[voice; action]

[seriouslytwisted]

[voice]

[Exploring and ninja-ing around is turning up a whole lot of dead ends and questions with no answers, so now Raphael is going to try his last resort.

Conversing with strangers.

Making sure he has his voice only function on (pretending that little SNAFU with it in his earlier conversation didn't happen) he reluctantly addresses his fellow...strand-ees.]


Okay, seriously. How many of you people actually buy that "you are in the in-between" story?

[the mystic new-age voice for the quote helps set the atmosphere, yes it is necessary]

---

[action]

[Before this post, Raphael will be swimming around in the Water Sector, trying to keep as hidden as possible but needing to surface to breathe and also sneak back up onto the docks occasionally when he can't cross sections in water. He's a stealthy little bugger, so the average Joe might miss him, but anybody with serious training or extra-sharp senses might find him.

...or you might catch him when he's losing his temper and angrily kicking over a barrel after talking to yet another tree-hugging native yokel, whatever.]

Comments

permavideo

[backwordscompatible]

[She stops to think about it for a moment.]

...okay, points for that.

[He was basically right about the kidnapping. And the experimenting. Though she would've gone with magic experiments rather than just pure science. No way science could explain half the things that went on.]

I'm pretty sure I haven't seen any White Rabbits around lately, but what if I told you were were actually standing on a giant Turtle right now? A real one.

[seriouslytwisted]

I'd say you were crazy.

Is this hypothetical? Or are you actually insane?

[backwordscompatible]

Hey, if you don't believe me--and I already can tell you don't--go see for yourself.

Just don't try talking to it or anything. Last friend of mine who did that ended up in a daze for hours.

[seriouslytwisted]

Right. Because they were probably drugged.

Look, I can believe a turtle the size of like...a dude. I could probably swallow that. But the size of an island? Nothing gets that big except for islands.

[backwordscompatible]

Why not?

[You already believe in "dude"-sized turtles. Might as well go the whole...how big was Tu Vishan, again? That many yards.]

[seriouslytwisted]

Are you listening to yourself? Because it doesn't happen, that's why not!

[omfg why is everyone here so freaking chill about this why won't anybody get mad!??!]

[backwordscompatible]

[Because daughter of the most powerful magician on Earth-16? Who also happens to have powers of her own. And the Spirit of Winter as a next-door neighbor? And...well, you get the point.]

Go see for yourself, then.

I'll wait here until you get back. [Maybe. Unless she gets bored and goes off to do something else.]

1/2

[seriouslytwisted]

You know what? FINE. I'll go look, but if you're doing this to watch me make an idiot of myself, you're gonna be sorry.

2/2 ~a few hours later~

[seriouslytwisted]

...We're on a giant turtle.

~a few hours later~

[backwordscompatible]

[Hmm? Who are you again?]

[Oh, yeah, the charmer who called her crazy.]

[Putting down her book, Zatanna took her sweet time in making it back over to her console. The smugness in her voice was overshadowed only by the knowing grin on her face.]

Told you.

[seriouslytwisted]

[Raph has had enough time to move from incredulous to embarrassed, and her -deservedly- smug little smile just makes him scowl even harder.]

Okay, whatever. You were right about the turtle. Poor guy's probably an experiment too; still doesn't change what I said.

[backwordscompatible]

Hey, if you'll recall, I agreed with you on that part.

[Gotta give him a little in return, right?]

I just wanted to give you a little perspective as to where we were kidnapped to.

[seriouslytwisted]

[...yeah okay, truce accepted.]

A giant turtle. Right.

Does he uh...dock anywhere or anything? So he can rest?

[backwordscompatible]

[Funny you should ask that...]

We did, once. It was the most depressing thing I'd ever seen; the mainland was pretty much deserted. Buildings torn. Almost no signs of life at all.

I have no idea if we'll ever be going back or not, but trust me when I say you didn't miss much.

[seriouslytwisted]

Okay, so, what country was it? I'll even take just the continent.

[backwordscompatible]

[Shrug]

Don't know. Everyone just kept calling it the Mainland.

Safe to say, though, if it did have a name, it wouldn't be anything we'd recognize from back home.

[seriouslytwisted]

[oh we're back to this crazy talk again]

Uh huh. And why's that?

[backwordscompatible]

...because it's the main land out there?

[Haha?]

[seriouslytwisted]

No, I mean why wouldn't I recognize the name. Unless it's like some...stupid tiny country on the edge of Africa or Europe or the Middle East or something.

[backwordscompatible]

Well, let me ask you this: where are you from?

[seriouslytwisted]

New York.

[backwordscompatible]

[The familiarity of the answer provided a momentary distraction; her eyebrows raise with the sudden piqued interest.]

Really? What part?

[seriouslytwisted]

[how much to answer here...]

Not a part you'd know, trust me.

[backwordscompatible]

Maybe, maybe not.

I'm from Manhattan, actually, and my dad and I've traveled all over the boroughs.

[seriouslytwisted]

Yeah, I'm like a hundred percent sure you don't know the part I'm from.

So what was the point of asking? Thinking about stalking me?