lobsterbox | farewell and take care

[ Based on... ]

With the route between their worlds secured and the technology and techniques needed for the travel perfected, visiting other worlds was more than a possibility. It opened up opportunities to study the magic of other worlds and, hopefully, come closer to finding the means to remove and permanently seal the Soul Eater.

However, even with sealing the Soul Eater as their main priority now, that didn't mean that they couldn't - or didn't - have the time to take a break. Just as much as traveling between worlds widened their understanding of magic, it also brought more for them to explore just for their own enjoyment.

This particular world wasn't quite like theirs. "Magic" was a loosely defined concept, and carrying weapons was not only unnecessary, but frowned upon. It was a lot like some of the worlds Tyr heard about while he was in the City, and now that he had been to one, he couldn't say they held much interest for him. It was safe, but it didn't feel entirely alive, either.

All and all, he wouldn't have chosen to come back if not for another unique feature--the amusement park.

Not far from where they entered the world, a large amusement park loomed over them. A ferris wheel, a merry-go-round, and a bunch of other rides that weren't in the City sat inside, and the number of local guests going in and coming out happily was enough to assure Tyr that it was safe to visit.

And it was.

Arriving sometime after lunch, Rita's hand in his, he pulled her into the park with him. Even if he didn't think Rita needed a break, he wouldn't have gone without her. From the outside, it looked big, but it felt even bigger from the inside. There were more games and rides than Tyr's seen in one place before, and even as the sun began to set, he wasn't thinking of going home. They were already deep in the park where the crowd was growing thin, and Tyr was looking around for the next ride to try.

The only thing that really occurred to him, turning his eyes to Rita, was, "Are you getting hungry?"

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"Exactly," he agreed. Wherever they ended up, it would be something new. When he thought of it like that, it didn't really matter where they were going.

He walked beside Rita up to the ticket booth. He wondered if this guy got a cut of their purchase, the way he was looking at them; it was almost exactly like he was begging them to come. ...Though there was something off about the way he smile when he took the money, too. "Enjoy the ride," the clerk chirped, the same as the others had done so far. Maybe it was just in his head.

But it was still all the more reason to pull Rita along with him to board.

"That guy..." he murmured.

"What?" Rita asked as they stepped on the train. He had seemed weird to her, yeah, but not particularly weirder than anyone else working at the park. She just figured that was the type of person who took that sort of job, maybe.

Most of the seats on the train car were empty; there weren't many other passengers. That gave them plenty of spots to choose, but Rita tugged Tyr towards a nearby seat. They were probably all the same, anyway.

Maybe it was just him...

"He looked like a creep," he answered as she pulled him along. It was true that everyone here was a little weird - that's what happened with other worlds anyway - so he couldn't say why that guy in particular made him uncomfortable.

He didn't bother thinking of if the seats were different, either. There were plenty of windows to give them a look outside, and there was a line to pull in case they saw a place they wanted to stop. It should be all the same. He let Rita have the window seat.

She slid in next to the window, glancing out for a moment before looking back at Tyr with a shrug. "He seemed like a regular kind of weirdo." It was a phrase that made sense to her; there were regular weirdos and then there were weirdos.

It seemed like they were the last people who would be getting on at that station, though, since the train whistle sounded to announce that it was about to get moving.

Tyr just registered that as "He's not that weird," which seemed fair enough. He hadn't really done anything wrong besides creep Tyr out.

It was pointless to think about.

All he did was nod and look past her out the window. There wasn't anyone queued up to enter, so it wasn't surprising when the train lurched forward and began moving along. It wasn't as fast as a car, but the ride was smoother, too.

Maybe to change the subject, he said, "This is pretty nice."

Rita glanced around the train car; she didn't think there was much to see outside yet since they'd only just started moving, so she responded with, "The seats could be comfier, but it's not bad."

Then, as it had gotten much darker, they could see coloured lights brightening up the ferris wheel they could see from the train; it may have been a spectacular sight if the lights weren't all the same eerie blue and if there didn't seem to be mist creeping into the park. It wasn't enough to creep Rita out, but she still raised an eyebrow. "You'd think it'd be flashier than that..."

Tyr leaned forward, staring out at the ferris wheel. She was right that the blue lights didn't do anything to make the ferris wheel stand out; if anything, they got lost in the coming fog.

"Yeah... It doesn't make much of an impact like that," he replied.

There really was a lot of mist hanging around now, though. He hadn't noticed any reason it would get misty here, but it was hard to say with other worlds even if most followed the same rules.

"...I wonder if it gets foggy at dusk here a lot... The lights should really be brighter."

Rita shrugged, not particularly bothered. They were bound to run into all sorts of weird things in different worlds; she wouldn't be surprised if the people here did think it was festive, or whatever.

"Maybe they didn't expect it, or maybe they like it that way. As long as we can see where we're going, it's not really a big deal."

...Although it might start to become one if the mist continues to thicken, which it does seem to be doing rapidly.

Tyr was going to point that out.

"I'm not sure how far we'll be able to see when we get off, though-" his voice hitched at the end as the train shook, apparently going over a bump. "...At least we're on a track now."

The train won't get lost in the fog with them on it. For now, though, they could at least see a few feet outside the train's windows even if the other people were just dark spaces inside the fog.

"Yeah, there's no way this thing could get lost," she agreed. Even if there were multiple tracks, the park was still just a park and there were only so many set routes the train could go.

His first point might end up being a problem, though. The mist was thickening right up to the window; Rita squinted but could barely make out anything now besides the blue light. "So much for a scenic ride."

"Yeah," he scoffed. There was no way they could really enjoy the park if they couldn't see anything. Any other kind of ride might not be half as fun in the current gloom. "If this doesn't clear, we should just head back when we reach a stop."

Rita sat back in her seat and grumbled, "What a pain." She stopped short of thinking that their day had been a waste, though... Before this point, they'd had plenty of fun together.

There was another jolt as if they were switching tracks again--but then another, and then the chugging of the train increased to a faster pace, like it was picking up even more speed.

Tyr gripped the seat as the train lurched forward. Was it meant to go more than one speed? There weren't any stops yet, so it shouldn't be doing anything like this. The entire day up until they got on this train had been fun; now he was regretting thinking this was a good idea.

It was too foggy to make any sense of their speed from their surroundings, but the way the train was shaking was disconcerting.

Cautiously, Tyr held onto the front of the seat in front of them and got to his feet to look around the car. Empty. No pull string on either side of the car, either.

"When this slows down, we sh-"

Another sudden switch, this one more violent from the speed, sends Tyr back into his seat.

farewell and take care

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