The Deadland

Uh... Where did that little kid go? He was saying something about a wish and helping this universe?

I was in the middle of something really important. I mean, I'd really like to help! But I need to finish what I was doing back home first. Can I just leave for a little while and then come back after that's done?

[ when Rat can focus again against the lurch and shift of worlds and consciousness, it's the smell that hits him first. The overwhelming stench of rotten flesh and clotted blood, offal and bacteria. And the rust of iron.

When his vision slides back, he recognises the cage for what it is. What he doesn't recognise is the pile of meat that must have been a large animal at some point in the past. He's used to dead things, though, and after he remembers to breathe shallowly and through his mouth, he can occupy himself with working out a way out of the cage some bastard left him in.


An hour or so later, and he's exhausted himself trying to break the lock with alternatively a large rock and a shard of femur. It's only after this resounding failure that he deigns to try the radio. ]

Someone want to tell me why I'm in a fucking cage?

Shion opened his eyes, the dream had been so strange, so vivid. The child figure, who had he been? Shion was a little shaken, because dreams were not something he often had, not one that felt that realistic and yet were so divorced from real life.

He blamed Rat and all the books he was making him read. Shion sat up to inform his friend of this and his mouth dropped. He was still dreaming? No surely he could not have this much rational thought in a dream.

There were noises all around him, and he thought he heard a gun shot in the distance. A gun shot? Where was he? Even though he had gotten used to the West Town this was not there. This was... somewhere else entirely.

More noises, getting closer. Shion soon found himself surrounded by three... well they looked like a fusion of feline and canine but that wasn't scientifically possible either. He stood very still hoping they would react in the ways dogs did. As they got closer he started to doubt that. Maybe he should try to run.

[He sounds furious] What is making all that noise!?

[ You know what they need more of? Guns. Well, everything is what they need more of, but Lightning is feeling a little antsy without some kind of weapon weighing down her holster. The moment they all split up to search the areas around Mercy, she heads to the bizarrely familiar police station. She's been through enough cycles that she can rely on the push-tug of lost memories, so when she slips inside and goes immediately for the weapons lockers further inside the building, she doesn't question how she can guess where they are. It's just convenient. ]

[ She leaves the station door open, because if she's the only one who thought of this, they're in a worse situation that they think. Cornelia may want to monopolise supplies, but that's a little short-sighted. If something happens to them, what'll the next lot do for weapons? Anyway, once she's found a burst rifle, she's satisfied. It even fits her holster, almost. Add a baton and she's set. ]

[ And then she hears movement nearby. ]

... Hey. Someone there?

AUDIO

[ the voice that speaks through the radio is soft, polite. a girl's voice, no doubt, hardly bouncy and cheerful but neither is it monotonous. but while there is civility in the tone, beneath it lies a certain degree of distance. wariness. a girl, apprehensive and distrusting. ]

If the payment is not made fully, then the price cannot be granted fully. There's no such thing as a free wish. But I wonder -- if that child would credit what can be partially worked for?

[ if so, then i no longer mind.

she pauses. a hint of -- was it desire? longing? wishful thinking faintly laces the tone before it disappears, replaced by once more that tone of civility and politeness, followed by an awkward laugh. ]

A question of sorts though I have a feeling that I may already know the answer.

[There's crackling, a voice at first too muffled to here before clarity strikes it.] ... Hello? Hello.

I know you're new here, you've just arrived. Welcome to Asper City.

[static] I'm Lara. Stay safe.