1 ✶ action/audio

[walkersystem]

Action:

[No no no no no no. No. That's not her mom. That's not her mom, and this isn't the airport, and it's another nightmare, it has to be. What else could it be? It's a dream and it's not her dream and that means she's trapped.]

[Anybody in New Bark will likely catch the sight of a little girl slowly backing away from the house she'd woken up in with wide eyes before breaking into a run and coming to a stop next to some trees to dig through her backpack. Except it's not her own backpack. And the things inside aren't what she wants or needs them to be.]

[Which is a big stressor to a kid who has no idea what to do.]


Audio, later:

Hello? Mr- Parkman? I didn't do anything, I promise.

[Spoken with the urgency of children who want to prove themselves innocent everywhere.]

Please let me out.

Comments

audio;

[angerpoints]

[YOU SURE TOLD HIM, KID. You actually manage to get him to feel a little sheepish, too. Also annoyed, but that's to be expected from him. Fortunately, he doesn't express his irritation by snarling at her or anything - he just sounds a little cross when he next responds.]

Yeah, well, do me a favor and dig around in it until you find a red and white ball, all right? It...

[Yusuke falters, trying to think of a way to explain this to her. Eventually, he decides he better tell it to her straight. She seems like the kind of kid who appreciates that sort of thing anyway.]

Okay, long story short, there're monsters in this world. You're supposed to collect 'em and train 'em - because, I dunno, that's kind of the thing around here - but you can't do that unless you got one to help you catch 'em and protect you from 'em when they attack you. That's what you're gonna find in that ball - the monster that's gonna protect you when you leave the town you're in.

audio;

[walkersystem]

<sub>[He's absolutely right in that she appreciates the information straight up, and she seems to keep up well with his explanation.]

[In part because by now, she's been briefed a little while she's been juggling calls. There are a lot of people here. More than she'd ever have expected, and it's actually pretty calming.]</sub>

Why do you call it a monster? Did you get one that looks like one?

I got a bird.

_{[And birds are, in fact, not monsters.]}