Atrophy

Recollections: The Othergrounds [Complete]

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"... Why does it sound like you're making this sound easier than what it is?" said Hagan with a groan.

“Hagan, I make everything sound easy,” said Penny with a smirk. What, would he have rather heard that the thing after them would probably just one shot their lifeboat and if they didn’t die on impact then they would surely die from exposure before making it to shore? That probably the only person who would be quick enough on the draw to react to that thing charging currently only saw the world as an abstract swirl of lights? Sometimes it was better to be dishonest.

Penny closed her eyes as she tried to visualize the world through sound. She never had the chance to even try, because the very next second the Apparition bull rushed the lifeboat and utterly pulverised it. She threw her arms up to shield her head as she was knocked about by the boat being torn apart. The noise was horrendous and her stomach rose up to her throat. She opened her eyes to see swirls of gray and black in front of her. It was then that her stomach dropped and she swallowed her scream. If they were going to all die together, she wanted to at least go out with some bravado.

She heard a girl speak as she braced to hit the water.

The hit never came. Instead, Penny felt herself lying uncomfortably on some asphalt. Her blue eyes fluttered open and were immediately hit by the yellow sun. For a split second she was certain that her eyes were still broken before they adjusted to the glare. She let out a sigh of relief that got cut short as a basketball bounced overhead. Penny let out a startled bark as it phased through her face. She shot up to a sitting position as a kid ran through her body towards the hoop, a small pack of children following through her a moment later. Penny glanced around in wide-eyed confusion and then let out a nervous laugh. Either they weren’t real or she was a ghost, and if she was a ghost then her head wouldn’t still be ringing like it was. Fake kids it was then.

Could be worse.

Could be real kids.

Penny stood up slowly. Her whole body hurt with a kind of dull pain. She put her hands on the small of her back and stretched. Pops rang out from her body like an uzi, but Penny felt like it almost made her feel worse. She huffed and dusted her clothes off as she looked around to see signs for Paradise this and Paradise that. Her face wrinkled in disgust. The city had yet to live up to even a single iota of its name, but at least there was something in it keeping her alive. She played back the girl’s words in her head. Didn’t want to be lonely anymore? Wanted a place where everyone could be happy? Clearly they didn’t know people that well then.

Penny noticed the second yellow sun that dipped up and down on the horizon. It was Isla’s beanie. She locked the girl’s words in her memory, dipping around a group of kids playing soccer despite knowing that her presence wasn’t going to interrupt anything. She was with the two others who had been on the lifeboat. Penny recognized them by their clothes, and she was just within earshot to catch their names. Trent was the small, scrawny one who had been taking a dirt nap and Finn was the even smaller, even scrawnier one who had been poking at him.

“You and I have a different definitions of fun,” said Penny lightly as she neared the group. Although, Penny’s definition certainly wasn’t normal. She would’ve had a blast kicking that thing’s ass again.

Penny stopped a few paces from the strangers and folded her arms. Her eyebrow twitched as the boy, Trent, rolled onto his back and let out a choked cry about wanting to go home to the other boy(?) Finn. Penny pushed back the spontaneous annoyance. She couldn’t blame the kid. She wanted to go home, too. She took a few more steps towards them all and squatted down on her haunches next to Trent. She noted the sigil on his shoulder, but it was rougher than the other ones she had seen. Maybe it was just a shoddily done tattoo.

“Well, you ain’t getting home like that. Can you stand?” said Penny. She thought about giving him a hand. The quicker he was up, the quicker they could join the others. Now that Penny wasn’t around them she felt tense. For all Penny knew, she could be helping up the next Sharon. She hesitated at the thought, and then offered Trent her hand so she could pull him up. “C’mon dude, I gotcha.”

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

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“She'll ring your bell if you fight her."

Taylor made a good point. An excellent point, really. Vashti never really thought of violence as something that would be used against her simply because it was something that she’d never use herself. Harsh words, cold shoulders, and stink eyes made up her armory, not fists and knives and bats. Still, it didn’t stop Vashti from throwing another stop motion out with her hand toward Taylor, leaving her wide open for a sucker punch. Let Madison hit her. It’d prove her point, even though Vashti no longer remembered what point she was trying to prove. It didn’t matter. She’d still be right, and being right would be a victory.

