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"Mm, nothing like a hot chocolate for a chilly day like this."
Stan cheerfully twittered as he took dainty sips of Uri's flatmate's prized hot chocolate powder. Harrods was pushing their new Christmas range of hot beverages, with exotic combinations like Chilli Cinnamon and Malt Spice. Stan obviously seemed to like Ginger Nutmeg, a flavour Uri regarded with much distaste.
They had returned to the flat, a rather small 3 bedroom apartment that had probably seen better times. The location itself was not too bad - the area was quiet, a feature that Uri appreciated as the buzz of the city threatened to drown her in it's thoughts at times. Stan had made himself right at home - despite Uri's attempts to stop him, he had already begun to scavenge the kitchen cabinets and was already happily nibbling on snacks he had pinched. Kevin and Garfield would have to settle for a half eaten bag of tortilla chips when they return.
"The toilet is past the kitchen, just don't use the Axe body wash. Not that Garfield would mind but I think it smells absolutely vile. You're already well acquainted with the kitchen, and my room is this one over here," she gestured to the door marked with a hanging "The only Drama I need is in a Script" plaque on the door. "You're going to have to sleep on the couch."
"The couch? What luxury! It's been a while since I've slept in anything resembling a bed." Stan plopped himself, mug in hand on the couch and sank in.
"Really? What have you been sleeping on all this time then?" Uri remarked.
Stan smirked. "Ah, finally curious? Well, I'll get on to that bit in a second. There's something you should know about me first. You see, I'm a Jumper."
"A what?" Uri wondered for a second if he was referring to his choice of fashion but it still made no sense.
"A Jumper! A being with the ability to traverse through different dimensions and worlds, and who stands- uh, sits, before you now." He smirked wider, and raised his palms up and out expectantly.
Uri was not one bit amused. Dimensions? Worlds? Travel the what? She pondered that perhaps he really was crazy, and that would explain his lack of sense of personal belonging and penniless state.
"You don't seem very impressed."
"Impressed?!" She blurted out. "You expect me to believe that sort of magicky bollocks?"
"But it's true! Look-" He stuck his hand out and Uri watched in amazement and horror as it disappeared from the tips of the fingers to his wrist in what looked like a small fold in the air.
"Your hand-"
"-Is still there! I simply reached into another world. You could say, I've pushed apart the fabric of this current dimension we're in, and have placed my hand in the layer that lies beneath." He retracted his hand and turned to Uri once more.
"So you see, I'm a Jumper." He proudly repeated.
"So you are." breathed Uri, finally convinced. "So is that how you fell? You stepped into this dimension but the portal was high up in the sky?"
Stan wrinkled his nose in disgust. "Portal? Such an undignified term. It likens what I create to a swirling pool of blue and orange goo. I prefer to call it a gate. And yes, unfortunately. Whilst I can somewhat control which dimension I'd like to step into, I have less control over where the gate chooses to manifest. As you can see however, I'm rather sturdy - we jumpers generally are a lot more tenacious than the average man."
"So there are more of you?"
"Mm, I like to think so. In my whole life, I've only ever met one Jumper myself. He was my guardian. Perhaps we are so busy fleeting from one world to the next, we never get to stay in one long enough to meet another."
Uri contemplated this for a while.
"Isn't that, well, a little lonely?"
A look of contemplation entered Stan's face, and he raised a hand to his chin.
"Mmm... I never really thought about that before. It's usually been the case that I mix around with the inhabitants for a bit, so perhaps not?"
"Don't you have, like, friends whom you travel back to worlds to see?"
"Nope not really. I don't really bother anyway- I'm always looking forward to the next adventure, so there is little time for backtracking!" He puffed his chest out proudly.
"So you don't have any family either?"
"Nope. It was simply my guardian for as long as I can remember."
"So where's this guardian now?"
"Well..." Stan's expression noticeably grew sullen. "I don't know. One morning I woke up, and he was no longer next to me. He didn't even leave a note."
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear tha-"
"Ha! If he could see me now, I'm probably a better jumper than he ever was!" Stan slapped his knees, startling Uri.
"Well now! Enough of me for now. What is your world like? Are there any quests to do? Monsters to kill, empires to save, monarchies to overthrow?"
Uri snorted. "You've come centuries late for that sort of thing. We've a different sort of challenge in this world now."
"Well then, so what is my task?"
"Your task?"
"Why yes! Each time I travel to a new dimension, the adventure starts with the person I choose. And in this world Uri, I choose you." (Uri shuddered at the probably unintentional reference.)
"So... By that you mean I'm the one who sort of, well, makes the adventure for you?"
Stan nodded enthusiastically. His undyingly cheerful demeaner was starting to get on her nerves a little. God, when did I become such a drag? She had enough on her hands with all the mess going on in her life, and now she had to babysit this alien who obviously had a warped sense of roleplay. What adventure could she offer him anyway? Uri pondered hard. Unless... He didn't say what sort of adventure it needed to be, right?
