voice;

[earthy]

[It takes Terra a while to investigate his new little communicator device... and then a while longer to remember everything he was told about how to use the thing... but eventually he gets an audio recording going.]

Hm. That definitely did something. [Or he's pretty sure he got an audio recording going, anyway.] Yeah, looks like it's working now. Okay. Uh... Hello?

[There's a brief pause and then he clears his throat and starts again.]

Hello. My name's Terra. I'm new to this area.

[This whole situation is an unimaginably big problem in regards to the keeping of the World Order, and he is probably duty-bound to Do Something About It, but while he figures out exactly what one is supposed to do about a whole world full of people knowing there are other worlds out there, he'll just not contribute to the problem. You will get no acknowledgement that this is another world from him, no sir/ma'am.]

I was wondering if anyone's figured out why they're here? I've read a couple times now that it's just... an accident, some random happening, but I don't buy it. There's gotta be a reason this power has been bringing people to this place. Some purpose or purposes it means for us to serve?

[Another pause. What else was he meaning to ask? Oh, right.]

And does anyone know anything about the games played around here? Sports games, specifically. I was given a job as a sort of coach... [Wait, let him just read the job title off the paper-] An 'Athletics Counselor'. For troubled kids. I'm told I'll get some training for the job, but I'd like to go into it knowing as much as I can... and right now, I really don't know anything. [Ah.] Except that they don't use fruit as balls in any of their games.

[A good thing to know, that.]

That's about it, I guess. Thanks for your time.

[Now to remember how to turn this device off.]

Hope that worked.

Comments

Voice

[bindsthedead]

If there is a purpose, no one's bothered to inform us- although apparently there are powerful beings meddling in this world- like making an entire town appear that wasn't there before.

permavoice

[earthy]

[Terra's reply comes a while later. He figured out how to turn the device off! ... And then he figured out he needed to turn the whole thing back on. But hey, it looks like it worked and people can hear and reply to his message. This could really be a handy little communication tool.]

Maybe we're meant to figure out the reason or reasons on our own? It could even be different reasons for different people... It seems like the power's brought all different types here? Not just warriors or wizards or anything like that. From what I've seen, anyway.

[Hmm ponder ponder.]

What town are you talking about?

[bindsthedead]

Perhaps. I don't think anyone can say for sure- perhaps whatever's doing this has bad aim. [But enough about that.]

The town I'm talking about is Jeopardy. And if you're sensitive to such things, you might notice that it's also full of restless spirits. And there was a coded message there too. [It's all entirely too ominous and vague, and it sets Sabriel's teeth on edge- and she's worried about whatever's blocking those spirits from passing on.]

[earthy]

[Bad aim... Hard to believe some power capable of pulling people out of all different worlds and trapping them in this one could have bad aim. But maybe he shouldn't be so quick to dismiss the possibility there's something random or accidental about their being here.

On the subject of the town, though...]

I hadn't heard anything about that place. Did anyone figure out what the message was?

video

[continuousgroaning]

I've been here for a year and a half and haven't figured out why I'm here yet. So don't worry if you don't see it right away.

permavoice

[earthy]

[Look at the tiny moving picture -- ah, video -- of whoever this is answering him. He's gotta try that option out sometime.

... But not right now because no one needs to see the distressed and disappointed faces he's making.]

A year and a half? [Sigh.] That's a long time. I was hoping to get it figured out in maybe... a week or two. If no one could just tell me.

[Like a month tops would've been great. Ideally including time spent fulfilling whatever purpose the Porter had in mind.]

What have you been doing for a year and a half? Just... being a hero, like the rulers of this place have asked?

[continuousgroaning]

Yeah. It IS a pretty long time to be stuck here, but... it's not been all that bad. And to be fair, I AM only 14, so I'm still deciding what I want to do with my life. So maybe you'll have better luck finding out the reason you're here.

I've just been trying to live my life as normally as possible- you know, go to school and cook for a hobby and that kind of thing. Nobody will punish you if you decide not to do the hero-ing... thing.

[earthy]

Right, I'll keep that in mind.

[He's probably doing the hero-ing thing, though. It's the living 'normally' part that's going to be tricky.]

Did they put you in a house with other people, too? Or with anyone else brought here from where you're from?

[He has to ask, she's only 14 and, even though it sounds like she's settled in and has things figured out for herself, that's a little young to be stuck in a new and different world without some kind of supervision or guidance or support...]

video;

[plentystrong]

I swear, someone told me something about some goddess with an attitude problem.

permavoice

[earthy]

[Another video reply. All right, this device is kind of neat. Easily talk to people from far away(-ish), see some of their faces on the screen...]

Goddess with an attitude problem...? Involved with the power bringing us here? Or... she is that power?

[plentystrong]

[ Oh, a switch to voice. Okay, cool. Catra doesn't really care either way. ]

I think it was that last one? I don't know, I kinda got a lot of info piled on me right off the bat.

[earthy]

Huh. There's definitely a lot of information to take in here. All the history of this place, what's going on...

[And now some goddess? He should probably look into that, it's the best lead he's got so far for figuring out their purpose or purposes.]

Have you been here long?

voice

[happylocksmith]

You know, you could try soccer, that's a pretty cool game. Or frisbee! Or this one time I played a game called Struggle, it's where you have to knock more balls off the other person to win.

[Oh but wait... is it really all that responsible for troubled kids to beat each other up with foam bats? Maybe not.

...also this guy's voice sounds kinda familiar... somehow.

Huh.]

Um... why would you wanna use fruit as a ball? Isn't that kinda messy?

permavoice

[earthy]

[Huh.]

