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[Everyone loves dogs, right? That's why the video opens up with a close up of an adorable Papillon dog wagging her tail happily. She prances in place, circles a few times, and then lies down.

After that, Umber turns the video feed around to actually focus on himself.]

Now that I've got your attention, hi, I'm Umber. I know I'm probably not the only one going through this, but damn if it isn't weird to just blink and find yourself in a city, right?

[Never mind that he's never lived in a place like this before, only passed through, but apparently this is where he lives now? He's not sure he likes that idea very much.]

I mean, I can't be the only one, right? The guy at the booth acted like this happens all the time, but this is the first time I've ever been...I dunno, warped? Teleported? I'm hesitant to call this a kidnapping because it's not like we're tied up or there's a ransom or something.

I say 'we' but I haven't met anyone else who doesn't act like they belong here yet. So let's see some hands, who's out there. Also how long have you been here and does anyone have any ideas about what the hell's going on or how we can get home?

[He pauses for a moment, then turns the camera back to the dog, who's chewing on her paw.] Also that's Butterfly.

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Hello, Umber!

[ Yes, that is a cheerful greeting, and yes, it is coming from the girl with very blue hair. There's a grin on her face, ear to ear and as warm as humanly possible, and she's seated outside her house.

There's a big animal behind her that could probably be mistaken for a big dog but, no. That's legitimately a wolf and he's napping in a patch of sunlight. ]

My name is Evie. Welcome to Wechester City. How are you settling in?

[ She's expecting him to be part of the recent batch of people that arrived. ]

Nice to meet you, Evie. I love your hair.

[He's never dyed his own hair any wild colors, but he's considered it a few times.]

I'm settling in as well as I can, I guess? I'm not sure I'm really happy with the idea of settling in yet, though. Are we stuck here?

[She seems really cheerful, so this place can't be too bad, or it might all be some kind of trick. He doesn't know. He has theories but he has no idea how plausible any of them are.]

Thank you. It's a spell I perfected while I was in another place like this one.

[ If he ever wants to dye his hair, she's the girl to go to. ]

I'm afraid so, my new friend. I tried leaving shortly after I got here and just ended up at the booth with Jerry.

A spell? Like magic?

[His attention has been grabbed now.]

Well that sucks. The being stuck here part, I mean. Do you know why we're here? Like, there seems to be enough people here already, why do they need even more?

[Whoever 'they' were, in this case.]

Butterfly is adorable.

[ Courtney smiles, clearly charmed by the dog. But there is more to the video than the adorable animal and so she focuses on answering the questions. ]

I don't belong here, I fear. I arrived last month or so but I don't know too much yet.

How are you settling in?

Thanks.

[He grinned, but that faded when they switched topics.]

Last month? So this has been going on for a while, then.

[And here he'd thought it was just like, a day, maybe two or three.]

I'm...settling in okay, I guess. I keep expecting something sinister to happen but everything is just so...weirdly normal here.

It seems like it, yes. I wish I could tell you otherwise.

[ Since she remembers how she had felt when she learned this sort of thing could go on for a while. ]

Are you used to sinister things happening?

Yes. No. I mean, if we're going to end up somewhere weird, against our will, don't you think something sinister would happen?

[Maybe they hadn't been kidnapped, but they'd been brought here for some reason, by someone or something.]

Besides, the leaflet said we're in a pocket dimension, right? That means it doesn't have to follow any laws of logic or physics that we're used to. Which leaves the door wide open for weird stuff to happen. Even sinister stuff.

You're one of the recent arrivals too, I see? Nice to meet you, Umber. I'm Number Five. [ On the screen is a rather well dressed 13-year-old boy -- he's dressed in a boarding school outfit, though not one that matches any in the city... and he's clearly not in school, but rather in the kitchen in his apartment with a cup of coffee. ]

I've got experience with teleporting and this certainly isn't normal by any means. Most of the time you at least end up in someplace that you know. This is the first time I've ever ended up somewhere that's a mystery to me.

[ And not to go tooting his own horn, but toot toot he's pretty damn good at the whole spatial jumping thing. He wouldn't have suddenly messed it up after over 50 years of doing it. ]

That's...an interesting name. [It sounded more like a title or something to him, but whatever, people could introduce themselves as whatever they wanted.] And yeah, I am. Nice to meet you, too.

