Ch 2. Isekai Support Group
“Alright everybody. As you can see, we have a new face so we’re going to go through and do our introductions. I’ll start.” John stood up from his chair, and smiled warmly at the group. It was a practiced smile, one that was easy to wear even though he wanted nothing more than to go back to his apartment and crawl into bed. All but one person seated in the circle already knew him and his story, but it was easier to keep to the routine than to make the effort to be novel. “Hello, my name is John. Back on Earth I was a therapist. I was transported here by what I now know, was a fairy circle. At the time, I’d thought it was just a circle of mushrooms in the path of my walk. Guess I’m an idiot for that.”
A slight chuckle broke out across the room.
“I was dropped into some woods south of Avalon. Not knowing that civilization was just a mile or two north, I headed south, thinking I had gotten lost in the woods back on Earth, and that was the best way back to the road.” He paused, remembering his disorientation. “The trees were different, the smell, the sky, all of it had changed in such strange ways, but my mind just wouldn’t allow me to realize what was wrong.” He paused for dramatic effect, the same way he did every time. “It wasn’t long before I encountered a particularly hungry group of Mites. I’d love to tell you that I immediately raised my walking stick, smashed all of them with ease, and started a life of adventure, but that obviously didn’t happen. They chased me up a tree and threw rocks at me for an hour before a wandering adventurer happened by and cut them down before helping me to the city.”
He sighed. “It took a long time to adjust after that, and I was lucky to have a fair amount of help from some good people.” He paused again, this time to catch his breath. He was rushing through, bored by his own story, though his expression didn’t show it. “Now thanks to some luck and hard work I’m working as the first therapist in Avalon. I still have my troubles of course, but luckily I have the group to lean on when they happen.” That got some polite applause, a few rolled eyes from those that had been in the group from the beginning, and silence from the new girl that was sitting to John’s right, who seemed a bit shy.
“Alright, how about we work our way around in a circle clockwise.” John nodded to the man to his left. He was wearing a brown jumpsuit with the label ‘Eric’s Extermination’ on the back, his hair was greasy and blonde, and his face weathered. He was roughly forty, though John made a point not to ask anyone’s age. Things like that became strange in the new world; he’d mis-aged too many non-humans or sorcerers that change their appearance to comfortably guess, and formed a habit not to ask at all after a particularly sensitive gnome punched him in the balls for talking to him like a child.
Eric stood. “Name’s Eric. Was an exterminator back in Mississippi. Transported here when I got hit by a truck.” That provoked several nods from the rest of the group. Truck accidents were perhaps the number one cause of waking up in this world. Eric continued. “Tried to do it here. Locals took offense to me clearing out gremlins with poisons and traps. Said it’s ‘unethical’ and ‘horrifying’. Between jobs now. I miss Bud Light.”
Eric nodded, as if to punctuate that he was done, then sat down. John was grateful he’d kept things short this time, though normally he would’ve chastised him for being too abrupt.
John still had flashbacks to helping Eric with the ‘brownie’ incident. He was the one that had to smooth things over with the locals for him. He understood why he was frustrated. An adventurer would’ve killed them too, just with a knife or club. For some reason, the poisons Eric had developed offended people’s sensibilities.
“Thank you Eric.” said John, then nodded at the next man in the circle, “Ben?”.
The ‘man’ he was referring to was roughly eight feet tall, with a head like a boar, covered in thick fur and equally thick muscle. He didn’t bother standing; the ceilings were a bit low for him.
“My name is Ben….but you may know my stage name, Hot Bennies. I’m from Canada, originally, though I’d lived all over before I came here. I was a member of a band… I was considered ‘the hot one’ in fact. I uh, pissed off a groupie, who turned out to be a big deal online as a witch or something. I assumed it was bullshit when my publicist told me about the buzz about her cursing me online, but uh… turns out all those weird green haired girls really were magic, because I woke up about ten miles away from the city looking like,” he gestured emphatically to his face “THIS,” He snorted with despair. John reached for a handkerchief and handed it to him, but he batted it away. “I’m never gonna get any pussy ever again…”
John sighed. Ben was…difficult. He felt a bit of responsibility toward him since he didn’t have many others to lean on, but found it hard not to get frustrated at the fact that he ignored all of the advice he ever gave him. John looked at the woman to Ben’s right. She was roughly half his size, with a pretty round face and dark hair.
