( one ) ( accidental video )

[nonfunction]

[ There had been two other instances in River's recent memory in which she had woken up without any recollection of where she had been before, and many more when she had woken up scared, a dying scream on her lips. But every single time, Simon had been there to help her, to smooth her hair back and speak in soft, comforting tones

Comments

[excessivehubris]

[He's back in his small room in the hospital, which means there is more than just her voice across the skewed video feed echoing in his head. He's more used to this sort of mental chaos, particularly in this city.

Screaming? Was it screaming? Charles tried to think back to his initial waking but the cold of the morgue freezer was the only prevalent memory from those horrible moments. Still, he supposed there had been a sense of screaming?

Wait, what screaming was she talking about? No, he caught the edges, it was like ... yes, he knew that feeling, knew that feeling all too well.]

They won't stop screaming. [Charles says with blunt honesty.] They can't stop screaming. They don't understand and you can't make them. Sing a rhyme, River, in your head sing a rhyme. You won't be able to hear over the screaming otherwise.

[nonfunction]

[ Paranoid schizophrenia had been Simon's best guess, but doctors were always categorizing. Labels on the jars. Peroxide, peroxitine, pax. River has no name for it, no repose. Sometimes she hears things that are not there. Sometimes she hears worse; sometimes there are secrets. The truth always has a way of finding out, crawling underneath the surface.

River's ragged breathing stops just for a moment, when she heard the voice. And then she leans off the table, still naked and trembling, and picks up the device. She's curled in on herself, scrawny limbs tucked in nice and neat. ]

Trepannation. Medical procedure. Used to drill into the brain to let the devil out.

[ She shudders again, looking away from the camera. And then bringing it back up until the screen is filled with her eye.]

[excessivehubris]

[Averting his eyes! He doesn't need them anyway, he can hear and hear her just fine.]

Its not that easy here. Where you woke up, it is not what it seems. Take the tag off your toe, look in one of the lockers, there were a lot of medical clothing that is more comfortable.

Who is 'Simon'?

[Trying to not just nose in and look, though it feels like it would be so easy, she feels so clear in his mind. Another mutant?]

[nonfunction]

[ Or was it to let the devil in? There are many things that River can't recall these days, the huge analytical power of her mathematical mind being jumbled by erstwhile thoughts and horrors, many of which are not her own. Too many facts, like how blood can be drained from the body in 6.8 seconds, or the exact list of chemicals with which to soak a human brain in order to dissole it.

She's cold. River wouldnt mind being naked otherwise - she understands the stigma attached to it by others but does not comprend it for herself. Nothing is what it seemed. Nothing had meaning unless it was given. But she doesn't like being cold, even if freezing to death is much less painless than burning. She slips off the table and pads silently towards the closet, leaving the phone there. When she returns she is clad in a shapeless white hospital gown. Just like in Ariel, River thinks.

But it isn't polite to eavesdrop. Mother had told her that, once in the past. ]

Didn't tell you my name, did I?

[ A pause. ]

Charles. Means free man. 

[video]

[chapelbelle]

[Christine nearly jumps out of her skin when she hears the scream coming from her phone. She's sitting in the nurses' lounge, only two floors up from where this poor girl has woken up and she quickly tries to soothe her.]

It's all right. Everything's all right. The door isn't locked and you can get out. We all came into this place the same way, and I know it's scary, but we help each other here, ok?

[nonfunction]

Not dead. Heartbeat, 70 bpm, standard resting is 60-80. Still beating.

[ Because she's fixated on the fact that she's in a morgue. It brings back memories of Ariel, except that she isn't in the future equivalent of a body bag. ]

[chapelbelle]

Yes, that's right. None of us are dead here. Whoever brings us here sets us up in the morgue to wake up. They're trying to scare us. But we're stronger than they think we are.

[nonfunction]

Someone's drumming the drums. Someone tells us when to run and jump, and when to die.

But you don't know who.

voice;

[trenchcoatism]

[Castiel figures he should take advantage of his fluency in every language of Earth to try and explain some things. He goes for English, though, since she seems to speak both. He can feel her fear, even from across the city, and he makes a conscious effort to stay clear of her mind.]

This place is hard to understand, but it is also fairly safe.

There is a Simon here, but I'm unsure whether he is yours.

( Sorry for a lack of permissions post, but for some reason I was told it didn't exist every time I tried to post there... Anyways, for the purposes of this thread, River probably wouldn't be able to get into Castiel's mind, but she might get a sense of his non-humanness or even something that seems angelic/divine depending on what you want to do with it :3 )

[nonfunction]

He isn't here. He's always thinking. I would be there right now. I can't hear him.

[ and that fact makes her more scared than anything. Simon has always come for her. Always taken care of her. And now he isn't here ]

[ OOC - No worries! I'm just thrilled to see Castiel around *___* My apologies for the delay, I fell asleep early last night ♥ ]

[trenchcoatism]

[Castiel isn't sure what to do beyond this, knowing the pain of being thrust into a new reality with no one there to catch him. Perhaps being forced into a new world was not quite like Falling from Grace, but he could still understand her fear.]

Is... there anything I can do to help you?

( Can't be as thrilled as I am to see River! I've been hoping for a Firefly cast since I first got into RP ;3; )

[nonfunction]

[ She hears silence, only. Something doesn't feel right about him. ]

I want my brother.

[ It's whiny, and a little petulant, but River's regressed in mental age a little bit since being rescued from the Academy. Trying to marry her brother was only part of it. ]

( kldsjkfs I'm so happy to see more and more Firefly peeps about ;;)

[likethewayiam]

video;

[The sound of his name is what catches his attention, but it quickly becomes clear that this person is not looking for him. The screaming freaks him out quite a bit - it's not the usual reaction for new arrivals.]

A-are you alright?

((OOC: Hi! Simon would know about Firefly but he's been here long enough that he knows it's better not to fourthwall anyone. Let me know if it's okay for him to think to himself that he recognizes her.))

[nonfunction]

Simon.

[ A Simon, but not the right Simon. ]

Not mine. You're unfamiliar.

[ OOC - As long as he doesn't say anything about it, we're alllll gravy ♥ ]

[likethewayiam]

[Initially he's taken aback by the fact that she knows he shares a name with her brother, but then he remembers who he's talking to right now.

He looks apologetic.]

There aren't any other Simons in this city. Sorry. [Although he thinks it's likely that her brother will show up, people from the same worlds seem to have a habit of popping up eventually.]

((OOC: No problem! TY ♥ ))

[nonfunction]

No other Simons.

[ She repeats it, letting the words sink in. She could reach out with her mind but...she knows it's true. Simon isn't here, and she simply knows it like she knows so many other things, things that she'd rather not. ]

I...understand.

[ River does, this time. No Simon. She understands the implications of that here. Lost, lost in the woods. ]

[dont_tell_sansa]

You're the only one screaming.

[nonfunction]

You're not listening.

[dont_tell_sansa]

Because I can't hear anything but you! Who are you?

[nonfunction]

[Who are you. Well, that's quite the question, isn't it? She's many things.]

River. Don't tell, I'm supposed to be a ghost. Shh.