From One City to Another [Open post event info and start]

[stringmods]

⊙

Who: Everyone (guests and non-guests alike)
Where: Geartopia
Summary: Event in City start!
Warnings: Cowboys and Gears
EVENT INFO: Read about it here if you're a new comer!

The Mayoress keeps her word, and the Visitors are whisked away and changed into more suitable clothing for this world, free of charge. As they step down from the portal -- a stark contrast to the last time it was used, a giant man standing easily over eight feet tall and resembling a mammoth takes out a piece of string and measures everyone for their complimentary hat, vest, goggles and boots, as a small team works nearby to adjust the sizes of the materials they already have. It's rather interesting to see them at work, cutting with iron scissors - a spiderlady using her own silken string along with a robot aide to patch things up. Before long, you are given an outfit that's been tailor-fit for you.

Hopefully you aren't too arachnophobic, she's a nice old lady.

Once that's all done, the Mayoress speaks up.

"Come with us, please!"

Robotic horses and chariots draw them into the middle of the town, as a small map is given to everyone, but it's overly simple at best.

As they arrive in the town square, a look around reveals that the people here seem to be a mixture of humans, humanoid animals that have evolved, and robots. The feeling is very Old West, but with it all kept at a simple level despite the advance technology present. Compared to Hinoto-Ri and its lights, bright city and atmosphere, Geartopia feels like it falls on the opposite end of the spectrum. There's barely anything that would make you think of a modern city.

Which is why those that don't look like they belong stand out even more than you do.

Confused people from various worlds, not meant to have landed here... but currently with no way to go home, are stuck in Geartopia, violently torn from whatever they had been doing.

"We ain't sure what happened," she tells the Visitors, shaking her head. "But the past three days have been nothin' more than a giant mess! And they keep pilin' up. We need you to help us figure out what's happenin’!"

As they continue towards the town's center, she gives a bit more explanation: Once, long ago, Geartopia was built by aliens visiting the planet that granted intelligence to some native species. That includes her kind! The giant black obsidian monoliths humming precariously outside of town are an example of that. Normally the rocks only work when they need to contact other worlds. Three days ago, they started to glow, and that's when others began to appear here. People that had not been planned for. And they were still coming in, too...

The technology the elder aliens left them allows them to contact other planets during times of distress, but otherwise, there is nothing futuristic going on - the aliens wanted it this way and for the most part, the population respects this. Most of the area is dry and arid, with very tiny grass and shrubs growing over the hill, and, strangely enough, an area from town that is densely populated by forest.

They'll need your strange and powerful manpower in the upcoming days… just like twenty years ago, when the previous mayoress had called upon great heroes for aid.

[OOC Info about Geartopia:

- Saloon and bars of all sizes. Most are comically named with an object and a color. You can find all sorts of them across town. The shadier ones can be found at the far end of the west.

- There are hotels with gear-driven pianos playing wistful tunes as you drink hard liquor made from cactus juice, honey and barley. The honey wine is especially prized and costly.

- There is also a small carnival with a steampunk and old west fair, sugar and cactus fruit pies, whole animals roasted over open pits, musicians, and a single wooden coaster. It's not much, but the food is excellent.

- Be careful, however. The cactus fruit does cause stomach aches for most people not native to this world.

- There are farms around here, if you feel like having real food and doing honest work.

- The general store has steampunk items for sale, but most of them are much too expensive for the visitors at this point. You can try to barter.

- Oh, and news travels fast. Cause problems, and the rumors will travel to the mayoress fast enough.

- Start posts with Open or Closed depending on what you want to do!

RP VISITORS NOT FROM STRINGS: Here’s your own situation: Your character showed up here anytime from the 4th to the 16th and they have no idea why. They just popped out from their own place and popped in here. HAVE FUN!]

Comments

[canwaitforthis]

[Food was going to be an issue, wasn't it? The thought hadn't occurred to him until he was walking around the carnival and caught a whiff of some sort of food -- sweet, so probably some sort of sugary snack if this place was similar in that way. He was used to doing his own shopping, and it had been years since he had traveled out into the middle of nowhere and lived off the land (and a large bag of beef jerky).

...Where was he going to get his protein around here?

He almost doesn't hear the call with such an important thought on his mind, and it takes him a moment to wrench himself out of his thoughts long enough to look in the direction of where that call had come from. The familiarity of that voice doesn't register; even if the years had not affected his memory of his best friend, he better remembered those times when his voice wasn't so harsh and almost bitter.

But he remembers that face. He could never forget that face.]

Shinji?