Vashti took one combative step forward as Madison started to speak and then the world was suddenly whisked away. Vashti was surrounded by darkness and drowned by silence as a chill went through her spine. At first she thought she had been knocked unconscious. She had stepped up to Madison, and Madison had slugged her out. As quick as the thought came it went, and with its departure came sound again. Vashti could hear her own breath. It was rapid and heavy. She deeply inhaled and held it to shut herself up. If the Leviathan had been stirring around, there was no doubt in her mind that it would’ve unleashed itself then.

She slowly exhaled as Claudette began to apologize and Herik started to strategize. Vashti knew that Claudette owed no apology—if anyone should be sorry, it should be Vashti. She had allowed a drunk girl to get to her. Likewise, she was aware that the best person to go get help would be herself. She was the tiniest second to Taylor, and it would separate her from Madison which would probably do them all good right now. These were the smart, logical things that Vashti’s mind thought of and quickly trashed in favor of letting loose.

“Are you kidding me? If you had a mute button the whole time why didn’t you use it on her when we were up there, you stupid fucking bitch?” said Vashti to Claudette, her words rapidly flying out of her mouth like a drumroll on a snare. There was no cymbal crash at the end, just the quiet choking sound of a voice breaking as its owner’s brain finally caught up with its words. The darkness of the elevator hid the look of horror on her face. She stepped back and found the wall waiting for her. Softly, and sounding as if she was at (her own) funeral, Vashti said, “Claudette, I didn’t mean that. I’m sorry. I just…”

Vashti just didn’t have an excuse. Not a good one, anyway. Better to end it there then to continue burying herself. “Sorry. This is my fault. Herik, if you can actually get that door open I’ll go.”

At this point, she was certain that nobody would protest with her going, but almost everybody would have a problem with her staying.

Recollections: The Othergrounds [Complete]

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Penny held her breath and closed her eyes as Odessa lowered them, only opening them again as her feet touched the top of the lifeboat. Her vision was slowly improving, but she still couldn’t make out the details of Odessa’s face. She plucked the marker from her mouth, brushed a strand of blonde hair from her face, and mouthed an I owe you to Odessa as the girl let her go. She followed after Odessa as Hagan, who was impossible to confuse for anyone else even with her poor eyesight, popped open the door for them. Her heart caught in her chest as he asked them about Caelea and Zoey. Weren’t they supposed to be with him? She was about to holler at him for leaving them behind when she heard a shout that was unmistakably Zoey.

“You two just saved Hagan’s life,” said Penny, lightly hitting the big guy’s arm with the back of her hand as she followed him to the controls. Technically, that would be again for Caelea. Penny looked down at the swirl of instruments, levers, and wheels and then shot Hagan a grimace. Maybe she would’ve been able to figure all that shit out if she could see straight, but in her current condition she’d likely end up leaving them all dead in the water. Penny sighed and fought the urge to ask Zoey for a cigarette, subconsciously chomping on her marker again like it was a tarry cigar. Surely one of the others was smart enough to figure it out.

Thinking of the others, Penny turned and did a quick headcount. Then she did it again. Something was off. Had she really hit her head that badly to forget the number of people that were on the cruise ship? She kept coming up with one extra person. No, two of those blurry outlines were different. Penny felt her stomach drop. Someone was missing. Her heart raced. Obviously, Odessa was there, as were her friends, Stacey and his guitar, and Isla and her yellow beanie, which would mean...

“Where’s Lilith!?”

She was about to run to the door when what sounded like a geyser erupting exploded over top of the groaning of the sinking ship. Water pelted down like heavy rain and pinged sharply on the roof above them as the lifeboat rose and dropped with the roll of a wave. Penny could only make out the haze of dark smoke but Zoey’s curse told her that it was the same Apparition from before. Son of a bitch, didn’t they already take care of that thing? Penny followed after Hagan, readying some coins in her hand. She stomped it before, she’d stomp it again. Penny tossed the handful up as she prepared to let loose a salvo on the Apparition.

Instead, she felt her head nearly split in two as the coins clanged harmlessly against the flooring of the lifeboat. The marker followed after, dropping from her mouth as she let out a yelp. A sharp pain had shot through her eyes. It was as if they had just been driven through by railroad spikes. Penny grabbed her head as her vision swam and went black. She slammed her eyes shut and grimaced. She only kept herself standing by grabbing Hagan’s arm with her other hand and sharply digging in with her fingers. It probably hurt like hell, but she didn’t let go. If she let go she knew she feared that she would faint.

