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

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

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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!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's true. It defies all logic. For people like us to exist, who no one else can kill... It sounds like a fairy tale. It's just too impossible.

[There's a very, very small click from somewhere under the table. Ayumu might not even hear it.]

Going by that, if I shot you in the head right now, you would definitely die, right?

[He could do it. His hand is fast enough; it would take only a moment for him to raise the gun and shoot Ayumu right here. The Devil would have defeated God, and he would prove that fate could be changed.

That maybe, he wouldn't have to become the Devil after all.]

Maybe. Who knows?

[He couldn't say for sure, but he did hear something, enough to make him wonder. His expression, though, remains neutral.]

It would prove my point. It would be the best proof possible that fate can be changed.

[And that the Blade Children could be saved.] It would be my win.

[..... The news wouldn't be able to reach anyone in a place like this, though.]

They would never know.

[Not that it really mattered; even though Kiyotaka was pushing Ayumu as a savior, the whole thing was a farce. There was no saving anyone from their fates - not even Ayumu's own, of which he still had no idea.

But... if he could kill Ayumu in this world... That would mean he would be able to change his own fate, wouldn't it? He could continue to live and fight against the curse, overcoming the Devil that slept within him. No one in Hinoto-Ri would have to die at his hands, and he could carve out a life of his own. Even though it was built on the corpses of others, he could surely make up for it with how many he could save from the demons in Hinoto-Ri. He had the ability, but up until now, there just hadn't been a point.

Looking at it that way, wouldn't Ayumu's death at his hands be almost excusable?

Before he can stop to hesitate, he snaps his arm up, pointing it directly at Ayumu's forehead with a surprising speed. And with the noise and excitement of the saloon as it is, not a single person notices.]

You're right. [Not a single person notices, and Ayumu.... doesn't move. It was undoubtedly true that no one would know. If he died here and didn't return with no corpse to be found, there would be nothing stopping the hunters. They'd think he simply disappeared, had abandoned the Blade Children and left them to their fate. Ayumu didn't really want to die, but the most important thing....

He thinks back to the expression Hizumi wore, when he mentioned Yaiba had been here. And the easy admission of earlier when he said he'd accepted it.]

.....Do you want to become your brother?

[His eyes narrow almost imperceptibly.]

By killing you, I would be proving the opposite. I overcame God where my brother couldn't.

[And yet, even though his finger is on the trigger... He doesn't pull it.]

And like you said, if you killed me... no one would no.

[He pauses for a moment for effect. If he had figured right, Hizumi didn't want to be his brother.]

I wouldn't be the only one to die. If I died here, the Hunters would never find my body. They'd never know we found the answer. There'd be no proof of it.

[He'd be becoming another kind of Devil.]

Am I supposed to pity them?

[He'd abandoned them for dead long ago. There was nothing he could offer them.

Even if it meant tearing bit by bit at his own humanity... It's better than he kills now to prevent the horrors he would no doubt bring as a true Devil. He had to believe that.

Making up his mind, he squeezes the trigger--

--Only for it to emit a faint click as it jams.]

[Ayumu would be lying if he didn't feel a twinge of fear when Hizumi pulls the trigger. He's only human, after all. A fear of death was instinctive.

....Except the pull of the trigger didn't lead to pain, or nothingness, or anything of the sort.

It jammed.

There's real surprise on Ayumu's face, replacing the neutral expression of seconds before. Was this what they meant....? It was one thing to hear, it was another entirely to see..... There's a lingering chill of fear in his stomach, but otherwise...]

[Almost as quickly as he had drawn it, Hizumi holsters the gun, leaving no one else the wiser.]

...You see? Escaping fate isn't that easy.

[It was only natural. He couldn't kill Kiyotaka, he couldn't even kill himself - deep down, he had known even before he made the attempt.

Killing Ayumu was a task beyond the ability of any other than God himself.]

[It takes a few moments for Ayumu to gather his wits, confusion at having not died having scattered his thoughts like leaves in a stiff breeze. He reaches up to rub his head, still feeling a little out of sorts.]

