clean it off.

[He'd been applying pressure after she scolded him (RUDE, ERICA), feeling the sting turn into a burn as he touched the slice. It wasn't really deep, thankfully, but it was still bleeding over the pad of his left palm. The bright red was drying into a darker brown color, reminding him of rust. He hated that color.]

What the hell have you two been doing that you need to get bandaged up all the time?

[He gives her a look as he goes to rinse it off, attention stolen by the stinging of the water on it, his face twisting up at the pain as the water ran pink.]

Oooooow.

Not here... not for me at least. I have seizures, Stiles. Suddenly dropping to the ground and not being able to control my limbs tends to end up with sharp corners and edges being a dangerous thing.

[Sighing, she glances up at him.] This is going to sting. [She takes a hold of his hand, palm up and dabs the gauze with peroxide on the cut. It foams and bubbles - reacting to the blood - and she blows gently on the surface of his skin, trying to cool the sting.]

Just keep still.

[He might have made a comment about the seizures, but then there was OMG BURNING PAIN OF A PAINFUL BURNING OW variety stabbing into his hand and he tried to pull it away, making a very unmanly noise as he did.]

Oooooooooooooooooooooow! Erica....

[He couldn't keep still. His hand was being tortured. This was her evil revenge for him being in the know. He hated Isaac so hard right now.]

[Wow. Wow, Stiles. It was barely stingy! She was being careful and even blowing on it!

Stopping the dabbing, she set the gauze down and continued to blow on it, still trying to hold onto his hand as her free hand moved to grab the antibiotic cream.]

I'm going to let go of your hand, but don't you dare move it. I need it right there so I can put this on it and then wrap it up.

[She takes another small breath.] You know he just walked out. He told me and then he left. He didn't even tell me how or when... just that it happens and he can't help.

[He was sensitive, okay? He had delicate feefees and holy shit that hurt.]

Eeeeenh.

[That was definitely a whine, loud and lingering as he kept his hand still. Or tried to. It shook a little, the pain making him want to twitch it and pull it away and cradle it against his chest.

He looks up at her when she talks, breathing in through his nose.]

Maybe he doesn't know. I don't know what the other Isaac told him. Scott didn't really go into, um, detail. It could have happened while you were... gone. I don't know, Erica. I'm sorry.

[Not that he was sticking up for Isaac or anything.]

I'm sorry we didn't tell you, but... it's kind of a hard subject to broach. I mean, does anyone really want to know when they die?

I know, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't know or that everyone else should hear it first.

It makes me feel like I'm already dead. That ... [Frowning, she stops that line of thought and delicately applies the cream to the cut. It turns a pinkish color, but she ignores that and moves to get the gauze and starts to layer that on top of his palm.]

I have ten minutes left as a human if I ever go back. If things stay the way they say they go.

Derek comes for me in the hospital. That's where I was. That's not a lot of time to do much of anything. Ten minutes and everything is different.

[She reaches for the tape and cuts a strip off.]

Then I'll be the person Isaac expected to see when he ran into me on the street that first day. [She pulls the tape tight around his palm and presses it to the back of his hand.]

Is that too tight?

That's the thing, Erica. You don't have to do anything. I don't care what anyone says, it's not carved in stone. You think being brought here was our original plan? That there are multiple timelines and we go back and forth like little interdimensional ping pong balls? None of this is how it's supposed to be. There is no supposed to be.

[His hand wanted to move, wanted to gesture as he talked, but he managed to keep it still as she wound the gauze around it, as she taped it up and took care of him. Good job, Stilinski. You were supposed to be over here comforting her. Instead you wound up making her play nurse. F for fail.]

No... it's fine.

Look, I get that you're upset, but... it's not like any of us want to hear that. None of us want you dead, Erica.

[Not even if she did turn into a bit of a bitch.]

Isaac and you were close. You guys and Boyd had your little wolf pack with Derek, so maybe it's hitting him just as hard as it's hitting you. And I know it's hitting you hard. It has to be.

[She cuts another strip of tape and wraps the other side, before she lets go of his hand and draws her mouth into a tight line again.

He's using past tense.

Were close.

Had a wolf pack.]

I'm sixteen, Stiles, and my best friend just told me I die and then he walked out. [Her lip trembles and the tears fill her eyes because she tried really hard not to cry, she did, but she just sees Isaac's face and his anger and how he can hardly look at her and how badly she wanted him to stay and then he just left.]

I don't know how I'm supposed to fix this. How can I ... how can I make it okay for him to even want to be around me?

Edited (commas!!!) 2013-07-30 06:24 (UTC)

[Not for the reasons she thought. Here, she wasn't a wolf. Boyd wasn't here. He had no idea what was happening with Isaac and Derek, but the dynamic was definitely different. In terms of at home? She'd left. With Boyd. Whatever happened after that, he had no idea, but she'd given up being close to Isaac. She'd left him. That was where he was going, Erica.]

Shit.

[Okay, there was a clumsy attempt at a hug here, because Stilinski men had feels and they consisted of hugs and stuff.]

I don't think it's like that, Erica. He sent me. Which, yeah, kind of a shitty replacement, but he didn't want you to be alone. I think he just needs some time to cool down. This whole different timeline thing is really screwing with everyone.

[Don't try to fight it, Erica. You're in the grip of a hug. Deal with it.]

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