fandomtownies | All Around The Town, Wednesday Evening

Entry tags:

@around the island

All Around The Town, Wednesday Evening

While the dancers spun and whirled about the floor in the grips of an illusion, tiny, floating crystal spheres did much the same, bobbing and weaving along in the night. They looked almost like soap bubbles, thin and delicate, but they did not pop and did not break. In fact, a person could catch one, holding it in the palm of their hand, and watch an ever-moving image of a beautiful, almost other-worldly ball. A ball where, if they watched long enough, they might start to catch glimpses of faces they knew. People would had fallen into a deep slumber and couldn't be roused.

The crystal bubbles floated on, trailing the scent of peaches in the air behind them. And as long as they remained unbroken, the magic hold on the dancing dreamers would never, ever falter.

[Feel free to mod your own spheres! Ping in with your location, they can be found anywhere on the island. There are a handwavy number of them, so break as many as your heart desires!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

For those folks who are about to take a very long, very deep nap. And possibly for the frazzled people they left behind.

Fjord never did quite manage to find his way back to the hotel. For all that he'd made his way through the maze in the park today, the shifting streets turned out to be too much for him. So he turned this way, and that. Tried a back alleyway where once there had been a sunny roadway.

And eventually, he grew tired.

And eventually, he took a seat.

And eventually, he nodded off, and he dreamed.

Dinnertime was nice these days. Verity was perched on their new kitchen table laughing at Liam as he tried to make macaroni and cheese - not even from a box! - around a kitchen inexplicably full of mice. All of whom were watching him closely, like he was going to start dropping manna from heaven any minute now.

"You know, they never do this while I'm cooking," she noted. Guilelessly.

"Is that so?" Liam retorted, his tone mild as the shredded cheese made its way into the saucepan. "Huh. Wonder why."

Because Verity didn't do things like 'forget' to add every last bit of that shredded cheese while cooking, that's why. They'd get some of the finished product too, of course, but this was part of the routine: he made something, he'd 'accidentally' leave a little bit of this or that ingredient out, the mice would claim it, he'd thank them for helping clean up...

It worked out well, for everyone involved, okay?

"It's mystery for the ages," Verity said, totally not noticing the shredded cheese that didn't make it into the saucepan. "Confounding for everyone."

Also, the mice seemed less enthused by her 'Chinese leftover fajitas' and her 'this is almost expired' casseroles. Again, go figure.

"So, what's on the agenda for the evening after dinner?"

"There's that new show," for a value of 'new' that was 'came out a month ago', "on the thing that's like Netflix but isn't Netflix?" he suggested.

And a seventy-five percent chance they wouldn't actually make it through the first episode.

Normally, Verity would have snickered at him and reminded him that it was on Amazon Prime, her Grandma Baker's account that the entire family shamelessly piggy-backed off it.

But instead, all that answered his unvoiced question was a soft, unmistakable thump.

Well, unmistakable if you knew the sound of a body hitting the floor, anyway.

It was a sound that Liam had a non-zero amount of experience with.

Though he would've liked to keep the number of times he associated that sound with Verity to zero, but unfortunately Fandom had other ideas.

"Verity?" Saucepan forgotten, he crouched down next to her. Checked to make sure she was breathing; thankfully, yes. Ran his fingers lightly across the back of her head, checking for any bruises or bumps; nothing. "Verity?" he said again, tapping her shoulders. "Can you hear me?"

No response.

Dread and fear clawing at him, he picked up one of her hands, pressing her slack palm against his own. If she were unconscious, he should be able to reach her psychic self.

'Should', of course, being the operative word. Instead of the soft clouds of the psychic plane, and Verity's familiar presence, there was just. An absence.

She wasn't dead, he knew that, had to believe that, because her lungs were still working, heart pumping blood through her veins. But her soul, her spirit, the thing that made Verity, Verity? That was just gone.

He sat there on the kitchen floor, her hand clutched in his, for- well, he had no idea how long. It was only the mice, urgently tugging at his clothing to try and get his attention that finally brought him back to himself. Still in something of a daze, he turned off the stove, not bothering to clean up the burnt mess that the macaroni and cheese had become, and then crouched back down, gently lifting her and carrying her to the bedroom.

He should go grab his Global and call the clinic, he thought to himself absently. Call and see if anyone else had collapsed. If there was anything he was supposed to be doing. And he would. In a moment. But right now, he couldn't bring himself to leave her side. Just in case she woke up. He needed to be there, when she did.

She didn't.

Wake up, that was.

Lolly lolly lolly get your magic bubbles here

For those sleepers who are waking up...

And those who remain asleep.

Fjord slept. Even as spheres shattered around the island, Fjord slept.

And in his dream, he struggled, he fought. But that was the hell of it, with dreams, wasn't it? Sometimes they were so far gone into nightmares that even the most desperate struggle wasn't quite good enough.

He went on sleeping, there in the maze.

All around the island, spheres were shattering and people were slowly waking up from dreams of dancing and masks and rotting peaches.

Verity stayed still, eyes closed, body not responding. The rise and fall of her chest was steady, the constant thump-thump of her heart was strong, but her eyes never opened.

As the kids liked to say, all the lights were on, but no one was home.

A nice hand place for falling asleep/waking up threads and comments, in case you didn't want to go through the hassle of creating your own post.

That being said, if you DO wanna go through the hassle, go right ahead!

Also, any questions can also go right here!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

All Around The Town, Wednesday Evening

The Sleepers

Re: The Sleepers

Re: The Sleepers

Re: The Sleepers

Re: The Sleepers

Re: The Sleepers

Re: The Sleepers

Re: The Sleepers

Re: The Sleepers

Around the Town

Wakey Wakey...

Re: Wakey Wakey...

Re: Wakey Wakey...

OOC