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xp_logs2025-01-10 11:14 am
xp_submariner) wrote in xp_logs2025-01-10 11:14 am
Entry tags:
Reality: Glamour Machine | A Close (12/12)
Excalibur cross the threshold between one world and the next, and close the door behind them.
The portal still looked like nothing. Merely the space between the twisting, grasping branches of three different trees.
It wasn't like the swirling mass of energy that formed in the remains of Avalon that appeared differently to those who saw it, nor a shining tear in reality. It was, however, there. An unseen pressure. A gateway the three figures left in Otherworld had just seen their compatriots waltz through. The Dame's attendants had kept their distance as well, sensing exactly where the bounds of this dimensional gate ended in this space outside their city – a landmark that now thrummed with restored light and power.
To Namor? There was nothing.
"Tell me what you see before we go," he commanded toward the blonde woman next to him, "or what you hear." That last part was aimed at the red-winged young man that completed their trio. Namor, if pressed, wouldn't specifically classify these statements as orders. Trial had found that merely announcing his intent with deliberate authority worked much better against Excalibur's delicate web of ego. He'd been brought low earlier. Humbled. No one need know. He instead crossed his arms, staring forward like if he forced his will on the universe hard enough some indication might appear.
“All right,” Meggan agreed. She studied it, taking in all the nuances while she could. It was nice to be able to see it in action, and she didn’t want to miss anything in her explanation. “It’s a dark purple color, grape-like, really, with a few violent ripples of pink tendrils shooting and crackling out around the edges.”
She noted that it had calmed a bit more now that more time had passed since the most recent person had stepped through. “Those tendrils darken, and there’s sort of like a vibration making it gleam and shiver each time someone crosses over. It’s throbbing, or pulsing all on its own, sort of like a heart beating in a steady rhythm in the center.”
If only she could film it, and add it to the catalogue of stuff they were collecting! She understood the likelihood that it would probably just be an empty space on film, but she still wanted everyone to see it.
"Bit of Jono's song, bit of what I gotta reckon is every other musician to come through. And a whole lot of bells and drumming," Jay said as he listened.
It sounded like summer and winter all at once. Birdsong and the silence of snow. He heard sleigh bells, the lyre, morris sticks. It was a song you could dance to, like everything this realm had to offer had been dragged out and a party was going on. The kinda party that lasted all night and into the next morning. Joyful, but with a threat of being so raucous you spun yourself out of your dance partner's arms and into booze and trouble.
It wasn't as easy to get into harmony as with the Old Gal back home in the Chapel, but that portal and Jay had been duet partners. It took him a second to get in tune to this song, and find where he should compliment it.
He was harmonizing when he looked to the senior members of Excalibur for the okay to cross the portal.
Even Namor couldn't break this moment, and he gave Jay a solemn nod.
Having gotten the permission, Jay crossed the portal. He added lyrics as he went. Something that he knew the inspirations of and pieces of lyrics he'd half-written before but nothing he had actually put together before. It just felt right for the twirling song of this portal.
Once he had crossed and his stanza was done, Jay looked back for a final gaze at the portal but there was nothing but landscape.
Back on the other side, something intangible had changed. Some subtle, ineffable quality that was a mystery to all those who hadn't recently acquired the power to perceive magic.
Namor's attention pointed itself directly at Meggan. Something was off.
Meggan drew closer to the gateway, and nodded, knowing he wanted more of the details; she was impressed by the results of Jay’s efforts. “It doesn’t feel as raw as it did; I think the singing calmed it, just a little? There’s more of a gentler humming sensation now, less of an irritation to it, if that makes sense.”
She wasn’t sure if it might sound a little bit insane if she went a step further and stated that the portal was a fan of Jay, but the implication was there. Before she could say anything else, she hesitated. It felt like there was a shift in its depths, and she surmised what it was. Wait, no, this really wasn’t the best time to stand around and discuss all of the beautiful thing’s changing eddies and swirls and nifty patterns; they needed to get through there right now.
She didn’t want either of them to get stuck on this side, and gestured for him to follow her quickly. She could see the edges of it changing, fading, even as she spoke. “Actually, maybe it’s a bit too calm. Come on. Let’s step on through before it just decides to turn itself off for the night or longer!”
The Atlantean's expression hung suspended, unblinking and clinical, but the rest of him blurred. While Namor wasn't blessed with true super speed, his strength and flight was matched by knowing when not to ask questions. Meggan found herself briefly suspended – her neck supported, almost delicately, by a strong hand – before the two were on the back in their own reality. On the right side of the portal.
A portal that folded in upon itself, again and again, with a slight measure reminiscent of bell song. Almost an echo of Jay's melody. It pinged out of existence.
"I detest the whimsy of that place," Namor announced sourly. "Let it rot."
Meggan gave the closed portal one last look, before she nodded sympathetically to him. She liked her whimsy when it wasn’t threatening to chain someone to a realm eternally, and use them poorly.
However, there was one element of all of this that she couldn't just declare horrid. She gestured to her face with a small smile. “Once I’ve done documentation on this fun aspect, want to share a bite of some whimsical snack machine contents instead?”
Namor looked between Meggan's quiet smile to where orange light glinted off red feathers veined with the sunset. There would certainly be a lot to catalog from that Otherworld, and much more to consider. He let his mask slip only for a moment.
"Home, then. How I long for home."
