crossfalkhanna:

Things were going from bad to worse over there—one of the men, the gangsters or whatever they were, had shot one of the others. Just like that, like it was nothing, like that was something you could do on a whim and take back later if you regretted it, all casual and not even thinking and that was how Hanna usually waltzed through life, wasn’t it? Like nothing really mattered and nothing could ever leave a permanent mark on his life so he shouldn’t worry about it. So stupid, so completely idiotic and naive and—but he made the most of it and that was what mattered right?

(Until people start dying.)

He was jolted out of the abusive reverie by the warmth starting to return to Lynne’s body, heavy in his arms. She was—was really coming back, she really—she rustled and murmured something and her eyes started to flutter a little like she was waking up and then her hand tightened on the gun—and raised it—and shot.

Hanna flinched, but it didn’t matter if she’d shot because she was alive and she was awake and she was gonna be okay, they were all gonna be okay. No matter what happened.

“I’m really sorry you both had to see that…”

“Nonono Lynnie you so don’t have to apologize I mean you DIED, that’s not—th-that’s so not anything you have to—to, um…”

Oh god, now his eyes were getting all hot and wet and scratchy and his nose felt all weird. Like. Metallic, or something. No. Pull yourself together, Hanna, she’s ALIVE.

STOP IT. STOP FREAKING OUT.

Lynne wrapped her arms around the both of them, even though they were all still in danger, and Hanna clutched back at her. And Lightning, too. They had to stick together and they had to survive and they were totally gonna get through this and everything was gonna be fine.

“There’s some kinda mechanism the scientists set up I think, to um. To help us if stuff like this happens. So you’re… OKAY now, right? Or, you’re—you’re alive. But I don’t—I mean, ARE you okay? Cause I mean something like that, it’s gotta have some kind of side effects, right?”

Everything was still all terribly confusing, the sheer gravity of the situation making the red-head’s head feel like it was aching at this point: but her friends were still there safe, so everything would be alright now, right? Ugh, she still wanted to know how this had happened and why everything had to seem so confusing to begin with, though… she knew that technically coming back to the world of the living without Sissel being involved was something very odd indeed and the fact her friends had been so close, so close to danger and she hadn’t been able to do anything at all made her more than a little frustrated.

This frustration added to her current headache regarding the confusion of the matter did not help at all, despite she being glad she was alive again, and thus when Lightning revealed that nobody could ‘die’ in this city - not really - the fiesty redhead groaned, saying:

“Well, why didn’t you say that before? Gosh, I was terrified when I got shot a few moments ago, I didn’t think I’d be able to come back and help you unless Sissel got involved, it would have been a real help to know that if I did get shot everything would still be fine beforehand!”

Though she was calling Lightning out on the information she’d ‘held back’ until now - mainly to get rid of her frustration, the tone wasn’t ‘angry’ - just exasperated more than anything. Gods knew how Hanna had taken her being shot and whatever had followed after that, so if he’d known she’d come back, things would have become easier for him to deal with as well as Lynne herself, geez! Shaking her head a little bit at it all aside, Hanna then spoke up, voice clearly shaky as he said that she didn’t have to apologize for anything - before explaining the situation himself, then asking if there were any side affects.

“Side affects? Hm. I feel okay right now, I guess. But thank you for asking - and for picking me up to safety, Hanna Banana!”

Leaning in and trying to wipe some of the blood from Hanna’s face in a caring sort of manner, she then moved again, attempting to stand up, but it seemed she spoke too soon - the terrible headache intenfifying as she did so and she very nearly falling over again.

“…Actually, I take that back. I’ve got a rotten headache and feel really dizzy - probably the aftershock of me being dragged back to the world of the living, I guess? Aw man - this stinks! I wanted so bad to protect the two of you when those guys wake up again, too…but I can’t walk at all in this state, much less fire my gun accurately.”

She paused, before saying:

“Those guys are probably gonna come back to life too, since I did…I think it might be better to continue this conversation elsewhere before the bad situation comes back again!”

crossfalkhanna:

Well crap, their two stubborn selflessnesses (was that a word?) were clashing in the worst possible way. One of them was gonna have to give in eventually, and since Lightning was already throwing herself into battle, it clearly wasn’t gonna be her. It drove Hanna crazy, but he was gonna have to leave her to it. God, he was so useless. He couldn’t save Lynne, he couldn’t help Lightning…

But at least he could try and get the detective out of there.