Why do you usually end up somewhere you know? [Was that some kind of teleporting rule? He knew absolutely nothing about teleportation, so he was in the dark on this.] And how do you even teleport in the first place?

We'll say that my father wasn't exactly creative. [ He shrugs, he's never really been too concerned with giving himself a "real" name. ]

Because I have to know my end location at least in some form. It's just a lot trickier to do without it. Not impossible, but you run the risk of ending up somewhere else entirely. [ Five pauses to sip his coffee, nodding approvingly at the mug. ] Years of practice. [ A beat. ] And natural ability.

[Naming your kids numbers sounded like the making of a crappy father to him, but he was trying not to judge.] So long as you're happy with it.

Mmmm, that makes a lot of sense. [The first part, at least. He shuddered to think about what bad things could happen if you didn't know where you were teleporting to. Like ending up inside a wall or something.]

You're the first person I've met who can teleport. That's like...an entirely different brand of--well, usually I'd say weird but I don't want to be rude--extraordinary? than I'm used to.

Also how long ago did you start practicing? At eight? [He was joking, but also curious.]

Never really thought about it otherwise. [ A shrug. What difference would it make if he was named Five or if he was named Steven. It's simply a word used to get his attention as far as he's concerned. ]

Don't worry, it isn't a common thing where I'm from. As far as I know, there's nobody else who can do it aside from myself [ Not without the help of a magic briefcase, at least. ] You can use either one, really. I'm well aware that I'm not exactly normal.

[ Five's expression drops at the last statement. Damn this prepubescent body he's stuck in. ] Technically since birth, but real training didn't begin until we could at least walk and talk. Which is about the last... 60-some years, but who's counting?

I'm honestly not sure what to call this situation either... All things considering on what they can do and all.

[She had ended up in the hospital part because of the last thing she remembered and found everything sorted... how they managed that still baffles the young girl.]

I also haven't been here that long either.

My condolences on being here. At least it looks like we're in good company, so far.

Also like, not just how are we here and why, but why us? Is there something special about us or do 'they' just pick us at random? I wonder if all of us have anything in common.

[He had a lot of questions and very few answers.]

I'm not sure. I mean it's always possible... But... How would we know what we have in common?

[Considering what she thinks she thinks there is one possible thing. But the reality is that thing is not true. It s just her.]

Good question. We can't just go around like, listing our life stories to people to see if anything matches up.

And I doubt anyone else had just finished up hunting an urban legend before ending up here.

[Otherwise, there was nothing special about him, he didn't think.]

No. I wasn't doing that before I found myself here.

So I know it's not that at least. But if we go by video game logic, we'll maybe figure out an answer at some point.

God, with video game logic, there'd be a bad guy who brought us all here and sometime in the future he'll monologue at us and tell us all his evil plans.

Which, honestly? Wouldn't be so bad because at least we'd have a tangible enemy.

That is true. Villians do like to monologue, but sometimes in games, villains aren't always shown at the beginning either.

That's true. Sometimes you don't know who you're supposed to be fighting until later on.

I guess we'll just have to see when our 'villain' will be revealed.

And when they do, we will be ready. I hope.

[Though really what does Chiaki really need to fight for honestly. Considering what happened back home she didn't have anything there anymore.]

Hoping's all we can do, sometimes. We'll either be ready when the time comes or be ready later. I'm sure we'll be able to handle things.

[He wasn't sure, not at all, but he was good at pretending he was. He didn't even know what he could contribute to taking down a villain if the time came, but he'd do whatever he could.]

Let's hope so... Though. Is this place really that bad?

[She is starting to think over a few things at least.]

Not yet. I mean, it seems pretty nice right now. Maybe I'm just being paranoid, is all.

It's hard to believe things are actually going to stay nice when you end up somewhere against your will.

I guess... For those who end up here against thier will. But what about those who situations mean they couldn't go back anyway?

[May smiled at Umber though honestly she was more interested in the dog. Sorry Umber.]

Hello Butterfly and Umber! It is pretty weird to show up here but it's not entirely out of the realm of possibilities or experiences for some of us.

[Umber was used to it. He had an entire set up back home just for a Butterfly cam so people could appreciate the fluff.]

Hey! So...you're used to ending up in different worlds, er, pocket dimensions like this? Or other people are?

