The Streets of Town, Thursday Morning

[cracked_n_corrupt]

Everything was grey these days. Grey, or that muddy red-brown color that humans left behind when their bodies were damaged, but in the fog, the always, always fog, even that seemed grey, or black. Dirty. Earth was dirty. Dirtier now than it had been, and smaller, just one island apart from the rest, but this was the Earth that was most prevalent in Peridot's mind. And she still had her mind, as sharp as ever. Just... damaged, a little.

That much was plain to see just at a glance if you could catch sight of her, skittering across cobbles and ducking behind things, a bag strapped to her back that she was slowly filling with anything that looked like it could be of any use to the humans in the village. She might even be easy to spot in the gloom. After all, a greyer take on green was still practically lush in comparison to most other colors, and there weren't many things left on the island that were more verdant than Peridot.

She ducked behind a pile of rubble that hid away a stockpile of medical supplies that she'd dug out from one of the buildings in town earlier in the day, as well as some yellowed but unused notebooks and a couple of unopened boxes of pencils. All things considered, it was hard to say which prize she was more proud of. She seemed to be tucking them all into her bag with equal amounts of reverence, after all.

Around here, memory was as valuable as even the most powerful medication.

[OOC: Open streets, if you dare to brave them!]

Comments

[studyingfear]

The fog had not melted him or Dark Nation and while the streets and buildings had changed dramatically from what he was used to, it was still recognizably Fandom when Rufus headed out for personal inspection that morning.

He'd wind up in the library soon enough but, given that all Portals were down now, Rufus wanted to know what they were dealing with. Monsters didn't scare him--he was confident he could take care of himself and Dark Nation--and the streets were fascinating in their changed state.

Rufus didn't bother to hide as he walked the streets, though he wasn't going out of his way to be seen either. His eyes were alert and, now and then, a faint smile curled his lips. It was almost exhilarating, being free to do this.

[cracked_n_corrupt]

In a place like this, 'not going out of his way to be seen' was practically 'wandering around with a neon arrow over his head,' and Peridot's head snapped up as she noticed the figure making his way down the street, wide eyes flickering with static briefly before returning to empty, solid white.

The figure wasn't moving like one of the emptied ones, though sometimes that just meant that there was a slight tether to humanity left still. It didn't necessarily mean he would be any less viol--

He came a little closer to her hiding spot, his features coming into sharper focus, and Peridot gasped. It was possibly the most sound that had escaped her lips all day, and in these streets, it was deafening.

[intotheout]

Tip had left the dorms planning to go to work. What was that postal service motto? Neither rain nor sleet nor yadda yadda. Creepy fog had to be included in that. She didn't want to get fired. Also, she wasn't entirely sure the dorms were all that much safer just now. The Post Office would maybe at least be all in one piece.

Yeah, she wasn't so sure about that, anymore. She was getting some serious late Boov invasion flashbacks going, here, especially considering the fact that she couldn't get her phone to dial any numbers off island. Which was bad. She wasn't sure she'd've gotten through the Boov invasion without J.Lo. Here she didn't even have Pig.

Bill flying in circles over her head, spelling "NO" repeatedly wasn't helping much, either.

"I get it," Tip told him. "This is a bad idea." She held up her camera and snapped a picture of a nearby ruin. "I already made the bad choice, though, so I might as well do some recon while I'm out here, right?"

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO. . . .

[cracked_n_corrupt]

This... this was a weird day for humans who had left Peridot alone suddenly showing up in the streets. A really, really weird day. She was two for two, now, her head jerking up at the flash of a camera that made her jump in surprise.

There was a rustle of tiny hands and paper as she shoved what she'd grabbed into her bag and threw it onto her back, and then she peered out from behind the rubble at Gratuity, warily.

It seemed as though every dead (empty, monstrous, gone) human that she knew was bent on dying again, today.

[intotheout]

Bill freaked out at the rustling, popping all his carefully formed NO bubbles. Tip turned to look.

". . . Peridot? That you?"

[cracked_n_corrupt]

Peridot tilted her head and stared for a few seconds in silence, just to be sure this wasn't some sort of trick. Gratuity... looked different. Had looked different for some time. And hadn't moved from where she'd closed herself away since...

Since forever ago. Since after she'd lost herself.

Tentatively, bag on her back and almost comically oversized guns strapped to each hip, she straightened up and made her way out from her hiding place to investigate... maybe a Tip doppelganger. Who happened to know her name. Stranger things had happened here.

[intotheout]

"Um," said Tip. "What happened to your eyes?"

