paixaorpg | 'cause they're playing my song on the radio... [closed/complete]

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'cause they're playing my song on the radio... [closed/complete]

Character(s): Rinoa, Tamao, Yuuko and anyone else who wants to join.
Content: Entering through Joutenheim.
Setting: Just inside the Joutenheim gates.
Time: Morning.
Warnings: None.

Rinoa had been waiting in line for days upon days upon days. It seemed time was endless in this realm, wherever this realm was. The raven-haired teen felt like she was going to just keel over from the boredom that was plaguing her. In truth, Rinoa had only been waiting for about an hour at most, she just liked to exaggerate.

It was getting harder and harder to keep her mind from straying to the most current events in her life as her attention began to waver. Her mother's death hadn't quite sunk in yet; Rinoa was living in a fantasy, mind clouded by doubt and confusion. She couldn't accept the fact that she was alone now. Her usual confidence was subdued and she stood, one arm crossed behind her back, hand grasped onto her other arm.

How had she got there? One minute she was standing in the living room, staring down a yellow-eyed monster and the next she 'awoke' in this place, stuck in a seemingly endless line. 'Maybe I'm just dreaming and I'll wake up... I really hope I wake up soon...' She thought to herself, kicking at the ground lightly.

Suddenly, Rinoa was ushered forward; she had reached the front of the line. 'Way to pay attention Rin...' She chided herself, looking up at the figure before her, feigning a smile. The man in the booth didn't return the expression and merely stared at her, speaking in a gruff tone.

"Name?"

Rinoa blinked then frowned slightly, 'I guess that's what I get for being nice...' She thought, tightening her grip on her arm slightly.

"Rinoa Heartilly." She said. At the last second, she had decided to use her mother's maiden name instead of her good-for-nothing father's. Besides, Heartilly sounded better than Caraway anyway. The man in the booth nodded and handed her a blue object before waving his hand and calling out to the next in line.

Rinoa glanced down at the object in her hands, brows furrowing in confusion. It would probably be explained later, she concluded. Taking a deep breath, the raven-haired teen walked into the gates, the clicking of her boots fading as she disappeared into the crowd.

Paixao was huge. The large domes which Rinoa had seen from the outside seemed even bigger now, suspended over the city and hiding it from the world. Rain trickled down from the painted ceiling and, at first glance, it seemed the clouds were real; it was a wet day in Paixao. A fridged breeze danced through the streets and into the unfortunate souls caught out in the winter weather.

Rinoa, being a new arrival, had no warm clothes to change into nor did she know where to look for any. Her gaze drifted over the cobblestone street, looking for any tell-tale sign of a hotel or any other housing establishment. Rinoa soon concluded that she was in the 'Upper Class' area of Paixao after noting the amount of richly-dressed citizens walking around in the streets; the prices in the shops added to this notion as well…

Rinoa sighed. She was alone, confused and cold. Perhaps, if she was lucky, she would run into someone who would give her some directions or even some advice. Who knew what characters she could run into here...

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Tamao couldn't help a small, weary groan as she stumbled out from an alleyway onto the main road, rubbing at her eyes. It had been nothing but sheer luck that Ponchi and Conchi had managed to find an unlocked storage room at the back of one of the commercial buildings. She'd spent a very long and uncomfortable night in a nest of boxes and rather smelly discarded blankets. It had been warmer and dryer than sleeping in the alley itself would have been, though, so she wasn't complaining. She supposed she should try and see if she could get work, so she could find some warmer clothes and a place to work.

Not needing to sleep, Ponchi and Conchi had run recon while she slept over as much of the city as they could cover. Their report hadn't been very encouraging; all the rest of the city seemed to be made of these domes filled with all things artificial, and not-very-pleasant weather conditions. They'd found no sign of Yoh-sama, or even of anyone they knew at all. She wasn't sure whether to be disheartened that there was nothing familiar here, or thankful that her friends seemed to have escaped the same fate.

The pair had found a couple of places where Tamao thought she might be able to find work, but they were all a fair distance away, probably hours by foot. Ponchi pointed out that there was a train a few blocks over, and while it ran infrequently, Tamao certainly thought it sounded like a much better idea than making a hike in this chill. With a sigh, she adjusted the heart-shaped planchette slung over her shoulder, tucked her sketchbook securely under her arm, and headed over in the direction the tanuki pointed out for her.

