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Title: Finding Beauty at the End of the World
Fandom: Dollhouse
Pair: Echo/Priya
Warnings: mention of rape and suicide
Summary: They failed to save the world. Priya fails to keep Tony at Safe Haven.
Word Count: 1332
Apparently, true love doesn’t conquer all.
Never mind that in every incarnation, no matter what imprint might be forced upon them, unless one of them was wired to be gay or another gender (and even then) they end up drawn to one another.
Well, Priya’s just damn tired of failing at true love. They’d made a go of it, multiple times, but under the stress that came with the collapse of Western civilization, they couldn’t stop fighting. Now, here they were at Haven 2.0, and there was no stopping the inevitable. Tony’s going off to fight the good fight with other tech-heads, and Priya’s staying here because she just can’t stand to see him using that horrible technology. Tech she’d fought alongside Echo to save him from when the army wanted to use him as part of a hivemind killing machine. Tech that was used to keep her in a perpetual state of rape for almost a year, that had stripped her of her power to even say no.
She can’t abide by it. She’d rather kill herself.
Echo seemed to think that she and Tony were some kind of glorious testament to the human spirit and that if they were together, one piece of the world would be right, among a sea of wrongness. Echo might be projecting just a bit. She and Paul are always in different places, so much so that they might be on different planets trying to get them to line up so they can shout a word at one another. Yes then no, no then yes.
When Priya finds out that she’s pregnant, all she can think is that this is one more failure to add to her pile-- Contraception. Now she can’t even be useful during missions. Adele is the first person she tells, and practical as ever, provides her with a list of options, none very appealing.
Sometimes, Priya thinks that Adele still sees her as a traumatized doll, a fragile thing that they just broke all the more when they ‘rescued’ her. Or maybe like an adopted daughter. It’s hard to read DeWitt, sometimes.
She doesn’t see when Echo returns from her latest ‘mission.’ The defining traits of Caroline, Priya has guessed from talking with DeWitt, and Echo’s behavior after downloading Caroline, are tireless persistence and a desire to fight injustice, no matter how small. Or hope hopelessly enormous. The individual people involved don’t matter quite as much. Priya doesn’t know what the mission is. She quite honestly doesn’t give a fuck. She’s tending to the garden.
The soft crunch of boots in the dirt alert Priya to Echo’s presence first. She doesn’t turn, but continues pulling out weeds that might eventually choke their food supply to death.
“I brought back some food. It’s not much, but there’s not much anywhere,” Echo says quietly. She kneels beside Priya, watching her work. “I brought you something.”
The defining traits of Echo, Priya has determined, are loyalty, defense of the weak, and a certain overprotectiveness toward Sierra in particular. That has transferred, of course, to Priya and her relationship with Tony. She can tell by the tone of Echo’s voice that she knows they had a fight.
“Thanks. I don’t think these beans will be ready for us to eat for a while. Adele has some nice tomatoes growing...”
Echo’s hand rubs over the back of her shoulders, a heavy weight on top of the weight already there. Priya feels herself releasing a shuddering sigh. Her head hangs from her neck like one of the wilting plants they gave Topher to take care of. Sometimes, he remembers that they are there.
Her fingers rub the against one another, feeling the wet dirt and smelling the Earth. She misses the ocean. The sweet, salty sent, and the wind on her face. She misses moving in the moment, when creativity strikes at 2:00 am and she just has to paint! She misses chatting up whomever decides to come by her stand. She loved being a street painter. She used to get energy just from talking to people.
She misses the feeling of being Priya, instead of being a survivor. Maybe not enough time has passed. She misses being touched by a man and not jumping from things that her body remembers but her brain can’t handle.
DeWitt referred to it (out of earshot, she had presumed) in regards to her and Topher:
Failure to thrive.
“Stop. Stop worrying about me,” Priya pleads softly. “I am fine, you know.”
“Yeah. Nothin’ wrong with a backrub, though, huh?” Echo offers lightly.
Caroline is probably from the Boston area originally, Priya thinks. Tony is from Jersey.
“I suppose not.”
“You and Tony are meant to be together,” Echo says, for perhaps the dozenth time. “He’ll come back. We always do, and when he does, you two will work this out.”
“No, we won’t.” Priya don’t even hesitate. “I have enough on my mind right now, without trying to force this all to work. I can’t do it anymore. It hurts too much. It would be easier if I didn’t care.”
Echo goes silent, her Pollyanna attitude towards Priya’s fairytale ending thwarted, for the moment.
