InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "I beat the internet."

Mary Alice Brandon (truthseer) wrote in indarkness_logs,
@ 2010-06-13 23:45:00

Entry tags:

!complete, 2032 06, alice cullen, edward cullen, susan pevensie

RP: Something's Up
Characters: Alice, Edward, Susan
Time/Date: late morning, June 13, 2032
Location: just outside the hotel
Warnings/Rating: SPARKLY MANGO ANGST. Also TEAL DEER.
Summary: Alice and Edward deal with their new reality.
Status: ~~teal deer~~ Complete

It was instantly apparent when Alice opened her eyes that something was seriously wrong.

It wasn't the room, it wasn't the smells or sounds. It was partially that Jasper wasn't immediately present, but even that wasn't the most obvious issue.

The biggest issue was that the last time that she could remember being unconscious was when she had first woken up as a vampire in the field all those years ago.

The rest of what was wrong assaulted her senses immediately after that, and she sat up, curling in on herself and wrapping her arms tightly around her legs. It was then that she noticed another thing that was off.

Pain. She had to release her tight hold because her grip on her knees was going to cause bruises in sking that was far more sensitive than she could ever remember it being.

Frantically, she searched her mind, her visions, for some sort of explanation. There were people all over this strange city - some seemed to have been here for a time, others were like her and just waking up, some she couldn't see at...

A sudden intense pain coursed through her mind, causing her to cry out and clutch at her head far harder than she should have, which really only increased the pain but she barely noticed beyond the white hot searing DO NOT DO THAT AGAIN pain that moved through her entire body. Whatever was going on here, it wasn't a natural occurrance and she was clearly out of her league.

She had caught a glimpse of Edward before she'd been blocked, though. He was somewhere around here, and Alice was clinging to the vaguest hints of familiarity right now. Easing out of bed and trying not to wince at how frail she felt at the moment, she tried to speed to the door and ended up tripping. It was then she thought to wonder how many of her abilities had been blocked out by this strange place.

---

Edward wasn't having much of a better go of it. He'd made it outside the hotel to get some fresh air and a fresh perspective. He'd also thought that if he could get away from the smells of cleaning solutions and the stelility that was indoors that he might have a better idea of where he was and what he could expect about this place, but so far... no such luck.

There was one... inconsistency that he hadn't made up his mind about yet. His mind was quiet. He could not remember a time when his mind had been this void of other people's thoughts, and it was incredibly disconcerting. He knew it was... a blessing, in a way. How many times had he prayed for this kind of silence? But at the same time, not knowing the cause of it and not being able to determine said cause was likely to drive him mad.

With effort, he could force it, but he could not get more than a few stray surface thoughts before being overcome with pain. They were there, just below the surface, he could hear the low murmurs as though it were a blood rushing through his ears, but he could only make out the odd word if he listened. And if he tried to... boost the signal as it were, pain.

He almost didn't hear or sense Alice before he saw her, and that in itself was jarring. She looked a wreck, and he did not need to be able to read her mind to know that she was in a similar state to himself. The fact that she was moving so slowly made him suddenly want to try running, but he imagined given everything else how that would turn out, so he moved towards her at a human pace.

"Are you all right?" he asked, reaching out to catch as she moved to slump against the wall outside.

"I feel like my skin is bruising," she muttered, looking over her arms where various marks and scuffs could be seen. "Doesn't your heart need to be pumping blood through your veins in order to cause bruises?" she tilted her head towards him. "Where are we Edward? I can't see." She knew he would understand what she meant.

He shook his head. "I don't know. I'm as blind as you are. Though apparently, the individuals we're dealing with are a powerful enemy."

She hadn't seen the note herself, but had caught glimpses in what she could make of her visions. "In other situations I'd say we should make a break for it over the line, but if I'm so uncoordinated that I'm tripping over my own feet on the way do the door, I don't know that that's a safe idea."

