(Untitled)

[drownondryland]

The whole thing makes Meredith uneasy. By now, she thinks, she ought to be used to it: elevators, entire floors of buildings, entire buildings have appeared from thin air, objects come back that were lost or unwanted, pets return that were dead, people walk around wearing the same face. The island is a strange place. Strange things happen. That

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[missingthekeep]

"That's one way o' puttin' it," Sean scoffs lightly, casting his eyes about the place for the thousandth or so time. He doesn't want to be there -- or no, that's not quite accurate, it's just that he doesn't want to be there with her. He's got absolutely nothing against doing his duty and seeing a little bit of action in the process, he even relishes it, but whenever he goes into these things with Meredith at his side, he gets sloppy, paranoid, even less concerned with his own personal safety than usual in his zeal to make certain she's alright. If it were up to him, she'd remain topside until this entire place was completely cleared of the denizens that inhabit it, but that's just not feasible. She's got a reason to be down there and he'd never stand in the way of that, nor would he entrust her security to anyone else. This is just the way it has to be, so he bears it with grace and the best humour he can muster, a gun at one hip and a flask at the other.

"An' here we thought the island proper was the damned corner o' the

[drownondryland]

She just doesn't like the way things keep appearing. Though neither the additional floors of the Compound nor the elevator nor the Rec Center have vanished yet, she never can feel she should trust them not to, and that feeling is all the stronger here in Rapture. Even so, a few months back, she might have embraced the opportunities afforded by a place like this. After the space station, though, she's warier. It'd be better this time to get where she needs to be, check through what's around and get out as fast as she can. "Well, it just keeps growing."

[missingthekeep]

"The least deserted deserted island I've e'er heard of, f'r a certainty," Sean wryly says, his way of agreeing. "It's enae t'make ye wonder how far it all could go, if'n one day there might be land an' all the makeshift trappings o' some lousy civilization coverin' all that blue out yonder." If they'll still be around to see it.

[drownondryland]

"God, don't even say it," Meredith says, though it's too late for that. "Every time something turns up around here bigger than an elevator, it seems perfectly fine and then it basically tries to kill us. Imagine an entire land of that." When she puts it like that, it makes coming down here even more foolhardy, but how is she supposed to pass up the chance to see what kind of medical tech they might have? From what she's heard of what's down here, it could be pretty incredible.

[missingthekeep]

"Sounds like home," Sean says, casting her a quick, wry glance before he's back to scanning their surroundings yet again. "Though considerin' that e'en the elevator has yet ta win ye over, perhaps it's for the best that things stay small." Silencing himself when he hears a scuffling noise off behind them, he drops the aloof act a bit once the interruption doesn't seem to develop into an actual threat. "It makes me uneasy, too, luv."

[drownondryland]

It's only an unfamiliar sound that keeps Meredith from retorting. Her thing about the elevator is irrational, at least she knows that, and anyway, it's not as if it's beyond possibility here that it could one day start just whisking them off elsewhere. Instead she lets out a slow breath as things prove safe for the moment and reaches to rest her hand on his arm. "Well, nothing serious has happened yet, right?" she says. "It's not like we'll be down here long, and you've been fine before, so."

[missingthekeep]

Not with her. That's the difference, that's always the difference. Still, there's no real reason to be overly concerned at present. "No threats that we've found that cannae be kept well in hand without a bit o' the ol' due diligence. We stay smart an' we should be fine, aye."

[drownondryland]

"Then we're in real trouble," Meredith says lightly. It's simpler to pretend not to be afraid even if she's gone and given herself away. The whole place is just so strange, though, the bathysphere proving unlike anything she's seen before - and by now, she's seen plenty. "You're sure this is the right way?"

[missingthekeep]

"To get to the medical whatsit?" Sean asks, a pointless question that he already knows the answer to, but a necessary one to keep himself talking, to keep the silence to a minimum. Maybe they should be making an effort to stay quiet, but he prefers it this way, with reminders that they're the sane ones down there. "Positive." The first thing he'd done, one of the requirements he'd made for himself before coming down with Meredith, had been to learn the layout of the place backwards and forwards all on his own. That's at least one mistake made on the space station that he's learned from.

[drownondryland]

"Yes, the whatsit," Meredith says wryly, all too aware of the sound of her own footsteps echoing off the walls as they make their way down the hall. "That being the scientific term. How could anyone live down here?" Being under the water is bad enough without everything being as eerie as it is, nevermind all the bizarre people, the potions, everything. Maybe it's just that being on the space station has made her extra leery of these situations, but the sooner she's done with this, she feels, the better.

[missingthekeep]

"Pavilion," Sean says, over-enunciating for wry effect. Being with someone like Meredith, it becomes all too easy to casually undercut his own intelligence in ways that even he knows to be unfair. It's never bothered him before, but now, where he's all the more aware of how in control of the situation he needs to be, it somehow seems important to quit acting the part of the country bumpkin quite so much. It's a daft thing to concern himself with, though, and he does his best to brush it off.

"I imagine it wasnae nearly so nasty before it... fell," he replies after a moment's reflection on the matter, doubting the truth in his statement before it's even out of his mouth anyway. This place must have always carried some sort of taint with it, he'd swear it.

[drownondryland]

"Maybe," Meredith says, dubious. It's probably just the location, she tells herself. That, and, of course, the way it just appeared, something that gets counterintuitively more worrisome the longer she spends on the island. "I still don't see what would've been so appealing about living underground. Or underwater." She's not the most social of people and she spends a lot of time indoors - less now that she's here, yes, but still a significant amount of time - but she still couldn't fathom wanting to leave society this much.

[missingthekeep]

"Technically, ye could ask that o' most o' the folk who elect ta live in the Compound. Underground is underground," Sean points out with a nearly imperceptible shrug before he adds, "I'm sure they all had their reasons," the sudden dull flatness to his voice saying all he cares to about what he thinks of those reasons. No matter how many ways he looks at it, he can't imagine the place ever wouldn't have boded ill for him. Ah, the beauty of having nothing but hindsight. "Course, we get t'see how well that worked out."

[drownondryland]

"Oh, yeah, wonderful," Meredith says wryly. She can't help a slight urge to reach out to him, hold on, but she can take care of herself just fine, and in the event she can't, holding onto him won't help him protect them any. That's the most worrying thing about being down here in the end, she thinks, the chance she's taking of getting him hurt again. "Maybe we can get a vacation home down here and see just how well for ourselves."

[missingthekeep]

"Aye, jus' take to the porch an' shoot at the local monstrosities whene'er they get too close an' watchin' the squid swim by at the edge o' town gets too borin', it'll be a right hoot," Sean replies, hating how glib he sounds about it all, but knowing that there's no other way to be down there. Up in the sunlight, there will be plenty of time (he hopes, time is all he has left to hope for) to be thoughtful and treat the place and its inhabitants with the level of seriousness they deserve, but down in the thick of it, he's got far more important things to focus on instead of letting the place bring him down even a little bit.

So of course he goes and does it, anyway.

"The wee lassies're the worst."

[drownondryland]

"What happens to them?" Meredith knows bits and pieces, but she still feels as if the whole story is escaping her, or else she's unwilling to believe what she knows. Picking one thing down here to be the worst seems difficult, but he's had time to make that call in a way she hasn't and doesn't want. Glancing around them as they go, she keeps imagining she hears scuffling and other noises, not sure if they're the product of her mind or just others like them looking around, tourists.