8th Smile

[keep_smiling]

[Action A, 1670 Nelson: It's just another bright, cheery Mayfield afternoon when your local Smile Junkie goes to grab the mail and sees two boxes for him. How exciting! Not bothering to wait, he opens one right there. He lets out a thrilled "Yes!" and runs back to the porch to sit down and immediately play his Gameboy Advance. Looks like he left the other box in the open mailbox. Care to check out what's going on?]

---

[Action B: Hardware store, then back to 1670 Nelson: Looks like Elmer is stocking up on supplies. Planks of wood, nails, paint, things like that. He'll be bringing them home in his car and dumping them on the front lawn near that nice, big maple tree in the yard. Soon, he's sawing, hammering and nailing things to the tree. Seems like a treehouse is underway! Elmer cheerfully hums and sings to himself as he works. So serene, so happy. Feel free to interrupt. He might even flag you down as you walk by.]

Oi! Are you busy? Can you hold on to this for a moment?

Comments

[keep_smiling]

[Not to mention that Elmer makes the perfect drone when looking him over. Smiling like he does.]

[Elmer's holding some 2x4s he's cut to nal to the tree, to act as a ladder.]

Perfect! Now if you just--

...

Czes? Czes! I didn't know you were here now, too!

[cursedtolive]

[? ?? ?! ??!] Elmer?

[Czes stands stupefied for seconds. Now this is another face he hadn't seen in over two hundred years, but he's also a man he thought about just days before. Elmer C. Albatross...]

Y-you were here too?

[keep_smiling]

[And as far as Elmer knows, he was hanging out with Czes just a few months ago. Of course, that doesn't dampen his cheer upon seeing his friend.]

I've been here for a bit now, yeah. A few months. I had no idea you were here! Where are you living? Did anyone else get brought along? Maiza, or Sylvie?

[cursedtolive]

It's just me. I woke up here a few weeks ago.

[Living place, living place..] Er, I'm at Stone Street. I'm at Felix Walken's house.

[keep_smiling]

This is quite the coincidence, Who would think that, in all of time and space and the universe, that we'd both get brought here.

[cursedtolive]

[He pauses before laughing a little, smiling.] You're being a little dramatic, Elmer.

There was a one-in-two-billion chance that we'd get chosen out of all the people on our Earth, right? Multiplied by however many different "worlds" are connected to this city.

[He kids. He's thinking along the same lines as Elmer -- what a big freaking coincidence that he meets Elmer of all people here. Even Firo and the Rail Tracer were a big shock at first. ]

[keep_smiling]

Two billion? Make that six billion for me! Don't tell me we come from different times as well? You seem like in you're in good spirits, though. That's good. Very important to keep smiling in this place.

[cursedtolive]

Six billion? Really? [Holy crap!!] Y-yeah, I think we do. There are a couple more people from our earth, too.

What year are you from? You've got to be from the future. There weren't any years I remember where the population was that high.

[keep_smiling]

It was 2002. I had just got done seeing you, actually. I guess that means you're from way in the past then. What year?

[cursedtolive]

I'm a few seconds behind you. It was 1932 when I left.


... I was with you? Were you in Manhattan or something? Maiza was saying he wanted to find the others now that Szilard is gone, did he find you or something?

why does Children of the Bottle not specify a country. WHY.

[keep_smiling]

We were in the great white north! You all managed to find me there. Actually, you heading back to New York with Maiza, and the rest of us headed to Japan. Ah, that being Sylvie, Nile and myself, and we met Denkuro there.

Narita likes his somewheres, sob.

[cursedtolive]

You were able to travel with Nile? That guy was always hard to tame.

[keep_smiling]

He hasn't changed in that respect. But he came with us because he wanted to meet up with Denkuro too.

[cursedtolive]

So you found him in Japan, huh? He must have missed it. How is everyone, anyway?