"We need more information," Edward decided, gritting his teeth and looking around him. "And we need to find the others." By 'others' he of course meant Bella. He was working under the assumption right now that they had all been summoned together as a family, and he knew the others could take care of themselves. Bella, however, was fragile, and ever since she had agreed to marry him he'd been... well. More conscious of it than usual. Turning back to Alice he asked a question he already guessed the answer to, "You can't see at all?"

She shook her head. "I'm getting flashes, like usual. But I can't control it without..." she winced.

Edward understood. "We'll just have to go about it another way, then. They can't be far. This place doesn't have the feel of spanning a great distance." Tilting his head to indicate he wished to get started, he began moving away from the hotel, hoping that Alice would follow him.

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secret_queen
2010-06-14 05:19 am UTC (link)

'Less than thrilled' went a long way to describing Susan just then. She'd been asleep on the ground - granted, not the most comfortable thing - with her siblings, and then she'd woken up in a bed in a room she'd never been in before, with a note that ... she couldn't make much sense of.

She had everything she'd had with her at the camp, which wasn't much. Her bow and quiver and a couple of dresses. She was of the mind she should very likely find some other attire, but she'd have to venture out to do that.

So she'd smoothed out the worst of the wrinkles and finished dressing in the attire she'd been wearing on their journey. She ran a brush through her hair and almost as an afterthought, grabbed her bow and slung the quiver over her shoulders.

Maybe there'd be nothing, no one outside, but maybe she'd have to save herself from something and she'd rather look silly and have a bow and arrows than be dead. She was also curious about the line that was mentioned, and she intended to have a look at that as well.

Susan trotted down the stairs, and while she gave the first floor a quick glance, she was more interested in what was outside. Shouldering open the door, she paused as she caught sight of two ... very pale people. Pale and kind of ... glowing. Susan squinted and wondered if it was a trick of the light before she shook her head and stepped away from the hotel.

"Excuse me," she said as she approached them somewhat cautiously. "Have you any idea what's going on here?"

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fadedmemory
2010-06-16 03:26 am UTC (link)

Both Edward and Alice jumped at the voice, and turned quickly. Edward mentally facepalmed - they'd grown far too accustomed to abilities that enabled them to see what was going to happen, and clearly weren't adjusting well without them.

"Unfortunately, no," he said, when Alice seemed too uncomfortable to immediately jump in with a response. "We're a bit lost ourselves. Being taken from our homes into another reality is... certainly a new experience," he tried to offer a smile, but it came out rather weak. "I am Edward Cullen, and this is my... sister, Alice."

Alice nodded her head, moving her fingers in a small wave. "We were just about to go look for the rest of our family, make sure they weren't hurt or otherwise harmed in the... move. Did you want to come along? It's probably best to travel as a group if there's going to be..." she waved her hand somewhat irritatedly. "... lines to avoid and stay behind. Maybe we'll be able to learn more about what's going on?"

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secret_queen
2010-06-16 03:37 am UTC (link)

"Another reality?" Susan blurted, though why she should be surprised about that ... hadn't she just come from another world? Realm? Reality? "I mean, you're sure then? That this is ..." she waved the hand not holding her bow, her brow furrowing.

The woman's comment made her frown. Their family? What if hers was here as well? Lucy ... her brothers. What if they were here, too? She hadn't thought to check, and she looked around as if she somehow expected to find them standing around.

"If you ... wouldn't mind the company," she agreed. She wasn't keen on wandering around alone, that was for certain. "I ... sorry. I'm Susan. Susan Pevensie. From England." Or Narnia, but why go there if she didn't have to?

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fadedmemory
2010-06-16 05:01 am UTC (link)

This time, he did press his hand over his mouth, thumb and finger tracing his jaw. "Figure of speech," he said, a bit sheepishly. "We're not... certain, where this is, but it is not where we are used to being." He shook his head a bit. "It's not impossible that we're right down the street from where we live. It simply feels like another world entirely."

Alice doubted it, though. She knew Edward could tell as well as she could that the air here was filtered through some kind of system, and the area was mostly artificial. Call it what you will, but they were in a lab of some sort, and it may as well be an alternate reality.

