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Daycycle 122 [ January 15 - January 21]

daycycle 122

[Jan 15 - Jan 21]

[OOC Plotting for this Dacycle can be found here.]

Early, Early Morning [0200 - 0400]
At approximately 0200, several explosive devices planted in Technical Services by PURGE will detonate, damaging several memobanks. In a rush to prepare for the morning upload several Technicians will mistakenly put the wrong memories in the wrong banks. They will catch their mistake before the final upload, but as a result several memories will now be shared across different alpha citizens' consciousnesses. These memories will be experienced as dreams and characters will retain knowledge of them when they wake.

Memory Swap Pairs

Adam Parrish - Derek Hale
Zatanna Zatara - Oliver Queen
Steve Rogers - Ronan Lynch
Katniss Everdeen - Matt Murdock
Morgana LeFey - Tony Stark
Clint Barton - Allison Argent
Isabelle Lightwood - Lydia Martin
Buffy Summers - Barry Allen
Emma Swan - Parker
Cisco Ramon - Gracie Cannell
Natasha Romanoff - Jack Harkness
Primrose Everdeen - Alcide Herveaux

Room 1101 will be woken up at 1200 when a squadron of Internal Security Gray Ops come to arrest Bucky Barnes for treason. He will be led away at gun point and his roommates, Ronan Lynch, Adam Parrish and Oliver Queen will be immediately taken into IntSec for questioning. They will be questioned about the activities of their former roommate for several hours before being sedated and returned to their room before 0500. Bucky's roommates will not remember his arrest or their questioning when they wake, though they may feel the lingering active effects of the sedative for several hours into their day.

The memory of Bucky Barnes having ever been present in Alpha will be erased with varying degrees of success from all those he came into contact with.

Early Morning [0800 - 0900] — All Troubleshooters Report for Duty

No Specials will be selected for a mission today.

Morning & Afternoon [0900 - 1600] — Service Firm Positions
All Troubleshooters not assigned a mission should report to their Service Firm for their daily duties.

At 0900 it will be discovered that the shooter from Steve Roger's assassination attempt has, ironically, been assassinated along with her guards in Armed Forces the night before. The letters mod will be left written in the shooter's blood along her cell wall.

Evening [1600 - 2200] — Citizen Improvement
All Alpha citizens are encouraged to better themselves through Alpha’s wide variety of educational, entertainment and cultural opportunities offered each evening. Attending these sanctioned events are not mandatory, but is highly encouraged by The Computer. Citizens choosing not to take advantage of these opportunities, have a growing number of other options available to them in how to spend their hard earned credits and free time.

Tonight’s event will be at 1900 in the Commissary and will be overseen by Clint Barton. Izzy Lightwood from Medical Services has been assigned to assist him in giving a demonstration on basic first aid and wound care.

Alpha Curfew Restrictions
All Alpha citizens should be in their quarters within the Wagon Wheel by 2200, unless they’ve been given permission from a GREEN or higher clearance level citizen. Sleeping Aid gas is dispelled each night in the Wagon Wheel at 2200 to assist citizens in getting a productive sleeping period.

Confession Booths
There are hundreds of confession booths available around Alpha Complex if a citizen would like to communicate directly with the computer. Please use these confession booths to report mission statuses, report treason or terrorist acts, unregistered mutants, confess your trespasses against Alpha Complex, request propaganda or speak with Your Friend, The Computer, at any time.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

For her part, Lydia is so focused and bright because she's making herself be. If she doesn't, then she'll fall down the rabbit hole of wondering more about Izzy's life when it isn't at all her place to even know what little bits she's just learned. Izzy didn't share those memories — Lydia feels like this isn't the first time this has happened to her, but the other foreign memories are just out of reach, somehow — and it isn't any of Lydia's business. The only way she can think to be respectful is to try not to think about it at all. Maybe if this was a two way street, Izzy will do her the same favor.

