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

[darkart]

[ Severus wants to press him about it - demand more detail, literally step by step, where did you walk, what did you say, did you take anything in or out of your bag, did you cough, who looked at you-- but now's probably not the time.

Instead: ] It's not a 'him'. Colbert, you know better.

[makedo]

[ now is probably not the time and poking at the edge of his memory when brad tests it doesn't get him anything. everything was normal up until the moment he woke up here with no recollection of how he got here. ]

What's the date?

[ that suddenly seems relevant.

and yeah, he knows. and yet whatever illusion or monster or — whatever this is, it looks like ray.

he squares his jaw and forces himself to look away.

tersely: ] Let's go.

[darkart]

It was [this day] when the rescue parties left. Your distress signals rolled in on [#] after communications had previously gone down. I don't know for sure how long I've been down here.

[ Severus is watching him sharply, but is also keeping peripheral attention on 'Ray', just in case. He's pleased - as much as he can be - when Brad balls up and moves on. Good. Severus walks alongside him, looking for a way out.

All he sees is the beach. ]




(it's 3am i don't remember the days DX)

[makedo]

[ brad nods his acknowledgment of the information, then offers: ] I remember nothing past the 18th. [ or whatever day that was in ship-time also wow go to sleep!!

his m4 is by his side, but while brad's attention is on their surroundings (and on ray, whatever passes for ray), he doesn't have a finger on the trigger now. ]

It's California. In case you were wondering. [ said drily. ]

zzzzzzzzz

[darkart]

[ The 18th. Why then. It's pointless to ask now while they have to focus on getting back, but it's already bothering him in a way that suggests it's going to keep bothering him for a long time. ]

Really. [ Faux-surprise. Mostly exasperation. ] I've never been.

[ Shock of the century, he's sure. ] You happen to know where an exit is?

[makedo]

It's a beach. [ beaches don't usually have exits. there isn't even dunes they'd need to be crossed. ]

I know where the nearest restaurant is supposed to be. [ his tone implies that yeah, he's not sure how helpful that's going to be. worth a try, maybe? ]

[darkart]

All right. That way, then. [ Severus is still not coping fantastically with a beach, but he's not complaining. It's too bright and warm and sandy and he doesn't understand how anyone can find this enjoyable, but whatever. Maybe it's better Brad didn't get found by someone who'd be inclined to ask him heartfelt questions about his homelife. ]

I've left areas through doors, holes in the floor, knots in trees-- it's nonsensical, but there will be a way out one way or another.

[makedo]

[ it smarts, a little, but brad's ego is not so fragile that he can't accept the fact that right now, severus has more intel than brad does and it therefore makes sense to let severus make these kind of decisions.

so he just gives a nod, short and sharp, and starts towards the restaurant. ]

[darkart]

[ Unless something leaps out of the water and tries to each them, or if Ray crawls up and starts shooting, it'll be a brisk walk to the restaurant and the yanking open of a door to get the fuck out.

Hooopefully nothing else insane happens. ]

[makedo]

[ ray is doing his level best to fight the spell and reach his gun, if you care to be looking, severus. brad seems to have some inherent sixth sense about when a gun is trained on him, though, situational awareness kicking back in now that he's no longer catatonic, and his own fingers move to the m4 by his side.

so he stops by the door. ] You're sure he's not human. [ it's a statement, not a question, not really. the m4 is lifted, aimed. ]

[darkart]

I can stun him again, [ is said quickly, steadily. What if Brad ends up having some kind of mental breakdown later over murdering the phantom of his best friend, fffuuckin' a. ] I'm sure. It wanted to keep you in that blank state.

[ He doubts another soldier would do that to one of his comrades. ]

[makedo]

[ the alternative is shooting ray and — brad could do it without the mental breakdown, too, but that doesn't mean he wants to.

so: ] Knock yourself out.

[darkart]

[ Quickly, Severus casts a silent disarming spell, sending not!Ray's gun skidding away from his person, and then silently stuns him again. The body in the distance ceases its squirming and lays still again; boardlike, not corpselike. ]

All right.

[makedo]

[ the only indicator betraying the fact that brad is not comfortable with the stunning of what looks to be his rto and yes, friend, is a minute tightening of the muscles in his shoulders, the clenching of his jaw.

it's interesting to see, at least. ] How are you doing that?

[ don't say "magic", he wants more details. ]

[darkart]

I told you that I'm a wizard. [ Which is not a euphemism. ] It's not my fault all the other examples on board are meandering idiots with no discipline or work ethic.

[ It's amazing, really, that some of his comrades have been around for so long and yet the people who know them and know of magic through them have never seen any practical or skillful application of it. Or maybe it's not amazing and just that typical of Gryffindors.

(Severus is a jerk, news at 11. News at 12: news at 11 not actually news.) ]

[makedo]

How does it work?

[ "magic" is not an acceptable explanation. surely there's more to it than just an inherent talent for the inexplicable? pondering this kind of thing means he doesn't have to think about the still form of what looks like ray, or the fact that he can't remember, but that's just an added benefit, not the main reason.

really. ]

[darkart]

Magic. [ A pointed look. Severus hates having to explain it in ~*scientific*~ terms, finding it all dull and feeble in comparison, but he will if he has to. ] I know you're from further along in time than I am, but I assume scientists are still researching-- [ an absent, slightly annoyed gesture, because omg this entire situation fuckin a, ship ] dark matter, quantum physics, quarks and unknown particles? Correct?

[makedo]

[ it doesn't need to be scientific terms, he just wants more to go on that ~*~magic~*~ is that so wrong :| ]

Right.

[darkart]

[ Yes!! ]

All of that, trying to understand how to alter reality, to see what makes it - magic is being connected to it and being able to manipulate it personally, at will, instead of with machines.

[ This is not.. totally true, probably, but it's the closest Severus has been able to come to something people understand. It also sounds nicer than 'Wizards are part of proper creation and muggles are tragically deficient'. ]

[makedo]

So basically no one's got a clue.

[ that helps him a whole lot, but at least it's served as a good distraction. ]

[darkart]

I understand it perfectly, and so does every witch and wizard in my society. [ Are they at the restaurant yet? Yes? Cool. Time to looook for a door. ] It'd be like trying to explain how to use a limb or a sense you don't have, to use our own terms.

It's your memory, open something.

[makedo]

[ it is his memory, and he remembers the door, entrance to the restaurant — closed to keep the hot air out, usually, and he pulls it open now that his hand has found the handle. ]

Yes, sir. [ is said with a sardonic twist of his lips. severus snape is not in his chain of command. ]

[darkart]

[ Don't you sass him, Colbert, you're the one who was sitting here in your beach tower waiting for Prince Severus to come rescue your ass.

Once the door is open, the wizard follows him through it, after which they are presumably separated because the ship is a jerk. ]