voice & action, 35th metal

[godsays]

[ voice ]

There are... a lot of people.

[ Zane sounds tense; this is his request for help. How does one navigate crowds like this, which he's never seen before, except in situations of violence? How does he take this? ]

[ action ]

[ He tends to lurk and watch, too hesitant to participate. At least someone's made him dress the part; he carries himself enough like a nobleman, still, that waistcoat and trousers look natural on him. He is a young, well-off man, in appearance; just, quiet, and more likely to watch than participate. ]

Comments

Voice

[fireincarnate]

Yeah. Yeah, there are. [Jean, too, sounds tense. She was hesitant about leaving the Barge at all, and now - there are so many minds, pulsing and prancing around her.

And the last time she shuttered herself completely, Mesmero got hold of her.

Worse than that - everything seems so frail, so fragile. It's like she's walking through a glass house.]

Do you need a break? I can - it'd be easy to find a place without many people. [Some place quite.]

Voice

[godsays]

Yes. I - yes.

It makes you tense? [ You, too? ]

Voice

[fireincarnate]

[Quietly.] Yes.

There are too many - too many ways it could all go wrong. [She's been hovering at the edge of the Barge, really, and still clinging to the idea that death isn't permanent, that the ship could contain her.]

Voice

[godsays]

Too many people to track.

Voice

[fireincarnate]

Too many lives, all tangled together.

Voice

[godsays]

I'm not psychic. But it's still too much.

Voice

[fireincarnate]

That's not what I meant, not completely. It's...it's like a spider web, and you can tear it to pieces with a flick of your hand.

[She shakes her head, just to herself. She's getting sidetracked.]

Where are you, right now?

Voice

[godsays]

Not far from the railway exhibition.

Voice

[astraia]

I'll meet you there.

Voice

[godsays]

I'll be here.

spam?

[fireincarnate]

[Jean moves silently through the crowd, doing her best to keep a certain distance. It's not as hard as it could be; she manipulates the movements around her, just slightly, as she walks.

Her steps are brisk, shoulders tense. Everything is bright and loud, buzzing excitement and earnest wonder, and she remembers a time she would have loved it. When she would have laughed and cheered with everyone else.

Now, well. At least she blends in well enough, in her green afternoon dress and her hair swept to the top of her head.

It's a mercifully short journey, though, and soon enough Zane is in her sights. She musters a faint smile.]

spam?

[godsays]

[ There was no time that Zane would have loved it. Early in his life, he would have been shy and out of place; later, his paranoia would have prevented him from joining them at all. He is the closest, now, to being able to enjoy it. But he is overexposed; it's too much. Paranoia and control battle for dominance, and neither have it.

He glances up to see her, and he doesn't smile, but he softens a little. He steps up and offers her his arm, like the gentlemen here do. ]

[fireincarnate]

[She hesitates, for a moment, and then she accepts. Zane is, in his own ways, fragile - but not like the people here.]

There aren't many people on the outskirts of the park. [It's a long walk, but maybe it will be easier, this time.]