ataraxionlogs | here lies the abyss

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here lies the abyss

CHARACTERS: OPEN.
LOCATION: Science labs, Level Two.
WARNINGS: Black, eternal nothingness.
SUMMARY: To congratulate Xenogen on the appearance of their new endless void. And their new nanite research and storage facility. That's probably important too.
NOTES: Consolidated post for abyss and nanite-room gaping, gazing, and experimentation.

There are greater tragedies than their ruined map, it turns out. Missing people. Dead people. So while Remus and Sirius notice the change nearly straight away, checking in on the map out of miserable habit--like poking a bruise to confirm that it still hurts--the appearance of a fully-functional display of the science department isn't enough to take precedence over other things, such as drinking and kicking walls and sorting through what the departed left behind.

But they do, eventually, sit down to study it. The inky walls are mostly where they're meant to be, and the Homonculous Charm is working again, displaying a half-dozen lonely dots labelled as science department members scurrying in and out of view. (It isn't spying if you don't know or care what anyone is doing.) Even this one department is massive, their attention to detail both a blessing and a difficult-to-process curse, so combing over it takes time. And assistance, courtesy of Kate. And also, importantly, alcohol. It's two return visits before one of them says, probably with a mouthful of terrible whisky, "I don't think that was there before."

That: a small room across from the containment chambers, labelled nanite storage and research. And a second that, discovered soon afterwards: a new corridor, leading away from the department and toward the centre of the ship, with an adjacent Lab E.

It isn't a personal slight against anyone in particular (or only very small slight against Xenogen, which still has Severus Snape's fingerprints everywhere) that they go to have a look on their own. It's just that they're Gryffindors. You understand.

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Samantha isn't the only one who feels the need to be there. Fortunately, the particular laboratory that she is so inclined to check out happens to be the same place Rey has in mind.

Though she's stopped by the young woman who's beating the door with her crutch. If getting into places were that easy, they'd have access to the entire damn ship. As it is...

"That isn't going to work," Rey says, lifting a brow. She doesn't regard Sam's crutches or why she needs them, and instead steps forward, waving her aside with her two-fingered hand. "Move. Will get us inside."

She's dropped the talk-like-a-robot act for now, sounding somewhat more human-like than her usual self.

Not at all startling to Sam that her small tantrum against the door is interrupted by someone who clearly knows how this works. In fact, it's quite the relief. Who knows how long she'd be trying to get through by herself? Except for that little demand the woman tacks on at the end. Rude.

"Well, shit. Yeah. If you've got the way in, go for it."

Shifting her crutches back to let her weight follow after, she swings back a good three feet in a single motion just to give this chick some space. As if magic is about to happen. Might as well make some small talk while it does.

"Are you going to check that empty-space-thing out too?"

Sorry, Sam. Rey is pretty rude. She doesn't even regard that first comment. Just sighs as she approaches the door, which recognizes her SEC credentials and opens for her. She sends the other woman a sidelong glance, prompting for her to go in first so the doors don't close on her before she can get inside.

"Was planning on it, yes. Wanted to check a few things."

Like if it was anything akin to the black rooms that appeared during the stasis sickness.

Among other stuff.

That was pretty much magic in Sam's book. Well, she knows it's tech, but never seen that stuff up close. And obviously they would have to go on through these doors to find Lab E. She hesitates to swing herself through the door.

"I— uh—"

Clearly adept at her own transportation, it only takes her two more 'steps' to get by Rey and through the frame into the next room. Then trying to take in as much as she can while also holding the conversation, Sam turns to watch where the woman walks next. Because Samantha clearly has no fucking idea where to go.

"I've had dreams about something similar." Does that sound weird out loud? She isn't sure. "Thought seeing it up close could help explain 'em."

Despite having never physically been here before, Rey seems to know where things are placed. She's seen this lab before, although it wasn't her memory, or the memories belonging to any of her old selves. It was a man named Stephen's memory that she saw these details so clearly.

And she never forgets. Not anymore.

"Dreams?" Rey echoes, giving Sam a raised eyebrow. "What part of your dreams seem similar?"

It's not weird, at least to Rey. She's had dreams here, too. Or memories that seemed to belong to someone else.

At this point, what is normal even?

Definitely not dreams she could fully remember. Not that she would want to remember them if what she thought she remembered what she did correctly.

