Falling [Open to Multiple]

[wildmage_daine]

The last time Daine so thoroughly exhausted herself was during the siege at Pirate's Swoop, so it's no great surprise that in her dream, that's where she wakes. She sits up on the cot they've set up for her in the stables, where the ponies could keep an eye on her. Her head swims, and she grips the edge of the cot until the sensation passes.

A familiar gray nose enters her field of vision, and Daine smiles as Cloud, her pony, sniffs her over. "I'm fine," she reassures the mare, reaching up to give her neck a pat.

You're no such thing, Cloud replies tartly. You've drained yourself again. I won't always be there to lend you strength when you need it.

"Good thing you're here now, then." Daine steadies herself against the pony as she rises to her feet, ignoring Cloud's irritated snort. "Where's Numair?"

It's trouble enough to keep an eye on you, let alone the stork-man.

Daine sighs. "Fine. I'll find him myself."

She makes it to the stable doors before the scene begins to disintegrate around her. Daine whirls about to look for Cloud, but the stable is gone, replaced by nothingness. Within moments, nothing remains but the planks below her feet - and then they, too, crumble away. Daine drops into the Dreaming with a cry of dismay, not knowing where she'll land.


[OOC: Daine's taking a two-day nap after the events in this thread, giving her enough time to drop into the minds of a good number of people. Go nuts!]

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[bluesuit_handy]

Andrew pushes his glasses up his nose and looks around warily from behind the desk -- and from behind the mountain of books atop it. Quietly, he sets down his stamp and pushes his chair back, silently rising from his seat and --

"Going somewhere?" asks the Master, pressing him back into the chair and scooting it in so Andrew's belly is pressed against the edge of the desk. Andrew braces his hands against the wood, protests dying in his throat as the Master does something to lock the chair in place, then reaches over him to take his hand and press the stamp back into it. "You know why you're here," the Time Lord tells him reproachfully.

Looking at the books to his right, Andrew feels his mouth set into a pout. "I'd really rather not," he says even as he reaches for the nearest one. Flip it open, run it under the scanner, stamp it with words he can't read -- set it to his left, pick up the next. As the Master ruffles his hair in approval, Andrew plots his escape -- and his revenge.

[wildmage_daine]

Daine lands in a library with a surprisingly gentle bump, considering how fast she'd been falling. She still sets a hand on the shelf to her right to steady herself, but the gesture is more instinctive than needful.

A pair of voices drifts through the stacks, and Daine realizes after a moment that she recognizes one of them. She walks down the aisle, fingertips brushing the spines of the books she passes, and pokes her head out past the end of the shelf.

Andrew's seated at a desk a few yards away, and - is that Sam standing behind him? Daine steps towards them with a baffled frown. "What are you doing?"

[bluesuit_handy]

"Daine!" gasps Andrew, sitting bolt upright. He pushes down on the arms of the chair, trying to lift and squirm his way out, but there's not enough space to slide his hips and thighs through. "Run!"

The Master smirks at him. A moment later, the Time Lord is beside Daine, pushing her toward another desk with its own pile of books. "How kind of you to join us," he says smugly as Andrew struggles.

"Leave her out of this!" squawks the meta-crisis.

[wildmage_daine]

Run? From Sam? As she's propelled towards another desk, it occurs to her that he doesn't sound much like Sam, and isn't acting like him, either. She digs in her heels, but that fails to stop her from sliding inexorably toward the desk. With a frustrated huff, she shifts into polar bear shape and plunks her bottom against the floor. Whoever he is, he'll find her harder to shove around, now.

She twists around so she can sniff at not-Sam's face. Leave me alone, she says flatly. And leave Andrew alone, too.

[bluesuit_handy]

Andrew stares in shock, reaching for another book to scan and stamp without realizing he's doing it.

"Please," he begs. "Please, Master, let her go -- you've got me, you don't need her."

The Master turns to him with a sneer. "What makes you think I care about you?" he asks. "You're just bait -- if the Doctor will even bother coming for you." The Time Lord pushes at Daine again like he can't figure out why she's no longer moving, making faces at her. "I am the Master, and you will obey me!" growls the Master, giving Daine a sharp rap on the nose. Andrew flinches, his own nose smarting at the sight.

