To Look Back
continued from x with @minvtesnotice
She accepted the beer with a tired, though not exactly sleepy smile. Since finding herself stranded here in this place, this time, Ivy has come to learn the difference. Everyone is tired, right down to their bones, all the time. Tired of fighting. Struggling. Surviving. Tired of everything. But nobody ever really seems to sleep. It’s a fitful, elusive thing that comes and goes without any real substance. Sometimes, it’s just better not to bother with it.
Like tonight, when apparently she wasn’t the only one haunted by spectres from a long-dead world. Her smile faded at the mention of Silas’ wife, along with thoughts of Isobel, her parents, and all the people she’d left behind. Sometimes it was easy to forget that she wasn’t the only one who had fallen victim to bizarre, science-fiction levels of fate. The General had also found himself effectively yanked from his world -- their world, really, having come from the exact safe timeline -- and plunged headlong into a nightmarish new reality. And, like her, for so long he’d had to go it alone. But unlike her, he made no real secret of his circumstances. Cryogenics was a bit outlandish, sure, but well within the realm of possibility. But time travel? Accidental time travel? That seemed to stretch people’s credulity a little more. So she had decided, for the time being, to keep that part to herself. Aside from a select few, all anyone knew about Dr. Ivy Marshall is that she grew up in a Vault and only recently emerged to practice her trade on the surface. When people asked why she left, she kept the details vague enough that she could bullshit her way through any scrutiny.
Hearing Silas talk now about his wife, however, it was tempting to rethink her stance. If anyone could believe her story, surely it was him? She chewed her lip in thought before forcing herself to tune back in and process his words. It wasn’t every day that the General chose to open up to someone, after all.
“I know what you mean,” she offered softly, sipping the warm beer with practiced ease. “I lost my sister. My other half, really. Twins, you know? We came into this world together, and part of me...I guess I always figured somehow we’d leave it together too. And now most of the time I’m walking around like...’why her’? Why not me? She was...just...she was so special. A really kind, genuine soul. And I’m. Well.”
She trailed off, letting her gaze wander out into the dark a moment before she directed them back at Silas with a sad half-smile. “But I guess we don’t get to ask ourselves those kinds of questions. No matter how unfair it all seems.”
