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[welcomequeenalice]

(From here:)

She needs to get out of here, or she needs to get a costume. In Gotham she's got her costume and can go on an anti-monster rampage but she's got civilians here and also no backup. They likely don't even know she's gone. Which itself is terrifying.

Circling around the station brings them to a chain link fence surrounding what looks like a parking lot. There's a rusty lock on the gate, but she can see the door on the inside hanging slightly open.

"Wait here." Genevieve tucks the rebar into her bag and starts scaling the fence, tiny feet tucking between the links. Her teeth are gritted against the way the metal scrapes against her fingers.

Comments

[empty_vessel]

Jimmy nods, watching Genevieve scale the fence before he turns to look for any more surprises. The smell's starting to get to him, the reek of lake water carried on the fog and clinging to him whenever he moves.

"Be careful." Before she slips inside the building.

[welcomequeenalice]

The building's as empty as the diner, and she can hear the sound of dripping water from somewhere inside the dirty walls with their flaking wallpaper. Genevieve goes through the front desk until she finds a keyring labeled, helpfully, "GATE KEYS" and takes it back to JImmy.

"No one's there," she says as she lets him in, voice still hushed, and locks the gate behind him again.

[empty_vessel]

The gate creaks and groans as it opens, flakes of rust crumbling with every action. Nothing around to hear that Jimmy can see, though.

And inside is no better. His hand covers his nose and mouth in response to the smell, and he coughs once. ".... Well, it's.... helpful that the water damage isn't limited to outside? We might be able to break through a wall or a door if we have to, with the rot."

[welcomequeenalice]

Genevieve wrinkles her nose. "See if you can find a weapon, in case those things come back." She'd suggest a gun but her comrades aren't huge gun fans, it's one of those matter of principle things, so she's not sure she'd trust herself with one. Or trust someone who's not familiar with them to use it properly without blowing his toe off.

There's a phone on the front desk but the cord's been eaten through by what she's hoping are rats, and more water seems to be draining out of the earpiece. "Are we dreaming?" she asks quietly. "How is this place real?"

[empty_vessel]

"I'm not sure I want to find out if it's real or not, honestly. Especially the hard way." He's not entirely sure how the armless things could hurt him, but he's not all that interested in finding out.

"Think we'll find anything?" He starts looking behind the desk, grimacing as the initial search turns up papers almost decomposed into sludge. "Okay. That is a whole new level of gross."

[welcomequeenalice]

"Maybe we should just start walking. Pick a direction, we have to get out of this town eventually." On the other hand that...thing...is out there. On the third hand even if she could make contact with someone, how could they come here to get her?

Genevieve switches gears. Instead of a phone she moves into the station locker room, opening the unlocked one in search of abandoned weaponry or useful items.

Something clanks on the second level of the station, making her flinch. Could be rusting pipes falling from the walls. Could be something with legs and no arms.

[empty_vessel]

"Yeah, there's nothing up here but a whole lot of sludge." He wipes his fingers on a nominally clean surface and starts heading back to Genevieve when he hears the clank.

Ducking on reflex, even though the thing is upstairs and can't possibly know they're down here, he glances up at the ceiling before looking down the hall at her. ".... do we want to keep looking around? Because I'm really thinking no."

[welcomequeenalice]

Another clunk, and Genevieve shivers. How doth the little crocodile--no, stop. "Yes, let's," she says in a soft whisper, and starts making for the door.

(If this is too fast, let me know!)

[empty_vessel]

Jimmy nods back, still ducking down, and follows Genevieve's stealthy exit out the door. "Maybe we can come back later, if we find some..."

As they head out the door and it quietly clunks shut behind them, the world has changed again. No fog, no water, just an abandoned street with a crumbling police station.

[welcomequeenalice]

Above them there's a soft clatter, like clinking porcelain. A piece of the wall falling off, maybe, and Genevieve take a step before another clatter makes her stop and turn.

A hazy figure is silhouetted against the streetlight, crouching on the roof of the police station. It could almost be on the taller side of human but it limbs are too long--and they seem tobend in too many places. Genevieve squints at it and it shifts with another clinking sound.

"Oh god," whispers Genevieve. To stay still, or to bolt?

