1st Spare - What Will I Do Without the Internet?

[reconstructs]

[Action; 5722 Cunningham Lane]

[There's a moment of shock when she wakes up, but realizing there's no immediate danger, the sensation passes. In any case, this is a strange situation.

Examining her room and area, she can't find any of her possessions. Was she kidnapped? This doesn't even seem like Japan though... and at such an important time too.

Oh, well.

In any case, Nico is wandering around the house calmly scoping the place out, though her quick movement belie some of her concern with the situation]

Hello? Anyone here?

[Phone]

[The first thing heard is a rather bored monotone voice of a young girl:]

Ah, oh no, what a frightening witch's barrier I seem to have fallen into.

Just kidding. It's pretty obvious this is something else... so who else is here? I don't really think I'm special enough to warrant kidnapping just me, so are the rest of you girls here? This is certainly an unexpected twist.

...I can't believe I'm using a phone with an actual dial on it.

[Action; Around Town]

[There's a young teenage girl being harassed by a pair of drone boys around her age. The reason? Rather than a dress, she's wearing shorts and a hat that clearly got swiped from some drone boy's closet. While the drones call her a tomboy and childish insults for not dressing like a girl, she just stares off with a bored look on her face.]

...you're really kind of annoying, huh?

Comments

[kingofshadows]

I'm from Unova. There are certain similarities between my world and those from which the majority of humans seem to hail - but yes. Pokemon would be the one noticeable difference.

[reconstructs]

Huh, weird thing. So like, a parallel universe sort of deal, is it?

[kingofshadows]

Not exactly. A separate universe altogether.

Two instances of Earth would be more along the lines of what you're looking for - and there are several dozen of those.

[reconstructs]

What a mess. Sounds like some kind of indiscriminate cross-over.

[kingofshadows]

Hm?

Television jokes aside, you'll find that this is less of a zany adventure tale and more of a horror movie.

[reconstructs]

Horror, huh? As much as I like those, I wouldn't want to be in one...

What's the horror aspect? This place seems pretty nice...

[kingofshadows]

That is the horror aspect. It seems very nice indeed.

[Grimsley's smile widens slightly as he finishes rubbing Krookodile down. The creature vanishes in a flash of red light.]

Hopefully, you're savvy about this kind of thing.

[reconstructs]

So what happens, does it transform at night? Is everyone secretly monsters? Are we taken away for experiments?

[kingofshadows]

Oh! You've guessed so quickly.

[If he had a cape, he'd be dramatically flourishing it now.]

Fair young maidens do have the most succulent blood.

[reconstructs]

Guess I better start carrying a stake and garlic~

[kingofshadows]

The last one was a bit more accurate, though.

[He makes his way towards her now that he's done with his task.]

Mayfield is a town of illusions. A good half of the inhabitants are husks with no souls - we call them drones. And every month or so, the... 'experiments' occur. They range from anything between actual mad experimentation to manipulating us into murdering each other. Not that it matters much, since death is more of an inconvenience than a tragedy.

[reconstructs]

[She raises an eyebrow at the last part]

Is that so?

[kingofshadows]

I've died... once. Almost twice. Some are in double digits by now.

[reconstructs]

It looks like it didn't stick. You just... resurrect?

[kingofshadows]

Indeed.

Which is why a large number of people believe what I mentioned earlier - that this may be entirely an illusion.

[reconstructs]

Like a weird dream, huh? Well, if that's the case, what can we do about it?

[kingofshadows]

Survive.

[reconstructs]

Seems easy if we can't die. [A wry smile]

[kingofshadows]

Not quite. ...Survive well.

[Leaving it a bit ambiguous, Grimsley steps inside the house and heads for the refrigerator.]

[reconstructs]

[She follows behind on light feet]

Ah, well if you're going to make it hard...

But between the "experiments", it's pretty peaceful?

[kingofshadows]

If you can tolerate the drones, it's downright boring.

[Breakfast is going to be cold cereal, it seems.]

[reconstructs]

Well, peaceful is boring, right? I'll take it, over being tortured, anyway.

[She's got no problem with that]

[kingofshadows]

If it's any comfort, they don't usually do repeats. I doubt we'll be seeing the torture again anytime soon.

[One for Nico, one for Grimsley. Feferi doesn't seem to be around yet, but he'll leave the cereal on the counter.]

[reconstructs]

I'm glad; that's an encore I wouldn't mind missing.

[She'll take a seat and start eating, idly waving her spoon as she talks]

So what do you do when not struggling to survive? I mean, aside from the experiments, life seems pretty cushy.

[kingofshadows]

I have a job as a police officer, actually. Mostly, this involves riding around aimlessly.

You will be required to attend school.