paixaorpg | Rude Awakening [Active]

Entry tags:

Rude Awakening [Active]

Character(s): Raven, whoever wants to bother him
Content: Raven's arrival.
Setting: Joutenheim Gate
Time: Week 17, morning, leaning towards late morning
Warnings: Shameless flirting if attractive women are involved?

Brave Vesperia had finished sorting through the newest shipment of supplies to Aurnion, and Raven had slipped away for an afternoon nap by the river. The weather was just too nice to waste. Unfortunately, he was jolted awake prematurely by the sound of voices, and sat up quickly, hoping it wasn't Rita coming to scold him for slacking off. Really, that girl needed to learn how to relax a little...or maybe she just enjoyed picking on him. Either way--

This was definitely not where he'd fallen asleep.

Raven's first instinct was to shift his hands underneath his coat; to the inexperienced eye it looked like he was adjusting his shirt, but really he was checking his weapons. His knife was still there, tucked into his belt, his bow folded to its most compact size and concealed as well. He relaxed fractionally; if someone hadn't bothered disarming him, either they weren't dangerous or just idiots. (He also couldn't guarantee the bodily well-being of any thief if he discovered Casey's bow missing.)

He glanced around finally, taking in his surroundings. The voices in question belonged to the line of people trailing out in front of him. Raven took in the scenery quickly--the domed ceiling, the gate framed by what seemed to be two giant statues, and the odd assembly of people collected before it. This was a bit too real to be a daydream.

The first thing that came to mind was the illusion of Yormgen that Phaeroh had shown them. That had felt indistinguishable from reality, down to the taste of the food. But what Entelexeia were left that could still do such a thing? And what purpose would it serve, besides? It was best to find out a little more before coming to any conclusions. Raven approached the line of people, finally. They were all odd-looking enough that no one seemed to notice him in particular, and he was fine with that. It was a bit longer before he had moved forward enough to reach the gate.

"Name?" the man at the gate asked. Raven bit back a quip about how mind-numbingly boring his job must be, deciding to humor him with an answer.

"Raven'll do." No real point in thinking of another name. A small, smooth, rectangular object was pushed into his hands with little ceremony, then the gatekeeper turned to the next person.

Odd. Usually if a city had some sort of system to regulate the people coming in, they were a bit stricter about it. Raven stepped off to the side to examine the thing he'd been given. After a bit of fiddling, he discovered it opened up not unlike a book, though it didn't have any pages inside. Instead, there was a flat, reflective surface and a keypad that resembled a formula panel, with strange but familiar-looking letters on it. It took him a few moments of comparing to figure out that the letters were all turned on their sides. Stranger and stranger. Still, this wasn't providing any answers. He tucked the thing into his sleeve to puzzle over later. Time to do a little information-gathering in this city. At least....it looked like a city.

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Urd had been running errands -- specifically, buying more sake, which was surprisingly difficult to get in Paixao. She also carried a treat for her housemates: small cartons of various flavored ice cream. As she walked, she smiled slightly and held up the bag to eye level. Usually, doing something so considerate wasn't like her, she had to admit to herself. Living with so many kind people must have been rubbing off on her.

She was so focused on her own thoughts and the bag in front of her face that she didn't even realize she was on a collision course with a new arrival until it was too late.

The first thing Raven noticed was that there was no view of the sky anywhere. it was a bit eerie--he preferred the outdoors himself. Probably something to do with a sense of freedom. However, the majority of the people seemed quite content to go about their daily lives without even looking up. There was something else about this place that he couldn't quite put a finger on, but it was making the hair stand up on the back of his neck. He looked up again at the ceiling above, frowning at the elaborately painted surface. Had that cloud moved? Probably just a trick of the light--

Distracted, he almost didn't notice the woman heading towards him until she bumped against his shoulder, nearly upsetting his balance. Instinct kicked in, and he managed to grab the edge of the bag she was carrying before it hit the ground, reaching out his other hand to steady her before she fell as well.

That was it, Raven realized absently--the majority of the people around looked more or less the same, save for the few odd ones out, like himself. And--time to get back to reality, he was staring. Hopefully this lady would take that as a compliment--from her looks, she certainly deserved compliments. He'd never seen anyone quite like her before, but her beauty was undeniable and rather striking.

"Pardon me, miss," he said hastily. "Are you all right?"

