Welcome to Haven Hollow!

Darkness gives way to blurry vision. A groan escapes Nar's lips as his brain finally begins to send commands to wake up the rest of his body. He tries to move his arm to sit up, but finds it's completely numb. As his vision comes into focus, his eyes shift back and forth to survey his surroundings. He's forced to squint as his gaze passes by the bright, white lights positioned above him. To his right, he thinks he can hear the voice of a woman. "Doctor. The Patient is awake!" He hears the sound of footsteps on tile, and shifts his gaze just in time to see a man in scrubs enter the room. Now that his vision is clearing, Nar can tell he's in some sort of... clinic? It seems more like a doctor's office exam room turned into a makeshift hospital room. His eyes shift to the source of the voice, and he finds a middle-aged nurse observing a monitor next to the bed he's in. "Thank you, Nurse Remedy. Please go inform Sylas immediately." The doctor thanks his nurse, and the two trade places. The nurse exits the room, while the doctor pulls a rolling chair up the bed. Nar's vision begins to blur again. The doctor begins to speak, but his words appear muffled. A wave of exhaustion passes over Nar, and he once again loses consciousness. After four attempts to jump start his body, causing him to lull in, and out of consciousness, Nar's brain finally manages to get his body to stay awake. With another groan, Nar manages to shift himself into a sitting position. Two pairs of hands jut forward, gently keeping him from sitting up fully. The bed behind his head begins to rise, to meet his back. "Woah! Easy there friend!" A new voice urges. "You've been out a while! Try not to push yourself!" Now, Nar is able to get a good look at his surroundings. He's in a clinic. The room he's in appears to be a converted exam room, with equipment just like what he'd seen in Grace East hospital during his recent stays there. Around his bed sit 3 figures. One is a middle-age, pegasus nurse. She sports pink scrubs over light-purple fur, and pastel blue hair that's been done up in a bun. The second is the unicorn man in blue scrubs. He appears to be on the older side, with gray-beige fur, and short, styled, gray hair. A pair of tan glasses rests upon his face. The third figure is not Equestrian. It's hard to tell what exactly he is, but he appears to have white fur, and a head of shaggy, black hair that is covered by a gray beanie. A pair of pointy, feline ears sticks out the top of the beanie. He wears a simple, deep blue shirt. His eyes are slits. More akin to a cat than an Equestrian. Nar lifts one of his arms to inspect it. It feels heavy, but the numbness is clearly wearing off. "I'm... Alive?" The cat-creature responds. "Thankfully! I thought for sure you were dead when I found you." Then, the Doctor scoots forwards. "I'm sorry to bother you so soon after you've woken up, but I have a few questions for you, if you're up for answering." Nar grunts as he positions himself to face the doctor, and get more comfortable. "Sure. Fire away." The doctor clears his throat. "Right then. Firstly, how do you feel?" "A little numb, and my limbs feel heavy. Head's a little fuzzy, and I feel like someone beat my stomach with a sledgehammer. So, mostly fine." The nurse appears concerned, but the doctor's face remains pleasant, and warm. "That should subside within the next few hours. We had you on some pretty serious medications, but you seem like a tough young lad." Nar does his best to smile back at the doctor. "Yeah. My friends call me a freak of nature." This causes the doctor to chortle, and the cat creature to stifle a laugh. "You certainly are a lively one. Now then, do you happen to see, or hear anything that you may suspect may not actually be there? Any figures in the corner of your vision? Or the voices of people you know?" Nar blinks. "Wait. You mean, am I suffering from Astral Deficiency?" Now, all three of the figures are shocked. "You know what that is?" The cat-creature asks. "Yeah. It was a part of my training for the Equestrian Society of Extraplanar Exploration." Now, the cat-creature appears to be mildly excited. "Oh cool! You're with those guys? I haven't heard from them in a while!" "Well uh. There's a reason for that. We were forced to disband a few months back. Had an operation that went bad. Lost a lot of people. Press caught wind, and Canterlot Castle got involved." "Wait... So if the Society was disbanded... Why are you here?" Nar's head drops. "I'm looking for someone. Someone I lost to the Astral Plane 5 years ago. I want to make sure she can finally rest." A silence falls over the room. The cat-creature opens his mouth to speak, but no words come out. It's only broken when the doctor manages to compose himself, and move to his next question. "Well, this next question seems redundant, but do you know where you are?" "Astral Highway System, or Astral Plane. Whichever you guys call it. I don't remember much, but I think I'd tried to enter Layer 5 before I passed out." The doctor continues. "Well, in that case. Allow me to welcome you to Haven Hollow. I'm afraid to say, you're still very much inside the Astral Plane, but you're safe here." At this point, the cat-creature manages to speak up. "Layer 5?! Are you insane, or just THAT desperate?!" "That desperate. Yes, i know how stupid of an idea that was, but..." Nar goes silent. Nobody dares to ask him to finish. Instead, the nurse decides to change the subject. "If my charts are right, you should be cleared for release in about a week." The doctor nods. "Quite a short recovery time for the state you were brought here in." Then, the cat-creature. "Yeah! Your body wouldn't stop twitching when I found you. Every time I touched you, you started to spasm, and I thought you were just