one. choose your own adventure.

[macdaddy]

[ a. action inside 2239 Stevens Road ]

[Mac wakes up. Mac is wearing pajamas that he's never seen before in a room he's also never seen before.

He very carefully gets up, walks calmly to his bedroom door, and glances out into the hallway. Nope, he is definitely not in his apartment or at Foster's. He shuts the door again, digs around until he finds some clothes (that he's also never seen before, what does whoever lives here have against cargo?), gets dressed, opens his bedroom door again...

And starts to scream.]

AHHHHHHHHHHHHAHA! [Yep, he's opening doors and slamming them shut at random, running up and down the hallway like, well, a panicked kid. How appropriate!

In the midst of his screaming and opening/shutting doors, he can be heard shouting the following as well:]

Where's my mom? Where's my brother?! What's happening?? Where am I?!?

[ b. phone (open) ]

Okay. Okay. Not panicking. Ahhhhh. Why won't my number work. Why won't my mom's cell work. It's okay, Mac, pull it together...You're done panicking...

[He kind of wheezes into the phone. He has no idea who he's actually talking to.]

[ c. action on the mean clean streets (also open) ]

[Nothing to see here, just a morose and somewhat twitchy kid walking to school. His not!mom told him he had to go, and gave him a bookbag to carry with him that he hates purely on virtue of it not being his tried and true backpack, which he also couldn't find this morning. But he is basically done with panicking for now, at least.]

Comments

C - NOT THE RIGHT BLU(E). OH WELL.

[originalnumber]

Hey!

You're going to the same school it seems! Someone with blue skin and a bookbag of his own has not at all missed your obvious twitch, and seems to be walking beside and just behind you in mild worry.

"...Is something wrong?" ...Noooo Astral... He's just practicing for a play.

Of course something's wrong!

[macdaddy]

Hey, look, it's what appears to be an imaginary friend! At least that much hasn't changed.

Or at least that's what Mac thinks.

"Haha, what could possibly be wrong? Everything's...just great..." Yeah, he can't even keep up that sarcasm for long.

B

[battymadam]

Mac!!

[yes, that is all she's going to say. Give her a minute, she's surprised to hear from him!]

[macdaddy]

[hold the phone, that's a familiar voice!]

Madame Foster??

B

[mal_addict]

...Kid you might want to start breathing a little before you hyperventilate.

[macdaddy]

Before I hyperventilate? Before I hyperventilate? That is like, the least of my problems right now!

Phone

[hardhat_truckie]

Son, take a deep breath and stay calm. S'hard, but ya need ta do this before I can help ya.

Phone

[macdaddy]

Help me? [oh man, he suddenly sounds so hopeful.] Are you a police officer or a fireman or one of those guys that drives an ambulance?

c.

[crosseyed]

[[well, she doesn't recognize this little boy. not that... she knows very many of those, but she's seen them around, but not this one.

he doesn't look very happy. she speeds up, catching up in no time.

[Error: Irreparable invalid markup ('<i.time>') in entry. Owner must fix manually. Raw contents below.]

<small>[[well, she doesn't recognize this little boy. not that... she knows very many of those, but she's seen them around, but not this one.

he doesn't look very happy. she speeds up, catching up in no time. <i.time to make new friends hurray friends friends friends.</i>]]</small> Hello! Good morning!

[macdaddy]

[she is way too enthusiastic for Mac, at least the way he feels right now! he regards her with a less-than-impressed face.]

Uh, hi.

[phone]

[singlesynapsetheory]

Nothing here works. It's really boring.

[phone]

[macdaddy]

Is boring really the word for this??

[C, Action]

[sinistralofdeath]

[Now this is out of the ordinary—whatever “ordinary” can be considered for Mayfield, anyway. A young boy wandering the streets and looking nervous. She had simply been walking around, contemplating heading back to her apparent vocation she has had for five years according to the doll-like ones.]

[But the visible fear he shows is upsetting to Erim, who decides he isn’t one of those soulless children she sees around town and approaches him.]

A new arrival, I take it. Are you in trouble?

[macdaddy]

[In the same vein, Erim doesn't look like the drones posing as his parents, so Mac relaxes a little when he spots her.]

I think everybody's in the same trouble. I don't know what to do!

[other than go to school. at least that's a normal thing.]

[ Phone ]

[1_truth]

Oi. Calm down. Take deep breaths!

[ Phone ]

[macdaddy]

I am calm!!

[no, he obviously isn't.]

A

[littlechevalier]

[Oh well, there goes the whole effort of cleaning up in a quiet household. He's just watching you go through all those doors in a panic there.]

[macdaddy]

[eventually Mac notices that someone is watching him and freezes mid-dash, eyes wide.]

What is going on??

C

[derp_detective]

[Gumshoe is on his way to work and just happens to notice the rather glum kid plugging along the sidewalk. Always concerned about others, Gumshoe can't help to try and get his attention.]

Hey there, kiddo! What's wrong? You hate going to school that much?

[macdaddy]

[it's a relief to run into all these adults that aren't drones, Mac had worried at first about it.]

I don't have anything against school. I'm just having a really terrible day.

C

[kinship]

[There's another kid on the way to school; however, unlike Mac, he looks perfectly content with his book bag. His is blue, it's awesome.]

Hey!

[macdaddy]

[Mac stops walking to look for the person yelling at him, and gives a (somewhat less enthusiastic) greeting back in return.]

Hey.

C

[tsunkinesis]

[Oh school. Fun times except not really. Lili emerges from the house next door and is on her way to school too.]

Oh. I was wondering who was making that much noise next door. Let me guess, you're new here?

[macdaddy]

Oh, it was that loud? [well, that's embarrassing...] Uh, yeah. I'm Mac.

Do you live there? [he nods to the house she just left.]

2239 Stevens Road, on the front door

[bravabarber]

[Well, what was all that noise going on next door? Worried, Figaro heads over and knocks, just to check in case the town's doing something crazy again.]

[macdaddy]

[Mac wasn't going to get the door, except that his not!mom called him for to get that please, dear. and he's a little scared of her.

so slowly and with great trepidation, Mac opens the front door.]

Uh...hi.

c!

[enemyradar]

[Aw man. Poor kid. Rise will stop and spare a smile, concerned.]

Hi there. Are you new here?

[macdaddy]

[Mac stops to talk, as is only polite. even in this weird situation he remembers his manners! now that he's done panicking, anyway.]

Yeah, is it that obvious?

[no, Mac, everybody twitches like they think someone's going to jump out from behind a perfectly trimmed bush and attack them.]

C.

[hegemonstratos]

*Einhard blinked, looking over at a boy who was walking near her. He definitely didn't look like someone who was anything remotely comfortable here, that was for sure.

Maybe she should... try talking to him? That's what Vivio would've suggested she did, right?

Einhard tried to walk over to the boy for a second and opened her mouth... and then closed it. What was she really supposed to say here? Though of course, it was really obvious she had been planning on heading over to him now and that she stopped.

But this was silly? It wasn't like he'd be happy to have someone talk to him. Not if he was new and just got here.

Or was that just her reaction? Maybe she should say something after all.*

Umm... hello there. Did you just wake up here?

[macdaddy]

[Mac caught her hesitation and felt bad despite himself. maybe this person was shy?...]

Yeah, just this morning.

C

[returntosender]

[That morose look Mac wore had been identical to his a month ago... Hope couldn't just ignore the little guy.]

...Ah, hey. [He was so bad at starting conversation sometimes though. ]

[macdaddy]

[it's cool, Mac can handle small talk. small talk is normal and calming.]

Hey.