TRPoE: Girl's Night

This had not been how things were supposed to go. This was supposed to have been easier. Waking up shouldn't have been this much of a task. Leaving Atlantis had proved to be much more arduous than she had expected. The world had changed so much in the time that she had been asleep. There was so much that she did not understand. The Atlantians seemed to have forgotten their history, but they had not been idle in their time. And the humans! They had grown so much. She no longer recognized the surface world. She wondered if Valhalla even still floated among the clouds.

As Thyra wandered through the surface, she took care to hide her presence from the surface dwellers. She needed no more trouble now. She needed to reorient herself to this world, learn what had changed and what had not, and regroup. At the moment, that seemed grim. She could not summon her steed Helhest, nor did her sword, Dainsleif, seem to respond to her grip in the same way. Indeed, something had gone wrong and nothing was right at all. This was not the triumphant return she deserved, it was a folly, a farce. A terrible embarrassment. However, no matter how inconvenient, she was sure it was only a temporary setback. This would not stop her. It could not stop her. After all, what else did she have?

She found herself at the top of a tall hill. A city's lights stretched out before her. They twinkled in a strange way that torches never did and that in itself prickled at her. Much of this new world prickled her. What did they think that they were doing, these meandering humans? They build all this, build and build and build. Don't they realize it is all just going to crumble? No, perhaps they were too young, too short lived. Time happens only in blinks for them. A century may be all they have. Maybe that did make sense in its own way. It was foolish, but Thyra could understand them, she supposed.

Her head was starting to feel heavy on her shoulders. She promptly removed it. With a good tug, her neck was left bare and a wisp of pale, blue flame filled the space where her head had been. Her body rolled her shoulders and stretched. Her head, held tightly by a tuft of hair, was raised high into the air and her vision flashed tenfold. The hills and valleys stretched out before her. Miles and miles and miles. Acre upon acre of good land had been leveled, replaced by cities and towns, roads and railroads. But what's more was the misery. There was the pain, the suffering, the depression and sickness, the anxiety and the death. Every soul seemed to glow with it, like wan stars in a black sky.

One nearby was particularly bright and it seemed to twinkle in the most... peculiar way.  Odd.

Deciding she had no better paths, Thyra descended down the hill and sought out the source. She wound through roads and alleys and countless tiny streets. Occasionally she would lose her way and have to leap atop some roof or another to get her bearings. She sometimes heard voices of alarm from below being roused from their bed, but she paid them no mind. Even in this weakened state, humans posed little threat and she would be away before anyone gathered their wits enough to check.

After some searching, she found the house. The aura of suffering washed over it, but now that Thyra was close to it, she was sure something was different. Something about this soul was not right. Intrigued, Thyra leaped atop the roof of the house opposite and gazed into an open window.

Her heart would have stopped a moment, were it still beating. The hair had been a shock, but then the girl turned. The face was slightly changed and she seemed to carry herself differently, but Thyra was sure of it. Everything else was the same. This was a Regeneration of Taiga of Atlantis. Though, she seemed to be able to see? That didn't seem right... How odd. She had to find out more.

She hopped back down to the ground and her body stretched her arm, rolling her shoulder again. Then, she cradled her head in her arms and unceremoniously tossed her head through the girl's open window. She landed with a thud on the floor and rolled over until she was almost in the girl's lap.

There was silence for a beat.

"Tell me, might you truly be the Regeneration of Taiga or Atlantis, or are you some entirely different work of magic?"

Thyra waited expectantly for an answer.

Finally alone in the house. Her ears rang with their voices, and her tears stung on the marks they had left on her face. Bruises that had a layer of coppery red on them from broken skin marked her everywhere, most prominent on her face. Her head throbbed with the pain from three large lumps on her head. One eye was red, the other was black, and both were swollen (the latter moreso than the former). Her lower lip was bruised as well, and there were more streaks of blood existed around the places where the skin had broken. There were still patches of blood around her nose as well.

This was the norm when things went badly. She was hurting especially badly because things had gone especially badly. She sighed, and continued to attend to the clothes she was folding and packing into a box. She had a lot of things around her, actually, boxes of all sizes that were varying levels of full. She had already gathered and stripped down everything she owned. It was a matter of packing it now. The room smelled of the paint that was drying on the walls. The bed was no longer made with her things, rather it was made with plain sheets.

There was nothing to be done about it. Especially not now.

She started to blubber as she realized how desperately she wished for warm arms, or maybe even just company.

"Clean up. We know you can. Nobody likes to see you bleed."