going to explode or something." At this, the doctor sits up, and grabs a clipboard from nearby. "Right. Since you're awake, would you mind giving us some basic information about yourself? Name, date of birth, where you're from, all that?" Nar responds with a nod. "Yeah. Nar Yakushi, May second, 1998, Vanhoover, Equestria." While the doctor jots down notes, the nurse offers a smile. "It's nice to meet you, Nar." Shen places a hand on her chest. "You can call me Remedy." She then motions to the doctor. "That's Doctor Charge, and-" Then, she motions to the cat-creature. "That's Sylas. You can think of him as the town's sheriff." After just under a week in the clinic, and to the bewilderment of Nurse Remedy, and Doctor Charge, Nar is cleared for release. Accompanied by Sylas, Nar exits the clinic, and enters the town of Haven Hollow for the first time. (https://youtu.be/igBoFBrok6M?si=RoDLm80pMUkRDjsv) The first thing Nar notices is the large, glowing orb in the 'sky' above the town. With the backdrop of a nebulous void from the AHS, it almost looks like an oversized street light. Though, it seems the light from this orb shines on the whole town. The town itself isn't particularly large, but it's none too small either. Nar and Sylas exit out onto what looks to be a main street, with shops, and restaurants beside a small town hall. In a way, it kind of reminded him of main street back in Ponyville. A few residents walk up and down the sidewalks, with many stopping to greet the pair. Even though they were only stopped by about 7 people, it takes the pair over 30 minutes to actually leave the main street. Nar's first impressions? Either the people here were SUPER friendly, or just so bored from not having anything to do that one new person was cause for an 8 minute long conversation. When Nar and Sylas finally manage to leave main street, they pass by a small park featuring a small, sparkling, blue pond, a decently sized open field, a small wooded walking path, and a seating area full of benches, and picnic tables. Around one of the tables, a group of 4 young mare sit, talking amongst themselves. Despite their distance from him, Nar can hear their conversation pretty clearly. "Oh my Solaris. Did you guys hear? Someone new just moved into town!" "And he's close to our age!" "Yeah, but don't you guys think he looks a little plain? I mean, what's with the straw hat, and hawiian shirt? Like, is he a dad or something?" "Who cares? I heard he's an adventurer! Adventurers are hot!" "Okay, maybe he's like, a good 6 out of 10." One of the women meets Nar's gaze, and the group huddles close while shushing each other. One of the group, a unicorn with long, auburn hair, and mute-orange fur sits up, and smiles while giving him a provocative stare. She lifts a hand to wave her fingers at him as she calls out to him. "Yoo hoo! Mr. Adventurer!" The rest of the group giggles. Nar waves back, and tries to smile, but he's a little too weirded out for it to be genuine. He can't tell if she was flirting with him, or just messing with him. Sylas claps Nar's back, and begins to speed him along. "Don't mind them. Unless you want to. Those girls are always gossiping in the park, and you're one of the only guys your age in this town. Most of the other guys your age who've shown up here usually just..." Sylas pauses, but a look from Nar gets him to continue. "They always go stir crazy, and leave. We've never heard from, or seen any of them after they've left." The mood sours for a moment, but Sylas perks back up in an attempt to lighten it again. "But hey! That just means if you've got some options if you want to start dating!" While Sylas laughs, Nar remains silent. After passing by the park, the pair enters what looks to be the residential district of the town. If anything, it looks to be a small suburb with row upon row of houses. Some of the residents can be seen out on porches, or in their yards, while others appear to come to their windows to watch as they pass by. Now that he's getting a better look at the residents, Sylas' words are starting to click in Nar's head. Almost every guy here looks to be either below the age of 14, or above 40. He's seen one other guy who looks like he MIGHT be in his 30s, who seems to be having a cookout with what looks to be his family. After a short jaunt through the neighborhood, with main street still in sight, Sylas brings Nar to a small house situated in between two much larger ones. "Welp! Here we are! This is your new home!" Nar opens his mouth to object, but then he remembers what Sylas told him. He'd rather not upset the guy who saved his life by telling him he doesn't plan on staying. Sylas hands him a key, and pats him on the back with a beaming smile. "We're gonna have a housewarming party in the park tomorrow for you! I know it can be tough adjusting to life here, but I really hope you'll come! Everyone will be so excited to meet you!" Nar is unable to formulate a response. Instead, he simply nods. Sylas then turns, and begins to leave, only to stop to make sure Nar is able to get into his house. Once Nar opens the door, and heads inside, Sylas continues down the street, and out of view. A quick tour of Nar's new house shows him that his accommodations are modest, but comfortable. A simply, plush couch sits in the living room, in front of an old CRT TV with a DvD player, retro game console, and a drawer filled to the brim with old DvDs, and video games. The kitchen is fairly small, but has all the appliances he'd need. There's a small dining area, a downstairs bathroom, and a single bedroom, and master bathroom upstairs. Once his quick tour is done, Nar removes his skates, and hands his satchel by the door. He's still a bit tired after his stay in the clinic. Might as well watch some old movies until he falls asleep.