A voice just as unfamiliar as her own radiated out of the strange... Cockney? Child as Irene pulled her to her feet. Strangely enough, she kind of felt like she understood the stream of profanities coming out of the little girl's mouth. 

[color=f7976a]"Well, You seem alright."[/color] Already, intuitively, her brain searched for the telltale scent of blood and illness. Just because those were gone she felt confidence assessing their health, but rationality said otherwise. The way they were arranged, this particular creature's adorable plight in pulling their head from the Earth. They'd fallen. She remembered that much. Given the circumstances maybe it was more of a metaphorical fall, since they were dead and all. No, she'd been literally imprinted in the dirt. As the girl turned and made the same pass over her surroundings that all of them had underwent, Irene quietly flicked some of the dirt from the girl's silly hat. Before she could tell her anything a sinister cackle rattled over the Glade. It was unpleasantly loud. The dogged man's face she had shriveled with discomfort, eyes flickering aside at the crimson fountain of mirth in their midst. There was something hauntingly familiar about that laugh, something that sent had been able to send her danger sense buzzing even back in the real world. With a deep breath, she swiveled back to the armed-one.

[color=f7976a]"You're not the only one feeling a bit different, then- Woah,"[/color] She took a step back as what looked like a few tonnes of metal arm spun through the air, following the motions of their owner. Irene watched, enraptured as the enormous, bulky limbs perfectly mimed the dexterous expressions of the child. Were they in science fiction, too? Some kind of special hell for Ivory Tower critics like herself where everything was based on pulp fiction and schlocky movies? Didn't sound too bad. Liberating, even. Better than that laughter, for sure. She continued to step backwards, cloak flapping around her ankles as she put some distance between herself and the girl playing with her deadly alien robot limbs.

There was no rest, no reprieve to sit back and digest all of this new information. If it wasn't a swarm of brightly colored butterflies it was the roar of something distant and rather like... [i]Fucking dinosaurs holy shit.[/i] There were even birds scattering off into the air, squawking their alarm and giving the audience a convenient means of determining scale at a distance. At least, they would have, if it were then possible to see the creature that had made the noise. Her attention was piqued, that was a noise that made the hairs of her neck stand on end. Almost as unsettling, hearing her own name. She turned her grizzled face towards the knight, astonished. Her fingers crept up to her chin, feeling the coarse texture of her skin through its resistance on her glove once more. She'd heard him utter a name for himself earlier. Albrecht Dietrich. A student of 14-A. Right, the Goddess had said spoken to them as a group. With what little she heard, what little remained with her memory, the pieces suddenly began to click together. The child doing their best Jack Nicholson popped a butterfly into their mouth. [i]Oh it's Phann.[/i] The realization sparked into a sudden optimism. What had made her so recognizable?

[color=f7976a]"Wait, what do I look like to..."[/color] Irene quieted. Albrecht had turned away, and was armoring up. [i]Good point.[/i] Smirking to herself, she patted her sides, stopping as she couldn't find so much as a belt pack. The hulking hobo performed a nervous titter, frisking themselves like a someone who'd suddenly found themselves locked out of house and home without a key. Nothing. Still hoping to find so much as a pocket knife or thumbtack if they were swashbuckling through the countryside with sword and shield and clown costume and eyeliner, she jogged to catch up. It was easy to fall into pace behind the one person who looked like they had a plan, occasionally turning around on bouncing steps to make sure the others were trailing too. This was Step 2 in motion, she just hadn't expected to be leaving with everyone present at the pillars. [i]The more the merrier.[/i]

[color=f7976a]"Where is here? What made that noise?"[/color] Everything was a question, and she hurled them thoughtlessly at the one who seemed to know [i]something.[/i] Their predicament suddenly had the air of a crisis, but unlike on the bus there was no glinting blade in her face to tell her why. She didn't notice the shift in her posture as they walked, that imposing new body of hers hanging its arms at her side as they marched, fingers splayed wide, instinctively ready to claw at the world.