《Ordinary Island》Chapter 1: Licorice and Trains
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Vinlo awoke from his short nap and found himself on the train platform.
Everything was a blur and he had no recollection of the events that led up to that moment until he felt around in his pocket and his fingers fell upon the envelope. Everything suddenly came back to him. He had read the envelope in the middle of the night after working up the energy to deal with the consequences of whatever his grandfather left him. After he had deciphered the chicken scratch of his grandfather's handwriting, he realized this was word for word, just a call to action from some video game or manga.
"Dear Vinlo, As I lay on my deathbed I write this letter to you, with great frustration, about my parting gift to you. You are the only one in the bloodline thus far I can entrust with the deed of the land from which I made my start. Use it well."
(The Note. Courtesy of Wyrm ;))
Oh yeah. And he had taken that call to action, hook, line, and sinker. Taking into account the fact that he stayed. was this a clever ruse on his family's part or was it about to get interesting enough to perhaps write a book about?
Unfortunately, Vinlo didn't get the fantasy of writing a book off of his life and then living off the profits for very long because long thunderous whistling noises started getting louder and louder as something came zooming into the station. What made this noise, you ask? Well, it was Vinlo's ride to this new land.
A Train
While Vinlo started walking alongside the train waiting for it to stop, there was a man in a black suit rushing along behind him, not seeing where he was going. The expected thing happened and the man bumped Vinlo into the side of the moving train. This was not ideal.
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It took Vinlo a good second to realize what was happening. And after he realized he felt less scares for his death then disappointed. He was disappointed in the fact that he actually hyped himself up for something.
Though this little boy's angst phase would end quickly as the man grabbed onto the back of Vinlo's jacket holding him just inches from the train and pulling him back up.
"I'm terribly sorry, but I'm in a rush to somewhere. Of we must talk we can talk on the train"
The black suited man quickly shoved a couple sticks of black licorice into Vinlo's hand and started running to the front of the train.
Vinlo was too preoccupied with how peculiar this was. The man had a strange mix of a German and a British accent that made him sound like a sort of bobber where he shifted between accents. His suit seemed to have way too many pockets. And he smelled of licorice.
Black Licorice.
Ew
It took Vinlo a good second to realize what was happening. And after he realized, he felt less scared about his death than disappointed. He was disappointed in the fact that he actually hyped himself up for something.
Though this little boy's angst phase would end quickly as the man grabbed onto the back of Vinlo's jacket, holding him just inches from the train and pulling him back up.
"I'm terribly sorry, but I'm in a rush to get somewhere. If we must talk, we can talk on the train."
The black-suited man quickly shoved a couple of sticks of black licorice into Vinlo's hand and started running to the front of the train.
Vinlo was too preoccupied with how peculiar this was. The man had a strange mix of a German and a British accent that made him sound like a sort of bobber when he shifted between accents. His suit seemed to have way too many pockets. And he smelled of licorice.
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Black Licorice.
Ew
While he was preoccupied with the man's scent, Vinlo, unfortunately, didn't notice one more thing about the man. The fact that the man had climbed into the conductor's engine after flashing him a ticket
Vinlo, still lightly startled by that whole occurrence, walked inside and took whichever seat was closest. After sitting down on a ripped-up leather seat, he took out the envelope again and pulled out the third item inside of it. A green necklace. It was the one his grandfather used to wear, but Vinlo didn't know that. Because he's inattentive for things he finds unimportant.
This was in fact, not unimportant
Vinlo just sat there and minded his own business, trying to ignore the crying babies and their frantic mothers, when the ticket guy walked up and asked Vinlo for his ticket. Vinlo handed him the ticket with a fear that this ticket could be years outdated. And the ticket guy just goes
"I am not familiar with this ticket design, but it says it's for this ride. You should take it up with the conductor. Follow me"
In the most monotonous voice ever. As if he's being forced to do this job. Hilarious, right?
But Vinlo complies because 1. He doesn't have a back-up ticket and 2. What's the worst that could happen? His worst fear at that moment had already come true?
A lot. A lot of the worst can happen.
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