PARADISA LOST

[The following is pasted into the journal before Bren starts to dictate:]



My husband insists that an Easter promotion is good for business. I tried to convince him otherwise, that even if Jesus's resurrection was an actual event, it would not be celebrated but drinking and dancing.

But he's a stubborn man. And The Lab can use the business.

Free chasers with all top shelf purchases.

[For the past few weeks, Brennan has been carefully observing the decomposition rate of the body Smecker and Bloom had found within town. The lab room attached to her studio apartment in the castle isn't as good as the labs in the Jeffersonian. It had appeared as she and Booth had stood and argued over the storage of the cadaver when they first obtained it.

He still objected to her keeping remains in her personal space. But without a locked facility to store them in, Brennan refused to take any chances.

But after numerous notations, it has become clear that the death of a towns-person is much different than the death of a castle resident. It's normal, a strange piece of normality that puts her at ease.

She's in that lab now, doors open both to the remainder of the apartment and the hallway if anyone were to walk by. For the most part, the ventilation system that appeared in conjunction with the small laboratory has kept her personal space odor free.

For the most part.

She has her journal open, and she's currently writing a list of necessary materials.]

Stainless steel tub.
Heating source.
Sodium carbonate-based detergent.
Thermometer
Dental tools.
Wire-mesh screen.
Latex gloves.
Skinning knife.

[And then she speaks.]

I need to obtain the above list of items so that I can properly excarnate a cadaver. I would appreciate any provision of materials, or suggestions as how to obtain.

[She blinks groggily as she comes to in an unfamiliar room, staring at the stark ceiling of the clinic. When Brennan turns her head, it's to see a very familiar body in the chair next to hers: Seeley Booth, slumped forward and asleep, with his head resting in bent arms on top of the bed. For a second, even in confused grogginess, she's afraid to move and wake him.

But the journal and glass of water on the table next to the bed catch her attention and, very carefully (as not to disturb her partner), she moves into a sitting position. She sips at the water as she turns through the pages of the journal.

Reaching for a pen seconds later, she scribbles the following:]

What happened?



[ooc: Open via journal or clinic! Aaaand, it's past 1 am, so I'm gonna post and run. Tags to come in the morning. ♥]

[At first glance, it might look like the library has invaded Brennan's room. Thanks to help from her her partner, a number of books have made their way from the shelves to the office that had appeared a few days ago along with a hallway from her bedroom.

The journal is open somewhere, lost amongst all the other books. She flips through pages and shakes her head before putting it down for another book. Booth, meanwhile, works on his guns - getting ready to go back out again.]

The Human Tradition of Ghosts and Threats. I do not recall picking out this book, Booth.

Huh? [A pause as Booth looks over] Oh, that one. I picked that one up.

[You can just about hear the scowl in her voice.] Ghosts do not exist.

There are a few in the hall that would argue that point, Bones. [A sigh.] Look, I know it's not your thing but, as long as things are going Twilight Zone, it didn't seem like such a long shot.

I don't know what that means. [But still, she starts to flip through the book slowly.]

It means ghost stories might be a pretty good idea in a place where weird is kinda the status quo.

[Brennan only half pays attention, distracted by the book. There's something in there that's almost possibly relevant.

I... Listen to this, Booth. [And she reads.] "Before, you had angels and succubi, and then ghosts and spirits. Today we have shadow people and inter-dimensional beings. The Slender Man, and other newly created entities, are just the newest addition in the progression of a long, and very real, human tradition.

You’ve seen him, now you can’t unsee him."

Unsee is not a real word. That name - Slender Man... it definitely fits the different images and accounts that have been reported so far. Still... Despite the culmination of multiple parallel universes in Paradisa, we do not necessarily know for certain how much the quantum mechanical properties of these various worlds differ. I am not willing to call him a ghost, but... maybe there is a more scientific basis for the various supernatural legends after all.



[ooc: Brennan is in blue and Booth is in black. Both are available, although I'm going to be going to sleep in an hour or so. Will tag in the morning - sorry.]

I find it difficult to believe that it has been a month already since I first arrived here. The time has gone by remarkably fast. And yet, I am still here and have learned of a way to leave.

[She's talking aloud to the open journal as she carefully slices tomatoes in the kitchen. Macaroni cooks in a pot of boiling water not too far away. The macaroni and cheese dish she is making might not be something she considers entirely healthy, but it's comfort food.

And comfort food as taught to her by a five star chef. It's good food. Very good food and open to tasting if you happen to stop by at any point towards the end of the preparation.]

Has anyone ever willingly left Paradisa? Or are all arrivals and departures circumstantial?

[Then, it's back to cutting - leeks now. It might not be as soothing and relaxing as losing herself in her work at the Jeffersonian, but it's methodical and almost distracting within its own way.]

[Dictated.]

I have been here for a week now. Although the... individual... in charge of our capture seems willing to give me whatever menial item I ask for, he or she does not seem as willing to let me return to my work.

The physical rules that govern Paradisa are still difficult to discern. Though the planet appears to very much resemble Earth in many important aspects, I have still encountered some significant differences.

Magic is an impossibility back home. I do not like using that term here, either,. But -- it appears to be already commonplace and I have yet to find a more rational explanation to some of what I have witnessed. Such as the inebriation I experienced on New Year's Eve.

Who here has been conducting research on Paradisa? Of any type. My name is Dr. Temperance Brennan and while my specialty is forensic anthropology, I am highly intelligent and knowledgeable in a wide array of scientific pursuits. I would be very much interested in anything you have to share.