metaverses | [OPEN] For Want Of Some Ruby Slippers

Who: Mark Bryant

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!"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I see. I suppose all of this would be... tiring."

He may have forgotten about the amount of sleep most people require.

"So tiring," he agrees with a sigh. "But better to get out of here I guess."

But hey, he can keep going.

"I believe I remember the places to get coffee. If we near one, we can spare a few minutes."

"Really, man, if you just wanna get out, we can get out," he insists. He doesn't wanna make Sephiroth upset at him. ESpecially when the guy would be the best way for Mark to keep safe.

"Into the employee halls!" he declares, continuing their walk there. Come on Sephiroth!

He wasn't saying they wouldn't go into the employee halls, but okay then. Sephiroth proceeds through the 'employees only' door and into the quiet, empty back hallways.

That's much more comfortable.

He glances in both directions, and then picks one.

Yeah, it is nice in the quiet. How interesting.

"So, when did you get here here? LIke, the mall this time?"

Mark and quiet weren't exactly something that went hand in hand. Poor Sephiroth.

At least this is just one voice in an empty hallway.

"Roughly an hour before I encountered you. Why?"

"Damn."

Mark is just glad that his more limited time hadn't had Sephiroth already there. Because damn, if Sephiroth had seen how long he'd been shouting at the door... well, that would be embarrassing. Super embarrassing.

"How much of this place did you check first?"

A surprisingly practical thing to ask, it turns out. At least, so Sephiroth assumes.

"The department store at the west end, and the upper level along the way to the food court."

Hey! He can be practical. Sometimes. Once in a while. Okay, once in a blue moon.

"Okay, so let's call that maybe a fifth or sixth of this place. Fuck, I hope it's that much. And I don't think it's wise for us to split up, because I don't know that you CAN walk away from a rift when you see it, so we hsould focus on going onward."

Alright, he just has to get himself confident that he can do this. Alright. Yeah. He... He's doing this.

"Okay! Onward. Excelsior or some shit."

"They do seem to have a faint pull, once you get near enough." He imagines it could be resisted, but why? He doesn't want to stay here any longer than he has to, and he doesn't know how long these rifts last.

It's hard to say yet whether he feels they're getting any closer to a rift or only hopes they are.

"Were you taken from Excelsior?"

Excelsior?

"I went there a few times, to see it. But no. I live in Central City. Why? Are people from Excelsior more likely to get kidnapped by rifts?"

Because he's quite intrigued by the question.

Sephiroth's brow furrows. "I don't know. I assumed you said it because you wanted to get back to it."

He's only been a few times himself.

"Oh. Man, now I guess I've got to explain that. There was this comic I read when I was little. About a guy in space, exploring the universe and helping people. And when he was going into danger, he'd shout 'Excelsior!'."

And so he'd made the reference.

"I see." Sort of. "Does the word have some sort of meaning that both the city and your comic are referencing?"

"I think it's latin," he says, trying to dig in his memory for any answers. Damn, he should have learned latin.

"I think it's something like 'ever onward' or something? Don't quote me on it."

"I will look into it later, but that meaning would seem to fit both usages."

Well, that's good to hear. But for now he moves down the employee corridors, stopping every now and then to close his eyes. This was frustrating.

"What I'd give for the power to sense these things.

"...where were you when you arrived? The food court?"

He wonders if there's any sort of pattern to it.

"Yep, right there, by the doors," Mark sighed. He'd done a little tour around, had confirmed that people could see him, and then resolved to set out and try and find answers. Only he couldn't.

"Hm... I suppose it isn't a great deal to go on. Whatever rifts brought us sealed up again. But this is a finite space. It is searchable."

Even if it takes longer than they'd like.

"Thank fuck for that," he says, turning down another hall in the back ways.

And...

Oh, he smiles. There, in the distance, the air seems to... distort, like the air over the road with great heat.

Sephiroth sees it, too, of course, but his companion hasn't remarked on it. "There."

He picks up the pace, striding faster towards it.

He's hoping, but he fears if he says it, he'll jinx the thing.

"Lead on. Honestly, if something dangerous wants to jump out of it, I feel like you should be there first to stop it."

"I suppose that's a fair assessment."

He's certainly more than capable, and Mark... seems liable to panic. The distortion in the air grows clearer as they approach, but only a little. There's no way to see what might be on the other side of it.

(no subject)

atypical_echo - 2022-08-22 22:56 (UTC) - Expand

unkindled_madness - 2022-08-22 23:30 (UTC) - Expand

atypical_echo - 2022-08-23 00:13 (UTC) - Expand

unkindled_madness - 2022-08-23 00:15 (UTC) - Expand

atypical_echo - 2022-08-23 00:37 (UTC) - Expand

unkindled_madness - 2022-08-23 00:46 (UTC) - Expand

Might this could be a good way to close?

atypical_echo - 2022-08-23 01:01 (UTC) - Expand