Time Stand Still || Witch Hunt
Nov. 9th, 2020 12:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xp_topaz posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
xp_logsTopaz has a rather... odd... encounter.
She wasn’t technically supposed to have her phone, and she certainly wasn’t allowed to be playing on it and checking her email. But she got to keep the phone because of her job, and it was lunch. So Topaz indulged herself with a sandwich and going outside, sitting under a tree while she ate and flicked through her email, the journals, and she was about to text Darcy to check on Midnight when a voice interrupted her.
“Topaz.”
Her first thought was that she’d been caught, and honestly, this was a little ridiculous. Then it registered that she knew the voice, and she looked up.
“Amanda?” She raised an eyebrow, frowning. “What’s up?”
“I’ve been trying to get ahold of you. No one knows how to answer a bloody phone around this place, huh?”
Something felt… wrong. The words were fine, but they were off. Not in a way Topaz could identify, though. “I’ve… got my phone, remember?” She held up the phone she’d been playing on. “Special exception for job and all that.”
“Ah. Right. Must’ve slipped my mind. Come on, we need to get going. Emergency back home.”
It was her tone. Her cadence. It was just a little off. Nothing fully noticeable and nothing immediately suspicious. But…
“Yeah, ‘course.” She put her phone in her bag and stood, tossing the remnants of her lunch into the nearby trashcan. “Sounds like an all hands on deck situation. Did anyone get through to Doug and Marie-Ange? I knew a honeymoon on a deserted island was a bad idea…”
There. The woman - definitely not Amanda - wasn’t quick enough to hide the flicker of confusion in her eyes before she said, “Someone’s got them, don’t worry about it. Let’s…”
Her voice drifted off when she saw the ball of energy forming in Topaz’ hand. “What’re you doing?”
“I don’t really have time to tell you everything you did wrong, but you really tipped your hand believing Marie-Ange would voluntarily spend time on a deserted island, or that Doug would spend more than five minutes away from a wifi signal.” Beams of energy sprang out of the ground, surrounding them. “Now. Who are you and what do you want?”
A dark scowl crossed “Amanda’s” face as she snarled, “I don’t have time for this.” She snapped her fingers, dropping the glamour and revealing… Topaz. She was older, her hair longer, and there was a dark look in her eyes that felt completely out of place, but also seemed to fit with her harder expression. “Listen, I need you alive, so can you just not be so you and do what you’re told?”
Topaz had seen a lot of strange things. She’d watched the world end. This went well beyond any of that. “Who are you?”
“I know you’re not this dim.” The other Topaz waved a hand, dismissing the beams of light. Magic swirled around the hand; Topaz ducked, and the spell hit the tree behind her instead, wrapping it in chains that immediately seared into the bark. “Stubborn, though, I guess that never changes—”
She cut off as jagged spikes jutted out of the ground, closing her in, sharp tips all pointing at her neck. She laughed bitterly. “You wouldn’t. I’ve been watching you. You’re too soft.”
“Do you really want to test that?” Topaz stepped carefully around to look at the woman’s face. Her face. It was undeniable. “Better question, do you really want to test how willing I’d be to throw any version of myself into the fire?”
Her doppleganger scoffed. “This could’ve been easy, you know. You even would’ve gotten something out of it. I know you. I am you. I know how much you think about dying and how it would be easier. How you could finally stop being a burden on all the people you care about. How you could finally do something useful for once.”
Something stirred in the back of Topaz’ head. Yeah, she had thought those things. Plenty of times. It wasn’t exactly a secret that she wasn’t always careful with her life. But she knew none of it was true.
Isn’t it? a voice hissed. And Topaz snapped back into focus.
“Get out,” she snapped, trying to push back against the foreign entity in her head.
“Come with me. I’ll be a lot easier, I promise. Doesn’t easy sound nice for once?”
Voices. Topaz looked around to see a couple of staff members coming toward them. Flashing lights must have made a scene.
“Bloody hell,” the other Topaz gritted out. “Fine.”
There was no time to process what happened next. One minute the heavy weight of depression was pressing down on her mind, the next it was gone. And so was everything else. The spikes keeping the other Topaz in place disappeared; she smiled as she watched her younger self sink to the ground, blinking and frowning. “Being on the receiving end of that is awful, isn’t it? Don’t worry, it’ll all come back in a few hours - well, I suppose you know.”
And then she was gone. The staff members who had been walking over stopped, clearly bewildered. Topaz didn’t blame them; she would’ve felt the same. Her mind felt hazy, disconnected thoughts with nothing behind them flitting about. One finally pushed itself to the forefront.
Call someone.
