I chose... Rapture. [Faith/ Dream]

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Welcome to Rapture. A city where the artist can roam freely, the scientist can create with the sky as the limit, and the power is with the people. Such a place could never exist on land therefore it was literally built on the bottom of the ocean, as far away from the governing powers as possible. Out of every jurisdiction. The extreme of extremes. It is a massive place with buildings that tower over head and long walkways that link different areas of the city together.
Everything you could ever want you can find in Rapture. There are stores, restaurants, hotels, spas, housing units, art galleries, markets, sports centers and for those who enjoy a little bit of nighttime excitement there are bars and love-houses. Everyone is welcome in Rapture! There are no minorities. Everyone is equal. Everyone gets a fair share.
All of this is thanks to to the hard work and dedication of our founder Andrew Ryan!

At least..that's how things used to be. Before the revolution. On New Year's Eve, at 12:00 on the dot, just as the clocks were ticking down and the champagne bottles were about to be popped, explosions rang through the entire city. The whole foundation of Rapture was shaken to its very core. Those explosions marked the beginning of what would be a long battle throughout the streets between those who supported Andrew Ryan and those who supported a man named Frank Fontaine. Soon blood coated every wall on every corner of the city. The year 1959 was off to a great start.

Hundreds died and those that didn't die..were left to slowly go insane. Driven only further to insanity by their addiction to Adam; the genetical stimulant that once kept the wheels of Rapture turning.
The side-effect of this drug was both an overwhelming addiction to it and a range of horrible disfigurations due to the way the drug affected the human body. Those addicted where named Splicers and those Splicers are all that are left in this city. They do whatever they can to get their hands on Adam..even if it means killing each other. Many have banded together in order to overpower those who are weak, making them even more dangerous.

The revolution was two years ago. There are now those who are merely trying to get by and those who are trying to escape. But to escape means going through hell and back again...straight through the center of the city. Can you make it out?
Let's see, shall we?

Although I had been able to see quite a bit through her eyes, though even those bits were tiny snippets of her emotions, everything faded as she listened to the words that passed my lips. As though something inside her was changing that became harder and harder to identify. Whether it was a good change or a bad change was a complete mystery to me. I couldn't tell from the expression she kept on her face whether my words were going to change whatever kind of an 'answer' she had given me only moments ago. Of course I could always hope that there was going to be a change of heart deep within her but that hope seemed quite farfetched.

Deep in my heart I knew there was logic behind the plan that I was proposing her. Rather than waste away slinking around in the shadows only for the purpose of surviving..why not put that time, ability, and energy into getting out of Rapture itself? Yes the idea was suicide but the only future for either of us down here was death. At least the possibility of us reaching the surface gave us a chance at a normal life above the surface.
The possibility of feeling the sun against our skin, the sand between our toes, and the breeze against our tired bodies. Just the thought was enough to send a new rush of determination through me. Whether or not she joined me, I was going to try it.

Mira said nothing for the longest of times as I allowed my hand to slip away from hers and I moved back up into the bed. Her mind was completely lost in thought and I was in no place to draw her out of those thoughts. However my movement seemed to snap her back to reality. She watched me lay back before pulling the covers over my body, smiling as she told me to get as much rest as I possibly could in the time I had. A nod of my head was my response before I took a moment to think over something to say. I was still not used to being able to completely express myself in front of her so my words were at times hard to find.

"You know..I've never really ever had anyone I could talk to..It's nice being able to express myself after all these years. Thank you." I murmured in a quiet voice before allowing my eyes to close slowly. My body was betraying me and before long I was snoozing quietly surrounded by the warmth of the covers combined with the warmth of Mira's smile. It was funny, she almost didn't know how warm her smile was when she let it shine through the cold expression she kept on her face most of the time. A smile almost as warm as I imagined the sun above the surface was.
With this thought in mind I allowed myself the repose that sleep offered while giving her the space that she needed to think things over in.

ooc: Welcome back, also

Neither her mind nor her body objects to what I’m saying. It’s very easy to see that it longs for the comfort of the bed to sink in and to sleep. She does manage to fight it for a bit though. I can tell that she tires quickly, but before her eyes can close, she begins to speak. I keep the smile easily on my face. It’s strange to think that someone is thanking me for something. Usually, I’m the cause of problems. Well, that’s how it used to be. I take in a deep breath, nodding to her. Before I can respond, her eyes close. I don’t want to ruin the rest that she needs, to I only mutter soft words,

“Don’t mention it, Kid” I don’t even think about them before they slide quietly out of my mouth. It’s strange, knowing that someone can come to you and express themselves. Before, when Rapture was still good, I was the big kid in the group of droppers. They would come to me if they didn’t have any food, or if another kid from the drop was giving them a hard time, but this was different. There was something much different about this. Maybe it was the fact that I was much older now, or the fact that this girl wasn’t some punk kid. She was different, and I was different too. It was so hard to explain. I stand above her bed for a while. Time seems to stop as I think, hard about what she says. I’m just standing there, looking out the cold port hole. Before I notice what’s happened, fifteen minutes has gone by. I still haven’t figured out my confusion. I take in a big breath before forcing myself to turn away from the bed.

“Get ya’self together” I mutter quietly before walking to the chair on the opposite side of the room. It was very obvious that I was thinking too much tonight. The sleep must have been catching up to me or something. I wasn’t exactly sure. I make it to the chair, turning and taking a silent seat. I watch the bed for a moment or two before looking away. I was lost with the silence of the room and my thoughts to keep me company now.

ooc- Thanks haha I missed this.

In the last moments of my consciousness I could have sworn I heard Mira reply to my words but my mind was fading so quickly it seemed like they were just an echo in the back of my head. And so I drifted into a world of white with nothing but shapes moving back and forth, not anything in particular. With the dream came a warm feeling of comfort, rest, and tranquility that I had not felt in quite a while. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that I knew I was safe but it also could have had something to do with the chance that I wasn't going to lose Mira the moment I opened my eyes next.
If she decided to continue on her way without me..I was going to be left alone the way I had been up until the moment I missed her.