As early morning had come, Yuuko and Mokona had abandoned the hotel they had been staying the night at and wandered once more. The pair had found themselves at yet another gate, resembling the one they themselves had come through but not to the exact. She sighed feeling the cool crisp morning air against her exposed skin and her furry companion gave a shiver.

"We should find a clothing store, or a library." Yuuko murmured as she approached the gating area quickly.

Mokona nodded his head before giving a squeal and wiggled his feet happily. "Mokona sees spirits!!! All flowy around that girrrrllll..."

"Ehh?" Tamao turned, surprised, as she heard an odd squealing noise. She thought there hadn't been any animals in this place, but could she have been wrong?

But, no . . . She didn't see anything of the sort, unless she counted the tall, elaborately-dressed woman with some sort of stuffed animal on her shoulder.

Conchi came over to see what had stopped the young shaman. "Come on, what's the hold up?!" Ponchi floated overhead and peered with his beady little eyes at the lady Tamao had looked at. "Hey Tamao, there's something weird about that broad over there!"

"Stop it you two, it's rude to stare!" Tamao hissed. "And besides, Conchi, Ponchi, you two are the ones who keep saying everyone here is weird!"

"But she's weirder!" Ponchi insisted, and Conchi joined in on the scrutiny. "Yeah, she's like some kinda freaky psyched-out version of a shaman. Hey, maybe she's one of those crazy Tantric chicks! Maybe we should go say hello, huh huh?" he leered, elbowing the guffawing tanuki.

"Come on, guys, let's just go catch the train!" Tamao pleaded, not really caring by this point who heard her.

Yuuko turned her head to them and cocked a brow as Tamao's 'friends' spoke. "So impolite...." She murmured waltzing up to the spirits with a nasty grin on her face. "Should I trap you in a bottle for your rudeness?"

"Rudeness!!" Mokona chimmed, bouncing up and down from his stoic like state upon her shoulder.

Tamao gasped as the lady waltzed up and looked Ponchi and Conchi right in the eyes with an evil grin. So she was a shaman!! Not a sort of shaman that she'd ever seen before, but then again, she hadn't seen a whole lot of shamans outside of the Asakura family in Izumo . . .

And the little black pork bun thing had talked!!

The troublemaking pair (http://vv.carleton.ca/~ksavich/pics/ponchiconchi.jpg) didn't seem to be at all disconcerted by the lady's manner, however, and Conchi folded his arms and leered back at her in midair, his pointed ears twitching. "Why don't you try it, lady?" he jeered. "Me an' Ponchi here aren't your everyday spirits."

"Yeah!" Ponchi chimed in gleefully. "We're the partner spirits of the ascetic Tamao, and we can take you and your porkbun on any time!"

"Guys, stop it!" Tamao cried. Really, the last thing she needed right now was to get into a fight! The lady might be a really powerful shaman for all they knew! Ponchi and Conchi were inviting nothing but trouble!

After about a minute, Rinoa stopped and wrapped her arms around her body, hugging herself in a vain attempt to warm her already cold self and, though she wouldn't admit it, to console and bring back her wavering confidence. Everything seemed out of her control and it bothered her; fear beginning to seep through her veins. 'What if I can't find a hotel? Even if I do, what if I can't afford it? Will I have to live on the streets, scavenging for food like some stray dog?' Rinoa took a deep breath and closed her eyes, exhaling slowly. She had to stay calm. 'What would mom do in this situation?' It was then that the raven-haired teen had no idea what her mother would do, they had lived well and never had to struggle with things such as this; Rinoa was at a severe disadvantage.

She opened her eyes again and shook her head a few times to rid her waterlogged bangs from her face. 'I have to stay positive...' Rinoa started forward once more, black boots sliding across the cobblestone as she made her way to a crossroads.

