Great Attractors: Breakthrough
Jan. 17th, 2016 01:06 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
x-legion.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
xp_logsHaving determined the geography, the two groups destroy the communication barrier the only way they know how: mild violence.
14 had never attempted to track someone while in an astral mindscape before. It had always been in cities, or a school; somewhere in the real world where she could use her multiple bodies to triangulate an exact location with a high degree of accuracy. But here, she was alone. One 'body' meant one point of reference. But even more than that, this was Meggan's mind, which led to an interesting problem. She could still detect individuals, but everything around them was swamped with a vague sense of Meggan.
Adding to the complication was that it felt as though another mind had been laid over-top Meggan's mind, two distinct layers occupying the same space. Partially Meggan, partially another (who she had been informed was Topaz). Two distinctly unique minds clashing in her senses, just slightly out of phase with each other. They couldn't have been more different, and it left her with the same impossible feeling as they clashed within her senses.
It was a new challenge, and 14 loved it.
She didn't have her multiple bodies for reference in the astral plane, which made triangulation a bit of a difficult proposition. Still, she could feel the minds of the others, now that she knew what she was looking for. It was like stripping away the film over her senses, letting Meggan's overly-saccharine mind fall to the wayside as she focused in on Topaz'. She could sense Hope's mind burning like a torch in the darkness. They weren't far, but not close enough that her group could just linger where they were.
"The other group is this way," she said, turning in what appeared to be a random direction. "We should probably move, before someone does something stupid like randomly punch holes in whatever is keeping the two minds separate, hoping to find us."
Meggan followed the lead, desperately hoping this would work. She didn’t want to end up just lost forever in the oddly disturbing river of perky sweetness that had become her dreams. She winced at the thought of anyone’s brain having holes punched through it, let alone hers or Topaz’. Or tunneled through it. That wasn’t something one liked to hear. “The Swiss cheese effect isn’t a comforting thought for anybody when a brain’s involved.”
One mind over, confidence was equally shaky.
With a slow breath, Hope lowered the shields that she had learned to keep up over the years in an effort to strengthen the beacon that she was. "Now I really hope they find us. If they manage to hone in one me..." She mentioned a little insecurely. This whole event had been strange. "Wait..." Her eyes lost her focus as she observed the colored string the represented her bond with her roommate. It was a thin, fragile thing, but... " I think they are coming closer..."
Jean's attention momentarily flickered toward Hope, as if somehow she could see through on the other side, but she didn't say anything save for a simple nod. She was currently trying to calm herself, to find a center, like Charles had taught her before. It had been a long time since she had been overwhelmed like that, and she knew there would be no rest, not yet, until they were able to free themselves from whatever was going on. And right now, of the group that was there, she seemed to have the most telepathic power at the moment. She knew it would be needed, and she was no good as a nervous wreck.
Haller kept a careful but unobtrusive eye on his teammate. Jean had already made her opinions of his concern known, so he didn't press, but he was also aware that she'd been shouldering the telepathic load for the team for almost a year now. It hadn't taken a fall into one of the mindscape's emotional wells to show it was wearing on her.
Briefly, the counselor turned his attention to Rachel. She, too, seemed to be preparing herself, although in her case there was more of a let's-get-this-over-with sense. That jadedness was an entirely different kind of depressing. Haller suppressed a sigh.
"Just let us know, Hope," he said.
Back in Meggan's mind, 14 and the team pressed forward. 14 herself was vaguely worried that the other group was starting to think 'Punching Holes' was starting to look more and more appealing. They should have been smart enough to not try it, but she was over here and they were over there, so it was hardly guaranteed.
14 clenched a fist. The general everythingness of Meggan's mind, combined with how closely she had to stick to Emma, was starting to set her nerves on edge. Still, they just had to get to where the other group was. It was just over this... hill...
In front of the group, a large stretch of... something brown stood out against the bright pastels of the world. It was shiny and smelled strongly of...
"...is... is that a lake of chocolate syrup?" she asked, momentarily caught completely flat-footed.
And of course, Hope and the others were right in the middle of it. Brilliant.
