01 - OPEN

[zeroisafox]

Characters: Zero and anyone and everyone
Setting: His room (204), floors 3, 6, and 10, if you want any floors under 10 I didn't specify, I'm game, too.
Format: Prose to start, then I'll match commentors'.
Summary: Zero is new as well and wandering about!
Warnings: None for now I suppose.


Zero had woken up in a bed he didn't recognize. He naturally thought maybe his friends had dragged him to a hotel after he fell asleep walking again, and he thought that they could have chosen something much fancier than this, even on their limited budget. Then he thought where the heck were his friends even? And why had they put a collar on him? If this was a prank it was so far a really stupid one. Maybe the collar exploded and covered him in ink or sparkles or both if he tried to wrench it off, so he wisely let it be and started to go looking for them. Maybe he should have read those letters or gone and had some of that oatmeal or something--oh well, he was a busy man, here, he had no time for letters.

It soon became clear that where they were staying was definitely weird. He kept sniffing the air and walls and sometimes floor and it all definitely smelled weird, the sort of weird that made the fur on his tail do that floofy thing that was kind of embarrassing. But he continued on his way, padding through hallways and up stairs, calling out his friends names over and over, throwing out threats and tantrums if they didn't show up soon.

He idled for a bit on a floor that appeared to be an impressive library, trying to see what sort of caliber of romantic fiction they had available and getting sucked into the first chapter of one before remembering, oh right, need to find my jerk friends.

By the time he was on floor 6 he knew he was definitely in a very, very weird place. A floor with seemingly no end filled with a forest wasn't that normal, even by his world's standards. Not unheard of, but definitely not something you'd find in a hotel. He thought it was a possible place for his stupid friends to be hiding in, but he continued on up for a spell until he hit floor 10 and was boggled by the walls of water around him. He played around in there for awhile, getting a bit wet, before heading back down to floor 6 to explore the forest, the scent of animals and wrongness lingering even there, but no sign of his friends yet . . .

Comments

[evocation]

[Ahri spends a lot of time in the forest, for obvious reasons. She's pretty good at avoiding the monsters, too! Not many people come down here, though, because not many people are as awesome as she is, so when she catches sight of someone new, she pauses. And then gapes when she sees his tail. He's missing about eight of them, but he's the closest thing she's seen to someone like her. It could be a trick, though, maybe. Or he could be violent like the trolls here. But considering the way he's wandering around, she kind of doubts it. She approaches carefully anyway, though, doing her best to control her excitement. The way her ears are pricking forward are probably a dead giveaway, though.]

Hello.

[zeroisafox]

[He is bent over, face crammed in some shrubbery thinking he smelled something rabbity that could be Faux but turned out just to be a normal rabbit that stared back at him with a weird intensity that Zero--

He jumps with a little shout hearing the "Hello" behind him, then curses in pain as jumping out of the bush like that made a bunch of branches slap at his face. He turns around, rubbing his face, the action blocking his view of her for the moment.]

Hello? Who're you.

[evocation]

[She raises her eyebrows at that little... Display, then grins. What is this, he is ridiculous!]

Ahri. And you?

[zeroisafox]

My name's Zer-- [He stops the rubbing and sees who he's talking to. She really pretty but he's more focused on all those tails. He looks a bit scared now, actually. He finishes lamely:] --o.

[evocation]

[Now she looks confused, because what in the world does he have to be afraid of?]

You're new here, aren't you?

[zeroisafox]

Er, hrm, yeah, I guess. [He moves as if to walk backwards away from her but one step back reminds him of the shrubbery.] I think my friends checked me in when I was asleep, and they're lost somewhere.

[evocation]

[She frowns, raising her eyebrows. THERE ARE SO MANY QUESTIONS SHE WANTS TO ASK HIM UGHHH.]

No one "checked you in". We were kidnapped, for the most part.

[zeroisafox]

[He seems to be looking everywhere but at her, except from the occasional, furtive glance at her to take in her tails and the weird way she still had fox ears, her odd coloration...maybe she wasn't a kitsune? Or maybe she was one that just dyed her hair.]

Kidnapped? [He gasped, then finally looks at her dead on.] I'm not on the kitsune's mountain, am I? Why can't you guys leave me alone!

[evocation]

What?

[What the hell is a kitsune?]

