vatheon | First Rose: Priorities.

Entry tags:

First Rose: Priorities.

Who: Aya, Ken, and anyone else!
Where: By the corals!
When: ...now?
Style: Any style is fine!
Status: OPEN!!

[The last thing Aya remembers before being in front of a large coral was not being so wet. His eyes are wide at he pretty much sees a coral up close in person for the first time. As he runs a hand through a his hair, something catches his eye.]

[A tattoo on the palm of his hand. He isn't one for body art, so he's sure this isn't his doing. Did they lose their fight and are taken captive? Aya glances around and sees that no one looks to be in a state of panic or fright.]

[His eyes lock onto someone on the ground. The form is familiar...]

[Well, this is some nice-looking pavement. Very rustic, very clean. Ken doesn't quite have the energy to get up, but being face-down is eventually too much to take and he rolls over, expecting a blaze of pain that...never comes. Well that's weird, because he's pretty sure he was shot. And he knows that generally hurts.]

[Wet, not dying, and...staring up at ocean instead of sky. What. How in the world was he underwater and breathing and not drowning. He's confused.]

[So Ken is here? Wait...he's injured last Aya remembers so he hurries over, ignoring a pamphlet for now. He reaches the other and kneels next to him.]

Can you hear me?

[Ken blinks owlishly as Aya's face appears in his line of vision. Yep, he can hear perfectly fine, and woah that's a shark swimming around in his line of sight. Behind Aya's head.]

Yep. Loud and clear. Why're we wet?

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[Of course Ken is worried about being wet. Aya looks to his clothing, looking uncertain himself.] I'm not sure. It might be the reason why you're not bleeding. [Or...so he thinks. He looks back to Ken.] Can you stand?

[Yeah, he's worried about being wet because as far as he can tell, there's nothing wrong with him. Which is weird all on its own, but he's pretty much okay with no horrible pain and blood leaking out of him.]

Yeah. Actually...I feel fine. Unless I'm hallucinating the shark circling your head, but I don't think I hit anything on the way down.

Shark? [Aya looks up and, there it is. A shark.] ...no, I see it too.

Oh good, I'm not crazy. Anymore. Not crazy anymore.

[Yes. This is good. Except they're underwater and there's nothing keeping the water out but there's no water here all the same. Ken sits up and looks around, surprised to see an entire city, just going about its day like there isn't millions of billions--fuck it a lot of water waiting to crash down on their heads.]

...are the others around?

[Aya is taking all that and storing it for later. They've dealt with weirder, although this takes the cake.] I just got here, so I'm not sure.

[Ken always has had a one-track mind.] Yeah, you just got here, I just got here, so if the two of us are here--wherever here is and at the same time even--don't you think everyone else might be too?

They're probably at different places, since no one has rushed up to us yet. [They would be hard to miss, even in this crowd.] We'll have to look around, just in case... [They may even be injured. Just because Ken isn't, wouldn't mean they wouldn't be.]

Yeah.

[Ken reaches up to pull down his mask, and after a thought, removes his weapon from his hand. It's wet, but he doesn't want to sit here cleaning it off in the middle of the street, so he puts it in its sheath on his thigh.]

Should we split up, or go together?

[He'd rather not split up but he's clingy.]

[How could Aya have forgotten his weapon? He blames the corals.]

[With a quick scan, he spots it where he first found himself and goes to collect it. Upon unsheathing it, water gushes out from the covering. Fantastic. He'll need to let it dry before he can put the sword back in. However, it would be too dangerous to carry around a unsheathed sword.]

[Sighing, Aya places the sword back in the sheath before going back over to Ken.] We don't know this area just yet. There may be enemies about. It's best to stay together.

[Yeah, waking up in an entirely new place is totally an excuse for forgetting, in Ken's book.]

Yeah...you're right.

[As always. Ken pushes himself to his feet, expecting to stagger and expecting pain, even though he felt fine when his ass was on the ground. It doesn't come. Apparently he really was healed.]

We should find a place to regroup...clean our weapons. Saltwater definitely isn't good for them, and if we're gonna be dragged off to God knows where we should at least keep them in working order.

[Right. Saltwater. They would definitely need to take care of their weapons as soon as possible.]

Let's do that first, then. We can search for the others after we've found shelter.

