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

[sinistralofdeath]

I too am uncertain of this… place. [She wants to say “village,” but she can’t bring herself to.]

[It’s comforting to have a child around. But it brings her grief to know that someone so young and innocent has been brought into this mess against his will. Why children?]

I recently awoke to find myself here as well, so I’m afriaid I won’t be too reliable, but… From what I know, this area is called Mayfield. [She cannot bring herself to mention that there appears to be no escape, no leaving Mayfield, or at least from her current knowledge. Hopelessness in children would be the worst thing the once-goddess could see right now.]

[macdaddy]

You, too? I don't get what the deal is! What's the point?

[like all kids, Mac has a talent for asking questions that aren't really answerable.]

[sinistralofdeath]

I wish I knew.

[Doesn't everyone wish they knew why they were here? The sheer despair the black-clad woman was holding back threatened to burst. But if her comrades had taught her anything, when things seem their worst, you must be strong for youth.]

[Crouching down, she looks the brown haired boy straight in the face.]

You were off to the school, yes? Do you need help finding it?

[macdaddy]

The lady at...my house gave me directions. But it wouldn't hurt to have some actual help, right?

[he didn't like calling it his house, but there wasn't much other way to describe it.]

[sinistralofdeath]

As I said I’m not too familiar here, but I’m sure it can’t be too difficult.

[After all, other children were passing by. If they got lost, they could just follow them, right?]

[Putting on a smile for him, they begin walking again with Erim at Mac’s side.]

So what’s your world like?

[Perhaps small talk will get his mind off things.]

[macdaddy]

It's normal, I guess?

[of course normal is pretty subjective.]

[sinistralofdeath]

[Normal for Erim means monsters running around, wave cores granting electricity and power to warriors, and airships ruling the skies, and wonders if the same goes for her young companion.]

I see… So then, would you happen to be an aspiring adventurer?

[Crossing her arms, she somehow doubts this.]

[macdaddy]

What? No, I'm just a regular kid!

[sinistralofdeath]

Then our worlds must be different. [Feeling a bit foolish at the assumption, Erim nevertheless will try to think of it as a learning experience.]

You don't even have creatures of magical proportions around?

[macdaddy]

Well, we have imaginary friends. They can be kind of magical.

[Mac doesn't seem to be all that bothered by it, so it's all good.]

[sinistralofdeath]

Imaginary friends. [Does he still believe in those things? Even children back home loved to invent fictitious best friends.]

Do you have any? [When the words leave her mouth, Erim remembers again that in his world, the creatures you imagine might become real if you think hard enough…]

[But the silver haired woman chortles at this. Imaginary friends? Really, Erim. Of course, she says this as she reflects on the fact that magical cubes generate everything in the place she's from…]

[macdaddy]

Just one. His name is Bloo, and we hang out every day after school--

[Mac started that explanation out with all the enthusiasm you would expect from an eight year old, but then he realizes that Bloo isn't here with him and his whole demeanor falls.]

--but he's not here and I'm really worried about him.

[sinistralofdeath]

Are you. [Looking at him, she feels a vague sense of unease. Why?]

…Is he in trouble?

[macdaddy]

Kind of...see, he lives in this foster home for imaginary friends, and if I don't visit him every day then he won't belong to me anymore and he might get adopted! I would never see him again!

[obviously this is a big deal to him.]

[sinistralofdeath]

[Either this child has a rather large imagination or, in fact, the imaginary friends in his world aren’t exactly “imaginary” in the traditional sense.]

That sounds like trouble to me. But surely if you’ve gone missing, everyone there will understand that it’s not out of a lack of love, but due to—

[“Due to being spirited away in Mayfield”? It’s too bizarre of a sentence for Erim to finish.]

[Spying lettering on a medium-sized building, the silver haired woman looks up. MAYFIELD ELEMENTARY].

It seems we’ve found the school.