[Log] An unpleasant return home
* Gabe][yard sits down under the tree near the treeline and stretches out. Siiiigh.
* Gabe][yard is the Original, Sane Gabriel, in a long-sleeve t-shirt and cargo pants. And sneakers. No more barefoot in the Nexus for him, after slasherverse.
Yog_Sothoth: *It starts as a flickering of lights. They pass over him like so many coloured searchlights; a daytime Aurora Borealis. Something whispers on the edge of perception. Yet with each second it grows louder and brighter. The very sky whirls and dances with these lights.*
* Gabe][yard looks up. Around. Gets to his feet. "Uh, hullo?"
Yog_Sothoth: *Within moments, the lights have expended into a madly whirling vortex of motion and colours. Too many colours. Colours that should not exist. Too many lights. Lights/colours/sounds/voices/thoughts/ everything, all at once; everything and nothing at all pinwheeling insanely in a Catherine Wheel a mere fifteen feet above the ground.*
* Cheryl[yard] is standing in the doorway, a drink in her hand and a very strong feeling that she shouldn't have come out here in her head...
* Gabe][yard squints and took two steps back slowly to the Sanctuary door. "Hullo?" Oh, he's getting a Very Bad Feeling from this.
Jeff_Levitt: *And something...or rather, someONE, is flung unceremoniously though the center of the wheel, landing in a heap on the ground. He makes no attempt to right himself. The eye that isn't swollen shut is wide open and unblinking, and his mouth is open wide. He'd be screaming, but he lost his voice some time ago.*
Gabe][yard: "... fuck." He steps forward again, cautiously, and then recognizes the face. "Jeff!"
Yog_Sothoth: *The lights flicker over him one last time, imparting a message. A final warning. Then, with a soundless, subsonic /VWOOMPH,/ everything vanishes into a roaring silence, so suddenly that the daylight seems dark by comparison for several beats.*
* Jeff_Levitt is, to put it mildly, a complete mess. His face is swollen and bruised to near-unrecognizability. His nose is broken, as are most of his front teeth. As the lights flicker, he goes rigid as something forces itself into his mind, then keels over in a dead faint.
Gabe][yard: "Nrg." Man, that's gonna be a headache pretty soon. BUT. He kneels beside the figure, rolling him over and feeling for a pulse. "Jeff..."
* Cheryl[yard] blinks. Blinks again.
* Jeff_Levitt is alive, his pulse weak and rapid. Gabe can see that the pinky on his left hand has been broken, and there are dozens of cuts on him, in very deliberate patterns.
* Rassilon appears in a flicker of green. AAAAGH
* Jeff_Levitt has fresh, cross-hatched cuts on the backs of both hands, the undersides of his feet, and between his shoulder blades. His fingertips are sliced open as well.
* Cheryl[yard] suddenly seems to come into the now again, and sets her drink on the table, then steps towards the poor human that reality seems to have chewed on for a few days.
Rassilon: "What in the name of all time was /that?/"
* Jeff_Levitt is still out cold. Hi, honey!
Gabe][yard: "Jesus fucking mother of bloody christ," he's rambling, taking in everything. He looks up. "Rassilon! It's Jeff, we have to get him somewhere, he's... I'm afraid to move him." D:
Cheryl[yard]: "Kibi. Bi. Beep. Didibeep." The. Uh. Beh. She has no clue.
* Rassilon runs over to where Jeff lies, chewed on AGAIN, and would probably trample both Gabriel and Cheryl were he not... y'know. Tiny. As it is, he's over there almost as fast as he would have been had he teleported, all flapping robes and a cloud of shiny frettings.* "Oh, Void... what's happened? You really need to stop doing this, Jeff...."
* Rassilon tries ever so carefully to look within Jeff's mind to see how unconscious he is.*
Cheryl[yard]: "...Geebeep beep dibi?!" You mean he's done that before?!
Gabe][yard: "There were lights, voices, a..." He gestures, empty. If Rassilon wanted to take a look, he's free to. "He just appeared, and then it was gone."
* Jeff_Levitt has had an up close and personal encounter with Yog-Sothoth. Its presence is filling his mind right now, too big for a sane human mind to contain. Before that...black. Traces of the Nexus, traces of other universes, but nothing of home.
Rassilon: "He has a most unfortunate tendency to disappear for ... distressing lengths of ... timeohIthinkI'mgoingtobeill...."
Cheryl[yard]: "Bibibeep! Kibeep! Didikeebeep!" Everything! All at once! And it looked really angry on top of it!
Gabe][yard: "Look! Rassilon, get hold of yourself! We have to get him somewhere, the clinics or ... or your hospital in New Gallifrey."
Rassilon: *faintly* "Great Old Ones. Always has to be Great Old Ones...."
* Cheryl[yard] 's eyes widen. Does he mean... "Digeebi?" Eldritch?
Jeff_Levitt: Jeff's eyes open, Ras's telepathic probe apparently nudging him back to consciousness, but...that doesn't amount to much. One eye opens, staring blindly at the sky.
Rassilon: "Yes, I'm ... afraid so." *He catches his breath.* "Jeff... can you hear me?"
* Jeff_Levitt stirs at the sound of his name, and shifts, as if trying to sit up, then stops suddenly, laying back and whimpering in pain.
* Gabe][yard finds Jeff's hand, to hold it, but the cuts... "Cripes, Rassilon. He's been tortured."
Cheryl[yard]: *The confirmation seems to wilt her, antennae drooped, eyes wide. Ohdear. Ohgod. She's. Just. Going to go sit in her flower for now.*
Rassilon: "You're coherent--good. That's the main thing, he's coherent. We can move him." *There's a swirl of green energy and all three of them vanish*
* Cheryl[yard] halts, turns around, sees them all gone... and doubles back to grab her drink. She's going to need this.
***
* Rassilon has a splitting migraine and can't see for shit (yeah, cry us a river, right?) but still manages to materialise the lot of them with enough accuracy to not only make it into the medlab, but get Jeff onto a bed. Erh, mostly.*
* Jeff_Levitt arrives in a panic. Understandable, considering his last experience with sudden teleportation. One hand clings to Rassilon hard enough to open up the cuts, and his heart rate is through the roof. He's started screaming again.
* Gabe][yard is there as well, not nearly as panicked. He knows the place well enough to go running for help.
Jeff_Levitt: *Though with his voice long given out; it's more a whisper than anything else.*
* Rassilon unfortunately can't calm Jeff his usual way, and instead blunders telepathically at the automated medical machinery. It throws a few things across the room, nearly defibrillates Rassilon, fires three needles into the wall and extends a bevy of scanners before it manages to poke Jeff with a sedative.*
* `Lita 's arrival isn't flashy or anything like her usual appearances, but considering the moment, it's somewhat dramatic in that she just simply seems to step out of nowhere, silent as can be. (Which, again, is impressive in those damn heels of hers)
* Gabriel_ returns with a small gaggle of doctors. He's got blood on his sleeve from Jeff's cut up hand.
