1 . VOICE . four calling birds

[onset]

[Hello, City. You have acquired +1 hopeless human being, complete with a very English accent and no sense of direction. His voice sounds pleasant enough, at least.]

He - [wait is this thing working

okay, we'll just assume it is] Hello? I'm sorry, I have no idea who I'm talking to, but nothing else will work, and - I need help.

[yes, this pause is meant to be a silent expression of how awkward he feels, and this is why:]

I think - I hit my head. [he's actually pretty sure he did that, if waking up with his cheek pressed against concrete and a nasty headache followed by what he assumes is amnesia are anything to go by.] I don't know where I am or how I got here, and... I seem to be hearing things? [voices coming from a random assortment of birds and a clock ticking, to be exact. With a very pointed exhale (he may be feeling sick in addition to everything else):]

Could someone take me to hospital?

Comments

[onset]

Jimmy. [after a beat,] Nice to meet you, Jimmy. I'm Peter.

[Yep. Identity still secure.]

That's very nice of you to offer, really. [... Actually.] I don't suppose you can tell me how I'm talking to you? Or - just what kind of program this is, really.

[trenchknives]

Well...

[Jimmy sighs.]

I actually can't explain it to ya. We don't have this kinda thing where I'm from. It's like a telephone, is what people've been tellin' me, but obviously it can do a lot more'n that.

[onset]

Sorry - people have been telling you?

[trenchknives]

Yeah, people around the City've been sayin' that it works like a telephone, 'cept ya can see people on it, too. Why?

[onset]

I don't remember anyone explaining this to me. Except - you right now, of course.

... I'm not sure how I even got this phone, actually.

[trenchknives]

Well, maybe nobody's talked to ya yet. The phones just kinda... arrive with us, when we get pulled in here from wherever we came from.

[onset]

Pulled here. [... huh. He's had the 'different dimension' talk, but...] So we were kidnapped and they gave us these phones to talk to one another.

[trenchknives]

Yeah, that's about the long 'n short of it.

[onset]

That's... disturbing.

[trenchknives]

Shit, tell me about it. 'n then ya got the curses, too.

[onset]

['Curse'? Someone mentioned that word before.]

You'll have to tell me what that means.

[trenchknives]

Yeah, um, basically sometimes... well, most days, really, weird shit happens. Sometimes dangerous shit, sometimes irritating shit, sometimes funny shit... but always completely random, 'n always outta our control.

[onset]

Like experiments?

[trenchknives]

Right. Like that. And sometimes they're just a pain in the ass, but sometimes they can be really serious.

[onset]

Could you give me some examples?

[trenchknives]

Well, uh, sure. One time there was this really messed up circus in town that was kidnapping people and turning them into circus freaks. But sometimes you get a curse where you just wanna dance with everyone, or kiss 'em, or somethin'.

[onset]

Wh - kidnapping people? [turning them into circus freaks? What the-] What happened to them?