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There is a house, and in the house is a bed, and in the bed is a girl. She sleeps soundly, curled up very small under her blanket, while a steady accumulation of snow makes round soft piles on the roof and against the outsides of the walls.
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Past_Consumption
The city does not have answers for her.
But if she had to guess... the Shadows seem like good candidates.
the-silence-between
Shadows are bad.
She floats down to the top of a skyscraper and perches on the edge. Why is everything so terrible. What is she going to do. This is the worst thing that has happened to her.
Past_Consumption
Someone is sitting next to her.
They weren't sitting next to her a moment ago.
the-silence-between
She jumps up in startlement, and one movement flows into another, and she is halfway across the roof before she calms down enough to pause and look back.
the-silence-between
Well then, Riya can just. Stay. Up here. Forever.
...
No. She cannot do that. That is not a thing she can do.
...
She slowly lowers herself back toward the roof, eyeing the other girl warily. When she is just barely close enough for the other girl to have a reflection in her selfspace, she stops to examine it. What are this stranger's properties?
Past_Consumption
... This girl does not really exist here. She exists everywhere, smeared out across the city like a brushstroke. And she has far too many eyes and mouths to be altogether comforting.
But she is a person, beneath the shadows' taint. She is whole and strong. Something about her is faintly silvery, reminiscent of the cards she was offered. Reminiscent of herself now, come to think of it.
the-silence-between
...
Riya comes gradually down to land on the roof again.
"You're very unsettling," she says.
Past_Consumption
"Oh. I'm sorry about that."
She looks down at the street below.
"... from the way you look at the city, I would guess that you're not from around here."
Past_Consumption
"Unfortunately, there isn't anywhere here that's not a city. I've looked."
She sighs.
"... Would a park help?"
Past_Consumption
"... Still small enough that you can see buildings, but there are a few secluded copses of trees where you can almost forget."
the-silence-between
She sighs.
"Why isn't there anywhere that's not a city? How? Is the whole planet like this? Is this even a planet?"
the-silence-between
"There should be a place that's not a city. I want a place that's not a city."
Past_Consumption
"Well, I know you're from another world. And I know the Shadows took you from that world."
the-silence-between
She considers this for a few moments.
Then she says, "Yes, that happened."