shine_again | (no subject)

Dan spends his time in captivity finding out what it might have been like if the Overlook had been a medieval dungeon run by fucking goblins. He feels precisely as helpless as he had in the worst of it there, at the beginning, when he's aware of everything. They beat him, of course, because it's a goblin dungeon, and one of them is sneering about tenderized meat. His coat and flannel and t-shirt are taken, though he's left with his jeans and boots. Something about foot-rot, they say. Not very appetizing.

He tries to frighten them, spits more of that strange language at them, and it earns him a cell of his very own, it seems. Now, this has nothing on the Overlook, cramped and slightly wet and cold; he's held to the wall with an honest to god chain, and all he can see from the gaps in the bars is a passageway, and a door on the other side, and fire beyond that door.

Dan thinks he might honestly have been dragged to hell.

The shining is of no use; all he feels is the terror and despair and angry helplessness of others in other cells. And then the dark waves again, which drag him down for hours at a time, and leave him shaking and gagging against his bonds.

He can't think, he can't think for all of the noise of everyone else's thoughts. Oh, but he tries. He thinks of Abra's light shining so brightly, that even across worlds, it might give him something to see by, he thinks of his mother fighting with everything to keep them alive. He thinks of the moment when he'd thought he was safe, his arms around Marcus and Marcus holding him so tight, the warmth of his breath, the little flicker of light kindling in Dan's chest.

He tries to get it back.

He's just so cold, and it's so loud inside his head.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

As vague a description as it might be, hearing that, Kat thinks she gets it. Of course, there's a chance that it's the faltering electricity getting in the way of her contacting her friends, but with the time that's passed, she doesn't think so. And if that's the case, then it's not hard to see why those people would have been among those taken. Worrying at her lower lip, she pours the water into the mugs she's set out for tea. Carrying them over will take two trips, but she can come back for her own; it'll need time to cool anyway.

"So it's not random," she says slowly, carefully. "The people they're taking, it's for a reason." She's slow-going as she brings two cups back over to Marcus and Dan, not wanting to spill hot water on herself or overexert herself and lose her balance. "I'm worried about some friends."

"I don't think it's random," Dan agrees, "and it might explain why there was such-- such horror, thick like smoke in the air. If the goal is to smash light and purity, to consume it."

He has to snort.

"I'm not pure, but the shine was probably attractive."

He watches Kat as best he can. "I might be able to-- when my mind has had a chance to settle, it works best if I have something of theirs, but pictures could help. Names. There are a lot more ghosts out in the snow, they talk."

Marcus is quiet for a moment, letting Dan make his offer as he finishes cleaning the blood and dirt from the wounds on his neck. It looks better now and he reaches for some antibacterial cream from his first aid kit and applies it gently before covering it with sterile gauze. It's not as good as he'd get at a hospital, but it's far better than simply leaving it.

He has no idea what's out there in the snow besides the monsters that took Dan in the first place, but if there's something and it can help, he thinks Kat ought to take the offer.

"Who?" he asks, looking over at her. He hopes it isn't Blue. They shouldn't have left her at the flat and he suddenly feels as sure of that as he has anything else. They should have brought her with them in the first place.

It probably ought to sound strange. Somehow, though, Kat doesn't think to question it. She's seen impossible, supernatural shit, both good and bad, their current predicament alone only highlighting that. The shit going on outside is a far cry from normal, and they're in a house protected by magic. Everything has two sides, she guesses. That's something she's been trying to take to heart, rather than being made uneasy by everything along those lines by her mother's and sister's possessions. And where Dan is concerned, the fact that Marcus trusts him means she does, too. She doesn't think twice about it, just nods in quiet appreciation.

Briefly, she glances at Marcus, confirmation of what she wouldn't be surprised if he'd already guessed before she says it. "Blue," she answers. "Lois, I think. I haven't heard from Betty, either."

Of course whatever these beings are would want them. She doesn't say it, but just thinking it leaves a bitter taste in her mouth. "I have pictures," she tells Dan. "And I think I might have a shirt of Blue's. My roommate, she's... kind of like an amp for people who can do things. Maybe they like that about her."