Roswell Fanatics

Drunken Thoughts

~*Lex*~

Like they all have the right to kick me out of Ruby’s Saloon, “I’m one of the leaders of the Mallrats, they needs to respect me! Heh,” but I managed to snag this, “got myself a bottle of Jack, that’s all I need!”

Walking the streets at night, kicking at the litter along the curb, nothing like this, nothing mattered at all. And why should it?! As long as I can keep drinking, it keeps me all numb, my mind all fuzzy. I hate all the stuff that crowds up in my head when it’s finally clear again, like the trash here. No matter how many times you kick it, it’ll be back where it was by morning. I couldn’t keep myself from snickering out loud about that thought.

Maybe I’m like my father after all, and I know why he kept drinking, you didn’t have to think about anything much at all. People are staring and walking around me, all avoiding me and shit. “Yeah go ahead, like I care, you bother me and I’ll get up all in your face!” My hair’s all a mess and I probably smell to, “better to keep the babes away, huh!”

Yeah, that’s it, it’s okay to be like great ol’ dad, no kids to worry about anyway. I can’t treat ‘em badly if there is none, which made me laugh even louder. It’s her fault, yeah, she had to go and…

I’m definitely gonna need to start in on this Jack… I’m already starting to think about Zandra, not a good thing, not good. I kept meandering on along the street, and felt some presence behind me, felt a hand at my shoulder, “Hey man, ger’off me! Can’t ya tell when to leave a man alone?!”

I try to turn heel, rather clumsily, to see who’d decided to mess with me, and notice no one. “Wait,” my mind stalls, this can’t be right. I look up at the mall’s entrance, the gate shut, with empty boxes and graffiti on it. I can’t be this close, I’m home already? It’s the last place I wanna be, damn my mind or my eyes must be “playing tricks, on me, huh?!” I yell up at the sky, at no one at all.

*Zeus*

The woman from the kitchen seems as confused as I am. "This isn't my place, I don't even know how the hell I got here. You go back to your business and I'll go back to mine. Just stay away from me," she says. She'd shrugged as if it meant nothing to her, but something about her made me certain there was something heavy on her mind.

Her attention falls away and I notice how she's staring at her own hands, letting go of the knife with one hand so she can turn her wrist up. She seems to be in some sort of daze and I lower my hands, bringing them back to my body. She's rocking slightly as I put a hand in my pocket. I'm not really sure what's going on, but I like to have my toys at hand.

My eyes widen in disbelief as she moves the blade closer to her other wrists. It looks like she's about to cut her wrists in front of me!

I grab a flash bomb and hurl it in her direction. She jumps at the light, dropping the knife as her hands fly towards her eyes. I fly after the bomb, wrapping my arms around her and pulling her away from her weapon, giving it a good kick so it spins across the floor of the lobby.

She blinks at me, owlishly as her vision clears. I keep my arms wrapped tightly around her, binding her arms to her sides.

"What the Hell did you think you were doing?" I ask her.

*Max*

The answers I've come up with don't make me happy, but they do make sense. This is the girl who killed her brother. I don't know why she's trying to make herself look like Isabel, but I don't much care. I just need to figure out Liz. Is she Liz or maybe Ava using a mindwarp? Is she enemy or friend?

I see Liz tense and I'm about to initiate my shield when suddenly a teenaged girl appears in the storeroom and dances between us singing a song about friends. She hands each of us a note and then disappears. More mind-warps? I have no idea.

Reading the note does little to explain things. Service of Medina? I serve nobody except my friends, and I guess, Antar. A second chance? At what?

“You are Max…or a version of him…” Liz speaks first. Her words help give a shape to the questions in my mind.

"Yes," I say, although I'm thinking more that her dead 'Max' is a version of me, that she and 'Isabel' are derivatives of my sister and friend. It similiar to the feeling I had when we first met the dupes. Their 'Max' was dead, too. I don't much like that similiarity but I try not to draw any conclusions from it.

"And you're real, too," I say, watching her. Maybe this is a dream, but I still need to know more about her. What happened to her and to her 'Max.'

OOC: hoping this works, if you don't like it tell me and I'll try and edit to improve

~Liz~

“And you’re real too…”

This Max responds after confirming I was right. I can almost see his mind churning away, searching for explanations and answers, much as my own is right now.