[themortalhalf]

[Whatever tenseness had been building up in his neck and shoulders in the ensuing seconds fades away in a slow coil, no longer rigid and protective like wire and steel, as soon as he hears the recognition. It's easier, then, to let his shoulders slouch a little more, and let his hands uncurl from the shallow pockets that are still goddamn insufficient.

Shit. Should've just gone out with his damn coat. Stupid vests are Aki's thing. ...Or were, anyway.

There are years on him. And perhaps it's because of the happenstance of dates, coupled with the Aki he sees now, that makes Shinjiro be more tuned in with time and distance, but it suddenly feels like he hasn't seen his friend in a very long time. Which might be true for Aki, but it's been only seven months on his end. ...Which is, granted, longer than he can ever remember not seeing him. That separation felt more foreign than anything he's experienced yet. Though it's meant less fights and less nagging. And less... a lot of things. Though he can't say less quiet.

He nods then in assent, looking less surprised at than he perhaps should be (though Aki looking this much older is certainly a surprise).] Yeah.

[Shinjiro then looks him over, eyes sharper, like he's looking for some crack or chink in him that'll tell him Aki hasn't eaten anything remotely resembling a balanced diet in years. (Had Aki been pulled from his wilder years and without a shirt, he might have had more vocal complaints to chew on.) He had always wondered how Aki'd turn out after he was gone, even if, in Shinjiro's personal timeline, he just might last longer than he should.

His voice evens out to something less harsh, taking on a subtle, teasing edge to it that might be more obvious if his voice hadn't the habit of keeping carefully level.]

...Guess you finally decided to grow up, huh?

[canwaitforthis]

[Distracted as he is by his shock, Akihiko still manages to catch some of those wary movements, something awkward about it all that made it that much more believable that that is actually happening. If this was a dream, there would be that warm haze that smoothed over those little details, leaving him with elation of some kind.

He releases a breath he didn't realize he was holding when he hears that confirmation. This place ... was really strange, to grant him this kind of opportunity. It takes him a moment longer to deal with the surreal element and actually feel happy, suddenly feeling like a foolish teenager trapped in a body so many years older.

So much for never being fazed by things. His mind is officially blown.]

It's been a long time. [...That was vague.] Ten years.

[themortalhalf]

[It's a reaction he's used to getting by now. Coming back from the dead is always an awkward experience, and one he'd rather avoid, because, in the end, the emotions are the same and he doesn't like to see it or guess at it or wonder what's going through the other person's head (even if he's been on that other side once). He never thought he'd have to deal with all the bullshit that came after the dying part.

And now that he's had to it always tends to make him feel guilty—and he's felt enough of guilt to want to keep from it like it might cripple him just as fast or faster than anything else, if it hasn't yet. He'd rather not deal with it and forget it, but he can't, because he still doesn't know how to do it.]

Yeah, I can see that.

[The smile's wry, but yeah, he can see it. He can see the years there, the lines in his face that've aged him, and lets him see what the decade has done to the appearance of the person he remembers. Ten years is too damn long. That's nearly half his current lifetime, and that went by quick.

He'll take the teenager or what Shinjiro can get of it from him (minus the stupid recklessness). It's the version of Akihiko he's used to. Though Shinjiro guesses at eighteen you ain't much of a teenager anymore, but Aki was just a big kid then anyway. Now he's... twenty-eight and clearly less of one. Not sure he thought that would be possible in anything save looks. Maybe he was stupid in thinking Aki would probably always stay the same and not lose much. Though it's a bit early to be making assumptions, but...]

Ditch the fireflies you've got on you and maybe I'll see it more.

[canwaitforthis]

[There was that smile, pinched in a way that a teenager's smile shouldn't be, wracked with experiences that had not been asked for. He had been the insistent one when they joined SEES, enthused to strengthen himself in ways that a normal athletic regimen could never allow. The things he had a hand in exposing Shinji to, all for that single-minded desire at that time.

He had not wanted to leave Shinji behind, after losing Miki.

And then he had been forced to. The significant age gap apparent between them was the clear sign of the distance between them now.

A pang of sorrow growing in his chest was disrupted by Shinjiro's comment, and he blinked a few times before raking a gloved hand through his hair. Some fireflies buzz away from his hair, temporarily distracting him with their lights so close to his face.]

I guess they think my head's a bush. [His brows knit together and he shakes his head firmly in exasperation, a few more fireflies flitting away.]

...As long as they're not leeching anything off of me.

[themortalhalf]

[He snorts.]

Don't think they're like those girls that used to follow you around.

[So he's safe. ...Probably.

