thoughts meander like restless wind. ( open )

[innig]

Who: beth greene + you!
Where: the orchard and the gardens
When: 3/5
Rating: pg-13??
Summary: beth arrives! and is confused! and then explores some fun places
The Story:

The Orchard.
[ the handles of the surgical scissors dig into her palm as she grasps them tightly, closes her eyes, and steps out of dr. edwards' office. but her foot doesn't hit linoleum as expected. no, it lands on something soft, and the scent of watered down antiseptic immediately disappears. beth's eyes fly open. this... is not grady memorial.

for a moment, her heart is in her throat. is she dead? did something happen and she has amnesia? is she hallucinating? because last she checked, she was nowhere even close to an orchard and this--this is incredible. but, no. she still has the scissors. still feels the dull pain of her blackened eye and the stitches in her face. maybe she's seeing things, but the tree feels real enough beneath her fingertips. the small apricot she reaches up to pluck from the branches has weight to it. smell. taste.

a small noise of pleasure escapes beth as she bites into the ripe fruit. when was the last time she had fresh apricots? probably before everybody got sick and the dead started walking. which, come to think of it, is something she should be looking out for. all she's got is her little scissors, but she can run if she has to.

she doesn't yet, though. instead she walks as quiet as she can through the trees, munching on the rest of her apricot as her wide eyes take in everything. once she reaches the end of the orchard and can see the mansion in the distance, she pauses. ]

What on earth...? Where am I?



The Gardens.
[ once she gets her bearings, gets the run-down on this weird place she's ended up, beth explores a bit. pokes around the first floor of the mansion. smiles at the sight of the music room. but ultimately, she ends up in the gardens.

it's kinda funny that even having spent however long on the run with daryl, camping out and moving from place to place, it's still so nice to be able to stay outside. the roof of the hospital didn't really count. she'd still been stuck in that awful place that smelled like rotting flesh and long-dead fires. nothing like this. laying down in the grass, sun and breeze on her face, is so nice she doesn't even mind the chill that comes with the last gasp of winter and earliest days of spring.

she hasn't changed out of her scrubs yet. hasn't gotten the cast on her arm seen to or any of the rest of it. she will. eventually. when she's a little less wary of the magic in this place maybe. for now, she's perfectly content to run her good hand over the grass and hum to herself.

maybe this ain't a good place. but right now? she can't help but feel a little relieved. ]

Comments

orchard

[scoutsniper]

[ Frank's coming back from a day at the range, because, well, that's where he spends his days. It's familiar, at least, and the rules make sense there, which is different from, well, most of the rest of this goddam place.

But you can take the soldier out of the war, but you can't take the war out of him: he's always got half an eye and ear doing a scan and sweep, looking for trouble. Because he never knew when this place was going to go batfuck crazy.

He stops, abruptly, before turning to the voice. ] You're in the most fucked up place in the universe.

[His professional opinion. ]

gardens

[thesamurai]

[ There's something coming. Michonne isn't sure what exactly, but she can't shake it. The pattern for weird shit happening is broken, and she doesn't like it, which means she's been stalking around the grounds with her katana strapped to her back. Before she gets a good look at the person on the ground, she only registers that it's a person, and she takes off in a jog before coming to an abrupt halt.

Dusty blue scrubs. Cut cheek. Blonde hair. Her heart stops and she looks at someone she mourned what feels like a lifetime ago. And then, when the shock wears off, sadness sets in. This girl was too good for the world she was left with. ]

Beth.

[ Her voice comes out like reverence as she crouches down. Another person from home. Someone else who'll leave eventually and go back to die. It's like Wonderland keeps sending her ghosts. ]

[innig]

[ she tenses, whirling around with the bitty surgical scissors clutched in her hand and ready to strike if need be. but the sight of frank leaves her reeling and confused. she knows that face. didn't recognize his voice but it's been a long time since--well. ]

Shane?

[ maybe this is the afterlife. shane's supposed to be gone and she can't think of any other reason she'd suddenly be seeing someone who's both dead and not a walker. ]

[innig]

[ beth opens her eyes at the sound of her name and, once she catches sight of who's calling her, breaks out into a bright grin. ]

Michonne!

