taxonomites | 001: [holo] Please stand away from the platform edge

Alexis glanced at her phone as she hurried down the stairs to the subway station. “I'm going to be so late,” she fretted, dodging around an older man with an oversized briefcase as she dialed a number on the phone. She swiped her subway pass and scooted through the turnstile as the phone rang, and rang, until it clicked to voicemail. “Oh hey, Justin! I just wanted to call to let you know that I'm running a little late for our violin lesson toda--”

The rest of her message died in her throat as, between one step and the next, the familiar confines of the New York subway system became something completely different, a seamless expanse of sterile, featureless steel.

Alexis gaped, mouth still slightly open. “Hello?” she finally asked. “My name is Alexis Castle. Can anybody tell me where I am? Or how I got here?”

Her own words echoed back at her, and Alexis chewed her bottom lip as she fumbled with her phone, hitting her dad's number on speed dial without any conscious thought. She didn't wait for him to pick up; if she had, she would have realized the phone wasn't ringing, but finding herself in a strange room when she had two seconds before been in the crowded subway station made Alexis less than rational. “Dad? Are you there? I need you to come get me, I think I'm in trouble,” she said, trying her best to sound calm, though it was hard to hide the edge of hysteria, the rising panic in her voice. “I was on my way home, in the subway station, but now I'm not, I'm in a little round room and there isn't anything here--” A pause, as she notices for the first time a podium with a device resting on it. Her voice quavers as she continues, “Except a podium, and I'm getting scared, Dad. Can you come get me?”

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Alexis blinked and looked at the tablet again. What she had initially thought of as a quirk of the tablet's display or a play of shadows... no, still there. Her expression turned sheepish. "Is it rude to ask what, I mean who, you are?"

Elisa managed a small smile. It seemed to be high on the newbie question list. Got it out of the way, at least.

"Definitely not," she said. "I'm a Gargoyle. Kinda of like the statues. My name's Elisa."

At Elisa's reassurance, Alexis seemed to relax, and with that relaxation came the curiosity she'd learned from her dad. "I'm Alexis. It's nice to meet you." 'I wish it wasn't because we'd been kidnapped by aliens' hung unspoken. Alexis peered at the screen again, curious. "So were the statues named after you?"

"Likewise," Elisa replied. "But yeah, more or less. The statues were based on the real thing. Not me specifically."

"I'm guessing you've been given the lowdown?"

Somehow, after processing 'aliens', the idea of 'stone gargoyles named after real ones' wasn't so hard to digest. Alexis nodded. "Everyone's been very helpful. They told me about the aliens, how to get out, how to use the tablet..."

A glance down at her hands reminded Alexis of a question that hadn't been answered. "Except nobody mentioned this bracelet."

"Okay, now that I can handle."

Elisa put her thoughts in order, then went on. "Bracelet's got a few uses, but one of the major ones is identifying you as a real person, instead of an Extra."

The mention of extras immediately put into Alexis' mind her dad complaining about the casting of the Nikki Heat movie, but she had a feeling that wasn't quite what it meant. "Extras? What do you mean 'real person'?"

Okay, so maybe it wasn't all as easy to process as easily as 'aliens'.

"It's... well," Elisa begins, "complicated. But anyone who has a bracelet is someone who's been brought here. The Extras, well, they do things, they'll communicate a little, but they're more like living dolls than anything."

"Oh." The answer seemed simple enough, even if it made Alexis' brow furrow as she thought through the implications. "That sounds really creepy, actually."

Elisa wisely decided not to mention how they'd all turned into zombies not long before.

"It really is," she agreed. "Do you know anyone here? Do you have someone coming to pick you up?"

No, zombies would probably have just confirmed Alexis' worst fears and ensured she wasn't leaving the little room ever. But ignorance was bliss. She nodded, grateful that for once she could answer a question instead of asking one. "I do. A friend of my dad's here, Detective Beckett. I think she and her friend will come get me if I ask..." Alexis trailed off and rubbed at her eyes, where a tear was threatening to fall. "I just didn't want to leave yet."

Okay, that was good. Elisa trusted Beckett, so she figured the kid was in good hands.

"Understandable," she admitted. "It's... a lot to take in. And I won't promise you there's a way home or anything like that. But there's good people here. And for now... maybe that's enough."

"I hope so." She knows there isn't really any other option but that doesn't make things much better. Alexis pulls her hand from her eyes, and takes a deep breath that turns into a little sniffle. "Thank you, Elisa. I hope I'll meet you in person soon." And that's all Alexis managed before the tears start coming.

She gives the tablet a watery smile, hoping Elisa would understand, and reaches up to turn it off.

001: [holo] Please stand away from the platform edge

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