Although I had become used being alone in the time I spent searching through the rubble as a broken Big Sister, the company had brought back memories I had long lost to solitude. Although there was a huge lapse in my memory after I was kidnapped the time I had spent with Mira brought back a lot of the memories from before. Like the friends I had had while I was in elementary school or at least the feeling of friendship I had felt back then.
It was a strange but very welcome kind of feeling. I wished I could feel it every day..but that wasn't possible and I doubted that she felt the same way about the insane girl she had found herself looking at over the last couple days.

---

I'm not sure whether only an hour had passed or whether I had been asleep for a couple hours. When I started to wake up from my repose I felt that the air had gotten a little colder in the room, which usually was an indication of it being nighttime in Rapture. My eyes opened slowly and I pulled myself up into a sitting position, glancing around the room slowly as my senses came back to me. At first the room seemed empty but I didn't panic. I knew Mira had probably gone into the other room or something to think about my proposition.

After regaining my senses completely I pulled myself out of bed and looked over myself quickly, feeling the places I had been injured in. The skin was smooth and clear as though nothing had happened all those hours ago. Albeit the pain was still just a little bit there, everything else had faded away.
If she was ready to go I was going to be ready to go with her. If only back to my restaurant so she could go off on her way.

ooc: Haha no kidding, so have I.

Awhile passes and all I can do is think. I don’t just think about one subject; my mind bounces form one place to another, never finding solace in thinking about something specific. For a while, I thought about Echo, sleeping quietly and soundly in her bed. What would she think if she woke up and I wasn’t there? What would she do? Would she go about on her merry little way, or would there be some sadness—some regret? Would she go out in search for me or would she just make her way toward the bathysphere? I would reach a dead in after thinking about her though. It was logical that she would simply go on without me. There was no way to deny myself the privilege of saying that she would keep on surviving.

Soon though, my mind jumped to the trek we would have to take. Where would we go? There wasn’t promise of a bathysphere anywhere under the water. There was always a chance that we would get to the station and there wouldn’t be one there. What would we do then? My mind went south once more. We would turn around and go back, probably getting killed sometime after. I sat there thinking about my death for a while. Which way did I want to die and how I would probably end up dying. It wasn’t hard with the drowsy feeling that shrouded my mind to see the bad side of everything.

It had been about an hour. I knew only that much by the small clock that sat on the bookshelf nearby. I sat there thinking for an hour before something else flooded into my mind. What of father and mother? It was a tiredly insane idea at the time, but I had grown drowsy in the time and I thought of anything other than me dying. Instead, I thought of them dying. Soon, I was replaying the day Rapture fell through in my head. The blood on my hands…The muffled scream after the first blow… The silence afterwards…The sound of that pan hitting the floor… My feet stumbling away... I could remember it all so well.

Before I knew it, I was up, out of the chair in the corner, and out of the room. It took little to be silent, making sure to grasp the doorknob tight, turning it as far as it would go before pushing the door open. I had learned that when I had been sneaking out into the streets at night. The door was closed silently behind me, making sure not to wake the girl that still lay in my bed—the bed a lay in many nights, crying or treating wounds.

I came to sit on the living room floor. It was harshly cold and hard under me. I faced the couch where dried blood stained the yellow fabric underneath. I sighed quietly, pulling my knees up to my chest. I watched the couch for a moment.

“I always hated you…You know that? Ya beat me and Momma pretty bad…with your drinkin’ and all. You told us that if we came down here, that we’d have a better life…that we’d be happy. You’re a fool.

“You know how many times I came through; found you sleeping on the couch…You smelt like booze. That’s all you ever smelt like. Booze in your coffee, Whiskey in your Tin, and a glass of scotch when you came home… and then the bottle…and then whatever else you thought you needed.

“You ruined your life…and Momma’s life. That poor woman didn’t deserve all of that…You didn’t deserve her…She’s dead…because of you…”

After a while, my words would slow, and I would feel tears form in my eyes. It wouldn’t last long though. The tears would stop, the rage would start, and I would just start talking again. It had been awhile, a very long while, before I stopped talking. Then, I did start crying, and soon, I fell into a dreamless sleep on the hardwood floor.

My footsteps were quiet as I walked around the room looking for all of the pieces of my armor. When I found them I looked through the different plates, looking for the ones that had been damaged by the bullets in the ambush. The blood was dry against the dull gray color of the metal and the burnished brown of the leather plates. A quiet sigh passed my lips as I tried to think of a way to wash away the blood. If a Splicer were to see blood on my armor they would definitely think that I was weak which, although somewhat good, would mean an almost imminent attack. Perhaps the water was still running in the kitchen? I shook my head slightly, knowing that the blood wasn't the first priority on my list of things to do.

I stood up and walked towards the door. I wondered where Mira had gotten off to. A part of me began to worry about whether she had left me for good but the moment I stepped into the living room area I could see her figure laid motionless on the hardwood floor. I approached her slowly before leaning down to check her breathing just to make sure.
When I found that it was slow and steady I felt a smile move across my lips even if it was just a slight one. She was just sleeping.

I walked back into the room I had been sleeping in and pulled the comforter off the bed, carrying it back into the other room where Mira now lay. I laid the cover down over her carefully, as not to disturb her sleep, before I moved around to sit down next to her. Perhaps it was a little bit creepy to think that I was sitting there to watch her sleep but there was something peaceful about watching her in her most vulnerable state. The expression that was usually hard and firm was now soft and calm as her mind drifted around in the world of dreams.
As I watched her now I couldn't help but feel something deep inside me become stronger and stronger. Perhaps it was just my inserted conditioning but I felt as though I needed to protect this woman as best I possibly could.

Was she going to come with me? Was she going to stay here? Was she going to turn away and never look back without so much as a thought about the Big Sister she had met? There were so many possibilities for the future but most of them made a sadness come over me. If she chose to do anything other than come with me I was going to be left alone again. I was not going to try and change her mind once she told me whatever decision it was she had made but..I was going to be left with an everlasting impression of her.

