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

[mickey-cops.livejournal.com]

((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.

Comments

[caycep]

"What the fuck?" Cayce said out loud. She squinted at her flashlight and waved it around some more. Still no beam anywhere. She rubbed her ears at the feeling of pressure and took a deep breath. Nothing weird about the air, at least. Not a vacuum. And wasn't she lucky.

She glanced back over her shoulder and felt slightly queasy at what she saw. It reminded her of something she'd read in a book once, about a picture on a wall that started moving ... that story had been about crossing into another world, hadn't it? She felt a faint chill that had nothing to do with ambient temperature on either side of the hole.

And then—"Psyche," she said. "I can't see your arms. I mean the part of your hands that are on this ... this side." Pause. "Can you guys hear me back there?"

[late-born-myth.livejournal.com]

"Yes," answered Psyche, concernedly. "Quite clearly. Can you hear us? Are you all right?"

(Her voice was muffled to Cayce's ears, like sound coming from above the surface of water.)

[caycep]

"I—I'm fine. I can breathe and all. And I can sort of hear you, but it sounds like I'm underwater or something."

She reached back and ran her hand around the edge of the hole, and then moved her hand to touch the place on the darkness-side where she expected a wall to be.

[a-lonely-god.livejournal.com]

"Hang on hang on hang on!" the Doctor exclaimed suddenly, waving the sonic screwdriver at the assembled group as though to get their attention (the other hand still clinging rather obstinately to Cayce) before bringing it back close under his nose. "I've got something. It's…" a pause, as he frowned at what he was reading, then grinned a little in delight. "Oh, that's weird. That's really weird. It's actually the same as the park, except…" he paused to think of an explanation that everyone would understand equally as he mentally shared the exact readings with the Master. "Like this is the real thing. Like what we saw in the park, everything we interpreted as space or time or… or matter at large… was really this. Or at least was coming from this place."

He scanned again, just to be sure, and then he stuck his head through the hole next to Cayce's and stretched out his Time senses as far as he could.

"So what, this is… is… raw firmament?" he questioned the group at large. But mostly he was questioning the Master in his mind, offering back every scrap of information he could perceive with any of his senses. -there was, though he didn't realize it, a very familiar, enormously eager and yet slightly timid feeling to his rather desperate questions-

[caycep]

Cayce felt the Doctor move up beside her and she shifted a little to give him room. It was getting sort of crowded, there.

An unpleasant thought occurred to her, in light of the non-visibility of Psyche's hands, and she turned to look right at the Doctor, afraid of what she might—or might not—see.

[hear-the-drums.livejournal.com]

It didn't matter what the Doctor tried to ask, or what information he relayed. The inquiries didn't make it very far past the build happening in hthe Master's head.

The look from Adam had triggered it more than anything, but really, it had been coming since the sniping had started, all the aggravated looks and less-than-helpful comments about science and non-inclusion and what they had done had worked, damnit, and if they had nothing helpful to contribute other than jibes and judgement and general pissiness, than he honestly couldn't give a--

"Nope," he said aloud, suddenly. "Thanks kids, it's been fun, but I think I'm done for the day. Amuse yourselves, find a way out or don't - I really don't care." He detched thelaser screwdriver from the equipment he had set up, turned on his heel and walked out.

[mickey-cops.livejournal.com]

There hadn't been any wall there to feel, when she'd searched for it with her hands. Just more of the same dark air. There was a faint feeling of resistance around where it met the opening, though, like surface tension on water.

The Doctor's head, as he pushed it through, wasn't visible to Cayce. Neither of them, suddenly, were visible to each other; to Cayce's hearing the Doctor's voice was cut off as he entered. They could still see themselves, and the parts of each other that were touching on the other side (which, considering the size of the hole, were quite squeezed in together) but it all seemed to cut off at the opening.

The Doctor's link to the Master was still fully functioning, however.

[late-born-myth.livejournal.com]

Which meant they were all jammed in incredibly closely.

"Maybe just...one or two people at a time?" said Psyche, sounding rather strained.

[caycep]

Well, Cayce was about to take care of that.

The absence of wall, vaguely anticipated but still discomfiting, was bad enough. But even though she expected it, when she turned and saw nothing where the Doctor's head ought to have been, she screamed and lurched backward out of the hole.

"Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh god that was weird. He just -- he -- he wasn't THERE."

[i-don-quixote.livejournal.com]

((Re-posting to keep up with the action))

One might have expected Don Quixote to object when Cayce put herself in harm's way, or to charge to the rescue when she screamed. In fact, one might have expected him to object when Psyche and the Rani had earlier risked themselves.

If anyone had in fact wondered at it (though they could certainly be forgiven if they were too preoccupied with other things to do so,) it would take no more than a glance around the room to reveal the reason for the knight's silence: he was no longer there.

[markoftherani]

The Rani regarded Cayce's reaction with a fairly blatant sneer.

She was on the Master's side in this; look at those idiots all shoving themselves through the gap willy-nilly, and now that stupid girl having a breakdown; how everyone seemed to admire her so much was truly beyond—

With brisk efficiency, the Rani began to pack up her equipment.

She didn't notice Quixote missing, of course. She hadn't paid much attention to him to begin with.

[late-born-myth.livejournal.com]

"Cayce, it's all right, don't worry. Kira, Doctor, are you both still all right?"

Psyche would have tried a calming pat on the arm or something, but...not really possible. She tried to put it in her voice, instead.

[caycep]

"It just ... just startled me, is all," Cayce said, rubbing her forehead. "It was like -- I felt him move up and lean through, but when I looked over it was ... there was just nothing." She took a deep breath and looked around and—

"Hey, where'd he go?" He being the Master. Quixote's absence hadn't registered yet. She looked at the Rani. "What are you doing?"

[markoftherani]

"It appears that my usefulness here is at an end," the Time Lady replied. She turned on her heel and walked out.

One thing you could say for the Rani: her idea of a flounce was extremely economical.

[dangeroushabits.livejournal.com]

"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.

[caycep]

"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.

[a-lonely-god.livejournal.com]

"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))

[hear-the-drums.livejournal.com]

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 >.<))

[markoftherani]

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

"What now?" she asked irritably.

[a-lonely-god.livejournal.com]

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?

[caycep]

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.

[hear-the-drums.livejournal.com]

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.