(no subject)

[action-antihero.livejournal.com]

[Milltimed to earlier this evening.]

Jack comes in from the lake for a minute to get something to drink, planning to escape the noise and bustle of the bar as soon as possible, before his nerves start rattling too much.  He only makes it to the bar when suddenly everything starts to shake, sending him to his knees, one hand still on the bar.

Dishes clatter to the ground, and then a minute later, the bar is plunged into blackness.

Jack blinks, but everything's still dark, pressing in on him.  There are cries of prisoners patrons, the rumbling of the quake, blood pounding in his ears, his breath coming faster.  Voices, sounding distant to his ears, yelling to eachother:  "Shit!"  "Qǐ chuáng!"  "Somebody get me a light!"  Heavy boots Footsteps on stone wood floors as people move--coming toward his cell--

He's shaking all over, trying to push back the memories and remember where he is.  Fear is taking over though, his heart hammering in his chest, and he can hardly catch his breath.  He feels somehow as though he's outside if himself and part of him has to wonder if he's still back in that small cell, in the dark, and all this was just a hallucination.

No, no, Milliways is real, I'm not waking up, I'm not--

One hand with a white-knuckled grip on the bar, the other shaking and clutching at his chest, he looks around, trying to peer through the blackness, but his eyes aren't adjusting and all he can see are dim shapes moving through the dark. 

Oh God, I'm losing my mind in the middle of the bar and no one can see me.


[ooc: No, Jack's not having a heart attack--more like a panic attack.  And this is definitely not plotlocked or preplanned in any way; he can definitely have more than one person simultaneously coming to his aid.  Whee!]

Comments

[angela-edmunds.livejournal.com]

Angela's brought her candle with her to get another soda, when she sees the huddled shape near the bar. She holds up her candle. "Grampa?" she asks worriedly. She reaches out slightly, cautiously, unsure if she should touch him.

[action-antihero.livejournal.com]

The shaking of the bar stops, but he doesn't; still trying to catch his breath, he's trembling too badly to get to his feet. He's so cold, all over

Then there's light in front of him--the soft, wavering light of a candle--and a familiar voice nearby. He looks up, taking a moment to recognise the face.

"Angie?" he asks, inbetween gasps. Some part of him is telling him that he has to pull himself together, that he can't show her this, but at the moment it's too hard just trying to catch his breath.

[angela-edmunds.livejournal.com]

Angie puts the candle carefully on top of Bar and reaches down to put her arms around her grandfather. "It's okay," she says softly, hugging him. "Can you stand?"

Non-judgemental. She can only imagine what he's been through. And she doesn't want to imagine much.

[action-antihero.livejournal.com]

It's only when he feels arms wrap around him that he manages to release his death grip on the bar, though that could also be because his fingers are starting to go numb. He hugs her tightly, closing his eyes for a moment and tryig to tell himself to calm down, that if she feels this real, then Milliways has to be real, that he's not hallucinating it.

"I-I think so," he says, shivering and covered in a cold sweat.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_mother_dearest/]

A light comes into view. A shining sphere of light. Muttering under her breath, Lyrae cursed the lack of glowbulbs in this dismal dungeon lately having more technical difficulties. Seeing a terrified look on Jack's face, Lyrae took a step closer. Her voice was cool, and vaguely pejorative. She was keenly aware of who he was, but had never met him in person. She had expected him to be... taller. Than her anyways.

"It is simply darkness, you know."

[action-antihero.livejournal.com]

He sees the light and tries to use it to look around him, remind himself that he's in the bar, that's he's safe (well, relatively). But the panic isn't going away, and he's still too breathless to speak.

Instead he just shakes his head. It's not simply darkness. It's the not knowing whether it's the darkness of the bar, or the darkness of the cell; it's not knowing whether the person approaching is a friend or a guard come to inflict more pain.

It's not knowing where he is or what's real anymore; of fearing every minute that he's going to wake up again to find that he's back there, and hear the footsteps coming for him.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_mother_dearest/]

Tilting her head, she peered forward and took a step forward. She had really thought him made of sterner stuff than to be terrified of... what was he so terrified of? A few soft footsteps forward as she inquired briefly in her heavily accented speech.

"Is something the matter, Lord Jack?"

[action-antihero.livejournal.com]

Footsteps come closer, and he has to fight the memory of military boots on a stone floor, coming closer. No, these sound different, softer, and he can see the bar and a stool from the light of...whatever it is.

"Just...can't...catch my...breath," he gasps out, not realizing that she knows his name.

[wilsons-musings.livejournal.com]

To say the least, there's been a lot of movement, and much of what he could see has caught Wilson's eye. None of the movements were quite like this, however. Calmly, but quickly, Wilson rises from his chair and makes his way carefully to Jack.

"Sir, are you okay?"

[action-antihero.livejournal.com]

The voice is distant, hardly heard over the remembered cries in his head, but it penetrates after a moment, a moment of trying to filter out the memories from reality and catch his breath.