I had been blessed for once. Dreams didn’t come to me in my sleep. Perhaps it could have been the way I had fallen asleep, or maybe the fact that my mind was now completely exhausted from all the thinking I had done in the past few hours. I wasn’t sure what it was, but the cold floor was my bed, and I was actually sleeping quite well. The sleep wasn’t a deep one, and I was happy with that, for now at least. My body was simply getting the rest it needed.

At one point, something happens. I feel my body warm slowly until the harsh cold of the floor is nothing. In the back of my subconscious, I know something isn’t right. I shouldn’t be warm and comfortable, something has changed, but there’s something inside me telling me to just ignore it and sleep. For a while, I do just that.

I must’ve been asleep for a couple hours. Halfway through, the warmth must’ve caused me to fall even deeper into sleep, a comfortable sleep. That time was over though. Soon, I roll over to a twinge in my back that awakens me. It doesn’t surprise me since I have been sleeping on a hard floor. A quiet cough escapes from my lips before I pull my hands up to my face. I have yet opened my eyes to look around. I just assume that everything is just how I had left it before.

Then again…There seems to be one change. There is a thick blanket over my body. That must’ve been producing the warm snuggling feeling that I had in my core. I didn’t want to move because the moment I got up would be the moment everything was cold again. I just wanted to sit here, in my solace, and enjoy this warmth. So, that’s really what I do.

A small smile forms on my lips as I reach for the edge of the blankets, pulling them with me, I roll until I hit something solid. It’s something that I don’t expect to be there. I grunt, as whatever it is is poking me in the side with something. I’ve rolled the wrong way for it to be the couch. No—this is something different, something unnatural.


“What the hell…?” I mumble the words quietly, trying frantically to reach my hands up to find the opening of the blanket so I can see what I’m looking at.

I was left alone to my thoughts for what felt like hours and probably were hours. Despite the fact that I had only my under clothing on, the cold of the room did not bother me as much as I thought it would. For some reason I found warmth within the feelings that were flowing through me both about Mira, or rather the strong protective emotion I felt over her, and the thought of possibly escaping Rapture once and for all.
I merely brought my knees up to my chest and hugged them with my arms, resting my chin on my knees so I could keep watch over the sleeping woman in front of me just the way she probably had when I fell asleep earlier.

At one point I almost dozed off but I was roused by movement in front of me. My eyes slowly opened to see that Mira had shifted herself to be more comfortable with the cover that surrounded her. Again I felt a smile come to my lips before I closed my eyes again.
If these were going to be our last hours together then I was going to have to treasure them. Memorize every minute so that in the future I could remember what contact with another person was like. For once we parted I knew that I was never going to find someone like her ever again.
Someone not out to kill me.
Then suddenly the figure in front of me rolled over in my direction and as a result she bumped into me. The contact at first didn't seem to disturb her despite the quiet cough heard from within the covers but a moment later there was a sudden rush of movement that caused me to open my eyes quickly to see what was happening.
Mira fought through the covers she had wrapped herself in to investigate the object, my legs, that she had rolled into in her sleep. Very quickly I felt warmth rush to my cheeks in a mixture of embarrassment for having been caught watching over her but also for having disturbed her rest.
"Oh! Sorry! You rolled before I could move.." I explained quickly as I shuffled myself back a couple inches so that she was no longer in danger of bumping into me again.

"When I woke up and you weren't in the room I wasn't sure where you had gone so I came in looking for you.. you looked cold, so I brought you a cover." I added while I turning my gaze down towards the ground. I wasn't sure what kind of response I was going to get out of her but I hoped she wouldn't think too badly of me.
We needed to watch each other's backs and that was exactly what I was doing. Though if a Splicer had come bursting through the door there was little I could have done without my armor on.

I had somehow rolled myself up like a burrito in my half-conscious attempt at getting warmer than I had been before. Now I was in quite the dilemma. My head was wrapped in its own little shell and I couldn’t find the parting of the covers above me to get my hands out so I could wriggle myself out of my burrito shell to see what I was pushed against. Before I get out, I feel the movement of something and the object pressing into my side disappears.

Before I have a chance to realize that it’s Echo, watching me, she starts flowing at the mouth. Her apologies are unnecessary and she doesn’t realize it. She apologizes and gives me excuses. It’s a little sad that she thinks she has to apologize to me.

I stop moving, sighing quietly as I look at the patterns on the cover. It takes me a moment, but after a while I find the hole at the top. I pull on it, unwrapping myself. By the time I get out of the blankets, my cheeks have flushed a noticeably deep red. It was embarrassing to be caught sleeping, but even more embarrassing to be sleeping like a burrito on the floor in your old living room. I can’t help a quiet, embarrassed chuckle, looking at her.

“Stop apologizing for everything, Dollface, You worry too much.” I give her a slight wink. That’s all I can think to do in my sudden debacle. The warmth of the blankets has gone quickly, and we are left with the chill of the room and the awkward silence between us. I take in a slow breath, watching silently for a moment before shaking my head and pulling the covers closer to me so I could fold them.

“Thanks for the blanket, it really helped” I smile at her, unsure exactly if there is anything else I could say at the moment. The smile stays on my face as my eyes shift around on the ground. I assume that she’s waiting for an answer to her question from before.

“You know…I thought about what you said last night…About, you know…going to try and find a Bathysphere?” I didn’t know how to start this off. I knew I was going to end up going at it the wrong way, but if I just got her listening then maybe she would see my side of everything. I would so it, I just wanted her to see how crazy we were being.

When Mira emerged from the cover she had managed to wrap herself up in I found myself looking at an expression I had never really seen before. Her cheeks were a deep red color as if she was embarrassed about something. The color on her cheeks spread to my cheeks as I tried to think of something to say that might relieve her of any embarrassment she might have felt.
Nothing came to me though so I just sat there quickly nodding my head with a bit of a smile as she sat herself up and chided me for apologizing. Did I really worry too much?
I suppose I did. After all a part of me was afraid of doing something wrong seeing as this was the first 'relationship', if our companionship could be called that, I had ever had with a person other than myself.

