taxonomites | 01 | holo | location: sanctuary

Death felt hot, and dark, and loud and silent all at the same time. And it kind of tickled.

It wasn’t over like all the storybooks said it would be. There was no warm wash of air, or pretty clouds or glowing white light and the smiling face of her dead grandfather. It wasn’t even close to falling asleep. It was too bright for that. It was too much pain, too much pain to go gently into that good night. Electricity snaked through the sky, jagged scars ripped through the air and lit her up like a goddamn Christmas tree. So many metaphors, so little time. It was all of these things and more, and Gwen Raiden didn’t have the time to reflect. She didn’t even have time to be dead, apparently.

All of that—betraying Angel and Connor and Nina and Spike (well...okay, she didn't really care about Spike) and the rest, fighting the dragon Cordelia (which just might have been more forthcoming than the real Cordelia), her decision to die the way she always imagined it—all that was snuffed out with her life and now it rushed back. Here she was, in all her glory, surrounded by metal walls and a strange ceiling. She surveyed the close space, breathing hard from that whole noble sacrifice thing which tended to take a lot out of a girl. "Okay,” she said, and the word escaped her wrapped in a big, exhaled breath. “Not gonna lie. I thought heaven would be a little more…Feng Shui.”

And as death faded away like a dream, her body felt real and solid again. There was the hard steel floor underneath her boots, the silken feel of her gloves on her fingers, and finally, the dull pain in every muscle of her body that had been electrified just moments ago. Gritting her teeth and shoving it down and away, where she did not have to dwell on it, she noticed the pedestal in front of her holding a fancy little gadget on it. It looked like something once upon a time she would have been paid billions to steal. She looked at it now with uninterest and unease. “Or…not heaven. Mars, huh? Interesting choice.”

There was no door, no way out and no cool breeze she’d felt just moments ago on the rooftop...

Connor, she thought, struck suddenly with a pang of sadness and guilt that gutted her.

“Okay, I get it!” Her call echoed out to empty walls. This was Wolfram and Hart's doing. And if she had to claw her way out of here, literally striking down every cheap suit in this place to do it, she would. “And not to be dramatic, but I had a thing I was doing with...the dying. Don’t you people have better things to do than stick me in a box? Filing briefs, or something? Not a big, brooding vampire here. Just a normal, law-abiding citizen."

A fib, and not even a subtle one, but she was getting testy. She scratched at her gloved wrist, absentmindedly, and felt something like a bracelet under the fabric. “Sorry I killed your dragons?”

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She didn't know why the fact that this wasn't local was such a shock. If it really was some sort of alien abduction, why would they keep their clientele limited to L.A? It was disheartening, but hey, that was the kind of day she was having.

"I'm out. Door behind me vanished like one of those bookcase trap doors. Made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside."

She studied the woman behind the screen, thinking that she kind of talked like a robot and seriously considered that as an option. "Welcomed by a weird-talking boy who calls himself Poison . . . I'm going to meet him. Heard of him, Doc?"

Because with a name like Party Poison, it probably called for a second opinion. Last time she skipped that part, she ended up on the static end of her own electricity. It never hurt to double check.

"The building you're in is called the Sanctuary. You'll find free lodgings there in case it turns out you don't have acquaintances in Taxon who might house you. You may also reserve any of the residences in the numerous houses and apartment complexes around the city for your private use."

Brennan fell silent, allowing the other woman to absorb the information while she considered the question asked of her.

"Poison?" she repeated, frowning. The name didn't spark any sort of recollection. "No, unfortunately I haven't. He could be a new arrival or I simply haven't met him. I'm... not quite as sociable as some others here are."

Which was true, to a point. Brennan did actually like to mingle, but mostly in the capacity of an observer. Her blunt manners often made interpersonal interactions something of a challenge, although she wasn't quite as hopeless anymore as she used to be just a couple of years ago.

Edited 2011-08-21 20:42 (UTC)

"You totally are a robot, aren't you?" Gwen said, nearly stopping in her tracks. She gave the screen a good hard stare. The idea of being trapped in a city of robots was actually kind of hopeful for Gwen. If that was the case, snatching up Electro Girl was the wrong move. "You know you talk like a robot, right?"

But everything she said was sinking in, one ship at a time. So it wasn't just a building or a prison, but a city.

"Great, well, that's...good," she said, unable to hide her disappointment. With no inside intel on her new friend, she just hoped his name wasn't one of those irony things. "Not a people person, then?"

"What? No," Brennan replied, somewhat affronted by the accusation. Though she was perfectly aware of her shortcomings when it came to interacting with people, it still hurt to have it pointed out. More calmly, she explains, "I prefer precise expression to avoid misunderstandings. Coupled with my above average intelligence and tendency to be rather straight-forward, I don't usually befriend people very easily. So, not a people person is accurate, in a way."

Realizing she was digressing, Brennan cleared her throat slightly.

"Speaking of robots, there are something like that in here. They're called Extras. Anyone who isn't wearing one of these," she lifts her hand to show Gwen her bracelet, "is an Extra. They take care of menial tasks and jobs around the city, but other than that, they don't really do much. They can be a bit... creepy."

Edited 2011-08-21 23:20 (UTC)

Gwen lifted an eyebrow. "A tip, doc? I think that'd be more convincing without the robotic rambling," she answered with a smile, examining the bracelet clasping her own wrist. It was fused into her skin and unharmed by her body's electricity. The closest thing she'd seen like it was L.I.S.A. But that was removable. There were red scratch marks around the bracelet proving that this thing wasn't budging.

But there was something here that Gwen had a real problem understanding.

"So." Her voice was skeptical. She's seen all the movies. "You're saying the creepy metal collar we have keeps us from being a zombie? Sounds like you've got it backwards."

01 | holo | location: sanctuary | ARRIVAL

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