[M] Have You No Pity? (NoviDome & cwlee)

[cwlee]

Mason stares into the distance, his mind nearly blank. At the sound of Eliza's question, he blinks a few times, then turns to face her. He shrugs quietly as he inches closer to her but not so much as to irritate her. Given their condition, there doesn't seem to be much room for troublemaking. "I-I don't know," Mason replies, trying to suppress a shiver to seem manly, only to twitch occasionally as if he having a minor seizure.

"Sh-Shit, do you see K-Kelly anywhere?" he asks, his voice trembling. As he speaks, the rain starts to dissipate, the pattering fading away. "Looks like it's clearing up," Mason says, peeking his head out from under the awning. Dark clouds still loom overhead, but at least the chilling rain has ceased for now.

"Are you okay to walk?" Mason asks her. "We can rest here for a little, if you want. I just thought it'd be best to look for your fam sooner than later." Mason shrugs. "You want me to give you a piggyback?" he adds, teasing her as he nudges her side with his pointer finger. However, in all seriousness, following the end of the storm, villagers slowly creep out from their abodes, returning to their routines. "Huh, fancy clothes these people got. Really putting in that replication."

[NoviDome]

Eliza starts to shake her head when he asks about Kelly, and it only intensifies as she watches the people come out as the rain lets up. She doesn't answer his questions about walking or the piggyback ride, and she doesn't even react to his poking finger. Mason calls the people's clothes replication, but as much as her mind is not trying to let her acknowledge it, she knows better. She was here yesterday. Her family spent the day shopping for souvenirs and a cute sundress for Kelly. This is no reenactment town. This is real.

Her mind whirls back to their fall through the void. Though it almost feels like a distant dream now, she remembers the voice clear as day. The words it spoke to her. Her eyes widen in her already dread-filled face and she suddenly pulls her backpack off her shoulder and kneels so she can start rummaging through it. She pushes aside the rolled up brochure and finds her note pad, and fishes out a pen as well. She sits back on her heels, finds an empty page, and clicks the pen before frantically scribbling down the words that had echoed through her head.

Once she's looked them over once or twice to make sure they're correct, she holds the note pad up to Mason. "Did you hear a voice say this? Earlier?" she asks him urgently, almost desperately. If he didn't, maybe it was just a dream. Maybe the conclusion her mind is pushing her to draw could be undermined.

[cwlee]

Mason watches as Eliza seems to mentally spiral, his brows furrowed in confusion. He watches as she squats down and writes something on her notepad before revealing it to him, asking him to read it. He stares at the piece of paper for awhile, his eyes moving side to side as if he's really reading what she wrote when, in fact, he could not recognize a single word. "Umm... Eliza. I don't know if you forgot, but you're the smart one here. I can tell you that you wrote something in Latin or Greek or Chinese or whatever, but you know I can't read that. Ohoho! I know what you're doing!" Mason smirks.

Mason crosses his arms across his chest as he attempts to physically tower over Eliza. "You think I can't survive out here without a brain, so you're trying to test me how capable I really am to see if I'm worth keeping around, aren't you?" Mason shook his head in disappointment, clicking his tongue. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. Shame on you, Eliza. Let me show you how formidable I really am," Mason announces, attempting to use big words as if in an attempt to impress Eliza.

He marches himself over towards a market, stopping himself in front of a fruit stand. "Hello, I love your costumes!" Mason greets, waving his hand to which the unsuspecting merchant stares at Mason in an almost disgusted manner. "I was wondering if you've seen these people here," Mason asks them as he reaches into his pocket to take out his phone and show them pictures of Kelly and their parents. The merchant, as if he has never seen such magic before, panics as he shouts incomprehensibly, retreating back into his abode. "Uh... Okay...?"

[NoviDome]

Eliza slowly lowers the notepad as Mason misunderstands her, and she shakes her head in frustration. "What? Worth keeping around? I- ...No, no, Mason, you don't understand," she protests as she stands up, but he is already marching off. She tries to grab his arm but misses, and doesn't follow him. Somehow staying under this awning seems to be safer than leaving its cover. Maybe because it seems the most real, the most... familiar, in this unfamiliar-feeling place.

She watches in both hope and horror as he approaches a stall holder, and tries to strike up a conversation. Her eyes are glued to the merchant, and her heart sinks when he reacts exactly like her mind wanted her to expect. When Mason pulls out his phone, she curses and gathers her stuff into her backpack before running after him.

"Put that away," she hisses to him when she reaches him, and covers his phone with her hands. She pushes his hands down so he can pocket his phone as she looks around cautiously. People are already starting to stare at them, and she's pretty sure the longer they look the more trouble they will be in. "Mason, I swear to god, if there was ever a time not to be your obnoxious self it's right now. We have to get out of here," she mutters urgently.

[cwlee]

Mason eyes Eliza strangely as he's told to put his phone away. He has a confused look on his face but goes along with it for now. However, he cannot help but wonder why she's behaving so... differently. "Yeah, I thought the same! I wanna get out of here too, but thought I'd at least try and help find your family, Eliza. And Kelly. I kind of miss her already," Mason says as he puts the phone back inside his pocket.

A passerby in a hood bumps by Eliza, nearly throwing her off her feet were it not for Mason to help catch her footing in time. "Hey! Watch where you're going!" Mason cries out, but the hooded figure bows apologetically before frantically jogging off around into an alleyway. Mason shakes his head in disappointment. "What is it with these people today? Are you okay?" he asks worriedly.

