Futuristic Fading Convenience

[DemonicLillies]

"Because no one else is. Trust me, whatever happens here is a lot better than option 2." He didn't really want to think about option 2, there was a lot that could happen to a person in a place where death is temporary.

"But... we can't stay here forever. It'll have to do as a temporary solution." Danyon had stopped caring about how cryptic he was being, he was too busy worrying about everything else. If they weren't careful this could be quite the shit show.

 

[PerilousAbyss]

"Fair enough... If it's safer than staying in the salt flats, I don't have a problem with being here." She said as she sat down on a knocked over Victorian era gas streetlamp, her boots scuffing a bit on the torn pages of an ancient Japanese manuscript. Most artifacts from the days of old had more or less lost all their value. Only the most useful, artistic, and aesthetically appealing of items had any worth.

 

[DemonicLillies]

He sighed, sitting down on an old bench.

"I guess I should explain things to you huh." He decided it would be easier to not make eye contact, choosing to stare down at his feet instead. "So... first off, I accidentally pissed off a lot of people. I was just looking for food but that... ain't as easy as it sounds. Had to get into bandit territory a couple times, they have a habit of taking anything shiny. I... I may have killed the wrong guy. He saw me and I shot him. Turns out the bastard was the leader. Leader of... of the biggest bandit group. Everyone's on my ass now. Didn't think they'd find me in the flats but they are... determined."

He was in deep, wasn't sure if he could get out. Maybe she could help him.

 

[PerilousAbyss]

"Shit, that's a tough deal... Sucks for you..." She said with a soft chuckle, grinning beneath her helmet as she aimed down the sights of the pistol Danyon handed her to get familiar with how the firearm handled. She wasn't trying to make light of his plight, but found it cruelly funny how unlucky a man could be. "Was the food worth it?"

 

[DemonicLillies]

"Damn right it was. Entire damn pig, apple and all. Tasted like heaven. And that was just the main course, nabbed a damn chocolate cake for dessert." He laughed, couldn't help it. Sure, he was most likely gonna be tortured horribly if he was caught... but he had to appreciate the humour in dying for cake. "Honestly... I'd do it again."

He felt calmer, joking about the cause of his death was surprisingly calming. Part of him wondered if he could make it out of this alive. He decided it was the same part that made him steal the pig.

 

[PerilousAbyss]

She respected his guts and commitment to his principles. Not a whole lot of people would risk death for the sake of luxury like he did. "I'm glad to hear your death sentence was worth it... I'd say the same goes for mine too..." Paula said with a grin and briefly removed her helmet, untying her hair in order to let her black hair flow freely through the nonexistent breeze.

"Got banished for revolting against a tyrant. His kingdom eventually crumbled thanks to my movement, but not until after I'd been cursed and left to die..."

 

[DemonicLillies]

"It's weird... fearing death when it doesn't even matter. We can just shrug it off and keep on going but we... we still do everything we can to stay alive." He was silent for a while, thinking over the current events.

"So... I don't think we can stay out here forever. The destabilization will kill us eventually. But, we can't exactly leave here either. So we're stuck."

 

[PerilousAbyss]

The woman looked pensive for a few moments as she slumped against her palm, her elbow planted on the knee of her dress pants. "Yeah, all this is bad news... There's gotta be a safe house somewhere nearby, though. Some kind of a stronghold." She postulated, fishing a small bauble from her shirt pocket which appeared to be a kind of broken timepiece.

 

[DemonicLillies]

"I'm sure there's one... somewhere nearby. Only problem is, we got raiders on our tail. Won't be too keen to take us in." The raiders were slowly becoming more of a problem, it was gonna be a hard time getting out of here.

"What if we just rushed them. Stole a car, drove as fast as we can. Might out run them." He laughed nervously, it was an awful idea but it was all he had.

 

[PerilousAbyss]

Paula was by no means a woman afraid of danger, but she had to shake her head at Danyon's improvised, reckless plan. "Too dangerous. We'd probably be better off sneaking around them, or hunkering down in some kind of settlement. She lifted up her helmet's visor and placed a cigarette between her lips before striking a match to ignite it.

 

[DemonicLillies]

"The nearest settlement I can think of is Junk Town. Might be an idea." He knew Junk Town was around here somewhere, he just... wasn't sure of how to get there.

"We'd have to make a distraction of some kind though, get the raiders off our trails. An explosion or something." If only he hadn't used the last of explosives to destroy his cabin, might have actually had a plan. "But... unless you happen to have explosives, this plan might be a bust too."

 

[PerilousAbyss]

"Don't have any bombs, unfortunately... What we could do is get to Junk Town as fast as we can, and see if we can get a militia or something formed." Paula suggested, confident in her abilities as a public speaker and leadership figure which had allowed her to start the revolution back in her once home.

 

[DemonicLillies]

"Hm... its a bold idea but it might just work. We should have just enough gas to get there and if you think you got this, we should be able to round up enough people before they find us." He'd already began to load his stuff back onto the truck, eager to leave this place.

Climbing into the truck, he realised how tired he was all of a sudden. Maybe he could just... nod off for a while. Shouldn't cause too much harm, right?

 

[PerilousAbyss]

"I can be very persuasive when I have to. And I do in fact have to or else we're dead. Let's get going, yeah?" She asked as she slung open the door to her vehicle, looking over at the drowsy man with an energetic and upbeat expression. Seemed she wasn't nearly as tired as Danyon was, no doubt motivated by the idea of rallying people to a cause yet again.

 

[DemonicLillies]

"So that's a plan then. I hope you know the way because I'm... just gonna take a nap for a while" He mumbled, already half asleep. He assumed that the ride wasn't going to be an easy one, but he did hope that somehow it would be fine. He just wanted one nice nap, was that too much to ask?

 

[PerilousAbyss]

"Shouldn't be too hard to find my way there. I just have to follow the signs of stability. Head on over once you're done snoozing." She said with a grin as she lit a cigarette, the purple smog smelling of opium as she stepped into her car. The easiest way to navigate to where a settlement was, was by following places where reality wasn't shifting or changing all that much. People only developed in places which weren't intangible or sentient.

 

[DemonicLillies]

His nap didn't last long. After a while he shot awake, awoken by a strange sense of dread. The area felt unstable, decided he should get moving. He started up his truck, hitting the accelerator hard. She said the way there was to "follow the signs of stability", should be easy enough. Hopefully.

He realised quickly that he wasn't really sure of what a sign of stability even was, so he started just driving in the direction he was pretty sure that Junk Town was in. He'd get there eventually, at least he hoped he would.

 

[PerilousAbyss]

When Paula eventually arrived at her destination, she was greeted by the sight of a surprisingly robust community. The city itself was constructed within the decaying skeletons of skyscrapers and a sprawling shantytown of rusted tin roofs, steel girders, and repurposed car, plane, and factory parts lay before her.

She parked her car in a designated zone and slipped the armored guard who was watching over it a small jeweled bauble with a gorgeous ruby glow to it. All that was left was for Danyon to hopefully arrive soon enough, but for now, she decided to wander about in search of useful items, information, and willing fighters for a makeshift militia.