The Show Must Go On - Arrival

[lovebites_sodoi]

Open/locked?: Open
Who: Morgana McCawber & You?
What: The self-called Queen of Rock has arrived, and she's got a few things to say... or sing.
Warnings: N/A, will update if needed.

Sweet dreams are made of these, who was she to disagree? Here Morgana had been hoping to wake up in her coffin after that odd sequence of shared memories, embarrassing falls, annoying heroes, and an epic jam session. Yet here she was, among trash and gloom, and she didn't take to a genius to figure out where she was. Thanks to Mal's descriptions, Morgana was already ahead of most people who arrived here... but that didn't make her any happier.

But, hey, at least she wasn't chained up anymore - nor was she alone. She stuck a hand in her hair, jostling out her familiars - two bats and a spider. "Eek, Squeak, recon mode. See what you can find, but don't go too far." The bats chittered in agreement before fluttering off. "Archie, you stay with me, and keep all eight eyes open." After a loving pat to his head, Archie crawled onto her shoulder, and the two walked on to discover what new adventure they'd been forced into.

Another blessing was that she'd still kept her guitar. She swung it over to her front, and began to strum a few bars... music was her outlet for anything and everything, so she might as well use it to start venting.

No spotlight? No grand entrance? Not even a working phone? This was NOT how you treated a rock star! (And the fact that she wasn't famous enough to be considered one was irrelevant, dang it.)

"Empty spaces, what are we living for?
Abandoned places, I guess we know the score, on and on
Does anybody know what we are looking for?
Another hero, another mindless crime
Behind the curtain, in the pantomime
Hold the line
Does anybody want to take it anymore?"

Comments

[lovebites_sodoi]

"Believe me, my own patience is hanging on by a thread." And hopefully whatever they came upon during their expedition wouldn't snap it. She decided to take the lead, starting to walk and expecting to be followed.

"Name's Morgana. This here is Archie." Standard grumbling from the spider. "And I've got two more helpers, Eek and Squeak, trying to find out what they can from above."

[elvendryad]

"Chell," he said simply, giving her a single little nod, not saying anything when she started off first, simply moving to go with her. He didn't have an issue with letting her, if she wanted to lead.

"...'From above'?" He looked up -- would he spot them? As though he'd even know what he was looking for....

His tree simply toddled along after them, not making any sounds worth noting.

[lovebites_sodoi]

Morgana decided it'd be better to show than tell. So she stuck two fingers in her mouth, and made a high-pitched whistle.

Within seconds, there'd be a flurry of squeaking sounds - then two bats would descend from the sky, landing on Morgana's hair and giving a brief illusion of her wearing bows.

"I don't know why the power that brought us here also dragged in our little friends, but I'm not complaining."

[elvendryad]

He smiled a little more at seeing the two little airborne creatures... but it faded not long after they landed, and he turned his head to look back at his tree for a moment.

Quiet, "I'm... uncertain if it did."

A second's hesitation, and he looked back to her. "I cannot seem to speak with mine."

[lovebites_sodoi]

How curious! Morgana quirked an eyebrow. "What do you mean? That this place... is somehow affecting the way you two understand each other?"

Morgana had known her familiars since childhood - did that mean what if this place meant to separate them, it just didn't have the power? Or was her traveling companion just that unlucky?

[elvendryad]

He was quiet a second, not quite pausing in following her as he eyed it. The tree simply continued to toddle after them, unbothered by all of this, and then Chell resumed stepping after her.

"....Yes." It sounded like he was about to say something else, but he decided against whatever it was, and eyed hers again, considering it. "What of you and yours?"

[lovebites_sodoi]

Morgana shrugged, as all three of her familiars now decided to go into their favorite nesting place... her hair.

"Hm... well, it's hard to say. My babies have been with me since I was a child... even if we couldn't communicate, we know each other perfectly. They understand me, what I want, and how to get it. We're... like family, you could say. So if this place has done anything else besides sealing away my magic, I wouldn't even know. We'll just have to find whoever is in charge of this place and demand some real answers."

Or beat it out of them, which would also be good for venting her frustrations.

[elvendryad]

"You as well? ...Whose place is this, do you know?" And then some other idea seemed to occur to him, before she even had a chance to answer that: "Perhaps they need help, for this place to be like this."

[lovebites_sodoi]

Morgana hesitated before answering - what she was going to say would sound kind of crazy, and she knew it.

"... I had a dream before I came here. It was playing the worst parts of my life for everyone to see... and a girl named Mal said a lot of things. Like how this place was supposed to be home sweet home for villains, and there's another place out there for the kids of goody-goodys. But some wishes went wrong, there's a genie in a coma, the wizards bailed, and both places keep drawing people in like the opposite of population control."

A big shrug. She could hope it was accurate, but she couldn't be entirely sure.

"... At least, that's what could be happening. No one in the waking world's told me a thing... you and tall, dark and woodsy are the first living things I've seen here."

[elvendryad]

He made a small sound, merely acknowledging what she'd said calmly. He didn't say anything himself for a second, but more than that, he didn't make a face or anything that might help clear up what he'd thought of all that.

It was only for a second or two, though. "I met a brother that helped me wake up... but it was still a dream. We talked... but the places changed again. And there was gold, between those places, at the edges. So if we find that gold again...."

[lovebites_sodoi]

At least he didn't react as if she was nuts. One point for him. "At least it's something to keep an eye out for. A weird lead is better than no lead at all."

