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Ichabod Crane ([info]no_superstition) wrote in [info]indarkness_logs,
@ 2010-09-25 00:31:00

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Entry tags:!complete, 2032 09, ichabod crane, katrina van tassel

RP:
Who: Ichabod, dementor effects, and who knows.
Where: Beginning in his room, moving to the lobby and... wherever
What: The man has some very dark memories, and they haunt him enough without the help of dementors
When: Friday evening (Yep, late to the party)
Warnings: Movie plot references? None.
Status: Complete


Since Swan had shown him how to use the messaging device, Ichabod had retired to his room for the most part to learn to use it, to become more comfortable in light of what she had taught him about it. It was still an amazing thing, still a marvel of a technology his time had not even dreamed of, yet as time progressed he found himself with less and less interest in it. Nightmares had come soon after, and nothing he read on the instrument had cheered him or given him hope.

While in the Hollow dreams of his childhood- his mother- had returned unbidden, bringing a sense of despair and a blow to his rationality, yet Katrina had been there to help shore his courage and his will to continue. Terrible despair had followed when he thought she had been the guilty party; he had come to care for her- no, more than that. He mourned for the life he could not have, and contrary to his strong desire to see all stand equally before the law, he did away with the evidence to leave her to the life he thought she had wrought for herself.

Horrible was the guilt he felt when he realized how wrong he was, and how he had left her to what could have been a fearful fate.

This was worse than all of that.

He knew that it was the influence of those creatures, it was written in the messages that people had posted and he had read. What a loathsome entity, a nightmarish creature to have the power to do such things as to drive people to the deepest levels of despair? The glass window had what appeared to be an icy sheen on it, and it felt so incredibly cold near them that he could not bear it. The cause had to be those things, it had not seemed to look like winter when last he looked through the glass. He saw nothing, yet he knew they were there, waiting.

The rational man within him railed against this, yet it was a losing battle in the face of the strength of emotion he felt and the horrors he relived in his dream. All those deaths, the terrible events which unfolded in the church that night- and the forest thereafter. His parents, and his mother in that terrible room, that device- that hideous instrument, too terrifying to be used in a just society based on the rule of law; yet superstition held sway still, and so it was. People died for it; that was why he fought so very hard against it, yet nothing had changed. In his despair he began to realize that it was all a hopeless folly, that people were not logical by nature and his dream of just means could never be. No, he was wasting his time, years of his life spent in the fruitless pursuit of a goal too great for the naturally vile nature of mankind....

He realized then that these thoughts were not truth- not his truth anyway; it was what he was left with- what they offered in exchange for the happiness they had stolen. He could not let himself believe that he would never see Katrina or young Masbath again, that the life they were beginning to forge was over just that quickly, never to be completed. There could be no doubting that one day his fight would win out, and reason would win the day; that superstition could be relegated to the annals of history.

With a glance back to the window he rose and swept the messaging device from the table to slip it into his pocket. He could not remain so close to them, He could not allow himself to simply waste away with despair, to surrender to the sadness; he wanted to bury himself beneath the linens and leave the world to its own, but there had to be more. There had to be something, and though he could not see it right now, there had to be hope. These people had managed to go on, he could too.

With a deep breath he let himself out of his room and closed the door; it seemed as though it felt marginally better, but not nearly enough. Slow steps carried him to the stairwell, and he made his way to the lobby, expecting to find others- no, hoping against hope to find others. With news of so many witches and sorcerers in this place he had taken to avoiding them, but no more. With a touch to the book hat still rested in the pocket of his coat he walked, listening for the others. If he could occupy his mind with that, he could block out the memories... maybe.



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[info]van_tassel
2010-09-25 05:57 pm UTC (link)
Katrina didn't understand this place. Everything was frightening and little of it made sense. It was impossibly cold by the windows, though the hallways weren't much better. She had an unshakable sense of depression, and it was leading her to darker places than she ever wanted to go.