Slowly, Penny drew in a sharp intake of air and steeled herself as the lifeboat’s engine kicked alive and began racing away from the Apparition. At least that was what she was hoping it was doing. That bastard was fast. Penny let go of Hagan’s arm and drew her hand away from her face, trying to wipe the tears from pain away with discretion. She took a step to the side to clear the doorway and steadied herself against some kind of wall harness. Slowly, she opened her eyes and looked over her shoulder to make sure that the group was okay. The color drained from Penny’s face as she quickly turned back towards the wall, snapped her eyes closed, and pressed her burning forehead to the cold metal.

“Hagan, that thing’s nothing. It can only move in straight lines. When it charges, yell at them to juke the wheel and we’ll dodge it,” said Penny, lifting her head from the wall. She didn’t want him to worry so she spoke with a measured calmness, forced a smile, and attempted to make eye contact. She hoped she succeeded, but there was no way she could tell. The world around her was a shattered kaleidoscope.

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

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Vashti looked at Herik with a raised eyebrow and a half-smile as he suggested they take Madison to a diner. Food might sober Madison up, but she couldn’t see someone that drunk sitting around long enough to eat. Even if she did, Vashti could only imagine the amount of chaos she would cause for the other diners in the meantime. Vashti chewed on the inside of her lip. Herik was thoughtful, kind, and utterly incapable of seeing the bigger picture. If Madison had chucked a bottle of water, imagine the mess she’d make with a hoagie. He would probably end up getting banned for life just for bringing her there.

“I've saved the lives of many people that thought it was a good idea to swim under the influence. Don't want to make an example out of Madison," said Herik.

“We don’t want that,” said Vashti, although her tone almost made it sound like she was asking a question as she watched Claudette and Taylor struggle with getting the drunk girl even to the elevator door. She had to block the door from closing with her foot several times as Madison accused Vashti of intending to harm her for the second time. Vashti rolled her eyes and squelched a sigh, trying her best to keep some kind of smile on her face. She was managing to scrape by until the drunk girl kicked her in the teeth with a pointed question.

"... The fuck are you again?"

Vashti’s face darkened as the forced smile was dropped instantaneously. Her arms crossed and her brow furrowed as she felt a knot twist itself in her stomach. Vashti, who was used to being cold in even the hottest of weather, felt a heat swell up to her face as she wrinkled her nose as if she had just smelled something disgusting. Claudette, smart enough to recognize the faux pas, began blubbering some kind of excuse for her friend’s behavior. Vashti wanted to believe her. Truly, she did. She was even trying to convince herself that the question wasn’t about what it obviously was about. It wasn’t working.

“...You’d love her if she was sober,” said Claudette.

“Yeah? And when is that?” said Vashti, her tongue lashing out with a fury as she fired off a withering, slit-eyed glare at Claudette that told the other woman that the question wasn’t one to be answered. She bared her teeth as her nails dug into her ribcage. Sure. It would be really impressive for Madison to keep her asshole comments to herself when she wasn’t drunk. Nobody ever accomplished that before. What an awesome person, right? Vashti scoffed and broke her staredown from Claudette. She wasn’t the one to be angry at. Vashti didn’t want to be angry at anyone one.

She just couldn’t stop herself.

“I’m really sorry but I must’ve misheard you, Madison. Could you repeat your question?” She wasn’t able to keep her irritation from seething through any longer. The elevator’s door closed as it started to descend and already the temperature in the metal tomb was at a boiling point. Vashti held up a hand to silence Claudette, who was surely going to try and intervene. “And please, be specific. What exactly do you mean?”

Her temper had already overflowed. It smashed against the levee, and only Madison’s words would stop it from breaking through.

Recollections: The Othergrounds [Complete]

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Penny couldn’t see exactly what happened next, but she sure did feel it. Something grabbed her by the collar as she was about to plunge through the doorway and into the rising water. She stopped with a sudden jerk and bounced upwards as whatever had a hold of her wrapped itself around her waist for a better grip. She smacked back against the metal flooring with a sharp gasp, hitting it hard enough that the wind was knocked out from her. Penny was in a daze but it felt like she was being dragged up by something. Her vision still a blur, she found herself pressed up against what felt like a cold, marble statue. Her stupor began to fade as she made out Odessa’ face through the fuzziness.

"... You are really pretty, y' know?"

Penny couldn’t quite make out Odessa’s facial expression, but she had to be joking.

