shatterverse | (no subject)

Entry tags:

edwin dobson,
sky

(no subject)

One moment, Edwin is tearing through the steppes...

...and the next, he (and his horse) find themselves in very unfamiliar territory. Huxley pins his ears back and snorts at the sudden flash, rearing slightly, while Edwin fights to remain in the saddle as he looks around. "A storm?" he asks himself, looking up a sky that seems anything but stormy. He starts as his attention goes to the rest of the landscape-it certainly looks dry enough, but this...isn't Euloria.

His horse, meanwhile, recovers quite a bit more quickly and begins to move along at a quick trot, apparently not bothered by the fact that he's trotting on pavement rather dirt. Edwin just hangs on, still staring at his surroundings, particularly at the sign that he passes by as Huxley continues onwards-Snakewater, Montana - Pop. 21,500.

At least, that's what it says underneath the scratch marks covering the population number. Beside the former number, someone's painted 15.

Edwin is fairly certain that isn't a terribly good omen.

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Sky crooks her fingers and blurs out for a moment; obediently, a light breeze picks up and tosses the reins into Edwin's hand. Hey, it's the least she can do.

Edwin grabs hold-don't want to lose them again to butterfingers-and slows the horse back into a walk. Huxley backs his ears and squeals a bit, but otherwise settles back down without much a fuss.

"It's a good think I have hobbles," he says after a moment of thought. "Otherwise he'll be hard to catch when I let him graze."

"Wouldn't know. Not many horses where I come from."

Edwin glances back to her, blinking. "Really? How do you get around, then? They're faster than walking, and it isn't as if you can take a boat everywhere..."

"Me, I float. Everybody else? Cars, these days."

"Cars?" he repeats, looking blank and a more than a little lost.

"...well. That'll take some explaining."

"Do you mean a cart?" he asks. "Those still need horses, of course-or other animals, depending-but I know what those are..."

"Okay, think of it like a cart without the horses."

"What makes it move? I can see how pushing it might make it move for a short distance, but after that, it wouldn't work."

"It just does. I never was very patient with human things. Oh, and it puts seriously nasty smoke out the back, too."

Edwin looks thoughtful at that, peering up at the sky as he thinks. "...Like a train then, maybe."

"Train smoke's actually pretty okay for the most part, but sure, little bit like a train."

"How little?" he asks, looking to her again. "And are they common where you come from? We have trains-well, at least in Fremmenland-but horses, carriages, and carts are more common."

"Cars are all over the place. Well, usually. Not many of them around here, obviously, but then there's not much of anything else either."

Edwin looks around for a moment, then nods. There's a whole lot of nothing in every direction. "No, there isn't. Where do you think everyone went? There has to be some reason they changed the number on the sign I saw..."

"Yeah, 'cause the rest of them died. This whole country's torn all to shit. Most of what's left is in Kansas."

Edwin looks around again in a decidedly more nervous fashion. He's fairly certain he can outrun most anything that would come after him-but that doesn't mean he wants to have to run from anything in the first place.

"...What killed them?"

"Don't know. I can't see through time, just what's going on right now, and what's going on right now is... not much."

"...Oh." That's...not reassuring. "You don't see anything that could attack us nearby, do you?"

"That could attack you, you mean."

He should know from the oddly windy handshake that she's not exactly solid.

"Gimme a minute..."

"--okay," says Sky, focusing on the world at hand again. "Now would be a good time to go that way, very fast."

That's all the encouragement Edwin needs, really. Clicking his tongue, he goads Huxley into a gallop, glancing behind him quickly. "What did you see?"

Perhaps more importantly-does he want to know what she saw?

"Dunno exactly."

She's never seen Jurassic Park, see.

"Quick. Low. Claws. Three of 'em."

"Cats?" he guesses. Well, cats are low to the ground, they have claws, they can (and will), in fact, eat you...

He keeps Huxley at a gallop, still looking behind himself for any sign of whatever's chasing them.

"Nah... more lizard-y. I'd say dinosaurs, but that's a little weird even for this place."