An Unexploded Shell Inside a Cell [Open]

[vissernone.livejournal.com]

She thought her life would be different by now, but she's a prisoner again. Voluntary, she guesses, which makes it a little bit different than the first time. At least she can blink on her own this time. Not that she's using her body to do much good.

Ironically, she almost always looked better when she was a more total prisoner. Without her makeup and hair clips and changes of clothes to arrange herself into some approximation of health, without even a mirror to confirm her suspicions, she looks a wreck. Dark circles line her reddened eyes; her hair is unbrushed and falls in tangled clumps over her face; chapped, bloodied lips and fingernails bitten down to the flesh speak to her uneasy transition back into captivity.

Eva's given up all attempts to look 'okay'. She ripped a man's face open with her bare fingers. She's been a long road away from 'okay' for a while now, but she spent too long mistaking her anger and stubbornness for strength and resilience to recognize it. She's wised up now.

She really wants a drink right now. Instead she has some books - selected poems by Pablo Neruda and an anthology of poetry by women poets in the Andes - and a pillow and blanket. She's curled up on the cot with the former book in her hand, but drifting in and out of sleep. Her breath comes lazy and heavy as she alternately reads, dreams, and watches the door to the brig with heavy-lidded eyes, looking for nothing.

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[thisclinchesit]

During one of those times she's looking out into the brig, Shoutarou's up and about, walking around and checking the cells to stretch his legs - sitting around and reading while hoping nobody flips out is terribly boring.

He'll pause in front of Eva's cell - she looks rather bad, and...well, it'd be rude to just say that, but he feels he should make some kind of small talk. He doesn't know why she's in here, but he doesn't feel he should pry.

"...how you holding up in there, miss?"

[vissernone.livejournal.com]

"I'm trying out bedraggled and unkempt as a new style. I imagine if I keep at it long enough, I can turn it into a trend." She gets up and runs a hand through her hair - her fingers catch on a series of knots.

She hasn't seen this man before, although admittedly she's not well-acquainted with the members of Security, besides Zouichi, Ax and to some extent, Dean Winchester. "I'm sorry, I'm afraid I don't know your name."

[hi_there_aliens]

He ended up telling the Captain what had happened in that supply closet the moment things calmed down, and to his surprise, found out that Eva had gotten there ahead of him. Not to cover her tracks, but to report herself. What was almost just as surprising was finding out where she was now. Not going through a psych evaluation first, no, that apparently was too easy. She'd been thrown into the brig at the first opportunity.

Daniel stopped outside the bars and put a hand on one. It felt solid, cold under his palm. No getting in or out with anyone's bare hands. Not that he thought she was going to try to escape. Far from it probably, she was the one who put herself in here after all; Stacy was a big ship. If Eva wanted to evade Leon and his security, Daniel thought the odds were actually pretty good in her favor. Thankfully there was something in Eva that felt that what she did was wrong, and that something had done the right thing by turning herself in. The terrorist was dead, and if that kill switch hadn't gone off, Daniel had no doubt Eva's work on the man would have killed him long before medics could get down there.

The archaeologist leaned forward, looking for her. It took him a second. She's huddled in a cot, looking like she'd rather burrow into it or the wall behind her, and curled in on herself with a book in hand. She looked terrible. Worse than the first time they'd met. She looked wild, all tangled hair and dark lines and blood-shot eyes.

"Eva," Daniel's voice was quiet. Guarded. He didn't ask how she was, how she was holding up. This wasn't like a trip to the infirmary where you dropped by on friends or squad mates after a mission. He was probably the last person she wanted to see. Daniel had corroborated her story, and effectively, ensured she was in here. Despite his conflicted feelings about her, he wasn't the type to leave her here and let her rot.

[vissernone.livejournal.com]

Daniel's actually the first person she wants to see. Moreso than Marco, even - that's a conversation she'd rather postpone as long as possible, and some sneaky little part of her hopes that Marco stays GLaDOSed long enough that this all blows over.

