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

[vdistinctive]

Eliot looked at her sideways. "Well. At least you're still normal."

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

"You're not as upset as you should be," Parker said suspiciously. She poked him again. Then started to reach for his hair.

[vdistinctive]

"Not as --" Eliot angled his head out of her way. This was no time for her to be distracting him by playing with his hair. "The hell are you talking about?"

He was plenty upset. He just wasn't sure what he upset at just yet.

He wasn't going to punch the tower, dammit.

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

That would at least show whether he could, wouldn't it?

"You didn't swear at me. But now you did. Hmm. So I think you might be you. Or at least, normal-you." She gave a distrustful look around, then started to reach to pet Megabyte. "It's like everyone had amphetamines and cheerful pills for breakfast."

[vdistinctive]

"I was sayin' valium, but yeah. I noticed that."

Val wagged her tail and panted blandly up at Parker.

"Including Val." Eliot shook his head and rubbed the back of his neck. "I just ain't got a damn clue what to do about it, yet."

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

Parker was scowling now, and she reached to scratch one of the spots on Val's head that always made her thump her head.

"I don't like it," she complained. "You need to give people warning or have a really good reason before you drug them. Is that what that smell is?"

[vdistinctive]

Eliot shook his head. "Thought of that. But then why aren't we affected?"

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

"That's...." A really good question. "Maybe we picked up an immunity, somewhere. Maybe we've been exposed before. Maybe it's a virus, a happy virus, and we're immune."

HMM.

"It's freaking me out."

[vdistinctive]

"I know, darlin'," Eliot said, offering her his arm. "Me, too."

Which was precisely why he wasn't snapping at her over little, expected things. No one wanted to see Eliot fully freaked out.

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

Parker grabbed onto it less like she wanted a hug, and more like a life-jacket, clinging just long enough to get over a spate of shuddering. Everything was the same, everything was okay, but not. What were you supposed to do with that?

[vdistinctive]

"You notice anything in particular?" Eliot asked. "We could start puttin' things together. That Sparkle kid says there's some kind of forcefield on the mainland. And Hardison tested just how weird the rickshaw drivers are behavin'."

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

Parker had a harder time articulating what she'd noticed; half of it was all unconscious body language being off, and the other half...

"The birds are on-key. All of them. All the time."

[vdistinctive]

Eliot looked around, listening. "Huh," he said. "I hadn't caught that."

He noticed when birds suddenly went silent. Not so much when they kept on singing, just better than usual.

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

Parker gave another shudder, then managed to stop gripping Eliot's arm so hard. "The spaces between people, the walking patterns, they're all-- even. Like they're on a beat, or something." Parker frowned a little, then asked him, "Would Emma know if it was telepathy, maybe?"

[vdistinctive]

"Probably," Eliot said, distracted by watching the way people were walking. "She seems like the professional on the subject. Assuming we can find her. I ain't sure she lives on the island. She mentioned having a place in Brooklyn."

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

"Somebody-- maybe the school?-- will have her phone number," Parker said, considering. "We can ask her."

First step of a plan always calmed her down. If Emma had seen this before, great. If she knew what it was, also great. If she knew how to stop it, best.

No borrowing any trouble past that point.

[vdistinctive]

Eliot looked up at the tower again. "Sounds like the start of a plan. You want me to stick around town, see if anything else is suspicious?"

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

"Yes." Another long lean into him for reassurance. "And text me if anything new happens that seems to matter." She looked sadly down at Val, who was just sitting there. "Or if Val gets better suddenly."

[vdistinctive]

"'Course. Maybe we should go on comms. Till we get this whole thing figured out."

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

Parker grabbed onto that idea like she'd grabbed onto Eliot. "Yes. Definitely. If we're not in sight range, comms. Just in case."

[vdistinctive]

Eliot pulled his comm out of his pocket and held it up for her to see. "Just in case."

Not that it'd work, but they didn't know that just yet.

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

Parker pulled hers out and put it in, then clicked the button to test it. Eliot and Hardison (if he had his in already too) should have heard that part.

[vdistinctive]

Eliot frowned and tapped at the comm in his ear. "Try it again," he said. "Somethin' ain't working right."

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

Parker was starting to tense up again. She gave two sharp taps on her earpiece, then said, "I didn't hear yours beep either." She took hers out and looked at it, then said, "Maybe they need charging?"

It could be that simple. It could.

[vdistinctive]

Eliot shook his head, hitting the test button on his own comm a few times. "Hardison would never let 'em run down. Must have somethin' to do with the lack of signals he was talkin' about earlier. Isn't bouncing off the right wifi or something."