[holo] oh how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way

[verylittlesugar]

[Mattie feels the ground give way under her feet, panic closing off her throat as she begins to fall, scrabbling uselessly at dirt and brush-]

The holo feed shows a small figure dressed in too-large, old-fashioned clothes appear in mid-air, then fall to the ground with a hard thump that knocks the wind out of her for a moment. She lies still, gaping up at what should be a blue sky or at least the darkness of earth over her head, and then hesitantly brushes the fingers of one hand against the unyielding surface of the floor.

“Mr. LaBoeuf?” Her voice is embarrassingly weak, and she takes a deep breath and tries again, more loudly. “Mr. LaBoeuf!”

There’s no answer, of course, and common sense tells Mattie that although she doesn’t rightly know where she is, it’s obvious where she is not, and she shouldn’t expect any response. That realization urges her to sit up, the hat falling off her head as she slowly pushes herself to her feet and looks uncertainly around.

“Hello? Can anyone hear me?” She approaches the nearest wall and runs her hand along it, then turns her head to take in the others, just as blank as this one. Raising her arm, she pounds her fist against it, voice taking on a more forceful (but also more desperate) tone. “Whoever’s out there, open up this minute! You have no right to hold me against my will, I’ve embarked on no wrong-doing.. I have a good lawyer, and I will write him and you will hear how the law looks on the incarceration of innocent children!”

When the wall doesn’t give way and door doesn’t appear, Mattie steps back with a sigh. “Papa, I believe I have found some trouble for myself.”

Comments

[ visual ]

[faderbroderson]

Willful children who know their own mind and rail against their unlawful incarceration strike a particularly familiar note with Godric. You could say he has something of a soft spot.

"Calm yourself," he begins gently, judging by her dress and manner that she'll be unfamiliar with the technology she's about to face. "You're in no immediate danger."

When Mattie discovers the tablet, she'll see a pale boy who looks not much older than she, but a closer inspection often tends to throw that observation into doubt. He doesn't behave quite like a 16-year-old boy from any era.

[ visual ]

[verylittlesugar]

Mattie turns quickly at the sound of an unfamiliar voice, halting with a startled expression when faced with a still-empty room. Being far from dim-witted, however, she hesitantly follows the sound until it leads her to the tablet.

She's just not sure what to make of it, though. So she clasps her hands behind her back and eyes the image in front of her suspiciously.

"That is quite a statement coming from a devil in a mirror, sir. If you release me immediately, I will consider forgetting I ever saw you and will not send for a clergyman to perform your exorcism."

Mattie likely doesn't belief she's really speaking to a devil, but she tends to fall back sharp and clever words when in uncertain situations. This time her tone lacks a touch of its usual bite, however -- maybe the reassuring gentleness is working against her will, or maybe it's the influence of seeing a face familiar in age if not in gender.

[ visual ]

[faderbroderson]

For a moment, Godric smiles widely, amused. He's been called many things over the centuries, but 'devil in a mirror' is new and strangely appealing. Something to do with the common myth that vampires have no reflection, perhaps.

"If I had the power to release you, I would do so, but I fear I am as trapped as you. The image you see is no trick or magic, but merely the communication device we're all given upon our arrival in that room. I see you upon mine as you see me upon yours, but neither of us is in fact inside the device."

[visual]

[verylittlesugar]

That coaxes a tentative little smile from Mattie in return, and she relaxes just a very little bit. His words make sense, even if what they imply seems impossible (and a little frightening).

"I do not see how a...'communication device' allows you to see through to another's face." It's not an accusation, more like a request for more information. (Granted, a request shaped very much like a somewhat childish demand.) "And I do not see how I can have fallen down a hole and come up in a prison instead."

Those are for storybooks, not practical young women like Mattie.

[visual]

[faderbroderson]

"It is only technology, simply beyond what you know. That same advanced technology has allowed our captors to bring us here, from wherever we might have been before. You fell down a hole; I was on a roof, in Dallas." He neglects to mention he had died before arriving in Taxon, or that he's from a different time; there are only so many shocks a single person can absorb at once. One thing at a time.