Hanna turned away from Lightning’s fight, back to—back to where the other redhead was lying in that horrible red puddle, all askew and pale and cold and… no, Hanna, come ON you’re going to have to pick her up and take her with you and you’ve done it before, remember Conrad? When he was lying there all cold and pale and dead and you saved him. You’ve just gotta do that same thing all over again.

God, okay. He knelt beside her, forcing himself to turn her around so she could—so she could face up. And her eyes were so empty. No, stop it. He wrapped an arm around behind her neck, propping her up, picking her up just like he did when that other monster attacked them except this time—this time she was dead and he was fine and it was all his fault all over again.

Just as he was standing back up, Lynne cradled against his cold chest, her arms all limp beneath her, Lightning’s voice came from somewhere behind him.

“You’re lucky they didn’t shirt their attention to you. Let’s get outta here before they call in reinforcements.”

“You… you got them all? I mean, yeah, you… but they’re gonna come back too, right? Like Lynne. They’re all gonna wake up, that’s what you said. So we need to—to get out of here.”

He tried to ignore the cold skin pressing up against him. No, no, no. She was gonna be okay and everything was gonna be okay, even the guy with the hammer in his neck, and the other ones lying there just motionless. They were all gonna wake up and everything was going to be just fine, totally fine.

- It seemed the majority of the gang’s group at this point had fallen to Lightning’s determined efforts, many bodies littering the ground, slumped in much the same way Lynne herself was: but it seemed it was too early to celebrate just yet. The ‘boss’ of the group who had started the whole mess didn’t seem to want to go down so easily, even though his face was sporting a black eye, forcing himself to his feet and cocking the gun he held, snarling:

“You lot ain’t goin anywhere. You’re gonna go down just like that idiot detective girl did!”

However, the ‘bosses’ right-hand man - who was still alive at this point as well - spoke up, saying urgently to the other:

“Boss, most our team’s down at this point. We ain’t gonna win here. Let’s just let them go. That pink-haired chick’s way stronger than you gave her credit for, again.”

The shorter man staggered foward with a limp and tried to drag his boss away - only for the man to turn on him.

“I’m gonna stop them. And you’re not gettin’ in the way!”

BANG.

Another shot rung out, but the boss had shot his own ‘team-mate’ to stop him from getting in the way, not at Hanna or Lightning. It seemed the gang leader had certainly gone too far off the deep end for any other option to be possible - and he was aiming the gun at the two trying to escape, not noting nor caring about the wooden sword the other held and preparing to fire again.

However, as Hanna held Lynne’s cold body: it seemed things might still look up, even in this situation quickly turning from heart breaking to dangerous again, the cold corpse suddenly becoming warmer and the dead, blank eyes closing on their own. Slowly, thoughts began to voice themselves in the red-haired detective’s brain again -

“…huh…? …What’s goin’ on? The last thing I remember, I was trying to disarm the bad guys, then a shot was fired…there was excruitating pain for a bit…I was shot, wasn’t I? Did Sissel…avert my fate again?! A shot through the heart like that…would kill instantly. I didn’t think they’d fire back at me so quick, but…! If I’m alive again for…whatever reason, as freaky as it is…I should help out. I can hear yelling, so Hanna Banana and spirit sis must still be in trouble! I can’t…let that happen! They’ve probably been freaked out enough by seeing me ‘die’ and come back to life, so neither of them can get hurt either…that’d just add to things!”

The crazed grin of the ‘boss’ suddenly turned to a horrified look akin to a child who has just pressed the ‘self destruct’ button on a ‘fun looking’ dashboard full of buttons at seeing the arm of the detective he’d assumed to be dead gripping the gun held loosely more tighter, seemingly raising it towards his ‘yelling’…and he ran, the gunshot only firing harmlessly into the ground - not that Lynne would have successfully hit him if he’d stuck around, with her mind still being a bit groggy  and with her eyes still shut anyway.

