EVENT: MELPOMENE ▒ HOME

[ataraxites]

CHARACTERS: Ensemble production!
LOCATION: Corridors in the belly of the Tranquility
WARNINGS: Creepiness, disturbing imagery, violence, etc.
SUMMARY: Characters discover slices of sanctuary deep in the maze.
NOTES: Open to all! Covers Stage Four of the plot & Escape.

You've been running and fighting for what feels like weeks now. Exhausted and desperate, you find another door, stumbling through into— You're home, finally, far away and safe from monsters or spaceships. You're not alone, someone here who's been waiting for you, and they're so happy to see you. Relief overcomes you; you just want to rest, and there's no reason to believe anything here isn't what it seems, is there?

Comments

[mindtricks]

[ he doesn't need to mention his rising unease; she feels it anyway. his reasoning is sound and she hesitates over it for a long moment — only to see something superimposed over his face, distorted.

his thoughts and emotions feel real. so do her mothers.

morgoth made her question truth from lie until she was no longer standing on solid ground, her foundation shaken. she's been regaining it bit by bit, but with the burning house on arima so fresh in her memory, she hesitates now. ]

You go ahead.

[ she doesn't step closer to her mother, who's been watching silently so far. anderson gets a sense of trust from her, and comfort, and the strong desire to keep anderson here and safe, trusting anderson to make the right choices.

the only thing is — her mother is dead.

and still, it's so difficult not to want to have a moment longer, to see her again, to talk to her, especially when she smiles, voice quiet and gentle: ] I've missed you, Cassie.

[exponentiate]

[ this is cruel. this is — the fears were less terrible than this. tobias presses his lips together, and shifts his weight. ]

We stick together, remember? It's easy to get lost.

Anderson, [ he's pushing now, and he's expecting the worst, ] we have to go.

[mindtricks]

[ the distortion returns, his face unrecogniseable for a long moment, and both he and her mother feel so real but might not be. her mother is dead, he does not look real for all that he feels it.

quietly, slowly, looking neither at her mother nor at four but meaning both of them: ] I don't think any of this is real.

[ i don't think either one of you is real, is what she means. ]

[exponentiate]

[ isn't that his fear? that none of this is real? that their escape too was imagined, and tris remains in danger?

as it always does, the thought of her makes his stomach clench. everything else has been so unreal tobias has to believe she's safe — else he'll lose it entirely.

he can't convince anderson of something he's not sure of himself. ]

Neither do I, [ he admits. ]

[mindtricks]

[ she knows that the ship is real, but she doesn't know anything about this. she must still be on the ship because she left arima behind and this is not mega city one for all that it looks like the apartment she lived in until she was ten, until her parents died.

another illusion, another instance of not being able to trust her own mind. she never use to doubt this much, but morgoth changed things.

it isn't real, and she should leave — doesn't matter whether it's with him or without. he may not be real, either, but at least he's on the ship whereas her mother isn't.

odds are, he is real, but the distortion of his face makes it difficult to believe that. she just wants a moment more with her mother, illusion or no. ]

You go ahead. [ is repeated, head bowed. ]