onepassingnight | (no subject)

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[New York City is all around him, a mixture of loud noise and constant movement. He's standing in the middle of the sidewalk, holding a piece of paper and scanning the crowd.

And there she is.]

Kate! [He starts running after her, pushing people aside as he goes.] Kate, wait!

[He runs faster and faster, following her through the streets, darting into alleys and making sharp turns but he can never quite reach her, no matter how fast he goes.

His lungs are burning, his legs ache but he keeps moving, taking another quick turn and nearly crashing into a brick wall.

A wall. A wall with no other exits in immediate view and too high to climb.]

...Kate?

[He looks around, expression momentarily helpless.]

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Ami is not unused to illusions. And for whatever reason, for however short-lived she expects it to be because she's never trusted friendship or help or comradeship easily, right now she and Neal are going through this together. She reaches put to pull him back.

"That isn't Kate." She's sure of. Those were the shadows moving.

Edited 2011-03-08 22:43 (UTC)

He looks down at her, then towards the shadow on the wall. It stirs again making a gesture for him to come closer.

He's not sure what to do, what to believe. If it's Kate, why doesn't she come out or say something? But if it is, why is he just standing there.

He takes a few steps forward into the darkness but doesn't approach further. "Kate..." And there's raw longing in his voice, a need to find her, have her back.

"Please, just come here. Just come here and I'll know it's you."

But the shadow only moves to beckon him closer and he takes in a sharp breath, turning to Ami , an almost helpless expression on his face. He doesn't know what to do.

That fool. (Thus speaks the mind of a girl who'd also want to approach if it was the right person. But it's much easier to wipe that emotional consideration out the way she should, when it involves someone else instead.)

Ami settles for letting her fingers fly over the mini-computer keyboard again, locking on to the area where the shadows seem thickest and especially the one portraying itself as 'Kate'.

(ooc: and what will it show? cause she'll pretty much attack right away in her next tag if it's definitely an illusion/shadow/dangerous in some obvious way but hold off if it's human or definitely kate)

he's fully aware that most people seem to think that his judgment is somewhat lacking when it comes to Kate-related affairs but he doesn't care. The fact that he3's close, or rather possibly close, is enough to make him think that moving forward is a good idea.

But he's watching Ami now instead, concentrating on her instead of the shadows that approach carefully avoiding the light of their phones. He shouldn't let his guard down but he does, just for a few moments as he watches her and tries to dissuade his mind from going after the shadow-Kate.

((OOC: If I were a nicer person, it would be Kate. However I like making him miserable. Illusions it is!))

An illusion! Her sword flickers into her hand. She strikes against the air, and it sends a powerful blast straight for the illusions. Right now, it doesn't seem odd that the sword responded while she wasn't even transformed; it's something she'll reflect on and try once she wakes up.

She can't be sure what it'll do against an enemy she knows so little about for now; but it makes a rather forceful statement: get away from the illusion, Neal.

(ooc: i love cruel muns. and to ami's credit, she DOES realize and attack the enemy illusion of the guy she liked in anime canon XD she's just still an emotional sort trying not to be who'd understand neal better if she'd get off her high horse ~~and stop pretending she doesn't~~.)

Neal jumps back at the sight of the sword because well, sword. It's a perfectly reasonable reaction. Not only that but it's a sword that came out of virtually nowhere and how else is he supposed to react?

He watches as the energy barrels towards the shadow and it spills over the energy sucked into the blackness but the blackness dissolving away into nothing.

He's just going to stand there now, staring at the spot and once again, wondering what in hell is going on here and why can't he just wake up?

((OOC: Aww Ami. *pats her even though I doubt she'd appreciate that*))

"Watch out for yourself next time. Putting yourself in danger jeopardizes what we're doing, too." It's inefficient. Reckless. One might say illogical, and it wouldn't be the first time the senshi of knowledge had been compared to Spock in certain moods.

Ami keeps herself alert and her guard up, and glances at Neal after the lecture. "Are we going on?"

Neal nods, remaining where he stands. He needs a moment to process everything that just happened. Once he has that second, he'll be good again, or at least mostly good, but well.

"I'm torn," he says his tone almost try. "We could go back up and face a crowd of clones or we could go further into...that>" He gestures at the darkness before them. "And see what happens with creepy living shadows."

He pauses, looking at her. "You're taking all of this really well. Is this on par with your usual day?"

"I've fought monsters like this before." Not precisely, but close enough. She'd fought creatures corrupted by a demon, humans turned into monsters with genetic experiments, beings made of snow and their queen of ice, and these shadows remind her of lemures, dead nightmares.

"Huh, okay then." What the hell, he'll go with it and question the logistics of all this later. Besides, dream logic rarely obeys real world logic and he is firmly set in the belief that all of this is some kind of very odd dream.

