Dizzy Land

"Is Miss Cayce in charge?" Duck asked curiously. "It seems she knows everything about this place. It'd be cool if it was, cos she's really nice!"

She grinned at Kyouya. "Pleasure to meet you too, Mr Kyouya! A note? Do you get told when new people arrive? How?" She gasped and clapped her hands over her mouth. "Do you know the person delivering all the letters?!"

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"She is very nice, isn't she?" Kyouya remarked. "No, there really isn't anyone in charge here as far as I can tell. But as she's taken it upon herself to keep track of a variety of information, she does seem to take a leading role, and she's generally a useful source."

"It would be Mr. Ootori," he corrected gently. He'd been assuming she was western, but maybe she'd made the mistake for a different reason? "But you're welcome to simply call me Kyouya. I don't get told when people arrive, no. But their arrivals are announced over the loudspeaker, so generally I make a note of it myself. I'm simply the sort of person who likes to be aware of things like new arrivals."

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Duck nodded. "It's really great of her to take on such a big responsibility," she said admiringly. "She doesn't have to do it, but she does in order to help everyone. That's really awesome."

She gave him a blank look. "What would?" Duck just added titles to everyone's names unless she was friends with them; she thought it was polite.

"Oh, I see. So you could hear everything I said, Kyouya?" That would explain how everyone had arrived so quickly, though Duck had figured there were just a lot of people who happened to be in the area. "Do you make notes to help Miss Cayce?"

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"Ah, it isn't important," Kyouya said. "I honestly don't have any objections to you calling me what you're most comfortable with, it's simply that I didn't know if there was confusion over which was my given name. You see, where I come from your family name is generally said before your given name, but in many countries it's the opposite. So I simply wanted to clear up confusion."

"True, it's quite altruistic of her, isn't it? No, I'm afraid Cayce and I haven't been working together, to be honest. I've been keeping up to suit my own curiosity, but I have offered her use of my data, so perhaps in the future we'll collaborate." He shook his head. "I didn't hear anything you said, I'm afraid. I must have been otherwise occupied-- if you arrived early in the morning, that might explain it, or else I may have been listening to music or on a ride. At any rate," he added with a smile, "I'm glad to have a chance to speak to you know. What are you two doing out here?"

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"Oh, no! I thought Kyouya was your first name. I mean, you gave it to me first, so I assumed it was your, y'know. First name." In Duck's country, people tended to only have the one name, after all.

"It'd be good if you did!" Duck chirped. "We should all help each other! That's sort of what we're doing right now," she answered, giving Kyouya and Setsuna a big grin. "We're trying to see who or what delivers the letters here!"

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Setsuna listened to the thing on the names and remembered Duck had no idea what country she was from, so it was, he reminded himself, pointless to ask.

Instead, he commented, "You seem to be the type to work alone, anyway," to Kyouya, whether he was right or not wasn't the point. Duck's smile got one sent right back at her. "Yep.... But haven't seen anything yet."

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"Do I?" Kyouya asked Setsuna pleasantly. "I hope I haven't given that impression. I admit I've always been a somewhat solitary person by nature, but I believe myself to be quite capable of cooperation as well." He flashed a smile, and then turned back to Duck.

"Well, then, I'm glad there was no confusion. In that case, feel free to call me whatever you're most comfortable with. What country are you from, Duck?" He wasn't familiar with any western country that used honorifics like that, but customs of etiquette were always good to know.

"The letter situation I feel I can explain, actually," Kyouya said. "After some observation, I'm fairly confident the letters are delivered automatically by the same invisible mechanism that restocks the shops and restaurants."

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"Remember it's okay to ask other people to help, okay Kyouya?" Duck said in a sincere, slightly concerned tone. Duck was by no means against working alone, but she was the kind of person who by default preferred the company of others and so found it a little difficult to get her head around the concept of voluntary solitude.

"Invisible mechanism, huh? Wow, that's really interesting!" Duck replied in a voice a little louder than necessary as she tried to deflect the country of origin question. Maybe she could find an atlas somewhere and pick one at random. "Why do you say an invisible mechanism, Kyouya?"

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Setsuna shrugged to Kyouya's response and said, "Well, there's nothing wrong with working alone if you work best that way. But it's good to know you're willing to work with others."

Having already discussed it with her, Setsuna noticed Duck bypassing the country question and smirked a little. Poor girl, must be tough not knowing and then getting asked so much. Quickly, he too focused on the mail instead.

"Guess that answers our questions, huh, Duck? Too bad there's no culprit, though. Would've been nice to have someone to question," Setsuna told them, but walked over to the mailbox to see Cayce's postcard anyway, and laughed.

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Duck's reply and her sincerity made Kyouya chuckle. "All right. I'll remember," he said with a smile. "But I think I'm fine for now."

Since she didn't answer the country question, he shrugged it off. "Well, as you're new here, you may not have noticed, but all the park inventory restocks itself automatically and anything that's broken repairs itself. It isn't known how this is done, but whatever accomplishes it isn't visible. It wouldn't be a stretch to imagine that the same mechanism is responsible for sending mail.

However," he added, adjusting his glasses, "I also have personal confirmation. Shortly after I arrived, I noticed how quickly the mail was processed and came to the conclusion it was not being delivered physically. So I sent a letter to a friend of mine and waited by the mailbox for a short time. The letter vanished almost instantly, and then a reply from my friend appeared in the mailbox before I left the area. The box was closed while I did this, of course, but an invisible mechanism is still the logical explanation." He gave a wry smile. "As odd as it is for anything of the sort to be described as 'logical.'"

He paused. "If you'd like, I could demonstrate it for you again."

