It was only a matter of time.

[brightestlight]

She's antsy.

It's part the countdown clock, it's part the knowledge that the other shoe's got to drop soon, but it's also because of the vervain. Because of Steve and Bert and Lauren and Sam, because she's the enemy now, somehow. Because she's a bad guy, even though she's done pretty much everything she can to be anything but.

So she's antsy and walking and that's what's got her in one of the observatories, the kind that doesn't really have a door but is just sort of secluded off the main hall. It's a good place. Not hiding, but not really being out for public scrutiny.

And it's a little better, staring out at the silent, turning sky (with the countdown clock in one corner, because this place never lets you forget), until she hears the clink of a glass being set down. She turns, inhumanly fast, only to just... stop.

Because it's Mycroft. It's the one person she's compelled (which surely he remembers) and has fed from, even though she hadn't been herself.

"Hi." She just sort of breathes out that word, and apparently this is the other shoe.

Comments

[the_iceman]

There was no Diogenes club here, but the observatory was the next best thing (if one chose to use the term ‘best’ in a very lose manner). And this close to countdown, is was empty of any other of the ship’s residents. A little moment of peace. Just a few moments alone, with his thoughts and a decent brandy. There was panic and he refused to give in to any of it.

He didn’t remember being bitten as such, but the signs after the fact had been so obvious, that he could repaint the moment it happened with precision from the state of his clothes, the scent on his collar and the bite-marks on his neck.

“Miss Forbes,” came the unkind reply. The resident vampires were the only ones to whom he did not hide his wariness.

[brightestlight]

"Listen, I- Look. I need to apologize to you." She moves around his chair to stand in front of him, her hands twisting up from the anxiety. "I literally have no idea what happened to me, and obviously you know what I did to you. It's not... normal. For me, that kind of thing--"

"The feeding from people thing, or the compelling people to forget thing."

Because she at least needs to say it out loud, even if it's the last thing she wants to do.

[the_iceman]

"If I recall correctly," Mycroft started, and of course he did remember correctly. "Something had brought out the more basal instincts in us. But do explain; how is what you did not normal for you."

[brightestlight]

"I don't compel people just because. And I don't feed from them. I-"

And she hates this, this straight-talking about what she was and what she had to do. "I feed from blood bags, if I have a choice." Which wasn't saying anything about the massacres that she was responsible for on the holodeck, because she was so far in denial that she was giving an ostrich with it's head in the sand a run for it's money.

"I'm not- I'm nineteen." Which meant something to her, but she suddenly realised that it didn't to him. "I've only been a vampire for a year and a half. This... isn't what I want."

[the_iceman]

"I am not your psychiatrist, Miss Forbes," Mycroft replied tersely.

"What you want is not my concern. What you are, more so." He looked up to her, and continued. "You say you feed from bags if you have the choice. What consists of a choice? What happens if no bags are handy and you feel a bit peckish?"

[brightestlight]

Her lips pressed into a tight line when he said he wasn't her psychiatrist.

"I was trying to explain," she said shortly. "When there are no bags available, I try to both live without it, and then I also talk to people, and see if anybody's willing to volunteer. And if they're not, I go hungry. The end."

Mostly because they haven't been in the situation where Caroline gets desiccated and ends up becoming in a half-mad monster, but she's not mentioning that either.

She hears the hiss of a door opening down the hall behind them, but thinks nothing of it, not realising the counter just flipped to zero.

[the_iceman]

"You explained," Mycroft agreed. "Surely you understand your word does not convey the certainty you would need to be believed." 'If I have the choice', 'I try to'; these were words of a woman who tried not to be what even she knew she was.

[brightestlight]

Her brows furrow because she honestly doesn't understand. "I just- I don't eat from people unless they say it's fine. From their own free will, okay?"

That's all. "And I'm sorry that I did that to you. I owe you. Okay?"

[the_iceman]

Mycroft was not in the habit of forgiving anyone, let alone voicing his forgiveness. Instead, he offered a nod. "You were not at your best that week," he agreed, though not a trace of kindness could be heard in his voice. "All right. You owe me." It was nearly a warning.

He regarded the clock. "Now. We should probably leave. It's past bed-time."