I take a deep breath and back away slightly, moving to lean against the wall in order to collect my thoughts. It would be so easy to break down, or to simply step down and say that now there was a ‘Max’ here, I was no longer the leader, but for Isabel at least, that’s not true, and I know that if I look, the mark of the seal will still be right there on my thigh…

I’ve often wondered about the position of it…almost as though it was placed there by Max, perhaps on our wedding night… It wasn’t active then of course, but it is now…

I can’t afford to get distracted like this, thinking about things which are unimportant for the moment… Isabel is relying on me here, and back home, there’s more, Michael, Maria, Kyle and Alex…we have to get back to them…we have to find a way…

I look back over at Max and nod. “Yes…we’re real…” I answer simply.

With everything that’s going on, there’s something I need…something I need to see, because otherwise I think I’m going to end up spending all my time holding it anyway… The ring around my neck gives me strength, I might not wear it properly usually, believing that I have to appear stronger than that, but it’s there… Without really thinking about it too much, I close my hand over the ring again, and then pass second hand in front of it, using my powers on this occasion to remove it, feeling that it will probably be less noticeable.

Drawing my hand back down from the chain, my ring enclosed in it, I descretely, but deliberately, slip it onto my wedding finger. I’m almost overwhelmed by the intense emotions that simple act provokes, but I have to remain strong, and keep an even face, squashing them all back down and concentrating on what’s important.

*If we’ve been brought here deliberately, and neither of us can contact Michael, I’m assuming it’s a fair bet he hasn’t been brought…* I send to Isabel as I begin to think things through in my head.

The important thing is working out what’s going on, and of course trying to work out a route back home…

“So you’re Max…from a different reality I’m guessing…” I comment as I again now look over at Max.

He looks so like the one I lost that I would like nothing more than to just run into his arms, but a quick glance down at my hand, and my ring, reminds me that it’s not real, and reinforces the need for me to be strong.

I decide that the best thing to do is go over the things we know, and what better place to start than the last thing we remember… I look over at Isabel. “I’m assuming you woke here, although correct me if I’m wrong…but what’s the last thing you remember…?” I ask her calmly as I slip into ‘business mode’.

OOC: We no longer have a Maria, however I will be checking with someone about taking her and also should this person agree, I'll be letting her start Maria as just waking up. I'm sorry to see Madroswellfan go, but I can understand that it's confusing when one hasn't been doing this for long.

Also, I am working on some posts at the moment, however it may be later before I post them, as I am beginning to tire and just got out of work not too long ago.

~Moon~


I can't seem to stop myself and yet as I lower the knife it feels as though I'm not really me. It's as though I'm watching from outside of myself and I can't believe I've sunk to such a desperate measure yet again. I've tried once before to end it. Of course, I'd foolishly thought that the chains my captors had on me had been heavy enough to weight me down in the river before they'd be able to get to me. I'd been wrong. I'd just started to give into the blessed darkness when hands had pulled me up to the surface and though I don't remember it, I know someone had used CPR on me.

After that, they'd kept a better eye on me, not wanting to lose their toy. Now though, there was no one to care, no one.. A bright flash of light ignites and I instantly feel my sight burn away, dropping the knife and bringing my hands up trying to block the light from my eyes. It stings, the brightness had flashed so strongly that I can't help but wonder if I'm blind now.

Next thing I know, arms wrap around me, pulling me and then pinning my arms down to my sides and I can't help but start struggling even as I feel the burning dim and slowly, after blinking repeatedly, I am able to focus and see that it's the stranger. This only causes me to struggle even more as he speaks, "What the Hell did you think you were doing?"

"Let go! Let go of me! Don't touch me!" I feel the panic rise up within me. I don't even know whether it's worth answering him as much as I want him to let me go. "Get your hands off me, leave me alone!" I try thrashing about, anything to loosen his hold. I can feel my eyes water even as I look at him, afraid that I'd been too slow and now I was going to be a victim again.

"I should have been faster, then you couldn't do anything to me.." I muttered, waiting for what was to come, realizing that as much as I struggled to get away, he was stronger then I am. I drew in deep breath's, trying not to give way to a panic attack as I waited for the blow to come or the dreaded touching that I had endured for so long, it seemed like ages since I had felt safe. Now, nothing and nowhere was safe. I'd learned the hard way. Once Pony Joe had .. been killed.. my safety was no longer valid. He'd kept me safe.

*Zeus*

I stare at the girl but I don't let up my grip on her. Not after the way she had that knife on her wrist and her odd ramblings now. I don't know why she was trying to kill herself, but I certain am not going to stand here and watch her do it. She doesn't seem old enough for PAS, but maybe it's starting early, like with Hart, and she doesn't want to go through it. Maybe it's just a bad love affair. Whatever the trouble, I know there's always time for a second chance.