The arm was lowered, and the eyes of the detective blearily opened - that familiar green of the eyes being bright and full of life as before. A soft groan, the red-head mentally wondering why it felt like she was hovering or something…but she had something more important to say right now. -

“Hah…those guys were too quick for me. I’m really sorry you both had to see that…gosh, you must’a both felt so awful at those jerk bad guys doing thaaaaaaaAAA-WAITAMINUTE.. I seem to be ‘hovering’ right now which means…”

- And the penny just dropped that Hanna was carrying her, she trying to react to this… -

“….U-uhm…welll… uhm...”

 - But it seemed she failed miserably, and so instead closed her mouth and wrapped her arms around - if they would let her - both her friends, saying in a soft tone of voice she rarely used, wanting to talk about something serious - 

“I was…really scared for a moment there. It was so quick, I didn’t get the chance to think or even try to dodge outta the way…but I know I was scared about leaving you two all alone and getting hurt. …I owe Sissel so much for saving my life again. I’m really gonna haveta thank him big this time, but wait…I don’t sense Sissel anywhere….so what’s going on?! Not that I’m not…grateful or anything…”

- Lynne was understandably, quite confused: wasn’t Sissel the only one who could ‘avert deaths’? However, it seemed she was still flustered about being carried just a bit despite the serious conversation and her expression suitably angry at the confusion of EVERYTHING. -

crossfalkhanna:

It’ll get even more heart-breaking if Lightning tries to ‘heal’ her with those powers of hers, believe me. Gods damnit that physically HURT to type - I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again here - though even though she went out protecting those dear to her...

crossfalkhanna:

God, he felt useless. They didn’t even pay him any attention—yes, Lynne, he’d noticed the problematic situation, if that’s really what she was calling it—and—it really sounded like they were planning to. To get revenge on the two women and just ignore him, or take him out if they absolutely had to. Wow, this was… probably the worst thing that could possibly have happened, a huge gang who wanted to take out lovely Lynnie and poor Lightning too and maybe Hanna just for trying to help them—dammit, why couldn’t she just agree?! And then she could go back to operating as normal afterwards, just as long as she saved herself, goddammit—

“No, Lynnie, stop it! No way am I just leaving you here!!”

Of course, the other two both had guns they could pull out to threaten the gang with, whereas Hanna was just sort of—just sort of useless, with only his hammer and his marker…

“We’re gonna get you out of this, dammit—BOTH of y—”

And then there was a gunshot and everything sort of exploded. Of course, it did, it always had to—Lightning bolted out and pushed Lynne aside while Hanna was still frozen, and managed to—to protect her a little bit at least, although now Lightning was bleeding so everything was still in just as bad a state as it was before, although now—now it was peaceful, or something. Tense, but nobody was shooting, and goddamn did he feel useless. Just… standing there. Watching.

“Li-Lightning, are you okay? We’ve gotta get out of here, you guys, they’re not gonna just give up like that—” Thank you for stating the obvious, Hanna. “And no way am I just gonna leave you—EITHER of you!”

So useless. He couldn’t just stand there and let them get shot, but he wasn’t gonna run out into the gunfire either—man, teleportation would be nice right now. But. No. It was just like with that stupid monster all over again, ‘cept he couldn’t even stick up for himself, let alone the two of them.

So stupid.

(Lynne wasn’t the only one who’d drawn out her gun in grim preperation, then, Lightning doing the same - yes, the detective knew that if she’d agreed to ‘go along’ with the group, they wouldn’t have attacked her. But they still would have gone after Lightning and Hanna Banana, and she wasn’t going to let them just waltz in and think they could ‘take revenge’ on her spirit sis - or threaten to ‘keep’ Hanna quiet, no sir! Besides, justice…was not something that could be bought. Not by them, not by anyone! Detectives didn’t agree to do what the ‘bad guys’ said, that was just common sense! They stuck up for the people who mattered.

But despite Lynne knowing the group was far too big for her to even try and make an attempt to escape at this point - and she telling her friends to try to leave while she ‘distracted’ the group, seeing it was her that they’d been originally after and she hoping that she could protect her friends this way: Lightning refused to leave. As stubborn as she was - just then, a shot rang through the air, and Lynne went to react - but felt herself being roughly shoved to the side. She hit cold, hard concrete and bit back a cry of pain - at which point Lightning DID cry out in pain, she jerking her head up to see - oh no, her spirit sis was bleeding!)

