Journey's End

[occultviolinist]

  The sights that greeted Rose were... Not those she had expected to see. Even the sensation of travel had been much less impressive than she had expected; it had been a bit like standing up too quickly and feeling one's blood flow down and be replaced by prickling dizziness. Blinking in the darkness, the self-styled wizard sent out a hand to

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[bayoushadow]

"Aww shit, those did not sound like good noises. Hey man, you okay? You okay, man? I thought I heard somethin' fallin'."

Heavy footsteps clomp down the hallway of the bomb shelter as a short woman wearing dark blue robes far more ornate than one would expect of a stoner comes into view as she stops to boggle vacantly at what looks to be some sort of mage, or warlock, or something-- on the floor. Next to a beanbag chair. That thing kind of looked familiar.

"Hey man, you dropped your wand. Man, I'll cover the repair bill. Did I leave that sack chair thing out when I was smokin' earlier? My bad."

The half-elf bends down to pick the wand up, holding her hand out to the newcomer to help her off the floor. "Shit man, who made your robes? They're all... shadowy and stuff."

[occultviolinist]

Rose pushed herself to her knees to look at the motormouthed woman accosting her. As if the coarse language and ostensible casual drug use hadn't been offputting enough, the dazed grin and barrage of unrelated questions firmly put this new person firmly in the 'to be avoided' category; it was unfortunate, therefore, that she was the only being Rose had thus far encountered and rather forced at least grudging tolerance for a time.

After a distressingly-inelegant scramble back to her feet, she grabbed her wand back from the hand that proffered it; while sending it and its twin into a sheath at her belt, she tersely spat, "Made it myself."

Pausing for a moment to collect her thoughts was probably an unwise move.

[bayoushadow]

"Oh man, you're a tailor, too? Me too!" The shadowpriest tugs on her robes, beaming proudly. "Made these too. Hey, uh, I don't think I've seen you around here before." She pauses, rubbing her chin as she studies Rose for a moment. Any curtness simply rolls off the half-elf's back, she's more or less used to orcs barking down her neck or fellow elves otherwise making faces at her for simply being what she is. She just figured they were all mad about something. It's hard not to with a Lich King farting around with your buddies!

"...don't think I've seen you around ever, but I weren't really spendin' a lot of time in human territories back home. I'd say you was a warlock but I don't see none of your buddies around if you was. ...shadowpriest?"

[occultviolinist]

The speed with which the elfin woman in front of her changed topics with no real cue baffled Rose slightly, but she grasped tightly to a few concepts and phrases that dropped out of the gap-toothed mouth. This boorish person in oddly-ornate robes knew things. Useful things. Things about where they were, it appeared. Putting up with infuriating mannerisms was worth it to know these things, and if she had to humor this line of questioning to get that knowledge, she would.

Drawing herself up to her full height and effecting the best imperious expression she could, Rose carefully enunciated: "I, Rose LaLonde, am a wizard and the Seer of Light."

Though she wouldn't admit it to herself, she was grateful for this topic. Rose had Opinions about wizards, and having Opinions in the general direction of someone clearly less intelligent than she was a great way to forget that she was terrified, confused, and lost.

[bayoushadow]

Sanibel likes meeting humans that don't try to kill her on sight. This woman, then, must be from Dalaran or one of the more neutral areas. That explains all the purple!

"Oh! So you're one a' them high-falutin' followers of the Light, holy priest? Hope you don't mind me, y'know, I respect the Light'n all but it ain't really my thing. Can't really blow stuff up with it, you know? The Light's good for mendin' but what good's mendin' if you're gettin' swarmed by Scourge, namean?"

The half-elf pauses for breath, pulling one ear back as some kind of dusty cogs begin turning in her head. "Well hey, ain't I just so rude? 'M Sanibel Duskbriar of Dustwallow Marsh, freelance herbalist an' shadowpriest. No fancy titles, jus' someone who the Shadows talk to from time to time." She quickly watches Rose's face just to see if she knew what she was talking about, or was going to dismiss her as crazy.

"You know what I mean, right? I mean I guess Light-followin' folks kinda frown on that, but... you know shamans, right?"

[occultviolinist]

Rose brushed past the shrinekeepers who did little to stop or even engage her; for better or for worse, she was with Sanibel now. As the elfin woman mounted her oddly-steampunk motorcycle, usually-dazed expression morphing into a wicked and excited grin, Rose gently laid a hand on the frame and ran her fingertips along it. It... Didn't look or feel particularly safe, but Sanibel was clearly very enthusiastic about it. "I, erm... Do you think

[bayoushadow]

Traffic lights are gleefully ignored, any speed limit sign might as well be unreadable glyphs on a metal sheet. Sanibel gives no fucks and she isn't afraid to show it, half the time her sleepy green eyes aren't even on the road in front of her but instead gawking skyward.

Halfway through the ride, something in the priest's hood stirs -- a small black reptilian head pokes out, studying Rose with beady yellow eyes before turning back and attempting to snap at the half-elf's hair blowing in the wind.

Sanibel does not slow down until they make it to the shopping district, the roaring of the hog dying down to a steady putter as she rolls to a stop in front of the City's only electronics store. Huge flatscreen TVs dominate the store windows, showing some generic colorful cartoon -- something with a talking sponge, some weird blue thing, and a dim starfish. Whatever it is, it's caught the idiot priest's attention, and she's completely and utterly mystified by it.

Whooooa. How do they get those pictures to move?

[occultviolinist]

The sight of such a familiar-if-banal sight was just one more mild and unbalancing surprise: despite clearly not being any Earthly city Rose recognized, Mountain Dew cans and Spongebob abounded; the questions of "why" and "how" burned in her mind, and the juxtaposition of such mundanity with the hermetic nature of this plane was just... Unsettling

[bayoushadow]

A whobawhatnow?

A completely vacant expression takes over Sanibel's face. It was almost like Rose was speaking another language to her. She doesn't even know what a TV is, much less things like TV shows... she's gotta take baby steps. She turns around and holds up one finger, sticking her teeth out over her bottom lip as she tries to find words to describe what she'd seen.

"Lookit them movin' pitchurbox things! You ever seen anythin' like that before? Do they got li'l goblins in suits livin' in 'em, you think? Whatever it is it makes me wanna smoke up an' look at 'em a while."