The morning sun [OPEN]

[keytoanewworld]

Characters: Sumire Takahana and YOU
Setting/Location: Balcony of the Caravan
Date & Time: Day 1, morning
Warnings: none
Summary: Sumire wakes up early and decides to explore the Caravan. Come join her!

Comments

[deadpan_deadman]

Since he no longer slept, he hadn't really seen the point of spending the night in his assigned room -- especially since he doubted his assigned roommate would be particularly comforted by an undead roommate with glowing orange eyes. So, instead, he'd spent the night wandering the halls of the caravan, finally settling into an unobtrusive corner of the balcony a few hours before dawn.

He glanced up as the unfamiliar girl moved to the railing, and smiled thinly when he overheard her words. "They aren't."

[keytoanewworld]

"Ah?" She turned her head to face the unfamiliar man, and her hand immediately went to her pocket. A Virus? she thought, but he wasn't giving off the "scent" of a violent ghost, and glowing eyes and gray skin aside, he seemed like a normal person. She inhaled a deep breath and willed her heart to calm down.

She relaxed her fingers and smiled at him. "Oh, they're not? I didn't get a chance to look at them last night."

[deadpan_deadman]

He shook his head slightly, burying his hands in the pockets of his coat and moving a little closer to her. One thing he was starting to appreciate about this whole strange adventure was the fact that people seemed to be slightly less put off than they usually were by talking with a gray-green dead man.

"I spent a few hours looking for anything I recognized. All the constellations are different." He cocked his head skyward for a second, looking thoughtful. "Different than Earth, anyway. I don't know about where you're from."

[keytoanewworld]

Sumire hadn't met any dead people thus far besides this man (assuming he was undead - she briefly thought he might have a skin condition, but that wouldn't explain the glowing eyes), but no one she had met so far seemed like the violent type, and for that she was definitely grateful.

"Yeah, I'm from Earth too. Japan, 2009." She also looked up at the sky. "I wonder what names the constellations here have."

[deadpan_deadman]

A very faint smile crossed his face. "The only thing I could pick out looked like a blender. But I doubt that's what they call it." He shrugged, pushing back the brim of his fedora and glancing back down at her. "We could ask if they have any star charts, I suppose."

[keytoanewworld]

She couldn't help but laugh at the idea of a constellation being known as "The "Blender." "Yeah, probably not," she said. "If we're traveling, the person in charge probably has a star chart, and a library might have one, but I haven't found a library on the caravan yet."

[deadpan_deadman]

"Neither have I." Which was disappointing news, since reading was one of the things he used to pass the nighttime hours when most people were asleep. "I guess there might be one somewhere along the way. Or, if nothing else, some of the towns we stop in should have bookshops."

[keytoanewworld]

"I wouldn't have any money for bookshops, though," she said. She wouldn't have minded trying to find a job, but most positions on the caravan seemed to be volunteer work, and she didn't have the right skills for most of them anyway. "Well, if anything, we can always ask to borrow books from the other passengers if they have any."

[deadpan_deadman]

He nodded thoughtfully. "It wouldn't help with gathering information about Willaknapp, but that's still a good idea. Maybe even set up a lending library -- ask people who would be willing to loan out their books, and keep track of who has them."

[keytoanewworld]

"One girl already offered to let me borrow her books, but they're in English, so I can't read them alone. A lending library would make it easier to find books in languages we can read. Although, I have to admit, some books about Willaknapp in general would really be nice."

[deadpan_deadman]

"We might be able to persuade the locals to donate some. Or find some way to barter for them." The more he thought about it, the more the idea appealed to him. "And pooling books would definitely make the language barrier easier to deal with."

He hesitated for a moment; introductions were always awkward for him, but there was nothing he could do about that. "I didn't ask your name."

[keytoanewworld]

Sumire nodded eagerly. "Yeah, I think that would work, and it'll make it easier to get a library of some sort going in one of the empty rooms."

At the request for her name, she bowed her head slightly. "My name is Sumire Takahana. And you are?"

[deadpan_deadman]

Ah. And this would be the awkward part. "I don't . . . remember what my name was, actually. I'm waiting for something to jog my memory, but until then . . ." He shrugged. "I don't have any one thing I go by. You can call me what you like."

[keytoanewworld]

"Oh." Admittedly, it wouldn't have been that hard to bypass the lack of a name by just calling him "sir" or "mister," and considering he was just an acquaintance right now, they would be formal enough for Sumire to use, if she couldn't think of anything else. "What do your friends call you?"

[deadpan_deadman]

He smiled crookedly; he didn't have many friends so much as he did acquaintances, and the one close friend he did have, well . . . "My partner -- Hanna -- has been trying to help me remember mine by calling me a lot of different ones. I don't think it will work if everyone on the caravan does that, though. Too much confusion."

[keytoanewworld]

"Ah, that would get confusing," she said, nodding. "Well, until you remember your real name, I'll call you 'Mister,' okay?"