oo1: actual intro!

[cursedtolive]

[action - around town in the afternoon]
[There's a small little boy walking around town. A flat cap pulled down over his eyes, and a brown jacket even in the middle of July. His outfit choice looks a couple decades out of date, too, although the clothes are definitely from the right era. Fashion statement?

Seemingly lost in his thoughts, Czeslaw Meyer-Stanfield is not paying much attention to where he is going. He passes by houses, by shops, by people. He might accidentally bump into people, at which point he will blink the surprise away and smile sheepishly, with a natural-sounding]

Oh...! Oh, I'm sorry [mister, or miss]. I guess I wasn't watching where I was going. I didn't mean to run into you. Good afternoon!

[action - 459 Stone Street]
[Nope. Nope. Nope nope nope. He can't handle this family arrangement. His "mother" won't let him hole up in his room, though, so he's sitting in a chair in the corner of the front room watching the door so he'll never be surprised by his "father"'s homecoming.]

Comments

[railtracer]

Pretty much.

But at one point they were as normal as you an' me.

[cursedtolive]

[He looks at them again.] What happened to them?

[railtracer]

They got droned. Sometimes you come back from it an' sometimes you don't that simple. I guess you could say they went home, but who knows after what happened with that machine.

[cursedtolive]

A machine brought us here? [There are so many questions he wants to have answered, and so many questions he wants to ask and so many questions that he hasn't even thought of yet. He feels strange realizing that he's having a conversation with this red-haired man through these questions.]

Where.. where were you, anyway? You were working, right?

[railtracer]

I've heard people talk about people that leave power the machine that blew up, but I don't think it brought us here. I mean if it was there shouldn't be any new people comin' in right?

Yeah, they got me workin' overtime at the bar since I disappeared on 'em a couple weeks ago.

[cursedtolive]

[He mutters an "I guess so," but he didn't have anything to support or argue against Claire's idea with anyway.]

You disappeared?

Was it because of the carnival?

[railtracer]

Yeah. So you heard about that place, then? Well it saves me from going into detail.

Even if you payed me I wouldn't go back there again. If it exists anymore that is. Pretty sure the film burnt up in the projector.

[cursedtolive]

That's [a pause, trying to remember exactly what he was told earlier] one of those "trials" people here go through, after which they receive something from home as a reward.

[railtracer]

Pretty much. Though this one seemed a little different than the others I've been through. Like I said before I left half the place had holes in it. [Left as in totally obliterated, but even he doesn't believe that for a second.]

[cursedtolive]

[Czes doesn't even have to struggle to bite back a comment of "did you make those holes?" He can't muster have any desire to voice his cheekiness around this man.]

How long have you been here?

[railtracer]

A year. Actually spent my anniversary over there.

[cursedtolive]

That's quite a long time, but I'm supposing there are people who've been here longer.

... So? You said you've been through some of this town's "trials," so you've gotten some things back, right?

[railtracer]

I got a lotta things. Mostly useless stuff like clothes from back home.

[He thinks for a moment.]

Oh yeah I forgot.

[Claire walks out of the room for a moment and then come back. He seems to be holding something, something really sharp. Say hello to your scalpel Czes.]

[cursedtolive]

Huh?

[He follows Claire with his eyes, curious as to what he must have forgotten. But the curiosity is taken over by fear in a heartbeat when he sees the scapel and remembers what it was used for the (first and) last time it was ever held in the hands of this redhead.

He makes the sound of an alarmed, frightened creature and jumps to his feet, out of the chair, and starts backing up immediately.]

[railtracer]

So...you do remember it.

[Speaking in his "Rail Tracer" voice, he raises it and looks at it and shrugs.]

Heh...can't really say why this place would give somethin' like this. Especially since it was lost on the side of the tracks.

[cursedtolive]

Of course I remember it! [Well, he's registering his brain's screams of pain pain pain get away from it, at least. He knows Claire used it to cause him pain. What did he do, exactly, he can't remember clearly. But he knows it was bad.]

W-what are you going to do with it..?!

[railtracer]

I don't know. I could just give it back to you...or...

[He inches ever closer. He's really playing this up.]

[cursedtolive]

[No no no nonononono. Czes backs up even more until he finally hits the wall, then he stares wide-eyed like a cornered prey.]

D-don't... stop.

[railtracer]

[He stops and chuckles. His voice is also a lot calmer and laid back than it was a moment ago. Much like an actor going in and out of character.]

Really, Czes? You didn't think I would really cut you, did you? Didn't I already tell you that your a normal person now. And besides it's not like you're planning on killin' the whole town or anythin' like that.

So you want this back or not? Oh and only if you really promise not to attack me with it in my sleep or somethin'.

[cursedtolive]

[He's shaking like a leaf in a storm. He can feel cold sweat on his palms, and some trickling between his shoulder blades. He can feel his heart pounding, too.]

I... I'm not going to do anything like that. [Good. At least his voice can come out.] I-I want it back. I won't use it, not against you or anyone. [But he doesn't want that in your hands. Please.]

[railtracer]

Fine, then. Here you can take it. [He hands it to the frightened not!child (Handle first of course)]

[cursedtolive]

[He takes it, hesitating first before taking it quickly. He doesn't have anywhere to put it at the moment but he sits it on his lap, not feeling any safer with it.] Thank you...

Uh. Mr. Walken.

[railtracer]

So you've finally decided on what to call me, huh?

[cursedtolive]

U-uh huh. You don't mind it, right? [He's still plastered against the wall.]

[railtracer]

Nah, it's fine.

And you really do need to loosen up. Your a normal person now. If you keep this up you might actually die of a heart attack or somethin'. Not like I said that matters much here, but still.