(no subject)

[notfaking_it]

The gala had been a bit of a bore.

Lily was used to it, mingling with investors, the people who essentially paid for her to be a dancer, and she was usually good at it. Even tonight, she doubted anyone noticed that she was bored, but it had gone on long and all the champagne in the world couldn't make it end any quicker. She passed by Nina several times, pausing long enough to talk to her, to laugh about something that had been said, but she knew it was encouraged for them to be as social as possible and so she moved on after a few minutes.

It was something she was good at, even at her worst, and Lily smiled and laughed as she knew she was supposed to.

Between conversations, she set down her champagne flute and slipped toward the bathroom, her purse in hand. Raising her hand as she passed Nina, she grinned, then slipped through the bathroom door, glancing down into her purse for her compact as she crossed toward the mirror. Her heels clicked against the tile floor and when she glanced up, at first it seemed that nothing was wrong.

But the bathroom was gone.

Beyond the mirror she had glanced into stretched a long, golden hall and Lily shifted, moving away from the mirror to stare at what had appeared. She blinked, then turned back toward the bathroom door only to find it gone, replaced with a beautiful hall, the walls adorned with art she'd never seen before, rich looking and lush.

"What the hell?" she murmured.

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[fatherslove]

He was doing the dishes. Then he wasn't anymore.

He didn't have to - of course they had a dishwasher - but there was something about the process that felt almost meditative. The running water, the warmth, looking out the kitchen window at the city at night, the sounds of Eleanor watching television or listening to music in the next room.

He blinked and all of that was gone.

There was still water, and it came from a massive and ornate fountain in front of him. The thing was marble and gilt and carved with graceful, draped figures. A woman with a bow and arrows. Another woman with a sheaf of wheat.

A man with lightning in his hands.

He stared up at it, briefly oblivious to the people who wandered around the huge domed hall that contained the fountain, sitting on benches, talking and laughing. Hardly anyone looking at him.

There were columns, more gilt, richly painted murals on the walls. It was beautiful. But he didn't want to be somewhere new. Not now. Brow furrowed, he looked around, beginning to be quietly desperate to catch sight of someone, anyone, who was familiar.

[notfaking_it]

She wasn't worried, not yet, but Lily wasn't exactly excited by the prospect of being taken from Darrow, especially at a time like this, when things had been going so well. Walking through the long, beautifully decorated halls, she'd glanced in a few rooms, trying to gather information, but most of the people who were around seemed to be involved in other things. They would acknowledge her, smile or even raise their hands in greeting, but no one seemed inclined to stop and explain.

Which meant people probably didn't arrive here at random.

She stumbled upon the fountain and Delta by accident. He looked out of place -- probably just as she did -- but even as she walked toward him, she was cautious. He might not remember her. He might not be Delta at all.

[fatherslove]

He turned and saw her just as she came toward him, and froze. It was her. It had to be.

And if she was here, perhaps Eleanor was as well.

"Lily?" He started forward, barely avoiding stumbling over a little girl as she ran across his path clutching a golden ball. "Lily, where are we?"

[notfaking_it]

The relief she felt when he said her name was palpable and Lily's shoulders relaxed even as she watched the little girl run off. There were children here, all sorts of people, entirely different from those she'd met in Darrow and she had no idea what to make of any of it.

But at least she wasn't alone.

"I don't know," she said, going to him, reaching for his hand. "I was at a gala, I went to the bathroom and then..." She trailed off, at a loss. "Have you seen anyone else you recognize? They're all strangers to me."

[fatherslove]

"I've been looking for Eleanor." He was unable to keep the panic out of his voice, though it was easing a little, seeing Lily. The world all around them was still alien to the verge of hostility, despite its beauty.

It was, perhaps, just a little too much like Rapture before the fall.

"I can't find her. Lily, if she's... I've been without her before. I don't- I don't know if I can do that again."

[notfaking_it]

"Hey," she said, voice firm as she squeezed his hand and tried to get him to look at her. "We'll find her." She didn't want to add anything to that, didn't want to qualify it with questions about whether or not Eleanor was even here. The two of them were here and she could make him believe that Eleanor would be here somewhere, too.

