Hell is empty and all the devils are here

coffee. lucia needed to remind herself that the offer was just coffee. a beverage brewed by roasted beans. soothing to most. energizing. there was an invisible string tied somewhere to the offer...to the woman in front of her. to the eye, harmless. to lucia... well, there was no true defining of what she always felt creeping upon her. denial was a better life. her eyes avoided marking reminders on her body. out of sight out of mind. to her, in that state felt safe.

"it is a possibility. i'll have to have colette keep an eye out for ellie. drop offs are usually quick for me." it was tough to not allow her own distance to effect her daughter. luce just couldn't find herself to ease into the whispers. the moment they began, she'd leave. "can't say i'm on any booster list.." even now, lucia felt as if eyes of patrons were on them. even if reality made that sense false. the wilderness cracked a deep part of the woman.

"has ellie asked about...anything pertaining?" colette had. there was curiosity in the lifted skin that scared her mother's body. questions of why lucia felt negatively about flying anywhere. her senses of panic. the rooted triggers. children were innocent to worry and fear, and lucia hated how much she cut off from her daughter because of it. therapy had been an outlet that never felt tangible to peace. "it's all a tough navigation."

#m; elyse monroe #w; lucia hubert #timeline; adulthood

"Right..." At least the local school system wasn't marred with memories - though, perhaps it was by association. It was the local college that they'd all attended that had shipped them off and thrust them all into that disaster. And so many of them had graduated from the same school system her daughter would be attending...

Shaking away her train of thought she refocused on Luce, denying the words she was saying. "No, no. She hasn't asked any questions pertaining --" But then she stopped abruptly, sucking in a quick breath. There had been questions, hadn't there? Things that felt as if they shouldn't pertain at all to Elyse's past and yet her life was so entangled with it and what had happened that...well, all questions did relate to it in some way, didn't it? Why didn't mommy sleep? Why did mommy zone out sometimes? Staring out into space, lost in the trees - back there but physically here...

"I guess, a little bit. But not specifically about...that. As she gets older though...kids talk. They hear things. What if someone says something to her and she gets curious..." If she was anything like her mother she'd start looking for answers on her own soon enough. Now that was a scary picture she was painting. "I guess it would just be another hurdle to navigate over..."

survivcrss

Who: Elyse / @wiilderncss Where: Elyse's Home

She knows she should've called before just showing up to her house, but Esme liked the element of surprise - to see the girls' reactions when she gave them a surprise visit. Always wanting something and refusing to leave with empty hands. Having returned back to town, with a purpose of collecting as much information as she could from any of the girls, she wondered how Elyse would react when she opened the door. If she opened the door. Ringing the doorbell, it was at the sight of fellow blonde locks she perked up. ''Hi there stranger, do be so kind to let an old friend in. I'm wounded, see,'' she had wrapped a makeshift bandage around her hand, having cut herself this morning. By accident or on purpose? A way of provoking sympathy of a well respected nurse, maybe. ''You wouldn't leave someone bleeding on your doorstep, would you, Elyse?''

#m; elyse monroe #w; esmeralda thornwood #timeline; adulthood #//sorry this took me 87 years

There would always be a connection between Elyse and the girls who had been out there in the wilderness. The survivors Elyse had made it her business to look after, keep tabs on. Those that were lost were never far from her mind, constantly plaguing her dreams, nagging at her consciousness. The things they'd done to survive. The thing that had happened to the others out there, the ones who hadn't made it...

And of course, there were waves of impacts. Even if Elyse thought that those who had suffered out in the wilderness deserved to keep their secrets clutched close to their chests, she knew it wasn't entirely fair to the others who never got real answers. Esmeralda, of course, was one of those that clung on ever since the girls had returned, short one particular name on a long list. She probably deserved an explanation more than others did - but not one of them had unzipped their tight lips with real answers. A plane crash. Survival. That was all there was to the story.

