shatterverse | (no subject)

It starts the usual way: A flash, a bang, a person standing, disoriented, near a long stretch of deserted road.

But this man falls to his knees-

(thousands of voices; screaming, crying in his head; anger and despair and everything in between, and he can’t fight, can’t ignore, can’t resist them; stop, stop, Goddess why won’t it STOP)

-and clutches his head, letting loose an agonized shout of surprise.

Then it's over, and it's like it never was.

Jamie lowers his hands, noticing in a detached manner that short strands of blond hair come away in his fingers, and sits back on his haunches, blinking. The last thing he remembers is laughing at a joke -- a bad one, with three tavern wenches and a statue -- and climbing a ladder to get at the apples high in an Olau tree. His shirt still smells like the orchard: sun and fruit and green, growing things. Had he fallen? Is this a fevered hallucination brought on by his broken body and healing magic gone wrong? Grace never could get the hang of it. She’s probably given him an extra thumb.

No. All’s right with that.

Digging his fingers into the earth beside the road, he watches it sift back to the ground. It's chunky and rough, but not dry. Even so, it's clearly not the smooth, dark soil of Olau. Jamie sniffs his hand, frowns and pulls himself to his feet. The road crests a hill to the west. Maybe there's something on the other side to explain what's happened; maybe not. Nothing to do, he supposes, but to start walking.

He'll get back to the pain (voices) in his head later. When the mood strikes.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I gave a poor answer. What I should have said was 'Let's happen upon our host-who-is-really-an-alien-creature-who-wants-to-eat-us digging a grave he intends to put our leftover bits in, then cunningly allow him to control your mind while I hone my own mental technique and he calls for assistance. Following a risky collision with the barn wall -- sorry about that, by the way -- we'll then lure our foes inside and reduce them to gooey puddles with the somewhat ironic help of the large blasting weapon they'd thought well-hidden.'"

Beat.

"I apologize for my lack of foresight," he finishes. Reaching for her free hand, he slides his fingers through hers and kisses her knuckles, grinning all the while.

"Oh yeah... the barn wall stunt."

Eleanor's eyes narrow. As his lips withdraw, she de-laces her fingers from his and clenches them into a fist.

"I'll break your jaw the next time you try something like that."

This time however, the follow through is just a gentle chin bump.

"You're forgiven," she chuckles, "even if you did conveniently forget about me blowing Ethan's brains out in your retelling." She shakes her head ruefully and settles herself into the bike's saddle once more. The alien weapon is handed off to Jamie and the engine is fired up.

"Like I said: glory hog."

It's only fair that the chin bump is followed up by a hair tousle.

"Hmmm."

Adjusting his grip on the weapon, Jamie shakes his head and holds on.

"I like AJ better."

"That's still on the table," Eleanor informs him. "You're gonna have to earn it back though."

"With more than just your charm and good looks."

She directs a lurid smirk at him as she putters them out of the barn and back to the spot where she dropped her pistol. From there the dirt road can plainly be seen stretching off through the forest, with no obstruction from the trees whatsoever.

After picking up her helmet from the carport, they try that route, and a few uneventful miles later they reach a paved highway once again. They may still be stuck in this fucked up world, but it feels like freedom (http://community.livejournal.com/shatterverse/181137.html?thread=14695057#t14695057)...