☆ audio.

[hexappeal]

Hello there, young padawans. [Her voice is flat, almost to the point of disinterest.] I've been skulking about for a few days and I'll cut straight to the point: I'm pretty sure that I'm ready to leave now. [More emotion starts to present itself; frustration with the slightest trace of anger.] I get the whole "stuck" thing, but that's always such crap. Someone's usually behind that and they'll usually fold if approached the right way -- which in my case may very well be with a fist.

[She lets a little huff of air out, almost a laugh.] But I'm getting ahead of myself. So, how about this! I'll even be a good sport about it (if you could see me, I am smiling and not going to press any sort of interdimensional charges on you, I promise). I'm a busy woman with a cat to feed and a teenage cousin to roll my eyes at back home. Send me to my San Francisco and I'll forget this ever happened.

Comments

[blackmagus]

[Just the luckiest ever!]

Ah, well, as a disclaimer, I had nothing to do with it. And the second you find out who did it, I'll assist you in... enforcing. At present, I'm hoping that it's for something more than just for experimentation, but with the residents in the state they are...

[hexappeal]

So I suspect that you're just as trapped as I am, if that's the case.

[This is the most she's heard about the native people from this place so far, this tiny little drop of info.] Is there anything else you can tell me about the people from this place? Or maybe about these cameras I've been noticing about?

[blackmagus]

I'm afraid that I can't tell you much about natives. Unless they're lying, which is a possibility, everyone I've talked to here has been kidnapped. But I'd wager that almost everyone is from different worlds and times.

But, for what it's worth, everything looks sort of... lived-in, here. I can't imagine that the natives have been gone for very long.

[hexappeal]

I haven't been here long enough to make a judgment on that, but it would seem the few I've spoken to thus far are in the same boat as you and I. I don't even remember leaving, let alone exactly how I arrived; it was like blinking.

Makes you wonder if they're coming back anytime soon...

[blackmagus]

I fell unconscious, I think. Or asleep. But then I woke up here last night.

[Devoid of a thing or two.]

Out of curiosity, did they take anything from you?

[hexappeal]

I'm sure this place is all the more friendly upon arrival at night.

Other than my pride? A bit of this and that. Left me with a pack of cigarettes, at least.

[blackmagus]

That was kind of them.

[There's a smile in her voice.]

It's a bit more unnerving at night, yes. Although I didn't get eaten, so that's something.

[hexappeal]

I think it's empty.

[She should probably get on checking that, though. She might be able to use it for bartering...]

Is there a reason you expect you might get eaten? Because no one's warned me about that yet and I'd think that's the first thing you'd warn someone about -- "Hey, you going out at night? Watch out for being devoured," or something.

[blackmagus]

Supposedly there's monsters in the forest. And, in my experience, monsters like to move about at night. [Her experience is frighteningly ample where monsters are concerned.] But happily, they seem pleased to simply take up residence in the forest and stay there... at least, that I've seen.

[hexappeal]

Just like any other animal, really. [They might look strange, but that doesn't mean they're monsters. They could just be indigenous creatures from this place. Either way, it's both worth looking into and being cautious in regard to.] That is really good to know. I think that is possibly one of the first things I'd let someone just arriving know "don't be an idiot and go into the forest at night."

But I suppose that's pretty sound advice regardless of whether there are monsters or not out there.

[blackmagus]

Probably. They're either haunted, cursed, or full of danger.

[She's joking about the first part, anyway. There's no afterlife where she's from, and she knows it.]

There's another new arrival who missed that first rule, however.

[hexappeal]

I suppose gingerbread houses would fall under the realm of the last two.

[It doesn't occur to her that Hansel and Gretel may not be a tale where she hails from.]

I imagine nothing good came from that, huh.

[blackmagus]

He's apparently still alive. I feel like I should applaud him.

[hexappeal]

...I guess that would depend on the condition he's in and if he fought his way out.

[blackmagus]

No, he's just very childish. His name is Dilandau. [She calls him Buttercup.] Avoid him, and save yourself the trouble.

[hexappeal]

Avoid him because he's childish or...? [Because she suspects she has some idea who he is. Either that or there's a bunch of bratty kids around here. She doesn't do kids parties for a reason, ugh.]

[blackmagus]

Childish, not very smart, more ego than a god. Take your pick.

[hexappeal]

Sounds like the kind of guys I date.

[blackmagus]

That's unfortunate. I could perhaps handle one of those things, with the right amount of charm, or two. But all three together is right out.

[And she's going to keep calling him Buttercup, as a result.]

[hexappeal]

Charm isn't usually a factor, either. [Boy, oh boy.]

But he seems rather young, so thankfully this won't be an issue. [It sounds like she's joking. She can keep it in her pants, really!]

[blackmagus]

Thankfully, yes. Shall I let you know if an older one shows up?

[It's just a playful tease.]

I'm Fortescue, by the way.

[hexappeal]

Sure, why not? I'd like to have some options.

[It's never too early in a blossoming friendship to make an ass out of one's self.]

Zatanna. You have a good name.

[blackmagus]

[Never. Fortescue chuckles.]

Thank you. You, too. Have you found a place to stay?

[hexappeal]

Hrm, well. I'm not sure how comfortable I am slipping into the abandoned life of someone else, but I don't think I have much of a choice, do I?

[blackmagus]

Not really. Not unless sleeping in the woods with the raptors appeals to you. I doubt they tell good campfire stories.