"We wouldn't mind the company," she assured Susan, offering her a smile. It was then that she realized, much to her surprise, that her throat was not burning with the all-too-familiar need to feed. She shot a confused glance to Edward, but he didn't seem to understand why she was confused, and that was frightening in itself.

She wanted - no, needed - to find Jasper. Immediately. It would completely settle her nerves, but it would certainly help.

"Is there anyone we should keep a lookout for for you as well?" Edward asked as they started to move down the street. He really had no idea where he was going, but he had to start somewhere.

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secret_queen
2010-06-16 05:18 am UTC (link)

"Not where I'm used to being either," she admitted. It wasn't either of the places she was accustomed to being, and she wondered what that said, exactly. Especially with the circumstances. "Is it ... possible? I mean, obviously it's possible, since we're here, but ... how they could just come in and ... and kidnap us?"

Moreover, how they would have gotten to Narnia ...

Susan started to follow as they led, pale eyes sweeping around uneasily as if she half expected someone to leap out at them. Like the White Witch herself. She shuddered at the thought of it, but this was ... different. This was something else entirely, not related to Narnia.

"I ... I was with my f-- my siblings. My little sister Lucy, my younger brother Edmund, and my older brother, Peter. We were ..." she glanced down at herself. Well, camping was going to be a lie they saw right through, given how she was dressed and the fact she was carrying around a bow and arrows. "...playing Knights and Queens on an overnight trip," she finished.

Belatedly, she realized she could have simply said this was all she'd been provided with, and she shook her head. "So I suppose if we come across any place that has ... more modern attire, that'd be a place to stop and investigate."

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truthseer
2010-06-16 08:26 am UTC (link)

"Believe me," Alice said softly, "if we could figure out how they just came in and kidnapped us, it would go a long way towards answering a multitude of questions that we have." She pursed her lips. "They're powerful, whoever they are, and well funded. Either privately run or government funded under such secrecy that... they couldn't be seen," she shot a look to Edward. She liked to think that if someone made the decision to come for her family she'd have seen them long before they got there.

"There is no sense speculating who we're dealing with until we get more information," Edward said to Alice, though he did follow her logic and suspected she was fairly close. If they had enough power to restrict their abilities in this fashion...

He glanced over to Susan as she explained what she'd been doing. While her explanation seemed to fit, there was something about the way she said it that made Edward suspect she wasn't telling the whole story. Under normal circumstances, this would not have bothered him. And really, it was more that he could not read her mind to fill in the blanks that was frustrating him at the moment. Though he considered his abilities a curse, he could not help but miss the usefulness of them when they were gone.

"I imagine they are around here somewhere," he said in what he hoped was a soothing tone. "I hardly feel as though these individuals would go through all this effort in order to kidnap one or two from a group."

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secret_queen
2010-06-16 02:25 pm UTC (link)

That was an interesting point. They couldn't get to Narnia just because they wanted to go there, so how could anyone get there to kidnap them? "Maybe they're still inside," Susan offered. "I mean, maybe they haven't woken up yet, or they're still in their rooms."

Well, Lucy wouldn't be. She'd have come right out and raised a ruckus in the hall to find them. Peter probably would've been a bit more cautious, but he was no doubt up and looking for them. Ed though ... Ed might well still be sleeping.

"But you have no idea what they were after," Susan pointed out. "Maybe they could only take one or two of us at a time and left the rest to wonder about us." She shifted to slip her bow over her back, making sure it was snugly in place but still accessible. "Maybe they just wanted one of us ... for whatever reason." She exhaled, but supposed Edward had a point. There was no use in speculating without some idea of what was actually going on.

Sweeping her gaze around again, she briefly hugged herself as she followed them, looking for her siblings or anyone else she might know from home.

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fadedmemory
2010-06-18 03:09 am UTC (link)

He glanced over and nodded to Susan. "If they're inside, they should be safe," he said. "I am a tad concerned about those in our family who would either disregard blatant warnings under the guise of proving a slip of paper wrong, or those who would not notice that they were crossing a line until it was too late." Like Bella. That would be exactly the sort of thing that she would do.

