1st Drink ++ Video

[justrunsasaloon]

[The explosions sends her flying backwards and her head cracks against a wall that sends sparks dancing in front of her eyes.

Rolling, Ellen pushes herself up. The phone next to her chirps and she grabs it, unwittingly turning on the video function. There's nails in her body and bruises blossoming along her skin. Scrapes and gashes seep blood. The first breath hurts and gouges into her lungs.]

So much for Paradise.

[She forces herself into a sitting position and notices the phone.]

Great, cell service in Heaven. Damn I could use a drink.

[The second deep breath hurts just as much as the first. Damn, isn't there supposed to be a happily ever after? This sucks.]

Cas, just so you know, Heaven sucks.

Comments

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[justrunsasaloon]

Thanks. I appreciate it.

[Better than the Devil, anyway.]

You got any idea where the hell we are?

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[eatsyourscience]

It's called Wonderland.

It's definitely not Heaven.

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[justrunsasaloon]

Got that when the Devil piped up.

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[eatsyourscience]

Oh. Him.

[Souji's only talked to him once, but that was enough, really.]

I can explain how things work here, if you want. I've been here a few years.

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[justrunsasaloon]

[She's just going to raise an eyebrow at him, because that's an unusual reaction.]

Years?

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[eatsyourscience]

A little over two years, I think. It was two in June.

[He hurries to add:] But most people don't stay that long. Most people are here around six months and then get sent back to the time they came from.

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[justrunsasaloon]

So, let me get this straight.

[She is not nearly coherent nor drunk enough for this.]

I blew up a store full of hellhounds and ended up in some weird through the rabbit hole place?

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[eatsyourscience]

The timing is probably a coincidence.

But uh...did you kill them? [Those things suck and going back to deal with them in her condition would suck even more.]

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[justrunsasaloon]

Salt, Iron and kerosene. Doubt they survived.

[She doesn't know. She kinda died at the same time.]

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[eatsyourscience]

Good. Those things are terrible. We had them here once, for a few days.

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[justrunsasaloon]

Only a few days? Sure they're not still lurking around?

[Paranoia.]

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[eatsyourscience]

Yeah. They were part of an event.

[Better explain what those are.] Every couple weeks, a memory from someone's world changes things here, like the layout of the Mansion, or our behavior. We call that an event.

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[justrunsasaloon]

Oh, that's just perfect.

[Can you sense how happy she is about this? She's not even sure she wants to know what memories this place will drag up.]

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[eatsyourscience]

They're not always bad, but they can get really dangerous sometimes. You seem like you can handle things like that pretty well, though.

[Or at least like she will not even be taking anything from anyone.]

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[justrunsasaloon]

I can take care of myself.

[She can agree with that.]

It'll be just like at home.

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[eatsyourscience]

At least you won't get out of practice.

I'm Souji, by the way.

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[justrunsasaloon]

Ellen. Thanks for the info.

[As little as it is.]

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[eatsyourscience]

No problem. There's more, but no one knows the answers to a lot of the most important questions. Like "how do we go home?" or "why us?"

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[justrunsasaloon]

Nothing to go home to. So I'm not worried about that part.

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[eatsyourscience]

[He looks her over and things he might understand what she means. He doesn't know her well enough to ask, though.]

Not everyone is.

There's a diner on the eighth floor, if you ever want to stop by. It's pretty much always open.

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[justrunsasaloon]

I'll keep it in mind. Thanks.