She dug through her bag for her phone, tapping the first contact she stopped on and putting the phone to her ear. There was no feeling of urgency. She just… waited.
She wasn’t technically supposed to have her phone, and she certainly wasn’t allowed to be playing on it and checking her email. But she got to keep the phone because of her job, and it was lunch. So Topaz indulged herself with a sandwich and going outside, sitting under a tree while she ate and flicked through her email, the journals, and she was about to text Darcy to check on Midnight when a voice interrupted her.
“Topaz.”
Her first thought was that she’d been caught, and honestly, this was a little ridiculous. Then it registered that she knew the voice, and she looked up.
“Amanda?” She raised an eyebrow, frowning. “What’s up?”
“I’ve been trying to get ahold of you. No one knows how to answer a bloody phone around this place, huh?”
Something felt… wrong. The words were fine, but they were off. Not in a way Topaz could identify, though. “I’ve… got my phone, remember?” She held up the phone she’d been playing on. “Special exception for job and all that.”
“Ah. Right. Must’ve slipped my mind. Come on, we need to get going. Emergency back home.”
It was her tone. Her cadence. It was just a little off. Nothing fully noticeable and nothing immediately suspicious. But…
“Yeah, ‘course.” She put her phone in her bag and stood, tossing the remnants of her lunch into the nearby trashcan. “Sounds like an all hands on deck situation. Did anyone get through to Doug and Marie-Ange? I knew a honeymoon on a deserted island was a bad idea…”
There. The woman - definitely not Amanda - wasn’t quick enough to hide the flicker of confusion in her eyes before she said, “Someone’s got them, don’t worry about it. Let’s…”
Her voice drifted off when she saw the ball of energy forming in Topaz’ hand. “What’re you doing?”
“I don’t really have time to tell you everything you did wrong, but you really tipped your hand believing Marie-Ange would voluntarily spend time on a deserted island, or that Doug would spend more than five minutes away from a wifi signal.” Beams of energy sprang out of the ground, surrounding them. “Now. Who are you and what do you want?”
A dark scowl crossed “Amanda’s” face as she snarled, “I don’t have time for this.” She snapped her fingers, dropping the glamour and revealing… Topaz. She was older, her hair longer, and there was a dark look in her eyes that felt completely out of place, but also seemed to fit with her harder expression. “Listen, I need you alive, so can you just not be so you and do what you’re told?”
Topaz had seen a lot of strange things. She’d watched the world end. This went well beyond any of that. “Who are you?”
“I know you’re not this dim.” The other Topaz waved a hand, dismissing the beams of light. Magic swirled around the hand; Topaz ducked, and the spell hit the tree behind her instead, wrapping it in chains that immediately seared into the bark. “Stubborn, though, I guess that never changes—”
She cut off as jagged spikes jutted out of the ground, closing her in, sharp tips all pointing at her neck. She laughed bitterly. “You wouldn’t. I’ve been watching you. You’re too soft.”
“Do you really want to test that?” Topaz stepped carefully around to look at the woman’s face. Her face. It was undeniable. “Better question, do you really want to test how willing I’d be to throw any version of myself into the fire?”
Her doppleganger scoffed. “This could’ve been easy, you know. You even would’ve gotten something out of it. I know you. I am you. I know how much you think about dying and how it would be easier. How you could finally stop being a burden on all the people you care about. How you could finally do something useful for once.”
Something stirred in the back of Topaz’ head. Yeah, she had thought those things. Plenty of times. It wasn’t exactly a secret that she wasn’t always careful with her life. But she knew none of it was true.
Isn’t it? a voice hissed. And Topaz snapped back into focus.
“Get out,” she snapped, trying to push back against the foreign entity in her head.
“Come with me. I’ll be a lot easier, I promise. Doesn’t easy sound nice for once?”
Voices. Topaz looked around to see a couple of staff members coming toward them. Flashing lights must have made a scene.
“Bloody hell,” the other Topaz gritted out. “Fine.”
There was no time to process what happened next. One minute the heavy weight of depression was pressing down on her mind, the next it was gone. And so was everything else. The spikes keeping the other Topaz in place disappeared; she smiled as she watched her younger self sink to the ground, blinking and frowning. “Being on the receiving end of that is awful, isn’t it? Don’t worry, it’ll all come back in a few hours - well, I suppose you know.”
And then she was gone. The staff members who had been walking over stopped, clearly bewildered. Topaz didn’t blame them; she would’ve felt the same. Her mind felt hazy, disconnected thoughts with nothing behind them flitting about. One finally pushed itself to the forefront.
Call someone.
She dug through her bag for her phone, tapping the first contact she stopped on and putting the phone to her ear. There was no feeling of urgency. She just… waited.
