Sleeping through rain and thunder was one thing. Where once it may have caused concern, and worry as to whether or not you could stay dry, now it served the purpose of a calming backdrop. The pitter-patter of rain on the window and ceiling, coupled with the flashes of light and distant booms, were contradictorily calming. Something that would once have terrified her, and made her fear for her own health, was now something that served to calm her in her sleep. All in all, Lily had had a peaceful and restful sleep, but as fate would have it she was not destined to wake up on her own. 

Waking up to a cataclysmic explosion, however, was something else entirely. It came as the rumble that was felt more than it was heard, sounding much like a thunderclap. It was a jarring experience, the sound making adrenaline pump into her blood as soon as her eyes flew open. Yet, she didn't jump to her feet. Rather, she strained her senses to investigate the immediate vicinity, and only when she judged that there were no newcomers present, did she lithely rise to her feet. Her eyes scanned the outside through the window, but saw nothing. Even with her eyes being able to pierce the near-dark twilight outside, there was nothing - nothing that was dangerous at least. At worst puddles of water that she would have to avoid to keep her tails dry. And, of course, the giant dust cloud rising up behind buildings in the distance. 

"What in the hell was that?" Brucie asked. 

Lily, lips pursed, turned to face him. "I don't know," she replied. "An explosion of some kind, but by whom?" She shook her head, kneeling down to pet the dog. She had woken from the explosion as well, but had stayed crouched and silent. During the night she had eventually moved from his isolated spots by the fire, to curling up buy Lily's tails where it was not only warmer, but softer as well. It seemed that a little kindness had gone a long way, to earning the trust of the little thing. That and letting him taste "dog treats", by licking her hand, of course. Animals were simple, in that they can only for a few things: Safety, food, and a place to sleep. If you could provide any one of these things, there was a good chance that you could earn the trust of any creature. 

And speaking of food, the Lily hadn't had anything to eat ever since leaving home yesterday, something with a growling stomach was all too happy to remind her of. "Brucie, go look for something to eat. This is an office building, so I expects there to be something somewhere."

The shark nodded, saying "Roger, Boss-lady," and headed off. 

That left Lily alone with her new companion, and the sound of rotor blades outside - helicopters zipping to and fro in the sky as if looking for something. Nevermind them, there were even stranger things afoot in the City of Echoes. Some two hundred paces from the building they were in, visible through the window, hovered a strange object that appeared to be more like a drone or an autonomous scout, than any kind of manned vehicle. Nevermind the fact that it was too small to house a human. What was most peculiar about it, however, was that it floated back and forth between the windows of nearby buildings, almost as if search for something. She could see no visible weaponry on them, but that did not mean that they were safe to come near. [i]I will most likely want to incapacitate them if I ever get near one.[/i]

Content there were no immediate danger Lily turned her attention to the dog, allowing herself to feel a small bit of happiness that's such a sweet creature had come to her, and now seemed to enjoy her company. Even if I said enjoyment came from the fact that she was willing to scratching behind the ears. Selfish little thing, perhaps, but still a pleasant occurrence for Lily, too.

That, of course, was fated to last only for a short time as well. Sometimes, Lily wondered as her phylactery sputtered to life, if there was some external force similar to Fate or Destiny, that had made it their life's work to get in the way of small, pleasant moments for her. The voice of Oren sputtered to life from her necklace, the new voice drawing the attention of the dog - she really had to find a name for him - and began to relay whatever message their commentator had for them. 

[i]So the explosion was not the college's doing, nor are the helicopters and drones, it sounds like. Question is, then, who are they? How did they arrive? And, more important, why are they here and are they a threat?[/i] She thought, running through the new information while scratching the dog, and waiting for Brucie to find and bring back some food. With luck, there would be some abandoned cans or maybe something else. Really, they just needed something to eat - it didn't matter what it was, so long as it didn't poison them. 

She would also have to decide on what she wanted to do next. According to Oren's announcement, her next opponent would be nearby. Not in the same building, but still relatively close. She didn't yet know anything about them, and so couldn't come up with a strategy quite yet, but even then she could still decide on a basic strategy. She had seen lots of people - and not people - who had ranged weaponry, so if she ended up against someone like the firearms-wielding contestants, she would need to stay unseen, and keep moving. [i]I can't afford to stand stil. I don't know how much firepower they have, and I risk having my cover destroyed if I underestimate them. So in case of guns - keep moving, distract and frighten.[/i]

[hr]

Time snailed away, passing annoyingly slow. Even with Mouse, as she had decided to call the dog, the time it took for Brucie to return was still longer than she would have preferred. He had brought with him a small handful of old candybars, a few cans of... something and - how did that even get here? - a single can of dogfood. She could understand the candybars and the left-over cans of old beans and whatnot, but why in the heck had a powerplant stored dogfood of all things? She doubted that there were any dogs here. Nevermind how dangerous it would be to have an animal like this run around in a powerplant facility, but this really didn't feel like the type of place where anyone would keep a pet. 

[i]Well, no use thinking about it. Best just to accept it.[/i] She stood up and took some of the cans from him, using her tails to pull together a few more pieces of wood for a new bonfire. The old one had gone out during the night. "Found anything to drink?" She asked, looking around for a knife or something else to open the cans. 

"Bottle of water," he announced, tossing it to her, having stored it in the compartment in his left leg. "You keep that. I'll deal. Got my saltwater." 

"Better than nothing." She unscrewed the cap and drank deeply, emptying over half the bottle before she stopped and knelt down. There she slowly poured water into her cupped hand, allowing Mouse to drink some as well. 

"So what now?" Brucie inquired, sitting down on the floor with a heavy thump of metal on stone and opened one of the cans with a metal claw, dumping the sticky contents into his maw. 

Lily sat down opposite Brucie, the wood pile between them, and ignited it again, placing a can of beans amidst the wood. She felt Mouse lay down beside her, having nosed his way under a few of her tails. "Now, we eat, and then I want to get a good look on our surroundings. According to the announcement I just got through this phylactery-" she made a show of by holding it up by the chain in front of her "-my next opponent will be somewhere nearby. Not in the same building, but somewhere in the area, I expect." 

Brucie nodded, tearing open another can and downing the contents. "And how'll you fight them?" 

"Depends on how they fight. I prefer to be a reactionary fighter, like how I knew you were trigger happy and used that to give you a lot of targets, wasting much of your ammo and distracting you." 

He pressed one large, metallic hand against his breast and hung his head. "You hurt an old man's feeling," he said, mock hurt. 

"But it's true, is it not?" She countered, a sly smile dancing on her lips. She let her eyes fall closed and let out a small chuckle, tucking her knees up against her chest. "Do me a favour and open my can when it's done."

"Sure thing."