ph_logs | [OPEN] Who put me in your way to find?

[OPEN] Who put me in your way to find?

Who: Daisy Tonner (

hadnoright) & you!
What: Catch-All for Daisy
When: August
Where: The forest, the hot springs, downtown, etc.
Warnings: Violence, animal death/hunting, intrusive thoughts, nudity, others added as needed

1. What right had you not to let me die? [the forest]

Those who travel out into the forest during the day may find themselves running into a short, relatively petite human-looking woman bodily slamming into a deer or boar that's almost as big as she is. The creature hits the ground with surprising force and when the woman rises, it's whilst wiping the blood from her mouth and rolling her shoulders.

Most of the time, she already knows someone's there before they say a word. So, the animal-like energy to her posture melts away like it was never there at all and she turns toward her audience and says something like, "Don't mind me. Working."

Unless, that is, you've managed to actually sneak up on her. It's not an easy thing to do, but when she's in the heat of a Hunt tunnel vision can take its hold and it's in those moments where a sudden noise might make the Hunter's gaze snap towards it like a beast startled. And it's in those moments where Daisy is most distinctly inhuman, the odd yellow eyes and the teeth and the animal way she holds herself.

And it's in those moments that it takes all of Daisy's restraint not to give into the sound of blood pounding in her ears, telling her to attack. With a growl, she shakes her head and takes a step back. "Jesus fucking christ. Don't sneak around!"

2. Ooh but did I even know what I was asking for? [hot springs]

She doesn't get aches and pains like most people in her profession would after a while, but that doesn't mean the hot springs aren't relaxing in their own right. So, occasionally Daisy makes the trip up to the springs, strips down and slips into the water with zero modesty nor shame about the nudity.

There are scars all over her body, many in places that should've killed her if she hadn't already been long on the way to inhumanity by the time she took the damage that caused them. The biggest, a starburst-like scar marring the back of her shoulder, is only visible if you're looking when she sits up.

3. If I had my way, I'd have missed you more [downtown]

There is a large blonde wolf lying in the yard of Daisy and Erin's house. The wolf may appear at first glance to be asleep, but in reality if you look closer she's a little too visibly tuned into her surroundings for that. Still, she is relaxing. Sunbathing, even.

Occasionally, a Mawhile appears from another part of the garden to try and bite her tail. She seems completely unfazed by this.

Wildcard

Hit me up to plot something or just throw something at me.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's a stronger hit of fear than she got off him even with her hand in his chest, back on that horrible hive masquerading as a ship. The taste is familiar in ways she wishes it wasn't and she has to take another step back, dragging her hands over her face and up through her hair. The tight Dutch braids she puts it in to work loosen.

"This. Is my day job, Jon! Of course I'm out here. Jesus—" Keep it together, Tonner. Listen to the quiet, not his stupid racing heartbeat. She breathes deep breaths, in and out, inhale, exhale. "Just— stay there. For a second. Gimme— gimme a second."

"Alright! Alright, just--- take whatever time you need," Jon raises his hands defensively, but stays exactly where he stopped. It'd be just his luck if turning and stepping away invoked some sort of Hunter prey-drive.

He has no intentions to interfere with whatever she's got to do to right herself, but he does, at least, offer one more tentative, awkward "sorry" across the clearing, just for good measure.

At least he's got the sense to listen to her. It's too easy to forget that he's never actually seen her like this, that for all he Knows and Sees he's never born witness to the struggle of actually fighting her instincts.

She drops down to sit on the forest floor and closes her eyes. Jon may even be able to hear the quiet repetition of, "Don't listen to— to the blood, listen to the quiet. Listen to the..." that comes and goes with the steady, rhythmic pattern of her breathing as bit by bit she calms herself down.

Only after a long minute does let out an isolated sigh and open her eyes. "...alright. You can move. Just, you know. Mind the carcass."

"Mind the---? Oh. Oh. The... carcass."

Side-stepping the aforementioned carcass, while choosing not to look especially hard at it. Instead of standing awkwardly by, he eases down to the forest floor more slowly. It's as good of a place to sit and chat as any.

"Closest part of the woods from my house, and outside of the farmers, I've never seen anyone out this way. I didn't know anyone hunted out further than the woods behind town directly, but, well... suppose if there's not much competition, it would make for good hunting."

"That, and the less people to run into, the better. Only takes one screw up for me to end up being treated like the next Pine Devil."

Bump into some townsperson who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and no one comes out of that encounter happy. It's a reputation she'd like to avoid.

"Mostly got control of myself but I'm still a Hunter. Can't turn it off."

"If only life could be so simple, and have these things on a light-switch," Jon gripes. "I'm not making a great reputation for myself, either, quite frankly - I get it."

