Doctor Franken Stein (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
suture_guy) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
vatheon2012-10-07 12:36 am
suture_guy) wrote in vatheon2012-10-07 12:36 am
Entry tags:
"This truth drives me into madness"
Who: Dr. Franken Stein and Anyone
Where: The Plaza
When: Evening, September 30th (backdated)
What: Another new arrival (at long last!)
Style: Prose preferred but we can do action, too
Status: Open!
Maybe it was the lighting, Stein thought, as he stared somewhat blankly at the screen of his desktop, at the new design he was devising, a replacement headbolt to counteract the increasing bouts of madness he was experiencing. Marie had been after him to "cheer up" his living space, adding more lights and hints of color, and while he was inclined to think her suggestions were just her being her usual optimistic self, she might be on to something.
Maybe it was the effect of Asura's madness: anyone already susceptible to madness was a prime target, and he fit that profile a little too well.
Maybe I'm simply working too hard, Stein thought, leaning back in his swivel chair, taking off his eyeglasses and kneading his brow with the backs of his wrists. He'd practically been living off cigarettes and inspiration the past few days and even with the kind of control he had over his body, he needed something more substantial.
As he pulled his hands away, the shadows of the lab seemed to ripple and hiss for a moment, before snapping back into silence. Maybe it was just pressure on his eyes, or low blood sugar.
Tea, make himself a pot of tea and be done with it, he thought. He pushed his chair away from the desk, propelling it across the floor toward the kitchen.
Pushing the door open with his elbow must have taken more energy from his momentum: he felt the chair catch on the metal strip on the threshold and tip over backward...
He expected to hit the floor with a crash, but he felt the fall continue as he dropped, first through empty space and then through water...
...Folk passing by might find a tall man in a white lab coat, drenched to the skin and lying on his back amongst one clump of coral, a tipped-over roller chair to one side among another clump.
"A fall like that... should have rendered anyone unconscious..." he notes, stunned.
Where: The Plaza
When: Evening, September 30th (backdated)
What: Another new arrival (at long last!)
Style: Prose preferred but we can do action, too
Status: Open!
Maybe it was the lighting, Stein thought, as he stared somewhat blankly at the screen of his desktop, at the new design he was devising, a replacement headbolt to counteract the increasing bouts of madness he was experiencing. Marie had been after him to "cheer up" his living space, adding more lights and hints of color, and while he was inclined to think her suggestions were just her being her usual optimistic self, she might be on to something.
Maybe it was the effect of Asura's madness: anyone already susceptible to madness was a prime target, and he fit that profile a little too well.
Maybe I'm simply working too hard, Stein thought, leaning back in his swivel chair, taking off his eyeglasses and kneading his brow with the backs of his wrists. He'd practically been living off cigarettes and inspiration the past few days and even with the kind of control he had over his body, he needed something more substantial.
As he pulled his hands away, the shadows of the lab seemed to ripple and hiss for a moment, before snapping back into silence. Maybe it was just pressure on his eyes, or low blood sugar.
Tea, make himself a pot of tea and be done with it, he thought. He pushed his chair away from the desk, propelling it across the floor toward the kitchen.
Pushing the door open with his elbow must have taken more energy from his momentum: he felt the chair catch on the metal strip on the threshold and tip over backward...
He expected to hit the floor with a crash, but he felt the fall continue as he dropped, first through empty space and then through water...
...Folk passing by might find a tall man in a white lab coat, drenched to the skin and lying on his back amongst one clump of coral, a tipped-over roller chair to one side among another clump.
"A fall like that... should have rendered anyone unconscious..." he notes, stunned.
well okay but I can't promise novels, good sir
"Professor?" the tone doesn't help, it sounds like she's about as stunned as he is at his own arrival. Obviously a man with a screw through his head is unmistakeable, even if she isn't using Soul Perception, so she eventually lets go of the boy's hand to approach him. Slowly, slowly, there's no telling what state he's in. "Are you okay, Professor? Do you need help?"
Same, but we will try to make good tags~
... was that a screw in his head?
Well. Just when Rin thought he'd seen everything.
He hung back, though, uncertain and more than a little concerned. But he trusted Maka to know what she was doing regarding whoever this was, so he wasn't about to jump in and make the situation difficult.
He did, however, keep his hand a little bit closer to the sword on his back.
Hee, I'll try and keep the replies from being so long-winded
He gets a second look at the young folk in front of him. "Maka... Can you tell me what this place is?"
no subject
Once she says that, she points up to the sky where the dome protecting the city from the ocean above can be seen. "That coral behind us there is what brought you and everyone else here. You might have already guessed that this isn't Death City or even our world anymore, there are lots of different people from different worlds here." She points at the boy behind her. "Like him, this is my friend Rin. He's from another version of Earth. Another time, even, it's 2012 in his world...and here, too." Maka fidgets upon realizing that she needs to explain how time is messed with too, of course, and kicks at a rock on the ground.
"I've been here for a year now, Professor. Time is stopped when you're taken from your world. Um...what's the last thing you remember?"
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The guy seems pretty together. Surprising, given what he's just experienced, but that was better than freaking out.
