Welcome to Hinoto-Ri

[anotherdirkstrider]

Who: Dirk Strider and OPEN
Where: Pisces District, street outside of the apartment building. Late afternoon/sunset.
Summary: Dirk arrives suddenly and without ceremony, finding himself lost and alone in a city full of people. Somehow, all of the people around is a lot weirder to him than the whole waking-up-in-another-world part. Well, guess it's time to gather data, get bearings, and maybe actually talk with someone face-to-face. There's a first time for everything.
Warnings: None (Yet?)


[Dirk feels like he should be more perturbed about waking up in the middle of a completely foreign location, ripped from his own universe and transplanted into another, and yet here he is—not so baffled by the situation (after all, SBURB was supposed to have been something similar), but very much stymied by the presence of so many people.

They are everywhere—all over the streets, down his hall, making noise that made him jump after being conditioned for so many years to regard every external sound with deep suspicion. He is used to waves. Whirring machinery. Seagulls. What he is not used to is ambient conversations picking at the fringes of his thoughts, people laughing and shouting and milling around on streets (and even the notion of actual streets not just sunken deep beneath the surface of the sea is borderline absurd).

It's beautiful. Real streets and cars and inhabited buildings, not just sunken ones. Had he been a softer person he might shed a (completely ironic) tear. The light is golden over the tops of the buildings and everything looks like it's too clean-- too perfect-- for it to be real. His brain churns with all of this new information and can't stop reeling with the prospect of what this means about everything he'd ever known and this is almost too much and if just being here felt like a lot he can't even imagine trying to talk to another person--

He's getting weird looks now. People seem strangely uninterested in a guy walking down the street with a sword and a puppet and a very baffled look on his face, but maybe it's that he ends up standing in the middle of an intersection, only to be jostled from thought by a car honking loudly at him to get out of the way before he becomes a pancake. Dirk flashsteps out of the way and appears back on the sidewalk, bumping into something and turning to realize that it's actually someone instead.]

Oh. Uh.

[Shit. Well, guess his first conversation is going to happen sooner than he thought. Dirk takes a moment, trying to remember what to say.]

Um... right--yeah. Sorry. About that.


((OOC: And sorry on my behalf for the wordy first post, please don't let it intimidate you! I don't write this much usually, I promise-- just wanted to use my writing sample intro and then ended up writing more than I had planned. ^_-; Yeah. Hello there everyone!))

Comments

hiyo and welcome to strings Cx

[ex_knightsky842]

[Alas, Dagran's got no such magnificent excuse as Dirk's enchantment with civilisation for their crash; he'd simply just come back from grocery shopping and had been examining apples for blemishes.


...And now the apples are all over the ground, and some strange kid about his age is standing there when he'd been sure no one was before. Needless to say, as he moves to pick up his spilt fruit, his expression is a little less than friendly.]

Yeah well, mind where you're walkin' mate. Some of us are trying to not get crushed underfoot as is.

...Wait. I haven't seen your face before. [He's not sure if the stranger is a Visitor proper, or just someone beautifully civilian; they did tend to dress weirdly around these parts. But his occasional monitoring of the networks proves in handy for situations like this.] Uh. Let me guess. You just showed up here and it's weird and you have no idea where this place is?

Thanks! :)

[anotherdirkstrider]

[Dirk blinks behind his shades, brows furrowed.] Yeah. Guess it's common around here, then?

[He goes to pick up some of the spilled apples. Might as well get as much information as possible about this world if he's going to operate within it--he begins to rule out his initial hypothesis that this is part of SBURB and begins postulating other hypotheticals. A dream is out-- too long and intense for simple dreaming. Drug based? If Condy caught him then perhaps, but he'd have larger issues at hand, and this is a strange setup too apparently devoid of her presence, would mark a shift in her tactics.

For now he can only speculate and hope this stranger gives him answers.]

[ex_knightsky842]

Coming here all of a sudden? Yup. I was trying to become a knight with my best friend before I got dumped here like a sack of potatoes. It's not so bad here though...They give you money for food, and a place to stay if you want it; I like staying on the streets so I get a feel for this place, but at least you're taken care of a little. [If his arms weren't currently full of food, he'd shrug. As is, Dagran's left to raise his eyebrows at Dirk as if they're both in on some big secret.]

...If it makes you feel better, I have a bad habit of knocking people over too. So I guess uh, don't feel bad about it? We're alright, you and me. [After all, if everyone kept a grudge who he'd nearly bowled over or stabbed, he'd be pretty damn lonely. Might as well extend the same kindness here.