"Esme? What are you -" Elyse started when she opened the door to find a familiar face standing on her steps, though she was just as quickly distracted by the bandaged hand held before her. "What happened? Why are you -- here? You should be going to the hospital!" The hospital would be the logical place to address such a situation, or an urgent care, or some sort of healthcare facility and not you estranged former friend's doorstep. It immediately put Elyse on her guard regarding the journalist's true intentions. But she also very well couldn't just turn her away..right?

w-ico

#visage; elyse monroe

the stars were counted lucky when lucia's eyes saw the liver was clear of any white lesions. no spots of danger to place the meat between their lips. "the joints — right." a curt nod. elyse cleared some of the fog that pooled the blondes mind. there was a mess before her. stained sticky. pressing the tip of the knife, "everything will be of use." she thought rationally. not slipping into the delusion of hope that rescue would be running to their feet by dusk. "do you want to clean..." the skin — lucia looked over to the stripped pile. " a metallic gamey scent felt continuously seeping into her pores. lucia took a small breath, certain that there was a comfortability with elyse helping when most couldn't mask reaction if they tried. one team member ran away crying at the sight of the animal lay limp on the wooden slab. lucia didn't love it either, but she was fine with stepping up to make the tougher actions. the alternative was to starve.

#m; elyse monroe #w; lucia hubert #timeline; the wilderness

"Easier than trying to uhm - you know. Hack through bone." She figured it might be self explanatory why the joints would be easiest to cut through, comparatively. But maybe it wasn't. After all, none of them should have to think about such things. Elyse liked her meals to be very clearly not sitting on her plate smiling up at her. Or screaming.

She shook away the thoughts, refocusing on Lucia's words when she spoke again. "Yeah, yeah. Okay..." She said tentatively, approaching the crime scene a bit skeptically before picking up the first piece that had been stripped from the bone. They might need to think about what else they'd need in the future... As Lucia said, everything would be of use. They just might not know for what yet. Like furs to keep warm in the winter. The thought nearly brought tears to her eyes. Would they still be out here come winter? Alone? Surviving?

She cleared her throat, glancing over at Lucia as she set to work. "Did you, um - how did you learn to do this? Or are you just...winging it?" A thought occurs to her, brings a smile to her lips instead of tears to her eyes. Or maybe a mixture of both. "My dad used to take me fishing when I was little. I never really liked even taking the fish off the hook - but I did like throwing them back in the water and watching them swim away. Anyway - my dad would always keep some to skin and clean and I never wanted to do it myself but...you pick up a thing or two just by watching." Was she talking too much? Being too weird? She was being so weird...Lucia was probably going to look at her like she was a nutcase.

Chloe smiled warmly, not knowing how to really begin to thank Elyse. "Well either way thank you. It's nice not being alone." Because Chloe had felt alone for a long time now. Longer than any twin should have to feel. But in a fucked up way she was used to that feeling and it was a surprise that there were people who didn't want her to feel like that.

"Exactly!" She said with an encouraging smile. "Honestly I don't know. Maybe not like camping useful but definitely some things we can probably get creative with to help us. Like maybe some products could be used as first aide or something?" Chloe offered not really knowing what to expect in everyone's luggage. "Hey I'll definitely take books, we can have a fun story time. I'm sad to say I left my map of these mountains at home, I didn't think we'd need them." She laughed a bit, clearly joking. "I do have both a sewing and first aid kit. Not exactly the most prepared but could be worse I guess."

#m; elyse monroe #w; chloe harrington #timeline; the crash #//should we wrap for something new? <3

"Hey, a sewing and first aid kit could definitely com in handy." Even if it was a simple travel size, the sewing kit could be used...well, for closing up wounds if they were severe enough to need to be stitched back together. Or in a less morbid thought, patching up clothing to keep them warm. A first aid kit was rather self explanatory and Elyse doubted Chloe packed one that had significant contents. "You never know when some antiseptic spray might make all the difference."

