akudamax | WELCOME TO KANSAI

Where are you? When are you? According to the smoggy sky above you, "noon" is a reasonable guess. You are in Dotonbori, though it may seem unwise to get closer to the bridge over the river or any iconic signs. Wandering past this single city block will be met by police robots, stopping your way with a hologram that claims you are on "probation" and will soon be given a "briefing", that the next robot scans and copies. There are human citizens in this area, at first simply stunned by your arrival and appearance. Over the minutes, though, they notice the information circulating on all sorts of holographic surfaces, and they begin chattering suspiciously about you.

The holographic surfaces aren't the only bright light in the city. You also find yourself experiencing glitches multiple times over these first few hours - parts of your body temporarily turning into bursts of color along with a burst of intense pain, or briefly losing awareness of yourself and coming back into focus a good few centimeters to the left, making an agonizing adjustment to sensory non-deprivation all over again. The other "Akudama" seem to be undergoing the same phenomenon of inexplicable sudden little changes in location. Akudama - that's what the citizens are calling you under their breath from the other side of the narrow alley street.

Want to bum a cigarette regardless? Hide in a karaoke booth and scream? Hey, you do you, buddy. Looks like nobody is coming to give you trouble just yet, unless you make it yourself. Maybe those "Gifts" some of you have will make sparks fly.

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[Rachel opens her eyes to the sky and the city full of holographic lights and for a moment, her dull eyes stare, unblinking. But as it sinks in, an emotion takes hold. Confusion. And then panic.]

...how...? Where...?

[She turns every which way but... none of this is familiar. Worse, she can't see the one person who should have been with her no matter what. And so she starts searching with reckless abandon.]

Zack?!

Er... no.

[ Ragetti blinks down at the young lady who's just bumped into him, apparently in some haste. He's still working through a pretty intense state of panic himself, dropped into an unfamiliar future world and all, but this girl seems like she's looking for someone, which means they have common ground. Some direction is better than none at all, right? ]

That a friend of yers? I ain't seen me friend here either...

[ His one-eyed gaze flits around as he speaks, scanning the crowd. Still no other pirates in sight. ]

Ye think we could look fer them together?

[Rachel looks up at Ragetti-- he's unfamiliar in every way, but then... so was Zack when she first met him.

Friend... The word gives her pause. It's not quite like that, is it? But it leaves a small feeling of warmth in her chest. It would be nice if it were like that.]

He was with me before I woke up here. But I haven't seen any sign of him since...

[Helping each other should hopefully make things go faster. She nods.]

Who are you looking for?

[ Oh!! That was easy. Ragetti relaxes a little. At least the people around here are helpful, if a sample size of a single teen is any indication. ]

Pintel. He's me best mate.

[ Spoken with an acute sense of gravity, as though that explains everything. ]

I ain't never been apart from him before. Least, not for very long. An' he's the one as knows what to do in situations like this... not that we ever been in a situation exactly like this, strictly speaking.

[That says a great deal about how close the two of them must have been. Yet, in a way, the dynamic he describes reminds her a bit of herself and Zack. The idea of him off on his own doing whatever stupid thing...

...well that's exactly why she needs to find him. That and--]

I have a promise to keep... so I have to get back. [There's a very quiet intensity to those words, like everything depends on it.] And if I can find my way back, then I'm sure we can find your best mate too.

What does he look like?

[Damian, who was nearly barrelled over after making the mistake of turning a corner while reading shoujo manga, will close his book and try to stop her.]

Breathe. You won't find anything if you keep screaming your head off about it. Who's Zack?

[Even outside of Gotham, he's still stopping to help random civvies... It's hardly his least favourite thing about his old job, but he does find it almost amusing how little he can escape it.]

[Rachel moves quickly to avoid the collision at the last moment but-- that was close. She takes a slow, deep breath.]

Ah-- sorry...

[He has a good point. It might not be safe to attract too much attention.]

He's...

["Friend" is what someone else had said, but-- it's true that there's not really a good word for it.]

Someone I met recently. We were... traveling together.

[Ah. Okay, well there's probably a few things to establish first. However...]

Well... he might be around but I wouldn't get my hopes up, and if he is, I can guarantee that you'll find him. I'll keep an eye out myself.

What does he look like?

...I need to know what happened to him. Please...

[If he's not here, then where? Still in that building? Or did he get out too...? There are too many questions when what she needs is answers. Right... description.]

He's tall... with black hair. He was wearing a dark hoodie. His face and hands are wrapped in bandages.

[He probably has his scythe with him yet... but she's not sure she should mention that. She really does need the help.]

He could be dangerous-- so if you find him, please tell me.

...Once we get back to our worlds, you'll know. But we seem to be stranded far from home, for now.

[He pulls out a thick tablet from his utility belt and logs the information.

She looks so desperate. He's not even Robin anymore, he has no idea why he even wants to help.]

I'll keep an eye out. I guarantee that I can take care of myself if it comes down to it.

[Ah... He seems confident, and that's enough to satisfy her.]

...thank you.

[With the mindless panic slowly passing, she realizes she never introduced herself.]

My name is Rachel Gardner.

[He blinks.

How does he introduce himself here? Does he stick with the superhero aliases even now so far from everything?

Back at the tournament everyone already knew his name, even his enemies, even his father's enemies. It doesn't matter.]

Damian. Damian Wayne. [He offers a hand for a handshake, because that's what's professional.]

[Fortunately or unfortunately for Rachel, Gai has all the stopping power of a brick wall for someone her size as she careens into him in her desperate search. He normally wouldn't be quite so short-tempered, but, well... waking up and discovering that you AREN'T dead when that was what you had been expecting is more than a little disconcerting, and so the response that leaves his mouth is a little snappier than he'd been intending.]

Hey, watch it!

[It happens so quickly-- between her small size and lack of strength, she all but collapses after running headfirst into the man. But she blinks quickly and slowly drags herself back to her feet.]

--ouch... Sorry...

[Ah. Another unfamiliar face.]

WELCOME TO KANSAI

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