MASK OR MENACE - contact.

[hostage]

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[morethan084]

Yeah. I remember.

[Daisy smiles gently at him before leaning forward and pushing her hands down hard on her legs.]

Raina is dead, because of my mother.

[So much for easing him into it..]

[hostage]

Is that a bad thing?

[He's honestly asking. Raina seems like someone who ought to be dead.]

[morethan084]

My mother killed her.

[Did he miss that part?]

And then she tried to kill me too. She almost did.

[hostage]

[He didn't miss it, though it's significantly different phrasing in that second iteration. Still, the only part he actually cares about is that Daisy almost died.]

Whoa, wait - Why?

[morethan084]

[Yeah. Was kind of hoping for that reaction in the first place.]

Because she wanted to start a revolution and I didn't want any part of it.

Oh. Did I forget to mention she was an Inhuman like I am?

[hostage]

[Sorry, he's a broken human being.]

Yeah, but... I mean, what the hell? You didn't wanna join her so she tried to kill you?

[morethan084]

Basically.

It was going to be Inhumans vs Everyone else.

She killed SHIELD agents.

[hostage]

[This all means much more to him than Raina's death. SHIELD is practically Daisy's family - more of a family to her, apparently, than her real one. And for Daisy's own mother to turn on her like that... He knows the pain of it. Knows exactly how it feels to be betrayed on that level.]

But you survived, right? She didn't actually...

[morethan084]

I wouldn't be here if I was dead.

[To be fair that could happen. But she came from a point in her timeline that was around 3-4 months after that.]

My dad killed her because I couldn't do it.

[And because covering up emotions with sarcasm was fun:]

It was a great family day.

[hostage]

I'm so sorry.

[But he's overwhelmingly relieved to hear, no, she didn't die prior to her arrival. Which means she has a life to go back to whenever she leaves this place. Which is something he always worries about.]

[morethan084]

My dad doesn't even know who I am now.

We had to erase his memories of SHIELD. Of me.

[This sounded way worse when she said it out loud. The others, back home, they already knew what happened. She didn't have to talk about it.]

I visit him when I can.

[hostage]

It's better that way, right? So he can't remember...

[Who would want to live with the memory of killing his wife? Not Jesse.]

[morethan084]

He's happier now.

[Thinking about him put a smile on her face]

He's a veterinarian.

[hostage]

[He's so glad to see her smile.]

Sounds like he's living the dream now.

[morethan084]

[Don't get used to it. Because just as quickly as it came, it was gone again.]

Yeah.

[Turning her head away from him she quickly wiped the tears that rolled down her cheek.]

There's so many of us now, because of me.


Inhumans I mean.

[hostage]

Isn't that what you wanted?

[He'd assume, at least, it's nice to be around her own people.]

[morethan084]

I've ruined their lives.

One guy has this power where if he touches anything metal, it melts. I'm working with him, but, it hasn't been easy.

He can't see his family anymore. Not until he has complete control.

Another guy is allergic to Inhumans. I saw him die right in front of me. He had a hole blasted through his chest by another Inhuman.

[hostage]

[Jesse flinches. Okay, that's brutal. It's like the Wayfarer incident: something he never foresaw, something he would never have wanted, but it would very much never have happened if he didn't exist. There aren't words of comfort for that. They all sounds hollow and grasping.]

You woulda stopped it if you could.

[He knows it. He just wants her to know that he knows it.]

[morethan084]

[Tears welled up in her eyes again, the memory still fresh in her mind. She put all their lives at risk, but she didn't know what else to do in that moment. Now a man is dead, her partner was hurt and she was here.

It left her with too much time with her own thoughts.]

I can't stop him. I don't know how.

[hostage]

[Jesse's no help in this department. If Daisy could somehow take him back home, then maybe... But for now, the only thing he can do is be here for her. He reaches out, tentatively, to lay his hand over hers.]

[morethan084]

[Daisy still hadn't told him about Lincoln. She didn't know what they were, she didn't know what she and Jesse were either. All of it was complicated.

What wasn't complicated was the fact that she was desperate for comfort right now, and she knew that Jesse would provide her with that. It was selfish, or at least that's how she felt.

Turning her hand over in his, Daisy laced her fingers through his.

She knew if she looked at him right now, it'd be all over. So instead she moves to put her head on his shoulder instead. Listening to the sound of the crickets and air conditioners running.]

I never have to talk about this stuff back home. I never have time to.

[hostage]

I know it's all like way beyond me, but... I can listen, you know? If you just wanna get it out.

[Jesse would never think of it as selfish of her. He wants to be a comfort to her. He gives her hand a light squeeze and presses a kiss into her hair. Let her cry into his shoulder if she has to.]

[morethan084]

I just want things to be normal for once. Although I'm beginning to think that's never going to be possible for us.

Or people like us.

We must've really fucked up in a past life.

[Inhaling deeply, Daisy closed her eyes as she nuzzled into his shoulder a little.]

[hostage]

[Forget past lives. Jesse fucked up in this life. There's a very clear trajectory that led him to where he ended up. But Daisy definitely doesn't deserve all this shit, and he lifts their entwined hands so he can kiss her knuckles.]

It won't be like this forever.

[morethan084]

[Daisy reaches up with her opposite hand to tuck her hair behind her ear when he kisses her knuckles.

Don't look at him and those puppy dog eyes of his.]

Pretty sure it will be.

Some days are just easier than others.

[That's it. Pigs are flying. Daisy is the pessimist and Jesse is the optimist? Yep, pigs are definitely flying.]