Twenty-Sixth PSI

[a_gentle_boy]

[Ring, ring!  It is 6:00 in the morning and there is someone buzzing at your door.

The day after Thanksgiving, Lucas was awakened by the sound of the telephone.  Upon picking it up, he was greeted by a friendly disembodied voice thanking him for his application as a paper-boy.  He'd be starting tomorrow!

 . . .

The rest of the day was spent in anxiety about what he was going to do.  And seeing as how he was Lucas, he came to the inevitable conclusion that he'd better make the best job of it he could.  This is the reason why your doorbell is being rung at an ungodly hour -- If it's possible for a buzzer to sound polite, it does.  Lucas will wait with a cheerful smile on your front porch until someone shows up to answer the door, after which he'll promptly launch into a speech that sounds as if it has been nervously rehearsed for hours.  In the event that no one does, he will leave after two rings.  Morning people may notice that there's no bike nearby, but there is a table meandering about your front lawn.  The speech runs as follows, though you can cut him off at any time.]

Good morning, [mister/miss]!  My name is Lucas.  We're not acquainted, but I wanted to let you know that I'll be responsible for bringing your newspapers in the morning now.  I'll do everything I can to make my delivery as quiet and punctual as possible.

Thanks very much, and I look forward to serving you!

[In the event that he knows you.]

O-Oh!  Hi!  Um.  Ah.  Oh, I have to change my speech.

Comments

[has-a-name.livejournal.com]

... last time I checked, no...

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

. . . Huh.

[Lucas is imagining a goose chained up over a bottomless pit now. A new one pops out every ten seconds and falls, honking sadly, into the depths of oblivion.]

You should probably fix that.

[has-a-name.livejournal.com]

... there's not much I can do from here...

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

Ah, I meant the people of your world. Although it might be useful for a while to feed the hungry . . .

[has-a-name.livejournal.com]

Oh...

... ... it's not a threat to their universe, so it's not high on their priorities...

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

. . . I feel like people who use magic ought to clean up after themselves, but I guess it's different in differnet places. Your world must be really advanced, then.

[has-a-name.livejournal.com]

... it is, but...

... in some ways, it's similar to Mayfield...

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

So it's like this town but with really strong magic?

[has-a-name.livejournal.com]

... controlling... stagnant and unchanging...

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

. . . So these things happen elsewhere, too? There are other places like this in the world?

[has-a-name.livejournal.com]

... it's not all the same...

... Arcadia doesn't introduce chaotic elements at random times like Mayfield does...

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

. . . So you came from one bad place into one even worse. I didn't know your home was so bad.

[has-a-name.livejournal.com]

... oh... I haven't been to Arcadia in a long time, actually...

...

... it does have some worse aspects that I haven't seen from Mayfield so far...

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

You haven't? But . . . where do you live, then, if it's not in your world?

[has-a-name.livejournal.com]

... I don't really live in just one particular world... before I came here, we were on our way to another...

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

Is it because your world is such a bad place to live?

[has-a-name.livejournal.com]

... when I first left, it was because it was too boring...

...

... it wasn't until I tried to settle on another world that I realized how bad it was...

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

[T-Too boring? He wouldn't think that was much of a reason to leave, but.]

Well. I hope you end up finding a world you can live happily on, then.

[has-a-name.livejournal.com]

... Arcadia has to stop destroying worlds for that to happen...

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

. . . Sorry, what did you say?

[has-a-name.livejournal.com]

... Shina never told you about that...?

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

U-Uh. Everything she said was a little confusing, but I just know that she was an immortal meant to destroy other immortals. I don't think she ever said anything about her world being like that, though.

[has-a-name.livejournal.com]

... oh...

... her ability is actually useful for more than just for killing others of our kind... but it's the one aspect that Arcadia is most worried about...

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

What is it, exactly?

[has-a-name.livejournal.com]

... ... *she starts going into a wayyyyyyy too technical explanation of the nature of Shina's power, involving (presumably?) advanced magical jargon and formulas that wouldn't make sense to most worlds. Lucas did ask for an 'exact' explanation, after all*