milliways_bar | (no subject)

The first thing Autor notices about her is pink! Gobs of it. The second thing he notices is that she's tiny! So much shorter than he is. His brain chips in that that's adorable, but he doesn't pay any conscious attention to that. The third thing he notices--or, rather, reasons out--is that she's undoubtedly new, and an excellent candidate to test out his guide.

"Ah, excuse me," he says, pulling out a brochure as he approaches. "Are you new?"

"Ah?" she goes, looking up from her phone.

She couldn't even have the luck to slip into some sparse spot, could she? Mirai looks around again. Where in the world did she end up? She tucks her phone back into her pocket.

"I'm sorry, I was...was just leaving...."

"Ah, I see," Autor says, adjusting his glasses. "In that case, can you see the door you walked in from? If not, you're Bound and stuck in the bar for a little while."

Is he playing a joke on her? She turns to the door she came from and side-eyes Autor when she's sure the wall didn't somehow swallow it up.

"Y-you shouldn't make jokes like that. It's unpleasant."

"Ah! But I'm not joking," the boy says, furrowing his brow. "You've stumbled into a place of magic, and being Bound is an unfortunate part of it. Welcome to Milliways."

He holds up the brochure. "This guide should explain a lot of it."

"Milliways? A guide?" she queries, accepting the brochure with both hands.

She frowns from the first sentence. Okay, this is a joke.

"'The end of the universe?'" she reads off.

"Mmhm!" Autor says, easing into a small smile. "If you want to see it, there's the window, and--ah, of course." A wait rat comes skittering up to him and he crouches down to meet it. "Did you want tea or anything?"

The back of her mind whispers that she's glad she put her phone away, her arms slipping to her sides and eyes widening in shock.

Then she's in full-fledged flail mode.

"That is seriously unpleasant!" she screeches.

Autor blinks at her. Unpleasant again. Hm. He sends the rat away with a wave of his hand and instructions not to come around--or send any other rats--until she calms down about them.

He stands, straightening his lacy cuffs. "My apologies," he says. "The offer for tea is still open, but we'll have to get it from the rats or the bar--which conjures items magically--if we don't make it ourselves."

Mirai boggles at his calm.

"You're talking about tea?!"

"Um," Autor says, blinking again. "Yes. Should I not be?" He clears his throat, the beginnings of a blush stirring on his cheeks. "I mean, you're new, and tea might soothe your nerves, and I'm used to this place, so of course it makes sense that I'd offer."

It has nothing to do with her being cute--a fact he's still ignoring.

She stops herself, jams her eyes shut, and pinches her left hand as hard as she can. When she opens her eyes again, the bar is still there. She forces herself to take a deep but shaky breath.

"W-why did this happen? How did this happen?"

Before he says anything else, she opens up the brochure to look again, frowning at the lack of answers on the matter.

And now Autor's thinking very hard if those will be questions he can actually answer--and if so, he can add them to the brochure! Yes.

"'The bar is sentient, and chooses who to pull in', is the answer I've been told," he says sympathetically. "But don't worry. This place is one of many opportunities."