(no subject)

[wifeandpartner]

January 14, 1935
9:53 PM

The police station, like the grocery store they just left, has clearly seen better days. It's sparsely furnished, with peeling paint and faded wallpaper. "We should be able to put you up in a cell for the night," says Constable Parker as they enter the lobby and approach the front desk. "Mick? I've got a runaway here who needs a place to stay. Can we spare a cell for the night?"

"Sure, Andy. Lemmie getcha a key..."

While Mick is finding a key, Tyler's attention wanders to the mass of wanted posters tacked to the bulletin board behind Mick's desk. There are your general run-of-the-mill criminals, a few which appear to be gangsters, and one man with an elaborately painted face who apparently identifies himself as 'The Mad Monkey.'

And then there's the poster in the bottom right corner. It's faded and torn, as though it's been up on the board for a very long time. The sketch is of a square-jawed man with dark hair, a fedora, and a mask covering his eyes.

The text reads:
WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE
the masked vigilante known as
THE RED PANDA

Comments

[basic_powers]

..Huh. He may not be that far from home. It might be the same world. Tyler walks over still holding onto his backpack tightly, to pick the wanted poster from the board and really look at it.

....huh. Looks like an early version of the Revenant.

[trustydriver.livejournal.com]

"Tyler?" says Constable Parker. "That's not yours. Put it back."

"Eh, 's no big deal, Andy," says Mick. "I've been meanin' ta take that one down anyway. Let 'im keep it." He tosses a keyring to Parker. "Cell 18 is free an' it should be nice and quiet."

"All right. Come along, Tyler..."

[basic_powers]

"Yessir, Constable Parker, sir." Tyler carefully rolls up the poster and tucks it into his backpack.

You know...come to think of it the kid is in amazing health and has some pretty weird clothing on him. Not to mention the fancy pack.

[trustydriver.livejournal.com]

If Constable Parker notices anything unusual about all that, he doesn't mention it as he leads Tyler into the back of the police station.

The cells are simple eight-by-eight squares separated from each other and the hallway by vertical bars. Each one contains a cot, a toilet, and... well, that's it, actually.

The first two cells are occupied by the still-unconscious Sully and Jake; the rest are empty.

[basic_powers]

Tyler looks at each of the empty cells as he goes by...at the state of them and how they look...

"Constable Parker...how long it is going to take you to contact my folks?"

[trustydriver.livejournal.com]

"Hopefully, we'll be able to reach them by telephone tomorrow," says Constable Parker. "It'll take a few days to get from Kansas to Ontario, though... unless there's something you haven't been telling me?"

He's eying Tyler rather suspiciously.

[basic_powers]

There's that guilty look again.

"Well...it's more something the other guy didn't ask."

Which is why Tyler finds it a lot easier to let the grownups make up the stories.

[trustydriver.livejournal.com]

Parker quirks an eyebrow. "Oh?"

[basic_powers]

"...This is going to sound crazy to you...but I didn't come here by railway, boat, or airplane...or whatever this world uses to travel with."

[trustydriver.livejournal.com]

Now both eyebrows are raised. "'This world'??" echoes Parker.

[basic_powers]

"...uh-huh." Tyler says. "I didn't know if this was the same world as mine, because everything looked so different."

"I was walking in the backyard of this tavern..." Tyler pauses. "It's one my uncle Ray spends his weekends when he's not busy with his job, so we get to spend time together there."

"Anyways...I was walking towards this treefort some kids had built and something started chasing me from behind and picked me up...the next thing I knew I was falling into the alleyway just a little ways from that grocery store."

[trustydriver.livejournal.com]

Blink. Blink.

"You were behind a tavern in Kansas, and then you fell into an alley in Toronto."

[basic_powers]

"...Actually not a tavern in Kansas. Explaining where the tavern is would be an even longer story."

[trustydriver.livejournal.com]

Constable Parker stares at Tyler for a long moment. Then he looks back up and strides to the farthest cell at a faster pace than is strictly necessary.

"Get in," he says flatly as he opens the door.

[basic_powers]

Tyler knew it. He's in trouble.

With that the kid sighes and heads into the cell.

"Yessir."

[trustydriver.livejournal.com]

Constable Parker closes and locks the cell, then turns and leaves without another word.