(IC) Lost In Dreams [Peter]

[ericthered]

Kumar starts bombarding Peter with questions. They seem both friendly and prying at the same time. Kumar wants to know about what movies just came out and what TV shows are big. He wants to know about politics. He wants to know about what the nicest models of smart phones are, and about any sports Peter watches and who the big stars are. Peter knows some of the answers ... and not some of the others.

The energy peaks, and then its gone. two seconds later, a ding lets everyone know that the conveyor has arrived, and the door opens. They are sitting on a concrete pad. Trucks are there to meet them, and soon they are driving through a mostly empty world on a shuttle. various concrete pads, some with the conveyors, are all over the place, as is traffic -- and little else.

They enter a town of sorts. A crazy town. People are dressed like you took the extras from five completely different movies and smashed them together. Historical North American clothing dominates, but there's a little bit of everything. Most of the folks trickle out of the bus over three stops. The fourth stop is in front of a building that boldly proclaims: "Miracle Workers". They file into the building. Kumar gives the dog a look "I suppose he's behaved so far.". He leads them inside.

Kumar goes up to a woman at the desk, and explains that they are trying to figure out where Peter is from. She directs them to a room in the back of the buildings. Its quite a secure room. The walls are soundproof, a white noise generator is unlocked, and Peter has to sign some non-disclosure forms about not telling people about non-public worlds. Then they start searching.

30 minutes later, they've thoroughly shot down every possible world. Requests have been made for more worlds, but Kumar doesn't think they'll come up with anything.

Kumar: "where ever your world is, we aren't aware of it. We are constantly looking for more worlds, but if we haven't already found it ... you're likely to graduate from college before you get home."

[the_matrix_walker]

Peter stares wide eyed with wonder as they pass the fascinating conveyors and strange folk from so many worlds.

As the day wares on and the possible worlds dwindle like sand in an hourglass, Peter becomes more downtrodden by the long list of failures.

When Kumar loses hope, Peter is about ready to crack... But he's able to keep himself together. As he feels the tears begin to form at the corner of his eyes, and feels a sensation of sinking into his own chest, he suddenly widens his eyes, and furrows his brow... He veers away from the cold despair, focusing on a spark instead... the spark of anger is quickly blown into an ember while Peter says nothing.

He embraces the feeling of being angry for himself for losing his own hope. He rants at himself inside his head... 'you got yourself into this. if you can jump around to other worlds, who says you can't jump home?'

Peter decides right there that he's not going to be stuck where he doesn't belong, and one way or another, he's going to get himself home.

It's completely irrational, but it seems to work. The flash of fury burns the sadness back like a brush-fire, and then it fades. He is less jovial than before, but his determination has returned and taken center stage.

"We'll see about that Kumar. Thanks for your help. So what do I do now? Is there anyone around here I can ask about the way I move around worlds without a conveyor? There might be another way to skin this cat... That's an expression where I come from, we don't actually skin cats.

[ericthered]

Kumar: "We have the same expression. You'll find our worlds are rather similar. You mean another parachronozoid? Yes... Kind of. They exist, and I technically know how to call the people who know them. Those people are likely to either refuse any of the parachronozoid's time or completely derail your attempts to get home in excitement at being able to work with a new parachronozoid.

[the_matrix_walker]

"So what do I do now? I don't belong anywhere anymore... and it sounds like Goliath and I are pretty much on our own... and you're the only person we know in the world."

[ericthered]

Kumar: "The world? Think bigger. You've still got the people back on Xenartha-1 who know you. And you're no farther from getting home than you were wandering around like a primative chasing down jeep tracks. But this is a bit of a pickle."

[the_matrix_walker]

"yeah, it is... At least I don't have to worry about being chased by savages here."

[ericthered]

Kumar: "Yeah, that too. No savages."

There is a lull in the conversation. Kumar seems deep in thought.

OCC: not getting much action from Peter here. If you want to take this passively, let me know, and we'll see where he ends up.

[the_matrix_walker]

((OOC: He's seeing where things take him. He doesn't have a home, or a friend, a dollar in his pocket or even the possibility of a direction to take... I'm at a loss for what he might do at this point other than to react to what happens in front of him.))

[ericthered]

Kumar sits for a while, staring into the void. The time stretches on. He occasionally mutters to himself. He seems to be weighing options. Finally, he speaks.

"I've been thinking about this. We can't send you over to the people who know about parachronazoids, cause they won't get you home, they'll just try to incorporate you into their organization. We can't set you up on a homeline world -- if we do things officially its the same as turning you over to PCL. We can't do things unofficially because the authorities will catch us and it will bring them down on The Miracle Workers. We haven't found a world you fit into better than homeline. Yes, there's Echo-0, but that's completely off limits. That means you have to stay with us, floating in the bureaucracy."

He scowls.

"There's also trying to get you refugee status. That won't really give you your life back though. You'd be stuck among people that at best speak your language and have a completley different way of life. You've probably never have another hot shower. So your still better off with us. That still gives some risk to miracle workers, but less than if we try to leave you somewhere."

He settles down into another long stare, thinking about some other aspect of the problem.

OCC: You can do anything. Really. Its a feature of the solo PbP game. Don't feel that I have a script to be followed, because I normally just place a character in a fix with several conflicts running around and see what happens.

[the_matrix_walker]

Peter thinks about his options... Hopefully he'll get home the same way this all started, under his own power.

In the meantime, he might as well follow his credo.

"So, I can keep being an honorary Miracle worker for now?"