If there was one thing to be said about the pair that Nancy and Sophia had replaced, it was that even if they weren't big talkers, they were at least willing to help and didn't have their noses pointed skyward like the one playing with cards on the desert floor. Mali didn't know what her deal was, and frankly she didn't care. From the way Nancy acted it seemed like the feeling was mutual. Sophia seemed more willing to help, but bumbling and not all that helpful. Curiously, from the way she spoke, it seemed like the apocalypse happened in the past too, and not just an hour or two ago. Mali decided not to think about it too hard, lest she get a headache.

As much as she'd prefer to ignore and forget Nancy, Mali couldn't help but notice her cards wigging out and moving as if they had a mind of their own. The only one acting as a card should doing nothing was Justice in the center. Well if that wasn't ironically fitting, she didn't know what was. For a second Mali considered that maybe Nancy was actually from some alternate world that was like theirs but with magic (which would explain a lot), but from the girl's reactions, she didn't expect this shit to happen either. Mali chalked up the moving cards to more afterlife fuckery and moved on with her life.

"Yeah, Kyra and Caesar being gone doesn't actually change that we need to speak to this Prosperine. So there's no real reason to stick around here. I don't think sitting around waiting for the two of them to magically flip back is going to get us anything either. If anything, knowing Gonzalez, he'll probably be beelining to the Groves with or without us." Mali turned towards Sophia and addressed her next. "Hey, we're going to the Cthonic Groves which are a few days that way. You can come if you want. If you'd rather sit around in the desert playing with cards, I'm not going to stop you."

---

---

---

---

---

Upon second thought, it was rather silly of Gio to assume that everyone he'd meet in the afterlife would be a remnant of collapsed time as opposed to simply being deceased. In the future he would not make this same mistake again. Interestingly enough, apparently the dire wolf Ash had met with someone associated with him before. Young Bartholomew thought that it might have been someone he'd known, likely Evelina or Nancy, but it didn't slip The Watch's mind that he could have had a run in with any number of Paradoxes throughout the many years he'd been sending them through time.

Speaking of Bart, he was rather vexed at this entire circumstance, and while Gio couldn't blame him for his anger, such emotions were useless when there was nothing for him to do in the situation, let alone a way to productively channel those negative feelings.

"Deep breaths, Bartholomew."

As embarrassing as his blunder with Kyra had been, his assumption had held true with both of the men. What's more, his hypothesis had been proven correct. The Destruere had become visible to the naked eye with the haze that came forth due to the temporal collapse. What's more, apparently everyone here had some sort of passing familiarity with the Destruere now, with the man called Constantin apparently having engaged in battle and living. These were relatively minor comforts, but when flailing in the storm of chaos, if one found a piece of driftwood they latched onto it as tightly as one could.

"Ah yes, those shadows you saw were the Destruere. They've been menaces wreaking havoc throughout all of history, although until very recently they were always invisible to all but one. Young Bartholomew and I are part of a group that has been fighting them for quite a long time. Mr. Mahendra, you were in Cairo yes? I believe one of your compatriots may have been our comrade Nancy. The good news is that the two of you aren't dead, the bad news is that timelines you came from are, at least for now." Hopefully. He didn't know if those times were truly gone or not, and truth be told, he was scared to try using any facets of his ability The Watch right now. Maybe when he was in a more stable position, but he had the feeling that even giving it a try would spell bad news he would rather avoid knowing.

When Kyra suddenly perked up and named a location, Gio'd brow furrowed. It appeared that she knew the lay of the land in this world. But with the shifting of landscapes and space, he wasn't sure how that was possible. Perhaps this place was not as confusing as it first seemed. Regardless, it didn't hurt to try "spreading his feelers" so to speak before continuing the way they were headed before all this nonsense occurred.

---

---

---

---

---

---

Though his interests and cares leaned away from the goals of the people present, Caesar had to admit that he had just received the best deal he was likely going to get from the guy in the stupid hat. He stared into the man's eyes and gave him a wordless nod. So long as they were in the same group, sure. If his scenery suddenly changed again, there was no point in either of them helping each other unless he came along for the ride. But for now, so long as they were together, an agreement could be reached. The one man in the vintage clothing made his cursory search of their surroundings in a manner that reminded him of a fellow investigator, giving Caesar a sort of a buffer; if one man was already trying to harvest clues in a place that he had little interest in anyway then he didn't have to, nor give up anything about himself other than what he wanted to let slip. Great. Less for him to do, more mental allotment to focus on the task at hand. Caesar had a name and a place, even if he had no idea how to get there from his present location.

