there's a light at each end of this tunnel [open]

[ecphrasis]

Who| Molly Hooper & you.
What| Wandering.
Where| The training center, choose a level.
When| Just after her arrival.
Warnings/Notes| I'll roll with anything! She could be outside the center, joined in the elevator, on any random floor, etc.

Molly Hooper has no idea what is happening.

The series of events she has just gone through do not make sense. As she stands just outside the elevator on the tenth floor of apartments in the training center, she recaps them in her mind: she had been at Bart's working on a double homicide; she had presumably blacked out and woken up on a hard metal cot; an explanation that she hadn't fully been able to grasp had been given before she had been whisked up an elevator to this place they said was to live.

And for a few long moments, all she can think is that no, this isn't where she lives. She lives in a flat not far from the hospital, with her cat Toby and a Chinese takeout place right down the street. She lives in London, on the only Earth that has ever existed. No Capitol, no arenas, none of these things they tell her exist really can, because if they did--if they did--

Molly Hooper is frightened, and she cannot make herself feel otherwise.

Suddenly, she turns and slams her palm against the elevator button, willing it to return quickly. Once inside she presses a button, she doesn't know which one, trying to control her breathing. She needs to leave this place, find a way back to London, to her job and her cat and vague newspaper clippings about Sherlock's "suicide." Those are things she wants, needs, things that make sense. Those are things that will tell her that none of this is real and that they don't actually expect her to hurt anyone. Those things still need to exist or else Molly Hooper doesn't know if she can survive this place.

Comments

[khiluz]

Fíli still spends a good amount of his time walking from floor to floor and down the corridors. He does not care for the elevator much, and regards it with a good amount of distrust whenever he notices the doors. Which is not the case, in fact, and when the doors swing open he does not quite manage to hide the slight startle as he nearly jumps away from the small compartment.

At first he thinks the wicked thing is trying to lure him inside, no doubt. But then a woman steps out, looking quite out of sorts, much like he did not that long ago. Much like he looks still most of the time. "Are you alright, my lady?"

[ecphrasis]

At first, she thinks the voice comes from nowhere, and jumps just as he had. She looks around, almost frantic, before catching sight of him from the corner of her eye. If it weren't for the beard and the fact that he'd already spoken, she'd have thought him a child. Molly breathes deeply, and shakes her head. She still looks about to cry.

[khiluz]

"I'll not harm you," are the first words that come to him as even remotely reassuring, while he keeps his hands up, as well as a good distance between them. She looks particularly distraught, and it does not take him long to take a wild guess as to why. "Have you just arrived here?"

[ecphrasis]

Strangely enough, Molly believes him. But then, she's a naturally trusting person and she doesn't think he has any reason to lie. Even if he did, she couldn't even begin to consider what it would be right now. Her mind is too jumbled, too full of images of coliseums and gladiators (which is how she imagines the arenas, oddly enough). Molly swallows, and nods. "Just--just now." And they'd left her alone, told her that her needs would all be met. But they wouldn't, not really, because what she needed was to go home. "Are you..." The word takes a moment to pass her lips. "... new too?"

[khiluz]

"Yes, in a way," he would like to offer her more support than just his words, but he does not move any closer. He does not think she will spiral into a panic and faint now, if anything it seems as if she is calming down now, even if only barely, but he stands at the ready regardless. "I arrived yesterday. So I can try to help you, but I am afraid that many of the questions you are sure to have, I cannot answer. But please ask them if you like."

[ecphrasis]

Yesterday. Knowing that someone else had been just as confused as her so recently makes her feel better. Solidarity always helps, even if it's only imagined or implied. She takes a step forward, just enough to be out of the elevator, and clasps her hands in front of her as she looks at him. "I don't--I mean, I'm not sure what to ask. I guess everything they told me should explain it, but... it doesn't." Her brow furrows as she tries to process all this. "I just want to know why."

[khiluz]

Sure enough, the question she asks first is one that he finds himself asking still. He lowers his hands, his posture relaxing once she steps out of the elevator, and he sighs quietly as he shakes his head. "That is one of the many I cannot answer, and I think it is the same with everyone that has been brought here against their will. A reason has not been offered as of yet, and how they did it is just as great of a mystery."

