❰ the sudden interrogation isn't one emil expected, and being stared at so suddenly causes him to falter. it's true he loves to talk, but in this case...where to even begin. his shoulders slump, flimsy cloth billowing at the ground as his arms hang. ❱

I don't know how you got here. You haven't been anywhere for a long time...Iceland, or wherever I guess.

❰ the best place to start, he guesses, is their most current location. or, what he can assume about it. ❱ This city is run by "technicians." ❰ air quotes included. ❱ It's not The Silent World, it's just some dumpy place in the woods and people...things want to hurt you.

❰ in frustration at having to explain this, repeating his still stinging reality back to himself, emil squats down to keep ripping at the sheets. ❱ There's. There's a pamphlet, you'll find one when we're out of here. But Lalli's here. Tuuri. Reynir is probably somewhere.

❰ keeping up with that guy is not his job. ❱