vision-omnifold

[vision-omnifold]

The trickling sounds of the water almost completely muffled Kanaya's voice. If not for Rose's better than average hearing, gained over the time it took to lose her vision, she might not have heard her name at all. Turning towards its source, Rose squinted at Kanaya. She could see the troll, however she could not make any distinct feature of the troll. To Rose Kanaya was little more than a tall, blurry blob of grey, black and red. "Yes." she began after several long moments of silence. "My name is Rose but I haven't gone by my name in years. You can call me Grim though. I'm sorry to ask such a rude question, but do I know you? I'm sorry if I do and I've forgotten. I've been...very out of touch with the world for a while now so those I knew in life have mostly gone by the way side. Also, I can barely see you. I'm afraid my eye sight isn't what it used to be." Aware that telling a stranger,not to mention what looked like a troll thanks to all the grey, she was blind was a dangerous idea Rose reached up and behind her once again. And, once again, she came up empty. Right. Obviously not having her needles was going to take more getting used to than she had first thought. Covering her faux pax by holding out her hand in greeting Rose smiled a dangerous smile. "I may be blind, but I'm not defenseless, so if this is some kind of trap to get my guard down you're going to have to try something a hell of a lot more creative than calling out my name. I'm used to being famous, hearing any of my name's, even one I haven't gone by in years, isn't ever going to throw me off. So, for your own sake, if you had murder in mind forget it now." Rose was pretty sure this stranger didn't intend to kill her since the instnct of her vision omnifold wasn't going off, but that was something to depend on. "Or, if you have only the best of intentions in mind, you could even things up and tell me your name. And if you feel so inclined I'd also like to know where it is we are."

A Grim Reality

It’d been the first time that day that Kanaya had made way out to the woods. She’d decided to abandon her igloo, if only for a little while longer, to see what else was on this mountain side.

Turned out there was a freshwater spring, stream rather, where some game would go to every now and again. But it wasn’t the animals that piqued Kanaya’s attention, it’d been the water itself and the promise it held that snow just didn’t have. While she was able to fashion a stone bowl with her chainsaw, after /many/ broken pieces later, she was finally able to boil water! The past few days before, she’d just been eating snow for hydration. But cleaning was another story, and so was warmth.

Much as she wanted to keep up with her little chores, ones she made up for herself, Kanaya decided that she couldn’t only do things with fresh water now that she had the option. This included /bathing/. And much as the cold could get to one out here, there was nothing stopping her from using the wooden tub she made. Would have to heat up a lot of water before she was able to use it, sure, but it would definitely be worth it. Could store clean water too, if she had to.

It was just as the sylph was getting a cup of the stuff that she heard the crunching of snow behind her, though it wasn’t loud. The Maryam slipped a hand into her pocket, gripping her lipstick as she peered over her shoulder-

Eyes wide, jaw almost dropping, Kanaya almost couldn’t believe it. This woman looked almost like- “Rose?”

[vision-omnifold]