Jeff_Levitt: *The sedative does its work fairly quickly, fortunately. He stops screaming, stops flailing and doing himself worse injury, and his eyes flutter closed. His breathing and pulse are still elevated, however.
Rassilon: *Said gaggle of doctors will have to literally peel Rassilon from the patient, calmly taking over the job of first resetting all the medical equipment, then actually getting down to the business of running diagnostics on said patient.*
* `Lita stays her distance, silent as the grave and damn near like Batman in that her presence probably wouldn't be noticed if you didn't actually glance back to -see- her.
* Gabriel stands a few steps away, trying to stay out of the doctor's way. And he's not Jeff's soon-to-be. He looks over at Lita. :|
* `Lita meets Gabe's eyes, but still says nothing. The Observer, at the moment.
Rassilon: *Rassilon is literally handed to them. Here, have a distraught Father of Time Lord Society.*
* Gabriel is... he's containing it all very well. This is what he does.
Jeff_Levitt: *The doctors will find that Gabe's diagnosis is pretty much on the money. Many cuts, deliberately made with a sharp blade. Traces of salt can be found in all the wounds, and possibly signs of infection setting in.*
Jeff_Levitt: *There's a great deal of blunt trauma to the face and torso. Several ribs, most of his front teeth, and his nose are broken, and the smallest finger on his left hand has been deliberately bent back until it snapped.*
* Gabriel watches, detached. He's had a lot of time in very bad situations and it's a coping mechanism. Part of his mind drifts off, while the rest waits and observes as well.
Rassilon: *It appears your handiwork will come to naught, Soze. The doctors disrobe Jeff and efficiently set to work with flickering disinfection field emitters, nanoscrubbers, tissue regenerators, /et cetera./*
* Rassilon just leans on Gabriel and tries to remember to breathe.*
* Gabriel rubs Rass' neck without even thinking about it.
* Jeff_Levitt doesn't seem to notice all the fuss and movement around him. His good eye is still wide open and unblinking. His mind drifts in a world of spheres and colors that should not exist.
Rassilon: *The doctors are perfectly capable of taking care of the physical trauma, but the psychic trauma is another matter entirely. They're woefully low on psionotherapists. In fact, their best psionotherapist is currently a shaking wreck about ten feet away. Hmmm. This is Not Good.*
* `Lita glances to the Psiontherapist, then to Gabe and Rassilon, and back to Jeff, silent.
* Gabriel leans over to Lita. "Can I speak to you for a moment," he asks quietly, "in the next room, perhaps?"
Rassilon: *Experts pass quietly in and out of the room. Jeff's physical condition is stabilised, at least, and someone manages to get Rassilon to lie down on the promise that it's very nearby. That done, they shoot him full of painkillers until he's a woozy puddle.*
* `Lita blinks, and nods, "Of course, sweet. Excuse us a moment?" This is said to Rassilon, and she gestures for Gabriel to lead the way, sleeve billowing a little.
Rassilon: "Mmmmbl."
* Jeff_Levitt endures all the poking and prodding silently. There's no indication that he's even aware that anyone is in the room.
* Gabriel slips into the next room, leaving Rassilon and the Gallifreyan doctors and Jeff. He does it reluctantly.
* `Lita follows Gabriel out, dress, etc, billowing silently.
* Rassilon drifts in and out of sleep, occasionally twitching when his mind accidentally drifts toward Jeff's.*
`Lita: -~The Next Room~-
* Gabriel sits down on a bed in the adjacent exam room. He is, as before, well contained, save for his hands. They never stop moving, rubbing them together, or over his thighs. "I ... is there anything you can do? I know you're... you have..."
* `Lita glances towards the room Jeff and Rassilon are in, "I can save his mind, yes." She replies quietly, piercing blue eyes falling to Gabriel as she shifts her weight slightly, "But I cannot act unless it's a wish, with Fate's proper price and all." It's subtle, but there's a little hint of frustration in her voice at this powerlessness.
* Gabriel doesn't hesitate. "Name your price."
* `Lita 's eyes go distant for a moment, "Your brother's journal. Joshua's." It should be noted that she -says this name whether or not he told her-.
* Gabriel holds his breath. Josh. He hasn't thought about him since... ah. But he knows exactly where it is. It's all he has left of his brother, passed these three years. But Jeff is alive, for the moment, and he was never able to save Josh. Quietly, "I can get it, if you can wait a moment."
* `Lita nods, and gestures, go, Gabe.
* Gabriel sits for a moment, then without a word he takes his PIN from his pocket and disappears.
* `Lita folds her arms and shifts her weight, glancing back towards Jeff's room and just looking silently that way.
* Jeff_Levitt is still here. Still catatonic. 'Sup.
* `Lita 'sup, man. Havin' a beer, watchin' the game.
* Rassilon is still next to him. Still mostly unconscious. y0.
* Gabriel reappears, very quiet. He has a leather wrapped, small, flat parcel in his hand. It's tied with a bit of twine. Inside is the journal he'd found with Josh's body. He doesn't want to give it up, but he doesn't want Jeff to die. The living and the dead; he's decided upon life. He offers it to her.
`Lita: "You accept this wish and its price, Gabriel Grey?" She says as she reaches for the journal.
* Gabriel nods slowly. If he'd have asked her for his left eye, he might very well have given that.
* `Lita doesn't ask for eyes, Gabe. Her 'verse is still loosely CLAMP based. Eyes are a Big Deal. "Then it shall be done." She murmurs, taking the journal and running her hand over the leather cover a bit. Altalita's eyes start to glow slightly as she starts back for Jeff's room in a slow walk. Time Lords take note, this woman's power rivals yours, now, or possibly *more.* It's also a different sort of power, not psychic or anything else. Fate.
* Gabriel follows her, silent, then stands in the doorway, leaning on the jamb.
Rassilon: *They do. In fact, they're all at the other side of the room, now, staring.*
Rassilon: *Well, all of them except the mostly-unconscious Rassilon.*
* Jeff_Levitt still hasn't moved, still hasn't *blinked*. Jeff isn't here right now, 'Lita, would you like to leave a message?
`Lita: * Either way, Altalita steps to Jeff's bed unhindered by the others, eyes aglow slightly as she regards him for a few moments, "Jeffrey Michael Levitt. Allow your mind to clear." She murmurs, reaching forward with her free hand--as the journal's in the crook of one arm, and placing two fingers on his forehead, and slowly drawing them away. Something--not quite tangible, starts to pull out of Jeff's skull. Other dimensional, the sort of otherdimensional that gives you headaches to look directly -at-. All twisted and noneuclidian.
Rassilon: *Every conscious Gallifreyan in the room looks away instinctively.*
* Gabriel winces, squinting, but tries not to look away. Stubborn git.
* Jeff_Levitt blinks, for the first time since he got here. His eye tries to focus on 'Lita, but he flinches at the sight of...whatever it is that's coming out of his *head* and looks away until it's over.
