Completed On the Road Again

[Adriana Sparrow]

Fall 3, 518 AV
Flashback

She had seen someone walking around their house last night. A figure passed by the ruined house that hid her and her brother, his shadow passing through the gaps in rotting wood slabs that acted as a wall. The Rotten Ruins were mostly vacant, full of old houses that had fallen to the wind, rain and fires of those looking to ravage. Each house had been thoroughly searched through the years, stripped of anything valuable or useful for survival, all except the minor cover each disaster provided. There were many squatters in the Rotten Ruins, just liker herself. She always assumed, to be safe, that the others were out to harm her. They had to stay hidden to stay safe.

The prowler did not seem to notice the two children tucked away. Adriana had held her breath as the man passed, her brother in her lap, his eyes wide as she clamped a dirty hand over his cracked lips. This was no way for a boy to live, in fear of the world around them. Unfortunately, it was the only world they knew.

The man wandered away, stumbling into the darkness. It was entirely possible he was a drunk making his way home to whichever hole he called home. But Adriana could not be too careful. She would let her brother sleep through the rest of the night, while she stayed wide awake, and she would look for a new home in the morning. Something more secure than what they had now. This would the their last night in this home, the first they had claimed after their mother's, she swore to herself and to the pile of sleeping brother next to her.

The hard part was not moving. The children had no things they would have to pack away. They were homeless, and this house was simply shelter for a short while. But in Adriana's opinion it had been compromised. Even if the man had not noticed their being there, he represented the chance that others would come too close, and one day, see them and take them away. She could not let that happen. Her brother would not survive without her.

The night was long, she had stayed awake full night before, it was not new to her, but it was always exhausting, being alone with her thoughts, fighting the sleep that raged to take her. Eventually, though, as with everything, the sun began to rise. Bae was still soundly asleep, a quiet sleeper she often thanked him for. He would wake soon and she would have to leave him to go scout the Ruins for a new home, something more secure, more secluded.

Staying within the Rotten Ruins area of the city was the only choice. Any other area was far too dangerous, or far too populated, or both. Plus this specific area was within the river confines of the places where Sparrow liked to go to find or steal food. Crossing the rivers than ran through the city were difficult and risky, or they costed coin that she didn't have. It was annoying, to be trapped like this, but it was the only way, for now.

Code credit to Antipodes for original base code.

[Adriana Sparrow]

Bae had woken up, as a sunbeam shone through the breaks in the house and onto the sleeping child's face. He blinked a moment as Adriana watched him. She stood, then, seeing him wake. "I have to go, this house isn't safe anymore. I'm gonna find us another." She bent, moved his growing hair out of his face and gave him a peck on the forehead. Bae looked up at his older sister with naturally wide eyes. He did not seem afraid, instead he smiled at her and reached up for a hug.

Bae was only five, still a toddler, not quite yet even a child. She smiled weakly at him and picked him up off the dirty rags they called a bed. She cradled him in her arms for a moment, before placing him back down. She pulled a bit of old bread from inside her pack, along with her waterskin full of river water and handed it to him. "Breakfast. Ok? I'll be back soon."

She left the old house then, carefully surveying the surrounding area in case there was anyone nearby. Seeing the absence of life near the old house, she stepped out and began her aimless wandering of the Rotten Ruins. She honestly was not sure how she was going to find someplace safer than where they were now. She could easily find another old ruin in a fallen house, and they could move there. But she wanted someplace hard to find, hard to get to, so not just anyone could wander right on in, or so that other squatters wouldn't want to fight her for.

She walked through the streets of the neighborhood. Everything was broken down or overgrown. There was no house that was in full standing, even the mansion that existed in the back of the district and towered over the entire area, was rotting and slowly breaking itself down.

She thought for a moment about the mansion. There were plenty of rooms there. They could go up a few floors - but she interrupted her own thinking, shaking her head. Assuming the two of them would survive the hike up the broken stairways of the mansion, she was sure there was already a fair share of homeless that had chosen the home. She did not need any competition.

So she continued through the streets. She saw a few other people along her way, but she stayed out of their way. The homeless here knew that she had just as much as they did, nothing. She was not worth the energy to attempt to rob. From the distance, at least, she looked enough like a boy that it would serve no purpose to assault her either. She did not care if others saw her now. She only cared about keeping her sleeping place a secret. But she still took care not to get too close to anyone.

It took her days to find the home they resided in currently. She wanted to find a new one as soon as possible. But she had little hope in finding it today, especially with her somewhat raised standards. It was potentially dangerous too. One reason she went during the day, if she saw a house she liked, there was less chance of the squatter that lived there being home. Most don't appreciate being stumbled upon.

