Settling Down in the Void Sector

[Vereshin]

A Heart Less Darkened - Flowers for Bodysnatchers​

There were no days in the Void Sector, which was exactly why Vereshin liked it there. He could wake up whenever he liked and nobody could bug him about it, then stay up all night writing formula. At five in afternoon, he awoke and went about morning routine, or rather, what he would usually do after first waking up. A cigarette loosened the vice in his innards and made it bearable for him to stand, before he used the refresher and bathed. With a towel over his shoulders, he stood in front of the bathroom mirror and shaved, the cigarette resting on the edge of the sink. Every so often, he picked it up and inhaled, then carefully placed it back down to avoid putting it out with shaving cream.

Once he was finished, he combed his hair and slicked it back with gel, then walked into the bedroom and dressed in suit pants and a white shirt. Around his neck, he wore a thin, grey cravat made out of cotton, which he tucked into the black, knitted vest he wore on top. He left the bedroom and made for the fridge, which, much to his chagrin, was empty.

"Chit!" Vereshin cursed.

Withdrawing a sigh, he grabbed his notebook and pen, as well as the sample of matter he had collected from the black hole at the core of the sector and shoved everything into a black, leather satchel. At least he could work on his formula while he was having lunch, or breakfast, or whatever it was he was eating. Gripping the strap of his satchel, he walked out the front door and made sure it was locked, then walked down the corridor. He took the elevator the ground floor and made his way down the street, where speeders ran around a busy intersection. On the corner was the restaurant he had gone to every day since moving to the sector, still hanging off the side of the alleyway, it's door built into the floor.

Swiping a cigarette from behind his ear, Vereshin slid it between his teeth and snapped his fingers to light the end, all the while waiting on the corner of the intersection for the speeder cars to stop. The architecture around him was distorted, built on ridges which curved over his head like a ceiling, the houses and apartment complex all hanging upside down. Once the traffic cleared, he crossed the road and walked to the cafe, then opened the door and strode inside.. He walked up a staircase, their shape gradually distorted by the force of the black hole, along with the walls and the floor. There was not many people in the dining area up stairs, much to his relief.

"My usual table, please." Vereshin said to a waitress, who lead to him a table in the corner, with one chair waiting for him. She slid it out and let him sit down, then handed him a menu."Thank you." Vereshin said, avoiding her gaze.

The waitress walked away and slipped into the kitchen behind him. With a heavy sigh, Vereshin slammed the menu down, already knowing what he would order. He placed his satchel on the ground and opened it, to find the little glass orb filled with dark matter, along with his notebook and pen, which he set on the table. Muttering aloud to himself, he rotated the ball in his hand while tapping his pen against the derivative which had bothered him for weeks. He rested the orb against his fork and scored out a function, then enclosed another one in brackets above the variable he had assigned to the mass of the black hole.

The waitress returned, the diamonds on her face twinkling beneath the lights and stood above him with her notebook and pen. She seemed completely oblivious to the fact that he was concentrating and was not ready to order food. Creasing his brow, Vereshin continued to relate the function to the rate at which time proceeded around the mass and attempted to find a way to speed it up, rather then slow it down, for which he could derive a function which expressed such a result. He held his pen in the air, the dark matter swirling around in the little orb, vexing him with it's dense, slowing properties and putting a wrench in what he was working towards.

"Can't you see I'm busy?" He snapped at the waitress. When she did not move, Vereshin turned around to face the sign on the door, which informed him that he had little time to order before the restaurant closed.

[member="Eleutheria Overjerr"]

 

[Gaia Sunaris Cadera]

A girl had to do what a girl had to do. And that meant taking some weird, far off jobs in places she really thought she would never end up at. Like in the Void Sector, where she was recruited for a temporary assignment as a waitress. Desolate, away from most of society, and well… No wonder no one wanted to take the job. She wasn’t enjoyin’ the view very much herself, in truth. But anything was better than the slums of Fondor. One day though… If C was right, she would be going places.

Eventually, at least. But for now? She had to pay her bills and that meant taking weird odd jobs in terrifying sectors with awkward architecture due to the constant pressure of the impending black hole. She let most of her features stay normal – brown eyes, light pink hair. She had placed her crystals on her face. Makeup excellently done, as usual. A white top, with a white skirt adorned her fit but slim figure. It may be a trash place to work, but that didn’t mean she was going to look trashy. Hell naw.

