life is full of games (OPEN)

[closewithnewintown]

Who: Stephanie AND YOU
When: 29th-1st
What: Stephanie tries to keep herself occupied.

[all alone, unable to play outside, in a rundown location. how familiar.

but, somehow, Stephanie doubts that she can shoot a letter into the sky and fix everything, this time.

she always makes do, though, and as the days of spring break go by, she does what she does what she does best: play. she likes the auditorium best of all; until she can go outside, it's probably the most appropriate place to play. on the 29th, she's playing hopscotch, having drawn out a board using charcoal and using a piece of the same as a marker. on the 31st, she's playing Brave Knight Sir Pinky with the really neat resin knife someone decided to give a small child, fencing with her own shadow, with the sort of stance and surety that makes it clear that someone has taken the time to literally teach her fencing.]

En garde! Pret! Allez!

[she also finds herself drawn to the clock tower. sure, it's pretty high up, but it's the only way she can see outside. on the 1st, during the day, she can be found with her face pressed against the glass like a poor kid in a candy store, just looking. like she can somehow soak up some of that great outdoors through thick glass. she can also be seen writing intently in a notebook, idly nibbling on the very last of an apple core.

she has set up a makeshift bed in the corner of her homeroom class, with her extra uniform as a pillow and a "sleeping bag" that is just a length of fabric she's wrapped herself up in like a little pink burrito. she is in bed by 8:08 sharp every night, and asleep by 8:30. until such a time that this changes, she is blissfully unaware of the nightly silence.]

Comments

[closewithnewintown]

That's such a good idea! I hadn't thought about it, but we should probably be saving our trash. It might be useful... Who knows what could come in handy, around here?

[she feels a pang of guilt for not offering to pay for herself. but she, um. ran low on points, quite early. because she hadn't thought that'd be a problem. so she will allow herself some selfishness.]

They have water in those machines, right? All the water tastes bad here, but I don't want to only drink soda and juice. Being hydrated is important.

[mermaidcursed]

They do, and it definitely feels fresher than... everything else. Tapwater shouldn't be pink. They also have milk! Which is also important, right? Do you want to come with me?

[ She'll understand if Stephanie wants to stay, of course! But maybe she'll want to see her options? ]

[closewithnewintown]

Sure! [a pause... she wrinkles her nose.] This place is a little bit spooky when you're by yourself. It's better when there's other normal people around.

[you don't have to be brave all at once. just be brave one step at a time.]

[mermaidcursed]

[ Nene only nods. She gets it. ]

It's good to have someone with you, yeah. [ So she gives her a gentle smile and leads the way to the vending machines. She selects two waters, and then a strawberry milk for herself. ]

What do you want? I have some saved up for things like this. We can also get a snack to split, if you'd like.

[closewithnewintown]

Orange juice, please! And... [hm... choices...]

Um, there's these round, crinkly rolls in there that have sugar on them? Those are really good. [Y'KNOW maybe people deserve an extra candy day during times of stress. it's fine.]

[mermaidcursed]

Oh! Melonpan. Excellent taste!

[ And with a few more taps, the girls have their rewards for making it this far without freaking out. Way to go, girls! Nene hands Stephanie her two drinks and half of the melonpan- and if Nene sneaks her the slightly larger half, then that's just fine. ]

There. Now all we gotta do is finish something off, and we'll have our caps.

[closewithnewintown]

"Melonpan!" I have to remember that; I have a friend back home that would go nuts for this stuff. [and one would be mortally offended by what horrors have been inflicted on melons.] It's bread and candy.

We'll just walk back slow! [though she's kinda thirsty so half the juice is gone already.]

[mermaidcursed]

It's worth going nuts for. Almost as much as strawberry daifuku... but nothing comes close to that.

[ Still, she can't help but giggle- Stephanie's a sweet kid. She deserves better than this weird, awful situation. ]

I guess so! [ (don't worry, so is nene. that strawberry milk carton? empty. ) ]

[closewithnewintown]

[Stephanie is not a worldly child. her greatest journey was a train ride to a town with one road. she has so many words to learn.]

I know what strawberries are, but not the other thing... I should be writing all of this down! Even if I showed up here without my diary, I don't want to forget anything.