"So," he says, peering down at the darkness. "You're the one who's done this before. What do we do?"

"If she's here, she's past the shadows. They're gone for the time being. This is our chance, don't you think?"

"Probably," he says with a sigh, stepping forward. "Let's go then." He smiles at her, a little strained. This is all very new, very strange and very irritating when it comes to pulling at his heartstrings. The sooner this is all said and done, the better.

There are boxes in the basement, large crates that are begging to be opened but he look past them. He tries to see into the darkness, tries to see Kate but doesn't spy anything. He holds the phone higher, trying to spread out the light.

"Do you see...anything?" He blinks, turning to Ami.

For her, of course, these things aren't personal at all. So it's easy for her to treat it like any other uncertain scenario and strike quickly at the illusions.

She knows it's not so for him. But her sympathy, if she has any, shows itself in waiting for him, in staying with him.

"Nothing," she confirms. "But in this darkness, it's better to rely on instinct." Kunzite had drilled that into her with blindfolded training that came with rather sharp, pointed, and painful reminders at times.

He's honestly not sure what to make of Ami, of her distant nature. She's still here though, still trying to help him and that has to count for something. Of course it could all be a part of some bigger game but he's trying to be an optimist.

He nods his head at her comment, moving carefully around the boxes, trying ihis best not to touch them. He doubts anything would happen if he did but hes not entirely willing to take that chance.

THe shadows start forming again, writing around one another and forming that same female shape once again. Neal sucks in a breath but he knows better this time.

"Stop it," he growls at them, aiming his light at the spot they had chosen to converse. "Just stop it."

But they just move away, forming in a different spot until the female silhouette is fully formed and calling once again.

The only ones she truly wishes ill are her direct enemies. But Ami has given up on most friendship; even her comrades now, she is slow to trust as friends or call friends.

"They're going out of their way to welcome us," she says with light irony. "Shall we take their invitation after all?"

He laughs, a sharp bitter sound. "Why not, we've got nothing else to do?"

He turns to her, offering out his arm again this time in a mockery towards the shadows more than to be polite. "Shall we then?"

"Thank you for escorting me." Oh, she could ham it up just as much as he could. She took the arm deliberately, and stepped forward lightly, very much the girl out for a simple stroll.

Through the dark basement.

Full of shadows and illusions.

They walk together, casual as can be while the shadows form around them, mostly the female figure but other shapes as well, things Neal might recognize but he tires not to pay them any mind. They just keep walking.

Until they reach a door, of course. It has an overhanging light, giving someone just enough room to stay underneath and be rid of the shadows.

He looks down at er. "Well," he says with a curios look. "It seems like we've reached our destination."

Releasing her, he moves to try and open the door but it's locked. It doesn't even make him blink, just reach into a pocket and pull out his tools. No, he has no idea when those got into his pockets but he doesn't question it.

After a second, he manages to unlock the door, hand now resting on the knob. "Ready when you are," he says, looking over his shoulder to her.

Guess he just carries tools with him! As of now.

Ami grins. "Let's go!" She takes a somewhat guarded stance simply from the possibility of encountering something hostile.

He pushes the door open, peering inside. The light is dim and he can't quite see at first but it only takes his eyes a few moments to adjust.

It's as if they've shifted from a basement to a morgue and in the center of the room lies Kate, naked and pale and very much dead.

Neal recoils, his head spinning and bile rising up in his throat.

"Oh god."

Even Ami is taken aback.

"This wasn't a morgue," she says firmly, almost as though to convince herself of it. But what she knows in her mind has never been as easy to realize emotionally, and she instinctively still reels from the discovery.

"This isn't real." This is for Neal's benefit as much as her own.

He's turned away, unable to look at her. His mind is racing, coming up with all manner of things, of rage and terror and sickness and so many other things.

Ami's words cut through his thoughts to because they mean anything but because they're an outside force, something 'real'.

""It wasn't," he says with a shaking breath. "This can't be. I saw her. They couldn't have had time to...." But he doesn't know, can't be sure of what he says. He's going to say it anyway, as a comfort to himself.

"There's no use staying here." And upsetting himself over something that can't even be true. "Let's go." She keeps her voice firm, controlled. When she wakes up, the memory will still give her a shudder. She's seen death before; but she's never accepted it easily.

"Give me a second," he says, taking in a shaking breath. "I just..."

He walks up to the corpse, one hand hovering above her heart. If he twitched, he would be touching her, he just can't bring himself to do it. He doesn't want to feel the cold, dead flesh beneath his fingers.

"It's not real," he says to himself and turns his back, walking away from the body and back towards Ami and the exit.

Of course, she'll tell herself the shudder is a useless as staying here now would be. She nods, and lifts her head before moving towards the exit. She will not lose her composure.

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smileforaliving.livejournal.com - 2011-03-09 23:39 (UTC) - Expand

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