![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xp_daytripper posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
xp_logsWelcome to Night Vale. It’s…. Not that welcoming.
Teleportation was something one grew used to when they had Kurt Sefton as a... whatever he considered himself. Topaz didn't think much about it.
The flash of light and sudden, jarring feeling of the ground disappearing out from under her feet was definitely not teleportation. Topaz' only thought was oh god what did Stephen do now before her feet found the ground again and the light faded to reveal a parking lot. Topaz didn't dare turn her head, afraid of what she might see, but she knew she wasn't alone - she could feel confusion, curiosity, fear, and pure terror to her right and left.
"Um..."
The light faded but Miles's sight were still blurry. Several Topazes stood next to him on one side, and a whole bunch of Alisons on his other side. He raised his hands to rub his eyes and clear his vision, but paused when he brought one up close. He didn't remember his hands being so hairy. Or his hair being so stiff and brittle. He blinked again, but there were still eight Topazes and eight Alisons . . . and forty-eight arms?! "Guys, what happened?" he asked, although it came out more lime "WAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGHHHHHHH!"
At the scream, Alison spun while taking half a leap backwards. Unfortunately, the change of scenery had left her on the side of the path and she ended up jumping backwards directly into a low decorative stone wall, which promptly took her leg out from under her. With a small shriek and a windmill of her arms she toppled backwards behind the wall. There was a thud as she hit the ground and disappeared, except for her legs which stuck up over the edge of the wall.
"Owugh..." she moaned, her words floating up over to the others. "I think my butt's cracked."
"Hi Cracked, I'm Jubilee." Jubilee easily jumped to her feet, she didn't recognize where they were, and when she reached for her phone she noted that it was gone. Something weird was going on, she just didn't know what yet. Which meant shutting up and looking out for clues that would give her a better idea of where to go to from here. "Let's see what the others know, yeah?"
"Jubilee, that is such a Dad joke," Nica complained as she pulled herself up and went over to help Alison. She'd only walked a few steps before squinting and stopping. "Er, what's with the night-light, me? I'm all glowy. As in I can't turn it off."
Warren should probably have been freaked out but after the last six months or so, he was just glad to be with people who didn't hate him. Entirely. Maybe. Wherever they were now, it was clear something was happening. That being said, flexing his wings Warren could barely hold back the laughter. "So a man-spider, a Greek god, a glow stick and assorted people walk into a bar..." Oh man, he was hilarious. "Seriously though, Miles. Not even in a strange parallel universe is anyone more attractive than I am." He stretched his arms in front of him, nodding approvingly. "I think I sparkle. And not in a lame Twilight vampire way, but in an absolutely amazing way."
Topaz just looked around at the assembled group, mouth hanging open. Somehow, this still wasn't the strangest thing to happen this year. Definitely in the top ten, though. She looked around, trying to get an idea of where they were, and her eyes fell on a sign. All Night Moonlight Diner. What in the...?
The chime of a bell rang behind them, and Topaz turned to see someone leaving the diner, a snippet of what sounded like a radio broadcast reaching her ears. "Cecil Gershwin Palmer has been pronounced missing and probably Not Dead...."
Topaz blinked once. Twice. Again. "What."
Nica's head snapped up from her trying to work out what was wrong with her powers. "What, what?" Then she noticed the building. "Woah, no way. Seriously?"
"Why are we not more freaked out by the fact that I'm a giant man-spider?!" Miles asked frantically. But again, there were fewer words and more loud cracks and screeches and hisses, like a tea kettle whistling over an upturned rain stick. He waved his arms (more than two!) to call their attention to him, but his misshapen body and monster sounds called an unwanted attention instead: townspeople. Well, damn. He had seen this movie before. Torches and pitchforks were next.
Topaz and Nica answered in unison. "Welcome to Nightvale!" At the blank looks, Nica continued. "You know, the podcast? Stories about a town in the desert called Night Vale where all sort of weird stuff happens?"
"Oh joy," Alison muttered to herself, dripping with sarcasm. She pulled herself to her feet and rejoined the others. "We should fit right in, then." Then, louder, "Anyone know how on earth we ended up here?"
Warren was enjoying himself by moving his wings up and down leisurely, the cool air refreshing against his skin. He was almost never topless. Even at home, when it was just Bobbi and him at the house. It was something he was working on. "I still don't know where here is. What's a podcast? That's an internet radio show right?" He turned his head to Miles, expecting the teen to fill him in as usual when it came to technobabble but well..."Miles, we have to figure out a way for you to communicate. This 'rawwwr braiiiinns' thing isn't doing it for me. Plus," he added, "now I have to find a new expert on technology. What about you, emo one." Warren could not remember Topaz's name. It was hard for him to remember if he'd ever noticed her before. "You have a strange name...a jewel...Sapphire? No..a Sapphire would be peppier. You seem more like a Garnet. Anyways, you seem to know what's going on."
