fairy_tale_trainer | 0 The Fool

[A young girl with blond hair is on the screen, looking rather scared,] Is this working? Can someone tell me how to get home? I need to get back there now! [She takes a deep breath, raising her chin and looking more determined,] My family needs me right now. I don't know what kind of place this is, but I need to go back.
[There's a small cry from off screen,] Eevee!

[Mary picks the little creature up,] I don't know what kind of animal this is, how this device even works, or where I am. Would someone please explain? I truly need to get home.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

fairy_tale_trainer

[She's quiet for a moment as she takes in the information. It seems to strange to believe.]

What do you mean, "no way out"? Surely there must be some transportation. Or is there someone keeping us here?

From:

paladinlost

Someone, or something, likely of a magical nature. Some Pokémon- that is, some of the local creatures- could potentially have that power, but we've not yet discovered which one could be responsible for our presence here.

[Unless it's the llama god, but telling a lost new arrival about the llama god sounds like a terrible idea.]

The local transportation system is very limited. They have vehicles resembling airships that we cannot board, and their boats and train only connect two regions.

From:

fairy_tale_trainer

I am guessing that this eevee is a type of pokèmon? And I take it that neither region is connected to the outside world? Surely the air ships could take me back to London if I could sneak aboard?

From:

paladinlost

That's right, and it's a very special one, too. It has potential that most species can only dream of.

[Ah, but the girl has probably not yet heard about evolutions, has she?]

Sadly, we've only seen them once, and their only destination was Kalos. It is unlikely that they could bring you back to your London.

From:

fairy_tale_trainer

My London?

From:

paladinlost

There is no such country or city in my world, and others here might have their own. This land takes us from my different worlds, and not all resemble each other.

From:

fairy_tale_trainer

You mean places besides Earth?

From:

paladinlost

That's right. Some come from lands where no humans exist, or where people live among the stars. And while my world is also called Earth, it has little in common with any of the other worlds that bear the same name.

From:

fairy_tale_trainer

Surely I must be dreaming!

From:

paladinlost

Actually, you've missed the shared dream by about a month. This is, for the forseeable future, your current reality.

[...That came out more direct than he wanted.]

...But this world is not so bad. The Pokémon are wonderful, helpfulness is a common trait among the locals, we are often joined by loved ones from home, and we are returned to our rightful place in time the moment we leave.

From:

fairy_tale_trainer

So I don't have to worry about my family falling to pieces because I go missing too?

From:

paladinlost

You don't, I promise. You could spend a year here, and for them it'd be no more than a thousandth of a second. You could grow fifty centimetres in the meantime, but you'd look the same back home.

From:

fairy_tale_trainer

[Mary sighs in relief,] I can only take your word on it at this point. [Loneliness is starting to affect her. She doesn't really have anyone here. Or anything. All she can do is stay strong and try to make the best of things.]

From:

paladinlost

My word is born from many years of testimonies, I assure you. Certain people have been brought here and returned home and brought here again more than once; they were able to tell us what happens to our worlds during our stays here.

[He's strongly hoping that this little fact is more reassuring than alarming, but he wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't.]

From:

fairy_tale_trainer

[At first it looks like she's going to get upset, but for some reason she seems to calm down. She figures even if she spends years here, if no time passes at home, then it wouldn't be so bad. At least not once she makes some friends.]

So some people can spend years here?

From:

paladinlost

[He nods.]

The earliest arrivals will soon have been here for five years, though there are very few left these days. Most are returned home within a year or two, some even within weeks.

From:

fairy_tale_trainer

[TO think that someone had been here for half her life span.... It seemed like so long she could barely fathom it.] That is a long, long time.

From:

paladinlost

...It is indeed. But those who have been here for so long have become used to it years ago, even if they wish they could see their homes again.

[There's... not quite sadness in his voice, but something that resembles melancholy.]

From:

fairy_tale_trainer

You must miss your home, mister.

From:

paladinlost

I do, with every single day that passes. But the friendships I've found here have worth greater than any world can hold. That is this land's greatest gift to us.

From:

fairy_tale_trainer

You speak beautifully, mister.

From:

paladinlost

Why, thank you. My old tutors would be touched to hear your words.

From:

fairy_tale_trainer

They must have been much better than mine!

From:

paladinlost

They bored me to tears half the time and spent far too many hours on lessons I believed I'd never need again. Is that not how they all are?

From:

fairy_tale_trainer

Yes! Oh, I despise my piano lessons, and I already know at least half of what they are trying to teach me! And sometimes I even catch them getting some of it wrong!