Vinlo never had social anxiety before. In school, he could give speeches in front of people. He had tons of friends. He didn't even care what other people thought. But this time was different. This time it was like he was on the walk of shame to the front of the train. Everyone was looking at him being escorted by the Ticket Puncher and Vinlo could swear one person muttered "shame, shame, shame.." under their breath as he walked. This fact wasn't made better by the fact that Vinlo sat at the very very back of the train. In the "caboose" as some of you, mortals call it.

Though as Vinlo walked he caught sight of quite a few peculiar faces. A man with pigeons taking up both the seats next to him, Vinlo wondered how pigeons tasted. Maybe they tasted like chicken. Lots of foreign foods seemed to. A woman who seemed about 13 sizes too big for the train. Don't take it wrong. This wasn't fat. This was sheer muscle. Scary amounts of muscle. Vinlo had never seen that much muscle on someone ever before. It scared him. A guy who was just seemingly chatting to no one, Vinlo did that too. Sometimes while contemplating where and when his imaginary friends went away, Vinlo had arrived at the entrance to the engine room. And boy! Was it unlike anything he had expected

First of all, it looked less like an engine door and more like a vault door like the ones from the cool heist movies. There was the metal pirate wheel thing in the middle along with a keypad on the side and a couple of bolt locks to really set the aesthetic. The Ticket Puncher started doing what to Vinlo could only be described as the mother of all multitasking seemingly getting every lock opened at the same time ending with the final vault lock which he just used as a handle to open the door. It was a decoration piece. And Vinlo had gotten excited to hear the iconic screeching of the metal pirate wheel opening the vault door. Shame.

As Vinlo walked into the room after the Ticket Puncher he noticed just how peculiar this room looked. It looked like he was inside a cauldron with black metal walls sloping up all sides resulting in a dome shape with one exception being the strange-looking fireplace at the end. It was filled with all sorts of boppers and whizzes. Doodads and whistles. There was even a mousetrap dangling on top of it. Vinlo should've thought it was the engine, but he stuck with the fireplace way of thinking and didn't even think to question it. Other than the strange choice of room design Vinlo's eye caught the guy sitting on a chair at a table in the middle of the room. He seemed... erm... how should I put this? Short. Like very short. Keep in mind Vinlo isn't very tall. And this guy seemed to be about half his height! Vinlo doesn't mean to disrespect the short community out there, but the intrusive thoughts y'know.

The Ticket Puncher pulled out a seat for Vinlo to sit at and Vinlo respectfully sat down. Trying to ignore staring at the man's legs dangling over the chair edge and taking his eyes off onto the other guest. This was someone he vaguely recognized. The suit and everything seemed familiar. Even the smell of him seemed familiar. But not in a good way. Like... like... Black Licorice!

That was it!

It was Licorice Guy!

But wait

What was Licorice Guy doing here?

Oh well, Vinlo will have to ask later because the Short Man (Who was seemingly the Conductor from what Vinlo had heard) started speaking to the Ticket Puncher (Who he referred to as Jimmy from what Vinlo heard) about why Vinlo was here (According to what Vinlo heard). Vinlo suddenly felt more or less anxious.

Oh, gods... Am I not supposed to be here? That would be awkward...

Luckily Vinlo was supposed to be here as Jimmy pulled out the ticket from his pocket and presented it to the Conductor, who just nodded and took another drink from his cup. The conductor had a big red bushy mustache. It reminded Vinlo of some character from a cartoon he used to watch. Oh never mind that.

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After the Conductor finished his very long uncomfortable sip while staring at Vinlo he let out a hearty laugh. Louder than what Vinlo was prepared for, but seemingly fitting for a man of his stature. The Conductor takes a very large gulp of his drink finishing it all up before looking at the two of them and smiling

"Everyone seems to have an Ordinary Pass nowadays huh?"

Vinlo had deciphered the context clues and figured an Ordinary Pass was the ticket he used. He was so smart. Licorice Man seemed to be asleep and Jimmy seemed to disappear.

This was not even close to enough context for Vinlo. So he spoke up.

"Ok so. excuse me. What the hell is happening? Is the ticket good or are we going to have problems like what?"

The conductor just looked at Vinlo as if he had just eaten a rat and called it macaroni.

"You're clueless aren't ye? Well, let me explain. Your ticket is for Ordinary Island. Getting to Ordinary Island ain't easy. You're here because that ticket requires you to be here in the front"

Vinlo understood what the conductor was saying, but couldn't help but feel the conductor was leaving something important out of the equation.

"Would you mind elaborati-"

"I will not elaborate. I've said everything I wanted to say"

"Oh- Ok."

Well, that was a major fail. Vinlo was still recoiling from how blunt the conductor was and just started looking around for something he could use to hide the embarrassment of the fact that he probably just didn't connect the dots for a simple concept.

As he looked around he noticed Licorice Man sleeping. So he decided to follow suit. It would probably be a while till they arrived. So what would be the harm in sleeping?

He readjusted the cushions on the chair And picked up a yellow fluffy blanket that was seemingly left on the ground and started drifting off to sleep

His dreams were a complicated 17-part saga about a cactus and a fence post that would take up the rest of the chapter if I wrote it down so just believe me when I said it was epic. And then right at the end of the dream, right when Cactus and Fence Post had just beaten Helmet in a duel and were about to discover his true identity.

The whistle rang

Vinlo awoke suddenly to the noise and firstly realized when he was going to grab his blanket again. It wasn't there. Well, it was there, but not where he expected it. The Yellow "blanket" had wrapped around his neck forming a sort of yellow scarf which was now lightly purring.

He frantically tried to shake it off, but to no avail, as it had wrapped around tight enough as to not choke him, but making it near impossible for him to get off. Vinlo was now panicking and started frantically flailing to get it off

The Conductor had taken notice of Vinlo and turned around in his chair.

"Boy, don't even try to get it off. That's a Notaec. They're fiercely territorial and now you've become that Notaec's territory. I'd say just get used to it"

Vinlo had enough brain cells to know that there is no way that this could be real. As the pieces clicked into place in his mind he created the only scenario where this situation could even be possible.

This all was just an elaborate prank from his family.

That was it. There was no other way this could be possible. It was all too weird to be not staged.

And what kind of name even was Ordinary Island? Huh? They couldn't even make something believable. Then again he fell for it hook, line, and sinker.

He really was an idiot.

"So... where's the hidden camera buddy?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"I KNOW THAT THIS IS ALL AN ELABORATE SCHEME ON MY FAMILY'S PART SO JUST ANSWER THE QUESTION. WHERE IS THE HIDDEN CAMERA"

Vinlo was pissed now and he took his anger out on the nearest wall to him, which was the one behind him. As he wound up for a kick he could vaguely hear someone say "no don't" through all the ringing in his ears, but he chose to ignore it and kicked the door. Vibrations were sent throughout the cauldron and Vinlo could hear some mechanism working in the door.

Now he'd gone and done it. Even Vinlo knew that he screwed up as he saw the door start to turn on its hinges. Vinlo was still too angry at everything, in general, to notice the opening and get out of the way in time. And so he went airborne.

Right out of the train. During his brief flight, he thought about some things. And he realized that what he did was really very stupid. He didn't realize it for very long because all that comes up must come down.

And Vinlo came down very hard.