_claudia_d (_claudia_d) wrote in omega_reality, @ 2012-08-18 19:09:00 |
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RP: Claudia Donovan Arrives
Who: Claudia, Team 1, Travis, Pilots
Where: South Dakota
When: August 18, 2012
Summary: Claudia gets popped through the rift
Univille – the hip, hop, happening place to be when not working. Actually, it was the only place to be, as the next closest town was sixty miles away in the badlands of South Dakota. Univille rhymed with fun-uh-ville, but all the fun had been lost along with the F.
Okay, that was a bit harsh. There was the coffee shop for the non-barflies, which booked “local” bands and had open mic nights. The hardware store had needed hardware things and once had Todd before he’d been relocated by the U.S. Marshals Service. It also had Jesse Mortimer and his purple monster truck idling on the side of the road.
“Yo, Clauds! Wanna ride?” Jesse yelled down from his open window, over the teeth-rattling rumble of the truck’s engine.
Claudia Donovan smiled, mostly to keep her teeth from falling out, and shook her head. “Sorry, Mortimer, no can do. I’m a woman on a mission,” she yelled back. Occasionally, she took Jesse up on his offers to ride out in the badlands in the crazy purple monster. He was harmless, especially after Artie put the fear of, well, Artie into him.
“C’mon, Claud, you know you can’t resist!”
Oh, Claudia could resist plenty, especially when there was a package waiting for her at the hardware store. She shook her head again. “Maybe next—”
Out of nowhere, a flash of white light engulfed Claudia and she felt like she was being popped like a zit. It lasted only a second, but she now had a monster headache the size of Jesse’s truck. Eyes scrunched closed, she put her hands to her head. “Ow, Grilled Cheesus. What the hell?”
Once the pain subsided a little, Claudia opened her eyes, blinking the spots from her vision. When she could see clearly, she was immediately on alert, her hand reaching for her mini-tesla gun tucked in the back waistband of her jeans. Things had changed on the street. Cars were parked in different places. The vet clinic she’d been standing beside was now a barbershop. Jesse’s monster truck was completely gone, along with Jesse.
“Not good,” Claudia said quietly to herself, and ducked casually between the buildings. An Artifact had to be in play. Towns didn’t suddenly change on their own. She pulled her Farnsworth from the faded green messenger bag slung crosswise over her shoulder and tried to make a call to Artie. All she got was fuzz; there was no connection.
Claudia went down her Farnsworth list, trying everyone – Steve, Myka, Pete, and even Mrs. Frederic. The screen shown and she heard only static. An Artifact had definitely been used or was in use for the Farnsworth not to work.
Closing it, she tucked it back in her bag and pulled out her cell phone. It wasn’t as reliable as the Farnsworth for communication, especially in South Dakota, but she was sure glad she had one right now. Or she was, until she realized couldn’t even get a signal - that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. Univille had cell service, she knew for a fact. No signal meant Very Bad Things.
“Okay, Claudia, take a deep breath. Don’t panic yet,” Claudia said, leaning her back against the outside wall of the barbershop. She took a deep breath, looking up at the sky. It was still blue, one relief. Transported to an alien planet was taken off the list. Which left her being under the influence of an Artifact, Univille being under the influence of an Artifact, or government abduction.
(There was one more option, but Claudia refused to even think about it.)
Standing between buildings wasn’t going to help her any. Since the Farnsworth and the cell phone hadn’t worked, and after a quick check of her laptop neither did wi-fi, Claudia decided the next step would be to try and find someone who had an actual telephone. Normally, she found it hard to believe people would still use them, but now she was hoping someone did in Univille. If this still was Univille.
The barbershop wasn’t open, and neither was the bank. Claudia noted that besides everything being out of place, the signs had different names on them. It didn’t bode well. She’d moved the tesla to her pocket and kept her hand on it as she made her way down the street. The corner market was the first place she ran across that was open and she went inside. Smile plastered on her face, she approached the sole person in the small store, who stood behind the sales counter.
“Hey there,” Claudia greeted. She raised the hand not inside her pocket, which held her non-working cell phone. “My cell’s dead. Do you got a phone I could use? It’s local.”
Mr. Walrus, as Claudia was dubbing him, was a squat, round man with a walrus-type mustache that had more gray hair than what was on his head. He didn’t seem suspicious at all about her request, or concerned that she might be there to rob the joint. “Sure. Come on around. It’s over here.”
Pleased that she didn’t have to zap the poor guy into unconsciousness, Claudia went around the counter to use the phone. Mr. Walrus didn’t even keep an eye on her. He went back to reading his fishing magazine.
Claudia tried everyone’s cell phone numbers first, just in case, but she only got the beeping of a wrong number dialed. Calling the Warehouse yielded the same result. Leena’s Bed & Breakfast had become Larry’s Towing. Which each call she made to the landline numbers she knew, she became more and more distressed that none of them were going through. She finally used the Super-Duper Secret Do Not Call Unless The World Is Ending emergency number. The automated voice on the line told her the number she dialed did not exist.
No one seemed to exist. Maybe even she didn’t exist.
Claudia pinched her arm and smothered an ouch of pain. Nope, she was real, and so was the place where she was standing. “Where” being the primary question.
She turned to Mr. Walrus. “You wouldn’t happen to know a Pete Latimer or a Myka Bering or a Steve Jinks or an Artie Nielson would you?”
Mr. Walrus looked up from his magazine. “None of those names ring any bells. Why?”
“Oh, you know, just looking for my friends who’re supposed to be in town here. In Univille. South Dakota. 2012.” Claudia was fishing for information. The guy had a fishing magazine, so why not?
“Well, you’re in the right place,” Mr. Walrus said, stroking his mustache. “Did you try over at The Diner? It’s where everyone goes when they come to town. Best sour cream raisin pie this side of Peever.”
“Uh, no. I haven’t.” Sour cream raisin pie? Claudia vomited a little in her mouth. “I’ll head over there now. Thanks for letting me use the phone.”
“You’re welcome,” Mr. Walrus said. “I’m open ‘til six, so if you need anything or have trouble finding your friends, stop on back.”
“I’ll remember that,” Claudia said, pleased by the kindly offer. At least some parts of Univille were the same.
Claudia left the corner market and wandered the street until she found The Diner (Ope ‘til M dn ght, the blown out neon sign read). She nearly had a panic attack on top of her already silently panicked state when it appeared she’d stepped back into the 1950s. But then she saw the signs posted in the window that read the correct year and figured out this was one of those retro places. Besides, the cars parked on the road were modern.
“Don’t I feel stupid?” she muttered to herself, heading inside.
She took a seat in the back corner, in one of the red plastic booths. Checker-board floor, oldies music, kitschy signs on the walls – totally not her type of place. Or anyone’s younger than fifty. Or who had taste.
A waitress appeared - wearing normal clothing, thank Marty McFly - and Claudia ordered a coffee. She was going to need it to figure out what was going on.