tampered | Closed

When; February 12
Rating; PG
Characters; Jim

firstaid
Summary; Jim just got here and doesn't know what to make of it.
Log;

The last thing Jim remembered was laying in bed, trying to fall asleep, keeping one ear open for the sound of a balloon floating over his house and the witch dropping a new coat of her horrible paint. Now, he just blinked. This wasn't his room. This wasn't his house. This wasn't even his town as far as he could tell. But as he looked around, all he saw were the types of things that one might see at a circus, or...

A carnival.

They got me, he thought. It was all he could think. The witch came back as soon as he was too hard asleep to notice, and before the night was through, they had done... something. Something he couldn't even figure out. It wasn't the carnival he knew. He didn't see the Illustrated Man or the Skeleton or the Dust Witch. He didn't see anything he recognized. He looked around him, wide-eyed, searching for some clue, but there were none. There was nothing familiar.

Where was he? Where was Will? Where were the people who--

They weren't here. And if they were the ones who brought him here...

That was an opportunity. The second he had that thought, he picked a direction and ran. Maybe it would be useless. Maybe they were watching him the whole time. But maybe he could escape, get somewhere safer, and then figure out what happened and what they did with Will. If they did anything with him. It wasn't his house they'd marked. Maybe Will wasn't here at all, wherever here was.

Jim wasn't sure what he thought about that.

But either way, he ran. He ran not knowing where he was going or even exactly what he was running from. But only people who are running from something bother to turn and look behind them, and Jim had just the horrible luck to do so right in time to not notice he was about to crash into someone.

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The Underground was one place she was told she was never allowed to go, at least by herself. But curiosity finally bested her. Taking up her sword and shield, she left the house, making sure no one had spotted her, since if they did, her chances of getting down there would have been slim, if not impossible. She would be okay, after all she knew how to use a sword, and if she got hurt, well, she can heal herself. Obviously, they have absolutely nothing to worry about. She will come back unharmed, and best case scenario, they won’t even know where she went!

Down to the Underground she went, looking for the monsters she knew that Judith had slain. On the lookout, she definitely had kept looking up, though her eyes may have glanced down for the ocassional snake. However, it was during a time that she had been studying the ceiling when she heard footsteps, fast ones at that, but she didn’t catch whatever it was fast enough to dodge as a child ran straight into her.

Oof!

But she wasn’t hurt, though sent tumbling backwards on to her bottom. Finally seeing who had run into her, she noticed it was a child. Crawling up to him, she asked, “Are you okay?”

Though before he could answer, she was already casting a healing spell on him just in case he got any cuts or bruises from that fall.

He likewise bounced backwards and landed on the ground not far away from her, wincing slightly, and then regaining his previously scheduled terror. Why hadn't he been paying more attention to where he was going? When she moved closer to him, he skittered backward on his hands, not quite getting enough balance back to stand up and run away again.

Then she did something. Nothing bad that he could tell, but something weird and shiny and unlike anything he had ever seen before. Which shocked him just enough that he paused and actually looked at her, watching him with what seemed to be very genuine concern. And she had asked if he was okay...

He stopped trying to get away and just blinked at her, obviously confused, still keeping one ear open for the footsteps of anyone who might have been running after him from a moment before.

"What did you just do?"

“I cast a healing spell on you.”

She inspected him to see if there were any bruises or scratches, but there appeared to be none. Either her healing spell worked or he wasn’t injured in the first place. Either way, she was satisfied with the result. Standing up herself, she made sure she had a firm grip on her sword and shield as she looked around for any monsters that might be down here.

“It’s dangerous here. Come with me, let’s get out of the Underground for now.”

Her curiosity regarding this place could wait for now since she didn’t want an unarmed boy to be running around in such a dangerous place. In fact, she’s rather glad that she found him.

“I don’t believe I have seen you before. My name is Estellise.” Her expression is soft, welcoming, far from judging, and just wanting to be helpful.

At that reply, he gave her a look like maybe she was speaking Greek. She cast a spell? He would have assumed that was a joke if she hadn't said it so earnestly. Even after all the weird things he'd seen at the carnival, he wasn't inclined to believe in magic. Not that kind, anyway.

He stood up as well, clearly more relaxed than he had been before, though he watched her with wary eyes.

"I'm," there was a pause long enough to be conspicuous, "Simon." It wasn't his name, and a sufficiently observant person might know that from the way he said it. She seemed nice enough, but appearances could be deceiving, and he had reason to be cautious.

He wanted to ask her where this place was, and what she knew about Mr. Dark and all the rest of them, but he got distracted by a more currently present curiosity.

"Why do you have a sword?"

She wasn’t sure whether to believe that was his real name as he said it, but she wasn’t going to say anything. At least she had something to call him by in case she needs to call out to him. She looked around some more, not spotting any monsters for the time being, but was still on her guard in case one decided to suddenly attack her from nowhere.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Simon. “ There’s a bit of a pause as she figures how to answer his question. “Well, it’s dangerous down here, as I had mentioned. I’ve been told there were monsters, so I wanted to make sure I was fully prepared.”

Of course she had ability to use artes as well and could attack such monsters with light magic, but if one got in close range… well… magic wouldn’t do her really well, and a pow hammer would only buy her so much time.

"Monsters?" He sounded skeptical. The only monsters he'd ever run across were metaphorical ones, and the made-up ones that used to live under his bed. A sword and a shield would probably be good enough weapons against the carnival freaks, but he guessed that wasn't what she was talking about. Nice as this girl seemed to be, she was making very little sense.

Maybe... maybe the carnival people had already gotten to her and done something to her mind somehow? That's the only reason he could think of for anyone to be talking so seriously about spells and swords and monsters.

"Hey." If they had gotten to her, then... "Do you know Mr. Dark? Or Mr. Cooger?" Then again, if they had done something to her, maybe she wouldn't even remember...

“I’m afraid I’ve never heard of them.”

Possibly someone from his world. Does… he even know he’s in a different realm? Perhaps that should be the first thing she should explain, and would also explain his confusion. “Simon, where do you believe you are right now?”

She was serious about her question, not really seeing that it could possibly make her seem more insane in his mind. Walking a little bit further, she had an attentive ear for anything that might come their way.

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