"Well, what do you think about campfire songs?" she asks after a moment, eyes staring into the dancing flames as they flickered in and out of existence. The statement's seriousness was betrayed by a small smile on her lips. Even amongst friends Elyse wasn't sure she could get up the courage to start singing in this moment. "Or maybe ghost stories might be more...fitting."

survivcrss

She wanted to move forward immediately, now her sister was safe she needed to check upon the others. Like working down a checklist - her sister was alive and well enough to make it out by herself, check - what about Clara? She needed to go find Clara or Chloe or Holly..... un-check? There was an obstacle holding her back. The hand around her arm kept her from pursuing her next objective which caused her to have a short brain error as she stared into her sister's eyes. Lips parted, she needed a moment to regain her posture. Seconds ticked away, but they felt like an eternity. As the smoke got thicker and the fire didn't hesitate to spread.

''A-are you sure? I...I...'' hesitation trickled through her voice, her gaze went past Tessa to check if she still saw anyone move through the smoke. There was nothing, not a sound of anyone coughing or screaming for help, no fire licking away at someone still fighting for their life, even though she liked to believe she saw something move in the smoke. Her own brain liked to play tricks on her, in this moment of panic, of survival and feeling helpless. ''Okay, c'mon,'' she urged Tessa to follow her as she took her hand in hers, turning towards where the exit would be. ''Cover your mouth, use your shirt or your sleeve and follow me!'' An itch ached in her throat as she talked, inhaling the smoke, causing her to cough as she covered her own mouth with her sleeve. Her eyes watered which made it harder to see.

Just a few more rows, she told herself, she had just moved past the exit moments ago before stumbling into her little sister, it shouldn't be far now. Not letting go of her sister's hand, she only clung tighter to her, afraid that if she let go now - something awful would happen. ''Watch your step,'' Juliet said muffled through her sleeve, turning her face to point towards a suitcase blocking their path, to make sure Tessa wouldn't stumble over the obstacle. She supported her either way, didn't let go of her hand until they were out and away from the crime scene. Barely registering what had happened, she needed a moment to breathe again. Properly breathe. Her hands on her knees as she coughed to rid her lungs from all the smoke she'd inhaled.

When she felt like she could breathe again, her watery eyes first focused on Tes again, her hand finding her sister's shoulder to bring her comfort. To let her know she was still here. ''Hey, Tes, breathe okay. I'm here. I'm going to need to check on you, you're bleeding....''

#m; tessa liddle #w; juliet liddle #timeline; the crash

No, she wasn't sure. She wanted to get out of here this fucking minute, run screaming from the scene, pinch herself and wake up from this horrible, horrible dream. But it wasn't a dream, was it? There was a part of her that recognized this was another tragedy she'd have to face head on. So the line of her jaw set as she pressed her lips together, nodding firmly in a way that portrayed far more strength and self assurance than she felt. She couldn't leave her sister behind because...because....what if something happened to her in that time? And she wasn't there to help her? "I'm not leaving without you."

Tessa followed Juliet's instructions, her free hand pulling at the front of her shirt to at least help filter the smoke from getting to her lungs, or delude them both into thinking it would help in any significant way. Her eyes searched over the damaged plane (what remained of it), and skipped over bodies. Bodies. Dead teammates and friends because there was no way they were still breathing, not even struggling to get themselves out of whatever ordeal had taken their lives away. They couldn't be saved even if Tessa knew what to do about any of it - Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck ---

She hadn't even heard the words Juliet spoke, almost tripping over the suitcase in question before catching herself and stumbling over it in a more uncoordinated fashion than was typical.

When the fresh air opened up around them Tessa sucked in a full breath of air, not realizing how much she needed it. She swallowed past the scratchiness in her throat, looked around at the chaos that surrounded them...perhaps almost worse than what they'd just left behind in the plane. "What, what?" She blinked, looking at her sister when her hand touched her shoulder, stabilizing. Then she brushed it off a moment later with a shrug.