"Chocolate syrup, horse shit, whatever it is, who cares?" Every second they spent in this literal Loony Tunes hell eroded more and more of Quentin's already barely existing patience. He shouldered past 14 and continued down the path to the other group. "Keep moving. I want to get out of here already."
Something tickling in the back of her mind made Hope look up. "There they are!" She called out to the assorted psi's with her. "Are you ready, Rachel?"
"Here?" The redhead circled the empty space in front of Hope with a finger and, upon receiving confirmation, gestured for her companions to clear the space. She threw up another shield in front of them as a precautionary measure, blue streaking down her arms as she gathered power in fists by her side. A domed forcefield formed before her, rapidly gaining colour as more energy was channelled into it.
As the shield built, Rachel considered the bookshelf and wall that stood beyond the space Hope had pointed out with a frown. Metaphysical representations of a mindscape were not actually real. However, if this failed, the attack could damage Topaz's brain.
With a sigh and sudden jerk of her wrists, Rachel let the forcefield fly, its rounded shape morphing into a sharp point at the last moment before it caught mid-air and resisted its trajectory. Sensing that she only had a moment to act, the psi flung her arms out and pulled the forcefield apart.
The resulting rip was deafening.
And then the blinding sunlight poured in.
The protective shield around the others dissolved as Rachel peered through the tear between the mindscapes. What laid beyond the cool darkness of the library could be described as Candyland Heaven. Or Hell. Very pretty. But with a smell so cloyingly sweet, it was enough to make a person gag.
"We're on chocolate," she noted, grabbing David's forearm when he reached her and using him as a counter balance so that she could tap the sole of her boot on top of the sticky liquid. He jerked her back when the floorboards by the tear morphed into... gingerbread? "Why do I feel like this could fuel my nightmares for the next year? Whose trippy brain would even-- Oh, look. It's Emma."
As the counselor took Rachel's weight he flowed his own power into her, reinforcing her hold on the breach. It was indeed Emma, looking uncharacteristically worn -- and Meggan, and Quentin, and the newcomers, the Cuckoos -- or one of them, and with a strangely immature astral form.
Haller pulled his attention away from the group to the task at hand. Like high and low pressure systems, the mindscapes were colliding: on Topaz's side the floorboards were twitching like a muscle in spasm as they rippled from wood to confection, while the chocolate flowing from Meggan's side was congealing into a sludge of rotting paper. Rachel's power kept the tear open, but the edges wavered like a heat-haze.
"Jean," he said, the word a question.
At the sound of her name, Jean glanced up, surveying the damage. She took a small step forward, then another, until she was right at the precipice where the two sides warred with one another. Reaching out, she felt the 'heat,' then pulled her hand away. It reminded her of an infection, foreign bodies combating one another, like a fever.
"It needs to be cauterized," she said quietly.
Drawing in a breath, Jean looked back to the opening, then lifted up her hand again. A faint spark glanced off her fingertips before the spark suddenly got brighter, like the end of a welding torch. This was really something she hadn't done before, at least not on the astral plane, and not with that much control over it, so she wasn't sure if it was going to work.
She put all of her focus into the idea of ignition, of heat, to burn off some of the ragged edges of the tear between the two minds. As she touched the edges they began to sizzle and pop, and the fluctuating areas soon stabilized to depict the "correct" groundwork depending on what side the viewer was on, save for the tear itself, which seemed to be made of light
Midway through, Jean soon began to waver, and the precise light flashed, catching fire, which momentarily engulfed her arm and quickly disappeared before she stumbled back, putting her hand to her head as she took in quick breaths.
"I...I'm sorry," she said, clenching her eyes shut. Steam rose from her skin where she had caught fire, somehow burning up the water that still lingered, though she didn't seem to notice.
"I just need a moment."
Emma made an irritated gesture at the tiny bluebirds who were clustered around her shoulders, their claws holding on to her clothes and doing their best to try and hold her up. They let go and Emma straightened up. "I managed to turn myself inside out trying to get out of here," she said. "But some parts of me are starting to feel a little better. Could you do with some assistance on the fine tuning?" she asked Jean. "So you aren't actively setting yourself on fire, at least?"