She began to fold up the cover I had given her while telling me that it had helped her sleep, a statement that made the color on my cheeks fade while the smile widened just a little bit. It was nice knowing that I had been able to help her the way she had helped me the night before when we first arrived in this apartment and my life was hanging in the balance.
"I just didn't want you to get sick or anything.. it's awfully cold in here." I murmured as a response though I was still glowing on the inside. Perhaps I was a little bit too optimistic and easy to please.

There was a pause that may or may not have been awkward, I couldn't tell. Then with some trepidation Mira began a sentence that hinted towards her giving me an answer to the question I had asked her hours ago. In that moment in time my heart slowed. It felt as though time itself slowed down and every second of silence felt like an eternity. The hesitation in her voice made me lean forward slightly to listen more closely, as if I were afraid of missing any of the words that were going to pass her lips.
When a minute or so passed I couldn't help myself.

"And..?" I asked with a bit of uncertainty in my voice. I wasn't sure what to expect as an answer from her. Everything she had said and done up until now told me that she was going to deny my request and go off on her own the moment we got back to the restaurant I had called home up until now. But the fact that she had taken the time to really think over the possibility and hadn't flat-out told me that she didn't want anything to do with my insane escape attempt meant that something was going on in her head. I wasn't quite sure what but a voice in the back of my head told me that there was a chance she would actually come along with me!

I’ve begun to notice now that anytime I say that something helps me, she smiles. It’s a sweet smile, pretty in the face. But really…Does she really find it that enjoyable to help someone? I’m curious about it. Is this just part of her or is this part of her being a Big Sister that makes her want to help me? I’m not sure, and at the moment, I don’t feel like thinking too hard about it. It’ll just cause more problems than it’s worth.

I take in a deep breath, pulling myself up a little straighter, looking across the room to see if anything had been moved. Nothing seemed changed, only the fact that there was a girl sitting with me. I wasn’t left with my thoughts, or the remains that were on the couch. It was strange that she hadn’t asked about them, but she probably assumed I didn’t know. I wouldn’t bring it up.

She presses me on. I can tell in her eyes and in her voice that there’s hope. She still has hope that I’ve decided to go with her. I watch her a moment before my eyes fall back down to the ground a moment, looking over the cool hardwood floor beneath us.

“It’s going to be a hard journey, and the chance of us actually getting out of this place alive is probably a million to one. I’ve fought to survive here for years, almost died a bunch of times. Hell, I’ve about just lost my moxie in this place kid…I don’t think you realize how easily it would be for them to kill us—to kill me.” Yes, I was being selfish, but I wanted her to see this thing from someone else’s shoes. She had armor and was strong, and everyone out there feared her. Me, I was just a little girl with a shot gun to these lunatics. I was easy picking—I would be the one to go after between the two of us. I knew I was going to get hurt.

“But hell kid, you’re right. What’s the point of living down here just to know you’re gonna die?” I chuckle quietly, looking up at her. “I’ll go with ya, but only cause I’d rather die tryin’”

The seconds that ticked by in the silence seemed to go on forever. My mind was focused solely on the figure that was sat in front of me who was looking at me with such uncertainty it was killing me. Then she spoke and it was like everything just started moving again. Time continued as though nothing had happened at all.
I blinked once and then twice almost in disbelief as my mind processed the fact that she had agreed to accompany me. For a second I could have sworn my mind had made up the words that I heard but then I saw the mildly amused expression on Mira's face and I knew that I had heard her right.

"You'll go? Oh, that's lovely!" I exclaimed excitedly as I quietly clapped my hands together and pressed them to my chest. Words could not describe the happiness that flowed through me the moment she said that she was going to go with me on my journey towards the possibility of freedom from the clasps of the hell that was Rapture.
In my state of clouded judgment I let my gaze fall upon Mira's before I practically threw myself at her and hugged her tightly with my arms wrapped around her neck. It was a gesture not very familiar to me but one I had seen and heard about in movies and books that I had come across while scrounging my way through the rubble of movie theaters and the few libraries that hadn't been burnt down in the revolution.

The feeling of hugging someone was a bit of a strange one but there was something very..intimate about it. I wasn't sure if that was the right word to use but that's how it felt. Like I had never been closer to another person as I was to Mira in those few seconds I hugged her for.
Quickly though I drew myself back and smiled up at her with a mixture of embarrassment and happiness. It was nice knowing that I wasn't going to be spending what was probably going to be the last days of my life alone fighting through whatever Rapture could throw at me.
"There's no-one I'd rather die next to than probably the last sane person left in this city.." I said with a bit of a secret smile.

I let out a sigh to relieve some of the excitement rushing through my body and then tried my best to compose myself. The journey that lay ahead of the both of us was going to be hard, there was no way of sugar coating it.
"I can be ready to go whenever you are." I said with a slight nod of my head.

It catches me off guard at first. It seems that nothing that I had just said sunk in on the level I wanted it to. I wanted her to see that we were going to die. I wanted her to see that this wasn’t going to be a walk in the park. She didn’t see it like that though. She saw me saying that I would accompany her as a blessing. Did she not know I was signing both of our death certificates? It was my fault that this kid was going to die and I couldn’t bring myself to deny her.

Her face brightens up and she smiles. She seems to screech at me, how she’s so excited about something. It was almost like I was telling her that we could go shopping or she could pick what we had for dinner. That was too normal, and this was far too sick. It was much too sick.

Before I can recognize anything, she’s jumped forward and is on me. It’s something I don’t expect form her. She’s hugging me in an awkward position. It’s strange to think that it’s her first hug, but the way I react is natural. One hand is flat against her stomach and the other has somehow made itself around her back, pressing against her shoulders. My hand though is cold. I can feel myself going into a ‘get the hell away from me’ mode just by natural response. She doesn’t notice though, the cold must not go through her under armor. If I were to fire off on her, she would feel it, but I restrain, the simple chill of the plasmid being activated the only source of cool.