“Yeah, well, you really take my breath away,” she said. Well, she tried to say it. What actually came out was sharp, painful gasps for air. She held onto Odessa’s freezing body as the girl lifted them beyond the threshold. Normally she would be uncomfortable with this sort of closeness, but given the circumstances she didn’t even notice. She sucked in one final, massive breath of fresh air and exhaled deeply to center herself. Penny could breathe normally. Now only if her eyes went back to normal.

Penny kicked the watertight door shut, knowing it’d have little to do to stop the sinking but would at the very least prevent them from falling down the hallway if another shockwave hit. She continued to collect herself as Odessa scanned their surroundings. They were sinking at an alarming rate, yet there was something surreal about sitting on what had once been a wall. She cast a look out over the horizon that they were becoming dangerously close to being underneath. Paradise, looking like nothing more than an amorphous black blob, was waiting for her. She stood up despite the pain in her head and the ache in her body. There was no time to rest.

Odessa grabbed onto the railing and held out a hand for her. Penny accepted it without hesitation and quietly uttered an earnest, “Thank you.”

With Odessa’s help Penny was able to make it onto the railing of the boat and see the lifeboat descending into the water below them. Rather, she saw the shape of something bus-sized and guessed it had to be the lifeboat. She sighed with relief. The others were safe. Now they just had to find a way to get down there. Penny doubted she’d be in any condition to walk if they jumped to the lifeboat. They could possibly survive a drop into the water, assuming they didn’t freeze to death. However, surely Odessa could just lower them down with vines.

“One second,” said Penny. She grabbed a marker from her bag and held it between her teeth like it was a dagger and she was a pirate about to scale the side of a ship to ransack. She wrapped both of her arms around Odessa and spoke through gritted teeth, “Okay. Don’t you fucking drop me.”

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

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Vashti grimaced and drew in a sharp breath as Madison suggested she was planning to harvest her organs. She raised her hands in innocence and took a step back as Madison drunkenly slurred at her. Vashti could smell the alcohol on her breath. It made her eyes water. Thankfully, Claudette stepped in to both hold up Madison and back up Vashti. “She’s Vashti,” she interjected as Claudette tried and failed to remember her name. It was cool. Seeing as how Madison was already sinking back down to the ground before Taylor swooped in to help, Claudette clearly had reasons to have been distracted.

"But, I only party with hoodrats an' hoodrats only... you... look like the only partying ya' do is a bar mitzvah!” shouted Madison.

“Bat mitzvah but yeah, I’m actually in college so...” Vashti made a drinking motion with her hand and stepped past the other girls to lead the way to the elevator. The moment her back was to them her face tightened with sharp irritation. Vashti realized long ago that wearing her headscarf in public gave her a secret power: it quickly let her know who was an intolerant asshole. She had been teased and insulted for a culture that she didn’t even really identify with for years until she was able to bury her false identity in college. Vashti figured by now she’d have a pretty thick skin about the whole thing, but she didn’t. The least Madison could’ve done was make fun of the right fucking religion.

Vashti sharply inhaled. Cool it. The girl was drunk. There was nothing more embarrassing than getting in an argument with a drunk person, because the drunk person at least had an excuse for their dumbass behavior. She pushed through the glass doors leading inside to the elevator and shook her hands off to her sides as if she were flicking away the bad energy like it was water. She hit the call button and turned back to the girls.

“I’m a bit more wild than a hoodrat,” said Vashti. She looked amused but her words were peppered with saltiness. The others might notice, but she doubted Madison would sense the change. Hell, she doubted Madison would be awake by the time they were in the parking lot. “We can drink warm forties and do whippits behind the 7-Eleven if you want, but trust me: what I have in store for you will be the best night of your life.”

The elevator dinged. Vashti stepped in and turned back to the girls with a shark smile. She had no actual clue what she was going to do with Madison once they were away from the meeting, but throwing the girl in a bathtub full of ice did now sound appealing.

Recollections: The Othergrounds [Complete]

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Penny squinted as Odessa insisted that there wasn’t anyone else on the boat as the two entered into a hallway that would lead to the lower deck. Was she trying to comfort her or challenge her? Penny was about to poke a hole in Odessa’s logic by mentioning that if she could detect Extra Normals then she wouldn’t know if there were any Blind aboard the ship but was then knocked off balance by another shockwave. She reached out to steady herself and was bumped into the wall elbow first before hitting it with the back of her head. Pain flared through her body. Penny had taken some bumps before, but she was used to seeing the blows coming. There was no way to defend herself against an entire ship trying to kick her ass. She rubbed her elbow. Just another bruise. Walk it off.

