Recharge?

[animusmods]

Characters: anyone who signed up to be hooked into the machine for the Recharge? event
Setting: a void
Format: party style
Summary: Those who chose to hook themselves up to the machine find themselves wandering around a void...
Warnings: standard Animus warnings; please put anything specific in subject lines of threads

Comments

[stitchedupbodyguard]

[Who knew being hooked up to some kind of strange machine designed to suck the power from your body would lead to something this bad?

Veronica knew, that's who. It wasn't like she didn't know there would be consequences. The good of everyone else was enough to bring her to do it though, give them enough power to keep going.

She'd been plagued by horrible nightmares all the while hooked up to the machine. Even worse, if she was asked about them, there would be confusion and a blank reply of "I can't remember" that somehow made it even worse.

And this was.... something for sure. A void. And empty, black void. Veronica was almost invisible in it, if not for her sister's jacket that she had decided to wear instead of her usual cloak. The soft glow emanating from her chest got less than a moments recognition before Veronica started off into the emptiness, looking around at the others that were in the murky depths.]

...W-where are w-we?

[wegotlucky]

[Neal had been well aware of the consequences of what he had decided to do. The nightmares were a constant reminder of that, even if the only thing that he could clearly remember was the feeling of fear and dread.

This place was new, though. Not a part of a nightmare, at least he didn't think. When he heard the question, he hesitated only for a moment.]

Doesn't seem to be a shared nightmare. Maybe this is one of the side effects Riki was talking about.

[stitchedupbodyguard]

Maybe.... [She looked around the emptiness, seeing absolutely nothing save for the people around her.]

It's... it's nothing. It's l-like t-there's nothing there.

[wegotlucky]

[He looks too. It's a lot to take in. He's never experienced complete nothing before. It's rather alarming.]

If we're still hooked up to the machines, maybe... maybe we created this?

Maybe if we try hard enough we can think of something and make it appear. You know, like lucid dreaming.

[stitchedupbodyguard]

Hmm....

[Quietly, she holds her hands out and begins to focus, trying to draw anything out from the nothingness. A light bulb, a streetlamp, anything.

It doesn't seem to be working.]

[wegotlucky]

[He tries, too, trying to think up something small. He closes his eyes, trying to will anything into existence, and when nothing appears in his hands, he opens his eyes.]

What is this?

A shared dream? Or are we really here?

[bashfulshifter]

...I-I think...

[Rick trails off almost immediately--that pull he feels, dragging him somewhere off in the imperceptible distance, is really quite distracting! It takes him a moment to realize that he's left Veronica in the dark ha ha.]

...I've...s-s-seen this b-before...

[stitchedupbodyguard]

Y-you have...?

[Well, this was assuredly a thing. Even with her infrared eyes, Veronica couldn't see through this darkness that Rick called familiar.]

Really?

[bashfulshifter]

I...I-I th--think so? [He's not exactly confident about this, but at least he has something from home to connect the experience to.] I-It's l-like...It m-might be the, um...the p-plane.

[stitchedupbodyguard]

T-the... plane.

[This whole thing was already more confusing. Please don't make it worse.]

...Like, t-the p-place where the admins go or s-something?

[bashfulshifter]

[Rick makes no promises.]

Uh...m-maybe? I d-don't...know...um... [Oh dear, he hasn't planned this out very well.] ...I-It's the, er...p-place b-between m-minds. The, um-- [There's the word!] --a-astral plane. Y-Yeah.

[stitchedupbodyguard]

Astral plane....

[Welp, that makes it even more confusing. Thanks, Rick.]

This.... t-this is w-weird.

[yeah, she doesn't know what else to say.]

[bashfulshifter]

[He does what he can!]

...Y-Yeah... [Rick drifts off again, staring into the darkness.] ...d-do you...uh...f-f-feel that?

[stitchedupbodyguard]

...L-like a... pulling?

[She nods weakly.]

[bashfulshifter]

[Rick seems very surprised that she actually agrees with him!]

--Y-You do? T-Towards...? [He points in the general direction he's being compelled to--far into the inky blackness.]

[stitchedupbodyguard]

Towards s-something out t-there.

[She nods again.]

[bashfulshifter]

[Rick anxiously bites his lip.]

...We sh--should...s-see what it is...

[Almost unconsciously, he starts moving towards it again.]

[stitchedupbodyguard]

[She follows close behind him.]

It... I-it m-might be d-dangerous.

[bashfulshifter]

[He nods, completely blank, and continues walking for a full minute before her words register.]

--Y-You think s-so?

[stitchedupbodyguard]

I d-don't know.

[Said with complete honesty. Whatever they were being pulled towards was a mystery.]

[bashfulshifter]

...Huh.

[Strangely enough, Veronica's indecision doesn't bother him. He thinks--surely they're being pulled in this direction for something. He's not sure how whatever is waiting at the end could be much worse than the pain of those dreams, or of the suffering of the past couple of weeks, or staying in this black void with no direction whatsoever. There has to be some meaning for it.]

...I d-don't know, either.