“…! Oh noo!”

(She gasped in shock, before Lightning told her to grab Hanna and run - but Hanna spoke up again then, also having refused to leave, then promising both Lynne and Lightning would get out of this. Lynne gave a soft smile, saying:)

“Hah. This group’s…way too big to run away from like ‘that’, you know? I was hoping you two’d run while I distracted them! I ran the LAST time you got in trouble, with Hanna, and I felt terrible! No…this time, I’m gonna help you! I won’t let those thugs get away with hurting my spirit sis..or threatening to hurt someone dear to me!”

 (She stood strong, then, smiling to her friends and saying:)

“You two…gosh. Not leaving even now…you’re both so wonderful.”

(With that, she fired her own gun, the man who’d fired at Lightning yelling in shock as the bullet knocked the gun out from his hands - but when he went to reach it, it banged loudly at getting a bullet shot right at it, wrecking it. The short man who’d ‘spoken’ to the boss earlier hissed in anger, before firing fast - so fast that even the energetic detective, it seemed, had not seen it coming.

BANG.)

(…The Detective couldn’t even say anything else, falling to the ground , gun  almost slipping from the grip, her eyes glazed - ironically, her cheerful words to her friends just then…had been her last without her knowing, it seemed. And the gang had the sheer audacity to cheer at seeing their ‘target’ fall.)

(This group…there was no denying they definitely weren’t just some ‘rag-tag’ group that had grouped together for the heck of it. No, this was an organized, well-planned out, gang, simple as that: there was about fifty, maybe sixty people all eyeing her off and waiting for an answer, and as she stubbornly stared them down, they all began to pull out…guns. Of course. The ‘leader’ of the group gave a smile that made Lynne think of a shark baring it’s teeth just before gobbling fishes up, saying:)

“As you can see, ‘Detective’ - it would clearly be in your best interests to agree to my proposal. Don’t you agree? But you can take all the time you like. Not like you’re going to be going anywhere, hahah.”

(The red-head bit back a few choice words, but remained silent - but then a short, heavily-scarred man next to the ‘boss’ spoke up, saying:)

“Ey, boss! We got us some company - it’s that pink-haired miss that gave us trouble a while back.”

(Lynne tensed at this, whirling her head around as Lightning strode in, threatening the group right back before whispering for Lynne to run once their attention was on her - but the detective whispered back then:)

“These guys…they’ve really got their sights on me for ‘getting rid’ of their work in sector two. I appreciate you stepping in on seeing this problematic situation, I really do! But I don’t think they’re just gonna ‘let me off’ the hook that easily.”

(Just then, another fammilar voice spoke up, that of Hanna, and Lynne froze a little in surprise, before saying:)

“….! Huh, so you noticed this problematic situation, too?!”

(The boss suddenly laughed, Lynne’s attention jerking back to him at this:)

“Hahaha…what a forunate turn of events! We can get revenge on miss pink-hair and convince dumb detective here to stop her investigations in the one shot.”

(Lynne frowned, asking, then:)

“What about…this fellow in the glasses here?”

(Probably best not to let the group know she knew him…)

“Well, I’m sure even a dumb broad like you can understand that we can’t have any witnesses besides you to this. Don’t worry. We’ll make sure he keeps quiet.”

(Turning to her friends a moment, the detective closed her eyes, then opened them. Her friends…her friends were her strength! She’d never betray them, not in a million years! Besides, her job of justice was important to her - she wasn’t just going to ‘accept’ a bribe for her own safety like this! A good detective wouldn’t do that! Giving the most beaming smile she could, she then said in the sweetest fashion - so her harsh tone would be even more effective here:)

“If I were to suggest where you could shove that ‘deal’ of yours, then I’d get in a lot of trouble from a lot of little kiddies, let me tell you! Even if you all just threatened me to keep my nose out - I’m going to side with justice!”

(Placing hands on her hips then, she drew out her gun, saying:)

“I won’t let you hurt these two! They’re the most important people in this city to me! So just back off now, while you have the chance, okay?! You two…run! Run while you still can, maybe you can escape! I can hold them off!”

