Action:

[In the late hours of the afternoon, a large, well groomed dog can be seen padding around the City. It looks completely at home wandering among the streets. Occasionally it will stop on a street corner, watching the crowd, almost as if it's waiting for something, or someone.

When evening comes, the dog will be sat outside Lucky's, barking excitedly at everyone that comes by, wagging its tail.]


Video:

[When Ruby finally does return to her own form, she finds that she has the same communicator as she had during her previous stay in the City. She smiles brightly as she waves at the camera.]

It figures that I'd get hit with a curse the moment I set foot back in this place. I guess some things never change.

...Although, there is a lot that's changing about this place. For instance, I heard talk that someone's trying to build a door out of here? And I've not been back two minutes, either.

[She sounds disappointed. Her previous disdain of the City is quite missing, and that surprises Ruby more than anyone.]


((OOC: Ruby got hit with today's curse and is a rough collie. After she's changed back, she'll be in Lucky's for action threads.))

[The feed shows a baby dragon with bright red scales crawling across the floor of Ruby's apartment. The camera's shaking in her hands a little.]

I liked this thing far more when I still thought it was a dinosaur.

[The dragon opens its mouth wide and out shoots a small fireball. The rug and the bottom of the curtains of Ruby's apartment are now on fire.]

Hey-- hey! Stop that!

[She grabs the first thing she can lay her hands on - a frying pan - and whacks the dragon with it sharply. Whereas before he'd looked playful, now he just looks very angry with her. She wouldn't be surprised if he tried to burn down the whole apartment now.]

If anyone wants him, take him. Please. Otherwise I'm going to be eating dragon stew tonight.

[She drops the camera abruptly to try and deal with the fire.]

Once upon a time, there was a girl called Ruby, with hair as red as fire. Ruby hailed from a far away kingdom called New York, but she had been kidnapped from her homeland and taken to a place known only as the City. As day dawned on one particular morning in the City, the sunbeams broke through the window and roused the maiden from a deep and peaceful slumber, in the tower where she resided. It was a well-earned slumber, too, for the previous day fair Ruby had been on a quest, roaming the city and searching far and wide to find cigarettes for her employer, Meyer, a Prince of her homeland of New York, a quest in which she had been ultimately unsuccessful.

Today, as Ruby rises from the comfort of sleep, she finds that the small, ornate silver box she prizes so dearly had been returned to her, adorning the otherwise bare window sill, glinting in the morning sunlight. Having bathed and dressed in a green chiffon dress of her own design, Ruby takes one of the small white sticks from the silver box and leans in the window of her room as the fluffy white clouds drifted lazily through the azure sky, watching the people come and go from the other towers, listening to the stream of water from the fountain, feeling quite content.

She spends the afternoon curled comfortably in one corner of her sofa, held in rapt attention by a leather bound tome she had borrowed from the library, that most wondrous institution that Ruby was only beginning to discover now she away from the bright lights of her homeland, before she heads to work. Dressed in her finest gown, back in New York she could easily have been mistaken for a noble lady as she made her way to the establishment in which she was currently engaged, but this could be no further from the truth: she's just a humble troubadour, a minstrel displaced from her proper place and time, wishing only to share the music of that place and time with the city, should they have the inclination to listen.

[OOC: Ruby is under the effects of the Tell Me A Story curse. Feel free to run into her at her apartment, around the city, or at Lucky's.]

Is it normal for so many people to show up so suddenly? I know people come and go a lot, but it feels like someone's just opened a gate somewhere and suddenly everyone's flooding into the City.

Is this a curse, or are we just lucky in having so many new people all at once?


(open to fourth wall anywhere in the city!)

[Ruby's sat cross-legged on the floor of her apartment, wearing a dress that's obviously handmade, and bears a great resemblance to the outfits she wore during her time in the USO. A big flag recognizable as the star spangled banner is spread out on the floor in front of her, and she's busy sewing on stars in the top left hand corner as she switches the device on to record. Unlike the modern American flag, however, this one has only 48 stars, the number of states in the Union in Ruby's time.]

Anyone else feeling especially patriotic today?

[A proud smile as she affixes the next star in place.]

Oh, I meant to ask about this already - I'm looking for some place to sing. I've had a couple of auditions, but apparently times have moved on and the places I went to thought that jazz music was just old fashioned. I'm not sure I can bear secretarial work much longer, even though it's only been a few days. I'm happy to come over and audition any time, my repertoire is mostly the old standards, but I'm happy to learn pretty much anything.

[She's been sewing as she speaks, and now holds up the completed flag.]

There, now. Isn't that simply grand?

[The lady looking curiously into the camera could have just stepped out of a time machine, or a nuclear bunker that's been sealed up for the last sixty years. She's dressed in a luxurious velvet evening dress and her pin curls are draped elegantly round her face, which is full of nervous excitement as she glances round her. She's still a little bewildered by her surroundings, but she's clearly trying to make the best of them.]

Is this on? [A small, delighted laugh.] I never thought I'd be able to film anything like this - that's just for big time Hollywood people. This place sure is great, having this sort of technology readily available. It's so futuristic.

[She pans the camera round the Square briefly, before the shot returns to her face, looking a little more confused now.] Is there one of these buildings that's better than the others? To live in, I mean. I can't tell just by looking - is there one that the right sort of people tend to go for, or do I just plump for one and make the best of it? ...If there's one that's known for housing troublemakers, I'd rather avoid it.

[Now she adopts her most charming smile.]And if this really has worked and people can actually see me on this, then I've been awfully rude in not telling you my name. It's Ruby. I've figured by now that I'm probably stuck here, but if there actually is a bus back to New York that I could catch, I'd appreciate being pointed in the right direction.