[EP] When Real World and Comics Collide - Open

[st_oryboard]

Mack caught about ten hours of sleep total since his arrival. Unlike others that had arrived, his was due to excitement. Yes, he missed his grandfather and his friends. But the Changer world wasn't in a war any longer and he viewed this as a vacation. Besides SERIOUSLY, he got the best welcome to a weird place gift ever. No, not the toothbrush and other stuff (no offense Caroline) but what was in his egg.

He'd been given a Clip Studio EX software and a Graphic Drawing Tablet, PLUS pens and colored pencils. Mack didn't waste any time in setting up the software and trying to figure out how it worked. His first couple of attempts weren't the best, but then his character began to look like it did on the paper and he was satisfied. He stuffed everything that had been in his egg, plus he own graphic novels, comic and notepad into his backpack and headed down toward the cafe.

There was plenty of room on the table at a booth to spread out all his stuff. It wasn't busy so he didn't feel guilty about doing it. Soon he was lost in trying to transfer his comic to the tablet and thinking of new adventures of a Kitsune stuck in another world. SO TOTALLY COOL!

Comments

[st_hotflashes]

Liz walked over and placed a glass of water away from the computer, but on the boy's table. He was knew. She knew that mostly because you could count the amount of under 18s on two hands at the inn.

She offered him a smile. "Hi. I'm Liz. How are you doing?" which was more than her usual 'do you need anything' but it wasn't like it was busy with people actually wanting service at the moment.

[st_oryboard]

Mack glanced up when the water arrived and he smiled, "I'm great, thanks."

Then he got nervous and glanced at the other patrons. "Uh, do I have to order something?" Was it one of those can't use the bathroom unless you order something places? No one had told him that when he arrived.

[st_hotflashes]

"Oh! Um no. I'm just... Some people don't even order from me and just go into the back kitchen. " She flushed sheepishly. "But it, um. It gives me something to do. I'm Liz, by the way."

[st_oryboard]

"Hey, Liz, I'm Mack." He tapped his stylus pen on the table as he thought about it, then grinned at her. "I can always go for a pizza. Does this place have one?"

[st_hotflashes]

"I think Ignis can make one. The, um.. the chef that works here is kind of... Odd. So maybe if you want a chicken pizza he would do it. He sort of only makes things with chicken." She offered a sheepish expression. "You'll find the few people that work here and aren't from a different world they're.. strange. Kind of like not really all there, if that makes sense."

[st_oryboard]

In typical teenager glee, "I'll take any kind of pizza I can get." He didn't have a sophisticated pallet. The only thing he would not eat is sardines or anchovies.

"Uh except without anchovies. My friend Gabriella likes those." Mack made an EWWW face.

[st_hotflashes]

She laughed. "Okay, I'll see if Ignis is still in there, or I'll get the chef to make something for you." Liz liked his excitement.

She disappeared into the kitchen for a moment and came back after a few. "The chef's going to make a chicken pizza." So... hopefully that would turn out okay. "Um. I hope you don't mind, but -" She looked around. No one else seemed to want service. "I noticed you have some things that look like colouring?"

[st_oryboard]

"You can sit if you want." Mack shifted some of his stuff where she could sit if she wanted or could see his tablet easier. "Uh if you're allowed. And yeah, I'm making a comic. My friend Joel and I came up with the idea."

[st_hotflashes]

She glanced around, but the nice thing about your parents not running the restaurant meant you could take some time for yourself. Besides, people were still pretty busy with the eggs.

"A comic book? That's really cool." She thought Alex would love it. "What's it about?"

[st_recuerdame]

There weren't that many people that was around his age so seeing one only made him want to meet him. When he got closer, he noticed that he was kind of busy so he just watched and was amazed at how well he drew.

"That's really good." He hadn't meant to speak out loud but it just happened.

[st_oryboard]

"Thanks!" He said before he tore his eyes away from what he was doing. Mack always liked comments on his comic. Then he noticed it was someone his age and his smile went wider. "Hey. I'm Mack, wanna sit?" He then looked sheepish, "um, if you can find a spot."

[st_recuerdame]

"Gracias." Miguel moved some graphic novels from the bench to the other end of the bench so he could sit. "Is that your character?" He motioned to what Mack had been drawing.

