Not the time for this.
Interesting experience so far.
The talk with the doctor, as brief as it was, was good. It let me pick up a few things that seemed to be casually mentioned without it being weird. Common sense or knowledge that I didn't have.
So I turned to the only source of information I had at this moment.
They were kind enough to give me the remote control, maybe it helped that the only other person that was in the room with me had left. I didn't even know if I would have to pay for this too, but for someone that is going to have to pay what I assume will be a huge bill, what is a couple of… actually, what kind of currency do they use here?
The heart monitor's beeping is barely muffled by the sounds of the TV. I switch the channels at random. There's news, what I assumed was a rather futuristic series given the equipment they used, cartoons, there was even one of those shopping channels.
The first one wasn't giving me the information I wanted fast enough except the date, just prices going up, some coming down, whom I assumed was a celebrity adopted some kids, nothing that I knew or really cared about right now.
The next one didn't offer me anything else except badly written dialogue, judging from the little that I saw. Some things are constant in the Universe I guess.
But it's the last one is the one that surprises me.
Out of all the scenarios and situations that I could think of and imagine that would give that first notion of how different things truly were here, this came close to last. Really close.
The TV showed the image of a man holding this white, thick, palm-sized block, a yellowish, diamond shaped button in the middle of it. Call now, it reads on the bottom of the screen in capital letters, twenty percent off. There was also the same faded sign I saw in that store in what I felt was almost a lifetime ago, it reminded me of the Yen symbol, but instead of the Y, there was an L.
Listening more gives me the name of the currency they used here Lien, and the object the man shows expands, the newest model of a Scroll, the man says and it was apparently used like a phone. A screen appears out of the seemingly thin air. Holograms responsive to touch? No. It looks… solid? The price of it almost falls to the back of my mind if not by the actual value of it, 32000. It really seems to be like Yen then.
Watching TV gave me a good deal of information. Most of it was just present in the background or off-handedly mentioned. If it had happened once or twice I could've ignored as something particular to what I was watching, but then some terms and objects started repeating across the channels and shows. Even the news, this time proper information that I could use, was using the same terms.
Kingdoms. Airships. Real, working robots. Faunus. Huntsman. Aura. Dust. Grimm.
Technology here is so different, to the point I couldn't even say evolved because some of it just didn't make sense. After seeing hard light constructs popular enough that they were used as phone screens and who knows what else, the robots were a bit underwhelming. The fact that they were good enough to be used as guards though, wasn't.
In the background of some shots, I can see some flying machines that look like boats, with oars that seemed to slowly row the air to move.
I notice from the corner of my eye the amused looks some of the nurses that come in once in a while give me, and it's not difficult to know why. There's probably a look of pure awe on my face as I watch someone in a talk show kind of program using Dust.
Because it's… magic. Crystallized magic. The generic, elemental kind I think, but still… magic. That could somehow be used as a power source. And propellant for ammo. And somehow gave special effects to bullets.
I barely sleep through the night. I toss and turn on the bed, the thoughts of how to get back home hanging over my head. No matter what I have to do, it all starts at the same point.
Coming the morning I will be released and, according to the nurse that came deliver the forms, someone from a shelter will come pick me up, and I will fill their forms to try and get a job with all the no working experience I have.
I take one breath in. The smell of antiseptic, that could easily be described as clean or sterile, was sharp enough that in a deep enough breath I could feel the air burning as it entered my nose. Rare murmurs and hushed speaking that I couldn't quite understand from doctors and nurses outside.
I can't tell what's worse. Not knowing if the information I have is wrong or not knowing anything at all. The excitement and weird sense of pride for figuring something out had long passed, leaving me only with doubts. How much of this was true?
Magic couldn't exist. Whether I like it or not, the more rational part of me wants to discard that information. It makes no sense how a mineral could either create fire, ice or lightning just like that. But then the same part remembered that no matter how much I looked around the store so many days ago, the maps that I found all showed the same dragon shaped land. And the broken moon.
Different world, different rules?
Animal people - Faunus, I remember, they might not like to be called animals - are a thing here though, which makes a little part of me oddly happier than I thought. Huh.
The morning comes, and with it, a nurse with offers of, in my opinion, too little food, even dinner had rather… regulated portions, they said something about not feeding too much food to people that had eaten too little for too long.
I'm surprised when they hand me a change of clothes that is actually mine. Grimm had gotten to it first, from what the nurse said, "they were only able to salvage this much. Sorry," she said and actually looked sorry as she handed me my things.
I sit down on a chair in the hospital lobby, the blue padded seat squeaking a little when I plop down. A pair of pants and shirt. I had grabbed a pamphlet on the front desk while I waited. Wallet with money that is useless and a phone without battery. Or a charger.
I lean back on the seat, my head hitting the wall behind me. And a jacket with teeth holes on the sleeve. The regret of staying the night awake catching up to my body and mind. There's this prickling feeling, on the top of my head, result from neither sleeping or having coffee.
I unfold the paper, uncaring for the actual content. I cut it into squares and stuff all but one of them into one of the pockets of the pants. Of everything that I had seen, Grimm are… scary. I fold the square in a diagonal and the triangle in half. Bandits and criminals I couldn't even be surprised that existed. I open the pockets formed and fold them in half into a square. It was probably just a gag for that one cartoon. They can't be strong enough to destroy a village.
A few more folds and the square turns into a diamond shape. I mean, Grimm can't really track emotions, right?
A pause and I look at the people that walk through the hospital lobby, the folded paper waiting to be completed. With exception of the hospital staff, most of the others wear Asian styled clothing, the whole short, thick robes with a band tied at the waist thing or a collarless button up that I remember seeing in those Chinese martial arts movies.
