#viscerarotw

[brokenmagxc]

@viscerarotw ( plotted !! )

the house breathes. that's the only way arthur can describe it. wet wood inhales humidity and exhales old rot, then something sweet and spoiled tucked under the wallpaper like a second pulse. dulvey heat clings to the back of his neck, but inside the house the air is cold enough to make his fingers ache around the flashlight. somewhere above him, a floorboard creaks under no obvious weight.

he should have turned back three rooms ago.

the first officer never made his second check-in. the second unit lasted twelve minutes. by the time ethan winters’ message reached a federal desk, someone had already decided this was not a missing persons case anymore. not officially. or, at least, not with anything they wanted written down before arthur stood inside it and proved them right.

he takes another step in, accepting his fate grimly as some not-metaphorical-enough last line. then he sees her. a woman pale in the dark, wrong-footed and breathing, almost more alive than the uncertainty surrounding them. arthur’s gun lifts on instinct, then lowers an inch when his eyes find her face. the brown of them flickers gold at the edges. not enough to light the room. enough to betray him.

“ mia winters ?? ” he calls, his voice is soft and careful around the edges. there's something almost apologetic in the pull of a frown across his face. he recognizes her from the photos. then, for one sharp second, thinks he doesn't recognize her at all.

“ my name is arthur branham. i’m with the bureau. ethan sent people looking for you. ” a pause. his gaze drops to her hands, then to the dark behind her. the unease grows mold between them. “ i’m one of the people they sent after the others didn’t come back. ”

something knocks once inside the wall. arthur does not look away from her.

“ i need you to tell me something, ” he says, quieter now. “ is there anything in this house that can sound like you ?? ”

[redemptioninterlude]

i ruin everything i touch.

SUBJECT: prompts for the heavy hearted meme NOTIFY: @viscerarotw REGARDING: mia winters

there's a part of ada that wonders where her drive has gone. mia, who at first seemed all but frothing for the idea of her family, seemed of late to be more mild, subdued. as if something were on her mind and RAGING, to mute the rest of her so severely. but was that for ada to dig into? she could have. she might have. if her brief attempts weren't met with aggression, at least, ada's brows in those moments only ever rising, before she simply stepped back and away. she didn't tolerate that sort of thing willingly.

and yes. that was even with her knowing mia as she did, as a woman before her work with the connections set her on a CRASH COURSE within her life and marriage. sometimes, choices were made within life that veered it into directions one couldn't anticipate. "why do you do it, then?" she'd asked mia once to no answer. what was it that she really wanted? maybe mia couldn't answer that, her head hanging ,the question, she was sure, not one she'd been left with for the first time.

still, she's somewhat surprised when a few days later into their travel, mia was looking at her, grim and her mouth made firm. she wanted to talk, and ada, well, instead of being flippant and going finally or rolling eyes or generally returning the moody responses she got to begin with, simply say down, gesturing for the other woman to sit if she wanted to. she was listening. perhaps that being the DANGEROUS PART.

i ruin everything i touch.

"so then... WHAT? you assume that choosing to push everyone else around to away, and to keep them at arm's length will somehow keep them safe?" your husband, your daughter, your friends, me... ada doesn't say that part, letting her words settle as they were. "do you think that punishing yourself like that is going to keep them safe? because i'll tell you now, mia, from here, it looks like you're torturing yourself and them with the same brushstroke. only you can determine if that's what you're really intended to do here." in which, if she did? perhaps she wasn't so far off with her own statement...

[collude]

@viscerarotw // ♡

a dense coil of wind from outside scours the worst of the burning metal stench from the air,  but cannot do the same for his clothing,  for his hair,  for his skin.  furnace heat blooms in slow pulses and the ceaseless red - amber glow of molten iron seeds a novel sort of headache that instructs him never again to wish for warmer light.  well,  this should be the last time he ever has to stand in this shit,  on the bright side.  should be.  heisenberg knows he’s holding the better hand,  but a better hand has never once stopped a game from going sideways. 

he had been waiting.  he put up signs  —  generous of him,  really.  large,  unambiguous,  and though he’s reasonably certain someone as sharp as her doesn’t need the arrows,  they did make the path obvious,  which is the point.  he’s in a helpful mood. 

