InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "there's trouble in Shangi-La"

emma delauro (telempath) wrote in colligo_threads,
@ 2009-07-17 16:32:00

Entry tags:

!open

WHO: Emma deLauro & Open
WHAT: Emma arrives much to her own confusion
WHERE: The Library & then Colligo Streets
WHEN: Afternoon
RATING: PG
STATUS: In Progress

Her name was the last thing that she heard that made sense. Adam was screaming, and she was having trouble holding on. He was risking falling himself to reach back and grab her wrist, putting her hand back on the edge of the smooth marble each time that it slipped away. Part of her was cursing herself for ever not trusting him to start with, for ever telling the team what she knew and what he wasn't telling them. But then again, if she hadn't done that, only two of them would have been here, potentially falling to their deaths, instead of all of them in this together and more likely to survive because of it.

Only, she wasn't here anymore. She was somewhere else entirely, safe on a plush, carpeted floor instead of clinging for her life on the edge of a building that was about to collapse. And Shal, Jesse, Brennan, and Adam are nowhere to be seen.

Hearing a clank of metal on metal, Emma scrambled to her feet, wide-eyed at the fact that she apparently had company. She certainly hadn't felt anyone. But these didn't look like anyone. These looked like... All right. Who was pulling the Alice in Wonderland delusions? Walking suits of armor converging to...what, exactly? Bracing herself, Emma used her psionic blast, not really shocked when it didn't work. No brain, no effect.

At least, when they reached her, it seemed as though they only wanted one thing. For her to leave. And she could do that simply enough. Followed the whole way to the door, Emma frowned as she was handed a PDA and the doors closed behind her.

Heaving a sigh, Emma shook her head as she stared down at the device in her hand, "All right. What now?"

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oilspillangel
2009-07-17 10:26 pm UTC (link)

There was no response to her question-- not in words, at least. On the other hand, there was a slender figure perched on the steps just below and to one side. If it weren't for the long hair that moved in the slight breeze moving through the city, it could have been a statue. All in white, with white skin and white hair and, upon closer inspection, even his eyes and mouth a pale, washed-out gray-white, he looked as if he could have walked out of a blank sheet of paper. In his hands, looking stark and shocking against the colourless skin, was one of the PDAs that signalled he was one of the displaced. He was peering hard at the small device, a sharp frown on his otherwise soft, dreamy-looking features.

At his feet, bits of papers and plastic had begun to collect, where he touched the PDA, the plastic had corroded somewhat. --Occasionally, he breathed out a thin stream of what looked like smoke.

He seemed very lost, and very distressed, though with Emma's question, he did glance briefly up, noting her curiously. He remained quiet, though, as if he was actually invisible, as if she couldn't see him. So.. she was new, too? But she wasn't War, and she definitely wasn't Lord Death or-- Famine. Glancing back to his PDA, he touched a finger to the screen, slender shoulders hunching in what looked like abject misery. "Where is everyone?" Like his features, his voice was soft, almost lilting, and definitely not human. "So many strangers, and not one familiar face.."

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telempath
2009-07-17 11:06 pm UTC (link)

The shock that had caused her mental barriers to drop upon arrival had flooded her with the emotions flittering through the city, confusion the one most predominant and the one that she was experiencing herself without the added impute of others. If this had been two years ago, she wouldn't have had any idea what to do with what she had been handed. Technophobe wasn't the right word, just ill experience, but she had gained more than enough of that over the last two years so pulling up what she needed was a simple enough task. Information. She needed information, but it seemed like the only way to get it here was to ask for it.

The voice, however, distracted her from her own situation, eyes lifting and coming to rest upon a flash of white hair that made her heart stop for a moment until she was able to take in the rest of the form. Not Mason. Even if Mason hadn't changed his features to a much more normal and healthy look, this individual was far too young to be Mason even if he was equally as pale as the man had been once. And that voice...

Carefully, Emma extended her mind forward, pulling back her barriers to reach out and try and get a reading. Yet all she could see was vast and empty. Nothing. No happiness. No sadness. No envy. No confusion. Not even the resting fluctuations that came with thoughts passing idly across the front of the mind. He was a true blank.

And for Emma, that always spelled trouble.

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oilspillangel
2009-07-17 11:36 pm UTC (link)

She'd noticed him! More than that, she'd reacted to him-- she hadn't passed him over as humans were wont to do. For the most part, mortals didn't even notice White, unless he was trying to make them notice him, so for someone to do so quite on their own was shocking to the white-skinned Horseman. And then she'd done.. something. Something a little like what Adam could do, but not the same, and he was momentarily stunned into frozen silence. What.. had that been? Who was she? Did all humans here have that kind of ability? Would they all see him?

