Home Plot 6 - 1, 2, 3 - 2012

[tooprettytodie]

Valkyrie had gotten used to the sounds of the jungle during her time on Tabula Rasa. She had already been accustomed to the sounds of the beach from home, but jungle sounds were a lot different from city sounds. For some reason, the absence of them startled her awake more than any other shift in her environment did.

The room she was in was bigger than her hut, she could sense that right off. Even if it was so dark she could still barely see out, the room felt big. She tried to control her breathing and act like she was still asleep, straining to see if there were any sounds that would give away where she was. There was nothing though, other than the generic sounds of a large building.

Sitting up, she ran her fingers through her hair, pushing it out of her face as she tried to get a gauge on her surroundings. As soon as her eyes adjusted to the dark, she thought someone was playing some sort of trick on her.

She was back in her Uncle Gordon's home (although legally it was her home), back in Ireland. She'd had this dream before, although never quite so realistic as this. Did that pinching thing really work? Valkyrie pinched herself and sure enough it hurt. So, she was not, not asleep? Or something, that really had confirmed nothing.

There was one way to tell if she wasn't on the island though. She was almost afraid to try it, afraid that it wouldn't work and what that would mean. Holding out her hand, Valkyrie clicked her fingers.

And flame leaped to the tips.

"Yes!" Valkyrie shouted, laughing almost hysterically. It worked, her magic worked. She was home.

"I'm home! I'm really home! Skulduggery! Uncle Gordon! Anyone here? I'm home!"

She knew the chances of anyone but her and her uncle's echo, but she didn't care. She didn't care who it was from her world, she just wanted to see someone.

Comments

[swan_diver]

Bella sat up from the...floor? Yeah. It felt like a floor. Or a really, really uncomfortable mattress and her bed in her hut was about the most comfortable thing she'd ever slept on. Unless, somehow, Craig had managed to kick her out of bed in the middle of the night.

She rubbed at her eyes and looked around, frowning when she heard Valkyrie's voice. Okay. Weirder and weirder.

"Do you have to yell so much? Some of us are still waking up."

[percy_jackson]

"Wha?" I was lying on a couch. Of course, I didn't know it at the time, so at the sound of Valkyrie's voice, I rolled over, and landed on the floor with a thump. And it was a hard floor. But as I sat up, rubbing my shoulder, that wasn't top on my mind. "Valkyrie? What are you doing in my hut?" Then I looked around. I blinked. "What's this room doing in my hut?"

[swan_diver]

Bella looked at the other boy...he looked familiar but she didn't know his name. She had a sick feeling in her stomach, like she'd been in this position before. "I was going to ask what Valkyrie was doing in my hut, and why I was on the floor. It's not Valentines day again, is it?"

[percy_jackson]

"Hey," I said. I recognized the girl. A friend of Valkyries. Bella, wasn't it? She was obviously in the same boat as I was, but she was already ahead of the game. It was a good theory. "I don't know." I touched my head. "I think everybody who woke up, woke up with a hangover, and I haven't got one." I also had all my clothes, which was a relief. "Besides, do you recognize where we are? I've never seen any place like this on the Island."

I sat up and extended a hand. "I'm Percy, by the way. Percy Jackson."

[swan_diver]

When he mentioned clothes, Bella had an immediate flashback and immediately looked down to check her own appearance. Small favors, but this time she was dressed. Not much but she'd take it. Assured she wasn't leaning over with her boobs flashing, she took his hand and gave it a shake. "Pleasure's mine, Percy. I'm Bella Swan. And no, outside of movies, I've never seen anything like this place."

[kinesicist]

Her nose wrinkled, tickled by the whispering grass brushing across her face. Hand darting out, Cass jerked away, eyes narrowing at the harsh thin sunlight and the damp feel of grass beneath her bare skin. Exhaling softly, Cass pressed her hands into the dirt pushing up until her nails were caked with it and rolled smoothly to her feet.

"..." She looked around, silent and quiet as she tried to understand where she was. Or where the island had gone... the island with her clothes. "Hn."


Note: Cassandra has scars covering her body, most notably gun shot wounds to her shoulder, abdomen and thigh. She also has scars from knives and other various injuries. Most are faded but still highly noticeable.

[andhaveago]

"Well."

Tanith's never really been a big fan of clothes or, rather, she prefers them for their emphasizing qualities. Right then, she's standing there in skin tight brown leather, blond hair blowing out in the breeze. She arches one eyebrow and sets her hands on the swell of her hips.

"Aren't you a picture?"

[kinesicist]

It wasn't her words but the noise of her body that made Cass turn. Her posture tensing, tightening at the words as she placed her feet more securely, defensively as she looked the girl over. The fact that she was naked didn't bother her, the fact that she was somewhere else that she didn't recognise did.

"Hn," Cass murmured, eyes narrowed in quiet hostile contemplation. "Where am I?"

[andhaveago]

Quietly, almost imperceptibly, Tanith alters her stance. She squares her shoulders and stretches out her neck.

"Ireland," she says. "Dublin. And, apparently, your clothes didn't get the memo."

[kinesicist]

Her head tilts, watching her body and the way she moves. Her nails scratched against dirt and grass as she shifted her weight, defensive as she waited. Cass listened to her before lifting her shoulders in a quiet shrug.

"I don't wear clothes to bed," Cass murmured quiet. "Why am I here? Did you bring me here?"

[notaparker]

"Kidnapper ghost mad scientists?" I say, as I try to find my way around. I've been adding to the list of possible residents of large impressive houses that are kind of creepily empty.

And the winner is, as I open what turns out to be front door...

"Cass?" I jerk my glance skywards. "Lots of Cass." Boy, am I glad I sleep in a t-shirt and boyshirts, rather than, y'know, naked.

