First Step

[friendlost]

[ACTION for everywhere]

[There's a new kid walking around town today! He seems to be in a fantastic mood, and curious to boot: he can be found inside and outside of stores, just generally looking around at everything and, on occasion, being something of a nuisance for shop owners.

And for some reason...

If he catches someone so much as looking at him, he'll cheerfully come right up to them, waving on the way.]

Hey! This might be a really weird question, but...

You can see me, right?

Comments

[heavenscorpse]

[The girl nods enthusiastically.]

I can see you!

[rocker]

[ Give David here a moment to blink - the question is quite.. curious, after all.. - but even so his lineface remains quite unchanged as he nods slightly at the child. ]

Of course I can.

[aesculapianavowal]

[He nods.]

Yep.

[needsteaplz]

[At Saori's tea shop Sirius is outside and wags his tail at Corwin. When he does enter, Saori for once isn't in the kitchen and instead helping out in the front. She hears the bell attached to the door and comes over.]

Welcome to the Elysium tea house!

[friendlost]

Yessssss!

[He pumps a fist in the air.]

That's great! Man, it feels like it's been so long...

Hey, what's your name? Mine's Corwin. It's nice to meet you!

[He enthusiastically sticks a hand out for a handshake.]

[friendlost]

Of course, huh? Yeah, I guess it would be normal if...

[He quickly shrugs off the thought.]

Well, anyway, I'm glad. Sorry for the random question. It's just been a while since I got to talk to people like this!

[friendlost]

Haha, thank god! I think I really would've gone nuts if you just ignored me.

D'you mind if I ask you another weird question?

[friendlost]

[He backs off immediately when he sees that dog, regarding it with a certain amount of wariness.]

Oh. Uh... Thanks. I guess?

[aesculapianavowal]

[He gives a small smile.]

Go right ahead. I am the master of answering strange questions.

[rocker]

It is fine. [ he understands it somewhat, after all, being a heroic spirit and all.. ] It is good to make sure of it before you start talking to people after all, if you do not do that it might end up somewhat inconvenient when they do not see you.

[ .. did he just make a joke. probably not, with that lineface of his, but it comes close enough.. ]

[heavenscorpse]

Mine's V/V. [Handshake accepted!] It's nice to meet you too. You're new here?

[friendlost]

Right. Well...

Is this supposed to be the afterlife, or what?

[friendlost]

[He shakes his head.] Nah, man, it's even worse than that. When I was invisible, nobody could even talk to me. It was pretty terrible.

[Understatement.]

[needsteaplz]

[Sirius doesn't bark at all, after all Saori would get mad if he did. He is curious because he hasn't come across the kid before.]

I don't believe I've seen you around here before. Did you just arrive?

[friendlost]

V/V. Interesting name!

[Seriously, he's never heard that before.]

Yeah, I just found myself here all of a sudden. It doesn't look anything like where I was before. Do you know what's up with that?

[friendlost]

Y-yeah, I did. I think.

[He's still distracted, keeping an eye on Sirius while he maintains a distance. It might not be big, white and, well, a spirit, but that one time with the squirrel was enough to put him off of voluntarily getting too close to animals anytime soon.]

[rocker]

Something like that.. it must have been fairly lonely.

[heavenscorpse]

Sometimes people are kidnapped from their homes and brought here. It's something we're trying to learn more about.

[needsteaplz]

I'm Saori. And don't mind Sirius there. He's rather friendly.

Come on in. We have a lot of teas and food here. Have you been told about this island yet?

[friendlost]

...I'm Corwin. And sorry, I just... I'm not a fan of dogs.

[Yeah, let's go with that.]

I don't have any money to buy any food with, but if you could tell me some more about this place that'd be great.

[needsteaplz]

That's okay. I'll make sure Sirius doesn't bother you then.

And don't worry about payment, I'll take care of that. Think of it as a welcoming gift of sorts. As for the island, let's take this upstairs.

[She leads up to the upstairs base, where she shows him her phone.]

This island is called Prospero. You probably have a phone like this. Everyone on your contacts list is like you and I. We've been brought over from our worlds to this island.

[friendlost]

Really? Thanks!

[SO MUCH RELIEF. Screw stranger danger, this lady seems pretty cool. Which is why he more than willingly follows her on up, listening intently to her words. When she mentions the phone, he takes his own out of his pocket.]

I was wondering where I got this thing. I didn't even own one of these before I died, so I couldn't figure out how the heck I managed to find one. Not like I could have picked it up then, either.

[He quickly switches topic, not because it's something he wants to avoid talking about, but rather because it's something he'd come to terms with so long ago it doesn't even matter that much to him anymore. Really, what's caught his interest here is...]

How'd we get brought over to this world, then? And... why?

[friendlost]

Kidnapped...?

That's weird. I don't remember getting kidnapped at all. Actually I didn't even know you could kidnap dead people.

[friendlost]

[Suddenly, his expression drops completely.]

You have no idea.

[heavenscorpse]

You can kidnap all kinds of people. A lot of the people here are dead, but not all of them.