[visual]

[verylittlesugar]

Well Dallas she's heard of, so at least there's some common ground there. "What do they want? I cannot stay here, I must assure that Tom Cheney is dead of his wound or taken before a judge to be hanged and then I am expected home."

A fierceness creeps into her voice that wasn't present before. Captivity can be damned, Mattie has unfinished business.

[visual]

[faderbroderson]

Bloodlust is also something Godric is familiar with, and he regards Mattie steadily and without judgment, nodding once.

"What is your name? Mine is Godric." There's something to his tone and body language that suggests he isn't ignoring her question, but the conversation they're about to have will be more comfortable if they're on more familiar standing.

[visual]

[garg-elisa.livejournal.com]

Elisa sizes up the clothes and general dialog for a second and comes to the conclusion that this girl may be from quite some time back. Or possibly a historical recreationist. She gives that about a thirty-percent chance.

Either way, she probably should sit this arrival out. But the girl also doesn't look much younger than Angela or Elisa's sister or Maggie, and that's enough to open up her heart.

Still, she wishes her tablet would connect to arrivals on something other than a visual.

"I can hear you," she says. "And I can help you get out too."

[visual]

[verylittlesugar]

The new voice and face garner a more startled reaction than the first, partly because Mattie was not expecting a second to appear, and partly because this second one has a much startling appearance.

"I prefer that you tell me where I am and how I came to be here." If she wasn't sure about touching the source of the images before, she's certainly made up her mind about it now. As a general rule, Mattie doesn't hold with superstitions. But she's been raised a good God-fearing child, and there are some things that will shake even her own stubborn confidence.

Re: [visual]

[garg-elisa.livejournal.com]

Well, that could have been a lot worse.

"You're in a city called Taxon," Elisa begins. "I don't know where it is, or what country its in."

Or even what planet. Though her own body synced to the rhythms here well enough.

"But you were abducted. Brought here... basically, to be watched."

[visual]

[verylittlesugar]

Mattie doesn't care to let strangers see her as anything other than self-assured and in-charge. Later, perhaps, when she's come to know people a little better...

"I have never heard of such a place." Not that she's traveled widely enough to claim to know of every town that exists, of course. "And I do not remember being abducted."

Inside, though, she's worried that maybe not remembering a thing doesn't make it untrue.

Re: [visual]

[garg-elisa.livejournal.com]

"I don't think anyone here does," she explains. "They got me me while I was asleep."

She shakes her head. "No one's heard of this place before they got here."

[visual]

[verylittlesugar]

"Who are these people who've abducted me, then?" Maybe if she can get some information from that quarter, it'll be easier for Mattie to figure out how to get out of this frustrating room and back to where she belongs.

[voice]

[selfmadman]

"You'll break your hand before you dent that wall." The voice comes out soft but the astute listener will detect signs of strain, a certain underlying tautness. As for the accent, it's American, innocuous as a newscaster's.

Silence follows--Don leaves the tablet where it lies and gets to his feet. He forces himself to take a breath instead of going off in search of something to smash or a door to slam.

"Hello," he says, scooping up the tablet, speaking more authoritatively now. "My name is Don and I arrived here in the room you're standing in now. I can tell you the way out."

[voice]

[verylittlesugar]

"My aim was to draw attention, not to knock it down," Mattie answers disdainfully. There's something about authoritative adults that tend to put her back up, like she's expecting to be ignored or dismissed. Mattie hates being dismissed. "I am no physician but I do know that bones are weaker than walls."

Still, a girl recently bereft of a beloved father and then separated from a surrogate she has developed a sincere fondness for, will naturally gravitate toward finding another way of filling that gap. So her next words are more conciliatory. "If you can, then please do."

[voice]

[selfmadman]

"I wouldn't worry about that," he says--wryly--regarding her stated aim, but no clarification is forthcoming. The girl's manner of dress and style of speech mark her, unlike anyone else in the city, as from a time before his own. And miniaturized television sets broadcasting with an unreal clarity had given him enough trouble--more than enough.

