The Search for the Newcomers, December 2012 Edition.

[stringmods]

Who: Open to Everyone, but only Newly Accepted Characters can start threads.
Where: All around the city! They appear where you want them to appear.
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.

Last month's initial testing of the HORUS system had worked really well. The device which allowed everyone to spot abnormalities; and now even more refined, they could hone in on newcomers at a much faster pace. The leftover energy from the travel (commonly called Magatama Residue) gave them a few minutes to find them before it would flicker out.

Combined with 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 own radar function, it was also nice enough to calculate for you the best transport and destination routes to take to get there. Speed was of the essence, after all.

[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.]

Comments

[operationbox]

This was not the new world. Or... their new world might be more accurate.

So, then, Io set out to determine where this was... It was a city, so there had to be people around, especially considering all these electronics stores around.

As if on instinct, she flipped open her phone. No bars.

It was time for a little exploration.

[drakenguard]

Yamato wasn't the type to welcome the others, so when the HORUS system began chirping happily about the newcomers, he ignored them. There were others within the city were better suited towards receiving those new to this world.

However as he walked through the Cancer Ward (he had some free time and decided to look at the interesting electronics for anything useful...), the HORUS system chirped that a newcomer had arrived relatively close by. Hrm...

As he would meet the newcomer anyway, he gave into curiosity - and what a stroke of luck. It was Miss Nitta. He was rather neutral towards her, finding her the least aggravating amongst their group before everything fell apart, so there was no hesitation in his approach.

"Nitta," he called, walking over to her with long strides, "It was only a matter of time before you came here."

[operationbox]

That voice could only be...

"Yamato? But... everyone..."

How?

[drakenguard]

"..."

Right, he would have to explain everything to her - and he wasn't even certain which timeline she was from. Was she from his, from Kaito's (ugh...), or another entirely?

"This may seem like a strange question, Nitta," Yamato said after a pause, "But what is the last thing you recall before arriving here?"

[operationbox]

She pauses for a moment. How do you break the news that someone is supposed to be dead?

"Everyone had just finished helping to create the new world... well, everyone that was alive, that is, everyone except Ronaldo and..."

There's another brief pause. This is still going to be hard.

"...well, you."

[drakenguard]

Yamato felt his eyebrow twitch slightly. So he was dead where she was from as well - how irritating...

"...another question. What was the name of your leader? The one in the rabbit jacket," Yamato asked, crossing his arms over his chest. He had been Hiro in his world, Kaito had been, well, Kaito in his... "Hiro? Kaito? Another name entirely?"

[operationbox]

"It was Kaito."

That, at least, was something easy to get out.

[drakenguard]

Yamato heaved a very tired sigh. "...then you sided with Alcor."

Of course.

Wonderful.

"In any case, to inform you - you are in Hinoto-Ri. We have been taken here by a being called Philemon to fulfil an unknown purpose. You will also possess a power called 'Persona', which will first manifest in moments of great stress. Then you may summon it whenever you wish," Yamato said, his tone flat. Necessary info dump a go.

[operationbox]

"Well, yes."

That was all there was to be said about that.

She notes the lack of hostility and absorbs Yamato's infodump.

"...Hmm. Just from that, those two seem to be a lot alike. It sounds like I should awaken this 'Persona' as soon as possible."

[hetried]

Plenty of people there were, and apparently there seemed to be an influx of confused people around now, so Daichi was keeping an eye out and ears open. It's a good thing it's one of the times he's paying attention to where he was in this city, because he probably very nearly just avoided bumping into Io in a really clumsy and embarrassing fashwait.

"--I-Io?!"

The shock was so loud and obvious in his voice, he could hardly believe his eyes. Here...she was! No doubt about it, it was definitely her! Here! In Hinoto-ri! Alive and totally not Lugh-possessed or dead or anything sucky like that and--!

Well he's got just about one of the happiest and dorkiest grins he's had since he got here. "You're here! You're OK!!"

