Distraction [Solo]

Lucky McConnel took the Full Dive headset off her head as soon as she was able to properly move again. As a given reference, people who exit the full-dive system of UNOVR tend to take anywhere from ten seconds to a full minute to be able to consciously move after logging out and assuring themselves that they were properly awake. The brain just needed time to recognize that now was the time to be able to move limbs again. Lucky happened to be on the later end of the spectrum, and could only lie there for a good minute thinking about what she had just experienced in the digital world. 

As far as she knew, she had survived properly. The headset probably had activated its' failsafe systems to log her out by force, then said something about reconstruction before letting her out of the dreamscape. She'd gotten out before Omen had been deleted. That was good, right? But it hadn't felt very good. She remembered the intense feeling of claustrophobia well in her as time had ceased to allow flow, a feeling similar to when one feels crushed under the earth or in a tight tube during a dream. 

Lucky told herself in the next few minutes that this had been in the dream, that this was just all from UNOVR, no matter how delirious she had gotten around the end point. It still stuck to the back of her mind, a cancer that wouldn't let go and weighed down her mood to a crawling discomfort. 

She decided it was time to get out of the house. She took off in minutes, leaving behind the slightly out of date neural headset on the bed instead of properly settling it on her nightstand headset rack. Lucky took a walk out not towards the innards of Wicklow itself but towards the coast. She had a house nearby the Bray Cliffwalk just for that very purpose. 

The greystone path was one made to encompass the cliffside that spanned the entire city, the whole way giving view of the sea on a scenic walk throughout. People over the years spoke of the place as one of healing, a path of mental calm and refreshment. Lucky found none on the trail. The odor of sea salt only served to remind her of the scent of copper, the slowly cashing waves of red reminding her of the melting bodies...



Why was the sea so red? Where was she? Had she actually left that buggy ruin?



No, it was just the setting sun tinting the world. Time had passed on the trail before she'd ever realized it. By the time Lucky reached the next roundabout which led back into the city, the stars had already winked into the night sky to take their watch over the earth. The night was young. Lucky still didn't want to go home-she refused to try and sleep while that place was still in her head. 

She took time out in the city night. She took an hour to shop in places that seemed pretty, got herself a nice dress to wear out for the rest of the night and all. Maybe a change of clothes would take her away from the place she had been in, she thought. It didn't. Lucky took a stop in the park, wanting to get some fresh air without the overwhelming scent of the sea stuck in it. It still lingered in her nose no matter how hard she tried to think otherwise.

She took rounds to a bar after paying for a bus and wrung out her cash to toss some drinks under the rug. Lucky was pretty sure that she'd maxed out her credit card for the week but she really couldn't care at the time. She tried a smoke for the first time. She ended up coughing most of it up-it really wasn't the rage like she'd heard about, not that she expected much from a cig to begin with. She got an offer to take the night out on the town with a nice looking young man, but she really wasn't into the thought at the time. 

Lucky reached her home near the cliffsides eventually. Her own house felt unfamiliar to her just to look at. By the time she reached her bed and crashed into it, she hoped that she would finally wake up from the nightmare as she closed her eyes. 

Her sleep was blissfully free of any dreams that night. It might have even been worth the hangover that came afterward.