July Arrivals

[sixthiteration]

WHO: Arrivals
WHERE: The fountain park
WHEN: July 1, 12:00 PM
OPEN TO: ALL
WARNINGS: N/A
STATUS: CLOSED

---

In the snug circle of an old park, a fountain sits burbling beneath a broad, midday sky.

Once-neat paving stones have buckled and cracked from the slow nudge of wayward roots. Benches stand covered in lichen and rust. Three paths push into the underbrush like the spokes on a wheel, the encroaching forest creating lush tunnels through the dark.

But the fountain stands singular and pristine, brightly splashing in open rebellion of the deep, muffled sounds of a place long ago gone to seed. A vibration hums through the ground, there and quickly gone, and the water in the fountain trembles, lapping against the high walls of its cool, pale reservoir.

It is the first of July.

It is precisely twelve o'clock in the afternoon.

Comments

[markwatney]

"Yeah, I'm good," I promise with a nod. "I'm just not as physically fit as I'm used to being. I won't bore you with the details." At least not now, and 'bore' probably isn't altogether accurate. Most of the world seemed pretty interested in the story at the time.

"I'm Mark," I say as I right myself and offer a faint smile. "And this was my first time waking up in a fountain in somebody else's clothes. You?"

[teen_angst_bullshit]

That seems like an odd sort of logic to Veronica, but she isn't exactly an expert in this kind of stuff. Hell, she doesn't know if Cougar is, either, but at least he looks the part. There is, however, something more unsettling about his remark: He thinks they'll still be here tomorrow morning.

"So what do we do until then?" she asks, because sitting still and waiting for one more horrible, inexplicable thing to happen doesn't sound like a great idea.

[markwatney]

"Mark," I say, and gladly clap my hand into his and shake. There's got to be a kind of solidarity that comes from going through something so patently insane together.

"I've been caught in a wind storm this bad before, and let's just say I wasn't looking to repeat the experience." I glance around the room and wave a bit of the dust from in front of my face. It's pointless; there's way too much of it.

"You have any idea where we are?"

[thecatinahat]

"Wait," he says, as patient as ever. "Where are you from?" he asks her, this time in English. He'll need to find someone who can speak Spanish with him or he'll go crazy, but he can muster up limited English if need be. "You can sleep." He knows he won't, given his lack of trust of these strangers and knowing what happens when Cougar falls asleep, but at least someone can find some respite.

[rangerbecket]

"No idea. Judging by the weather, it's summer, but I don't have anything other than that." Even that is a bit tenuous - it could be fall somewhere that is warmer than this place or it could be spring. Hell, it could even be a very mild winter.

The temperature, clearly, isn't going to be a way to tell where they are. Neither is the direction of the wind; it seems like they're in a canyon and that is screwing up Raleigh's sense of direction.

"I'm not a scientist or anything. I just know what I've picked up from being around them."

Re: Arrival: Emma Swan

[tooktheblack]

"Cursed? How's that?" Jon had not had the easiest of lives up until this point and this was yet another difficulty to overcome. Still, in light of that, he still didn't exactly feel cursed. He felt that his name gave him a burden than his trueborn brothers and sisters didn't carry, certainly, but it wasn't inherently bad luck.

"Has something like this happened to you before, my lady?" If it had, she might be a valuable source of information once Jon was able to help her to her feet and to somewhere safe where they might talk. He wouldn't bombard her with questions just at the moment. He'd let her get her bearings first.

[redemptoris]

"...phone?" Dorian repeated, drawing out the fricative, squinting briefly at the unfamiliar word. He shook himself and walked from the fountain to retrieve the pack he'd arrived with from the ground where he'd discarded it.

"Might as well see what passes for civilization, wherever we've wound up. Perhaps the locals will have some clue about all this. If they're friendly."

He stopped as he drew abreast of his new aquaintance and made a small flourish with one arm as he offered a slight, vague half bow.

"Dorian Pavus, by the way."

[redemptoris]

Dorian had drifted away from the group, eager to find some clue as to who had summoned them or, even better, booze. He finds his mood no better for having failed at both tasks.

He absently takes mental notes as others begin to share. There are parts that ring alien to his ear- strange words that are, from context, place names, and a curious reference to the century that is lacking in specifics. All can be clarified in time, of course, but it bothers him, that no one else so much as looks askance.

There's something charmingly familiar about the rough tone and skulking standoffishness of the brutish man in the corner, at least. In other circumstances, it would practically put Dorian at ease, but in the moment, it just makes him more frustrated, anxious and angry to be separated from the Inquisition. From the... people there, his mind supplies, after a stubborn moment of blankess.

