Day One: Part 1

[Harry Dresden]

Harry sighed and reached into his bag, finally giving in to his rumbling stomach. He pulled out a Chicken and Rice MRE and opened it, pulling out the heater and filling it with water before dropping it into its box and the box into the meal. He drained a good amount of his first water bottle, too. While he waited for the MRE to heat itself, he poked his head out of his shelter, eyeing the surrounding landscape, his assembled item in his grip. "Sure is quiet. Guess that's a good thing."

Karl Jak's announcement of the danger zones made him return to his bag, pulling out his map. There wasn't anything for him to write with, but he was a wizard. Even without magic, there was a certain measure of mental fortitude that was required, and he could remember things quite well. A trick that he'd learned from Lasciel came in handy; associating a mental image with a physical one. A similar exercise to suppressing an illusion, actually; tying the knowledge of reality to the sight of that reality, and ignoring what didn't fit, but in this case, it was the opposite; he pictured marks on the areas Jak named, and associated them with their spots on the map. Not perfect, but the best he could do under the circumstances.

His MRE had been ready at that point, and he mindlessly ate the surprisingly tasty chicken and rice as he thought. There's not much I can do here. If I find Cindy that's one thing, or Samus for that matter. Ganondorf might not be immediately hostile, but then... he might be unstable, especially if he's kept using that magic. Heaven knows I was, back when... Flashes of memory ran through his mind; a burning house, Elaine screaming, DuMorne's burning body staggering from the wreckage. He shook his head. No. I'm over that now. It was self-defense. I'm innocent. It wasn't real dark magic. He only half-believed that, but even if it was true, he was still tainted. He'd come into contact with not one but two Outsiders, and he knew more about a third. The Walkers. Even learning about these things was considered against the Laws.

But he'd gone and had the knowledge shoved on him, and sometimes the Warden wondered if he was losing his grip on reality. Mortal minds were not meant to comprehend beings from beyond the Outer Gates. It was some point during his meandering thoughts that the rather melancholy wizard realized that his MRE had been finished for a while. Tucking the trash into the duffel bag so as not to leave a trace inside this cave, Harry set out for a walk, keeping low and behind obstacles as best as a 6' and change wizard in a duster and his particular armament could. He'd go a few minutes in a direction and return to the cave immediately, getting the lay of the immediate area and keeping an eye out for Samus.