With a little laugh, Lydia stands and moves to offer him her seat before hopping up to sit on her desk and holding out the PDC to him. "Nah, it's just that they're a little star struck when you're in person. You're a celebrity, remember? They can't embarrass themselves or get themselves into trouble just staring at your likeness and drooling," she points out playfully. She's only half-joking.

"I already pulled up the commercials, because I know you wanted to see them and, like I said, they're not final cuts, but they're pretty close. I put it on autoplay, so if you just tap the play button, they should go." The commercials are each only thirty second spots, but that's plenty. She's selling soap, after all, there's not a whole lot that can't be said in thirty seconds or less.

Steve is grinning and perfectly alright, all the way up until she says drooling, and then he immediately coughs. But Steve glances at her with playful disbelief, and then he chuckles, in the end.

“How can I forget?” he asks, lifting his brow as he takes her PDC into his hands. “They still haven’t taken those posters down.”

He can already see the splash frame of the first video before he presses play. A close-up of some of Lydia’s soaps.

When Steve presses play, he makes sure to hold the screen out in front of both of them, so she can watch along too, even if he’s sure Lydia’s seen these a million times by now.

Lydia looks amused by the cough, but her eyebrows are lifted in a challenge that says "tell me I'm wrong," even though she knows he won't rise to it. "Why would they take those posters down? You're like a sexy lumberjack or something," she teases. "Those brighten up the whole complex, who are you kidding?"

She gives him a little nudge on the shoulder with one hand and laughs as he turns her PDC so that she can view it too. True, Lydia's seen these cuts a million times, but maybe watching with Steve will give her a different perspective and she'll stop nitpicking. Or maybe she'll nitpick even more, but there's only one way to find out.

"When you finish watching, be honest," she warns. She genuinely wants and respects his feedback, not only as a potential consumer and the subject of the commercials, faceless or not, depending on the scene, but as her friend.

There’s a moment when her eyebrows are raised, and Steve gives her a playfully incredulous look, but Lydia’s right. He won’t tell her she’s wrong, but he will run a hand over his face when she says the posters make him look like a sexy lumberjack.

“They certainly make the place a lot more red. Not sure that counts as brightening,” he says, before grinning at her one last time and then turning his attention to the PDC.

Allison’s commercial is first, and honestly, Steve’s impressed. It looks a lot like what he’d expect to see on T.V. back home. Then comes his normal commercial, which looks pretty similar as Allison’s, except different flavors of soap are featured, probably because they’re more geared towards men. And then finally, they get to the commercial where he’s naked from the waist-up (not that the viewers can see any further down), and Steve’s feels an embarrassing bashfulness wash over him but he can’t seem to look away. True to her word though, that last commercial doesn’t have his face anywhere in it.

When the ‘play again’ icon comes back up, Steve looks at the blacked out screen for a second longer before he turns to Lydia.

“These are … really something,” he says. “If I wasn’t already buying from TrueAlpha I bet I would be, after seeing these.”

"Ooohh, don't be a baby," she teases playfully, winking at him as he starts the commercials playing. Allison's turned out especially well, Lydia thinks and that's not to say that she likes the commercial with Steve in it any more or less, but she's just surprised at how well Allison's turned out. It had been the first one they'd filmed, so she'd expected there to be a lot more hiccups to mess around with, but she'd been wrong.

She watches Steve's face rather than the commercial when his commercial comes on, because she's curious how he's going to react to it, most especially the bit with his abdomen. He knows it's him, but the casual viewer is more likely to assume that it's a stand-in. At least, back home, that's what people would probably think given that the face isn't there to confirm anything.

He doesn't seem upset or look flustered, so Lydia takes that as a good sign and she smiles when he looks back up again and speaks. "They turned out pretty great, didn't they? I'm nearly done with them, there's a little more tweaking to be done, but they aren't going to play any differently. I think it's mostly like filters and stuff for coloring and all that, so make it a little brighter, but yeah. You like them, then?"