Very few of the devices scattered around the room made sense to her, and the note spoke of kidnapping. Kidnapping, her! But why? To this strange place that made no sense and filled her with such fear and sorrow. She'd laid about in bed for far too long, and only the driving necessity to eat made her leave the room. She memorized the number but left the door open for fear she wouldn't be able to get back in should she let it close.

It was horrible here, just horrible!

Slender pale fingers clutched her heavy skirts as she traversed the stairs, descending the single flight that lead to another place. Easing out of the door, she looked around curiously. There seemed to be ... a lot of people milling about but no one seemed to notice her much at all. She tipped her head curiously, for a moment wondering if she was a ghost.

That was impossible, wouldn't it? She would have known if she'd died. Wouldn't she have? Perhaps not. Perhaps it had happened quickly, and she lifted a hand to her throat. Clearly though, her head was attached.

"Excuse me ..." she stated timidly to someone who brushed brusquely by her. She was met with a 'not now' and she blinked. He was dressed oddly though. Very oddly, and she walked forward even as she turned her head to watch the other man retreat past her toward the stairs.

While not watching where she was going, she bumped into the back of someone else. A startled squeak parted her lips, and she was already beginning her apologies when she realized she recognized the man. "Ichabod?" she breathed, her wonder and surprise enough to -- for the moment -- drive the worst of the depression away.

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[info]no_superstition
2010-09-25 10:06 pm UTC (link)
Ichabod had stopped to watch those around him; it seemed that the people he saw wandered in their own world, but whether or not they were trapped within their depression like he felt, he could not say. Some seemed to be hurrying toward some purpose, so he tried to step back to make sure he stayed out of the way. It was then that he felt the person behind him, and he turned quickly, hands extended to help steady the person if he happened to knock them off balance. "Beg pardon-"

His eyes widened when he saw Katrina before him, and for a moment he was heavily conflicted- glad that she was here, but also sorry that she was here. If it was her.

"Katrina!" he exclaimed as he reached out for her hands, if she would allow it. "How have you come? Are you harmed?" The unspoken question was whether or not it was even truly her.

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[info]van_tassel
2010-09-25 10:13 pm UTC (link)
"No," she said said as she gazed wonderingly at him. "I'm not ... harmed," she added. She wasn't physically harmed, at any rate, though she was ... sad. Very sad. She thought she should be happier at seeing him here, at having a familiar face -- at seeing his face -- but she simply couldn't summon the enthusiasm she thought the meeting merited.

"I'm very sad though," she whispered to him as if that was something to be ashamed of. "I want to be happy to see you but I ... I am ... happy to see you," she amended, her brow furrowing slightly. "But I just don't feel like I'm as happy as I should be."

She wouldn't have made such an admission to anyone else; she would have put on her polite face and found some excuse around it, but never to him would she hold up false pretenses. So she clutched his hands and gazed at him and watched as people moved by. Everyone, she thought, looked tired, or frightened, or sad.

Perhaps this was simply a very, very sad place. "Is everyone here kidnapped as well?"

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[info]no_superstition
2010-09-26 12:38 am UTC (link)
"Everyone," he replied as he offered her his arm. "Or at least that is my understanding. I have not met but two, but they tell the same tale. Taken to be observed, just as the device showed."

His voice was kept low, as he had no way of knowing who might be nearby. "I have read that the sadness is caused by creatures that cannot be seen, at least to most of us. There are those fighting to defend against them. It was not so when I arrived."

How distressing it was to see her sad; he did not want to see her like this, yet he could not find the happiness within himself to bring her such cheer. "Tell me how you have come to this place?"

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[info]van_tassel
2010-09-26 01:17 am UTC (link)
"Observed," she whispered, shaking her head as the furrow in her brow deepened. Observed for what, she wondered even as she took his arm, hoping they could find some place quieter to talk. She clung perhaps a little tighter than was strictly necessary, pressing closer against him. She didn't like the bustle of all these strange people, or the sinking feeling of depression that only seemed to get worse when the lights flickered and went out.