Mason scratches the back of his head, unsure of what to make of the situation. Whatever Masons has planned doesn't seem to work, so for now, he thinks best to listen to everything Eliza has to say. "Alright, well, what should we do?" Mason inquires as the sound of his stomach growling interrupts their conversation. "Ah... We haven't even eaten dinner yet. Shit, you hungry, Eliza? I need sustenance." With each passing moment in their conversation, they draw unwanted attention.

[NoviDome]

Eliza is about to snap back at Mason when she is shoved off her feet, and caught by Mason. She grabs onto his arm as she steadies herself and frowns as the figure jogs off. She quickly checks her pockets and her bag, but nothing appears to be missing. She looks at Mason when he asks if she's okay, and she nods quickly.

"Yeah, we just..." She looks around once more, the looks they are getting making her uncomfortable. "...We really have to go," she says and pulls him along by his arm. She doesn't know where they're going, just away from the market and the staring eyes. She leads Mason into an alley and around a couple of corners, shivering again. Once she's convinced they're alone, she stops and turns to Mason, hugging herself.

"Listen, please," she pleads, and Mason can see she's lost all of her hard outer shell. Her demeanor is desperate, and... terrified. "...What do you remember from the temple? What did you see, what did you hear?" she asks him, her tone hushed and somehow small.

[cwlee]

Mason follows after Eliza, making sure no one else tries to bump into her. His eyes mark every person they pass by, ensuring that they pose no threat to them, but it's when they finally turn the corner into an alley does Mason realize that everyone is playing their roles a little too well... a little too seriously... almost as if... no, couldn't be.

He stands over Eliza, their bodies almost able to touch were it not for the small space in between them. He keeps his hands in his pockets, unsure of what to do with them in this awkward situation as Eliza seems to panic and lose her sanity. Perhaps it pays to not have such a thoughtful mind.

Mason thinks for a moment, wanting to do anything he can to calm her down. The pranks earlier were jokes, wanting to get a laugh out of himself and maybe her too, but now, it's different. Eliza is distraught and in full panic, and even the rock-brained Mason knows to be serious in these times. He takes a deep breath, recollecting the earlier half of the day.

"Alright, well, I remember pushing you..." He blushes, feeling embarrassed that it's likely cause of his stupidity that this is all happening. "I remember the guard, no. The curator asked us to leave...? And then... I pushed you again. Fuck. And it was black... Wait..." His eyes widened in an almost fright. "Falling. I was falling. Falling! What, wait. No. That was a dream! Right?!" Mason raises his arms and grips each side of Eliza's shoulders, rattling her. "Riiiight?!"

[NoviDome]

Eliza watches him as he thinks, shifting her weight from one foot to the other impatiently. His blush doesn't go unnoticed, and for a moment she finds comfort in it: it tells her he's being real now. He's being serious, and he's taking her seriously. Good. That's good, right? She listens to him as he recounts what he remembers, and when his eyes widen she stops moving. He remembers the void. Her heart sinks to her toes as she watches him realise and then deny the truth of what happened, and she flinches a little when he grabs and shakes her.

"No, Mason! We fell!" she cries out, squeezing her eyes shut, both wishing he would let her go and wishing he wouldn't. She needs to be grounded, and comforted. Even if it's by him. Because if he remembers... "...It was real," she says softly, breathlessly. "Oh god, it was real. We fell, and you grabbed me, a-and there was a face, and a voice. And it spoke. Tell me you heard it," she pleads as she looks up at him, simultaneously wishing he didn't. She doesn't want to believe that voice was real too, but she's also scared she's losing her mind, and she doesn't like the thought of having heard something that Mason didn't.

[cwlee]

The blush on Mason's face drains away, leaving his skin ghostly white. His eyes sink deeper into their sockets as he stares blankly at Eliza, who appears to be telling the truth as always. He gulps. "It was... real?" Mason stammers, releasing Eliza and taking a few steps back. "Voice?" he murmurs, tilting his head in confusion, his brows knitting together as he tries to make sense of it all.

"Voice...? Voice!" Mason exclaims as he remembers. "F-Female voice, right?" he hesitantly asks her, hoping that she would say the same. If she says 'yes,' then everything that Mason has denied so far is becoming the truth. The people that have been walking all around them are, in fact, people not from this time. "E-Eliza...?" For the first time, Mason sounds worried and shook. "Where are we then?" he somberly asks.

[NoviDome]

Tears fill Eliza's eyes as she watches his expression change. She hugs herself when he releases her, and just watches him in horror. He remembers. When he says the voice was female, her breath leaves her in a soft 'oh my god,' and she turns away, covering her mouth with her hand. The tears start rolling down her cheeks and she fans air into her face, trying hard not to panic. She looks at him when he calls her name and she nods solemnly.

"Female voice," she confirms in a whisper and sniffles, not bothering to wipe away her tears. Part of her mind refuses to believe this. It must be some mistake, because what she thinks happened... is impossible. Her mind races to find any other explanation for what they just went through, but it can't. The temple vanished, this village in its old state, the people, the way they reacted to them...

The only other thing that could explain all of that would be that this is all a dream. Eliza, however, has in the past been enough of a nerd to look into lucid dreaming: the ability to be aware when one is dreaming, and influence the dream. She's always wondered if it could be a way to use her nights more efficiently. After all, if she could sleep and study at the same time... That would be ideal. Though she never fully managed lucidity, she's practiced enough to know how to tell a dream from reality. In a dream, she knows, you can always breathe. No matter the situation you're in, as long as your sleeping body can breathe... you will always manage. She exhales shakily and brings her hand to her face before pinching her nose shut and trying to breathe in through it.

Nothing.

She tries again. Nothing. She releases her nose with a frustrated sob and shakes her head before looking at Mason. "I... H-Holy shit, I can't believe I'm saying this but... I think the question is when are we," she says, her voice clearly quivering.