Downpour

That classy imperial with her signature scarf and familiar, verbal irony and dry humor is her forte. Now with a cat of her own!

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n/a

D o w n p o u r

A remnant of an era of urban decay, she was.

Why, is there anything to covet in a wasteland anyway?

In a shabby, desolate town on the outskirts of a tempest spire metropolis, in the middle of nowhere, Downpour found herself there. Disconsolate, but just fine. Barely alive, but still breathing.

More importantly, how many times had it been now? 1048th? 3549th? 8237th?

Does losing count even matter anymore? How many attempts it had been? She's been stuck in this goddamn loop for so long her sanity had been mauled by the seams, until she was nothing but an empty vessel of who she used to be, wrecked by circumstances; repeating nightmares forced to relive again and again and again. Where one day everyone just disappeared and the town was forever shrouded in a hint of mechanical decay. Where leaving this town was impossible and death is just a painful method to fell asleep, and tomorrow never comes - a classical exhibit of time loop exclusive to her and her alone.

But it's fine. Just keep calm. It's the only thing she could do, after all.

Like the dying sun light of dusk, glimpses of an escape is fleeting, momentary. Almost nonexistent usually, especially blinding when it could be in her reach, before disappearing entirely.

And like usual, escape unknown, destination unknown, trapped and forcibly respawn regardless of circumstances, she just wanted to get it over with.

Downpour was downing the second bottle of an abandoned lubricant oil when it was battled from her claws. Confusion clouded her dazed gaze but there was no mistaking it - it was a glimmering brown Skydancer with an devastatingly, vulnerably, taken aback expression.

How ? -

"What are you doing!" His feathers were all bristled, panic gradually filled his expression as he gained his bearing from the shock. "That was lubricant oil! It's going to kill you!"

Silence was all Downpour could muster. Rush of emotions inundated what was left of her soul and heart from years, no, centuries of this confinement. A phenomenon beyond her understanding, out of nowhere suddenly paused this brooding in decline town into a perpetual pause. Not a soul was left, not a blade of weed ever moved in this everlasting time loop, and yet this Skydancer was here, breathing, alive, in front of her.

Her throat felt heavy with emotion, in a way that had been so long since she had last experienced it. "How did you get here?"

He even had the audacity to blush as if this was just any normal trespassing. "I-I'm sorry, I was just passing by and got lost. I hope to get directions but the whole town was...empty. Then I saw you drinking oil - don't do it that's really toxic to your body!" His eyes shown genuine concern despite his meek temperament, and Downpour felt like crying all over again.

"I..." She did not know what to say. What could she say to this lost skydancer? That she was caught in a curse? A paradox? A time loop? Who would ever believe such blatant crap? "How did you enter this town?"

"Huh?"

"How did you come in? Take me there with you and maybe I can give you directions." She quickly offered, hope creeping into her voice more and more. If only she could find an opening, if this damned time loop would allow someone to take her place, she'll be free. She'll be free to leave, free to live her life, free to die. The world that had been without her for so long, she yearned to see with her own two eyes whether it was even the truth anymore.

Clueless to her scheming, the skydancer cheerily agreed. "Sure, thank you so much!"

...