She made a soft, frightened noise as she buried her face against his arm, aware then that there were candles burning ... so clearly they anticipated the lights going out. "Creatures that cannot be seen?" she repeated as she tipped her chin up to peer at him. "How ... how is that possible?"

Katrina shook her head to his last question. "I'm not certain. I remember going to bed last night in our room, and yet when I woke up I was in this strange place. I have no recollection of anything unusual in between."

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[info]no_superstition
2010-09-26 01:59 am UTC (link)
He placed his hand over hers when she gripped him ever tighter; there was no comfort he could offer, for he felt none despite her presence.

"Apparently some know of them, perhaps they can see them. Magic users... witches and wizards. I am told there are many," he said in a near whisper as he moved closer to the wall; there had to be a place for them to sit, but for now this would be enough. Perhaps that might be good news to her, but he had no idea the nature of these magic users.

"I am pleased to see you, though I wish it had been at home and not here. At least you were taken gently; we cannot all say the same," he said as he glanced around the room for others before he offered a hug to her; perhaps at least holding her would fend the darkness for a time, at least.

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[info]van_tassel
2010-09-26 02:44 am UTC (link)
"Witches and wizards." She was starting to feel a little like some sort of parrot, echoing back everything he was saying, but it all seemed so very surreal. Yes, she'd lived through a bit of dark magic herself, and had nearly been killed because of it, and yes she could do a little bit of white magic herself but ... were witches and wizards so very common here?

She moved with him toward the wall, clinging close to him as she watched the others. She herself felt a touch invisible with how little attention they were attracting, but perhaps she was nothing unusual here.

"How do you mean?" she murmured even as she returned his hug. Were some of the others taken violently? Had he been?

Burying her face against his shoulder, she wrapped one arm around his middle as the other rested over his shoulders, her fingers threading into his dark hair.

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[info]no_superstition
2010-09-26 03:23 am UTC (link)
"Yes, as though there have not been enough in our lives. I am not convinced this was not created by one- if not more. What purpose would there be in drawing so many here?" he offered even as he wondered about it. "From what I have been told, many here have abilities, but I have not seen what they do, nor have I witnessed their magic beyond this. I have been told of grave dangers, and of deaths. We must be careful, Katrina."

The white line- the one he had yet to see- he would wait to warn her about until it was safe to go outside and see it. Together, perhaps.

He held her more firmly then, wishing to comfort her as much as an embrace could. "I was taken while on the street, did you not miss me?" he asked, wondering if time had passed in her world as it had here. Surely it must, yet with nothing as it seemed here, it could be the same there.

"These people... they are not as we are, word has it they are of different times," he noted. "I find it difficult to believe, but they appear strange to me, do they not to you?"

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[info]van_tassel
2010-09-26 06:42 am UTC (link)
Dangers, and death. That was nothing new, was it? Though she doubted it was the same manner they had dealt with before. Her lips parted to ask him when she saw a ghostly silver wolf darting by. When it passed her, she briefly felt better, but it fled when the creature did. She had no idea what it had been, or where it was going, but she didn't think it was any sort of malicious spirit. "Of course," she agreed as she swept her dark gaze back to him.

"No," she said as her attention snapped back to him at his admission. "I ... we were together the entire time, until I woke up here, without you." Which suddenly made her wonder ... "Have you been here long?" she inquired, suddenly alarmed. How long could he have been here, if she'd just seen him last night? But he'd been here long enough to have learned some things, and ... she was very sincerely confused by this.

"They do appear strange," she agreed. She'd noted that with the first person she'd seen. She'd noted that with her room, honestly; very little about it was familiar to her. "The rooms are odd, too," she continued as she continued to hold onto him, though her grip had relaxed slightly.

