dizzy_land | And the power of the people shall come to believe they do rule

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And the power of the people shall come to believe they do rule

((Continuing from this post.))

In the passageways beneath the park, where a group had gathered to break down a long-closed door, a laser beam was widening, and a broad circle began to blacken the surface of the wood, the locks melting and streaming down in shining rivulets, to puddle at the doorstep. The room was getting hot, now.

Outside, all at once, the rides all stopped. Animatronic figures jolted still; boats bumped each other confusedly; rollercoasters fell to the bottom of their tracks and did not continue up. The lights inside the buildings flickered off; the perpetual background noise of music and soundeffects went silent.

Below, the hole in the door began to crackle and spark around the edges, and for just a moment all the eyes trained on the door could see through it a fathomless darkness. An odd, organic silence filled the air; everyone's breathing and small movements were audible, but so too was a new absence of sound, as though the walls were all holding their breath.

And then the air around the door began to shimmer.

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"Don't let the door hit you in the arse on your way out," John said pleasantly to the Master as he passed. As it happened, he didn't entirely disagree with the 'idiots' part, but unlike the Master and the Rani, he didn't consider ordinary human bone-headedness to be such an egregious flaw. He'd been guilty of it too often himself. And packing up your toys and leaving because the other kids weren't playing nice was just about as juvenile as it came.

"He got his knickers in a twist and left," he said to Cayce. "Charming bloke, wherever did you find him? ...and there goes another one." He watched the Rani depart, shaking his head.

"Hey, but wait, what—Oh, fuck me." Cayce stared after the Rani's retreating back. "Why now? What the—"

She looked around at the group and another absence suddenly impressed itself on her mind. "What, did Quixote flounce off too?" Her voice cracked a little bit on the last word.

It was entirely possible that the stress was, at long last, finally getting to Cayce.

"Wait, what?" the Doctor said, turning his body awkwardly to look back. Master… He could feel that block, when he paid attention- nothing the Master was doing intentionally or to him, but something that was growing in his mind all the same. And who could -well, people would, and frankly, he didn't think it was very fair- blame him, considering.

And then there was a whole hell of hullabaloo, including Kira, and Cayce screaming, and the Rani leaving, -and there were some strange perceptions he was getting from that darkness and- he finally pulled himself from the hole with a grunt. Then he turned around, looking annoyed and faintly angry.

"Me? I'm fine. But you know, he doesn't want to go home." It's obvious he means the Master. "Which means he was doing this for everyone. The Master, who I might point out was the one who put together the laser that melted the door, was doing something for other people, and do you know how hard I've- " he broke off. "I'm not sure why everyone assumes we have such a selfish attitude about this. Oh and she," a gesture at the departing Rani, "is going home to the most horrific war in our Universe and the obliteration of her entire species. Just so you know how self-righteous her motives are." A glance back at the hole and he took a deep, sighing sort of breath.

"You can breathe out there," he said. "But it's not air. And there's a sort of gravity, a sort of… pull, as it were. In and out, like a tide. But the out feels stronger." He paused suddenly, and tipped his head up as if listening to something. And then he said out loud, but not to anyone in the room; "What?!"

((info on the darkness is mod-approved))

Edited 2008-12-05 22:27 (UTC)

(deleted comment)

Past Constantine –who clearly wants to believe he's a rough and seasoned hardass with knowledge of the dark side of things, so he's seen demons and terror and you don't know what all, he hasn't known true darkness and wars that immortals would flee over or anything that this caused when it was all holed up in your head– through the twisting, turning halls, up and out as fast as he could.

It wasn't so much juvenile as it was a courtesy. His head was pounding, and the whole place had gone dark, he had seen it, so what was to stop him killing everyone now that the precious security seemed to have slipped, controlling the population and taking over, doing something to ease the ache and the noise so he could breathe again--

And then he reached the surface, and realised...

...it was nighttime. It hadn't been when the Doctor had come down and now it was. He looked to the sky, smiling slowly as a deep, mad laugh rumbled in his throat. "Oh, very funny." He shook a finger at the sky. "You've got me on that one."

He handed the image over. See this? It's jumped. You know what that means.

((details also mod-approved. also, forgive the billion edits >.<))

Edited 2008-12-05 22:49 (UTC)

The Rani followed close on his heels and came to a stop beside him as he addressed the heavens.

"What now?" she asked irritably.

The Doctor was silent for a moment, clearly watching and listening to something outside everyone else's perceptions. And then his shoulders slumped a little.

"It's night up there," he told the room. "A lot more time has passed for them than it has for us…. But it stayed constant as long as I was up there and you lot were down here, which means it's the link. Our mental link acting as a tether and holding this place together with the park proper." He glanced around at everyone, looking a little tired, and his gaze finally settled on Psyche, ever the guard holding open that Rassilon-cursed door.