And so she walked the streets, peering into homes that seemed absent. She trailed off the side streets and deeper into the Rotten Ruins, hoping to find something less on the radar. It was unfortunate all the homes here were made of wood. Though, any stone homes if they existed would be heavily protected by those who would have claimed them.

There was always someone who got there first. And that was the real challenge.

Code credit to Antipodes for original base code.

[Adriana Sparrow]

Off the beaten path of the neighborhood, many of the houses were simply too crumbled to call a home. Most no longer had roofs, as they had slipped off with poor upkeep, or tree damage, which she saw a couple of times with a few small trees fallen into a building. She often wondered what had happened to this place. Were the residents killed in gang wars? Or were they forced out due to poverty? Why was the neighborhood not replaced with residents? Probably because no one wanted to live in Sunberth if they weren't already here. That made the most sense.

She walked, her hands trailing the spikes of wood her fingers could reach, feeling the roughness of description. Occasionally she would spot a place that seemed roomy and hidden enough to perhaps live for a while. Here she would quietly sneak on in to assess the current situation of the location.

There were many things that could cancel a location out of her consideration. the most common was that the area ended up being not livable, simply. Too much destruction of the former house from the inside, debris she would not be able to move and clear on her own, such things like this. While other situations, such as the evidence of an already existing squatter, would send her quickly moving on.

The homeless did not really leave things behind. The possessions they had were all they had, and most had to do with some level of survival. So seeing a small pile of rags, most would see trash. However Sparrow saw a bed, a blanket, a pillow. She would not leave a sleeping spot behind if she moved. She would take the warmth and comfort with her, it was all she had.

And she did not want to be caught in another squatters territory. No one took very kindly to that. So any evidence she saw of inhabitance, she hurriedly rushed out of the abode and back onto the streets.

It had been a few bells at least, the sun had risen and it was most certainly well into the morning of the day. Her stomach growled. She had not eaten yet today. But this was normal. Any food she had leftover from the day before went straight to Bae for his breakfast. He was so young, he needed ever bit of food he could get, he needed to grow. Adriana, most often, did not eat until the afternoon or early evening when she had finished scavenging around the city. and after her brother had eaten for a second time.

She got a bit lost in thought about food as she walked. She really should have been paying attention, but food was such a strong distraction, she almost couldn't help it. And so it was the distraction that caused her to misstep. She tripped up a little, probably on an uneven stone in the cobblestone path that her next step was misplaced, slamming into the ground near the corner of a dilapidated wooden house. She pushed her hands up against the half wall of the home, bracing, so she would not fall down completely. Yet before she had a chance to steady herself, she heard a loud and large crumbling, and the ground beneath her shook, and swallowed her one foot.

She yelped in shock and slight pain. Rocks had engulfed her foot and around her ankle. Everything happened very quickly, and the wall she was braced upon shifted and was no longer level, a few boards, as well, fell with the movement. She barely had time to register the slight pain in her ankle when the crumbling stopped. She looked around and found the house had changed significantly, at least this small corner of it. Most of it had fallen and crumbled as the ground did, and there seemed to be a slanting of the ground that was previously even.

Code credit to Antipodes for original base code.

[Adriana Sparrow]

As her shock dissipated, Adriana tried pulling her foot from the hole that had swallowed it. With a pull, she realized she was a bit stuck. Sighing, she fell backwards on her butt, sitting now to try and dig or pull her foot free. It did not feel like she had hurt herself too bad, in fact she could move the tip of her foot in what felt like empty space underneath the rubble. She picked a few of the bigger pieces of wood and dirt away from her ankle and pulled her leg with the help of her hands, a bit hard than she could have while standing. She felt it come a bit loose, a bit of crumbling, as she pulled initially. A couple more pulls and her foot wrenched itself free.

With the movement and displacement of her foot, crumbling started again and the dirt and rubble that had engulfed her foot fell downwards, and continued to, as it took most of the dirt around it as well. She scrambled back a ways and watched the ground move, it looked like the earth was swallowing this tiny bit of ground right in front of her.

It took a few moments for the crumbling to stop. But when it did Adriana looked in awe to see a significantly sized hole in the ground. It wasn't just an indent, as if someone had dug a bit in the dirt with a shovel. Rather it was a full hole, blackness emanating from it, an empty space below the ground. She sat, still on the ground, in shock.

Her foot hurt a little, but it did not seem to severe. She rolled it a few times. It would be sore for a moment, but she wouldn't limp. That was good, she might need to run on it at any moment. For now, though, she was more interested in the hole that had opened up before her.

She turned her body, she was still on the ground, but this time on her hands and knees, peering into the black. There was no light coming from it. It seemed to be solid then, no other opening to the surface. She cleared away a few larger rocks and some broken wood that was around the entrance. It crumbled some more as she did and the opening got larger. This time large enough for her to to fit, she thought.

