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

[bakegarasu]

Otoha knows that look - he had it enough as a teenager himself. He turned, watching the teen climb up. He lifted his head slightly, not saying anything until he got up to the top.

"Hey, kid. You've got some guts. Mind if I ask you some questions?"

[recycleddestiny]

Once he got all the way up to the top of the roof (which was surprisingly somewhat easier than Masamune had expected but whatever), he raises an eyebrow at the question, only to laugh a little.

"What can I say, I never liked backing down from a challenge. Though I dunno how good I'm gonna be at a Q&A session."

[bakegarasu]

"It's just a few questions. I just got here, so."

He's not that big of a talker anyway so it's not like he'll be babbling at him a lot. "Just the basic 'what is this place?', 'why are we here?', 'what's with the freaky guy in the mask?'."

[recycleddestiny]

"Alright. Let's take this one at a time, shall we?" Masamune liked that - no need to over-complicate things or add flowery language. Made things a lot easier in the long run.

"What this place is? Apparently some city from another world or dimension or something along those lines that needs help. We're here to defend it from demons destroying the place. Or something like that. Still a bit fuzzy on the details, I haven't been here too long myself." He shrugged.

"As for the dude with the mask? Dunno. Mission control, maybe. Never saw him again after I first got here."

[bakegarasu]

"That's fine." He wasn't big on over-complicating things either. It made things way harder to follow.

"Huh. I wonder why they'd be trying to destroy it. Not enough belief in them or something, so they're deciding to take it into their own hands?" He'd have to ask around. Something didn't seem right about that.

"Mm. I don't trust him. He didn't seem right." He'd learned about judging by first appearance... but that guy still gave him the creeps.

[recycleddestiny]

"Who knows. That sorta thing ain't my area of expertise." Masamune glanced back out to the city for a moment, smirking. "Can't really say if the guy was all that bad, but if anyone's gonna give me a challenge, well -"

He unsheathes the katana, swinging down with a dangerous grin. "I'm sure as hell going to take it. Life's not fun otherwise, you see?"

[bakegarasu]

He chuckles and puts a hand on the hilt of his own sword. "Agreed. Though I'm wondering if you can back up your talk."

It's no fun if he just lets the kid go, right?

[recycleddestiny]

Masamune blinked in surprise, eye widening slightly. He was actually caught off-guard for a split second, but then his grin widened. "Always." It's then that he gets into a stance. Yeah, this wasn't like sparring back home with the kendo club, this was real live steel being used here. Hell, he was surprised that Kagehide even made it here with him.

Still, he wasn't going to back down now. Not after he just declared that he would face any challenge head-on.

[bakegarasu]

He drew his own sword, and twirled it lazily. "You ever been in a real fight, kid?"

Otoha took a step forward, bringing his sword up to more of a ready stance.

[recycleddestiny]

"Depends on what you mean by a real fight." Admittedly the major extent of fights in his experience had mostly been either kendo matches or the occasional fistfight back in high school, but at this point, there was a sense of excitement welling up inside him. He wasn't sure if it had anything to do with adrenaline or something else, though. It felt ... stronger than that. Like taking up his sword was something he was supposed to do.

He readjusted the grip on his sword, taking a deep breath, but the grin never left his lips.

[bakegarasu]

"I mean one not for fun. With live steel, with guns, with actually getting your hands dirty and bloody. With someone who actually means to kill you, not knock you out or teach you a lesson."

He nods at the sword. "You shouldn't have a weapon with you if you're not prepared to kill someone with it. So I'll ask you again - have you ever been in a real fight?"

[recycleddestiny]

Masamune hesitated at this point, his grin slipping slightly. "Can't say I could gauge the intentions of a few punks a few years ago, but the kind of fight you're talking about? No. Surprisingly I haven't had a gun pointed at my head or live steel used on me."

There was a beat, to which he narrowed his eye, expression darkening.

"But I already said I'm not backin' down. You told me if I was willing to back up my words, and I'm showing you that I am. I already made up my mind as far as this place goes - just because I haven't had to deal with lethal force doesn't mean I don't know what it's like to have to fight for my life." I've got the scars to prove that, he added silently.