"No, I'm...I'm fine. It's nothing - I - I need to...I need to find them. Maia and Em-Emery and Leni and Fern and Ch-Chloe and Holly and --" There were so many names coming to her tongue, all the girls on the team she'd just seen moments before but could be...well, anywhere now. "I have to find them all. I have to - they have to be okay..." But they weren't. Not all of them. She knew that much.

sophiethatchersource

SOPHIE THATCHER as Becky Monroe WHEN THE STREETLIGHTS GO ON (2020)

#visage; tessa liddle

The moment Aspen brought him into a hug, Hawthorn immediately held them tight. The tears came just as quickly and there was no stopping them even if Hawthorn wanted to. He needed his big sibling more than anything. Aspen was always there for him when things were tough and frankly, Hawthorn couldn't think of a time that was tougher than right now.

With a quick sniff, Hawthorn immediately pulled back and tried to wipe the tears from his eyes. "It was all my fault. I begged her to switch with me so I can have the window seat." Ever since the crash it was playing in his mind over and over again like some sick twisted record that wanted him to suffer every moment he lived on without his twin. "I had to..." He trailed off trying to gain the courage to talk about it. "I was stuck, I had to crawl over her."

#m; aspen d'amico #w; hawthorn d'amico #timeline; the crash

"No, c'mon - it's not your fault. Don't think like that. Sometimes things...bad things just happen." And even if it somehow was related to where they were sitting in that exact moment that Fern ended up dying in the crash, Aspen didn't like thinking that way. It made it seem as if no matter what at least one of their siblings would be gone. Maybe the fact that Fern was sitting there instead of in the window meant that her death was swift instead of painful. As much as it hurt to think about in general, Aspen wanted to cling to the thought that she didn't suffer.

Aspen reached out to brush a tear from their brother's cheek. They couldn't begin to imagine what it meant to have to climb over their twin sibling's body, to leave her behind in the wreckage because she was no longer breathing. "I'm...I'm sorry, Hawthorn. We'll go back for her...when things settle down. In the morning, maybe? We'll go back for her and give her a proper funeral. Say...say goodbye and tell her how much we love her..."

peanuts were dry. earthy. left an unpleasant film on the tongue, and pieces stuck in teeth. nothing in which felt enticing to lucia. her nose wouldn't stick up to them if it was what hunger desired. a picky palate was silenced for survival. there was no map of destiny laid out in front of them, but the blonde was certain whatever was to come, she'd survive this. "we fell from the sky." the obvious. it was still shocking to think about. "talk about nuts."

who said the french didn't have any humor? even if lucia had skirted over a dry tone. she imagined the american within her kept her loose from anything too poised. attention pulled, "biscoff cookies?" the back of lucia's tongue began to water. "god, i love cookie butter." she sighed now understanding how weak she was to a small snack. easily won over by buttery biscuits. "i had a notebook in my bag." she journaled. sometimes wrote terrible things about some of her teammates she observed. how whiny some of them could be. how many times edith looked like she wanted to punch something, or kiss them? confusing. she noted how many times hazel's eyes got teary from her inability to take criticism. girl seemed terrified of living.

fingers reached above to a tattered piece of aviation. "nothing but a pollen allergy. afraid it's mellow. though, i once inhaled a dandelion sharply and it nearly knocked me down." curiosity. "you?" fingers flicked the material again as if her mind was working out how to make use of it. if need be. looking to them at the mention of caviar, "don't make me ill." she warned gently. fish eggs. "who in their right mind discovered to eat such a thing....and then the cost of it? completely feral.... which, you're going to make me if you keep carrying on about food."

#m; aspen d'amico #w; lucia hubert #timeline; the crash

Aspen blinks, processing her morbid joke for a beat or two before a smile cracks across their expression and a snort escapes them. "You're right...that is nuts." The fact that their plane had crash landed in the middle of nowhere. The fact that they were still alive, somehow. And that their sister wasn't - and plenty of others on the team. The flight crew. It was strangely easier to make jokes about it than actually accept the fact of their reality. To recognize that things had irreparably changed in their life.

