paixaorpg | Raiden encounters a local - with painful results [COMPLETED]

Character(s): Raiden
Content; In which Raiden figures out why he's creeped out by this ~~brave new world~~ Paixao, and is stalked by one of the more insistent locals.
Setting; Inside Nifleheim Gate
Time; Sunday - noon
Warnings: None

Stuck here for now. Raiden rolled that thought around - no matter which way he looked at it, he just simply couldn't see a plus side. He still refused to believe this place was real - it didn't make any sense, scientifically or logically - and he fully expected to wake up from it at any second. For all he knew, he'd been ambushed somehow by the terrorists on Big Shell and was currently lying unconscious in some janitor's closest-turned-prison-cell until they interrogated him. He half hoped so. This place creeped him out. A lot. More than anything he'd ever encountered in his life. It reminded him of Disneyland.

He hated Disneyland.

Rose made him go one time to that ridiculous place and he had been thoroughly Creeped Out. The fakeness of it was just sickening and what his girlfriend thought as "cute", he'd immediately thought as "stupid". What fell into the "stupid" category was just about the entire theme park - the character mascots roaming around, the annoying parades, the rickety rides (he was fairly sure the Matterhorn was a death trap), the massive crowds of people...the scent of popcorn they had in the front of the place to try to manipulate you into getting hungry. It gave him the shivers, quite frankly. He was almost half certain he could smell popcorn from here; the very thought made him scowl in distaste.

The FOXHOUND operative futiley tried to contact Rose and the Colonel again on the Codec, but no answer was forthcoming. He frowned and eyed the huge gate. Hallucination or not, he couldn't just sit here indefinitely. He probably wouldn't wake up unless the Sons of Liberty terrorists decided to start torturing him and he was astonished to almost wish they'd do so, if only to get him away from this Disneyland imitator.

Buck up, dammit. Raiden steeled his resolve and got to his feet, hands on his hips as he glared at the massive, ornate gate. He'd have to go in and take a look around. Maybe he could find some kind of communication center or some other means to contact the others, although at this point he had his doubts. If this was a hallucination or an error with his nanomachines, he doubted any phones or computers he found would help him. Despite his attempts to deny it, he had been feeling a strange pull toward the gates since he woke up, as if he should get in line with the other people standing there like sheep and wait as well.

Almost like...like it was his destiny to wait in that line.

All he had to do was stand there and everything would be Okay. Better than Okay, even.

Raiden shook himself, admittedly shaken. This place was seriously getting to him. Maybe they had some kind of mind-altering substance or gas in the air: it occurred to him belatedly that maybe he should've kept the oxygen mask on after all.

Too late for that, he supposed. He was probably already a carrier by now and he could only hope it wasn't lethal. The longer he stared at the ornate gate, the harder it was to tear his eyes off them. The young man found himself drifting toward the gate on feet that didn't seem to be his own and with a start he found himself suddenly at the front, snapping out of the daze and blinking in bewilderment and open distrust at the little booth in front of him. He stepped forward hesitantly, hand drifting unconsciously toward the M9 in its holster.

"Welcome to Paixao!"

"What?" Raiden asked intelligently.

"Welcome to Paixao!"

Raiden fought to keep patient. "I heard you the first time. What's 'Paixao'?"

The teller at the window shrugged. "You're standing in it. Name?"

Best to play it safe. "...Raiden," he said cautiously.

Seeing that the man was occupied jotting his name down, Raiden started to move off into the gate. He had made it a few feet when he was nearly brought down to the ground in a tackle - he caught a glimpse of a blur with blond hair before he stumbled and nearly trippped.

"You forgot this! You can't go without one, you know," said a young woman with a sunny smile, waving around a little rectangular device in Raiden's face. The FOXHOUND operative pushed it away impatiently.

"No thanks, I don't need it. You can keep it."

He started down the street and had made it almost a block when he suddenly had a prickling feeling on the back of his neck. Raiden turned and nearly jumped in surprise - the girl from before was actually following him now, still a bit far off in the crowd spilling from the gate he'd just come through. Deciding to throw off his new stalker, he ducked down an alley between two buildings and weaved through them until even he was good and lost.

He was bending down and catching his breath when he abruptly found himself face to face with the pavement. Raiden managed to get out an indignant "oof" before he went down. Hard. Struggling to flip onto his back, he found he couldn't. Something - or someone - was sitting on his back.

"Sir, you really should have one of these. In fact, I insist!" the girl from before said, cheerfully straddling his back. She set down the little device in front of Raiden's face and gave him a neighborly pat on the head. "Enjoy yourself here at Paixao!"

The girl jumped off him and wandered off without a second glance, completely forgetting he was there. Baffled, Raiden managed to sit up, now nursing a bruised back and cracked chin in addition with the headache. That girl hadn't been a lightweight at all. He couldn't help an annoyed wheeze as he picked up the thing she had left and examined it carefully. It looked like some kind of PDA.

Who gave PDAs out for free?

And what kind of people stalked you to give you free stuff in the first place?

Rubbing in irritation at his chin and convinced his back would be killing him later, Raiden picked himself up. What was wrong with this place?