1 • Paperboy Hat • [Action/Voice]

[wildkotetsu]

[Start of the day: waking up flopped across a bar counter missing a shirt with a monster headache.

The day before: nothing at all like this or leading up to this.

It makes him wonder. Kotetsu T. Kaburagi, rolling off the table in alarm, slams face-first into the floor with a muffled grunt, before patting around for a bar stool to use for leverage. And he drags himself up, his entire face pounding now—

Oh, this place is apparently closed. Or maybe just really empty today (feel free to prove that last point). Because the doors are shut, the lights are dimmed, and he's flopping himself back up like a half-baked penguin to a seat that is next to a lot of empty seats. Hoooo, my head is killing me. First thing to notice, his side was nearly entirely healed up. The remnants of a burn were barely visible in the room. The second, the wings. The wings that were attributing to his headache. The things that only birds should have.

Those wings.

Alright, alright. He's obviously just tripping some heavy balls right now. As he leaves the building looking unbelievably confused, he messes with the journal. It... sort of reminds him of stuff back home, only... he's pretty sure paper doesn't work like this. There are people talking on it. He can read their stuff. Er, watch it, even.]

[Voice A]

Oi, oi, what's the big idea here? Where's my city at, huh?

... Did I get dumped in the countryside?

[Mrrr. Ojisan isn't much liking the cold air—he lets out a biting sneeze, before mumbling,]



I must be going crazy... Talking to books...

[Doesn't matter! What does is finding some clothes that isn't showing off his poor cold bod. He's partially successful, but not entirely. He finds his very own clothes—but. But there are important things missing.]

[Voice B]

Aaa, if anyone sees a few things, could you tell me? A really cool paperboy hat, for one. Can't find it anywhere. [he rubs his noses, trying to sound casual about this] I found my watch, but I'm still looking out for a ring... It's just a normal silver band, but it's pretty important. If you find it, could y'let me know?

[If you'll excuse him, he's got a item shop to dig through with determination.]

Comments

[i_am_not_cute]

[Here comes a Pao-lin, and look, she's got your shirt, your waistcoat, and even your favorite hat with her! She won't have his ring, his watch, or his bracelet, though -- she was thinking less about accessorizing and more about getting this old man clothed. Oh, and she doesn't have his actual pants, either. But hey, points for trying?]

Hi, Mr. Tiger!

[wildkotetsu]

[Aaah—

Okay so the pants were still missing. But don't even sweat it, because he's got them; managed to dig through a few things and sure enough they were there. Even had the old fortune from a fortune cookie stuff in one.

So much for good fortune. `_`]

Dragon Kid!

[He hops up, hand on his hip and smiling.]

You're really here! [He's... sort of getting a fuzzy idea of things, but still. The journal only goes so far on his 'bullshit' rater.]

In, uh... Luceti, right?

[He's working out the kinks. After all, waking up with a headache and then face-planting'll do that to you.]

[i_am_not_cute]

[Pao-lin nods, holding out Kotetsu's clothes to him. Go make yourself decent. :|a]

Yeah. Did you, um, arrive here okay? [Because so far it seems like people from Sternbild have a tendency to drop into Luceti and land in awkward situations.]

[wildkotetsu]

[Noooo problem! Lemme' just take those clothes.]

Actually... I woke up in the bar. But other than that... I'm mainly just confused about everything else.

[SIGH.]

What's going on around here, exactly?

[i_am_not_cute]

Well, everyone here in Luceti was brought here by an organization called the Malnosso. No one's entirely sure why...

[She tilts her head.]

Where's your journal? There's a guide in there that should explain most of it.

[wildkotetsu]

Oh, right here--[He pulls it out of the band of his pants, where it'd been folded on itself.] This, right? It's some pretty weird technology...

[i_am_not_cute]

[Pao-lin frowns at Kotetsu pulling his journal out of pantspace, but she takes it anyway and flips through it, eventually digging up and bookmarking the Guide to Luceti in it.]

Yeah, it is, but I guess you get used to it after a while. [She hands the open journal back to him.] I've bookmarked the guide to Luceti that someone here wrote up a while back. It explains a lot of the weirder things about this place. [Which reminds her...] Hey...um...what was the date before you came here?

[wildkotetsu]

[Hey when pockets fail you, you go for the pants.]

Aa, thanks...

[He blinks at that, because obviously that's just silly to ask.]

You should know, you were just there! We were watching them cart Maverick off...

...I think...

[At least, he thought so. Now, with his side nearly healed up, he's not so sure anymore...]

[i_am_not_cute]

[She shakes her head.]

Time is really weird in Luceti. The Malnosso can bring us here from any point in time from our world.

[But at least Wild Tiger was closer to the time she was taken from than Mr. Petrov. That simplifies a few things. Or something.]

[wildkotetsu]

Wha—

How can they do that? [...] Is it a NEXT power?

[i_am_not_cute]

I don't think so. But then again, no one knows much about the Malnosso. [She lowers her voice, even though it's probably not necessary.] They don't seem to be connected to Ouroboros, as far as I know.

[wildkotetsu]

... I see. So we're pretty in the dark about these guys, too, huh?

[i_am_not_cute]

[She nods.] Everything that's known about them, you can find in the guide I bookmarked for you in your journal. [She grimaces ever so slightly.] Um, do you want to get some food? We can talk while we eat... [Please say yes, for she has just realized she is starving.]

[wildkotetsu]

Mm, I am pretty hungry... They have a restaurant around here?

[please say yes, please]

[i_am_not_cute]

There's one right over there!

[Lo and behold, there's Seventh Heaven, right across the way! How very convenient.]

The food's pretty good, and it's all free!

[wildkotetsu]

[Hold the phone!]

Free? Are you sure??

[i_am_not_cute]

[The phone is held!]

Yup! Everything here is free -- food, housing, clothes, stuff from the item shops.

[wildkotetsu]

... How are they affording all this, anyway?

[YES THAT IS MY VERY NEXT QUESTION SHUT UP]

[i_am_not_cute]

[Tiger what is wrong with you what are you expecting from this child. B|]

I don't know...but the Malnosso must have a lot of money if they have the technology to kidnap all of us from different worlds and keep us here, right? [...this doesn't actually answer Kotetsu's question, but.]

[wildkotetsu]

Right.... It's got to be really big. You don't know about any other people besides them outside the barrier?

[i_am_not_cute]

Well...there's the Third Party. I haven't seen them myself, but I've heard that they're kind of like us, because they look like people with wings, but they want to kill us all.

[wildkotetsu]

... Wait a second—

Third Party? What's that about?

[LITTLE GIRL THIS IS IMPORTANT

PEOPLE TRYING TO KILL US OKAY]

[i_am_not_cute]

Well, like with the Malnosso, everything that's known about them is in the guide to Luceti. But... [She takes a moment to rifle through her memories, digging up what she's read about them.] The Third Party wants to kill off all of Luceti in order to end the cycle of death and rebirth that happens here. Because, um, if you die here, then you get brought back a week later.

[It's like a Game Over, but with lag. And corrupted game data.]

[wildkotetsu]

What?

[... That's crazy. He blinks, but that hardly wipes off the look of disbelief.]

That's impossible... People can't just come back like that.

[i_am_not_cute]

I...I don't know anyone who's died and come back. [She does, technically, but she just doesn't know it yet.] But it's in the guide, and it was written by someone who's been in Luceti in a while, so they'd know, right?