Urd had been watching the man apparently lose himself in his own thoughts, lips quirked into an amused smile. As he stared at her, she glanced down meaningfully at his hand on her before flicking her gaze back to him, smile widening. "I'm fine." She lifted up the bag holding her two large bottles of sake and winked. "No permanent damage done. Thanks for the rescue." She stepped back, adjusting her load and gave him a curious look.

"You're new here, aren't you," she said, not a question so much as a statement of the obvious. She'd made it her business to keep an eye out on the new arrivals to the city. "Did you just get here?" She shifted her weight, tossing her hair of her shoulders. "What's your name?"

Letting go once the woman had regained her grip on her bag, Raven put a hand to his chest and sketched a small bow. "The great Raven, at yer service~ Newcomers're a common sight here, then?" He tried to keep his eyes from wandering, but the way she was dressed wasn't helping, much. "T' what do I owe th' pleasure of bein' greeted by such a beautiful lady?"

Okay, he was laying it on a bit thick right away, but too much flattery was always better than too little. And considering how she had reacted to their little collision, this stranger seemed easygoing enough.

"I don't s'pose ya know the name of this place?" he prompted, drawing the object the gatekeeper had given him out of his sleeve. "Or what this might be?"

Urd smiled at Raven's flirtatious words. She had to, really, the cheesiness of it was too endearing. She could just bet that was a part of the plan as well. "Well, Great Raven, I'm the magnificent Urd," she responded, following suit by bowing as well. "And this is Paixao, a world between worlds. Or an inter-dimensional hub." She straightened, one hand on her hip as she glanced at the gate nearby. "Or a room within a giant castle. Hard to say."

She looked back at Raven, smiling apologetically. "Regardless, you're stuck here. At least until one of us figures out how to get out."

"Pleased ta make yer acquaintance." Raven could definitely appreciate a woman with a sense of humor. Paixao, hm...the name didn't ring any bells. World between worlds? The Labyrinth of Memories had been something like that, but...did Phaeroh still possess that power, even as a spirit?

The bottom line was still what was the point?

He decided not to spend too much time questioning it. Best to pay attention to what was going on right in front of him, go with the flow. Things would present themselves eventually if he stayed alert.

"By 'one of us', you mean there're others?" This was obvious enough, but he figured he'd confirm it anyway. "I take it you've been here for a while, then?"

"Mm," Urd murmured, nodding. She turned and headed toward a nearby bench, gesturing over her shoulder that he should join her. Once sitting, she crossed her long legs, bared by the slit in her dress, and popped open one of the bottles of sake. Pulling a cup seemingly out of nowhere, she filled it and offered it to Raven with a smile, eyebrow raised. She had no idea if the man drank or not, but if she was going to, it was only polite to offer. Besides, most people coming here for the first time could probably use a drink.

"There are a lot of us, actually," she explained as she poured another cup for herself. "All coming from different worlds and dimensions, though...sometimes, groups of people will be from the same place." Urd lifted the cup to her lips and drank her sake in two gulps, exclaiming wordlessly at the punch and power it gave her. Face now a bit flushed, she chuckled, glancing sidelong at him. "As for me, I've been here for awhile, sure. The place isn't so bad once you get used to the Heartless and random creeps running around."

Raven watched Urd curiously for a moment, before sitting beside her and accepting the drink she offered. It smelled like fairly good sake, and just a little couldn't hurt. He probably should've been a bit more suspicious after just arriving, but his instincts weren't finding anything wrong with the woman's offer, and he trusted those the most.

And, well, he had to admire a woman who could knock it back like that. He raised an eyebrow, taking a slightly more delicate approach to his own drink.

"Bit of a crazy story, but with what I've seen in my lifetime, I'm inclined ta believe ya," he said, giving their surroundings another once-over. "So there's no way a' gettin back? Or nobody's found it yet?" That was troubling...if he had no way of contacting the others back home, they'd think he just disappeared. Which....well, he had.

"Nah, seems I'm alone." There was no one even vaguely recognizable in the crowd. He paused again at her last statement. "Heartless? The way ya said it sounds more like a name than a description."

Urd poured more sake into her cup, drinking it now with a little more restraint but with an obvious appreciation. Leaning back with one arm propping her up, she gazed out into the crowd as well, deep purple eyes unreadable as ever. "No way back to where we came from, anyway. There's an entrance to another world..." She glanced down at the contents of her cup thoughtfully. "If a certain anonymous tipster is to be believed, this island is simply a 'room' in a castle and each new world we discover is another floor. A lot of us are hoping that, eventually, we'll get to the floor with the world we come from."

