Tʜᴇʀᴇ's ᴀ sᴘᴀɴɴᴇʀ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴏʀᴋs, ʏᴏᴜ ᴋɴᴏᴡ (closed)

[stations]

who: Jack Townsend & Co.
what: catch-all
where: thorne; the horizon
when: december
warnings: mental health issues, drug abuse

Lᴇᴛ's ɢᴇᴛ ᴛʜɪs sᴛᴀʀᴛᴇᴅ, ɢɪʀʟ
Wᴇ'ʀᴇ ᴍᴏᴠɪɴ' ᴜᴘ, ᴡᴇ'ʀᴇ ᴍᴏᴠɪɴ' ᴜᴘ
Iᴛ's ʙᴇᴇɴ ᴀ ʟᴏᴛ ᴛᴏ ᴄʜᴀɴɢᴇ, ʙᴜᴛ ʏᴏᴜ
Wɪʟʟ ᴀʟᴡᴀʏs ɢᴇᴛ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ

Comments

[ia]

[ She feels the push, and then her world gets turned outside down. Her mind goes blank. She's overtaken by an immense sense of oneness.

And then she's standing there. When Jack lets go, her hands fall to her side. She's standing there, completely expressionless, very much like a computer getting a reboot. She's wearing very modern clothes as well. Worn jeans, a heavy brown jacket with a simple white shirt and a big scarf loosely wrapped around her neck

It takes her several seconds for her to actually react. She blinks, gasps and takes a step back, eyes wide and expressive. Her hands shoot up to her face, smushing her cheeks. She then proceeds to give herself a particularly vigorous pat down. She turns around, then twists and looks at herself up and down. The symbol of The World is emblazoned on the back of her shirt, big and vibrant.

Only then she seems to notice Jack. She blinks at him, and then smiles. ]

Hey! I'm...I'm Sophia. [ Her attention is drawn to her hands again, which she looks at with great interest. ] I'm...physical. Huh. Somehow that feels off. Is it supposed to feel off? Do I...exist?

[ She takes a couple of steps away, then turns around. She's lost, so very lost. ]

[stations]

( It should probably register to him more strangely that the first thing she says after her name is I'm physical. Jack has a tendency to miss the finer details — the product of a sleep-deprived mind, too many years on too many drugs that didn't actually help the source but only mitigated the symptoms. Also, a very weird life that tends to make stranger comments slip through the cracks. He doesn't think to ask about it.

Instead, he busies himself with looking as non-threatening as possible (which isn't really something he needs to worry about, he's average height, skinny, and he's missing limbs even in the horizon, he doesn't exactly paint an imposing figure). She's met with his palms gently up in a placating kind of surrender, and probably the most medium-chill monotone version of reassurance a human's capable of while still being genuine. )

Hi. I'm Jack. You definitely exist, you're just having some temporary memory loss. It's sort of a... magic psychic plane dreamscape side-effect situation.

[ia]

Why are your hands up?

[ He's...cute, like a mouse back up into a corner. Not like the kind that bites, but more like the kind that starts squeaking when you lift it.

So no, she doesn't feel threatened.

His assurance of her existence is taken with a grain of salt, although she cannot tell why. ]

I know most of those words, but the sentence itself doesn't really make sense to me. Why am I here? What is here?

[stations]

( Why are your hands up? He glances down at them like he's only just noticing it, and... realizes he has absolutely no idea. Well, that's stupid. He lowers one back down again; the other goes instead toward scratching absently at the back of his neck.

It's also about this point that Jack remembers he's probably one of the worst possible people to be doing this, and that he shouldn't be put in charge of explaining this to anyone when he barely even understands it himself. You'd think he'd have learned this by now, but apparently the lesson isn't sticking in his memory banks. )

Um. This is- it's called the Horizon. It's not actually real, but it's a place where a group of people can connect with each other and meet up. I think... I'm pretty sure you want to be able to help people, but a lot of them are too far away, so coming here is the only way you can really connect with them face to face. At least, that's the impression I got.

[ia]

It sounds like I'm dead...but I don't feel dead.

[ She turns to look at the image on her back, then hums pensively for a moment. ]

Yes, I'm The World, that's what I do. I think. I feel like that makes sense.

[ She turns to Jack. ]

Not sure how can I do much of anything without memories though.

4give me for dropping off the face of the earth

[stations]

It's okay, this part's pretty much over. The memories will come back as soon as we leave.

( He holds out a hand again — not that it's necessary, it's just... kind of automatic. He doesn't know how else to lead her back out again, he can't quite put it into words. Leading somebody by the hand is more instinct than anything. )

After this, you'll be back in control of everything. The first time's always weird.