I was coming up with you, he told the Master wearily. Which the other already knew, being in the Doctor's mind and everything, but he felt he had to… well, he didn't know, exactly. Why the hell do we even bother?

During the Doctor's tirade, Cayce listened in silence, several responses presenting themselves, but none of them, she decided, seemed productive.

It was getting to her is what it was, all this faffing around and the fact that they'd opened one door only to discover yet another fucking mystery beyond it, and now the Time Lords acting like a bunch of children, and okay, maybe she'd been unfair to them, especially in light of what the Doctor had to say, but how the hell was she supposed to know that, not that it excused anyone, sure, but god damn it she wanted to go home, but she hadn't said goodbye to Crowley, but what if this was their only chance to get out, and where had Quixote fucked off to, and she was sick of the arguing and sick of the heat and sick of fucking Adam who probably could have waved his arm and held the door open so Psyche didn't have to stand there like a humanoid doorstop, and hell, he probably could have wiped the door down with an eyeblink, and right, absolute power bullshit whatever, but she was so tired so very tired...

At some point she sank down to the floor and sat with her knees drawn up to her chest, her gaze fixed on the hole into the darkness.

Edited 2008-12-05 23:02 (UTC)

From above, the Master was still speaking the Doctor. I don't know. They always seemed to listen to you before. Losing your touch.

He glanced over at the Rani, hiding his start at her voice; he had not expected her to follow him. "We did what we were born to do," he said softly, staring up at the blank sky. "We anchored Time." He pointed up to where the sun should have been. "It was daytime when he came down. A few minutes ago it was daytime. When he came down, time sped up here. We were holding the timeline together through the link. We are right now."

They don't care, Doctor. They're too caught up in pointless bickering and panic.

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Somewhat uncharacteristically, Cayce didn't respond or even acknowledge his presence. She was still staring at the door.

I'm sorry, the Doctor murmured shakily, although he hardly knew why. Maybe it was just a need to keep concrete words between them. Outside of himself he was looking at Cayce, huddled on the floor, Kira holding her. A small, very childish part of him wanted to ignore it -she doesn't like you, anyway- but he was pretty close to the same point himself -might have been there with her, if not for his ability to sort this mess on many different levels of thought- and then the Master made that comment and he echoed it aloud without realizing.

"We anchored Time." He laid a hand softly on Cayce's hair. "We need to stop," he said quietly. "Stop, and breathe, and take a step back. This was a brilliant group, all of us, and we're falling apart at the seams."

He took a deep breath, but he wasn't quite ready to dictate anymore. Not just then. Not when his hearts were long gone from this place and up -where they belonged- above, with his people.

John had been silent this whole time, watching in upset as people continued to, and then the Doctor... aw, hell--

He put a hand on Cayce's back to try and snap her out of it. He understood it was maddening, but she wouldn't help them by losing it. And really, was he the only person who realised--

"You know, we're all being like idiots." He took a breath, trying to keep the edge out of his voice, because he was angry, but that wasn't exactly fair when he had hadn't been giving his two cents for a while. "I get it, we're all panicked, but you know, all the Doctor and crew were doing was gathering information. That's what scientists do. They record, test and attempt. Getting on their cases wasn't fair, and might I mention, they were behaving pretty damn contrary to their archtypes, the Master and the Rani, and we all should be thanking our lucky invisible stars that they didn't decide to take advantage of this situation."

He took a step toward the hole, tried to ignore the weird vertigo it gave him. He pointed to it (and Psyche, giving her something of a smile in apology). "Did everyone think it would just be a big purple fluffy poof, and then it was over? Is anyone missing the big picture here? We did it, you guys. That means we can do it again. If it doesn't happen this second, it will happen. If we can all get our heads together and work as a team, it'll happen faster. And that means no sniping, no arguments as to who's methods are better, no flipping out when it doesn't go the way we thought it would."

He looked down at Cayce. "We can do this. But if we aren't willing to do it together, then we don't deserve to get out of here."

Edited 2008-12-05 23:21 (UTC)

A muscle in Cayce's shoulder jumped when the Doctor touched her, but her expression didn't change, and her gaze didn't waver.

It wasn't until Crichton spoke that she straightened up slightly and patted Kira's hand, and she looked up, slowly, at John.

There'd been a weird, spacey look in her eyes up until then, but it was gone now, replaced by calm and stern resolve. She stood and looked from one face to the next.

"I want to go through," she said.

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Cayce gave Kira a look that might have been described as "withering".

"Which would be who, exactly? We're all equal in this. You know how they say everyone's the hero of their own story? Well that's—"

She stopped suddenly and snapped her fingers. "Holy shit. Wait. Wait. I have an idea." Deep breath. "Okay, when I was looking through and the Doctor poked his head in? Couldn't see him. Scared the shit out of me, right? But he and I, we're not from the same world." She paced a few steps. "What if -- what happens if two people from the same world did that? Poked their heads through and looked at each other? What would they see?"