"Just that void thing so far." As Rey moves, Sam moves. "But they were from before I came here."

The thought crossed her mind more than a few comfortable times if she should be openly telling people all of these things. There's really nothing to lose, is there? Everyone here seemed pretty open to weird abilities so far. And every passenger on the ship seems to have bigger threats aboard than each other.

Friends are friends when you can't run from danger, right?

"It's hard to explain what the fuck happens in 'em."

If the visions came during Sam's time home, then it was unlikely that the two were related. But Rey doesn't fault her for her curiosity, neither is that enough reason for her to send Sam away, so she keeps walking.

It doesn't take long before they're standing in front of Lab E, and the black yawning abyss stretching out beyond it. There was no way to determine space or distance within, or a place where any living thing could possibly sustain itself.

Pointing her thumb on her right, two-fingered hand at the void, she looks to Sam. "Can at least tell you what happens in one of these -- a whole lot of nothing."

It registers a moment later that she's staring into a black wall. Nothing. Nada.

"Fuckin' Above—" Some muttering under her breath.

The first time she met Nyx, she felt so small; stars and planets embodied in his shape. If she reached into him, she may have fallen into outer space and floated away to a whole other world. Accompanied with a sort of wonder and warmth that made Sam feel alive.

This... There's nothing there at all. As if something had sucked the existence right out of whatever it had been. It shook her in her soul to imagine nothing.

No time to waste. Sam scoots a little closer to hike up a crutch, reaching the leg forward until the peg-end barely dabs into the dark— Nothing. She pulls it back out, turning it to get a better look— Nothing. Even touches it briefly— Nothing.

"There has to be... something?"

What is shown to Rey is a stark contrast from the White Room, but both are equally unsettling in similar ways. The only difference is that she knows for a fact that she's at least come out of one of those things alive.

This void is an unknown, much like many other things in this damned place.

She keeps an eye on Sam as she approaches the door, not saying anything as she sticks her crutch in but with no results.

"If there is something, no one's been able to come back and tell us." Rey huffs, moving closer to get a scope of the situation herself. Like everything else, she feels nothing, hears nothing. Even as they continue talking, the sound is just dead pitch beyond these doors. "We've had rooms similar to this before show up before, back during the seventh jump. There were also black holes that could suck you in and started to crush you the longer you were stuck."

In her infinite wisdom, Rey decides to lean in and stick the two fingers on her stumped hand through the frame. Only about an inch or two, before she feels something odd that she can't quite place.

Whatever it is, she has to use her other hand to take herself by the wrist, and pull herself back.

...

Okay.

No more touching black rooms for Rey.

A brief glance to Rey's hand as she moves it to the door of Nothing. A thing she didn't quite notice before then. Kindred crippled spirit. Then Sam notices that moment of panic, or some variation of struggle.

"Are you okay?" Fear is breeding with caution in her mind to birth curiosity. If there was actually something existing in there, that means it isn't completely nothing like she feared it would be. That's a great thing, actually. Heart starts racing. Inching closer to the frame of the door to get a closer look, though it's still impossible for her brain to grasp the concept of what she was even looking at.

"What was that?"

Retreating a few steps, Rey holds up her hand to inspect the two fingers. It's strange, like a numbness had overcome a tiny bit of her just then. Any more and there was no telling what would've happened.

Eventually, she nods, though not entirely sure if okay would be the most accurate way of describing it. She's not bleeding (well, other than from her nose and ears on occasion), and on the surface things seem to be perfectly normal again.

And then finally she looks back to Sam and goddammit she's heading towards the door.

"Don't think you should go near that."

Come on, Sam, please back away from the creepy void.

No. It's cool. Don't worry about it. Only inches from her face. Then an inch from her face.

Was this a dream? She doesn't look sure. Weight shifts down onto her legs, letting a pain pinch through her back— An obvious cringe and watering eyes result. Good sign that this is indeed real, meaning that whatever happens because of the void, or inside the void, may also be very real. But would her Walker really let something like this exist? Shit, does Nyx even have power over this? She's back to being extremely unsure.

There can't really be nothing...

Here's looking at you, Rey. Crutch extended ever so slightly. You know what she wants.

"Ya gonna hold me or what?"

Wait.

"What?"