Topaz stared blankly at Warren, trying to figure out if he had hit his head or he was high. Or both. "I - oh never mind. Let's find somewhere to lie low for a bit, figure out what's happening with Miles and-"
"Hey!" The distinct, farm-y drawl that could belong to John Peters, You Know, Farmer, sounded behind them along with the chime of the diner bell. "Who're you all?"
"Oh boy," Topaz mumbled, looking back at the man then at the quickly gathering crowd. "That might be a problem."
"Look at that glowing one!" One person yelled. "It's an angel!"
"Angels aren't real!" Another voice rebuked the first one. Others joined in the debate.
"Well, that's the first time anyone has mistaken Warren for holy." Jubilee noted with a grin at her friend. "But I'm thinking maybe we want to make a break for it?"
"Crap." Nica hesitated. "I don't know what would be better, saying I am an angel and scaring them off, or agreeing that I'm not so maybe they can talk to us and help us work out what's going on." Then one voice rose loudly enough over the angel debate to be heard:
"Maybe they know what happened to Cecil!" That drew everyone's attention back to the group, and the expressions weren't friendly. At least, not on those who had actual faces.
"...Or, we could run?" Nica concluded.
Warren noticed a lot of the comments were towards him and 'Nica. "Citrine," he called out to Topaz. "What's this about angels not existing? I can distract them, show theses people they do." He motioned to everyone to move back and give him space. Within a few moments, his powerful wings lifted him up and he raised his arms, almost as if he was an angel messiah. Even after everything had happened, Warren still had confidence in abundance. "Friends. Do not fear us. We mean you no harm." That sounded angelic, right?
More hissing and spitting came from Miles's fang-filled mouth as he tried to urge Warren not to provoke the townspeople. Had he learned nothing in Limbo? Dammit, if he summoned another sex demon . . .
His many eyes focused on Nica and Topaz, silently pleading with them — the only ones who seemed to have any familiarity with this craziness — to get them out of this situation.
"I know, I know," Topaz assured Miles - no, she couldn't understand him, but she could feel his worry and panic. Warren had at least stopped the townspeople for a moment, mostly out of bewilderment. How weird did one have to be to weird out people who lived in Night Vale? "Okay. Oi, wing boy! You want to distract them? Start flying and yelling about angels existing and mountains being real and... oh, tell them you're going to check out the dog park." Yes, she was setting him up to be picked apart wing by wing. But he could probably out fly them.
Warren could do that. Flapping harder, he lifted himself up in the air, silhouetted by the moon. "Yes, your eyes do not deceive you! I am an angel, coming down from above to be...excellent to you guys." What did angels say anyways?? Even when he was the Angel Avenger, he wasn't really known for calm platitudes. "And to look at dogs. Dogs truly are God's gift to humanity, and as such, parks should be erected in their name. There is one here, renowned among my people. Follow me there!" He really had no idea what he was doing but from the ire of the townspeople, it successfully distracted their attention away from the others, which he hoped they would take advantage from.
And then he felt the tomato on his face. "Hey!," he called out. Did that actually happen? Random fruit started to pelt him and moved his hands in front of his face, clearly unimpressed. "Who has produce just laying around," he wondered to himself, taking the opportunity to fly in a direction. From the loud anger, he must have been heading towards some sort of dog park...if one existed. This place was weird.
"Ask them if you can borrow five bucks!" called out Nica as she took hold of one of Miles' arms (pointedly not thinking about how it was way too hairy and there were way too many of them and ugh, he's a giant man-spider...) to start leading him away from the mob and hopefully to somewhere safe. Safe-r, at least, considering where they were. "And tell them your name is Erika! With a K, mind you! Ali, follow me!"
"Yeah, sure, one second." Alison clapped twice and bowed from the waist, giving a quick 'farewell, Warren, you will be missed', before turning and running after Nica.
"Okay, but seriously, I know just enough of Welcome to Nightvale to know there's something weird about the dog parks, and that things in general are completely insane. On a scale of one to Melchior Gabor, how totally fucked is he?" And then she realized she had a much better question. "And where the heck are we going anyway?"
Jubilee hurried along behind the group, trying to blend into the shadows. It was surprisingly difficult given the light currently glowing from Monica.
"He'll probably be fine," Topaz said without much concern as they ran. "As long as no one gets flaming arrows and he stays away from the Whispering Forest." She paused. "Oh bloody hell, he's vain enough to fall for that, isn't he? Never mind it, I'm sure he'll be fine."
Where were they going? That was a good question. Somewhere in Night Vale where no one would go, where the general public feared to tread... "Library!" Topaz said triumphantly, almost smiling. "We're going to the library."