"Yeah! Those are the ones. Biscoff. What even is cookie butter - it has no right to be so good. And how can a cookie be cookie butter flavored? or does cookie butter come from the cookie and it's just...the same flavor? I dunno. Some kind of weird chicken or the egg theory? What came first, the cookie or the cookie butter?"

Aspen shrugged. "I think I'm allergic to bees. Or, you know, as a kid I got stuck once and it hurt like a bitch and blew up all swollen real fast, and I haven't tested the theory again. Rather not find out, you know? Best to just leave them to their pollinating." When she mentions that continuing to discuss food would make her completely feral, Aspen laughs - but then nods a bit in acceptance of her point. "That's fair. Hopefully we'll be out of here before we have to learn the difference between delicious and poisonous ourselves. If you manage to track down that notebook though - let me know? Might be worth to have something to keep track of...I dunno, important stuff? If you'd be willing to part with it momentarily, anyway."

"Yeah me neither. I figured they were old enough to take care of themselves." And Clara suddenly felt guilty, guilty that she couldn't help them more. "Which goes to show that we need non peanut snacks on planes!" But she was hopeful that some of the kids had a variety of snacks for everyone to share.

Clara watched Aspen carefully, trying to see if they were really okay with everything they have been through. She hummed softly and nodded her head. "I know but you need to take some time too. For you and Hawthorn." Clara said gently, not wanting to completely push. She was always going to be there for them and wanted Aspen to see it too. "I get it though. Sometimes it's easier to worry about everyone else than it is yourself." Case in point they noticed Clara limping and she didn't want to worry about it. "Just slightly. It's nothing I'm fine." She lied as her knee was screaming at her.

#m; aspen d'amico #w; clara lopez #timeline; the crash #//this is probably nonsensical because I just stream of consciousness wrote stuff and I'm not going back to reread it #//but hopefully it makes some sense

"Definitely. I'm surprised actually that peanuts have been so wildly popularized on planes. Is it just now becoming a more widely suffered and dangerous allergy? Or has it always been that way and the plane people just thought, 'eh, worth the risk?'" Did anyone even really like a small packet of peanuts on a flight? As if that satisfied...But that was besides the point. Whatever they had packed or was available on the plane might be what they'd be surviving off of for the next day or two. But they wouldn't be here long. Surely.

Aspen's head bobs in a nod of agreement and appreciation. They would have to think about Fern and the fact that they'd never hear her laugh or see her play again... or anything. She was just...gone. In the blink of an eye. Or, they supposed, the crash of a plane.

"I uh. Yeah. Not sure I'm well equipped to deal with...that. Or any of this." Their hand waves through the air to encompass their entire scenario and the fact that the two of them were the responsible parties left to try and pick up the pieces. As if Aspen had ever really had any control over this team in the first place - but they'd always been good to them and vice versa. But still, none of them were ready for the tests they'd be put through.

Their eyes flicked over Clara, from her knee and back to her face, before they simply nodded. "As long as you're not about to keel over on me any minute, I'm fine with pretending it's nothin' until we get back home. I'm no doctor, I have no idea what to do about it if you are hurt bad, honestly. But I'm hoping you're not."

luce held uncertainty about her appearance as well. thought she had years stacked upon years of folding herself away from the past. to stay tucked in the shadows of her former self, and the life that came with it. the woman was timid with however the conversation would go. she could hold her own strength, but it was the inner damage she was scared of. how the night would grow and leave her awake with old wounds. "awhile, yes." it had been.

luce had avoided routes that would lead her to this one. face to face. elyse. she looked good. life had graced their later years, but tragedy always felt near. like static to her finger tips. "you know, i work at the rehabilitation center down from the hospital." how close she'd been for years, yet kept her distance. lucia supposed she finally gave in to what felt like inevitability. a small smile tugged, just slightly. "think i've seen you at a distance a few times." faint recognitions. "what can i say? i've been well." better than their past. "i have a daughter." a topic that softened the woman. "five. just took interest in soccer. you can imagine the whispers from other parents." as if lucia was some plague. "tried to get her to gravitate to ballet but she doesn't seem interested in keeping her knees dirt free."