"If you follow my voice it'll lead you to the pedestal. On top of the pedestal will be...it's a mechanism that opens the door, and it's housed in a small, rectangular box. You'll have to pick it up."

[voice]

[verylittlesugar]

There's no reason for Mattie to trust anything she's being told, of course, but she does. Not because she's the kind of girl who blindly follows where she's led, but because she expects people to uphold a certain standard of decency. And decent people (unless they're murdering cowards) don't lie to young women.

"What will happen if I pick it up?" She hesitates with her hand over the pedestal, realizing that the thing being described is what she'd referred to with Godric as a mirror. It isn't mistrust of Don that stops her, but natural wariness of touching an alien object.

[voice]

[selfmadman]

"The door opens. That's all." Don doesn't fault her her reluctance; in fact the show of caution is as heartening as anything he's seen in the past ten minutes. If a young girl is to be the newest addition to Taxon's population, better she not be wide-eyed and credulous. "When you walk through it, be sure you have everything you need. There's no going back."

His own return notwithstanding.

[voice]

[verylittlesugar]

A quick look around her verifies that whatever brought Mattie to this place didn't bother to pick up any supplies along the way, and a hand slipped into her pocket reveals that despite her hopes, she has only her father's gold piece in the way of coin.

"It does not seem my kidnappers saw fit to transport my belongings. I have nothing to leave behind. I understand there is a town of some kind?"

She's still hesitating, not quite ready to be coaxed out into this strange world.

[ visual ]

[virtued.livejournal.com]

"That's a bad idea, miss. I would suggest refraining or yo--"

Or she'll hurt herself, but Stefan stops talking upon realizing just how that tumbled out of his mouth. His speech patterns were always much more formal and old fashioned in his head, but rarely, and only around those he was comfortable with, did they actually make it out of his mouth that way, let alone with the tinges of an accent from Old Virginia that he shed a long time ago. It's the way this girl spoke and the way she was dressed that pulled that out of him without his permission.

He tries talking again, seeing that she's stepped back. Good, good. No sense in her injuring herself so soon after arriving.

"Trouble," he trips over the word a bit, reigning in his voice and pressing on the tone to even it out. "Trouble's one word for it. I've got a few others, but they're not cleared for daytime television."

[ visual ]

[verylittlesugar]

Mattie is beginning to wonder how it is that so many can see her, when she can find neither door nor window to this place. It's disconcerting, all these voices suddenly offering advice, but at least it is advice.

"I do not know what you are talking about, but I do know enough to understand what trouble is. And finding yourself locked in a strange room surrounded by strange voices is trouble."

[ visual ]

[virtued.livejournal.com]

"And I'm not disagreeing with you. But, it may not be exactly what you perceive it to be."

Stefan hesitates, then asks, "Tell me, are you familiar with...aliens?"

[ visual ]

[verylittlesugar]

"If you mean foreigners, I have certainly met more than one. Even in Yell County."

Really, it's a bit insulting to imagine that she's never come across an Indian or an Irishman before taking the train to Fort Smith, which isn't precisely New York itself.

[ visual ]

[virtued.livejournal.com]

"Yes, but no," Stefan explains, going slow with her. He can sympathize with her mindset, based on her clothing and the way she's speaking. After all, he was a child of an era long gone, once upon a time. It had been an experience within itself to learn that vampires were real. He couldn't imagine being told that little green men from outer space were real, too. Life on other planets hadn't even occurred to him until Wells' War of the Worlds hit bookshelves.

"The word has a double meaning. It can mean people from other countries, but in this instance, it's being used in reference to those from other planets. People not from Earth. From the stars."

[ visual ]

[verylittlesugar]

That's just about the craziest thing Mattie has ever heard, and her annoyance shows on her face. Fantasies about people from the stars are for folks with time for idleness in their lives.

"I have no use for fairytales or for people who use them for mocking strangers. You had best start using more truth in your words, and I think you should start with your name."