[OPEN] And I'll dream each night of some version of you

[closureisformovies]

Who: Alice Dyer (closureisformovies), Samama "Sam" Khalid (huntingtruths) & you!
What: Alice and Sam arrive back from their canon update
When: Early May
Where: Around, locations in prompts
Warnings: Reference to gun violence; typical horror protagonist things; specifics in headers. Magnus Protocol Spoilers up to Episode 40.
Notes: Open prompts for both Alice and Sam will be down in the comments! Body of the post is meta/closed to Sam.



It's just her luck, really. Goes to talk to some spooky external— thing and don't even die because it's dangerous, oh no, that'd be too logical. She was prepared for that risk. Getting accidentally shot by her overeager bodyguard she didn't ask for? That's the level of absurdity that her life is made of, these days, so of course that's what happened instead.

(Gwen Bouchard, when she fucking sees you again...)

The memories hit when Mortanne welcomes her back and with it, the fact that Sam was here, too, the first time, so if she's here again, then surely— maybe— she almost doesn't dare to ask but she does and Mortanne says yes, and, well, after that it's all she can do not to cry with relief.

She's alone on the ferry, except for ferryman. It's the most nervewracking few minutes of travel of her life and she spends it shifting from foot to foot, scratching at her arm, pulling at her hair—nervous, scared, anxious, excited, she doesn't know. She just knows that Mortanne wouldn't lie. So she pays her fare, steps off the boat, and then stands on the dock to wait.

She's not going anywhere until he turns up. She doesn't care how long it takes.

Comments

[closureisformovies]

Alice will go for the hug. She's actively remembering how much nicer it is to work in an office that's actually got people in it that she doesn't want to throttle.

"Didn't think you could get rid of me that easy, didja?"

[tehilim127_1]

"Couldn't get you back that easy is the problem, who else am I supposed to trade memes with?"

Big warm squishy hug, followed by Zivia holding Alice out at arms' length like a fond aunt. "You doing okay? How long was it for you? I know the time doesn't always match up."

[closureisformovies]

Alice's face wrinkles as she does the mental maths. "'Bout three months? Give or take. Honestly, it was about as chaotic as three months here. But I'm fine. Mostly fine. Going to suck getting adjusted to days again, mind you."

[tehilim127_1]

"Yeah, I know what you mean."

Pause.

"Or I know what I think you mean. Thought you meant. Now I'm not sure. Do you mean get used to the daily routine here, or like, get used to actual days? As opposed to ... ?"

[closureisformovies]

With mock gravity: "Yeah my world hasn't invented the concept of days yet, we just exist in one long stream of time with nothing to differentiate."

Beat. Alice snorts a laugh. "Nah, my job back home's on nights. I basically haven't seen the sun in three months."

[tehilim127_1]

Zivia's laughing too. "Look, that would not be the weirdest thing that's come up here and you know it."

[closureisformovies]

"Oh absolutely it wouldn't," she snickers. "Honestly I could probably convince the others that's another weird thing about my world with no effort at all. I mean, it sure feels like that sometimes when you're working nights. The whole damn world can pass you by if you don't make the effort to stop it."

[tehilim127_1]

"I've never worked nights myself, but I believe it. Even in a city where a lot of things keep going all night, it's not the same."

[closureisformovies]

"Yeah and, frankly, London doesn't even have much going for it once you hit the early hours. You learn the places that are about, but christ, it's dire if you wanna have a social life. So most of just just... didn't." She shrugs. "Literally, Sam went missing when we were away and no one outside of the office reported it."

A very grim omen for what happens if any of the rest of them get hurt. She's not sure how long it'd even take Luke to notice she wasn't where she was supposed to be, if she doesn't end up surviving her latest near-death experience that's got her back here.

[tehilim127_1]

Zivia winces at that last, with a faint grimace. "That's rough. I -- hope he went un-missing later? Is he okay?"

The way Alice says it doesn't sound like he's still missing, but ...

[closureisformovies]

"I mean, by us turning back up here, sure, but nah, back home he was very much still missing. Like, had apparently tumbled into a whole separate universe through a crack in reality missing." Beat. "He's fine though. We're fine. He'll be back at work tomorrow too."

It's a weird situation that was in no way fine but it is, actually, a bit better for being here.

[tehilim127_1]

"Oh well hell, that's awful." Said in absolute plain sincerity. "God, I don't even know what kind of ... anything to offer about that. I guess being here's an improvement at least?"

[closureisformovies]

"I wouldn't know either and I've been living it, so, yeah, it's a mess. Until we got here I wasn't sure he'd even survived the trip but yeah, he did. So—that's good! Genuinely, yeah, this is an improvement. Like, majorly. I used to think home had less supernatural bullshit going on, but that was something we like to call—"

She makes a sweeping, Spongebob-rainbow-memesque arc with her hands.

"—clinical levels of denial! And I like this job a lot better than my old one. Don't want to kill my boss on the daily, for one."

[tehilim127_1]

She can't suppress a snort of laughter at the rainbow gesture.

"Yeah, definitely a plus, not regularly wanting to commit ... what would you call that? Not regicide. There's got to be a word for murdering one's employer."

[closureisformovies]

"Unionising?"

[tehilim127_1]

Zivia laughs, and makes the ba-duum-tshh noise that stands in for a rimshot when one doesn't have actual drums.

[closureisformovies]

Alice dramatically mock bows, then snickers. "Nah, I'm not actually sure if there's a real word for it, but there's definitely an emotion. If I ever see Bougie Bouchard again I won't be responsible for my actions. It's her fault I even died again."

[tehilim127_1]

A faint grimace, as Zivia is reminded that when people show up here again it isn't necessarily under the best of circumstances.

"If she does show up here, I'll run interference."

[closureisformovies]

"My hero," Alice says with mock hand on heart. "Her name's Gwen Bouchard, she's honestly just really annoying so long as you don't let her get a modicum of power. Now, if someone called Celia Ripley turns up someone's probably gonna have to hold me back."

Does not elaborate.

[tehilim127_1]

"I know this great spell for that," says Zivia cheerfully, and does not elaborate either.

[closureisformovies]

Beat. "Yeah you'd probably need that, I really wanna kick her ass."