[st_oryboard]

"Yeah it is." Mack looked around on the table, looking for the notepad that had the first part of his comic. "Here. This is what I did for the school art show."

[st_recuerdame]

Miguel took the comic eagerly and looked through a couple of pages. "Where'd you come up with the idea of the fox superhero? That's so cool."

[st_oryboard]

Mack was conditioned to no tell anyone about the Changers, but he still felt bad about it. He stuck as close as he could to the truth.

"There's always cat superheroes or bird, but you don't see anything from the dog family. I like foxes, my parents and grandfather were into foxes, too so it was kind of natural for me."

[st_recuerdame]

Miguel took it at face value, "that's really neat. I have my dog with me, Dante. I've never seen a fox before, uh in real life but a dog family superhero is something I'd read."

[st_oryboard]

"Woah, you got to bring your pet. That's awesome." Mack wasn't sure how it would work if someone or something had been with him. Would they both arrived?

"I bet he keeps you from being lonely."

Lillith & Mack

[st_rangepalette]

Lillith's egg had provided her with spell scrolls, three of them, one a spell to turn small things into tiny servants, one for teleportation that would be fundamentally useless until she had cast it somewhere every day for a year to make a permanent circle, and one that she very much wished to try, a mirage arcane, which would allow her to use her skills with illusion over a vast distance for quite a long time. But first, she had need of copying them into her own spell book, else she would exhaust them in casting the spell a single time.

She had left the theory book that came with them in her own room, but brought with her to the cafe the four graphic novels (Nimona, Maus, Understanding Comics, Sandman: Preludes & Nocturnes) still bound with a ribbon and bearing a card that said "to share with Mack." She had met no one named Mack yet, and the cafe seemed the best place to run into whoever they were.

This was not why she said hello to the boy with things spread all over the table. It was simply that he had colored pencils--which meant he was an artist, like her. "Hello," she said as gently as she could and made her smile friendly without flashing her fangs.

Re: Lillith & Mack

[st_oryboard]

Mack had just finished the last stroke of his pencil on the Qilin sidekick to his kitsune when he turned his head to the newcomer. His eyes widened a bit in pleased surprise as he assumed she might be another Shifter like him, a Faun shifter. While he'd heard rumors of other beings at the Inn, he immediately thought of his world when he saw her.

"Hi!" Then his eyes lit on the graphic novels in her hands and his smile grew wider, if that were possible. "OH! You like graphic novels, too!"

Re: Lillith & Mack

[st_rangepalette]

"Graphic novels?" Lillith cocked her head, giving him a quizzical look. "These, they are not familiar."

But she thought, then, of the books in the crook of her arm. "Unless, you mean such as these?" she held the bundle out to him. No one would unwrap a gift for someone else, so she did not worry that he would do so.

Re: Lillith & Mack

[st_oryboard]

Mack eagerly took the books that she held out to get a better look at the cover art and titles. It was when he had them that he looked kind of confused and excited at the same time.

"That's really weird." He looked back at her. "Uh, the name on here.... I'm Mack."

Re: Lillith & Mack

[st_rangepalette]

"You are?" Lillith thought then that she really should not be surprised, not with how the Inn worked. She smiled brilliantly and clapped her hands together. "Wonderful! I was looking for you."

She gestured to the other side of his table, asking without asking if she might sit down and continue to explain.

Re: Lillith & Mack

[st_oryboard]

"Yeah, yeah." Mack nodded to her unasked question and even moved some of his stuff out of the way. "Is that normal? I mean for you to get stuff to be shared with someone else?"

His egg had only stuff for him, not that he wouldn't share, he would, but it hadn't had a special tag on it like hers did. Since he was literally brand new, he didn't know if that was normal or not.

Re: Lillith & Mack

[st_rangepalette]

"It is difficult to say what is normal for this Inn." She herself had wondered why the Inn had chosen to have her share this gift with someone she did not know, but seeing his artwork, she began to understand.

"But it does not matter why, does it?" she asked him kindly, voice growing more excited as she spoke. "It matters what we choose to do about it. And I think we should take the ribbon off and see what the Inn has given us."

Re: Lillith & Mack

[st_oryboard]

Mack had to agree. He didn't care why, only that it did. He also, handed her back the gift, it was hers to begin with anyway. "Untie and pick one."

He was also a little anxious to see what she thought of them, since it was new for her.