The sensation of cold wetness on her skin alerted Rose ‘Grim’ Lalonde to the falling snow. At first she had thought it was rain, but the crunching of the white stuff under her boot heels had told her otherwise. Bending down she gathered some of the snow in her hand and brought it close to her face. Like this she could see it better, not that there was much to see since it was snow, but old habits died hard. “Snow? What the hell? I was in Texas, in the middle of July, during a heatwave. Why is there snow?” The obvious answer was, ‘Because you’re in a new dream bubble’ but instinct was telling Rose that answer was wrong. That, and this bubble was like no place she had ever seen before. Well, as much as she could see when she could only make out blobs of shape and color. They were unfamiliar blobs though, that had to count for something since she hardly ever say unfamiliar blobs. Also, something about this place felt different somehow. She couldn’t say HOW exactly, but something besides the instinct she associated with her vision omnifold was telling her this place was not the bubbles. Almost as if on cue, something on her wrist buzzed loudly. Rose had just enough time to bring her right wrist to her face before the mystery device started speaking.  It’s voice was monotone, almost robotic. Like the kind one heard from a GPS, or in her case, drones telling her to Submit. Obey. Consume. Fortunately, the voice wasn’t telling her to give in, but unfortunately it wasn’t giving her directions towards someone or something that could help her out. Instead is said: The Overseer is always watching. Shit, with a message like that she’d take hearing drones telling her to submit any day. Perhaps this WAS the work of the tyrannical witch she had staked her life against? But then, where were the drones? The ships? The commands? No, this couldn’t be HER work, it was much too quiet and watching was not her style. Though frustrated by having too many questions and no answers Rose didn’t let it show. She was used to stakes like this so she knew remaining calm and in control was the only way she’d begin to get the answers she wanted. And, even then she’d probably always have more questions than answers. That was how life, and the afterlife, worked. Handful of snow now discarded Rose pointed herself in a direction and started walking. She had no idea where she was going and had no way of figuring it out, but her vision omnifold had never lead her wrong before. Sure, it was much weaker than it had been in life and now it felt even more distant, but she still trusted her skill. Besides, it wasn’t like she had any other choice. Keeping still would mean getting cold and worrying herself to death about all the things she didn’t know and walking as well as getting lost would keep her minds of both the cold and her worries. She could also play with the thing on her wrist even though she couldn’t see it nearly well enough to work it right. So, as Rose continued to trudge on, her heeled boots helping her keep her footing, she pressed blindly at the thing on her wrist. It beeped and buzzed with every press, signaling a new feature found, a setting changed, a waypoint created. Each and every new event announced itself, so by the time she stumbled upon the chat client Rose had pretty much matched the sounds the computer, she knew that’s what it was now, to its announcements. ~Read online list?~ the same monotone voice asked. Rose didn’t hesitate in pressing yes, and seconds later she was inundated with chumhandles and initials. CG

GC CC GA CG EB TA TA TA TG

  “Stop, break command, end.” The voice stopped, though for what command Rose couldn’t say. All she could think of was that last chumhandle. TG, Turntech Godhead. She knew that chumhandle very well. “Dave?” The sounds of  typing told Rose the computer on her wrist had transcribed that somewhere. “Delete.” Another beep, this one sad sounding, meant the name had been deleted. “Dave is here.” she muttered, turning her wrist away from her so her newest accessory wouldn’t pick up the sound. “But is he the Dave I knew? And what of John? His was in here too right? If this is not a bubble, where is it?” For once, her vision stayed stubbornly blank. Obviously, she was going to have to figure this out on her own. That, or risk reaching out to someone who may not have been the someone she knew. Damned time lines, damned game she STILL didn’t couldn’t begin to understand no matter how much the various alternates told her. Taking in a deep breath and letting it out slowly Rose decided it was best to leave the computer for now. It was getting her too riled up and taking her focus off of her surroundings. Nearly blind and in a place she didn’t recognize that was a dangerous thing to do. “Alright Grim, play time is over, it’s time to mom up.” She reached up and behind her to grab the two sharpened knitting needles she kept stuffed in her hair and came up empty. “Fuck.” Alright, no problem. She could go weaponless. It wasn’t like she had a choice, and besides being unarmed might be an exciting challenge. After years of being bored in the bubbles a challenge was something...right? “Shoulda figured I couldn’t just retire in peace. There’s always something out there to face.” The smile which gre on her face was excited and determined, but also a little scared. Rose had no idea of what she had to face, which meant she was going in blind both figuratively and literally. No matter how much time passed the thought always scared her. Also, the little voice of instinct in her head had been whispering since seeing Dave’s name. It hadn’t been telling her anything about her circumstances but it was whispering a name: Roxy. Her daughter, her Roxy was out here somewhere, probably hurt and scared and cold. Dirk too was out there, but she didn’t like what her instincts were saying about her wayward son and how there were two of them who were the same and not the same. Pushing her personal concerns back once more Rose started a downhill trek which would lead her to a half frozen river at the bottom.