aterat | Intro Log .//. catch all

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Intro Log .//. catch all

Who; Shinjiro Aragaki and YOU
What; Arrival and encounters around town
Where; The fountain square and ANYWHERE
When; End of April-May
Warnings; Possible mentions of drug use, Shinji's attitude

i. Arrival

The blossoming pain in his chest faded and he took in breaths, his hand clutched there, where it should have been filling with blood, his blood. His eyes opened slowly, almost distrusting in their perception of light. This was wrong. It was the Dark Hour, not...what, noon? He nearly jumped out of his skin when the little man approached him, too confused about his surroundings to do much more than dumbly take the sack offered to him and nod, blinking after the little man as he wandered off. He took a moment to consider his clothes, jaw clenching for a moment when he noted the blood-crusted hole in his coat over his heart.

"So that happened." Whether he was commenting on his current predicament, where he'd come from previously, or something else entirely was anyone's guess. Even he didn't know for sure. Still frowning, annoyed more than confused, he finally takes a look around, finding a bench nearby to rifle through his bag. "What is this shit?"

ii. Making my way downtown

Shinjiro found the markets equal parts annoying and useful. It seemed to him that everyone in town came through the market district, either on the way to work or to get supplies for whatever it was they were working on. It was a good place to overhear gossip, and get a feel for this weird city he'd ended up in. The message board caught his attention this particular day, though, what with the strange degree hung there, warning against some sort of monster prowling around after dark.

Monsters after dark. That sounded familiar. It also sounded like something Mitsuru would most likely want to try dealing with, which meant, "I need a weapon." It was spoken to himself, but not quiet enough not to be overheard.

iii. network :: text

[As useful as the message board was for some things, as the days turn into weeks, it becomes obvious to Shinjiro it's not the way to find a part-time job.

Seeing as there was also no internet to speak of, he supposed this was the thing to do. A way to earn coin while they figured this place out probably hadn't even occurred to Mitsuru, but living on the streets for a while, you get your priorities straight.]

Anybody hiring part-time workers? I'm not picky.

[He's wonderful at introductions, right? Such a people person.]

(OOC: If you want a different scene with Shinjiro, he can be encountered just about anywhere as he's doing his best to get oriented in the city. If you would like a prompt from me, just ping me on discord (vikael#0221) or PM this journal!)

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“Yeah, but nowhere is perfect, and it’s better than other places.” The kid responded with a very casual shrug, considering what he was saying. The question gets a very quick and vigorous nod as Mono’s tone shifted to something almost confident as he continued. “I’m really careful! I know how to avoid lots of stuff already.” Lots of stuff was quite literal, despite the fact that most people would assume a child was exaggerating. “You gotta be smart when it comes to monsters and bad stuff.”

"Yeah, and bad stuff comes in a lot of forms." He nodded, though. The kid seemed like he had his head on straight, and if he was honest, he reminded Shinjiro a lot of himself when he was a kid. He was tough, cautious, and not afraid to speak his mind. Awesome kid, really.

"You ever see anything out there you can't handle and you can't shake, call me up, got it? I got a few tricks up my sleeve."

Adults told him stuff like that a lot, so he at least didn’t outright question the whole ‘call me for help’ suggestion like he used to. It was just something weird people did that he was slowly getting used to the idea of. He wasn’t sure if he would actually need the help anytime soon, but it would be nice to think if he did that he had people to turn to. It had happened at least once thus far since he arrived, but not in the way he’d expected. “Yeah? Thanks. I’ll try to remember if I get stuck with something bad.”

Hard to not be curious, though, about the idea of someone having tricks up their sleeve. “What kinda tricks?” Mono asked, though his eyes were already observing Shinjiro more searchingly again for whatever the trick might be. It doesn’t take him long to spot the gun that the guy carried. He’d seen something like it once or twice before in his life. Though… he only had experience with a shotgun, and it wasn’t an experience he’d be eager to repeat. “Is that the trick? I’ve seen those before, like on television and in apartments in the Pale City.” Not that the residents used them.

"Good." And with that settled, Shinjiro was perfectly fine moving on, but he should have known the kid would have picked up on what he'd said and not let it go. He glanced down at the evoker at his hip and shook his head, though not that Mono mentioned it, he supposed it was sort of the trick up his sleeve.

"No...well, kinda. It's complicated. Just trust me when I say I can handle it, and if you never need a hand, don't get in my way."

“I try to not get in people’s way, anyway.” He responded with a small shrug. It was a kind of strange though to be told that now. He wondered what it all was that Shinjiro meant, really. “So I guess that complicated means you can’t tell me what that means?” He added with a small tilt of his head, since the answer hadn’t really been an answer to his question.

The kid would leave it alone, though, if Shinjiro insisted. Making adults angry with him was not something the kid wanted to do and tried to avoid as much as getting in the way.

"Good. That's smart." It was ingrained in him to be secretive with it, but the surroundings really suggested it might not be that big a deal. "Some people got special powers, and this," he motioned toward the Evoker, "helps me control mine. That ain't a big surprise, is it? We're in another world and all."

It wasn't so much he didn't want to as he didn't know how to explain it succinctly.

“Ohhh…” He responded, not entirely understanding but having a vague idea. It was like a wizard staff, then, something that he could use to control and direct the special thing he could do!

At least, that was how Mono had decided it probably worked.