Daniel, on the other hand, she's at least hoping to sort things out with. If there's anything left to sort out. She's guilty for making him complicit in her violence. For displaying, yet again, the full extent of the wounds slavery leaves on a person. She owes him an apology, or at least something.

She's really quite remarkable at dragging other people into her personal chaos. First her son and husband, now someone new.

Still, she can't help but feel like an animal in the zoo when he puts his hand to the bars. Like a pinned butterfly under glass at a museum, with a white plate and a scrawl of explanations for her actions printed in black text right outside the door. Warning: former Controllers are temperamental and self-righteous. Do not provoke. Or maybe she's seeking fault where it doesn't exist.

She sits up and runs a hand over her face, placing the book down carefully by the side of the cot. She considers walking up to the bars to speak to him more directly, but somehow that seems confrontational. But she can at least do him the favor of making eye contact.

"Daniel." She runs her tongue over her cracked lips and clears her throat. "I'm glad you're here."

[justoutrunyou.livejournal.com]

"What. The. Hell?"

A scrawny and scruffy girl was standing there looking utterly baffled at the state of Eva. This woman who she had respected and looked up to was looking like so many homeless people she had seen back home.

[vissernone.livejournal.com]

Eva's breath catches. She's been hoping not to see Sandy. She wants to at least retain the respect of a few people, and she knows she's one of the few adults Sandy actually admires. She doesn't want Sandy to lose that.

And unfortunately, she's not looking all that admirable right now. She sits up, brushes some hair out of her face, and forces a weak smile and a little wave. She doesn't know what to say.

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Zouichi was rather dismayed to see her in her current state; it was as if someone had pulled a stitch and promptly pulled Eva undone. He tapped gently at the bars, hoping not to startle her if she wasn't expecting anyone. "Eva, are you awake?"

[vissernone.livejournal.com]

She looks up from her book and lays it to the side. "Yes. Just spent seventeen hours or so asleep, might as well be awake. There's not much to do in here, is there?"

Obviously. It's jail, after all. "I'm glad you got through that battle unscathed."

[leafonthewind]

Wash didn't realize how much he'd come to rely on Eva in the Quarter until she wasn't there, and he had to do everything himself again. Then he heard she was in the brig, then he heard she'd resigned her post, so Wash headed straight for the City.

The days since the battle were spent crawling through the Quarter's guts for damage assessments, as well has helping Kaylee fix the thing. Eva got him in his coveralls and smeared with grease. "Hey, Eva, if you needed a space to crash for a while you know you could have come by Serenity," he said with a smile, trying to lighten the tension.

[vissernone.livejournal.com]

"Wash!" Given that she hardly looks like she's ready to face the day at the moment, she hardly notices the grease and coveralls, except to note that he must have taken time after work to come visit her. "Oh, but you know, these jail cells are just entirely four star. This blanket's thread count must be in the tens, even!"

Then she gets a bit more serious. "I'm sorry I couldn't deliver my resignation in person. Personal conflicts arose."

[caringcassie.livejournal.com]

Cassie had quickly made her way to the brig as soon as she'd learned of Eva's incarceration, the worry that she felt for her friend was clear on her face. It didn't take her long to find the older woman's cell.

The worry that she already felt deepened when she got a look at her friend. It had to be so hard for Eva to be locked up like this after all she'd been through.

Her voice shook a bit as she spoke, stepping closer to the cell so that Eva could see and hear her better. "Eva, I'm sorry to bother you. I just wanted to check on you. How are you feeling?" They weren't the right words to convey her true feelings, but she couldn't find better. She felt out of her depth with this situation and completely helpless to aid her friend. All she could do for now was try to be there for Eva. "Can I do anything for you?"

[vissernone.livejournal.com]

Eva rolls up and off the bed to her feet with a weary smirk. Her disheveled appearance should speak volumes to Cassie about exactly how Eva's feeling. "No, not really, but it's nice of you to visit. I'm the most popular bird in the jail block, it seems."

She takes a deep breath and moves closer to the bars, so things feel more friendly with Cassie and so Eva feels less like a creature in a zoo. "Marco hasn't come back yet, has he?"