Edited Date: 2008-07-05 06:12 pm (UTC)

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"I noticed it happen when I took food," Duck said thoughtfully. "But it must be a weird mechanism. I mean, it doesn't have cogs or anything. Or maybe there are, like, claws that drop down when you're not looking to replace stuff! And!" She waved her hands in her excitement. "Maybe there are, like, invisible tunnels in the mailboxes that send the letters!"

She dashed over to the mailbox (apologising to Setsuna for pushing past him), opened it, and tried to stick her arms inside to find the tunnel. She frowned in annoyance and then sighed when she found none.

"... Well," she mumbled, "was worth a shot."

Duck turned to Kyouya again and with a smile asked, "Could you? So we can be completely sure?"

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"It could just be magic," Setsuna suggested with a shrug, showing Duck Cayce's postcard (http://community.livejournal.com/dizzy_land/296127.html?thread=17098687#t17098687), which had shown up while they had been watching the mailbox. He had scowled a bit when Duck pushed past him, but got over it quickly, then shrugged when she couldn't find tunnels either.

Setsuna too gave Kyouya a smile. "I've got a pen and paper here. And I can put it in my mailbox, if you'd rather we not go all of the way to yours."

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"Honestly, magic and invisible mechanisms are both so far out of the realm of my experience that I doubt I can offer any useful conjecture," Kyouya admitted, frowning. "If you do find anything more specific, please tell me, though-- I would love to know."

He took the pen and paper from Setsuna, and nodded. "I think that makes most sense." Then, he scribbed a quick note on the paper--

As soon as you get this, please write back and address the letter to Mudou Setsuna. After sending a response, please remain near your mailbox.

- Kyouya

Once that was accomplished, Kyouya folded the letter, wrote Tamaki's name on the outside, put it in the mailbox, and then closed it.

"Hopefully, he'll respond quickly."

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Duck stared at Cayce's second postcard with widened eyes. "Who's that? Why has he got fish-bowl on his head?"

She nodded at Kyouya. "If I find anything out, I'll tell you! Also Miss Cayce. Well, not anything, but, y'know, the things to do with the park. If I told you anything you'd probably get annoyed with me for telling you useless stuff," she added with a small giggle.

"Who did you write to, Kyouya?"

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imyourking.livejournal.com

Tamaki was, well, kind of confused when he got the letter from Kyouya.

To Kyouya via Setsuna Mudou,

Hi Setsuna! Hey Kyouya, is there something the matter? You're not in some sort of great peril, are you?

Your Friend,
Tamaki

What if Kyouya had been kidnapped by pirates? Or ninjas? Or ninja pirates? And they were forcing him to send strange letters?

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"I wrote to my friend Tamaki," Kyouya explained to Duck. After waiting a short time, he opened the mailbox and took out the letter from Tamaki. "There, you see? Too quickly to have been delivered by anything except...well, I suppose 'magic.' Anything else you want to test?" he asked Setsuna and Duck.

Of course, while Tamaki was certain to be obedient whether or not Kyouya explained himself, he sent off a quick reply.

Tamaki,

Don't be stupid. I'm testing something about the mail system with Setsuna and a girl named Duck.

Thank you for the quick response,

Kyouya

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Duck beamed at hearing Kyouya had a friend, as if it was by her own doing or something similar. He'd said he preferred to work alone, but he still had someone!

"Huh." She watched the letter as if expecting it to do something special. "I guess you're right, Kyouya! I guess we sort of solved the mystery... Though we've ended up with another one..." She struck a determined pose and added, "But we'll solve that one too! Together!"

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Setsuna didn't quite catch Duck's enthusiasm this time as he asked, "But how are we gonna go around figuring this one out? We can't get into the mail boxes. Tempting as that is." He looked at one - it was big enough, probably for him, or Duck to fit inside of, but there was no way INSIDE of that was big enough for them.

Edited Date: 2008-07-06 06:23 pm (UTC)

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Kyouya paused. "Tamaki should have a video option on his cell phone. We could record the mail process if Tamaki was able to send it to us."

He had a video phone too, of course, but he'd rather Tamaki's get broken than his. It might be useful someday, and he had his contacts loaded into it.

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"A what on his what?" asked Duck.

"Does delivering stuff work? I mean, we know letters work, but does sending packages work too?"

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Kyouya blinked and made a mental note of Duck's ignorance of technology, if that's what this was. "Ah...if there's a language barrier here, I apologize. A cell phone is a portable phone, and many of them come with small recording devices?"

He shrugged. "I'm not sure, but I can't see why not. Setsuna, is it all right to have Tamaki send his cell phone here?"

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"Of course it's all right. I never thought to try anything like that," Setsuna admitted. "Then again, I don't have a cell phone." Neither did Kira, or he would've bugged him about it. "And they have recording on them now.... What year are you guys from?" Cell phones in Setsuna's time were just a bit different....

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"2004," Kyouya replied. "Most people have cell phones by then. Video is fairly new, but I'm sure Tamaki has the option. I'll write him."

He scribbled off another quick letter--

Tamaki,

Can you figure out a way to mail your cell phone to Setsuna without putting it in any sort of envelope? I'm sure you could attach a letter to the back in lieu of an address label in order to do so; just don't obscure the camera.

Please turn your record option on the phone before you send it. When we receive it, we'll hopefully be able to see how the mail system works.

- Kyouya

He folded the letter and handed it to Setsuna for delivery.

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Duck shook her head and gave a little embarrassed grin. "No, no language barrier. I just don't have anything like that where I come from. What's a phone? And what kind of recording device? Does it write stuff down?"

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