Jack shakes his head, gasping out a request: "Light."

[wilsons-musings.livejournal.com]

Wilson frowns and begins to dig in his pockets. Unable to find what he was searching for (matches), he turns to the Bar. "Can I have a glass of water please?" He squints just enough to see the glass appear on the counter. He reaches out and hands it to Jack.

"I think you should step outside, sir. There's more light out there."

[action-antihero.livejournal.com]

Whoever's beside him presses a glass into his hand, and a he takes a sip. Once it hits his stomach, though, he feels nauseous and he places it on th floor.

He nods, though his legs are still too wobbly to obey his request to get up. "I...need a hand," he says, reaching out even though part of him is recoiling at the thought of having a stranger's hands on him.

[kayip.livejournal.com]

The earthquake was weird, but Behrooz is surprised by how much the dark doesn't bother him now. He's considering venturing outside, though, when two scents that don't often seem to come together. Both are familiar - one is Jack's, and the other... is fear. Much worse than the other night.

He turns, and can see - not especially well, but decently -

"Jack?"

[action-antihero.livejournal.com]

The voice sounds like someone speaking to him from across a room, but he hears it, looking up for its source. All he sees are moving human shapes, and he has to push back another wave of panic.

"Where...?" he says, inbetween trying to breath.

[kayip.livejournal.com]

Behrooz walks closer. The little light from the exploding starts might catch the gold in his eyes.

"Jack, it's -" But he doesn't finish that. He makes his footsteps louder, but doesn't touch him.

"It's - ok, lights just went out."

[action-antihero.livejournal.com]

He nods, trying to reassure himself. Just a blackout, you're still in the bar, you're safe, nothing to be afraid of--.

It's not helping much, though. "I can't-- Have to get...out of here," he says, still breathing hard, feeling as though the darkness is closing in around him, choking him. There's too many people, too much noise, not enough light--he needs out.

[river_meimei]

There's light spilling through the front door, sudden and bright -- a catwalk and a spacious cargo bay, and a young woman's silhouette -- and then it thins away to nothing again as the door closes.

River's eyes flicker around the room, the shadows and broken glass and the dark lumps and blurs of patrons and furniture, and land for a moment on Jack.

[action-antihero.livejournal.com]

One brief spot of light appears in the distance, and Jack latches on to it, trying to see where he is, clear the haze of panic in his brain. For a brief moment, he can see a silhouette against the light, but then, just as quickly, the light fades.

This...really doesn't help matters.

[river_meimei]

River studies him, another blur in the darkness halfway across the bar, and then begins to pick her way over. Her night vision's not bad, but it's well within the normal human range; River, however, is used to having her sight made unreliable by hallucinations anyway. She's working her way along by the surer senses of touch and hearing and maybe even smell, skirting obstacles along the way to the bar.

When she's a few yards away, she suddenly staggers with a low gasp, and her head snaps towards Jack.

His face is a blur, lit by dim candles and dying stars.

[agirllost]

Kim was upstairs when the quake happened. She protected herself with a shield of air, unable to keep from being scared and it brought up other memories, memories she's tried to suppress.

When it's safe to stand, she remembers that Angie was downstairs, and her dad and...she channels a globe of light, briefly reminded of the cave.

She hopes no one's hurt.

A few people are in the hall and she walks downstairs, having never seen the bar quite this dark. As she walks toward the Bar, she spots him from a few feet away and for a moment it's hard to make the connection.

She kneels next to him, keeping the light above them.

"Dad?"

[action-antihero.livejournal.com]

The noises are getting confused in his head, unable to filter out if they're cries of surprise or pain, tensing as footsteps approach and then pass, waiting for them to stop and grab him, yell the familiar orders in a language he doesn't understand.

Somehow, over all this, there's a voice that comes through, soft, but clear, and he sees the light approaching. He looks up toward it, seeing Kim nearby, though it takes a minute for her identity to register.

"Kim?" he asks, hoarsely.

[agirllost]

"Are you hurt? Can you stand?" She reaches out to touch him, not sure if she'll make things worse, stopping her hand a few millimeters from his back.

He looks terrified. She forces herself not to comment on it.

[and-far-away.livejournal.com]

Sharpe's been around, keeping an eye out just in case someone decides to use the blackout as a way to settle scores, or something. And he has good night vision.

He's at Jack's side in a flash when he sees him fall.

"Jack?"

[action-antihero.livejournal.com]

He can hear someone calling his name as if from a distance, but his eyes haven't adjusted to the darkness and he's too panicked to see who it is and where it's coming from.

If it really exists at all.

Gulping like a fish out of water, he looks around, trying to find confirmation that he's not back in China, that everything wasn't a hallucination.

[and-far-away.livejournal.com]

"Jack!" he snaps, trying to get through to him. He's seen this before. "Calm down."