Trying to follow a gold path that would lead them home... wasn't there some kind of mortal story that went that way? She couldn't really recall.

"I can't even tell what time it is, or how much time has passed since those dreams happened."

[elvendryad]

"Time was indeed strange in the others," he agreed, "But it seems fair here. It was lighter, earlier... so I would guess that it is getting later in the day. Probably not sunset yet...."

He didn't let the silence sit long, though, not when there were things he was curious about. "Did you also find...." He paused again, hesitating, and from the look on his face, it seemed he was more trying to figure out how to word something, than whether he wanted to ask it, and finally settled on "people that weren't there?"

[lovebites_sodoi]

So she'd probably be stuck here when night fell, and she wouldn't have her cozy coffin to sleep in. Ugh! This was awful! How was she supposed to get a good night's rest without it?

But the question threw her off, and she furrowed her brows. How could you find someone who wasn't there? "You lost me," she replied, doing her best to not sound judgmental. "What exactly happened?"

[elvendryad]

He was quiet again as he tried to figure out how else to phrase it, narrowing his eyes, looking down. "Their presence is... wrong. Some are correct. Others... it feels like they aren't there. One can touch them. Hear them. See them. ...But they don't feel right." In this case, he meant at all, but he wasn't sure he ought to say that yet. "...Like an illusion."

[lovebites_sodoi]

That last one was the magic word, and Morgana nodded in understanding. "All right, now you're playing the right notes.... but it looks like you went solo for that experience. I only met a handful of players in that world, but they all seemed pretty real to me. The places I went to where from my memories... were those people from yours?"

[elvendryad]

He was silent another few seconds, considering something, and looked back to his tree again, watching it. Hesitantly, "Some. Of both. The ents... I thought that they were with me, at first. But I've grown less certain that they were. I always felt them with me, but I don't think I have, in those places."

He looked back to her, frowning a little. "The other ones, that I was certain of sensing correctly... were not ones I'd known before. And one in particular who was not who he appeared to be... was someone I had seen while asleep, before. I could feel him easily then." For all that his eyes should've been harder to read, they sort of weren't. Even in the dim overcast from their poor weather, those looked to be hints of tears. He turned his gaze back to the ground in front of them, holding his breath for just a beat, trying to dismiss any displays of... well, anything, it seemed. Quieter, "He was absolutely, radiantly joyful. ...But there, at one of the places I went... there was nothing. He seemed to present, but he wasn't there."

A sigh, trying to lean on his frustration at it all, "The silence has been deafening."

[lovebites_sodoi]

Yikes. This was going into some really emotional territory, and Morgana was very certain she wasn't capable of handling it. They were still complete strangers to one another... but at the same time, she couldn't really just up and leave him to his woes. She just didn't know what to say to comfort him, when she was just barely grasping into what he'd experienced in the first place.

She rubbed her arms, trying to think of something, anything to say at all. "Never been a fan of silence myself." She finally decided. "And even for someone like myself everything that happened and everything that's going on now gives me the creeps."

[elvendryad]

He was setting it aside again pretty well; a deep breath and a focus on something else could do wonders when someone was determined. He looked back to her again, finally giving her appearance some form of actual attention, considering it.

"...What else has happened, for you? And now?"

Wild hair, black and white and red. There was a sort of consistency to it... art? It was an art thing, wasn't it? Interesting....

[lovebites_sodoi]

She certainly wasn't going to dump her entire life story on this guy, but she supposed it was only fair to describe her own portion of the dream she had.

"I managed to visit three important locations in my dream. The first was where I grew up, the second was the city I'm currently staying at, and the third... is the stage. No matter where I go, I'm always looking for a place to play."

[elvendryad]

He nodded, looking back down as they walked. "Mine was only my forest. Everywhere else belonged to someone else." A pause. "And the forest might have been someone else's dream too, at some point. It didn't feel right either."

[lovebites_sodoi]

So he didn't have a single ounce of comfort even in dreams. She couldn't help but pity him - she didn't ask to be played around either, but at least she'd found some fun in singing with others. "Let's hope the next time we get some shut-eye, nothing happens at all."

Granted, she doubted she'd get a decent night's sleep without a coffin, but he didn't need to know that.

[elvendryad]

The little sound of breath was soft, not quite a snort. "I don't intend to sleep again. But I hope it goes well for everyone else."

A slight pause. "I would be more confused how I ended up in a dream in the first place, if it wasn't said to be someone else's doing. ....Do you dream?" He looked back to her again, wanting to hear whatever answer she might give to that.

[lovebites_sodoi]

Even for someone who grew up in a realm of monsters and magic, this guy was saying a lot of weird things. By that line of questioning, it sounded like... he didn't sleep or dream, period. What had she gotten mixed up with this time? At least she could honestly say it wasn't her fault.

Ah well. No reason to lie about something so simple. "I prefer not to, but I don't exactly have a choice about it. Kind of in the very nature of dreams themselves to be chaotic and follow their own rules."

[elvendryad]

"I see...." Another little pause. "They aren't always unpleasant for you, I hope?" If she didn't have a choice....

[lovebites_sodoi]

At that, Morgana put on a wry smile, fingernails to her lips. "I certainly wouldn't mind if I replayed some of them..." Particularly that one with Darkwing and her in the chapel. Mweeheehee.