dragon child

"I’m… not sure how I got here. My parents aren’t here, either… but that’s normal, for me." At least a year now, or something like that, her sense of time had never been good, but that was besides the point right now. Not having family around without warning wasn’t exactly what most people would call normal, and as relieved as this boy seemed, he had to have at least a little panic left over in him. That simply would not do.

Why did he feel like he was suddenly so far away from them?

When the girl then offered to help him search, Zy felt a little taken aback. He felt surprised, though the emotion was diluted in his expression and laced with mild skepticism. It was a neutral kind of feeling--he was glad to have some help, though he wasn't sure how much help she'd actually be. Or what kind of help she herself might need.

"...Sure. If you want to," he said after a pause. "Thanks." Perhaps a touch of embarrassment was seeping in now that he'd become more aware of himself, because the emotional compulsion to speak was beginning to ebb. He scuffed his foot nonchalantly against the ground. "I don't really know where to look, but I guess we can head downtown." Maybe his parents were working? Damn... too bad he didn't have his cellphone on him.

Her sense of direction was long since underdeveloped, but wandering the streets hadn’t gone too badly for her back in Kairos. If this truly was Paralia—and it had to be, of this at least Madotsuki was sure—wandering aimlessly was even less of a danger. Smaller scapes meant more defined borders, which would have been unfortunate, under any other circumstance, but she wasn’t about to be picky on unfamiliar territory.

Strange. She never gave this much logic to her wandering before. Probably also circumstantial, she assumed.

As her luck would have it, the search for answers came to her almost instantly. Once she had locked the front door of this strange new house with a key she never remembered having, Madotsuki barely had time to look down the block before she had been stopped. It was a boy around her age, it looked like, and one with an air of panic that was too great for her to ignore.

Zy let out a breath and jammed his hands in his pockets. "Ah, kind of," he said, offhandedly, trying to phrase an explanation in his head; "My family does." Or, did. "I actually live in Kairos as well. My parents wanted me to attend school there, so I stay in an apartment and come back to Paralia on breaks."

It was more information than she'd probably wanted in answer, but it wasn't as though he'd shared the full truth of his situation--he thought it better not to mention that he wasn't technically supposed to be here on break yet, or that when he'd gone to bed last night he'd still been in his flat at Kairos. He could look into that later. Right now, however, he had something else to search for...

Something was amiss.

Of course, if you weren’t Madotsuki, that would have been rather hard to tell. Her room wasn’t the most furnished room for a girl her age, and she liked it that way. To a casual observer, it would only appear that she had tidied up whatever nonexistent mess she had made. Put those spare cushions back inside her closet. Unplugged her Famicon and set it away. Small things, but normal things.

Normal, yes, if you weren’t Madotsuki.

The brunette may have been fairly aloof, but she was nothing if not attentive to her more intimate surroundings. Even the floorboards sounded different as she walked across the floor to her door. Before she had even opened it up, she was well aware that this was not her apartment building; the hall outside her door was the hall to a normal, two story house. The only thing that seemed remotely familiar was that her parents weren’t anywhere to be seen. She doubted they would be outside this house, after all. But then again, what was outside this house? Before Madotsuki could really contemplate any ideas further, her legs were already moving to the front door, her hand turning the knob and—

"—Ah." Paralia. Curious.

Well. There was no point in staying here that she could see. And she had wanted to come back to Paralia after the flower festival sometime ago. If she didn’t take this opportunity, regardless of how random it was, it would have been terribly stupid of her.

There was a moment of blissful quiet before Zy realized with a jolt that classes were not yet out for summer. He jerked his head up off the pillow. It was Monday morning, and he had school--a couple more weeks of school, in fact.

So why wasn't he waking up in his apartment in Kairos?

It was unnerving, climbing out of bed and wandering the empty house. Neither his parents nor his sister were in their bedrooms. The complete lack of others made everything seem eerily still, as though the entire town's populace had disappeared, as though he were the only one left alive--only human, since Kiyoshi seemed to be in place. Zy's heart fluttered nervously. It was silly, considering the impossibility of those circumstances being reality, but he was anxious to check outside.

The familiarity of the quiet, sunlit street helped ease his mild panic. It only took a moment to glance out his door and find another living, breathing person; someone seemed to have stepped out of a house a few doors down. It wasn't anyone he could recognize, but his chest flared with relief nonetheless. He barely registered making the decision to ask around for his family until he was opening his mouth to shout. 

Have you always wanted our muses to meet, but didn’t know how they would first interact? Send me one of the following ice breakers so we can embark on our roleplaying adventure!

"Good morning, sorry I’m late!"

"I’m not late am I?"

"I don’t think we’ve met before…"

"You look familiar, have we met?"

"Do I know you?"

"Sorry! You dropped this!"

"Oh, sorry I thought you were someone else, I didn’t mean to hug you!"

"Watch where you’re going!"

"Are you okay? You didn’t fall too badly did you?"

"I should have said something earlier, I’m-"

"I’ve seen you around, I’ve just never had the guts to say hi."

"You must be new…"

"Do you need a hand?"

"Have you just moved in?"

"If you want me to show you around, I don’t mind helping."

"I saw you from across the room and I had to say hi."

"I wouldn’t buy that if I were you."

"Do you need some help?"

"Is this yours?"

"Sorry, I’m not from around here, do you know where the nearest pharmacy is?"

"Hey, have you got change for a note?"

"Want some gum?"

"Ah, sorry. I’ll move my bag, this seat is free."

"Careful!"

"Not every day you meet someone with such a smile!"

"Thanks for holding the door open for me!"

Sure! Don’t let the scary appearance let you think otherwise! This potion will totally cure you from that illness! As long as you can bear the smell that is. Nyahaha!