[cracked_n_corrupt]

You know, Tip, there were a lot of things that people generally said after seeing somebody for the first time in ages. Especially when you were the one who had turned into a monster, here. 'What happened to your eyes' wasn't generally on that list, and it had Peridot pausing mid-step and squinting a little.

It wasn't like the eyes were a new feature, here.

Peridot gave a little, put-upon sigh, and then gestured at the gem on her forehead, as though it ought to be obvious. Really, she was lucky to have two arms and two legs, given the severity of the crack. What happened to her eyes?

Humans.

[intotheout]

O . . . kay.

"Are you okay?" Tip asked. Look, it wasn't as though Peridot was super obviously not her usual Peridot, here. "Oh geez, you got cracked."

She had no idea what that meant for a gem. Other than, you know, apparently creepy eyes.

[cracked_n_corrupt]

"Badly," Peridot agreed, her tone hushed and sharp, as if suggesting that perhaps Gratuity might consider giving that a try, herself. And that was about all she was going to say to suggest that. Talking wasn't exactly her strongest suit these days, for so many reasons.

Warily, she took a few more steps toward Tip. This could still be some sort of weird... hollow... boss... trap. Or something.

[intotheout]

Tip kept still, recognizing the skittish movements. There were plenty of folks who acted that way after the Boov.

How was she to know that her counterpart's primary attribute these days was stillness?

"How'd that happen? Was it something in the fog?"

[cracked_n_corrupt]

Peridot gave another wary nod. Something in the fog was as good an answer as any. It left out specifics, made the whole memory of it a little less sharp in her head. She could live with 'something in the fog.'

She wasn't entirely sure she could live with how still Tip had gone. She hesitated, a few steps out of range if the girl decided she wanted to reach for her. And then she took a step back again, just to be sure.

[intotheout]

Um, okay. That was a little extra skittish. Tip tilted her head. Though if she'd just been attacked. . . . "What's wrong, Peridot?" she asked. "Is it still nearby?"

[cracked_n_corrupt]

'It?' Peridot blinked, and then tilted her head, gesturing to her gem again in question. The one who had done this?

She shook her head.

"Years ago," she explained, again in that hushed tone. "Gone now."

[intotheout]

"Nuh uh," Tip said. Maybe the broken gem affected her memory? "This is the first I've seen it."

[cracked_n_corrupt]

It was amazing the dry look that Peridot could muster even while her eyes glitched and returned to their new normal.

"You were gone too."

Duh, Tip.

[intotheout]

What?

"What?" said Tip.

WHAT, bubbled Bill.

[cracked_n_corrupt]

Peridot just sighed. She hated repeating herself, even more than she hated having to speak up at all, these days.

"Gone," she said again, a little more pointedly, a little more slowly, and then she pointed at Tip, just to be sure that point was clear. After a pause, she pointed again to the side of her own head, and then shrugged her shoulders.

Welcome to apocalypse charades with your host, Peridot.

[intotheout]

"Nuh uh," Tip said, a little helplessly this time. She took half a step backwards, then forced herself to stop. This was ridiculous. She wasn't gone. It was just the way everything had gone spooky getting into her head. "I haven't gone anywhere, Peridot, I'm fine." She stepped forward again, holding out her hand. "The island's just going -- weird. Again."

[cracked_n_corrupt]

Peridot stared at the offered hand, stiffening a little, visibly. And then up at Tip again, eyes wide in uncertainty. This wasn't like the living statue that she was familiar with. This was like...

"You're human."

Look, it had been a while, and that was weird.

[intotheout]

"Um," said Tip. She thought this was well-established. "All my life, even. Well, except for that pony-and-then-orange thing last summer."

But that didn't really count.

[cracked_n_corrupt]

Peridot was frowning even more, now.

"Still hollowing," she muttered to herself, turning her attention toward... "Bill?"

Whatever had become of him, anyway? He wasn't organic, at least. Maybe he'd remember what Peridot was talking about?

[intotheout]

"Still what?"

Bill buzzed distressedly between Peridot and Tip, spelling NO NO NO NO NO NO NO again.

His counterpart, alas, had loooong since been crushed by what used to be Tip.

[cracked_n_corrupt]

Peridot stumbled and fell backwards, startled by the emphatic buzzing.

"Hollow," she said again, a little more loudly this time as she scooted backwards, towards her little pile of rubble. "Hollow, hollow. You lose you, then we lose you. Hollow."

And Tip had been so much worse off than hollow for a long, long time now.

[intotheout]

Okay, that crack had clearly done something really bad to Peridot's brain. "Peridot, I don't know what that means. How do you lose -- you? You mean like dead?"