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 Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 4:44 pm
"You've moved towns before?" Sheridan asked quietly and curiously. "Why?"
The stillness of the city sent chills up Sheridan's spine, and she shivered, despite not being cold. Suddenly, her head jerked up, and she looked around wildly.
"Did you just call my name?" She asked.
Wind began to howl, and Sheridan scooted a little closer to Cytheria, grabbing the hand of the older girl. Shivering now from wind a fear, she let out a little shriek as lightening sparked across the sky and thunder clapped almost too soon after.
"We have to go find shelter!" Sheridan cried, her voice panicked.
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Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 5:01 pm
Cytheria lowers her head for a moment. "My mother and father died; my closest living relative was an Uncle, but he lived in another land, so I had to move," she explains softly. "That was two years ago." She sighs softly and is lost in reflection for a few moments.
But Sheridan's panic brings her back. She doesn't reclaim her hand, but rather squeezes it in a comforting way, or at least, she hope's it's comforting. She hasn't had many occasions to be afraid in her life, so this sensation is new. Pointing to one of the shops, she says, "Maybe they won't mind if we take shelter in there. Stores are usually public places, right?"
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Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 5:02 pm
((I'm curious if you have a mental picture of Sheridan since you haven't described her yet. Unless I'm going blind that is. How old is she, for example?))
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Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 5:12 pm
"If it's open!" Sheridan said, her voice a little louder than normal. "If it's open, we should be able to go there!"
Thunder crackled, and Sheridan tugged on Cytheria's hand nervously, trying to pull her towards the store she had mentioned. The skirt of her flouncy dress blew around with the strong wind, and she let out another shriek as she used her other hand to keep it from getting inappropriate.
"I think we should hurry!" She yelped, her voice cracking in pitch slightly.
If she wasn't so afraid, she'd be embarrassed.
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Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 5:28 pm
Cytheria bunches up her skirt with her free hand to make running easier, and picks up the pace. By the time the two young women reach the door of the nearest shop, she's out of breath, not being used to running like that. Grasping the handle, she pushes on the door and enters, willing to pull Sheridan in behind her.
As they enter, there seems to be a shimmering haze in the air, and when it clears it looks like a general store from the past. Nothing inside is of a level of technology comparable to the age of electricity. Cytheria doesn't seem to think anything is amiss here, and she looks around at the merchandise. Oddly enough, there is no merchant present. Strange.
"Well, it wasn't locked," she says. "That generally means it's open. Maybe the proprietor had to step out for a minute." In this weather, it doesn't seem likely, but her mind is trying to rationalize things.
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Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 5:41 pm
"Whoa! They don't even have cash registers!" Sheridan exclaimed as she looked around the store. Glancing up at the ceiling, she said, "Or light bulbs."
The service here is terrible, Sheridan thought. Where are all the employees?
Despite wanting to look around at the merchandise, Sheridan jumped over the counter, where an employee and a register should have been, and she began to search around for a good spot to go in case the weather worsened. Rain was hitting the roof loudly, and it sounded like hail. Thunder was bursting noisily, and she was certain lightening was jumping around like a flea.
It was becoming very clear that she and Cytheria would be here for awhile. She grabbed a blanket off of the wooden shelf, spreading it out on the floor behind the counter, and promptly parked herself down on it.
Turning back towards the older girl, she said, "We may as well get comfortable, right?"
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Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 5:44 pm
"I would have waited a little longer," the older girl says with a bit of a smile to show she's not trying to reproach the younger. "What's a light bulb?" she asks with curiosity. Now, even in the most backwards places on modern day Earth, most people will know what a light bulb is. Or, perhaps, that's some western conceit. Either way, Cytheria seems to be serious about her question.
Carefully, so as not to turn up her skirts, Cytheria sits with Sheridan. "Something seems off about this place; I'm not sure what it is," she points out. "When we were outside, you didn't see a castle anywhere, did you?"
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Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 5:46 pm
((I tried to make my avatar look as close as I could to Cytheria, but I don't think there are the right items to really be exact. For example, all the green parts would be let down, not hitched up like that, and would cover the brown.))
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Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 6:00 pm
"A light bulb?" Sheridan repeated, confused. Surely, she couldn't be serious. "It's a thing that gives off light when put into the proper socket. They don't cause fire, and Thomas Edison invented them."
What a lame explanation, she chided herself. She moved so Cytheria could sit down next to her.
"I don't understand what's going on either," she replied. "And, no, I didn't see one. Do you think there's one around here?"
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Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 6:05 pm
"I have never heard of this person, Thomas Edison. But that does sound very useful. The best we have are torches, candles, lamps, or sunlight." Cytheria shakes her head. "I didn't think there would be, but since there isn't, I think that means I'm not near my home anymore. In my town there's a castle on the hill and you can see it from a very long ways away." She runs her hands up and down her arms, as though to ward off a chill. "There are whispers that the Lord of the Land practices dark magics. He has been young for as long as the oldest among us remember." Then she smiles so as not to frighting Sheridan too much. "What is your home town like?"
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Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 6:16 pm
Sheridan's mouth fell open while she listened to Cytheria's words. She sounded like a character from a book she had read once about castles and evil lords. Could this really be the truth? She sure did act as if it were. "My hometown?" Sheridan said quietly. A million adjectives flowed through her brain. Average. Normal. Boring. Run of the mill. "It's nice. We have a couple schools, and there's a skate-park with a half pipe that a lot of people go to. We have a lot of stores, too, but they don't look like this. And we have a library and some regular parks." She paused, then asked, "What's the Lord of the Land like?" Sheridan nervously played with her hands as the storm continued to rage on.
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