TO PROTECT

a card lays at her feet as a boy --  the owner, she’s concluded -- walks ahead of her, oblivious to the loss. she looks it over after retrieving it, not recognizing the game it comes from. how odd -- she knew of many children’s games, card games included, and yet she’s never seen anything like the one in her hand. it appears to come from a trading card series, but she still doesn’t know which one. it doesn’t matter too much, but she finds it fascinating that it isn’t one of the hundreds of games registered in her memory. she examines the card a moment longer, curious, but relinquishes it after realizing she’s keeping him from continuing on with his day.

❛ oh -- sorry. here. this is yours, isn’t it? ❜

it’s not her child, so it’s not her place, but she can’t help but worry about the sparks flickering from the boys palms. it’s strange -- she doesn’t think she’s ever seen a human try to light firecrackers in their hands before ( and for a good reason ), but that’s the only conclusion she can draw from the sight before her. wasn’t he in pain? he didn’t look like it though. it’s possible he isn’t human, of course, but regardless of what he was, she couldn’t stand back and watch him maim himself.

     ❛ you’re going to blow your hands clean off if you keep it up. ❜ 

       she knows she shouldn’t panic -- it won’t do her any good. it certainly won’t help her get to the bottom of things, yet she can’t calm her nerves. she’s in an unfamiliar place, but that isn’t what troubles her. it’s that she’s here alone. she doesn’t want to think about the last thing she remembers, and doing so doesn’t bring her any closer to answers, because there should be absolutely no reason she ended up in a city by herself -- and that’s the only fact that keeps her calm. surely, her loved ones were somewhere in this enormous place. she couldn’t actually be alone. she just had to keep searching and they would turn up.

if she doesn’t hold onto that belief, she will lose her SANITY.

although it feels as though she’s getting close to just that already -- her mind is a mess, and she isn’t paying attention to her surroundings. a head of blue hair comes into her vision, but she isn’t focused at all -- and that’s when she bumps right into the stranger. she moves quickly, just fast enough to grab onto the girl’s arms and hoist her to her feet before she can fall down. her eyes are wide, almost frantic as she speaks.

❛ shit, i’m so sorry -- i -- wasn’t watching where i was going. did i hurt you? ❜ 

testing, testing

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