curriculum_fictae: (Default)
Martin K(nife) Blackwood ([personal profile] curriculum_fictae) wrote2020-06-16 06:15 pm

[PSL] time travel, time travel

[ Martin had always known that Lukas would kill him in the end. If not along the way, then surely at the end, once he'd gotten what he wanted out of Martin, whatever that turned out to be. When the Lonely rose up to swallow him, he'd accepted his impending death with ... what?

What did he have left, really? Numbness, mostly. A hallucination of Jon in the Lonely, looking for him, but - but that was impossible, ridiculous. His mind playing cruel tricks. He settled himself down in the frigid surf, knees drawn up close to his chest, unshed tears frozen to his cheeks and lashes.

And then. A door. A door that shouldn't exist, that couldn't exist. That he shouldn't take at all. The Lonely was terrible, yes, but it was quiet, and it was peaceful. Martin was aligned enough with it by now to very nearly enjoy it, in a strange and terrible way. The Spiral would be infinitely worse than this quiet beach.

But ... it was hope, too. In a strange way. Hope enough that Martin found himself turning the door handle and stepping through, leaving the false comfort of the Lonely behind him.

The transition was unpleasant. Long. But Martin couldn't remember it after; he only remembered stumbling out through the door of a supply closet somewhere deep in the Archives, blinking up at the dim bulbs that pretended to be sufficient. What time was it? Had he escaped? Where were Lukas and Elias now?

And where was Jon? ]
eyediot: (it just seems unlikely)

[personal profile] eyediot 2020-07-30 11:05 pm (UTC)(link)
What.

[Jon doesn't immediately see the problem. But then he looks at Martin's hand, sees it outstretched and his eyes go wide.]

I don't.. I don't understand. [He reaches for Martin's elbow, carefully holding it in one hand and Martin's hand in his other.]

This isn't right, I... I don't know.
kayakking: (023)

[personal profile] kayakking 2020-07-30 11:10 pm (UTC)(link)
[He ties it snugly, and gives Martin's shoulder a heavy, reassuring pat. (Though if it's for him or for Martin...)

Good. Let's uh, keep it this way. Until we figure something out, at least. This-

[And whatever Tim was going to say next evaporates in the alarming and ultimately singular instance of present Martin yelling the word fuck.]
kayakking: (048)

[personal profile] kayakking 2020-07-30 11:23 pm (UTC)(link)
... I can't see from here.

[On one hand, he didn't want to rush Martin... ]
kayakking: (021)

[personal profile] kayakking 2020-07-30 11:28 pm (UTC)(link)
All right. Take it slow.

[Tim's hand remains on one arm and his back as Martin gets to his feet, just in case the man goes back down again. But... he seems to be right at least, without the visual trigger.

The hand on Martin's arm squeezes.
]

How we doing?
kayakking: (003)

[personal profile] kayakking 2020-07-30 11:37 pm (UTC)(link)
[Martin can feel Tim shifting by the way the hand moves. It's not hard to picture him craning- and the tightening of his grip is just a second before...]

Oh. Fuck.
kayakking: (009)

[personal profile] kayakking 2020-07-30 11:41 pm (UTC)(link)
[He spends another moment just. Just staring. He has to be sure. But when he can see the present Martin through where his fingers should be as he thrusts his hand away...

A breath. In. Out.
]

His hand looks like yours do.

[Like the one currently gripping Tim's shoulder. He can't help but notice, tension running through him.]
Edited 2020-07-30 23:44 (UTC)
secreteary: (pic#14180214)

[personal profile] secreteary 2020-07-30 11:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh--

[WARM.

it's instantaneous and travels up his arm quickly; a blaze of heat that hurts because of the sudden change in temperature in his body.

color blooms back into his hand and whatever little of his arm that the cold and transparency had bled into so quickly, like dropping ink into water.

but these things are barely registering to Martin. he gives a cursory glance to his hand. but it's Jon's touch that fascinates him; he'd reached out so casually with genuine concern, with soft confusion, not wanting to alarm Martin. he stares at Jon, searching his face in this quiet, easy closeness.

heat quickly reaches Martin's face, but who can say the reason why?]
eyediot: (so I bookmark my DSM)

[personal profile] eyediot 2020-07-30 11:46 pm (UTC)(link)
[Certainly not Jon, who's just relieved the color's coming back. From what little he does understand, there's no reason for this to be happening. Except...

Gods.]


I think. I think maybe you weren't supposed to touch each other.
secreteary: (pic#14180223)

[personal profile] secreteary 2020-07-30 11:50 pm (UTC)(link)
[oh. it's not A Moment. of course it's not. ...how stupid.

the heat dissipates a little, but somehow he feels even colder than before.

just push it down, like always.

Martin nods.]


I...guess not. I got part of whatever...is wrong with him.

[a beat, and then a whisper:]

What is wrong with him? Is it because of the time...whatever that Tim mentioned?
eyediot: (but my memory could not be saved)

[personal profile] eyediot 2020-07-30 11:52 pm (UTC)(link)
A lot of things, apparently.

[Yeah, for it not being A Moment, Jon sure isn't keen on letting go. He's still holding on to Martin's hand and elbow gently.]

I don't fully understand a lot of it.
kayakking: (003)

[personal profile] kayakking 2020-07-30 11:53 pm (UTC)(link)
[It's not just his imagination, is it? He can feel the bite into his skin, watches the fabric dent and drop as it freezes.]

... Yeah. You have, right now.

[He swallows a real fear shuddering up his spine. And speaks very carefully.]

Martin, I uh, don't want you to take this the wrong way...
secreteary: (pic#14180224)

[personal profile] secreteary 2020-07-30 11:55 pm (UTC)(link)
[if he notices that fact, it only makes him sad and slightly quieter.]

Could you tell me what you do understand? Or should we...go back in there and start sorting things?
eyediot: (so I bookmark my DSM)

[personal profile] eyediot 2020-07-30 11:58 pm (UTC)(link)
[He takes a short breath and exhales through his nose trying to think.]

According to him [His polite way of saying 'take this shit with a grain of salt because we don't have hard proof yet'.] He's from two years in the future. Elias murdered Gertrude, and the Archive is some ... place for an entity of fear. And that there are fourteen of them, and they have to do with the statements we've been trying to record. They're all interconnected somehow and...

[He trails off. There are a lot of other things they've been told but he'd rather they all discuss Sasha together.]

He should explain the rest, I think.
kayakking: (028)

[personal profile] kayakking 2020-07-31 12:17 am (UTC)(link)
[He ends up staring at the handprint Martin leaves in his misery and pitched isolation. The crisp, obnoxiously pink dress shirt has a faded, soft grey semicircle around the shoulder and-

He's vaguely aware of Martin 'sitting' heavily, but can't quite focus there for the lance of subtle, soft, creeping fear that the discoloration provides. He hooks a finger in his collar and looks-

It's not missing. Not like present-Martin's hand is, but- good enough.

He takes a deep breath.
] It's okay! ... It's okay. It's an accident.

[But that comforting grasp Tim had been offering as something of a constant... doesn't return, does it?]
kayakking: (044)

[personal profile] kayakking 2020-07-31 12:44 am (UTC)(link)
Wwwwait. [Tim's hand gets close enough to feel the warmth of, but doesn't quite touch.]

No one has said that.
kayakking: (016)

[personal profile] kayakking 2020-07-31 12:55 am (UTC)(link)
I don't mean to imply it either, because it isn't, and let me repeat this- is not- what I want to happen. Look, of the thousands of potential ways to hand this, just, just haring off and vanishing right now isn't going to do anything for anyone. Least of all you.