#m; elyse monroe #w; lucia hubert #timeline; adulthood

For a while, Elyse had distanced herself from the wilderness. She'd ducked her head into her studies, finished up her degrees, focused on residency and her job. Made a family. But there was something always nagging in the back of her mind about the others, a need to seek them out. Some of them were quicker to come around than others. She understood wanting to shut it out. And yet...the wilderness still whispered.

"I thought I heard that. Small world, I guess. We should get coffee before shift sometime." So many of them had stayed around home when they could have gone far, far away from all possible attachments and memories. At the mention of a child Elyse's smile pulls wider, true. "A daughter. Me too, just a little older at six. I wonder if they'll be in the same class? It feels like Ellie just started..." Elyse tries to remember the names on the class roster, the parents that has been trying to hide their sideways glances when they learned of her past. That, or it was all in her head. "The soccer thing is ... tricky. I haven't really steered her one way or the other, I figure if she's interested in it I won't be able to stop her from heading in that direction, too. I just wish it was easier to keep her from all that, you know? As they grow up...how much are they going to hear? How much will they want to know?"

h0llyalexander

The more Tessa yelled at her, the more Holly felt resistance inside. Because Tessa's words were going against everything she'd ever been taught. Money was supposed to fix everything. Without it, things simply seemed...hopeless. She couldn't accept that. "Fine", she sniffled, wiping away some of her tears as she leaned down to pick up a few of the sticks they'd already gathered. It felt truly useless to her, how were these measly little pieces of wood supposed to keep everyone warm all night? But she could tell that Tessa was losing her patience. Her irate tone kind of reminded Holly of some of the arguments she used to have with her older sister and she couldn't bring herself to protest too much. It didn't matter, Tessa would see. They would all see, the helicopter was going to come rescue them. Holly was sure of it. "I don't care if you don't believe me", she insisted, but didn't stop gathering wood until all of the pieces were back in her arms. "Fate is on my side anyway."

#m; tessa liddle #w; holly alexander #timeline; the crash

Watching as Holly returned to the task at hand, sniffling and whining the whole while, Tessa's head shook back and forth. She knew that some of the girls on the team were far more privileged than she ever had been. But she'd never had it presented in her face quite like this. It was one thing when they went around talking about their big fancy parties at their big fancy houses. It was a different thing entirely when they acted like the money their parents had would somehow save their fucking lives.

Money wasn't some sort of miracle save all. Tessa had been forced to work day after day for what little she had. She was here at this school and on this team working her fucking ass off because nothing had ever been handed to her. Unlike Holly.

"Right," she muttered to herself as she moved on to gather more sticks, filling her arms with as much as she could hold before turning heel and heading back towards their so called 'camp.' "Your plane crashes and you think that means fate is on your side?" She snorts. "But I fuckin' hope you're right and your filthy rich parents save the fuckin' day."

"Yeah I'd like that a lot." Chloe said with a small smile. She was surprised Elyse wanted to stay up with her but she felt that it would be nice to have some company. "Honestly even if I didn't have this I don't think I'd sleep either. Everything's too fucked up for that."

"I know they were. They'll probably be happy to know it's here and maybe once we open it we can determine who's it is?" She tried offering in hopes that everyone could be happy with what they had. It was a hard situation, no one could prepare for it, but Chloe felt like everyone needed to cut each other some slack. No one is perfect all the time but especially in stressful events like a fucking plane crash.

Chloe sighed and shrugged. "Yeah but some optimism is needed about it too." And Chloe knew deep down she hadn't felt a lot of optimism in a long while. After all she still didn't know completely if her parents even knew she was missing and that broke her heart. Because if they didn't notice her then no one else in the world would have.

"Yeah exactly!" She offered, trying to sound hopeful. "People are looking for us and we just have to keep our heads up until help comes." Chloe just hoped that help was coming sooner rather than later.