1 ♕ [ HOLO : SANCTUARY ]

[moleculars]

There’s a dull ache at her back when Piper opens her eyes. Finding herself standing, no less, on a platform in a strange metallic room that doesn’t resemble an ounce of the cold, cave structure of the Underworld sends Piper into panic mode. She looks around the room, trying to get a grasp on where she is-and where the Source is, he couldn’t have

Comments

[visual]

[justaddmarbles]

"We all wanna go home," Glitch began with a sigh. "And and lots of folks do eventually, but-"

He cut himself off and stared at the hologram. If she were closer to the tablet she'd see a guy with a mop of curly hair and a zipper on his head, frowning in confusion on the screen. "You sound...do I know you?"

Good luck, Piper.

[visual]

[moleculars]

Piper frowns. She wants to ask how that eventually can be put on fast-forward to right this second but his question stops her. She doesn't recognise his voice. "I don't know," she frowns. "Maybe you should show your face and we'll see." Piper stands with her hands on her hips, looking expectantly at ... nothing. Her plan is simple: draw them out and vanquish. And if she can get a few answers along the way, even better.

However, she does notice that the tone of voice is friendlier than the demonic ones she's used to. And that puts her on edge even more.

[visual --> holo]

[justaddmarbles]

Little bits were coming back, something about a cookbook that wasn't a cookbook at all (that'd be the Book of Shadows). More clearly, he remembered someone kind and decidedly good and Glitch wanted very much to help her.

"You can see me over on the tablet-thingy, just-- oh, hang on." And he switched to holo mode, so up from the tablet popped a very realistic six-inch hologram of the headcase. He waved cheerfully. "Hello! It's Glitch, and...okay, I think I did know you but I don't really remember. Hello!"

[ holo ] pretend i was doing this all along /headdesk

[moleculars]

Piper may jump back slightly at the sudden appearance of a shape on the tablet. This gets her to descend the stairs and approach the pedestal. "Glitch," she says, trying to rattle something in her memory. It only brings confusion. "I'm Piper."

She frowns. "Where are you?" Then, quickly, "Please don't tell me you're trapped inside this device thing." She's been stuck in a painting and inside a cinema screen trapped within a movie. She's not quite prepared to take on technology.

[Visual]

[vampbogeyman]

Anita couldn't help feeling sympathetic as she caught a glimpse of the new arrival. She'd been in the same boat herself, not too long ago. She still desperately wanted to find a way to get back home, though even she had to admit that Taxon offered something of a reprieve from her increasingly hectic life.

"That's going to be a little tough," she informed the brunette with a frown. "Sorry. We're all stuck here."

[visual]

[moleculars]

Piper frowns. She's not liking the sound of this one bit, especially if there's a 'we' involved. "Where's 'here'?"

[visual]

[vampbogeyman]

"The city of Taxon. Consider yourself kidnapped, I guess. I didn't believe it when I first got here, but after a month or so, it's really starting to sink in." Anita offered her a wry smile, clearly not a huge fan of the situation.

[visual]

[moleculars]

Piper throws her head back and groans. "This is a one-way ticket kind of thing?" It's just her luck to get zapped into some other world and have no way out. She's looking at the walls of the room she's in. "Please don't tell me it's a city of metal."

[visual]

[slayersidekick]

Willow hasn't been back in her room at the castle for very long now and she'd been hoping never to have to see the Sanctuary again, but the second she sees the new post, all that goes out the window. Hey... isn't that one of Tara's witch friends? Willow brightens up considerably.

"H-hey! Piper!"

Wait... wait a minute. Willow pauses again and realizes... Piper probably doesn't remember anything about Taxon. Oh no.

"Uh... the bracelet can't be taken off. It's stuck." She raises her own wrist to show off hers, though.

[visual]

[moleculars]

Piper touches her own bracelet, running her fingers over its metal. Her heart is hammering in her chest as she's starting to feel like she's in a bubble with no way out. She just hoped she wasn't stuck in another painting - she wasn't exactly flame retardant nor did she like being permanently stuck there with no way out.

Then she remembers that this woman said her name. She frowns, "How do you know my name?"

[visual]

[slayersidekick]

"Uh... it's a long story." Willow winces a bit and sighs. Guess she'd better play introduction person. "This whole city is called Taxon and the short story is that, as weird as it sounds, we've all been kidnapped by aliens somehow. But, uh... people come and go all the time."

Now for the hard part. Willow hesitates a moment longer. Should she just explain it or wait? In the end, she decides to go for it.

"My name's Willow and, uh... you were one of those people who were here and then went poof. That's how I know your name."

[holo] sorry i fail~

[moleculars]

"Kidnapped by aliens?" Piper may shriek that out. Her eyes are narrowed and her brows are pinched tightly together. Aliens didn't exist. There were demons and warlocks and everything under the sun but not aliens.

