mayfield_rpg | Case 1: Awakening/Investigation

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Case 1: Awakening/Investigation

[Action: 3472 Erwin Road]

[Shoutaro groans as he reaches up to pull his hat off his face. He remembers falling asleep at his desk. Which at the moment is not feeling like a chair at all. Maybe Phillip and Akiko moved him?

But, moving his hand reveals not a fedora covering his face, but a starchy pillow instead. He sits up, groggily taking in the surroundings. Stark, white ceiling with....really strange-looking wallpaper. A room that he's never seen before in his life. And an even stranger woman sleeping beside him.

He, of course, takes this in his usual, Hard-Boiled stride.]

EEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!?

[Action: Downtown Mayfield]

[Shoutaro has (eventually) found something suitable to wear in his so-called wardrobe, including a semi-decent fedora...nowhere near as stylish as his own several. He's made his way downtown to get away from the 'people' in his house.]

This has got to be a dream. It's just got to be. What in the blazes is this place?

[No amount of posturing is going hide his anxiety, or frustration at waking up in this place. Maybe you can come over and try to calm him down a bit?]

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[And since Hajime pretty much lives in facade mode, he's not showing any noticeable reaction to Shotaro's failure to do so.]

Yes, that happens to pretty much everyone here. This town accumulates people from all over and slots them into fake lives. It's upsetting, but panicking doesn't change things.

[He's such a ray of sunshine.]

Panic was earlier. This is just...simmering.

[Especially waking up with that woman. Sure...he would LOVE to wake up next to a woman sometime...but he'd like to remember going to bed with her first!

Though, he's started to calm down a bit, thanks to Mr. Stoic he's run into. Something familiar about him, but he can't quite place it.]

So...we've all been kidnapped then? What about the Americans? Are they all like us too? Or something else? They didn't seem to be asking many questions.

Simmering. Right.

[Hajime's also getting the feeling he knows this guy from somewhere, but he can't place it.]

Kidnapping's a good way to put it...only no one seems to know who or what is responsible.

[He distastefully looks towards a few drones across the way.]

You probably haven't run into the right Americans, then. Not all of them are like those. The local term is 'drones.' They don't react to a whole lot of anything.

That's unsettling.

[He follows the man's gaze. They seem perfectly happy, but the feeling about them is...off.

And then there's that matter about the feeling he's getting.]

Mind if I catch your name? Mine's Shoutaro Hidari. Normally from Fuuto.

[He's got a name, which is only intensifying the feelings that he knows this guy somehow.]

Hajime Aikawa.

...do I know you from somewhere?

Hajime...Aikawa.

[Now that name is VERY familiar.]

As In...Chalice?

[A look of surprise passes very quickly across Hajime's face, only to be quickly swallowed up in another stone-faced expression. He gives Shotaro a quick nod as he forces himself to relax. Another Rider. Makes sense.]

That's right.

...Double, was it?

Yeah.

[Another Rider. One of his seniors. That was both refreshing and terrifying at the same time.]

Are there many more of us here?

[It wouldn't be a good situation if multiple Riders had been taken here.]

[Hajime nods. He's quite glad to have placed Shotaro, although you can't tell it from looking at him.]

Decade and Birth have been here longer than I have; I just arrived a few days ago.

That's another thing about this place--Decade and I can't transform. As far as I could tell, Birth may be able to but he's out his weapons. We didn't talk for very long.

[Shoutaro frowns. That's NOT good.]

They got Decade? This is pretty serious business if they can get the one of us that's really unnecessarily overpowered.

[Hajime's ego causes him to make a little noise of disdain when Shoutaro talks of Decade's strength like that, but he does nod a little. His expression still doesn't change much.]

It's troubling. They're not just going for Riders, either. Whoever's responsible has also managed to take non-humans and lock them into human bodies.

So...if that means what I think it means...then you are locked as well?

[He doesn't want to push the issue, but Phillip did clue him in about the B.O.A.R.D Riders and what had happened.]

[Hajime gives Shoutaro a curt nod.]

It's for the best. Especially without my Rouze cards.

Let's hope you get those back before they give you your actual body back.

[Though...with the kind of people he suspected they were dealing with, that might actually happen.]

[It's crossed Hajime's mind many, many times since he realized the Rouze cards were gone.]

If I do return to my...natural state, I would hope by that time one of the Riders would be capable of doing what's necessary.

[Assuming that'd even be possible without a blank Rouze card to seal him with...he also seems strangely calm about having someone do that, too.]

Let's hope it doesn't come to that. Joker or not...you're still a Rider.

[Plus...Jokers had to stick together. Or not considering him and Kenzaki's situation. Forget he thought anything.]

[Fortunately, at this point in Hajime's canon, Kenzaki hasn't done anything rash yet. Hajime twitches a little at actually being called Joker, but any discomfort he might feel at using his true name is put aside by the warm fuzzies he's getting from Shoutaro's sentiment. He hadn't been expecting that. Not that his expression betrays much of this. Still, that stern expression has cracked a little.]

Thank you.

[And now he's clearing his throat a little and changing the subject, because warm fuzzy feelings of friendship are still new and confusing and scary.]

In the event you need to find me, check the grocery store. Apparently, this town has decided that I would make a fine butcher. I'd also tell you to check for me at my home, but the woman I share it with is...difficult.

[Now that, he didn't expect. But he'll take it.]

No problem.

I'd take difficult over drone any day. The woman I'm with is...rather creepy.

Not sure if they've stuck me with a job. I'll look into it later I suppose.

[The word 'Butcher' has Shoutaro thinking of some nice things he could make himself later, but he'll not mention it for now.]

[Hajime briefly considers asking Shoutaro if he would like to trade, as dealing with spoiled royalty at home is becoming tiresome. He decides against it.]

The one I have at home is royalty...or at least says she is. She demands to be treated as such. It gets rather old.

You probably have a job of some sort; it'll make itself known eventually. Only reason I've been going to mine is because I'm still trying to lay low while I get my bearings. Playing along to some degree made a certain amount of sense.

[And hey, getting out of the house and away from his not!wife doesn't hurt...]

Sounds like a pain.

[It makes Shoutaro wonder what else he could have ended up with. And shivers when Akiko in a princess dress appears in his brain.]

Good plan. Investigating this place will take some degree of low-laying.

She is.

[Hajime spares Shoutaro the slightly embarrassing "I now sleep on the couch" details and gives him a nod.]

I don't plan on taking any action until I can become Chalice again...and I have a target.

[But hey, plans can change...]

I'll let you know if I find anything out. Actually..it might be good for us Riders to meet up occasionally...just to keep each other informed.

That wouldn't be a bad idea, although I'm not sure where a good place to meet would be.

I'll take a look around town and let you and the others know if I find anything suitable.

Sounds like a plan. You know where to find me.

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Case 1: Awakening/Investigation

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