There's no place like Zozo
It started out innocently enough one day as I decided to take a break from rehearsing at the opera house. My biggest performance was less than a week away at this famous venue, and I thought it would be good to take a moment to relax and visit the nearby townspeople. On my brief stop in Jidoor, I was greeted by some fairly nice people, but one of the residents warned me of a town in the mountains to the north. I was told "Once in a while one of the idiots from Zozo'll wander down here, looking for an easy mark. Watch your wallet!" I kindly thanked the man and continued on with the rest of my stay. As I wrapped up my visit I thought more of the stern warning I received earlier. I figured it couldn't hurt to stop in Zozo to see for myself what this place had to offer. Unfortunately I learned the hard way that I should have taken the strangers advice more seriously!
After leaving the town of Jidoor, I made the brief trek towards Zozo. Immediately upon arrival I learned that my previous warning was truly an understatement. Right away I noticed just how shabby many of the buildings looked, it appeared to me that many of these structures were distressed and in need of modernizing. The people gave me an odd impression that I should keep a low profile as many of them looked to be of the untrustworthy sort. Even more odd was the amount of rain that seemed to fall without end, as if a storm cloud made a permanent home directly overhead. I got out of the rain and into the nearest building and the people that I met along the way were not exactly the sharpest bunch. On two separate occasions I asked about the time, but funny enough nobody seemed to know the exact time of day, even the various clocks were either set improperly, or had simply stopped functioning. One man I encountered spoke briefly of an object or something hidden inside one of the buildings, I wasn't too interested in what was said and I continued on my way. There was however one resident who did give me a good first impression. She was an attractive lady wearing a fine looking red dress, and because of her attire I thought that maybe she was a performer from the nearby opera house. After initiating a brief conversation with this stranger I made mention of my upcoming performance and I inquired about her interests in the performing arts. I was disappointed when I learned that this otherwise attractive woman fashioned herself as being some kind of slamdancer!
Next I made the decision to venture back outside to get a closer look at the rest of this town. Sadly what I encountered was more unimpressive than what greeted me back at the entrance. Some structures looked to be in below average condition, but others we're literally falling apart. As I made my way up one building, to my surprise there was a door completely rusted shut. This made me wonder if there were other doors just like this? And to my horror I later witnessed a man jumping recklessly between two buildings, I didn't know if the man had gone completely mad or if he was some daredevil or something! By that point I had just about enough. There really wasn't anything about Zozo that was worth talking about, it was poorly kept, the residents were mostly shady, oh and did I forget to mention the rain? And just as I was leaving, I asked a young man if he could direct me to Zozo's nearest Item Shop and he had the nerve to tell me "Zozo! Never heard of it." Upon exiting this gloomy place, I couldn't have been more anxious to return to the opera house to resume my rehearsing. My day away started out fine in Jidoor and ended in disappointment. During my travels I've visited many towns before, but one things for sure... there's no place like Zozo.