...He's not used to being around quiet people just yet, however; the blond's introspection leaves him a little bemused, although it reminds him of his aforementioned best friend when they'd first met and so brings with it a note of fondness.]

You're not big on words, are you?

[anotherdirkstrider]

Right.

[This guy seems genuinely friendly, which is never to be taken at face value but is at least a good place to start. Dirk makes a forceful effort to pull himself out of thought when Dagran offers the question.]

Yeah, no... Not used to being around people much. Sorry.

[Knight, huh? Sounded more Lord of the Rings than reality, like something out of Roxy's wizard fanfiction. If this guy was telling the truth then the universes all of them came from were radically different parallel existences, possibly born out of the infinite offshoots of time streams. He'd have to look into this later.]

Dirk. [He said, small smile forming. He wasn't used to keeping a straight face, having been able to be largely deadpan with ease when it came to digital communication. Having someone that can see your expressions adds another layer of complexity to social interaction-- then again, there is also the benefit of being able to see other people directly, too.

Dirk realizes that his introduction wasn't exactly eloquent. He decides to elaborate.]

Strider. Dirk Strider.

[ex_knightsky842]

That's alright; people are weird at the best of times. That plus you getting thrown here must be a bit, er...Confusing? [He's putting it mildly and he knows it. Being torn away from everything you know to get thrown into a bizarre place like this? It's a miracle that none of them have gone mad or into shock (at least to his limited knowledge).

Still, now that his best friend was about 8 years older than him, Dagran had discovered that his need for friends his age suddenly grew; Dirk could be his ticket out of Lonesville.
That realisation, coupled with Dirk's own smile, draws a warm grin out of Dagran as he juggles his cargo about until he can free a hand to offer it.]

Oh, your name! Welcome to town, Dirk Strider. My name's Dagran. And you can have one of those apples if you want; I'm just gonna hand a few of them out anyway, so it doesn't bother me none.

...I'm sorry I can't help you out more; I know how it feels with all these questions running through your head about what the hell's just happened to you. But if you need company, the least I can do is talk your ear off.

[anotherdirkstrider]

[Dirk takes the apple in his hand and inspects it, fruit still being a pretty novel concept. Jake always used to tell him about pineapples and coconuts and mangoes, but seeing something in person was worlds different than looking at it over a webchat.]

Thanks, dude. Much obliged.

[He looks back up at Dagran and tosses the apple into his sylladex for later.]

I'd be down to walk for a while, if you don't mind.

[ex_knightsky842]

...Dude? [He's going to assume that's some kind of nickname and take it as a compliment; you modern kids and your lingo and your dudes and sylladexes and things.

...Speaking of which, the fact that Dirk's apple appears to just vanish is something that Dagran notches up for later interrogation. For now, it's probably best to get away from the constant bustle that is the apartment blocks; he can always just hand out the apples as they walk around.
And he knows just the place to go.]

Alright, you're on. I know this part of town that's just forest if you're more used to that sort of thing? It gave me the willies goin' there alone, but if there's two of us it shouldn't be so eerie! Plus I got Berith too, if we need backup.

[His summoning the Persona is part trying to show off, part testing if Dirk knows about his own (and hoping that he's not the only one daft enough to dismiss Philemon's appearance). ...Plus, Berith is comforting to have around.]

[unbroken_chain]

"No worries!"

Kotoha pauses for a second to stare at the newcomer through her COMP glasses before nodding, satisfied, and returning the glasses to their standby mode.

"Just arrived, then?"

[anotherdirkstrider]

Dirk masks his surprise that she knows he just arrived. Is he really that obvious? Never mind, he doesn't need to answer that question, "Uh, yeah. A little while ago."

He pauses, venturing a question, "How did you know?"

[unbroken_chain]

"Magic science glasses!"

She taps something behind her ear and her glasses materialize on her head.

"They have an AR system built in, and one of the functions lets you see the energy newcomers radiate."

Holding out her hand in greeting.

"My name's Kotoha, I'm kind of the official welcome wagon."

[anotherdirkstrider]

Finally, something Dirk understands-- not "magic", really, but gadgets.

"A micro LED display build with sensors that must detect dynamic shifts in spacetime fabric, nanoprocessors probably built into the frames where it attaches behind the ear--huh. It's wired up to your biological systems too, looks like. Pretty standard fare, not unlike my shades. You say there's an AR program in there, too? Doesn't happen to be an AI."

He examines them intently and tries to pick apart how they work, not sure what to do with her outstretched hand save for ignore it and hope that it will explain itself.

