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]

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.

[wolfchild]

That's because it's not Savannah. [ she can't help the dryness that creeps into her tone. but if he's not injured, she can relax. ]

You look awful. You'll be wanting a bath. Have you just come from battle?

[indirectcause]

It's...not? [He looks around confused, now the fight or flight is calming down, he can see this is a castle...what the hell is a castle doing here?] Where are we?

[He glances down at his jacket, covered in blood and dirt and bits of walker and who knows what else. A bath sounds the most glorious thing in the universe, it's been a long, long time since he's had one. But he can't relax, not yet] Less battle, more like avoiding it. Where are your group? You're not out here alone, are you?

[wolfchild]

[ arya strokes the direwolf's head. the animal is still watching ben closely. ]

I have my pack.

You're in Paradisa. [ looking up, she abruptly changes the subject. ] You won't believe me when I say what it is. You really should have a bath. Nymeria's not the only hunter around here. If she's drawn to the blood so will the rest.

[indirectcause]

...Like a wolf pack. [Great, so he's stuck here with a kid that's gone wild. Greaaaaat]

I've never heard of that. [He looks at the blood again, then swiftly pulls himself to his feet] SHIT! They'll be on us in a second they were-

[He glances at their surroundings. It seems...almost like people live here, and comfortably too]

Where are all the walkers?

[wolfchild]

Direwolves. Wolves aren't near as big or as strong. She could rip your arm off with one tug if she felt like it. [ let's just establish the pack hierarchy now.

she looks around too because he does. ]

Standing. Or mayhaps sitting. Some even running when they don't wish to walk.

[indirectcause]

So can a lot of things. [When the undead are lurching around trying to eat you alive, being mauled by wild animals seems a lot less horrifying than probably should be.

He frowns at her answer]

Not funny. Everywhere is overrun with them, why doesn't this place have any? [It can't be a safe place, it CAN'T be, all the safe places are gone]

[wolfchild]

What were you being chased by?

[ genuine confusion lines her expression. ]

[indirectcause]

By walkers. You can't tell me you haven't seen any of them. [Wait. Molly had a different name for them, didn't she] Geeks? Uh... the dead that are walking around?

[wolfchild]

[ wights. ] They're not here. I've never seen them. I've only heard of them from other people.

[indirectcause]

They...they haven't got here yet? [How is that even possible] But we thought they were everywhere. They were everywhere.

[God. What if Kenny's boat idea WOULD have worked? All that wasted life on something that everyone dismissed as a pipe dream could have come right for them. Fuck]

[wolfchild]

Not here.

[indirectcause]

But... how? Has it at least been on the news? [The rest of the world has to know about it by now, it's been nearly four months since the mess started] Are there people trying to help?

[wolfchild]

Bath first. Have you eaten?

[indirectcause]

[Sorry, Arya, the last time people tried to take care of them it ended badly. He hasn't eaten, not for a long time, but he can't relax now]

No, I gotta get back to my group. We need to find- [they need to find Clem, before it's too late] I just gotta get back to them.

[wolfchild]

They're not likely here.

[indirectcause]

But I can't just abandon them. [He almost says that they wouldn't abandon him, but...he knows that's not strictly true. Not for most of them, anyway]

They're in so much trouble, I need to do something. [Screw it up, probably. But he can't not try. His hand goes to his head again, and the slickness of his hair pushes back that thought he'd been keeping back. He looks down at his jacket, the hole is there, amongst all the blood. It happened. It all happened]

I thought I was dead.

[wolfchild]

[ she looks down at his shirt. valar morghulis. ]

People that died can be brought here. There's a lot of them.

[indirectcause]

...You said there weren't any walkers.

[But he's not a walker. He's breathing, for a start]

How can it even do that.

[wolfchild]

Because it can. They're not dead anymore. You're not.

[indirectcause]

Oh.

[There might even be a touch of disappointment in his tone, just a touch. Lee had saved him from the bell tower in Crawford, had made it seem like he was WORTH being alive. But there was still a part of him that thought maybe the whole group would be better off if he was dead]

So this is...what? A second chance.

[wolfchild]

[ more of a cruel jape. she shrugs. ] I guess. Are you going to eat?

[indirectcause]

[Jesus, he really is so hungry. He desperately needs to get to the group but the chance of food...]

What sort of food do you have?

[wolfchild]

Anything you want. There's empty rooms. You can stay in one until you find yours. [ and there's baths there. no, she's not giving up on that yet. dude, you smell. ]