Even when there's no walls or windows...

[noteasytobepink]

Who: Clarice, the Timebroker, Bill?!
When: After the end of Grant.
What: It's like coming home...when your home doesn't exist any more.

She groaned and cracked an eye open, immediately wincing at the harsh light. She was either back in the hospital or...

"Easy, Clarice, you're hurt," the Timebroker sighed, reaching back to pluck pillows out of thin air behind him. "Careful, that's a girl..." he helped prop her upright before patting her hand. "I lose you for a few years and look what happens!"

"...alien," she noted automatically, trying to breathe carefully. Time to take stock: broken ribs, she'd probably at least sprained her wrist, knee hated her, black eye...

"I already set your nose and three fingers," he offered helpfully.

...broken fingers and nose then. Headache. Thankfully no bleeding gut wounds or anything, that would have taken the wormy cake wouldn't it? "Getting soft," she chuckled carefully, licking her lips to clear away the grit of dried blood.

"No, getting lost without a proper team," he chided. "That level should have been a full team, not one crazy mutant backing up a town."

"So...why no team?" she asked, shifting to look at the short man standing beside her bed. Once upon a time a series of kitchen tiles standing alone in a desert would have been weird. Now? Now it was just where the Timebroker lived, and now there was a bed set on the tiles. How thoughtful.

"...because I can't watch everything." The Timebroker settled on a chair that hadn't been there a moment ago and held out a thermometer. Thermometers were important parts of ensuring wellness! That was what observation told him anyway. "There's more than just me out there, I'm a fixer, I meddle more than I should and I care about those that get lost. You fell...right out of my territory. A timeline and reality far past anything I can see. I knew I'd find you again if I watched for you, but the broker in that area was...less than happy."

"...I didn't go there on purpose."

"I know. You saved your team. That's what you do. She just...should have told me. She's the angry sort though. Anomalies are...discarded. So she didn't let me know one of 'MY' anomalies was wandering around in one of her worlds." He...didn't like his own kind much honestly.

"And Wheelsy?"

"Safe," he assured. "For good this time. It was a two event, one defeat, two defeats, out."

She leaned back on her pillows, letting that information trickle through her mind. Good. She didn't ask about Bill; she couldn't. His place was safe. His world was safe. It would be alright. "My team?"

"Still scraping along, you won't be up to joining them for a bit but Morph is saving a spot for you. Speaking of..." he held up a Talus unit, this one a bit more form fitting it seemed. "You lost your last one. I didn't know that was possible."

"Psycho mutant with a knife and super strength," she pointed out, holding up her left arm. That was a faint, almost hidden starburst of a scar on her forearm. The place the last had attached.

"Yes, well, this one is made for you," he assured, sliding the metal and gem sleeve on. "There, how does it feel?"

She had winced slightly when it went on, but she didn't even feel it attach like she had the last. A moment more and the metal had warmed to her skin temp, that was better. A poke revealed she could...feel through it. Huh. "A lot more user friendly," she noted. "It's like a second skin."

"I should hope so," he noted. "It took some time to work up but this one can't be taken from you, I promise. They won't even manage to cut off your arm if they tried."

"...that's reassuring," she chuckled, wincing as her ribs bit. "Don't...want to do that again." Get lost. Get involved.

"I know," he patted her cheek and looked out over the tiles until a kitchen showed up for him. "You rest. You've had a rough time, but you're safe now. We have you back. I'll get some soup going."

"Sorry to make you worry," she noted, already drifting off.

That was for the best. The soup could make itself, yes. The short little man was...pulling on a cloak suited for desert travel and going to trace down the other anomaly. He could send the man back to his own realms, but as he'd mentioned, the broker there wasn't kind to those who slipped between the cracks. If he was smart he'd just send the man away and let Clarice move on; Bill was from a world set where mutants didn't even exist after all!

But...he'd looked after Clarice. That earned him some credit in the Timebroker's book. It was a bit of a walk; being attuned Clarice had shown up where he was, but Bill? Bill had no place now so anywhere in the lost sands.

The Timebroker was good at finding things though. It wasn't long before he was nudging a sandy leg with his boot, "and what are we going to do with you?"

Comments

[wheelsy_sheriff]

He closed his eyes, trying to regather himself.

"No, she alright?"

Taking in slow, careful breaths, he concentrated on drawing up the strength to move. He couldn't just lay here, he had to check on things.

"You're a what from my who?"

Timebroker...

Why was that name important?

[noteasytobepink]

"I'm certain she's fine where she is," he snorted. "Can you even sit up?" That would be a start, right? Sitting. He didn't look broken, just pretty well tenderized.

"A combined delusion here to help you figure things out for the time being."

[wheelsy_sheriff]

"No," he grunted, even as he rolled over to push himself up. He managed to his knees, clutching his mid-section, and decided that was a fine enough place to stay for now.

"Ain't delusions bad?" They generally meant a person had taken knocks to the head, of which he's pretty certain he's had plenty of.

[noteasytobepink]

"Ah, well, that's almost sitting," he noted. Good job?

Were delusions bad? Hmm. Not being up on human medical practices he really couldn't judge the rest. "Depends on whether they help you survive and adjust to new situations," he shrugged. "Where do you think you are?"

