hadriel | one ❀ voice

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one ❀ voice

[There's no video, because it's too dark in the coffin to show anything anyway. Adam's voice is carefully steady, as if he's keeping himself under control through sheer power of will.]

I saw that Fear said our air supply will be refreshed. I don't know if that's true - I don't know if we can trust him - but I thought people ought to know anyway.

[Not that he necessarily believes anything any of the gods say, but - well. Who knows.]

Talking is a little less impersonal than text. It might help to hear a familiar voice, if any of your friends are buried. There also isn't much to do down here but panic, so if anyone wants to talk - I wouldn't mind.

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That'll help.

[He sounds almost amused, about as much as he can be right now.]

I'm not hurt, I'm just - stressed out. Trying to take my mind off things.

[She'll take it, what sounds like a tiny bit of a smile. She may not find him, but she can at least keep his spirits up.]

Yeah, I bet. Fear is messed up. [Understatement of the year, really.] There's a good amount of people digging, though. I'm sure you'll be out soon.

I hope so. I know my friends are digging too.

[He sighs, quiet.]

I don't have anything to do down here. Would you tell me about your home, if you can?

Sure. [If that's all she can do for you now, she'll do it happily.

She settles back against the seat in the shop she's resting in, eyes half shut.] It's a big, big city. Kind of like New York. There are people from all over, and aliens from all over, too. Everyone gets along, mostly, though it's not as nice as the tourism agency makes it look. Not a bad place to be homeless in, if you know where to go.

[It's weird, talking about it this way. Sure, she used to hear aliens talk about their home world, voices heavy nostalgia, faces wistful, eyes looking but not seeing the world around them. That's how she is, right now, and when she realizes it, she pauses. She's going back home. She will find a way. So why be sad?

She chuckles, at herself, at this whole mess of a place that Fear pulled them into.] There's a lot of good people there. Here, too, but I'm kind of biased towards home.

How 'bout you? What's your home like?

That sounds incredible. Aliens? Hard to believe. I wish I could see it.

[There are, of course, no such thing as aliens where Adam is from. Not that have been found, anyway. He thinks it's amazing, the places people are from. In comparison, his home isn't very interesting at all. Of course, he usually deliberately conceals the parts that are interesting, but Z has earned enough of his trust that this time he doesn't.]

I don't remember if I told you before, but I'm from a little town called Henrietta. It's not that interesting - just a lot of working class people, mostly. There's a private boy's school there, where my friends and I go. Well. Where we went, before we came here. So the town's full of poor people, the school is full of rich people, and we all pretend to get along.

[Sometimes it even works, for awhile.]

There's a ley line running through everything, though, so strange things happen sometimes. Magical things.

[He did notice what she said before, though -]

Were you homeless?

[The rich and poor thing she can kind of understand. She remembers watching people throw out perfectly good half-eaten sandwiches as her stomach grumbled from a day and a half of being mostly empty. But overall, there's not much mean intent between the classes, back home. Or if there is, she's been too busy either survibing or fighting monsters to really notice it.]

Magic? Like what? [As much as being a Ranger involves transformations that seem to bend the laws of science, there's still theory and technology behind it. Actual magic, while not a foreign concept in her world, isn't something Z herself has dealt with.

At his question, she shrugs, even though he can't see it.]

Yeah. For a little over five years. [It seems almost like it was a long dream, now that she's housed and legally employed.] My best friend and I, we were at it together. We both have powers -- I can replicate, he can phase through things. We did pretty well for a couple of homeless teenagers. He's basically my brother. Big dreamer, though you'd never know it and he'd never say that himself. He wanted to feed and clothe every homeless person and alien in the city. We did the best that we could, but of course it wasn't enough.

[Adam was only ever homeless for a short while, and even then he had friends willing to take him in, for all that he didn't want to accept their charity. He doesn't know if surviving like that would be better or worse than the home he came from, but if she wasn't alone - if she had someone with her that she could trust - then he's glad.]

It never is. What happened to your parents?