“Yeah, lots of people got powers and stuff that they can do special around here. It’s kinda neat to see everyone can do good things with them.” He added with a small nod. He couldn’t use his well, not with any refined control… But it was nice that people had been firm, that what he could do probably wasn’t bad, that maybe he could learn to do good things with them too.

It's kinda neat to see everyone can do good things with them. It had taken him a long time and basically dying to realize it. He'd tried to hard to convince himself that his power was worthless, and it was that doubt that allowed Castor to run rampant. Now they got along.

"Yeah, it's pretty cool." It was weird, that was for sure. "What about you?" It had seemed like Mono had been hinting at something, but he wasn't sure what.

“Me?” Mono tilted his head slightly. He hadn’t really expected the question. It took him a moment to realize that Shinjiro was asking if he had any kind of powers, too. “I guess I kinda got powers. I just can’t use them good like other people can. Plus, I need a television to use it, and I don’t think anyone’s found them around here.” He knew Harry was looking, but he wasn’t sure if the wizard had found any yet. This place seemed pretty busy, after all.

Of course, the child could do other things, but he wasn’t quite aware of it yet. Just random thoughts and ideas that he might when comparing what he could do with what someone else in his world could do.

"Hey, don't beat yourself up over that. I'm not too good with mine, either." He was getting better, coming to terms with Castor's power, and that had been a struggle too, especially after he'd relied on artificial aid for so long. "You're just a kid, you'll figure it out." But the TV was weird.

"What do you mean it needs a TV?"

“Yeah?” Even adults had trouble with their powers sometimes, huh? They always seemed like they knew what they were doing around here, so there was something oddly comforting to hear that… “It’s just kinda frustrating sometimes, that’s all. It’d be nice if I could use them good to help and stuff. I got someone who needs my help in my world.” He responded with a little shrug, wishing he could do more good to make up for some of his mistakes.

But the question gets a little tilt of his head. “I can kinda use them to go places? When I push on the screen, they go all funny and staticky and then I go in and can come out through other ones… I kinda break them sometimes, though.”

When your power so intimately focused on believing in yourself and having a steeled resolve regarding what you were fighting for, they definitely did. He recognized the tone in Mono's voice; it echoed with a familiarity not unlike Akihiko's and he didn't doubt for a second that Mono would do whatever in his power he had to protect this friend. He smiled slightly, nodding.

"That sounds pretty useful. I'll keep an eye out for televisions. I wouldn't mind seein' it." He shrugged. "Eh, not a big loss, but...does that mean you can only use working ones?"

“Really?” He asked at the offer, before managing one of his part grins. “Thanks, that’d be great!” Because they were hard to find, as in he had yet to happen across one. So… It was nice to think more than one person was watching out for it. “I promise if you find a couple, I’ll show you how it works.” He added, though he hoped there was nothing inside televisions here like there was in his world… That could be pretty bad if it was like that.

“Yeah, if it’s broken, then I can’t really do anything to it. It’s gotta have power, and a screen that’s note damaged.” He explained, fussing with a button on his coat again. “Usually if I accidentally break one, the screen kinda explodes and stuff.” It made a mess, but that was okay in the Pale City since everything was a mess. It was more of an inconvenience if he had to backtrack and then couldn’t.

He smiled at Mono's response, nodding. "I'll hold you to that." Though he found himself wondering exactly how rare televisions were around here. He'd never really taken himself for someone really into technology, but he was quickly realizing he might be taking a few things for granted.

"TVs do that." He nodded, interested to hear the television had to be working for Mono to use it. Just what were this kid's powers anyway? "Sounds like it can get pretty dangerous."

His powers were a weird thing that the poor kid really couldn’t explain as yet, but perhaps one day he could. Until then, he could only give the basics and half-formed ideas on them. He shrugged a little at the comment. “I guess it could be if ya accidentally walk on the glass. You gotta get good at watching out for stuff on the ground anyway, so I’m pretty good at it. It’s more dangerous if there’s something bad there when you come outta the TV and it’s already broken so you can’t go back.” Figuring out escape routes on the fly sucked.

"Somethin' bad, huh?" Shinjiro was getting the impression Mono meant something more tangible than a bad day or a bad place. Could he be talking about something like Shadows? "What kind of 'somethin' bad'?" It was clear Mono's world had more than just normal things to worry about.

"Are you the only person where you're from who can do special stuff?"

Mono was perhaps a little more careful in answering what ‘Somethin’ bad’ was.A proper description had been known to alarm the adults he told here. “Like the viewer people, they’re pretty dangerous. Especially if you broke their TV.” That made them agitated and panicked, made them pay attention to you. Which meant chasing you and… The boy shook his head. “So it’s really bad luck if I get thrown outta the TV that I break and it’s one of theirs.” Mono wasn’t even really sure how they saw anything, the TV or him considering they didn’t even have faces left.

He shook his head quickly, “Nuh-uh. There’s other people who can do stuff too. The viewers can do a weird thing with their heads… And then there are some other adults who got different kinds of special stuff. And one of them can do what I can do too, and some other stuff. I think he’s the strongest aside from maybe the thing in the television.” So it wasn’t like he was the only one, but he was the only kid he knew with abilities. Six just seemed… Really good at surviving, but she had never displayed an ability to him before.

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Intro Log .//. catch all

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