4: Highly Questionable Action

[after_march]

[April has been browsing at her favorite store in Luceti, the Items Shop. It is not long before she makes a WONDERFUL DISCOVERY!]

MY PAINTING! OH MY GOD! It's HERE!

[She is SO HAPPY ABOUT THIS! One of her favorite works of art has turned up in Luceti. Here's a picture of it as it looks in her apartment back in New York City, leering down on

Comments

oh god XD

[derek_bliss]

[This is Derek, wandering into the living room with coffee and laptop in hand.

This is Derek, stopping dead at the sight of the new artwork gracing the wall beside his surf board.

This is Derek, staring at it for several moments before thinking;

"What fresh new Hell is this?"

He'll take another SIP of coffee.]

...There's a clown on the wall.

lol THAT ICON HAHA

[after_march]

DEREK! Isn't it FABULOUS? I love how a little slice of home just showed up here. Wow.

:D

[derek_bliss]

It's...definitely a clown.

This is from your home?

[after_march]

Yes! He used to hang in my kitchen--always the first thing I'd see as I was making the morning coffee.

[derek_bliss]

[Yeah, that would definitely wake a person up in the morning...]

Had him for a while then?

[after_march]

Yes, my father actually found him at an estate sale and brought him back to his shop. Luckily for me, no one seemed interested in buying him, so my dad gave him to me for my birthday.

[April steps back and scrutinizes the painting.]

Does it look crooked to you?

[derek_bliss]

[Her fa...fffffff.

And with one foul swoop, April wins the 'can it stay?' discussion without even having it. Her dad gave it to her; no way in hell was Derek going to ask her to get rid of it. Family is family. No fair, man. No fair...

He'll glance at it, frowning a little.]

...A little to the left, maybe. Like a quarter of an inch.

[after_march]

[April climbs up on the couch to make the adjustment, calling over her shoulder:]

Better? By the way---we're making our dinner together soon, right?

[derek_bliss]

[Derek will sip more coffee while she fusses with the...that...the...that unholy thi--frame. Oh god. Why is this thing on his wall?

To give him credit, none of that shows on his face when he replies.]

One more nudge should do it.

And yeah, I'm good anytime you are. Weekend just kinda...got out of hand is all.

[Understatement.]

[after_march]

Oh.

[Good thing she is facing the wall, because MAJOR BLUSH.]

Yeah, that was really nuts. It's cool, though. I mean, I'm cool with it. Uh.

[derek_bliss]

[Oops. Sorry about that, April. He meant later.]

Yeah...wound up all over the place. Not exactly the tour of Luceti I wanted. Would've let you guys know when I got hijacked, but the journal didn't go with me.

[after_march]

Me too. I mean, that happened to me too. We ended up in the ruins and then up in the mountains and...there were a couple of near-death experiences.

[derek_bliss]

Near death?

[There is a frown and some concern, here.]

Where'd you end up?

[after_march]

In the ruins in the desert at first, then up in the mountains. We fell over this waterfall but that turned out to be nothing. It's kind of a long story.

[April gives the painting one more slight nudge before sitting down on the couch.] I was pretty glad to get back.

[derek_bliss]

I'm surprised Yuber didn't find you.

Want something to drink?

'We'? And what happened?

[Derek is curious.]

[after_march]

Who's Yuber? Yeah, I'll take something.

[April hugs her knees to her chest and wonders WHERE to begin.]

You know that Samurai pilot guy, Goroh? He and I were both teleported to the ruins. Then Raine got sent there, and we all got zapped to the mountains. He saved our lives, you know.