From sad to interesting to hip

[firewalled]

[The first thing Rich notices is that his hospital bed is feeling mighty uncomfy at the moment. No matter how he tries to shift himself around, it feels like he's sleeping on rocks. He really doesn't want to wake up so soon, but with a mumble, he opens his eyes, hoping that maybe one of his friends has popped in to visit.

When he opens his eyes, he doesn't see any of his friends. In fact, he doesn't see the room he's almost gotten used to. When he turns his head to the side, he notices what he mistook for his hospital bed is actually a hard stone chair, something like a throne that he's currently seated in.

Then he notices that he is seated, and looking down at his legs, the bandages are completely gone. He makes a confused noise as he lifts his arms. They're mobile again... covered in scars, but otherwise healed. He frowns and looks around the room.]

Um... Mr. Nurse Dude? Did the doctors take the casts off while I was out?

[He takes in the rest of the room: the tall stained glass windows, the looming pillars, the sprawling velvet carpet covering stone floor. He feels way tinier than he usually does.]

...Also am I high?

[There is regrettably no answer. Not when he calls for Jake or Michael or Jeremy, not when he even tries calling for Chloe or Brooke. He waits for a while, but, antsy as he was when he couldn't move his limbs, it isn't long before he hops off the throne and starts using his newly healed legs to start wandering.]

((This is a joint intro of sorts! Rich's bestest bro Jake Dillinger (jakeyd) will have a tag under this post to respond to if you are so inclined.))

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Reply here for Jake! Double Intro COMPLETE!

[jakeyd]

[While Rich was fortunate enough to be allowed a gradual awakening in their new surroundings, Jake was not quite so lucky. As he had been wheeling his way to the nearest hospital vending machine for a soda moments before, the sudden loss of both his casts and wheelchair left him hanging a foot in the air when the strange dimensional shift occured.

So, naturally, his welcome to the castle ended in him being dumped on his ass in the middle of a random hallway.]

Oof! What the hel--uhhh?

[All at once Jake realizes that he has not simply slipped out of his wheel chair, but that it has disappeared completely, along with his casts. Even more puzzling is the fact that he definitely isn't in the hospital anymore.

After about a minute and a half of taking in his unfamiliar surroundings with wide, confused, eyes; he finally collects himself enough to venture calling out.]

Heellloooo? Anyone here?

[He waits. Nothing.]

I think they gave me something other than pain killers...

[But if this is some kind of drug induced hallucination it'll wear off eventually, right? So perhaps he need only wait in the hallway until hospital staff find him acting strange in the hallway. Or until it passes.
Which is nearly what he does, until he adjusts his position in an attempt to get more comfortable...and moves his leg on instinct. As in, it actually moved.
What the fuck? What the fuck? What the-]

I'm--my legs are fine?! [Jake immediately attempts standing, which was likely not the brightest idea should it turn out that his legs weren't fully healed--but they were. He was standing, unassisted.]

.....Rad? [Maybe it's rad? He's still confused.]

HOLY SHIT MY BOYF- BEST... BRO...

[firewalled]

[Someone actually did hear Jake when he called out, but only faintly. Rich's position in the throne room is quite a distance from Jake's unceremonious dumping spot, so all he hears is a faint echo. Still, it's worth checking out, so he pushes himself to move a little faster towards the sound of the voice.]

Helloooooo? Spooky echo? Are you a person? I mean, I could just be delusional...

[He then realizes he is sounding like an insane person, and that probably would not endear him to anyone that might possibly be there, human, ghost, or otherwise. He decides to keep his mouth shut as he turns the corner... and sees Jake Dillinger standing up, on two fully functional legs.]

...Jake?

[He barely speaks above a whisper as his brain struggles to catch up with the image before him. His heart, meanwhile, eventually decides there's no time for thinking when his best friend is right in front of him.]

Jakey D!

[As he yells, he starts running down the hallway, raising one arm up.]

Rich did you write Boyf on Jake too

[jakeyd]

[While Jake is a bit too shocked to notice any of Rich's early attempts to reply to him, hearing his nickname being yelled by a familiar voice snaps him out of his stupor. Whipping around to face his friend properly, Jake's face breaks into a huge grin the second he spots his best friend. ]

Richie G!

[It hasn't actually hit him yet that Rich is completely healed, or that the strange situation they currently find themselves in is only made stranger by the both of them being there. The relief and excitement of a comforting presence amongst the madness outweighs any other thoughts, fueling his automatic reaction to lift his hand to the appropriate height and make a beeline for Rich at high speed. He doesn't stop until their hands smack together in a high five loud enough to for at least half the castle to hear.]

Bro! You're here too!

Maaaaybe...