Suddenly, the sound of a trains whistle shattered the silence, announcing it's arrival at the station. Rinoa blinked and turned to where the sound came from; it sounded close! She couldn't help the grin that danced across her lips nor the pure excitement that she felt at that moment. A train! It had so many possibilities! The teen laughed softly to herself and changed direction, heading towards the station. 'Maybe the train can take me somewhere else.. somewhere with food!' She thought, turning a corner.

It was then that Rinoa spotted pink-haired girl a few yards ahead of her. This girl, Rinoa noted with peaked interest, stood out from the monotone crowd; an outsider, much like herself. Raising a hand, Rinoa smiled and waved, calling out in a cheerful voice; she was completely unaware of the other figure as she was too caught up in the shock of finding another outsider. "Hey!"

It didn't take long for Rinoa to figure out exactly who the girl had turned to look at for she soon spotted her as well. The raven-haired teen blinked in suprised, peering at the tall woman with a confused look on her face; what WAS that on her shoulder?

...And who was the girl talking to? Rinoa couldn't see anyone else besides the three of them and, obviously, the girl wasn't talking to either of them. Rinoa began to second-guess herself. Had fate shoved her in the direction of these insane people or did her luck really suck today? 'I should just walk away right now..'

Mokona had noticed Rinao in the distance watching and smiled, hopping down from Yuuko's shoulder and plodding his way over to Rinao in a militarily uniformed type march.

In the meantime, Yuuko was 'talking' to the spirits. "Don't worry, kid. Your little spirit buddies aren't much of a match for me anyhow. I've seen nastier spirits following Watanuki around then these two." Yuuko muttered, placing a hand on her hip. "So where were you taken from, kid?"

Rinoa blinked and resisted the urge to step back a good ten feet when the strange looking thing spotted her. It was quite round and had large ears; 'Is that a rabbit...?' Rinoa thought, head tilting as she pondered, watching it march towards her.

She smiled slightly as it neared, feeling quite awkward.

Tamao had been watching Mokona curiously, and was so surprised to see that he was heading towards yet another outsider (another girl, who was very pretty; was this women's section of the city, maybe?) that she almost missed Yuuko's question.

"Ah! Um! Oh~" She could feel her throat closing up with embarassment as it did on so many occasions. Oh, why did she have to be so shy??

Tamao instinctively fell back on old habits as she held up her oversized sketchpad in front of her, covered in Japanese syllables, and used her yen piece to point to different syllables, hurriedly spelling out 'Thank you so much for not being offended. I'm from Izumo, in Japan. Ponchi and Conchi are my partner spirits.'

It wasn't until she'd finished spelling that Tamao realized that the woman might not be able to read Japanese, and she flushed as she floundered even more, trying to figure out how she was going to get out of this mess.

"Izumo, eh? Hmnnn...They have pretty good food in Izumo." Yuuko smiled, pushing the sketchpad down from Tamao's face so she could speak directly to her. "I'm not stranger, child, just a friend. And your spirits have rather big egos." She laughed.

Tamao managed a tentative smile. She was still very imposing, but she seemed nice enough . . . And she read Japanese and knew about Izumo! "Ye-yes, they do," she ventured quietly, ignoring Ponchi and Conchi's cries of indignation. "I'm Tamamura Tamao. Are--are you from Japan, too?"

Mokona finally was at the base of Rinoa's feet when he let out a happy squeal and marched circles around Rinoa. "Who're you!? Who're you!?" He chimed. "You smell like magic!"

Rinoa was now even more confused than she already had been in the first place. She stood there, watching the strange black creature march in circles around her feet. All of this was just so weird. But, despite the awkwardness she felt, she decided to be kind to it. After all, what could it hurt? She laughed and grinned, kneeling down. "I'm Rinoa Heartilly. Who are you?"

"Mokona Modoki!" The black bunny chirped, reaching up to pet her hand. "We're looking for someone!" He continued, pointing to Yuuko, indicating he was with her. "But we haven't found her yet!"