He paused slightly, his step hitching momentarily when Susan pointed out that he really did have no idea what they were after. And that she was absolutely right in pointing out that maybe Alice and he were the only ones from their family who had been taken to this place.

"No... I..." he hoenstly couldn't decide what was better. Bella at home, in the relative safety of Forks without him there to protect her, or Bella here in known danger.

Alice glanced over when Edward's step hitched, and she didn't need any special powers to know exactly what that weary look meant. She sighed a bit heavily. "You're right," she said to Susan, "and we were wrong in assuming they'd be here. But there's no harm in looking for them while we do a little bit of exploring."

She nudged Edward with her elbow, and they winced simultaneously - she was really going to have to get used to this whole 'not completely immortal' thing quickly - and added, "She's fine Edward, wherever she is." Turning to Susan, she added, "He's worried about his fiance. She has a bad habit of attracting trouble and he's stupid about being over-protective. Maybe you're familiar with it, if your older brother is the type?"

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secret_queen
2010-06-18 03:50 am UTC (link)

"No," she agreed. "No harm in looking. It's .... a good idea to ... to get an idea of where we are. What the place is like. What sort of supplies we're working with. If there's any ... any clues on how to get out of here. Get back to where we were."

They'd been called to Narnia, after all. She had to do something there. She couldn't well leave her siblings alone to take care of it, so she had to find a way out. But until then, she had to survive here so she could find a way out later, which meant ... being practical. Being herself.

"Suppose I ... understand, yes." Which made her wonder if Peter was worried. Lucy would be, and her lips pulled into a thin line at that idea. "I'm sorry, but ... better she be somewhere with known dangers than here, right?" Even if he would be lonely without her.

She wouldn't mind if her siblings showed up, but better they be safe ...ish in Narnia than here with kidnappers who were ... observing them. Susan looked around at that thought, as if she expected to see the cameras on full display.

"So where ... where are you from?" she inquired, mostly to make conversation while they explored.

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fadedmemory
2010-06-18 05:51 am UTC (link)

He pursed his lips, inclined to tell Susan that he thought he might disagree. He knew that he should be happy that she was somewhere safe, but with Bella... well. He didn't think there was such a thing as 'truly safe' unless she was in a room stuffed with pillows that she could not escape from. And even then he had his doubts.

And if both he and Alice were here... the others wouldn't know to watch her closely. She could die. It was a very real possibility for him.

No. She had to be here, and he was going to find her. He swallowed thickly and nodded his head to show that he heard Susan but didn't really have anything to say beyond that.

Alice rolled her eyes at Edward. "It's hard to tell with Bella," she mused to Susan. "I mean, she'll definitely find a way to get into super-trouble if she's here, but it's not like she's going to exactly stay out of trouble at home."

"You're not helping."

"Oh, was I supposed to help?" Alice grinned before she glanced to Susan at the question. "Oh. Forks, Washington. Little nowhere town in the US," she said wondering if that would be enough to answer her question. "It was 2005 there," she added thoughtfully. She didn't really know what year it was here, or what year Susan was from, but she didn't think it was 2005 anymore. "How about you?" England she knew both from the accent and because Susan had said it, "Is it 2005 in England too or are you guys moving to a five years ahead or behind system now?"

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secret_queen
2010-06-18 06:21 am UTC (link)

"Oh," was all she could manage in regard to the conversation about Edward's fiance. She sounded ... well, like a bit of a klutz.

The back and forth dialog between them was ... well, it definitely reeked of siblingness, and it made her ache a little for her own. For all their faults and flaws, she loved them and she knew she'd miss them while she was stuck here away from them.

When Alice mentioned the date, Susan shook her head slightly. "No ... I ... it was ... it was nineteen forty-one," she said numbly. Which made her wonder what year it was now, wherever they were. Her steps slowed as she tried to figure that one out. How on Earth could these two be from 2005, and she was from over sixty years before that?

"What year do you suppose it is now?" she murmured curiously, resisting the urge to swing the bow forward into a more accessible, ready position.