Her tummy lurched with sobs that made it ache even more. They always said that. Like she wasn't allowed to have wounds because she could heal them. Like she wasn't allowed to ever suffer pain when they did this to her. Zash didn't see, Wolf only saw because he surprised her once... she was never allowed to reach out to anyone. Nobody ever helped her because they never fucking knew. No, she was going to keep them for a little bit this time. Keep them and let herself indulge in the privilege of being wounded by people who only saw her as a numb outlet.

This was it... it was all going away now. This had been her home, despite everything. It wouldn't be ever again, though. Soon it would go up on the market as a foreclosed listing.

She cried a little harder. She would never live next to Zash again.... how would she make it to graduation with no shower??? She have to rely on daylight to do everything, she'd have to hope that the roof on the abandoned library didn't leak. She shivered and sobbed loudly as she realized she was becoming a damn squatter, dislocated and place-less. Was she even fucking human at this point?

While lost in her thoughts, she felt a slight tap against her thigh. A voice caught her attention, quieting the sobs. She looked around, thinking maybe someone had come early, maybe Zash had actually found her this time, maybe Wolf or Pika or pretty much anyone would be absolutely lovely right now. But there...... was no one....? She looked down by her thigh to see what had tapped her, then.

*sniff* "....mm-hmmm.....?"

There was a head. On her floor. Talking to her. Huh. She didn't normally see hallucinations when she got black eyes. She reached out towards it..... and..... actually touched it. Not a hallucination. It was an uncommonly warm head just chilling on the floor. Right next to her thigh.

A head.

On her floor.

TALKING TO HER?!

"HOLY fUCKING TESTACLES OF ARCEUSSAAASUUUGH!?!?!?" she exclaimed, wrenching her body around. She ended up hitting her head on the bedpost with a dull "thud." She gripped a particularly sensitive area that was now throbbing angrily with pain. She could practically feel the goose egg getting bigger. That said, the mishap with the bedpost did interrupt her panic enough to get her into a more chatting state.

The question that had been asked, though, was surprising in itself. The... head was asking about knowledge Fox had only recently become privy to herself. She must have been dealing with someone old.

"Hu- umm, yeah," she sighed exasperatedly, "Yeah.... I guess you could say I'm Taiga's body. Taiga's in Atlantis." She was still clearly sullen, although she had enough wits about her to be able to draw the connection that this..... head of a person probably new Taiga. She was curious.... however her curiosity was dulled by the aching pain everywhere in her face and head. That and she just wasn't in a great place. She stared into space for a moment.... and then with a click of her tongue she reached over into one of the boxes she was working on and grabbed the chord of a lamp. She plugged it in, and suddenly a gentle glow emanated out of the box and illuminated the otherwise dark room.

She looked at the head through her less swollen eye. "Sooo.... you're a head," she mumbled through a puffy lower lip. "Why.... are you in my room? Not that I'd normally mind heads in my room, but.... it's been a rough night for me... and I have a lot of work left." Her voice wavered as she sniffed up a trickle of blood and looked around at the mess of packing surrounding her........ tears began to form in her eyes again. She couldn't even wipe them because of how tender they were.

"I'm..... I'm sorry," she huffed, still fighting tears, "I'm s-orry, I don't mean to be.... it's.... haaugh." She grabbed a tissue and used it to soak up the blood still trickling out of her nose. A few salty tears stung the broken skin on her bruises. "Sorry... I'm a mess. I didn't get a chance to clean up..."

This girl seemed like an absolute wreck. Certainly not Taiga. Still, Taiga was still in Atlantis? That struck Thyra as very strange indeed. And this girl was another piece of the puzzle. She seemed young, and yet she clearly knew things a young girl should not. Mention of magic did not phase her and she seemed to know of Atlantis. How interesting.

The girl was obviously distressed. She was bruised. Someone had been beating her. Down in the yard, her body clenched her fist a little. She had seen women suffer at the hands of abusers too often for her liking. She found putting them on the other side was a sublime pleasure. She may have felt something like sympathy for the young girl.

"You need to apologize to me for your tears. I make no judgments of those who suffer at the hands of swine. Please, do not hesitate to "clean up" because of my presence." She rolled her head to the side and looked around. "To answer your questions: I am not just a head. The rest of me is outside. I could not fit through your window. I am here because I wish to be for the moment. I could feel your sorrow and you intrigued me."

