remus' demeanor means he doesn't see them as a threat. his brows crease, but parker doesn't know what that means (metal, clinking, whirling, flesh and steel). not much worse can be out here aside from the people who've crossed over to the other side, so she greets her just as amicably. 

"yo, uh, naw," she says, lips quirking in a grin at the question. steel-blue eyes light up though when they land on the woman's arm. "oh shit, are you real? i mean, i ain't seen none of the ghosts with cyborg parts 'n i'm pretty sure i'm at borderlands 'nstead of mecha kingdom.

"unless they're connected. 're they the same place?"

shadows skirt on the edge of her vision, beckoning. she thinks, wait a godsdamned minute puh-lease.

ana fell

☉

not exactly the answer parker is looking for. she'd meant more in the physical sense than the metaphysical, aren't we all connected? kumbaya bullshit. mostly, she just doesn't want to trip through a sewer grate and end up in a whole nother fantastical land of fantasy and ridiculousness.

"well, good enough. anyway, this place's still dangerous. but also, er, am a little light on coin and homeboy down by the docks doesn't take iou's. help a sister out?" she asks. she'd spent the last of her pocket change on chicken nuggies.

"me 'n remus'll look after ya."

ana fell

☉

"no, i think just the screams of the damned," parker says with a wolfish grin, kicking them off of the docks. the ghimmighoul looks up at her with what could only be defined as contempt and parker sticks out her tongue. what's it gonna do? throw her overboard?

actually, maybe, and from the scritch-scratching under the deck, she's fairly certain she doesn't want to go in the brackish water. no thank you.

"so, you don't have like a usb port or something in your pinkie you could just jam into the machines? get all the pop ya want?" she touches her finger to her nose. "my idea. patent pending. now you gotta share whatever you steal if ya use the idea."

the water laps at the sides of the boat. somehow they move even though they have no sail. or rows. or anything. 

"whatcha lookin' for out here anywho?"

ana fell

☉

remus does not like this one itty bitty bit. that much is obvious by the way his appendages are floating behind his head and twitching like no tomorrow. parker tries not to feel unsettled, but it's difficult, because the last time she'd been here it had been crazy town.

maybe they just need to cross the river and she'll find what she's looking for.

a metal hand grasps the side of the boat and she jumps. remus lifts his paws, but parker beats him to the kick. one booted foot hits fingers, but they don't budge. the rest of it - her - hauls itself into the boat. 

another set of hands, one oversized, wearing a bigass gauntlet, tips the boat in its direction. parker grips the sides and prays they don't capsize.

"yo, fuckers, we only paid for two seats. no fuckin' joyrides. get off." she snarls and kicks again.

ana fell

☉

it's not like the cool mechanized version of her from the mechanical kingdom, but it kinda resembles her. well, her her. herself her. and not her. okay, i'm getting a fuckin' headache. 

"why the fuck do they all get a coolass gauntlet and all i got's my dumb fist?" she says as she takes a step and slugs her own double right in the face. the jaw pops off and like a zombie in some b-rated horror flick, its teeth clack comedically. 

her knuckles split from the impact, but it works. the double's hold is loosened and with another kick, it's shoved back into the water. their boat creaks, complaining about the splitting of its sides. parker hmms. 

"arceus fuck, this place sucks. how you holdin' up? your charmander's losin 'er mind."

ana fell

☉

luckily for ana, the soullike construct wearing parker's flesh isn't all too happy being shoved back in the water. the boat rocks when they hit land and parker jumps out, boots crunching on sand, and just as quickly does the rest of her pitch forward as a glob of something hits her square in the back.

she rolls over. remus stands over her, back turned, facing the water, and parker goes, "wuuuh," before realizing she'd been hit with a fucking basketball-sized mudball. 

after staggering upright and spitting out sand from her mouth, her doppelganger manages to drag its sorry ass outta the viscous waters.

"a̶̲͠w̵̯͛,̷̰̀ ̸̃͜y̶̹͑o̷͘͜u̶͎͠ ̷͓̔l̶͓̔ĩ̷͙k̴̙͂e̴͔̊ ̵̪͋m̴͈͠ý̸̮ ̸̩̋a̶͇͛r̸̻͌m̴̡̌?̷̤̍" it warbles, sounding like half a dozen voices at once, most of them eerily metal, one of them wraithlike. it also flashes its gauntlet, flexes its hand, and smiles. "ẁ̸̧a̵̡̚ń̶͔ń̴̲ã̷̼ ̴̫̅ș̸͒e̸͓͌e̴̻͋ ̷̡͆ḭ̵̑t̶͕̑ ̸̺̑i̴͈͆n̴͖͊ ̴͔͛ạ̷̃c̶̙̏t̶̯͌i̷̳͐ȯ̵͈n̴̳͠?̵̻̉"

and it barrels quickly over the remaining distance. remus readies a punch, but his head snaps to the side, palms thrown up in a defensive block right as a wraithlike version of him takes him down. 

shit, shit, shit. parker scrambles to her feet, hops from foot to foot, and shoves a palm out, sidestepping when her alt self comes in hot and heavy. 

"make velahalamala help remus!" she yells to ana. "i got this!" and then all the air wheezes out of her as her double pivots and punches her square in the solar plexus, sending her sprawling head over heels into the sand. she stares up, dizzy. 

"ergh, actually. help...me please."

ana fell

☉