It is a good sign. He’s definitely not upset, and even if he is flustered, it’s only a little bit. Because no matter how hard Steve tries, or maybe the problem is that he’s not trying, he can’t quite adjust to certain parts of modern culture. He’s a little old-fashioned, and probably more conservative than normal, even in his own time, but it’s not something Lydia needs to worry about, not today.

“I really do,” he says, nodding. And while he can’t really give her any cinematic advice, because Steve honestly has no idea what’s even possible or how that all works, he can give her one piece of general feedback. At least from his perspective.

“You know how Allison and I shot a few quick scenes together? One a few seconds, but Gracie probably still has ‘em. I think it’d add something, if people got to see both of us in both commercials. That way if they only catch one, they’ll still know you sell soaps for men and women.”

Admittedly, knowing that Steve likes the commercials brings Lydia a great deal of ease, because it means that she's done something right. She's aware of the fact that Steve isn't as progressive as she is, and yet he isn't upset about the images now that they've been presented to him. He looks a little uncomfortable, but not so much so that she's worried he's hiding too much discomfort just because she's his friend. So she smiles when he confirms that he does, indeed, like the commercials; it means she's done something well enough that even a little lack of comfort doesn't knock them into 'nope' territory.

Her eyebrows lift a little bit with interest when he goes on to give her a spot of feedback and, actually Lydia hadn't even thought about it. He's got a point, though. She and Gracie absolutely have the footage, they just didn't add it in, in the end, but Lydia can't deny that he's right about that. If someone were to see only the men's commercials, it wouldn't be as welcoming to women and vise versa.

"...you're right," she agrees thoughtfully. "That's a really...you're totally right, and I think that's why I had them shot originally and then I just didn't...think about it, you're totally right," she finishes, looking back at him with a grin. "See, I knew I kept you around for a reason," she adds playfully.

This conversation is doing wonders for keeping her mind off the fact that she's still trying to wrap her head around knowing things about Izzy that she hasn't got the right to know. It's keeping her mind off the fact that she really needs to decide whether to just try to forget that she feels like she's lived those moments or whether she ought to 'fess up to Izzy so that the other woman knows. Anything to keep Lydia from having to go down that mental and emotional path right now is welcome, so she's more than happy to continue this conversation.

"I'll bring it up to Gracie next time I see her, that's a really good idea."

He grins in response. “I hope you’d still keep me around, even if I wasn’t good for business.” But really though, he thinks, as his voice turns away from playful: “I’m just glad I can help.”

It’s funny how, seeing Lydia’s reaction to his feedback is the most helpful Steve’s felt all day. Everything going on at Armed Forces right now feels crushing in comparison, but that realization also reminds Steve of the real reason he’d come over that afternoon.

“Lydia, could we talk in the back, for a moment? Somewhere private?” He knows that Cisco and Tony work in the back, but he’s hoping she has a separate office or even just a storage room or something they could use.

Lydia grins back. She's pretty sure they both know that she'd keep him around anyway; they were friends before this store and they'll be friends after this place. Of that, Lydia is confident. "Oh, I guess I probably would," she replies loftily before smirking over at him. "I appreciate it, really," she adds in a more serious tone to match the shift in Steve's.

Her eyebrows lift with curiosity at his question, but she hops back off the desk and pushes her PDC into one of the oversized pockets of her jumpsuit. "Ummm, yeah," she says, nodding toward the door to the back room. Cisco and Tony may or may not be in the back room but the corridor is plenty long and the sound of the machines running in the room where the other two Alphas work will drown out the sound of voices in the hall, anyway. One of Lydia's bots moves promptly toward the register she's abandoned as she leads Steve into the back hall.

"I don't think Cisco or Tony left yet. They usually tend to take later lunches, but I haven't been paying attention to the door back here, so...is this okay or...?" she asks. Lydia's office is technically just the front desk in the store, because she hasn't bothered to look for further space and even if she did, it'd be in the back room with the machines and Cisco and Tony, anyway, as far as she had been able to tell from the quick tour she'd given herself once she'd been given the space. There's no point in having an office to do book work if she has to do it through the sound of machines in production, anyway.

