#TIMELINE: DA.S V2.

[vitalphenomena]

@withbeasts // andrew

"You can't be here, Andrew."

Stella is in an expensive pajama set in an expensive bedroom in an expensive house. An expensive security system guards this house. Stella wonders how Andrew managed not to trigger any alarms. Is he some sort of fucking super spy?

And then Stella sees the blood.

Her first thought is to be sorry for the woman—either herself or her mother or their maid—who will have to clean the carpet. Her second thought is to run towards Andrew, which she does, to cup his face and tilt his head upwards. Like she can inspect him simply by looking deeply into his eyes.

"What happened to you?"

[vitalphenomena]

@ruinaa // x

STELLA DOESN'T LIKE BEING A PAWN OR BARGAINING CHIP IN WHATEVER THE HELL THIS IS BETWEEN HER MOTHER AND HER MOTHER'S ON-AGAIN, OFF-AGAIN LITTLE FRIEND. But Stella would never say this. She would never even act like this is how she feels.

She just orders a chocolate croissant and an earl grey tea and stares bleakly at both while Josephine asks questions that seem half-hearted, but perhaps Stella is being uncharitable.

School is fine. Art's her favorite. In biology, they made them dissect a frog. The smell made her nauseous; the act made her dizzy. She caused their teacher to hallucinate a deluge of vengeful, still-living frogs coming for him. It would have been a whole thing if her father were not who her father is.

She shouldn't have mentioned her father. She doesn't like the look that crosses Josephine's face, the shiftiness in her eyes.

After you're lying to me and after Jo says she's sorry, Stella goes quiet and sullen again.

"I just want to know why you hate someone that we love so much." She clenches her jaw. "I just want to know if there's something wrong with me."

(Besides the "induces hallucinations in her middle school biology teacher" thing. Mutant and proud.)

[vitalphenomena]

@despiterage // daniel

DAVY AND PHOEBE ARE YOUNG WHEN DANIEL COMES TO VISIT THE FARM.

He shouldn't have. He really, really shouldn't have.

Half the reason Juniper came out here was to escape men like Daniel Romano. Seeing him in her living room—his hair still dark and thick, his jewelry still glistening, his smirk slick—is like something out of one of her hazy nightmares. A vision that never should have come to be.

"It would have been nice to bring Vincent," Juniper says. Maybe I would despise you less. "Davy could have had a playmate."

[vitalphenomena]

@despiterage // daniel romano

"Papa, please!"

She never should have stayed home. Her peers and coworkers envy her for how little (as in, not at all) she forks out in rent. Her peers and coworkers don't know her father enough to have fully-formed opinions. She doesn't fault them for this; it's her own secrecy that's put her in this position.

"I'm a complete adult. A curfew is—it's just—"

[vitalphenomena]

SPIRIT THINKS SHE'S HAD ENOUGH PENNE ALLA VODKA AND EGGPLANT ROLLATINI TO LAST HER A LIFETIME. And don't even get her started on Daniel's carbonara phase.

[ sms: joe ] what if we did indian

[ text > ghostess with the mostest ]: okay yeah

It's a good thing he can't see her, if she doesn't want his empathy.

[ text > ghostess with the mostest ]: what u in the mood for, first off? then ill pick

[vitalphenomena]

@miidnighters // callisto

STELLA HAS A FATHER AND MOTHER WHO'RE SCIENTIFIC ANOMALIES, AND SHE WORKS FOR TEXTBOOK PUBLISHERS FOR A LIVING (HAS AN AGENT AND EVERYTHING). So what the fuck is she doing somewhere so woowoo?

"Hey! Hi. I was wondering if you had anything, um, for families?"

She realizes how it sounds.

"Not family planning! More like...the wellness of an existing family?"

[vitalphenomena]

@withbeasts // andrew said: " around me, you don't have to apologize for existing. "

APOLOGIZING IS REFLEXIVE FOR STELLA. It slips into her casual conversation as easy as an um or a like. She wonders, in her quiet and lonely moments, what the frequency of her sorries do to the sincerity of them.

But Andrew doesn't seem concerned about that. Despite the years of silence between Stella and Andrew, despite how sorry Stella is personally for the complicated relationship between Daniel-Spirit and Josephine-Roman-Shilah, Andrew tells her she can exist without culpability.