The sound of flapping made Jean open her eyes, just in time to catch sight of the small flock of bluebirds that had brought Emma closer to her. It threw her off for a moment, giving her a bewildered expression as she blinked a few times, her mouth slightly agape as she shook her head.
"I--No. This is the first time I've tried fire on the astral plane," she said with a tinge of embarrassment. "No real need for it before now...I guess it takes some finesse. I'd appreciate the help, thanks."
Emma nodded and reached into her powers, sighing with annoyance as they once again shrugged and raised their hands, letting her know that they were still recovering and weren't quite ready to help out as much as she wanted, sorry. Emma reached deeper and managed to scrape together enough tendrils to at least be able to reach out to Jean, but it wasn't as much as she really need. Looking around, she gave momentary thought to asking the Cuckoo for assistance, but decided against it - she really had spent enough time rubbing against that brain and that feeling was decidedly mutual.
"Quentin," she said. "I need a little more power to help Jean and you've got telepathy to spare. Would you mind if I borrowed a little? I suspect it would be best for all of us if we don't burn holes in Meggan's or Topaz's minds."
The dilettante telepath hated to admit how impressed he was by the expert administration of the psiscape. Under pain of torture, he might even confess to some envy. So, presented with the opportunity to assist the masters at work, Quentin found that for once he could not say no.
"Just give it back when you're done," he said, lowering the box forts that he called shields to let Emma and Jean draw on him for strength.
The combined focus of the other two telepaths was almost instantly noticeable, like taking a shot of caffeine or a veil being lifted. The two of them, if they weren't careful to shore up their mental shields, might notice some feedback from the link to the woman: residual waves of negative emotions that fluctuated between fear, anger, hate, pain, and disgust.
Jean turned her attention back to the doorway, and resumed her work. Carefully studying the edges, the resulting flame was much more controlled and white hot. Soon the doorway was completely finished, and stable enough be relatively safe.
"That should do it," she said, taking a step back to get a better look.
"It's hard to say what will happen to it once we get everything righted, but it should be repairable."
She glanced back to Quentin and Emma.
"Thank you," she said.
Topaz tried to watch them work, but dizziness washed over her and she had to squeeze her eyes shut, reaching out for something to grab. When it became apparent that staying upright wasn't an option she lowered herself to the ground as gently as she could, pressing her forehead against her knees to ride out the spell and muttering, "I hate tonight."
14 did her best not to stare stupidly at the resulting bridge. "I hope everyone appreciates exactly how dangerous that was," she said dryly.
If one little thing had gone wrong, one of the minds could have completely collapsed in on itself (and with all of them still in it, even). The remaining mind, unprepared, would have been left trying to stretch itself to occupy the empty space. If it hadn't been shredded by the resulting pull, would likely have been swept away by the crushing sensory overload it'd experience that came from suddenly having a second set of everything.
She would know.
A small part of her was almost disappointed it hadn't happened. There was no guarantee that either one of the girls would have been strong enough to weather the resulting overload or everything that came with it... and it very well would have likely killed everyone that wouldn't have been able to escape the collapsing mind...
But if everything had gone perfectly, she wouldn't have been quite so alone anymore.
It was for the best it had all gone smoothly, she knew. Really, she did. It was just one dark little thought she was going to have to keep to herself.
Haller gave the girl a bland look before turning his attention to the more familiar, less caustic blonde. "How are you doing, Meggan?" he asked.
Meggan wasn’t collapsing, but it had been a little uncomfortable to watch the work being done for a minute there for her, too. She was okay, and the nauseous sensation had abated. She waved away a few blue and green dragonflies that seemed to be made of M&M’s as they made an appearance. Their wings clattered as they fluttered about noisily, and briefly tried to camp out in her hair, before getting out of the way.
She couldn’t lie to Haller when all this mess was stuck in her head. “Okay? Sort of? A bit, I think. Good as I can be in all this,” she offered. “Although, I’m honestly sort of wondering if things can really and truly please stop sending the weirdest dreams ever for everyone, when they want to get a foothold.” She didn’t want anybody else to get hurt, trying to sort her and Topaz’ problems out here. Meggan glanced in the direction of where a six-legged cow made of white chocolate and strawberries was, when it gave a loud moo from about twenty feet away, before she just shook her head and looked back. Still not as weird as the Pegasus.
