Go west, young woman!
Who: Juliet
Where: Acoste, Crossroads, Calderville
When: Week 0, Day 3
What: Exploring, search & recovery
Status: Narrative



Sometimes it was handy being a Slayer. Her speed and endurance had been gifted to help her in the battles with demons, but they were very handy in these times. She was able to reach the Room of Rings up at Crossroads in a few hours, the climb up the side of the enormous caldera taking its toll, slowing her to a steady jog. She turned and ran backwards for a while, looking back down over the coast toward where the village lay, the harbour spread out behind it to the north. She couldn't see any of the buildings for the jungle that blocked the view, but could just see the tip of the dock that stretched out into the harbour, the trawler moored alongside it.

Her knowledge of mechanical things was below zero, and while Jake said he'd try and take a look, the area below deck was built more for someone Juliet's size, not Jake's. "At least he might be able to do something with the cars, if we need it," she said to herself, turning to face up the last steep part of the road and building up her speed again.

The trip across the bottom of the caldera was fairly uneventful, a large lizard who'd been sunning itself on the edge of the track getting about as much of a surprise as Juliet when it woke and stood up. The camouflage was amazing and Juliet hadn't seen it until it reared up, standing about waist high. They had eyed each other, edged around each other and silently agreed to just keep on their own merry ways. She'd started to pay a little more attention to the track from then on, instead of just gazing around the huge crater.

When she reached the buildings she did a quick scout of the bunkhouses, found them to be in exactly the same state as they had been when she and Micha had explored them, took a quick look at the lake, and headed into the large round building where the rings were.

She pulled her cell out of her pocket and quickly opened up the photo of what looked like the main street of a town. Eyeing the circle on the ground, and the large ring standing up, she stepped forward glancing up as she kept thinking about the town, darting glances down at the cell, then back up to the ring. After a few moments the lights on it began to glow and she watched the symbols start to flash, then the wall behind the ring start to dissolve, the image on the cell, that she was imagining, starting to form in front of her.

"Wow, this is pretty damned cool!" she said out loud and stepped into the now solid streetscape. Even as she did she spun around, but the room had again disappeared and she was standing in a town square, buildings all around, the sides lined with trees and paths, and again, not a living soul to be seen anywhere.

"Okay, so this works," she murmured to the empty square, and tucked her cell into her pocket, then remembered she had promised to call in and let them know how she went. She pulled it out again and pressed the radio button.

"Hey y'all, this is Explorer 1, anyone copy?" she transmitted, grinning.