"I barely know you anymore," she mumbles, brushing him off. "You don't—you don't really need to say such a blanket statement just—out of the kindness of your heart.."

[vitalphenomena]

@ruinaa said: fuck you. don't make me convince you to let me help you. 

SPIRIT LAUGHS AND LAUGHS. A fuck you from Josephine Bragin feels like—like Spirit's unlocked something, preserved the integrity of their friendship, somehow, by hearing the same "cruel" remark she's inflicted on Jo so many times in the past.

“I’m not, like, making you do anything, Jo. I’m just—”

She sniffles. So much for laughing and laughing. She’s all weepy already, all the time, now. She blames it on hormones; she would be better off going to a fucking therapist. 

“I just wanted you to hear it from me, not Juniper. But I don’t want your help. I don’t even think I need it. He—he’s going to take care of me, like he always does.”

[vitalphenomena]

@withbeasts said: " that must feel terribly lonely. "

"I'm fine, Andrew."

She doesn't mean to sound so tense, so seething. She just wishes he could not be here—that's all.

She did not even invite her family to this gallery opening. She worried they would find her more free-form expressions of creativity frivolous, or worse, ugly.

"I didn't ask anyone to come on purpose. I don't—" A sigh. "I don't really want to be known like that."

[vitalphenomena]

OFFICIAL SECRET MENU.

THE COEUS INSTITUTE.

DR. RICHARD "DICK" HAYES. father of juniper hayes harris. co-director of the coeus institute, alongside his lovely wife. funny guy. dies when the compound is set on fire by burns and the other escapees.

ERIK ERIKSSON. founder and executor of project medium, the coeus institute's secret shame. obsessed with ghosts and what happens when we die. cries a lot. erik's human experiment e72 one day becomes spirit harris. dies when the compound is set on fire by burns and the other escapees.

DR. MAXIMILLIAN "MAX" THEYER. overseer and executor of various projects pertaining to healing, regeneration, and immortality—including project lazarus, whose last experiment becomes lila harris. dies due to a psychosexual romp with one of the coeus underlings, pneuma johns; not survived by his wife nina theyer and his son alexander theyer ( @plebcourt ).

SECOND GENERATION.

STELLA ROMANO. daughter of spirit harris romano and daniel romano, half-sister to vincent romano ( @despiterage ). designs sketches and diagrams for medical textbooks and other resources. mutant who can induce auditory and visual hallucinations. sweet, despite the horrors. princess in her father's high tower. exists primarily in #TIMELINE: DA.S V2.

[vitalphenomena]

while not requested, i do recommend blocking #TIMELINE: DA.S V2. if this content triggers you and you might accidentally read a thread or something.

[vitalphenomena]

STELLA DOES NOT WANT TO ASK HIM IF IT HURTS. She tells herself this again and again. Don't ask don't ask you will sound like a complete freak if you ask. She does not want to know what it is like to bleed, to hurt, to have a wound to show for the pain you've experienced.

All she knows, really, is her father.

Andrew is almost pressed against Stella, perhaps for support. She shifts, slightly, so that he can rest against her. She looks up and away, not wanting to make eye contact when he is, surely, about to tell her something horrible, when she has just moved so that their bodies are closer.

"What does that even mean?" She asks. Finally, she seeks out his gaze. She wishes she could compel him to tell the truth, the whole truth, wishes she were anybody but who she is.

"Like - what happened, really? That's a - it's really bad. You're really hurt." Does he not understand the seriousness? Has this happened before?

if he, much like his siblings, had not inherited their father's sturdiness ( maybe he more then them, but none of them had really pushed the theory as much as he had, getting knocked around to the point of near death -- ) then he wouldn't even be here right now. it was a fleeting thought he had every now and then; the subliminal message of being thankful and being grateful that he was alive to do all the things he felt he needed to do.

but he was not as skilled as his parents, still learning how to manage himself and his mutation, still learning how to survive going headfirst into situations that were a little above him. had he been, he wouldn't have taken the fall from the fire escape, getting caught on the way down right at a metal corner.

it hurts, and it still bleeds, but not as bad as before. the gauze catches it, helps it stop right at the wound, the beginning of a clot. he nearly leans back into her when its done, exhausted.

