hauntstart | UP AND OUT.

UP AND OUT.

[Beyond the stranger cemetery, you can see the city of Lockcentre. On two sides stretch mountains, with a plateau edge visible above the town, a great waterfall plunging into a river that wends its course through the city, then down terraced edges as the city carefully steps its way down to the sea.

Now what? ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

What, was everyone you woke up with in the catacombs that bad?

There was no one else.

[ BUT THEY COULD HAVE BEEN BAD! ]

[ pauses in his step and looks back at him ]

Oh. Huh.

Well, I showed up with a few other people. I'm going to try to meet up and share information with them, too. There's two women- Chant, you can't miss her, she has antlers, and Rhiannon, she's a bookish type with lavender hair. And Lady Rahela's guard is here, too.

[ Lady Rahela's man is the least surprising of all three of those!! ]

Antlers. [ pained. ] How is that possible?

[ shrugs ]

Different world? My home world has lions.

[ gives him a look like he's full of shit. it's a natural response. it's a habit. ]

[ and then it smooths over, replaced by something indescribable.

right. he's not full of shit. there's hardly been a single moment where Marius had the opportunity to ask him about his home. he's not exactly sure he can, now. ]

Have you ever seen one?

[ there. it's a little about asking him about his home. a little. ]

No, no. I've only seen pictures. I mean, I could have seen them in person, at like... a public menagerie. But people have to pay to go in and see them there. It just... wasn't something I ever ended up doing?

[ shifts his weight from one foot to the other, gesturing. awkwardly. what is he even talking about. it all feels so long ago and so far away and so surreal. he never imagined talking about something like the zoo with Marius. ]

So. Uh. Are you okay with sharing a room with women? Hostels usually have a lot of beds to one room.

[ Marius wishes they could go back to talking about the lion right now. ]

If it's the norm here, I will bear it.

Okay. Thanks- if they're fine with it, too, that should make things easier on all of us.

[ softly. trying to convey his genuine appreciation. Marius is giving him so much. and for what

resumes walking, circling around the library to a building across the street at its back ]

[ "for what" FOR YOUuuuuuu for the person who now holds the leash.

He's glancing around, taking in the scenery, the buildings, street names, anything that can be used later. ]

Have you been many places?

Uh. Not really. I honestly traveled more in Eyam than I ever did back home.

[ And he didn't even get to see Marius' home yet :( because he died :( ]

But you've been on the "train" before?

I've been on the subway, which is kind of like an underground train that doesn't go as far?

[ ................ ]

What does it look like.

Like a loooong carriage that moves by magic.

[ gestures, indicating something loooong ]

Functionally, they're like land boats. You can load them up with a lot of people or a lot of resources and carry all of that cargo at once across a long distance, from one city to the next or even all the way across a continent. For a subway, you have to dig out the tunnel to get them set up first, so they're only for smaller distances, but it cuts down a lot on time. You could get from the palace to the Day Market in something like five minutes.

[ hmmmm. ]

Why did you never re-invent one?

That is a lot to ask out of someone who barely started highschool.

Why was it high?

Look. When I wanted a building made, I didn't draw up the blueprints myself. I hired an architect. If I wanted a boat made, I'd go to a shipwright. Those are people who already know what they're doing. I can give them an idea, and they already have the foundations of how to make that idea a reality. I've been on a subway, but I don't know how it actually works. And there's no one who already knows how they work for me to hire.

[ HE STILL WANTS TO KNOW WHY YOUR SCHOOL WAS HIGH UP? ]

I see.

[ He doesn't. Well, the reasoning is sound but he still doesn't know how this land boat would appear. Okay, time to be daring: ]

Your home is full of intricate works?

[ tfw he forgot Marius wouldn't know what highschool is

closes his eyes ]

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Full of them. There are tons of things that used to be just a part of regular life for me, that I would never be able to recreate in Eyam.

[ quietly, like it's a whisper that shouldn't exist, a question he might not want the answer to: ]

Do you miss them?

[ he looks at Marius's feet instead of his eyes. he's come to a stop. they're basically just loitering outside the door to the hostel. he doesn't want to go in yet. the moment feels fragile. so much has changed for them in such a short time. so much has happened. ]

Yeah, I do. Some of them.

[ a train sounds useful. Marius doesn't want to see the metal carriage that struck Eric ever again, though. he could do without that one.

unfortunately there's more important, unavoidable things to say.

a deep breath. ]

Eric.

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