When an interesting man came in and requested a usual table. Eleutheria simply obliged – even though she had no idea what his usual table was. Or who he was. And she was surprised he thought she knew. More surprised she actually got the right table. He just seemed like the kind of guy that would want that table, for some reason. She didn’t even have a second to welcome him to the diner. Oh well… She slipped a menu to him as he slipped and vanished.

Upon her return, she perked a brow interestingly as she watched the dark matter in the orb move about. His pen wiggling about in the air. She gave him a frown at his outburst. “Sir, you have 10 minutes to give me your order or the kitchen won’t cook it,” she stated with an amused but curious expression. Whatever he was doing was interesting – and that was the only thing that saved him from her returning the attitude.

[member="Vereshin"]

 

[Vereshin]

Mulling over his formula, Vereshin muttered to himself with his pen in the air and waved it around in front of the waitress, who stood firmly before the table with her notebook in hand. Pausing, he turned to face her, a look of flustered annoyance on his features. He held the pen above his notebook, a function scribbled out beneath it, his eyes struggling to leave the page. With a sigh, he clicked his pen and set it down, then rested his arms on the table with a thud, causing the cutlery to clank against the wood in the process. When he saw the people in the restaurant becoming fewer, he accepted that he would not be able to eat there if he continued to waste the time of the staff.

"Oh alright, I'll have the leek and potato soup with a side of bread." Vereshin groaned. He had not needed to look at the menu, as he had ordered the same thing every time he came to the restaurant, which only served the one kind of soup. "... and a pot of black tea." He said, stopping the waitress as she leaned down to take his order. "Tea leaves, no teabags under any circumstances, thank you." Vereshin ordered, his tone commanding. Leaving the menu aside, he avoided the waitress's gaze as she took his order and opened his notebook again, the ball of dark matter resting gently against his fork. With a nod, he bid her farewell and clicked his pen, then set about continuing his equation. The doors to the kitchen swung open as she left and Vereshin leaned down, putting all of his focus into his notes.

Around him, customers gradually began to finish their meals and leave, leaving him the only one in the restaurant, not that he could complain. He sighed with slight relief and set his pen to the page, integrating the area within the mass and relating it to the time lost around it, from which he derived it's position in the present. Tapping his pen against the page, he pondered on the idea of a white hole and finding some way to go inside one, then emerge at a later point in time, which as it presently stood, was impossible. Nothing could go inside a white hole, but then again, nothing was supposed to come out of a black hole, a law which Vereshin outright broke and waved in the faces of those who refused to believe otherwise. Resting his pen on top of his noteb0ok, he picked up the little glass ball and turned it around underneath the dull light.

Vereshin took one look at his notes, then at the matter inside the ball and considered it's density. The particles inside had slowed, but if he could use magic to reverse the effect, he could produce a body which expelled matter, rather than consumed it, and possibly craft such a body with an entrance through which he could go. Raising a hand, he coiled his fingers around the little ball and considered the equation, then shifted in his chair and looked over his shoulder to make sure nobody was watching.

"By the mass which holds true, disperse." Vereshin said, his fingers coiled above the orb. He kept his voice low to avoid attracting attention and watched as the black substance expanded, becoming thinner and allowing in more light. Space appeared between the particles, showing the areas where light was let in and relaxing the force which held them together. "Expel the light which it has kept prisoner and expand the arms which hold it down." He said, releasing the light which was trapped within and allowing matter to escape from it's hold. Within his hand, the ball began to shake, become light as the mass decreased in density. Vereshin shifted his eyes, the orb shaking within his grasp. When the glass ball could not longer contain the expanding particles, it shattered, spraying the walls and table with a small nova of glass and black energy.

"Chit!" Vereshin cursed beneath his breath, brushing shards of glass off himself in haste. The energy continued to rise, promptly being sucked into the ventilation shaft above.