Steve knows that the corridor works as soon as they leave the front of the shop and step inside. It makes sense, how loud the machines can be in the back, depending on what the engineers are making, especially since they no longer have access to the latest tools in this place. He’s nearly tempted to visit, not just because Tony’s there, but because he wants to know what Cisco’s making too. But that isn’t the goal today.

His focus right now, is on Lydia.

“Yeah,” he tests out, speaking at his normal volume, and he can practically hear the sound of his voice getting drowned out. He’s guessing any sound he makes will travel three feet, at most.

“Lydia, you’ve probably heard about what happened to my shooter by now?” He searches her eyes as he talks, because if she hasn’t, he’ll back up.

Her eyes narrow a little with confusion when Steve speaks up again. Shaking her head, she frowns. "I know that they were apprehended, but that's all I know," she admits. Sometimes she wonders if Steve forgets that the people around him don't have access to the same information that he does, because he doesn't see the colors of their jumpsuits the way that the regular Alphas seem to. Even if she were a GREEN, she's not privy to security information, anyway; she's a store clerk and a chemist, not a soldier.

When she speaks again, it's slowly and cautiously because she has a feeling there's information about to be shared between them that either no one else should know or she isn't going to like. Maybe both.

...probably both, knowing this place.

"Why…? What happened?"

When he sees the confusion in her expression, and then sees Lydia’s shake her head, Steve realizes that she doesn’t know — almost at the same time as when Lydia confirms the thought out loud. After the messages he’d received today, he thought that surely the woman’s assassination had leaked everywhere, but it’s obvious now that it hadn’t. It makes sense, looking back. If Lydia had known, she probably wouldn’t have shown him those commercials without at least asking if he was okay.

“She’s been assassinated.” He doesn’t take that part lightly, but Steve knows the irony in those words. His assassin had been assassinated.

But that isn’t what Steve wants to tell her, and Lydia can probably tell. He still looks like he has something more important to say. And she’s right. This is information that no one else knows, at least not the other Specials, and she … well, Steve will find out soon if Lydia wants to know.

“I had gone to visit her for the first time yesterday afternoon. She’d looked familiar, but it wasn’t until I heard her voice that I realized- All those months ago, when we were doing PDC training, she was the person you’d ID’d.”

A beat, as Steve looks between Lydia’s eyes. He seems concerned for her, but not scared, like he expects her to have some reaction, but he doesn’t expect her to break down.

“Her name was Marina.” A beat. “I don’t think the Computer is going to bring her back.”

The first response Steve gives would glean a completely different reaction from Lydia than the addendum. She's quiet after the initial announcement, because she can tell that he has more to say and when he goes on, her expression falters. Where her face had been a bit more sympathetic to his plight — because how can that not have some sort of impact on him emotionally, whether positive or negative (or both)? — once he goes on, a cold disconnect is quickly replaced with careful neutrality.

Good, is the first thing that comes to mind. Then, Lydia begins to connect the dots she's not even sure Steve is aware he's laying out in front of her. Marina tried to have her killed. Marina tried to have Steve killed. Marina almost definitely arranged the bomb that was supposed to kill Matt. She was their leader, the A.S.S. And now she's dead after a failed assassination on Steve Rogers.

On the surface, that's good news. But when someone like Lydia looks at those facts, it's terrifying. She was their leader and she's dead. The A.S.S. will blame that on the Specials. Whoever steps up in her place is going to double down. This is going to be war and the Specials have the disadvantage of not knowing who it is they're fighting against. These could be Steve's soldiers. Matt's assistants. Lydia's customers. It could be anyone and they'll have no idea...but the A.S.S. knows exactly who their targets are. That's a bone-chilling realization and the careful neutrality falls away in favor of a very clear discomfort, if slightly disconnected eyes lead the expression.

