The darkness of the Void left little light to see the creatures lurking in its depths. The strange slithering sound of unknown beings going from place to place provided an odd and yet somewhat comfortable feeling, as if the knowledge of other living things within a vicinity was enough to reassure oneself that they were not completely alone.

A woman slouching against a tree-like structure stared off into the emptiness with a blank look on her face, unsure if the world truly knew she still existed, or if it cared at all. She let her gaze fall to the ground beside her in a limp head rolling manner. She stared at her bowler hat and grabbed it with one of her hands, flicking it up into the air. With a quick shuffle, she got to her feet, allowing the hat to land on her head as she marched away. Seconds later, a massive darkened purple set of jaws erupted from the ground and swallowed the structure she had been leaning against just moments ago. She kept walking forward, completely unfazed from the life threatening event she had just narrowly avoided.

Her black, thinly striped, suit was tattered and worn, while her bowler only let a scraggly mess of blue dyed hair strands hang out from the edges. The top of her head began to show browning where the dye had no longer been applied since her time in the Void. Her face was quite simple and somewhat sunken in with her extremely skinny figure. Her skin was naturally very pale, even before being sent to a sunless realm.

She marched forward in an overly enthusiastic manner, hoisting her knees up high and swinging her arms widely as she went. In the distance her destination stood, more easily distinguishable against the purple hazy background the Void provided than she was. Seeing nothing more in the sky than a small ripple in the blackness, she stared up with a wide smirk.

A quick flip and a kick off of a nearby Void structure later, she landed on a small island, containing nothing more than a few trees and largest expanse of ocean imaginable. By the looks of the fog that permanently lingered over the horizon, it was likely near the Shadow Isles. No ship ever dared sailed within a hundred mile radius of the Isles, so staying on the island was somewhat pointless. The woman frequently stopped by the hole in the Void to catch a few fish and knock a coconut from one of the trees if it had one, then hop back into the portal. If she had any hope of escape, she had to spend her days scouting the Void for any other ripples. It was likely that its closeness to the Shadow Isles was the only reason it had gone unnoticed, but that did not mean ripples could not exist anywhere else.

Back in the black maze, a coconut in hand, she looked around for any disturbances. She was not yet tired enough to rest, which she usually did on the island – which had affectionately been named the Ripple Island Pasture, or Rip for short – due to the sporadic lethal tendencies of the "wildlife" of the Void. Way off in the distance a soft light glowed a bright blue color. Being such an outstanding feature, it was incredibly difficult to determine the distance, but she had nothing better to do so she set off in the direction.

Walking in he Void had been a strangely hard task to master; the amount of dependency sight has upon walking is not something most people realize prior to loosing the ability see surroundings. As she approached, hardly to her surprise, the light had remained stationary. If the light was coming from a soul unfortunate enough to have been plopped down into the Void, it was likely that they has found walking much too difficult, and chosen to remain still.

The woman pondered her options; she could call out to the light source in hopes of it being a conscious creature that could reply, and pray that the noise was not enough to trigger a Void lurking monster to her location, she could continue walking towards the source assuming it was actually within reasonable walking distance, or she could assume her eyes were playing tricks on her again in the decrepit place and turn around back towards Rip.

As if too impatient to let her make a chose, she saw the light begin to approach her. Judging by the pace and distance being covered, it was only a few miles away. Again, she had to ponder her options. If she turned to flee to her island, and the light was some sort of Void lurking sentinel, she could lose her only safe haven. However, standing still to allow a potential threat to approach her was also a terrible idea.

Seeing a nearby structure, reminiscent of an old and crumbled building, she ran towards it and quickly climbed to the top, wanting to be sure she could scout the area below without being too noticeable, and having a little protection simultaneously. She sat for awhile until the light source came into fill view before her. It was clearly a man, but the reason for its glowing was still strange to her. He looked pretty shady, definitely a person she would never talk to in any other given circumstance.

"Hey!" she called out below before quickly ducking her head behind a half torn down wall. The strange black material lined with purple lights was hardly distinguishable from the natural aura of the Void. She sat and waited before peeking her eyes back out above the wall, to see how the man had reacted. To her amazement, she saw nothing below. She got to a full stand and looked back and forth in an attempt to find the man or his blue glow.

Scratching her head, she was yanked back and thrust up against a wall with a knife at her neck. She allowed an overly dramatic and fairly audible gulp roll down her throat, as a smile curled over the corners of her lips.

"Do you plan to kill the only other human stuck in this hell?" she teased. Without lowering his guard, he continued to carry out the conversation.

"Not unless you plan to tell me why I shouldn't," he snarled.

"Oooh, touchy AND hostile. Don't see that combination from strong men everyday!"

"No on needs strength when they have the skills necessary to best a stronger opponent." A short pause ensued.

"Are… Are you lecturing me? I don't know if that's cute or weird." The man hardly hesitated before jumping off of the strange structure and beginning to walk away. The responseless manner of his departure was far beyond abnormal.

