Westward Ho

[Blair]

Eve nodded. "Should I stay with you all, or should I go find them now?"

[B4UTRUST]

"I think it would probably be better if we figure out where we can all hole up once we're in city proper. That way we can meet up later and have some idea of where we're all going. We separate now and we'll never find each other."

[Blair]

Eve nodded in understanding, and moved to place herself between her two friends. She felt wrong here, and not only because of the throngs of people and the terrible living conditions. Her skin itched, and she still carried a deep ache in her bones from her transformation. Her eyes rose to look at the sky, and she felt a twinge of regret that she was not still up there.

[Josh]

"Yep," Don said, imitating a Texas drawl, badly. "Sounds like a fair decent plan to me."

[B4UTRUST]

William shot a glance at Don.
"I'm from the North-east and that was the worst Texas accent I've ever heard. Lucky the Rangers aren't around here anymore, they'd probably hang you just for the insult. Of course if they knew what we'd seen and done these last few months they'd probably hang us regardless. They're kind of big on the hanging, if you recall."

He was looking around, looking for something as they fell into the flow of people heading towards the main roads. It wasn't until they were a lot closer to the main gates than William liked that he saw what he was after. Giving his two compatriots a brief nudge and a nod he walked over to what looked like a small ramshackle shop that despite its destitute appearance seemed to be doing a decent business.
"We're going to need some local cash to get in, something I don't think the good people on the other side of the storm thought to provide since this is literally the only place in the damned country that uses it instead of regular old Union or Confed dollars. So we need to see if we can swap some cash around and see if we can get some local church bucks for the entrance fee at least. No clue if locals will take normal cash on the inside or not but the officials aren't going to give us great rates on an exchange at the gates."

As they got closer to the front of the line there was some angry shouting happening at the counter.
"-an out of water! You said you had clean water!"
"Listen lady, we're sold out. Can't sell ya what I aint got and I aint got no more fresh water. Better luck tomorrow. Now shove off, anyone else need somethin other than water?"

William paused, glancing at the other two in askance. Heads down and press forward or start another fight? Why could shit never go easy?

[Blair]

Eve set her face to a neutral expression, doing her best not to speak out. She didn't want to cause problems, but at the same time...

Well, she was a child of nature, and her emotions always ran wild. She searched the crowd, waiting for word on whether or not they were going to handle business.

[Josh]

Don was already moving, and he threw William a wink as he passed.

"Howdy folks," he said. "We do indeed have some business."

Gone was the poor attempt at an accent, replaced by something akin to the twang they'd heard in New Mexico. He'd also adopted the same sort of common posture- shoulders squared, hands hitched on either side of his belt buckle. The longer they were in, the more of a chameleon he became. To Eve's eyes it was likely a sign of the subtle influence of the Living Lands upon him, a form of shapeshifting to match the circumstances.

"But maybe before we get into it, we could talk about the problem here. Short of clean water, y'say?"

[Blair]

Eve grinned, watching Don manipulate himself in a way that was similar but so very different than how she did. She looked around, back straightening as she realized they wouldn't be leaving these people without. She stepped to stand beside (and behind) Don, and shot a glance to William.

[B4UTRUST]

"Yeah, I say. We're out of clean water. You got rocks in your ears or you just slow? We aint got water, cause we sold out. We can only get so much water a day and we sold out, so unless you got other business?"

[Josh]

Don glanced at Eve, then back at the man. "My friend here's got a special way of lookin' at things, mind if we see about something out back?"

He offered his most winning smile, the look that often made people accede to even ridiculous-sounding requests.

[B4UTRUST]

The man gave Don a look of 'like I give a fuck?' and a shrug.
"Knock yerself out, next!"

[Josh]

Don gave him a friendly cheerful wave, then glanced at William and Eve as he jerked his head toward the back.

[Blair]

Eve nodded and headed towards the back of the building, prepared to seek out water. She kicked off her shoes, nestling her feet into the dry dust of the Deadlands. There was a reaction there - a revulsion that her body felt in reaction to the land here, but she pushed past it, and found to her overwhelming joy, that there was here, as everywhere, life. And life was life, no matter where she was. She closed her eyes and imagined herself growing roots that spread deep and far, seeking out water. She thought, perhaps, she felt it. Not a lot, but maybe enough. She called it to her, straining her mind and senses to pull it toward her,

(rolled a 9)

[B4UTRUST]

Eve could feel the water(or at least what felt something like water) under her feet and pulled it towards her, up through the soil and the ground. The result was... not pleasant. While there was definitely water content in the muck that rose from the earth, the stench immediately told her that it was more sewage than drinkable. Which said a lot about the quality of water probably available to these people. She could detect other sources further in the city, but where this shanty town was? All that seemed in supply was waste and dirty water that probably took significant effort to clean up and make safe for use. It would barely be enough to drink to keep people alive, much less any sort of quantity suitable for bathing or much cooking.

Despite the circumstances, nobody around them seemed to notice the increased stench much. It was apparent that one of the costs of living in this area was a strong sense of smell as most were seemingly nose blind. William, on the other hand, had no such protections and even the ripe scent of his travelling companions in the sun would have been a bouquet of flowers in comparison to this. He started coughing and gagging a bit.
"Sweet, merciful God, I hope that's not their water supply," he commented after dry heaving for a moment.

[Blair]

Eve's eyes welled with tears. "I'm pretty sure it is," she choked out as she crouched down, the desperation in her to just do something overwhelming her nose's protests. Besides, everything here stank of the dead to her, already. She looked up at William and Don as she tried to hold the water in her hands, looking for all the world like that lost person who had been desperate to have friends back in the city when all this had begun. "What do we do?"