[bakegarasu]

"Then get ready to learn what it's like." In a flash, Otoha was off, rushing towards Masamune. He didn't want to start out with anything fancy, just a few slashes to test his speed and reaction time - but they'd still hurt like hell if they landed.

[recycleddestiny]

And before Masamune could retort, he automatically went into a defensive stance. Even if he hadn't had to deal with live steel before, he still had the experiences from kendo, and despite some of the fundamental differences, it's enough to work around. He's at least able to parry a couple of the blows before one slash lands on his right leg.

Of course it'd be on his blind side. Shit - can't let him use that as an advantage. It was a common problem during fights before, but at least he knew what steps to take in order to remedy it. It's then that he shifts his footing, taking the offensive - his preferred method. He could only go on the defensive for so long, anyway - both physically and mentally.

[bakegarasu]

Good. At least his reactions were all right. And the ability to compensate for whatever happened to that eye was valuable, too. The shift in stance made him grin, and now it was he who was on the defensive. He lifted his sword, knocking away a few blows.

Not forever, though. The kid was faster than he'd expected, and he took a bad cut on the lower arm of his sword arm. Blood started welling up, but he didn't even seem to notice, returning the favor by shifting his stance and speeding up his attacks.

[recycleddestiny]

He frowned after seeing one of the slashes connect, but Masamune quickly figured that worrying about his opponent was the last thing he should be doing at this point. But he didn't stop with the barrage of attacks, though it felt more like he couldn't stop, that some sort of subconscious instinct was forcing him to keep moving, don't stop attacking, always keep him in your sight -

And it was only through sheer adrenaline and force of will that he was able to ignore the stinging in his leg and now the side of his face, close to where the strap of his eyepatch lay.

But Masamune couldn't help but let out a low whistle. "That was close."

[bakegarasu]

He couldn't help it - he laughed a little.

"You're pretty good. What's your name?"

... Oh huh. He pressed his arm to his side to try to stop the bleeding.

[recycleddestiny]

"Masamune. Date Masamune. How 'bout you?"

Even though he was still trying to catch up on air, he was still grinning. Something about this seemed to just sing in his blood, moreso than even the sparring matches he'd have during kendo or the occasional fistfight.

[bakegarasu]

... Even he recognizes that name, and he raises an eyebrow.

"Otoha. I don't like my given name, so." He shrugs. It's rare he even gives it out anyway.

[recycleddestiny]

"No worries." It's at this point that Masamune lowers his sword, laughing. "Gotta hand it to ya, that was ... intense."

[bakegarasu]

He sheathes his own sword. "I was in the Yakuza back home as an enforcer. I've been training since a sword as long as I could physically hold one."

[recycleddestiny]

Masamune's eye widened slightly. "Yakuza, huh. No wonder you say that you actually know what it's like to have to face death." He shook his head, sheathing Kagehide. To be honest, he was counting his blessings at this point - sure, Kojuro probably looked like Yakuza himself back home, but the guy was pretty straight-laced for the most part.

Until you pushed certain buttons, but that was a story for another time.

"Makes sense, then. This is a family heirloom sword, but most of my experience was just through kendo." Though that didn't explain that feeling he got while fighting - or the fighting instinct that kicked into gear during the incident, either.

[bakegarasu]

"You've got potential. A year or two ago I would've said you would be good as an enforcer yourself, but I've been... trying to move away from that sort of work."

Otoha closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again. "I could teach you what I know about swordplay, though. It's no kind of formal style, but it's better than no training."

He reached into his coat and took out a roll of medical gauze, rolling up his sleeve and starting to wrap the cut.

[recycleddestiny]

"Wouldn't be interested anyway. If certain people got wind I was working for Yakuza, I'd never hear the end of it," Masamune replied with a chuckle. At the offer, though, he glanced down to the sword at his hip, eye narrowing slightly. If he was going to get stronger to be any help around here, this was probably the best course of action that he could take at this point.

"But why not. Won't be much help if i'm fumbling around like some sort of rookie when shit hits the fan."

[bakegarasu]

"Well that's good to hear at least."

He grinned at the acceptance, though. "I'll have to see where things are around here though. I might want to actually find out where I'm sleeping before I start making lesson plans."