Everything seemed barren and boxes littered the room. The bed was cleanly made. Shelves were bare. "Tell me, are you leaving this place to escape those who hurt you? Where do you plan to go? You seem to me quite young. Can you afford lodging?"

Feeling self-conscious now, Fox reached up and began to seal the wounds with her alchemy, using a few supplements she had as necessary counterbalance for the equation. She set to work bonding the split flesh back together and dispersing the swelling by bolstering the healing process. She had herself back to a more respectable-looking state within a few minutes, with only a little bit of swelling around the one really bad eye. "I just couldn't be assed to do it sooner, honestly. There's so much to do."

The head's statement about having a body made her blink. She had to try hard not to laugh at the image of a headless body just chilling on her front lawn, in the middle of this relatively normal suburban town, in plain view of all the neighbors living their normal lives..... The corners of her mouth twitched as they fought to turn themselves up into a smile.

"Aaah... ahach, Ahmm... I mean, you can try the front door. They probably didn't lock it when they left; they rarely remember," she suggested. "Does your head.... normally come off? Like, that's what it does?" She considered for a moment before continuing, "So, you have a detachable head and you can sense people's misery... I'll admit, that's a new combo for me." She actually chuckled a little bit.

Her face softened and fell considerably when the head started talking about her packing. "Well... I guess that's part of it, but that's not the real issue. I'd stay if I could, but my adoptives are losing the house. Their finances fell through, and can't afford this place anymore. I'm not escaping.... as much as I'm just not moving with them. They're moving to..... I don't know exactly, but it certainly isn't a place that I could reasonably get to here from." She sighed and wiped her face. "I... have family here; not blood family, but it's important to me to stay with them. I.... really love all of them more than I can accurately, honestly, and they've been with me through every moment."

She looked around at the room, which was void of people that weren't her or this lady.

".....Aaaaaahh..... most moments." She sniffed. "I didn't have this fully planned, so..... they had other plans tonight." She rubbed her freshly soggy eyes on her sleeve. She wouldn't admit to it fully, but she did feel incredibly lonely and weak trying to handle this on her own. The situation couldn't be helped... it just sucked.

She considered calling Zash's phone, just to hear his voice.

"I, uuhhh... I guess I'm pretty young, I'm still finishing out my Senior(Junior?) year of high school, so... That's another reason I can't leave." She snorted out a laugh, and her eyes filled with melancholy nostalgia. "Zash... is hopelessly bad at math without me."

"No... I guess I can't really afford my own place, per say, But I know somewhere I can stay for the time being. There's an old library on the outside of the town that was just kind of... abandoned. I go there for books all the time. I can use that." She sounded dodgy. "....Aaahh, jeez, I got into a tangent and I haven't even asked your name or introduced myself yet. Sorry... I wasn't even thinking. I'm Kitsune Fira, or Dawn Fira, but my official name is pretty much 'Fox' at this point. You can call me whatever you want honestly." She gave the lady a moment so speak.

My, my, my, aren't we something. Is that alchemy I spy? In one so young? This one has potential...

The wheels in Thyra's head turned as the girl finished "cleaning up". In a Regeneration so young to already show this potential with magic was a sign of real aptitude. Power was sweet and the youth were so easily swayed. Perhaps there was more than mere chance in this meeting.

The girl welcomed her inside. In this position, she couldn't quite "see" where her body was going per say, but over the many years, her body had learned to navigate on its own. Sometimes it was as if the two were separate beings, though this concerned Thyra much less than one might think. She had learned to trust her bodies instincts long before the curse had cleaved them apart. She felt her hand fiddle with a doorknob that did not turn. Thyra sighed.

"It would seem that they had the mind to remember tonight. Your door is locked."

Not one to be denied, Thyra's body stepped back and squarely raised her leg. her boot came smashing into the front door and the wood splintered and cracked. The door was ripped off its hinges and went flying down the hallway, landing with a tremendous crash against the opposite wall. Thyra's body promptly stepped inside and began to navigate towards the stairs.

"Now it is not." Thyra could not hide a self-satisfied smile.

The head listened as the girl recounted her troubles, her situation, her relationships, her plans. She did not know what "High School" was, but that was of no consequence. She spoke of a bloodless family, one who apparently cared for her no more than the first. A good man would not leave his partner to something like this. The girl was still young and starry-eyed. She had not yet learned what teeth love had. It would bite her soon enough.

Her body walked in the door just then. Her armor nearly filled the door frame, imposing and black. It walked across the room, the floor creaking and complaining with each step. Then she bent over and scooped up her head, cradling it against her hip.