The thought was simultaneously thrilling and distressing. What was he going to do if they did?

"That was naughty," he hummed back at her at last, turning slightly to regard her and slipping the PDA away into a pocket somewhere. --In his lap, a delicate black crown could be seen, the strange metal shining wetly like an oil-slick, darkly rainbow-hued and shifting oddly in the light. "And we're not even acquainted, trying to see what I see.." He tilted his head slightly, smile shy, eyes not quite meeting her own. "A person could take that the wrong way."

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telempath
2009-07-18 12:52 am UTC (link)

"People tend to," Emma said, angling a suspicious gaze towards the individual. Was he something similar to what Kyle had been, or something else all together different? Or were his mental defenses simply strong enough that her powers didn't effect him? He seemed to know exactly what she'd done or at least have a sense of it. Slipping the PDA into her pocket, Emma moved forward, keeping a wide berth between herself and this man as she walked in an arched curve towards him, keeping herself hugged up against the opposite railing as she started down the stairs.

"It's simply easier to talk to someone if you know what you're dealing with before hand."

And safer as well. If you couldn't read someone, how could you possibly know if they were a psychotic alien with the intent to crack open your spinal column and drink the fluids inside? Even if the chances were slim that that would happen again.

"People aren't usually blank."

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oilspillangel
2009-07-18 01:22 am UTC (link)

Blinking mildly, almost sleepily, at the retreating human, White rose to his feet--a small, slender boy that looked no older than a teenager--the crown nearly tumbling off his lap before he managed to catch it in one hand. "I'm not people," he admitted with a delicate, elegant shrug, still looking a little shy and definitely uncertain about this talking-to-a-human-all-by-himself thing. "I'm an idea." He indicated himself with a gesture, smile turning bright. "I'm Pollution," he added in a cheerful chirp, "one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Call me White, though." Even though the Apocalypse hadn't happened, he was still very proud of his work, and damnit-- if he was going to be alone in a strange city on a strange planet, he was going to keep working and he was going to do it well.

A pause, and he took a step down the stairs, reaching up to tuck his hair away from his face, expression turning curious and a little hopeful. "You're human, right? You're not the Antichrist.." A hesitant pause, and he hung back, leaving her the room she so obviously wanted. "How did you do that? Are you a witch?" Witches sometimes did things like that. She obviously wasn't a demon or an angel..

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telempath
2009-07-18 01:51 am UTC (link)

All right. Not what she had been expecting but certainly not the least bit comforting. One of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. She almost would have thought that he was crazy had it not been for the clear lack of human emotion and the more than unique appearance. Eckhart had only looked like that, after all, because he had been ill, on the verge of death. And she doubted there were two people in the same circumstances.

Still, Pollution. Not exactly immediately deadly. It was more a slow, gradual choking effect. And he didn't look like he wanted her dead either way. But she knew just how much she could trust those sort of observations when she couldn't feel. Poor little Emma who wanted to see the best in everyone.

"I'm not a witch," Emma said, frowning. Some people might put it that way if they didn't understand but what she could do was hardly magic even if it did still seem like a curse at times. "I just feel more than most people do."

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oilspillangel
2009-07-18 02:05 am UTC (link)

Humming out a thoughtful noise as he hopped down from one step to one a short distance below, the action oddly childlike, White glanced up at her once he'd steadied himself again, tongue--as pale as his mouth--gripped lightly between his teeth as if in thought. "Ahh--" he finally said, knowingly, and dropped the crown rakishly on the top of his head, "like an angel. They feel very much, too." Especially that one-- the one who'd interfered so much in the end of the world.

"I'm not used to people seeing me," he added after a moment, voice quieter and still that strange, otherworldly tone. "Humans usually don't. No one likes to think about what I do." It was at least partially why he was so very attached to Famine and War. But neither of them were here, and he was.. on his own, and-- she was new, too.

Oh!

"This place is Colligo," he confided, hopping down several more steps and glancing out into the city. "Apparently, we've all been kidnapped." He laughed, the sound bright and amused and bell-like. "Kidnapped! Can you imagine? Kidnapping a Horseman."