[He asks the question carefully. Family is a personal thing, family should often remain a secret, and he feels like he's prying by asking. In exchange, though, he's honest about the magic, something he rarely is unless he trusts someone. Even then, he usually is careful.]

As for the magic - there's a forest that sits atop the ley line. It's magical, completely. You can walk from season to season there, and it has a consciousness of its own. There are spirits on the ley line, and sometimes the power fluctuates. If you're connected to it, it can - show you things. Protect you. Give you power.

They died when I was little. [She reaches for her z necklace, rubbing it through her shirt.] I lived in an orphanage for a while. That's where I met Jack, my best friend. It wasn't great, but it wasn't bad, either. Most of the nuns were cool.

[It's not painful, exactly, to talk about it. Just kind of strange. It's a wound that scarred a long time ago, but still doesn't feel like normal. It is personal, but she doesn't have anything to hide where family is concerned.

But the talk of magic--] That sounds amazing. [Like nothing she's ever experienced.] Season to season? Like from winter to spring? What kind of power? [Protection. Magical protection. That sounds cool.]

I'm sorry.

[He's sincere when he says that. Even if she was young and doesn't remember much, surely losing your parents would be upsetting for most people. And then being on your own - well, Adam can only offer his sympathy. He can't really understand what it would be like. His family situation was so different.]

It's... hard to explain.

[There's a lot to it, and some of it isn't Adam's to tell. But he can share a few of his own secrets, at least.]

It's given me the power to sense some kinds of magic, some power, and to scry and read tarot. And it's protected me from harm, and I'm able to channel some of its power sometimes. It's incredible, but it's not free. I belong to it.

Thanks. [No matter how many times she hears that, she hasn't gotten used to it. She goes through the motions of it, though, thanking whoever it is who tells her that, when all she wants to do is tell them it's not their fault, they have nothing to be sorry about. She gets the semtiment, naturally, it's just the words are... they don't seem to fit. But words aren't really her thing.

It's good, though, that he goes into talking about magic. It's a good distraction, one she embraces by listening closely.]

That sounds really complicated. [And a little scary. But he probably already knows that.] Do you have tarot cards here? I've always been curious. Maybe when you're out of there, I can stop by for a reading, if that's okay.

[It is complicated, and downright terrifying sometimes. Adam thought he was going crazy at first, and some days he isn't entirely sure that's not what happened.]

I have my tarot cards, yeah. When we get out, I could do a reading.

[He's done them for people before, and tends to get accurate results. Sometimes eerily so. Of course, he also tends to hallucinate and get weird himself, but that's beside the point.]

It's easiest if there's something you're trying to figure out - a question that you want answered.

[She snickers, the sound tinged with anger.] I've got one, but I'm not sure if your cards will be able to answer it. In fact, I bet you've already asked it.

[When will we get home? She doesn't want to ask if they will or won't. Neither question would get her a good answer, she's sure. Besides, if she can somehow influence that, then ... she's going to try.

That's not a burden she's going to put on Adam, though, so she laughs again, just as quiet, the anger gone.] But I'm sure I can come up with another one. I don't have money to pay you with, but I can cook you something in exchange. I'm not a bad cook.

Yeah, they never seem to be able to answer those kinds of questions. Personal ones are better.

[There's a faint shade of bitter amusement to Adam's own voice. Of course he tried, when they arrived here, and of course there was nothing helpful. Whatever power it is that keeps them here, it's stronger than his own.]

Sure, I'll never turn down free food. The guys I live with really can't cook at all.

[And Adam does okay, but he'd never say no to not having to cook.]

Then it's a deal. As soon as you're feeling up to it after getting back up here, I'll stop by.

[And he will make it out of the coffin. He won't run out of air and die. Z has faith in that. Whether or not she finds him, he'll be fine.]

I'd better get back to digging. If you want to talk, though, call or text or whatever you need, okay? [If that's the only she can do, she'll do it.]

I will. Thanks, Z.

[He doesn't want to keep anyone from digging, not when he knows there are a lot of people out there in the same situation he is.]

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