Teleportation was something one grew used to when they had Kurt Sefton as a... whatever he considered himself. Topaz didn't think much about it.
The flash of light and sudden, jarring feeling of the ground disappearing out from under her feet was definitely not teleportation. Topaz' only thought was oh god what did Stephen do now before her feet found the ground again and the light faded to reveal a parking lot. Topaz didn't dare turn her head, afraid of what she might see, but she knew she wasn't alone - she could feel confusion, curiosity, fear, and pure terror to her right and left.
"Um..."
The light faded but Miles's sight were still blurry. Several Topazes stood next to him on one side, and a whole bunch of Alisons on his other side. He raised his hands to rub his eyes and clear his vision, but paused when he brought one up close. He didn't remember his hands being so hairy. Or his hair being so stiff and brittle. He blinked again, but there were still eight Topazes and eight Alisons . . . and forty-eight arms?! "Guys, what happened?" he asked, although it came out more lime "WAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGHHHHHHH!"
At the scream, Alison spun while taking half a leap backwards. Unfortunately, the change of scenery had left her on the side of the path and she ended up jumping backwards directly into a low decorative stone wall, which promptly took her leg out from under her. With a small shriek and a windmill of her arms she toppled backwards behind the wall. There was a thud as she hit the ground and disappeared, except for her legs which stuck up over the edge of the wall.
"Owugh..." she moaned, her words floating up over to the others. "I think my butt's cracked."
"Hi Cracked, I'm Jubilee." Jubilee easily jumped to her feet, she didn't recognize where they were, and when she reached for her phone she noted that it was gone. Something weird was going on, she just didn't know what yet. Which meant shutting up and looking out for clues that would give her a better idea of where to go to from here. "Let's see what the others know, yeah?"
"Jubilee, that is such a Dad joke," Nica complained as she pulled herself up and went over to help Alison. She'd only walked a few steps before squinting and stopping. "Er, what's with the night-light, me? I'm all glowy. As in I can't turn it off."
Warren should probably have been freaked out but after the last six months or so, he was just glad to be with people who didn't hate him. Entirely. Maybe. Wherever they were now, it was clear something was happening. That being said, flexing his wings Warren could barely hold back the laughter. "So a man-spider, a Greek god, a glow stick and assorted people walk into a bar..." Oh man, he was hilarious. "Seriously though, Miles. Not even in a strange parallel universe is anyone more attractive than I am." He stretched his arms in front of him, nodding approvingly. "I think I sparkle. And not in a lame Twilight vampire way, but in an absolutely amazing way."
Topaz just looked around at the assembled group, mouth hanging open. Somehow, this still wasn't the strangest thing to happen this year. Definitely in the top ten, though. She looked around, trying to get an idea of where they were, and her eyes fell on a sign. All Night Moonlight Diner. What in the...?
The chime of a bell rang behind them, and Topaz turned to see someone leaving the diner, a snippet of what sounded like a radio broadcast reaching her ears. "Cecil Gershwin Palmer has been pronounced missing and probably Not Dead...."
Topaz blinked once. Twice. Again. "What."
Nica's head snapped up from her trying to work out what was wrong with her powers. "What, what?" Then she noticed the building. "Woah, no way. Seriously?"
"Why are we not more freaked out by the fact that I'm a giant man-spider?!" Miles asked frantically. But again, there were fewer words and more loud cracks and screeches and hisses, like a tea kettle whistling over an upturned rain stick. He waved his arms (more than two!) to call their attention to him, but his misshapen body and monster sounds called an unwanted attention instead: townspeople. Well, damn. He had seen this movie before. Torches and pitchforks were next.
Topaz and Nica answered in unison. "Welcome to Nightvale!" At the blank looks, Nica continued. "You know, the podcast? Stories about a town in the desert called Night Vale where all sort of weird stuff happens?"
"Oh joy," Alison muttered to herself, dripping with sarcasm. She pulled herself to her feet and rejoined the others. "We should fit right in, then." Then, louder, "Anyone know how on earth we ended up here?"
Warren was enjoying himself by moving his wings up and down leisurely, the cool air refreshing against his skin. He was almost never topless. Even at home, when it was just Bobbi and him at the house. It was something he was working on. "I still don't know where here is. What's a podcast? That's an internet radio show right?" He turned his head to Miles, expecting the teen to fill him in as usual when it came to technobabble but well..."Miles, we have to figure out a way for you to communicate. This 'rawwwr braiiiinns' thing isn't doing it for me. Plus," he added, "now I have to find a new expert on technology. What about you, emo one." Warren could not remember Topaz's name. It was hard for him to remember if he'd ever noticed her before. "You have a strange name...a jewel...Sapphire? No..a Sapphire would be peppier. You seem more like a Garnet. Anyways, you seem to know what's going on."
