[ We find Seylin and Tia standing in all their semihuman glory at the gate to a park, with an unconcsious park attendant, looking at skyscrapers and cars! ...wait, what? Skyscrapers and cars? ] [ No, they don't quite understand what's going on, either. ] [ Session Start! ] * Tia continues to gape at the stream of moving vehicles and tall towers. She glances down at the unconscious park attendant she caught in her arms as he fell. Um...what should we do about him? Think he's okay? Let's go put him on the bench back there. I think he fainted from shock. Maybe wherever we are, there just aren't many people who look like us. * Tia nods, heaves the man over her shoulder, and makes for the bench. Can't say I've ever met anyone else who looked like us, though. * Seylin follows. "That's true." So I wonder... are we in another canyon that's very far away, or another world entirely? [ Seylin may be right. A woman and a child walk by as they consider what to do. The child looks at Tia and says, "Mommy, mommy! That lady has a big, winged tushie." The woman merely says "It's not nice to stare, Billy," and keeps the child moving. ] * Tia waves and smiles at the woman and child as they pass. I have no idea, though I hope we're not too far from home... [ The woman does not so much as look at Tia, but it clearly requires great effort on her part. ] * Tia lays the unconscious guy gently on the park bench once they get there. * Seylin places a hand on his forehead to see if he feels feverish. Hmmm... Tia, do you still have your shapechanging item? [ His forehead is cool. His cheeks and ears are warm. ] * Tia suddenly perks up as if a lightbulb appeared above her head. * Seylin checks his pulse next. Oh, yeah! I should probably put that on, huh? * Tia rummages in her pack. Couldn't hurt! And I'll use my Hat of Disguise, so then we won't stand out quite so much. * Tia grins as she pulls out the ring. "Here it is!" * Tia hastily shoves the thing on her finger. [ After a brief transformation sequence involving swirling colors and jazzy music, Tia is merely a tall, gorgeous blonde in a breezy blouse and bellbottoms, along with sensible shoes. ] Oooooh, I like your outfit! * Tia grins brightly. "Thanks!" * Tia looks down at herself. "Hmm. I didn't know I had this one!" Maybe it changes to fit your surroundings? Maybe. Papa's usually very thoughtful when it comes to these things. * Seylin looks down at the unconscious man. "I think he's going to be all right. Let me find my hat." She starts looking in her pack. * Tia nods. [ Seylin's pack is simpler than she's used to. Not everything she expects is in there. Also, she has no idea what 'hello kitty' is meant to signify, nor any of the other strange insignia buttons fastened to her pack, among which includes 'support legalized cannabis', next to which is written 'very funny, Pat'. ] [ She does, however, find a hat, along with a few other things she doesn't recognize. Her glaive is not in evidence. ] What in the world is cannabis? [ Seylin isn't sure, but apparently it's something that only people like Pat would want legalized. ] * Tia scratches her head as she studies the button. "Never heard of it, Sey." Looks like some sort of plant, though. But why would a plant be illegal? I dunno. Maybe it's poisonous? Or good for making things that explode? Pat seems to like those. * Tia giggles. Maybe. (Anything funky about Tia's pack?) [ It's mostly empty. It conaints huge quantities of things in crinkly wrappers with strange names on them like 'snickers', 'three musketeers', and 'nutrageous'. There's also a large number of odd little boxes that claim to contain fruit juice. ] [ Tia can't find Mr. Axe. There is a very large object of some sort that she doesn't recognize, tho. ] * Seylin pulls out the hat and puts it on, willing herself to look like... well, herself, minus the wings. [ Seylin's hat disguises her wings, as hoped. She suddenly realizes that her clothing was already different from what she wore during the fight. What happened in that fight, anyway? ] * Seylin looks down at herself. "When did I change clothes?" (And because I am curious, what is she wearing?) [ Seylin finds herself wearing a t-shirt and jacket with jeans that cut off just below her calves and odd canvas shoes with plain bottoms and little stars in white circles on the side. The t-shirt features a very large smiley face with an entreaty to have an enjoyable day. ] * Tia blinks. "I don't remember them changing, but I could swear you were wearing something different before." And, um, I can't find Mr. Axe. And my pack is full of these weird things... * Tia pulls out a handful of candy bars. I can't find my halberd, either. * Seylin curiously pokes at one of the candy bars. * Tia hands her one. Thanks. * Seylin looks it over. * Tia drops the rest back into her bag and opens a juice box out of curiosity. * Seylin rubs her finger along the wrapper. "I think this is a covering." She tears it gently, then examines the item inside. "It smells good..." * Tia leans in and sniffs the candy bar, too. "It does! It must be food!" * Tia sniffs her opened juice box and takes a tentative sip. * Seylin takes a small nibble. Hey, it -is- juice! Oh, wow. This is *really* good! Want some, Sey? * Tia offers Seylin a juice box. No thanks. We should probably save the rest of these until we're really hungry. Thank you for this one! Oh, okay. Good idea. Welcome! * Tia looks back toward the gate. "I guess we should look for everyone, huh? If we're here, they