[empty_vessel]

Jimmy's gaze follows Genevieve's, paling when he sees the thing on the roof. He presses himself flat against the wall, and motions that Genevieve should do the same.

Carefully inching his way down the wall and bringing a finger to his lips in an unmistakeable 'shh' gesture, he's praying that whatever's up there hasn't noticed them yet.

[welcomequeenalice]

The thing on the roof clatters and shifts, extending one long limb to step from the roof to the corner of the fence where it can balance atop the steel poles. As it moves the light shines down on it more fully.

Its limbs and torso remind Genevieve of the doll she'd seen mutilated back at the dinner. Pale, baby-chubby ares and legs are attached by long stretches of bare, thick muscle that protrudes two feet out from its body before the connect with the limbs themselves. A dress of what appears to be sackcloth hangs off it, and where one presumes the chest might be there are two...lumps, one sagging and one protruding, like someone had stuffed a pair of watermelons and attempted to crudely arrange them into the shape of a bosom. The head has wide, watery eyes the size of frying pants and a garishly gaping mouth rimmed with smeared red 'lipstick'. A parody of femininity, staring intent at them as a tongue comes out to smear the red across the bottom lip.

Rust scrapes Genevieve's finger as she clings to her rebar.

[empty_vessel]

Okay, that..... no, Jimmy has no idea what in the hell that is. He risks looking away from the moon-faced monster to see if there's anywhere they can duck down when it starts chasing them. It can see them now, so their chances of sneaking by it are pretty much shot. His first reflex is to run. Run fast, and maybe see if he can get it to maul one of those armless things they ran past. Especially if only one of them has a weapon.

Keeping his voice quiet (in that extremely level-headed and controlled quiet of 'I'm half a step away from completely losing it right now.') if only to keep from adding to the party. ".... I think we need to go. Right now." And starting to inch his way down the wall, ready to just grab Genevieve and run, or just start running after her.

[welcomequeenalice]

Something in the back of Genevieve's brain, in the area normally devoted to crisis management skills, throws up its hands and goes "NOPE".

She's used to danger, that's no trouble. But she understands the concept of a gun, a knife, a handheld flamethrower. But this is madness beyond madness, beyond even her own hallucinations at their very worse.

Genevieve looks at the massive eyes as the creature blinks slow, thick eyelids at her. Her voice begins to rise from a shuddering whisper to plain, firm speech. "T'was brillig, and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe. All mimsy were the borogoves, and the mome raths outgrabe."

One foot slides forward and she almost seems taller, with the way she holds her head up. Fear is still quite active in her brain but it's just not relevant at the moment and will be ignored until it is needed again. The creature's head twists to the side and its jaws gape, letting out a deep grunt. Definitely have its attention now, if they hadn't before.

[empty_vessel]

T'was brillig and the what? Jimmy looks from Genevieve to the monster and back, trying to figure out what the plan is. Because it looks like the plan is 'take on whatever that thing is', and Jimmy's not a huge fan, to be honest. But he's not going to leave Genevieve here to get eaten. So he starts looking for a weapon or a clear way to grab her and run like hell if he has to.

He ends up with a slat that had broken off a pallet at one point, and it still had a few nails sticking out of the business end. Not ideal, but it's better than nothing. And there's still the option of 'Grab Genevieve and run!'

"Genevieve? It's looking at us. I think we should be getting the hell out if here."

[welcomequeenalice]

“Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun the frumious Bandersnatch!” Well, if it wasn't paying attention to them before, it definitely will be when Genevieve starts shouting nonsense at it. No scepter in hand, no crown on her head, but take a dog from a bone and what's left? Its temper.

There's a click as the monster clamps its jaws shut, and then a horrific deep-throated laugh that makes the fence vibrate. It reaches out with its long limbs and descends from the fence, slow for now, sliding its lengthy bulk along the wet and sticky ground.

The laugh doesn't stop.

[empty_vessel]

Oh boy. And things were going so well.

The.... whatever the hell that thing is is coming right for them, and Genevieve's self-preservation seems to have gone right out the window. He's got no idea how fast that thing can go, but he can't leave Genevieve here alone.

But then it starts laughing. So he's going to give it one more go before he just grabs her and starts running like hell. "Genevieve? We need to go. NOW." One last hissed plea before he decides that they need to be gone.