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telempath
2009-07-18 02:38 am UTC (link)

Of all the things that Emma would have expected the embodiment of Pollution to be, childlike was not one of them. Growing up with hippie wheat-grass mother earth worshiping parents had left Emma with a greater understanding and appreciation for the planet than most people had. Pollution had always been painted as some horrible monster that was eventually going to kill them all, and here he was playing some sort of hopping game on the stairs. If she wasn't already confused, Emma would have definitely been knocked for a loop.

"People don't like to think about things that they'd rather not acknowledge," Emma said, not saying anything about the angel comment. She was hardly an angel.

And kidnapped? She certainly hadn't been planning on being kidnapped. She hadn't been in a situation where she really was in the position to be kidnapped unless snagging someone from where they were dangling on the edge of the building was whoever had done this's specialty. Still, if they'd managed to trap an idea...

"There's a lot of people here," Emma said quietly. "Not as many as there usual are cities this big. But still, a lot."

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oilspillangel
2009-07-18 02:54 am UTC (link)

"Yup," he agreed, finally reaching the bottom of the stairs and glancing up to look at her again, smoke-gray eyes wide and still very much curious. "Humans make other humans pretty fast.. It's why we all work so hard." His nose wrinkled at the bridge, a slightly put-out expression, as if it was all very distasteful to him. "Humans are so destructive, it means we have to always be extra creative to stay one step ahead." The expression smoothed again, and he trailed a finger lightly along one of the balustrades on either side of the stairs, some substance on his fingertip eating away like acid at the stone, leaving the path of the single digit weathered. ".. Not that I mind working hard. I'm very proud of how hard I work."

He just hated when people didn't appreciate it. Like him, the one who had Sealed him.

Hesitating again, suddenly shy once more, he glanced up at her from through white lashes, hands twisting in the hem of his shirt. "Who're you? You have a name, don't you?" Humans usually did, and she was surely human, no matter what else she was. --She had red hair, just like War, and the thought warmed him inexplicably. War was sort of like a protective older sister for him, so he couldn't help but instinctively sort of like this mortal person.

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telempath
2009-07-18 03:34 am UTC (link)

Emma tried not to look too shocked as the stone was worn away, but for a person who wore her emotions rather clearly, that was a difficult to near impossible task. She'd seen weird things, granted, but they were always just as shocking as the last. Even if this wasn't another child of Genomex.

"Emma," She finally managed after collection herself, finally deciding that such distance was really unnecessary. He seemed to respect her need for it, so there was likely no risk in him trying to attack her. "Emma deLauro," She said as she descended the rest of the stairs. "I have to say, you're a bit of a surprise in more ways than one."

Amusing, the fact that she was talking to an anthropomorphic personification of a concept was hardly one of those surprises.

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oilspillangel
2009-07-18 05:58 am UTC (link)

Emma. He thought that seemed like a pretty name, but his experience with human names was rather limited, really. Still, he was almost positive it was pretty. "It's nice to meet you, Emma," he said with a bright smile as she descended the stairs, still not quite meeting her eyes. And then she spoke again, and he paused uncertainly, blinking once. He was a surprise? Surprise how? Maybe.. that he existed at all? A lot of people didn't believe in the Horsemen, after all, so that made sense.

"Oh?" he wondered with a wide-eyed glance, head tilting, almost birdlike. "Well.. you're kind of a surprise, too. I'm not used to--" A pause, and he made a vague gesture toward his temple, white fingers fluttering. "--You know, that thing you did."

If she wasn't a witch, what was she? It was the most curious notion. Was she really from another dimension? If so, did White exist there, too? Would they have ever met? Would she have seen him? "Only witches do that sort of thing where I'm from," he added helpfully, tucking his hair behind his ear again, "but you said you're not a witch.."

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telempath
2009-07-22 12:54 am UTC (link)

"Surprising existence at all aside, you're not nearly as frightening as I would have expected," Emma said, a sort of mirthful tone in her voice at the words. The instant weathering of the stone was, perhaps, a call for alarm, but after everything that she had been through, it was just another oddity to shuffle between the categories of psionic, molecular, feral, and elemental. It would have landed firmly in the molecular trait.

"I'm a new mutant," Emma said, knowing that the term would likely mean little to nothing to him. It didn't really mean much to anyone that wasn't embroiled in the underground, genomex, or the strand. "Psionic. I can read and manipulate the emotions of others."

That was hardly all that she could do, but she hadn't even told her teammates most of that. She was hardly about to explain it to a stranger.

"As far as I know, there aren't any witches where I'm from. Not real ones, at least."

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