[wildmage_daine]

Daine blinks in surprise at hearing Andrew call him 'Master.' Seems a bit much to her... and then her eyes widen as it hits her: he's made Andrew a slave. That's why Andrew's trapped at that desk and calling him 'Master.'

The rap on the nose is the final straw, and she rears back with an indignant huff. She's not going to let this person enslave her friend! Let Andrew go! she snarls, lashing out at the Master with a heavy paw.

[bluesuit_handy]

The funny thing is, she's really sort of right. She's misunderstood why Andrew is calling him that, but Andrew has been enslaved.

As a librarian.

"Don't hurt him!" he protests, dropping his stamp as he struggles again. The Master staggers under the blow, looking more indignant than injured.

"You'll regret that!" he promises, getting out his sonic screwdriver and pointing it at her.

Andrew's breath catches. "Daine -- do what he says," he begs, not wanting to see her get hurt. The Master lifts his eyebrows and smirks at her, expecting her to listen.

[wildmage_daine]

Daine had drawn her paw back for another blow, but Andrew's voice stays her. Why shouldn't she hurt him? He hit her, first.

When he brandishes the sonic screwdriver at her, she eyes it warily. It doesn't look like much, but it must be dangerous if Andrew's so upset about it. Maybe it's like a gun. She shuffles back a few paces, not liking this at all. What do you want? she asks.

[bluesuit_handy]

The screwdriver -- the wrong screwdriver, actually, if Andrew were paying more mind -- whirs dangerously. Andrew holds his breath as he keeps stamping books, not looking down at what he's doing but instead watching the encounter.

"Poor little hand can't handle it," replies the Master. "Help him."

Now the desk is closer, brought near like it wants to help the Master make her sit down at it and work.

[edgar_sawtelle]

Almondine walks through the forest. She knows the trees, the undergrowth, the smells, and the hidden paths. But no matter how far she walks, she doesn't seem to be getting any closer to home.

Home is there; she could describe every detail of the land from this point the back porch, but walk and walk as she might, she can't seem to get there. She keeps walking, though, determined.

Then she emerges from the trees to a less familiar sight: the Bethesda Terrace fountain.

[wildmage_daine]

Daine sits on the fountain's edge, unable to remember how she got there, but not especially concerned about it. It's strange to see the terrace so deserted, though - for a fleeting moment, she remembers it empty and cold and full of blowing snow - so when Almondine steps forward, Daine notices her within moments.

"Almondine." She smiles at the dog, though it fades a little when she realizes the dog is alone. Where's Edgar? she asks, holding her hands out to the dog.

[edgar_sawtelle]

Not here, Almondine replies simply. She knows that Edgar is fine, that he shouldn't be here with her just now. He is in his own place.

She looks back over her shoulder, but the trees from which she emerged no longer look like the ones that surround her home. She steps into Daine's hands and lets the girl pet her.

What are you doing?

[wildmage_daine]

Daine nods, accepting the explanation even though she doesn't entirely understand it.

"I don't know," she admits as she scratches behind Almondine's ears. She can't remember what she was doing before she came here. "Just sitting here, I s'pose." A flash of inspiration strikes, and she adds with a bit more certainty: "Resting."

[edgar_sawtelle]

Almondine gives the canine equivalent of a knowing nod. Slipping out from under Daine's hands, she jumps up (feeling years younger than her age) to sit beside her on the fountain's edge.

Opening her mouth in a grin, she gives Daine a mischievous look. Want to explore?

[wildmage_daine]

Daine grins back, then stands. "Lead the way."

[edgar_sawtelle]

"C'mon, then." Almondine hops down from the fountain and sniffs the air. It's strange, sometimes completely devoid of scent, then full of a strange mixture that has no rhyme or reason or, as far as she can tell, source.

Deciding to choose at random, she gives Daine one more teasing look and then gallops off down one of the paths.

[wildmage_daine]

She'll never keep up in her two-legger shape, but she hesitates before shifting. Part of her feels like she shouldn't, for some reason. She can't think why, though, and a moment later, she's tearing after Almondine in terrier shape. Wait for me!

[edgar_sawtelle]

Edgar strides through the base corridors with purpose, periodically breaking into a sort of trot in his haste. At every junction, around every corner, he expects to meet someone, anyone. But the corridors are eerily empty. That fact perturbs him, but he can't immediately identify why. Then he remembers that he is looking for someone, and if he came across someone in the hallways, that person might be able to help him in his search.

