paradisalost

Entry tags:

!intro,
apollo

001

[After waking up in a strange room with no sign of his daughter Jenny, Apollo decided to explore the room to see if he can find any hints of where he is. It doesn't take long for him to discover the journal and flip through it curiously. While flipping through he picks up fragments like 'castle' and 'Paradisa'. It seemed to be the only way of contacting people in the room. Now wasn't the time to be shy. He had his daughter to find.]

Hi. I don’t really know how you’re supposed to start writing these things. Never been the journal writing kind of guy unless you count that Dear Abby letter I wrote one time as a joke. Well, Midnighter thought it was a joke but that’s a whole other story. The bottom line here is I’m looking for my daughter. She’s got long brown hair and brown eyes. She’s eight but she acts like she’s going on thirty. Anyone seen her?

And Jenny, if you’re reading this respond ASAP and tell me where you are. I don’t know what’s going on but I plan to find out.

[That said he closed the journal and carried it with him when he left the room. He wasn't going to get answer any quicker by just sitting around.]

[ooc: Open to any part of the castle you want to find him wandering around.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[That's the last voice he expected to hear.]

[ dictated ]

Well I got a good laugh.

On my way.

[ he doesn't trouble himself with replying; he can ask all of his questions when he sees apollo. he was near the rooftop, so it doesn't take him long to get there. and he waits. it shouldn't take apollo long to get here; he can fly. ahaha... ]

[Except it takes him way longer to get there then it should. Like, waaay longer. It took him awhile to grasp that he couldn't fly...and then he had to figure out how to get to the roof...on foot. Which is how he eventually arrives, looking quite pissed off.]

Does this damn place shut down our powers?

About t--

[ he cuts himself off when apollo speaks, and he registers his husband's obvious displeasure. he moves towards him, adding it up pretty quickly in his head. ]

Yeah. As often as it wants and however the fuck it wants. If you've heard about losses, then you've just found yours: flight. [ he makes a sound of supreme irritation. ]

[Yeah, he's heard about the losses and he was amused when Ashura was explaining it. Not so much now.]

Damn it! I've been here less then an hour and I'm already starting to hate this place.

[He sighs and pushes his hair out of his face.]

How about you? What did you...lose?

You're only going to get to hate it more. Trust me.

[ he frowns very briefly, and touches his chest. ]

Backup heart. Gone. [ he shakes his head. ] More importantly, you mentioned Jenny. She's not here. General knowledge says that she'll be back home, right where you left her. On the other hand, it's a magic fucking castle, and you'll learn not to always take general knowledge at face value.

[ a pause. ] Is she still chronologically and biologically eight?

Thanks for the warning.

[His eyes widen briefly followed by a frown.]

Well that's...inconvenient. [He stares blankly.] Well that would be fine if I had left her at home but the last thing I remember was standing with her at the Doctor's grave with press swarming behind us.

[Both eyebrows raise. He's about the make a snarky comment but stops himself. He realizes the Midnighter is being serious.]

Uh...yes. Why would you ask that?

[ he frowns even more. dammit. it's not like he couldn't have worked out that apollo was from before all the bendix bullshit happened but. that is a lot of time. he ignores the last question for now to just get straight into the heart of the matter. ]

A lot's happened since then. A lot. I'm from 2010.

[Not even a blink. Seriously, this isn't even on the top ten list of crazy shit he's had to deal with.]

Oh, well that sort of makes sense. Mind giving me the Reader's Digest version?

[ perks of being in the authority. ]

In a minute, yeah. [ he searches his husband's face briefly. ] What do you know so far? I'll give you a run-down on whatever else you need to know.

[He pauses to think for a moment.]

So far I know about the losses, that this castle can provide things you wish for, that no time passes in our world while we're here so no one knows we're gone, and that's about it.

But I suspect there's still a lot I don't know.

Those are the basics. [ he holds up a hand to count off on his fingers as he lists. ] There's a world beyond the castle; some parts of it are inaccessible. There's an area known as the Dead Zone where no powers work. Known hostiles live out there; people who've been brought here like us, and left to explore, and from what I gather, there might be some natives as well.

