Under water and out of breath/Riding the crest of the wave

[maris_ocean]

Characters: Maris, and Zebediah
Rating: PG
Time Period: Modern
Location: the hallways
Relative Date: Shortly after this thread
Status: Open, PM to join

Comments

[purple_manners]

Zebediah had not been especially impressed by this place so far. It certainly wasn't Brazil, sunny or otherwise, no matter what the information which came with that ticket had said. Indeed, he wasn't sure where it was, save that it was lonely and dark.

He had spent over an hour wandering around after that helicopter piloted by that... android, or whatever it was... had dropped him off here, and was becoming increasingly annoyed. Indeed, he was starting to become somewhat alarmed. Every prison he'd ever been placed in, he had ultimately gotten free of as a result of a moment - some split second - during which he had been able to use his mind control powers on SOMEONE to get free. If he was completely alone here... It had been a long time since he had needed to fend for himself.

But then, while exploring this dark and gloomy castle, he heard a gasp of pain. He smiled widely. Pain was good. It meant there was someone else here, and someone vulnerable. Good tidings.

Following the sounds, he found a young woman, dripping wet, and in obvious agony limping down the hallway. Well, now he was getting somewhere. Following after her, quietly, for just long enough that he was sure that the hallway was full of his mind-controlling chemicals and sidled up to her, entirely casually.

"Rough night?" He said, his pearly white teeth showing through his purple-skinned mouth. "Don't sweat it. Until I say otherwise, I want you to not feel any more pain, okay?"
He knew his powers would have no actual impact on her injuries, but he wanted some answers out of her, and a fog of pain clouding her brain wasn't going to do him any good in that respect. And as long as she was breathing in his pheremones, she wouldn't be able to feel a damn thing he told her not to feel.

[maris_ocean]

"What pain?" Maris could feel something tugging at her brain, and frowned at the man who'd come up beside her. "There are enough endorphins in my system to keep the pain at a minimum anyway." And the nanites would keep things that way, and keep any infections at bay from where the suckers had broken skin. At least the tentacles hadn't had hooks on them.

"Who are you?" And how did he manage to banish the twinges of pain the endorphins didn't mask simply by telling her not to feel pain? Among other questions that came to mind.

[purple_manners]

Zebediah was faintly annoyed. It wasn't like he wasn't a fairly physically distinctive person, and he had seen his face plastered all over the news since he'd broken out of prison and the Avengers had been all over the place warning people about him. What was the point in being infamous if people didn't recognize you?

"I'm guessing you don't watch a lot of TV, huh?" He asked, making a sour face. "Don't keep up with the exploits of the costume crowd? Captain America, Iron Man, all of those assholes that just can't keep out from in front of the cameras?"

[maris_ocean]

Maris laughed, rolling her eyes. "I've better things to do than follow celebrities and gossip. And while I know who Iron Man is, I don't know who your 'Captain America' is, or anyone else who thinks they need a costume to save the world." She gave him a sharp look, taking a step away from him. "And I don't like idiots who require a question to be repeated. Who. Are. You?"

[purple_manners]

"Well, I don't think I care for that tone of voice too much," he said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. Lighting upon an idea he liked rather more, he snapped his fingers, and then pointed at her. "How about this? Until I say otherwise, you will believe me to be the man you respect most in the world." It was always interesting to toss out an open-ended command like that and see what the human brain did to fill in the blanks.

[maris_ocean]

Maris blinked. "Um. I don't." Not since she was sixteen, and the high school swim coach had been caught with one of her teammates. "I haven't met a man who's earned it. And you still haven't answered me."

Other than the less than informative query about if she followed the exploits of superheros, and his attitude concerning them. Some enemy of theirs, perhaps, though she really hasn't heard of the Captain America he'd mentioned, and she didn't bother to pay attention to who didn't like Iron Man. Just who he had on his arm at an event she tended the bar at, and that only because it helped her make sure the right drinks were ready when he came to collect them.

[purple_manners]

He frowned deeply now. He had really hoped he was getting somewhere when he heard that whimper of pain up the hallway, but so far, this woman... Or whatever she was... was proving to be about as useful as wings on a walrus.

"What's your deal," he asked, leaning in towards her. He snapped his fingers twice, quickly, in front of one eye and then the other, as though observing her for visual accuity. "Robot? Alien? What's the situation here? Slap yourself in the face, damn it!" He was shouting now, attempting to be as forceful and intimidating as possible, partly in the hopes of breaking through whatever resistance she had, and partly - if he were feeling completely honest with himself - to mask his own growing distress at the situation.

[maris_ocean]

Maris glared at him even as she raised a hand to slap her face. Tempted to do the same to him for the insult. "I've my own differences, and I'm not going to share. And I'm beginning not to give a damn who you are, except to warn others you're a colossal ass with delusions of importance."

She took a step backwards, and started toward her room again. "And now, if you will pardon me, I've more important things to do than listen to you rave on about whatever it is, such as trim my toenails." Just a shower and a warm blanket and keeping far, far away from the moat and whatever is in it.

[purple_manners]

"Delusions of importance?" He chuckled, unperturbed. It seemed she wasn't QUITE as resistant as all that, after all. Perhaps he just needed to be a bit more specific and thorough. That was fine. He could play that game. "Well, we're all important to someone, aren't we? For example," he said, taking a step towards her, "You will see me as the person you think of as most important in your life until I say otherwise, and rationalize away any conflicting or confusing information."