[ecphrasis]

The answer is unsatisfying, to say the least, but Molly still has no reason to believe that he's lying to her. Besides, the more she hears and sees, the more real this all becomes. An unfortunate thing, but one that's happening all the same. "So they just... just take people whenever they feel like it?"

[khiluz]

"Apparently so," he nods, his intense dislike of the situation showing in his face. He has to wonder, though, why are there no people trying to find more - or better yet, what has happened to those who must have tried in the past. The place is dangerous, Fíli can recognize that much.

"They also take us from various places and times. From..." The next he adds with no small amount of care and hesitancy. "From entirely different worlds."

[ecphrasis]

Her stomach turns and she has to lean back against the wall for a moment. It's sick, what these people are doing. The words are on the tip of her tongue, but she can't bring herself to say them for some reason. Probably because doing so will just make it more real. And if it were more real, then she probably wouldn't take his next tidbit so well.

"Different worlds and times." The incredulity in her voice is almost palpable.

[khiluz]

Fíli at first only nods, fully aware of how mad his words must sound to her. He himself had a difficult time believing it at first, but the evidence is all but crushing, and he cannot deny that as unrealistic as it may seem, so far it is the only explanation that even begins to make any sense of it.

"Indeed it is so, my lady," he pauses, thinking of the best way for her to believe him. Then, as he notes the way she is dressed, he asks, sure he knows the answer. "Have you ever heard of a place called Middle Earth?"

[ecphrasis]

Molly has seen many, many strange things in her life. To be fair, most of them have to do with the ways people can die, but they still qualify as strange. Her brow furrows as she tries to recall if she's ever heard of that place before. But, for the life of her, she can't. "I haven't," she says apologetically. "Is that the name of your, um, world?"

[ooc; sorry about the delay! just finished up my final exams at uni.]

[khiluz]

"Yes, it is. And it is normal that you do not know of it. In this place none seem to, and the few who had ever even heard of Dwarves it was only because they had met my brother before." Fíli is still new after all, but Kíli has been here for long enough to already make friends - or acquaintances, at least.

((ooc: CONGRATULATIONS! /throws confetti!))

[ecphrasis]

Her brows raise, and she looks at him with new-found curiosity. "Dwarves?" Honestly, she had assumed that he was simply a little person. But if he's from a place called Middle Earth, she supposes it isn't very far-fetched.

[ooc; thank you!! i passed everything and graduated with honors c:]

[khiluz]

"Yes. It is one of the races that exist where I am from," he answers as he looks down at himself briefly, as if it had not been made clear so far. "It is what I am."


((ooc: that is excellent C:))

[ecphrasis]

She nods a bit, interest piqued and fright momentarily forgotten. She's never met a sentient being that wasn't human, after all. "What other races are there?"

[khiluz]

"The race of Men, such as yourself, I take it." He can only guess from what he sees, since all kinds of creatures and races seem to be brought here. "There are also Elves and Hobbits, then as well we have other creatures which I suppose are a race of their own. Goblins, orcs, trolls-- but they are foul creatures, nothing like the others."

[ecphrasis]

He's talking about fairy tales, and she can't really wrap her head around it. But looking at him, she can see that he isn't like any person she's met before. Molly bites her lip briefly before nodding again. "Are there other um, dwarves here? Or elves or--hobbits?"

[khiluz]

"There is one other dwarf, my brother. His name is Kíli." She might just come to meet him soon enough, friendly as he is. "But no hobbits or elves that I have heard of or seen so far."

[ecphrasis]

Molly isn't sure whether she should be glad for him up upset that his brother is here. It's a mixed sort of blessing, she supposes. She offers a smile, small but genuine. Hearing a name had reminded her that she hadn't shared hers. "I'm afraid I haven't introduced myself yet. I'm Molly."

[khiluz]

He likes not to be alone, that much he confesses. But to see his brother stranded in this foreign place is something he would not have wished upon him, had he been given the choice. On the other hand, as Kíli had been the one to arrive first, he prefers a thousand times this, than for him to remain alone as he had been before. "And neither have I. My name is Fíli. At your service, Lady Molly."