She says it before she listens properly, stopping halfway through "You're having my -" when Willow reveals she was here before. She sputters before gaining her composure. She's not quite she she heard her right. Here before? Went poof? Aliens? Piper's standing with her hands on her hips, a look of utter disbelief on her face, and her tone is unsure, despite her attempts at conveying absolute confidence in her words. "I think I'd remember if I was here before. And I don't."

[ visual ]

[gotcouplings]

"Piper!"

The name is out before Kaylee can really think about the transmission. It's been far too long since she's seen her friend, and with everyone else seeming to be going home lately, a familiar face is a welcome sight.

At least, until the look on Piper's face registers, and Kaylee actually thinks about what the witch has said. "Have to forgive me, get a bit excited on occasion," she offers, trying not to frown at the tablet in her hands. "Name's Kaylee. You'll be wantin' to pick the tablet up to get out of there. That'll set you in the rest of the city." She doesn't want to say that there's no going home, not without Hamster Interference.

[ holo ]

[moleculars]

Piper frowns at the familiarity spoken in that tone. More to herself than the voice speaking to her, she commits that name to memory, "Kaylee, right." She eyes the pedestal where she guesses she can find this tablet. She's not too keen to be descending the stairs to it. Not without knowing what's in store for her out in this 'city'.

"What's outside the city? More metal?" Despite her anxiety and her doubts, she decides to trust the voice. There's something in her tone that pushes aside most of her anxiety. It's weird, but perhaps placing a name to a voice does that. She descends the stairs at a slow pace. She's not too eager to be getting out of this room if there's a city of ... whatever waiting for her.

[ visual ]

[gotcouplings]

"Outside it?" Kaylee thinks a moment, trying to figure out the best way to explain the situation. There really isn't a best way. "Chunk of rock. We're in a moon of some kind, far as we can figure. City itself is safe enough, airtight and all, but there ain't anywhere for us to go outside of it."

The mechanic sighs. "As for the city itself, it's a mishmash of everythin'. You'll be seein' a few folks like us." She holds up her own arm to show the bracelet on her wrist. "There're more, though, that kinda ghost about. Unnervin' at first, but they're harmless." It occurs to her that maybe she's going a bit too fast for Piper to grasp everything, so she pauses for questions.

[ holo ]

[moleculars]

Piper's grateful for the pause, as she looks down at her own bracelet and runs her fingers without thinking along it. At least that answered that question, though it only seemed to draw out more.

"So," Piper frowns, trying desperately to grasp this in the best way that avoids freaking the hell out, "we're on a rock. A moon. That's not a continent or some other dimension. And we have bracelets that won't come off." She nods, running a hand through her hair as she attempts to digest this. So she reiterates everything Kaylee's said, trying to see if she's gotten the gist of it, and maybe to get some more information - if any of it stirs something within her - before she picks up the tablet and walks on out of here. "Let me get this straight, in order for me to exit this room, I need to pick up this ... thing, the door will open, I'll be able to walk out without a scratch to my skin, and then I'll be able to live happily ever after on some moon?" She blinks at that, frowning. Moon. It doesn't sound sane. She'd much prefer the Underworld

[visual]

[willkeeptrying]

"There, ah. There does not seem to be any way to get home. I am very sorry." And Wikus looks it; he dislikes the fact too, would like to get home more than anything even if home is...problematic and not very pleasant at the moment.

[holo] /facepalm pretend the other one was holo. :p

[moleculars]

"Please tell me this is some kind of sick joke." Piper's anxiety triples at that. Despite his apologies, Piper feels screwed. And considering this place is pure metal all around, with some weird thing lodged into the ceiling, and her standing on a platform in a rather unfurnished room, Piper's hoping there's a way to get home. "Is there any way out of this place?" Piper's experiencing trust issues with the stairs and the platform, where her nice little tablet is.

[ visual ]

[willkeeptrying]

"It is not a joke, or a dream. I wish I could explain it, but I am not entirely sure of things myself." He smiles in a way he probably thinks is supposed to be reassuring and comforting, but really only looks tired and embarrassed. The fact that the arrival of someone new makes him uncertain and self-conscious all over again probably doesn't do much to help things.

He pulls his left arm in closer to himself reflexively as if to conceal it, although it's likely he doesn't even realize he's doing it. But the new question, the one he can answer definitively, perks him up some, and he straightens in his seat, smile relaxing into something closer to true rather than forced. "If you pick up that little gadget on the, ah, pedestal there the wall slides open. You cannot leave this place entirely, but you can get to the rest of the city. It's not so bad, really. It's almost like a real city aside from all the drones."

[ holo ]

[moleculars]

Piper raises an eyebrow. "Real city?" She smiles, one of amusement and utter disbelief. She pauses for a moment, contemplating whether or not to follow his advice. If she doesn't, she's stuck in this room for however long and if she does, she takes her fate into her own hands. She descends the platform stairs and walks over to the pedestal.

"Any idea on what I'm supposed to do once I'm out of here?" If her voice shakes slightly, she won't own up to the fact that she's just a bit anxious to what may be waiting outside those doors for her. She really wishes these sort of situations came with an information pack.