001: Lab Specimens [Holo]

[a_pretty_fire]

“I had a dream about the hanged man.” Without opening her eyes, Drusilla stepped off the platform. She didn’t need to peep out in order to see. She could smell it from here. The change in the air, the sickening metal tang of the machines, the whispers of the false stars. It wasn’t right. “Is he upside down, or did he miss the world turning around

Comments

[Visual]

[oldoldghost]

Brigitta looks faintly torn between being fascinated and as close to scared as she can get these days; in the end she settles for fascinated- for fear is a sign of weakness after all and she can't allow that to happen.

"...The hanged man?"

[a_pretty_fire]

Drusilla, still clutching at her head, looked up at the tablet in surprise. She'd been caught up in the tangles of technology in her head, and hadn't noticed the small machine resting nearby. That was new. A piece of the puzzle that she hadn't been expecting. A rook or a pawn? It couldn't be a castle.

Lowering her hands, the vampire moved closer, her head tilted to one side. She reached out to tap the screen with a white finger. Another prisoner. (How many had the tin men captured this time?) What wires were worming through her brain, hmmm? What nasty circuits fizzed in her skull?

"Are you trapped?"

[oldoldghost]

Brigitta currently has no circuits weaving a path in her skull; she has trappings (oh yes, endlessly repressed dreams and barely held back panic and the moments where she's right back in the cave with the rock crushing her lungs) but nothing mechanical; one may say thank heavens for that- she has far too much information on appearing normal for anything else to fit.

Of course; she doesn't let any of this show on her face "we're all trapped; alien overlords probably- nice to meet you, I'm Brigitta."

Seems a nice way to start a conversation; it might not last long.

[a_pretty_fire]

"Aliens?" Drusilla repeated, canting her head. Far more interesting than tin soldiers, but the vampire isn't sure that she believes the stranger. Not yet. "Little green men? Do they have a space ship?"

They'd all been the same, the little green men in the old films. She'd watch them sometimes, when there was nothing else interesting on the telly. The women had always screamed had screamed, and she'd liked to laugh at that. But she'd always changed the channel for the probing and the prodding. Too much like science for her taste, even in a story.

[oldoldghost]

Brigitta shall jsut be being faintly puzzled for the moment- Kirilli bowed to her demands to see the gorier side of cinema first and although he would've gotten around to it eventually she hasn't exactly had a big education in the intricacies of such things; little green men ring no bells in her head.

After a few moments she does manage to shake her head though "No, we haven't seen them and they don't have a spaceship... Unless you count this city as a spaceship; it doesn't appear to be moving."

She looks faintly disapproving at the thought; she prefers some warning before being dragged across space thanks.

[a_pretty_fire]

Drusilla held out her arms for a moment, attempting to sense any movement that there might have been. No. The girl was right. They were still, still and silent in the darkness of space. Not even her head was spinning now.

"They shouldn't be aliens if they aren't green. It's cheating."

[oldoldghost]

Brigitta blinks at that thoughtfully and then nods slightly; in a way that is almsot understanding- she appreciates the needs for rules in such things, adn even though she's never met any aliens she'd rather like them to fit into some sort of box- it works well enough for demons after all.

"I know, but we can hardly stop them- we can't even get out of the city... I don't suppose you have any superpower that can blow down walls?"

She asks in a sort of way that implies that she'd really rather stay thanks.

[a_pretty_fire]

"I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow the walls down," declared Drusilla. She wasn't much of a big bad wolf, not with this chip in her head, but she still had some snap left in her. The tin soldiers hadn't been able to take that away, no matter how hard they'd tried.

"You shouldn't like your cage," she said, after a moment of silence, "It'll snap tight and the wrong moment, and then you'll be lost."

[oldoldghost]

"Without magic I think that's fairly impossible" Brigitta smiles wryly; though she appreciates the enthusiasm and the three little pigs references- Kirilli told her the truly blood soaked version (he figured her out fast) and blood obviously provokes smiling in Brigitta- she likes the gory things.

Her face tightens for a moment at that and then loosens slightly; though she still looks a little guarded "I can't exactly wail about it since it won't do anything... It isn't too bad here."

As long as she doesn't think of the cave.

[a_pretty_fire]

"It's still a cage," Drusilla mused, running a slender white hand down the metal rivets of the platform. "Silver isn't a proper way to gild a cage. It ought to be gold."

She raised her wrist. More strange metal. Before speaking again, Drusilla lifted it to her mouth and licked the band with a crimson tongue.

"It isn't even silver!" she exclaimed in surprise, "Not real silver. It's just an echo."

[oldoldghost]

"...I'm not sure which one is easier to cut through" Brigitta murmurs after a thoughtful pause; because that is obviously a appropriate reaction to cage materials "I don't really mind that much to be honest."

She frowns deeply at the licking of the metal and then the exclamation leads to a firm head tilt- not silver? How odd; she's not very good on her metals but she does expect things that look like silver to be silver. There's no point otherwise.

"...What does that mean?"

[a_pretty_fire]

"This place is an echo," Drusilla said, and her dark eyes seemed to be fixed on the middle distance now. Was she talking to Brigitta or to herself or to someone else entirely? Who could tell? There were a lot of people here and any of them could be listening. (They were terribly good at hiding.) "The sky, the stars, their shining silver tinker toys. Just echoes. Listen, you can hear their ripples."

On and on in the darkness.

[oldoldghost]

Brigitta actually does listen for a moment; her head tilted faintly as she tries to catch those ripples… But soon the spell breaks and she shakes her head- looking just a little embarrassed at herself “I’ll leave you to judge that then… But why do they need us then? How do we actually work into the echoes?”

She is thinking on it; but understanding is coming ever so slowly.

[a_pretty_fire]

That amuses Drusilla no end, partly because it was nice to see someone making such an effort and partly because she already knew that Brigitta wouldn't hear a thing.

"We could be echoes," she murmured, "Nobody would ever be able to tell."

But that was foolish talk, even for her. She must bite her tongue.

"That's for our hosts to tell, not me."