[unbroken_chain]

Okay, wherever he comes from, they apparently don't have handshake greetings. That's fine, clean cup, move down. She'll just reach into her bag and draw out a small pamphlet and hand it over.

"No AI as far as I know, although I think maybe it used to have one? Before I arrived, though. Anyway, here, this should get you up to speed on the basics, and I can fill in the rest for you as necessary."

[anotherdirkstrider]

Dirk takes the pamphlet and examines it as she speaks. It's handy, at least, gives a good breakdown.

"You really are the welcome wagon, aren't you?" He chuckles, leafing through the pages.

Welcome to the game~

[blessed_by_the_world]

Don't worry about it.

[There is a little girl looking him over curiously.]

Are you okay, though? You look sort of lost.

Thank you! :)

[anotherdirkstrider]

Huh?

[He pauses, instinct telling him not to let anyone know about his lack of understanding of the world around him, his brain telling him to stop processing shit like he's still in the Crockpocalypse and try and be a decent person. No use burning any bridges before he's even crossed them.]

Yeah, I'm new here. Still getting my bearings.

[blessed_by_the_world]

Oh!

[She smiles sympathetically.]

I know how that is. I was really scared on my first day here. But it's really not so bad once you get used to it.

[anotherdirkstrider]

So you appeared out of nowhere, too.

[He stated, brain humming. He wasn't sure if everyone else had undergone the same meeting with Philemon, the receiving of a persona-- but maybe he wasn't as singular as he thought.]

Does this happen often? People just turn up out of nowhere? Looking confused and bumping into people and shit?

[blessed_by_the_world]

It's happened to a lot of us. The people from this city call us 'visitors.'

Do you remember taking to a strange guy in a butterfly mask?

[anotherdirkstrider]

Yeah, it felt weird-- a waking dream, sorta. This all has to do with his "gift", I take it?

[all_wound_up]

[Nano stumbles back a step as Dirk bumps into her, bowing politely.]

N-no, it was my fault! I should watch where I'm going!

[anotherdirkstrider]

[Dirk takes an incisive look at her, fixating on the wind-up mechanism on her back. A primitive form of energy, but apparently effective enough to run a very advanced android if she is indeed what he thinks she is.

Generally he's been so tense just having all of these people around, just wound tight with having to get used to the sheer volume of outside human(oid) presence-- sure, there is the very real possibility that this is what his paranoia would have him believe and that everyone here is just putting on an elaborate ruse in an effort to lower his guard and kill him, but this entire situation increasingly seems more and more real the more time he spends in it.

And then there's Nano, who is so apologetic and unobtrusive. She looks so flustered, so... moe. Dirk practically holds himself back from a facade-breaking weeaboo squeal.]

No worries, no harm done. It's my fault. I allowed myself to get distracted, it won't happen again.

[He offers a lopsided, closed-mouth smile. It's weird, having to think about facial expressions so much.]

...You okay?

[all_wound_up]

[Nano blinks curiously back at Dirk during the pause between him looking back at her and actually replying. After a moment, she seems to become aware of where he's staring and nervously shuffles her feet. It's not that she's all that self-conscious about her identity as a robot anymore, but she's still the same sort of shy Nano she's always been, so she's never sure just how to deal with the stares.]

Ah!

[But then he starts talking and everything is fine. Conversation she can handle.]

Yes, I'm fine! Please don't worry about it.

[anotherdirkstrider]

Are you an Android? [He asks point-blank, curious.] That's an interesting mechanism you have. Sorta unconventional design choice with the manual power, but there's something to be said for relying on intense analog compared to other shit, even if my personal taste runs more towards nuclear power than mechanical.

[It's around now that AutoResponder chastises him for such invasion of robotic privacy, and it takes much of Dirk's patience to ignore the snarky tone of voice he uses; even if AR is right.]

Sorry, don't mean to be such an intrusive dick about shit. It's your business 'n all.

[all_wound_up]

[Well, this is just the perfect storm of things that fluster Nano, between Dirk referencing her construction and all the naughty words he's peppered in while he does so.]

Ah... um...

[It's enough that she just sort of stares blankly back at him until he gets done apologizing.]

N-no, it's all right. I actually don't need the key to function, it's just there because it's cute.

[anotherdirkstrider]

Oh. That's cool.

[Goddamnit, she's fucking adorable. Like a puppy, or a kitten or something. He feels bad for making her uncomfortable and tries to explain himself--]

I build stuff. Androids and shit. It's sort of a thing I do. I-- uh, I didn't mean anything by it or whatever...

[Dirk's gone sheepish as fuck. Well, this is awkward.]