[OPEN] For Want Of Some Ruby Slippers

[atypical_echo]

Who: Mark Bryant atypical_echo, Sephiroth unkindled_madness, Open
What: Getting Lost In The Multiverse
When: August 12th through 17th
Where: The Multiverse (each starter has a link to information)
Content Warnings: If needed


I. Surely I'm Only Dreaming| Open | Premise & Setting

There he'd been, minding his own business as he worked at the small table in his new shitty apartment, flipping through photos to review his final image selections for the disastrous wedding contract. And then...

And then he had awoken in a park, out of nowhere. A beautiful park with fountains and staircases and so much he didn't really know what to do with. A woman with vividly crimson hair and a gentle smile talked and talked and Mark was just in too much shock to listen, even when a small man (was that a literal hobbit?) had rushed up, handed him a gray satchel, and left. In it, keys, a tiny bit of money, and a flip phone.

"Okay, but who even uses a flip phone these days?"

Well, it's not the first random place he's been dropped in, so he supposed he could do his best and keep going. So Mark started walking. And soon had to jump out of the way of a giant fucking bird that someone was riding.

"Someone pinch me. I think I'm sleeping."

II. Unda' Tha Sea! | Open (CW: Panic Attack) | Premise FAQ

It had taken him days in that last mess of a place to find the break in space-time. Of course Mark hadn't been looking for it. But it had called and with the shivering sense of right calling to him, and Mark had gone toward it. Which was why he had awoken in a strange bunk bed in a strange place. An abandoned seeming place, for there was no sign of residents in the strangely rounded dorm.

Of course, Mark had then come outside and... Well, he'd made the mistake of looking up. Looking up high above where there was a shine where the sky should have been. Glass. Distant glass. A dome. And...

"Oh fuck," he gasped as he looked upward. "Am I...?"

Underwater. He was trapped in some fucking dome underwater? In a panic, Mark found himself running forward, finding a glass tunnel. Through there, another dome, this one looking like a central square with a market. Or what would have been a market if anyone were around. Instead it was... empty. There were lights, there was air, there were even a few trees growing up in places that were clearly meant for him. But otherwise.

"No," he said, already starting to hyperventilate. "No. No no no no no."

He was panicking, shaking, his heart racing like it was going to beat right out of his chest. No.

"Please, I can't be alone. I can't. Please," he said, his voice raising to a shout, "is someone out there!?"

III. Let's Go To The Mall | Closed to Sephiroth

He just wanted to go home. Was that so wrong? Perhaps it was, because here Mark is, slamming at the doors of the food court, trying to get out. Which, of course, he couldn't. Ever since the latest portal had dropped him here, he'd been stranded. Which had been almost eight hours now.

"Let me out!" he shouted, still slamming his fists against the door. "Oh come the fuck on. I don't even like malls! The chairs in the food court are sticky! The fashion is from the nineties. I look horrible in grunge styles!"

There were people staring at him, of course, from the different food stalls. Mark didn't care.

"I swear to fuck, there is less interesting happening here than in Regency Britain!"

Comments

III

[unkindled_madness]

This isn't the first world Sephiroth has passed through, so he thought he would know what to look for now. Almost like a crack, a gap into some other world.

But it's proving more difficult to find in the crowded mall. The place is visually overwhelming, teaming with people and brightly-lit signs and wares on display. At least it isn't Christmas-time, but it's hard to notice something out-of-place.

That is, until he hears the shouting in the food court. He watches the man for a moment, trying to get a look at his wrist to determine whether he's one of the Ancient's Travellers, or someone temporarily displaced, like himself. Then he approaches.

"...the doors aren't the way out."

[atypical_echo]

The man stops pounding on the door and twists to regard the person addressing him. His arms cross over his chest, which pulls his sleeves just enough to reveal there is absolutely no colored wristband. Nope, this wasn't where he belonged.

"Then how the fuck does someone get out? Also, nice hair. And cheekbones. Have you ever considered modelling?"

Listen, he's still a photographer.

[unkindled_madness]

Sephiroth blinks, and answers slowly, because this really wasn't a moment he expected to be asked about modelling. "...no.

"I believe we're looking for something less tangible. Like a rift in reality."

[atypical_echo]

Listen, it's not the greatest moment, but Mark holds to things that keep him from panicking, and the dude has an otherworldly look that would be perfect for selling cologne, or clothing, or just high art pieces.

But then the guy says right in reality and Mark's eyes go wide.

"You're one of them. The Metas!"