"This is going to start a war, Steve..." she says quietly, frowning. "They're going to want to avenge her and they're going to blame us; all of us. Probably starting with you..." It's clear in her voice that Lydia is all too aware of the gravity of that news. She makes a mental note to light a fire under Cisco and Tony's asses. Once they get their weapons completed and they're 150% sure that they're safe for operation, she wants to make them mass-produce. The Specials are going to get picked off one by one if they don't know how to protect themselves and the majority of them are RED; their standard issue weapons are practically useless. They might as well have nothing at all.

He sees that change of posture in her body language — how her muscles seem to be building tension as she starts to process what he’s saying. But he doesn’t know what she’s thinking, or about the terrifying conclusions she’s drawing, so he can’t address them. When Lydia says something, Steve attention is still focused completely on her, aided by the static humming in the background of the corridor. He hears that quiet urgency in her voice.

He considers it seriously for a moment, before Steve shakes his head, but then stops again.

“I’m not saying it’s not possible. But this time … I think this is bigger than the A.S.S. Her death …” He doesn’t want to worry her any more than he already has, apparently, so he tries to stick to what he knows for sure. “… we’re still trying to figure out how it happened. No one knows. Maybe someone else is trying to set us up but, the fact that there is someone else … that’s who I’m trying to track down.”

But the urgency is real, regardless of who they were worried about coming after them.

Maybe it is time that Steve asked Tony to build him a new shield. He still doesn’t know if he would do it.

"Steve, it doesn't matter," Lydia sighs. "It doesn't matter who really did it because the A.S.S. is going to assume it was us. They're going to retaliate against us, regardless of who the actual culprit is. The way this place is, it could be literally anyone that took her out and it wouldn't matter. Everybody hates us," she says, her brow creased with frustration.

The fact of the matter is that, outside their control, the Specials have become the whole Complex's punching bag for their own frustrations with the way things go in this place. They're either too stupid of too stubborn to see that the Specials haven't created their problems, they're just highlighting them by existing and there's clearly something about the Specials that the Computer likes, which could work in the whole Alpha Complex's favor if the rest of the Alphas would band together with them instead of against them.

"I'm not saying don't find out who did it, because you absolutely should, I'm just saying...at the end of the day, the only ones who are going to care are you and the Computer. The Specials, on the whole, probably don't even know what's going on and the rest of the Complex is never going to believe that we didn't have a hand in it. You know that, deep down."

“It does matter Lydia. The A.S.S. is chaotic. They plant bombs and attack us in ways that get them caught. Yes they’re dangerous, yes they’ve hurt us, but they’re not professionals.”

He was trying not to bring this up before, but it’s starting to show. Steve is much more concerned about this third party than any attack from A.S.S.

“Whoever killed her did it in the dead of night. Didn’t leave a shred of evidence. It was a professional hit, Lydia, I know because I-“ He pauses. “Because back home, those were the kind of guys I tracked all of the world. Whoever it is, whatever backing they have … they’re far more dangerous to us than A.S.S. could ever be.”

And he gets it about the other stuff. That A.S.S. is volatile so they’ll retaliate. They won’t care who killed one of their own because any kind of pain or suffering will be the Specials fault. Which is why Steve lets out a heavy sigh.

“There’s something that I’m working on too. A way to help us all defend ourselves better. Because yes, A.S.S. is going to come after us, just like they have been since we arrived. Even more so now, like you said. I’m not saying we should ignore them, but I gotta- I gotta focus on whoever pulled that hit.”

That kind of danger matters on an entirely different level. Because given what Steve has to work with, he’s not even confident he can fend off someone who has that kind of backing and resources.

“I don’t agree though, that the rest of the Complex is going to pin this on us. We haven’t lost that fight. The public is still on our side. Many of them actively want to help us. Most of them aren’t so tilted against us that they’d believe every rumor in the mill.”

Gaining the public trust. Isn’t that what so many of them have been contributing to this whole time? Him and Lydia and Gracie and everyone else who has done anything public to show the normal Alpha citizens that they’re just people who woke up here and are trying to make things better. His speech, the Charity Ball, Lulu, the Infrared that Steve risked his life for. He sees evidence of them gaining credibility with normal Alpha citizens everyday, so much so that those in a higher place have been willing to reach out.

