thisavrou_log | i'm looking to isolate me

Alice has been hanging around the Ingress for nearly an hour, trying to pester answers out of their host. The attendant’s gracious, if too busy to be forthcoming, and she’s been stewing around in silence for a moment trying to find an angle to go at it again.

She’s lost enough in thought that she doesn’t notice Luke at first — and when she does, she nearly startles out of her skin. When did space hicks get so quiet?

When did she get so distracted, would be the better question. It's a little late to make an escape this time.

“Sorry, were you waiting to go through?” She steps aside, as though she’s been blocking anything but the wall.

Edited 2016-05-06 01:54 (UTC)

[Luke was trying not to be obvious about it, but he's not renown for subtlety. He's caught Alice out of the corner of his eye enough to suspect that he, or maybe the Force, is telling him something. Or trying to, anyway. Luke smiles and eases himself into friendly concern:]

Sort of. I noticed you-- are you looking for someone to go through with? [It's an offer. Not everyone has someone to jump with, but Luke is hardly going to throw that in this girl's face.]

Not quite. [ She smiles back, can't quite help it. Luke's good humour has always been a little infectious. Alice jerks a thumb in the direction of the distant attendant. ] I keep getting stonewalled on the questions. Just catching my breath before I go at it again.

[ A beat. ]

No reason we couldn't explore while I do. If you want to go, I mean. [ She's still hanging back a little, fidgeting. Her eyes don't leave Luke's. ] I'm Alice.

[Luke smiles, appreciating the curiosity.] I don't think you're getting anything out of her. You have a better bet just trying it for yourself.

[He smiles back, and tries to be reassuring. Nonthreatening. He hopes the cybernetic arm, metallic and whirring slightly when he moves it, isn't unsettling her.] I'm Luke Skywalker. It's good to meet you, Alice. [He holds out his hand for a shake. If it bothers her, now's the time to find out.] We can go whenever you're ready.

Edited (w ow) 2016-05-06 13:51 (UTC)

It hasn’t been difficult to find others who want to explore. This time, Alice is just happy it’s someone easy to talk to. Fatima hasn’t shown her hand in any of the recent mess, and it’s an indifference which she finds herself acutely grateful for now.

“Okay. So, I’m not sure where it’s going to dump us,” She cautions. “Because it’s been a couple of different places now. But it shouldn’t be anywhere dangerous.”

Not immediately so, at least. Alice is pretty sure she can handle it if they do. Combat feels like about all she can handle lately.

Edited 2016-05-06 02:01 (UTC)

Fatima smiled an easy smile. She didn't know much about Alice, but she'd given up a healthy share of her paranoia back in Zelien. It was a combination of the knowledge that they were 'all in it together,' combined, probably, with the fact that she'd already crawled out of her grave once.

It was hard to top that, in terms of terrible.

Anyway, she was anxious to see something new. Anxious to explore the multiverse a little more. Anything she could do to unlock its secrets could, potentially,, bring her one step closer to finding Sam and the others.

Saving Sam and the others.

"As long as there aren't vampire clowns, I'm cool," she said. It was mostly a joke. But then she paused, glancing sideways at the other girl. "There...aren't vampire clowns in your world, are there?"

"Not unless someone's going really abstract with the Halloween parties this year," Alice pushes up her sleeves, throwing Fatima a quick smile back. "And I can't think of, like, a single pun for that — so we're probably safe. Ready on three,"

She only makes it to one, two before leaping.

When they hit the ground, the first thing Fatima will notice is the thick, heady smell of old wood and fresh-cut grass, and the fainter whiff of ozone. A massive stand of topiary animals ambles above them, slow enough as to be almost imperceptible.

Alice straightens, inhaling deep, trying to center herself as she squints up against the sun. It's full summer at Brakebills, which means it must be Fall semester, a seasonal delay that's the byproduct of the wandering enchantments encasing the grounds.

Some distant part of her wonders how many defensive alarms their incursion's set off on the grounds. Only one way to find out.

"Welcome back to school." She turns, offering a hand out to Fatima. "This is Brakebills."

The building that looms beyond them is huge and collegiate, the picture of any East Coast Ivy. Scattered students mill in the distance, clustered around an assortment of fountains. In the opposite direction: Woods, green and stretching into the distance, postcard-perfect.

