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[Julie looks tired, and grouchy, and she sounds grouchy too.]

So, is this normal? I mean, it's not normal, obviously, but should I be expecting more of this crap while I'm stuck here?

[She rubs under one of her eyes, where lack of sleep is already making shadows.]

Give me a zombie apocalypse any day.

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At least we know to stay on our guard. Honestly, I would've done that, anyway.

[Like she was going to let it down for even a moment after finding herself dumped in a place like this.]

I'm Ann, by the way.

Julie.

[How long are they supposed to stay on their guard? She knows what being on high alert 24/7 is like, and it isn't something you can keep doing indefinitely.]

There must be a way out of here. There has to be.

Of course there is. Every place has a way out.

[And if she keeps saying so, she'll have to keep believing it, right?]

We just have to find it.

[Finally, someone who isn't looking at her like she's nuts or straight-up telling her there isn't any way out of here.]

Right! There's always a way out. Even if you have to kick it open.

Or blast it open with as many bullets as you can carry!

[Or maybe other, less violent methods, but those aren't as much fun, or as effective.]

[She likes you, Ann.]

I like to keep that as a reserve option. Draws a lot of attention.

[They're going to get along great.]

Good point. Noisier than we probably want, but you know. Always there in our back pocket, just in case.

Do you have a gun? I'm still working on getting my hands on one before I have to blow every kind of cover and just ask if someone has one lying around.

[She will, in fact, end up doing this.]

I do-- well. Sort of. Actually, hold that thought.

[She's not entirely sure her gun will work here the way it did in the Metaverse, given the circumstances.]

It's kind of a special case?

A special case?

[Like what, does it shoot fireballs or something? Because she kind of wants to see it if it does.]

It doesn't usually work in the real world... only certain circumstances. Here, I'm not sure it would do much. It looks real, but it's just a model.

[A model tommy gun, though. That's pretty cool.]

[Well, that doesn't sound cryptic at all.]

Uh... when does it normally work?

[Come on, you can't say something like that then not give more details.]

Okay, so back home, we've got this thing call the Metaverse? I actually thought this place was part of it when I got here. It's hard to explain, but it's kind of a dreamscape? In the real world, the gun is just a model, but in the Metaverse...

[Just trust her on this.]

Because it looks real, it becomes real.

[... squint.

She's having trouble believing this, Ann, but after the things she's seen here so far, she'll take your word for it.]

That's... really weird.

'Weird' is... kind of how the Metaverse does things.

[Like, across the board.]

Sounds like you'd have some crazy stories from a place like that.

[She's really discounting nothing.]

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