Intro!

[escuchando]

WHO: Dolores Madrigal & you, maybe?
WHERE: Labyrinth, then the city
WHEN: Jan 28th
WHAT: Dolores arrives!
WARNINGS: n/a

---

i. labyrinth

... Hello?

[The last thing she can remember is standing with her family in front of a camera, her heart full with joy and affection, and the next moment... she was here. Whispers feel like they're hemming her in as she strains to hear them, barely understanding anything they say. Dolores stands very still and listens for what feels like an eternity before she speaks and is immediately startled by the sound of her own voice. She's all but whispering, herself.

But the hushed voices around her continue, and they don't seem to be talking to her at all.]

H... Hello?! [A little louder as the panic starts to build. As she feels her heart begin to pound and goosebumps rise up on the skin of her forearms. She pulls her arms in close to herself, hands clasping at her chest, and she takes a breath. Another breath.]

Okay. Okay, Dolores, just take it one step at a time...

[So she walks, and walks, and the whispers continue around her. Soon enough she's covering her ears, her expression pinched, barely looking where she's going. They aren't loud, but they are everywhere, and why doesn't covering her ears seem to be helping? She can't find an exit, either, and the anxiety that has been coiling in her chest since she popped into this cave begins to rise to a fever pitch.]

Oh, be quiet, please... [Dolores hisses, stopping and squeezing her eyes shut.] Just be quiet and let me think-- Hello? Hello!? Is anyone there!?

ii. the city

[Either alone or with help, she eventually makes it out to the city. It doesn't take long after that for her to locate the little book of instructions and the odd device on her person, and she perches on the edge of a chilly bench to read it. Dolores is clearly not dressed for the weather but with a lack of anywhere else to go (and still feeling oddly numbed by the barrage of strange experiences) she resolves to simply make do for the moment.

So she sits and tries to understand the instruction book, a deep frown furrowing her brow as she mouths out words and concepts that have no meaning to her even if she understands the phrase independently.

Somebody walking by might see her looking exasperatedly from the instructions to the phone as she does her best to grasp how it works. Maybe help a girl out?]

Comments

Labyrinth

[nonmagical]

[This is probably Mirabel’s first time seeing another labyrinth aside from her own - and while she’s not thrilled about getting stuck in another maze, she does need to understand more about this Spirit Realm that brought her and Bruno here.

She hears Dolores calling out, and for a second, thinks it might be a trick.

But then she’s a bit more hopeful - not that she wants more Madrigals here, but she does miss the rest of her family.]

Dolores?! Are you in here??

[escuchando]

[With the way she has her hands clasped over her ears she almost doesn't hear the familiar voice carrying over the whispers. She parts her fingers slightly at the sound of her name, listening, and she hears--]

Mirabel?

[It's not like the whispers, hissing and muttering in languages she doesn't understand. Not one of them has said her name and none of them have been familiar. It could be another trick, soemthing to get her to start listening, but she has to have some hope that she isn't actually alone here.]

Mirabel! Is that you?!

[nonmagical]

It's me! Where are you?!

[She starts searching through the Labyrinth, not wanting to get too far from the exit. It won't do either of them good if they both get lost.]

[escuchando]

I'm--!

[Before she can say it she realises that shouting 'I'm here!' isn't going to do any good. Her voice trails off into silence, but the whispering around her surges in to fill the space that it left behind and panic rises up in her chest.]

I'm here! [Dolores calls out, trying to find her way towards the sound of her cousin's voice.] Keep talking!

[nonmagical]

Try coming towards my voice!

[Mirabel isn't sure if she should stay in one place or keep moving to find her. She pauses for a moment, unsure of where to go or if she should be going anywhere.]

Maybe one of us should stay in one place so we can find each other better!

[escuchando]

Oh--!

[Right, right. Yes, that makes more sense. Dolores strains to hear her cousin past the rushing whisper of the voices around her and swallows, her throat so dry that it pinches.]

You-- You stay where you are!

[And she'll just--... she'll try...

Dolores has too stop and press her hands to her ears for a moment, hissing a breath out through her teeth.] I can't hear... [Augh...] Mirabel! Keep talking!

[nonmagical]

[Mirabel stops, feeling anxious just standing there, but...]

I'm still here! Tio Bruno here's too!

[escuchando]

Tío Bruno? Really?

[Oh, poor Bruno, he must be freaking out. Somehow it's easier to think of other people panicking over this than it is to try and stamp down on her own panic.]

Um-- Mirabel, where is here?!

The City

[whiteshroud]

[Jun was working at the coffee shop when he sees this girl sit in a chair and start reading through the instructions. This is the third time he's encountered a Colombian wearing out of season clothing, and looking confused. So he's just...gonna bring a cup a coffee and set it down for her]

Haha...sorry to bother you, but are you a Madrigal?

[escuchando]

[The moment she realises the stranger is talking to her she is ready to politely send him on his way, but she's stopped quite smartly from doing just that the moment the name 'Madrigal' leaves his lips.

Dolores' eyes briefly narrow in suspicion. She knows everybody in the town, and she does not know this person.]

Y... es... [She replies guardedly.] How did you know that?

[whiteshroud]

[Ah- he can see the stranger danger in her eyes. He means no harm, but sometimes he's not good at coming off that way.]

Oh, sorry.

[Time to explain]

I ran into Mirabel and Bruno earlier this month. And since you look and dress like them...it felt like a safe guess.

[escuchando]

[She presses her lips together, clearly still not trusting him. The stranger danger is indeed real when you've spent your whole life knowing every single person who lives in your town, and the strange situation isn't helping her attitude towards being approached by strange people.

