sold out for the shape of the palm tree scene

All of it is weird. Mercy doesn't know how to process it, so she breaks it down at the very beginning. The things she knew... tremors last night. Weird red sky. Wildlife too quiet. Cracks in the ground, growing and splitting the land beneath her paws. As she moves through the silty inland areas of the Shore, she's memorizing all the details she can. Trying to figure out exactly what's going on here, even with her limited life experience. Hell, she'd been farther afield than this, and never seen anything like it.

As she catches a voice, her head cocks to the side. Someone she hadn't noticed yet, a boy that was barely taller than she was. Grown out of his puppy fat and narrowly built, addressing her with a sharpness that causes her ears to press to her head. Standing up straight, drawing to her full height as she looks at the lad. "Nah, a ways north'a here." Shaking her head, taking a moment to size him up.

"You?" Curious, though Mercy doesn't really wait for an answer. "This isn't normal, is it." More a statement than a question, a stark observation. Another tremor rocking the ground under her feet, Mercy chewing anxiously at the inside of her cheek as she scans the horizon once more.

"speech"