Sometime later, the raptor awoke from his drunken sleep, seeing from a window that it was now sometime in the morning.  He was still in the bed of the koopa from last night.  The koopa in question was still asleep next to him.  Scrunching his eyes with both confusion and remorse for the sake of his night-time companion, he tried to get out of the bed without alerting him.  But in his groggy state at putting both boxers and jeans on, he knocked his elbow against the shell at the foot of the bed, and stifled a curse.
	"Mmm?"
He turned to see Koopin blink his eyes lazily open.  For a few seconds, awkward silence stood between them before the raptor replied:
	"Hey there.  ...you uh...feeling alright?"
	"Uhh...yeah, yeah, I guess I am.  Uhm...you going somewhere?"
	"Well, kinda...oh don't worry, I was gonna leave ya a note 'cause I didn't wanna wake you."
	"Well...c-can I..."
The koopa rubbed his arm nervously, before asking softly:
	"W-...was I okay?"
	"Whatcha mean?"
	"I mean...when we did it...it wasn't really my first time and all, but I know I might not be the best-"
	"Oh no no no, it's not like that, I had a great night!  Just I...uh...I'm looking for something, or someone maybe, and I'm sorta eager..."
	"Well...you don't have to leave if you're feeling awkward about it, it's okay really, I mean I'm fine with all this.  You can stay a li'l longer...if you like?"
	"Um...I'm not sure I...if that's...okay?"
	"Can I at least make you some breakfast, just to start your day?"
Koopin's eyes became both pleading and hopeful, smiling up at the raptor with such wishing in them that he felt truly guilty for even leaving the bed.  With a sigh, he gently walked back towards him.
	"I don't want to make you feel bad...it's okay, really...just..."
	"Just...what?  D-did I do something wrong?"
	"No no no you were great!   I...I just get afraid that...um...oh dammit, I didn't plan this to happen."
	"Well neither did I, heheh...come on, lemme make you something, you don't have to leave just because you ended up sleeping over.  At least think of it as my way of saying thanks for helping me get back home."
	"...well...alright, if you're offering."

The koopa gently got out of bed, hiking up his boxers before making his way out to the kitchen to make some toast, while inviting James to sit down at the simple two-chair table in the same room.  James himself put his clothes back on, feeling rude to just sit down in someone else's house while naked.  Eventually, after what felt like an endless awkward silence for him in feeling rather out of place, Koopin walked over with two plates of ham and eggs on toast.
	"Here ya go."
	"W-wow, thanks that was fast."
	"Heh, no problem, fried eggs are pretty quick to make.  It's the least I could do for you, after taking me back home safely."
	"Hehehe, yeaaaah um...that was pretty sudden wasn't it?"
	"Heheh, y-yeah it...was."
The two blushed slightly as they ate up their breakfast slowly to savour the taste of a fresh morning meal.  The sounds of birds chirruping from outside soothed the raptor's heart, in a way he had rarely felt since when he was back in Glenn's world.  Koopin tried to strike up a conversation.
	"So, where ya headin' uh...oh gosh I'm so sorry I can't remember your name."
	"No worries I uh...kinda forgot yours."
	"Pfffhehehaha, those drinks knocked us out good huh?"
	"Hehehe, yeah.  ...wanna start over?"
	"Sure.  I'm Koopin."
The raptor shook the smaller yellow hand offered to him.
	"I'm James."
	"So, where ya headin' James?"
	"Well, I need to find like...a powerful wizard or a scientist, or anyone who can guide me towards any...portals maybe?"
	"...portals?"
	"Yeah, like dimensional abnormalities."
	"Oooooh...whysat?"
	"Uhhhh I'm kinda studying, yeah thassit, I'm studying about dimensional abnormalities."
	"...awwww Stars, you're not one of those Minus World kooks are ya?"
	"Wha?"
	"Yanno, one of those guys who believe in the whole Minus World, and that it's all this secret abnormal otherworld of the Mushroom Kingdom, where nothing makes sense and it stretches on forever?"
	"Oh god no, that's just a theory," he quickly picked up with the ridicule, "I'm looking for something more solid."
	"Well it still sounds like a wild goonie chase to me."
	"That's how a lot of things start out, when we're trying to like, understand them first time right?"
	"...mmm I guess so.  I mean, I'm all for believing in stuff but...some things are a liiiittle too out there.  But hey, no worries, hope ya find something."
	"Heh, thanks."
	"So, where ya from?"
	"Uhhhhh a real faraway place called Chicago."
	"Shikago?  Never heard of it."
	"It's real far away, like across the ocean on this island."
	"Aaaah."
	"I admit I kinda just came here, everything's really new to me and uh...I'm kinda lost."
	"Wow, this is your first time in the Mushroom Kingdom?!"
	"Yep."
	"Huh...hmmm..."

