S1E1: Mad World, July 1st, 2003

It was a lazy Tuesday on the island of Motivation, Rhode Island. Few people milled about the transportation baggage claim, a combined area for Flying Boats and Passenger Ferries to unload their luggage onto. One of the three carousels came to life as the passengers of Ferry #4, and a recently landed flying boat, known as the What's Up Dock?, walked into the area, waiting for their luggage to arrive.

Today was not like any other day for the baggage claim. Each vessel had been told to use the same carousel, and when the mistake was discovered, a number of corrections and over corrections had all three carousels moving, and no one knew exactly which one had their luggage anymore. As the mass of people moved about, growing frustrated, your character didn't worry.

Maybe they were here to pick up a relative or old friend. Maybe they had just arrived, and were one of the disembarking passengers. Maybe they had been hired, or told by their employer, to pick up some luggage that would be here. Maybe it was another reason entirely. In any case, they were waiting on a distinctive piece of luggage that they knew would be instantly recognizable once it arrived: an ugly, yellow and pink, heavy with it's contents, plaid traveling case, and marked with a distinctly ugly orange and green ribbon, so that there would be no way anyone could ever get it confused for their own. Because there was absolutely, positively, no possible way for there to be another large, ugly, heavy, yellow and pink plaid traveling case, with a separate, distinctive, ugly, orange and green ribbon tied onto its handle. And the very notion that there could be a third, large, heavy, incredibly ugly, puke yellow and hot pink traveling case with a horrid, awful, ugly orange and green ribbon, acquired completely separately from another store, tied onto the handle using the precisely same knot, could possibly be in the same vicinity, the same universe, as the first two, was so absurd that no one, and I do mean no one, would have ever considered such a possibility. Why, one would have to be extremely imaginative, and possibly stupid, to even consider a scenario in which more than three such unique bags, each with a distinctive ribbon tied on in exactly the same manner, could ever all arrive at the same baggage claim.

Right?

The luggage carousels were filling with bags, suitcases, duffels, and boxes, all having risen up and then tumbling down onto the conveyor and lazily circling the carousel, but no bag resembling the one you are looking for has yet emerged. Passengers crowd around, gathering their luggage as it rolls by.

The crowd is particularly thick today; many people have come to celebrate the 4th of July here on the Island, and Porttown is where most tourists arrive on the island. People stand about, holding signs indicating that they are waiting to pick someone up. Few people are departing the island, so most of the crowd is trying to leave, but that doesn't mean spats aren't occurring as people mill about; the baggage claim area normally doesn't have to accommodate so many people, and while no one's in danger, you will have difficulty moving about freely.
The redheaded officer looks down his beak-like nose and scowls at Lucius as his beady eyes take him in, but his head snaps as he hears a commotion, and his hand immediately goes to rest on his tonfa. Meanwhile a yelp and the sound of surprise emmits from the crowd. What is happening?

The doors to the baggage claim area slam open, as a young woman with shoulder-length brown hair, dressed like a beatnik comes rushes through, coming from the street, not the docks. She is carrying a bag identical to the one you are supposed to be picking up. "Help!" she shouts, looking over her shoulder frantically. "Help! My boyfriend is going to hit me again!" Directly behind the young woman runs an overweight, greasy-haired man whose face is set in a murderous scowl. He lunges for her arm as he screams "YOU GET BACK HERE YOU!"

Despite his attempt, Mac is unable to grab the young woman, who slips into, and seems to become one with, the crowd of onlookers.

Erik was able to make his way through the crowd, and found the angry man shaking his fist, trying to find the woman he was chasing. "WHERE ARE YOU!? YOU OWE ME! YOU CAN'T JUST SKIP OUT LIKE THIS!"Despite all of the activity, you spot the bag you're looking for being deposited onto Carousel 3.