Well...

[delphi_bat]

Who: Babs, Roy, Any
When: Arrival
What: So a teacher and a librarian get lost in the darkness...

It had seemed like such a simple plan really, she'd left a series of home made monitoring systems about the size of her palm in an arc from the Penrose bridge and extending out into the darkness. They were just data collectors, measuring everything from ambient temperature to vibrational intensities, and they all emitted a soft little beeping sound out in the Darkness.

She hoped that would have made them easier to hone in on, for both Finders and newly lost people alike...but to be certain, well, she'd asked Roy if he wanted to lend a hand. Nothing like taking a stroll for science, right?

They'd worked like a charm until it came to about the halfway point of her test arc, then the world had slipped sideways and all she'd managed to do was grab Roy's hand and hold tight. When reality decided to realign itself, well, best not to get separated.

She still had his wrist in a death grip when she came to, jerking from unconscious to awake and scanning the new environment in a blink. "Well, we're not in Kansas any more," she muttered softly, grumpy. A quick check and..."Elos are gone too."

They were in a park, buildings looming up above the untamed tree line and her chair parked beside a sculpted bench and Roy sitting on the end nearest her. He was breathing, that was good, though it took her a minute or two longer to convince herself to unwrap her fingers. Hopefully his hand wasn't too numb? In the dim glow from a street lamp a bit further down she couldn't tell if Merlin had arrived safely with them or not.

Here was to hoping?

"At least this world looks a bit more to scale," she sighed, reaching out to shake Roy's shoulder gently. "But if this keeps up I'm going to get really sick of the world shifting." Just saying.

Comments

[delphi_bat]

"Glad we agree," and they could get very quickly to the same door they'd come in, right? Right.

"Thank you for coming! Remember, when a true feeling of community matters you want to live in Jade Plaza Towers!"

"Noted." At leas the door opened to let them out?

[p_51]

"I really, really wish I could see what was going on." he said with a faint snarl, "I do not like being out of control like this." Obviously. He was a military man.

[delphi_bat]

"I know," she offered softly. "I wish I could give you that." She really wished she did. "I know some people who've adapted to echo location, sonar resonancing? But that's something to poke at when we're...something closer to stable."

[p_51]

"Not your fault." he said, shrugging, "I have...no idea what either of those are. Machines?"

[delphi_bat]

"Different terms for the same thing really, sorry. Did you have bats in your world? That would shortcut the explanation."

[p_51]

"Oh, yes. We have bats." something that he knew! It was always a relief when they could find something he knew about.

[delphi_bat]

"Awesome, if they're anything like the bats back home they are little flying wonders that are mostly blind. They navigate by screeching and listening to the way sound echoes bounce back at them, in fact it's a far more accurate way to determine the world than binocular vision. Some people in my wor-"

"The Nightlife under the skydome is wondrous! Qualifying citizens can join any number of conservation and wildlife observation clubs! Inquire today!"

"-ld have been experimenting with ways to use the same sort of navigation." Maybe if they ignored the city it would shut up for a bit?

[p_51]

"I'M BLIND." Roy finally yelled at the city, "STOP TELLING ME WHAT I CAN LOOK AT." grumble mumble grrrrrrrr.

"Try one of our many radio stations! Music 26/8! All day every day!"

"I hate this place so much." that was to Babs, sighing, "Well, if you can help me learn I'd like it. I love Merlin, but I don't like depending on anyone but me."

[delphi_bat]

"And bonus I don't need to give you the 'nothing comes easy' speech like I did half the kids I ended up yelling at..." she admitted, wryly amused. "Twenty six hours days, eight day weeks, slightly larger primary planet was the basis for this place. May not be now but..." But he could do the math just as easily as she could.

"...enjoy one of the lovely cafes along this street?"

"And that sounded meek. Wow, I think you scared it Roy."

[p_51]

He laughed at Babs' comment about scaring the city, "Hey, I can be pretty commanding if I need to. You don't get to be a colonel without it." not that he expected to cow it forever. "I don't think that we're going to be entirely comfortable with the day cycle. Assuming there is a day cycle involving a sun."