She poked Kira in the chest. "You and Setsuna. You're the only ones who can test this. I don't know what it'll prove, but whatever it is, it's gotta mean something."

Edited 2008-12-05 23:33 (UTC)

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"If that works," said Psyche, in a rather subdued voice, "then I think I have an idea."

While Cayce was theorizing and discussing with Kira and Setsuna, the Doctor stepped closer to the goddess where she still sat holding the door open.

"Psyche," he asked quietly, looking a little pale and strained, "If I opened my mind to you, could you link to me? I really... I need to go upstairs. But I don't think anyone should be left down here without a connection to the rest of the park, and if time passes differently for the two pieces, I think it could be dangerous for those above to get out of sync."

Edited 2008-12-05 23:52 (UTC)

Frowning in sympathy, she answered quietly, "I could. But...I'm not sure whether the link would stay when I crossed inside," indicating the opening. "It's...not the same sort of link you're used to. And if my hunch is right, well. I'd really need to be the first to go in."

"If I told you we were going in, would you come back?"

He shook his head.

"Maybe if things went really, really wrong. I- I'm not ready to leave. Which may mean nothing in the end, but… if this works, I'll never see them again. And I can't leave it like this. Not after… he was being so… so… his old self. Like when we were kids. I can't leave him like…" -he's in pain, the Doctor can feel it through the link (and he knows it's the drums, the drums he can never hear, not even when he's there in the Master's head) and it's not right, he can't go home like that, he can't. and it says something that the Master is still allowing there, teather across time or no-

A decisive set to his mouth, and he began opening his mind to her, layer by layer. "Let's try it anyway. And anyway, if it works you'll need someone to let the rest of the park know. I'm not sure I could convince the Master to do it, if I stayed down here."

He didn't bother with any of the usual safety measures or door building to keep others out of private places but opened his mind fully, laying it bare to her for her to easily pick out whatever she needed. He reached down to touch her face to make any reciprocation she might need from him.

The young antichrist watched silently. He didn't look hurt, per se, but he wasn't smiling. Adam knew better than anyone how everyone felt, what awaited them both now and later, and how everything always boiled down to people being people. But what good what it do if he waved his hand and fixed the world? No one would learn anything, no one would grow or change, and he had never wanted that responsibility.

Adam was only there to ensure the safety of those inside the room and those who were... elsewhere. He would act when and as he saw fit and although he'd never say so, his opinion was the most informed.

Setsuna looked over at Adam, took in what Kira and Cayce said, watched the Doctor and Psyche for a moment, then squeezed Kira's hand, closed his eyes, breathed in deeply and told Cayce and Kira, "We should do it. She's right. And that doesn't bother me or scare me. I doubt anything that happens when I step in there could be any worse than what I've got waiting for me back happen."

And if something had to be done, Setsuna would do it, whether he wanted to or not. He tried to give Adam a reassuring smile of sorts -- Setsuna would miss him -- and waited for the Doctor and Psyche to finish, and Cayce and Kira to explain things with him, or at least respond to what the little idiot had just said.

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caycep - 2008-12-06 01:42 (UTC) - Expand

Meeting his eyes steadily, she nodded at his explanation.

Then he touched her face, signaling readiness, and for a moment, it was as it had been the first time they met, when he touched her wings. Whispers of the thoughts of all of those around them came into his hearing, and of those above, a little more distant. And then it was all subsumed beneath a wave of sympathy, kindness, and...longing --

--And he was standing on the bare side of a low mountain, with the chill of autumn night all around, and the stars of Earth hanging above, brilliant as diamonds. In the distance were the low, flickering lights of a small village; nearby was a homely, grubbed-together campfire. Standing before him, Psyche smiled: a young human girl, her face and body marked with the ugly remnants of cuts and bone-deep bruises, her belly swollen with pregnancy, wearing the same travel-worn cloak she'd been wearing just a moment ago. Even so, her face was lit with hope, longing, and something that looked rather like bloody-minded stubbornness.

"Not so far to go, now," she said. "And take heart: here's always a chance things will go better than you could have expected. Here," she said. And held out her hand to him.--

Edited 2008-12-06 00:59 (UTC)

He didn't need to, of course, but at the sounds of those whispers he closed his eyes, head tilting back slightly. The feelings that followed stung behind his eyelids.

--He knew her story; had read it, heard it told in hundreds of languages, thousands of times in every Time, so the image didn't shock him. If anything, it was strangely comforting. Which was probably what she intended, in her own way.

"I think one of my biggest mistakes here was not to get to know you better," he remarked, stepping toward her. "You scared me, you know. That first time. And I suppose I've become rather overprotective of him in this place."

A smile for her encouragement. "Thank you. And I hope someone rubs your back for you when this is all over." And he took her hand.--

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