He nods, back to Daisy's fresh catch.

"Almost wish I could take a page out of your day-job and get it out of my system this way. Bet that one's got quite a story to tell."

Daisy snorts. "Oh, yeah. Think this is the third time I've caught that one. That'd be a hell of a story."

To be an animal that keeps dying and coming back and being Hunted by the same weird, human-looking predator over and over again... if animals could give statements, it'd definitely fit.

"...doesn't hit the same, mind you. It's like— it does the trick. But it's like you with— ugh, you wouldn't know yet. But you always complained about the paper statements being kind of stale?"

"...Mm. No, I think I know - at least, to an extent," Jon lets out a short sigh. "Anytime I've run low on incoming statements from the people here, especially lately, I've tried to reread old ones, leave as wide a gap as possible between how often I revisit them. They're never as satisfying after the first time, and... barely anything after that. Sort of an, I don't know. Can't be fucked to do more than cereal for dinner after work type of feeling."

He huffs a laugh, and gives her a small nudge.

"Don't suppose you can find someone who's really into a Most Dangerous Game situation for mutual benefit, can you?"

Not for the first time recently Daisy's glad for her poker face, because even despite it she has to cover the real answer to that question with a laugh and a nudge in return. "Not exactly a common thing for people to be into. And imagine trying to ask around to find out."

Meanwhile she's already wondering if she should ask Dahlia again, soon. Before something else gives.

"Sounds like things are going about the same for you as home, then. Avatar stuff wise."

Jon scrunches his nose a bit at the word 'Avatar', and turns his gaze back ahead of them, almost looking like he'd eaten something sour.

"Is it bad that I was still sort of hoping it wasn't that deep?"

His tone sounds like he's trying to joke about it, but it falls a bit flatter than he means for it to.

"No. Pretty human, really."

Human being something she stopped considering herself months ago, now. But that's not the kind of call you can make about anyone else, even if they both know that the line between Avatar and still-human is more of a suggestion at the best of times.

"But when you woke up from that coma back home..." she shrugs. The choice had been made. "You were more powerful. But you still struggled controlling it, a lot of the time. And you really needed the statements. Had a feeling when I saw how much difference just one of mine made here."

"I'm not sure how far along I've gotten, considering it's been a year since I got here... but I imagine it's similar," He sighs, quiet and almost resigned. Daisy's presence has been a blessing and a curse for his slipping from humanity. On one hand, she's here, and making due, so it surely can't be all bad. On the other, when you stop raising your guard against these changes, it becomes oh-so easy to slip into making bad habits worse. "Still appreciate that, by the way. Bit of an odd way to reconnect with someone, but odd's sort of the name of the game anymore, isn't it?"

He falls quiet, for a moment - not an uncomfortable silence, but a thoughtful one, before he speaks again.

"Did you run into Martin yet? He's in town, just as of the other day. Seems like more of us are washing up on the store every day."

It was inevitable that he'd have to bring him up, all the complications that come along with that in tow. Even if he isn't aware of half of them just yet.

She snorts. "Yeah. Everything about us is odd. Still owe you some section 31 stuff, actually. Tide you over."

She drags her tongue over her cheek, then continues. "You only had about... eight months, between waking up and— uh, when I last remember." It's not a smooth dodge, to the point she's almost certain he'll call her on it, but she doesn't elaborate on her own steam just yet. "Might be going slower here. With the Powers not as tangible. Lot of stuff happened that pushed you deeper back there."

The Dark Sun, that was a whole thing. Even the Buried itself, that didn't seem to help matters.

"But uh, yeah. Bumped into him. Probably should've gave you a ring but I told him you were here. Figured he'd find you soon enough."

"Ugh, that'd be fantastic, honestly. Maybe we'll make an afternoon of it. Do you still eat food for fun? I could make lunch." It feels hilarious, as if the casualness between the two of them and what they are is a strange punchline, but it's the little things in life.

He does catch the stumble, and almost lets it slide - almost. Being found by Martin is a whole issue in and of itself, and not one he cares to linger on, after the days he's had. (The lack of lingering probably speaks volumes all on its own.)

"I did! We, ah. Talked for a bit, had a dinner with Neil and I. It was alright."

It was less-than-alright, unfortunately. But he's got his attention set elsewhere now.

"...I've got to ask, Daisy. Every opportunity you've had, you've side-stepped telling me about the last time we saw each other before you started dealing with the chain of assorted bullshit you've told me about," He starts, slow, and clearly very suspicious. "I don't want to make you tell me anything, you know as much, but--- well. I can't help but wonder about it."

"Not often? But sometimes, so. That'd work." She's certainly still British enough not to turn down a proper tea when offered, so if nothing else she can sit and drink.

