Ready. [The cashier wonders why these two are so excited about home improvement.
Mohammed steps outside the automatic sliding doors and looks around. The fog hasn't rolled in this area of the city just yet, and the cowboy is nowhere to be seen.]
To the left. [He whispers. They can run to Mohammed's house, and in return, he'll keep John safe for the rest of the night if things get too dangerous.]
[Likewise, that's his line of thought. He's eighteen and stupid and he's armed with a plank of wood. This is clearly fine. He'll take the left though and keep his eyes peeled.]
What are the chances he'll pop up again, you think?
Whenever the city feels it's most inconvenient. [Retrospec doesn't control the ghosts or anomalies or whatever name they give their excuse. Their safety depends on a mix of their own skill and damn good luck.]
We should stay on the major streets if we need to duck into another store, but keep an eye out for good side streets. [He stops in front of an intersection and holds up the spray bottle. With a shaky step, he walks into the light of the streetlamp above and crosses the street.]
I'm right behind you. [The plank is held over his shoulder like a baseball bat as he quickly follows across the street.] If we get you behind closed doors, he might leave you alone. I do not think he has much of an interest in me which sort of helps. [Makes it all the weirder, but still.]
The buildings are a safezone. This is the most dangerous game of tag I've ever played.
[Not a good joke, but he might die and all bets are off. He continues down the bright street that have few people, all that look at John curiously. Behind them, the fog slowly rolls in.]
[On the other hand any time John notices someone looking at them, he'll just wave cheerfully while on the run with a plank of wood.]
It's a good workout though don't you think? [May as well try to joke back.] Crossing into a safezone will work best and then we can come up with a new gameplan. Keep your eyes peeled for what's up ahead, I'll cover the rear.
Might be what they are hoping for if this is really caused by Retrospec. [He's good at being calm on the surface, Mohammed, don't let him fool you. The fog swirls in around them and he finds himself covered again.] I would say "don't worry about it" but that is easier said than done.
[And with the fog closing in, he can't help but look for the cowboy again.]
[The fog is so thick, everyone else on the street disappears. This turns out to be literal, considering that no one audibly reacts when that cowboy saunters towards them from the opposite end of the street.]
[And John's going to take a swing at the cowboy before splitting off to the right and heading off. Here's hoping Mohammed can outpace him or that the cowboy will be momentarily distracted.]
[Mohammed runs half a block before he realizes that someone isn't following him. He turns back, horrified that he just abandoned John like that.
The cowboy bends back, which will do nothing in terms of evading the attack but it does look cool as he fires a bullet at the plank of wood. No matter how wild it's moved around, the bullet somehow manages to hit with enough force to jerk around or even fall out of John's hands if he's not careful enough.
Mohammed shouts:] John! [Time to go back and drag his butt out of there.]
[The bullet hits the plank and John lets it get jerked out of his hands, but at the same time he's immediately summoning a replacement weapon. Mohammed calls for him and John turns, holding the hammer in-hand.]
[The cowboy's hate casts a shadow over his eyes, hiding what emotion he may have felt form seeing the new weapon materialize in John's hands. Hol Horse has only one solution for every problem.
Keeping shooting at him.
Mohammed summons Magician's Red and rushes in. He can't attack the cowboy from farther than five feet away. This is stupid. He might die.
[He doesn't reply, rather holds out the can and summoning a small fire a few inches from the nozzle. The cowboy notices this and in a panic, shoots at the canister. While it does crack open and spill gross black paint all over Mohammed's nice clothes, he's too late in stopping the fire from reaching his face and hat.]
[Mohammed has no weapon on him other than the knife, which is pulled out and held defensively in front of him. He can just run forward, stab the guy while he's on fire. It should be easy.
He's frozen to the spot, holding the knife out uselessly as the cowboy fires his gun in a random direction while patting down his shirt with his hat.]
Right! [Right, okay. He can do this. Other!him fought monsters with this stupid thing. What's one guy with a gun who can't even see? So while Mohammed holds the line of defense, John rushes forward and dodges another bullet, bringing the hammer up and swinging straight down on the guy's head. Hopefully that did it.]
[The bullet twists around and heads towards John, but with the hit to the head, it disappears into thin air. The cowboy falls to the floor, his head twists away and rests in a dark red stain on the ground.
[...that's a little startling and he stands still for a moment while he stares at the cowboy. Even as everything dissolves and the fog rolls away he continues to stare.]
...you okay? [Despite the fact he's not looking, that's to Mohammed.]
[The fog thickens around the two (and the possibly dead cowboy), turning everything more than a foot away from their faces white. Mohammed nods.]
Better than I was expecting. [He had hoped he could come out of this calm. He could have killed an actual man. He did in his old life, he's certain of it.]
What about you?
[The fog moves onto the next neighborhood, taking the cowboy with it.]
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Mohammed steps outside the automatic sliding doors and looks around. The fog hasn't rolled in this area of the city just yet, and the cowboy is nowhere to be seen.]
To the left. [He whispers. They can run to Mohammed's house, and in return, he'll keep John safe for the rest of the night if things get too dangerous.]
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What are the chances he'll pop up again, you think?
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We should stay on the major streets if we need to duck into another store, but keep an eye out for good side streets. [He stops in front of an intersection and holds up the spray bottle. With a shaky step, he walks into the light of the streetlamp above and crosses the street.]
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[Not a good joke, but he might die and all bets are off. He continues down the bright street that have few people, all that look at John curiously. Behind them, the fog slowly rolls in.]
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It's a good workout though don't you think? [May as well try to joke back.] Crossing into a safezone will work best and then we can come up with a new gameplan. Keep your eyes peeled for what's up ahead, I'll cover the rear.
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I already had a good workout when we shrank. This is doing more for my stress levels than my fitness.
[The fog catches up to them, lowering their visibility. The people farther down the street disappear from view.]
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[And with the fog closing in, he can't help but look for the cowboy again.]
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Howdy.
[Mohammed turns left and books for it.]
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The cowboy bends back, which will do nothing in terms of evading the attack but it does look cool as he fires a bullet at the plank of wood. No matter how wild it's moved around, the bullet somehow manages to hit with enough force to jerk around or even fall out of John's hands if he's not careful enough.
Mohammed shouts:] John! [Time to go back and drag his butt out of there.]
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We need to disarm him!
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Keeping shooting at him.
Mohammed summons Magician's Red and rushes in. He can't attack the cowboy from farther than five feet away. This is stupid. He might die.
He holds up the spray paint can.] To your right!
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And do what? He's still shooting!
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Holy shit. [He'll just step back and let the cowboy light on fire, eyes wide and hammer still in hand.] Nice aim.
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[Mohammed has no weapon on him other than the knife, which is pulled out and held defensively in front of him. He can just run forward, stab the guy while he's on fire. It should be easy.
He's frozen to the spot, holding the knife out uselessly as the cowboy fires his gun in a random direction while patting down his shirt with his hat.]
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The fog begins to move away.]
...We actually did it.
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...you okay? [Despite the fact he's not looking, that's to Mohammed.]
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Better than I was expecting. [He had hoped he could come out of this calm. He could have killed an actual man. He did in his old life, he's certain of it.]
What about you?
[The fog moves onto the next neighborhood, taking the cowboy with it.]
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I'm okay. We should probably get out of here though just in case.
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Are you alright with staying over at my house?
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