[The child disentangles himself from the mess and clambers out, careful not to drop any of his prize.
It's hard to get a read on his age, but with the way his threadbare kimono is simultaneously too small (the sleeves too short and hem coming up well past his ankles) and too big for his thin frame, he's probably about nine or ten, and his growth has likely either been stunted or he was always just the runt of whatever litter he sprung from.
He trots barefoot over to a pile of snow and grabs fistfuls of it, using it to clean any residue of trash from the bones. Satisfied that they are in an edible state, he begins to divide them up, one pile for him, and another for the stranger who helped him. No good letting a prize like this go to waste - why, they've barely started to smell funny! Perfectly safe to eat.]
Hey onii-san -
[The soup bones divided, he offers up one pile, brow knit in a very serious stare.]
- has a sarugaku troupe come through this city...?
[mob watches a bit helplessly. this... he couldn't let a kid eat this. he also isn't exactly experienced with kids. well, his student, but arataka was 14 and had much different problems than rummaging through the trash for food.
after a moment he crouches down.] Not that I know of. I just woke up here myself. [a beat. what would arataka do? he's the one good at dealing with people, odd situations or not.
hm.] I saw a place I can get you a bowl of noodles down there. If you trade me your half of those. [he. really doesn't want this child to eat them...]
[Woke up here. That pings something and the child turns to face the stranger sizing him up, his stern little face taking on a calculating edge to it. The man's clothes are strange, but he could just be foreign. Like those people who come from across the sea or from Ezo or other strange and mysterious places.
Was there some kind of mass kidnapping? ...If that's the case, perhaps he shouldn't be annoyed with the troupe. Perhaps he wasn't abandoned after all.]
...Onii-san woke up here too.
[A matter-of-fact statement, despite his halting cadence. And the mention of a luxury like noodles is very tempting. But...]
If rich onii-san can afford something like noodles, what is he doing here, picking through garbage?
[There's a sharp furrow in his brow.]
If he is looking for where the pretty girls work, it is not down here.
[ah, this kid... mob needs a moment to process that. where the pretty girls work, save his soul. he manages an awkward,] N-no, nothing like that. I... thought a cat might be stuck in the trash can.
[a pause, then,] So you're like me? A lot of kids seem to be waking up here.
[Some of the wariness slips away. If this man were a friend to cats, that was probably a good sign. The child is at least a few centuries away before Hermann Rorschach is to even be a glint in his parents' eyes, but if he had a concept of Rorschach paintings, he'd consider stray cats and how one responds to them as something similar to indicate a person's character.]
Mm. I woke up in a house in the woods. Did onii-san wake up in a strange house too?
[He squints.]
...Did a ghost chase him away too? Is that why he is out here looking to meet cats?
I did. [a nicer house than most around the area. was he actually rich here and not remember it? odd to imagine, but not as odd as everything else at least.]
No, I've seen spirits around but none have bothered me. Most seem scared. [though if one is bothering this kid...] Is that spirit still after you?
[at least that's something he can handle easily enough in this odd world.]
[it's odd to see a kid speak so calmly about this sort of thing, but it's clear this kid isn't like little human children he's known. not even like psychic kids, though closer to that.
well, at least he won't have to worry about spirits scaring the kid.]
I thought it might be a parallel world. [just a beat before he admits that. kind of refreshing to speak candidly of these things without people getting confused or skeptical.] I'm pretty sure it's not an illusion. Do you remember anything odd about the time right before you ended up here?
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no subject
It's hard to get a read on his age, but with the way his threadbare kimono is simultaneously too small (the sleeves too short and hem coming up well past his ankles) and too big for his thin frame, he's probably about nine or ten, and his growth has likely either been stunted or he was always just the runt of whatever litter he sprung from.
He trots barefoot over to a pile of snow and grabs fistfuls of it, using it to clean any residue of trash from the bones. Satisfied that they are in an edible state, he begins to divide them up, one pile for him, and another for the stranger who helped him. No good letting a prize like this go to waste - why, they've barely started to smell funny! Perfectly safe to eat.]
Hey onii-san -
[The soup bones divided, he offers up one pile, brow knit in a very serious stare.]
- has a sarugaku troupe come through this city...?
no subject
after a moment he crouches down.] Not that I know of. I just woke up here myself. [a beat. what would arataka do? he's the one good at dealing with people, odd situations or not.
hm.] I saw a place I can get you a bowl of noodles down there. If you trade me your half of those. [he. really doesn't want this child to eat them...]
no subject
Was there some kind of mass kidnapping? ...If that's the case, perhaps he shouldn't be annoyed with the troupe. Perhaps he wasn't abandoned after all.]
...Onii-san woke up here too.
[A matter-of-fact statement, despite his halting cadence. And the mention of a luxury like noodles is very tempting. But...]
If rich onii-san can afford something like noodles, what is he doing here, picking through garbage?
[There's a sharp furrow in his brow.]
If he is looking for where the pretty girls work, it is not down here.
no subject
[a pause, then,] So you're like me? A lot of kids seem to be waking up here.
no subject
Mm. I woke up in a house in the woods. Did onii-san wake up in a strange house too?
[He squints.]
...Did a ghost chase him away too? Is that why he is out here looking to meet cats?
no subject
No, I've seen spirits around but none have bothered me. Most seem scared. [though if one is bothering this kid...] Is that spirit still after you?
[at least that's something he can handle easily enough in this odd world.]
no subject
No. Once I was gone she left me alone. Zashiki-warashi just usually do not like strangers.
[The child brings his finger to his lips in thought, ears that are too big for his head twitching in thought as he paces in circles.]
Strange houses. Strange city with spirits, but it is not a spirit realm...
[His nose scrunches in annoyance at the effort of wracking his brain for answers and coming up short.]
...Every entity I know about that kidnaps people does not really line up.
no subject
well, at least he won't have to worry about spirits scaring the kid.]
I thought it might be a parallel world. [just a beat before he admits that. kind of refreshing to speak candidly of these things without people getting confused or skeptical.] I'm pretty sure it's not an illusion. Do you remember anything odd about the time right before you ended up here?