![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
falloutkinkmeme_backupWelcome to the Fallout Kink Meme, Part IV! Please assume the position.
- Fallout Kink Meme posting guidelines
- Read something? Love something? No matter how old the story is, please let our amazing authors and artists know that you enjoyed their work with a nice comment, and share the love by recommending your favorite fills!
Gaslighting 5/5
Date: 2012-04-09 03:19 am (UTC)"Gaslighting. It's a psychological term, named after a play. It's when you try to convince someone that they can't trust their own perceptions of reality."
"I know what it means, Hannah."
Stop now, her mind was screaming. Stop now and be his little girl. It gets worse from here, stop while you can.
"I got sick the night you left," she continued. "Out in the Wasteland, I've had to play doctor a few times, figure out what drugs can be used as medicine. And I what I remember matches up to-"
Another deep breath.
"You drugged me."
Her father nodded his head.
"I wanted you to sleep...not to know I was leaving. It was cowardly, I know."
There was guilt in his voice. There was no guilt in her childhood memories of him; he’d always been the calm moral authority, sometimes making mistakes but nothing that couldn’t be fixed. There was nothing her father couldn’t fix, until suddenly he threw the entire world out of order.
“Okay. It’s good to hear that from you. Good because I thought I was crazy- maybe you didn’t mean to, but you made me sick worrying I’d lost my mind. Not just about getting sleepy, about- about other things. And I didn’t think I could trust my own mind, because you never said a word about drugging me.”
And drugging is enough to accuse your father of, he’s already apologized...
He was saying nothing in response, only nodding his head. She wasn’t supposed to be the moral authority over her own father, no matter how many times she’d wished it in her rebellious years. Only one more question was left now, only one more breath to take before she said it...
“And I thought I was crazy because of what I saw after you drugged me. I want you to look me in the eye and tell me nothing happened.”
When she knew what she’d done on Tranquility Lane, Hannah’s body had temporarily given out on her. Her father had always been made of sterner stuff, though. He didn’t fall to the ground, and his knees only slightly buckled. If she’d watched it in slow-motion, she would have seen a slight twitch of one eye; only by that could she pinpoint the moment where her father began to crumble.
“You saved my life just now,” he whispered. “Why?”
“You were my father.” The words came easier than she could have imagined. “Were. Fathers don’t do that to their daughters.”
James- she could think of him with that name now- shook his head desperately.
“I ran. I couldn’t take you with me, couldn’t face you again...oh god, Hannah! I haven't been able sleep without pills, I need to focus on my work because that's all I have left! I needed there to be one thing your mother left behind I didn't ruin, didn't destroy through my own weakness!”
“Did you? Run away from guilt, I mean. Maybe you did it in the first place so you wouldn’t be able to come back. Make it so you wouldn’t dare try and see me. I guess it doesn’t matter why.”
Hannah slung her rifle back over her shoulder, moving as she spoke- that way, she’d have less time to have to think.
“I’m sure your project is very important. The thing is, though, I won’t be part of it. Because every time I heard one of those doctors talk about you with such hope in their voice, I would have to bite back the urge to tell them what you did. That’s your job- you did it, you should have to say the words aloud.”
James was visibly shaking, whispereing something inaudible. Once again she thought she heard the words “love” and “forgive,” but she couldn’t be sure.
“Maybe some day I’ll be able to see you again. Forgive you. Something like that. YYou think you had the power to ruin my life, and right now I'm just going to focus on proving you wrong. And that’s something you can’t be a part of- not now, maybe not ever.”
Say it now, say you forgive him. You can’t leave him like that. Stopitstopitstopit make everything right, oh please forget this all-
“My dog’s waiting for me.”
By now, the sound of a Vault door closing behind her was familiar. When Hannah walked out, she didn't give a second glance to see whether it opened again.
Re: Gaslighting 5/5
Date: 2012-04-10 09:23 pm (UTC)Re: Gaslighting 5/5
Date: 2013-07-21 10:31 pm (UTC)Re: Gaslighting 5/5
Date: 2013-07-21 11:29 pm (UTC)Re: Gaslighting 5/5
Date: 2013-11-23 09:23 pm (UTC)Re: Gaslighting 5/5
Date: 2014-11-13 07:29 pm (UTC)