Steve’s always put his faith in individuals. And for the most part, they’ve still yet to let him down.

Steve is on Very Special Forces, he's been in the military; Steve cares a lot more about people in general in this place than Lydia ever could, so while she sees where he's coming from, if those professional hits are against other Alphas and not specifically targeting the Specials as a whole, then Lydia can't really spare the time worrying about them. Her concern is herself and the people she cares about. That leaves her in an unfortunate tunnel vision that's entirely too willing to write off this assassination, but when he goes on to say that he's working on something to defend them better, Lydia finally speaks up again.

"Yeah, that makes two of us. I've been working on that for a while. I'm sick of being a sitting duck and I'm sick of being afraid all the time. Steve, I've been that girl for years now and I'm tired. So I'm glad you're working on that. I'm working on it, too. If they want to come at us, then let 'em, but I want to make sure they'll be sorry they did."

She's shaking a little, because sometimes when Lydia gets really staunchly wrapped up in something emotionally, she does that. "And I don't know how I feel about the rest of the public. I think there's probably a few. I don't think most is accurate, but we're going to have to agree to disagree, I think, on that." Lydia's seen no proof to suggest otherwise. There's the chat logs that used to go up on the network, but she hasn't seen one in a while so either that group has disbanded, their leaks are plugged up, or they've changed their minds about the Specials; whatever it is, that glimmer of awkward hope that they might not be alone in this fight is snuffed out; Lydia can't see it anymore and in a place like this where so much is happening all the time, it's hard to believe things you can't see.

"All I know is that whoever is behind that assassination just put a huge target on our collective backs. That's the part that matters to me. And maybe the A.S.S. is chaotic and prone to stupid mistakes that will get them caught but who gives a shit if they get caught if it takes dead Specials to get there? Not me, that's for sure. I'm never going to be their victim again, Steve, never, do you understand me? I don't care what it takes, they're not taking me down again, not ever."

It’s hard to see the people close to you lose faith, especially right after hearing Lydia talk about how afraid she’s been all her life, and how she’s sick of it. He’d hoped that TrueAlpha would have let her see more support — surely her customers have shown her some kind of appreciation. She’s given them something small, but in a place like this, small things matter in a way that can’t be expressed. But Steve doesn’t ask. She’s already says she doesn’t think so and if it’s really the case that she hasn’t seen a good reaction, there’s no point in him asking her to say so explicitly.

When Lydia mentions she’s working on something too, Steve can only guess that it’s because she has Cisco and Tony making some kind of weapon (or maybe weapons) — Cisco had all but hinted that he was creating something aggressive over the network, and Tony had mentioned making a repulser gun the day Steve woke up in the hospital.

But right now, every word she says points to one thing: that Lydia doesn’t feel safe. Not in the sense that on a given day, no one feels safe in Alpha. No, it goes much deeper than that. Steve realizes then, that she actively feels like she’s going to be attacked at any moment, and because of it, she’s-

“Lydia, you’ve mentioned that Matt is training you. He’s teaching you how to fight. How’s that going?”

Because above all else, Steve’s first instinct is to identify the problem, and see if he can do anything to help her. He doesn’t know Matt’s fighting style, at least not beyond what he can barely remember from what he’d read about Daredevil in the papers back home, but if he’s going about teaching Lydia the right way, then it means he’s showing her some combination of practical moves alongside a basic foundation to make sure she can dodge and gain endurance. Beginners are usually taught to feint and to run. Steve might be able to teach her something else.

Faith and hope are tricky things, because having them takes a lot more effort and energy than Lydia's had lately, but losing them can be a dangerous thing. Not all faith is lost to Lydia, of course; she's learning to fight. She's commissioned weapons. She's opened a shop that a decent client base has been built within, so that's always something. But it's not always enough.

