Closed

[oneaftermidnight]

When; February 12
Rating; PG
Characters; Jim oneaftermidnight and Estelle 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.

Comments

[firstaid]

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.

[oneaftermidnight]

"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...

[firstaid]

“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.