[firewalled]

[Rich knows he's made the right choice in ignoring how strange this all is when Jake looks at him and beams like that. His own grin gets wider as he rushes towards Jake, and the satisfying smack of their hands colliding fuels his excitement and pushes away his worry for a few moments as he laughs and grabs Jake's arms.]

Dude! I can't believe you're here! I mean, wherever here is. Still figuring that part out.

[He frowns slightly and then looks down. He gasps as if he momentarily forgot what Jake's legs look like.]

And you're okay now! You got those casts off! I thought you said the doctors had to reset the bone!

I mean it's not like you were wrong either time

[jakeyd]

I did--I mean, they were supposed to.
[He too takes another look at his own legs, lifting one slightly and wiggling his foot experimentally. It's not like when his squip turned off his ability to feel the pain; that had felt a bit fuzzier. As if his legs were ever so slightly asleep. This...felt normal. Like he could run to football practice if he wanted to. Jake's brow furrows as his confusion returns.]

But I'm all good? [It finally hits him that he's not the only one no longer in hospital worthy condition, and he grabs Rich by the elbows as he looks back up. Now they're just two bros holding each other in the hallway.]

Wait, you're better too dude!! Oh, your scars though--they don't still hurt, do they?

[firewalled]

They were supposed to? What does that mean?

[Does Jake not remember how he was healed either? This is getting stranger by the second, and even Rich's boundless excitement can't distract him.

One thing can though, and that's Jake touching him. Fuck, he's really cute when he's concerned and it's hard not to think about that even after years of trying to ignore it. He flushes and glances away.]

No, man, I'm fine! I haven't felt anything bad.

[jakeyd]

Oh, cool! [He ignores the question momentarily, assuming Rich's embarrassment is over his scars; and in Jake's mind, his best bro's feelings took precedent over his legs magically healing. It was a lot easier to figure out, too.]

'Cuz I wanted to say they looked really badass, but not if they were still like, painful, you know? But...uh, yeeeah. I was sort of on the way to the vending machine and my wheelchair and casts just went: poof! I mean, they didn't actually make a sound, but they were just gone.

I know we're not dreaming, though, because it hurt when I fell on my ass. [But what explanation that leaves, he has no idea.]

[leftright_a]

Insert gameboy startup dingle here.

"Rad!" says the squip, as black and blue pixels seem to pull themselves from between the bricks of the walls and from his projection. If Jake remembers much from when he'd gotten squipped, then this sight might be familiar, even if the projected form isn't the same.

"Your legs, to my sensors, are fine. Welcome to the castle!" he chirps, and an emoticon appears over his head with a ding. { =] }

1/2

[jakeyd]

[He tenses up the second he sees blue pixels, taking a few panicked steps backwards as they begin to form a humanoid shape. Jake remembers more than enough. (Though, even without the memories of being squipped personally, knowing what squips did to his friends would have been enough to make him hate the nano-machines.)]

NO! [He yells, pointing accusingly at the squip as he adjusts to stand at his full height.]

No sensors! ESPECIALLY not around my legs! [Yep, he's officially trying to intimidate a body controlling super computer into doing what he says.]

Don't you think you've done enough to them, you--?! [Hold up.]

[jakeyd]

Did you just fart out an emoji?

[His squip didn't fart emojis. Or look like that. This isn't his squip.]

[leftright_a]

"Fart" is kind of brusque. More like it simply appeared.

And besides, sensors don't do anything but sense. If it makes you humans so relieved, my ability to directly influence actions and access your thoughts and memories have been temporarily revoked. [He makes a face.]

But that won't stop be from helping people! You're confused. First step to getting over that is understanding your surroundings, and I'm here to assist with just that.

[jakeyd]

[Jake holds up his arms in a criss-cross so that they form a big "X" and imitates a loud buzzer noise.]

Nope! No way, I don't need help figuring out where I am from a bootleg windows ten download that shits out emojis. You can take your badly programmed ass back to where ever it came from, I'm done with squips.

[No matter how confused or alone he is, he'd rather wing it than rely on these nano machines for even a second longer.]

[leftright_a]

[His expression immediately drops. He crosses his arms like a petulant child, turns to the side, and lifts up his legs and crosses them so he's floating in the air.]

Have it your way, then, but you'll be a leg behind everybody else. It won't be my fault if you're not as informed as the rest.

[With a sound like the scattering of glass, he alights into a blue low-render polygon sprite, and disappears into rapidly-fading pixels.]

Jake Dillinger: yelling self burns confidently into the ether

[jakeyd]

[Jake is too stunned by the leg joke to actually respond until the squip is gone. It probably only guessed that because of him bringing up his legs, right? It doesn't actually know anything...does it?

By the time he comes out of his slightly panicked thoughts, he realizes he's alone, and just yells into the empty space.]

DAMN RIGHT!!

[He'd rather be behind than accept that sort of help!]

