TEST DRIVE #6

[fairyfoes]

TEST DRIVE MEME

Considering apping to EACHDRAIDH? Why not give the setting a test run here! OPTIONAL SCENARIOS 01. ARRIVING IN THE DRABWURLD. The Seelie and Unseelie courts welcome you with mirthful revelry and hearty food. After you have been briefed on your purpose here, you will find an endless feast and a night filled with entertainment to placate your concerns. Mingle with new arrivals, sneak down the castle halls and make sure your eyes are always on your glass; fairies and imps have no bias when it comes to tricks! 02. THE STATION. Looking for a little slice of home? The Station gives you all that and more. Take advantage of the wifi, have a cup of fairy-brewed coffee (the one they didn't spit in) or sit back and relax on the patio. You can even move your things into one of the available rooms! 03. WILDCARD. Your own scenario! Explore the Drabwurld or simply take advantage of your Locket!

Comments

[microscopes]

[the outfit she was wearing when she left Olduvai isn't very warm, but fashion had been the last thing on her mind when she'd gone on her little exploration. it's getting chilly, and soon she's going to want to go back inside. after she's done calculating how big a team must have worked on the halls, of course. that type of guesswork was familiar, comforting, a touchstone in this entire ball of weirdness.

and then a voice she'd know anywhere in any universe, and she looks up.]

John?

[he'd been dragged into this, too? Samantha gets to her feet, craning her neck in the direction that his voice had come from. it could be wishful thinking, she knows, some fairyland induced hallucination, but it had an equal chance of being her brother.]

[chromosomes]

[ It's her.

He still has her picture from his first boon -- carries it around with him as much as he can without creasing it. But seeing her in person, just the way he'd seen her last (well, actually she looks a little healthier, but it's hard to tell if she's still limping when she's sitting down) by far beats just having a photograph.

It takes him no time at all to be next to her, to wrap her in a hug -- it's been almost a year for him since Olduvai, and their first reunion should have been like this, not the tension and terror it had turned into. He's not going to make that mistake again. She's his sister and as much as he does not want her involved in everything here? He's so happy to see her. ]

Sam.

[microscopes]

[it is John, and that makes things a little easier. whatever went and kidnapped her (and it is kidnapping, she can't think of it otherwise) took him too. they're in this together.

she hugs him back tightly, trying to figure out what to say at first. "what the hell is going on" isn't right, neither is "are you okay" -- she'd woken up perfectly intact, so that meant there was some sort of doctor in this place, and he looks fine, plus the C-24 should still be working. finally she settles for the obvious.]

Where are we?

[it's unlikely he knows more than her, but it's worth asking. just a name wasn't enough. not when they were supposed to be on the surface, going home.]

[chromosomes]

[ She's alive. She's alive and she's whole and she's here, and John all but clings to her. God, he's missed his sister. Not just in the Drabwurld but in the ten years before it -- but especially here, not knowing if he would ever see her again. ]

It's- a different universe. [ Science fiction fantasy shit, but after what they've seen? He hopes Sam's willing to take something on a little faith from her twin brother. ] The First World, they call it -- the Drabwurld, Allaidh Darach. A world of fairies and magic and it's in a war to complete a great gemstone that's really powerful. The reason we're here is because we have pieces of the gemstone- in us.

[ John wrinkles his nose a little as he says that, because- well, honestly, he thinks that's the hardest part to believe. ] It's... think of the gemstone as where the Big Bang happened. Parts of it went to various alternate realities, as far as I can tell, and where the shards of it landed? Those are our worlds.

... As unbelievable as it sounds, does that make sense?

[microscopes]

[alternate universe is so out there that it makes the most sense out of anything. ask Sam not a week ago what she thought about cross-universe kidnapping and she would have dismissed the very concept of it. but she doesn't think John is lying. if he was, he would have tried to make it more realistic. she slowly nods, though her tone's still skeptical. you're asking a scientist to believe in magic, John. not happening yet.]

...Yeah, it makes sense. [but it's definitely unbelievable with some kind of proof.] Though I'm wondering why if we have a piece of this gemstone inside us we didn't know about it before. I mean, it should have shown up in a test or something back when we were kids.

[an x-ray, at least? but it explained why those little things called her "shardbearer".]

Mind showing me wherever or whoever gave you all this information? There was nothing like that on my end.

[so many questions, already. if she keeps on assuming John's not lying, then there's so many things she needs and wants to know.]

[chromosomes]

I know. Unless it can- disguise itself, somehow. That seems possible, considering... you know. Magic.

[ He makes a slight face; it's a shitty explanation and he knows it. ]

There's a library. Heavily biased toward this side and missing too much information, but it's a good place to start. I have a friend who's been here for years, too; I can introduce you.

[ Alyosha would probably love to meet his sister. Not that he's biased -- except he most definitely is. ]

And- well, I can activate some of the power in my shard. I can show you that. It glows.

[microscopes]

[a library would be a great place to start, even with the bias, it could clarify some of the questions she's got that John can't answer-

wait. if he's already made a friend, disregarding that whole shard business...

Sam lets go, taking a step back from him.]

We only showed up here a few hours ago.

[didn't we? but now that she looks, really looks, she sees differences that a few hours can't account for. his clothes are different, and he seems way too relaxed. so she's daring him to correct her, let her in on what this actually is all about.]

[chromosomes]

[ Oh.

Shit, he should have thought about his answer for this. ]

I've been here for about a year.

[ He swallows, lifts a hand to rub at the back of his neck. ]

That- happens sometimes. People get pulled in from the same universe but different points in time, or from the same point in time but at different times. The last thing I remember, we were on the elevator heading up to whatever was waiting for us on the surface.

[microscopes]

[but that's the last thing she remembers too-]

A year?

[sure, she can believe in mutants caused by long dead cultures' science, but she'd had the proof of that out for her blood. this, she has to go on faith.

"magic" is an easy excuse. the truth is rarely easy, in her experience. what, she somehow pissed off the space-time continuum and lost a year before she arrived here? god, it's a headache, she thinks, and she folds her arms.]

...Why not, though, right? Why not yank you into another universe and screw up the timing while you're at it.

[fun for the family, she's so sure.]

[chromosomes]

The monarchs say, you know -- "it takes a great deal of power" and all that. But it's still all magic, which is hard to prove.

[ Although... ]

I could show you some, though. I mean, little humanoids with wings, that could be science. Maybe not science we've encountered before, but they have blood, bones, that sort of thing.

[ The bag Hermione gave him is on his belt. John pulls it off, pulls on the laces to open it. ]

Reach inside until you can't anymore, pull something out.

[ It's a bag that can hold basically everything despite its small size; that's something, right? That's proof, or something like it. ]

[microscopes]

[it doesn't look like much of anything, but even so Sam gingerly reaches in. the surprise is clear when she can feel that the bag's bigger on the inside, and it only grows to something like wonder when she pulls out the knife Sif gave him.

obviously, that shouldn't happen, and while there might be some type of technology that could replicate the effect -- probably something involving quantum physics and professors shrugging their shoulders when asked to state something definite -- it didn't feel like anything had before.

and then of course she has to go and try putting it back in the bag, because she wants to make sure it works both ways and isn't a trick.

crazy. but the kind of crazy she can get behind.]

[chromosomes]

[ Being a loving brother, John is just... going to laugh at the look on her face. He can't help it. ]

Crazy, right?

[ He knows it is. He knows she thinks it is. The knife is easily replaced, no bulges or bumps showing anything out of place in the bag despite the fact that it clearly shouldn't fit. ]

Though... ultimately pretty convenient, at least when it comes to carrying shit around.