"I must wander," Sam decided. He had no idea what the hell was going on, not a clue where he was and nothing to hand but the clothes on his back and the silver trinket around his neck.
Bloody Zombie Musashi, telling him the Subspace Bag was "hindering his development as a warrior"! Sam could live with all the hindered development in the world right now, so long as he had a bloody sandwich and a means of getting around!
Where had Sam left the Portable Door...? The last time he'd used it was in that dream-world, probably, but he'd then stuck it back in the bag so that he could use it again at some point in the future; such as when he was STUCK IN A BLOODY DESERT WITHOUT ANY DISCERNIBLE MEANS OF ESCAPE, you stupid bastard...
"Oh god... So alone..." Sam mumbled, dropping to his knees in the sand. Sand... There was so much sand. Sand everywhere, in every direction, with only the glaring blue sky to break the pattern, and that cruel sun glaring down at Sam with its smug, self-centered bastard face...
"Fuck you," Sam called up to the sun. He fumbled in his pockets, found nothing, wailed inwardly, then snatched the charm off his neck and threw it skywards, hoping to nail the glowy asshole with it. The charm fell short, and Sam watched it fall, standing very still and staring at it for a couple of minutes after it landed.
Slowly, very slowly, Sam raised his right hand and pointed it at the charm, his middle finger outstretched.
"I thought you were on my side. You suck," he muttered, then shuffled over to retrieve it. He leant over to pick the charm up, found himself unable to stand up straight again afterwards, and instead opted to go the other way and collapsed face-first into the sand.
"So alone," he repeated, the words muffled by the sand.
"You're not alone. Get up."
Sam rolled over onto his back and stared up at the figure standing above him. He couldn't entirely make out who it was due to the sun in his eyes, but it sounded female.
Considering the possibilities as to who this stranger may be, Sam stared at them for a minute, then rolled back over onto his stomach. "Go 'way. I'm not introducing any more human manifestations of aspects of my psyche into the story. We just had a whole plot arc revolving around that. It was shit."
The girl stared at him for a moment, then leaned over and rolled him onto his back so she could get a look at his face. "Uh... I don't think I'm a "manifestation of your psyche", or whatever. I just live over in that city-" she pointed a thumb over her shoulder at the huge civilization Sam had somehow managed to hilariously miss while he was looking around- "-and I saw you lying there in the sand, so I thought I might help out."
"Hahah! Y'can't fool me," Sam said, smiling knowingly and waggling a finger at the girl. "This is just like that bit in Scott Pilgrim. The Dream Desert thing. None of this is real. It's all happening in my mind."
"Uh... No. It's not." The girl frowned at him. "My name is Fearne. I'm 18 years old, and I've lived in this city all my life. Right now we're hosting this big villain convention thing, and I was out setting up flyers when I saw you out here."
"A "villain convention", eh? That sounds kind of cool..."
Fearne leaned over and extended a hand to Sam, which he took, and she pulled him to his feet. "Well, if you're done having arguments with your necklace and burning to death in the desert, do you want to help us set up? We're short on hands right now, since people have a tendency to die around large gatherings of villains... oh! You could sell shirts!" Fearne unzipped the turquoise hooded sweatshirt she was wearing to reveal a shirt which proudly displayed the banner "Villain-Con 2011" against a background of a red throwing-star. "Pretty snazzy, huh? My mom designed most of them, but I helped out with a few as well..."
"I don't have to wear one of these shirts, do I?" Sam asked, then he realized how that sounded and said, "I mean, there's nothing wrong with them; I just kind of like this outfit, and I haven't been wearing it for very long, so I thought maybe I'd get to keep it on..."
Fearne gave Sam a quick scan with her eyes. "Red and black, huh? That should be fine; it fits with the theme, anyway..." She turned away from Sam and indicated with her head for him to come with her. "Come on. I'll set you up a table before the villains arrive."