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Post by Nina Stenet on Sept 16, 2016 21:33:27 GMT -5
The world has been a very confusing place for Shawty. Of course, given the fact that she's in a psychotic state, that's only to be expected - she hasn't been able to tell the difference between reality and the imaginings of her own mind for quite some time. As such, she can't really remember how long she's been on her own - the only reason why she's pretty sure that it's been for number of days at least and that the more recent instances when she wasn't were flashbacks is because her little hideout must have taken awhile to find and get properly situated.
But though she's constantly confusing the past and the imaginings of her own mind with the present, in a way her current state of mind has been helpful. Someone as paranoid as she is takes as few risks as possible, which is a good thing to do when you've found yourself locked up in a city full of criminals and crazies. How she ended up in this situation is not really something she remembers very well - which version of events is the true one and which ones were hallucinations is not something she's very sure of, but the point is that she's here.
And right now she needs to leave her little hideout to find food and water. Yes, she has a bit of both stocked up, but if she doesn't get enough water she'll be dehydrated very quickly and though she can last for longer without food she can't afford to let herself get any weaker. She's less than five feet tall and she doesn't have a gun, so she can't afford to make her situation any worse. So though the very thought of leaving her hideout is terrifying to her, so is the idea of staying. She needs to keep herself alive - that's very important! Why, she can't remember exactly, but she knows that much to be true.
It's night when she leaves - probably around midnight. Arkham City is dangerous at night, but then again it's dangerous at any time of the day. There's fewer people out and about in the darkness, especially since there doesn't appear to be any functioning electricity in the whole place. That doesn't mean that nobody has figured out how to get power, but anyone who has would wisely make sure that no light leaks out at night - that would attract any raiding party who thought they were tough for sure, because surely anyone who could manage to get working lights would have other nice things to take. And so far there doesn't seem to be any groups around that can brazenly flaunt their strength with impunity - at least not in this area and not that Shawty has seen. Of course, she could have easily missed something - she's too paranoid to talk to anyone. Instead she comes out only at night, when she can sneak through the omnipresent shadows of a completely darkened city.
Before Arkham City, before working as Dr. Stenet's assistant and bodyguard, and before college, she'd grown up in Gotham, and not in one of the better neighborhoods. In fact, her 'childhood home' isn't far from here - she could go visit it if she really wanted to, as it's inside the walls. She'd learned to be street smart back in those days, especially before she'd gained enough of a reputation to strut around like she owned the place. While she can't claim to be the best person in the city at lurking in the darkness without making a sound, she's not half bad at it either. Tonight she heads east, closer to the ocean than she's been in a while.
Travelling through the alleyways, a building catches her eye - not too tall, looks like an apartment building. Apartment buildings happen to be a good source of potable water, if you know where to look, even though it's unlikely to still have actually running water. The question is, is there anyone in the building? Probably, but probably only the lower floors - since none of the elevators work anymore, people don't bother with the upper floors as much as they used to. The mere idea of going up there to look has her shaking in fear, but the thought of what might happen if she doesn't is even worse. She should at least check the fire escape - that will tell her if it's worth the risk or not.
Circling the building until she finds it, she sees that it looks to be in okay repair - which isn't surprising because even the worst Gotham building needs to follow at least a few building codes to avoid being condemned, and Arkham City hasn't existed long enough for everything to start to flat out fall apart. But the real question is how noisy it is - some of these things creek under even her small weight. Well, she won't know until she tries, right? Moving slowly and carefully, her heart racing and her breaths coming quickly (though she forces them to be silent), she carefully begins her ascent. There's a creek, and it sends a shiver up her spine, but it's a quiet one - it's worth the risk.
She carefully peers into the windows as she climbs, looking for signs of life (or the lack thereof). As she suspected, though she doesn't actually spot anyone she sees signs that there's been people around recently. But the higher she goes, the fewer those signs become. Which is to be expected - this building is probably almost fifteen stories tall, so it takes a lot of motivation to get up this high with no elevator. She's pretty motivated, though - the higher she goes, the safer it will be for her to go inside. Which is why she intends to go all the way to the top - she'll check out the roof first, then work her way down - calling it quits before she gets too low or the night wears too thin. That's the plan, at least.