[mermaidcursed]

Oh! Daifuku is a type of sweet that's made of mochi and red bean filling, and then with strawberry daifuku, there's a strawberry in the middle. And mochi is a rice cake! But not like... cake cake. I have some left in my locker if you want to try!

[ It's her favorite snack ever and she's trying very hard to ration it out, but sharing a new experience with someone is always nice. Still, a diary sounded... incredibly useful, actually.

Maybe she should see if she has a spare notebook. ]

[closewithnewintown]

[that does sound really good... no. the guilt of exploiting generosity would only be compounded by it being over sportscandy.]

Thank you, but... You've already given me so much! Besides, I have some apples left. [she has two cores.] You need to save some things for yourself! We still have a week until school starts, and who knows what could happen between now and then?

[mermaidcursed]

If you change your mind, the offer still stands. [ She's not going to press. Stephanie's got a good head on her shoulders though! ] That is true, though... I hope we'll get some answers. But until then, we've got games to play!!

[closewithnewintown]

If we get any more snacks, we can do a trade! I don't know if they take requests, but I'd like some carrots.

[she takes the cap off her empty orange juice, tossing it and catching it in her hand.]

I just realized... I don't actually know your name. Before that speech, it felt like I already knew everybody, but it doesn't feel like that anymore... I'm Stephanie.

[mermaidcursed]

That sounds good! I hope you can get some carrots. They're really good in stews!

[ It looks like Nene will be using her water bottle cap, but that's okay. She won't need to close it if they're careful. ]

My name is Nene. It's nice to meet you, Stephanie!

[closewithnewintown]

Everyone here has such pretty names!

[and lo, we have returned to the makeshift hopscotch court unscathed. mission: success!]

You go first!

[mermaidcursed]

Stephanie is pretty too! I've never heard a name like it outside of magazines about foreign celebrities... I didn't read a lot of those, though.

[ Nene stuffs some crumpled up paper inside the bottle cap to keep it from bouncing too much! Hopefully it will work. And then she goes! (I'm sorry I'm not actually sure how to write Hopscotch and nothing felt right.) ]

[closewithnewintown]

[insert scotch-hopping here]

Oh, are you not from my country? [DO NOT ASK WHAT THAT COUNTRY IS IT IS JUST "THE COUNTRY SHE IS FROM." why must i suffer, magnus scheving.]

[mermaidcursed]

No, I'm from Japan. I think a few of the people I talked to already are, too, but I've seen others who very much aren't.

[ A tall Arthurian knight is not a Japanese man. And honestly, Nene's just assuming she's from America... This might be for the best. ]

[closewithnewintown]

Oh, wow. [frowns] If that's true, that means at least one of us had to be taken very, very far to get here. I hadn't thought about that...

[she doesn't know where she'd thought this place was before then. busycity? mayhemtown? not potentially the other side of the world...]

[mermaidcursed]

Well... this school does have some things in common with my real school. [ And boy does she sound a bit unsure. ] But not... this kidnapping thing, or being held here during a vacation when everyone else gets to go home. A lot of the facilities are the same, and some schools have similar uniforms.

[ She's not one to let heavy talk distract her from play though. Even if it's a bit weird to discuss kidnappings while hopscotching it up. ]

[closewithnewintown]

It's completely different from mine. I mean, my school now is just one class, but even my old one wasn't like this...

So, we have to be in Japan! Or someplace that wants to look like Japan... I'm not sure how to tell the difference.

[mermaidcursed]

I'll be keeping an eye out, but right now... well. There's no way to tell for sure yet.

[ Sure would be nice to just trip on an atlas with this weird school's location circled in bright red marker!!!! ... No? Dang. ]

[closewithnewintown]

It'll be easier once we can get outside and see where those woods go. Get our bearings and everything. And we can send out signals! My friend has an airship, so that's gonna be how we get rescued. [just. sounds utterly confident in that.]

[mermaidcursed]

There may also be a town outside the gates? And with that, access to more methods of communication. But an airship ride would be really cool!!

[ She rode a bike to a false moon once! But oh that was actually really stressful, even if she was doing her best to keep a smile going. ]

[closewithnewintown]

Everyone gets a ride home! After we visit Lazytown, of course. I know my uncle will want to give everyone awards for looking after me. [it's pretty much his sole duty as mayor he needs it]

Honestly, I just want to be outside in general. It's like this place is teasing me by making it harder to play sports.