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[info]no_superstition
2010-09-27 12:25 am UTC (link)
Ichabod's eyes widened when the wolf passed, but simply pressed his lips together when he realized that they were going to be left alone by the thing.

"I have been here for several days," he told her, wondering how he could have been with her just that recently. "I have met a few people, and I know the purpose of this now." From his pocket he withdrew the device to show her, still fascinated with how it worked. "Apparently you may speak with others using this, but I have not tried it. I have watched as messages appeared, but I have not used it."

He offered it to her to look at it, and nodded when she mentioned the rooms. "The furniture is strange, and things work so differently. If this is a different year, I cannot say what it is. There is still too much I do not know. You have met no one?"

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[info]van_tassel
2010-09-27 12:39 am UTC (link)
Several days? But that was ... "Impossible," she said. "I saw you just last night!" she protested as she gazed up at him with her dark eyes, pleading with him to find some explanation for all of this, to tell her how he could have been both here and with her the night prior.

She took the device when he offered it, her brows furrowing. She'd seen something similar in her room, though she hadn't brought it down. "I have something like this, I think," she said as she studied it, turning it over in her hands. "Not exactly," she added as she handed it back. "But I only glimpsed it."

Shaking her head to his question, she pressed against the wall and against him. "No one. I stayed in the room for a bit before venturing downstairs, and you are the first I've spoken with."

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[info]no_superstition
2010-09-27 01:52 am UTC (link)
"I assure you, I was here," he said, though the tone of his voice revealed his mixture of doubt and wonder. He had no idea what was going on, but he fully intended to find out- maybe that was how the others had managed to leave.

"I will show you how to use this later, or at least as it was shown to me," he replied as he placed it in his coat pocket. "It is a strange thing, but if it works as they say it does, it should be useful."

How pleased he was to have her here, and he opened his arms to hold her once more. "Then it will be more bearable with you here," he told her with a gentle smile. "Perhaps we will leave soon, but until then we must meet others. The message that was left said we must, and they have answers to questions- even if they are not the ones I have hoped for." She had always been a more outgoing person, and he imagined that she would have an easier time of it here... maybe.

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[info]van_tassel
2010-09-27 02:10 am UTC (link)
She still thought there was something wrong with that, but perhaps it was this place. Maybe it had ... somehow displaced time? Katrina sighed softly. "Should we find somewhere quieter then?" She didn't mind crowds of people she knew; she enjoyed parties in her home or the home of friends, but this was frightening and overwhelming and she was very, very inclined to go somewhere very, very quiet.

Nodding her agreement to being shown how the strange device worked, Katrina glanced behind her and for a moment simply watched the people. Some of them appeared to be waving wands about, but all of them looked tired.

"Will we leave soon? I'd like to go home, and ..." her thoughts fled to young Masbath. Was he alone now? Or was she, like Ichabod had been, not missing at all? It was confusing and all manner of vexing. It was frustrating and she felt the overwhelming depression starting to push at her again.

"I'd like to wait to meet the others," she decided. "When I'm not so ... sad."

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[info]no_superstition
2010-09-27 02:25 am UTC (link)
He understood what she meant; it was an incredible depth of sorrow, but until these things passed there was nothing they could do- or so the messages said.

"I do not know when we will leave," he confessed as he offered her his arm again to lead her to what he assumed would be their room. "One young lady I spoke with told me that some had been here for months; I hope it is not the same for us." Yet she said he had been with her just the previous night; it would definitely call for consideration and thinking.

"Are you able to walk the long way upstairs?" he asked. "If I can find a way, perhaps we could move to a room closer to here."

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[info]van_tassel
2010-09-27 02:44 am UTC (link)
Nothing about this was particularly promising, but she'd survived a transition to the city; she could survive a transition to some ... strange place like this, as long as she had Ichabod with her. "Months," she echoed, her expression faltering and falling slightly. She couldn't be here for months; they had a life at home!

