ONE /// now that we're here, brought out our fears

[ofsubservience]

[ SPLASH

What ensues is sputtering and however it sounds when a flailing arm connected to a flailing hand lashes out and sends the network device sliding off of the edge of the fountain and skidding a short way across the concrete ground ]

Damn it!

What...

Oz...!?

[ pause ]

What happened?

This doesn't feel the same.

What is this place?

[

Comments

voice

[favorsthebrave]

The place is called "the City." As though there were only the one.

It's a different world entirely from wherever you were before, if you can believe that.

voice

[ofsubservience]

...you seem serious about it. That's still ridiculous but...

[ pause ]

I do believe it, although...damn it I can't keep a conversation on like this. Where are you all talking from?

voice

[favorsthebrave]

--Ah. There should be a device somewhere near you - it's connected to the Network that everyone around here uses to communicate.

voice

[ofsubservience]

[ SHUFFLE SCUFFLE....aha....he found it, and .... a pause as he examines ]

Everyone? How many of you are there? How many of us?

How do you all speak out of the same place...this isn't anything like what I've seen before.

voice

[favorsthebrave]

Think of it as something like a wireless telephone, if you know what that is. It's an understatement, but good enough to start with.

I think I heard there are almost half a million people here. I can't say how accurate that is, though, or whether everyone was pulled here from another place like you and I were. The safest answer to your question is probably 'quite a lot'.

voice; I am very sorry for how slow my tags are orz >.>;;;

[ofsubservience]

...

[ considers a response ]

You're very calm. I don't trus--- This doesn't bother you?

voice; pfff you have not been slow, no need to apologize!

[favorsthebrave]

I've had some time to get used to the idea, surreal as it is.

Anyway, panicking never helped anything.

voice; thank you still! orz XD

[ofsubservience]

I've dealt with surreal. This is---

Well. Thank you for your information. Is there anything...else you would mention to a new arrival?

voice;

[favorsthebrave]

Well, there's the curses. They happen every couple of days, so you'll get firsthand experience soon enough. Mostly they're just nuisances - compulsions that strike people, or strange things that happen throughout the day.

voice;

[ofsubservience]

What sort of compulsions?

voice;

[favorsthebrave]

Yesterday there were a lot of people spouting very bad poetry. You're lucky you missed it.

voice;

[ofsubservience]

Well, that...doesn't sound as bad as I imagined it...

voice;

[favorsthebrave]

Like I said, they're mostly nuisances. Some are nastier than others.

voice;

[ofsubservience]

As someone who's new, I...would appreciate an example or several of the 'nastier' ones. It doesn't sound like preparation plays a big role for them, if they're unpredictable, but an idea would still be better than nothing.

voice; 1/2

[favorsthebrave]

It really depends a little on what kinds of things you're afraid of. The City seems to like to prey on those things. Since I've been here, there was a period of several days when people couldn't sleep at all without horrible nightmares, a day when they found themselves alone in an empty city, a day that made people plot against the ones closest to them...

voice; 2/2

[favorsthebrave]

...oh, and you can expect to wake up some morning and find you've been turned into a woman for the day. That one is apparently very common.