i ] voice...

[bloodaholic]

[After having inspected the seal for long enough Julian thinks he knows what to do with it. Sitting cross-legged on his bed he addresses it in what he hopes is a suitably stern and authoritative tone:]

Now look here - [he falls sadly short of both stern and authoritative and ends up just sounding a bit petulant. He doesn’t usually get to try out his

Comments

[Voice]

[justabignobody]

Sorry, but I doubt you'd get far with a train. I have yet to see any sign of rails in this world, never mind a train station.

[bloodaholic]

[ a little sadly ] Yeah, no, so I've gathered. Thank you for the information, anyway... I mean, I'm a little surprised there are no boats? I think I can see a bit of coastline from my window and - well, I would have tried to get hold of one if there were any to be had. It's all rather disappointing.

[justabignobody]

I haven't seen any yet. Well, unless you count the wreck on the beach anyway. But I wouldn't recommend trying; I have... access to other means of transportation and since that doesn't get me off-world, I don't think a boat will.

[bloodaholic]

[WRECK ON THE BEACH - how curious. But Julian is slightly more worried about something else... ] S-sorry, I know this might be a rather stupid question but you keep saying 'world'?

[ Julian's still under the impression that this is somewhere far-but-not-too-far-from-home. Like the Isle of Wight. Or Wales. The idea that it might be a whole new world hasn't yet occurred to him... but now it has, he's suddenly feeling a little anxious. ]

[justabignobody]

Nobody told you about that yet, huh? [He sighs, this is probably harder to on people who don't know/believe about the other worlds.] I do because this is another world from yours or my own. This one differs, because it actually seems to be sentient - I've been hearing that it fulfills wishes.

I guess that means a 'Welcome to Splendor' is at order, huh?

[bloodaholic]

...Right. [Julian's hearing all this information but he's not really processing it - he still suspects it's some kind of metaphor. Or something.] Well, it wasn't until I started talking on this thing that it felt very welcoming at all! So. I don't know, I'm sure I'll get to see the nicer side of this 'world' soon. People have been very helpful on here - and the wish thing sounds quite extraordinary!

I'm Julian, by the way. Thank you for your help so far, it's all been a bit... overwhelming.

[justabignobody]

[No metaphor, sorry Julian.] Believe me, as far as worlds go, this one is actually pretty pleasant, if you ignore the fact that we are all stuck here. I've been to far, far worse places.

Ansem and you are welcome. I don't doubt, it is to people like you, who aren't quite used to this. Just tell me if you need anything else.

[bloodaholic]

Thank you, Ansem. You've been wonderfully helpful so far. [Julian sounds genuinely pleased to have found yet more helpful people; it's really starting to make him feel a bit happier about his situation] Um... someone else has mentioned 'imprisoned' when talking about this, uh, world - do you reckon that's what it is? In all your experience of this place so far do you think that we're imprisoned here?

[justabignobody]

[Riku takes a moment to think about this; he never had taken his time to think about Splendor from this angle.] I suppose it depends on a bit on one's point of view. We can't leave and I've heard that sometimes ago the world forced some sort of quest on everyone, so I guess it fits the definition of 'prison'.

But as I said, there are worse places to be stuck at than this one. [The realm of Darkness for example. Or the deepest abyss of your own heart. Compared to that, Splendor really is a vacation.]