`Lita: * It's also colors not normally found in reality, either. All warped and twisted. "And now, your mind is cleared." With a cracking buzz of power, she's enveloped in white light and vanishes when it swirls away, leaving butterfly shaped motes of power in its wake.
Rassilon: *The Gallifreyans startle.*
* Gabriel looks down at his feet. /Josh, I hope you felt that. You helped someone./ And he smiles, just a little.
* Jeff_Levitt opens his good eye again. "'Lita?" It's barely a whisper. "Whu...hurts..."
* `Lita 's return is certainly not as dramatic, when she arrives via PINpoint, flicking the pink cellphone shut and sticking it in her sleeve.
* Gabriel looks back up but doesn't move, not yet. He's still smiling quietly.
* Jeff_Levitt manages to prop himself up on his elbows, though he winces slightly. "Wha happened?"
* Rassilon is still more or less unconscious.*
* Shadow reaches out with a bit of teke and pokes Rassilon in the frontal lobe.
Rassilon: *The doctors, on the other hand, return to their jobs, concluding their treatment of the patient.*
`Lita: "It's a long story, darling." Altalita murmurs.
* Gabriel did that, Shadow isn't here.
Rassilon: "Hmmnfh."
Jeff_Levitt: "Mm."
* Gabriel pokepokes.
* Jeff_Levitt is, while newly sane, still sedated to the gills. "Alwaysh is, inn...um."
Rassilon: "Mmmeh." *He bats at something near his head and his eyes flicker open. Black on green on black.*
* Jeff_Levitt screws up his mouth, poking his teeth with his tongue. "Um. They're...my teeth are all weird."
* Gabriel is very quiet. "Wake up, luv. Go see your bloke."
* Jeff_Levitt 's teeth are in fact far sharper than they should be. Hazards of regenerating tissue on a DNA-absorbing mutant, one supposes.
Rassilon: *The doctors note that, but there isn't much one can do, is there? They check on Rassilon one last time and then clear out of the room.*
* Rassilon mrbls woozily and oozes out of the bed. Hullo, Jeff. Have a Time Blob.*
* `Lita stands aside to let them do so, nodding a bit respectfully. A bit.
* Jeff_Levitt clings to Ras very tightly, suddenly. "I...I dunno wha' happen but I'm glad you're here."
* Gabriel looks at his feet. It seems like such a personal moment--almost as if he should step out.
Rassilon: "Can't say I know wha--hrk!" *grabbed.* "What happened either. You'd been missing for ... I can't remember, now..." *He's just going to crawl onto the bed, now.*
Jeff_Levitt: "'M sorry, I keep doing that, don' I. ...M'sorry."
* Jeff_Levitt notices Gabe. "Gabe...c'mere. Please?"
* Gabriel walks over. "H'lo." Still quiet, still the small smile.
* Rassilon looks up and smiles woozily, all unfocussed. Eldritch migraine plus painkillers will do that to one.*
* Jeff_Levitt reaches out and takes Gabe's hand. "...hi," he says quietly.
* Gabriel sits down on the edge of the bed, twining his fingers in with Jeff's. "Hell of a trip you had."
* `Lita stands to herself for a few moments while they do that, and, after what's an eternity, she steps over and reaches to run her hand through Jeff's hair a little.
Jeff_Levitt: "I dunno what happened but I'm glad you're all here."
Jeff_Levitt: "...I shaid that."
Rassilon: "S'all right."
* Gabriel just smiles, reserved. Later, when things are less tense, he'll unwind and likely be a bit of a fool, but right now he's just going to sit here and be a rock. a squishy one.
* Rassilon would help, but... damned Eldritch. Ow.
* Jeff_Levitt tries to snuggle three people at once. It doesn't work, but hey, give him points for trying.
* Gabriel scoots down on the bed a bit, and over. He's a footrest? and now there's room for 'Lita as well. ^,^
* Rassilon stays where he is. As a blanket. Oh, so sleepy.
* `Lita is fine with standing and petting his hair, but she does nod a little to Gabe
* Gabriel hesitates, then curls up on the bed, around Jeff's feet. He's tired. He's been tired for days. Might be able to sleep now...
Jeff_Levitt: "M'tired. Shorry."
Gabriel: "Ssh. Rest." He's gonna. He loves your feet, Jeff. Your feet are made of win. And that's what he can reach right now, these blasted narrow beds.
* Rassilon is too short. His feet cannot be reached. Alas. However, he will ... snore on you all. Painkiller logic.*
Jeff_Levitt: "Mm. 'Kay."
* `Lita slides a stool over and will sit for a while. Any of you say she did this in the main Nexus and she'll find a way for TERRIBLE REVENGE.
* Gabriel is curled up at an angle? You can use his head for a massage-thing, Rassilon?
* Gabriel will tell no-one. Actually, he's dozing--he won't tell anyone.
* Rassilon just puts his feet on your head. You are so lucky he's so damn warm, Gabe. His feet are even warm.*
Rassilon: *And sleep descends upon them all. Like a blanket. A blanket of silence and ... sleepystuff.*
* Gabriel snores quietly.
* Rassilon does as well. Awh.
* Jeff_Levitt drifts off to sleep as well
* `Lita watches them for a long while, before she, too, falls asleep against the bed.
***
* Gabriel is curled up, under the covers and near the foot of the bed, asleep. Somehow, he ended up tangled around Rassilon's and Jeff's feet. And he's naked.
* `Lita is lounging in the bed like she owns it, awake, by now, and reading.
* Jeff_Levitt is also here, curled in a tight little ball, nothing visble except a tuft of disheveled hair sticking out of one side of a lump of blankets.
* Gabriel mrgls. It's very warm in here. And dark. And... footie.
* Jeff_Levitt 's lump stirs, making various incoherent sleepy noises. There's a brief flapping as he tries, and fails, to disentangle himself with the covers. "Meh." He'd go back to sleep, but...his feet seem to have found someone's head. "Bzuh?"
Jeff_Levitt: *from the covers
Gabriel: *someone's prickly head*
* Rassilon has been here all along
* Gabriel raises his head, just enough to possibly tickle sensitive feet.
`Lita: "Hmmm?"
* Rassilon is a flat Gallifreyan.
* Jeff_Levitt yelps. Yes, he is *very* ticklish there. The lump becomes a much taller lump as he sits up, and with more flailing and flapping of blankets, he manages to find the end. "Mmm. Mornin'?"
* Rassilon is a blanket.
* Gabriel startles as well, what with the yelp. He scrambles under the covers and ... well, if it hadn't been the Bed of Rassilon, he might have stolen most of them in his own flailing. Likely they are TARDIS blankets. "Ahaaaah!" Muffled, of course.
`Lita: "Hmm, good morning."
* `Lita takes this all -completely casually-, in her reading.
* `Lita ...pageflip
Jeff_Levitt: "Mmm. Hi."
* Jeff_Levitt experimentally pokes one of the other lumps in the bed with his foot. "You 'wake?"
