Crona had been to this city before, they were sure of it. The memories were there, warped and hazy and all too vague, like something out of a dream-- but the familiarity of the Hive was too strong to be simple happenstance. It was almost nothing like the quiet Death City, the energetic hustle and bustle foreign and frightening to them.
Almost immediately they felt rooted to the spot in the midst of the sidewalk-- the city’s vastness overwhelmed and set anxious fire to their veins. Crona hunched over with a small whimper, searching the dull wooden sword inexplicably in their hands with wild and frantic eyes.
“Stop it, be quiet, please,” they hissed to what seemed like no one in particular. “You-- you’re not h-helping-- no, I-- I can’t--”
This quiet arguing with themselves went on for far longer than it should have. Passersby side-stepped them uncomfortably and shot dirty or confused glances, thankfully unbeknownst to Crona. It wasn’t until they registered another pair of feet facing them that they went silent, their gaze slowly trailing up to find a serious-looking woman had approached them. Whatever had given them the courage to speak out was gone now, their tongue heavy as lead; instead of speaking to her, they merely paled a sickly, nauseating white.
Things were... not looking great.