[maris_ocean]

She glanced over again, frowning a moment before she rubbed her forehead. Convinced that she must have hit her head at some point, or there was some intoxicant in the suckers of the creature in the moat. "Though one would think I'd hallucinate someone other than myself," she muttered under her breath, heading for her room. Pushing open the door, and dropping the items in her hands on the floor next to it.

Maris let it swing shut behind her, trying the lights, and grimacing when they still didn't work. Which meant there probably wasn't any water, either. At least, though, there were towels and warm blankets, and she started across the room to the bathroom to get the first, peeling off her swim suit as she went. It wasn't like it mattered what a hallucination saw.

[purple_manners]

Zebediah watched the woman with some interest. He only caught half of what she said, but he'd gotten his start as a spy for Yugoslavia - back when there was a Yugoslavia - and lip-reading had always been a handy skill for a man in that line of work. 'Someone other than herself,' he thought to himself. 'Well, that begins to explain a thing or two, I suppose. The lady has a head full of broken glass and bad wiring.'

He followed her with some interest as she entered the room, and couldn't stifle a small laugh of delight as she got undressed in front of him. Evidently, seeing her own double following after her wasn't a cause for distress or alarm for her. Maybe she was a schizophrenic? Someone accustomed to that sort of thing? That could make things more difficult, but potentially more entertaining, as well.

He pulled out his cell phone from his coat pocket and started snapping pictures of her as she walked about the room. The quality wasn't great, but it was the thought that counted. Now that she wasn't flipping out at him, he could at least get some information out of her. "Tell me about this place. Where we are. What you're doing here," He asked, "And strike some sexy poses while you're doing it." No reason not to have some fun with this, after all.

[maris_ocean]

Maris snorted, shaking her head. "Ah, no. Sorry, not even for a hallucination." She'd have to talk to Therese about this when she got back home. If she got back home. Or perhaps see if she could contact Tony, and see if they could figure a way to check her nanites. The hallucination really ought to be checked out as soon as she could arrange it.

"And shouldn't a hallucination of mine know everything I know? Unless, of course, this is my brain's way of trying to work things out, in which case, why aren't you telling me where we really are and why we're here." She grabbed a towel, drying off before digging in her duffel for clean clothes. "And anyway, I don't really know why I'm here, the excuse about a medical conference not withstanding. Clearly that's not the case. I'm not even certain this is actually where it originally was supposed to be, since there aren't any castles in California. Not like this."

She pulled on the shirt and jeans quickly. "Beyond that... well, you know what I know, since you're part of my mind. All weird time travel and monsters in the moat. Insane, that's what this place is."

[purple_manners]

Curiouser and curiouser. She shouldn't have even thought about posing for him; she should have simply done it, unreasoningly. But she did think about it, and decided against it. It seemed like he could only push this one so far, for some reason, and no farther. It was like being a stage hypnotist; incapable of getting someone, no matter how deeply they were put under, to do things basically against their nature. On the one hand, it was frustrating. On the other, there was some excitement in the challenge of it. He wasn't used to the thrill of the hunt after all these years, and wasn't prepared for how giddy it made him. He'd have to give this some thought. Later. Perhaps while reviewing the two dozen or so photos he got of her before she put her clothes on.

But for now... "Think of me as an expression of your desire to sort all of this confusion out verbally," he said, "Thinking out loud about complicated situations can sometimes be helpful, after all. Start by telling me who else you've seen here that did and didn't seem confused about their presence here. And what your thoughts are on this..." there was really no elegant way to frame it without more information. Ah, well. "...time travel thing."

[maris_ocean]

"Start with the fact that time travel really shouldn't be possible, not so easily as pushing a button. Though I'm really not familiar with the physics and everything. Just that everything I've ever seen points to it being merely a fantasy of science fiction. Though wherever or whenever it was, the place was quite idyllic. Better swimming, certainly."

Maris shrugged again, going to the window to push it open. If the electricity was still out, that would mean whatever air conditioning or heating the place had was out too, and she wanted some fresh air. "And I don't think there's anyone who isn't confused about this place. Other than perhaps that man I first met here. I don't even know what his name was.

"But then, he was ill, so that may have been part of it. And then there was Faith, and she went with me on the whole time travel jaunt. Odd girl, didn't seem to appreciate the fact that there things one just doesn't do. Gave every impression that she thought it her right to hear about every little thing about my life simply because I gave her some small amount of trust in a particular matter."

Maris sighed, leaning against the window sill, drawing in a deep lungful of air from outside before looking back. And frowning. "Oh, no you didn't, you little bastard." Realizing she'd undressed in front of the... "Get out of my room before I find some way to make you get out without succumbing to whatever poison you use. Get out!"

[purple_manners]

"I really think you're giving yourself too much credit if you think you can manage that," he replied, sceptically. "Trust me when I say a lot of time and effort's been put into that one, and nobody's managed it so far. I just seem to be God's special little creature." He was moving towards her now, and towards the window. He caught the breeze coming off of it, and realized what had happened, to his annoyance. It really normally didn't take this kind of concentration of his pheromones to effect somebody. "Calm down," he ordered her as he drew closer, hoping the proximity would make the difference. "You now realize we're just having a nice conversation here."

[maris_ocean]

"A nice conversation? Are you out of your mind, or is this just normal where you're from. And you still haven't given me your name." She's feeling a little calmer, despite the good reasons she has for being annoyed. Which is all the more irritating, though she can't do anything about it. The only good thing she can see about all this is that at least she knows her nanites aren't malfunctioning. Just that the... person who's annoying her has some method of controlling people. "And, on the subject of things I don't know about you, what do you want, other than to fuck with my head?"