It was obvious that something was wrong before she woke up. Her bed was firm, yes, but comfortable and warm. Whatever she was sleeping on was hard, cold, and was making her back scream. Tina slowly opened her eyes, unsure what was happening and cautious that maybe someone had kidnapped her and was watching. But when she peeked out, and listened carefully, she didn’t see immediate danger. What she did see was the forest. Clothes she had not fallen asleep in, and when she sat up, someone else not far off from her.
Slowly she got to her feet and crept toward the other person. Some of the tension left her when she recognized Ezekiel. Only some, because Ezekiel did not explain what the hell was happening. “Hey!” she said, not yelling too loudly in case anyone was nearby, “Wake up!”
Being an orphan who had been adopted by what some may consider a “terrible mother,” Ezekiel was used to sleeping in uncomfortable situations and surroundings. So the shift in reality hadn’t affected him. What got him up and scrambling was Tina.
Jerking awake, he rolled away from her voice and sat up in a crouch, before he was even fully awake. “What the fuck?” He asked, groggily, as he rubbed sleep out of his eyes. His focus adjusted, as the forest and Tina dressed in an outfit not usual for her came into view. His adrenaline spike had left him up and alert, but the familiar face didn’t have him fully cognizant. If Tina was around, things couldn’t be too bad.
“Yeah, exactly, what the fuck.” she agreed, looking around them and their surroundings. Tina did not spend a lot of time in the forest. She was a city person through and through. So she had no idea where they were, how they got there, or why she was dressed in these clothes, and carrying some of her weapons.
She crossed her arms over her chest and brought her eyes back to him. “Dude, do you have any idea how we ended up here? Or where here is?” Given that he was also sleeping on the ground, she was going to assume he wasn’t to blame for this. But who was, and why?
Zeke hadn't been messing with any artifacts before this had happened, so he wasn't the source of this mess. So he answered her honestly, as he looked down at the strange old timey clothes he was wearing. Ugh. Not his first choice in clothes. "Not a clue, I wasn't working with any artifacts, so it wasn't me. You don't mess with magic, so I don't think it was you. I don't sleepwalk, do you? Still. Don't think it was us. Vallo weirdness maybe?"
He started patting down his pockets and found two things on him - the spirit totem and a journal. Looking over at his reluctant companion, he asked, "Do you have anything on you?" So nothing from the library, and Tina didn’t have any magic to mess with, or items that would give her access. Which meant it probably was Vallo weirdness, and given their clothes, she could already tell she was going to hate it.
Carefully she reached for the objects she could feel were on her person. One was also a journal that looked exactly the same as Ezekiel, the others were two twin karambits. She knew how to use them, but a gun would have been nice. She spun one karambit in her hand, the weight familiar to her, though she hadn’t used it much outside of training. “Well, this can’t be a great sign.” Carefully she tucked them both back away, “At least you have that magic fashion piece.”
Snorting as he watched her put away those wicked looking knives, Zeke put the spirit totem back in his pocket. “Yeah, not that I have any great control over it.” Dammit, he really should have found someone to help him with it by now. “Come on, let’s get out of the woods at least? I feel like I’m about to be hunted for sport and I need to take a piss.”
“No time like the present to learn.” she said in mock cheerfulness. Trial by fire, it would seem. Tina rolled her eyes, “Charming.” she muttered, before looking around the forest, trying to remember what she knew about navigating her way out of one. Assuming they were still in Vallo, then at least the sun gave them a basic idea of directions. “I think this way?” she pointed toward where she thought the city would be, though she had no idea how long of a trek this was.
Ezekiel chose to ignore her muttering, but did shrug and start off in the direction she had pointed in. “As good as direction as any. Come on, maybe we can figure it out and then grab brunch after. I’m thinking breakfast tacos at that truck stop on Robinson?” Little did he know, there would be no breakfast tacos in their future for a very long time.
There was a sinking feeling in her stomach that grabbing brunch was not going to be possible. Something was happening, and Vallo didn’t half ass anything. But Tina let herself feel a little bit hopeful at the idea of breakfast tacos. “Still not as good as murder tacos.” she said with a longing sigh. Good, just not as good. “Let’s get going.”