New Pork City

[pullsneedles]

With a great KSSSSSSSSH! the limo lands at the entrance of Master Porky's neon haven, New Pork City. The streets are lined with lively distractions and familiar faces, the people of Tazmily bustling about at the cinema or the arcade.

Boney nudges his owner's hand with his nose, giving him a comforting lick. Kumatora puts a hand near her eyes, scanning the area. Duster fiddles with a wall staple, itching to move but wanting to stay still.

Lucas soaks it all in, frowning faintly.

Where to?

Comments

The Cinema

[pullsneedles]

The Pigmask outside of the movie theater catches the group's attention.

"Lucas? You're Master Porky's guest?" says a muffled, familiar voice. "It's me, Isaac. I've become a big shot now."

"Oh," Lucas mutters. "I'm...m'real happy for you, Isaac."

Isaac tilts his head, looking over the group. He does have to keep the peace, especially in Master Porky's city.

Re: The Cinema

[raptorcanaria]

Dinah is walking a line between Dinah and Canary with a wig and a low cut top, but also pants, because sometimes fishnets are overkill. She offers Isaac a friendly grin, before glancing at Lucas.

"I'm Dinah," she says. "I'm a friend of Lucas."

Re: The Cinema

[pullsneedles]

The masked head tilts.

"Oh yeah," comes Isaac's muffled reply. "Weren't you the one who helped out at the chimera lab? I heard about that incident after I got the uniform."

Re: The Cinema

[herr_bookman]

And it's just about here that Autor, standing next to Duster in the back, cringes. Lucas had mentioned that some of the people from his town had hared off to join the Pigmask army, but he didn't expect to meet one so soon.

He checks his grenades in his pockets, and checks them again, looking to Lucas, or Dinah, or Enzo for direction.

Re: The Cinema

[a1enzo]

Although Enzo is human right now, he's still got his uniform on. He's also the most visibly geared-up of the group, with the sword at his side and the fingerless gauntlet on his left hand.

"Hey. I'm Enzo." Until it's clearer whether he should be friendly or un-, he'll stick with cordial.

Re: The Cinema

[pullsneedles]

"Oh yeah, I met you back when I lived in Tazmily," Isaac says to Enzo. "You wanted to take a look at the Happy Box I had bought. Well, now you get to see what it's done for me. Joining Fassad and the Pigmask Army was one of the best decisions I ever made."

"Well....that's progress," Duster says.

Boney whines and barks, sniffing about anxiously.

"You'll wanna do something about your dog," Isaac tells Lucas.

"Oh, of course," Lucas says, scratching Boney behind his ear.

"Anyway, don't cause any trouble and we'll all get along just fine."

Isaac nods his head and returns to the others standing outside the cinema.

Re: The Cinema

[herr_bookman]

"Enzo?" Autor says, startled. "Aren't you normally green?"

He sidles up to the other sprite--er, boy--and looks him over. "Well, I'm glad you're at least prepared for this," he murmurs.

The Arcade

[pullsneedles]

With Boney stuck somewhere in the sewer and everyone else too big to go through, Lucas leads everyone back out, following the muffled sound of his dog.

"In there!" he calls, pointing out the arcade.

Re: The Arcade

[herr_bookman]

Autor jogs forward, pulling a flash bang out of his pocket on the way. He flattens himself against the edge of the doorway, and peeks in.

It... doesn't look like any sort of arcade he's ever seen. "He's moving fast, isn't he?"

Re: The Arcade

[a1enzo]

Enzo enters cautiously. He looks around, experiencing the usual twist of mixed feelings he gets when he sees video games from the outside.

That's not important right now, though. "This doesn't seem like the kind of place that would have a sewer entrance." Beat. "Then again, neither did the movie theatre."

Re: The Arcade

[herr_bookman]

"Oh, it has one," grumbles Autor as he follows behind. "I can smell it." Or, rather, he thinks he can. The placebo effect can be tricky.

"Lucas, do you still hear Boney? I've lost him."

Re: The Arcade

[pullsneedles]

"I think so."

Lucas glances down to the floor, his eyes trying to follow where he hears his dog. Kumatora paces along where Lucas looks.

