tampered | Log: Open

Current Mood: confused

Log: Open

When: December 16th, late afternoon/evening
Rating: All audiences (so far)
Characters: Jim Craig [

mountainbred] and anyone who wants to join.
Summary: The Man from Snowy River arrives in the City.
Log:

Jim sighed and swung into the saddle. Denny danced on tip-toes beneath him, anxious to head higher into the mountains. The pair had down from the cabin to check on the breeding stock. The small band was doing well, with three foals on the ground and another two due soon. Jim would ride down the next day to check on the progress of the other mares, but he didn't think he had any reason to worry.

"Come on, old man," he murmured to the gelding as they spun around.

An hour later, they were on the final gallop towards home when the world turned itself inside out. Spooked, Denny shied hard to the left, his shoes scraping and slipping across pavement when a moment before they had been cutting into mud and grass. Jim reined him in, careful not to throw the horse off balance on the slick surface. "Easy," he murmured, setting a hand on Denny's sweat-dampened shoulder as he looked around.

The mountains were gone. Buildings much higher than anything Jim had ever seen crowded the streets. Denny pinned his ears and sidled closer to a sidewalk, ducking his head in an attempt to escape the bit. Jim held him firmly in check. "Stand. That's it Den." The horse settled into stillness, but Jim could feel the tension present in the animal's every muscle.

When several minutes passed without change, Jim decided that either what he was seeing was real, or he'd taken a bad spill and wasn't waking up any time soon. He let Denny step into a mincing walk that bore them down the street, towards what Jim reckoned must be the town square. At the center, they found a carousel and a fountain, and a crush of people the likes of which Jim had never seen before. He couldn't help but stare at some of them as they passed by.

Finally, Jim slid out of the saddle. He kept Denny on a short rein as he stared at the fantastic landscape before him. "What in God's name is this?"

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Oh, gosh, it was hot. Soooo very hot, when it had been snowing! Leeloo skipped through down, barefoot, a basket over her arm. She had left her and Kagura's bakery for a break, heading to the opera house to ask about the ballet. She so wanted to audition and be cast...it would be so much fun. But it was just so -hot- today. Oh, well, maybe today she could go swimming in the ocean with the Captain before it got cold again...

She toyed with her dress a little, walking a line in the street. She turned a corner, and near bumped into a...

...Very large animal.

What was it called...?...A horse! Right. She smiled a little, stepping back and waved.

"Appipolai."

Denny danced a step away from the young woman, pinning his ears in warning, and Jim smoothed his mane to calm him.

What had she said? Appipo-something. He had no idea what it meant, but he thought it might be a greeting of some sort. He did his best not to stare at her unusual clothing or strange hair as he touched his hat brim. "G'day, Miss. I don't suppose you could give me a hand. I seem to be a bit lost, and I reckon you might be more familiar with this town than I am."

Leeloo turned to the man with a start. She hadn't even noticed him there. She tilted her head, leaning a bit to observe him.

Then it dawned.

"...Oh." Leeloo nodded a little, stepping nearer to him. "You're new, ena?"

Jim smiled. "Afraid so. Den and I were just on our way home." This was, in a word, bizarre. He was beginning to lean towards the theory that he'd cracked his head open on a rock, and this was all a hallucination. He supposed, if that were the case, it wouldn't hurt to go along with the dream. After all, he was fairly certain he wasn't crazy, and if he had some waking up to do, there wasn't any point in trying to rush it. "You couldn't point me back towards the mountains, could you?"

She smiled a little. It was always hard for the new ones to the City...they just didn't understand. It reminded her of when she first arrived, how she almost hurt somebody. Now it's just...home.

"...Uhm...you're not..in your world anymore. Ena? Uhm--" She gestured the city. "This is The City. She is sorry you are here. There aren't mountains here that are safe--but there's a beach! And many many other places..."

She paused to see if he would understand. It was alot to take in, after all.

"Yes, I realize that I'm in the city, but which one?" Jim said, the rest of her words not registering because he chose not to believe them. "It's kind of you to worry, but I know the mountains. I'll be all right going into them. My place is there, near the Snowy River."

"...Uhm...okay. You do not understand." Leeloo put down her basket and tried again. She gestured the City.

"This is The City. It has no name. It is only the City. Those mountains are not your mountains, there is no Snowy River, and they are covered in monsters. Like the forest. The forest is very very dangerous."

She bounced on her toes a little, letting that sink in.

"...This is another world...everyone in the City are from other worlds, and it's ruled by deities, ena?"

Right. Of course it was. Jim resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. It wouldn't help the building headache, and it certainly wouldn't make the woman's claims more sensible. He instead took off his hat and wiped the sweat from his brow with a forearm. "You're right, of course. I don't understand. You're talking about things that can't be real."

Leeloo looked around a little, rocking heel-to-toe for a few moments. Then, she reached out and lightly prodded his shoulder.

"..See? You are real. I am real. The City is real."

Leeloo chewed on her lip a little...and then picked up her basket.

"Come with Leeloo."

