Things Can Only Get Better

[Eldran]

A cool breeze drifted down the road in front of the Café as the sun rose silently in the distance. A scrap of paper found itself lifted by the wind, and danced down the tarmac.

It bobbed and swirled in the tangle of air, eventually coming to rest near a dumpster pushed against one of the side walls of a building opposite the Café. Suddenly, the dumpster began to shake, thudding sounds coming from inside it. Suddenly, the lid burst open, sending the paper scudding away into the air. A figure hurriedly clambered out of it, stumbling out of the alley and onto the pavement, whereupon it coughed repeatedly, before straightening up and staring.

"What the..." Mike mouthed, gazing up at the buildings. This was not the same place he had been before he dozed off on the sofa at home. Hurriedly, he reached for his pocket, and pulled out his phone. Only...it wasn't his phone. In its place was a bizarre laptop-like device. Mike stared at it bewilderedly, before returning his gaze to the city. Where the hell was he? And, more importantly, was there anyone else here?

[rage]

a flash swooshed by, Atsuke, stopping in his tracks to stare at the stranger didnt exactly look happy to see a new face, without saying a word he walked into the Café and sat down in a lone corner in the dark.

[Eldran]

Mike jumped, startled at the sudden appearance of another person. He cautiously followed the mysterious stranger into the café, tentatively taking a seat by him.

"Uh, excuse me..." he stammered, "Could you tell me where I am, please?" He blushed, realising how stupid the question sounded. Why is this all so confusing?!

[rage]

Atsuke stared at the stranger, his eyes were bright blue like the Blue moon, he just stared not saying a word then turned his attention to the glass of rootbeer in front of him and drank it before turning his attention back to the stranger ''I dont like strangers'' he said ''you're in the city of the lost.'' with that Atsuke got up and walked off to take a seat elsewhere.

[Eldran]

Mike sighed irritably. He'd woken up in a dumpster in the middle of a completely unknown city, his phone gone, his family nowhere to be seen, and the only other person he'd found was being enigmatic. He went after the stranger, standing in front of his table.

"Look, if you don't want to talk, at least tell me where to go" he demanded, "Where can I find other people, or maybe a phone or something? ...That's...that's all I need, after that I'll leave you alone,", he added, a little more quietly, not comfortable with the near-hostile tone of the 'conversation' they were having.

[Beff]

A bell sounded in the distance as Beth pushed on the door beside Valencia. The lights were all turned on inside of the café, and lacey curtains decorated the window, much alike the laced cover just above the door. Beth was too busy staring at the decor than looking in to see if people were in there, hence her responce being of a shocked expression upon entering the café and seeing two males, both seperated.

"People!" She exclaimed, stepping in and holding the door for Valencia incase she wasn't using her own door. Her expression changed from shocked to happy as she bounded in the middle of the café, looking to both people in the café. "Oh thank God, we found others.." She mumbled, half to herself and half to Valencia. At least the café was heated, giving her satisfaction on the fact that now Valencia may dry her clothes faster, and she now was much warmer than outside, now a tank top didn't seem such an irrational dress code for the weather.

[Authenti]

Val entered the room behind Beth, the bell chiming faintly as she shut it behind her to keep out the cold night air. She gave a shifty look around the room, as if gauging whether or not it was a nice café or one of those seedy ones. Satisfied that it was the former, she drifted out further into the room.

"Cool. Okay." She advanced on the one who looked the least bewildered (which happened to be Atsuke) and placed her hands on the table between the two guys. "Now, explain what's going on! I just got whomped into a pond and-" she flailed one arm to illustrate her point, showering the group with water droplets "-I have no idea where I am - Beth and I just got plonked down in the middle of this place without any clue what's happening! Someone please tell me I'm not going crazy!"

[rage]

Atsuke Frowned at the many stranger and got up and put money on the bar for his drink and walked to the mans bathroom ''its getting too crowded here.'' he grunted and ignoring the strangers harshly where the heck did all the freaking strangers come from? he thought to himself and looked in the mirror ''why me? why does everyone always come to me? because I was only little when I first got in this god forsaken place!?'' he talked to his own reflection as if going mad. ''soon they will know what its like to live around here.....once in....there's no way out. not even if you keep on running... you'll just run back in on the other side...'' atsuke shook his head ''focus atsuke.... to get rid off these strangers you're just gonna have to explain where the heck they are and that they cant get out no matter what.''