He gave Rinoa a smile and sniffed her a bit. "You smell like magic." He repeated.

~~~~~~

"Yes. I am actually. I am surprised that I've ran into someone from Japan, it must be Hitsuzen." Yuuko murmured, extending her hand to Tamao. "My name is Ichihara, Yuuko. You may call me Yuuko though."

Yuuko looked from Tamao to her spirits and back again to Tamao with an eyebrow raised. "Where are you three heading?"

Rinoa smiled, amused by the creatures antics. He really was quite a likeable fellow. Her interest was piped as he spoke of them looking for someone and she blinked, propping her chin up on her hand. "Pleased to meet you Mokona Modoki." She paused, glancing at the other two a little ways down the street before turning her gaze to Modoki once more, blushing lightly at his repeated comment. "Really now..?"

Hitsuzen? Yohmei-sama had mentioned that to her once, although she couldn't remember what he said about it. It had been something like fate, wasn't it? Was the woman--Yuuko-san, she chided herself--Shinto?

"Ah, thank you very much, Yuuko-san," she exclaimed breathlessly, sketching a bow before shaking Yuuko's hand. "Um . . . we were going to head for the trian station, actually. We . . . I don't really have anywhere to stay, so . . . I thought I might try to get a job." She finished the sentence in a rushed barely-comprehensible mumble, embarassed to have to admit that she couldn't take care of herself. Oh, what would Yoh-sama think?

Yuuko looked over her for a moment, and then walked around her and her spirits inspecting her almost. She gave a smirk, though it wasn't cruel, it was the one you get when you just thought of a genius idea!

"Tamamura Tamao...I have a proposition for you. Back in Japan I had a small 'business'. I grant wishes....Now since I expect I'll be stuck in this city for quite sometime, and hope to establish the same line of work here, as I did there...." Yuuko explained. " Do you clean well, Tamamura Tamao?" Yuuko asked, peeking over at Mokona quickly before looking back to Tamao.

~~~~~~

Mokona nodded his head. "Magic and flowers." He smiled. He waddled in place for a moment before speaking again. "You should meet Yuuko..."

Rinoa's cheeks were flush with pink at Mokona's comments. She hadn't ever been told that before -- well, save for her mother but that was family. This, on the other hand, was a complete stranger. Rinoa nodded once more and returned the kind smile, now quite interested in this Yuuko. "Thank you Mokona and yes, I wouldn't mind meeting her."

"You . . . grant wishes?" Tamao blinked, turning her head to follow the woman as she circled her. Yuuko was starting to rather nervously remind her of some sort of stalking predator. But that was just her imagination acting up, right? "Um, yes! I cooked and kept house for Yohmei-sama all the time back in Izumo. He--he said I always did a very good job," she added shyly, reluctant to laud her own skills. "You--you're willing to hire me?" she asked hopefully, wishing that Ponchi and Conchi would stop alternating between sulking and making faces at Yuuko.