Standing upright, Vereshin continued to brush glass off his clothes, having not noticed the matter being sucked into the vent. As he knocked the shards onto the floor, he experienced a sudden surge, as if an invisible force was pushing the entire restaurant forward. When he looked up, he saw the waitress walking towards him with his meal and exchanged an awkward glance with her, his hands still brushing shards off his coat. Mouth agape, he backed away as the waitress approached him and forced a smile, chuckling slightly. Smoothing back his hair, he knocked glass off the seat of his chair and sat back down, his hands folded as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Still smiling, Vereshin looked down to see his soup placed in front of him and laughed.

"My apologies, I uh, had an accident." He said, shifting his eyes across the length of his shoulders, which were both covered in glass. Ignoring the gaze of the waitress, he picked up his spoon and began to stir his soup. "That smells lovely." He said, trying to bring some ease to the sight before the woman. Just as he motioned to put the spoonful of soup in his mouth, his eyes fell upon the hands of the clock, which were moving forward.

[member="Eleutheria Overjerr"]

 

[Gaia Sunaris Cadera]

Eleutheria couldn't help but find the old man a little eccentric. Although, if there was one thing Ellie didn't have, it was time. And with the little restaurant closing soon, Eleutheria had other plans. Those plans weren't much, but it didn't involve working. That much she was sure of.

But she had to admit - he had good taste. Her favorite thing on the menu was the leek and potato soup. Just the right amount of flavor, soupiness, and general goodness. "Comin' right up." She said with a smile, although she paused as he mentioned a pot of black tea. But absolutely, no teabags. Eleutheria perked a brow but gave a nod with a kind smile. "Will do. Good choice, too." It was one of the few things she found she had even liked at the diner.

And with that, she was off in the back prepping his order along with his delicately catered black tea. It was mostly a time of relaxing for Ellie - and waiting. Most of the other customers had already paid and were simply chatting. The end of a long night came quietly. She danced between her feet, the heels she wore increasingly uncomfortable.

But finally, the soup was finished and the tea made to, hopefully, perfection. Eleutheria brought it out on a grand tray. But something strange happened. She felt pulled forward all of a sudden - as it everything was suddenly accelerating. A strange, worried expression creased across her brow. What in the Gods? She carefully placed his soup on the table in front of the man. She immediately noticed the 'accident,' which included the crunch of glass of under her heels. And the glass that was all over his shoulders. "It's no problem, are you okay?" She asked, more concerned for his well-being than an actual mess being made. Her eyes moved to the clock, which began to move forward. "What in the galaxy," she muttered quietly as her eyes widened.

She shook her head, attempting to shrug off what she had just felt and witnessed. She wouldn't be able to explain it anyway, right? And the man in front of her maybe didn't. And she couldn't afford to lose this gig, absolutely not. She took a cloth napkin and gently brushed the glass pieces into the floor from his shoulders. "Give me a moment, I'll be back with a broom." And without a seconds hesitation, she vanished for one of the most basic of technologies - a broom and pan. Returning only seconds later, she began to sweep up the mess. "What were you workin' on? Looked like an interesting... Device," she commented curiously, likewise assuming that device was now the glass that scattered the floor. Mine as well make small talk, right?

[member="Vereshin"]

 

[Vereshin]

Looking down at the shards 0f glass sprinkled across his front, Vereshin stood slowly as he brushed himself down, his eyes meeting with those of the waitress who arrived just in time to see the mess he had made. His cheeks tinted purple and he tried to laugh away the awkward nature of the situation, chuckling halfheartedly as the waitress as she placed down his soup. She brushed off the shards with a napkin and helped him to stand without cutting himself on the tiny shards, much to his protest. Still laughing, the sorcerer swept some of the shards off the table and slid over his soup, taking in the lovely smell of leek and potato, while the waitress reassured him that there was no problem and it had just been an accident, to which he was thankful.

"I'm just fine, thank you." Vereshin stammered, still blushing. He used his napkin to sweep up the shards on the table and collected them, then placed them on the floor for the waitress to sweep up.

Just as he stood upright, both the waitress and himself noticed the hands on the clock moving forward, which filled Vereshin with surprise and dread. As the dark matter was sucked into the ventilation shaft, the area began to shift forward in time, dragging the waitress and himself along with it. The waitress dismissed it and went off to grab a broom, while Vereshin sat down and contemplated on what to do next. He picked up his spoon and took a few sips of soup, but honestly felt like his appetite had escaped him. His notebook and pen were still on the table and he picked them up, then turned to the page where he had been working on his last equation. The waitress returned to find him sitting on the chair with his notebook in his lap, his head hanging over the pages.