She turned her head to smile wryly at Raven. "Actually, it's both. They're creatures created out of pure darkness, completely absent of any heart. They can do a number on you if you're not careful." She turned away again, eyes closed as she took another sip of her drink.

"And they seem to really like those of us with a little darkness in us."

Raven found himself frowning at Urd's description of the Heartless. Monsters, powerful ones, it seemed. And monsters didn't always need a "heart" to function physically, so he wondered if she were speaking in the more metaphorical sense.

Inner darkness, huh...well, he had plenty of that. Best to avoid them.

Now for the "room in a castle" riddle. "If each place here's a floor...then climbin' higher ain't gonna get us back home, unless ya think our 'worlds' were all jus' made up fer the castle in the first place." The thought was a little sobering, not to mention far-fetched. "Gotta get outta the castle itself. Windows, front door." Raven shrugged. "Or are ya tryin' tha climb high enough that you'll come out on th' roof? 'Spose that works, too."

Again, he was reminded of the Labyrinth and how different pieces of different places seemed to just merge effortlessly with each other. Hopefully, he wouldn't end up having to fight a memory of himself here, though.

"I don't s'pose there's an inn nearby where I could put up my feet fer th' time bein'?"

Urd finished her drink as Raven spoke, frowning a bit at the empty cup before place it in the bag along with the closed sake bottle. "Well, this is all based on information that may just be a ploy to make us all chase our tails." She lifted one shoulder in an elegant shrug, smirking. "Take from it what you will. Dimensional travel is hard for most humans to understand."

She leaned towards him, shoulders touching as she tapped a manicured nail on the journal he'd been given. "There's a map in here. This is an electronic device..." She glanced up at him quizzically. "Do you have this sort of technology in your world?"

Urd took the journal from his hands and opened it, pointing to the keys and screen as she spoke. "As soon as you enter this place, you're put on the network. With this, you can communicate with the rest of us...as far as I know, only we outsiders are in this thing. Anyway, you can type out messages with these keys or you can use this button here to make a voice post...you know, making a recording instead of a text message. It also has a map function, like I said...see, the city is zoned into squares, labeled by number and letter. There are a couple of hotels around but you might as well get yourself a little apartment at Iriela or one of the more expensive ones. The map also has little descriptions of each place and the city." She sighed, handing it back to Raven. "Nothing useful, though."

Urd straightened up and reached above their heads, plucking a leaf from the vines crawling up the wall behind them. "Don't worry about money, either. The natives will accept almost anything as currency here. Look." She held out her hand, palm up, to display the leaf, which was actually carved jade made to look like a live thing. "Any questions?"

Humans...that was interesting. She said it like Duke did, as if she weren't one.

Raven watched curiously as Urd explained how to use the device he'd been given. "Nothin' like this, no. Useful little thing." Almost too useful to be given away for free to newcomers, but he wasn't about to complain. It would make gathering information that much easier. The letters on the keys looked somewhat familiar, but he'd take a closer look later. "This sorta thing must be easy ta make here, if they're jus' handin' em out like that." Of course, he thought, the other advantage to them was that whoever created and distributed them could monitor all communications...

Raven leaned a bit closer to study the vines behind them after Urd plucked a leaf from them. He was starting to pinpoint what was nagging him about this place--nothing looked natural. It was all made. Were all the plants fake? How did anyone survive otherwise?

Still, those were all questions he knew he could find the answers to on his own. No need to ask Urd about every little thing at once. He was still sort of suspending his disbelief about suddenly appearing in a different world.

"Think I've got the basics," he replied as casually as he could. "I appreciate yer help, miss. Seemed like y'were in a bit ovva hurry before, so don't let me keep ya."

Urd grinned, lifting her hand to ruffle Raven's hair. "Hey, don't worry about it! Helping out the newbies is just something a goddess like me should do. It's not every day I find such a handsome one at that," she added with a wink.

She stood up and stretched before turning and lifting her bags off the bench. "Do me a favor and post in that thing once you get settled. I'd like to know you found your way alright." She leaned down a bit, holding up her index finger, teasingly scolding. "Don't make me worry, now, or I'll have to punish you."

With that, she straightened...and began to float off the ground, her long hair stirred by a breeze. A mysterious smile curving her lips, she gave Raven a jaunty salute before turning and flying off into the sky.

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Rude Awakening [Active]

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