It would be stupid... she knew. But for some reason she was so curious. Was it possible this hole was some sort of secret place for however used to live in this house? She couldn't see why the hole would be a hole, rather than completely filled in. Maybe it opened up into the mineshafts that crisscrossed below the city. she had always wanted to go in there... see what there was to see. Maybe this was her way in.

Without thinking about the possible dangers of her being buried alive, she began creeping into the blackness. She could easily fit through, and he hands scraped at the cold dirt and rock floor as she inched forward. Some dirt shifted with her arrival, but it generally seemed to be done collapsing.

Before she knew it she was in. She felt the cool dankness of the underground, but could not see too much. The light from the entrance shown inside, but it took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the dim light.

Code credit to Antipodes for original base code.

[Adriana Sparrow]

As her eyes adjusted she noticed that the space she entered was a small narrow opening. Crouching and crawling through she was just short enough to be able to fit between the first ground and the ceiling of the hole. The entryway sloped slightly downward, and went on a few feet, perhaps a full body length, if Adriana was fully laid out. But as more light reached her eyes she noticed the ground suddenly slip downwards. While the ceiling stayed generally at the same level it was not, the floor extended and sloped more viciously downward, into the cold below.

She continued, however stupidly, into the darkness. The ground in this new patch of hole, was colder, and less soft. It must have been a hole in the ground that existed before this opening announced it. The dirt here was packed from age. It grew darker as she moved in, but she could tell the place got larger. She did not feel as cramped a she was in the entry way, and she slowly stretched out, testing the full height of the ceiling. Surprisingly she managed to almost completely stand straight up She was still bent at the knees just a tad, or slumped at the neck and shoulders. It wouldn't be comfortable, for long periods of time, but she knew Bae would be able to fully stand and still have room above his head. She then put her hand out, while still standing, trying to find the wall of the little dirt cave. On her way, her toes hit a mall boulder, and she winced, pausing for a moment. Once her palm hit the cool slab of dirt, she walked around, her hand still on the wall, attempting to gauge how wide it was. As she walked she felt a few more stones, or objects, she couldn't quite see, under and around her feet. It was not a completely smooth place. She wondered how it was formed, underneath this house.

During her walk she determined the hole was rather large, nothing crazy, but she figured it was at least three body lengths wide, if not a bit more. It was about two to three body lengths long, she figured as well. Her measurements, of course, could be wrong, as she still couldn't see much, and they could have gotten confused along the way. But for right now, Adriana was excited. If this hole lived up to her thoughts, this could be a new home for them.

Note :

Hole would be roughly 20x20 per starting package.

Code credit to Antipodes for original base code.

[Adriana Sparrow]

It was dark though. Much too dark for her to see any detail. She could measure and feel with her hands, but sight was the one sense that was near completely absent. She would need to get some light down here.

As for smell... it was certainly musky. A bit of dampness, but not much. It smelled cold, the temperature biting at the insides of her nostrils. She wondered if it would be too cold to live safely. Although it was Fall, and so the weather was cooling down. Even now, though, the temperature wasn't uncomfortable. The fresh gust of air that must have traveled inside at the creation of the entryway helped the smell as well. She wondered if the entryway would continue to filter the air, or if it would go stagnant as she assumed it was before.

She did not think the hole itself had been formed just now. The amount of sound and ground shifting did not seem accurate to this size of a hole. She, instead, assumed the entryway to the surface was formed and connected this hole to the air and sun. Other than that it simply smelled like dirt.

There was almost no sound either. Not that she expected any, but it was a bit reassuring. Without any light she couldn't be sure there were any opening or extensions of the hole she wasn't currently aware of. This, of course, could pose a problem, from collapsing tunnels or vermin, which is always potentially dangerous.

For now, that was the only information she could gather from the place. The next step would be to remember the location, come back in a day or so, whenever she next had the chance, and come with light to further scout the place. There was a lot to do, if this place had the potential to be a home. But that would have to wait until at least the tomorrow.

Code credit to Antipodes for original base code.

[Adriana Sparrow]

Fall 4, 518 AV

The next day Adriana returned to the hole. She stood above ground, looking at the entrance, a lamp in her hand and matches in her pocket. The entrance was noticeable. Well, it didn't look like much, just like a hole in the ground. But it was rather large and generally noticeable, despite its nearness to the home above. She would have to conceal the entryway somehow.

For now she needed to head back inside, see if the place actually had the chance to become a temporary home. Crawling inside it was a little harder, trying to handle the lamp, but once she placed the entire thing in her satchel, it was much easier dragging it behind her.

Once she was in the actual hole again she stayed by the light of the sun creeping in in order to light her oil lamp. he quickly struck a match and dipped it to the oil, closing the lid. Light instantly illuminated the area and Adriana was slightly shocked to see there there was a bit more than just dirt.