She in no way believes that the dinner with Martin and his boyfriend went 'alright'. No one who spent six months in an office with Jon listening to him pine away for Martin and once heard Martin practically swoon at the idea of him and Jon being close would believe that for a single second. But all she does is raise a dubious eyebrow, before he's diving into the topic she's been trying to avoid for... well. Going on six months.

"It's— complicated. The last time I saw you isn't the same as the last thing I. Know."

There's some difficulty in ensuring that he doesn't try to compel it out of her, especially since information being just-ever-so out of reach is something that's gotten more difficult for him, the more tangled in the Eye he's become. He behaves himself, though, and keeps his head level as best as he possibly can.

"Can you tell me one and then the other, then?" He asks, careful in word-choice. "I'm sure you have your reasons for it, but by the way you've been acting about it, it's starting to feel like bad news. All the more reason to need to know it before it comes to a head."

She recognises the subtle tricks of word choice, and she appreciates it. This one she'd rather try and explain in her own terms, even if it's not going to be easy.

"Well. That's because it is bad news." There's the more Daisy-typical bluntness finally coming back. "The last time I saw you, we'd just listened to a tape Blackwood left. On it. We heard Elias kill Gertrude. Or, I s'pose I should say we heard Jonah Magnus kill her."

"A tape th---" Jon starts to parrot her, to process it, but he can't help it. His jaw drops. He looks mortified.

"No. You're kidding. How did he...?"

"Not entirely sure. Best we figured he's body hopping like Rayner did. Sounded like his original body was down in the Panopticon. Which is apparently where the tunnels led. Millbank Prison. Right under us the whole time."

Which she's pretty sure Helen knew and never told them, surprise surprise. The Spiral tells lies and omits information, that's the MO.

"Lukas was going to try take it over somehow."

"Christ," Jon murmurs, quiet horror written all over his face as he tries to wrap his head around the notion. It's one thing to pick up the pieces slowly, follow the trail to these things, but having them laid out like that? It makes the mind reel.

A gear in his head turns, and his face drops again, just as he's recovering.

"Oh, god. Is... is that what Martin meant by him doing a favor for Lukas? Was he involved?"

"Blackwood was trying to stop it. Think his plan was letting Peter think he'd got him under his thumb and then... not being that." Which is hardly a fitting description of the machinations Martin went through in the long year and change he spent working under Lukas, but Daisy's not a wordsmith. "He left you the information that sent you after them. Them being him, Lukas and Magnus since the bastard had escaped prison."

Because of course he had. The police didn't stop being corrupt after Daisy left, after all. All he had to do was pay his way.

"Problem was. Montauk and Herbert turned back up and started shooting random Institute staff. And someone let the weird Stranger freak from the tunnels loose. So Basira and I had to stay back whilst you ran after them. To keep them from following you."

Jon nods, slowly, rolling each domino over in his mind. Everything's falling into place in a terrible, sprawling puzzle. If there was any chance she was bullshitting him (which he wasn't inclined to believe to begin with), everything seamed too closely together for that to be possible.

"...And that's the last time we saw each other," He adds, half-question half-statement of fact, as he understands it.

Daisy breathes a, "Yeah," and leans back on her hands. "You ran off. Basira started talking like we were both gonna die. And then—" she cracks a bit of an empty laugh, "I basically told her to shut up. Made her promise to kill me. And let the Hunt back in. 'Cause if I didn't. She would've died. And I couldn't—"

Basira, when this is over, you need to find me. And kill me. Promise me.

(immediately) No. No, Daisy, we’ll figure something out.

These last few months… it was always borrowed time, wasn’t it? Can’t outrun it forever.

Daisy…

Promise me.

I promise.

Thanks. Now run.

Run.

"—I couldn't let that happen."

Jon frowns, but there's no surprise that rises to his face this time.

"...I'm sorry, Daisy. It shouldn't have come to that." Though he doesn't know what other way it could've ended, no matter which way he turns it. Even if he's missing the time that she has, he saw how she spoke to Basira, worked with her, looked at her. If there was something she'd throw herself to that would leave her lost to herself, it'd be in the name of keeping Basira alive. "Fucking vampire hunters never did seem to know when to leave well enough alone."

A beat of consideration. All that leaves is, then...

"And that's not the last thing you know."

Another, "Yeah," as she tries to decide how to explain this. Her tongue drags over her teeth and she tastes iron, swallowing it after a moment's further thought.

"Things turned up on the ship, sometimes. Random stuff. Me, I kept getting tapes. Started off with stuff I knew. My statements. Us in the woods. So on. But they didn't stop when they should've. I got tapes from the future."

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big ol' late game TMA spoilers from here on out

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