Issue 1 Downtime

Miranda knelt at the edge of the Greenwich area, holding up her hand as she breathed deeply, trying to get a good sense of the way to go. She frowns, "Something's not right. The future's changed."

"That's what it does, right? Something we did?" she asks, taking the chance to set down her backpack along with the rifle she's carrying.

"I can't tell where the troll might be. I don't know if that's because it's dead, it crossed back over, or something's shielding it from me." She adjusted the sword at her side, one of her few remaining gifts from her parents, "In any case, I don't like it."

"Guess we'll have to find it the old fashioned way then." she says, looking around to find a good vantage spot and settling on an apartment building that rises over most of it's sorrounding neighbours, if not all of the foliage around. "At least the growth isn't as thick around here."

Miranda turns her gaze towards the apartment building. "Building seems sound. We should be good."

"Alright. Let me know if that changes." she says, shouldering her things again and heading off into the building to find a way to the top.

Miranda spread her wings, taking to the air and perching on a branch near the top of a tree. "You're still good," she projected to Jennifer. "I can see a door on the rooftop, so you should have access."

In an alleyway nearby, a woman with wild red hair is standing over a gnarled, rapidly cooling corpse. She's got a machete in one hand and a smoldering makeshift torch in the other, soot smudging her mostly bare skin. She's dressed in leather and animal pelts that don't look native to this world.

She's breathing heavily from exertion. She leans forward to carve a pointed ear off the hunched, monstrous corpse, and sets in to piling deadwood around it before setting it ablaze.

After following Miranda's directions Jennifer sets up on the edge of the roof, getting the lay of the land through a pair of binoculars. "The fuck..."

"There's someone down there, setting things on fire." she sends to Miranda while squinting through the binoculars and trying to make out more details while slowly sliding the rifle off her shoulder.

The woman steps back from the blaze as it flares up, unknotting a leather thong around her neck that has a number of dessicated things on it. She threads the thong through the ear and knots it behind her neck again.

"I'll check it out. Cover me?" She drew her sword and began winging in the direction of the rising smoke.

"You got it."

She puts down the binoculars and brings up the rifle.

Miranda sweeps towards the alley, flying over it to get a good look.

The woman is staying not far from the blaze, watching it intently.

"Got her in my sights." she sends, warily eyeing the woman through the scope of her hunting rifle.

"Red hair, leather." Miranda lands at the far end of the alley, approaching on foot.

"What do you want?" The woman grumbles as Miranda approaches, not turning around.

"To thank you for doing what I came here to do," she said, relaying the conversation mentally to Jennifer.

"Is that why there's a rifle pointed at me?"

"That's just good sense," Miranda says, fluttering her wings. "Maybe we can make introductions. Would that help? I'm Randa. You are?" Something was teasing Miranda's memory, but she couldn't place it.

"Brigid."

"Looking for a friend that I think is in the middle of all this, but it doesn't help that the whole city is lousy with fae trash and trying to kill me."

"Brigid?" Her sword dropped a bit. "Turn around."

The woman turns around. Some of her features are familiar. Incredibly she's gotten a bit taller over the years, and has a few new scars. She levels golden eyes at Miranda.

"I suppose you're the 'seer' they talk about."

"That's a distinct possibility," she said, putting her sword away. "It's Brigid, I'm sure of it," she communicated to Jennifer.

"No way..." she takes the finger off the trigger but keeps looking through the scope for a couple more moments. "No fucking way."

Gathering her things she starts climbing down through the building again to make her way down the street.

"So where is she?"

"Who? Jennifer's on her way down, if that's who you're talking about."

Brigid's tough demeanor falters a little bit when Jen is mentioned, but she recovers it quickly.

"Not her. The one whose fingerprints are all over this."

"Why are you looking for her?" Miranda asked, her stance adjusting subtly, but unmistakably defensive to someone with Brigid's experience.

"Because she wouldn't have done this," she gestures with the torch at the vines and trees, "if she wasn't hurting."

"She's safe," Miranda said, "We've been looking after her."

"This doesn't look like 'safe.'"

"She's having a good day, so we could leave her by herself. If you want, I'll take you to her, but we have a couple of other things we still need to do."

Brigid narrows her eyes at Miranda, curling a lip.

"Define 'good day' for me."

"She's lucid today," Miranda said, the cast of her face giving the impression of narrowed eyes of her own.

"Holy shit, Brigid? No fucking way!" Jennifer cuts into the tension that seems to be building.

"...hey, Jen." Brigid says, faltering a bit in her stare-down with Miranda.

"...long time."

With the stand-off broken, Miranda's stance loosened up a bit.

"No kidding. Where have you been?"

"Oh, you know..." she grits her teeth for a moment. "...away."

"Came when I heard. Got shot down near Dover. Going was... slower, after that."