"I agree," said Haller, dryly. He estimated at least half of those present had been subjected to some form of astral entrapment. It was so hard to keep track. Certainly himself and Rachel. Meggan, too. He wasn't certain but he thought this might actually be Quentin's third such experience, and considering the boy had been in the mansion for a little less than a year that was depressing.
The counselor shook his head and turned his attention to Emma. "Hope and I found out some things," he said. "I'd like to get your input, if you don't mind."
"Of course," replied Emma, blandly. She looked around her and motioned to a place on Meggan's side of the bridge, where soft green grass grew and what appeared to be a teeny-tiny horse shivered adoringly at the fact she had even noticed it. "Perhaps it's best if we have our discussion on the sunny side of the street."
After a quick exchange of notes, the two senior psis come to a chilling conclusion.
Once Haller had Emma aside he didn't mince words.
"Take a look into my mind," he said, and pushed his recent excursion with Hope to the forefront.
Emma looked dubiously at Heller, opening her mouth to remind him of her recent entrail-tastic adventure in shattering and the effect it had had on her psychic powers, but then shut it again and decided to actually try and read his mind. Somewhat surprisingly, her powers felt as if they had recovered somewhat, their buttressing by Celeste obviously giving them some recovery time. Emma wouldn't be able to do anything exciting, but reaching into an open and inviting mind that had placed the narrative it wanted her to read right at the front proved to be within her capacity.
Emma scanned the information Haller had gleaned from his time in Topaz's mindscape and then on his excursion with Hope's astral form. "Emotional debris," she said slowly. "Not all that surprising. I've seen something similar elsewhere, but it was much more limited in scope. This wreckage doesn't appear to be specific to any of us. Or anything." She raised an eyebrow, her voice low, so no-one but Haller could hear her. "Other than the end of world, of course."
Haller frowned at the implication. "The remains of other astral planes," he said, voice equally low. It made a degree of sense; not too long ago entire worlds had been lost, many shattered beyond recovery. Xorn had repaired the damage he could, but the result was a fragile patchwork of realities.
"Energy can't be created or destroyed, only changed," mused the younger man. "If something couldn't be folded into our world . . ."
“Then it’s wandering around, lonely as a cloud. Until it sees a host of empaths. I would imagine that affinity is very enticing to lost emotions. Particularly if it didn’t have to travel very far. Both Meggan and Topaz were at the beginning of this world. This infection may have been with them since then. Just slowly growing. Or accreting. More and more particles getting attracted to the initial attachment.” Emma frowned as she thought about the implications of what she was saying.
"Some kind of pull might explain why it's so hard to get out." Haller folded his arms, expression pensive. "Astral interference would also explain why Hope is able to travel. This infection, or parasite, whatever it is, though . . . it's constricting. The way the mindscapes flux back and forth -- it's like they're being crushed together. Or collapsed into one another."
"Which doesn't suggest good things for our two young empaths," replied Emma. "I don't think there's anything good for them likely to come out of having their minds forcibly joined together." She frowned slightly. "I don't think it's gone that far yet, though. We could break the overlay off Meggan's mindscape - it took some power and it damaged the mindscape beneath, but it wasn't like the... parasite had infiltrated to any great depth."
"I think it's the same for Topaz. She metabolizes the emotions she absorbs, but the emotion-sinks don't seem to affect her the same way it affects the rest of us. It's still superficial. But she also said she'd been feeling off for weeks, like it's been building for a while. Tonight they must have hit some kind of tipping point." Haller's mouth twitched. "Like whatever found them is full-term."
Emma gave a sudden, quite deep sigh as all the pieces of the puzzle fit together in her head. "It's a new Astral Plane," she said softly. "Or perhaps a hundred old ones trying to be born anew. Hope can only travel on the Astral Plane, and she's the only one that could make it outside the mindscapes and into this... nascent space it's making. I suspect that, if it completes itself, things won't go very well for all of us that are trapped inside it. As for Meggan and Topaz, I suspect they'd be... ended. Turned into the struts and joists holding the new Plane together." She looked up at Haller, her mouth quirking in the smallest smile. "I think we just lost Plans B, C and D. It's all going to have to be Plan A. We'll have to destroy this thing."
