Stolen time [Open, video and action to anyone who happens across him]

[notquitedracula]

[Oh, look! It's the standard accidental network post from a new face! Only this face isn't so new. Some might recognize it. It doesn't look a whole lot like it did last time - for one, it's decidedly younger, by about eight years, and for another, it's... got some pretty bad sunburn going on, in a pattern that looks like it happened a lot quicker than one normally gets something like that. Like there were shadows in the way that prevented his whole face from ending up like that.

It takes him a few moments to realize what's going on - he HAS encountered smartphones before this, after all - and then he goes a little red. Well... redder, at least in the parts of his skin that aren't burnt.]

Oh, uh, sorry. I didn't realize this thing could broadcast...

[The background looks like a tea house, one that some people might remember visiting alongside his older self. It was the only place he could find that felt like 'home'. The wait staff don't seem to know what to make of him.]

Comments

[singinghuntress]

[A very curious twelve year old suddenly pops up. She's not exactly familiar with her device but, she's figured out if she presses buttons, she can talk to people as strange as it is. ]

Um... you look like you need to get out of zhe sun.

[notquitedracula]

I already have. It was only a minute or two, but... I had to find someplace that at least felt familiar. This place is so strange, and there's nobody here I know, and...

[Yes, he did in fact just run right past the point where he should have stopped.]

...and people are talking about magic and monsters like that stuff is real.

[singinghuntress]

[So, he was in the same situation she was. Rip woke up in a strange place and really, didn't know what to make of anything. This wasn't home and she didn't know where her parents were...]

Zhen...sounds like ve're in zhe same boat. I don't know vhere my parents are und zhis is not home. But, I zhink.. I saw an umbrella in zhis apartment zo, I could come find you?

Maybe ve can figure out vhere ve are togezher?

[notquitedracula]

I... I don't know. I can't pay for anything like an umbrella, I don't have anything but these weird pieces of red paper in my wallet. They look kinda like ofuda... Uh... Where are you, right now? I'm at... some kind of tea house, in what I've been told is 'Genessia City.'

[Video]

[scarlet_devil]

[ A classy older lady shows up on the feed and... she is confused. ]

...Soma?

[Video]

[notquitedracula]

[Older woman, blue hair, red eyes... she looks kinda nice, but he's long since learned that 'looks nice' doesn't always translate to 'is nice'.]

How do you know my name?

[singinghuntress]

Vell, you don't haf to pay for one! I'll just... borrow zhe one here.

[She smiles slightly. Obviously, she has no issue taking something she might need.]

I zhink...Genessia City? I'm in an apartment complex. Um...I zhink it's called Riverplace Square? I've never even heard of zhese places before. Zo, I'm not even sure how I ended up here.

But, I zhink... I should be able to find you? I've alvays been good at finding zhings.

[notquitedracula]

[Her accent sounds like it should be hard for him to understand - but he's having no trouble with it. Just like he shouldn't have been able to read that book he found in that sale bin, a year ago. The one Hakuba-ojiisan had gotten so mad about. To be fair, it had been a pretty horrible book.]

None of these places are familiar to me; I was in Hokkaido until a little bit ago. I don't have any idea how I got here... or even where here is.

[singinghuntress]

[She nodded and already was grabbing the umbrella and heading out the door to find him.]

Hokaydo? Never heard of it. But, I vas at home last I remembered..back in Germany. Zhis place izn't like anyzhing I've ever seen before...und I really don't know vat to make of it. Like, how iz a phone portable und how can I zee you? Zhis doesn't make sense!

[video]

[lostxleader]

Hey-are you okay, you're burning...

[in the sun? That could mean..a vampire? But vampires turned into beasts in the sun..???]

[video]

[notquitedracula]

I'm not okay, but the burning is the least of my worries right now. It's a skin condition, one I've had all my life. I'm allergic to sunlight.

[Like most vampires. Except this kid isn't actually a vamp - he's just... really poorly off.]

[notquitedracula]

Hokkaido is a city in Japan. We have phones like this there - the one I had at home was actually a bit more advanced than this. But it couldn't connect to a network and broadcast like this one does. I think they use some kind of radio wave to carry the signal; the technology base is about... thirty years old or so, I think?

[...Okay, so he knows a little bit about science and technology. That's good. Right?]