might be around here too." * Seylin wraps the candy bar back up and puts it in her pack, looking around for similar items. "Yep!" * Tia finishes up her juice and puts the empty box in her bag. Um, let me see if I have parchment and something to write with. It'd be good to have a map. Okay, good idea. * Seylin comes up with a book that contains some sheets of white material, bound together with a bunch of small spirals of metal, and a small, sticklike object with a button on the end. * Seylin presses the button and a tiny pointed part comes out of the end of the stick. "Hmm..." * Seylin runs the pointed end across one of the white sheets. It leaves a black mark behind. "Okay, this must be what's used to write around here." She starts drawing a map of the park. * Tia nods and watches Seylin's progress. * Seylin finishes up. "Okay! Um, let me see what else is in my pack, since some of it's not what I was expecting to find." * Tia nods again. I have a couple of books in here. One looks like a history book. * Seylin puts a hand to her pocket. "Oh, more stuff in here, too!" * Seylin pulls a keyring out of her left pocket. "Keys!" * Seylin reaches into her right pocket, pulls out a wallet (which is actually chained to the belt loop of her jeans - she's been a bit distracted) and opens it. What're the keys for? Um, maybe I store things somewhere? Maybe. This whole thing is so weird. Where'd all this stuff come from, and what happened to our own stuff? * Tia scratches her head as she starts wandering back toward the gate. I'm thinking that we shifted worlds entirely, and that we're not in some other canyon. So maybe... it changed all our stuff to things that exist here? But that doesn't completely make sense, because it didn't change *us*, and I don't think people like us live here. Maybe things can change, but people can't? I don't know. This is confusing. * Tia nods. "Yeah." She pauses. "I hope they have pancakes here if we have to stay." I'm sure we can find a way to make some. * Tia grins. "And pizza!" * Tia stops at the edge of the road with the zooming vehicles. Um...what now? * Seylin holds up a card. "This has what looks like an address on it. Maybe if we go there, we'll find the others." She pauses and frowns slightly. "Assuming we all live in the same place in this world." * Tia nods. "I guess that's a good place to start. Any idea where it is?" [ Tia, astonishingly, finds a place just across from the park with a large sign reading "PAPA JOHN'S PIZZA." ] * Seylin shakes her head. "No. But maybe we can find someone to ask for directions, or a place that sells maps." * Tia jumps and points. "Pizza!" * Tia looks instantly more cheerful. * Seylin looks. "Well, that solves one of our problems." (Across the street?) ( Yes. Problem; there's all these metal things running back and forth between you and it. ) ( Oh, woe! ) Hm. We need a way to get across. Maybe there's a safe crossing point downstream. * Tia nods. "Let's go look." Okay! * Seylin adds the road to her map. [ Tia eventually finds a pole! The pole has lights, and a button. Above the button is a sign that reads 'Press button and Wait for Signal before crossing street'. ] [ Sounds like good advice. ] * Tia reads the message, presses the button and waits. [ After a moment, the racing cars stop! The red light shaped like a warning hand disappears, replaced with a white light shaped like a walking person. ] Ooh! I think that's the signal! Let's go! * Tia proceeds to cheerfully cross the street! * Seylin jogs across the street. * Tia peeks at the stopped vehicles as she walks by. Hey, there's people inside those things! * Tia waves and grins at the vehicle passengers as she passes through. Hmmm... [ Yup, there's people. One of the guys stares at Tia and Seylin. You'd think they didn't have tall gorgeous demihumans here. ] (But we're not looking like demihumans at the moment. Or at least, we don't think we are. ^_~) ( Hehe. ) [ Soon, they reach the promised place of pizza pie! ] [ A sign says it is closed, and lists normal store hours. It'll open at eleven. ] [ What time is it now? ] [ Seylin notices that her watch has changed times. It is currently 8:30. ] [ Fortunately, nextdoor is a place that *is* open. It serves some arcane foods called 'doughnuts' and 'kolaches'. ] * Tia marvels at the foods being displayed next door. Hey, Sey, what do you think those things are? Dunno. We can go in and buy some and ask for directions. Okay! I like that idea. * Seylin looks at her ID, then tears a sheet out of the notebook and writes down the address. * Tia grins and pushes through the door. * Seylin shoves the ID back in her pocket, then follows Tia through the door. "I'll buy for you." Wow, thanks, Sey. That's awfully nice of you. * Tia waves at the person (or people) behind the counter. "Hi!" [ "Greetings!" says a small man behind the counter, who looks remarkably like one of Kenji's people, but with a tan. "How can I help you this morning?" ] Um, your pastries look good, so we thought we'd try some! * Tia is distracted by delicious, delicious doughnuts. So...what are these made of? Which ones are good? [ "They all good! But this is made of--" And he rattled off a list, devil's food (chocolate), chocolate covered, angel's food, blueberry, jelly-filled, chocolate-filled, sausage kolaches, ham and cheese kolaches, spicy sausage and cheese kolaches... ] [ What will Tia choose? How many will she purchase? How are you going to pay for all this? Find out, next time! ] [ Session