* Gabriel starts to crawl up to the head of the bed, slowly. There has to be air around here somewhere.
Rassilon: "mmmbl"
* `Lita stretches lazily
* Jeff_Levitt peeks under the covers. "Hey. This way."
* Gabriel appears first as a hand, two, then a head with a quarter inch of stubble on. "'lo."
Rassilon: "gominal."
* `Lita reaches over and rubs his head a little, "Hello."
* `Lita raises an eyebrow at Rass.
* Gabriel has skritchy-soft hairs.
Jeff_Levitt: "Gominal to you too, honey."
* Jeff_Levitt buries his face in Ras's hair.
* Gabriel fwumps into a pillow. It's nice and cool. "Mmfh."
Rassilon: "how're yoo."
Jeff_Levitt: "Mmm. Sleepy."
* Rassilon surfaces from under the blankets. His eyes are still black-on-green-on-black.*
* Gabriel curls around Jeff and might be starting to go back to sleep.
Jeff_Levitt: "Mm?"
* Jeff_Levitt draws himself up on his elbows. "Wha' happen'd? You okay, hon?"
`Lita: "It's a long story, darling." Altalita murmurs, "But these days, a lot of them are."
* Gabriel snuggles. He does this a great deal in his sleep. When he's not buried under blankets, apparently.
Rassilon: "Mhm. Nothing's ever a novella. Few paragraphs."
* Jeff_Levitt would sit up at this point, but he has a Gabriel snuggling him. Therefore, he can't move. It's like the rule with cats, only more so. "'msorry...I'm juss'...how did I get here? Don't remember com--" Um. His tongue probes his mouth. "And what happened to my *teeth?*"
Rassilon: "Hmmmm?"
* Jeff_Levitt pulls back his lips. Indeed, his teeth are a lot...sharper...than they used to be.
Gabriel: "Teeth... mmm." Zzz
Rassilon: "Pointy."
`Lita: "Indeed they are." Rassilon gets headrubbies now. She flicks her book closed and sets it aside somewhere
Rassilon: "mrrrrrrr"
Gabriel: "Mfh?" He lifts his head, eyes unfocused and his longish, curling beard mussed.
Rassilon: "How ... /did/ we get here?"
`Lita: "That, my friends, is a secret."
Rassilon: *sighhhhh*
Rassilon: "Too tired to bother."
Jeff_Levitt: "...oh."
* `Lita just winks impishly and stretches lazily
* Jeff_Levitt reaches over and massages Ras's temples.
* Rassilon purrs.
Gabriel: "You okay, Jeff?" Sleepily, but an undercurrent of concern.
* Jeff_Levitt lays back. "I...dunno. Tired. Sore as *hell.* Confused. Don't remember coming home. When'd that happen? Feels like..." he frowns. "...missing something."
Gabriel: "I'm not sure... you fell out of a mass of ... lights and I could hear voices and... itching in my brain and... then you were there and you were a mess."
* Rassilon looks at him. Well, that explains his eyes and his nagging headache, dunnit?*
`Lita: "Had to save your mind." She murmurs quietly.
Rassilon: *blinks*
* Jeff_Levitt looks stunned. "I...buh...what?" he says weakly. "But...I was going *home.* That stuff doesnt' happen there. That's why I *went.*"
`Lita: "Apparently, something didn't like that idea."
Gabriel: "I don't know. But there was blood... and you were screaming..." He snuggles closer and tighter again.
Jeff_Levitt: "Made it home though. Working on promo work for Devil Himself. Had a hell of a headache though. Happens all the time there though. Place makes me uncomfortable...I was what?"
Rassilon: "You must have encountered one of them in transit..."
* Gabriel lifts his head. "One of what?"
`Lita: "A great old one. That was what I had to remove from Jeff's mind."
* Gabriel nods. Oh yeah, he remembers now. -.-
Jeff_Levitt: "...Yog Sothoth."
* Jeff_Levitt pales.
`Lita: "Indeed." She confirms quietly
* Jeff_Levitt puts his head in his hands. "Pulled. I remember...no. I was *pushed.* Something was pushing me out. Something happened but..." he shakes his head.
`Lita: "Your universe." Altalita starts to explain, lighting a pipe she didn't have a second ago and blowing a whisp of multicolored smoke before her. She gestures, and the colors twist into a smokey shape of Earth, "Is a more mundane one. Less accepting of weird events like myself, Rassilon, or even Gabriel's mutation."
* Jeff_Levitt nods slowly. "That's...why I've been feeling so uncomfortable there?"
* `Lita nods, "Your mutation is something that doesn't follow its laws, and as such, it resisted your presence."
`Lita: "To the point when you were ejected, it caught the attention of Yog Sothoth, who, to put it in blunt layman's terms, did not appreciate that bullshit."
* Rassilon shivers*
Jeff_Levitt: "...Jesus."
* Gabriel slips an arm around Jeff. Mehhh.
* Jeff_Levitt looks down at his hands, and blinks. "Is that where...um...is that why I have the scars and the weird teeth now?"
Gabriel: "The scars, aye. The teeth... not sure."
Rassilon: "Can't say. I've been unconscious since I tried looking in your mind."
* Jeff_Levitt looks away. "I'm sorry."
Gabriel: "Shh."
`Lita: "That, unfortunately, is not for me to explain." Altalita murmurs quietly.
Rassilon: "Hardly your fault."
`Lita: "Gabriel made the wish to save your mind." She brushes her thumb over Jeff's forehead, "Which you awoke for, for a moment."
* Gabriel buries his head in Jeff's side. Sorry guys, but he's gone back to sleep. Not something he chose, it's just that he's exhausted (and his mun needs to crash).
* Jeff_Levitt sighs. "I went home because I thought it'd be *safe*. No...serial killers, no werewolves, no vampires. I just wanted to be normal for a while."
`Lita: "I can understand that." A little hint of longing? She blows a bit of smoke above herself.
Rassilon: *sigh*
`Lita: "And why the sigh from you?" She beeps Rass's nose.
* Rassilon buries his head under a pillow. meh.*
* Jeff_Levitt leans back, gently stroking Gabriel as he sleeps. "Maybe I'm not meant to be normal anymore. I wonder if I stopped being normal as soon as I came to the Nexus."
`Lita: "The Nexus tends to have that effect." She murmurs, "Even giving the mundane a chance to be up and strange."
Rassilon: *sigh.* "Normal."
Jeff_Levitt: "I don't regret any of it, don't get me wrong. I'm just wondering...maybe trying to be normal is a step in the wrong direction. Or...maybe I'm just not making sense."
Rassilon: "It is."
Jeff_Levitt: "'m just afraid of change, I suppose. Most of us humans are."
* Rassilon uncovers his head.* "Trust me. Clinging to the past isn't healthy."
Jeff_Levitt: "I guess I have been for too long."
* Jeff_Levitt curls up and tries to snuggle with all three of them at the same time.
* Rassilon resumes his duty as blanket.
