prologue ♔ we're all stories in the end

[moonheart]

WHO || Sydney, Faith, Anastacia
WHAT || Sydney arrives in this world
WHERE || The Phillipines
WHEN || Backdated to sometime in late April
HOW || Actionspam

As the Veil fog parts around her, Sydney finds herself surrounded by warm air weighted with humidity. The dissipating mist seems strangely out of place, even without its sudden coming and going, when she gets a view of the tropical scene before her. She appears to be looking out over some kind of small pool of water that flows into a cove, and there are small boats up against the shore, into which several men are loading crates, shouting to one another in Filipino.

Comments

[celerystick]

[Her sense motive check of 11 leaves her unsure of whether or not this girl is telling the truth or not. She slightly inclined to trust her, if only on appearances. She's certainly not anything close to terrifying, and much more friendly that the ones she was watching earlier.

Still, she's recovering from her panic, and her eyes are a little wide as she finally nods.]

[moonheart]

[ the girl releases her slowly, and tilts her head ] What are you doing out here anyway?

[celerystick]

I-I don't know.

[She really doesn't. She at least manages to keep her voice calmer than she feels.]

...I don't even remember what I was doing. Waiting to be...judged, I think. [A beat.] Where am I? [She recognizes the language as Filipino, but being in the Philippines? How would that even...]

[moonheart]

You don't remember? [ she hisses it out in a whisper, and then ducks a glance beyond sydney towards the guys in the boat ] ... You're from the Veil. Talk about great timing...

[ with a sigh, she drags syd further back through the trees a little ways ] You're uh, well, okay long story. Short version? New dimension, amnesia, no way home.

[celerystick]

[Wow, there is a lot in there that doesn't make a lick of sense. Not really, anyway. Context is good enough to give her a very, very vague idea, but it's not exactly going to sink in.]

What are you doing out here?

[She isn't the only suspicious one here, she's pretty sure.

Actually, the guys that she'd been 'spying' on were the most suspicious, but who was counting.]

[moonheart]

[ w/e the girl doesn't seem fazed by the suspicion. in fact, she puffs up her chest proudly as she announces: ] Covert ops. Taking down a smuggling ring, actually.

[celerystick]

[tbh she's more suspicious of the guys she'd been watching before being scared half to death, so yeah, she can almost believe that.]

Those guys?

[Pointing toward said guys.]

[moonheart]

The very same. They're stealing healing supplies from the village nearby, that produces the stuff. Hike the prices waaay up and sell them to poor people. Real scum of the earth types. [ she pounds her fist into her hand ] We're gonna take 'em out.

[celerystick]

'We?'

[She looks around, because she sure doesn't see anyone else.]

[moonheart]

Me and my mom! Well, and some other Knights.

[celerystick]

Knights? [She blinks.] As in, the Queen of England likes me so I was knighted? Or the Round Table kind?

[The latter is crazier than the formal, but only a little.]

[moonheart]

More like the second, but way cooler, and obviously we don't wear all the clanky armor.

[ she seems to remember what she's there for, glancing back at the guys ] Hey! Do you wanna help me?

[celerystick]

[Color her very surprised, both by her answer, and resulting question.]

You want me to help you?

[They'd just met, after all, but...]

Would you get me out of here afterward if I do? I don't want to be stuck here.

[moonheart]

You can hop a ride out of here with us! We help people who are new here all the time. It's kind of our job. Along with stopping bad guys.

[celerystick]

That...would be amazing. I'm not entirely sure where I'd go after that, but it's a start.

[She breathes in deeply, then exhales before giving the girl a nod.]

Okay, what do you want me to do?

[moonheart]

Depends. [ she squints ] What are you better at: running fast, or aiming?

[celerystick]

Um, running. Probably.

[Because she has no idea what she would be aiming. She knows she can use a gun, but not particularly how well.

But she's in good shape, thin and light.]

[moonheart]

Great! So what exactly are your feelings on being bait?

[celerystick]

Seriously? [A beat.] Okay, yeah, you really are serious.

[This is going to take all the courage ever.]

Sure. Fine. Just tell me what to do and let's get this over with.

[moonheart]

All you have to do is go pretend to be taking pictures of them and get 'caught'. [ she hands over a drakenet phone, and hits the button to make it a camera ] Then book it along the edge of the stream that way [ she points past the cave ] and I'll do the rest!

[celerystick]

[This was dumb. So, so, so stupid. But the sooner this was over with, the sooner she could leave, and hopefully find a way home.]

Yeah, okay.

[She takes the phone, checks the buttons, and nods slowly.]

Let's get this over with.

[moonheart]

Just give me twooo minutes to get to the top of the ridge. [ she heads off through the trees lickity split ]

[celerystick]

Two minutes. Got it.

[And as the girl disappears, she breathes out through her mouth, her nervousness returning. How in the heck did she get into this mess?

She starts counting. One-Mississippi, Two-Mississippi, etc, til she gets to two minutes. (Never let it be said that she can't follow instructions.)

And then, she begins to move back toward the group, phone in hand, positioning herself so that she's deliberately not fully hidden by the trees.

And then she starts to snap photos. With the flash on. Muttering under her breath.]

...I'm going to get myself killed.

[moonheart]

[ they're still not noticing her... even with the flash. hmmmmmm. it's gonna take more than that to get their attention, it seems. ]

[celerystick]

Oh, come on.

[She glances around, finds a rock nearby, and kicks it as hard as she can to make is sound like she tripped over it (Str 17) and hopefully catch their intention.]