realityshifted

Entry tags:

life on mars (d1) annie cartwright

001

Sam! Guv!

[have an Annie mid-run screeching to an almost halt, looking around herself, confused.]

Wha -

[she stops, looking back from where she came from again]

That was just a shop a minute ago, wasn't it?

[still looking around herself, eyes looking up, then down in confusion]

Doesn't seem to be much of a shop at the moment. Doesn't seem to be much of anything, really.

[turning around herself in a small circle and finally taking a deep breath]

Now just to work out what this is all about. Suppose I coulda slipped and fell back there. Hit my head and now I'm seeing stars [her eyes shift a little, still taking in her surroundings] everywhere. Or maybe I'm still in bed and I never even woke up yet this morning. Drugs maybe? They did bring in those hippies the other night. Really oughta try to keep a better eye on that lot.

Whatever it is, is enough to make you think you lost your mind.

[laughs, rolling her eyes]

And I'm talking to meself now, too. That solves it.

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No - yes. Just... Chris was in hospital because Ray... picked a fight with a pair of very dangerous identical twins. Nearly killed us all, but Diva bought us enough time for the three of us to get away.

[he tries to speak about himself and Gene, but that is so much harder, and his voice sinks into quiet again, detached and clinical as he discusses deaths of friends and his failure as a police officer]

The Masters killed Hei. Misaki died from Contractors in her reality. A lot of the others were... One of the people here was drugged and put through trauma. She went mad, lost all sense of self and went on a killing rampage. I talked her back into sanity, but not before several died.

Diva, I met her. She said she's a friend of yours.

[puts a hand on his shoulder, looking worried and concerned. she'll let the topic of Sam and Gene's death drop for the moment, but it will eventually be revisited.]

I'm sorry, Sam.

[thinking on his death has brought that prickle of fear up, and he jerks away as her hand nears his neck. When he realises what he did, his eyes flicker up, and he tries to apologise for his behaviour simply by looking at her]

It's the past. They're back. It's done with.

[looks at him and pulls her hand away, even more worried but she'll let it go for now]

All right.

[looks around and grins at him in the hopes of bringing him back from wherever he has gone in his head right now]

So, tell me more about this place? I'm probably going to need someone to guide me around, at least until I can reacquaint meself. You seem to know it all well enough.

[he doesn't directly notice it, but focussing on a job does definitely help him come back from fear]

Right. What have I told you? Time doesn't pass here, you can go back or reappear... the kitchen and the bar both automatically restock themselves, which comes in handy. There's a coliseum, a theatre, a beach, a forest.... you can bring things here if you have their hands on 'em when you appear on the Plane. It doesn't work with people, inexplicably. Sometimes, the Twins will start off on experiments. They change people. Right now, it seems that a lot of people are in bodies not their own. There was a disaster which turned Manchester into a B-Movie horror film, complete with zombie Nazis. I went blind once, but I don't know if that was them or -- you know. Hyde.

[oh look, that just brought the awkward back]

Bits of your world can... mesh with other people's worlds. If you're close to them, seems like. But it isn't just love that brings people together.

[his eyes, at the thought, turn yellow, and when he speaks his lips curl more, almost cat-like - almost like he should have fangs]

Hate is as good at binding people and worlds as love is.

[she would acknowledge all you just said, but - well - what yellow eyes you have, and what big teeth you could have, oh my!]

Sam! Your eyes.

[Sam looks startled, and as the emotion changes, his eyes turn back to normal. Now he just looks ashamed.]

Sorry. It happens when I get angry now.

Oh, Sam.

[almost reaches out a hand again, but pulls away, remembering his reaction before]

Does that happen because of this place as well?

It happens because of the Master. His world merged with ours. You won't remember that; Ray and Chris didn't. All the world outside of Manchester is his Cheetah Planet.

I gave into violence there. I killed him. [his eyes flash again, but he forces the anger back] The virus infected me because I lost control.

Cheetah Planet?

You killed someone? [tries not to react to those eyes, but it's still startling] I want to help you, Sam. What can I do?

I had to. I had to save Gene. It wasn't... wilful murder.

[now he ducks his head so she doesn't see his eyes change again as he thinks, 'Though I wish that bastard would have stayed dead.']

[he's a moment recovering himself, and then he shakes his head]

I'm fine. It's all in the past.

He was gonna hurt the Guv?

[cold] He's the one who killed the Guv. Both times.

Twice? The Guv died twice?

[backs up a step at the coldness, standing a little taller. she settles into herself, and more gently]

You're right though, you had to. You were protecting the Guv.

This bloke though, his world is with ours you said. Is there anything we can do to stop him, before he hurts anyone else?

[Sam hesitates]

We're working on removing him from our world. But he's liable to get... very angry when we do. So the Guv and I, and another person, Section-Chief Misaki Kirihara, from Japan, have been trying to build up a network for the people here, in case they attack people on the Plane. If we get him out of our world, we can focus on fighting him here.

What do you want me to do?

I'm going to give you a mobile phone. Hold on.

[he disappears and reappears with a mobile, holding it out to her]

It works just like a normal landline phone. Only there isn't an operator. You just dial the number and hit the green button what looks like a phone.

People like you and me, Annie, we're just human. We can do the best to protect people, to get them out of dangerous situations. Fighting out if we have to. But we're not looking for confrontation if we can avoid it. And we're not starting now. We're trying to keep this quiet until we can get him out of our world.

Mobile phone?

[examines the phone and looks at Sam]

It's real then, mobile phones, everything, all of it?

[confused half laugh, focusing on looking at the all the buttons, pressing a few then giving him back the phone]

It's too much, Sam. Mobile phones. It's beyond me, all of it.

I show Gene my flat and he doesn't believe me; why am I not surprised you don't believe in mobile phones? Chris is the only person who's accepted it.

[is he hurt? Maybe.]

It's so easy for you Sam, isn't it? Imagine what it's like for the rest of us.

[covers her mouth and shakes her head]

You just don't get it, do you?

[sighs]

That [she says the word with a good amount of disgust] mobile phone, that's real, so what does that make the rest of us?

[oh.]

[Sam is silent for a moment. Then, quietly, he says]

Real enough that it hurt.

[still confused and upset and all those other things, but she didn't mean to hurt Sam. she'd say she was sorry, but all those other emotions stop her, so instead she'll try to compromise]

You just put the number in and press the green button?

[Sam nods, looking at her, unsure - how does he tell her he really does believe she exists? But he doesn't know what to do, so he doesn't do anything]

There's a list of contact that should show up here, too. [presses buttons on phone to show her] It's just me and Misaki now, because we haven't networked the mobiles to each other just yet.

[leans over looking at the phone with him. focusing on that and not on all the other stuff that phone implies]

I'll have me own number, too?

You got yours on you? I can test it out, see if I can manage to dial you without blowing the entire thing up or something.

[he nods, and then pauses, looking at her]

It's not a mobile, actually. They're glasses, from 2026. Fumie gave them to me.

[he pulls out the glasses, hesitating before putting them on, as if he's trying to not overwhelm her in realising what he'd done before]

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