Soccer, frisbee, and struggle... [Let him just scribble the suggestions down on a piece of paper. 'SOCKER', 'FRIZBEE'...] Could you describe them for me a little? If it's not too much trouble. Like how do they attach balls to people in the struggle game?

And yeah, you'd think fruit would be too messy to use as balls, but they had a whole game about hitting fruit balls into nets in this one place I visited. It might have been magic fruit they were using.

[He hadn't given the giant, non-bursting, magically-vanishing fruit balls much thought, honestly. He doesn't plan to now, either. Waves hand it must have been magic.]

[happylocksmith]

Sure! With soccer you get a ball and two teams and the aim of the game is get the ball into the other team’s goal and the team with the most points wins. And then frisbee, that’s real easy, you have this disc that flies when you throw it and you catch it and throw it back to each other. It’s a great game to play at the beach.

And struggle... hmm... let me think.

[He pauses for thought for a little.]

So they cover you in sticky balls from head to foot, and they give you a bat, and then you've got to whack as many of them off your opponent as you can with the bat while they're trying to knock yours off you. It's a bit crazy but it's a lotta fun, I bet it'd be really good to play with kids, just as long as they didn't take the soft bit off the bat and really start wailing on each other. That wouldn't be much fun for anyone.

[But even though you can't see it Terra, there's some serious excitement at the two little words 'magic fruit'.]

Magic fruit sounds awesome! I wish I could play with something like that, this one time my friend Wakka threw a rotten paopu at me and it was gross, it got stuck in my hair and it smelt terrible. You could throw a whole watermelon at someone.

[Somewhere out there, Wakka should be afraid.]

[earthy]

[Terra adds a few quick notes to his paper. Someone else recommended going to a library for more information on different games, and he intends to take that advice, but it's good to have some idea what he'll be looking up. Team sports are probably best for the kids. Frisbee... Well, it might have its uses? Even if he doesn't think there's a beach nearby.

Struggle really piques his interest, though.]

They attach the balls all over you? What do they use for that?

[Can't be glue or anything too strong. Magnet magic, maybe? ... That'd probably be a more complex spell than he's capable of casting.

This person's (kid's?) enthusiasm for possible magic fruit fighting gets a chuckle out of him.]

Heh. They did use whole watermelons. As well as whole apples, bananas, pineapples, and grapes. What are paopu?

[He never did learn the name of a certain, special fruit.]

video

[girlybruiser]

Hello, Terra. I'm Haru.

[ It's always polite to start with introductions after all. ]

No one has been able to figure out what exactly our purpose is here, but I'm starting to believe chaos is really the point to it all.

permavoice

[earthy]

[Manners! Yes, good.]

Haru. Nice to meet you.

[... Can he really say 'meet' in this case, just talking to someone through a little machine device?]

Or make your acquaintance.

[Yeah, that's probably better.]

What do you mean by chaos, exactly?

permavideo

[girlybruiser]

I'm not sure there's a specific reasoning behind Lachesis bringing us here. I think these Fates simply pull whomever. There are so many of us, but not all of us have common ground.

video;

[cognitivism]

Welcome, Terra. It seems most everyone else has mentioned that there's no solid reason as to why we are here, so I'll address the sports question.

There are a multitude of different spots. You could try Football which is a more contact oriented sport, or soccer which has less contact, but more challenge with out the use of hands and very team based. Baseball is relatively easy to learn, though depending on the children you may not want to give them a bat.

The local library should have material for all of them.

permavoice

[earthy]

Thanks. Yeah, unfortunately, it seems like I've got my answer there.

[He probably should've known it wouldn't be that easy. Oh well.]

Football, soccer, and baseball... [He's already got 'socker' on his list of sports to check out, but he'll jot down football and baseball, too.] I didn't even think about checking a library for game information. That's a good idea.

[Now to find a local library.]

Do you play any games yourself?

[cognitivism]

I do not. My hobbies were more solitary in nature. I was more into cycling and chess.

[ Which honestly says a lot about him. He really should try a sporting activity one day. ]

Which city are you living in currently? I could see if I can find a map where the local library is for you?

voice;

[storyseeker]

I used to think that being here meant a second chance...or maybe, some extra time we wouldn't have back home that lets us reflect, get a new perspective on things.

[She makes a 'hmm' sound for a moment; apparently, the question's got her reflecting some more right now.]

I still believe that, I just don't know if it's a second chance some higher power intended, or one we make for ourselves. I might be kinda biased because I used to think I was going to die in about five minutes when I got ported in.

permavoice

[earthy]

[... Ah.]

A second chance or extra time, huh?

[He was really hoping someone would just say they discovered everyone was brought here to fight off some monster or some form of darkness. That it'd be something relatively simple, something he could just... go do and get done and then... Well, he's not sure what would come next, in that theoretical scenario. With the World Order problem here, with his friend being here but not remembering anything from before...

The possibility this person brings up, though... It's definitely something to think about sometime, uncomfortable as those thoughts are bound to be.

How about we just talk about you in the meantime, ma'am?]

You were in some pretty serious trouble back in your home?

[storyseeker]

[It's a lot to think about. Overly philosophical, too, or maybe just sentimental. She's not blind to that. She still believes it, though.]

Mmm, I was. I'm a journalist, and I got a little too close to the story when I was tracking a warlord with his own private army. When I was ported in, I thought I might be bleeding to death after a grenade went off practically in my face.

[She's quick to reassure, because she knows how reactions to this story go.] I wasn't, though. A friend was ported in after me, from later on, and it turns out I'm gonna be fine. But I didn't know that for about a year.