[Consider his curiosity piqued.]

Well in my world there are all sorts of heroes and stuff like that and I know a few that have been to other worlds.

[Technically she has too but as Spider-Girl so that's on the hush-hush down low.]

Heroes like...like superheroes?

[Hold on, give him a moment. He didn't know why this was any more surprising than vampires or werewolves, but it was, somehow.]

That's super cool. Uh. No pun intended. So other worlds definitely exist. I mean, obviously, considering where we are, if we're being told the truth. That's-

[He used his free hand to mime 'mind blowing'.]

Like, does it function like different realities with different versions of us, or completely different worlds, or-

[He had so many questions and theories and ideas.]

Yup! Costumes and all that stuff! They don't have those where you're from? I think this place has some heroes, maybe you'll meet one?

[She debated for a moment to consider how much to answer.]

I think it has both? Some stuff is really similar to some worlds and others are super different.

Cool, cool. We don't have any actual superheroes, just fictional ones. I mean, if there are actual superheroes, I'm out of the loop.

[He liked to think he was pretty in on the loop, but he also knew he didn't know everything.]

That's really interesting. I'd love to be able to like...do some research about that kind of stuff, or something.

Do you have any favorite heroes?

[Well, he's talking to the right person if he is curious about multiple realities.]

What kind of research do you want to do?

It's nice to meet you both! My name's Rosabella, and I've just gotten here recently too.

Still not sure about the what and how to get home yet, though.

Nice to meet you, too!

I'm sure we can all figure something out eventually. It seems like there's enough of us here to, you know, put our heads together and come up with ideas.

[He was determined to believe that. There was strength in numbers and all of that.]

Not that I know what to try yet besides walking out of here, but I'm sure we'll come up with something.

Exactly. If we all work together, I'm sure we'll be able to figure something out.

[ She's always found that rallying together really helps. ]

I've gone to the library to try and find something there, but it's been pretty normal so far.

The library's a good place to check. I'm gonna head there sometime, too.

Also maybe newspapers and magazines? Maybe they'll have stories about weird stuff. Like, you know, people arriving out of nowhere.

[If anything was story worthy, it sure seemed like it'd be that.]

Hmm...maybe, although they don't really seem to react any differently to us. Other than having a booth that has information ready for anyone who arrives.

That's true. Which kind of makes things even weirder because like, why wouldn't you react to people who've just showed up? I mean, that's assuming they know who we are and recognize that we just showed up.

[At least they weren't being treated poorly because of it, but-]

You'd think reporters would be all over this kind of thing.

That's true too. Unless maybe they're used to people coming from other worlds, though that just raises even more questions.

Hmmmm. Yeah, it does. On the one hand, I have so many questions and there's so much I want to know. On the other, I kind of just want to go home and not bother with everything else.

On the third hand, if they're used to people coming here from other worlds...then what's happened to all of those other people, assuming they're not still here? And if they are still here, does that mean no one ever leaves...

Yeah. And if there are other people here from different worlds, they would have least noticed new arrivals, wouldn't they? But no one else has really reached out.

[ ...then again, there was Jerry... ]

Hello Umber! My name is Snow White! And hello Butterfly too, of course! You're both so adorable!

Aww, thanks. Usually people just say that about Butterfly.

[But he was flattered and smiled warmly.]

It's nice to meet you, Snow. Everyone here seems so nice so far. [He meant her, too.

But he was also a little suspicious. Not of her, but of everyone being nice. The people he'd talked to on the network, anyway, not the general people around the city.]

Oh, I'm sure they say it about you too, and just don't say it where you can hear! [She giggles.]

Isn't it lovely? We're a very close community.

[He laughed.]

You might be right about that.

Yeah, it's pretty nice, it's just...a lot different than I expected. I don't know what I expected, even. People to be in a panic? People to be grumpy? Something like that.

Oh, I know Grumpy. But I think I understand. When I first came, I was most certainly confused. I thought this was heaven, you see!

[Heaven, there was one he hadn't considered before. Personally, he imagined heaven as more...fluffy. Clouds, pearly white gates. This reminded him more of a waiting room, if anything.]

Why heaven? Were you in, uh, any kind of dire situation before?

Oh yes, I was poisoned by my stepmother just before coming here.

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