Lay me down on a bed of roses

[indirectcause]

Who: Ben and YOU!
What: Arriving in Paradisa
When: 28th
Where: Lobby
Rating: PG13 kid has a mouth. Here be your spoiler warning for the game.


[Ben had never really thought much about how fast it takes for a bullet to do its work. Not until he needed it to, anyway. He'd heard the shot, but after that, nothing. It went fast, really fast. There was a vague feeling of gratitude as Kenny pulled the trigger, giving him a mercy he knew he didn't deserve from the man. He'd surrendered to the blackness willingly, no longer a burden to the ever smaller mish-mash of humanity that was their group.

The blackness doesn't last, and that's when he appears on the floor of the lobby of Paradisa, his letterman jacket covered in blood. His blood. Walker's blood. It's a mix, really. He takes in a panicked gasp, scrabbling at the floor and looking around in sheer panic. The alleyway is gone. The walkers are gone. So are Kenny and Lee. ...The pain too.

He glances down at his stomach, the metal that had been sticking out there, a final, horrible promise that he wasn't getting out of that alley is missing. His hand automatically goes to his head, his hair matted with blood (definitely all his own this time) but no hole. Did Kenny miss? He couldn't have. He brings his hand back down to stare at the blood for a moment, before turning to glance around him again, looking for any signs of life.

He's definitely not in Georgia any more]

What the fuck is going on?

Comments

[wolfchild]

[ the smell of blood, and fresh, is a difficult lure to ignore. nymeria follows it, head low. she makes hardly any noise, though the castle isn't the woods so her ability to creep up unobserved is hindered. her lips peel back from her teeth, a small growl issuing out of her throat. ]

Nymeria!

[ the girl's voice cracks like a whip. arya stands a little ways away, glaring at the wolf. nymeria's eyes roll in annoyance, but she returns obediently. only then does arya look at the newcomer. ]

What happened to you?

[indirectcause]

[There haven't been any animals in the picture for Ben for a while. Most of them have either been eaten by walkers or got the hell out to a safe place. Assuming such a thing exists. So the direwolf comes as something of a horrifying surprise to Ben]

BIG WOLF BIG WOLF.

[He manages to scuttle a little out of the way, trying to find anything he can smack it on the head with. They didn't think the animals had it, but it was better safe than sorry. Luckily for him, nothing comes to hand and suddenly there's a little girl here. A little, living girl. He frowns, confused]

I...I thought Crawford got rid of all the kids.

[wolfchild]

Down, Nymeria. [ the wolf circles around her, gold eyes fixed on ben. arya's fingers curl into the wolf's scruff just in case. she looks ben over quickly. ] Are you hurt? There are healers...

[indirectcause]

[He continues staring at her for a moment, not sure how she got here and how she's not looking like absolute hell]

I...I'm not hurt. [He should be. He should be fucking dead. He catches the word healers, does she mean doctors? He is so done with doctors] Where are we? Are we still in Savannah? This doesn't look like Savannah.

[hard_talker]

[Mark's timing is the best. he's coming out of the kitchen with a fresh six-pack of soda, fixing to bring it down to the gallery for Nora, when he sees the kid with his head covered in blood and drops the whole pack on the floor with a cry of:]

Oh, Jesus.

[indirectcause]

[Ben starts at the noise, shuffling away and looking for a weapon. None come to hand, so he turns to look at Mark, his eyes squinting for a moment, trying to judge how much of a pulse this guy has.

...He looks alive enough though, and honestly, he needs to know where he is. How to find Lee and the others again]

Where did you come from?

[He can't be from Crawford. Maybe Molly had friends she didn't tell them about?]

[hard_talker]

'Pends on who you ask. My mom used to say heaven, now she says hell. My student transcript says New York. Me, I say.... [he points behind him] ....kitchen. What the hell happened to you? [he starts to cross the lobby, ignoring the fact that at least one can cracked open and is fizzing out little soda geysers on the floor]

sneaky phone tags

[willrememberthat]

[Clem is used to seeing odd things in the lobby. Magical creatures, crazy hair colors, and things adults would brush off as fiction back home. So, when she sees Ben (who is none of the above), it takes her a moment to realize who it is she's seeing.]

... Ben?

[When Lee had come for her, alone, she could only assume why. They wouldn't have split up or left him alone unless...]

Ben!

[Clem decides it's more than okay to run over and latch onto his neck, not minding the mess. It only makes her think that maybe she's right about what happened to him and the others.]

like a ninja

[indirectcause]

[He sits up at the familiar voice. He'd honestly thought he wouldn't hear it again. That he wouldn't have the chance to make everything right for her. He blinks in surprise at the sudden latching child, but after a moment wraps a careful arm around her]

Clem. [He sounds so relived. Wherever the heck they are, Clem is alive and Clem is safe. That's more important than anything else] Thank god you're okay. I was worried. We all were.

[willrememberthat]

Are you okay?

[She stays where she is, looking at him with worry. Ben never really fit in with the adults, did he?]

[last_rat_standing]

[Bond was returning from his daily sweep of the castle and surrounding grounds when he saw this mess. Oh Christ what happened, now? The kid's confused look leads him to assume that he's just arrived and has no idea where he is or how he got there. Hopefully he at least knows why he's covered in blood. He doesn't seem injured, though, which is curious.

Bond pauses, one hand in his pocket as he regards the boy]

That seems to depends entirely on who you ask.