She blinks, gaping at Sam, at her crutches, and then back to her and what the hell are you doing.

Rey starts moving forward, this time for Sam rather than the door. "Stop, you really shouldn't--"

Too late.

She's already put her right crutch aside and now getting ready to take a sidestep in, so for the love of Above take her fucking crutch.

Her right hand breaks that barrier first, slipping up to her elbow and closer to her shoulder as her right foot follows. Not even a tingling of warmth or cold— Nothing. There isn't an apparent ground, the anticipation of falling pumps the blood faster, except she doesn't fall. Just the forward momentum of her left foot that pushes her through.

This is the moment she didn't intend to go all the way, that maybe she would shift her weight back through her left foot, or pull on the crutch to pull herself out, but as soon as her face passes into the void, the left hand holding the crutch falls limp only a second later. Continuing to slip through the frame.

Rey didn't know what she was expecting. She knew that living things would be rendered unable to continue any farther once submerged in the void. And she knew that Sam was no longer moving (or even breathing for that matter) when she passed almost entirely through.

"What the fuck..." Rey snapped, though whether this was directed at Sam or the void, even she is not at all sure. This is all just messed up. Too fucking messed up.

That doesn't make her at all useless. The split instant she sees Sam's movements go stagnant, Rey bolts back to snatch the crutch, pulling it back with enough force to yank Sam's hand out of the black room. Taking her wrist, Rey tugs again, throwing the younger woman out of the room completely and sending them backwards down to the ground in the most blundering series of events ever.

Not exactly the best outcome she could've had in mind, but it's better than anyone could hope for unrehearsed.

Good thing that the few seconds after the void kept her fairly numb, or that fall from being thrown back would have felt awful. In fact, as she regains her consciousness, she can't feel her body for almost a minute before the blood starts rushing again, filling her with a less comfortable prickling sensation in every crevice. She's also breathing again— Gasping, actually.

Eyes at Rey, "Thanks—" Pain inches through the numbness, making an active effort to get to her crutches while she can't feel it. Except that just results in a blubbering mess of jell-o limbs. She's back on the floor. "—shit."

She's trying to think about anything she saw or felt. Except she can't find the words. Her eyes met with the blackness and there was...

"...what happened?"

Having fallen flat on her ass, Rey had at least the pain in her tail bone to keep her distracted from the ever present hammering in her skull that's been following her. For a brief moment she can feel a slight stream of blood slipping down from her nose. She wipes it with the back of her hand, and then looks over to Sam again, seating her own self upright.

Rey then looks at her quizzically, though it's not that she had any hopes that perhaps Sam would've been able to see something while in there, or that she was capable of registering anything in the completely lifeless state she was in.

Probably for the best.

"You don't remember?" Rey asked, the back of her hand still covering her bloodied nose.

"Shit— Remember what?"

With the blood settling back into a rhythm, the prickling replaces with actual feeling. Samantha instantly recognizes that she's in pain; Lying ~~naked~~ on the floor, pain shooting from her spine throughout into her legs. It's difficult to bite back the groan as she shuts her eyes.

"Fuuuuuck..."

Reaching into every pocket with careful movement, her hands fumble out a blue pill bottle. Fingers not quite getting the grip needed to open the bitch up and grab one of the four pills it holds. She's also trying to distract herself, trying to remember anything from her stupid stunt... Nothing.

In the process of collecting herself, Rey manages to climb back onto her feet, the blood streaming from her nose stopping temporarily. She looks down, eyes narrowing as Samantha goes to grab for some mysterious pills.

"Am guessing you were one of those type of kids who put their hand directly on a stove to check if it's hot?" she says flatly.

A pitch ringing in her ears. The desperation to open the bottle shows in the shaking of her hands until the bottle slips out to the ground beside her. She tries everything not to move much, blindly guessing around with the same careful movement.

She feels like her words are about to slur, though they just come out through her teeth.

"Probably—" Sounds like something she'd do. Fingers find the bottle but they aren't. grabbing. it. "—shiiit."

Finally giving up, her head rests slowly on the ground trying to breathe through the worst of the flare. It'll settle soon.

"At least we— learned something from it—" Looking up to Rey. Grinning like it was a great experience. "Ain't shit in there."

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here lies the abyss

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WOOOOOOW LAAAATEEE.......... orz

late? idk what you're talking about! c:

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