[Video]

[espigeonage]

Guys, the teleporter decided to surprise me.

[Julien's holding his phone out so that he can be seen, white-winged and clearly disoriented. In the background there's a picturesque waterfall, cliff and rocks, a path and some interested tourists.]

This is not the States. The stars are the same but there's a time difference, the air's different, and I can hear... okay, um, the mountains-and-coast noise is totally different, and more tellingly, lots of people are speaking German. Unrelated, I uh... I have a picnic lunch. [He hefts a small wicker basket in the claws of his other wing. It's got tiny loaves and dainty apples showing under a cloth.] Or a breakfast. Pretty sure that's a pulse. -oh, suil.

[he gets distracted by someone talking to him offscreen, their voice raised anxiously, and folds the wing he's holding the phone in, then crouches to talk to her. You get a good view of his shirt, white feathers, and neatly-hemmed massive sleeve hole, and can indistinctly hear him speak reassuringly - sprechen sie English? Francois? no it's okay. I'm here by accident, it was a surprise. I don't know. Yes, probably. We don't want to hurt anything. - and etc. It apparently ends well. Julien brings his phone out again, looking more focused.]

Sorry about that. So... Bavaria, huh? I guess there's a castle uphill. You know, I think I'll go see. Cross your fingers I don't get jumped! -Uh, if you come here, you show up in a little cave and it's a climb to get here, but not bad.

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[fussenmayor]

[Some time after Julien makes his post, an older woman with fading red hair walks up to him, completely unafraid.]

Excuse me.

[espigeonage]

[Julien turns away from the wind and the temptation to fly, and bends at the knee and ankle some more, holding his body more at a diagonal, so he's less tall. His wings are tightly folded, his smile is shy, and his attitude is more hesitant than his friends know him to be, part of the body language he uses in public to look as unthreatening as he can.]

Yes? -Hello.

[fussenmayor]

[She can't help it. Kaufmann takes a moment to take in the fact that yes, she is talking to a bird-man. What the blazes.]

You are...from America, yes? One of the...oh, what are they calling you? The ones with the mountain and crabs.

[espigeonage]

[He nods carefully and tries to hold his feet and tail still - in his experience people tend to get distracted by those and not focus on his face.]

That's right. We call ourselves the numbered, but sometimes the media calls us reincarnates or superheroes. Those are a little dramatic for me. [He warms his smile, but keeps his voice deferential.] I'm Julien. Julien Sakazaki.

[video]

[mistakesmakeuswhoweare]

First Fil, now you. That damn thing better leave me alone, or I'll be bloody pissed.

[espigeonage]

Can't hit you if you don't use it, Red. I think. I'm better off than Fil, this was instant.

[He's still a little dazed.]

[mistakesmakeuswhoweare]

Yeah? I don't suppose you remembered to bring a passport or anything?

[espigeonage]

Sure didn't! It's pretty out of date now, anyway. I kinda put off hitting the DMV...

text;

[siesinddasessen]

What did you do now?

[espigeonage]

The teleporter was angry that I was taking it for granted.

On the plus side, Germany!

[siesinddasessen]

Don't tell me you just stepped on it and it got you to Germany instead of Vegas.

[espigeonage]

No, there was a weird different symbol and I didn't stop and think. Astonishingly careless, I know.

video;

[alilyinthemoonslight]

[Lily frowns.] I guess this shouldn't be too surprising at this point...

[A sigh.]

No rest for the weary...

[espigeonage]

Yeah... Do you remember that pause between the snake dying and lights over Vegas? This time we only had a week.

This time, we have to tell people about giant underground monsters before they - erupt.

[alilyinthemoonslight]

Everything's moving faster, isn't it? The snake took nearly a year to wake up. This one... only seven months. Almost exactly to when the lights in Las Vegas first appeared.

[espigeonage]

Seems like. On the plus side we know what we're doing now, at least compared to back then. Though I'm sure we've got all kinds of unhappy surprises to watch out for.

[video]

[gogoghostpowers]

Whoa. Germany? That's like--in Europe!

Have you run into any other numbered people there yet?

[espigeonage]

I know, right?

Not yet! But I've wandered up away from the cave - hey if I'm the first maybe I should come up with a flag to plant.

[gogoghostpowers]

A flag? Of what?

[video]

[ruleorserve]

That would be a good sign that it's not the US, yes.

[Well, generally speaking anyway. There's likely some people even outside of the Numbered who can speak German and live in the States, but not quite in the same numbers as he's assuming are there, by the comment of "lots".]

And good luck, with the exploring.

[espigeonage]

Yeah, it's... lucky I know English and French and everyone's been so willing to use those. I only have like... ten words in German.

Thanks! It's refreshing. I'm sure things here will get crazy soon enough. For now it's nice.

[ruleorserve]

Hopefully not too soon. Having something a little closer to a community that didn't dislike us would be quite a relief.

[Video]

[boxingbuff]

Huh.

Looks like you're in some kind of European place. How you got there is completely up in the air though.

[espigeonage]

Yep. There really is a castle!

You've heard about the teleporter? Stolen from Thunderco in a daring escapade?

[boxingbuff]

You mean that weird machine you guys made off with? Yeah, there were a lot of complaints at the department after that.

So the thing was an actual teleporter?! That's some science fiction shit right there.