"Right. I've your first task then, freeloader."
"Grea- ah, but my name is Stan," Uri ignored him.
"You have to make a new friend. That of course, isn't me." She grinned slyly.
Stan's face fell. "What? But how absolutely mundane!"
"Oh you think it's too easy?"
"Ah- yes!"
"Great! This should take you no time then. I'll give you your next task after." Uri winked. "Also, by friend I don't mean just acquaintances. It's gotta be a pal who actually asks you to hang out or something, without my help. And you have to do it from scratch. No cheating by passing off my friends as yours."
Stan grumbled. This was going to be a boring world.
 Leviathan D Constance · Mon Feb 26, 2018 @ 10:48pm · 1 Comments |
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Story Time! Stan the Traveling Man |
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A child from a rather ordinary middle-classed household, enrolled in Drama school and the usual stressing about assignments and projects, she was like any other student on campus.That is, until the day she met Stan. Now, by all means it is rather ordinary in itself for a girl to meet a rather interesting guy who would have a significant impact on her life - but it certainly was not the impact one would normally expect.
A strangled squeak was all Uri could manage as one hundred and sixty-five pounds of falling man landed in the tangled mass of overgrowth to the side of the dirt trail she walked on.
"W-what?"
She decided to answer her own question and leaned closer to the bushes, hearing the tell-tale snapping of twigs that told her he was probably still alive.
"Um hey, you okay there?"
She assumed he probably wasn't in any state to answer given he seemed to have fallen from quite a height, wherever that was, but one must still be polite and inquire nonetheless.
"Yes!"
A jovial chirp rang from the body in the bushes, which she could now see was a dark haired youth in a blue varsity jumper and ripped jeans.
"Ohh how embarrassing. I didn't really expect there to be anyone this deep in the woods -" The sound of snapping brushwood and rustling of leaves increased in intensity as he picked himself up from the fall and straightened himself on top of the crumbly mess he'd made. "-and I certainly didn't expect to fall in the first place!" Uri registered in the back of her mind that he seemed rather well-off for such a bad fall, though perhaps his jeans probably weren't ripped to start with.
"Sorry if scared you. Name's Stan. Now, I would be most grateful if you could keep this a secret between us, Miss...?"
"It's Uri. I'm fine anyway - and it seems you are too. I won't tell anyone anyway, so if you don't really need any help or something I'll just be on my way." Uri backed away from Stan and returned to her usual route. A look of disbelief flashed across Stan's face and he scrambled over the thicket and onto the pavement, nearly losing his footing as his feet landed on the damp path.
"Wait! Aren't you going to ask me how I got here? How I fell? I mean, this is in the middle of nowhere - aren't you even curious?" A tone of desperation crept into his voice as he called out to Uri's slowly retreating frame.
"Not really. Besides, if you want to keep it a secret there's not really a point in me knowing anyway. I've got to get out of here before dark so if there's nothing else, I'll be on my way." She answered, not bothering to look back. Stan let out a shocked gasp and ran towards and past her, turning around and spreading his arms out to block her path.
"Please, just listen to what I have to say! Also, I really need a place to stay, so if you would be most kind, I'd like to follow you to yours."
Uri sighed. She'd gone on a walk to clear her head, but it would seem that royally backfired. She gazed up at down at the strange youth, seeing him more clearly.
He had short brown hair that ended just above his eyebrows, and dark eyes that were furrowed in a pitiful gaze. His frame was average, but his shoulders betrayed the muscular toned physique beneath the blue jumper. His hands were put together in a pleading gesture, and she got the sinking feeling he'd follow her whether she liked it or not. She lived in a flatshare with two other students, but they were both away for a fortnight in Amsterdam, to which she was invited but had politely declined - she needed to save money anyway. Speaking of which, this weirdo doesn't look like he might have money on him anyway..., thought Uri.
Stan took off his watch, a very classy and rather expensive looking timepiece, and offered it to her. "I don't have money, but maybe you'd accept this in exchange?"
Uri felt a twinge of guilt for having thought about demanding from him when he clearly didn't have much. She decided, she'd let him stay for a short while. At least, until she gets to the bottom of his strange appearance anyway.
"Hey, look. Keep the watch. You don't really seem like a bad person, and to be honest you don't seem to have much anyway. I'll let you stay, but ONLY for a few nights. After that, you need to leave. I don't think my flatmates would like you staying too long. Have we an agreement?"
"Oh yes! Most certainly! I knew you'd come round. What are we waiting for? Let's get going!"
He enthusiastically put his watch back on and headed the same direction Uri was in, a noticeable prance in his step. Uri simply wondered what she'd gotten herself into.
Leviathan D Constance · Mon Feb 26, 2018 @ 12:28am · 1 Comments |
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