[T] Literal Alter Ego - Day 1

The day started off pretty normal. Bid goodbye to the family, boarded the train, and thus began that super-long trip. A planet is a mind-bogglingly big thing; sure, a day-long trip might not seem lengthy by some standards, but dangit, I have every right to call it that.

Guess how many trains I had to travel on today? Two. Guess how many trains I actually travelled on? Three.

Y'see, being the genius that I am, I stayed up all night last night. My line of reasoning was that if I went to bed late, I would wake up late; therefore, since I had to get moving at the ungodly hour of seven AM, it'd be better if I didn't go to bed.

I wound up falling asleep on the first train. So when I woke up, I was at the wrong station. So I had to spend extra to get a train back to where I was supposed to go.

And then I had to wait for about an hour and a half, since thanks to my stupidity I'd missed the one I was supposed to catch. At least the station had delicious junk food available.

Thankfully the rest of the trip was mostly uneventful. I doodled in the sketchbook, played music in my head, and looked at the views. (I had the sense to get a window seat.)

It was kinda interesting, seeing this morphing cityscape. Apparently Tabloid Town is unique when it comes to that sort of thing - it's one of those places which literally has just about everything. So you could go to the local public ninja dojo, and it'd be right next door to a shack made of clay and old CD cases. In turn, those would be across the road from an "alien café".

It's multiculturalism to the extreme, to put it simply. And judging from what I saw, I'm going to be extremely multicultural when I'm done.


Anyway, back on subject. Things got interesting when I actually arrived at Tabloid Town station. (Why would a city only have one train station? That makes no sense.)

With a bag over each shoulder and a bunch of other stuff I was carrying, I headed through the usual routine: put the ticket through the ticket-eater, check the maps to see that I wasn't going the wrong way, purchase a bottle of fizzy caffinated drink (i.e. cola), and head out.

The streets weren't as crowded as I thought they'd be. Okay, so maybe the city isn't as big as it says it is. Or maybe it was just a quiet hour. Or, there was the off chance that this was a sign that something was wrong.

Best to keep an eye out, I decided. So I went on my way to the nearest bus stop and waited. I had a few minutes, according to my watches and the timetable.

They wound up being a few very long minutes. Right outta nowhere, someone decided to tap me on the shoulder. I turned to look and WHOA you are sitting way too close to me sir.

I scooted away from him instinctively. He didn't move, unless you count chuckling as moving. Maybe it was 'cause I kept my eyes on him.

From what I saw he should've seemed normal - human, white hair, grey suit, and kinda tall. But there was something telling me that no, he was definitely not normal. And that had me on edge.

Then he spoke. "Hello there, Loki."

"Um." My reaction was predictable. "What the heck?"

"Oh, forgive me. We haven't met before, no?"

Rather than speak, I let my face answer his question. He got that point, at least.

"Well, I should introduce myself, then. I am Baldur. I'm a fan of yours, actually."

And then white-hair reached into his jacket and pulled out a card, offering it to me. It was a business card. I took it - don't ask me why, please - and had a look at what it said. It was just as creepy as everything else about this guy.

Fortunately the bus arrived just after that. I excused myself and climbed on. One paid fare later, and off I went, away from that Baldur.


The place where I now live is a suburb known as Beaver's Lake. It's yet more proof that I'm in a city of Extreme Multiculturalism™.

Once I got off the bus, I was greeted by a horde of not-very-small rodents with huge flat tails. In other words, beavers. In other other words, my new neighbours and my lodgemates, for lack of a better term.

After the introductions, my bags were stuffed in bigger waterproof bags. It was a short walk to the lake (though I had to help them carry my stuff), and there I quickly discovered why we had waterproofing. See, the lake takes up more than half of the suburb, and the beaver community here lives in lodges with underwater entrances.

Except I wasn't waterproofed.

So when we all dove underwater and swam into the lodges, I wound up completely drenched. Note to self: get some stuff to keep me from freezing every single blasted night. Also, wet fur smells terrible.


Anyway, so I was shown to my room. It isn't much, and like the rest of the lodge, it's kinda cramped due to size differences. See, I'm a human-sized humanoid coati, and they're beaver-sized, um, beavers. Even if they wear clothes and talk and have a culture, it's a different sort of anthropomorphism... I think.

Haven't been doing much since besides unpacking, though I think I should get something to eat soon. Afterwards I'll just go to bed early. I'm tired as all heck, and guess what? I'll be busy tomorrow as well.


Next time: What's a 21-year-old doing in high school? Will other NTWFers actually appear? Why beavers, exactly? How long will we take to establish the plot and characters?