sadfreezingbrit_archive | An accidental video on the fifth floor [1/??? artefacts collected]

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An accidental video on the fifth floor [1/??? artefacts collected]

What--

[ Philip looks around, running his gloved hands along the wall. Where is the destruction? The decay? The ice? ]

No. No, this is not...

This can't be...

[ The door he came through is not the door he came through. And the frozen landscape behind that door? Is suddenly a warm corridor with a nice, carpeted floor.]

Where am I?

{ We're not in Kansas anymore, that's for sure. Not that you've ever been, far as I can tell. Heh, not that you're missin' out on much... }

What did you do?!

{ Calm down, monkey. For once in my life I'm just as clueless as you are and I've been around for a while, so that's sayin' somethin'. }

Turn it back!!

{ Now listen here: You can either go on yapping and blame it all on Clarence till you're blue in the face, or you can get a grip and have a look around. }

Turn it back...

{ Oh, and one more thing: How about you get rid of those gloves? We're obviously not below zero anymore and I'm sure you'd hate to have your monkey palms all sweaty when you shake hands with whoever brought you here. }

Oh God...

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You can't rewind it because this is another universe.

Unless you didn't mean time travel.

[ Hey, you know that staircase not far down the corridor from where you are?

There's the audible creeeak and faint thudding of footsteps coming swiftly up it. ]

[ Please excuse Phil. He doesn't mean to be rude by staring all silent and horrified, it's just that Aradia's appearance isn't contributing to his state of OHGODWHATTHEHELLness. ]

[Sorry, the robot doesn't understand your confusion. She quietly stares back at him for a long moment.] Is something wrong?

[ AAAHHHHOHGOD!!!!

Philip stumbles back through the door, into the room he appeared in.

Instantly suited to his needs it becomes cluttered with boxes and crates and entirely deprived of any source of light.

The closet is a most appreciated addition and Philip instantly uses it as a hiding place. ]

[ This would be all very subtle and no doubt Philip would win this game of hide-and-seek, except that Alex arrived at the top of the stairs in time to spot the terrified retreat. Cue spinning around and staring worriedly about, afraid that he's walked into some kind of horrible deadly situation here.

It quickly becomes apparent that he hasn't, and therefore the next best explanation is that the guy was reacting to Alex himself. It's an idea which doesn't sit well with Alex at all.

So when he walks past the guy's open door, past his pitch-black room, he says in loud annoyance: ]

What the hell?

[ ...before continuing on towards the next staircase with his armful of library books. ]

[ !!!! ]

NoNOnoNO, wait!

[ An Infected wouldn't say that! Or would it? This has to be a human! Another human, a person, A PERSON!!! Or not?

Philip storms out of the closet, bumping into crates, falling over boxes, suddenly not welcoming the layout at all, but the magical room doesn't have time to catch up.

Neither do his doubts as he tumbles, trips and falls through the door, onto the floor. ]

Wait, wait!

Oww...

[ He stops and turns around, to see what the guy says for himself rather than out of any sense of agreeability.

Philip's tumble provokes just enough sympathy to make Alex hold his tongue, but don't think that means he isn't linefacing like a champion. ]

You...

[ He scrambles to his feet, looking up at Alex. Somewhere in the back of his mind he was convinced that he'd only be running into the arms of another naked monster, but... but this a person! A PERSON! ]

You're a...

[ In the mines lonliness turned a madman into his best friend in a matter of hours. In wherever this is he is now looking directly at another human being for what feels like the first time in ages and all he can do is gape as tears of joy well up in his eyes. ]

Oh God. Jesus. Oh God, thank God...

What are-

...

Are you the hive mind?

{ Whoawhoawhat?! I can't believe you just asked that! That's low, monkey, even for you. }

Uh...

[ He's a what?

Okay. Either the man's having some kind of psychotic breakdown, or... well, he seems to have been expecting someone or something very different, and this place does have its nasty habit of grabbing people without warning. ]

Crap.

[ Or both could be true! Alex is a little freaked out, honestly.

