Disclaimer: See last chapter for a detailed list of what is not mine.
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Peter, Martha, and Crystal were in an alleyway of what looked like a large city. All around them were tan brick buildings.
Crystal sat down on the pavement and muttered, "I didn't understand quite as well as I thought I did."
She looked so upset that Martha put one arm around her and asked, "What's the matter, Crystal? Are you all right?"
"Yes, mostly. I'm just a little shocked. I'll just sit still for a minute, and then we'll go and see where we are."
Peter and Martha sat down next to her and waited. Finally, Crystal stood up, with a somewhat relieved expression, and said, "It's all right. I might have expected it, going into a different world, but it will make this job harder."
"What will?" asked Peter.
"I can't quite hear properly," said Crystal. "It's so quiet, and a little... almost fuzzy sounding."
"What is? Can you hear us?" asked Peter.
"I can hear if I'm very still. Yes, I can hear you perfectly well."
"There's no one else to hear," Peter began, but Crystal rose into the air and flew to the top of the nearest building. She looked around, waved to them, and flew back down.
"There is a large area with a lot of people that way," she pointed to her right, "And they look more like the people from your world than from mine. Let's go find them."
They left the alley and went into a side street. The fronts of the buildings here were painted with bright colors and weird patterns. After they had walked about two blocks, they saw a man, who stared for a moment before hurrying into one of the brick buildings.
A little while later, they met someone walking in the opposite direction. He froze, looking as if his eyes would swallow up his face, and then ran back the way he had come.
"Didn't we just see that man?" asked Martha. "He looked familiar."
"I don't think so," said Peter. "But he did look like someone in a cartoon."
Crystal led the way to the place she had seen, which seemed to be an open-air meeting place. There was a sort of podium at the far end, and the rest of the space was taken up by stone or concrete benches. The benches were filled with people.
"Look, there's that man we saw," said Martha.
The man behind the podium, who looked so familiar, suddenly yelled, "Look! Turn around!" and all the people did.
Now it was Peter, Martha, and Crystal's turn to stare. Every face that they could see was exactly alike. They had identical silver-gray skin, pink hair, and sad, purple eyes. Each face had the same nose, the same mouth, even the same expression of disbelief. Martha, frightened, edged closer to Peter and clutched his arm.
Peter was as shocked as she was, but determined not to show it. He opened his mouth, sucked in some air, and then found his voice. "Hello?" he stammered. "Could I ask where we are, please?"
No one answered. Peter stood there, with dozens of people staring at him with wide, identical eyes, until he lost his nerve and just stared back.
Crystal had been standing silently, but now lifted off the ground and flew over the crowd's heads to the space in front of the benches. "You seem to be in charge, sir," she said to the man there, "so would you please tell us what this place is called?"
The man stepped back several paces, as if he, too, were afraid, and said, "You are in Dailitcen. Who are you, and what do you want?"
"My name is Crystal. The boy is Peter, and the little girl is Martha. We want to learn what the trouble is that you are in. Perhaps we can help you."
"How did you know that we are in trouble? You can't help us. Go away."
"I can't," said Crystal. "I have something to do here."
"What?" asked the man, as he took a few more steps backward.
"I don't know yet. You have to tell me what the problem is."
The man glanced around nervously, and said, "Come back tomorrow. You can all go home with... him." He waved his arm vaguely and then pointed to a boy in the front row.
The boy looked shocked and a little resentful, but not particularly frightened. He got up from the bench and walked to where Peter was standing. "My name is Xerxes Nebuzaradan Remaliah Elihoreph Pharez. Would you please follow me?" he said, before leaving the meeting-place and heading down a main street.
Peter and Martha waited for Crystal to join them before they followed.
Their host led them to a house, which was painted with patterns and murals in wild colors, like all the others. He opened the door and invited them in.
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Note: You can now see that the title of this story is not warm, fuzzy, and philosophical, but completely literal. Please tell me if it's been done before.
animegirl-mika, fledge, KaterineKasdorf, and princessofnarnia: Thank you all for reviewing.