synopsychic | [Three days into the mingle]

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[Three days into the mingle]

[There's a new voice piping up on the psychic network, a nervous and stressed-sounding voice. One who has spoken up on the network before, though at least this time she isn't screaming.]

I'm stuck. I'm stuck in liminal space. I-- I don't know how to get out and there's this awful music and I keep sinking in the water or whatever it is and can someone come and get me? Please?

[Guess what. Jolie is back from being torn apart by a Stricken, and she still doesn't know how to make portals. She may also kind of sound like she might be trying not to cry. Oops.]

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[Jolie hates the network. Plus she only just in December got network archive retrieval, and hasn't used it much. She does sound sympathetic, though, when she answers:]

I'm sorry. I hope it was less awful than this one.

[Spoilers: it probably wasn't, given the torment of The Floor. She's just not even fifteen yet and just got eaten, and not in the nice way, so she can hope, okay.]

[he didn't know if it was worse or not; he didn't know the details of her death, and he didn't plan to ask. But really, the death itself was relatively quick. There'd been worse ways to die - hell, his first death was a much worse way to die - it was the resurrection that had been hell.]

We...we do not thing death is ever anything other that awful. There is always pain, and fear, and the encroaching void. Death means something. Even when you come back. Even when there are no traces of your scars. You cannot simply revert back to the person that you once were.

[Jolie bites her lip and looks away, tentacles curling tight against her back, forcing down the moment of tears that threatens to surface at that. She isn't going to cry. She isn't. She's not cried at worse things than this, she's sure of it. Instead, after a moment, she shakes her head and changes the subject.]

So you can tell me how to get out of here? Make a portal, right?

[he pauses. And then he lets her change the subject]

Yeah. I can teach you.

How much do you understand about Liminal Space?

Um, not much. I can walk on walls and stuff, so I know gravity doesn't really work right, or it works only how you want it to, because I haven't been able to fly yet. And time doesn't really work here, Davi said. And light here doesn't bother me, so that's nice. What do I need to know?

It's true; the rules from our worlds, the rules that we expect, they aren't the same here. But at it's core, Liminal Space is a place inbetween. The gap between worlds, the veil, whatever you want to call it - it's connected to all of our worlds. All the worlds we visit. So when you're on a jaunt, it's still there, just beyond your senses.

Okay, so it's everywhere and touches everything. Like air, or water. So how do you make it open up to something else it's touching?

Ever heard the saying about people falling through the cracks? There's more truth than you think with that. The division between liminal space and the worlds isn't a solid, impenetrable wall. There's cracks in it.

[Jolie can put that together, and perks up a little.]

So we find those cracks and open them to get back to a world on the other side?

[there's a flash of a grin when she gets it, and then he nods]

You can't see the cracks. Not with your eyes, not with the senses you usually use to interpret the world around you. But they're there; just beyond your senses. Just beyond the edge of reality.

[Jolie's mouth twists in thought and she looks around, as if she might actually see them, even though he just said she couldn't. Mostly she's trying to imagine what having another sense about something would feel like.]

What does it feel like to feel it? Which is probably a dumb question, but I'm asking it anyway in case you have a smart answer.

[they pause, and consider how to explain this in a way that someone else could understand]

Imagine you're running your fingers over a wall. It's smooth to the eye, but if you're paying attention, your fingers feel the truth. There's subtle bumps, and indents. Faint cracks in the surface. Now take away the wall. Nothing to feel.

But the cracks are still there. That's what it feels like. Cracks on the surface of a reality that doesn't exist.

Okay. It's going to probably take me a minute to figure that out. Just let me think about it.

[She considers for a long moment, then shuts her eyes, because that might help, eliminating her strongest sense. The bubble keeping out the noise masquerading as music helps, too. Rather than a hand, she holds out a shadow-tentacle, as if something not entirely of the world might be able to feel something else not entirely of the world. He may not have meant it literally, but she is a teenager. She's going to try it semi-literally, at first, at least.]

[What's wrong with literal? The lines between what is real and what isn't are, after all, much more blurry than most people like to think.

They remain silent. He'll sit, and wait, and let her work through this on her own]

[She doesn't get it at first. That would be too easy. But she is stubborn, and determined, and though she sits in silence-- with one or two frustrated huffs-- she does finally manage to catch her bit of shadow on... something.

She cracks open one eye, doesn't see anything, but lets her tentacle give a sturdy tug anyway.

Pop! A portal! It's kind of darkly glowy, and looks a lot like her shadow tentacles themselves, actually.]

[he grins when she gets it, and they dutifully clap their hands together, giving her a round of applause]

Very nice. Although the aesthetics are a bit different, I must admit.

[A few seconds later, the portal closes. But Matthew doesn't look bothered.]

Yours won't last long - and it'll be six hours before you can open another one. So until you learn how to get around that, you'll want to step through your portals quickly when you make them, and don't make one if you're not prepared to be stuck where you're going for a while. You'll also find that your portals will take you back to wherever you last left the jaunt.

If you want to go back now, though, we can make another portal for you.

[The momentary look of delight turns into dismay rapidly when the portal flickers out, so his explanation is a big relief. She huffs out a sigh.]

I probably should. Go back, I mean. Though... there's not really a decent shower there, is there? Maybe I'll go back after I find the Workshop for a little bit, here.

[She doesn't look dirty or messy or have any sign on her that she'd died... but she still feels gross.]

You don't have to. Not if you don't want to.

I think I'd go a little nuts if I had to stay in liminal space for the whole rest of the Jaunt.

[She offers a little bit of a smile, with that.]

But maybe I'll stay here a little while. Until my portal will work again, so I can try to use it myself.

Well, since at the moment it's either 'go nuts in liminal space' or 'possibly get infected with mad mermaid disease'...

[Matthew shrugs]

It's not exactly the best of options, I'll admit.

... oh yeah. That's kind of a thing, isn't it.

[Jolie looks less certain about her plan, but after a beat, she decides:]

I don't have to decide now. I am gonna go take a shower, if I can find the Workshop. Um, thanks. For coming to get me, and helping me out. I really appreciate it.

[Another quick pause, and a look of embarrassment.]

Remind me your name again?

It wasn't any trouble. We were...glad for a reason to leave the jaunt ourselves.

And I'm Matthew.

Jolie. It's nice to meet you, Matthew. You know, for reals, with an introduction and everything.

[Since she knows they've talked before. She gives him a grin, or an attempt at one; it comes out a little lop-sided.]

And thanks for the silence protection thing. Gonna brace myself for awful noise while I hunt down my room.

Here.

[they take a moment, and then liminal up...a fair of earmuffs. Not the fluffy, warm kind, but the ones that are designed to block out noise. They also happen to be blue.]

Probably won't keep it out entirely, but it might help.

Edited 2017-02-11 22:41 (UTC)

Wow. You can do all sorts of stuff, huh?

[Jolie accepts the noise-blockers with relief, but before she puts them on, she says,]

Thanks, Matthew. I'll see you around, okay?

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comebewe - 2017-02-13 00:47 (UTC) - Expand

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