"Well met, young lady. I will call you by Dawn Fira. It suits you well. You may call me Thyra. I will tell you now that living in an abandoned library will not be acceptable. You will stay with me." She placed her head back upon her shoulders, her neck seeming to swallow the flames. She rolled her shoulders and moved her head about, assuring the fit was correct, and then set to grabbing what boxes there were and beginning to carry them out. "I hope you have transportation or we shall need to acquire some."

Fox was only half paying attention to her new head friend until she heard the MASSIVE crash downstairs, preceded by the sounds of metal and wood being ripped apart. There was also the cracking of gypsum drywall and the groaning of the walls as the door crashed into the supports. She flinched and stopped breathing for a couple moments, listening as heavy footsteps tromped up the stairs towards her.

She looked up at the body as it appeared in her doorway, a massive black form with fire coming out of it's neck. Definitely not the pyromancer fire magic she was used to seeing when she was with Zash; it was something... eerier. Stranger. She tried to blink herself back into reality for a moment.

"Wha.... What did you....?" She stammered as the body walked over to reclaim her head. Logic kicked in enough for her to figure it out without an answer, however. She sighed the sigh of acceptance of fate. "I'll.... I'll have to fix that before I leave, at least." She watched the lady while she talked (she talked like she was from some kind of mannerist period, oddly) with her head held to her hip. Fox was sure this was the only person besides her parents who called her Dawn. Upon introducing herself as "Thyra," the woman reattached her head (so it WAS connected.....) and went over to a pile of boxes while Fox began formulating her response.

"It's nice to meet you, Thyra," Fox smiled. "And, well, transportation...... well..... we could use Zash's dad's truck...." she suggested. She got up and opened up a backpack on the bed, pulling out a car key. "I made an extra copy of the key when Zash asked me to make a duplicate for him. Didn't really tell him, just predicted that he'd loose it eventually. Ii don't think his dad works tomorrow..." It suddenly registered that she was discussing moving in with a detachable head person that she had just met. Which was not usually advisable. Her mind scrambled to process everything as Thyra went to pick up one of the packed boxes. The woman had talked so matter-of-factly, as if things were already decided, that Fox had just kind of gone along without thinking.

"Uh... wait. Stay with you.....? Do you, erm, ah, live around here? I mean, I really appreciate the offer, but we just met and I'd hate to impose. I mean....." Fox considered her options. It was a risky situation, but... the potential of a warm bed and an actual roof over her head was more than tempting right now. And besides... if it was a place nearby than it was a good deal. She really didn't have many other good options at the moment.

Thyra did not know what sort of beast of burden that this "truck" was, but it would have to do for her purposes. And if it did not, then Thyra would make the thing work.

She piled up the assortment of boxes and bins in her arms and headed out the door. Her broad, armored shoulders chipped the doorframe as she left. The construction of this abode seemed none too sturdy, she noted. Indeed, the little Taiga would find a much more fitting home in Thyra's own haunt. It was made of much firmer stuff than this.

The steps creaked and moaned under the weight of boxes and steel as Thyra made her way down. "Indeed, I would say that my home is not far from here, though I know not where we are. Perchance, would you have a map somewhere close? It would take me but a moment to get my bearings.

"As long as we are close enough to Baile Átha Cliath, then I can easily make my way to the lands of Aileach. I make my home there. It is a hidden home but hidden to only those who do not already know its secret."

She turned to her as she reached the bottom of the stairs. "So, where are your stables, young Taiga? We must ready your mount for swift travel."

Welp the lady with the ghost head seemed pretty decided on the matter. She didn't really say anything to Fox specifically, she just started picking up a buttload of boxes and carrying them out the door. Fox jumped up with a quick, "Uh, so I guess that's a yes? A sure? Or a whatever or something?" grabbing a box herself in the process. Why not? There was nothing to lose at this point. Plus it would get her out of this god-forsaken nightmare house for a while. That and a little free labor never hurt anybody. Fox could handle all of her living necessities; her clothes and toiletries and other vitals all basically fit into one duffel bag with no problem. But the books, the research, the artifacts... Fox was not looking to separate her spinal disks.

Fox flinched as Thyra busted through the door frame. Whoop-dee-freakin do, another thing she was going to have to fix before they left... she tried not to be ungrateful though. She knew the woman was just trying to help.

Once they were outside, Thyra seemed to see it fit to start talking again. The things that poured out of her mouth made so little sense, however, that Fox could feel the beginnings of a seizure back in the deep recesses of her mind. Was that even language??? Was this woman for real? And the way she talked... was she straight out of the Dark Ages or some shit because holy fucking christ alive who the fuck had a stable outside of livestock farmers???

