Revenging Angel - The Rise and Fall of Harvey

[ss_buttcrack]

Who: Crichton (Harvey), Lt. Tayrey, Dr. Watson, Arthur, Cassandra, Erin, literally anyone is welcome to jump into this mess
What: Here's what you missed last time.
TL;DR: Harvey stole some revenge-loving daggers that were in Tayrey's care and used them to murder Valdis. He made Crichton watch. This is the place to play the fallout directly after.
When: Sep 30 for the murder, Oct 1, and forward for the fallout. Will include later dates in Oct, as well.
Where: The Brig + Various locations stated in the starters posted below
Warnings: Blood, Death, Gore, Violence, Mind-control, mention of Drugs/Alcohol Addiction, will warn for more as necessary


This is a nightmare. This is his worst nightmare come to pass. Valdis...frell. Is she going to come back in three days? After watching her die like that, he's terrified she might not. It's his fault. It's all his fault. He should have known Harvey would still be plotting behind his back. Why did he ever let himself believe it could be safe? He should have stayed locked in the brig.

God... help him.


In The Brig - Guard Duty - Open
This is where he belongs. This is where he should have stayed in the first place. This time, however, he can't stand to be alone. He's begged anyone and everyone he knows to, essentially, play guard duty on shifts. He can't let himself fall asleep unless there's someone there to watch him. Even then, it's hard. The dark circles under his eyes grow more purple by the day as he constantly starts to nod off, only to jerk himself awake again in a panic.

It will go on like this for days. He'll refuse to take one step out of this cell, not even to go get food. Not like he has much of an appetite anyway. Besides, he knows if he walks out of here the first place he might wind up is in front of a bar. He's let Valdis down enough already... he can't risk it.

Find him huddled up in the corner of the brig under a blanket once again like a sick case of deja vu. If it's your turn to watch him, he'll point to his pulse pistol sitting over on a chair outside the cell and say, "Use that on me if I try to leave."

[ooc: feel free to handwave Crichton asking for your character's help.

Rise & Shine
Harvey is dead. Crichton had to die with him. Now, three days later, only one of them is back alive.

At 6:00 a.m. sharp, Crichton takes a deep breath in. His eyes fly open and he sits straight up in his bed. Is it done? Is he gone? Is Harvey really gone?

Crichton searches his mind, trying to access that place where he and his mental clone used to meet. He can't. It isn't there. Harvey isn't there!! The weight of him is lifted. For the first time in so, so long, Crichton is alone in his own mind.

"YES!!" He jumps out of bed and dances in place right there on the carpet, with a few more excited whoops and hollers for good measure.

"He's gone! HE'S GONE!"

Crichton might be so distracted by his own celebrating that he may or may not notice if he has company in the room with him. But, the more the merrier today. He's finally free!

----

The celebrating doesn't stop there. Good God, he's so hungry. People brought him sandwiches while he was down in the brig, but he'd only picked at them half-heartedly. Not much appetite. Well, guess what's back now?? He could eat a whole cougar.

Find him spread out in the buffet later that morning with five plates in front of him, greedily shoving every type of breakfast confection into his mouth like he's worried they're going to vanish off his plate. They are, but they're vanishing into his stomach! Food has never tasted this good.

Wildcard options open: Let me know what kind of starter you want and I'll make it happen. Keep in mind this will be the last chance to participate with Harvey. He'll be perma-dead at the conclusion of this plot.]

Comments

[ss_buttcrack]

"You can say that again..." He licks his lips, but his mouth is so dry it doesn't really do much for him.

"Erin is a good friend. Valdis is too. I'm sorry. I don't know how much you know about the situation but... I really am sorry."

[professionalriot]

"Good friends?" He shakes his head and rolls his eyes. "I mean I was just scrubbing her blood out from under my nails...so you'll understand why I'm struggling with you saying she's a good friend."

[ss_buttcrack]

"I know how it sounds. I know." So, this guy really has no idea? Back to square one?

"Does the name Harvey mean anything to you yet or are you really that in the dark here? Speaking of names, I don't think I caught yours yet."

[professionalriot]

"Ash. Very in the dark." He takes another drink and waves his hand. "Continue."

[ss_buttcrack]

"Do you... have to drink that in here, Ash? I'm only a month sober. Maybe less." He'll get to the story he swears, but it's getting harder to resist asking for a sip.

[professionalriot]

"Oh. I'm sorry about that. Didn't meant to make this hard for you." The rest of his drink is polished off. He drags the back of his hand across his mouth. Even if he had asked Ash wouldn't give him what he wants. "Better?"

[ss_buttcrack]

"Sure..." Not really, but at least the temptation is less present.