[operationbox]

This is a much happier encounter for her. Mostly because she hasn't seen any dead Daichis for over a week, and also none that weren't just possible futures.

"Oh! Daichi! Were you looking for me, or..."

[hetried]

"No-- Well I mean, I wasn't avoiding you or anything, I just-- I mean I didn't know you were here until just now, so I would've been looking for you if I had known!"

Guess who was totally screwing up talking it's Daichi Shijima. He was even wearing himself out with his rambling, so he's just going to take a breath and actually get to a more important topic.

"How are you though? Kind of feels like forever since I've seen you..."

[operationbox]

"I'm all right... Yamato found me earlier and explained what was going on, sort of."

It was harrowing, yet useful.

[hetried]

"Oh, you already ran into him, huh?"

.....that could be both good and bad. All things considered.

"It's not so bad at least-- it's kind of weird, but it's not nearly as bad as the Septentrione Invasion. So we can all relax a little more now, you know?"

[operationbox]

"Yes. He was... not friendly, as usual, but it was better than the last time we'd seen him... unless you're from a different timeline or something like that."

Yamato had implied they existed. She didn't intend to press what had happened to this 'different Yamato' without extremely good reason. She spotted a nearby bench and sat down, this could be a pretty long chat.

[hetried]

Oh man. This was suddenly a conversation Daichi wasn't sure was gonna be pleasant.

Nevertheless, he followed Io to the bench, and slowly sat down as he began speaking again, looking more than a little on edge.

"Oh, yeah... The timeline Kaito and I come from-- Uh, Kaito, my best friend? The guy in the white jacket?" Yamato had known him by a different name, hadn't he...? It was best to make sure, at least. "When the last day came, Kaito beat me and we joined his plan with Saiduq to stop Polaris. So we went to the Akashic Stratum and killed Polaris and Saiduq took his position, and made a whole new world. Uh...not that we were there for very long, heh.

"I guess where Yamato comes from, we all joined Ronaldo's side. That's probably why he's even more unfriendly than usual..."

[operationbox]

"Oh, good, it sounds like we're from the same one."

...Oh. If it had been their iteration of Yamato she'd still understand, but what must the 'other Kaito' have been like, if his name was still Kaito?

She looked up to think and then noticed that the sky was different, and there should probably not be a moon with huge rings in it.

"Um, why is there a second moon up there?" she said pointing at it.

[awww_yeeeeeaaaah]

He finally managed to escape his apartment. Bedrest nothing, Kaito was starting to get antsy. Besides, he was feeling better enough to go outside, and new people were coming. What if the others...

...Well, speak of the devil.

"Io!" Yesssss, thank God.

[operationbox]

"Kaito! You ended up here, too?"

This was great news! There was always something different about Kaito, and just his being here made Io feel like everything was going to work out.

[awww_yeeeeeaaaah]

"Yeah, I..." Hold on.

Apparently, Kaito needs to collect himself. "Haha, yeah. Did you just get here?"

[operationbox]

"Yes. Yamato and Daichi already found me. It was kind of weird to see him... you know... alive."

[awww_yeeeeeaaaah]

Oh, she already...yeah. At least it saved him having to explain that part, but still...

"Yeah, no kidding." Alive and sane, but he left that part unsaid. "What'd he say?"

[operationbox]

"He asked what your name was, which was odd... and he said that Alcor is also in this city."

She was keeping an eye out for him, but hadn't seen the friend they once called Saiduq anywhere.

#starjokes

[awww_yeeeeeaaaah]

Maybe if you say his name three times, he appears like Betelgeuse.

"Oh, yeah he is!" That turned his mood right around, and Kaito was almost looking nostalgic.

"Man, he scared the crap out of us when we first showed up."

[operationbox]

If you'd asked her it would have been Hastur.

"Because he's our new world, and his being here meant something was wrong?"