Fox hadn't given much consideration to aliens before.

But she sure as shit was now.

In all reality it was probably one of the defunct root languages that were scattered throughout the world. She actually thought she recognized some of the symbols in there (which would make sense if the woman lived in this area; Fox had more exposure to the root languages in this district than any other. And man was she pronouncing that shit WRONG). Still, Fox just stared at Thyra with a flat expression for a good couple of minutes. When she finally opened her mouth to speak, she wasn't even sure if the was responding to the right question. But damn okay ET she was gonna try and play your game.

"Uh...... huh," she blipped. Starting strong."Well... I can pull up an overhead view on Infinny Maps, maybe you can get your bearings on that. I'm starting to suspect you might not, though." She pulled up her phone and opened a map of the area, showing it to Thyra. She pinned their location on it. "See, that's where we are now. Anything, uuuuuh... looking familiar, maybe?" Man, this wasn't going to work. She would probably need a second (MORE LIKE A CENTRUY) to study it. "Why don't you set those down and take your time? I'll go pull the truck around while you do."

Fox handed the phone to Thyra and pulled her copy of the truck key out of the binding of one of her journals.

A bit after Fox left, the strange device began vibrating incessantly.

Pika: *Sent image of Zash choking on a Jell-o shot* Hey look he's already blasted. He's tripping over everything.

In a separate message...

Zash: NO, I am NOT; don't listen to him. he fucking slapped my throat while I was trying to drink.
Zash: *Sent image of Pika choking on 5 Jell-0 shots* As if he has any room to talk.

Back in the other conversation....

Pika: Nobody ever accused me of being a coward.

Thyra was quite impressed that the young Taiga planned to pull this "truck" around from the stables. She must have been made of stronger stock than she looked, and this beast must have been extraordinarily stubborn to not simply walk with her.

Thyra had been expecting a map and now this young girl had handed her some sort of enchanted brick. Strange magics caused a map to appear on the thin slab, along with many runes and pictures that Thyra did not recognize. The English was plain enough, it was the other parts that she didn't understand. In addition to that, this map she had produced was far too small. She did not recognize any local town or landmarks. If this was indeed the local area, then she was far from her home.

The stars in the sky were no help either. They were different now. Many years must have changed them. She grumbled as she slid the map away. This little thing would be no help to her. She had spoken many of the words of ancient power to it and it had responded to none of them. Even the oldest incantations that the fey knew did nothing to stir whatever strange magic worked upon the slate.

"A useless trinket," she grumbled. She would stop at some merchants shop along the way and obtain a real map. Just as Thyra was going to get up, the trinket shook upon the table. Thyra glanced over. She saw the visage of two men, then another of the same men.

Gods above! This young incarnation of Taiga truly was a devious witch!

She scooped up the tablet and ran out to find the girl.

She found her near some large metal container. Perhaps a sty or wagon of some sort. The truck must have truly been an impressive beast to pull such a thing.

"Young Taiga, tell me, what enchantment have you used to trap these men in this slab? It seems to be of devious work and I would do well to learn it." She peered at the tiny rectangle, eyes fixed on the two men, locked I what seemed to be both time and space. Words had come with the men, floating in the air about them. Perhaps she allowed them only limited communications with the outside world to stoke ultimately futile fires of hope.

Absolutely sadistic. Delightful.

Fox hoped to god that Zash's dad was asleep. Or drunk. Or gone. One of those three were usually true, but She had never felt as comfortable or sure as Zash had. It was just one of those things where Zash had grown up with it, lived with it, and gotten used to it, but she had not. Still, she managed to start the thing up and pull it around without any confrontation, so she assumed all was well. She parked and flung the duffel bag into the truck bed, then went to go find William Shakespeare to get her to help load the fucker up.

Only she didn't have to go find her, because the dark ages came to her. She gave a look of approval to the truck, which was... good? Fox guessed? She couldn't really say for sure, but Thyra seemed impressed enough. Before they could get to anything else, though, Fox was immediately struck by what she was being called. "Young Taiga." Bleh. It was already an uncomfortable enough thought, that she was potentially a grody old body from a lost world that had terrible public transportation. She loaded a box into the back of the truck and gave Thyra a look.