" i fell. " which is the truth. " when i got in a little over my head. "

[vitalphenomena]

DANIEL HAD CALLED ANDREW A MAMA'S BOY BEFORE, AND OF COURSE HE HAD DONE SO PEJORATIVELY. If we unpack all that, perhaps he thinks being so attached to someone—especially a woman—is weak. Perhaps he thinks such sentimentality in a man, particularly, reveals some defect of character. Perhaps he just doesn't like anything Josephine Lewis-now-Bragin has created.

She watches Andrew clean himself up, cringing as if she herself feels the sting of alcohol in a massive, open wound.

"You're welcome," she says reflexively, well-raised, always poised, always mindful of her manners. And she does mean it—she's glad he's here, not bleeding out where he fell, not being pecked at by vultures, not being punished by his family.

(Because all families punish. Right?)

She rummages around in the kit until she finds clips and body tape. She gestures for Andrew to wrap the gauze, reaching forward to help him get around his entire body. He radiates heat; she worries it's a fever, a sign of infection, but should know better.

Finally, curiosity burns into something.

"What happened to you?"

the life he's led has been full of luxuries, and he knows it well. but because of who his parents were, he was shaped and molded by the experiences that they had endured and the trauma that followed. his mother, especially, empathetic to her from the moment he understood all she had gone through. a mama's boy, to his core, some said. when really, he just loved her, and his fathers, and his sisters. ( ridley was another issue. )

selfishly, he hadn't gone to any of them because he hadn't want to upset them or see them cry. instead, here he was, having her cry over him. the stab of pain in his heart was not from injury.

he can deal with the apology when he wasn't bleeding out on the bed. the view is the mirror is a little startling; he understands why she had nearly dropped the first aid kit. painfully, he manages to clean around the wound enough to see, and to clean it with the alcohol wipe.

" thank you. " he does tell her that, at least, at some point. he wishes he could lay down on these sheets that he's surely ruined. " if i hold the gauze here, can you -- tape it with something? "

[vitalphenomena]

"Who is someone?" Stella wonders. And how far away is the morning? She woke, disoriented, when she heard him enter; she has not checked her phone, has not thought to call anyone, to text her brother, her scarce friends.

Stella draws skeletons and ecosystems and animal intricacies. But she does not know how to mend and stitch and heal like her Aunt Juniper.

She fishes out an alcohol wipe and some gauze from the first aid kit. A pitiful box of band-aids. When she looks back up, Andrew is shirtless, and the gash on his back and torso has been exposed. She gasps, nearly dropping the plastic box.

"Andrew. Andy. A mirror and some cleaning supplies aren't going to fix this, you need—you need—my dad, Andrew, he can—"

It's sad. Little girls who think their fathers are gods.

the sheets are soft, easy to think why don't i just lay down a moment? and let unconsciousness take him, get well needed rest. andrew fights against it; focuses on her back coming and going, reaches for the first aid kit the moment she's back in the room. it's simple, and it's lacking for what he truly needs, but it will do for the moment. he sets to work through the pain.

" i'll go to someone in the morning. " he strips himself of the ruined shirt, wincing to lift his hands over his head, the wound stretching. " i just need to clean it up. can you -- " he hesitates. " hold a mirror for me to see? "

she'll see it before he does. he hopes that it isn't as terrible as it feels, but the jagged rip on the shirt says otherwise. if he had managed to catch himself while he was falling, then everything would be different for the night.

" i'm sorry, stella. "

[vitalphenomena]

HOW MANY TIMES CAN JOSEPHINE TELL STELLA THAT THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH HER BEFORE STELLA ACTUALLY BELIEVES IT?

It might take awhile, unfortunately. But instead of finding Josephine patronizing (as Stella lacks some of the anger and resentment that, perhaps, colors Josephine's pre-adolescence and adolescence itself), Stella is hopeful.

It suddenly feels like she's never had a mother at all. Spirit has always been a little distant, a little sad. (Daniel's had an effect on her, but that might have been able to go without saying.) She spent so much time doting on Vincent, vying for her step son's affections (yeah, good luck with that, babe) that by the time Stella started asking for things, Spirit had nothing left to give. Daniel, too, demands just about everything from Spirit that she has.

