[Video]

[unfadingdragon]

[So there is a very worried looking young man staring at the camera. They said other people could see him with this. That he can just talk and they'd see it. It's still strange to him, but he's supposed to deal with being told he's a 'fictional', right? Right. So after a few long moments, Ryu speaks.]

Um... I'm Ryu... I'm new here, I guess... uh...

[He shakes his head. This is too hard to take in.]

I don't understand any of this. How could I not be real? I just need to get home. I need to find him. I need to go back.

[No one's here that he knows. He'd asked.]

I don't know what to do...

[... He's not sure what else to say, so he reaches over and turns the video off.]

Comments

[Video]

[dontmindmepleasecontinue]

[He seems far too cheerful.] Nice to meet you, Ryu. I am Itsuki Koizumi. Welcome to New Moore.

Unfortunately, we are trapped on this island. It seems nobody can intentionally leave this place.

[unfadingdragon]

Has anyone tried just... taking a boat off of it? Or... something?

[dontmindmepleasecontinue]

They have - that is how we discovered that there is a seemingly impenetrable forcefield surrounding the island. They ran into it, destroying their ship in the process.

[unfadingdragon]

... But why?

[dontmindmepleasecontinue]

I'm afraid I have no answer for you. They appear to be few and far between on this island.

[unfadingdragon]

There's no one we can ask?

[dontmindmepleasecontinue]

None of the 'fictionals' know any more than we do. There is a large 'nonfictional' population, but they don't seem to know anything either, and they generally try to avoid us anyway.

The government of the island - if it even exists - is conspicuously absent, and has shown more than once that it is both beyond our reach and not worthy of our trust.

Add in the fact that the forcefield blocks any and all attempt at communication with the outside, and, unfortunately, what we have is that there is nobody we can ask. Or rather, there is nobody who can answer.

[unfadingdragon]

Why do they avoid us? That doesn't sound right.

[dontmindmepleasecontinue]

Because it's easier to try to ignore us, I suppose. Many of us our not typical in our culture and our abilities, and strange events happen a couple times ever month that affect them but seem to center on us. We make them uncomfortable, and they likely see us as dangerous. I believe they simply wish to live normal lives - and we make that difficult.

[unfadingdragon]

What kind of strange events?

[dontmindmepleasecontinue]

Honestly, that's a difficult question to answer. There's no rhyme or reason to it - one month we'll be inundated with cats. Later half the island will literally believe that they are pirates, and this place will be transformed into what it would be like in the late 1700s or early 1800s. Then many people will suffer sudden and complete amnesia, knowing nothing about who they are - and then a virulent strain of mistletoe will overtake the island, causing anyone caught underneath to want nothing more than to kiss the person they were either lucky or unlucky enough to be caught with, depending on your perspective.

All of those were things that happened late last year. This year hasn't been quite as crazy, though at one point everyone had superpowers and thought they were heroes - or that they were villains.

Those kinds of strange events.

[unfadingdragon]

... And no one has any idea why. That's... strange.

[He'd wonder if there were any Endless around, but he's not sensing any and most of them are probably not capable of that kind of thing.]

[dontmindmepleasecontinue]

You see our predicament.

I should warn you, try to stay away from any animals at present. The current events seems to include them all acting much more aggressively than usual.

[unfadingdragon]

Huh? There's a problem with them? I can help. I'm good with animals.

[dontmindmepleasecontinue]

Given how illogical most of these events are, I'm not actually certain how much being good with animals will help. You can certainly try, simply be warned that such an attempt is dangerous and they might not react how you would expect.

[unfadingdragon]

I'm tougher than you might think, actually...

[dontmindmepleasecontinue]

Ah - I was not expressing any judgement on your abilities or how tough I think you might be. I was simply commenting from experience with the island.

I suppose that 'dangerous' would probably depend on which animals you chose to attempt to help, but seeing as we have a wolf pack and several large cats in the forest, as well as a velociraptor somewhere in town, I figured it more prudent to err on the side of caution in my warnings.

[unfadingdragon]

Is that it? I thought you were talking about something like a Trean or a Trunked.

[dontmindmepleasecontinue]

[... Welp.]

To be completely honest, I've never heard of either of those before.

From your reaction, however, I would guess that they are animals more dangerous than a velociraptor or a wolf pack, and that you have experiencedealing with creatures that dangerous.

Very well, then, any help you could provide would be immensely appreciated.

[unfadingdragon]

Even with five or six people we had trouble with them. Their trunks were really tough to get through.

[He nods at that.]

I'll do what I can!

[dontmindmepleasecontinue]

Let me know if you have any more questions.

[He gets a nod and a smile in return.]

Good luck.

[unfadingdragon]

Thanks!