`Lita: "Indeed, forward'sthe much better direction" Altalita doesn't need to be asked twice for snugglage
* Gabe][yard is the Original, Sane Gabriel, in a long-sleeve t-shirt and cargo pants. And sneakers. No more barefoot in the Nexus for him, after slasherverse.
Yog_Sothoth: *It starts as a flickering of lights. They pass over him like so many coloured searchlights; a daytime Aurora Borealis. Something whispers on the edge of perception. Yet with each second it grows louder and brighter. The very sky whirls and dances with these lights.*
* Gabe][yard looks up. Around. Gets to his feet. "Uh, hullo?"
Yog_Sothoth: *Within moments, the lights have expended into a madly whirling vortex of motion and colours. Too many colours. Colours that should not exist. Too many lights. Lights/colours/sounds/voices/thoughts/ everything, all at once; everything and nothing at all pinwheeling insanely in a Catherine Wheel a mere fifteen feet above the ground.*
* Cheryl[yard] is standing in the doorway, a drink in her hand and a very strong feeling that she shouldn't have come out here in her head...
* Gabe][yard squints and took two steps back slowly to the Sanctuary door. "Hullo?" Oh, he's getting a Very Bad Feeling from this.
Jeff_Levitt: *And something...or rather, someONE, is flung unceremoniously though the center of the wheel, landing in a heap on the ground. He makes no attempt to right himself. The eye that isn't swollen shut is wide open and unblinking, and his mouth is open wide. He'd be screaming, but he lost his voice some time ago.*
Gabe][yard: "... fuck." He steps forward again, cautiously, and then recognizes the face. "Jeff!"
Yog_Sothoth: *The lights flicker over him one last time, imparting a message. A final warning. Then, with a soundless, subsonic /VWOOMPH,/ everything vanishes into a roaring silence, so suddenly that the daylight seems dark by comparison for several beats.*
* Jeff_Levitt is, to put it mildly, a complete mess. His face is swollen and bruised to near-unrecognizability. His nose is broken, as are most of his front teeth. As the lights flicker, he goes rigid as something forces itself into his mind, then keels over in a dead faint.
Gabe][yard: "Nrg." Man, that's gonna be a headache pretty soon. BUT. He kneels beside the figure, rolling him over and feeling for a pulse. "Jeff..."
* Cheryl[yard] blinks. Blinks again.
* Jeff_Levitt is alive, his pulse weak and rapid. Gabe can see that the pinky on his left hand has been broken, and there are dozens of cuts on him, in very deliberate patterns.
* Rassilon appears in a flicker of green. AAAAGH
* Jeff_Levitt has fresh, cross-hatched cuts on the backs of both hands, the undersides of his feet, and between his shoulder blades. His fingertips are sliced open as well.
* Cheryl[yard] suddenly seems to come into the now again, and sets her drink on the table, then steps towards the poor human that reality seems to have chewed on for a few days.
Rassilon: "What in the name of all time was /that?/"
* Jeff_Levitt is still out cold. Hi, honey!
Gabe][yard: "Jesus fucking mother of bloody christ," he's rambling, taking in everything. He looks up. "Rassilon! It's Jeff, we have to get him somewhere, he's... I'm afraid to move him." D:
Cheryl[yard]: "Kibi. Bi. Beep. Didibeep." The. Uh. Beh. She has no clue.
* Rassilon runs over to where Jeff lies, chewed on AGAIN, and would probably trample both Gabriel and Cheryl were he not... y'know. Tiny. As it is, he's over there almost as fast as he would have been had he teleported, all flapping robes and a cloud of shiny frettings.* "Oh, Void... what's happened? You really need to stop doing this, Jeff...."
* Rassilon tries ever so carefully to look within Jeff's mind to see how unconscious he is.*
Cheryl[yard]: "...Geebeep beep dibi?!" You mean he's done that before?!
Gabe][yard: "There were lights, voices, a..." He gestures, empty. If Rassilon wanted to take a look, he's free to. "He just appeared, and then it was gone."
* Jeff_Levitt has had an up close and personal encounter with Yog-Sothoth. Its presence is filling his mind right now, too big for a sane human mind to contain. Before that...black. Traces of the Nexus, traces of other universes, but nothing of home.
Rassilon: "He has a most unfortunate tendency to disappear for ... distressing lengths of ... timeohIthinkI'mgoingtobeill...."
Cheryl[yard]: "Bibibeep! Kibeep! Didikeebeep!" Everything! All at once! And it looked really angry on top of it!
Gabe][yard: "Look! Rassilon, get hold of yourself! We have to get him somewhere, the clinics or ... or your hospital in New Gallifrey."
Rassilon: *faintly* "Great Old Ones. Always has to be Great Old Ones...."
* Cheryl[yard] 's eyes widen. Does he mean... "Digeebi?" Eldritch?
Jeff_Levitt: Jeff's eyes open, Ras's telepathic probe apparently nudging him back to consciousness, but...that doesn't amount to much. One eye opens, staring blindly at the sky.
Rassilon: "Yes, I'm ... afraid so." *He catches his breath.* "Jeff... can you hear me?"
* Jeff_Levitt stirs at the sound of his name, and shifts, as if trying to sit up, then stops suddenly, laying back and whimpering in pain.
* Gabe][yard finds Jeff's hand, to hold it, but the cuts... "Cripes, Rassilon. He's been tortured."
Cheryl[yard]: *The confirmation seems to wilt her, antennae drooped, eyes wide. Ohdear. Ohgod. She's. Just. Going to go sit in her flower for now.*
Rassilon: "You're coherent--good. That's the main thing, he's coherent. We can move him." *There's a swirl of green energy and all three of them vanish*
* Cheryl[yard] halts, turns around, sees them all gone... and doubles back to grab her drink. She's going to need this.
***
* Rassilon has a splitting migraine and can't see for shit (yeah, cry us a river, right?) but still manages to materialise the lot of them with enough accuracy to not only make it into the medlab, but get Jeff onto a bed. Erh, mostly.*
* Jeff_Levitt arrives in a panic. Understandable, considering his last experience with sudden teleportation. One hand clings to Rassilon hard enough to open up the cuts, and his heart rate is through the roof. He's started screaming again.
* Gabe][yard is there as well, not nearly as panicked. He knows the place well enough to go running for help.
Jeff_Levitt: *Though with his voice long given out; it's more a whisper than anything else.*
* Rassilon unfortunately can't calm Jeff his usual way, and instead blunders telepathically at the automated medical machinery. It throws a few things across the room, nearly defibrillates Rassilon, fires three needles into the wall and extends a bevy of scanners before it manages to poke Jeff with a sedative.*
* `Lita 's arrival isn't flashy or anything like her usual appearances, but considering the moment, it's somewhat dramatic in that she just simply seems to step out of nowhere, silent as can be. (Which, again, is impressive in those damn heels of hers)
* Gabriel_ returns with a small gaggle of doctors. He's got blood on his sleeve from Jeff's cut up hand.
