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? ]
kayakking: (054)

[personal profile] kayakking 2020-08-04 03:53 am (UTC)(link)
[He sets the bottle down and takes a relatively small sip. It's more for something to do than to get more drunk, really.]

Good. Actually, eventually. Worked back to friends, then best friends.
eyediot: (In the deep city streets in the summer o)

[personal profile] eyediot 2020-08-04 03:54 am (UTC)(link)
[Not that he wants to assume he knows everyone in Tim's social circle, but he feels like he can guess who that is.]

That's good, at least. I'm glad for that.
kayakking: (046)

[personal profile] kayakking 2020-08-04 03:55 am (UTC)(link)
You know what's great about adrenaline? It's like a limit break.

[There's a hiss that breaks that. No, no. Actually, screw talking. It'll be closer to finished before:]

I am not looking forward to the crash.
kayakking: (030)

[personal profile] kayakking 2020-08-04 03:56 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah. Me too.

...

All and all, I don't regret it.
eyediot: (that it's me who was to blame)

[personal profile] eyediot 2020-08-04 03:59 am (UTC)(link)
...It's not great.

[He can feel it happening, as he ties off this gauze around Tim's arm. His fingers are shaking now but he's making do for the moment.]

...Don't want to think what would've happened if we didn't still have the CO2 canisters around.
eyediot: (In the deep city streets in the summer o)

[personal profile] eyediot 2020-08-04 04:00 am (UTC)(link)
...Good. That's... Good.

I think... [He's starting to get lightheaded going into tipsy now, sounding almost wistful.]

I think me and Georgie are almost back to friends.
narrativelyspeaking: (Default)

1/2 (Somewhere above)

[personal profile] narrativelyspeaking 2020-08-04 04:13 am (UTC)(link)
[The creature Who Is Sasha pushes itself up, shaking Their head to remove the muzziness from it, plaster and ichor splattering at Their clawed, crumpled hands.

They take a moment to focus. To sink into the Who, remind the body how to Be Her.

With a shudder and gasping, echoing whimper the creature Who Is Sasha? becomes solidly, and notable Sasha. Her cold eyes watch the last stragglers down the hall filing out amidst the rising and falling tones of the siren.

She rises, looking at the walking bags of skin and Identities, and then slowly turns back to the Archive door. She rattles the door once, twice, and lifts her hand to tear it from its hinges when a soft, pointed cough stops her dead.

No. It wasn't the cough.

It was being pinned by a gaze on her back.

She looks up, cornered, and the thing calling itself Elias smiles, though she only sees the baring of teeth and the glowing, terrible eyes on the figure approaching.
]

No... I didn't mean to.

[She feels the Skin that Makes Her Sasha slough off, revealing the pathetic creature of long, sharp, curving limbs like pipes and hooks. But the gaze continues and goes deeper.]

"I'm sure you didn't." [The Watcher says, tone patronizingly paternal.

She whimpers.
]

Please... please don't. I'll. I'll leave! I'll never... I'll never come back.

"That? I am quite sure of. Still, I believe this little.. imposition upon my hospitality has gone on too long."

[She feels herself flayed, ripped under that stare. It looks for the core of who she is, and she shudders, keening, echoing whines of her pain and her despair beg when her words fail.

In the end, the real mistake is the panicked lunge she makes, claws extended towards the Watcher. With disdain he simply observes Them. Sees that at the core of her, she is no one and nothing.

And in the terrible, agonizing instant before her death, she Knew that too.
]
kayakking: (003)

In the Archives

[personal profile] kayakking 2020-08-04 04:16 am (UTC)(link)
Is that what you- ... God, me too. I take back every nasty thing I'd said about maintenance refusing to come down and collect them.

... We'd be dead. Like, completely, no chance.

[Tim tries to flex his fingers and... is relieved when it's just painful, not impossible. Like Jon's back, the gauze is filling despite the best efforts of compression and tape but they are working with what they have.]

All right. I'm.. gonna get those shoes off of you.
kayakking: (033)

[personal profile] kayakking 2020-08-04 04:18 am (UTC)(link)
From What the Ghost, right?

[There's a bit of a fond smile there.]

Watched a few of those... Now there's someone who seems to keep a level head. Or is that all an act?
eyediot: (jesus in pieces! I believe)

[personal profile] eyediot 2020-08-04 04:21 am (UTC)(link)
Not an act.

[Oh, his smile is proud. For the problems he and Georgie had that led to their breakup, he's still proud to know her.]

