What Dreams May Come (Open, Arrival)

[see_or_seem]

Since his father's death, Robert hasn't been sleeping well. His doctors had told him that was to be expected, that it was a normal stress reaction to a traumatic event, but the words don't help much in reality. He has such mixed feelings about everything that's happened, including - he is ashamed to admit - relief. Relief! Relief that his father

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[cute_shinigami]

There might be a squee, then a tall young man in an open-collared shirt comes scurrying up the hallway toward him. But once he gets closer, he'll skid to a stop, falling over backward.

He looks up, chuckling. "Whoops, sorry about that: I thought you were someone else," he says, his brilliant, violet eyes a bit bashful.

[see_or_seem]

Robert takes a step back, his eyes widening, completely at a loss of what to make of this person. It perhaps scares him a little more than it should, as he does not seem threatening, really, but this situation isn't calming his nerves. For the first time, Robert looks at himself and what he's wearing. He's dressed fine, but apparently he'd fallen asleep in the chair, and his clothes are less freshly-pressed than he prefers. Maybe even a little wrinkled. Which upsets him, but there are more important things to worry about at the moment.

"I...who did you think I was? Who are you? And, most importantly, where am I?"

[cute_shinigami]

"Ah, well, I mistook you for a close friend of mine," he admits, looking up, but not getting up yet. He's quite tall, but in this position, he doesn't loom up quite as much. "They call this place the Mansion, but it's hard to say where it is exactly, since it's kind of a world of it's own," he says. "I'm Asato Tsuzuki: I stumbled onto this place a couple years ago, and I've been living here since then."

[see_or_seem]

"A world of its own?"

Robert shakes his head, wondering if he's missing something. He's not sure how he ended up anywhere other than his apartment, and he certainly shouldn't be in a different world.

Of course, that's assuming this young man is sane and knows what he's talking about.

"I'm Robert Fischer," he says carefully. "And I don't know what this place is, or how I got here...but I have important things to do and I need to get back to Los Angeles."

Whatever this place was, he couldn't stay here.

[cute_shinigami]

He gets up slowly. "Well, I hate to break it to you, Mister Robert, but you're likely to be here for a while," he says. "Time doesn't work here the way it does in the world where you came from. I've heard some people have gone back to their world and found they'd only been gone for a few seconds."

[see_or_seem]

Robert stares at him for a long while, wordlessly. He doesn't know what to say, he doesn't know what to feel, he wants to just close his eyes and wake up where he was, back in his apartment, safe with his things and the world he knows.

But he has a strange feeling that isn't going to happen.

Finally, he looks up at the tall man.

"Why am I here?"

[cute_shinigami]

Typist willing, he'll reach out and put a gentle, even brotherly hand on Fischer's shoulder. Poor guy makes him think of a lost kid, bewildered to find himself in a strange place. "No one's really sure why people show up here," he says. "Sometimes, it's like the house or the spirits that tend it got lonely and summon people to live here."

[see_or_seem]

"But why me?" He insists. "Nobody's ever wanted me bad enough to kidnap me like this. What do they want? Money? I can pay a ransom. Whatever they need. I'm even insured. Look, I can't stay here. I just can't."

The hand on his shoulder makes Robert jump at first, but eventually he relaxes and goes back to just looking lost and confused.

[cute_shinigami]

"I'm afraid money doesn't have any value here," he says, trying to break it gently. He wants to pull the young man close and hug him -- the fact that Fischer's clear blue eyes and three-piece suit make him think of Tatsumi bolsters the sentiment -- but he refrains. "But I can assure you, you're in a safe place: there's always room to spare and plenty of good food in the kitchen.

"I was on my way downstairs to make some tea. Want to join me? A good cup of tea might help you settle your wits."

[see_or_seem]

Fischer looks at him skeptically.

"Money always has value," he says with a raised eyebrow. "Those who say they can't be bought simply have a higher price."

There's a bit of weariness in those words, almost a shadow of a wish that such things weren't true. But they are, and that's that.

"Tea?"

He shrugs.

"Sure."

[cute_shinigami]

"Well, that's just it: everything's for free, from the rooms to the food, and there isn't anyone in charge that you could pay, or at least no one that's visible," he says, leading the way down the hall and down the stairs. "So...are you in business?"

[see_or_seem]

"I am," he answered. "My - I mean, I'm the CEO now of the Fischer & Morrow energy conglomerate."

He didn't seem too excited about announcing that he was at the head of a multi-billion dollar company. But of course, it was all he had ever known.

[cute_shinigami]

"Whoa, that's gotta bring in a good salary," he replies, impressed. "I'm a paranormal detective, not much money in that, but it's something I'm good at doing."

[see_or_seem]

Robert exhales sharply, a bit of a sardonic laugh.

"Uh, yeah, I do fine," he says with a slight shake of his head. His finances were, of course, a matter of public record, but somehow he doubted that anyone here was familiar with that record.

"Paranormal investigator? You mean like...the ghostbusters?"

[cute_shinigami]

He chuckles at this. "Well, it's a little more involved than that, but I remember that movie," he says. "We usually deal with ghosts, helping them to cross over into the afterlife, but sometimes we deal with other things that go bump in the night, like vampires and werewolves and zombies and such. Though I really don't like zombies: brrr! Scary!"

[see_or_seem]

"You don't really believe those things are real, do you?" he asks with a raised eyebrow. He'd never in his life seen proof that such things existed, even when he was a young child and truly wanted to believe that his mother had gone to a better place.

Life just didn't work that way.