"I don't want to do anything to you," I tell her, feeling irritable. "I don't want you to do anything to you, either." I can feel her cringing in my arms, waiting for something horrible. She turns her face away, bracing herself.

"No. Listen to me," I say. "I'm going to let you go in a minute but you have to make me a promise. I promise I'm not going to hurt you and you have to promise not to try to hurt yourself."

She turns back to me, her eyes damp with unshed tears, but she's still angry, too.

"I don't know what's happened that's so bad, but surely you can try again? For a little while anyway? How about a week. You can put up with anything for a week. You promise not to try to kill yourself for the next seven days and then you can re-evaluate. If you still want to do it, you can go ahead, as long as you tell me before you do anything. Do we have a deal?" I ask her.

*Max*

I let out a sharp exhale that's almost a snort as Liz asks me about the last thing I remember. "My life was falling apart. That's what I remember," I say, more than a little bitterness creeping into my voice. I can't help but glare at her and Isabel but then I recover myself. I stop and run a hand through my hair before apologizing. "I'm sorry. You two aren't the ones who -- Never mind."

I'm dying to ask more about where they came from and find out about how their world is different than mine. It's clear we're from alternate realities of some sort. Hopefully, we can get to those questions soon. "Okay. I was driving back from the airport after she left and I ... I stopped. There was woman at the side of the road with hair even longer than yours. I was going to help her, I think. She touched me and the next thing I remember is waking up downstairs."

I look at Liz and Isabel again, narrowing my eyes. "I take it something similiar happened to the two of you?"

~Liz~

I can’t say that I was actually asking Max, but at the same time I guess it makes as much sense for him to say as anything… I don’t appreciate his tone though, it’s almost accusing, and I know that I certainly haven’t done anything to ‘ruin his life’ as he puts it… We’ve all had it hard enough, but obviously in a different way to him and I make a note to ask more later.

For now though, as he speaks of a woman, and asks if we remember similar, I shake my head. “I don’t remember much… I remember being in the apartment with Michael, I was struggling with an essay for school, and then I was above the Crashdown…” I trail off and shake my head, giving slightly more to Isabel. *I was in my old room…that’s why I didn’t answer at first sorry…*

I swallow, trying to make sense of it all… “So we’re from two different realities…and this Medina brought us here…” I murmur as I go over it in my head. ‘The Service of Medina…’ That phrase sticks in my mind, and I can’t say I like it one bit.

“I’m guessing that Michael didn’t come with us anyway…” I deduce from the continued emptiness in my head. I’m speaking out loud now, feeling that we might as well share our thoughts, but of course that’s more for Isabel than ‘him’… My words are designed to stop her worrying, as I know that she is, and show that he probably hasn’t been hurt…yet anyway…

*We have to find our way back* I’m sure the conviction in my mental voice is strong, and at these thoughts I look over at Max. Once more I remind myself that this isn’t ‘my’ Max, and begin to look around, trying to think calmly, and rationally. “We should probably try to find out a little more about where we are… Places appear the same I know, but who knows what little quirks might have been introduced…”

~Moon~

"I don't want to do anything to you," The guy begins by saying, his tone sounding irritated, "I don't want you to do anything to you, either." I can't stop from cringing and turning away, I shut my eyes, waiting for the attack to begin.

"No. Listen to me," The guy says, and I look back at him. "I'm going to let you go in a minute but you have to make me a promise. I promise I'm not going to hurt you and you have to promise not to try to hurt yourself."

"I don't know what's happened that's so bad, but surely you can try again? For a little while anyway? How about a week. You can put up with anything for a week. You promise not to try to kill yourself for the next seven days and then you can re-evaluate. If you still want to do it, you can go ahead, as long as you tell me before you do anything. Do we have a deal?" He asks, and I can't believe what I'm hearing.

He's wanting me to promise not to hurt myself for seven days, but then if I want to after he won't stop me? What kind of person is he? Seven days... I guess it wouldn't be hard... but... should I trust him? I blink rapidly, trying to get my eyes to stop watering so I can look into his eyes.

Once I could focus adequately, I noted that his eyes were a deep brown with a light hint of green in some sections. There didn't seem to be any malice in his gaze, nor did I get the sense that he was lying, but I was still wary. Taking a few deep breath's, I nod.

"I promise not to harm myself so long as no one touches or harms me." I reply, meaning what I say, despite the fact that I couldn't help but worry that someone would be wanting to touch me very soon. "Let me go." I add, my tone sounded stronger then I felt. I don't plan to sleep much in the next seven days, nor do I plan to turn my back.

While I wait for him to take me at my word and release me or not keep his own word, I can't keep from asking, "Why do you care what I do?"