She asked him what he had been working on, which lifted his mood despite the situation and he looked up at her with a wide smile on his features, his pitch black teeth exposed. As she swept up the glass, Vereshin rose to his feet with his notebook and hand and began to pace along the length of the restaurant as he looked at the clock. The hands still raced forward, marking the imminence of the shift in time and all Vereshin could do was wait for the present to diverge. Breathing heavily, he put his notebook and pen back in his satchel, then reached for his pocket watch. It too, was racing forward and when he looked out the window, he saw himself and the waitress walking down the street.

"It was a sample of dark matter I extracted from the black hole at the core of the sector, I was trying to alter it to make it speed up the timeframe around it, rather than slow it down." With his eyes fixed on the future versions of the waitress and himself, Vereshin spoke slowly, his voice trailing off as he focused on the figures. He turned back around to see the waitress innocently sweeping up the glass, totally oblivious as to what was going on, then looked at the clock. "It looks like I succeeded." He said, his tone dropping to a dire level. Around them, employees of the restaurant walked around as they began to close it for the evening, but the waitress would have seen them still at work when she went to get the broom, the timeframe of the area now diverging as he spoke.

"Lunch is going to have to wait, chit just got relative." Vereshin warned. He turned around abruptly and darted towards the woman, the grabbed her by the wrist and ran down the stairs.

Keeping his balance, he carefully maneuvered his way down the uneven staircase, the curvature of the black hole having warped the shape of the infrastructure. With the woman's hand in his own, he arrived at the door and opened, then released her hand and let her walk through. Outside, both Vereshin and the waitress were working down the street, where they were in the process of catching a taxi. In order to avoid the visions of the future seeing them, Vereshin opted to walk and backed around the corner of an alleyway to hide, ushering the woman back with him. He nodded to the figures and pointed to the door, where the other employees of the restaurant were leaving, when their real selves were still behind as the future diverged.

"We'll walk, it'll disperse the time between us." He said to the woman, who currently had her back against the wall. While he knew what would happen if his self in the past had seen him, he was not so sure about the future. Pressing a finger against his head, Vereshin wracked his brain around the question, armed only with hypothetical answers. "If it was our selves in that past that saw us, they would override us in time, so by that logic it would be us that override our selves in the future, which would effectively stop the future from happening!" The thoughts rolled from tongue as he mused on them, his finger pressed firmly against his forehead as he rolled around hypotheses in his mind. With wide eyes, he turned around to face the waitress, who must have been rightfully confused by what was going on.

Vereshin had intended to travel to the future, not split his own future from himself. Frustrated by his mistake, he clenched his teeth and hissed, curling his fists into balls and smacking his head, trying to make the equations in there make sense. The taxi the woman and himself had taken turned a corner, in the direction of the academic district, which made Vereshin think that they were headed towards the university. He nodded to the woman and urged her to follow him, leading her out from the behind the alley.

"Kark, I didn't mean for this to happen." He cursed, fumbling in his pocket for a cigarette. He found his silver case and opened it, then slid a cigarette between his teeth. He used a lighter to ignite the end, as he was no longer able to cast lightning since coming out of the black hole. Blinking rapidly, he inhaled and blew smoke into the air, allowing the nicotine to calm his temper somewhat, before striding down the street in the direction the taxi had taken. "What's your name? I might as well learn it since I swept you up in this mess." He asked the woman, who walked beside him. "My name is Vereshin, but I go by "Vi" if you like." He offered her his nickname and continued down the street, then turned the corner at the end of the block. As they walked down the next street, the roof of the university came into view, where the taxi was quickly heading.

"I have more samples of dark matter at the university, we'll get one from there and use it to reverse the process." Vereshin affirmed. He maintained his distance from the taxi, which was most likely there by now and the apparitions of the waitress and himself would be inside. They arrived at the large, metallic gates and Vereshin slid through with the woman behind him, then lead her to the front of the building.

[member="Eleutheria Overjerr"]