concoursec | (no subject)

Character(s): Sollux Captor and some White SeeD.

Location: Woods just outside of Timber.

Rating: PG for possible swearing, but not much else.

Open/Closed/Finished: Closed.

Summary: Sollux gets picked up after a post-dimensional travel panic attack.

He'd run as soon as he'd realized where he was - which was anywhere but his respiteblock on Karkat's ship. He'd gone to sleep with Karkat at his side, but upon waking he'd found himself in a foreign city, surrounded by a species of alien he'd never heard of let alone seen in person. It didn't make any sense. Where had the rest of the crew gone? Where was Aradia? Why had he been left alone here?

He didn't take the locals trying to approach him very well. His first instinct was to attack, and despite not being sure that was the right decision, god, it would have been the easy thing. Thankfully, it was hard to corner someone that could fly, and before any of them had gotten close enough that he felt compelled to hurt them he'd escaped into the air and headed straight for city limits. The further away he could get from the natives, the better. He needed some space to think, to clear his head.

That was more difficult than he'd have liked, most days.

He'd found some woodland not far from the city, and that was where he finally landed. Even the flora looked different, and the vertigo of his displacement had thoroughly shaken him. There was so much noise in his head, so many conflicting, screaming demands that he could hardly move, let alone think. He stumbled into one of the trees and stayed there, sinking down to the ground and trying desperately to get his head together. Where were the others? What had happened to him? Had any of what he'd just experienced been real in the first place?

His method of psionic flight wasn't very subtle. The aliens had probably seen which direction he'd gone, which probably meant he'd be pursued. Most other species didn't like trolls, and with good reason. He knew he needed to think about how to defend himself, how to find the others, how to get out of this situation. But he couldn't. He couldn't even bring himself to get up.

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Well if there was one thing that could get him moving again, it was that.

Sollux jumped to his feet, falling into defense stance, his whole body beginning to glow a faint purple. Neither his rational mind nor his programmed instinct were willing to believe in such benevolence coming from some random xeno.

"Stay...stay back." He was trying to look intimidating, but his hands were shaking. He braced one of his arms against the tree. "I don't believe you." He cast a nervous glance at his surroundings again. "What are you? Where is this?"

Having done this countless times before, the White SeeD knew better than to aggravate the off-worlder. Stopping as soon as the warning was issued, the White SeeD straightened his posture and clasped his hands in front of him, a clear sign that he was currently unarmed.

"We are the White SeeD. You have been transported to our world through Time Compression by the work of a Sorceress, but a reversal of the effect has not been discovered yet. You are not the first to go through this transition, but it is not safe for you to roam the world on your own. If you will let us, we can take you some place safe-- a place where you will be given room and board."

The way the alien was conducting himself struck Sollux as military, but no military he was familiar with. Most of what he'd come to expect from his fellow soldiers would have involved then trying to shove a gun in his face, or to otherwise knock him unconscious. It made him suspicious because it was strange, but at the same time, he didn't have any other explanations of options thus far. Even though the current explanation didn't make any sense at all.

"Like...like what? Teleportation?" He shrunk back a little, feeling increasingly concerned that he was being tricked. Thankfully, nothing about what this guy was doing was making him want to actually attack, either. "Where...where are the people I was with before?"

"We are unsure." The White SeeD spoke confidently, but there was a touch of coaxing in his tone so as not to seem intimidating. "Sometimes an individual travels through the Time Compression on their own, sometimes a companion is also caught in the warp. If your friends happen to have been brought to this world as well, they will also be brought to Garden by our organization. But yes... Time Compression is essentially teleportation, though it can span across worlds, dimensions and times."

The mentions of 'dimensions and time' is what got his head really spinning, and he was momentarily distracted by a rush of disbelief and, secondarily, regret. If he was stuck here, if the others never came through...he was alone again.

And there was no real point in fighting.

It wasn't that he trusted these people. In fact, his ingrained instincts had him expecting that as soon as he was taken in he was going to be treated just as badly as he expected to be. But there was no hope of finding the others anywhere else, and without them he didn't have it in him to do anything else.

He deflated with resignation, and began moving unsteadily towards them.

"What are you going to do with me once we're there?" he asked quietly.

"It is a school-- a military academy, to be exact. You will be provided room and board and will enroll into the classes Balamb Garden provides and train as a cadet to become part of SeeD, an elite mercenary force. Others like you have enrolled into the school as well."

Well that sounded familiar, and it caused Sollux to become instantly more apphrensive, freezing in his spot. 'Training' was not something he ever wanted to do again. He sunk back against the tree.

"Do I have a choice?" Important detail, that.

"You do have a choice." It was true; there was no way that the SeeDs could stop him from taking the other option. "Though, we must insist that enrolling into the school is the safest option. The SeeDs there can protect you. The natives here are not kind to those they are unfamiliar with."

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Apologies for the delay!