"Anyone see anythin' odd?" the boy asks.

Re: The Arcade

[raptorcanaria]

"It's possible you're asking the wrong people, here."

After all, they're from different universes. Everything looks slightly odd to Dinah.

She crouches down near the floor, listening for Boney and scanning the area for anything appropriately out of place. Other than that she stays perfectly still.

The Story

[pullsneedles]

"Yes. It's me, Leder, the bell-ringer."

His rusty voice croaks like the frog downstairs at his feet, the impossibly tall and once mute bell-ringer speaking for the first time since Lucas met him.

"It must be a real shock to hear me speaking for once. It wasn't that I couldn't talk all this time. I simply chose not to. As I rang that Cross Road bell, deep inside my heart I had decided I would speak to no one. But the secrets I've been guarding are now starting to leak out."

"Secrets?" Lucas queries.

Leder nods once.

"Lucas. The time has come to tell you everything. What I'm about to tell you, you might not want to know. Even so, you absolutely must hear it. It will be a long story, but please listen to it all."

Re: The Story

[herr_bookman]

Autor tromps up the stairs behind Dinah, forgoing the carpet primarily because Leder takes up too much space. He glances back to see if Enzo followed, and then settles down on the stairs to listen in, quill and journal in hand.

Re: The Story

[pullsneedles]

"Given who you are and how you've lived," Leder's voice carries, "What I have to say will tear at your hearts, and there is just so much to tell. So I've decided to have the stinkbug trembling behind me memorize everything I say. Ready, Mr. Stinkbug?"

The stinkbug hops out from behind and hops twice in confirmation.

Leder clears his throat, preparing to begin. Kumatora sits down on the edge of the opening that allows Leder to stand up straight.

"I think we're ready to hear. Right, Lucas?" Duster goes.

Lucas nods, not as certain but knowing it must be important if Leder is willing to speak.

Re: The Story

[a1enzo]

Huh. So the bug was a feature after all. Enzo stands at ease and wonders what's coming.

Re: The Story

[pullsneedles]

"Long ago, there existed a 'world'. A world different from what the people on these islands think of. This 'world' was incredibly big. More people lived on this world than there are grains of sand on these Nowhere Islands. I know it may be hard to imagine, but such a world once existed. Understand?"

"Yes," Lucas answers. "I think I know what you mean."

"At some point, the world wound up destroyed."

Re: The Story

[a1enzo]

Enzo winces, and remains with his eyes closed for a bit.

The Empire Pork Building

[pullsneedles]

At Leder's instruction, the group stands before the terrifyingly tall Empire Pork Building. The skyscraper disappears straight into the clouds, hiding the top from view even outside of the dark city.

Somehow it's not as imposing once they're inside, the plush yellow carpet oddly inviting.

"Guess we gotta go up," Lucas muses.

Re: The Empire Pork Building

[herr_bookman]

Autor cranes his neck as he stares in awe at the building--these look so much smaller in books!--but follows everyone else as soon as they enter.

"Where are the stairs?" he asks. "And how many floors are we climbing, again?"

Re: The Empire Pork Building

[a1enzo]

"There's gotta be an elevator, right?"

He's in great shape, but an entire skyscraper's worth of stairs? No thank you.

Re: The Empire Pork Building

[raptorcanaria]

"Please say there is an elevator."

Dinah stands in the middle of the foyer, circling slowly to look for one.

"I am not a rooftop hero. If you wanted Batman I could have set you up with him."

Re: The Empire Pork Building

[pullsneedles]

Boney barks for their attention at the left-back corner of the lobby, pointing out the elevator room.

"Good job, Boney," Lucas praises, scratching him behind the ears as they move on.

But as Duster walks by to get on the elevator, some whispers start floating among the people in the building.

Re: The Empire Pork Building

[herr_bookman]

Autor wants to tell Dinah that he'd love to meet this Batman he has heard all about--what kind of vigilante dresses up as an airborne mammal? Honestly!--but stifles the urge. Now is not the time.

No, now is the time to bite down on his rising panic due to the idea of rocketing through a chute in a metal box suspended by a flimsy cord.

"How many floors, again?" the boy croaks, missing the whispers entirely.