"... Are you okay, Penny?"

“Yeah, I’m fucking great!” she snipped, her words lost under the thunderous cracking of metal. The color drained from her face as the floor began to tilt. She felt her boots start to lose traction as she broke into a dead sprint and booked it down the hall. If she could get through the door, she could grab hold of some railing before the incline became too much to stand on. It was a good thing she had picked up cardio and put down the cigarettes. Her vision focused as she activated her Abstraction. She made it through the doorway and sprung forward as her boots lost their grip on the ground. The railing was right there. She reached out to grab it. Penny smiled. She had made it. Take that. She had—

“No!”

Her outstretched fingertips brushed against the edge of the railing and she began sliding back down the hall. Penny banged her hand against the doorway as she dropped back through it but failed to grip onto the frame. Her head throbbed. She turned over to slide down on her back as Odessa’s vines shot past her. The door they had walked through to get into the hallway was still open. She was picking up momentum. If she hit the door frame and stopped she’d probably break something. If she went through she’d be happy if all she did was break something. She wouldn’t let that happen. If she timed it right she could grab onto Odessa, and it was impossible for her not to have good timing. Penny reached out for Odessa and grabbed air. Shit. Shit! Shit!

She fished one of the Keno cards out of her sleeve and repulsed it towards the doorway. The card flew through the doorway before she could activate the glyph. Her head was pounding. Had it been hit harder than she realized? It was completely throwing off her rhythm. She pulled another card out of her sleeve and missed again. She had one card left. She fired it off, activated her glyph, and her vision shifted back to normal. No, it wasn’t normal. It was far from normal. The world was a total blur of colors and shadows. She couldn’t see a single thing. Her chest seized with panic. Her head howled in pain and she answered with her own terrified scream. The hall filled with the sound of that dreadful harmony as she slipped further towards uncertainty.

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

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Vashti was in. She had squealed with excitement when Kayla had made her decision, and even the former President of the United States coming in armed with reptiles couldn’t quelch her high for so long—especially after Herik had heroically saved them. The new recruits had hardly any time to relax as they were ferried along to a meeting with someone rich guy named Blake Schmidt. She knew him in name only, both from general osmosis and from her father. What a real estate guy like her dad had to do with a whatever-he-did guy like Blake Schmidt was a mystery to Vashti. The wealthy generally liked to keep tabs on one another, golfing together or swooping around in social circles like vultures, just in case one stumbled and there was an opening to pick all of their meaty assets from their corpse.

The meet and greet with the other members when they arrived at the lobby of a luxury resort was quick, rough, and overwhelming. She tried her best to remember names and faces, but when she erroneously assumed she had misheard one of them say her name was “Sin” she was pretty certain she had botched it entirely. Still, Vashti smiled and nodded and tried to ignore the occasional frowns, ritualistic hazing, and running her own mouth. She even kept quiet about how all of this seemed less like a business meeting and more like they were about to attend some kind of slimy party. Rich guy calls on a lot of young women to an invite-only rooftop resort? Yeah, nobody ever came back with any trauma or regrets from something like that.

The elevator dinged and the group crowded into it. Well, most of the group. Vashti gave one skeptical look at it, cracked a smile, and said, “I think I’ll take the next one!”

The doors closed, and she let out a heavy sigh. She had been so happy about becoming part of the Coven that she had completely forgotten to mention the one very frightening aspect of her curse. Rather, she hadn’t forgotten. She had kept it hidden. The longer she kept the Leviathan from the other girls, the worse it would be when it came out. Vashti could feel it inside of her. It was still satiated and likely would be for the day. Still, she couldn’t get the image out of her head of the Leviathan taking control inside the elevator. She saw the doors opening up at the top floor with a wave of blood and limbs rushing out to baptize Mr. Schmidt before his head was separated from his torso. She’d tell them after the meeting...just, Kayla was too intense. Maybe Lyss or Herik could help her find a way to word it.

The elevator opened again and she walked in it with whatever other stragglers were lagging behind. At the top floor, Vashti was greeted with the beautiful sight of an artificial oasis. A private little man-made beach that was pristine and clean, towering above the actual beach where fish and tourists pissed in the water and the sand was full of shells and needles. Business was already being conducted between Kayla and Schmidt. Vashti felt a wave of relief. So, it was an actual meeting. She siddled over to Ashley and Taylor simply because she didn’t know where else to stand as one of the Coven vets (Maya, right?) asked what it was that Schmidt wanted.