Atsuke headed back out and looked at the people who were staring at them hopefully ''alright... you wanna know where you are? you're in the city of lost. you wanna know if there's a phone? there's no phone. you wanna know how to get out? you cant. welcome to the city off the lost.'' with that he sat down and ordered another drink.

[Eldran]

Mike, who had stood in a stunned silence until now, shrugged helplessly at the two newcomers. "City of the Lost it is then. I guess you two are as clueless as I am."

Struck by a sudden thought, he pulled the strange device he'd briefly examined earlier out of his pocket and showed it to them. "Do you guys have one of these too?" He flipped it open, staring bemusedly as cold blue lights flickered into life, before the simplistic black-and-white command prompt appeared on the screen. Frowning at it, Mike jabbed a few buttons. A couple more lights lit up. Shrugging again, he turned his attention back to the girls.

"Not a clue. Uh, okay, so we need to sort things out, I guess." He paused and coughed awkwardly, his shyness returning, having been briefly forgotten in the confusion. "Right, so, what're your names?"

[Beff]

Frowning at the blonde haired male, who was now sat back down. "Well thankyou for that, that was clearly helpful. If all it did was just worry us more" She replied sarcastically.

Turning her attention to the male with the seeming nicer attitude, she held her curled her hand up and pointed to herself with her thumb, "I'm Beth" She introduced, "And yeah.." She started, whilst fumbling in her pocket and drawing out the exact same device as his, "I have one too."

[Authenti]

The young lady faltered as the one she'd been speaking to simply got up and walked away. She frowned and sat down at a table nearby, glancing over at the deserted counter and wondering what to do. She was about to focus on the other guy, but Mr McMoodyface reappeared a short while later and gave his... explanation.

Val flashed him a dark look. "Right. She fished in her pocket as the others continued speaking, feeling like she'd rather fade into the background for now and get her head around it than speak.

She tapped keys on her communicator again, and noted with dismay that she'd apparently posted a video earlier. "Please tell me no one else gets this." She gasped. "Oh my god, look at the state of me on this... How do I delete?" She attacked the keys frantically, to no avail.

[rage]

All Atsuke could do was give a deep sigh.

[Eldran]

Smiling slightly with relief as he saw the girls' identical devices, Mike flipped his shut and returned it to his pocket. "Right, Beth," he nodded, "I'm Mike. And, uh, you are...?" He turned to the other girl, only to find she was no longer stood by the table, but instead sat down and jabbing at her device. He gingerly sat down next to her, leaving a polite distance between them. Trying to be friendly, he leaned across. "What're you trying to do?"

[Beff]

Upon opening her device for the first time properly, Beth glanced down at the screen and the simple command system. Drawing a chair opposite the table to Mike and Valencia, she dropped down onto it and became fixated by the system. Pushing a few buttons, she managed to get onto the videos section, pulling up Valencia's video. Her lip curled into a smile as she saw it, before letting out a small laugh.

"Hey, that's you...and that's me in the background!" She exclaimed, leaving an amused comment before pressing the button again she flicked to the next video, this time viewing one a teenage male, looking up, she confirmed it wasn't either who were in the café, and looked back at the screen. Her expression changed from amusement to concern, "Hey, wait, there's a video of a man, too!" She called, falling silent as she paid attention to the running video.

Upon it's end, she pushed a button and experimentally typed in a text box type setting, guessing it was leaving a comment. Sighing, she sat back and waited.

[Authenti]

Val ignored the man as he tried to get her name, too transfixed by the piece of technology in her hand and attempting to find a 'delete' button. Dismayed, she tried exiting the video to the main menu and immediately found the same video of an unfamiliar man that Beth had just located.

"Think he knows anything about this place?" she mused, but after watching the video her hopes fell again to a more reasonable level. "Ah. Maybe not, then." She glanced briefly at Beth's comment and then flipped the damn thing shut again. "Did someone ask my name a minute ago? It's Valencia," she stated to no one in particular, glancing around the room.