[delphi_bat]

"I was that weird girl who ran on Martian standard back home, it was just easier to keep an eye on things that way," she admitted a little sheepishly. Longer days in general, even if her 'days' were mostly nights as it were. "And in theory there has to be. A place like this would need a solar source as a supplement..." in theory.

"But there is living plants, which means full light spectrum..."

"The dome allows filtered light to nourish and gild residents skin without harmful UV, SV, and Neotempic radiation! A truly ideal living situation!"

[p_51]

"Will you please shut up?" Roy roared, "When we want your damn input we'll ask for it!" perhaps not the best idea, potentially antagonizing a mad city, but Roy was on edge. Very on edge.

"What's Martian?" was the question after he finished yelling at the city.

[delphi_bat]

"Ouch, warn a girl..." Babs chuckled. "Mars was a planet near mine, mostly the same houred days but the people that used to live there required less sleep and I tended to talk with J'onn a lot. Adopted his sleep schedule, or spacing out schedule since technically they don't sleep like we do."

"...for assistance please press zero on any phone."

[p_51]

While Roy did not exactly hiss at the latest comment he thought about it. "Sorry. I've found that when reasonable attempts fail it's time for volume. Probably the military man in me. It sounds like you've got a lot of friends that you're missing right now."

[delphi_bat]

Ignoring the city was going to be her go-to plan for now. "It's alright. I'll semi-expect it from no on," she chuckled.

Ah.

"I was part of a global effort. I have...a lot of people who depended on me. They'll manage, yes, but I don't like being away, Penrose or here. So I work."

[p_51]

"I understand that one." he said, fretting again (however quietly), "I was dragged from the middle of a fight with a creature that had quite literally swallowed god. They needed me, because I am the Flame Alchemist and I am damn good at making homunculi use up their lives."

[delphi_bat]

She reached back to squeeze his hand gently, there wasn't anything else she could say to that really. They'd talked a lot about being missed after all. "Looks like a hotel up ahead if the various doors behind the windows is any clue. Temporary kind of place may be best for now?"

[p_51]

He squeezed back and sighed, "Hotel sounds like a plan. I already hate this place. Deeply."

[delphi_bat]

"Hotel it is," she agreed easily. A place to hole up and do some thinking? Exactly what they needed. "At least if this place is more tech than magic based I can maybe make some headway into figuring things out. Penrose was...illogical." And, well, a cube world.

[p_51]

"Cube." he said, giving the short-hand for every discussion-slash-bitching session they'd had regarding it. "Well, I'll be happy to give you whatever support I can."

[delphi_bat]

"Cube," she agreed. "If I end up having to crawl off to access an obscure panel and don't come back soon enough track me down? Don't want to disappear." Disappearing was bad quite honestly.

[p_51]

After a moment he said, "Hold up...I want to..." try something he didn't say; instead he clapped his hands and pulled them apart as he twisted the dirt and debris in the streets out of it's current form and into a rope. "Ah ah hahah haaaaa ha!" spinning in a circle he grabbed her shoulders and dropped a kiss off-centre on her forehead. "My alchemy works again!"

[delphi_bat]

Well that was certainly something wasn't it? She couldn't help but laugh and catch one of his hands, "well about damn time we got some good news. Full power Flame Alchemist or just fully back to the power paths you know?" Best to find out now, right?

"Not that I think anything needs to be spot nuked, just if you're all the way back to what you were we may be closer to your reality than Penrose and it's systems."

[p_51]

"I'm not sure." he said, happily touching the rope, "Alchemy taps into the power of the earth, but for little things like this," yes, making a rope out of leaves, dust, and pebbles was little, "it's more about how you use it than what you've got to work with. Unless we get into a two-man-and-a-dog battle with an army, or into a fight with any number of people and a god, I'm not going to try the upper limits of my powers. Too destructive."

[delphi_bat]

"Fair!" she laughed. "But I'll find it reassuring regardless." Because she was skilled but until she had systems online and a handle on things she wasn't as effective as she could be. Having someone who could pack a punch at need? Reassuring.