Somewhere between July and December

[louboutinjudas]

1.
[ It wasn't the fastest car he'd ever driven, but it made better time than the old man's shitty station wagon had, and it was definitely faster than walking across the desert. None of the maps he'd found tucked under the seat had Hopeland on them, which was worrisome as all hell, but on one of the maps there was an orphanage marked, just off of a city called December.

The ghost he'd talked to on that mountaintop had told him he'd die in December, but that ghost had also ruined his last cigarette, so fuck that guy. If he died, he died, but first, he was going to make sure Miss Melanie and the kids were okay.

The sedan hums its way across the desert, kicking up a dust cloud that can be seen for miles. ]


2.
[ With a shudder and a hard jolt, the car comes screeching to a halt, the dash going dead as the engine seizes up. Wolfwood swears, punches the dash, then swears again when the solid dash nearly breaks his hand for his trouble. He'd managed to get the car hotwired, but apparently cars in this messed up version of Noman's were more different from the ones he knew than he'd realized. Is it out of oil? Out of charge? Not like he can do anything about it, whatever the problem.

Please ignore the man in black, standing next to a very dead car in the middle of absolute nowhere and screaming at the sky. It's therapeutic profanity, and it really is helping. ]


3.
[ Sunburned and exhausted, Wolfwood crests the hill and finally, there before him, sees the building that his map identifies as the December Orphanage. Even from a distance it's clear that the chaos that's affected the rest of the planet hit here, too -- there's clear bullet holes in at least one side of the building, walls that have collapsed, and the whole place seems as deserted as everywhere else he's been.

But he's here now, so he might as well have a look around.

He really wishes he still had his Punisher, though. ]

Comments

...2

[doubletimefeel]

[Midvalley's really got no intention of getting close to that orphanage again, not with Vash the Stampede theoretically still lurking about like some sort of depressed crimson vulture. Who knows when he'd suddenly decide hell with it and go the way of his brother.

But this isn't the orphanage, and it's not far off the road he was using to get to some other town, where he'd be paid well for a few nights of music. And he can spot a dead car not far off, and some angry shape near it. Ordinarily he wouldn't detour, but these days it sometimes paid off, with people popping in and out, so the musician's own sand scoured vehicle neatly turns off and heads in the direction of Wolfwood. His at least is in better shape, and well stocked in case of ... problems.

And it slows, noticeably, when he's finally close enough to see who that is raging at the luck of shitty vehicles in the middle of nowhere. ...Ah well, in for a penny..

The slow crawl draws to a stop, about ten paces to one side.]

Kind of far from civilization, aren't you?

3 but i really thought about having nick hit him w/the car, it was tough...

[graveresemblance]

[he hadn't moved from the spot where-- the cross is. was. not since calling and calling until his voice grew hoarse, until he could see no one's here--

until he saw the shape of a couch in the distance.

now he sits, knees in the sand, before the cross and waits for...he doesn't know what he's waiting for. Razlo, naturally, isn't happy to wait, is trying to stir him up to no avail.

he sees dust churning up from...a car? that's a car, that's--]

2 Mwahaha

[celestialcrybaby]

He'd been on his way to Octovern when, from a distant speck on the horizon, he heard the rather obvious sounds of absolutely enraged cursing. And just like every other time he's heard someone in obvious distress, regardless of the fact that he'd been headed in a completely different direction, Vash's feet turn and begin bringing him closer. He can't not.

"Hellooo!" He lifted his arm in greeting before he was too close, plastering the friendliest smile he could on his face, and it wasn't long before he was close enough to finally get a look at the man standing on the other side of the broken down vehicle.

That was, of course, when he felt slow, dawning horror beginning to slide through his veins like ice water.

He swallowed down a lump in his throat, the smile on his face growing strained as he looked the man up and down. Things were...off. Different. Smaller frame, sloppier dress, younger, that ranting voice sounded just slightly off-pitch to the rumbling tenor of the man in his memories.

But as much as there was that was wrong, so much of it wasn't, and when he was close enough to lift his hand in greeting again and didn't have to shout to be heard, the hand not carrying the duffel bag over his shoulder was visibly shaking.

"Hey, friend. Car break down?"

The smile fell almost immediately after he was done speaking, his hand stuffing itself deep in his pocket, and there was a distinct feeling of the world shifting around him that he knew well. The world was twisting around him, his brain beginning to feel as if it were two inches to the left of his body, disconnected and floaty in a way that was usually a precursor to a shut down.

He fought through it for now, forcing himself to stay verbal, even though every word had to be forced out through a throat that was tightening around them. He couldn't...this wasn't...no. No. It wasn't Nicholas. Nicholas was dead. He was dead and gone and had been for months, now, and this was just a man who looked and spoke far too close to him for Vash's own comfort.

"I don't have fuel, if you're out of gas, but maybe I can help if it's a busted engine?"

1.

[goldenglasses]

[Look. In this Vash's defense, he could have sworn the sandworms lived on the OTHER side of the path. If he knew wams were now in the area he wouldn't have tried to take that short cut.

Regardless of who's fault it was it's Vash's own fault as Wolfwood is driving there is suddenly a large cloud of sand that rises just off to the side. So long as he keeps driving in the direction he's already going in he'll miss the sandworm. Surely that guy running and screaming just ahead of it clad in a long red coat with mostly blond hair styled up like a broom with a bit of black hair around the back of his neck will be okay, right?

Right?]

Eye Intake, south of December

[louboutinjudas]

[ In Wolfwood's world, all the kids from Hopeland went straight to JuLai and the cells beneath Conrad's laboratory. In this world, he's learned, some of the kids from the orphanage near December ended up going through processing in a facility just south of the city. Livio hadn't known too much about the place since he'd never been there himself, but it sounded to Wolfwood like as good a place to start any anywhere.

They still needed to get to July, to Rem and the kids, but since they were already on this side of the world, they might as well start their spring cleaning here.

His leg isn't going to heal any time soon, Wolfwood thinks angrily, adjusting the bandages strapping the splint to his thigh so that it'll hold his weight. The homemade walking cast looks like a mess, but how it looks doesn't matter. He's going to need to move on his own, once they arrive -- if either of the guys living in the body currently driving the car try to carry him again, he's going to break their leg.

It's possible that there won't be anyone in the facility, he knows, as the mountain range comes into view. The city was abandoned, so maybe the staff here left too -- there's only one way to find out. ]

Hike in, or drive up to the front door, what do you think?