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

[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.”

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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."

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.

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."

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.

"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."

"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.

"They're, ah, aliens. I haven't actually seen them... but I've been told they look like hamsters."

She pauses. "And yes, I'm aware of how insane that sounds."

"Hamsters." That is just about the most ridiculous thing Mattie's ever heard, and her tone says so. "I cannot find it in myself to accept that I have been imprisoned by hamsters, I do care from how far off they hail."

"I've been working on the assumption that it's some kind of disguise on their part, though I don't have any proof of it," Elisa says.

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

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