"Hey G!" she called out after him, but he continued his walk anyways. She jumped down and ran after him, slapping him on the shoulder when she caught up.

"Where are you going? You will die out here alone you know."

"I'd rather die in silence than live listening to you," he snarled.

"Well then. I suppose you won't need to know where the food is at then, will you?"

"I suppose I won't." And with those words he kept marching in the randomly selected direction he had been going.

"Hey c'mon G! I ain't that bad!"

"Stop calling me G. In fact, stop calling to me at all. Find a cozy, or not so cozy, corner, curl up in it, and cease existence. That is probably the best way you could help me right now."

"Okay I thought you were touchy an hostile, but I'm pretty sure that you are just messed up in the head." G glared back at her and she circled her ear with a pointer finger. "You know? Bonkers? Kookoo? Bananas? Dropped on the head as an orphan child?" His glare continued. "Would it kill you to smile?"

"Yes," he stated dully and turned around again.

"Fine!" the woman stomped. "Don't talk to me! But I AM going to follow you."

"Good. I could use live bait, or some extra kindling."

"Tellin' ya man, totally, bonkers."


After another thirty minutes or so of walking in silence, the woman began to grow amazingly impatient. Perhaps she had been a little too assertive in trying to get G to talk, but it was a tactic that typically worked on strangers, especially when their other option was to stare off into the blankness of the Void without any other being to socialize with. But something about G stood out to her. It was not that he typically felt more comfortable in isolation and silence, it was more like he had been trained to enjoy it. Along with being the only human she had seen in awhile, and the ominous glow about his body that let curiosity spike into her, she wanted to figure out the nature of his strange behavior.

The man did not seem to mind her following closely behind, so long as she kept her mouth shut. He hardly faltered from a straight path in any way, to the woman's amazement. Such a feat was incredibly difficult to master in the Void, let alone after having just entered a short while ago, unless he had managed to survive and only happened to recently wander in her direction. Curious, she broke her vow and verbalized her questions.

"Have you been in here long, G?" A pause ensued which lead the woman to believe she was not going to get a response.

"Why do you insist on calling me G?" he finally said, still not answering her question.

"Hey no fair! I totally asked my question first! You tell me, and I'll tell you."

"Fine," he replied, not wanting to take the bargain.

"Uuugh," she groaned. "I call you G 'cause that was the letter that fit best! I have labeled everything around here with some sort of letter or acronym. So I decided that G should be yours, until I get to know more about you."

"That hardly makes –"

"Hey! Answer my question first!" I held up my end!" A little more silence persisted and it seemed he finally gave in.

"A few hours ago. I found you by chance." She nodded in approval and decide to keep quiet as G ran throughout the Void without having much rhyme or reason to his movements. On occasion he would pause and look around, rotate, and continue in an amazingly straight line. The woman let out an overly dramatic yawn and a stretch.

"So? Give up yet? I know I could use some shuteye! Want me to point you to the safest spot?"

"It's over there," he said pointing in the exact direction of the Void ripple. "There is a small hole in the air, accessible by a good vault off of the nearby rock-like Void structure. It isn't an escape route, but it at least provides food and clean air."

"Wha… How did you know that!" she exclaimed.

"There had to be some sort of entrance to the real world. I had a feeling that air would not be a natural occurrence in the Void. Where I landed, the air was thin, but present. I kept walking where the air felt most dense, being closer to the source. At this point, it has to be in that direction. But if it was an escape route, unless you are an idiot, you would have used it already."

"Piltovian, right? You have to be. Nowhere else has the brains to formulate that."

"Hmph. Believe what you want, but it would probably be wise to go get some rest," G stated.

"Nailed it! Nailed it nailed it nailed it!" she chanted while G walked towards the ripple. As they approached, the woman excitedly took the lead and flipped up into the island outside of the Void.

"I call this Rip! Ripple Island Pasture!"

"The acronym is also short for the first word. Could you be less creative?"

"Hey! I haven't heard you give ME a nickname yet! You probably aren't any more creative yourself!"

"How about 'obnoxious asshole'?" he replied.

"That's longer than my actual name! You just wanted the chance to insult me!"

"Oh how did you guess?" She stuck her tongue out at the remark and he grinned, kicking his way off the rock and onto the island beside her. He wasted no time in shoveling aside some sand to lay himself down into, simply hoping that the tide did not rise high enough to wash him away with it. If the nights looked stormy, he figured that an attempt to sleep in the coconut tree would be safer.

"Sooo?" the woman pressed, clearly still looking for a nickname.

"Cat," he said.

"Cat? What's a cat got to do with me?"

"You are about as persistently annoying as a mangy cat." She frowned and laid down in the sand next to G.

"I am going to say that you think I am cute like a cat!"

"Cute as a cat run over by a truck."

"Hey!" she exclaimed, but G rolled over and ignored her. Upset about her nickname, even though she was the one who had pushed for it, Cat stared off at the stars and drifted to sleep.