(He's a what?) ]

Hey... chill.

[ (It behooves the narration to mention that Phil may notice the small metal wasp clipped onto Alex's t-shirt at the shoulder.) ]

{ Heh, gotta remember that one. }

[ Philip twitches at the choice of his vocabulary, but pulls himself together with a few deep breaths. ]

You... [ Another laugh of insane relief escapes him. Deep breath. ] you wouldn't believe how glad I am to... to see you.

{ Yeah, yeah, yeah. Get on your knees and propose, why dontcha? ...If you're just about done fawning over your new monkey friend here, how 'bout you ask four-eyes where the hell we are? }

[ Philip's smile falters. ]

...where we are.

[ That... is a surprisingly good point, although it's even more surprising that Clarence seems genuinely clueless. And a bit worrying, too. ]

Where are--

Am. Where am I?

[ Please enjoy Alex's posture getting more tense, more defensive, with every sentence of that tag. Philip's laugh, his choppy and hastily-corrected speech, and the way he's so scattered, would be highly disconcerting at the best of times. And this isn't the best of times, because they remind him strongly of the way he spoke for a little while and the fact that it was not a sign of his being entirely stable.

A single, unconscious step backwards, and his voice flattens out. ]

The mansion. In Wonderland. You won't have heard of it.

[ The Mansion. That has a 'The Shelter' kind of ring to it, but Wonderland confuses him. Another code name perhaps?

Slowly his euphoria fades away and as it does he begins to notice Alex's behaviour and he isn't sure he likes it. ]

I was at the Shelter before. [ He pauses. Adds: ] Greenland.

Is this another research station?

[ And then something else occurs to him. This... feeling. This feeling of being pulled somewhere and ending up trapped with other people. He asks, but this time it doesn't seem like he's addressing Alex. ]

Is this where the artefacts lead?!

{ Tch. This dump?! Don't make me laugh. }

No, this isn't my hive.

[ The name the Shelter means naff all to Alex, but he does shake his head to indicate that no, it's not a research station. Unless everyone there is a guinea pig for the Queen and they just haven't been informed of it.

...Then his mind races to make heads or tails of that last question, and for a weird moment he think that maybe Philip means visual artefacts, which - ]

What kind of artefacts?

[ Without the ability to read Alex's facial expression or narration, Philip assumes that Alex is aware of the other station, that all of this is connected to his findings somehow. ]

It was... I think... 46, or... I'm not so- hang on.

[ He reaches for his notebook, suddenly remembering that he's still wearing thick gloves and... a few other items that don't really go with a well-heated corridor. He takes them off and flips through the documents he gathered. ]

66b. I believe it was 66b.

Edited 2010-09-29 16:36 (UTC)

...What?

[ Alex wouldn't have a clue what Philip was talking about even if he could read the man's narration. There's a touch of confusion on his face and in his voice, and more than a touch of wariness. ]

You... you're not...

You don't know?

[ Pause.

This is insane. In all likelyhood literally.

Paaause.

Flatly: ] Look, you're not wherever you were, and whatever you're worried about isn't what brought you here.

[ Only Alex gets to blame stuff from his world for his arrival at the mansion! Obviously. ]

Then wh-- [ He pauses. Who. He really, really wants to say 'who'. ] Then what did? [ But of course he can't. ]

There is more than one?

[Guess who's watching you, from down the hall, looking on with a slightly raised eyebrow and his hands in his pockets?]

[ I, the narration, have the answer to that!

Philip, unfortunately, hasn't got a clue and will just look around the area for a while until he finally decides to turn around and spots Pendergast.

He freezes instantly, shifting his feet, ready to run. ]

[Pendergast knows panic pretty well, so he slowly takes his hands out of his pockets and holds them up, in a clear sign of calm, controlled harmlessness. Softly, he speaks, and his voice is very calming and unhurried.]

Relax. I'm not here to hurt you. What is your name?

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An accidental video on the fifth floor [1/??? artefacts collected]

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