Meetings

[verydangerman]

Characters: Shizuo and YOU
Setting/Location: Streets of District 1
Date & Time: Day 0, Morning
Warnings: Shizuo is cranky
Summary: A general meet and greet! Comment spam style for ease of play.

Comments

[moerines]

There was so much to worry about and take in that it was almost a relief to be confronted with someone Shirley felt compelled to talk to. It made things a little easier, to set the big picture aside and simply ask someone-

"Um, excuse me . . . "

[moerines]

" . . . I hope so." Shirley hadn't even let herself consider the possibility yet that it might not work. What other option was there? "It's hard to wait. I feel like I ought to be doing something right now, but I guess there isn't anything any of us can do to help except stay out of the way."

Then she remembered she hadn't yet introduced herself. "Oh. My name is Shirley Fennes. It's nice to meet you."

[verydangerman]

To be fair, the idea that they couldn't get home had never crossed Shizuo's mind. To him it was mostly a matter of what he had to do or who he had to beat the shit out of to get back to Ikebukuro, and how long it would take.

Shirley Fennes was another unfamiliar name, and he doesn't bother to repeat it back to her. He'd give it a try if they ever spoke to each other again. "Shizuo. Nice to meet you."

[moerines]

"Shee . . . zwo?" She attempted it automatically, and immediately regretted it a little. It didn't come out sounding quite the same. Shirley wondered briefly what country he must be from, before remembering that she'd probably have never heard of it. The name thing would be something she'd have to get used to. "Sorry. I've never heard a name like it. But it's very nice, even if I can't say it." She laughed, a bit sheepish.

[verydangerman]

"It's usually like that."

He didn't particularly care. Simon had been around for years and still couldn't get his name right.

"A friend of mine has a name that's like yours. Though, I guess I've never heard hers said properly."

[moerines]

"A name that's like mine?" Shirley wasn't sure what he meant by that-something simpler, possibly, though in that case she didn't know why no one would have been able to pronounce it. Of course, she thought, to him, my name is probably just as complicated as his is to me. "How is it spelled?"

[verydangerman]

He shrugged, he couldn't write it in English if he tried. Highschool was too long ago. "Her name is Celty," only it comes out with a slight R sound in the L, and a pause before the T comes in. "But that's probably not right. Shari isn't right either. Aah, I wonder what makes it so hard."

[moerines]

The man's accent gave her name a strange twang, though it was recognizable enough. But it brought another question to mind. "We probably speak different languages. . . . So it's a little bit strange that we can understand one another so well, isn't it . . . "

[verydangerman]

"It's got to be part of the dream."

He frowned, looking around. He kept thinking of it that way, but it really didn't seem like a dream. Didn't feel or look like one. But what the hell else should he call it? Magic? Well, maybe that was right, too. If a Dullahan could exist in Ikebukuro, magic dream worlds weren't hard to believe either.

"That cellphone-like thing, too. It's not written in Japanese, but for some reason I can read it anyway."

[moerines]

There was a word that might as well have been in a different language after all. Two of them, actually. Japanese must have been the name of his language; Shirley wasn't surprised she'd never heard of it. But the other . . .

"Cellphone?"

[verydangerman]

This one too. Well, he was prepared now, and only paused in surprised for a second before adjusting his glasses.

"Aa, it looks like they're all orange. Did you find one when you woke up?"

[moerines]

Shirley was a little bit lost, but she had found something orange when she'd woken up. She reached into her bag and took it out.

"This is a cellphone?"

[verydangerman]

Shizuo shook his head.

"Nah, but it's kinda like one. If you log in you can chat with people on the 'net."

[moerines]

The conversation wasn't doing much to shake that lost feeling, but Shirley supposed that would come with time and experience. In the meantime, there was a lot to learn.

"The Net? I'm sorry . . . we don't have anything like this back home. I've seen machines before, but most of those things-they're not things people own, and most of us have forgotten how to operate them, or can't. Anyone can use these? Even without eres?"

[verydangerman]

Shizuo couldn't imagine why anyone wouldn't be able to use it. Unless she meant like stupid people that couldn't figure it out.

"Eres?"

[moerines]

"Um . . . " The blessings of Nerifes, she'd been about to say, but she had a feeling that wouldn't clarify much. For the first time, it hit her that she was in a world without a Nerifes at all, although she'd already tested her eres, and they still worked. It was a strange thought. How could she explain eres to someone who'd never heard of them? Although . . .

"Here, I can show you, if you'll trust me for a moment. Can I see your wrist? The one you pinched earlier."