Wolf is soaked. His overalls are dripping and the red t-shirt he wears under them is completely drenched, his hair hanging in limp, wet strands all over his face, but he's happy. So happy, in fact, that as he wanders up the beach, sand clinging to his wet feet, he doesn't notice the other man at first. It's only when he speaks that Wolf looks up, a smile blooming across his face and he wanders closer, picking up his pace.
"Hi!" he says brightly, dripping on the sand. The cuffs of his overalls are caked with sand as well, but he doesn't even notice. "I'm Wolf! How come you've got that cane?"
The stranger smells of the ocean. If Auggie isn't sure he's near one before, he is now, as much as it flies in the face of anything logical he can think of. Not that the sudden disappearance of an entire airplane wasn't baffling enough to him. This man, though, he seems completely unfazed by all of it, like it's just another normal day and he's on a vacation.
What he doesn't seem like, at all, is anyone who would be connected to picking up a terrorist.
"It matches my outfit," he manages to joke, a weak half-grin lifting. At this point, he's just choosing to be grateful this person doesn't seem to be any kind of threat. Motioning to his face a moment later, he adds, "I'm blind, so I use it to walk. Speaking of, Wolf, was it? Could you tell me where I am right now?"
Wolf looks down at the cane and then back up at the man's face again, trying to work out how he uses it because he can't see. Eventually, the way he probably taps it on the ground clicks in Wolf's mind and he remembers seeing people using similar things back home when they couldn't see. It's different, though, a different world and a different sort of cane.
"The island," he says after a moment. "You probably came here by magic, just like me. Just like everyone, I think, 'cause there's not much else that it could be, right? Wolf! I don't know what kind of magic, 'cause I can't get back home. No one can." After another moment of thinking, he realizes he isn't explaining it very well and he feels bad. Wolf just isn't good at this sort of thing and he wishes someone else would come along, someone who can explain it better. "It's hard to make it make sense," he says apologetically.
By Wolf's tone of voice, Auggie knows he's either very good at lying or is actually sincere in what he's saying. He's not really sure what would be worse in this situation, because the former means he's being deceptive and the latter means he's crazy. This whole situation is insane, sure, but there's a limit to how much he can believe. Throwing 'magic' into any explanation passes that limit by a lot
( ... )
When the man pulls the phone out, Wolf stares at it, having never seen anything like it before. It takes him a few moments to gather his thoughts again and when he does, he doesn't try to explain it any better. Not right away, anyway. First, he asks, "What's your name, mister?" And then, still staring at the phone, he asks, "What is that?"
It's still difficult to find the right words, but he pauses, trying his best. "People call it something," he says finally. "Tabula Rasa, I think, but I don't know what that means. It's not my language, no, it's sure not. But it's not my world and it's not Jack's world. Jack's my friend. His world is the same one most of the people here came from, I think, with New York and California and all those places in between. Wherever this island is, it's not there and it's not my home. I think it's somewhere else, somewhere beside those places."
It's the best explanation Wolf has. That the island, wherever it might be, is a simple step off to the right or left of his home. A slip into a different world.
"Auggie," he says as way of introduction, sounding distracted. He frowns down at his cell phone when it chimes outloud 'No Service Available' despite his best efforts. He probably should have guessed that's what he'd only get, but if one of the best phones you could have in the government didn't work, it wasn't really a good sign.
He looks in the direction he knows the man is again, surprised he doesn't recognize what a cell phone looks like.
"It's a cell phone. You've never seen one? I'm trying to call someone off this island to see if they can help. Unsuccessfully, apparently," he admits, sighing. He's not sure what to do at this point.
It's not helping when this stranger is now telling him he's from another world and that they aren't on Earth. Auggie can tell he's trying to be helpful, though, so he tries his best to not look skeptical. He's the only person right now who is around to help him - he doesn't want to lose what's practically a lifeline
( ... )
Wolf is shaking his head, but Auggie can't see him and he knows this, but it doesn't register right away. He's never seen a cell phone before, doesn't even really know what it is. There are phones on the island, the kind that people can use to call for help, but they have wires and things that attach them to walls and posts.