He stops, pushing through a door to check the room beyond, but it is empty too, and he continues on. He tries to recall who he is searching for, but the face and the name swim in his head like fog. Checking in another room, he shakes his head to clear it. There is a faint, indistinct voice in the back of his mind, familiar yet distant. Edgar grasps at it as he jogs down another stretch of corridor.

He stumbles to a halt as it hits him: Daine.

[wildmage_daine]

Daine's relief at finding herself in the base again is short-lived. It seems empty - too empty - and she shudders as an unsettling sense of deja vu grips her. Not again, she thinks, though she can't for the life of her remember when this has happened before.

She starts when she hears the sound of approaching footsteps, then stumbles toward the sound. Whoever it is, they might need her help. When she rounds the corner and sees who it is, she stops in her tracks. "Edgar." She's not sure why it's such a surprise - he lives here, too, after all - and she gives her head a little shake in an attempt to dispel the conviction that it should have been someone else here with her.

[edgar_sawtelle]

Edgar smiles when he sees Daine, but the smile slips away quickly. He knows that he needed to find Daine, that he desperately wanted to find her, but he can't for the life of him remember why. He frowns. It was important.

And for some reason, the fact that she's here, standing, looking whole and healthy is extremely confusing for him. He slowly walks to her, his hands forming the sign he created for her name. He plans to then place a hand on her shoulder to confirm that she is actuallyl there and solid and okay, but as his hands move, he hears a voice: "Daine."

He whips around, searching for the source of the voice, but the corridor is still empty aside from Daine and himself. He turns back to her and signs: /Are you okay? Where have you been?/

Again, the voice echoes the words his hands form.

[wildmage_daine]

Daine blinks in surprise at the voice that accompanies his signs. She recognizes it as the one she hears in her head when he 'talks' to her more like the People do, but it's fair strange to hear it aloud, without him touching her. "But you're not touching me," she says with a little frown, as if he's changing things up on purpose just to confuse her.

As for whether she's okay - well, obviously she's just fine. And she hasn't been anywhere. At least, she doesn't think she has. Her memory doesn't seem to be cooperating, though. "Did I go somewhere?"

[edgar_sawtelle]

Edgar's frown deepens, his eyes dropping from hers. /I - I don't know. I was looking for you? You were --/ His hands falter as he is unsure what, exactly, Daine was or why it was so important he find her.

The voice continues to accompany his signs, though, and its presence brings him back to her words.

/Not touching you--/ He realizes that he hasn't been touching her, but has been signing along, completely expecting her to understand. The thought of using his "other" method of communication hadn't even occurred to him, despite the fact that it was usually his default for "talking" to Daine. And yet...

He takes Daine's hand. Are you hearing "my" voice?

[wildmage_daine]

A flash of irritation lances through her at his admission that he was looking for her, though she's not sure why she should find that fact so bothersome, or why she should wonder why he just had to go looking for her. It's not as if she has anything else going on at the moment, and Edgar's her friend. Frowning deeply, she rubs her forehead as if she can scrub some sense back into her brain.

His question helps to draw her out of the bizarre little pet she'd been in, and she nods. "Yes, only it was as if you were really speaking with it. It's back to normal now, though."

[edgar_sawtelle]

Edgar feels a ghost of Daine's irritation, and is confused by it. However, behind his confusion float hints of fear and shame. They don't make sense to him, so he allows himself to be distracted by her answer. Deliberately, he releases her hand and signs again.

/Where you headed somewhere? And where is everyone?/

Again, he hears the voice. This time, he tries to recognize it as "his," as something familiar and identifiable as himself, but it sounds as foreign as a stranger's.

[wildmage_daine]

Daine shakes her head in response to his questions and glances uneasily at their surroundings. "It shouldn't be like this," she murmurs, wanting to add again, but stopping herself because when has this happened before? He'll think she's mad if she starts going on about the empty base as if it's a regular occurrence. They both know this is new.

"Maybe everyone is outside." She doesn't sound particularly confident, but she also doesn't like the idea of wandering around the base if it's going to be eerily empty save for Edgar and herself.