“Sarah, want to take it from there?”
She nodded, a wry smile on her lips. “I’m Sarah, in case you don’t understand context clues. I’m from London originally, but I was hit by a truck outside of the Comedy Cellar in New York which is how I wound up here.”
Eric nodded. “Makes sense. An English truck wouldn’t have been big enough to kill you.”
“A Lorry in England wouldn’t have hit me in the first place.” She responded quickly. “Anywho, I was a comedian back on Earth. Quite a good one too. Was on track to shoot a special for a certain streaming service… had a name for it picked out and everything. Now I’m here though, and all my material is useless and most comedians here punctuate everything they do with a fucking lute or by juggling.” She took a moment to look dramatically despondent. “What’s the deal with Airline food? They don’t know what the fuck an airline even is.”
That got a small laugh from the group, a much more genuine one than John had gotten earlier, he noticed.
“I mean, I had five minutes about Thatcher, and if I told those jokes here they’d think I was talking about someone who makes roofs!”
The chuckles were a bit harder this time, and there was a twinkle starting to shine in her eye.
John held a fist to his mouth and gave her a cough with a pointed stare.
She looked at him and sighed. “Anyway, I’m working as a serving girl at a nearby Inn now. Obviously, my story isn’t quite as tragic as ‘not getting pussy ever again’, but thanks for listening anyway.”
There was a final round of laughs at that last comment, as well as a low growl from Ben. John turned to the person to her left.
His name was Rene, and he was a bit of an odd case. He was tan, with a full head of brown curls and a thick mustache that slightly hid his youthful face. “Rene, you want to speak this time?” asked John.
“I… I can try, sure. Hello. My name is Rene. I’m from France. Born in 1894. I’ve been told that’s an important thing to mention. I was flying my plane, doing reconnaissance on the Germans, when I saw a strange light in the air in front of me. When I went through it, suddenly day was night, and the sky looked completely unfamiliar. I panicked, and was going to crash, when a monste- a dragon moved to attack me, but saw my reaction and fear, and instead grabbed my plane and placed me gently in front of the city. I feel that I have both an easier and a harder time than the rest of you, but I’m getting by. Was happy to hear that we won the war…both of them.”
“We won the war,” said Eric.
“Yes Eric, the United States helped…” said John, cutting him off before he started to mention saving their ‘Frog Asses’ for the second week in a row. “More in the second war than the first, but please wait for everyone to finish sharing before you say anything.”
Eric held up his hands, leaning back in his chair, with what he considered his ‘sorry to tell the truth’ face, but everyone else considered his ‘please punch me’ face.
After that they went through a few of the irregulars that had shown up this time. There was a core group of those who showed up to the group every time, and there were a few that just wanted to socialize every once in a while, or needed a bit of help in the short term.
John didn’t fault their lack of attendance, and was generally okay with them being infrequent visitors. The group was there when they needed it; that’s what was important. Once they were all through with introductions, they finally arrived at the new girl. She was very pale, tall, and skinny, with jet black hair. John gave her what he believed was his friendliest smile. “Would you be comfortable introducing yourself today?”
She shook her head. “I’m… not quite there yet I think,” she said, angling her dark eyes downward.
John nodded. “That’s perfectly fine. You can take your time.” This was her first meeting, and John wasn’t sure of where she’d come from, but he saw no reason to force her to participate. The transition could be very difficult. Aside from that he, a little selfishly, just wanted to go home and mope so this worked out to get him there faster.
“How about we break for pastries and tea everyone?”