shatterverse | (no subject)

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The sun is setting, and a car appears in the distance.

Inside is a 24-year old, a 7 year old, and an imaginary sister.

Lenore, exhausted, stops the car outside a farm that looks like it hasn't seen a drop of water in years, and promptly flops back onto the hood of the vehicle.

She's tired. She's hungry. Her hands are shaking and she's sweating and it takes everything she has to keep it from happening, and within a few minutes, it subsides. There are a few lights on in the farmhouse, she notices, and so she checks to make sure Bridgette is still asleep before walking over and knocking on the door.

"Hey," she calls, hoping someone hospitable will open the door, "I've got a kid with me."

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"There's a shelter outside with beds," Jack offers, coming out of the house. ""I'm only a guest myself, but I'm sure you're both well come."

"Anyone motherly here?" she asks, sounding desperate.

She's not trying to pawn Bridge off on anyone, nope.

Definitely not.

Jack tilts his head, and his own look softens just a little. Then he shakes it out of his face.

"Not of my acquaintance. Yet the atmosphere is jovial enough. There are other children."

ARE THEY CRAZY TOO?

She doesn't ask that, but she does look very, very tired.

"Awesome," she says, then peers through the window of the car. "She's still asleep," she continues, voice quieter. "Had a hell of a time, getting here. Thought we were gonna get eaten by a dinosaur --"

Which reminds her!

"So what the hell happened here? Do you know? Why are there dinosaurs and rifts in time and shit?"

"I know not why," Jack says, quietly. "I just know that there are. This is safer than anywhere you may find, though."

Of course.

Lenore glances around, surveying the area.

"Does anyone know if any other places survived like this?"

"Mostly we think we're alone," Jack says solemnly. "Though some of us are intending to embark and explore to find others."

"Oh."

Lenore hums thoughtfully at this idea.

"Well, the kid thinks some sort of super-flu did it."

"She has it not right there," Jack admits. "Things came through like we did, and violence ensued."

He's smiling. Crazy as it may be, Jack likes that idea.

...

"Things," she repeats. "Like the dinosaur things we saw?"

A thought crosses her mind.

Maybe they're aliens.

She shivers.

"Like them," Jack confirms. "And the kraken that attacked myself and my companions."

Lenore's expression goes very, very blank.

It's one of those "uh can you repeat that again I think I either misheard you or am going insane" expressions.

"Kraken? Like... a giant squid?"

"Just like," Jack agrees. "Luckily we weren't at sea when it attacked."

"Oh," she says, voice cracking.

"Okay. I think I'm going to sit down --"

And she promptly flops onto the ground, pressing against her eyes with her hands.

wtfwtfwtfwtfWTF.

Jack crouches down beside her, and lays a hand on her shoulder, trying for ressuring.

"I spoke truth when I said they could not get into Kansas."

"But they exist," she stammers. "They're not SUPPOSED to exist at all ever --"

Her breath catches in her throat.

"Shit," she mutters, and presses her hands against the ground to keep Jack from noticing that they're shaking.

Unfortunately, her eyes have already turned completely black, which Jack is surely bound to notice.

He surely is, but there is gently shoulder rubbing instead.

"How would they not exist? A world without kraken would be dull indeed."

She takes a few slow, shaky breaths.

"They don't exist, in my world," she says, barely whispering.

The black, as quickly as it arrived, fades.

"Sorry," she mumbles.

He smiles faintly.

"Worlds differ," he offers, apologetic for it's uselessness.

"Guess so," she mutters, then sighs softly.

"You know a rainbow girl?"

"Seen her in my dreams," Jack says, almost wistfully.

Then adds, "she's inside."

"Is she?" Lenore asks, peering toward the house.

"I'm not crazy, then?"

"Not for that, at any rate."

He's joking!

That makes Lenore laugh, a little bit.

"Alright, uh -- can you take me to her?"

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