I'm not the one who kidnapped you. I've been stolen away from my world as well.

[zeroisafox]

I know you guys think I'm stupid and all, but I'm not that stupid. You could've disguised yourself better or something! [Now that he's sure this is what's going on he's getting angry.]

[evocation]

[Which means she's getting defensive!]

I don't have any idea what you're talking about.

[zeroisafox]

I'm sure you don't! I wake up in a totally weird tower, my friends missing, the first person I meet is a kitsune. So not suspicious.

[evocation]

[She's staring at him so blankly.]

What's a kitsune?

[firststep]

[Yori loves the aquarium, though this is more because he's easily entertained and the water suspends on its own how cool is that. He's taken to just standing there if he wasn't preoccupied with other things because it's relaxing.

He's a little surprised to see someone else though, and it's someone he hasn't met before, either! Yori sees no harm in talking to him, though Zero may now have the vague sense of something staring straight into his brain. Sorry about that.]

Oh, hi.

[zeroisafox]

[Zero had been busy trying to catch fish, his arms plunged in deep, his nose nearly touching the surface. He's having real shit luck catching anything, though, which makes his tail flick irritably. He possibly feels that vague sense of something staring straight into his brain, but for the moment it just translates as an itch on his head. The thoughts Mister Yori would probably hear are about the stupid fish escaping him and thoughts about how he shouldn't be trying to catch stupid fish in the first place and find his friends--a slightly panicked thought. Also, he's kind of hungry.

He's startled a bit to hear a voice and jumps, turning his head to look at who it is, still elbows deep in water.]

Hello! Here to catch fish?

[firststep]

[-- Oh, a tail! Fox tail! This is something he is possibly familiar with and even if Yori knows they probably aren't from the same world, it's something familiar. Crows would have been a lot more relieving, but foxes will have to do.]

Oh, no. I just like watching all the fish and water. It's very pretty.

Though, are you new around here?

[zeroisafox]

It is very pretty! I've never seen anything like it--ow!

[One of the fish exacted revenge and bit his finger! For such a small fish it sure bit him good, blood leaking out.]

God, what chompers. Er, yeah, I am! I guess I checked in last night. [He sucked on the fingertip, looking the other man over curiously.]

[firststep]

[He's an albino with terrible dress sense who may or may not give a feel more like "kid" as opposed to "adult". And the way he talks seems to imply that he isn't quite there all the time, which is totally true.]

Oh, then. Have you eaten the oatmeal yet? Or you'll just throw up anything else you try to eat.

[zeroisafox]

[Zero's definitely squinting at his clothes, not that he has any room to be a fashion snob, wearing beat up shorts, a tank top and no shoes like he is.]

That's a weird thing to say. You an oatmeal salesmen or something?

[firststep]

[It's the hoodie. The hoodie kind of ruins everything else on Yori.]

Oh, well. No. I don't think so. I've never sold anything my entire life. But you're hungry and you're looking to catch fish, right?

[zeroisafox]

[The cyan and magenta don't help any either.]

Hm, the fish in here probably are too boney. [He rubs his chin at one that comes up close to stare at them.] Though I guess I could eat one, are we allowed to? [He's forgotten about the oatmeal again.] I'll get you one, too, if you want!

[firststep]

[Oh he can tell Zero's forgotten about the oatmeal.]

Gave you eaten the oatmeal? ...'Cause you'll starting throwing up and stuff if you try to eat anything else before you do. But fish would be nice.

[No Yori, forget that you're supposed to give some context. This totally doesn't sound out of left-field really.]

[zeroisafox]

Seriously, dude, if you're going to try to sell oatmeal you're gonna need a better sales pitch than that. [Context would be helpful, since he didn't bother to read the letters. Who has time to read letters? He looks back at the wall of water, tail wagging eagerly.] Any in particular you want?

[firststep]

...But I don't sell oatmeal.

[Yes Yori focus on that. Totally useful.]

And it's true. This place kind of does that.

[He goes back to look at the wall of water along with Zero.]

...How about that one? [Gesturing to a little yellow fish over there!]

[zeroisafox]

[He just ignores all the oatmeal talk with a mental eyeroll. He glances at the fish he's gesturing at.]

Don't have a big appetite, huh? Okay, let's give this a shot. [He inhales deeply and jumps right into the water, dogpaddling fiercely for the yellow fish.]