Koopin pondered on an idea to himself, which James picked up on.
	"What?"
	"You say that you're...looking for someone who might know about dimensional stuff right?  But you never been to here before?"
	"Ah huh."
	"Like, maybe you need a guide of some sort."
	"That WOULD be pretty helpful yeah, I haven't really found anyone here able to help me."
	"...so, idea."
The koopa placed his hands flat on the table as if about to give a speech.
	"I'm going on vacation in a couple of weeks, getting my days off together from my job, and uh...I'm gonna be travelling all over the kingdom."
	"Huh, cool."
	"Yeah it's great!  Travelling all over the place, learning new things, so I wondered...maybe you wanna come with me?"
	"W-wait what?"
The koopa smiled softly, genuinely offering the idea which made James feel nervous.
	"W-woah um, really?"
	"Why not?!  You need someone to show ya around, I'm gonna be travelling all over, it fits great!"
	"But, but hold on, you're going on vacation, dude.  I don't wanna cut into your time or cause any extra trouble with paying for stuff or-"
	"Oh that stuff's easy, don't worry about it, I know lots of ways to get money, I'll even teach ya some since you're new here."
	"B-but...no, no it's just, I don't feel right getting involved in someone else's trip, it feels rude."
	"Can't be rude if I'm offering."
	"But...why?"
	"Because you seem a nice guy!  My vacation's the perfect solution for ya, why not come along?"
	"But...we just met.  Don't you wanna take a friend or someone you actually know?"
	"They're all busy anyway, so no worries.  Hey..."
Koopin leaned towards James as he placed a hand on James' arm.
	"You took me home when I was drunk, you actually sat around for breakfast and you didn't steal or take advantage of me."
	"Well to be fair I was just as drunk as you were."
	"Hehehee, well yeah!  But I got no reason not to trust you right?"
James tried to comprehend the charity of this koopa.  He noticed that quite a few inhabitants were so willing to help him, to either guide him around, assist him in some way, or just open up for conversation.  The only ones who didn't were muggers.
Is this place really that...nice?  Maybe it IS like Dream Land.  But there's something a little...less innocent about it I can't quite put my finger on.  But he IS offering...should I?

	"When do you leave?" asked James cautiously.
	"Two weeks from now.  Look, you don't have to come if you're not sure, you got two weeks until I go anyway.  Here's an idea, if you find some other way on your own before I leave, then cool!  But if not, well, you can meet me and we can be off!  But if you're coming along, you better get some supplies to start with too alrighty?"
	"Well yeah but, you gonna catch a flight or something?"
	"Flight?  Hah, no, I'm walking!"
	"...you're WALKING across the entire kingdom?"
	"Well yeah!  Walking's good for ya!  The kingdom's easy to navigate if you know all the routes, which I do, I'll be building up a good buncha supplies along the way, AND it does have non-contestable health-benefits!"
	"W-wow uh...that sounds a lot of walking.  Not that I mind, I been walking forever."
	"Well, if you wanna join me, come back here in two weeks.  If not, then I wish ya the best in finding what you need to know."
	"Uh...alright.  Yeah, sure, sounds good.  So if I don't find anyone who can take me elsewhere, I just come here in two weeks and we're off?"
	"Sure!"
	"What time you leave?"
Koopin walked over to a calendar and pointed to the marked day, with time noted.  James found the layout of the calendar both strange yet familiar.  He noticed the days and months did not have actual names, but rather strange symbols that tugged at his memory somehow.  He swore he had seen such symbols in the same context before, but he ignored it before asking:
	"Hey uh, since you're a tour guide and all, and you know a lot about the kingdom..."
	"Yeah?"
	"Well...hold on."
James headed back to the bedroom to get his satchel, bringing out the map he had carefully rolled up inside.  He brought it to the table and spread it out before Koopin.
	"I found this map over at uh...Russ. T.'s place?  This fortune teller guy told me that if I picked out this map specifically, then...uh..."
	"Then what?"
	"...I don't know."
Shit why DID I get this map, thought FG awkwardly to himself, why did I even believe that would do anything?!
	"Well," said Koopin, "I don't wanna doubt Merlon's words cuz that guy's pretty accurate about a lot of things but...this map is in pretty bad shape."
	"Yeah I know...heh, I had this stupid idea that these li'l stains here, the way this one starts tiny, and this one ends the biggest, I thought it was like start here at the icy mountains an' end alllll the way there at this fire place."
	"Hahaha, yeah that...heh...that's...oh wow."
	"What?"