[ she pushes herself up and then leans forward to hug her. doesn't matter that michonne's not the most demonstrative of people. beth is and she's so dang happy to see a familiar face. especially one she hasn't seen since she was kneeling next to her daddy and the governor had her sword the prison fell. ]

I told Daryl we couldn't've been the only ones who got out. [ beth says as she pulls back. and even though her smile's a little smaller now she sounds pretty smug. ] It's real good to see you.

[thesamurai]

[ Michonne can't resist the hug, and she closes her eyes for a beat before letting her go. ]

No, you weren't the only ones.

[ She winds up sitting down beside her in the grass and doesn't even know where to start. If she needs to. If she should. ]

You have no idea how good it is to see you. I've been here for a while though. This place is...different, Beth. Time doesn't move while we're here.

[innig]

[ part of her wants to pepper michonne with questions right away. did she get out with anyone? has she found anyone else? what happened to the governor? to her dad? but there's time for that later. ]

I heard. [ michonne's not the first person she's come across in wonderland. ] It's hard to believe though.

[ it's not like they're in narnia or something. ]

hahaha brilliant

[scoutsniper]

[He catches some light glinting off the scissors. She's not a threat--she's not close enough, but he tracks it.

Which is more than he makes of the name she throws at him. ]

...who?

[thesamurai]

I know. But I've been here for three years.

[ A damn long time.

She knows questions are coming and she's not completely sure what she's going to do, what she'll say. The truth so far as she can figure right now. She owes that to Beth. ]

No walkers. Usually. Way this place works is by taking our memories from us and making everyone else live through them somehow.

the gardens. // later in the afternoon or early evening???

[boonie]

[Apparently smoking a cigarette in front of other people in the hall is rude, or at least that's what the dirty looks told him. Whatever. Newt needed a walk anyway, so he evacuates the area without any argument. People are still too damn stupid, home, here, everywhere. That's a simple truth.

For now, Daryl's fine with Newt running ahead. They aren't hunting, he's got enough to last him a good while in case things get bad again. It's born out of necessity, trophy killing was never his thing.

Time hasn't changed Daryl too much, he knows he's not alone right away, but Newt finds Beth first with a bounding leap.]

that works :>

[innig]

[ habit turns what would've been a loud, startled yelp into something more of a muffled squeal as a very cold nose snaps beth out of her relaxed state. she giggles softly when she opens her eyes and sees the furry intruder. ]

Hey, puppy, hi. Hello there! [ she coos, reaching up to scritch newt's ears after she lets him smell her hand. ] Where's your owner, huh?

[ beth sits up and looks around. the second she spots daryl, a wide smile that's both happy and relieved breaks across her face. ] This yours?

[innig]

Three years?

[ 'a while' is an understatement, there. that's longer than beth's known michonne. heck, it's longer than it's been since the turn. and yet, that's not the most alarming thing michonne said. ]

What do you mean live through them?

:>

[innig]

Shane Walsh?

[ well, this is awkward. and beth really has no idea what to say about the confusion here other than-- ]

You look exactly like him.

[scoutsniper]

Never heard of him.

[Frank's done a lot of off-the-straight-and-narrow shit in his life, but one thing he's never done is use any name but his own. ]

Poor bastard he is, then. [Frank's no looker. His nose has been broken a few too many times, if nothing else.] You new here?

orchard

[stereotypicaljock]

[The stranger looks like she needs some cleaning up, first and foremost. She's got some visible damage during a time when there hasn't been an event for a while, which means that she's probably new. And probably spooked, from the looks of things.]

Away from wherever you were. If that's any consolation.

[thesamurai]

[ This probably isn't how she should be explaining things, but it's coming out anyway and it is what it is. No use sugar coating it. ]

While back, this entire mansion turned into the place we're at now. A gated neighborhood in Virginia. Everyone had a house. Three days later, horde of walkers landed right on top of us, gates fell down. It happened, back home, and then, I was the only one here from our group. People died. A lot of them. But two days later, was like it never happened. Mansion was back to the way it was. No more walkers.

