open post: averageness

[tallyyoungblood]

Tally's first clue that it hadn't been a dream was that she'd woken up alone in her room.

Nowadays, she and Gideon have been sharing a room, so that Tally can protect her from ever finding a body alone again--and maybe conspicuously leave out some clothes that fit Gideon but aren't, like, ratty black pants. That day, though, she'd woken in an empty room, gasping from something that felt like a nightmare, but somehow more vivid than real life.

Without even getting dressed, she'd run for the woods to confirm what had happened. Horror had flooded her when she found the knife-mark, exactly where she remembered throwing it yesterday. It was true. She'd been Special. She'd been awful. She'd seen and felt the world with more harsh clarity than she'd ever thought possible. She'd hit Gideon.

Tally had collapsed onto the stump, gripping her own arms to make sure her familiar, average body was still there.

Over the next few days, Tally doesn't sleep well, and people getting swapped out for a second time doesn't help. People might find her wandering the mansion like a zombie, or in one of the kitchens, contemplating getting drunk. She's not as put together as usual, either, but of course on her even bedhead and sweats look beautiful.

Comments

[tallyyoungblood]

Tally grins. At long last, someone seems to appreciate the good parts of her city.

"You know how magnets repel each other? We use that to make stuff hovery. The whole city has a metal grid under it, so everything magnetic can float. Hoverstruts to hold up buildings, mag-lev elevators, and most importantly hoverboards. When you jump off a building wearing a bungee jacket, or fall off a hoverboard wearing crash bracelets, the magnetic field catches you."

[summerdude]

"Okay, that sounds awesome."

[tallyyoungblood]

"It is awesome! I miss hoverboarding so much, you don't even know. I don't miss falling off, though. Totally shoulder-wrenching to get caught by your wrists. Galahad-wa and I tried to make a hoverboard in the hole in the wall here and it wouldn't. Or couldn't."

[summerdude]

"If you do manage to find one, I want a ride," Magnus says immediately.

[tallyyoungblood]

"Obviously, Magnus-la! Ideally we could get, like, a ton of them and I could teach everyone. We'd have to build a metal hoverpaths, but I already know how, since we were making those out in the Smoke. If the lake has mineral deposits, we might be able to use that. I'm not sure how much metal is in the frame of the house, it looks totally Rusty..." Tally looks around. "Actually, we could totally board in here. The metal structures are perfect."

[summerdude]

"Tell you what, if you find hoverboards, I"ll help you build paths outside, too," Magnus says, and tilts his head. "If you show me what one looks like, I can also keep an eye out."

[tallyyoungblood]

"It's like a surfboard, only with lifters. Um, big magnets. Not that you can see them from the outside, but they're heavier than foam. And the surface is grippy." Tally frowns. "Do you mean a board or a path?"

[summerdude]

"I mean I can look for boards," Magnus says. "Maybe there's a room down here with a ton of 'em!"

[tallyyoungblood]

"Maybe," Tally agrees, looking around again. "Are there a lot of weird rooms down here? I never knew about it."

[summerdude]

"Oh yeah, zillions," Magnus says. "There's one that opens onto the bottom of the ocean! But we can't go in there, because of the pressure."

[tallyyoungblood]

"Then how did you get the door open without totally drowning?"

[summerdude]

"The water didn't come through. You could, like, poke it though."

[tallyyoungblood]

"What the fuck," Tally mutters. "They have that but not a hovergrid?"

[summerdude]

"We've only checked, like, twenty doors so far." Magnus glances around, and then makes an easy jump to the roof on a different part of the structure.

[tallyyoungblood]

Tally presses her fingers together in an almost-snap, reflexively trying to make an imaginary hoverboard rise beneath her feet, then sighs and begins climbing and swinging her way over. It's good exercise, and bubbly-making, but it makes her wonder again about whether this place was made by accident or design. It has everything they need, so it feels like someone is taking care of them, but it doesn't provide everything they want, like hoverboards and wallscreens and everyone they love from back home. At least she'd understood her city's rationale for what they thought she needed. Here, it's an utter mystery.

Tally's breathing a little harder by the time she makes it over. "I'll totally come explore with you at some point," she says. "I just need an outfit that isn't, like, sweats. And better shoes."

[summerdude]

"Oh yeah, for sure," Magnus says. "Wanna see who can jump the farthest from the swings, in the meantime?"

[tallyyoungblood]

"Yes," Tally says emphatically. She's honestly thoroughly cheered up. It makes her feel a slight twinge of guilt to be feeling happy again, but she's never been good at doling out her own demerits. "Let's go."