The touch was more difficult to ignore. Jim wondered if it were possible for a man to be awake and sane and still have all rational thought cease. He supposed it must be, because he knew that he was sane, he was reasonably certain that he was awake, but the rational notion that none of this was actually happening seemed to have fled in the face of accepting that what the young woman--Leelo--had told him. Without a word, he stirred himself and moved to follow her, Denny at his side.

Leeloo started backwards, smiled, and started down the street. She walked in zig-zags, mostly on her toes, hands clasped with her basket behind her back.

She turned to look at him, pacing backwards with a smile.

"What is your name? I am Leeloo."

"Jim," he said, "Jim Craig." There was a bewildered look in his eyes, though they didn't stray from his guide to take in the odd sights of the city around him. He had already given consideration to enough strangeness in letting Leeloo convince him that, somehow, he was in a world separate from his own, with no means of reaching his home or the people there.

"It is nice to meet you, Jim Craig."

Leeloo nodded down the street, where a shop stood out some, with lines and lines of christmas lights.

"That is Kagura's and Leeloo's bakery. We have nice business here...and there are alot of nice people, you would like."

A business. All right, that was one thing that made sense to him. Commerce. Money. It was even a type of business he was familiar with, one concerned with the sale of baked goods. That was ... normal. Normal was good, because with each strange face or structure that they passed, Jim felt more and more adrift. He put a hand on Denny's neck just to reassure himself that the horse was there.

"I'm sure it is nice," he assured Leeloo, before he forged ahead to a matter that concerned him more. "Does this happen often? People suddenly appearing and not knowing what this is all about?"

Leeloo nodded, switching her basket hand-to-hand.

"Every week, tons of people...they just appear here. Every day. Her too--Leeloo has been here half a year now!" She grinned happily.

"I've made alot of friends, and the Captain too...Leeloo lives with him. She knows it's hard to understand, Jim Craig, but she promises you will like it here..."

She stopped at the bakery, giving him a smile as she opened the door.

"Come!"

He hesitated for a moment, then found a spot to tie off one of Denny's reins, gave the horse a comforting pat on the neck, and followed Leeloo through the door.

It was a small place, cute, but not sickeningly so. There were decorations up for Christmas, and a few tasteful lights. Leeloo placed her basket down on a vacant table and wandered back behind the counters.

She emerged a moment later with a plate of a few danishes and a small assortment of cookies. She put them on the table and gestured.

"Eat. You will feel better, she promises. Would Jim Craig like some coffee? Or tea? She will tell you more about the city. There are many many things you must know."

Jim took off his hat and looked around. The decorations brought a fleeting smile to his face. He found a spot to set his hat aside and shrugged out of his coat. When Leeloo set out the danishes and cookies, he gave her a nod of thanks.

"Coffee, thanks."

She nodded and skipped over to their coffee machine. Humming, she brought back his desired drink and sat down across from him.

"The ticking you hear is coming from the carousel. It's...a clock...Leeloo doesn't really understand what it is. No one does. The Deities just say it's ticking down...uhm--the fountain in misery square, people say you can see your worlds in it, but...it lies alot. The forest you should stay out of, it's--full of monsters, and it's very very dangerous...there's a beach though!" She grinned, leaning on her hands.

"That's where Leeloo lives! On a ship, with the Captain. You should come visit her. She will help you find a place to live, ena?"

"Actually, I'd like to find a place for Denny first," Jim told her as he wrapped his hands around his coffee. "If we're going to be here awhile, and it's not safe outdoors ... "

"Uhm...she is not sure if there are any stables here." She looked out the window at the pretty animal. " Buuut...I am sure you can find somewhere to keep him....perhaps ask the deities if you may build something. A few of them are nice...kind of...oh! There is Xanandu. The gardens. It's -beautiful- there. Some people just live there."

The gardens might do, at least for a little while. Jim sipped his coffee and thought for a moment. "What else do I need to know?"

Leeloo thought for a moment, twisting a dread of orange hair in her fingers...

"..Weeell...there's the Underground. It's full of even more monsters than the forest. So don't go down there. There are vampires, undead, werewolves, pirates, witches, wizards, and all kinds of people here. They're very very real, and some of them aren't very nice. Also, there are the curses. Like today. It was -snowing- yesterday, ena? Now it's hot today...it may go away by tomorrow, but not now. Curses..happen all the time. Sometimes, for a long time. Weird things happen, like...like--! Once, everyone had things on them that had to do with their names! Leeloo's name means, uhm, how say...stones. And Leeloo was covered in jewels all day. That one was fun!" She giggled a little...then sobered some.

"Some of them, though...they can turn people into things, or make them say and...and think things..."

"I guess I'll have to take your word for it. I've never seen some of the things you're talking about. They're not supposed to exist. Curses, monsters, witches ... They're all superstitions, or they're supposed to be. The minister might say different on a few counts."

He glanced outside, at Denny waiting patiently in the sunlight, and frowned. "You said it was snowing yesterday. Is this the season for it? It's summer back home."

She nodded with a smile. "It's December here! Nearly Christmas. Leeloo has never celebrated Christmas before, and it should be fun! Everyone is excited, and planning for it..."

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