“He can have mine,” said Vashti under her breath, a rueful smile on her face. If only she could give the bad parts of her curse away.

Vashti heard a whistle and saw that Kayla was looking at them. How had she heard her? It had been a bad joke, not an actual offering. Vashti was about to offer an apology when she realized that Kayla was discretely motioning to the girl who had shown up drunk to a business meeting. Vashti lifted an eyebrow. Herik was on the job with a bottle of water, why would they need to also—Madison violently chucked the bottle over the rooftop. Oh. Vashti gave an apprehensive look to her fellow freshmen and then trotted over to the girl. She had expected to be asked to do some kind of grunt work, but hadn’t anticipated it to be drunk duty. Why hadn’t they just left the girl behind to sober up?

“So this must be where the party is! Thank god, what they’re talking about is so boring I was about to jump off the roof. Seriously, I’m starting to worry my time in the Coven will be nothing more than meetings and interviews,” said Vashti. In actuality, she wanted to listen to what Kayla and Schmidt had to say. She’d have to be filled in later. “Is this an open bar?”

Vashti pretended to scan the bar for a drink she wasn’t going to order, wrinkled her nose, and gave Madison a disgusted look. “Dude, I’ve been to resorts like these before. Everything’s watered down it’s a total fucking sham. We should go somewhere cooler! Surely there’s a club on the beach that’s better than this tourist trap. Drinking...dancing…” She tried, and failed, not to glance over at Herik. “Hot guys…”

“I was told you were a founder. Well, we’re new and we haven’t even had a welcome party yet. We should have an initiation through inebriation, right?” said Vashti. If Herik's attempt to sober her up had failed, then maybe her attempt to take her somewhere else would work. She glanced towards Ashley and Taylor. Hopefully they’d play along by showing some approval. She snapped a finger at Madison. “C’mon, let’s get out of here and have some real fun. I’m buying.”

Recollections: The Othergrounds [Complete]

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Penny gave Stacey a guilty smile after his correction. She sat silently as he talked, surprised that her attempt to distract him actually worked and even more surprised by how willing he was to open up to her. He even mentioned how his guitar was starting to act weird, but from what Penny knew his weird didn’t sound quite like an Awakening and he definitely wasn’t as much of an oddball as Odessa. She had a few theories but decided to keep them to herself for now. She didn’t want to seem like she was pushing Stacey too hard.

“Well, whatever it is, I wouldn’t worry about it for now. Once we’re off this ship we’ll figure out what it is together, okay?” said Penny. “Oh, and I bet your ex is going to feel like an idiot once you become a world famous musician and she’s going through her second divorce. Trust me, as a former shitty first girlfriend, we definitely aren’t worth the worry.”

“Anyway…” Penny looked up and caught sight of Lilith stepping through the door. She heaved a sigh of relief, smiled, and returned the wave. However, her smile soon faded into a look of confusion as Lilith began signing at them instead of writing on her pad like usual. Judging by her expression and her body language she didn’t appear distressed, but there was a look of expectation in her eye like she’d asked them a question.

“Lilith, I don’t mean to be a dick, but I didn’t get any of that. Do you need one of my markers?” said Penny as she started to get up. She figured it’d be worse to pretend like she understood what the girl meant. Besides, she could spare a few pens. She was armed to the teeth with writing utensils. There was enough ink in her bag to rival a small tattoo parlour.

However, there was never any chance for clarification. Hell, there wasn’t even a chance to stand up all of the way before the sound of a loud thud and grating metal echoed through the bridge as a wave of force rocked the entire ship as if it had been hit by a torpedo from an enemy submarine. Penny lost her balance and got smashed by Stacey tumbling after her. She heard what sounded like a discordant note echoing from his guitar, and her gut twisted as the thought crossed her mind that she might’ve just gotten his guitar smashed. The worry was quickly jostled out of her head as she thudded against the wall and then hit the floor as the ship righted itself. Everything hurt and her mind was scattered.

The first thought to return to her head was if she was alive, which pretty much answered itself. The second was if everyone else was okay, which seemed to be the case from what she could immediately tell until she noticed Odessa’s arm was broken and also wood. Penny grimaced in horror as the woman snapped it back in place and let it become skin again, promising silently to drop the whole “fern” joke from here on out. The third thought was what the hell had just happened, which she still wasn’t certain of but knew the answer was nothing good. The final thought was an echo of Odessa’s words: they needed to leave.