Topaz stared blankly at Warren, trying to figure out if he had hit his head or he was high. Or both. "I - oh never mind. Let's find somewhere to lie low for a bit, figure out what's happening with Miles and-"
"Hey!" The distinct, farm-y drawl that could belong to John Peters, You Know, Farmer, sounded behind them along with the chime of the diner bell. "Who're you all?"
"Oh boy," Topaz mumbled, looking back at the man then at the quickly gathering crowd. "That might be a problem."
"Look at that glowing one!" One person yelled. "It's an angel!"
"Angels aren't real!" Another voice rebuked the first one. Others joined in the debate.
"Well, that's the first time anyone has mistaken Warren for holy." Jubilee noted with a grin at her friend. "But I'm thinking maybe we want to make a break for it?"
"Crap." Nica hesitated. "I don't know what would be better, saying I am an angel and scaring them off, or agreeing that I'm not so maybe they can talk to us and help us work out what's going on." Then one voice rose loudly enough over the angel debate to be heard:
"Maybe they know what happened to Cecil!" That drew everyone's attention back to the group, and the expressions weren't friendly. At least, not on those who had actual faces.
"...Or, we could run?" Nica concluded.
Warren noticed a lot of the comments were towards him and 'Nica. "Citrine," he called out to Topaz. "What's this about angels not existing? I can distract them, show theses people they do." He motioned to everyone to move back and give him space. Within a few moments, his powerful wings lifted him up and he raised his arms, almost as if he was an angel messiah. Even after everything had happened, Warren still had confidence in abundance. "Friends. Do not fear us. We mean you no harm." That sounded angelic, right?
More hissing and spitting came from Miles's fang-filled mouth as he tried to urge Warren not to provoke the townspeople. Had he learned nothing in Limbo? Dammit, if he summoned another sex demon . . .
His many eyes focused on Nica and Topaz, silently pleading with them — the only ones who seemed to have any familiarity with this craziness — to get them out of this situation.
"I know, I know," Topaz assured Miles - no, she couldn't understand him, but she could feel his worry and panic. Warren had at least stopped the townspeople for a moment, mostly out of bewilderment. How weird did one have to be to weird out people who lived in Night Vale? "Okay. Oi, wing boy! You want to distract them? Start flying and yelling about angels existing and mountains being real and... oh, tell them you're going to check out the dog park." Yes, she was setting him up to be picked apart wing by wing. But he could probably out fly them.
Warren could do that. Flapping harder, he lifted himself up in the air, silhouetted by the moon. "Yes, your eyes do not deceive you! I am an angel, coming down from above to be...excellent to you guys." What did angels say anyways?? Even when he was the Angel Avenger, he wasn't really known for calm platitudes. "And to look at dogs. Dogs truly are God's gift to humanity, and as such, parks should be erected in their name. There is one here, renowned among my people. Follow me there!" He really had no idea what he was doing but from the ire of the townspeople, it successfully distracted their attention away from the others, which he hoped they would take advantage from.
And then he felt the tomato on his face. "Hey!," he called out. Did that actually happen? Random fruit started to pelt him and moved his hands in front of his face, clearly unimpressed. "Who has produce just laying around," he wondered to himself, taking the opportunity to fly in a direction. From the loud anger, he must have been heading towards some sort of dog park...if one existed. This place was weird.
"Ask them if you can borrow five bucks!" called out Nica as she took hold of one of Miles' arms (pointedly not thinking about how it was way too hairy and there were way too many of them and ugh, he's a giant man-spider...) to start leading him away from the mob and hopefully to somewhere safe. Safe-r, at least, considering where they were. "And tell them your name is Erika! With a K, mind you! Ali, follow me!"
"Yeah, sure, one second." Alison clapped twice and bowed from the waist, giving a quick 'farewell, Warren, you will be missed', before turning and running after Nica.
"Okay, but seriously, I know just enough of Welcome to Nightvale to know there's something weird about the dog parks, and that things in general are completely insane. On a scale of one to Melchior Gabor, how totally fucked is he?" And then she realized she had a much better question. "And where the heck are we going anyway?"
Jubilee hurried along behind the group, trying to blend into the shadows. It was surprisingly difficult given the light currently glowing from Monica.
"He'll probably be fine," Topaz said without much concern as they ran. "As long as no one gets flaming arrows and he stays away from the Whispering Forest." She paused. "Oh bloody hell, he's vain enough to fall for that, isn't he? Never mind it, I'm sure he'll be fine."
Where were they going? That was a good question. Somewhere in Night Vale where no one would go, where the general public feared to tread... "Library!" Topaz said triumphantly, almost smiling. "We're going to the library."
