destinystrings | Welcome to Hinoto-Ri

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!))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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?

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

That was Philemon. He's the one who brought you here. He brought all of us here.

[She nods at the mention of a gift.]

That's your persona. We all have one. Do you wanna see mine?

[Dirk shrugs. Maybe this will help him understand the reason he was brought here in the first place.] Yeah, sure, why not?

Okay! Persona!

[She draws her arm back in a sweeping gesture as a rotund, Buddha like figure appears behind her. She's not going to actually have it attack or anything, so it just kind of hovers there for a few seconds then disappears.]</small. Pretty cool, huh?

[He watches, an analyst's deadpan fascination on his face. How does this work, anyway? He'd never been a spiritual person, but this was a strange development.]

Hm.

[Dirk watches it disappear.]

Yeah, it is. Any idea how it works?

[She has the grace to look slightly embarrassed.]

Um, no. Not really. Once you awaken it, you just sort of think about it, and it appears.

Hm. Interesting.

[Dirk isn't the most perceptive, too tangled in his own attempts to explain the phenomenon to notice her embarrassment. He never was the best with people.]

Well, I'll figure it out eventually. Thanks for the demonstration.

It's no problem. And don't worry, personas are pretty easy once you get used to them.

I'm Akane. What's your name?

Dirk. Nice to meet you.

Likewise. And if you have any other questions about the city, I can probably answer them. I've been living here for almost a year now.

So... If you've been here for a year, what happened to your universe you came from? And your friends? Will I--

[He hesitates, the thought just occurring to him now that he may never talk to his friends again.]

I mean, I've got people that count on me for shit, you know? Can't just up and get whisked away to Oz where Toto and I are five ways to what-the-hello-brick-road, gingham deep in winged monkeys and-- and-- what about my Tin Man and Scarecrow and Cowardly Lion, right? I mean...

[He finally stops rambling and lets out a breath.]

Okay, that got away from me. You get what I mean, though.

Yeah, I understand...

[Her smile turns a little wistful.]

There's a lot of people that I miss too. But I don't know of any way to go back...

[She feels bad that she can't help him with this.]

....Sorry.

[His usually impassive face draws tight, just a bit-- and written there is the gravity of his absent friends settling deep in his bones. Dirk tries to maintain stoicism but even a coolkid needs friends, and now his are gone.]

No worries. You can't do anything about it.

[It takes him a moment to process the look on her face, and it's only after a second or two that he realizes he isn't the only one who has left their old world behind. Wow, Dirk. Way to go. You're an emotionally-stunted dumbass. Congrats.

He can't stand the idea that they can't do anything about their lost friends, their lost lives.]

If there's any way to return to our homes, I'll find it. I'm not going to take this shit lying down. There has to be some means of at least establishing a connection with our respective universes, maybe I can modify my chat client to span universes as well as time and alternate realities. I know I sound batshit crazy, but fuck if I'm going to just take this lying down.

[She tilts her head thoughtfully. He doesn't sound all that crazy. And now that he's mentioned spanning universes she's remembered something else.]

Well.... there may be something that could help....

[She's unsure though, and it shows in her tone.]

There's this thing, it's called the trape..... trapa.... trapezo....something. Anyway, sometimes it opens up doors that go to other places! I don't think anyone knows how it works, and you can't make it take people to specific places, but.... it's something....

Trapezoid?

[Could be promising. He's already mapped out five different plans of action and at least three of them involve looking into this new lead.]

If it even has the capability to bridge realities that's a start. Where is it kept?

Well... I think the government has it. I don't know if they'll let you look at it, but you could ask.

I think I'll try and take a look, see what I can find.

[He gives her a lopsided smile.]

Thanks for the info. Much obliged.

You're welcome! And I really hope you find out something useful.

Welcome to Hinoto-Ri

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Lol sorry, he can be an oblivious jerk sometimes

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