[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

[unkindled_madness]

"...you seem to be imagining that there exists more to this world outside of this mall. These doors have never opened. These people don't leave."

If there's anything outside, it's just that strange sort of ocean that connects the different islands.

[atypical_echo]

What? That...

"How is that even possible? That's SO messed up. No one leaves? Where do these people LIVE!?"

[unkindled_madness]

"I don't know. I was never certain they were even real. This place is part of the realm of a sort of deity."

[atypical_echo]

That... What? Mark just stands there, trying to fathom all of this.

"You're saying gods are real? And one controls this place. And we might be the only real people here?"

[unkindled_madness]

"Gods are real enough. Or at least, beings that people worship as gods exist, but that's semantics."

Sephiroth studies him a moment. "It hasn't been long since the Confluence that brought you, has it?"

[atypical_echo]

"Which makes me wonder if that Loki I was blowing off is actually, you know, a god."

Though the Loki he blew off was Tina, but that's something else entirely.

"Two months. I'm still not sure about a lot of things. Mostly trying to keep out of anyone's way."

[unkindled_madness]

"Understandable, I suppose, given your ability."

It would be rational for him to avoid other 'metas,' at least until he found his footing.

"Loki is quite powerful. Although there are three of them, and also a girl claiming to be one. I can't say which you encountered."

[atypical_echo]

"Yeah, it's never fun to suddenly find yourself exhibiting the powers of others. It's worst with mental gifts, but imagine learning flight suddenly, like happened there. And the person doesn't get me down. Once I'm out of range, bam, fall to the ground."

He could get seriously hurt, and he's learned to be... nervous of meeting other Atypicals back home.

"Plus it could out other people, you know?"

[unkindled_madness]

"Yes. I understand some prefer to pretend they're average."

Is he maybe a little salty about that? He isn't hiding anything, and this guy showed up here lying to him, even in a situation like this.

[atypical_echo]

"I mean, sometimes people just want to be average?" Mark pointed out. "Sometimes being atypical isn't very good. Sometimes it just ruins your life."

And by 'your life' it means 'his life.' Massively. Repeatedly.

[unkindled_madness]

As if Sephiroth doesn't know anything about that.

"And sometimes what you want is impossible. Wish all you like, it won't change what you are."

[atypical_echo]

Man, way to crush a man's hopes.

"But I can try and avoid metas. Without others around, I am just normal."

[unkindled_madness]

Sephiroth regards him coolly.

"Would you prefer to split up, then?"

[atypical_echo]

What? Mark looked scared at that.

"Hell no, man. This place could be dangerous."

[unkindled_madness]

"Then I suppose you'll have to tolerate being abnormal, for now."

[atypical_echo]

"Atypical," he says, sighing. "That's what we call it. Not Meta. Atypical."

Clearly it wasn't an 'atypical' that came up with the group name.

[unkindled_madness]

"And I wouldn't call myself 'metahuman,' but here we are."

He turns to move on, back into the mall proper. "Perhaps a name would be better."

[atypical_echo]

"I suppose here we are."

Wait, a name? Oh shit, Mark hasn't offered one, has he.

"I'm Mark."

[unkindled_madness]

No, he's been very rude. Sephiroth doesn't usually have to bring this up himself.

"Sephiroth."

[atypical_echo]

Listen, he didn't even THINK about it because, hey, he's been tense and scared for the better part of a week now.

"Guess my social skills still aren't up to par after, well, everything. Nice to meet you Sephiroth. Cool name. Pretty unique compared to mine, at least where I come from. Guess Sephiroth could be as common as 'Bob'."

[unkindled_madness]

Okay. He might appreciate having his name called 'cool' instead of weird or having a nickname forced on him immediately.

"...it's true, I've never met a 'Mark' before."

[atypical_echo]

Why wouldn't Mark call it cool? Three syllables? Rolls off the tongue in what feels like an avalanche of beat. It fucking rocked. Could be menacing, could be whispered fondly, but CARRIES FUCKING WEIGHT.

Though he looks at Sephiroth in shock.

"Really? It's not that uncommon on Earth. Especially in America, where the Metas seem to be. I'm sure there are other Marks. And come on, I sound like someone just took a pencil to a piece of paper. Who's that? Oh, that's Mark. See? No power."

[unkindled_madness]

He snorts.

"I've been on Earth not even three months. If it's a common name, I'm sure another Mark will patronize the library eventually."

[atypical_echo]

Wait, seriously?

"You work in a library and haven't met any Marks? I don't even know what to do. My life of common name has been a LIE!"

[unkindled_madness]

Is he being melodramatic on purpose or is he just Like This?

"Perhaps it's what differentiates your Earth from other versions of it."