14 had never attempted to track someone while in an astral mindscape before. It had always been in cities, or a school; somewhere in the real world where she could use her multiple bodies to triangulate an exact location with a high degree of accuracy. But here, she was alone. One 'body' meant one point of reference. But even more than that, this was Meggan's mind, which led to an interesting problem. She could still detect individuals, but everything around them was swamped with a vague sense of Meggan.
Adding to the complication was that it felt as though another mind had been laid over-top Meggan's mind, two distinct layers occupying the same space. Partially Meggan, partially another (who she had been informed was Topaz). Two distinctly unique minds clashing in her senses, just slightly out of phase with each other. They couldn't have been more different, and it left her with the same impossible feeling as they clashed within her senses.
It was a new challenge, and 14 loved it.
She didn't have her multiple bodies for reference in the astral plane, which made triangulation a bit of a difficult proposition. Still, she could feel the minds of the others, now that she knew what she was looking for. It was like stripping away the film over her senses, letting Meggan's overly-saccharine mind fall to the wayside as she focused in on Topaz'. She could sense Hope's mind burning like a torch in the darkness. They weren't far, but not close enough that her group could just linger where they were.
"The other group is this way," she said, turning in what appeared to be a random direction. "We should probably move, before someone does something stupid like randomly punch holes in whatever is keeping the two minds separate, hoping to find us."
Meggan followed the lead, desperately hoping this would work. She didn’t want to end up just lost forever in the oddly disturbing river of perky sweetness that had become her dreams. She winced at the thought of anyone’s brain having holes punched through it, let alone hers or Topaz’. Or tunneled through it. That wasn’t something one liked to hear. “The Swiss cheese effect isn’t a comforting thought for anybody when a brain’s involved.”
One mind over, confidence was equally shaky.
With a slow breath, Hope lowered the shields that she had learned to keep up over the years in an effort to strengthen the beacon that she was. "Now I really hope they find us. If they manage to hone in one me..." She mentioned a little insecurely. This whole event had been strange. "Wait..." Her eyes lost her focus as she observed the colored string the represented her bond with her roommate. It was a thin, fragile thing, but... " I think they are coming closer..."
Jean's attention momentarily flickered toward Hope, as if somehow she could see through on the other side, but she didn't say anything save for a simple nod. She was currently trying to calm herself, to find a center, like Charles had taught her before. It had been a long time since she had been overwhelmed like that, and she knew there would be no rest, not yet, until they were able to free themselves from whatever was going on. And right now, of the group that was there, she seemed to have the most telepathic power at the moment. She knew it would be needed, and she was no good as a nervous wreck.
Haller kept a careful but unobtrusive eye on his teammate. Jean had already made her opinions of his concern known, so he didn't press, but he was also aware that she'd been shouldering the telepathic load for the team for almost a year now. It hadn't taken a fall into one of the mindscape's emotional wells to show it was wearing on her.
Briefly, the counselor turned his attention to Rachel. She, too, seemed to be preparing herself, although in her case there was more of a let's-get-this-over-with sense. That jadedness was an entirely different kind of depressing. Haller suppressed a sigh.
"Just let us know, Hope," he said.
Back in Meggan's mind, 14 and the team pressed forward. 14 herself was vaguely worried that the other group was starting to think 'Punching Holes' was starting to look more and more appealing. They should have been smart enough to not try it, but she was over here and they were over there, so it was hardly guaranteed.
14 clenched a fist. The general everythingness of Meggan's mind, combined with how closely she had to stick to Emma, was starting to set her nerves on edge. Still, they just had to get to where the other group was. It was just over this... hill...
In front of the group, a large stretch of... something brown stood out against the bright pastels of the world. It was shiny and smelled strongly of...
"...is... is that a lake of chocolate syrup?" she asked, momentarily caught completely flat-footed.
And of course, Hope and the others were right in the middle of it. Brilliant.
"Chocolate syrup, horse shit, whatever it is, who cares?" Every second they spent in this literal Loony Tunes hell eroded more and more of Quentin's already barely existing patience. He shouldered past 14 and continued down the path to the other group. "Keep moving. I want to get out of here already."
