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]

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.

[mermaidcursed]

We'll do our best!

[ But uh... when 'school' starts back up, everyone is going to be in various states of malnutrition. She splurged today, but... ]

Me too. I like to garden... and you can't really do that with what we have right now.

[closewithnewintown]

I love gardening! I'm thinking... If we can get a garden going outside, we'll never have to worry about something like this happening again!

[because clearly they can't rely on their captor's largesse]

[mermaidcursed]

Me too! I can also cook and sew. I think I'll be at the home economics room a lot...

[ Somehow she's going to feed people! ]

[closewithnewintown]

I can cook, but only if I have a recipe. Sewing should be really useful here! [she has never learned anything where you have to sit it's a really glaring gap in the sports elf curriculum]

[mermaidcursed]

I can try to teach you.

[ Though, she's not sure how good a teacher she'll be? ]

It's a good skill to have even outside of odd... situations.

[closewithnewintown]

Someone I know back home is really good at sewing, but I've just never gotten around to it. [she decides to not use the word "friend" just in case robbie overhears her through the dimensions and pops out of a garbage can to yell at her for it.] I'd love to learn, though! This uniform is okay, but it's not, y'know. Pink. And I only like to wear pink.

[mermaidcursed]

You should have some extra outfits in your locker, thankfully! I don't know what I'd do if I had to wear a uniform the entire spring break... [ ... Was. Was there a place to do laundry? The locker rooms for gym had some in Kamome... ] How about every couple days we can meet at the home economics room to sew?

[closewithnewintown]

Sounds like a plan! [huh] I can't believe I might go home from this place learning more than I did in normal school.

[hopefully just sewing and not how to dispose of corpses. she might end up learning that, too.]

[mermaidcursed]

When do you want to start?

[ Play time is very important, after all. Stephanie must have a busy schedule since this is the Stephanie Meanswell Family Simulator game and definitely not a spooky one! ]

[closewithnewintown]

I think tomorrow is a good idea. That way, we can at least get some in before school starts up again.

After that... During lunch or right after all the strange kids leave is probably best! I go to bed pretty early. [so honestly if we go by murdergame precedent she'll just sleep through every crime.]

[mermaidcursed]

Okay. We'll go over the basics first, of course... but I bet you'll pick up on it quickly.

[ Provided that Stephanie could sit still... but she'd certainly do her best. ]

[closewithnewintown]

[don't worry she's not sportacus she doesn't need to be doing crunches to read books.]

I'll try my best!