It wasn't a promise she could keep, but she'd made it to him anyway.

And it gave her something to do. Lily could always adjust, would probably fit into any situation she was thrown into, but she needed a way to go about doing that and thinking about what was left behind was never helpful.

[behindmothersback]

I was late for work. Not very late, but late enough that I was rushing more than I should have been, Father. Had I not been in such a hurry, I might have seen what was beyond the shop door before I stepped through it. The strange hall I find myself in is like nothing I've seen before, golden and beautiful.

But it is not Darrow and it is not Rapture and that puts me ill at ease. I'm not ready to go to another place, Father, I'm not ready to be torn away from a life that I still feel I'm just beginning to live. Where are you?

"Father! Hello! Is anyone here?!" Father where are you?

...Mother?

[notfaking_it]

Lily didn't expect to hear a familiar voice, but she turned at the sound of a young woman calling for her father. It could have been anyone, she tried to tell herself, but it sounded like Eleanor and she walked in that direction, her heels loud in the tall, empty room she'd entered.

"Eleanor?" she asked, poking her head into the hall, lifting the hem of her dress with one hand so she wouldn't trip on it as she walked, hurrying toward the younger woman. The few other people she'd seen didn't seem inclined to explain anything to her and a familiar face was extremely welcome.

[behindmothersback]

"Lily?" It isn't you, Father, that I finally find in this place of strangers, but rather your... girlfriend. I'm disappointed, and frightened that somehow, some way, after everything we're finally being parted. I can only stand and watch her as she comes towards me, ignoring the few people that are about. Unless they try to harm me, I really don't care who they are or what they're doing.

"Have you seen Father?"

[notfaking_it]

"No," Lily answered, lifting one hand to brush some hair off her face as she glanced around the hall again, looking for any other familiar faces. She'd been looking for Nina, having seen her only moments before, but all the people who passed were strangers.

"If we're here, I'm sure he's somewhere around," she said, not knowing if it was true. She wanted it to be, knowing how important Delta and Eleanor were to each other. "Do you recognize any of this?"

[behindmothersback]

"No, I don't. I've never seen anything like this. It's... lovely, but I don't know it at all." You have to be here, Father, I can't move on like this, without you. But I keep looking around and I don't see you anywhere. Just this big place and all these strange people.

And her.

"I don't think we should stay here, it could be dangerous."

[fatherslove]

As he turned the corner he saw her and broke into a run, not caring if it called more attention to him than it should have. All at once panic melted away into relief so deep it almost crippled him. Whatever this place was, whatever had happened, if it was her, he could stand anything that might come.

"Eleanor!"

[behindmothersback]

I feel like a little girl again, frightened by the intrusion of a Splicer into my happy, addled world. And hearing your voice again has the same your monstrous roars did then, soothing my fears and calming my panic. Thought I think you can feel me tremble when I wrap my arms around you, knowing that together, we can do anything we must to survive.

"Daddy, I was so worried, I opened the door and there was this place..?"

[fatherslove]

"I know. All of a sudden." He held onto her and felt anchored, even though he was freshly reminded of how much smaller than him she still was. All that time, who had really been holding on to who?

Did it matter?

"Are you all right? Are you hurt at all?"

[behindmothersback]

"I'm not hurt, I was just... frightened." My voice got softer as I admitted that. I can wander anywhere in Darrow now, feeling safe and secure, but place me somewhere I do not know and leave me alone and I fall apart without you. I don't know what it says about me.

"Where are we? This isn't Rapture and it isn't Darrow, so where are we?"

[itwas_perfect]

Nina, unfortunately, wasn't quite as much of a natural at parties as Lily was.

She smiled and chatted and even laughed, and there were moments where it even felt good to be the focus of attention for so many strange eyes, but even after a year of working to feel more comfortable in her own skin, she spent much of the evening feeling lost.

Watching Lily disappear through the bathroom door, Nina finished off her champagne and then slipped through the crowd after her, but she was stopped along the way by a donor to the company, a middle-aged man with eyes that lingered a little too long on places other than her face.