I only notice a woman that comes in because of the bright red coat that she takes off. She follows what most of the people are wearing with a thick looking, dark robe. Air is blown onto her hands and she rubs them together, there's a bounce in her step when she starts walking.
She approaches the front desk and talks with the man working there, from the corner of my eye I see both of them looking at my direction. I turn my head to look at them and see the man waving me over.
"You're Gabriel?" the woman asks and turns to the attendant at the desk, but he had taken a call on the desk phone. I nod and she extends her arm. "Name's Laurel." She has a polite smile that seems more strained when I switch the jacket from one arm to the other, showing her the cast when I go to shake her hand. "I'm here to pick you up."
When she came in I thought she seemed around the same age as me, but looking closer I could tell that she is a few years older and a tad taller than me. "Ready to go?" She points to the door.
"Yes," I put one arm through the sleeve, the cast didn't let the other arm past the sleeve so I pull the jacket over my shoulder. It was warm enough inside that I haven't felt the need to put it on earlier. The image of dark leather, white shirt and work boots that reminded me of a character in an old movie didn't really help either.
When we get outside I take one big breath in, the cold air entering my lungs and casting away some of the fatigue I felt. There's snow piled up along the path that goes from the front door to the parking lot. A slight breeze blows and I hear a small whine as Laurel wraps herself on the red coat.
"Aren't you cold?" Laurel asks, she has her arms crossed and is rubbing them.
"Nah." I breathe in again, the cold air tickling my nose. "I prefer cold like this."
The car is still warm when we get in. "So," she starts as we drive away from the parking lot. "The hospital told us that you don't have any documents." I nod, even though it wasn't a question. "You'll need to fill some things to get those ready." She continues. "Basic stuff, really. Full name, date, and place of birth that kind of thing." She motions with one hand while the other is holding the wheel.
"There's information that we'll need too. For living arrangements." She continues after I don't ask anything. "Like food allergies, or any kind of allergy, really." We stop at a red light. "Depending on the kind of work that you have experience in we could probably help with that." She switches gears and we start moving again. " Lots of forms and bureaucracy, in short." A humorless chuckle. "Any questions?"
My attention is split between what she is saying and what I see outside the car. The landscape changes from the rectangular buildings and some Japanese or Chinese inspired ones with curved and detailed roofs, to some Greek-inspired ones with a triangular façade held by columns, even though the rectangular, more 'normal' buildings remain. I only recognize it because the Greek columns are of one of the few things I actually remembered from Art class.
"Not really." It all seemed simple enough. Not wanting to people to go to the hospital because of a bad reaction to something made sense. I had questions about logistics but that would most likely be something involving politics that I wouldn't even understand. Or cared about, for now at least.
"What's that?" She points and I notice I'm still holding the folded paper.
"Oh." I have some trouble folding the shorter points of the diamond to the centerline. I notice how Laurel takes a peek once in awhile. Two more folds make the tail and the future neck, one more makes the head. I fold down the wings and pull on them. "Just a way to pass the time."
She has an amused smile as I put the paper crane on top of the panel, we stop at another red light and she reaches for it. "It's cute," a look over before she places it down again and we move. "How did you learn it?"
"Mom taught me," I smile at the memory. An ornament for the Christmas tree, a small, plastic thing that my parents bought just because I asked for one when I was… five?
There's this moment in which none of us speak, but she breaks the silence after a while. "Talking helps." She starts, the tone a bit more somber, voice lower than before. "Not about what happened, if you don't want to," she adds a bit hurriedly. "But just… talking. With anybody, really."
I haven't even noticed how I was pressing against the door, keeping the most distance as was possible inside the car. "It was cold." Shifting on the seat, I couldn't tell her everything, even I didn't know some things. "To get here, I mean." I look down at my hands, the long fingers thinner than before. I try and succeed to keep the thoughts away.
"What did you do?" A prod, her tone changes again. This time impassive, non-judgmental.
"I just had my bag with me, but now that's just…" Gone. I groan and I rub my face and it feels rough, the uneven growth of beard is still there. Should've asked for a razor. "I ran across a village." I continue to answer her question. " It was empty, and… it was destroyed. To think that there were people living there and then…" I blow air through my nose and breathe in again. Focus.
"I found a map in a store," I continue, skipping the almost breakdown while looking for a real map. "There's a dog in another one, with an empty package of food and a sick look, but it's just there, looking. I get some food from under some shelves that were knocked down. There's the same bag of food that the dog was eating so I open it and leave it there." The dog barks and picks up the small bag. It picks up the bag. And starts following me. I feel a cold weight settling as my stomach seems to tighten around itself. Where is she?
"I start walking and the dog follows, but it starts to get dark and colder." And the moon is goddamn broken.
I can't help but feel this stupid, little pride on what I did next, it probably shows taking from the small smile she allows to appear. Watching that survival show was worth it after all. "So I make a bow with a shoelace and a stick, make a loop with the string and put another stick in it." I motion the movement of the back and forth of the imaginary bow. There's this way to pile up wood so the fire lasts longer. I made a mistake on the first two nights, once not enough wood and the other too much. Darwin Award worthy of a screw-up.
"Nine days walking, I think. And then this happened." I raised the cast. "And now this." I gesture to the car and then outside. That I now notice is static. "When did we stop?" I look around, and there's a building, basically a block of bricks with the triangle facade and Greek columns.
"Around the time you started a fire. Smart." She says, the small smile grows. Blue eyes, I notice "Do you feel better?" I'm still looking at the building, turn to her and nod. "Good. Now," she claps her hands together. "Let's get you settled in."