Something tickling in the back of her mind made Hope look up. "There they are!" She called out to the assorted psi's with her. "Are you ready, Rachel?"
"Here?" The redhead circled the empty space in front of Hope with a finger and, upon receiving confirmation, gestured for her companions to clear the space. She threw up another shield in front of them as a precautionary measure, blue streaking down her arms as she gathered power in fists by her side. A domed forcefield formed before her, rapidly gaining colour as more energy was channelled into it.
As the shield built, Rachel considered the bookshelf and wall that stood beyond the space Hope had pointed out with a frown. Metaphysical representations of a mindscape were not actually real. However, if this failed, the attack could damage Topaz's brain.
With a sigh and sudden jerk of her wrists, Rachel let the forcefield fly, its rounded shape morphing into a sharp point at the last moment before it caught mid-air and resisted its trajectory. Sensing that she only had a moment to act, the psi flung her arms out and pulled the forcefield apart.
The resulting rip was deafening.
And then the blinding sunlight poured in.
The protective shield around the others dissolved as Rachel peered through the tear between the mindscapes. What laid beyond the cool darkness of the library could be described as Candyland Heaven. Or Hell. Very pretty. But with a smell so cloyingly sweet, it was enough to make a person gag.
"We're on chocolate," she noted, grabbing David's forearm when he reached her and using him as a counter balance so that she could tap the sole of her boot on top of the sticky liquid. He jerked her back when the floorboards by the tear morphed into... gingerbread? "Why do I feel like this could fuel my nightmares for the next year? Whose trippy brain would even-- Oh, look. It's Emma."
As the counselor took Rachel's weight he flowed his own power into her, reinforcing her hold on the breach. It was indeed Emma, looking uncharacteristically worn -- and Meggan, and Quentin, and the newcomers, the Cuckoos -- or one of them, and with a strangely immature astral form.
Haller pulled his attention away from the group to the task at hand. Like high and low pressure systems, the mindscapes were colliding: on Topaz's side the floorboards were twitching like a muscle in spasm as they rippled from wood to confection, while the chocolate flowing from Meggan's side was congealing into a sludge of rotting paper. Rachel's power kept the tear open, but the edges wavered like a heat-haze.
"Jean," he said, the word a question.
At the sound of her name, Jean glanced up, surveying the damage. She took a small step forward, then another, until she was right at the precipice where the two sides warred with one another. Reaching out, she felt the 'heat,' then pulled her hand away. It reminded her of an infection, foreign bodies combating one another, like a fever.
"It needs to be cauterized," she said quietly.
Drawing in a breath, Jean looked back to the opening, then lifted up her hand again. A faint spark glanced off her fingertips before the spark suddenly got brighter, like the end of a welding torch. This was really something she hadn't done before, at least not on the astral plane, and not with that much control over it, so she wasn't sure if it was going to work.
She put all of her focus into the idea of ignition, of heat, to burn off some of the ragged edges of the tear between the two minds. As she touched the edges they began to sizzle and pop, and the fluctuating areas soon stabilized to depict the "correct" groundwork depending on what side the viewer was on, save for the tear itself, which seemed to be made of light
Midway through, Jean soon began to waver, and the precise light flashed, catching fire, which momentarily engulfed her arm and quickly disappeared before she stumbled back, putting her hand to her head as she took in quick breaths.
"I...I'm sorry," she said, clenching her eyes shut. Steam rose from her skin where she had caught fire, somehow burning up the water that still lingered, though she didn't seem to notice.
"I just need a moment."
Emma made an irritated gesture at the tiny bluebirds who were clustered around her shoulders, their claws holding on to her clothes and doing their best to try and hold her up. They let go and Emma straightened up. "I managed to turn myself inside out trying to get out of here," she said. "But some parts of me are starting to feel a little better. Could you do with some assistance on the fine tuning?" she asked Jean. "So you aren't actively setting yourself on fire, at least?"
The sound of flapping made Jean open her eyes, just in time to catch sight of the small flock of bluebirds that had brought Emma closer to her. It threw her off for a moment, giving her a bewildered expression as she blinked a few times, her mouth slightly agape as she shook her head.