"That's.... still not my name," she reminded her. "It's Fox. Or... Dawn. Or whatever you decided to call me or whatever. I'm not Taiga," she reiterated, trying to drive the point home this time. Then Fox realized she had to once again address the ramblings of the woman, which were referring to... someone being trapped in the phone? Fox leaned over and peeked at the screen. The giant woman had gotten into her text messages somehow, and there were pictures of Zash and Pika and messages that had come in. With another box in her hands there wasn't much that she could do about it, but she figured she'd try to at least explain.

"Uhhh.... no. No one's trapped in my phone," she retorted. "Those are just pictures - like images of a single moment out of time captured. Uh...." Fox wasn't really sure if this was getting through to her. "...Like, uh, a drawing I guess? Only captured instantaneously by...."

Fox knew she had to pick her next words carefully.

"...tiny little magic hands. A lot of them. Making one dot at a time."

Yep, seemed legit. It was good enough for college.

"That's a messaging device; you know, to communicate. Those are my friends sending me messages," she explained.

The Young Taiga's answer was disappointing. Here Thyra thought that the young girl had happened upon a spell of a much more devious use, but she supposed that some sort of communication device was useful, if a little quaint. Thyra herself could think of at least five different spells and incantations that could do the job just as well, if only she had the appropriate equipment and ingredients.  

Oh well. Perhaps this young girl was just not the aggressive type. Well, perhaps not yet. It remained to be seen if she was so set in her ways yet.

Either way, there was no point in fussing about it now. Thyra had to worry about getting home first. She handed the girl her slate and was happy to be rid of it. "It is a quaint thing then, but I have no use of it. Its magics are strange to me. Besides, your map is far too small to show anything of worth. If my guess is right though, we are nowhere near the land of Eiire. We will simply have to pick up a complete map before we set out.

"Now, let us go and retrieve the rest of your things and be away already. I grow restless and ready to see home. I believe you too are eager to leave if I read your expression right."

She headed inside and scooped up a great many of the boxes and bins, then loaded them into the back of the wagon with great speed. If anything, it was a pretty thing and seemed to be made of stout metal and good workmanship. It must have cost no small sum. Perhaps the Young Taiga was a rich lady. Then, given the state of her home, Thyra suspected not. Curious.

"If this is everything, then we may head out. Where is this beast you call a "truck" Young Tai- er.... Dawn....." She said the word slowly and with a bit of a grimace. The tongue of the Anglicans was such a harsh and unwieldy thing. It made her head and neck and shoulders ache just to speak it, but it seemed to be the language of choice in these parts, so she must.

The woman's vocabulary was nothing if not bewildering, and pretty much confirmed (if it weren't completely obvious already) that she was from a vastly different time period, if not a vastly different place. Fox had never heard nor seen anything like the names that Thyra was telling her about (again assuming that Fox was pronouncing everything in her defunct root language studies right; which she was beginning to suspect was assuming a lot). Fox sighed; she hadn't been gambling for this kind of problem tonight and she didn't know how she was expected to handle it right out of the blue... but then again, quite nearly everything she had been dealing with had come straight out of the blue. She didn't know why she expected that to change now.

"Alright... hold on one second," Fox sighed, "just... finish what you're doing and hop into that seat. Please." She gestured towards the passenger side of the truck; thankfully it was unmistakably facing Thyra at that moment in time. Fox prayed her message didn't get misconstrued. "If you can't figure out how to work the door, just... wait for me. I'll be right back." With that, she turned on her heel and made her way over to fix the damage that had been done to the house. The last thing she wanted was to be pegged for that on top of everything else.

Fox returned from fixing the house back up to the way she had left it and climbed into the driver's seat next to Thyra... (assuming she had found her way into the cab at all). Once they were inside, Fox looked over at the woman and pulled the map on her phone back out.

"Look..." she started to explain, "I'm getting the sense that you're from a very different... time. Or place. Or something. Case in point: I have no idea what you're talking about. This is a small town named Nonam, on a small continent called Phailornam. There's no.... Eiire," Fox flinched at her own butchered pronunciation, "or anything like that anywhere near here, nor on this continent." She picked a few locations she suspected were related to the woman (or could be) and pinned them on the map. "Lucky for you, you just happened to stumble into the one person in this whole town with no life, who's been around the abandoned and ruined areas of this place extensively. And I guess I might have an idea of where you want to go. You can just tell me when things start to look familiar."

She slid the key into the ignition and turned, causing the engine to roar to life. She paused. "...oh, yeah. And, this is a truck. No animals or beasts or whatever involved." Fox pulled the truck away from her house and onto the dirt road that led out of town.