...That still doesn't mean there aren't options. Not being easy doesn't mean it's impossible.

[Oh, Ayumu. If only you knew.]

Even after witnessing that, you're still determined, huh...

[Knew what? That he just didn't get shot in the head? It proved something alright, a very disturbing something, but it didn't eliminate every possibility from the board. It also told him some things about Hizumi.

This was going to be tough.]

Nothing is certain yet.

Only that even a gun in perfect working order can't fatally touch you.

[How's it feel like to be God, Ayumu?]

I guess I can't deny that.

[Weird.]

Well, in any case...

[He gives a leisurely stretch.]

For now, I'm at your mercy. But even so, I hope you don't mind me sticking around.

[So this was Hizumi Mizushiro....

Ayumu shakes his head. There were too many questions he needed to think over fully, and not enough time at the moment to think on them.]

Let's find some lunch and we'll call it even.

Do you want to try to find a better place? Although I'm not sure if it will make much of a difference.

[Ayumu has a slightly unimpressed look at that thought. He would barely be able to taste any food with how badly this place reeked.]

We can try.

Hopefully they won't be mad at us for taking up a seat.

[But with all the ruckus... It's likely their presence was hardly noticed to begin with. He gets out of his seat and eyes the crutches for a moment.]

...Since it's so crowded, would it just be easier for me to carry those for you?

[Ayumu's gaze trails to the crutches before glancing back at Hizumi. In all honesty he did still need them a bit, but he could manage fine without them as long as he took it slowly and no one tripped him.]

...Sure. They'll trip me up, anyway.

Edited 2013-10-11 15:23 (UTC)

[He gives a short salute.]

On it!

[And as promised, he takes the crutches and begins slowly winding his way through the tables again. However, as with before, he paces himself so that Ayumu can keep up.

It seems he wasn't joking about sticking with Ayumu from now on.]

[Huh.

Ayumu follows after him, sorting through his feelings on the events of moments before anew. So the 'God' thing wasn't as far fetched as it sounded, but he'd already realized that no matter if it was false or not, the fact that people believed in it gave it just as much power as fact. He didn't particularly want to die, but....]

[Hizumi will have to be careful.

In the past, he had thought it might be possible to sway Ayumu to his side. To die together as friends. But in Hinoto-Ri...

It seemed that could not be the case.

Ayumu had hit the nail on the head when he had asked if Hizumi had wanted to become his brother. Even now, the thought of falling to such a fate is a horror that Hizumi still had yet to reconcile himself with. It wasn't like when he was a child, blindly racing ahead to discover a cure, or even shortly after that time, when he realized there was no hope. He had built up his assumptions based on the fact that no matter what, he would never live long enough to become the Devil everyone else so feared.

Hinoto-Ri had proven him wrong.

Although he still yearns to befriend Ayumu, to act as though nothing were wrong, he realizes he can't. Even if it meant dying now that he finally had someone who could spare him from his loneliness, it was still better than the alternative, than turning on the people he had come to know as a fully fledged Devil.

However, for now he will just have to keep smiling. After all, who knew how long this time with Ayumu would last?]

Will you be alright from here?

[The stairs at the entrance should be much easier to handle now that they're away from the tables. He holds out the crutches for Ayumu.]

[For Ayumu's part, he'd sorted the facts out a bit in the short walk to navigate the tables:

Hizumi's feelings on the Blade Children were uncertain, but one thing was: He seemed to have resigned himself to fate and the idea that Ayumu would kill him. Why, Ayumu didn't know. If Rutherford was right, Hizumi had years to seek answers, and had been given the advantage of knowing long before Ayumu did about the scenario playing out.

Something had changed. Maybe here, maybe back in their world. But this so called 'Devil' was presenting a resigned view of the situation almost similar to the one Kanone Hilbert had carried, though without violence.

When offered the crutch, Ayumu reaches out and takes it.] Yeah, thanks.

Finding a better one might take some time... But you don't really have anything you need to attend to right now, do you?

[If anything, this town was certainly... authentic in its cleanliness levels.]

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