Intro

[loistheintrepid]

[Action A | 5719 Cunningham Lane]

No. No, no, no, no, no. Not again. Please God, not again.

She's had this dream before. Waking up in the hell hole of a place that was Mayfield again, trapped in the Pleasantville way of life, unable to snap herself out of the nightmare.

Please, God, let her be dreaming.

Except that the man she woke up next to isn't Hal, and the house she rushes out of isn't the one she lived in before, and the street she's standing in the middle of isn't Kramden Road.

Not again. No, no, no, not again.

[Action B | Kramden Road]

She's still barefoot in her ridiculous nightgown, not having bothered to change before she tore her way towards her old street. Maybe her old friends are still there. Maybe Hal...

But if she's switched around, maybe everybody else is, too. Which is why she's just going around pounding her fists on every door on the street like a crazy person in hopes that a familiar face answers.

[Action C | Around Town]

By the end of the day, she's a mess. Still barefoot, still nightgown-clad. Wandering her way around the Mayfield streets hoping for someone to make sense of why she's back.

It wasn't fair. She'd escaped this place. Spent a full year pretending it was just a bad dream. And now here she was again, wondering if that year of freedom had even been real.

She finds a bench, curls her knees to her chest, and buries her face in her arms.

Fucking Mayfield.

Comments

[loistheintrepid]

M'fine. [she mumbles, not moving from her spot on the bench. Grumble grumble. Bad mood.]

[loistheintrepid]

[Lois's eyes widen in relief when she sets eyes on the other woman. Suddenly, she's in the kitchen, throwing her arms around the other woman and sighing.]

Ilsa! Oh, thank God. I thought everybody from before was gone!

[returntospring]

[She takes a seat on the bench next to the woman; not too close, though.]

I'm one of the ones trapped here, same as you. If there's something about this town that's upsetting you, I'd lie to help.

[ooeeooahah]

[ Ilsa hugs her back, shaking a little. ] No, I'm still here... did they assign you to Hal's place again?

[swordwaitress]

Well, I guess you've got a point. But try not to let it get to you too badly.

And I'm Yachiyo Todoroki.

[loistheintrepid]

[She offers her another small smile.]

Nice to meet you, Yaa.. chiko. Chiyo. [Whoops.] And thanks.

[loistheintrepid]

[She chuckles dryly at that.]

Do I have to pick just one thing?

[loistheintrepid]

[She pulls back, frowning at Ilsa.]

No- And he's not in our old place, either. Is he here, have you seen him?

[returntospring]

... It would be easier to just say "everything" in this case, wouldn't it? I understand... I didn't like this town one bit when I first arrived. It still scares me...

[loistheintrepid]

I lived here a year ago. [She sighed, running a hand through her hair.]

This town put me through Hell the first time around. Can't imagine the second will be any better.

[ooeeooahah]

He's here. Luckily I didn't see him last weekend, but he's been around.

[loistheintrepid]

Here's here. Oh, thank God. [She sighs, running a hand through her hair and then stopping to frown at Ilsa again.]

Why, what happened last weekend? Are you okay?

[returntospring]

... I'm sorry.

[Sakura can't imagine going through that. Thinking you escaped that nightmare, only to be dragged back...]

I haven't been here that long, so I can't tell if it's gotten better or worse...

[loistheintrepid]

Can't imagine this place getting any better.

[She kicks the dirt with her toe a moment, shaking her head.]

Sorry. I'm being a total downer. Think I need to go drown my sorrows at a bar or something.

[returntospring]

N-No, it's okay! Really. [She laughs a little sheepishly.] I understand that very few people like this place. If getting everything out now helps, then please, do it.

[ooeeooahah]

[ She sighs. ] Last weekend, I was... something else.

[ Ilsa goes to make coffee, ] There's a few things I didn't tell you, last time you were here. One of them is I'm not all human. Last weekend, near as I can figure, my memories were replaced. I believed I was someone from my dad's world. One of the... opponents to Daddy's folks.

[loistheintrepid]

[Her frown deepens and she takes a seat on a kitchen stool, watching Ilsa carefully.]

Not... human? I don't understand.

[ooeeooahah]

Yeah... you see, at home, my family's under the radar. The general public doesn't need to know the nightmares are real. So I haven't talked much about it until I got here... and definitely not to the media.

[ She shrugs. ] Sorry, it was just habit, but about the time you were droned, I finally got to the point that the realization that others might need the information to help get us out of here overrode my old security habits.

So it was hard for me to tell a reporter that my mama is a mage and my daddy is an incubus. [ She looks nervous, though. ]

[loistheintrepid]

[She blinked at Ilsa a moment, working the new information over in her brain.]

... An... incubus.

I'm guessing you don't mean in the cool, rock band kind of way.

[ooeeooahah]

[ Ilsa gives a surprised snicker. ] No, he's more of a jazz and world-beat kinda guy.

Um. [ She flusters a bit, and settles on assembling something involving flour. Possibly to have something to do with her hands. ]

Well, you know how bad press goes further than good, sometimes?

[swordwaitress]

[ She smiles as Lois gets her name wrong. It's pretty charming, really. ]

Do you like parfaits?

[ Parfaits can cheer up most people, can't they? ]

[surf_n_makai]

Yeah, I'm a cop. From a family of cops. Family business, you know?

Kansas, huh? So this probably looks a little more familiar to you than me. Just from a different decade.

[party_hard]

Oh, you did! That's really neat! Which house did you live in? Do you even remember? It's REALLY hard to tell them all apart!

[loistheintrepid]

Interesting. What division?

[She nods.] Fairly familiar. As familiar as any horrible nightmare you can't wake up from can be.

[loistheintrepid]

[Yeah, the perkiness was starting to give her a headache. And she'd already woke up with one, too.]

Uh... 1491. [She rubs her temple, casting a glance down the street.]

With Hal Jordan. Do you know if he still lives there?