There was something unbelievably thrilling about the leap. It spoke to Fatima's new reckless tendencies, the ones she didn't want to plumb too far. All she would acknowledge was that she liked the feeling of falling, the way that her hair blew off of the back of her neck and the way her stomach dropped out from under her. No more harm in it than riding a roller coaster.

Never mind the fact that there were no tracks.

She landed gracefully enough, thanks to over a dozen years of karate classes. And for a split second, with nothing but the scent as her eyes adjusted, she almost felt like she was back on the compound.

The...walking topiary definitely put a dent in that, though.

"Whoa," she said, standing up and drinking in the scenery. "Your family must be loaded. This place looks really expensive."

Alice laughs — a weird, harsh sound.

"Sorry," She breathes, grinning over. "That's really only funny if you know my parents. But no. Everyone here... call it a scholarship."

Alice stops, fiddles in a pocket to tie up her hair, considers. If they'd truly broken through the defenses, half a dozen faculty would already be screaming down on them. Something about their presence here — it must be different.

Still. Their dull Moira fatigues are going to stand out like firecrackers on a campus where everyone's pressed into uniform, and she's a little reluctant to spend a few hours even in the fucked-up-half-temporary-illusion of the Dean's company.

"I think we'll have the easiest time of it if we stay out of the classrooms." A shrug. "But there's all sorts of stuff on the grounds. Where do you want to go?"

Edited 2016-05-07 18:16 (UTC)

"Anywhere there are cute boys," Fatima replied, batting her eyelashes. You could take the girl out of LA, but you couldn't take the LA out of the girl. And Fatima didn't really know a lot about real campuses. The closest she'd come to a degree were a few semesters at a community college, while simultaneously moonlighting as a vampire hunter.

She shrugged. "But seriously. This is your home, we should go where you want. You know..."

...in case she didn't get a chance to return again.

That was an inside thought that definitely didn't need to be shared.

Alice throws her a funny sort of look.

"The oldest people here are like, 22. Discounting professors."

She has no idea how old Fatima is, but she's pretty sure flinging extra-dimensional visitors at teenagers isn't a winning strategy.

"Okay, though." She breathes out, trying to center herself. "Let's go home."

Her legs itch to sprint, uneasy with the place. Two years after departure, its grounds feel too small, familiar. Like a trap. She starts off slow, hanging back to keep pace with Fatima. Ahead, a small cottage slowly grows closer into view. Smoke rises in a steady little plume from the chimney above its attic windows, despite the heat of the day.

"You want to knock?"

In all fairness, Fatima wasn't entirely sure how old she was either. She'd gotten comfortable with claiming to be twenty-one, but given the way the multiverse had messed her up, it was entirely possible she was off.

Not that it mattered much. As much as she enjoyed flirting, it probably wasn't a good idea to get too attached to anyone in this place. Except for maybe Alice. Even if they didn't know each other that well, there was something Fatima liked in her.

She couldn't say just what.

As the cottage appeared, she smiled slightly. Seemed like a nice place to live. "What is it?" she asked, turning to Alice. "Some kind of dorm? Frat house?"

She needs off this ship. It’s what finally seals things: She’ll visit all the half-illusory, fucked-up possibilities in the ‘verse if it means getting out of the Moira’s halls for a while. With the shit he’s been taking on her behalf, she’s pretty sure Ratchet does too. This friendship does, if it’s going to keep itself whole.

Recent events have her feeling like — acting like — that old ouroboros, swallowing up more of herself on every spiny twist of the scales.

“Come on,” She pushes herself off the wall where she’s been leaning, been watching the pairs pass; some silent, nervous, others chatty with excitement. “We’re going on a vacation, I don’t care where. Let’s go.”

She’s ditched the stupid yellow jacket for once, and a pair of sunglasses push up precariously against her bangs, threatening to tangle themselves in a knot.

“Maybe we can find a real beach.”

Edited 2016-05-06 02:14 (UTC)

He’s watching her, not the progression through, a line of worry edging his features. If he needed any further evidence that the past month had been hard on Alice, that particular open-ended phrasing cinched it. Not that things hadn't been bad for the past...basically a year. But somehow things on the Moira had a way of feeling more personal when they went wrong.

“Sure.”

He doesn’t need convincing. He has his reservations about this whole thing, but...the opportunity to get away has far too much allure. He tries to smile a bit as he falls into step beside her.