"Jack's not here," he says finally. "I just know about Jack's world because of him, but he's not here." And that's one thing that Wolf can never forget. There's no peace on the island when he thinks about Jack and the quest ahead of him, but that's for another time and another place. "There are lots of people, mister, there sure are. Right here and now! There's probably hundreds." He's never counted, but there are always new faces for him to smile at and always new people to say hello to.
"I could take you to the Compound!" he suggests. "That's where all the stuff is that most people like. There's showers and lots of food and places to sleep. I don't sleep there. I have a hut that's all mine."
A main hub is exactly the kind of place Auggie knows he'll be able to find out more about what's going on. It's not as though he has much choice to begin with, because it's either this or keep standing in the middle of an unfamiliar beach, alone. Whether he likes it or not, it's the only option.
"I think that'd be a good idea," he says, pocketing his phone. He'll keep trying later. "I'll need you to help me a little, though. As hilarious as it can be bumping into things, I'd rather avoid it."
There's only so much his cane can keep him from. He'll just have to trust this guy wasn't going to lead him straight into trouble somewhere else.
"Do you want to hold my hand?" Wolf asks, completely unselfconscious in this offer. "Or I can carry you horsey-back. That's easy and it's not so far." He's carried Jack much, much further, through fields and towns, past cities and freeways. He'd carried Jack for days, never stopping once. Just going to the Compound isn't so hard at all.
"The island is pretty big, right here and now!" he says. "But they built all these wood paths so it's not all dirt and sand. That would be easier to walk on, right?"
The offer gets an honest laugh out of Auggie, even though he knows Wolf seems to be serious (and, from what he can tell, could probably do it, too).
"No rides needed, but thank you," he replies. He was definitely the first to ever offer that extent of help to him. "I can manage just by holding onto your elbow."
"Okay," Wolf agrees easily, because, as far as he's concerned, whatever Auggie thinks is best is probably exactly what's best. Most people know what's best for them, except for the times when they don't, but Wolf doesn't think this is one of those times.
"Here," he says, shuffling closer and holding his elbow out until he's nudging Auggie's arm with it gently. "I went swimming, but I'll try not to drip on you."
"Don't worry about it," he assures. In this heat, it's not like he wouldn't dry off quickly. He takes his arm like he would have anyone if he'd been back home - light enough for the contact alone, just to have an idea of where he is. "You said this place isn't far?"
"Well, a little bit far, but not that far. I like walking there. I don't like going inside so much, no, Wolf sure doesn't, because it's small and it smells and I never been in a place so small," he rambles, thinking about the Compound. There was the movie theatre back in Jack's world and that had been hard and scary and much, much smaller than the Compound, but he doesn't smell as good as he used to back then either. Wolf thinks maybe if he still smelled that good, the Compound would be too hard for him, too.
"Except the Sunlight Home," he adds as an afterthought. "They made me go in the Box there and that was way smaller. But it's not too far. If you get tired, Wolf can still carry you."
"There's something like that here?" Auggie asks, barely masking the fact it startles him a little. It sounds to him like some sort of torture device, which, considering his background, makes him wonder if maybe going to this place they're going to might not be a good idea.
"No way," Wolf says, not wanting anyone to get the wrong idea of the island. Even though it isn't home and he sometimes feels guilty about not being with Jack, he loves the island and everything about it. "Not here, nothing like that here, no way! This was before. Before I got here."
They're on the boardwalk now and Wolf is walking carefully, making sure he doesn't take Auggie anywhere he shouldn't. "The island is great, I promise, right here and now! You'll like it. Everyone is real nice."
He feels the wood underneath his feet, and Wolf is right when he said it'd be better for walking on. It's the first sign of civilization, too - if he didn't know any better, he'd think he was actually in a normal vacation spot, walking along the path from the beach.
