video; un: labyrinths

[buildindreemz]

[ Ariadne's eyes are fever-bright, her skin pallid. She's clutching something in her hand, something she's reluctant to share with anyone else. Her eyes dart away, then back again, as though she's looking for something - or someone - out of the corner of her eyes. ]

Have you ever thought you were going crazy? Ever... questioned reality?

[ Christ, she's becoming a huge cliche, and she knows it, but there's nothing she can do about it. She didn't think she'd ever be in this situation. Maybe it was her own hubris. But now, here she is. Seeing shades again. Not sure if this is real or a dream. ]

I don't - it's hard when - none of you are -

[ Real. They're not real. She's thought that was a possibility, since arriving, but it's becoming clearer - or maybe muddier? The past several days.

Ariadne starts, jumping a little at something she sees offscreen. ]

I don't know what she wants from me. I never met her in real life. [ Annnnnnnnd cut.]

Comments

[jeronimo]

And you're certain she isn't real?

What happens if you attempt to injure her, or touch her, does she seem solid?

[buildindreemz]

She's not real. She's dead. Been dead for years. And I can't get close enough to touch her.

[jeronimo]

Don't put too much faith into death as a certainty.

Try something for me. Close your eyes. Breathe in and listen to my voice. Breathe out. What do you hear when you hold your breath? [He'll mute his audio, just to be sure he isn't interfering.]

[buildindreemz]

I know what I'll hear.

[ But, fine. She'll give it a try. She mutes her own audio as well, and does it. Eyes closed, deep breaths. Unmute. ]

I hear what I expected to hear: nothing but the sounds from the building and outside.

[jeronimo]

[He unmutes as well, more confident now that there isn't a physical threat in her vicinity. It gives them more time to talk through this.]

Then the threat to you right now is your mind. Good. You can control that threat. You just need to find the right weapon to deal with it.

You said she's dead and from someone else's mind?

One step at a time, then. What threat would she pose to you were she real and alive?

[buildindreemz]

You don't get it. No one does.

[ She knows it's selfish, but she wishes someone were here who understood. Even Saito would get it, better than anyone else here. ]

She was never real. The threat was always in - someone's mind.

[jeronimo]

You're right. I don't. We all lived lives too different from one another for anyone to understand someone else here fully.

But it isn't someone's mind right now. It's yours. That means any threat she poses to you right now is the one you believe she does.

[buildindreemz]

That's not how it works. Not if I'm in someone else's mind.

[jeronimo]

So certain of that. What makes you think this is someone else's mind?

[buildindreemz]

Because I can't control it.

[jeronimo]

That's life.

You aren't dreaming, and you're not in anyone's head. You're just stuck in reality with the rest of us, and by the sound of it suffering from the illness taking the city over.

[buildindreemz]

[ She rubs a hand over her face. ]

I was always the certain one, you know? I wasn't going to let it happen to me.

[jeronimo]

[These days it seems like everyone in Olympia is losing their mind. Cassian runs a hand through his own hair and tries to separate what he learns about these people from the growing certainty that sanity is slipping away from all of them.]

Getting sick? Not much to be done about that, unfortunately. It seems to be spreading out of control. [If he could be certain he wasn't infected he'd jump back to the station and stay there, but some part of his mind won't allow him to leave when there is a chance he can help these people.]

How long have you been seeing her?

[buildindreemz]

[ She laughs a little, and has to turn her head to cough. ]

Certain of reality. I wasn't going to let myself get confused. Question.

[ She tilts her head a little. ]

Here, in this place? A few days.