“We've been to beaches.” You couldn’t, after all, say Macha wasn’t a beach in every sense of the word. Substrata was more debatable. “We’ll never get that lucky again.”

The glowing blue cube has a point: This is their best chance for a while to stock up on rare materials.

If only the Ingress had any consistency so far in where it spat them out. Alice is first through, stumbling onto the damp, stone slabs of the Neitherlands.

Again.

She glances back, shifts up to reach arms out: Ready to steady Lara if need be. Miles and miles of fountains surround them, bricked in on the sides by plain, impassive buildings. Some of the fountains are capped off, others trickle or rush with dark water.

Nearest to them, an angel weeps over a series of miniature, sculpted trees. A few meters away, another fountain stands open, topped with a little stone tower, its roof banded with grinning, celestial masks.

"Try not to puke," Alice cautions. It's a side effect of the place: the sudden disorientation worse on the magically-inclined. "Or — um. Try not to puke on me."

Edited 2016-05-06 03:04 (UTC)

She stumbles a little on the exit, very nearly colliding with Alice before catching herself. At the very least, she manages not to vomit. Lara takes a moment to catch her breath and settle herself before looking around.

It's... Well, it's rather ominous in a very normal-but-not sort of way. She eyes the fountain with it's little tower and tamps down the immediate urge to climb up onto it and investigate. "Where are we?"

"The Neitherlands," She breathes, counting paving stones silently on her fingers. "And before you blame me, I so did not name it."

A weird, wobbly grin.

"It's... a nexus point. Connected to a whole bunch of different worlds. My —" Friend? Sure. Why not. "— Friend used to study it. All the fountains here, the ones that are open, I mean, they act like portals."

Alice shades her eyes, glances to the buildings, solid and static as a movie facade.

"The last time I was in, the Ingress pulled us out again just fine. So if there's anywhere you want to go," She spreads her arms, wide and dorky, to announce: "I can show you the wooooorld. S."

“Have you gotten a look at this yet?”

If she seems to have popped out of nowhere, it’s because she has, quite literally. Alice steps out of the shadows where she’s been — well, what’s a polite word for lurking? — invisible, watching the scattered pairs of crew clamour and pass.

It's just easier right now. This shit with Alan, it’s still dying down.

But she wants to talk to Sans, in the worst sort of way, which is to say she wants him to put effort into thinking about something. He’s not as secluded (as frightening) as Banner, he doesn’t have the baggage of talking to Tali (she’s read enough to guess where she stands right now with her and Niko), and this is as good as it’s going to get for conversation for a while.

Edited 2016-05-06 02:32 (UTC)

"Huh?"

For someone who makes a regular habit of not being where he's supposed to, Sans' can't quite hide his momentary surprise at being on the other end of it. It's a brief reaction, tempered quickly by the instinctual process of reading her.

She wants something. Well, don't they all?

"Depends on what this is, Al."

"The beachfront property, I'm looking to invest."

She looks him over plainly, makes no attempt to hide it. Their recent conversation — "anonymous" or not — has her considering him in a new light. There's an intensity to his apathy that's too familiar to easily place. Alice gestures back towards the attendant and her Ingress.

"Or at least do a house tour. How do you feel about mixed metaphors, inmate? Because I think we could both use some visitation."

It doesn't take a guy with a big brain to parse what Alice is implying. Or even a guy with any brain, as the case was here. Sans scrutinizes her for a few, silent moments, as if weighing the consequences of refusal against acceptance.

Accepting won out handily. The woman did manage to get him teaching a 9AM class this month. As far as Sans is concerned, her powers of persuasion are currently unmatched.

"Aight, fine, but as long as we're mixin' things, you owe cocktails later." Shrimp cocktails, technically, but she could find that out later. He nods for her to go on, following a few steps behind her.

"That eager to see what's back home, huh?"

"I don't know that it's home," She perches on the edge of the Ingress, offers a hand back out. "And that's what I'd like to see."

"I mean, just given the last few places we've landed, this seems like too big of a break to be entirely genuine. And it's not like she's got anyone here to check her results."

Alice jerks her chin to the alien woman, currently happily engrossed in some question or another.

"Plus, from the sounds of it there's like at least six different places we could land, and you don't seem likely to freak out at any of it." Nor, she's pretty sure, would a single New Yorker bat an eye at a talking skeleton. "At least a few of them should have bars."