But Stella is too young to give her mother's behavior this much analysis. She still adores and reveres her father, thinks he can do no wrong. He's brave and strong and treats her well. And her mother is just not a good one. It's as simple as that.

"Are you saying that," she wonders, "'cause Isabel and Andrew and Ellie and," hesitantly, "Ridley, they're like me, too?" And if I'm sick and wrong and twisted, then so are your four mutant children, and what kind of mother could ever believe that?

Josephine's comment about things being easier for Stella than they were for Daniel or Spirit—it is one of the first times Stella has that realization that her parents are people, too, not just grown-ups who raise and care for her. This realization makes her thoughtful, quiet, for awhile. She continues picking at her pastry.

"I really don't want to complain," she whines, all wobbly. "I know I'm a really lucky kid, I've got things lots of people don't, not even other kids at school. But it's—it's—things should be fair. Right? You know?"

all the fretting and worrying and feeling self-conscious and judged, all the loneliness –– josephine cannot fully imagine it, at least not in the same circumstances as stella. she was a lonely child herself, an even lonelier teenager, but she doubts she's ever felt as small as stella must, with the rules and the distance, her lovely, gilded cage.

"it's not your fault."

it's difficult to say whose fault it might be –– don't all parents, to some degree, damage their children with and without knowing it?

(at home, ridley hardly speaks to her. he is sullen and silent, withdrawn. he goes to school and comes home and excuses himself from dinner quickly and three days ago he told her he hated her, but that has nothing to do with stella, sitting here in front of her.)

"and there's nothing wrong with you."

josephine struggles with how to rationalize this to a twelve-year-old girl; she hadn't believed a word anyone ever told her at that age, had found it all so patronizing.

"i think sometimes, for people like your mom and me –– we want to look after you the way we weren't looked after."

she thinks of spirit, years ago, i'm finally being taken care of! and how it was all josephine ever wanted for herself, too, sometimes: someone to make the hard decisions and sometimes the easy ones and to make the world a little softer, her life a little easier, this soft, warm cocoon.

she doesn't fault spirit for that, only the man who gave it to her.

"and that looks different than it does for a lot of other people. you're different than a lot of other people, but that doesn't mean –– it doesn't have to be a bad thing. i don't want you to think it's a bad thing."

she is tempted to reach across the table for stella's hands.

"i know it's hard. especially right now." she says. "your parents want things to be easier for you than it was for them. i know they do."

[vitalphenomena]

STELLA DOESN'T THINK OF HERSELF AS A CONFIDANTE, AN ACCESSORY, A PARTNER IN CRIME. She has never been afforded the agency. She also prides herself on her honesty, or on the concept of honesty in general, as she considers it a noble trait to possess. But maybe she is not a good girl in that sense. Maybe she values secrets more than she realizes.

If Andrew is going to sit down for a minute, why hasn't he already sat down? She steps back to watch him struggle, hobble. She sets her jaw and walks past his form, into the bathroom. Underneath the granite countertop, she opens the cabinet. Rummaging past hair products and her Dyson Airwrap, she finds a first aid kit most would consider laughably scant in this situation.

She returns to Andrew. Without looking at him, while picking at the kit's clasps, she wonders:

"Is there anybody you know? Anybody else? "Someone who can heal, I mean, or—" She shudders. "My dad—"

there were other places he could go -- to izzy's, to ellie's, to the accessible apartment that shilah keeps, but would be alerted to his stay. ( money could get you things like this -- a mansion and guards and a self built prison to hoard your loved ones -- it could also get you security footage of when your son comes bleeding through the door. ) no, he knew that stella would be silent about this.

he presses his thumbs into her palms, smooths it over in circle before he releases her. " i can do it. " she's already scared. it's his one regret, but he can't dwell on it for too long. ( later, it will be his only thought. ) he had to shower. he had to make sure that he didn't need stitches.

and quickly; he was feeling dizzy, nauseous. losing blood. taking a deep breath inward, he attempts a step forward -- but a sharp pain shoots up his back. " -- i'll sit down for a minute. "