(Untitled)

[ashtreelane]

Here, there is no light.

Here, there is no color to the walls or floor: just a uniform, ashy black.

Here, there is nothing -- no proof of what has come before, no prediction of what may come after.

There's only the darkness, the cold, and the long hallway stretching ahead.

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[watching_you]

"Here -" Veronica replies, instinctively.

It occurs to her that there are reasons why one should not trust strangers in the unknown dark, but it also likely a bit late for that. She moves towards the voice with hesitant movements, one hand always touching the wall.

"Who's there?"

[spcl_agt_cooper]

"Dale Cooper."

One step in the direction of the voices.

"Who are you two?"

[ladyfirestarter]

(make them let me out, kid)
"Charlie McGee."

[watching_you]

"Veronica Mars."

Unfamiliar names, in an unfamiliar place.

"Did you guys just get here, too?"

[aj_crawley]

If there was an answer coming, it's interrupted by what, in the heavy, hollow silence of the darkness, must seem like a wall of sound - and a sudden, blinding glare of light.

A door has opened in the wall, just a little way off, and a figure, backlit and black against the lamplight and chatter of Milliways, checks over its shoulder and ducks hurriedly inside - and closes the door behind itself.

"Oh, I'm sorry," comes a new voice, a few moments later.

British accent, male.

"Am I interrupting anything?"

[watching_you]

If Veronica's reply comes across as pained, it's probably because she feels like she just stared into the sun.

"Heck yeah, we were in the middle of a great satanic orgy here. What else is there to do in a pitch-black hallway?"

Snappish, "Is that door behind you unlocked?"

[spcl_agt_cooper]

Even with his eyes closed -- Cooper can tell that there was light of some kind.

But -- he knows that voice. He can't place it this quickly, he's still disoriented, but --

Veronica (the voice calling herself 'Veronica', anyhow) asked the right question.

[ashtreelane]

It would be an easier question to answer, maybe, if the door was still there;

if it hadn't faded into the wall.

[ladyfirestarter]

Charlie started for the door half a second after it opened, kept moving when it closed, hoping --

No good. She pulls to a stop just short of actually knocking into the newcomer.

"It's gone." Flat, frustrated. A little frightened.

[aj_crawley]

"It's not - " irritated, " - what d'you mean, it's - "

There's a long
long
silence.

And something colder than the freezing air settles its grip around Crowley's stomach as, his hand sliding under his jacket, he realises that the door isn't the only thing missing.

Sharp, and uneasy, as (demons can see in the dark) he takes in their surroundings:

"What's going on."

[watching_you]

Great. Door's gone.

And as dark as it is, Veronica can still see spots of light twisting through her vision, afterimage stars that have imprinted themselves onto her eyes. She presses her palms against her eyelids, sighing, her frustration growing.

"What part of 'satanic orgies' didn't you understand?"

[spcl_agt_cooper]

-- satanic orgies --

"...Crowley."

Cooper's eyes open. He still can't see anything.

"Anthony Crowley. You're a demon. And we played cards, when Moiraine was -- not herself. Moiraine knows you. Which means -- "

"We all came here from Milliways, didn't we."

[ladyfirestarter]

"That's where I was until about a minute ago."

Charlie's got one hand on the wall again, running her fingers over where the door was -- or at least where she thinks she remembers it being; it's impossible to tell now.

"...does anyone have a light? Or, or something to use as a torch?"

[aj_crawley]

"I can see," Crowley volunteers, unhelpfully.

Then he snaps his fingers and -

Then he snaps his fingers and -

Then he -

After the third time the tiny spark fizzles out on his palm, Crowley speaks again, voice a little thin.

"...I've got nothing."

[ladyfirestarter]

They could all see the sparks, too tiny to illuminate anything more than the hand curled around them, still the brightest thing in the darkness.

Charlie stares at where the sparks appeared and vanished, with a rising unease.

[watching_you]

Veronica seems the only person inclined to ask, "You're a demon?" so she lets it be.

Sparks, fledgling fire, and then nothing. Veronica reaches absently for her side, only to realize that she'd left her shoulder bag back in the bar, and with it her penlight, her stun gun, her cell phone - everything. Just a girl with a brain, now.

To Crowley: "You said you can see?"