[kinesicist]

Her feet were silent as she crept along the grass, moving with the cool breezes until she watched the shift in movement, the door opening and the familiar face that walked through it. Her feet hesitated, her brow furrowing in confusion at the sight of Jessica stood there looking at her and then not looking at her.

Cass wasn't self conscious, she didn't move to cover herself remotely but her hand did wonder to the gunshot scar on her shoulder, covering that for a moment, before she let her hand drop away. Inhaling, Cass sighed lifting a hand in greeting.

"Hello," Cass finally said, her posture straightening and relaxing a little in her presence. "Why are you staring at the sky?"

[notaparker]

"Trying to figure out where we are by celestial navigation," I say.

I should have spent more time reading maps, but most of my stargazing recently has been at the island's skies, which change all the time and don't generally correspond to known constellations. Which is fun, but the best guess I've got right now is 'Northern Hemisphere of Earth.'

Also not actually the reason.

"Also you're naked. You've probably noticed. You should come inside. I don't... actually know where this is, but you should be inside anyway."

[what_tides_do]

"There's really no need to make such a noise about it," he says, looking up from the paperwork that he's rifling through. His hat's pushed back on his head and it gives him an almost quizzical expression. If he were capable of having expressions at all.

"You really don't like to slip out of the spotlight for a moment, do you? It's a very unpleasant quality. And not one that I share, obviously."

[tooprettytodie]

"I can't very well help it if the spotlight follows me around, can I?" she said. Even if the joy of being home, she couldn't let a comment like that slip by. Once she had firmly reminded him of just how amazing she was though, she ran up and hugged him tight.

[what_tides_do]

"Spotlight? Is that the new word for 'trouble' now?" he says and then she's embracing him and, if it's possible for a skeleton to look uncomfortable, there it is. He clears his throat.

"Yes," he says, patting her on top of the head with one gloved hand. "Well."

[tooprettytodie]

Once the hugging was done, Valkyrie stepped back and composed herself. She smoothed the front of her outfit (how lovely was it to have her magical clothes again?) and straightened her hair.

Then, she punched Skulduggery in the arm. Hard.

"You were supposed to come get me," she said. "I spent several months in another dimension, and I bet you didn't even know I was gone. I'm very cross."

[notaparker]

Sometimes a girl would just like to know that where she goes to sleep is going to be where she wakes up. That the world isn't going to completely change around her overnight. And not in a sort of weird philosophical way, I'd like for it to actually not completely switch-up.

Or failing that, be real New York.

As it is, what I've got is... I have no idea. It's pretty swank.

"Hell-oo?" I venture, sitting up. "Ghosts and/or kidnappers?"

Weird coma voyage? It could be a weird coma voyage. I cross to a wall and press my fingertips against it, pulling just enough to see if they hook on, if I stick to things again.

They just kind of slide down the wall.

"Well, that's disappointing."

[andhaveago]

"That's life, I find," says Tanith, studying the strange girl from her perch on the stairs, head tilted on one side. "It's just one bloody thing after another."

She might look relaxed. It's deceptive.
She smiles. That's deceptive, too.

[notaparker]

Crap, person. I was so engaged in not sticking to things that I wasn't paying enough attention. Or she's a ghost, I'm not putting money down one way or the other.

"I swear I'm not breaking and entering," I say, with a bit of a squawk, springing away from the wall. "Not breaking, anyway, and any entering has been entirely inadvertant entering on my part."

[andhaveago]

"It's not my house," says Tanith, amused, arms crossed over her chest, sword prominent on her hip. "Although, it does belong to a friend of mine. A very, very good friend of mine. So you might want to explain what you are doing here. Now."

[teambatgirl]

Here's the thing about the human body: it's not ergonomically designed to sleep in a bath tub for any length of time, that lends itself to all sorts of unpleasant aches and pains which eventually get to a person. Steph wakes up groggy to a pain in her neck and the unfamiliar coolness of porcelain that was definitely not there when she went to bed the night before. It's a bigger bathtub than the cramped one back at home in Gotham, so she can't be home, and the decor doesn't match the Manor.

Only thing to do is investigate, and hope whoever lives here doesn't think she's a home invader come to rob them in a Care Bears t-shirt and pair of panties. Her kingdom for a pair of pants, right about now. Pair of pants and a bit of recon info.

[kinesicist]

She slid out from the shadows in front of Steph, raising a hand in quiet, naked greeting. Her feet were dirty, her body covered in grass stains and her hair, looked like Steph had been running her hands through it or that Cass had slept outside. Or a combination of both.

"Where are we?" Cass murmured.

[teambatgirl]

She doesn't start when Cass appears out of nowhere, because that's just one of those things she does, but she has to cover her mouth to stifle a giggle. Maybe she shouldn't feel so superior considering she's creeping around a stranger's house in her panties but whatever, she totally does. "Somewhere modern day judging by the tech but otherwise, I dunno. Somewhere temperate and rural. I'm trying to find where they keep their mail here, get a name and an address. Maybe a phone too." Creeping toward a staircase, she grins at Cass and whispers. "Are you sure you're not secretly a werewolf who spent the night roaming and just turned into a human? Because you look a mess."

[kinesicist]

Cassandra raised her hand to her hair, delicately picking out a small twig before discarding it in the shadows out of sight. Raising an eyebrow at Steph's stifled laughter, Cass followed her girlfriend and let her lips tug into a vaguely bemused smile.

"No full moon," Cass replied, her footsteps quick and light as she moved onto the staircase railing and moved down that silently rather than use the steps. Cass didn't know very many stories but Dick had told her quite a few at home. "Can't be a werewolf."