(Untitled)

[dovehearted]

Who: dovehearted and OPEN
What: She needs the score. It's better to get it the old-fashioned way.
Where: Level 4, locations noted in log
When: Saturday
Warnings: eta: Character is from 1931; expect accordingly.

Comments

[lifeafterhope]

The third or fourth time the door opened, Vanessa was standing outside it, leaning against the wall opposite and watching to see who her new neighbor was and why exactly moving into the Barge had required so much door-slamming.

While she didn't exactly look outwardly annoyed, she didn't much look like the welcome wagon, either.

[dovehearted]

The hallway outside her room never changed, no matter how many times she looked. It wasn't supposed to be a row of doors like a hotel, but she didn't even know what was real anymore. She'd thought last night was real, but she'd woken up five hundred miles away... he'd know, if he'd come back. He was out so late.

If you felt pain when you hurt yourself it wasn't a dream, right? This time, as the door swung open, Lua stuck a finger in the doorframe, only to leave it hanging open when she saw the woman standing outside. She couldn't look back, more out of embarrassment than anything else; she hadn't expected other people here. "Sorry to wake you up."

[lifeafterhope]

"You didn't." Not being predictable in her movements meant keeping odd hours, so she'd been up anyway - and besides, aside from others' schedules, day and night didn't mean much when you couldn't get into the CES.

Her new neighbor didn't look like much, really, as things on the barge went - no bulging muscles or seven foot height or anything like that - but that didn't necessarily mean anything. "The others might be sleeping." Not that she cared about them.

dresses or fanservicey armor btw?

[dovehearted]

A couple years younger, a little higher-class than her, but meant some kind of business, and Lua didn't know what kind. Definitely not someone to explain herself to if this was real.

She ran her fingernails inside of her palm before speaking. The scratch was just enough pain to tell her the truth, and she couldn't think too hard about what that meant right now, just had to be careful. "Mhm. Should have thought about that.

"Sometimes you forget about other people," she added, shrugging one shoulder.

oops, sorry. dress atm.

[lifeafterhope]

Vanessa would have been startled at the assessment of herself as higher-class, though she'd already learned how much worlds differed. But, in any case, there was no sense making an enemy out of a neighbor before it was necessary, so she just nodded noncommittally.

"Easy to forget about them if you don't know they're there," she offered casually.

It would be nice not to live next to a Warden.

hehe np

[dovehearted]

"Just moved here, so I don't know too much." Something still felt dream-like about the conversation, no matter how on the level she was trying to keep it. What Lua tried to hide about herself, the girl didn't seem to mind showing. "My husband never told me anything about the place."

Half the truth was true enough. But he'd be back soon, right? In the morning, if not earlier, though she'd been listening for quick loud footsteps and a shout coming from the side of her door ever since she'd woken up alone and more afraid than she could remember a few hours before.

[lifeafterhope]

Definitely not a warden, then... if her lack of knowledge was on the level, that was. But that wasn't the kind of lie that could be hidden for long, so Vanessa didn't push for more.

"Most of this hall is full." She waved a hand vaguely down the hall towards the opposite stairs. "But people keep their own schedules around here. You get to know the ones you shouldn't wake up-" should stay away from, that was, "-pretty fast, though."

[dovehearted]

She could understand what wasn't being said with the "shouldn't wake up", if everyone here was normal people. "Guess I'll keep quiet."

They were both awake, and the girl looked straight enough. She could stand to kill a few more minutes. "It's a nice place?" Not like he'd leave her anywhere else, but she didn't know anything about it.

[lifeafterhope]

"Some people like it better than others. Really, it depends on how much you like prison."

She let enough cynicism into her voice that her own feelings on the matter were more than clear. Being trapped inescapably had never sat well with her, and the randomness of the disappearances only made it worse.

[dovehearted]

Her eyebrows flew up. Prison? "What do you mean?" Not a question she'd ever have asked, normally, but now...

[lifeafterhope]

"We can't leave. They like to talk about how we have more rein than we'd have in a real prison, but it isn't really true. The halls, some other places if you beg the wardens... it's the illusion of freedom at most."

Either Lua was a good actor or she hadn't yet looked at the communicator left for her. Notable, either way, for what each implied. "This is the Barge. I'm guessing you died."

[dovehearted]

It was both, but in this case, she'd never touched the little box on the table. She hadn't known what it was, and though she was smart enough to understand the instructions, she was confused enough as it was.

But she listened to Vanessa, looking at her to show just how hard she was. She had a good idea of why she might be in prison, and... "So that really happened."