"I'm learning. I'm all right at it, but I'm not amazing. I think the biggest problem with learning to fight from Matt is that our schedules don't really allow us a whole lot of time to work on it. We do what we can, but..." her voice trails off and she shrugs, frowning. It's not enough. Nothing in this place is ever enough. He works really hard with her, but without time to really dedicate to it properly, Lydia feels like she's making a slow progress.

Her brow creases a little and she looks down. "Right now, honestly, I've got enough in me to fight off someone maybe Matt-sized, but if someone built like you or more than one person came at me, I'd be fucked," she says bluntly.

He listens, waiting to see if what he’s imagined matches with the type of training she’s getting, and sure enough, there it is. If someone his size came after her, she wouldn’t be able to take them down.

“You don’t have to be.” Fucked, that is. But that word isn’t coming out of Steve Roger’s mouth.

Still, his response is said without any change in tone, and his eyes are looking at her with only the slightest hesitation — once he teaches something like this, it can’t be untaught. And yet, if he can help her, Steve thinks, if he can arm her with this, she might feel a little safer.

“Give me your hand?” he asks, as he puts his own hand out, palm up.

Lydia's brow creases with initial confusion before she realizes what he's saying. He's just avoiding the curse word, but once she recognizes that, she knows what he's trying to say. "No?" she prompts when he's quiet for a moment after.

When Steve asks for her hand, Lydia doesn't hesitate. She's curious, of course, but she trusts Steve. He's one of the few here that she knows she can trust. Unless they alter him somehow without his permission, he's always going to be someone that the Specials can all rely on, whether they know it or not.

"What are you teaching me here?" she wonders aloud.

Ultimately, it comes down to the fact that he trusts her too. They’ve been through a lot together, but it’s not just that. He trusts her to make good decisions.

“One move, for self defense. But it’s-“ His lips thin for a moment before he finishes. “-it’s ruthless.” Steve’s eyes move momentarily down to their hands when he feels hers resting on top of his, but it comes back up to ask this question. “Do you want to learn it?”

Admittedly, his warning is more intriguing to Lydia than it probably has any right to be. She's desperate for anything to make her feel more stable on her own two feet here; anything that will make her feel more in control than she does right now. Then again, that's not saying much. She's never feeling terribly in control anymore, if she's being honest.

"Honey, if you think I plan on using literally anything I've learned from Matt for an offense rather than a defense, you don't know me at all," she points out to remind him that his trust isn't being misplaced. Lydia has the feeling that he's more worried that he just has to mention this shouldn't be her go-to for his own peace of mind more than out of concern that she will abuse the knowledge, so she's not offended by it.

So she nods. "Show me."

He grins, just a little, in appreciation of her confidence. She’s right that he is struggling with the idea of teaching this at all, but the reason he asks her that question is a little different.

“It’s not that I think you’ll start using it to hurt people. I know you wouldn’t. But it takes a toll sometimes, on the mind, to be willing to attack someone like this.”

But soon enough, he’s guiding her hand up to his neck, gently, so it’s not too surprising when he uses both his hands to position her fingertips to rest gently on top of his throat.

“As I start talking, can you feel where it vibrates?” It should be a clear and distinct sensation that immediately isolates his throat from the muscles and tissue that surround it.

Lydia takes a deep breath and lets it out in a soft sigh. She hasn't talked to him a lot about home, but some of the things she's seen and done...well. "I think I'll be okay. Let's hope I don't ever have to bother using it, but honestly if I have to do something ugly to stay alive, I'll deal with the ugly thing later."

Steve's moving her hand and her eyes are on his face until he stops to speak again. At that point, her eyes shift down to her fingers against his throat and already, she's got a bad feeling about where this is going, because most people probably don't realize just how vulnerable that part of the body can be. Lydia doesn't have to be an expert to know that, though. It's largely unprotected bone; it's literally the windpipe.

Her eyes move back to his face and she swallows thickly, nodding and attempting to keep her expression open but neutral. "Yes," she says to acknowledge it aloud, her way of prodding him to continue.

Daycycle 122 [ January 15 - January 21]

daycycle 122

[Jan 15 - Jan 21]

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