http://clashingtactics.livejournal.com/ ([identity profile] clashingtactics.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] paixaorpg2011-07-21 03:53 pm

Too Late to Turn Back Now... [Complete!]

Character(s): Hei and anyone who'd notice this wide-eyed young man.
Content: Carrying nothing but a small bag and wearing modern day street clothes, he was in the middle of going to meet up with a dear friend—only to arrive in Paixao.
Setting: Joutenheim Gate
Time: Week 33, late morning
Warnings: None.

For one fleeting moment he was alone, heading in a direction to make himself unseen. If Hei had let himself be seen by public security's Misaki Kirihara, she would ask questions. He would rather keep her in the dark. The less she knew about him, the better. For most, anyone who got too close to him had died in the end--Carmine, Amber, Huang, Mao...

As he turned a corner and walked as fast as he could without drawing unwanted attention, he had to come to an abrupt halt or he would have collided into a woman's back, her hair tied back into a bun. Just past this person was a single file of people; men, women, and children. Some were as quiet as he was. Others murmured among themselves in what seemed like uncertainty.

Hei looked further to see a pair of people who held writing tablets in one hand and a sack in the other in surroundings he did not recognize.

What...? Hei looked over his shoulder to see artificial grass, some of it glistening in bundled mixtures of glass, cloth, and plastic.

Yin! Was she nearby? He couldn't see her human-shaped specter floating over any water. His dark blue eyes widened as he searched for some sign of her. Nothing, no glimpse of her silvery hair tied back, her pale face, or the two piece dress that she wore. He did not hear her soft voice call out his name.

An up swell of panic was threatening to reach the surface, but he knew better than to let his emotions overtake him. Hei didn't know what else to do but to rely on an alias he had not used in a few days. Taking a quiet deep breath, he relaxed a little in posture--but remained on guard. He rose his low-alto voice up an octave. "Ah, ma'am...? Excuse me?" Hei didn't have to try to look clueless.

The brunette looked over her shoulder. "Yes?"

"Sorry to bother you, but do you know what's going on," Li asked nervously. "Where we are?"

"Perhaps, if we follow this line, the answer will show itself clearly."

A slightly annoyed and cryptic response at that as Hei decided not to pry any further. He was worried about Yin, yes, but rushing further into the line might prove to make the situation worse. Instead of upsetting everyone, some impatient as he was, he had to blend in.

As the line inched on, Hei quietly took in these old, artificial, and eloquent surroundings. Above his head, in the archway of the gate was a detailed painting of two giants raising their stony clubs at each other in combat. Staring at the depiction of these two savages dressed in furs made him wonder what would be there beyond the gatekeepers. The only way to find out was to keep going forward.

At last, when he had made it to the front of the line, one of the gatekeepers asked for his name, tablet at the ready. They were keeping record of whoever walked in here. Hei's hand clutched a little around the plastic grocery bag he had packed upon permanently moving out of his apartment in Tokyo.

"It's Li Shengshun." He promptly bowed his head a little upon greeting.

"Welcome to Paixao Li," the male gatekeeper who attended to him said. Thin in body as he was, the blonde dressed in a patterned floral uniform looked weary in the eyes but wore a forced smile. He reached into the sack and gave Li a dark grey metal object.

"Paixao? Wh...Where in the world is this?"

"Please do not hold up the line."

"Oh, right. Sorry," Li awkwardly apologized and moved to stand beside him.

But the man wasn't going to be of any help, because he ignored Hei as he asked for the name of the next person (who somehow appeared) to write down upon his tablet. As he must have done several times before.

Hei looked around for Yin again. Aligned in the middle and on the side of the paved streets were fake trees, shiny golden leaves on the branches swaying in the light breeze.

Why fake, Hei wondered as he walked behind and past the gatekeepers to where he would not be in the way.

There was a fountain, but compared to all this false vegetation it might as well have been decoration. There were other blonde citizens dressed in fancier clothes, significantly different from any modern citizen of Tokyo. Hei began to assess the situation as they passed him by, indifferent of this outsider. This isn't Tokyo. There's no Paixao in Japan.

Finally, he glanced curiously at the object that was given to him. He found the thin lining along the side and opened it up. There was a screen that automatically turned on at the sound of a musical chime, a little padded place to move the little arrow, and a keypad. Looks like some sort of computer... He found something interesting on it, and left a message before he started moving, searching for some explanation as to why he was here.

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