Yuuko nodded to Tamao. "Yes. I am willing to hire you, board you, and pay you for your cleaning and cooking services once I find a proper set-up for my store." Yuuko murmured, handing her a sheet of paper with an address written on it. "This is so when we're apart you can find me with those electronic journals the people at the gates gave us."

~~~~~

Mokona smiled and waddled his way to Yuuko looking back for Rinoa to follow him. His waddle was that of a duck, with his furry tail twitching now and then as he did so.

Rinoa rose once more, reaching one arm behind her back in a familiar (http://rinoa.nu/rinoa/ingame/rinoa19.jpg) pose as she watched Mokona waddle off. She supressed a giggle as she was suddenly reminded of a duck; how amusing. The raven-haired teen smiled and followed, careful not to trod upon the curious creature.

It almost sounded too good to be true! Tamao was astounded by Yuuko's goodwill. "Thank you, thank you so much!!"

"Awwww, c'mon Tamao, you're not really gonna work for that witch, are ya?" Conchi whined, but stopped when Tamao shot him a huffy glare. She was not going to let them ruin her only chance at decent clothes and a place to sleep!

Tamao took the paper with a deep bow of gratitude. "Thank you so much," she said again, nearly forgetting her cold and hunger in her excitement. As she straightened, however, she began to wonder what sort of shaman could grant wishes. It almost sounded like the stories of the Shaman King.

Tamao opened her mouth to ask Yuuko exactly what kind of shaman she was, when the pretty outsider she'd seen before suddenly walked up to them, seemingly following the porkbun creature. Again Tamao found herself blushing and shy, almost trying to hide behind her sketchbook as the newcomer came closer.

"You're welcome Tamamura-san." She murmured, turning her head to see Mokona waddleing his duck walk up to her with a young attractive ebony haired woman following behind him. Yuuko couldn't help but smirk internally, obviously Mokona was just as much a charmer as she...HAHAHA. Turning her body this time, Yuuko faced the young woman, her kimono hem sweeping across the ground in a gentle motion. "Hello." Yuuko smiled, her normally mischevious grin.

Mokona did his little militant walk as he approached Yuuko and smiled. "Mokona made a new friend! Her name is Rinoa Heartilly!" He chirpped.

Her boots clapped softly against the cobblestone as she followed Mokona, eyes downcast and a light blush dancing across her cheeks as the black rabbit-like creature introduced her to the small gathering. She was unusually reserved, hands clasping behind her back as she glanced up, offering a friendly smile to the duo. She nodded her head in greeting, speaking in a quiet tone. "Hello."

Tamao lowered her sketchbook a bit but kept it clutched tight to her chest, blushing furiously as she gave a quick bow. "He-hello."

"So your name is Rinoa Heartilly, is it?" Yuuko murmured, smiling her normally eerie smile as she crossed her arms in an odd fashion. Her one arm rested over her crossed arm in a way that allowed her hand to hand off to the side, as if she was holding a lit cigarette. She tilted her head to the side at the girl as she looked over her and blinked before speaking. "I'm assuming you didn't come here by choice, correct?"

Mokona had waddled his way over to Tamao smiling as she shakily said her hello to Rinoa. He smiled his adorable smile and pointed to her sketch pad. "Draw Mokona!" He chirped.

Rinoa nodded, looking towards the woman. "Yes it is." She said, standing up a little straighter as her confidence returned. Her blue duster swung behind her a bit as she moved, flowing despite being a little wet. The teen blinked at the woman's question, letting thoughts flow through her head. It was true... "No I didn't. I just kinda woke up here..."

Tamao smiled shyly at Mokona as Yuuko spoke to Rinoa. "I-I'm not very good," the ascetic insisted, but nevertheless crouched down and took out a pen, flipping to a clean page. "Now, let's see . . . "

With a few loose strokes on the page, then some scribbled-in detail, Tamao turned around the pad to reveal a decently drawn contour of Mokona. "How's this . . . ?"

Yuuko's face changed into a nasty sneer as she averted her eyes as if thinking about something. With her loose hand she brushed some of her ebony hair from her face and looked back to Rinoa. Her face softened a bit when she looked back, but the sense of resent towards something still plagued it. "I'm sorry you're yet another victim of this place..." She murmured. Yuuko's clear distaste for the city showing. How could someone just pull people from their worlds and shove them here?

Uncrossing her arms she strolled closer to Rinoa placing a hand on her shoulder gently. "Do you know if any others from your world might have gotten sucked here as well?" A hint of concern in her voice. "It'd be best you find them."

~~~~~~

Mokona smiled and clapped his fat little paws together. "Yay!! Mokona is in a picture!" And promptly the fat little bunny thing hugged her sketch book, looking mighty happy.

Rinoa nodded slowly, eyes trailing down once more as she thought of the events that led her here. Her mother was, supposidly, dead and her father, oblivious to her absence; what a day. Looking up once more, she smiled sadly at Yuuko's soft words.

Rinoa didn't flinch nor move away when the woman placed a hand on her shoulder. The raven-haired teen responded accordingly, "No, I don't know of anyone but who knows, I might get lucky." She said, warm smile returning to her lips. Yes, she needed to find others from her own world.

"A-ah!" Tamao pressed a hand to her mouth as Mokona crumpled the papers, but then she smiled. He really wasn't doing any harm, and it wasn't as if she couldn't write on a slightly creased pad. She didn't like the way Ponchi and Conchi were eyeing the little black creature, though, and she hoped desperately that they'd wait at least until Rinoa was gone before making any kind of a scene.

