a long way home. (OPEN)

[adachy]

Characters: thefool, stereophoned, topsicles, hotstuds, doesnthavea, adachy, runandseek, bomberhat, earlship, worthpraise, unforgotten, libraria, verydangerman, farces, ofmanyfocuses, YOU!
Setting/Location: The lobby of an Inn in District One of Sleepywoods.
Date & Time: Day 0 in the morning after waking up.
Warnings: Mild language and Persona 4 spoilers.
Summary: The Inaba crew run into each other and others; confusion and hijinks ensue?
Note: The first two threads will be locked to

Comments

INVESTIGATION TEAM, locked to Persona 4 cast.

[thefool]

[ When one goes to bed the night before, they normally expect to wake up where they last slept. With memories of Nanako's weakened state in her hospital bed flashing through his head, transferring into nightmares and other unpleasant dreams, he's pretty sure he's still lost somewhere in the realm of sleep when he first wakes up at the strange Inn. When he sits up, he notices his room is vacant, save for himself and a strange device at his bedside. It certainly wasn't his, so he takes it for himself, making a point to return it to whoever it must belong to.

It's not as if I haven't dreamed up stranger.

Trying to make sense of it all, he escapes from his room and heads over to the hotel's lobby. Either every person here was a figment of his imagination, or all of these people were stuck in the same situation that he was. In his confusion, he stops a random person walking by to ask a few questions. ]

Pardon me, but would you happen to know where I am? I've suddenly woken up in one of the rooms here without prior notice.

[ The person

[topsicles]

[ Kanji has been wandering around for quite some time, searching for a familiar face, or a sign that he was still in Inaba. He's had no such luck yet, until he hears Souji's voice. He jogs up to him inside the crowded lobby, in fear that he'll lose sight of him if he doesn't, waving frantically. ]

Yo, Senpai!

[thefool]

[ He'd still been lost in the sea of people when he spots Kanji catching up to him, and he's immediately overwhelmed with relief. He sighs gratefully, feeling better that he's not completely surrounded by strangers. ]

It's good to see you, Kanji. Do you know what's going on?

[topsicles]

[ He's more relieved than you'll ever know. ]

Hell if know! I, uhh, just woke up here. This sure as hell ain't Inaba.

[ closed to tohru adachi and ryotaro dojima, all threads beneath this one are open ]

[adachy]

[ and adachi finds himself dragged along, outside the inn, to the side of the building where there's a little shade and privacy. he's got about a million questions running through his head right now, like "why won't you talk to me", "why are you trying to break my arm", and "how did you magically heal from your car wreck", but he keeps them to himself for a moment as he leans up against the wall, one foot on the ground and one pressed back against it with his hands in his pockets. ]

Look, sir, if you wanted to talk alone, all you had to do was say something. Having the kids around has never stopped you before.

[runandseek]

[He's barely listening. At least, he's not listening to Adachi's words, but Adachi's tone. (He realized somewhere along the way that that's where the truth really lied.) It's enragingly normal. He's dreaming, he's sure of it. A mysterious woman at the end of a long journey, his still-suspicious nephew, and the partner he once (thought he) knew, all jumbled together in his absent daughter's storybooks to tell him... what? To tell him what?

He doesn't want to reply just yet, and he can't- not with the cigarette in his mouth. He pats his pockets down again looking for his lighter- ah.

He really has his priorities straight. He's got a serial killer in one hand and a cigarette in the other, and quite honestly, the cigarette's more important. He needs it, to steady his grip. Adachi hasn't bolted just yet, but Dojima is certain. Any second now, he'd vanish, like everyone important in his life ever has.]

[adachy]

[ in turn, adachi's getting seriously bothered by that expression of his - but maybe it's understandable. after all, the guy just lost his daughter. he's trying not to get too aggravated with dojima's attitude; he should be used to this by now, the gruffness and lack of communication. had they really reverted back to day one of their partnership? because that's how he feels right now, like he just stepped off the train in inaba with his bag in tow, shaking hands with his new superior officer and answering his questions in short, awkward sentences and nods, wishing he were anywhere but there

[runandseek]

