JewelSerket — Roleplayer Guild

Recorded Time of Death 30:45

Sylvie hated children. Hate, hate, hated children. Her family had mocked her when she took a job at Zoo de Lyon. Sylvie could not count how many times a family member reminded her of the worst part of her job: Interacting with guests. There was a reason that Sylvie had taken a job within the animal care field. Humans sucked. Luckily, working with the animals meant relatively little interaction with other people.

Usually.

Someone’s precious little crotch goblin had taken off at seemingly light speed, because no one had been able to find her. The park had been put on lockdown to make sure no one had stolen… oh, what was her name? Susy? Rachel? Sylvie was not sure. Maybe it made her a bad person to care as little as she did. It certainly made her a neglectful person. In all honesty, this was not the first missing child Sylvie had had to deal with. Snot nosed brats always showed up somewhere. Usually, they were sticking their grimy hands in a cotton candy machine or trying to break into an enclosure.

Sylvie was not entirely complaining, though. Looking for a lost brat meant she could tuck herself away in the areas behind the enclosures and pretend she was looking around. It would put her behind schedule for feeding the lions, something her boss would give her no end of shit about. But it was a short, free break all the same.

Recorded Time of Death 08:38

Twenty minutes… That was a long time for a child to be missing. Even Sylvie was starting to get nervous. Sure, she hated children. That did not mean she wanted one to get hurt. Or worse… A shock of anxiety danced up Sylvie’s spine. It occurred to her, as she speedwalked down the path behind the african animals exhibit, that she had not taken her anxiety medication that morning. That would explain why she was basically pacing in the same area instead of doing something more productive for the search. It would also explain the slowly growing migraine that nagged at her.

Sylvie rounded a corner and found herself back in the small hut that acted as a breakroom for her and the other zookeepers of the African Animals exhibit. Unsurprisingly, it was empty. All of her coworkers were on the hunt for Lina. That was the girl’s name. Sylvie had heard her boss speak it over her walkie talkie.
She just needed a break! To calm down. Then everything would be fine… plus, if she was lucky, Sal left some ibuprofen in the cupboards. They’ll find the kid soon. Surely. She tossed her keys and phone onto the table and went to get herself some water.

Recorded Time of Death 03:05

There had not been ibuprofen in the cupboards. That was just Sylvie’s luck. The migraine had worsened considerably and the brat had still not been found. That meant that the walkie talkie was going off every other minute, exacerbating the growing pain. Sylvie had plunked herself down into a chair that gave her a good look at the door. That way, if anyone arrived, she could at least pretend she was being helpful. A glass of water sat half empty in front of her.

Maybe it was that migraine that had caused Sylvie’s reaction time to be so slow. It took her several seconds to process the door opening. Several more to hear the mischievous giggles of a snot nosed creature darting into the room. By the time Sylvie had looked up from her glass towards the noise, the girl was sprinting out of the door.

Lina had to be ten at the latest. Old enough to be a sneaky bastard but young enough to still be stupid. Brown hair and devilish green eyes… plus a t-shirt that read “NYC” on it. Great, not only was she an annoying brat, but she was probably a foreigner. Sylvie pushed herself to her feet… but frowned. Maybe she could get away with radioing someone? It would be easier than walking around with this migraine.

Sylvie turned to look at the table beside her– and froze. Her phone was there. The walkie-talkie was there. Her keys, however, were gone. Sylvie patted her pockets in a panic. Then dug around in the cupboards she had looked for the medicine in. She had no luck. Her heart dropped and she looked back towards the door.

Recorded Time of Death 01:00

”Hey! Get back here!” Sylvie’s words were slurred slightly.
The migraine had worsened to an unimaginable degree. It was nearly impossible for Sylvie to run. She lamented briefly about how she should be in better shape than this, given her job… but then tried to focus on the task at hand.

Lina dashed around a corner ahead of Sylvie. With those keys, there was no telling where that little brat could go.

Recorded Time of Death 00:30

Ringing. That damned ringing. Sylvie’s body felt sluggish and her vision swam. If it weren’t for where that brat was going, Sylvie would have given up and crumpled to the ground minutes ago… was it minutes ago? It was so hard to think.

”Kitty! Kitty!”

”D-Damn it! Sss…Stop!”

How could this runt be so fast?! By the time Sylvie had gotten to the first door of the lion pen, Lina had already left the door hanging wide open. It was fine, though… there was still another door! Two if you counted the one that actually went into the feeding area. But that was locked. The only anyone even had a key to there was if they were supposed to go in and feed the lions. Besides, the lions were only in there if…

They had not been fed.

