one - [video] - i'm stronger than all of this

[videocamera]

[The screen clicks on and Andrew appears, his face extremely pale except for the reddish patches of scabs and scarring on the right side of his face. There's remnants of blood below his nose and on his chin, like he just had a nosebleed and didn't wipe it off completely. Which is exactly what happened. He speaks quietly but his tone hints at both fear and anger.]

What is this, huh? What did you do to me? I can't-- [He interrupts himself with a more frantic note in his tone] Is this some kind of, of joke?

[His voice gets flatter.] I shouldn't be here. I'm stronger.

[The journal starts to shake, the picture jittering slightly. Then Andrew's nose starts to bleed again and the shaking stops, position slightly changed, now angled to give a shot of a messy bedroom behind Andrew's shoulder. His face is mostly off screen now but you can see his hands held up to his nose before the feed shuts off]

Comments

[videocamera]

Someone did something. They must have. I can't do anything.

How did I get here? It looks like my room but it's not-- There's some other place outside my door and I can't-- Nothing's working. Why isn't it working?

[lydiascreams]

What do you mean you can't do anything? What isn't working?

Your room is your room but you're at the Barge.

[videocamera]

[Well, hey, who cares who knows what he can do? Everything's weird and fucked up and it was Matt's stupid rule anyway.] My powers, telekinesis. It's not working right-- I bleed every time I try. That doesn't happen to me, not anymore. Someone took it away.

[lydiascreams]

Well, stop trying.

Considering you've just traveled through dimensions, it must have messed your powers up. Give yourself some time.

[Getting to the barge had certainly messed hers up, but it hadn't made them weaker. No. It had made her overload to the point she could barely move from all the dead she was hearing. But she's not about to tell an inmate who might be dangerous that she's a banshee.]

[videocamera]

[If only it was that easy. He's way too reliant on them to just stop totally.]

Are they gonna come back?

[lydiascreams]

They probably are.

[She has no clue how his powers work or how it works for inmates though, so she will leave it at that.]

Try and calm down. What's your name?

[videocamera]

[He takes a breath, clenches his jaw. Okay. He still doesn't sound all that calm, but it's a start.]

Andrew. Andrew Detmer.

[lydiascreams]

[Looks better to her, at least. She'll keep trying to distract him.]

Lydia Martin. I know you must be pretty overwhelmed right now, but you're not in any danger.

Where are you from?

[videocamera]

Seattle. I grew up there. [He thinks about the Space Needle, hovering there beside it, ripping the cameras from people's hands. He looks down, licks his lips.] How about you?

[lydiascreams]

Not far from there, actually.

Beacon Hills, it's a small town near San Francisco. [Well, not that close, but close enough. And he's talking so points for her.]

Where you in your room before you got here?

[videocamera]

I... No, I wasn't. [He's clearly remembering something painful. The police shooting at him, Matt screaming at him, hundreds of panes of glass shattering under the force of his power.]

Are you an inmate too? Why are you being nice to me?

[lydiascreams]

I'm not an inmate.

[Why is she being nice? Isn't she supposed to be Lydia Martin, the untouchable Ice Queen everyone wishes they could get close to but they can really only admire from afar? No, she's not really that person anymore. And she's failed Aiden when he wanted a second chance and she kept seeing him as a bad guy. He died because he was trying to prove himself to her. Maybe that's why.]

I don't know what happened to you or why you're here. But since you're being given a second chance then you should make the best of it. And you'll probably need some help.

[videocamera]

And, what-- You want to help me? [He's shaking his head now.] Girls like you don't talk to guys like me, okay? Wardens, inmates, whatever... It can't be that different here.

[lydiascreams]

[Nope, apparently that is still her. ]

And what exactly would a 'girl like me' be, Andrew?

Don't you think you're being a little bit of an asshole labeling me like that when I'm trying to help you?

[videocamera]

[Yeah, maybe he is being an asshole, but he can't help it. He's frustrated and frightened and it makes him angry. He can't just trust a pretty girl who probably had a great life compared to him. She reminds him of Monica, her laughing friends. His voice is strained.]

I bet you're popular, right? You've got friends-- people that want to, like, talk to you, spend time with you? Right? If you knew me back at school, you wouldn't want to talk to me. You'd, you'd probably just laugh at me.

[lydiascreams]

Sweetheart.

[That is said with a smile, but it isn't the same soft smile as before. No, this one means 'you're gonna regret that'.]

Let's make some things clear. What you know about me are my name, where I come from, and that I'm a Warden. You know nothing about my friends [and that word comes with a weight now that it didn't have before] and who they are.

I don't laugh at people. [Bullying has never been her chosen method to gain popularity. Even if she did it with Jackson on occasion, although really that was more like mutual sexual blackmail.]

This isn't High School. So why don't you stop assuming you know anything, get outside your room and tell me the number on the door.

[Because goddamnit she is going to prove him wrong and she is going to start by dragging him to the infirmary.]

[videocamera]

Why? [Suddenly his voice is so much more distrustful that it was before.] What do you even want from me? You don't know me. Why don't you just leave me alone?

[lydiascreams]

I don't want anything from you.

[Her eyes narrow because he's already infuriating. But she manages to compose herself and hold back on how sharp her next words are.]

Actually, I do. I want you to tell me where you are so I can take you to the infirmary and you can stop bleeding all over your room. Because I'm a warden and helping people is kind of the reason I'm here.

[videocamera]

[He looks away from the camera as she talks, frustration building up until he has to release it. It would have been a undirected burst of force, pushing objects from his desk and scattering his room even further. The power should be easy, should come so simply from his mind, but of course, everything's all messed up here. It doesn't work and he can feel his head pounding, pressure building up and he stops before his nose starts leaking blood again.]

Look, I-- I don't want to go to the infirmary. I know what's wrong with me.

[lydiascreams]

You might know what's wrong with you, but that obviously won't stop the bleeding.

[She points out in a slightly sarcastic but mostly stern tone.]

Listen. Your powers aren't working here. You're obviously weakened. Let me walk you there and I'll leave you alone.

[videocamera]

[He's silent for what seems like a long time, then shakes his head. This is all way too unreal right now.]

Fine, fine. [He's pretty sure he's going to regret this, but the fight's kind of drained out of him right now.] Okay. It said, um- 7...15?

[lydiascreams]

[Finally. She's relieved and glad she managed to talk him into it, but also that he's actually getting some help.]

Okay. I'll be there in a second. Just don't use your powers again.

spam?

[videocamera]

Okay.

[And yep, he basically instantly regrets saying yes. What does she want? Why does anyone here care about what's happening to him? They don't know him; he doesn't buy the stuff about wardens just caring because. That just sounds like total bullshit, in his experience.

He waits for her, tension and anxiety building every moment, answering the other people who replied.]

Spam!

[lydiascreams]

[It takes her a few minutes to make it from her room to the 7th floor, but by the time she knocks on his door, she's ready to not be a bitch to him. Especially since she knows how hard it cam be for inmates when they first arrive.

Unless he gets on her nerves again, she's willing to play nice.]

Spam!

[videocamera]

[Andrew, on the other hand, is basically a giant ball of nerves right now. He answers the door a moment after she knocks, cracking it open a sliver and peering out before cautiously opening it a little wider.]

Hi. [He doesn't sound sullen exactly, but he definitely doesn't sound enthused by the whole situation.]