(Now, how would the group - and Hanna and Lightning - react to this? She supposed she’d see…)

((oocnote: Well, whatever order works best is fine with me! How about Lightning posts first, then you?))

(Lynne was in a cheery mood, despite having been very busy in Sector two as of late: she’d been working hard in that respective sector for quite the while, now! How long had she been stuck in this dumb-butt city, anyway? A year and a bit? She’d lost count of the days she’d had to spend in such an awful place, mainly because it was better for the sake of optimism to not count them all, and besides - with as many awesome friends that she’d gradually made over time here, she had to stay strong for their sake! After all, she knew as well as probably anyone who’d been here a while in the city like herself that the scientists never ‘looked out’ for those in the city. So she was going to keep on doing her best to do that! She’d like to think sector two was a bit nicer of a place to live in now thanks to her work, though the noxious fumes were still as awful as ever there.

Now, she was in sector three - though she was only a ‘detective’ of sector two, she’d heard nasty things about this sector, indeed, and a good law-enforcer did their best to extend their uses to all places! However, the red-head had little to no idea what would await her due to just her simple desire to do right…nor how awful the situation was going to get. As she strolled around the sector three, she became aware of footsteps close by, and blinked: was that spirit-sis? Or maybe Hanna Banana! However, it was neither: a large group of people slinking out of the shadows and forming a rather intimidating circle around her, two people stepping into the ‘middle’ of the circle with her.

Now, Lynne might have been childish, but she wasn’t stupid. This group didn’t seem all that happy…)

“What do you guys want?”

(Right to the point, she was.)

“Oh, we’ve heard about you, do-gooder ‘Detective’. You’ve been gettin’ rid of all our buisness in the second sector, see? So when we heard you were on our turf, we thought ’ what better way to reason with the dumb broad’? Let me make one thing clear, girly. We don’t appreciate you gettin’ rid of all our buisness in the second sector. But you look smart, so we might cut ya a deal. You promise to quit yer job in the second sector, and we’ll let ya out of here scot-free.”

“…!”

(Lynne’s gaze turned hard and stubborn at the threatening words. Oh boy. Looks like she was in a bit of trouble, here…must have been a pretty big gang to hear of her coming here this quickly. What to do now, though…?)

levelofreason:

As imperative as it was to begin her investigation—

Perhaps finding her new living arrangements would be a better cause of action beforehand? Not that Erika planned on sticking around for too long if she could help it, but the idea of spending a night on the city streets when there was accommodation to be had was simply ridiculous. Not that the search for her apartment would impede her preliminary investigation— on the contrary, it would probably help the young detective get a better understanding of the environment.

Turning the wooden oar in her hands with a fleeting look of disdain, she finally began to walk once more. The apartment complex should be simple enough to locate… after all; it had to house all of the participants of this game. From the information provided upon her arrival it was simple logic that new arrivals were hardly uncommon, the vast array of clothing and species surrounding her as she traced the pavements giving some credence to the claim that participants were plucked from several universes, and providing sufficient housing for them would take a reasonably sized building. Only one building seemed to fill that description, situated in the middle of the city, and thus, that was where Erika decided to first investigate.

Ah, but that wasn’t her only deduction so far. Another glance was cast at the paltry weapon she had been provided with— several other passersby carrying their own wooden substitutes— it seemed likely that all participants were given a handicap of sorts. Whether it be in weaponry or other abilities, the latter would need to be tested, it seemed likely that the game masters didn’t want them fighting amongst themselves…

Or at least, not causing eachother permanent injury.

Even with this reasoning, Erika was, most grudgingly, able to admit that she wasn’t very much closer to locating the central mystery of this board, nor the goals of the masters. It took a moment of reminding herself that this was only the preliminary stage to calm the rising frustration, the sting of defeat still fresh in her mind. This was a new game board— no Battler, no Beatrice— a chance to prove her intellectual superiority once more. It would take time but it would be most worth it in the end.

This self-assurance in mind, the detective wondered if it would be worth beginning interviews with the other players… certainly, if they had been involved with this game for any length of time, they could hold useful information. It was a course of action worth testing— targeting the nearest bystander, Erika cleared her throat lightly.