Rather than do anything so revealing as voice that frustration, Dorian laughs.

"'It never' does? Don't tell us this happens to you often." He moves closer to the room's center, crossing his arms to survey the others gathered. They all wear the same clothes, which is useless for gleaning information, although Dorian notes that the other man is red is terribly good looking, so perhaps the shared color is simply an acknowledgment on the part of their captors.

"Personally, I have a respectably lengthy list of kidnappers in potentia, only I cannot fathom a one of them successfully carrying off even a rudimentary abduction, let alone anything quite so complicated as this. I was traveling through a very powerful, very ancient portal which I'm quite certain was meant to deposit me elsewhere. It's unlikely anyone would have been able to alter the enchantment on it while it was in use."

[markwatney]

It's funny how you can think things can't get worse, or any weirder, or make you feel even more like you must certainly be on some sort of hallucinogen, and how you can be utterly, completely wrong.

First is the clearly angry blonde, and hey, I get being pissed. I would be pissed, too, if I wasn't so fucking bewildered. Which she naturally doesn't help when she starts talking about alternate universes with all the casual aplomb of a 14-year-old fanboy. I think she must be joking, but I'm not stupid enough to ask, not when she's looking at us all like she's already figured out several places to hide our bodies.

But then there's the guy with the mustache.

I blink, hesitate. "I'm sorry, did you say you came though an enchanted portal?"

[dnr]

For all that Frank probably has trouble just eating a donut without looking like he's Not Fucking Around, there's a certain pinch to the corners of his mouth at the girl's statement that emphasizes the sentiment. Just how much does she know about this kind of thing?

"I gotta say I'm a little more concerned about Little Miss Habitual Kidnapping than Snidely Whiplash over here," he pipes up from the peanut gallery.

Enchanted portal just sounds crazy.

(But really, somebody explain yourself.)

[redemptoris]

Dorian spares a fraction of a moment to consider the moniker. It has a certain degree of panache to it, honestly, though he can tell it isn't a term of endearment or regard. Still, he's been called much worse. No one's spit on him yet, which is promising, but going by the other one's incredulity, that may not hold out.

"Yes," he says to Watney, one eyebrow canting upward, "is the concept unfamiliar?"

[rangerbecket]

"Raleigh Becket," he offers in exchange. He doesn't bow but he does offer his hand for the other man to shake. Obviously they're from...different times, as little as that makes sense, but Raleigh's willing to go with it. Kaiju come up through the breach, after all, so what's going to be weird about time travel? Raleigh's going to pick his battles on the logical front.

"Yeah, might be a good idea to see what there is around here. We're going to need food and shelter before nightfall and if there's not a lot of civilization around here, we're going to have to make do with what we find."

For better or for worse.

[thesavior]

Emma truly didn't know how she got herself into these situations really. She was way smarter than this, and obviously not showing it at the moment, for goodness sake. She glared at the two man, considering her options, because there were always options. She just had to be smart about it and think it out.

She leaned back into Frank, using the momentum to allow her to kick both of her feet up, trying to make contact with Cougar.

"You are assuming I'm a lady."

[thesavior]

Yeah well Emma didn't take kindly to being sassed either, so Ren was just going to have to suck it up and deal with it. She shook her head slightly. She sounded like her mother, no definitely not her mother, maybe an x-rated version.

"Maine," Emma responded. It was much easier than trying to explain where she was really from. She wasn't even going to tackle the who fairytale thing.

"How about you? You have a name?"

[thesavior]

Emma laughed at him. This was not a haha funny type of laugh, but instead a desperate kind of hysterical type of laugh. If Kol was looking at Emma with a confused expression on his face, it had nothing on the expression that Emma currently had on her face.

This was her family he seemed to know so intimately, and she felt a cold stab of fear strike her. "Me? You act as if you know me..... know my family and you're asking what I'm playing at? Who the hell are you and how do you know my family?"

Re: Arrival: Emma Swan

[thesavior]

"Do you have a decade or two?" Emma responded sarcastically. She realized quickly that Jon might not appreciate her tone or humor, so she quickly changed tatics.

"Sorry," She stated quietly. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you probably, but yeah bad luck follows me around. The price of being abandoned I guess." She said, so off the cuff that it belied how deeply Emma felt about being left.

"Let's just say my parents had an interesting way of doing things okay?"

