fullofmercy | Between the wasteland and the sky

It's truly strange, wheeling the Angelina II out of the garage and under the double suns of Gunsmoke, making him squint even behind his dark glasses. Human beings aren't meant to travel that way, he's totally, one hundred percent positive of that. Motorbikes, spaceships--hell, even Thomases are preferable. He likes to see where he's going, he likes to know how he's getting there. Magic doors and multiversal travel are more than he's really comfortable with.

Yeah. But maybe just a little of the disorientation has to do with the place he's reappearing; a little wishful thinking to get him through the sinking feeling in his stomach. Hey, honey, he thinks, gloomy. I'm home.

It's early; one sun has managed to clear the horizon but the other is still only a wavering, fiery line bleeding reddish gold streaks across the infinite waves of dune after dune. A few houses, weathered clapboard, stand between him and the open desert. The morning breeze ruffling the few faded, flowered curtains already has a hint of the coming heat, a little vibrant edge to it, promises of the spike that comes once the second sun rises and burns over the planet for another day. Not a single cloud mars the unbroken smoothness of the sky.

Behind him, around him, the little town is just beginning to wake up. Vendors are opening their shop doors, mothers are coming out of their houses to hang rugs and wash on the porch rails or clothesline, men are greeting each other with silent nods on their way to whatever job they've managed to hold onto. Every one of them is gray and colorless, clothing faded with many washings and hours upon hours of harsh sunlight. Even their faces seem gray and lined. Still, they smile, they shake hands. Even here, where the sand is already beginning to creep up onto their doorsteps, people continue to believe that everything will turn out all right. They have to--how else could they get themselves up in the mornings?

He finds it insulting. He finds it inspiring. It's the most unbelievable thing he's ever seen--the ability of humans to continue daily life under the constant threat of complete extinction.

He half-turns to his right, one hand in his pocket, fingers of the other already searching in his breast pocket for his pack of smokes, teasing one battered cigarette out, and casts his glance over Michael.

"Well," he says, and sticks the unlit cigarette between his lips. "Home sweet home."

Threaded | Flat

When Michael steps back into the bar from Miami - he says his good-bye to William and then heads for the garage. It'll be a quick trip as far as anyone waiting for him is concerned, with plenty of room for them to get back and catch a bite before heading back to the Wasteland - which Michael even mentally calls 'Ellen's Wasteland' after stepping through the door to the gray-brown desert of Wolfwood's world.

It reminds him of a lot of the places he's seen; war torn villages in Iraq and Afghanistan where the fighting hasn't stopped in decades and the people continue on their merry way - places where a car bomb could kill a dozen people outside a mosque and the next day they'd be talking about an impending wedding as the women stirred pots and the men waited for military to roll through town again. The thought brings a bitter, coppery taste to the back of his throat.

For all his rage about what had happened back home and the all-too-familiar sensation of a place that by all logic should have rolled over and died by now, he could be himself twenty years ago.

After checking the gun tucked into the back of his jeans, Michael nods and quietly replies; "Fun."

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