She pulls back and I move my hand behind me, trying to hide the fact that I had just activated a plasmid on her. I force a smile on my lips, giggling quietly. I would just act like nothing had happened, it would be very simple.

“I’m glad you’re okay with getting us both killed. By the way. There’s more sane ones, just not many. Don’t always assume the impossible because it is very so possible.” I giggle quietly, shaking my head as I pull myself up in a different position.

“I don’t know when we need to be ready…This might be a stupid question to ask, but are you feeling better? Are you well enough to get moving? It could take us a very long time to get out of here and if you’re still weak, then it’ll take us even longer. If you’re not ready, I can stay here. If you are ready though, we need to get our packs ready for travel then don’t we?” I smile at her, pulling myself around to my stomach is flat on the ground, I am greatly in need of a stretch before doing anything.

The act of hugging Mira very quickly became awkward. It was not the gesture of friendship or affection it seemed to be depicted as in the movies and books. Not only was the positioning awkward for the both of us but she also stiffened up as if she had been struck by something.
Relief seemed to flow through her when I did draw back and away from her. Immediately I regretted the action although a part of me was glad that I had been able to experience a hug for at least one time in my life.

There was a short silence before Mira spoke about my being accepting of the fact that we were both probably going to die. I suppose it was something that I had come to terms with but I did not look at as a negative thing. Death down here was like a blessing.
She then went on to ask me about whether I was feeling okay and whether I would be okay to travel. I took a moment to just take in the areas in my body that were still sore. Nothing stood out but then again the pain was not completely gone either. Better than nothing though.

"I can still feel where the bullets were..but it hasn't hindered my movement yet. I doubt that it will. My body has always healed faster than a normal person's does. With all that sleep I think I'm well enough to get going again. So long as we don't run into another ambush like that one again, I should be fine." I answered her question with a bit of a smile as I glanced down at my hands, flexing my fingers as if to test how well they could move. The ache was still present in my body but I was confident that I was going to be able to continue without too much of an issue.

With that being said I knew we were going to be heading out sooner rather than later which was a good thing for the both of us. The sooner we got under way the sooner we were going to get to our final destination even though we were probably going to take a long time getting there.
I slowly pulled myself up from where I had been sat and I stretched, sighing as my shoulders let out little pops. As my body came back to a relaxed posture I felt my expression become more serious.
"I might not know this area but I know the only sector with bridges still intact that lead up to the northern part of Rapture is near the one place I haven't dared go just yet.. How familiar are you with the fairgrounds?"

ooc: I'm making this area up but it's for a future plot development

I watch her quietly as she pulls away. It seems that she sees the awkward feeling I got. She was excited, I could understand that. I wasn’t sure what to say, so I just watched her, looking over her features as she spoke. It’s hard to tell from the way she moves that she was even shot the day before. It’s actually a miracle really. If a normal person had sustained such an injury, there would have been major complication.

I stop for a moment. It’s strange to say ‘normal’ in such a way. She was normal…well, she wasn’t. She was abnormal in so many ways. I felt bad for thinking that way, but that’s the only way I could process all of this. She was a sort of freak of science—a Frankenstein in Rapture, just like the big daddies, and just like the big sisters…like her. It was an unsettling blessing that she healed so well to say the least.

I was happy that she was feeling better though. It hurt seeing someone in such bad condition as she was the night before. There was a sort of fear that she wouldn’t make it—that I would be left alone to my own accord. I didn’t want to admit my weakness, but I had grown more attached to this girl than I wanted to be. I wanted to stay with her and help her, as if she needed the help. Besides, she was a good protector too. She was protecting me and keeping me sane more than I was helping her at this point. The more I thought about it, I was more or less along for the ride.

I smile to her, giving her a quiet giggle as I pull myself out of the curl I had put myself into to try to pop my back. She speaks, and I’m glad for once that someone knows where to go. She mentions the fairgrounds and I perk up. I’ve heard very little about the area and never been there myself. I don’t like going into a place that I’ve never been to before. There are too many possibilities—just too many variables for the equation. I hum quietly, slowly shaking my head.

“It’ll be an adventure for you and me both. I’ve never been there.” I chuckle quietly thinking over my memories. “That’s probably one of the only places I haven’t gone…well…there’s probably more, but you get me…” I sigh; the words had come out completely wrong. “If that’s where we need to go, then that’s where we need to get packing to go, huh?” I pull myself up off the floor, doing one more twist off my body. My back pops up my spine and I moan quietly in relief. “That is so much better.”

ooc- That's totally cool. Since it's your area, you can have total liberty with it

I was a little surprised to learn that Mira had never been up in that area before. Yet at the same time I was very glad that she hadn't been what with how dangerous the place was. Perhaps I had taken for granted her experience in Rapture. Of course I knew she was far more experienced with living after the fall of the once great city, I didn't doubt her knowledge in that area for a second, but she had not been everywhere.
How could she have? Fontaine Futuristic, Fort Frolic, Adonis Resort, and such places were far too dangerous to stick around in for very long.

There were a number of reasons I had never ventured into the area that was known as 'the fairgrounds'. It was unknown territory was one reason, there were rumors of large amounts of Splicer concentrations, but the biggest thing that kept me away from that area was the fact that there were a mix of every kind of Splicer you could possibly find there. Over time I had passed through the area around entrance and spotted the movements of some creatures I had never even seen before. One such Splicer was a creature so large it moved like some kind of animal, buffed up on so many strength tonics they practically bleed the stuff. Brutes they are called.

"I'll be ready to go as soon as I get all of my things together but if what I've heard is correct.. we're going to be in for a very long trek through that part of Rapture. " I said with a voice that was filled with both concern and a slight amount of fear. As confident as I was in my abilities and those of my new companion, the fairgrounds was an area that claimed the lives of many who tried to pass through it.
I shook my head though and smiled.
"So long as we're together though we stand a better chance than if it were just one of us." I stretched myself out just a little bit more before beginning towards the room where all of my armor had been left on the ground.