Suspend! ] [ We find Our Heros chowing down! Well, Tia is. Seylin had one kolache and was full. ] [ It took a second, but Seylin was able to figure out that the green paper in her wallet is used to buy things. She's clever, our Seylin. ] [ So now it's just up to find out where you are and why. ] [ Session Start! ] (Did we get directions from one of the guys behind the counter?) * Tia licks the last crumbs from her fingers. "Yummy!" [ Not yet. ] * Seylin walks back up to the counter. "Excuse me." * Tia accompanies Sey to the counter. [ "Ah, yes?" Asks the man in his odd little accent. ] Would happen to be able to give us directions to this address? Or do you know where we could buy a map? * Seylin hands the man a piece of paper with her address in this world. * Tia grins at the man and would be wagging her tail if she had one right now. [ The man squints at the piece of paper and shakes his head. "No idea, sorry. Try yellow-pages. Very helpful!" He gestures to a stack of books with, sure enough, yellow pages, that sit next to a small device with a numberpad and a crescent with blunded edges. ] Thank you! [ The man beams. ] * Tia blinks and walks over to the stack. "Yellow pages?" * Seylin walks over to the yellow book and opens it. "Well, they are yellow. Now, where's a map?" * Seylin leafs through the book until she finds something that might look helpful. * Tia picks another one up and thumbs through it. [ There are several maps; one large one, several smaller but more detailed ones. Lots of numbers, primarily. ] What are all these numbers? I'm not sure. * Seylin compares her address to the maps. Maybe they're parts of an address as well? Oh! I should look mine up. * Tia looks through the book for an explanatory section. * Seylin keeps a finger in the book to mark her place in the map, and flips to whatever page "Altir" would be on. Good idea, Sey! [ Seylin finds her thisworld name, Selina Altermedden, and its number and address. Now it's just a matter of finding it on the map. ] * Seylin writes down the number. "Okay, same address..." She flips back to the map page. "Tia, see if there's anything in your book about a shop that sells maps or a good place to ask for directions." Okay! * Tia does just that. Maps...maps...maps... * Seylin eyes the numberpad. "Maybe you can get information about a person by entering their number." * Tia flips and searches. [ The map, sadly, isn't detailed enough to find Seylin's domicile on it. It apparently only shows major thoroughfares. ] Ooh! Let's try that? [ Tia finds such a place! ] Hey, Sey! I found something under Maps! Great! * Tia points out the entry to Seylin. * Seylin writes down that information. "I'll use that number in a minute. First, I want to try the one that goes with mine." Okay! * Tia stares gleefully at the numberpad. "Can I push the numbers for you?" * Seylin examines the numberpad device, sees there's a slot for a coin, and rummages in her wallet until she finds what she think will work. Sure! Just let me put the coins in. Okay! * Seylin puts the coins in, then shows Tia the number. "Push away!" * Tia presses numbers in the order shown! * Seylin waits. [ The coins roll through the machine and into the little 'change' slot! ] * Seylin hears a clinking sound. "Hmm?" She reaches into the change slot and pulls her money out. "It didn't like it?" What'd it do? It didn't take the money. What am I doing wrong? * Tia scratches her head. "You wanna try the maps number?" Sure. * Seylin puts the coins in again and shows Tia the map number so she can push the buttons. * Tia pushes buttons! * Seylin hears the coins fall through again. "It still didn't work." She takes them out. Aha. Maybe you're supposed to move this thing. * Seylin picks up the headset. "Oh, it makes a noise." Weird! * Seylin puts the coins in. "Try pushing the buttons again." * Tia does that. [ The crescent goes 'dooooooooooon' into Seylin's mouth as she holds it upside down. ] Is it working? Is it working? I think so. I can't hear it very well, though. I'm turning it around. * Seylin flips it so the noisy end is by her ear. [ Seylin can hear it much better, now. ] * Tia watches with great curiosity. "Is it doing anything?" [ The noise stops, and is replaced by another tone that repeats, slowly, four times. And then there's a click, followed by what sounds like Seylin's voice. "Hi! This is Selina Altermedden!" ] [ Followed quickly by, "And this is Pat Kukenbecker." Sounds like Patrick. "We can't come to the phone right now, but if you'd leave a message, we'll get back to you as soon as we can!" "Or whenever we want. Whichever." "Pat!" *beep* And then silence. ] Um. Hi? Hello? I don't think they're answering. Which would make sense, if we're them. Although I've found Patrick! Ooh! Can we talk to him? So if we go to my place, maybe he'll be there! Or... this world's version of him. Which may be confusing. * Seylin eyes the phone. "I don't think they're acutally there, Tia." Maybe I should put this back, and we can try calling the map place. * Seylin puts the phone down, picks it up, puts more coins in, and has Tia dial the map place! * Tia nods. "Okay!" [ The map place picks up after only one toning. Seylin easily gets directions out of them, and also learns about something called The Arbora City Keymap, which is apparently very useful. ] * Seylin has directions! She wins! * Seylin and Tia head out! For great justice! And maps. [ And so Our Heroines head out into the sunrise! For great mapquesting! ] [ Session End! ]