[party post] come sail away with me

[varymydays]

You've come through a door, and you are on a boat. Specifically, you're on a cruise ship in the middle of some giant body of water. You've come through the door behind you which is attached to nothing and may now be locked. It's relatively empty as giant as it appears to be. The only other passengers that are here appear to also have come through the door for the most part and it is not nearly enough to fill up this entire cruise ship.

Also, who knows who the hell is driving this thing since all of the employees appear to be either ghosts or holograms...

Is this your first time here or your hundredth time here? Do you want a drink or a dip in the pool? Is it day or night? Do you stumble on your room or some other situation either fun or painful within its many rooms, shops, and facilities? Do you run into someone you know or a complete stranger?

The possibilities are unlimited!

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[crashdown]

She doesn't get up, but she does twist around enough to get a good view of the owner of that voice. Tall, dark hair— She's reminded of Max and scolds herself immediately. Why is it that her gut reaction to fear and uncertainty is still Max Evans? There was so much about him that she (that he) didn't know, yet there was something about him that was comforting, reassuring. Like being near him made everything okay, made her feel like things were going to turn out right no matter what.

It's the situation, the uncertainty. Or so she tells herself. It's making her long for days when there was something to look forward to at the end of the tunnel of a bad, impossible situation. Like stepping foot on an off-limits military base or dodging the FBI. There was always pay off, always a reason for the danger and the unexplainable.

There is no reason here. No reason she can see, anyway. Her mind retreats to Max in a futile attempt to feel safe inside this bubble of uncertainty. But Max isn't here and can't be here. It's becoming more and more apparent that this is a sticky situation she's stuck in all by her lonesome. And it has little to do with aliens.

"Most of the time indicates that some people don't. That's not very reassuring."

[aleksandar]

"I'm not good at being reassuring," Alek says. He would sound more apologetic about that if he hadn't long ago accepted he wasn't built a certain way. (And he was literally built, all but made with his father's hands to be molded into a weapon. It's terrible and he tells himself he doesn't care.) He tends to stick to himself, for the most part, and although there is a whole world that was left behind in his wake, there weren't many people left to miss. Jeremy, Tyler, Caroline. Okay, so maybe there are more people than he would like to admit. For all of his attempts at asserting himself as someone that doesn't need anyone, he ends up attaching himself to people regardless.

It's part of the pack mentality he and his brothers have, runs as deep as the blood that has made him. "And the truth isn't always reassuring, either," he adds. Alek isn't someone that's going to give a pretty lie over an uncomfortable truth.

Sometimes that's all you have.

(Do you want the truth or something beautiful?)

[crashdown]

There's been dozens of times over the past year where being lied to would've been easier, where saying lie to me would've kept her safe and happy, free of the sort of burdens no high school sophomore should ever be expected to bear. Lying was easy, but it was also cowardly. Telling the truth took guts, and even though there was a part of her that regretting learning the truth about the trio of aliens at her high school, what Max did had taken an outstanding amount of bravery. He put his life in danger for her, told her a truth that she could've easily taken to Valenti before Kyle's dad joined their side — Max's side. A side she was no longer on because she'd declared herself neutral. Switzerland.

It hurt to think about what he'd done for her, because it no longer mattered as long as Tess was in the picture and shouldn't matter, because she was getting back to being normal.

Liz rises to her feet, still clutching her large, obviously dated cell phone in her hands. "I don't think either would be very reassuring right now. It just isn't a reassuring situation, you know? Portals you can't see — or at least, what I assume was a portal. Otherwise, it's a phasing thing, and I don't— It's just not something you can easily tell someone to calm down from. You're not where you're supposed to be and that's going to suck regardless of whether most go home or not, y'know?"

[aleksandar]

Alek has often felt the same, except then he was lied to about something life-altering. His brothers lied to him about their own family history and it led to it all blowing up in their faces.

There's a slight smile in response. It's not at Liz's expense. More so, it's at the irony of her statement. Most do end up going home. Alek will not be one of those people. There is nothing to go back home to. The end of the world made sure of that. The city he loved and once called home was burned to ashes until nothign was left of it. "I'm won't ask you to calm down," he says, though not unkindly. "I find that patronizing, and I actually think letting yourself go every now and then can be pretty cathartic."

He may have done this when he first showed up, once he found a room that had a sandbag with his name on it. It may be why he is so calm at the moment. Alek isn't known for many things but his rage issues are sometimes one of them. He's not the best of influences, Liz. The narration apologizes for it.

"And back where I'm from, they were called Rifts, not portals, but I think they end up being the same thing. Wormholes that take you away from where you're from. Whether it's science or magic or both, I wouldn't be able to tell you."

[crashdown]

"Wormholes."

Once, she saw something she thought looked like the traditional (likely ill-informed) idea of what a wormhole was supposed to be. Or, at least, what the brightest human scientific minds thought was a wormhole. It probably wasn't anything close to it and Nasedo and whatever knowledge Max and the others still possessed from their previous lives could likely prove them wrong, but she'd seen... something. A flash from Max, a quick burst of images that lasted only a few seconds but were so incredibly breathtaking. Swirls of color and light, unlike anything she'd ever seen.

"That's one theory. Did you ever go through any of these Rifts? Frequently? Back and forth?"

[aleksandar]

A small chuckle is pulled from his mouth.

The question is so painfully accurate that he thinks this is what irony feels like. If there's a small ache in his chest at the reminder, Alek promptly ignores it. "A lot of times, actually. My world was filled with them." Was. It is strange to speak of it in past tense, something that once existed and no longer does, but he's learning. If this is the worst that it gets, then he has no room to complain. There are many worlds, some of which are far more unforgiving.

"It's like ... this swirling vortex," he says thoughtfully, canting his head to the side while he studies her. "Light that's almost blinding. You blink and then you're somewhere else."

[crashdown]

"Mine doesn't have anything like that."

Or maybe it did. It probably did, somewhere out there, if the flashes she got from Max could be trusted at all. There was so much that she knew for a fact that mankind was just beginning to understand. This was probably one of those things.

[aleksandar]

Alek's smirk is mirthless.

"You're not missing out on much," is what he ends up saying, a hint of bitterness he couldn't hide even if he tried. It's true that it opened up the world for him in many ways. Many worlds. They are also the reason his home was effectively destroyed, and he can never return to it. He's not sure the trade off is fair.

[crashdown]

"I'd think I'm missing out on a lot — just that, those things aren't exactly things I'm meant to know. Something that mankind isn't ready for."

Like knowing that there's really someone else out there, far beyond the stars. Or that aliens really did land in Roswell back in the 1940s. People weren't progressive enough. The backlash would be too great. Max would get hurt — again — and Liz wouldn't allow that to happen a second time, even if she vowed to stay away.