She saw a bunch of rocks, from tiny pebbles to larger head sized chunks, scattered on the floor. She remembered bumping in to these with her feet when she was here yesterday.

The walls as well contained some stone, but it was all misplaced and some jutted out while others were just barely escaped from being consumed by the dirt walls. However the most shocking thing she saw, though, was the wooden planks that were embedded in the walls and ceiling. Above her a solid half of the roof was wood. It was cracked and dirt filled those gaps, but it was mostly wood. It looked old and scarred. For a moment she thought maybe it belonged to the home up above, but as she looked at the rest of the wood scattered about she realized something completely different.

There were a couple of what seemed to be horizontal wooden posts in the walls. about ten feet apart, roughly. They were connected to each other by the wood in the ceiling, and the posts themselves were probably less than a foot wide themselves. After a moment she realized they looked like the entrance to the mine shafts, something she had only seen a couple of times. It was not long after this idea that she understood this hole was probably a collapsed part of a mine shaft, one of the ones that crisscrossed under the entire city of Sunberth. Somehow she stumbled into this.

She had decided earlier that this main, large, hole was created before the entryway to the surface was and that she somehow managed to collapse the bit of ground left between this hole and the surface ground. She was lucky she was the one to make it, or else someone would be living here already.

Code credit to Antipodes for original base code.

[Adriana Sparrow]

The small light of the lantern adequately lit up the entire area. She wondered if one could see the light from outside. This could possibly give the location up, so she slithered outside once more to take a look. Once she was standing above the hole again she noticed that the light did not really pierce through, the hole, however, was noticeable. And while most would probably not think anything of a random hole in the ground, there was bound to be someone curious enough, just like she was, to try and get in.

She looked around her. She needed something to cover the entrance so that others who might pass it would not give it a second glance. There were a few stone littering the area, broken off homes and hearths, she assumed. there was a multitude of broken pieces of wood, many that came from the very house situated above the hole that broke partially apart when it collapsed yesterday. Maybe something from there would work.

She pulled a rather flat piece of wood from a few feet away and dragged it over the hole. It was a slight bit smaller than the circumference of the entrance, but once she centered it it looked rather okay. The hole was peeking out a bit on the edges and where the wood was splintered, but overall it covered the hole well enough. This way it just looked like a bit of useless debris, while still allowing just a tiny bit of airflow into the underground abode. She stepped on the wood piece then, testing its strength if someone where to trod over it, it moved a bit, leveling with her foot, but that was normal, it did not crack or break, which was most important.

She had to be sure to open the hole up to the world at least once a day, so the air inside would not get too strangling. Otherwise she thought this might actually work for a home, at least for now.

Code credit to Antipodes for original base code.

[Adriana Sparrow]

She headed back inside then, and tested out maneuvering the piece of wood over the hole while underneath it. Since the wood was smaller than the actual size of the hole, she managed the move it completely. Some light pierced through, but as she had just demonstrated above ground, it did not give away the position.

Now all that was left was the inside. She looked at the space, and it was small but that didn't matter. The pair did not own a lot of stuff, barely any stuff actually, and so as long as they both could fit relatively comfortably, Adriana was happy with it. This was certainly a strange home, different than most people she guessed. But she thought it was safer. The Ruins might be uncontrolled by the gangs now, but it was never a guarantee to stay that way. They would have to be hidden.

She could see, in the space, where Bae and her would sleep. She would gather up their stripped cloths and burlaps that made up their beds and pile them nearby each other. Bae often had nightmares and in general preferred to sleep close by if not directly with Adriana, she didn't mind either. The beds were the only thing that needed to be placed, and she could quickly and easily move them from their current home to this new one.

There was not much work to be done in terms of clearing out the hole. Obviously the rocks littering the ground would have to go, but other than that she could do nothing with the walls, and perhaps she could move some dirt around to more even out the floor, pat it down so its more solid as well? That would probably do a little good.

She started by gathering the rocks at the entryway. She would have to carry them, one by one, up to the entrance since she needed to crawl her way out, so it would take some time. Firstly she simply put them in a pile near the 'door'. Most of the rocks were small, palm sized. There where numerous little pebbles, but she did not see a need to move them around right now. If they got in the way later she could just sweep them aside. A couple rocks where larger, but nothing was too much for her to handle.

Once she had gathered them she began the arduous task of carrying them, mostly one by one, up the entryway and, after pushing aside the wooden plank, tossed them out and away from the hole.

The task did not take horribly long, and soon enough the place looked rather okay, for a hole in the ground at least. She thought it was susceptible for her to now go back home and start the task of moving her brother here. It was still daytime and while she did not like it when people saw Bae, the place wasn't too far and she would be able to make it with little exposure.

Code credit to Antipodes for original base code.