milliways_bar | (no subject)

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The apparition that has been haunting the bar for the past several days is still present. Those who can sense it directly, however, will notice it's been getting... vague. Its edges are blurred and ill-defined; its interior is murky. However, it is still definitively a Presence, milling restlessly around Milliways in search of something or someone to hold on to.

[ooc: Again, read the back room before tagging. Open for tags until it falls off the page.]

[tinytag: Alyx Vance, Annabelle Newfield]

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yes. it's safe here.

Annabelle is projecting relieved at the moment. "Good. I suppose that it's just a matter of waiting for things to get fixed back in your own world, then."

Annabelle sets her liberated Combine body armor and a stack of paint chips on a table near the machine.

i hope so. i'm tired. i want to go home.

"Hopefully you won't be stuck here for too much longer. I wish I could go back with you and lend a hand..."

me too.

Then a disturbing thought occurs to her.

i hope i can figure out when it's safe to leave.

Annabelle frowns, "You might get yanked back to your body when it's fixed, rather than having to choose to leave."

"I'd have paid more attention to the legends about that sort of thing if I've known I was going to need it later," she mutters, disgruntled.

...there's legends about this sort of thing?

If so, she hasn't heard them. (Except for the obvious one, which isn't all that relevant here.)

Edited 2009-01-17 02:08 (UTC)

"Not exactly this sort of thing, but there's people who've nearly died and claimed that they were hovering over their own body and the like."

"Then there's something called astral projection, which is basically turning your 'self' loose from your body and traveling through something called the astral plane. I'm afraid I don't understand much about it how it's supposed to work..." Annabelle shrugs helplessly.

She shivers. this is not something i would do voluntarily.

"Nor I." Annabelle agrees. Annabelle frowns at the paint chips, "Does the Resistance use any particular colors or designs on their gear?"

It's a little worrying how long it takes her to call up the appropriate mental image.

lambdas. in orange or yellow. why?

"I acquired a set of Combine body armor when I was in City 17. I figured it would be a good idea to change its appearance before I went back to your world wearing it."

She grins, "No point in having the Resistance waste bullets on me that are needed for killing Combine."

A wince. don't even joke about that.

"Sorry," Annabelle replies, chagrined. There's a definite feeling of apology being projected.

"Gray and orange it is, then. If the Resistance that was with my team managed to loot the Combine soldiers I killed, Gordon may end up setting a fashion trend. "

oh, he'd love that, she says wryly. he still doesn't get that he's a celebrity.

"I suspect he's not used to being the center of attention at all, never mind being set up as some sort of saint."

but he still tries to live up to those expectations. There's a dreamy smile on her face. he's stronger than he thinks he is.

Annabelle nods. "He's been tempered in fire, but it's given him strength rather than causing him to break."

he still amazes me. always.

"I suspect the feeling's mutual," Annabelle says with a grin.

A huff of laughter. what have i done that's so special?

"I suspect Gordon would say much the same as you," Annabelle says with a laugh of her own.

"You are special, you know. You've been tempered in fire and held fast. You'd follow Gordon into Hell and help him kick the Devil in the teeth if he needed you to, but that's not the most important thing."

Annabelle is very serious when she continues, "You love Gordon Freeman. You don't see the myth, a messiah, when you look at him. You love him for himself, love him enough to cling to existence without your body here at the End of All Things. I don't think there's anyone else in any Universe that could do that."

Her memories aren't coming to the surface as readily as before. This one, though, is clear. Standing in the Bar just before returning to their world, trying to calm Gordon's fears about the battle to come...

"You're not 'the One Free Man.' I understand that. But I believe in you. I know you well enough to understand what that really means."

She has nothing to add to that in the here and now. What else is there to say?

Annabelle doesn't have anything to add either, so she just smiles.

(OOC: Do you want to fade? Thanks for the thread!)

[ooc: Sounds good to me, and thank you!]

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