“May I take up a moment of your time?”

(The fiery red-head had currently been observing the streets intently - as was her job in this sector - until she heard a clearing of the throat behind her, she blinking a bit at the unexpectedness of that noise, but not all that startled, as in this city you usually had to try and ‘expect’ the unexpected, she’d been here long enough to know that! That aside, she turned around to see a girl with quite pretty long, green hair asking if she could take up a moment of her time. Well, since she was a detective of sector two, it was her job to help civilians in need the best she could, so refusing this stranger was certainly not an option! Not to mention, she looked nice enough.

Maybe they could be friends? Having a lot of allies and friends in the city was not only ‘fun’, it was logically a lot better than going at things all alone. Not to mention you found out a lot more info that way, and it was also safer! She wasn’t no ‘rookie’ detective to this city, she knew that all to be fact very well. Thoughts temporarily moved, Lynne gave a very energetic grin, saying:)

Well, I don’t mind taking a moment or two away from my investigations of the sector to talk to a civilian in need, not at all! A good detective always does their best to assist others in need, I think, so I’m happy to help!

My name’s Lynne - and I’m the local law enforcer in this sector. Kinda wish we had more people on the force, but it’s nice to meetcha all the same!

(That said, she moved a bit closer to the stranger in her usual friendly manner, saying:)

Just ask me anything you want, miss, and I promise I’ll do my best to give an informational answer!

I’m not the only ‘detective’ around here, though - there’s also my partner in investigations, Hanna Bana-uhm..Hanna Cross, so if I can’t answer anything, you could go find him once we’re done talking to clear up any further queries you may have. He’s really good at investigating, too, so I know he’d be able to answer anything I might not be able to. 

(That important fact noted, Lynne fell silent, eagerly seizing the situation up and bobbing up and down in sheer enthusiasm: ohh, stamping out evil and helping others in her job…there really was nothing that made her feel more alive! Hopefully, she could help this lady enough, though, energy aside!)

hawkxeyes:

There are so many people here…Riza assumed that they were all in the same predicament she was in. They had been torn from their worlds and brought here. Folding her arms, she simply shook her head. Who had the gall to do such things? What gave them the right?

With each new step, the lieutenant saw a new face. It appeared there were many people in this city. However, at the moment she wasn’t interested in meeting them. At this particular moment, the sharpshooter was scoping out the city and committing it to memory.

As a sharpshooter, Riza need to know the highs and lows of the city. At a moment’s notice she might need to scope out her enemy and take up arms. Being in the military, she knew there was no time for slip ups. A miss in a target could mean the failure of a mission and the end of a comrade’s life. She had to take advantage of the time she had now.

However, Riza remembered when she had awoken that her military regulated hand gun had been taken. In it’s place was a simple BB gun. Thankfully, the lieutenant was also good at hand to hand combat, but not as well as she was talented in her weapons specializing. Hopefully while she was here, she wouldn’t need to use her gun.

(A somewhat chipper whistle flickered through the air of sector two, despite it being as disgustingly noxious as ever, Lynne moving around her usual ‘watch’ of the sector: hey, as awful as this whole city was, no sense in letting it get you down, right? That would mean those dumb stupid scientists ‘won’! She had no intentions of letting them win again, not after that whole ‘zombie’ infection that had been going around that had caused enough trouble and upset regarding herself and the city as a whole, no way! She wouldn’t be surprised if her investigation partner felt the same way. Hey, maybe they should totally take an investigation in the same direction some time!

That’d be cool. To walk along, knowing you had such a reliable person backing you up! To just enjoy walking hand-in-han…oops. Kind of wandered off in daydream thoughts, there. Ah well, not that she minded, they were nice. But she really had to focus on her detective work right now! Speaking of which, there seemed to be a rather official-looking stranger wandering around, and the red-head decided to approach, giving a little salute to the ‘proper’-looking lady before saying:)

Hey there! I don’t think I’ve seen you ‘round sector two before - and I do ‘rounds’ of the place a lot of the time! Detective Lynne, at your service, ma’am!

You look really offical - are you a really high-ranking investigator or somethin’?