Recorded Time of Death 00:10

Sylvie thought she was going to throw up. The ringing in her ears was loud enough to send her anxiety through the roof, though it was already there. Sylvie leaned heavily on the door frame of the feeding area. It was a smallish shed attached to the main enclosure. A stone slab sat where Sylvie would usually put the meat. That task usually had the layer of seperation that was several tools that put distance between her and the cats. There was no distance here. The girl ran straight for the door where the lions came in. Through Sylvie’s blurring vision, she could see the beasts creeping towards them, whiskers twitching with curiousity.

”Here, kitty kitty kitty!”
Sylvie tried to speak but the words wouldn’t come out.

Recorded Time of Death 00:04

Sylvie crumpled to the ground. She hadn’t gotten even close to Lina. The migraine had overwhelmed her and her vision went dark. Each squealing ring in her ears seemed to get further and further away. When had she started screaming? She couldn’t hear it over the sound but she could feel it.

God, Sylvie hated children.

Recorded Time of Death 00:02

The ringing calmed… then went silent. Each wave of pain was duller than the last. Sylvie looked up from where she was curled on the ground. The first thing she realized was how… warm and bright everything was. The next thing she realized was that two massive cats were creeping towards her with hungry eyes. Sylvie yelped and leapt to her feet.
Her screaming had distracted the lions from the poor, panicking child. At least there was that. Sylvie glanced around at her surroundings, taking in the moment. Then she dashed forward as fast as her migraine addled mind could handle. Sylvie grabbed Lina’s arm and dragged her towards the door of the enclosure. The lions were shocked at Sylvie’s movement, stunning them long enough that Sylvie could toss the girl out of the room.

Behind Sylvie, one of the beasts let out a growl. Released from their confusion, they darted towards the zookeeper. Sylvie leapt out of the room and slammed the door shut behind her. She pressed all of her weight into the door and prayed that would be enough to stop the beasts from breaking through. They thudded against the metal hard but, to Sylvie’s great relief, did not break through. She locked the door as quickly as she could and turned back to the child. With a dishevled grunt, she snatched the keys from her hands.

Recorded Time of Death 05:00

”Go back to your mom. She’s at the office. If you go straight to her, I won’t tell anyone what happened.”

In truth, Sylvie did not intend to tell anyone what happened regardless of what Lina did. The less press on her, the better. She did not want to end up as the headline ‘Heroic Zookeeper Saves Child’. It was hardly better than ‘Heroic Zookeeper Dies to Save Girl from Viscious Lion’.

Lina darted away whimpering about how sad she was that the cats did not like her. Poor little thing… she was probably traumatized. Sylvie felt bad for the kid. She felt more bad for this body. She was shaking like a leaf. On the bright side, Sylvie doubted anyone had seen her.
Sylvie started wandering around, looking for an exit. It was a good way to learn about her surroundings… Ah, perhaps Sylvie was the wrong name. It would be a weird one to get used to. Traveler 3563 strode along the paths, doing her best to seem like she was looking for Lina.

The animals of the zoo had been so exotic… and so had most of everything in Lyon. Sylvie was glad her host did not drive. It meant she got to take the bus home, which meant a leisurely view of the city. The air here was so clear. The people were un-marred by the effects of the future.

When Sylvie had gotten home, she spent a long time inspecting the place. Her host was definitely not a vegetarian… but that could change. The apartment was a studio apartment. One room, save for the bathroom. The walls were decorated with shelf upon shelf of books. A single table and two chairs sat at the center of the crowded place. On top of the table was a desktop computer. Ancient, but decent enough for the standards of 2022. The bed, a small mattress tucked away in the corner, was covered in a fluffy, brown blanket and more pillows and stuffed animals than Sylvie could count. It was quite cute… though when she spotted the big lion plush, she tucked it underneath the bed.

Relaxed in her new surroundings, Traveler 3563 sat at the table. Guessing the password to the computer was easy enough. A note had been left attached to the side some time ago with the word “Giraffe123” etched in poor handwriting. Sylvie smiled and opened up chrome. Ah… so vintage! It was refreshing.

For someone like her, getting to the Director’s deep web forum was easy. Typing in the code was even easier. It had been one of the first things she had memorized all that time ago… The computer screen went dark. She suspected it would for a minute or two. Sylvie got up and got herself a fresh glass of water, then moved back over to watch the screen. Suddenly, words flickered to life.

"Welcome, Traveler 3563. Arrive at the coordinates 45.715103, 4.830390 to receive your first mission."
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