{First Case} Come What May

[passes_out]

Ichabod snapped open his eyes and looked at his surroundings. Everything was amiss to him. The setting seemed too new and too modern to be the Van Tassel home where he was last remembered to be

Comments

[venefica]

Josephine is not actually in the building, but the front door is open, and she's just down the steps -- she is accustomed to seeing as much here in Xanadu, where many of the homes are unoccupied or simply available for the wandering, which is an interestingly dangerous kind of hospitality with which to play. Presently she is accompanied by two big, slightly mean-looking horses (one black, one gray), but she moves up the steps a pace or two when she hears a voice inside. Thus far she's been exploring not just the sights of Xanadu, but the apparently quite varied origins of the people here, and she's always interested in finding another story, if she can

[passes_out]

He reached a landing that led to another set of stairs to spot a stranger at the base of the stairs. "No. Not exactly lost as I am displaced." Ichabod lifted his chin in a proud manner that would depict a bit of smug arrogance with an air of suspicion in his gaze not at her but at his surroundings. His left shoulder ached terribly but there was no time for that.

"What is this place" He said with slow steps descending the stairs. The hard soles of his boots echoed against the walls. "I understand that I may be inside a church though I have no interest to stay here. Where am I currently? The name of the town would be most preferable." He stopped his descent just a step above her. His black clothes and white dress shirt looked very plain to anyone accustomed to color. His dark brown eyes scanning the floor that finally revealed itself to his gaze.

[venefica]

Oh, new arrival. Jo has been there herself, and fairly recently--upon learning she'd been transported to a potentially extradimensional fairgrounds city she chose to get excessively drunk, but she rather suspects this guy's got different coping mechanisms. She leans in the doorway, one hand balanced on her hip- judging by the way he's dressed she guesses they're from very disparate time periods, and her own clothing (suede riding trousers, black riding boots, a tailored white blouse, with her horse whip curled around her other fist), while not exactly androgynous, is also definitely not what's considered entirely proper in a lot of time periods.

"This is Xanadu. It's a pretty decent-sized town, although I have absolutely no idea where it is, it likes to up and grab people and keep them a while. Most of it seems to be based around the carnival."

She half-smiles, rueful.

"You got lucky. I know a guy who showed up by being dropped in the middle of a pool of water."

[passes_out]

"I see." With a slow inhale and exhale, there was little he could do logically to change his situation much other than to find another dwelling. Being inside the church, he felt, was a bad omen in and of itself. He rocked his body slightly to where the heels of his boots gave a loud thump on the wooden steps.

"Xanadu, you say. A palace for muses. Interesting. How or why I am here is yet to be determined though I fear my answers may not be so clear." He resigned the thought of fighting the forces behind this place since he had nothing to go by but he did seem to relax a little to introduce himself.

"I am Constable Ichabod Crane. And you are?"

[likeatelescope]

"Hello, hello?" Alice has been wandering Xanadu for the past few hours (it is not her first time, but still as enchanting as), and someone sounding confused is always enough to catch her attention.

She moves her head through the doorway of the building it seems to have come from, and a kitten pokes its head in just next to hers from its perch upon her shoulder (it has wings, but those are still safely 'round the corner of the frame). "Is everything all right?"

[neverneverqueen]

Not safely 'round the corner of the frame: Captain Darling, a step behind Alice and tall enough to be tilting around from over her blonde friend's head. "Dear me," she contributes, unhelpfully.

[passes_out]

He descended the stairs to view the two women in the door frame, both blonde and both seemed very curious about him as he was of them. He looked to the first woman and nodded his head slowly. Dressed in black and what appears to be late 18th century clothing and very plain in design with a white collar that peeked behind the black satin vest, Ichabod was not what one would call significant or a shining example of being well dressed for his time. "I seem to be displaced."

Footfalls echoed off the walls and into the vast auditorium of the building that he woke up in. "Where am I and what year is this?" His voice was calm considering his circumstance despite that he was scared out of his mind that he was dead and had awoken in a place far from the living.

[likeatelescope]

After shooting Wendy a glance - affectionate and amused both - she makes her way inside (the cat makes an annoyed noise, but stays put with nails dug into her collar) - it's clear by her dress that she holds a status of some sort, but the way she moves at the same time lets on that she doesn't quite act by it. "That happens to so many people! Please don't worry, I'm sure it will all be set right in the end."

Her smile is something gentle, "you've found yourself in Xanadu. It welcomes people from all times and places, so it's... No-year and every-year at the same time." For her part, Alice seems the least perturbed ever about that knowledge.