Welcome, One and All

[revenancemods]

Characters: Everyone!
Content: Welcome to Traverse Town.
Location (including world): Traverse Town, 1st District
Time of Day: Any - subthreads may take place at different times
Warnings: None so far
Notes: This is an open thread: anyone may tag with anyone else. Tag around and have fun!

Well. This certainly wasn’t what you were expecting.

This part of the town is lit with street lamps and shop signs, illuminating the wooden structures and cobblestone streets. If it weren’t for the neon signs, you’d swear you’d landed in a small European town several centuries back.

The Moogle floating near the staircase leading up to the town’s item shop doesn’t help that illusion either. You may have already spoken with it; it’ll tell you where you are and that you’re in the realm of dreams, give you your starter package, and help you make your first Dream Eater. It will not, however, tell you how to get home. Sorry, but that’s not information it has, kupo.

Now that you’ve taken care of that, what will you do next? That is up to you.

Comments

[unrecovered]

[How in the hell was he going to do this? There's no way this should be possible-]

[But somehow it is, and North is here, and Wash is going to have to deal with his own confusion somehow.]

Yeah, it's me. Hey, Theta.

[Not sounding utterly confused might be a good start. Greeting Theta like nothing was out of the ordinary might be another. He took a seat next to North, pausing at the question about the armor. He hadn't been in blue too long - it was still taking him time to get used to being a different color. He gives a noncommittal shrug - it's not an answer, not really, but it might buy him time to actually think of one.]

Hell of a place, huh.

[It's not the question he wants to ask, but he doesn't think he can find the words for any questions he really wants to know the answers to at the moment. He might be able to once he gets used to the past staring him in the face - his past, for once, not somebody else's.]

[In the meantime, the bat has flown off his shoulder to go say hi to the cat. It's always nice to meet a new Spirit!]

[brodakota]

Hello

[Theta sounds a bit distant and his hologram is dimmer than usual, but Washington is a friendly face, and that's always a good thing.]

Yeah, no kidding. Though, I'm still not sure how I even got here. Unless this is some weird side effect of the AI that no one told me about.

It's not!

[North nods. He knows, he's just teasing Theta. And don't think he didn't notice that avoidance Wash. York was not in any mind to play a prank on you or anything like that. He settles for watching the bat go over to his cat.]

That one yours?

[unrecovered]

[It's been a long time since he's seen Theta (except for those few seconds with the Meta, but that Does Not Count), but he doesn't remember the little AI being this down - not normally, at least. What had happened before North got here, and how could he ask without letting on just how different things were with him?]

You probably fell asleep, like I did.

[He shrugs again, except this time it's because he doesn't have a better answer. His AI certainly gave him vivid goddamn dreams, and he was not going to talk about them.]

Yeah, I guess so. I still don't really know what to make of these things.

[brodakota]

I wouldn't be surprised, but I don't remember that part. If this is a dream, I'm probably passed out in a hallway right now. I didn't even make it back to my bunk.

[He'd just left the observation room after everything happened, needing to get away. Now that a bit of time had passed, he found he could laugh at the image of him sprawled out in the hallway.]

Neither do I. They're sort of cute, if nothing else.

[Theta is watching them curiously.]

[unrecovered]

[Okay, yeah, the image of North passed out in a hallway somewhere is pretty dang funny.]

Or you could be sleepwalking. Does that make Theta your autopilot?

[It's almost too easy to slip back into the old camaraderie, like years and years of hell never happened. He probably shouldn't get used to this, but...well, it's tempting.]

Yeah, and the bat's not a bad fighter either. We ran into some unfriendly ones on the way here. Turns out it's pretty protective.

[The bat in question squeaks at the Pricklemane, then flies off towards the new person, inspecting North and the glowy little person on his shoulder. If Wash is talking to him, then he must be important, and the bat is curious!]

[brodakota]

What do you think, Theta? You wouldn't let me walk into any walls would you?

No, I wouldn't. But, I'd probably just wake you up instead.

[Of course the bat floating around North's head doesn't help, and Theta starts hiding behind his helmet.]

Well, good to know they're not just pets then. But it's not going to hurt Theta, is it?

[unrecovered]

No. It's not.

[Wash's voice is flat, but there's a clear warning in his tone. The bat picks up on it and backs away from Theta, coming to rest on Wash's shoulder instead and squeaking in irritation. It wasn't going to hurt anybody! It just wanted to meet the new people, that's all!]

[It doesn't stay irked for long, though - within a few seconds, it's settled down, and after a few more it starts rubbing against Wash's helmet like a cat. For now, he ignores it.]

Have you found out anything about this place? The pom-pom bear wasn't very helpful with the specifics.

[brodakota]

Not a whole lot. I just sort of needed to sit down the moment I got here. I mean, with everything that happened, I needed a break.

[He sighs.]

I just hope everything's alright back home.

[Don't mind the pricklemane sneaking up to take a look.]

What about you? Other than bad versions of these guys?

[unrecovered]

[But what had happened? There wasn't too much he remembered that could really take North out; he also didn't look injured, which narrowed it down considerably. It could be the Allison incident - that would explain Theta's anxiety too.]

Yeah. Are you holding up okay?

[He shrugs.] I did some recon, got the lay of the land, but not really.

[brodakota]

Yeah, I'm alright. Just tired is all. It turned out be a lot longer day than I thought it was going to be.

[And winding up in a dream world was not how he wanted to end it.]

So is there anything note worthy here? Locals have anything to say?

[unrecovered]

And then this happens. [Yeah, it's been a pretty long day for him too.] If we need a place to rest for a while, I think I saw a hotel the next district over. And who knows - maybe we'll wake up back on the Mother of Invention. [Which is a white lie for Wash and would be the biggest fucking head trip ever if it actually did happen...but North doesn't need to know that.]

I haven't really talked with the locals much, unless the bear counts. From what I've seen so far, this place just looks like nineteenth-century Switzerland or something, except with neon. And weird animals.

[brodakota]

A hotel would be great! I haven't stayed in one of those in a long time, and we could probably use a little luxury right now.

[And waking up on the Mother of Invention would be an added bonus, if it happened.]

Yeah, it's definitely not something I've ever seen before. Guess we got our work cut out for us, searching for information and the like.