Corner of Godiva and Serendipity, Wednesday morning

[vdistinctive]

The air was gently sweet, like a subtle perfume. The sky was blue, folks on the street were cheerful and smiling at one another, and there was a giant freaking tower at the end of Eliot's street that hadn't been there the day before.

Eliot stood across from it with his arms crossed over his chest, Val sitting at his feet. It was definitely alien, whether from space or another dimension, he wasn't sure. It didn't look like they'd been invaded by anything other than the towers -- why would they be so obvious with those if they weren't going to come tromping out with ray-guns or whatever. Were they microscopic, maybe? That might be what the perfume was.

"What do you think?" he asked Val. She looked up at him and panted blandly. He frowned. "You feelin' okay?" She cocked her head to one side.

A passing rickshaw driver rang his bell to get Eliot's attention and waved cheerfully at him. "Fine morning, isn't it?"

Val yipped happily and wagged her tail at the driver. The passengers in the rickshaw looked over and smiled blandly.

"Yeah," Eliot said, looking between the rickshaw and his oddly behaving puppy and the tower. "Because none of this is suspicious at all."

[ooc: open to any fellow abductees!]

Comments

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Hardison sauntered around the corner, hands in his pockets. "What's that smell?" he asked, with nowhere near the appropriate amount of derision or disgust for Eliot's liking, no doubt. "I like it."

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why they had to invest in a Kidnapping Calendar. This right here.

"Hey, girl. How's my girl doin'?"

[vdistinctive]

Val wagged her tail and panted blandly at Hardison from her position sitting by Eliot's feet. Eliot stared at Hardison. "Seriously?"

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Hardison looked confused. "...Yes?"

[vdistinctive]

Eliot pointed angrily at the tower, eyebrows raised.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"...That ain't just some weird Fandom thing?" Hardison asked.

Look, it wasn't his fault he didn't know how distinctive alien tech looked!

[vdistinctive]

". . . ain't a -- it's glowing red, Hardison!" Eliot shook his head, exasperated. "And it just happens to be right by where Gaunt's shop was. And -- oh yeah -- it's a freaking alien tower that showed up overnight."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Go ahead an' tell me that that's not the kinda thing that can happen in Fandom," Hardison pointed out. Not that he was looking at the towers. He was staring down at Val and frowning. "Ditto with it smellin' like the inside of a Febreeze bottle whenever you walk outside...Yo, what's wrong with Megabyte?"

[vdistinctive]

"Yeah, well, so're elder gods and dead serial killers," Eliot said. "Just 'cause it's happenin' in Fandom doesn't mean ain't suspicious." He looked down at Val, who watched them talk and occasionally turning her head to watch the passersby. "I don't know. She's been actin' weird all morning. I mean -- she's actin' like a perfectly normal, healthy dog, but not like her."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"She, like, ain't respondin' right to stuff." You can keep your alien towers and your glowing lights, Eliot. Hardison had more important things to worry about. "Hey, girl! Hey, look what I got here!" He pulled out a bag of jerky from his pocket and held a piece out. "Mmm, look! Somethin' Daddy says you ain't s'posed to have, but that sure smells delicious!"

[vdistinctive]

"Dammit, Hardison," Eliot started, but trailed off when Val didn't do much more than bark at Hardison and wag her tail. She didn't leap up to snatch the jerky from him. She didn't run excitedly in a circle.

"If I find whoever put my damn dog on valium I'm going to take them apart."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Word," Hardison said, popping the jerky into his mouth. "I'mma help you with that. Ain't nobody messes with our girl and keeps breathin on their own."

He stretched and looked around, actually looking at things, then reached over to pinch Eliot--hard--on the arm.

[vdistinctive]

"Ow." Eliot whacked his knuckles -- gently -- back at Hardison's shoulder. "The hell was that for?"

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Establishin' a baseline," Hardison said cheerfully, before sticking his hands in his pockets and sauntering over to the side of the road and whistling a cheerful tune.

Way to oversell it, Hardison.

He barely had to wait more than a minute before a rickshaw driver trotted over to him, greeting Hardison with a grin and a tip of his hat. Hardison turned to give Eliot a, Can you believe this? look before saying, "Sorry," to the driver and pinching him, too.

The driver didn't respond.

"Thanks," Hardison said, and walked back to Eliot. The driver stayed where he was for another moment, then shrugged and headed off. "Well, we ain't dreamin'," he said. "But we've left normal behind, even for this place."

[vdistinctive]

Eliot hadn't honestly thought the rickshaw drivers would get any creepier. He should have known better.

"Alright," he said. "Okay, so either someone really did put most of the island on valium or. . . ." He didn't have an 'or' yet. He looked back up at the tower again. ". . . Pod people?"

Okay, maybe he did have an 'or'.

"Why would it go after my dog and the rickshaw drivers, but not you and me?" Hell, Val slept basically on top of Eliot, when there was room in the bed. How would it have gotten to her but by-passed the rest of them?

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"You fed her yet?" Hardison asked. "Food and water might be spiked with somethin'. If it were airborne, we'd all be halfway to la la land, not just some of us." He held up his phone, angling it around in several directions. "The air's too clear."

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

After poking Eliot, Parker gave Hardison a suspicious look. "You don't think you're a missionary, do you?"

Maybe everyone was bitten by nice-gremlins?

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Hell naw, mama," Hardison said, opening his arms for a hug if she was in the mood to give him one. "I ain't ready to go join the Creepy Choir, so you ain't gotta worry 'bout me."

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

"Whew." Parker went for her low-key version of a cuddle, with Full Leaning and an arm around his waist. "It's not just me, then? Noticing stuff nobody else notices again?"

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"You're probably noticin' stuff we ain't," he conceded because Parker, "but there's plenty of stuff we're noticin', too. Somethin's up an' whatever it is, it's givin' me the creeps."

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

"I am not okay with this," Parker complained. "Because it's vague. And undirected. And it's hard to plan when you don't know what you're planning against." She sighed, and put her chin on his shoulder. "What's giving you the creeps the most?"

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"The atmosphere is empty," Hardison said immediately, pulling out his phone to show her. "Like I was tellin' Eliot--usually there's a ton of signals I can find an' piggyback onto--phone calls, TV shows, wi-fi signals, security systems, alla that stuff. Anything that puts out a signal can be found and traced through the atmosphere. Problem is? If it's not somethin' originatin' on the island, it's not here. So, if you made a call to Eliot, I could track that, but I should be able to close my eyes an' point to an apartment in Baltimore an' track their phone calls, too. But I can't. It's like it ain't even there."

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

"I'm pretty sure there was an episode of the Twilight Zone like this." Parker shivered. "And then the bubble kept getting smaller, and smaller, until they were all crushed into their microscopic pieces."

AIEE.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"I'm pretty sure it ain't gonna be like that, babe," Hardison soothed, petting her hair. "Right now it's just an information bubble, not a physical one."

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

Parker got her breath back, then grumbled and leaned in closer to Hardison. "The patterns of the world area all off. They're too... nice."

Clean. Balanced. Symmetrical. It was deeply deeply weird.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Right? I mean, Fandom ain't Boston, so it ain't like we normally have people cussin' us out on the street anymore, but damn, most people here usually showed emotions or somethin'! Here, it's like all the lights are on, but ain't no one home."