"I'm sure you will." Yuuko murmured, after all, so many people had already landed in this place. There was a good possibility she would indeed find someone from her world or country. Yuuko removed her hand from the girl's shoulder and pulled out a pen and paper writing something down on it and handing it to Rinoa. "Here. This is the address of the hotel I'm staying in. If you don't run into someone you know by the time evening rolls around, head there. There's plenty of room in the room I've rented if you need somewhere to crash for the night."

Mokona let go of the tablet and smiled, peeking over at Tamao's companions. "Friends for Mokona?" He murmured.

Ponchi sneered openly at Mokona and Conchi just raised a disbelieving eyebrow. "Like we'd be friends with you, you little porkbun!" the kitsune snorted. "You work for that crazy witch lady, and you're not a shaman or a spirit, you're just a-- a--"

"Whatever-it-is!" Ponchi supplied helpfully. Conchi nodded curtly.

"Yeah!! The only stuff we like to stick around is Tamao, women, people to prank on and copious amounts of alcohol! So buzz off!!"

Tamao let out a faint moan and covered her head with her sketchbook. Why couldn't they just be nice? She was such a failure, Anna-sama could control her spirits far better than she ever could . . .

Rinoa smiled and nodded, determined to stay optimistic. She glanced over at Mokona and the girl for a split second before turning back towards Yuuko, suprised to see her holding out a piece of paper. Rinoa took it and looked at it before looking up once more, smiling warmly. "Thank you Miss Yuuko, I'll be sure to remember that."

Yuuko gave Rinoa a grin and a small nod. "I hope you do. But for now, I must depart Miss Rinoa Heartilly. It was nice meeting you. I hope you find someone you know, and soon."

~~~~~~~

Yuuko turned away from Rinoa quickly and towards Tamao, scooping up Mokona from Conchi and Ponchi's verbal attacks on the poor little thing. Yuuko gave them both another one of her menacing looks and grumbled. "And if ya two don't stop picking on everything that talks to ya, I'll make you his dinner."

Yuuko looked back up to Tamao. "I'm going to be finding the library in this city, Tamamura-san. I suggest you seize the day and find your friends. If you need to get in touch with me, you have my name on these electronic journal thingies." Yuuko murmured. "We'll speak more about your work for me later."

Yuuko gave Tamao a quick bow of her head and made her way back inward to the city, seemingly in a rush of sorts now.

(( XD;; Sorry to end Yuuko's part so quickly. There's something she has to get to the library for. ))

Ponchi and Conchi didn't exactly cringe from Yuuko's glare, but they did twitch and shut up. "Yeah, yeah, whatever," Conchi muttered. Tamao glared at him.

"O-of course, Yuuko-san. Th-thank you," Tamao replied, bowing to the older woman. She straightened to find Yuuko already more than halfway down the street, and the pink haired girl blinked at the witch's hurry. Well. She was certianly nothing like Yohmei-sama.

She eeped, however, as she realized that Yuuko's abrupt departure had left her alone with the stranger--Heartilly-san, right? "U-um!!" She flushed, and stuttered, and wondered what she should say. Oh, would she ever get used to anything about this place?

Rinoa only nodded in reply to Yuuko, grateful of the woman's generosity.

---

As Yuuko departed, Rinoa turned her attention on Tamao, smiling warmly. She glanced down at the sketchbook that the girl held before her and smiled, pointing to it. "You draw? How neat, I wish I could." She said cheerfully.

ooc; Tamao-mun left and this thread was almost finished anyway so this thread shall be marked as concluded. :)

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'cause they're playing my song on the radio... [closed/complete]

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To Yuuko

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To Rinoa

Re: To Rinoa

First Half to Rinoa, Second To Tamao

Re: First Half to Rinoa, Second To Tamao

To Yuuko

First Part To Tamao, Second To Rinoa

To Mokona

To Yuuko, and insert jaws theme here

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To Yuuko and sort of Rinoa.

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To Yuuko

First Half: Rinoa, Second Half: Tamao

Re: First Half: Rinoa, Second Half: Tamao

Re: First Half: Rinoa, Second Half: Tamao

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First Half Rinoa; Second Half Tamao

To Yuuko and Rinoa~

Re: To Yuuko and Rinoa~

OOC Conclusion