[Dojima only smokes half his cigarette before dropping it and crushing it into the ground with the toe of his shoe. He can feel grains of sand scraping underfoot. The sensation is as clear as Adachi's voice in his ear and the pain he's starting to feel in his own hand. Would it be this clear when he woke up? Or would he be left, once again, with nothing but that vague bitterness in his mouth? The taste of the things he's lost... and the regret he knew he'd live with for the rest of his life

~~~/o/

[bomberhat]

[ And here's the first unfortunate to stumble into the lobby not from the humble town of Inaba. His eyes are prickled with tears, he's got a retarded hunting hat on, and one of his gloves is off-- because that hand appears to be covered with blood and seems to have odd black grains mixed in, darkening it.

Good morning, Fujita, you still can't make a fucking door. ]

\o\~~~~~

[runandseek]

[staring this guy up and down- most notably at the blood-stained hands]

[he doesn't say anything for now. he's got his junogam on in his hands, with a flood of chaotic voices blipping through it.]

[bomberhat]

[ Fujita's just meandering about the room, in search of some kind of tissue... or maybe a phone. Not like he can call anyone. Hideouts don't have phones. He doesn't notice any eyes on him. ]

pretend i said "hand" 6_9 how does i reading comprehension

[runandseek]

[so Dojima breaks the silence first]

Are you-

...looking for something?

[The first part of the question is impulsive- but halfway, Dojima realizes he could've very well asked himself the same question. Why was he here?]

[What was he looking for?]

oh hello

[earlship]

[ this isn't the first time this has happened to lloyd, but it's still a rather jarring turn of events. worse is the fact that this doesn't seem to be toujours at all (or maybe that's better, he can't be entirely sure yet)-- his gadget is gone, replaced by something similar but still different, and all of those familiar faces he'd gotten so used to seem to be missing.

he makes his way gingerly into the lobby, keeping close to the wall, trying to stay out of sight. despite getting what seemed to have been a peaceful rest for once, he's still rather sore, courtesy of the last set of bruises he got from the guests of toujours hotel spattered across his cheek and neck. ]

sup roomie

[adachy]

[ keeping close to the wall and out of sight. way to look suspicious, man! some of us around here are ace*detectives, and we can tell when someone's up to no good. well, even if lloyd was up to no good, adachi wouldn't really care, but it's still weirding him out a bit. the guy looks like he just got beat up - what is it with everyone around here having injuries?

(that's hardly a good sign of what's to come.)

in the meantime, he's looking for a water fountain or something to get a damn drink. maybe there's one near the bathrooms! which happen to be near lloyd. he makes a sort of hurried walk in that direction, eyeing lloyd carefully but not making any sudden movements. ]

;)

[earlship]

[ he stops when he sees the other man hurrying over, completely aware that he can't really hide, and running would be a bad idea, and either way he's calling attention to himself-- he stops, leaning against the wall and hoping that he'll pretend to not notice him, or not care and decide leave him be. ]

[adachy]

[ this guy's a jumpy motherfucker and it's freaking adachi out. he raises a hand in halfhearted greeting. ]

[worthpraise]

[ This was not Kamiki village. Amaterasu's pretty sure that this isn't part of her land at all. While the immediate threat had been vanquished, she hadn't liked the look of that black shadow that had sped off to the north. She liked even less that Issun was apparently missing - there was no way he would abandon her, not with so many brush techniques still hidden somewhere.

In some ways, Issun being gone was a good thing - he would be absolutely filling her ear with chatter right now, hatching all sorts of conspiracy theories and waving that sword of his about. But he also wasn't on hand to ask questions for her, either - and he at least had a good sense for getting the information that they needed.

So when Amaterasu spotted a bunch of people clustered together in the inn lobby, she sat back at a polite distance to listen to what they were saying. ]

so cute o////o

[thefool]

[ Out of the corner of his eye, Souji spots a dog sitting nearby, and he thinks she must be lost. A local dog, maybe? After all, he's never seen any kind with markings such as that before. And there's no reason for it to be here, unless it was brought the same way he and everyone else around here was.

He walks over to her, kneeling down a bit to pet her head. Her fur was pretty soft for a dog. ]

Hey there. Are you lost? [ He may or may not be paying extra attention to those markings on her. They were pretty unusual... ]

[worthpraise]

[ Her tail starts wagging back and forth as Souji approaches her, sweeping the ground behind her. And petting is always appreciated; Amaterasu pushes her head into his hand slightly, trying to get him to pay attention to that itchy spot behind her ears.

Her tail stops at that question. She hadn't really been thinking of herself as "lost" but that definitely fits the situation, since she has no idea where she is. She whines, soft and brief. She has no idea what's going on either, and her power here is even more limited than it was before. She hasn't even tried to see if her powers still work or not yet, but at least she still has her divine instruments. Not ideal, but she'll be able to handle any trouble that comes their way. ]

[thefool]

[ He smiles and scratches behind her ears. Dogs always seemed to like that -- although this one looked close to being a wolf. A husky, perhaps? Or a malamute? It was difficult to pinpoint with this sort of coloring.

But, she doesn't look to be so happy. Chances are, she was in their same situation. How could whoever was in charge of this take an innocent dog, too? ]

Why don't you stick by us, girl?