Jeff_Levitt: *The sedative does its work fairly quickly, fortunately. He stops screaming, stops flailing and doing himself worse injury, and his eyes flutter closed. His breathing and pulse are still elevated, however.
Rassilon: *Said gaggle of doctors will have to literally peel Rassilon from the patient, calmly taking over the job of first resetting all the medical equipment, then actually getting down to the business of running diagnostics on said patient.*
* `Lita stays her distance, silent as the grave and damn near like Batman in that her presence probably wouldn't be noticed if you didn't actually glance back to -see- her.
* Gabriel stands a few steps away, trying to stay out of the doctor's way. And he's not Jeff's soon-to-be. He looks over at Lita. :|
* `Lita meets Gabe's eyes, but still says nothing. The Observer, at the moment.
Rassilon: *Rassilon is literally handed to them. Here, have a distraught Father of Time Lord Society.*
* Gabriel is... he's containing it all very well. This is what he does.
Jeff_Levitt: *The doctors will find that Gabe's diagnosis is pretty much on the money. Many cuts, deliberately made with a sharp blade. Traces of salt can be found in all the wounds, and possibly signs of infection setting in.*
Jeff_Levitt: *There's a great deal of blunt trauma to the face and torso. Several ribs, most of his front teeth, and his nose are broken, and the smallest finger on his left hand has been deliberately bent back until it snapped.*
* Gabriel watches, detached. He's had a lot of time in very bad situations and it's a coping mechanism. Part of his mind drifts off, while the rest waits and observes as well.
Rassilon: *It appears your handiwork will come to naught, Soze. The doctors disrobe Jeff and efficiently set to work with flickering disinfection field emitters, nanoscrubbers, tissue regenerators, /et cetera./*
* Rassilon just leans on Gabriel and tries to remember to breathe.*
* Gabriel rubs Rass' neck without even thinking about it.
* Jeff_Levitt doesn't seem to notice all the fuss and movement around him. His good eye is still wide open and unblinking. His mind drifts in a world of spheres and colors that should not exist.
Rassilon: *The doctors are perfectly capable of taking care of the physical trauma, but the psychic trauma is another matter entirely. They're woefully low on psionotherapists. In fact, their best psionotherapist is currently a shaking wreck about ten feet away. Hmmm. This is Not Good.*
* `Lita glances to the Psiontherapist, then to Gabe and Rassilon, and back to Jeff, silent.
* Gabriel leans over to Lita. "Can I speak to you for a moment," he asks quietly, "in the next room, perhaps?"
Rassilon: *Experts pass quietly in and out of the room. Jeff's physical condition is stabilised, at least, and someone manages to get Rassilon to lie down on the promise that it's very nearby. That done, they shoot him full of painkillers until he's a woozy puddle.*
* `Lita blinks, and nods, "Of course, sweet. Excuse us a moment?" This is said to Rassilon, and she gestures for Gabriel to lead the way, sleeve billowing a little.
Rassilon: "Mmmmbl."
* Jeff_Levitt endures all the poking and prodding silently. There's no indication that he's even aware that anyone is in the room.
* Gabriel slips into the next room, leaving Rassilon and the Gallifreyan doctors and Jeff. He does it reluctantly.
* `Lita follows Gabriel out, dress, etc, billowing silently.
* Rassilon drifts in and out of sleep, occasionally twitching when his mind accidentally drifts toward Jeff's.*
`Lita: -~The Next Room~-
* Gabriel sits down on a bed in the adjacent exam room. He is, as before, well contained, save for his hands. They never stop moving, rubbing them together, or over his thighs. "I ... is there anything you can do? I know you're... you have..."
* `Lita glances towards the room Jeff and Rassilon are in, "I can save his mind, yes." She replies quietly, piercing blue eyes falling to Gabriel as she shifts her weight slightly, "But I cannot act unless it's a wish, with Fate's proper price and all." It's subtle, but there's a little hint of frustration in her voice at this powerlessness.
* Gabriel doesn't hesitate. "Name your price."
* `Lita 's eyes go distant for a moment, "Your brother's journal. Joshua's." It should be noted that she -says this name whether or not he told her-.
* Gabriel holds his breath. Josh. He hasn't thought about him since... ah. But he knows exactly where it is. It's all he has left of his brother, passed these three years. But Jeff is alive, for the moment, and he was never able to save Josh. Quietly, "I can get it, if you can wait a moment."
* `Lita nods, and gestures, go, Gabe.
* Gabriel sits for a moment, then without a word he takes his PIN from his pocket and disappears.
* `Lita folds her arms and shifts her weight, glancing back towards Jeff's room and just looking silently that way.
* Jeff_Levitt is still here. Still catatonic. 'Sup.
* `Lita 'sup, man. Havin' a beer, watchin' the game.
* Rassilon is still next to him. Still mostly unconscious. y0.
* Gabriel reappears, very quiet. He has a leather wrapped, small, flat parcel in his hand. It's tied with a bit of twine. Inside is the journal he'd found with Josh's body. He doesn't want to give it up, but he doesn't want Jeff to die. The living and the dead; he's decided upon life. He offers it to her.
`Lita: "You accept this wish and its price, Gabriel Grey?" She says as she reaches for the journal.
* Gabriel nods slowly. If he'd have asked her for his left eye, he might very well have given that.
* `Lita doesn't ask for eyes, Gabe. Her 'verse is still loosely CLAMP based. Eyes are a Big Deal. "Then it shall be done." She murmurs, taking the journal and running her hand over the leather cover a bit. Altalita's eyes start to glow slightly as she starts back for Jeff's room in a slow walk. Time Lords take note, this woman's power rivals yours, now, or possibly *more.* It's also a different sort of power, not psychic or anything else. Fate.
* Gabriel follows her, silent, then stands in the doorway, leaning on the jamb.
Rassilon: *They do. In fact, they're all at the other side of the room, now, staring.*
Rassilon: *Well, all of them except the mostly-unconscious Rassilon.*
* Jeff_Levitt still hasn't moved, still hasn't *blinked*. Jeff isn't here right now, 'Lita, would you like to leave a message?
`Lita: * Either way, Altalita steps to Jeff's bed unhindered by the others, eyes aglow slightly as she regards him for a few moments, "Jeffrey Michael Levitt. Allow your mind to clear." She murmurs, reaching forward with her free hand--as the journal's in the crook of one arm, and placing two fingers on his forehead, and slowly drawing them away. Something--not quite tangible, starts to pull out of Jeff's skull. Other dimensional, the sort of otherdimensional that gives you headaches to look directly -at-. All twisted and noneuclidian.
Rassilon: *Every conscious Gallifreyan in the room looks away instinctively.*
* Gabriel winces, squinting, but tries not to look away. Stubborn git.
* Jeff_Levitt blinks, for the first time since he got here. His eye tries to focus on 'Lita, but he flinches at the sight of...whatever it is that's coming out of his *head* and looks away until it's over.
