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May. 9th, 2008 02:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dolariMy first computer had no HDD. My second had a 256MB drive. As of right now, if you count all my usable drives, I have 1.2 TERRABYTES of drivespace.
O_O
Prologue
Anniversary, Shmanniversary.
All Jana knew was she was bored. Bored bored bored. What was it about grown ups that make certain dates so important that she had to get dressed up in uncomfortable shoes, sit quietly for an hour and be bored bored bored while they stared at each other over candlelight? She poked at her asparagus. Even the food was boring. There was so much for the eight year old to be doing right now than trying to figure out where asparagus came from. The back scales of some kind of reptile, she thought. Why couldn’t Becky baby-sit her today? They always had fun when she came over. Lots more fun than she could have had on that stupid date with her icky boyfriend.
She was looking up at the ceiling again, trying to make shapes in the stucco while waiting for the waitress to come around with dessert when her parents, for the first time since the main course, acknowledged her.
"I need go powder my nose, dear, do you need to go too before we head home?" Jana shook her head at her mother, anything to just get home sooner. Jana shifted in her seat, Momma never took too long in the bathroom and they’d be home pretty soon, as long as Dad didn’t get up as well.
Jana watched as Dad got out of the booth, and then, to her horror, never reached for his wallet. "I’m gonna go as well, kiddo. I’ll be right back." As he shuffled off, Jana sank down in her seat, and poked the asparagus again. She’d be here a while.
"You’ll get more good out of that asparagus if you eat it. Pushing it around your plate is cute, but unless its running a race, it’s not gonna win any awards, hun." Jana looked up into the friendly clear blue eyes of her waitress and smiled. At least she was paying attention. "Any room for dessert?"
Jana picked herself up. "Oh, yes. But I gotta wait for momma to say it’s okay."
The waitress beamed, "Well, think about what you’d really like and I’ll come back with the check. Just have your folks ask for Sylvia."
"Anything that I want?"
"Anything you’d like, hun."
"I’d like everyone on the planet to get their wish."
Sylvia, smirked. "That’s a tall order…I don’t think Earl in the back could cook that up."
The eight year old smirked. "Then everyone in the restaurant."
And with that, the world warped.
Chapter One
Jana first became aware she was laying face flat on the ground when she came to. If it wasn’t for the feeling of grass beneath her, it would have been that great feeling you have after a long sleep – the creak of freshly rested muscles, eyes firmly snuggled behind closed eyelids.
Jana raised herself to all fours and squinted her eyes open. Looking down at the ground all she could see was grass, framed by a mass of a mass of curly blonde hair. Her hair always did this until it was brushed in the morning. Momma would be mad if saw Jana outside like this.
And then it came to her…she wasn’t supposed to be outside. She was eating reptile scales of some sort with her parents in a diner. Jana stood up on long legs, straightening herself up, pushing the curls from her face, and looked around. She was standing in long ruined building, with hints that maybe it was a restaurant millions of years ago. Pieces of long faded tile and linoleum peeked through spaces in the dirt and grass, the ruined wainscoting were all that remained of burned and decaying walls. Outside, hints of asphalt were slowly being worn away by time.
Looking down past her chest at the asphalt also brought to her attention the fact that the world wasn’t the only thing that changed. Jana found a large shard of window somehow still in a window pane and looked at her reflection.
The face was obviously hers, but thinner, more mature. The tailored leather skins and beads covered up the frame of a shapely eighteen year old with a remarkably surprised look on her face, topped with a mass of curly blond spiral hair with the occasional tribal braid hanging off it.
Jana’s first thought was what a Halloween costume this would make. Her second was who those three people behind her in cloaks. Spinning around, she put her hand on a knife that sat sheathed on her belt by pure instinct. She knew it was there, and yet, didn’t know how she knew. A question for another time, these three could have answers to what had happened.
"You there!" The clear adult tone of her voice surprised her. "What’s happened here?"
The three men in cloaks were tromping down a large path that was probably Broadway Street, two carrying a litter with a dead doe hanging off of it. The third, a pathfinder, regarded her with amusement. "Alright, boys, we’ve still got a long way to go. Let’s set down for a break," said the pathfinder. As he approached Jana, she hunkered down to a crouch. Just in case. "Take your hand off the knife, girl. We’re on a deadline, and don’t have the time to subdue a slave today, not with this load. Besides, it’s not every day we get to feast our eyes on such savage beauty." The two others snickered at that. "Sit, you look like you could use it," he said pulling out a canteen and passing it around.
Jana cautiously sat, a few feet away. She couldn’t explain why she was worried about these people, just that she felt the threat it in her bones. "What happened here?"
"Vengeance wanted a feast for this evening, we were hunting out in the old Green Mountain area for game."
"Green Mountain?"
"Yeah, where old Loop 1604 and Nacogdoches Road used to cross. Quite a ways from here now without cars. If we weren’t so beat, you’d be coming with us in chains."
"Cars. What happened to all the cars?"
