To Adventure!

Too many to count

[atlanteanisms-blog]

| treekillingbusiness |

     Oncia and Thomas nearly feel backwards as the door disappeared from behind them. Thomas still kept an iron grip and shook violently even after the ngithmare had disappeared, but Oncia let go of Jay’s hand and hugedd him instead. 

     “You did it!” she said. “We made it!” 

     “Yeah. You really did it.” Thomas said, slowing calming down. 

     “I did...” Jay didn’t have much faith in himself, he thought they’d die in that little closet. He just stood there in shock as he tried to process it. He’d succeeded. They weren’t dead.

     And they didn’t have much farther to go.

     “Uh...” He snapped himself out of it and wiped the sweat off of his forehead. “This looks like the edge of the dream.” He said as he looked around their super hazy surroundings. “You wanna find the core?”

[atlanteanisms-blog]

| treekillingbusiness |

     Oncia leaned on the door and squeezed Jay’s hand reassuringly. She looked around for something that could give her an advantage, but came up empty. Her heart was beating so fast she was afraid that it would jump out of her chest, but she kept her composure. Panicking would do nothing in this situation but break Jay’s concentration even more. Besdies, all she had to do was survive through this dream and the next few, and she would never have to worry about dying again. 

     Thomas, on the other hand, was much less composed. He helped Oncia brace up the door. One of his hands shook violently in Jay’s no matter how hard he gripped. With the other, he was squeezing the handle of his improvized weapon so tightly his knuckles were turning white. His eyes never left the vent. If he knew anything about horror, it was that now would be the time for an unexpected jumpscare. 

     Whatever was out in the hallway hit the door so hard that it it made both Oncia and Thomas lurch forward. Oncia slammed back against the door to try and scare the thing back. Thomas  made a small noise and leaned back, only to be pushed forward again as the moster struck the door, which cracked and crunched with this hit.

    “Please tell me we’re going to get out of here soon?” asked Thomas in a panciked whisper.

     “I don’t know! This isn’t exactly easy y’know!” Jay yelled over the chaos. Jay held their hands tight, hoping they would hop soon. He was sweaty from the effort, and about to faint from the fright.

     He’d kept his eyes shut, fearing whatever he heard thudding against the door. He’d barely realized through his concentration when everything went silent. Once he’d realized everything was quiet he opened his eyes, giving a relieved sigh when they were surrounded by a field of cotton candy and other sweets rather than a cramped red-lit room.

     “We’re safe.” He was still tense, holding the other’s hands, but a whole lot more calm. “I did it!”

[atlanteanisms-blog]

| treekillingbusiness |

     “You did seem to know what you were doing when I got here,” Oncia said. she glanced at Nick. “When I first got here, I was very close to getting beaten up with a broom.”

     “Good. It means she was trained well.” Nick muttered. Rikki beamed proudly. “I’m surprised you aren’t bruised badly with how rough she can be.”

[larmoyante]

Can you see me? All of me? Probably not. No one ever really has.

Jeffrey Eugenides, Middlesex  (via allisonleighxo)

[atlanteanisms-blog]

Rikki I think u might like roller coasters. They go really fast and I think it might feel sort of like flying but not entirely.

     “Fair enough, but you know what else feels like flying? Flying.” Rikki made an explosion noise, making the hand motions on either side of her head to match. Despite her sarcasm she is absolutely going to try out a roller coaster later.

[atlanteanisms-blog]

Hey so have any of u (main group) ever been to an amusement park and what do you think of them? What about roller coasters?

     “Well, I’ve flown over one.” Rikki shrugged. “I thought it was a place for torture for a little while, until I saw people paying to get in. I’m... Not entirely sure what a roller coaster is.”

     “I’ve been to one with Lyria, it was... Interesting. The girls liked it. Especialy the roller coasters, though we did have to do some coaxing to let Piper on.” Nick muttered, the girls cheering in his arms.

     “I don’t know if you’re aware, but the entire time I could have been doing fun things, I was a tent.  hope to go to one soon though!” Ezekiel beamed.

     “Nah, too much commotion for me.” Tarrin muttered. “And honestly, have you seen most human contraptions in those places? They’re like death machines.” She scoffed.

     “Yes. In the fifties. It was nice.” Elle said simply. That was about as much as was coming out of her.

     “I’ve been to ones in dreams, mostly nightmares... Not good places it seems. Neither are roller coasters.” Jay muttered, rubbing his neck.

[atlanteanisms-blog]

| treekillingbusiness |

     “I did ask her that question,” she snapped, glaring quickly at Tarrin. Once again, she addressed Rikki. “Aren’t you ever worried about bringing people in here? Don’t you ever worry someone might try to hurt you?”

     “I mean if they try to hurt me I usually hurt them back.” Rikki gave a shrug, leaning over to grab her cup of tea. “Nick’s mom owns a dojo and I go there sometimes to help out and get some free lessons.”

[atlanteanisms-blog]

| treekillingbusiness |

     Thomas squinted hard to make sure he could see Jay’s face in the dim closet. Eventually, he turned back towards the vent, couching a bit to get a better view of the inside.

     “We’ll keep careful watch,” Oncia whispered. “You won’t have to worry about anything but getting us out.” She leaned forward and tried to see through the crack between the door an the wall. A noise in the hallway made her jump and she hesitated a moment before looking back out.