[thecatinahat]

Cougar raises a brow as he ducks quickly out of range of a swing, plenty used to angry swinging to know how to at least duck the worst of it. Raising his brow at his other companion, he mutters, "mirar bastante propio de una dama para mí," under his breath.

Doesn't mean she isn't dangerous. He knows that much, thanks to Aisha and all of Clay's very angry past ex's, but still, it doesn't change that she's here and might have answers. "Not an answer," is what he grunts.

Re: Arrival: Kira Nerys [OTA]

[thenewways]

Nerys nodded, because Peggy was decisive, and decisive was what she needed right about now. A plan, that was, and further stuff to do with it. "Should we round up some of the others?" she asked, a breeze ruffling her hair a little as it started to dry.

[thenewways]

Recovery, that Nerys could understand--from being sick as hell, from getting hurt, and from being wounded. Sometimes all three at once, which was anything but pleasant. Now it seemed like 'being shot, then waking up drowning' was going to get added to the list of life experiences she would have rather not had.

She nodded a little in empathy, bringing one knee up and pressing her foot against the door, stretching aching thigh muscles. "Just wanted to make sure you were hanging in there--my doctoring skills end at a fireman's carry, triage, and keeping people from bleeding out," she admitted with a wry snort, then wondered if that wasn't exactly the best way to introduce herself to someone.

"My name's Nerys," she said, biting her lip a little. "And yeah, likewise. This seems to be making less and less sense by the minute--like a fever dream meeting a hangover."

[dnr]

Frank makes a low noise in protest and plants his feet against the not inconsiderable weight thrown back into him. Not that he doesn't see what she's doing (and that it's smart, a sign of training maybe), but seeing doesn't mean he can do much about it aside from make a pretty good springboard.

Instead he just struggles to hold on to her and tries to use the shift in position to hook the crook of an elbow under her chin, chokehold style but notably without the choking - at least not yet.

"Lady or not, you want to stay conscious, tell us who's in charge around here."

[dnr]

Frank opens his mouth like he's going to have to call bullshit on that right there, manners or no manners— but he stops, because, well. Aliens came through a hole in space and attacked New York not that long ago, and London a little after that, and Frank Jr. used to use a big green action figure of a real live person to knock the toys off the piano bench, and he guesses time travel isn't necessarily the craziest thing he's ever heard. Definitely the craziest that's happened to him.

"Last I looked at a calendar, it was 2016."

Re: Arrival: Kira Nerys [OTA]

[womanofvalue]

The others are an unknown element that Peggy is still trying to process. Yes, she will absolutely have to deal with them at some point, but right now she can only handle one at a time and this is the peak of what she can do, as far as she's concerned. "Soon," she says, hoping she doesn't seem standoffish, given the fact that she's trying to keep control of the situation. "I'm sure we'll all be in need of shelter soon enough."

[womanofvalue]

Apparently, she's taken zero matter and used it to propel herself nearly seventy years into the future. "That's a little disturbing," she says flat out, because while she's seen the effects of dark matter reconstructing the world around her and Jason Wilkes, she didn't think it could propel her through time like this. There are so many questions she has, so many things she'd like to know, and has no idea where to even begin. "I'm Peggy Carter," she introduces herself, thinking that while her mind works, she can be polite.

"And you, it seems, are from my future."

[itchtokill]

“Know is a bit intimate, luv. More I know of you. And your rather blatant and obvious hatred of me and mine.” Snappy attitudes are so rarely met well with Kol, and given the state of things back home--home. Lawrence is home and the thought still shocks him when it crosses his mind--it’s hardly the best time for it. Not that she’d know. Or care.

“Did you honestly forget that you’ve been living in bloody Kansas for, I dunno, a good couple years now?” He’s incredulous again, still not able to wrap his mind around her not knowing. She’d been there long than he had, for God’s sake. Or not for His, since He’d abandoned that entirely bloody universe, apparently. “Surely you at least remember your daughter, yeah?” He folds his arms across his chest, indignant. No matter what’s thrown at them, something usually sticks, right? So Aislinn would be it, probably. The thing that jogged her memory somehow.

[markwatney]

"Unfamiliar?" I echo with a slightly pinched expression. "No, not as a concept. It's the mechanics that are a little iffy for me, and judging by the expressions on a few of the faces around here, I'm guessing I'm not alone in that."

The thing is, with a moment to consider it, how insane is the idea, honestly? It isn't as if we're dealing with any sort of normal context. We're in this building because we all came out of a fountain and were driven here by demon wind.

Still, though. I don't know if I'm ready to swallow magic portals as an explanation.