As he gazed further upon the map, Koopin's eyes widened with a strange look of surprise on his face, one of his eyes squinting at it slightly.
	"If you...kinda look at these stains in a certain way, like you said from smallest to largest...they kinda match up with my route!"
	"Wait, what?"
	"Yeah!  Starting here at Shiver City, then back down towards Dry Dry Desert over the mountains here, heading out towards Lavalava Island, and stopping right back here in at Toad Town's docks.  Though...this map is kinda old."
	"Well I guessed that."
	"Yeah but, there's like a whole section of kingdom that's not here.  I mean, it doesn't even list the Beanbean Kingdom, and the western part is pretty much untouched, no Monster Town, no Merrymore...but it does note Rogueport at the far east as just an arrow.  See?"
Koopin pointed out a small arrow on the very far right of the map, a scribble that he could only read as "Rogueport lies yonder" after Koopin mentioned such.
	"...wow, that's uh...well, hang on, are there that many places in this kingdom to go to?"
	"Oh there's loads!  You just gotta know the right places to go."
He winked at the raptor with a bashful giggle, before James rolled his eyes and chuckled back.
	"Well uh that's...cool and all but uh, I don't wanna be a bother about this-"
	"Oh no, yer not!  I'd love to have someone travel with me, travelling's the best in company."
	"Sure?  Alright, that'll be fifty coins kid."
	"Wh-wha?!" 
A stern face of business from the raptor made Koopin turn nervous, before James nudged him playfully.
	"Hahaaa just kidding!"
The two laughed with a smile as they finished up their breakfast, before a knock on the door interrupted them stiffly.
	"Hey Koopin...you alright in there?"
Another koopa spoke from behind the door and James breathed a sigh of relief.
	"Uhhh yeah Kory, be right there!"
Koopin quickly slipped into his shell and looked at FG for a minute before asking:
	"Uhh..."
	"Oh uhm...if you don't want this to be known I'll be quiet for ya."
	"Uhh...that'd be great...thanks.  It'd be kinda...weird."
The raptor smiled and the koopa opened the door to meet his friend, the raptor excusing himself soon after.
	"Oh hey there, you're that newcomer aintcha?" asked the koopa known as Kory.
	"Oh yeah, uh Koopin here offered me a li'l place to rest after all the walking I did.  I was asking him about places since he was great for that tour around the uh, fortress.  I owe him one for that."
	"Ahhh it was nothing," said Koopin.  "So, you gonna stay here a li'l longer or...?"
	"Well..."

He considered what Koopin said to him before, thinking that he did want to explore more of the place.
	"Sure, I can hang a little longer, then I can go look around the other places.  Like I said, I'm just travelling."
	"Great!  Yanno it's a shame Kolorado ain't at home, he'd be great to recommend travel for ya."
	"When is he EVER here, Koopin?" said Kory with open arms, "I mean the only place he HASN'T discovered every part of is his house, you never see him here!"
	"Kolorado?" FG asked quizzically.
	"Oh he's this famous archaeologist, found loads of hidden ruins, like the one in Dry Dry Desert, the Moustafa Ruins?"
	"Oh yeah I heard of that!" said Koopin.  "And to think Kooper was there at the discovery too!  I mean...blows yer mind right?"
	"Well that's cool right?" asked James, feeling a little awkward in his asking.  "But...who's Kooper?"
	"Oh, just a pretty well-known guy from where Kory's from."
	"Sounds like Koopa Village is a pretty happening place."
	"Well," said Kory nervously, "...mmm not really."
He rubbed his boot into the grass as he admitted what he felt was an embarrassing truth.
	"Actually it's pretty boring around here, which isn't a bad thing if you don't mind that."
	"Hey, I can always go for some peace and quiet.  I know I've not had enough of that in my life.  Is there any other place to go to around here?"
The two koopas pondered for a while and listed some locations between them.
	"Well, we said about Dry Dry Desert which has some nice ruins and great market people-"
	"Then there's the Yoshi islands to the south, perfect for vacations-"
	"Or if you wanna get cool there's always Shiver City to the far north where the Bumpties are, pretty nice guys if a little too cool-headed if ya get my drift."
FG thought along all the ideas, liking them all but having a bias towards colder climes before deciding:
	"Okay, I'd like to go see Shiver City, any way I can get there?"
	"Well your best bet is to go by the pipeway," piped up Koopin.
	"Pipeway?"
	"Yeah!  See we use pipes to get around to places faster.  Someone opened them up more recently so anyone can pass through them, even if there are some rogues down there, like Gloombas and such."
	"Well...I can take down some gloomy goombas, I took down a few when I first came here so..."