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fadedmemory
2010-06-18 07:19 am UTC (link)

"2032," Edward said without hesitation. It had been a stray thought that he'd picked up earlier, before it had been too painful to keep trying to read people's minds. His eyes widened in sudden alarm and horror that he had blurted out what he was fairly sure was the correct answer so quickly. Alice responded to his alarm as best she knew how.

"2028," she said, trying to hide in her tone that she was pretending to counter him. "No, I take that back, 2019. It's definitely after our time. We don't have this kind of architecture..."

Edward couldn't believe he had slipped up so easily, and did not really want to play the game Alice had created in an attempt to cover for him. He glanced to Susan, and frowned very slightly. "I imagine all of this must seem very strange to you, being so far removed."

And it did make him the slightest bit curious what she had to offer that the scientists were curious about examining her. An ability of some kind? Or perhaps it was what she was going to do later in life that had them curious.

These selections could not have been random. These individuals had to be pulling from a very specific pool, he thought.

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secret_queen
2010-06-18 07:48 am UTC (link)

Susan quirked a brow when Edward blurted out an answer. A ... very unlikely answer.

But why was it unlikely? Susan's brow furrowed. Why not 2032? Why not 2050 for all that, or 3200? If they could pull her from the '40s and these people from the turn of the 21st century ... why couldn't it be any year beyond that?

"No, we ... haven't got anything like this, but ... that's hardly saying anything," she murmured. Keen eyes swept around the place before she exhaled softly. She didn't like how ... deserted it felt.

"What ... what sort of plan, should we be developing, do you think?" she inquired hesitantly. "And what assumptions can we ... take for fact? If we're stuck here, we should ensure we have provisions ... and see what else is about the area. Weapons and maybe shelters that aren't ... something they provided for us."

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truthseer
2010-06-23 03:37 am UTC (link)

"An escape plan?" Alice quirked before she nodded her head. "Probably a method of determining what exactly is across the line, and whether or not it can be avoided. It can't... I mean, I imagine there are some traps, but perhaps it's just immediately across the line, and the sensors don't work if you just get past the initial ones you won't trigger anything." She frowned, "Maybe if we threw a stone across the line we could see... how far it extends. Or if we find someone who can fly..."

They weren't the only ones here. She knew that. She just didn't know where everyone was.

Edward had a moment where he wondered why he hadn't come to that conclusion. Develop a plan and find weapons and shelter that were not freely given to them. And then he inhaled again and remembered why. The air was recycled. This place was isolated from the rest of the world - whatever world that was - and these people were powerful if they could make a vampire sleep or pull people from different timeframes.

If they were really that powerful, he did not hold any illusions of finding a place of safety here, like a secluded area that they did not have access to.

"That would be ideal," he said to Susan regardless. "Find somewhere where they have less access to that is still reachable, and store away necessities in case we should find ourselves without. The fact that we are being monitored constantly causes me worry that it will prove to be difficult."

He grit his teeth slightly. "But perhaps it is a better start than searching for individuals who may or may not be here."

Alice rolled her eyes. "That's the spirit?" she offered. "If the scientists are listening, I do hope they see how truly useless Edward will be as an experiment subject without Bella."

Not that she was going to be too much better without Jasper.

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secret_queen
2010-06-23 04:16 am UTC (link)

"But maybe that's all this is. Just ... observations. Maybe they're just curious how we'll react." And maybe they'd let them all go in a few weeks. While she was at it, maybe it would start raining marshmallows and rainbows.

"Maybe we should give it a few days," Susan suggested. "Before we try ... anything like that." Because if they were lucky, some other idiot would do it for them and they could determine how serious the threat was before they started in on their own versions of experiments.

Susan paused and looked around to see what she could see from here before exhaling softly. Well, she'd just follow along with them, and they'd find out whatever they found out.

She did offer Edward a sympathetic glance, but there wasn't anything she could do about his missing fiance - like he couldn't do anything about her missing siblings. Though really, it was likely for the best. Putting a smile on that she didn't feel, Susan trooped along with them while they explored.

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