When she finally escaped, she pushed through the bathroom door, Lily's name already on her lips, but it echoed down a long, unfamiliar hallway, and when she turned, she found more of the same: ornate columns, gilded in gold, a wide open atrium and imposing marble statues.

"Hello?" she called, her voice wavering, her small, beaded clutch falling to the marble floor with a clatter.

[notfaking_it]

Lily had already spent several long minutes exploring what she could, though she hadn't yet stopped anyone to speak with them. They looked friendly enough, dressed like she'd never seen before, talking amongst themselves as they moved through the halls, but they weren't familiar.

She wasn't prone to panic, but the thought of being taken away from Darrow now weighed on her heavily, so instead of thinking about it, she was studying a statue when she heard Nina. Turning, Lily stepped away from the statue, her heels clicking loudly on the floor as she walked, trying to follow the echo of Nina's voice.

"Nina?" she called, tucking her purse under her arm. "Where are you?"

[itwas_perfect]

Breath caught in her throat, Nina hurried toward the sound of Lily's voice, her own heels clicking along the floor as she turned a corner, the air leaving her lungs in a relieved whoosh.

"Lily, what's going on?"

[notfaking_it]

"I don't know," Lily said, though she was relieved to see a familiar face and she headed toward Nina. Several people had passed her by since she'd come down the hall, but she hadn't bothered to speak to anyone yet.

"I was going into the bathroom," she said. "And then I was here."

[itwas_perfect]

"Me too. I stepped through a door, and..." she trailed off, fighting off the urge to reach out and take Lily's hand, just to prove to herself that she was real.

"You don't think we've left the city for good, do you?" she asked, because she couldn't ignore the similarities between this and that first day in Darrow, when she'd exchanged one street for another, in the blink of an eye.

[notfaking_it]

Even with their group larger than before, even though she felt a little safer as a group of four instead of just a pair, Lily didn't particularly like Atlantis and it wasn't anything she could quite put her finger on. There was nothing wrong with it on the surface. It was rich and decadent, over the top in some ways, though that actually might have been a little endearing had she still not felt some strange undercurrent of discomfort.

"Everyone's headed to the same place," she said, watching the flow of people move through the halls. The people she'd spoken with had mentioned a party of some kind, a gathering, and that seemed to be where everyone was going now.

[itwas_perfect]

"Should we..." she trailed off, watching a group of young women hurry down the hall, talking in hushed whispers and giggling between them. At a glance, the only things that set them apart from the girls she knew from her ballet company were their clothes, and the servants trailing hastily behind them.

"I guess we might as well see," she said, uncertainty tugging at the corners of her lips. It was just a party, it couldn't hurt to go and see, but something about the city didn't feel right. Since they'd gotten there, she'd hardly been able to move away from Lily's side, keeping her within an arm's reach, afraid that...

No, not afraid. She was sure that something awful was going to happen. Why else would they have ended up in this place?

[behindmothersback]

I don't particularly agree with this plan. There's something about these people that worries me and I can't quite put my finger on it. But you're here now and if you want to go, I won't second-guess you. Perhaps it is just my nervousness about being in crowds, I was never really allowed in Rapture and I try to avoid them in Darrow as much as possible.

"Perhaps we can learn something there? More about this place?" although I wonder if the time might be better spent searching other spaces while there was no one around. "What do you think, Father?"

[fatherslove]

He wasn't sure what he thought. Instincts that he had learned to rely on were pulling in multiple directions, whispering warnings at the same time as they made suggestions. There was definitely something about this place that didn't feel right, and it hadn't just been how the woman had spoken to them.

And maybe he had learned to mistrust beauty like this, after Rapture.

"I think we should go," he said slowly. "But I think we should be cautious."

For the first time in a long time, part of him wished for his old weapons.

[notfaking_it]

"I'll avoid letting any of them buy me drinks," she said dryly, trying to smile a little though she didn't entirely feel like it. There was something off-putting about the entire situation, which was strange for Lily. She could usually fit in anywhere, find a place for herself, bend the people around her to make it easier to fit, but that wasn't happening here.

Or maybe she didn't want it to happen.

"Drinks?" a man asked, as he passed them by. "There will be plenty of drinks, you'll be happy to know."