The pathfinder pulled back his cloak, revealing the face of a older man whose beard was grey with age. "There’ve never been cars here, young lady. There’s never been a 1604 or Nacogdoches Road. But we’ve all had the dreams about them. Millions of cars on highways, threading the cities together. Going cross country in hours instead of taking hours to see a neighbor. Dreams, child. Nothing but dreams with echoes here."
Jana’s curiosty allowed her to relax slightly. "There were cars. There was this restaurant, there were cars in the parking lot, on Broadway Street."
"You’ve had them too, girl. You’re lucky. We don’t all share the dream."
"It wasn’t a dream! It was real."
"Perhaps, but it’s not what matters now."
The pathfinder stood up, causing Jana to tense back into her crouch. "Vengeance doesn’t want a midnight snack, boys, the buffet’s waiting on us." The two men reached for the dead doe’s litter as they raised up the hoods on their black cloaks. "You be careful girl, these aren’t safe roads to travel alone. Not all of Vengeance’s friends are as tired as we are."
Guiding his way down the remnants of the road, she watched them recede into the the distance. She gave them what felt like an hour and left in the opposite direction.
Jana had been walking for hours up what was probably Broadway, but she’d never paid attention to the roads as a little girl. If she ever left the path, she’d never know how to get back. And even then, she only knew Broadway back to the shell of a burned out restaurant that wasn’t going to provide much in the way of shelter.
Jana flopped down on a rock. She hadn’t eaten in a while, and while the leatherskin boots kept the cold out, but weren’t very cushioned. And it was kinda chilly. And getting dark. The threatening feeling had left her as she made distance from the three men, vanishing the warrior Jana, and leaving just the eight year old Jana inside the eighteen year old body. With nothing, absolutely nothing, recognizable, the eight year old was wanting to cry badly.
"You’ll catch your death of cold out here in that outfit, hun." Jana spun around, jumping at the voice. "Why don’t you come inside. You look like you could use the rest." What Jana saw melted the eight year old’s heart: A woman, robed all in purple, a witches hat upon piled up red hair. But what brought on the broad smile were the friendly clear blue eyes of her waitress at the restaurant.
"Sylvia! That was your name! Sylvia!" She rushed up to crush the one thing she recognized in a great big bear hug, but slammed into what looked like a transparent gold wall. After stumbling a few steps back, Jana saw it fizzle away into nothingness.
"I said come in from the cold, not rush me with that knife on your belt. Now come inside. Leave the knife on the coffee table."
The old oak cabin wasn’t far from the road. Far enough to be invisible, close enough to be convenient. Inside lamps and glowing balls of some kind of gold magic dimly lit the one room house. Jana moved the candle on the table to one side to see her hostess, sitting directly across from her. "I know you."
Sylvia nodded. "I know you, too."
O_O
Prologue
Anniversary, Shmanniversary.
All Jana knew was she was bored. Bored bored bored. What was it about grown ups that make certain dates so important that she had to get dressed up in uncomfortable shoes, sit quietly for an hour and be bored bored bored while they stared at each other over candlelight? She poked at her asparagus. Even the food was boring. There was so much for the eight year old to be doing right now than trying to figure out where asparagus came from. The back scales of some kind of reptile, she thought. Why couldn’t Becky baby-sit her today? They always had fun when she came over. Lots more fun than she could have had on that stupid date with her icky boyfriend.
She was looking up at the ceiling again, trying to make shapes in the stucco while waiting for the waitress to come around with dessert when her parents, for the first time since the main course, acknowledged her.
"I need go powder my nose, dear, do you need to go too before we head home?" Jana shook her head at her mother, anything to just get home sooner. Jana shifted in her seat, Momma never took too long in the bathroom and they’d be home pretty soon, as long as Dad didn’t get up as well.
Jana watched as Dad got out of the booth, and then, to her horror, never reached for his wallet. "I’m gonna go as well, kiddo. I’ll be right back." As he shuffled off, Jana sank down in her seat, and poked the asparagus again. She’d be here a while.
"You’ll get more good out of that asparagus if you eat it. Pushing it around your plate is cute, but unless its running a race, it’s not gonna win any awards, hun." Jana looked up into the friendly clear blue eyes of her waitress and smiled. At least she was paying attention. "Any room for dessert?"
Jana picked herself up. "Oh, yes. But I gotta wait for momma to say it’s okay."
The waitress beamed, "Well, think about what you’d really like and I’ll come back with the check. Just have your folks ask for Sylvia."
"Anything that I want?"
"Anything you’d like, hun."
"I’d like everyone on the planet to get their wish."
Sylvia, smirked. "That’s a tall order…I don’t think Earl in the back could cook that up."
The eight year old smirked. "Then everyone in the restaurant."
And with that, the world warped.
Chapter One
Jana first became aware she was laying face flat on the ground when she came to. If it wasn’t for the feeling of grass beneath her, it would have been that great feeling you have after a long sleep – the creak of freshly rested muscles, eyes firmly snuggled behind closed eyelids.
Jana raised herself to all fours and squinted her eyes open. Looking down at the ground all she could see was grass, framed by a mass of a mass of curly blonde hair. Her hair always did this until it was brushed in the morning. Momma would be mad if saw Jana outside like this.
