post-impocalypse: a field trip

[farfromgrace]

Vengeance is a Hell that cannot forget the past. Places of violence sometimes waver and reveal their old scars, bullet holes reappearing in fixed tables. It hasn't even forgotten the fall-- white chalk outlines in some of the alleys show bodies bent and crumpled at fatal angles, bodies that if stared at long enough show the pale shadow of wings at their backs. Some of the damned have claimed these angel bodies, hoping for a patron in hell or a weapon against it should they ever stir-- or a favor from Asmodeus, if they bring a waking one to him.

Beyond that, the cramped jumble of a city has the look of a place that belongs in a film noir, the light that's cast from the sky here washes out colors, and at night the fog comes in across the dark water and envelopes the city. So, in opposition to that, the occupied buildings are garish and loud on the inside and with their neon advertisements on the outside, demanding attention and refusing to bow to an environment that seems to want them silenced.

Space suddenly shifts, in a jarring, nauseating way, and you're falling into a landscape that's definitely a city, but not your Tokyo-F.

And land, unceremoniously, in an alley, the portal closing behind you. Nothing special about it, covered in peeling advertisements, full of shadows, littered with broken bottles and crushed cans and other kinds of garbage.

No one seems to have noticed you yet...

Comments

[worthathousand]

[ Amaranth tries for a reassuring smile. ]

The worse is over for me, Hiryuu—don't worry. The wound is... nothing new, actually.
I think I just had already concealed it by the time we joined up the last time we found ourselves in this place together. It can't hurt me any longer.

[dragonheartedgirl]

But... it looks like it's bleeding again. You're sure you don't want Haku to heal it?

[worthathousand]

Haku—? [ a pause ] Oh, does Leviathan prefer that name?

[ but she shakes her head ]
I've asked him to help close the ones that can be closed. But I think we both know that it is not the nature of this place for them to remain that way for long.

[dragonheartedgirl]

That was my nickname for him--before I learned his real name.

[ And before using it became. Complicated. ]

You're right. I guess... Just let us know if it does become painful. I think he has an ability for that too.