Llama 27 - Video (action if wanted)

[enthunder]

[ Lightning comes to in luggage with the resigned practise of a control coach veteran. Knees uncomfortably tight against the canvas lining and zip pressing a line against her thigh, it's familiar. Irritating. The disorientation, the sudden switch from Kamakan to carriage--

She rises. Stumbles to the ICP, the roster appearing the moment she jabs her ticket into the slot. The list of names... isn't that different. The month's the same. She exhales, jaw untensing, and scrolls back up with a flick of her fingers. No dead. Good.

While she's still logged in, she taps Video and then everywhere. A choice she visibly regrets the moment she does it, but no helping it now. Ahem. ]

Twenty-seventh, huh... How're we doing?

[ It's more awkward than she remembers. A glance off-screen-- ] Looks like the gates are up. What else'd I miss? What happened in Kamakan?

Comments

[so_dark_a_road]

[ Curufin is in the Dining Carriage, busy with cleaning duties. But as soon as he hears Lightening's voice, he drops the mnop and goes to the ICP. ]

Lightening, are you all right?

[enthunder]

About as alright as you. [ She glances around again. It's not like she'll be wrong to say it, but still... ] Control coach spat you back out too?

[so_dark_a_road]

[ He laughs. ] I'm not entirely all right. Somebody I cared for disappeared while I was gone. Glorfindel. [ Curufin's lover. ]

Yes, I came back by way of the Luggage Car. I was so mad that I punched a hole in the lid of the trunk with my fist and kicked another hole with my foot. I really don't think being in a suitcase or a trunk is the most dignified way to return. [ He rolls his eyes. ]

I was glad to be back, though.

I missed everything before the last mission, on the illusion planet. It was a terribly modern world with a four-tiered city. I only saw the top tier tier, though, and except for the recurring visions, my assigned task was boring. Orange Team was supposed to map the top tier, and that was all laboratories and other not-very-interesting facilities. And I helped a local by the name of Anan to place some electronic devices around the city. I didn't really understand their purpose, but I was glad to volunteer. However, the only really interesting part of the mission was the frequent intrusion of those illusions. And when we left the city, we ended up leaving the area by way of concentric circles of territory, and each of these circles had increasingly dire and convincing illusions. I got to confront a dragon I remember from my world and from the wars me and my brothers fought there. And then when we came out of the last circle, there was an enornous creature that was colorful and monstrous. It made a speech about how it was the author of the illusions, and it wasn't finished with us. It expected to meet us again, somewhere. I yelled at it, and my language was not exactly polite!

And then we went to a planet that had a temple full of monks who were teaching meditation and martial arts classes. And then they sent us to a set of caves that contained illusions that the monks had either created or invoked our brains' ability to create. Or both. The idea was that we were supposed to learn how to distinguish the illusions from reality, or to mitigate their destructive effects. I somehow think that the train took us to that place because it fully expects that we will encounter that illusion-making creature again, and the train wants us to know how to counter the illusions.