(Untitled)

[antar_npcs]

And gradually, things begin to converge....

[Note for the reader: There are several subthreads to this thread, which mostly take place sequentially. Events that happen simultaneously are indicated wherever possible by internal links.]

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[rethinkthat]

Meroin hates this dress. It's stuffy and uncomfortable and she almost envies Meg's being a ghost just as no one seems to notice her -- but Meroin can hide herself, if she wants to.

Which is why she's trying to keep an illusion around herself of appearing older and wiser and not a third-in-command of much of anything, nor Rath's cousin. Right now, Meg is the only person who's really seeing her.

"So bloody dark down here," she murmurs, because it is.

Dark, and dusty, but it's the shortcut.

[balletrat]

*Meg concentrates, for a second, and solidifies up from a faint outline in the air to a hazy mirage - it's as much as she can do, by this point.*

Well, no one kidnaps people just to take them to a nice sunny park, *she mutters back.*

[rethinkthat]

"The unfortunate truth. And I am not sure if I ever want to know what they planned to really do to you."

Meroin sneezes, then curses.

"No one heard that except us," she insists, and with that, it must be true, as she's on course.

"Considering the circumstances are you feeling all right? Or, um, anything?"

The ghostliness could be a post-mortem health risk; Meroin has no way of knowing.

[balletrat]

*Meg grins, a very little, keeping pace easily with the other girl.

She's even at head-height to her; nevermind that her feet don't quite touch the ground.*

It's - er. Well, it's weird. But I'll live - well, I mean, in a manner of speaking - can we go faster?

[rethinkthat]

"Probably."

She reaches out in front of her physically, and to other sides mentally, catching bearings.

"We're not being followed, at any rate. Possibly it's the nonsense tongue or the fact that no one can really see or recognize either of us --"

With that, Meroin quickens her pace slightly.

[balletrat]

- I forgot it would be a nonsense language to them, *Meg says, a little sheepishly, her voice rising back to normal level.*

And not being followed I am all in favor of - benefit of being like this, too, is that if anyone does see me they'll just think they're crazy -

[rethinkthat]

"I certainly don't see anything," Meroin replies, smiling sweetly and looking directly into Meg's eyes, faded or not. "Because this planet doesn't have an afterlife, so I'm not looking at or speaking to anyone, that is crazy talk."

The hallway curves again, and she nearly steps on a sleeping young man. Frowning, Meroin mutters in a voice certainly not her own, "Nirot, get up and go home, this isn't funny."

Nirot doesn't do anything.

"He's safe," she concludes. "Dead to the world, so tired. Just step -- float -- either -- over him."

[balletrat]

*Meg, in fact, steps through him.

It provides her a certain personal satisfaction to at least see her foot connecting with one of the kidnappers, even if he can't feel it.*

Eh bien - this is beginning to look a little familiar, I think -

[rethinkthat]

"Or," Meroin actually giggles, "you can do that."

There's a moment of silence as she turns quickly around, checking where Nirot is sleeping -- the boy still hasn't moved, and she moves on forward.

"Good -- it should only be a couple of doors away. The sign says something like what would translate to 'To Be Shipped,' not that it's meant to store things for shipping any longer ... does your lord sleep often, or is he expecting us?"

[balletrat]

*Any other time, Meg would take the time to contest the 'my lord'.*

- no, he's a light sleeper, *she says, instead, in the interests of brevity.* And he won't be sleeping now in any case -

- that's it.

*Her barely visible form surges ahead, suddenly.*

I recognie -

[rethinkthat]

Meroin stops walking, standing just a bit of a distance away, and smiles.

"Any way you can talk without opening the door would do nicely. We'll have to incapacitate whoever's still in there somehow."

[balletrat]

I can fade through, *Meg calls over her shoulder - though Meroin likely can't tell; Meg isn't expending much energy for visibility, at this point.*

And I can probably do it slowly enough that whoever's in there won't notice, don't worry -

[rethinkthat]

A glance over her shoulder to the sleeping Nirot, then back to Meg.

"Be careful. A lot of them are quick, some of them are powerful telepaths."

Key word, of course, is some.

"I'd best check on the boy."

[balletrat]

*A small quick grin.*

And very few of them, I bet, believe in ghosts.

It'll be all right.

[rethinkthat]

"My bet," Meroin winks, "is that none do, and I can't say I did myself until I figured out you were the same Meg I met so long ago."

Long ago for Antar, at any rate.

"Good luck."

[antar_npcs]

Meanwhile...