The portal still looked like nothing. Merely the space between the twisting, grasping branches of three different trees.
It wasn't like the swirling mass of energy that formed in the remains of Avalon that appeared differently to those who saw it, nor a shining tear in reality. It was, however, there. An unseen pressure. A gateway the three figures left in Otherworld had just seen their compatriots waltz through. The Dame's attendants had kept their distance as well, sensing exactly where the bounds of this dimensional gate ended in this space outside their city – a landmark that now thrummed with restored light and power.
To Namor? There was nothing.
"Tell me what you see before we go," he commanded toward the blonde woman next to him, "or what you hear." That last part was aimed at the red-winged young man that completed their trio. Namor, if pressed, wouldn't specifically classify these statements as orders. Trial had found that merely announcing his intent with deliberate authority worked much better against Excalibur's delicate web of ego. He'd been brought low earlier. Humbled. No one need know. He instead crossed his arms, staring forward like if he forced his will on the universe hard enough some indication might appear.
“All right,” Meggan agreed. She studied it, taking in all the nuances while she could. It was nice to be able to see it in action, and she didn’t want to miss anything in her explanation. “It’s a dark purple color, grape-like, really, with a few violent ripples of pink tendrils shooting and crackling out around the edges.”
She noted that it had calmed a bit more now that more time had passed since the most recent person had stepped through. “Those tendrils darken, and there’s sort of like a vibration making it gleam and shiver each time someone crosses over. It’s throbbing, or pulsing all on its own, sort of like a heart beating in a steady rhythm in the center.”
If only she could film it, and add it to the catalogue of stuff they were collecting! She understood the likelihood that it would probably just be an empty space on film, but she still wanted everyone to see it.
"Bit of Jono's song, bit of what I gotta reckon is every other musician to come through. And a whole lot of bells and drumming," Jay said as he listened.
It sounded like summer and winter all at once. Birdsong and the silence of snow. He heard sleigh bells, the lyre, morris sticks. It was a song you could dance to, like everything this realm had to offer had been dragged out and a party was going on. The kinda party that lasted all night and into the next morning. Joyful, but with a threat of being so raucous you spun yourself out of your dance partner's arms and into booze and trouble.
It wasn't as easy to get into harmony as with the Old Gal back home in the Chapel, but that portal and Jay had been duet partners. It took him a second to get in tune to this song, and find where he should compliment it.
He was harmonizing when he looked to the senior members of Excalibur for the okay to cross the portal.
Even Namor couldn't break this moment, and he gave Jay a solemn nod.
Having gotten the permission, Jay crossed the portal. He added lyrics as he went. Something that he knew the inspirations of and pieces of lyrics he'd half-written before but nothing he had actually put together before. It just felt right for the twirling song of this portal.
"Lord I wish I was a partnered boy again,
Flying down to my darling girl
With our babies playing in their pen.
Golden Isles,
Hey now, the Golden Isles.
'Stead there's no one by my side
Because she's gone and left.
Graveyard's home to my darling bride,
And heavens where she rests.
Golden Isles,
Hey now, the Golden Isles."
Once he had crossed and his stanza was done, Jay looked back for a final gaze at the portal but there was nothing but landscape.
Back on the other side, something intangible had changed. Some subtle, ineffable quality that was a mystery to all those who hadn't recently acquired the power to perceive magic.
Namor's attention pointed itself directly at Meggan. Something was off.
Meggan drew closer to the gateway, and nodded, knowing he wanted more of the details; she was impressed by the results of Jay’s efforts. “It doesn’t feel as raw as it did; I think the singing calmed it, just a little? There’s more of a gentler humming sensation now, less of an irritation to it, if that makes sense.”
She wasn’t sure if it might sound a little bit insane if she went a step further and stated that the portal was a fan of Jay, but the implication was there. Before she could say anything else, she hesitated. It felt like there was a shift in its depths, and she surmised what it was. Wait, no, this really wasn’t the best time to stand around and discuss all of the beautiful thing’s changing eddies and swirls and nifty patterns; they needed to get through there right now.
She didn’t want either of them to get stuck on this side, and gestured for him to follow her quickly. She could see the edges of it changing, fading, even as she spoke. “Actually, maybe it’s a bit too calm. Come on. Let’s step on through before it just decides to turn itself off for the night or longer!”
The Atlantean's expression hung suspended, unblinking and clinical, but the rest of him blurred. While Namor wasn't blessed with true super speed, his strength and flight was matched by knowing when not to ask questions. Meggan found herself briefly suspended – her neck supported, almost delicately, by a strong hand – before the two were on the back in their own reality. On the right side of the portal.
A portal that folded in upon itself, again and again, with a slight measure reminiscent of bell song. Almost an echo of Jay's melody. It pinged out of existence.
"I detest the whimsy of that place," Namor announced sourly. "Let it rot."
Meggan gave the closed portal one last look, before she nodded sympathetically to him. She liked her whimsy when it wasn’t threatening to chain someone to a realm eternally, and use them poorly.
However, there was one element of all of this that she couldn't just declare horrid. She gestured to her face with a small smile. “Once I’ve done documentation on this fun aspect, want to share a bite of some whimsical snack machine contents instead?”
Namor looked between Meggan's quiet smile to where orange light glinted off red feathers veined with the sunset. There would certainly be a lot to catalog from that Otherworld, and much more to consider. He let his mask slip only for a moment.
"Home, then. How I long for home."