“ mrs.  winters, ”    he greets,   “ you know,  the bsaa have a very interesting file on you. ” 

getting his hands on one of their laptop had been almost embarrassingly easy   —  they'd just left the thing out and open  ( to be fair,  they likely weren’t expecting one of the lords to be a renegade.  probably assumed he’d be just like the rest: territorial,  isolated,  content to guard his assigned flask and keep to himself,  no interest in scraping up whatever info he could ).  the official rundown of what occurred at the baker property painted her husband,  the star of the show,  as a fundamentally average urban man thrust into extraordinary circumstances.  nothing in his background suggested combat training or weapons expertise. 

really,  the bsaa seemed far more interested in his wife as a subject of investigation.  mia winters,  from what heisenberg could gather,  honestly facilitated the entire horrific incident in the first place! an operative for a shadowy organization that buys and sells bioweapons.  which is what they labeled the village residents,  which is what he is too,  he supposes  —  a bioweapon. 

now,  sensible people typically do not goad those they’re trying to seek help from.    

heisenberg is not a sensible person. 

“ it must hurt,  right? ”    he continues,   “ you think you finally get to leave all that behind you,  but it just keeps finding you.  just keeps coming back to bite you in the ass,  huh? ” 

[channel3]

@viscerarotw Liked for a starter

“I believe you”, Billy says. He’s kind. Gentle.

He isn’t kind. Nor is he gentle. He really is a jagged piece of diamond -- and he can cut deep. But he can act like something that is soft and caring. He can be anything to get to the meat of what he wants.

Her story is insane on every level – but he knows insane. He’s met insane, and not just the kind that needs hefty doses of medication to tame. He’s seen things. Things she probably wouldn’t believe herself – or perhaps she would. Who knows.

[ofhope]

❝ do you like it here? ❞ / to ashley!!

At first, Ashley ventures on a 'no.' It's hypocrisy, isn't it, framed as honesty--Ashley's been dragged along to every building with a clinical setting, everything sterilized and smelling vaguely of rubbing alcohol, the click of mechanical pens and fake laughter filling the ear of every occupant unfortunate enough to work in such a setting. It's uncomfortable, enough to threaten a seized throat, but it's territory she recognizes; even if Ashley's largely unaware of that operations go on, here.

It's... she's thankful for it, she thinks, having company in this environment. She's given up on seeking faces she's familiarized with, even if some names come to the surface. Read about in old documents, maybe. None are figureheads, thank god, but instead are disinterested faces in oversized white, plasticy coats, asking questions she's answered a couple hundred times now, all underlined with... not quite a threat. Something close, but less commitment, less ties. Less of a paper trail.

All facets Ashley's not grown to love, not grown to hate, but learned to live with. A six month checkup, flashlights to her veins, pupil dilations, scans, X-rays... it's less time consuming than it was those first couple trips.

Before she could return to a life of moderate normalcy, a voice ceases her footsteps. Do you like it here? — she whips her head, and doesn't see someone with a clipboard and pencil, eyeing her with a look meant to be neutral, but instead comes off as nothing. Ashley doesn't see that, though... in that blank space, there is someone not too much younger - older? - than her, eyes tired, posture restrained.

... She's been through it too.

"Debatably," Ashley comes around to saying, finally solidifying the idea that 'no' is, probably, a bit too realistic for such a vulnerable question. "I've never liked doctors. It's worse when they aren't, like, normal doctors, and instead work in this sort of--weird off-shoot field. Infection specialists, I guess? Government backed infection specialists sounds close."

Ashley hopes this comes across as everyday conversation. She's used to it not being that, though.

"Um - what are you in for? Were you...? Infected with something too?"

