voyagers | open } {in the still of the night...

The ship may seem quieter lately than usual.

It is a quietness that is both eerie and noticeable even to those who may not be as perceptive as others. The stars are brighter or perhaps it is that the sky that they are blanketed across is somehow darker. The waves seem to kick up so loud against the sides of the ship that it can be heard from the top of the deck.

The holograms and ghosts have all but disappeared for the time being.

Maybe it feels like the calm before the storm.

It should.

On the deck of the ship, there is a man who has a very specific purpose for being here. He is clearly not a hologram or a ghost. He is quite obviously very real, but there is something noticeably different about him that would be picked up on immediately whether you find him at the bar having a drink or find him smoking out by the railing. He is in black and white while the world around him remains in color. Ever seen Pleasantville? It's exactly like that.

Clark is specifically looking for Elena Gilbert but is happy to talk to anyone who might approach him. Elena is the one started looking for answers about the ship to find a way to prevent someone she loves from returning to the world he is from. The looking set forward a chain of events. More people are looking for the answers now too wherever they can, trying to poke into pieces of the ship.

The universe took notice, and now he is here.

The answers are out there, and Clark has been given the task of showing them the way to get those answers. He doesn't know the answers himself. All in all, it feels like he knows very little, like he is as much as a part of the mess as all of the people on this ship (even more so perhaps). He only knows what he is supposed to do, what his role is to play, and Clark intends to play that role whatever it takes.

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Cora doesn't normally do well with reassuring smiles, at least not from people she doesn't know. He doesn't seem like he's doing it to patronize her, however, so she'll take that and try not to react too adversely to what he's asking.

"I was followed around by a minion from a movie," she replies pointedly. "I've also met a lot of doppelgangers." She means that in the could-be-their-twin kind of way, not the Elena Gilbert way, just for the record.

Clark tilts his head to the side as he looks at her, wondering if she is one of the travelers that he has heard about. There are several that he's gotten tidbits about in his head but not enough where he could recognize any of them straight away.

"That does sound very strange," he says after a moment, leaning against the bar slightly as he looks over at her. "The name's Clark, and I'm not a traveler like you, I'm afraid. Might account for the strangeness."

Not a traveler. That explains ... some of it. Not all of it. Actually, no that explains none of it. Because if he's not a traveler, and he's not a robot, then what is he doing on the ship?

"How are you here if you're not a traveler?"

"Can't say that I know that yet myself, I'm afraid," Clark admits with a low release of breath, taking the glass to his mouth and drinking from it. "All I know is I have the knowledge in my head that will show us the way to answers about this ship. Don't know the answers myself, don't know why I'm here or who I am beyond a name, beyond knowing I'm a guide."

Which isn't very much at all.

He has feelings, emotions. What is he exactly? He doesn't know, but he wants to. Needs to. Hate he wasn't given that much at least before he was thrust on to this ship in the middle of nowhere.

"Can't say that I'm all that happy about not knowing, but can't force the knowledge."

What else is there but to fulfill the destiny given to him?

Her head tips to the side as she studies him for a moment. He's almost like an omen. She'd say a death omen, but in this case it feels a little too ominous. He's something created to serve a purpose he doesn't understand - how can he serve it if he doesn't know what the answers are?

"If you don't know the answers, do you at least know the questions?"

It's a question he has been asking himself. The alternative is to stay on this ship like everyone else except there is no door for him. He would be here, stay here so it's all he can think to do to move things forward.

He nods with a tiny smile. She's smart to think of it in that way.

"Plenty of questions." There's a slight pause as he releases a breath. "Why are we here? What is this universe? How can we control the door? Some people never want to return to where they're from on the other side of that door, there may be a way to make that happen."

"And you're going to take people to find it?" There's a part of her that realizes that with a job like this, they may just be asking for trouble. There's a part of her that thinks that this could all be a very, very clever trap.

But then there's also a part of her that wants to know that very question about being able to control the door. Not for keeping someone here, however. More like bringing someone here in the first place. It's been mostly idle curiosity, nothing she's actually been thinking about pursuing (because she knows that people don't stay, that if she goes back through the door, regardless of whether or not she makes what she wants happen, she knows she won't get to keep it), but it's a curiosity all the same.

"I'm going to take people to find the navigational codes that are off this ship while two other teams do what needs doing here to set this cruise ship set on the right course to where those answers are," Clark answers as he looks over at her, noting the question and also noting her age, but again, he believes anyone that comes with, they're meant to be there.

He doesn't have all the answers. He can't see everything or know what might wait them, and it's not time for him to start claiming that he knows one way or another. There's only the slightest of pauses as he looks at her carefully, a hint of something charming ever present in his gaze even when he is very serious.

"...you interested?"

Her eyebrows raise slightly at the offer. She isn't sure if he's asking her for a reason or just because she's there, but she's surprised at the offer all he same. She wants to know what's going on, for better or for worse. Now is the time to figure it out.

"Yeah. I'm definitely interested."

Derek's probably going to kill her.

"Then you're guaranteed a spot. I might not know much, but I know I can't do this alone."

Clark knows he isn't meant to do it alone. He doesn't even think he's meant to find out answers for himself, but he can't help that he wants to know. He can't remember anything before this place.

Does he have a family? A life outside of this place?

"Maybe we won't like the answers that we get, but I think we deserve them, don't you?"

She nods a bit in agreement. "Yeah. I do." For better or worse, she wants to know what this boat has to offer. If it can change things for people she cares about, she wants to at least try. She takes a deep breath before turning to step away.

"Just let me know when we leave."

"Thought so," Clark says as he looks at her face, leaning against the railing and then he nods with a tiny but reassuring smile.

"You will know when."

That is a promise.

"Good."

And with that, she's not really sure what else to say, so she simply takes a breath and decides to walk away. She'll puzzle through the black and white man at a later date.

open } {in the still of the night...

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