[ She casts a glance at Beth, taking a breath and letting it out slowly. ]

People who died came back to life. But alive alive. That's another thing this place can do.

[boonie]

[Daryl wants to believe that's Beth, even wants to believe she could be so happy and not coming from certain death. Coming from Michonne, things don't end well, but the last time he saw Beth they were in the process of escaping the prison together.

He's already met someone that looks like he could be his damn clone and he wasn't on the wrong side of the mirror neither. Nothing was impossible here.]

Yeah. [One sharp whistle later and Newt's back at his heels, after having his fun.] Welcome to Wonderland.

[His reservations are clear, Daryl doesn't move an inch, keeps the four-foot gap of distance between them, cigarette still lit between two fingertips but now down at his side.]

gardens

[choosetruth]

[Georgia didn't used to be much of an outdoors person. She still went outside more than most people in her generation, which was to say, at all, but spending time in an unsecured location wasn't her idea of a good time unless it came with body armor and cameras.

Amazing what being penned up in an all white holding cell for weeks will change about you. She's been going out every day ever since she landed in Wonderland.

Today, she's taking a walk through the garden, muttering notes to herself into a recorder, when she catches a glimpse of someone lying on the ground. She raises an eyebrow behind her sunglasses and shuts off her recorder and pauses, close enough to be seen and heard, far enough to react if the woman proves to be a danger.

But it's probably fine. She doesn't even reach for the gun holstered on her hip.]

You know there are actual rooms inside if you want to take a nap.

[innig]

I guess.

[ beth still looks wary--still is wary--but there's not even a hint of georgia twang in frank's voice. that, more than anything, helps convince her that he's telling the truth. this really isn't shane. and she really is in the weirdest place in the universe. ]

I was in a hospital in Atlanta maybe fifteen minutes ago and now I'm... here.

[innig]

[ her brain catches on 'we' but before she can ask who all 'we' is, the last part of what michonne says knocks her breathless. ]

They come back for real? Not as walkers?

[ beth's a good christian girl. she believes that in the past there was actual resurrection of the dead every once in a while. that some people thought there was gonna be a real resurrection of the dead in the future and not... what they got. but this blows her mind. ]

That sounds too good to be true.

[innig]

[ daryl's standoffish at the best of times. beth knows that. she also knows that he hasn't objected in the past when she's taken some liberties. so even though he's very obviously holding himself apart, she still walks right up to him, inside his rather spacious personal bubble. ostensibly so she can pet the dog more but mostly because she's real happy to see him again.

real happy to know she was right not to believe dawn when she said beth was the only one around when she got taken. ]

When did you get a dog, Daryl? [ she reaches out to give newt another pat on the head when something occurs to her. ] This isn't the same one from the funeral home, is it?

[innig]

[ definitely spooked. so much so, in fact, that when she turns to see who spoke, she raises her tiny scissors like they're a weapon that could do damage. ]

What makes you think it'd be a consolation?

[innig]

[ beth pushes herself up on one arm, just enough to see whoever it is that's interrupting her alone time. ]

I wasn't really napping. Just... enjoying the day.

[ relishing in the ability to do such a thing. it's been a long while since she's felt like she's had that freedom. ]

And there's nothing wrong with sleepin' outside. It can be fun in the right circumstances.

[ like, say, sometime that's not the middle of a zombie apocalypse. ]

[stereotypicaljock]

[ when she tenses, he tries to soften, approaching her as one might visit a stray dog. ]

It just seems like you've been somewhere tough, that's all.

I'm Jason.

[ he debates the merits of offering to let her sniff his hand. ]

[thesamurai]

Not as walkers.

[ But everything comes with a price, and she lets out a breath. ]

You can die five times. Each time takes a day longer to come back. After the fifth time, this place takes somethin' from you. A part of what makes you, you. We've never figured out what that is, though.

[ But hey, Michonne's close. Not that it's a good goal to have. ]

[scoutsniper]

....what kind of hospital.

[Yeah, the guy who broke out of Riker's Island shouldn't judge anyone but...you don't just walk out of hospitals. Unless what's wrong with you ain't physical.]

And you're probably gonna wish you were back there after a while.

[Frank is not an optimistic guy.]