[singinghuntress]

[That's more than she knows? She comes from Germany in the 1920s...so, this is all over her pretty little head. Which is obvious while she stares at him blankly.]

...Phones are rare zhings zhat are mounted on valls und you use a dial. Radios are boxes zhat you hear voices out of und I can't zhink of anyzhing that lets you see zhe person you're talking to.

[So, there was definitely a discrepancy in what kind of technology they were both used to.]

Und.. I've never heard of Japan. Iz zhat a different country?

[And she's on the move again and exiting the apartment building. It might take her a little wandering, but, she'd eventually find him. Rip was a lanky pre-teen and tall for her age, something she was a little self-conscious about and that she was a little clumsy. But, she did have an umbrella in hand and looked pleasant enough at least? ]

video

[littlefiend]

Hurry! Get to the shade!

[This little pipsqueak yells into the screen with great alarm.]

You're gonna die! Get out of the sun!

[notquitedracula]

Japan is over on the east coast of Asia. It's a chain of islands. As for phones... I think I've seen one like you described before, but it was in a museum. Maybe... this place does something with time?

[Yes, perfectly articulate. Such grace in wording. When Rip arrives, Soma is a bit startled - he really didn't expect her to find him. Where Rip is tall and a bit gangly, the only word that fits Soma is scrawny. The oversized long coat only emphasizes that he's... really rather short for his age, and most definitely underfed. If he wasn't dressed like an average kid and relatively clean, one might take him for a homeless person. The eyes, though... there's something about them. Something in them that people see, and fear, because it reminds them that humans are only at the top of the food chain because larger, more powerful animals haven't started developing weapons yet. It's kind of off-putting to most, that feeling of being caged up with a predator.]

video

[notquitedracula]

[Congratulations, Augustine. You have officially scared the HELL out of him.]

I'm out of it! I'm inside!

Re: video

[littlefiend]

Good, now stay there!

[He commands like he's some sort of lord or count.]

I'll come fetch you.

Re: [Video]

[scarlet_devil]

You don't remember? I know you quite well.

[ As an aside, she'll order Sakuya to bring him a parasol because he really needs one. ]

[singinghuntress]

A museum..?But, zhey're zomething new in my village! How can it it be in a museum already.

[She's pouting slightly before brushing it off. When she does finally lay eyes on Soma, she's rather surprised at how small the kid was. She wasn't exactly well fed herself, but, she kept herself at least from starving by helping with the farm and hunting.. or casually stealing something to eat when no one was looking.

But, her dress was a little big on her, not that she really seemed to care as she opened the umbrella to cover him. Even seeing his eyes, she felt something strange. A little fear and a lot off curiosity. For a human Rip wasn't exactly normal either. She was just strange according to some of the people in her village. Especially since she preferred hunting and the woods opposed to spending time with people her own age. Most of the time.

Right now in this strange place, she figures safety in numbers.]

Hallo~!One umbrella at your service!

video

[notquitedracula]

[He won't even think to disobey, because honestly, he's a bit on the shocked side. He hasn't even noticed the eyes yet.]

Re: video

[littlefiend]

But where are you?

[He asks at last once he realizes he won't be able to find him without a location.]

Do you know?

[Video]

[notquitedracula]

I don't remember any of this. I was just in Hokkaido, wandering around trying to find my cat. You're the second person who's said they know me...

Re: [Video]

[scarlet_devil]

Odd...

You can trust me. My name's Remilia. Anyway, I can send someone over with a parasol, because that doesn't look too good...

[notquitedracula]

[The people around Hokkaido had names for him. Devil child. Ayakashi. Youkai. In Europe, he'd be called a changeling, if not outright fey. But mostly what he is is scared, because people usually react... violently. He only knew a handful that were seemingly immune to the effect.

He carefully accepts the offered umbrella, not certain if he should keep it or run away, since someone would surely come looking for it.]

I haven't anything to offer in trade. All the money I had seems to have been replaced with these red ofuda things. [He holds up a redbill to demonstrate. He's holding it oddly - between fore and middle finger, from one end, stood up vertically. Exactly like an onmyouji might hold up a paper seal.]

[Video]

[notquitedracula]

[Those eyes... they remind him so much of his own, the 'devil eyes' that everyone seems to fear so much. So much like his father's.]

I... I guess I have to trust someone, or I'm not going to figure out anything. I've already got an umbrella, though - someone brought me one a little while ago.