"If you need Eve I've got more than enough for the both of us.. as for other supplies though, I'm afraid I only brought enough for the trip from here back to the restaurant. I didn't know I wouldn't be going back there.." My voice trailed off as I considered the fact that I wasn't going back to the place I had called home. A strange feeling really.
As much as I wished I could go back for at least one more time I knew that this was much more important. More important than a collection of records and some supplies.


ooc: It's something I feel like the game sorta missed but I guess we'll see how it turns out.

The look she gave me was no surprise. There were places that I didn’t know. There were places that I didn’t want to go, and there were the places that I just never gotten the chance to go there before the fall. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go there… Hell, I had heard some bad things about the place even before the city went to hell.

It didn’t matter though, that’s where we were going. Survive or die we were going to go down swinging no matter what. Somehow, I knew that this was a bad idea, but it was better than sitting around her. She was the one with the plan, I would follow her lead wherever now.

She speaks again as I start pacing, naturally thinking and moving around to my blood flowing. I stop though, looking at her. She’s afraid. I can tell by the way her words form; like a mewling kitten pinned in a corner by a dog. She doesn’t think that we’ll make it through this stretch…Has she already lost her faith in us?

She shakes her head though and speaks again. She thought we had at least a little bit of chance. That’s enough for me. As long as she thought we had a chance. I turn around, starting slightly toward my door, following behind her.

“I’ve got enough Eve for a little while. Not for the whole trip. I have all the first aid that was left over from last night. There’s the food I found in the cupboards and I have a few things in my pack, but not much. I’ve got a few more shotgun shells and…well…Not much else” I chuckle quietly as I pass her. I give a light pat on the back as I pass, walking toward the closet. “Don’t worry about it kid, we’ll make it with what we’ve got…but I’m going to change first.”

I smile quietly, opening the door and reaching in. It was a beautiful dress. It was one of my favorites. “I’ll be back in a bit” I pull it over my forearm, turning and rushing out of the dark room without another word.

ooc- I'm sure it'll turn out fine.

Despite the danger that was to be found in the fairgrounds there were no alternate routes to our destination. Not unless any of the connecting tunnels had been repaired since the last time I had passed through and I doubted that. The Big Daddies had long given up on their roles as the maintainers of the city.
Just the fact that we had a slight chance, very slight, it was more than enough of a chance for my standards. Down here even a slight chance was enough to give a person hope. That was why Splicers risked their lives to fight even the strongest of the survivors, because there was a chance that they would succeed in killing their opponent.

Despite my uncertainty in our route it seemed as though Mira had switched positions with me. For a split second I was the one who was doubting our abilities and she was the one who was trying to convince me that we were going to survive. The change was short-lived though and I found confidence in her words and the pat on the back she gave me as she passed me further into her room heading towards a dresser in the corner.
I watched her as she told me about where she sat with supplies and I nodded my head slightly, glancing down to organize my armor plating so I could put it on.

"I think altogether we should be fine.. So long as we're careful once we get there." I said in agreement with her as I began to step into the different pieces, adjusting the straps with only a little bit of difficulty as they had gotten slightly tangled. A very slight smile came to my lips as my mind was brought back to the help that Mira had given me to get my plating off the night before.
As soon as I had the leg pieces strapped on I heard her voice telling me that she was going to change. I glanced up to see what she was going to change into but I only got a glimpse before she had disappeared into the other room.

I watched after her before shaking my head slightly, turning my attention back towards getting myself ready for the journey that lay ahead. It took me a couple minutes to get all of my armor back on with the exception of my helmet. I crouched there quietly looking down at the piece of metal that had saved my life many times over. The dents and scratches from previous attacks made me wonder how many more were going to be added from this final stretch towards freedom. Perhaps it would be a quick death like a round through the faceplate.. or a slow death like death by the swarm plasmid.. Either way I felt as though it was going to be worth it.
With a sigh I stood up and waited for Mira's return. I was curious to see what she had chosen to wear.

I didn’t wait for her to turn around or even respond before I was out of the room. The bathroom was only a door away, so I made my escape inside. I take in a slow, deep breath, closing to door and waiting a moment. There’s silence, and for a moment, it seems that time has stopped.

I am very fast in the bathroom. I take a moment before slipping off my dress to look at the girl in the mirror. It isn’t me; it’s not the girl who came down to Rapture so many years ago. Her hair is pretty much a rat’s nest, and her skin is cut and scarred. Her dress is ripped and torn and there’s blood all over it. The simplest of all features makes me see how much I have changed. My eyes are dull and my face is far more matured. It’s not something that just reminds me of me.

I look away for a moment, venturing to wonder if the sound of running water might attract people to our location. I don’t want to risk it. Instead of washing my hands, I slip my hands to the bottom of my dress before lifting it up and over my head. A blood-stained slip and the lavender rose chain are the only things that remain. I reach for the new dress. Click Here It’s a beautiful color, and I smile as I look it over. It’s a shame that soon, it will be like its brethren, blood stained and torn.

I pull the dress over my head, tying the front string into a bow as it should be. It fits me the same as before, because really, not much has changed about me. I take in a short breath before opening the cabinet and pulling out the hairbrush that is inside. I look at it a moment before beginning to pull it through my hair. It takes longer to get my hair untangled then it did the change, but soon my hair is straight and untangled. I pull my necklace out from inside my dress before pulling my hair over my shoulder. I take one more look in the mirror before turning and walking back towards the bedroom, hairbrush still in hand.

For some reason, I knock twice before opening the door and coming inside.
“Are we about ready?”

ooc- This may be my last post for the night. I have finals tomorrow.