`Lita: * It's also colors not normally found in reality, either. All warped and twisted. "And now, your mind is cleared." With a cracking buzz of power, she's enveloped in white light and vanishes when it swirls away, leaving butterfly shaped motes of power in its wake.
Rassilon: *The Gallifreyans startle.*
* Gabriel looks down at his feet. /Josh, I hope you felt that. You helped someone./ And he smiles, just a little.
* Jeff_Levitt opens his good eye again. "'Lita?" It's barely a whisper. "Whu...hurts..."
* `Lita 's return is certainly not as dramatic, when she arrives via PINpoint, flicking the pink cellphone shut and sticking it in her sleeve.
* Gabriel looks back up but doesn't move, not yet. He's still smiling quietly.
* Jeff_Levitt manages to prop himself up on his elbows, though he winces slightly. "Wha happened?"
* Rassilon is still more or less unconscious.*
* Shadow reaches out with a bit of teke and pokes Rassilon in the frontal lobe.
Rassilon: *The doctors, on the other hand, return to their jobs, concluding their treatment of the patient.*
`Lita: "It's a long story, darling." Altalita murmurs.
* Gabriel did that, Shadow isn't here.
Rassilon: "Hmmnfh."
Jeff_Levitt: "Mm."
* Gabriel pokepokes.
* Jeff_Levitt is, while newly sane, still sedated to the gills. "Alwaysh is, inn...um."
Rassilon: "Mmmeh." *He bats at something near his head and his eyes flicker open. Black on green on black.*
* Jeff_Levitt screws up his mouth, poking his teeth with his tongue. "Um. They're...my teeth are all weird."
* Gabriel is very quiet. "Wake up, luv. Go see your bloke."
* Jeff_Levitt 's teeth are in fact far sharper than they should be. Hazards of regenerating tissue on a DNA-absorbing mutant, one supposes.
Rassilon: *The doctors note that, but there isn't much one can do, is there? They check on Rassilon one last time and then clear out of the room.*
* Rassilon mrbls woozily and oozes out of the bed. Hullo, Jeff. Have a Time Blob.*
* `Lita stands aside to let them do so, nodding a bit respectfully. A bit.
* Jeff_Levitt clings to Ras very tightly, suddenly. "I...I dunno wha' happen but I'm glad you're here."
* Gabriel looks at his feet. It seems like such a personal moment--almost as if he should step out.
Rassilon: "Can't say I know wha--hrk!" *grabbed.* "What happened either. You'd been missing for ... I can't remember, now..." *He's just going to crawl onto the bed, now.*
Jeff_Levitt: "'M sorry, I keep doing that, don' I. ...M'sorry."
* Jeff_Levitt notices Gabe. "Gabe...c'mere. Please?"
* Gabriel walks over. "H'lo." Still quiet, still the small smile.
* Rassilon looks up and smiles woozily, all unfocussed. Eldritch migraine plus painkillers will do that to one.*
* Jeff_Levitt reaches out and takes Gabe's hand. "...hi," he says quietly.
* Gabriel sits down on the edge of the bed, twining his fingers in with Jeff's. "Hell of a trip you had."
* `Lita stands to herself for a few moments while they do that, and, after what's an eternity, she steps over and reaches to run her hand through Jeff's hair a little.
Jeff_Levitt: "I dunno what happened but I'm glad you're all here."
Jeff_Levitt: "...I shaid that."
Rassilon: "S'all right."
* Gabriel just smiles, reserved. Later, when things are less tense, he'll unwind and likely be a bit of a fool, but right now he's just going to sit here and be a rock. a squishy one.
* Rassilon would help, but... damned Eldritch. Ow.
* Jeff_Levitt tries to snuggle three people at once. It doesn't work, but hey, give him points for trying.
* Gabriel scoots down on the bed a bit, and over. He's a footrest? and now there's room for 'Lita as well. ^,^
* Rassilon stays where he is. As a blanket. Oh, so sleepy.
* `Lita is fine with standing and petting his hair, but she does nod a little to Gabe
* Gabriel hesitates, then curls up on the bed, around Jeff's feet. He's tired. He's been tired for days. Might be able to sleep now...
Jeff_Levitt: "M'tired. Shorry."
Gabriel: "Ssh. Rest." He's gonna. He loves your feet, Jeff. Your feet are made of win. And that's what he can reach right now, these blasted narrow beds.
* Rassilon is too short. His feet cannot be reached. Alas. However, he will ... snore on you all. Painkiller logic.*
Jeff_Levitt: "Mm. 'Kay."
* `Lita slides a stool over and will sit for a while. Any of you say she did this in the main Nexus and she'll find a way for TERRIBLE REVENGE.
* Gabriel is curled up at an angle? You can use his head for a massage-thing, Rassilon?
* Gabriel will tell no-one. Actually, he's dozing--he won't tell anyone.
* Rassilon just puts his feet on your head. You are so lucky he's so damn warm, Gabe. His feet are even warm.*
Rassilon: *And sleep descends upon them all. Like a blanket. A blanket of silence and ... sleepystuff.*
* Gabriel snores quietly.
* Rassilon does as well. Awh.
* Jeff_Levitt drifts off to sleep as well
* `Lita watches them for a long while, before she, too, falls asleep against the bed.
***
* Gabriel is curled up, under the covers and near the foot of the bed, asleep. Somehow, he ended up tangled around Rassilon's and Jeff's feet. And he's naked.
* `Lita is lounging in the bed like she owns it, awake, by now, and reading.
* Jeff_Levitt is also here, curled in a tight little ball, nothing visble except a tuft of disheveled hair sticking out of one side of a lump of blankets.
* Gabriel mrgls. It's very warm in here. And dark. And... footie.
* Jeff_Levitt 's lump stirs, making various incoherent sleepy noises. There's a brief flapping as he tries, and fails, to disentangle himself with the covers. "Meh." He'd go back to sleep, but...his feet seem to have found someone's head. "Bzuh?"
Jeff_Levitt: *from the covers
Gabriel: *someone's prickly head*
* Rassilon has been here all along
* Gabriel raises his head, just enough to possibly tickle sensitive feet.
`Lita: "Hmmm?"
* Rassilon is a flat Gallifreyan.
* Jeff_Levitt yelps. Yes, he is *very* ticklish there. The lump becomes a much taller lump as he sits up, and with more flailing and flapping of blankets, he manages to find the end. "Mmm. Mornin'?"
* Rassilon is a blanket.
* Gabriel startles as well, what with the yelp. He scrambles under the covers and ... well, if it hadn't been the Bed of Rassilon, he might have stolen most of them in his own flailing. Likely they are TARDIS blankets. "Ahaaaah!" Muffled, of course.
`Lita: "Hmm, good morning."
* `Lita takes this all -completely casually-, in her reading.
* `Lita ...pageflip
Jeff_Levitt: "Mmm. Hi."
* Jeff_Levitt experimentally pokes one of the other lumps in the bed with his foot. "You 'wake?"
* Gabriel starts to crawl up to the head of the bed, slowly. There has to be air around here somewhere.