[Tatsumi has come near the coral to gather some data about it's relative level of brightness. He is pleased to see it's brighter than it was last week. What he didn't expect to find was a pair of newcomers.]

Good evening. May I help you?

[At the sound of a new voice, Aya looks up to the new person. He reminded Aya a bit of Crawford...]

It depends on the type of help you're offering.

[He raises an eyebrow. Well, they are suspicious of him, not unexpected.]

You shouldn't be concerned. I live in the city, and I mean you both no harm. [Unless you ask for it.]

[He's heard that before.]

Where is this place?

[He points the way to the city.]

It's over there. I've been trapped in this place for a few months already.

[He glances to where the stranger is pointing. An underwater city...]

[Aya looks back to the other, feeling as if his questions are only beginning.] Trapped...why are we here?

[He shouldn't start freaking out a newcomer with his theories and whatever he has discussed with some other residents. There will be time enough for that later. Especially since he seems to have the right attitude.]

We still don't know exactly why. All we know is that most of what happens here is related to the coral. The locals don't speak much about this place to us.

There does seem to be a lot of it. [He had a feeling this wouldn't be his last encounter with them.] What do you know about this? [Aya shows him the palm of his right hand, where his tattoo is.]

Yes, and that big, glowing one is an important one. [He points to the mentioned coral.

He then looks at Aya's tattoo.] As for that mark, it glows when a curse will happen.

...curse? [That doesn't sound very good at all.]

[Nope, it's good at all.]

Strange things happen in the city at random times. Last time, some of the citizens acquired temporary powers. Though some of them were transformed into different creatures.

[He looks pretty pale at the beginning of the conversation, since he's still wet from his trip here. But this conversation makes him even more so.]

Is there a way to avoid this?

[He shakes his head.]

Not that I know of. However, sometimes luck may smile at you and the curse will avoid you by itself. There's only one person in Vatheon that I've talked to who has avoided most of these curses.

In general, they don't seem to be very dangerous. But they are indeed rather annoying and uncomfortable.

[Annoying he can deal with over dangerous, even though he can deal with that, too.]

Who is that one person?

[Same for him, but it doesn't mean he likes it.]

Billy Iketani, I believe is his name. I have only talked to him that one time.

(( OOC: And is still an ongoing thread. ))

[Aya nods once, making sure to store the name for later.]

Thanks for the information. I hope I can get my own soon.

I wish you the best of luck on that, sir. By the way, my name is Seiichirou Tatsumi. [Has gotten used to give his name in the western order.]

Aya Fujimiya. [The Western order is something he's accustomed to, as well.] Have you been here long?

Just a few months, Fujimiya-san. It might seem like a long time, but there are people who have been here longer.

How long has this place existed? [He looks around briefly, noting the marine life floating above them. It's fascinating, and disturbing all at once.]

I don't really have an answer for that... [But maybe sometime he shall tell Aya more of what he knows. If he finds Aya to be trustworthy.]

[That's a rather strange and cryptic reply. Perhaps he just didn't know, which is fine. He'll have to inquire elsewhere.]

[How to reply to that is difficult without sounding like a jerk.

Do you at least have a guess?

[He might inquire among the older residents.]

As far as I can, probably a couple of years.

And no means of an escape... [That was suspicious to him.]

[He sighs.] Not that I know of, anyway. But periodically there are people who leave and don't come back. This is just as random as the way we arrive though. Or at least apparently random.

[That doesn't sit well with him, if things are occurring at random. It would make finding a pattern of action of whomever brought them here difficult.]

Perhaps they don't actually leave.

[Tatsumi has been trying to figure out a pattern, but he can't see one yet.]

Well, maybe not... But at any rate, they go somewhere we are unable to contact them.

[Aya will have to help out, then.]

Are there cases of people leaving and then returning?

[Wonderful! The more the merrier!]

Yes, there are some. In fact one of my friends mysteriously left. He came back later, but didn't remember being here at all. And instead, he had more memories from back home.

[Aya gave Tatsumi a strange look, as if that didn't make sense. Which it doesn't.]

How is that even possible...

[It doesn't really make sense, he knows.]

I don't know... I had hoped my friend would stay home. I think he's not the only one, though.

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First Rose: Priorities.

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