As I waited for Mira to get back from changing in the other room I took a moment to think over what kind of things we might come against in the future. There was one thing that concerned me most though and it was something I had never had to worry about up until now; other Big Sisters.
Yes I was a Big Sister myself but there was nothing stopping other ones from attacking me if they so much as saw me.
What would happen if we came across one? Would I be able to protect Mira from the power of one of my own?

The sound of the door opening behind me snapped me out of my thoughts and I turned to look at the figure that appeared from within the bathroom. It was a completely different woman from the one who had walked into those doors. Her hair was straight, a beautiful necklace around her neck, and a gorgeous dress covered her body.
I could do little more than stare at her before I reminded myself that it wasn't polite to stare no matter what the circumstances.

"You uhm.. you look very nice in that dress." I ventured to compliment her as I looked away in a mixture of shyness and embarrassment. Yet it was only a moment later that my gaze came back and I felt a friendly smile come to my lips. It was nice to see that despite everything that had happened she could take the time to change into something that made her look stunning by any standards, especially considering all of the Splicers who walked the streets in torn clothing with growths and deformations covering their entire bodies..
Again I was reminded how much of a shame it was that she, of all people, was trapped down here with the rest of us creatures. She didn't belong with us.

"I'm ready more or less. So whenever you're ready we can head out." I replied to her while collecting my weapon up off the ground. With a few clasps I had it fastened to my arm and I was ready to fight against anything that could be waiting for us.
"Are you hungry?" I asked her while moving towards the door back into the living room where the rest of the supplies were.


ooc: Well darn get to sleep then!

Sorry for the delay. My mother is having me cook dinner. I'll post once I'm done. Sorry!

I watch as Echo’s eyes widen, looking me up and down out of sheer curiosity. It’s almost a shock to see me looking so different. It’s strange to see the girl that had been a mess only a few minutes earlier now walking around looking new.

She forms words that I don’t expect out of her. She thought I looked nice? No one ever said I looked nice…It was strange to think that in all my years of living, I had never once had a compliment, and if I had it was easily forgotten. Unlike the others that I could only barely remember now, this one was sincere in all its aspects. There wasn’t a lie behind her eyes…She actually meant it.

“Well, thank you—gladly” I smile, looking down to the ground, my cheeks flushing a light shade of pink. I walk across the room as she sits in quiet thoughts. I still needed to put my shoes on, and I felt that a hat would be in order to keep my hair at least a little under control. I make it over to my dresser. On top lay an assortment of different hats. Placing the hair brush down on its surface, I chose the brown one, looking it over and picking a bit of lint off of it before pulling my head down. My hair falls down and I pull it up with my hands, bunching it up in my hands and collecting it with the hat. She tells me that she’s ready when I am. I know that we’ll be leaving the safe that we’ve known for only a short time.

“I’ll be ready soon. I’m bringing a hair brush with us, if you want to use it, it’s yours.” I pull myself up, straightening the hat and letting a small strand of hair fall from under. It takes me a few seconds, but soon I walk to my shoes, sitting on the ground and pulling them on. I knew that it would only be a matter of time before she got impatient. I didn’t think that she got really that impatient with me, but there was that chance that I didn’t want to take.

I perk up as she speaks again. I wasn’t sure how to answer her. I was hungry, yes, but it was the same hunger that I felt every other day. It wasn’t uncontrollable or painful. It was the normal every day hunger that I felt when I only ate every few days. I think a moment before shaking my head for a moment.

“Not really, if you want to though, you can eat. You need your energy” I smile at her, stumbling slowly to my feet. I wasn’t sure if I was going to really get her to eat once more before we left, but it was worth the try. I walk over, just to kneel once more in front of my backpack. I needed to start getting everything situated and the new provisions we weren’t going to be using needed to be stored somewhere in my bag.

When I complimented her on her new appearance she seemed a little bit surprised as well as flustered. Almost as though she had never gotten such a compliment or at the very least it had been a very long time since the last time she had heard anything like it. Her cheeks almost seemed to flush but it was only faintly visible in the semi-darkness of the room.
Just the thought though made me feel as though I had done something right. It made me feel quite pleased with myself. Enough to where I could feel a small smile on my lips as she spoke, telling me she was going to bring along a hair brush that I could share with her. Though I had never used such a thing before.

Now that she was getting ready to go I moved around idly trying to figure out what path would be best for us once we got out of Paupers Drop. As soon as we reached an area that I recognized we were going to be right on track on our way to attempting freedom.
The road was going to be deadly but so long as we kept to the shadows and out of the eye of anyone with any kind of leadership over a group of Splicers, we were going to be perfectly fine. Perhaps we would run into some trouble once or twice but knowing us, that was all the trouble we were going to get ourselves into..hopefully.

Her reply to my question about being hungry made me look at her for a second or two before I shook my head to reply to the proposition she turned to me. As much as my body needed energy it had gotten enough of that from all of the rest as well as the food she had supplied me with the night before. I was as ready to leave as I was going to be so instead of moving to take any of the food that was meant for our journey, I moved to help her pack some of it. Not that I was really helpful. I just stood there and handed her one or two things for her to pack away.

And then, when everything was packed, I set my helmet down on the table in front of me. A part of me didn't want to put the helmet on and break the possibility of communication between the two of us but the other part knew that I didn't have much of a choice. However a strange idea popped into my head that made me wonder whether I truly had lost my mind.
"Seeing as I'm not familiar with this area and you aren't familiar with the next area..I'm going to keep my helmet off until we get to where I know the way. At least that way I can tell you if I see something move.." I turned my head to look at my companion as she finished up with the packing of the supplies.

It was a crazy idea but something I had made my mind up about. The inability to communicate between us was a bad thing when we were searching for the slightest amounts of movement. If I happened to see something the only way I would be able to tell her, with my helmet, would be with a poke in the back and a point with my finger. Much less effective than my voice in her ear.

It doesn’t take long for me to get everything situated. The food is placed in the biggest pocket, since it takes up the most bulk. We seem to have accumulated a large amount of food. It’s much more than what I had when traveling alone. I feared that since there were two of us though, that it would go much faster than I anticipated. She does deny the food that I offered, and instead, comes to kneel beside me. She reaches different things that I couldn’t reach from where I was. It takes me a moment, but before too long, I’m packing up the last bit of foods.