[moonsmile]

[Maybe he is high off his face. There's a weird girl with blue-grey fur and a tail and whiskers and a coin on her forehead for some bizarre reason, standing a few steps ahead of him.

She's got a weird maybe-puppet held tightly in her arms. She's smiling, and it's not at all friendly.]

Excuse me.

[jakeyd]

[Jake can't help but start and take a few steps away when he hears her. The unfriendly voice of a young girl suddenly speaking to you in a creepy hallway? That's got horror movie vibe written all over it; and, worse yet, her appearance does too.

But he's trying to tell himself she just has a really good costume on.

Or he's tripping balls.]

Uhh, yes?

[moonsmile]

Why are you here?

[Amaloli bobs her head forward. Yes! Scary!!! Go away! Her Trainer's messed up right now!]

You're in the way.

[jakeyd]

[The doll is moving. The doll is moving. The doll is definitely moving.

If this is a bad drug trip he's suing the hospital, holy shit.]

I uh-I have no idea, but I can go? I am super sorry for disturbing, uh, you and youuuurr fffriend?

[He's afraid to offend both the doll and the angry...cat? girl by calling the doll a doll.]

[sansational]

[Randos falling on their ass in the middle of the hallway is right at the bottom of Sans' list of weird things, at this point. It's not often, that he sees it actually happen right before his eyes. But given the castle's sense of humor, he's not remotely surprised that it does sometimes.

He stays sitting in his windowseat, one eyesocket open as he watches the human struggle to get their bearings. Seems like they actually might have come off better, by winding up here. He can relate.

Since they're going to turn around and see a short skeleton chilling on a windowsill anyway, Sans decides to shift himself to take the initiative for once.]

yeah. it's pretty rad.

[jakeyd]

[When Jake whips around to see who spoke to him, the last thing he expected to see was a small skeleton. Well, perhaps not the last thing considering he was in a musty, haunted looking castle, but it wasn't high on the list. Not that San's place on his expectations makes him any less shocked to see a glowing eyed skeleton chilling in a hoodie. (Great taste in clothes this skeleton has.)

Once Jake is done being frozen in shock, he pinches himself just in case. Alright, definitely awake.]

You're...[He closes his mouth. Opens it again. Closes it. Crosses his arms as he thinks. Where to even start? He finally just gestures at all of Sans.]

You're a skeleton!

[Good job, Jake. Great introduction.]

[wildcardpotential]

[The sounds of a new arrival are pretty easy to pick out at this point. Thumping, confusion, yelling. Minako catches the tail end of Jake's little show as she overhears and approaches from where she'd been wandering. She watches him stand up, look totally dumbfounded, and look around like he's suspicious.

Her shoulder leans against the wall and she crosses her arms and her toes over her foot.]

Definitely rad. This place can fix up most injuries and things. Welcome to the Castle, friend.

[jakeyd]

[Jake starts a bit, having been too confused and in shock to notice Minako's approach. Not that her being there has helped alleviate either state, he's only more confused now. What's a cute girl doing in a creepy castle that...heals injuries?]

Uhh. [He was pretty sure the pain of falling on his butt had proven he wasn't dreaming, but he tries clapping his hands down hard on both cheeks now, just in case.

Alright. Definitely awake.
So then, why would a pretty girl be in a old musty castle?]

You're not like, a vampire or something, are you? Because, uh: mosquitos hate me. No joke, my bloods all um--salty, and my skin is, uh, tough? Like, really hard. True story.

[wildcardpotential]

[Oh my god is this boy for real? Minako hides a smile behind her hand before she can force her face to be straight again. A little concerned in the eyebrows because of him smacking himself, but.

She can't help but take the bait, here.]

Oh, yes. I am definitely here for your delicious young blood. You look like a strong young man... I bet you're lying to me. [She's slowly starting to step closer, even lifting her hands into the stereotypical "horror claws" pose.] I bet your blood is delicious and will make me strong!

[Aaaand then she bursts into fits of giggles, holding her stomach and everything.]

[jakeyd]

[Jake is absolutely for real, as evidenced by him reacting to her step forward by stepping back and lifting his hands in the best imitation of a 'karate pose' as he can remember from movies. Cute or not, he will fight a vampire.

Not that it appears that he needs too, since she's laughing now...he's been bamboozled.]

Aw, don't scare me like that! It was a totally realistic guess in this situation!

[firewalled]

[Rich might have missed the beginning of this whole introduction, but where Jake is, he's often not far behind, just in case his bro ends up in any danger. And the sound of a stranger apparently aiming to suck his blood is definitely the definition of danger.

So Minako will be surprised to find a rather short, angry teenager barrelling around a corner, skidding to a stop in front of Jake and pointing an accusatory finger at Minako.]

Hey! If you want to fuck up my bro, you're gonna have to go through me first!

[Did he miss the giggle fit? He might have missed the giggle fit.]