(no subject)

[lyricaltokarev]

When the door to the bar opens, a distant bell is ringing and the talk and chatter of students drifts in from the other side. The short blonde teenager who walks through the door looks cheerful and perky and ready for a new school day.

Her cheerfulness and perkiness fades into confusion as she looks around her at the unexpected scene.

"Oh!" One hand goes up to clutch the large heart-shaped pendant at her chest. "This isn't the classroom. And I didn't sense any magic, so it can't be someone from home...." She blinks with wide-eyed wonder, intrigued by this change in her daily routine.

Punie Tanaka, princess and heir to the throne of Magical Land, has found Milliways.

(And on the other side of the door, the entire nation of Japan breathes a collective sigh of relief.)

Comments

[paya_tan]

"Princess?" calls a high, piping voice from somewhere around knee level. "Princess, where did you go? Did you forget- oh."

Well, now, isn't this a surprise to the small furry fellow who just stumbled in after her!

[lyricaltokarev]

"Paya-tan!" Punie quickly turns around, still clutching her pendant. "What's happened here? Do you know where we are?"

She has a faint, growing suspicion of where they've arrived at -- the denizens of Magical Land are well aware of the existence of certain other worlds and times, naturally -- but it's best to check with her mascot to be certain.

(And if he's trying to get the drop on her, he'll pay for it.)

[paya_tan]

The mascot frowns cutely, tapping one paw against his chin in thought. After a moment he says, "I think this may be that place from your mother's books, Princess! The one marked 'excellent vacation spot', paya!'

Magical World being what it is, and Punie's mother being what it is, vacations are not so much times for unwinding and relaxation as for intelligence gathering and invasion preparation. But that doesn't make it any less excellent for the purpose.

[lyricaltokarev]

"That Milli-place?" She looks around again. "I thought I would have to be older before I was allowed to go here -- oh!" Her eyes light up. "Do you think this is part of my training? That I'm expected to make friends here, too?"

There are only so many people she can befriend at her school, after all.

[paya_tan]

"Almost certainly, paya!" says Paya-tan, beaming. "Why, look at all the people here! What excellent practice! Even if your mother isn't watching, paya!"

And don't think he hasn't already spotted the strategic potential of the rafters!

[lyricaltokarev]

Her eyes glitter with renewed (calculation) interest as she looks around the bar.

"Mama would want me to be careful who I speak to here, though," she says thoughtfully. "There might be some people here who wouldn't be very nice. They wouldn't want to be friends with me at all, no matter how hard I tried." She looks down at Paya. "You'll help me find out who those people are, won't you, Paya-tan?"

Of course he will. He has to.

[paya_tan]

"Of course I will, paya!" he assures her. Oh, how his bones still ache on cold and rainy days. "Each and every one of them will be identified and remembered, paya. It wouldn't be safe otherwise, and your mother would be terribly cross!"

No one is allowed to take the Princess down except him. No one.

[hopeitsworthit]

Holy Giant Eyes, Batman.

"Hey, kid, you lost?"

Dean sets down his half-full beer, turning to get a better look at the girl.

"Or just new?"

[lyricaltokarev]

Punie blinks quickly and turns at the sound of a man's voice. The hand clutching her pendant tightens briefly as she gives him a bright (if a little worried) smile.

"I was expecting this to be my school," she admits. "Would you be kind enough tell me where I am, please?"

A princess is always polite and gracious, even when troubled.

[hopeitsworthit]

Dean snorts out a laugh.

"Yeah, that'd be a little bit of a change."

Not that this helps the kid out any.

"Uh. This is Milliways, the bar at the end of the universe. I'd like to say it's less weird than it sounds, but -- "

He makes a face.

"Nah, it's pretty much at least that weird."

[lyricaltokarev]

"Milliways?" Her brow furrows for a moment, and then her entire face brightens, startlingly fast. "Oh, I've heard of this place! Mama said that I might find it when I wasn't looking for it, but I thought I would have to be older before I came here. Perhaps I'm supposed to make new friends here, too!"

From the brightness of her smile, she seems absolutely willing to include this nice young man in that group of new friends.

[hopeitsworthit]

"Well, you know -- "

Dean spreads his hands, half to express whatever floats your boat and half to express Uh.

" -- Milliways pretty much takes all kinds, so your odds are probably pretty good?"

Awkward.

[lyricaltokarev]

Punie's odds are always good. It's part of being a princess, after all.

"Oh, but I'm forgetting my manners!" She drops a little curtsey to the nice young man, and clasps her hands in front of her chest as if she's about to break into song. "My name is Punie Tanaka, and I am the Princess of Magical Land. My mother the Queen sent me to Earth to learn how to make friends, and I've been attending school in a place called Japan. It's very fun!"

[herr_bookman]

If she's glancing around the room, she may find that there's a boy smirking back at her.

Then again, he smirks at everyone. His eyes leave hers shortly enough that it might not be his singling her out.