But right now, really, what choice does she have?]

Mirabel didn't mention you.

[Though, Dolores supposes, why would she have. They'd had more important things to be doing. She looks down at the phone in her hand with a frown, then lifts it up and wiggles it slightly.]

Do you know how to use this?

[whiteshroud]

Erm...

[He stammers a little, unsure how how to respond. He's not surprised Mirabel didn't mention him. The girl woke up in a whole new city, he was easily the least memorable part of the whole experience.

But also, yeah, unlike the other Madrigals, Dolores seems to show stranger danger. Which. Isn't a bad thing. In fact it's not a bad thing at all. He's just not sure how to insist that really he's not shady without sounding more shady.

Thankfully, she gives him a lifeline and he nods]

The phone? Yeah, I know how to use one of those. Do you need help?

[escuchando]

[Never underestimate how important even the smallest interaction can be, Dolores might say. She might hear dozens of such little moments every day and she would always be able to track the ripples of them in the span of time that followed, if she had a mind to pay attention.

Though, when she thinks about what she said, she realises how silly it might sound to assume her cousin would have mentioned him.

She holds up the phone again when he questions, and nods.]

I do. I've read these instructions over and over but I can't make them make any kind of sense. [Try explaining technology to someone who has never seen it. It involves words she can read but doesn't know the meaning of.] But it seems important.

[whiteshroud]

[Oh, so that was the problem huh? Well, considering Bruno didn't seem to know what an airplane and said where he lived was very isolated was...yeah, it's safe to assume wherever they where didn't have any phones either.]

Mm, I'd say so. Phones are useful for communication and looking up information.

[He glances around, since he is still on shift. But the cafe is quiet enough. Usually is at this time of day]

I can show you the basics. It's not so bad once you get the hang of it.

[escuchando]

Ah... all right.

[She shuffles to one side a little on the bench she's perched on and gives the spot beside her a small pat. It seems that the stranger danger has abated for now, at least, as Dolores replaces it with the understanding that she's really going to need some help if she's going to get anywhere while she's here.]

Looking up information. Like a book?

[whiteshroud]

[At the gesture, he'll nod as he sits down at the patted spot. ]

Yeah, like a book! But it can update much faster than a book can, so it's great for newer information and keeping up with what's going on with other people. [So ... gossip, in other words]

city

[wedonttalkabout]

[Bruno is, at least, a little better dressed now thanks to August taking pity on him and making sure he doesn't freeze to death. He's still doggedly wearing his ruana on top of it all though. It's part of his ambience!!!.

He's still not really used to dealing with the village back home, so having to deal with a city full of people is monumentally difficult. So he's been keeping his head down, scuttling about, trying to avoid eye contact.

He does catch that familiar hair though and stops dead, turning to blink and yup...yup, that's-]

...Dolores?

[escuchando]

[If there's one voice she's going to recognise at a distance, it's that one. Years of hearing him talking to himself through the walls had ensured that at least. Dolores' head snaps up, whips around to where the sound of her name came from, and--

A bright - if a touch confused - smile immediately lights up her face.]

Tío Bruno!

[Not her mother, father, or brothers, but family is family and she is delighted to see her uncle - another familiar point in this strange and overwhelming place. She tucks the instruction book and phone into her palm and stands up to greet him, throwing her arms around him in a tight hug.]

Ah, tío, I'm so glad to see you..!

[wedonttalkabout]

[Sometimes all you get is your weird, little uncle and that's okay. He'll return the hug, a little awkwardly, he's still getting used to all the human contact again, but he is glad to see her too.]

Likewise! Did you get through here okay? Did anything happen to you?

[Just big concerns on his end, seen as he arrived via the spirit realm and had a whole bad time getting through into the city itself.]

That's three of us now. I'm starting to think this place is stealing Madrigals.

[escuchando]

[Dolores will definitely take the weird, little uncle over no one at all. She's still getting used to seeing him again, but right now the relief at having him in front of her is so intense that she can almost feel it bursting out of her.

So she stays close by him even after she lets him go, finding him a point of comforting familiarity.]

Stealing Madrigals? [She has already found Mirabel, having been rescued from her labyrinth entry by her cousin.] What would a place like this want with our family?

[wedonttalkabout]

[He's very glad she's sticking close by. He might have come sort of to terms about their situation, but having familiarity is so much easier to deal with than the unknown. Bruno is someone who's used to knowing what's going on, for better or worse, but that's not the case here at all. He's still not sure how to feel about all that. ]

I don't know- I would think our gifts but mine's... not really...working properly? Like- I can still have a vision, but it's all...murky. It doesn't make a lot of sense. So it can't be that, right? Doesn't explain why took Mirabel, either.

[escuchando]

[Dolores nods in understanding. Her gift hasn't been working either - that is, not in the way that she's used to. She can still hear, but it's mostly at 'normal' levels while occasionally it feels like someone is turning up the volume just that little bit.

Honestly she would really prefer one or the other. Randomly tuning into the conversation of someone on the other side of the street has already begun to feel disconcerting.]

Mirabel is still one of us. [She tells him with a shake of her head.] Maybe it isn't about the gifts at all.

[But then... what?]

[wedonttalkabout]

[At least none of them can be pressured to use their powers if they're not working right, right? Right?]

She is. But there are people who have been brought here from worlds that aren't ours either. Like...there's a talking horse. [A beat.] Really.

[escuchando]

... A talking horse?

[She makes a face at him. That face. You know the one.]

Tío Bruno, is this one of your jokes? Because I don't get it.