"I--No. This is the first time I've tried fire on the astral plane," she said with a tinge of embarrassment. "No real need for it before now...I guess it takes some finesse. I'd appreciate the help, thanks."
Emma nodded and reached into her powers, sighing with annoyance as they once again shrugged and raised their hands, letting her know that they were still recovering and weren't quite ready to help out as much as she wanted, sorry. Emma reached deeper and managed to scrape together enough tendrils to at least be able to reach out to Jean, but it wasn't as much as she really need. Looking around, she gave momentary thought to asking the Cuckoo for assistance, but decided against it - she really had spent enough time rubbing against that brain and that feeling was decidedly mutual.
"Quentin," she said. "I need a little more power to help Jean and you've got telepathy to spare. Would you mind if I borrowed a little? I suspect it would be best for all of us if we don't burn holes in Meggan's or Topaz's minds."
The dilettante telepath hated to admit how impressed he was by the expert administration of the psiscape. Under pain of torture, he might even confess to some envy. So, presented with the opportunity to assist the masters at work, Quentin found that for once he could not say no.
"Just give it back when you're done," he said, lowering the box forts that he called shields to let Emma and Jean draw on him for strength.
The combined focus of the other two telepaths was almost instantly noticeable, like taking a shot of caffeine or a veil being lifted. The two of them, if they weren't careful to shore up their mental shields, might notice some feedback from the link to the woman: residual waves of negative emotions that fluctuated between fear, anger, hate, pain, and disgust.
Jean turned her attention back to the doorway, and resumed her work. Carefully studying the edges, the resulting flame was much more controlled and white hot. Soon the doorway was completely finished, and stable enough be relatively safe.
"That should do it," she said, taking a step back to get a better look.
"It's hard to say what will happen to it once we get everything righted, but it should be repairable."
She glanced back to Quentin and Emma.
"Thank you," she said.
Topaz tried to watch them work, but dizziness washed over her and she had to squeeze her eyes shut, reaching out for something to grab. When it became apparent that staying upright wasn't an option she lowered herself to the ground as gently as she could, pressing her forehead against her knees to ride out the spell and muttering, "I hate tonight."
14 did her best not to stare stupidly at the resulting bridge. "I hope everyone appreciates exactly how dangerous that was," she said dryly.
If one little thing had gone wrong, one of the minds could have completely collapsed in on itself (and with all of them still in it, even). The remaining mind, unprepared, would have been left trying to stretch itself to occupy the empty space. If it hadn't been shredded by the resulting pull, would likely have been swept away by the crushing sensory overload it'd experience that came from suddenly having a second set of everything.
She would know.
A small part of her was almost disappointed it hadn't happened. There was no guarantee that either one of the girls would have been strong enough to weather the resulting overload or everything that came with it... and it very well would have likely killed everyone that wouldn't have been able to escape the collapsing mind...
But if everything had gone perfectly, she wouldn't have been quite so alone anymore.
It was for the best it had all gone smoothly, she knew. Really, she did. It was just one dark little thought she was going to have to keep to herself.
Haller gave the girl a bland look before turning his attention to the more familiar, less caustic blonde. "How are you doing, Meggan?" he asked.
Meggan wasn’t collapsing, but it had been a little uncomfortable to watch the work being done for a minute there for her, too. She was okay, and the nauseous sensation had abated. She waved away a few blue and green dragonflies that seemed to be made of M&M’s as they made an appearance. Their wings clattered as they fluttered about noisily, and briefly tried to camp out in her hair, before getting out of the way.
She couldn’t lie to Haller when all this mess was stuck in her head. “Okay? Sort of? A bit, I think. Good as I can be in all this,” she offered. “Although, I’m honestly sort of wondering if things can really and truly please stop sending the weirdest dreams ever for everyone, when they want to get a foothold.” She didn’t want anybody else to get hurt, trying to sort her and Topaz’ problems out here. Meggan glanced in the direction of where a six-legged cow made of white chocolate and strawberries was, when it gave a loud moo from about twenty feet away, before she just shook her head and looked back. Still not as weird as the Pegasus.
