Wonderer's Wish World: An Empty Land

The Basement

Kipo shoved the door open, nearly collapsing inside as she passed through the threshold. She stumbled in, and someone, Kris, Kipo realized, caught her.

"Th-Thanks," Kipo mumbled, and to her relief, she could almost kind of hear herself now. Mira was right, this place really did seem to be better made than the houses. At the very least, Kipo was no longer worried about the ceiling collapsing on their heads.

"Oh, Kipo!" some one else, Luz, cried. "Are you alright? Your skin is... you're more red than pink right now."

"Yeah, I know," Kipo said, rubbing her forearm. She winced. "I'm fine."

Tulip gave her a look. "Are you... sure?"

"Does it look that bad?" Kipo asked, before shaking her head. "It doesn't matter. What's up with that storm, anyway?"

"It's insane!" Luz cried, flinching away as a flash lit of the room. Even though the windows were covered with curtains, the lightening outside was bright enough to over power the candle light in the room. "It's like the rain is out to kill us or something!"

"It wasn't this bad before..." Tulip noted. "There was a lot of rain last time but it wasn't as... well, destructive."

"It also seems to be getting worse," Mira added, just coming in. Kipo looked over, and her eyes widened. Despite herself, she felt her mouth curving up into a small smile.

Apparently, Mira had figure that the best way to get everyone quickly was to grab all of them at once, so now she, Kai, Anne, Mabel, Fei Fei and Coraline were crammed under one umbrella, awkwardly shuffling around.

Tulip chuckled. "Ah. So that's what was taking so long."

"It would've been easier if the umbrella was a little bigger," Mira huffed, and she held up the white umbrella so that it acted like a bridge between them and the door, so that each person could go in single file through the door. When every person was in except for Mira, she ducked in herself, closing the door behind her, and then attempting to close the umbrella. She frowned.

"Huh... It's not closing," she muttered. Kai blinked, and then walked over, silently taking away the umbrella from her and examining it. Mira let him, crossing her arms.

"Oh, it seems like the mechanism is broken," Kai eventually concluded. He was fumbling with something that Kipo couldn't see from where she was. "This wire right here... it snapped. See?"

Mira peered closing. "Hm, you're right. Can you fix it?"

"Hm..." Kai hummed thoughtfully as he carefully turned the umbrella over. "Well, I can try. But without the right tools I might just make it more brittle."

"Why would you bother to do that anyway?" Coraline called to them, sitting down at the table. "As long as it's open, it's doing its job, right? Just leave it."

Mira and Kai looked over to her, and simultaneously looked sheepish.

"Oh, yeah, good point," Mira realized. "Er... just set in down, Kai."

Despite looking a little disappointed, Kai did as she said, and they both walked into the dining room. Before Mira sat down, though, she paused, looking over to Kipo, who was standing on the side and clutching her arms tightly. Kipo bristled as she felt Mira's eyes on her, and was about to step forward before Mira held up a hand, stopping.

"Uh... wait, Kipo," Mira said. "You're dripping wet. We should get you a towel first."

Kipo paused, and then looked down at herself. Mira was right, of course, and not only that, but she was making a huge puddle on the floor.