Then the woman started to speak. She seemed to like to talk. Not as much as the tall Circus guy, but enough. Both of them talked about creatures of shadows and sulphur, like it was a common thread between vastly different groups. Not much of a joiner except under certain circumstances, the older Mexican weighed in, "We took out one, too. Creature you were talking about. I shot it with this. Twelve gauge. Solid slug. It just knocked it back. M'hija got it with an improvised explosive." He looked around at the people in his immediate vicinity. The secondmost talkative one seemed to know something, even if it was a story or something from a history book. The Russian claimed that he engaged one in combat and one of his own was able to destroy it by other means. There was another investigator. Caesar himself was a walking arsenal with decades of experience with violence. And they all had a language in common. The smart call, he figured, was to stay together - so long as everyone was on task and didn't put him at risk. Unless this place has a map or supplies, I have no use for it. Chthonic Groves. Proserpine. If no one knows where, higher ground is priority." Caesar looked down at his boot. He was glad to have them, standing in this water, and glad that he kept them in decent condition. Without another word, Caesar hefted his shotgun to the ready and flipped his machete to an underhanded grip, then began to stride cautiously toward the exterior door. This place might have been a church at one time, but right now it felt like a tomb.

---

---

---

---

---

A flicker of hope was in Bartholmew's eyes as Kyra confirmed to him that the Emendator she'd met could have been Eve. It wasn't certain for sure, but still, it was something. He was a bit surprised that the places here had names. Was there some kind of established power in this place? Was that whatever Justice was? Some kind of ruler of wherever this was? In any case, a six day walk would be a lot to do, but they had literally nothing else to do. He was concerned about her knowledge of the Destruere though, naming them as soul eaters. If she'd know them long enough to have a name like that for them, he considered that she might know a lot about this place.

At Gio's comment he centered himself, taking a moment to do as he was told, and take a breath. Going off the handle and battering the new people with questions wouldn't be a good way to make friends, and the last thing they needed right now was dissonance between them. Survive and establish a home base, preferably with the other Paradoxes and Emendators, were the number one goals. If they were all thinking as he was, wherever they were, he hoped that they'd all be moving towards each other, which could hopefully cut down on the amount of time it would take for them all to congregate.

---

---

---

DTB Fade-Between:

Sophia turned to look over at Robert and smiled slightly, and shrugged. "Would you rather say i'm from a completely different timeline, where there is a virus that kills you and turns you into a walker? Undead, or zombie basically and I ended up dying and coming back to life somewhere else?" Sophia said, giving him another little description on where she had come from before becoming a Paradox, she ran a hand through her hair as she watched Nancy doing her Cards thing and turned to look back over at Robert when he asked her what it was that Nancy was doing. "She's trying to find answers on whats going on I believe." Sophia said, she didn't really understand it to much but after everything that has happened has gotten really confusing even for her.

She wasn't sure where the three of them were going but maybe it did have some answers for them, as she turned to look over at Nancy the only person she knew and could probably trust here anyway. "I think we should follow you guys to wherever it is that you are going, maybe it will help us get information on whats actually going on anyway." Sophia said, while looking over at Nancy waiting to see what she would do, either go alone or stick with these three people going somewhere completely different. A couple days walk sounded like it would be pretty dangerous to.

---

DTB-Fade Between:

Riley listened to Sophia and looked at her for awhile and shook her head slightly it was a lot to take in still she watched Nancy playing with the cards. She thought it was kind of weird to be doing all of a sudden, but she looked at Mali and Robert Riley wanted to move out and find some answers and maybe find out whats going on. She stuffed her hands into her pocket and looked over the way that Kyra had pointed out for them to go. "Lets just keep going, it's going to be a very long ass walk." Riley said she turned and started to make her way down while following the cliff face.

Riley really wanted to get going and find some answers, she looked over her shoulder at Mali, Robert, Sophia and Nancy whether or not they chose to follow after her was all up to them. As far as she was concerned she pretty much lost everyone that she cared about, her sister, Chloe, Cecily as well. Riley continued to move forward while occasionally looking up at the sky, and then back into the distance where they had come into this weird world that they ended up finding themselves in as well.

---

Souless Fade-Between:

Lauren looked towards the Ceasar guy when he asked them if they knew the location that he mentioned and shrugged slightly and shook her head towards him. "I haven't the slightest clue where, who or what they are sorry." Lauren said towards him as she looked towards the Russian guy as he started to introduce himself. Going on about his name and title and that he worked for some kind of circus as well, which was interesting but didn't really help with their situation right now either. Mosi also introduced herself, and mentioned something that she didn't really even know, and shook her head slightly. Richard mentioned Belladonna and looked towards him for a moment, she was pretty sure that she met the same fate that happened to Nora, Vera, and Reginald as well.

"I think the same thing happened to belladonna though." Lauren said towards Richard, the Ceasar guy said about going to wherever it was that he was even going and looked at him. "And if you don't see the place if we are going looking for higher ground, where would you suggest we go in that direction?" If there wasn't a map or anything, then they could just be wondering around aimlessly forever which she didn't really like either.