Not that he trusts this place yet, but this world seems sane enough for the moment. For all his apprehension about walking through the portal, he'll admit that this place is different from that damn helltower. He's not dreading each footstep he takes, but someone has to be cautious, and he guesses it might as well be him since the others aren't taking to it.

He shifts his weight onto his other foot as he walks a few paces closer, to get out of the way of any incoming traffic mostly.]

...So you're what, working with Kurosawa by now?

[That's what Labrys had said, hadn't she? About what he wanted to be. He hasn't known Aki to jst give up on things once the idea's gotten in his head.]

[canwaitforthis]

Kurosawa... [He repeats the name, reminiscing. While he recognized the name, it had been quite awhile since he had last spoken to him; different assignments had them busy traveling for one reason or another.] At times. We haven't had overlapping assignments for some time.

[It's only then that he realizes the oddness of the question. He had only gone down the route of working with the police after the incident with Nyx -- after Shinjiro had passed.]

How did you know about that?

[themortalhalf]

Labrys, [he says, looking thoughtful as he tests out the name for recognition. Timelines make things complicated; you can't have just one anymore.] She said that's what you wanted to do. You were thinking about it.

[And that, from his reckoning, was several years ago. But Shinjiro can deduce things from there, though he's no fortune teller. He's imagined things for himself, sure, but rarely do they fit in to whatever actually comes to be.

...But good for him. Still dangerous, more likely than not. Probably runs the damn gauntlet without thinking twice. But Shinjiro could never imagine him taking one of those safe, purely white collar jobs after the Dark Hour was gone. There wasn't anything to fight. You couldn't get stronger and challenge yourself by sitting on your ass all day doing paperwork. He might have been a good enough academic, but he knew where his preferences were.

Well, he thinks he did. Maybe things have changed over the decade, for better or worse.

At least the Dark Hour was gone and he wouldn't have to fight in there anymore. Aki might miss it, but Shinjiro never will.]

[canwaitforthis]

[Labrys. Aigis' sister. He shifts a bit as he recognizes that name, wondering if there was anything else that had been mentioned in regard to that mission.]

If there was ever a way to continue protecting others and make my skills useful, it'd be as a police officer. [He smiles wryly.] I guess that's something that'll never change.

[He's not sure where to begin, looking at his best friend. So much time had passed and he can feel that distance when he tries to grasp at more structured questions; he still needs more time to process this.]

This isn't where I imagined we'd meet again.

[themortalhalf]

[...He's heard a thing or two. Though most details have been (mercifully) absent.]

Don't think the universe really gives a damn about expectations.

[Had it, he'd be dead, and Aki could have his sentimental reunion decades down the road when the world finally kicks him out of living. It'd be all white and heaven-like and shit. They'd be stupid teenagers again, maybe, without the awkwardness, and there'd be a little girl who'd be six and have all the time in the world to grow up. But that's not the case, and all they've got is desert and stiff heat, brittle weeds, and fireflies. Hardly a paradise. Ain't much he can do about that.

Not that he knows much about what to say either. The awkwardness is palpable enough. Still, he stares at him again, and his eyes lose some of his sharpness.] ...You okay?

[canwaitforthis]

[The question is a little ... unexpected, coming from Shinjiro. Akihiko blinks and focuses even more intently on him, now he is looking straight at him as well.

Was he okay? Could he even consider that question with any degree of seriousness, given their surroundings and what had led to this encounter?]

Shouldn't I be asking you that? I'm not the one who died.

[In some ways, he had learned. He'd fallen into that trap of trying to get stronger after Miki's death, only to lose Shinji while taking for granted the time they'd had. The least he could do now would be to ask him how he was feeling.]

[themortalhalf]

[He shrugs his shoulders.]

Hasn't been ten years for me.

[And, from his experience, it's the living on part that's hard. Dying's a bit too easy.

But it's a weird question coming from him. At least, when it's a question that's not coded under cold layers of roughness and the appearance of not caring. He knows that. He still feels weird asking it without wrapping up the question up in miles of protective wire meant to be untangled. But a lot changes in ten years. And he might not be part of this Akihiko's timeline, but that doesn't change things. Aki's still Aki. Doesn't change the fact that even if he has more theoretical time back home, he still might not have ten years or even five or even two. And in the end, no one's going to be around to pull him back—except Mitsuru, maybe. He knows Aki's still working with her. But her dad's dead and she has a hell of a lot of responsibility on her shoulders besides looking after an idiot all the time. Especially when you've got an idea planted in your head to see how many continents you can lay foot on.]

Just one.