[indirectcause]

[Ben carefully shifts away from Bond, mistrustful. This guy could be anyone, after all. He could even be the guy who took Clem. His eye narrow, trying to find more bravery in his voice than he really feels]

Then who do I have to ask?

[last_rat_standing]

[It's okay, Ben, he's used to people not trusting him. His expression doesn't change as he regards the boy]

I'm afraid the person responsible for this has yet to reveal themselves. The popular opinion is that we've been taken here by the castle, itself, which I find absurd.

[rightchoices]

[ Lee has come to expect a lot of strange things in the castle. Magic, dinosaurs, three year old alien girls with a thirst for knowledge of Earth -- somehow, though, he had never really expected anyone else from home to show up here. It was him and Clementine, and it had always been that way. She'd been the first thing on his mind both when he'd been bitten and when he'd showed up in Paradisa in the first place.

That's probably why it takes him a solid stunned second to actually recognize Ben, and why he's struck briefly dumb when he finally does. ]

Ben?

[ Why is he covered in blood?

Goddammit. ]

When did you get here? What happened?

[ Because right now the immediate concern is making sure that none of that very fresh looking blood is from any wounds that are still open. ]

[indirectcause]

[Ben looks up quickly at the sound of Lee's voice. The last thing he remembered of Lee was him trying to convince Kenny not to- He scrabbles up to his feet, his hand going to that bloody mess on his stomach, and frowning in confusion when doing so didn't hurt. At least he doesn't SEEM to have any open wounds.

Seriously, what the fuck was going on]

What do you mean what happened you were right here. [His head snaps around him, trying desperately to recognise anything of their surroundings] Where's Kenny? And uh... Savannah.

[rightchoices]

We're not in Savannah anymore. Stop moving - hold your arms out.

[ He was already thinking, thinking.. it had been Zelos's friend to come heal him, hadn't it? Maybe he could find her again. ]

I haven't been for a long time. It's a long story - were you bitten?

[bronwe]

[ That's a horrible sight to greet at any morning, and Frodo fights the urge to turn around and run back to his room, alone and safe in his solitude. But he can't. The man seems so confused and wasn't he just the same when he first arrived? He must have looked worse and other people helped him then, so...

He approaches timidly, keeping a safe distance, in case all that blood isn't his. ]

The castle. It brought you here.

[indirectcause]

[Ben frowns in confusion for a moment, mistaking the little guy for a kid. But that couldn't be right. It seemed like Clem was the only kid in the whole city, Crawford had seen to that.

But no...he's not a kid, is he? A midget? How has he even survived out here]

...There aren't any castles in Savannah. [Or all of Georgia, come to that]

[bronwe]

[ Frodo ventures a little closer, close enough to reach out a hand to help him stand while his eyes look for any sign of injury on the man. There's too much blood, but he seems well, relatively speaking. ]

You are not in Savannah any longer. I'm sorry.

[xss]

[now that they were safely back in the castle, Chihiro had taken to exploring the grounds for herself, taking note of what was actually here. It was something she found she had gotten into the habit of immediately doing while stuck in a new place, considering they'd done it twice already after waking up in Hope's Peak. The only thing that felt odd about it was not... having a group to report your findings back to when you were done...

Still, being there was so much more to explore it was taking a few days to explore everything. Today was the day she decided she'd use to explore outside (outside, they actually could go outside) but as she was making her way out there through the lobby (an area she'd been avoiding since her bloody arrival) this... wasn't what she had expected to find.

All that blood on him, in his hair too even, and in this place... it was a little too familiar for comfort.

And thus she sprang towards him in a panic]

A-Are you okay!?

[indirectcause]

[Ben yelps, trying to scrabble away from the figure running towards him. It takes him a moment to realise she's both human and not a walker. Still, he doesn't let his guard down. The kindness of strangers isn't what it once used to be]

Where the hell am I?

[xss]

[She stops in her tracks when she hears him yelp, realizing her error in rushing forward. Oh no he's new too on top of everything else, crap. She knows she's pretty useless in most scenarios as is, but she'll especially useless if he's scared or wary of her.]

I-I'm sorry! Y-You're in Paradisa, n-not where ever you were before... I-It's really kind of weird, I know b-but...

[ugh she is bad at this, she's just scrambling to think of what to say in a situation like this.]

[rogueofheart]

[The scent of blood is what draws Nepeta's attention first. Blood means either someone's hurt, or there's a hunt she should be getting in on. With no other immediate plans, she's quick to find the source.

She stops rather alarmed when she sees the source is a human male covered in blood. There's no way to really tell if it's all his or not, what with every human sharing the same blood color, so she isn't sure if she should be concerned for him or someone else.

Of course, Paradisa does like to take people from their weakest moments. She should know. She bets it's all his blood. With that, she approaches a bit cautiously.]

Hey, you don't look so good.

[indirectcause]

[Seeing something with grey skin approaching him does nothing for Ben's nerves. He tries to scuttle away, a hand to his stomach to staunch the blood that is no longer flowing. She speaks, though, so she can't be a walker. He doesn't know what she is, but at least she's not that]

Wh-what are you? [Wow, RUDE] Where am I?

[rogueofheart]

[She's only momentarily insulted by his reaction, but that's to be expected from someone who's brand new. This guy is definitely brand new.]

Well one, I am a troll. You can ask more about that later. And two, this is Purradisa. Do you need bandages?