[lyricaltokarev]

Punie is not at all disturbed by being stared at, or even smirked at. A true princess should never allow such small things to make her lose her composure. But the moment's eye contact provides her with enough opportunity to step forward and (interrogate) make enquiries of someone who might be of assistance.

"Pardon me, please," she says to the boy, politely hopeful, as she approaches, "but could you tell me what this place is? I seem to have lost my way."

One hand is still clutching the heart-shaped pendant around her neck. The position of her hand mostly manages to cover up the odd design of an open, staring eye on the front of it.

[herr_bookman]

"Ah, so you are new. This is Milliways," he says, and gestures around. "As you can see, it may or may not be a bar, possibly at the end of the universe."

He takes a sip of his tea. "The question you might ask first, however, is not where you might be, but whether or not you can find your way back," he says, pointing behind her to where a door possibly exists.

He might, possibly, be teasing her. A bit.

[lyricaltokarev]

"Milliways..." she repeats thoughtfully, and then her eyes suddenly light up in delighted recognition. "Oh, this is the place that Mama told me about! I didn't think I would be allowed to visit until I was older."

She glances over her shoulder, a little puzzled by the question. "But I should be able to find my way back. That's the door I came through, isn't it? And even if it doesn't take me back to Japan, it ought to take me back to Magical Land, if Mama's books about it were correct."

[herr_bookman]

"Hm," he says, tapping his chin. "So not everyone new to the bar is bound. That's interesting. I wonder if your mother being here prior to you has anything to do with it." He's going to go ahead and file that away as interesting, too. He'd sure love to get his hands on those books.

Then he blinks rapidly. "Wait, where did you say you were from? 'Magical Land'?" he asks, brow crinkling. "You can't be serious."

[lyricaltokarev]

"I don't know how long it's been since Mama was here, but she doesn't have much time to be away from home these days."

Ruling over a magical kingdom with the cold iron fist of tyranny does require a good deal of one's attention, as Punie knows very well. And she's only had a small taste of the kind of assassination attempts her mother has had to deal with for years now.

"And yes, I'm from Magical Land...oh, I should really introduce myself, shouldn't I?" She smiles brightly, and drops a little curtsey of greeting. "My name is Punie Tanaka, and I'm the princess of Magical Land, but right now I'm living on Earth and going to school so I can learn how to make friends."

[change_my_story]

"Oh, there's magic." Says a small girl. Her accent is British and she couldn't be any older than four or five years old. There's a book under her arm reading 'Jane Eyre'. "It just belongs to the actual place, not a person."

"Excuse me." She moves aside as she steps into Bar, the door behind her showing a little girl's room. Not much in way of furniture besides a dresser and table, but it's very much a little girl's room in terms of coloring and pictures.

[lyricaltokarev]

Punie's two younger sisters are only a bit older than this girl seems to be, so she smiles warmly and drops down to one knee to be closer her eye level.

"So this place brings people here by magic?" she asks. "My Mama's told me about places like this one, but I've never been here before. What's it called?"

[change_my_story]

She nodded, somewhat reserved. It wasn't that Matilda was distrusting by nature, but like most small girls, she was naturally cautious around older ones. Not that this one gave anything to be cautious about, she was just reserving judgement.

"It's called Milliways, the bar at the end of the universe." Her expression is calm and matter-of-fact.

[lyricaltokarev]

"Oh, Milliways!" Punie's eyes sparkle, and her smile is one of pure delight. "Mama did tell me about this place, but I thought that I wouldn't be allowed to come here until I was older. She said that I might find my way here when the time was right, though -- and that there would be all sorts of people I could meet, and maybe even make new friends."

She inclines her head graciously in a well-mannered greeting. "My name is Punie Tanaka, and I'm from a place called Magical Land. It's very nice to meet you."

[change_my_story]

That was interesting. Matilda wondered if maybe her parents would ever find the Door...maybe meeting new people would be just as good for them as reading books. It would certainly be more enlightening than just sitting infront of the television all day.

She understands the gesture enough to return it. "My name's Matilda Wormwood, I'm from the town of West Berkshire, in England." She looked at her. "That's an interesting name, Magical Land. From what I gather, you're used to places with magic, meaning there's more than one-so..how do you distinguish your Magical Land from another place with magic?"

Her eyes lit up. She wasn't trying to talk down to the girl, she was genuinely curious about this place and wanted to know more.

Never mind that most girls her age didn't try to go into such discussions.

[lyricaltokarev]

Punie blinks at the question, though her smile doesn't change. Matilda is far more articulate than her sisters were at that age. Arguably, their deliberate childishness was as much of a ruse as reality, but it has always reminded her to never underestimate anyone because of their age or size.

"Magical Land is the name of the kingdom where I'm from," she says simply. "I've heard about a few other places with magic, like this one, but I've never actually visited them. I've only read about them in Mama's books. Though I'm not living in Magical Land right now -- I'm actually living on Earth for a while, in the country called Japan. Mama wanted me to go to school there to learn more about how to make friends."