But though she's constantly confusing the past and the imaginings of her own mind with the present, in a way her current state of mind has been helpful. Someone as paranoid as she is takes as few risks as possible, which is a good thing to do when you've found yourself locked up in a city full of criminals and crazies. How she ended up in this situation is not really something she remembers very well - which version of events is the true one and which ones were hallucinations is not something she's very sure of, but the point is that she's here.
And right now she needs to leave her little hideout to find food and water. Yes, she has a bit of both stocked up, but if she doesn't get enough water she'll be dehydrated very quickly and though she can last for longer without food she can't afford to let herself get any weaker. She's less than five feet tall and she doesn't have a gun, so she can't afford to make her situation any worse. So though the very thought of leaving her hideout is terrifying to her, so is the idea of staying. She needs to keep herself alive - that's very important! Why, she can't remember exactly, but she knows that much to be true.
It's night when she leaves - probably around midnight. Arkham City is dangerous at night, but then again it's dangerous at any time of the day. There's fewer people out and about in the darkness, especially since there doesn't appear to be any functioning electricity in the whole place. That doesn't mean that nobody has figured out how to get power, but anyone who has would wisely make sure that no light leaks out at night - that would attract any raiding party who thought they were tough for sure, because surely anyone who could manage to get working lights would have other nice things to take. And so far there doesn't seem to be any groups around that can brazenly flaunt their strength with impunity - at least not in this area and not that Shawty has seen. Of course, she could have easily missed something - she's too paranoid to talk to anyone. Instead she comes out only at night, when she can sneak through the omnipresent shadows of a completely darkened city.
Before Arkham City, before working as Dr. Stenet's assistant and bodyguard, and before college, she'd grown up in Gotham, and not in one of the better neighborhoods. In fact, her 'childhood home' isn't far from here - she could go visit it if she really wanted to, as it's inside the walls. She'd learned to be street smart back in those days, especially before she'd gained enough of a reputation to strut around like she owned the place. While she can't claim to be the best person in the city at lurking in the darkness without making a sound, she's not half bad at it either. Tonight she heads east, closer to the ocean than she's been in a while.
Travelling through the alleyways, a building catches her eye - not too tall, looks like an apartment building. Apartment buildings happen to be a good source of potable water, if you know where to look, even though it's unlikely to still have actually running water. The question is, is there anyone in the building? Probably, but probably only the lower floors - since none of the elevators work anymore, people don't bother with the upper floors as much as they used to. The mere idea of going up there to look has her shaking in fear, but the thought of what might happen if she doesn't is even worse. She should at least check the fire escape - that will tell her if it's worth the risk or not.
Circling the building until she finds it, she sees that it looks to be in okay repair - which isn't surprising because even the worst Gotham building needs to follow at least a few building codes to avoid being condemned, and Arkham City hasn't existed long enough for everything to start to flat out fall apart. But the real question is how noisy it is - some of these things creek under even her small weight. Well, she won't know until she tries, right? Moving slowly and carefully, her heart racing and her breaths coming quickly (though she forces them to be silent), she carefully begins her ascent. There's a creek, and it sends a shiver up her spine, but it's a quiet one - it's worth the risk.
She carefully peers into the windows as she climbs, looking for signs of life (or the lack thereof). As she suspected, though she doesn't actually spot anyone she sees signs that there's been people around recently. But the higher she goes, the fewer those signs become. Which is to be expected - this building is probably almost fifteen stories tall, so it takes a lot of motivation to get up this high with no elevator. She's pretty motivated, though - the higher she goes, the safer it will be for her to go inside. Which is why she intends to go all the way to the top - she'll check out the roof first, then work her way down - calling it quits before she gets too low or the night wears too thin. That's the plan, at least.