“Well, even if you don’t. He does love you. And you’re strong.”
Priya turns to Echo. She looks a mess. Her hair all tangled. Probably from fighting. Priya doesn’t understand why Echo doesn’t pull it back when she knows she will be in combat.
“I’m just me.” Priya reaches up and begins to pull apart a snarl on the side of Echo’s face.
“Well, I’m me times a bunch, but it doesn’t exactly help, sometimes. You know?”
“Hm.”
Once the snarl is defeated, Priya smooths Echo’s hair, putting it in place. “You should let me braid this before you go out again. You don’t want to get killed just because your fabulous hair falls in your eyes in the wrong moment.”
“Maybe, yeah. Come inside with me.”
Priya pushes up from the ground and sways. A wave of dizziness washes over her, and Echo’s preternaturally strong arms are around her. Heat hits her face and she looks at Echo almost guiltily.
Echo doesn’t ask, though. As though she’s see it before, she just frowns and puts her arm around Priya before walking with her toward the main house.
“Thanks.”“Friends help each other out,” Echo replies easily.
Just before they reach the main house, Priya stops them. She feels herself growing warm again, and she leans over to give her would-be protector a gentle kiss on the lips. Her heart beats frantically, not from shyness overcome, but from the sudden fear that Echo is going to go out there again and Priya will lose her like everyone and everything else.
Echo’s eyes are surprised, but she looks up at Priya and smiles. Priya touches one of Echo’s deep dimples. She never considered a label for her own sexuality and preferred to let whatever happened happened, but it occurs to her that Echo went on enough engagements with clients male and female for this to be confusing for her.
“You... you need to be careful. Out there,” Priya says. It probably seems out of nowhere.
“I’m always careful. Or one of us, is.”
Echo says that so seriously that Priya isn’t really sure if it’s a joke, but she allows Echo to take her inside, where there are fresh strawberries to be had. Priya doesn’t know if this is her first craving, but it contrasts deliciously sweet to all the bitterness surrounding her.
That night, Priya will make Echo stay with her on her small bed, curled together, at once like children and like adults. Echo protects, and Priya dreams beautiful dreams. Tomorrow, Echo may leave, but Priya will use the paints that Echo brought her to bring some beauty into her life until Echo returns.
Fandom: Dollhouse
Pair: Echo/Priya
Warnings: mention of rape and suicide
Summary: They failed to save the world. Priya fails to keep Tony at Safe Haven.
Word Count: 1332
Apparently, true love doesn’t conquer all.
Never mind that in every incarnation, no matter what imprint might be forced upon them, unless one of them was wired to be gay or another gender (and even then) they end up drawn to one another.
Well, Priya’s just damn tired of failing at true love. They’d made a go of it, multiple times, but under the stress that came with the collapse of Western civilization, they couldn’t stop fighting. Now, here they were at Haven 2.0, and there was no stopping the inevitable. Tony’s going off to fight the good fight with other tech-heads, and Priya’s staying here because she just can’t stand to see him using that horrible technology. Tech she’d fought alongside Echo to save him from when the army wanted to use him as part of a hivemind killing machine. Tech that was used to keep her in a perpetual state of rape for almost a year, that had stripped her of her power to even say no.
She can’t abide by it. She’d rather kill herself.
Echo seemed to think that she and Tony were some kind of glorious testament to the human spirit and that if they were together, one piece of the world would be right, among a sea of wrongness. Echo might be projecting just a bit. She and Paul are always in different places, so much so that they might be on different planets trying to get them to line up so they can shout a word at one another. Yes then no, no then yes.
When Priya finds out that she’s pregnant, all she can think is that this is one more failure to add to her pile-- Contraception. Now she can’t even be useful during missions. Adele is the first person she tells, and practical as ever, provides her with a list of options, none very appealing.
Sometimes, Priya thinks that Adele still sees her as a traumatized doll, a fragile thing that they just broke all the more when they ‘rescued’ her. Or maybe like an adopted daughter. It’s hard to read DeWitt, sometimes.
She doesn’t see when Echo returns from her latest ‘mission.’ The defining traits of Caroline, Priya has guessed from talking with DeWitt, and Echo’s behavior after downloading Caroline, are tireless persistence and a desire to fight injustice, no matter how small. Or hope hopelessly enormous. The individual people involved don’t matter quite as much. Priya doesn’t know what the mission is. She quite honestly doesn’t give a fuck. She’s tending to the garden.