[dspndncy]

@viscerarotw wrote in the files: Then this thing turned out so evil; I don't know why I'm still surprised. / for maven!

they all want to do better  ——  that's why they've even bothered fighting this organization, right?    why there's organizations dedicated to bringing umbrella to its knees, exposing the secrets that still lurk in the darkness?     sometimes maven thinks that it's what keeps them all going.     the seeking vengeance, the biting back to make sure that they're heard.      at least that's always been her sort of mantra; if she keeps repeating it to herself long enough, maybe she'll believe she's worthy of redemption.     

her tongue presses against her cheek as she watches the woman.      mia is battling something far darker than what maven had  ——  she can't imagine the fact that she's begun to have her family torn apart just because she had been following her orders.    but it's also not a surprise to her that this has all turned so sinister.    she has never met any part of umbrella that was ever made of pure intentions and nothing more than hollow selfishness.

fingers tap idly against her knee as she leans back in her chair, watching the sample being analyzed on the computer screen.     her eyes burn and there's an anxiousness in the air around them; she wonders if it'll ever not feel like this, knowing that there's more out there that umbrella has undoubtedly touched.

"nothing with umbrella will ever turn out to have a happy ending."    voice is quiet, but it isn't cruel.     it's a simple fact that she has learned.      "that doesn't mean that you can't choose a happy ending, though."

[plagasaved]

plotted starter 、 from ( here ) * @viscerarotw.

when Ashley had been briefed on her first official solo task ... she wasn't quite sure what to expect , straight out to the field ? or had it been too soon , did they trust her enough ? questions swirled as soon as she was called over. it was dumb to think that way but when she had first fully committed to taking the agent route ... well speculation had been clear in hesitant gazes exchanged & a chuckle escaping one of the agents who must have thought she was joking.

only for awkward silence to fall when she did not humour it. now here she was on her way to the rural location , bright optics scanned the files handed over flipping to the next page , memorizing. ( * there had been a lot to go through from newspaper extracts and more providing a clear timeline of events that taken place to the R&D reports , to all information provided by Mia. ) Ashley hadn't been so surprised anymore , the clear directions of keeping a close eye had made sense.

to dull any possibility, of threats arising in result of what had been shared which was high in nature of the case. she had been determined to prove herself , that this was something she was able to do. she figured the first step was to introduce herself : palms rubbing at tired closed hues from the jetlag ( * which she had hoped wasn't so clear with the concealer dabbed under the lids to hid it slightly )

" hello , I'm agent graham. I believe you already been informed of my arrival. I thought we'd have a chat , to familiarize ourselves with each other." air of professionalism to the tone , the one she had heard many times before contrasting with the polite warm smile offered as Mia let her in with an offer of a warm mug of coffee which she would not refuse. " you must have some questions right ? "

[dspndncy]

@viscerarotw wrote in the files: there's no such thing as promises. / for luis!

he's been around long enough to know that it's never so cut and dry when it comes to organizations like this.     there are far too many things at stake and parts that are moving behind the scenes.      whatever is happening with ethan isn't normal at all  ——  he's seen some of the files that have come through, has looked at the megamycete underneath his telescoped and tried to track the properties of it.     whatever is in ethan's veins isn't something natural, and personally he doesn't know how much of the man is actually the man anymore.     it feels like it works similar to the las plagas, but this feels a little more sinister, a little less mind control and a little more complete take over of the host.

tongue presses up against his cheek for a long moment before he lets out a harsh breath through his nose.     "no, i suppose there isn't.     but that doesn't mean that we make promises that we can't keep time and time again.     it's human nature, even if it's a fucked up version of it."      luis shrugs his shoulders before he leans back against his desk, palm spread across the manilla folder that holds way too many chemical formulas and make ups for him to properly ever understand.

"but you have to understand.    there might not even be a man in there that you can save.     whatever this is, whatever has taken over him, he might not even be in there anymore."      luis hates this part of his work  ——  the part that can't consolidate saving people and the impossible.     but he supposes that that's why leon has chosen him for his team, why he still remains in the good graces of the BSAA even though he was former umbrella.     "are you sure you want to even try?"