"Well, that's good to know," he says, and he does mean it. Being in hostile territory would be infinitely harder to deal with right now. Though, it still perturbs him a little that something like that happens anywhere. "Where were you before here? I mean, in general."
"Hi!" he says brightly, dripping on the sand. The cuffs of his overalls are caked with sand as well, but he doesn't even notice. "I'm Wolf! How come you've got that cane?"
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What he doesn't seem like, at all, is anyone who would be connected to picking up a terrorist.
"It matches my outfit," he manages to joke, a weak half-grin lifting. At this point, he's just choosing to be grateful this person doesn't seem to be any kind of threat. Motioning to his face a moment later, he adds, "I'm blind, so I use it to walk. Speaking of, Wolf, was it? Could you tell me where I am right now?"
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"The island," he says after a moment. "You probably came here by magic, just like me. Just like everyone, I think, 'cause there's not much else that it could be, right? Wolf! I don't know what kind of magic, 'cause I can't get back home. No one can." After another moment of thinking, he realizes he isn't explaining it very well and he feels bad. Wolf just isn't good at this sort of thing and he wishes someone else would come along, someone who can explain it better. "It's hard to make it make sense," he says apologetically.
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It's still difficult to find the right words, but he pauses, trying his best. "People call it something," he says finally. "Tabula Rasa, I think, but I don't know what that means. It's not my language, no, it's sure not. But it's not my world and it's not Jack's world. Jack's my friend. His world is the same one most of the people here came from, I think, with New York and California and all those places in between. Wherever this island is, it's not there and it's not my home. I think it's somewhere else, somewhere beside those places."
It's the best explanation Wolf has. That the island, wherever it might be, is a simple step off to the right or left of his home. A slip into a different world.
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He looks in the direction he knows the man is again, surprised he doesn't recognize what a cell phone looks like.
"It's a cell phone. You've never seen one? I'm trying to call someone off this island to see if they can help. Unsuccessfully, apparently," he admits, sighing. He's not sure what to do at this point.
It's not helping when this stranger is now telling him he's from another world and that they aren't on Earth. Auggie can tell he's trying to be helpful, though, so he tries his best to not look skeptical. He's the only person right now who is around to help him - he doesn't want to lose what's practically a lifeline ( ... )
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"Jack's not here," he says finally. "I just know about Jack's world because of him, but he's not here." And that's one thing that Wolf can never forget. There's no peace on the island when he thinks about Jack and the quest ahead of him, but that's for another time and another place. "There are lots of people, mister, there sure are. Right here and now! There's probably hundreds." He's never counted, but there are always new faces for him to smile at and always new people to say hello to.
"I could take you to the Compound!" he suggests. "That's where all the stuff is that most people like. There's showers and lots of food and places to sleep. I don't sleep there. I have a hut that's all mine."
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"I think that'd be a good idea," he says, pocketing his phone. He'll keep trying later. "I'll need you to help me a little, though. As hilarious as it can be bumping into things, I'd rather avoid it."
There's only so much his cane can keep him from. He'll just have to trust this guy wasn't going to lead him straight into trouble somewhere else.
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"The island is pretty big, right here and now!" he says. "But they built all these wood paths so it's not all dirt and sand. That would be easier to walk on, right?"
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"No rides needed, but thank you," he replies. He was definitely the first to ever offer that extent of help to him. "I can manage just by holding onto your elbow."
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"Here," he says, shuffling closer and holding his elbow out until he's nudging Auggie's arm with it gently. "I went swimming, but I'll try not to drip on you."
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"Except the Sunlight Home," he adds as an afterthought. "They made me go in the Box there and that was way smaller. But it's not too far. If you get tired, Wolf can still carry you."
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They're on the boardwalk now and Wolf is walking carefully, making sure he doesn't take Auggie anywhere he shouldn't. "The island is great, I promise, right here and now! You'll like it. Everyone is real nice."
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"Well, that's good to know," he says, and he does mean it. Being in hostile territory would be infinitely harder to deal with right now. Though, it still perturbs him a little that something like that happens anywhere. "Where were you before here? I mean, in general."
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