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.

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[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."

[what_tides_do]

"Ow!" he said and made a great show of rubbing his arm. "I don't have any natural padding, you know. What was that for, anyway?" He straightened his hat with great aplomb. "You do know that the kitchen can't actually be referred to as 'another dimension', yes? I should know - only one of us was actually stranded. And nobody came for me, either. In case you need to be reminded."

[tooprettytodie]

"I cam for you," she reminded him. She knew that his exile had been infinitely more difficult than her own, but that didn't change the fact that she was in another dimension.

"And I wasn't in the kitchen. I was in a place called Tabula Rasa. But like I said, you wouldn't have noticed I was gone. Also, you technically don't have any nerve endings either."

[what_tides_do]

"After a very, very long time," he said, sniffily, because, honestly, it had felt like a very, very, very long time and it never really left him.

"You do have a fanciful imagination," he said. "Which is admirable, I suppose, but it does waste time. Are you done? Or do you want to tell me about the wardrobe that leads to Narnia. Life lesson - do not drink tea given to you by fauns. Fauns cannot be trusted. It's the hooves."

[tooprettytodie]

She winced a bit at that. It had been essentially an eternity for him there trapped in hell and she wished she could have rescued him sooner.

"Yes, it's quite an impressive imagination. But listen to me. I did not imagine it. Okay, yes, Edmund Pevensie was there but it wasn't Narnia and... look. It was real, Skulduggery."

[what_tides_do]

"You are making absolutely no sense," he said, head tilted curiously on one side. "You are aware of that?" He paused, thinking. "Then again, that's nothing new. Tell me again. In the simplest terms you can."

[tooprettytodie]

"I am making loads of sense," she said, tilting her chin up in indignation. She knew that it was hard to believe, but she would have believe him. Probably.

"You're just being thick. But fine, I'll explain again. I was taken to another reality, to an island called Tabula Rasa. I didn't have my magic there, and there were a bunch of people who were also brought from their home realities. Some of them were from worlds that are fictional in our world. The island works outside of normal time, so that people here don't notice that we're gone. Even if they totally should."