Glamour Failure

[animusmods]

Characters: any
Setting: all around the Tower
Format: any/party-style
Summary: A general mingle log for the reaction to the beginning of the Idealism event.
Warnings: PG-13; please include any more detailed warnings in your threads if necessary

Comments

[tsunderebunny]

[Barnaby barely cast the person a passing glance when he slid down to the floor beside him. There was too much to focus on for him to focus on and too few ways for him to do anything. His hands fisted in his hair-- could it even be called hair anymore? Barnaby didn't want to know. Staring blindly at the floor they sat on, Barnaby shoved the thoughts aside.

Regardless of conditions, there was another person beside him.]

...

Please tell me that this is a dream.

[wegotlucky]

[He doesn't speak right away. There's something surreal about all of this that is keeping his brain from processing it completely.

After everything he had experienced in his life, it was this that made him want to crawl into a hole somewhere and long for death.]

It's a joke.

They're just messing with us again. They turned people's bodies into their playthings. That's all this is. Another sick joke.

[There's no way this is real. He refuses to believe it.]

[tsunderebunny]

[It had to be. He wanted it to be. After learning what Maverick had done-- after nearly killing his best friend-- there was no way that Barnaby could accept any of this. His memory of his partner had been altered. His memory of that Christmas Eve had been altered.

What else? What else?

Barnaby's eyes narrowed in a sudden swell of rage.]

I refuse to be used like this again.

[wegotlucky]

[Neal nodded, the other man's resolve rubbing off on him somewhat. For years and years he had floated between bitter sadness and rage. He had been cast aside and abandoned, and then Fate had found it funny to use him yet again in something that he couldn't even begin to understand. And now he was here, again tested by Fate.]

We have to fight them. We can't take this lying down.

[tsunderebunny]

That's right. We can't.

[His life was full of tests of some kind or another, and he had pulled through each of them regardless of the personal cost. This was unbelievable. He didn't want to believe. He didn't know what to believe, when his awareness had been compromised before.

Barnaby fisted his hands, consciously stilling their trembling in his anxiety.]

I'm sorry, sir. We might need to go hunting for more than a circus, and I think we have more to worry about than elephants.

[wegotlucky]

[He laughs. It's a dark, frantic laugh. The one of a man who has been thrown into a situation time and again where everything was beyond his control.]

You're telling me.

I've gotta say, they've got a hell of a set-up here.

[tsunderebunny]

[There was no laughter nor tears for Barnaby, just numb rage.]

Don't go complimenting them. They might get ideas.

[wegotlucky]

[Neal couldn't blame him for the fury, even if he wouldn't be able to read it given their situation.]

We've gotta be able to do something.

I'm no fighter or anything, but I can't sit back and let them toy with us.

[tsunderebunny]

I believe we can all agree on that, Sir.

[wegotlucky]

Any ideas on what we should do?

[It's probably a stupid question.]

There's gotta be something...

[tsunderebunny]

None.

[He had few resources, less information, and nothing but his will and a mind that he didn't fully trust to go by. He couldn't access his powers-- they had to be real-- but he did have his wits.

There was something...]

We should find the truth, but I don't know where to begin.

[wegotlucky]

[The library didn't have much in the way of information. He remembered the books reappearing in it, but none of them actually contained any useful information. Most were too old.

It seemed that whoever had originally set up the library didn't want information on psychic power to be freely accessed. But why?

It wasn't like they could actually do anything as these freakish wireframes.]

There's gotta be information around here somewhere. Something that they've overlooked.

[tsunderebunny]

Do you have any leads?

[Because Barnaby couldn't care less about psychic powers, although he was interested in learning more about the magic that he's heard people talking about.

He just hated surprises.]

[wegotlucky]

[He starts to shake his head and then stops.]

In the library, there are still books on magic. What's so special about psychic power that the entire section would be removed but magic remains mostly untouched?

I mean, there's nothing from any world any of us would recognize but it's still there.

Isn't that weird? What could they be afraid of?

[tsunderebunny]

That itself has to be a clue, but to what?

[There were too many ways to interpret the information. The variables and possibilities needed to be narrowed down further, or else they would spend the rest of forever discussing ideas.]

[wegotlucky]

[It was certainly suspicious if nothing else.]

It's gotta be connected to whatever's going on here.

Maybe even connected to them.

[tsunderebunny]

That's a good guess, and probably all we'll have for a while. Unfortunately.

[wegotlucky]

[He nods slowly.]

We've gotta find something. Not like it'll do any good with us like this, though.

[tsunderebunny]

That doesn't mean we can't try.

[He was coming out of his funk, slowly. They needed to focus on the things they could do, not what they couldn't.]

[wegotlucky]

[He nods.]

You're right. We've gotta start getting to the bottom of this.

[tsunderebunny]

We will.

What's your name? We'll be able to find eachother more easily later on.

[wegotlucky]

Neal Cassidy.

You?

[tsunderebunny]

Barnaby Brooks Jr.

Let's keep in touch about what we find. It'll be more productive than wondering about whether we can or can't influence the situation.

[It will also help him keep his sanity.]

[wegotlucky]

[With this having gone on, and even the stuff before it, going on some sort of adventure will help him clear his head.]

Sounds like a good idea. I'll keep a look out for information on the network for information, too, once it goes back up.