     “Alright just... Hold my hands?” Jay reached out for the two. “Just in case.” He was scared to death, but he wasn’t going to admit that. Whatever was out there was growling, and probably hungry, knowing nightmares. Nightmares weren’t Jay’s forte. Nowhere near Jay’s forte.

     As soon as he felt hands in his own he started concentrating. And of course as soon as he started talking something starting banging at their door. He kept his concentration as best as possible, and as he’d said it was painful. Forcing dream hops wasn’t the easiest. He held tight to their hands as the pain increased.

[atlanteanisms-blog]

| treekillingbusiness |

     She took a full step back from nick as he stared, trying to seem as nonthreatening as possible. Tarrin and Rikki came back in before she could make a case for herself. Oncia snickered at Tarrin’s comment. 

     “Always someone new? Do you bring home guests often?” She addressed Rikki as she leaned back against the island.

     “Oh, she has a new partner every night.” Tarrin mused. She looked pointedly at Nick who had tensed up. “Though she’s never had any aliens. You’re new.”

     “You know she asked me that.” Rikki glared before looking at Oncia. “But, yeah. I do ring a lot of people through here. People who need a place to stay mostly.”

     “Or some good hana ma’i.” Tarrin gave a grin.

[atlanteanisms-blog]

you know i think about which version would be the happiest outcome and for everyone else its this one but for rikki and the whole gang its one where she stays with her family

[atlanteanisms-blog]

ok so the way i play them here is after rikkis had an effect on their lives, but the books gonna be before during and after it sort of and finding these kids pasts is so fun?

[atlanteanisms-blog]

| treekillingbusiness |

     She opened her mouth to reply and shut it again, her eyes widening slightly. “You don’t think I was going to hurt her, do you? I did only want to talk to her.”

     Nick stayed silent. He didn’t trust normal people, there was no way he was trusting someone who was superhuman. It didn’t help that there was no longer the island in between them. He just watched her until Tarrin and Rikki came back out of the bathroom. The two were laughing and talking quietly before they approached the other two. Rikki hopped up onto the counter beside Nick and Tarrin hopped up onto the island beside Oncia.

     “It’s always refreshing when I come here.” Tarrin commented. “There’s always someone new, and thanks to keiki’s personality you don’t need an a/c.”

[atlanteanisms-blog]

| treekillingbusiness |

     She huffed and took a step back, her smug expression falling away. “Not even a little bit of surprise? You are the weirdest human I have ever met. As for why I’m here, Rikki was painting on my building. I wanted to talk to her, but I scared her and she ran away. I followed her to talk to her.” 

     “Well not many people want to just talk with her after she’s vandalized their property.” Nick said as he crossed his arms. Nick had been surprised, scared even, but that wasn’t something he was gonna show.

[atlanteanisms-blog]

| treekillingbusiness |

     She sighed, put out her hand, and pulled the paint can away from Nick, letting it effortlessly land in her palm. She raised an eyebrow as she looked at Nick with an “I-told-you-so” expression. Pushing off her chair, she disappeared and reappeared in front of Nick in the same instant. Not a far jump, but hopefully enough to prove her point. 

     Nick watched as she phased from where she was to in front of him, keeping his expression as bored and cold as it was before. He did, however, press closer to the counter. “Fair point.” He said as he took back the spray paint. “Next point, why are you here?”

[atlanteanisms-blog]

| treekillingbusiness |

     “It isn’t exactly like that. I didn’t come here in a spaceship like you’re imagining. I mentioned I can do that wormhole-jumping thing? That’s how I got here. My whole civilization started to fall apart, and I had no choice but to leave. I didn’t just magically jump here on the first try. It took me close to a million years to finally end up here. It isn’t easy to find your way around two seemingly endless voids, mine and yours, when you don’t have even a little bit of either of them mapped out. I found countless empty space rocks and some habitable planets that didn’t work out for me before I ended up here. For all intents and purposes, yes, now I’m American, but I’m not from Earth.”

     Nick snorted. “Of course. And where’s the evidence for me to believe you in this?” He asked, looking over the paint can Rikki had left on the counter. He took a hand off to put on the counter and was left with blue fingers. It was fresh, and was probably the reason for the two meeting.

[atlanteanisms-blog]

| treekillingbusiness |

     Oncia laughed as she watched the two of them leave. “You don’t have to apologize for them. Well, Tarrin maybe, but not Rikki. I like her.” 

     “They’re probably disputing on who has dibs on the ‘hot alien abe’ right now.” Nick groaned, rubing a hand down his face. “Where are you from, anyways? If your civilization didn’t have much in the way of space travel there’s no possible way you could be here, so you must be from this planet. Are you American?”

[atlanteanisms-blog]

| treekillingbusiness |

     Oncia nodded, but answered out loud once she realized Jay probably couldn’t see her in the dark. “Yes, I can.” She took the mop. 

     Thomas took the vacuum and nodded. “And where are you going?” he whispered.

     “I’ll be right here. Technically.” Jay said as he flipped a bucket over and sat on it. “I just need to concentrate while I figure out how to get us out of here... And if I start looking in immense pain just make sure you’re touching me, or you’ll be stuck here.”