[Josh]

Don swore and kicked a rock as he stepped away, hand over his mouth and nose. "Fuck that's fucking terrible fucking fuck shit fuck."

He took a moment to collect himself, face twisted in revulsion at the smell. "This isn't going to be a fuckin' easy fix," he said at last. "So we need to get set up, feel around, make contacts, and then figure out what we're going to do."

[Blair]

"We could distill it, couldn't we? It wouldn't be hard, would it?"

[B4UTRUST]

William's eyes widened at the notion.
"Distill this? That may have worked in the other world we just came from where they had all that fancy tech and chemicals and such. But this? I-I don't know."

That was something of a lie. Or at least a half-truth. The voices whispering in the back of his head constantly were telling him things, giving him ways he could probably do it. All it would cost would be a little bit more control, a little bit more of his self, a fair exchange for some more power and ability. New creations. New inventions. New understanding. He had gained so much already, wasn't it worth it? William sighed.
"I think there's reasons why so many people like me have tried to develop ways to desalinate the water here instead of fixing...this. I think that may be why that man was killed back in Shan Fan. He was working on that problem, the desalination thing. Honestly though, I don't think this is a problem that we can take care of in any sort of large capacity. I think we're better off trying to deal with the church leadership and fix the problem that way."

[Josh]

"I'm good with that too. Let's get our money situation worked out, find us a place to park, and then work the problem."

Don lit a cigarette and shook his head at the mess.

"Got a feeling we're up for a fuckin' rougher go than some of the shit we've been in. This isn't going to be a quick one."

He started back toward the front.

[Blair]

Shoulders slumped and tears drying on her cheeks, Eve stood from the muck she was currently kneeling in and took a shaky breath. She followed the others, moving much slower than she had. The pain of being unable to help was palpable in her every step.

[Josh]

Don reached back, growling a small assurance in Jakat and offering her his hand.

[Blair]

Eve's small hand wrapped around Don's. It was still sticky and damp with sludge, but her sniffling quieted, and her grip was solid. "Thank you," she whispered, moving a bit closer to her friends.

[B4UTRUST]

The group moved into the herd of people advancing towards the main gate of the city. Mostly it was traders and merchants, loyalists to the church, people who had legit businesses in the City of Lost Angels. They, of course, were no such thing, but that was, at least, a problem they could handle. William made a point to stop by another roadside stand where he exchanged some Union Dollars for the local church scrip. The exchange rate was awful, but it was better than having to add one more issue with the gate guards to deal with.

The process got slower the closer they got to the front. Carts were being inspected, people were searched if they didn't seem to be carrying certain paperwork, money was exchanged, more paperwork. Even in a theocratic hellhole like this bureaucracy moved slowly, which really was probably the point. Make people irritated and upset before they even got through, make them grateful to just be done with it so they could move on with their lives. Who knew. That was for people like Don to figure out, not William.

Finally it was their turn. Not being members of the church or willing to sign away their souls to Grimme, William played the route of scientist wanting 'to buy the best Ghost Rock available.' It wasn't much of a stretch, Lost Angels was a huge center of trade for Ghost Rock coming out of The Maze. They were searched, of course, since the only people allowed to be armed inside the city were members of the church. But that was why they had had Eve smuggle their gear in beforehand. For a modest entry fee of a quarter per person they were allowed entry and issued their papers with the instructions to keep them on hand at all times, to obey all the laws of the church and to follow the orders of any of the Guardian Angels, their local law enforcement. This was followed by the helpful advice that failure to do so would result in either forced ejection from the city or them getting an all expenses paid trip to The Rock. William firmly believed that neither option would result in their continued good health. But given what they were here to do, their continued good health wasn't a guaranteed thing no matter what they did. Will folded his papers and tucked them into a pocket for safe keeping. Before they passed through, William asked for where they could find some temporary lodging for their stay.

They had entered along Sixth Avenue where it crossed with Sixth Circle. Even just inside the city proper there was a noticeable difference in quality of architecture. Small shops lined the main avenue surrounded by housing. William started guiding the others off the main road to the side and out of the throngs of people.
"Alright, so easy part is done, we're inside. Guess first things first, we need to set up somewhere before we grab our gear. The guy at the gate said there was a boarding house called Hardwick's over near the Waterfront District that might have some rooms. Want to give it a try or see if we can figure out something else?"

[Josh]

"Hardwick's gets us the first day and night, and a chance to get our bearings," Don said. He'd noticed that his hand kept habitually drifting toward the space where his revolver had been, as though seeking what had become a familiar and comforting weight.

Was it possible to have phantom pain for a tool? He certainly felt naked without it. He lit a new cigarette to distract himself. "A chance to make social, start figuring out where to go to get what. Find some of the local doves and get a word in, they know more dirt than anybody else."

He glanced at Eve. "You can start working a network of critters, first thing we'll want is some perimeter security to let us know if the laws are stomping our way, and then we can go deeper on working our way toward who we need to visit unkindness upon."

From there he glanced at Will. "And you've got a natural cover with the ghost rock, we can tag-team that, you're the techie and I'm the sales agent, get our in on the commercial front."

He found his hand near the empty space on his hip once more, determinedly hitched it in his belt. "But first, food and a fuckin' beer. Assuming such libations can be gotten here."

Don hadn't even considered the prospect that this Jesus-babbling hellhole might be dry until that very moment. Suddenly the half-empty flask in his pocket began to feel very light indeed.

[Blair]

Eve nodded. "I'll make sure I get in with the rodents of the land and the sea as soon as possible," she agreed, glancing up at the seabirds flying above. "Cats, too."

Her stomach rumbled. "Food definitely sounds good, though. And something to drink. I'm hella parched."