"Well, now you're talkin' my language." He takes Alices hand, smoothing out any lingering trepidation until his expression is as smooth and featureless as usual. The Ingress pulses with energy.

Sans doesn't swallow, but he doesn't breathe either.

Luckily, as a skeleton, neither of those should raise any eyebrows.

"After you, Al."

Edited 2016-05-14 23:08 (UTC)

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Alice asks. The words are plainly uncertain, but the way she's gripping L's hand is anything but. "It's not exactly, I mean. We've got about a fifty-fifty shot that my world makes yours super boring or way too exciting."

L's observant, and he plans — otherwise, she wouldn't have agreed to this. If she doesn't trust him, she at least trusts his abilities. Nothing that Fillory might spit out seems likely to throw him.

Edited 2016-05-06 02:40 (UTC)

L is also armed, with a belt holster holding a fully loaded Walther P99 at his hip, and his curiosity is winning, although there are a few other factors that mitigate his perception of risk. This is interesting, a unique experience, a chance to gather information about people. Furthermore, as weird or hazardous as it might be, it still pales in comparison to similar experiences on the Tranquility. If they can hold on for a few hours, the story should have a relatively happy ending, and there's a chance of getting some good supplies.

"Boring isn't bad. Exciting... well, that would be something to see." He puts on one of his more optimistic smiles: look at us, intrepid explorers, or possibly only intrepid acquirers of coffee! "We're prepared for most of the typical things, correct? Remember... if we end up in my world, don't tell anyone your name, especially if I introduce them to you as my friend. You'll be Alice Jones. I'll still be Ryuuzaki, regardless."

Edited (Whoops, I already said something like that in that other log.) 2016-05-06 08:42 (UTC)

With everyone exploring, she's taken advantage of the ship's relative quiet to get some work done of her own, something she should have seen to a long time ago.

Alice bends quietly over the dirt, replanting a series of three small, potted saplings. A single clock face grows organically from the center of each trunk, ticking in quiet, synchronized time.

It's — if not peaceful, at least consuming. Her fingers crunch a cup (filched from the dining hall) methodically through the dirt, scooping out a makeshift hole. It's consuming, sure.

Enough so to never notice Toriel's approach.

[There is only some faint hesitation when Toriel sees Alice's familiar form working in the garden. The urge to help overrides her uncertainly as she does approach the young woman. The saplings equally made her curious in her own way.]

Ah, do you need help, dear? [Even with his misgivings and disappointment, she will at least offer.] I'm sure we could find a proper trowel to use.

Edited 2016-05-06 03:23 (UTC)

Ah —

[ Alice startles, throwing Toriel a hesitant, almost apologetic look. They've never talked much, but Alice knows her connection to the children aboard. One of whom she definitely tucked in under less than ideal circumstances, lately.

Toriel may seem like a pure sugar cookie from what Alice has seen, but she's also a good foot and a half taller than her. Still, it's only a second before her expression shifts, awkward and grateful. ]

That'd be amazing, I mean. [ She gestures with the plastic cup, towards the little hole. ] If you don't mind. I —

[ A beat. She finishes, lamely. ]

— I've never really grown anything before.

Edited (formatting) 2016-05-06 05:42 (UTC)

I do not mind. I doubt my son will mind his mother borrowing some either. [She gently pats Alice's shoulder in an encouraging gesture.] I'm not quite a green thumb myself, dear, I just know how to fake it.

I'll be right back. [She motions for Alice to wait, making her way to where tools are kept for the garden. It doesn't take Toriel long to come back with a pair of trowels. She moves to settle down next to Alice on the ground.] Here we are.

[Toriel offers Alice the trowel handle first.]

i'm looking to isolate me

Luke | HELLBEACH via the Neitherlands

no subject

no subject

no subject

Fatima | BRAKEBILLS for D&D

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Ratchet | THE NEITHERLANDS for Fillory or CRAU or Worldbuilding or Whatever

this is billion years delayed, im sorry...so feel free to slowtag/drop/whatever

LARA | Wildcard, wherever ??

no subject

no subject

SANS | Fillory & Geno Undertale Merger

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

L | Magic School with Shinigami & CRAU Merger

no subject

Toriel | Moira Awkwardtimes

no subject

no subject

no subject