The soft crunch of boots in the dirt alert Priya to Echo’s presence first. She doesn’t turn, but continues pulling out weeds that might eventually choke their food supply to death.
“I brought back some food. It’s not much, but there’s not much anywhere,” Echo says quietly. She kneels beside Priya, watching her work. “I brought you something.”
The defining traits of Echo, Priya has determined, are loyalty, defense of the weak, and a certain overprotectiveness toward Sierra in particular. That has transferred, of course, to Priya and her relationship with Tony. She can tell by the tone of Echo’s voice that she knows they had a fight.
“Thanks. I don’t think these beans will be ready for us to eat for a while. Adele has some nice tomatoes growing...”
Echo’s hand rubs over the back of her shoulders, a heavy weight on top of the weight already there. Priya feels herself releasing a shuddering sigh. Her head hangs from her neck like one of the wilting plants they gave Topher to take care of. Sometimes, he remembers that they are there.
Her fingers rub the against one another, feeling the wet dirt and smelling the Earth. She misses the ocean. The sweet, salty sent, and the wind on her face. She misses moving in the moment, when creativity strikes at 2:00 am and she just has to paint! She misses chatting up whomever decides to come by her stand. She loved being a street painter. She used to get energy just from talking to people.
She misses the feeling of being Priya, instead of being a survivor. Maybe not enough time has passed. She misses being touched by a man and not jumping from things that her body remembers but her brain can’t handle.
DeWitt referred to it (out of earshot, she had presumed) in regards to her and Topher:
Failure to thrive.
“Stop. Stop worrying about me,” Priya pleads softly. “I am fine, you know.”
“Yeah. Nothin’ wrong with a backrub, though, huh?” Echo offers lightly.
Caroline is probably from the Boston area originally, Priya thinks. Tony is from Jersey.
“I suppose not.”
“You and Tony are meant to be together,” Echo says, for perhaps the dozenth time. “He’ll come back. We always do, and when he does, you two will work this out.”
“No, we won’t.” Priya don’t even hesitate. “I have enough on my mind right now, without trying to force this all to work. I can’t do it anymore. It hurts too much. It would be easier if I didn’t care.”
Echo goes silent, her Pollyanna attitude towards Priya’s fairytale ending thwarted, for the moment.
“Well, even if you don’t. He does love you. And you’re strong.”
Priya turns to Echo. She looks a mess. Her hair all tangled. Probably from fighting. Priya doesn’t understand why Echo doesn’t pull it back when she knows she will be in combat.
“I’m just me.” Priya reaches up and begins to pull apart a snarl on the side of Echo’s face.
“Well, I’m me times a bunch, but it doesn’t exactly help, sometimes. You know?”
“Hm.”
Once the snarl is defeated, Priya smooths Echo’s hair, putting it in place. “You should let me braid this before you go out again. You don’t want to get killed just because your fabulous hair falls in your eyes in the wrong moment.”
“Maybe, yeah. Come inside with me.”
Priya pushes up from the ground and sways. A wave of dizziness washes over her, and Echo’s preternaturally strong arms are around her. Heat hits her face and she looks at Echo almost guiltily.
Echo doesn’t ask, though. As though she’s see it before, she just frowns and puts her arm around Priya before walking with her toward the main house.
“Thanks.”“Friends help each other out,” Echo replies easily.
Just before they reach the main house, Priya stops them. She feels herself growing warm again, and she leans over to give her would-be protector a gentle kiss on the lips. Her heart beats frantically, not from shyness overcome, but from the sudden fear that Echo is going to go out there again and Priya will lose her like everyone and everything else.
Echo’s eyes are surprised, but she looks up at Priya and smiles. Priya touches one of Echo’s deep dimples. She never considered a label for her own sexuality and preferred to let whatever happened happened, but it occurs to her that Echo went on enough engagements with clients male and female for this to be confusing for her.
“You... you need to be careful. Out there,” Priya says. It probably seems out of nowhere.
“I’m always careful. Or one of us, is.”
Echo says that so seriously that Priya isn’t really sure if it’s a joke, but she allows Echo to take her inside, where there are fresh strawberries to be had. Priya doesn’t know if this is her first craving, but it contrasts deliciously sweet to all the bitterness surrounding her.
That night, Priya will make Echo stay with her on her small bed, curled together, at once like children and like adults. Echo protects, and Priya dreams beautiful dreams. Tomorrow, Echo may leave, but Priya will use the paints that Echo brought her to bring some beauty into her life until Echo returns.
