onceuponacomm | Prologue

PROLOGUE

The clink of glasses, the clatter of utensils upon plates and the soft murmur of conversation flows smoothly in the warmly lit dining hall. It's a dinner party, a rather vivacious one at that, with the food flowing freely. Savory and sweet, regional specialties, refined and rustic, there's something for everyone. Omurice, chiffon cake, kimchi, sizzling porterhouse steaks—it might be more apt to call it a buffet than anything else.

Do buffets usually serve such a unique smorgasbord of food? And actually, weren't you doing something else? A free meal is usually a good thing but is anything truly free? Who are these people around you? And where exactly are you?

Whatever thoughts are racing through your mind, they're abruptly cut off by a note, high pitched G-sharp from a woodwind. All your senses return to you, though they won't tell you much. Maybe not all of them actually, if you're used to feats of heroic strength or manipulating reality or numerous other abilities. There is one clue at least, a heavy weighted paper beneath your plate, an embossed note rather than a list of courses.

"Enjoy yourselves. I'll come see you when you've had your fill. And don't try to dine and dash, huh? There's something I have—something I can do for you, after all. Besides, you've already agreed to the terms anyway!"

Welcome to your Fairy Tale.

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Suga adds an additional note under the first.]

Me neither I have to go home quickly

That makes two of us.

[This is just great.]

Although I'd also like to know what the hell happened to my sword, while we're at it.

Mine too It's not even a real sword They could have just left it with me

[It's not sharp enough to cut anything, it would've been fine!]

Mine is, and that's probably exactly why they didn't leave it with me.

[I mean, not that he can really blame them, that thing is about 6 feet long. Plus, uh, it's also a gun, but details.]

A weapon would be nice to have right now Just in case

No kidding.

[He sighs, running his hand through his hair.]

... so I take it you aren't from around here either.

[That's not weird to him, the weird part is HIM ending up in some strange place. Did he get exoflected or something???]

Azakawa It's a small town in the mountains

[His eyebrows go up just a bit.]

Never heard of it. Which means the next question is whether both of us were exoflected, or just me.

[Not that one option is any better than the other, but.]

What's ecsoflekted

[You tried, Suga.]

[Gold star for effort.]

It's...

[Oh man. There's a reason why explaining this is usually Phil's job.]

... think of it like being copied into another world. Guess that's the easiest way to explain it.

[Oh, okay.]

Is that something that's happened to you before

Not to me, but let's just say it's the regular order of business where I come from.

[Don't ask. His world is weird.]

I've never heard of it before But I also don't get a lot of news

[It's technically possible it's a thing and the news just hasn't reached Azakawa yet.]

Probably because it isn't a thing in any other world, as far as I know.

[Boy, this is a mess.]

Either way, that still doesn't tell us the reason why, or what whoever-it-is wants with us. Not like I'd trust their intentions either way...

I don't think there's anything I'd agree to come here for So they must be lying about that

I definitely don't remember agreeing to anything, so I'm sure that part at least is a lie.

[The other part, though...]

A couple people said they felt like they agreed Maybe only some of us did And they only printed one form letter?

And this food is a bribe for the rest of us.

[That... makes sense, at least. It doesn't make him feel better about the whole situation, but it does make sense.]

I'm not worth bribing I don't have any money or much to offer So why were we picked

[He's got some ideas as to why he might have been picked, but he's not about to voice them out loud just yet.]

Dunno. It's not like this whole thing makes a ton of sense in the first place. To us, at least-- I'm sure they've got their reasons.

It would be a lot of effort to go through if you didn't have a good reason for it

[At least, Suga assumes all of this must have been significant effort.]