[unkindled_madness]

Sephiroth frowns faintly, but it does confirm that this man came from the same universe. 'Them,' however, is a bit of a surprise. He isn't used to dealing with average humans getting caught up in things.

"If you want to call us that. Are you not?"

[atypical_echo]

"Of course not," he said, with a measured moment before he spoke. He doesn't want to protest too fast.

"How the hell do I get out of this mall? I want to go home!"

[unkindled_madness]

All right. He's shifting to 'dealing with civilians' mode, rather than seeing this man as a potential ally.

"I am looking for the exit; you may accompany me. You are familiar with malls, so look for something out-of-place. A crack or a shimmer in the air."

[atypical_echo]

"Alright," Mark said, frowning as he moved closer to the other man. "I mean, do you expect this place to be dangerous? Seems unlikely."

But he might just be mad to think that was the way things might go.

[unkindled_madness]

Sephiroth moves on, beginning a careful circuit of the food court.

"I doubt we are in any physical danger," he says, "but there is magic in this realm that can act in strange ways."

[atypical_echo]

"Magic?" Mark said, following the guy.

He got that someone from the world of the Metas would be more accepting of Magic, but Mark... Damn, he had a hard time believing it. It was so strange to consider back home. So improbable. Not matter what Oliver did. Alchemy clearly wasn't magic.

"You've been here before?"

[unkindled_madness]

"Yes. Roughly eight months ago. Your Earth is not the only place that draws outsiders in from other dimensions."

He isn't certain what it means to be back here. It doesn't seem like the Ancient's doing.

"The enchantments here tend to be more psychological in nature. Not like the Confluences."

[atypical_echo]

Hey, in his defense, Mark's pretty certain that his Earth doesn't do that. Unless some Atypical has that power. And that's horrible, he thinks.

Still, the idea of psychological trauma makes him wince.

"You can't be serious. A place that messes with your head? I hate that. So let's get out of here. You think this mall is attached to a parking structure? Maybe we can get out that way.

[unkindled_madness]

This man told him he's just a normal human person. That leads to certain assumptions about which Earth he belongs to.

Sephiroth tenses slightly at the mention of the parking structure. "That will be the last place we look."

[atypical_echo]

Yes, those assumptions are what Mark want's people to make. Of course he's not going to have the luxury of that very long.

"Why? You got a thing against cars?"

[unkindled_madness]

"I have something against being trapped in them, yes."

...he also doesn't know how to drive, but he really doesn't think it would be that hard if it were actually a way out.

[atypical_echo]

Trapped?

"Usually you can just go back into the mall," Mark points out.

But hey, he can drive.

"We should look for a car!"

[unkindled_madness]

"No."

Absolutely not.

"I did not mean that euphemistically. There is magic here that will confine you to a vehicle."

[atypical_echo]

Magic that what now? Mark looks horrified. Trapped. He almost panics to think about it. A mall is a large cage. He prefers the large cage.

"Yeah, not doing that. Holy fuck not doing that."

[unkindled_madness]

"Exactly why I propose we leave it for last. If we can find the way out before then, we need never deal with it."

[atypical_echo]

Alright then. At least the guy has a plan.

"So, are you Alliance or Society?"

[unkindled_madness]

"Neither. I am not interested in being a public figure."

Hey, look, it's the Orange Julius. No rifts in it, sadly.

[atypical_echo]

"So unaffiliated. Which means you're a public threat, if the Guilds are right," Mark said, walking with him. Ooooh, Orange Julius. He pulls away to go over toward it, because it's time to get some damn food right now.

[unkindled_madness]

"Do you find an individual more threatening than an organization?"

Sephiroth follows, because maybe the man's seen something?

[atypical_echo]

"It depends on the individual, and on the organization."

Said like someone who had bad experiences in both ways. It made him feel... awkward. The reminder had hurt him.

Damien. And the AM. The memory of both of them made him nervous. Made him wish he could disappear. Make it so no one could see him as him. And, whether he knew it or not, that desire to hide was leading to a change. His features shifting into something without a lot to make it memorable. A more bland brown hair, his complexion shifting a bit more Caucasian. A flimsy illusion, but one he was unconsciously creating anyway.

[unkindled_madness]

"Hm. Fair enough."

Sephiroth misses the first signs of the shift, because he's inspecting the Orange Julius for spacial rifts, but then he glances aside at the man and... that is definitely not a normal average human thing that's happening.

He supposes he can't rule out some external enchantment, but color him suspicious. "Do you realize what you're doing?"