He felt the conversation reach an awkward halt, not sure to ask Koopin to come with him for company or just be expected to go on his own.
	"I...heh, it's weird, actually nobody told me about the pipe when I asked around Toad Town."
	"Ehh toads are kinda cowards," said Kory with a shrug.
	"Hey!" replied Koopin, "Not all of 'em!  But it is kind of weird they didn't mention it."
	"Well it's there anyways, but it's dangerous if yer not prepared."
	"Iiiii think I'll be fine," said James.
	"You sure?" asked Kory.  "It's a pretty confusing place if ya don't know where yer going."
	"I think I'll survive.  Well uh, see ya around I guess, actually hang on, why are YOU here Kory?  Aren't you like in that other village?"
	"Oh I came to give Koopin some mail that got sent to my house by accident."
Sure enough, Kory brought out a package to Koopin, who grabbed it eagerly and said:
	"OH, hey thanks!  Kinda weird they mixed up our addresses again huh?"
	"Shell Lane, Bell Lane, I think I can see how it happens haha."
	"Hehehe, yeah I guess...that reminds me, I gotta tell the post office to hold my mail when I'm on vacation."
James and Kory nodded before the raptor decided to bid them adieu.
	"Well guys I uh...I'm gonna check the place out more, and uh, if I need anything, I'll ask for ya okay Koopin?"
	"Sure!  Remember, I leave in two weeks!"
	"Laters!"
With farewells to both of them, FG decided to finally check out the rest of Koopamuir, curious about the rest of the town which seemed to expand somewhat larger than Koopa Village.  He wondered why this town wasn't as important according to Kory, but he ignored it and moved on, checking out the various shops and memorising the Toad House's location just in case.

It was a humble town certainly, despite the rave club at the outskirts which surely brought the place much attention towards the right sort of crowd.  In retrospect, he was surprised a place as innocent-feeling as this would have such a place, but then he realised that there's nothing wrong with wanting a good place to dance the night away.  He tried to remember how last night went, but it became a blur of sex and rum, yet for some reason he didn't have a hangover.
	"Heh...man that musta been some good shit...should I take up that koopa's offer about going with him?  ...give it two weeks, that's what he said.  Don't have to worry about it yet but...he seemed real eager to help.  ...maybe some people ARE that nice, I mean look at this place."
With his thoughts turning over on where to go next, James walked further into the town of Koopamuir, wondering on what options were available to him over the next two weeks.  He really didn't want to intrude on the koopa's vacation time despite his offer, but he had nobody else at the moment to go with.  Plus, he was a tour guide.  His humility conflicted with his eagerness to travel, and he decided instead to just wait it out, returning back to Toad Town and the surrounding area to try and find another way.
He did however notice back in the main town a large green pipe, alone in its own little area.  As tempted as he was to explore it, he still felt rather uncertain about the notion of jumping into a hole in the ground with no idea on how to get back.  He started to realise more and more he needed a guide.
Running into things head-on never really did you much good, thought James, so maybe I should go with that koopa...I mean he DID offer but...no.  No I don't wanna look too eager and look like I'm taking advantage, I have to show I'm making an effort.  I got two weeks.  There's gotta be something I can...hey, Merlon might help!
With an idea already in preparation, he headed straight for Merlon's star-studded home.  Unfortunately, his potential plan was shot down by a notice on the door.

Gone fishing
Will return in 3 days

	"...well fuck," muttered James, "what the hell am I supposed to do now?!"