The second pocket I fill with other things that I might possibly need: The rest of the ammunition towards the front, the hairbrush at the back, and the Eve and Health hypos situated just in reach if I did need one in a pinch. Once it’s all situated, I pull the drawstring on top, zipping the zipper on the second pocket. I look over the bag a moment before pulling the small flap up over the draw string and latching it off. I look it over a moment before giggling. We were going off on an impossible journey. It was like something you heard about in books. I loved books; they were the best, especially the adventure ones. Now, I felt like I was in one and it was unreal.

I rise from my place, pulling the bag on my shoulders. I tighten the straps just a bit before turning to her. She had set her helmet down on the table and I stare at her, curiosity bubbling through as I watch her. She thinks that it would be a good idea to leave her helmet off? Does she not see the risk? I begin to shake my head. She didn’t see the problems that could form from simply wearing her armor. I could see the pros of her not wearing it, but at the same time, was it really worth the risk? One shot to the head and she was dead, something that I wasn’t sure I wanted to risk. I watch her silently a moment, well…a long time, just watching her, and trying to see if she could understand what she was saying.

“You know that you’re putting yourself at bigger risk by leaving it off….You sure you wanna take that risk, Dollface?” I watch her a moment, walking a little closer. I look down to the helmet: her dented protector. This was the thing that was saving her from injury. It was there for a reason. I didn’t think this was the greatest idea. “You sure?”

The look that Mira gave me when I mentioned that I wasn't going to wear my helmet for the first leg of our journey was one of uncertainty. I could almost see some concern or something I likened to concern as well but that was only present for a couple moments.
She spoke, telling me that she wasn't sure if that was a good idea or not, while taking a step or two closer to me. I felt her presence near me but I kept my gaze focused on the cold metal beneath my fingertips. The very helmet that had saved my life a couple thousand times over.

I turned my head towards her then and looked into her eyes. I looked into her eyes deeper than I ever had before. A soft sigh passed my lips as my mind fought to find words to describe the thoughts that were going through it. How was I supposed to express what I was feeling when I had never been given the chance to before? Had anyone ever truly heard the inner thoughts of a Big Sister before?

"I've spent so many years of my life trapped behind this screen of glass and metal.. I feel like one day I'm going to put my helmet on I'll never be able to get it off again. And besides, you don't have a helmet do you?" There was a short pause in my words before I took a moment to shake my head. Perhaps it wasn't the best idea I had ever had but the ability to speak was one that I had long forgotten the value of.
"Don't worry though, I promise once we get to the fairgrounds I'll put it back on. There we'll need as much of an advantage as we can get." I added with a reassuring tone as I patted my helmet once or twice.

With that being said I fastened my helmet to the strap around my waist and I rolled my shoulders a little bit, getting used to the lack of weight against my shoulders and neck. In addition to being able to speak I was also going to be able to see better even if only slightly better. The helmet only limited my vision by a small percentage but without it I felt so much more liberated.
I gave Mira a smile and nodded my head as if to tell her that everything was going to be alright. Our journey was going to be one to remember in the afterlife.

It’s strange to even think that someone would opt to not wear a crucial part of their armor for something as simple as their speech. It’s almost like saying that you want to walk around without oxygen when you’re down here in Rapture. I look up from the dented helmet, not expecting our eyes to meet like they do. She locks on with me and it seems like she’s looking, hard for something inside of me. I’m unsure what it could possibly be, but she’s looking and thinking very hard. I want to look away from her, I feel like she can see right through me…I feel like she can see my emotions, my secrets, and everything else that I’ve been fighting hard to keep away from her.

I hear a sigh escape from her lips. It’s so soft that I barely recognize it. She looks me over once more before something hits me. Her words slap me across the face hard. I had never thought of it like that before. She had to wear that contraption probably most of her life. It’s understandable that she doesn’t want to wear it any more. I shake my head slightly. She promises me that she’ll put it back on when we reach the fairgrounds. I’m taking her promise and making her keep it. I begin to nod slowly though, if she was so adamant about not wearing that thing through pauper’s drop then I wouldn’t make her wear it, it’s not like I could have anyway.

“I’m keepin’ you for your word you know” I smile at her, a small smile to simply lighten and brighten the mood just a bit. She’s already got it strapped to her side, and now, I think we are finally ready to head out. “Let’s get this show on the road, shall we?” I walk over to the bed, picking up the last thing that I’ve left behind, my shotgun. It was the only thing that had really been through everything with me. It had saved my butt so many times I probably couldn’t count them all. It was one of the only things that kept me from getting killed, and for that, I would probably never get rid of it, even if I did make it out of this place.

A few moments go by; I check and make sure I’m fully loaded before walking back towards the door. I pull is open silently; looking around the rest of the apartment to make sure that all was as it had been. Now, it was time to leave this place forever. All those memories that had been part of the past, I could say I was leaving behind. It’s like they had never happened. Really, the only one that remembered them was me, and a simple pact to forget them was all I needed to start over. This could be like my new beginning—my rebirth in a way. My past was no longer a part of me; I was free. A smile comes to my lips at the thought of it all. Sure, it was a crazy and Illogical way of thinking, but I knew that it made sense to me, and that’s all that mattered.

I make my way across the room, looking at nothing but the front door that’s ahead of me. It’s the first step to a chance. I couldn’t believe that this girl had brought me into actually thinking that I was going to get out of here. Only a few days before, I had been hopeless. I knew I was going to die in Rapture; I just didn’t want to stop fighting. Now, I was fighting to get out of Rapture instead of simply fighting to survive in Rapture.

I place my hand on the doorknob, reaching up to unlatch the top lock. It wouldn’t be long before we would make it out of here, I knew it. For once, I had hope. I turn, looking to Echo once more.
“Here we go, Dollface” and open the door came.