ϟ -- A Bolt in the Blue { CA intro/open } -- ϟ
ϟ -- So this was the industrial district.
-- Katarina was surprised to find herself disappointed. After all, she had been transported to this strange place against her will; had she seriously expected five-star lodgings?
-- At any rate, it couldn't be helped now. She stepped gingerly around the sludge in the streets and tried not to choke on the fumes. What an abysmal place this was. She could not see how she was supposed to adjust to such an environment, when everything around her reeked of --
-- She had taken a misstep, and ended up with her foot in a steam grate. She tried in vain to free herself, using her wooden sword as a wedge.
-- (And that was another thing! She was a mage, not a tactician! And yet they had saddled her with this awkward extra appendage! What was she supposed to do with it, anyway?)
-- Eine. Remember your directive.
-- A voice spoke from the back of her head, pricking the hairs at the nape of her neck. There was...something else, wasn't there...? Something she was forgetting...
-- But she shook herself. Now was not the time to think about this. Whatever this was. She had one foot in the sewer, with no means of freeing herself. She gave a helpless glance in either direction, and called out:
-- "Excuse me...? Can someone...lend me a hand? -- ϟ