"I agree," said Haller, dryly. He estimated at least half of those present had been subjected to some form of astral entrapment. It was so hard to keep track. Certainly himself and Rachel. Meggan, too. He wasn't certain but he thought this might actually be Quentin's third such experience, and considering the boy had been in the mansion for a little less than a year that was depressing.
The counselor shook his head and turned his attention to Emma. "Hope and I found out some things," he said. "I'd like to get your input, if you don't mind."
"Of course," replied Emma, blandly. She looked around her and motioned to a place on Meggan's side of the bridge, where soft green grass grew and what appeared to be a teeny-tiny horse shivered adoringly at the fact she had even noticed it. "Perhaps it's best if we have our discussion on the sunny side of the street."
After a quick exchange of notes, the two senior psis come to a chilling conclusion.
Once Haller had Emma aside he didn't mince words.
"Take a look into my mind," he said, and pushed his recent excursion with Hope to the forefront.
Emma looked dubiously at Heller, opening her mouth to remind him of her recent entrail-tastic adventure in shattering and the effect it had had on her psychic powers, but then shut it again and decided to actually try and read his mind. Somewhat surprisingly, her powers felt as if they had recovered somewhat, their buttressing by Celeste obviously giving them some recovery time. Emma wouldn't be able to do anything exciting, but reaching into an open and inviting mind that had placed the narrative it wanted her to read right at the front proved to be within her capacity.
Emma scanned the information Haller had gleaned from his time in Topaz's mindscape and then on his excursion with Hope's astral form. "Emotional debris," she said slowly. "Not all that surprising. I've seen something similar elsewhere, but it was much more limited in scope. This wreckage doesn't appear to be specific to any of us. Or anything." She raised an eyebrow, her voice low, so no-one but Haller could hear her. "Other than the end of world, of course."
Haller frowned at the implication. "The remains of other astral planes," he said, voice equally low. It made a degree of sense; not too long ago entire worlds had been lost, many shattered beyond recovery. Xorn had repaired the damage he could, but the result was a fragile patchwork of realities.
"Energy can't be created or destroyed, only changed," mused the younger man. "If something couldn't be folded into our world . . ."
“Then it’s wandering around, lonely as a cloud. Until it sees a host of empaths. I would imagine that affinity is very enticing to lost emotions. Particularly if it didn’t have to travel very far. Both Meggan and Topaz were at the beginning of this world. This infection may have been with them since then. Just slowly growing. Or accreting. More and more particles getting attracted to the initial attachment.” Emma frowned as she thought about the implications of what she was saying.
"Some kind of pull might explain why it's so hard to get out." Haller folded his arms, expression pensive. "Astral interference would also explain why Hope is able to travel. This infection, or parasite, whatever it is, though . . . it's constricting. The way the mindscapes flux back and forth -- it's like they're being crushed together. Or collapsed into one another."
"Which doesn't suggest good things for our two young empaths," replied Emma. "I don't think there's anything good for them likely to come out of having their minds forcibly joined together." She frowned slightly. "I don't think it's gone that far yet, though. We could break the overlay off Meggan's mindscape - it took some power and it damaged the mindscape beneath, but it wasn't like the... parasite had infiltrated to any great depth."
"I think it's the same for Topaz. She metabolizes the emotions she absorbs, but the emotion-sinks don't seem to affect her the same way it affects the rest of us. It's still superficial. But she also said she'd been feeling off for weeks, like it's been building for a while. Tonight they must have hit some kind of tipping point." Haller's mouth twitched. "Like whatever found them is full-term."
Emma gave a sudden, quite deep sigh as all the pieces of the puzzle fit together in her head. "It's a new Astral Plane," she said softly. "Or perhaps a hundred old ones trying to be born anew. Hope can only travel on the Astral Plane, and she's the only one that could make it outside the mindscapes and into this... nascent space it's making. I suspect that, if it completes itself, things won't go very well for all of us that are trapped inside it. As for Meggan and Topaz, I suspect they'd be... ended. Turned into the struts and joists holding the new Plane together." She looked up at Haller, her mouth quirking in the smallest smile. "I think we just lost Plans B, C and D. It's all going to have to be Plan A. We'll have to destroy this thing."
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}