[governorkang]

Shortly after being released from the med bay, Kang had gone looking for Eva. He needed to talk to someone about what had happened on the battlefield with Kali and Crucible, and she was one of the few people who he trusted completely, and would understand why he was as shaken up by it as he was.

He hadn't expected to hear that she'd landed herself in the brig, though. Immediately upon finding out, he'd come over, more worried about her than he was his own issues. They could wait.

He stood outside the bars, looking her over, and snorted, "I don't know what you did, but I don't think being locked up in here is good for you. You look horrible." He knew a good deal more about Eva than most on the ship, and her years in captivity.

[vissernone.livejournal.com]

"Oh, you do know how to flatter a lady." She groans and sits up. "I volunteered for this, you know. I could have gone the fugitive route. I'm waiting for the part where making the honest decision yields some kind of emotional benefit."

She walks up to the bars and leans against the frame of the closed door. "I heard you had a close call. I'm sorry I couldn't visit you in the Medical Bay."

[notadamnangel.livejournal.com]

Dean poked his head around to check on current occupants in the pokey. His eyes widened upon recognizing a certain face behind the bars. Shit, she looked like she'd been through hell. And he was something of an expert on the place. Granted it'd be more like first day in hell, but still. Hell.

"Do I wanna know?" He asked as he brought his forearm up to lean against the bars to peer in on her.

[vissernone.livejournal.com]

"Probably not, although your soul's probably more fortified than the average Joe's to hear my gruesome exploits," she says with a smirk. "Just so you know, I'm planning on playing my harmonica during every waking hour, so your shifts will be musical."

[not_the_philistine]

Goliath brings her no drinks, but her book collection is about to get a little larger.

The gargoyle enters the brig with a few more books under his arm, pausing only slightly at Eva's state in holding before approaching her cell to crouch at a better speaking level.

"I heard you were here. I did not hear why."

[vissernone.livejournal.com]

"Oh, bless you and the printing press," she says, leaning up to the bars so she can get closer to him and take the books. "Neruda's repetitive in his own poems, much less if you read them each twenty times."

She doesn't quite tell Goliath the truth. At least not immediately. 'Ripped a guy's nose open with my fingers' is a bit of a mood killer. "Conduct unbecoming of an officer. I reported myself."

[battorch]

Being a member of Security meant that it wasn't exactly surprising for Tim to be in the Brig, as Red Robin. He did his own rounds to make sure everything was in order, while he was on duty, but he was actually slightly surprised by one of the faces he saw there. He'd only met her briefly, before, and they'd not spoken much-- but still. "Can't say I expected a herald of anonymity to be here," Red Robin said, but his voice was a little bit softer than the normal tone it carried. She looked rough, he didn't want to goad her, even if he'd gotten the impression that dry humour was her own method of coping.

[vissernone.livejournal.com]

"Aren't you a little young to be the jail warden?" she teases, pulling that humor out again as her shield. "In here voluntarily, even. I've been an upstanding citizen and reporting all my wrongdoing."

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

She really shoudln't be leaving med bay with all of the injured people there, but that would be before she found out Eva was in one of the cells. Kaya could barely blurt out a half hearted apology before she zoomed down to the brig, hardly caring who saw, or the fact that she looked quite tired.

Eva had been through enough, why this? Why now?

Kaya wasn't hesitating to go see her, and once she did, her state alone was enough to bring her close to tears. She didn't look like herself, not at all, and this bothered her. Wasn'tit enough that the stupid ship made her almost kill before, did things to her (very aggravating) son, and killed another good person?

"Eva," she said, almost out of breath. "What are you doing in there?"

[vissernone.livejournal.com]

"Oh, honey, you're out of breath," she says, rising from the bed and running her hands over her face. She'd been dozing. "You didn't run all this way for me, did you? I'm not going anywhere, obviously."