Penny stood up. Nothing seemed broken but there were definitely going to be some bruises. She helped Stacey to his feet, the concern about his guitar lost in all of the confusion, before going over to give Lilith a hand. She turned to Isla but the girl was already walking past her and out the door. The right idea, but the wrong approach.

“Wait, stick together!” The girl was already gone. Penny turned to the others and pointed at the door. “Fuck! Go after her and get to the lifeboats. I’ll be right behind,” she said, trying to regain her cool. She smacked her hands together for emphasis. “ Now!” She moved to the mic and grabbed it, dropping the whole captain schtick as her voice crackled over the speaker system for one final message. “We’re abandoning the bridge. Get those lifeboats ready. We’re done here. Mao, if your creepy ass can hear me, get to the boats pronto. If not...”

Penny let go of the talk button.

She didn’t even know if Mao was on the cruise ship, but everyone else had been. Maybe there was still time to search for her, but maybe she wasn’t even there. Penny bit down on her lower lip. Wasn’t it the captain’s responsibility to make sure that everyone was safe in an emergency, like that whole goes down with the ship thing? She glared down at the seat, and then dropped the mic. “...I’m sorry.”

Penny walked through the hole in the door after the others, leaving the hat behind in the chair for an actual captain. She pulled out a handful of coins as she hurried after the others, her head on a swivel ready for an Apparition to jump out at them. Penny would go through a lot of shit if it meant helping out someone. If someone was scared, she’d be brave for them. If someone needed saving, she’d rescue them. If something came looking for a fight, she’d beat them. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind that she could do it. But to wait around or go searching for someone who might not even be there? To be a captain and go down with her ship? No way. She’d go through a lot of shit for someone, but she wouldn’t die for one.

Not for a stranger, anyway.

Recollections: The Othergrounds [Complete]

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Penny returned Caelea’s salute and suppressed a chuckle as the tiny girl took on the role of a bouncer and began moving people towards the door. In all of the commotion made as the group began to mosh around the door, Penny didn’t immediately notice Stacey as he crumpled to the ground and hugged his guitar case like a security blanket. As her eyes started to drift downwards to him she caught something suddenly appear behind the group. The world shifted as her eyes began to track all of the motions around her and she pulled a Keno card out of her sleeve, but she stopped when she realized it was another person. A new person. As in, not another one of the survivors from Farmer Hill. Penny relaxed slightly, but she kept the card in hand.

“You must be Captain Penny, yeah? Somethin’ tells me you ain’t a real captain...”

“It’s because I don’t have the jacket with those tassely shoulder pads, isn’t it?” Penny smiled at Isla. The Scotswoman had managed to find herself a beer as if they were actually on some kind of pleasure cruise. Would she be drinking if she knew how dangerous things actually were? “No, it ain’t heaven, that’s for damn sure, but uh...”

Penny trailed off as Odessa walked over to the new girl and booped her on the nose.

“Odessa, see this is why I don’t allow you to speak for yourself,” said Penny with a shake of her head and a roll of her eyes. “Don’t mind her.” She threw Isla a smirk and lifted her hand, holding her finger and her thumb about maybe an inch apart. “She’s like just more than a fern or something.”

It was then that Penny noticed that while the others had already gone and left, Stacey had stayed behind. Her eyes momentarily narrowed in irritation before Penny reminded herself that just because she was used to experiencing the Extra Normal didn’t mean that everyone would consider the strange to be mundane. She still planned on sticking around the bridge for a few more minutes, and between Odessa and Isla one of them had to have enough self-preservation to shout if an Apparition appeared. She excused herself from the girls and slowly made her way over to Stacey. She sat cross legged on the floor a few feet away from the distressed looking dude. Penny never considered herself the calming type, but she’d try and figure it out.

“Hey dude, I’ve been meaning to ask this for sometime,” she said, her voice as soft as she could attempt to make it. She waited for Stacey to look up and then nodded towards his guitar. “You any good with that thing? I tried learning to play back in junior high. Figured I could learn a few notes and start a group, but I couldn’t get down the three chords I needed to even start a punk band.” She smiled. “Now the recorder? That’s a different story.”

“Anyway, tell me about your guitar. It’s a...Led Paulson, right?” asked Penny, accidentally revealing her complete lack of guitar knowledge.