"Harvey is the name of the guy I share brain space with. Second personality, whatever you wanna call it. But, I need you to hear me out before you start throwing accusations that I'm crazy, okay? Can you do that? Give me until the end of this explanation."

[professionalriot]

"Already think you're nuts. Still listening." Ash shrugs. "Please, by all means, continue and I will save my judgement for the end."

[ss_buttcrack]

Good enough.

"I'm tired so I'm going to give you the abridged version." And even that is going to be a lot.

"I'm an astronaut. I got shot through a wormhole into a distant part of space. I met aliens, made friends and allies, and... enemies. The big one is named Scorpius. He captured me and put me through the wash cycle on his torture chair. He was trying to get information about who I was and why I was in his base but he found something else instead. I have dangerous wormhole knowledge locked behind the alien version of a firewall in my head. Now that he knows it's there, he wants it."

Frell. Right about now he really could use that drink. Gotta keep going...

"When the chair couldn't get it for him, he went with plan B. He injected me with a computer chip that's been growing in my brain ever since. Inside that computer chip is a cloned personality of Scorpius himself. That's Harvey. He's been in there for years, watching and learning everything. But his job is to keep me alive and keep chipping away at that barrier until he can hand me back to Scorpius who plans to crack my head open like a nut and take it all. Still with me?"

[professionalriot]

"A computer chip." Now he is talking Ashley's language. He wants to reach into his brain and destroy it. Like he had destroyed Valdis. "I'm with you but I'm not tracking why you fucking gutted the woman I love like a fish. So please. Continue."

[ss_buttcrack]

"Keep your britches on, I'm getting there." It wasn't like a fish... No. No, he doesn't want to think about it.

"Harvey stabbed her. She's been working on a way to separate the two of us. We've tried it twice now. Both times failed but last time she got close. Too close. He took me over. He waited until I was asleep and he took control of my body without me knowing. I had no idea what was going on until he woke me back up just so I could watch her die in my arms. Why the hell do you think I'm in here? I don't know any other way to make sure he can't do it again."

[professionalriot]

"Watch it, buddy." He snapped. Ashley has been going through it. He's trying to be patient but it's hard. Really fucking hard.

What he says resonates. Valdis had talked to him about the necromancy book. About trying to separate a soul. That was making sense now. Fuck, he wished she had given him more specifics.

"I think you're in there because you brutally murdered someone." He said flatly. Ash hadn't considered that he was trying to stop himself from doing it again. Just that he had been caught.

"So what now, huh? What the fuck do we do now?"

suicidal ideation

[ss_buttcrack]

"I'm in here, under guard, because I asked to be. Because if Harvey can take control of me and make me kill one of the best friends I have on this ship, what the hell else might he try to make me do?" Crichton runs a hand through his disheveled hair in frustration.

"I don't know. I don't know what the hell to do except live the rest of my goddamned existence on this ship down here in a cell. Maybe you all start taking shifts shooting me at six a.m. every three days." This is something he has, seriously, considered.

[professionalriot]

Well that changes this conversation and takes the wind out of his sails. He wanted someone to blame. Someone he could hurt and feel like justice had been served. That's not what he has found.

"Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck." His head tilted back against the wall and he closed his eyes.

"Fuck off with that bullshit. Pussy. Take turns shooting you? What a bitch ass idea. You don't want a pissed off werewolf in there with you start thinking about better ideas. How the fuck do we fix this?"

Not that it will matter. Ash will be dead soon enough and unable to help anyone.

[ss_buttcrack]

"I've been TRYING to fix this," Crichton explodes. Bring on the giant werewolf. Why not? Of course this guy is some kind of supernatural beast. Who isn't on this damn ship?

"I already had brain surgery once to get rid of the damn thing. The chip came back. He came back! And even getting rid of the chip itself didn't make Harvey go away. We're fused together. He has a soul and Valdis has already tried to pluck it out twice! I got sober just hoping maybe third time will be the charm if I'm clean. If you have any new ideas I'm all ears. But don't you dare say I haven't been trying. You have no idea what it's like to live like this."

[professionalriot]

"Shooting you over and over is not an idea. It's punishing yourself." He's definitely thinking about changing forms and shaking him like a mutilated dog toy.

"Nope. I have no idea what it's like to live with something inside of you that you can't always control. None at all." Every word dripping with sarcasm. He lets out an annoyed groan.

"A soul tied to a computer chip?" Now he's just thinking, gears churning in his head. That's not that unusual in Ash's world. Hell, he has a spirit that basically lives in his computer and cell phone at home. He can't help it, he chuckles and asks, "Have you tried taking Harvey to couples therapy?"