She furrows her brow and bites more of her fingernails as she considers telling Kaya what happened. On one hand, Kaya's old enough to know, and she knows about Eva's involvement with bombing downtown. On the other, in some ways Kaya's not been part of the same sort of all-consuming war Eva has, and something still doesn't sit right with telling Kaya that the woman she looks up to ripped open someone's face.

"I turned myself in. I made some bad calls and this is just an obligatory part of sentencing for conduct unbecoming of an officer."

[makeherblue]

First the library, now the brig.

Eva certainly knows how to get into trouble!

The Doctor pops in sooner rather than later. Given she's somehow tossed herself in jail, he thinks she probably has more pressing matters than her shoes. Make that shoe. He hasn't quite found her other one and now probably isn't the time to say that the man-eating library is still on the loose somewhere in the TARDIS and he hasn't tracked it down yet. The only thing he's certain is it's in hiding, so it's safe(ish) in the TARDIs. Probably not safe enough to go hunting for Eva's other shoe, he thinks, and anyway, the shoe isn't really the important thing, is it?

Eva's shoe in hand, the Doctor tracks her down to the brig, materializing on the other side of the bars. He peers at them with interest, then at the human on the other side, as if seeing her for the first time and it's all really incidental there's a prisoner in here.

"Thought you'd give the brig a go?"

[vissernone.livejournal.com]

Of all the unexpected gifts Eva's been brought here lately - and that includes Goliath's books - the most unexpected would have to be that damn shoe.

"Oh, Doc, what am I only going to do with only one shoe? Display it in my home as sculpture?" she asks, getting out of bed and straightening up her shirt and matted hair to look marginally less disheveled. Not that she knows if the Doctor would notice; he might find her current state of bedragglediness quaint, for all she knows.

Still, she reaches through the bars to take the shoe. At the very least, it's hers. She might as well keep things that are hers - books, shoes, bodies. Friends. She's allowed to own things, after all. "You know, I just thought this looked like the most charming vacation spot. Elegant in its simplicity, although I take it you're not horribly keen on minimalism."

[livestoannoy]

Marco didn't know what to expect when he arrived at the brig. He'd come as soon as he could, after getting bombarded with people talking about what his mother might or might not have done on the comms. He still felt on edge, jittering with anger.

And fear. Most of the stuff people were saying was obviously complete crap, but the few things he had managed to figure out had really happened was her turning herself in, and that she'd resigned from her job. And it didn't make sense! Why the hell would she decide she wanted to get locked up? Leave her job? Something had to have happened, and Marco was scared to know what that might be.

He stepped into the area outside the cells, and stopped. She looked like a mess. He felt like they'd gone back to the Yeerk pool, back to when she was just the container for the Yeerks to execute Visser One in.

"Mom?" he said, hoping his voice didn't sound as freaked out as he felt as he came forward to hold onto the bars of her cell. He felt like he should say something else. One of the millions of questions swarming around in his head. Anything. But he found he just didn't have anything to say at all.

[vissernone.livejournal.com]

Though he does a good job tamping down the fear in his voice, she knows him. She can tell. And even if he hid it entirely, she'd still know what must be going through his head.

It's a conversation she's been dreading having, as much as she's wanted to see him.

"Hey, sweetheart." She gets up off the cot and kicks the blanket off, trying to make a convincing smile appear.

[a_mere_human]

Hey, Eva. Have that strange kid from that Celestial Whatchamacallit group for a visit. Though its less a visit and more of an observation, it seems.

He hasn't said anything since he arrived, and doesn't appear to be doing anything else other than watching her. Well, staring at her, to be specific.

[vissernone.livejournal.com]

"You know you have to buy a ticket if you want to see a show, right?" She doesn't give him a long time to stare. He gives her the heebie jeebies.

[syncopath]

"Well, well," comes a semi-familiar voice from the other side of the bars. The Master peers in with the kind of curiosity that could very easily turn to malice.

"What have we here?"

[vissernone.livejournal.com]

"The most popular inmate on the crew," she says, glancing up and then back at her book, as if bored. "I see we aren't bothering with the pleasantries, Mr. Smith. Did you want something?"