"I can manage the stairs," she assured him as she relaxed her grip on his arm slightly. She'd come down them; she could surely go up them again. It would be a touch cumbersome with her skirts, but ... she'd manage.

"Would they let us change our rooms?" she inquired, her head tipping to one side. If that was possible, she'd like to; she'd only seen her own things in her room and she wasn't keen on the idea of being separated from him.

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[info]no_superstition
2010-09-27 03:08 am UTC (link)
"I've no way to know," he answered, pausing to look for someone who might know, but there were too many busy people to ask right now. "Surely there must be, and if we simply remain together in a room they could not separate us, I would think." He could think, but they had found a way to separate him from his life, after all.

"I saw nothing of note in my room, I wish there had been a sign that you were coming- although if I could have prevented it I would have," he told her, prepared to climb up to the fifth floor; he had no way of knowing whether or not she was in a different room. "Not that I am glad to see you."

It did make him think though. "How long have you been here? I left my room not an hour ago, yet you were not there then." He supposed it was possible that she was so very newly arrived and had awakened there just after he had left.

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[info]van_tassel
2010-09-27 03:24 am UTC (link)
Perhaps they could. Perhaps they couldn't. If they could take her from her home, what was to keep them from removing her from his bed tonight? She was troubled by this thought and she gripped his arm once more. All the same, she thought she'd risk it, spending the night in his room or having him in her room.

She smiled at his statement, though it was hard to truly feel it. She should be very, very pleased she wasn't alone, but the best she could manage was a slight alleviation of the depression that was clouding her thoughts. "Perhaps I ... was in my own room? I saw only my own things in it ... maybe they did not set me into your room."

Shaking her head at his question, she glanced to him before starting toward the stairwell. "Just ... a few hours, I suppose. I'm not sure. I wasn't thinking about keeping track of the time when I'd arrived." She paused. "I'm on the second floor," she volunteered; that should help the issue of whether or not they were sharing a room. "Two oh one," she elaborated.

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[info]no_superstition
2010-09-27 03:52 am UTC (link)
The question of rooms was certainly resolved to a point; it was not the number he was expecting to hear. "No, we are not in the same room," he said as his pace slowed for only a moment. "Or we were not until now. My room is on the fifth floor, and I would not have you walk all that way. What little I had I carry upon me, so we may try to spend the night in your room. If we are parted... I will return, and we will have our answer."

He had no idea how these people who ran this place would take to such a notion; the girl had mentioned people finding friends AND lovers here, so how could this be any different? How did they manage?

"Show me your room?" he asked before correcting himself. "Well, our room. I would know if it is any different from the one they have given to me."

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[info]van_tassel
2010-09-27 04:01 am UTC (link)
Katrina did manage a slight smile for him. She could certainly manage the stairs that high, though she wasn't keen on the idea of it. Though the idea that they may be separated during the night was disturbing. Though nothing had yet happened, she felt violated.

Though she supposed the kidnapping itself was violation enough; still, the idea they might come again while she slept to steal her away -- or to steal him away -- was very upsetting indeed.

Nodding to him, she eased her arm away from him to hold up her skirts properly. She stepped carefully but quickly up the stairs to the second floor. Easing out into the hallway, she looked both ways to regain her orientation before moving in the direction of her room. "This way," she said to him, slowing her steps to reach back for his hand once again.

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[info]no_superstition
2010-09-29 05:20 am UTC (link)
The walk to her room was much shorter, and he thoroughly enjoyed that. It was not that he was a lazy man, nor did he doubt her when it came to those long walks upstairs, but this room kept them closer to the others, closer to what was going on. Whether or not these "heads" would allow it remained to be seen

In the meantime he could show her what he had learned in his brief time at this place; the use of the device that he had yet to use, to the rest of the things the room featured. If there would be time like he was being led to believe, they might as well spend time together. Who knew what the next day would bring, including the possibility of vanishing. At least this night they could try to vanquish the depression together.

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