That's just her. She's... always been good at that. Level head even in the worst situations.
eyediot: will wood - "hand me my shovel, I'm going in" (my heart was stolen by a blind pickpocke)

[personal profile] eyediot 2020-08-04 04:23 am (UTC)(link)
[He feels... Something.

Something just happened. He has no idea what or where exactly, but it's like a heavy presence just lifted off his shoulders and his mind. For just a breath.

But then the talk goes to his shoes. Right. He takes a breath and. Just sort of shrimp-curls himself down to start untying them. He's not so helpless he can't untie his own shoes, damn it.]


We definitely would be. It stalled her enough I could get to you at least.
kayakking: (009)

[personal profile] kayakking 2020-08-04 04:30 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah I... yeah. God, saying thanks seems weird but what else do you DO when your life gets saved?

So. Yeah. Thanks. For that.

[While Jon does that, Tim's eyes track out to the doorway, the empty canisters, the splatter of blood, the corrosive hole stained in a bit of cheap, industrial carpeting that had JUST been reinstalled.]

What.. happened in there? It was just supposed to be a talk, yeah?
kayakking: (015)

[personal profile] kayakking 2020-08-04 04:31 am (UTC)(link)
Ehhh, should introduce me someday.

[personal profile] eyediot 2020-08-04 04:33 am (UTC)(link)
She's not your type.
eyediot: (*deep inhale*)

[personal profile] eyediot 2020-08-04 04:34 am (UTC)(link)
It... It was.

We were, and. And then, I don't know. [A small wince, that's one shoe off. Gods the back and bottom are destroyed. On to the next.]

But.. When she was leaving, she stopped and. And asked if I could see her. And then it went to hell like [vague gesture with one empty hand] all this.
kayakking: (001)

[personal profile] kayakking 2020-08-04 04:38 am (UTC)(link)
[He presses his hand against his chest as if struck.]

I am wounded. Mortally. My intentions are pure.
kayakking: (012)

[personal profile] kayakking 2020-08-04 04:40 am (UTC)(link)
[So things went from uncomfortably bad to deadly horrible in an instant.

That feels absolutely how it works.
]

Here goes. On three.

One.

Two.

[He tugs what's left of Jon's shoe off in one swift, merciful go.]
eyediot: (that it's me who was to blame)

[personal profile] eyediot 2020-08-05 12:38 am (UTC)(link)
[It's just his shoe, it's fine. It's not like the laceration itself pushed bits of the shoe sole into the would or anything, he's fine with the jolt of fresh pain up his foot and leg. He lets out a little cry before he calms himself, breathing.

See? Totally fine.]


Right... That's. All right.

...Think we should stay here, or try to get out?
eyediot: (no I need to hit the bottom)

[personal profile] eyediot 2020-08-05 12:38 am (UTC)(link)
I'm sure.

[The way he watches Tim from over his glass as he sips says otherwise.]
kayakking: (002)

[personal profile] kayakking 2020-08-05 01:47 am (UTC)(link)
[No he can't help it.]

But, you know, if it works out that way...
kayakking: (014)

[personal profile] kayakking 2020-08-05 01:53 am (UTC)(link)
[Totally, totally fine.

He's just... going to give Jon a moment under the auspices of checking out the extent of the damage itself, before binding that.
]

Unless you actually found a way out through those tunnels... I'm not sure out's a great idea right now.

[The door above the stairs has been oddly quiet, now that he glares up at it. Not that he could tell much over the fire alarm.]
eyediot: (like a stained glass window)

[personal profile] eyediot 2020-08-05 01:55 am (UTC)(link)
I doubt it would.

[He trusts Georgie to have much better judgement. Tim's his friend. No one would date one of Jon's friends.]
eyediot: (it just seems unlikely)

[personal profile] eyediot 2020-08-05 01:55 am (UTC)(link)
...I didn't.

[The memory of Michael's laughter rises into his ears.]

I'm not overly fond of the tunnels either. You know. I don't think I ever envisioned an Archivist job to be so hazardous to my health.
kayakking: (010)

[personal profile] kayakking 2020-08-05 01:59 am (UTC)(link)
You're just scared we'll exchange stories.
kayakking: (047)

[personal profile] kayakking 2020-08-05 02:02 am (UTC)(link)
God, right? No offense, but had I known, I'd have turned down that transfer.

[He looks up at Jon carefully, and just- Yeah, he's going to make this quick. It will be over soon, at least.]