[welcomequeenalice]

The Queen finds herself yanked off her feet, shouting and swearing in nonsensical curses as her muddy shoes drag along the ground. No, she should fight! Slay the Jabberwock, caloo callay!

When they run it runs, clattering and grunting with heavy footfalls (and handfalls) along the ground after them. The head wobbles as if it's not quite attached right, like a bobblehead toy.

[empty_vessel]

Oh, this is just great. He throws Genevieve over his shoulder regardless of the yelling and starts running as fast as he can. He can hear the thing's deep, hooting laughter in his bones as he runs, and it seems like they're just outside of pouncing range. At least, he hopes they are.

Ducking around a car proves him partially right, as the thing crashes into the car with a deafening noise. It's stunned? Maybe? As he runs and looks for an alley or something to duck into.

[welcomequeenalice]

At this point the small woman wants to remove the head of everyone in the general vicinity, and is making this desire known at high volume. Her muddy shoes dig into his shirt as she tries to get upright. One hand reaches out and scrabbles at the alley wall as they duck by, letting her yank off a flat shard of loose brick when they turn the curner.

Flat. Hard. Heavier than usual. Cussingly close enough. The Queen rears back and lets fly with the slice of brick like she's about to skip a tone across teh pond and when it collides with the beast's head there's the sound of shattering porcelain to compliment its roar of rage.

[empty_vessel]

Oh good. Now they have it's attention. And Genevieve all over him like the world's angriest cat is not helping. But the fresh adrenalin dump helps keep him moving and praying they find a small alley, or a gate or something that they can duck into that it can't follow behind them. (He does have a minor heart attack when one of Genevieve's shoe heels catches on his shirt and tears it a little, though.)

And it's furious. Charging after them and bellowing in its rage, its porcelain face switched out from the smiling, moon-face to a screaming baby, face twisted with rage at not getting a lolly. But Jimmy doesn't have that much more before the first stitch stabs its way into his side, followed by the burn in his lungs starting to really heat up.

The fenced-in courtyard behind the building seems like a godsend, dashing through the open grate and maybe buying them a few seconds to try and remember what air actually is.

[welcomequeenalice]

The monster crashes into the fence with a noise like meat slapping against bone china. The wall shudders but holds against another blow from the monster's massive front limbs. Genevieve screams nonsense at it and shakes her fist, and it howls back in response, trying to climb the fence but finding the crumbling stones hard to grasp.

Genevieve twists and finally wriggles out of Jimmy's grasp, plopping onto the broken-up bricks of the courtyard grounds.

"All persons more than a mile high must leave the court immediately!" the Queen announces loudly. Surprisingly, the monster seems to listen. One huge glassy eye glares at them through the wall before it turns and stomps off, letting out frustrated little grunts as it leaves. The Queen takes it a few slow breaths, starting to let the rage dissipate.

[empty_vessel]

That was.... No, Jimmy has no idea what in the hell actually happened. Genevieve yelled at the thing and it left? In a sulk even!

.... What!?

He looks from where the monster was, to Genevieve and then back at the empty space before the running catches up with him and he sort of crumple into a sit.

[welcomequeenalice]

He's briefly at eye level with the small woman until she too sinks down, slumping without care to even more mud getting on her clothes.

"What was that thing?" she asks quietly, shoulders heaving with the deep breath she's taking to settle herself down.

[empty_vessel]

"Your guess is as good as mine." Now that it's certain that they're not going to die horribly by... whatever that thing was, a few minutes to catch his breath is divine.

After a few minutes of getting his breath back and not feeling like he's been trying to outrace Usein Bolt, he looks back at Genevieve. "... How did you make it go away?"

[welcomequeenalice]

"I...did I?" Genevieve looks over at the little gap in the wall that the monster peered through. "I just wanted it to go away. It wasn't supposed to be here..."

She trailed off and then looked down at her hands. One was scraped from where she'd grabbed the wall and yanked out the brick. "I'm sorry if I was a bit..."

Don't apologize, queens don't apologize, say the combined voices of Queen Alice and her current psychiatrist in her head. "Mmm. If I made trouble," she finished, ignoring both of them.