[ss_buttcrack]

"It's containment. If you really do know what this is like, then why can't you understand that? I can't trust myself enough to live and I can't actually die. What do I have left?" As far as he's concerned, this right here is the punishment. Living the rest of his endless days in a cage with his own demons. This is hell.

"Oh, ha ha. You think that's funny? Harvey is the cloned personality of the guy who tortured me for days and has since spent the last frelling two years chasing my ass across space, killing my friends and leaving a trail of destruction behind him large enough to form a new constellation. And I got him whispering in my ear every damn day trying, deliberately, to break my sanity. Do you think you could make nice with that?"

[professionalriot]

His laugh is sad and he shrugs. "At this point it's laugh or cry and I'm fucking sick of crying...so...sorry, you get jokes." He really needs another drink. His head tilts back to rest against the wall behind him. "Look, pretty sure we're both adult enough to see that I'm just pissed and I want someone to blame. To hurt. I wanted it to be you and now...fuck... you're basically a shitty computer with a nasty virus. And now I feel like I'm an asshole who is kicking a puppy."

[ss_buttcrack]

"I'm sick of laughing to cover for it all... when I'm not drugging myself up enough to numb the pain." Because he's been operating that way for, well, years.

"Yeah, I can see it. I'm glad you're honest enough to admit it. Look, there's probably nothing you can say or think about me that I haven't already told myself. But... talk to me, man. We're both drowning in it right now. You haven't been here that long, have you?"

[professionalriot]

Ash shakes his head. "Thought we just established that you're a puppy with a defective brain...but not a bad person. I want you to be a piece of shit. But you're not." So he was just left with his bullshit feelings and nothing to take them out on. No way to fix anything.

"Couple months...almost three, I think. Long enough but not you know?"

Shit. His eyes were burning. Flooding with tears. Fuck. He could not cry in front of this guy. He blinked fast trying to chase it away.

"I think I fucking love her, man. Who wouldn't right? Duh. But I think I do. So yeah, I'm drowning right now and at the same time feel like I don't deserve to be, because they have all loved her longer."

[ss_buttcrack]

"I wouldn't be too sure. Just ask my ex." Arthur would be the first to say how little credit Crichton deserves, and he's right.

"A lot happens in a short amount of time here. Each month feels like a lifetime." It was like that on Moya too. Maybe that's why it didn't hit him as hard as others.

Crichton catches that blinking. He knows what it means. God, Ash really didn't deserve to get brought into the middle of this shit. Poor bastard.

"So what? This ain't a contest, dude. She ain't a car you got temporary tags on. They love her. You love her. Hell, so do I. Not in the same way, but you bet your ass I love her like she's my own family. After all the time she's spent alone in the world, she deserves to have people cry for her. So stop trying to pretend like your feelings about her aren't good enough. She'd hate that."

[professionalriot]

"Don't really like second hand information. Why would your ex not agree with that?"

Okay. He has a point. She would hate him feeling like that. It's still a hard thing to shake off. Ash stops trying to fight the tears though and let's them fall.

"Even knowing people don't stay dead here doesn't really help." How would he ever forget how her dead body felt in his arms?

"I know it will be a lie...tell me anyway. Tell me this will all be okay."

[ss_buttcrack]

"Man... I do not have the energy to get into that nitty gritty with you maybe ever, but trust me when I say I did bad by him and he's got good reasons not to trust me. I don't have any excuses for it; I was a piece of shit to him." He's trying to just... not be anymore. He and Arthur are still rooming together and he's... trying to do better. That's all.

"Hey," Crichton says gently, scooting closer to the bars and reaching out a hand. "Come here. It's okay, I won't bite. Take my hand."

[professionalriot]

"Do you have a hot date that I'm making you late for?" He shakes his head at Crichton. "Are you trying to fix it?"

Ash turns his head to look at him. His eyes drift down to his hand. The back of his hand is drug over his eyes to wipe the embarrassing tears away.

"You just told me there is a crazy dude in your head you can't control. If you grab me and pull anything I'll be the one who bites. Fair?" With that statement made he did scoot closer and maybe very cautiously touch his hand. Only a little bit.

[ss_buttcrack]

"Fix?" He shakes his head sadly. "No. There's no fixing. Atone, maybe. Up to Arthur if he ever wants to forgive me, but we'll never have what we had again." Crichton's sure of that, no matter how much it hurts. It isn't fair to Arthur to expect any different.

"Fair enough. If Harvey tries something, I deserve to get bitten."

Crichton curls his fingers around Ash's hand, moving to place his other one over the top to fold him better while looking right into the man's eyes. "Ash, it is going to be okay. Valdis is strong. She's wise. She's lived through more than you or I could ever begin to imagine. That was before she had people to help her in the fight. She's going to win this. Keep the faith."