(The yellow-coated detective tilted her head somewhat at the curious enquiry -seemed pretty logical to ask that , but maybe this official-looking lady was actually new here…?)

alwaysgettingkidnapped:

Flora would have loved to rebuke the stranger’s claim with a waggle of her finger and a stern reassurance that she was the expert in all things inconspicuous, but she was too busy trying to escape the weird lady to even think of it. She peered once over her shoulder and let out a small, triumphant smile. It seems that she wasn’t being followed, and so her pace began to slow at the relief of her heart and lungs to catch her breath. Looks like she was going to be able to have her little adventure after a—

Hold iiiit!

…Or not. At the sound of the woman’s yell Flora took off like a barefoot jack rabbit crossing over a bed of hot coals, now panting so heavily she could feel flecks of spit fly from her lips. Icky! But she had to endure it, had to, or else she would get caught, and then she would never get to have her adventure, and oh goodness the trouble she would get into, and—and—!

Another glance over her own shoulder to get an idea of how far the redhead was from her proved to be her downfall, literally. A small but certainly obstrusive rock, unseen by the young girl’s eyes, had been positioned inopportunely enough so that it caught right under a now-sullied black boot, causing Flora to experience the sensation of flight for a few alarming seconds before she face-planted right into the ground and tumbled some meters away.

“Ow…”

Dust powdered her entire body and soiled her nostrils, small areas on her legs and hands started to tingle and gradually sting as dirt clouded various scrapes on her skin. Flora groaned, pushing herself up as best she could through the aching. Footsteps sounded in her ear, reminding her why she was running in the first place, and if the girl could muster up enough strength she would pull herself together and start speeding off once more. But Flora is weak by nature, pathetically so, and instead the situation and regret just frustrated her to the point her nose began to drip a little more than usual and her vision blurred, eyes swelling with tears just begging to pour out but she tried to fight it. What kind of lady cries so openly?

Then again, what kind of lady could she call herself now—sitting in the midst of an abandoned whatchamacallit, covered in all sorts of so-and-so and being caught by that-weird-lady-with-the-red-hair.

“…Sorry.” She murmured as the woman approached, still sitting pitifully in the dirt with her head down. “I just wanted to explore, I never get to and it seemed perfect and… and—”

And here come the waterworks.

“I-I’m so sorry! Please, please don’t tell the Professor! I’ll never do it again, never ever ever, I swear!”

(For a moment, it seemed the young girl didn’t quite expect her to take chase, and her attempted run slowed down: but Lynne wasn’t just going to stand there and let someone go into such a dangerous area! Reason A: Nobody was supposed to be in here for logical reasons, so if something bad happened, not only would the child get in a heap of trouble, she would, too, if she neglected to stop the other. Reason B: As tempting as this area was to explore - she herself had the temptation to wander in here many times, she wasn’t going to deny that - it was very dangerous, according to the knowledge of the last mess that had happened here, and if anything bad happened to a kid, she wouldn’t like that!

This girl looked around about Kamila’s age, so perhaps it was how close in age this young stranger was to the one she considered a ‘little sister’ of sorts back home that also attributed to the detective’s stubbornness regarding the issue: she wasn’t about to let someone who so reminded her of one she missed terribly be hurt, no WAY! Thus, she took chase, as did the young girl at hearing her voice, but the determined running on both sides stopped very quickly - the stranger tripping over a rock due to watching the detective’s approach rather than where she was going.

Despite the fact the girl was still in the ‘dangerous’ area, per say, Lynne winced and covered her mouth in concern at that - that fall had looked rather nasty, to put it lightly. Slowing down the run to a walk as the stranger slowly sat up, she reached the girl just as she started crying and begging her not to tell the ‘Professor’, whoever that was. Lynne spoke then, saying:)

Exploring is really awesome - you don’t have to feel bad for wanting to explore -but nobody’s allowed in this place, because there was like, evil robots that came from here a long time ago or something, and everyone’s nervous playing around here would make them come back again. I don’t really know the details of exactly what happened when the power this place provides to the whole city got cut out, but it was bad, I know much.

Buuut never mind that! I don’t even know who the ‘Professor’ is, and I’m more worried if you’re okay at the moment…you didn’t hurt yourself too bad, did ya?