Still, he's going to let Maka take the reigns on this one, walking off quietly to go get a couple of the towels and bring them back to Stein.
no subject
"Can I ask, is your young friend here a denizen of this place, or was he pulled in as well?" he asks, grateful for the towels, once Rin returns them. He's sure there's water in his ears and more.
no subject
Maka pauses as she glances at Rin's tail and realizes that maybe, just maybe, Stein might have read the same conclusion that her father did the last time he was here. "The natives are distinguishable by their helpfulness and lack of...um, lucidity? Compared to everyone else. If it seems like they're being sedated to you, well...that's because they are. Oh--another thing that marks us as foreigners are the tattoos we get somewhere on our bodies when we arrive."
She examples this by lifting her shirt slightly to show the curious mark on her stomach. "It can't be removed. I'm told it goes all the way down even to our bones. But when we show it to anybody in the stores here, we get free things, and since everything is free here that's the trade for the mark I guess."
no subject
Not that he minded.
Just don't pay any attention the slight derpface going on back there.
no subject
"Sounds like whoever is yanking people out of their worlds and into this place has thought of everything," Stein says, sitting up and rising to his feet. But the sight of that tattoo on Maka's stomach causes him tilt his head, then reach up and adjust his headbolt, puzzled. "I suppose that means that I have one on me somewhere now? I'd be curious to know how it got there." And he may even try digging at his own mark, just for the data, once he's settled. "In that case, I'll need a place to stay, at least till I've gotten my head around all this."
no subject
This should be the part where she offers to let her good old teacher to stay at the place she lives in. But it's not nearly well-equipped enough for him, it's somewhat of a joke among the other students that Stein might not even sleep in the first place.
"Your laboratory is here. But...I think it's been taken over by someone else."
no subject
"Maybe... we can find some place close to the Villa? Even if it's temporary," Rin offered quickly, giving a look to Maka. It's not that he doesn't want any of her acquaintances there, but taking in Bon and her other friends recently was probably the last they were going to fit in that house.
no subject
"I suppose a temporary place to stay is better than nothing, at least until I find out who took over my lab. It's more comfortable than sleeping on the coral," he says, glancing at the patch he'd landed in.
no subject
...Well, Rin possibly wouldn't but...Maka's never exactly talked about her teachers. So she nods, taking a pamphlet out of her bag to hand to the professor.
"This contains all the information you'd ever need about getting around Vatheon, much more than I could tell you in just this meeting. It includes a map of residences, hotels and local shops too. If there's anything else you wanna ask about, I hope I can answer it."
She glances over at her companion and gestures away from their position. "Hey, Rin, I can show the professor around, you don't have to stay."
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He hesitated, making a face before finally asking, "You sure?" while giving a glance towards the odd man with the screw in his head.
... seriously, man, that thing is kind of freaky.
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This is all, at the same time, unsettling, a source of curiosity, a thorn in his side and, with Maka present, somewhat reassuring.
wow this is beyond late I'm so sorry
It's then that she pulls Rin aside (far away so Stein can't hear their conversation, though snatches of it like "yes, the bolt is real" and "no he's only a little crazy" can be heard) and apparently lectures him for a few moments before he does actually leave.
Though anyone with eyes could see that the parting gesture of her kissing him on the cheek was certainly not platonic and the "friend" introduction might have been a little untrue. But she isn't commenting on it as she trots back to her teacher; instead she stops short of him and spreads her arms to gesture to the area they're in. "This is the Plaza! This is the main point where everyone arrives when they first come to Vatheon and if they leave for a short time and come back it's usually the point where they arrive too. Sometimes they end up somewhere else in Vatheon, but that's another story."
Quite all right: life ate me alive last week >.<;
"It sounds as though there are powers at work here that are far beyond anything we know," he says, glancing around them, his gaze resting on the coral. "The coral is rather fascinating: I don't think I've seen this particular species before." And he might be contemplating taking a sample...
it needs to stop doing that, you're missing out on curse week
She shrugs and turns, gesturing at the Welcoming Committee building. "Some of the people behind that group, for instance. I bet they'd be happy to have another person interested in unraveling what makes this place work at their back."
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Should Stein look up, he would catch sight of a man quite like him: silver hair, white trenchcoat, so very stereotypically doctor-like in the way he's dressed. There's also a towel in his hand and the barest smirk on his lips. In his two years of residence, he's used to people coming and going. At times, they remembered being here, at times they forgot. Naturally, he began to wonder which category Stein would fall into now that he was back.
"Welcome back to Vatheon, Doctor Stein." Kazutaka began, that smirk turning to the smallest smile as he settled himself nearby. That towel remains as an open invitation however.
no subject
"Welcome back? I don't recall getting a first welcome here, at least not until now," Stein replies, puzzled by this greeting. "What is this place and how do you know me?"
no subject
"No cause for alarm there. I'm afraid this happens." he replied. "Some come to the city remembering their previous stay as I have, others return without a single memory. This is Vatheon, an underwater city and I am one of the resident physicians. My name is Kazutaka Muraki and I was brought here as you were quite a while back."