And then it came to her…she wasn’t supposed to be outside. She was eating reptile scales of some sort with her parents in a diner. Jana stood up on long legs, straightening herself up, pushing the curls from her face, and looked around. She was standing in long ruined building, with hints that maybe it was a restaurant millions of years ago. Pieces of long faded tile and linoleum peeked through spaces in the dirt and grass, the ruined wainscoting were all that remained of burned and decaying walls. Outside, hints of asphalt were slowly being worn away by time.
Looking down past her chest at the asphalt also brought to her attention the fact that the world wasn’t the only thing that changed. Jana found a large shard of window somehow still in a window pane and looked at her reflection.
The face was obviously hers, but thinner, more mature. The tailored leather skins and beads covered up the frame of a shapely eighteen year old with a remarkably surprised look on her face, topped with a mass of curly blond spiral hair with the occasional tribal braid hanging off it.
Jana’s first thought was what a Halloween costume this would make. Her second was who those three people behind her in cloaks. Spinning around, she put her hand on a knife that sat sheathed on her belt by pure instinct. She knew it was there, and yet, didn’t know how she knew. A question for another time, these three could have answers to what had happened.
"You there!" The clear adult tone of her voice surprised her. "What’s happened here?"
The three men in cloaks were tromping down a large path that was probably Broadway Street, two carrying a litter with a dead doe hanging off of it. The third, a pathfinder, regarded her with amusement. "Alright, boys, we’ve still got a long way to go. Let’s set down for a break," said the pathfinder. As he approached Jana, she hunkered down to a crouch. Just in case. "Take your hand off the knife, girl. We’re on a deadline, and don’t have the time to subdue a slave today, not with this load. Besides, it’s not every day we get to feast our eyes on such savage beauty." The two others snickered at that. "Sit, you look like you could use it," he said pulling out a canteen and passing it around.
Jana cautiously sat, a few feet away. She couldn’t explain why she was worried about these people, just that she felt the threat it in her bones. "What happened here?"
"Vengeance wanted a feast for this evening, we were hunting out in the old Green Mountain area for game."
"Green Mountain?"
"Yeah, where old Loop 1604 and Nacogdoches Road used to cross. Quite a ways from here now without cars. If we weren’t so beat, you’d be coming with us in chains."
"Cars. What happened to all the cars?"
The pathfinder pulled back his cloak, revealing the face of a older man whose beard was grey with age. "There’ve never been cars here, young lady. There’s never been a 1604 or Nacogdoches Road. But we’ve all had the dreams about them. Millions of cars on highways, threading the cities together. Going cross country in hours instead of taking hours to see a neighbor. Dreams, child. Nothing but dreams with echoes here."
Jana’s curiosty allowed her to relax slightly. "There were cars. There was this restaurant, there were cars in the parking lot, on Broadway Street."
"You’ve had them too, girl. You’re lucky. We don’t all share the dream."
"It wasn’t a dream! It was real."
"Perhaps, but it’s not what matters now."
The pathfinder stood up, causing Jana to tense back into her crouch. "Vengeance doesn’t want a midnight snack, boys, the buffet’s waiting on us." The two men reached for the dead doe’s litter as they raised up the hoods on their black cloaks. "You be careful girl, these aren’t safe roads to travel alone. Not all of Vengeance’s friends are as tired as we are."
Guiding his way down the remnants of the road, she watched them recede into the the distance. She gave them what felt like an hour and left in the opposite direction.
Jana had been walking for hours up what was probably Broadway, but she’d never paid attention to the roads as a little girl. If she ever left the path, she’d never know how to get back. And even then, she only knew Broadway back to the shell of a burned out restaurant that wasn’t going to provide much in the way of shelter.
Jana flopped down on a rock. She hadn’t eaten in a while, and while the leatherskin boots kept the cold out, but weren’t very cushioned. And it was kinda chilly. And getting dark. The threatening feeling had left her as she made distance from the three men, vanishing the warrior Jana, and leaving just the eight year old Jana inside the eighteen year old body. With nothing, absolutely nothing, recognizable, the eight year old was wanting to cry badly.
"You’ll catch your death of cold out here in that outfit, hun." Jana spun around, jumping at the voice. "Why don’t you come inside. You look like you could use the rest." What Jana saw melted the eight year old’s heart: A woman, robed all in purple, a witches hat upon piled up red hair. But what brought on the broad smile were the friendly clear blue eyes of her waitress at the restaurant.
"Sylvia! That was your name! Sylvia!" She rushed up to crush the one thing she recognized in a great big bear hug, but slammed into what looked like a transparent gold wall. After stumbling a few steps back, Jana saw it fizzle away into nothingness.
"I said come in from the cold, not rush me with that knife on your belt. Now come inside. Leave the knife on the coffee table."
The old oak cabin wasn’t far from the road. Far enough to be invisible, close enough to be convenient. Inside lamps and glowing balls of some kind of gold magic dimly lit the one room house. Jana moved the candle on the table to one side to see her hostess, sitting directly across from her. "I know you."
Sylvia nodded. "I know you, too."