Rassilon: "mmmbl"
* `Lita stretches lazily
* Jeff_Levitt peeks under the covers. "Hey. This way."
* Gabriel appears first as a hand, two, then a head with a quarter inch of stubble on. "'lo."
Rassilon: "gominal."
* `Lita reaches over and rubs his head a little, "Hello."
* `Lita raises an eyebrow at Rass.
* Gabriel has skritchy-soft hairs.
Jeff_Levitt: "Gominal to you too, honey."
* Jeff_Levitt buries his face in Ras's hair.
* Gabriel fwumps into a pillow. It's nice and cool. "Mmfh."
Rassilon: "how're yoo."
Jeff_Levitt: "Mmm. Sleepy."
* Rassilon surfaces from under the blankets. His eyes are still black-on-green-on-black.*
* Gabriel curls around Jeff and might be starting to go back to sleep.
Jeff_Levitt: "Mm?"
* Jeff_Levitt draws himself up on his elbows. "Wha' happen'd? You okay, hon?"
`Lita: "It's a long story, darling." Altalita murmurs, "But these days, a lot of them are."
* Gabriel snuggles. He does this a great deal in his sleep. When he's not buried under blankets, apparently.
Rassilon: "Mhm. Nothing's ever a novella. Few paragraphs."
* Jeff_Levitt would sit up at this point, but he has a Gabriel snuggling him. Therefore, he can't move. It's like the rule with cats, only more so. "'msorry...I'm juss'...how did I get here? Don't remember com--" Um. His tongue probes his mouth. "And what happened to my *teeth?*"
Rassilon: "Hmmmm?"
* Jeff_Levitt pulls back his lips. Indeed, his teeth are a lot...sharper...than they used to be.
Gabriel: "Teeth... mmm." Zzz
Rassilon: "Pointy."
`Lita: "Indeed they are." Rassilon gets headrubbies now. She flicks her book closed and sets it aside somewhere
Rassilon: "mrrrrrrr"
Gabriel: "Mfh?" He lifts his head, eyes unfocused and his longish, curling beard mussed.
Rassilon: "How ... /did/ we get here?"
`Lita: "That, my friends, is a secret."
Rassilon: *sighhhhh*
Rassilon: "Too tired to bother."
Jeff_Levitt: "...oh."
* `Lita just winks impishly and stretches lazily
* Jeff_Levitt reaches over and massages Ras's temples.
* Rassilon purrs.
Gabriel: "You okay, Jeff?" Sleepily, but an undercurrent of concern.
* Jeff_Levitt lays back. "I...dunno. Tired. Sore as *hell.* Confused. Don't remember coming home. When'd that happen? Feels like..." he frowns. "...missing something."
Gabriel: "I'm not sure... you fell out of a mass of ... lights and I could hear voices and... itching in my brain and... then you were there and you were a mess."
* Rassilon looks at him. Well, that explains his eyes and his nagging headache, dunnit?*
`Lita: "Had to save your mind." She murmurs quietly.
Rassilon: *blinks*
* Jeff_Levitt looks stunned. "I...buh...what?" he says weakly. "But...I was going *home.* That stuff doesnt' happen there. That's why I *went.*"
`Lita: "Apparently, something didn't like that idea."
Gabriel: "I don't know. But there was blood... and you were screaming..." He snuggles closer and tighter again.
Jeff_Levitt: "Made it home though. Working on promo work for Devil Himself. Had a hell of a headache though. Happens all the time there though. Place makes me uncomfortable...I was what?"
Rassilon: "You must have encountered one of them in transit..."
* Gabriel lifts his head. "One of what?"
`Lita: "A great old one. That was what I had to remove from Jeff's mind."
* Gabriel nods. Oh yeah, he remembers now. -.-
Jeff_Levitt: "...Yog Sothoth."
* Jeff_Levitt pales.
`Lita: "Indeed." She confirms quietly
* Jeff_Levitt puts his head in his hands. "Pulled. I remember...no. I was *pushed.* Something was pushing me out. Something happened but..." he shakes his head.
`Lita: "Your universe." Altalita starts to explain, lighting a pipe she didn't have a second ago and blowing a whisp of multicolored smoke before her. She gestures, and the colors twist into a smokey shape of Earth, "Is a more mundane one. Less accepting of weird events like myself, Rassilon, or even Gabriel's mutation."
* Jeff_Levitt nods slowly. "That's...why I've been feeling so uncomfortable there?"
* `Lita nods, "Your mutation is something that doesn't follow its laws, and as such, it resisted your presence."
`Lita: "To the point when you were ejected, it caught the attention of Yog Sothoth, who, to put it in blunt layman's terms, did not appreciate that bullshit."
* Rassilon shivers*
Jeff_Levitt: "...Jesus."
* Gabriel slips an arm around Jeff. Mehhh.
* Jeff_Levitt looks down at his hands, and blinks. "Is that where...um...is that why I have the scars and the weird teeth now?"
Gabriel: "The scars, aye. The teeth... not sure."
Rassilon: "Can't say. I've been unconscious since I tried looking in your mind."
* Jeff_Levitt looks away. "I'm sorry."
Gabriel: "Shh."
`Lita: "That, unfortunately, is not for me to explain." Altalita murmurs quietly.
Rassilon: "Hardly your fault."
`Lita: "Gabriel made the wish to save your mind." She brushes her thumb over Jeff's forehead, "Which you awoke for, for a moment."
* Gabriel buries his head in Jeff's side. Sorry guys, but he's gone back to sleep. Not something he chose, it's just that he's exhausted (and his mun needs to crash).
* Jeff_Levitt sighs. "I went home because I thought it'd be *safe*. No...serial killers, no werewolves, no vampires. I just wanted to be normal for a while."
`Lita: "I can understand that." A little hint of longing? She blows a bit of smoke above herself.
Rassilon: *sigh*
`Lita: "And why the sigh from you?" She beeps Rass's nose.
* Rassilon buries his head under a pillow. meh.*
* Jeff_Levitt leans back, gently stroking Gabriel as he sleeps. "Maybe I'm not meant to be normal anymore. I wonder if I stopped being normal as soon as I came to the Nexus."
`Lita: "The Nexus tends to have that effect." She murmurs, "Even giving the mundane a chance to be up and strange."
Rassilon: *sigh.* "Normal."
Jeff_Levitt: "I don't regret any of it, don't get me wrong. I'm just wondering...maybe trying to be normal is a step in the wrong direction. Or...maybe I'm just not making sense."
Rassilon: "It is."
Jeff_Levitt: "'m just afraid of change, I suppose. Most of us humans are."
* Rassilon uncovers his head.* "Trust me. Clinging to the past isn't healthy."
Jeff_Levitt: "I guess I have been for too long."
* Jeff_Levitt curls up and tries to snuggle with all three of them at the same time.
* Rassilon resumes his duty as blanket.
`Lita: "Indeed, forward'sthe much better direction" Altalita doesn't need to be asked twice for snugglage