[brightestlight]

She's facing away from the window, and she turns to see the countdown clock, and her eyes widen as she sees the weird blob of blue light moving towards them.

"Get up. Slowly, and come over this way." It was behind him, and she was just speaking quietly, because she didn't know what it was, but she already was backing up a step. "We can leave together! Walk together."

It could be a station scanner. It also could be like that thing from that horrible movie that just cut everybody into pieces.

[the_iceman]

Mycroft did get up quietly, but it was the look in her eyes and not her words that convinced him to do so. He turned and walked back, in the same pace. "If it is the station's way of warning us to leave, it certainly is the first time it has done so in this manner." It meant that he didn't believe it was an innocent thing.

[brightestlight]

"Yeah, well," she said, and she moved closer to it, and that's when she felt it. Heat. The skin on her fingertips where she was reaching out started to redden as she pulled back, and she hadn't even gotten close enough to touch it. It just sort of floated there, blinking it's lights at her. "You should go." She said it without mentioning the fact that it just tried to cook her, and she moved to one side, away from Mycroft. "Hey! Hey, yeah, blinky.. light things. Over here."

And she looked over at him. "Why aren't you going?"

And that was when - far away, and faint enough that she couldn't explain it - she heard the screech of something that was decidedly non-human.

[the_iceman]

Mycroft did not flaunt them, but his skills in observation matched his brother's easily. There were signs though, to indicate one was close to being burned, that did not include scorched skin. So he did notice what had happened, and while he did back, he did not leave.

She was telling him to go - a very wise remark, and one that needn't be spoken - but he would not go without her. "Now is not the time for heroics, Caroline," he warned. "Let's go."

[brightestlight]

She moved a step to the left, and it followed-- it seemed almost curious, and it was between them and the exit. "It's not heroics, it's that I can be deep fried and I'll be okay." She moved when he did, only to see the points of light move closer, as well as blocking their way-- and she could hear other things, people screaming, far away.

Which was why she went with her gut, and turned around quickly, staring up at him, unblinking. She was compelling him, no matter what Steve said, no matter what Bert said. "Wait until it's busy with me, and run, as fast as you can. Hide if you hear anything you don't recognize, or there's any other monsters. Be careful, and use your best judgement to find somewhere safe. When you're safe, find Steve or Klaus or Sharon if you can, and tell them what's happening." She paused only for a second. "You'll remember that I compelled you, and if you want you can be mad at me later, but right now, just do what I say without saying anything else until you're out of here."

That's when she blinked, and took a deep breath, watching him for just a second before she moved so fast that it was a blur, and she threw the chair Mycroft had been sitting on into the points of light as she moved away from the door.

[the_iceman]

Mycroft did indeed turn and was about to run away when a chair caused the points of light to scatter. He had to wait until they were busy with her, but one of the points did no such thing and instead turned his attention to Mycroft. In his current state, however, he merely stood still. He was waiting for the moment to run, that was all.

The thing neared his face...

[brightestlight]

Thinking, in these situations, is not Caroline's strong suit.

Because what she did-- and you can guess how useful and painless this was-- was move, quickly. Quick enough that it was hardly normal, but she moved, and reached-- and grabbed it.

The strangled sound of pain was one that she'd rather he'd not heard, her eyes black as she moved. It'd blistered her hand, but it was a lot worse than that and she didn't know why-- Caroline wasn't all that familiar with what being cooked from the inside out felt like, but she did now.

"Go," she croaked even as he was already moving, and Caroline's skin was starting to blister, even as she stumbled. It was what radiation sickness did - sudden, acute radiation sickness, on top of the burns.

[the_iceman]

It was not what Mycroft Holmes would do, but run he did. He didn't notice the light burn on his cheek, down to his neck, or in fact the sounds of the woman he was leaving behind. He merely ran, ran, ran.

It wasn't until he had come to safety (relative safety?) in his own room, that his mind started coming back to him. He texted the names she had mentioned and explained the urgency of the situation.

He would be annoyed at what Forbes had done again, but it had likely saved his life. And anyway there was a more pressing matter at hand. "Ice," he commanded the replicator. He had been burned. And it hurt.

He realized also that he couldn't stay in his room. Safety was in numbers, moreso now.

The Sanctuary was his next stop.