IC contact for wethelost

[devoutish]

Solomons & Melborn
1108 Sweet Cream Street

[Feel free to use this space for letter/package deliveries as well as visits/knocks on the front door!]

Comments

[voiceinthephone]

I'm from America, 1993, near Detroit! I'm pretty sure you've had other encounters with people from the far past or far future, the worlds kinda interconnect that way...I think I've gotten past some of the mental hurdles.


Is Mr. Royce from your time as well?

[devoutish]

So have I, yeah.

[It was a trip at first, but now it's just another day.]

Royce is from another world entirely. Hadn't even heard of Earth before he came to Norfinbury.

[voiceinthephone]

[Norfinbury...that place was reaping people like the Maeve on a summer solstice summoning spree]

Sounds like you're close, must've been hellish out there, to be so out of your element like that.

I'm sorry you had to go through all that.

[devoutish]

Close, yeah.

[Close is an understatement.]

Well - we're out of it now.

[voiceinthephone]

Have you settled into something to do in the Meadous? It doesn't have to be hard labor, just something you'd like to do with the skills you had home.

[Phil is completely oblivious of who Alfie Solomons is orwhat his job was back home. He looked like someone like a merchant.]

[devoutish]

[A little grin plays across Alfie's face.]

I don't think you'd like me to use the skills I use at home, mate.

[voiceinthephone]

Unless you were a serial killer, I don't know if that will be the case.

[There's a subtle edge to those words as Phil had his own experience dealing with two on his original world and in Eros.]

[devoutish]

Nah.

[If Phil's response hadn't had that edge, it would have read as naively optimistic to Alfie, and he would have been sorely tempted to be a little more teasing and baity - but he respects the caution.]

Still, it's not the sort of profession you'd likely be happy about.

[voiceinthephone]

Fair enough, at least you can settle here and be somewhat safe.

The somewhat being up to you of course. Zephyr's a good kid but they can't just shut down our free will.

Or the worst impulses.

[devoutish]

I don't follow my impulses with that sort of thing, mate. If you ever do see me do something awful, you can rest assured that there was thought put into it.

[voiceinthephone]

Were you a hitman?

[Phil asks point-blank, unafraid of the criminal underworld. After all, he had his dealings in Eros to keep himself alive.]

[devoutish]

Gangster. Gang leader. I had my own hitmen.

[voiceinthephone]

Ah, that explains the thinking through of the impulses. I'd ask what you dealt with but that's none of my concern either.

[He shrugs.]

I hope you were somewhat kinder to your subordinates than my mistress was.

[devoutish]

Your mistress?

[His brow furrows, questioning.]

[voiceinthephone]

Well, female master sounds awkward doesn't it? She and her sisters owned my body, what else would I call her?

[He sighs as he clears out a few things.]

[devoutish]

What were you, then, some sort of slave?

[Alfie asks, looking more and more baffled by the minute.]

Where was this - the place you were before here, or home?

[voiceinthephone]

Oh God the place before! [Whoops, didn't explain that detail]

I was basically set to die in my home world, got swept up and the word they used was "servant."

[devoutish]

[Alfie harrumphs at that.]

If they owned you, you were a fucking slave, mate. Doesn't matter what words they used to pretty it up.

[voiceinthephone]

...A [it's still a problem for Phone Guy to curse but...] "fucking slave" sounds about right to what I did.

[Hey look at that cake, it's suddenly so interesting.]

[devoutish]

Yeah.

[Alfie doesn't need to know the details to agree.]

How long have you been out, then?

[voiceinthephone]

A year since last March...everyone got wiped out in one swoop. I only got out because Zephyr found me before they did.

Was it similar to you escaping Norfinbury?

[devoutish]

No. Not to my knowledge, no. What do you mean, they got wiped out?

[voiceinthephone]

[A haunted look takes over Phil's expression as he cuts a slice of cake]

Murdered, sacrificed, no longer living. I dunno if my friends survived. One was stolen before the massacre.

[devoutish]

Have any of the dead found themselves here, alive again?

[voiceinthephone]

None of them as far as I know. I keep an eye out anyways, might need a good meal and a familiar face.

I'm sorry for laying all this on you.