Speaking of natives, there's a town not too far from here. The inhabitants are about as helpful as a spoon in a toolbox.

[He takes all that in.]

The parts that are inaccessible are probably to keep us from getting too far from the castle. It makes sense that it would want to keep us contained after bringing us here.

That's unfortunate. The people in the castle seem to have at least half a clue about this place. But it's the unanswered questions that worry me.

And there are a whole lot more unanswered questions when it comes to this place. It's sentient, and a whole lot more powerful than most things we've ever seen.

[ he pauses, gives apollo a look again, before sighing and folding his arms. ]

Alright, let's just hurry up and get rid of the elephant on the roof.

Even the Carrier?

[He stares silently at him for a time before crossing his arms defensivly.]

Three years, Midnighter. Three years and I've made peace with the fact that you're doing-did-something you felt you needed to do. But that doesn't mean I understand it, because you never even tried to explain. If you really want to talk about this then go ahead. Explain it to me.

[ shortly: ] Even her.

[ he frowns deeply. it's not something that he feels quite up to explaining, and not just because he's done it before. even after all this time, it still pisses him right the hell off that bendix managed to get to him like that, trick him like that, and lost him so much time with apollo and jenny. ]

You're right. It was something that I felt like I had to do. And I was doing it for all of us, even you and Jenny.

But I was [ ugh, he does not relish saying this ] wrong. The explanation is pretty short: Bendix.

[If this place is stronger then the Carrier then they really do have some big problems.] Damn.

[The name has an instantaneous reaction. His shoulders tense and his eyes widen. He opens his mouth to speak but nothing comes out at first.]

Impossible. He's dead. [But even as he says it he knows he's wrong.]

[ he growls softly. yeah, just talking about bendix is enough to piss him off too. ] He sure as fuck is now.

But then... no. The Bendix who died when we were underground was from an alternate universe. The real one came back.

Alternate universe...that bastard. And here I liked to think that we were the only ones with one of him. One is enough, more is just...

[He shakes his head and lets his eyes fall closed.]

But he's dead. For good this time. Should I bother asking what he was after? Or what that had to do with you?

And if he's not dead, I'd be more than happy to rectify that for him again.

[ he frowns even more deeply. ]

What else could he have been after? He wanted the Authority gone, and I pretty much acted like his lapdog and did it for him. [ notice how he's not going into specific detail, ha. ] You remember those Civil War geriatrics? Only the beginning.

[That gets his attention and his eyes fly back open. It was all starting to make sense. An awful sort of sense.]

He was behind that? And you...[Oh yeah, he definitely notices so have a stern look for not telling the whole truth.]

He had something to do with your leaving didn't he? [He says it more like a statement because whenever Bendix is involved he assumes the worst.]

[ he'll just.. ignore that stern look, ahem. when he speaks, it's clipped, as if he just wants to say this and get it over with. ]

I told you about going into the future, right? Seeing you, and the warning you gave me?

[There's a pause and then he responds cautiously.]

Yes...I remember a conversation to that affect. It obviously upset you, maybe I just didn't realize how much. But what does that have to do with Bendix?

It wasn't you. It was one of Bendix's lackeys, shifted -- fucking flawlessly -- into you, or what an older version of you would look like. It infected me, I transferred the infection into the Carrier... and you know the rest.

[ he jams his hands in his coat pockets. saying these things again.. he didn't enjoy it the first time, and he doesn't enjoy it now. ]

[He's silent for a long time as he let's it all sink in. It's a lot to take in after all this time of being resigned and angry at Midnighter while trying to give Jenny as close to a normal life as he could. In a series of instances his life crumbled and now he knew why. But it didn't make him feel any better.]

It was all a set up-a trap-and we fell right into it. All these years and Bendix was pulling the strings in background without us knowing.

[His hands ball into fists and without warning he punches the ground beneath them. The small crater it leaves behind is proof he wasn't using even a half of his strength but it felt good to hit something.]

Midnighter

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