tushanshu | 004; audio;

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004; audio;

[No video today, because like hell is Arthur going to just flash his pimply teenage face across the network for everyone to see. While normally this would put him into hermit mode, something else has happened which has made him come to the network - for help, maybe, though he's frankly grasping at straws here.

Mostly, he doesn't want to admit the truth to himself.

Ariadne probably woke up. Without him.]

If anyone has any information on the whereabouts of Ariadne - brown hair, brown eyes, aged 23, 5-foot-four - I'll pay you for it.

[He studiously ignores the teenaged tone of his voice, and plows on.]

And if anyone has caused her harm, they will live to regret it.

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Arthur? Are you quite all right?

I'm - I'm fine.

[The fine cracks a little when he says it. Yay, adolescence!]

You sound a trifle strained.

[Ah, he recognises that creak in the voice. He can't resist the temptation to tease Arthur just a bit.]

I'm not. [HENRY YOU ARE SUCH A JERK. Can you hear him linefacing? Because he is linefacing.]

I'm just tired.

[He can hear the linefacing. It sounds rather like sulking to his ear.]

Dear me, I am sorry to hear it. I hope that it is not a result of the changes that seem to be sweeping this fair city.

It's a lot of things.

[There's a pause as he runs a hand over his face.] Whenever this whole...thing, gets fixed, let's meet for a drink.

[Subtext: I need to get shitfaced, and I don't want to do it alone.]

Edited 2013-10-03 06:28 (UTC)

I should be glad of that, dear boy. And, indeed, should you desire to meet sooner, I am at your disposal.

The chick with the hardcore blueprints addiction? [Well, it's true. In a sense. Ororo and her bonded over some stolen blueprints of the palace.]

She's an architect, yeah. [Arthur is like - trying really hard to say what he needs to say in as few words as possible here because ugh this whole situation sucks.]

Last I saw her was over a cup of coffee a month ago. We were talking about architect-y things. Haven't seen her since, so don't go all Terminator on me.

[A beat.]

Nice girl though. Maybe she won the lottery.

Why would I do that? ...What would "going all Terminator" even entail?

[That's just weird.]

I'm hoping she's gone home, but foul play isn't outside the realm of possibility. [Especially given his profession, not that he's going to be saying that.]

Killing me and shredding the body or something. [Said with the comfortable knowledge of an Arnie fan that has immersed herself in his filmology.] Your whole 'live to regret it' bit sounded like you'd, uh, bring the pain if you thought anyone hurt her. I was covering my ass just in case.

[C-Y-A is smart around terminators in her book.]

Foul play? You're saying someone'd be out to get her here? Like, a kedan?

If I have good reason to think someone hurt her or was holding her against her will, then yeah. Can't say you gave me any reason to think that.

[He is just pop-culture illiterate, ignore him.]

I don't know. It's possible we've made enemies. It's likely she's just gone, though.

There's no telling that she looks like that at the moment. Does she have any day-to-day habits? Places she regularly visits?

Hangs around Earth. Draws a lot. [Stupid goddamn teenage adolescent voice problems - makes him sound a lot more upset than he is. Arthur would really like to be an adult again, thanks.]

I'm in Metal most of the time, but I'll keep an eye out. I'm sure she'll turn up.

If she's on the turtle, no matter what form she's in, she'll be trying to contact me. So either she's not here, or she's being prevented from it somehow.

...Hm. [That's something different, then.]

Any friends she could be with?

She would've told me.

[Read: 'I am her best friend here'.]

What the hell happened to her? When's the last time you saw her?

Two days ago, her place. She's not there, and she's not in... several other places she normally would be.

So either she's not on the turtle anymore, or someone is preventing her from contacting me.

[He's actually kind of relieved that people seem to be mostly ignoring his altered voice.]

Edited 2013-10-01 01:48 (UTC)

I can ask around. Wouldn't be the first one from your world who was sent back.

Yeah, I noticed.

[And his voice picks then to just crack like - well, like a teenager.]

Goddamn it. Asshole magic users throwing shit around and leaving us all to deal with the fallout...

[Costigan ignores the teenage bit of Arthur. Some other time, it might be funny. Right now, they were in the same miserable boat.]

You ever think about trying to learn it?

I think this place is crazy enough without more people trying to learn this shit.

Might be the only way to stop it.

No. The more people who have that kind of power, the more things will go wrong.

[That's, like, basically his raison d'etre, tbh.]

I'm not talking about having the power. I'm talking about understanding it.

What is there to understand about magic? The whole point is that it's magic.

[Which is why he despises it so much.]

[Costigan lets out an exasperated noise like a sigh.]

Right. You're right.

If it made any sense, it wouldn't be magic, it'd be science.

[Arthur's (perhaps surprisingly) not frustrated with Costigan at the moment. Mostly he's just venting. He makes a sound of his own - half-sigh and half-ugh. Because fucking magic. Magic has no place in his life, not even his dreams.]

It really shouldn't be this hard to wake up.

I'm beginning to wonder about that. [Not that it makes no sense, but that science and magic are intertwined here in a way he can't begin to fathom.]

[A beat.] I don't think you're dreaming, guy. I know why you think that, but.. if this is a dream, the whole world's inside of it with every little detail.

This isn't the whole world. It's just someone's very messed-up idea of a world.

[And dude, you're not real, which, if Arthur thinks about it enough, is probably enough in itself to make him start questioning his sanity.

Goddamn totems, not working when they should.]

Edited 2013-10-17 08:33 (UTC)

Maybe. But there's enough detail here to make you wonder, isn't there? Maybe this is something else.

Any good architect could dream this up. Ariadne could do it in a heartbeat.

I don't mean the landscape. I mean the people. It's too fucked up to be one person's head.

I think you might be underestimating the ability of one person to be thoroughly fucked up.

[THE SHIT HE'S SEEN.]

But I'll acknowledge the possibility that there could be more than one subconscious at work, here. Maybe experimental tech.

[He chuckles lightly.] I doubt that.

Maybe.

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