destinystrings | The Search for the Newcomers, November 2012 Edition.

Who: Open to Everyone, but only Newly Accepted Characters can start threads.
Where: All around the city, anywhere from the 5th to the 20th.
Summary: Newcomers arrive and by now the Government is more ready and sends everyone out to go people hunting.
Warnings: ARRIVALS. Also assume the first thread is the ones who tell you about the city, and the other tags for the character can be talking with others in the city and learning more about it.

[FOR THOSE IN THE CITY:]
They were getting much better at this, it was for certain.

The COMPS had been upgraded with a new program, HORUS which allowed them to spot abnormalities; if something or someone showed up suddenly in a city that was constantly scanned, then there was a high probability it was a newcomer. There was also a sort of left energy from the travel; the Wise Men called it leftover Magatama Residue, where the magical energy used to pull them to this world and keep the String intact was still faintly present around them. It wouldn't last more than a few minutes, however, and due to the fact they could appear in most parts of the city, it made finding the newcomers was both easy yet frustratingly difficult. As the blips appear on your radar function, they were nice enough to calculate for you the best transport and destination routes to take to get there.

Now it was just left up to chance and make sure you got there fast enough that you were still able to find them relatively easily. For the most part, the fact they stuck out would most certainly help...

[FOR THOSE WHO JUST ARRIVED:]
You're not in your homeworld anymore. That much is evident. So how do you feel? Happy? Sad? Troubled? A little of all three? No matter what, the memories of a butterfly man named Philemon are fading like a dream; you'll remember the details, but perhaps not everything he has said.

There is one word that stays with you, however.

Persona.

So...here to save the city, huh? First you'll need to find out more information. And who knows, maybe a familiar face or two...

[OOC: As stated above, only new characters can start a thread, but feel free to jump in any of them. characters arrive with their clothing and whatever items they had on them the moment they were taken; the remaining items will be later found in their apartments.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It was understandable. After all, this Hitoshura didn't have most of her markings, was in a dress and hoodie and was female. All things Hikawa was probably not expecting from a Demi-Fiend. Unfortunately, the moment she turned around to answer his question, she recognized him.

"YOU!!!"

Another surprise. But this one Hikawa can adjust to. True, finding the Demi-Fiend was not what he immediately expected. Nor was finding the Demi-Fiend as a female. Still it presented a reminder of the world he had just created and exited, at least in some form. And apparently a world similar enough that the Demi-Fiend would recognize him on sight.

"And so it would seem our paths would cross again. And so soon." His voice is casual, the same kind of cool tone he always has. Unwavering. Unbreaking.

"I suppose the better question is if you preceded me here, or if you followed."

"I wouldn't follow you anywhere, and especially not here," she spat, golden eyes staring angrily at him. "I dunno how it is in your world, but here, I'm not your little toy."

That was a childish and rough way of putting it. Toy. What a vulgar way to think of those who followed the path of Shijima. Still, Hikawa shows no outwards consternation towards the insult, crossing his arms over his chest.

"The last I saw you had been in the Assembly of Nihilo when you'd come with the Mantra troops. I suppose that wasn't the last time you saw me."

Shura was, if anything, childish and rough. She couldn't help it. She had still not forgotten who created the Vortex in the first place, SIR.

"The last time I saw you, you and your god were off to enjoy stillness in death." Goddammit why did you have to come here, she was perfectly happy ignoring she had killed the last relatively sane human being by killing you.

Shijima had failed, then. It was an odd concept to ponder - even if his Reason had failed, it did not necessarily mean the death of Shijima. In the end, he believed that it would cycle back again to how it had been. That the Reason of Shijima was an undeniable truth and if he should be unable to carry it out, another might due so once the world was reborn again.

"I see."

His eyes flick, from side to side for a moment. Watching the new world in front of him.

"And is this world the result of the prevailing Reason, then?"

"No. This is separate from your and my worlds. Here it's about Persona and saving the world, not recreating it." Or destroying it like Shura intended. In a way.

"If you fuck with this world we might never get to go back where we came from so PLEASE don't fuck with the world again." Shura's tense. She still hasn't decided how to react. Kill him for destroying the world? Thank him for giving her direction in her life? Scream YOU RUINED MY LIFE? She couldn't decide and it made her left eye twitch.

Persona? Like in the writings of Jung? Hikawa doesn't entirely understand what that entitles at the moment, but he expects outright asking will net him nothing or at least a vague understanding of what Shura means.

He can't help it, but he frowns a little at Shura's latter comment. Vulgarity aside, to think that he had harmed the world....

"The world we lived in was vile. An asylum for madmen that would curse and eat each other if given the chance as they scrambled to make meaning for their lives. Given time, it would have ended in fire, scorching the world to dirt.

What I gave the world was a chance for salvation."

Shura was practically seething by now. It was rare for her to remain this calm when face with something that angered her. "Yes, I know, your idea is the best idea, etc. but it isn't what you were called here for. And if you do, somehow, by some massive dickmove on the universe's part, Conception this world, I swear I will personally murder the shit out of you first. So do the nice thing, let this world live, and you can eventually go back to yours and establish Shijima in peace. I won't even try to stop you."

Why do you expend so much energy on something as base and unnecessary as anger? Why even be angry when you can't seem to offer a rebuttal to his actual line of reasoning? You confuse the living hell out of him, Shura.

"I owe you no promises, but I see no reason to activate a Conception here. For the moment.

I will assume there are means of transport to other cities, then."

It's a simple question in most cases, but doesn't mean what it actually sounds like. He's asking you to tell him about the world without openly telling him about it, Shura.

Shura exhales loudly, as if finally letting go of at least part of her pent-up anger. She will be watching you, Hikawa. "There aren't any other cities. Something happened here and most of the rest of the world was razed to the ground or something similar. The only place you can go is inside Hinoto-Ri itself."

A single beat. And then he speaks.

"A single city.

And you call that a living world?"

"There's hope. Therefore, there's life." Two can play at the philosophy game, Hikawa.

"I agree.

But to let it just continue on as is would be to let hope begin to run dry."

The Search for the Newcomers, November 2012 Edition.

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Clearly these two need to be forced to work together or something

Obviously

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