[wheelsy_sheriff]

Bill eased back into a sitting position, eyes tight in pain and breathing deep to work through it.

His eyes flashed open when the man brought up where Bill was, and he looked around wildly. "Where I am? Wheelsy. I gotta get back t'town." But none of this looked familiar at all.

"The hell is goin' on?"

[noteasytobepink]

"Does this look like Wheelsy?" he noted dryly. "This is a between place, the desert of lost sands. You reached the end of your path in your world." Not that he said that last unkindly, he just knew from experience that sugar coating the truth was...bad for everyone involved.

[wheelsy_sheriff]

It was through sheer, stubborn will that Bill pushed himself to his feet; standing there swaying with his fists clenched.

"I can see that. Where the hell is this place? An' what does that mean, 'end of my path'?"

[noteasytobepink]

"Between," he repeated. "You're displaced. Lost. I really can't simplify it further." Because seriously, what else was he suppose to say?

"The end. The future does not exist for you."

[wheelsy_sheriff]

He listened, and it finally clicked into place.

The end.

His left knee gave first, and then his legs went out from underneath him and he fell back onto the sand, catching himself with one hand behind him to remain in a sit.

"Y'mean I'm dead?"

[noteasytobepink]

At least they were soft sands? About the best that could be said right now, "do you feel dead?"

[wheelsy_sheriff]

"No." He hurt enough to feel close to it, but he did seem to still be breathing. "This sure as shit ain't my town, though, an' you're talkin' end of the line... how do I get back, then?"

[noteasytobepink]

"Simple answer? You don't. Simplest answer, well, your death would solve a lot of problems and would be exactly what people in your area would do," he sighed. Why had he dragged this guy across reality sands?

Eh, who knew.

"Some worlds don't get to be returned to, especially when the person is suppose to be dead."

[wheelsy_sheriff]

"But I ain't dead," he replied, anger flashing in his eyes. "So send me back."

[noteasytobepink]

"In that world you are. You defeat Grant but it kills you. You're remembered well but the world moves on. The fact you're not dead, technically, is an anomaly and you cannot return to a timeline you no longer exist in."

[wheelsy_sheriff]

"Bullshit."

He forces himself to his feet again and stands over the man.

"I'm here an' whole, Grant didn't get the last word on nothin'. You yanked me out of there you can put me back."

[noteasytobepink]

"No, I didn't." he sighed not bothering to stand when Bill did. "Another anomaly interfered and that meant the deathblow slammed you out of reality. It was an accident. A mistake. and if you go back to that world you will screw up the future, badly. Most likely outcome the alien will return and next time he will win."

[wheelsy_sheriff]

That answer didn't sit right with Bill at all, and he reached down to roughly yank the man up by the collar.

"I don't believe that. I wanna go back t'where I belong."

[noteasytobepink]

The man gave Bill a 'really?' look and simply let the 'reality' of his collar fade away. Not that he fell mind you, no, he stayed standing in mid air. "You don't belong anywhere now. You are lost. You can choose to die or you can choose to wander, but back is not an option for you."

[wheelsy_sheriff]

Bill blinked, then looked at his empty hands, letting them drop clenched to his sides.

"I ain't Lost!" He shouted. "I know exactly where I'm suppose t'be."

He looked around, hoping there was someone else he could talk to, searching for anything familiar.

"I can't wander, I've got a town t'get back to. Friends, family... " back was the only option for him. "Where's Clarice? She's back there, too."

[noteasytobepink]

"Clarice is an Anomaly," he said, not unkindly. "She's likely the reason you're not dead like you should be. She's loose once more, and shaking free dragged the nearest person with her. That is why you're alive. Not that you seem grateful for the fact."

[wheelsy_sheriff]

"It ain't alive if I'm Dead back home!" he shouted again, his voice cracking.

"Y'don't understand, I can't-- this wasn't supposed t'happen. I can't just leave all of it behind... "

[noteasytobepink]

"You're dead back there and there's nothing left for you there at all. You will threaten lives if you somehow make it back and I certainly can't send you there." So why keep harping on it?

"And you're right, no one else could possibly understand the pain and horror of being dislodged from a reality. Oh no. This place exists only for you I'm sure."

[wheelsy_sheriff]

His chest was tight and roiling with emotions as the weight and reality of everything threatened to crush him.

His mind was racing in every direction and at some point he had begun to breath in deep and fast.

Withering sarcasm wasn't something he could handle right now. Bill's eyes locked on the little man and he swung at him, hard and fast and backed by everything in this moment.

[noteasytobepink]

Another withering look and he let his own physical reality fade away so the thrown punch passed right through without a single hint of resistance. "Perhaps death would have been kinder. When you're ready to talk rationally and with less self absorption I'll be back."

[wheelsy_sheriff]

Bill stumbled forward and just barely managed to keep his balance.

Whipping around, he searched for the man.

"Hey! HEY!"

He could feel sand in his shoes and still nothing looked familiar in the barren landscape.

"Delusions can't run away from the one havin' them!" He shouted out, the only thing else he could think to say.